Time is on my side

 The other day I read about a study about the most stressed people are the ones in the years following university. That 22-30 age group, is not entirely sure where they are, challenging themselves to discover this.  Situated dead smack in the middle of this group, I fortunately am not succumbing to the pressure anymore. These tendencies do pop into my head when I think about after modelling (which I am sure is coming soon). For the moment, the time being, time is on my side.

I am fortunate not to have the big financial burdens of student loans (very fortunate) and do not have a car loan or mortgage right now. The car loan lesson I learned early, with little repercussions (long story short, just because you can afford the payments, doesn’t mean you can afford the car or anything for that matter). Time can be on my side to allow me to travel and enjoy life.

There is a modeling community where people frequently ask questions, not being afraid to pipe in about nutrition related stuff I have found myself a resource for many people lately. I thought lets give some insight on what I got up to today (and ate). 

Except I must be on Canada Time

Last night I had a terrible time falling asleep. Second time in the past week. 

Wake up: 9 am and chatted with a lovely girl in my life back in Canada

Morning exercise: 10-12 I was only planning on 1 hr on the treadmill doing intervals but got sucked into the latest season of top gear. Immediately following I did round of cold plunge and steam for 10 minutes.  Immediately after I had box of Green Tea soymilk.

Breakfast/Lunch: 12:30 2 cups of mixed rice, 3 eggs, 1 tbsp PB, 1 apple, ¼ cup of soymilk (all mixed together into a porridge with cinnamon and some brown sugar) 

Snack on the run: Casting started at 2:30 for FCUK so en route I had an apple and a birdseed bar (sesame seed and sunflower seeds held together by a bit of honey)

After casting:  Around 4 pm I was hungry on my way home so bought some fresh mango from street vendor (this is like candy for me)  When I arrived at home I had some rice crackers with 2 tbsp peanut butter (I can’t get enough of it)

Dinner: 6:30 hunger started to creep in. I cooked close to 4 cups of mushrooms, kale, onion, garlic, carrot with dried thai chili powder and lime. With the meal I had 2 chicken breasts cooked with Montreal steak spice and sirachi (maybe a little too much).  

Before bed: Its now 10 pm and I am starting to get hungry again. Will have to check the fridge but I think there are some strawberries and maybe some almonds. 

This is an example of my day. An average day? Likely not the case. This is just an example of what today looked like. When I do strength training my appetite is significantly larger.

Let’s talk food

We all love it, we can’ live without it, but there is always that challenge of developing a healthy relationship. That healthy relationship has to occur in two ways, there are the obvious healthy food, but also a healthy mental relationship so we don’t fear food. I can’t count the number of people I know right now and have encountered while nutrition counseling that are scared of food. So I wanted to talk a bit about the mental side right now from my point of view.

Life isn’t simple and making your food choices aren’t exactly easy. There is that mental battle at Starbucks of a Java Mocha Frappucino latte with extra whip and syrup, or a plain coffee. Obviously the word plain creates a negative view of it instantly. I mention Starbucks because that where I sit as I write this, hoping to snag some WIFI as I find new environments. Try it though, think about one of those dedicantly evil foods and its healthy alternative, most the time we throw plain in front of it, instantly setting ourselves up for disappointment.  It all becomes a mind game of swinging towards positive thinking. Plain becomes all a matter of perspective. 

Catch me on just about every day and I will shed some positive light, I like smiling, and certainly more fun to smile that furrow your brow and sink your head. How can we swing these choices to appear positive? Positive reinforcement is generally a pretty good way to set you up to continue down a desired path. When we introduce that plain negative reinforcement; resentment is sure to follow.

 

Ask yourself an important question right now. Do you desire to be healthy and happy? I know I sure as hell do and I am. Then again that is easy to say when you have jetted off to a foreign country for an adventure.  Enriched by my life choices is how I feel. Almost 16 years ago this winter my life changed, and it wasn’t until 8 years after that moment I truly gained full respect for what that change did.

Faced with an endless list of NO foods, limited YES amongst chronic fatigue and fibromyalgia, all those things we are told to eat became a necessity. Eat this yes foods, you feel energetic, can spend time with friends and family, think clearly and of course enjoy life.

I keep coming back to asking you questions. This is because I want you to make these decisions for yourself not what other people say. If you start choosing more of these YES foods, which not only apply to my dietary challenges and me but to everyone, you will notice a difference in your life’s force. It may even be worth changing these names to make them seem less well plain.

Here is an example of one of my latest enrichment dishes and also one I had a restaurant here in Seoul. 

2 cooked chicken breasts (yes friend in a little oil, this is still healthy)

2 cups spinach

1 cup red cabbage

½ onion

1 cup bean sprouts

2 cloves garlic

½ inch chopped ginger

¼ cup tomato paste

Mustard

3 sheets of rice paper

This all lasted for about 2 meals for me.

And the Korean Dish Bulgogi.  

Next time I think I may talk about cheating.

Whoosh!

This sounds pretty much explains the last 24 hours of my life. Sitting waiting, I found ways to keep myself entertained at home this past week. My work visa arrived on Friday, and an email was promptly sent out to inform my agents and to get things rolling.  Of course there was the issue of time change and a weekend.

