fitness

Should I?

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Hello.

I’m in Australia. We’re in Australia. After just 4 years and a month, I’m home again. Nothing much has changed except that my old friends live even further away from me now and we have a new mad cat.

The flights were ok but waiting in airports was horrible. Leaving Estonia was sad but getting out was easy, after all that stressing. 55 hours of transit was all it took until my parents picked us up. Anna-Liisa survived her journey by tagging along with us. Somehow she bought the exact same tickets we did but for half the price, 2 months later. I’m never booking early again.

The weather when we arrived was miserable and cold. Marika didn’t appreciate the contrast to Estonia’s currently sweltering summer. Mum and dad picked us up from the airport and then began the reaquaintance-with-everyone-and-everything process for the next week or so. We saw cousins and friends, I had my haircut by a professional, I applied for a job and got it almost by accident.

Originally I was meant to work on a helpdesk for this company, although I wasn’t really shown a lot of stuff and spent most of my time feeling awkward and confused because I had no work to do but no one seemed to mind nor make a big effort to direct me. Not long after that, though, I was assigned to do on-site warranty repairs.

So, I get a ute with a petrol charge card and e-tag, an iPhone with some business phone contract including 2 gigs of data transfer per month, a GPS to help me navigate around the city (which I just got funded on expenses) and I cruise around all day fixing computers. It sounds pretty laid back but actually it’s a little bit hectic. I’m still new to the role and learning all the intricacies of each machine (computers really are annoying to take apart, fix and rebuild, particularly laptops) and I’m all on my own now, so when the work piles up it really piles up.

I’m sure with a bit more time I’ll get it all under control and be faster at it when I’m more experienced. Even when I know what I’m doing things still often go wrong. It’s frustrating being stuck on one problem machine for 90-120 minutes at a time for something that should be fairly routine. I guess that’s just part of the job – factoring in delays due to stubborn machines and unforseen problems.

Sadly, Marika and I haven’t had either the time, weather or money to do more things before I was commited to employment. We visited the Koala Park and Newcastle/Marks Point. We’ve been around the city and Newtown a few times and although I still like it, it isn’t as good as I remember it, nor as cheap. Fucking city. I hope to visit Melbourne with her some time next month. Scott also wants to show me around down there and even try to introduce me to his boss in the hopes that it will help me out down the road. That would be good.

I think living as a poor bum in Estonia for so long has turned me into a bit of a penny-pincher. I find it more sensible to cook for myself these days but I don’t really have the desire to do it at the moment, since I’m still getting used to returning from work in the evening. Mum and Marika are usually taking care of that situation, anyway.

Since I’m too lazy to go jogging, we’ve taken up skipping. Actually it feels like I’m the only one doing it any more since Marika sleeps in during the morning when I’m exercising and doesn’t seem to enjoy the outdoor temperatures for exercising. Never mind. I’d attempt to do some weight training as well but unfortunately the equipment has either been sold or banished to some mysterious place known as “the lock up”. Sit-ups and push-ups it is, then. Meh.

We’ve just finished watching the first season of Treme and while I like it, I don’t find it as… engrossing as Deadwood (which we’ve also just finished watching the whole series), The Wire or even Rome. I guess it’s due to not really having a strong underlying plot (although there are lots of common and reoccuring themes), since the show is grounded more in the mundane reality of ordinary people and their own mostly unrelated stories.

I probably look like some mad HBO fanboy but I assure you that it’s not deliberate, it’s just that they’re the ones making the good shows. I must admit that it’s kind of strange seeing the same actors popping up in different shows. It’s hard to not have them typecast in my mind as the first character that I saw them play. I have the first eason of MST3K to watch, as well. That might be a challenge. I may just hop straight to season 2.

I can’t think of anything more to write at the moment. Yes, I know, I should have updated earlier and continue to do so more regularly. I was just feeling shy, ok?

Oh, I’m reading Catch-22 still and getting simultaneously worse and unluckier at poker the more I play.

Hi.

