All About Mii

I finally figured out how to use my Nintendo Wii and I am having a grand time.

This is the BEST early Christmas present. Evah.

First of all, it takes up very little room. Just a small box, a few DVDs (well, just two for now - Super Mario Brothers and Wii Fit), a Wii Wand and something called a nunchuck controller, which I have no idea how to use or what it's for, but I'm sure, when the kids and grandkids get here, I will.

All in good time.

Oh, there is also this Wii Console, which is like an electronic balance board. It checks your Body Mass Index (BMI), and calculates your Wii Fit Age (While I'm deemed "overweight" - BOO! - my Wii fit age is 7 years younger than I really am - WOO HOO!), helps you find your center of gravity so you can work on your "core", keeps track of your pace and time and estimates the amount of calories you've burned after each exercise, helps you establish weekly or monthly goals for yourself, and keeps tabs on your daily progress.

It's like having your own personal trainer. Except, it's an Avatar (a Mii) you create in various skin tones and body shapes and then "name".

I LOVE having my own Avatar. That's not her, above. Mine has shorter, darker hair, a rounder face with a real smile and not a smirk, and is just a tad bit more plump. Her name is "Liza".

Last evening, "Liza" and I did some Yoga moves to warm up, then did about ten minutes on the Hula Hoop (GREAT exercise), and then did more than 900 steps before jogging for 10 minutes.

It was a total of 31 minutes of exercise and I had GREAT fun. I'm just a tad sore this morning - I'm amazed that the Yoga side stretching exercises really tugged at some obviously under-exercised muscles - but the soreness is mostly in my quadriceps and gluteus maximus muscles which have gotten rather maximus in the past year of not having any regular exercise - other than walking Mr. Theo.

I'm about to go out and do some marketing and shopping (Shhh... Don't tell Ms. Conroy but I'm going to get her her own Wii Wand - and maybe a Sports Wii or Wii Just Dance DVD) and then, I'll come home and "Liza" and I will hit the old Wii Console again sometime after nightfall and before dinner.

Maybe I'll even figure out how to download the Netflix program, which comes standard, but I'm yet to figure out how to activate it. Maybe one of the kids will help me do that when they arrive at Christmas.

All in good time.

I'm hoping to add an additional 10 minutes to my routine every day - or, every other day, depending on how I feel - until I'm doing an hour work out four or five times a week. Hopefully, I'll meet that goal before the end of January, 2012.

I'm already thinking ahead to when I have to travel. The Wii Fit Bundle I got came with a traveling case. I'm going to have to call ahead to hotels in Indianapolis where General Convention will be held and make sure I can hook up my Wii to the television set in my room.

Yeah, I'm hooked. Bad.

And, yes, I do miss going to the gym and making friends with the folks who go regularly. When I lived in Chatham, I used to travel a whole five minutes to get to the Madison YM/WCA. Sometimes, in the Spring, I would walk there as my "warm up" exercise. I loved to go first thing in the morning and talk with all the elderly men and women who were positively "religious" about their exercise. They were so encouraging and helpful.

We traded "heart healthy" recipes and shared pictures of our grandchildren, traded opinions about the latest news stories and celebrities, shared a bit of town gossip, and wiped down each other's equipment after a work out.

Now, it's just me and "Liza" - my Mii Avatar - who holds no opinion about anything other than me. She's just as encouraging and says things like "Nice, steady pace. Keep it up!" And, "You're moving your arms nicely. Good job!"" And, "Watch your balance, you don't want to fall!".  And, "Remember to drink some water."

I love my Liza, the Mii Avatar Personal Trainer.

One of the great things is that the whole thing cost far less than an annual membership in a gym - and, that doesn't even include the cost of a personal trainer.

I know. I know. It isn't the same, but you know, it's the best I can do right now. I'm just not going to travel 30 miles round trip four or five times a week to join the closest YM/WCA. That's an additional expense and use of gasoline that I simply can't justify.

I mean, I know this narcissistic culture of ours is "All About Me", but there is a line that can get crossed between self care and self absorption, you know?

Me? I like being all about Mii.