I had my first volunteer training with the student union of my college in the afternoon. I went to the gym afterwards, and didn't warm up properly. I ended up only being able to do box squats with 10 lbs and RDLs with 2 x 10 lbs. I was feeling a strain in my left calf, so I skipped the other four lower-body exercises I had planned for today. I will be taking Saturday as a rest day, but hopefully I can work out next week.

I'm hoping to get back into a reasonable movement practice over the next 12 months. One upper-body day of heavy lifting at the gym, one lower-body day of heavy lifting at the gym, and two low-impact HIIT workouts at home each week of about 30 minutes each. I just finished week 1 of the Intermediate Fusion: 6 Months - 20 minutes x 3 x week Training Tool from Datura Online. Three rounds of the Built: Lower Body Flexibility and Built: Flexibility for the Torso workouts from DO each week, with the choice of the workout depending on the needs of the day. I am doing dance and flexibility on a maintenance basis, because I am prioritizing lifting heavy and including intense cardio, the latter of which I have never done before. I cannot blow up a balloon to save my life, which is a bit of a problem if you want to sing well. 

Today I did a few minutes of plyometrics before weightlifting, just some basic pogo jumps, back-and-forth jumps, and side-to-side jumps. I did warm-up sets for all my lifts. My working set weights for wide lat pulldowns were 50 lbs; bent-over rows and bench press 2 x 10 lbs; overhead press 2 x 8 lbs; farmer's carry 2 x 12 lbs; and renegade rows 2 x 10 lbs. I plan to increase reps each week, and increase weights by up to 10 lbs each month. 

What frightens me about SkinnyTok is that in 2003, if GLP-1 medications had been available back then, I would have crawled over broken glass back then to get a prescription. In 2002, I had been prescribed psychiatric medications for a bipolar episode, and as a result, I gained a lot of weight due to a sluggish metabolism and emotional eating cravings.  Now I have made peace with my weight, and if anything,  I want to lift heavy in the gym to get a muscle mommy physique. I am really happy that Kimmortal recently released a song called “SWOLETARiAN” celebrating heavy lifting. At least we have over a decade of history of women being encouraged to lift heavy to help us fight the new oppression of heroin chic.

In the morning I did Colleena Shakti's 15 minute plank workout, the third and fourth section of Heather Louise's Qanun Over Cairo choreography, the Club Belly Dance: Sonic Jam 4 drill video by Morgan Fay, and a yoga cooldown by Rachel Brice.  I've decided to begin working out at the gym on Monday afternoons before class. Today I did:

1 set of 20 leg scissors

Warm up sets for each exercise

Wide lat pulldowns - 40 lbs, 3 x 6

DB rows - 10 lbs, 3 x 6

DB bench press - 8 lbs, 3 x 6

DB RDLs - 10 lbs, 3 x 6

DB overhead press - 5 lbs, 3 x 6

Treadmill - 10 minutes.

I used 2 minutes rest between each set with my goal of body recomposition. I added the cardio at the end because I still had some juice in me and wanted to pass the time before class. Next time I will do 8 reps for the working sets. I hope to go up in weights the week after. 

We had to run an errand early in the morning, and I was enervated. I did do Ashley Lopez's 30 minute “Cute Cardio Combination A” after lunch. The warmup and cooldown were ten minutes each, which was longer than in Kamrah's 30 minute cardio bellydance classes. I used to be impatient about warmups, but as I've grown older my joints appreciate them. This was one of the first videos I worked with when Datura Online first appeared. The arm exercises in the warmup felt harder this time, but I was better able to follow the fancy footwork in the dance combination.

My copy of Meg Casebolt's “Social Slowdown” arrived as an early Christmas gift from my sister. From the opening chapters it looks clearly written and full of knowledgable tips.

I practiced the C major scale on harmonica for five minutes - it wasn't as clear today as I would have liked it to be. I practiced threes on finger cymbals for five minutes, this time adding hip infinity loops and hip drops to the hip circles and traveling moves. I practiced maqsoum on riq for five minutes, for the first time ever trying to do a little of dance movement at the same time.

