Becoming the Strongest Version of Yourself

His name is Elliot Hulse.

He is a youtube personality, I would say, who talks about working out and strength training. In the beginning, I watched his videos about the proper mechanics of exercises like deadlifts and squats. He used a lot of fancy terms referring to various muscle parts and physics involving the exercises. It was interesting, but I also got the impression that he was just another one of those cocky workout 'guru', and half the words that came out of his mouth were probably bullshit.

Lately, as I began to workout again and search for various tips/hints about working out on youtube, I rediscovered Elliot Hulse. A lot of his new videos talk about things much more than just lifting weights. To him, life is all about 'becoming the strongest version of yourself,' and he says this is not necessarily about 'physical' strength (although that is how 'strongest version' is manifested in him). Not only does he talk about hitting heavy weights, but a lot of his focus is about strengthening yourself at the 'psychological,' physiological,' and 'spiritual' level.

Again, I thought his videos were just bunch of rambling that doesn't mean much of anything, but the more I watch it, I began to realize he is actually very knowledgeable and have a lot of experience thinking about the human body. To me, he seemed more like a philosopher who thinks about how to have a balanced, productive, and happy life in this modern world than a simple workout guru.


Here is Elliot Hulse talking about recognizing 3 sets of mind humans have: rational, emotional, and instinctual mind. He says modern society emphasizes the rational mind above all else, but we can't ignore the other two.

Here is Elliot reading a letter from a cancer survivor who found the motivation to live through Elliot Hulse.

Becoming the strongest version of yourself....I like the sound of that.

Missing the feeling of the weekend

You know that feeling you get on a Friday afternoon, that sense of liberation after 5 days of work?
The realization that for the next couple of days, you can do whatever you want?
Or better yet, the ability to just to NOTHING?
(unless you have exams the following week.)

 After a tough and hectic week, it just feels sooo good to be done with the week that sometimes I just wanna shout and yell. All that tiredness and sleepiness that I felt during the week magically disappears, and I am so full of energy. That nap I've been wanting so badly? Screw that. This brief moment of liberty is too precious to be spent on sleep.

Now that I have all the time in the world, it's not the same. What a relative term 'happiness' is.

Just sitting in my house in Fort Lee, doing NOTHING, doing not much else without a car to go anywhere, everyday is same. There is absolutely nothing special about 'Friday' or 'Saturday.'

This just seem so irrational. I've realized this relativity in people's happiness for a while, but it's just so bizarre. I guess this is human nature? Then human nature is irrational. Why can't we be happy with what we have? Seriously.....I should be jumping up and down with joy when I perfectly know that it'd be dreadful to not have free time.

Do we really need to go through hard times just to appreciate the good times?
And as soon as we no longer have hardship, we are so quick to forget what we have is good. Shit...

I miss the feeling of the weekend so much.

Taiwan Visit

8/15 to 8/18/13, Taipei, Taiwan

13년만에 대만으로 돌아갔다. 4일간 엄청 놀았다. 정신없이....시간이 모자랐다.

여러가지것을 했지만 대북한국학교와 청년공원을 가본것이 가장 중요했다.

동해랑 같이갔는데 둘다 봤을때 딱 느낀게 '학교가 이만큼밖에 안컸어?' 였다. 참으로 작았다. 어릴땐 이 운동장이 얼마나 컸는데.....뛰어다니면서 도마뱀 잡고.....

6시 즘에 갔는데 학교 대문은 잠겨있엇다. 아무도 없었다. 방학이어서 그런가?

학교 바로 뒤에있는 우리 집.

등교하던 기억데로 따라 가보니 나왔다. 기분이 참 묘했다. 아침마나 개 똥 피하느라 땅만 보고 다니던 그길.....

(근데 몇층인지는 기억이 잘.....8층? 6층?)

 드디어 꿈에서만 보이던 청년공원을 다시 직접 보게되었다. 조금 조금씩 변했지만 또 많은것들이 기억데로 였다. 학교처럼 모든것이 작아보였지만 지금 봐도 상당히 큰 공원이다. 참 아쉬운건....그 옛날의 연못이 없어젔다는것.....그냥 벽돌바닥의 공터였다...헐ㄹㄹ 이럴수가....거기서 올챙이 잡고 자라 잡고 민물 게도 있었는데...

