CrossFit and Catholicism

Beginning tomorrow, it will be t-minus 10 days until the commencement of South Central Region's competition qualifiers toward the 2011 CrossFit Games Finals.

Yet another turn on the Road. Quite an exciting one, too. This will be the first time in a long time that I've been in a competitive state that is bigger than the last. It's a great opportunity for me to work toward something other than school, nay, a degree toward an eventual medical career. It's been my dream since I first heard and researched CrossFit to compete in the Games. I don't want to disappoint the team. My coach says I should consider competing as an individual. We'll see. I'd rather focus on this than the activities at school. I'd love to make it a career in and of itself, to compliment the one I'm destined for right now.

CrossFit is pretty much a lifestyle for some folks. I may be included, but I don't want to readily categorize unfairly. I do want to give credit to where it is due, though. The gym ("box" as it's endearingly called in the "Xfit" world) probably makes a big difference. I like the atmosphere there, and it's apparent since I've been with them for over a year (going on two).

This lifestyle is very similar to my Catholic Faith. There are truths which are constantly sought; truths about nutrition, about how we are "made" to operate as healthy human beings, truths about how we should handle our lives, basically. In my Faith, there too are Truths of how we should live our lives, of how we should manage a healthy well being spiritual and physically, and Truths which are constantly being sought (and which are bestowed upon on in various ways, both ordinarily and extra-ordinarily). There is a sense of discipline in both areas, yet a discipline that although seems constrictive to the average eye, is liberating. That's the difficult thing for most people to grasp, unfortunately. CrossFit isn't elitist; neither is Catholicism. Both want the best for the welfare of the community; CrossFit is more physically inclined, and Catholicism is more spiritually inclined. To me, that is an awesome complement! I do thank God for clearly answering that prayer I first asked of Him before I started my first week of CrossFit classes at Body Armor CrossFit: that I should be protected from deeply negative influences and that people there will just accept me as I am. No place is perfect on this earth, in a gym or in a church, but it is definitely providential to find a place on earth in which one can be happy.

I still pray that I will continue to be led into places where, although of narrow paths, will all still guide me toward pleasing the Lord for His sake, ad Christo per Mariam.

That Eric Church is playing on Pandora (Love Your Love the Most, "Carolina").

Tempus fugit, et cetera

So far, I've managed to avoid counting down the days. It's already December. The more I think about this trip, the more I get used to the idea- and I don't want to. It's much less fun to not anticapte the excitment because you've become bored of it.

Shopping for a travel laptop bag is frustrating. I think it's because I'm packing too much. Yes, I've decided to bring my laptop for my long layovers and to upload my pics after I've stuffed my memory card. I expect to make a few videos if possible. I won't have it during the retreat though; at least I plan not to use it during it. I expect to be busy enough that I won't even think about it. I pre-packed my new bag to see how things would fit, and it made me look like a turtle. A longer bag might be good, but I'm a bit impatient to take the time to shop around all over the island.

I've over $1,700 gone from my bank account. That's just airfare alone. Okay, think good thoughts now...

So, life's okay right now. It's a bit of a limbo for me, but I am not disatisfied with it.

Going, going...

I bought my SYD-AKL tickets. Definitely going now.

However, I'm waiting on a better flight departure time before I buy my OKA-SYD tickets. I did make a reservation to depart, but if I buy that now, I'll have a layover of 10 hours. What am I going to do for 10 straight hours in the wee airport of Taipei? Sure, go out and explore, but I don't have the extra money to do that and I can't quite risk getting into some sort of predicament. I thought about reading several books, pouring over Sudoku puzzles, maybe napping somewhere safe, but let's just pray that the better flight out opens up for me. I'd really like to go to Mass in the afternoon before my flight out, or at least attend an early morning Mass, if possible.

EDIT: Unfortunately, something bugged me to buy the early flight out, so I will have that 10 hour layover in Taipei. No worries; God provides.

Recent shopping excursion, update

I cringed at the $57 reciept; I know, silly of me, but I did get some good stuff and things I needed.

