Tuesday, July 22, 2008
yucky
poo poo. i've had a ticklish gestrum in the back of my throat now for a week, ever since that long run day. all i can figure is that i destabilized my immune system and now i'm paying for it. i tried to sleep it off on sunday, to no avail.
i've now had two days of teaching (long hours on monday and tuesday) and just this morning, maggie took off for england. i woke up at 5 to see her off to the station, further breaking up my sleep cycle and doing me no good. it was, unbelievably sad to see her go. it didn't hit me as she walked through the turnstyle, but as she went up the escalator to her platform, the weight of it (contributed to by the humidity in the air) hit me. we've spent the last year and three months near or nearby each other, and now no more. these moments in life, they hurt. never gets easier.
and it doesn't help having a mucus factory plugging up your brain. i wake up in the middle of the night choking and hacking. it's impossible to take. for the imaginatively inquisitive, put together a clogged drain and the old Nickelodeon products like Splat or Goo or Gunk or whatever they called it. that stuff that they had to swim around in on Double Dare to find the flag. it is kinda reassuring tho, to know that i am not just a sick man but also a toy factory. makes me feel more productive.
classes are good, but i have to push my energy up a notch to meet the challenge, and i don't think that does anything good for my white blood buddies. they get a step up on the germs, and then i make them take two steps back by delaying their reinforcements. i think there's gonna be a leukolympho coups pretty soon, unless i start displaying some better tactical judgement on the battlefield.
oh, and once i get back into running health, i think i found a track nearby my house, so i can finally do some track running on a regular basis.
and one of my students tonight is composing some new age music and he and i are going to stitch together some lyrics for it. and he just died his hair blonde for the summer break. he came in wearing a red shirt with a bright design and looked like a supernova. it almost made me forget how late he always is. oh, kazune.
anyway, sleep time. hopefully tonight's rest will be the one that will restore my soul. if not, tomorrow's gonna be another long daye
i've now had two days of teaching (long hours on monday and tuesday) and just this morning, maggie took off for england. i woke up at 5 to see her off to the station, further breaking up my sleep cycle and doing me no good. it was, unbelievably sad to see her go. it didn't hit me as she walked through the turnstyle, but as she went up the escalator to her platform, the weight of it (contributed to by the humidity in the air) hit me. we've spent the last year and three months near or nearby each other, and now no more. these moments in life, they hurt. never gets easier.
and it doesn't help having a mucus factory plugging up your brain. i wake up in the middle of the night choking and hacking. it's impossible to take. for the imaginatively inquisitive, put together a clogged drain and the old Nickelodeon products like Splat or Goo or Gunk or whatever they called it. that stuff that they had to swim around in on Double Dare to find the flag. it is kinda reassuring tho, to know that i am not just a sick man but also a toy factory. makes me feel more productive.
classes are good, but i have to push my energy up a notch to meet the challenge, and i don't think that does anything good for my white blood buddies. they get a step up on the germs, and then i make them take two steps back by delaying their reinforcements. i think there's gonna be a leukolympho coups pretty soon, unless i start displaying some better tactical judgement on the battlefield.
oh, and once i get back into running health, i think i found a track nearby my house, so i can finally do some track running on a regular basis.
and one of my students tonight is composing some new age music and he and i are going to stitch together some lyrics for it. and he just died his hair blonde for the summer break. he came in wearing a red shirt with a bright design and looked like a supernova. it almost made me forget how late he always is. oh, kazune.
anyway, sleep time. hopefully tonight's rest will be the one that will restore my soul. if not, tomorrow's gonna be another long daye
Thursday, July 17, 2008
the running group
was cool. they were all superstars. many of them can run a marathon in under three hours. i'm so jealouss of their mad prowess. but the workout really kicked my ankles. we did 6 kilometers of running. 2 400s, 2 800s, 1 1200, 2 800s, and 2 400s. in between each run we jogged 200. and if you're not sure what those numbers mean, let me just say that it basically meant 30 minutes of continuous running. not jogging, running. an amazingly good workout, but i was already tired to start with.
