Went to kickboxing class yesterday after a break of about 3 1/2 months. And got some much deserved pelting. It feels like I have been hit by a train. I am supposed to have been kicking and boxing for a whole hour. But at the end I looked like I'd been at the receiving end of some kicking and boxing by some guy who has anger management issues, got nagged in the morning by his wife, missed lunch and had a couple of people cut him off in traffic later the same day.
This reminded me of a Jillian Michaels exercise dvd that I once worked out with - 30 day Shred! After reading a couple of reviews I ordered this dvd. The evening I came back home and saw it had been delivered, I popped it in and watched it while sipping coffee sitting on my couch. A few jumping jacks, some crunches, push ups, squats - all elementary school stuff, I remember thinking to myself. In fact I even doubted my decision to buy it.
Next morning I got ready at 7 am to work out along with the dvd. Boy!!!!! Jillian is the most evil, sadistic purveyor of pain there has ever been! The individual steps are carried out in fast succession. There is not a half a minute's rest between the different sets of exercises. Jillian actually says at a couple of instances -' I dare you to pick up that remote and press 'pause', keep going !'. The first time I saw her say that, I was taken aback in that shaky, sweaty state of mine. It was almost like she could see me reaching for my remote and was saying that in real time. Spooky! The squats are all done with dumb bells. These innocuous looking 5 lb weights can make you tear up when you are doing chest flies and such. The abs, jumping jacks and squats - the circuit repeats itself at a dizzying pace. I was shredded in 30 mins not 30 days. I completed the 30 minute workout. But for 4 days after that, I was walking like I had fallen down in a stampede and ten people had run helter-skelter all over me! I couldn't climb stairs up or down ( both ways were painful!), I had difficulty sitting down and getting up, I struggled to lie down on the bed. And to see me get up from a lying position - turning and grovelling on hands and knees, even the most hard hearted person would have looked for a kleenex. Muscles that I didn't know existed were twisted out of shape. They were happy that they had been acknowledged finally, and I was writhing in pain. I spent those 4 days debating whether this one was a keeper because of the death blow it dealt me, meaning it'd definitely prove effective for weight loss or if and how I should go about trying to sue Ms.Michaels. I repeated the workout after a couple of months and paused the dvd in places where I had to. I wasn't left as sundered this time. I haven't paid Jillian and her workout-mates a third visit yet.
These and other thoughts were interrupted by the screeching sound of the garage door opening and I was glad to be home, back with my family. So much for 'me' time. It's just 'me getting whipped' time!
Nothing in particular-isms
* California! - We're so fabulous that our neighboring state is called NV!
* I exercise some caution while driving, exercise some patience when dealing with my daughter ( can hear the lie detector beeping!) and I realize, this is about the only exercise I am getting these days!
he he! This just came to me while brushing my teeth this morning, wanted to write it down somewhere before it gets purged out with the timed auto erase that keeps happenning in my head!
Adding on :
* Arguing with your spouse is like running on a treadmill - Time has passed, energy has been expended , but you are where you started, without making any progress! And you are tired!
* Being away from home makes one home-sick! But being out on the sea makes one sea-sick ?
* When you're talking out loud to yourself ( or no one in particular) , you're crazy. When you do the same thing in cyber space, you're blogging!
Disclaimer : These are original flashes from my cerebrum :-), any resemblance to to any quotes from anywhere is purely co-incidental.
* I exercise some caution while driving, exercise some patience when dealing with my daughter ( can hear the lie detector beeping!) and I realize, this is about the only exercise I am getting these days!
he he! This just came to me while brushing my teeth this morning, wanted to write it down somewhere before it gets purged out with the timed auto erase that keeps happenning in my head!
Adding on :
* Arguing with your spouse is like running on a treadmill - Time has passed, energy has been expended , but you are where you started, without making any progress! And you are tired!
* Being away from home makes one home-sick! But being out on the sea makes one sea-sick ?
* When you're talking out loud to yourself ( or no one in particular) , you're crazy. When you do the same thing in cyber space, you're blogging!
Disclaimer : These are original flashes from my cerebrum :-), any resemblance to to any quotes from anywhere is purely co-incidental.
Somebody, stop me!
