When the olympics finally were over I swear that the population in London seemed to cut down by half. It was time to get back in routines and focus on learning more about  London, making it my home and fulfilling my aims.

This Month I tried gluten-free sausages that were amazingly similar to finnish Siskonmakkara- sausages. Ise quickly made sure that I wouldn't be too exited about that when she commented that my sausages looked like little penises. (Thanks Ise. Now it will take ages for me the get rid of that image in my head.)

She haven't commented on my green breakfast fruit smoothie (yet) which makes me lucky I think. I can't afford giving up all my dishes due to Ise's comments. Spirulina, MSM powder, pia protein, banana, orange juice, pineapple, strawberry cocktail!

ODE TO YOYO'S
CROSS TRAINER

Alone in the dark.
Without any touch, without any love.
Only a faint memory of a sweaty palm on your handles.

So much hatred your physical clumsy form inspired among us.

Last goodbyes in Nick's arms on a boozy friday night.
We left you behind.
There you stayed,
next to used bottles, trash papers and binned life's.
Maybe someone will sweat on you once again?

We had a small renovating project to be done in the flat before our new flatmates would be moving in.  That meant a lot of painting, running stairs up'n down, making compromises with the furniture and storage space. (And throwing that damn ugly cross trainer to garbage Yo-Yo left behind when she moved back to Finland.)

Unfortunately we didn't have that much free space to "throw" the stuff out of the way so the next best thing was to pile up everything in the centre of the room....

       


Even thought my dad is a painter as well as my uncle (even my granddad was a painter) I'm not a painter.

 My motto worked pretty well in this project: "Plenty of liquids and everything will be just fine..." Such an amateur as I was I still did the man's work listening Ise advising me and pointing out the places where I missed a spot etc. 

Who needs a man when you have gluten free brownies and you can paint the walls all by yourself? HA!

Moving from a single room...

...to newly decorated double room with tons of space!

And the Scandinavian feng shui rocking!

One thing that I still can't understand is the lack of decorative sense in english peoples minds. When did the whole floor carpets in the bathroom become a good idea?! And no... it's not a good way to hide "the drops" and definitely doesn't save time from cleaning the "oops- drops" of the carpet. If your not blind you surely smell all those drops. And why to have laminates in the bathroom? Much better than carpet but have you ever heard of tiles?

I admit that I really hate whole floor carpets. They are hard to keep clean and I really have a bad habit to spill everything around. Coffee? On the carpet! Some red wine? YEP On the carpet already! The worst thing is that after my morning run I literally sweat on everything and if I don't immediately run to shower there is a pond around me ON THE CARPET.

And how about sense of colors? With what goes with what? Don't even ask.. I spent the whole friday last week trying to get rid of that "magnolia" (A.K.A. puke) color on my walls. Just like someone has been smoking decades inside and spilled some Ribena on the walls.

They even have IKEA in here and unfortunately it still hasn't improved the deco-sense of these people. They actually joke about IKEA furniture being so complicated to build that it's almost comparable with nuclear physics..

England surely knows how to make things so complicated that it must be some sort form of art by now. Everything from paperwork to daily living:

"No sir... you must fill the form YX98635672875298 before you can get the form 44475ABC."

"Why to use only one tab when you can exercise every morning by moving you hands around the sink  trying to make the perfect temperature water in your palms to throw on you face from TWO TABS?"

Like I have said before I don't really get too stressed about the England's complex logic with everything. The best feature in London is the multicultural atmosphere and I love it! In battersea we have plenty of churches, mosques and temples. But the real worshiping happens in the local supermarkets. They have dedicated a whole aisle for crisps! 

Aneta my work mate and me have decided to try something new every month. We had a trial in British Military Fitness in Hamsptead Heat park last tuesday. I still can feel the pain on my legs and have to admit that we really had some fun! Running around like kids, giggling, challenging ourself in group work and competing with others. Huge thanks to Ian for letting us test milfit.  We really had a good time and got plenty of inside jokes to cheer us up on our days at work.

