Fitness First

Santa, bless his jolly soul, brought me a personal trainer and this morning was my first official session. He’s a compact little Australian named Clayton, who’s new job is to help me mold myself back into some semblance shape. His work permit ends in November. Mine ends in January, but that’s another story.

I had my intake session with him last week. (Actually, I had more than my fill of intake over the past few days, which is one of the reasons that yesterday consisted of relearning basic motor skills and trying to move beyond “fire bad, tree pretty.")

During the intake, he asked me what my fitness goals were. Keeping in touch with my inner Virgo, I came with a simple, prepared list:

1. Develop enough upper body strength to do 10 pull-ups (he says I’ll have this down in 10 weeks)
   

2. Lose enough flab around my middle so that when I do a shoulder stand I’m not in fear of my gut falling down and busting my already too-crooked nose
   

3. Finish Edinburgh in under 4:30
   

4. Swim for 30 minutes without stopping
   

5. Chest should stick out more than my belly
   

6. Look like a porn star (more Colton Ford than Ron Jeremy)
   

Clayton thinks he can help me. But that’s what he’s paid to say, at first anyway, eh?

Still need to work out some other goals. Decisions need to be made about my career, and I have my second appointment with the outplacement counselor tomorrow morning. Need to eat a little better, and I’m committed to cooking better (and more often) here at home. I kinda sorta fell in love with Nigel Slater over the holidays, so me and The Kitchen Diaries are going to become good friends.

And I want to have more nights in with friends. I still love me some going out, but New Year’s Eve proved to me that a night in with friends (some relatively old, some brand new) can prove more entertaining, with more unexpected laughs, than any planned outing in a loud, drug-fueled club.

That said, the loud drug-filled club (aka Vauxhall Tavern) was one of the best DEEs ever on Sunday night (even for those of us not on drugs).

One more thing … I want to make sure I don’t lose touch with people important to me, which invariably happens with change and time. So much change in the past year: new countries, new friends, new job opportunities. Lots of people still in my heart, but not in my day-to-day. That makes me sad … and sadder that I often don’t do anything about it.

2005 … thanks for all the change.

2006 … bring it.