Day 1
Today was the first day of my two week holidays. As I woke up, I decided to join a local gym nearby to improve my fitness. I did not have anyone to guide me over which gym to choose, so I searched online for a nearby gym that had all the facilities and benefits, such as an exercise area, Zumba classes, and a sauna. The gyms I found seemed a little expensive for my budget, so I searched for more options. I found a gym with a monthly subscription of 20$ with a free day pass where they let you try out the facilities of the gym, and if you like it, you can confirm your subscription. I went to try out a few exercise machines, discussed my overall health and fitness needs with the instructor and checked out the pool and locker rooms. They seemed fine to me. As I headed back to my room, I noticed a few fitness advertisements in the newspaper with some attractive offers. But by that time I had already confirmed my subscription to the gym I visited before I left.
[17/02/2018]
Day 2
Today is the 2nd day of my holidays. I had joined the gym yesterday, so I decided to fix the first 3 hours of the day after breakfast to head out to the gym and begin work on the plan my instructor gave me yesterday. The day at the gym turned out fine; I wasn’t as tired as I expected to be. Probably because the instructor wanted me to start out the light. She asked me to buy some proper gym wear that would be more comfortable for me at the gym. I went out to the local store and saw different sportswear options available. I tried out a few, but they didn’t seem to suit me too much. So I went back home and logged on to my PC to find a better suit for me. I found some cheaper tracksuits on a Korean website that shipped directly to the US; the prices seemed less than what I got from the stores as well. I ordered a pair of trousers along with a sweatshirt that was going to be delivered to me by tomorrow. Since I had nothing else planned for the day, I called up my friend Wang, and we went to try out the new burger joint, Hungry Jacks, that opened across the street.
[18/02/2018]
Day 3
Today Wang and I decided to go shopping at the Mall. I had a pair of blue jeans that I had bought from NY that had faded, so I decided to try out the new OMG Jeans outlet at the Mall. I heard from other friends also that the quality was good there, so we decided to take a look. The jeans I had bought was for about 65$ and lasted quite a long time. As I entered the store, I checked a few options before I saw a pair that I liked and went to the changing room to try it out. It had fit quite well, and the material felt stronger than my last faded pair as well. I was a bit confused about which size would fit me as the imported jeans section used a different size and label measurement. But luckily, the first one I tried seemed to fit quite nicely. To my surprise, the price was quite reasonable as well at 35.50$, so it didn’t take me long to decide, and I went to the counter to make my payment. After the purchase, we decided to get a drink and head back home. I skipped out on the gym in the daytime today, so thought to visit at evening for a dip in the pool. As I entered the gym, the notice said that the pool was closed for maintenance.
[19/02/2018]
Day 4
I wasn’t going to skip my gym today, So I got up early from bed and got ready for the gym. Today was a difficult day at the gym; the instructor made me do a lot of squats and crunches. As I left the gym, walking back home hurt my legs. As I reached home, I made an apple, banana and honey shake using a recipe I found from foodnetwork.com. Trying to rest and relax, I turned on the TV to find some interesting show to watch on HBO. They were playing a movie called ‘Man of Steel’ that I found quite interesting. It was about an Alien who got sent to Earth as a baby on a spaceship, that crash landed on Earth. The baby looked exactly like a human baby and was found by an old couple that did not have children. The film felt very emotional as it showed various phases of the Alien’s life as he grew up on earth like a human, the scenes made me tear up a little, as the story was a remake of a classic story from 1940’s comic books. The difference was that the alien’s cells absorbed solar radiation to grant him extraordinary strength and invulnerability, and the film showed how he learned to live among humans while using his powers to help humanity however he could.
[20/02/2018]
Day 5
Today, as I woke up, I had dreamt about the awesome movie I had seen yesterday and thought to myself why I never heard about this movie before. I searched online for the film and the historical characters it was playing. Decided to watch its second part on Netflix after coming back from the gym. The tracksuit and sweatshirt delivery I ordered had arrived. The trousers felt fine, but the sweatshirt felt a bit lost. I decided it would take too long to make a claim and have it replaced, as it wouldn’t make too much of a difference anyway. So after I came back from the Gym, tired as usual, I kept thinking about the thought-provoking and emotional film I saw yesterday and was eager to view its second part on the streaming service. Unfortunately, the internet seemed to have some problem connecting. Frustrated, I called their helpline to fix the connection. They told me they would have it fixed as soon as possible. Today felt a bit boring, as I had nothing special to do.
[21/02/2018]
Day 6
I was going to catch the flick today. As I reached the gym today, the instructor said it was time for swim day today. I hadn’t brought my swimsuit with me so the instructor said, I could postpone swim day to tomorrow and continue with my normal routine. I lifted a few weights and felt quite strong today. As I kept going through my training program, I still couldn’t stop thinking about the film I saw, and whether the internet service would be fixed today, so I could catch its next part on Netflix. Wang called after the gym asked if I was interested in catching Thor Ragnarok at the cinema today. I declined his offer and decided to ask her to join me watching ‘Man of Steel’s second part. She agreed and came over. She hadn’t seen the first part as well, so we decided we will again watch the first part together. I showed her the trailer, and she thought the story was interesting too. The internet was fixed so I decided to stream the film on the TV. Wang’s mother called that something had come up, we decided to watch both movies tomorrow.
