Happy Hooping

The inspiration for today's blog post comes hugely from the screening we're going to tonight.

"The Hooping Life takes the hula hoop from its origins as a child’s toy to its current status as club art form, teacher’s aid, and instrument of redemption. Filmed partly by the subjects themselves, and traveling from Burning Man to Time Square, from South Central to South Africa, the seven intimate portraits capture the birth and addictive growth of a new subculture."

My "re-introduction" to the hula hoop was at a home school park day gathering back in Los Angeles, several years ago. One of the moms had brought a bunch of hoops, some of them "adult size" so that I could actually get the thing going.

Hooping has been intertwining with our life in so many places and ways.

Crazy, wonderful, cool.

Below is an unedited clip from one of our first "hoop-cam" tests. The hooper is Katina who teaches hoop classes at Circus Arts Institute where we've been playing, hooping and flying since we dropped down in Atlanta.

A Gathering of Nomads

This picture could have been taken in LA on any number of occasions, but it was taken here in Atlanta.

It's been amazing how many people from our past have dined and supped with us in Georgia since we arrived less than a year ago.

Blasts from the Past

I started doing these "adventure" races several years ago, with different friends and family. I've done them with Skye and we've done them in several different cities.
I've race in San Francisco, Dallas, Las Vegas and of course several in Los Angeles.

That's a little of the back story of things going full circle.

When we took our little road trip down to the Keys over Christmas, on the way back I was able to reconnect with a friend from high school who I haven't seen in probably 25 years.

He wasn't just an acquaintance who happened to graduate the same year as I did. No he was part of a tight little pack of misfits I ran with back in the day. So it was pretty amazing and completely because of facebook that this epic reunion was able to take place.

So when he posted that he was about to run an Urban Dare with his wife, I jumped on the the phone and volunteered to be his "support team" manning the internet to help solve clues and such.

They totally rocked it and came in 3rd place out of 80+ teams.

I am almost daily amazed by the connectedness and intersections of the orbiting

Unicorns Are All Around Us

One of my comments to the aforementioned facebook post, among others was that "their should be more unicorn sightings. "

And just like that I started seeing more unicorns and began to realize that unicorns embody that human ability to see what they want to see, for better and for worse.

Steve Jobs and Adolph Hitler were both visionaries, so to speak, with very, very different results. (Note: the juxtaposition of these two is controversial as is the word visionary. Hitler was a monster and in no way am I glorifying the madness that he bridled. He is the antipathy to unicorns.)

A friend of mine posted this photo she took on facebook, showing that you can see a unicorn or you can see overgrown vegetation that needs trimming.

It's all in one's outlook.

from Wiki:
"The unicorn is a legendary animal from European folklore that resembles a white horse with a large, pointed, spiraling horn projecting from its forehead, and sometimes a goat's beard. First mentioned by the ancient Greeks, it became the most important imaginary animal of the Middle Ages and Renaissance, a symbol of purity and grace, which could only be captured by a virgin. Its horn was said to have the power to render poisoned water potable and to heal sickness. Until the 19th century, belief in unicorns was widespread among historians, alchemists, writers, poets, naturalists, physicians, and theologians.

and .....

"Unicorns are not found in Greek mythology, but rather in accounts of natural history, for Greek writers of natural history were convinced of the reality of the unicorn."

                                                                                                                                                                                                          White Sands, Tank Girls and Ornx

In one of my previous lifetimes, real not figurative, I was working on the movie Tank Girl and drove from Tuscon to White Sands, New Mexico, overnight after having already worked a full 14 hour day.

I pulled into the park as the sun was rising. Needless to say I was a bit tired and when I saw the brilliance of the snow white sand, I thought that it must have snowed which given that it was summer and the high was getting up to 122F in the shade was an absolute impossibility. But that's what I thought I was looking at. And then this Ornx came bounding down the dunes and then disappeared behind them.

What had I just seen? Many say that the Ornx may have been the beginning of the unicorn legend.

Years later I would return to White Sands with Skye. In the top photo, she is but a speck in the distance.

We didn't see Ornx on that visit, but.....

