Few more Days

100 Happy Days - Day 96: Been catching up on 'Fargo' - top tv show!

100 Happy Days - Day 97:  Felt great after the gym class which, although only 45 mins long, was a great work out and I felt a bit sick in the middle! Need to work off holiday flab!

#100 Happy Days - Day 29

100 Happy Days - Day 29:  Not seen her in a few weeks as she's been having teeth/dentist problems as well as being wrapped up with work but it was great to catch up with the Glamorous C. She and her bf JP are finally looking for a love-nest - how exciting!

On a not so great note, the shoulder/arm problem I've been having for over a month (thought it would just go away) has gotten worse instead of better, so much so that it now hurts when I drive, type, use a mouse... Physio booked for later in the week.

Ducks and Boots

100 Happy Days - Day 23: 'Donald' and 'Daffy' as I was leaving work. 'Daisy' wasn't about today so it was just the boys hanging out!

100 Happy Days - Day 24: Only six of us turned up, I wasn't the fittest but I did ok and survived the Boot Camp Challenge at work in aid of Sport Relief!

Time Flying...

...by when you're having fun!

Actually, it's not all be fun but days and weeks have been a blur and now we're close to the end of yet another year and I've barely been on here.

Today, I met an Olympian, namely Helen Jenkins, the British Triathlete, a world champion who came 5th in the London 2012.  She was very nice, shorter and smaller than expected. I was sat next to her and all I could think of was that my thighs were bigger than hers and I'm a size 8! Tiiiiiiny!

Anyway, no time to update properly, I will soon (for my sake while I still remember stuff....)

Teachers You Don't Forget

I think by and large, people remember good teachers – I certainly remember teachers from primary school and high school, although I also recall some of the not-so-good ones I’ve had, the good ones I remember very clearly, how they shaped and influenced me into the person I am today, I remember things they said, their accents and I remember how I missed them and was a sad when I moved on.

I’ve been doing Body Attack aerobics at my gym now for 4 years now, twice a week on Tuesdays and Thursdays. 

Tuesday’s class is tough, taught by Paula, an ex-GB swimmer, who really motivates you and makes you work hard whilst having fun at the same time. Loud but with a ready smile, Paula's classes were ones that you tried hard not to miss. Since I've been to her classes, she has always picked up the club’s annual prize for consistently attracting the biggest classes, averaging around 40 people in the studio and it’s obviously because of her teaching.

So you can imagine how devastated I was to find out that she will no longer be teaching the classes as she has gotten a different job. The people at the class last night I think were in shock when we heard the news – everyone was asking “What are we going to do now that she’s gone?” The class I attended the week before was her last one; apparently, she didn’t say anything to anyone because she was afraid it would get too emotional saying goodbye to us. We had a stand-in instructor last night who was ok but not a patch on Paula.

Considering that none of us were on first name terms and we only saw her for an hour each week, I shed a little tear as I drove home. I’ll really miss her but wish her all the best in her new job. Paula helped me get back my fitness and inspired me to work my body hard and believe me, as you get older, it gets a lot harder to make the effort, so thanks Paula.

Grazing

Still trying to lose my 'winter layer' - I think I'm sorta winning - in terms of going to the gym two or three times a week to do my aerobics and my yoga/pilates classes, I feel pretty fit but not at the level of 'body tone' that I would like.

My diet could be better - I don't tend to eat much during the week but at weekends, I eat a lot, a lot of it is rubbish, there's a fair bit of alcohol (though probably not excessive) and recently, I appear to have developed a need to snack, mostly savoury as opposed to sweet. Still on the other hand, I've also started to drink green tea on occasion instead of normal tea, so that cuts down my milk intake, although I've yet to do this at work.

A colleague suggested I check out graze.com - healthy snacks delivered to your door (or workplace) for convenience.  I was a bit dubious at first, thought it would all be flavourless nuts and seeds  with the consistency of cardboard but I was pleasantly surprised when my first 'graze box' was delivered this morning. Yes, I've got some seeds, but also some savoury Japanese crackers, mix of dried fruits and a flapjack. Yes, even flapjacks can be healthy compared to that packet of crisps! You get to choose from a huge range of snacks they provide, saying what you like/don't like, but what they give you in your box is always a surprise mixture from your choices.

Anyway, anyone interested in getting a free box can quote QFH6ZZH - think this is for a limited time only but hopefully I'll get other codes as I plan on continuing to buy from graze.com

Still struggling to get enough sleep these days, tired in the mornings, wide awake at night. I'm due a big lie in at some point to catch up. Also, I miss Boom when I don't see him...bummer! Must keep distracted and busy!

