Embarassments of the day. Ok, so today was one of those days that make you feel like a complete idiot. Well, not you, but me. So first, I locked my key in my room. It's weird, cuz for dorms in America, you gotta manually stick the key in the keyhole outside and turn to lock the door, right? But here, they've got the kinda locks where you push the button down on the doorknob from the inside, and it keeps you from turning the knob from the outside. So I push down the lock button, and close the door behind me as I'm walking out. Like 5 seconds later, I check my pocket and realize what I've done. So I try some good ol'-fashioned ramming of the door with my shoulder a couple times and eventually come to the conclusion that it's a sturdier lock than at first appears, haha. Then, I walk around to the outside (I live on the first floor) thinking I could climb through the window, since I remembered I didn't lock that. Well, turns out that the bug screen thingy on the outside is secured a lot better than I'd imagined as well. It wouldn't have been hard to tear down, but vandalism is pretty high on my list of shady things to do, not to mention I'd have a lot of "'splaining to do" if I got caught in the act. So I said screw it, and decided I should go ask for help. (It's kinda funny: if this had happened back in the US, breaking and entering wouldn't even have crossed my mind; I'd go straight to the RA for help. But here, maybe it's the language barrier or something, but I'm so hesitant to ask anyone for any kind of assistance- in ANY situation. I guess I'm just a stubborn American, hahaha.) I eventually had to get the lady from the writing center to help me out. It was all terribly embarassing.

Anyways, later on, I went to go work out at the weight room here on campus- which is pretty shoddy by American standards, I might add. They don't even have a bench here; they have like a safety bench/squat thingamajig. Anyways, so I didn't take it too seriously, and I guess I should have had a spotter anyways for any kinda powerlifting. But yea, I was on my last set of "bench," and being used to having a spotter, I decided to go for one more rep as my arms were beginning to give out. Half way up, I run out of juice, and the bar starts inching... it's way... back down. And in my mind I'm like omg! no spotter! CRIKEY... this is gonna suck, hahaha. Eventually the bar settles heftily on my chest as I let out a quiet and pitiful "ooomph." One more try to save myself. The bar rises a couple inches and slowly creeps back to it's original resting place. Well, quite the predicament I've gotten myself into this time, eh? I think to myself. Eventually, someone walks over and saves me, and I manage a meek "xie xie" as I look away, feeling my face getting red from embarassment. Ugghhh, as if I needed any more reminder that I'm completely losing my physique here. I guess the biggest contributant to that is the fact that my diet here isn't really conducive to staying in shape in the first place.

Getting Ripped 101. When you take weightlifting class at UT, they set aside a day or two to lecture about the science behind weight training & fitness; I guess it's to make it seem like more of a legitimate "class" instead of just required workout sessions (which is what the class really amounts to). Anyways, one of the lessons was about proper nutrition & diet. A lot of it was common sense or intro bio, but in case you don't know, I'll humor you and hit the high points. Ok, so supposedly, getting cut/ripped is like 50% weight training and 50% diet (, or maybe it was closer to 70/30, I don't remember the exact number, but the emphasis on diet was hefty enough not to be ignored). When you work out, you're basically tearing up your muscle fibers, after which, your body presumably builds 'em back up bigger and stronger. But to do so, it needs protein, the building block of muscles. People joke about it all the time, but I'm serious, I think the reason there's such a difference in Asian and Western physiques is simple: red meat. It's so hard to get good cuts of meat here in Taiwan. There's also a severe lack of ripped folk here. Coincidence? I think not. Anyways, as much muscle mass as you have, you'll never see the cuts if your body fat percentage is too high *raises hand*, haha. Seriously though, for men, fat tends to pool in the torso area, i.e. the gut. You need a body fat percentage around 15% or you'll never see that ever-desired 6-pack. (I was actually only like 2% away from being classified as obese when they measured me, hahahah.) Anyways, if you wanna lose the chub, you gotta burn more calories than you take in on a given day. This is the part of being fit that always gets me. =P But yea, you know how the Recommended Daily Intake (RDI) is like 2000 Calories? (with a capital 'C'- yes, it matters apparently) Well yea, that's if you're a skinny little sucker (like in the 130-150 lbs. range, I think). A person of my size and physical activity is supposed to have about 2600 per day. Oh yea, and apparently sleeping is really important too. Who woulda thunk it, eh? Haha.