How amazing is life?

Not, probably, a question we ask ourselves every day. But perhaps we should. Someone posted this to facebook a while back and I read it and it really got me thinking.

When I took a metaphysics course maybe 10 years ago I learned about the probabilities of certain universal constants being as they are, and if they were slightly different then, say, matter could never form. I can’t remember the details. But it was enough to push me from complete atheism (the multiple universe theory never appealed to me; too wasteful, I feel the universe is more elegant than that) into a state where I believed that something (or –things) could possibly have created things in such a way that matter could form, and oxygen and water could form, and perhaps life as we know it could evolve. The notion that some all-powerful God would swoop down and answer the prayers of us little ants has always seemed egomaniacal in the extreme, even to me as a small child.

But at the end of the day, we don’t really know. We can’t know. That’s where faith comes in. Quantum physics is an amazing field of study. Google Schrodinger’s cat, if you’re not already familiar with the concept. I guess for me, it doesn’t really matter. You may dismiss things like universal consciousness and new age yoga stuff, and maybe it is all a bunch of hooey. But maybe it isn’t. It’s much harder to prove a negative now isn’t it? And that, my friends, is what makes life fun. If we had all the answers, or knew how things were going to turn out, then life would be pretty boring now wouldn’t it?

Of course the Type A in me thinks it would be quite cool to have lived back in the day when it was possible to know all the knowledge known to man (even if some of it was incorrect). I wonder how much of what we know today as fact is actually wrong? Or how many of the things we learned or were told as children are in fact incorrect (A calorie is a calorie! Whole grains are good for you! Coconut will make you fat! Soy is a health product!). Right?

But above and beyond how the universe works, it really is humbling to think that our chances of being born at all are so infinitesimal, and of living right now (as opposed to having our life be in the past already, or a potential future, should the earth last a few more generations) … it’s actually mind-blowing. You start talking about universal constants and you fall victim to the unknown victim cognitive bias … that concept is too big to wrap your head around. You start talking about the chances that you, yourself, were actually born (and how easily it could have been other than it is), and that’s when the magnitude of the matter actually sinks in.

So the next time you feel like your life sucks, or life is hard, consider the alternative. Not just that you could die tomorrow (because you never know), but that you might never have been born at all. We’re all so lucky to be alive, in all of our imperfections and talents and frailties. I don’t believe everyone is beautiful, inside or out. But we all have the potential to be beautiful, just as we all have the potential to be ugly. In some ways it does boil down to that devil on one shoulder, and angel on the other.

At the moment, my angel seems to be winning. I’m plowing through my to-do lists with wild abandon (ok I was a bit grouchy today at work), and I’m now almost an entire month without any sugar, dairy, grains, alcohol (eh, whatever, if it ain’t meat, fish, eggs, coconut, olive oil, a green vegetable, a seed, a herb, or something in my protein shake I probably haven’t eaten it). And, for the most part, I feel fine.

I am having a bit of a hard time getting my Heart work done because the hub is taking up all my time, just as we feared. So I’m considering taking some days or afternoons and working from home, so I can actually get stuff done without distractions.

This week also marked my not-so-awesome return to the Trail Series. Apparently while I may look like I wouldn’t be out of place at an Olympic event, my performance left a lot to be desired. The day before we had just done a ridiculously hectic thruster workout after heavy back squats (a thruster is a front squat where you then stand up and press the bar all the way overhead). I was using a heavier weight than normal and by the next day my legs felt like lead, and were sore. So I was having some of those moments like in dreams where you are trying to run and your legs aren’t moving … I was trying to run up hills and my legs were working against me rather than for me, and then my left calf started cramping, and then I hit the wall (probably the lack of high-starch carbs got to me after about the 20 minute mark).

I finished sixth, and was actually a few minutes slower than my time on the same course last year, which should tell you more than my place. If I’d even run the same time as last year I would have been second. So, I guess before my next race I won’t trash my legs the day before, and will eat a banana or two beforehand for the potassium & carbs.

But again on the subject of being lucky – as we were driving out of Silvermine one of my friends commented how lucky we were to have this as our form of exercise – out there, running in nature, in the fresh air. It is true; we are so lucky to be able to do it financially and physically. And yeah, I can enjoy myself completely and then later reflect how damn lucky I am, when probably someone my exact age with my exact IQ and potential is sitting in poverty somewhere in Khayelitsha, with no idea what Silvermine is.   

