Timeline of Accomplishment

Okay. So I ... uh... I think the best way to do this is timeline-style, with short summaries of each day. Let’s start with last Monday:

Monday

DDP Yoga: Energy! (Full workout)
Simple workout now and definitely looking forward to something other than the Energy! workout. Since I’m used to it, I try to get better at each move. When doing the slow ct pushup I either put my left foot flat on the ground, or I cross my feet to protect the almost healed big toe. I feel too wimpy doing the pushups on my knees. No workout Tuesday.

On this day, I played hookie from work so that myself and the Pelcom guys can finally throw the garbage out of the batcave. The funniest thing was… remember that I told them that I evicted the guy that was squatting in there because I didn’t want them knowing I was living there? Well the Pelcom guys had some very interesting things to say about “that guy”. They would say things like:

“This guy was definitely into drugs.”
“I can’t believe someone lived like this!”
“Fucking bum, dude.”

I didn’t blame them because, after all, who wouldn’t think the same when they see someone living like this for 6 years:

So I didn’t get mad or anything, but I found it difficult to keep a straight face as they basically called me a bum and a drug user without knowing. In the end, the basement was finally clean.

As Clean As Can Be 

Clean(er) Bathroom floor, ready for tiling

Tuesday

I played hookie from work again. Had to open the door for the Pelcom guys to install the 2 windows I got from Lowes. I wanted to get all 6 windows from them, but they didn’t have the correct sizes so I had to special order them from another place. The 4 special-ordered windows will be here by the second week of July. In the meanwhile, the Pelcom guys annoyingly showed up two hours late, but did a good job installing the windows.

Wednesday

DDP Yoga: Fat Burner (Full workout)
Finally, something other than the Energy! workout. Fat Burner was not easy, as it incorporates most of the positions in Energy!, but repeats the strenuous exercises like the pushups and this weird type of squatting Diamond Cutter. This workout basically clinched it for me. DDP Yoga works. I’m losing weight at a decent pace, my puffy cheeks are almost gone, and I was able to do a workout even after not getting enough sleep Tuesday night. P90X and other impact workouts work too, but I’m no longer interested in the “high-impact quick results” workouts. It’s unnecessary wear and tear on the bones, and seeing results too quickly is what causes many people to relapse and gain weight again. After all, why would one exhibit self-control when they know a couple days of P90X can burn those calories off? I don’t wanna live that kind of life… No workout Thursday

On this day, I had Sha come and show me how to tile floors. Having Sha as an instructor is… not the best. Having Sha as an instructor for something that requires me to be on my knees was almost disastrous. The first half hour was Sha and I trading dick jokes. The next hour was spent getting tools that I didn’t know I needed. Like the fact that the notches on my trowel were too big and square, so we had to get the V-notched 3/16 by ¼. Once we got all the materials, Sha mixed the mortar and did a couple tiles. Then I did some. Getting on my knees and bending over to spread the mortar, I saw a flash with Sha saying, “Oh, you have no idea how long I’ve been waiting for this!” Don’t get me wrong: I find it funny now. But at the time it was a little much so I told him to get serious. Once he got the dick jokes out of his system, he finally showed me everything I needed to know.

Mortar Spread

Tiling Class is finished for the day

He also dispelled some myths, like the one about starting at the center when tiling. Starting at the center means that I would have to cut tiles for 4 possible sides. But f I start at a corner, then I only have 2 sides to cut tiles for. Anyway, after I placed in 13 tiles we called it a day and rewarded ourselves:

My first time eating smoked wings. Best wings I've ever tasted and low in calories. On the bad side, the charcoal is high in carcinogens, so not as good for me as I would've hoped

Thursday

This was the big day. I was dead tired when I got back from work, as I hadn’t gotten good sleep all week. Despite the lesson I learned from my Afternoon Nap post, I went to sleep even though I knew I had tiling to do. After a short nap, I just laid in bed for a couple hours trying to get more sleep. Seeing that wasn’t gonna happen, I started tiling at around 6:30pm, 4 hours later than I had planned. Mixing the mortar took about an hour, because I put the water in first, followed by the mortar. It’s supposed to be the other way around so that I don’t waste any mortar, but I didn’t give a shit. And it worked, getting straight up to the top with rich wonderful mortar!

5 gallons of mortar mixed in one hour

I started tiling at 7:30pm and didn’t stop until 12:15am. I was tired but I didn’t give a shit. I just kept going and going and going. It was awesome and I’m proud to say that I finished tiling the bathroom… for now:

Uneven tiling due to the floor, but better than cement flooring

Can't complete the sides until the Pelcom guys put in the new wood panel and the bathroom sink

Friday

DDP Yoga: Fat Burner (Full Workout)
It’s getting more and more difficult to notice how funny DDP looks with his bleached white teeth and his dumb wrestler voice. Nevertheless, this was a great workout as they modified a lot of the Energy! exercises to make them more challenging, like the Broken Table crunches. Sweat was pouring and I’m getting better at consistent dynamic resistance.

This Friday I had nothing else to do except work the two jobs. They have me work with a new guy at the shipping depot and he’s the best guy I’ve ever worked with at that god-forsaken place. He keeps his mouth shut and does his job, leaving me free to collect my thoughts and plan things without some hillbilly co-worker bothering me about the drama in his/her life. I hope this guys stays for a while because the shipping depot is a lot easier to work with him around.

So there we have it. I said I was gonna finish tiling the bathroom and I did. I answered the question I posed in the last post, and I am officially the real deal. Unfortunately that’s about all the tiling I can do for now. I want the Pelcom guys to come in next week and finish the apartment entirely before I finish the tiles. The fact that the floor is uneven means that some tile will crack if too much pressure is put on it. With the Pelcom guys doing most of the heavy work next week, it’s a smarter move to wait until they’re done before tiling. It’s also important to note that I should not have tiled the bathroom first, since it’s the entrance to the apartment. It will have the most traffic, so I should have started elsewhere. But I can live with that error. The most important thing is that I passed the test I set for myself. Me. King. God…

P.S.: I double checked to make sure I wasn’t being lazy and using the Pelcom guys as an excuse not to finish the tiling. It’s simply a smarter move.