Yes im blogging about the Gym. I go to the gym, shock horror, don't all pass out from shock at once. I guess I go about 3 times a month, that's good right ? I make the effort and damn you I'm proud !
Since going to the Gym very sporadically I have wanted to write this blog. So anyone who knows me well knows I have gained a wee bit of weight. Come on, just a wee bit over the last 6 months. I go to the gym, I do my workout, I get on with it and boom im done. But other people are so freaking weird.
The noises.
Guys, I do not want to hear your grunts and groans. I feel like I'm on a porn set with some sweaty guys making their sex noises. Its just damn awkward. Your sat next to me on the machine, doing your stuff, pulling some weights and all of a sudden its 'UUUUHHHH' UHHHH' 'UHHHHHHHHHHHHH'. Really ? Is that needed or are you just trying to look cool and like your lifting super heavy weights ? No one gives a shit, shut up, do your work out, save the sex noises for your posh wank when you get home. Cheers !
The mirrors.
Why all the mirrors ? Not all of us at the gym are super buff and looking amazing in our gym kit. Well by all of us I mean me. I don't look good at the gym in my gym kit, While I am sweating it out on the treadmill I don't want to watch myself in the mirror looking like a twat with my wonky left leg hanging 10 miles behind me. Especially when I start to jog. Now that's hilarious. Do you remember how pheobe out of friends used to run in the park ? I just look like a twat. Its bad enough other people having to watch me let alone having to watch myself look like a twat in the mirror with sweat running down my face ! Whereas other people, especially the uhh uhh uhhhhh guys, seem to LOVE the mirrors. Its like ' Oh, im going to lift some weights and at the same time im going to check myself out in the mirror and think how buff and sexy I am when really I look like a weed that's going to blow away in the wind' It drives me crazy.
The bag of 'gym stuff'
Those bags, oh man, those massive bags. I swear you can fit a dead body in those bags. Oh those bags ! Why do people take such big bags to the gym ? I just take a regular size bag that has my towel, a jumper and water in. Nothing else, and mine goes in my locker. Why do you need to drag your big bag full of 'gym stuff' all around the gym ?! what the fuck is in there ?
Your music
Okay, I understand: You love singing, and you're so happy to be at the gym you just gotta sing about it. You and your friends are probably great at singing, and you probably try to prove this to everyone at your local bar regularly. But no one at the gym cares. We're trying to focus here, and your singing voice is throwing off our concentration. Are you trying to get discovered at the gym? We're not sure your singing voice is something you want to have discovered. Simon cowell is not here, and quite frankly, you are a terrible singer, so get on with your workout and stop sounding like a drowning cat ! Cheers .
Selfies
I love a selfie, I really do. But theres a time and a place. My facebook newsfeed is full of gym selfies, really, is it needed ? What is with the gym selfies? Are you working out for you or for your social media following? Do you not believe you're in a gym, and perhaps seeing it on a phone will convince you? Unless your phone weighs 20 pounds, it's not adding to your workout.
Being a sweaty shit.
Yeah we all sweat , who doesn't ? Surely you wouldnt be normal if you didnt ! Just wipe that messy sweat up. No one wants to get onto a bike you have just been on and sit in your sweaty vagina patch, or walk in your puddle of sweat on the treadmill and I certainly don't want to be TOUCHING your sweat either. EW, come on theres plenty of spray and tissue, just wipe up after yourself you sweaty bastard.
The changing rooms
Look ladies, this is no alternative spa or swinging club. Keep ya clothes on. Do you NEED to walk around with your vagina in my face, doing your stretches in the changing room communal area naked while im fulled dressed blow drying my hair ? No you don't you bloody weirdo, go put some clothes on and use a cubical.
So all in all, don't make sex noises, don't pose in the mirror, don't carry big bags round and put some clothes on in the changing room, otherwise me and you are gonna fall out.
x
I have been asked many times in the last month why I started doing these outreach walks, why I spend so much of my own time doing a non paid and sometimes dangerous job and why I love it so much so I have decided to sit down and be brutally honest about why I do this, what I get from it and why im so passionate.
