I am so happy today! I have my reasons. Miami Heat is on top again and LeBron James at his peak. Then Wimbledon starts on Monday and the Fed is still on! Guys don’t keep me waiting too long; put the ladies and gents drawn live! Then my puppy Hendrix chewed only my electric blanket’s cable. Not the whole blanket. After he practically chewed and swallowed my house keys. Not all of them, only two… What an improvement! Also, yesterday, for the first time in years, I finished work at 5:45pm, so my weekend really started at a normal hour. On top of everything, Apple released IRadio (yay!)… with an oops…available only in US….hello, I am in New Zealand. Thanks Apple, great work. It seems that I’ll be Pandora’s client long time from now on!But, wait. I haven’t finished just yet. I went out to buy coffee and I bought myself the most amazing pendant. I couldn’t resist. A green heart, the greenest one. It’s probably nothing for you, but it means the world to me…not because it is so superb. Just because I don’t shop…. in shops. I hate shopping. There are those two companies in UK I buy everything from. Great one made girlie things! So I am practically in heaven today and I will have a great weekend with only a Pump class on. Something is missing? Yep, but it may worth the waiting…
Have a great weekend, guys! :)
I like Facebook. Really do. I have a business page I share with you, guys, and a personal one, where I live my life with almost 1000 friends. I know them all, I care about them and I love reading their posts. I laugh and play a lot on my page. At the end of the day, it is mine and it represents me only. Today, I read a post from Nikita, one of my girlie-sweetie-missy clients I started training just a couple of weeks back. She posted to her friends that it is because of me that she gained back her confidence. Nikita is a sweetheart, a fighter and a winner. She’s been through so much even if she is only in her early 20s. I love Nikita and I adore her babies. She will go so far, this girl! Her post made me think about what I would have become without all these wonderful people like Nikita. Kiita, this is for you, girlie! :)When I was younger, I had doubts that everything happens for a reason. I didn’t want to stop playing tennis and I didn’t understand for a very long time why I had to injure myself. I thought that I was a good human being and that good people deserve good things. While on court, I had my life planed in details. I knew exactly how long I would play, how many games I would win (every each of them!) and how much money I would have in my account at the end of my career. Ten minutes into a game, I looked to my left just because something really shinny grabbed my attention. Then I stepped funny and…my planed future became just a memory. For months I was so angry with God; actually he was my worst enemy back then! Then I realized that I have to move on because my plan A is gone and that I would have to start focusing on plan B and even make up a plan C if something goes wrong. I knew training by heart, every bits of it, so I started training others….while studying Philosophy and Medical Anthropology. That was the best time of my life and that was the time when I realised that everything really happens for a reason. I am a better trainer than I was a player. I trained myself and I can train others with my eyes closed because I know what my clients go through. I’ve been there. If they feel down, I know the feeling; I had it for so many times. I know what success means; I had it myself. I am wiser now and I realise that if I hadn’t injured myself, my life would have been much different. Yes, I would have had more glory and fame, but who cares about that? I am wiser for sure because I know that there is no difference between “forgive” and “forget”. At least not for me. I met so many people I love and care about just because for one second only I looked to my left. All my friends and clients mean much more to me than all the glory in the world and I cannot be grateful enough that my knee snapped to pieces when something shinny disturbed my game. :)
I don’t sleep too much. I found it a waste of time. I could do so many things, I mean important ones, instead of sleeping. And because I get excited easily, I keep people awake. It’s usually Tricia, my dear friend, I try to convince to give up some rest time…only to chat with me. Tricia is my bestest ever and my editor as well. She absolutely hates the fact that my blogs go live full of misspellings. I wouldn’t care less…She already decided that bestest is not a word, so I will keep using it just to bother her a little bit. What about bester, Tricia? Anyway, usually at 11pm, we Voxer or text and, believe me, you wouldn’t want to know what we chat about. An hour later, she gives up. I keep going for another hour. I come alive after midnight. The real reason is that, after so many classes lately, I am sore. Actually I made myself sore. It is a different soreness than the one I used to feel when I played tennis. Back then I had fewer injuries; now I quite battle with a few. Last year, I ruptured two ligaments in my right knee (remenber that this is my good knee!) and dislocated my left shoulder. I still suffer and it’s fair according to what Bryce, my physio said. Nothing much really, except that the heeling process is around 18 months. Give me a break, Bryce, this is not a grieving process! So, I’m sore, but the good news is that my clients are in much more pain than I am. …and they keep coming back for more!
