The List

Well, here it is. My list. Thought that a good way to start the year would be to put everything on the table and out in the open. This is the bullseye I'm aiming for.

UBBT GOALS

 THE NO QUITTING REQUIREMENT

 WEEKLY ON-LINE UBBT JOURNAL ENTRIES

PHYSICAL

 50,000 PUSH UPS AND CRUNCHES

 15,000 PULL UPS

 1000 FORMS REPETITIONS

 1000 MILE WALK/RUN/SWIM AND/OR BIKE

 BODY FOR LIFE. PHOTO DOCUMENTARY. TAKE A PHOTO EVERY DAY. 365 DAYS OF IMPROVEMENT

 STRETCH DAILY FOR AT LEAST 20 MINUTES

O   MORNINGS AS A WAKE-UP, AND BEFORE BED

 1000 ROUNDS OF SPARRING

MENTAL

 15 MINUTES OF DAILY MEDITATION

 MEMORIZE QUOTE

 READING REQUIREMENTS- 24 BOOKS

O   12 FICTION AT MOST

O   6 NON-FICTION ON ANYTHING

O   6 CONNECTED TO MY TEACHING CAREER

SPIRITUAL

 1000 ACT OF KINDNESS, DOCUMENTED

 EMPATHY TRAINING

-       DAY BLIND, DAY MUTE, DAY DEAF

 RIGHT THREE WRONGS/MEND THREE RELATIONSHIPS

 BE A BETTER PERSON. CONSIDER OTHERS IN EVERYTHING I DO. CHOOSE THE COURAGEOUS OPTION. BE HONEST AND OPEN. THINK CAREFULLY OF THE IMPACT MY ACTIONS/INNACTIONS HAVE.

 

PERSONAL

 ACHIEVING AND DOCUMENTING 12 PERSONAL VICTORIES

1.   CONTINUE TO READ UP ON DREAMING, KEEP DREAM JOURNAL AND ACTIVELY PRACTICE LUCID DREAMING

2.   EARN BLACK BELT

3.   CHINESE LANGUAGE

4.   BUDGET MY MONEY

5.     HIKE THE WEST COAST TRAIL

6.     KEEP A SKETCHBOOK

7.     LEARN TO SING. TAKE LESSONS

8.     WRITE EVERY DAY

A.   PERSONAL JOURNAL

B.  DREAMS

C.  STORIES

9.     NEVER HIT THE SNOOZE BUTTON

A.   JUST GET UP.

10. ATTAIN MY FIRST AID CERTIFICATION WITHIN THE FIRST ¼ OF THE YEAR

11. SKYDIVE

12. LEARN TO PREPARE FOOD AND BEVERAGES OF DIFFERENT CULTURES AND PREPARE THEM. 24 DIFFERENT DISHES IN A YEAR 

Jonathan Robinson

 

Edmonton, Alberta

www.Silentriverkungfu.com

A journey of 1609.344 kilometres begins with a single step

So I’m running into a problem with my goal of running 1609.344 kilometers and that problem is the winter that’s settled on the fair city of Edmonton.

First, I need to say that I absolutely love winter. The below 0 temperatures, the gigantic mounds of snow (on a slight tangent, I drove by the field that all of the cities snow gets dumped after being cleared off of the roads, and it is a small mountain that I could easily enjoy an afternoon of tobogganing on) and all of the activities that go along with it. But, despite my love of it, I just can’t keep the km count up in this season, what with the hazardous ice patches and burning throat from the -20 air I’m forcing into my lungs.

Also, I know that I could go to the gym, but the excuse that I have there is that I don’t have the time to go all the way to the university gym (where I have a membership included with tuition) just to run and then come all the way back. The semester is busy and just getting busier, and money for nearby gyms is scarce.

I also thought of buying or stealing a treadmill but, alas, the money issue surfaced again. As for theft, that’s illegal and would be frowned upon if my resume applying for teaching positions showed my temporary career as a sporting goods cat-burglar. Also, treadmills are really really loud, and my neighbors in my apartment would definitely be knocking on my door as I stomp around on this thing early in the morning and late at night (just to be stubborn, I absolutely refuse to run at a reasonable time of day).

