Spot the badger

Today is Friday and it is the middle of summer and our office is very quiet. So there is much horseplay.

The reason I mention this is; I was attempting to steal Marge's mug from in front of her. I tried the classic diversionary tactic of "Is that a badger over there, behind you?" and she totally looked. I was amazed. She said "well there could have been a badger" Bless her. How we laughed.

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What proportion of men go to see Romantic Comedies with the girlfriends? And how do they feel about it?

The reason I ask is that I watched a film last night called the Family Stone (Sarah Jessica Parker, Diane Keaten, Clare Danes) which, from the publicity I could imagine would be a date movie. And I can imagine a few men being mighty pissed off after being made to watch it

It was so DEPRESSING. I was so miserable afterwards and not just because it was crap. Give me films about Patagonian dogs any day of the week.

Mouldy's Weight-loss plan

Everyone I speak to at the moment seems to be obsessed with diet, exercise and health generally. Maybe because of this heat we all feel much fatter and unhealthier.

I certainly feel fat and unhealthy, but then I have done for the last 10 years. A recent visit to the Dr has put it in perspective. If I carry on at my current weight I have a 80% chance of developing Type 2 Diabetes in later life. This is not good and there is something really definite I can do about it now; lose weight.

Now, I've been visiting the gym regularly for 2 years now. The problem is that I eat like a horse, therby negating the exercise I do. So I have taken a two pronged approach of; cutting the crap and doing more efficient exercise. And because we all respond well to motivation, with the help of my housemates (Jnr and Ho), I have developed some targets.

The first is the Brighton 10K in November. This will be an almighty achievment if I complete is as I have never been fit and doubt I could run it now. But both housemates and Dover (another car-mad mate) are also doing it (as is my brother, Big John) which should make motivation easier. I have three target times, one realistic and the other two, not so much:
1) Run all the way and in under an hour.
2) Beat Dover - he's unfit but weighs much much less than me. He's also competitve.
3) Beat the time Rat did it in last year (46 mins). This is hopelessly unrealistic but the satisfaction I would get would be amazing. He'd be appalled.

The second is a weight loss chart, a kind of Name and Shame thing, where each housemate has a target weight loss for the weight (at times, this can be dispiriting, as they both weigh about 10stone) and we publicise the results (so far I have gained 5lbs in 3 weeks).

So my target weight is 13 stone. I am currently 15 stones and 11lbs.

Today is weigh in day. Stay tuned for the results. I hope to see a difference this week. I need something positive to encourage me.

So, I'm turning this blog into a Health Blog. Any tips and advise and shared stories are all appreciated. That isn't to say that it is all going to be about my fitness quest. There will still be the usual banal stuff about other things. So do not fret!

The motivation (boy, am I over-using that word), for this came from Leonie who wants diet tips. Well, in that I am putting on weight and not losing it, at all, in any way, I'm not going to offer any. But I hope to be able to soon.

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I watched Bombon el Perro last night. Marvellous. Uplifting. And I can't tell you my other feelings about it because it would ruin the ending for you and I am not that type of boy.

Wrongness in a wood and some movies

Friday last. Thetford Forest on the Norfolk-Suffolk border. Lots of people crowded in a field to watch the Pet Shop Boys play the last part of their European Tour. It was marvellous. Over the top, camp, flambouyant featuring line dancing and army uniforms and all sorts. But what amazed me was how many straight people were there. But more than that, how many straight people were totally loving it! I mean familes and the old and loads and loads of 40 year old straight couples, singing along, ("it's a sin!"). Do these people not know what these songs are about? The Pet Shop Boys are surely the gayest band alive, aren't they? Have I been wrong all this time?

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Saw the Break Up (yawn). Good yarn. Funny in places. Jenn is nice to look at. Vince, not so much. I wouldn't bother if I were you. ESPECIALLY if you have relationship issues.

