Pics for Rugged Maniac - Round Two

all clean and ready to go

and we are off!! so exciting

great job at the gong obstacle Emily!

two muddy girls having fun!!

                                          
                                                            finishing the commando crawl

this girl's rocking it at the frog hop

getting through the frog hop - so dreaded this one

                                               
                                      
                                                                    soooo hot!
                                                   
                                                           just finished the fire

                                          anti-gravity - had to use trampolines to get up to
                                                               that wall to climb over

anti-gravity 2

Emily naturally finished first; I'm still at the top.

getting ready to run up that blasted concave wall

...the struggle begins... (yikes!)

poor man, he finally got me over.  my hero!

crawling over cargo netting to the big slide

heading down the slide - see the 2 diff expressions?!

gotta get to the finish line

Emily is having fun in the last pool

finished and got our medals!!

Rugged Maniac - Round Two

I was a Rugged Maniac again on Saturday, May14, 2016 in Rockingham, NC at the Rockingham Dragway with my good friend Emily, the same tough girl from last year’s mud run.  We got rugged, showed some swagger, proved our toughness and generally rocked it while getting wet, wild and muddy.

We did this for the first time in May 2015; you can find the post here.  To participate in last year’s Rugged Maniac event, Emily had to really work at persuading me to do it; I was no fan of the thought of crawling through mud under barbed wire as one of the obstacles.  This time around, I was definitely more game to participating again.  So game and eager were we both that we signed up early – in November 2015!

This of course brought on months of more and frequent intensive exercising for me.  Emily is really disciplined and dedicated and works out all the freaking time.  So I needed to get my butt in gear, in shape and fast.  Towards the end of building up to the big day, I could jog 0.75 miles.  Not impressive to many, but I was quite happy with myself.  I hope to be able to move that up to jogging a full mile fairly soon. (Hey, I can dream, right? ;-) )

This year Emily and I decided on a start time of 10:15am instead of the 12pm time like last year.  We wanted to get in and get out quick while hopefully the sunshine and heat would not beat us down too much.  Plus we hoped it would be somewhat cool for our supporters who would stand around waiting for us to finish. 

This time around, we named ourselves the Queens of the Castle.  She is queen of hers and I like to think I am queen of mine.  ;-)  I decorated our shirts this year and used fabric paint; the paint actually stayed on well the whole time through all of those obstacles.  Even washing the shirts afterwards, they still look like they did before putting them through the test of various obstacles.  I had written things on them like “Got Swagger? I do!”, “Adventurous”, “Awesome”, “Get Rugged”, “Mud is Fun” and “Rock On.”  I used a stencil to paint a horse on mine and a stencil to put a moose on Emily’s since she is from Maine.

So the day of rugged race, I had to get up at 6:30 to be ready to leave at 7:30.  Our friends, Hal and Lindsey from GA, came up for the weekend so they could watch us race.  Earlier this year, I had almost talked Lindsey into joining us.  She said she would if Caleb would, and Caleb said “hell no.”   Haha!  Emily and I did not mind being a 2 woman team again. 

When it was our turn to get ready to set off, once again we had to climb over a 5 foot wall to enter the starting area and when they let us loose, we left at a jog with lots of energy, excitement and enthusiasm.  The first obstacle this year was those damn bastard stadium stairs; the same ones I have massively dreaded since we signed up in November.  But it was absolutely wonderful to get those very terrible things out of the way first.  And even better, this year we did not have to go up and down as many times as last year!  I think another wall to climb over was the next obstacle and I am not sure what followed that.  All I know is that we were glad to have plenty of shade to go through and the breeze was fairly constant.  Some of the obstacles from last year were switched out for new ones.  We had 3 really tall walls to climb, some short walls to climb, 25lb bags of sand to carry a short distance, crawl through pipes and mud, jump over trenches, jump over fire, crawl through an underground trench, use overhead rings to swing over muddy water, use a small trampoline to jump up to hit a gong before falling into water, climb tall mounds of sand, walk up & down see-saws, use two different devices to ‘walk’ over water and I don’t remember what else before getting up to the last wall to run up.  At one point while jogging between obstacles, there was this group of ladies who were around us.  One must have been in the military because when one woman said something about being sore and a little bruised up and cut, the military woman said ‘even if you break your collar bone, keep going because we aren’t stopping.’  I thought ‘damn, either I could greatly benefit from working out with her or would grow to hate it.’

