Hello guys, happy new year! At the beginning of last year, I wrote a checklist to see how 2021 would pen out and I thought we'd start off the new year with a look back at the year that has just gone by and I am ready to issue a report card for the way 2021 has lived up to those expectations I had; but I'll jump to the punchline: in spite of the pandemic, this year hasn't been too bad - well at least it could have been so much worse. Back on the 5th of January 2021, I wrote ten things I was hoping to happen in this year and so, let's see how many of the ten things actually materialized in 2021.
1. The inauguration of Joe Biden and the beginning of a new era for America under President Biden
Verdict: Yes it happened but this was a very low-hanging fruit.
I wanted to start the list with something that wasn't too ambitious - cast your minds back to a year ago when Trump lost the election but refused to admit defeat. He wasn't going to go away quietly and all that led up to the storming of the US Capitol by his supporters. Seeing Trump finally out of the White House made me very happy of course but to be honest, I have not been impressed by Biden as a president - for a while, everyone was just pleased that it wasn't Trump in the White House anymore but Biden hasn't really achieved that much if I may be blunt. At first we were all like, give Biden time, he needs a bit more time to achieve something. Don't get me wrong, I still fucking hate Trump and still wanna see one of his crazy supporters confront him then shoot Trump in the face between the eyes. But perhaps we had all hoped for so much with Biden that we were bound to be disappointed when he doesn't turn out to be the dynamic president we had hoped for. I really liked Obama and I don't think we're ever going to see a president like him ever again, not in my life time. Obama inspired hope for a better future, the best Biden could do was, "phew, at least Trump is gone, anyone but Trump." When you set the bar so low, don't be surprised if you end up disappointed with the outcomes. Given how easily Trump was defeated by Biden in the end, perhaps the Democrats could have chosen a far more inspiring candidate to run against Trump but hindsight is 2020. Still, according to the rules of this post, this is still a yes even if Biden hasn't been great as a president so far. We got rid of Trump so now can we finally get rid of that useless Boris Johnson please?
Verdict: Yes, I skied in London in February and I did ski in Finland in December!
For the first time in a long time, I didn't take a traditional skiing holiday last winter because of strict Covid restrictions - I couldn't leave the country and even the ski resorts in Scotland remained closed all the way into the spring, by then the snow had melted and it was too late. However, it did snow heavily in London on a few occasions so at least I got to ski in London; even though that meant flying down the side of a hill in 1.5 to 2 minutes and then spending another 10 minutes climbing back up slowly. I also managed to ski in Finland in late December in the small resort of Himos, thus at a push, I am going to say yes I have managed to ski in 2021 and that's good enough by me. Fingers crossed I will ski again soon.
Verdict: Yes it happened!
I am a massive Eurovision fan and for the first time in the history of Eurovision, it was cancelled in 2020 because of Covid - the contest however took place on the 18 May 2021 in Rotterdam under very tight restrictions when much of the Netherlands was still under lockdown, but they did prove that it was possible to host an event like that even during a pandemic and it was signaling not so much that the pandemic was over, but we are finding ways to live with the virus and using a combination of safety measures, vaccinations and testing, we can still do the things we love. Italy won Eurovision in 2021 but quite frankly, I didn't care about the outcome - the fact that the event managed to go ahead was just enough to make me so happy as it was a signal that we had turned a corner in learning to live with Covid. This pandemic is never going to end, but we we're learning to live with it. Life may never ever go back to the way it was before the pandemic but we're getting back to doing the things we love - we need milestones like that to give us hope in this long, difficult journey.
Verdict: I could've but I didn't.
I could have taken advantage of the VTL to return to Singapore in October 2021 but I chose not to - my nephew was busy studying for his exams and my family were still extremely paranoid about getting Covid. I'm fully vaccinated (I've had my booster as well). I've already had Covid as well at the beginning of this year so even if I do get the Omicron variant, I'll treat it like a minor inconvenience but I know it isn't going to kill me or make me very sick. But my parents in Singapore are very old and they certainly haven't had Covid yet given how much they have shielded for the last two years having virtually no social contact with anyone. Cases in the UK now are going through the roof because of Omicron so they are afraid that I might infect them if I go to visit them in Singapore - my relationship with my parents is non-existent anyway and if I am merely going to Singapore to speak to them whilst sitting over ten meters away in a park, then I really don't see the point. I don't want to cause them any anxiety over the risk of infection and the people I would rather see would be my nephew and my sisters, but none of them are going to have much time for me. One of my sisters lives with my parents so my parents would freak out if she spent any time with me in Singapore because they would probably imagine that I would infect her and she would then infect them, then they would die of Covid. Remember my parents are quite uneducated and therefore have no understanding at all about what Covid is or how it is transmitted, so there's not even any way to use the science to try to assure them. Thus under such circumstances, I could have gone to Singapore in 2021 to see them with the VTL programme but no, I have chosen not to - maybe I would later on in 2022.
Verdict: Yes it happened!
There doubts as to whether or not the summer Olympics this year would happen, with substantial local opposition by the Japanese against it. However it did go ahead in the end, even though it made history by being the first Olympics to be staged without an audience present - like most people around the world, I watched the Olympics on the internet. It wasn't what I had expected in so many ways but at least it did happen and just like the Eurovision Song Contest, it was a sign that we're finding new ways to cope, to live with this virus and resume some of the activities that really mean a lot to us.
Verdict: It could've but I chose not to go.
As many of you know, I changed jobs in July but I was still invited to the office summer party of my old company in Tallinn, Estonia. If I had a really thick skin, I could have gone and said, "since I am leaving, I may as well get a free holiday from you guys." But no, I have a bit more dignity than that and it was the right choice - I think the office manager in Tallinn who invited me didn't realize just how sour the relationship between me and my employers had become, she was just like, "oh Alex came last year so I shall invite him again this year." So I could have gone (ie. the borders were open, all I had to do was take the necessary PCR tests), but under those circumstances, I chose not to go because it was just pointless to show up at a party when I was already on such bad terms with them. Can you imagine me turning up at that party and someone asking me, "hello Alex, what are you up to recently?" And the reply would be, "I'm starting a new job next week." Nah, it would've been just way too awkward. I did take a summer holiday to Portugal and a winter holiday in Finland; in my new job, I am looking forward to a number of business trips next year, so I am pretty content on this front and I'll give a tick for this category, since I have had to change the definition of this category as I changed jobs.
7. More travel for work in 2021
Verdict: I got one work trip to Kiev, with more on the way in 2022.
My regular readers will know that I flew out to Kiev in September to film an ad. I was supposed to have another business trip in December but that got pushed back to Q1 2022, so travel has definitely resumed - you have to take Covid tests each time you cross a border so I envision longer trips to just one country and I remember when I visited four countries (Spain, France, Andorra and Portugal) in a space of a week with my family just before the pandemic, that kind of holiday won't resume for a long time. If I were to do the same trip, we'll spend the entire period in Spain so as to avoid having to cross borders. So things have improved on this front with most countries permitting some travel, even Singapore. Very few countries have gone down the route of China where they have just totally shut their borders to tourists and business travelers - ironically, once they change that stance, I will have a business trip to China coming up as my company has loads of clients in China; but the China trip may not even happen in 2022, given China's zero-tolerance stance on Covid.
