Death by DOMS

Did you know that there's an actual name for muscle pain and aches brought on by exercise or over-exertion? It's called DOMS, or delayed onset muscle soreness. I don't know why it's called delayed, because my DOMS isn't delayed at all- it's always right on schedule, usually starting just as I begin working out.

My (sadistic) trainer tells me that this is normal, because he hasn't really let me ease into exercising- he's pretty much always testing my limits and making sure I'm dying by the end of every session. I suppose that's what I pay him for, but I haven't had a pain-free day since I started working out. Granted, the pain hasn't been in an isolated area, but it's still pain!

Last week, the DOMS didn't get to me until Tuesday, the day after my first session. I was exhausted by about 11 p.m. on Monday, but my body didn't tell me it was hurting until I tried to get up on Tuesday and I couldn't. My legs were like overcooked spaghetti.

Wednesday's session was spent focusing on my core, and my abs started to hurt about ten minutes into all the core-strengthening nonsense. Thursday was a disaster (though I didn't have a session), because my legs still hurt, but added to that was my entire core area. I couldn't walk, laugh, yawn, stretch, or sit without pain. I hobbled around the office, with people repeatedly asking me if I'd been injured.

Friday was torture, focusing on chest, back, and arms. I'm still in pain and can't hyper extend my arms. Then, to make matters worse, I went bowling on Friday night. By the time we went bowling, we'd been drinking steadily for a few hours, so I was all giddy and unable to feel pain. I definitely felt the pain from the workout and from bowling when I woke up on Saturday and couldn't roll out of bed.

It's Friday here in Korea, so I've survived two weeks. I don't know how I'm going to get through this ... insanity that I've paid for through the end of June, but ... I'm stubborn.

Burpees, by the way, are easier in Korea than in the U.S. I've only ever seen the super hard burpees in the U.S, which I found out today are not the "normal" kind. Thank goodness for the small things, like less-hellish burpees.

I know my trainer's doing his job, but as I'm not a morning person, I'm already tired and cranky by the time I get to my sessions between 7:00 and 7:30. Poor kid's at the gym by 6:00 to open, so I guess I shouldn't complain. He tried to convince me to start my sessions at 6:00 and I laughed at him. As if that's ever going to happen.

This week, at least, the DOMS is not quite as bad as last week. I can walk this week without anyone asking if I'm injured, so hooray! Though, cussedly, I feel like perhaps the personal training isn't working anymore because I'm not in as much pain. What is up with that?

Random:

Going to Busan (부산) tomorrow for the weekend with the girls.

Phone is dying. Both my phones! My American one and my Korean one. What a pain in the butt.

Been watching "Absolutely Fabulous" this week and it's hilarious. Jennifer Saunders is an awesome writer. Joanna Lumley's Patsy Stone is like Karen Walker, only BETTER.

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Accountability

Wow, I'm a terrible blogger lately.

Actually, I'm a terrible everything lately. My apartment is a wreck, my complexion hates me, my sleep cycle's all wiggly... is it because the weather's changing? (And it definitely is, here in Korea, where the seasons are very definite.) Or is it just me, going through a strange phase?

So. I decided to blog today because I need to be held accountable, and forcing myself to put it all out there in public (to all three people that read my blog) should, hopefully, keep me somewhat responsible. Motivated, even (ha).

I signed up for personal training sessions, and today was my first hellish experience.

Okay, it's not totally hellish. I mean, it's not that bad. It's ... hard. I got super nauseous after about ten minutes and went to throw up, but I had to nothing to throw up. One of the bad things about not eating breakfast, I suppose.

My trainer's really young and really, really tall, which is a bit disconcerting, but he's nice enough and tough enough when he needs to be. He put me through my paces for an hour and a half this morning and really wanted to keep me there for another who-knows-how-long to force me on a treadmill, but I fled, pleading meetings at work (I lied).

I was punished for lying to my trainer, though, because at lunchtime, a couple friends wanted to go ride bikes at Lake Park, so I dragged my sore, achy self off for a 5 km bike ride.

I may collapse tonight and not be able to move tomorrow.

My next session's on Wednesday. As long as I can move by Wednesday morning ... I'll be ... okay. So that my trainer can, again, make me insanely achy and sore. At which point, I'm sure someone will want to ride bikes or go do yoga or something else to make me even more achy and sore.

