Finally! Fresh veggies in the South Bronx!

Just couldn't take the grease culture any more, and those YouTube videos have made me averse to eating at McDonald's, but my body was desperately craving something raw, preferably fresh.

I set out, not sure where I was going, when I remembered the Chinese buffet up on 163rd. It's not as extensive as the Korean places you find in Manhattan, but is organized around the same theme (except for the C-town schmaltz for sale in the front of the store), so I thought I'd give it a shot. While the menu was overwhelmingly fried carbs, there was, at the end, a section with raw cucumbers, peppers and onions, and raw lettuce. Paradise!!! I can eat again!

On the way there, I had this whole conversation in my head. I'm sooo discouraged by some of my "senior" staff. While I'll withhold judgement on intent, it's the ability and the skillsets (or lack thereof) that have me concerned. I think the problem is a total immersion in those areas we presently refer to as "ghettoes." With the ghetto location and the ghetto identification comes a perverse sort of ghetto synthesis? that normalizes dysfunctional behavior. THAT's the root issue here, and I don't know how to fix it. We've normalized and elevated dysfunction so much that it's become culturally ingrained. It makes me sad.

I could go on, but need to stop here. In less than a week, I take off for Egypt and Israel/Palestine. I'm excited. I wish every person I know could make a journey from defeat to victory similar to mine; I have to remind myself that it's not my place to want to shape their lives. I think I have to be ok with people accepting that mediocrity and dysfunction are acceptable in their lives. Where I need to grow is in the ability to show them viable alternatives, so at least they will have motivation to have a desire for something better.

Last night, a bodybuilder friend of mine, Mike S, came with me to the Y. He worked me out, effectively being my personal trainer. It got me SUCH gym cred to have him with me: all the women and the men were eyeing him. And with good cause -- as I watched him work his sets, there was just something fascinating about looking at his musculature. He's got the kind of body that, when you see it, you assume they juice, but when I watched him work out, he looks totally natural. He's just SERIOUS about working out. The other thing, though, was that he has PERFECT form. It's amazing how much weight you can throw around when you're just pumping, but when you actually lift and do it correctly, you end up doing a lot less weight and a lot reps, but seeing more results. I always feel it after a workout, but I REALLY felt it last night. It was great. Have been doing total body workouts, and I'll still continue to do those, but he also showed me how to do other things. This way, in case I don't feel like doing total body, I can go and just do legs or just do arms or something.

Have now done every machine at the Y. I understand the Shoulder Press and the Bicep curl, as well as the glute machine ... I have lots of options now!