Verdict: Yes, it resumed on the 12 April 2021
We started the year in a lockdown and I had to wait till the 12 April before gymnastics training could resume, I was at the very first training in London permitted on the 12th April and whilst I am delighted to have this part of my life back, I am still struggling to get back to the level of fitness and skill that I had before the pandemic. I now do gymnastics four times a week on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays - this feels like my routine before the pandemic. It isn't just a sport I enjoy, I love going to gymnastics because I get to see my friends there and so it is the social interaction there that brings as much joy as the actual training itself. Fingers crossed, the gymnastics clubs will stay open despite the current spike in cases, because of the Omicron variant as we've had such a successful vaccination programme here in the UK.
Verdict: Sort of, we did one but I also did a boot camp
Prior to the pandemic, I used to meet up with a group of Welsh speakers in London once a month for our language practice sessions, it was a fun thing to do and a valuable opportunity for me to practice my Welsh. I did attend a Welsh boot camp for my summer holidays this year where we spent a week not speaking English - after that, we tried to resume the meet ups in London but only three people attended the first one so it was put on hold until the organizer could find a more convenient time slot. Ironically, I did manage to find some Welsh speakers at my gymnastics club, so I am getting my Welsh language practice there instead; but hopefully these Welsh meet ups can resume sometime soon in Q1 2022.
Verdict: Yes, actually I did do two ads and one photo shoot.
Look, I know I've set the bar very low here. I did one project in 2020 but in managing to do three this year whilst being employed full time, I can't ask for more. One was just a photo shoot with quite a famous photographer, the other two were ads - in one of the ads, I wasn't even seen in the final product, I had simply hit the cutting room floor but I still got paid for it. But yes, in the ad I did in Kiev, I was front and center, that ad has just been released and you can see it here. Ironically, I was cast as a dancer and by my own admission, if there's ever a dance formation in a group, then I'm usually the one at the very back, watching what the others are doing in front and simply copying them. But in this ad shot in Kiev, I was placed front and center by the choreographer so there was no one in front of me, I had to then completely rely on my memory to get through the dance routine. I never thought I'd ever be in such a position but it was so much fun! I was also rather lucky that my boss in my new job was perfectly cool with me disappearing to Kiev for a few days to do this ad.
So overall, out of a maximum score of ten, 2021 scored 9 out of ten, which isn't bad. The only category that didn't get a tick was going to visit my family, though I am extremely happy that the VTL does exist now but I'm still hesitant in terms of planning a trip to Singapore. Given how bad the Omicron situation is in the UK now, I feel it would be wise to wait for the peak of the Omicron wave to pass before contemplating a visit to Singapore. Let me be the first to state that things aren't perfect of course, far from it. I think we all have our own challenges to face during this pandemic and we all have struggled to deal with these challenges in 2021, but I recognize that things could have been a lot worse for me in 2021 and I'm just grateful that they weren't. So that's it from me on this topic, what do you think? How was 2021 for you? Did the year turn out better than you had expected or are you still very frustrated with this never ending pandemic? Do you think there might be light at the end of the tunnel in 2022 for normality to return? Are you quite optimistic about the year ahead or are you more guarded about what 2022 may bring? Do Leave a comment below and many thanks for reading.
For me, I am happy to say by end of 2021, most people in SG is already vaccinated. In fact, children aged 5 years old and above are currently getting vaccinated. Most people in SG feel less fearful going outdoor compared to early 2021. For this reason, I think last year is a good year for me.
ReplyDeleteHi there Jon, happy new year. I think it's a question of how high you wanna raise your expectations and if you set them low like "being less fearful of going outdoors" then you're going to be happy of course. For me, I've just returned from Finland where I had a lovely holiday - I have raised the bar substantially higher, ie. "I want to be able to travel abroad for a nice holiday like I used to do before to explore beautiful places." It was never going to be a cheap holiday but 21% of the cost of the holiday went on Covid tests alone - for me, it was like well, it's just money, pay it and don't think about it, just enjoy the holiday. But for many people, raising the costs of the things they used to enjoy may make it no longer affordable, just out of reach and thus it will have an impact on their lives.
DeleteThe way I look at it, it's a time of personal choice: in Europe, we have a lot of unvaccinated people getting infected and dying - thus I'm like, it's your choice, you chose to say no to the vaxx and now you die. Likewise, for my parents, they're vaccinated but still fearful of going out of the house so I'm like - it's your choice once again, nobody is stopping you from leaving the house as you as you wear a mask so if you wanna stay in, it's your choice.
Happy New Year to you too.
DeleteFor me, it is not just about myself feeling safer,but also happy for my dad whom had taken both his vaccine shots. He has advanced stage throat cancer and if he contracted covid without the vaccine, he will likely die.
Hi Jon, I'm sorry to hear about your father's situation. I hope he will get his booster shot soon to protect him further against the Omicron variant.
DeleteThank you Lift. Appreciated it.
DeleteI'm just glad the vaccines have arrived so society can open up again. I finally got to try gymnastics in late 2021!
ReplyDeleteFingers crossed, society can stay open so we can keep on enjoying gymnastics in 2022.
DeleteYeah what is going on with the UK and covid cases? In the US it isn't that bad. At this rate they might just impose another lockdown if hospitals get overwhelmed.
DeleteBtw Alex, speaking of gymnastics, how important is it to be flexible? Whenever we do stretching I notice everyone is super flexible while I'm not. I dunno if I need to be, but I'm having trouble arching my back when trying to do a hand-stand forward roll. Instead I just land on my back instead of my feet as intended.
Well our cases are going through the roof and it's gotten to the point where daily cases are meaningless as I can't even get hold of a free test in London even if I wanted to test myself - these Covid tests are meant to be free but there's a limited testing capacity and those limits have been breached already. So the fact that we have 200,000+ cases a day is meaningless in that context as we know the true figure is several times that. The hospitalizations are going up but the cases are less severe (ie. the number requiring ventilators / deaths etc aren't as bad as in previous waves). We had a government press conference this evening and there were announcements about more compulsory testing for key workers but no word on a lockdown as of yet. I'm back at work and so it's feeling like before Christmas; there's no real panic yet. Not for now anyway.
DeleteOn the topic of flexibility, it depends on what kind of skills you wish to achieve. If you were a 6 year old kid learning gymnastics, then the coach would be like 'yeah anyone can be flexible, you just have to stretch daily' but as an adult, it is not the same deal. As part of my gymnastics club's adult gymnastics programme, we deal with a lot of adults who started gymnastics late in life so they're not flexible at all. So they would never be able to do a skill like a front walkover (look it up) which involves a helluva lot of back & shoulder flexibility - I have never been able to do that skill in my life, cos I am just not flexible enough. However, there is another version of the same skill which is the front handspring. Now I don't need to bend my back for that, I just use my speed & power to fly through that skill. So for non-flexible gymnasts like me (I can do the splits, so my hips aren't bad but my back and shoulders are terrible), I pick skills which require power/speed rather than flexibility. I'm not a kid anymore, so I get to pick & choose what I like and I simply avoid the skills I know would require a lot of flexibility that I don't have. It's called picking your battles. There are plenty of skills (well you've seen the gymnastics posts on my Instagram) that a strong but un-flexible gymnast like me can do and still enjoy the sport in spite of my lack of flexibility. I hope that helps.