It's never really been a New Year's resolution of mine to get fit or lose weight, and I think part of that (a large part) is due to my complete lack of motivation. I don't know what motivated me to sign up for this in Korea, where personal trainers are quite expensive, but I'm glad. No amount of money is too much for good health.

I know that I'm not healthy, and I'm turning 31 (ugh!) this year. It's really now or never. I don't want to have a heart attack at 40, or be put on blood pressure medication at 35. I want to be able to play with my future children without throwing out my back or having to catch my breath after five minutes. Hell, I want to be able to play with my grandchildren.

There are so many things about Korea's prevailing culture of superficiality that I don't like at all-- judging everyone by their looks, everybody getting plastic surgery, putting beauty before health, etc., etc.-- but if that superficiality is why I've decided to start taking care of myself, then it's not all bad. It would be a different thing if I weighed 110 pounds and decided I was "fat" by Korean standards so started dieting to lose more weight. But I weight substantially more than 110 pounds (which my trainer told me is my goal weight, which is ... crazy), and I'm stressing my joints, my heart, my lungs, my entire body with the extra weight I'm carrying around.

I really thought hitting thirty would be a turning point; that's when everyone suddenly realizes they're not young anymore, right? I don't know why it took me almost a year after my thirtieth birthday, but no matter how it had to come about, I'm glad I've taken this first step.

Now for the next bajillion steps that my sadistic trainer's going to put me through....

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대한민국!

Both of my countries, Korea and the U.S., are in the top 16 of the World Cup! Hooray for squeaking out enough victories to pull ahead!

(I think Zakumi, the World Cup 2010 mascot, is quite adorable, other than his weird spots. They look like some sort of disease.)

Watching the World Cup, seeing screaming Koreans, it all really makes me miss my family. And also Koreatown. I have no real connections to anything Korean here- there's one Korean restaurant, which I haven't been to yet, and the Korean markets are a joke, pretty much tiny little holes in the walls, without much stock.

Coming from LA, where there is an enormous Korean population, I'm used to speaking Korean and reading Korean pretty much on a daily basis. Now, I have to force myself to remember how to speak Korean when I call my parents. I'm forgetting words, grammar, and smells on a daily basis!

Even worse than all this is the fact that I'm totally out of kimchi. I ate the last of it last week, and I'm rather depressed about it. I can't buy kimchi, because I am a total kimchi snob and only eat my mother's homemade kind (and of that, I only really like two types), so I have to (horror of horrors) make it myself.

This might be my project this weekend- kimchi madness.

When I watch soccer, I also really, really want dried squid (오징어). 


Sigh. I miss the Korean half of my life.

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Good On You, Phil Jackson

So, if you live under a rock and recently emerged or you don't work with a gaggle of boys, the Lakers won the NBA Championships last night against the Orlando Magic.

First of all, a team called the "Magic" will never be able to deliver. That's like naming a puppy "Killer" and wondering why it doesn't protect you from anything, it rolls over when a burglar comes in, and it wags its tail at the mailman.

So there's that.

And then there's the rapist (a.k.a. Kobe Bryant), who I won't even link to, the MVP this year.

Between the predictability (I thought the Lakers would win it easily in 4, didn't think it would even get to Game 5) and the yawning (Kobe has the ball again?), I wasn't all that sorry that I missed every game. Work beckons, after all, and I don't want to spend my precious few hours at home watching a bunch of overpaid and under-deodorized men running around in tank tops and shorts. Not my idea of leisurely relaxation time.

I realize I sound disproportionately angry, and it's mostly because I'm tired and cranky.

Hopefully, as things start to slow down, I will lose the crank and up the cheer. That whole thing about my birthday has really begun grating on my nerves. The more I think about, the more irritated I get.

I have very typically Korean anger- slow to burn, rages like a wildfire once released, and difficult to reign in at the very best of times. At the worst of times, I have fits of passive-aggressiveness that I intellectually can see as being insanely harsh, but am unable to control.

Going through a phase. I think it's the "work seven days a week" phase, and I'm trying to snap out of it already.

Although it's 10:30 at night on a Monday and I'm still at work, waiting for crap to get done. Not a good start to the week, I would say...

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Baseball? What Baseball??

