30 Days for 30 Minutes Challenge: Today's Results

I get an F for yesterday, no exercise to speak of. Do Kegels count?

It doesn't matter how much or how little you use it; you gotta keep your stuff tight, kids! Question: Is there such a thing as Kegels for the face? Because truthfully, one of my biggest, deepest, darkest fears about getting old isn't getting wrinkles: It's getting "Old Person Mouth." Otherwise known as "Old Man Mouth" or "Old Lady Mouth." Or the "Bug Zapper." I see it in the office, I see it on the subway, I see it on Broadway, and it's not a pretty sight; Old Person Mouth is downright disturbing. And if you're my friend, the very moment you see me shuffling around going about my business catching flies with my droopy lax jaw and my mouth agape, you will either:

1) Fund a small, non-invasive, cosmetic procedure that will fix my problem (which is, when you think about it, your problem actually, because you're the one who has to look at me).

2) Insist I'm only seen in public wearing a stylish hat/creepy bonnet/helmet with chinstrap

3) Drag me out into the street and shoot me right in ye olde wide-opene piehole.

Thank you all for your cooperation in advance.

Tonight, we Kegel AND snowboard!

Who Said It: No One is Your Friend But Your Legs

Geronimo, great Apache warrior. 

Check out PBS's American Experience~ We Shall Remain: Geronimo

30 for 30 Challenge: a Double A Shout Out to Double C

Giulia Rozzi, Anne Altman, Carolyn Castiglia - Mo Pitkin's (RIP) -NYC- 200whatevs

I'm on Day 16 of my 30 for 30, thanks to you, Carolyn! I needed a reason to compete against myself (ie my own worst enemy) for my mental and physical fitness--it had been up to me for quite a long time, and I was screwing myself in the interest of excuses and laziness.

The biggest change I've noticed in 16 days: My attitude. Since adulthood I've lumped exercise in with weight loss and associated it with punishment rather than something good I'm doing for myself. I'm now at the point where if I don't do Qi Gong everyday, I arrive at work simply furious. Furious!

Qi Gong has a way of waking me up and relaxing me at the same time so that I can cope better with that a-hole who won't let people off the train before she busts her way on. And that's huge. Physically, my thighs are reaping the rewards and lookin' hot, if I don't say so myself. If I don't say so myself, nobody else would, so there I go, I said it. Suck it. It's not considered vain to tell yourself how great you are, it's considered your job.

Danger!

Uh oh!

We've got a problem!

The problem with feelin' and lookin' good: I usually stop these fitness whims when I start experiencing results.

But not now, folks. Not with CC on my side. Thanks, CC!

30 for 30 Challenge: Results

Last night I snowboarded with a few free weights during a 45 minutes episode of Intervention via A&E on Demand (Marie's story here). Exercising while watching people suffer from crippling addiction soothes me. I never said I wasn't twisted. This morning I got up for Qi Gong and thank goodness I did; I'm officially in a foul mood if I don't make time for 7 Minutes of Magic.

30 for 30 Challenge Day 4 & 5 Results: I Feel Good

James Brown & Friends, I Feel Good, 1960's


Just finished 15 minutes of Q Gong followed by 45 minutes of snowboading machine while I watched an episode of Intervention via A&E on Demand. Now we celebrate 0 out of 5 hatchets with a little ditty by James Brown! So nice! Just like sugar and spice.


Now I'm about to see my fake boyfriend Warren Haynes serenade me with sugar and spice tonight backed up by a little band who calls themselves The Grateful Dead in a little place called Madison Square Garden. And what, I ask, is not to love about that?

30 for 30 Challenge Day 4 & 5 Results

Day 4: Postponed due to excuse of being exhausted. Fell alseep at 9:30 p.m., on a Friday night, in the middle of the Red Sox  v. Yanks at Fenway, so there is some truth here. The trouble with this is, nobody cares about my excuses.  

Day 5: Makeup session required. 14 minutes of Magic Qi Gong, followed by 1/2 hour of snowboarding machine to a television program of my choice. 

Then I'm going to take that energy and frolick my way on this beautiful day to the Grateful Dead at Madison Square Garden where there will be mucho more frolicking. 

Woot!