I'm pleased with myself that I completed Day 3 of EPIC Heat, which makes for three days of intense weightlifting in a row so far. I'd checked the description and worried that the squats and lunges would be gruesome, but I got through by modifying extensively - no elevated lunges, no jumping movements, among other things. I find that pushing my hips back during the squats really helps. I slowed down the pace where I wanted to.

I started my day doing the 5 minute warmup, Caroline Girvan's 10 Min BRACED CORE AND ABS workout, and EPIC Heat Day 2, which focuses on the shoulders. I feel that my core has weakened since my gallbladder surgery in 2016 - I used to be able to do plough pose easily, but not anymore. I'm not terribly interested in visible abs, although a flat belly would be nice. But I like the challenge of Caroline's abs workouts, and I think core work is important for posture and back health. I definitely find it easier to engage my abs during other exercises after doing a core-focused workout. I tried a couple of time to do the shoulder workout with 5 lb weights, but 2 lb weights were hard enough. The movements themselves were easy.

I did 20 minutes of vocal riyaz. Today I played threes on the finger cymbals for five minutes while performing different arm and leg positions, and managed to toss in a few hip circles in the process. I played maqsoum and malfuf on riq for five minutes each from memory, which is progress from before. I practiced the C major scale on harmonica for five minutes - I'm hoping to progress to playing the chromatic scale, and then play tunes reading tabs. I practiced the first body percussion routine from Salvo Russo's playlist from memory three times.

I started studying Class 3 in Guru Pali Chandra's YouTube kathak lessons, Padhant - How to say the bols (recitation). This class is about reciting the rhythm syllables while dancing. I'm familiar with the basic teentaal rhythm cycle she began with, because I've learned it at the beginning of my studies in Hindustani classical voice. Next time I'm going to do the kathak warmup I've devised first before practicing with the lessons, so that I can do the footwork fast enough while following along. 

I was feeling tired, so I didn't practice any of the piano exercises. My knees were feeling sore, so I did Ashley Lopez's “Knee Stabilization - Mat Exercises.”

I've discovered a new thing on YouTube, videos of kathak dancers minus their upper bodies performing percussive footwork with ankle-bells to popular Indian songs. I told Anjalica Solomon about this when we were having our second song poetry course. The theme of this week was grief. I talked about how although I know Tori Amos's “Spark” is about her miscarriages, it resonates with me as a song grieving the death of a homeland due to ecocide and climate change. During class I wrote one song about grief and came up with a song idea for the object writing exercise from Pat Pattison's “Write Better Lyrics.”

I got an extra hour of sleep due to the Daylight Savings Time change, which was nice. I was pleasantly surprised that my abs weren't screaming due to DOMS after last night's core workout. 
We went to Walmart to exchange the Saskatoon berry jam we'd bought by mistake for blueberry jam. When we came home Ma made us spiced chai. I usually don't have a second caffeinated drink in the day after my cup of coffee at breakfast, but it was cold and I wanted some nice black tea.

I chopped shallots and garlic for a noodle dish and peeled prawns for an acorn squash dish that Ma cooked. I wrote the previous post on kathak - I had asked a friend for feedback on my blog, and she suggested, among other things, that I go into greater depth into my practice. Slowly, slowly.

I decided against studying diminished 7th chords for the time being - I like my dissonance in moderate amounts. I watched the tutorial on sus 4 chords from Piano Skills for Singers Level 2. The sus 4 chord apparently shows up in a lot of pop and musical theatre, and substitutes the 4th for the 3rd in the major triad. It resolves to the major triad frequently in compositions. When I had viewed this tutorial previously I had noticed that it was easy to play, although Brenda cunningly has you play left hand block chords with right hand broken chords extending to the octave above at the end of the tutorial.

I watched the Week 4 tutorials from Piano Technique and Ear Training Exercises. It goes into A major. Here Brenda does something different, she has you play the chord progressions first singing the bass notes with scale degrees and solfege note names, and then doing the same with the top notes. This week's ear training focuses on singing the tonic triad in solfege, which is what I've been doing this past week as part of studying the Crash Course in Solfege. 

