Keep that prize... please!

So, I opened my inbox yesterday to be greeted by mail from TRIBE; the subject of the email said "Pay via Senvia & win..." and with a subject like that my interest peaked as to what this prize could be. Clicking on the email I had visions that the prize was something cool like "Pay via Senvia & win your costume free" or "Pay via Senvia & win tickets to TRIBE fetes" or "Pay via Senvia & win a Red Ants J'ouvert package" only to be utterly disgusted that the "prize" was a T-shirt!!!!!!!



I mean, when you are sending me an email hoping to entice me to pay via senvia , since it is now available for transactions made from Trinidad to Tribe, don't dare think that a mere CHEAP T-shirt would do the trick when I am spending thousands of dollars on a costume.

Firstly, I don't wear T-shirts ever! You will not see me in a T-shirt at the grocery or the gym or even at home, the closet thing to a T-shirt I wear is a fitted baby tee, you know the cute ones or plain ones that go well with jeans. Secondly, the prize is just plain CHEAP; yes, I will say it a third time, CHEAP!!!! Masqueraders should be insulted that this is what TRIBE and Senvia think we deserve for being good and paying up early.

Take a look at Pulse 8's website and see what they are offering masqueraders for registering between December 11th and January 10th; if you did not know it's a free bottle of Johnnie Walker Black or a bottle of Baileys Irish Cream. Now, nothing beats a cash discount but that is a nice incentive being extended to each person registering between the time period and it is MUCH better than a CHEAP T-shirt.

All I have to say is that it would have been best if the content of the email was simply information on the new services that senvia provides and to remind masqueraders that we can pay towards our costume or even pay in full by the end of January, thus giving us a "fast track" for costume collection when the day comes. There should have been no mention of this "prize" which is not worthy of the "ultimate carnival experience" at all!

So keep that T-shirt, rewind and come better than that TRIBE!

Pilates .......

There are some days when everything seems to go wrong from the minute you get out of bed, and yesterday was one of those days. I will not go into details but suffice it to say that yesterday was a very crappy day added to which I got home late with a splitting headache. Since the hour I got home was too late to go walking, I decided to try my pilates DVD. From my limited recollection pilates seemed to me like yoga and I desperately needed to de-stress from the challenging day. After popping two advil and waiting for the effects to take hold of my brain, I was ready for some soothing exercise.



Well, I have no idea what I thought pilates was going to be but it was anything BUT soothing! The scenery and music on the DVD was beautiful with lovely shots of the ocean in the background and the gentle voice of the instructor detailing what the purpose of the exercise was. There would be no number of repetitions, she said, instead we would focus on proper form and balance which will in turn result in long, lean muscles.

The first part of the workout, Energy Boost Pilates, was nice and got the blood pumping, even though I grunted through a few moves I was still able to do them.





When it came to the second part of the workout, pilates abs workout, that is where the fun began! There were two instructors to follow, one in blue was for advanced moves and the other in green was for the novices like me. To tell the truth I could not even do the abridged version on several of the moves, maybe I am just not flexible enough but my legs could not reach all the way over my head!



Anyone looking at me would have had a good laugh; it was not a pretty sight! There were more grunts and groans and sweat as I struggled to hold some of the positions and all I could think of was THIS is not easy. At least with walking you start at point A, finish at point B and that was it. In addition to the positions of the workout that I had to contort my body into, I also had to remember when to breathe; breathe in on the roll down, breathe out on the roll up! Breathing apparently was the key!





Eventually I made it through the end of the DVD and was glad when it was all over. Now I was never a fan of doing exercises at home with a tape or DVD, to me it is seemed so easy to "cheat" by either not doing the exercise properly or simply switching off the television when you have had enough torture. But, knowing that it is that easy to cheat actually made me want to give it the extra effort. No one was looking at me, well except my husband who was probably having a good laugh, but I felt as if I stopped when it got difficult the only person who would be cheated was me. Although my legs may not have reached behind my head or I could not hold my balance on a few of the moves I made sure and attempted each one!



I am sure those accustomed to pilates would think the moves are “easy”, however I am yet to get to that stage. Thing is, I liked it, even with all my complaining I felt great after! So even though today is a day “off” I think I am going to try pilates again!

I have a different pilates DVD to tackle this one is called "Pilates Conditioning for Weight Loss" and looks even harder than the other DVD ; wish me luck!