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Hello and welcome to jasonnewland.com. My name's Jason Newland and this is Let Me Bore You To Sleep. It's no, is it? Yeah, it is. It's only Monday's boring objects.
Yes, that's a bit rubbish, wasn't it? Never mind. So, Monday's boring objects. Hello.
Hello. How are you? Are you well? So, so yeah, this is the first time I've done a Monday's boring objects for a little while. Just a little while.
And it's all right. It's all right, isn't it? Don't know what I'm going to talk about though. So yeah, only listen when you can safely close your eyes.
I'm here and Vinnie is on the floor doing what Vinnie does best, which is being Vinnie, I guess. Making some sound. Hmm.
There's not much really to update. If you've been listening to my previous recordings, you'll know about Uncle Sausages. And his apparently his funeral is going to be on the 21st of August.
And then his ashes are going to be sent to Northern Ireland. And they're going to be, there's going to be a little parade by the boys, the boys brigade in Northern Ireland. And in Derry, I think.
And that was apparently, not apparently, that is where Uncle Sausages used to be one of the the leaders or something, like for years and years. So it's close to his heart. And that's what he wanted.
So yeah. Other than that, it's just, it's just kind of get into trying to process the whole situation. The last six weeks, seven weeks, whatever it's been.
It's been very strange, very strange time. Oh, yes. And, you know, in that time, as well as my friend being ill and passing away, I also had COVID.
It was very strange, strange period. Yeah. Yeah, I haven't processed it yet.
But I'm not going to talk about that today. I'm just gonna do a normal recording. And I'd like to say thank you to all the the well wishes, people have sent me messages on Facebook.
Really, really kind of you. Can't can I get Facebook up on there? Can I get Facebook on my iPad? I don't know how. We're soon gonna find out.
Yes. Wow. Okay.
I got the correct. The correct details. Didn't know I had that.
I'm logged in on my laptop, I just, and then my phone just not on my iPad. Didn't know I could. I knew I could, but I just didn't know if I could, if that makes any sense.
What I'm going to do, I'm going to read out some of the messages just I'm going to read out all the messages, just to let you know that I've read them. And so thank you. So I did a recording the other day called lifting the fog, hypnosis for depression.
And Hope wrote, you've been a busy boy. So thank you. It's okay.
Hope also wrote, and this is for a recording I did last Wednesday. As some who's immunocompromised and has two kids who are also immunocompromised. I greatly appreciate your consideration about going to work when sick.
I also agree about waiting until the symptoms are gone before testing. Rest, rest, rest, long COVID is not fun. So thank you for that.
I've not been great at replying to me. I do read them. I just haven't been great at replying.
And the last week or so sorry, if it's come across as rude, I don't mean to be. And, and Christine said, thanks for everything I do. So thank you.
What have we got? And we got what we got. So I've been doing a few of the whisper daily things. Just Let Me Bore You To Sleep whisper.
It's turned into a little routine the last week or so. I don't know how long I'll do it for, but it's not in any way a replacement for the normal ones. So Hillary says, Hey, Jason.
No, you're going through a really, this is the 1st of August. No, you're going through a rough time at the moment. I just want to say that I'm so happy.
I found your Let Me Bore You To Sleep podcast. You have been getting me to sleep for three years now, and I don't know where I would be without you. And so thank you very much, Hillary.
That's very kind of you. I do appreciate your kind words. And then I posted a thing yesterday.
Uncle sausages is in sausage heaven. And it was Let Me Bore You To Sleep. Number 1403.
It was a whisper, whisper Sunday. So it was yesterday. Yeah, yesterday.
So I've had a few comments, I'm going to read them out. And if the iPad will allow me to open it up, which is not for some reason, let me look. Wow, that's weird.
Few more comments. I want to read all of them. All the comments.
Christine, so sorry to hear that. Rest in peace. Thank you, Molly.
Oh, Jason, sending you love. Thank you, Molly. And Susan, sorry to hear that.
Thank you, Susan. And Maria, sending you more wishes and love. He's at peace now.
Thank you, Cindy. I'm sorry to hear this may rest in peace. Thank you, Cindy.
Kate, Jason, so sorry, you lost your friend. Uncle sausages was so fortunate to have such a good friend in you. And I'm sure that he knew that hugs.
Thank you, Kate. John, so sorry about your friend. Thanks, John.
And Rev reveal, send a message up. Corinna. Oh, no, that's really sad.
Sorry, Jason. Thank you, Vicky. So sorry to hear that, Jason.
Thank you. Isabel writes Mr. New Land. My sincerest condolences for Uncle sausages passing.
