Tag: water aerobics

Pools, Bees, Good Talk, and The Forty-Year-Old Version

I have taken advantage of the current heat wave to get in the pool the past two days. It has been glorious to do my regular workout before being restricted to not having a workout.

Yeah, I’m working on that.

Anyway, the pool was great! I also learned a lot. For one, I learned that the wireless headphones I got do not like when I get in the pool. They kept crapping out during my workout on Saturday, which is beyond frustrating because I use the music to keep time for my workout. Without the music, I wouldn’t know when to start or stop various parts of my workout and–more importantly–I would get bored and cut my workout short. So, the headphones not working is actually a super not great thing and not just because music is fun. The good news is that my headphones worked better on Sunday, and I honestly do not know what changed. I changed the placement of my phone, but I had done that on Saturday with no luck so, sigh. The headphones are a fickle beast. I’ll have to investigate better headphones for when the weather actually breaks because I cannot live this way.

Continue reading “Pools, Bees, Good Talk, and The Forty-Year-Old Version” →

W is for Water Aerobics #PandemicAlphabet

At the beginning of the pandemic, the Y closed, which was pretty bad, obviously, since as mentioned in previous entries, I was going to the gym 3-4 times per week for water aerobics and/or yoga and/or step aerobics (which I had recently decided to get back into because I figured I needed to do some actual exercise on land since gravity doesn’t care if you spend all of your time in the water when it’s time to reckon with moving your body on land). So, yes, I had a pretty good routine going, and I was bummed about the closing, but I decided to make the most of it and do the deal and start walking. And walking was (is!) great, really, but, you know, not the same as getting in the pool or even doing some more aerobic land exercises.

The thing is I’m pretty terrible at personal accountability when it comes to exercise on my own. The lack of structure means I can do it whenever I want, but whenever I want turns into the next day and then the next day and then the next day. I get bored easily when I work out by myself because every exercise feels like it takes a long time, so even though I intend to do an hour, I wind up just doing twenty minutes…if that. Also, the furniture is in the way and sometimes my XBox doesn’t load and on and on it goes.

Continue reading “W is for Water Aerobics #PandemicAlphabet” →

At the beginning of the pandemic, the Y closed, which was pretty bad, obviously, since as mentioned in previous entries, I was going to the gym 3-4 times per week for water aerobics and/or yoga and/or step aerobics (which I had recently decided to get back into because I figured I needed to do some actual exercise on land since gravity doesn’t care if you spend all of your time in the water when it’s time to reckon with moving your body on land). So, yes, I had a pretty good routine going, and I was bummed about the closing, but I decided to make the most of it and do the deal and start walking. And walking was (is!) great, really, but, you know, not the same as getting in the pool or even doing some more aerobic land exercises.

The thing is I’m pretty terrible at personal accountability when it comes to exercise on my own. The lack of structure means I can do it whenever I want, but whenever I want turns into the next day and then the next day and then the next day. I get bored easily when I work out by myself because every exercise feels like it takes a long time, so even though I intend to do an hour, I wind up just doing twenty minutes…if that. Also, the furniture is in the way and sometimes my XBox doesn’t load and on and on it goes.

Continue reading “W is for Water Aerobics #PandemicAlphabet” →

It’s Monday & I’ve Forgotten How to Teach #IMWAYR

No joke. I submitted grades on Saturday for the end of our spring semester. I was doing prep for my summer class that starts Wednesday, and I could not figure out what I had done in the class before. Or what I was planning to do. What are assignments? How does one organize a class? Part of it is that I’m teaching the class online for the first time. But the other part was that my brain was seriously just like, “I don’t know, man. You tell me.”

I said to my daughter OUT LOUD, “I am a terrible teacher who doesn’t know how to teach.”

f-this-im-making-meth

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It’s Tuesday. I missed posting yesterday.

I didn’t post yesterday because I crashed hard when I got home (fell asleep at 4:30, didn’t wake up until 11:30, went back to sleep at 1:30). I almost didn’t post today because I have spring breakitis (it’s a thing). However, I don’t want to miss more than one day in this self-imposed daily blogging challenge (I am already mad I missed yesterday), so here I am.

I had a host of things I planned to post about yesterday, so, of course, I cannot remember what they are now. Something about…feelings? Who knows?

Continue reading “It’s Tuesday. I missed posting yesterday.” →

Water aerobics got me out here jammin’ #SOL18

In my last post, I said I didn’t know why I was in a meh mood, but that wasn’t entirely true. It was mostly because my daughter called me earlier that day and said she wasn’t coming to visit during spring break, and I was disappointed. And it definitely wasn’t Daylight Saving Time. I love DST! THIS IS MY TIME.

Anyway, I’m obviously in a better mood today.

I finally went back to the gym after missing for travel and being sick, and I just want to say how much I enjoy the Tuesday night water aerobics class. First of all, it has music. Second of all, the instructor matches the music to the exercise. Third of all, all of the music is fun, so it’s just a magical time all around.

water aerobics
I look nothing like this while doing water aerobics (source)

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Lessons Learned for Next Time #sol17

No pie for me yesterday, alas. The pie crust I had in the refrigerator was no good, and I was not going to the store.

So, a couple of interesting things happened yesterday.

