I was a bit careless during training, and got bopped in the beak. The impact hit my sports goggles at the right (wrong?) place, and now I have a nice cut and a purple bump where I should't have any of these...
Considering others have broken their beaks or noses or whatnot, I got off pretty easy ;-)
31.10.06
27.10.06
dropping a bit of weight...
Well, let me tell you about today's gym dumbass. Let's call him Too Close For Comfort, or TCFC for short...
I was doing shoulder presses when I noticed this guy suddenly stand next to my bench to do barbell curls, very close to me, at the same time I was doing my set of shoulder presses, even though there was more than enough floorspace within safe distances. Worse of all, he was so close that the end of the barbell could have crashed with my elbow had the timing been off...
However, timing was the least of anyone's problem. I have really screwey shoulders, and sometimes they (or more accurately, my left shoulder) cooperate when I do shoulder presses, sometimes they don't. Today was one of those non-cooperation days. Not fun when you have 14 kg dumbbells in each hand. So I ended up having to suddenly drop the left dumbbell...
I'll bet TCFC will be more careful the next time he finds a spot to do his barbell curls or whatever the fuck he decides to do in the gym. Though you'd think one would have more sense to avoid having to learn hard lessons in the first place...
Oh, and the fucktards who work at the gym fucked up royally this morning regarding who was going to work there and open up and stuff... so I was there at 6-ish as usual (opening time is 6:15) and gave up waiting for them to open up at 6:35... so no cardio this morning (my equivalent of a cup of coffee), which led to a bad mood most of the day... I found out they didn't open until 7... *sigh*
I was doing shoulder presses when I noticed this guy suddenly stand next to my bench to do barbell curls, very close to me, at the same time I was doing my set of shoulder presses, even though there was more than enough floorspace within safe distances. Worse of all, he was so close that the end of the barbell could have crashed with my elbow had the timing been off...
However, timing was the least of anyone's problem. I have really screwey shoulders, and sometimes they (or more accurately, my left shoulder) cooperate when I do shoulder presses, sometimes they don't. Today was one of those non-cooperation days. Not fun when you have 14 kg dumbbells in each hand. So I ended up having to suddenly drop the left dumbbell...
I'll bet TCFC will be more careful the next time he finds a spot to do his barbell curls or whatever the fuck he decides to do in the gym. Though you'd think one would have more sense to avoid having to learn hard lessons in the first place...
Oh, and the fucktards who work at the gym fucked up royally this morning regarding who was going to work there and open up and stuff... so I was there at 6-ish as usual (opening time is 6:15) and gave up waiting for them to open up at 6:35... so no cardio this morning (my equivalent of a cup of coffee), which led to a bad mood most of the day... I found out they didn't open until 7... *sigh*
26.10.06
speak penguinese, and carry a big stick...
Tonight's training involved defenses against attacks with sticks (think things like baseball bat, umbrella, etc. in a real-life situation), and using a stick to defend against knife attacks, along with doing counterattacks with the stick. I was happy about this, as it had been ages since we've done anything with the sticks, and I was in the mood to play with knives...
We also did this lovely drill at the end of training. Tronds Helvete. You and your partner do three rounds each of the following: 15 pushups where your partner holds you by the ankles and pushes you around on the mat as you do each pushup, 25 situps where your partner stands over you with a large pillow that you have to punch twice after each situp, and 15 vertical leaps where you have to kick your partner with your knee. Twice. Did you catch the part where each person has to do three rounds of this? Good ;-)
We also did this lovely drill at the end of training. Tronds Helvete. You and your partner do three rounds each of the following: 15 pushups where your partner holds you by the ankles and pushes you around on the mat as you do each pushup, 25 situps where your partner stands over you with a large pillow that you have to punch twice after each situp, and 15 vertical leaps where you have to kick your partner with your knee. Twice. Did you catch the part where each person has to do three rounds of this? Good ;-)
24.10.06
not exactly samba...
Tonight's Krav Maga training was...not Krav Maga, but Brasilian Jiu-Jitsu. A BJJ instructor was invited to train our class, so we did a lot of cool groundwork stuff that could be useful for Krav, and some that are perhaps not so useful, as it leaves certain body parts that Krav Maga practitioners like to go after exposed... :-P There are lots of good escape moves in BJJ though; I hope I remember these...
