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Change of plan
I arrived for my blood donation this afternoon and filled out the paperwork required. When I turned it in, the reception person asked if I’d be interested in doing a plasma donation instead. I guess the local supplies are quite low at the moment. For some reason she didn’t have any information about my having donated plasma before. It didn’t require too much change of plan aside from the fact it took a lot longer than a simple blood draw requires. The first two times they only took something like 700 ml of plasma but this time it was increased to something like 825. The previous times, there were three sessions of the blood being drawn and separated but this time it became four. And the last session’s draw was quite short but it seemed to take much longer than the other ones. The place was fairly busy when I arrived but I was the only one there when I finished. I guess it was a slow afternoon. I won’t give a full blood donation until July but did book in to do plasma in another month.
I still haven’t been able to re-enrol for my tai chi class online because the class I want is still showing as sold out. It seems unlikely this is really the case so I contacted the owner again tonight for the second time to clarify that there is still space in the class. I find it hard to imagine otherwise but there could be people joining with discount vouchers, I suppose. I have suggested to her that I book in with a different class instead and sort out the day later on.
We didn’t end up trying the new board games this evening after all. By the time all the coming and going was over and food was eaten, it was getting late. Looks like it may have to wait for the weekend as I will be out tomorrow and we have some dvds to watch from a video service we are trialling (for the second time now!). Â As we weren’t going to play games, I decided to retry the iPad version of Caylus and see if I could get an understanding of the game play. I got through two games and finally feel I have some idea of what I am doing. I still need to work out some of the finer points but at least I feel I am in the game now. :) Â I have a few other games on the iPad that I am trying to learn too, along with others that are the same as games we already play (Carcassone, Settlers of Cataan, Ticket to Ride, etc).
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Random stuff
I’m due to donate blood again tomorrow with a full blood donation. It actually seems a long time now since my plasma donation in February, which seems to be a good thing, I think. Maybe I will increase my plasma donations since I am feeling okay about it. I did manage to get through gym workouts yesterday (just) and today (comfortably) so I will be taking tomorrow off while I give blood. I’ve also decided to do cardio workouts only for a few days to give my body a bit more time to recover from all the new workouts I’ve been trying.
My tai chi class finished for this term this evening and I will be on to level six next term. As I was telling the Scientist, it feels really great to feel up to speed on the moves at the end of term for a change. Usually it takes until well into the following term before I start to get a real handle on new moves. Next term will be mostly moves I know but will be done on the opposite side. I imagine this will be a big challenge for me, particularly because there are a lot more moves to work on each week this time. But there are a few new moves to look forward to and at the end of next term I’ll be done with level six…which means I will know all the moves in the tai chi set (108 ). I went to re-enroll for next term online and my usual location says it’s sold out of spaces. I find this rather difficult to believe as there aren’t that many people attending regularly right now so surely there is still space. I also wanted to do a workshop focusing on level four and that wasn’t available at all in my choices. I sent an email to the owner and she has already replied saying she was going to rectify the problems and to try again tomorrow.
There are appointments to take Game Fanatic to this week on two afternoons. We see his clinical psychologist on Wednesday and it’s on to the psychiatrist he saw last month to continue the assessment for autism. I was a bit perplexed last time we saw the clinical psych as he seemed concerned about fitting GF into the current criteria for autism due to the fact he had no language delays. The language criteria in place currently does not require a delay but does require one or two other criteria to be met. Lego Lover was diagnosed without a language delay so I don’t see the issue. Apparently the new criteria, which goes into effect with the new DSM V next month, isn’t a problem for diagnosis…Since it’s likely to take that long to reach the conclusion of this process, I suppose it doesn’t matter in the long run.
