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Hyperbaric therapy at athlete’s anonymous

oxygen therapyEver heard the expression “gym junkie”? This is not just a throw-away phrase to signify people who love working out. It actually comes from a serious disorder known as exercise addiction. Exercise addiction is a compulsion towards physical activity, and it’s a serious condition. You may be thinking, “I wish I had that!” because most people are lazy and have the opposite problem, but you have no idea how bad it is. Exercise addiction causes mental and physical strain and fatigue well above normal levels and can be damaging to one’s health. Since I joined AA — Athlete’s Anonymous — and started oxygen therapy in Melbourne, I’ve slowly been getting better.

My friends and family saw my condition deteriorating over a matter of months, as I could spend hours at the gym every night and wake up early for my 4 km pre-work run. Nobody could get through to me, I hadn’t faced up to the fact that I had a problem. Then the day came when I pushed myself way too far. I woke up at 5 am and decided to extend my morning run to 6 km. When I got to work, I was still not content with my work-out and so jogged during my half hour break instead of eating. After work, I went to the gym for my usual routine – treadmill, squats and weights. The last thing I remember is lifting a 10 kg dumbbell because I woke up twenty four hours later in hospital. I’d collapsed from exhaustion.

Since admitting that I have a problem and attending my AA meetings weekly, I’ve slowly been recovering from my exercise addiction. Now, I only workout once a day for half an hour and I spend another half hour afterwards having hyperbaric therapy. Melbourne doctors recommend sitting in the hyperbaric chamber after exercise to help the muscles regenerate, and mine are in a particularly sore and sorry state after how hard I pushed them. It’s going to be a long and tough road, but I’m looking forward to my recovery.

Boating with my sister in law

bait boardsMy wife’ sister is flying in from New Zealand in a couple of weeks and we’re preparing for her stay. It’s her and her husband’s first time in Australia so we want to give them a great first impression of the place. They’re the kind of people who love nature, they’re not big into the big city bustle, but luckily we don’t live too close to the city. We live in a really nice area that’s not too far drive from the Murray. So we’re planning on taking them out with the boat for a day trip to do a bit of fishing and have some lunch somewhere nice. I’m going to have to get my marine fabrications and rod holders installed before they arrive.

I think we might have a picnic. It’s really pretty at this time of year around the Murray. The leaves are beautiful displays of red and orange, and the weather is quite mild. I know New Zealand and Australia are not that dissimilar but I don’t want to dismiss the differences in our culture. Perhaps we’ll barbecue some freshly caught fish from the Murray. All you need is some olive oil and a dash of lemon, and it’s better than anything you get in a fancy restaurant.

Oh, I need to remember to get some bait boards installed along with the fabrications for the boat. I might have to give it a good clean. It’s pretty dirty from all the trips we’ve taken it out on. There’s fish blood and guts all over the bottom of the boat.

I’m also trying to think of other outings we can have with our guests. We’ll take them to the beach as well, and to all the tourist spots. We’ve got some hot springs nearby which I’m sure they’ll enjoy.

Back in the Days of Going Postal

postage satchelIt’s 2016, last time I checked. My computer should NOT be shutting down when it comes to simple tasks. All I want to do is send an email to my boss, and I’m thinking at this point that it might be quicker to just send him a letter. Not even first class, either. I’m just sitting in my chair, waiting for this whole thing to load and slowly dying of heart failure because this thing drives my blood pressure through the roof. Honestly, if I had-oh, hang on, it’s fine. Yeah, okay, it loaded. Bit of hyperbole.

I guess even in this tech-soaked age, there are still plenty of hang-ups. At least when people used to send letters all the time, it wasn’t instant. You actually had some time between posting and delivery. And it was exciting! I remember seeing the man with the postage satchel coming up the driveway. People sending letters, even if it’s the bank or something, is just a reminder that you’re alive and somebody’s thinking of you. And sometimes they’d reach into their courier satchel and out would come a parcel. Those were the most exciting days of all, clearly, because it meant that exciting things were soon to come. If they were wrapped up in string and brown paper packaging…even better.

What in the internet age can give you something like that? You get an email with an attachment and you don’t bat an eyelid. It’s all just so easy, and blanket emails can be sent out with nothing more than a few keystrokes. There’s nothing really personal about it. I suppose this is just the way we’ve chosen to be: expedient in everything we do. I’m still getting excited when I see the man with his courier satchel, though. Some things truly never change.

-Maria

Painters saved our apartment

About two years ago, my partner and I moved into this shoebox of a town house. It’s in a great location but it’s a morbid unit if ever I’ve seen one. The hallways is so narrow you get the feeling you’re heading into the bowels of some underworld, and when you reach the living space crowded with kitchenette and too much furniture, you get the distinct sense of being trapped. The plaster in the bedroom is so cracked and caked that you lie in bed terrified the ceiling’s about to cave in on your, and the windowless bathroom looks like the shower in a Nazi concentration camp. We thought we’d “get used to it” but after two years, we decided to do something about it.