After dinner, for the first time this year, I lifted weights. I completed Day 1 of EPIC Heat, Uncomplicated Complexes, first doing the five minute warmup and the hip/knee/ankle mobility routine I had found on YouTube, and wearing my new supportive shoes. My knees still felt a little sensitive, but in several sections less so than when I had previously attempted this workout. I've learned how to do micro-adjustments to make things easier on myself. By the end I was dripping with sweat, even though it was a cold fall night in Vancouver.

I've made a practice plan for the next couple of weeks - I have a flu shot on Wednesday, so I'm taking a little more time to work on stuff:

1. kathak - learn how to speak the bols or Indian rhythm names while doing the basic footwork;
2. Bengali dance - practice the flower, bird, and fish mudras;
3. fusion bellydance - continue studying the Datura Style Focus program and practicing freestyle dance;
4. weightlifting - work on the EPIC Heat program, skipping the HIIT workouts;
5. body percussion - study the second tutorial and revise the first tutorial from Salvo Russo's YouTube playlist;
6. riq - practice the maqsoum and malfuf rhythms, hopefully in the same sessions so as to keep them fresh;
7. finger cymbals - practice the gallop and Masmoudi Saghir pattern, using the tips from Shira's article and eventually playing them with an Arabic song;
8. harmonica - practice the C major scale;
9. piano - practice singing moving notes to rest notes with solfege note names and hand signals. Practice the Week 4 Piano Technique and Ear Training exercises. Practice improvising the mini blues scale over the blues progression. Practice major 7th, dominant 7th, minor 7th, and sus 4 chords. Clap the beat of songs in ¾ time.
10. voice - practice vocal riyaz. Listen to the ragas that my teacher suggested.

I was feeling tired, so I started my morning by practicing the C major scale on harmonica for five minutes. I practiced riq for five minutes. I practiced 3-5-1-3 on finger cymbals for five minutes. I'd found an excellent article on Shira.net  on finger cymbal patterns to play with Arabic songs in 4/4 time, including examples of songs to begin playing finger cymbals with. She includes information on how to speak the sounds associated with each pattern in ME rhythm terms, and how to count the patterns as musicians and as non-musicians. Later I saved all four of Suhaila's “Belly Dance Rhythm Identification” albums to my Spotify.

My energy levels picked up after I practiced the kathak warmup. Today I tried doing it without referring to the namaskar and general warmups video. I did miss a few steps in the namaskar, but I'm getting a handle of it. I also did Salvo Russo's first body percussion routine from his playlist from memory correctly.

I did 30 minutes of vocal riyaz. Today I tried an exercise that starts from Re, instead of the usual Sa, and it was so hard to do correctly. But it's good practice for training one's ear.

I was really hoping to start EPIC Heat today wearing my new supportive shoes. I did Caroline's five minute warmup, then a hip/knee/ankle mobility routine from YouTube - her team had suggested I do such a mobility drill prior to lower body workouts when I had posted on the FB group about my knee issues. But when I tried the first set of exercises from Day 1 my knees protested. 

I did manage to fit in a cardio bellydance class from Kamrah's YouTube channel and a brief piano practice before we went out to get groceries. When we were out I had some chocolate marzipan, so after dinner I did 20 minutes of freestyle dancing to “Wild Winds” from Suhaila's “Remix” album. I worked on my three quarter shimmies on the up and on the down, and incorporated some leg extensions from ballet.

This year was even better than last year and has been a year of great growth and success for me. I didn't complete the business program, but I realized that my music wasn't ready yet to be released. I had been hoping to record a lot of my song poems, and while I didn't succeed, I did manage to record my first instrumental "Frost Flowers," my second project for my college course, "Intro to Music Technology." I got an A in "Academic Writing" in the summer and an A minus in "Intro to Music Technology" in the fall, while working, volunteering, and practicing music and movement, and persevering through a tooth extraction, allergies, and depressive episodes. I passed my Intro 2 to Improv course - I was taking it again a second time around - and successfully performed my first stand-up set in front of a live audience. I studied with an online music program based in the DTES called Women Rock! and cowrote a song with my classmates. I completed 29 out of the 30 workouts in Caroline Girvan's 6 week strength training program IRON. I completed the 365 day Datura Online challenge, watching one or more videos from the website each day of the year, and will hopefully win a year's free subscription to the online classes' website. I worked as a grant writer for a nonprofit ten hours a week for 20 weeks as part of a paid work experience term, and volunteered 23.5 hours in the fall semester as a Student Ambassador at Douglas College. My dance video for WUT, "White Walls," was displayed on a community billboard art installation for several months in East Vancouver, and I was paid a substantial honorarium for my work.