A rolling stone gathers no moss.
But the mind is like a rolling stone with magnet on one side and fevicol on the other, picking up everything in its way. As if the wandering mind and its stiff resistance to stay focussed weren't enough, we now have the internet - a galaxy of information explosion through which the mind rolls on uncontrollably.
I spend a lot of time on the internet, I seriously need to wean myself off that and exercise some discipline. I have become this person who - if I need to clean out my closet and have forty five minutes to do so, will first starty by googling 'How to organize your closet' - from there jump to
House plants - A simple, satisfying way to decorate your living space - to
How to grow Orchids - to
Dealing with your toddler's tantrums - to ..... and an hour and twenty minutes have passed and I have not lifted a finger except to click my mouse button!
My God!
If I make myself stop reading about movies and filmstars , then I find I am suddenly addicted to something else. The topic of interest varies - it's recipes or yoga or child rearing and so on.
I keep trying to straighten this , but like a grandparent that spoils a child, undermining the parent's efforts at disciplining, the internet thwarts my every resolve. It's a web no doubt, I am snarled and it's world wide, where can I escape to? As Jim Carrey says in Mask - Somebody, stop me!
But the mind is like a rolling stone with magnet on one side and fevicol on the other, picking up everything in its way. As if the wandering mind and its stiff resistance to stay focussed weren't enough, we now have the internet - a galaxy of information explosion through which the mind rolls on uncontrollably.
I spend a lot of time on the internet, I seriously need to wean myself off that and exercise some discipline. I have become this person who - if I need to clean out my closet and have forty five minutes to do so, will first starty by googling 'How to organize your closet' - from there jump to
House plants - A simple, satisfying way to decorate your living space - to
How to grow Orchids - to
Dealing with your toddler's tantrums - to ..... and an hour and twenty minutes have passed and I have not lifted a finger except to click my mouse button!
My God!
If I make myself stop reading about movies and filmstars , then I find I am suddenly addicted to something else. The topic of interest varies - it's recipes or yoga or child rearing and so on.
I keep trying to straighten this , but like a grandparent that spoils a child, undermining the parent's efforts at disciplining, the internet thwarts my every resolve. It's a web no doubt, I am snarled and it's world wide, where can I escape to? As Jim Carrey says in Mask - Somebody, stop me!
IMO
Five words I don't like :
Let's get back to work
Four words I don't like :
The weekend is over
Three words I don't like:
But you promised...
Two words I don't like
1) It's closed ( as in a restaurant or store)
2) House full ( or 'full house' to be correct)
One word I don't like
mortgage
p.s : As you expect ( more like dread !) a post of words I like will follow.
Let's get back to work
Four words I don't like :
The weekend is over
Three words I don't like:
But you promised...
Two words I don't like
1) It's closed ( as in a restaurant or store)
2) House full ( or 'full house' to be correct)
One word I don't like
mortgage
p.s : As you expect ( more like dread !) a post of words I like will follow.
Change the music!
This ever happen to you?
You listen to 'vande mataram' and suddenly feel a surge of patriotsim - for the duration of the song or until a few minutes later ? You listen to a peppy number and feel like tapping your feet and going 'shake shake' ? Of course you have! The music and lyrics of a song have a strong influence on the way we feel - be it for a few minutes alone - to snap us out of certain moods and drive us into some states of mind! We have lullabies to make little ones fall asleep, hymns and devotional songs played in places of worship, fast music with beats for exercise classes, ghazals and lilting classical music for wedding receptions and so on... That said, I am now zooming in to Indian film music. This potent force - playing in petty tea stalls to petite I-pods - touches millions! There is a song for every mood, occasion and feeling. Songs in the rain, in the snow, about meeting and parting , on nature's beauty to a soldier's duty (sorry , rhyming is this affliction I have, when it comes to me, I just can't make it go away!).