Shopping for Unicorns

When I was out shopping for Valentine's Day trinkets for my two loveliests, I was in Junkman's Daughter, a retail store for assorted nick-knacks and oddities down in Little Five Points, when lo and behold what did I end up staring at eye to eye.

That's right, a unicorn or more precisely, a unicorn mask, the unicorn mask.

I actually had to ponder as to whether to purchase this seemingly ridiculous piece of latex and fur.

It seemed to be absurd and indulgent.

Now, not so much.

I mean to be able to increase "unicorn sightings", can you really put a price on that?

Coming Full Circle

The Morningside Farmers' Market was the first market we went to Atlanta.

I had become used to the massive and varied farmers' markets of Los Angeles and San Francisco, so Morningside was tiny and quaint in comparison.

After being away from California for awhile now, I have grown to appreciate the bounty that can be found here in Atlanta. I have also thoroughly enjoyed seeing a change in season reflected by the fare that makes it to the market.

Adapting to the change of vegetables wasn't too difficult. I'd pretty much gotten used to that simply by coming from the Pacific Coast to the South. I took it as a fun challenge and a learning experience.

However when eggs started getting scarce, well that was entirely different matter.

                  
An Egg-cellent Farm

While I've gotten better and better at engaging with the various vendors, something that is much easier in Atlanta than LA, I still like doing my on-line research. And so often I find just amazing stories.

I buy eggs from a variety of vendors, for a variety of reasons.  The first time I bought eggs from the Little Red Hen Farm was at the East Atlanta Village Farmers' Market. We've also run across them at the Marietta Farmers' Market and now again at Morningside.

I always try to chat a bit. Like I've said, it's something I'm getting better and better at. Last Saturday while flipping through their book of photos and info, I came across a Naked Neck chicken. Now I admit it's an odd looking bird and when I first saw one in a book, I thought it was some cruel joke. But then we ended up hatching a Naked Neck and she, later to be a he we would realize, just stole our hearts. We named her/him Ostrich and despite its looks was one proud bird.

It turns out Naked Necks are one of their main meat birds. I know, you would think I might hold that against them, but actually I have the opposite reaction, because you don't see Naked Necks that often, so to know there's a whole flock of them so close, makes me feel good for some reason. I hope that doesn't seem wrong but to me there's something very right about it.

Check out that Naked Neck hanging out on the fence.  And then there is our little baby.

Too Good to Be True

You know the saying, "If it's too good to be true, it probably isn't"

I definitely had that feeling when I came to the stand of Crystal Organic Farm.

The produce look so beautiful. The presentation was perfect.

As often happens I bought more than we could possibly eat within the next week, particularly with me working. But I thought that I might make a salad for my co-workers and I still might. And if I can get it together to do such a thing. Then the chance I take of it maybe going to waste, would be worth it, in my mind.

But let's hope I get it together to put together a nice salad for my co-workers and share the goodness that comes with shopping local and from farmers that you meet and can talk to. 

Greener and Greener

I already had more greens than I knew what to do with, but over at Woodland Gardens, they had some beautiful micro-greens that I just couldn't pass up
And again, as I did a little research, it turns out that they are featured along with 12 other Georgian farms in Grow, what looks to be an informative and wonderful documentary, "that captures the energy and independence of a fresh crop of young farmers."

Of Metaphors, Realities and Surrealities

It's 4:30 a.m. as I write this.  My printer is spitting out maps and images of concepts for the job I'm working on. A job I started less than 48 hours ago.

It's also printing out a calender that still has us moving out of our condo on March 6, which is no longer happening but I have yet to update the calender because I've been so busy figuring out what is happening.

I started a job on Wednesday in a capacity I haven't worked as since 2007 and had no intention on pursuing any time in the near future.

The job practically fell in my lap and accepting it will completely change my life and that of my family's for the next several weeks.

The Circus, Yoga and a Fungi

I left my new job early on Wednesday so I could go to circus class with Skye, something I had been doing twice a week for the last several months. I threw myself into each apparatus, fully enjoying it, exploring it, knowing that I might not be able to do it again for a while.

