Walked on the Milky Way

Tonight we stood in the Milky Way…

    For those of you that have never experienced it, this is the only way I can describe it. We stood in the Milky Way. And I promise you, this description fails in comparison to what we actually experienced.

    Tonight my bestie and I went exploring, seeking another mind blowing adventure like we always do. There seems to be no shortage of these on this island. It is indeed a magical place, as many of you have seen in my pictures. However, what we discovered tonight could not be captured on film. Trust me, we tried over a dozen frustrating times.

    Tonight’s lunar cycle was a new moon, meaning no moon, and no ambient light. So we trekked into the ocean during low tide. We walked out into the shallow pools left in the coral produced by the receding tide. It was there that we discovered a beauty too great to be captured on film.

    As we walked out through the pools, the water came alive under our very feet. Each step, every splash of water, revealed thousands of tiny, glowing neon lights. It was as if the milky way was lighting our path. We paused and looked up into the moonless night sky, illuminated by millions of twinkling stars, only to realize that the light show under our feet exceeded that beauty by a million times.

    Every step of the way revealed this brilliant display of bioluminescent light that supersedes anything your mind could fathom. As we walked through the shallow pools, each step revealed more of God’s beauty. It was as if every step, or every splash of water electrified millions of tiny LED neon lights. It was surreal.

    Turns out this phenomenon is caused by plankton and called “Ocean “phosphorescence”. It can be seen at night when the water is disturbed, largely due to the dinoflagellates; they occur ubiquitously in the oceans as planktonic forms, responding to mechanical stimulation when the water is disturbed by emitting brief bright light. It is actually a defensive mechanism used to alert when predators are in the area.

    We tried many times to capture this brilliant display of magical light on film. Numerous videos captured pure darkness. No mater how bright the phosphorescence display beneath our feet illuminated the area, my camera was unable to capture it. The millions of natural glowing neon LED’s were invisible to technology, yet lit up our world like surfing the milky way.

    As frustrated as we were to be unable to capture and share this, we accepted the fact that on this night, at this time, at this specific place, God revealed this special, beautiful magic, solely for us. Tomorrow you may go out to the same place and discover something different, or nothing at all, but tonight what we experienced was special, and just for us.

    As is life! You see God has a special plan for each and every one of us. At times, especially the hard times, we can find it difficult, or even impossible to appreciate this. But we have to trust in HIM! He knows our fate, even before we know the beginning. This was reminded to me tonight. No matter what your belief, no mater what God you chose to worship, I can assure you that what we had the honor of witnessing tonight was NOT the result of a big bang! This was a display of the ability of microscopic organisms to try to deflect the attempts of predatory crustaceans to devour them. This takes logical thought and does not happen by accident. So when you are at a point in your life where there seems no end in sight, trust in Him. God has it all mapped out. He knows our fate before we comprehend the beginning.

Skip the Resolutions!

Fit Facts

Skip the New Year’s Resolution!

So are you one of the millions of Americans that will make the New Year’s resolution to lose weight or get fit? If you are, don’t waste your time. That’s right, I said it. Skip the New Year’s resolution. More than half of the resolutions made by Americans are to lose weight or get in shape. In fact, it is the number one resolution made. Sadly, various studies show that only about 17% of those are a success.

You should not embark on the journey of living a healthier lifestyle because it is a New Year’s resolution. You should commit to it because YOU deserve it and it’s how you will feel the best. If you truly want to be successful in your quest to be healthier you must make a commitment based on deep seated personal reasons, not because getting fit is some January fad. Your motivation must ne intrinsic.

To start, you need to realize that your road to a healthier lifestyle does not have to wait until January 1^st to start. It starts right now, today, and it starts with that first step. Make that decision to take back control of your life.

One of the three D’s in 3D Fitness is Decisions. Every decision we make either takes us towards or away from our goals.  One of the main reasons people fail at their resolutions is because they are not clear on their goals. They say they want to “lose weight” or “get in shape”. What does that mean?  In order to know if you reached your goal, the goal must be measurable. So decide what getting in shape means to you. Does it mean dropping 30 lbs. or 4 pants sizes? Does it mean being able to run up the stairs or after the kids without being winded? Those goals are both measurable and obtainable. Do some self-reflecting and determine what a healthier life actually looks like to you. Be specific, but realistic. You will not lose 60 lbs. in a month, at least not in a healthy way.