Bought myself a cool, hard-back, hemp string-bound journal and more ink gel pens (^_^). Believe it or not, it took me 15 minutes to decide which journal to get as there were a few others that caught my eye. I finally settled on a hand-sized one with a replica of Chinese scroll art called "Listening to the Bamboo," by Wen Cheng-ming (you're wondering how I knew that; it conveniently said so on the back cover page). I liked the Chinese concept of "virtues" of the bamboo: "resilience, humility, and uprightness; a spirit that can be bent by circumstance but never broken". So it was this one over a hand-sized, scarlet imitation leather bound one with a magnetic clip or a standard-sized one with a replication of medevial art conveying the four Gospels. I decided on something more simple-looking but I was still really attracted to the others. I should think this will be put to good use.

Oh, and I'm reading Gulliver's Travels again. It's probably that cosmopolitan spirit influencing me to pick up such a book, but it's nice to have another read through something you read when you were younger. However, it's this time round that I finally picked up on some of the insanely strange things Swift wrote about...of which I won't go into detail.

I never told anyone this, but I finally fixed my favourite rosary with hemp string. A good thing to have on a 24+ hour trip.

Update: Still haven't heard back from those off-base agents. Maybe they're still finding some deals for me, I'm hoping in good faith. I was told to still check out the American travel agent on base (one that I had a relatively negative experience with), but I fortunately know someone who is good friends with someone that works there who might be compassionate towards this poor working student and not make me feel like a total idiot. Going to check them out tomorrow.

Also, I asked Dad about my going to NZ, and he conveyed the following message without clearly saying "yes": he wasn't going to object but as long as I'm footing the bill 100%, he is inclining toward the okay zone. Cue sigh of knowing that that's how my father is.

To bring or not to bring

My laptop. It's not as slim as some most-recent models but it's a good 14" widescreen of relative compactness. I was thinking of blogging on the road, but I don't know how much I'd use it. Plus, being in NZ is going to require an adapter (easily acquired), but that shouldn't be a problem. The problem is just unreasonable bulk.

This idea is slightly worse than the mp3 vs. CD player one. Oyi.

There are internet kiosks in some of the airports I will be transiting through, but what about on the plane? What if an idea comes up while I'm sitting in the cabin getting restless? What if something really cool (or bizarre) arises while I'm on my laptop and I want to jot it down on Notebook? Whatever happened to the good, old, real notebook? (You know, the one with paper.)

Once again, blogging has helped me put it into perspective. Some of the nice and seemingly convenient devices in life can sometimes turn out to be unreasonable for the budget-wise. I should consider moments of ennui as opporunities to doodle as well or maybe work on my hemp knotting and origami techniques. There are heaps of things to do away from a computer and heaven knows - heck, I know - I need a big break from it and I should take this 3-week retreat/visit as the perfect opportunity.

I might need heaps of paper though...

Music

Waves of overflowing decibels: one of the indulgences we human beings enjoy. We all know that sometimes the silence can be loud...or the boredom resounds with silence that if you're gonna sit in the economy side of an airplane cabin, you're going to need something to keep you mentally preoccupied. Besides a good book and a great opportunity for prayer, music is the next best thing to remedy that travel boredom. So far, I've a number of albums I would like to wash over my ears to pass the time but therein lies a problem: how am I to conveniently carry it? It's easy, you say, get a mp3 player- maybe an iPod, everybody has an iPod because to the average consumer, mp3 is synonymous to iPod. Yeah, but iPods cost more than they're worth in use and there are other comparable non-Apple brands. Give me a decent, generic, (SD) expandable, single-battery charged device any day...er, as long as it costs less than an iPod, which needs to be charged via USB or a seperately bought power source because the battery is internal and inextricable.

I admit to be a frugal girl; I haven't bought a mp3 player. I still have a trusty CD player and a number of choice albums, but should I managed in the "old" way by lugging around a small CD case and a 2-AA battery player instead of buying a decent mp3 player just to eliminate the bulk? (It would be a nice gift, though.) Plus, I don't really want to possibly ruin my CDs on the road.

When I put it into perspective, I might just end up with the CD player. Oh well. Some things have got to give and you have to humble yourself enough to face reason and make do.