Mass Games

While in Paris a few years ago, Cappy and I happened upon a great documentary about North Korea. I remember furiously translating the French subtitles for her while at the same time, trying to absorb this incredible documentary. We kept saying to ourselves that it would never air in the United States, and how fortunate we were to catch it on French TV.

The documentary is called A State of Mind. It follows one year in the life of two girls in Pyongyang. They were training for the Mass Games--the world's largest choreographed gymnastic performance---read: brainwashing at staggering proportions. It's a monumental event that takes place a few times a year.

The two girls, Hyon Sun Pak and Song Yun Kim are the two girls that speak to the camera with an energy that seemed passionately aloof. They rarely looked directly into the camera. When one confessed that her goal was to perform for the General, she exuded as much enthusiasm as a 17-year old seeing a McDonald's playland for the first time.

One marvels at the mass synchronicity, flexibility and extreme display of unity. It's easy to get swept away in the spectacle and forget that only a chosen and well-nourished few are able to participate in these "games." And that the chosen few of Pyongyang are entitled to one television station for a maximum of five hours a day. The national radio plays in all apartment units. Residents may soften the volume, but they are never allowed to turn it off completely.

Parts of the documentary recalled images from The Wonderful Horrible Life of Leni Riefenstahl, or Mein Kampf. Quite frankly, it made the Nazi party look like toy soldiers playing line-up in a gymnasium.

In August of last year, I remember seeing free advertising postcards for the Mass Games in Beijing. These colorful postcards were lying on the counter of a coffee shop. This coffee shop was on the first floor of the ultra modern Beijing skyscraper. This is the building where our Beijing team has their headquarters.

I remember how the postcard advertised the Mass Games as some phenomenal spectacle. I also thought it was funny as the coffee shop was off to the side of a Jaguar/BMW dealership.

Go Game

It may be no secret that Cappy and I have been thinking of sending in a video for the Amazing Race. America has not seen a team like us. We're totally unique. Our quirkiness would make for some racuous reality TV, I'd say.

We've even gone so far as establishing who would have the burden of certain tasks. Anything to do with heights: Cappy. Eating bug larvae: Penny. Putting together puzzles: Cappy. Getting on the first flights out of any country: Penny.

The reason I write about this is because I got a taste of what this madness might involve. It had nothing to do with TV actually....

This past week, I spent three days at a resort in Lake Tahoe. Unfortunately, it wasn't with Cappy, who would have loved the pristine tennis courts and close proximity to the lake.

I was up there for an all-company work retreat. Initially, the idea made us all nervous. People from our offices in Asia, South America, Europe, and headquarters would be there, we'd have roommates, not much down time, etc.

So what does this have to do with my Amazing Race aspirations? I participated in a high-tech team building activity called the Go Game.

80 of us were broken up into teams of six. We were given a superhero lunch box containing a text-message phone, an envelope, and a digital camera. The "missions" were creative, mind-boggling, and adventurous.

Missions involved teams creating a 20 second video with themes like "Historical Ballet" where you had to act out a historical event with ballet. Or interact with actors who were planted around the resort. One planted actor was a woman in a white dress. She was crying hysterically. Our mission was to find her, assess what was wrong, and console her. If we were successful, she'd give us a clue.

The game was fast paced and dynamic. Along the way on a particular mission, we'd run by other teams delivering pick up lines to "actors," singing songs in French, or choreographing interepretive dance routines.

My team came in 2nd place out of 12 teams. We were quite pleased with ourselves. The digital photo that may have catapulted us up to the top 5--an engineer posing in his birthday suit as Rodin's "The Thinker."

I've already broken it to Cappy, but I may have found another Amazing Race partner. My team captain and I were a perfect pair. At the end of our game, we agreed to call each other to send in our own Amazing Race audition video. Perhaps one day you'll see us: "Bob and Penny--Co-workers."

Personal Training

John Spencer Ellis. Gunnar Peterson. Bob Green. Do you recognise these names? You might if you were a celebrity, professional athlete, or Janet Jackson. These guys are personal trainers to the Hollywood stars and the rich and famous. OK, so celebrities also get a lot of help with surgery and weekly Zone diet deliveries, but many can afford personal trainers who work with them for months, or even years at a time.

So I've got a personal trainer, but I'm no celebrity. My only 5.5 minutes came ten years ago on a SBS TV special in Seoul, Korea. If I'm being honest, I didn't understand fully what was going on that day in the studio. It seemed to be some national adoptee telethon/orphanage documentary. Cue SBS's sentimental violin soundtrack here...

In any case, I've just completed a grueling ten sessions with a personal trainer of my own! Personal trainers are those perpetually fit men and women you see at the gym. I used to think they were like drill seargents or the captain of the basketball team with a whistle.

Thankfully, I've found a trainer with an impeccable bedside manner, similar to the manner of many IT technicians. You know, those who know a lot but don't make you feel bad for what you don't know or can't do. Billy is exactly that kind of a personal trainer. His clients are all across the board: hefty AC Transit drivers, housewives, boxers, college athletes, and me. He is able to get results with each and every client he has because he knows how to push people without "pushing" them, you know what I mean?

Here's why I decided to sign up with Billy:

As you know, I spend my days in a cube farm. Though I'm fully ergonomic in a Herman Miller Aeron chair, I don't get up and around that much. The last time I invested in exercise was Boot Camp at Lake Merritt. Doing crunches with flanked by geese droppings wasn't really my thing --at 7.15 a.m., no less. Indoor soccer is too frantic and all about conditioning, but not toning. And left to my own devices, I'd run for 35 minutes and lift a few weights here and there and call it a "workout."

I thought it was time to take this fitness thing to a whole new level. Rather than dish out a blow-by-blow account of each session--and the rancor, pain, and obsession of it all--I thought I'd write out a list of the best parts.

Top Ten Reasons Why Personal Training Rocks

1. I could/would never put myself through an hour of what Billy puts me through
2. I had no idea what my "core" was or how important it was to strengthen
3. All the different weight machines used to intimdate me
4. As stated above, I used to think running for 35 min. and crunches was a total "workout"
5. I need TONS of motivation and encouragement. On my own, it just wasn't happening
6. I never thought it possible to have toned arms, especially in six short weeks
7. A good trainer understands how training brings total physical and emotional fitness
8. I've never slept better and I am in a much better mood most of the time
9. The rewards can be immediate and noticeable
10. It gives you an overall foundation of strength, perfect for cross-training

If you live in the Bay Area and would like to know more about personal training with my man Billy W. just let me know!