Friday, March 7, 2008

Body Facts

Something awesome happened today: I spent $30 on gas for that Olympia trip, thinking I would be reimbursed $30. Apparently my company values the "wear and tear" inflicted on my car from the 260 round trip miles. As a result, today I was comped $128 for my mileage. It's basically like $100 free dollars! That's enough to make me excited for the work day! Especially since I was trying to figure out how to justify the cost of mystic tanning and waxing pre-hawaii. Good job corporate office for over-estimating my mileage costs!! (Technically it's good job IRS... but whatever) Did I mention I also am being comped a work day since I spent 12 hours on the job yesterday? One more paid day of vacation. This job may be boring, but some days it really has its perks.

I got into a tiff with the boy yesterday - I don't really feel like rehashing it right now suffice to say that I learned a few things from it. 1. Communication is really really important, as is acknowledgment of the other person's feelings (okay so I already knew that, I was a COMM major). 2. I don't really need to freak out or be a bitch to get attention from the boy, he is good about trying to get things resolved. 3. Actions speak louder than words 4. I have some really great friends, like Walden, who sent me an encouraging message this morning.

Tom and I are both bored in the office today, I can tell. I am not restless bored, just patiently bored, if that's possible. It's a nice change. I never realized that there were so many different types of boredom hahaha.

Off to the gym after work per usual. I have been trying to kick my butt into gear lately so that I can be toned for the beaches in April. It has caused an interesting development. Has anyone else experienced this phenomenon: I feel like the more intensely I commit to working out, the more critical I am of my performance and my body. I feel lots of guilt if I do less than 45 minutes of cardio every day. I feel extra embarrassed that my shoulders and back are STILL sore from doing lateral pull downs three days ago. This seems really vain and stupid, but it is a weird sensation to be so critical of myself, especially when I am working harder than normal.

Maybe that's why there are so many gym addicts out there - the need to achieve "the perfect body" (if there were such a thing) drives people to dissatisfaction even when they already are (relatively) fit. I am beginning to identify with "The Machine" - a workout fiend at my gym who could kick everyone's ass in that room. She seems like she is always pushing it farther and farther, she's in there every single time I visit the gym, maybe she lives there part-time, I'm not sure. Before I just thought she was crazy. Now I find myself thinking, "okay machine, okay, I understand your freakish gym fetish a bit."

It doesn't really follow that a person who never works out would be completely satisfied with themselves either. That would be a rare thing to witness. Maybe everyone is just dissatisfied and overly self-critical. I still blame (as you probably could've guessed) the media for forcing ridiculous and impossible beauty standards on us.

So in the spirit of shoving those ideals, I am going to say, everyone should love love love their bodies as they are. All bodies fit or flab are amazing. Here's why:

- Every fiber, muscle and organ in our bodies work together intricately to keep us alive
- Our bodies store up food for us automatically to help us survive on a barren desert island
- Little microscopic bugs live on the surface of our skin to clean for us. Like little miniature Merry Maids. And we don't even have to pay them.
- The brain sends messages at the rate of 240 mph
- The heart beats about 100,000 times a day
- Most people shed 40 pounds of skin in a lifetime
- The four taste zones on your tongue are bitter (back), sour (back sides), salty (front sides), and sweet (front) - imagine if we couldn't enjoy what we ate!
- The human brain cell can hold 5 times as much information as the Encyclopedia Britannica.
- The fastest growing nail is on your middle finger
- The acid in our stomachs is strong enough to dissolve a razor blade
- Our livers have more than 500 functions
- A fetus acquires fingerprints at 3 months


Crazy. Crazy awesome.

4 comments:

Lynn said...

i totally agree with you about the gym thing. i have noticed that when i go running or do a class like spin or yoga i'm (mostly) totally excited about what my body can do, but when i go to something like ab lab, i get discouraged about not being 'perfect'. oh, yay for society.

D.I. Zzo said...

I fluctuate on this issue. There are some days where I go to the gym and I feel like I'm making really good progress and I like the way I look and feel. But then there are days, sometimes the next day, where I think I look kind of funny and that all of my hard work isn't paying off. What the heck?

By the way, Lindsay's workout fiend could whoop everyone in the gym. I think she's like a 5'3" T-1000.

KJW said...

What the h does T-1000 mean? Is that muscle talk? No. I don't want it. Give me love handle talk.

I don't think the tongue zone thing is true anymore. I remember learning that in kindergarten and then, a couple years ago, reading that it was all a lie. Damn you, kindergarten! Next they'll be telling me that love ISN'T something if you give it away, that love is NOT like a magic penny.

Anonymous said...

Only on a barren desert island? What about stuck at a raffle for days due to monsoon?

If we couldn't enjoy what we eat, I'm sure that would pretty much elimate obesity . . .