Don’t worry though, I’m not just complaining without a viable solution. I found an exercise bike. Probably. I just need to pick it up, for free (fingers crossed) from Craig(also in the UBBT)’s girlfriend’s mom’s place where it is being used to hang laundry, and I’ll be able to rack up the clicks conveniently, frugally, silently and all of this while reading a book or doing homework since I plan on attaching a little reading stand to the thing.

Jonathan Robinson
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
www.silentriverkungfu.com

Worst Goal Ever

One of my goals is to never hit my snooze alarm. I hate it.

I am the kind of guy that wakes up, rolls over and slaps the snooze and falls asleep almost instantly. If I put the alarms across the room, then I get up, stumble across the room, slap the snooze and am asleep as I fall back into bed. I hit the snooze generally 3-4 times every morning. The feeling of sleeping that extra ten (or forty) minutes outweighs my desires to eat breakfast or be on time to school. I could sleep ten hours and still that extra little nap is the best feeling ten minutes of the night.

I have only set a few alarms since new year’s and thoroughly enjoyed sleeping in for most of my holiday, but now school is starting again and my alarm is very much needed. I set it, and I made sure that I would have a good hour to get ready and leave for class. I woke up and instantly hated myself for making that goal. I sat up so that I wouldn’t fall asleep after I turned off my alarm, blinked a few times and started hating my life. I got up and wandered around the room grabbing clothes, books and really doing anything that I could think of (and thinking is a limited process for me in the morning). I threw myself down on the floor for some pushups and situps, stretched a little and hopped into the shower shortly after, confident that the shower would wake me up.

The shower made me want to sleep more, but I couldn’t give up so easily. I got dressed and left for school.

Waking up without the snooze, to me, is like driving a fork into my own leg. It is the single worst way to start the day. The plus side is that I had a lunch to eat today, did my morning workout and was early for class. I hear it gets easier with time because, if it doesn’t, all of you will get really annoyed by my constant whining in my blogs. I hope for your sakes that it does.

Jonathan Robinson
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
www.silentriverkungfu.com

Gold stars for you both!

My day was made by two random people that I saw and neither of them did anything for me directly.

The first person I saw while out on a bike ride as I was helping my friend Chelsey to collect leaves and sticks so that she can make some kind of art project. Just at the bottom of a hill overlooking the Edmonton river-valley is where I saw the first guy. We were at the crossroads of the bike path and a set of long, wooden stairs. Either I could shift to low gear and ride the wide zig-zag up the hill or pick up my bike and hoof it up the stairs. I, being the impatient one that I am, decided to take the stairs. An older Chinese man, about 50-55 years old dressed in a long sleeved button-up shirt with black slacks rolled up mid-calf and crocks, carrying a plastic bag with a few newly purchased goods, was running up the lower set of stairs to where I was standing beside my bike, shoving some sticks into my back-pack. He seemed in a hurry, so I got out of his way. He passed me and started walking up the longer top section of stairs. I lifted my bike over-head and took the stairs two at a time, Rambo style, politely excusing myself as I passed the guy. At the top, I waited for my friend to slowly bike up. Here’s the part that made my day: the man got to the top, noticeably sweating, and he turned around and went back down the hundred or so stairs.

So many people see working out as impossible without the right equipment. Running requires good shoes. Working out of any kind requires an athletic shirt and maybe some spandex pants or shorts. You need protein supplements, diet plans, workout partners, gym memberships, a bowflex, dumbbells, heart rate monitor, weird fanny-pack with water bottle holsters and other nick-nacks. This old guy (I’m 24, over 40 is old to me, sorry) was running harder than most over-30s I know, in crocks and his work clothes, and that is why he’ll probably never get a heart-attack or shoot up insulin after every meal.

