I have watched my fifth Eurovision Song Contest as of last night. It's a time for chilling down a bottle or two of pink wine, turning on the teletext, getting just a little bit pissed (as they say here when they mean drunk--the British obsession with urination might be a topic for another entry!) and singing along to the strangest show on earth.
"For those of you who don't know, the Eurovision Song Contest is an annual contest organised by the state run TV stations of European nations to find the best new popular song.
"It all began in 1956. Europe was pulling itself from the ashes of World War II, and Television services were opening all over Europe. It was realised that by pooling resources, programmes could be made for sharing over the whole of Europe, thus reducing costs.
"Technical issues were formidable. There were no satellites, videotape was in its infancy, but landlines were laid to join all the nations of the European Broadcasting Union. The system was called Eurovision. They had joint productions of plays, documentaries, and sports programmes, and devised a programme where countries got together to select the best new popular song. This was the Eurovision Song Contest. The first was held in Switzerland in 1956.
"Now 51 years later, Eurovision continues to supply sport and news to the whole of Europe, and beyond, now by satellite, but the only programme still identified with Eurovision is the song contest.
"Every member country of the European Broadcasting Union has the right to enter a song. How that song is selected is up to them. Many countries have their own selection programme, where, perhaps telephone votes from the public, select a singer and a new song to go to the next contest.
"The main contest's songs are judged by panels of 16 in each country who give votes for their favourite songs. They are not allowed to vote for their own country.
"There is a belief that only 'nobody' acts go into the contest, but this is not entirely true. Cliff Richard, Lulu & Sonia were all well known acts when they represented Britain. The same is true for other country's artists"...sometimes.
(above information from http://homepage.ntlworld.com/waterloo/history.htm)
I love Eurovision Song Contest. It is extremely weird and must be seen half drunk to be appreciated. I am providing some links for you below for a taster.
(The above link does not include footage of the actual live performances of the songs from last night; rather to the videos produced to promote the songs. I encourage you to watch each and every one, but in particular the following countries are not to be missed--please watch them and feast your ears on the curious monument to mediocrity and camp that is Eurovision. It is a wonder to behold:
United Kingdom, Ukraine, France, Germany, Denmark, Belgium.)
You'll notice that the Eastern block countries are particularly melodramatic.
You can't vote for your own country, so even though we liked the UK's song best, we voted for Ukraine because it was just SO Eurovision. I also really loved the France entry.
Not all the songs on the BBC site were performed on the night because this list of the semi-finals. One of the weirdest and most disturbing ones is the Israel entry. I laughed, but it is potentially incendiary. Go back and check it out, you really must.
However, if you think that's weird, you really have to have a gander at last year's winner: Hard Rock Hallelujah (Finland).
Certainly ain't in Kansas anymore, Toto!!
Oh, by the way, the winner of last night's contest was Serbia. Strange androgynous, dare I say lesbian-looking little thing won it. Mournful, melodramatic song, as well. See the BBC website above for the link.
The Eastern European block vote with such solidarity, we don't think there's any hope for a western nation anymore. In fact, this year's voting was so political, it made us threaten to swear off Eurovision in future, which is a pity. I just wish if that's the way the eastern nations want to play, western nations that contribute the most money to thing should just pull out of it. Let's see how spectactular it is when Serbia, Bosnia and Croatia pool their resources to put on a show. Hmph.
Whew, I just finished Cathe Friedrich's Low Impact Circuit (click to watch clip of workout), and it's so good to be back on a rotation. As I was in Shropshire last week on a walking holiday, I obviously wasn't getting any workouts in. (Okay, so we were walking an average of 10 miles a day, but it just didn't feel like a workout, you know?)
Here's my May rotation for those who are interested in that sort of thing:
"Use the Force" Rotation (in honor of the 30th anniversary of Star Wars this month--we're going to the Celebration in London next weekend!)
1-7 Walking Holiday (roughly 50 or 60 miles walked??)
8-9 Rest days
10 Firm Calorie Killer 11 Cathe Low Impact Circuit 12 Firm Cardio Sculpt Blaster or Express Cardio 13 Firm Super Body Sculpt 14 Rest 15 Firm Complete Aerobics and Weight Training 16 Firm Maximum Cardio Burn 17 Firm Body Sculpt 18 Firm Super Cardio Sculpt 19 Firm Aerobic Body Shaping 20 Firm Ultimate Calorie Blaster 21 Rest 22 Jari Love Get Ripped Slim & Lean 23 Firm Fat Blasting Cardio 24 Firm Cardio Sculpt 25 Cathe Body Fusion or Low Max Timesaver premix 26 Firm Fat-burning Cardio Toning 27 Rodney Yee Power Yoga Total Body 28 Rest 29 Jari Love Get Ripped 1000 30 Firm Express Cardio 31 Firm Supercharged Sculpting
I just back from the grocery store. I wore my MBTs and of course I walked because I don't have a car! I have had these MBTs for two years but I don't wear them very often because they are designed for city walking and I don't go on city walks as part of my fitness regime. Another reason is, not long after I got them I wore them to London for a weekend trip and didn't take any alternate footwear with me. After three days of walking all over central London in the 'gym for your feet', I felt sore in my glutes, hamstrings and pretty much all over, basically, but felt proud of myself and ready to go home in triumph. Then there were problems with the line between London and Milton Keynes and we had to catch a different train at a different station, and apparently every other human being in the south of England decided to get on that train, so there was no place for us to sit. That wouldn't have been so bad except we were diverted around the world, so I was standing on the train for three hours, holding a backpack. That wouldn't have been so bad either, but if you know anything about these shoes, you know that just standing up requires as much muscle in the legs and core as walking does! And I'd already walked in them exclusively for days of bounding around London! So long story short, that experience has left me shy of wearing them other than for what I know will be a relatively short walk.
