Guess who just got back today...

Lets just ignore the fact I've been away for a while.

While we're doing that- let's also change the idea/concept of this blog... (two birds - one blog post)

I've come to learn a lot about myself as a human being over the last year and one thing about me stands out more than others... I set unrealistic goals for myself. Trying to complete 52 challenges in 52 weeks was almost a near impossible undertaking... why? Well, not to bullet point it but;

* I didn't even have 52 challenges to do
* I would have to update the blog weekly and life has a way of not sticking to your schedule
* I was bound to get disheartened, exhausted and bored along the way
* I took a job abroad and didn't have proper internet access for the guts of a year
* Setting challenges with a deadline of 'one week' automatically limits what I can and can't do. Any 'one day' or 'two day' challenges become exempt. Same as any 'month' long challenges become neglected.

So I've decided to do a Britney Spears and reinvent myself. I'm declining to shave my head for the minute though... So with new enthusiasm and with considerable less pressure on myself, I'm coming back to begin my first MONTH challenge!!!

"Whhhhhhhaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaattttttt?!" I hear you cry out. "Haven't you learned anything?!"

To answer simply...

Probably not.

So what's the new challenge? Well, I've a few friends that are well... they look like this... So I inquired as to the secret for their diet, as the idea of hitting the gym religiously day-in day-out was a completely unrealistic goal for me to set for myself, and they lead me to the work of Timothy Ferris and his book "The 4-Hour Body." I've read the first couple of chapters on weight loss and, suffice to say, I was fascinated with what was being proposed.

I took especial interest in the 'Slow-Carb Diet' which promotes 5 simple rules to GUARANTEE weight loss:

Rule 1: Avoid "white" carbohydrates (or anything that can be white). This includes potatoes, pasta, rice, bread, breaded foods, etc.
Rule 2: Eat the same few meals over and over again. For protein you eat chicken, beef, eggs. For legumes (which are vital to keep the hunger off) you can eat lentils, Lima beans, black beans, pinto beans. For greens you can eat mixed vegetables, green beans, spinach, asparagus, broccoli (seemingly most 'green' foods).
Rule 3: Don't drink calories. This is to say no 'milk' in your tea or coffee. Avoid all sugary drinks and soft drinks (diet or otherwise). Drink a lot of water.
Rule 4: Don't eat fruit.
Rule 5: Take one day off per week and go nuts. This is to say that you pick a day a week (I'm going with Friday) and you can eat WHATEVER you want, AS MUCH as you want. That means ice-cream, crisps, danish pastries, a tub of butter, fruit... whatever you want. It is more commonly know as the 'cheat' day.

You may disagree with the whole of the above and I'm sure people may provide arguments against such a diet - but having read his arguments I can't help but be intrigued so I thought I would try it out for 4 weeks - 28 days.

My challenge is to follow the diet strictly (Starting Saturday 27th - tomorrow) and to keep on this strict diet for 4 weeks. I WILL NOT be changing my workout routines while I do this- merely just sticking to the diet. I will of course be exercising (love running) but no more than usual.

My intent is to "weight-in" every morning, before breakfast, and to record it daily. I'm also going to take a photo of myself at the start of each week (I'll decide later if I want to post em!) to see if there's any visual difference. Finally I'll be taking measurements on five locations of my body: both upper arms (mid-bicep), waist (horizontal at naval), hips (widest point between naval and legs), and both legs (mid-thigh). Totaling these numbers should give me my Total Inches (TI) and this should measurably change with the diet plan. I'll chart my data here later (maybe try update in-between to see how it's going) and see if I drop weight considerably/noticeably.

In terms of completing/finishing this blog? I've decided that I'm just gonna keep it and update it with random challenges as life goes on... Meanwhile... this is 'why' on should embrace any sort of diet...



Classic TV...

I can go the distance...

Challenge: To hike from Dublin to Galway in a week... 207km...

Difficulty: It's hiking from Dublin to Galway... how hard could it be?