Only thing that was the obstacle or kind of funny was my first reactions to the training. I'm really not that used to people commanding me or telling me what to do. Thank god I still didn't challenge Ian with my attitude "I'll show you who's the boss!"

BTW about working out:

I've found myself again from the sweet 80's. Who would forget the ultimate gym tune Survivor - Eye of the Tiger? And when you giving everything that you have and even more the song is Push it to the limit from the Scarface! And one of my favorites Amy Holland- She's on fire. One day I'll dress up like the real gym bunny in the 80's and pull a show at my gym!

Even thought it has actually been proved that nowadays all the music sounds the same let me introduce you to my gluteus and thighs workout song: Far East Movement feat. Pitbull- Candy. This is the song to company my mantra "J'lo's ass...... J'lo's ass....." which has also been changed recently because that mother of two has the most amazing abs too! So if you hear me murmuring "Jlo's ass and abs... Jlo's ass and abs.." at the gym don't call the police or white coated men. She's just one of the inspiring people I see as my idols right after Leonardo Da Vinci, Laura Bassi, Lara Croft and Einstein. 

http://www.justjared.com/photo-gallery/2682116/jennifer-lopez-casper-smart-ab-tastic-in-rio-23/

Year 2012 and olympics in London HOORAY! People are exited! the games are on EVERY DAY!  You got to have a ticket at least from some park with big screens. Everybody talks about the olympics! If there is empty seats in the games they write about on every magazine. "How they dare to do that?! The VIP audience?! How do they have the guts to do that?!" (Well if I would have the money and wouldn't really care about anything but the after parties...)

Anyway. The olympics are going on all wild and glory as ever and the olympics don't really effect my life a at all..... It's just nice to have free ice creams in the Waterloo station and Gosh I hate the tourists being on my way all the time.... Hey some of us have to work! I admit it! I'm lazy, ignorant, immigrant with a really selfish attitude!

Or maybe just bored at all the corruption and show the whole thing have woken up? All the stores in London have some kind of sales and promotions going on because of the olympics. "Buy Powerade! 3 for the price of 2!", "Tampax will keep you going!", "Wear Addidas and run as like Usain Bolt!"... These aren't official adverts and the companies mentioned don't necessary have anything to do with the corrupted marketing during olympics.

The other thing that kind of bothers me is the weird attitude that wearing/drinking/eating something that the sponsors say will make you the athlete him/herself is a bit strange. And how about approaching people you may like with the following sentence: "I work in the olympic..." and winking your eye? (Of course you forgot to mention that they pay you only £6/h and you actually sell hod dogs. But of course you wan't to make the impression that you work next to the real superheroes.

According to the legends Heracles and Zeus were the ones developing the "games" among the cities of agent Creese. The games were held every fourth year and were of a fundamental religious importance, featuring sporting events as well as ritual sacrifices to honor the gods. The ones lucky, strong, smart and fast enough to win the games were treated as immortal heroes (and today if you do the same: You get into a Pepsi commercial! WOHOO! )That ended around 393 AD. The olympic games were tried to bring back alive in the revolutionary France 1796 and the games as we know them now were established (in it's official glory) in 1896. The legends and history books mention  also that they were officially for men only and of course the athletes were naked. (How strange that that wasn't mentioned in wikipedia?..) and the olympics 2012 are remarkable and will make history at least in one sector: First time ever that women's boxing is included officially in the games. I couldn't believe my eyes when I red the news mentioning that side of the story. Really?! Are we still in the stone age?! Actually women's boxing was introduced around 1907 but wasn't accepted... In the name of equality! Lets take the nudity back! If that happens I promise you that I'll be all sharp and eyes glued to the TV during triathlon, swimming, running, football, tennis, handball, boxing, wrestling.....

I had a really nice conversation at work with elderly couple. They asked if I follow the olympics and did I see yesterdays games. It was a bit embarrassing to admit that I don't do that and explain that I just spend my free time at the gym.
 "Oh you too?! You should be in the Olympics then!" 
"Oh not really... it takes at least couple of years to get in really good shape and I'm not good in those sports... "
"How about swimming?"
"Yeah..maybe... but I hate water"
Laughing: "That may be a problem... running?"
"Yeah... actually I hate running too."

