finishing strong

here i sit, in my second last week of dieting. the show is THAT close and according to george i am ready. allow me to qualify that, i am holding a sh!t ton of water. we are convinced it is from stress and expect during the three days i will be alone in my winnipeg hotel room, sleeping, eating and posing i will drop the water that is currently hanging on for dear life.

when i pose, you can see detail and veins that i have never shown before. mixed with the muscle i put on in the offseason and when this water comes off, well it could be pretty scary. of course i mean scary in a good way.

as near as i can figure from the results of the last 3 caliper readings, i have been able to come in without burning off any of the lean mass. the other difference with this years prep is that i haven't always felt as shady as i have in preps past. i also have to say it's only in the final few weeks that i'm noticing a drop in strength.

so in light of the challenges that this prep brought. it would appear that i have met the challenges and i still managed to get 'er done. the other day a friend of mine sent me a link to nadia nardi's blog. nadia basically said that you can't control what happens during your prep. sh!t is gonna happen, an athlete keeps his/her head down and keeps chugging whereas others would fold like a deck of cards and fill the air with their tales of woe.

personally, i'd rather be an athlete.

you know i should put some pics up in here. i'm sure speed racer would agree... she wouldn't strike you as such a visual person but that woman sure loves pics.

till next time... i remain in the trenches!!!!

back in the saddle again!!!!

well i am excited to report, my friends, that once again the miche train is back on the tracks.

since my last post things have taken a turn for the better. i cashed in some of my investments. yes i know that come tax time next year my life is going to suck... but it just seemed to me to be a better option than turning my back on 5 months of dieting.

i finished the first posing routine i've ever choreographed, i showed it to some of my friends and they like it. now these are friends i trust not to lie to me... so i am feeling pretty relieved.

there is actually going to be jan tana spray service for the athletes so that means i wont have to take anyone with me to apply my show colour. in a way this reminds me of the old days when i used to go to the rollerblade contests. i used to travel all by myself then too.

anyway i ordered my plane ticket yesterday and in the evening i registered for the contest. today i booked my time to get sprayed and reserved my hotel room.

all that is left is for me to buckle down in the remaining weeks and do my level best to bring it!!!!

what motivates...

i had an interesting conversation with one of the natty pro's i know. the discussion came about because one of my work mates told me not to get any bigger than i am and that 'mindy o'brien big' was 'too big' and 'ugly'.

the natty pro wanted to know exactly how big i wanted to get. and if my plans to continue to add size involved me crossing the line. from there he wanted to know why i was so attracted to the cbbf as opposed to one of the 'natty only' federations. it was hard to answer him truthfully as he is heavily involved with a 'natty only' federation. his thinking was that it made no sense to compete in an arena where i was likely to be a small fish lost in the big pond. he proposed that in a natty only federation i could be one of the big fishes.

it interests me the different things that motivate people and how they choose the paths they take. my motivation within this sport is not the acquisition of a pro card. i have held a pro card before in a 'fringe sport' that like bb lacks mainstream appeal. the path upon which i am on does conclude with a pro card, however, it is more akin to the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. there are more athletes in the hunt for one single seemingly elusive card... and we are talking about a global field of athletes.

the question i ask is what truly is better; the journey that includes the desire to improve one's physique, the dedication required to stay focused through all aspects of the show prep diet and the determination needed to get onstage. or is it truly about getting pro cards and being the big bber on campus... even if the campus is elementary school small??

sinking fast???

well my friends, those of you who still bother to check this place out, i know it has been next to forever since i last posted an update... but allow me to bring you up to speed.

first my father. he had his surgery a little over a week ago and i am happy to report he is successfully convalescing here at the homestead.

secondly, my mother. well things with her had been good up until a little over a week ago when the mystery pains started up again. she has to wait until the weekend before she can get an appointment with the accupuncturist. lately accupuncture therapy has been very helpful for her pain management.

and lastly yours truly. well as you have probably guessed the website project is still on the back burner. frankly i am a tad overwhelmed by things at the moment. sure i keep trying to forage on because well at the 5 week out mark it seems crazy to back out now... but here are my current challenges.

my coach has disappeared. which leaves me with no one to go to winnipeg with and no one to apply my contest colour. it also leaves me with no choreographer for my posing routine although there is the possiblity that i can do that myself. of course about then was when my computer decided to go tits up... and ive only recently been able to get back online. without my computer i haven't been able to edit music for the aforementioned posing routine.

but here is the biggie. looks like im broke, busted and financially spent. so it doesn't even look like i can afford to go to winnipeg either. in the last couple of weeks i have been chasing a couple of last ditch efforts... the elusive sponsorship dollar, which of course remains elusive and i even went to the bank to apply for a line of credit that has been denied.

in a few days i have an appointment with my financial advisor and he is going to have access some of my investment funds for me. i'm still dieting though. so far i'm still in this. i have friends who have offered to give me the cash i need to get to winnipeg but frankly thats more money than i could ever want to borrow from anyone.

so what is the plan? well it looks like winnipeg will be my last show for a while. im going to keep digging forward to turn this into a reality. i have to. i think that my entire life involves me giving up on things before i really applied myself. i think i tend to give up rather than risk failure. so its on me to get her done. and after this show is done... well i will have to retire from competition for a while and get my finances back in order.

i'm currently working full time as a personal trainer at one of the major chains. ive been there for about 3 months now and i am just starting to see the commissions coming in. my mother suggests that i get back into graphic design but i think i would rather kill myself than do that. well actually... i think i would kill myself if i did that.

anyway enough of the maudlin talk. for those of you that believe in the power of prayer... i beg you to do so. for those of you who believe in the power of positive thinking... i ask for your help.

and i will continue to place one foot in front of the other... until i no longer can.