Hello folks! That right there is the perfect description of Houston right now. I sweat in my car no matter if the A/C is on or if the windows are down, so I just roll down my windows to save some gas (unless I am on the highway of course). But that is the environment I am working with right now. I am used to it so I can take it hot.
So I have to say I am not working as a waiter this summer. My father disproves of that because he is very narrow minded. He believes that it will have negative influences on me because he thinks the waiters/workers there are not cool (He has not even met them before or anything! He just assumes with his little Asian mind). My mom said that he said to her that he was scared that the waiters will ask me to eat dinner with them after a shift............. so I was like ok just forget it, I will simply not work because that thought is so absurd, he would say anything for me to not work. I had to fight hard to work last summer and in the end I won and had a good time. It seems as if though he forgot I worked last summer and had NO issues with anyone or anything at all... and that I got along with everybody there and experienced the real world that he has been shielding me from. So this summer looks like another shielded one (ironic, because he did not allow me to tint my car, which I will do anyway because I rather stay cool in my car than roast like a piece of beef, hence the delicious roast beef sandwich. At least I will be delicious though). So maybe it wont be shielded from the sun. But wait I already made an appointment with a tint service man to come on Tuesday, so too bad. Looks like I am staying "cool" this summer in my car!
That leaves me with a bunch of extra free time, since I only have class (American lit) 2 hours a day for 5 days a week for 6 weeks. So far I have been just taking it easy. I have seen some friends and exercised and ate and slept some. But now that I know I am out of work, I realized I need to start making goals and plans. What do I want to do to improve my life? What aspects do I need to jump on? What will this summer bring to me, and what will I make of it? These are questions that I ask myself? Oh yes indeed. My past summers were busy enough, but this time seems like I have to take charge of it, which I am not very good at. So I was at HEB with my mom and just thought of some ideas so my summer is not a complete waste of time. These aren't really in complete order of priority, just what I thought of.
1. Exercise. I have to keep up with this. This is no joke, my mom and dad constantly remind me how fat I have gotten and tell me that I must diet or else girls will not like me. Just kidding about the last part, but not kidding about this is no joke. BUT! but but but but butt. I KNOW I am not fat. So it's okay. My parents are from Vietnam so they are not used to big Asian people. My mom told me today that she is so amused how she gave birth to un huesudo (a big boned person) because she is sooooooo very skinny and is at risk of osteoporosis. I think American milk has something to do with this.
I actually do weigh a lot though. In the afternoon, I hit up to 168 lbs. and once i saw 169 lbs. but in the morning after my business before i eat after i brush my teeth I am 165 lbs. (hey gotta scrape off any of that plaque that's adding to my weight) so I guess I am 165 lbs. That is about a 10 pound weight difference since the start of my Sophomore first semester, and a 20 pound difference since my beginnings at Baylor. I blame Pendland and their fajitas, turkey burgers, enchiladas, guacamole, eggs, reuben sandwiches, greek gyros, pasta, pizza, potatoes, chicken salad, desserts, omelettes, mashed potatoes, zucchini, ice cream, everything (besides the chicken breast)! So I am going to couple that with eating healthier and perhaps I will learn to cook some healthy meals. I guess that is point number 2.
But before that I must tell you how I will accomplish this feat. My goal is to perhaps lose 5 lbs since I will probably lose fat and gain muscle. My good friends Thanh and Steve and Jenny (and anyone else whom I will work out with) will keep me accountable. Thanh, occasionally Steve, and I will be doing P90X over the course of the summer and so far, so good; We did 2 whopping days of it! And Jenny will cycle with me. I realized I prefer working out with others since I apparently lack motivation or just suck at exercising since every time I do something alone it is not good. But I also have another goal: cycle at least 400 miles this summer. No es facil (It is not easy) but that simply means for 30 days, I have to do my normal route which is about 13 miles. I think I will start riding with a group that meets every Thursday as well and learn from them. I never ridden bikes in a peloton (big group of people, about 10+) before so that will be fun and exciting. Maybe I can post some mileage as motivation! We will see how that works out. (I love puns)
I am also glad I will not be spending $100 bucks for a gym membership, since the gym I go to reeks of sweat and testosterone. I'd rather save that and work out in the comfort of my own house where I can do it anytime I want and in piece and in any type of clothing (or lack of). Gotta save money if I am not working!