Then we tried to find a suitable sport for me in the olympics and football, gymnastics and boxing were the only solutions. But I am a bit too old and not that technically good in football, not that flexible (nor tiny) for gymnastics and I really enjoy more kickboxing then boxing and the lady admitted that it's much more beautiful then boxing..closer to dancing but no worries my readers: As long as they don't have crazy improvised table dancing or high heel running you won't see me in the olympics. Maybe in the "support" team looking after some athletes gluteus muscles as a personal osteopath?... Just kidding!

I would be totally professional in my work and make sure that my athletes would be all ok for their challenges!

 Essi visited me for a couple of days and was so thoughtful that brought some finnish chocolate, salmiakki and good quality sports supplement. We did the odd-all-ready-a-routine-round- at the local pub and have a splendid evening.

The next day was dedicated for the miracles of nature and the wonders of the anatomy. Natural history museum and Bodies revealed it is!

  

 

There was hundreds or thousands humming birds in that vitrin!

I found a solution for unwanted approachers in the bars: "Let me introduce you to my friend..."  and then pull this out of your handbag...

 

They have a really good collection of jared creatures in the Natural history museum.

In the evening we prepared ourselves for a big night in the bars of Camden.  We ended up in the Enteprise and stayed there all night speaking to these italian fellows and dancing like we never danced before. Unfortunately someone stole my handbag...

There went my old Nokia x6 that I used for my english mobile number,a  few pounds, travel card and Dior compact powder (all the rest I got back including keys, cards and lipgloss.)  Travel card wasn't a problem. I could lock it easily and got a new one in couple of day free of charge and the Nokia X6 is clumsy anyway but who would steal someones used compact powder?! Worth only around £30?! It's disgusting (like borrowing someones used tampon..) and you must be really desperate! The guys were laughing to my reactions about the missing powder (talking about priorities..) but were really helpful in that situation. 

The night ended with style when Essi the sweet, small girl turned in to a fierce woman all ready pissed of because of my stolen handbag and when some jerks from a passing car threw an raw egg on our shoes. She shouted like a werewolf and went to the closest fast food place demanding some tissues to clean her shoes. Such a sweet girl! <3

On sunday we wen't shopping and ate again the best veggie food you can have at InSpiral lounge Camden. Veggie gluten free lasagna is the absolute best and you never stay hungry after eating that. Huge meal!

I'm not alone anymore!  I met it in many shops and finally couldn't resist it's charisma. The third time I was all over it with this funny expression on my face and glow in my eyes Essi told me to take it.

I have now decided to test my limits. I'm such a perfectionist personality that before specializing to sports people (one option) I really have to understand them. And because it's been years since kind-of-serious training I try to get back to that level! Just in general sports: Fittest, fastest, strongest, the most flexible and the best endurance levels as possible! It's all about having goals, pushing your own limits not just physically but also mentally.

I have to get to a normal level when it comes to setting goals and really look what weights I'm using how long I'm running and how many km etc. Because at the moment I run as a typical route in the morning that "doesn't feel too long or make me bored" and use weights/make reps "that are challenging and don't get me bored". And the main measurement technique I use for my workout and running at the moment is: 

First you always feel like you die. Then you're afraid that you won't die and when you feel all ok and alright you can finish the workout! (In the morning the exercise takes only 15-25min and evening from 45min to 2,5h.)

Smart isn't it? But does it take you far? Well...

So I prepare myself with more knowledge by studying some extra and finding the style that suits me and check the nutrition etc. Of course not forgetting having occasionally too much fun and taste a little bit sinful life... 

And always remember the biggest rule of them all: 

Yesterday I had a fantastic evening out with my colleagues eating indian food and due to forgetting my nowadays even more sensitive gluten intolerance/allergy I got to pay all day today for it. First not getting out of the bed, then spending fun time in the toilet and when trying to workout in the evening: after 10min workout and 30s kickboxing sparring almost puked and fainted on the gym floor. 

Not that nice for my selfconfidence. Crappy punches, kicks and running.

Well everyday can't be a good day! (and this will probably continue a couple of days..)