I was able to walk back and forth on the tight wire like I had never done before.
Hopefully I will be able to find that level of balance in my life as I will be walking a "virtual" tight wire for the next couple of months, trying to give 100% to the job I've committed to, which is twelve hours a day on average,  while maintaining everything else that is going on in my life to the best of my ability.

I've taken a balance board and my Indian clubs to the office, so during my breaks, I can practice staying in the flow.

My chair in my office is a physio ball, which works out better for me on several levels. It's easier on my injuries,like my knee and lower back. I can also roll it away from my desk and stretch and do some conditioning.

Wednesday, when I was doing a lot of the things Cindy has been doing day in and day out, she went to yoga class with Skye, what I'd been doing day in and day out.

She later went to the Decatur farmer's market, like I've been doing every week. She talked to the mushroom vendor who didn't have any mushrooms because of the season but had an inoculated mushroom basket to grow your own at home.

That was the routine that was my reality until now.

Yesterday, after a long day of racing around, eating lunch on the fly in the car, having meetings, making "work" calls, dealing with co-workers, etc, the things I hadn't done in ages, I made my way home. When I came in the door, I was met with the smells of a wonderful home cooked meal that Cindy had prepared.

It was delicious, amazing and beautiful.

2012 NAGA ATLANTA GRAPPLING CHAMPIONSHIP


facebook post;
Jon Danniells
21 hours ago near Riverdale
What have I gotten myself into?

The Morning After

I woke up stiff and sore.
My neck and upper back and lower back for that matter are killing me. My knee looks like someone slid a golf ball up inside of it.
I've popped a bunch of advil and have an icepack wrapped around my knee.
I'll probably be limping for a week.
All because I decided to compete at NAGA the day before.
It was all totally worth it. I had a great time.

Leading Up to It

 my facebook posts often remember things more clearly than I do;

such as the night before the tournament:
Should be in bed, resting up for tomorrow's competition, instead having a beer while drawing a therapeutic salt and oil infused bath, reading the latest issue of "meatpaper"(a "foodie" magazine, in case you might be thinking something other) while realizing that tomorrow's competition is actually today's and I may be turning into a pumpkin soon

then a few hours later the morning of the event:
had to run out to a sporting goods store as soon as they opened to pick up a mouth guard. I haven't owned or worn one in, maybe since high school, a few decades back. But apparently I need one for the tournament this afternoon. Good thing I checked the rules last night

Old School

Getting older has some advantages here and there. For instance, being in the "Directors" division (40-49);
there's only one group older, the Executive 50+, had us starting early with the women and children and sent upstairs to some out of the way rings, 13 and 14. There were a total of 14 rings, 1-12 were altogether on the main floor.



The Competition

There aren't many of us in the EXPERT No Gi Division, especially in my weight class, as in 4 of us. I was the lightest guy there giving up 10 to 20+ pounds to the other guys. The person who won turned out to be a black belt in juijitsu, the guy who came second was a brown belt, the third place dude, me is a purple and the only fellow who didn't get a medal in our group had been doing juijitsu for a little over a year. A win in a previous NAGA and some quirky rules put him in our division.  So the results weren't too surprising. But everyone was so cool and so nice. It was beyond good sportsmanship. It felt like I was in the studio rolling with old friends.

That was especially true of my second match, where there was all of one person in my division. That's right I was the only old big purple belt there, so a blue belt around my age agreed to compete up a level. And as could be expected I won. Not because he wasn't really good, (he had me nervous more than a few times) but because I had considerably more experience on the mat than he did.

But again he was a super sportsman. We agreed to no leg locks or something, I'm so confused about rules and stuff. But he had seen my knee pop in my first match and wasn't going to exploit my injury. We shook hands and had a really good roll. 

My X-3 Family

Winning is fun there's no denying that but the reason I had such a great time was the camaraderie that goes hand in hand with doing jiujitsu.
It felt good to be part of something so much bigger than me.

First as part of the X-3 Sports team and then in a broader sense as part of the Brazilian Jiujitsu community.

