Thursday:
I designated today as housewife day and tried to get some things done around the house. Laundry, filing a year's worth of paperwork (we need to do our taxes), making phone calls I've been putting off, that kind of stuff. Not very exciting, but good to get done. Of course I didn't get everything done!
After school the kids had Acrogym (acrobatic gymnastics) then we had a quick dinner then off to Jasmine's musical soiree. Every term Jas' school puts on a little concert for both Primary and High School; the school band, African drums, a few little girls singing with squeaky voices, piano and violin solos, very talented teenage boys playing Metallica etc. It was supposed to go for one hour but went for two! I could see a lot of improvement in Jasmine's group (High School band - she plays clarinet which she only started last term, in the past she has learned violin and trumpet). Most of the evening was quite enjoyable.
Showing posts with label music. Show all posts
Showing posts with label music. Show all posts
Thursday, September 8, 2016
Thursday, June 16, 2016
Dead TV
Thursday:
I told you our TV stopped working the other day, while we were watching it. At the time Tim checked all the cables, tried again the next day to turn it on, still didn't work, so we got onto the repair people (still under warranty as it's only six months old). We moved the old TV down from the kitchen to the lounge and have been using that. Well the repair guy was to come this morning to look at it in situ so last night we plugged it back in. And it worked fine! This morning, still worked fine. I cancelled the repair visit. I turned the TV on a couple of times during the day to check, still fine. But tonight I sat down to actually watch something and it lasted about 15 minutes. Then off, on. Off, on. Off..... on. Off. Sigh. Need to get that repair man after all. Of course I'll be calling Friday morning so there is no way it will be fixed until next week. Oh well, first world problem. Still have the old TV.
There was a Tai Chi session on this afternoon but I'm waiting until my foot is more comfortable to stand on so I didn't go. Hopefully next week. It looked like a lovely day outside, through the window.
After school I took the kids to Acrogym, sat and read and had a cup of tea at the café bit which has seats which are merely averagely uncomfortable instead of the horrible seats/stairs in the gym part. It means I don't get to watch the kids do their cartwheels etc which I think disappoints them. I went in for the last 5 minutes but didn't see much. I was trying to read the book for this month's book club, "The Dressmaker" which was recently made into a movie which I have not seen. I am hating the book. Nasty people being nasty to each other in a small country town. And it jumps around to a dozen different characters when I want to read about the main character.
Then we dashed home for an early dinner of pulled pork that had been in a slow oven all afternoon, then out to Jasmine's school for her "musical soirée". The school goes from kindergarten (around 6 yrs old) to year 12 so there was a lot of variety. Jasmine played the clarinet in the high school band, they also had a few squeaky primary school (very small) singers and drum bands and a couple of child prodigies on piano and violin, and a rock band which was amazingly good for three year 8 boys.
I told you our TV stopped working the other day, while we were watching it. At the time Tim checked all the cables, tried again the next day to turn it on, still didn't work, so we got onto the repair people (still under warranty as it's only six months old). We moved the old TV down from the kitchen to the lounge and have been using that. Well the repair guy was to come this morning to look at it in situ so last night we plugged it back in. And it worked fine! This morning, still worked fine. I cancelled the repair visit. I turned the TV on a couple of times during the day to check, still fine. But tonight I sat down to actually watch something and it lasted about 15 minutes. Then off, on. Off, on. Off..... on. Off. Sigh. Need to get that repair man after all. Of course I'll be calling Friday morning so there is no way it will be fixed until next week. Oh well, first world problem. Still have the old TV.
There was a Tai Chi session on this afternoon but I'm waiting until my foot is more comfortable to stand on so I didn't go. Hopefully next week. It looked like a lovely day outside, through the window.
After school I took the kids to Acrogym, sat and read and had a cup of tea at the café bit which has seats which are merely averagely uncomfortable instead of the horrible seats/stairs in the gym part. It means I don't get to watch the kids do their cartwheels etc which I think disappoints them. I went in for the last 5 minutes but didn't see much. I was trying to read the book for this month's book club, "The Dressmaker" which was recently made into a movie which I have not seen. I am hating the book. Nasty people being nasty to each other in a small country town. And it jumps around to a dozen different characters when I want to read about the main character.
