10,000 Days of Awesomeness

A few weeks ago, my friends and I were commenting on how we think it's weird when a mother says her child is 24 months old. You mean 2 years? When do you transition from weeks to months, and from months to years? That's when we decided to figure out how many days old we were. I was surprised to find out that today would be my ten thousandth day alive.

I've been able to do a lot of reflecting lately, and I've come to the conclusion that I have had a really awesome 10,000 days! I can't complain at all.

One thing I've learned that I'd like to pass on is that my life has been most enjoyable when I focus on growing. I have noticed too many people settle into a groove they like, and stop progressing. It's like they have defined themselves, and aren't able to admit that there might be more to life. Those tend to be the same people who like to define others. I have found that there is so much more that life has to offer when you are constantly redefining yourself. I also get a chuckle every time I reunite with someone from my past. I can tell exactly when I knew them based on our conversation. They'll ask, how's the piano coming? or, still singing in choirs/dancing/preparing taxes/etc? The answer is almost always yes, but there are several other things I'm doing as well. I have been happy most of my life, and usually very content with where I was. But when I'm reminded of where I've come in the last 10,000 days, I'm 100% glad I didn't become too content to redefine myself. For as awesome as my life was, I'm usually embarrassed now to think of who I was then. I don't like thinking that that's how people remember me. I feel like I'm a completely different person than I was 3 years ago, and both are completely different from who I was 6 years ago. I have a much better life now!

Here's to another 10,000 days of awesomeness!

Vivid Dream

I was playing Clue with some friends. After a while, we went outside and found that we were in a really old-school town. It was as if we had travelled back in time to some colonial era township. We explored the uninhabited village, and I noticed that the layout of the buildings was exactly the same as the layout of the rooms on the Clue game board. We had been playing our game in the Dining Room, which was now some sort of Reception Hall. Suddenly I noticed there were all sorts of half-buried corpses all over the town. We went back to the game and played a few more rounds, when I found myself outside again. Only this time I discovered that the town was changing. There was a ghost-like shadow of the town, corpses, and everything else coming out of the physical versions at a 10 degree angle.
For some reason this was a tell-tale sign to me that we were playing a Jumanji-like variation of Clue that was causing Sleepy Hollow to raise from the dead around me. Everyone except my brother had disappeared, and it was up to us to finish the game! Finishing became especially difficult, as now we had to actually travel from building to building in the town square in order to solve the mystery. I did my best to avoid the mad carriage driver as he drove through the muddy streets at an incredible speed. But once or twice while I was walking down a muddy alley, my attempts to blend in with the wall weren't enough to go undetected from the skeleton sentinels. I was forced to use witty conversation to convince them I wasn't trying to finish any Clue jumanji games. Thankfully it worked.
For some reason it took me forever to figure out that it didn't matter whether me or my brother won the game. But I was deathly afraid of the consequences of cheating when the thought crossed my mind. I mean, what happened to everyone else who was playing Clue with us?
By some stroke of luck we figured out the location, and were about to solve the mystery. Good thing, too. The dead were raising all over town! Then, right at the climax, I woke up

Post #100: Before and After Pictures

I'd have posted these earlier, but I realized that I was almost to my 100th post.  So to celebrate the monumental occasion, I decided to make it a monumental post.  

Okay, since you're not likely to read anything before looking at the pictures, I'll post the pictures first:

After 20 Weeks of Progress

I'm amazed at how different I look!

I only took 2 "before" pictures.  Wish I'd taken some with these poses.

The Journey:
I'd been meaning to do something like this for the last 4-5 years.  But I was never ready to commit to it.  It's a HUGE lifestyle change!  I've always had too much of a sweet tooth to have any motivation to fix my eating habits.  And when you're out of shape, the gym never sounds fun.  Not to mention, I'm constantly going out to eat with friends after rehearsals, or just because.  But nevertheless, I've wanted to make this change.  I even made it my New Year's resolution for 2010.

The big thing that got me to start was moving out, because it's MUCH less tempting to cheat when you can control what's in your pantry.  So I started the week I got back from Europe.  I paid my trainer in advance so that I had motivation not to back out.

It's incredibly surprising, but I wasn't tempted to cheat on my diet for most of my program.  It may be because of my motivation to see results.  Or it may be because I was eating WAY more food than I was used to previously.  Yes, the grocery bills were EXPENSIVE.  I can't say the same for my motivation at the gym.  Yes, I was committed enough to do the full workouts.  But there were several days when I would get to the gym and spend 10-20 minutes mentally convincing myself that I needed to just start and get it over with.  Yet somehow I managed to give myself just enough motivation every night to put my all into the workout.