2. Eat healthy and learn to cook. I must do this to maintain a healthy lifestyle. I already started to do this today when I went to HEB by myself and bought some chicken breast, brown rice crackers, low fat string cheese, couscous, salmon, tuna, cottage cheese, and vegetables. No more chips, popcorn, and... what ever else I ate for snacks that were unhealthy, for me! My mom told me when I took her to HEB that she will teach me how to cook, and she is a good cook! And she is a healthy eater too so I can trust her recipes and ways.
The trick here is to eat constantly, but steadily. Instead of 3 meals, I will eat 5-6 or 7 times a day but small portions, so I will never go hungry. This will keep my metabolism up, and my stomach not full, but content. And I am trying to follow the P90X nutrition guide, so that might be a challenge too!
3. Pick up my guitar. I took one class in senior year in high school but that is not enough. I should practice more as it will ease any stress and I will sound good while doing so. It is way better than venting it in other ways! Actually I can vent stress via working out too but I am never stressed so it wont matter. I should play some of the popular songs since they only use 4 chords or so and are catchy and I can attempt to sing along. I lost my guitar callouses so I am bummed about that, but then again my parents never let me bring up my guitar to Waco. I hope to bring it up this time though, especially if I can play it well enough. Then I can really de-stress from my classes. Plus I think music is important and I do not play any instruments so this will be nice.
4. Read something. There are things that I realize I appreciate now that I do not do them anymore. Reading is one of them. It used to be a requirement, we were forced to read. Now, I don't even do it! Same goes for writing. So I think I will head to the book store and pick up some novel, and read it when I am there. Time to toss those magazines aside for a bit, as they are cool, but are not the same. Hopefully the American lit class will make me read something interesting.. they will probably be poems or some short stories.. I dunno. This also ties to writing. I am already writing with this blog, but I will be required to write essays too. That should be fun.
5. Practice Spanish. I actually thought of this right after I finished the last required Spanish class at Baylor (Also partly because Prof. Scott was the best man ever, he was born to teach Spanish!). I have been taking it for around 6 years and do not want to simply give this up! I will certainly miss Spanish classes, but I will practice it. I have a lot of friends at Baylor that speak it so that is no problem. Heck, I might write my next journal entry in Spanish! You should use google translate to see how accurate (or inaccurate) it is (I tend to write word for word translations so google should pick it up anyways)! Don't hold it against me (hahaha oh spears) though since I might forget. I wanted to work at Papasitos again so I can bust out some espanol but... not so much. I will read more stories in my text book that we got for Intermediate Spanish and keep looking over the vocab (albeit a ton of the words are very situational, while I was watching a soccer game I called a hairy man un hombre que es hirsutas , which should mean a hairy man, but Griscel's dad did not understand, so it was probably not from Mexico) since we did not read them all. Great stories they are!
Breaking blog news: I was just watching a Reds v. Phillies game and the 2nd basement, Valdez, was pitching since they ran out of players and want to save the relievers for other games. They are on the 19th inning, and have been playing for 6 hours! WOW! Valdez said "I can pitch" and the coach asked, "Are you sure?" and he said "Yes" and got 3 outs like it was his duty. He NEVER pitched before, ever. I find that very cool. Okay cool story, now back on topic.
Last weekend (Thurs + Fri), I spent the entire day with Griscels daddy and mommy (and the family as well). It felt as if I was a foreign exchange student since they fed me authentic Mexican food and spoke to me in mostly Spanish. We also watched TV in Spanish and watched a soccer game together. We always speak in Spanish and he says mine is good! I believe him. I also correct my mistakes right away as I realize them, if I realize them. Hopefully I can improve, or keep my Spanish intact this summer, and after that as well.
More breaking news, Valdez got the win! That will probably be his only one haha. Okay now back to my life.
6. Keep my house clean, AND the garage (that is my dad's territory though). Basically I wanna be my own maid. Last summer I cleaned it up VERY nice, but now it is back to being dirty again, especially with all of my Waco things (and ahem, my parents). So far the living room is clean, now I have to move on to my room. Actually I probably will leave my room as is since it will all go to Waco anyways. So much for that... The garage needs to be cleaned for the tint man so I need that clear by Tuesday! Once clean, it will stay clean (till next summer).
Ok I will stop there. I might think of other ideas later, and I will keep yall up to date! Hopefully I keep at least a couple of these goals going strong! But it will be better if I keep all of my goals up! Until next time.
-KT
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