I can’t believe it’s been over 3 months since I updated this blog. Time flies when you procrastinate. I have been updating the Facebook page regularly though, so please go “like” it.
Now 1 closer. I went to the Pangborn Sensory Science Symposium in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in the summer, and set foot on South America for the very 1st time. Now 3 more to go: Antarctica, Australia and Africa.
Speaking of Brazil…
Goal #4. See a football match at Estadio do Maracana, Rio, Brazil
It’s such a iconic stadium and it was just completed when I went. Loved it!
Estadio do Maracana
Goal #23. Conquer the fear of doing a handstand
Definitely making progress, but there are good days and bad days.
Handstanding in the office
Goal #39 Run a 5k
It was freaking tough! I am not built to run and I will never enjoy running. But I did it! With my yogi friend Lindsey’s support (who ran slowly with me the entire way), I finished it! In fact, we were both winners in our respected age group. I am not telling anyone how many people actually ran.
Goal #24 Jump out of a plane (preferably with a parachute) - COMPLETED!!
Jumping out of a plane at 14,000 ft on my 41st birthday (with Bob). Deland, Florida.
All I can say about that 1 second when you jump out of plane for the first time is, it’s freaking surreal!
I wasn’t scared at all. I wasn’t even nervous. I was surprisingly calm for someone who’s about to leap off a flying plane for the 1st time. I felt that way mainly because of my complete trust in my tandem buddy, Bob Crossman (of Skydive Deland). He has jumped more than 9500 times, and he made me feel very safe throughout. I met Bob on a yoga retreat with his fiancé, Kathryn Budig. When I told him about this goal, he explained the whole process to me. By understanding what actually goes on really helped me dispel the initial fear. Bob was also so welcoming and friendly that I knew I want to jump with him.
That being said, when we leaped off, it was “OH MY GOD, THIS IS CRAZY!!!” and then, “oooohh, this is reeeeally cool….”. It was the most liberating feeling ever. The free fall was indescribably awesome. It was a complete sensory overload, but in a very good way. I was a like puppy sticking his head out of a driving car for the 1st time. I was like, “weeeeeeeee….”. I wanted it to last forever (so it was a good thing that Bob was strapped to me to open the parachute!). The gliding after the parachute was opened was actually more scary to me than the free fall.
This goal is listed under “Courage”. I think my perspective has changed after jumping off a plane at 14,000 feet. I actually do feel more courageous now. Sometimes you have to take a leap to live your life. It was an absolutely amazing experience, and I am so glad I did it.
Some thoughts on some of the goals
I knew when I made the list that some goals would be difficult to measure and there wouldn’t really be a “mission accomplished” state, such as Goal #31 Be aware of praiseworthy situations and efforts, and pay sincere compliments to people. I was willing to give it a go because I really did want to become someone who proactively gives sincere compliments to people. It makes people happy, you know. However, this is proving to be more difficult than expected, simply because I don’t always remember this goal, and it is not my habit to praise people often (hence this goal). I think this kind of behavioral change requires constant reminding, and I am not doing a good job of it. After all, it’s not as straightforward as, for example, visiting 50 states. or skydiving.
In fact, after more than 8 months of living this project, I am getting a much better perspective of how some goals are not set up the right way, such as this one, or Goal #42 Value chance encounters and take initiatives to get to know interesting people. In theory, it’s a good intention. But in practice it’s frustrating not to be able to “cross it off”, so to speak. Another one is Goal #21 Learn CPR. After listening to a RadioLab podcast about how low the success rate is of applying CPR (around 3%), and how often the person (the non-pros) who applies the CPR end up cracking the ribs of the patient, I am now having second thoughts of this goal. Is it worth learning something that is not that useful? And would I feel comfortable or confident enough to apply it after learning it? I think I will give the list a whole year before amending or changing any of the goals. But I am thinking about a few of them.
Other progress updates:
Goal #1. Visit all 50 states in the US
My 41st birthday/Spring Break road trip. (3/16/2013-3/23/2013)
On my week-long birthday road trip, I hit 3 new states: North Carolina, South Carolina and Mississippi. It was a LOT of driving. I also ate at 9 restaurants featured on the Food Network show, Diners Drive-ins and Dives (it’s a mini-project of mine which started simply because I saw on the show a place called, Leo’s BBQ. I went that one and the rest is history. I have now been to more than 70!). I also met up with friends along the way, celebrated my birthday with them, which was the best part of the whole trip.