I want to be honest and admit that I skipped the trenches this year.  I was scared and barely was able to jump over the first trench and then decided that it was not for me.  So I ran down the side and then waited at the end for Emily to finish while doing jumping jacks.  She was a real trooper and she jumped over nearly all of the trenches.  The last one was so wide, she felt it safer and smarter to climb into it and then climb out on the other side.  I figured doing jumping jacks was partially making up for the fact that I cheated and skipped.  So CONGRATS Emily for not giving in!!! 

And the other obstacle I was truly dreading was the Frog Hop; once again, they had 4 plastic floating things you had to use to get across a body of water 4 feet deep.  Last year, I barely made it onto the 2^nd floater before falling in.  This year was a different story I am quite happy to report!!!!  Emily naturally went at it with her usual gusto and made it across fast.  After 4 or 5 false starts, letting a few people go ahead of me, and saying a few cuss words under my breath, I finally attempted it.  I was not super fast across them, there was some hesitation, but I made it!  I freaking made it across!!!  On the other side, I literally jumped for joy and kind of screamed “Yay! I did it.  I did it.”  I was on cloud 9.  So happy and proud was I.   After that, there was nothing I didn’t think I could do.  …..Until I got to the last concaved wall to get up to the tall slide – the final obstacle.

Oi!  That concaved wall.  Once again it kicked my butt.  I was incredibly grateful for the really really strong man who lifted me up and over.  Last year, there were 2 guys who got me up and over and this year one man was the lone champion/hero for me!!  When running, I was able to get up it a little farther than I did last year, but once I got a hold of my hero’s hands, I instantly became deadweight.  Deadweight!  I  could not help him get me over the wall at all.  I had no way to get any traction with my feet to help propel me over.  But he did it and got me up to the top!!  Thanks man!!  J

When I finished climbing over the cargo net that was suspended in the air, I got to the top of the slide and looked nervously over at Emily.  Because as usual, she had been up at the top for a few minutes before I made it there.  So she and I and a several other people were standing around waiting to be given the OK to get ready to go down the slide.  After all was said and done, Caleb told us that the reason they made us wait was so they could nail a couple of sections down again.  But thankfully we did not know that at the time.  Emily was ready to rock it and I had some hesitation and doubt.  Once we were given the go ahead to slide down, Emily reacted faster and was ahead of me; when we reached the bottom, we grabbed our noses to prepare for the splash in the pool.  When I got my wits about me, I hollered to Emily that we needed to run to the finish line so we could make sure we crossed as fast as we could.  Turns out we finished in one hour and ten minutes.  1:10!!!!  That is like 20 or so minutes faster than the previous year!!!!!  We were so freaking fast.  It was astounding and thrilling.   We think its possible that when we do this next year, because it is inevitable that we will, that we could be just under an hour for this 3mile 25 obstacle course.  We were so freaking excited and proud of ourselves!

And just like last year upon completion of this rugged adventure, Emily’s daughter Olivia gave us hugs because she was so happy and did not mind getting a little wet or muddy.  Thanks Olivia!! 

Whew!  What a day.  We all grabbed some lunch from a food truck and then headed to our respective homes to recuperate and rest.   Over the next couple of days my legs were a little sore, but I was not nearly as broken, beaten down or bruised as I was last year.  I felt great.  Thanks Emily!  Lets get rugged again!! 

 **Pics will be in a following post**

And today's pun courtesy of the interwebs -

When I get naked in the bathroom, the shower gets turned on.

 

Why We Should GAF

This is something I have been thinking about so much lately but I am not sure how the idea will develop.  So I am just diving in and typing and seeing what comes up.

I am sure that most of you have heard the phrase “I don’t give a fuck” or seen the abbreviated version – IDGAF.  Sometimes you might hear/see “I have zero fucks to give.”  I think there might even be a meme for this.  

Off topic, but its funny how definitions of words can easily change over time.  First, as far as I know, ‘fuck’ was used as a course, dirty way to say have sex or do sex to yourself.  And as time moved on, now it can be used mean one doesn’t care about (noun or proper noun).