It has always had open arms for me whereever I have gone around the world. Crossing language barriers in Saint Maarten, Spain and Montreal as well as getting to know areas on a totally different level, like here in Atlanta or before in Miami or even a small town like Corvallis, Oregon.

Tony Tucci, my coach and friend from X-3, pushed me, gently but firmly, to compete. And I am so grateful that he did. I had the time of my life. My matches were over early, so I could relax and support the X-3 team. 

In fact, in the background is Lindsey (in black, putting up her hair), who trains at X-3 and won in both Gi and no-Gi.

Celebrating

Skye was so cute when I showed her my belt and medal. Even cuter was Cindy, who assumed everyone who competed took home a big gaudy belt, kind of like the finisher medals you get when you run a marathon. It was only after she read on facebook someone congratulating me for taking first place that she realized not everyone goes home with a big Gold belt. They also both felt it should go to X-3, as do I.  So I'll enjoy looking at it today and give it to Tony when I see him, hopefully on Monday.

Later I met up some of my X-3 peeps over at Barcelona, another home away from home. And laughed and danced and drank and ate.

A perfect ending to a really, really good day.

Parting Shots

Icing my knee after NAGA, the tattoo does translate to "persevere, never give up" after all.

Speaking of my X-3 family and not giving up, a big congratulations goes out to Brian Curbello, who joined another of my "families", the Tough Mudders, and braved a very, very cold day in Georgia to go out and be miserable and triumphant in running the gauntlet that is a Tough Mudder. Good job and congratulations.

And to Nicole who was the first person to welcome me to X-3, and the first person I met, other than at a Tough Mudder event, who had any idea what I was talking about.

Shout outs to both of them, and in retrospect, even though I would have loved/hated doing another Mudder, I think I made the right choice, for me. 

That headline got on facebook and the internet and went viral and of course as can imagined has been twisted and distorted and retracted...sort of. It got me thinking about play again.

If It's not Broken, Don't Fix It.....It's Broken

I think about play a lot. Most lately I think about it a lot because of being the primary educator to our daughter who we home school. So I think about it in regards to her and her learning and development.

Which is how and why I ran across and am incredibly interested by articles like this...

How children’s ‘play’ is being sneakily redefined

"by Alfie Kohn

* Children should have plenty of opportunities to play. 

* Even young children have too few such opportunities these days, particularly in school settings. 

These two propositions — both of them indisputable and important — have been offered many times.[1]  The second one in particular reflects the “cult of rigor” at the center of corporate-style school reform.  Its devastating impact can be mapped horizontally (with test preparation displacing more valuable activities at every age level) as well as vertically (with pressures being pushed down to the youngest grades, resulting in developmentally inappropriate instruction).  The typical American kindergarten now resembles a really bad first-grade classroom.  Even preschool teachers are told to sacrifice opportunities for imaginative play in favor of drilling young children until they master a defined set of skills."

You probably get where this is going. I have read a lot of stuff by Alfie Kohn and for me the jury is still out on much of what he says and how he says it, but it does get me thinking.

But my daughter is 13 and not in "school" so I don't have to deal with the issues Kohn speaks of.....

Finding Places to Play



Recognizing the need for playgrounds, former President Theodore Roosevelt stated in 1907:

City streets are unsatisfactory playgrounds for children because of the danger, because most good games are against the law, because they are too hot in summer, and because in crowded sections of the city they are apt to be schools of crime. Neither do small back yards nor ornamental grass plots meet the needs of any but the very small children. Older children who would play vigorous games must have places especially set aside for them; and, since play is a fundamental need, playgrounds should be provided for every child as much as schools. This means that they must be distributed over the cities in such a way as to be within walking distance of every boy and girl, as most children can not afford to pay carfare,










When my daughter still was at the "right" age to play, she and her home school pals used to get in trouble regularly  for "misusing" the equipment. They would run too fast or climb too high or jump from it. or...just not play on it the "right".

It wasn't the home school parents who were reprimanding the kids, it was security guards and park officials.