The first step was to call in the painters. Melbourne painting specialists can help turn your rathole domicile into a bijou apartment, or even add space when there isn’t much. Our cracking paint and plaster, fading and tearing wallpaper was all wrong for the house. They’d used dark, sombre colours like burgundy and mauve, which, instead of lightening and opening the space, it actually cramped it up even more. With our new paint interior paint job, the living area has actually become more capacious. Those painters really did a terrific job, so i’ll definitely be further recommending house painters. Melbourne apartments like ours, of which there are so many, could use a thorough make-over.

In addition to the paint job, we’re getting a new bathroom and kitchenette installed. One that doesn’t evoke the set of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s nest. I feel so much better after the painters came in, that I’m so looking forward to all of the renos. I mean, it’s amazing the impact it can have on  your mood and quality of life. The place you live, feelings of comfort, security and aesthetic appeal all make a big difference.

From punk to makeup artist

Melbourne makeup coursesI was always a tomboy growing up. Not even a tomboy, more of an extremely reckless and brattish punk. I was so naughty, the boys couldn’t even keep up. I used to smash caps for cap guns with a hammer underneath my desk just to make the teacher, who was on the brink of nervous breakdown, flip. I was sadistic, I loved watching my parents and teachers struggle to deal with me. They could make me sit in the corner all they wanted, they could force me into detention and even give me disciplinary spank on the bottom – but really, so what? I’d found the key to naughtiness – that there’s nothing they can do – and exploited it at a very young age.

You’d never have guessed that I’d end up going to study makeup courses. But somewhere along the line, I started to pour all of my childhood mischievousness and boisterous energy into art. I guess it was an underhanded method of disciplining me, cleverly disguised by my parents as “art therapy”, a new age remedy for wayward children. After that, I discovered that the body could be art. I got well into it during high school. I’d spend Friday nights doing my friends makeovers (I’d accrued more female friends by this stage), applying lipstick and eyeliner in ways they had never seen before. I was inspired by the likes of all the great make up artists out there. And when it came to graduating from high school going to study makeup courses around Melbourne seemed natural. I was lucky in that most people who get out of high school are still so uncertain as to how they want to spend their lives. For me the choice was enviably clear-cut. It also just goes to show that snotty, recalcitrant, knotty-haired girl-children can be rehabilitated. And it’s all in the power of visual art.  

Skeleton drain

drain unblocking MelbourneOur bathroom started leaking. There was clearly a problem with the drains. We didn’t know what was going on until we called the company who do blocked drain Melbourne services. They stuck a camera into the wall and that’s when we saw it: The rat holocaust. It’s as though the pied piper of rats whistled his tune and all the rats followed him into the sewage system and the drains which led under the house. Then the flash floods came and they all drowned. It was messed up. Bodies everywhere. All piled on top of each other, half decomposed. Towards the bottom of the drain it was like a skeleton graveyard, littered with the ghosts of rats gone by….

Thankfully the drain unblocking company could fix it. It did take a bit of tearing up of the bathroom floors though. They had to get right under there to get rid of the decomposing rats. My brother is a total sicko and wanted some photos from the drain camera inspection. He wanted to use them for his metal band’s album art, which I think is totally morbid but of course, that kind of thing sells in the metal world. For days afterwards he was shredding and growling into his mic all songs inspired by the rat holocaust. It was kind of annoying because I had exams but anyway, I guess it probably improved my concentration because I had to work despite the racket. Whatever doesn’t kill [my grades] only makes [them] stronger. Drain unblocking Melbourne wide must be one of the most revered services. I mean if they’re dealing with rats on a daily basis there must be some things in common you know with funeral directors and other such services. I don’t know, I’ll have to do more reading about it. Or I’ll ask my brother because he’s starting to become expert on the topic of unblocking drains.

One manual therapy to rule them all

I’ve always had trouble with my muscles and joints. Aches and pains in places that most people don’t even know exist. I’ve been dealing with these troubles since I was a teenager when I got a couple of sporting injuries. I used to be very active but one day I sprained my back playing netball and I’ve never been the same since. With sporting injuries it’s like, once you’ve done the damage, you’ll never be the same again. But believe it or not, there’s actually a solution to most if not any time of sporting injury and that’s manual therapy. I’m looking into New Zealand dry needling courses for next year.