Next set a plan to accomplish your goals. Every goal that is accomplished is done so by completing smaller objectives. So your plan, or objectives should look something like, “I am going to exercise four times a week” and “I am going to eat smaller portions”. Then schedule your workouts. If you plan them and pencil them into your schedule, you are making them a priority and more likely to stick with them. I can assure you that if you just try to squeeze your workouts in when you have time, chances are you will not do them. If you need help figuring out how to accomplish your goals hit me up or check with a local personal trainer in your area.

Now that you have your plan in place to reach your goal(s), set a time frame. Thirty days is a good place to start. Now granted, you may have to make smaller goals to reach the big goal. So if you wanted to lose 30 lbs., aim for 10 lbs. the first thirty days and repeat until you reach your big goal. Just remember if you fall off the wagon, don’t get run over. Meaning, you will have bad days, you will slip and fall, but don't let it ruin you. Get up, dust yourself off, and move forward towards your goal. No looking back, no guilt! Just never use it as an excuse to give up.

The key to being successful long term and keeping off the weight is to make changes to your physical activity and eating that you can live with. Depriving yourself of everything you love to eat is not maintainable. You will eventually binge and fail. Just start with cutting back, making smaller adjustments along the way. That's why “diets” never work. You can only starve yourself for so long.

So to wrap this up, lets review. Forget about January 1^st and New Year’s resolutions. Start now by taking back control of your life. Look deep inside you to determine what your goals are and set goals that are measurable and obtainable. Develop a plan with the objectives needed to accomplish your goals, and finally set a timetable. This helps with measuring your goals as well as holding you accountable. Now all you have to do is make it a priority. Remember, YOU deserve this and YOU are worth it!

Dr. Seuss Jet lagged

One O’ Clock

Two O’ Cock

Three O’ Clock

Four

It’s Not Yet time

For me feet

On the floor

Too many time zones

That I have leapt

Now I am home

But haven’t slept

I put up a fight

But cannot win

Haven’t slept all night

In who knows when

Sleeping pills

Washed with booze

My body chills

I can’t snooze

Gaze at my watch

All the night

A glowing blotch

That wakes me in spite

I cannot sleep

In a bed

I cannot sleep

In a shed

I cannot sleep

Here nor there

I cannot sleep

Anywhere

I cannot sleep in a tree

Jet Lag! You let me be

I do not sleep on a beach

I do not sleep with a leach

I do not sleep on a star

I do not sleep in the car

I do not sleep here nor there

I do not sleep anywhere

I do not sleep Tired-I-Am

Merry Naked Christmas!

 

    Well Ho Ho Ho! Merry Christmas! It is now Christmas morning and Santa has come and gone. I know this because he left a trail of sand in my room and I saw the elegant remnants of reindeer prints on the beach in front of my room. At least that’s what I think it was, but my head may be slightly fuzzy from last night. All I can truly attest to is that I started my Christmas morning off naked on a beach. It doesn’t get any better than that!

    Yeah you can say my welcome back to the island has been even better than expected. I barely made it out of Singapore due to horrible weather. As we were taking off the clouds rumbled in angry shouts of thunder while the skies flashed brilliant displays of lightening. That set the tone of my bumpy ride home. The majority of my flight was turbulent to say the least. Lucky for me, I had my seat belt torqued down to keep me arse in the seat as I felt like popcorn in a kettle.

    As we started our descent into to Diego Garcia I saw the bright illustrious lights of the USNS fleet moored in our lagoon and I knew I was almost home. Once the plane touched down, I stepped on the tarmac and just listened. It wasn’t long before I heard the glorious sound of crashing waves and smelled the sweet salt in the air. Ah yes, I was home! I quickly cleared customs, retrieved my luggage and headed out the terminal, only to be tackled by a hot chic! So I walked to the truck, backpack on my back, pulling my luggage behind me with one hand and carrying my bestie in my other hand as she hung around my neck like a cuddly koala bear in a tree. Soon after that I found my bed and much needed sleep.

