luckycanuck | Entries tagged with untidy

"It used to be cool" night went very well.

I decided on Saturday morning that I would go as Officer John McClane from the Die Hard series. There are very few characters that I could come as that have very short hair, but this one worked. One theory that Die Hard was still cool and therefore my outfit was inappropriate was advanced, but I decided that it was still a valid idea because Die Hard was such a huge series that was so full of iconic action movie cliches that it can be mocked for its excesses even as it enjoys a mantle of retro coolness. Plenty of things fall into similar categories.

I managed to get a workout in on Saturday afternoon.

YW: AMRAP 12 minutes - 5 80kg deadlifts, 15 hand release pushups (12 rounds +5 +3). Finisher - 2 minutes for max situps (75), 2 minutes max 30kg tricep extentions (81), 2 minutes mac 30kg bicep curls (73).

I was really sore especially from all the pushups, but later on during the party I was called upon by MadAlex to do pushups as her way of explaining my inclination to spontaneously do pushups. I did 50 in one set as they counted off, and later did some pushups on the sofa over the people who were sitting on it. I don't know whose idea that was, but I was always going to take up that challenge.
( Cut for pics )

People didn't stay as late as our last party, there weren't as many people (last time Roxy invited almost her whole program and this time she only invited about half of them. By about 2:30am I was in bed. I made it up the next morning with no hangover at all (Alleluia spent a lot of time over the toilet regretting the amount of alcohol she had consumed the night before. I was absolutely exhausted though, and have not set foot off of the property all day. I've also taken a couple of my prescription muscle relaxants and have been quite drowsy. My neckstill has a stubborn crick and I've got a lot of soreness in the chest and core.

So today was spent mopping floors and loaning my car to Roxy as I was not going to be driving anywhere. Chez Canuck is clean again.

I went into work yesterday to clear up a couple of things with the benefit of silence and solitude. That was fine for about an hour until W came by. He didn't know I was in and I wasn't keen to be noticed, so I finished up what I was doing and left, taking quiet steps and being careful not to cough. Luckily, W doesn't hear all that well and I kept under the radar. I just didn't want to talk to him. Parliament is sitting today and I've still not said a word to him.

I am spreading the word that I am leaving though. Almost our whole office now knows and by the end of the day I will have informed CoS. This isn't me formally giving notice, but I am telling everyone that this is "almost certainly my last sitting week." It still sounds a bit odd coming out of my mouth which is probably why I'm not going all the way to formally giving notice. I'm still getting used to the idea. It has to be done this week though, as there are a lot of people I won't get the chance to see again if I leave before Parliament comes back. There is a reception this evening for our new Senator and it might be a good opportunity to spread the word there.

I did round out the weekend with a leg-centric workout.

YW: Leg press 200kg 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1. 40-30-20-10 openers and closers. Then 20 bench jumps, 10 heavy bag get ups, 20 heavy bag lunges, 40kg farmers walk up and down 2 flights of stairs, 10 burpees - 5 rounds. My time: 20:47.

I also did a surprising amount of tidying aroud the house. I hauled out the vacuum and did the dishes and cleaned the kitchen, and today at work I tackled a sink full of other people's dishes. This is odd because I normally don't care all that much about tidyness.

Most people who read this will be aware of my odd inclination to do pushups at iconic and unusual places. Some people have suggested I do them to raise money for a cause that is important to me. Well it turns that this guy has a similar idea.

I had a number of reactions to this. Part of me thought "that bastard stole my idea. Now I can't do that or I will be a copycat." Part of me thought "100 pushups a day is just sad. That's not a challenge." And part of me said "what does 'raising awareness' mean anyway?" Maybe I'm a cynic on these things.

Also, I came across this picture and sent it to some of my female friends who are reluctant to have a serious go at weights.

Strong girls are hot.

I got back to Canberra last night and met Helga and Alleluia for the first time in a while. Today we used our day off to clean the old house from top to bottom.

My jobs varied, but they tended to be the ones that nobody else wanted to do. I went around the outside of the house with a broom sweeping away all the cobwebs that had built up. In the process, I wound up dislodging countless spiders who wound up scuttling of or dropping off of walls and falling towards me. Many lost their homes, and many others were killed. Yes, in carrying out my program of genocide against the spiders who had moved into our old home, I made plenty of enemies in the spider community. I wonder if the survivors are planning a counter attack. (Apparently Helga felt the brunt of their counter offensive, as she got a spider bite under her eye.)

I also was tasked with washing the exterior windows and clearing out the gutters, which meant lots of climbing up and down ladders and creeping around on the roof. It was actually kind of fun. I had a job to do and nobody second guessed me in doing it. I'm not all that tidy, and I think part of that goes back to my childhood when my mother insisted I do certain cleaning things, and also insisted that I do them in a specific way. That always bothered me. This went fine.

The job that nobody else seemed to want to do involved going into the garage (which is not all that well maintained and has had possums living in it from time to time) and clearing out several years worth of possum shit. Using the same broom as I used on the cobwebs, I swept it out the garage door. (It only occurred ot me afterwards that it might have been a good idea to wear a mask while sweeping possum droppings around.)

Ok, enough of that. We were at it until about 8pm and for the last hour or so I felt I had very little to do and no knowledge of what there was left to do. It was the only frustrating part of the day.

Somehow it's been a full long weekend and it's still not over, though I suspect not much will be done today.