then we went to a vietnamese restaurant afterwards. i was still sweating, but the place was a/ced, so i cooled off eventually. as i said before, the only problem with this group is that i usually can't make their wednesday night practice, cuz i teach til 9 or 10 and the track turns its lights off at 9. i'm gonna go to one of their sunday morning meetings, but few people show up for that, and it's not a track workout, so not too special.
my schedule leaves little time for extracurriculars, which is forcing me, grudgingly, to become a morning person. get up 530 or 6 and run, then do some studying or whatever the rest of the morning, and then go teach in the afternoon and evening, and then sleep. i'll either die doing it or become so superfit supersmart that no one will recognize me. i'm betting more on the former.
as for friendship, maggie's leaving on tuesday for england to try and get her us visa. once she's gone, i'm gonna have to find some japanese guys to hang out with. not that the other foreigners around here aren't cool and all, but i really need to go native. as i've planned it, i'll only be here a year. to learn high-level japanese in that time, while teaching, is relatively impossible, but i'll give it a shot. i've got a teacher set up for my thursdays starting in august. now i just need to find some retirees who have lots of free time to hang out with in the mornings and arrange flowers or something (maggie's idea :)
ok. i'll think of some more interesting things to blog about and get back to you.
e
then we went to a vietnamese restaurant afterwards. i was still sweating, but the place was a/ced, so i cooled off eventually. as i said before, the only problem with this group is that i usually can't make their wednesday night practice, cuz i teach til 9 or 10 and the track turns its lights off at 9. i'm gonna go to one of their sunday morning meetings, but few people show up for that, and it's not a track workout, so not too special.
my schedule leaves little time for extracurriculars, which is forcing me, grudgingly, to become a morning person. get up 530 or 6 and run, then do some studying or whatever the rest of the morning, and then go teach in the afternoon and evening, and then sleep. i'll either die doing it or become so superfit supersmart that no one will recognize me. i'm betting more on the former.
as for friendship, maggie's leaving on tuesday for england to try and get her us visa. once she's gone, i'm gonna have to find some japanese guys to hang out with. not that the other foreigners around here aren't cool and all, but i really need to go native. as i've planned it, i'll only be here a year. to learn high-level japanese in that time, while teaching, is relatively impossible, but i'll give it a shot. i've got a teacher set up for my thursdays starting in august. now i just need to find some retirees who have lots of free time to hang out with in the mornings and arrange flowers or something (maggie's idea :)
ok. i'll think of some more interesting things to blog about and get back to you.
e
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
got lost
today. i went for a run around town, just to scout out other places nearby and possible eateries (as there is a megadearth of food joints to smoke round here). so i ran past my station, then past another station, and finally found myself up somewhere in koshigaya that i'd been before. not lost yet.
but then i ran to a nearby river i'd walked down before and started making my way back home. i thot, well, if i just follow this river, it will lead me to the river that i usually run on, and then i'm home freaky-free. yeah. not so much.
the river split and i took the channel more travelled. that made all the difference, as it were. i ended up somewhere way way north of my house. admittedly, there were some cool riverside trails there to run and some cute dogs to dodge, but i was way lost.
so, i thot, hey, i'll just run til i hit a train line and then follow that home, no biggie. but running for two hours does odd things to my brain, and when i saw the first set of elevated tracks and the color of the train going down it, i thot it looked like a train line that goes nowhere near my house. so i kept going.
turns out that that Was the one i wanted, and the river i was following curved back a couple of miles later and hit it again. this time the name of the line was conveniently on the side of the track. i got lucky and guessed the right direction (after staring dumbly up and down the tracks for a few minutes) and just had to jogwalk three stations back. thankfully i took a 1000 yen note with me so i could get some aquarius, pocari sweat, and a couple of onigiri (rice balls).
i'm gonna go find a running group tonight that run track intervals every wednesday night. this week we have three days off in the middle of the week surprisingly, so i'm using this chance to go meet the group, as usually i'm teaching at that time. supposedly, they usually do a long run on sundays, but i can't find much info online.