[22/02/2018]
Day 7
I had swim day today, according to my instructor’s customized training program for me. I took the old swimsuit that I rarely used and went in for the session. Turn out, it wasn’t for swimming but a kind of water-based aerobic program my instructor had developed. I was a shy girl since childhood and didn’t want to share a pool with strangers. Gladly, the water aerobics class was girls-only. I had a good time, and Wang was coming over to catch the movie with me. I had setup a 7.1 surround system for today, that my father gifted me for my last birthday, but didn’t use it that much. I connected the wiring again yesterday to set it up. Wang arrived with popcorn, and we played Man of Steel again. Some part of me wanted to watch it again to see if I had missed any aspect of the story, and as we played the film, I did miss a lot of stuff in it when I saw it earlier on TV. I kept looking at Wang as the film played just to see if she was enjoying a particular scene as much as I was. The themes used in the film were haunting and just gave me goose-bumps, especially when the main character meets his father and realizes what the purpose of sending him to earth was. The film was a remake of the Superman film in a modern context, many elements of the story were reinvented for a modern audience. I hadn’t heard much about Superman except seeing his images everywhere but never quite took an interest in what was so special about him as a Character. Man of Steel made me realize how compelling this story was and why it continued to be a part of modern folklore for more than half a century.
[23/02/2018]
Day 8
Yesterday Wang and I had a great time watching a movie. Today we planned to watch its second part. I came back early from the gym today, like Wang, Nancy Patrick and I decided to head out to the theme park. We had some fried dough and hot dogs together that cost us 2$ each, and then decided to catch a ride. Except for Patrick, all three of us girls seemed more eager to ride the roller coaster. The adult ticket cost 15$ per person, Patrick eventually agreed, and we had a thrilling, nail-biting blast of a ride. It was fun to let myself out in the holidays after a whole year of studying and work. I invited Patrick and Nancy if they wanted to watch Man of Steel part 2 with me on the way back. To my surprise, he said it wasn’t very good; he had read bad reviews about it, that it was dark and violent. This intrigued me even more; now I had to watch it. Nancy didn’t seem to care whether it had good reviews or bad, she just thought it would be a good way to spend some time together, so she agreed to come tomorrow with Wang. I set up the surround audio system to prepare for tomorrow.
[24/02/2018]
Day 9
It was a fine Saturday morning today. I was expecting Wang and Nancy to arrive and had prepared some snacks for them that I bought yesterday from the store. Among the three of us, only I had a premium Netflix subscription and a decent connection to go with it, I was hoping it wouldn’t fail me today since I was planning to watch the film for a few days now. As I arrived back from the gym, both of them also arrived on time, and we wasted no moment. The film was 3 hours long and rated R. As Patrick had said yesterday the film explored very darker themes. How the world was reacting to the presence of a superman who was flying all over the world. The political debate that began to surround his actions and how the overall negativity of the society started to effect even the optimistic incorruptible hero and began to give him second thoughts about being a hero. The Batman character played in this film was a person with deep psychological issues, and the film explored how he reacted to the presence of an immortal, invulnerable alien who according to him “if he wanted to could burn the whole place down and there wouldn’t be a damn thing we could do to stop him”. The film had a lot of action but what the film explored was how the real world today would react and treat superhero’s if they existed. The film ended by sacrificing himself despite enduring negativity, rejection and suspicion of people, leaving the people to realize who they had lost. All three of us were highly impressed by that thought-provoking film, which wasn’t what we were expecting.
[25/02/2018]
Day 9
Today was Sunday, so the gym was closed today. Nancy wanted to go hang out somewhere, so I asked Wang and Peter if they were available as well. Peter had to go out of the city for some work. Wang agreed, and we got together to decide where we can spend the day today. We decided to go to the arcade and play some fun games together. We booked an Uber to reach the two-bit retro arcade which wasn’t far from my apartment. The place was heavily crowded with a variety of retro, classic as well as modern games. We decided to play Street Fighter II, which was an old game but still quite fun to play in an arcade. The credits cost about 25 cents for a few rounds. Nancy was interested in watching me and Wang compete. I chose Ryu, while Wang chose Guile. Wang is a beat em up gaming expert, even though I wasn’t bad, but still was no match for her. Nancy liked pinball, so she and Wang bought a few credits while I watched them play. After a few hours of play, we decided to get ourselves some Pizza and head home. I had heard about Di Fara Pizza before, so thought why not try it today. I saw someone on youtube recommend it, and wasn’t disappointed. We ordered it with extra cheese and anchovy topping.
