September 13, 2013
by BulgingButtons 8 Comments

Getting my Fight On

The other night I finally got my first boxing lesson. It’s been in the works since July, when I bought my fabulous pink boxing gloves. I was informed that we needed a few other items before we could begin. No problem. Contact pads and kick pad purchased, jump rope unearthed. Check, check, and check. I was ready and willing. At last, we found a time to begin.

The lesson was held on the back patio. It’s a very small patio, so a lounge chair had to be temporarily relocated. Furniture moved. Check. Ok, at last! Now I get to hit!

Uh, no. Not yet.

First I had to jump rope. Yes, really. Do you have any idea how much I weigh? A lot! It takes a tremendous amount of effort to get this bulk free from gravity’s pull, even for a moment. Then there’s the whole coordination thing. I’m not so great at that. I have jumped rope before, but I don’t remember it being so difficult. I would get 4 or 5 jumps in a row, then miss. My longest streak was 14. That’s pitiful.

Not only do I suck at jumping rope, jumping rope causes me to suck. Suck wind, that is. Wowie zowie. It’s way harder than I remember, and I was huffing and puffing like crazy. It was way harder than swimming or walking the treadmill. My trainer actually began to feel sorry for my uncoordinated butt and just had me jump, sans rope.

Eventually, mercifully, the jumping portion of the workout ended. I could have thrown in the towel right there, but I was told to get the gloves on, so how could I quit?

Once they were on, I was given a lesson on posture. Then I was taught how to jab and hit. You know what? I really like it. I like the motion and the sound and the contact. I like feeling the energy move through my body, then exit through my fist.

My lesson didn’t last long, but after the jumping torture it was incredibly fun. Take a note, I actually liked this form of exercise.

The big surprise, however, was yet to be revealed. It was two days later that I discovered muscles in parts of my torso that I thought were so deeply covered in fat that they would never function again. That discomfort reminded me (with every move) that I really did do something good. It wasn’t all a dream.

September 12, 2013
by BulgingButtons 2 Comments

Daily Passion Prompt 8

TODAY’S QUESTION

Which five websites do you visit most often?

Oh good! An easy one.

1. This one. http://www.bulgingbuttons.wordpress.com . Yep, it’s my go to website, although not my homepage.

2. Google. This is my homepage at home, and I use it for all sorts of things, just like you do. Work, play, images, directions, phone numbers. You know how to use google, I don’t need to tell you.

3. An educational portal for my students called eboard. This one is my homepage at work. On it I put weekly spelling and vocabulary words, links to websites I want them to visit, messages for parents, and other general information. I update it weekly, based on our curriculum. There is an annual fee for this site, but I’ve been using it for several years and have tons of information on there that I use annually, so for me it’s worth every penny.

4. Facebook. Yep. I’m not proud.

5. Pinterest. See number 4.

September 11, 2013
by BulgingButtons 3 Comments

Talking So Much I’m Losing My Voice

So here’s my latest conundrum: I’ve been writing these daily passion prompt pieces, and publishing something new every day. So, you may ask, why is that a conundrum? ( I just love the word conundrum, how exciting to get to write it three times in three sentences!) Well, here’s the issue. As I respond to these questions, I focus on what the prompt is asking me. This is fine. It’s even a good thing. After all, that’s the whole point of having prompts. But as I focus on these prompts, they tend to take me away from the things on which I really want to focus.

I’m here to get my act together. I’m here to get healthy and fit and try to have a little fun along the way. I’m here to write and blog and publish and learn how to cultivate an audience and focus my thoughts (I know… Not my strong suit). I like challenges, and so far I’m seven days into a thirty-nine day challenge. I know I can complete the challenge. I can produce thirty-nine responses to questions designed to help me lead a better and more fulfilling life. And I want to do it. I want to start something and successfully finish it. Not that I’m a slacker. I’m not. But I’m starting to question whether I should keep writing these daily passion prompts. I’m starting to wonder if they’re actually diluting the quality of my writing and taking me away from the reasons I started blogging to begin with.

What I really want to write about now is my first boxing lesson. The problem is, the more I write the less I feel like anyone is reading. I fear I’m becoming white noise. Background music. Something that always just sort of buzzes around, but you feel like you can’t keep up with it, so you stop even trying. I don’t want that. I want to write pieces that are fresh and real. I want them to be full of humor or raw emotion or pain or triumph. I think maybe I need to stop talking so much or I’ll lose not only my audience, but my own true voice.