Last year I did a ten week drug training program with the amy whinehouse program in Bournemouth. I learnt nothing. 90 % of the group were ex addicts looking for voluntary work from this program, so they knew everything about drugs, addiction, etc. Long story short, I learnt nothing about drugs and addiction but I did learn a lot about boundaries and confidentiality.
I learnt through doing our boundary training that we must never tell anyone our name, anything about us or even touch someone ( A hug, a sympathetic hand on their shoulder) That kind of thing. I know this was for our own protection but it just didn't sit right with me. I just couldn't tell someone my name was Mary.
I started going to NA meetings in boscombe. At a meeting you hear one main story then others bounce off their stories. I sat there week after week, keeping myself to myself so no one would realize I wasn't an addict and that I wasn't meant to be there. I sat and listened to the stories. Sometimes I cried. Many of the stories were the same. Bad childhoods. I in no way had a bad childhood due to my family or my home life, my family and my home life was great and my family were so supportive. I was bullied from a very young age, around 5 years old I think, all through school and I finally went on to drop out of school at 15 years old. Drugs were all around me at school and easily accessible. But I never touched them. The only reason I stayed clear of drugs was due to my heart problems, I had always known from a young age I could die so easily from just one pill so I always stayed away. I honestly believe if it wasn't for my heart problems, I would have ended up using drugs and going down the line of addiction, street light, crime and possible prostitution. Its such a terrible thing to think, and im so lucky I did have that heart problem always telling me no.
I decided while I was doing my program with Amy Whinehouse I wanted to reach out and help others who have gone down that line due to bullying, mental health, abuse etc and that drugs, crime, street light, prostitution was the only way out for them. I kept on going to meetings but many of the people had been clean a good 6 months or a few years and had sponsors so they didn't really need my help...It wouldn't be till a good 6 months later that I would start helping people hands on.
I finished the program and there were no placements currently available, so I went on holiday to turkey and set up another project that you can read about here :
http://aaliyahsummerrose.blogspot.co.uk/search?updated-max=2014-02-04T23:21:00Z&max-results=1&start=1&by-date=false
http://aaliyahsummerrose.blogspot.co.uk/search?updated-max=2014-01-10T01:08:00Z&max-results=1&start=4&by-date=false
http://aaliyahsummerrose.blogspot.co.uk/search?updated-max=2013-12-16T16:20:00Z&max-results=1&start=6&by-date=false
The turkey / Syria project is now over for me sadly as I was diagnosed with heart failure and I am not allowed abroad at the moment due to serious health risks. Bla bla bla let me get back onto the story...
I decided I would start to address the problems with homeless people in Bournemouth and focus on my own country but I knew I didn't want to do it via an organisation. I didn't want to be caught up in all the red tape and boundaries. As crazy as it sounds, I wanted to do it my way. I may only be 23 years old but im a feisty one and once I have an idea that's it im doing it !
I wanted my outreach walks to be fun and relaxed, no boundaries, no particular rules apart from talking about one homeless person to another homeless person. Thats just a big no no. All the people I see in Bournemouth on my outreach walks know my name is Anastasia, they know im an artist, they know I have organised all this myself, that im an artist and that im not with any high up religious organisation and because of that they love me and welcome me into their world. They all enjoy my carefree personality, the crazy jokes I tell, my relaxed and friendly nature towards them and everyone who has joined the walks also notice this.
I started doing walks by myself in the day time to start with, just walking around and talking to a few rough sleepers and handing out sandwiches. Everyone was so grateful but in the day time you dont seem to find many rough sleepers so I soon realized night time would be better.
Our outreach walks are now from 8pm till midnight throughout Bournemouth and 90% of people we see I know their name and they remember me. Tom has come on every outreach walk with me since I started. We hand out food, (sandwhiches, a hot meal, cakes, ) bottled water, blankets, clothes, shoes etc and just sit down on the floor and have a little chat. Some people love to talk, others don't want to chat.
A lot of people who love to talk tell us a lot about themselves, tell us about their past, about their hopes for the future, their families etc and sometimes what we hear can be truly heartbreaking.
Thanks for reading.
Anastasia
