I got myself two new hobbies. Swimming, the act of moving from point A to point B in a medium in a state of liquidity and whose density is usually around 1 g/ml (more commonly known as water to the uninformed), and Gymming, the act of going to the gym. Hence the title of this entry.
My previous hobby was soccering but I had been soccering for almost a decade (my gadz, how time flies) and aside from thinking that it's high time to get a new sport activity, I've got this slight left foot pain/injury that's keeping me from effectively kick balls of any kind (soccer balls, biological balls, you name the ball, I can't kick it).
Why swim and gym? Why not sing and dance? Or skate and bake?
Well, swim and gym sounds nice (hey they rhyme!), and singing and dancing is really not my thing. My earliest attempts at singing and dancing was a traumatic experience. I vaguely remember people panic and scream "call for help! this kid's having an epileptic seizure!" Having a spoon shoved in your mouth (the rational being to keep you from biting your tongue off) and various strangers groping your young, fresh and innocent body in an attempt to "hold" and "keep" you still are not things you want to happen when you try to sing/dance. So no to the sing and dance combo. While skate and bake almost sounds nice (hey they almost rhyme!), the mental imagery of baking pastry while in skates doesn't strike me as cool or even sane. Swimming and gymming it is then.
The kicker here is that there's this gym with an indoor pool 297 steps away from the office (you can count the steps yourself to verify!). And the kicker to the kicker would be mike felps winning 8 golds in the last olympics and it inspired the dolphin in me to get out there and swim.
I've been swimming quite regularly for two months now. Before this regularity, the only swimming stroke I knew was freestyle (aka front crawl) and breast and back stroking.
The freestyle I learned in just a few years ago in a Red Cross sponsored summer clinic. As the only adult in this swimming class, my classmates being 5 to 7 year old brats, you can imagine the pressure to perform (must float and move forward, must not let 5 year old kid do this better).
The breaststroke and backstroke I deduced from the words used. My version of breaststroke goes like this: Stand on the pool's edge, swimming cap and goggles on. Look down at the water's surface in a 45 degree angle. Place right hand on top part of right breast ..err.. chest (hopefully yours) just above the right nipple. Do the same for the left side. You probably know how this is going to end but if you don't, then move your hands in a circular motion around the nipple. Tadaa! Breast stroke at it's primitivest. You can do the same for the backstroke. You may not have nipples on your back to guide you (well, you shouldn't really), just stroke your back in a circular motion the way you find most comfortable.
During the regularity of swimming, I've been practicing my freestyle, and learning the breaststroking and butterflying the way they should be done. How can I not learn when I've got the two best teachers in the internetz, google and youtube. Google to provide the information, and youtube to show how it's done.
To date, I still have no idea if I'm doing things right. What I know is that I'm able to move from from point A to point B in a medium in a state of liquidity and whose density is usually around 1 g/ml (more commonly known as water to the recently informed but forgetful) in strokes called freestyle, boobstroke and butterfly. I'm not even sure if I'm doing it the way youtube showed me how. But it does feel I'm doing it right. Oh well, until someone tells me otherwise I'll just listen to the dolphin in me.
