Last stretch thoughts, and some pics

I'm already happy knowing I don't have anything crazy coming up (except for paint ball war next saturday, but that's pure fun).  I can know relax and get the sleep my body deserves and conquer this next 30 days (or 29 or whateves).  I've lost more weight than I would have liked.  I'm at like 158 (starting at 177).  I'd really like to be at 165 or even 170.  That means really pushing through the exercises and failing as hard as I can.  If I can muster those couple more reps at the end and then jump into the next exercise as quick as I can I'm sure I'll get the results.  Diets has gotten to the point where it's actually just convenient to stick with the diet and not even think about anything else.  Almost like I barely think about the food thing at all.

Actually now that I think about it I actually have to cheat tomorrow.  It's my birthday tomorrow and I'm going out with my parents for dinner.  Nice place, and the cheating will only be with whatever salt they put in it and not weighing.  Which shouldn't be too bad, since I'm just going to get fish and veggies, and try to avoid the carbs.  But here's the thing:  my dad is an interesting character.  He knows everyone, and I mean everyone.  Where ever we go, everyone already know who he is and immediately starts joking around with him.  The hosts, waiters, bar tenders, valet parking if it's there, prep cook, dishwasher, the owners, everyone.  The chef always sends out these extra plates of food that my dad never even looks at.  All he wants to do is drag the chef out of the back and talk his ear off, which he does.  I always go for the extra dishes, so this time I have to not think about them.  My minds in the right place so I think I can manage.  I'm celebrating with my friends at a primus show on saturday, but I'm going to cheat there, just rock.  My friends I'm going with know the project I'm on (they might not understand it yet, but they know I'm on it).

Here's some pics from the show last sunday.  There were a ton of them so it was hard to pick some good ones:

Photo

I forgot to take my photos.  So I'm going to have to take them some time today, which is great because I look and feel like crap today.  Last night was great and I'm proud of my band, but I'm relieved that it's our last gig until this is over.  I need to sleep more regularly.  That's really the area that I have not been doing well in.  Some nights I get a lot and then others I don't get any.  I would love to be consistent with sleep.  Sleep. . . I would love to go to sleep right now.  Right now I have to get a new phone because I lost mine on saturday (my normal day this weekend).  Really?  God damn it!  I hate cell phones and how we rely on them.  Now I've got to be that guy that has to be like, "hey friends, can I get your phone numbers please.  pretty please with sugar on top".  Great.

I really did have a great time last night so I'm glad it all went down.  My professional photog friend took pics last night so I'll post them when I get them.  But here I'm going to go into a personal aspect of my life that I would probably not post about but we're supposed to blog it out. . . girls.  I haven't really thought too much about having a new girl friend since I've been on this project.  I really just can't imagine being a decent new boyfriend type character while doing this.  I can barely take care of washing my dishes and I'm supposed to treat a girl all nice like, ummm. . . I don't think so.  But. . . last night I meet a girl and we instantly got along.  She's a rocker girl and is intelligent, has a sense of humor, clever, likes the same things as I do etc.  Which is great right?  And then to her looks, she was absolutely beautiful.  Which is awesome right?  It is but this is what made every single god damn drunk friend of mine say something offensive while I was talking to her (every single time I was talking to her throughout the night).  I mean I swear to fucking god I can't believe how immature my friends were.  And you'd think it was just the dudes, but it was the girls too.  It makes me want to never drink again because I don't want to be that asshole making a friend look bad.  But from what I can remember I never did anything like that.  Yeah I get it she's "hot" but look I don't usually just go after "hot" girls because they usually have an attitude and I don't need that.  I was talking to her because we got along, and if she can see me perform and be more into me then hey I hit the jackpot.  I've got to say that she was a trouper through my friend's offensive actions which makes me think she's a great person.  The extra spectacular stupendous awesomeness was that I didn't have my phone so I had to set up a "let's meet up again next week" thing.  I'm hoping that she shows up.  It's not everyday that you meet someone you cliche with so well on the first encounter.

I am so god damn pissed at my friends right now it's unbelievable.  I'm glad kinda because I have a lot of energy because of it and am going to use it towards the workouts.  If I have one positive thing to say right now it's that I get through my exercises on being pumped.  I make sure to gather a bunch of energy before the workout and afterwards I feel really balanced on the final rest.  Ahhhhhhh, that final rest, how good you are to me.  I actually feel better now that I "blogged it out".  Wow, sorry guys.  

I AM IRON MAN!

