Finding my fins part 3: Feeling the Freestyle

As my first week of swimming lessons end, I can say I am still learning the freestyle. I can do the moves but my timing is still off.  Off hand, you can say that this is easy:

(image from http://www.clubsatcrp.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/FREESTYLE.jpg)

And it does look easy. When the instructor gives you the breakdown, it sounds easy too. But for a tense old student like me, it's not easy.

I find myself being too conscious of my body being in the water, the sensation of not quite floating, and having my body under the water. It may sound silly, I know, but I still tense up feeling that I am not quite floating, which results in me not floating even more.

My instructor's solution was to tell me to twist some more when I pull up to get some air. That worked... if I remember to do it. A supplementary solution was to be reminded that I should move my right arm as I get air because the motion pushes me up, avoiding getting water into my mouth when I open it. That worked too... when I remembered to do it. The trick is to remember to do all those things in the right order.  In short, I need to be better at my timing.

With all those mishaps and pool-water-drinking, I was still able to freestyle my way to the middle of the pool (it's an olympic-sized pool). Personally, that's a feat!

So now, I spend my weekend resting muscles that had previously been forgotten. Then I'm back to the pool, it's waters and my lessons on Monday.

#blss #bertlozadaswimschool

Finding my fins part 2: Bungling on bubbles

Day 2:

Teacher Hannah teaches only two of us. The other student is young man who looks like an adolescent. He's already doing the freestyle.

Me? I'm stuck on turning. It's when you do rudimentary swimming then you turn to float on your back and then turn down again to paddle some more. Sounds easy? It is not, not in the least bit. My problem is breathing properly. And breathing properly means relaxing in the water.

Yup, I am still tense in the water. I actually drank some of the pool water this time. I tend to do bubbling when I am not supposed to.

(photo from http://www.hdwallpapersn.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/Water-Bubbles-Wallpapers1.png)

From my point of view, bubbling was my go-to-action when I get tense. I get tense when my face is submerged.  The point is: I have got to relax.

I tried doing a back float on my own. at the safety of that corner of the pool near the stairs. I was able to do it for about a minute. So, it really is possible to relax in the water. Now, I just need to do that face down.

What did I learn this time? I have to unlearn some default actions:
1. I tend to look down, most of the time
2. my body is tense most of the time

And yeah, my body is still aching... well, aching more now. But I think these are good aches. It's nice to know I still have muscles to develop.

#BLSS #bertlozadaswimschool

Finding My Fins Part 1: Getting Started

Yeah, I love mermaids. I wish I were one. It's ironic because I don't know how to swim. Then someone posted that they were looking for someone who could write about swimming lessons and posted a survey. I honestly ticked off "can't swim" and "never had lessons". No one had dared teach me before.

Apparently, the Bert Lozada Swim School can teach swimming at any age. Their Facebook page actually says so:

...but notice that the people there don't seem to be at my age. I'm turning 45 very soon. Dun dun dunn...

Yesterday was the first lesson.

In taking a swimming class, there are some things you have to do:
1. Tell your teacher you have asthma. Don't forget.
2. Be honest. If you are afraid of the water, say so. If you're tired, say so.
3. Have your gear. Those goggles actually helped me be a little bit less afraid of the water.
4. Try to have fun. It's difficult to learn swimming when you can't relax in the water.

So what did I learn in my first day?

I know now that I can actually float, especially when I relax. But then thinking of relaxing makes me tense up -- it's a vicious cycle. I am still working on that one.

I also know realize that I have muscles -- because they have this dull ache right now. I hope the aches go away soon. It's just my first day! And the lessons are daily for this week and next week. ...okay, I am tensing up again.  ugh!

Must learn to relax.  Must learn to relax.  Must learn to relax.

Here's to learning to relax -- in the water!

#BLSS #bertlozadaswimschool

Using the Cherry Mobile Android One

I was up for a loyalty incentive from Sun Cellular and I decided to upgrade my plan and avail of their Android One promotion.

