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By kilax, January 20, 2018 7:06 am

The playlists I create for my weekend* classes are crucial to the success of the class.

I keep fitness boxing songs at a certain tempo and energy, to keep the class moving. And I put the most intense songs at the end of class.

When Mom came to fitness boxing!

My indoor cycling class relies on the playlist to lead the workout. The workout is timed “per song,” and I find appropriate songs for intervals, “hills,” riding out the saddle, sprints, and so on. (It’s quite a bit of work, ha!)

I have favorite songs, but I’m always trying to find new music so things don’t get stale.

So here’s my question! When you’re attending a group fitness class, what’s more important to you – that the song has the right tempo to get you moving, OR that you’re familiar with the song? Or a bit of both?

I am wondering if people work out harder to songs they know, or if a tempo of a song they don’t know can just take over and lead the way. IF that makes sense.

When I took group classes, it was all about tempo and style. I remember taking a few and thinking “I HAVE to find out what that song is!” I didn’t need to be familiar with the song.

It’s different when I run though – I prefer the upbeat, sometimes high tempo songs I know.

Let me know what you think – I am curious how other people operate!

(And I think my students like my playlists. I’ve gotten compliments on them, and two gave me an iTunes gift card for Christmas and said “we love the playlists you make!” Aww.)

*I’ve found it doesn’t matter as much with my weekday strength classes, but I do often put the higher tempo/more intense music at the end of class.

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By kilax, December 7, 2017 8:10 am

• The Lindsey Stirling “Warmer in the Winter” concert was FANTASTIC! Watching her play the violin and dance was just as impressive and fun as I thought it would be. The concert had a playful tone with some humorous bits (and sometimes serious story-telling). Stirling performed two non-Christmas songs – Elements and Crystallize. It was a holiday concert so I was surprised and excited to hear those songs. I’d love to see her again – especially to hear her other songs!!!

• Ugh, the opening act was painful though. An opener wasn’t listed when we got our tickets and I was hoping there wouldn’t be one. It was Stirling’s dancing partner (from Dancing with the Stars) and his wife’s group – Alexander Jean. I didn’t care for their style and got irritated listening to them. I felt like I was being forced to watch them, and just wanted Lindsey to come on stage!
• We had crazy high winds Monday night and a tree came down in our yard. It fell in the same spot as last time – right over the log pile. Ha. I am glad the trees know right where to fall – where they need to be chopped and placed anyway!

• Tomorrow is my nine year anniversary at work! Which sounds like a long time, but doesn’t even begin to compare to how long some people have worked at my organization!
• I ordered our holiday cards Monday and they are arriving this weekend, yay! I am looking forward to sending them out.
• I also set up a birthday party for Steven! His dad and brother are coming in to town on his birthday, so we’re going to have a little bowling get together with them and friends. I am looking forward to it!

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By kilax, April 13, 2017 6:28 am

• I haven’t posted a William picture in a long time! Aww, I miss my sweet little nephew.

• My mom sent me home from my early April trip with an Easter basket! How nice! I have fond memories of searching for baskets (and eggs) as a kid.

• When I was in my hometown, my dad and I stopped by his mom’s as a surprise. She didn’t even know I was in town. Or so I thought. When we greeted her, she told me Facebook told her I’d be in town this weekend. Yeah, that’s the last time I say “yes” to a public event on Facebook (that was how she knew – it notified her in the morning I was going to a nearby race the next day). Of course, my grandmother can know where I am, but I don’t like to publicly advertise when I’m traveling.
• I’ve been having some issues with sensitivity to light lately. I am monitoring it and will see the eye doc if I need to. I’ve made it this far without corrective lenses… I hope my eyes aren’t going to sh*t!
• I am currently listening to this song on repeat. Give it a listen. I heard it on an episode of Girls, which means I can now say I actually got something out of watching that show.

• Did Garmin users see the new “privacy zones” setting options? Privacy zones hide your start and end points on publicly shared workouts. You can see the exact route, but other viewers can’t. This is something I’ve thought Garmin should have for awhile, so I was excited to see they added it!

• Speaking of Garmin, I get comments on my Garmin watch nearly every time I am in the office. Funny.
• I had a lot of fun at my coworker’s baby shower last week in Wisconsin! It was fun to chat with all her friends and family she tells me about, and of course, see all the love and support the baby is going to have! Look at this amazing trail mix bar they had at the party, to make your own bag to go. I definitely snacked on mine on the way home.

• Awhile ago someone told me they thought I’d be a good mom because I always have snacks with me. Ha ha. Okay…?
• Also awhile ago, we were getting a house insurance quote and the agent asked what kind of cats we have. “Regular…?” I responded. They both laughed. “American shorthair”? I tried again. Ha. It’s not like with dogs where a breed is more common!

