Good Weather Days

Sunday here in northern Okinawa was beautiful. I left the house and was planning on doing a few things in Nago. As I sat down in the driver's seat of my car, the door still open, I felt the heat of the sun on me and knew that I was doing something wrong. I remember thinking, "I'm about to drive 40 minutes to Nago in this weather."

I opened up the glove compartment and took a look at the atlas of Okinawa. Where had I not been on the bike yet? I chose a route that took me south on the 331, turning into the 329 along the coast of the Pacific, into Ginoza. I would then cross the island going west on the 71, head north after reaching the 58, cross back east on a different section of the 329, then retrace the first 30-40 km of my trip south.

I took everything back into the house, changed into my riding gear, and took off on the bike a few minutes later. It was an awesome ride. It was also my first ride with my new full-face helmet, a black Arai that cost me just under 30,000 yen. Not only did I feel safer with the chinbar encompassing my face, but the helmet kept me warmer and reduced wind and engine noise; I felt like the bike was purring along yesterday.

There were a few points on the trip where I really got the bike going. I was passing some slow cars at a long straight downhill section of road when I hit around 95kmh, just under 60mph. It's a very different feeling doing that speed on a bike, let me assure you. But perhaps more fun were the twisties in the roads. I usually took those around 30-40kmh, but the balance and precision required to get through the turns made them for enjoyable challenges. And of course, cruising along the coast at 60kmh was simply divine.

I racked up 100km yesterday and it didn't even feel like it. I'm a lot more comfortable on the bike that I was even a month ago. I'm glad I went through with getting the license and putting the money into this hobby. It's a little bit more adventure in this big adventure I'm enjoying right now.

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Stepping away for a while.

Enjoy your winter holidays.

V

10k

I just mapped out a training plan for an upcoming 10k that will be held in Nago on February 8. Working backwards, the start of this 8-week program just happened to start today, Monday, December 15, 2008. It caught me off guard, but it was good motivation. I put down the training calendar and did my first workout, a strength session using a pair dumbbells and my own body weight.

Tomorrow will be the interesting test – a 4.0 km run. I haven’t run in a while, months I’d say. Sure, I knocked out a half-marathon a few weeks ago, but in terms of getting regular mileage on my shoes, not much has been happening there.

I’m really excited! The motivation of friends and the support of fellow runners are great things to keep in mind when running around the beautiful village that I live in. I remember trying to get psyched up about running in Chicago. Don’t get me wrong; I loved the place with all its neighborhoods and city energy. But getting a good run in usually meant making it all the way out to the lakefront, or looping the park to the west of my apartment for sake of avoiding stoplights.

Here, in Higashi, if I ran north, I could run for hours (at my pace) before seeing a stoplight. The ocean, the quiet, and the lack of traffic – it’s perfect. So I’m looking forward to my first run tomorrow morning, whether before school or during the morning periods (I have no classes tomorrow). And my new running shoes have made it to the local distributor. All that’s left is to put them in my hands…erm, on my feet might be a better idea.

#3

Earthquake this afternoon, 2:35 pm or so. Woke me up from my nap at my desk. Guess I'll study now.



http://www.jma.go.jp/jp/quake/11143900391.html

Until Next Year

I wrote this post in Notepad last Friday (December 5, 2008) and forgot to post it. It's late, but still valid.

***

Today marked my last day at Higashi School until 2009. Sounds like a pretty heavy statement, huh? It is.

This week, in terms of class frequency, starting Monday and ending today, looked like a bell curve. One class on Monday, a few more on Tuesday, Wednesday was the most at four, then Thursday down again, Friday (today) with only one. It went really well.

So as I was wrapping up today's class, I told the kids I'd see them next year. Then I told them I'd see them next year, in Japanese. They flipped out! They had no idea, nor did I expect them too. As third graders, perhaps as with any kid before puberty, I'm not sure they've developed the long-term classification of time that many people use to mark how long they've lived since birth (and guess how long they have until death). I like that, not worrying about it.

Imagine living a life without a (self-constructed or otherwise imposed) sense of urgency, or worry. A day is just a day. Tomorrow is tomorrow and will come without holdup. Yesterday will be forgotten. Is there really anything wrong with this kind of rhythm?

From what I've seen in these past 15 months, kids don't worry too much about what's next. They're guided and instructed by their teachers and while I think this kind of instruction is necessary (I'm not proposing absolute ignorance - that's impractical), it need not be restricting.

Too many people seem to be living a life of "what's next?" Though they may have things very well, they want to make things better. Maybe they think that wanting something better is the only way to be happy? I used to think like that. Better is fine, but you don't have to be miserable trying to get there.

After a few years at the Fed, I started to wonder about my next career move. I could have stayed another year and gotten a nice pay raise over $60,000, plus 100% of my employers 401(k) contributions. Friends were also leaving for well-paying private sector jobs, and I thought, "It'd be nice to try something new and make a little more money." Finally, due to being inspired by my time on, and after, the Mongol Rally, I decided to put my cultural interest ahead of my financial one. And it has made me happiest so far.

You may be tempted to ask me, "Son of Higashi, what are you going to do next, after JET?" I don't have an answer for you now. But I'm not worried about it, about what's next.