To drive a stake in the day that was Tuesday, we headed over to Waterstones/Cafe Nero in search of some kind of differentiation between day and night. Nero is kind of 'stuck on' to the bookstore upstairs and between the books and the coffee, somebody had made made a pop-up promo for 50 Shades of Grey on a little round table that also had a hand-made sign that read "Grab a copy of what everybody is reading". And rather obviously, piled up on the table were multiple copies of said book. I can't remember if I blogged about this or not, but when they did a similar thing at the supermarket last week, they shifted about 100 copies in about 10 minutes. However, they moved a grand total of zero in the bookstore. That speaks volumes to me - and it's essentially this: books placed in a supermarket and heavily discounted are bought by people who like to read but are prepared to be sold to/told what to read/haven't really got a clue what they want. People who go to bookstores in search of a read however are the complete opposite, know what they want (ish) and are prepared to hunt for it. Sure, there's some crossover there but not enough to be bothered about. This is partly why publishers have been able to propel somebody like Katie Price into the stratosphere and make her a bestselling author - because people are freaking lazy.
Why does this bother me? The publishers don't care, Ms Price doesn't, the people who buy her books certainly don't - everybody in the circle is happy. It's not jealousy that's for sure. Is it because I feel the people lapping it up have been duped? People get duped all the time in business.
Anyway - my big plan was to take some copies of Black Dye, White Noise and while nobody was looking, switch the copies of my book with 50 Shades, sit down for a coffee and wait to see what happened. And now that a big package has arrived with some more books in it, this afternoon I just might do that. I think it's a plan worthy of sacrificing a few books to.
LATER THAT SAME DAY:
For the last er… couple of years, ever since I took over The Mag for a living, I seem to have gone from 'pretty OK for my age kind of weight and physique' to 'not so pretty OK for my age kind of weight.' This week, I decided to do something about it - actually that's not true. Back in February I decided to do something about it. If you're up for a bit of a story and a little inspiration, read on.
A long time ago, I blew my knee (and shoulder, though not so bad) at jujitsu. Nobody to blame, just the way it panned out after previous years at tae-kwon do, wrestling and fencing. Stick that on top of ten years of thinking your invincible in a band and things ain't looking so hot in the joint department. For the record, being in a band is pretty good exercise. Equipment is not light to carry around, you get good at spacial awareness and flights of stairs and if you're playing/rehearsing properly, it's way more exhausting than hitting the gym. I tried out fencing again a few months back but even that put a stupid amount of pressure on the knee - this is what's prompted my rethink of 2012 (and I see now that I look, that 2012 is nearly over but never mind. There'll be another year along shortly).
So. I joined the gym back in February. It's a good gym. Clean, well run - that sort of thing. There's plenty of machines and free weights but I thought I'd stick to the machines initially because it locks your posture down and I don't need to be blowing anything out any more than it already is. Then, when I figured I was ready, the plan was to move across to free weights. I figured a year would be a good time frame to get this done in.
Fact of the matter is though, I'm not getting on so well with the gym no matter how well equipped it is. It's pretty dull even with an iPod and it's just another gym that thinks everybody wants to work out to high energy dance music - which I believe is technically not true - the best music for working out to is rock because most of it has a basic 4/4 rhythm. We all swim a few times a week on a good week, maybe twice on a bad/hectic deadline week but it's not enough - it keeps the wolves from the door but I need some kind of divine intervention and I think I've found it.
I'm one of those people who is more than aware of food content and calorie intake, but it won't stop me finishing off an entire cake or whole packet of biscuits if its in the cupboard (note: if you don't buy it, you can't eat it). Anyway, I found this book a couple of weeks back. It's called You Are Your Own Gym and, in a word, it's freaking excellent. It's the only book you'll ever need on the subject of your body and all it really takes - as far as I can tell right now - is commitment. I've done week one this week and I've got to say, for what amounts to a few simple exercises that take up about half an hour, it's the most brutally punishing workout I've ever done. Honestly. I ache in places I forgot even existed.
Now all I have to do is keep it up.
Simple. I think.