Day 54 - 59

So, to start off, its been a bad week for technology. I broke my nice digital scale (i dropped it on it's corner while taking it to Sacramento). My iPod broke, by being fine one minute and then refusing to turn on forever the next. Aaaand i accidentally put my car into neutral in the fast lane (which, to my surprise, apparently wasn't a problem)

On the up side however, i did buy a new jumprope (yay)

Pictured above from left to right: Amineh, my jumprope.

Food is going well.
I'm expanding my borders a little bit in terms of daily oatmeal. That is to say, trying different kinds of hot cereals that prove to be delicious.
Also, fresh eggs are at least twice as good as any egg you could buy in the store. If it is within your means, i highly suggest you find some, its so worth it. The egg itself is incredibly rich and has a much cleaner taste to it. Everything about it feels "right". Seriously, go find some.

It's been an interesting couple of days, mostly characterized between frequent (and sometimes rapid) ups and downs. I don't have bipolar disorder or anything, but it's been either deep sadness or real contentment, with not a lot of inbetweens.

I find that, even on catch-up day (wednesday; today) i wait till the last minute to do my exercises. Still. But, even in the worst of circumstances, i do my workout. Even if it's four in the morning (like last saturday). I dread it all day long, but i won't let it go in the end. And after the workout, just like always, i'm free of stress. Kind of reminds me of a quote...

"the pupil follows out this intention with untiring industry. As though he had no higher aspirations he bows under his burden with a kind of obtuse devotion, only to discover in the course of years that forms which he perfectly masters no longer oppress but liberate."
- Herrigel

...i may not have much going for me, but at least i can say i have "obtuse devotion"

___________________________________________

During tonight's jumpropes, i couldn't help but think about how i'm slowly destroying my old self every night and building a new one. Which reminds me of the monomyth - something i've been wanting to mention since before i started my PCP.

By "monomyth" i mean that process in which each individual is made to venture into the unknown (i.e. their own subconscious) and ultimately fight their own demons. Returning to the conscious world as victor when they're done, and applying their new found victory over themselves to their life.

This process corresponds to the PCP quite well. Often times, pushing oneself and maintaining self-discipline is one of the hardest things to overcome, because it has to come of your own will against your usual habitual patterns. Am i making any sense here? I guess what i mean to say is:
"Final Boss: Your Old Self"

Days 52 - 54

Digital Upgrade!
Yes, it's true, all this time i've been using a conventional scale, but now i have digital technology on my side! Which, is even nicer than i thought it would be.

This past couple of days has gone alright for me. Somehow i keep getting tossed around until my exercises are in the evenings again, but midterms are done, so i should come a little easier.
The workouts are sucking a little because i am so tired by the time i start them, but i get everything done, and when im done, im always happy.

By far my biggest challenge right now is the diet. I have to eat my lunch in two sections, and i spend most of my day buying more chicken, cooking chicken, and then consuming chicken. And chicken because it's the cheapest i can find. The protein portion in the morning has not gone so well, especially today, when i actually had it to eat, and then my step-sister's puppy found it. Very unfortunate. But, all of this is just my complaining. It won't be long until i am more in the swing of it. And i'm sort of hoping that the protein goes down again next week.

Looking forward to Sacramento this Sunday. Both in terms of my little sister's birthday (Happy Birthday Kathleen!) and because we reserved some fresh eggs at the farmer's market. It should be interesting to see the difference between those and store eggs, i hear it's like comparing real food to cardboard... but i hope to blog about it whichever direction it goes.

The more i think about it, the more i really owe a debt to the god of chickens for my muscle fibers. Maybe i'll go and make an offering on a mountain or something after my project is done. =D

Oh, and as far as jumpropes go, im using a heavy vinyl one for now, and damn is it different. I swear it's in the realm of weight lifting, and actually i took the weights out of the handle to make it lighter. Still, it worked better than "Old Jumpy", my rope jumprope.. which i can't even jump more than twice with anymore. It was a pretty weird feeling. That light vinyl rope i had really bent me to its style, because i can hardly jump with anything else!

Day 51

A long day.

Food highlights of the day: Kefir in the morning; Amineh's delicious chicken.

Listened to: Stephan Hoeller

Found clock for timing jumps, hope to find an egg timer soon.

The End

Day 49 - Indulgence II

Today i ate my second indulgence, which consisted of: a bar of Swiss Dark Chocolate (2.5 servings; 600 cal.) and a 1 oz. chunk of Brie. (100 cal.) I ate them sometime after breakfast but before lunch.