But hey, no one said life was fair, did they?

• “Come to love that cramping feeling in your abdomens.” – Chris (or words to that effect, I was a little bit in the middle of a workout at the time!)
• “That’s pretty sad, when they have to put you down just to make themselves look better.” – Jobst
• “I’m already addicted.” – Peter
• “OK I *am* sneaky like that.” – Jon
• “Maybe you can just focus better than I can.” – Keith
• “We do look pretty intimidating, I must say.” – Jon 

Nothing Much

I’m not at all sure that too much very interesting happened in the last few days. I revised pricing for the hub, and continued to try and right that ship. One of these weeks I hope to get back to my real job but in the meantime it’s quite fulfilling to see sh*t that was bothering me for months because it wasn’t being done either properly or at all finally get done.

I (well, actually Yaseera) found a graphic design intern so I’m now finally going to get my logos and layout work that I need to have done.

Heart Capital did get a big coup; I got a call Thursday night to let me know that one of our clients is giving a substantial chunk of change for us to a) hire a fundraiser for their project and b) for us to provide consulting on their project once it has been funded.

The heat wave went, came back, and is now gone again. The heat wave managed to cause my rear registration plate (license plate) to detach. If you recall, they are attached with double-sided tape. So I drove without a rear plate for nearly a week until I got around to going to the auto parts store, which was mainly only because I needed engine oil. What I love about South Africa is that I had police cars drive behind me several times, and even through a road block, with no one batting an eye. Next up, fix the fact that only one headlight is working!

Thursday was a rest day. I had dinner with Charlotte in Kalk Bay, which was lovely, especially because it was cool and cloudy down that side. I swear, I have never in my life been as happy to see grey skies as I was Friday morning.

The plants do seem to like the heat. I have about a million tomato seedlings (but none of the peppers sprouted, sadly), and a lot of flowers are blooming around town. When I was a kid, my mother will recall that I loved hibiscus flowers. I used to insist that we buy them from the local nursery, only to have them die eventually (probably because hibiscuses are not well suited to growing indoors in Vermont). But here there are all sorts of hibiscus trees and bushes, mostly in red or pink with red centres.

Also the frangipanis are doing really well this year. I don’t remember them being so very full of blooms last year. It’s interesting what you note from year to year, especially living in a new part of the world. I saw North American daylilies the other day and it kind of made my day. I really want to smuggle in some peonies once I have a place to grow them.

Friday a fun gymnastics workout then an interval-training style strength conditioning workout with nose-to-wall handstand pushups, strict pullups (band-assisted in my case because we had to do 3 sets of 10 unbroken), and 15 burpees onto a weight-plate (competition-style). These are way more hectic than normal burpees!

Friday night stopped in at the Waterfront for a friend’s birthday. Got roundly made fun of for neither eating nor drinking (hey a diet’s a diet, and a paleo challenge is a paleo challenge). Good news I suppose is that I’ve been dropping weight FAST and it’s not muscle so far as I can tell. I didn’t actually weigh myself on New Years Day but from my weigh-in for the Christmas workout I am now down about 5kgs (11 pounds). And THAT, my friends, is what three weeks without sugar will do for you.

Saturday dropped Mona at the airport, did my shopping at the Biscuit Mill (the only hard part was choosing just what kind of meat to start eating, now that my three weeks of fish and eggs is over!), and went to CCF open gym. Was excited to practice muscle-ups for the first time in about three months due to my side injury. Got over the rings on my first attempt, but it wasn’t pretty. Had two failures then ripped my wrist in the false grip. Note to self: taping for muscle-ups is not like taping for general wrist protection. So I finished off the day with some snatches, where apparently I need to learn to be more patient. Imagine that.

Acupuncture (started off hectic then I relaxed, so it wound up being quite chilled), more shopping, a big lunch, then up to Big Bay for some beach time. That was cool if a bit windy (makes sense I guess, as that’s where all the surfers and kite surfers go).