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Next day, I watched Kinky Boots. About a shoe factory in Northampton that couldn't make shoes anymore so started making boots for drags queens. This was a good laugh. But…sanitised. OVER-sanitized. Again, I wouldn't bother.

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Next day, I watched Broken Flowers. Brilliant. Marvellous. Superb. Cannot praise it highly enough. Go watch it now.

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Today I am watching something Argentinian. About a dog. I'll tell you if its good but I am not holding out much hope.

Requiring Inspiration

Thoughts on the treadmill;

How did I get to be this BIG?

I have a thyroid problem. I should be bigger than I am. Hell, if they han't found it I'd be dead, or at the very least I'd have learning difficulties so I should be grateful that the worst that happened was that I balooned at some point in my teens.

I know roughly when it happened. 1994/5. The first year of big school. Every night I came home and watched TV. I didn't do sports. I didn't do P.E. Any excuse I could get I would use. "What's that, Miss? You want me to miss PE to help you out in the library? OK" And why did I hate PE. Because I was SHIT at it and the hard kids who were all the same height as me and therefore got grouped with me for rugby, took the almighty piss!

And then, after rugby we had Wednesday afternoon PE and I went to the Doncaster Dome and played squash with the girls. What a waste of time.

And boy, do I regret it! I'll say I do. Most of the people I socialise with now were incredibly sporty at school and now, when they chose to run the odd 10K race its no trouble. A bit of working out, a few training sessions and its there. For me it's the biggest struggle of my life.

I'm not moaning. If that's my biggest struggle then I'm doing ok really aren't I? But it could've been easier if I'd have had more sense. Yet again, my Dad was right.

Look at my arms. They're like big flabby joints of meat.

And my shins hurt.

And yet I won't stop. Keep going, Mould! KEEP GOING!

Inspiration

So I am sitting here, on a Tuesday, and it's sunny and I have some banging Country and Western (Garth Brooks) playing in't background and I am thinking what I'm gonna write in my Blog tonight and I get drawn to Paul's Blog. And hell I'm INSPIRED!

Now me a Paul are as different as...well...we're as different as Cheese and a different type of cheese. He's a hard cheese and I'm brie. Same hometown, similar family background, similar education, similar subjects taken, similar friends and, if I may dare to say it, similar politics these days. But hell, there are differences a plenty. Straight and not-so-straight, north and south, yankophile and anglophile etc, you get t'picture.

But say what you like about our differences, I'd like to think there is a mutual respect there. I once had a friend who was such a communist that she shocked most people and yet she was so fixed in her opinions that I respected her despite disagreeing with her strongly. Its like you have this inbuilt reverence for anyone who exhibits those strong opinions that are so different from your own. And thats a bit like me and Paul. I respects him! (OK I'm over using that word now but I ain't got no thesaurus with me right now).

What Paul teaches us is, "Fuck it! You go right ahead and like what you like and I'll find you interesting anyway!" And we should all be a bit more like that!

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I bet when you all read that I'm here listening to my Country music you think "What a load of redneck sh*te!" Is that true? Is it?

If it is you havn't really thought about it enough. HA!

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Big John, my brother, gave me a pearl of wisdom tonight. On hearing that I had suffered a massive hang over on Sunday, he said "Remember, Mould, it only gets worse as you get older!" Reason enought to stop drinking! And yet...

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So I've started proper training for the Brighton 10K in Novemeber. Jnr took me out for a run and it felt GOOD! Yes, it was only half the distance and I am at least 2 stone too heavy but I got a taste for it! Watch this space. And come and support me on the day!

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I was calmly working (ok, that never happens but you know what I mean - I was ticking over at work) today, when I gets an email from one of my oldest and best friends. Lets call him Wigger! Even though he lives in the East these days its great to know that he's exactly the same as he always was. It makes you appreciate how lucky you are.

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The Fairy, bless her has a very valuable gift. She can talk about very personal things on her blog and it remains very entertaining. There is something that I want to talk about but I can't find the words just yet. Maybe in time.