O'bye!

Today I am both sad and happy to have come to the end of a long consumption of a dear product. O'boy. This morning I had a big glass of milk, filled with the chocolate powder I have so long loved, and it was the last glass of O'boy I will ever have. Better leave the product to linger as a great memory instead of slowly ruining it by keeping up the habit.

Halt the Hunger

The week after my twenty eight days of diet was a disaster! The first day was girls' night and I thought I could handle it, but I could not. There were too many snacks laying around, too much wine to be offered, too much of everything I had spent almost a month avoiding. I yearned it, and I gave in! I could not stop, and so the first week continued like the first day, over and over again.

Mild Mindfulness

I went to a free lesson of Sahaja Yoga Meditation last night with my friend Ash. It was my first official meditation class, even though I have tried both yoga and meditation before. The forty five minutes we were there were interesting to say the least!

Cooking with Fumblefingers ep.1 - Much Mashed Meal

First episode! I decided to make it simple. This post will include a short list of ingredients and a how-to, which I believe you will not really need. It is a quick and easy lunch that will suit anyone on any diet (apart from vegetables and potato-diets). You can add or remove ingredients to suit your needs.

Self-Frustration

My cleansing diet only lasted for twenty eight days, but does that means that I should gorge myself in snacks and alcohol on the twenty ninth? I regret to say that I did and I was not holding back.

Two Sex Plans

John was going to the hospital again this morning and later he went off to an island for a men's only weekend trip! I, too, have a specific-sex-only plan for tomorrow when some of my girlfriends are coming over!

Less Laser, Please

What a long day. Just sitting in a half-comfortable chair for two or so hours really drains the energy. I am so tired, and it was not even I who got operated on today.

Fitness Fatigue

I went to my first POP pilates class tonight. I have talked about POP pilates before when I wrote a post about the food reset challenge and I have mentioned doing some of Cassey Ho's YouTube-videos at home. This was an official class with an instructor (lady in pink in front of me) and it was a lot of fun!

Diet Malfunctioning

I remember I mentioned that I would write a post about going a week on this diet. I think I forgot about that, until now. This is me, writing about it.

So, to recap a little bit. I have not consumed any lactose, gluten, sugar or alcohol since the beginning of April. Natural sugar, the kind you find in fruits, is totally fine. I drink a lot of juices and eat a lot of vegetables. I get my protein from meat, usually chicken (because chicken is cheapest), and carbs from brown rice, plus other goodies. To top it all up I take a big vitamin pill every day just to make sure I get everything my body needs.

I can tell that I feel different. I am hungry all the time. Not sure if that is good, but John reassures me it is for the better. Eventually I will feel less hungry. All I can think of is that I am shrinking my stomach, which I am confident is not a good thing. It feels like it is shrinking anyways. I think I may have lost some kilos, not sure how many since I never weighted in before I did the challenge and I have not done it since. Looking at the little hips though tells me that some small amount has been lost, not that this diet is suppose to slim the body and I am definitely not doing it for losing weight.

The diet is aimed at figuring out what your body is sensitive to. This is really why I am doing it since I have IBS (irritable bowel syndrome). Frustratingly enough the diet has not made any progress with that, it has actually made it worse. Which means that it goes through my body too quickly to process it fully - which leads to me getting hungry ever so quickly.

On a positive note - I have been cooking a lot more these past week. Since I met John around four years ago I have never really had any say in the kitchen. He is a hobby chef, a good one too, and I am a clumsy knock-kneed fumble-finger that do not know anything about spices or right temperatures. Since I am mostly eating vegetables, which requires little knowledge of how to cook, I can focus on the one small item that I do put on the stove. Today I made a bunch of vegetables and reheated the chicken we had for dinner yesterday. Yes, I know, there was no how to spice the chicken but I did that one day last week and it came out... okay. It was a little week in taste, but cooked alright. Edible, would be my rating.

