Gym Time

I find some sort of peace and while at the gym for some reason. There's just some sort of escape for me there with my music, running, and lifting really heavy things. Oftentimes, my homies would wave at me at the gym and I'd not notice because I'm off in my own little world. Also, I think that being an extrovert, I love being in a gym with lots of people rather than working out by myself. It's also why I love studying at Gateway or at Starbucks with all of its little sounds and such.

It's something I love to do and it's also something I do to get away and clear my head with all the little happenings in life. Maybe the secret to dealing with daily struggles is to immerse yourself into something that you're so passionate in. Unfortunately, I feel that many people "get away" by becoming workaholics. I know my dad is, he works to get away from the troubles of home and all that and maybe I'm starting to be like that. I've picked up more shifts at work, granted the money is pretty good too, but maybe I'm trying to find something and I'm using work and the gym to fufill that mystery want for now.

Cultural and Language Barriers

A while ago, I went to a little pho restaurant near my house before heading off to school for one of my later classes. I went in, ordered, and ate. While I was eating, I couldn't help but notice a Caucasian man in the restaurant also ordering.

He was noticeably frustrated by the language barrier, but he eventually was able to get something. When they brought out the food, he had to send it back because it wasn't exactly what he ordered. It came back and it still wasn't what he ordered. Eventually he just got up, paid for his drink, and left.

As I didn't know why I didn't offer my help. And I wondered, after he left, if I did help out, would it have helped make someone's day a little bit better? After all, why not, right? I speak Vietnamese, and he had trouble communicating, so why not right?

They say that the decisions that we make today are due to the decisions we've made in the past. Every time we do something, we wonder, if only for a brief moment, "Hey, what happened last time I did this?" It is also said that we're the sum of our mistakes and experiences, so perhaps we all get distinct quirks of our personality from something from our past.

Feelin' New

It's been hella years since my injury where I broke my ankle. Whenever I tried to run, it'd always hurt after about five minutes, and I'd stop and do something less intensive, like the elliptical machine or the stair master (the stair master is an evil, evil machine, btw) And so, without changing my eating habits (pho or BCD after a late night partying, KBBQ twice a week, All you can eat such, and other things that should be taken in moderation, I mean, did you know one shot of tequila has 200 calories?) my figure noticeably got bigger. =(

So one day I woke up, went to the ARC and went on the treadmill, and ran. I was tuning out on with my music when I checked the time, I had been running for ten minutes, and I was still doing fine. I ended up finishing with 20 minutes. Thinking it was only a one day occurance, I went back the next day, then the next day, and the next day, and I realized, hey, I can finally run again.

And it may seem a little trivial, how important running is, and as cliche as this might sound, but until that abillity has been taken away from you, you don't really realize the importance of such things until then. So it's been fun running these past few days (finals week notwithstanding).

It's the small things in life that keep us running through it, don't you think?