Quick update today as there is a lot going on.

Things with one of my work projects is hurtling on to going live, but consequently many things are now hitting the fan simultaneously. That added with unscheduled requests for screenshots and powerpoint presentations meant that I was up until after 3am this morning, slaving over a hot laptop.

Today hasn’t been much better and it looks like it will remain this god-forsaken way until at least next Monday and probably through the first half of January. Ah well, Christmas was fun.

So as a break from the strain of work and the endless cups of coffee I thought I’d give some lifting a go. There’s a first time for everything eh?

I’m taking a lead from The New Rules of Lifting, henceforth NROF, from Matthias who recommended it over the holidays. It’s very good for a noob like me who hates anything to do with lifting, or gyms or, well, anything exercisey. In my spirit of getting past irrational anxieties, this is a good one.

Towards the end of last year I got some resistance bands – this time on the recommendation of Lorna (the two of them have a lot to answer for!) So I’ve been reading the book and have pulled out the two break-in workouts that are recommended for the first four weeks. Googled equivalent exercises that can be done with resistance bands and gave it a whirl this afternoon.

Bits of me are still shaking.

The immediate lessons are: squats could cripple your knees if not done right, but I think I managed to follow the instructions; getting the weights right seems to be a bit of trial and error, which I’m sure will come; and that press ups are just impossible to start off. Granted there’s a lot of me to press up, but 2×40? I fell short slightly on that one.

It was interesting, but I’m glad that there are only two a week. On other days I’ll stick to practicing the running, and maybe a trip to the gym. There are anxieties to defeat, remember.

I came across this link last night with some old Orb and Orb/KLF mp3s that had been put out at Christmas. Lovely stuff and reminds me a lot of being an undergrad and early postgrad days.

So there’s been a lot of Orb on the Spotify today. Here’s some Little Fluffy Clouds as this reminds me of sitting in the support room with Pete Jowett with this blasting out at far-too-loud. Happy days.

The Orb ‘Little Fluffy Clouds’ (Original) from The Orb on Vimeo.