I really enjoyed this session. I hope we do something like this at least once a "semester"...
And I'm going to be really sore tomorrow :-)
I really enjoyed this session. I hope we do something like this at least once a "semester"...
And I'm going to be really sore tomorrow :-)
23.10.06
a helping igloo for the SA penguins - plus trip stuff
Here's a nifty article about helping African penguins with fiberglass igloos (perhaps burrow is more correct) - manmade habitats to provide suitable nesting conditions, in order to bring their population up...
According to the article, the penguin colony at Dyer Island is off-limits to anyone other than researchers. The colony at Robben Island is also off-limits from what I understand. That's OK - there are two other penguin colonies that are accessible to the public, for those interested in seeing these wonderful birds in the wild. So boyfriend of feitpingvin and I visited both of them while we were in the area (of course I had to see my relatives when I was in town! :)
One of the colonies is at Boulder's Beach near Simon's Town. The other one is at Betty's Bay. Boulder's Beach seems to be the more "popular" of the two, the one you read about in all the guidebooks and the such, the one all the tour busses go to. I thought the colony at Betty's Bay was nicer in general and more interesting. We were there late in the evening (as opposed to being at Boulder's in the middle of the day), which was a shame as I would have liked to stay there longer...
These penguins are great - totally to-die-for cute, especially the baby penguins. At both places, you walk along a boardwalk... Sometimes the penguins are on the boardwalk and start running away when you approach them; you hear their big webbed feet clomping on the boardwalk, and since they're oh-so-graceful on land, they're constantly stumbling, as if piss-ass drunk, over their feet, quickly picking themselves up and running away again... if you approach them slowly enough, they'll look at you, look down at the sand, wondering if they should stay put or hop down...
Other penguins are on the sand but near the boardwalk, staring at you... some are sleeping... some are preening... lots of action...
Some of them were moulting and looked kind of scruffy... Others liked to show off their fine fatty plumage... and others just liked to make noise... there's a reason why they're also called jackass penguins... they sound like a braying jackass... other interesting noises we heard were the squirting sounds of the penguins shitting :-P
And speaking of shit, a lot of penguins had shit all over their feathers... I think that if not careful enough, a tourist could easily get caught in the line of fire...
Cool penguin pictures coming when we're done going through them, fixing them up for uploading on some site or other, and actually uploading them on a site :-)
According to the article, the penguin colony at Dyer Island is off-limits to anyone other than researchers. The colony at Robben Island is also off-limits from what I understand. That's OK - there are two other penguin colonies that are accessible to the public, for those interested in seeing these wonderful birds in the wild. So boyfriend of feitpingvin and I visited both of them while we were in the area (of course I had to see my relatives when I was in town! :)
One of the colonies is at Boulder's Beach near Simon's Town. The other one is at Betty's Bay. Boulder's Beach seems to be the more "popular" of the two, the one you read about in all the guidebooks and the such, the one all the tour busses go to. I thought the colony at Betty's Bay was nicer in general and more interesting. We were there late in the evening (as opposed to being at Boulder's in the middle of the day), which was a shame as I would have liked to stay there longer...
These penguins are great - totally to-die-for cute, especially the baby penguins. At both places, you walk along a boardwalk... Sometimes the penguins are on the boardwalk and start running away when you approach them; you hear their big webbed feet clomping on the boardwalk, and since they're oh-so-graceful on land, they're constantly stumbling, as if piss-ass drunk, over their feet, quickly picking themselves up and running away again... if you approach them slowly enough, they'll look at you, look down at the sand, wondering if they should stay put or hop down...
Other penguins are on the sand but near the boardwalk, staring at you... some are sleeping... some are preening... lots of action...
Some of them were moulting and looked kind of scruffy... Others liked to show off their fine fatty plumage... and others just liked to make noise... there's a reason why they're also called jackass penguins... they sound like a braying jackass... other interesting noises we heard were the squirting sounds of the penguins shitting :-P
And speaking of shit, a lot of penguins had shit all over their feathers... I think that if not careful enough, a tourist could easily get caught in the line of fire...