30 for 30 Challenge: Day 4 Results

Qi Gong this morning and today gets:

3 out of 5 hatchets!

Remarkable!

30 for 30 Challenge: Day 3 Results

I didn't wake up early enough to do Qi Gong today, and I'm in a terrible mood. There's a broad I don't know from another department whom I run into in the pantry in the morning and I simply can't stand her because of all the disposable cups and cups and bowls and cups and cups and bowls she wastes on a daily basis, and she's always in the way, and I hate the way she mixes her oatmeal and then does this thing where she puts it in the microwave for 10 seconds and takes it out and stirs it and puts it back in for ten seconds and takes it back out and cups and cups and bowls and cups and bowls....IT'S FUCKING EARTH DAY, YOU JERK!

Good grief.

Someone needs Qi Gong when she gets home.

30 for 30 Challenge Day 2 Results

4 out of 5 hatchets. 

A very good score, considering the ratio of annoying a-holes I encountered at every turn. Throw them into the mix of regular everyday a-holes and you've got yourself quite a day ahead of you, am I right? Ha! Am I right?!?! Ha? AM I RIGHT?!?!??!!!! OF COURSE I'M RIGHT! 

I totally would have scored 6 out of 5 hatchets had it not been for Qi Gong this morning. 

Here's a positive example that the exercise helped. The pharmacy was all jacked up after work, they were way behind in filling orders, and everyone was pissed off.  Instead of leaving that shit storm like I normally would to return an hour later, I grabbed a bunch of magazines I love but would never buy, took a seat where infirm usually sit, poured myself a cup of water, and had myself a great time. As I flipped through Town and Country, 48 broads came and went to the counter, huffin' and puffin' and flipping the fuck out. Good show! And, I was extra nice to the pharmacist as I checked out.  It's not her fault she has a shitty job. 

Without Qi Gong this morning it would have been 6 out of 5 hatchets. Woo!

30 for 30 Challenge Day 1 Results

Qi Gong this morning. The day gets 4 out of 5 hatchets. Not bad for a Monday and the start of 30 for 30.

30 for 30 Challenge

April 20 - May 19, 2009 (and beyond?!??!)

Get your fat ass off the sofa for a minimum of 30 minutes everyday for 30 days. Walk, jog, do scissor kicks, jump up and down, dance, climb the stairs, or get movin' with Grover. Whatever you gotta do, just do it.

Day One has begun, monsters.

30 Days for 30 Minutes Challenge

You may remember my Two Can Anne Triathlon (TCAT), wherein I attempted to prove that it only takes 21 days to change a habit---and made it about 16 days into the 21 days before I fell ill with the flu and then completely off the wagon. T'was a bummer, because I was really seeing results. Well, it's Spring now, and time to try again. My pal Carolyn Castiglia just texted me, "Wanna do the 30 minutes for 30 days thing? I need it." Totes! Me too!

Inspired? Want in? You're invited too! 

Technically this challenge doesn't officially begin until tomorrow, but I'm fifteen minutes into my 30 today, actually. My goal is to do 30 minutes of brisk walking and/or snowboard and/or Qi Gong before work. I don't need to lose any weight, but I could stand to lose my attitude--the one that makes me want to murder people and/or myself every morning on the subway-- and tone up here and there. Ever see a flabby skeleton look good in a bikini? No, you haven't.  

Since I'm not going for weight loss, it could be difficult to track my progress in the traditional manner. After some discussion with some folks, it's been decided that I could take some basic measurements but also record my mental progress, if any. Sure, it's more nebulous, but save for time-lapsed photography show of a flabby to firm thigh, I'm not sure how else to do it. The idea is that I rate my day on how stressed I was. Let's say Mondays I generally want to murder everyone. If I feel that way tomorrow (on my first official day of the challenge, it's likely) then that would mean I would score the day with 5 out of 5 hatchets. A less stressful day would be 4 out of 5, and so on. And let's say I get to a day with 1 measly hatchet. Tremendous! Or no hatchet at all! Unprecedented! Perhaps hatchets begin miraculously turning into doves! Unbelievable!

I'm getting carried away. 

Anyway, Carolyn bought some new sneakers* so she's totally down for the challenge. Are you? 

*I bought a delicious pizza pie, but I'm still down