dance alternatives.

For the past few months I have been taking a cardio belly dancing class at the gym. This past Friday, much to my dismay, I discovered that my belly dancing class was cut. ca-put. nada. o-v-e-r. They didn’t even give us a few week’s notice. The class was up and running the week before and this past Friday, it was no longer in existence. To add insult to injury, all the cardio and fitness classes were cut from 60 minutes to 45 minutes. How the hell am I supposed to get my yoga on in 45 minutes?! What the fuck is up with that Bally Total Fitness?! Naturally, I wrote a very strongly worded letter to the powers-that-be. Of course, they’ll never read it and they won’t give a shit. But at least I said my piece.

In other news last week, my dear friend Ana celebrated her 31st birthday last Thursday. For those of you who don’t know her, I’ve known Ana since high school! We were on yearbook staff together and ended up going to UCSB together. We even lived together while in college. Yeah. Those were the days when our household would get up early on Saturday morning to clean the house. Those were also the days I would cook and pack lunches for my housemates during finals week. Boy were we nerds!


This was taken during my 31st birthday at Zebulon.

Anyway… to help Ana celebrate the big 3-1, some friends of hers set up a gathering at Maxwell’s in Oakland. Thursday nights is salsa night. They offer free lessons from 8-9pm and then it’s live band and DJ for the rest of the night. My roomie Jen and I didn’t stroll in til about 10pm, so we missed the lessons. But it was nice sitting back, having a drink and watching other people dance. Though I love to dance, I have no idea how to salsa and realized that I am in need of some salsa basics. A really nice guy named Saddiq (not sure how spell his name, but this is how is sounded) took pity on my poor soul and brought me to the floor for a song. According to Saddiq, anyone can dance the merengue, so when they played some merengue, he dragged my pitiful ass on the dance floor. It was pretty easy and I thought I caught on pretty nicely… until my big mouth had to say, “You’re not gonna spin me around, are you?” Saddiq’s reply? “Oh yes I am!” Cest la vie. All I could do was twirl in my merengue best and hope for the end of the song. I think I laughed hysterically more than I twirled. Thank heaven he was a good sport!

Anyway… with the cancellation of my belly dancing class and my sudden curiosity for salsa dancing, I decided to sign up for lessons at the Silliman Center near my sister’s house. Yup. That’s my personal summer indulgence. I’ve decided to trade my horrible eating out tendencies in exchange for some dance lessons. $71 later, I have six weeks (4 salsa sessions and 6 belly dance sessions) worth of dance lessons. I figure that’s a pretty good price considering dance studios cost a fortune (if you think I’m getting ripped off, you’ll let me know, right?). Letting go of my eating out habits suck, but it’s forcing me to save money, cook more and pack my food, which is nice. It’s also teaching me the difference between social eating and eating for fuel. It’s a slow process, but I’m still learning.

A small portion of my day today was devoted to mapping out my new dance schedule, which officially starts in July when I get back from Calgary. In the meantime, I’m doing 4 weeks worth of drop-in belly dance classes. Dolian (my teacher at the gym) will also teach these classes, so I should be right at home. The exciting part is that I get to learn how to use zils (finger cymbals)! heh!

I also mapped out my workout schedule and I’ve decided that I’d like to get back into the CrossFit swing, but I’m just going to do it much less – around three times a week as opposed to 4-5 times a week. I think my body just isn’t feeling it anymore. But I need the strength and conditioning. Oh well… I’m also back to spinning and will try to throw some fight classes in the mix.

I’m trying to get healthy again. Wish me luck!

hating my body.

i've been hating my body a lot lately. i haven't been working out they way i usually do. these days, i'm lucky to get to the gym three days a week. such a shame because i really could lose some weight! plus, this is the season to get healthy because the weather is is beautiful!

i think i'm just getting really frustrated with the CrossFit system. the workouts have been getting tougher, which i don't mind. however, they've been so out of touch and pointless for me lately. do i really want to row 500 meters 5 times in a row?! err. um. not really. also, i'm just coming to terms with the fact that there are certain olympic-style weightlifting movements that i just don't want to do. that's right. don't want to. not can't do, but don't want to do. i'm losing my workout edge and it sucks. and when i don't work out, my body is out of whack. i can't even get up in the morning because i really have no reason to. UGH!

i hate my body. i hate these workouts. i really need to get in to something new. UGH.

CrossFit One World W.O.T.D.

Warm-up
N/A

WOD
Complete the following for time:
Row 500m
21 kettlebell swings (M:35#/W:25#)
21 knees to elbows
Row 750m
15 kettlebell swings
15 knees to elbows
Row 1000m
9 kettlebell swings
9 knees to elbows

CrossFit One World W.O.T.D.

