Welcome to Tom

Hi guys, I’m writing this post just to announce that I won’t be blogging for a while. There is a lot going on with my life right now that finding the time and energy to write on this blog is really stressing me out. This is why in order to make my life a bit easier, I am stopping my blogging activities for a while. Right now, I just do not feel that blogging gives me a rewarding experience that I expected when I started this blog.

Don’t get me wrong, there are times when I truly enjoy blogging. I work hard all my life to get everything that I want. At present, some of those wants still need more working in order to achieve. What I want right is that I will only blog if inspiration strikes me. I no longer want to be obligated to blog. This is the main reason why I will keep this blog open. This way, when I feel that I have something to say in the near future, I may feel inspired enough to write a new blog post. However, this is few and far between. This is why I encourage readers to check for new posts every few months to save time.

Work has been very hard. The only thing keeping me there is the fact that I need a steady source of income and in this economy, I should be lucky that I still have a job. Because of this, I am trying my best to keep my job by performing to the best of my ability. Unfortunately, these means going home after working overtime and doing chores. I barely have time to meet some of my old friends let alone write on a blog post.

My personal life is kind of in shambles right now because I was still so naive about many things. I thought that life will be easier here in the land of milk and honey. Unfortunately it’s pretty obvious that it is hard and I have to work hard to survive because this is my dream.

Bye guys. No more blogging for a while.

Finally, after almost 7 days of intense searching on the web, we found the treadmill that we’ve been looking for. I was almost as good as the one at the gym but it’s second hand. The good news is, the owner only used it for 4 months and wants to sell it since he will be migrating to Austria, hence he can’t bring along the treadmill.

Such a pretty thing to go to waste. It was all the features we’ve been going gaga about, MP3 music plug-in, wide LCD screen, with wifi and Internet access, and present programs! Best part about it is he’s selling it for $500 bucks since he wants to get rid of it fast. That is a little bit off our budget, but OK none the less. We told our parents about buying a new treadmill to share and they are glad to pay for half of the amount of the equipment, no strings attached. This was awesome! Now all we have to do is come up with $250 and we’re cool! Phew, time to put our thinking caps on. Hmmm…. what to do to raise cash?

Since we hatched our brilliant plan from that burger joint, I immediately asked around for the latest, high end, quality yet affordable treadmills. There were amazing ones, just like at the gym, but their prices are way of the roof! There was no way we can save for that in 6 months. Julian was a bit techy, so he went ahead to search and browse around the web for treadmills. Most of what he found where brand new and super expensive. It’s totally more that we could afford. Plus, we have to think of another brilliant plan how to raise the money needed for the treadmill. Days passed and I was having doubts if there is an affordable treadmill available out there.

We’ve been working out for quite some time now and Julian was looking great. His weight now ranges from 195-193 lbs, what an achievement!

When we were hanging out in his favorite burger joint, he remembered that we were just 5 months away from renewing our gym membership fee. We couldn’t afford to ask money from our parents again, just as when we were a month away from paying in full from our garage clean-ups. So, he suggested instead of paying $400 for the gym, save the money to buy a new treadmill instead? We thought about it for while and weighed the pros and cons of this decision. In the end, I agreed. But there was problem. How are we going to raise the money for this? Somebody help me!

Another cold and lonely 14 days passed since I punched Julian. I wonder how is he taking all this? I keep spotting him around school and in class, but we never really talk. Until one day, while in the cafeteria, Julian was three benches right across from where I was sitting.

A kid eating on a bench in between us, drank milk which his friend made him laugh making him shooting milk from his nostrils. Everybody who was it laughed so hard that moment, including me and Julian. I saw him laughed so hard that he was gasping for air. He spotted me spotting him and nodded in return. While I was on the way home, he ran after me and we got to talk again. I said my apologies for being such a jerk. I took it and diverted the topic by recalling what happened in the cafeteria earlier. We laugh all the way home.