Wiki Agrees....with me and Skye's friends

Unintended consequences
As a result of what some experts say is overprotectiveness driven by a fear of lawsuits, playgrounds have been designed to be, or at least to appear, excessively safe.[5] This overprotectiveness may protect the playground owner from lawsuits, but it appears to result in a decreased sense of achievement and increased fears in children.[5]

The equipment limitations result in the children receiving less value from the play time.[5] The enclosed, padded, constrained, low structures prevent the child from taking risks and developing a sense of mastery over his or her environment. Successfully taking a risk is empowering to children. For example, a child climbing to the top of a tall jungle gym feels happy about successfully managing the challenging climb to the top, and he experiences the thrill of being in a precarious, high position. By contrast, the child on a low piece of equipment, designed to reduce the incidence of injuries from falls, experiences no such thrill, sense of mastery, or accomplishment. Additionally, a lack of experience with heights as a child is associated with increased acrophobia (fear of heights) in adults.[5]

The appearance of safety encourages unreasonable risk-taking in children, who might take more reasonable risks if they correctly understood that it is possible to break a bone on the soft surfaces under most modern equipment.[5][11]

Finally, the playground that is designed to appear low-risk is boring, especially to older children.[5] As a result, they tend to seek out alternative play areas, which may be very unsafe.[5]

Risk management is an important life skill, and risk aversion in playgrounds is unhelpful in the long term. Experts studying child development such as Tim Gill have written about the over-protective bias in provision for children, particularly with playgrounds.[11] Instead of a constructed playground, allowing children to play in a natural environment such as open land or a park is sometimes recommended; children gain a better sense of balance playing on uneven ground, and learn to interpret the complexity and signals of nature more effectively.[11]

But seriously, another reason why I am interested in the topic of play is my idea of physical fitness, the whole  FUNctional Fitness DIY thing that I'm into and regularly espousing. I like to play because I hate gyms and working out but love staying in shape. I have books like "Never Gymless" and "Exuberant Animal" that use pull-up bars and stairs and monkey bars, body-weight conditioning.

I understand that you don't want a bunch of adults taking over the kid's area. But I've been to the park a lot and at a lot of different hours and there are barely ever kids playing on the equipment, which in itself says a lot.

And I would understand with adults breaking or abusing equipment that was intended for children, but this stuff is concrete and steel. It's literally bombproof.

And going completely unused.

This playground rocks and would be fun for kids and adults.

It also looks really cool, like stuff you would want to play on, or climb or jump from.

But adults are too old to play,

we get this stuff, which is right down the hill from the "play" area.

Not only was this not here when we lived across the street from the park, it is too small for me to use "properly". I have to bend my knees to hang from either apparatus.

The More Things Change the More They Stay the Same

Two weeks ago, I was planning a 3-5 week road-trip from Atlanta to L.A.

Last week I was packing up boxes and sending them on a truck to Los Angeles.

We had given notice on the condo we're staying in.  There is a countdown timer on my computer to the day we are moving out. 26 days, 21 hours, 22 minutes.

However it is looking more and more like we might be in Atlanta a bit longer, several months longer. That of course could change by this afternoon and change back the next day or in a week.  But right now it looks like Atlanta.
Which is why 2 days ago I posted this:

In exactly one week's time are two events that are very much part of my "physical" world and both happening in Atlanta, 2012 NAGA ATLANTA GRAPPLING CHAMPIONSHIP and the Tough Mudder Georgia.  The problem is, for a variety of reasons, I hadn't planned to do either.

Brazilian Jiujitsu, a Tough Mudder and X3

When we first got to Atlanta, one of the first things on my to-do list was to find a place to do Brazilian Jujitsu. I was going to take my time and find a good quality place to train. I promised myself I wouldn't settle for the first place I walked into. X3 Sports was right down the street from us, literally a 10 maybe 15 minute walk. They had BJJ as well as yoga and kickboxing, etc. I tried a class, had a great time.

The instructor, Tony Tucci, treated me like family from that first night. Skye tried out a kickboxing class the next day and was hooked.  The picture above was one she took for her photography class when the topic was "Your Favorite Things".
When we had to move from our first place in Atlanta, we moved into the condo we're in specifically because of its proximity to X3. It's across the street. It's literally become a home away from home.