I tried doing EPIC Heat Day 9, but I couldn't get myself to do 30 minutes of calisthenics at Girvan's level. I have managed to complete Rachel Brice's "3/4 Shimmy Bellydance Boost Series." Yesterday morning I did a 17 minute Bengali dance tutorial on mudras by Riya, and a 35 minute easy ballet barre workout by Kathryn Morgan, both on YouTube. In the afternoon I did 20 minutes of dance improvisation.

I like scrolling through the thumbnails of 10 000 calorie eating videos on YouTube - I never click through. They make me feel better about eating between approximately 2200 and 2500 calories daily ( I haven't actually measured my food intake) and being stably plump while moderately fit. And I don't even usually eat a lot of the processed sugary and fatty foods featured in these videos.

Today I did the "3/4 Shimmy Variations: The Overshimmy" by Rachel Brice on Datura Online. It was tricky, especially at full speed, but I'm getting there. I then did Riya's "5 Basic Steps Of Rabindra Nritya" from YouTube. The actual moves weren't that difficult, but mirroring the teacher's right and left was challenging. I finished with EPIC Heat, Day 11. I substituted glute bridges for the hip thrusts and used 5 lb dumbbells for the exercises. I liked this workout a lot -considering it was lower body focused, it didn't stress my knees at all. I actually could have done the hip thrusts, but both my chair and my bed are creaky. 

Last night before bedtime I was feeling bored, so I danced improvisation for 20 minutes. I felt stiff, but enjoyed my imperfect dancing. This morning I did Rachel Brice's "3/4 Shimmy Boost: Day 2". My full speed three quarter shimmies are getting there. I followed it with Day 8 of EPIC Heat. Back and biceps were easy, I got in a good sweat, which I hadn't in the past couple of workouts. I used my 8.8 lb milk jugs filled with water for the standing position rows and my 5 lb dumbbells for the bicep curl variations. I was actually able to keep my knees up while doing the renegade rows with one hand elevated on a yoga block, instead of knees on the floor, although I had to use my 5 lb dumbbell.

Today I saw a YouTube video by a woman talking about how she worked out twice a day every single day for five months, not to lose weight or become super ripped, but simply to improve her mood. The thing is, even when I workout intensely for up to an hour or less in the morning, I spend much of the rest of the time lying in bed if I don't have specific work to do. I have been trying to get in a couple of hours of resistance training, flexibility training, and dance practice each morning, but trying to do it all together hasn't worked out for me. So now I'm thinking of splitting up my movement practice into a resistance training session in the morning and a light exercise session later in the day, depending on my other commitments. I'll definitely be taking my rest days. I started my new movement methodology today by dancing improv for 20 minutes in the afternoon. My bellydance technique looked a lot better compared to last night - a greater range of movement vocabulary, more fluidity, and I was able to incorporate three quarter shimmies, always a challenge for me. It felt good.

This afternoon we went to the crafts fair at the Riverside Market in New Westminster. We bought chocolates, cocoa powder, tea, and greeting cards. We then had dinner at the Old Spaghetti Factory. I'd avoided the place back in the day, although I did like their ice cream. We started going there this year regularly, because their food has improved and for the price of an entree one gets bread, soup or salad, tea, and ice cream included. I had chicken Alfredo with mascarpone ravioli, green salad with blue cheese, peppermint tea, and Spumioni ice cream (chocolate, vanilla, and pistachio), while Ma had roasted garlic grilled chicken and the same extras as me.

I was considering doing knee exercises to prepare for leg day, but felt too enervated, so I did Heather Louise's "Romantic Combo" from Datura Online instead, because it was only 8 minutes long. Today's legs workout was a mixture of bodyweight and dumbbells - I used 2 lb weights, and substituted static lunges for the Bulgarian lunges on a chair. The staple exercises were lateral lunges, which I liked - I actually felt them in my glutes, quads, hamstrings, and adductors, rather than my knees.

