body pump made hilarious

In the last few days, there are two events to write about: 1. The Espy/Naboo, and 2. My joining the gym. I'm starting with number 2.

2. It's 11:30am & I've just got back from 'Body Pump.' I joined the gym on Friday, seeing as they had a new 2-for-1 offer and because dear mother bear is already a mother, effectively if I pay $100 admin and she pays $50 to drop down her fee, we both get ongoing full memberships for the price of 1. Now, I have endless essays and such to write, so to further procrastinate I thought I'd try out my membership, on a Sunday, when all the young groovy people I'd possibly run into are at home asleep (I'm not groovy, I was up at 6:30am) and it would be full of middle-aged ladies. The class is described as 'strength training class using gym exercises with barbells. No aerobics or co-ordination required - work at your own weight. Results are guaranteed. I thought it sounded like my thing.

So, I rock up, after fixing my as-per-usual carpark far far away from any other cars, and freaking out that the ignition was fucked again because the damn thing wouldnt turn on. Arrive, approach middle-aged lady who looked also to be attending the class, got shown how to set up my plank and where to find the clips for the bars and please realise here I have no idea what anything is called. Very nice lady. I've never been to a class, at a gym, on my own before, so I was terrified. Anyway:

- I used the 1kg weights for the entire class and it was very akward to look busy while most other people spent a good 10 minutes of the class making it harder for themselves.

- The instructer was STRANGE. She was one of those shit-skinny, body-builder types with pig-tails (pigtails in 30+ year-olds?) and bad lipgloss. It became obvious to me that lots of people were there because it was quite a good workout; not because they liked the instructor and felt some sort of loyalty towards her. At one point the song was JET'S 'She's A Genuis' and she was like 'this songs about me!' Nobody laughed.

- The class was very hard. Or at least, I found it very very hard and if my neck is hurting now how much is it going to hurt later?

- What I really hate about gym classes is the music. I hate that they fucking ENCOURAGE people to do movements when ITS NOT IN TIME TO THE MUSIC and gah maybe it's just because I'm a music snob, and I actually can play a musical instrument, but I just can't cope with doing lunges not in sync to the beat. Seriously. I also don't appreciate having the lift up weights in sync with 'go for gold' . It got a bit better when there was a mention of Black-Eyed-Peas - Pump It but that was the main highlight.

- I'm undecided whether I will go again?

angry girl music, the gym

The purpose of this post is to basically rave about how much I love Emily Haines of Metric. or at least her music, lol.

Emily Haines - Bore

Last night I was lying in bed, listening to my illegal copy of 'Cut In Half and Double' and I want the album so so bad but to do so i'm going to have to get a credit card & fight for it on ebay. It's not my fault I downloaded it illegally, I didn't know there was only a few hundred copies of the cd circulating in the whole world & that the album was actually never officially released. Hence, I didn't know how rare this stuff was when I downloaded it.

Basically, I think I've re-found my love for angry girl music ie. Le Tigre, PJ Harvey, Sleater-Kinney, and recently Sianna Lee.

Oh, and I got a gym membership! Mum is paranoid I will get obessive again. I find this hilarious really; I suck shit at gym and this is why I need to go. Saw 3 people I know in the space of ten minutes; glad I bothered with the concealer. My plan is to try out the classes and gain a) flexibility and b) some co-ordination wouldn't go astray either. I'll do weights, but I don't really intend on using the treadmill etc. because I prefer to power-walk crazily on my own and/or with dog.

Meanwhile, I've done everything except clean my room and do my homework. I have 5500 + 500 words to write in the next few weeks. Shit. And I'm going out tonight. I've just had coffee hence I'm shaking it's amazing. Monday is my last day at uni & it'll be my last trip to Mama Dukes for a while, absolutley DEVO I tell ya...

Anyway, I should go to work & battle it out with all the mothers at Sland car-park. Fun times ahead man!

It’s 10:30am on Sunday I’ve been awake for 3.5 hours and I have achieved pretty much nothing. Well, I’ve finished downloading the final episode of Season 3 of Gossip Girl (even though I’m only 5 episodes into Season 1), and I’ve written about 100 words of my assignment, I’ve had porridge and spoons of peanut butter (more about this later) and I’ve made my room like a sauna due to the heater, BUT. 400 words in a day is not much.
Five songs currently on repeat
- Sianna Lee: You Are The Sea (from Phoenix Propeller)
- Caribou – Found Out (from new album Swim)
- Hot Chip – Shake A Fist
- Sianna Lee – Molte (from Phoenix Propeller)
- Tricky – Puppy Toy (from Knowle West Boy)

So proud of myself that the Sianna Lee & Caribou songs have been released in the last six months so I can trick myself into thinking I’m up-to-date with music stuff!!!
So I bought a 500g jar of peanut butter a few weeks ago & I opened it for the first time on Friday; can I just say how disappointed I was? I haven’t had peanut butter in more than a year...I gave it up because I always ended up eating like half a jar in one sitting, and peanut butter is 1) quite greasy and 2) high in fibre thus I feel extremely sick eating it. However, I remember reading the nutritional information and it used to be 85% peanuts and now its 90% peanuts...which is all very good because the more peanuts the less sugar and it’s better for you and therefore its 90% healthy HOWEVER I’m not really tempted to consume spoonful after spoonful...because basically it tastes dry. Which I don’t get, the real natural peanut butter is runny and not salty, this new peanut butter is not really salty and isn’t as good. Maybe I’ll try some on toast later due the week and see if my opinion changes.
On a final note; without mentioning names there’s been about 4 or so birthdays in the last week so a big Happy Birthday to all those people. This resulted in me wagging work yesterday afternoon to attend a lunch in Richmond, which was quite painful to drive to (Mum drove, thank god) but my salad made up for it; it had walnuts in it! And prosciutto and pumpkin (I think it must’ve been sweet potato though)! And I learnt that salads are too salty and that I should never drink shiraz around young children! Because you lean over to pick a crayon off the ground and realise shit...I’m more tipsy than I realise...
My status update on facebook at 7-something this morning made reference to ‘that dreaded Sunday morning feeling when you realise you really have to get that assignment done today.’ I’m feeling it now, so, till next time...