대만 아침이다. 4일간 너무 많은것을 맛으로, 냄새로 돌아왔다. 이름이다 눈으로는 기억이 잘 안나는것도 먹어보면, 아....이맛! 기억나! 했다. 그리고 길가다 나는 냄새들도 마찬가지....참으로 신기하고 묘한 4일이었다. 언제 또 와보나.....이번엔 13년이나 안 걸리길......

Summer 2013

To reflect back on my college senior year, it wasn't the best.
I finished alright, but it was so hard mentally. I just read my previous post, and it sounds as if I was depressed haha. (or maybe I was at the time...) Maybe because I had such an awesome summer (South Africa, bicycle tour) coming into senior year, everything seemed unimportant and menial. I felt like I was wasting time. Even when friends wanted to hang out, everything sounded so lame. So I became lame and did nothing. Meh. Did not like the way I spent my last year. Could have been much more fun.

Now I have been working as an intern at Fasoo.com in Korea. Its been about a month and a half now. At first, everything was new, so it was quite interesting. Now, its just boring again. I don't wanna go to work. It's really hard trying to stay awake for 8 hours a day when I have lost all interest in what I do I work. I don't know what's wrong with me.

I do enjoy participating in Fasketball (Fasoo company basketball club). It's held every Monday at a middle school gym, and I can't believe Monday has become the day I look most forward to. I'm always disappointed at my performance because I think I can do better,  but its fun. I think it helped me to improve my court vision. I am dreading the last 3 weeks of internship, yet I am saddened that I have only 3 Mondays left with Fasketball. sigh.....

I also enjoyed getting to know the two interns that sit near me in our team. 창원 and 재성. They are in their Junior year, but a year older than me. But that's fine, since I'm used to being friends with 90s. They told me a lot of stories about their experiences in the army.

I can't believe how busy I have been lately, in Korea. I thought I would be so bored, with not many friends around, but I've been surprisingly busy. Meeting up with few friends I have, 회식, relatives, etc. I should look for China jobs, but I just wanna rest and do nothing because I'm so tired all the time.

I should write more often. Cheers.

Blank

My mind is just blank these days.
I don't want to do anything, I don't want to think about anything.
I just feel trapped.


What am I doing here....


I should have taken this year off.



I don't know what to do with myself, so I don't do anything.




My mind is blank.

Bicycle Trip From Chicago to New York: summer 2012

So this will be a brief summary of my bicycle trip. While at school before the trip, I was inspired by a cyclist Charlie that have been cycling around the world for 7 years. After finishing, I decided to post a summary of my trip on his blog. I also made a video blog on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/user/BikeToNewYork?feature=CEwQwRs%3D

Here is the summary i posted on Charlie's blog:

http://7lee.com/freeboard/121200

찰리형, 안녕하세요

저는 지금 미국에서 Northwestern University를 다니고 있는 21살 박현우라고 합니다. 미국에서는 친구들이 저를 닉네임으로 Sky Park으로 부르고요.

지난 (2012) 4-5월달즘 우연히 찰리형의 블로그에 들어왔는데 여기 들리시는 많은 분들처럼 저도 감탄했습니다.

제 꿈같은 삶을 직접 살고계신거 같아서.

그 후로 이 블로그랑 찰리형처럼 자전거 여행하는 다른분들 유투브나 블로그에 빠져서 도서관에서 학기말 시험공부 하다말고 자전거 여행기나 읽고 그랬어요....ㅋㅋㅋ

이러면서 어느순간 느꼈어요. 

하고싶으면 그냥 하면되지...생각할게 뭐 있냐? 지금 대학다니는 시기에야말로 절호의 기회다.

일단 세게여행을 하기전에 실험으로 좀 작은 여행을 생각했어요. 

학교는 시카고에 있고 집은 뉴욕에서 강건너 있는 뉴저지니까 학교 끝나고 집에 가는겸 시카고에서 뉴욕까지.