Then we dashed home for an early dinner of pulled pork that had been in a slow oven all afternoon, then out to Jasmine's school for her "musical soirée". The school goes from kindergarten (around 6 yrs old) to year 12 so there was a lot of variety. Jasmine played the clarinet in the high school band, they also had a few squeaky primary school (very small) singers and drum bands and a couple of child prodigies on piano and violin, and a rock band which was amazingly good for three year 8 boys.
Sunday, April 21, 2013
Boring run
Sunday:
I got out for my week 3 day 1 zombie run this afternoon. It didn't go well.
Firstly, I found it much harder. After a 5 min walking warm up there was a 5 min freeform run/walk -- I did two short run intervals during this time. Then there were the proper intervals; 60 seconds running then 60 seconds walking, plus some knee lifts. This was about where the other C25K plans had started in their week 1 and I'd hoped I'd built up to it by now. I really struggled. After the third interval I thought I was going to vomit and after the 60 seconds of walking I was still gasping for air so I walked the fourth interval and ran the fifth/last. Then there were two 8 minute freeform runs with a 2 min walk in between. On the first one I tried to run for about 15 seconds of every minute. Then the walk rest started. And went on. And on and on. There was a glitch with the app (more on that in a sec) and I ended up doing only one more very short run before going home.
I felt like it was really difficult today, possibly partly from the hayfever (this morning both my husband and I felt better, but after my run and him doing some gardening we both felt much worse again, so being outside was the trigger) but also it was boring. I usually love the zombie app, but today there were no actual zombies; it was a pretty straight training run with a virtual (human) partner. I was going around and around the oval, not enjoying it at all. I tried to focus on my music but wasn't into it.
The very first time I used the app it was glitching on me, and I learned that there are known problems when you pair it with music not downloaded directly from iTunes (to do with DRM locking), I only had one single "purchased" song and the rest of my music is copied across from my CDs (not sure what the legality of this is but it seems fair to me as I have purchased that music, just in CD form instead of from the internet). I bought about five more songs but it still didn't cover an entire workout, let alone variety from day to day. So I made some playlists from my other music and it seemed to be working ok.
The one day last week one of the 30 second intervals seemed to go for about 2 minutes. It was the last one of the day and I actually thought it was deliberate; it fit with the storyline and I thought it was a tricky way to get me to run longer. But today it glitched again and again. The voiceover gives you 15 second notifications when you are running, but several times there was a long long gap between notifications (I just guessed when I'd done about a minute).
Then there was the 2 minute walk that went for about 15 minutes. Finally the voice said: 'Ok now start running. That's two minutes. Halfway, going well. Only two minutes to go. Great work, you're done.' All in the space of about 10 seconds. I guess it was catching up.
So I have the choice of the same six songs, or my music with glitches. Or buying a lot more.
I got out for my week 3 day 1 zombie run this afternoon. It didn't go well.
Firstly, I found it much harder. After a 5 min walking warm up there was a 5 min freeform run/walk -- I did two short run intervals during this time. Then there were the proper intervals; 60 seconds running then 60 seconds walking, plus some knee lifts. This was about where the other C25K plans had started in their week 1 and I'd hoped I'd built up to it by now. I really struggled. After the third interval I thought I was going to vomit and after the 60 seconds of walking I was still gasping for air so I walked the fourth interval and ran the fifth/last. Then there were two 8 minute freeform runs with a 2 min walk in between. On the first one I tried to run for about 15 seconds of every minute. Then the walk rest started. And went on. And on and on. There was a glitch with the app (more on that in a sec) and I ended up doing only one more very short run before going home.
I felt like it was really difficult today, possibly partly from the hayfever (this morning both my husband and I felt better, but after my run and him doing some gardening we both felt much worse again, so being outside was the trigger) but also it was boring. I usually love the zombie app, but today there were no actual zombies; it was a pretty straight training run with a virtual (human) partner. I was going around and around the oval, not enjoying it at all. I tried to focus on my music but wasn't into it.
