Wardrobe Malfunction

It's been a long time since I played netball, but I used to love it. We played netball on the tennis courts at UWA, up near the sports centre. We played mixed netball (obviously), and in those days that was enough to make me feel like I was getting weekly exercise.

I played GS.

For the uninitiated, that means I covered a third of the court, and with my good mate Stevie (who played GA) we were the Mounds of Pounds.

Every now and then we'd play when it was raining. Seems shocking now - a lawsuit waiting to happen - but it did happen every now and then.

We did it just enough for me to get romantic about it. I loved the idea of "wetball" and played it just seldom enough that I could wax lyrical about it. Since I stopped playing netball, I've wondered whether I viewed the wet weather games through rose coloured glasses.

But then winter came around here this year. I've been itching for a Tuesday (the night I run) to be a wet day, and in particular a wet night. I've been itching to run in the rain.

Finally, this week, I got my chance.

My heart was a-flutter as it rained during the day. I haven't been this excited about running since I kicked it up to 10kms a few months ago.

It didn't all turn out as expected though. Don't get me wrong, I expected my shoes to get heavy while running, and I knew my fingers would get cold, but I was in for a surprise nonetheless. I wore a yellow shirt rather than the usual white, so I wouldn't give passers by a peep show. Not without paying anyways.

Running up Hay Street, almost home, I ran past a girl holding an umbrella. She looked at me like I was a freak. I was grimacing a bit but I thought it was a little rude of her.

Then I got home. I looked down to open the door and noticed a red stain on my shirt. Funny, I haven't used my yellow Aussie cricket shirt for cricket for a while, so there shouldn't be a stain there. But there were two stains.

My nipples were bleeding.

I just realised how gross that sounds. Just be thankful I'm male.

Anyway my nipples are still sore, after two solid sessions in the gym also. And so are my abs.

So I've certainly earned this: I'm down 1.5kg to 86.5kg.

C'mon!

Short and Sweet

A very quick one this week. My facebook status tells it all really: I ran 10km in 45:20 this Tuesday. For reasons I won't go into I was frazzled, nervous and bloody tired by Tuesday night. I took off on my run faster than normal, but really struggled at the end. I was sure it would be a crappy time, I was struggling that much. So I was pleasantly surprised - enough to yell out "f*ck yeah!" over my iPod out the front of our house.

Wednesday and Thursday - no gym this week. I'm not saying why but I'm not feeling guilty, unlike other times.

So I've got what I deserved this week. Slightly up to 88kg.

I need to give myself a kick in the pants before I head to Europe. Might have to do a bit more running too. I'm tempted to up the course from 10km to 13km (about the length of the City to Surf - that's no coincidence).

Snapping Off Two Nervous Ones

The reason I spoke last week about my music was because I expected to update my Fire Up playlist (such as it is called on my iPhone). But I had a series of frustrating encounters with iTunes and my parents’ computer which I wish I could say did not end in copious amounts of swearing.

It took a while – about four separate trips to my parents’ place – to sort it out.

But finally I made some changes, added some songs to my iPhone, which included the following additions to my playlist:

Never Miss a Beat – Kaiser Chiefs

Suddenly I See – KT Tunstall

You Know My Name – Chris Cornell

Khe Sanh – Cold Chisel

Love in the First Degree – Bananarama

You Shook Me All Night Long – ACDC

Thunderstruck – ACDC

Eye of the Tiger – Survivor

New Soul – Yael Naim

Man! I Feel Like A Woman! – Shania Twain

Spiderwebs – No Doubt

Sunday Morning – No Doubt

OK, now you’re wondering why I wasted so many hours and expletives on this exercise. Screw you then. If it makes me run faster it’s done its job.

Speaking of which, because of a rather large decision I made this week I have been extremely nervous for the last couple of days (as reflected in my Facebook status). For a while last night, I was tempted not to go to the gym, so nervous was I about what I’d done. But I figured I would never get to sleep if I didn’t do something to tire me out, and I didn’t have enough money for hookers so that left me with the gym.

It paid off – I had a bit more adrenalin in the system (or so it seemed) and I turned some potentially negative energy to good use. I find it’s generally a good thing to do exercise when you’re frustrated or apprehensive about something, or if you’re mentally fatigued. Sometimes it can freshen you up, even if it doesn’t take your mind off things completely.

It was payday today but I took the thrifty option and went to the gym again.

Did it pay off?

I'm steady at 87.5kg.

Bugger.

