January 2012 | Ajay Rochester's Finding My Mojo

Monthly Archives: January 2012

The games we play

January 30, 2012

Posted by AjayRochester in Excess Baggage

Working on Loser we were always trying to keep everything secret from the contestants, hoping to catch that element of surprise (or horror) on camera the first and most natural and therefore realistic response to whatever torturous challenge we set for them. We were often surprised at how much they actually knew and it was not uncommon for them to just sidle up and casually mention our next exotic destination planned for them. I learnt the poker face response pretty quickly but would run right inot the production office to tell them we had been busted.

We never really knew how they knew what they knew and I couldnt understand why it seemed so important to find out what was going to happen next. Haha until I found myself on the other side of the camera as a contestant in a similar yet very different weight loss escapade. Now I get it.

Life in a roving fat camp is restrictive. We never know our schedules from one minute to the next and even if we did they change every five minutes, we are either filming, working out or sleeping, and in our case, any time in between we are travelling. Life on the road can become repetitious and tedious (times like this I wish I was a member of both The Qantas Club and Virgin Lounge) and so, with the absence of the pub on a Friday or any other night actually, the sport of finding out what happens next has become the game everyone plays.…

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Blubberguts

January 28, 2012

Posted by AjayRochester in Excess Baggage, Finding My Mojo, Life

“Courage does not always roar. Sometimes it is the quiet voice at the end of the day that says I will try again tomorrow.”

If I had been a Spice Girl I would have been labeled Old Spice for sure. Never Posh, sometimes Scary but never ever Sporty. I don’t possess an athletic bone in my body. Never have and seriously doubt I ever will.

I grew up in country NSW and attended a small one teacher school, not quite at the end of the world but you could see it from there. Our biggest claim to fame was that our town, if you could call it that, was nestled on the highway to Tenterfield, a place made famous by singer and showman Peter Allen. Pretty unimpressive, I know. Try living there.

Our tiny rural school had no athletics department to speak of and once a year the surrounding schools would gather together to hold a sports carnival which I would either get my mother to write me a sick note for or spend the entire day dreading and trying to avoid my age events knowing they would always end the same way – with me not only coming last, but the next race waiting to start until I crossed the line.…

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For everyone I annoy and those who annoy me

January 28, 2012

Posted by AjayRochester in Life

Food for thought…

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What I like about Darryn Lyons

January 25, 2012

Posted by AjayRochester in Excess Baggage, Featured Post

Okay, well for anyone who has been reading my blog or listening in on Twitter, or those of you who may be about to embark on the television hit of the year Excess Baggage (okay mildly biased endorsement) on Channel Nine, you will know what I Do NOT like about Mr. Paparazzi. However it’s just not in my nature to simply blab on about the not so positive sides of someone, given I, myself, am a self confessed extremely flawed work in progress.

So despite having a burgeoning file of things that would no doubt well and truly put this guy at the top of Santa’s “naughty” list I have to give credit where credit is due and having spent a good few weeks on a “reality” TV show where you never really know who your “real” friends are, sometimes, honesty, no matter how brutal or deluded it might be, is somewhat refreshing.

I have also recently learnt that an opinion does not necessarily mean it is the truth. However I have also learnt that lessons come in many forms and sometimes the more brutal they come the more liberating the learning curve. Cue Darryn Lyons the epicenter of one of the worst and best few weeks of my life.…

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Face Off!

January 18, 2012

Posted by AjayRochester in Finding My Mojo, Life

I love the Emmys, Golden Globes and the Oscars. I’m like any girl and adore seeing all the beautiful dresses, sparkling jewels, gorgeous hair do’s, must have but can never afford clutches, smoky eyes and of course the incredibly delightful frock horrors that should never have made the light of day. I may even love them more than the dresses people got right!

But lately there has been something more intriguing to watch – the faces of the celebrities. No, I’m not talking about when the award is announced and they cut to the people who didn’t win and occasionally catch them or their table friends rolling their eyes. That’s fun too but these days I find it strangely compelling looking at the assorted range of plastic, remodeled, renovated, rejuvenated, plucked, sucked and tucked or in the very rare instance real face owned with pride – yes Helen Mirren, real women of the world salute you. You may have played her many times but you are the Queen of aging gracefully to me.

It can’t have been an easy decision amongst the plasticky world of Dollywood. But it seems to have been a smart career move because when Red director, Robert Schwentke set out to cast an aged, retired female super spy, he mentioned he had trouble finding women with the adequate acting credits to stand alongside his stellar cast, who actually looked, well, to be blunt, OLD!…

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The best revenge is success!

January 17, 2012

Posted by AjayRochester in Excess Baggage

I stand up for everybody! Yep I will stand in front of a truck to save almost anyone. I have a long and detailed history of rescuing sick animals and injured human beings who have often gone on to wreak havoc in my life as a thank you but I like to think that my giving spirit is what my true friends who take the time to get to know the surprisingly shy and very eccentric me, love me for.

