Are You RUSHFIT?

I already know I'm not.

I guess it was only a matter of time before GSP came out with his own workout program, RUSHFIT, now available on DVD. I wonder whether he'll look back and regret these in five or ten years--it seems like no one in the world can make a workout video that doesn't look dated.

Some great quotes from the website:

Is GSP RUSHFIT for women?

YES. RUSHFIT was designed for both men and women, and women instructors appear in each workout DVD. Ladies, there is no reason you can't work as hard, train like a champion the way Georges St-Pierre does, and see results as good or better than any guy. This is as close to 1-on-1 time with GSP that women can get.

You hear that, ladies? AS CLOSE AS YOU CAN GET TO ONE-ON-ONE WITH GSP. You will NEVER get to smell him, but you can imagine the aroma of his sweat as you sweat along with him!

I'm not familiar with MMA or mixed martial arts moves. I don't want to be a fighter or beat people up, is this for me?

YES. Though it blends some MMA-specific techniques, RUSHFIT is a functional fitness program. There is no hitting or physical confrontation. The value in the workouts is the MMA style strength and conditioning that applies to anyone and all sports.

But...what if I do want to beat someone up?

The program itself looks horribly painful, but as the champ says, "Enjoy the release of pain."

I'm trying to enjoy the release of sweat, myself. There's a lot of it. No wonder he had such a nice complexion.

Watch the assessment video: it's pretty grueling, and Georges comes out of it saying "That was the worst day of my life." Considering my allergy to pain, something tells me this is not the workout for me.

Skater Hater

Ice skating at Nathan Phillips Squares: it's one of those winter pastimes in Toronto that evokes certain experiences from my youth--awkwardly shuffling across the rink while wearing three layers of bulky clothing Mom made my put on; runny noses and scarves damp with exhalation; sipping hot chocolate through a coffee stir stick and scalding my tongue and hands and soaking my mittens because the cup was so overfull....

One year in high school, I sprained both ankles within the same month, and they were never the same afterwards. I didn't dare trust myself on the ice with weak ankles. And so I gave up ice skating.

Yesterday was the first time I'd gone in more than fifteen years. As I stepped tentatively upon the ice rink at City Hall, the memories all came back, along with a few new experiences.

Old news: frozen toes, ill-fitting skates, that feeling of burning in your fingers as you try to lace up your rental skates tighter, soggy laces, soggy everything else, no place to sit, an overcrowded rink with the consistency of a hard-packed snow cone, crappy radio music from the local top 40 hits station, and douche bag show offs.

New news: skate rentals at $10 for 2 hours (20 minutes of which was spent waiting for the Zamboni to clear the ice), shooting pain in my lower shins and hips, a real fear of falling and hurting myself, the urge to push aside all the children stumbling in my path and threatening to trip me up, and the urge to punch the douche bag show offs trying to scare you into falling.

I'm not sure I had fun: every round I made, I had to stop to rest my shins (what the hell is that pain?) and I didn't get my customary hot chocolate and chip truck fries and gravy reward at the end. I didn't even get a good workout--just a lot of strain on parts of my body I don't use very often.

Would I do it again? Sure...if I had my own skates and ice rink that had the consistency of linoleum when skating on it, and the buoyancy of a mattresses when I fell. Someone should get to work on that.

Every little thing gonna be all right

My "surrogate grandmother," Doreen Hamilton, 1938 - 2011,

who brought my mother to this country.

A Zen lady who loved Reggae, Buddhism, the arts, and living on the island

We only got to know you a little these past eight years.

Thank you for all that you've done.

You will be missed.

"Don't worry about a thing,

'Cause every little thing gonna be all right.

Singin': "Don't worry about a thing,

'Cause every little thing gonna be all right!"

Rise up this mornin',

Smiled with the risin' sun,

Three little birds

Pitch by my doorstep

Singin' sweet songs

Of melodies pure and true,

Sayin', ("This is my message to you-ou-ou:")

Singin': "Don't worry 'bout a thing,

'Cause every little thing gonna be all right."

Singin': "Don't worry (don't worry) 'bout a thing,

'Cause every little thing gonna be all right!"

Rise up this mornin',

Smiled with the risin' sun,

Three little birds

Pitch by my doorstep

Singin' sweet songs

Of melodies pure and true,

Sayin', "This is my message to you-ou-ou:"

Singin': "Don't worry about a thing, worry about a thing, oh!

Every little thing gonna be all right. Don't worry!"

Singin': "Don't worry about a thing" - I won't worry!

"'Cause every little thing gonna be all right."

Singin': "Don't worry about a thing,

'Cause every little thing gonna be all right" - I won't worry!

Singin': "Don't worry about a thing,

'Cause every little thing gonna be all right."

Singin': "Don't worry about a thing, oh no!

'Cause every little thing gonna be all right!

OMG New content???

Yeah, I've been neglecting my personal blog in favor of my author blog. Sorry 'bout that. But let me try to promise at least 2 posts a month for the rest of 2011, if not more. Surely there's enough weirdness going on in my life now (even as a married woman) that I might share with the rest of the world.

Today, for instance: I went to work today, only to discover the office was closed. I'd checked the company's holiday calendar online to make sure that they were open, and as far as I could tell, there was no holiday listed for today. Well. Serves me right to believe anything I read on the Internet.

So, some things to share while I've got your attention:

Reasoning with Vampires: This is a hilarious, educational and often scathing analysis of the writing in the Twilight series. I've never read the books, mind you, and I don't always agree with the assessment of use of clauses beginning with conjunctions. (Writers do it all the time. And it doesn't mean they're wrong.) But the postings present some pretty awful stuff. Not sure I do want to read the series now...it'd hurt my copy editing brain too much.

Red Letter Media reviews: In a slightly befuddled monotone mumble, this guy dissects the Star Wars prequels, Star Trek films, and a few other mediocre to great sci-fi blockbusters. He points out all the ways the filmmakers manipulate the audience, why the Star Wars prequels were such failures, and does a phenomenal and hilarious job of intelligently comparing and contrasting pop culture works. The only complaint is that he sometimes delves into these very disturbing (meant to be funny) sidebars that involve violence against women and general creepiness. Still, if you have a few hours to kill (because some of the reviews go on for 90 minutes in some cases) these are terrific supplements to your pop culture studies.

More blogging to come. Promise.