My Playlist

I would be nothing without my playlist. Nothing. It keeps me fired up and motivated. Have a look at it:

Take Me Out – Franz Ferdinand

Take On Me – A-ha

It's a Long Way to the Top – ACDC

Sabotage – Beastie Boys

Get Outta My Dreams – Billy Ocean

Atomic – Blondie

Song 2 – Blur

Rock the Casbah – The Clash

Lose Yourself – Eminem

Monkey Wrench – Foo Fighters

What's My Scene – Hoodoo Gurus

Rock and Roll – Led Zeppelin

Rock DJ – Robbie Williams

Master of Puppets – Metallica

Beds are Burning – Midnight Oil

One Night in Bangkok – Murray Head

Don't Stop Me Now – Queen

Fat Bottomed Girls – Queen

Kung Foo Sing – Regurgitator

Street Fighting Man – Rolling Stones

Superstition – Stevie Wonder

Dazed and Confucius – TISM

I'll 'Ave Ya – TISM

Let's Club It To Death – TISM

Greg! The Stop Sign!! – TISM

Out of Touch – Hall and Oates

1000 Miles Away – Hoodoo Gurus

Walk Idiot Walk – The Hives

Hey Ya! – OutKast/Andre 3000

Under Pressure – Queen & David Bowie

Seven Nation Army – The White Stripes

Stand by the Jams – KLF feat Tammy Winette

Suck My Kiss – Red Hot Chilli Peppers

Dani California – Red Hot Chilli Peppers

Born to be Alive – Patrick Hernandez

A Boy Named Sue – Johnny Cash

Disco Inferno – The Trammps

Father and Son – TISM

Fight for your Right –Beastie Boys

Fire Coming Out of the Monkey's Head – Gorillaz

Folsom Prison Blues – Johnny Cash

The Fosters Car Park Boogie – TISM

Intergalactic – Beastie Boys

It's Raining Men – The Weather Girls

Jump In My Car – Ted Mulry Gang

Land of Sunshine – Faith No More

Living for the City – Stevie Wonder

Bohemian Like You – The Dandy Warhols

History Repeating – Propellerheads feat Shirley Bassey

Sex On Fire – Kings of Leon

My People – The Presets

Electric Feel – MGMT

It's a wonderful mix of faster and heavier songs, disco, and catchy tunes.

I did have another song on there, the excellent Love In the First Degree by Bananarama. It's a cracker. At least I thought I had it on this playlist. As I settled in to some exercises at the gym, imagine my horror when some slow crooning assaulted my ears and nearly put me to sleep. A different song, from Dad's collection, was on my iPhone instead! Infecting the other songs with its dagginess! It was Love In The First Degree by Alabama.

I had to get off the machine and change the song as soon as possible. I can be motivated by many ... um ... motives, but spite isnt one of them.

This week, after a run and two trips to the gym (and a long weekend, and decent feed on Wednesday), I'm up just a touch to 87.5kg.

Take a Picture. It'll last longer.

Youl will see on this website over 100 posts. Many of them are stories of my travels through Europe and across the world. In many of those entries there are hyperlinks to photos in my photo album.

There is one thing that has been with me the whole time I've been travelling. And that is my camera.

I have taken literally tens of thousands of photos on my camera - over 1000 in two weeks in India alone - since I got it in April 2006, just before I left for ther UK for the first time.

Actually I didn't buy my camera. It's something I don't remember thinking I'd need before I left for the UK, which in hindsight is absolutely insane. There's no way I'd do that now.

So to whose foresight do I owe a digital imprint of my memories from my mass of travels over the last three years? My sister and (now) brother-in-law. They had been on a world trip themselves, and when giving out presents at the end of their trip they gave me a camera case. I politely thanked them.

Then they gave me the camera. A very hardy little device it is too. It's a Sony Cybershot, 6.0 megapixels, 3.0x optical zoom and 5.1x digital zoom. Those figures are not impressive nowadays, particularly the megapixels. But it was always more than I needed: I always set it on 2.0 megapixels.

Most of the silver paint has come off now, particularly where I hold it. Also, a couple of days before I set off on a massive eight week jaunt through Europe in May 2008, the button that takes the photos broke off. It's now held on by plaster tape purchased in a Parisian hardware store.

But the march of time affects us all, not least digital gizmos, so it is time for an upgrade. The new camera, a Panasonic Lumix, with 10x optical zoom (the main reason I made the change). If it gives me half as much joy as the the Cybershot, it will have served me well.

So thank you Cybershot, you little battler. You haven't quite gone to Cybershot Heaven yet, you're on the bench and will be used in the future, in the case of emergencies.

And thank you so much to Kristy and Dave - you have no idea how useful your present has been to me!

(It's suitable that my picasa web albums are full now. But I will have to get a pic of the little battler up on the blog as soon as I can.)