Overview: While sitting over a delicious Indian meal with Conor Sweetman (above) I mentioned the whole 52 weeks - 52 challenges thing... I then let slip about the idea of hiking from Dublin to Galway. Conor, for reasons only known to himself, thought this sounded like a brilliant idea and asked if he could tag along. I was initially skeptical- surely I should attempt this challenges alone? Like a hermit? Or kermit? But then loneliness is tough, the toughest role I ever played, Hollywood created a superstar... sorry- got sidetracked...

So the night before we were due to set out me and Conor met in his to discuss the route ('root' according to Conor- 'rowt' according to me... this would be a continuous disagreement throughout the trip) we'd be taking... I could discuss the ridiculousness of this route (root) but it would take too long to describe... suffice to say it was stupid as f**k.

Day 1 - The Spire to Kilcock (giggle)

Early morning train to Dublin Connelly. The hike was to begin at the Spire and finish at Eyre Square in Galway. Todays desitination was Kilcock (giggle) - which didn't get old at any point during the journey. We hiked through an old dilapidated part of Dublin I'd never seen before- we watched the markets getting set up by the scariest Dublin folk in existence. We then hiked through Phoenix Park where there was a 5mile run on- we also passed the house of the president and felt extremely patriotic...

We hiked out of Dublin, through Lucan and then onto the canal walk. 7 hours of hiking later we arrived in Kilcock (giggle).

We stayed in Ashford House B&B where there was a mistake in the booking and there wasn't a twin room available. So instead we got UPGRADED to a room each with ensuite and our own tea making facilities! After a chat with the lovely owner (whose sons names were also Conor and Steve) and a nap we decided to order in a sexy chinese (food- not an actual person). Our muscles were in a lot of pain and we were fairly wrecked- although we did stay up and watch The Fantastic Four... mmm... Jessica Alba...

Day 2 - Kilcock (giggle) to Kinnegad

"IT'S CLOBBERING TIME!"

Up early for breakfast, the lovely owner Angela offered to make us sandwiches for our hike (we love this woman). So we began our hike from Kilcock (giggle) to Kinnegan- the sleep had cured our weary muscles and everything seemed grand. The canal offered a treasure trove of wonders- most importantly it gave us a boat...

After about 4 hours of hiking along the canal- and becoming truly sick of it- we stopped at Furey's Bar for a pot of tea and a break...

Back on the road- our intention to hike the N4 from Moyvalley to Kinnegad... at this point it began to rain... heavily... and it was ascertained that there was a serious flaw with my waterproofs...

This was one of the most miserable parts of the journey in my mind. Chaffing became a serious issue as the wet clothes stuck to my legs as I walked. I found that singing "I can go the distance" from Hercules was really the only thing that could lighten my mood. Eventually we arrived in Kinnegad and the irony of the poster upon our arrival was not lost...

We stayed with the O'Rourkes that night who provided us with shelter, food and a nice comfy bed where me and Conor slept head to tail... naughty bits still in the middle though... they also provided me with sexy new WORKING waterproofs... thanks guys...

Day 3 - Kinnegad to Kilbeggan

This was just roads and fields... but the weather was good... and so we took photos...

Arrived in Kilbeggan... sunburnt... had another chinese- delish...

Day 4 - Kilbeggan to Athlone

Left Kilbeggan nice and early. Weather today wasn't too bad except both myself and Conor were sun burnt from the day before. The hike today wasn't half as interesting as the night we had. We arrived in Mary's gaff in Athlone (friend of the fanily) We decided that we'd walk 65km the next day. In order to celebrate this massive undertaking we decided to have a glass of wine...

Three bottles of wine later we decided to walk to Aughrim the next day instead...  

Day 5 - Athlone to Aughrim

Hungover and feeling pretty rough we left the at about 2pm... we arrived in Aughrim at about 9pm. Not much to report except that our legs were definetly screwed up. Also we were hitting double digits, each, when it came to blisters (at the time of writing this- 2 weeks late [as usual] I still have 2 blisters remaining).

Day 6 - Aughrim to Galway

Today was the toughest and stupidest day of all. We got up at 3am, I made eggs and beans, and we left the lovely hostel around 4am. We then hiked, in agony, for kilometres... and kilometres... a cute dog came to greet us along the way... but he proved to be both annoying and stupid. He followed us for about 5km then we called his owner (it was now 8am) to come and collect him. We took a few Difene (best drug ever) and continued on our way.