    My first day back was Christmas eve, where I was met with everything from high fives to hugs, lots and lots of hugs! To say I was missed is an understatement. It was nice to be be back! It wasn’t long before we were opening the Yacht Club for a private Christmas party for the Sea Bee’s. It was a grand time filled with fun, delicious food and games. I even saw a snow man and lots of reindeer on the beach! Santa also stopped by for a few beers; said something about having a long night… As the party winded down we closed up the club and headed to the Seaman’s center where things got interesting. In my absence I was signed up for a cornhole tournament, but it wasn’t pretty. I’m not sure if it was the jet lag or maybe slightly too much booze, but my game was off.

    Nonetheless, we quickly crushed through the competition and rid ourselves of the amateurs. But as the drinks kept flowing, my game waivered and we finally lost a round and found ourselves playing in the finals for second place against a nice young couple. At some point someone kept insisting I get naked. I wont name any names, but his initials are Chris… So the shirt came off, and then they insisted the belt was next. The poor girl I was playing against took a step back and said “Ohhhhhh” For some reason her partner, who was also her boyfriend, seemed completely butt hurt over this. So while my distraction of nakedness worked against my opponent, it royally pissed her boyfriend off who came back with a fierce focus and determination, and so yeah, well we lost.  At that point the tournament official became concerned and made sure nothing else ended up in my pile of discarded clothes.   

    From there we went to another private Christmas party. It was filled with happy faces, delicious food, lots and lots of food and copious amounts of free drinks were flowing. The band was playing, people were laughing and games were abundant. At some point we ended up playing a game where we had to undress our selves taking off a buttoned shirt and passing it on to our team mates while wearing welding gloves. I think we won, but honestly things were getting really fuzzy at this point. Now we are starting to see a trend of getting nekkid, but the best is yet to come. They also had a push up contest, but they wouldn’t let me compete. So I drank…

    Once we finished up at that party we ended up at the Brit club where we closed out the night. There I was met with many more hugs and reunited with lots of friends whom I was happy to see. Oh, and in case you are wondering about all these parties and free food and drinks, this is just a typical night in Diego. Now You know why I missed this place! As they say, drinking is the national sport of Diego Garcia.

    I can’t really share too many details about the Brit club, because, well, I just don’t remember them. What I do know is that at some point after I went to bed I woke up in the middle of the night. For some unknown reason I went outside to empty my extremely overfilled bladder. Now mind you, I do have running water and my very own bathroom complete with a toilet. So as to why I went outside, I will leave that question to the Gods, because I have no clue. The problem came when I tried to go back inside to climb back into my comfy bed and realized I was only wearing my underwear, which by the way has NO pockets, which meant I had NO key!!! Hmmmmm what to do?????

    Lucky for me, the truck was at least unlocked. So I climbed my mostly nekkid arse into the truck, leaned the seat back and went to sleep. At around 0730 my eyes were violated by this bright, unfiltered, annoying light called the sun. At which point I awoke, and quickly remembered I was naked and still locked out of my room. Oh Island life!!!!

    So with my forty-two-pound head, still in a haze, I started to take inventory of what I had in the truck to assist me with my nekkid dilemma. Now mind you, we live at the beach, so we ALWAYS keep a towel in the truck. So I think I can just wrap it around my waist and walk to billeting to get a key, looking like I just left the beach. But NOOOOOOOOO, someone took the towel out. FML! I found a hard hat, pair of dress shoes (wrong size), a uniform shirt (not my size) and our bag of rope rescue gear. I quickly concluded that a class III harness would look highly inappropriate in just my undies, so that was no help.

   The only thing I did find that was of use was my rain coat. So off I went, barefoot and in my drawers wearing a high viz, bright ass yellow raincoat that just screamed look at me! I just pretended I was a model and it was Under Armour under garment day. Unfortunately, instead of walking down a runway, I was walking across the base, right through the middle of downtown. The poor girls that work in billeting were at least kind enough not to make any remarks, but the look on their faces was priceless. And that’s how I spent my Christmas morning, walking half ass naked in paradise. Lucky for me it was still early, and most of the island was still sleeping off too much holiday cheer from the night before.

    So while most of you were at home, huddled around the Christmas tree opening presents, I was streaking across the island attempting to get back in my room. This is definitely my most memorable Christmas ever. With this I wish you a very merry Christmas and Happy New Year.