Last Sunday I went crazy. Sculpt Pump class at 9:00am and I was so very tired before the class started. My clients learnt that the classes are super intense when I am tired. Just because I cannot think clearly and I push too much. So, the class started and while my peeps warmed up, I thought I’ll make an announcement. “460 squads today, sweeties. Load the weights”. So, I’m sore…and they are as well. But they all came back for the Body Sculpt class on Wednesday. Deanna and Jas, just wait to see what I planed for next Sunday class! You’ll hate me as much as you’ll love me!
Why do I keep going like that? Simple as: just because I love it and I got so used to the pain. I couldn’t live without it. :)
I don’t own a watch. Never had one. As an athlete, I knew that my training started when it started and finished when I was finished. No watch required. As a trainer, I know that a session finishes when the next client arrives. So I wake up every morning at 4am (yes, I still need an alarm!) and my clients record my time…not a watch. Just because I don’t have one!
Anyway, at 4am I always turn my laptop on. Things have names in my world. I called my laptop Well, because he (yes, he is a he) and I always start our convos with “well,….” He (we already decided on that!) talks back to me, so the first thing I heard early in the morning today was “you have 86 emails”. Thanks for that. Easy day! As he always does, Well started reading my emails. Today is my lucky day: I have an email from Gabriella. Do you know her? I don’t either, but apparently she knows me or at least she knows my email address. Gabriella is a kind of fortune-teller. She emails me once a week, from where ever she is, just to remind me that my day started good, but very soon, I mean very, very soon, my life will change forever. Depending on her mood, horrible or just amazing things would happen to me. Very, very soon. She can help, she says. All I have to do is handle in my credit card details and she would then turn my luck around….or upside down. She changes the amount she asks for her services depending on her mood…again. Now, Gabriella, who ever you may be, don’t bother, please. I don’t want to know my future, let it just amaze me! I don’t have a watch; I don’t count hours, or months.
Next email is from Google. Now, this is the real Google. The fake one rang a few times last week. The fake one has employees. Many of them, apparently all based in Napier. It’s quite weird how all these Napier guys have Indian accents. The good news is that they don’t want my credit card. They just want my website login…to sort me out…forever! I may be blonde, but not so blonde as you may think!
I am just lucky today that the rest of my emails are from clients. 84 clients asking for advice. That’s what I want for a great day. So, I start dictating my replies. Well got used to my accent. Almost. He types crap sometimes, but that’s just fine. I would do it anyway myself.
Have a great day, guys! :)
Hendrix is my 5 months old puppy. Ridgeback- Lab cross; great dog. He is mine only. I share Max with my daughter. Max is an 11 years old Lab- Mastiff cross. But, as I've said, Hendrix is just mine. He is absolutely crazy; probably this is why I love him so much. Hendrix escapes every day and there is no fence to stop him. Actually, he used to until a builder fixed my fence. However, Hendrix wears a name tag with my phone number. Just in case.
So, there is that guy who rang two weeks ago. He said that Hendrix is in Manly village, running like crazy. As he does. It was my turn to run now. I found him playing with an old lady. No guy around. Next day, same story....and then the fence got fixed. Last Saturday, the guy called again to tell me that Hendrix was in the village...again. I looked around. Hendrix was next to me, chewing my book. Sunday he called again. This time he asked for my name. Just in case. Again I looked around and here he was, the crazy Hendrix, just eating my pink high heels. Seriously? So I just told the guy that he can keep Hendrix next time he sees him in the village. Because there won't be a next.
So, let's just have a toast for an idiot! I don't want to go so far as Kanye West would, but this is exactly what I'm thinking. Do you want to know who I am? Try harder!
