Twisted Mind of an Apple

It is almost 1am PST. I could not sleep yet. I am looking at the Webcast of the most extreme cycling race I have ever known. It is currently going on right now and the main reason I am getting myself up to date is that my husband is in it.

HooDoo this kinds of race? It is actually a 24 hour bike race. My husband is with his 3 other team mates rotating every 15 mins through out the race course of over 500 miles. Yeah, I know it sounds crazy and only people like my husband and his team mates and hundred other crazy people would do such a thing.

Seriously, I asked Tony why would he do such a thing. His answer, to test himself of something he hasn’t done yet. I have never met any person who is very much physically and mentally competitive like my husband.  Now I am scared for Michael if he gets both.

I thought what the Road Rage team is doing is at the extreme, being a four-man team. I jsut found out that there are people doing this all by themselves. There is a category of a Solo with support vehicle and there is the Voyager which is individual without any support. Meaning, they have to bring all the water, food and equipment that they would need on their bikes for the duration of the 24-hour race. And now that is capital CRAZY.

I guess I am going to bed now. I am sure they will be all done by sunshine.  I am proud of this people even if many thinks they crazy for doing such things. Just imagine 500miles on bike at night, in the middle of nowhere, up in the mountains. It takes a lot of guts and not just fancy shmancy bragging rights they own after this feat.

HOODOO 500?  Go Team Road Rage!!! Go Tony!!! And I am the proud wife this crazy cyclist.

http://www.planetultra.com/Hoodoo500/2008Webcast/index.htm

Thank you to my wondeful student Sarah. She told me that she was running the Nike race in Singapore. And thank you to my LA Leggers group who shared their 50% off registration code to the Nike human race.

It was a great experience. It was a reality check for me since I have not ran nor trained in a year since the LA Marathon in 2007.

This time it was very different. Knowing it is just going to be a very short run (10K) so no preparation was needed like what I used to do before. But training runs are a definite must to get a better time which at this reality my energy could not afford being a full time mom. I know it is easy to say that I could just toss Michael in the baby jogger and pretty much run all day. I could do that if I am only thinking of myself. I do not think that it would be very enriching for him if that is all we are going to do.

Tony looked after Michael while I was in the race. It was a very good bonding time for the two of them. I told them not to wait for me because I am going to take my time. Since it was held in downtown LA, there is a lot of chance I would see salons or spas open. I jokingly told my husband I may swing by to get a spa during a race so don’t wait up.

Like in most races I have done, this is the only one that I have done at night. The race started at exactly 8:31 in the evening. Usually, that is our time to get ready for bed. Meaning, I will be done when it is past our bed time. I really hope I wont fall asleep while running.

It was very chilly but when you are out of shape and trying to finish the race and thinking about the 7 month old baby that may be crying looking for mommy, I didn’t have the chance to just think of myself. It was very different running when I was still a single and now that I have a baby and a bigger baby.

There were 12,000 runners but I managed squeeze in myself to the very front of the start line, an old habit that’s hard to break even if I know I am not competitive. I ran my fastest mile ever at 9mins 6sec. I told myself, my husband is right women tend to run faster after giving birth.  But of course, there are a ton of faster and much more competitive people on the loose that were passing me. I just took a good pace and enjoyed my Ipod. There were times I had to run-walk because I was just too damn tired catching my breath. But towards the end it all felt easy and it all went so smoothly however, for some reason I was lost in the conversion of km-mile marker. I thought there were still 2.5 miles to go when I saw the big 7.5(km) sign in the dark. I guess not running for a long time makes me an idiot. Maybe I was already dreaming because I finished when it is time for bed.

The happiest part was when I finished, my two babies were waiting for me. I finished in 1 hour 10mins 57 secs and went back to being a mom soon after.
Feels great!!!

I know I am going to piss off a lot if not a few people with this comment. But I guess it is a sign of economic struggle here in  America that is affecting the Hollywood showbizness. Why do they have to resurrect and recycle old. I mean it is fine but please try reinventing the old to fit the new may probably work. With the case of the NKOTB it is not. They are presenting these older and definitely not kids anymore members still dancing the same steps and singing the same songs that made them popular when they were what? 12?

It is a horrible sight to watch really.  They seem to trying to hard to appeal to their old market who are very much like them….married with children. But they are singing the same songs if not new songs but carrying the themes of being single.

I am not ashamed that I was a fan of them when I was in highschool. But I am not going to buy their albums now even if I do not have save up for it like back them….hahahaha. so ridiculous. Or go to their concerts and buy their posters  like an avid fanatic. I am sure this is what they are hoping to get out of their old fans. Ok I am done with NKOTB.

Another recycle is the BH90210 that is a very horrible decision by the producers. Luckily, I did see the pilot. But enough publicity about it is getting into my nerves. Are they just doing this to re-employ the old cast because they have very stale careers? 
Living near the entertainment capital means that you get hit by the waves of shobizness first. That is why I am reacting this way because the main business that is keeping the Hollywood economy alive is very much in recession in quality as well.

Geez I can’t wait til they show LOST and HEROES this fall.

Aaaah! Finally my 7 1/2 month old son finally went to take his nap. Now I could unwind and stretch out my weary arms and legs a little bit.

Yes, raising a child may be physically demanding and sometimes energy consuming but it is very deeply rewarding. My mind  would often wander when I am rocking my baby to sleep and I do not have the Ipone handy for immediate thirst for surfing.

Yes, I am living in America as what most FIlipinos would be dreaming of now. I feel very at home where I am now (our very humble one-bedroom condo in the middle of crazy Los Angeles) and I have almost entirely opened up my close-minded sould and to be finally get infiltrated to the core by the American culture (as if I am not yet infiltrated yet coming from Manila).

I guess I felt a big resistance to adapt when I got here 3 years ago. It felt like I struggled to hold on to the “Filipinoness” of me to retain my identity not just as a Filipino but me as an individual. I never even bothered to notice the way I was communicating so long as I speak the English the way I am accustomed with. To me, it is enough that I am able to get my point across. It did not seem to matter to me if I did not sould like any of the people  deal with. That was probably why they can easily say I am new here.

It took years and a handful of constructive criticisms from my loving husband before I finally decided that I could put more effort letting go of the unnecessary Filipinoness I was holding on to.

One thing I have noticed was my new interest in politics and curretn events. For people who know me really well, this would be the last of my interests. They know I am very apathetic to all this power trip non-sense. To me politics, mostly in the Philippines is a terrible waste of time, money and energy. But now that I am a mother to Michael, I feel that I owe it to him to at least be aware of what his future going to be like based on the agendas of the politicians wanting to get a hand in running the most powerful nation on earth. It is not much on joining the rally for the candidate that I feel most likely to have the same values as I have. It is more of knowing who among the people surrounding us have the same values as we have based on the candidate that they pick.

I know that I do not have yet a complete understanding of what America is like to a real American, I wish I have though. To my amazement, all the perceptions I had once before coming here all turned out to be a big misconception. I am afraid that most if not all Filipinos who have no idea of what the real thing is here in America would still be living in a dissolutioned mindset or a dream based on a fiction.

This reminds me of the movie The Matrix. It is very hard to explain but indeed it is based on the current set up of this country. The only difference is there are no robots manipulating the humans. It is the same humans manipulating their kind.