I take that back about the US not being as bad. When I googled it the UK only has 42 deaths per day on 200k cases a day, while the US has 1000 deaths per day on 1 million cases a day. The cases per capita are about the same, but the deaths are not. I guess things are fine because most of the UK is vaccinated.
DeleteOmg that front walkover is only for little girls. No way could I do that, even if I did stretch everyday. And I get what you mean by abusing momentum/speed to perform certain skills rather than muscling your joints over. Yesterday we were practicing vault and the trainer was showing me a skill and one of my friends said "how come he only needs 2 steps before the springboard to do that trick? I need like 10-20!" But when I look at how my friend and the trainer does the exact same skill they don't do it in the same way although it looks somewhat similar. My friend is obviously using extra speed while the trainer is muscling the joints to get them to turn. Yeah I gotta make do with what I got as an adult.
Hi Amanda, our death stats vary widely actually and you have to bear in mind that the 3rd Jan in the UK was a public holiday because new year's day fell on a weekend so we get the Monday off in lieu - so fewer deaths are reported over weekends and public holidays but they then get reported once the administrators are back in the office. So over a week, the average number of deaths a day is about 120 to 130 - which makes it a lot worse than what the figure you saw may suggest. Our vaccination programme has been a success, but more to the point, the UK is number 2 in the world in terms of delivering booster shots (ie. the third dose) and according to the news today, they won't be imposing any more restrictions for now.
DeleteAs for the front walkover, I was never able to do that - not as a child, certainly not now. My back just doesn't bend that way but that's fine, I just do other skills that don't require that level of flexibility. A good coach should spend time with you and be able to say, Amanda, I'm going to suggest that you learn this skill, it suits your kind of talent and you're going to love it. It's easy to do that with a smaller class but when a coach gets a big class, it's a lot harder to do that, to give each student individual attention.
Oh yeah the 7 day average is about 120/day. It looks bad but isn't as bad as the peak of the pandemic in 2020 which was 1000/day. The US is already approaching half the death rate from its peak right now. 2nd in the world with boosters is not bad, people in the UK are more responsible to get vaccinated so they can go out freely.
DeleteOh so some skills just are locked out for people because not everyone is that flexible. It kinda reminds me of certain hyper-flexible circus acts where the audience clearly knows one has to be born a certain way to do that move. I'm still learning a lot of simple tricks for now so can't really ask for more specific things to do. I did manage to consistently do and hold a handstand against a wall despite taking 3 weeks off due to school/christmas holidays. So the muscle memory is sticking.
Well the current plan by the UK government is to ride it out - ie. people will get infected but it won't be that severe, people won't die or need ICU beds, thus we are not going to lockdown the economy again as the economy cannot take another long lockdown; we're choosing the health of the economy over the people and for once, I agree with the government. If you're fully vaxxed (and boosted), then you have little to fear about Omicron even if you do get it. But we're still hearing all these ridiculous stories - there's this story out of France yesterday where these two older French actors who were twins died within days of each other from Covid. They were unvaxxed because they thought their 'healthy lifestyle' would protect them. And I am just shaking my head like, where do I even begin? They were in their 70s, they were elderly but refused to acknowledge that they were vulnerable and needed to get vaccinated. Should we lockdown again just to protect people like that? No, of course not. We can't protect them from their own stupidity indefinitely, the vaccine is available but they refuse it so I say, let me go to gymnastics and let them die. But seriously, the only other concern is the strain on the health service because loads of other people have other non-Covid related conditions that need medical attention and they're facing very long delays trying to get anything done at the moment. My hubby has a bad ear infection and needs to see an ear specialist but he can't face the long wait at the government hospital (which offers free treatment on the NHS) so he's going private to avoid waiting. It's just money and we can afford it - for his health, it is money well spent, but if a poorer family is in the same situation, then they're well and truly fucked.
DeleteSome people are simply born more flexible than others, I remember how I met this gymnast in Singapore who figured out how to do the front walkover in about 5 minutes when I explained it to her because she was naturally flexible; then I have people in my adult gymnastics club who have tried it for years and still can't do it - it's not a level playing field at all. And yes, you will need to master some of the basics before you start picking specific challenges - but get to know your coach well, use your social skills to develop that relationship and hopefully you will get plenty of personal attention to help you improve quickly.
That sounds like the Singaporean solution to the problem: https://news.sky.com/story/singapore-government-to-no-longer-pay-covid-medical-bills-for-patients-unvaccinated-by-choice-12464966 I actually think that's a great idea.
DeleteLol that is crazy hubris to be unvaxxed in their 70s. Yeah go let them die and let us go to gymnastics. Why should we be penalized for being vaccinated and boosted so we can keep the economy alive by spending our dollars while a couple of people want to get infected and overload the health system? Sorry to hear about your husband but at least the private sector in the UK can withstand additional healthcare demand provided some patients can pay for it. For every person like your husband who can pay for private treatment, at least that reduced some burden on the NHS.
DeleteOh yeah my trainers are very sociable and it seems the others always chat them up during open gym sessions. I haven't had a chance to participate because the area the others are practicing is far away from where I am doing the most basic of drills (handstands against the wall, handstand forward rolls on those octagon things, simple dead hangs on the bars). And I'm just naturally shy I suppose, I want to talk to people but I tell myself I need to keep observing from afar to find out when is the right time to say something.
Well here's that story from France: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-59867046 this kind of hubris happens when people think they are smarter than the scientists and the experts that the government use, that they can find their own answers with Google instead. Good grief. And it's not just a question of free speech and being entitled to your own opinion, these two older French guys died as a result of believing that their 'healthy lifestyle' will protect them against Covid. Sure they were in good shape and exercised regularly etc, but that was certainly not enough to protect them against Covid - especially since they were already in their 70s for crying out aloud. It's not like they were still in their 20s y'know, at some stage someone had to tell them, "you are not young anymore."
DeleteAs a volunteer in my gym, I always go up to newcomers to say hello, I don't always go into coach mode and start correcting them. Sometimes it's just little things like asking them, "do you live near the gym? Do you have a long journey to get home?" It's just about making them feel like they are surrounded by friendly people who are interested in them, rather than, "Amanda! How many times have I told you, keep your legs together during the handstand!" LOL, I am not like that in the gym, I'm actually using my social skills to make sure the regulars keep coming back.
Lol I thought France was the land of people believing they were young forever. But there are people like that who refuse to admit that their body is not what it used to be, and that's where people have mid-life crises. But this is science, people in their 60s and 70s are statistically more likely to die, even though I have no idea how Harvey Weinstein and Donald Trump survived the virus.
DeleteThere is a girl who has tried to talk to me, and she's a civil engineer who designs bridges and we're the only two engineers at gymnastics so technically we should have something in common. But because I had to miss 3 weeks of gymnastics due to school and the christmas holiday I haven't found the time to approach her to talk again. Also she seems to prefer to talk in the parking lot but only on certain days. Last week as I was waiting for my uber she popped by to tell me she saw a fox in the parking lot before going home. I think I should have said a bit more like "hey how was your Christmas?" but the words just escaped me. I'm deathly terrified of making bad first impressions that only after being around people for a while do I feel comfortable talking to them. But to a lot of people that can be mistaken for being cold. Next week, I will force myself to ask, even if its not instinctual.