Since apparently the Korean men want to continue disappointing me, thank goodness at least one Korean woman is stepping up and getting it done.

Kim Yu-Na (김연아) won the 2009 World Figure Skating Championships tonight (Saturday night) here in L.A.

Big, big congratulations are in order for the 18-year-old (!!), as she broke a few records (best short program score, first woman to break 200 points with her combined short and free skate scores) and took the gold with a huge margin over second place, over 15 points.

She is most definitely the favorite for next year's Olympics, and I can't wait to watch how she does. 18 is a tough age, when things are very much in flux, so I'm hoping that 19, 20, and beyond prove to show an even better, more mature skater.




















I am working so much lately that it's all I can do to make it through a couple hours of TV, which, when watched on a DVR, is about an hour of a half of TV. I wanted to watch the Worlds before someone spoiled it and told me who won, so I came home and watched, my mother providing always entertaining commentary. (Mom thinks Mao Asada has the weirdest earlobes ever.)

On a side note, it really bothers me that 연아 spells her name "Yu-Na," which looks as though it should be pronounced "Yoo-Na." Scott Hamilton, Bob Costas, Michelle Kwan, and Dick Button were all calling her "Yoo-Na." Her name is pronounced "Yeon-Ah," and even though it may seem like a subtle difference in English, it's quite a pronounced difference in Korean.

Please don't call her "Yoo-Na," because there is a famous Yoon-Ah already, one of the (forty-seven) members of Girl's Generation (소녀시대), and I really don't like her. I'm not even going to get into how she was the most hideously miscast character in a Korean drama that I almost loved (almost because she RUINED it), "2 Outs in the 9th Inning" (sometimes called "9 Ends, 2 Outs" 9회말 2아웃).

Lip-synching drama-killer: Yoon-Ah.
Figure skater that could win Korea's first Olympic medal: Yeon-Ah!

I feel much better about Korea taking the silver in the World Baseball Classic now.

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WBC 2009: Finals. Anger. Rage. Tears.

I'm glad, on one hand, that the World Baseball Classic is over. Because I will no longer have to wait, on pins and needles, for THE CRUSHING LOSS THAT WE JUST SUFFERED.
















I don't even want to get into it. Because seriously, at the bottom of the 9th, I was sure we were going to lose. And then we managed to get-- FORGET IT. WE LOST.

Korean team, good effort all around!

Hey, second place ain't bad. First would have been nice, but that's what we have 2013 for!

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WBC 2009: Going to the Finals!

Korea kicked Venezuela all over the field on Saturday, easily winning to advance to the finals. The final score was 10 - 2.

Honestly, I thought Venezuela would put up SOMETHING of a fight- I mean, it was the semi-final! Fight to the death? No? Disappointing game (I ended up watching a total of probably 2.5 innings) but a satisfying score.

I was holding my breath yesterday, hoping and wishing that the U.S. would take out Japan.

NO SUCH LUCK.

Dude.

Terrible. Terrible!

The U.S., with its many multi-million-dollar players, limped to a 9 - 4 loss to Japan. I'm still not over it.

Which means ... the final tonight will see Korea pitted against Japan.

I would recommend staying far, far away from Koreatown tonight. The Koreans will be out in full-force, drinking to celebrate (YAY!) or drinking to drown their sorrows (boo!). Either way, lots of rowdy Koreans are going to be out and about, I think.

I don't know if I can watch. I will be inexplicably angry if we lose. That's all I'm saying.

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WBC 2009: Semi-Final Seeding Game SUCKED!

Korea lost 6-2 to Japan last night in the Pool 1 seeding game.

ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!

아이구, 머리 아파...

The good news is, Korea's first semi-final is against Venezuela rather than the U.S.

The bad news is, why are tickets to the WBC so effing expensive?!?! We're in a recession, those suckers should be $8! The nosebleed seats are $45. I bet the stadium won't even be half full.

If Korea beats Venezuela tomorrow and Japan beats the U.S. on Saturday, Korea and Japan will meet AGAIN. I hope hope hope that the U.S. kicks some serious butt on Saturday. And of course, Korea better beat Venezuela. Otherwise I will write off the WBC and will have wasted several posts for naught.

That is how upset I am. I'm using words like NAUGHT. Which rhymes with DISTRAUGHT which is WHAT I AM.