 

While waiting, I shoveled the walkway of snow, cleaned the kitchen multiple times, and of course went on a few glorious walks with Diesel. I am going to miss that fella. Then Tuesday night arrives. An email with some details, then a phone call, then a final email. At 9 pm Pat and I spoke and my flight was set. By the time all was confirmed through the airline it was closer to 10 pm, I would be departing for Seattle in 8.5 hours (that’s 6:30 am). My father had offered to pick me up and take me to the airport at this ungodly hour. I really appreciated that, its nice to have that support network available, as I know not everyone does.

I guess with your flight leaving soon, packing is usually a good idea, followed by a bedtime snack I finally got to bed at 1:30. Subconsciously I think I knew if I was gassed heading into nearly 24 hours of travel I could sleep on through most of it.  Security and customs were a breeze and took maybe 10 mins total, my beard must not appear very threatening.

Brrrrrrrrrrrr. Okay I don’t know how the lyrics go of the Dash 8 Turbo prop go but this morning was my first experience on such a plane. Every time I closed my eyes however I could imagine the black and white videos you watched in Social Studies and History classes of the B-52 bombers. This little plane delivered me towards a 7 hour layover in Seattle, coffee shop central.

I have never been comfortable with sleeping in an airport terminal (safety wise), so I worked hard to keep my eyes open before I could get my Tokyo drift on during the 11 hour flight to Narita (joke courtesy of dad, followed my many other inappropriate puns related to exhaust). 

Let’s take a look at what I have done to keep myself nutritionally satisfied.

3 am: 2 scoops protein and 2 packs Nature’s Path Flax and Oats

7 am: Clif Bar

9 am (Seattle time so add an hour): 3 eggs scrambled with Dungess crab and Dungess Shrimps, and about 4 little hashbrowns

12 pm: 5 Dark Chocolate Covered Macadamia nuts (my caving to some sweet cravings

3 pm: Slices beef with rice noodles and vegetables and 1 glass of merlot

8:30 pm: 4 pcs of almond cluster crack

My goal of getting sleep has worked out pretty well. My section of the plane is nearly empty so I laid across the 3 seats in the middle and dozed off, first an hour then our meal, and my post feeding 5.5 hour nap.  I have successfully killed 7 of my 11 hours in this plane so far sleeping, not bad.

With 2 and a half hours to go, I am going to immerse myself in Sons of Anarchy.

This one is going to involve some acting

 

In the past I have never really regarded myself as an actor, but this aspect of work is starting to inch its way more and more into my daily life. While in Canada, modeling was modeling, while in Singapore, it was modeling with a few additional movements and the odd acting on camera. Now that I am in Bangkok, there are many more TVC (TV commercial) castings that all involve acting to some degree or another.  

I have had a casting for at least 3 TVC this week, and I have to more on Sunday. Hopefully I start to become more comfortable and normal looking with it so that I can get booked. It was great for one I just had to talk and eat a salad (you know me and my veggies). Personally I am starting to feel like I am not looking as awkward when doing some of these things, but you never know.

My past acting experience (with the exception of a few corporate video jobs) ended when I was in grade 9. I was the leader of the green elf gang (the short elves) in a Romeo and Juliet type production, with a knife fight and everything haha. 

I am trying to provide a very quick update for you guys, as I am about to run to a shoot this morning. Another interesting aspect of my Bangkok life is that I have work of some sort, every single day. It’s nice; the time has been flying by. The downside of course is that I haven’t exactly had much opportunity to explore.

Here are some examples of a few meals I have dug into lately. The first was 45 baht at the food court outside my gym.

Followed by what I like to cook at home. Chicken, brown rice and vegetables, I could not believe how much I missed that meal, can and likely will eat that or some form almost every day.

And the last meal is a Thai Curry Rice dish that was a bit more expensive, 149 baht at a restaurant. You will also notice a pair of hipster socks as its recently been discovered that Kevin is a bit of a hipster. 

I will also share with you some pictures of my recent changes to my appearance. The result of the job I will be working today has led me to the challenging task of removing the majority of my body hair. This is truly weird for me as the last time I shaved my legs was Mr. Mount competition where I lost to Mr. MacAulay in his daisy duke shorts.

I have told a few of you what the job would be. For those I haven’t told, any guesses?

The first cut is the deepest

Worked hard with GSP yesterday, definetly kicked my ass more than Sean T. But in a diffierent way, I think GSP has a lot more focus on muscle development and strength, whereas Sean T (insanity) is very heavy on the cardio. We will see what that leads up to. 

The plan for the evening was to meet up with Blaire at MBS then grab a drink before heading to Ikea. I met up with a crew of MBS sales staff and we headed to Cut, Wolfgang Puck’s restaurant for a drink or two.  My love for cocktail was ingnited by a few fiery drinks. Check em out:

Blaire had to go do a quick thank you speech for a group so this left Mandy and I to hold the fort down. During this time it was decided that Ikea would have to happen another day. Upon their arrival we moved into the dining to partake in some fantastic cooking. Greg one of the Chef’s came out and chatted with us, upon the request of gluten/dairy free, he recommended I dive into a steak, fine twist my rubber arm. The ladies all had lobster risotto (orzo). This was quite possibly the best steak ever to grace my lips.