The very first time I used the app it was glitching on me, and I learned that there are known problems when you pair it with music not downloaded directly from iTunes (to do with DRM locking), I only had one single "purchased" song and the rest of my music is copied across from my CDs (not sure what the legality of this is but it seems fair to me as I have purchased that music, just in CD form instead of from the internet). I bought about five more songs but it still didn't cover an entire workout, let alone variety from day to day. So I made some playlists from my other music and it seemed to be working ok.
The one day last week one of the 30 second intervals seemed to go for about 2 minutes. It was the last one of the day and I actually thought it was deliberate; it fit with the storyline and I thought it was a tricky way to get me to run longer. But today it glitched again and again. The voiceover gives you 15 second notifications when you are running, but several times there was a long long gap between notifications (I just guessed when I'd done about a minute).
Then there was the 2 minute walk that went for about 15 minutes. Finally the voice said: 'Ok now start running. That's two minutes. Halfway, going well. Only two minutes to go. Great work, you're done.' All in the space of about 10 seconds. I guess it was catching up.
So I have the choice of the same six songs, or my music with glitches. Or buying a lot more.
Tuesday, April 9, 2013
Undead Dancing Queen
Wednesday:
After doing some editing in the morning then taking my daughter out of school for a dentist appointment then a quick lunch, it was zombie time again! Same routine as day 1, ten 15-second sprints amidst lots of walking. Total workout 37 minutes.
I am still excited about the whole "running away from zombies" thing, but nevertheless every time I run it reinforces the fact that it's just not natural for my body (or else my technique is terrible). Other exercise leaves me tired and maybe with sore muscles, running leaves with with aching shins (even after running on soft grass) and niggling pain in my hips and ankles. Oh well, I'm not giving up now. The zombies would get me.
I went to the further oval today, for variety, but didn't stick to the marked track.
I think I've got the music thing sorted. Maybe. I bought a few individual songs, ones I've always liked but didn't already own -- they are not particularly chosen for running, they are just songs I liked -- so today I didn't have to listen to any song more than twice; but also the friend who introduced me to the zombie app showed me how to make it play all my music. I haven't tried that yet, and the app itself says it's the less-recommended option and it can have some issues like stopping or skipping. Anyway, I'll give that a go next. I copied over my soundtrack to "Jekyll and Hyde" because I thought the transformation scene would be particularly appropriate -- lots of moans and roars! -- so I'll try that next. Although I'm not sure how to make it play specific songs or albums, today it just went through all my "purchased" songs in turn. So maybe it will just start with ABBA and go from there.
I can see me now, prancing around to "Dancing Queen" with a horde of zombies doing Thriller moves in the background...
I was extra tired after the session today, so that even picking up the kids from school (a walk of slightly over a kilometre in total) was an effort. So clearly I got in a good work-out.
After doing some editing in the morning then taking my daughter out of school for a dentist appointment then a quick lunch, it was zombie time again! Same routine as day 1, ten 15-second sprints amidst lots of walking. Total workout 37 minutes.
I am still excited about the whole "running away from zombies" thing, but nevertheless every time I run it reinforces the fact that it's just not natural for my body (or else my technique is terrible). Other exercise leaves me tired and maybe with sore muscles, running leaves with with aching shins (even after running on soft grass) and niggling pain in my hips and ankles. Oh well, I'm not giving up now. The zombies would get me.
I went to the further oval today, for variety, but didn't stick to the marked track.
I think I've got the music thing sorted. Maybe. I bought a few individual songs, ones I've always liked but didn't already own -- they are not particularly chosen for running, they are just songs I liked -- so today I didn't have to listen to any song more than twice; but also the friend who introduced me to the zombie app showed me how to make it play all my music. I haven't tried that yet, and the app itself says it's the less-recommended option and it can have some issues like stopping or skipping. Anyway, I'll give that a go next. I copied over my soundtrack to "Jekyll and Hyde" because I thought the transformation scene would be particularly appropriate -- lots of moans and roars! -- so I'll try that next. Although I'm not sure how to make it play specific songs or albums, today it just went through all my "purchased" songs in turn. So maybe it will just start with ABBA and go from there.
