Round 4.1 Day 55

Wassup? Trip is all booked, and now I'm just trying to work out what days I'm going to do this and that, and how I can squeeze golf and beers in there somewhere. On Saturday I went to the doctor's. Last week I visited a dermatologist about a mole on my back that is getting bigger. I think I've mentioned it in the past. It doesn't hurt and it isn't itchy, but it's there, so I should do something about it. So the doctor refers me to another doctor, and Will and I went there. When we were called in Will asked the doctor if I was going to get a needle. The doctor said maybe not, but I did end up having to give some blood. Will told me not to cry. I didn't. They are going to cut the mole out in a couple of weeks. First time I've gone under the knife. I hope they sew it up properly so I can keep exercising without having it ripping open on me. Will was wearing a Tyrannosaurus Rex hat his auntie Tokie gave him, which looks like he's carrying a T-Rex on his shoulders, so all the nurses had a giggle.
I've had a big weekend workout-wise. Chest & Back Friday, more push-ups and pull-ups than ever, then a 4.8 km run on Saturday (6 x 800), and then Just Arms yesterday. The run was interesting because I resolved to do the entire run in POSE style, trying to stay off my heels and get that "4" shape going. After a while it felt really good, but my calves are killing me today. The workout is going to culminate in a non-stop 5 km run, something I don't think I have ever done before, and I expect to do it easy, and I'm actually looking forward to it. I think at some stage I'm going to spend some dosh on a good pair of shoes and a nano. Carrying around my big old classic ipod when I run is a pain in the ass.

Round 4.1 Day 52

So I'm at day 51 of round 4.1, more than half way through already. I feel great. I'm getting pretty ripped, too. The last couple of weeks my reps have gone up. I don't know what it is, maybe the cooler weather. Maybe the HGH. I just feel really fit. I'm not really taking any HGH.
I've booked a trip home for Christmas, too. With the family this time. When I bought the tickets I went through the process on the Japanese Jetstar site and reached the "確認" page ("Confirmation") which I really wish was in past tense but was just that one tense less word. I checked for a button or something to push to save or print or something, but there was none, so I guessed I bought them. I thought I would receive a confirmation email, you know, hey just letting you know you have in fact spend thousands of dollars on plane tickets thanks etc. But nothing. So I called them up today and spoke to an Indian guy I couldn't understand (I would have done better in Japanese) but I eventually confirmed that I had bought them and he said (I think) that he would send me an email saying as much. Anyway, arriving the morning of December 21, and leaving on the 10th of January. Still have to buy tickets from the Gold Coast to Melbourne, but we're trying to squeeze in a couple of nights at the Gold Coast at the end of the trip, but hotels are filling up, so still up in the air on when we will be leaving Melbourne. Definitely arriving in Melbourne on the afternoon of the 21st though. Everyone's coming, Junko and the boys, so it's the big one. Infant on a plane. This will be Will's third trip to Oz, and Joseph's first. Anyway, will let everyone know when plans are settled, and I hope I get to see everyone! BBQs, golf, Puffing Billy, Penguins, beach, it's all good. That's my thinking.
I'm looking at the schedule, and I'm already wondering what I'm going to do when I finish this round. I've got three weeks between the end of round 4.1 and the trip. When I first started P90 I thought, wow, when the 90 days is up I'm going to have a rest and relax and take it easy for a while. Which I did, going to Hawaii. But as I approached the end of it I didn't really want to have a long break. Two weeks, then a week, then a few days. I wanted to keep on going. Working out had become a habit, and I didn't want to break it. It's the same now. I don't want to get soft and lazy again. That's my thinking.
So round 5. What form will it take? I like the shorter resistance workouts, so I might stick to that, but I'm thinking I'll leave the P90X videos behind and make my own resistance workouts using some exercises from them. I might edit some of the videos, just cut out the stuff I don't need, and use them if I feel like I need some structure to the workout. That might be the best thing. That's my thinking.

