My Holidays

PHEW!

I’m about 90% sure I need a holiday to recover from the holidays! Yes, I used that old cliché; you’re welcome.

I don’t use Storify, because, well… I don’t like it. Here is a summary of my holidays, from the many Instagram photos and Tweets I sent out. Enjoy.

Christmas Eve

After a lovely dinner with some wonderful cousins (I’m still full), I did something I never thought I would do: I went to church. My aunt recently joined the choir and our cousin is also in it, so to support them I went. It was… an experience. I remain committed to my non-religious beliefs, but I have respect for those who have different views. The hashtag #CountryChurch (the church was in a small town) helped.

The view from the back pew

Aunt Jill and our cousin Steve, who are in the choir

After church, my Dad and I went to see my Aunt Paula, Uncle Gerald and cousins Meranda and Brandon. My Aunt Tammy, Uncle Paul and cousin Travis were there and, I always laugh way too hard when I see all of them. This year, we talked about Jan Terri, and this AMAZING Anne Murray cover. Afterwards, it was time to go home, open stockings and (for some reason) play Operation.

Christmas Day

Jill has a tendency to get very excited about Christmas. In 1999, she got up every hour, on the hour, to flush the toilet in an attempt to wake us up. Yes, she was up before two children, aged 6 and 11, because she was excited for Christmas. We negotiated before and agreed to get up at 7:45. If it was any earlier, she had threatened to sing – and with the songs she makes up, it is NOT how you want to wake up. I first woke up at 5:45 a.m., but I wasn’t telling anybody that (well, anybody that wasn’t on Twitter at the time).

https://twitter.com/JTerr88/status/283524464262668288

When I agreed to 7:45, though, I expected a grace period… No, at 7:45, Bailey my loveable and enormous Yellow Lab came bounding downstairs, encouraged by my father, to get me up. I came trudging up the stairs, looking out the window to see…

It was a white-ish Christmas!

Tearing into the presents, I naturally had to compare how many things I got to how many the other family members got… That led to some good news.

https://twitter.com/JTerr88/status/283563607038500865

It also led to a good idea, courtesy of my friend (and the man who makes me do all this work at the gym to look good):

https://twitter.com/jeremyforeshew/status/283575668694978560

*Note to family: next year, this may will be occurring*

Aunt Jill got a hat/scarf/gloves set, in her favourite colour: purple. The hat was… a challenge.

“She’s gonna make it after all…”

I tried to get her to throw it a la Mary Tyler Moore, as did my brother, but she wouldn’t. Speaking of my brother…

Yes, he’s a Leafs fan; and yes, that’s a Snuggie.

As for my gifts? Well, I got some amazing things. I got my new wallet, the humidifier I’ve needed for two years, and the messenger bag I’ve been dying for since I started working. That gift led to this…

https://twitter.com/JTerr88/status/283702315909791745

In fact, Alex was a bit sassy with me this year as he also pulled out this gem:

https://twitter.com/JTerr88/status/283306897141006336

But, the fact of the matter is, I just posted a photo of him in a Snuggie. So we’re even. He also hurt my back when we did this…

https://twitter.com/JTerr88/status/283728642461270016

Long story short, it was a wonderful holiday. Boxing Day was full of hilarity too, but it would take another 1,000 words to write about it and I’d rather save that for a separate post.

I hope that, be it Christmas or something else, you all had a wonderful time family with friends, family, laughter and joy. I did.

PS

Mom made a wonderful meal on Christmas Day. I got in trouble for not mentioning that. The dessert was quite delectable too.

Gym? What’s a Gym?

I wrote a while ago about my progress at the gym and how I was rather happy with my success so far. While I wasn’t quite as clueless as Homer in the clip above (I can at least pronounce gym properly), I was pretty clueless. I feel a lot more comfortable (I’m 14 weeks in now) and am really seeing significant results.

