Misc Chat Thread
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Hello there! I thought I should stop lurking and say hello. I started 5x5 about four weeks ago and love it so far - and reading the threads here always gets me fired up to go to the gym.
In fact, that's where I'm off to now! I'll try to come back with some funny stories, though I do always worry that the funniest story might be me trying to set things up/ do calculations in my head as I try to increase the weight....0 -
me trying to set things up/ do calculations in my head as I try to increase the weight....
lol! i'm kind of okay at the rec centre where i've got used to the plates. but the 'private' gym where i go once a week for a trainer and a very small, focused group is another story. i screw it up there pretty much all the time.
mr trainer is a great person but he's got a lot of non-standard bars and huge whacks of non-standard old-school iron plates. he's even got full-size rubber trainers in a range of weights instead of just 10s. so the silent lips-and-fingers math that goes on in that place . . .0 -
Ha, glad it's not just me! I've taken to sometimes writing it out for myself - a ten and a five and a 1.25 =...0
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I found that my biceps look much better to me than in pictures... I had what I thought was some great pump going on one day and took a picture and it was pretty sad.0
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After seeing all your bicep pics - I was curious to see if I could get mine to show up :P 8 months ago, I had fat on my upper arms and shoulders, and even if I'd flexed, I don't think you'd have seen anything. I was surprised, but I actually have a little muscle now!
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Hello there! I thought I should stop lurking and say hello. I started 5x5 about four weeks ago and love it so far - and reading the threads here always gets me fired up to go to the gym.
In fact, that's where I'm off to now! I'll try to come back with some funny stories, though I do always worry that the funniest story might be me trying to set things up/ do calculations in my head as I try to increase the weight....
I would be totally lost without the Stronglifts app. If you have a mobile device you should try it out. It's free (yay!), it keeps track of your sets as you go (I would lose count otherwise), and it automatically calculates the weight you should do next time (including how much should go on each side of the bar).0 -
So this is totally off-topic, and I don't know if I am looking for advice or just a vent. I guess really I just need some outside perspective. I can't really talk about it to any of my IRL friends or family because they are too involved in it in one way or another.
So my supposed best friend did my make up for my wedding, she's a cosmetician so it was a great gift. She however was not willing to drive out to the venue early enough to help set up but no big deal, I had family and a pretty simple décor. She also passed out drunk at 9 and didn't bother even saying good night or congratulations. That kind of hurt. Also too hung over to help clean up the next day. She was also my maid of honour but with my really simple wedding and no bachelorette party to deal with it didn't seem like I was asking a lot.
So roll around a couple of months, she's planning her wedding. I did engagement photos for her. Thought it was a great wedding present and it was fun, photos turned out lovely. Apparently it wasn't enough. I should do her whole wedding. Oh yeah and I am not on the bridal party, but she got absolutely pissed when I wouldn't get a babysitter and do arts and crafts for all of her decorations. I eventually manage to take a couple hours off of work to help her out.
Now to further complicate things, my mom rented a house to her mom and sister. They are always bouncing checks, late on rent and just generally not good renters (the state of the yard omg made me sad to see the house I grew up in go to hell). They were 2 months behind on rent so mom evicted them in accordance to the tenant-landlord laws of our region. My friends response was "OMG how could your mom do this so close to my wedding"; because apparently people need to let her mom and sister freeload because of her wedding.
They left an industrial sized waste bin (the ones that go on flat bed trucks) worth of garbage. My mom, thinking friends of family that are down on their luck when they moved in, there is no need to take a damage deposit. I made the mistake of mentioning on facebook that someone could be so unkind to someone who gave them every benefit of the doubt and put up with so much crap. Well mom/sister read it and now my friend has uninvited me from the bachelorette party because it would be awkward, but I am still supposed to do a professional job (12 hours of shooting, and at least 60 hours of editing) for her wedding while probably being verbally abused by her mouthy sister.
I really don't know what to do. On one hand I told her I would do it, even though her thoughts that just giving me the right to take her wedding photos is worth her not paying me kind of irks the hell out of me. On the other hand I am totally being used and it royally pisses me off. I really don't see a good out come on this and it is stressing me out and it is making me lose sleep and focus.
Sorry for the novel, and thanks for reading. I needed to get this off of my chest to people not quite as vested in the situation.0 -
Sorry you are going through this. Your friend sounds like a narcissist. She is abusing your friendship. I think that the engagement photos would have been enough. Photos for weddings cost a fortune! Her mom & sister are abusing your connection with your "friend ". Ugh. Weddings bring out the worst in people. My oldest friend (used to be best friends) got weird around my wedding & when I got pregnant. I was def not Bridezilla, had a simple DIY ceremony & reception at my house. She did not RSVP that she was even coming to the wedding. I called, left messages, even wrote a letter. She finally called me a week before. When I got pregnant she blew me off when I tried to show her my ultrasound. She lived 2 doors down from me at the time & once again, could not RSVP that she was coming to my baby shower.0
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jessiefrancine wrote: »Hello there! I thought I should stop lurking and say hello. I started 5x5 about four weeks ago and love it so far - and reading the threads here always gets me fired up to go to the gym.