i just googled them today, after my run. some kind of cosmic joke. i ran yesterday, too. my legs hurt.
but then i ran to a nearby river i'd walked down before and started making my way back home. i thot, well, if i just follow this river, it will lead me to the river that i usually run on, and then i'm home freaky-free. yeah. not so much.
the river split and i took the channel more travelled. that made all the difference, as it were. i ended up somewhere way way north of my house. admittedly, there were some cool riverside trails there to run and some cute dogs to dodge, but i was way lost.
so, i thot, hey, i'll just run til i hit a train line and then follow that home, no biggie. but running for two hours does odd things to my brain, and when i saw the first set of elevated tracks and the color of the train going down it, i thot it looked like a train line that goes nowhere near my house. so i kept going.
turns out that that Was the one i wanted, and the river i was following curved back a couple of miles later and hit it again. this time the name of the line was conveniently on the side of the track. i got lucky and guessed the right direction (after staring dumbly up and down the tracks for a few minutes) and just had to jogwalk three stations back. thankfully i took a 1000 yen note with me so i could get some aquarius, pocari sweat, and a couple of onigiri (rice balls).
i'm gonna go find a running group tonight that run track intervals every wednesday night. this week we have three days off in the middle of the week surprisingly, so i'm using this chance to go meet the group, as usually i'm teaching at that time. supposedly, they usually do a long run on sundays, but i can't find much info online.
i just googled them today, after my run. some kind of cosmic joke. i ran yesterday, too. my legs hurt.
Thursday, July 03, 2008
the runs
Lately, as i've settled into life here in koshigaya, i've been starting up a running routine. This first week of work is kinda putting a crimp in that routine, but hopefully, once i get into the swing of things, i'll get back into running four times a week or so. Running truly is such a big part of my life, and i rarely write about it, so i thot i'd give it a shot.
the route i do here is fairly long, about an hour and a half, and is a there'n'back kind of run. i've done it a couple times now, so i've worked the kinks out and am able to really stretch my legs for most of it. it starts out going up this pretty busy highway that heads away from my station, past my house, and up north to wherevertheheckitgoes. i take it for about ten minutes, and then run down a sharp enbankment to a riverpath. i take this path for the rest of the run, save my last little run back down the highway home.
the path is fun. in the afternoon and early evening there are always walkers, runners and cyclists tooling about. i skirt, wave, and flick them off respectively. man, a well placed biker can really ruin your pace if you aren't totally paying attention. they really think they rule the path, expecting me to get my behind outta their way, when really, if you go by boating rules, the faster one should have to divert their course to allow the slower one to pass, ie the one with the wind to its back. and since bikes pretty much always have the wind to their backs, obstensibly, then They should be the ones to swerve outta My way. do i hear an amen? can. i. get. a.......... witness.
thank you.
seriously, tho. running on paths and sidewalks would be way easier if it were no holds barred. i'd chicken wing the slow runners, clothesline the walkers, and superman the cyclers. and if there were a biker who just happened to be going the same way i was, and also going at the same speed (which so many oddly do), i'd just hop on the back and get a breather. if you don't get in my way tho, be prepared for a stylish, magnanimous, earth-shattering head nod in your direction. oh yeah. you know it. don't be surprised if you get a little star-struck.
but all that's in my head, prolly due to the lack of oxygen created by anaerobic activity. my body starts lactating, or lactosinacidnating, or whatever, and then i stop thinking clearly. some little girl stops walking to look at a toad, "argh! what are you doing?! i almost smooshed you!" or some old lady on a bike pulls out right in front of me and "are you crazy! don't you look?!" and so on. it's a vicious lap.
and then sometimes little unexpected things happen to make the run more interesting. like last week, i was running after getting back from dinner with a guy i was training with. it was latish, and just getting dark, but i wanted to get in a run, so i went anyway. turns out, that was a dumbalicious idea. no sooner did i get to the river than i realized my mistake. every single midge, gnat, bugger, and whirlydig known to japanese men came out of the tatamiwork. they clustered in swarm-like windshield traps. but, not being on a road, they had to settle for meek runners who had their minds occupied with ducking the low-hanging, uncut cuz everyone's short, limbo tree-branches along the path that whip out of the dark at unexpected heights. after i swallowed, snorted, and porously inhumed the greater part of the mosquito nation, i figured i was in the clear. i had left the overgrown stretches of the path and was into the heavily travelled portions. lotsa people about and swerving to accomplish. it was then that it struck.