Cool penguin pictures coming when we're done going through them, fixing them up for uploading on some site or other, and actually uploading them on a site :-)
21.10.06
South African recipe - spiced pumpkin and tomato soup
This is a recipe from the cookbook Cape Town Food by Phillippa Cheifitz, ISBN 1 86872 716 5. It's very flavorful and hearty. Good stuff for a chilly autumn evening!
Verbatim from the cookbook (I didn't follow it 100% - used less oil and more garlic and spices):
What you need:
1 large onion, chopped
2 tbsp sunflower oil
1 tsp curry powder
1 fat clove garlic, crushed
1 kg peeled and diced pumpkin
5 cups chicken or vegetable stock
1/2 - 1 cup buttermilk or coconut milk
1 400 g can copped tomatoes
salt and pepper to taste
Gently cook the onion in the oil with some salt (if desired) until softened but not browned. Stir in the curry powder and garlic, then add the diced pumpkin, cover and cook for about 10 minutes. Pour in the stock, cover and simmer for about 30 minutes or until pumpkin is tender.
Purée with an electric hand blender until smooth. If serving cold, add enough buttermilk to make a suitable consistency. Stir in the tomatoes but do not purée. Check the seasonings and refrigerate.
If serving hot, reheat gently with coconut milk, and add the tomatoes. Check seasoning.
Garnish with a sprinkle of garam masala and chopped coriander leaves. Serve with poppadums.
Serves 8
Verbatim from the cookbook (I didn't follow it 100% - used less oil and more garlic and spices):
What you need:
1 large onion, chopped
2 tbsp sunflower oil
1 tsp curry powder
1 fat clove garlic, crushed
1 kg peeled and diced pumpkin
5 cups chicken or vegetable stock
1/2 - 1 cup buttermilk or coconut milk
1 400 g can copped tomatoes
salt and pepper to taste
Gently cook the onion in the oil with some salt (if desired) until softened but not browned. Stir in the curry powder and garlic, then add the diced pumpkin, cover and cook for about 10 minutes. Pour in the stock, cover and simmer for about 30 minutes or until pumpkin is tender.
Purée with an electric hand blender until smooth. If serving cold, add enough buttermilk to make a suitable consistency. Stir in the tomatoes but do not purée. Check the seasonings and refrigerate.
If serving hot, reheat gently with coconut milk, and add the tomatoes. Check seasoning.
Garnish with a sprinkle of garam masala and chopped coriander leaves. Serve with poppadums.
Serves 8
20.10.06
early morning freaks...
I loathe gym talkers. You know, those people who come to the gym to socialize, not to exercise. Well, one such freak seems to have latched himself on me...
As some of you know, I train cardio at 6-ish in the morning, five mornings a week (except for when I'm sick or on holiday or something), when the gym opens. It's a nice way to start the day; when I do a good hard cardio session first thing in the morning, I end up with lots of energy all day. It's also nice that it's usually quiet and peaceful at the gym at that hour...
Until now?
I first encountered this freak Monday morning. I was in the middle of a sprint workout on the stationary bike and he took the bike next to mine and started talking to me. I ignored him. He started talking louder, thinking I couldn't hear him above the sound of all the cardio apparatuses, the music on the loudspeakers, my heavy panting, etc... I still ignored him, but it was getting harder to ignore him because he sounded like one of those annoying insects that get into your ear. Bzzzzzzzz...
After I was done with my workout, he started going on and on about how rude I was being. Uh, O RLY? I just glared at him, kind of like this, and left.
Fast forward to this morning. I was on the treadmill and guess who shows up? Ding-ding-ding! You win! It was indeed Mr. Freakshow! And, of course, of all the empty treadmills he could have hopped on, he hopped on the one next to mine. He blabbed something about how he was willing to forgive me for what happened on Monday. He also blabbed something about how he saw me on Wednesday but was still too angry with me to talk to me...
Uh?
Again, I finished my workout without saying a word to him. I'm sure I've ruined his weekend now. I'll be sure to bring some insect spray with me on Monday...