"Tony Tucci, the head instructor at X3 Sports, is quickly becoming known as one of the best trainers for all aspects of an MMA fighter."

Then there was Nichole, who does Tough Mudders. Most people have no idea what I'm talking about when I say that I do "extreme races" like the Tough Mudder or the Spartan race. She's done more Mudders than I have.

Of all the "extreme races" I've done over the years, I've always been on my own, except for the ones where you had have a partner to enter. But the longer, harder, real extreme ones, I've been on my own.

At the upcoming Georgia Tough Mudder, I know several people that are doing it.

But since I wasn't even sure if we were going to be here I didn't bother signing up, much less training.

The truth be told, I could go out and finish the mudder, it's more mental than physical, at least for me. I just didn't want to be cold and miserable for  three hours. I can't stand the cold water elements. I've done a couple of them, one in sub-freezing conditions while it snowed on us. I've earned my orange headband. But it would have been fun to do it with a group.

More Jiujitsu

On October 15, I attended my first BJJ seminar ever hosted by X3 Sports.  It was taught by Helio Soneca,

Interestingly enough, he studied with the Machado brothers. In fact, he got his blue belt from Rigan Machado, the same person that gave me mine, albeit years apart.

Grappling with Competing

I love jiujitsu. I had stopped training for a few years and missed it way too much. It's become part of me. It helps me relax and keeps me in shape. When I'm training jiujitsu, I don't think about anything else that's going on, I am completely in the moment. It's where I find my flow.

When I spar with someone, of course I am trying to make them tap and not get tapped. But it is not an ego thing. It is about improving my game, my skill. Which is why I have only competed once around 13 years ago. Competition jiujitsu is a very different  game. It's about points and time and winning. These are things that don't interest me. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with it all it's just not why I do jiujitsu.

Doing it for the Team

I honestly have very little interest in competing. If I did I would specifically train to that end. I'm not even sure about the rules and points. I'll have to do some homework before this weekend.  But it does mean something to a lot of the guys I train with and to Tony. And because X-3 and everyone there have been so welcoming to Skye and myself I'll compete. And I'm sure I'll have a great time, win or lose.

I hadn't made up my mind until this morning just before taking a yoga class and Tony said, "What do I got to do to get you to do NAGA?" and that's all he had to say.

A CLUB THAT WILL ACCEPT PEOPLE LIKE ME AS A MEMBER

The Festival was a 3 day extravaganza with a juggling competition Saturday. I just barely dabble in juggling. I have 3 beanbags and a bunch of silk squares mostly to teach other people the very basics. I don't even own a set of clubs. In no way do I consider myself a "juggler". So how did Cindy and I end up at the local Shrine auditorium on a Friday night and then again the next day?

We went on Friday because I actually was looking to buy a set of clubs and I figured rather than order some on -line, I'd save a little on shipping, buy "local" from one of the event vendors and actually feel and handle the clubs before buying them. 

Barely any vendors had set up on Friday, but it was cool to see so many jugglers and the like playing, practicing, and sharing.

Warning: This post is only a little bit about juggling, but juggles a lot of different bits.

Juggling Six Degrees of Separation

"Six degrees of separation refers to the idea that everyone is on average approximately six steps away, by way of introduction, from any other person on Earth, so that a chain of, "a friend of a friend" statements can be made, on average, to connect any two people in six steps or fewer."

I've often thought that instead of looking as "being steps away, by way of introduction" as "being links to connection".

I had first heard about the festival through a facebook friend's post saying he was going to be a vendor. Now I had never met this "friend" before. Forged Creations (Jay Becker) and I had mutual "friends" through the "burner", "spinning" "performance" community of Atlanta, plus I really liked his metal work. So it would be great to see his pieces in person. Plus I really do like juggling and was hoping to maybe get inspired and actually commit some time and energy to getting better.

