To Train, To Grow, To Be Strong

Good morning fellow bloggers, hope the day is going well for you all so far, but if it isn't, then I hope that it'll get better as the hours tick by. The title of today's post, "To Train, To Grow, To Be Strong", is somewhat of a tribute to my re-entry into the world of physical fitness. Yes, I did it, I finally did it...I paid my $37.50 and finally joined the gym down the road from my apartment complex! (aren't you proud of me Yamfoot?). I finally decided that it needed to be done, not just because I want to look better, but because I want to re-capture that aspect of my teenage and early 20's that I enjoyed and because I need to keep myself healthy and vibrant for a long time to come!

Thanks to all of you who commented on my poem, I really appreciate the feedback, and I'm glad it touched some of you! After all, I do write because I enjoy writing, but what good are my words if others aren't enjoying and being inspired by them? Anyhow, I'm really glad that I started training again...I haven't had the spirit to exercise or take care of myself for quite a while; I guess it had to do with a variety of personal issues, primarily my grandmother's passing. Somehow, I just gave up on life for a while, let the depression grab a hold of me, got a little too friendly with the bottle (nope, I'm not an alcoholic), and generally allowed myself to wallow in the murky waters of self pity and despair...18 months is way too long.

But all that's over now and, as the poem says, I'm a warrior and I must fight, though the battle seems hopeless. I've decided that from here on out I'm going to change the quality of my life. I'm going to change the way I eat and live. I'll be 28 on Friday, 2 years more and I'll be 30. My dad has already warned me about the difficulty of losing weight in my 30s and also reminded me that diabetes runs in our family. Yes, I know that death will come for me someday, that is my fate, but until then I'll just have to keep on maintaining and not doing anything to welcome him to my doorstep anytime too soon...after all, I'd still like to see my kids and grandkids some day...but if Mr. Death comes knocking, I'd like to be able to say, "Hey man, I had a good one, no regrets!"

Anyhow, enough of this philosophy lesson, a friend of mine was telling me about one of her friend's adventures with a fishbone this weekend. Can you imagine, the man was having dinner and swallowed a fishbone...a 9-inch fishbone mind you. Can you believe that the darn thing went down into his stomach, puncutured his oesophagus, and almost hit a major artery, which would've resulted in death! Now, I suppose that the moral of the story is to never, ever eat fish (at least the boneless kind), but I beg to differ and I refuse to let this story stop me from eating my beloved steam fish and bammy at Port Royal when I'm next home (well, if the diet permits). The fact is that you'd have to be eating pretty damn fast in order to swallow a 9-inch fish bone that would cause that much damage! Even I, the king of inhaling food, knows that you don't eat fish so fast! Anyhow, just a cautionary note to blog friends, especially Stu, to be careful when eating fish! Next thing you know you'll be on the table going under the knife!

Anyhow, I man chat too much, so I gone...gotta go do some class preps and see if any students e-mailed me. Have a good one y'all! And remember, comment generously :).