Postcrossing Favorites for May

This month's favorite postcards received via Postcrossing.com are:

Metal sculpture from the Florida Holocaust Museum 

in St. Petersburg, Florida

Chekhov's writing table

from Russia

Home-made card from Ukraine

Homo homini lupus est ("Man is wolf to man") 

from Belarus

(See http://myturntodayyourstomorrow-cheryl.blogspot.com/2010/07/postcrossing.html for more information about Postcrossing.com.)

Mind and Body: A Winning Combination

A few years ago, Kelly Rodriguez set a goal for himself: to become the next Mr. Olympia. He knew the long journey to this goal would require a tremendous amount of mental and physical discipline, hard work, and dedication. 

Today, Kelly is two trophies closer to his goal. In this year's California State Body Building Contest, he took First Place in the Men's Novice Middle-Weight Division and First Place in the Men's Novice Overall (all weight classes) Division. He also took Third Place in the Men's Open Division, which included both novice and more experienced competitors.

The road to professional status as a body builder begins by winning a state championship and thereby qualifying to compete on a national level. The 2011 California State Body-Building Contest was held in the Veteran's Memorial Auditorium in Culver City, and approximately 200 contestants vied for trophies in bantam, light, middle, light heavy, and heavy weight groups.

Reflections on the journey to the championship

You don't build a body like this with a once-a-week workout at your local gym, although that's a good place to start. Kelly's daily regimen includes an overall workout with focus on a single area of the body (chest, legs, shoulder, back, thighs and triceps, etc.) on different days.

Contest day begins early with a weigh-in, a pump-up with weights, and then the pre-judging, during which contestants, in groups of 8 or 9, display their physiques in poses such as quarter turns, back double bicep, abs and calves, and "most muscular." 

Kelly's "Most Muscular" Pose

Each weight class is slowly whittled down to five remaining contestants, who return later for a another round of competing before the judges make their final decisions. 

Feelin' Good!

The evening show features the finalists in each weight class performing individual routines, which include mandatory poses, as well as the contestant's choice of poses, accompanied by music. Kelly's music choice this year was a 60-second sample of Flux Pavilion's "Got 2 Know."  
Listen at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSBtvKgncQQ

The 5 Weight-Class Winners

Overall Winner, Novice Division

An important part of the physical training is diet. For most of the year ("off season"), Kelly concentrates on bulking up by eating a high calorie, high protein diet. 

During "contest prep," the 12-15 weeks before the competition, Kelly's diet is designed to eliminate fat: no sugar or dairy, lots of carbs, and a mostly-white menu of chicken, fish, rice, oatmeal, and white potatoes. Four days prior to competing, Kelly eliminates all sodium, and 24 hours before the contest, he stops almost all fluid intake and carbs up, eating starches such as pasta and rice. This pulls out water from his system, resulting in a dry look that enhances the delineation of muscles.

There are also cosmetic aspects to a winning look. Prior to the competition, Kelly begins a tanning regimen that is assisted by several coats of Pro-Tan.

"You can't be too dark," says Kelly, because dark skin shows the muscle definition most dramatically.

Kelly gets a tan at Pure-Tan and mani-pedi treatment at Spa Nails in the CVS Plaza in Hanford.

While his hair color is processing, 

Kelly up-dates his FaceBook profile.

Happy Winner with Trophies

After the win, some celebratory eating!

Following last year's competition, Kelly enjoyed his birthday with "Kelly's Day of Eating." See photos at http://cheryllyda.blogspot.com/2010/06/kellys-day-of-eating.html

The Progression of a Champion

2009

2010

Ready to begin the cycle again...

To see Kelly's recent photo shoot, go to: http://costaphoto.com/

Click on "Enter Site," then choose "Clients," and then enter the password, "Kelly."

Bird Snag

This morning, when I went downstairs to feed my two parakeets, I was surprised to find Sofie, the female, clinging to the outside of the cage. Oscar, her mate, was still inside the cage, and all of the cage doors were closed. 
     It takes a moment for one's mind to adjust to a situation such as this while the probabilities and possibilities are sorted through. How did Sofie get out? How long has she been out? And, most pressing: How am I going to get her back in the cage? I imagine that both birds were thinking much the same thing.
     I am not without experience in these situations, so I immediately made sure the cats were elsewhere, closed all connecting doors to the room, and donned my leather gardening gloves. (I've been bitten before by parakeets. They're a little like pit bulls; once they grab a mouthful of flesh, they don't let go.)
     The chase began. Sofie made an exploratory lap around the room, up near the ceiling. I calculated how far I'd have to jump if she passed overhead, and I knew I'd never get my 100-and-many pounds far enough off the floor.
I should mention that hanging adjacent to the birdcage is a 4-foot-long mobile made from fishing tackle: bobbers, trolling lures, and hooks. 
Concerned that the bird would be severely hurt if she became tangled in the mobile, I reached up to detach it from its ceiling hook, just as Sofie made another circle around the room. As she drew near, I tried to intercept her, only to discover that the mobile had snagged me. One of the largest hooks was now embedded in the fabric of my shirtfront. 
     I lunged for Sofie, the mobile jerked me back, lures jangled, and Oscar screeched from his cage in alarm. Despite my entanglement with the mobile, I managed to capture Sofie. As I had anticipated, she clamped down on the thumb of my leather glove. 
     Now, I had a struggling bird in hand, a fishhook deeply embedded in my shirt, and I was out of arm's reach of the birdcage.
     It's not been often in the past few years that I've longed to be married or living with someone again, but this was one of those times. It's not often that I've had to remove my clothing using only my teeth, without stabbing myself in the eye with a fishhook, but this was one of those times. Somehow, I managed.

     Sofie is safely back in the cage with Oscar. I'm going back to bed for a while.

You Do Not Have to Be Your Mother

YOU DO NOT HAVE TO BE YOUR MOTHER unless she is who you want to be. You do not have to be your mother's mother or your mother's mother's mother or even your grandmother's mother on your father's side.

You may inherit their chins or their hips or their eyes, but you are not destined to become the women who came before you. You are not destined to live their lives.

So, if you inherit something, inherit their strength. If you inherit something, inherit their resilience, because the only person you are destined to become is the person YOU DECIDE to be. 

Twenty years ago, I opened an issue of People Magazine and found this Nike advertisement. I was struck not only by the message (quoted above), but also by the similarity of the ad's photo to one in my family photo album.


This post is for all the women who have decided 
to be--or not to be--their mothers.


Photos:
Top: Nike ad, People Magazine, 10-21-91
Middle: My mother's mother's mother
Bottom: Cheryl and Ruth