Goals
So I hit 100 miles, with just a little to spare, with my run today. I have no mileage goals for this year. I’m taking things month by month, and I’m trying to heal, then I may work on a sub-20 minute 5k. But given it will be June tomorrow and my leg is still not healed, I’m not concerned about that too much.
But what struck me today was the idea of goals. I was thinking about a post from my cousin (in-law, but that’s not important, love her the same), where she details her struggles losing weight and how she’s recommitted herself, and I thought about how I managed it. I think the overall problem people have with losing weight is they set a “target weight” and usually that’s some large number of pounds/kilograms to lose. The fact is, I never set out to lose 70 lbs (31.75 kg), or to have six-pack abs and a gorgeous beach body (something I still don’t have and am still not working for), or to run marathons or any of that. My first goal was to drop 20 lbs (9 kg), because that’s what my doctor said I needed to get rid of to come off the blood pressure medication and not need such a harsh asthma maintenance medication. He said if I lost even more, I may be able to come off asthma maintenance meds completely. Given those are steroids, and I like to avoid all drugs, I was happy to try. But once I hit the initial goal, then I started to think about losing a little more. I did little pieces at a time.
I was constantly looking at where I was, how my body was reacting, and deciding where to go from there. I didn’t set some lofty goal at the outset and then get down when I didn’t hit it. I took it all in little steps, kind of like the “baby steps” thing in “What About Bob?” (great movie if you haven’t seen it, hilarious! “Death therapy, Bob!”) That’s it, start out small, then keep working and adjusting until you get to the point where you’re happy, don’t try and take it all on at once. It’s a huge endeavor and retraining your body and mind, because it’s not just working out it’s diet and everything that must be taken into account, is a giant task. You must take it one step at a time. You also must stay positive, and when you hit a plateau (and you will) you have to adjust, turn a different direction, add here, subtract there. But you can do it, I did, and if I did anyone can. Go forth and keep the #PMA.
So basically, it’s that simple, and massively difficult at the same time. This advice is good for just about any change you want to make in your life. Usually, drastic things are doomed for failure, we need time to adjust. Always try to do little bits at a time, and eventually you’ll notice you’ve moved a mountain. Sort of like running up a steep hill during a race or training session. If you look at the top the whole time, it seems like you’ll never make it, and eventually you may slow down or even start walking. But if you stay focused on the part in front of you, the immediate concern, before you know it, you’re at the top, and ready for the downhill. Stay within yourself and take on what you can handle, that is the key to getting where you want. That’s not to say you shouldn’t dream and look at the big picture, just figure out the small pieces to get the big picture put together, and deal with one piece at a time, be patient! Since we’re taking Positive Mental Attitude and hitting goals:
Have fun, keep running, and remember; if Gil can run then so can you!
Posted in Uncategorized by Gil with no comments yet.
Memorial Day (In the US)
One more day in May, and I’ll get to 100 miles. I put in a little over 5 today. I needed a rest yesterday, and I took it. So today is the day that originated to memorialize the Civil War dead in the United States. Which makes sense. Over 600,000 Americans died just because the landed-gentry in the South wanted to keep owning slaves, and expand slavery into new territories, and have Northern States be forced to “return their property” when slaves escaped. Yeah, seriously. The sad part is, only institutional slavery was ended.
But now we sit there and talk about all those who “died for our freedoms”. And we mean soldiers, and we have built a little cult of the armed forces. But the fact is, there is still slavery in the United States. Last year, more slaves were brought into the US via the Atlanta Airport alone, than ever were brought to the United States during any one year of institutionalized slavery. Most of these people were women. Most were trafficked for the sex industry, about 80%, most of the rest were for domestic slavery. Seriously. You can look this stuff up. Around the world, we turn our heads when the slavery is happening in an “allied” country. Saudi Arabia is famous for this.
More than that, what about those who died, not acting in part of a war? Those who fought in the United States, often against the government/businesses/agents who would otherwise leave us all servants to the moneyed-elite? The National Guard had been called out numerous times to “end” labor strikes in the late 1800s – early 1900s. We don’t just get our “freedoms” firstly, we realize them ourselves. Moreover, we don’t secure these freedoms just on battlefields drawn out by generals at the behest of the political elite and their business interests/benefactors. Every day, even today, a fight for freedom happens on the streets, behind closed doors, far away from the limelight, the spectacle of the news services, unless it’s to denigrate those fighting for freedoms. So this memorial day, let’s learn about one such person, Harry Simms, a young communist and labor organizer in the 1930s.