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Quick update:

  • Practically finished the new hostel website. Now we’re just waiting for the domain registration to transfer and for then for the DNS servers to update…
  • I have been listening to live Estonian Idol rehearsals all week.
  • I’ve spent more time in Tartu than in my soon-to-be-moved-out-from flat in the past month-and-a-half.
  • I feel particularly frail and lazy.
  • I need to rob a bank.
  • I’ve had my hair trimmed.
  • I fixed my beard trimmer.
  • Marika is eating a banana.

Old and new

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Ross leaves now for Los Angeles to become an acting star. He hopes. I hope so too, then I can dream about being in his entourage.

My copy of the new Wolfenstein game arrived today! Yay! The single player is quite well made albeit a little generic apart from the veil powers. I’m more interested in the multiplayer although I doubt I’ll be too competitive at it compared to how I used to be. Still, it’s nice having a copy to muck around with.

I came second in a free poker tournament tonight. By the time it was down to the final two of us we’d had enough and went all-in after about 10 rounds of checking and folding. I lost. No big deal, I got lots of play chips in prize money! Wahoo!

I haven’t been to the gym for a while. I know that hardly sounds shocking but the thought of it is nagging me in the back of my head. I might attempt to make the effort tomorrow. I’m probably going back down south with Marika in a week for a few days so I’m tentative about paying for a whole new month. That’s a poor excuse though, really, as I can quite easily skip exercise for up to a whole week. This lazy lifestyle will have to change some day.

Looks like Tim and I are moving out of our flat come the end of October. I don’t know what he’s doing yet and neither does he. I’ll probably be living with Marika and her student buddies in some tiny little room. Ah well. At least it will be cheap. I suppose I could just become a poker king… Meh. We’ll see.

I watched District 9 recently and really enjoyed it although the ending was a bit cliche. If you like science fiction you would probably enjoy this film. It’s hit #35 on IMDb’s top 250 somehow. I mean, it’s good, but I don’t know if it’s that good. I think it’s been somewhat over-rewarded for producing a solid movie alongside a clever viral marketing campaign, kind of like The Dark Knight did last year. I mean, #8 (for a while it was at #2 or #3) of all time? Batman? Really?

I wish I could talk about the latest book I’ve read but unfortunately I’ve been skimping in that department even more than my exercise. My eyes hurt.

Vroooooooooooom

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I’m enjoying the Bugged Out! Classics album at the moment, although laptop speakers don’t really do it justice. Still, what’s a boy to do?

Yesterday was probably one of my more pathetic efforts in the gym. I didn’t last long and I didn’t get much done. It’s amusing that I’m definitely less efficient and active now that I’m not living on a couch. You would think that I’d be able to develop a regular sleeping pattern and establish some kind of routine now that I have some privacy.

Instead I’ve been sleeping in until 1-2pm, not eating enough during the day and spending a fuck-tonne of money on alcohol as everyone seems to be in party mode again. It must be due to the weather lightening up and the influx of energy that comes with gaining two new, nice volunteers.

Don’t get me wrong – I’m having fun. It’s just weird. It’s nice feeling free again and having Levist lock-ins with the staff and receiving alcohol from them at no charge. I must be a little bit influential. Sometimes I wish I could be coercive as well but I’ve only got the ability to come off as “pushy”.

I really need to buy some new (or second-hand) trousers. I only own one set that does not have the arse ripped out of it. That doesn’t worry me so much because A) I don’t care and B) I have a nice arse. It’s just reassuring to know that my pants don’t run the risk of obliteration whenever I sit down or stand up too quickly.

Twitter is playing with my head at the moment. I’ve never been one to religiously follow conversations and spend 5 hours straight chatting back and forth to everyone (as it really does act like an IRC client in SMS-form) but I do enjoy updating my status with what I’m doing from time to time. Why is this playing with my head? Because it stops me from writing my blog properly as essentially this is paragraph after paragraph of what I’ve been doing. If you read my Twitter page it would be an even more brief summary of this site, potentially.

So, what do I do about this? I don’t know. I think I’ll try to balance it out and use this for thoughts and ideas and keep Twitter as a mood or status broadcaster. Of course, if I wasn’t so lazy with writing I would actually come up with a proper article or two for this site that wasn’t wholly to do with my own small world.