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By kilax, March 29, 2017 10:57 am

Last night I saw Journey in Madison with my fellow 80s music lover, Rachel!

Oh! And let’s not forget that Asia opened for them. Ha. I had actually completely forgotten. Bonus?

Kind of… we all know one Asia song – “Heat of the Moment.” They saved that for the end, naturally, so I spent most of the time wondering what I was listening to (I did get “Sole Survivor” stuck in my head) and hoping Journey didn’t sound as bad as them (mostly just the set up… and a little bit of the singing, ha).

But Journey came on and sounded AMAZING! They opened with “Separate Ways (Worlds Apart)” (here’s the complete set list) and played all their hits and only one song (“Chain Reaction”) I’d never heard before.

I’m someone who enjoys concerts the most if I know the music* so seeing my favorite “older” bands is perfect for me! And I also like that it means that the audience is older, and people are less likely to be on their phones the whole time! It was nice to look down at the audience and see only a few people recording/taking pictures the whole time, compared to Milky Chance, where almost EVERYONE was, and the musicians asked people to stop. At this concert, they actually asked us to bring our phones out for “Lights,” to use our flashlights in place of lighters. Ha. That was fun.

The whole thing was fun! There were three screens so you could see close-ups of the musicians, which I appreciated during the guitar solos. They also had some wacky 80s graphics they would overlay with the musicians on the screens, too, which made me laugh! Journey puts on a great show, and I would totally see them again! Although I do imagine Rachel and I will be keeping an eye out for the next 80s band to come by…

*it’s rare I like a song after hearing it just once, but if I do, it means it’s one I will be obsessed with and play on repeat for awhile!

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By kilax, January 26, 2017 11:27 am

• We took Khali to the vet today and it went really well (Snow had an appointment too, but he ran off in to the woods when we tried to put him in the carrier). She was super chill in the car and at the vet. I’m impressed. Khali is now chipped (as Khaleesi OurLastName), has all of her vaccinations, and is confirmed FIV free. And she has an appointment to get spayed. She was (is?) definitely in heat which has made for some x-rated interactions with Snow recently. Sigh.

• File these two studies under “duh, but good reminder” (and as with most studies “questionable research methods”) -“Facebook can actually make us more narrow-minded” (pdf here) and “Get Up and Move. It May Make You Happier” (pdf here). Like I said, both very “duh” statements, but ones I have been thinking about lately – how one-sided most of the social media I follow is, and how while I LOVE working from home, that all that sitting around is BAD for my mood. Bad, bad, bad.
• Milky Chance’s second album comes out in March! I wonder if I will love it as much as the first. I am not digging the first single, but I think it’s because it was accompanied by a music video – watching music videos often ruins the song for me.
• Did anyone else watch Beware the Slenderman on HBO? The stabbing happened close (well, within 60 miles) to where we live and it’s something I’ve followed since. I didn’t care for the documentary though and was somewhat shocked the girl’s parents agreed to be in it.

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By kilax, January 21, 2017 7:24 am

The performance of Mozart’s The Magic Flute we saw last night in Milwaukee was a great introduction to opera for me. The presenters mostly stuck to the original story line (which Steven and I had learned about in advance to know what was going on) but translated a lot of it in to English, using colloquialisms and modern language. A few of the songs were still sung entirely in German, and the program had translations (as well as a helpful synopsis and breakdown of the acts by songs, which I used to follow along).

I was expecting to recognize some of the music, and I did! But not from where I was expecting – I’d heard it before from Trans-Siberian Orchestra! One of my favorite songs of theirs, “Queen of Winter Night” is a rework of The Magic Flute, particularly “Der Hölle Rache kocht in meinem Herzen.” (If you listen to :28 and :46 here and here you can hear it.)

The singers/dancers/musicians (yes, some did all three!) were amazing. I was expecting the production to be cheesy based on the program cover, but it wasn’t (thankfully)! It was playful and funny and the cast was FANTASTIC. They were great singers but the Queen of the Night really outshone everyone.

The opera was performed in the Tripoli Shrine Center, a nationally registered historic place whose design is based off of the Taj Mahal and is home to the Milwaukee Shriners… which is interesting for this play, because The Shriners are Master Masons and there is a lot of Masonic symbolism in the original version of this opera. And… that is as much as I will pretend to know about the meaning of the opera, from what Steven and I learned before going.

The opera was performed in the space under the dome, and had action going on on the main level and balcony. It was an intimate performance – we were only a few feet behind the musicians and the performers went by us countless times! Their use of the space was clever and created the scenes without any backdrops.

