PERMANENT SATURDAY.

From the desk of Victor Pride
Subj: A life in the day of Pride
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I was driving my motorbike to the gym recently and the thought hit me that every day for me is Saturday.

All I do is work hard and train hard, but my work isn't hard and I enjoy doing it. In fact, there is nothing else I enjoy more than working hard and training like a bodybuilder.

These are the 2 activities that light my fire and that is why I base my day on them. Every day I train twice per day in the gym and every day I write one masterpiece for B&D; (whether I publish it or not).

This schedule may seem restrictive but it gives me ultimate freedom. It doesn't matter where I am in the world, in my mind I'm always relaxing on the islands, enjoying a beer and a swim (even though I don't drink).

My regular every-day routine is so satisfying that it feels like I'm on the beach at all times, even though I'm in the middle of a gigantic city.

Through work, I find peace. Through the pain of accomplishment, I find pleasure.

Through the stress of my daily routine, I find paradise.

The place makes no difference. If I'm in Ho Chi Minh City, I can easily be in Phu Quoc, Phuket, Langkawi, Bali, or Sihanoukville. All I need is my brain and a gym.

Where there is a gym, there is a way. Where there is a WiFi connection, my work can be accomplished.

Coffee shops, restaurants, hotels, I don't give a damn where I work from because it is all in the mind. When I work, my eyes are closed to the world.

If I'm at my kitchen table working I may as well be on Mars. I'll finish the day and need another shower like I just came home from a hard day at the coal mines.

I've been at home working on the computer but in my mind I was a thousand long miles away. After my nightly shower I'll open my eyes to what's happening and be part of the world again, but not before the work is done.

The work comes first, the gym comes first, everything else is a distant second. The food matters too, I take a meal every 3 hours and without it I wouldn't have the energy for my two-a-day workouts (plus my nightly 35-65 minute walk) and my daily gospels.

Work, gym, food. Food, gym, work. It doesn't matter the order, it's all exactly the same thing. Every day, for me, is Saturday and I don't care about tomorrow. I take every day day by day.

I don't plan for tomorrow, I don't plan ahead. I do what I need to do for the day and then I relax. I have no idea what I'll be doing tomorrow, other than hitting the gym twice, eating 6 meals, and writing a letter to the apostles. Beyond that, I have no plans and no cares.

Whatever comes tomorrow, comes. I'll deal with it then. Today I must deal with life as it is.

I know you're so stressed and you're always worried about tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow but for me it is permanent Saturday so that means tomorrow is Sunday, so take a chill pill, relax, and let yourself do the work you need to do today.

Again you'll say… 

“But Victor, what about tomorrow?!?!”

I'll say…

But friend, what about today?

Today I must do my work, do my training, do my walking. 

At night, the boy called Bao usually joins me on my walks. His family works in the area doing construction, felling trees, clearing brush, running tractors.

They go where the work is, they build a house out of whatever they can find and they live in makeshift houses on the street. Lots of people like that here.

The boy walks with me because I guess he doesn't have any friends his own age. What super cool kid wants to be friends with a boy who doesn't go to school, instead he wakes up at 6am to wash dishes and he sleeps out in the open air on a hammock.

Doesn't seem a real bad deal to me. He isn't being bamboozled by the schools the way you've been bamboozled into thinking a STEM degree will give you freedom instead of slavery.

The kids in school look sickly and miserable anyway. Bao is always smiling and his hair is always shining, the school kids are always scowling and they have frizzy hair and thick glasses. The boy is happy and healthy, he just needs to eat a lot more food. He's 14 but he looks like he's 9.

So many white do-gooders would want to save him, pity him, pretend to sympathize with him and this and that. I don't. His life is his problem, my life is my problem, and your life is your problem. Deal with it, sucker.

I just walk with the boy called Bao and we play a little Muay Thai and shadow boxing. I'm a grown man but I'll be damned if I don't love karate.

Then I go home, kick back, relax, and enjoy my Saturday night like any other normal person who lives every single day like it's Saturday.

OWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!

Until next time.

Your man,

-Victor Pride