A mate of mine has just accomplished a superhuman feat that filled me with admiration and maybe more than a little inspiration: a (barely) 10-day bicycle journey from the south of Kyushu to the northernmost part of Honshu as part of an event called the Japanese Odyssey. My mate, who I haven’t named because I haven’t sought permission to write about him and who I think is so humble he usually lets his actions speak for him, went on a trek of about 2,500 kilometers long and some 30,000-odd meters of elevation. And he finished this while only just into…
So, I pledged to myself to revert this blog to it’s original role of telling funny and interesting tales related to either Japan or Australia, I wasn’t totally honest to myself, which is always the case when convenient to do so. Not that it’s a despicable or harmful lie, but the morning was too wonderful to let go undocumented this morning, so it’s another set of cycling sunrises. My colleague similarly subjected to an unjustifiably huge pay cut announced his imminent departure yesterday with no word of a replacement, which I am assuming means a drastic increase in workload. In…
I’ve struggled to adjust to the realities of life over the past few weeks, but waking on this holiday morning and seeing tiny spots of green sprouting up where my lawn used to be has raised my spirits infinitely, even if not leaving me quite as chilled out as a kangaroo playing air guitar. While on the topic, I’ll stick with the good news. The onerous (and highly costly) process of getting an Australian passport for my daughter was finally completed. Even then it had been a bumpy ride, fighting with my daughter over instructions to fulfill the extremely demanding…
Lots of life stuff is going on and even though I have a lot of “free” time, there’s not enough to allow for writing up a blog entry. Got a gorgeous sunrise today, though, and it couldn’t be missed.
I’ve got nothing to write about, other than being extraordinarily lucky to get consecutive days of glorious sunrises over the Tama River. I’d take a decent camera to get better photos except it’s still hot and the sweat would destroy the DSLR’s parts as happened with my other cameras. So I have to be satisfied with just the mobile phone, which doesn’t take good shots, so what’s visible here is not a patch on what I get to see with my own eyes.
For a few seconds this morning, I got to have a couple of glimpses of gloriousness. Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve noticed Tokyo’s outer suburbs have had some amazing sunrises and sunsets. The old sayings about red skies in the morning and night seem to have been put to bed as we’ve had many days with both and rain either turning up or not falling in contrast to the conventional wisdom. Due to timing, I’m lucky enough to be out on my bike on most days now as the sun appears in the sky. This morning I was…
I’ve never been good at dealing with life on life’s terms, and being a selfish and spoiled type, easily get down when I don’t get what I want. I got to experience that side of me again this week. My boss finally pushed through the severe pay cut she has been aiming at for the past couple of years. I’m now down to about 60% of the wage I was hired at a decade ago, with less than half the paid vacation, a much-reduced medical plan, no allowances and footing the bill for the company to produce the work it…
Not much has happened, certainly nothing to really write about, but I have been very fortunate to get some amazing skies that make tremendous backdrops for bicycle photos, including these shots of La Cangura beside a little pond near the Tama River, which evoked an image of the Lady of the Lake from the Arthurian legend (at least for me). Futile attempts to revive the fertilizer-burned lawn have caused greater frustration. And so has taking care of the bird, which is going through a hormonal stage. Of course, my boss at work is somewhat similar, so I never know which…
Fortune smiled favorably on me this morning, too, as I got to ride out to a nearby sunflower field and get some awesome photos. There’s not much I can elaborate on, other than to say the field was a spectacular sight. There were lots of people around, even though the dawn had only just broken, so I rushed in and out before I became too much of a nuisance with my bike around, too. Also got blessed with some wonderful spurts of rain that I hope will rehabilitate the lawn at Kangaeroo Corner, but was distressed to discover the first…
Little things in life have kept me scrambling and stumbling in such a way it’s hard to get much else done. Work is always much busier in the warmer months. This year has been particularly demanding as our tyrant boss drove more staff out of the door and their tasks were often imposed on me. Early morning starts have been the norm and I’m often exhausted by the time the sun sets. Health hasn’t been great and the teeth I neglected for decades have come back to haunt me with a vengeance, which will result in two more of them…