I know I'm going to do. I'm going to turn this onto the screen so I can see it better. Okay, that's better.
Now got it on the TV screen. So I can actually read it a lot easier. Mr. New Land, my sincerest condolences for Uncle sausages passing while the pain.
No, that's not what's supposed to be happening. Right. Okay.
That was not supposed to happen. Okay. My sincerest condolences to Uncle sausages passing while the pain of losing someone.
Okay. While a play to you is unimaginable, please let it. Please know it's been very clear.
I suppose you have to read this easier when it's on the screen. My eyesight. Please know that it's been very clear just how much you did for him as a neighbor and a friend.
I work with so many people who don't have an advocate in their lives. But you gave them all of that in more by spending all those trips to see him with kindness and consideration. Even the most simplest things like getting him ketchup packets and sugar makes all the difference.
And thankfully, he had he had you to do that for him. I could only hope for someone like you for all the people I care for as an RN. Take the time you need to grieve.
We'll still be here. Thank you, Isabelle. It's very kind of you.
I'm surprised that you remember about the ketchup packets and the sugar. That was a particular kind of I don't think he even got to see the sugar. To be fair.
I took the sugar for him on the Wednesday and he was asleep. And they might be I don't know whether they might just still be in his bag. I don't know.
But I brought the his his next to Kim kind of put some stuff into my bag to bring back. And that was just things I'd given him. So to use.
So I had my iPad, my other iPad, the old one. I set it up so that he had all the sports to stream and what's it, Netflix. And just that kind of stuff.
So we had movies and, you know, because I promised him this is something right early on. Because he was in the end of July. I don't know the exact date now.
To be honest with you. It was a Friday. He went in in July.
And it was his birthday on the fourth of No, June, the end of June. So he was in there the whole of July. And he was in there for six, seven weeks, not in hospital, but he was like overall, he was away from here.
I lose. I have lost track a little bit. I'll be honest with you.
I mean, I can try and figure it out. Let's have a look. Cancel.
So he went in May, June, June, be a Friday, probably the 18th. Friday, the 18th, maybe the 25th. So what was it? One, two.
No, because that's July. How weird? I don't know. June.
June the 20th. So one, two, three, four, five, six, eight, seven. Yes, it's about the 20th of June.
I think could have been a 27th. I think the 20th. I mean, all I got to do really is just look back on my podcast, and I can find out exactly when it was, because I'll have had the date.
Hopefully, if it just lets me, let's have a look. I mean, I have been focusing a lot recently on what's been going on. Oh, wow.
Okay. So. Wow.
All right. So I did. From the looks of it.
19th. It was a 20th. 20th of June.
Yeah. 20th of June. That Friday.
Yeah, that makes sense. Because I did a recording about him on the 24th of June. That was the first recording.
And then I still managed. That was squeaky, wasn't it? I still managed to do like Q&A Fridays and and Mondays boring objects trivia Tuesday for the first couple of weeks. And then Yeah.
I mean, even though right, even though I go back to that to the date. So, a key, key, key, key, key, key. So I did.
So I saw him on a Friday. Right. Since he went into hospital, even though it might seem like I kind of didn't make many recordings.
Here's how many different recordings I made. I mean, different individual recordings. I know there's more than one of each recording, different various lengths and stuff.
But so did 123456789 1011 1213 1415 1617 1819 2021 2223 2425. So yeah, I did 25 recordings during his period away. So still still managed to do something, you know, still managed to do something.
And since he's gone, I've done 1234. So you know, it's not too bad, is it? Haven't been completely, completely. I don't use the word lazy, because not really lazy, but unproductive, maybe, although I've been more productive.
I mean, the first 1011 days or whatever, I was up there every day, like every day, without fail. And then I had a day off. And then, you know, I kind of had to slow it down a little bit.
So it was a bit too much, but he needed someone to be with him. You know, suddenly, he's like, I thought you said you weren't gonna talk about him. I'm not I'm just right.
And so thank you, Isabella was lovely. Robin says sending love. Thank you.
Sorry to hear the loss of your friend. I know how painful that can be wishing you all the best Jason. Thank you.
And Tammy sending you love and condolences made the memories of Uncle sausages. Bring you comfort. Thank you.
I just actually had a phone call from his friend in Northern Ireland. And he was telling me some funny stories. He's known him for his whole life pretty much.
So right, so that that's, I did a recording earlier, Whisper Monday. And some people were commenting about the whisper ones. They don't like the whisper stuff.
Where is it? I can't seem to find them. Oh, hope on the 30th wrote missing you hope you're feeling better each day. Thank you.
