LOL 
That’s funny =)
She is actually doing very well. She is doing her Masters degree while running track (she switched Uni’s) and she is looking very good!
[i]Since I got gym membership for this next month from today, I might as well describe how I abuse it: (hopefully not too much, due to work and painting!!)
- 9-10am spinning session. It was packed. And INTENSE. Rainy outside, I almost died. These classes are definately the post “professional” in the gym, and the instructor was surprized to see me going all out on day 1… :rolleyes: Thank goodness I have cycling tights…
Did I mention I almost died…?
-
Half hour weights, general things, including SLDL’s, squats and single legged curls
-
15min ISO’s
There was boxing practice tonight, but I got home too late from work to make it :mad: [/i]
Yesterday Tuesday November 26th
- “just” ISO’s. No time for anything else.
- Oh and a long 1hr 20min walk home from work, cause that’s the only way I can get me to learn some italian… (while doing something else). :rolleyes:
Today: Wednesday November 27th:
Morning:
-
1hr spinning class. Pfew…
(a few of us had some “technical problems” from Monday’s session being the first one and going pretty hard, so the class-leader agreed to do the whole course off our seats, thank goodness !! :rolleyes:) -
Easy weights:
> SLDL’s (3 sets of 8) > I wonder what the bar weighs here… ?
> squats (3 sets of 10). > I’m not gonna go crazy with squats, I am just trying to even out my legs, I caught myself seriously drifting to the left stronger side. Mirror’s good…
> single legged curls (3 sets of 10 each)
>lateral pull downs (3 sets of 10) -
Upper body rebound reps. (3 exercises of 50 reps each arm)
A man thought I was doing very “special secret training”
and now thinks I am training for the Olympics. Ok, why not. -
Shower with no hot water at all… ugh.
(… work… ) > People need to chill… everybody argues with each other at work !!! I just smile at everyone and help whoever needs help, and they all like me… Jeez, I wonder why.
Evening:
Sneeked out of work early :eek: to make it to kickboxing class on time!! My first session after a long time
-
One hour, not so intense, but others were sweating profusely and breathing hard, so maybe I am just too good …
Or they are way out of shape…
We did a lot of boxing (L uppercut-R uppercut-L hook) then added one kick to the combination (the low kick) … technical stuff.
I find myself more relaxed than in the past (in any martial art that I did).
And push ups, abs, and bodyweight squats in between. -
A few more weights:
single legged curls (3 sets of 12 each)
lateral pulldowns (3 sets of 10)
incline abs (3 sets of 20)
I almost abused the gym and stayed for the 1hr boxing class as well, but I think it’s better to relax now and paint. :o And watch the only thing I watch on TV now since… the day before yesterday: “Grey’s Anatomy” !!
Laters.
Haha you’re really entertaining Stef. Keep it up.
My pleasure… =)
Yesterday (Thursday November 27th) was ISO’s again. By the way… Happy Thanksgiving!! (to all you americano’s)
I am thankful for a loadfull of new knowledge, new perspectives, few special people and last but not least, family! :o
Aaaanyway!
Friday November 28th
A very good day !!!
Painting was good.
Work was good. I feel “in tune” with everybody around me. There really are ways to make your surroundings feel at peace, calm them down, and make them happy… And things happen the way I want them to happen. It’s strange and nice.
Gym stuff:
-
1 hr Kickboxing practice. [I love martial arts. And yes, I know kickboxing is not inherently a martial art, but the concept is there and it’s very similar to my love muay thai! We worked more on Wednesday’s stuff with some variations: > warm up > warm up pairing up and throwing jabs while trying to dodge the other’s jabs > stretching :eek: [This week is my first time stretching since January :D. It feels very normal… I am sure iso’s were stretching me all along (and still are) ].
> Jab-cross combination in pairs (using glove-targets). Where did my jab come from?? It used to be WEAK, it’s suddenly got juice.
> L uppercut-R uppercut, then added a cross, then also added a low kick.
> Then did some free sparring using above combinations only. -
1 hr spinning class (ughhh…).