you really have to imagine it from its perspective. a peaceful evening, humid. all its friends are out flitting about. it can hear them all having a good time. so it puts on its sticky shoes and shoots off into the breeze. ah, the fresh air. ah, the light of the moon. ah, the slight chill in the air that comes with night. OH NO, A HUGE HUMAN EYEBALL!!! splat. ouch. man, that hurt. where the hell am i? ow, stop that. stop rubbing! you're, stop, no, no, oh no.... i'm trapped! i'm suffocating.. gasp. help. anybody. BANG BANG BANG. i'm trapped behind a big piece of... glass! no, plastic. no.. what the heck is it? cough cough, splutter splutter, choke. aaaaaaaahhhhh, i'm free, finally! fresh air! squish. flick. splat.
yeah, it got me right in the contact. i had to take it out to dislodge the poor fellow. and then, instant karma for killing one of the mosquito god's creatures, i lose my left contact. cue searching futilely through grass, embarrassed looks at passersby, and then one very long very blurry run home. delightful.
but not all events are that traumatic. i found a place to stretch out and do some mediocre exercises next to the path. apparently, it's also the place where this one old guy practices his croquet malleting. he's quite good at the long ball. practiced aim. but it's a little weird with him there, and some other lady cheering him on, and then some guy with an unusually attentive white ghost dog attached to a tree all watching me as i do some pullups and whatnot. and i'm pretty sure i gave a yelp of pain at one point that got their attention. i was doing situps, and somehow pulled my shoulder. i have no idea. i must have been tense. i didn't even know that situps worked that musclegroup. oddness.
and there are other little fun things. like the driving range that's lit up like heaven. brighter than a baseball field at night. wonderful for a landmark when it's dark and one is missing a contact. or the one road crossing that is ridiculous to cross. i waited for ten minutes one time for a gap in the cars. they have the timing down perfect. first a string of cars from the south, then a string from the north. i'm thinking from now on i'm just gonna run 300 meters down the road to the crosswalk and then run back to save time and frogger lives.
ooh, and then there are the two pedestrian bridges. these are nice. they go up and over to big thoroughfares, connecting the path alongside the river. quite nice. and you can get some cool views of the surrounding city/countryside. and if you run just a bit farther, there's a temple of sorts with various paths to run on. i'm not sure what's past that, but i'll find out one day when i finally get in shape enough for super long run.
all this writing about it makes me want to go run. i think i'll save it for tomorrow morning, tho, since by now, the squigglie-wigglies are out and looking for trouble. and contacts are expensivE
the route i do here is fairly long, about an hour and a half, and is a there'n'back kind of run. i've done it a couple times now, so i've worked the kinks out and am able to really stretch my legs for most of it. it starts out going up this pretty busy highway that heads away from my station, past my house, and up north to wherevertheheckitgoes. i take it for about ten minutes, and then run down a sharp enbankment to a riverpath. i take this path for the rest of the run, save my last little run back down the highway home.
the path is fun. in the afternoon and early evening there are always walkers, runners and cyclists tooling about. i skirt, wave, and flick them off respectively. man, a well placed biker can really ruin your pace if you aren't totally paying attention. they really think they rule the path, expecting me to get my behind outta their way, when really, if you go by boating rules, the faster one should have to divert their course to allow the slower one to pass, ie the one with the wind to its back. and since bikes pretty much always have the wind to their backs, obstensibly, then They should be the ones to swerve outta My way. do i hear an amen? can. i. get. a.......... witness.
thank you.