In particular, when I listen to songs on love failure, I feel why is there always so much hurt and despair alone? This discussion is not about how to respond to love failure and cope with it ( fodder for another post sometime later). The point I am trying to make is , why is there only moping and pining ( in these songs)? The psyche of songs like
1) 'Accha sila diya tune mere pyar ka...' - fantastic song that made Sonu Nigam a household name
2) 'Tujhe yaad na meri aayi, kisi se ab kya kehna...- from Kuch Kuch Hota Hai
3) Sach mere yaar hai ..... baaki bekar hai - from Sagar
Whether you have actually experienced a heart break in life or not, through these songs you do vicariously feel the ache and hurt. All the missing and suffering when two people in love are temporarily separated is alright, but what's with all songs on unrequited love or betrayal or otherwise- having the same theme of
'My life is not worth living without you, I am a non-entity without you...' - despair, dejection and bawling!
If it's the guy, he's drowning himself in alcohol and if it's the girl, she's weeping to the point of dehydration - I have no gender bias, but the Indian filmmakers have kept it this way, so far!
Why can't we have songs like
Aretha Franklin's 'I will Survive' - She even goes on to say 'I should have changed that stupid lock, you're not welcome anymore' to the person who broke her heart and left her.
Another example Wham's
'Last Christmas I gave you my heart..... This year I'll give it to someone special'
Or another song I've heard -
' Follow me everything is alright......
If you want to leave, I can guarantee
You won't find nobody else like me'
We need to have more songs like these which talk about moving on, turning a new leaf and getting over love that's no longer alive. Though there have been movie plots that have dealt with this positivity, I can't seem to think of any song lyrics that reflect this pluck!
Even the one or two songs that come to mind like Ashiqui's
'Ab tere bin jee lenge hum...' start off defiantly but go on to describe only pain and hurt.
Songs of sadness and heartache are deeply touching and many are my favorites too. They can transport you to another time and place. I am not against this very sentiment, but can we not also have songs of hope, of treating life itself as a more precious commodity than just one person or one incident ? With some choice words and the accompaniment of some good music, these songs could actually inject some courage and spirit into many folks that are grieving and moping!
May be like : ' Tumse bichad ke zindagi se kuch paaya hai, kya kahe ek alag hi mazaa aaya hai'
or perhaps - 'Tune humara dil thoda hai, vaapas aaoge tho haddi thod denge' LOL!
or something like that! :-) What say?
You listen to 'vande mataram' and suddenly feel a surge of patriotsim - for the duration of the song or until a few minutes later ? You listen to a peppy number and feel like tapping your feet and going 'shake shake' ? Of course you have! The music and lyrics of a song have a strong influence on the way we feel - be it for a few minutes alone - to snap us out of certain moods and drive us into some states of mind! We have lullabies to make little ones fall asleep, hymns and devotional songs played in places of worship, fast music with beats for exercise classes, ghazals and lilting classical music for wedding receptions and so on... That said, I am now zooming in to Indian film music. This potent force - playing in petty tea stalls to petite I-pods - touches millions! There is a song for every mood, occasion and feeling. Songs in the rain, in the snow, about meeting and parting , on nature's beauty to a soldier's duty (sorry , rhyming is this affliction I have, when it comes to me, I just can't make it go away!).
In particular, when I listen to songs on love failure, I feel why is there always so much hurt and despair alone? This discussion is not about how to respond to love failure and cope with it ( fodder for another post sometime later). The point I am trying to make is , why is there only moping and pining ( in these songs)? The psyche of songs like
1) 'Accha sila diya tune mere pyar ka...' - fantastic song that made Sonu Nigam a household name
2) 'Tujhe yaad na meri aayi, kisi se ab kya kehna...- from Kuch Kuch Hota Hai
3) Sach mere yaar hai ..... baaki bekar hai - from Sagar
Whether you have actually experienced a heart break in life or not, through these songs you do vicariously feel the ache and hurt. All the missing and suffering when two people in love are temporarily separated is alright, but what's with all songs on unrequited love or betrayal or otherwise- having the same theme of
'My life is not worth living without you, I am a non-entity without you...' - despair, dejection and bawling!
If it's the guy, he's drowning himself in alcohol and if it's the girl, she's weeping to the point of dehydration - I have no gender bias, but the Indian filmmakers have kept it this way, so far!
Why can't we have songs like
Aretha Franklin's 'I will Survive' - She even goes on to say 'I should have changed that stupid lock, you're not welcome anymore' to the person who broke her heart and left her.