Surprisingly enough, the big thing that I miss the most is lactose. John thought that it would be the sugar that I would crave, but honestly, I am dying to eat some cheese, have a glass of cold milk or some Greek yoghurt with müesli. Only twenty days left... I can do it!

Resisting

I can not complain. I live in a land where there is no such thing as cold weather. There are storms; heavy rain and loud thunder, but even then it is hot outside. The rain is like a warm shower. So the really good days, the cloud-free sun-shining days, are vicious. It was one of those days yesterday. I took my laptop, water-bottle, some pistachios and made myself comfortable on the balcony. It was a great place to sit and write, but it got really sweaty very soon. Luckily it was a cool breeze so at least I had that.

The day before I could not resist the pool. I brought my book and a bag of popcorn, took a swim and relaxed in the chair. Like I said, I can not complain. I do not miss much about Sweden. Summer there is never satisfying enough, probably why Swedes like to travel to the tropics. There are even Swedish schools in Thailand specifically. I was pretty happy in my chair. The sun was going down and the crowd was thinning. Soon there were only me, still in bikini, and another couple fully dressed next to me. It was half past six when I headed up to change into clothes.

I started the food challenge on Saturday last week, so soon there has been a full week. I will write an update post about it on Saturday. This challenge is interesting but it forces me to buy groceries more often. I need fresh vegetables and, since I do not eat gluten, I eat a lot of it. So on Tuesday I met John on the MRT and we walked around inside ColdStorage. I was really hungry since I had not eaten since lunch and got cravings for gnocchi and ravioli. I know what I am going to eat in May! Instead we bought chicken, beans, vegetables, potatoes and had butterfly chicken made in the oven with cooked potatoes for dinner. It was all good. We even had hummus on the side which went surprisingly well with potatoes. I had the rest of the chicken and some broccoli for lunch the next day.

Yesterday John bought dinner from the hawker centre outside d'Leedon. I saw so many things I really wanted to eat. Cheese prata, lemon chicken, dumplings! But of course I could not. I had made myself a promise to stick to the challenge (I refuse to call it diet. It means different things in English and Swedish) throughout this month. John was kind enough to help me cook my meal, which ended up being shrimps in coconut milk with a chilli to spice it up, some french beans, couple of tomatoes and couscous. I have tried couscous a few times before, never really liked it, not the taste or the texture. I had some yesterday and guess what? I still did not like it... It felt like crumbled cardboard, tasted almost nothing which only made the texture worse. Nope, couscous is not for me. Not anytime soon at least. Not anytime at all more likely.

Food Reset

In my last post I mentioned a food challenge that I am doing for 28 (more or less) days of April. It was made for February. I got it from a blog called Blogilates which I find really inspiring and helpful. Since I am not very good at going to the gym I thought I would try to start doing pilates at home. It is actually called POP Pilates, since you are doing it to pop music. The instruction-videos are easy to understand and short enough to do one, two, three and sometimes four in a row. It makes it a lot easier to build your own schedule.

The challenge I was talking about is the 28 Day Reset Challenge. It is not a diet - it is a way to get to know what your stomach can handle, which is great for me since I am dealing with IBS. At first I thought it was a scam, like so many of these things are, but the course is free (but of course there are two pdf files to purchase with, I assume, more developed instructions for both the workout and the food) and I can adjust it to fit my own needs. I decided to do the challenge after a good thinking-it-through, with my own conditions and rules. I removed the processed food category, mostly because I do not eat that normally and if I remove that I would probably collapse. The rest I try to stick to, which is difficult for a person who is used to a glass of milk every morning. Instead I drink juice and water. I am switching from white to brown rice. We bought a lot of vegetables the other day. I am surprised to find myself enjoying the challenge, it requires me to try new things that I have not eaten a lot and I mostly cook my own meals which John has done for a very long time.