That was a 30th of July. And also thank you to Lorraine. Welcome to Lorraine.
And to I've kind of not been keeping track of who's joined the Jason Newlands ballroom group. A little bit out of out kilter a little bit. But welcome to anyone that has.
You're very welcome. Thank you. Right, I haven't done a Q&A Friday.
For that's weird. What's going on there? I'm done a Q&A Friday for a couple of weeks now. I will do one this coming week.
So some people have posted comments. And here's one. I didn't really know what to make of this.
From Sean, if you had one hobby or talent, talent, that you were good enough to make a living at, like afford everything you need in some, what would it be? A professional sport musician, hypnotist, any activity? Yeah. And I wasn't sure quite how to respond to that one. I'll be honest.
I was like, Oh, okay. And I suppose if I was any good at anything. I don't know.
I suppose it's not really up to me to sort of say if I'm good at something. Because like what I do online would be up to the people who listen to decide whether or not I'm any good at what I do, I would say. Yeah, I don't know.
But I will be doing a Q&A Friday. This coming Friday. It's Monday now.
Where's the... I can't find the messages that are on here saying that he didn't like the cold people say didn't like the whisper ones. And I'm going to go am I going to go back to doing normal stuff again? So yeah, the answer is, here I am. I'm back.
Kind of. I don't know how long for but I'm here the moment. So I'll come out of that.
Yeah, it's I don't know. I suppose the thing is with the Okay, with the anything I do, whisper wise, generally is quite popular. Although it's unpopular.
With some people on the group, it's actually more broadly quite popular. In fact, for the last let's have a look. So for the last, let's say yesterday.
So today, today so far. The top ones whisper, whisper, whisper, whisper, whisper, whisper. So 123456789101112.
So like 1213 out of the top 20 are whisper ones. If I go in the last seven days. So again, the Deep Sleep Whisper podcast has had its number three on the list.
So hypnosis for sleeping deeply. Let Me Bore You To Sleep and Deep Sleep Whisper. They're the top three podcasts.
And over the last seven days. For yeah. Whisper Wednesday's number one.
That was last Wednesday. Whisper Saturday's number four. Number six, Whisper Saturday.
Music. Everyone was 10 hours. That's just normal hours.
Seven, Whisper Saturday, five hours. Whisper Thursday's number eight. Whisper Friday's number six.
10 is five hours, Whisper Saturday, no music. So you see what I mean this. They're the ones that get the most listens.
But the way I see is I'm not replacing anything. I'm just doing different things. And I like to do.
Yeah, I like to think I'm see, I tried to explain this the other day. I'm, I'm kind of not a different person when I wake up. But I've definitely got a different kind of something.
Yeah, I'm a little bit got dry mouth. That's what I got. A little bit drink of water there.
Yeah. I think it's just all my stomachs. My body's making some weird noises today.
It's very windy. Very windy out there. Apparently we've got some kind of storm coming on.
I don't know what I don't know. I mean, I'd rather it not rain, but then at the same time, if it rains and it's windy, I'm going to get wet regardless because can't use a prolly umbrella in the wind. So there won't be any reason to really be getting particularly annoyed because there's not a lot I could do about it.
No, not really. So what should I talk about? After talking for an hour, what should I talk about with my Monday's boring objects? I'm not going to talk about hospitals. No, thanks.
Care homes. Nursing homes. No.
Nurses. I think I might talk about nurses before. So I've had a few girlfriends that were nurses when I was younger.
Most things happened when I was younger. Maybe I've run out of things. Maybe that's it.
I've run out of things. There's no more. No more topics for Monday's boring objects.
Maybe. Bodybuilding. I'll talk about bodybuilding.
Now, I used to have a lot of bodybuilding. I used to be a bodybuilder. I was very unsuccessful at it because no matter how I tried, I could not put weight on, which meant I couldn't really put any muscle on because I was so very, very thin.
Not an ounce of fat on me. And this is a long time ago. It's not now.
And when I was at school, I wanted to be a bodybuilder and I was buying bodybuilding magazines. And I was a little bit embarrassed about reading them because I'd have them in class. And I was a bit embarrassed that other people would see me reading bodybuilding magazines.
I'd have them tucked inside Penthouse and Playboy, things like that. I didn't want people to think that I was into fitness. But I was fascinated by the bodies of these big men.
And I just, I wanted to be like that. I think partly for two reasons. Well, not, probably not two reasons.
Probably the first reason probably is because I was little and I didn't want to be little. You know, I wanted to be taller and I wanted to be bigger. And I wasn't.
