This vacation seems to have been a progression of sorts. A progression of my thoughts, my social development, and - I should hope - my maturation. I retreated into myself the first couple of days, since I only JUST got done with school, and had to come to grips with the fact that I failed precalculus this semester. So I read. I caught up on books that I'd bought during the school year but never had time to finish... "Proust Was a Neuroscientist" and "Next: The Future Just Happened" by Michael Lewis.
I also read an editorial in the Wall Street Journal by Amy Chua, a.k.a. "The Tiger Mother." In her piece, she gave an update on her eldest daughter, who was a freshman in college like me. She said that she was the most hands-off college mother one could have - and for good reason. Mrs. Chua is the opposite of a helicopter mother: to paraphrase her, she brought up her children very strictly, with an emphasis on academic performance, so that her children would learn discipline. She wanted her children to develop a sense of resilience, so that even if they fail at something the first time - say, picking up a foreign language, or an instrument, or an introductory college class - they would know that if they worked hard, they could do ANYTHING. That piece struck me quite a bit, because I had railed on the Tiger Mother the first time I heard about her. I never read her book - though I'm going to now - and I thought that her approach to parenting was the antithesis of encouraging creativity and self-reliance in her children... but time has vindicated her, and I give her three cheers.
So I've been reading. I've also been tanning, thank god, because I was bleached so pale by this past semester that I was afraid of my own skin color... ultra-white is not natural on a human being, and I am not nearly enough of a computer-nerd to justify it. So several days of napping in the sun has given me some color back, and with it, a profound sense of well-being. After the first couple of days on this trip, I threw away my lighter and said "screw it. I'll quit smoking." Well... in addition to the other habits I quit recently, it was like giving up on one of my last remaining pleasures in life. Or so it seemed at the time. Then I discovered running. Or... re-discovered it. I started out with a mile, then two miles - exercising every time I got a craving to smoke. The pay-off was enormous, I gotta tell ya. A runner's high is damn-near incomparable to any other sensation you will ever experience. It is clean, it is natural, and it is one of the greatest mystical experiences you will ever have. If you pray to a God, you can find him through running.
Dear me, where was I? Ah. I was MEAN those first two days after quitting, despite the 'quick fixes' of running and tanning. I was jonesing for something - anything - that was fun and NOT repetitive. I mean... I was on vacation, wasn't I? I needed to do something special. So I did Karaoke. First by myself, then with my family... my uncle Bernard sang with me one night; here's a recording of it below (INSERT FILM CLIP HERE). And while I've sang in public before, it reaffirmed for me that YES, I'm a decent singer, and YES people like to hear me sing. And either my Grandpa or my Uncle Sam suggested that I start singing at bars in New York for money. That'd be pretty fun... and I certainly need the cash. At any rate - people started coming to that lounge, "The Cabinet", because they'd heard there were good amateur singers there. Talk about an ego boost!
I also re-discovered pleasure in eating.. each thing I eat now, I can taste it fully, and as I taste it, I know how good or bad it is for me... I know how it will affect my body. At the beginning of the cruise, I ate nothing but sugary/calorie-dense foods because that was all I could taste. With time, my tastes became more subtle... more refined. I became more in-tune with my body. As such... I payed attention to much, and I recorded nearly everything I learned. However - it's pointless to overwhelm you all with data, so enjoy the update for now - I will post more SOON, including pictures and that video I mentioned. These posts are often rough drafts and the like, but hey: if you want to know more - or less - about a certain happenstance, just ask me! I'm happy to re-post, edit, whatever. Selah.
I also read an editorial in the Wall Street Journal by Amy Chua, a.k.a. "The Tiger Mother." In her piece, she gave an update on her eldest daughter, who was a freshman in college like me. She said that she was the most hands-off college mother one could have - and for good reason. Mrs. Chua is the opposite of a helicopter mother: to paraphrase her, she brought up her children very strictly, with an emphasis on academic performance, so that her children would learn discipline. She wanted her children to develop a sense of resilience, so that even if they fail at something the first time - say, picking up a foreign language, or an instrument, or an introductory college class - they would know that if they worked hard, they could do ANYTHING. That piece struck me quite a bit, because I had railed on the Tiger Mother the first time I heard about her. I never read her book - though I'm going to now - and I thought that her approach to parenting was the antithesis of encouraging creativity and self-reliance in her children... but time has vindicated her, and I give her three cheers.
So I've been reading. I've also been tanning, thank god, because I was bleached so pale by this past semester that I was afraid of my own skin color... ultra-white is not natural on a human being, and I am not nearly enough of a computer-nerd to justify it. So several days of napping in the sun has given me some color back, and with it, a profound sense of well-being. After the first couple of days on this trip, I threw away my lighter and said "screw it. I'll quit smoking." Well... in addition to the other habits I quit recently, it was like giving up on one of my last remaining pleasures in life. Or so it seemed at the time. Then I discovered running. Or... re-discovered it. I started out with a mile, then two miles - exercising every time I got a craving to smoke. The pay-off was enormous, I gotta tell ya. A runner's high is damn-near incomparable to any other sensation you will ever experience. It is clean, it is natural, and it is one of the greatest mystical experiences you will ever have. If you pray to a God, you can find him through running.
Dear me, where was I? Ah. I was MEAN those first two days after quitting, despite the 'quick fixes' of running and tanning. I was jonesing for something - anything - that was fun and NOT repetitive. I mean... I was on vacation, wasn't I? I needed to do something special. So I did Karaoke. First by myself, then with my family... my uncle Bernard sang with me one night; here's a recording of it below (INSERT FILM CLIP HERE). And while I've sang in public before, it reaffirmed for me that YES, I'm a decent singer, and YES people like to hear me sing. And either my Grandpa or my Uncle Sam suggested that I start singing at bars in New York for money. That'd be pretty fun... and I certainly need the cash. At any rate - people started coming to that lounge, "The Cabinet", because they'd heard there were good amateur singers there. Talk about an ego boost!
I also re-discovered pleasure in eating.. each thing I eat now, I can taste it fully, and as I taste it, I know how good or bad it is for me... I know how it will affect my body. At the beginning of the cruise, I ate nothing but sugary/calorie-dense foods because that was all I could taste. With time, my tastes became more subtle... more refined. I became more in-tune with my body. As such... I payed attention to much, and I recorded nearly everything I learned. However - it's pointless to overwhelm you all with data, so enjoy the update for now - I will post more SOON, including pictures and that video I mentioned. These posts are often rough drafts and the like, but hey: if you want to know more - or less - about a certain happenstance, just ask me! I'm happy to re-post, edit, whatever. Selah.
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