I figure that I’ve had enough treatments for sporting injuries myself to know better than anyone how to deal with it./ In fact, I find it a bit odd that many specialists in a particular area haven’t had related problems themselves. For example, many dermatologists have never had skin conditions and many gastroenterologists have perfectly healthy guts. I’m sure they do a great job at caring for and treating their patients however they can’t fully understand what they’re dealing with like someone who’s experienced it first hand. In my case, I’ve seen chiropractors, osteopaths and orthopedic surgeons and well as eastern practitioners of complementary medicine so I know a lot about this stuff. And from my wealth of experience I’ve found that trigger point dry needling worked the best for me.

Although I did find some dry needling courses near Adelaide I think I want to move to New Zealand anyway. I need a change of scenery but literally and figuratively speaking and hopefully start my new career in manual therapy with a fresh and open mind. Here’s hoping the Kiwi’s get plenty of sporting injuries.

Meeting up with my marine fabricator

Today is going to be an exciting day, I can feel it in my bones. It’s not that I have a good feeling about this one (even though, believe me, I do) it’s that this morning I’m attending an appointment I’ve been awaiting excitedly for some time now. In my current state of semi-retirement, I’ve rediscovered something I loved dearly as a child – the sea. This rediscovery has occurred not only through an increase in swimming (although that I’ve taken to doing a few laps more now than I have in years) but rather, through the purchase of my small boat, christened ‘The Lady Arabella’ by yours truly. Arabella isn’t large by any standards, but gee, she’s a beauty. And, like any beautiful lady, I’ve made it my mission to have her fitted out with the best accessories I can get my hands on. Which is why I’m so excited to meet with this marine fabrication expert this morning.

I’ve talked to him over the phone a couple of times now and he seems like a really friendly sort of guy, but more than that, like he really knows what he’s talking about. Over the next few months, there are quite a few little bits and bobs that I’m thinking I’ll add to the Lady, but for now, I just want to meet with the fabricator and get a bit of a feel for him. Afterall, I plan for us to be working together quite a lot over the coming months, I might as well get to know the man.

The first thing on the agenda is going to be snapper racks. From the research I’ve done and the difficulties I’ve had while out fishing, it looks these should be the first additions to the boat. But that’s where meeting with the fabricator comes into play. I really want his opinion, his expertise, to guide me in the right direction. For all my passion about the subject, I know rather little. Hopefully, with his help, I can change that.

Too young to write up a will?

When most people turn eighteen, they get bottles of wine or a car for their birthday. Me, I got an attorney. My parents and uncles and aunts pooled their dollars together and got me a lawyer. Why, you may ask? Well, to help me write a will.  I know what you’re thinking, I’m too young to be thinking about wills. Around Melbourne however, you can never be too prepared. It may be a small city but still a major one, full of all the hazards and risks big city life affords its residents.

Another thing is that most teenagers simply don’t have any assets or wealth to be considered after death. They may have a couple of grand saved up which will quickly be spent on travels, but no substantial wealth that requires planning and preparation. They also don’t have any people to inherit the wealth like children who would become beneficiaries. In my case, however, I’ve already had a couple of kids to my ex (they were a bit of a surprise!) and I won a tonne of money when I bought a lottery ticket a couple of years ago. In fact, that income has set me up for life.  

So that’s why as an 18 year old I’m looking into will and estate planning strategies close to Melbourne. Seems absurd to most people, but in  my case, perfectly reasonable and relevant. I’m going to arrange a couple of trusts for the kids, to set them up with the a good education like I didn’t get. I want them to avoid making the mistakes that I made at all costs. But you know how it is with kids, you can give them warnings and tell them what you’ve been through, but nothing’s going to influence them like their own experience.

 

Can’t afford fridge repairs

Since I moved to Sydney from Colombia, I’ve been so poor. The economy is very different and the Australian currency is stronger. While I was making a decent income in Bogota, here I make a pittance. Also, because my qualifications aren’t valid here and my English is not so good (I got my ESL teacher to check this for me) I can only work as a cleaner. Most cleaning businesses hire international students like me because they know they can exploit us. They can pay us minimum wage and make us work crazy hours and we can’t complain because there’s no other employment options. Now that the fridge in our apartment broke (we bought it secondhand on gumtree) I cannot afford to fix it. But If I don’t get the refrigeration repairs near Sydney, then my cost of living will go up because I will have to buy almost every meal. At least with a fridge I can buy food cheaply in bulk and cook for myself throughout the week. It’s a much more frugal way to live. And because I’m so limited with time because I work extreme hours, I tend to cook up a tonne of food, divide it into rations in plastic take away containers, and then freeze it. This saves me time and means I can take my lunch to work.

I’m really stuck in a jam with this broken fridge problem. I’ve been researching prices for Smeg repairs around Sydney and they’re all over my budget. I’ll either have to wait and live off celery for a month because I won’t be able to eat out, or, I’ll have to get another job… one that pays better… because I’m already working about 70 hours per week and working myself to the ground. There’s really only one other thing I could do, being an international and unqualified, that pays better than cleaning. But is selling my body really something that I want to do?