Have fun, keep running, and remember; if Gil can run then so can you!
Posted in Uncategorized by Gil with no comments yet.
It all depends on what you consider “The World”
Ran with the guys this morning. Not too many of those left, which is good and bad. It’s not even 11am and it’s already getting hot here again today. Third day in a row mopping my floors, and the bottom of my feet are still dirty. I’ve also decided today, I have one class, it’s hot, I’m wearing shorts and a t-shirt. Only a couple more weeks.
So I’m running today, and apart from thinking about some logistical stumbling blocks I’m hitting for my Summer right now, I was thinking about a meme I’ve seen shared around the bookfaces and it’s really bothering me. It’s about the “World” not owing you anything. This is correct and wrong depending on how you look at it.
If you mean the Universe itself, and by extension all natural things on the Earth, as “the World”, then yes, nature owes you nothing. Strip away buildings, clothes, all the trappings of humanity, put us out in the woods, building temporary shelters, or living in caves. Finding ways to make fire, make us prey/scavengers again, instead of predators and yes “the World” owes each and every one of us nothing! It’s true, nature is a uncaring, sometimes downright cruel place, and we are ill-equipped to handle it without most of the devices created throughout the years by our ancestors. So if you mean the “Natural World”, which we are absolutely no longer a part of, then yes. That meme is fine. We go out in the wild, gather our own food, make fire, tools, maybe get eaten by a panther or bear or something, yep, World owes you nothing, you have to work for every last little scrap of everything.
However, if you mean our “World”, the one which humanity has created for itself, I’m going to tell you why you can take your opinion, write it down, roll that piece of paper up really super-tight, and shove it right up your ass. Stay with me here. In the world of humans, we have created a system whereby to have the things all human beings need to live; food, shelter, water, hygiene, artificial skin covering (clothes), you must take part in a system in which you must pay fees and swear fealty to a lord (or parliament as the case may be, or more rightly a corporation, or conglomeration more properly at this point), and even with your submission, and no matter how hard you work you may not have everything required to live, simply because the system is designed that way. Then throw into the same system the fact that depending on the circumstances of your birth, gender, location, socio-economic caste, skin color, eye color, religion, propensity for conformity to that society’s sexual “norms” (heterosexuality, homosexuality, transgender, et. al.), etc. your ability to earn the script of the realm, in order to pay for these things may be further hindered. All this is more than enough to say, yes, “the World” as humans have set up a system, does owe it to everyone to make sure their basic survival needs are met, because we intentionally hinder people from meeting their basic needs, as a required part of the system we live under!
Now, let’s throw into the mix the fact that even if you earn enough script to provide for your existence, or if you simply want to completely divorce yourself from society, you’re still not allowed to do everything on your own. There are laws, rules, and regulations set in place, even if you have all the knowledge, ability, and drive to do everything needed to survive and thrive to prohibit you from doing so. First, you must “own” land, that idea, dividing up “land” into parcels for sale is manifestly idiotic at its face, when you remove it from the context of the system we have created. Even if you do “own” enough land, there are regulations on what you can do with that land. In the United States and many of the more “civilized” nations, you are prohibited from growing much else apart from useless weeds. We’re then told to put chemicals and waste water on these weeds to keep it green and pleasing to the eye. Then we are forced to pollute the air with more fossil fuel emissions to keep the weeds from growing too long, or else we will be fined for it! So we can’t grow food on our owned “property” unless it’s “zoned” for it. You are prohibited from building your shelter in certain ways, out of certain materials. Usually, you can’t build your shelter out of cheap and easy to use materials for anybody, and are forced to use materials that must be industrially produced and commercially procured.
I can keep going, but I hope by this point you get the fact that no matter what, we are not part of the natural world, and our system is set up in such a way that we must do things a certain way. Some people may not be good at doing them that way. Others are even stopped from doing them simply based on the circumstances of their birth. The system is set in a way that if everyone worked hard, went to a university, got straight A’s, dressed the same, even looked the same, there would STILL be people in need. There would still be people without jobs, there would still be children starving in the streets, in every single corner of this world, because of the system humanity has set up for itself. In the context of the world of humans that leads us to only one conclusion. Ergo, YES “THE WORLD” OWES YOU SOMETHING. Anyone who tells you any different is either not thinking of the implications, is willfully ignorant, or evil.
The PERFECT song for this.
Have fun, keep running, and remember; if Gil can run then so can you!
Posted in Uncategorized by Gil with no comments yet.
Hot one today
Holy crap, it’s getting hotter and hotter here! But I got a run in today, now I just need 15 more miles (24 km) between tomorrow and the end of the month.