Saturday was spent at the Collaroy Castle making sure things weren't too out of hand for dad to arrive on Wednesday from Canada for a university reunion. Luckily he is a lot more relaxed about tidyness than mum. I didn't get to the beach (though it's just a three minute walk away) for my monthly ocean swim on account of the rain that was just bucketing down for most of the day. Instead I delighted in the fact that there were two grand finals on at the same time which meant a lot of switching channels. Sydney Uni won in the rugby union and Collingwood won in the AFL for only their second win in something like 12 grand final appearances since the 50s, both of which made me happy. (A joke making the rounds on Twitter is "Collingwood fans will be unbearable, but at least it will piss off Carlton fans.)

That evening I went to a pub in town with some people I hadn't seen for a while which was fine except that the music was louder than I needed it to be and for some reason they had a smoke machine that was pumping "smoke" into the room all night.

Sunday I woke up with a sore throat and a voice that had dropped several tones in pitch. I decided against changing careers to become a classical music radio announcer and set out to be plied with food. A Convict related friend from New York plied me with eggs benedict and advice for my upcoming trip (she suggested I go to all five boroughs, which I was already planning on.) Then there was just enough time to get to the gym to do a celebratory crossfit birthday workout as suggested by one of my gym friends.

YW: "Fran" - Thrusters and pullups - 21-15-9 for time. My time: 3:18. (Crossfit has a number of benchmark workouts that have girls names, I suspect because some crossfit people like being able to say "Bro, I TOTALLY nailed Fran yesterday." I didn't say that. But the idea of a celebratory workout is a good one and not a new one to me.)

minxyminou and I spent part of the afternoon together and I was filled with steaky goodness and plenty of chatting about what we have been through recently and what we have in store.

By the time I got home, Helga the proceeded to fill me with cake that Malice had made (apparently three bars of white chocolate went into making it, two of which were in the icing alone.) So it was a day of women giving me food. What's not to like?

I had every intention of going to the gym on Friday, but after work I just couldn't seem to rouse myself to go. Instead I went home and watched the calm and composed Dutch defeated a Brazilian team that got panicky and frazzled when things didn't go their way.

On Saturday, I had every intention of having a big session at the gym or possibly throwing a Mt Ainslie run in for good measure. The fact that I slept until the afternoon put an end to that plan. Instead, the first thing I ate that day was the scones made by my ex-Mormon housemate. With everyone home, we managed to clear out a lot of space in the fridge, mostly bottles of things that were almost empty and had been there for God only knows how long. Again, the new Chez Canuck is working out well.

I spent the evening with bakerypenguin and her friends watching Up (which was not as good as I had hoped) wrestling with two dogs, watching the final episode of The Pacific, and the Germany-Argentina match which the one quarter of me that is ethnically German was glad to see ended in a 4-0 victory.

It's been a good weekend for games. Plenty of talent on display which I like and can appreciate, and very little of the petulance or the diving or dissent that makes me dislike the game.

Today I did manage to get to the gym, though not before running the vacuum through the house like I was asked and a trip to Brand Depot where I got some cheap work shoes (that will stay at work) and some work shirts and a tie at Trade Secret.

There were some new things tried at the gym today.

TW: 10 power cleans (new and interesting), 10 standing corner presses (new, wedging a heavy bar in the corner and loading it up with weight and pressing it towards the corner to work the chest and arms, one arm at a time) - 5 rounds. 10 deadlifts and 10 high box jumps (like about hip height) - 5 rounds. 10 pullups (with emphasis on going all the way down and all the way up), 10 dips, 10 marine pushups - 5 rounds. 50 burpees.

I finally made it to the gym. Hooray! And I tried some new things there. Double Hooray!!

Tomorrow I have a shadow cabinet brief to write. I've left this kind of late, but I am confident it will work out fine.

Mum and Dad arrived this morning, an hour late. Damn Sydney Airport for having the most expensive parking in the world. $21 to rent a car sized space for just over an hour. That has got to be an awesome return.

Pies we had from the local pie shop which is renowned as being the best in Australia (by them of course, but they are pretty good.)

TW: No lockers available at the gym, and they closed earlier than I expected, so it was a shortened workout. 50 pullups, 100 bicep curls, 100 seated rows, 1 set of arm smashers.

Dad and I had a brief swim at the beach on a cool and overcast afternoon. He brought a towel, shirt, and sandals. I brought only the boardshorts I was wearing. Maybe all that time in Canada has made him more practical.

Mum arrived and immediately started cleaning. Prior to making all the beds, she rewashed all the sheets she was going to use and then ironed them. Hey, it's her call. I don't iron sheets. I don't see the point of ironing sheets that I am about to sleep in and that are not going to be on public display. Once upon a time there were battles over my reluctance to maintain her standards of neatness, with her using arguments like "I don't see why I should have to iron all the sheets myself." And me replying with "Neither do I." Now she seems happy to just do her cleaning rituals without expecting the rest of the house to join in. Oddly enough, I think it makes her happy.

The Crows arrive tomorrow morning. They are family friends from our church way back in the early 80s, and this is their first time leaving North America. This place is about to get crowded, and it's not a big house.

Current Location: Collaroy Castle

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luckycanuck

June 2012

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Yippee kay yay...
Happy 4th of July from a guy who probably would have been on the British/Loyalist side
Arachnacide in the First Degree
It's not fair that the clocks changed and I lost an hour of my birthday!
Look how little I have accomplished
The Parents Have Arrived

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