Mental Gymnastics

Just Do It

Ready to Climb

I met another group of young outdoor enthusiasts during the pre-climb last Friday for Cinco Picos. I’m actually looking forward to that climb despite the river-crossing and potential dead bombs, which we’ll encounter. The place is an old war zone and what kept cropping through my head are the lost souls, which probably still abound the place. I even had second thoughts about joining since I watched BomBali last night. The people vacationing in that island found themselves helpless and alone in such a remote region. I felt the same thing back in Angib beach when the tides were too high and we couldn’t leave the island. The boat ride to, and our entire stay at Jolo, with all those Muslim people staring at us, made me apprehensive the entire time. These trips, although carefully planned, still goes with a high amount of risk because you can never tell on what will really happen. Despite these setbacks, people like me are still drawn to the virgin beauty of these remote settings. There’s nothing like the natural high on living in these oasis paradises, even if it meant risking your neck.

Workouts

I resumed my evening runs last week at Salcedo. It all started with my officemates’ sudden interest in martial arts workouts. We checked out the programs in YMCA and even tried Kick Boxing for one session. I’m not really into this sort of thing although the basic kicks and punches aren’t new to me because I had two years of that with Billy Blanks. I advised them to prepare themselves physically first before jumping into it.

The runs felts great and climbing the stairs in our building felt even better. I now got myself two new workout videos, one’s about Kung Fu aerobics and the other one’s on MTV Grind. I played these earlier this morning and found it more interesting than the serious workout videos of the Firm. Next thing on my to do list is to take that 5-day swimming lessons. I really want to be prepared for my future trips. I’ve been restraining myself from jumping into the water without a life jacket. The waters are so tempting to jump right in to that’s why I’m not surprised why sailors go overboard all of a sudden. I don’t think it’s the sirens that are calling out, it’s the water that sort of hypnotizes you with its clarity and its treasures just beneath.

Mock Exam

I only had about two months to focus on my ELA studies. The rest of the review program was wasted on Elementary Studies, which I hope would still be useful.

I finally took the mock exam yesterday since I only have until today for the free access to the lab. Since the questions did not vary, I was able to memorize the correct answers with just one review pass. On the timed test, I got one mistake in the first set of ELA test and 2 in the second set of ELA test. It took me around 30-40 minutes to complete each set of 125 items. I’ll practice some more with my Praxis and Kaplan reviewers. I think I’m ready to take the test this December, if my funds are enough. I really can’t wait to get this over and done with.

posted by kquill @ 10:51 AM