Keeping Fit

My friend talked me into working out with her for a month. Before this, I had never actually had a formal workout regimen. My dad is a fitness nut, but the most I would do is go downstairs and try to complete a few assisted pull-ups and then I would get tired and leave. Merissa's workouts are less than 20 minutes long, five days a week. She uses a plan by Lisa Marie-BodyRockTv Host. The woman who organizes this posts workouts every day for free over Facebook and Merissa tells me what to do. There is no equipment used other than some basic furniture around the house such as folding chairs and a couch.

We have just finished our third week of workouts and I am feeling so much stronger and healthier. I feel so proud when Jeremy, my boyfriend, puts his hand on my back or feels my arm and exclaims that I am fit! I have never been so healthy. I played sports as a kid, but when I hit high school, I did no sports or exercise. I didn't blow up like a balloon, though, because I inherited a fantastic metabolism from my dad. I felt that since I was already pretty skinny, I didn't need to work out. I am very happy that I am keeping fit now. It isn't that hard to do, either. I work out for 20 minutes before school every day and then there is an app on my phone that makes it very easy to keep track of how healthy I am eating. It scans barcodes and it is very simple to tell it if you are having more or less than one serving of the item. It keeps track of all your nutritional information, including water intake, weight, and exercise. I am not a calorie-counting nut, but it is nice to know that I am eating right.

If I were not working out with Merissa, I would not do nearly as well as I am. There were a few days that we had to work out on our own because our schedules didn't match and I could not push myself to do as well as I do when I have Merissa there to compare myself to and the keep pushing me to my limits.

Lots of good news has been hitting me lately. I was accepted into the college I wanted to go to, I was accepted into the honors college at that school, and I bought a new laptop to celebrate those achievements. I am loving my new laptop. I purchased a HP Pavilion dv6t with an i7 processor, 750G of RAM, 8G of memory, beats audio, an integrated webcam, and a few other goodies with it. It is so fast! I am very happy with it. I opted out of the Blu-ray player because I currently don't own any Blu-ray discs and I can watch them on the TV at home anyway.

So far, life has been working out well. I have been having a good month so far and I hope I can keep it rolling.

Moving Forward with Confidence

I was presented an interesting idea by a man who volunteers at my work. Joe is a retired schoolteacher who values a practical education. Why do we write papers in school? I suggested it was to gather and present information to our superiors, be they teachers or bosses. He told me that every time he had a semi-major choice to make in his life, he would write a detailed research paper on it. He would look up facts on cars and how to bargain and what questions to ask when looking at an apartment. I think this is an excellent idea. I have held myself back from making many major decisions in my life so far because I was so afraid I would make the wrong choice. I will no longer be afraid.

I should have begun this process while I was in high school, deciding which college to go to and what to major in. I still am not sure where to go on that, but I want to try this method out on housing arrangements. I want to know what the cost of owning a home vs renting an apartment is. I want to know what questions to ask when looking at each option and I want to know what I should do as I make the first steps towards the decision I would make.

Another idea I need to explore is a car. I have a fine car right now, but I want to know what is out there and I need to know what I am talking about when I go finally buy a new one. I know next to nothing about automobiles and I should know more than “you put the window washer fluid in here and the gas in there.”

Another idea skated across my mind. What about travelling? I don’t want children for another 10 years and I am too young to think about retirement when I have so many other steps to take in life, first. I want to travel for a couple of years after I get out of college and see new places. I would like to pick a European country and live there for a year or two, visiting the other nearby countries on weekends. Then, after those years abroad, I can make a decision on where I want to live for the rest of my life, be it in the US or Italy or Switzerland or France.

I am not averse to researching and writing. I am not afraid of papers when they come up in classes at school. This is something I haven’t tried before though. Researching for me is not a familiar subject, but I want to know. I want the knowledge to be a well-rounded person and make educated decisions on who I am and what I want. If that means a little bit of work, well, I have been raised to not shirk from that. I am doing this for me.