The Agony of Defeat
Posted on September 25, 2011 by Ching under Life.
Brian and I went bowling at The Alley today. We got exactly 5 games within an hour and a half. As you know, we never just bowl for the sake of bowling. We always make a wager. This time we had $100 to spend “any way you like” at stake. I was pretty confident after the first game when I beat Brian 147 to 126. I figured this was going to be a piece of cake. He surprised me by kicking my ass on our second game, though. He bowled a 160 to my measly 139.
After the second game, we were tied at 286 pins total. I knew then that Brian wasn’t going to make it easy. Anyway, I didn’t bowl as well as I normally do and ended up with a whole bunch of splits and a whole bunch of open frames. Although, I did pick up several splits. I lost track of how many. A couple of them were really tough ones. I got a baby split later in the came and, after all of the tough ones that I got earlier in the evening, I told Brian that it was going to be a piece of cake to pick it up. I got a spare, sure enough.
The scores for our third game were 147 to 142 in my favor. I was only up by 5 pins at this point. It was such a close and exciting game. Just the way I like it. I pulled ahead in the fourth game, 155 to 124. About halfway through the fourth game, a family showed up on the lane next to ours. Brian and I can get pretty competitive so I think they were amused. Brian explained that we had a wager. We were on the fifth game at this point and he was kicking my ass. The dad looked at me and said, “My money is on you.” LOL. I think part of it was that I was up about 30 pins after the last round and I look like a pro whenever I bowl. I’m a little biased, but I think I have pretty good form and good follow through (thanks to my dad, who taught me how to bowl properly). As opposed to Brian who has this unorthodox bowling style of lofting the ball almost halfway through the lane. He gets a lot of strikes for someone who bowls so sloppily, though. I guess it works.
I got pretty confident after the fourth game because of my lead. I was actually already thinking of how I would spend my $100. Brian got it in gear on the fifth game though. He got several strikes and was picking up his spares. He was really trying his best to make up the difference and appeared to be succeeding.
I was really sweating it halfway through our last game because Brian was kicking butt and I was bowling a pretty mediocre, borderline sucky game. I guess that is what happens when you become complacent. He finished the fifth game with a score of 178 versus my 145. Our totals were 733 to 730. I got him by 3 pins! Our averages came out to 146.6 for me and 146.0 for Brian. He almost got me. It was a close game. I loved it!
We played some arcade games afterwards. I kicked his ass some more at NBA Hoops. Then he was like, “Let’s go find a game I can beat you at.” LOL. So we played some Time Crisis. Of course he won. I suck at shooting games. We also played Guitar Hero. It was kind of expensive. It cost 4 tokens per person and it only let you play one song. We didn’t play any more of it because we figured we could just go home and play it for free.
Brian wanted to play the motorcycle game, but I wasn’t dressed for it (short skirt). We ended up playing Deal or No Deal and Skee-Ball instead. Mostly just for tickets. At the end of the evening, we didn’t have enough tickets for anything substantial but I did have enough to leave with some loot. I got a rubber bowling pin for me (which I’m going to have Brian draw a face on), a little gray rubber alien for Brian, a little notepad and a pencil. All in all, it was a fun night.
P.S. I think I know what I’m going to spend my $100 on already. 😉
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Party on the Plaza – Oktoberfest
Posted on September 24, 2011 by Ching under Events.
Brian and I had a great time at Newman University’s fundraising event, Party on the Plaza – Oktoberfest. I’m really glad that we got to attend.
The Newman folks did a great job organizing the event. I even liked the idea of playing specific songs to signal when each table should take their turn at the buffet line. I thought it was a great idea for a wedding reception. I can’t wait to try it out!
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Health Update
Posted on September 24, 2011 by Ching under Health.
The medical bills continue to pile in. The credit card is definitely getting a good workout. I suspect there will be more to come as time progresses. I’ve always felt blessed with good health. It’s ironic that I’m having to go to the doctor so much these days. This is definitely a reality check. For those of you reading this, take care of yourselves. Do not take your body for granted.
No word yet from Dr. Zayour. We were hoping we would get an answer by the end of this week. No such luck. Brian said that could be both good or bad. Good in that there isn’t anything so pressing that they have to contact us right away. Or, it could be very bad that they have to double and triple check stuff before they break the bad news to me. As for me, I think it could be just that they are backlogged and haven’t been able to get to my test results.
On the bright side, I hit 120 lbs yesterday. It took me a couple of weeks but, by golly, I did it. John challenged me to drop from 124 lbs to 120 lbs about a couple of weeks ago. He wanted me to drop 4 lbs in one week, which is a huge challenge for me. My weight-loss has been so gradual so far that I usually only drop about a pound a week. I was so happy when I stepped on the scale last night and saw 120 lbs for the first time in years. I’m also glad that I was able to do it despite some nutritional challenges like meetings and work functions. I think my Invisalign probably made a difference. It is such a hassle that I honestly do not feel like eating. It’s working like an appetite suppressant in some ways.
