April Challenge - Day 8: Farting at the gym

Okay, I think we can all admit, we've all accidentally (or purposefully) passed gas at the gym. You might have had an extra glass of milk than you needed that morning, or didn't realize that sushi wasn't the best choice of snack before hitting the weights.

Two days ago, (I'll admit, yesterday, I was in no shape to train as I was recovering from the worse hangover ever) I was on a treadmill in the morning before work. There are three treadmills in my condo gym, so I take the one on the far right. There's a strategy to this...you take the far end, the next person takes the other far end (leaving a nice space in between) and then, when it does get busy, that last spot gets taken up. It's like seating on the TTC...when there's seats everywhere, you don't go and sit beside the only person on the streetcar.

Apparently, someone didn't tell this man the proper etiquette (we'll call him Bob, as it's one letter away from Boob, of which he had two). Bob struts into the gym, onto the treadmill beside mine. After a friendly nod, I thought, OK, just focus on your workout and crank up the music. He begins to let out some loud breaths while stretching...yea, he hasn't even started yet. As he stretches, a good five minutes go by, and I wonder - rather than stretching on the treadmill and taking a spot away from someone ready to run, why don't you stretch in the studio area? Whatever, back to my run...focus Terence, focus.

Bob then starts running, at a mild pace. Not two minutes later, he's huffing and puffing like he's at the last part of a torturous marathon - face red, sweat streaming down the sides of his face, pit stains the size of Lake Victoria. As I turn my iPod up to the maximum level before my ears bleed, I start smelling the smell of rancid eggs. I look around, and there were only four people in the gym - Bob, myself and two people working in the distance at the weights.

Being the utterly insecure person that I am, I first do a self check by pretending to wipe my face on my sleeves and making sure it wasn't my armpits emitting that odour. Check - they actually smell Tide Mountain Spring fresh.

I then look at the two people away in the distance in the weight area. They did not have the same contorted face of disgust as I did on my face. So by process of elimination, Bob was the offender.

Now, at first I thought, aww shit, it's BO. But the smell didn't come in a steady stream as BO would. Then I heard it. At first, a pop then fizzling. Yes, it was that loud that I heard it through my iPod music. Bob at this point didn't seem to care that he was contributing to the emission of greenhouse gases, he was more focused on trying not to have a heart attack. I, on the other hand, was grossed out beyond belief.

How, at 7am in the morning, can you have gas that is that intense? How are you not ashamed that you're releasing that evil onto the world? How do you not kindly excuse yourself and go to the washroom to get that issue resolved?

As these questions flooded through my head, thankfully, I was close to the end of my 30min run. But it wasn't until he released another barrage of air WMDs into the gym and this time, I think the people at the weights heard as they looked up and giggled.

Dude - you might be running, but you're running on a stationary piece of equipment. It's not like outside where you are far far away from your mischevious deed and no one can pinpoint it is you.

That was it. I stopped my treadmill - took a deep breath in from my mouth to avoid smelling anything, and quickly wiped down my machine before running into the studio to work away from Bob's stench.

My hope is that Bob felt that his run was so strenuous that he won't be back in the gym for a while, but I might have to stop working out in the mornings to avoid exposing myself to nauseous gases.

March Challenge - Day 8: Rep. Peter King - the new Joe McCarthy

While watching the news tonight, I watched a segment which talked about new hearings in the US Capitol about the radicalization of Muslim extremists in the US. Watching the coverage of it made my blood boil - as it should yours. For more reading, take a look at this LA Times article.

The head of this panel is Republican House Rep. Peter King, who claims by holding these hearings, he is "broken down a wall of political correctness on an issue that needs to be addressed." There's no arguing that terrorism is something that needs to be addressed, however, in targeting one group and claiming they are responsible for the extremist actions happening on US soil reeks of McCarthyism fearmongering.

