New York

I think a lot. Sometimes it gets hard to sort through the confusing stream of consciousness, to come up with some semblance of a real idea. Anyways.. I digress.

The third blog I've missed this year was last week. And I could make many excuses but, really there's no good reason except that I allowed myself to be distracted from my commitments.

I spent five days in New York this past week. Which was so awesome! It was the wedding of one of my classmates from China, and although not all of my other classmates could make it, we had a wonderful half reunion. It was so easy to get back into the groove with them. Hanging out and making jokes for hours. Going to the museum and for walks in central park. On our last night we went bowling. The first game I bombed, but the second game I won. Got into the groove I guess.

The thing I noticed though is how easy it is to get caught back in old habits. And here I'm not talking about training.. those would be good habits for the most part. I'm talking about the negativity that surrounds our class at times in regards to each other, and our time in China. There was a lot of really hard stuff to deal with then but as I look back on it now I see how fortunate I was to be able to spend my days devoted to my training. Then cons of being there certainly don't outweigh the pros, but my classmates and I sometimes stuck ourselves in a cycle of negativity and cynicism. I understand that some people played more of a part in this than others but, at times, we all played our roles.

I love my classmates like brothers and sisters, and there is a bond there that can't be replaced. When you live with someone for 5 years, you have to learn to love one another. I just hope that as time passes, we can let go of that destructive attitude, and learn to be more magnanimous.