Misery is the word than only begins to describe how we felt... we found a garden to sleep in around noon for an hour. We also realised a very funny dynamic to our duo; when we were walking I was miserable and unhappy, but Conor was grand. When we stopped though- Conor became miserable because he got the feeling that "oh dear god we have to start again"... thus Conor spent the time 'walking' cheering me up and I spent the time 'resting' cheering Conor up... also- these geese cheered us both up...

We decided to avoid moaning or complaining on the last day so instead we had to turn everything into a postitive statement... this lead to statements like: "Stephen- I have a blister on my right little toe that feels so f**king good..." and "Conor- Mmmhmm... gotta love this stabbing sensation in my leg..."

We walked a minor section on the motorway... and got stopped by the guards where he explained to us that 'blue' signs are for motorways... to which Conor responded: "Well- next time we hike from Dublin to Galway we'll keep that in mind..."

15 hours later- a couple of kilometers outside Galway city- well over 200km of hiking we realized the following... we hadn't drank anything in the last 5 hours, we were in agony and we were walking so slowly that by the time we'd arrive in Galway (only about 4km at this stage) it'd be getting dark. We mutually agreed that we'd walked the distance from Dublin to Galway and proceeded to dial a taxi to take us the remainder of the journey. 

I would go into the epicness of Galway and how it was legendary... but what happens in Galway stays in Galway....

And yeah... we got the bus home... screw walking...

Conclusion: One of the hardest, yet rewarding, things I've ever done. If you ever need to 'find yourself' or 'get in touch with your inner chi' then I recommend hiking from Dublin to Galway. I also recommend that you hike with someone who is a legend as it will make the journey that much more worthwhile. I recommend bringing vaseline (for chaffing), waterproofs and GPS. Also- make sure you're bag doesn't weight 18kg like mine did... that was just stupid.

Special Thanks: Brendan O'Rourke and family for their hospitality. All the hostels and B&B's where we stayed- the service was brilliant. Thanks to Mary in Athlone for putting us up and making us breakfast! Thanks to Conor for being a fucking legend.

And most importantly... thanks to these guys who always kept a lookout for us along the way...

V is for Vagitus*

Challenge: To learn violin and be able to play a popular tune by the end of the week.

Difficulty: 4/5

Skills developed: I learnt the basics of violin and violin upkeep. I also improved on my playing by 'ear' AND I learnt how to upload youtube videos... which take ages by the way... and I learned a new word- 'vagitus*'... 

Overview/Rant: This challenge was very enjoyable. I love the violin and learning to play it was really fun. The string layout of a violin is similar to that of a guitar, provided you strip it of its higher strings and leave only the G, D, A and E string. This makes learning the notes relatively quick and easy, although unlike the guitar you don't have the aid of frets to help identify where to place your fingers, thus making it quite challenging at times. Realistically you want to have a good ear to identify when you're hitting the correct note or whether you're a semi-tone off.

The hardest part of the violin, in my opinion, is the bow technique. Granted it looks simple when you watch someone else do it, but trying to keep the control and not allow your hand quiver over a note is extremely difficult to do. In the end I found I was concentrating completely on the bow and hoping my fingers would hold the correct notes at the correct times. 

A fantastic modern day violinst, that you should totally (like omg) try catch, is Nigel Kennedy. He is a stylist b**tard who has no airs about himself. I got the opportunity to see him perform several years ago and it was one of the best gigs I'd ever been too. During the performance he heckled an audience member who turned up late, "You just missed the whole f**king concerta!," and he played a mix of classical and popular pieces (you can find him doing Jimi Hendrix covers on youtube). A really brilliant showman who makes classical music interesting and fun to watch. He also succeeds in eliminating the pompous attitude often associated with classical music. Here's one of his classical covers of Vivaldi's "Spring." (Those who sat the Junior Cert music exam around 2003 should be pretty familiar with this one!)

Suffice to say- I did not achieve this standard of playing. The melody I attempted to learn was the opening credits to the Buffy spin-off show 'Angel.' Below is how it should sound. 

