Like a toasty hot tub, my return to at least semi-regular posting is like dipping toes in the water with a wince. Eventually, I’ll get my butt back in the water, but it’s going to be uncomfortable.
Stay tuned, dear reader!
The test was yesterday. Today? I’m sore. Not in a terrible physical state (though at some point mid-way through the test someone stomped HARD on my foot and it’s red/purple today, swollen and tender.
But … there it is. All new and sparkly on my slimmer waist:
The test was … brutal. Four and a half hours long. Lots of fighting – boxing, grappling, kickboxing, Muay Thai, MMA – we did it all. Numerous times.
And I had a BLAST!
There’s nothing quite like the feeling of having someone standing in front of you that you don’t know, and having carte blanche to beat the snot out of them.
My mindset going into the test was simple – This is MY test. I wasn’t about to allow anyone get in my way, and I didn’t. I was called the “most brutal” at one point (with a smile, not in a “you’re in trouble” kind of way), and I took that as a great badge of honor. I wasn’t the youngest guy there (nor the oldest), but I was certainly one of the biggest, and I made sure I was the one who hit the hardest.
After all the training, broken bones, sweat and sore muscles – two years worth – I’ve reached the beginning, and as that smile on my face clearly shows, it feels good.
One of the artists who has recently been stuck in my head is a singer by the name of Jennifer Charles.
She’s … well … hard to describe. Her band is called Elysian Fields, and she does a lot of collaborative work with other artists. One of the reviews I’ve read of her work basically summed up perfectly what it’s like to listen to her sing:
“Her voice is so hot, when she sings it’s like she’s licking your face.”
Heh.
So here’s some Saturday Evening Jennifer Charles for you – try not to let your windows get too steamed up.
I did it.
That’s what I saw on the scale this morning.
Here’s a peek at my journey, starting at 252 lbs on April 2nd of this year.
5 weeks. 17 total pounds. Certainly ups and downs as this has been a real learning process for me. That’s how long I’ve been doing daily tracking. In mid-March at the height of my back injury I was hovering around 255. Winter plus being sedentary (really, being forced to lay on the floor for six weeks due to sciatic pain), had me all kinds of bloated.
What I’m happiest about here is that it wasn’t water weight that I removed from myself – I lost this weight the right way. Diet and exercise.
Now the goal is to keep it off until next weekend’s test, hopefully lose a few more, even, but I’m perfectly content to hover right here. I feel good, I look good, I don’t have a belt in the house that’ll hold up my pants properly and that’s perhaps the greatest physical reward I could have.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go eat a cheesecake to celebrate!
I kid … I kid …
Too much work on the house to get done right now … regular blogging will resume once this money pit releases me from it’s merciless clutches.
It’s for the children (don’t worry, the link ain’t of the naughty kind)!
My wife, breastfeeding our first son, was asked at one point to be a little more discreet – maybe do that in the privacy of a bathroom.
Would you eat lunch in a bathroom?
Many women where we used to live wouldn’t bat an eyelash getting cosmetic surgery, or having their naughty bits waxed, but they’d recoil at the sight of someone in a public place breastfeeding. I’m a firm believer that it makes for healthier children. Sure, some mothers can’t breastfeed. That’s sad, and they have to nourish their young ‘un however they can. Still, some – with possibly no other reason than embarrassment, prefer to give their babies what essentially amounts to a kiddie version of a protein shake because of the stigma surrounding the act of breastfeeding in a public place. That’s unfortunate.
