Alone

     ...while in a crowd, can be such a lonely feeling. While pairs or groups pass you by as you stand by yourself. No one to talk to, laugh with, maybe even cry with. People hurrying past or strolling leisurely, some arm in arm, the connections physical as well as emotional. There is a feeling of isolation akin to being stranded on an island all alone, yet you are in the midst of humanity. No one glances your way. No one offers a greeting of any kind. You are an island unto yourself.

     It might seem that the most sensible thing is to simply reach out. Leave your shell, little by little, to gain entry to the lives of those around you. But you don't have the courage. You like the safety of your shell. You convince yourself that looking in is quite enough. And so once more, in the midst of it all, you stay alone in the crowd.

© Margj Castillo, Between You and Me, 2010 - Present.

From Fat to Fit...I Hope

     Food, glorious food...cooking and eating it are two of the pleasures in life that I love, specially the eating part, hehehe. Which leads to a not so desirable side effect - getting fat. In my case, not just being overweight but bordering on obese. Thus the need to get in shape, slim down, get healthy, lose weight. Memories of my previous shape before coming to the USA have me longing to be that slim again. It was time to get physical!

     
     When I first thought about losing weight, I made do with some exercise DVDs I already had. These were mostly dance routines like hip hop or belly dancing. It was fun and I could do it at home without needing any equipment aside from the DVD player. But it was rather hard trying to do dance moves in our rather cramped bedroom. Plus all that huffing and thumping was scaring the dogs. So after less than a month my interest waned.

The next thing I tried were exercise/sports games on console gaming platforms. All these fitness/exercise games were coming out for various platforms, but the one that caught my eye the most was the sports game on Wii. I would need to be up on my feet to play, so it seemed a guaranteed way to work up a sweat while having fun. It worked out great at first, but lasted about a month before I got lazy and distracted by other games that only involved my fingers. Super Mario Galaxy was particularly entrancing for me.

     Flash forward about a year or so, with a definite increase in pounds. A little discomfort felt here and there, increased heart rate, nothing serious but enough to make me think twice about my widening waistline. It was definitely time to get serious about losing weight. So before I got a chance to change my mind and back out, I finally went to a gym offering comparatively reasonable rates. They also touted their motto of being a no judgement zone. Well, as out of shape as I was, I sure didn't want to work out in a place where other people are checking out how you look and all that. I wanted to get in, sweat it out and get out.

     It's been about three months now since I started going to the gym. I don't have a regimen that I follow but just use the various cardio equipment. A little bit of circuit training. I've tried to go more than three times a week but I'm not that good at sticking to it. And so far, I've lost only one inch, haha! Oh well, it's a work in progress. One that hopefully will bear fruit soon enough. I've got a long way to go but I'll try my hardest to get down to a size six or eight eventually.

© Margj Castillo, Between You and Me, 2010 - Present.