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WBC 2009: Semi-Final Seeding Game

ARGH!

Japan beat Cuba (Cuba, what is going on?? I expected so much more from you!!) yesterday to advance to the semi-finals of the World Baseball Classic.

That means Korea has to face Japan (AGAIN) tonight in a seeding game, the last game to be played in San Diego.

KOREA, GET IT DONE! 파이팅!

The seeding game's not (that) important- just determines rankings as the teams come to L.A. in the hopes of making it to the finals. But I think that tonight's game is going to be psychologically significant, as the winner will have a much more positive outlook going into their first semi-final game.

I'm hoping that Japan is so relieved from their win over Cuba yesterday that they'll let their guard down. And maybe they'll be tired.

Yes, clutching straws over here while crossing my fingers.

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WBC 2009: Going to the Semi-Finals!

The Korean World Baseball Classic team is coming to L.A. for the semi-finals!

Trounced Japan with a 4-1 score last night. TROUNCED.













The team planted a Korean flag in the pitcher's mound, asserting their dominance (and acting a bit like jerks, but let's face it, men turn into boys during sporting events. Besides, this was a huge sigh of relief for the Korean team- Japan kept on winning those decisive games early in this WBC and in 2006's WBC).

Korea's been having a good Classic this time around, and now has the best record of any national team for both Classics (11-2). Keep up the good work! 대~한민국!

The victory over nemesis (ARCH-NEMESIS!) Japan came just a day after a big win over Mexico (8-2).















The semi-finals and finals are going to be tough.

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World Baseball Classic, 2009

The World Baseball Classic is upon us once again, the second ever WBC (the first was in 2006, won by Japan (we were robbed!) through much controversy).

Last night was quite the match-up for anyone living in L.A.- South Korea vs. Mexico. I know, the Mexicans outnumber us by vast numbers here. Which is why I was afraid of a fight breaking out in the stands of Petco Park- we would have gotten a beat-down!

Happily, no beat-downs occurred except for the one on the field WHERE WE WON.

Hooray!

Unhappily, our next game is with Japan, tomorrow night. Sucks.

I'm going to hope that yesterday's momentum carries Korea to victory on St. Paddy's Day (we're better drinkers than the Japanese, I think that means we should win when playing on a beer-oriented holiday!), although I find that baseball has little to no momentum at all. Are all nine innings really needed?? Please, can we get rid of ... six? Seven?

The U.S. is doing well, and will play again tomorrow against the winner of today's game between Venezuela and Puerto Rico. If the Koreans fail, the Americans better come through. If the Americans fail (they play in Miami, so the game will happen before the Korea/Japan game in San Diego tomorrow), the Koreans better step it up! (Bracket, in case you care. By far my favorite part is the key at the top left corner, labeling the solid blue line as the "Winner's Path" and the dotted gray line as the "Loser's Path." Baseball can be so merciless!)

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2009 All-Blah Game

The NBA All-Star Game this year was held in Arizona, home of the Phoenix Suns, evident by the hideous suns that mark the top of the keys on their court. Suns that look like the kind of tribal-lite tattoos popular in the '90s ... remember how all the boys in 98 Degrees got tattoos? Of suns? With 98 Degrees inside the suns? Oh, the sheer delight of bromance tattoos!

I don't know how I went off on such a tangent (I always disliked 98 Degrees because Nick Lachey's voice makes me want to kick puppies and "Newlyweds" grossed me out), but since I was firmly entrenched in my tangent, I Googled the tattoo. I found a picture that reminds me of why dislike of this dude:















Doesn't he look like a greaseball? The skeeziness...

Okay, tangent's over.

The actual game was horrible. I understand that players don't want to get hurt, since this game counts for nothing. Does that mean they should just stand there, idly twiddling their thumbs? Some of them didn't even run- they sort of half-heartedly jogged between the baskets, apparently too tired to care that they were about a half-court behind the pack.

*sigh*

This is what happens when money runs sports, I guess.

Don't get me wrong, I'm glad that the West won. The West as a whole, good for you. Individual players, I don't like most of you. Let's begin with the obvious and glaringly huge:

Shaq.

My sister wandered in while my dad, my uncle, and I were watching and she said, "Wow. Shaq got FAT."

