fried rice with nicotene
isn't it awful when people just don't think?
I was sitting there, outdoors, on a beautiful San Francisco day,
enjoying my fried rice and egg roll
when a lady sits at the table next to me
and begins to puff her cancer stick
....right there...amidst the 10 or so tables
of people enjoying their noon-time meal.

how insensitive I tell you! Just plain IGNORANT!

hello???
'ever heard of second hand smoke, lady?
thanks a lot for failing to think of others' lungs and lifespans
just so you could satisfy your craving by taking a hit of your
damn cancer stick!

don't get me wrong. I'm a firm believer in
the whole "live and let live" idea.
but dammit, when you risk my life in addition to yours,
that's where i draw the line.

hope she enjoyed her nicotene-tasting Chinese food.

it's as if fate was listening
believe it or not, I'm run/walking in my first marathon.
it's only a 5k, but a "marathon" nonetheless.
I'm pretty excited about it.
my friends just talked me into signing up yesterday.
I now only have 2 weeks to raise $250.

I'm happy to be participating for so many reasons.
First, my teammates and I will be running to raise funds for
My Sister's House-- "the first and only agency to specifically serve the needs of Asian and
Pacific Islander women and children impacted by domestic violence in
Sacramento".
While I have never been affected by DV,
I understand how taboo it is to speak of domestic violence in
the API culture. It's not something that is
seriously addressed or understood.

I remember when I visited the PI's at 9 years old.
We were in my mom's province, Bicol area, outdoors during a religious festival.
All of a sudden, from nowhere I saw this man chasing after
a woman, ready to hit her with a heavy board.
The woman was terrified and screaming.
ANd the saddest part was that there were tons of people around,
looking outside their windows and doors.
Yet no one was brave enough to help the woman.

Perhaps the saddest thing about D.V. is the root of its existence:
stereotypical views of women, which is deeply ingrained in
and perpetuated by our different cultures.
This is my own understanding, of course, but i'm sure it is not far from the truth.

Anyhow, as I mentioned, I'll be running with a team of people -
some of my closest friends - so that's definitely a plus.
later on in the evening we'll be doing yet another "marathon"
...we'll be watching as many episodes as we can of the Sex & the City series.

Well, with only a couple of weeks away, I figure I should probably get in
some workouts. I kinda want to run it, but since most of my friends are
walking, it'll be kinda nice to be with them the whole way.
Maybe we could agree to do a combination of running one mile, then
walking another, etc.
That's what I'm used to anyway when I run/walk around my neighborhood.

The funny thing is, that same day that I signed up,
I got yet another e-mail about another marathon.
A friend of mine who lives in Virginia will be running a real 26.2-mile
marathon in memory of her mother who died of a brain tumor.
She will be raising funds for an organization who does research on the disease.

I almost cried when I read her e-mail.
It was such a heartfelt message.
And her e-mail started out with,
"If you are receiving this email you have made your mark on my life in
a meaningful way. I'd like to share a little bit about the woman
who left the most indelible one of all..."
GAWD! If I wasn't at work, I swear I would've bawled my eyes out.

Anyhow, it's kinda funny how all of these ideas I've had in my head
about running a marathon
have pretty much manifested themselves in these events.
I guess I should really start thinking about this more seriously.
We'll see...

Til Next time.

P.S. As I mentioned earlier, me and my 2 other friends have a goal to raise a minimum of $250 for the organization we are run/walking for on November 2nd. If you would like to contribute any amount at all, please drop me a tag in my tagboard or a comment below. Thanks so much!