I really am feeling like quite a hermit still; there were a couple of great parties and performances Saturday night but I just wasn’t in the mood. You almost have to drag me out, although once I’m out I’m fine. I was happy enough to go out Sunday night (all depends on who asks you I suppose, and who you want to see vs who you might be happy enough to avoid).

And on another note, the Patriots are going to the Super Bowl, in a rematch with the New York Giants. This game, unlike the one last week, I firstly watched live because it was early enough local time that I could do that. There is just something different about watching a game live than on tape delay, especially when it’s a close game and you know that the rest of ‘Patriots Nation’ is watching as well. There’s a certain inter-connectedness to sports fans. Strange, isn’t it, that team association? Well, I guess not actually.

This game was not pretty. The team didn’t play well and in all honesty I thought their opponents may have deserved the win more: the shocker of the game was when the Ravens missed a field goal with seconds left that would have sent the game to overtime. A win is a win is a win, but this one doesn’t fill you with confidence.

You know who usually doesn’t win? People who are scared they are going to lose, and people who underestimate their opponents. 

• “The only way you get three times as strong as them is to have a strong head.” – Charlotte
• “She’s really just a big softie.” – Jeremy
• “If you don’t kill yourself first, underneath some massive weight.” – Jeremy (my epitaph is better than his – he was going with ‘Here lies Ellie, she was a nice person.’ I much preferred ‘Here lies Ellie, she severely overestimated her 1 rep max’)
• “No rep!” – Chris (he was having a particularly strict Friday, it was awesome)
• “Just never cheat again. I mean, why must we put that sh*t in our bodies?” “Well, you say that, but I’m not sure I could imagine never having malva pudding again.” *pause* “Yeah, malva pudding is good hey….” – Mona & Ellie
• “In the context of paleo, he asked ‘Is it ok to take dairy if I don’t eat any carbs?’” – Roland (I don’t even know where to begin!)
• “I don’t care if that’s unreasomable. I have what I want and if I don’t get it, fuck it.” – Sam
• “There’s a lot of guys here who all look the same!” – Lauren 

Winning

Call me a princess (it’s been done. Recently.) but this heat wave is not for me. I know, I know, I live in Africa but Cape Town is generally quite temperate, even sometimes cold. This 33-37 degree weather (92-98F) is just atrocious. I was not built for hot weather; give me an outdoor track workout in freezing rain and I’ll be happy (after I finish whining about how much time it takes to warm up).

Aside from the heat wave we’ve been mired in since Sunday, I’ve been doing ok. Had a minor illness brought on, I’m sure, by the detox because I don’t get sick when I’m eating properly and I’ve most definitely been eating properly. I wasn’t quite 100% when doing the CCF baseline workout du jour Monday morning, so those overhead squats were even more of a pain in the neck than usual. But my brain wasn’t affected at work, and I was fine by Tuesday. Better than fine, actually, I feel much like I did at the start of the detox with super energy levels (at least I start off the day that way then the heat and dehydration gets to me!).

Lots of minor victories this week:

• Firstly, the Patriots won their game against the Broncos in decisive fashion. Tim Tebow … who?? Apparently they hadn’t won a playoff game in 4 years, since before Brady’s knee injury (and that perfect season marred in the Super Bowl, which killed my love of football for about 2 years … and there’s a good chance of a Pats/Giants rematch this year!).
• Three new hub members started on one day (we’ve already tripled revenues from December, and we haven’t even launched our marketing or event sales campaigns yet).
• Got the hub team tasks assigned, with dates, and we’re plowing through our deliverables, including a big one for me which was to review the pricing and packaging of our offering (thank you Babson for turning what could have been a scary undertaking into something quite manageable).
• Feedback from the rest of the team is amazing – I love working with them and they love working with me and my leadership style. To a certain degree I don’t care because I’d always rather get stuff done than be popular, but to another degree of course I definitely do care what others think of me, firstly, and secondly, I know that a happy team is a better-performing team. Luckily what we’re doing is straightforward enough that one does not have to choose.
• Managed to front squat 2 sets at 60kgs Tuesday morning for 5 reps (last week I maxed out at 65 for 3 reps, so this is an improvement). The overall strength gains I am seeing are amazing … so happy J
• Brought Tallan (Mandy & Peter’s son, and an intern at Heart now) to CrossFit on Tuesday. Much hilarity ensued between his discussion of the intensity of the workout and the amazing bodies he was seeing around the gym … when we got back and he was relaying stories of it I swear to God I was laughing so hard I was crying for a good five minutes. I can’t remember the last time I laughed that hard.
• Oh yeah, and I killed that particular workout … I only wish I hadn’t been quite so dehydrated going in, I wanted another half round at least. This performance amazed Tallan more than anything: “You did 6 rounds! I did 2 ½! And I was using a lighter weight!.” (made up for it by sub-par performances on Monday and Wednesday but hey at least I got two good workouts in the middle!).
• Began to discuss registration details for our growing empire. I wonder who’s Pinky and who’s The Brain in this equation…
• Last but not least, my mule arrived from America with three new pairs of Inov8s (in colours you can’t get over here), rings, more New Skin, and some books (one on anatomy, the other on paleo). Kind of like a CrossFitter’s wet dream. Really, who needs Santa when you have Amazon and The Shoe Mart?

Things are marching along. As much as I do find the new year concept a bit contrived, 2012 really does feel different and in a really good way. Onwards and upwards!

•  “It looks like a concentration camp for vegetables, if you must know.” – Peter
• “The gym is air conditioned, right?” “Um … no.” “You’re kidding, right?” “Um … no.” – Tallan & Ellie
• “Every workout that I’ve ever done was not even half the warmup.” – Tallan
• “Not that I was checking up on you or anything.” – Peter
• “I definitely took the red pill.” – Jeff 

Judgement

I did an incredibly hard thing this morning. I went to yoga, which I do to train my mental muscle more so than my physical body and wow was there a mental challenge waiting for me. With yoga what I find challenging isn’t the movements where you must move, because I’m in pretty good shape. Rather it’s the ones where you must remain still and that stillness burns, and burns deep.

Today after a series of postures of, while seated, holding our arms at 60 degree angles for extended periods of time we had the kicker – holding our arms horizontal, parallel to the ground, palms down and slightly cupped. For 10 minutes.

Now as you might imagine this wasn’t a physical exercise. You can always keep your arms up another few seconds. But boy after about 6 minutes this was very challenging for me, and my right arm started to shake quite violently as my poor central nervous system got a bit confused. I was even thinking to myself every excuse in the book …. I don’t feel so good from the people smoking at the braai last night, I don’t want to strain my shoulders too much before tomorrow’s overhead squats, oh it would be so much easier to put my arms down now.

But I didn’t. I’m proud to say that I knew this was a mental test, I knew I could do it, and furthermore that I’d be pretty mad at myself the whole day if I didn’t. Just like I’m still mad at myself for putting the bar down in my round of 9 thrusters last time I did Fran. Some things you just don’t forget.

But what is that really but a form of judgement? I judge myself that I did well this morning, and that I stuck to my diet for 15 days now despite temptation, peer pressure, whatever. I judge myself ill that I planned to do some work today and I didn’t, and I’m unprepared for tomorrow morning’s 11am meeting. The list goes on. Is this a good thing or a bad thing, judging ourselves?

I recently read a fascinating opinion piece about race andracism in South Africa. I think the analysis is spot-on and reminds me of a similar awareness I came to in America. You just absolutely cannot put yourself into the shoes of someone else with a different skin colour. As much as I might try to understand, I have to accept that I really just can’t. Even trying to come to grips with this is hard, especially in a country like South Africa where the legacy of apartheid has not just left a disproportionate amount of wealth in the hands of the white minority but poor schools and class-based segregation continue to perpetuate race-based inequality.

Now me, I fancy myself a pretty open-minded person. I try to judge people by how they act and what they are capable of, not by the colour of their skin. However, I’m also a self-admitted intellectual snob. I like the people I associate with to be smart: not necessarily well-educated, but capable of rational, logical thought and stimulating conversation. Boredom kills me, and lack of stimulation = boredom.

However, as Malcolm Gladwell taught us in Blink, we all form snap judgments. All the time. Stereotypes aren’t there because we’re bad people, they’re there because we need to form mental shortcuts because we are imperfect human beings with imperfect brains.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: it’s not actually what someone does that matters, it’s the intent behind it. If someone at work doesn’t drop everything to do something I want done, I could (and sometimes do) get annoyed. But hey, I’m the centre of my universe not of theirs. At the end of the day, what matters less is someone’s current ability or achievements, what is more important is how much effort they are putting in. Not how our society often sees it, though.

