Tag Archives: musings

Getting back to normal

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Getting back to normal

Still feeling a 2010 hangover?  What with all the best of/worst of lists that abound it all feels a bit much.

To get into a new-beginnings frame of mind that’s a lot more cheerful, here’s a list of our own of things to do on day two of the New Year.

1.  Go to the gym, they’re open today — and sure there will be the extra New Year’s Resolution crowd in there, but it’ll still feel great and if your gym has one, spend a few extra minutes to relax in the hot tub or the sauna (or a really hot bath or shower at home).

2.  Take a long walk somewhere, preferably with someone you love, but if not, with the person you love the best — yourself.

3.  For Girlboxing’s boxer friends, feel inspired.  This is going to be a great year for women’s boxing with a lot of well-matched bouts, plus some terrific amateur fights.  Check out Women’s Boxing Archive Network’s 12/30 piece on upcoming fights to get of taste of what’s coming up here.

4.  Help someone.  Whether it’s being extra nice to your kids, your spouse or a friend; or going out to give your time to a charity or something as simple as buying a street person a cup of coffee, none of us can do it alone and it’ll sure feel good.

5.  Write a short list of five things or less that you want to accomplish this year.  List out how you can go about achieving those goals.  You don’t have to think of it as a set of resolutions so much as a map of the things that are important to you.  Having written them down — consider that now is the time to start getting them done.

 

 

 

 

Boxing easy

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Boxing easy, Gleason’s Gym, 12/31/2010

Getting the jump on those pesky resolutions

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Getting the jump on those pesky resolutions

Yep.  It’s that time of year again — when you need to confront all the coulda’, shoulda’ woulda’s from 2010 to write-up the “list” for 2011.

I will box every day!

In years past, I’ve run the gamut from writing them hung over on New Year’s Day, to thoughtfully considering them for days and weeks before the turn of the year.

To be honest, the New Year’s resolution list is often an afterthought somewhere around the 3rd of January.  By then of course, I’m in a decided catch-up mode which in turn can spiral into a state of New Year’s resolution anxiety if I’m not careful.

This year I’m trying something a little different.  I’ve started my New Year’s resolution two days early — with the goal of doing at least *one* physical thing every day.  Okay, sure, that can be tough, but with a hat tip to Conjuring My Muse, doing one activity — whether it’s one three-minute shadow boxing round in the living room or a full-on two-hour work out at the gym is achievable!  And like doing anything else every day — it’s gets to be a terrific habit.

So to keep true to that New Year’s vow, I threw on my sweats, grabbed my gear (some of it with that new leather smell — thanks, Santa!) and walked down to Gleason’s Gym.  The sweet part was being accompanied by my daughter — and while I must say that the work-out was tough as my latest lay-off has been way too long, I worked out just enough to feel terrific about making the effort. It also helped that she was there to cheer me on, especially when it came to the sit-ups.

I’m heading down to Gleason’s again tomorrow to work out with Lennox Blackmore with the hope that I’ll be able to throw in one or two extra rounds and a whole lot more ab-work.  And though the gym will be closed on New Year’s Day, there’s yoga, fast-walking or dancing to James Brown to keeping me going strong — least ways that’s the plan!

Making it count

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Making it count

 

Brown Belt

 

Having achieved her brown belt, my daughter’s Aikido Sensei gave her about half a minute to rest on her laurels before starting the push towards her next goal.

She is ranked at 2.5 and must reach a 0.5 level before she will be invited to test for her Shidon or first rank Black Belt under the rules of the the Aikido World Alliance, the parent organization for her Dojo.  That will take three to four years, and given her age she will then wait at her 0.5 rank for some time before the AWA confers their invitation.

Her Sensei figures that as she is on her road towards a Black Belt — she is now not only an apprentice trainee with respect to all of the techniques that she must master, but more importantly she must also begin to learn the responsibilities of achieving the rank.  That is all pretty heady stuff for an 11-year-old, and yet, having been thrown to the front of her class to lead the warm-up, she has become cognizant of how difficult it is to command the attention and respect of a group of people long enough to actually get something done.

What she’s also learning is that small things matter.

In Aikido, stance is everything — much as in boxing — and finding the balance means a lot not only to her practice, but in her role as a novice teacher, to those of her students.  Thus she now sees when something is wrong and has begun to correct the tiniest of movements.  This process of breaking it down is helping her to ascertain the faults in her own practice — at least that’s her Sensei’s ingenious plan, though this last is perhaps the hardest to achieve.

Sometimes it is not really possible to articulate what happens beyond the realm of the pure mechanics of a particular set of movements.  In Aikido, that might mean the execution of a series of moves with a partner — pretty difficult stuff in that both partners must also act in a kind of harmony with each other even as the one may be attempting to toss the other to the ground.