-
Easy weights:
> squats (3 sets of 10), goal: evening out my legs
> single legged curls (3 sets of 10 each)
> glute machine (not sure what it’s called, it’s the one that you kick back): (3 sets of 10 each)
> abs [ Man next to me stares. I say “yes?”. He says “I am admiring your legs”. (!!) … I thought that was funny
He never saw such strong legs in person before. I was glad I gave him the priviledge… Nice man btw.
Oh 4 people at the gym asked me what sport I do and then they want details, I am really tired so far of feeding them an “injured” story, so from now on, I am training for the Olympics (look last post… :rolleyes:).
Then watched my sister’s soccer practice.
She’s a 27 year old psychologist, picked up soccer just a few weeks ago :D. She plays Series B :)(or whatever it’s called in english).
Random craziness runs between the two of us…
How was the ROM on the stretches?
Pretty good! Except for the stretch where you’re sitting down, legs open, and trying to touch elbows to the ground.
Saturday, November 29th.
Um… woke up at 5am, couldn’t sleep. So I ate breakfast at 5:30 (I was starving, I think that’s why I couldn’t sleep…), made a double tea and went to paint at the little glass room that’s between the roofgarden and my room, I like it there… It gets pretty cold though, so I use an electric heater which does the job well… I was painting when the sun came out 
until 10, talked with my sister, ate again, took a nap, went to the gym…:
- Kickboxing practice, (about 1hr20min).
Lots of jab-cross combinations, added a knee kick, then added crosses, then rehearsed the hook-hook-low kick again.
I didn’t get tired at all today. I don’t know why everybody else was sweating.
Some stayed for free sparring,I chose to go do some weights, coach smiled and said “Look at you, like you haven’t done enough weights in your life. (I wonder if he knows I haven’t lifted any all 2008…) You’re gonna kill a person one day and we will all get in trouble”.
Iso’s make one strong…
- Very little weights:
> single legged curls again, 3 sets of 15
> Upperbody Rebound Reps (50reps each arm for 3 different exercises).
I think I need a nap now…
Sunday, November 30th.
Isometrics today. Amazing how one centimeter makes an exercise 50 times harder…
Lots of painting, but it seems like the painting got nowhere…
Slept till noon today… MANY strange dreams, I think that’s why I kept sleeping this morning, to see more…
Psych-soccer sister had an away game today and badly strained her ankle at the beginning of the game.
Amazing how she sprained it at 4pm, and when I found out at 7, I was the first to tell her to elevate it !
Also amazing, how I’m in the middle of 4 or 5 books, all extemely interesting, and picked up another one just now, “Iron and Silk”, which I cannot let down now… :rolleyes:
I just wonder if knowledge is of any use to us after we die.
double post
So in one of my dreams last night I was talking with Asafa Powell in this bright long hallway, he was sitting on the floor, against the wall, lined up with many other trackies - I went straight to him (he is my favorite after all).
We talked about many things, he told me how he is trying to promote his own business while running track, and how he loves his new book, which he took out of his pocket, wrote a page long dedication to me on the first blank page(:o) and then handed it over to happy me.
Monday, December 1st. Happy Winter.
Today was a good day.
I resolved a painting that has been troubling me for months (and I mean months). Then as I was having breakfast something shined in my head (like a light bulb).
After 3 hours of work on it this morning, I finally now call it finished. Pfew.
A stray dog walked into my teachers’ office during work today I am on the third floor.
He casually walked in, stared at me, then approached and made himself comfortable on my feet… It felt nice and warm. I was happy, and so was he.
Ok… to training!!
I want to my first Boxing practice today (Not first per say, I did do some boxing back in the States as well, but not much).
90 minute Boxing session
I LOVED It.
Whole 90 minutes were intense. The instructor actually knew me, he’s seen me track-train a lot (I guess those running A’s this year).
He is a very good coach, I loved him right away.
He is already bummed I’m leaving :o
But it’s the story of my life: Leave a place as soon as something starts forming some kind of a “routine”. I must not break it now… (>> not break the routine of breaking life’s routines, ya know…)
double post
Tuesday, December 2nd
Last night’s dreams were even stranger… !!
