Effort (and nothing but)

I remember it well and yet I'd forgotten...

I'd wake up to the sound of my alarm clock radio at about 6am. I'd get up and go downstairs to lace up my running shoes and go for a run. Nothing too far, just anywhere from 1-2 miles. Then, I'd go home to shower and eat a breakfast.

I'd get to school before the first bell. After 6 periods, with a break and a lunch worked in there, I'd hit the courts around 3pm with the team. Donning tennis shoes and wielding strung graphite, we would work on anything from drills, serves, and anything else that came up. Once practice was over, I'd go home to to lift weights or skip rope.

Once dinner came around, I'd eat like a vacuum cleaner. I'd even go for a second bowl of rice to chase it all down. Then its off to homework until about 11pm. Then, I'd do plyometrics or some abs. Then I'd go downstairs to to eat my 4th meal of the day: a toasted bagel with cream cheese followed by a glass of milk. Then I'd go to sleep to start this process all over again.

One of my life's lessons was learned here in high school. Effort can whatever shortcoming you might have had in the beginning. You may have "natural talent" or you may not. Whatever the case, its really the work you put into it that helps you surpass obstacles.

Somehow, I lost some of this ethic in college and in the working world. How this came to pass, I'm not even sure. Its funny how times like these can really make you you think about it.

I need to get back there somehow.

At a Standstill (almost)

First off, I'd like to apologize to everyone I haven't spoken with in a long time. Thanks for the concern. Recently, I've suffered a setback in life. It was very traumatizing for me and with the shame that I felt (not that I even did anything wrong), I found it hard to tell people about it, even my parents.

I could go on and on about how it wasn't fair and debate how messed up it happened. However, I'm done with the bouts of feeling depressed or holding my own silent vigil of rage. It really is time to move on.

As of now, I'm re-applying and hoping for the best. I seem to have a sort of fire in me right now. The kind that will pretty much steamroll anything that gets in my way. I'm gonna be back.

On another note, you'd be surprised how much you can bench press if you're angry.

Limbo

What else can I say? I'm in limbo... $%&^#$%#$%$##@%#@$">*$%&^#$%#$%$##@%#@$!@!!!!!!!!!

#%^$^#%^*#$%^#$^#$!!!!!!!!!

M#$%#^$#@er@#$@!%">M#$%#^$#@er@#$@!%!!!

I'll leave it at that. Good night.

Training...and more Training.

This week, I've been training a lot....sitting through orientation classes and doing a lot of physical training. And the best part of it is that real training starts this Monday. Needless to say, I'm both excited and apprehensive about it.

This is perhaps my last weekend where I have free time.

Jimmy's wedding is this sunday!

Educational Shows of the 80s!!!

For some reason, I've been reminiscing over old educational shows of the past. PBS rules. With youTube at my disposal, research is more like time travel bonanza for me. These shows were kind of fun to watch and you learned stuff at the same time! Seriously, who needs school? Check it out...

Mister Roger's Neighborhood - Nifty theme song, neato scale model mockup of his neighborhood, and the cool little trolley in his house. The late Mister Rogers is dearly missed. It was probably because of this show that I longed to put a scale model trolley and tracks running throughout my house. I could probably do that now, actually. However, the HOA would probably kill me.

Sesame Street - If you don't know this show, then you need to be reminded of a few things...LBJ is no longer in office. Not much I need to elaborate. I'm sure some of of the characters remind me of some of my friends (myself included).

3-2-1 Contact - A show that got me into physics. The beginning theme was neat. The Bloodhound Gang? A milder form of do-gooder vigilante justice.

Voyage of the Mimi - It was a show about ocean researchers who track the Atlantic migration of the Humpback whale. In 5th grade, we had to watch this show and I rather liked it. It was more interesting than boring old math or english. Catchy theme song. It seriously got me into marine biology. After a recent video dive, I found that the lead kid actor of the show is none other than...Ben Affleck?? I was very surprised.

Square One TV - This show made mathematics cool. True to SNL form, each skit highlighted different aspects of math such as fractions, geometry, decimals or what have you. Also true to SNL form was the outright parodies of pop culture! Everything from the Beach Boys, The Blues Brothers, to even Mariah Carey was lampooned. I was very surprised at the treasure trove of Square One clips out there. At the end of each episode was a detective show called Mathnet (like Bloodhound Gang for 3-2-1 Contact). Similar to Dragnet, there was a lot of voice-over narration. Set in LA, cops would use math to solve a littany of oddball cases. The carrying calculators in shoulder holsters (sans firearms) was a little weird to me, though.

Reading Rainbow - Lt. Commander Geordi LaForge is into books. And willing to use up his Starfleet shore leave to tell me about children's books. What a guy. Confession: I used to sing the theme song.

PBS rules!!! Rock on...

Time Flying

I haven't blogged since last year. Sure, time flies when we're having fun. The holidays came and went with tons of memories to boot. Good times with family and friends. Catching up with old friends.

Then again, not everything I've been doing was all that fun. I work a lot. So much that I'm finding it increasingly difficult to just spend time doing other worthwhile things...like rest...

Music Mania: the 90s

After watching VH-1's Top 100 hits of the 90s, I'm suddenly awash in memories of me and listening to either the radio or CDs. Bel Biv Devoe, Jewel, No Doubt, Tupac....the list goes on. I seem to remember when the songs came out (I'm only off by one year). I also seem to remember what I was doing at the time. Weird. Very surreal flashbacks for me.

Hip?

Last week, I was watching VH-1 with my hunny and we were watching top 40 music videos. It was rather refreshing.

First of all, I'm entralled to find that music videos still exist. Quite frankly, Im tired of most things that I find on MTV these days. When did music videos become scarce?

To tell you the truth, I feel like Im a l little out of it these days when it comes to music. With my crazy work schedule and everything else going on, I have no idea whats hot in music these days. But after watching a little VH-1, somehow I've become so much more aware of the music scene? So am I "hip" now?