Later, that week Julian sat beside me all gleaming with pride and victory. Then he started teasing me how a loser am I and not like him. I didn’t mind at first but he continued until we arrived at the locker room. He wouldn’t shut up. Then suddenly, form out of nowhere, my left fist flew right to his nose. I was a bit shocked I did it. Julian was about to hit me back but lucky Brono stepped in to break the fight. Later, I went ahead of him, grabbed something to eat and went home. I still couldn’t believe I broke his nose.

GOD DAMN IT!! I lost the freakin’ bet! To make it worse, I punched Julian on the nose because of it. I know what I did was wrong, but kept on rubbing it to my face. Damn! As much as I hate losing, I hate it when people rub it further on me. So, there we were. We went to the gym Saturday morning since we didn’t have classes. Luckily, nobody was using the treadmill.

We went near it and tossed a coin to see who goes first. I was heads, he was tails. Damn, it was tails. He went first. He started using the treadmill at around 10 am. While I was watching him in distance, lifting dumb bell after dumbbell after dumbbell, until I didn’t realize it was 12 nn when he finally got off the equipment. Two hours! Tough cookie! So, I immediately went on the treadmill and started with a 15 min walks which eventually into a jog and running. I was doing fine, an hour and 30 minutes passed, until I heard my stomach rumbling. I was passed lunch time and I didn’t have breakfast yet. Suddenly, I felt a little whoozy and my vision became all blurry, but I still had to finish the bet. Until I lost my balance, but luckily regained it and slowly stopped the machine. I finished an hour and 45 minutes on the treadmill. I was that close!!!  But I knew I couldn’t go on, so I sat down for a while.

Julian isn’t the kind of person who gives up without a fight. All thought we aren’t in speaking terms, we still sit at the same bench for lunch, sit next to each other in Algebra (because we have to choice), and see each other in the gym. Although we’re not really mad at each other, we still keep a “civil” approach with one another.

While I was freshening up after a workout, he approached me and we got to talk. I asked him if he has willing to take on a challenge. He asked me what it is.  I told him that whoever could last longer on the treadmill during our workout this Saturday will have a month of undisturbed use of the equipment, while the loser doesn’t get to use it at all at the same time. He agreed and we shook hands on it. This bet is going be easy, since I’m leaner compared to Julian. Bring it on!!!

A week after, I finally had enough of Julian hogging the new treadmill. I don’t know if he notices but I’ve been giving him the cold shoulder for three days now. We hang, eat lunch and work out together, but I haven’t been talking to him that much. Sometimes he can be dumb as a post. I just wish he knows why I’m doing this. Then suddenly, it occurred to me. A great epiphany. Why not beat him in his own game then?

Last Thursday, I didn’t wait up for him after his Chemistry class. I texted him I went a head to the gym. Of course, when I got there, I immediately ran to the new treadmill since it was available. Minutes later he arrived, a bit pissed because I went ahead of him. He saw me using the treadmill, but didn’t mind that much. He did his stretching and went straight to the dumb bells.

But two days later, I kept on doing the same thing which was going ahead of him to the gym and immediately going straight to the treadmill, and hogging it – for a very very very very long time. Now, he finally understood what I’ve been doing all along. You might ask if he was pissed about it? Absolutely! Mission complete bwahahahahaha!

Days later, I barely got to use the new treadmill since “you-know-who” has been hogging it every time we work out. Before, when we use the treadmill, we barely last for 30 minutes. Now, he can go on twice as long, and even thrice at times. Talk about hogging! He’s like it when he listens to his favorite songs using his fancy iPod plugged into the machine. He would also browse the web and check his email (which I think nobody sends him one anyway). And don’t think I haven’t tried asking. All he keeps on saying is “5 minutes more”, and when I finally get the turn to use it, after a few minutes he would ask me if I could wrap it up since it’s almost 6 pm and it’s time to go home. That really ticks me off. I know he’s sensitive and all but for once can he sensitive enough with other people’s needs and feelings? Grrr!