Again I’ll use a CrossFit analogy because I can. When you’re starting out, maybe you can’t do pullups. Maybe you can’t use the recommended weight (certainly when I started I could do neither). You reduce the workload to your current capacity. Work hard, get stronger, build up to it. Don’t show up, or don’t try, or half-ass the other parts (diet, sleep) that are required to be great: well then expect the results you get.

And THAT is what I hate about the legacy of apartheid. It’s controversial, sure, and not universally true. But under apartheid, blacks and coloureds were specifically put down and told they would never amount to anything. You say that enough to anyone and they start to believe it (the reverse is also true by the way, so thank you to my parents, and to St Paul’s, and to my wonderful mentors at Ask Jeeves, Exit41, and now, and to my coaches at CCF). Now, that legacy lives on in a dirty, vile way: many people believe they can’t, and so they don’t try. Or, it’s easier to ask for a handout than it is up upskill yourself.

Combine that with the highest Gini co-efficient in the world, a decent amount of class-based guilt, and a charity- rather than social enterprise-driven culture and you get a large mass of people who have no inclination to work hard if they think they can just trick you into giving them something for nothing. This is South Africa’s curse. From what I hear, other African countries do not have this problem, to the same extent. But no problem is insurmountable; you must just understand intrinsic motivations of the individual and certain other aspects of behavioural psychology and actually put some thought into it.

But don’t expect everyone to react like you. Everyone is not you. And don’t expect everyone to drop everything for what seems to you should be their top priority. Most people are doing a lot of things, probably too many things, and suck at saying no. So smile and be grateful. That’s what I try to do, at least. It’s sure as hell not always easy.

Just the other day, Mona and I were talking about judgmental people (which in itself was a judgement), and we then proceeded to engage in gossip and judgement about some others. F*ck it’s easy to be holier than thou and on a moral high horse but really, we all do live in glass houses right?

But still. Everything matters. A re-post because this wisdomreally is that good. Here’s an excerpt:

“Imagine yourself standing on a long path.  At the end of this path is your goal.  Obviously you want to walk down the path towards your goal and here’s how you get there.  Dozens of times a day you are faced with decisions and these decisions will dictate whether you walk towards your goal or take a step away from it.  Make the choice to lift heavy today and take a step towards your goal.  Skip the workout and take a step back.  THERE IS NO STANDING STILL on this path.  Every decision, and every moment of your life, you are either taking one step closer or one step farther from your goal.”

Been on a rest period (rested Wednesday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday). Thursday’s workout was quite fun, 3 sets of 5 back squats at 80% of our max (which happened to be exactly my bodyweight), and Chris came along to make a major adjustment to how I was holding the bar. Then we did a workout with walking lunges and overhead squats, which was a nice tune-up for tomorrow’s workout. I still struggle with the overhead squats but practice makes perfect.

There was a CrossFit Level 1 certification going on at our gym this weekend so I went to dinner with the two out-of-country trainers HQ flew in (one was from Finland and the other from the UK). Carne, of course. This caused my one unintentional cheat on my detox because I ordered sweetbreads assuming they were the easiest thing to digest on the menu besides liver and neglected to ask if they were breaded. Stupid. But considering how late it was by the time the men had decided what they wanted to order (I swear, I’d never seen people so excited over meat before. It’s like they don’t have it in Europe or something …. I mean I know it doesn’t taste as good and costs 3-4x as much but still … hehe).

Had a mini-Mindscape workshop Friday and an incredibly hectic acupuncture session Saturday. Yowzers. I had to sit and chat to Kim about qigong for a while afterwards before I felt safe enough to drive. But this diet has spurred me to expand my shopping repertoire and I have discovered a cool fish shop in Woodstock where you can buy any kind of fresh fish and they will fillet it right in front of you, and a kitchen store where they not only have drool-worthy knives but also an impressive spice collection. Will be good for once the weather is cool enough to make soups and stews.

