Bajai Body Camp 14.3: Day 419
VIP Executive Hotel Zurique
Monday July 30, 2018
Lisbon, Portugal
22.94% awake

The body repairs itself during sleep so I don't worry about getting extra sleep. That could be an excuse, however when I was running my N=1 research I realized that I lost weight during 6-8 hours of sleep. Five hours, not so much. Nine hours or more didn't yield any more weight loss. (Unless I was battling an invader).

Yesterday I decided on Porto, Portugal and booked a week in a little 204 room hotel. Today I must book the bus.

Morning exercises are under way. I need to make up names for them and take some snaps.

I finished up last night with some neckcercises and there's no headache or DOMS. It could be that I'm past the initiation phase.

Generally speaking, I like the way I look in the morning. I see changes, but I'm not sure what they are. Probably a little more muscle a little less fat. The look of youth is actually the look of health. I don't think I look young. I think I do look healthy.

Oh... Today I will have to focus on eyes, wrists, pump some iron... my last full day here. Maybe I'll take a ride somewhere... maybe not. I'll go with my flow.

Also last night I came around to the charm of this hotel. It's not so had. It's just like some of the older hotels/resorts I talked about in Langkawi. They are bargains. I'm looking for bargains for the future. The place in Porto is close in price to Al Khaima. So I can scoot out of say, Salamanca, to Porto after a session. (Thinking out loud, here.)

Bus to Porto, booked!!!

Morning workout done. Shower, breakfast and tea. Not necessarily in that order.

The wrists are showing improvement. I'm not ready to do wrist pushups yet, and I haven't noticed any extreme increase in range of motion. They just seem stronger. I've also been led to believe that wrists don't grow. However, mine seem thicker. I'm not sure thickness and growth are the same. I have some old wrist measurements, so after some time I'll measure again and compare.

Daily Journals

It comes as no surprise to my regular "readers" that I'm an advocate of daily journaling. For me, it's an exercise; a practice that's as important as yoga is for some people. (I eventually want yoga to be as consistent as writing.) But for now...

Most days, for most people are routine. Painfully so in most cases. However before I go off on this rant, let me reel this entry back in.

If I didn't write about the day; the small incidents like a bee sting, a particularly interesting event, like getting busted taking candid pictures in a cafe, or starting a new exercise routine, I might forget them. Time might "fly" by and I'd be hard pressed to recall where it went.

Once, I had the opportunity to theorize why the past seems closer than the future.

When we look back we remember events, moments. Mostly those events aren't arranged in and chronological order. Imagine if you wanted to remember an event that happened six months ago and you had to flip through 180 days, as if they were pages in a book, to get to it. Most people would find that act tedious and would probably forget about.

Conversely, when "looking forward" to an event, holiday or the end of an uncomfortable circumstance, we have to live every day. We have to flip every page. Which is the major difference in my view.

It's a nice day in Lisbon. For some reason I don't feel like exploring so much. I'm feeling, "homey," meaning I prefer to stay at, or close to home.

I did roll out to what's become my favourite corner cafe, "Perfetto!" for a salmon sandwich I could've made myself... and a cup of tea, which I cannot... make myself. The guy remembered my, "black tea." Good memory. It was Friday when I first stopped by.

A little bit of sun time after a kick-ass final workout. The manly-man old school routine from when I first restarted. Chest, back, shoulders, gunz, triceps, calves. Some body stuff. I even hit a move that's been giving me trouble; the plank with my feet against the wall. It's the most level I've ever been. Next, keep practicing, get some full pushups and keep working towards the plange... and always get stronger along the way.

Yeah baby!!

I've been here a week and only walked into the restaurant for the first time on my last night. I don't usually eat dinner... but I will tonight. I checked out the restaurant, it's a buffet, €15.50 per person, plus drinks. The sword fish looked okay, but I can't eat fifteen Euro worth of food. Of course, I don't really know what €15.50 of food looks like. In Morocco I was filled up with 120.00 dh meals... on the high end; about €11.00.

It's the end of my visit and the end of the month. I came in within budget, so I can treat myself a little bit.

Cheese burger, fries, two pots of tea. A little less that the buffet.

Activities have picked up here at the hotel. There are five tour buses parked outside. And we've got a pot smoker on the floor. I'm out of here tomorrow, but I think the buses will get out before I do.

Ciao.