seriously, tho. running on paths and sidewalks would be way easier if it were no holds barred. i'd chicken wing the slow runners, clothesline the walkers, and superman the cyclers. and if there were a biker who just happened to be going the same way i was, and also going at the same speed (which so many oddly do), i'd just hop on the back and get a breather. if you don't get in my way tho, be prepared for a stylish, magnanimous, earth-shattering head nod in your direction. oh yeah. you know it. don't be surprised if you get a little star-struck.
but all that's in my head, prolly due to the lack of oxygen created by anaerobic activity. my body starts lactating, or lactosinacidnating, or whatever, and then i stop thinking clearly. some little girl stops walking to look at a toad, "argh! what are you doing?! i almost smooshed you!" or some old lady on a bike pulls out right in front of me and "are you crazy! don't you look?!" and so on. it's a vicious lap.
and then sometimes little unexpected things happen to make the run more interesting. like last week, i was running after getting back from dinner with a guy i was training with. it was latish, and just getting dark, but i wanted to get in a run, so i went anyway. turns out, that was a dumbalicious idea. no sooner did i get to the river than i realized my mistake. every single midge, gnat, bugger, and whirlydig known to japanese men came out of the tatamiwork. they clustered in swarm-like windshield traps. but, not being on a road, they had to settle for meek runners who had their minds occupied with ducking the low-hanging, uncut cuz everyone's short, limbo tree-branches along the path that whip out of the dark at unexpected heights. after i swallowed, snorted, and porously inhumed the greater part of the mosquito nation, i figured i was in the clear. i had left the overgrown stretches of the path and was into the heavily travelled portions. lotsa people about and swerving to accomplish. it was then that it struck.
you really have to imagine it from its perspective. a peaceful evening, humid. all its friends are out flitting about. it can hear them all having a good time. so it puts on its sticky shoes and shoots off into the breeze. ah, the fresh air. ah, the light of the moon. ah, the slight chill in the air that comes with night. OH NO, A HUGE HUMAN EYEBALL!!! splat. ouch. man, that hurt. where the hell am i? ow, stop that. stop rubbing! you're, stop, no, no, oh no.... i'm trapped! i'm suffocating.. gasp. help. anybody. BANG BANG BANG. i'm trapped behind a big piece of... glass! no, plastic. no.. what the heck is it? cough cough, splutter splutter, choke. aaaaaaaahhhhh, i'm free, finally! fresh air! squish. flick. splat.
yeah, it got me right in the contact. i had to take it out to dislodge the poor fellow. and then, instant karma for killing one of the mosquito god's creatures, i lose my left contact. cue searching futilely through grass, embarrassed looks at passersby, and then one very long very blurry run home. delightful.
but not all events are that traumatic. i found a place to stretch out and do some mediocre exercises next to the path. apparently, it's also the place where this one old guy practices his croquet malleting. he's quite good at the long ball. practiced aim. but it's a little weird with him there, and some other lady cheering him on, and then some guy with an unusually attentive white ghost dog attached to a tree all watching me as i do some pullups and whatnot. and i'm pretty sure i gave a yelp of pain at one point that got their attention. i was doing situps, and somehow pulled my shoulder. i have no idea. i must have been tense. i didn't even know that situps worked that musclegroup. oddness.
and there are other little fun things. like the driving range that's lit up like heaven. brighter than a baseball field at night. wonderful for a landmark when it's dark and one is missing a contact. or the one road crossing that is ridiculous to cross. i waited for ten minutes one time for a gap in the cars. they have the timing down perfect. first a string of cars from the south, then a string from the north. i'm thinking from now on i'm just gonna run 300 meters down the road to the crosswalk and then run back to save time and frogger lives.
ooh, and then there are the two pedestrian bridges. these are nice. they go up and over to big thoroughfares, connecting the path alongside the river. quite nice. and you can get some cool views of the surrounding city/countryside. and if you run just a bit farther, there's a temple of sorts with various paths to run on. i'm not sure what's past that, but i'll find out one day when i finally get in shape enough for super long run.
all this writing about it makes me want to go run. i think i'll save it for tomorrow morning, tho, since by now, the squigglie-wigglies are out and looking for trouble. and contacts are expensivE
