Song Challenge Day 14

Day 14- a song that no one would expect you to like.

Need You Now by Lady Antebellum. And why would no one expect me to like it? Because it's a country song. But I do really like it- I remember hearing it first on "Glee" and then on a radio a ton in Colorado. And I like it.

Which is the most awkward?

Awkward Moment #1: a Chinese student presenting about abortions that take place in China.

Awkward Moment #2: said Chinese student talking about prostitution and AIDS when asked a questions about social health.

Awkward Moment #3: BNF (Brand-New-Father) presenting about sexual health, abstinence and condom use. Awkward or just ironic....

Song Challenge Day 13

Day 13- your guilty pleasure song.

Oh man, do I love this little British pop band. And this is my favorite song of theirs. Too bad they broke up... Busted busted up...

How can you not love this?

Song Challenge Day 12

Day 12- a song by a band that you hate.

Again, enough with the hate. Honestly, at 8:05 on a gorgeous Wednesday morning, I can't even think of a band that I hate right now. So instead, I'm going to decline this challenge and accept a new one. Instead, here is my favorite foreign song. Fitting, since I'm also Israeli. Enjoy.

When you listen to it on a CD, he doesn't sound that angry. But he looks ANGRY in the video.... interesting since this is a song about PUNS. But the video was made in 1973, I guess Israelis had a lot to be angry about at this time....

And because I also really like this one, here's a bonus song...

My favorite part is at 3:11. I LOVE dancing to this song. Ahhhh, memories of the pub and Hadasi's wedding!

like here....

My Workout Journey

So I've been on a quest to find out my favorite way to workout. I get bored really easily so I always like to find something that can keep me on my toes. This year, when I moved up to Idaho, I was really excited for the free gym and the free pool.

I first started working out at the gym. This place was nice, especially since there had been a total upgrade on all the equipment since the last time I had worked out at the gym. All brand new machines, bikes, ellipticals, everything you could possibly want (within reason, of course, this is C of I, let's not go crazy). However, there was a problem: I had a weird issue about working out amongst the students. I felt super self-conscious, even when I didn't know the students. It should be no different than working in a gym at home but for some reason, I just couldn't do it. So goodbye gym.

I figured that I could get some working out done at home so I gave some at home "remedies" a try. What works best at home is yoga, for sure. I actually really enjoy yoga. My first yoga class ever was at the 24 hour I go to when I'm at home and it was supposed to actually be a stretch class. But the teacher ended up doing yoga and I loved it. I hated the actual stretch class I went to the next week but decided to keep coming back to yoga.

it is physically impossible for me to bend this way...

So now without a place to actually practice yoga in the area, I downloaded some podcasts. This is Chazz, from YogAmazing. He's ridic. But I adore him. He makes the lamest jokes but I love his 30-min yoga workouts. Sometimes it's just good to watch him on mute.

awww.... doesn't he look like he makes lame jokes?

But I really do like him. And I thought I was getting pretty good at yoga. So I went to the library and got this lady's video.

and this was the easy stuff!!!!

OK, she was cray-cray. First of all, she's in the middle of the freaking desert doing all these crazy dancey yoga poses. And she's going all over the place- slow down, lady! Take a breather! After awhile it just got awkward watching all these skinny people writhe around in the desert and I realized that I didn't need any crazy advanced yoga. So now it's just me and Chazz hanging out. Although once I went to a yoga class in Nampa where I will be going in September to use my kettlebells groupon and I was one of the best there. Once girl hardly did anything and kept looking at her. I was tempted to knock her lights out because she wasn't doing any yoga herself but Chazz always tells me to "take the peace and the strength and share it..." and I didn't think physical violence against this stranger was following those directions.

and let's be real... i only really do yoga for shivasana.... this is my favorite part....

I also felt that it would probably be good to get some cardio in, so I picked up Denise Austin's cardio workout. I have some groupon kickboxing classes that I'm going to start Thursday and I thought that I'd give it a go first with Denise. OK, yeah, not gonna happen any more. I gave it a try and a) she moves way too quickly for me b) she doesn't give me a chance to figure out the way that she does all these moves and c) I am soooooo not coordinated enough to do work-out videos. Except cardioke, but that's only for me and Shiri. And Bollywood dancing, we're good at that too. But yeah, Denise and I just did not click. Plus she's wayyyy too perky for me.

even the front cover of the DVD weirds me out... i think it's the eyes...

I've also recently picked up running, of course. And I'm still going at it, just not as intensely as I was when I was running with the podcasts. I have, however, found the greatest running music ever. Why had nobody told me about Vampire Weekend before!? They will be on my running list for the 5K on Saturday, along with Cody's house electronic Europop sounds, of course. I have a nice little block loop that I run now that's exactly 5K. And there's a little uphill and a little downhill which always makes me feel like I'm working a little harder.

this is NOT how i look when I run....

But my favorite, which I'm finally getting back into, is swimming.