Another example Wham's
'Last Christmas I gave you my heart..... This year I'll give it to someone special'
Or another song I've heard -
' Follow me everything is alright......
If you want to leave, I can guarantee
You won't find nobody else like me'
We need to have more songs like these which talk about moving on, turning a new leaf and getting over love that's no longer alive. Though there have been movie plots that have dealt with this positivity, I can't seem to think of any song lyrics that reflect this pluck!
Even the one or two songs that come to mind like Ashiqui's
'Ab tere bin jee lenge hum...' start off defiantly but go on to describe only pain and hurt.
Songs of sadness and heartache are deeply touching and many are my favorites too. They can transport you to another time and place. I am not against this very sentiment, but can we not also have songs of hope, of treating life itself as a more precious commodity than just one person or one incident ? With some choice words and the accompaniment of some good music, these songs could actually inject some courage and spirit into many folks that are grieving and moping!
May be like : ' Tumse bichad ke zindagi se kuch paaya hai, kya kahe ek alag hi mazaa aaya hai'
or perhaps - 'Tune humara dil thoda hai, vaapas aaoge tho haddi thod denge' LOL!
or something like that! :-) What say?
The Road Not taken
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood.... I studied Robert Frost's poem, probably also answered a couple of questions on it in my English examination , but never really took the message home!
After II P.U.C exams in april of 1994 and writing the Common entrance exams for Engineering/Medicine/Dentistry in May, I along with my brood, awaited the results and the interview - Counselling, it was called -for admission into colleges. Designing things was not my passion, equations didn't entice me! But I wanted to study to become an engineer. Because that's what most of my friends wanted to do and if you couldn't manage to get into a professional course, you were no good!
At that time, there were cases going on in court for fixing the percentage of seats that would be reserved for students from different ethnic backgrounds! For most of my friends and me, the general merit quota was the only channel and that was getting squeezed thinner by the day! Protests and rallies went on and newspapers threw up a differ number each week - days and weeks passed and the fate of thousands of us hung in this tangled balance. My rank was not particularly impressive, but I was somewhat confident of securing an admission in an engineering college. Some of my friends joined B.Sc. and I debated with myself on whether I was doing the right thing by putting all my eggs in the engineering degree basket. One morning the percentage rose to 80% - a very dear friend of mine called me - I ran to my neighbor's who lived across from us, where we received important phone calls as we didn't yet have a telephone at home back then - "Call for Sujatha" called out aunty and I sprinted across. My friend talked to me for five minutes discussing the chaotic situation and advised me to join B.Sc just in case... I thanked her and came back home. My parents' thoughts echoed my friend's words. My own fear had grown to a Godzilla size. So I went back to my college where I studied my P.U.C , 2 months after classes had commenced, to secure an admission for B.Sc. The Principal was supportive of my case, but gently chided me for running the rat race toward engineering. I wanted 'Microbiology' , she said I would have walked through if I had come during regular admission time. The class was full and she could not offer me that. She said 'Clinical nutrition and Dietitics' had some openings and I could take it if I wanted. I did.
For almost 4 weeks I worked overtime catching up on lab work, notes and completing my Practical record up to date. I still felt very sore at the thought of not being able to make it to engineering. The course was otherwise very interesting. Our nutrition lab comprised of planning diets for a sedentary youth, a pregnant lady, an athlete and so on. We had to meet the carbohydrate/protein/fat/water requirement for each meal and keep the calorie intake within a certain level. We laughed when we came up with adult meals like - 1 idli, 1 cup of sprouts , a banana for breakfast. Or 1 roti, 1 cup of rice, small cup of yogurt and a small salad for lunch. I realize now those weren't ridiculously small, but actually the right kind of portions for today's inactive lifestyles.
Before the end of a month into my new course the counselling sessions had started and my turn came - I went for it and got into an engineering programme, thereby abruptly ending the B.Sc course I had barely joined. At that time, it was peer pressure, societal pressure and my own imagined pressures that pushed me into studying engineering. Fast forward fifteen years, and I now enjoy reading and learning about olive oil, vinegar, almonds and spinach. I devour every article I chance upon on metabolism, exercise, and food. It feels like a career in nutrition and dietitics would have been so right for me!
