queer eye for a square guy
"something low maintenance." that was my instruction to the senior stylist at the bench fix salon at the ELJ building when i was asked what kind of haircut i wanted. i have never been a creature of habit: routines bore me and i thrive on change, but when i went to the barbershop at philcoa yesterday, i found out that my barber of 5 years has left the country. i've been visiting the same barbershop since my undergrad days in UP, and this is my second barber to leave the country. i felt that my wires had been shortcircuited and that my world had tilted a little. i didn't know what to do. was i going to get a new barber? i was unsure. but i was also scheduled to work out at the FF in ABS-CBN. and there happened to be a bench fix salon there. i've visited it before, not recently, when i went to see my barber and found out he had gone on vacation. i got a nice cut, but i had the worst time styling it. i couldn't comb it at all. my hair looked nice right after the cut (and the shampoo, the rinse, the blowdry, the clay) when i looked at it in the mirror, but i wonder whether i could actually sustain this look for more than a month. it takes too much effort to do it in the morning, and maintain it throughout the rest of the day. i'm not really much of a metrosexual, and i don't bother so much about how my hair looks. but maybe i should. trouble is, my hair stylist suggests that i visit him at least twice a month. at P225 a cut and with a generous tip as well, i'm not sure i can sustain that! yeesh! find me a barber!
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i timed a respectable 58' 13", and i am really proud of myself. i wasn't at all prepared for a 10km run, but when mardel announced last friday that he had a race packet which he won't be using, i gladly offered my legs to do the running. yes, i've been doing my sprints in the gym, but i lacked the proper training to sustain a good pace in a long run, exposed to the elements. there's a world of a difference between the treadmill and a real road, with inclines, declines, pollution, turns, crowds, sun, water stations, cars, etc! my best time has been shy over 55 minutes. i hope to do a sub-55 in my next 10km. and while i am not wont to making announcements, i hope to do a much longer run in the future. but a full marathon? not likely. weirdest thing is that people keep asking me if i'll be running a marathon. i don't think i'll last more than 2 and a half hours on the road. people think i'm fast, but what they don't know is that this is something i had to work really hard to achieve: whatever state of fitness i'm in is a result of a lot of effort and perseverance, since i used to be such a weakling -- no, worse. i was a lampayatot. now i'm into all these sporting endeavors. but what i don't have is an inborn athleticism. i don't have innate physical strength or might or speed or coordination or whatever. and at this stage, i can't exactly count on my youth. i really think i lost a lot while i was slaving away at law school. sigh.
* * *
i timed a respectable 58' 13", and i am really proud of myself. i wasn't at all prepared for a 10km run, but when mardel announced last friday that he had a race packet which he won't be using, i gladly offered my legs to do the running. yes, i've been doing my sprints in the gym, but i lacked the proper training to sustain a good pace in a long run, exposed to the elements. there's a world of a difference between the treadmill and a real road, with inclines, declines, pollution, turns, crowds, sun, water stations, cars, etc! my best time has been shy over 55 minutes. i hope to do a sub-55 in my next 10km. and while i am not wont to making announcements, i hope to do a much longer run in the future. but a full marathon? not likely. weirdest thing is that people keep asking me if i'll be running a marathon. i don't think i'll last more than 2 and a half hours on the road. people think i'm fast, but what they don't know is that this is something i had to work really hard to achieve: whatever state of fitness i'm in is a result of a lot of effort and perseverance, since i used to be such a weakling -- no, worse. i was a lampayatot. now i'm into all these sporting endeavors. but what i don't have is an inborn athleticism. i don't have innate physical strength or might or speed or coordination or whatever. and at this stage, i can't exactly count on my youth. i really think i lost a lot while i was slaving away at law school. sigh.