Now you may say, Michal, you say that you get bored easily, isn't swimming the most boring thing on the planet unless you're swimming next to this guy?

oh hi abs

And I say to you, nay. It is not boring. And these are the reasons. A) I get to swim with flippers and that's fun. B) They have these things you put between your knees to just swim with your arms and that's also fun. C) Nobody is ever at the pool so it's like I'm rich and I can fantasize about all the other things I could have as a rich person.

And this helps.

As do they, because their podcasts are the perfect length for a 40 minute swim.

Can someone explain to me why these people find it necessary to swim with their pets?

and this just cannot be safe

Once summer comes and I'm back in Irvine, there will be a lot of the following:

I'm glad to be going through this adventure of finding out my faves and not so faves of working out, especially because the journey is far from over.

Song Challenge Day 11

Day 11- a song from your favorite band.

My most recent favorite song by JARS. Love it and love them. I can't stress this enough.

Oh the Horror, Oh the Thrills!

I've always been a fan of horror/thriller movies- I like the thrill of feeling a chill down your spine and have always been on a quset to find something that really scares me. This is why I love Supernatural so much. It's like a mini-horror movie each week. That being said, I've been watching a lot of horror movies lately so let me break down my latest three for you.

you, sir, are a creepster

The Shining, a total classic. It's got all the staples of a good horror movie: a big empty house, isolation, obsession with work, possession, hallucinations, a creepy kid with a deep voice and then murderous rage. I think what makes The Shining so creepy is the music- the screechy high pitched violins and strings. I was watching part of it at Brooke and Kevin's. The computer resting on the bedside table and I was not comfortable rolling over to my other side. There was a window there and I was convinced Jack Nicholson was there. The other reason that The Shining is so creepy is Jack Nicholson himself. He was a creepster- he totally deserved getting whacked by Shelley Duvall.

serves you right...

Last night I watched Midnight Meat Train. Now with a title like this, you expect a certain level of gore and twisted horror but yo, folks, this movie was effed up! At one point, this guy is getting hit so hard with a huge meat cleaver that his eyeball flew out (the sad part about that was that the actor was Ted Raimi, sweet Wesley in "Wishful Thinking"). I have never seen so much blood gushing out of people. It was extreme. Vinnie Jones said three words in the entire movie but he was creepy, Jack Nicholson creepy. What the hell was he slicing off of his chest in that bathroom scene!? If you have any ideas, let me know. I hate how stupid character are in horror movies though. Really, you really think it's a smart idea to go inside the meat cleaver guy's house, Leslie Bibb? You really think your friend with the stupid name (seriously, what the heck kind of name is Jergis?) isn't just a pawn character who you know within two seconds of him being onscreen that he will die? Now you're just being naive.

And Bradley Cooper, maybe if you had done less of this...

you wouldn't have ended up like this....

with no tongue in your mouth.

Finally, today I watched Alphabet Killers. It starred Eliza Dushku of Dollhouse fame, who also executive produced the movie. Unfortunately that's never a good sign. And if the main character is already slightly hallucinating within the first two minutes and is frantically making a crazy wall of info, a la Memento, Ep 1 of Supernatural and the "Mac and Charlie Get a Job" ep of It's Always Sunny, by the 16th minute, then there is a problem. And it's really never good when your boss tells you that you are talking to yourself. And if you start crying in the middle of your investigation, while looking at your wall of crazy info, then it's TIME TO TAKE A VACA! Why do characters in horror movies never get this? I feel that I need to start holding seminars. In the morning we'll discuss why you should never get into showers and the afternoon session will include tips on how to avoid creepy children.

Anyway, Alphabet Killers follows Megan, a detective who is investigating the mysterious murder of this little girl. All the above mentioned happens in literally the first 20 minutes. Then in minute 20, her bf comes home to find her wrist slit and blood all over the crazy wall of info. This often is what happens when you start hallucinating- or an onset of adult schizophrenia as Doctor Dixon from Alias tells the bf. For some reason, this movie felt the need to constantly jump time- within two minutes we had already jumped two months and after the diagnosis of schizophrenia, we jump two years. I'm already having trouble keeping track of everything.

And you know that no matter what, whenever the crazy main character says that she's getting out, something will always suck her back in. Like another murder of a littel girl. Who has the name initial pattern as the first murder that got Megan to go round the bend (each girl has the same letter starting her first and last name and is dumped after death in a town with the same first initial... for example Mary Marsh- West WIng shout-out- would be dumped in Moscow).

And let's be real- this movie sucked. It did not captivate me and Eliza Dushku cannot pull off a policeman's hat. Even while hallucinating and seeing creepy people on the street while her partner is interviewing cooty all men. So if you really want to know what happens in this movie, watch it. As for me, I'm not really paying anymore attention.

Haha, I just read a post on IMDB whose title said "This movie was fantastic". Then the post continued to say: "And my fantastic I mean kill me now." Oh my, so true!

Next on my list is: The Strangers, Saw (never seen it), and Drag Me To Hell. I'm excited. And possibly a little twisted....