But then from time to time I have wanted to be a doctor, a lawyer, a biologist, a dancer, an actress ( oh! that I still fantasize about), a detective, a teacher and so on..
In the past few years, my mind has been toying with a few more options!!!!
In my case :
A few roads ( not two) diverged in a yellow wood
I took the one heavily trodden upon, I am bugged
I keep turning to see
Most other roads seem like fun to me
I think I am going to run back to the fork
Stand there for a while and wonder
About the road I took
And the one yet to be taken!
In conclusion :
1) A girl's life is full of choices
2) I am a very confused person
3) And Rober Frost , definitely had it easy!
After II P.U.C exams in april of 1994 and writing the Common entrance exams for Engineering/Medicine/Dentistry in May, I along with my brood, awaited the results and the interview - Counselling, it was called -for admission into colleges. Designing things was not my passion, equations didn't entice me! But I wanted to study to become an engineer. Because that's what most of my friends wanted to do and if you couldn't manage to get into a professional course, you were no good!
At that time, there were cases going on in court for fixing the percentage of seats that would be reserved for students from different ethnic backgrounds! For most of my friends and me, the general merit quota was the only channel and that was getting squeezed thinner by the day! Protests and rallies went on and newspapers threw up a differ number each week - days and weeks passed and the fate of thousands of us hung in this tangled balance. My rank was not particularly impressive, but I was somewhat confident of securing an admission in an engineering college. Some of my friends joined B.Sc. and I debated with myself on whether I was doing the right thing by putting all my eggs in the engineering degree basket. One morning the percentage rose to 80% - a very dear friend of mine called me - I ran to my neighbor's who lived across from us, where we received important phone calls as we didn't yet have a telephone at home back then - "Call for Sujatha" called out aunty and I sprinted across. My friend talked to me for five minutes discussing the chaotic situation and advised me to join B.Sc just in case... I thanked her and came back home. My parents' thoughts echoed my friend's words. My own fear had grown to a Godzilla size. So I went back to my college where I studied my P.U.C , 2 months after classes had commenced, to secure an admission for B.Sc. The Principal was supportive of my case, but gently chided me for running the rat race toward engineering. I wanted 'Microbiology' , she said I would have walked through if I had come during regular admission time. The class was full and she could not offer me that. She said 'Clinical nutrition and Dietitics' had some openings and I could take it if I wanted. I did.
For almost 4 weeks I worked overtime catching up on lab work, notes and completing my Practical record up to date. I still felt very sore at the thought of not being able to make it to engineering. The course was otherwise very interesting. Our nutrition lab comprised of planning diets for a sedentary youth, a pregnant lady, an athlete and so on. We had to meet the carbohydrate/protein/fat/water requirement for each meal and keep the calorie intake within a certain level. We laughed when we came up with adult meals like - 1 idli, 1 cup of sprouts , a banana for breakfast. Or 1 roti, 1 cup of rice, small cup of yogurt and a small salad for lunch. I realize now those weren't ridiculously small, but actually the right kind of portions for today's inactive lifestyles.
Before the end of a month into my new course the counselling sessions had started and my turn came - I went for it and got into an engineering programme, thereby abruptly ending the B.Sc course I had barely joined. At that time, it was peer pressure, societal pressure and my own imagined pressures that pushed me into studying engineering. Fast forward fifteen years, and I now enjoy reading and learning about olive oil, vinegar, almonds and spinach. I devour every article I chance upon on metabolism, exercise, and food. It feels like a career in nutrition and dietitics would have been so right for me!
But then from time to time I have wanted to be a doctor, a lawyer, a biologist, a dancer, an actress ( oh! that I still fantasize about), a detective, a teacher and so on..
In the past few years, my mind has been toying with a few more options!!!!
In my case :
A few roads ( not two) diverged in a yellow wood
I took the one heavily trodden upon, I am bugged
I keep turning to see
Most other roads seem like fun to me
I think I am going to run back to the fork
Stand there for a while and wonder
About the road I took
And the one yet to be taken!
In conclusion :
1) A girl's life is full of choices
2) I am a very confused person
3) And Rober Frost , definitely had it easy!
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