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| Let's be honest: I'd have mother-of-pearl eyes. |
2.07.2012
Who's Got the Button?
Nerd Night was not a full house this evening, so we ended up eating gluten-free pizza and watching Coraline, which I enjoyed- although not so much as the book. The book was incredibly creepy, in the way that only good children's literature can be, whereas the movie was more... cute. But still good. Anyway, the result of that was a little doodle of Other Jenny O:
2.06.2012
Owls: Easily Offended
Whenever I'm working on a new design for something I spend some time playing around with options. Well today I was thinking in terms of owls, and here is the resulting page from my sketchbook (complete with informative factoids):
As you can see, I not only try out different images, but also different styles, searching for what will fit best with what I have in mind. It's possible (probable) that I won't end up using any of these particular owls for my project- but they plant seeds that will blossom into future ideas. For instance, "Death Heart Owl" up there made me think, "Ooo, what if I did a cool, stylized-in-a-Victorian-valentine-heart-type-way owl?" What, indeed.
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| Three guesses which is Nathan's favorite. (Hint: I used it as the title for this entry.) |
2.05.2012
2.04.2012
Jenny O Returns to CrossFit
I got up (weekend)early this morning, and not just so I could let Isis out to potty (please imagine that word being said with ridiculous, high-pitched and encouraging excitement). No, the main reason I got up at 0630 was because I'd decided to once again brave CrossFit, this time in the AM. I was still sore from Wednesday, certainly, but recovered enough to do another round of modified pull-ups, push-ups, squats, and crunches.
Except that's not what John (the third trainer) had in store for me. Oh no. It was just me and one other guy for the 0800 session, and after setting up Other Guy for something that, frankly, looked like he was plowing the parking-lot (amongst other tortures) John approached me with my very own modified routine for the day.
Gentle Readers, you know you are in for it when you find yourself thinking, during the warmup, "I am pretty sure this 'warmup' is what I would classify as a workout..."
Here it is broken down:
Warmup:
20 back extensions
20 lunges
20 squats
20 situps
20 jump rope (that was fun and honestly I could have done it all day)
My Newbie-Personalizeed WOD:
400 meters on my old friend the erg
15 kettlebell swings (with "the lightest one we have", which was 20lbs and felt plenty heavy to me)
10 burpees (a term I had heard before, but didn't fully understand until today) (also this guy isn't clapping, but I was supposed to)
(x3)
John introduced me to the erg and asked if I'd ever seen one. I politely explained that I did crew in college (JV only, but still) and it took all of two pulls for the proper form to come rushing back to me. So I was sitting pretty (literally) at the start of my workout.
By the time I finished round one and had begun round two I was questioning my own sanity. It sucked. I was not at all a fan of the way I was feeling. But I persevered, because I am not a quitter, damn it. But by the time the third round began, and I was starting to think that hey, maybe quitters aren't so bad, after all. And when I dragged myself through that final, horrific burpee, I realized that I hated CrossFit and everyone involved with it, because they are all sadomasochistic demons.
As I was hobbling around in agony afterwards John and Other Guy made it difficult for me to hang onto this new knowledge, because they were being so kind and supportive and generally awesome. By the time I'd recovered to feel like a normal human being again (about half an hour after finishing) the 0900 class was starting to trickle in, and they were all super nice and welcoming, too. Damn tricksie demons with their smiling and encouragement.
And then, once I'd gotten back home to Nathan and the animals, I realized that I felt awesome, and that I want to go back again.
Except that's not what John (the third trainer) had in store for me. Oh no. It was just me and one other guy for the 0800 session, and after setting up Other Guy for something that, frankly, looked like he was plowing the parking-lot (amongst other tortures) John approached me with my very own modified routine for the day.
Gentle Readers, you know you are in for it when you find yourself thinking, during the warmup, "I am pretty sure this 'warmup' is what I would classify as a workout..."
