Oh Everest, My Everest

I always remember my brother, James, being really cool when I was a kid. He was pretty responsible for most of the friends I had in high school besides the big three girlfriends for life. That was because he was a professional skater and all the skater kids wanted to be my friend because they thought my big brother was so cool. Obviously I make my friends a different way these days, but it wasn't a bad gig to be James Qua's little sister at Eagle Rock High School. Anyway, about a year before I left home, a lot of stuff happened and we didn't really talk for a while. Then college, growing up and such. Being on the other side of the country aided in my feeling of isolation from Qua family closeness in general, but sometimes being so far away just kept me too wrapped up in the fact that most of my family would forget that I'm a person and, more importantly, that I'm a changing person. I have to remind myself that my family is a loose aggregation of other individuals just like me, and that they change and I have to adapt as well.

Overly analytical as I am, I came to this conclusion a couple of years ago and revisit it pretty frequently. This time, though, I'm revisiting the idea because my brother started a blog. If you've been a faithful reader of The Supple Cow for the past two years, then you probably already know this is why I decided to start blogging under my own name, why I felt like I needed a change, and from where the inspiration for this new blog's title came. My brother not sharing my gender nor the encouragement of over-emotionalism that it attracts, his blog is more about biking and less about his thoughts and feelings. James now mountain bikes to feed his need for speed and thrills, which I think is awesome. He took me out on a really easy trail once several months ago and I had a blast. I don't know why it surprised me so much to realize how strong the James : Riding :: Krischelle : Karate analogy really is. (This realization inspired me to plug his Ride Log for my readers to check out. Of course, it has been in my sidebar for a couple of weeks now, but an official plug never hurts.) It really helps me not feel like I'm here in New York to escape my terrible family and more like I'm here to do what I need to do whenever I realize something like that. It sounds simple and straight-forward, but it's reassuring to have stuff in common with my brothers and sisters, and it hardly ever seems as simple as this. We both want to make ourselves tougher. Good deal, right?

Speaking of tough, I'm slowly but surely getting over my tendency to whine and be wussy in general. I realized this when I got home to discover the deepest defensive bruise I've had on my arms in the two months I've been doing karate... and I didn't even notice when it happened during class. This is it, but the picture is from a bad angle so you can't see how black and blue it really is:

Karate really lights me up. I don't know how else to say it. It's like all the great inspirational stuff I've ever gotten out of playing music or sports or getting good grades, only it's just for me. I'm not doing it for my bandmates or my teammates or to get into a good school. I'm just doing it to make a tougher me. I cut my lip at least once a week these days from missing a block, I've sustained a bruise like in that picture on both sides of both my forearms since day one, and I've been kicked in the head and stomach more times than I want to remember, but I keep getting up and asking for more. It's not because I'm a masochist, and it's not because I have something to prove. The only person I want to impress is myself. I have no reason to keep going other than because I want to. That's right - me.

The bonus is that I appear to be building muscle, too. I don't think I've ever seen my arms look this un-noodley in my entire life:

What can I say? I like. I'm hopeful that this ridiculous schedule of cramming CrossFit WsOD (Workouts of the Day) in between karate days will remain just as exciting to me, but the jury is still out on my ability to sustain these kinds of workouts at the same time. I've only done two CF WsOD since I discovered CF (on Sunday and today) but after tomorrow's karate class, that will make five consecutive days of intense workout. So far, all I've got to show for it is a slightly stronger resolve to be tough, a shitload of lactic acid in my body, and the pervasive odor of Tiger Balm following me wherever I go. Oh yeah, and also a reasonable explanation for my formerly ridiculous appetite. I guess that would be my favorite part.