So, there seems to be no air conditioning anywhere in this region. yuck. Right now, I’ve got about 15 minutes until my class gets here and I have just been sitting in the office at work stewing in my own juices. If I was close to a beach, different story. I wish I could hang out on the beach before I went to work, or go to the beach on the weekends. I will this weekend.
Do really enjoy Ischia, even if I don’t have the money to spend. It’s something, I hope my foot isn’t hurting too much. I’d hate to be limping around all day. Then people ask “Why are you limping? Are you ok?” Well, obviously I’m not ok, but it’s not a problem, it just is what it is. Sometimes, we push too hard and we pick up some injuries. Pain is not normal, and it’s not ok. Generally, if you are in pain, listen to your body. Basically, I’m being a giant hypocrite here. I never listen and always ignore pain when I’m running. I bet I’d be much faster if I didn’t do this. If I rested properly and ran sensibly. But as things continue to hurt, I am getting more annoyed and to the point where I may actually take a break long enough to heal properly.
Anyway, it’s took hot to focus properly and write anymore, yep, it’s that hot here. Hit 30°C, about 86°F or 303.5°k. Yeah, I put the temperature in Kelvin, wanna fight about it? Remember kids, absolute zero is out there somewhere.
Have fun, keep running, and remember; if Gil can run then so can you!
Posted in Uncategorized by Gil with no comments yet.
Another Thursday in the books
Alright, got my run in. I’m shooting for only 100 miles this month. I’m still definitely injured and need to rest more. I think at the end of June I will have some free time to really put some miles in, so I think I may even take it a little easier at the start of the month and really try to heal up well.
Today has been the easiest day I’ve had since I got here. It was almost like a vacation day! The only bad thing is it’s so hot. How hot is it? It’s so hot…meh, it’s so hot I can’t even think of a corny-ass joke about how hot it is.
So one of my friends posted today how he will be ignoring people making political posts until the end of the election cycle in the US. Because “people on all sides are being mean.” Well, Drumpf is nothing but mean. He’s a schoolyard bully of the highest order. He offers nothing in the way of policy. He has a bunch of racist applause lines, and he’s basically a carnival barker turned relatively unsuccessful businessman. I’ve said it before and I will repeat, I will not return to the United States if he wins the presidency. Although, I doubt that will help, because he is stupid, insecure, and asinine enough to start a massive World War. Not saying he WILL, saying it’s a huge possibility. I would imagine if he wins, they will move the Doomsday Clock VERY close to Midnight.
Anyway, Then my students asked me tonight how the US High School system worked. Oh that was a discussion. It’s very difficult explaining how complicated it is. Then you start in on the disparity between city and suburban, and what a mess. Needless to say, my kids now know what the idea of systemic racism is. They were also surprised to find out that in public school, the wealthy parents can’t essentially buy their children good grades, and I had to explain that’s what private school is for. Public school, yeah, some people get coddled, but usually for other reasons, although I’m sure there are places where administrators are mad crooked.
It’s so weird to me, the thought of buying your kid good grades in public school. Meh, I just keep reminding myself, Libertarian paradise down here. Still crazy as fuck though, right? I’d be furious if someone tried to pay me for a good grade for their child. So owning a school is not in the cards for me, that’s for sure. I think the plan I’m forming is a sound one, where I only do this for ten or so years, and then move onto something more befitting my lifestyle and love of food. I’m getting there, I’m figuring it out as I go, as always, and I’ll share, as always. Making it up as you go keeps it a fresh adventure. Already living the dream, almost.
Seems a little appropriate tonight:
Have fun, keep running, and remember; if Gil can run then so can you!
Posted in Uncategorized by Gil with no comments yet.
Feel Good Inc.
Yeah I stole it. I ran much further than I anticipated today, a complete Half Marathon in fact! I think the Shoreline Sharks owe me a Hamden Hills shirt for this one, since I can’t be there for my hometown race this weekend! I wasn’t prepared for a half, no fuel, no water, but I was just feeling good so I kept going. Mentally, I’m still still kind of wonky, but physically, I’m feeling good. The numbers show it, I stayed pretty steady throughout. Which is the secret to running, staying consistent is key. It’s true over the short term, in respect to a training run or a race, and it’s true in the long term over the course of an entire training regime.
