Behind the Curve…
…is often where I find myself. More often than not, I’m dragging my feet closely behind an intimidating crowd who’ve already been there and done that. Even now as a blogger. I peek at other people’s archives and feel dwarfed from the magnitude of posts. But I still continue to write and hope that no one will poke and make fun of my immaturity (or peek at my Archives. Don’t do it. There’s probably an echo in there).
Being an afterthought has been a recurring theme in my life. My “fresh off the boat” parents blinded themselves with their intense work ethic, and never understood the social norms of being a kid, or just wanting some form of a social life. They were pretty much un-cool with anything outside the realm of school or books. As a result, I never had sleepovers, learned how to drive well after high school, never wore make-up until college, and was never allowed to date, “officially”. Heck, I never knew what the world outside felt like after 12pm until I moved out of my parent’s house during college. And even then, it took me a while to see that geeking it out at the library past 2am, was not very cool.
The only aspect of my life where I feel I’ve managed to pull away from the pack was starting a family (oh, and in 6th grade when the powers that be granted me the gift of ovulation earlier than the rest, while wearing white shorts of course). Among all of my close friends, I was the first to get married and start a family. As many of you who have single friends may already know, this always presents for some interesting conversation. Or lack thereof.
Although I would never trade in my current life as a mother for anything in the world, boy what I wouldn’t do for just a fraction of the spare time I had while single. I’m constantly reading on IM with my “still single, thin and in-shape” friends how they are going to stop by the gym, went for a long run, or took a fun spinning class.
*sigh*
“Excuse me, hot guy with the glowing tan and must-have-a-few-girlfriends kind of face. Can you please watch my 2- year old while I squeeze myself into a pair of Lycra pants, in a sad attempt to smooth out and hide the lumps of cottage cheese sagging along my backside? I need to walk on the treadmill on the lowest setting possible for 25 minutes, thanks. Oh, and don’t worry, she doesn’t scream, often. The local dogs will let you know if there’s a problem.”
There I was, convinced that my workout free life was all a result of my dedicated time as a mother. But then I stopped by Bill Gathen’s blog to discover that he makes daily 6am trips to the gym before his two kids and wife are even awake. Then he leaps tall buildings in a single bound to get to work. I stood there in a pile of dust. Defeated, and behind the curve again.
There are 3 more weeks left in December folks! January is the month of resolutions and new gym memberships. And this year, I’m setting out to conquer it all before the yoga balls go flying off the shelves and corporate execs wear their sneakers to work. Since I have no childcare, or a husband that comes home at a decent hour, and it looks like this outside of our apartment…
I’m popping this bad boy into the DVD player as often as I can.
Don’t be fooled by the Richard Simmons-esque title. Or the fact that half of the lady’s butt is cut off on the cover for some reason, I’ve heard great things about this workout. The cover says, “5-day fit walk.” I’ll be realistic. If I manage 3 days, I won’t regret the $14.99 I spent, and may even celebrate with a cheesecake. A whole one.
Flip to the back of the cover and it says, “Optional equipment- set of light hand weights.”
*gasp*
Baby steps people. Baby steps.
I remember the gremlins, and I can sing the lyrics of We are the world, but that just about wraps it up for me as far as the eighties are concerned…
Let me tell you one thing, it’s not the magnitude of posts that make a blog interesting, you know!!
I know the feeling, and I know what you mean, but you’re not behind the curve !
Oh no!
December 7th, 2007 at 5:43 pm
I love workout discs! haha. That doesn’t mean I obey them, but I do like them.
December 7th, 2007 at 9:56 pm
I can so relate to this post! I’m still trying to perk up my blog writing. Yours, on the other hand, is quite entertaining.
Baby steps in starting a workout routine will do the trick. Start off with a goal you can reach and then keep adding on more time or days to it. You can do it, girl!
December 7th, 2007 at 10:26 pm
Your blog is great, don’t worry about it!