Oh, and speaking of treadmills, this is the second time I've been on a treadmill since the last time I tried to see if my Achilles was OK. I ran on Tuesday as well... both times doing intervals of 3 minutes running and 1 minute walking (where I walked and stopped to stretch), to make sure everything was OK, and to not "overload" anything. The Achilles seems to be dong better, but it (and my calf) seems to get "tight" after about 25-30 minutes of these intervals. I'm going to have to be more vigilant when it comes to (weights) exercises for my calves, as well as stretching...
As some of you know, I train cardio at 6-ish in the morning, five mornings a week (except for when I'm sick or on holiday or something), when the gym opens. It's a nice way to start the day; when I do a good hard cardio session first thing in the morning, I end up with lots of energy all day. It's also nice that it's usually quiet and peaceful at the gym at that hour...
Until now?
I first encountered this freak Monday morning. I was in the middle of a sprint workout on the stationary bike and he took the bike next to mine and started talking to me. I ignored him. He started talking louder, thinking I couldn't hear him above the sound of all the cardio apparatuses, the music on the loudspeakers, my heavy panting, etc... I still ignored him, but it was getting harder to ignore him because he sounded like one of those annoying insects that get into your ear. Bzzzzzzzz...
After I was done with my workout, he started going on and on about how rude I was being. Uh, O RLY? I just glared at him, kind of like this, and left.
Fast forward to this morning. I was on the treadmill and guess who shows up? Ding-ding-ding! You win! It was indeed Mr. Freakshow! And, of course, of all the empty treadmills he could have hopped on, he hopped on the one next to mine. He blabbed something about how he was willing to forgive me for what happened on Monday. He also blabbed something about how he saw me on Wednesday but was still too angry with me to talk to me...
Uh?
Again, I finished my workout without saying a word to him. I'm sure I've ruined his weekend now. I'll be sure to bring some insect spray with me on Monday...
Oh, and speaking of treadmills, this is the second time I've been on a treadmill since the last time I tried to see if my Achilles was OK. I ran on Tuesday as well... both times doing intervals of 3 minutes running and 1 minute walking (where I walked and stopped to stretch), to make sure everything was OK, and to not "overload" anything. The Achilles seems to be dong better, but it (and my calf) seems to get "tight" after about 25-30 minutes of these intervals. I'm going to have to be more vigilant when it comes to (weights) exercises for my calves, as well as stretching...
16.10.06
Baboon "Gangs" Run Wild in Suburban South Africa
From National Geographic online: Baboon "Gangs" Run Wild in Suburban South Africa
When we were in the national parks, there were warning signs all over the place, telling us not to feed the baboons, that they're attracted by food and can get very aggressive, that there's a big fine if you're caught feeding the baboons... OK. No problem. We get it. A lot of people don't, and that's how things go very wrong. I've heard that the baboons can be a big problem in the parks - climbing into open car windows, attacking people having picnics, etc. I didn't realize the "baboon problem" extended so far...
Oh, no pictures of baboons or "no feeding" signs or anything else up yet, but we're working on it ;-)
When we were in the national parks, there were warning signs all over the place, telling us not to feed the baboons, that they're attracted by food and can get very aggressive, that there's a big fine if you're caught feeding the baboons... OK. No problem. We get it. A lot of people don't, and that's how things go very wrong. I've heard that the baboons can be a big problem in the parks - climbing into open car windows, attacking people having picnics, etc. I didn't realize the "baboon problem" extended so far...
Oh, no pictures of baboons or "no feeding" signs or anything else up yet, but we're working on it ;-)
13.10.06
BEE, the SA wine industry, and a plug for Bilton ;-)
I just read a very interesting article about black economic empowerment in South Africa and its relation to the wine industry in the Western Cape.
This article mentions a young woman by the name of Moira van de Merwe who works for Bilton Wines, near Stellenbosch. Among the many wineries boyfriend of feitpingvin and I visited, Bilton was one of the wineries that impressed us most. Bilton is a relatively new winery; their first product was launched in 1998. They started with red wines and only this year started producing whites. Their wines (at least the ones we tasted - more details/tasting notes will come in a later JE) are excellent. If it's available where you are, try it. You won't be disappointed. We bought a few bottles to take back to Oslo with us. I wish we could have taken more...