cd hoarding

It's 11:45pm and why is it that I can be literally falling asleep on the couch at 7pm & then after trooping on to watch Neighbours, ABC News, The 7:30 Report, 10 minutes of MasterChef before Glee comes on and then Glee, I find this new burst of energy? I only had 2 coffees today and I've had much less sugar (but still way too much food, just in more fruity/yoghurty forms as opposed to yesterdays (ridiculously overweight) blueberry muffin from Cafe Monsu: fail at diet/life) than most days this week (a slither of the Banana Bread/apricot/mandarin something that Mum made for work, I decided I didn't like it and...willpower, I didn't eat all of it)...yet I am still buzzing.

So as I can't possibly justify doing my essay at this insane hour, I am blogging. I have headphones on loud. I am listening to Emily Haines, 'Pretty Head', and Boards of Canada the song 1969 is AMAZING and you should all download/buy it instantly.

It occurred to me yesterday, as I was buying (more) cds from JB Hi Fi, that I actually have a problem. I now have 350 cd albums. I have no place to put them. I can honestly say that about well over 100 of my cds have never been listened to more than five times (that isn't to say I don't know the music on them, I would've heard a few songs I became obsessed with and had to buy the album, or band loyalty - the reason I still buy stuff from Dashboard and TBS and Brand New, for instance) and I really need to stop buying them. But I just can't. I love the physical album and just looking at them and the memories of having them and wow. Will stop now. Yesterday I went along to pick up a few; Sianna Lee (who I saw at The Toff in town Saturday night), the new one from The Black Keys, and Pikelet's 'Stem' (I know I should use italics, but fuck html is annoying). I also bought 3 or 4 cds last week. Yet basically I've been spinning Thom Yorke's 'The Eraser' when I've been home this week. I think on my next visit I'm going to have to put an order in for Tricky's 'Knowle West Boy' and Thievery Corporation's 'The Cosmic Game' because I'm sick of waiting for them to magically come in stock. Must stop hoarding.

I have roughly 1000/3000 (2000 done) + 1500 + 3000 + 2500 = 8000 words to write by June 11; so I'm a tad stressed. I also seem to be working 16.5 hours a week AND actually going to classes AND power-walking 5 of 7 days a week AND...must stop turning post into major complaint.

I wish I could write essays as quickly as I write this post.

life > study progress report, Sianna Lee

I feel it's been too long, and I feel guilty. I've written maybe 500 odd words (that's one sixth of my assignment!) and I deserve a break. My parents a going out for coffee, I'm in my fluffy pink dressing gown with my make-up on from last night and I've had porrige and a gazillion cashew nuts to eat and I'm shaking a little from my instant jamaican coffee from the Oxfam shop. I HAVEN'T READ THE PAPER YET so I might go down and hog it for a bit while my parent's are not home. I also need to go for a walk, and get dressed, and maybe, maybe clean up my desk.

Basically all I've done is go to uni, drink coffee, drink tea, sit on my computer/facebook/microsoft word in my aformentioned fluffy hot pink dressing gown and mismatched peter alexander brown ugg boots and pretend to write a disgusting amount of essays. I have just over 10,000 words to write (+ diagrams and reference lists and a role-play) by June 11. And I'm supposed to be working an extra day next week, and be social, and take the dog for a walk, and eat, and shower, and watch Neighbours and Glee, and Desperate Housewives and brothers & sisters, and read The Age, and actually go to class, and watch educational programs such as The 7:30 Report. Oh, and I forgot one thing: sleeeeeeepppp

I have so much to do that I've decided to write a blog and listen to Sleater-Kinney very very loud. Not really appropriate for Sunday morning. Last night we (me + 5 of my girls) went out to see 'Sianna Lee' at The Toff in Town. I'd heard about it (read: convinced) by a girl from uni to go, so I dragged some people along with me, as I was vaguely interested. My friends know I love seeing live music and I guess were intrigued, and up for something different. Yay! I really enjoyed the performance, as I really like 'that kind of music', even though it was a little unnerving that everyone else their seemed to know each other, and we're not really the 'alternative' type. Regardless, we were all blown away by the Sianna Lee's voice, the band, and was just what we needed...a night out, chilled and such. Full credit to my friends who don't really go for that kind of music, but were determined to follow through with the evening and enjoy it.
The support-act also had an amazing voice, and I liked to listen to the other background music i.e. Grizzly Bear and P.J Harvey.

What we did do badly was co-ordinate the night out...we all get off at the same station yet 5/6 of us drove. Hopefully that's a mistake we won't make again. We wonder why there's global warming? Oh, and I thought someone was following me as I drove home so I went around the block twice and definetly went over the 50 k/h speed limit up the street. I've never thought I was being followed before and it was quite scary.

Other social ocassions: last weekend I wore my little (basically it's just tight and just above the knee) scoop-necked dress, a yellow jacket, and called myself a sunflower. Next weekend is both my sisters' birthdays, the weekend after is the Espy.

However, by now I've written far too much. I'm going way overboard. Hope everyone enjoys their Sunday?