Saturday evening was quite amusing as I went to a braai for my friend Deon who just landed a permanent job at Amazon (20,000 applications and 200 eventual hires – so there!). I had a chuckle on the way in because Somerset West is one of the few places I’ve been where you speak to the guards in English, with an American accent, and they reply in Afrikaans. I was doing ok until they started giving directions to the house and then I had to break down and admit I didn’t actually understand everything they were saying. I unexpectedly wound up also learning a thing or two at that braai because Deon’s cousin recently joined a powerlifting gym, so you can imagine what we talked about (yep, my back squat and how to improve it).

Now to see if I can’t finish up my birthday email to my wonderful brother Cyrus, who turns 30 today. What a wonderful gift to the world that man is. If I had to put together a dream team of doers to start a company or change the world, he’d be pretty damn near the top of my list. I think he’s got 20+ IQ points on me and is nicer than my self-centred *ss could ever hope to be. Hope you have a great day, rock star, and that your next decade of life brings light and love to the people around you.

• “I’m f*cking giddy.” – Karl
• “I might cry.” – Karl
• “If you want to be a champion, you must eat, sleep, and act like a champion.” – Mona 

Work, training, football, and the New Hampshire Primary

So far, work has been like CrossFit. One of my goals for the first week I accomplished on day 1, and another on day 2 (getting a PIN code system installed on the phones and getting Google Apps set up for the new domain for our non-profit, respectively).

Day 3 was exciting not because I was able to do what I had originally planned (which is fix up the content on the web site) but because I met with the teamsters who will comprise the core Hub team going forward and I think we have both a good mix of skills and competencies, and are all excited to actually build this into a business. I’ve often thought I might one day wind up a turnaround specialist. It’s easier in some ways than being an entrepreneur, and harder in others. In the meantime until we raise funding to ramp up the consulting business, that’s what I’m up to and it feels great.

Very up-and-down week physically. I re-strained my back a bit at yoga on Sunday. Not bad, but enough that I had to bow out of the prescribed CrossFit workout which was 5 rounds of 20 burpees and 20 toes-to-bar. It was a close one though, my pride kept getting in the way (injury? What injury?) but eventually I manned up and decided to play it safe. I’m glad I did, and I actually think my workout was harder (we subbed wall balls for toes-to-bar). Wall balls are one of the exercises I struggle with, and unlike toes-to-bar where you ‘get’ to wait for your grip or abs to recover you can always just pick up that ball again, so mine was actually quite a cardio intense workout. My first 20 burpees took me 49 seconds, my second set about 70. Yeah. But GOOD FUN.

Tuesday, I was severely lacking explosive strength in the morning (wonder if my legs were a bit tired maybe), but had fun doing clean drops, a few other things, and then some sets of front squats working up to 65kgs for 3 reps. Not bad since my 1 rep max from a while back is 70. What’s happening now is what always happens when I come back from an extended period of rest … once I get back into shape my strength SHOOTS up. Not that I plan on being injured for an extended period again; that’s one of my goals for this year.

Then in the evening at CrossFit did hang power clean technique work, and then did a grip-killer barbell sequence called The Bear. I had originally planned to get into the 40s but my ‘warmup’ set at 38 was appropriately challenging so I put on two more kgs only. I should have gone for 43; sigh. But it was still a PR by quite a ways …. Not actually sure what my old PR was and I’m sure as heck not looking back through my old paper-based system to find out.

So all was well until Wednesday when due to insufficient sleep the night before (was up late watching a downloaded version of the epic Steelers-Broncos game), I was feeling lethargic and then downright ill in the afternoon. Decided not to train but rather to go super hard tomorrow, and then take the next three days off (scheduled rest cycle, part of the above-mentioned not-getting-injured goal). Not sure if it was just the lack of sleep or possibly I’m far enough into the detox now because I’m starting to feel some strange things.

While we’re on the subject of football: I love football. I love football like almost nothing else on this planet. While I can understand the appeal of a test cricket match or the manly blood-and-gore that is rugby, and hey my sport is CrossFit, there is just nothing that I know of that combines the strategy of test cricket with the excitement of basketball. I miss a lot of things about America sometimes: friends & family, crocuses in the spring, autumn, the sparkle of street lamps on newly fallen snow, the sound of a snow plow clearing the road while you’re falling asleep, sailing on the Fourth of July, Dunkin Donuts, Whole Foods, cheap mobile phone plans, turkey burgers, ice hockey, and, well, football. I JUST love it.

