The countdown begins until the women's foil team moves to Budapest for the Olympic qualification process. Five women are going to use Budapest as our central training location and we will be traveling each weekend, for seven weekends in a row, to different cities for world cups. Each world cup will count towards the selection process for the US Olympic team.
I can't believe how things are coming down to the wire. Our flight to Budapest is on the 31st of this month! It really is 2008 and the Olympics are really this year.
This train of thought got me onto another train of thought a bit separate from this. I know a year from now that my life will be so different. For one thing I think (and I hope) I won't be living with my parents. My life of being a high school teenager again will be over. Se la vie-we must move out at some point and I probably overstayed my visit. I know I shouldn't be thinking so far ahead but I can't imagine life without fencing-that's something I am going to have to decide as well. Will this be the last run?
Anyways, I shouldn't be on that train of thought too long. It's this time and this moment that are the most important and the most exciting. It really is almost time to get this process going.
Before I end this short entry and head to sleep for my required 8 hours a night, I just like to say again how excited I am that things are coming together. Also, isn't it funny how the Olympic race is sort of running paralell to the presidential race? And after the speech I gave last week at the golf club, my father is convinced that I will run for president. No, thank you.
Hope everyone is having a great week! Remember, it's almost the weekend.
Wednesday, January 09, 2008
Sunday, January 06, 2008
On this day
On this day 27 years ago Iris Zimmermann was born at Genesee Hospital in Rochester, NY. Yes folks, it was my birthday today and what a birthday it was.
This morning I woke up early to do my usual Sunday morning meditation with a local Zen Buddhist group. What a great way to start another year of life than getting your mind in the right place?
After our meditation sessions usually the group sits down to a small brunch of bagels and other assorted carbs-of course nothing is on my list of "to eat while training" but I figure eh-it's my birthday. I dug into a plain bagel with scallion cream cheese-one of my favorite combinations. I hope that the three clementine oranges I ate in addition to the bagel helped to nuetralize the calorie intake. Perhaps not.
It was so great to sit with this large group, eleven in total, and just talk to them about life and what they were up to. Of course the topic of the Olympics came up but it was more in passing than anything else. I enjoyed hearing stories from the other members about what they are currently reading, writing, and what they thought of my generation. Of course my generation is too distracted by technology and doesn't honor wisdom and age. I hope that isn't true since I am working my way up the age ladder myself.
Then it was on to the Shanghai restaurant for some dim sum with my parents. Celebrations at the Zimmermann household always include food. It was nice to sit down and have a sort of formal meal with my parents. In true family fashion we finished pretty quickly but we did have some time to talk. I asked my mom about zen Buddhism-which she is a part of and what she thought about meditation. It was nice to get her opinion on something other than her distaste for my nose ring and her negative comments about Barack Obama (we differ on who we are voting for in the primary).
During our dim sum outing our family had a chance to reconnect with some family friends. They were visiting from China and it was nice to talk to them about Beijing. The group was so excited and it was cool to see how proud my mother was at the prospect of my going to China. That moment was great-no matter what happens-I will remember that smile on her face. Everyone in the chinese community that is close to us is excited about the possibility of my going to China to compete. They all have something to say like-"Chinese have a very long history of sword fighting. Are you familiar of the Shao Lin methods (cheesy kung-fu films are now entering my mind at this point)?" It's nice that everyone wants to help.
Speaking of parents being proud. I brought my father with me on Friday to the speech I made to the local Volleyball club. There were about 90 people there, not as many as I thought but I am glad for that. Anyways, I had a great time speaking there and I think I did a pretty good job. In my father's opinion I was "tremendous and there wasn't a sound because everyone was listening to me speak." It's nice to get that kind of feedback from my dad but I think he was a bit biased. The coolest thing about it is that he told me he would never forget watching me up there and he can't wait to support me as the next woman president. To which my mother responded, "Hillary will be the first woman president." My family is nuts but I love them.
More about the birthday. After the dim sum I came home, napped (one of my favorite activities), and then headed to the gym. It's amazing how warm it is in Rochester right now-it's about 50 degrees out and supposed to reach 60 by Wednesday. Unbelievable considering 27 years ago on this day it was only 2 degrees. My Mom says it was so cold you could hear the ice crackle under the car tires on the way to the hospital.
