Three
April 12th, 2005 - 11:32 pm
#1
I feel great. With all of the major decisions and changes going on in my life as of late, I haven’t been taking time to exercise or stretch like I had been doing. Today was different. Why you ask? For no apparent reason I say.
After taking care of pending busywork, I managed to build up the energy and go for a run. I guess I’m in pretty good shape because I turned up my iPod (BT - Emotional Technology), tuned out the world (including the 1,000,000 things I feel like I have to accomplish soon), and ran for a good 2.5 miles without stopping. At the end, I took the time to stretch and enjoy being outside before running back home and taking a shower. It felt great, and I’m still glowing from it nearly five hours later.
That leads me to the question of they day. Why does exercising take so much activation energy? I almost always feel great after working out, but it’s hard to get myself to go sometimes. I don’t believe that I’m the only one that experiences this, but it still seems strange to me. If I know I’ll feel good when I’m done, why wouldn’t I want to go do it?
#2
I feel great. My tree-hugging hippie stats leveled up today! (/me pumps fist) When I went to the grocery store, I took a shoulder bag along with me to put the groceries in. It made me feel good to take the extra step and save a few plastic bags from ending up in the land fill. As an added bonus, it was easier to carry too. Level up!
#3
I feel bad. [dan](http://bastardface.blogspot.com) sent me [this link](http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/asiapcf/04/12/china.japan/index.html) today. Japan and China are at odds over a Japanese text book that apparently glosses over the atrocities done in China by Japanese soldiers during WWII. Personally I don’t quite get it. What does Japan have to lose by admitting to things that are already well documented? We should all just get along.. Don’t be “that guy”, Japan… No one likes a liar.. It’s not very honorable, now is it?
According to the article, Japan has publically appologized at least 17 times for WWII. I don’t know exactly what to believe on this front. Is Japan trying to play down what they did? Probably… We don’t like to get into too much detail about slaughtering the native americans, do we? On the other hand, I also find it hilarious in its pure ridiculousness that a representative of the Chinese government would say:
>”Only a country that respects history, takes responsibility for past history and wins over the trust of the people in Asia and the world at large can take greater responsibility in the international community,”
*blink*
Excuse me?!
“Sars, what Sars?”
(pause)
“Sars, oh yeah, we have sars.. it’s contained, nothing to worry about”
(short pause)
“Sars? What sars? Oh that guy was lying”
(longer pause)
“Yeah, there’s sars. We wan’t to be part of the international community. That guy who said there wasn’t any sars, he’s ‘fired’. You won’t be hearing from him again.”
And let us not forget the communists which still (technically) control
the country. Let us not forget about their efforts to [destroy china’s
culture](http://english.epochtimes.com/news/4-12-20/25087.html).
I guess I don’t know what to believe. I should just focus on exercise and work. Thinking about world issues is futile.
i would go on a tirade about that last statement, but i’m pretty sure you know what i think about that. be forewarned, the next time i see you, we’re going to talk about it.
#1: I’m so with you. I actually have been jogging on the order of miles (2) rather than blocks
I’m AMAZED that my body can do this. However, instead of feeling good afterward I often feel sick, because I over do it. Hopefully, I can learn to strike a balance. The strange thing is I have not been getting sore like I usually do from running. Yoga is the shiznit.
PS, the last comment is from me
running is an incredibly inefficient thing to do for humans, energy-wise. it takes us a lot more energy to run than walk, as opposed to many animals that run w/similar energy expenditure as when they walk. (i tried to find the article i read that in, but can’t find it right now). i also always find it hard to get my ass out and run but i usually feel better. as long as i don’t eat beforehand, cause then i wanna puke.
tee hee you’re gonna become a hippie.
if i was in nashville, i’d also talk to you about how thinking about world issues is not futile. but alas, i can’t. countries never like to air out their ruthless evil. but it’s our job to think about it, find out about it, and make them admit it so countries don’t think they can get away with their eeeeevil shenanigans.
Yeah, exercise is hard to motivate for. Shouldn’t be, but is. I think it’s because it feels like lost time, at least, i think i feel that way sometimes. Until it becomes something you enjoy doing, in and of itself, it’s a chore, and one that takes a fair amount of time to do right. That’s a tough sell, particularly when there are other things you want to do. The only way I’m usually able to do it is to realize that a) i’m not doing anything useful at the moment and/or b) i’m fat. Sometimes just focusing on my stupid body is enough motivation. Sometimes I have to go look at the pair of jeans i used to wear sophmore year of college… i keep them around just to remind me that i wasn’t always 40-50 pounds overweight.
As for number 3, i read about that too. Not having seen the actual book (or a translation, i guess, since my japanese is barely at the “Hi, my name is…” level), I can’t really say how bad it is or isn’t. Most everyone has a tendency to minimize the bad stuff they did, big surprise there… Do I think, ideally, that history books should be completely objective and not leave out the blemishes? Yeah, i guess I do, because I feel like people learn better when they get to see things in 3 dimensions, so to speak. Now, ask me if I think that’s likely…
Still, I have trouble believing it was so bad that it demanded widespread protests. Clearly, it struck a nerve.
I don’t agree that thinking about world issues is futile, but I do think that it’s only one element among many others, and that if you’re just a bundle of rage and indignation all the time, you’re not really living a worthwhile life. I’ve had a tendency to fall into that trap before… it’s silly.
Exercising is stupid.
So is thinking about the rest of the world. Don’t worry about it!
What else .. oh yeah, go to hell, you tree-hugging hippie.
I can’t really say anything more profound than Dan’s last comment and Kerry touched on my support for avoiding issues, that being that issues aren’t the end all be all. Sometimes it is futile to enrage yourself so completely that you can’t think about anything else. Sometimes it is nice to ignore the problems in the world simply so one can appreciate the good things that *are* in the world. There are good things, you know. I mean, otherwise we’d nuke the entire f*@&$ng planet, right?
Oh, and Yay! for the running. Also, beware poison ivy — I don’t want to have to laugh at you.
No way… poison ivy rules. Add some to your salad sometime… it’s totally awesome.
:)
Actually, if you ever, you know, hate me for some reason, just rub some poison ivy on my pillow. I’ll be owned. I’m so alergic that i got it one time from when the neighbor hit some with the weedwacker 10 feet away… I guess that shit got airborne or somebody. Totally lame.