Warm-up
N/A

WOD
Complete four rounds for time of:
Run 400m
20 medicine ball 10' wall throws (20 each arm)
20 d-ball slams

the scouts are calling....

[updated to include full story]

My sister sent me this story about my nephew. The Scouting News, an online hockey magazine posted a story about Nikko. You have to subscribe to get the full story, but here it is via some magic resources!

Theo Tydingco
Can Tydingco beat the small defenseman odds?
Santa Clara Blackhawks BAA 1993 born defenseman Theo Tydingco has the tools NCAA and WHL scouts want. He is well schooled fundamentally solid defenseman who is described by scouts as a winner on and off the ice. There is only one weakness to the youngster’s game. Size. Will it prevent him from bigger and better things at the next level of hockey?

"Played this year for Santa Clara Blackhawks BAA team prior year SCBH PWAA team that won nationals," says one reliable source. "In peewee he was the best defenseman in California no contest."

This year the competition caught up with the youngster a bit.

"This year he was solid but he is medium in size (5'7" tops)," says the source who hopes the youngster grows.

Tydingco does have a lot of great tools.

"He is a fast skater, smart player, good hands, good shot and dangerous on the ice because he sees the ice very well," says the source. "Definitely will be a force this year at BAAA. Best defenseman in NORCAL in my opinion and probably top five in the state."

Tydingco comes from an excellent hockey family.

His father is described as a hockey fanatic who is easy to deal with off the ice.


This is a photo of Nikko when he turned the big 1-4.

The story cracks me up because Nikko is 5'7" with his skates on. But yes, we hope he grows too. In case you're wondering, Nikko just made it to the next round for a USA selects team. He goes to New York for those tryouts. The family is still exploring their hockey options for next year because as the article says, he is entering the next phase of competition. He starts high school in the fall and from what I gather, it's a whole new ball (or shall I say puck) game.

Outside of his hockey life, Nikko is a 4.0 student. He still enjoys coming home to eat rice and longanisa, listens to the Rex Navarette CDs I gave him, and looks forward to halo-halo in the summer (no, the ice shavings are not from the rink - ew!) and his auntie Joy's shrimp patties!

i deserve an award....

There should be some kind of award for people like me. Only a damn genius like myself can manage to sprain her ankles not once, not twice, but THREE TIMES in less than one year. The first happened last August when I was walking out of my favorite restaurant, Semo Sushi. There is a weird dip right outside their door, which they tried to cover up with a carpet. But my shoe and my feet's tendency to over pronate caught the bad end of the dip and I fell down and sprained my ankle. This was a really bad sprain that put me out for over a month.

The second happened in February, right before Valentine's Day. Finally, yesterday was the third time I sprained my ankle. I was working in San Francisco and as I was crossing the street, my shoe caught the bad end of a pothole of sorts and BAM! I landed flat on my ass in the middle of downtown San Francisco (right in front of the fcuk store. fcuk is right!). Did anyone bother to stop and see if I was okay? Absolutely not. Fcukin' San Francisco! Oddly enough, I wasn't embarrassed. I was angry because its my THIRD ankle sprain in NINE months! What the hell is this? What do the ankle gods have against me?! And why do they always strike when I'm ready to go full throttle on my workouts?! UGH! (Note: This time I sprained my left ankle. At least the ankle gods are kind enough to have these sprains alternate: left ankle, right ankle, left ankle.)

My chriropractor suggested I do a shoe check. Since I'm an over pronator, I have to check the wear and tear on my shoes because the outside soles tend to wear out pretty quickly. When that happens, my ankles are more prone to turn in and BAM! I fall on my ass and sprain my ankles. I'm going to finish my shoe check tonight. I already had to throw away my favorite slippers (because they were worn way way down). Plus, I invested in a pair of casual tennies to help me recover. My right ankle (from the February sprain) isn't 100%. I'm used to being really fexible, and (now) with both ankles recovering, the fexibility issues are really getting to me. Anyway....

It's no secret that I've been slacking on my training. With Gladys in town and the various get-togethers and catching up sessions, I tend to get lazy and completely slack on my workouts. So I've been lazy for the past two weeks. But last Friday I mapped out my workouts and have been mapping out my meal plans and actually cooking. I'm realizing that I need to take my health seriously and stop making lame excuses. Small steps are better than no steps.

So I was completely psyched about training on Monday. But Sunday's fall screwed that up. On the bright side, I can walk and the sprain isn't as bad as the previous two. There's minor swelling and pain. I should be up and running (or more appropriately, walking) by Wednesday. I thought I'd push it by taking a walk today, but common sense set in and I realized that it's better to rest for two days than be out for a month because I was being stupid. So anyway....

Yes, there should be an award for people like me.