Nothing is too late,
Until a tired heart shall cease to palpitate.
~ Henry W. Longfellow
I live in an area where lateness is the way of life. I've learned over the years not to get in a dither about someone being late. Living in my neck of the woods, you realize that if you schedule a party or a meeting or whatever at say, 10am... expect people to start filtering in between 10:05 and 10:15. That's just the way it is.
Growing up, I was always taught to be a few minutes early. A few - not too many. However, here in my part of Ohio, showing up early can mean that you're waiting around extra long for anything to begin because the majority of other people are always a few minutes late. There can be a ghastly feeling when you pull into the parking lot and you're the only car there, thinking, "Is it the wrong date? Have I the wrong time entirely?"
In some passing reading, I came across a column where a person raged about lateness - this person felt that it was a sign of disrespect, a sign that the late person did not "honor" the occasion or the person enough to be on time. I think they are wrong. I think that most mild lateness is due to the fact that we are such a rushed and time-consumed people that we try to squeeze every available minute we can for one more wink of sleep, for extra preparation time, for sanity - and some times we miss the mark, don't account for traffic delays or urgent phone calls. Oscar Wilde once said, "He was always late on principle, his principle being that punctuality is the thief of time." Suffice it to say, that I no longer get my panties in a knot when someone is even a half-hour late.
Sadly enough, I've found that over the past 10 years of this I'm slowly being assimilated into this late way of life by no longer being early. I usually manage "right on time" nowadays. There's an attitude that develops, a "why bother" to be prompt when no one else is. Shame on me, I know...but it's part of local culture.
My sister was scheduled for a biopsy on Friday. She's an early bird, so besides the extra time before her scheduled appointment, she was in the waiting room an hour past that appointed time...and two others in the waiting room were queued ahead of her. A big sign was posted "if you are more than 20 minutes late for your appointment, you must be rescheduled." I guess that doesn't apply to the doctor?! She was looking at at least another hour, hour and a half wait...minimum, so she approached the desk, got a bit testy and said she would call back to reschedule.
Some things it is never too late for:
To ask forgiveness
To extend forgiveness
To say "I love you"
To say a prayer
~~I have to add here that I've always HATED when people show up too early. Say you invite them to come for dinner at 7pm... and they arrive between 6:30 and 6:45pm. You can probably hear my shriek of distress miles away. Those last few minutes are for a quick swish of the toilet brush, a fast makeup check, a quick counter-clearing, refrigerator wiping, or even a momentary collapse on the sofa.
~o~
I read about a ridiculous new exercise invention today. It promises to "shake the fat" right off. Brings to mind Fred Flintstone on that machine with the vibrating belt around his butt. This machine claims to use vibrations to tone muscles - in less time, too, than "real" exercise. Pfffff. Supposedly it can also improve flexiblity and reduce stress. OH, c'mon!! I've got a bridge that I can sell you, real cheap. ;) Researchers are warning that the shaking could cause serious damage (to the brain, for instance). The only thing that is THIN isn't the results you'll get from this piece of quackery, it's the junk science behind it. For a good laugh, look at a high end model here. For real life fitness, work your body the way God intended it to be worked - use a full range of motion, get your cardiovascular system going, push, pull... you get the point.
--I interrupt this blog for a SHOUT OUT about my cousin, Monica. She is a D.A.R.E. officer in Florida and used to be Miss Highlands County many years ago. Poor Monica gained a ton of weight over the years and tried every gimicky quick fix you can imagine. My Aunt called me yesterday and told me that since January Monica has lost over 75 pounds! She has gone to a special diet doctor in Tampa for a complete program of nutrition and fitness. The one dicey aspect of the program is weekly B-12 shots, but hey - if they are working, helping her to feel better than she has in decades, then perhaps it's not all that screwy.
~o~
Today I ended up working out at home...I stayed up too late and couldn't drag myself to the gym at 6:30am. This forced me to do everything with light weights or bodyweight only and xerotubing. I tried making up for that with higher reps.
--60 minutes on my elliptical
decline dumbbell presses, 30 reps, 30 lbs
squats, no weights, 50 reps
step plyos, 1 minute
butt kicks, 1 minute
plyo pushups, 10 reps
dumbbell flye with crunch on stabilty ball, 30 with 30 lbs.
leg extension with xerotube, 20 each leg. (This felt useless).
knee tuck jumps, 10 reps
step plyos, 1 minute
scorpion pushups, 20 reps
alternating dumbbell press on stability ball with elbow drive, 15 lbs each arm, 20 reps
surrenders, 10 reps, 30 lbs
side step plyos, 1 minute
dips, 20 reps
lunge with military press, 15 each leg, 30 lbs
burpees, 20 reps
W-press with leg ext, 15 each leg, 30 lbs
french press, 30 reps, 20 lbs
straight leg squat thrusts, 30 seconds
chair pose, 30 seconds
side plank pose, 30 seconds each side
The circuit took 35 minutes.