Plus I sometimes forget I've got them!
Anyway, they're probably not something I should wear very often. They're a quirky fad, or in some instances a fitness cult (see link below 'Sole Searching'). Whatever they are, they certainly got my heart rate up for the walk to and from the shops, and my butt's feeling it! (Of course that could also be from Cathe's leg work this morning...)
My vanished magnum opus will not be reproduced here, but I thought I'd give you the short version.
Here are my Top Ten Lies That Keep Us in the Fat Trap.
(The original version had long explanations of why they're lies, but here I'll leave it for you to ponder. Maybe I'll expand on one or two in a later entry).
1. I don't really eat that much.
2. My whole family is fat. It must be genetic.
3. The charts say I should weigh ________. If I got that skinny I would look sick. I have set a more realistic goal of _______.
4. I don't like to exercise.
5. I don't have time to exercise.
6. It isn't fair on my family to change the way we eat.
7. I can't diet. I am too weak; I lack the self-discipline.
8. I could never give up ________(insert favorite food or food group).
9. If only I could lose this weight, my life would be perfect.
10. I have tried everything and nothing works.
Believe me, I was inordinately proud of my insightful commentary last time. I think karma decreed there was only so much smugness that could be unleashed onto to the world at one time, so my blog disappeared!
Think these over and if you still can't see why they are LIES that keep us from succeeding, I'll let you know my thinking.
I just typed out a really long post and lost it. Sorry, Shelley, you responded to it and I modified it, spent over an hour working on it, and it was just gone. I lost it trying to copy it to the clipboard. Damn.
At last, here's my April in review. It hasn't changed significantly from March...
BMI 21
Body Fat % according to caliper reading 20.2
Weight 135.8 (average of daily weigh-ins for the month--yes, I instantly reverted back to daily weigh-ins!)
Resting Heart Rate 59
Chest measurement (actual chest, measured above cleavage--or where cleavage would be if I had cleavage) 32.5
Waist measurement (at smallest point a couple of inches above navel) 26.75
Hip measurement 36.25
Upper arm measurement (in the little dent above the bicep) 11.25
Upper thigh measurement 20.5
Number of on-toes straight-leg push-ups done before can't do another 18
Number of modified girly push-ups in 60 seconds 40
So my body weight and measurements are virtually unchanged since January. Only minor fluctuations. But my fitness is getting better. My on-toes push-ups have gone: Jan-- 10, Feb-- 12, March--15, April-- 18; and my modified push-ups in 60 seconds have gone: Jan-- 25, Feb-- 30, March --35, April-- 40. That is steady and predictable improvement! I credit Cathe Friedrich and the fabulous Jari Love for helping me increase my upper body strength. Someday I may even be able to do pull-ups--who knows!
Total workouts done in April: 23 (10 cardio, 3 cardio sculpt, 7 sculpt, 3 yoga)
Total calories consumed: I don't know. I don't even try to count them anymore. It's a nightmare!
We’ve given up on our broadband connection and on Saturday someone’s coming to the flat to install a Sky dish, which will include TV channels and Internet connection. Unfortunately it will be about 10 days after installation before I’ll be online again.
I haven’t even had a chance to tell you my end of March retrospective! I guess I will have to do a March and April double bill!
I have been holding steady at 135 for January, February and March. This looks like the weight my body intends to be at, because I certainly don’t intend to workout any harder or eat with any more discipline than I do now.
I will keep peeking in on you all. Sorry I can’t comment much—keep leaving me comments, please! It makes me feel missed! J
It's not the modem it's a fault in the line. Waiting for engineers to fix. Rubbish.
I am at work and shouldn't be doing this, but thought I'd say hi. I can't slack off and post at work. You wouldn't believe what a nightmare we've had from being short-staffed around here. It is DIRE.
And BIG congrats and boy am I jealous of ShelleyS!!! 129 lbs! I weighed 136 this morning. But then, I did eat 8 hot cross buns over Easter weekend. Thank goodness for Jari Love and her insane workouts!
Yes, I did, and actually tried on more than one garment before giving up in disgust.
I bought :
1 pair black linen drawstring trousers £18.00 2 puff-ball sleeved T-shirts (one chartreuse, the other a vivid royal blue) 2 for £18.00 1 smock-style top with empire waistline and tie in the back--gray black and pink pattern on white background £14.99 1 sale -rack top that is sort of a black fitted tank type thing under this leopardy print top that twists together in the front over the black tank top. It's hard to describe, but it was only £4.99 and has little tiny cap sleeves, so it's basically sleeveless.
So I spent £56.00.
I tried on a linen skirt but wasn't sure about it because the waist on a size 10 was too big and I couldn't believe I would need a UK 8. Plus it was really full at the hem and I could just imagine walking down the street and having it blow straight up and frighten the local townspeople with the sight of my 7 year old knickers. I also tried on some skinny jeans. They made me look like I'd gained 20 pounds in about 20 seconds.
Speaking of frightening, why IS it that dressing rooms show up every single bit of cellulite you ever had or dreamt you had? I swear I don't see that much cellulite in my mirror at home. Ugh!!!
Had hearing checked again and it's pretty much the same as it was last year. The audiologist recommends a hearing aid that costs £1195. I told her I would talk to hubby and call her back. That's a lot.
Why did I buy all these stupid clothes? Now there's more stuff for me to try to find a place to store...I have a TERRIBLE habit and I know the Fly Lady (nazi cow) would have me whipped for it. I often leave my clothes in a pile by the side of the bed for days and then hang them all up once or twice a week. When something seems dingy or whatever, it gets washed. Too much information? LOL Well, you can't make clothes last forever if you wash them every single time you wear them!