What I don’t love are the NFL overtime rules. How it used to be was that the team that won the coin toss got the ball and it was sudden death. You score, you win. Touchdown, field goal, touch-back, it doesn’t matter. Now in college ball, each team gets one possession. Team A scores a touchdown, cool, Team B gets a chance to do the same. Now let me tell you that led to some tremendously exciting games: I seem to recall one Cal game going to five overtimes while the crowd was practically orgasmic with excitement. You can imagine, without even having to be there.

So we were watching this game and the Steelers manage to come back from a huge deficit to tie the game, then the announcers make this whole huge deal about how this is the first time in NFL history with the new overtime rules (we were a bit out of the loop over here and had no idea that there even WERE new overtime rules….). They were hyped as ‘no sudden death’ until they get into the fine print: it’s not sudden death unless a) the defense scores (fair enough), or b) the offense scores a touchdown. HELLO; WHY? And what on earth is wrong with the college rules? Shoot if one team scores a touchdown it’s more exciting to see the other team try and match that. Getting a touchdown in one drive is an appropriately challenging thing to do; doing so with a sword hanging over your neck, especially in the playoffs, well, you get my gripe. Funnily enough (or sadly enough, for a Pats fan, I would have much rather played the Steelers), the Broncos got a touchdown on their first damn play of overtime. Game was over like 8 seconds into OT. Good on them for the play, but I think the new rule is no better than the old rule.

Been feeling particularly nostalgic recently for a number of reasons. One is a cat. Another is the New Hampshire Primary. Kind of like a night football game on a late October evening, the New Hampshire Primary is like nothing else I know of in politics. For those that don’t know, the American Presidential candidates are chosen by the registered party members in a pre-election called the Presidential Primary. Not all states vote at once, and the states that vote earlier tend to narrow down the candidates because the ones who don’t do so well tend to drop out (no one wants to vote for a loser, after all). Due to historical quirks there is something called the Iowa Caucuses which is the first test, and the New Hampshire Primary is the second.

Some people hate it because it gives New Hampshire’s voters an unfair weighting compared to most other voters. While as a Massachusetts resident I was slightly resentful of the fact that my neighbours to the north (some of whom were co-workers; I worked about 25 minutes south of the border) had their votes count more than mine, as a political spectator I love it. It prevents what would happen in a national primary where the richest or most well-known name is much more likely to win than an upstart candidate. It forces the politicians to hobnob with the people. I myself, in high school, saw such things as Lamar Alexander on my high school stage, shook hands with Bill Clinton, and watched Pat Buchanan behind closed doors with his winter boots up on a table dripping slush, bitching about something or other and chowing pizza and Coke. Then again, I just like elections. The all-nighters, the media circus, the security details, the fun of seeing what you were working on as front-page news.

Oh yeah. Mitt Romney won. Still don't care for that chameleon.

If only I liked politicians as much as I liked the fun of the competition. I haven’t quite figured out yet if I like winning more when I have to put myself out there and risk losing (and winning is almost a relief), or if I like winning more when I’m rooting for someone else and I’m a supporting player. Like chocolate and vanilla I suppose. Love them both but when it comes down to it, I sure as heck do have a favourite. And I thereby answered my own question.

• “Set higher goals.” – Tom
• “Well you don’t need to generate money with your power clean.” – Roland
• “Yeah I knew I smelled wheat.” – Ellie
• “Yeah, it’s called the stupid gene.” – Roland
• “People are just completely lazy asses. Except for some people.” – Jobst

Playtime's over

And I don’t just mean vacation. I was telling Peter the other night that I set out some strength goals for myself for the first quarter, hit two of them on day 2 and came pretty damn close to a third on day 6. This is how 2012 is going for me so far, and I have a strong suspicion work is going to be similar. I’ve never been more ready to back to work in my life. Then again, I’m not sure I’ve ever taken a three week stay-cation in my life either!