Boxing offers something similar — a remarkable improvised dance executed by two well-skilled fighters balanced for ability and for that little something extra that comes from the heart.

All in the family: “The Fighter”

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All in the family:  “The Fighter”

Micky Ward and Dicky Eklund, Tom Herde/Globe Staff/File 1987

I saw The Fighter yesterday afternoon.  The film is a biopic about “Irish” Micky Ward fighting out of Lowell, MA starring Mark Wahlberg as Micky Ward, Christian Slater as his brother Dicky Eklund, Amy Adams as  Micky’s girlfriend Charlene Fleming and Melissa Leo  in the role as Dicky and Micky’s mother Alice.  The movie follows some of the formulaic aspects of boxing genre films, such as triumph over adversity, but at its heart the film is about families and what happens when love is applied as an imperfect reflection of how people feel about themselves and each other.

It got me to thinking about why people box in the first place — and the kind of heart and mental fortitude it takes to get kicked down over and over, only to keep coming back; not only to get it right, but to say something about oneself.  In essence, the boxer is there to say, “I matter,” in the world.  Not to say that boxers or anyone who chooses to test themselves in that way necessarily comes from violent homes where “love” is equated with beatings or being pitted against one’s siblings or being taken on emotional roller coaster rides, but it does seem to say that one needs to test one’s inner strength  — and in that affirmation overcome whatever demons large or small may impede one’s ability to feel whole without that sort of test.

As a boxer I know once said, “any punishment I ever took in the ring was a damned sight less than what I got every Saturday night from my old man” — and yet he still found himself playing out his ability to overcome that abuse to come out on the other side as a fully intact human being.

Perhaps because it is Christmas and this is my first holiday season after losing my mother, I feel particularly sensitive to the notion that families propel us to so much of what we do in our lives.  And whether it is into the ring or some other form of physical or mental test of one’s mettle, in the end we do get to not only affirm that we matter, but to say that how we express those feelings has meaning.

This is a long way of saying that The Fighter is a good film worth seeing if not for the star power than for the fact that it attempts and succeeds at telling a very honest story about being human.

Train to Poughkeepsie

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Train to Poughkeepsie

I’m taking my daughter up to see her grandparents ahead of today’s snowstorm.

We’ve just passed our favorite part of the two-hour ride: seeing the ruins of a Bannerman’s Castle in the Hudson River just past Cold Spring. There are bits of ice and snow and low-flying birds cruising the waters. We both feel a sense of peace, seeing in the vista of the river a part of nature laying itself out for us as a special gift.

This is a train ride I’ve always loved taking; finding it less the portal to a destination than the chance to journey while taking in its special beauty. Would that all our travels were as serene.

Words to live by

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Words to live by

I came across this wonderful and inspiring talk with George Foreman.  It reflects the true spirit of the day.

 

Peace!

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Peace!

Wishing everyone a fabulous day of peace, love and joy!

Wrapping, baking, boxing

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Wrapping, baking, boxing

Aside from the fact that the cat decided that 5:09 was a great time to play hockey, I was figuring on getting an early start to the day.  Okay, not quite that early, but the usual 6:00 AM even though I’m off for the weekend.

Squirts to the kitty aside (and a timeout in the bathroom), I’ve managed to wrap everything — except for the stuff that hasn’t come yet (with an offering of my daughter’s brownies to the delivery Gods in the hopes that they arrive on time).

Next up has been three minutes of chase the kitty (the loud meows got to me) and the first round of baking — a nice banana bread with walnuts.  After slurping down some cold coffee from yesterday morning, it’ll be a shadow boxing sprint to the store for flour, eggs, sugar and milk (and the weird looks be damned as I punch the air).

I tell you my list of things to do today is giving new meaning to multi-tasking — all while my family sleeps, as not to put to fine a point on it (gosh, that’s a well-worn metaphor), when they’re awake it’s kind of hard to get a lot done.

Okay, so once I’m back with the days supply of baking goodies I’ll be trading rounds of making cookies with prancing around the room — before the real fun begins, my attempt at fashioning home made chocolate candies.  Mind, I got some fabulous Belgian semi-sweet chocolate from our absolute favorite Middle-Eastern grocery shop on Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn called Oriental Pastry & Grocery not to mention the lovely array of nuts and dried fruits. The trick will be in melting the chocolate all at once so that the temperature stays even … hmm.  Best that I work in some shadow boxing rounds before I attempt that so that my arms are nice and warmed-up before I start whisking the chocolate.

Here’s hoping that your day is as fun!

Three days until

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Three days until

Okay, I admit it.  I’m an excited little kid when it comes to Christmas.  Given that it’s December 22, that means three whole days until — as well as that “eee-gads” feeling ’cause my Christmas shopping isn’t done.