And so...

...hope you enjoyed the new year celebrations? Another quiet one for me, at home with a bottle of wine. Boom's mum has taken a turn for the worse - I don't know how serious though... :-(

Anyway, was kinda glad to see the back of 2010 - wasn't a great year, though had its good points as well as the bad.

The Bad - my mum's illness and subsequent operation; my car accident; my teeth and the expense of sorting them out; feeling out of control at work, generally not being appreciated; not seeing Boom as much as I'd like to

The Good - my mum making a good recovery and getting on with her life; Little Sis getting married and becoming Mrs Smith (!); various gigs and shows over the year; a relaxing beach holiday on my little ownsome; getting to see Boom at all.

New Year Resolutions?

Kept to most of the ones I made last year - I'll make the usual personal/private ones but my others are:

a) - Not to buy any reading books*
b) - Make a start on sorting out my 'Financial Project' by the first quarter
c) - Not get too stressed out by b)!
d) - Gym workout twice a month, as well as my usual biweekly aerobics sessions

* Ok, you may wonder how I can keep to this resolution with my new Kindle? Well, I'll be getting Amazon vouchers from this TopCashBack scheme.  As long as I only get books using these vouchers, I'm not technically 'buying' them, am I? Or am I kidding myself, lol? Ah well, we'll see!

May Blank Hols...

Yep, it's the first bank holiday weekend of May - I know I should update my blog but I know I probably won't so I'll just quickly jot some things down that are on my mind:

WWWWWL

No, not some new world war website but an acronym I learnt yesterday at work (the company is very fond of acronyms). What does it stand for (you may or may not be wondering)? "Why We Win Why We Lose". Ahem.

Football

With Liverpool's disastrous season and them being knocked out of the both Champions League and Europa Cup (last night), plus Ebbsfleet United being relegated from the Blue Square Premier League and the future unknown for MyFootballClub, I would like to say that I hope England provide at least a smidgen of football enjoyment for me this summer...

Flab

I noticed an extra layer round my waist due to overeating and no exercise these past few weeks - this must go.

Clothes

I seem to have a lot of clothes but am reluctant to throw any away - I shall make an effort this weekend to see if any items can go in the ever present charity bag.

Have a nice long weekend all!

Wow WoW!

Still not blogging properly yet, work is distracting me and I'm really disorganised. So much to do...will start at the weekend. Have some holidays left so perhaps I'll use them to get myself organised at home.

Anyway, today marks one year since I was sucked into playing World of Warcraft.

For good or bad, I'll be playing for a while - will be a long time before I get bored of it as there's always stuff to do, if not on my main character, then on other alternative characters. Plus, there's a nice little gaming community too. Stats here if anyone is remotely interested, lol!

Anyway, tonight, I saw Boom for the first time since before Christmas. More on that later, I guess.

First Body Attack aerobics class of the year tomorrow - not looking forward to it!

Knotty

"You were very knotty!"

This from the lady who had just given me a 6 minute head and shoulders massage - work is promoting a healthy wellbeing thing, so we've had people in to give advice on healthy eating, exercise, discount cycling initiatives and some relaxing massages provided by a local beauty/massage bar. Someone even brought in a Wii so they could have Wii fit competitions!

I'm knew I was knotty as I've been working hard in the gym recently (punchbag), don't move around much at home and things have been pretty busy at work.

We also heard some good news - my gym membership will be subsidised again soon, which is a good thing as I'd been trying to justify my £60+ per month membership I've been paying since the beginning of the year when we lost our 'perk'. Sure, it's my biggest regular leisure expense and as long as I go regularly, then it's cool. But the odd months when I can't make my aerobics classes or to the gym, £60 doing nothing is a lot and the fees go up next year.

It was revealed by 'accident' recently (at some work conference) that the bods in our corporate HQ in London have been enjoying a big £50 per month subsidy towards their gym membership whilst we have been getting a big fat zero. Since they didn't want to piss off the bigwigs, they decided to give all other members the same benefit (less the London weighting of course). The where, when and how hasn't been sorted yet but I'm well happy about this - about time something positive happened at work. Anyway, this whole heathy thing has been great to just lift the mood and spirits around this place - something done right for once and I've signed up for a couple of pilates lessons which should help keep my tum flat.

And on another positive note, I watched Liverpool beat Man United 2-0 on Sunday, all on my little ownsome, surrounded by around 30 United fans in the gym restaurant area. Whilst I didn't cheer loudly at Torres' brilliant goal to take the lead, I couldn't help jumping up with my hands in the air as Ngog knocked in the second goal. I could feel eyes all silently burning all around me and I'm sure had I been a bloke, it could have gotten a bit physical as well as verbal! I'm just so glad that Michael Owen didn't score - if he had scored the winning goal, I think I would have cried!