Wrapped up the second half of the week similar to the first: a morning CrossFit session where I had another mental fail in a heavy back squat, after which we played around with handstand walks and forward flips (I still can’t do either!), then taped movement standards for Fittest in Cape Town, an experiment in kinesiology, a morning session at Virgin Active (quote of the morning: “Do you lift for a team?” … that place is hilarious), brunch with Roland at Sandbar, a meeting that was supposed to be about a social enterprise startup and wound up being about Anglo American’s community empowerment strategy then gardening. This then inspired me to go to the garden shop and plant some seeds, so my patio now has way more on it than my apartment does in it.

A movie (no dinner); Moneyball (well, ok I did eat dinner which almost caused me to be late but a girl’s gotta have priorities right?), a sleep in, more steamed veggies, an afternoon CrossFit session that included the easiest strict pullup I’d ever done and a couple rounds of Cindy, then a sleepover at Mona’s.

I’d say we are officially in the dog days of summer now when by 9am it’s already hot (over 30, aka about 86F). But yet I’m more active than ever. This weekend was particularly so: woke up, went to the Biscuit Mill to buy fish and veggies, went to Transfit to do some squat snatch technique work (my receiving position sucks, so I need to practice this a lot), to Cape CrossFit to do a metcon, to acupuncture (which was bliss … fell asleep on the table completely still within 10 minutes), home for shower and food, to De Waal Park for a brief check-in on a friend’s birthday, to my physio, to a fish braai, and finally home to bed.

Sunday: back to yoga for the first time in ages. It felt easier than before, physically, probably both due to my being in better shape and my daily mobility work. Then to the Sunbird Bistro for brunch with Keith, talking training with Chris from 360, beach (the water was particularly cold!), home to shower, eat, off to The Twelve Apostles to read in the hammocks, home via Hout Bay due to traffic, dinner, and off to Big Bay to watch American football playoffs with Jon Jon.

A couple of interesting things. Firstly, I enjoyed Moneyball because it took place in Oakland, and I know the Oakland Coliseum relatively well, so that was quite cool. But there was also a scene where Billy Beane goes to Boston because the Red Sox try and recruit him. It was interesting to observe my emotions when seeing these images: pangs of nostalgia, almost homesickness, combined with a very strong feeling that I did not want to live there again, although I was very glad I did. Also, seeing Fenway Park like that; I’m not sure if it’s the Bostonian in me or the American in me but that place has a strong emotional pull. There’s some serious history there, and to baseball (even though I don’t much care for baseball, to be honest).

Also it contained this great sequence:

Billy Beane: “Would you rather get one shot in the head or five in the chest and bleed to death?”

Peter Brand: “Are those my only two options?”

How’s that for thinking different, right?

Second, on Saturday I did something that I am not sure I have ever done before which is stop in the middle (well not quite the middle) of a CrossFit workout. I was doing a long metcon that I’d done a year prior, just for fun, and I was already concerned that it was too long to make a lot of sense as conditioning but I wanted to do it, as I said, for fun. But after about 25 minutes I just literally bonked … hadn’t had anything to eat yet that day and it got to a certain point and I realised that continuing would do me more harm than benefit, so I finished the round I was on and called it a day. Sometimes you have to do that. Lesson learned.

Aside from that, the detox diet (which is shockingly similar to a vegetarian diet with fish ….) is going really well. I still have some cravings but my mind is way tougher than my cravings and I’m feeling absolutely fantastic. Strong, and full of energy. I will need those high-starch veggies back sooner than later but I’m amazed that it’s been 8 days of pretty solid training and I haven’t yet felt like my body has NEEDED meat. But, as with anything, I take it day by day …. My intention is to go three weeks without meat but as above, rules are meant to be broken if your body tells you so.

So it feels good not to be messing around.  

• “Making dreams come true … that’s what it’s all about.” – Anton
• “What, so the workout doesn’t start until we all take our shirts off?” – Ellie (my first 7am class in a while…)
• “…no artificial sugars of any kind…” “Are avos allowed?” – J.P. & Richie
• “He says that he can see that I’m not the kind of person who’s gonna f*ck around.” – Mona
• “I think you can be really good. And I know this because I’m your friend.” – Mona
• “Playtime’s over.” – Peter
• “The important thing is that you’re training, and I can tell that you love it.” – Chris
• “When was the last time you saw that on Clifton beach?” “Yesterday. Oh, I see …” – Ellie & Keith