Putting my hesitations aside, i devoured half of the bar within, maybe 15 mins, and took my time with the last half (over several hours). I knew and expected to get a sugar rush, but man was it apparent. I developed a head ache, became irritable, and wouldn't hold still. I could feel my head getting fuzzy, and i redeveloped a cough i used to get when i ate too much chocolate in, lets say "my previous life". A cough really? yes really, kinda weird i know, but there it is. So i spaced out the next half of the bar, and let my head settle a little. Despite the backlash, i enjoyed every bit of it, though, in the future (post project), i plan to space out any chocolate consumption by days at least. Half a serving would have done me fine, and in truth, it's about all i can stay mindful with, at least a third of those little squares i don't even remember eating, and probably closer to two thirds.

The Brie on the other hand was delicious, and that was the end of it. Of course i know that the real end of it was somewhere in the middle of today's jumpropes, or maybe even tomorrow's jumpropes. But it didn't leave my head swimming for a half-hour anyway.

Speaking of today's jumpropes:


My jumprope broke at one end on my second to last set today. Luckily, there was enough space on the rope for me to jump when i grabbed the handle-less end and finished my last set. And i've still got Ol' Jumpy here as a back up, but i'll be seeking out a new vinyl rope sometime in the near future.

I'll have to think on a fitting rite of passage for what's come to be a good friend of mine. Even though we had a love-hate relationship for all of our days together, and even though i invented the term for (and often plotted) it's murder, it continued to put up with my bad language and was there whenever i needed it. So, Farewell JumpRope, may you have an auspicious rebirth... or whatever it is that happens to the consciousness of vinyl when it's deconstructed.

And now time for construction!



Valete

Day 46

Today was a weird one.

Learned a single-leg takedown in Karate this morning; shared Joseph Campbell and Alan Watts lectures with my Environmental Econ Prof, Took my Latin III Midterm (92% whoo), sat in on Prof. Smith's history lecture, and talked for a while, and then drove home early because my actual history class was canceled. When i got home i canceled Jujutsu, because i was too tired teach. I was a wreck, and i actually got sleep the night before! Being tired is a real enemy of my Project thus far. I find its when i'm physically tired that A) My roommates choose to bake two Pizzas, and B) i actually crave that pizza. Resisting hasn't been too much of a problem for me throughout my project, but it really sucked today. I ate my diner early, and then took a long nap. And the nap fixed just about everything.

My workout went more or less smoothly, except that the push-ups today ate me alive. I don't know what it is, but some days, exercises that are normally just reasonably difficult, become seemingly insurmountable. It's just kinks in the pattern of growth i guess, but it gets a little discouraging at times. ("ive done this how many times? and now i can't even do a few well? What the hell is wrong with me?") I've been trying also not to water the seeds of doubt, but sometimes a leaf reaches the light anyways ("You don't really want to be in Peak condition" and "your still not working quite hard enough") But, this too will pass if i just let it.

Alright, until next time.

oh yeah, here's a latin quote i found particularly PCPish

"You pray for good health and a body that will be strong in old age. Good - But your rich foods block the gods' answer and tie Juppiter's hands"

- Persius, Saturae

Looking forward to Kung-fu sit-ups tomorrow..


Valete, Amici
(Be Strong, Friends)

Day um, what day is it again? (44)

Pretty tired today. Mondays continue to be the thorn in my side, i did my workout, but at the cost of two classes today. I needed the sleep, and i can afford the lost time.
Those lunges really lit me up yesterday though, i seem to remember them not being so mean, but i'm glad they came back around to visit anyways.

Today's workout went well enough. Though i had to do Pull-ups last, and in secret.. but what's a few stealth-ups now and then, yeah?

Food is going well, i'm steadily improving my chicken baking skills, and i'm thinking about breaking up the pear monopoly with some strawberries tomorrow. (via the Clayton Anti-trust Act)

On the whole, things seem to be falling back into an order again. I always enjoy these little regroup phases before life gets tangled back up in the wiring. In and Yo.


Alright, time to add some dualism to my day and go to sleep.


bene requiesce, et fortes este, amici.

Day 42

Got my ropes in early before breakfast, but the rest of the day was pretty lazy. That is to say, i played FF7 all day (besides a few errands). My foot, i am happy to say is getting much better, and i'm back to walking and jumping normally.. what a relief.

Food highlight of the day: Salmon burgers. Very tasty.


Alright, until tomorrow.