1. All but five of my students in my comp class DID NOT do the reading. Now, I know it was the first class session after break (on TUESDAY mind you), but ugh. It makes me so angry when that happens. Especially since the reading and homework were all I had planned to discuss for the day.

This has happened once before, so I did what I did then: I made the students who didn’t do the reading stay in the classroom and write an essay on why they needed to come prepared to class. Then, I took the handful of students that did the reading out into the common area and held class with them.

When I got back to the classroom, I collected the essays and threw them in the trash. (Yes, in front of the students.)

In retrospect, I’m a kinder person now then I was the first time so I think I could have handled it differently. Namely, I would have had them read the essay and finish the homework. The instruction time was lost, but I still could have caught them up.

I mean, giving them an opportunity to see how it feels to waste class time is still a badass move, but it’s not in line with my goals as an instructor.

Oh well. Maybe next time.

2. I was supposed to meet with one of my ministers, but he stood me up. After waiting twenty minutes, he finally contacted me after he realized he completely spaced on our appointment. Later that day, though, I ran into him at the gym. (Small town living, am I right?) Anyway, we then held an impromptu meeting in the swimming pool during my water aerobics class since we were both there and had the time.

Busy people: we take the time where we can find it.

Anyway, next time, I think I’ll remind someone I’m on my way before an appointment, so they can either be where they’re supposed to be or let me know if things have changed.

Slice of Life is a writing challenge hosted by Two Writing Teachers.
Slice of Life is a writing challenge hosted by Two Writing Teachers.

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Why do you whine like you’re running out of time? #sol17

Although I did everything I planned to today, I feel like this day just got away from me.

Since today is the last day of break (weekends are for prep…and the grading I didn’t finish), I didn’t force myself to get out of bed for 9 a.m. gym. This turned out to be a mistake. The 10 o’clock class had a sub, and the class was nothing like I was expecting or wanting. The sub’s pacing was all wrong, and she kept talking to the class like we didn’t understand what was going on. (This may be because she’s a regular aerobics teacher and not a water aerobics teacher. But I could be wrong.) It was very bizarre.

I tried to get my mind right and relax into it, but I just could not get with it, so I wound up leaving after about fifteen minutes. Then, I realized I could make it to 11 o’clock yoga so went home, changed my clothes, and then headed to the other gym for yoga. Which was fine, but threw my schedule off.

Everything after that went pretty much as planned, but I didn’t get any significant couch time in until after 4 p.m., which is just not right for this, my last Friday before it’s back to the grind.

Slice of Life is a writing challenge hosted by Two Writing Teachers.
Slice of Life is a writing challenge hosted by Two Writing Teachers.

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When the Student Becomes the Teacher #sol17

Today (yesterday, technically, but this will post after midnight) was the Day Without a Woman strike event, and since I’m on break, I decided to strike from obligation and running errands. I also chose to engage in radical self-care, which meant doing stuff for myself without thinking for one minute about anybody else. (This included staying off social media for my own sanity.) I had planned to go to a local event, but I had already given my daughter permission to use the car and then I fell asleep before my friend got back to me about giving me a ride (and it turned out I had the wrong number anyway).

This morning, I went to the gym, and the water aerobics instructor is getting over a cold, so her voice was pretty low and she said talking was kind of hard for her–especially the projecting she usually does to teach the class. So, since all of us were regulars, we all took turns describing each of the motions we were doing, using the terms and language she usually does. Sometimes we would also add in our own little tidbits (e.g., one woman shouting “Don’t be a wimp!” when we were doing triceps).

I look nothing like this while doing water aerobics (source)

The instructor said it was one of the best classes she ever had, and she was so glad we were there that day. She was especially pleased to know that we actually listened to her when she talked. She did say, though, that she was very happy she couldn’t hear what we were thinking during class given some of the ad libs we threw in.

Slice of Life is a writing challenge hosted by Two Writing Teachers.
Slice of Life is a writing challenge hosted by Two Writing Teachers.

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Catching up on one thing, at least: Monday reading

I didn’t post last week because, although I finished a book, I didn’t know what I was going to read next. Like, I honestly had no clue. My work schedule is so hectic (I’m teaching an overload, so six classes instead of my usual five) that my brain is mostly mush–not to mention I’m behind on everything. And by everything, I mean EVERY SINGLE THING. It is maddening. And unlike with my usual beginning of semester behind on everythingness, I’m not really seeing a light at the end of the tunnel.

As the kids say, it me. source)
As the kids say: it me. (source)

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E is for Exercise

Wait…what?

It’s true. I’m a fan of exercise.

 

get down and break a sweat (via giphy)
get down and break a sweat (via giphy)

 

One of the cruel truths of getting older is that almost every ailment can be cured–or at least improved–by changing your diet and exercising. I was having pretty bad stomach issues for a while, and the only thing that really helped was exercising. Whenever my stomach got upset, I would go to the pool (water aerobics, baby!) and when the class was over, I felt better. Every single time.

I mean, I hate Zumba, but course prep had me SO STRESSED OUT that I went to a Zumba class. And it helped.

So now that I think of exercise as a form of therapy, I am much more amenable to it.

So yeah. I’m a fan.

A to Z 2016

For the A to Z challenge, I’ll be blogging about fannish pursuits (aka things I’m a fan of or have strong feelings about). Tune in tomorrow to see what I picked for F!