When I started at the gym on December 1, I weighed a whopping 108 pounds. I weighed in last week and am up to 115.4 pounds. While I still have quite a distance to go to reach my first major goal of 120 pounds (at which point I have promised that I will post a much-maligned mirror photo to show my results), I’m pretty happy that I’ve been able to progress without hitting a proverbial wall.

There’s a lot out there for people who are trying to lose weight. And that’s just fine, but there isn’t a lot out there for people who are trying to do the opposite. People always tell me how lucky I am to eat what ever I want and still be thin. But eating to gain weight isn’t that easy – and while I’m anything but an expert – what I have learned from my trainer is that it’s about eating the right things and eating a lot of it. Like eating the right things to lose weight, the eating to gain weight has been the hardest thing, because I’m eating even when I don’t feel hungry. And, for the record, chocolate weight gain powder is NASTY. I’m glad it’s almost gone.

So, I’ll keep at it. Some times I get a little ornery about specific work outs (I hate “21’s” and I hate these other horrendous push-up type things) but I know at the end of the day it’s what I need to do in order to reach my goal. Onward and upwards, right?

Confidence.

I’m starting to really like these one-word title blog posts. I know that people always say that a blog should be focused and consistent in its content: be it entertainment, food, cooking, drinks, home décor, or whatever; I, however, like having an ecclectic blog. I do, after all, have a blog with a focused theme. This one serves as my creative outlet. If you don’t like it, too bad.

There is a huge difference between being confident and being cocky. Confidence is alluring; it lets people know that you have absolute faith in yourself and that they should have that same faith. Cockiness, on the other hand, is arrogance personified. It’s vain and it shows that you are capable of loving nothing more than yourself. To boil it down: confidence > cockiness.

These days, I have to say, I’m feeling pretty confident. While it may only be two days in, I straight up love my new job. It’s like night and day between any other position I’ve ever had. The people I work with seem to enjoy what they do and genuinely want to make sure that I not just integrate in to the team, but succeed alongside with them and grow at the same time. I can’t say enough good things about the group. It’s nice to be able to go home at night and feel like I’ve accomplished things. I’m looking forward to the many challenges and exciting things to come.

What’s more, is that there is a lot of progress being made on the gym side of things too. Now, I’m no “Ah-Nuld” but I’ve put on a good amount of weight (muscle, for the most part), I have more energy and I look healthier. Sure, I may curse when things get hard at the gym, but as I have said before: I have a fantastic trainer who understands my goals, helps me reach them, knows how to push me and isn’t brutally mean and hard on me when things get difficult.

So, it’s a rosy outlook from here on out and I’m excited about what lies ahead!

Diary of a Skinny-Minny

In late November 2011, I got fed-up; not with life in general, not with the people who are around me, but with the fact that for all my life I have been the skinniest guy around. I was in high school when I cracked 100 pounds – and it was grade 11 at that. It never really bothered me too much: in fact, everybody told me how lucky I was to be so slender.

My body didn’t (and doesn’t) cause me to have a low self-esteem, but the more I thought about it, the more I came to the realization that being so skinny wasn’t going to last forever. I decided to take the plunge, hired a trainer and have been at it for just over a month now.

I honestly can say that the decision to get fit and active was the best decision of my life; however, it’s more than that: I’m eating more (and more often – for a former breakfast hater, that was tough for a bit), I have more energy and believe it or not: you can see biceps and pecs starting to develop.

The big milestone for me will be to hit 120 pounds. That isn’t my end goal, but it will be a huge thing for me. None of this is easy – but it isn’t impossible. I don’t know where I found the motivation to get started, but I have a wonderful trainer that pushes me and who also knows my limits: he pushes me past them, but doesn’t go to extremes if and when I struggle.

All in all, I’m pretty damn happy with the decision to go to the gym. I don’t like people who take those awful mirror photos, but maybe I’ll take a progress photo when I hit 120. That isn’t a promise, though…

Product review: Brita Water Bottle

This is my first product review. It’ll be quite simple, given the fact that I’m writing about a water bottle. Originally, I wasn’t going to write this; that said, the more I use the Brita Water Bottle I got for Christmas, the more I want to talk about it. Yes, I’m excited about a water bottle. Deal with it.