Here it is broken down:
Warmup:
20 back extensions
20 lunges
20 squats
20 situps
20 jump rope (that was fun and honestly I could have done it all day)
My Newbie-Personalizeed WOD:
400 meters on my old friend the erg
15 kettlebell swings (with "the lightest one we have", which was 20lbs and felt plenty heavy to me)
10 burpees (a term I had heard before, but didn't fully understand until today) (also this guy isn't clapping, but I was supposed to)
(x3)
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| True Story. |
By the time I finished round one and had begun round two I was questioning my own sanity. It sucked. I was not at all a fan of the way I was feeling. But I persevered, because I am not a quitter, damn it. But by the time the third round began, and I was starting to think that hey, maybe quitters aren't so bad, after all. And when I dragged myself through that final, horrific burpee, I realized that I hated CrossFit and everyone involved with it, because they are all sadomasochistic demons.
As I was hobbling around in agony afterwards John and Other Guy made it difficult for me to hang onto this new knowledge, because they were being so kind and supportive and generally awesome. By the time I'd recovered to feel like a normal human being again (about half an hour after finishing) the 0900 class was starting to trickle in, and they were all super nice and welcoming, too. Damn tricksie demons with their smiling and encouragement.
And then, once I'd gotten back home to Nathan and the animals, I realized that I felt awesome, and that I want to go back again.
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| (Possibly I was right to question my sanity.) |
2.03.2012
What a Wonderful World
It struck me yesterday, as I was walking to the rock gym after work, how very happy I am with my life. This thought occurred to me again as I rode my bike to work this morning, and when I came home this evening to my beautiful house, wonderful husband, and excellent fur-babies. All in all, I'd have to qualify myself as "joyful", and moreover content in the fact.
Things are progressing smoothly with the puppy integration. Kink has now gotten to the point where he will go up to Isis (when she's out of the crate) and sniff her up properly- and even allow a bit of sniffing in return. She's tried to initiate play a few times, but he is too stately venerable for that, and puts the kibosh on it pretty quickly. I figured that those two would get along fine- Kink has lived with dogs before, after all- but I was a bit more concerned with how Krumps would handle things. She is a bit twitchy under the best of circumstances, and she's never had much to do with dogs, sooo... yeah. Last night she wouldn't get within ten feet of the puppy, crate or no (with the exception of Nathan carrying her) so I figured it would be a long haul to get her adjusted. But then this evening as Nathan and I were sitting on the couch with Isis sacked out in our laps, Krumpet actually jumped up onto the other end of the couch. Granted, she hissed at Isis, but she didn't puff up, and she didn't run off. So there's yet hope for peace in the household.
Things are progressing smoothly with the puppy integration. Kink has now gotten to the point where he will go up to Isis (when she's out of the crate) and sniff her up properly- and even allow a bit of sniffing in return. She's tried to initiate play a few times, but he is too stately venerable for that, and puts the kibosh on it pretty quickly. I figured that those two would get along fine- Kink has lived with dogs before, after all- but I was a bit more concerned with how Krumps would handle things. She is a bit twitchy under the best of circumstances, and she's never had much to do with dogs, sooo... yeah. Last night she wouldn't get within ten feet of the puppy, crate or no (with the exception of Nathan carrying her) so I figured it would be a long haul to get her adjusted. But then this evening as Nathan and I were sitting on the couch with Isis sacked out in our laps, Krumpet actually jumped up onto the other end of the couch. Granted, she hissed at Isis, but she didn't puff up, and she didn't run off. So there's yet hope for peace in the household.
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| I love animal musculature. |
2.02.2012
Isis Came Home With a Vengence
Ladies and Gentlemen, I would like to introduce you to Isis Abigayle, the newest addition to our little madhouse:
And now that I have bombarded you with adorability, I leave you with this definitely unexciting doodle. What can I say? I was a little bit distracted today.
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| And they called it Puppy Love |
2.01.2012
Jenny O Does CrossFit
More than one person I love is more than a little into CrossFit. And they have been encouraging me (some of them for years) to try it out. In fact my brother went so far as to get me a gift certificate for Christmas, so that if I didn't try it out I'd "be plagued by the evil guilt monster of a wasted gift!" (He has no mercy, that one.)