Days 40-41

I've been experimenting with exercise first thing in the morning. Yesterday i did the entire work out, and i'll admit, it was pretty tiring, but not impossible. Today, i did only the jumpropes before breakfast, this arrangement will probably be the most common for me.

Also, if you're an oatmeal eater like me, i recommend frying an egg "sunny side up" and then mixing it into your oatmeal, broken yolk and all, it's pretty delicious and helps break the monotony of a hard boiled egg every morning.

Alright, time for work, until next time.

Day 38 and some change

Things have been going alright.

In the food department, i'm getting a lot more diversity in, and overall am pretty content with my diet. I don't go hungry, and i look forward to each meal and snack.
Amineh signed up for a program called "Farm fresh to you" which delivers a box of organic in-season produce to your residence weekly. We made artichokes for lunch on Saturday, and they were delicious. I still have two left, and can't wait to roast them. I'm starting to get to a place where i have enough surplus of food that i can really change it up in a timely manner. I also spent an hour and a half talking to my sister today, talking about food the entire time. It was nice to share some of the experience.

The jumpropes are starting to grow on loved ones as well. Amineh is up to a good number a day now, and my little sister is on her first steps to starting.
Health loves company.

In the set-backs department, i've had my left foot. I'm pretty sure i've cracked something, namely one of my metatarsals, but i can't really be sure. I've considered asking for an alternate exercise for my jumpropes, just in order to stay off of it, but i'm not actually sure that the jumping is so hard on it. I might still do just that, but for now i'm still on track, and it hasn't gotten any worse.
Yesterday was harder, we sparred a bit in my college Karate class, and i got huge blisters from mat burn (similar to carpet burn, but with tatami), so...that was an ibuprofen day, but luckily they healed up by the next day.

I've been stretching more and more lately too, i actually did some triangle and warrior and natarajasana and a few others rather than just my typical forward bend, back bend, leg stretches and twist. It felt good to reach all those other parts of my legs i've been neglecting to stretch. I've always known stretching is key, but i haven't always had the good sense to slow myself down to do it.

Oh yeah, and Pull-ups, are still pretty difficult, but i've created a sort of handicap for the sets beyond the first, which i do normally. Once i start to not be able to lift myself, i start my pull-ups by kneeling on a chair, and use my legs to lift/stabilize just enough of myself to get use out of my arms. It's still a pull-up, though it's at 70% or something i still get all my sets in that way.

And pistol squats, oh pistol squats! They are pretty close to an arm exercise at this point. I'm seeing progress... i guess, but damn are they brutal. Those bicycles are pretty brutal too. But i'm really loving it.

I regret to admit i haven't done the 8 Min Ab workout yet, though i fully plan to.

It's kind of nice to know that i can disconnect jump-ropes from the rest of the workout, it might make managing it a bit easier, and it certainly makes jumping before school much more feasible.


Alright, i'm getting tired now. Diligentes este, amici.

Day 35 and such.

Woke up today and decided to change it up for breakfast. Starting apparently with the time i eat breakfast, which was somewhere around 11.. or perhaps 12ish today (ouch). Still, it was a good thing i got the sleep. After all, i stayed home too long watching a documentary on Ray Johnson, and then set out to Sacramento, forgetting my ice chest full of chicken and pasta and lentils on my floor. I was really glad that i got my workout done before work yesterday, otherwise.. it would really have been a bad scene.

Back to breakfast: this is the first time in all my project that i've eaten a non-hard boiled egg for breakfast, and actually, for any meal. It's not that i was ever unable, i'm just holding the "change-it-up Cards" for when i'm bored. Today for lunch my girlfriend and i roasted some artichokes, and i ate a pile of shrimp. Dinner of course was in the bag.

Jump ropes however, were not in the bag, as i forgot that it's Easter (Zombie Jesus anyone?), and the apartment complex work-out room would probably be closed. It was raining, and pretty damn windy, so i walked around a little to try and find a good place. This is where i found.




All in all, it wasn't that bad. Honestly, you wouldn't think it, but one of the bigger problems was my ears. So cold it was hard to think. But, it wasn't as bad as it has been when i've jumped outside. It was kind of a nice surrounding, it reminded me a little of the youtube video with all those guys using their urban environment as a gym, rather than paying to have access to pull-up bars and the like.

The actual jumps went by pretty fast, and when i finished - thunder. Incredible rolling thunder. The rain picked up and - lightning. It was pretty satisfying to be outside and to hear the great strength of nature.

Alright, it's time to call it a night, and hope i don't hurt it's feelings.



Valete

Five a day