Philosophy

Extraordinary Resolve

/ hsoi / 4 Comments

Regular readers know — I hate squatting.

I don’t hate it so much these days, but it’s still #4 on my ranking of the 4 main lifts. Why do I keep doing it? Because I’m supposed to. I know I won’t get stronger, I won’t get better, and I’m generally a wuss, if I don’t squat.

I still have some deeper fears about squatting, ingrained from my youth. Injury of course, or just that I’ll get down in the hole and fail and won’t be able to get out of the hole. I guess to some extent, squatting intimidates me.

Some make it metaphorical, in terms of what squatting teaches you. That all this heavy weight can be on your shoulders, and it can press you down, it will press you down, it will hurt like hell and it will do all it can to keep you down in that hole. But you prove your mettle by pressing back up and getting out of that hole… and perhaps, doing it again, over and over, until you are stronger. Eventually the weight isn’t so heavy, and you’re able to handle more, to do more, and you are stronger and better for it. Yes it will be scary, yes you will have fear, but it’s up to you how you want to address it. And so, there’s physical, but also the metaphysical that comes from squatting heavy weights.

Recently I’ve found myself squatting heavier than I ever have. I will not lie — it scares me. I am closing in on squatting 300# as a work weight, and while on the one hand I’m really excited about breaking a barrier I’ve never broken before, I’m also afraid I’m going to hurt myself… or at least, that I won’t get back up. That I won’t be as strong as I want to be, and the weight will get me down. The weight will win. While I know to not let it, I cannot deny the little demon gnawing inside me does exist and eats at me. My challenge is to control him, my challenge is to beat him.

So while I’ve been squatting — especially since my current routine has me squatting a lot more (the 5×10 assistance work)… it’s caused me to have to find some extraordinary resolve within me to keep going. That I will not quit. That the only reason I stop is because my body truly gave out and couldn’t give any more. Not because I pussed out, not because I gave into that little demon. I do look at it purely physically, but I also look at it philosophically because I know if I can handle this, I can handle anything. That will be stronger physically, but also mentally — everything else in life is pretty easy by comparison. All I have to do is resolve to do it.

But just as I think I have it… I realize how far I have to go. Dave Tate, founder and CEO of EliteFTS.com write about where “ER” really comes from.

After reading that, while I’m working to improve myself… I can see how far I really have to go.

But perhaps now when I’m down in that hole I’ll remember to think:

“Chest Up.” “Chest Up.” “Head Up.” “Head Up.”

 and from that, I can find greater strength.

A tidbit of wisdom

/ hsoi

Besse Cooper is among an elite group of eight super centenarians who have lived to the age of 116.

Her secret to longevity? “I mind my own business,” Cooper says. “And I don’t eat junk food.”

Emphasis added.

Full story. (h/t Maku mozo!)

thinking

/ hsoi / 2 Comments

“The third-rate mind is only happy when it is thinking with the majority. The second-rate mind is only happy when it is thinking with the minority. The first-rate mind is only happy when it is thinking.”

-A.A. Milne

Objectivist-C

/ hsoi

Are you a Mac or iOS programmer? Do you write code in Objective-C?

Do you know who Ayn Rand is?

If you like both, there’s now the perfect programming language for you: Objectivist-C!

Objectivist-C was invented by Russian-American programmer Ope Rand. Based on the principle of rational self-interest, Objectivist-C was influenced by Aristotle’s laws of logic and Smalltalk. In an unorthodox move, Rand first wrote about the principles of Objectivist-C in bestselling novels, and only later set them down in non-fiction.

You can read all about it here. 🙂  (h/t Ed)

I think my favorite is:

In Objectivist-C, software engineers have eliminated the need for object-oriented principles like Dependency Inversion, Acyclic Dependencies, and Stable Dependencies. Instead, they strictly adhere to one simple principle: No Dependencies.

Heh. 🙂

Quote(s) for today

/ hsoi

There are two kinds of people in the world: the ones that protest and complain and want fairness despite never having earned it, and the ones that fight their asses off to be important and make a contribution. You have to earn the right to be treated fair. The people that have a problem with that are the scrubs.

– Jim Wendler

Read the whole article. It might be in the context of football, but it’s all about working hard(er) and achieving goals.

There’s two other passages I thought were excellent:

Adopt a winning attitude that understands you will fail but allows you to achieve your goals.

If possible, have someone in your life that won’t coddle you, but call you out on your bullshit. Whenever I faltered from this attitude my father set me straight.