In fact, that's where I'm off to now! I'll try to come back with some funny stories, though I do always worry that the funniest story might be me trying to set things up/ do calculations in my head as I try to increase the weight....
I would be totally lost without the Stronglifts app. If you have a mobile device you should try it out. It's free (yay!), it keeps track of your sets as you go (I would lose count otherwise), and it automatically calculates the weight you should do next time (including how much should go on each side of the bar).
Hmm, thanks, maybe I'll give it a go! I just ordered some fractional plates, which are going to be great but might also be even more mind boggling when I'm deciding what to put on the bar!0 -
wow, that's really rough. it sounds like things have gone way beyond what you agreed to do originally. and it was agreed on based on the relationship you used to have, but now that's been changing as well but if you were to try point that out to her, armageddon would happen in some kind of form.
it's horrible when people have expectations based on emotion. it just gets so messy when you try to set a boundary and that triggers some kind of emo-avalanche on their side, but it does kind of sound like your friend has something like that going on. 'if you really cared about me, you would [yada yada] for this day that's so special to me'.
weddings are weird, man. i've only been to about four of them, and they make me very uncomfortable. the last one was almost 20 years ago, too. but, yeah. definitely a good move to choose a place like this to try and get your processing done around it.0 -
I just looked at the app and it looks like I'd have to pay £7.99 if I want to do sums for me? That's quite a lot when I should be able to do it in my head :-)
I'll give it a try without the 'powerpack', and see what I think.0 -
^^^there are free plate calculator apps. I used one before I started using the Stronglifts app.0
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jessiefrancine wrote: »Hello there! I thought I should stop lurking and say hello. I started 5x5 about four weeks ago and love it so far - and reading the threads here always gets me fired up to go to the gym.
In fact, that's where I'm off to now! I'll try to come back with some funny stories, though I do always worry that the funniest story might be me trying to set things up/ do calculations in my head as I try to increase the weight....
I would be totally lost without the Stronglifts app. If you have a mobile device you should try it out. It's free (yay!), it keeps track of your sets as you go (I would lose count otherwise), and it automatically calculates the weight you should do next time (including how much should go on each side of the bar).
Hmm, thanks, maybe I'll give it a go! I just ordered some fractional plates, which are going to be great but might also be even more mind boggling when I'm deciding what to put on the bar!
I love my fractional plates! In the app, you can customize how much you want the weight to increase each time. I have all my lifts set to increase 2.5 lbs each time instead of the 5lb default (deadlift I have set to increase 5 lb instead of the default 10 lb). I think this has really helped me avoid stalling out on my upper body lifts, since I'm making smaller jumps and the app makes it easy to know how much to add each workout.0 -
What do you want to do about the wedding? Is the relationship/ friendship over or something you want to preserve? Or something you need to preserve bc of small town / other connections/ business concerns?
At the very least if you are going to shoot the wedding I would suggest getting an agreement in writing for the amount of service provided - hours of photography, a cap on post processing, and something spelled out about whether or not you are going to do any processing/ arranging for an album.
My personal tendency in that situation has always been to burn my bridges and just exit stage left - absolute breakup. I don't think you owe her anything at this point so it's all about how much good or negative feeling you need or want to tolerate.0 -
@Llamapants86 - That is tricky. I would be tempted, since she opened the door with the bachelorette, to say that it would be "awkward" to shoot her wedding, and that her family might be more comfortable with another photographer. Be prepared for a sob story about how she can't find/afford one right now though. The be as civil as possible during the wedding, and do the bare minimum you feel obligated to do. Then ditch them. It sounds like the whole family has a tendency to take advantage of the kindness of others. That is unlikely to change.0
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Okay. Since it was upper power day today, figured I'd join the fun in attempting to flex. Yeah... Not so great but eh, it's something. Left arm after over hour workout (plus cardio). I didn't have courage to take a pic on the gym floor, even if it's a small room, so used the bathroom mirror. I'm actually liking my shoulders lately. Bicep is tiny but there, just need the tricep and such to improve some. Need to keep working and practice those flex skills.
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love all the biceps!0
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Figured I'd put my chatter about shopping today in here instead of with the lifting post like I did over in NROLFW group.
Today I went to the mall and walked around for hours. No luck in finding anything for the wedding as was hoping to find a coat or something for over my dress so then I can pick what color of shoes to get. I may need to just borrow a coat or such from my mom. All of the shrugs and coats are either not formal enough, not the right shape, too thing, or over-sized and either textured or patterns.
I did, however, find shoes at goodwill for the rehearsal dinner, plus stuff for my costume for the 10k. Never thought I'd buy/fit in things from places like H&M, but found a weird black leotard type thing with flimsy material that is sort of like wings attached to the arms in a medium that fits. That, leggings, and a black/purple tutu plus how I do my makeup should work for the 10k and Halloween. It's going to be fun.0
