Last day of January!

And how are you celebrating it?

Remember when . . .

Yeah, it's been a few days since I've written, but so what? Does anyone read this thing anyway?

Cleaning up the old office I figured I'd toss this up on the screen, might give a few people a chuckle. Not much of a club scene around here lately, not like the old days, and that isn't just old man rant. Ah well, time to get the kids off the bus. Oh, this poster was fairly controversial at the time, believe it or not.

Finally, the scale, she moves

Well the scale moved, not much, but downwards, at least for a day or so. Much like the tanker turning analogy, losing weight now seems to be like an ice flow in the arctic breaking up and melting. First a few cracks, then more, then shifts, then all hell breaks loose. I just hope the later doesn't come in the form of bowel movements. And following that analogy with the phrase - a crack in the ice has begun - might seem a bit edgy, but it has. So now I'll just have to keep pounding out the exercise and see if it continues to work, although I suspect it will. So a small cheer to me, but now it's off to the treadmill, so I can complain about how much my knees hurt.

Help! I've fallen and I can't get up . . .

Well, not really, but I did some tricep work the other day for the first time in forever, and now it's hard to lift my arms over my head, or shoulders, or whatever. Even lifting a fork up to my mouth makes me grimace, so I can see how lifting weights will help you lose weight, because you can't feed yourself. Bingo, there go the pounds. The scale has still not moved much, despite me telling my body fat that it's a lot warmer down in Florida. Like a bad taste in your mouth, it refuses to leave. I would guess though that by now, central processing up in the brain realizes I am not being chased by lions or tigers, and the constant fitness quest is permanent. In no time, the fat should be leaving, but at the moment, it's still busy packing. For those of you out there looking to make money, buy stock in Advil, Alleve, and Labatts. Short term anyway.

Tom Cruise is nuts, period

It doesn't matter to me if he is gay or not, and personally, he's not that great an actor in my view, but his association with Scientology really bothers me. See this latest clip, and maybe you'll come to the same conclusion.

The fun continues; no one notices but me. . .

Three solid days of working out and sweating, the heart monitor strapped on just to make sure I am working hard, and no surprise, I am right where I should be. On the plus side, I have had a solid headache for three days now, and my shoulders feel like a well abused GI Joe doll - you could rip the arms off with a simple tweak. Does the scale care? Nah, despite me substituting protein shakes for one or two meals a day. Perhaps the payoff will come later in the week, or maybe next week, maybe then the body will realize I am not fooling around this time, and jar the old metabolism into gear.

On another note, two gigs this weekend - on Friday, the Squeaky Chair is at Starry Nites, and Saturday, I'm with the Steve Greene trio at the MAG.

Sigh

After 2 weeks of solid exercising, the news is not good. The weight has actually slightly increased, which may be a result of either muscle buildup, or eating more to compensate for the effort, or perhaps a combination of both. I am sure after another week or two the situation will change, but it's still pretty depressing. Anyway, that brings us to the photo at right, of a man who had a goal and met it. He's the one on the left, and he just passed away.

Oh the pain, the pain . . .

Well, after pounding away on the various exercise equipment in the basement, I found a new muscle pain. Just above the knees, and it kicks in every time I try to walk, worse going up and down stairs. It was a dvd that did this, a cycling get in shape dvd that starts off with, I think he said, Hindu crunches. Start with your arms straight out, palms down, then as you bring your arms in to your sides, your palms will turn up and into fists. Continuing, point your hands down to your feet, and as you bend at the knees, touch the back of your heels. Stand back up and return your arms out front. In the dvd, he opens with 100 of these gems. I think I got less than a third of that, pausing in spots. Now, 2 days later, the pain has dulled, but still hurts. Now I can't wait to see what happens to me tomorrow.

Happy new year - sobered up yet?

Hoo boy, wasn't 2007 fun? Personally, I'd give it a pass. Sure, there were moments, but overall, there's not too much of record I'd celebrate. For starters, the bathroom scale is telling me things I'd rather not hear. So this means exercise, and lots of it, which means aching joints and the locking up of an arthritic back, until enough weight is shed that it gets easier. But that won't be anytime soon, since I don't have those killer trainers you see on television prodding away at me. Mentally though, the recurring chant of "come on tubby," a nasty little dig, seems to get me motivated and moving. And aren't salads so refreshing and filling?