When we pulled in the parking lot on Saturday it was much more crowded. And before we parked we saw someone we knew. Actually Cindy saw someone she knew and had just worked with, who was part of The Seed & Feed Marching Abominable, Atlanta's wildest community band.

Equipped to Go with the Flow

I love this bag of tricks, everything from hula hoops, clubs and balls to "cigar boxes" and stilts. So cool, so much fun, so much flow.

from Wikipedia
"Flow is the mental state of operation in which a person in an activity is fully immersed in a feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and success in the process of the activity. Proposed by Mihály Csíkszentmihályi,(a link to a TEDtalk he did)  the positive psychology concept has been widely referenced across a variety of fields."

from the Flow Temple website:

Flow Arts is a fast-growing fitness and meditation practice that blends play, exercise and dance into a fun and healthful activity that moves the body, stills the mind and uplifts the spirit. It's a physical workout that is also a brain booster, a relaxing way to chill out, and a compelling performance art. 

Csikszentmihalyi became fascinated by artists who would essentially get lost in their work. Artists, especially painters, got so immersed in their work that they would disregard their need for food, water and even sleep.

Hoopers flow. Poi-spinners flow.  Jugglers flow. I get into a flow when I do jiujitsu. There are all sorts of ways to get into the flow.

For Those Who Come to Juggle, We Salute You

There actually was juggling at the juggling festival, although that might be hard to believe from this post. 
The boy in the yellow was the youngest of those competing.
The group that's all fuzzy, did a hysterical interpretation of Twilight.  Edward was a juggler, Jacob was a yo-yo artist and the werewolves rode unicycles. It was quite imaginative.

One more thing that I learned was how limited my little point and shoot camera is. I took a ton of pictures, most even more blurry than these.

Get Me Out of Here

After a couple of hours, sitting in the bleachers, Skye was done with the festival.

The big gorilla puppet that she seems to be avoiding is another one of those six degrees of, I mean, links to connection.

I first ran across a picture of Picasso the Gorilla when I was trying to find the name of a local artisan that I had purchased a gift from at the East Atlanta Village Christmas craft show, which I only knew about because of the East Atlanta farmer's market.

At the time, I thought he was pretty amazing and very cool. And completely out of the blue, he shows up at the juggler's festival and I get to check him out in person.

The Morning After

I ended my last blog entry with......

"FUNctional Fitness DIY

 In a nutshell my philosophy goes something like this:
"Fundamentally Understanding Nature and FUN--...Finding the fun in fitness is essential to making it a lifestyle as opposed to making it a resolution or a chore or even a 'practice'. "

That's what I had forgotten, to have fun. The goals had become an "obsession" and exercise had stopped being fun. No wonder I wasn't getting anywhere.

    Time to recalibrate and have some fun.

The next morning I was faced with a dilemma. In exactly one weeks time are two events that are very much part of my "physical" world and both happening in Atlanta, 2012 NAGA ATLANTA GRAPPLING CHAMPIONSHIP and the Tough Mudder Georgia.  The problem is, for a variety of reasons, I hadn't planned to do either.

If I were to do the grappling event I would want to be at a certain weight, so at least I would be in category where I'd have a chance.  I stepped on the scale, the day after I had announced that I wouldn't obsess on my weight anymore.
Sure enough, I was creeping back up to the Super Heavy Weight division (200 +).

I felt like going for a run, a nice trail run where I could get my head together.

But I hesitated.

A friend had posted on facebook, "Running Stone Mountain Park tomorrow for more mudder training". Maybe I should see if I could tag along.

But I hesitated.

And got caught up in sorting and packing. Our lease is up in a month and we may or may not be staying in Atlanta. We still don't know, which is one of the reasons, I didn't commit to either of the aforementioned events.

It was passing noon and Cindy and Skye were getting ready to head out to a movie. I needed to do something physical even though blowing it off and going with the family to a movie was a bit more appealing.

Instead I decided to bicycle to Stone Mountain, climb to the top and then do a trail run. After figuring out what gear I should bring, I realized I was running out of time and headed out.

A Long Ride Home

The march up the hill was well worth the view.

That's downtown Atlanta in the distance. I live just a mile or so from downtown.