Oh you'll get anti-vaxxers in all shapes and forms in every country. Remember my anti-vaxx old friend the ex-model who was ooh la la super hot in 2005 (ex-gymnast, ex-diver, ex-model) who then got injured, left sports, got fat and bald and thus could no longer be a model and now works in a lowly paid job to support his wife and kids? Well, good grief: he's now shouting on social media that discriminating against people who refuse the vaccine is a hate crime and he is facing discrimination everyday, he is claiming he is a victim and I'm like dude, I know life used to be incredible for you. You used to be so devilishly good looking (oh you should have seen him in the period 2000 to 2005) and earning money was so easy for you then as a model. Just spend two days on a fashion shoot and earn a 5-figure sum just like that. Now you're old, fat, bald and broke - sure you feel like a victim having left that life behind, you're just jumping on the anti-vaxx badwagon because they've given you a narrative for you to claim 'victimhood'. I didn't respond to him on social media, I just shook my head and ignored him.
DeleteYeah I would have used that opportunity to start a conversation about foxes and I might have said something like, foxes are actually really cute, I like foxes. Do you like foxes? Do you see foxes where you live? It's about responding to the information that someone has given you and using it to start a conversation, then once you've broken the ice, then you can talk about anything you want.
Ugh, a lot of times with causes that I see people being too passionate about I do think it's because they need an outlet for frustration because they have so little control in their own life. Nothing much can be done about those people, except maybe paying for therapist. Does the NHS include mental health? But this friend of yours doesn't just need a few self help books, he needs to win the lottery to a different life to fix what happened to him.
DeleteIn the back of my mind I was thinking I shouldn't take too much of that person's time because they told me they lived in a different city which didn't offer adult gymnastics lessons so they have to commute for 2 hours driving each way just to get to our gym. But if someone already took the time to grab my attention, they probably want more of it. It's little nuances like this which aren't intuitive to me hence the autism. I have to consciously think about them to pick it up. Btw I'm still sore from gymnastics 3 days ago simply because that was the first session in 3 weeks haha.
Hi Amanda, what can a mental health professional do for my friend? "I see you used to be a gorgeous super model who made money so easily by being beautiful but now you're old, fat, bald and ugly; on top of that, you're broke and have a family to support." Any kind of therapy is but symptomatic treatment - my friend needs to fix his life rather than get a prescription for really strong antidepressants. Now being pragmatic, I would say the first step would be to get a better paid job, there are various retraining schemes to help working class people acquire better skills in order to access much better paid work. But instead of focusing on something pragmatic like that, my friend has chosen to jump on the anti-vaxx bandwagon and I don't even want to start that conversation with him now.
DeleteI think economic hardship is not something people talk about because its too close to talking about another taboo topic - money. And also there is the general feeling that if it was so easy to escape poverty then poverty doesn't exist. For argument's sake, what kind of jobs would be open to this friend of yours at this stage in life? A plumber? A programmer?
DeleteOh course, economic hardship is a taboo topic as it is a reflection of personal weakness, a character flaw. We're Asians, we know how Asian society blames the individual who is poor: why are you so poor? Are you lazy or stupid? I had that rare conversation with 'Vera' my white friend who is seemingly well educated but poor because of her poor career choices. She is in her mid-30s, living pay check to pay check, spending a lot in rent and when I wrote that piece, she had a nest egg of £3,000 in the bank and now that's more like £30 because of the pandemic. She doesn't know what to do to escape poverty and as for Mr Ex-Model becoming a plumber or programmer - a lot of that would depend on whether or not he can acquire the skills to do a skilled profession like that properly. As for whether or not Mr Ex-Model can pick up the skills to start a new profession like that, well only he can answer that question and believe me, I tried opening that can of worms with Vera and it's a super tricky issue. At least Vera is single and is able to become a student again to retrain if necessary; Mr Ex-Model is married with kids, so he has to constantly put food on the table and support his family. I'm not saying it is impossible but it is difficult. Last I heard, he was doing something in a post office which involved a lot of physical labor (moving big parcels for delivery etc) and of course, few people are using ordinary post to send letters but there's been a big boom in online shopping during a pandemic, so now he is helping them sort/deliver packages for people who have bought stuff online. That's a physically demanding and very low paid job, a far cry from being paid a five figure sum for a few hours of work for simply posing for photos whilst looking absolutely perfect with his stunningly good looks. He has fallen very far indeed, but those good looks weren't gonna last forever y'know, time and gravity have done their dirty work.
DeleteThat's a part of me that is thinking, "I'm old and bald and ugly as well, but I'm not relying on my looks to make a living - I'm relying on my brain and actually I just had a decent first week back at work, having achieved quite a lot of breakthroughs despite some of my clients still being on holiday. Now that's me and my brain power! Admittedly, cards on the table, I was so jealous of Mr Ex-Model when he was looking oh so perfect in that period. You try being friends with a super model who is that good looking and tell me you don't feel jealous. I was insanely jealous of his good looks and you know how I wrote in a piece recently about how I grew up feeling ugly; making friends with super model types like that certainly didn't boost my confidence. I don't wanna be mean but admittedly there's an element of schadenfreude in the way I can still rely on my brains to make a good living in my 40s no matter how old and bald I get whereas Mr Ex-Model can't get over the fact that he is in his 40s today and no longer looks attractive anymore.
DeleteYeah I was going to mention Vera, and that this is a case of "How can Mr. Ex Model escape middle-aged poverty?" instead of "How can poor Vera get rich?" Oh so he's a post worker who works with packages in the e-commerce boom. I suppose he could try to get a job higher up on the ladder in that industry, dunno if Amazon is expanding in the UK. But yeah at least Vera is single so she could take time off work to go back to university, with the only consequence being extra student loans for herself. Mr. Ex-Model has no such luxury. I also presume his wife doesn't work either, or if she does its not enough to support a family on one income.
DeleteI think it's a good thing you acknowledge there is some element of shadenfreude, I admit I used to feel a bit of that immediately after high school. But I've learned to acknowledge that there are a few things I can learn from those model types in high school, you can't function on brains alone as much as you can function on looks/charm alone, you need both. Mr. Ex Model's problem is he is too imbalanced and didn't focus enough on education when he was still young and had the time.
But anyway, because I'm a fan of English football I read a lot about the background of some players, and there's quite a few from poor immigrant backgrounds who had parents from Nigeria/Jamaica that moved their family to the UK when they were still toddlers. And these kids mentioned their parents worked full time as cleaners/factory workers while paying for night school to earn a degree because their qualifications from their home countries weren't recognized, so the family had to live in poverty for a while. Then later the parents earned the qualifications and managed to get a higher paying job. I think you've mentioned before that there are employment schemes for locals but not immigrants like yourself, and it seems this lack of support and also lack of "entitlement to prosperity" among immigrants means they work a lot harder than locals to climb up the income ladder. It is doable, but one has to endure a lot of hardship along the way. I'm an immigrant myself so it surprises me when some locals think just because they have a university degree they're entitled to a good job upon graduation and don't have to worry so much about networking/etc.. I've never had such luxury to think that way, but maybe because I never grew up in a country that told me just because I'm a citizen I'm entitled to a good life.
