IT’S BEEN A GOOD WEEK….

…..the title says it all.

Work has been relatively uneventful for the past two weeks, which is really a good thing in this line. No news is good news. At the very least, I am not constantly plagued by those moments when I sit down in front of my work station and start typing resignation letters. The phone is silent for most part, and my inbox have contained a current low of 46 emails for three days running, which is totally unheard of in my career so far. I ignore that little unsettling voice in my psyche that whisper that this is only the eye of the storm, and the worst is yet to come. After all, the holy mountain prophet predicted bad times at work in the months of October and November. But for now, I am counting my blessings when I can get them and taking a breather until those dreaded months arrive. This good week may be all that stands between me and the train tracks if the predictions for bad times do come true.

Training has gone relatively well this week. Due to several absences for the bootcamp, I was able to do the heavy stuff instead for most of the week. No new personal bests, but no major boo-boos either. I did manage to up the deadlifts to a 62.5 kg 1RM, which is more than what I have managed for weeks. And I continue to feel appreciable improvements in my upper body strength. Push ups, chin ups, overhead and flat bench presses are all significantly better. Muay Thai was not too bad either, although coach wasn’t too happy with some kicking and landing techniques. Still, I am happy overall. And whatever soreness I was feeling throughout the week is just another reminder of a reasonably good training week.

I have also been rather good with my diet this week, with only one major “surprise” when my mother managed to sneak in fried rice for one of my lunches. Fried rice is one of my big weaknesses, and my mother’s fried rice is out of the world, so guess who won? But other than that, and a planned cheat with 220 calories worth of Ben and Jerry’s chocolate fudge brownie ice cream (soooo good…), I had been doing well….and the scale appears to agree.

By the way, I have spoken to Coach J, and will “graduate” from the bootcamp after one more term and sign on for PT instead. Details have not been worked out yet, but I figured I would probably be training two to three times a week at the gym, and Saturday mornings would be for Muay Thai alone. No more feeling like I left my lungs and limbs somewhere else after Saturday training(s). The only thing I haven’t yet decided is my training goal. I would have continued to gun for fat loss, but I suspect the limiting factor for that is ultimately my diet and nutrition, so I may as well train for maximal strength anyway, and work at fat loss from the nutrition angle.

I have not been a total jock this week though, and managed to enjoy two theatre productions over the weekend. My father jokes that I am trying to be what the Chinese call 文武双全 or literarily “being well-versed in both the scholastic and martial endeavours”. I don’t think I have anything that lofty in mind, though I do hope to be as well-rounded as I can within the constraints of my own personal interests and available free time. I have to admit that I do miss the presence of the softer arts in my life these days, and have been considering bringing my trumpet out of storage and joining a band again, if I can find one that allows me to practice without performance commitments.

I also managed to catch up with some friends while attending the theatre performances, so now I feel more socially connected as well. Facebook, for all its virtues, can only do so much to maintain ties. We all still need the human connection. Oh, something else came out of our small gathering – a date for an MCR game two weeks hence. It has become embarrassing to tell people that I have not played for months after the Straits Times Life! article was published, so now at least I won’t be lying exactly when I say I am still playing. I only hope that we can at least continue with monthly games, if not weekly. I still haven’t given up the dream of competing at WSM one day.

The crowning touch for this week? I received my monthly statements for my equity investments today. My investments have rebounded somewhat, and are at the pre-recession levels. My paper losses are no more as of this moment. But I shall, as instructed by our ruling big brothers, be only cautiously optimistic instead of wildly overjoyed.

And I remain cautiously optimistic that the coming week will be just as good.