My psych-sister’s soccer ankle strain was never a strain !!! She found out today it’s a malleolar fracture :eek:
She’s in a cast for 5 weeks.
THERE GOES OUR BANSKO SKIING TRIP FOR NEW YEARS… :mad: We are both very bummed, but not bummed enough to make some art and enjoy it:
p.s. I called today an OFF day from any training. I had the above emergency art mission to complete during my previously programmed training time. :rolleyes:
double post (… sorry these happen a lot lately with my crappy internet)
Off’s never off…I held a wall squat last night after all. I almost cried, but that ain’t gonna happen. I was more technically correct that usual, I guess. Damn they are hard.
Wednesday December 3rd
-
5 min abs
-
1 hr Kickboxing
I got bored. I hate pairing up with useless girls. (Unfortunately, girls were an even number again… :mad:… I need to reqruit someone).
The instructor gave me a guy in the end (:D), we practiced my favorite kick, the guy was thrilled with the intensity of our session and didn’t want another partner for the rest of class.
(not much was left anyway… 
) -
Then killing some time in the gym until Boxing practice:
> 3 sets of single legged curls
> Talking (takes a lot out of me) -
1hr20min Boxing
This is what I’m talking about!! Great session. Intense, explosive, powerful, skillful, technical, FAST.
Great coach.
Hey, it helped Allan Wells… no?
Thursday December 4th.
1am ISO’s.
Have a good night…
Last night’s dream was me in a track meet, getting ready to run the 200. It was an indoor meet, and the track was elevated, banked, and green. I was with my psych-soccer sister. I was worried whether my knee would hold up during the race, :mad: :mad:I still need to get it out of my subconscious, how do I do that? Damn.
Friday, December 5th.
1 hr of kickboxing. I am starting to get bored of this class. It is very repetitive, and not much action going on… Not many skills learned either. No pad work so far (my favorite), minimum bag work (my second favorite).
1hr to kill: 25min leisure bike while reading, I’m not even sure where the other 35minuntes went.
1hr 20min Boxing. Not AS intense, we did a lot of theory and technique, but we were still sweating during our rounds of practicing with partners. I love that class. I don’t know how I’ve gotten so good at boxing…just by doing ISO’s for 11 months (well I do know, but it still is strange).
My technique today was ‘demonstration-level’, I was the only girl in class, asked to demonstrate to a bunch of guys…
Boxing is so beautifully fast and explosive.
I also wanted to talk about the talk I had with the teacher before class… and our different life philosophies, but it seems I am tired enough to feel dizzy at the moment The room is spinning, and my green tea is yet unconsumed…
I thought I would be ‘midnight-painting’ tonight, but the bed looks more tempting this time.
Saturday December 6th
Painting most of the day. I am just beginning to realize that this is not just “time painting”, it is actually “time meditating”. I feel blessed to be able to do ‘meditation’ for hours, when some sweat to find half hour in their day for it. But then again, I believe it can be applied while doing just ANYTHING. Some tasks are just more cooperative than others…
ISO’s today.
I started watching the MATRIX today for the first time (yeah, where have I been…:rolleyes: I agree). This seems like great timing for me though… I feel like everything I hear and see in the movie are things I’ve been dwelling on recently… or forever?.
The movie is a work of art.
Of course I am not the first to say. But I’m just saying… :o
With that said, I am more at comfort feeling like a ‘non-mammal’ Neo-type, not blending in with my environment ‘naturally’ and seeking ‘truths’…
It feels more revolutionary now
And to think I used to dislike science fiction…
But then again, I used to dislike painting faces too… (I was not good, until it’s all I practiced for a year)
And a day is always a happy day when a painting is called complete =)
p.s. Rupert, I ran out of space in my art folders :o
I trust you haven’t been part of this
In Thessaloniki, Greece’s second largest city, hundreds of youths took to the streets after the news of the shooting was reported, and the protests soon spread to the northern cities of Komotini and Ioannina. Demonstrations also took place in the Cretan city of Hania.