And both my brothers were bigger. One was, well, they're both a lot taller. One's really tall.
One's just over 6'3". Everyone's about 6'4", 6'5". I'm 5'8".
My dad was big, like a big strong man. Still is. But you know, so I wanted to be like that.
And I was this skinny. I mean, when my brother, my little brother was 13, he was pretty much as big as I was when I was 21. Seriously, it's just ridiculous.
But in fact, possibly bigger. You know, weight wise. And the only way I could put weight on when I was in my early 20s is by growing my hair long.
It's ridiculous. Wearing more clothes, heavy jeans. But I think another reason why I wanted to be a bodybuilder is because of the Incredible Hulk.
And then when I was probably... When I first started getting into karate, and I got myself a gym, and that was more for fitness anyway, but then I got weights. I saw Pumping Iron on TV. Oh my god, it's in a video shop.
And I was like, okay, that's what I want to be like. And I was, well, you know, not only did I have my own gym at the bottom of the garden, a bench, bench press thing, you know, barbells, dumbbells, curl bars. As well as a couple of punch bags.
So I had some fitness equipment. And I'd go run in. It's been a while since I ran anywhere.
And I also went to the gym around the corner. Which was just around the corner and that, and I went there pretty much nearly every day. And nothing I could do, but I did get muscly.
But there's a limit when there's nothing. I mean, there wasn't much fuel going in. I wasn't eating a huge amount.
And I didn't really, I suppose I did know, but I didn't. You know, at 13, I kind of got a limit to what I could eat. And as far as I was eating, but I just, what I needed to do is be eating a lot more, a lot more regularly and a lot of protein and stuff like that.
And I didn't really understand that at the time. So my main goal, really, I mean, I wanted to be a bodybuilder. I wanted to be as big as Lee Haney, who was the current Mr. Olympia at that time.
Rich Gaspari, although I preferred Lee Haney. But then Al Beckles was about 150 and he was placed in the top 10 of Mr. Olympia. I think to this day, still the oldest top 10 placement of any bodybuilder ever in Mr. Olympia.
And he was born in 1843. I'm obviously making that up. Last time I checked, it was in his 90s.
I mean, you know, it just shows you he was in his 50s when he was, yeah, this is like 80, 1983, 84, something like that. I remember once, because I had this mirror, because I lived at the top of the floor. My two brothers, the oldest one living to the right of me, the one in his bedroom, and the other one living at the top of the stairs in his bedroom there, and I had the middle bedroom.
And I was on the landing, just outside the doorway to my bedroom, and there was a mirror quite distant. Well, not a distance, it wasn't a long way away, but it was, you know, the other end of the room. And I was posing and grunting.
You know, trying to flex my muscles. And I heard laughter. I looked behind me and then my brother was watching me from the staircase.
He was laughing hysterically, because I had my top off and I was like, you know, pretending to be the Hulk. And that was very embarrassing. Not the most embarrassing thing that ever happened, but it was, you know, a bit embarrassing.
But I was quite pleased. But what annoyed me is, I couldn't get the mass. I could get the, I don't know, definition.
Yeah, because there was not an ounce of, there was like no fat on me at all, until I hit 25. Really, when I hit 25, I put on about half a stone. So until that point, I had no weight on me.
I had no fat on me the whole time, up to the age of 25. I just couldn't put weight on. I tried and I tried and I tried.
And I remember when I was, when I was 16, I had money for the first time. Well, I wasn't 16, I was 15. Yeah, I was 15.
But I was working in a chip shop. And up to September, so this is 1986. Up to September, I was getting paid £60 a week to work in a chip shop full time, which was loads of money for me.
When I got to September, I went on to the YTS scheme, which was the youth training scheme. And the money went down to £27.30, if I remember correctly, which is just ridiculous. Why did I agree to that? What possible reason would any sensible person take that kind of pay cut? Is that we're going to take two thirds of your money away, but we still expect you to do the same job.
And what they did do is because I had to go to college one day a week, I ended up working six days a week to get extra money so I could pay my rent, which was £40 a week. So, in the, I think it was the March 1987. So I've been on the YTS since September.
So in the March, I moved into the chip shop, the flat upstairs. And the rent was 40. Yeah, I think I, I think he paid me £20 extra to work on a Saturday and some overtime.
So I got £47 a week. So I had £7 to live on. And I still kind of can't believe really that, what a silly, that was six days a week, I was working.
And well, plus I had, you know, I had to go to college on a, on the other day. So it was, it was five days a week, but it was still like a lot. Wasn't the best decision.