LA Sheriff Lee Baca was one that was called to testify at the hearings by Democrat representatives on the committee. You might remember him from such appearances as Michael Jackson's death announcement and the many trials and tribulations of Lindsay Lohan. Sheriff Baca testified that narrowing this committee's investigation down to just one religion is short-sighted stating that while 41 cases of reported terror plots since 9/11 were from international and domestic Islamic groups, 77 other cases were from non-Muslim domestic groups alone.

It must be frustrating to be an American again. After 8 years of Bush and the warmongering language spewed by that administration, there was two years of relative calm until now, when the Republicans have regained control of the House.

Of all the issues most pressing to Americans, is this truly one of them? Focusing on Islamic terrorists is a witchhunt to stir up antagonistic feelings and to justify their military actions overseas. Isn't it ironic that those sounding the wardrums and calling for swift action against terrorists are willing to spend trillions on weapons, but criticize their sitting President for trying to put forth plans to spend money on protecting the health of their own citizens?

As I have many Muslim friends and colleagues, I am truly offended by what's happening on this panel. Unjust accusations and bigotry is on display here, not the search for any truth. If you want to talk extremism, fine, but don't just target one group just because of their religious background - there are nutsos from all religious faiths (ahem...Westboro Baptist Church?)

This committee is truly a witchhunt and led by a man trying to stir up trouble where trouble does not exist. He wants to call out Muslims for encouraging and inciting hatred that leads to extremist terrorism. Rep. King, aren't you encouraging and inciting hatred towards your fellow Muslim-Americans and leading those non-Muslim extremists to resort to violence against anyone of the Islamic faith?

Thank goodness Congressmen only get two years per term. Hopefully the people of his district in NY will see his bigotry for what it is and vote him out in 2012.

February Challenge - Day 8: Addicted to Almonds

During my first 8 days of eating healthy, I've managed to go on a small drinking bender, bake a huge batch of cookies (of which I've had at least a dozen), and succumbed to a new addiction. Almonds.

These tiny seeds, shaped like golden teardrops, are my new snacks in between meals. And within the last couple of days, my stress eating has led me to consume at least a container and a half worth of almonds.

Not so good. 50g of almonds = approximately 200 calories. And since I haven't gone to the gym since Sunday, these tiny teardrops are turning into lumps of saggy flesh around my waist. Well, better it be almonds than bags of chips or turning to smoking.

Perhaps March's challenge will be to stop eating almonds.

January Challenge - Day 8: My first drink...

No, no...don't worry. I didn't take my first drink today. I haven't caved that easily. However, an article I read today on parenting (if you're interested in a controversial read on Asian vs. Western parenting, click here) that made me think about my parents and their views on drinking.

I believe it was my dad who gave me my first taste of alcohol. I was five, he poured some Molson's Canadian into a plastic cup and said I should try it (I'm sure he thought it was hilarious). I remember clearly that I was incredibly disgusted by the taste. Surprisingly, I am still disgusted by the taste of Canadian, now that I've tried other great beers like Sapporo and Stella.

I remember my first drink of liquor, which was around 13. There was a mickey of vodka in the fridge (my mom wasn't a big drinker). I snuck one shot out of the mickey and remembered how gross it was. Then I felt dizzy and all giggly.

The first time I got drunk - sadly, I don't remember, I think I was actually that drunk. However, I do remember that in high school, my friend Holly threw awesome house parties where booze was A-OK. Her mom was super cool. My drink of choice at the time was a bottle of Captain Morgan's spiced rum as it was the only bottle I could sneak out of the house.

Oh, and the first time I got in trouble with drinking was in my last year of high school, where I got suspended for drinking on school property. How silly. I did get three days off school though.

Sigh, all these firsts. And I'm pretty sure that the end of this month will be another first - I don't think I've gone 28 days without having one drink since 2nd year university. Crazy!

I'd be interested to hear what your first alcohol experiences were like - that way, I don't feel like such an alchy.