친구들한테 같이하자고 하니까 다들 저보고 미쳤다고......가다 죽으면 어떡하냐고...ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

저는 답하기를 미국인데 죽긴 뭘 죽겠냐? 하면서 찰리형 이야기를 들려주곤 했어요....7년동안 아직도 자전거패달 밟고계신다고.

그래서 1150 miles, 20일 (실제로 24일)의 여행을 혼자서 하기로 했는데 출발하기 4일전에 아는 형 한명이 같이 하겠다고 해서 둘이서 하게 되었어요.

아래 링크는 제가 만든 비디오 블로그 입니다. 진짜 별거 아니지만 혹시 심심하시면 보세요 ㅋㅋ

http://www.youtube.com/user/BikeToNewYork?feature=CEwQwRs%3D

 

들른 도시들:

Chicago, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Washington DC, Philadelphia, New York (Detroit는 안들르기로 함)

좀더 자세한 지도:

https://maps.google.com/maps/ms?vps=2&ie=UTF8&hl=en&oe=UTF8&msa=0&msid=204153345010549532445.0004c8b1cbd62edb1e627

 

시카고에서. 오른쪽이 접니다

Appalachian 산맥을 건너는 Great Allegheny Passage 정상에서

 

Maryland주 어디에서..

 

뉴욕 맨하탄 타임즈 스퀘어 에서 끝! (1150마일, 24일)

8/31/2012 ~ 9/23/2012

찰리형님 정말 감사합니다. 마음만 먹으면 뭐든지 할수있다는 용기를 보여주셔서.

자전거 타는동안 "내가 지금 왜 이런짓을 하고있을까" 라고 생각들때 찰리형님은 지금 뭘 하고 계실까 하면서 스스로 달래곤 했어요.

미국에 오시기는 아직 멀었지만 만나뵜으면 좋겠네요. 아니면 찰리형 따라서 자전거 타고 알래스카까지? ㅋㅋㅋㅋ

알래스카로 직행하시면 동부쪽으론 안오시려나?

하여튼 지금 남미에서 북미까지, 그리고 찰자세 끝까지 무사히 마치기를 바라면서 찰리형 화이팅!

박현우

Sky Park

https://www.facebook.com/sky.j.park

Charlie's Reply:

안전하게 첫 장거리 여행 마치고 컴백홈 한거 정말 축하해요!
마지막 사진 보니 제가 타임스퀘어를 찍은냥 반갑고 건강한 기운이 느껴져서 기쁘네요.ㅎ
생각해보니 저도 10년전 그 나이때 처음으로 천km급 자전거여행을 했던 것 같아요.
앞으로 뭘 하든 지금 그 열정과 패기 잊지 말고 하나하나씩 정복해가요.
삶의 끝에 기다리고 있는것이 자신만을 위한것이 아닌 많은 이를 위한 것이었으면 더욱 멋지겠고요.

고마워요, 젊은 기운 불어주고 초심을 돌이켜볼수 있는 기회를 줘서.
미국 계획은 그때 남은 시간에 따라 달라지겠지만 동부도 심히 당기긴해요.ㅎ
Espero verte, Sky Park!

The Contrast: Summer 2011 and Summer 2012

Summer 2011
I don't know if I have mentioned this in my previous blog, but I really did not want to return to GE for another summer internship for this year (2012, before senior year). The co-op coordinator there, Ben Nagaraj(sp?) emailed me whether I wanted to return to GE for another rotation. I told him no, I was going to South Africa instead. I had an amazing summer last time in Cincinnati, summer of 2011. Living with 5 other guys in a whole house to ourselves, with our own aspiring french style chef Richard, drink mixologist Jeff, chill dude from Cali (Weston), company man David, and my good friend Steven. We had such an amazing time. One of the greatest/craziest/fun summers I have ever had. Thinking back.....just wow.....feels like a dream. Here are some of the memories:

1. Rock climbing
Boy did I climb a lot of walls that spring and summer. Almost every day after work, I would meet up with Morris at Rock Quest to climb walls. At first, it was ridiculously hard. so much pain in my fingers, my forearms. But yeah, that was definitely my sport of the summer.