But that, those months leading up so pretty much the first year really, which wasn't too bad. So from April till March, no from April to April to March, from about April until August. How many months that is? May, June, July or okay, four months.
It's not a long time, but at 15, it is a long time. So I had £60 a week coming in and it was brilliant. I was rich.
And what I did is, because I was staying, I was sleeping on the floor, well on a little camper bed, camper bed, in the living room of my step mum's mother. So there was four of us living in that, it was a two bedroom flat and I was in the living room. So what I did is I started buying my own food and started cooking myself breakfasts, you know, gammon steak and eggs and omelettes.
And I was trying to bulk myself up and no, it didn't work. It really didn't work. And I was eating fish, like boiled fish, I think in the microwave and chicken, rice.
I was really, during the day as well, I was really going for it to just eat. And I was working out, I was, you know, training, but nothing I did seemed to make any difference. I just couldn't put on any weight.
I couldn't put on any muscle. I think I just, it got silly. And then, and I was, when I left, yeah, I was still going to the gym, which was round the corner from where I used to live.
And then when I started living in the the flat upstairs, I still was going to the gym. So when I was living in the chip shop, so I was going around the gym during the day, during my break time in the afternoon, a few times a week. And I'd had to, I got on very well with the gym owner because I helped to move his stuff into the gym when he first took it over.
Helping to take the carpet in and some of the machinery. And he basically asked for a hand, because me and my friend were just walking past because it was just around the corner. And we were just being nosy, like, what are you doing? What are you up to? What are you doing? And he said, oh, it's going to be a new gym.
I said, a new gym? What's a gym, mister? I don't know what a gym is. I didn't know. And I said, okay, cool, because I didn't, it was downstairs as well, which I didn't know.
So it was upstairs and downstairs. I think it had previously been. Yeah, I'm pretty certain it had previously been a video shop.
But I might be wrong. But for some reason, I've got a memory that it was a video shop. But again, I might be wrong.
If it had been a video shop, you know, video like rental, it would have only been for a short time, because, you know, this was 1984. So, you know, videotapes in this country were not around for a long time. At that point, video shops and stuff.
But it might have been a video shop. I remember in that town as one, the first video shop was absolutely miles away. But we used to go up there, walk up there and love that place.
And then one opened up around the corner, a different corner, when I was at school still. So I used to go in there. And he used to let me rent our adult ones, which is good.
Although to be fair, nearly all of the martial art movies were adult. So and that's the ones that's what I really wanted to watch more than anything. The martial art ones, Kung Fu and the comedy.
Outside of that, I wasn't really too fussed that, you know, if I was, if it was a family viewing, then I'd be quite happy for horror and, you know, whatever. But if it was for me, which it was at this point, I was renting it out using my own money, when I was like 14 or whatever. And I'd like to, I'd rent out like Steve Martin movies, The Man With Two Brains and Lonely Guy and stuff like that.
And this is before Steve Martin was famous in the UK. Yeah, it was only really Roxanne that put him on the map here. And he became, you know, well known.
I know he was already famous in America. But he wasn't really like a big name here. But I loved his early movies.
That was so funny. Made just really, really funny. And what's the other one Lonely Guy, All Of Me.
Who's the jerk, but I didn't see the jerk until probably I was in my 20s or late teens. For some reason. I loved Roxanne when that came out.
So I just loved that, loved that movie. Dead men don't wear plaid or played plaid, plaid. That one's another one that was in black and white.
And then I, I think when probably 1989, maybe earlier, I got, yeah, because I'd I didn't know Steve Martin was a comedian. So I got hold of his comedy video stand up. That's probably about 1989, which is possibly around the same time as Roxanne.
But I think those those were his best movies. The really early ones, there was just something. I found them hilarious.
I mean, I've not seen them since. Well, not recently. I have seen them since but not recently.
They were so good. So funny. Need to watch them again, I think.
What's this guy doing bodybuilding? Okay, blimey. So Hmm. So I had that period when I was trying to become Oh, yeah.
So I was outside the gym, the new gym that hadn't been opened yet. And the bloke had this big lorry and he was lifting everything on his own. And I think he said, Do you want to give me a hand? I said, All right, if you give me free membership to the gym, and he said done.
So I gave him a hand and helped him move carpet in and some of the machinery and I think I went back the next day help with some of that stuff as well. And I got free membership, which is good. I also was a little bit of an advert and told other people about the new gym.
Because it was kind of out of the way a little bit. So I told I let the other kids at school know about it and that so yeah, a little bit of advertising. Probably not much but a little bit.
