Challenges and F-Bombs

I've got two big challenges facing me in the next couple of days:

1. The Sunday-morning weigh-in. I've designated Sunday morning as my "official" weigh-in time and I'm dreading the one coming up tomorrow. I've been pretty good with food, worked out all 7 days this week and gotten lots of sleep. Why in he world would I be dreading the weigh-in? The dreaded week 2 effect.

If you watch the Biggest Loser (US reality show where morbidly obese people compete to lose weight) the second week is always a bad week. They lose tons (sometimes seemingly inhuman amounts) of weight the first week, then almost nothing the second week. Surely their bodies are "adjusting" after losing a bunch of pounds the first week, but you're talking about people who are working out 4 hours with world-class trainers every day - that's 28 hours a week of intense training to sometimes only lose a pound or 2 in week 2. It's got to be heartbreaking to work out that hard and not lose weight. In week 3, their weight lose resumes again, but that 2nd week weigh in has to be a bitch to go thru.

The logical part of my brain tells me not to read too much into the number I get tomorrow, but the emotional side know how hard I worked this week and wants a big number. Wish me luck.

2. Travel. My client wants me to be at their site in Las Vegas next week. This poses a bunch of problems:

A: Las Vegas - food and buffets everywhere - yikes!

B: Stress - there's a lot going on with my client right now (a good thing), but that increases the stress level for everyone involved

C: Workout schedule - I fly out Tuesday morning and back home Thursday evening. I can work out in the hotel in the morning Wednesday and Thursday, but what about Tuesday? The way I see it, I have four choices:

i. Workout after work. It's going to be a busy day - I need to get up about 5am, get to the airport, fly to Vegas, get the rental car, drive to the client, be productive at the client for 8 hours, and check into the hotel. To workout after all that is going to be tough.

ii. Break my workout streak and recharge. Working out too much can cause strain on your body. A day of rest is not the worst thing in the world.

iii. Break my workout streak and "make up" the calories. The whole point is to make a consistent calorie deficit in your body to lose weight, right? I could skip the 600-800 calorie-burning workout but decrease my caloric intake for the day by the same amount (which would knock me down to about 1000 calories for the day - tough, but not impossible, especially if it's just for one day).

iv. Stop thinking about all of this too much and just enjoy life.

I'm leaning towards i. What do you think?

If you have an iPod Shuffle and plug it in to your MacBook (or PC) to recharge it, you lose the ability to scroll back through what you've listened to. I've lost today's playlist, so I've created a list of songs with the F-Bomb in them (in reverse order of awesomeness). Enjoy!

10. Makes Me Wonder - Maroon 5

There's three reasons for dropping an F-Bomb in a song: you either want to express a very powerful emotion (and no other word will do), you want to shock people or you're pathetically trying to be "hip" and cool. There's no other reason for the F-Bomb in this song than the third.

9. Hey Jude - The Beatles

Undoubtedly the greatest song on the list, but only gets the #9 spot because it's unintentional. At about 2:57 into the song, Lennon misses a cue to sing background and clearly says, "Ohhhhhh, fucking hell".

8. Fuck The Police - N.W.A.

Great music can be inspired by a full range of human emotions. While I certainly don't agree with such strong sentiment against people who put themselves in the line of fire each and every day, I understand where this rage comes from.

7. Adios Hermanos - Paul Simon

Yes, Paul Simon actually wrote a song with the F-Bomb in it. From his failed attempt at writing a Broadway play" Songs From The Capeman

6. Porno Star - Buckcherry

Great song, but a very conventional use of the F-Bomb. You need more creativity to score higher on this list.

5. Plaistow Patricia - Ian Dury

Dury is an acquired taste. His cockney warbling strikes most as either fingernails on a blackboard or great, emotive, untrained rock-and-roll singing in the spirit of Bob Dylan and David Byrne. For 1977, singing about the horrors of drug use was still pretty radical.

4. Who Are You - The Who

Again, a pretty traditional use of the F-Bomb, but captures the swagger that Townshend was trying to re-capture as punk and Disco were trying to kill traditional "heavy" rock in the late '70s.

3. Battle Of Who Could Care Less - Ben Folds Five

On the surface, it might sound like Folds was stuck for a two-syllable word to keep the meter in the bridge, but the throwaway nature of it fits perfectly with song's content. Subtly awesome.

2. I Am An Animal - Pete Townshend

Keith Moon's death hit Townshend really hard and he dealt with it the way all great artists do - by turning it into great art. Empty Glass was Pete's last really great album and freed from the macho, kick-your-teeth-in image of The Who, is filled with introspective heart-wrenching songs. He screams the F-Bomb in this song - it's truly the sound of a man's heart breaking, captured live on vinyl.

1. Working Class Hero - John Lennon

Lennon meant to shock when he put this in the song (twice). He actively let himself be portrayed as an "ex-Beatle" rather than a Beatle who was recording solo albums. He was trying to strip away every aspect of his life and become someone else. Impossible to forget after you've heard it.

Special Mentions:

Piece of Shit Car - Adam Sandler

Sandler's OK is small doses - didn' make the list since the F-Bomb is used for humorous purposes.

Fuck The British Army - Traditional Irish Folk Song

It's no secret that Andrew Dice Clay stole most of his dirty nursery rhymes from chants American soldiers would sing while training. This song is one of the earliest in that grand tradition.