Hardspear back at the gym and sick of EMINEM

I started gym again this week. This morning I attended an ‘express abs’ class. The instructor was this pretty little thing and I thought that she was really cute. By the end of the session I was of the opinion that she is actually the Witch of Endor in disguise. My abdominal muscles have become totally unresponsive since an hour after the class. What bothers me, is the fact that the same fat old Ooms who attended the gym when I left 2 years ago, are still there and they are still fat. What baffles me, is that they can outlast and outcycle all the young people in the spinning class, but they have not slimmed down at all in two years! Am I going to waste my time at the gym? I am sooo sick of EMINEM. I used to like his music, but he got so stuck on his horrible mom, dickhead (missing) dad, fucking Kim and poor, poor Haley. It is all he seems to sing about. Dude, you have the worst anger issues. Dude...Let it go... Please...

Friends - 2

My friend Peaceful Ruler is very sporty. He is into canoeing, swimming, running and cycling. I asked him to give me a few pointers on swimming. Peaceful Ruler likes things to be perfect and constantly strives to do everything he does as perfect as possible. He is a very good teacher and I must admit that my swimming technique improved with leaps and bounds. He has the heart of a lion, but the body of a fox. Had he been tall with a larger frame, he would have been first in every sport he participates in. He is one of the most courageous people I know. He has drive and he starts what he finishes. Some people find him to be fussy. I tend to like quirky people however. I think it is because I generally have an aversion to the mundane. I use my comfort zone only to regroup and to prepare my next launch into the unknown. I find that if I stay in my comfort zone too long, someone moves my cheese. I rather prefer to move before that happens. Lamb are friends with Victorious People’s wife Rough Island, and with Peaceful Ruler’s wife, The Lord Increases. I also get along friends’ wives. We are fortunate in that sense. Many times one cannot stand your friends’ wives/husbands/partners. We have a saying in Afrikaans which literally translates to – we both ate seven bags of salt together – meaning we shared hardships. This is to a greater and lesser degree applicable to all 3 my best friends, Army Man, Victorious People and Peaceful Ruler. Francis Hodgson Burnett wrote in The Little Princess “My adversity tried you and proved how nice you are” or something to that effect. Real friends are those who stand by you when you suffer hardship – it is the old truth. It is not possible to express in words what Army Man has meant to me in my life. He is the one person who has always been there.

Splish Splash

I am training for the World’s Largest Open Water event, which is the Midmar Dam Mile in South Africa (February). Since last week, I have been doing a kilometre in the gym pool 3x a week. A mile is 1.6 kilometres long, so I have some training to do. Open water is also totally different from the gym pool. Our gym uses a salt water chlorinator, so one float more than in fresh water, which makes swimming easier. Reduced visibility and 10000000000000000000000 people thrashing and kicking next to you, in front of you, behind you, below you and on top of you complicates things further. I learned something new about myself with the previous attempt. The overcrowded conditions, poor visibility etc made me panic so much on my previous attempt, I had to get one of the life-boats to pick me up and take me out shortly after starting. I know I will be ready physically by February, but I will really have to concentrate on being ready mentally.