I'm ending this day with a blog (another of my favorite activities) and some thoughts about how amazing it is to get older. I know a lot of people fear it but I am grateful for this past year and all the things I have learned. 2008 will be a great year to continue to grow and learn.
There is a short poem from a Buddhist monk about getting older. It's short and too the point but he encapsulates what I feel about it.
Apparition
by Thich Nhat Hanh, 1966
Being young
is like sweet sunshine
flooding the Summer sky.
Quiet noon-
Years and months
are just the expressions of Earth.
Why take note
of the never-ending seasons?
Poems are always up to interpretation but to me this summarizes youth and growing up. It's just something that happens like the turn of one season to another.
I hope everyone is well and there is always more blogging to be done. Have a great week!
This morning I woke up early to do my usual Sunday morning meditation with a local Zen Buddhist group. What a great way to start another year of life than getting your mind in the right place?
After our meditation sessions usually the group sits down to a small brunch of bagels and other assorted carbs-of course nothing is on my list of "to eat while training" but I figure eh-it's my birthday. I dug into a plain bagel with scallion cream cheese-one of my favorite combinations. I hope that the three clementine oranges I ate in addition to the bagel helped to nuetralize the calorie intake. Perhaps not.
It was so great to sit with this large group, eleven in total, and just talk to them about life and what they were up to. Of course the topic of the Olympics came up but it was more in passing than anything else. I enjoyed hearing stories from the other members about what they are currently reading, writing, and what they thought of my generation. Of course my generation is too distracted by technology and doesn't honor wisdom and age. I hope that isn't true since I am working my way up the age ladder myself.
Then it was on to the Shanghai restaurant for some dim sum with my parents. Celebrations at the Zimmermann household always include food. It was nice to sit down and have a sort of formal meal with my parents. In true family fashion we finished pretty quickly but we did have some time to talk. I asked my mom about zen Buddhism-which she is a part of and what she thought about meditation. It was nice to get her opinion on something other than her distaste for my nose ring and her negative comments about Barack Obama (we differ on who we are voting for in the primary).
During our dim sum outing our family had a chance to reconnect with some family friends. They were visiting from China and it was nice to talk to them about Beijing. The group was so excited and it was cool to see how proud my mother was at the prospect of my going to China. That moment was great-no matter what happens-I will remember that smile on her face. Everyone in the chinese community that is close to us is excited about the possibility of my going to China to compete. They all have something to say like-"Chinese have a very long history of sword fighting. Are you familiar of the Shao Lin methods (cheesy kung-fu films are now entering my mind at this point)?" It's nice that everyone wants to help.
Speaking of parents being proud. I brought my father with me on Friday to the speech I made to the local Volleyball club. There were about 90 people there, not as many as I thought but I am glad for that. Anyways, I had a great time speaking there and I think I did a pretty good job. In my father's opinion I was "tremendous and there wasn't a sound because everyone was listening to me speak." It's nice to get that kind of feedback from my dad but I think he was a bit biased. The coolest thing about it is that he told me he would never forget watching me up there and he can't wait to support me as the next woman president. To which my mother responded, "Hillary will be the first woman president." My family is nuts but I love them.
More about the birthday. After the dim sum I came home, napped (one of my favorite activities), and then headed to the gym. It's amazing how warm it is in Rochester right now-it's about 50 degrees out and supposed to reach 60 by Wednesday. Unbelievable considering 27 years ago on this day it was only 2 degrees. My Mom says it was so cold you could hear the ice crackle under the car tires on the way to the hospital.
I'm ending this day with a blog (another of my favorite activities) and some thoughts about how amazing it is to get older. I know a lot of people fear it but I am grateful for this past year and all the things I have learned. 2008 will be a great year to continue to grow and learn.
There is a short poem from a Buddhist monk about getting older. It's short and too the point but he encapsulates what I feel about it.
Apparition
by Thich Nhat Hanh, 1966
Being young
is like sweet sunshine
flooding the Summer sky.
Quiet noon-
Years and months
are just the expressions of Earth.
Why take note
of the never-ending seasons?
Poems are always up to interpretation but to me this summarizes youth and growing up. It's just something that happens like the turn of one season to another.
I hope everyone is well and there is always more blogging to be done. Have a great week!
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