Back on topic - why I think people should ‘give a fuck’ more about people, issues and feelings. 

The other day I was walking in a parking lot and heard someone say to their friend something to the effect of ‘all these people around here are just stupid and retarded.’  The friend responded with ‘wait till we get in the car to say those kinds of things.’  And this guy responds with ‘I don’t give a fuck who hears me.’  It’s possible that he had some kind of unpleasant experience in the store they were leaving, but I agreed with his friend.  I fully believe there are some things are just better left to be said in private. 

I don’t feel that we, as a society, should become even more politically correct.  There are times I feel that trying to be sensitive in speech to everyone’s opinions/feelings/beliefs has gone completely overboard.  And I think there are times when it might be completely appropriate to tell someone to ‘piss off’ if they are being a complete ass.  And on the other hand, some people have become overly sensitive and get offended way too easily about small things that don’t mean anything in the grand scheme of the universe.  People have forgotten how to laugh and lost their sense of humor.  I do think there could be some middle ground between the two ends of the spectrum though. 

For instance if we can make someone’s day a little easier or make a moment a little brighter by being kind and patient, why can’t we do that?  If we can do our job a little better to help a fellow employee or customer, why not do that?  If we can be a little more mindful of those around us before spouting off stupid senseless things, then shouldn’t we do that?  In the man’s example above, what if a person passing by heard that and they had a child or relative that had some mental incapability and for a moment it made them tear up and lessen the joy in their day?  I don’t mean that we should try to be solely responsible for everyone’s joy the whole of every day, but if we cannot try to purposely destroy it, then why not? 

There are many moments during my work week where I listen to customers stories of sadness due to job loss, the unsuccessful job hunt, sick/dying relatives, sick pets, their financial struggles and so much more that sometimes it becomes hard to listen to the sadness and injury; but I often GAF because empathy is one of the greatest things we can show our fellow human beings.  (I say this only because my employer and co-worker sometimes call me Dr. Phil for all of the things I am told, a lot of which I did not ask to hear.)

There have been many instances at work where I wish people working in another part of the company that I represent gave a really big F about their work and what that would mean to people in my position.  If people used their brains more and actually cared about the work they do and realize how it affects those in a position like mine, my job would be a little easier and less stressful.  However, when people within this company DGAF, then it makes efforts considerably tougher on me, my co-worker and the thousands like us, which can make some interactions/conversations 100x worse since we are in customer-facing roles. 

Also, I think if we start to GAF more often in our lives, then we might start to become better people and better employees.  And when someone dislikes something you say or do, then you take it personally to try and find a better way (depending on the circumstances involved of course).  I say this to give this example – one day a customer, female in her early 20s, was buying insurance on her own for the first time.  Up until that moment, she had been under her parents coverage.  When I explained to her how the process worked and the cost associated with it, she immediately became upset saying she was going to leave to find another insurance company because she wanted to find a place with better service.  This upset me greatly because I gave her good service and most importantly, accurate information.  She did not like the truth that she was being told and she equated this with bad service.  I became quite distressed by this because I don’t want people becoming angry or distrusting, or thinking that they have been misled especially with something so important.  However, I was able to talk to and finally reason with her, and fortunately she is still a client.  But I also have learned that you can’t please everyone and not everyone wants to hear the truth or solid reasoning.  So when you run across these people, I guess the only thing you can do is DGAF.

I guess we are not meant to be a hero in every situation or personal interaction.  But when we can use our common sense, deploy our patience and exercise some patience, maybe we can make some encounters more tolerable along with not making people feel more anxious about something going on in their lives, then I guess we can count those times as a win. 

So I guess the more we GAF and the less we DGAF, then maybe the world will be a little better off.  Because being nice and caring certainly is not going to make this world a worse place.  We have enough people who do that already.

Today’s pun from the interwebs ---

Way back when, I used to remember things by tying a string around my finger. Even then I had digital memory.  (from D in Ft. Worth)

 

 

A LADY PART AND THE ISSUES IT SUPPOSEDLY CAUSES

Vagina.  Twat.  Pussy.  All words, biological or slang, to describe one of the major things that makes a female a female.  Also words to describe a male who is showing weakness or emotions.

