Friday, November 26, 2010

Day 57

     The holiday season is going by quickly while I maintain my hooping challenge. I was happy to have my overeating symptoms go away as soon as I picked up the hoop yesterday after Thanksgiving dinner. Hooping gets a lot of my emotional energy out after sad episodes happen in my life. Yesterday my grandmother died after a long battle with cancer. She had won a few times, but her third and final cancer finally got her in the end. I hooped briefly yesterday but only a small amount before bed. I know when I finally get that long hooping session going I will cry for her.
     I had a startling vision heading home today after work. My dogs have been climbing over a 7 ft. tall chain link fence corner to run around in the graveyard near our house. Sadly, my beautiful year and a half old black pit bull/bull mastiff mix Wrinkles, was hanging on the other side of the fence. He jumped over but was choked to death by his chain, which we put on him before we returned to work to keep him from getting out of the front of our fence. We figured he got out by jumping between the two walls in the corner. We didn't know he'd try to get over a wall by itself. It was horrific to see him hanging as we approached the house with his brother circling his lifeless body. His brother got out of his collar before he jumped over the fence and Wrinkles was likely trying to follow him.
     I know this must not be what you're expecting to hear in this blog. But death is real and our way of life often distracts us from it. It becomes even more real when a loved one is facing death or when you have slipped out of its grasp. Hooping helps with coping for me. I hooped when my ex broke up with me, I hooped when my grandfathers died. I have and will continue to use hooping as a means to bring comfort to my soul when I am experiencing sadness. Furthermore, I don't believe that hooping masks the sadness, by diverting my attention to athletic pursuits. Rather, I think it clears my mind and allows me to embrace the sadness. I feel it is a beautiful tribute to the lost one or to the lost self when a sad event changes who we are.
    RIP Grandma Phyllis Fahey (11/25/2010); RIP "Wrinkles" (11/26/2010)

And as for my experience, death occurs in threes. So please, everyone be extra careful :)

Accomplishments: I hooped even on a holiday! I was sure I'd be too busy but I made hooping a priority and I got it done. I also have been hooping in the cold despite not being able to grip. I realized that if my hands have moisture they don't suffer the grip loss that cold weather causes. So if you are hooping in the cold: bring some hand lotion to keep your grip on that tape (I tried just spitting on my hands every few minute - gross I know - but the wetness isn't very good for the tape.) Maybe lotion isn't either, but it sure is less gross;)

Goals:I am trying to get up earlier so I don't have to hoop in the dark at night or hoop in my house, where space is limited.  I am shifting my work duties to earlier times so that I have everything done by 2 or 3 and have a nice chunk of daylight left to hoop. I have been reinventing hoop moves that I haven't done since I began hooping. They look a lot better executed by someone who has been practicing everyday for the past 57 days!

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Day 47

     Man, last night I was on fire.Not literally, and sadly, not my hoop either. I was executing each of my moves so smoothly though. I'm surprised I'm improving steadily even though I haven't been focusing on perfecting my technique. My muscle memory must be kicking in. I think it helps that I've been avoiding using my 1/2 inch hoop also. That thing is so flimsy because it is only 110 psi. It flops around and is rather difficult to stabilize.
     I've decided to hold off NaNoWriMo because I have enough on my plate this month. Its not a challenge that'll make me feel proud to complete if I have to forfeit other priorities that are time sensitive. Though I can see how any other time in my life it would have been a big accomplishment. This month I'm too busy starting up businesses, keeping up my hooping challenge, and rearing a 10 month old to think about obligating myself to 1600 words a day of fiction. It was fun to write those first 3500 while it lasted though (My hard drive died and I've yet to see if the information was recoverable).
     I'm getting a bit more erratic with my movements. I'm excited to see if it looks sloppy or chic in a video. I have a feeling it'll look like both - no worries from me. It'll be nice to mix it up a bit. I need to do more arm hooping though. The last video I saw of myself my arms were flopping around like a flying squirrel. Its time to tone those up a bit with some lasso hooping for a few minutes on each arm.
     I'm almost half-way and I feel wonderful! I'm glad I took on this challenge. I may just keep going for another 100 days after I'm done. Or mix in some jogging to make it even more effective.
Goals:
     Find a new hooper on YouTube that inspires me. Post a video here.
Accomplishments:
     I am hooping rain or shine! I loved hooping in my big waterproof boots outside in the mist. I felt like a willow swaying in a cool swamp - with a hoop. I've began transforming my old favorite t-shirts into hoop workout shirts. I cut out the collar so that one of my shoulders is exposed - the old 80s look. This allows for one of my shoulders to be exposed and when I'm hooping on my upper body it feels like I am wearing a halter! (If you've ever hooped on your shoulders with a halter top you'd know that the grip on your skin with the hoop makes it incredibly easy to stabilize the hoop.)

     My computermust be set on uk- speak. Though I'm certain favorite is not spelled "favourite" and stabilize is not spelled "stabilise," my spellcheck seems to disagree. Tut tut...

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Day 34

I've become wonder woman by my intent to both hula hoop everyday and participate in NaNoWriMo, a novel writing community exercise in creativity. Hooping definitely gets the creative juices flowing though. However it also hones in on my word choice and now I feel lik a fool. Hoop Trilogy or Trilogy Hooping really doesn't define what I mean when I say hooping with three forms of hoopdance. I guess I should call it Trinity hooping, but its not one-in-three. I suppose its one-in-four, since it includes two minis, a standard hoop, and a weighted hoop.

Quadhooping? Sounds too strange. Regardless of my diction, I've been "at it" full force. I am almost ten pounds lighter than I was when I started this challenge, and I still have 64 more days to go! I can't wait to see the final results. I can already feel the difference in my strength and flexibility. I do regret not writing more about my journey here but I have begun a business and it takes up a great deal of my free time. Despite my work obligations I have made sure to include hooping as important, if not more so, than all of the others. I have only hooped the minimum, 15 minutes, two times in the past week. This is much more than I intended before, though. But I won't let the guilt build up in me and hold me back from completing this journey.

I realize that when I do "cheat" by only doing the minimum, I end up working twice as hard the next day to make up for it. My body yearns to let loose more and delve into that creative flow that is inhibited by only doing the minimum.

Last night I made my 30-something-day video but the battery died halfway through so I will have to try it out again soon. I like that the scenery is changing along with my videos. I can't wait to see the compiled videos when it shows the passage of time and the changing of my dance.

Last night I decided to dance with a hoop instead of the other way around. I used to dance with a hoop but it seems that the hoop has affected my dancing by making me focus more on executing moves rather than moving my body to music. I danced without the hoop, despite doing so by a lightly busy road, to enhance my hoopdance. It worked wonders.

Goals: Be thankful that hooping has come into my life by sharing it with others. I will try to start up a class with the local Parks and Rec t get other people inside the hoop.

Accomplishments: I made it this far! I want to hoop with my babygirl on my shoulders soon, it'll be a delightful image for others. I have lost a good amount of weight for my first month - more than expected. I expect that the loss will taper off as the time goes by. I am proud of my bodytemple more now than I was when I started. I love what the hoop has done for me!