[25/02/2018]
Day 10
Today was a tough day at the gym. The instructor had amped up the training program and had me perform some presses, squats, curls, and crunches. Even though I can’t call myself to be good in fitness, but I wasn’t fat either. Some of the girls that come to the gym work hard, though I’m still not motivated by them. Today after the gym, I decided to head out for a walk in the nearby park, just to catch the sunshine. In the park, I met two guys playing the guitar together. They sounded very nice, so I sat with them to listen. One of them told me that they were working on an album that will be released free online on SoundCloud. They were very critical of the music distribution industry and were advocates of free music. Even though I didn’t understand a lot of what they were saying, it still felt important, and I thought that even playing music as a profession was no easy task. I was in college training to be a clinical psychologist. I bought myself a hot dog from a nearby seller and sat on the bench just observing life. I didn’t bring my smartphone with me because today I just wanted to enjoy the day, see and observe everything, feel the environment.
[26/02/2018]
Day 11
Today after the gym Wang and I decided to buy a smartphone. Wang’s phone’s screen had cracked, and she wanted to buy a new phone since her phone model was getting quite obsolete now anyway. I checked a few sites for recommendations like Gsmarena and selected a few options. Her budget was around 400$, and the latest flagship Android devices were slightly above her budget. Getting the latest iphone was obviously not her choice as the prices were almost reaching 800$ for that. Nevertheless, I found a few older iphone models and some recent budget smartphones that were good enough to perform most necessary functions, but not as good as the flagships. We went to the store and checked for the few models, I selected. We were looking for a Huawei or an LG device. Both these companies offer more features and are easier on the pocket. Wang eventually selected a Huawei Mate 10 Lite that cost her 300$, that saved her a 100$ that we decided to spend another day. Huawei is an emerging Chinese manufacturer, and Wang was a Chinese origin-American, who took quite an interest in this company ever since it entered the smartphone market.
[27/02/2018]
Day 12
As I woke up today, I saw Peter’s messages on my Whatsapp; he was planning to watch a movie and was asking if Wang and I wanted to come along. We made a group on Whatsapp to discuss which movie to go and see. Peter was interested in Thor Ragnarok, whereas Wang was more interested to go and see Black Panther. Both were marvel movies that are known to be fun, entertaining and quick paced action films. I opened youtube to see the trailers for both. I had recently seen Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice UE, the films were epic and exhaustive, with intense dialog and themes that seemed unforgettable. So I wanted to see something more like it. The trailers I saw for both the films seemed okay, but I didn’t notice anything especially compelling in the trailers for me to spend 9$ on a ticket for. Nancy also joined the conversation and was interested more in watching a romantic flick together which Peter wasn’t interested in. In the end, we decided to put it to a vote, and Ragnarok won by two votes. So we planned an evening show together after I’m free from the gym. The film was quite entertaining and funny as well. The Hulk and Thor fight was choreographed quite nicely and seemed a fresh take on the film. But though the film was entertaining, it was quite forgettable as well. It did what it aimed to do, which is to entertain an audience for 2 hours.
[28/02/2018]
Day 13
As I finished working out today, I wanted to cook something at home. I called up Nancy and Wang to come over in the afternoon and went to the grocery store to buy some fruits, vegetables, and meat. I bought some rice and milk along with some round beef, apples, cheese, tomatoes, onions, and lettuce that cost me about a 120$ total. This could last almost a week and I would. Checking the recipe from realsimple.com, I decided to make a creamy potato salad with beef bacon. I saw this dish in a TV advertisement a few days ago and decided to check how it’s made. Wang came over early to help with the cooking. Nancy came over along with Peter. It tasted well, and everybody liked it. The appreciation seemed to make the hard work pay off. We sat together and discussed stuff while watching TV. Game of Thrones was on that apart from Peter none of us liked. A TV advertisement that came in between for Adidas shoes that caught my attention. I needed some good shoes for the gym. Wang said she was busy tomorrow, so Nancy and I planned to visit the store tomorrow.
[1/03/2018]
Day 14
Nancy was ready waiting for me at the bus station, as soon as I got free from the gym. We were planning to visit the Adidas Store in the Manhattan Mall, that was about 45 minutes from my apartment by the metro. We met at the station to catch the metro just in time and headed out to the mall. I checked a few design out on their website on Adidas.co.uk to have a general idea about the prices. I needed shoes that would be comfortable and still have a proper grip to prevent me from slipping on the gym’s floor. I liked the EQT support RF shoe design they offered and tried size 7 for myself. It seemed to fit fine, but I decided to try their Gazelle shoe line as well. The gazelle shoes were slightly expensive at 50$ while the EQT cost 35.50$. Nancy suggested that the EQT would do just fine and they seemed to have a better ground grip, with the right shape. I decided to go for it. The color was black but had a glow in the dark strip around the edges, that had quite the style. After getting the shoes, we sat down for a drink and headed back to her home. Her father had prepared steak and BBQ for their family, so they invited me to join them too. Had quite an enjoyable time with them and we sat together and discussed a lot of stuff.