Oh Amanda, you've got to get real here my friend - Mr Ex-Model is a very, very poorly paid delivery worker who is being paid peanuts to deliver packages. Amazon is already present in the UK and the people who work for them in their warehouses doing jobs like sorting and/or delivery are being paid peanuts. You work for them for 5 or 10 years, you get a promotion to foreman and you get paid peanuts + 10% more and you're still stuck in poverty. That's why I'm being quite blunt in saying, this is precisely why working class people are stuck in poverty for a lifetime, they spend their entire working lives doing poorly paid work whilst trying to do exactly what you said, "trying to get a job higher up the ladder in that industry", they do and the end up earning peanuts + 10% or peanuts + 15% which is still peanuts at the end of the day. No Amanda, that's exactly what he has been doing for the last 10 years and that's why he's still so freaking broke today.
DeleteAt least for Vera, she is smart enough to know, "okay, the only way to get rich is to climb a totally different career ladder because if I stay on my current career ladder, I am going to end up with peanuts + 15% in 10 years' time and that's just not good enough as I refuse to accept being poor forever." Good luck to her, at least she understands that part of the equation whereas Mr Ex-Model is just so angry with the way his life has turned out but that doesn't change the fact that he has no formal qualifications that allows him to do more highly paid skilled work.
You don't become the next Jeff Bezos by working as a delivery worker for Amazon, delivering packages to the customers. The front desk receptionist at a hotel doesn't end up one day owning the hotel, she might get a promotion and become a more senior member of the team, but that's back to the peanuts + 10% = a slightly larger portion of peanuts but that's still a poorly paid job. Working your way up from the very bottom is a route that few ever succeed in completing, most who are at the bottom get stuck there, never advancing in their career paths because that's just the way the world is: very few truly rich people, a small middle class and the majority of folks are working class. For people like Mr Ex-model and Vera to attain social mobility, they want to move from being working class to middle class properly and the key to that is switching career ladders: Vera gets it, she wants to climb a new career ladder that will get her somewhere quickly - she doesn't want to end up with the peanuts + 10% scenario that Mr Ex-Model is stuck in right now.
DeleteOh I never thought of that because I've never worked a working class job. Yeah Vera did get that part of the equation right in switching careers entirely, even if getting on a more lucrative career ladder like Law is a challenge in itself. I'm surprised Mr. Ex Model doesn't think to switch career ladders because I assume former models and Olympic gymnasts previously occupied a good station in life, enough to rub shoulders with people who make good money. But then again like you said he has no formal qualifications, so I assume he doesn't even have a bachelor's degree. And even if he wanted to do a degree, unlike Vera he has a family to support which makes it more difficult. He would have to take night classes and assume his wife could take on additional childrearing and household duties. It kinda makes me wonder what sort of parents Mr Ex Model has. If he had been born into an immigrant Chinese or Nigerian family he would have been pressured to put more focus on education than sports.
DeleteThe corporate structure out there is to trap working class people in working class jobs that pay peanuts. The barristas making your coffee in Starbucks isn't going to become a director of Starbucks no matter how hard they work or how good they are at their job. No, they get promoted into a "peanuts + 10%" position and then eventually they get "peanuts + 20%" - but to put things in perspective, Ex-Model guy used to get £20,000 a shoot which was like what, 2-3 days work? Now he has to work a year to earn £20,000 sorting packages. So if you work hard and become an assistant manager (which is the five step up from in the UK Starbucks, guess what? That's £21,000 a year. See what I mean about peanuts + 10%? And that's five steps up: you start at cafe assistant (you take out the trash and collect the dirty cups, they don't let you near the coffee machine yet), then you become the barrista (and make coffee), then you become shift manager, then next step up is supervisor before you become assistant manager and then it's store manager. You start off with minimum pay (we do have a minimum pay law in the UK) and you slowly claw your way up in a "peanuts + 10%" manner. So for example, the pay rise when you get promoted from shift manager to supervisor is a pathetic 2.8% - the management makes a song and dance about it, gives you a new job title, a 2.8% pay rise and a pat on the back and that's a "peanuts + 2.8%" situation. Why do you think poor people stay poor whilst the rich get richer all the time? The system is designed to trap poor people in poverty and not pay them any more - I can go into the economics of why a barrista at Starbucks is paid so little, but my point is simple: Mr Ex-Model is screwed if he is on a "peanuts + 10%" career ladder. He is trapped in poverty.
DeleteCapitalism is ruthless - it depends on rich people paying people in jobs like that as little as possible whilst keeping all the profits for themselves. You could argue that someone working in Starbucks for 5 years can learn a lot and then open their own cafe, but I then say, "it takes a huge amount of capital to start your own business like that, a working class person isn't going to accumulate that kind of money whilst being paid peanuts. Where are they going to find the initial seed capital to start their own money? Short of winning the lottery, that isn't going to happen at all - they're stuck in their roles as they have no access to capital."
What do former models and gymnasts do when they get older? The answer is anything and everything - I've seen some become super successful because they got a degree, embarked in a totally different career and became successful in their chosen career path. Whilst some gymnasts stick to what they know and become a coach, earning a modest living - they're not starving but you never become rich being a gymnastics coach, sometimes that's enough for them. And then there's Mr Ex-Model (and ex-gymnast) who realized he has no formal qualifications and ends up sorting parcels at the mail depot.
Eeeks typo spotted sorry: the barristas AREN'T (not isn't) - plural, not singular.
DeleteBut yes, in the case of Mr Ex-Model, he is in a terrible position; he is working long hours sorting packages at the depot, he is freaking exhausted at the end of the day. When he comes home, he is expected to help his wife with the childcare and spend quality time with his children - he has no time to do night school or gain a new qualification. There simply aren't enough hours in a day for him to get enough sleep, never mind retrain for a more lucrative career ladder. I could see it all fall apart very quickly the moment he got his girlfriend pregnant (it wasn't planned) and he thought, "I'll take that job, it's only part time but I have to take care of my girlfriend until she gives birth, then I'll work something out". The moment he found himself in a position of responsibility as a young father, that's it, he was trapped. I'm not trying to be mean here, but he was not in a financially stable position to have a child yet he stumbled accidentally into that situation - he did the right thing to say, "I'm gonna marry my girlfriend and keep the baby." I respect that decision but it then left him thinking, how the hell am I gonna support my family? It's quite scary to see how he has changed, we have old photos on Facebook where he was so young and handsome - now it's like all his hair has fallen on the top of his head and landed on his chin, he is completely bald today and has a huge beard, the complete reversal of what he was like in 2005.
If he had been more careful thinking about his future, he would have planned better: no children until I figure out which career path I am gonna climb, get the training necessary for that new career path whilst he doesn't have any dependents to support, establish himself in that new career path successfully and then get married before considering children. That's not rocket science you know, that's simply what a lot of ordinary couples do.
