BEFORE THE MALAISE SETS IN

It has been “cognitively rough” for a cat since the Presidential election.  At this point, I have still not completely reconciled my thoughts about the events that led to the victory by the G.O.P candidate, but I have not purposely been following the news… and nor do I have any intention of doing so in the near future.  The mix of feelings around the entire process is nauseating because I believe that it would have been a different election season had Democratic officials not pre-selected its candidate for President.  Anywho, the discomfort that seized me when it became clear who the winner would be has begun to ebb.  That said, when will I become “comfortable” and not a walking, breathing, feeling of dread..?

The holidays are coming and that is another component of my discomfort.  My partner’s family celebrates with coming together and having big Thanksgiving’s and Christmas’ at one of their houses.  Finding out that these get-togethers are filled with the typical resentments and dislikes that are common to such affairs, have only inflamed my avowed distaste for these “keeping-up-appearances” events.  I do understand the emotional connection that the women of the family have for these things, but my nature, and not any personal conflicts, is why I am not looking forward to making ANYONE “happy”.  There always have been a part of me that feels as though I am getting shorted in the deal.  In the long run, making my partner and her daughter happy will make up for the discomfort I will experience.

I have been researching the low-carb diet fad, and it is less fad than it is a sound plan.  While I don’t know if I can go full ketogenic, I feel that I most definitely can cut down on my carbohydrate intake, and, of course, be more zealous and focused in my fitness training.  Getting back to diet…

Apparently, eating ketogenic once was a prescription for several conditions. In fact, a ketogenic diet was recommended for epileptic seizures in the early 1900’s.  So, ketogenic diets have been around for a bit and used as a medical option for its health benefits.  And the kicker is, once you enter a state of ketosis your body WILL become more efficient and run better.  Since I have started cutting carbs, my partner has said that she has noticed a difference in how I look, as well as some of my co-workers.  I don’t have the ego to care, just enough to do the maintenance!  

For the past week I have been taking brief (2-5min.) cold showers in the morning.  The practice has been long rumored to have myriad health benefits… and as with eating ketogenic, I am going to do more study to ferret out how valid those rumors are!  The cold weather is certainly going to be a challenge as the temperature drops!  But I will say that I have felt more alert and “activated” since I have started my day with a brisk shower.

Lastly, I am going to start blogging about general fitness and diet stuff regularly in this blog.  I will still give a tactical briefing about my comings and goings.  Though I don’t think that this will ever be “that fitness blog”, I do hope to ferret out some tips to help anyone who comes across this journal.

That is it for now from fly-over country!

WHAT'S ON MY MIND ON THE EVE OF THE EVE

THE FIGHTER



I have been a Micky Ward fan only since forever. He was one of those ‘fringe’ fighters his entire career, both as an amateur and as a professional. I always imagined what it was like for him as I do many fighters, individuals or teams who are better than average but comes up just a little short of reaching the top. His style and skills, a forward moving boxer-puncher with an excellent left hook to the body, made him a cat I could really emulate.


What I remember of him as a young pro was that he never got the respect that maybe he should have. He was a satellite member of ‘Tomorrow’s Champions’, an NBC vehicle for up-and-coming boxing prospects. The Duva’s had several of these fighters who would be featured on whatever the weekend sport anthology show was that NBC had going in the early 80’s. Man, I miss those days… there was boxing on free TV shown EVERYWHERE. Anywho, when I call him a ‘satellite member’ by that I mean he was a part of the group but he stayed in Massachusetts where the cats who were being managed by the Duva’s got more TV dates, publicity and opportunities as they were in New Jersey. That was a disrespect in a way, if you ask me, because he was as accomplished as any of the cats who were in the Duva group, but I think being seen as limited (in the way that Tim Tebow had been considered ‘limited’ before he was drafted into the NFL), moderately talented white boy who was good enough to beat up the fisherman and hockey players in the Nor’ east, but as far as really doing something, no one gave him credit for that.


He would start out fast before struggling through a series of underachieving losses against middling competition. Micky would disappear for a while before resurfacing in some ‘minor’ title fights against other fringe guys, fighters, who like him, were seen as too flawed to be big names even though they were a step beyond the other boxers in their division. Finally, he hits what I call ‘journeyman lotto’ and gets a chance with a big name fighter (Arturo Gatti) to salvage his entire career.

Now I did not know the details to his ‘managerial problems’, a catch-all euphemism that covers nearly all non-fight related conflicts. The degrees of separation from business to personal life are fewer and the boundaries between them are thinner than you see in other sports. There are no publicists, agents, management structure or an entourage of people who don’t have a direct connection to you. Distractions thrum through the connective network and like a spider in the center of its web, you are aware of everything that is happening. The movements shake you and reaction is mandatory.

Reading reviews for the movie and the details of all the drama surrounding him (I knew about his cousin, Dick Ecklund and his struggles… but the family story inside of Micky's more personal story again was covered by ‘managerial problems’ and hushed up) as he battled his was from the obscurity to earning several big paydays, reminds me of myself and might be a little too tough for me to watch objectively and enjoy the story for what it is, and leave thoroughly entertained.


IT WOULD BE DEFEATING A PURPOSE

Like I said, I live with my ghosts. When I am sitting here eating cookies and drinking soda for Christmas, they will be here with me. And they will be welcomed.


I can see myself watching that movie at some point and time. But it isn’t now.  Those ghosts are pretty harrowing.  They won't get an invitation any time soon.

AS TO HOW I WILL BE SPENDING MY HOLIDAY SEASON

The point of my drawing a connection with the people with autobiographical memory and their fail when it came to their intimate relationships is that I don’t have to worry about the over-talked about family Christmas mess. Somehow I think that there is a limited kind of emotional autism that comes into play. I have never known how to reach in those situation and even the ‘memories’ from childhood Christmas are touched by a void of emotion. I was never (and am still not) picky about my gifts. Whatever I wanted the most I would get for myself and if I couldn’t get, I did not want it. So I was (am) very easy to buy for. Give it to me and I will get some kind of regular use out of it.

I can’t find where I spoke about how I endured the annual Thanksgiving with Mookie Dee and her family. Nor do I know where I spoke about how I would feel in college and everyone would go home and I would stay in Greensboro, CHILLING.

If there is a concern it would be that someone is thinking how sad it is that I am alone. That is why I am hoping this link works and you get to see how thrilled the Jews are in Robert Smigel’s claymation portrayal of the season. Big so-called family holidays are like that for me… and I embrace the solitude.






SEXY REX RYAN

I smiled at the reports that Rex Ryan and his wife revel in his foot fetish. Of course, having put that junk out in the world for people to see is something else entirely. But it was fun for me to hear about and it validates my opinion that when you are with that someone who IS that someone, it is all fair play.

When I had my little spiel on what my tastes were behind closed doors, it was because I wonder if someone around my age is going to be open and accepting of my attitudes with regards to sex and our sex life.

Maybe it is an oversimplification on my part, like the simpleton in a USPS commercial when it came to shipping gifts for Christmas. “Shipping is hard… I’ll go shopping” he says or something equally vacuous. Perhaps I am looking at ‘getting laid’ with the same kind of vision as he looks at shipping packages… but even if I am making things harder than it sounds, I am cool with things as they are.