Anyway, Moira van de Merwe was the young lady who set up the tasting for us. (Well, I'm quite sure it was her; I had forgotten her name. So unless they have several young black women participated in the program in France, it has to be her.) I have nothing but highly positive things to say about her. She's friendly, charming, enthusiastic, and knowledgeable. Oddly enough though, of all things, the one thing I remember most about her was our chit-chat about how boyfriend of feitpingvin and I found it strange that you can't get beer in supermarkets in South Africa (I'll save that one for another JE) and her shock and pleasant surprise to be able to buy beer in the supermarkets when she arrived in France... beer chat in a top-notch winery. WTF, right? :-P
It was quite cool reading about her on the BBC. As for the last bit... I think that she has the right personality type, attitude, and knowledge to go around the world marketing or doing some kind of PR for Bilton Wines. I truly hope it works out for her. And that she comes to Norway with her stash first ;-)
This article mentions a young woman by the name of Moira van de Merwe who works for Bilton Wines, near Stellenbosch. Among the many wineries boyfriend of feitpingvin and I visited, Bilton was one of the wineries that impressed us most. Bilton is a relatively new winery; their first product was launched in 1998. They started with red wines and only this year started producing whites. Their wines (at least the ones we tasted - more details/tasting notes will come in a later JE) are excellent. If it's available where you are, try it. You won't be disappointed. We bought a few bottles to take back to Oslo with us. I wish we could have taken more...
Anyway, Moira van de Merwe was the young lady who set up the tasting for us. (Well, I'm quite sure it was her; I had forgotten her name. So unless they have several young black women participated in the program in France, it has to be her.) I have nothing but highly positive things to say about her. She's friendly, charming, enthusiastic, and knowledgeable. Oddly enough though, of all things, the one thing I remember most about her was our chit-chat about how boyfriend of feitpingvin and I found it strange that you can't get beer in supermarkets in South Africa (I'll save that one for another JE) and her shock and pleasant surprise to be able to buy beer in the supermarkets when she arrived in France... beer chat in a top-notch winery. WTF, right? :-P
It was quite cool reading about her on the BBC. As for the last bit... I think that she has the right personality type, attitude, and knowledge to go around the world marketing or doing some kind of PR for Bilton Wines. I truly hope it works out for her. And that she comes to Norway with her stash first ;-)
12.10.06
roll over penguinette
There weren't that many people who showed up to Krav Maga training tonight, so the instructors took advantage of all the space we had in the training room to do tumbling drills - front rolls, front and back combinations, over (hop over and roll) and under (tuck your legs dammit) barriers, rolling towards an attacker and having to do a counter attack, only to roll towards another attacker and have to counterattack... good fun, though I'm still feeling kind of dizzy and my floaters are going crazy ;-)
Looks like I'm getting my groove back, though my shoulders are going to hurt tomorrow... :-/
Looks like I'm getting my groove back, though my shoulders are going to hurt tomorrow... :-/
10.10.06
as if going back to work after a holiday wasn't bad enough...
It's been three weeks since I've been to Krav Maga training. I had some kind of freaky cold and couldn't train the week before going to South Africa (I wrote some JEs about it in fact), and then the two weeks in South Africa where the primary activity was wining and dining the RoF...
Let's just say I felt the effects of that long absence, the wining and dining, and the lack of intense exercise :-/ Too bad I wasn't in proper shape for tonight's training, because we did a lot of sparring (boxing/kickboxing) tonight, something which I love doing. Top it off with coming down with something or other again; I suddenly started feeling feverish and my throat was getting really scratchy towards the end. Not good...
And I'll surely feel it all tomorrow ;-)
Let's just say I felt the effects of that long absence, the wining and dining, and the lack of intense exercise :-/ Too bad I wasn't in proper shape for tonight's training, because we did a lot of sparring (boxing/kickboxing) tonight, something which I love doing. Top it off with coming down with something or other again; I suddenly started feeling feverish and my throat was getting really scratchy towards the end. Not good...
And I'll surely feel it all tomorrow ;-)
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