Ok, no more hiding from the outside world, my muscles are stiff and sore, and finally it's for a good reason. I'm back. Not that I was ever gone far in the first place, it's just that when I'm not happy with my training performance I become a Reader more than a Blogger. Well I managed to get off my ass and go for a run/jog/walk yesterday, so I feel worthy of putting my proverbial pen to paper in this wannabe-fitness blog!
My thought of going for a run seemed like a great idea at 8am on Sunday morning as drifted in and out of sleep, wondering where I'd last seen my fancy Polar heart rate monitor. Hours later I felt increasingly discouraged by the sound of wind and rain against my bedroom window and dismissed my earlier plan as being nonsensical. After more hours of indecision I found myself lacing up my asics and putting iPod earphones in my ears and then somehow running along my my old 4.85mile route with ease, well at first anyway. I ran the first couple of miles, slowed to a jog for the next bit, then brisk-walked & jogged the rest of the way home. It took about 55 mins in total, so a nice relaxed pace, which left me energised and guilt-free for the day. How easy it is to forget how good it feels to exercise without pressure, no fear of making a bad time or of not burning enough calories, or not spending enough time in a fat-burning zone, just exercising cos it feels nice.
I've been doing a lot of thinking lately, about my life's direction or lack thereof. I've been thinking about moving to a city for a while to experience a different pace, I've also been thinking of going back to school to get my Masters. Going for that run yesterday was a great opportunity to try and Not Think of all of that, to just let it settle and see how it feels. For years I've thought about making these exact changes to my life, but in the past it was borne out of fear and an attempt to escape my living situation at the time, be it a relationship or a state of depression, it simply was not the answer to the problems I was experiencing. As I took stock of my life over the weekend, I realised that for once I might actually be in a position to make certain changes, for the right reasons. I want to live in a city like London if only for the life experience of it, and similarly I want to do my Masters because the subjects interest me. I'm actually ok with taking a major break from Taekwon-Do to do all of this, because after a few de-motivated months of half-hearted training, I think I might need a break regardless of my life choices.
Ok, those are all just musings, apologies for my rambling! I had originally intended on simply responding to
ChrisIlluminati's Tag last month, so I guess I'd better squeeze that in here too! In this game, Bloggers are asked to share seven things readers might not know about them, then direct readers to seven other blogs that he/she thinks would be interesting. So here goes:
1. I am half-Indian, half-Irish, born in Malaysia but raised in Ireland. Makes for a lengthy yet interesting answer to the seemingly innocuous question "where are you from?".
2. I am one of six (yes 6!) children, my two older sisters are half-Chinese from my Mum's first marriage, and there are 4 of us on the half-Indian side, making for very colourful family reunions!
3. I love languages, having been educated at a Gaelscoil (Gaelic-speaking school) for a number of years as a child, I have an affinity for learning new languages. I speak a bit of French and Italian, and I attempt to speak Polish as much as possible (which is increasing in the last few years with the influx of Polish people in Ireland, yay!)
4. Leading on from education, and perhaps explaining why I didn't spend all of my primary school years in that Gaelscoil, I was home-schooled for 5 years as a child. Having been skipped up 2 grades at the age of 4, my Mum decided to train in Montessori and kept myself and my brother home to learn at our own pace. (I used it as an opportunity to read every book within my reach at the local library!)
5. I speed-read at an embarrassing rate. I say it's embarrassing because I do get very self-conscious when people notice. I often re-read a page a number of times and try to guess how long it would take a normal person to read it but even then I still get it wrong and people are shocked at my speed. (I just had a thought that maybe I shouldn't have bothered bullet-pointing this list if I'm going to convolute every sentence...) Anyway...
6. I spent a summer in Hawaii the year I finished University. Well Maui to be precise. I used my student visa to work as a waitress, learn to surf, get a tan and live an idyllic life for 3 months. I still miss it... *sigh*....
7. Everyone knows how involved I am in Taekwon-Do, between training and teaching, but few realise that a major part of the reason I started was because I fancied the instructor! We ended up dating, and stayed going out for nearly 7 years in total, with me ending the relationship before my 23rd birthday, thus leaving me entirely unprepared for the dating game! This may explain why I am so easily excited when a new man comes in to my life, I think I just regress to my 16 year old self and can't suppress the girlish giggles!
Not sure if any of that was interesting, but I'm fairly sure it was information I hadn't really written about before.
Now for the blogs I'd recommend, and this wasn't as easy as I'd imagined! But here are some sites that I find inspiring:
Ah... it's nice to be back.... :o)