After scampering down the hill, finding where the trail head was and then actually getting there, I locked up the bike and readied myself for a 5 mile trail run.  As I lumbered down the trail with a pretty full pack, I began to realize just how late it was getting and how quickly night would come.
Around a 1/2 mile into it, I came to a sign saying that the trail was closed. I took this as a message, not to mention my legs were fried from the climb and 15 miles on the bike. I high-tailed it back to the bike and headed homeward.

After a few miles, approximately a 1/3 of the way home, and it was dark. The one thing that I had neglected to bring was a headlamp. Fortunately it was a moonlit night. Unfortunately, I would end up getting lost several times, 15 miles became 19 miles. And what should have taken maybe 2 hours ended up being more than 3.

By the time I got home, I was thoroughly worked. But I was happy and had burned a ton of calories.

I ended up bicycling 34 miles and running/hiking around 3 1/2 miles.

Some of my best "workouts" are ones I hadn't planned on doing in the first place.

The video is 4 minutes and needs serious editing, apparently not saved in HD so pretty blurry. I am just getting started in the video end of things. So please, forgive all of that. It sort of gives an idea of how harried the ride started getting as it got darker and darker. I promise I'll get better at this.

Physical Fitness- Obsessing on the Wrong Things

That was the title I thought of this morning as I struggled to get up, not looking forward to getting on the scale, because I knew that the numbers I'd being waking up to would not be going the direction I wanted.

Why was I obsessing on my weight? I knew better, particularly with our scale which was accurate enough to keep me honest and off enough to be even more frustratingly futile than the endeavor itself.

WHY???

Losing weight, doing the splits, 100 push-ups, 20 pull-ups, all worthy goals on one level, silly and random on another.

I was setting these goals in an attempt to just get in better shape, to be physically fit, instead I was getting hurt and not having fun.

What Are Words For

Besides the chorus from, Missing Persons, 1982 song, "Words"......

Right off the bat, I knew I was chasing my tail as soon as I used the word, "obsessing", the downsides and pitfalls of that are obvious, so I'll just leave it at that. But what about "physical fitness", that's got merit, in fact, as lame as obsessing is, isn't being physically fit a logical desire?

Sure, I guess, but what is that anyway?

from Webster's

Definition of FITNESS
1 : the quality or state of being fit 2 : the capacity of an organism to survive and transmit its genotype to reproductive offspring as compared to competing organisms; also : the contribution of an allele or genotype to the gene pool of subsequent generations as compared to that of other alleles or genotypes

Wikipedia had this to offer:
Physical fitness comprises two related concepts: general fitness (a state of health and well-being), and specific fitness (a task-oriented definition based on the ability to perform specific aspects of sports or occupations). Physical fitness is generally achieved through correct nutrition, exercise, and enough rest.

In previous years[when?], fitness was commonly defined as the capacity to carry out the day’s activities without undue fatigue. However, as automation increased leisure time, changes in lifestyles following the industrial revolution rendered this definition insufficient. In current contexts, physical fitness is considered a measure of the body’s ability to function efficiently and effectively in work and leisure activities, to be healthy, to resist hypokinetic diseases, and to meet emergency situations.

The President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports—a study group sponsored by the government of the United States—declines to offer a simple definition of physical fitness.

Something so simple was getting very complicated.

WWJD?

Cindy often changed this acronym, from the popular, "What Would Jesus Do? to "What Would Jon Do?", sometimes as a compliment, sometimes as a jab, depending on the circumstance. I always took it as the second even when she might have meant it as the first.

But I actually do have something to say on the topic of physical fitness, it's one of my stated "trades" after all.

FUNctional Fitness DIY

In a nutshell my philosophy goes something like this:
"Fundamentally Understanding Nature and FUN--...Finding the fun in fitness is essential to making it a lifestyle as opposed to making it a resolution or a chore or even a 'practice'. "

That's what I had forgotten, to have fun. The goals had become and "obsession" and exercise had stopped being fun. No wonder I wasn't getting anywhere.

Time to recalibrate and have some fun.