He not only got fat (he looked like a beached whale and was sweating BEFORE THE GAME STARTED), he decided to perform. Perform what, you ask? I assume it was ... a ... dance? He wore a white mask and had his posse with him. They are apparently called the Jabbawockeez. It gives me a headache just looking at that name. The dance was lame (he's the size of a beached whale and they expected him to play, much less dance??) and I fast-forwarded through most of it. Yawn.

Kobe: Don't like you, either. But thanks for being the high scorer, it helped my team win.

The game started out well enough, the East leading quickly. Then, somehow, the East lost all will to live and collapsed. This does not a good game make.

Sloppy players, half-hearted plays ... just sad.

What is going on with you, NBA? Do you just hate the American people and love denying them the pleasure of a good game? Are you depressed from this economic crisis? Because you need to snap out of it already.

Another thing that made me eyes hurt: the uniforms. (I almost called them 'costumes' and just caught myself.) They were SO UGLY. Why are the All-Star Games' uniforms always completely hideous?? It's like they took an eight-year-old boy, at the height of his awkwardness, going through a growth spurt so rapid that he can't hold a pencil correctly, and told him, "hey, kid, design something. We need it in 15 minutes."

I know fashion has no place in sports or whatever, but let's try to make things aesthetically pleasing. Then maybe more women would care.

Oh, wait, here's the official explanation of the uniforms: "The horizontal lines resemble Arizona's rock formations, while the progression of color (desert red for the West, sunset blue for the East) is emblematic of the legendary bird rising from the flames."





















The designer didn't like the West, I can tell that much. The shorts were even uglier, but I can't find a picture of them. To be honest, I Googled '2009 nba all-star uniform' and picked the first photo. I can't be bothered to search for shorts and save the image and blah blah blah.

Maybe if it was like the MLB All-Star Game, and there was a reward for winning, the NBA All-Star Game would have a chance to be good.

Or maybe it's time to give up and accept the fact that Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, Larry Bird, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Magic Johnson, Karl Malone, and the rest are retired and never coming back. How depressing.

Last note- the MVP went to Shaq and Kobe. Are you kidding me?!

No more basketball for me until the playoffs, when the players will care and are willing to get hurt. A little blood never hurt any sport.

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Super Bowl XLIII

Lots of non-T.V. things to post about, but since I just finished watching this year's Super Bowl, must comment!

I know, I know, I'm watching the game a whole week late. Blame my father. He and my mother and uncle went on vacation for a whole week, leaving last Sunday at about 3:00. My dad wanted to watch the game with me, so I recorded it on my trusty DVR and didn't watch it.

Of course I knew who won. We all knew who won! But it's the means to the end that makes the Super Bowl exciting, so this afternoon, my dad, uncle, and I watched (all FOUR HOURS of) the game.

Pittsburgh, congratulations!

In the interest of full disclosure, I have to say that I didn't think the Cardinals had much of a chance of winning. They're very green and probably awed to be at their first Super Bowl. The Steelers have much more experience and a stronger record, and seem more disciplined when faced with crunch time.

On the flip side, though, I was sort of rooting for Arizona because- let's face it- the underdogs are always fun to cheer for. They had a lot of enthusiasm going into the Super Bowl, and were on a really hot winning streak. Makes for a great story!

... The Korean factor, though. Yes, I'm racist. I will always root for the motherland, and it's not any different in football. The Steelers have a half-Korean, half-black wide receiver, Hines Ward. The man might not look too Korean (although I think his facial features are quite Korean), but the man was born in Seoul. He's as Korean as a player in the NFL is gonna get. So I gotta be on his side, right??

Needless to say, I anticipated a good game because I would love for either team to win- they both have qualities that I admire.















Best 60 seconds of football- the last minute of the 43rd Super Bowl.

Whew.

I'm exhausted from yelling at the T.V. screen for the better part of an evening.

The Super Bowl is the only football game (well, the only entire football game) that I watch every year, and this year's game really made me smile. (Yes, I know last year's game was considered historical or whatever, but I didn't really care about the Patriots or the Giants.)

I also enjoyed Dan Rooney's shout-out to Barack Obama in his acceptance speech. Good job, Dan Rooney. And bless you for having faith in a 36-year-old man to guide your team to its record-breaking sixth Lombardi trophy.

No more sports talk for a while ... at least, maybe not until June, for the NBA Finals, if the games are any good.

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