Wednesday, November 15, 2006

120 seconds without air

  • In all my yammering about trains Tuesday (Wednesday's train fun: the wheels appeared to be slipping on the tracks at one point, forcing us to crawl our way to Fairwater in a way that was slightly reminiscent of my mother driving on ice), I forgot to mention the highlight of Tuesday: I managed to hold my breath for more than two minutes.
    I was sitting in the train at the Radyr station, staring at the platform's digital clock, when I thought: "Hey, I'll pass the time by depriving myself of oxygen."
    Curly says he's the type of person who has nothing better to do than sit around on a train platform for a few hours, and apparently I am, as well. But, still, two full minutes, bitches. Go ahead, try right now -- can you do better*?

  • I saw today that Malta is the fattest country in Europe. Congratulations, Malta, you fat bastards.
    Of course, although Malta's average body mass index is 26.6, that is still comfortably better than my home country, where the average BMI is 29. Yes! Maybe some day we'll be able to rival Micronesia, where the average BMI is 32!
    In case you're wondering, according to the BBC's BMI calculator, my BMI is 23.23. I am the picture of health, ladies.

  • Yes, I am lame for being impressed by this. I think I am most impressed by the outside-the-box thinking required to come up with the idea.

  • Best. Wikipedia. List. Ever.

    *I get a sense that perhaps Omega can beat my attempt. He can probably also kill a shark with a bread knife at the same time.

    Anonymous said...

    I'm just glad that I'm not the only one who spent time looking through that list of mammary-blessed, er, 'performers'.

    And here I was thinking I was the only person who practised holding my breath ;)

    bryan torre said...

    My brother and I used to do this as a competition. Friends say this explains a lot.
    My record was 2:35, by hyperventilating first then lying perfectly still while actually holding my breath.
    There's not a lot to do in some parts of Northern California.

    Anonymous said...

    And for the record: I just came home and did a 2:20 cold. No shark, no knife, but I did take a piss. I feel that should count for something.

    mona said...

    um ...I dont know what my weight is in stones...but Im pretty sure I know what my BMI lays around....
    I used to practice holding my breath in the pool when I was in highschool- it was my favorite post class activity...( I was aiming for a world record- but reality got the best of me pretty quickly)

    Wierdo said...

    Me and my brother used to practise holding our breath while going through a tunnel that goes under water in north wales (conwy)...I've never managed it so far but I'm quite sure it takes less than 2 mins to go through it. Damn