Roshon and Chelsy, and Melissa and Maks.
You all guys did great. And Melissa, what a way to go. I am insanely jealous. Two Chmerkovskiys for the price of one!
Yum
Image credit: ABC
I haven't been doing any posting on Dancing with the Stars, or at all, for that matters. I swear that work has been eating my brains. However, there is no reason that I can't post my handicap for the dancers that are left at this stage of the game.
That, and a little survey.
So here goes:
They will make it to the finals because: They are awesome. Maria is in top shape, what with being a pro wrestler as well as a tv host. She can dance, has musicality, has charisma and, most importantly, can emote. Derek is incredibly original in his choroeography.
They will *not* make it to the finals because: Len keeps underscoring them. Derek tends to break the rules for originality's sake. He's a love him or hate him dancer. She is injured and she could choke at the last minute.
They will make it to the finals because: They are consistently good and are building a solid fan base. He's very athletic and has the musicality and the stamina. They really want to win.
They will *not* make it to the finals because: Although his lines are very clean, he does tend to hunch a little bit. Len won't give them a 10 if his life depended on him. How strong their fan base is, remains to be seen.
They will make it to the finals because: She is probably the most charismatic of all the current contestants. She is a natural dancer and can accomplish anything. Mark is an awesome choreographer. She is adorable. She is paired with Mark Ballas.
They will *not* make it to the finals because: She has trouble conveying any emotion other than cheerfulness. This is great in the case of a samba, but not in a tango. There is something that not always balances between her and Mark, especially when he gets frantic. She is paired with Mark Ballas.
They will make it to the finals because: They evidently have a fan base who will pull them through. She is paired with Maks and we all love Maks no matter how bad the producers make him look. The fans will take them all the way.
They will *not make it to the finals because: They are not dancing that well. Melissa is probably the one dancer left that is struggling the most. Eventually the judges scores will bring them down.
They will make it to the finals because: Roshon has been improving every week and he and Chelsy are just too cute. The judges like them and have done everything they can to keep them on board.
They will *not* make it to the finals because: They've been on the bottom three times. How many times can you go there and not go home?
They will make it to the finals because: He's got musicality, can dance, and he's hot as hell. Cheryl really knows how to choreograph to his strengths.
They will *not* make it to the finals because: He's sort of a hot and cold dancer. He does great in the latin dances (duh!), but not so great in the ones in which he has to emote. I mean, more than just significant stares. That could be his downfall.
So who are you rooting for? (It can be more than one!)
Poll #1839098 Who are you rooting for in DWTS?
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 6
Who are you rooting for?
View Answers
| Maria and Derek |
   4 (44.4%) |
| Katherine and Mark |
| 0 (0.0%) |
| Melissa and Maks |
| 0 (0.0%) |
| Roshon and Chelsy |
| 1 (11.1%) |
| Donald and Peta |
| 3 (33.3%) |
| William and Cheryl |
| 1 (11.1%) |
Well, the thing is that it rained every day and I couldn't take any decent pictures. However, since this was not my first trip to Brasilia, I will share with you my adventures and images from the first time around.
The story so far:
As luck would have it we had an 8 hour layover in the beach town of Fortaleza. So what do you do when you have 8 hours to kill before your next flight? Go to the beach of course! (It sure beats warming up your seat for most of the day in a dull, gray airport!)
So we headed off for sunny Playa Futuro. ( pictures behind the cut! )
Good news. I have been meaning to update my document “Gloves and Muffs and Masks, Oh My!” for a while. The thing is, when I wrote it back in 2005, no extant masks had been found. Nevertheless, in 2010, a vizard mask was found walled in a building in England, and this has changed the name of the game.
Pictures and information can be found at the site of the Portable Antiquities Scheme, affiliated with the British Museum. This means that my document desperately needs to be updated.
So why has it taken me so long? Among other things, I could not find the original Word document of my article since my old Toshiba died, and I switched computers twice.
True, I could have recreated the PDF document back into Word, but I just didn’t have the time. Lame excuse, I know, but I have a full time job that takes up a lot of my time and I just didn’t get around to it.