I can see me now, prancing around to "Dancing Queen" with a horde of zombies doing Thriller moves in the background...
I was extra tired after the session today, so that even picking up the kids from school (a walk of slightly over a kilometre in total) was an effort. So clearly I got in a good work-out.
Thursday, March 14, 2013
My life, the musical
Thursday:
Went for a nice long walk this morning, an hour, just around the suburbs listening to music. I don't know about you, but generally when I am listening to music by myself I am imagining that I am performing it (if I'm in private I will actually be singing). Like my life is a musical. I string the songs together into a storyline. I was really enjoying this morning's little world, but I had to keep skipping songs that didn't fit in with the story.
Kept myself busy all day and really felt like I got a lot done, so that was nice. Ten boxes out of fourteen ticked on my to-do list. I'm trying to ignore the huge pile of clean clothes that I didn't get around to folding and putting away, and the kid's suitcase that still hasn't been unpacked from last weekend. Can't do everything. Overall a good day.
This afternoon on TV I noticed a Biggest Loser ad immediately followed by a KFC ad. At first I thought that was a bit ironic, but actually they probably both cater for the same demographic! I'm quite excited about the new season of (Australian) Biggest Loser starting on Sunday. Love that show.
My sister-in-law still hasn't had her baby.
One week until my husband's birthday and I thought of another good present today. Kids still haven't decided what they want to get him.
Went for a nice long walk this morning, an hour, just around the suburbs listening to music. I don't know about you, but generally when I am listening to music by myself I am imagining that I am performing it (if I'm in private I will actually be singing). Like my life is a musical. I string the songs together into a storyline. I was really enjoying this morning's little world, but I had to keep skipping songs that didn't fit in with the story.
Kept myself busy all day and really felt like I got a lot done, so that was nice. Ten boxes out of fourteen ticked on my to-do list. I'm trying to ignore the huge pile of clean clothes that I didn't get around to folding and putting away, and the kid's suitcase that still hasn't been unpacked from last weekend. Can't do everything. Overall a good day.
This afternoon on TV I noticed a Biggest Loser ad immediately followed by a KFC ad. At first I thought that was a bit ironic, but actually they probably both cater for the same demographic! I'm quite excited about the new season of (Australian) Biggest Loser starting on Sunday. Love that show.
My sister-in-law still hasn't had her baby.
One week until my husband's birthday and I thought of another good present today. Kids still haven't decided what they want to get him.
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
The mojo has not left the building
Wednesday:I think I have my mojo back. There is such a huge difference between getting hot and sweaty and exhausted exercising because you are working hard, and getting hot and sweaty and exhausted exercising because you are unwell. I feel back on track, despite all the pre-Christmas food.
On Monday I went to BodyPump, using my old lighter weights. It was hard work, but only because I have lost a bit of fitness and muscle in the past month. Lifting weights made me feel strong and powerful again. Tuesday I had a haircut so missed the 9.30 class, so I just used the treadmill.
Today I did a lap around the lake. It was great weather for it; cool and cloudy like we've had most of the summer so far (really odd for December in Australia). I found being out in the fresh air lovely. Trees and grass and lake and lots of ducks and swans. I took the iPod for the first time and listened to music which really helped me keep the pace up. I didn't have my watch or heart-rate monitor on so I couldn't time myself properly -- it was 1 hour 10 mins from car to car but that included extra distance down to the lake from the carpark and back, and quite a long diversion around some roadworks near one of the bridges. I think it was probably about an hour once I remove those. I am very happy with that, considering.
It is Jasmine's last day of school today; Tim has finished work for the year and Aiden has finished preschool and childcare. Holidays! I have an editing job to do over the holidays and more than 30 books to read over the next two months, so I will still be pretty busy. But Tim is home and can help with the other stuff, like housework and childminding, so we should be able to carve out some fun family time. And Christmas in four days!
photo by Rowan Atkinson
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