Several people asked me why I was trying to gain weight.  It seems kind of obvious to me, especially when I look at the pictures.  In fact, almost every time I was asked why I was doing this, I thought to myself, "are you daft?"  Not only does exercise enhance your physical appearance, but it's been known to give people confidence.  Why wouldn't I want to do this?

It's funny.  Even now I can look down at my body and not see much of a change.  From my point of view (without a mirror or pictures), I look the same as I always looked.  I can't explain it, because I know of all sorts of changes my body has made recently.  I definitely don't feel like I look the same when I'm looking in a mirror or at pictures.  I guess this is a warning to you that your perception of yourself may fool you.

The best part about my journey was all the little discoveries I made along the way.  I was constantly watching the progress of my pecs and biceps, but the changes were so gradual that I hardly noticed the change.  However, I hardly gave thought to any of my other muscles because my focus was on just a couple muscles.  So naturally, it seemed like they suddenly appeared out of nowhere.  One day I tried to scratch my back, and noticed my lats!  I went to lay down on my arm one day when I noticed it was MUCH more comfortable than usual.  Then when I reached up for something, my shoulder flexed and my pillow disappeared - such an awesome discovery!  One morning on my way to the shower I noticed my back had a much better shape.  And it seemed like I grew a butt in a day.  I discovered it just a few hours before bending over and ripping my pants.

As part of my program, I wanted to see how long it took for people to notice my changes.  So I had to make sure I didn't tell everyone that I was working out and dieting.  However, I also needed to have support in my diet from all around me.  And since my friends and cast members would frequently go out to eat, I knew it was better to tell them and keep it secret from my family (since I typically only see my family about once a week).  The first family member to notice was my sister-in-law.  She told me I was getting fatter, but it was the good kind of fat that made me look better.  I was tickled, and didn't tell her that it's because I was gaining muscle - not fat.  After about 10 weeks, that was the only comment I received.  Not to mention, my brother was coming in town (he hadn't seen me since before I started the program).  I wanted him to say something, so I made sure to wear the smallest shirt I own when I had dinner with the family that day.  Sure enough, he said something about it, followed by a couple other family members.  That's when I decided it was okay to talk to them about my progress.  My mom walked by as I was telling my brother how much I weighed.  She overheard, and jiggled my pec.  My brother said something like "can you believe how big Jon's pecs are?" Her classic response: "those aren't pecs - those are boobs."  My brother corrected her and had me flex for her.  After feeling that it was indeed muscle, she said "Hey Richard!  Come grope Jon!"

I didn't lose all the fat I want to lose (still can't see my abs).  But I'm giving myself a break for the holidays.  I may gain a little fat over the next week or two.  And I won't be so strict on my diet once I start up again.  But I'm in this for the long run.  You can count on it!

Cranberry Almond Trifle

I made this for our family Christmas party.  I had found the recipe while researching the feasibility of using cranberries as the featured ingredient for our ward Iron Chef FHE activity (which was a HUGE success, by the way).  And so I decided to make it, with the help of Melissa!

It doesn't just look delicious - it tasted delicious too!

Amazing Weekend

I don't know what else there is to say about it.  I had somewhat close encounters with half of the 12, other general authorities, the guest artists, and other random half-celebrities.  I wasn't a big fan of rehearsals this year - most of them left me feeling annoyed at all sorts of little things.  But once we started performances, all that left.  It was so much fun to perform in front of such a huge crowd!  And I have to say, I was quite amazed at the response we got for the trick step I was in.  I'm pretty sure that most of the audience didn't understand that the 3 solos before us required much more talent than our little move, because ours was the only one that got applause during the middle of the song.  No complaints - it got us a nice photo in the newspaper.

Best part of the weekend was the part where a bunch of us checked into some hotel rooms and stayed downtown all weekend!  Nothing but good times.

Marry Christmas

I just received an email with a Christmas greeting from my mission president. He concluded it with the words, Marry Christmas. Was he thinking of me when he wrote it?

Am I The Only One...

...who finds going to the dentist relaxing? I have to focus to stay awake during my appointments. I think this is why it's so relaxing to me:
1) Nice, comfortable chair to lay down in
2) Soft, soothing music in a quiet atmosphere
3) During cleanings, the polisher gently vibrates your head, while massaging your gums
4) You're tasked with doing nothing except keeping your mouth open. I think it's one of the only times I ever have nothing to do.
5) Even when you're having work done on your teeth, modern anesthetics make it so that you feel virtually nothing.

Yep, I've almost fallen asleep at the dentist's several times - without the aid of laughing gas. Anyone else have this kind of experience at the dentist?