I have a crazy weekend all planned.  Why?  Because I'm stupid, that's why.  Life throws you a ninety mile an hour curve ball and somehow your eyes are able to correctly analyze it's trajectory and tell your nervous system to swing a bat and brutally crush the ball three hundred feet into the screaming crowd as you run around the bases calmly while your team is standing at home base waiting to give you high fives.  If that's not a home-run run-on sentence I don't know what is.  BLAHBLAHBLOG!

I basically rushed through the workout yesterday determined not to skip anything.  It actually went pretty well and I noticed that failure came quicker.  My awesome boss let me leave at 3:00 and I went to pick up one of my band members and we headed up to milwaukee.  We meet our other band member up there and his girlfriend (who's my friend too, I introduced the two).  And then we went and saw Janelle Monae and Of Montreal.  I'm in love with Janelle Monae.  She has got to be the most talented "new" musician that has popped up in the pop world.  And she's beautiful and her stage presence (energy) is amazing.  She just looks like she's having so much fun up there.  The rest of the stage performers were awesome and it was an inspiration to us all.  Of Montreal's show was a bit too "artsy" "look at me I'm weird" for me, but I enjoy their music so I had a good time.

Tonight I'm supposed to see my friend from out of town deejay and "party", but I'm already thinking of excuses so I should probably not go.  I've got a gig tomorrow, so I better get some rest or I feel like I'll be too tired to do the exercises tomorrow.  I'm still on track which is why I feel like Iron Man, so I've got to keep well rested.  Our performance tomorrow is again at 11:00 pm.  We always headline these shows which is a compliment but we're kinda sick of it.  Only because we show up at 7:30 to load in our gear and then wait around until 11:00 to perform and we're supposed to be the "exciting show-stoppers".  Our oldest member is 34 and has two kids, give him a break.  I noticed my energy has gotten more sustainable since I've been on this pcp stuff.  Which makes a lot of sense, because being healthy is literally allowing energy to flow through the body with greater potential.  I love it, I don't know why other people don't take care of their bodies.  I remember talking to a friend at a BBQ in july about he just turned thirty and his life is over.  I said to him, "Dude your a dude, grow a pair.  Our life has just began, it's far from over."  I'm far from done, and being on this project has shown me how far from done I really am.  PCP MUFUCKAZ.

A family friend of mine offered to take me to the bears game on monday night, and I simply can't turn that down.  So on my weekend continues.  I can sit through a bears and not eat crap (I actually didn't eat that crap before) and drink that crap (which I drank before) .  I'm a beer snob so I can deal with not drinking crappy beer (which is pronounce bear in chicago, we have a funny accent (I can't say the word accent properly, and is hilarious to me)).  The funny pcp element to me about the game was my family friend said to me, "I hope you can get off this gay ass cleanse your doing and have a few beers.  If you can't I understand, but I'm getting yammered."  I laughed at that because he said it funny, but I never told him I'm doing a "cleanse".  Why don't people listen for once in their life.  I tell people I'm on a workout/diet plan.  The outcome is a cleanse but that's not the overall goal of this.  This kid could use PCP too, because he was an athlete and is now out of shape.  Some people will never learn.

PCP Rules (rules said with a chicago accent).

Kim can talk to me from the future which makes her a superhuman.  Nat is literally superwoman so there you have it, and Ram is champion of the entire world and the two of them combine to make the mega-force Natramlyo.  There's a new show on the history channel called Stan Lee's superhumans that shows you real-life people that have superhuman ability's.  He should look towards PCP for it's next episode (Patrick has the ability to change normal life slobs into superhumans).

Jumpy Jump Jump

I'm all about the timed jumprope.  When I was counting it was normal straight forward basically tedious jumping.  All I thought about was counting and if anything it just messed me up.  Once I got to like 500-600 I would get confused and mess up.  Now it's like a walk in the park, or a short beach.  I'm jumping this way and that, moving my feet around side to side and front to back.  When I hear the timer I always try to do some kind of trick.  I'm not there yet, but I'm going to keep trying.  I mean it's still not necessarily "fun" but it's a hell of a lot better and I'm not dreading the ol' jumprope.  I likes.

Workouts have been harder in the sense that the third exercise for the muscle group is tiring but not impossible.  Nothings impossible, right?  We're fantastic carrot, whatever that means.  I feel like I wanna make some t-shirts for us.  I just made a bunch of funny baby t-shirts I'm surprising my sister with, and then I went crazy and made some shirts for my band.  I'm going to ask one of my graphic design guys to hook up a logo.  I guess that's not much of a surprise but if I make them I'd have to have shirt sizes and addys anyways.  Shirt sizes would have to be decided after the whole thing anyways.  So fuck it, that would have to be later and the logo would have to be awesome.