I was easy on Boom as things haven't been great for him recently - his car was keyed by mindless scrotes and his mum's still poorly. Had it been the other way round though, he wouldn't have been so sympathetic regardless of my predicaments!

Bit of This, Bit of That

Well here's a desperate update, need to get back into the routine of logging in and posting but it's been so mad at work that I don't get time and when I'm at home, I'm doing other stuff.

Anyway, yeah, I had a fab holiday in Skiathos in July - I shall post about that at some point but it's really more as a momento for me, rather than anything of any interest.

So some brief bits of what's been going on with me...

Work - last month or so has seen the company's latest cull on employees. We're now sub skeleton staff, if you can have that! After the two culls last year, this latest one has meant really the best and most experienced people up against each other. The result has left the entire business shellshocked…I know no one person can be too valuable to a business and that everyone is dispensible, but really, I feel stressed just thinking about when JT, a competent lady who's been at the heart of the business for over 20 years leaves at the end of the month. She even had people in the same consultation pool vouching for her, but no, the irresponsible and the ignorant who make the decisions and who don't understand our business effectively said she didn't conform to their vision of our future managers and had to go. In two months time, it will have all gone spectacularly pearshaped and they'll be wanting her to come back but likely, she'll be away on a cruise. It's been a distressing few weeks though. Me, well sure, I'm safe for now as are my immediate colleagues but we're among the few left behind to clean up the mess…

Movies - quite a few visits to the cinema these past couple of months, including Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 (Travolta was manically brilliant!) and Inglourious Basterds (Pitt was funny but the guy who played the SS officer really stole the show).

Football - well not the greatest of starts for Liverpool, I do think they peaked last year, had the title in their grasp but blew it. This year will probably be Chelski's season.

And Michael Owen in a Man U shirt…just so wrong! :-(

Non league-wise, I attended my first Ebbsfleet United match of the season, against Altrincham, which ended in a draw. The Fleet are not doing well, having only had one win so far and are languishing in relegation zone.

Have been pretty active doing MyFootballClub stuff, which could soon (if it wanted to!) change its logo to 'Own The Club, Own The Ground' - yeah, the current owners of Stonebridge Road are putting it up for sale and people are being invited to buy shares in an attempt to bid £500k for the ground. I've put in money to buy a few and it would be nice for a club like Ebbsfleet not to have to worry about extortionate rent or possibly being without a ground to play on in the future.

Gigs - Boom's mum was very poorly and had to go into hospital, so we ended up not going to the V Festival and I had to sell our tickets at short notice on ebay… :-( We were gutted about not going to see such a great line up but such is life, least his mum is recovering. We did enjoy the U2 gig and I have some others in the pipeline.

Teeth - Been suffering from toothache, so bad that I had to go to the dentist who recommended me to see a consultant. Bad news - I need a wisdom tooth out, after all these years, it's growing again!!? Good news - it's covered by my company medical insurance! Not looking forward to it but this tooth has been giving me gyp on and off for the last 20 years so it'll be good to throw it at the tooth fairy!

WoW - still playing most nights, still spend too much time on it but hey, it's a hobby and I enjoy it although sometimes, my laptop is on the verge of being launched out of the window!

Exercise - still been going to the gym but not been doing both aerobics class in a week (the routine is really hard on the calves!), so I think I seem to have acquired some excess flab - gym workout is good for tone but not for fat burn it seems. The weather's getting even colder, encouraging me to eat…must stop!

Reading - the only other thing I've been able to do aside from WoW is read, it does mean late nights but I'm on book 23/24 this year so not doing too badly, especially as there are Robert Jordan tomes in there.

Family - Good news - little sis has announced a date for her wedding next year, so deffo another trip out to the Far East! Bad news - how on earth am I going to afford it…? Had a Skype call with my little niece the other day - she's so comical!

Phew - that's all off my chest now, hopefully I'll get round to catching up on some blog reading!

Stealth by Health

There's a health initiative at the moment going on at work, not because of the swine flu (sorry, I believe the media hype is just to make pharmaceutical companies even richer...) but basically because the company has cottoned onto the fact that healthy employees with good well-being equals less sick days.

I was volunteered by the boss to be the department's 'Health Rep', which basically means attending meetings, a bit of brainstorming and then letting the members of the team know what's going on and pass on ideas and stuff. We're a pretty healthy team anyway - nearly all of us are gym members (and attendees) and we have a tri-athlete and marathon runner amongst us.