Take note that the 'Angel' theme is played on a viola which has a lower register than the violin. So everything I play will sound distinctly higher pitched... and shitter... here is what I came up with... we'll call this attempt number six thousand and two...

Okay- so it's far from perfect- but I'm pretty happy/exhausted with it...

Recommendation: Really enjoyable- if you're interested then it's easy enough to get started. There's tons of online tutorials which were helpful and its a very easy to learn the theory to violin. Practically it's as difficult as any musical instrument and will require tons of practice to get anyway decent. 

Conclusion: Awesome challenge- a good mix of enjoyment with difficulty. Seriously considering buying a violin now...  

Special Thanks: Susan Bourke for providing the violin and assistance! I did my best when taking care of the violin... it was touch and go there for a while though...

Next Challenge: Knitting- gotta learn to knit and knit me a scarf in a week! Anyone interested in joining me then let me know! Nothing like a good olde stitch and bitch! http://stitchnbitch.org/

Random Thoughts: The violin is a fantastic tool for demonstrating how the frequency of a stretched string is inversely proportional to its length... aaah physics... is there anything you can't do?

* Vagitus - a baby's cry or wail...

Bring it on...

Greetings and welcome to my blog... here's the back-story for the crap that's going down in 2010...


So about three weeks ago I started thinking about what I was going to do with myself next year and I realized that I couldn't actually list the things I'd done this year... sure I'm halfway through my teaching diploma... and sure I went to Canada for a few months... and wasn't there some event in March? or April? or May? 

El facto is- I don't remember much of anything (I also hereby announce that I DO NOT KNOW your birthday- facebook does- thank it, not me). I figure that although all the events of last year were probably fantabulous awesome- the fact remains that while I undertook various projects, I still lived my life in the typical, slightly repetitive, method which I've formulated for myself over the last 22 years. 

So- in essence- this blog is designed to change that- for better or for worse.

My aim goal objective (73 word score) is to undertake a new challenge EVERY week for the entire year. Reasoning behind this is that it should break any 'pattern' I've formed for myself over the past years. YOU (as the sexy reader) are asked to 'Bring it on...'

Why such a provocative statement? Why the hell not... 

So- as example challenges: "Be vegetarian for a week," or "Go for a run every morning for a week," or "Learn a foreign language for a week," or "Play the lotto everyday for a week," or "No tea/coffee/alcohol for a week." Etc etc...

Pretty simple eh? So I want suggestions from YOU and I'll try accomplish that goal over the year 2010 at some point. I'll then blog about the challenge and rate its difficulty and whether or not it is worth doing/actually possible.

The suggestions you put forward can be as mundane or mental as you want. All I want is a suggestion box to work from. The pro for you is that you get to watch me suffer (in some make, shape or form) for a year. 

Some ground rules though... (sigh)

1.) Challenge begins at midnight Sunday night and finishes at midnight on Friday. (That's 120 hours) The reasoning for this is that, like work, I get two days off for myself to either recover from the challenge or to prepare for the next one.

2.) Challenges which can get me fired or arrested are not allowed.

3.) Challenges which are pure dangerous/stupid are not allowed. (e.g. hit self with hammer everyday for a week)

4.) Challenges cannot be too expensive (MAX €50 a week). I WILL do one or two expensive challenges during the year- but they'll be pre-planned and well funded by then.... hopefully.

5.) Challenges must be 'measurable.' Challenges which wouldn't count would be "Drink half the amount of tea you usually drink" or "Scare yourself silly." Whereas "Drink no tea" and "Watch a scary movie every night" are both eligible.

Anyway- there's probably more rules to follow but I'll cross that bridge when it sets fire...

WHAT I WANT FROM YOU....

Posts/Comments saying the following...

"Steve... you're awesome (optional- but highly recommended)... I challenge you to [insert challenge here]. My reasoning for this challenge is [insert reason here]. Hugs, kisses and all that, [your name here]"

Any questions?

Bring it on...

2010 - The year of the tiger.

P.S. First 'blog' ever... so assume speelling errors, grammatical mistakes! and poor judgement. Which leads me to...