Together with The 28 Day Reset Challenge you are supposed to add a workout schedule. The meant-to plan is the PIIT28 - it stands for Pilates Intensive Interval Training and each workout is completed within twenty eight minutes. I have not done a lot of pilates, or workouts for that matter, so knowing what it stood for I understood it would be too advanced for me. Every month she makes a workout calendar which you can get by subscribing to her newsletters. So far I have found the mail inspiring and motivational, so she does not spam my inbox. Though I still think the monthly calendar looks too tough for me I chose to do the Beginner's 2.0. It is a lot more my speed and my flexibility, even though I am still too scared to try the headstand. I also take two days break (skipping one day of total body workout) to not fatigue myself way too much. I tried doing this calendar throughout February but it was too much and I could not keep it up. Now I am back at it, changing it to work for me and I am going for it! Luckily this month started on a Saturday so I could get used to the food challenge before starting with the workout as well.

Wish me luck!
And join me.

First of Many

First of April is a special day. Not because, for some reason, people are allowed to fool each other, but because we moved to this apartment a year ago. John and I do not indulge in April Fool's Day anyway. We did not celebrate moving here, since that would be strange, but we did go to the cinema. Since the beginning of Mars we have had a project of seeing a movie at the cinema once a week. So far we have seen Logan and John Wick chapter 2. As you might calculate from this we kind of failed our project, but we will try to keep it going through April as well.

We travelled to VivoCity some hours before the movie started. Being very bad at walking around and entering every store, we immediately went inside H&M to look for new bikinis for me. We found two worth trying and I ended up liking them both. John was at first concerned since bikinis are expensive (why? I remember a time when they were semi-cheap) but since I liked them both he agreed to buy them. While I was testing them in the women's fitting rooms he headed over to the men's section and tried some things over there. He found five basic t-shirts, cosy shorts and two packages of socks.

Then we steered ourselves towards La Senza, ignoring all other shops we passed by, not even looking at their items or sales signs. Outside La Senza we found a sign telling us they had a deal on panties - 10 for $70. We could not resist. There were plenty to chose from and we found ten pairs and put them in our little shoppingbag. Our actual goal for entering the store was to find a bra. Luckily they had a deal on that too. Buy 2 get 1 for free. Meaning I had to find three bras, which really was not a big problem. I picked five, tried them on an ended up with two fantastic bras. One is nude, sits perfectly, smooth and comfortable. I amazed at how good it feels to wear it. A white one that looks a lot like one I already had but the new bra is the right size at sits a lot better. Time to throw the old one in the trash. Lastly I bought a no-wire bra, blue with white horizontal uneven stripes. It will be used often since I feel uneasy when I go outside without a bra. We think the lady behind the counter invited us to a club, but we were too oblivious to it at the time.

The first movie of April was Ghost in the Shell. It is originally an anime which we have seen several times - only one time seeing it all the way through. The main character is played by Scarlett Johansson. Many have been upset by this "white washing", but ScarJo did a great job. She was not made a Hollywood gorgeous actress, but ugly-pretty with a quirky walk-style telling us she was uncomfortable in her body (as the story goes). They made some changes in the story from the original, but it worked for the better. I really enjoyed it. Would recommend!

It ended around nine and since we had had a late lunch we also had a late dinner. We went to the top of the building and entered the food court up there. I am on a food challenge, not a diet, which do not allows me to eat white rice. So when I ordered from the pick-and-choose-place, I asked for no rice but extra vegetables. I had a small piece of pork and a some shredded beef. All together it costed surprisingly eleven dollars! What the...! Too expensive, but I only did the math after I had walked away. John had a bowl of rice and a full chicken leg and a small simple soup on the side for only six dollars. Not going back to the place where I bought mine.

Before going home we did a quick run-through at Giant, picking up meat and vegetables. It ended up being our healthiest purchase ever, even though John bought two bottles of wine. My challenge keeps me from consuming alcohol as well. This will be good for me, I am really enjoying it. The challenge makes me try new meals and explore new recipes. It has been two days and I am so hungry. Wish me luck!