The key numbers for this initiative?

0 = zero tobacco
5 = five fruit/veg a day
10 = 10, 000 steps a day
25 = 25 BMI (Body Mass Index) or less

Ooh, nothing about alcohol in there then, but I'm pretty good these days! Anyway, don't smoke, probably manage on average 3-5 fruit/veg a day, no idea how many steps I do a day (not many) and my BMI is around 22.

Like many people, unless I'm meeting up for a natter with the glamorous C, I sit at my desk most days to eat my lunch at work. Not very hygienic or healthy I know but it's what I do. Also, I don't tend to walk anywhere (unless I'm out shopping) - walking to and from my car and walking to and from my desk to toilet is all the walking I do most days.

Yesterday was rather different.

Clad in an oversized t-shirt with Health Rep emblazoned on the back, I went for a jolly 2.5 mile walk around Sale Water Park in sunshine on our first organised lunchtime walk.

The walk was surprisingly invigorating, although at a pace that was a little too slow for my liking.
I'll probably do this again, it was nice to get out, look at the ducks and geese.

Of course, it's possible that our syndicate will win the lotto tonight and I don't have to go to work any more and the next time I walk, it's a stroll on some foreign exotic beach…we can all dream!

Speculate to accumulate, that's how we've justified how much we've spent on tonight's Euromillions…

Someone's got to win it and why not us?

Endurance

My colleague PA who did the Iron Man challenge last year? It was obvious he wasn't going to stop there, this endurance thing, apparently it's like a drug.

So what's next on his agenda?

Running three marathons.

On three consecutive days.

My eyes are watering just thinking about what would happen if he got a blister on his foot on day 1...

Anyway, have never been inspired to do any kind of endurance training, hard enough now just trying to keep up my fitness with the aerobics, yoga/pilates and odd gym session.

Last night, the glamorous C joined me in the class - now that neither of us are single, it's harder to get some girly time together - lunch at work is always rushed - must sort out a proper get-together.

We had a nice little catch up in the sauna and then both of us had to rush off to meet our respective blokes!

The situation at work isn't getting any easier; people are afraid to stick their necks out to make decisions, there's too much uncertainty, too much fannying around, yet everything is marked 'urgent' or 'critical'.

One of the girls who sits near us (who was part of our team before the powers that be did a reshuffle) has found that she has lost her job - she is obviously devastated - she's getting married later this year.

It's all a load of bollocks :-(

Board not Bored

So I had a snowboarding taster session at the Chill Factore the other night.

Have to say that I really enjoyed it - I'm pretty fit but at the end of the hour session, which passed really quickly, I was really tired - my feet and legs were aching! And as expected, my boarding trousers (and board) were kids' size but at least my jacket was from the adults' section!

Would I do it again? Yes, I'd go for lessons but they're not cheap so I'd have to save up for them if I'm to do them this year.

Anyway, this week, I booked flights to Hong Kong using up airmiles that I've been saving up these past few years - £160 return from Manchester in the end, plus 4200 airmiles, which is a brilliant! Not going until later in the year, so hoping to squeeze another holiday over the summer.

After the lesson, went for a kebab (yes, really!) and had a 'social' session on WoW. A late but fun night.

Brain Strain

I find that at times when I'm overworked, my brain feels like exploding, like it's just full of...stuff.

I have no idea if this is the same for everyone else or if it's just me, my brain's way of telling me it's overloaded with things to think about.

I know my memory isn't quite like what it used to - age or because I have too much to think about? Bit of both maybe?

Anyway, I've started to take Omega 3 capsules and trying to do puzzles every day to 'exercise' my brain, since I do quite a bit to exercise the rest of my body and I seem to be neglecting the grey matter. I'm not bad at medium level Sudoku, crosswords, codewords but memory stuff seriously need improving on!

So when do you think my IQ will increase, or does it not work like that? Dammit...

Butt Ache

It's been over a year now since my Wii-induced tennis elbow and tendonitis stopped me from playing badminton regularly. My elbow still isn't 100% but it's probably as good as it's ever going to get now.

And so it was that I faced the glamorous C across a badminton court again. We were going to take it easy, some gentle knocking about, since she's been suffering from tennis elbow too (think hers is gardening induced though).