Photo from here, showing the Queen of the Night

Their costumes were neat, but what really amused me was their use of props. When Prince Tamino is shown a “portrait” of Pamina they used a view-master! And there was a pause in the performance of that song for the First Lady to hand Tamino a new slide reel. That cracked me up. They used hand puppets for a scene where Tamino is traveling in the forest and has to use his magic flute to tame the animals (that is what I interpreted was going on), and they had an impressive huge (paper-mache?) dragon for the end scene.

One of the singers sometimes did her scenes on roller skates, zipping around the audience and musicians, which impressed me. She could sing, dance and skate at the same time. Like I said, it was extremely playful and we laughed a lot! I thoroughly enjoyed it!

And it was fun to dress up! We didn’t need to AT ALL, but wanted to.

I rented my dress, earrings and clutch from Rent the Runway, and got my hair done at a local favorite salon, which was a treat and fun for date night!

I did my own makeup, and remembered, less than an hour before it was time to go, that I threw out most of my makeup when we moved to the rental house at the end of 2015. Oops. Quick CVS trip to get lipstick!

We ate at the Palomino Bar in the Bay View area before the show. This is one of my go to places with vegan options in Milwaukee. We all ordered dessert to enjoy after the show and I dug in to mine as soon as we got home (well, after finishing my leftovers)! I needed sustenance to stay up for a few more hours playing games!

And, as I am up writing this, I’ve gotten three and a half hours of sleep. Totally worth it for a fun night! (And I totally see a nap in my future!)

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By kilax, December 1, 2016 6:44 am

• Ha, when Steven and I were at Target on Sunday, I stopped in the cat food aisle to get the ONE flavor of wet cat food Data likes (Mariner’s Catch) and that Target only had three cans of it left. I had bought the last five cans at a different Target earlier that week. So I say to Steven “This must be really popular – it’s sold out at both locations!” And this lady walking by in the main aisle (not the cat food aisle) turns around and says “What’s so popular, I have to know?!” (not in a nosy way, but in a “is it so popular I need one too?” way). And I am like “this flavor of cat food…?” “Oh.” Ha ha ha. Ha.

• We saw Arrival last night. Has anyone else seen it? It’s definitely a movie you want to discuss after seeing it. And a movie where I did not see the twist coming (but that’s why it’s called a plot twist, ha).

• Gosh, our leisure schedule is so much different at the new house (as expected). We used to see movies much more frequently. The last time we saw a movie was five months ago!
• Rihanna’s song “Love on the Brain” is my new “listen to it on repeat five-six times while running” song.  Anyone else digging it?

• All of the new sets of balls we got to decorate the tree came with some glitter balls (first picture below). And we have a STRICT “no glitter in the house” rule (Steven HATES glitter). So… we have lots of glitter balls that won’t get used (second picture below). Maybe I should put them on the mailbox garland?

• Something strange happened at Starbucks the other day when I had them reload my card (in the store). They accidentally charged 20 cents instead of 20 dollars and there was no way to undo the transaction and fix it… but somehow, Starbucks still put 20 dollars on my card. They said it was like a Christmas present from Starbucks! I was using it to get someone holiday gifts, but had to add on the guy behind me in line’s drink too!
• I think I can get to 2000 miles run this year if I don’t slack off this month! I am at 1845 miles right now, and I typically run 40 miles a week. So if I stick with that, I should be good! It’s going to be hard with all the travel and guests BUT the people I am spending time with run too/or understand that I run! I can make it happen!

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By kilax, October 20, 2016 7:05 am

• I banged my elbow so hard on a towel rack Saturday that my arm became tingly and I lost feeling in my fingers for a few minutes. Ouch. That is one tender bruise. Steven asked me what I was doing (dancing? karate chopping?) that I hit it so hard – you know, just putting my towel back on the rack. Such a klutz.
• This opinion article from The New York Times, “The Art of Making (and Not Making) Plans” (pdf here), exactly mirrors my approach to making social plans – mindfully, and not too many. I know my limits and I do NOT function well being busy every. single. night/day (applause to you who thrive on that kind of schedule!). Since I know my limits, I only have to cancel if it’s an emergency or I am sick, which is what the article is bringing up – maybe people would cancel less if they didn’t over commit and actually thought about whether the thing was something they actually wanted to do in the first place (don’t just go because FOMO!).
• I’m digging that new song “Starboy” by The Weeknd featuring Daft Punk (love me some Daft Punk!). When Steven and I first heard it, we thought he was saying “I’m in love with a cyborg” instead of “I’m a motherf*ckin’ starboy.” Ha. So when Luca was here, we taught him that those were the lyrics (the cyborg ones!!!), and I hope he’s still singing it that way when he hears it, ha! Anyway, Steven and I do NOT love that during the lyric “Star Trek groove in that Wrath of Khan,” The Weeknd pronounces “wrath” wrong (like it’s spelled “rayth”). Grating.
• Our pond is back, so these guys are back! I’ve lost a bit of interest, since we have cats hanging out now (now we’re trying out the name Geordi for the black cat). Sorry, guys (I still feed them, ha).

