Flame Free Confession III: Even More Flame Free (Part 1)

Off Topic
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Food just doesn’t do it for me anymore. There are a few things I really do enjoy that I’d consider “my weakness”, but even then, they’re not really so, because I don’t cave in their presence: I just get mad I’m not eating them, haha. Muffins are big on that, as are apparently danishes. I’m also a cheesecake fiend, and I like red velvet with cream cheese frosting when done correctly. And that’s about it on the sweet side. Beef ribs on the protein side.

Being completely and totally honest, my addiction in being online. I made it a goal to NOT have the most replies in this topic this time around, because I had it the last time, and I’m way too prolific here in general. But then I saw that the pattern of conversation kept drifting so far away from training that I’ve tried to “right the ship” with a bunch of recent confessions.

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Haha, well at least you’ve only got that and robots are supposed to be online! I am totally with you on the online thing - I use it to procrastinate, which is the root of my issue!

Then I’ve got a terrible diet to couple it with! I ate 4 of my 5 a day (if you count the UK govs guidance on baked beans being one of the 5…) So I’m getting there - but there is a lot of junk on the horizon for today!

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You ever see Blade Runner? @T3hPwnisher is Roy Batty confirmed

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LOL! Most of the people with whom I regularly interact on here already know the story. It wasn’t fun and it’s the result of all of the nonsense the US is tolerating right now. Ferguson was the beginning of a new wave of resistance. People are actually teaching their kids to resist and fight the police. But that’s a discussion for another thread and it’s been beat to death already.

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I can relate to this. Here are the topics with the most replies ALL TIME on the current T-Nation Forum. Mark’s numbers are even higher since he started Version 2.0 of his log. I’m right there which tells me I post too much.

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There is a fine line between teaching our kids to assert their rights and teaching them to be little pricks.

For me (in a very broad sense) I believe in police officers - but not in the police force.
I have never met a cop that I didn’t like or didn’t want to make a difference in a positive way. As individuals brilliant people.
But the fact is the legal system is screwed. Its set up to protect property and wealth. Not people. In the UK you’d get a longer sentence for robbing banks than touching kids.
The message is clear.

However offer me life with or with out cops and I’m opting in every time. The system might be screwed - but its better than the total chaos we’d get other wise.

Any way these are all themes that deserve their own thread.

I’m glad you’re good man. And I hope stuff clams down for you over there.

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Is this anything like using a shoe for size reference?

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Had one last summer. I can sympathize.

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2 confessions

  1. When I read impressive training logs, I try to make myself feel better about my own training (ie he did 10 sets… well, they’re singles)- luckily, I’m not THAT delusional

  2. Since quarantine, every day there’s at least some period of time where I feel like giving up and just sleep,eat and Netflix

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Since early June, I’ve done just that. I mean, I’ve worked full time and read books and done housework and socialized and etc. But I’m right off my workouts.

Confession: I don’t even feel badly about it. There’s a slight niggling guilt, but my greatest feeling is of surprise that I don’t feel worse. It’s like this huge vacation. I know I’ll get back to it eventually (I assume I will), but for now, no.

It occurred to me one day, and then I confronted my husband about it, who this week worked for the first time in 4 months (though he keeps very busy…he’s been clearing a field on our land). Anyway, we had to have a minor fight about it. My realization was that the electric bill is up by about 30%, and it makes sense that the wear and tear on the house (dirt/mess) is probably up by about the same, and it’s basically fallen to me, since I’m the only one who cares. He cooks and does dishes, but not always the lids of pots, and if we leave them on the stove to dry no one but me ever puts them away, and we eat at home all the time now.

So I sort of wonder if that’s the change. I go to the office two days a week now, but otherwise we’ve both been here making messes. If I figure my workouts consumed 3-4 hours a week, it makes sense that my energy may just be diverted. I hope so, because my identity has always been strongly tied to fitness.

What a long post about nothing. I confess that I don’t know why I’m so wordy, and it irritates me sometimes as it must irritate all of you most of the time.

I confess to some considerable relief that I’ve been able to make a living out of talking, though. So there is that.

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…and this perfectly sums up most of Off Topic and PWI…

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The core of your post.

Interesting dynamic in my house and (for a bit) the full house of 8 daughters, one wife, four of which are her step daughters, occurred.

The eldest four daughters were effectively raised by me. As a guy, I pretty much care about stuff not being unsanitary, which is not the same as female-clean. So trash out, dishes washed, counters cleaned, and area under tables washed. Toilets and sinks cleaned in bathroom. We avoided mess and clutter in a guy way, which was to have the least amount of stuff in the house as possible. No tchotchkes. Minimal decorations. Bordering on Spartan.

