I go to the gym to...

Blog. At the moment anyway. :-) Monday afternoon, I've been awake for a long time. I got up at 4:30 this morning to work on my thesis, a portion which I wanted to hand in to my advisor today. It was deeply satisfying to hand it over this morning feeling very happy with what I'd finished, even though it's nowhere near the final draft. THings are picking up with it now and I've worked past one of the hardest parts, so I'm feeling good about it today. Ie... no need for bitching in Malay. Truly, it is an interesting process putting the whole thing together, because I expected that once I had all the research I thought I would need, I expected I could just sit down and write and write and write. And I do that. But I'm learning so much more during the writing process. It's like sitting with a box full of loose puzzle pieces. It's not until you start to put it together, and sometimes not until you are close to finishing it that you realize you are missing some vital pieces. (I'm only on chapter 3/4, but with each revision of the chapter I find new things ideas that I can challenge, or new things that I need to research more) It also reminds me a lot of when I trained for a half marathon. In these ways:

1. I had to push myself, no one was going to run behind and do it for me
2. There were days where it was so so difficult to get started, but once I got going it felt great
3. There were days where I ran great from start to finish and would feel such an incredible high from having such a satisfying run
4. There were days when it sucked from start to finish...
5. When it started to come together and I was able to put in distances I never thought possible, it was an incredibly rewarding experience
6. When I finished I felt like I'd accomplished something really monumental in my life... it was a personal best for me.

Its the funny thing about really pushing yourself towards a goal I suppose. In the beginning it's so difficult and you don't really enjoy it. Although it doesn't necessarily get easier as time goes on, you start to enjoy the challenge. A little more everyday.

And yes, I'm still at the gym. Wireless is everywhere these days, so I thought I'd kill two birds with one stone. I'm not quite talented enough to blog whilst running on the treadmill, but maybe someday. :-) So I guess it's time to get changed for my date with Mr.Treadmill... Adios for now me amigos...