(image from http://www.semicurrent.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Smart-and-Sun-Cherry-Mobile-One.png)

Before i give my official review of this product, let me say that I wasn't really expecting much from the device since my previous experience from Cherry Mobile and and other Android Phones is that batteries do not last very long.  True enough, I have to charge this baby every night so that i will not run out of power in the middle of the day. This problem is especially true when I use the phone to play games and go online.

With that expectation out of the way, I tried out my new toy, the Cherry Mobile Android One. Over all, I was happy, not giddy but happy.

First, it's a Google device. This baby has a lot of features courtesy of Google. On the downside, you have to be online to use them. On the upside, the apps are pretty cool. My favorite is the dictation tool. It cuts my texting time immensely. I also get to enjoy other Google Apps in it without major hitches. The only limitation is the screen size; but hey, it's a friggin' phone, not a tablet or a laptop.

Second, I don't have to keep checking it's screen to find out if a text or any other notifications are up. It has an indicator light that blinks green when I get something -- a text, an email an FB notification, an incoming chat, a calendar alert, etc. The screen remains black but I still know I got something.

Third, it runs on Android Lollipop! Need I say more?

On the downside, here are some things you have to watch out for:

1. Better make sure you download the Google USB driver at:
https://dl-ssl.google.com//android/repository/latest_usb_driver_windows.zip. Other wise, your phone will be a read-only drive.

2. There is no Phone Suite for this model... yet. (I'll update this part if one comes out.)

3. The speaker and vibra alerts have quirks I have yet to figure out. Sometimes I get the notifications by sound and feel, sometimes I don't. Good thing they have the light alert.

4. If you ever remove your SD card from it and you put it back in, all the links from the processes to the files in that card get severed. So, again, make sure you install the driver (see #1) so you don't have to do this.

5. I have yet to figure out how to reconfigure the save settings for the camera and downloads so that they would go to the SD card instead of the internal memory. The internal memory is only 8gb, so I am wary about this. If you know how to do this, please tell me via the comments here.

Would I recommend this? Hm... yes and no. It really depends on how you use a device. I am not (yet) a heavy android user so this works for me for now.  I do miss the palpable keypads of my previous devices though.

Third of a Series: Filipinisms Part 2 - Say What?!

And there are other terms that seriously boggle the mind on how they came about. Just the same, these terms are unique to Filipinos and will confuse foreigners.

(picture from http://www.politicususa.com)

For example, sales personnel would say "It's for free" instead of saying "It's free".  Honestly, where did that "for" come from?

Filipinos on phone conversations sometimes say "Come again?" when they couldn't understand what the person on the other end of the line is saying. Why "come"? It is much clearer to be correctly saying. "pardon me" or "Could you repeat that please?"

In the same breath, one would also wonder why Filipinos say "Hold your line" or "For a while" when asking a caller to wait for a bit. The correct term is "Please hold" or the more polite "Could you wait for a while?"

Many foreigners also get confused when asked where the "CR" or "comfort room" is. The more understandable term to use here is "rest room", but Filipinos have used "comfort room" since time immemorial. I am not sure how this came about. Maybe it's because you get comfort when you use it?  teehee...

In accomplishing forms, one would often hear "fill up the blanks" instead of "fill in the blanks". This is a reflection of the Filipino tendency to mix up prepositions.

Then there is the term "in fairness" instead of saying "to be fair". It is used in discussions when someone or something is being criticized and the speaker wants to plug in a disclaimer or a redeeming quality.  For example, someone wore a trench coat on a hot day, one could say, "The get-up seems too warm but, in fairness, he pulled it off and looked great."

One might say that the meanings to the terms can be traced from pop culture, and is thus a passing phase.Some terms still stuck and their references remained in the past. So now, we use them without really undertsanding what they mean.

Speaking of pop culture and language, one can argue about that relationship in terms of Beki Language -- that ever-evolving colorful street lingo often used by homosexuals... but that's a whole new discussion on its own.