• Our pumpkin collection has GROWN!

• I am getting closer and closer with the baby blanket. Maybe I will finish it this weekend? Ha (I don’t really sit around and knit on the weekends so I am not sure why I think that).

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By kilax, August 24, 2016 6:21 am

Well, that was a quick, easy and FUN read!

I like to browse the iTunes “Top Songs” lists to get music ideas. I can’t remember if it was the “Dance” or “Electronic” list I was browsing when I first came across Lindsey Stirling but I was hooked. She’s a violinist with a high energy electronic (not classical) style. Her music is upbeat and addictive – I find myself playing many of her songs on repeat, especially during runs. I downloaded her entire second album and a few songs off her first album after I first “discovered” her, and listened to her music only, on many of my long training runs last summer and fall. I also had all of her songs on my Dallas Marathon playlist.

When I saw she was coming out with a third album I pre-ordered it on iTunes and was delighted with each of the three single releases (and especially excited when the entire album was released last Friday  – what a great surprise to wake up to*).  I felt like I didn’t know much about her as an artist, other than she was on America’s Got Talent, so I decided to read her wikipedia page,. And that’s where I saw she published a memoir, The Only Pirate at the Party, in January. Why read wikipedia when I can read that?! Oh yeah, here’s where I mention I bought this book myself and all that. No one is sponsoring this post or paying me to write this. 

Stirling split the book in to three sections – childhood, working to become an artist, and stories about the entertainment industry. All of the chapters were short and themed (meaning they had a specific point) – which I appreciated! It was so nice to just breeze through this book!

So, I had no idea she’s Mormon. Or has two adopted (although they don’t want to be called that) siblings (along with two sisters). Or that she got her “big break” on YouTube. Or struggled with an eating disorder. Or is a bit of a control freak who had a hard time letting go of doing ALL the work after she was able to afford assistance. The book was full of information and fun stories and I LOVED it.

A lot of the book ends up being about being true to yourself – even if you are “the only pirate at the party.” Besides discussing finding her place as a unique performer – an electronic, dancing violinist! – she also talks about being true to her values (modesty, no drinking/drugs, etc.) in the performance industry. And how to continue to believe in yourself when people are unnecessarily cruel.

The book makes her sound like someone who would be a lot of fun to hang out with – a fun-loving (and really hard-working) goofball. And the fact that she’s made a Star Wars tribute video (not mentioned in the book, but I’ve watched it) makes me like her even more. Now, to go to a concert and see her in person! Sigh, the next one in Chicagoland is during a busy time for me and I can’t make the Milwaukee show. Maybe I can make the Chicagoland one work!

*I am not digging the singing collaborations much on this album though. I guess I just want to hear her play! I bet those songs will grow on me as I listen to them more.

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By kilax, March 30, 2016 5:41 am

I am a strong believer that the type of music we were raised listening to has a heavy influence on the type of music we like as adults (it’s been proven!). And I was raised on rock/classic rock! Which means…

… as a kid:

• When me and my siblings would spend the weekend with my mom’s parents and hang out with their friends, they’d tease us for not knowing the lyrics to the country songs they listened to. And I thought something was wrong with us for not knowing. Aww. Ha ha!
• In grade school, when we were supposed to pick a song about love and write it out nicely on piece of paper, I was surprised my classmates weren’t familiar with Van Halen’s “Why Can’t This Be Love.”
• I pretended to know the lyrics to TLC’s “Waterfalls” at middle school sleepovers, and to Beastie Boys songs in high school… but I definetely knew the lyrics to ZZ Top’s “Tube Snake Boogie”!
• We’d listen to a class rock station (in the car and at home), and my parents would call in and try to win prizes (they did win from time to time!). I remember my dad telling us to listen for Van Halen’s “Jump,” because that was the cue to call, and us asking him to play it so we’d know what to listen for… and him blasting it on the speakers at home! (I have lots of good memories of my Dad playing music at home.)

It wasn’t until I started driving that I began listening to current pop/hip hop music. But my rock roots stayed true! As an adult:

• I’ve gone to see Van Halen with my parents.
• I’ve seen Foreigner with Rachel.

• I text my dad anytime “Thunderstruck” comes on my headphones so I can tell him how I reacted to hearing the song, ha!

• I love listening to rock music and playing it in my classes!

But it’s not the only genre I like. I do still listen to pop (it doesn’t make me crazy yet) and love most 80s music, and am in to EDM (electronic dance music).

What music were you raised on?