Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Swine Flu

So by now we've all heard about the swine flu and how numbers are growing rapidly each day. It's a big topic of conversation around our staff room table and some people are quite scared. I understand... it is hitting close to home and can be deadly. I feel for those who are infected and for the families of those who have lost their lives.

But I couldn't help feel frustrated that we care so much about this but not about other "pandemics" in the world. Who cares that in 2007 33.2 million people were living with AIDS and that 2.1 million people died? Who cares that 25,000 people die a DAY from hunger or hunger-related causes? Every loss of life is tragic, I just wish we'd pay more attention to the issues that are killing the most people in the world. I know it's hard to care when it isn't hitting close to home. I guarantee that if AIDS and hunger were killing as many people on this side of the world a heck of a lot more would be done about it. I have many friends affected by these things, and I still don't care enough. I want to care more, and I think my level of caring should be measured by what I DO about it.

Thursday, April 9, 2009

50 down, 50 to go...

At the beginning of January I committed to doing 50 workouts by July 1st. I've never been that consistent with exercise and it's something I wanted to do before I end this decade of life (just over a month away!). I'm happy to have finally reached the halfway mark in my goal. Since the beginning of February I've been playing squash after school with some friends a few days a week and that has helped. The gym can get boring so it's been a nice change. Joel and I have signed up for a local tennis club and are looking forward to improving our game. I'm also taking a phys-ed course so once a week I'm "playing" for several hours. Every little bit helps! This is definitely not my first attempt at consistently being active, but for some reason this little plan has finally worked for me and has kept me going when I normally would have quit. With just under 3 months to go and the warm weather getting closer, I'm feeling good!