But today, lo and behold! The document was hiding in the old Toshiba drive, which I had mounted to a slider given that the aforementioned laptop died long time ago never to be able to be booted again. To make matters worse, it was misfiled under a folder with a name that had nothing to do with this article. (Why do I do these things to myself? Sigh.)
But the file that was lost has now been found, and I intend to update it as soon as I can. Moreover, I need to a) write another document with the additional information that I have dug out in the meantime (Spanish masks anyone?); and b) make another mask given that I can no longer document the technique that I used in the old one and that is currently part of my website.
I am so happy…
Stay tuned.
Originally posted at Une Robe Magnifique
Yes, I have another Mac. In 2009, after my trusty Toshiba died, I went on and bought an iMac. It was the base model, and it gave me the most bang for my buck as far as my budget at the time allowed. Especially since I needed some decent capabilities since the machine would be used for photo editing and website management.
Well, the good news is that the iMac gave me that and more. The bad news is that it being a desktop, I was forced to go downstairs and pretty much lock myself for hours if I wanted to do something with my photos or my website. Given that I pretty much run around the house all the time, and don't have the patience to stay in one place for hours, my productivity declined instead of going up.
Hence the Netbook.
Of course, once I got home with the Netbook I started fretting over the fact that now I had two machines with which I wanted to do pretty much the same thing. And as much as I adore the 21.5 monitor of the iMac, I suspected that it was going to spend more time gathering dust than doing anything else.
My heart sank with guilt.
I hate to waste good technology.
Enter Mac Recycling Program. Heck, I didn't even know it existed. However, once I got home, I got an email from them asking "Have you thought what to do with your old computer? Join our recycling program!" It also contained a link whereas you put your machine's information in and they give you an estimate on how much they will pay you for it. Mac then provides the shipping box, materials, etc., and eveb pays for shipping. And once they're done with auditing the machine, they send you a gift certificate. How's that for easy?
Even better, the amount that I would get (store credit of course), would provide a good chunk of the price of an iPad, which I have been coveting for years but I've been too cheap to buy.
So yes. An iPad is far less expensive than a computer, but then, it's a used computer with what is now outmoded technology. So it's okay. It will go to a good home, and I will get my new iPad.
I am liking this.
Could I sell my iMac for more privately? Possibly, but then I would have to deal with people, advertising, etc., not to mention fretting over information that may or may not have stayed stuck inside the darned machine. I'd rather sell it to Apple and be done with it. I think I can trust them more than I can a private buyer.
So right now, my two Macs are chattering happily amongst themselves and transferring all the info from one to the other. Loving the Mac transfer feature! Even a dork like me can do it successfully!
So yeah, I've become a Mac enthusiast. Who would have thunk?
I can't wait to go home and play with my toy.
But before I can do that, I need to finish what I'm doing here.
Story of my life.
Belfebe out.
Lucky for me, I know enough at this time that I can quickly pick a different exercise that works the same muscles so I don't have to stand in line to wait for anything. Furthemore, fortunately for me (and unfortunately for them) this rush will not last as most people won't follow through for too long. Before we know it, it will be back to our regularly scheduled routine.
I feel that the latter is unfortunate. Once you discover what you can do with your mind and body as a result of proper nutrition and exercise, you become almost evangelical about it and wish that everyone would reap the benefits of such discovery. At that point, you wake up one day to discover that you have become Constable Visit-The-Infidel-With-Explanatory-Pamph
When people decide to take that step, they will.
And if they want your input, they will ask for it even if it is just to ignore it.
In the meantime, you do your thing and lead by example. And that's that.
Which brings us to our next topic: Magical Genes.
Magical genes? I knew they existed! Good things happen to other people's bodies! They must have magical genes! I don't have them, therefore, good changes will never happen to me!
Errr... I hate to bring this up, but there is no such thing as a magical gene.
You see, when I first started working out, I was incredibly excited about the changes I was seeing in my body. Then, I had one of the most discouraging things happen to me: discovering the idea of magical genes, and the fact that I didn't have them. As a result, I almost gave up on my goals and stalled for quite a while.