We seem to be in a bit of an autumn heatwave right now. Today the temperature unexpectedly reached 37.6 locally which is somewhere close to the 100F. Apparently the heat will continue through the week. Just when we thought the new air conditioner will start being run less regularly, we are getting a full test of it’s ability to cool the house in summer conditions. Not to mention higher electricity bills…
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Tonight the Scientist and I went to our tai chi class as is usual on a Monday night. This is week eight of ten for this term and I finished learning all the moves for level five. The next two weeks will just be spent revising and “perfecting” the moves. I have one more level to complete before I’ve learned the entire long form of tai chi. It’s amazing to realise I now know almost all the moves that seemed so overwhelming back at the beginning. After I finish level six next term, both the Scientist and I will switch to the advanced class.
It’s another rainy night here in Perth. That makes two in one month! Apparently the temperature will be quite cool tomorrow and the recommendation is to dress just a bit more warmly than usual for this time of year. Lego Lover has a dentist appointment in early afternoon in Perth, then we will head down to Fremantle to see the Queen Mary 2 ship while it’s in town. He wants to travel by bus and train but it depends on conditions and on whether he wakes up early enough in the morning. Â I’m hoping the rain eases a bit by the time we get there but the latest forecast showed rain continuing well into the day. Whatever the conditions, I’m sure we will adapt. :)
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Wobbly
I definitely overdid the exercise yesterday and my muscles all felt so tired today. It was still the same when I went to tai chi tonight and my legs felt a bit like jelly as I wobbled along. I made it through the class and even think I managed my new moves pretty well today. In class tonight, I received a certificate recognising my achievement in completing three of the six levels of the program. It’s only taken three terms to reach that point but I am here and looking forward to getting another certificate once I’ve complete all six basic levels.
I finished off the last of the curries from Game Fanatic’s curry feast on Friday at lunch today. All that was left were a vegetable korma and curried chickpeas with spinach so I cooked a bit of rice and made a salad and had way too much food. It was still pretty tasty even though I’m not really that fond of korma curries.
I’ll be donating blood tomorrow afternoon if all goes well. After that I will be picking up my new glasses which is kind of exciting since I’ve had this pair for five years or more. The new ones are similar to what I already have except the new ones will have an anti-glare coating which apparently is better on the eyes. I will reserve judgement on that as it was another add-on charge for some fairly expensive glasses. Less expensive single vision lenses are now a distance memory for me, just as contact lenses are.
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Return to tai chi
I’ve been sick with a bad cold since the middle of last week so haven’t had a lot to say lately. I think my first sign of this cold appeared the night before when I started feeling lightheaded and had a touch of vertigo. At the time I was more concerned with another attack of vertigo. I should be glad it’s not the flu as we’re in the middle of a pandemic where 10 people have already died this winter in our state. The peak of the season isn’t until next month so we are still at risk of it hitting out house.
I’m due to start a new term of tai chi tonight after taking time off to heal from surgery. I decided to redo level three this time since I never quite grasped it properly back in term one. I would be fine when working on each new move each week. But putting them altogether just didn’t happen and with the break I just felt hopelessly behind. This decision took away some stress and anxiety that I didn’t need and will take some burden off me while I’m still having to adjust for limitations caused by my knee.
Post tai chi
I managed to complete the entire class tonight and didn’t fall on my face. So I guess that could be considered a success. It was odd to be doing the class now instead of the observations from last term. And I was curious to find myself experiencing painful feet while doing the warm up exercises, which is much like I experienced almost every week during my first term of the class last year. I’m not sure if this is due to chance, my new shoes or if it’s related to the tai chi, but it is interesting and I’m curious if it will be the same next week. The biggest workout for me was the footwork we did before the lesson as it really worked many of my weaker knee muscles. I might start adding that into my home practice as a means to build up my knee. The actual lesson went pretty well although my knee buckled early on and I took a very short break before carrying on. One other lady was working on my level tonight and she was struggling so much she has opted to go back and repeat level two. Unless someone turns up next week for this level, I may well be on my own for this term. Which has it’s good and bad points. Will see what happens. I was also pleased my body didn’t decide to go into a coughing spasm during class too. Now I’m home and ready to collapse but hopefully it will mean a better sleep than the past few nights.
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Tai chi
Back in late July or early August, I started taking a tai chi class with the Scientist and his mum. This all came about after I saw an offer to get four lessons for $19 on one of the new daily deal websites. The deal also offered a discount on the the remaining term should we continue on. We missed out on the first week of lessons last term but got right into it from week two.
