russoc13, I hear you on the funding issue, but here’s a story and suggestion that might help.
A guy I used to work with a few years back got punked in a bar by some guy hitting on his date.
The guy was a real douchbag, and wound up leaving later with my co-workers date, which said more about her IMO than either of the guys, but thats neither here nor there.
Next day he came to me and a couple of the other station chefs working at the Strat [at the time] because he knew we were into different martial arts, boxing, etc. The guy was asking us to show him how to kick someone’s a$$, get payback, blahblahblah.
We calmed him down and explained it doesn’t actually work like that, plus the guy was barely 140 and noticeably taller than I am, which put him around 6’1″ or so.
I explained that before the guy could start any sort of martial art, he needed to get in shape so that he didn’t hurt himself in the process of training.
Also, being a line cook at a Las Vegas casino meant he didn’t have a nickel to spare, and slept in his brother’s spare room and drove a sh!t-awful old Toyota to work, when he could get it to start.
What I told him to do was visit a few gyms that rocked both fitness and some sort of martial art, explain the situation to the owner/manager/head trainer/whoever was in charge, and try to work something out.
Offer to clean the gym after hours for free membership. Offer to pass out flyers or take out the trash or do the email responses or or seel tshirts or whatever it takes to get your foot in the door.
Sure, it took him a few tries, but eventually he found a situation with a friend of mine and his [now] wife, who at the time ran side by side Lucille Roberts and an aikido studio in a strip mall.
Five years later the guy is close to 170 and in solid shape, having “paid” his way the first couple years by cleaning the gyms, running errands, etc. He’s also testing for his aikido brownbelt later this year according to his myspace page, living with a girl he met at the gym, and snagged a much better job about a year ago over at the Orleans.
Finally, his myspace page pic is him sitting on his new motorcycle with his fairly cute female, so, y’know.
The guy used to be a real smack-boy, not confident and getting walked all over, both in the kitchen and in his everyday life. A few years later, the guy is a solid welterweight rocking a crotch rocket, a bleached blonde lap ornament, and enough skill and more inportantly confidence to score a better job, a better place to live, and if needs be he can fly some douchbag’s a$$ to the floor when he steps out of line with either him or his female.
Moral of the story:
don’t just accept being under[or over]weight. If you’re cool with a nickname like Stick or Lunchbox, then its all good, and you have my respect for accepting who and what you are.
But if it bothers you, then do something about it.
You’ll be glad you did…