After lunch I was feeling guilty for feeling so tired after just 45 minutes of exercise in the morning. But I realized that I feel tired even when I don't exercise, and at least I'm staying in shape. After writing that in my diary I didn't feel so tired, I felt bored and restless. So I did one of Girvan's 10 minutes abs/core bodyweight workouts. It was extremely difficult, but I improved towards the end. I actually liked doing it, which was new for me because I usually despise core work.

After a break of some days I practiced Indian classical vocal exercises for 30 minutes. I improvised a I-IV-V-I melody in D minor on the keyboard. It felt good.

I had a grant-writing meeting this morning on Zoom. I chopped a lot of vegetables for Ma's cooking - onions, garlic, carrots, potatoes, and chilli peppers. I was feeling tired, so I exercised after lunch. I tried Zoe Jakes' new choreography on Datura Online, "Surge." The introduction section alone had several tricky turns, transitions, and layers. I did Day 6 of Heat, starting with 5 lb weights for the chest presses and switching to 2 lb weights for the flyes, diamond presses, skull-crushers and lying overhead extensions. I substituted incline pushups for all the full pushups and dips. I had planned to do one of Girvan's 10 minute abs workouts afterwards, but felt too wiped out.

I'm glad I took yesterday as a complete rest day, no movement or music practice at all. I did have a highly productive session with a career coach from my college and went to my music technology class in the evening. I was planning to do only resistance training today, but I decided to do Zoe Jakes' "Cobra Combo: Short Phrase" from Datura Online as a mood-lifter. The fourth day of EPIC Heat was a full body workout, mostly bodyweight - I actually prefer weight lifting exercises because I find them easier, so I modified a lot of the exercises. I substituted incline pushups on my chair for all the push up sets and burpees, and did elbow planks on my knees instead of the mobile plank exercises. I substituted glute bridges on the mat for the hip thrusts, using  a 2 lb dumbbell for the first set and a 5 lb dumbbell for the second and third set. At first I tried to do the chest presses with my 8.8 lb milk jugs filled with water, but thought better of it and used a pair of 5 lb dumbbells. The workout went by quickly and I felt good if tired at the end of it. I'll be skipping the HIIT workouts because they're hard on my knees, but I'm glad I finished the first week of Heat.

I'm proud of myself for doing four of Caroline Girvan's resistance training workouts over the past five days. Today I started by working with Sedona Soulfire's "Knee Joint Exercises" video from Datura Online. I'm glad I did it, because my knees felt a little less stressed during Girvan's lower body workout. The last time I tried this video a few weeks ago I quit after a few minutes, but this time I persevered all the way through. I did use only 2 lb weights, and I modified some of the exercises. I substituted bodyweight squats at a slow pace for the squat thrusters and burpees, and alternating rear lunges for the three point lunges. I still managed to work up a good sweat. I'm hoping to get a pair of adjustable dumbbells today as an early Christmas present from Ma when we go shopping today.

I did Colleena Shakti's "Two-Speed Spins Combo" from Datura Online, and Day 1 of the Step of the Day series from Spirit of Dance Academy's Instagram page. When I first did the Day 1 video it was hard for me to mirror the instructor's footwork, but this time it was easier. I then did the Day 2 shoulders workout from Caroline Girvan's EPIC Heat program. At first I tried to do it with 5 lb weights, but five seconds in I decided that "Nope, not going to risk pulling a muscle like I did last year," and switched to 2 lb weights. I did do most of the single arm exercises with a 5 lb dumbbell. It was a good workout, although I don't see the point of the push presses, which stress my knees. Once I finished the video I took a break to chop onions and garlic for Ma's cooking. I then did 20 minutes of dance improvisation.