Round 4.1 Day 30-something

Busy long weekend.
Saturday was pool, then some shopping. It was supposed to be Will's sports day at school, but it rained all day and was posponed until Monday, a public holiday. Sunday was English Playgroup, but Will and I were the only ones who turned up. Disapointing, but oh well. I guess everyone was pretty busy with their kid's sports day and stuff. Then on Monday we had Will's sports day. It was pretty fun, if long. Will did really well. Last year he suffered because he had no idea what was going on at the starting line, and missed the start by about 2 seconds. This time he was ready. He was poised to go, and Junko and I shouted something about listening to the teacher and being ready to go and he shouted "Wakatta!" (I know!") and everyone laughed. He did good, finishing second behind a really fast kid. He was pretty happy. So a big few days, then I took yesterday, Tuesday, off work and we went to Japan Monkey Park, which at the moment has a dinosaur display! Since Will found a brochure about six weeks ago he has been dying to go, and then yesterday we finally went. Three huge robot dinosaurs, growling and roaring etc, and some activites like digging up fossils and riding a small triceretops. Well, it took us an hour to get there by train and bus, and he balks at the entrance. Too scary. You could hear the roars from outside the pavilion. I tried dragging him in, but I feared I might do some mental damage. He was crying and shaking. All I thought is that if I don't get him in there now, all he will want to do as soon as he gets home is come back and see the dinosaurs. I'd put up with a month and half of it, and I was going to end it now. So we sat down, and I delivered a speech. "I know you're scared, but you're brave, and you're going to do it anyway." I drilled this into him and got him pumped up, and said "C'mon!" and high fives and then we went in, just hammered in until we were face to face with the T-Rex. He was scared, but I think that's okay. I think it was exhilarating for him. There's no point reading about and watching and drawing dinosaurs for weeks and weeks without being a little scared of them, because they would rip his guts out in a second if they were around now, and you should respect that. Anyway, he had a great day, and Japan Monkey Park isn't a bad place. You can get pretty close to the Monkeys. Here's a picture of Will and his friend Kai with a King Julian monkey.

Workouts good. Ran 4 km on Saturday, X-Stretch on Sunday, Shoulders & Arms on Monday, and Killer Abs yesterday. Got Legs & Back tonight after Nori's lesson (if I have a lesson with him, he's cancelled the last two weeks). Going to try for 40 pull ups tonight.
Did you see the article in The Age this morning about a study that says house prises will rise 20% in the next three years? The Sydney Morning Herald called the company that created this study, BIS Shrapnel, "a respected business forecaster ". It is a PR company and was commisioned (paid) by QBE to do this study. QBE owns and runs LMI mortgage insurance, which makes money when you take out a mortgage, and probably makes more money when you can't pay it. It's advertising. It's criminal. Do Australians know that Perth and Queensland are already crashing? Not if they read the papers they don't.
Anyway, I'm sure everything will be fine. Australia is different, you know.