From the outset, it should be noted that I will not drink water unless it has been filtered through a Brita product. All I could ever taste, be it in my hometown of Bowmanville, when I moved to Ottawa or now in Toronto, was chlorine. Bowmanville was especially bad for it – it was so strong, you can smell it when you turn the tap on. Prior to having a Brita jug, I was actually drinking a lot less water and instead turning to juice, pop and, of course, coffee. Since getting and using one, I do drink a fair bit more water.

The two things I like about this product:

1. I don’t have to buy bottled water when I’m going to the gym or just going out in general. According to Brita, each filter is the equivalent of 300 bottles of water – not a shabby way to help reduce waste!
2. It definitely does what it is supposed to do: reduce the chlorine taste and odour of tap water.

My only complaint about the bottle is that, because the water passes through the filter as you squeeze it, there isn’t a steady stream of liquid – it comes out in bursts. Of course, this all depends on where and how you squeeze the bottle – another bit of a pain.

The bottle comes with a filter, but I definitely recommend picking up extra ones when you see them. Not because you’ll need them right away, but according to my mom (who bought the bottle for me), they aren’t easy to find in stores. You can order them online, but if you need a new one quickly, that’s of little help.

All in all, it’s a handy thing to have and is great for those who drink a lot of bottled water. It’ll reduce your waste and what’s even better, when the time comes to replace the bottle itself, it’s also recyclable!

Now, I wonder if you can filter gin through it for my beloved G&T’s… Just a thought.

 

New Year’s Resolutions (or, what I say I’ll do but won’t)

I already said it in my inaugural post that, for me, New Year’s > Christmas. I won’t go in to the reasons again, they are all there for you to see and understand. But, New Year’s is the time when people’s thoughts begin to turn to how they want to change for the year ahead. Fittingly, then, as we are only four days away from New Year’s Eve, I wanted to post about New Year’s resolutions.

A 2009 study found that merely 22 per cent of people actually follow through with their New Year’s resolutions. Many people I know are part of the majority – the 78 per cent – that don’t succeed.

To be honest, I usually don’t make New Year’s resolutions. I’m always pretty satisfied with who I am and where I’m going. But, this year, there are a few things that I’d like to either keep doing or start doing, to help make sure 2012 is even more amazing than 2011 (which, despite a minor setback in losing my job, was a fantastic year).

1. Keep going to the gym: Nobody would have ever put the words “gym” and “Josh” in the same sentence, unless it was “Josh will never go to the gym.” But, I have – and will keep it up. I always feel worn out (but good) afterwards and I’m already seeing results. I have defined biceps (they aren’t huge, but they are there) and I’m starting to have visible pecs. It’s nice to see the results of the work!
2. Save more money: Just as nobody thought I’d go to the gym, “Josh” and “frugal” don’t go together either. That’s something I know I need to change – and will. I’ve put myself on a pretty aggressive budget that begins in January and want to save a lot more money, too. Losing my job showed me that putting away 10 per cent of your paycheque for emergencies isn’t just a suggestion – it’s a damn good thing to be doing.
3. Try and be nicer in the mornings: Let’s be real – this resolution will fall in the 78 per cent failure category – but I’m going to try. My disdain for early mornings isn’t quite legendary, but it is something I’m known for. I feel especially bad for my roommate (who, by the way, is on Twitter – @JShiznet – and can verify my lousy post-wake-up attitude) who is always so cheerful in the mornings. It’s almost a shame that my response is 9 times out of 10 an inaudible grunt when he says good morning.

Two of these things are doable. The third is maybe a pipe-dream but you never know; it could happen. I guess we’ll see what happens come, oh, let’s say mid-February 2012, when I’ll give you an update on how these are going.