I have 11 more states to visit to complete this goal:
Alaska
Delaware
Idaho
Iowa
Kentucky (going there in August to present at a library conference)
Montana
North Dakota (possibly in the fall when I present at the South Dakota conference)
South Dakota (going there in the fall for a library conference)
Utah
Wisconsin
Wyoming
My target is to visit 3 more states by the end of the year. Most likely they will be South Dakota, North Dakota, and Kentucky.
Clockwise from top left corner: at Penguin Drive-ins in Charlotte, NC; South Carolina Welcome Center; North Carolina BBQ; in Mississippi.
Goal #5 Practice yoga in India
The news is, we (the sensory analysis group) will be going to India during the Thanksgiving week this year!! That’s all I know for now. But, soooo excited!!!
Goal #7 Dine at Noma (Chef René Redzepi), Copenhagen, Denmark
Oh I tried. I wanted to go to Copenhagen before my Rome conference. So I tried to make a reservation when their online reservation opened. The tables on the dates I wanted were booked within minutes. Ugh! I read that there were cases of food poisoning at Noma recently. I was really hoping for cancellations. No such luck. This goal is proving to be quite difficult.
Goal #13 Get tenure
I got my official reappointment letter for 2013-2014! So, yippy! I still have a job. Two more tenure and promotion reviews to go. If everything goes smoothly, I will go up for tenure in October 2014.
Goal #18 Learn a new word every week and use that word at least 5 times that week
I have been a bit lazy on learning new words. But, still some interesting ones.
hypnopompic (adj) - Of or pertaining to the semiconscious state prior to complete wakefulness.
lollapalooza (noun) - an extraordinary or unusual thing, person, or event.
bibelot (noun) - a small object of curiosity, beauty, or rarity.
This is another goal that I am thinking about modifying. I keep forgetting to do it every week. Routine doesn’t work well for me on a long term basis. I am considering changing it to something like, learn 100 new words by my 45th birthday. What do you think?
Goal #19 Learn how to iron a shirt (trousers and jackets would a bonus)
I haven’t started learning it yet but I am starting my research on good tutorials. And I found this awesome one.
Goal #36 Achieve and maintain ideal weight
As of March 14, 2013, I weighed 205.5 lbs, which means I have lost 37.5lbs since Dec.,27, 2011. The weight loss has slowed down a lot, but I feel that this is the healthy way to get to my target weight range of 180-190lbs.
Disclaimer: I stepped on the scale before my week-long birthday/Spring Break Diners Drive-ins and Dives road trip. I didn’t practice as much yoga since 3/14 because of the crazy schedule of late. It’s very likely that I have to gained a few pounds back. I plan to step on the scale once a month, which will be the week of 4/18. I still have a couple of weeks to get back in shape.
Goal #43 See Leo Messi play in person
When I was younger, I never got to see Deigo Maradona play in person, and it’s always been a regret. There have been great players since him, but it is only until now that we have Lionel Messi, who could really be compared to Maradona. Messi dribbling in full flight is thing of true beauty, and I want to see that in person. This goal is listed under “no regrets”.
I will be presenting at a conference in Rome, Italy in June. Messi plays for Barcelona. Barcelona play their final home match (vs Malaga) on June 1st. Most likely, they will have won the league before then, but I think there will be a great celebration at the stadium after the final whistle of the season. Therefore, I am going to Barcelona before my conference (ticket booked!!!). Now, I just need to find a ticket for that match (it’s not easy to come by), and hope that Messi stays injury-free.
At the new year yoga retreat, when I was practicing yoga 3 hours a day, I could really sense some progress. But I admit I have been slacking off a bit lately, at least in terms of stretching. It is difficult when you have to work full time. When do people have time to do the splits?!
Even Siri doesn’t know. Anyway, today, we did some good hamstrings stretching int the Yoga for Athletes class at Orange Sky Yoga. So after class, I just had to ask my friend Sarah to take some pictures of me to check my progress.
Hanuman progress (1/20/2013), after “Yoga for Athletes” class.
It’s getting close but not quite. My new friend Scott at the yoga retreat taught me a few useful stretches for the “home stretch”, so to speak. I am going to try them out, and I am hoping to get to full hanumanasana in the next few weeks. Stay tuned!
