Knowledge

A little bit of knowledge can sometimes be bad.

I have to deal with this a ridiculous amount at work.
-Guy knows that marathon runners carbo-load before races and long runs sometimes, so he starts carbo-loading before he comes in for sessions. Marathon runners will log upwards of 80 miles a week, and he trains for 3 hours a week. He doesn't understand why he is gaining fat.

-Guy knows that we utilize glucose stores when we workout. He proceeds to eat three protein bars during each 1.5 session of training in order to keep his "glycogen repositories" high. It takes at least 30 mins for the stomach to start digesting food and I don't even know how much longer until it is able to make use of the nutrients. He doesn't understand why he still gets tired at the end of his workouts.

-Woman knows that the spine is relatively fragile, so she avoids all movements that involve bending over. This causes muscle imbalances, posture and flexibility problems from a weak lower back that doesn't gain strength. She doesn't understand why she still has back pain, even though she goes to great lengths to keep it fresh.

-Atkins. It's fairly synonymous with "low carb," but many also make it synonymous with "eat as much fatty and junk as I can, as long as they don't have carbs."

-Guy knows that spandex breathes well, so he wears it every day. The knowledge that he's missing is that he really should not be wearing things so form-fitting.

These statements look good on their own, but when you try to integrate them with other statements, it just doesn't work out so well. A pictoral representation:

Impact

I don't think we really realize the weight of our words. For example, here's a few sayings that have really stuck with me throughout the years:
1. There are always a million reasons to not do something. - Jan Levinson, The Office.
2. Whether you believe you can or can't, you will be right. - Henry Ford.
3. Save the drama for your mama. - Some fool that cleverly rhymed this.

If fictional baby mama Jan Levinson can direct me towards an attitude-changing epiphany, then what's the weight of my friends' words? (Someone's got to pick up the pieces - Will [I bet you don't even remember this]) Teachers? (Keep it simple, stupid - Grayson from Kennedy) For that matter, what about our parents' words? (Take advantage of your opportunities because I never had them - Dad)

I was talking to a client and found that despite his being only 33, has two kids that are 10 and 6. He knows that he is basically their world at that age, and as a result is constantly thinking about choosing his words carefully, trying to prevent his judgments from coloring theirs, etc. His kids will carry whatever he conveys to them for a long, long time. I distinctly remember disliking John Travolta when I was young because my Dad thought he was a greasy looking hippie. Trivial, but what if he had told me that it was because Travolta was white? Or [insert absurd prejudice.]

I recently realized that I sort of have the power to impact people like that at my job. I think it's because everything I say is interpreted as coming from a... "hierarchically higher source," for lack of a better phrase. Obviously I'm not, but such are the social dynamics of being a trainer. They get a good-sized dose of my views on fitness, nutrition and life in general, and I've noticed it really affecting a couple of them. One guy told me that he printed out an email I wrote him with some inspiring mumbo-jumbo in it and taped it onto his monitor at work.

Anyway, it's interesting to think about how the things you say, no matter how trivial you think they may be, might really affect and inspire someone.
:How would you like to be remembered?
:To have made an impact on people.
Well that's a little bit better than "Spreading my seed."

ANOOP

So I took a mini-break from writing... but only in relative terms, because there was a point where I was writing posts everyday and pretty much stockpiling them. Anyway, I think some of the stuff I write about is a little too heavy for daily consumption.

With Chinese New Year's on the horizon and me saving up to travel this summer, I really wish my family.. wasn't my family. Okay, that's a bit strong, but here: In my best year I think I got about $200 total, and that was a hell of an anomaly. In junior high and the beginning of high school, my haul would be one red envelope with $20 from my parents. Then when I was a junior in high school, I got one from them that had $1 in it with a note that said "It's the thought that counts." Extrapolate a few years down the line from that and I'm guessing I'll get a lump of coal this year.

I think I'm going to actually watch American Idol this year. So two things for those of you that may not know: I sang in an a cappella group at UCSD and if I'm involved in something, I'm in 110%. I got familiar with groups from all over the nation and found a particularly good one from UNC called the Clef Hangers. They have a soloist named Anoop that I've big-time man-crushed on for the past year.. AND HE'S ON AMERICAN IDOL THIS SEASON.

Here's him covering "The Only One For Me" by Brian McKnight (Seriously, how many people can cover him?)


And here's him auditioning on American Idol


And now a female crush, Kina Grannis.

Archie

Authorship (Musical)

I love oldies. In my opinion, 1964 - 1979 was the greatest musical era - there was just so much innovation, talent and real musicianship. You had the rise of Motown, disco's ups and downs, Pink Floyd's psychadelic peak, the birth of electronica and powerful songs that reflected a turbulent political scene. Basically everything heard today is derivative of something from that era.

But where did those songs come from? To what extent do we just like the writers behind the hits, as opposed to the artists themselves?

Take for example, the famous Motown songwriter Norm Whitfield. I know that he wrote a couple of songs for The Temptations, but a little more research via wikipedia showed that he wrote all of these:
Ain't Too Proud to Beg
Just My Imagination
Beauty's Only Skin Deep
You're My Everything
I Wish It Would Rain
Cloud Nine
Can't Get Next To You
Psychadelic Shack
Ball of Confusion
Papa Was a Rollin' Stone
(Also Car Wash - Rose Royce and War - Edwin Starr)

As a huge Temptations fan, I can tell you that that list covers every Temptations song of note except "My Girl" and "Get Ready." So I love.. Norm Whitfield? Lamp?

Semantics.

Authorship

There are three books I would want to write, and they have absolutely no relation to each other.

In 6th grade, I had to write a 2 page story for some language arts assignment. It was about a genie named Korkie and his cat (this is the origin of my first e-mail address and various usernames "korkie"). I got a little carried away and ended up with 5 pages, so I just lopped off the end and fabricated some generic ending. After that, I worked on it everyday for a few weeks - until my adolescent attention span ran out and I became equally infatuated with something else. Anyway, I ended up with about 12 pages, single space 12 point font, of a story about a genie who is freed from his lamp after a millenia by a cat scratching himself on it. The cat gets three wishes and thouroughly enjoys jerking his genie around. Seemed promising back then.

Remember when Cupertino and Monta Vista was the subject of this hopelessly biased and skewed article from the Wall Street Journal? (http://www.wsjclassroomedition.com/teen/teencenter/05nov_whiteflight.htm) It told about how white families felt intimidated by the influx of Asian immigrants and their emphasis on academics. It was badly written and poorly researched, but it wasn't completely without grounds. I remember meeting with a junior high friend in college who didn't attend Monta Vista, and said that only when he was surrounded by all white people did he discover that "white people also could work hard and be smart." I'd want to conduct and write about a comparative study of Cupertino vs. other upper middle class communities... namely white ones. What are the differences: Is the emphasis still heavily only on academics as it is in Cupertino, or is there a wider breadth of living encouraged? Are there similarities between Asian immigrants and European immigrants? Etc.

A book on the practical basics of fitness and nutrition. You saw this coming. I would love to dispel some of the dogma the fitness world is inundated with. Said world is for some reason exceptionally susceptible to real-life rumors; the spread of information that has no grounds, and that may or may not be true. There are certainly more educated people to write this, but I think I know what is most salient to people and what they can relate to best.

Comparison

1998
2004

As always, click to enlarge.