Pneumatised!

Okay, I swore I wasn’t going to watch anymore Survivor (instead I was hankering for some hockey action). Aside from the challenges, there really isn’t anything that interesting about a bunch of strangers stranded together. If anything, I found most Survivor players to be a little… well, I guess flakey is too harsh a word, but I’m lacking the right word.

Out of curiosity though, I decided to watch the first episode of this season’s Survivor in Guatemala. Of course, they decided to pull a twist in the very first episode in classic Survivor fashion with a little bit of the unexpected. The unexpected, in case you hadn’t heard yet, was the return of Stephenie LaGrossa and Bobby Jon Drinkard to the game of Survivor (yes, the last two Survivors of the demolished Ulong tribe on Survivor Palau). Stephenie was the only survivor of her tribe defeating Bobby Jon in an individual challenge, but couldn’t break through tight alliances in the merged tribe to make it to final two with Tom Westman. Now she’s back for another attempt to win a million bucks. (Please see my review of last season’s Survivor.) So far, she’s doing better this time trying to hold her team together and hoping they don’t get demolished like last time. As for me, I’m hoping the best for her (not that I don’t like Bobby Jon who’s on the opposing tribe as her). Up to now, no one’s thinking of voting her off and she’s managed to get rid of some of her female competition (who frankly weren’t doing much in challenges anyway), so we’ll see if she really has control of the game. Still a long way to a merge. I can’t wait to see what happens. Go, Stephenie, go! You have my vote for the million bucks (since I can’t vote for myself anyway).

Did I mention hockey? Hm… I suppose I did. Yes, it has been a long time since I’ve watched hockey. I did watch the double gold win for Canada in the olympics and since then have missed watching the great game of hockey like I did when I was younger. It was disappointing to find out last year that the NHL season was postponed and eventually cancelled (first time to happen in a professional sport). In some way though, it makes the anticipation this season greater. So yay! Hockey’s back!! Go, Leafs, Go!

Cassandrah
Your local webmistress and Leafs fan
Brigid’s Flame

Wednesday, October 12

I ran to the gym. It’s 1 km to the gym from home. My time was 5 minutes 24 seconds. I’m keeping track of the wait time at the traffic lights now so I get a better idea of my time over distance. At the gym, I did some weight training since I hadn’t done some in awhile.

Leg press
Hamstring flexor
Hip adductors
Hip abductors
Pull-ups (again military and parallel)
Dips
Chest press
Bar pulls (works the muscles next to the scapulae on the back)
Pectoral press
Shoulder fly
Shoulder lift
Bicep curl
Tricep extensor
Leg lifts
Back extensor

I also did 50 stomach crunches (I hurt my tail bone about a week ago and full situps hurt too much still, so only crunches for now) and 100 pushups.

After, I ran back home from the gym. I didn’t time this run as I was a little tired already and wasn’t trying to push it. I just felt like running back instead of walking.

Thursday, October 13

I went for a run before going to the do jang. I decided to run to Church and Bloor and then back the same way. The distance was one mile (or a little under, it feels a little less). My time was 7 minutes 48 seconds (again, subtracting wait time at the traffic lights).

After I got home, I headed out to the do jang for sword class. Sword class was good, but my knee was feeling tired and shaky for some reason (a once a month woman thing!), so I decided to not take taekwondo. I ended up going home and resting for Friday.

Friday, October 14

I decided to skip the running and just went to the do jang for gumdo class. Next Friday is a test for gumdo and I’m trying to decide if I’m going to test for my orange belt. I was thinking of waiting until December (gumdo test is every two months), but that’s going to be a busy month. So, I might test this month for my orange belt. The class was good. We practiced some candle snuffing. My patterns are getting better. I’ll need to think about them all this week if I decide to test on Friday.

Today (October 15)

We had our monthly black belt meeting and training class. It was small. So many people away for some reason. We did a run-through of our patterns and then got to practice kicks on our own. Then we had a chance to work on what we wanted to do for the black belt demo in December. I’ll need to put together the stuff I plan on doing. I also want to do women’s self-defense, so I will have to get the people together to practice that. I need 5 men to volunteer to be “thugs”, otherwise I’ll have to ask some if they have break fall experience and won’t mind doing the demo. The black belt meeting went well. It seems that with a smaller turnout, there’s less debate. 😀

Cassandrah
Your local webmistress
Brigid’s Flame