Where I Intended to Be

I like updates and I cannot lie … October 11, 2010

So we have, as usual, a lot of content and not a lot of time for me to write about it this morning. There’s one specific incident that I want to linger on, so let’s briefly touch on the other Events of Note:

1) The Car Accident
I’d intended to write a longer post about this, but perhaps its better not to dwell on Unfortunate Events. To make a long story short, as I was waiting to merge into traffic after getting off of the expressway last Tuesday, somebody hit me from behind. Luckily, nobody was hurt. In addition, the police and insurance companies have determined that it was entirely the other person’s fault and he is supposed to pay to have my car fixed. I suspect, however, that the cost of repairing my car is going to be more than the car is actually worth, so I’ll probably just get money to buy another (not very good and slightly unsafe) automobile. I was initially emotionally distraught at the thought of losing my car (and still am to a certain degree), but things could be a lot worse and I’m willing to be flexible at this point.

2) Field Trips!
Thursday was entertaining because I got to go to a small theme park outside of Nagoya city with my first year JHS students. It’s called Little World, and it’s set up so that visitors can explore what houses, food, and clothing are like in other parts of the world. I’ve been to this theme park many times (about once a year for the last four years), so I wasn’t anticipating finding anything new to be excited about. However, on the way to the park I was perusing the map and I discovered that the area of the part of the park dedicated to Germany is actually dedicated to Bayern. This information did something strange to me, because as soon as we got to Little World I dashed to the German section (all the way at the back of the park) and made my students take an absurd number of pictures of me pointing to signs that had “Bayern” written on them. Still, I’ve never claimed to be sophisticated or not easily excited/amused.

3) Friday it Rained. I skipped the gym, came home, and had a four-hour conversation with my father.

4) Saturday it also Rained. So much that I normally would not have gone out except that The Japanese Best Friend and I had one of our International Dinner Nights planned. We had a lot of fun, and I got to watch The Haunted Mansion, which wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be. OH, ALSO, GERMANY WON ITS SOCCER GAME AGAINST TURKEY.

5) Sunday morning The Super Young Guy and I drove each other to hysterics (think: mass giggle fit) while goofing off during my workout. For somebody who has been chastised for talking to me too much, he doesn’t seem to be all that fazed.

6) Monday was the Most Ridiculous Workout Ever (and the main event I want to highlight)
So, Monday was a national holiday in Japan and I had the day off. In addition, the gym organized a special series of lessons meant to tempt their customs away from revelry and games of all sorts. I was a little curious about a special event that they were holding at 7 in the evening. It was advertised as 90 minutes of the three most intense classes that the gym has to offer (one is body shape/muscle toning and the other two are combination martial arts/aerobics lessons). It sounded interesting, so after running some errands I made my way to the gym by 6:30 and got ready for the lesson.

The lesson was entertaining if only because the gym staff made a huge event of it. They had special shirts and pants,  they played special music, and one of the trainers dressed up as a Power Ranger. The first lesson (one of the aerobic martial arts ones) was a little rough for me because it was conducted by none other than TGTIDNLBIDLHE who, not surprisingly, has kind of a sadistic “OF COURSE EVERYBODY CAN DO FIVE HUNDRED AND FORTY TWO SQUATS IN A ROW” attitude. This was the lesson where I had to keep reasoning with myself as to why throwing up in the gym studio would be a bad idea.

The second lesson was also a little rough because it was the strength training portion and I was feeling drained. This is where things got very interesting, though, because to my utter shock TGTIDNLBIDLHE took up a position behind me and, well, became my buddy. You see, we had about seven of the gym trainers spread around the room, helping out the different participants and just generally offering encouragement. After he’d finished his class, TGTIDNLBIDLHE was free to offer support and he spent about 95% of the lesson doing that for me. He checked my posture, suggested alternatives when I found something to be a little too difficult, and offered constant encouragement and what I would guess to be about two hundred high-fives. This was all spectacularly fun during the third lesson, when my energy returned with a vengeance and we were both feeling really silly and full of endorphins:

POOOOOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWERRR!!!!!!

Still, you have to remember that TGTIDNLBIDLHE has been so aptly named because since the day I got to the gym he has been nothing but Snarky and Not Nice. On more than one occasion I’ve considered asking him to stop greeting me when I come into the gym just because he sounds so insincere when he does it and it makes me feel bad. I cannot for the life of me fathom what inspired this change in attitude, although I’m certainly happy that it’s happened. I’m not sure if it’s a change that will last outside of this class, but the genuine and not-superficial smile that he gave me after the class finished leads me to believe that some kind of truce has been called. I’m not saying that we’re going to become BFF, but at least I don’t have to worry about him hating me. So, this is a good thing.

Therefore, I do believe another name change is in order. Henceforth, TGTIDNLBIDLHE will now be known as “The Masked Man.” I say this because he was wearing a mask throughout most of yesterday’s workout (it might have been what gave him the courage to show me such kindness) and because it’s so hard for me to figure out what he’s all about. He is a mystery.

Code Monkey get up, get coffee
Code Monkey go to job