But I am learning. I’m learning to recognize the early warning signs of those kinds of people, I keep a wide berth of people who are down right nasty and I try to let other people speak up first in defense of whatever it is going on around me. As I said, I try, because I don’t always succeed. Sometimes what is going on is so abhorrent I just have to risk having the anger turned on me in an attempt to help whoever it is in need.

I have recently found myself in an environment I really never fully understood despite being around it for many years previously. No one can ever describe what it is like living in a competitive fishbowl filled with super egos and/or people trying to rebuild their lives/careers or even just get more noticed than they have or even quite simply just pay the bills…..(I include myself in that exclusive list of wannabes/desperados and/or tryhards..no doubt just some of the words that will be used to describe the brand new batch of contestants on Excess Baggage airing on January 30^th on Channel 9 at 7pm.) I prefer to call us human beings living their lives and taking every opportunity to make it interesting and worthwhile.…

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It’s Not Too Late To Start Your Resolutions!

January 11, 2012

Posted by AjayRochester in Fitness, Weight-loss

I’m currently on my own personal weight-loss journey that I ultimately hope will inspire others to become fit, happy and healthy. This was my motivation for writing my first best-selling book, “Confessions of a Reformed Dieter“, founding the weight-loss support network My Healthy Body Club and for creating this blog.

It’s also for these reasons that I contribute to a regular column on celebrity blogger Perez Hilton’s health and wellness website: fitperez.com. This week I talk about how it’s never too late to make a change for the better (although the sooner, the thinner!)

It’s not too late to start your new year’s resolutions! Guess what? It’s never too late to make a change for the better. It’s not like there’s some government body that will come and escort you from the gym just because you started your New Year’s health kick a few weeks later than you thought you would. Read more here.

Why not start by pledging to exercise 2012km in the year 2012 (and win a Polar Heart Monitor while you’re at it)…

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2012 in 2012

January 10, 2012

Posted by AjayRochester in Contests & Giveaways, Featured Post, Fitness, Healthy Body Club

Fitness Challenge – Win a Polar Heart Rate Monitor

I got a Facebook message from one of my girls in Healthy Body Club, a weight loss support network for women I have run for the last 8 years, and it was such a great idea I had to share it with everyone.

She had committed to doing 2012 kilometres of exercise in 2012 and asked me if I wanted to join in. Now I am no runner, so much so that just yesterday I took this quote as my inspiration: No matter how slow you go, you are still lapping everyone on the couch! So if I am being honest, and not deluding myself that I am in any way sporty or athletic (I managed to avoid ALL high school sports by writing the school newspaper), then I will admit that this would be a challenge if I agreed to do it.

But see, therein lies the key to me saying, “Why sure I’ll do it!” because if there is anything I love more than chocolate, it is a challenge. Seriously, I accidentally signed up for the longest of three triathlon distances a few years ago and instead of swapping out to the beginner distance which is what I should have done, instead I committed to doing it (and finishing), no matter how long it took.…

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Think outside the box

January 9, 2012

Posted by AjayRochester in Finding My Mojo, Fitness

At work and talking yourself into bypassing the gym only to go home and veg out in front of the TV, promising you will work out twice as hard tomorrow?

At home convincing yourself that you are just too tired to go for a walk but you will run twice as far tomorrow?

Today’s workout is meant to be done today. It’s that simple.

Talking yourself into something takes just as much energy as talking yourself out of it. Time spent debating whether or not you will stay within those four walls is time and energy wasted. You won’t ever get it back so don’t even bother indulging those thoughts. As soon as that debate starts inside your head, get up, get moving and before you know it you have finished the workout you were not going to do and you will more than likely feel bloody good about it.

Think outside the box, think outside your mind, think outside the room you are in and get to where you want to go faster!

…

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Managing the Meltdowns.

January 9, 2012

Posted by AjayRochester in Anti-bullying, Autism, Education, Parenting

For Shelley and anyone else who may need it…….

I got an email the other day from a mom whose 5 year old has just been diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder otherwise known as Aspergers. I know that first feeling all too well as Kai was the same age when he got his diagnosis except I had the luxury of knowing absolutely nothing about Aspergers and in some ways, ignorance was bliss. These days there’s a lot more awareness about it even amongst those who don’t know someone with it so I can imagine those first horrifying thoughts of what might lie ahead.

And whilst I can only speak for myself, and the people I know who have kids with the “disorder” (a word I prefer to NOT use), I want to assure you, it is not as bad as you might think. Yes the road will be rough, but not as tough as someone whose child is given a diagnosis of something like leukemia. Aspergers will not kill your child and I have learnt to find the blessings wherever they might be.

The mom reached out to me cause I have written previously about the meltdowns my son has had over the years with his Aspergers and she was hoping to get some advice from me on how to manage the meltdowns to minimize collateral damage.…

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