Both of us have a competitive streak as after testing a few tentative shots, we decided to play a couple of proper games, both of which I eventually won. Had forgotten how much I enjoyed playing and no, it's not just the winning, it's a great workout, well the way we play anyway! Although I exercise regularly, lots of different muscles aching today, in particular the muscles in my bum - ok, I must be playing it wrong! ;-)

All in all, a nice relaxing bank holiday weekend - caught up on my sleep, on my reading, spent some time with my gran, squeezed in a bit of housework and picked up my PSP again for the first time in ages (addicted to Final Fantasy Tactics again...). Even sat in the garden for a while until the heavens opened up!

Think my batteries have been nicely recharged.

Working 9-5?

Last week was probably one of the toughest I've had in a very long time at work but it could actually get worse before it gets better.

I put in extra hours, did a couple of 7.30am - 7.30pm days but I'm barely keeping afloat. I'm knackered. The only thing that's keeping me sane is that I'm making sure that I don't miss my gym nights - a couple of hours where I'm just thinking of working out, not work.

Spoke to my boss who said "You can only do what you can do," and told me to go home early on Friday, which I reluctantly did. Why was I reluctant? Because I was planning on staying late again. Think I'm losing it.

So I got home, drank a load of beer and felt better.

Then on Saturday, I drank a load of wine, got silly texts off the glamorous C and felt better.

Today, I worked out, relaxed in the sauna, ate tapas with the glamorous C and felt better.

Bring on Monday!

Interlude...

...now where were we?

Oh yeah - been making sure that I've been spending time with my girlie mates since I seem to find myself immersed in football and the footie lads these days.

Had a nice night in at JH's on Weds - good food, loadsa wine, girlie chats, a very late night. Following day was kinda lazy, ended up in town, had a great pub lunch, came across some mating frogs and then despite the hangover, made it to my gym class - need to keep it up! Did I feel good afterwards? Err, no!

Friday - met up with the ex for the first time in around 7 months, was a little weird but was ok.

Had a nice weekend with the glamorous C and her kids - pretty relaxing watching tv, chatting and playing numerous games of Yu-gi-oh! (hey I actually won a few games this time!).

Again, after indulging, I persuaded myself to go to the gym for a good workout.

I've come to the conclusion that I'll be going off the rails at some point in my life so I may as well do it looking good! :-)

Something Different

Another brain-busting week at work and to make things even tougher, I had my one-to-one annual apparaisal with the boss yesterday.

Our annual appraisal is in two parts - first, you fill in a form (kinda like an internal CV) detailing what you've achieved in the year, your development and training needs. The boss then reads your comments and then fills in what he thinks are your achievements for the year, your development and training needs.

If it's a good appraisal, then what he writes matches what you've written, or even better, includes achievements that you'd forgotten about.

Secondly, you have a face-to-face appraisal. This is when you get a chance to discuss the written appraisal but also to air your views, get stuff off your chest, put the world to rights etc.

I didn't whinge too much, kept things pretty impersonal, went in with notes about the points I wanted to make - quite organised for me really. 2007 was generally a hard but good year for me workwise.

One thing that was different though - when he asked if there was any other business at the end of the appraisal, I asked if I could set up a salary review meeting with him. It took him by surprise but it was like a do or never do situation for me.

Despite the appraisal being good, I don't like them, felt quite stressed so it was good that I was able to relax after work with the glamorous C at the gym (she travelled down from Blackpool where she's staying in a hotel for work). My ribs are still sore so I took things a bit easier in class (shoulder feels a bit twingey now...falling to bits) - felt much better after a sauna.

Had a good laff about 'walking down the aisle' scenarios.

Anyway, boss says to me today that I have an appointment with him first thing on Monday...

Tomorrow, for something else different, I'm off to see my 'little team' Ebbsfleet United play Northwich (at Northwich) - meeting up with some of the guys from last week, plus a load of other MyFC members.

Should be a laff - hope I don't get too wet in the rain!

Girlie Giggles

Ouch, had a sore head yesterday - really shouldn't drink beer in such quantities!

Mooched about with my hangover and wasted the whole morning and early afternoon, before I managed to get myself ready and to the David Lloyd to meet up with the glamorous C.

We're not in much contact during the week as work is so busy for both of us so really appreciate catching up at weekends when we can. With my tender head and my ribs still sore (I still have no idea why...?), we weren't in the gym very long before we were relaxing in the sauna!

Had a good chin wag and laugh as usual - she was giving me some advice too in preparation for my one-to-one with my boss later this week - I need to write stuff down.

Anyway, an amusing session on the internet when I got home - make the most of my weekend before another hard slog of a week!

Oh yeah, Spurs beat Chelski in the Carling Cup final over the weekend - know a couple of people who'll be grinning like Cheshire Cats for a while! :-)