Incredibly busy weekend. Skipped work today because I was pretty exhausted, and my knee was not playing nice. Started at 6:30am in Carlton, froze as I rode through the shadows of the cbd buildings with a mate. Rode 100k around the bay, felt a bit sore after about 20k on the flats, but it was great fun chasing the packs. Finished the day off with a chocolate brioche and a coffee at seven seeds in carlton.
Had a dinner party on saturday night, then again on sunday night, both involved about 4 hours worth of prep, including shopping at the prahran market. Had two great nights with pretty much the same people haha. Sunday night involved also drinking some Moet Chandon Grand Vintage 2000. These people are great company, achievers in their own right and a good laugh.
Some stories which came out were
- R's family used a bag of peas for every sort of injury that required an icepack. They used this sacred bag of peas for years, so much that the outside packaging turned white. One day, they couldn't find the icepack. After some investigation, it turned out that grandma who was visiting for the weekend cooked the aged many-time-defrosted peas for the family.
- R's mum was staying over at her parents, and cooked a mince for them. Grandma and grandpa ate the mince while mum went out for a dinner with friends. Unbeknowst to mum, grandparent's dog ate pet-food mince, which happened to be stored in the freezer. So mum accidently fed grandparents dog food
- M has a work colleague who is really crazy when he visits uncle charlie. He came into work with a sore shoulder one day, and he volunteered this information, that he was in the shower enjoying himself, but being so coked up, he didn't receive responses and violently had his way with his shoulder.
- M's colleague also broke his ankle as a result of falling off a balcony. Turns out he was angry with the noise of scattering feet on his roof for months, and as revenge tried to piss on a possum while having a few too many beers.
Wish weekends were longer
Monday, October 19, 2009
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Hitting the corner
Spent 7 hours on the bike last weekend. Was the most pain I've ever felt on a bike. The Tawonga gap hill, with elevation up to 10-15% over several kilometres, told me to stop multiple times. I almost did. Multiple times. The lactic acid was heavy in my already 100km weary legs, I was cramping, and I was fresh from spending the last 2 months overseas working in kitchens and eating. I suffered. But I didn't stop.
When I look back, the things that kept me going were
(a) try to get into a rhythm. 8-10 pedals standing, then pedaling 10-20 strokes seated (till my legs were too tired). 8-10 standing, 10-20 seated. Repeatedly
(b) Literally grunting out the pain like a weightlifter pushing out every single ounce of strength to lift the bar over their head. Except my grunts were painful, shorter and more frequent.
(c) Telling myself to pedal just to the next corner, and there is surely a downhill. Was probably the one thing that got me by.
I made it to the top, and collapsed. My mates told me they heard me coming from a mile away.
"Pain is short-lived, but victory is forever"
Its been on my mind now for the last week. Hitting the shortterm goals for the longer term gain. If I thought about the distance left on the hill, I would have just jumped off and wouldn't bother. But I kept trying to hit the corner. Corner after corner, pounding and cranking the pedals without looking up beyond an occasional safety peek.
With Christmas coming around the corner, I'm gearing up to achieve the last few things I can before it comes. Don't give up!
When I look back, the things that kept me going were
(a) try to get into a rhythm. 8-10 pedals standing, then pedaling 10-20 strokes seated (till my legs were too tired). 8-10 standing, 10-20 seated. Repeatedly
(b) Literally grunting out the pain like a weightlifter pushing out every single ounce of strength to lift the bar over their head. Except my grunts were painful, shorter and more frequent.
(c) Telling myself to pedal just to the next corner, and there is surely a downhill. Was probably the one thing that got me by.
I made it to the top, and collapsed. My mates told me they heard me coming from a mile away.
"Pain is short-lived, but victory is forever"
Its been on my mind now for the last week. Hitting the shortterm goals for the longer term gain. If I thought about the distance left on the hill, I would have just jumped off and wouldn't bother. But I kept trying to hit the corner. Corner after corner, pounding and cranking the pedals without looking up beyond an occasional safety peek.
With Christmas coming around the corner, I'm gearing up to achieve the last few things I can before it comes. Don't give up!
Saturday, October 3, 2009
Dali
Went to visit Dali. Very inspirational.
The life of an artist intrigued me. After every milestone, good or bad, a painting is usually produced. So when you look back at the last five years, you can literally travel back and see your progression, in a series of still frame visual representation, captured, full of passion and emotion. How beautiful!
Highlights / Things that stuck in my head / My thoughts
- Lobster phone - Dali was intrigued that behind such a hard casing of a lobster shell was soft delicate flesh. Dali represented this as a lobster phone - a hard telephonic ear/mouth piece, capturing people's soft and delicate words.
- Galatea of the Spheres - beautiful painting of his wife, inspired by the nuclear physics of world world II
- The famous Persistence of time and The Disintegration of Persistence of Memory
- Dali compared Jackson Pollock's (million dollar) work to indigestion
- Dali sort to be one of the greats to move art into the next century. He even moved to Paris and befriended Picasso.
- Dali designed the original Chupa Chups logo in 1969
- Dali didn't care about what other people thought. In fact, you have to step out of the real-world or conscious realm to truely admire his work
- Para-phrased Voltaire quote - "To care what people think is to give them your power"
- Dali crafted his moustache based on the integral (calculus) symbol
The life of an artist intrigued me. After every milestone, good or bad, a painting is usually produced. So when you look back at the last five years, you can literally travel back and see your progression, in a series of still frame visual representation, captured, full of passion and emotion. How beautiful!
Highlights / Things that stuck in my head / My thoughts
- Lobster phone - Dali was intrigued that behind such a hard casing of a lobster shell was soft delicate flesh. Dali represented this as a lobster phone - a hard telephonic ear/mouth piece, capturing people's soft and delicate words.
- Galatea of the Spheres - beautiful painting of his wife, inspired by the nuclear physics of world world II
- The famous Persistence of time and The Disintegration of Persistence of Memory
- Dali compared Jackson Pollock's (million dollar) work to indigestion
- Dali sort to be one of the greats to move art into the next century. He even moved to Paris and befriended Picasso.
- Dali designed the original Chupa Chups logo in 1969
- Dali didn't care about what other people thought. In fact, you have to step out of the real-world or conscious realm to truely admire his work
- Para-phrased Voltaire quote - "To care what people think is to give them your power"
- Dali crafted his moustache based on the integral (calculus) symbol
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