Wife No. 2 comes in. Like a feminine touch. So tchotchkes, completely useless decorative pillows, and stuff, bordering on cluttered. Cozy, but requires constant cleaning and straitening.

She also likes things female-clean. Says a dirty house makes her nervous.

Wife No.2 is also a busy doctor. First four kids consider the clutter her problem. And consider female-clean as stupid. Second four like a cozy house with lots of crap. But also like female-clean.

Cloistering in a large, but old and dusty, rural home resulting in some heated (even by Israeli standards) “discussions” as the two styles came in conflict.

And, in fairness, copious amounts of long Jewish women hair was everywhere. Nine heads worth.

Channeling the wisdom of Salomon, I hired a maid.

Comes 2X a week, full days. When house work is demanded, I note I hired a maid, and thus clean the house 2X a week, which argument is accepted as valid.

Tentative peace restored.

Hopefully they will not have killed each other before I return.

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As a female, I sometimes fail to comprehend the mindset of other females. This is one of them. Since coming back to the states my mom is constantly cleaning the house, and remarking how “dirty” it is. My brother and I could care less. I also don’t understand why some women are willing to spend an inordinant amount of time getting ready in the morning

The benefits of living this way became very clear when I moved out of my dorm- free stuff was cool though

Wow the chinese are spoiled. Nearly every family that can afford it hires an “ayi” to cook and clean.

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Since I hate cleaning and my wife likes “female-clean”, I too plan to solve this problem by hiring a maid as soon as I can financially justify it.
Should cut down on the “I am overwhelmed because the house isn’t clean” arguments.

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I can relate to a lot of that, and as disruptive as the past several months have been I’d bet there are different versions of the same things playing out all over the place.

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Haha, we have one. She came for the first time since March the week after the conversation about who was and who was not increasing efforts by 30% while also working or not working full time. She only comes every other week normally (once a month for now), but we’re only two people and I don’t mind doing the fussing around and light housekeeping. I just want not to have to spend 6 hours doing the deep cleaning, and it causes conflict, which he’s happy to throw money at. Funnily enough, if he’s away and I have a day off I generally spend it happily cleaning and cooking, but when he’s here there’s this “what can I do to help you” with trapped eyes dynamic that somehow goes south.

But no, I’m not victimized. If I wanted to spend our disposable income on more household help he’d support it. And yes, before me his decor was dust and flashlights, with the kitchen and bathrooms kept clean enough to pass a cursory inspection.

I think some of this is a function of having a lot of kids. I have four, less than 5 years apart, and clean/tidy felt necessary to keep chaos from reigning when they were little.

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Victimized? Been talking to too many patients.

Our issue was my wife (and younger four) speak English and Hebrew (and Mrs. Jewbacca speaks Yiddish, which, oddly enough, is only spoken in the Old City). The older four speak English, Hebrew, French, and Arabic.

Maids come in two flavors in this part of Israel:

(1) Recent Druze immigrants (fleeing Syria, rejoining family) who speak Arabic and are rapidly learning Hebrew, generally young, very pretty, and extremely ambitious, getting money for college

(2) Slightly scary Russian/Ukrainian old battle axes of women who speak Russian, maybe some Yiddish, and are terrible at Hebrew and not going to learn who are vaguely embarrassed about being ethnically Jewish and keep looking over their shoulder for the Stasi (and get horrified when someone talk badly about the government)

#1 Was out for the wife, due to communication. Also because they are young and very, very pretty. (They all look vaguely like Amal Clooney – who yes, is Druze.)

#2 Are out because they are scary, slightly sullen, and break things.

With four Arabic-speaking daughters, a #1 has won out. She’ll be a short-timer, though, as she is going to sign up for the IDF when she is eligible for enlistment, which is about a year. She’s also dating a Jewish guy who works at the neighboring Rothschild vineyard (botanist) and intends to convert, resulting in minor distress to her family, although (apparently) they like the boy. The impending nuptials probably helped my cause for placing a hot girl in our household.

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That Druze food is pretty killer. I ate at a “Restaurant” over there, the ground floor of a house in a Druze village. Wow. The food just kept coming and all of it was great. 4 people ate for around $60 and we took home enough to eat again the next day. We even got turkish coffee and baklava at the end.
Side note, and it’s probably offensive, I was told they look hot until the mid twenties and then suddenly turn into a potato without warning. Not sure as to the veracity of that.

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This has saved my wife’s sanity.

My wife’s tchotchkes have been reduced to nearly none, simply because I have swayed her to a modern home and decor. (Oddest sentence I’ve ever written)

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Confession:

I can’t quit thinking that Joanie Loves Tchotchke.

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