If you’re in a similar boat, and if you haven’t yet gotten gifts for the boxer in your life (or that special something for yourself for that matter), you just may make it if you put in a super rush order with one of the boxing catalogs — though it’s a long shot. (Check out the Boxing Gear Page for a list of online websites and gift ideas.)

The alternative is to run over to a specialty store — if there is one near you (folks in the NYC can always go to G&S in downtown Manhattan) or you can  head over to a boxing gym for gear & t-shirts, and for NYC area dwellers there is always “Mo’s” for something like handwraps.

If that doesn’t work boxers can always use workout T’s, sweats, water bottles, hoodies, winter running apparel (hats, silk gloves, wicking socks, thick tights) and bags to lug all that boxing stuff in.  One- or two-pound hand weights are also great to shadow box with and boxers can always use a nice mat for sit-ups ’cause lets face it, the ones in a boxing gym can get pretty “funky.”  Those kinds of items are pretty readily available — and you can always head to a Yoga store for nice colors and an island of calm in an otherwise crowded mall.

A free lesson or two with a trainer or paying a yearly locker fee are also amazing gestures that would be very appreciated — and of course, you can always donate to a boxing charity in the name of a loved one (check out the Boxing Holiday Giving post for a few ideas).

Whatever you decide, enjoy your three days of shopping!

 

 

Pass the James Zadroga 9/11 Bill Update

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Pass the James Zadroga 9/11 Bill Update

Senator Gillibrand and 9/11 Bill Supporters

It it weren’t so serious the analogy to a Mets game would feel apropos.  The sort of game where your heart-is-in-your-mouth because every pitch is a game changer that can mean the difference between winning or losing.  The problem is the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act is not a game, it is a very real necessity for the tens of thousands of first responders who have sought out monitoring and treatment.

So why is that the Republican Party is *still* obstructing passage?  As of this afternoon, Senator Tom Coburn of Oklahoma is continuing to affirm his intention to block the bill.  He claims that the bill is a “rush job” (how can that be when it was debated in the committee he sits on this past June?), but is also clearly griping at the price tag, which makes no sense since the Democrats have found a way to pay for it.  One would think that would be “win-win,” but no, folks with severe asthma, COPD and other serious respiratory disorders must continue to wait and wait and wait.

As my grandmother used to say, that sort of thing is a “shonda,” a shame, a shame that continues to disgrace our very understanding of what is right and what it wrong.

Meanwhile today, a group of ardent 9/11 supporters descended on capital hill to plea their case.  Let us hope that they manage to sway the seeming frozen hearts of those who oppose this bill and what it stands for.

Links to articles are here and here.

New York Senator Gillibrand’s heartfelt plea is here.

Miles Davis and me

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Miles Davis and me

While I used to listen to my mother’s John Coltrane and Miles Davis records when I was a young child, I discovered jazz for myself when I turned 12.  My grandmother had given me a small portable AM/FM radio and fiddling with the dial I came across the radio station WLIB.  This was 1966 — and at 4:00 each afternoon, Jazz pianist Billy Taylor opened his show with Herbie Hancock’s Maiden Voyage.

What I waited and hoped for each day though was the chance to hear something by Miles Davis.  Billy Taylor usually obliged with tunes from Miles Davis’ ESP or Miles Smiles albums or a song like So What from such newly minted classics as Davis’ Kind of Blue album.

Years and years later training with Johnny Grinage down at Gleason’s, Johnny used to talk about Miles the boxer.  I’ve never really heard the speed-bag in his trumpet, but I still love the thought that the staccato of his solos could have come from his days of training in the ring.

Pass the James Zadroga 9/11 Bill

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Pass the James Zadroga 9/11 Bill

Last night Jon Stewart did  something amazing — he dedicated his entire show to the cause of revealing the hypocrisy of the GOP in the Senate for failing to bring the all important James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act to a vote.

The House passed the bill on September 29, 2010.  Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid claims that the Senate has the votes to pass it, however, the GOP is blocking Reid’s ability to bring the bill to the floor.

This piece of legislation will provide funding for 9/11 first responders to receive continued health care, medical monitoring and other financial support. Without it many will fall even further behind as they not only deal with the burdens of their diminished health, but the ignominy of fighting with insurance companies and workman’s compensation to pay their medical claims.

For those who don’t know, the men and women who worked tirelessly on the “pile” for months and months at a time are sick and getting sicker with illnesses that range from severe breathing disorders to cardiac disease to soft tissue cancers.

In giving a forum to Kenny Specht, Ken George, John Devlin and Chris Baumann, four tireless first responders each of whom is sick with horrific illnesses, Jon Stewart provided airtime to people who have otherwise been denied a voice.