Who am I? That's one secret I'll never tell! :)
I really like rainbows. I haven't seen so many as a child because they weren't many in the country I grew up. As a child, I mostly heard or read about them. I've seen so many though in my new country New Zealand and I started taking lots and lots of photos. Some were double rainbows. Those are my favorites. I haven't seen many toys as a little girl and I thought that dolls are something that are only in movies. At five, my only toy was my racket and I had to make the most of it. The court was my playground. No slides, just clay. A baby girls' palm is pink and beautiful. Mine was full of blisters. And my feet too. At the time when little girls dream about castles and princes, I played. You wouldn't know that clay sticks on your skin and makes you look so much different than a princess? You would definitely wouldn't know that. I had a good childhood thought, except that I was a ping pong ball and my parents were the best table tennis players. So I thought. Kids wouldn't have to feel that. But I made the most out of it. I blanked the whole world out and played the best I could. That's all I knew back then. I am smarter now. I know now that I have choices and that there is nothing I really have to do. I do things because I want to, not because I have to. As a child, I never collected things. I had no stamps or coins collection, nor any kind of stickers one. Now I collect people. I surround myself with good ones and I just hope they feel the same about me.
I have the best clients ever. My job is that part of my life I never failed. Probably the only one. I put so much effort in it because I want to live at my clients' expectations. Not because I have to; nobody pushed me; I pushed myself. I wanted that. My clients are my pride and I don't just say that. Every day I learn something from them. They taught me the language, the habits, the culture. They actually were what my parents were not. Like every human, I had some tragedies in my life and, when I was down, I ended up with so much baking these girlies have made for me just to show their love and compassion. In the moments when I wasn't able to cook because life was too taught, my clients came with lunches and dinners. They put their precious time in for me. We celebrated Christmases together. And Easters. We blew the candles on my birthdays cakes together. They caught Hendrix, my puppy, any time he escaped. They love my kids and jump for them in fire if they have to. They took me to their churches and I've been in so many so far. Some installed my gate and helped me with my veggie garden. Others worked for me in the house when I moved in. Others put a new bathroom in for me. All these while I was making money training people. My studio is always full and I may be the only trainer that has bookings up to December. But my house is full as well. Same loving, caring, exceptional people.
I am in a business with and for people. A people's business. I've been in for so many years. My whole life really and I intend to stay here for ever. I am in it to the end! :)
There is a consequence for everything in life. I learned that many years ago. Karma? I don’t know about that; what I know is that there were repercussions for every action I made. And if I continue making mistakes , that just proves that I am human. And sometimes too blonde. My dad used to say that we all have a light that we carry with us the whole life. He said that this light is ours only and it’s not to be given away. He was right. I’ve met so many people who shine.
Kim’s light shined more than others. I met her three years ago. Actually she phoned me because she wanted to hire me for a short period of time. She said something about a month or two, just enough to get fitter and when I asked her if there is any weight loss involved, she said that she doesn’t want to lose any. So I booked her for an assessment on Monday first thing in the morning. Now, here she is in my studio the funny, bubbly Kim. When I first saw her, I thought she may be in denial: short, very short, something like 1.52cm, carrying 157kg. Huge really. So I started talking about losing some weight, but Kim was really sure she doesn’t want to do that. She said that she likes the way she is and her husband doesn’t mind that she is heavy. My client, my master. After a few sessions, I was still wondering if I lost my mind or she doesn’t see herself as she really was. Anyway, one day she told me that her hubby is going to pick her up after the session. By then, I started liking Kim very much and she became one of my favs clients. She was, and still is, so honest, careful, amazing lady, willing to give more than she gets. So, at the end of that particular session I will never forget, her man was by my studio's door waiting for Kim. Boy, oh boy, what a man! Absolutely gorgeous, like 10 years younger than Kim, lean as, just an awesome guy deeply in love with his wife. For days, I was wondering what has he really found in her and how on heck was she able to get him. But then I realised that Kim’s light shined in the darkest nights. She was, and, as I’ve said, still is, an amazing human being, decided to make him happier than any supermodel would.
I am stubborn and I wanted more for Kim. She trained with me for almost two years and I made her skinny and gorgeous. Not for her actually. It was my present to her husband. We stayed friends and I still see Kim outside of my work. We go out for coffees and chit chat a lot. I’ve been in her home several times, enough to realise that nothing changed in her man’s attitude. I don’t think he even noticed how beautiful she looks now. For him, she was always the same girl with a shinny light inside.
Now, there is a thing that Kim made me learn and I will share this with you. Girlies, there is no awesome guy left! Don't search too much! There are all gone! None left! Kim took the best. :)