Food is food what can I say.  I went to my chef friend for spice recipes but all of his stuff included salt and he pre-mixed.  Whateves.  I'm kinda back in "just eat and it's not really that bad, and hey it's pretty fresh and good, so shut it" mode.  Which is a long name for a mode but is really easy to do.  I did notice I've got to slow down with the actual eating part, so I've been trying to catch myself in the act and slow it down.

Blah.  I've got nothing more.  I should write all my blogs after a bears game.  Blah.

Excuse my american

Couldn't take the picture in the morning because of the bears game.  We won.  Oh well, I look pretty scrawny in the morning too, so I guess it doesn't matter.  I feel like I'll have a six pack by the end of this.  Who knows. . .

For my next comment your going to have to excuse my americana but I love to swear (fuck is my favorite word because it's so versatile, and me ma actually agrees with me so. . . )  This project makes so much god damn sense.  I saw the week workouts and I could see that now, "PCP has finally started" thing.  Focusing on each muscle group until you've got to fail, I can see how it's going to get harder, and I'm with it.  I'm in, let's do this shit.  I feel so good I'm going to start breakdancing again, and win the battle.  And I'm serious, I'm going to call my friend who works with kids to bring them off the street and focus on hip hop (I've never looked hip hop but I've been since age six and know all the original old school chicago cats, I can do all the elements and it's really weird being that I'm a punk).  I'm going to start battling kids, and I'm about to turn thirty one.  Fuck it right?

And you. . . you. . . Patrick.  Your like that ten year old you play in chess.  You think to yourself, "I've got this in the bag" and then all of a sudden he says, "checkmate".  And your like, "what the fuck, what just happened?"  So you play harder and don't hold back even though it's a ten year old.  And then out of the blue he says, "checkmate" again.  And you look at him with surprise as he gives you this cocky smirk.  He deserves the cocky smirk, and you get tougher.  But time and time again he says checkmate and gives you that smirk.  And you gotta take the smirk and like it, because this god damn kid is beating you at your own fucking game.  You can't smack him, he's a ten year old kid, and guess what he's winning.  Do you give up?  Of course you don't, because your a stubborn old man and your not going let this punk kid win.  But he does. . . and the game continues. . . where the fuck is bobby fisher?  Japan.  He's in japan right now, and he's winning.

Does this blah blah blog make sense?  I don't give a shit.  I feel like I'm on some crazy natural high right now, and I think I'm going to run around outside and give people high fives.  Fuck yeah, bears down.

Something different

Wow, when did the new team show up.  It's more like a legion.  Are you trying to build an army or something Patrick?  Well, good luck all of you.  I respect anyone that does this project, it's hard but worth it.  Team mango is small but deadly, and team badass has given us a lot of support so I'm sure they'll do the same for you.  Alright, on to my post. . .

There's a cuban restaurant across the street from me (actually there's at least one on every block in this neighborhood), and they were partying last night like they do every wednesday.  As the awesome music was playing I started picturing myself dancing around eating cuban nachos.  Then I started thinking about what my first meal would be after this is done.  Jibarito (steak sandwich with fried plantains as the bread) is definitely top of the list.  Not from across the street but this little joint a couple of blocks away where this glowing nice old lady brings out her special garlic sauce that makes the sandwich heaven.  Then I was like maybe I should just go straight for hamburger and get it over with.  Something really stupid and crazy with bacon and a fried egg.  And then. . . then I caught myself and what I was thinking about.  I can't be thinking about that stuff when I'm barely half way through.  I just saw Nat and Ram's post with all their food and it looked awesome, so I'm going to do something special this weekend.  I don't know what, but something PCP compliant and different from the mash-ups I've been eating.  I've finally got a weekend without anything going on and I'm going on a mission to liven this place up.  Get my fridge to look more like natram's.  Ramnat?  I guess both of those don't work.  O'well.

Kim wrote a good post about being tired for work-outs and the fact that we've been working out everyday for forty-seven days.  I'm right there with her on that.  But now that I think about it I'm proud of all of us.  That's not easy for anyone to do.  Soon we'll be where team badass is and be champions.  I want my crown.

Random Monday Gig

I had a gig last night on a monday, which I've never really liked.  I guess simply because it's a monday and I wonder why I'm in a bar on a monday.  That seems simple enough.  It was funny to see my band instantly get into band mode and start to have drinks.  It was dollar taco night and they had some of those.  And then I suddenly noticed how I wasn't eating (I ate right before I left for the gig), and I wasn't drinking.  No one said anything, and that was awesome.  I feel like I would of talked some smack to me before I started this program, but I've explained it to my band time and time again so they practically didn't notice.  I should mention we practice three days a week and while on thursdays they (and I used to) have a lot of beers but I never do since I've been doing this.  I was actually really proud of my band for the support.  It's the first time I actually noticed it.  They weren't giving me crap about it before but they could have.