2. 18 mile kayak trip
We went kayaking a few times during the summer. It was so much fun, and so cheap compared to kayaking in the east coast, Delaware River. Once, we had a house kayaking outing for 18 miles. What an amazing day that was.

3. personal chef/mixologist
We were so lucky. Almost every week Richard would cook us some fancy meal, usually I don't even know what they are called. Some French fancy stuff. This was followed by drink tasting with Jeff. Oh man I didnt realize how complicated a mixing can be. I wish I tried to keep track and learn the names of the drinks, but there were so many. I ddin't know half the stuff I was drinking. And because I didn't know what they were, what was in it, (I would forget even tho Jeff would always explain) I would get drunk because it was too hard to calculate alcohol content. Even Henry and Lawrence drove down from Chicago to party with us. and haha, that time we tried to walk into white castle drive thru.

4. shooting fireworks on the rooftop
This was pretty crazy too. I think Jeff bought some in Indiana. So on 4th of July, we climbed out of our bathroom window to a porch/rooftop area and shot fireworks. There were tree branches over us, and a lot of it would bounce right back down to us. What a great night.

5. Driving
I probably drove about 5400 miles of long distance solo driving on the 98 camry. Went back and forth few times among Chicago, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Washington DC, New Jersey, and Cincinnati. I still love driving.

This summer was amazing. I thought I would have a lot of free time because I'm just working and not at school, but no. I was always hitting the gym/climbing/studying chinese after work during weekdays, parties/drinking/kayaking/driving. HOWEVER, I did not want to go back to Cincinnati, especially back to GE. I was only lucky I was able to be in a house with such amazing guys, and there probably won't be another summer like it. I really did not working in the corporate environment. Everyday as I enter the office building, I could not wait to get out. The things I did seemed so minuscule and unimportant. Of course, I was only an intern, but from what I've seen of what other engineers do, its not that much different. What each person does is so minuscule for what it takes to run an entire jet engine company. If I worked there as full time, from the very first day of work I would look forward to the day I retire, and this is no good. Even though I had one of the most amazing summers outside work, I think I really should pursue a career that I will find fulfilling.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Summer 2012
So, this summer, I decided to do something completely random, completely out of the ordinary for an engineer. Now that my original plan of entering the working world as an engineer has been darkened(?), I needed to find where my interest lay. I won't be able to do this if I just keep doing things within a limited scope. I decided to push the boundary. I went to South Africa in a rural village to learn about the field of development, at the crucial summer when you are supposed to get that internship that can lead you to job after graduating. Most people that went with me in the program are students who are studying international studies or policies and at least have some what of an interest in this field. When I talked to them, I just straight up told them:

"unlike you guys, I actually am not interested in development work at work."

"whatt?? why are you here?"

"hold on, let me explain.  All I know is engineering, so I wanted to push my boundaries and try something random. I've never even thought about development work, and I thought I should at least give it a chance and see if I like it."

These conversations would often be followed by comments like, I give you a lot of respect for that. Most of us have at least been thinking about pursuing this, but for you to do this completely random, I give you props.

So I spent 2 months in rural South Africa with no internet, no running water, no paved roads. It was definitely an amazing one of a kind experience, and I will probably dedicate another blog post just about this. Here are some pictures:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151001470437019.425237.727342018&type=1&l=5be2afeca7


This was followed by my bicycle trip from Chicago to New York. I actually did it! My very first blog post entry was about my musings at the library about Charlie the cyclist, and I actually carried out my dream! I will make another post about that, but wow, what an experience. I arrived home 3 days before classes started back in Northwestern, so I barely got any time to rest before flying right back to Chicago. What a weird feeling that was, after spending so much time and energy to get home in 24 days and I fly right back to where I started in an afternoon. Ridiculous.

So far, I think I've spent my summers very productive, in very eye opening ways. I'm so glad I went to GE because now I know how much I don't like that kind of work. This past summer, was of course, such an eye opener. More than anything, I am learning about myself. I think this is very important. That is probably the biggest takeaway from my college experience. Before coming to NU, my life I have must been blinding following what the world around me told me to do. Now, I know more and more what I desire, so I can act accordingly. So far with all my travels, I am continuing to realize that the entire world is there for me to explore, and I should take all my opportunities to do so.