So last night was my final personal training appointment. Those 24 sessions went by really quick (about three months). I think it was because I was seeing John twice or sometimes three times a week, whenever my schedule would get wonky. We didn’t get to my original target weight of 115 lbs but, amazingly enough, I don’t feel like a failure. On our very first session, when we were talking about goals I told him that I wasn’t really as concerned about what the scale said as much as just looking and feeling better in general (which I think I have achieved). He told me that I will probably look and feel better at 120 lbs with some muscle tone than I ever did at 115 lbs. Now that I’m at that point, he is absolutely right. I feel really good about the progress I’ve made.
I’m still about 20 lbs heavier than when Brian and I first met, but I don’t think I want to be 100 lbs again. My new goal that I’ve been working toward halfway through our training and these last few weeks is 110 lbs. I’m hoping to lose ten more pounds by the end of the year. I think I can do it. So anyway, even if my days are numbered, at least I’m going to look absolutely freakin’ fantastic at my funeral.
Kidding aside, with renewed focus on my health, I’ve added a couple of things to my Amazon wishlist. Once the credit card is caught up (which may not be for a while – ugh), I want to get an Omron BP785 Upper Arm Blood Pressure Monitor
John and I came up with a workout plan last night to help me lose the last 10 lbs that I want to get rid of, but that’s really a pretty loose target. I will try my best, but I’m not going to cry if I’m not at 110 lbs by the end of the year. Mostly I deal with lbs when I’m trying to lose weight because it’s easy to step on a scale and get a figure. I don’t take it too seriously, though. I’m planning on scheduling another fitness assessment with Jodi in January to see where I’m at (here’s the results of my last one, in case you are curious) and then schedule one annually each January after that. She does the skin folds test using calipers so it’s more accurate than an Omron device, which can easily be affected by your level of hydration for that day/moment.
Anyway, the future looks bright. I feel blessed to have lived a wonderful life so far and look forward to many years of good health and beautiful memories ahead of me. Have a fantastic weekend, everyone!
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My Day Today
Posted on September 20, 2011 by Ching under Events.
I actually got to eat real food tonight. I needed it too, because all I had for lunch was a shake. They served food at our meeting today, but the schedule was so tight that the meeting continued through lunch. I’m glad I brought a shake because there wasn’t enough time to take off my Invisalign braces, eat, brush my teeth and put them back in. The shake was actually pretty filling. That’s because we’re back to using V-CORE. The other stuff we tried really wasn’t as good.
I left work early to make my 4 pm appointment with Dr. Zayour, the endocrinologist that Dr. Hane referred me to. He was really funny. Everything was great until he sent me to the lab to get my blood drawn. Yuck. I hate needles. The nurse who drew my blood Angelita is from Cebu and was really good. She carefully searched for a vein (it took work because my veins are tiny and hard to find) instead of poking around. She made the process pretty painless.
BTW, my blood pressure today was 100/60, weight was 122 lbs, and height still 4’11” unfortunately. But I digress… After my blood was drawn they were able to squeeze me in downstairs for a neck sonogram. I’m glad that they were able to do it the same day so that I don’t have to take more time off work. I’m hoping to hear back from Dr. Zayour by the end of the week. He didn’t really want to say too much today because he didn’t want to freak me out and cause me to worry. I do know that my entire thyroid is enlarged, both the left and the right side. Except, the right side is way more enlarged than the left. I had originally thought that only the right side was problematic. In a way, I’m kind of glad that the two sides are unevenly enlarged. Otherwise, I might have never noticed that there was something wrong with me.
After the doctor we had a bit of time to run home and check the mail. I took the opportunity to take off my Invisalign braces so I could enjoy dinner. I had volunteered to attend several weeks ago, before my Invisalign appointment that I had totally spaced out. At least it’s getting easier to take the braces off. It could be because my nails have grown back some. They’re nearly impossible to take off without the aid of your nails.
The Goodwill Industries annual dinner and awards ceremony was nice. The speaker was Carl Hall. You might remember him from the Extreme Home Makeover back in April. I’m really glad I had the opportunity to attend. The dinner was held at the ballroom of Wichita Marriott, which reminded me of the Filipino balls. It might be time to start attending again. Although, I don’t know if I’m ready for the barrage of “Do you have any babies yet?” questions again. We actually got that from Angelita today. I don’t know why I was surprised. Whenever I meet a fellow Filipino, that’s almost a given. She pretty much said the same stuff that Iaonnis did a few weeks ago about how Brian and I would have pretty babies. Brian and I just laughed. A bit later when we found out that she’d been in the area for several years and were wondering how we’d never met before now, she asked if we ever went to any of the Filipino parties. I said, “No. We quit going because they kept asking us when we would have babies.” I feel like I have turrets sometimes. I just can’t help being brutally honest.
BTW, we ran into one of Brian and Kevin’s friends at the dinner who works for Goodwill Industries. That was nice. There were a lot of awards at the dinner so we didn’t get home until about 9 pm. We came home to a nice surprise, though. GLEE is back! I love, love, love that show. I’m glad we got it on DVR because Brian and I both spaced out the season premier.
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My Billboard
Posted on September 19, 2011 by Brian under Projects.
Here is my first ever Billboard Art. I was very honored to be asked to do this for my Dad and the Kansas Museum of Military History.
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