The night actually turned out to be awesome.  The first band were these two girls from miami.  A drummer that threw down while singing, and a wicked keys player that had a beautiful voice.  They were the biggest sounding two person band I've ever heard and their songs all rocked.  The next band was from philly and brought a full stage worth of equipment.  They had both electronic instruments and tons of drums scattered everywhere.  At one point it sounded like a drum line was on stage all while they were singing.  I can't really explain them or the other band that well but they were both full of energy and had original sounds without being "weird".  My band agreed that it was our worst performance ever.  But our worst isn't bad at all.  We don't know why it was, but we were headlining on a monday.  We didn't start performing until 11:30.  The crowd was still yelling and screaming loving the music and we still did our thing (we're a party band that jumps around stage soloing and talking to the crowd about normal life awesomeness).  We felt like crap but everyone loved us.  We got along with the other bands really well throughout the night, and are going to try to meet up again on tour or back in chicago.  I had a lot of fun.

I didn't get home until 1:30 and had to live a normal tuesday.  Working out was hard as hell.  I noticed my failure came faster than other "normal" days.  But I'm still proud that I didn't break the diet and still did my thing.  I'm sure the workout will be back to the same strength tomorrow after I get a "normal" nights sleep.

I'm going to take my next picture in the morning because I have the four pack rocking then.  I lose it later in the day (I take my picture at night after all my meals).  I've got to stop slacking on the picture front.  I hate cameras but I've got to learn how to use one properly.

Kiwis are funny.

Coconut Oil

The other day I asked Patrick if coconut oil was cool for the project, and he said it was a good fat (just don't use a lot).  That's a good way to add flavor to dishes.  It's kinda expensive but it lasts awhile.  Today we got the email about the diet and exercise is better for your body.  And I remembered where I learned about coconut oil to begin with.  I was a a seminar for Qigong.  It was a four day seminar and one day the teacher got really into food healing.  To put it bluntly he has cured cancer with food.  People would go up on stage and tell the same story, "I had cancer and the medical field said I would not live for vary long, and then I went to the food healing approach and I no longer have cancer".  It was all vary emotional and a lot of stories were shared.  I'm not sick in any way but I was impressed how all these problems were solved just with food.  The teachers whole thing was that health care is just going to get more expensive so we've got to take care of ourselves.  I didn't go on the plan because it is a bit excessive and meant for people that have problems.  But I got to say that since I've been on this diet I feel like everything is working better inside.  I don't really know what's working better but I can feel it.  I feel the changes more than I see them and that it just fine with me.

Actually when I think about it I feel the organs working better, but the muscles have been a bit run down the last two days.  Especially my legs, they feel like jello.  I do all the exercises without problems but I feel really sore I guess it is.  I haven't taken a bath since I was like ten, but I think I'm going to test the waters.

I got my first person to tell me I look different.  I actually think I look the same since I wear the same t-shirts.  But she just kept going on about it and said she felt bad that she hasn't changed, which I don't get at all.  I saw a lot of people I hadn't seen for awhile and it was good times.

Bears football started today and we won.  Bam.

Food for Life

I went on my bike ride and did the jump ropes before breakfast (like Patrick suggested) and it actually was better for me because I didn't feel weighed down.  So I'm going to do that every day I think, or as many days as possible.  I'm been skipping the yoga classes because I've been so busy, but I've been stretching and I can tell I'm a lot more limber.  I think I'm going to set it up so I go three times a week again, and just frinkin' do it.

I've got a suggestion for the bread.  Now I would never really promote this because it's not a flavorful as most breads but because of the carbs going down in grams I will.  It's sprouted grain bread from Food For Life, and called Ezekiel 4:9 and they have a low sodium version (it says on the nutrition facts that there's 0mg of sodium).  Because it's sprouted it weighs less than normal bread and two slices is exactly 70g (which is our breakfast weight).  I've only found it at whole foods though, so before you try to go buy it remember it doesn't taste like anything really.  It doesn't taste bad but it's really boring.  I ate it before this project because eating normal bread always made me tired, so I was pretty much a rice type person.  Again this is health food not comforting tasty bread.  I thought I'd suggest it because of the weight thing.
 
Peaches are in season.

