macho man.

 i guess my last post sounded i’m leading a dispairing life in this country, so to set it back, i’m not actually in too much agony. it’s exactly four months being in this city, and i’ve been away from the philippines for 13 months straight, the longest continuous time i’ve been out of my homeland. lately, i’m engrossing myself with being active. if i’m not running, i’m swimming, well, let’s just say i try swimming. i’ve been running on and off for about 4 years now, my mom even inheriting the treadmill when i left home. i don’t go to any gym or fitness club. i suppose it’s better for me to run outside along the jogging lanes downstairs our flat where i don’t have to pay a single cent. it is also more flexible for me as i can run anytime i want. running outdoors is different than running on machines primarily because it is more physically demanding perhaps due to external forces and resistance and gravity. but then, it is more enjoyable because you see a lot of interesting things, and maybe just by the fact that you are actually moving! i don’t run as much and as fast as i ran before but i hate to admit that it might be because A.) I’m aging., B.) I smoke., C.) I’m too heavy, my cheeks are plump enough and dragging me slow., or D.) A bit of A, B, and C. in any case, i run at least 4km during each go (just like last night), but it really ranges. there was one night when i ran as much as 8km. last night’s 4km took me about 27 minutes.

just like i said, i’m taking swimming a little serious now. it’s not that i don’t know how to swim, or i have this intimate closeness to the silver swimming pool rod near the ladder when in pools. i really know how to float and swim, but they are all my own way of swimming. i never had lessons before, and i just do it the way my legs and arms would do naturally to survive. what i wanted to learn is to swim like phelps. haha, kidding aside, i just wanted to learn the proper strokes and be more efficient and take swimming as a form of exercise. taking lessongs is not an option as it is incredibly expensive, and with the kind of compensation we are getting, this is impractical. so, my flatmate and myself resolve this by learning on our own from video instructions. i was hesitant in the beginning, but thought i’ll never lose anything so why not try? (that’s a rhetorical question) i swim every tuesday (today), thursday, and saturday.

i hope i did not suggest that i’m very much into physically demanding workouts that you would expect i’m in the best of shape just like that model hunk imprinted on an underwear carton (that is how my flatmate described the kind of body he wants hehe). i still have extra 10 pounds or so..5 pounds on my left cheek and another 5 pounds on my right. excellent.