Really, consistency through life is key. A consistent trajectory of improvement. When you find the right values, ideas, and modes, stay with them consistently. I was thinking about this today, because I had trouble with my Middle School prep course yesterday. The reason I was thinking about it wasn’t because I was upset that on leaving one of the kids (and I know which one Biaggio) said loudly, as he was out the door, “Fuck Chris!” Well, here’s the thing with that. I don’t care what the kids think of me, and that he knows swear words is not impressive, everyone knows that word. But, and anyone who has known me for any length of time can tell you, I never said shit about anyone when their, or my back was turned.
If I had a problem with a teacher, I said it to their face. If I had a problem with a principal, I said it to his face (there was more than one of these incidents and they were all male). Other students, how many fights did I get into? Point is, if I had a problem, I wasn’t concerned with consequences, I didn’t shy away from confrontation. My friends in school, they all did the same. They stood up, the got in people’s faces. Simply put, we were hardcore. That’s what the scene is. Not being afraid to be you. If you’re right, then stand up for it, make a change, and don’t be scared of the consequences. At the same time, always examine, always think and if you find yourself to be wrong, don’t be scared to change yourself.
That’s what we did, that’s what we still do. Even though some of us have kids to raise, or big executive, important-ass jobs to hold down, or we’re living in the ass-end of the ass-end of Europe. We stay hardcore, we stick to our roots. We don’t hide, we don’t go behind people’s backs and start shit, and talk trash. We got a problem, we’ll bring it to you if we have something to say. If we don’t have anything to say, then we’re not going to say anything at all. This is why hardcore will never die, it’s not, as Jimmy G said on the first H2O album, “a form of music from a place, it’s life it’s reality.” I know people stab you in the back everywhere in this world, but around here, it seems like they’re real little punk-asses about it. Because the second you step to them it’s all, “Oh, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m so sorry…”, but it’s like, “Stop saying you’re sorry bitch, you got an issue, then step up to the plate and get your food chewed.” Yeah, stole some of that from MF Doom. You think you’re right, then step up, if not, then shut up, that’s what I’m saying. Let your flag fly, and if your flag is shit, expect to get shit on. Be willing to change it if you don’t like the smell. Damn, pisses me off!
Alright, time for me to get to work, today is my favorite day. And nothing those kids do take away from how good I feel today! We’ll see ya later!
Have fun, keep running, and remember; if Gil can run then so can you!
Posted in Uncategorized by Gil with no comments yet.
Napoli, more like Crapoli
I ran this morning. Got back, made my breakfast, went to shower, and there was barely a trickle of water. So the shower consisted of the basics. There’s an actual order of importance of things to wash on the human body and most people get the order wrong, did you know that?
First, your ass. Yes, keep your ass clean! Absolutely the most important thing. Then, your junk, right, ass and genitals. Why, because that’s where you eliminate waste. You need to eliminate waste efficiently. Next, your feet! Keeping your feet clean and free from all manner of nastiness is massively important. If you can’t walk, you can’t survive at all. You have to be able to move about to do whatever tasks you must do, and I don’t know about you, but I can’t walk on my hands. For me the next is teeth, tongue, mouth. Have to take food in, right? Now, wash your face, then your pits, then the rest of your body. Good hygiene is important in any situation. Not to be inoffensive to other humans (although in the civilized world that’s massively important), but because if you have poor hygiene, then you’ll get sick, if you get sick, you aren’t able to perform at your best. So right now, I got all the most important bits cleaned, even had enough water to wash my hair, I hope they have this fixed by tomorrow morning.
Meanwhile, I have to go pay an electric bill I’ve never seen. This Libertarianism-run-amok down here is awful. I’m sure the reason the water isn’t working is that the slumlord who owns this place, and the surely thousands like her in this region, isn’t paying their fucking taxes. I’d say it’s like living in rural West Virginia, but I think that’d be insulting to the people of West Virginia and how well their communities run, relative to this shit. Don’t get me wrong, there are some wonderful individual people here, and I’ve met many of them, but shit is massively broken, and blaming someone like me, who comes in and tries to help, and treating me like shit, breaking the law, not letting me claim residence, charging me for things without letting me see the bill. This is bullshit, and you’re only killing your community. Because people like me are driven out by this. How could I have a life here? It’s absolutely untenable.
I found out the joke that is the Circumvesuviana is a private company. Well, that explains the absolute shit condition of everything. Apparently, the company is completely broke too. they don’t seem to care, and the people don’t bother either. They jump turnstiles, the staff doesn’t stop them. The system needs to be nationalized, it needs serious upgrades, not only in equipment, but in revenue collection. Half the time they don’t even make me pay for a ticket at the biglietteria because they don’t even have change for a €5!