After I got married and gained the requisite 10 pounds almost over night (isn’t that one of the best parts of marriage?) I joined the gym. But found it difficult to go regularly so I used to buy all sorts of workout tapes (yes I’m ancient) and DVD’s, which I would keep up for a good few months before we had kids. I’m not great with motivation without a class, so it never lasted more than months.
So hubbygot me a gym membership when little G was about 10 months old — so I’ve been going 2 – 3 times a week now for almost 2 years. It really helps that they have affordable childminding onsite, or I couldn’t do it. But I tell you, I’m back down to the weight I was before I had baby number 1 (that was 8 years ago!); and although my bones still crack and joints hurt every so often if I sit funny, bodywise I’m feeling not too badly. Except for the doughy muffin top that comes with the mommy territory… and I will not succumb to a tummy tuck. I’m vain but also very afraid of pain!
So good luck with your workout… take it gradually, the most important thing is to make it a routine, as it will be easier to stick with it.
December 7th, 2007 at 11:40 pm
my parents are american and kept me on a tight leash, too. but maybe it was for the best. who knows. you have to do you. i have tried multiple times and i just cannot do the whole set your alarm to wake up earlier to go to the gym. its just not in my composition. i also am not so good with the workout tapes/dvds unless i have a partner. otherwise i get bored. once you get into regular workouts, and at first just force yourself to keep going, you will get to the point where you don’t ever want to miss a day.
December 8th, 2007 at 12:48 pm
i have that work out! just be careful with the butt-kick moves…you can hurt your knees if it isn’t done right. yeah…she has a huge butt, doesn’t she!? it’s seriously a great work out. you’ll get to the point where, you wont need to video tape, anymore, and you’ll just march in front of the t.v…watching your favorite shows! that’s what my hubby and i used to do. we used to watch house hunters and whatever came next…and march!!!
good luck and enjoy!
December 8th, 2007 at 10:12 pm
Hahahahah…I did the video thing…Jane Fonda if I remember correctly. Some of the workout was so funny I embarrassed myself…nobody else was allowed in the room! I am still traumatized by that lift the leg like a dog move…hahahahah I think in the new year I shall take up dancing…just go in the basement and get groovy…nobody is allowed to watch…absolutely no peeking!
December 8th, 2007 at 11:01 pm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3jhx4F0oAc
Armchair exercising. Need I say more?
December 9th, 2007 at 3:36 pm
I didn’t have any sleepovers, parties, or dated before college either. I think maybe it’s for the best, too. Although at the time it NEVER felt like it was. A *little* bit of social life would have been nice, you know.
I’m not sure what you’re talking about, big archives isn’t what it seems sometimes. I would take a cool blog with less archives than a boring blog with lots of posts, any day.
Good luck with the workouts, although I don’t think you need it.
December 10th, 2007 at 1:00 am
I can relate to what you write in all apects
. Living far outside Stockholm (Sweden) and going to a german private school in the big city with classmates from all over the place meant looong solitary trips with the train and, in consequence, next to nill interest in any attempt at sleepovers, parties etc at my parent’s house. Which was greetetd with illhidden satisfaction from my parents who didn’t exactly warm up to the idea of hosting 20 – 25 boisterous kids in their perfectly charming home. Bitter? Not really. Just amused to find people with some similar experience 
. I listen to Louis Armstrong while others listen to Deep Purple and spent a lot of time drawing (I work as a designer and get payed for my hobby 
. So I was the obvious anomality in my class 
. A geek. But we had other names for that in those days. However, I made up for that in abundance later on in life. HA!
I love your blogg and enjoyed both the look and your writing. It has a nice, warm tone to it and will be on my list of bloggs to continue reading. I am a on-and-off blogger with a certain problem – i love to write but find it difficult to come up with subjects that people might like to read. Ergo I write stocastically. Ergo the readership is nonexistant. But I love to write. I my mind you are definately not behind the curve!
Enjoy life and live it to the fullest!
Robert
December 12th, 2007 at 3:04 am