Then again, no one reads this anyway.

Twit to wit

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Yeah, I re-registered my Twitter account. Follow it if you like. It’ll be like this blog but even more concise. I might put a stream up here, too.

Gym was hard today. I feel a bit weak. Perhaps I should have some more protein powder as that surely helps give me strength. Like a proton pill for Roger Ramjet.

I’m listening to a Thunderheist album at the moment and after 1 song I think it’s good. Since I’m very fickle my opinion may change at any moment.

Last weekend I picked up Psychonauts and Beyond Good & Evil from Steam as they were on sale. They’re console ports but they’re reasonably well done and I find the games to be rather enjoyable. Psychonauts is definitely worth the purchase and deserves more praise and hype than it seems to have received. It has good review scores but I think it went over the heads of most gamers as it looks more like a children’s game… It’s not.

Tim is going to make chicken with potatoes and … mango curry? I can’t remember. On Monday I made burritos for everyone and we farted like there was no tomorrow. I even went to Levist with Tim and Marika for a gin and tonic. A dry gin and tonic.

In other news, I feel like having a fight.

Tartu break

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Yeah. I made it down to Tartu again for the first time since November. Marika’s very pleased. She managed to convince me to run away for a few days.

She’s moved into the bigger room of the flat. Looks good. The balcony is especially useful for providing fresh air. Unfortunately the floor-bed still kills my back while I sleep so I feel like an old cripple when I wake up in the morning.

Today we’re meant to go visit the toy museum. I’ve been trying to get to it for about a year and a half now and never been able to manage. Mum and dad will be jealous of me this afternoon.

Unfortunately I’ll probably miss two sessions at the gym this week. Never mind. I don’t want to look too good too fast, after all. I just wish my skin didn’t feel so dry. It feels like I’m shedding, or something. Disgusting.

Empire:Total War is pretty cool. It does indeed have long loading times but the game itself runs smoothly, although I do have everything set to minimum. I could probably up the details a bit but I don’t really see the point. It’s definitely a more complex and challenging game than the previous releases. I find even the starting campaign scenarios are difficult to manage if you don’t have a steady plan from turn one.

Last Friday a few of us went to a concert in Juuksur. We missed the main band but caught the second act, which was Rumour is News. I’ve seen them before and, well, they’re alright. A little boring perhaps. Marika was enraged that they didn’t play Flex Your Muscles during the set and they refused to even after she ran up to the stage to request it. She wanted this American girl that was drinking with us to hear it. Such is life.

On Saturday we made bread. Well, Marika did in Kea’s bread machine that Hugo bought her that she never used. He then gave it to me to put in the hostel. It’s like following a coin around, really. Raisin bread! It was fucking tasty. I’m too lazy to make more myself at the moment, but I will probably attempt to soon enough.

My hair is fluffy.

Huge guns

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I was so fed up with myself for being a pathetic weakling after 6 months in the gym. To remedy this, I decided to actually get a bit serious. I now write down all the exercises that I do each session and have altered my diet appropriately.

In the last 2-3 weeks I’ve begun to feel a lot better, have lost some weight and can see that I’m actually beginning to make genuine progress in the gym. I’m glad I’ve finally started doing things this way, I’m just frustrated it took me this long to begin.

My Baltic Tour is starting to come together. We’re really not as prepared as we should be after this long, for various reasons. It wouldn’t be such a big deal if we didn’t already have some potential business! There’s nothing like instant pressure to get things done. Hopefully we won’t fuck anything up with these first few clients and then we’ll be underway.

There are not many staff left in the hostel. Hugo’s started working almost every day, fortunately. He even did his first night shift last night. I don’t think the door bell rang once, so it doesn’t count. Ha. We haven’t had a big group of Spanish students stay here for a few weeks, so I’m not feeling ultra-negative at the moment. What luck!

Eagle 8 came back from Keri island with short blonde hair. I didn’t recognise her at first. It looks good. Nice one. I’m half tempted these days to cut all my hair off, too. I still like having it a bit longer, though. I feel like i look like a viking.

Unfortunately, I soon won’t look like a viking. I’m going to have a sauna and cut off my beard. I wish I hadn’t lost the power pack for my beard trimmer. Now I have to borrow Tim’s hair clippers all the time (or just shave more frequently). Fucking hair. Bah.

Turns out Darkfall is pretty useless. Well, it impressed me a lot more when I first read about it compared to when I first saw it in action. I suppose that’s normal, really, but still. The fighting looks like a knife fight in any other FPS game and nothing at all like a game that has been designed from the ground up for 8 years specifically for melee PVP.

Oh yes, I should mention that the Granny Smith apples that are imported here from France are tops. I’ve been annoying everyone by constantly pointing out that they were originally cultivated in Eastwood. I just began eating one when Anna stole it. Now she’s standing around talking some moonspeak language into her phone and not giving it back. Fucking slavs.

This is what happened today

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I woke up around 11 with a hangover and feeling sweaty under my blanket. My hair looked funny, too. We’d had a party for Val’s birthday the night before and I drank mostly red wine.

That wasn’t an altogether unfamiliar experience and neither was my stomach being bloated and flabby and my bitch tits slapping around under my arms.

Getting up wasn’t too fun. Fortunately Tim was kind enough to provide me with a fruit smoothie and a bowl of muesli for breakfast along with a cup of tea. I also got to play with Roosi. She still keeps demanding to see Marika.

Tim even made a tasty vegetable soup for lunch without burning it!

Sounds alright so far, doesn’t it?

I worked on some stuff for My Baltic Tour with Hugo and Pete emailed us a possible site redesign. Woohoo.

Somehow it became 6 pm and we decided to go to the gym. I then became wholly disgusted at how miserably weak I have become. I was stronger when I first went to the gym with no training compared to today. I also felt like I looked devastatingly round around the waist. Even the cardio session nearly caused me to faint.

To make myself feel better I decided to cook some good food. Chicken, onion, mushrooms, potatoes, capsicum, peas, corn, green beans and kidney beans! It was fantastic. Well, pretty much.

Unfortunately, I slipped in the ice on the way back and nearly fell. This sudden movement apparently caused the bottom of the grocery bag to split and all my purchases went flying across the road. Hurrah.

To make it worse, Hugo saw it happen. I then had to hold a gate open for him in the cold until he could drive his van out and away. I tried waving goodbye to Roosi but she just looked at me funny.

I finally returned to our kitchen and promptly embedded a small sliver of glass into my foot that took Maarja about 5 minutes of digging around with needles and tweezers to remove. She was kind enough to put a bandage on my bloody cut.

The food tasted really good, though.

I’ve decided that I will indeed research some proper nutrition and weight training. I’m sick of looking exactly the same as I did 8 months ago when I first joined the gym. This sucks.

Chili con carnYEAH

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Anna-Lotta just brought around some fucking awesome chili. Hot as hell and loaded with flavour. My mouth is burning, my belly is smiling and my arsehole is quivering in fear.

I want some more! That was the only thing that has happened today so far that didn’t suck.

Where’s Heli? Aren’t you meant to be here now? Lazy bastard.

The gym was alright. I feel so much weaker only after one week. I guess my bad diet over the weekend didn’t really help. At least I did some cardio for once. I’ve decided I’m just going to lift lower weights a lot more frequently in the (probably vain) attempt to enhance my muscle endurance.

Of course, I have no idea if that is the right thing to do at all. I’m just too lazy to read some proper literature on the subject. I think I fear that if I start I will spend about 6 hours going over information. This isn’t such a bad thing. Unfortunately, I am a bad thing.

I flossed my teeth earlier, now one of them hurts. What the fuck?

Happy Tuesdays

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Hostel is empty and someone left brie, English cheddar, salami, three beers and a whole bag of those “healthy” crackers behind in the fridge.

I ask you, does it actually get any better?

Possibly. Improbably.

Unfortunately I’m also going to go to the gym. I haven’t been for nearly a week and I’ve had a big weekend. Big in both drinking and eating. Now I’m big too. 15kg heavier than Tim, in fact. Too bad I’m a 103kg weakling. Lucky I’d had a haircut.