Implied in his forum was the plaintive question — is America really leaving its wounded behind to die?   The politicization of the 9/11 bill sure makes it seem that way.

All truly proud Americans must do no less than Jon Stewart and provide a forum to call-out the continued hypocrisy of invoking 9/11 on the one hand for the furtherance of political agendas and on the other — failing to provide the material support necessary to give aid and comfort to the dying.

It is shameful — and every blogger, everyone on a social networking site should do no less than Jon Stewart and dedicate a post to exposing the hypocrisy for what it is, a disgraceful blight on the memory of all of those who have died.

The link to the Jon Stewart show is here.

Are we ever really done?

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Are we ever really done?

My semester ended yesterday.  I finished it with a self-satisfied feeling of having completed something.  Last night, in a celebration of sorts, I used my free evening time to bask in the glory of evening television, hanging (and arguing) with my family, cooking dinner (well, sort of, because it meant ordering in Indian for my husband, cooking mac and cheese with peas for my daughter and reheating Tuesday’s eggplant parm for me), wrestling with our very ornery cat and starting in on the list of chores in the run-up to Christmas.

I actually wrote Christmas cards, ordered Christmas presents online (including a double of something — oops), hauled out last year’s wrapping paper, talked with my husband about how neither of us felt very Christmasy this year, and then dug through our very overstuffed closet to find the bag of ornaments for the tree we have to get one of these days.  It all got me to thinking that the crush of too much to do all the time means that simple moments tend to fall by the wayside in favor of a forced march of “have-to-get-this-done.”

In essence, my night off wasn’t a night off at all, least ways not until I figured out that I really didn’t have to get everything done in one night.  And even though my list of things to do is still pretty huge, I’ve resolved to slow down over these next few weeks; to take the moments as they are and enjoy the journey too, not just the destination.

I see the application to my boxing too.  I get in a rush and go mad for the gym and then find that I lose the knack for even getting there.  So I’m calling a moratorium on needing to overachieve everything.  Merely achieving is okay, just as being done is okay.  That means that today, even though I have a lot of chores, I’m going to give each thing its due and if something doesn’t get finished, well, that’s okay too.  It can have its own arc; its own round, and while it’s nice to fit things neatly into the equivalent of three-minute intervals, not everything in life can be experienced in that way.

 

 

My locker

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My locker

I’ve had my locker at Gleason’s Gym for several years.  I used to schlep my stuff to the gym on a daily basis and then hope that one of the loaner “day” lockers was free.   In those instances even if I found a locker, more times than not, I’d forget to bring a lock or forget something at home, say my shoes or gloves or handwraps.  The solution of course, was to make the commitment to get a locker.

At Gleason’s as at other gyms, locker space is pretty dear.  Once I’d signed up to get one, it took several months before I actually got the call to telling me that I’d been assigned one.  Those months were a time of anticipation and frankly, outright jealousy as I’d ogle the lockers of my gym mates overflowing with gear, towels and deodorant.   When I finally did get the call, I was elated — and well, anxious.

What would I put in my locker?  Would it be big enough?  Should I purchase an extra shelf as I’d seen in other lockers?  Would I have enough places to hang things?  Oh, and the lock?  What type?  Would I remember the combination?

Coming into the gym my first day after getting “the call” I felt triumphant.  I had a locker with my last name prominently pasted to the outside of the locker door.  Opening it up, I felt a rush of excitement, never mind that it was exactly like the loaner lockers I’d been using all along, it was my locker, for my stuff; a little part of the world with my name on it that stored my special things.

After several visits to the gym, my locker began to take on the character of all the others I’d seen — overflowing with gear, and hard to close on cold days what with my winter boots and huge down coat.  Still it was mine, and if missed going to the gym for long stretches of time, my gear remained safely tucked in and at the ready for me.

This weekend I cleaned out my locker in anticipation of the area being bombed to kill goodness knows what kind of insects.  One of the last to get to the gym on Saturday afternoon, I felt wistful seeing the locker room so empty.  The treat was being reunited with stuff I’d long since tucked away inside bags or other crevices.  Who knew that I had my own speed bag??  This after just having put one on my Christmas list!  I was also reunited with my favorite pair of socks which I’d assumed had long since gone to sock heaven, not to mention mouth pieces, head gear, my daughter’s gear from when she was 8 years old and used to train a lot, and even my yoga mat.

Hauling my big laundry bag of stuff home, I of course resolved to keep my locker neater as I worked out where to purchase a large mesh bag to store gear so I’d actually *know* what was in there.  Mostly though, I was able to think through individual moments at the gym and came up the big hill on Washington Street with a smile.