Oh really he was that young and handsome? What a fall from grace. Guess it's true when they say beauty doesn't last. Models do have to retire eventually. I see why in America people say "you don't want to be flipping burgers at McDonalds..." I guess there isn't much in terms of productivity to advance to in these working class jobs. Like in your job the way to advance would be to get more clients or bigger clients, and clients can vary a huge amount in how lucrative they are while shipping fees per package or the price of a Starbucks coffee varies very little.
DeleteYeah it isn't rocket science not to have a child until you're financially stable. To me it sounds like Mr Ex Model grossly underestimated the financial and time commitment of a baby. Thinking "I'll figure something out when the baby is born" is crazy. Babies take a lot of work, I know because I have cousins 10+ years older than me who would talk over Chinese new year about how much their kids cried as babies. This reminds me of that soldier you encountered in Estonia of Finland who was in the same situation with a wife and a kid and stuck in poverty.
Yes he was oh so gorgeous when he was young - look he had the body of an elite gymnast and the face of an angel, that was why he managed to make a good living as a model in those days. And now when I look at him, I'm like, woah it's still him alright, but what the heck happened? How on earth did you end up looking like that when you could have taken better care of yourself? Losing the hair, okay that happened to me too - but he's fat today and he's grown a massive beard; so I'm like woah, the face is the same but everything else has changed so much - what a fall from grace; but my point is when you're so darn beautiful everybody loves you. He's straight and women would throw themselves at him, gay men would say, "you're too beautiful to be straight, come on you know I like you!" And now, even I think, good grief, what the heck happened to you? Nobody would take a second glance at him now and that's why he's done two things to get attention: have children. After all, you're the parent and they have to listen to what you have to say, at least when they're young. When they're older, they may just ignore you but that's part of the reason he became a father - children will give you their attention for a while at least. Then of course, he figured out that as an anti-vaxxer, on social media, he has a dedicated audience who will listen to his unique brand of bullshit. Suddenly he is getting attention again, something he's not had for a while, even if it's from a bunch of equally crazy anti-vaxxers, somebody is listening to what he has to say. That's a far cry from his daily life dealing with packages at the depot. There is a never ending stream of packages to be sorted and delivered, the work is monotonous and dull - after having lead a lavish lifestyle as a super model, boy this is one helluva fall from grace.
DeleteAnd even if Amazon increases their shipping fees, guess what? They're not going to pay their warehouse workers any more - no, it's Jeff Bezos who is gonna become even richer than he already is today. Anyway, Mr Ex Model didn't plan to have a child - he had a girlfriend at the time and one day she said "I'm pregnant." So instead of aborting the baby, they chose to get married and the rest is history. Yup, it was a soldier on a flight back from Estonia who was very drunk who poured out a woeful sob story about how he joined the army to support his young wife and baby, then the army sends him out to Estonia and his wife just spends his money but barely talks to him anymore - they've drifted apart but now there's a baby involved. Oh dear.
Wow so he went from having boyband looks and making money off them to having a dad bod and working at a menial job. That is a very stark contrast but I've heard of similar stories with young football players who were living it rich until they picked up one bad injury and were forced to retire early with no qualifications or savings. I guess Mr. Ex Model really didn't foresee the decline in his living standards as soon as he had a child. Also, similar to many young athletes who make it big without realizing it will not last, failed to save for a rainy day. Oh well, what can you do? They say that's why in Germany elite football players are forced to complete schooling or else are kicked off the youth teams. It's because the professional teams know that only a small percentage of young players will even make a profitable living from sport, so the ones who don't make it need an education as a backup plan.
DeleteWell, his parents were working class and had no idea how to advice him about saving or investing his money - so when he made a lot of money, he was like, "hey mum, take this wad of cash and go buy something nice" and she would say, "yay I'm going shopping" rather than, "perhaps I ought to save and invest that money." Working class people who stumble upon money are not that savvy when it comes to financial management. Mind you, rich people are pretty useless with money as well but at least most of them are smart enough to engage the services of a wealth manager type character (like a financial adviser or a private banker) to say, "please help me manage my money, I'm clueless and that's what I pay you for." There was no concept of that for Mr Ex-Model. Don't forget he got whacked pretty hard on income tax as well and the way it works in this industry is that if you get a contract for £10,000 for a photo shoot (not bad for a day's work just sitting around posing for photos looking beautiful), then you get paid £10,000 after the shoot. You fill in your tax return at the end of the tax year and declare what you've made that year, then you get a massive tax bill. So if he was paid £10,000, about half of it would go on income tax plus this horrible thing we call national insurance contributions, it's like your social security payments in the US. So it's a secondary form of taxation on top of your income tax, because we're all entitled to a state pension at the end of our working lives, when we become a certain age but it's not for free: you pay into it all your life and the government gives it back to you when you're old, not unlike the CPF system. Basically, we pay a hell of a lot of taxes here in the UK. So if he got paid £10,000 he needed to say, "half of that needs to be set aside for taxes, I can only go out and spend £5,000." But no, he would spend all £10,000 of it, in the knowledge that he will get yet another shoot that will pay him that kind of money in the near future and there will always be money around to pay the tax bill eventually. It is reckless and irresponsible, that's why when the lucrative work dried up, he was still eventually hit with a huge tax bill which almost wiped him out financially. I remember the year when he was asking me for help, "I'm no longer making that kind of money from modeling, yet I still have to pay taxes in arrears for the money I had made in the last tax year, I don't have enough money sitting around in the bank to pay this tax bill - is there something I can do to negotiate a settlement with the government?" He was caught out pretty quickly, spending beyond his means and it came crashing down with just one tax bill. Not a good way to end your party lifestyle - being caught out by taxes.
DeleteBTW, this story is so interesting my latest blog post is all about this guy Mr Ex-Model and how things went terribly wrong for him. I originally talked about his anti-vaxx stance but there's a lot to his story and his fall from grace to make a good blog post. It is a crazy but true story.
DeleteOh that's why he didn't save for a rainy day, because he didn't grow up in a family where filing this kind of tax was the norm. Lol given my background I knew all sorts of stuff about taxes because my Dad always talked about how they were such a pain since his income was so variable and had a variety of sources. And that tax thing sounds very typical for someone who finds themselves suddenly an independent contractor rather than an ordinary wage worker. One of my favorite British YouTubers came from a working class background(he's from Newcastle) and suddenly hit a million subscribers in recent years. In his own words it was like getting "rapper money" so he mmediately spent it on a McLaren before getting hit with a big tax bill at the end of the year he couldn't pay. His reasoning was that nobody in his entire family has ever made that much money in their entire life, so how was he supposed to know non-wage income was even taxable. He did end up hiring an accountant who fortunately told him he could work out a repayment plan with the UK government in installments, and now she manages all his cash flow every month setting aside some money for taxes after all expenditures/staff were paid. The YouTuber even said that during Covid he had to forgo paying his taxes some months just to pay staff, because I guess YouTube productions were not covered under the furlough scheme. Looking forward to the new post!