Painful Piriformis

For approximately a month I have had pain in my butt. It may sound funny, but it is excruciatingly painful and frankly just in the way. No matter if I sit, walk, stand or lie down the pain will be there. In the beginning we thought it was because I sat too much and recently we have concluded that yes, that is the reason.

Recently I did what I should have done the moment I felt the pain - I googled the simple words pain in the butt and found helpful results. I found a site called SequenceWiz claiming to be a "a hub of yoga practice design". They had an article about three different types of pain located in the butt. I read the first two, thinking the sounded like my trouble but not quite right, before I read the last type in their article. It sounded just like me. It was labelled Central Butt Pain, which is the exact explanation I had been using.

From this site I learned about piriformis - a muscle deep within the hip. As all muscles it can get tensed and tighten up, causing a lot of pain. Unfortunately it sits near the sciatic nerve that passes underneath or right through the muscle. Knowing my own body I assume mine shoots right through.

Below is an extract from the article.

Location: The pain can show up in the middle of the buttock, in the lower back or anywhere along the pathway of the nerve. It can also manifest as numbness or weakness in the leg.

Offender: Herniated disks, bone spurs on the vertebrae or tight piriformis muscle

Reason: Sitting or driving a lot, degenerative changes in the spine with age

Being an author, introvert and generally an indoors kind of person I confess I sit a lot. Not in a bad way, not hunched over or in bad chairs. I tend to have a really good posture, mostly because my back demands it if I do not want it to start hurting me too. I believe this condition can appear in most modern people out there, whether you are home, at work, driving a cab or generally do a lot of things in your everyday life that requires sitting.

Note that this problem, the pain in lower back and central butt, can be due to other issues as well.

Of course this article has tips on how to help yourself with this specific problem. Piriformis is difficult to reach and there are a lot of things I did that did not help at all. Some stretching exercises only make it worse. The article gave me a few and I have tried two of them. Yesterday I met John downstairs to buy a package of shrimps for my dinner, just to walk for a bit and get some fresh air. I almost cried when I got back to the apartment. The pain was intense, shooting down my leg. I stood on my toes, biting against the pain until John told me to go lie down. I did and I did the stretching exercises this site had given me. After a few minutes of it I rose and walked around again, not entirely free of pain but it made it more bearable.

I have been walking around with this pain for a long time now and I am a bit ashamed of not googling it right away. John wanted to take me to a clinic to have a doctor look at me, but honestly I would not want to pay someone to tell me what the internet could. If the pain does not go away in a few days I will succumb and see Mr Doctor know-it-all. He will tell me to stretch after having touched my ass to feel where I am hurting. Not sure if that would actually happen, but that is what I imagine. There are many reasons why I am reluctant to go to a clinic.

Contraceptive Need

I was a bit stressed today. My new Nuva ring is supposed to be inserted tomorrow but I had yet to buy one this morning. I had back pains and was still a bit nauseous from the period. John was kind and called the apothecary to ask where in Singapore they had the rings in stock. He found two places near where we live. It was a good thing that he called since I had planned on going to the nearest hospital to ask. I would have gotten there, not being able to buy one, and then be lost for where to go next. Instead I knew exactly where to go.

The nearest hospital with a Guardian apothecary where they sold Nuva rings was the Paragon Medical Centre. It lies on a street just behind Orchard Road, but it closed at eight so John would not have had the time to meet me before that. I decided to go by myself. I do not usually take the bus, but it felt much smoother. If I had taken the MRT I would have had to change lines two times and it would have taken so much longer, plus with a lot more people running around. I quite enjoy the bus-rides here, apart from the motion-sickness I get from being in any vehicle on the road. It took about twenty minutes to get where I needed to and yet I got off one bus station too far away. It was a pleasant walk, late afternoon, and I found my way easily enough. The lady handing me my Nuva ring told me it was good that I only needed one since they did not have many in stock. That scared me, thinking of when I go to get another one but there are none to buy.