I can’t say it’s been smooth sailing for me during the class. Some weeks I would go well in the class but others I found rather difficult. Mostly it’s been foot movements giving me the most trouble, although I found myself going blank quite frequently on the hand movements towards the end of the first term. I was seriously considering repeating the first level although the idea of starting at the very beginning didn’t appeal to me. My goal was to practice during the term break but then I had knee problems due to my subluxating kneecap.
I eventually did get in some decent practice the last couple of days before the new term started so wasn’t in terrible shape when we went back last week. I had purchased a dvd created by our instructor and while it has its problems, it did help with work on some moves. The first class for level two went far better than I expected. The last couple of moves that had really troubled me last term were suddenly feeling a lot better during the class. I still have trouble with moving my feet so that my body stays in balance but I guess I will get there.
The new move last week seemed quite difficult and complicated when we first started but didn’t seem so overwhelming by the end. I also found that moving from the previous moves into the new one was quite pleasing so maybe there is hope for some proficiency. I did find my knee was quite sore by the end of the class though. I hadn’t realised how much I use it during these movements until I’d put it through the paces for an hour.
The real test will come in the next weeks when we will be learning two moves each week. I’m hoping I am up for the challenge. Also, we now have four family members taking the class with the Scientist’s brother starting this term.
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Moving the body
I had been exercising kind of regularly when we got the puppies but that kind of stopped once they were in the house. Their pen/crates/other stuff rather took over the games room space where the Xbox and tv are and shifting things around was a rather major undertaking. But I stopped using that excuse a couple of weeks ago and spent half an hour clearing the space, rolling up the cheap piece of linoleum and vacuuming the carpet. This endeavor was made easier by the fact that we extended the space they inhabit as they both could easily jump the pen.
So once I got a bit of a workout making space for a workout, I decided to use the Dance Central program for the first day and that went pretty well. I found I was a bit rusty on some of the movements but improved with a bit of practice. The second day I went back to the Your Shape Evolution program and ended up quite sore for a couple days afterwards. The same thing happened when I first used this program and it put me off returning to it for quite a while. I do find once I have used it once or twice that I am much better unless I overdo my workout.
I have discovered there are quite a few different workouts available on this program although I don’t think it caters to the overweight and extremely unfit users all that well. I am sure many would be totally put off continuing the program after a single workout. Before I got too far into it, I set up the program to connect with my Ubisoft Uplay account so that I can track information from my computer. What’s offered is still rather basic but I’m hoping this will be extended over time. I discovered a new version of this program is being released which includes warm up and cool down routines. I’ve noticed that none of the programs I’ve used so far have included this part of a workout so it’s about time this was included. How irresponsible to do a workout program and leave out some of the most important parts.
I’ve been using the program 3-4 times a week for a couple of weeks now and have started to notice some changes. The workouts I’ve been doing have focused a lot on abdominal and lower body with lots of squat exercises. I usually find the squat exercises really aggravate my knee problems but have gotten through this without any major dramas so far. I’ve already noticed that some of my muscles are getting stronger, which always feels like an accomplishment.
One really good result of the little bit of exercise has been a reduction in my fasting blood glucose levels over the past week. This has been the usual result with exercise most of the time I’ve been checking but I found they weren’t coming down very well earlier this year, whether I was getting regular exercise or not.
Aside from this exercise, the Scientist, his mum and I have been taking a tai chi class at the beach for the past term. The Scientist learned some tai chi when we were in Canada a decade ago but hadn’t returned to practice until now. It’s been an interesting experience to be learning this so far as it’s not something that can be rushed. We learned one move each week for the first eight weeks and the past two weeks have been consolidation of what we learned. But I am still rather unsure of myself and seriously considering repeating the first level of classes next term if I’m still struggling once we start back in a few weeks. I’m hoping practice will get me over a lot of the difficulties I’m having as starting right at the beginning is likely to be quite frustrating.