The progress up to this point (12/12/2024) is “subtle”, and I must confess that I hadn’t worked on this pose much in the past month or so. Instead, I spent most of my stretching time on hip-opening stretches like single and double pigeon poses, and half lotus. Hanuman is a super intense pose for me, and I think I sometimes rather do other stretches because of that. Now that I have said it out, I recognize that it is an excuse. Of course it’s hard! The only way to achieve this goal is to practice it regularly. I am going to do just that! *pump fist*
From the pics above, it looks like I am getting just slightly closer to the floor, especially my back leg. I don’t see a lot of progress on the front leg though. The biggest improvement is I am able to hold my upperbody in a more upright position, which is the correct form of the pose.
12/14/2012 6:30am. Either smiling or grimacing.
This morning (12/14/2012), I worked on only stretches that help doing the splits. After about 30mins of stretching, it’s amazing how much closer I was able to get to the floor. I was a bit disappointed 2 days ago about my progress, and doubted that I would ever be able to do this pose. I feel a lot more encouraged today. It just shows that targeted practice is so important in getting results.
Here is Kino MacGregor showing how to do Hanumanasana properly:
”It’s easy to quit smoking. I’ve done it hundreds of times.”
~~ Mark Twain
I quit smoking on February 27th, 2007. It was probably the toughest thing I have ever done. It was also a turning point in my life. Not only did I got rid of a nasty and expensive habit, I actually accomplished something really tough by shifting my mindset and by being perseverant. That experience might very well be the genesis of this 45 things project.
While my lungs were definitely better, other parts of me were not so great in 2011. At the beginning of the year, I hurt my back and the pain never seemed to want to go away. Then I caught an eye virus that was making the rounds in my city. It made my vision blurry for about 3 months. Imagine staring at an out of focus computer screen all day for 3 months. That was nothing my eye doctor could really do, since it was a virus, and we just had to let it slowly get better. He was comforting though - at least my eyes weren’t bleeding, like some of his more serious patients!
Blasted kidney stones. And a stent and a tube inside me. Not a pleasant experience!
As my eyes slowly got better, my back pain was getting worse. It turns out that it wasn’t a muscle strain or anything like that, but kidney stones! Yikes. We blasted the stones. Twice. The whole process was, let’s say, a character building exercise.
That December (2011), after all the holiday feasts, I had the courage to step on a scale for some reasons.
243lbs!
While there’re many good things about being a non-smoker, the one drawback was the inevitable weight gain. In the 5 years since I quit smoking, I had gained at least 40 lbs! That number was both depressing, and ultimately uplifting (more on this later). It was depressing because it was the heaviest that I had ever weighed. For my height (6 feet), my healthy weight range should be between 140lbs and 184lbs. Since I have a large body frame, my healthy weight should be closer to the upper range (which was my college weight). Even so, I was at least 59 lbs overweight! No wonder my blood pressure and cholesterol level were high.
I had tried exercising. In fact I was doing P90X earlier in the year when I thought I hurt my back (but it was the kidney stones causing the pain). But I had never enjoyed working out - all the jumping around makes me mad. So it’s not a surprise that I could never stick to any exercise routine consistently. But that simply had to change. I was going turn 40 in 2012, and if I didn’t do something about my body, it would only get worse. So, the objective is to get into the best shape I’ve ever been (since I have never been in really good shape, it’s not as tough as it sounds).
Goal #1: Get my weight down to the 180-190lbs range. Since I was at the weight range in college, it wouldn’t really constitute “the best shape ever”,
So Goal #2: Be able to do the splits, which I have never ever done in my life, therefore if I could do it in my 40′s, I would be in my best shape (at least in terms of flexibility) ever.
And Goal #3: run a 5K. I am bad at running. Very bad at it. I blame in on my flat feet, underpronation, and well, laziness. I don’t think I have ever run 3 miles continuously without needing to stop. So, if I could do that now, then I could claim the “best shape ever” description.
Hitting 243lbs was certainly depressing at first, but this number actually became the engine to drive all these goals for me to become a healthier person. So, it actually an uplifting number.
I want to be able to do that. “This woman is 93 years old and lives in Changzhi, a city in Shanxi, China. According to her, she stays healthy by exercising regularly every morning”.
Do you have any health or fitness goals? How do you stay in shape?
Update: I was 243lbs on 27th Dec., 2011. I started doing yoga in mid-January, 2012. As of 9/6/2012, I weigh 214lb - which means I have lost 29lbs in 9 months! Going to that very first yoga class was probably one of the best decisions I have ever made in my life. (Big thank you to my friend, Lis Pankl, for encouraging/insisting/pestering me to do it!). More about yoga in later posts.
My Hanumanasana (split pose) so far. (on 9/5/2012,very early in the morning.)