DeleteI think if you grew up in a family where you never had much money, once you come into some money you wouldn't know what to do - I've seen people react in two ways. Firstly, they go out shopping and spending, doing all the things they had always dreamt about until the bank balance is zero. The other reaction is when they just stick the money in the bank and kinda just ignore it, kinda like that guy in Squid Game after he wins the grand prize but refuses to touch the prize money out of guilt - all those dead people!! Yeah in this case, he went shopping and spent a lot of that money very quickly on luxuries. Like he would fly first class instead of business or economy because he had money in the bank. I have money in the bank but I fly economy (if I am paying for it myself) because I'm like, economy is good enough, I don't want to waste money. I'm just happy to go on holiday. It's the folly of youth - when very young people make a lot of easy money, they don't realize that this is a short window period where they can rake it in but that window will close eventually at some point and they'll be on level footing with everyone else. He simply didn't plan ahead, he didn't think beyond what he was doing next week. But look out for the new post, it shall be out soon.
DeleteI hope I treated my friend with enough respect, dignity and compassion in that new post - it is a difficult story to share because it is about his fall from grace of course.
DeleteI believe in the saying, "don't kick a man when he is already down" - well my friend has been down for quite a while and believe me, back in that period 2000 - 2005, we were very good friends.
DeleteDoes he read this blog? I wouldn't say it's kicking a man when he's down considering his story isn't unique in the grand scheme of things, which you could talk about. There's even a HBOmax show called "ballers" starring "The Rock" about a financial planner who was a former athlete that works exclusively with current athletes. I wasn't surprised some people get injured and lose it all as much as I was surprised some "small fish" unknown athletes retire early but managed to save 1-2 million dollars which they use to supplement a low paying job as a coach, 30k usd/year, with an additional 50k usd/year from their nest egg for the next 20-40 years. Not a bad deal when you think of it! One doesn't have to be a world famous athlete or model to save enough for retirement, some of the lower tiers pay substantial life changing amounts for a comfortable middle class life. Anyway, to reiterate your friend is just one story that is personally close to you and unfortunately money isnt talked about openly among friends else someone in his circle may have pointed out he wasn't investing in himself for the long term. It's also sad to see he has given up sport completely even as a hobby, he could've at least stayed fit into his 30s and 40s like you have.
DeleteI think there are very very few people who can fit the description of a) elite gymnast and diver in London 2000 - 2005 b) super model earning tons of money in that same period and c) working in a delivery depot now after getting married with 2 kids. To tick all three seems impossible, so yeah within a certain group of people they'll probably be able to say, "oh, I think I know exactly whom you're talking about." But nah, it's a risk I'm going to take since I've stopped talking to him during the pandemic when he went full anti-vaxx. I posted a photo of me getting my vaccination on Facebook and he went on a full rampage against vaccinations on the basis of that photo. Good grief. Where do I begin?
DeleteAs for giving up sports completely, I think some people leave sports on bad terms and never wanna go back there ever again - he got injured just as he was on the verge of making it to the 2004 Olympics selection process. Then we said fine, we'll wait till 2008, you're still young enough but he kept getting injured and it became pretty clear by 2006 that he was never going to be able to keep going till 2008. He was still too young and inexperienced for 2000, too injured for 2004 and by 2008, too old and out of shape to even consider trying as a result of the injuries. Sigh. On that basis, can you blame him for being bitter and angry with the sport that he made look effortless whilst the rest of us mere mortals struggle with?
Maybe if I followed diving and gymnastics more I may know who he is, but most people reading your blog have only heard of Tom Daley or maybe Jason Statham the actor. But I didn't mean the specific details of the sport he played and working at a delivery depot, but instead the general narrative of a top athlete who had everything but lost it all after poor financial planning and one bad injury. Tonnes of those exist, even those who had glittering careers like Ian Wright and David James.
DeleteOh yeah I see why it can be painful to return to a sport who one could say "jilted" them. It's like the kid who almost drowned on a boating trip that is scared of water for the rest of their life. Do you think he has lasting long term injuries from gymnastics? I heard that's pretty common among top athletes who had to push their body to the limits in their youth.
By the way I was randomly browsing the New York Times when I came across an article about those two French twins in their 70s who were unvaccinated and died of covid. They are a really strange pair, and also their faces are plastered all over the internet as "plastic surgery fails." But what I also found strange was they were the host of a french popular science TV show, and claimed to have doctorates in Physics and Math which were later ridiculed by many actual scientists as not frauds, but just really bad works. Lol I'm not surprised, it's not that hard to get a doctorate if you just sign up to pour some beakers to implement a complex idea some other scientist came up with. The thing is people with those types of doctorates don't usually claim to be geniuses like these two, and they're not even invited to the most prestigious conferences in physics and math. What I will say is that these two really had great social skills if they managed to date so many models, heiresses, and french aristocrats. Heck if they were alive I'd offer to teach them legit physics in exchange for tips on how to talk to other people at my gymnastics club haha. Though I'm not sure I'd like to be seen with them at a conference, I wouldn't go that far haha.
DeleteHonestly they didn't need to get a physics/math degree to succeed in life, if they had just stuck to their usual high society mingling and lived a life of obscurity it would have still been very comfortable. But I suppose they just liked being flashy and in the news for something. It always baffles me when someone who grew up rich and comfortable uses their money to get in the news for vanity purposes. I was always taught to keep a low profile, and many wealthy people I knew growing up didn't even own a Ferrari or Lamborghini unless they really didn't like the other things one could buy with money. Many people with wealth surprisingly preferred to buy a helicopter instead of a Ferrari, because it can always beat traffic jams and wasn't easily stolen. I suppose a helicopter is the closest we have to a "flying car" nowadays. The rest of the money was usually invested in real estate.
Amanda, scroll up to our comments on the 6-7 January, we have already talked about those French twins who died of Covid already. I am surprised you didn't think "aah Alex already told me about these two idiots" when you came across that article in the New York Times.
DeleteAlso, you probably know who Tom Daley is but would you know the group of divers who were ranked around 8th - 20th in the UK in that period from 15 to 20 years ago, all of whom had a realistic chance of possibly making it to the Olympics, or at least representing the UK at a major international competition? Heck, even I don't know the names of the people on that list for diving (but I would for gymnastics though I would struggle to remember all their names/faces given we're talking a period in the early 2000s - that's 20 years ago for crying out aloud). All professional athletes carry some kind of injury with them, some more serious than others and unfortunately for my Ex-model friend, I know he had some pretty bad injuries that stopped him from training - he was forced to stop training by the intense pain and the injuries just never healed to the point where he could train the same way again to get back to that competitive level.
DeleteYeah I was gonna say that you brought it up first and when I saw in the New york Times I was surprised they were that famous. When I first saw your comment I thought you had heard about them in some French language newspaper and they were just ordinary serious actors, but instead their story was a lot whackier.
DeleteDo you like Tom Daley? I think he's really cute. Also, do skills from gymnastics translate to diving? It seems kinda similar to the vault event with flips and tricks, but more vertical. Hmm, maybe the injuries prevented Mr. Ex Model from being fit, he could have chronic pain to add on top of his other woes.
Oh they actually made the news here in the UK on the BBC, they were made an example of, ie. "you think you're immune from Covid just because you're fit and healthy? Check out these two, now they're in a cemetery in France. Don't end up like them." Yeah the coverage of them dying was not complimentary or sympathetic at all but I just didn't think that the story would go much beyond France.