The second person I saw was a middle-aged lady in the Starbucks I am currently sitting in. She had one of a pair of the comfy, soft chairs that everyone always wants to sit in. I usually see people at tables get up and switch spots whenever someone vacates these chairs. A couple carrying a baby in a big basket thing came in and ordered coffees and, without being asked, this lady more or less forces the comfy chairs on the couple just because she thinks it is a more convenient spot for them to sit and have their baby close by them.

I liked this so much because the lady wasn’t asked and the couple made no gesture towards the chairs. She was actively thinking about people other than herself and just wanted to try and help someone else.

Seeing these people do these small things made a huge impact on me today. Just thought I would share it.

Jonathan Robinson
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
www.silentriverkungfu.com

Impatient

I’ve noticed that by not being lazy as a wander about on my daily errands, I can get a lot of working out squeezed in and still be on schedule or even ahead.

Most days I go to university. If it is nice out, I ride my bike and get a 20 minute workout. This is actually faster than taking transit. The bus to school would take about half an hour, and the subway takes at least 20 including walking to the stop. When I have to walk places (like to my car that I have to park 3 blocks away because my building has no parking grumble grumble grumble) I usually run there if I can.

When I get to the school, I can either ride a couple escalators up, with about 60 other people, slowly riding up, or I can take the abandoned staircase. If I take them two at a time, I can usually get to the top before the quickest escalator rider.  The same thing goes for the elevator when going to classes.

I think the main difference between me and the person taking to lazy way is that I am just too impatient to wait behind a crown trying to get on to an escalator, or an elevator that stops at every floor, or to walk slowly when I’d rather be there now instead of still walking there.

On that note, as someone who likes to use their legs, this Sunday I am renting a wheelchair and spending the day in it to see how that feels. My guess is I’ll feel pretty trapped. Maybe it’s a good day to try that escalator again.

Jonathan Robinson
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
www.silentriverkungfu.com

Midterm time again

So I have finally discovered how to study effectively! I have to put in earplugs to block out audible distractions, sit facing a white wall or a corner to avoid visual distractions, study in an isolated area or someplace where I don’t expect to see people I know to avoid social distraction and shut off all electronic devices and put them out of sight (except maybe my i-pod, which can only play classical guitar with no vocals on a very low volume setting) to avoid those many distracters. Basically, I have to come as close to putting myself in a white room with no windows or doors, alone with only my books, as I can.

Coffee also helps.

Jonathan Robinson
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
www.Silentriverkungfu.com

Seize The Day, then cram it full of stuff

So I’ve been on the road for the past week on a fantastic road-trip. We left Edmonton on the 27^th and headed west. We crossed the mountains and kept going on to the coast. After boarding a ferry in Vancouver, we drove to the furthest point of Vancouver island, a town called Tofino. This town is known for surfing all year round. The water is cold and wetsuits are worn at all times to keep from freezing. We surfed three times in two days and were utterly wiped from it. A lot of fun but I’m not a fish so it’s tiring. We are now on the leg back.

The best part about this trip has been how much we have done. We have not slept past 9am this trip and have been up at 6 on a couple days. even with drive time, we have so much time to spend doing things that are fun. Let me think for a second on what we’ve done so far (in no real order)… we saw the mountains, stayed at the Banff Springs hotel for cheap, enjoyed many great breakfasts, surfed a few times, walked everywhere we could, touched exotic animals in the Vancouver zoo, seen Vancouver for the first time, climbed a totem pole, climbed rocks in an inland stream, drank from said stream, visited a few people we know, took a million photographs, bought a ridiculously comfy pair of shoes, tried a dozen different kinds of ice-cream, picked up trash that wasn’t ours, walked among the dinosaurs, touched an eagle, climbed the rigging of an old-style sailing vessel, touched a sea anemone, swam in the ocean, ate liege waffles, panned for gold, rode a quad, pet a main-coon cat, watched a few artists at work, listened to live music being busked into my ears, slept in a church parking lot, ate some of the best food around, and more that I can’t remember right now. The best part is that I feel like the trip should have been done by now but we still have a couple days left! Might go see some aquatic life in an aquarium and climb a mountain still.

It is amazing how much can be fit into one day.

Jonathan Robinson
www.silentriverkungfu.com
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada