Day 7 & 8

Fire Up Your Abs the other day was pretty good. Not too strenuous, but the last round got me sweating. And the 900 m swim last night was pretty cruizy. 6 lots of six laps. Funny, three weeks ago I struggled to swim four laps in a row, now I can do 6 x 6.
At the pool there were two swimmers (me and another guy) and four lifeguards.
My bike motor is making a pretty loud clicking noise each rev. I usually listen to my ipod while I'm riding, but I can still hear it. Tick tick tick tick. I might take it to a mechanics this weekend.
Fear is compelling me to study Japanese, fear of finally getting contacted by IBM and the flunking the Japanese section of the interview. You know that little voice that says, "Hmmm, it might be best if you didn't leave this to chance, do a little preparation even though it appears the interview might not happen", the voice that competes with the other voice that says, "Ah, fuck it". There's always voices in my head telling me to do stuff.
*Just got a mail from IBM. No good, as expected. They wanted a native Japanese. Anyway, I'll keep at the study so I'm a little more confident going into Japanese interviews.

Day 7

So it's 20 years since Nevermind. Holy shit. I remember driving to Rosebud with Adam and Craig and Max listening to it over and over, and we all loved it straight away. By the time Kurt Cobain was dead I had moved on to the British pop, then a few years later to techno, and then that pretty much did it for me with music.
I have given up on the Lee Child's book. I'm four chapters in, but I've already worked out the two twists so far in the story ages before the protagonist did, which can't be good. Harlen Coben is the best popular thriller writer around. I'll get one of his books next, I think.
Chest, Back, and Shoulders on Monday was good. I didn't go crazy, just focused on form, and didn't really push it. Next week I hope to get a couple more reps in for each exercise. I'm feeling it today though, two days later. Yesterday I had my rest day. Got the Rev Abs workout tonight.

Day 5

Days two, three, and four have come and gone. The stretch was good. The Arms workout was fine, though it appears someone has stolen my 15 kg dumbbells. The garage door is left open sometimes, and they are right near the entrance, so there you go. Funny how they only took them, and not anything else, like my toolbox or ipod, which were also there. So someone ran in, grabbed 30 kg of weight, half the body weight of most people here, and raced out again. Weird. Maybe I have misplaced them, but I can't think where else I would have put them. So I did all the exercises with the 10 kg dumbbells, which isn't really enough. So I'll either buy some more, which I don't want to do, or every Saturday go to the gym and do it, which I might do because it's more interesting than doing it in the garage and I'll get better results. Day four was the 4 km run, no dramas.
Still no word from IBM, though I noticed they re-posted the position vacancy last week. Weird. Lots of weirdness recently.
Finished the Hyperion Cantos. Great stuff. Wish I could erase all memory of it and read it again for the first time. Started reading Killing Floor by Lee Childs. Only a couple of chapters in, but I like it.
Great win by the Swans this week. It feels so good beating St Kilda. I don't know why, it just does. We are still carrying too many duds. They must trade White and Jetta. White would be okay if he could kick straight, but Jetta costs us every time he gets the ball. Granted he can run fast, but if you can't run and kick, or run and think, what good is running? So we will get pumped by Geelong next week, and then have to beat the Lions in Sydney. Too be honest, I don't have good feelings about the next two weeks. I think we might limp into the finals, but not do anything. Won't matter in the end, because it'll be a Geelong/Collingwood granny. Hope so, anyway.

Day 1 "I got dis"

Day 1 went well. The pool I go to is in Toyota, kind of on the way home from work. It's a completely stainless steel pool, which is kind of unusual. Even more unusual is that there is always only a handful of people in it. Go to the local pool in my city and there are at least fifty people in there at any one time, most of who are walkers, old people who just walk up and down the pool, creating this really strong current. Of course, the Toyota pool has kyukei time, meaning rest time, and at 50 minutes past the hour, every hour, everyone has to get out for ten minutes. Why? I don't know. To rest. The two lifeguards on duty are changed over in an elaborate and choreographed routine involving raised hands and whistles, where the empty pool is never left unmonitored, not even for a second, as the old lifeguards leave their raised seats and are replaced by the new ones. Then the radio calisthenics song comes over the PA system, which is a five minute stretching song that everyone knows. They play it here at work every morning at 8:25, though I have never seen anyone do it here. Too much like hard work maybe. But at the pool, everyone does it. Old people, kids, everyone. Except me, because I don't know the routine. So I sit there while everyone does this stretching routine, thinking, come on, I just want to go in the pool. It's probably one of those things that a newbie would think is charming or delightful, oh aren't the Japanese cute, sort of thing. I just think they are the Borg.
I'm an okay swimmer, though of course my endurance is crap. I can swim 200 metres non-stop, but that's about it. I'm trying to breath every three strokes, alternating left and right sides. Right is fine, but left is hard. So I did my 32 laps and got out. A guy in my lane must have done 100 laps while I was there, and he was still going when I left. Amazing. But I know swimming is like running. If you keep it up, you pretty quickly get good at it. My neck is still a bit stiff from last week, but not any worse. Tonight I've got the ol' X-Stretch. I will listen to the end of the Hyperion books while I do it.
Can I just say how great all the footy panel shows are? How do guys with Foxtel stay married? The first one I watch is Footy Classified. It's probably the most gossipy of the shows. I like the panel, especially Garry Lyon and Caroline Wilson. Then it's On The Couch, which is a little drier, but Paul Roos has saved it. I have started watching AFL Insider, which is interesting because they have a current coach on the panel. Then there's AFL 360, which is quickly becoming my favourite, surprising because everything they're talking about has been talked to death already. Then there's The Footy Show, which is always good value. Then there's The Winners, which I don't get to watch much because the torrent always come late. There's more if I wanted, like the one with Quartermaine and Walls, or the jokey one with Dunstall and Frawley, and the Final Siren, or the Before the Game shows, heaps of them. It's crazy.
I'm halfway through watching The Change Up. Much funnier than anything I've seen this year. It's not really the story or anything, just the two actors in it, Jason Bateman (who I'm pretty sure played Malory Keaton in Family Ties) and Ryan Reynolds, who wasn't man enough for Scarlett Johannson. I like the swearing in it, the tits, and when the baby shits in the man's mouth.
Haven't heard anything from IBM about the job in Brisbane. The job is still being advertised, and the computer says my application is still under review, but I'm officially assuming it's not going to happen. It's been three weeks. And if I'm not getting a call back for a job I am more than qualified for, then I can't help but think that I'm stuck here forever, listening to two of the biggest dorks in the world behind me chatter non-stop about fonts or something. Someone get me out of here! On the other hand, it looks like the world has shit itself again today, so maybe Disneyrand is the only place to be. Going to be an interesting few months.
Willy had a fever last night. It's funny, because it was only a few days ago Junko and I were saying we can't remember the last time he was sick. Karma police. He jumped onto my bed this morning at about 4 and I woke up instantly. It felt like he had just gotten out of a really hot bath or something. I spoke to him on the phone just then and he sounds alright.

Autumn 2011 - "I got dis"

I'm as flat as a tack from the job hunting failures, Richmond rolling the Swans and all but crushing our finals chances, the life-sapping nature of the weather, and being back at work after a week's holiday, but I'm going to start a 90-day round tonight with an 800 m swim. I did a kilometer last week, but it ruined my neck, and was probably over doing it a little.
I have done very little exercise since I hurt my back a month ago. That was after a two week break, so I haven't done much at all for six or seven weeks. Time to get back into it.
Swim Thursday, stretch Friday, then Arms, a run (starting at 4 km, working up to then staying at 8), then Chest Back and shoulders, a rest, the one Rev Abs workout called "Fire Up Your Abs". That's the week.
I come in at 84.5 kilograms, the heaviest I have ever been. I like feeling strong and heavy, but I have seen the tone disappear in the last month. This should sort it out.

Autumn

I've watched a few movies recently. Last night I watched Rise of the Planet of the Apes. A really good movie. Best movie I've seen this year. Nothing amazing, just a well made flick. I watched Super 8 the other night, too. I liked the stuff with the kids, but the monster plot was pretty weak. I watched it to the end, which is probably how I rate movies now. No stars, just "If I didn't watch the whole thing, how many minutes did I get through". Hey Jim, how was Super 8? Well, I didn't turn it off! Wow, that good, huh? How about Cowboys & Aliens? 20 minutes. It has Harrison Ford in it, so you know it's bad. Also, apparently if you wake up and you don't remember who you are, most likely you are an assassin. The first sign is when you beat the shit out of the first person you meet without even trying. Maybe the stress of being an assassin is causing this spate of amnesia cases. The International Assassin Association should look into it.
You know what I'm sick of in movies? Unrealism. Like when a guy beats up five armed men who have him surrounded. Have a look at movies like Frantic or The Next Three Days. Most of us aren't, or weren't assassins, or CIA operatives, or Navy Seals. Most of us wouldn't have a clue how to shoot a gun or knock someone out. I am sick of watching characters who apparently do not have super human powers do shit that is impossible. Jason Bourne in the Bourne movies is about my limit. Anything more than that, and it falls into the BS category. Again, I want to express my admiration for the movie The Other Guys for tackling a lot of what I am talking about. The death scene of Samuel L Jackson and the Rock was awesome. I also watched Bridesmaids. Pretty funny. Watched the whole thing, just. She got the man in the end, which seems to mean that it doesn't matter that she's unemployable or broke anymore, because someone else is going to take care of that for her now. She can heal herself through baking. Awww. And she found the only person in the movie with a job, which was lucky. When I say job, it wasn't like he seemed to do anything, but he wore job clothes, so...
Tiger fired his caddie. That's good news. And like the true asshole he is, Steve Williams cannot keep his mouth shut about the guy who has made him the richest New Zealander in the world. I don't know if that's true, but it must be close. Sure, he probably has a right to feel a little burnt, but he is a completely classless individual, which is why no-one believes him when he says he had no idea what Tiger was getting up to. Great caddie though.
More than a year ago I wrote this to a friend. "The one chance that Tiger's got will be if his mother has stepped in and taken over. This is what I would do if I were her. 1. Get my son out of the papers. Pay someone to watch him 24/7. Pay off all these women he shagged to keep their mouths shut. 2. Create a confidential two year plan that slowly but surely gets rid of everyone who let this shit happen, or even assisted Tiger in throwing his life away, TEAM ENABLEMENT someone called it. Management, caddie, coach, everyone. Wife even. And replace them with people I trust, and who are answerable to ME. 3. Restrict his endorsements to golf companies only. Why should he be asnwerable to Gatorade, Buick, Accenture? Who are they to tell my son what to do? Bottom line: She has to get all Asian mother on his ass."
Since then, he has gotten rid of his wife, coach, and caddie, and hopefully a few other people behind the scenes. He's been pretty quiet. I wonder if this is what's happening? His golf was ordinary this week, usual stuff. Driving and putting. At least he's actually going to be playing in the upcoming PGA. It has sucked not having the best player ever not playing. I don't know about Rory McIlroy. he seems like a bit of a bitch. I have become a big fan of Ricky Fowler though, despite what he wears. Good golfer, likes the big time, interesting story. Apparently Puma shafted Geoff Ogilvy in favour of young Ricky, but you can't argue the decision. Goeff hasn't done much for a while.
Still no word from the job in Brisbane. Surely, for a job I tick all the boxes for and then some, I've got to be in the running. But you never know, do you? Nothing like job hunting to make you feel invisible.
Will's birthday was on Friday. We had a great day. Actually, I had a better day on Thursday when I took the day off work (my first sickie in six months) to look after the kids while Junko went to Costco in Osaka. Around dinner time I thought, it's days like this I'm going to remember when I'm old. We had a nice breakfast, I brought out the inflatable wading pool and the kids had a great time, Will and I did some drawing while Jo Jo had a nap, hung out with Jo Jo at the mall while Will had his puzzle school, a really great day. But Will's birthday and the weekend was good too, but I think everyone is a little burnt out (might be the heat), and it is taking Will a little while to understand that not every day is about getting stuff.
This shit with the stock exchange is amazing. Look what has happened in the ten years since 9/11. A dozen men with box cutters. That's all it took. The Western world is totally owned by the banks now. Our security depends on their success. If they are not continuing to drain billions and billions out of us every three months, we feel insecure, like the world will somehow end. 2008 was our last chance to be free of them.
BTW starting a new round tomorrow. Got some swimming in there this time, too.