DeleteI like Tom Daley as a diver but not in a gay way even if he is gay. He's way too young for me regardless. Anyway, a lot of gymnasts try diving and vice versa, it doesn't always work out but famously, American gymnast Phoebe Mills won a bronze medal at the 1988 Olympics and then represented her university as a diver (and not a gymnast) at collegiate level. I once trained a former national champion diver from Hungary and she wasn't an instant success at gymnastics, it was just a fun social thing for her and she never really made it that far in gymnastics I'm afraid. I dabbled in diving for a bit but always returned to gymnastics as I felt more at home in the gym - I just didn't feel inclined to put in all the hard work to get my diving up to a decent competitive standard. It doesn't just happen, I can't just show up at the pool and say, "this is gymnastics but with a pool" - once I realized how much work I had to put in to become a half decent diver, I quit. I can still do a few beautiful, difficult dives like my 1.5 front pike somersault, my inward piked dive and my crazy Randi forwards but at best people will look at me and say, "there's a gymnast messing around on the diving board" and that's good enough by me. But when you mess up a dive and hit the water the wrong way from 10 meters, good grief, it messes you up real bad. The pain is unreal and you can dislocate your shoulders and bones can break. My ex-diving student once told me how she dislocated her left shoulder when a dive went wrong and she was struggling to swim out of the pool with her one good arm whilst the other arm hung like a dead weight after the dislocation. I do know for a fact that Mr Ex-Model had horrific injuries from gymnastics + diving. It's a high risk sport, people get hurt bad.
Lol the New York times article was far more sympathetic, their unvaccinated status was just a quick passing mention near the end. Not that the NYTimes doesn't like to shame people for dying unvaccinated, it's just they made an exception for these two because their life story was too funny.
DeleteI think the UK's vaccination campaign has been going very well though, high number of cases but low deaths. All good. There's more pressing concerns aside from covid like the shortage of truck drivers due to Brexit.
Oh wow so diving is a totally different skillset than gymnastics. That means Mr. Ex Model was quite talented and hard working to train at both sports to a high level. But yeah he was unlucky and picked up injuries. Speaking of injuries, I heard some just don't heal back completely. I just visited my brother and his friends, and one of them was a judo athlete for team USA and she ripped the cartilage from her shoulder joint during a match, and has had chronic pain ever since.
Oh yeah I forget you prefer DILF types like Harvey Specter and Emmanuel Macron and not "boyband" Twink types. Tom Daley looks like he belongs in One Direction.
DeleteOh we're moving towards the 'living with Covid' strategy, ie. it's always going to be a part of our lives now and we can't get rid of it, but it's not as deadly as it was thanks to the vaccination campaigns. As for diving, the skills required are similar but the instincts are totally different - ie. you're expected to come out of your dive and enter the water hands first, then your head, your body and then lastly your feet. For me, my instinct is to land feet first as most 'roll out' skills where you land upside down in a handstand and roll out are banned - they have been banned for both men and women in gymnastics as it is considered too dangerous for the neck. But in diving, I'm pushed to do the one thing that's banned in gymnastics and that's scary for me. Mr Ex Model did 3 sports: gymnastics, trampolining and diving. The first one he dropped was gymnastics as there were 6 apparatuses to do to make the Olympic team. Then it was between trampolining and diving - it was how close to the top of the field he was and he had better odds with diving as you have more categories (different heights + synchronized diving) compared to trampolining so he pursued diving and to see him dripping wet climbing out of the pool in those days, the straight women and gay men in the sports complex would swoon and pass out. But today, he is Mr bald fat dad bod with a massive beard and most people would be like "eugh get out of the pool granddad, nobody wants to see that". Most injuries heal, I am struggling with a heel injury now but I remember my right knee being so wrecked about 3-4 years ago and now it's completely fine as it heeled in the last 2 years.
DeleteMind you, trampolining can freak me out to as they have a skill where you stall your somersault upside down and you head directly down to the trampoline head first as if you're diving into a pool, then at the very last minute, you tuck your head in and you rebound off your back. I used to do it at both my gyms but allow me to explain: there's one gym very near my house (my local) and one across the far side of East London. I can do this skill at my local gym but the trampoline at East London has a different rhythm and when I tried to do it once, I totally mistimed it and came down on my head, I fell a crunch in my neck and I couldn't walk for like 2 days, it was thaaaaaaat painful. I've made a full recovery since and even managed to pluck up the courage to do that same skill at my local gym where I feel more at home with the rhythm of the trampoline but I have never dared to try it again in East London after that horrific accident when I thought I broke my neck.
DeleteOh yeah true, in gymnastics it's always landing feet first. That would be tough on the neck to land in a handstand because physics-wise our legs evolved to be much better shock absorbers than our arms. Hmm I didn't know trampoline was a separate Olympic event. We do have a trampoline at my gymnastics place but we never use it for class. People just like jumping on it during open gym to practice somersaults and backflips though. I've also seen kids use a jump rope on it too for fun. Wow Mr. Ex Model must've been as ripped as Tom Daley with a more masculine face in his prime. Sad he didn't keep it up.
DeleteTrampoline has been an event at the Olympics since 2000 Sydney but there are few medals up for grabs, just 6 (gold, silver, bronze, for men & women). The UK sent 2 women but 0 men to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics for trampoline. You have to be top 16 in the world to even qualify for the Olympics and even if you're British champion but not top 16 in the world, forget it, you're not competing in the Olympics. That's why my friend chose to do diving instead to maximize his chances of making it to the Olympics but it also caused him a lot of injuries in the process. As for roll out skills, they are banned already but you can look it up on Youtube - gymnastics roll out skills banned. They are scary and unsafe.
DeleteOh so it's a new event. But yeah I get if it's new there can't be a lot of events and medals on the table.
DeleteI googled banned gymnastics skills after you mentioned it. The roll out is interesting in that it needs extreme precision to not break your neck. Like in gymnastics class I know that I can't attempt certain skills without sufficient precision or else I'd die or break a bone, but that the pros should be good enough to avoid that. But sadly with roll outs even the top gymnasts can fail like the sad case of Murkhina who became paralyzed. But other banned skills I didn't understand why they were banned like jumping from a high bar when your feet are on it, or back to back flips. Maybe those just went out of style. Sometimes I forget Olympic gymnastics has a rulebook which consistently shifts to keep things interesting in response to coach and player tactics.
There is synchronized trampolining - I've seen it done before, it's like synchronized diving which is an Olympic sport that Daley has won gold in but the equivalent with trampolines is not in the Olympics yet. These elements are banned for a reason, too many people got hurt and the rules are there to steer gymnasts away from dangerous skills and discourage them from even trying them. Some skills will go 'out of style' if the gymnasts are not rewarded by the scoring system to perform them, then there's no point in training and performing those combinations. So it is a sport with loads of rules though at your level, it really doesn't matter. Tuesday night is my university night when I coach my university students and we always have a great time, it's kept very social, very casual and I get to yell at my students in various languages. I've got two Malaysian students and I speak to them in Malay, Cantonese, Mandarin and Hokkien - then they speak to each other in ENGLISH and I'm like no no no no.
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