New Workout Plan

I can't believe it's been 3 weeks since I posted! Well I had a post typed out about a week ago but I never got around to posting it and I've decided to scrap it and perhaps write about the topic another time because the topic of this post has been weighing on my mind a little bit more heavily.

"Who's in shape?"... If you watched the NCAA game where Kansas State beat Xavier in double overtime (sidenote: CRAZY GAME!) then you surely heard the announcer yelling that very line over and over as the game was winding down. I started thinking why is he yelling that? Why isn't he asking "Who's the better team?" or "What team has the better shooter?", "What team is better defensively?" But no he asked "Who's in shape?" By stating this over and over in double overtime the announcer was suggesting that the team who was going to win was not the team who had better shooters, not the team who was better defensively, not the team with better rebounders, but the team who was more "in shape." The team who was going to win was the one who had the greater endurance, the one who wouldn't get tired of running up and down the court.

This line reminded me of high school when my basketball coach would have us running non-stop during the off season. Our season didn't start until December but every afternoon even if it was the middle of February we ran non-stop for an hour plus. When we would ask him why we ran so much, why we ran more on the track then we did in an actual basketball game he would always remind us of the 4 quarters in the game. If players didn't have the endurance to last all 4 quarters (and perhaps even overtime) then it didn't matter how talented they were because they would be of no use to the team. How could we ever expect to score a point or block a defender when we're huffing and puffing just to get to where we need to be on the court.

See the key difference between 1st and 2nd place, between the winner and the loser, between great and average often lies in the preparation. Do you effectively prepare yourself to be able to endure all 4 quarters? On the academic side, Do you effectively prepare yourself to be able to endure all 10 weeks of a quarter, the entire semester?, how about multiple midterms and all of finals week?

If I were to answer this questions I would flat out say NO. I did not effectively prepare last quarter and my grades showed it. I didn't do horrible, I did pretty decent, but the bottom line was that I didn't reach my full potential because I did not effectively prepare.

Ever since I was in kindergarten my mother always reminded me that "Practice makes perfect." When I was struggling with learning my multiplication she said "Practice makes perfect," when I couldn't seem to get a hit in softball "Practice makes perfect," when I was learning how to read "Practice makes perfect," when I was struggling with my freethrows "Practice makes perfect", even now when some chemistry questions trip me up "Practice makes perfect." She always taught me to prepare so when the big test came I'm would be able to solve the question, I'd be able to get that hit, make that basket.

How will I attempt my (continued from last quarter) goals of getting an A- in all my classes? By effectively preparing because Practice Makes Perfect. During midterms and finals we will see Who's in shape (in academic "shape") and who prepared.

Are you in shape?

-La Rhino

Dancing In The Rain...

It's hard to believe a year and a half has already passed. A year and a half that I've moved out here to La Jolla/San Diego to pursue my dreams. While I've encountered many bumps in the road since that first day, this is a first for me. I can't lie, I'm homesick. I'd give anything to be able to pack my bags go home and just enjoy the company of my family without having to worry about my next test, how I'm going to pay for things, how much sleep I'm going to get the next week etc.

I miss home-cooked meals. I miss sitting down at the dinner table. I miss seeing my dog outrageously happy when I walk up to the door. I miss being able to drive 15 minutes to see my grandparents. I miss my grandpa's smile. I miss my hearing my grandma Licha singing and dancing to her favorite music. I miss visiting my dad. I miss being my grandma Queti's laugh. Even though I know I'm here to pursue my dreams it gets harder and harder not to just pick up and leave. Not forever of course, I would never leave UCSD, but just for a week, for a day, for a couple of hours even. Perhaps Asher Roth said it best in his verse in "F*** The Money" when he said...

I don't know how to feel

when this dream of mine used to be so real

I would do anything just to sign a deal

but now I'd trade it all for a home cooked meal

In my case a "deal" being my SIR (Statement of Intent to Register) to a university. Spring Break is just one and a half weeks away but I can't lie and say the wait is not agonizing. Everyday I have to remind myself of why I work so hard, why I left home to come here, and why I can't just pick up and leave, why I've been reduced to eating sandwiches everyday when I used to have a tasty, yet healthy, hot meal at for dinner. And sometimes when I'm just too tired to remind myself my mom does it for me. She reminds me of why I'm here and not there. 

This quarter at school has been hard and not seeing my family for over two months has made it even harder but if it means that one day I'll be in a position to be an even greater blessing to others then I'll continue on. While I may be homesick I just have to remind myself of the reason that brought me here in the first place. I have to remind myself of my passion to learn, my passion to help the poor and down-trodden, and my passion to spread the knowledge. I have to not only remember the rain of the past but remember that what got me through it was my passion. 

While my clouds may be raining and make me miss home and make me want to run back home, I will not, instead I will close my eyes and Dance in the Rain and await the sunny skies and await the day when I am meant to go home instead of running back prematurely before I accomplish my goals. Anyhoo, if you don't know who the artist Blu is or never heard of him get on it.

"I left the office, got a phone and called my partner Jack

And I asked him, remind me why I'm rappin'?

And right before he answered I remember my passion in the past

When I was scribblin' in my tablet to box out my mom and dads scrappin'

To help me when my grandmother passed

Plus the many times I was homeless

And the times when I was broke

And this music made a way when I was hopeless

He told me to remember the rain, it'll diminish the pain

He told me not to ask him again cuz I know"

-Blu "Dancing in the Rain"

Keep Dancing y'all

-

La Rhino