We got a new bicycle for Calfgrit5; he’d outgrown his first bike. I was putting the bike together, with CG5’s “help,” when he started spinning one of the wheels. As the wheel spun, he started to put his finger into the spokes.

“No,” I said, “don’t do that.”

He stopped. But then a few seconds later, he started to do it again.

“No!” I said. “You could really hurt your finger.”

“How?” he asked.

“Your finger,” I explained, “will get caught in the spokes, and broken.”

I could tell by the look on his face that he wasn’t really getting the concept. His mother broke her toe a while back, and from his point of view, it was nothing really bad.

I said, “Go out into the yard and find a stick to bring to me.”

He ran out into the yard, and after a minute, came back with a long, thin stick.

“Watch what happens,” I said.

I spun the wheel real fast, then slowly lowered the stick down into the spokes near the fork. Crunch! The stick snapped. A piece went flying off, and another piece dangled from the main length.

“See?” I said.

His face scrunched up in horror, and he burst out in tears. He bawled.

“What’s wrong?” I asked with concern.

He cried out, “Now I’m going to have a nightmare.”

His mother came into the garage and noticed her baby crying. When she asked what happened, CG5 said, “Daddy told me I’m going to break my finger. And he showed me with the stick. Now I’m going to have a nightmare.”

He was truly upset. I had no idea the demonstration would affect him so. But, after he calmed down, he didn’t try sticking his finger into a spinning wheel again. And that night he apparently didn’t have a nightmare. So maybe it wasn’t a horrible thing to show a child, after all.

Bullgrit

I’ve completed phase 2 of the P90X regimen — 8 weeks down, 5 weeks to go. I feel great. The workouts are still very hard, extreme. But I absolutely love them. And they’re working.

Although the physical changes seem to come slowly, and subtly, because I see myself every day, they do come. I’m becoming more fit, more tone, more firm all over, and I’ve lost 12 pounds.

I still dislike the Yoga routine, for the same reason I’ve disliked it from the beginning: I can’t see the TV during many of the moves because I have to twist and turn away from it. When one move twists me away from being able to see the TV, I’ll usually unwind from the move, adjust my stance so I’m back looking at the TV, but then the next move turns me away again. Yoga X is 90 minutes — the longest single routine in the system — and I pretty much stay aggravated during the whole thing. That’s counter-productive for Yoga.

Plyometrics (jump training) is the absolute hardest routine — jump up, jump to the side, jump around, jump, jump, jump. But I like it. There is no doubt I’ve burned some calories and built some ability after going through that series of exercises.

Ab Ripper X — oh lordy. It’s hard, too. But when I can see how flat my stomach is now, (no six-pack, yet), and my whole core just feels solid and strong, it’s great.

So far, my diet is the weakest area of my P90X experience. I can do really well for 2 or 3 or 4 days, but then I have a bad day, (or two). I eat something I shouldn’t, or more than I should, and I feel like I’ve let myself down. I’d be so far ahead of where I am right now if only I could get my diet down solid.

And then there is the one thing that drives me crazy. My face is round. It’s just the normal shape of my head. I have cheeks, (with dimples), and apparently no amount of weight loss and muscle building seems to affect my face. I can just see me in another five weeks: I’ll have a firm, tone body with muscle definition, but I’ll probably still have the damn cherubic face. Does anyone do liposuction for cheeks?

Bullgrit

This sign hangs from the ceiling of our favorite local pizza buffet. It’s a barely humorous ad, and I didn’t consider it bad in any way. But then, I’m not Italian. I could see an argument for Italians taking offense at “rustic” being considered particularly Italian.*

This is a national restaurant chain, and presumably a national ad campaign. But have you heard any news about any Italians or Italian-Americans or any Tonys being upset over this portrayal of them as rustic? Or that Tony is a stereotypical Italian name?

The concept got me thinking about how something like this is okay for one group, but probably wouldn’t be okay for another group.

Say the restaurant had a new squid pizza:

Any more Japanese and we would’ve named it Akira

A curry style:

Any more Indian and we would’ve named it Guru

An “urban” style (vice “rustic”):

Any more Urban and we would’ve named it Lebron

A Mexican style:

Any more Mexican and we would’ve named it Jose

A koshur style:

Any more Jewish and we would’ve named it Hiram

Would such signs be acceptable? I would bet such signs would stir up controversy and anger. There might be opinion articles decrying the insensitivity, protests against some ‘ism, calls to boycott until the company “made things right.”

So, is it that Italians are undersensitive? Or is everyone else oversensitive?

* rustic -from Dictionary.com
adjective
– of, pertaining to, or living in the country, as distinguished from towns or cities; rural.
– simple, artless, or unsophisticated.
– uncouth, rude, or boorish.
noun
– a country person.
– an unsophisticated country person.

Bullgrit