Senses

I went to see the machete movie with a friend.  If your in to action/killing flicks and Robert Rodriguez this is a must see.  If your not into seeing blood never watch it.  Some family brought there six year old kid to the show, and they left in about a minute, so that should explain how crazy it is.  But in my opinion it one of the most awesome movies I've seen.

That's not the point of this blog.  When I went in my friend got popcorn and pop and I was happy not to have anything.  I actually never wanted anything, which is awesome because that's a tempting place to grub out.  It was a pretty crowded and all I could smell was that fake butter.  It was overwhelming and I felt sick to my stomach for a second.  The first thing I thought of was years back with some other friends we saw some movie and I got a popcorn but over salted it and put way way way too much butter on it.  I couldn't even eat three hand fulls, but my friend said he would and literally ate the whole thing.  I was surprised he didn't just die right there.  Anyways I never thought of the smell of that stuff being so horrible and I'm wondering it the sense of smell is changing like the taste buds.  Just a thought, I have no idea if that would be scientifically true.  What am I, a scientist.  Once the movie started I forgot about the smell and enjoyed the movie.  I walked out feeling great instead of feeling like crap from the junk food.

Exercises: good.

Diet: Good, but my stomach has to adjust to the egg white and fruit dinner.

Avocados are god.

Clean Up Crew

I'm disappointed yet motivated today.  I made plans to do a lot this weekend (I made them awhile back) and although I still can do some of them I can't do the major ones.  I was supposed to go to Great America tomorrow with a bunch of people.  I love roller-coasters but at the same time it's an all day affair and I couldn't do the diet (and would have to replace it with the worst possible greasy food) or the exercises.  On the flip side it will be one of the busiest weekends of the season (which means really long lines) and the whole thing is ridiculously expensive.  So I told them thanks but no, and before I could explain why they said, "We're not too excited about it either because it's going to be really cold (it just started getting cold on friday), but the kids really want to go, so you know. . ."  So I feel good about that.  There's also a good music festival this weekend and I would have to eat greasy food and it's an all day affair.  So whatever it's not like I having been to great American or gone to a billion musicfests.  Instead of getting down I'm getting together with other friends, and monday I'm going to a cubs game (I can sit through those without drinking or eating).  I know I get hungry faster so I'm eating right before I go and showing up in the third inning.  So at least the whole weekend is wasted.

I'm motivated to continue because I'm the type of person that will just slack for a couple days and then just fall off instead of jumping back on.  So I'm doing this.  I feel good, and am seeing improvements.  I'm glad my friends are not the type of people that hold it against you if you break plans.

8 minutes abs is hilarious to me, and that really is the reason I get through it well.

Ok apple, banana, and egg white dinner.  Do me justice.

Crash

I ate it really hard on my bike just now.  I was going downhill and skidded and flipped across the pavement.  I know how to fall because of skateboarding growing up, and for some reason I have an immunity to pain.  I remember three thugs that attempted to mug me and the lead guy punched me in the face and I just started laughing.  He didn't like that so he punched me again and I said, "I'm over this" and walked away.  What could they do?  It was the middle of the day, and I wasn't giving them anything.  I wouldn't suggest this plan of attack to anyone.  I have a seemingly unbreakable head.  I literally fell on my head skateboarding twenty times without a helmet and I never broke it open and actually never cried.  Wait, I just went on a tangent that really is not the point of this blog.  The point is that I fell on my bike and everyone stopped in their tracks to see if I was okay.  But I jumped up immediately and started laughing and gave people the thumbs up.  I cleaned off the cuts and biked home with a smile on my face.  Oh well, right?  Everything is fine.  Not so, my knees and elbows are all cut up and the exercises are a lot harder.  I'm pissed at myself right now because I see my as actions being reckless.  I just made the week harder just because I like going fast downhill.  The need for speed has got to stop, and I've got to be more careful or the project will be harder than it should.  I care more about the project than a quick downhill run.  So I'm making a vow to myself to not be reckless on my bike.  If I come to the blog space with another injury I would appreciate you all verbally slapping me in the face.  Thanks.

On to a more tasty point: I found a bunch of salt-free spice mixes, and it really makes all the difference.  Now every meal is a bit different and I'm enjoying the meals.  I'm also getting more creative, so that helps also.  Even fruit has gotten better.  An apple is good, but with a wee bit of cinnamon it seems more like a snack to me (I don't know why).

As for my team, um, names aren't coming to me that fast.  They're always long and pointless, but I'll keep trying.  Kim had the suggestion as team rockstars which would be cool for me, but I think we can do better.  I feel like is should be funny and awesome at the same time.  But no matter what I'm pretty easy, so whatever we decide is cool.