And how did that happen? Well, one day I was basking in the glory of having people telling me how great I looked, and me telling them that I was going to the gym, when all of a sudden someone pointed out the gym adventures of a common acquaintance.
"Yes," my friend says. "Mr. Green* goes every day to the gym too!"
"He does?" I say, in sudden horror, as Mr. Green is one of the most out of shape people I know.
"Oh, yes!" she says. "He's been doing it for years!"
"Ohhhhh, noooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
*Names have been changed to protect the innocent.
It was the most discouraging thing I've ever heard in my entire life.
Like I said. As a result, I stopped believing in myself since I got convinced that, with my luck, I most likely had been born with a total lack of magical genes. Good changes happened to other people. Those with magical genes. As for me and Mr. Green, we were both doomed. Doomed!!!
As time went by, I realized that there is exercise, and there's exercise. And that no matter how much you exercise, if you don't properly feed the machine, you will plateau and won't see the results that you wanted to see as was the case of Mr. Green.
Eventually, I went ahead and educated myself on both matters, and finally saw the results I wanted and kept them up too!
So when people tell me Gee, you must have special genes. You only have to look at those weights and you put muscle on!, I can safely respond "No. I have no special genes. I just eat clean and exercise. I can do it and so can you."
As for where to start, there are two programs that I recommend: Choose to Lose: The 7-Day Carb Cycle Solution by Chris Powell (just came out at the end of December); and Body for Life by Bill Phillips. I may decide to do a review of both books in another entry. But those two are really, really good.
And that's it for today. I am back at work, and stuff needs to happen.
Stay healthy my friends.
~Belfebe out
I must say, this has been some of the best leave ever. And no, I did not travel, did not go anywhere, and spent most of my time at home reorganizing closets, cleaning, sewing and watching way too much Food Network shows and Pawn Stars marathons. I also gained a new respect for Rachael Rae, since I realized that she's cooking much healthier food than Melissa d'Arabian, who loves her butter and sugar as much as Paula Deen, only she teaches you to cook it for very little money.
I can hear my arteries clogging.
Scary.
At any rate, I felt extremely productive. I had not realized just how stressed I had been for the past half year until a week into my leave. Then I went back to costuming and I managed to finish a couple of U.F.O.*, consisting in a blue linen doublet for me and a pair of linen wrist bands for
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif?v=92.1){kind=small}
geoffreyapclywd.* According to the fabulous
operafantomet: U.F.O. = "Un-Finished Object"Additionally, I made a 16th Century black coat for myself which only needs to be hemmed, and cut mockup for an Italian capoto for
ballistabob, which I hope to finish before KASF pending shipment of the grey wool that he ordered from bblackandsons.com. The best part? The black coat was made out of leftover wool lying about in my sewing room. This begs the question, how did I manage to end up with a complete 4 yards of "remnant" wool after finishing the previous project that was no small garment? And why on earth had I purchased 6-7 yards of black wool? The world may never know, but I have a brand new coat and that's what counts.
And yes, pics are coming up as soon as I hem the stuff.
But at least I feel that I got my groove back (for now anyway), and that's no small feat.
I am happy.
Belfebe out.
ballistabob and myself, had our Christmas Eve dinner, and opened presents afterwards. I am thankful for another year in which we can all be all together, healthy and more or less unscathed by the events of 2011. I cannot ask for much more than that.Miss E, was thrilled to find herself with a plethora of hats, as you can see in picture # 2. The boys were happy to be home, and I was a happy Mama with my two kids around, not to mention having a loving husband who thinks I'm the bees knees.
Dinner was an experiment this year, and it came out very well. We decided to try a "clean" menu, and see if we could make something tasty that screamed "holidays" without breaking the calorie bank. We found a recipe online for orange turkey from the Biggest Loser site that was surprisingly good (it included yummy roasted pears too!). We added some roasted root vegetables and a salad, and it was one of the tastiest meals ever.