Why is a man showing emotions or weakness a bad thing?  I know for centuries men were supposed to be tough and hold their feelings in check, otherwise they were mocked if they weren’t strong.  However, when women show weakness or emotions, its ok because ‘it’s a woman thing.’  Did you know that women can be strong, stoic and hold back our emotions too?  How shocking!  Damn, we all are human beings and it is ok for human beings to show emotions.  I don’t think expressing feelings or emotions makes one less of a person.  *Disclaimer there obviously are many and various situations where it is unquestionably appropriate to hold one’s feelings and emotions in check and keep a cool, calm head and nerve.*  *2^nd disclaimer: if you show emotions to me that are rude and downright atrocious for a given situation, I will have a nasty opinion about you.*

When did the male population collectively decide it was perfectly fine to use V, T & P in such a derogatory manner?  I absolutely loathe the P word in written and spoken formats (used in opening to be dramatic).  The use of twat and P is truly disgusting and vulgar, and I can’t imagine why any female would be ok with people using those words in any context.  For that matter, and to be fair, should we stop using dick or cock to stop describing males who are acting like rude, malicious, dumb bastards?  Furthermore, how did the words dick and cock remain only for the use in describing men who are being terrible people?  How did the words vagina, twat and P get to be used to describe some males?  We women don’t have penises and men don’t have vaginas (transgenders excluded here).  I don’t recall ever hearing of a woman being described as a dick when she is acting like bitch.  She is just called a bitch.  And some men may be described as being a whiny bitch.

I have seen where men will describe other men as ‘having sand in their vagina.’  How the hell did this even become a thing?  Supposedly this is told to men who are being ‘whiny bitches who need to get the job done.’  Do men who say this and similar things not remember what the vagina does for the human race?  It brings forth more humans (respectfully excluding c-section people here).  The vagina is one extraordinary piece of biological machinery.  It is strong and amazing.  And I don’t know any straight men who are not trying to get in one at some point or another.  Why would straight men be so disrespectful and insulting of something they are after?  If they want to be near a vagina so bad, they should cherish it, and not use its name and slang terms to belittle and disparage other men. 

I know that men, and some women for that matter, will call males they see as weak a V, T or P.  When did having a vagina automatically make women the “emotional” sex?  Do men not get emotions too?  They are not robots devoid of all feeling.  Hell, even the tinman in wizard of oz had feelings; and he had no heart.  He showed passion for why he believed in the importance of emotions, and he was saddened by the loss of his heart.  And he was pleased when he got a heart.  Passion, sadness and pleasure are emotions.

Recently, rapper T.I. said that a woman should not be president of the US because we are too emotional, would make rash decisions and are inconsistent in our decision-making.  (see here)  Obviously, little angelic T.I. forgot about some of his rapping peers who have been arrested for various crimes over the years.   Like Jay-Z shooting someone and stabbing another; like Flava Flav assaulting people, Vanilla Ice for domestic battery and C-Murder for killing someone.  (see here).  Hey T.I.!  You know what these people all had in common?  Anger.  They were angry.  And do you know what anger is?  An emotion.  And they let their emotions and stupidity make rash decisions for them.  And you know where they landed? In jail.  And you know what else, anger is defined as 1) a strong feeling of being upset or annoyed because of something wrong or bad; and 2) the feeling that makes someone want to hurt other people. (see learnersdictionary.com)

So this is just a small sample to showcase that men have emotions and make poor decisions too.  GASP!  Also, there is a looong history of women being presidents of countries.  (see here) If rapper T.I. believes there is no way a woman can be president (and he even said that the Loch Ness monster has a better shot at the presidency than a woman), then he better not go to Germany, Liberia, Argentina or any of the other 12 countries where a woman was elected as president.  All in all, there are 22 countries where a woman is in the drivers seat.

So lets stop saying that vaginas make women emotional and stop calling males a V, T or P.  Its ignorant and childish and shows 1) you have a limited understanding of how feelings and vaginas work; 2) you are emotionally immature; 3) you are lazy, inconsiderate and selfish; and 4) you are too dumb to grasp the importance of emotions and vaginas.  So lets all grow up and get more creative in our cursing.  And men be more respectful of our lady parts.

And here is today’s pun, courtesy of the interwebs ---

I'm no photographer, but I can picture us together.