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Thursday Challenge: Sign  Evelyn at Cental Square last Friday.

Poof

I thought we'd never get warm weather after a long stretch of rain, cold, windy, rain and cold , cold and rain since the beginning of spring. Except for my heavy winter jackets which I took to dry cleaner last week, the rest of my winter clothes are still within my reach in the drawers. I think tonight my winter and spring clothes will get busy switching places..... or perhaps not.

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Two days before the weekend I experienced an unpleasant situation with one of the upper management staff. Nothing serious but it was something I've come to understand that some of us are more or less like animal when we are pushed to the corner. Some people will do anything to save their asses. I was angry and disappointed when I learned about it, but when I went home, I changed clothes and went out running. By the end of 7 mile, all the negative feeling I had earlier was washed away with my sweat. I had a clear perspective of what I need to do. Nothing is more important than my peaceful mind. Let the dead bury the dead.

If Aging Makes Me Wiser, Why Is Facial Cleanser is In My Hair?

I like to wash my face when I am in a shower. I'll stand under a shower for a few minutes and let the water washes away a day dust, dirt and fatigue. Then I step away from a shower head, grab face cleanser, squeeze the foam onto the tips of my left hand. With my right hand I divide the foam into halves. I close my eyes and bring  my hands to my face and gently lather the cleanser onto my face.

About an hour ago after I got home from the class, I did exactly the same thing except I lathered my hair and not my face. And the worst part was I thought I was shampooing my hair with shampoo. With my eyes closed, I was wondering, "What is wrong with this shampoo?" Before I knew it (and my eyes were still closed)I had started a long string of cursing at the shampoo manufacturer for making suck shampoo. Then my nose caught a whiff of faint sandalwood. Then it hit me I was shampooing my hair with my face cleanser.

Resistance

There are days I can run without a conflict between my body and my mind. I lace up my running shoes, walk up to a wide sidewalk across the street, ten minutes stretching and off I go. I slowly take a deep breath as I bring up my right foot, press both of my upper arms to my side to block the wind from passing through. My arms up into dinosaur TRex arm position as Stu Mittleman wrote in his book, Slow Burning , When I land my right foot forward and lift my left foot, I am still in count 1. Into the third cycle I land my right foot forward, I complete three counts deep inhale, pause and deep exhale.

I visualize I have a butterfly in each of my close fist. As long as I feel their flutter wings I know I am in relaxed zone.

As I gradually pick up the speed I'm aware that I'm still breathing  3-1-3 cycle. I hear the wind whistles coming from the beach, I feel the sharp wind sting my face and sometimes I think I taste a salty air at the tip of my tongue. And the sound of wet sand crunch under my feet so delicious, it reminds me of keropok ikan Trengganu-fishy, oily, salty and crunchy stayed on my hand after the crackers long gone from the plate.

This morning, bracing the strong wind coming  from the ocean I experience the same feeling. I run on boardwalk for about 15 minutes and head toward the beach. I pull up the hood to protect my ears and I run along the water teeth: pardon me for using this expression. But I love the sound of it. Water Teeth -gigi air in Malay, where the water stops and gracefully bows back to the sea.

On a day like this morning, the act of running feels effortless. But they are days my body resists to run or perhaps my mind influence my body. They are days I sit on the steps outside the front door and I collect every single strength from every part of me to get up and walk across the street. And I don't like those days.

What Can We Do?

In Economic Distribution class last night we watched this movie, The Devil's Miner. It was filmed in 1995 in mountainside  Cerro Rico Bolivia deep underground in silver mine about 14 year old Basilio and his brother Benardino.

Basilio was 10 years old when he started to work in a silvermine . He livedwith mother, brother and youngest sister on a slope of the mountain where the mine located. What impressed me most about Basillio was he was hungry for education. He went to school which a few miles below the mountain. Throughout the movie, Basillio's mother expressed her desire to see her children to get an education.

Get a copy and watch this movie. It will stir your heart. It did mine. So what can do about it? Well, it is up to an individual. Perhaps you say, we have enough issues in our own yard, why should we care what happen in Bolivia? Whatever it is, you know what to do.