Because I was a trendsetter. Yeah. I think it's weird is at school you had the kids and all the tough kids were acting tough and, you know, throwing their weight around.
But I see the same kids in the gym, all kind of competing with each other to lift the heaviest weights. But I'd be there on my own, do my own thing. And no one ever bothered me.
Not that they should have bothered me, but no one didn't hassle me didn't nothing like that. They were just happy doing their own thing. And, you know, I never really been in competition with anyone.
I was just attempting to see that they were trying to grow their muscles. I was just trying to produce some just like, come on, please, they've got this the muscles here somewhere. So that didn't I mean, I did worked in the sense of I had muscles, but it was so, so slim.
And then I would say when I was, yeah, I was working in this place. And there was a canteen there and I asked them to make me sandwiches. And I'll try and eat every two hours.
And I started drinking these nourishment drinks, which were kind of like milky, high protein drinks, which during these metal cans. I don't even know if they're sold anymore, but I used to drink quite a lot of them. And I was always full, always bloated.
Did I put any weight on? No. Just it was silly. Honestly, it got really silly.
And then 2000 and so at this point, I wasn't doing weights anymore. I wasn't training the early 2000s, but I still wanted to put weight on. And then I went back to the gym in 1996 when I was a security guard.
And I started preparing food, taking it with me, eating every couple of hours, tuna, pasta, chicken, uh, rice, things like that. And protein drinks. So I take a flask full of a protein, uh, milk protein, you know, with powder and stuff in it.
And then I was going to the gym, I was doing night shift and I did, I did put a bit of weight on a little bit because I'd already put on half stone in 95. But that was only because I only, I was put onto antidepressants for the first time and I put a half a stone on really quick. So it kind of changed my metabolism a bit.
96, I probably put on a little bit of weight and I was going to the gym regularly. So yeah, that was quite good. So I've managed to put on a bit of muscle in 96.
And then I stopped going to the gym in 97 because I moved away. So I moved to a different part of London and I was still doing the security, still sitting on me bum for 12 hours. And I put on a little bit of weight.
I think I went up to about 11 stone or something, which was really heavy for me. And then as soon as I stopped doing that job, I lost the weight. So it was just a lack of activity.
As soon as I started moving around a bit, started doing stuff. And I think I got stuck at like 10 stone, maybe 10 and a half. And I stopped going to the gym.
I stopped trying to put weight on. I gave up on it really, because there seemed to be, there seemed to be my limit. I just like didn't seem to just, I didn't want to be as slim as what I was, but I just didn't seem to be able to maintain any kind of weight.
And I gave up the idea of being a bodybuilder. It wasn't really about being, even when I was older, it wasn't about being a bodybuilder. I just wanted to just see what I could do with my body.
See if I could make it look or how amazing I could look, how, how purdy my body could be, instead of just hairy. And then about 1999, maybe 98, but about 99 ish, probably 99. I started doing a thing where I did as many press ups as I could do, or not as many, but I think I did like 10 press ups, 10 sit ups.
And then every day I added one. And I did this until I got to about 120 of each. And I did it every morning.
I'm not sure if I did it every evening, but it transformed my body. Like really became really muscular. And I was still really slim as well.
But that was probably one of the most muscular I've been since I was a kid. Because before I was really muscular, but I was like eight stone or something like really, honestly, you could hardly see me, but there were muscles there. So this is I'd say that's probably me with the best body I ever had.
When I was about 28. And then in 2000, I once I hit 30. I put on a fair bit of weight, a couple of stone.
And once I, yeah, once I put the weight on it, it was, I still wasn't big, not really. I felt big, but I wasn't really like 12 stone is not heavy. It just felt heavy at the time.
And I was probably 12, maybe 12 and a half 12. When I started doing the work in insurance in the call center. And I did.
Yeah, I started I moved into the YMCA. I got a studio flat there. And they had a gym downstairs.
So I started going to the gym. And it's really weird because I didn't feel any benefit from doing it. It's almost like my body just wasn't reacting to the exercise.
And I couldn't figure it out. It's like what's going on? This is very, very strange. Why is my body not reacting to all of this exercise? And there was no response.
I had no response for myself. And I got a little bit delusional disillusioned with it. It's like this is just a bit rubbish.
And I went for a while. The fact is, my body perhaps was responding. I just not in a way that I wanted it to.
Everything just got saggier. And I didn't. And I don't know what I was expecting.
Maybe I was expecting the same result as what I got in 1999. When I just, you know, started doing the extra press ups and sit ups. And that did not happen.
Plus, I was sitting on a chair all day long. And in the evening, so I wasn't. I was doing a bit of exercise in the gym, maybe once a day.
But you know, the rest of the time I was very, very stationary. And I was also drinking alcohol and I was eating probably rubbish food. So I wasn't, you know, really helping my cause.
And then in 2004, because I'd gradually been putting weight on over those years. So I probably about 12 and a half, maybe stone, maybe 13 stone. But in 2004, I went back and I redid that whole and added an extra press up and an extra sit up every day.
I was also doing Wing Chun Kung Fu three times a week. I'd also stopped drinking alcohol and become a vegetarian. I stopped eating chocolate.
You know, so that, that period, pretty much from this summer, really, it was kind of maybe March to September. I became super slim again, but in a different kind of a way. So I got myself down to 11 and a half stone.
But I was muscular and slim. So my waist was super slim, but the rest of me was, I had some muscles. So I was kind of quite pleased with that.
So I was a lot bigger than what I was in 1999, in 2004. And same, same slim, slimness in my stomach. But my upper body was just larger, you know, my shoulders were bigger, my chest, my back.
So that was, I was kind of quite pleased with that. And I think a lot of that was to do with the Kung Fu and all the training and stuff. And I remember, and I was also active during the day, because I had this part time job working in a, what's it like a gift shop, run by Buddhists.
So I had some activity as well. So I wasn't, you know, I was busy doing stuff. And then in September, I think it was 2004, I got a job in my second insurance sales sales call center.
And I remember I was standing there. I think the fire alarm went off or something, and I was one end of the room and, or it was just really quiet, maybe it was changing shifts, or maybe at the beginning of the day before the day started. And I saw the managers and I was outside the other side of the room near the door.
And I was standing there with my hands down my pants. And I was thinking, wow, I'm so slim. And when I say my hands, just my fingers, because previous to that, I couldn't do that with my trousers.
And I hadn't worn trousers for oh, blimey, just under a year. It was November 2003, was the last time I'd worn trousers. So to wear them again in September, there may have been new trousers.
But to be able to stand up and just slide my fingers down without any, I mean, it wasn't they weren't loose as in falling down, but it was just perfect fit. And I thought, wow, I wonder how long this is going to last. And I kind of joked, I was kind of joking to myself.
So I really didn't expect to put any more weight on. I thought, you know, I'd worked quite hard, got myself down to 11 and a half stone, which was supposed to be my ideal weight for my height. But I don't think it is considering my build.
But I was I was very slim. But at the same time, I was, you know, I felt quite fit. And then I went back to just sitting down on a chair all day long, getting sandwich deliveries as well, so we could eat.
So we didn't even have to go out to eat. We had to eat while we're at work and then go out and go to the pub. And then I'd be drinking in the evening.
So I didn't drink, you know, the whole of 2004. So I didn't do anything for the first part, the last part of 2004. And then New Year's Eve, you know, all changed.
And I went back to that kind of lifestyle. And then probably five months after I started working there, for five months, I remember sitting down and thinking, oh, I feel a bit bloated, stood up, went to put my hands down my trousers and it didn't work. I was thinking, well, my trousers must have shrunk.
But they were indeed my trousers, I could tell because, well, because of the stains. And and the knee patches. Wow.
I don't know which is worse. And it's like, wow, I can't believe this. And then, I mean, I was there till the summer 2007.
And I didn't really do much in the way of exercise that whole time. I did lots of walking, but other than that. And I yeah, I just put some weight on.
I don't know quite. It was Yeah, I just gradually over time put weight on. And then then I went to university.
So I kind of, even though 2004, I wasn't really going, it was bodybuilding, but in a sense of just trying to make myself look as good as possible. It wasn't bodybuilding in the sense of, well, there was a mirror opposite the bath in the new place I lived in 2004. I lived in this place for a year before I moved into the Buddhist community.
And it was a it was a mirror. And I remember just noticing, because I'd started doing the press ups and the push ups again, added one extra every day, and my chest muscles, my back, my arms, everything was kind of starting to look better. So I was quite pleased with that.
And then just all started to reverse. Over the next three years. And so I'm at university in 2008.
And I got to London. Yeah, about 2008, probably. Oh, no.
2009. I got to London. 2009.
So help out in the comedy club for a few months. And one day a week while I was at university. And I remember I had a big meal.
It's like omelets, chips, beans, bread, probably a cup of tea or a can of coke and I felt so bloated and I weighed myself. And for the first time in my life, I was 14 stone, which blew my socks off. Bearing in mind I was 11 and a half a few years earlier.
So 12 foot is a two and a half stone and put on in four years, three years, something like that. And I was like, Wow, really? Really? I felt huge. Absolutely huge.
Now before that happened, I actually started boxing and going to the amateur boxing club. And about 90 2000 and it's probably 2008. So this was be the end of 2009 that I was 14 stone.
So before that I was going to the boxing twice a week. I was drinking protein shakes. I had a boxing bag in the garden where I was living at that time.
And I also had weights in my bedroom. So I was working out every day. And I put on Yeah, I kind of got quite toned up, which was needed.
Yeah, so really, the putting weight on only happened over about a year after I've done that. So I was quite pleased with how my body was going. And I started doing that extra one, one press up and one sit up a day doing that.
And the old trusty thing. But what I found most or more interesting was getting onto the punch bag and you know, doing that. And I was mainly vegetarian back then as well.
Yeah. The weird thing about it when I hit 14 stone in late in 2009. I was surprised.
Very, very surprised, just like, wow, completely blew me away just how heavy I felt. How bloated and how heavy I was because I weighed myself in the supermarket, or was it boots in Liverpool Street Station. It was like a pound or something is, you know, weighed myself.
So that was like, wow. I mean, I was kind of pleased in some ways, you know, just to be able to be heavy. So I wanted to always wanted to be heavy.
But I didn't feel healthy. And then 2010 came. I'm not sure I possibly put some weight on in 2010.
Because I know that whenever I've done exercise, whenever I've done like when I went to boxing, they started commenting on commenting on how I lost weight over like a few months. And when I in 2011, I started going to Taekwondo twice a week. And again, I lost weight there.
So I lost fat, I don't know if I lost weight, but I lost fat. Even though I've got some pictures of me. Back in them days, and I was still pretty, pretty big.
So I don't know what I was like when I first started. I remember once we were running from one wall to the to next, and I couldn't stop. And I was basically I was behind everyone said already run back to just basically run to the back.
So they had already run to the wall and they were already back and I was still running towards the wall. Because I was pretty much pretty much the unfittest oldest person there. And as I'm running towards a wall, I hear like, and I'm losing control, I'm struggling to stop, because you have basically touched the wall and run back.
And I hear all this like, oh, you know, and I'm thinking, everyone's worried about me, but it wasn't it was the wall, the wall itself was scared, because I was running towards it. And in the end, I did, I just basically ran into the wall and ran through it. And there was this big like shape of me.
Still there, I think. I'm still running. I haven't stopped yet.
I was a bit embarrassed, didn't really want to turn back and explain myself. So I kind of got a bit fitter doing that for a couple of years. Again, no bodybuilding, but then I moved in to Yeah, when I moved into my other place, I got I got a punch bag, another punch bag.
This is a place before I moved here. And again, I should do weights and do the punch bag. And that was quite a regular thing.
And I'll be doing Taekwondo and I was say fairly, fairly fit. However, and maybe not as fit as I thought, because when I moved here, I was around 16 stone. So bearing in mind, at 14 stone, I felt like a big, massive lump.
And when I moved here, I'd gone up to about 16 stone, which could be to do with the medication as well. So that's, you know, possibly part of the reason why I put on the extra weight. And because I don't think I was eating anymore.
Not really. And then I got some weights here, I got a punch bag in here. So I did a bit of exercise.
I didn't continue doing any other martial arts because of my back. My back just was playing up too much. I couldn't really do that.
But last year, I was told by a doctor that I needed to lose weight. And I needed to get my sugar level down, my blood sugar level. So I did and I managed to lose over a stone.
And so far, I've kept it off. So that's good. So now I'm rolling around, rolling around, I'm rolling around about just under 15 stone.
I kind of between 14 three quarters and 15 stone. So I know this is supposed to be Monday's Born Objects, me talking about bodybuilding. But that's kind of all I can say really, because I've never really been a bodybuilder.
But I wanted to be and I did try and build my body. But in the end, I don't know what I ended up with. I suppose technically, it's still a body.
But not so much being built, just being kind of dropped. It's I suppose if I was made of clay. It's like someone, they got the clay out, they started and then the bell went, it was time to go home.
And I was just left out. And that's I'm the result of that. If that makes sense.
Maybe not. Right. So that's it.
I'm going to go. Thank you for listening. Remember to be kind to yourself because you do deserve to be happy.
Be gentle with yourself. You deserve to feel safe. Lots of love.
Bye
Paragraph spacing and recurring name or title errors have been tidied. Because this began as a voice transcription, an occasional word or piece of punctuation may still be incorrect.