Of course, the upside-down pinneaple cake was our downfall, but it was Christmas and we were entitled to our guilty pleasure. Besides, the guys don't care what I feed them as long as there is upside-down pinneaple cake. So there. We ate a clean meal and then we pigged out in cake. Merry Christmas!
Christmas morning saw us driving to Pennsylvania to visit my sweetie's family. We drove at the butt-crack of dawn and arrived there at around 9:30. We had all sorts of fun visiting his folks, opening presents and having lunch. At 2:30 p.m., we drove back home in order to have diner with the boys and follow our Christmas tradition of Chinese food. (Because nothing says Merry Christmas like General Tso's chicken.)
That was another adventure. For the third year in a row, I had wanted to make a reservation at the Peking Gourmet Inn, and this year I was successful on account of making the reservation 4 weeks in advance. Yet, despite of having reservations for 6:30 p.m., it was impossible to get in. There was such a huge crowd that the 6:00 p.m. bunch was just getting seated at 7:30.
At that point, we just gave up and called for delivery Chinese from our cell phone on our way home. We got our nice, hot food, 20 minutes after parking in front of the house. And much fun was had by all.
So we hope that everyone had a wonderful Christmas (or Hannukah, Festivus, Kwanzaa, Mithrasmas, Saturnalia or whatever it is that you celebrate), and we'll be posting again by New Year if not before.
And now, the Christmas pictorial!
El Brato, the Dark Child, Yours Truly, and my Sweetie.
Miss E loves her hats.
Dear Santa: I want one million dollars!!!
This, of course, will throw a wrench in my Pennsic plans, but like I said before, you can't have it all. I may do an abridged Pennsic, or no Pennsic at all. It's early in the game and the show I want to do hasn't posted the final date yet. It's only "August 2012." We shall see.
At any rate, this does not discourage me one tiny bit. The more I prepare, the better the chances for me to place. And at the very least, I'm having a lot of fun with it. So there.
And with that, I would like to share some FAQ that people ask all the time. Mainly because I find it entertaining and I have nothing better to do at my lunch time.
Frequently Asked Questions:
Q: Why bodybuilding/figure training?
A: Why not? It is a lot of fun, it keeps me fit, and it makes me feel good. I feel that if you're going to get into health and fitness, you should look for those activities that you enjoy. I happen to enjoy this one
Q: Is bodybuilding the only thing you do?
A: No. I consider myself a bodybuilder with a rapier and biking problem.
Q: But, won't you "bulk up" and you look like a man?
A: Have you seen me? Do I look like a guy? Contrary to popular belief, lifting leans you out, not the other way around. If you don't believe me, here's my picture. I'm the one on the right.
( Pic behind cut )
Q: But what about those musclebound women that look like male bodybuilders?
A: Building muscle is very hard for women. In order to look like Arnold Schwarzenegger in a bikini, you would most likely need to take anabolic steroids. That is not only frowned upon in the industry these days (besides being illegal), but many organizations make you take anti-doping tests to make sure you're not "juicing up."
Q: But if you stop exercising, all that muscle will turn into fat, won't it?
A: Nope. Muscle is muscle and fat is fat. Muscle cannot turn into what is not. However, if you stop exercising and continue eating like you were doing when you were feeding the muscle, you will certainly gain weight. It is simple math. Caloric intake vs. caloric burn. If you stop exercising, you need to reduce your caloric intake. Even better, don't stop exercising.
Q: I have been exercising a lot, but I am not seeing any more leaning out. What's up with that?
A: Have you looked at your nutrition? Nutrition and exercise go hand in hand. You can exercise all day, but if you're not paying attention to what you're eating, and you're still filling up with junk-food, you are going to plateau big time.
Q: Heh. When I was exercising, I used to lift more than you. What do you think about that?
A: Excellent! Get off your butt now and hit the weights again. You'll thank me for that.
And that's all for now. I will post more FAQ's in another entry. Or if you have any questions, drop me a note. It would be fun to have a series of "Ask the Belfebe" entries.
Profile
- belfebe
- belfebe
- Une Robe Magnifique
Syndicate
