23 and 1/2 hours

Now that I’m out of the fitness teaching industry, I find myself craving for fitness even more.  I’m working out every day to improve my health.  In the past, I would work out every day so that I would have new tricks to teach my clients/students.  I just absolutely love fitness!

Came across this video on CBC this morning and thought I should share it here.  Nothing new; no break through scientific methods for losing weight or anything.  But it does illustrate a straightforward point: exercise daily to maintain your health.  People always complain about how expensive it is to get fit, how ridiculous it is for the government to have to spend so much tax payers’ dollars on health, and how difficult it is to stay healthy and look good.  I say, quit your bitching and get out walking.  The accountability is on us to maintain our health.  Not the walk-in clinics.  Not your family doctor.  Not the hospital.  And certainly not the government.  The health care system offers a framework of accountability to help us to achieve our individual fitness goals.  It is up to us to keep ourselves healthy and stay out of the hospitals so that less money will be pumped into acute care and less waiting time will be talked about in the papers.  Frail patients with chronic conditions who need to rely on the health system is a different story.  I’m sure our system is doing its best to help people out.  But when I see a 20-year-old watching TV and playing video games all day at home and yakking about how it’s too much work to go to the gym, I just get pure, freaking angry.

What a Week!

It is when you are beaten by life over and over again for no apparent reasons, every day, every breath and every heartbeat is a blessing.

Mary & Me

It's been ten days
Since we last met
I've been missing you
Like a thirsty pet

I miss your smell
I miss your taste
I love the way you move
When I hold your waist

You aren't good for me
That's what they say
We have to be apart
It's the only way

I know we will meet again
When life is more ideal
Before that day comes
Promise me you are not real

My Wife

It makes me teary-eyed sometimes when I think of Anya.

After a long, dark and cold bike ride, I came home to this today:

Anya had made this tasty dinner for us.  There were teriyaki unagi, tuna sashimi, green onion and soya sauce dipping sauce, sesame spinach, ginger garlic chicken wings, Japanese rice and Sir Perry cider.  It was AMAZING!  Of course Holly was innocently pretending she’s not interested in this yummy dinner at all.

Thank you, Anya.  You’ve won the Best Wife of My Life award 🙂 xoxo!

Turning Pages of 2012

Today is the first day of 2013.  2012 is officially over.  The New Year’s party at Sarah and Derek’s new house was fun-tastic.  We had a great time with great friends.  It was a nice way to wrap up the year.

2012 was fruitful.  We moved into our Crownwood house on February 29.  Crownwood is my parents’ retirement home, but we are looking after it for them for now.  Because of the space of Crownwood, Anya and I decided to host home stay students.  I was once a home stay student and benefited plenty from the program.  Giving back seems like a nice thing to do.  Plus, I like learning new things from other cultures.  Wael, Alex and Billy have all been awesome students.  We’ve been very lucky.

I started my new position at the Ministry of Health as Performance Management Analyst on July 23.  Working as a performance management analyst is very different from being an information analyst.  I don’t need to do any programming any more.  Instead, I need to analyze the data my previous branch produces and turn them into meaningful reports and diagrams.  My director, Juanita, has also assigned me a research task on holistic health system monitoring and measurement.  I’m hoping my masters thesis on systems thinking and integrated care will be helpful to my new job.

In the fitness department, I finally quit my group class instructor job at the Ian Stewart Complex.  I still remember that it was Monday, December 3.  I walked out of the ISC building after teaching my last TRX class.  I felt sad.  I have been working there since 2003 from a Strength Trainer to Personal Trainer to Group Fitness Instructor.  I will miss that gym.  It was my stomping ground as a fitness instructor.  I chatted with Amy, my supervisor, about my situation and finally quit my job.  Amy didn’t try to convince me this time.  She knew I wanted an end to this career.  Amy had convinced me to teach group fitness classes after I tried to quit as a personal trainer back in April.  I saw the value in teaching fitness classes, so I agreed to take on the challenge.  Spin classes and TRX circuit classes had been fun, but they are very time consuming and distracting to my study.  I really need to focus on finishing my thesis.

Other things happened in 2012 that are worth mentioning are:

  • Chris and Anudeep’s wedding on August 5 in Toronto
  • Liona and Barry’s wedding on August 18 in Victoria
  • Dragon babies: the Martins (Koen), the Stretches (Lila), the Wongs (Iyla), and the Ungs (Sarah)
  • My basketball team, Hammerheads, got our first championship in December in the VSSC league
  • My first participation in Tough Mudder
  • Also first participation in Movember
  • Anya got laid off from UVic

I’m excited about 2013.  I hope I can achieve the following goals:

  • Finish writing and defending my thesis
  • Read six books: three fictions and three non-fictions
  • Travel more with Anya

Bring it on, 2013!