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Jan. 10th, 2019 09:13 pmI had a personal trainer session this morning, since signing up with the gym gets me a free hour. She started me on the rowing machine, then did some bar balancing stuff (terrible), plank push ups (terrible but doable), TRX stuff (fun but not something I can do without a trainer apparently) and something that required squatting with my back against the wall with my hands held in front of me, and she applied pressure on my hands that I had to push again (also fun but also not something I can do without someone else).
I suppose I could have headed it off by not entertaining her questions about "what is your IDEAL" and "what are your GOALS" because honestly the reason why I like swimming is because ultimately it is pleasurable. I like an exercise that gets me into my body and has all my senses engaged, which is not a thing that I get from being on treadmills and walking. Losing weight and getting my metabolism up and whatever, that's all a bonus at this point. Like, yeah, I do want to lose weight, and sure, I would like more muscle mass, but this whole "working out efficiently" with 25 minute blasts of energy is... not my workout style. I got spots in my eyes a few times, which she thought was because I hadn't eaten beforehand, but really it was just that I'm not used to pushing myself so hard so quickly.
I did like the rowing machine a lot though, so next time I'm on my period and not going to swim, I'll use the rowing machine and see how I like it when I'm not going at it like a sprint. Or maybe I might like it enough to alternate between swimming and rowing? I got my first menstrual cup from Saalt (after taking this quiz which recommended this particular brand to me), so I'm going to give that a shot next time I'm on my period.
She also taught me what I guess is the "hollow hold"--where I had to pin my back to the ground while lifting my legs and arms up ("like a banana"). I figure I can do the plank pushups and the hollow holds while microwaving my water in the future, rather than just planks.
*
I scanned some of the documents I needed, and wow is scanning a whole goddamn ORDEAL. The scanner at Tachyon doesn't really work very well (it's fickle; some days I'll get it to work, other days only Jacob can use it, and other days, it's bricked), despite my attempts (it worked! ONCE! when I was testing it! then I closed out the program and it was bricked again). So I walked to the public library and scanned in a couple of things. Tried to scan my PhD certificate but that didn't work, so I walked to Staples to do a colour scan of it.
I also scanned my OPT card, which was another production where I couldn't just copy both sides onto one piece of paper (a common service back home in Malaysia, and something my dad taught me to do as well on home printers). I copied both sides, flipping the card over so that it would show up on a different part of the paper, then I folded the two papers together in such a way that the two copies appeared side-by-side, and scanned THAT.
*
I also have my Eligibility Post up now. I published three things last year, down from the 5 pieces I published in 2016, but given the stresses of the year, I think I did pretty okay!
I suppose I could have headed it off by not entertaining her questions about "what is your IDEAL" and "what are your GOALS" because honestly the reason why I like swimming is because ultimately it is pleasurable. I like an exercise that gets me into my body and has all my senses engaged, which is not a thing that I get from being on treadmills and walking. Losing weight and getting my metabolism up and whatever, that's all a bonus at this point. Like, yeah, I do want to lose weight, and sure, I would like more muscle mass, but this whole "working out efficiently" with 25 minute blasts of energy is... not my workout style. I got spots in my eyes a few times, which she thought was because I hadn't eaten beforehand, but really it was just that I'm not used to pushing myself so hard so quickly.
I did like the rowing machine a lot though, so next time I'm on my period and not going to swim, I'll use the rowing machine and see how I like it when I'm not going at it like a sprint. Or maybe I might like it enough to alternate between swimming and rowing? I got my first menstrual cup from Saalt (after taking this quiz which recommended this particular brand to me), so I'm going to give that a shot next time I'm on my period.
She also taught me what I guess is the "hollow hold"--where I had to pin my back to the ground while lifting my legs and arms up ("like a banana"). I figure I can do the plank pushups and the hollow holds while microwaving my water in the future, rather than just planks.
*
I scanned some of the documents I needed, and wow is scanning a whole goddamn ORDEAL. The scanner at Tachyon doesn't really work very well (it's fickle; some days I'll get it to work, other days only Jacob can use it, and other days, it's bricked), despite my attempts (it worked! ONCE! when I was testing it! then I closed out the program and it was bricked again). So I walked to the public library and scanned in a couple of things. Tried to scan my PhD certificate but that didn't work, so I walked to Staples to do a colour scan of it.
I also scanned my OPT card, which was another production where I couldn't just copy both sides onto one piece of paper (a common service back home in Malaysia, and something my dad taught me to do as well on home printers). I copied both sides, flipping the card over so that it would show up on a different part of the paper, then I folded the two papers together in such a way that the two copies appeared side-by-side, and scanned THAT.
*
I also have my Eligibility Post up now. I published three things last year, down from the 5 pieces I published in 2016, but given the stresses of the year, I think I did pretty okay!