  • Complained about school? Suck it up and study.
  • The coaches won’t look at me? Quit crying and get better.
  • I don’t like my job! Change your attitude or quit and do your own thing.
  • I don’t make enough money! Find a way to make more.

and

The important thing is that you make yourself indispensable at what you do. Work as hard as you can to be the best at your given role. If that’s protecting the punter, do so with such precision that no one can take your job. Do not take your job for granted. Make it hard on the coaches to take you out. Fight like hell to do your job better than anyone.

That’s one I’ve known and done my best with in my own life and career, and one I’ve been working to pass on to my kids.

I don’t understand racism

/ hsoi

I don’t understand racism, I never understood it. I can’t understand the fact you could hate somebody from half a mile away and never even speak to them and hate them. That’s fucking so dumb. There are black assholes, white assholes, Japanese assholes, whatever assholes… there’s always plenty of assholes. But until you speak to people, you never know which they are, a good guy or an asshole. Give ’em that chance. That’s the only thing I’m prejudiced against, that’s assholes.

– Lemmy

I love Motörhead. I love Lemmy. You can hear him saying the above at about 4:40 into this interview:

That’s how I feel about it. It doesn’t matter much what your skin color is, what your gender is, what your sexual orientation is, what your religious preference is, what your beer choice is, what your ethic background is, whatever. For the most part it doesn’t matter. All that matters — to me — is if you’re a good person or if you’re an asshole. The sort of person you are transcends all those other mundane attributes, and is really all that matters.

(I say “for the most part” because sometimes those things matter. Like the SNL sketch of Tim Meadows trying out for the Bill Clinton role. Because sometimes there are just realities.) 🙂

As I wrote before:

I guess I’m only a person of half-color… maybe even less, because mixing white and yellow just winds up some odd shade of pale. I’ve felt the sting of racism and discrimination because I’m Korean, I’ve felt it because I’m white, I’ve felt it because I’m a half-breed, I’ve felt it because I have long hair, I’ve felt it for numerous other reasons because someone judged me based upon shallow perceptions. I know it exists and have dealt with being the victim of racism and discrimination throughout my life.

I do understand where racism, stereotyping, prejudice, and discrimination comes from. It’s a very human thing to do, and we all do it. We all discriminate. We all attempt to take our experiences and classify them and draw conclusions from those experiences. And often it’s based upon very limited experience, very limited perception. It’s how humans function. The question is, what do you do with it? Because you can laugh at stereotypes, you can find ways to bring positive things out of them, or you can focus on being negative and hateful.

It saddens me deeply to see so much negativity, especially as of late. So much hate. So much anger and destruction. So much division. And some of the worst offenders are those that think they don’t do it, that they’re better, they’re above it  (see my prior article). I have more respect for someone that’s racist and admits their racism, than someone that’s racist but denies it yet actively participates in it. That whole “log in your own eye” thing.

I’ll leave you with another song from another favorite band of mine, Tesla. The song is called “Caught In a Dream”:

If you can imagine this, the whole world sharing one big kiss
These are thoughts all through my brain, that I daydream everyday
That I’m alive and well, and right now, I’m alive, I’m feeling…well
It’s my life to live my way, so I’ll keep daydreaming away
And who knows, maybe someday, it will all come true
And I will get my way, and we will live as one

I’m caught up in a dream, I’m gonna wish for it all
No one’s gonna tell me how, no way, this is my dream now
I’m caught up in what seems simply impossible
I ain’t gonna change a thing, no way, it’s my dream

And what cannot will be done, for every living thing under the sun
Forget color, forget race, and just be one big happy face
Among this sea of people, live among God’s creatures, sharing love
That was sent down from above, here to share with one another
Father, brother, sister, mother, everybody sharing love, sharing love

I’m caught up in a dream, I’m gonna wish for it all
No one’s gonna tell me how, no way, this is my dream now
I’m caught up in what seems simply impossible
I ain’t gonna change a thing, no way, it’s my dream, this is my dream

What if…I close my eyes and everything will be alright
Here in my fantasy, living in harmony
Make my dream come alive

I’m caught up in a dream, I’m gonna wish for it all
No one’s gonna tell me how, no way, this is my dream now
I’m caught up in what seems simply impossible
I ain’t gonna change a thing, no way, it’s my dream
I’m caught up in a dream, I’m gonna wish for it all
No one’s gonna tell me how, no way, this is my dream now
I’m caught up in what seems simply impossible
I ain’t gonna change a thing, no way, it’s my dream

Now, if you can imagine this, the whole world sharing one big kiss
Take away the pain and hurt, make like heaven here on earth
Without reason to die, and giving everlasting life to all

Thought for today

/ hsoi

We seek security, constantly demanding that there shall be no disturbance; and it is this desire not to be disturbed that makes us avoid what is and fear what might be. Fear is the ignorance of what is, and our life is spent in a constant state of fear.

-Krishnamurti, via Maku mozo!