Nuva rings are very expensive in Singapore, so my long-term plan (which is why I only buy one at a time) is to go to Sweden and have a hormone spiral inserted instead. It is cheaper and I do not have to keep track of time. The trip has been moved, since I was supposed to go in March, to an unknown time. I have some unresolved back issues that I do not want to have while sitting on a plane alone for over ten hours. It is inconvenient but I can not push myself and risk my health.

On the bus ride back home I did the unfortunate thing of placing myself at a side facing seat, meaning I felt nauseous the instance the bus started to move. I sat in the seat closest to the front so I could look out, but that meant my neck was stiff by the time I got off. I came home half an hour before John did and it felt unusual. He brought home dinner and we are having a calm evening. No stress.

Clean-out Wound

I had a bad day yesterday and I am still writing the post about Sunday's adventure. Please be patient as I am trying to make that post as good as it can be. It will not pop up on any other social media since it will be scheduled as posted on Monday, but it is just not finished yet! Instead here is a post about my day.

Sunny Shopping

I was really tired this morning so after John left around nine I went back to bed and slept another hour. When the alarm went off I was naughty enough to snooze it for another ten minutes. After five I felt bad. So when I actually left bed I put on gym clothes immediately instead of the cosy pyjamas I really wanted to adorn. Rebecka was already awake. I had a quick breakfast to get some energy before we had company downstairs.

I left her by the pool while I headed to the gym. I feel so good being there. My body gets some exercise and my mind can relax. I listen to a podcast about being an author which really inspires me. It lets my brain think of work while my body is working. I did half an hour on the cross-trainer, a few reps with the leg extension machine and a few reps on the chest press machine. Each episode of the podcast is the perfect length because it is forty to forty five minutes long, which is also how long my gym routine is. Match made in... the gym.

Around noon I walked up to Rebecka standing in the shadow by the pool. I considered going up to write on my book since I was really inspired by the pod episode, but it was a great day; sun was shining, it was hot and the pool looked inviting. So I hurried upstairs, put on a bikini and went back down. It was nice to sink down into the water after the workout. Felt good - even better because it is December. Take that, Swedes!

When the sky turned on us and sent a whole bunch of clouds to cover the sun we felt it was time to head back home. It was time for lunch and we were hungry. There is a small café inside d'Leedon
that serves food all times of the day. We have been there once when Annika was visiting. I wrote about it in April but reading that post now the place does not sound so good. It was the day after their opening so I thought maybe they are better now. I went up to shower while Rebecka ordered and waited for the food. When she came up we both saw the size of the meals. It was literally just a small amount, enough to at least cover the bottom of the container but did not look like a proper meal. This is creamy pasta with salmon for $19 (although it was a 2 for 1 lunch deal so I only paid $10 back to Rebecka). I added some feta cheese to add a little extra. It was very creamy so it was somewhat filling, but I would have wished for more for that price! I do not recommend The Dispensary.

It was in the middle of the afternoon and Rebecka came over to me. Arms, shoulders, back, face, chest - everything was red and burned. I could not keep from laughing. It looked terrible! So sorry, Bex. We got dressed and headed out half past five. It was a pleasant walk over to Holland Village. We strolled along a row of small shops and ended up looking through cheap clothes at a store called Song & Song. I found a tank top with breast support; something I did not own but really wanted. I am wearing it right now. I believe I will wear it a lot. It is so comfortable! Rebecka found two tank tops but the lady behind the counter accidentally missed that the tops were on sale and took too much money for them. We only saw this when we got home hours later. Rebecka and I made a quick round on the upper floor of the HV mall and she found a jewellery shop where she bought a bracelet and a necklace.

John arrived just as we stepped out from Guardian. I bought band-aids since we are always out when I need it. Rebecka also helped me choose a new mascara, so now I am all set. The three of us proceeded to Lor Mambong - a street with restaurants, night clubs, strange dentists, tech shops and other small businesses that do not match the overall feel of a night club street. We took her straight to our favourite Mexican restaurant - Cha Cha Cha. You have heard of it, I have written about it. John and I had chimichangas; one with chicken and one with beef and shared them both. Rebecka ordered fish tacos. I have never tried it but it looked good. I will try it next time! I decided to put the photo of her meal in this post since chimichangas can be seen in the others linked above.

We were so full afterwards. I suggested ice cream but nobody else wanted some so we never had. I am so sad. I really wanted some! We had a talkative walk back home. Later I read out loud what I had been writing today. Rebecka has not heard much of the book since she will be my new eyes on the story once I am done with the second edit, but she got a small taste from the last chapter. She liked it! John had a lot to say, most of it was good if not all of it! I shall continue writing and have this book published soon!

PORN's sexy thai food

We had planned to go see our friends today at the other side of town (country) but I did not feel so good. I am always trying my hardest, even though I am really out of it, so I got dressed and we went to the MRT. Outside I started to feel a bit dizzy but told myself it was because I had not eaten yet. During the weekends we wake up close enough to lunch hours so we skip breakfast.

Ash is working near City Hall. We tried to get there but after getting of the subway at Buona Vista to change line I felt really ill. Not only because of the illness per say, but I also get motion sick easily. We updated her on the situation and instead of going so far to eat we exited two stations from our home.

None of us had any idea what to eat. We walked to Star Vista, a mall near the station, and looked at the directory for something good. There we found a restaurant called PORN's sexy thai food... This is for real. Its name is actually Porn's. I really recommend you put on some sound and click the link. It is an interesting website.

Either way we did not eat there. Instead we chose to have lunch at Nando's. We have ordered from them once before and ate at home, but I can not remember the meal and thus we believe it was not good. This time it was. I had a chicken pita but instead of mayo I asked for the yoghurt sauce. John asked me to pick a side but I had no idea what this meant and I picked garlic bread. Maybe a bad choice, I should have read the menu thoroughly and picked something a bit healthier. John had chicken tenders and fries on the side. Again, he said he should have picked something more nutritious. We also had a not-at-all-spicy spicy sauce, hummus and some small pieces of pita bread. (It was a really bad order from us since I already had pita bread in my main meal.) It was good food though and I totally changed my non-existing opinion about this restaurant. I would love to come pack.

Afterwards I was given time to debate with myself if I was feeling well enough to spend a whole day on the other side. Even though I went between yes and no, John could tell I was not in shape to do so. He repeatedly needed to convince me it was okay. I never feel good about cancelling plans, but I honestly did not feel good from the start. We told Ash and started to walk back home.

On the way we saw some Christmas decoration in the mall. This we have seen in other places as well but it feels so wrong. There is no cold, no snow and where do you use death caps around Christmas?! Also, the colour of the carpet should be changed from grassy green to snowy white.

Becoming Healthy

I have been talking about being more healthy but never really told you how we are trying to achieve this. I will start by saying a few words about how we used to live back in Sweden (and a few months in Singapore). There was little exercise done at all; I want to say none of us ever went to the gym in Stockholm. The lunches were huge and in most cases not healthy at all. The dinners were homemade but also very large portions and very few vegetables. We ate a lot of rice, pasta and loads of meat. There were always one or more sodas in the fridge. We sat often in front of our PCs or the TV. Yet despite all this we remained in constant weight and felt good. Life was easy and comfortable. There was no reason to start thinking about the gym or calories.

Then we moved to Singapore and in less than six months we both gained five kilos! We had the same lifestyle as before and could not understand what happened. Still we are not sure. The Swedish lifestyle was not working in the tropics. There needed to be a change.

I want to say that this all started the day I decided to stop drinking Coca Cola. It has been an addiction in my life for so long and I have tried many times to stop. I did not decide it but one day I went without, and then the next. And it continued. Each day was an achievement. John helped me keep it in check and when I really wanted to have some he gave me a small bottle of Pepsi instead. It was a cheap trick but it worked. Last time I drank Coke was the seventh of October. It might not appear to be a long time, but remember I used to drink everyday, sometimes a day or two without at most.

After that it just continued. We started going to the gym more often. I bought new gym clothes. I bought new shoes. John bought new clothes and shoes. We bought two vacuum sealed bottles that keeps water cold the whole day (or a hot drink warm) and now drink the daily dosage daily. We downloaded an app called MyFitnessPal to help us count calories and therefore can keep track of our meals. We snack less on candy and buy more vegetables. This is a huge change in our life and nothing we have ever lived with.

And you know what?
We feel good!

Feeling Friday

Apparently I slept really well last night. I have had rough mornings all week and been very tired up until noon. Today I woke up very relaxed. Then John said I woke him up in the middle of the night, around three or so, and told him about my dream - that I needed dementors for my prison in the game Prison Architect. I have been playing this game every morning this week and apparently it stuck in my head. I have no memory of this dream or of John - I was happily asleep.

I have a theory of why I have been so tired. I have been to the gym three days in a row (Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday) but yesterday my body was sore and I gave myself a day off. I have not been working out as often as this for a very long time (maybe ever) so I think my body just needed some rest. Today I am energised!

Other news: Ymir is pretty annoying. I am trying to work, sitting here by the computer writing words, and he comes around the corner meowing. I ask him what he wants; if it is food or if the litter box is full. I follow him to the food, I refill the bowls, I give him new water and he stares at me. I clean the litter box, I clean the floor and I look at him. Then I go back to my writing and after a few minutes he comes around the corner... meowing. The only thing that has been working is cuddling. I pick him up and either he lays in my lap by the computer, purring as if really pleased with himself but only for a few minutes because then he wants to leave, or I pick him up and go to the bed/sofa and cuddle there and he is so pleased and purring. Then suddenly he lashes out and his sharp claws find the most vulnerable place on my hand and I start to bleed.

My book is going well. I am working hard on the last chapters. I have an old chapter of this part in the book, but I do not like it and have to figure new things out, which takes a little longer than expected. And this is the last event in the book - it HAS to be great!

 Have a good weekend!

Why is it worth the pain?

I am in pain!

John says it is a good pain. I say it is too much and I do not deserve it. We went to the gym on Sunday and... gymed. Workouted. Did some exercising! I used the cross-trainer to warm up while John was on the treadmill. I hate that machine - the feeling afterwards makes me carsick. After fifteen minutes I switched to another machine. The names of these things are not important. I know two... I wrote them. Also, I think the names are printed onto the machines... but I only looked at one and never bothered to look at the others. (That is how I learned that it is called a cross-trainer.)

I sat down in the seat of the second machine and lifted with my leg-muscles. Training - almost science. John was still running. I turned around to exercise the muscles on the other side of the legs. John sat down by the machine next to me, lifting weights with his biceps or triceps. Names are not important here!

I could not do anything with those back-muscles. My knees hurt. My legs would not go up. I gave up. I stood staring at John to make him move so I could use the machine. He finished his reps and walked over to the leg machine. I sat down. Did some fine thirty lifts with my chest muscles. Then I tried biceps (or triceps... I lifted upwards). I did ten then rested for a bit. Only I could barely get to ten each time. Around seven or eight I would rise from the chair to lift the thing upwards.

John came over to watch. He laughed and also cheered on me. One more! One more, come on! I tried to force my muscles to lift one more... and another one more. A third time and then I had done ten. Rested ninety seconds then tried ten again. Around seven I started rising from the chair again. The muscles would not move upwards no matter how much my brain and mouth was telling them to.

Then we split. John went to do some situps. I went to the cross-trainer again. I pushed it. Sprinted as much as you can on one of those things. Put the level up higher than I have ever done before. I was so sweaty after fifteen minutes. It felt good! I walked over to John, who was done with training and sat at the bench, and we stretched together. John not knowing how or what to do copied everything I did. We probably looked funny.

And that is the story of why I am in so much pain.

It was kind of empty in the gym around eight on a Sunday.