I was supposed to go to a free cooking class this morning at the local mental health club, but I didn't want to trek uphill in the pouring rain. I did day 8 of Spirit of Dance's Step of the Day series on Instagram and Colleena Shakti's "Traveling Two Spin Combo" from Datura Online. I did a knee/hip rehab/injury prevention video from the Patreon of one of my Vancouver fusion bellydance teachers, Nikki Mae. I like it because it's short and sweet and works well at protecting my sensitive knees. I then took a short break, just moving around randomly to music from bellydance videos on YouTube. It exercised with Day 1 of EPIC Heat, a leg day workout. After a few minutes I almost gave up, but I saw on the screen that I'd already done 5 percent, which was encouraging, and I figured that even though the complexes were 3 minutes long, I was getting 45 second rests in between. So I finished it. The staggered Romanian deadlifts to squats, which had been the hardest part of this video when I first worked with it, weren't so hard this time. I got an excellent sweat and my mood felt good.

I decided to try lifting weights today. Caroline Girvan's workouts even with a strength training focus have a cardio aspect which is good for my mood. I did the Day 1 shoulder workout from her Advent series. I did Rachel Brice's "Deep Bodywave Combo" - the level changes were challenging, so I'm going to do some knee exercises, which I was going to do anyway to prep for Caroline's lower body workouts. I did 12 minutes of dance improvisation - I had to answer a phone call from Douglas College. Afterwards I went to a free guitar lesson at a local mental health club a couple of blocks away from my home. The instructor didn't have a plectrum, so I tried to fingerpick. He was patient, and drew fret diagrams on a piece of paper for the C major, G major, and F major chords. 

I started EPIC Heat today from Caroline Girvan's YouTube programs. Day 1 was leg day - I only do lower body workouts in order to balance out my resistance training, so I did it with 2 lb weights and did the lunges bodyweight. It did go quickly, and I got a good sweat without having to do extra cardio. I worked with Colette Todorov's Datura Online video "FCBD Style Class 3 - Slow: Balancing Step, Torso Twist, Propeller Turn." 

Today was the farewell potluck for the work experience team at the nonprofit where I work as a grant-writer - I'll be continuing my work there on a volunteer basis. My college instructor had tested positive for COVID on Wednesday, so I decided not to go even though I had no symptoms because I thought it best not to risk infecting anyone. They sent me a Zoom link to the event, so we chatted a bit online before they had lunch.

I was feeling tired today, so I decided to just watch one short video from the Ableton Live 9 Youtube instructional playlist that I'd started this week. Today's video was on how to use the Arrangement view.

After a break, I decided to start doing resistance training again. I did Caroline Girvan's 5 minute warm up and went into her Advent Day 1 Shoulder workout, followed by Colette Todorov's Datura Online video "FCBD Style Class 2: Fast" and 20 minutes of dance improvisation. I chopped onions, garlic, shallots and potatoes for Ma's cooking. I practiced 30 minutes of vocal riyaz (Indian classical music exercises). I sang acapella improv a bunch of political song poems that I'd written a year ago: "Nobody's Pure and It Hurts," "Miss Abarjana", "Stop Lying To Yourself", "Nobody Wins The Olympics Of Pain," "Memoir of A 90s' Girl," "Lost Boys," and "White People." I wrote these songs after watching a bunch of Tori Amos's Dew Drop Inn shows on YouTube and listening to Fiona Apple's album "Fetch The Boltcutters." I would like to record and release these songs along with "Racefail," "May The Bridges I Burn Light The Way," and "It's Time To Kill Off Rock 'N Roll" once I get a handle on my copy of Ableton Live Standard 9. Today I watched a bunch of videos from a Youtube playlist teaching how to use Ableton Live Standard 9. It's 6 hours and 47 minutes long and so far I've watched about 40 minutes. I'm taking a college course on music technology and the instructor said we'd be working on Ableton next week. I played and sang the melody for "Nobody's Pure" on the keyboard.

Last year I tried Caroline Girvan's EPIC 1 a total of four times. I gave up the first time after the first week because of knee issues. The second time after completing the first week I decided to try EPIC Heat, which had just been released. I managed to complete week 4 of Heat but was exhausted, and I was dismayed by my lack of core strength - Heat doesn't have a lot of core specific exercises, and I was too tired after the main workouts to add on even a 10 minute abs finisher. The third time I injured myself doing the upper body exercises in Day 8 using 5 lb weights instead of 2 lb weights. The fourth time my knees hurt badly and continued to hurt through the extended cold snap that took place in Vancouver in December and January.