Round 4.1 Day 37

On Tuesday I took the day off because I was sick (of work). I wanted to go to the city gym and do Chest & Back, but when I got there I found out it was closed for the day, so I went to a newer city leasure centre-type place. They had a gym with plenty of weights and pull up bars and stuff, so I paid my 400 yen and off I went. Gyms are funny places. Lots and lots of machines, people watching TV on these machines. I'm starting to think cardio is a real waste of time. I'm sure there is some cardio-vascular benefits, but if you're doing it to lose weight, it just doesn't make sense. The calories lost in one hour on a treadmill can be wiped out by a donut. Rigourous excersise is the only way to go. Lifting till you can't lift anymore, running until you can't run anymore, doing somethign until you can't do it anymore, that's the only way to go. And then not rewarding yourself, not eating any crap for weeks and weeks. That's the hard part. Walking for an hour won't do much except grease the moving parts. Better than nothing, I guess. It just seems so boring, walking and watching TV. Especially here, with the TV as boring as it is. Then there are the machines. People lifting really light weights, 10 reps, hardly raising a sweat, filling out the form when they finish. Waste of time.
I wish there was a Crossfit gym here. I'm sure there are some in Melbourne, and if I were living there I would definately join up. If you are serious about getting stronger and having your ass kicked every single time you go to the gym, go to a Crossfit gym.
But anyway. I guess I'm lucky that they had weights and a pull up bar at all. One thing I've learnt living here: take nothing for granted. I took my time doing the workout, and I think doing it in a different environmnet made a difference, and I really did well. I didn't have my previous workout details on me, so I wasn't sure how I was doing comparitively, but when I went home and checked I killed it. Most pushup and pullups in a Chest & Back workout by far. I did the full workout too, not the half workouts I've been doing.
Tonight I've got a 4 km run, which will mess me up, I'm sure. I'm not a very good runner. And then when I get home I will read the chapter of "Where Men Win Glory" where Pat Tillman gets killed. I'm not looking forward to that at all. I wish I had paid more attention to it when it happened. I remember seeing his photo when it happened, the one of him in uniform with a beret, and he looks like a typical thick-necked jock, and if I thought anything about it other than "more lies" I don't remember. All I remember is that 2004 was a year when a lot of awful things happened, like the war in Iraq, the Tsunami, just death and destruction one after the other. Anyway, I'm ashamed that I didn't bother to find out more about it, and especially ashamed that I judged him so quickly and wrongly. I saw his brother on Bill Maher a couple of weeks ago, and that got my attention. There's a documentary out soon too. I tell you what, the US Army fucked with the wrong family when they messed with the Tillmans.
I watched "The Other Guys" the other night. Not a bad movie, got a few chuckles out of it. I've never been a huge Will Farrell fan. I get sick of him after a few minutes. But he was good in this, probably because he's playing a pretty normal guy. One thing I don't like about his films is how one character says something stupid, and then they talk about how stupid it was. Like the tuna/lion thing. Yea it was stupid, but somebody wrote it in a script, so that kind of just makes it lazy. But then his character liked the Little River Band! Hah! Genius!

Round 4.1 Day 32

I'm currently reading John Krakauer's book about Pat Tillman "Where Men Win Glory". Pat Tillman was a hero, the kind of guy I think every man wishes he was. But he's dead now. And the US Army lied and used his death to recruit more young men to go and die. What a waste. If you let your leaders lie to you they will, because it's all they know how to do, and their lies will kill your best and brightest. I think if a politician is elected and then knowingly lies, they should be hanged. It should be the only capital offense there is.
I once watched a documantary where a group of American solders are trying to talk to the elders of a small Afgan village.
"Where are the Taliban?" they asked. Nobody says anything. One American guy pleades "Why won't you help us? You have to help us!" Then one of the elders looses it. "Why do you need our help? You have tanks, planes, satelittes! We have nothing! How can we possiblly help you?" What a nightmare that place must be.
Reading about Pat Tillman has inspired me to do better than I have been doing. Better with my health, better with my Japanese, better with the people around me. I know I don't have the charisma or the self believe that Pat Tillman apparently had, but that shouldn't stop me from trying to do the stuff I want to do.
Ablett is going to the Gold Coast. I think it's great. He's done everything at Geelong. Premierships, Brownlows, Norm Smiths, B&F, what's left? When you think of the money, and where he will be living, and the fact that he won't be recognised most of the time, which I'm sure he hates, it's a no-brainer. I reckon we'll see a couple of years of Ablett winning games off his own boot, and that will be awesome. I can't wait. At the very least he might stop his whining and bitching on the field.
Hird at Essendon too. I hated watching Hird playing the Swans because he never did anything wrong. He was such a good player, I'm sure he'll be an awesome coach. But they do seem a strange bunch at Windy Hill. Spoilt. Also, why do most of the footy panel shows finish BEFORE the grand final. Every year after the grand final the only show that actually reviews it is the Sunday Footy Show, and that's a bit of a joke show. This year has been good because all the panel shows have had to come back for another week. It seems like normally the biggest and most important game of the year doesn't get the review it deserves.
Beware of an October suprise. It seems lke everything is going to shit itself at the same time. The EU will disintegrate, America will run out of money, and the housing bubble in Australia will pop. I'm predicting a big month. The banks are going to want their money back, and they are going to suck the country dry.