So I called up CrossFit Epiphany to see what I needed to do, and they said to just come on in- that the first visit would be a non-scary, ten-minute assessment.
Non-scary. Right. Gentle readers, I was terrified of CrossFit. Okay, well, maybe not "terrified", but "intimidated out of my friggin' gourd and kind of wanting to puke with the nervousness of even thinking about going" (not hyperbole, believe it or not). Because, you see, my loved ones that are all into CrossFit? Are all super fit. Which you'd think would argue for the effectiveness of the program, but in reality just causes my ego to scream, "You are not worthy to work out in the presences of such as these! Judgement! Judgement!"
But I told ego to suck it up, and tonight I went to my very first class.
It's run by (I inferred) a married couple named Jack and Aubrey. Aubrey greeted me and when I confessed my nervousness did her best to dispel it. She was pleased that I had some familiarity with CrossFit already, and gave me a quick tour before warming me up and then showing me some basic movements. She explained that for the first time I'd do the "Newbie" workout, which is as follows:
(x2)
Pull-ups x10
Push-ups x15
Sit-ups x20
Squats x30
Basically (as my brother put it) setting my baseline. Now, lest you think I am far more awesome than I am, there was some serious modification going on for all of these motions. My squats were especially... bizarre. Apparently my right knee wants to collapse inward, my balance is not what I thought it was, and my hip flexors were stating (loudly) that they Were Not Having It. But I completed the workout, and immediately afterwards felt more or less like puking myself to death. This horrible sensation followed me around for about thirty minutes (exacerbated by the fact that I was doing a mad dash around the pet store trying to get everything I need for the puppy before they closed) (it is humbling indeed when your arms are shaking trying to hold up a puppy bed) but eventually I didn't just feel better, I felt great.
Soooo... I'm definitely going back.
And now for your entertainment, have this:
(I really did feel like a bad ass rocking out all those "pull-ups". I don't care that they were mightily-assisted, I still felt like a bad ass.)
(And by the way, I'm pretty sure that I didn't actually make it in under ten minutes, but I forgot to check my time...)
So I called up CrossFit Epiphany to see what I needed to do, and they said to just come on in- that the first visit would be a non-scary, ten-minute assessment.
Non-scary. Right. Gentle readers, I was terrified of CrossFit. Okay, well, maybe not "terrified", but "intimidated out of my friggin' gourd and kind of wanting to puke with the nervousness of even thinking about going" (not hyperbole, believe it or not). Because, you see, my loved ones that are all into CrossFit? Are all super fit. Which you'd think would argue for the effectiveness of the program, but in reality just causes my ego to scream, "You are not worthy to work out in the presences of such as these! Judgement! Judgement!"
But I told ego to suck it up, and tonight I went to my very first class.
It's run by (I inferred) a married couple named Jack and Aubrey. Aubrey greeted me and when I confessed my nervousness did her best to dispel it. She was pleased that I had some familiarity with CrossFit already, and gave me a quick tour before warming me up and then showing me some basic movements. She explained that for the first time I'd do the "Newbie" workout, which is as follows:
(x2)
Pull-ups x10
Push-ups x15
Sit-ups x20
Squats x30
Basically (as my brother put it) setting my baseline. Now, lest you think I am far more awesome than I am, there was some serious modification going on for all of these motions. My squats were especially... bizarre. Apparently my right knee wants to collapse inward, my balance is not what I thought it was, and my hip flexors were stating (loudly) that they Were Not Having It. But I completed the workout, and immediately afterwards felt more or less like puking myself to death. This horrible sensation followed me around for about thirty minutes (exacerbated by the fact that I was doing a mad dash around the pet store trying to get everything I need for the puppy before they closed) (it is humbling indeed when your arms are shaking trying to hold up a puppy bed) but eventually I didn't just feel better, I felt great.
Soooo... I'm definitely going back.
And now for your entertainment, have this:
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| Click to embiggen |
(And by the way, I'm pretty sure that I didn't actually make it in under ten minutes, but I forgot to check my time...)
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