Let’s not even start talking about how people drive, or any of that shit. Needless to say, nothing works around here. When you get upset about it, it’s your fault for thinking things shouldn’t be this way. So I go to pay my €140, and forfeit my overtime pay for the month on the landlady’s word about what I owe in an electric bill. Fuck this shit. What makes it worse is when someone else from the outside legitimately does make a mistake, and then they use that as an excuse to condemn all of us. But that speaks to their jingoism, their racism, and their general bigotry around here. Once again, this is not an indictment of all people around here. I’ve met some truly wonderful human beings, and I would not trade anything in the world for having met them. But the rest of this is just shit, and the whole region should be ashamed of themselves. Basically, when I post on TEFL sites about this experience, I’m not going to be kind about the living here part. They really need to get their shit together, put it in a shit backpack, take it to the shit store and sell it. Wow, I’m angry today. Alright, time to go take care of this shit.
Have fun, keep running, and remember; if Gil can run then so can you!
Posted in Uncategorized by Gil with no comments yet.
Getting out of my own way
Didn’t work too well today. But I got a few slow miles in. I came home, showered, had lunch and then went to sleep for the whole afternoon.
I had a great football weekend though. Forget all the other stuff. Manchester United won the FA Cup, which I think was Van Gaal’s philosophy. “Make the team perform so poorly, the fans are excited about winning the FA Cup.” Then the Red Bulls destroyed NYCFC 7-0, in Yankee Stadium! Now, reports are that Van Gaal is done and, as much as I want Giggs at the helm, Jose Mourinho will be the next manager at United. So a good weekend, in that respect. (Keep in mind all the reports about LVG and the special one are just guesses)
So yeah, all and all not terrible. Even if I’m having some other troubles. The rest can work itself out in its due course. I’m not too concerned, even if it is weighing me down right now.
Feelin’ it today.
Have fun, keep running, and remember; if Gil can run then so can you!
Posted in Uncategorized by Gil with no comments yet.
Being awake early has advantages
So I ran at the usual 5:45am. Anyone that knows me well knows I actually hate getting up early. Even on race day, I just hate being up early, always have, always will. That being said, there is an upside to it. Usually, when I do these early morning runs I come back to my apartment, have a decent breakfast, and then go back to sleep, but for whatever reason that wasn’t happening today. After an unsuccessful fight with sleep this morning; I got my narrow ass out of bed, washed my sheets, practiced my Italian, made a beautiful fruit salad that I will enjoy with lunch, made coffee, washed dishes, showered, shaved, listened to lots of loud music that undoubtedly annoyed the piss out of my neighbors. Basically, I got a lot of shit done.
That being said, and all these things being done before lunch, I’d still prefer to sleep. I also really don’t want to go to work now today. But that’s alright, I’ll get by it’s just 2 1/2 hours, and it’s adults, so at least they are behaved, motivated, and they pay attention. Ok, and on the way home I can drink on the train. I love how they’ll look at you if you’re drinking on the train, but it’s not illegal, they are just judgmental.
Meanwhile, I’m torn, I want to go home and see my family, well most of my family. At the same time, I want to just save money. Oh well, it will work out and things will be fine. Sometimes I have to stop worrying so much, I’m very bad with that though. Alright, time to make lunch and get ready for work!
Have fun, keep running, and remember; if Gil can run then so can you!
Posted in Uncategorized by Gil with no comments yet.
Decisions
So it looks like I will be returning to the United States at the end of June. Spend a few weeks tooling around before I come back and visit England and Denmark. My return to Italy will not happen until mid-September. Assuming nothing changes in the next couple days, this is the plan as it exists. With this timetable I will be able to participate in some races I was hoping to enjoy.
Of course I have work to do in there, like finding an apartment for September, brushing up on my teaching skills, learning some new tricks, tips and hints. But I also have to relax. It’s been a stressful 6 months. I’ve had good times and bad times, you know I’ve had my share (yes, I just quoted Zep, don’t judge me! No I don’t really like them all that much, but that song sticks with you). My real problem is deciding if I should find a part-time job for a couple weeks while I’m back in the US. I don’t want to, but I feel like I need to. It will be nice to have a long vacation though. Too much to sort out now.
Part of me doesn’t want to go to the US yet, but it’s the most cost-effective thing to do if I’m not working. Plus, running a little with my friends will be nice. Alright, time to get back to work, my student will be here shortly. Just having some fun today with the musics:
Have fun, keep running, and remember; if Gil can run then so can you!
Posted in Uncategorized by Gil with no comments yet.