Making the Best of It

So, I just came back from a little get-away trip to Kobe and Osaka. It was at the tail end of Golden Week, which is a series of three back to back public holidays, which basically means the entire country up and moves to another part of itself, just because that's what's meant to happen. Before leaving, however, I got an opportunity (and a very expensive one, at that) to do something I had never done before in my life. More precisely, I played 18 holes of golf with my principal, a principal of another school, and a co-worker. Don't know how much anyone knows about golf, but I certainly increased my share of respect for it. Whereas before, I hardly considered it a sport at all, after being deeply humiliated and embarassed on the links, I now realize that it does take quite an amount of skill, not the least of which is endurance (it took us six hours for 18 holes). Of course, my borrowed clubs were much too short for me and the numbers on them tended to be confusing, but I'm not about to start making excuses for my whopping 170 on a 76 par course. Yeah, that's about 100 strokes over what it's supposed to be. Oh god, where didn't I take shots from. In the woods, in the sand, in tall grass, from the vending machine...it was all good times though. Occasionally frustrating, especially when I kept hitting the top of the ball and it would fly like twenty feet. Or, in the queue for the 10th hole, when there were three groups ahead of us and like four behind us, which means at least 12 people had the awkward yet somehow satisfying pleasure of watching me tee-off directly into a tree like 6 feet to the right of the tee. In the end, my body hurt, my wallet hurt (it was at a private club, which meant that you didn't really pay for anything on the spot, but signed your name on a sheet, so all expenses added up in the end to about $150), but at least I have now played golf. Woohoo.

Anyway, later that day, I went out with some buddies in Kanazawa, to get a little plastered in preparation for our 3 AM train to Osaka...a hell of a fascinating way to travel eh. The train absolutely stank. There was almost no room to sit, and from 3 AM to 6:30 AM, I was sandwiched between three young ladies who decided at around 5:15 AM that it was time to begin putting on make up and make incessant trips to the bathroom. Yeah, no sleep for me. We finally got to Osaka, had to take the zombie express up to Kobe, and then figure out what to do at 8 in the morning on no sleep. A day and a six hour nap later, we went out, drank a bit, and had, no joke, THE BEST PIECE OF MEAT ON THE PLANET. Hold on, hold on, I don't think you got that, let me just make sure. IT WAS THE MOST FABULOUS, AMAZING, SUCCULENT, JUICY, MOUTH-WATERING, DELICIOUS steak I have ever had. I've heard that these Kobe cows are fed beer or something, but regardless, if you have an extra $2000 lying around, buy a ticket to Japan, come to Kobe and spend $100 on a meal. You will not regret it. After that heavenly experience, we went out and the next day, made our way to Osaka, or more precisely to the Osaka Dome, where we witnessed a spectacle that I didn't ever expect to see myself at. It was PRIDE, a special Japanese version of Ultimate Fighting, or K1. The stadium was filled to capacity, all eagerly present to watch human beings unleash an atrocious sort of violence on each other. Of course, we can all sit here and make arguments about the degeneracy of actually paying a substantial sum of money to see this, but let's not do that. Let's just accept the fact that watching two grown men descend into the most barbaric form of human interaction was somehow enticing and could not be ignored. There were nine fights all together, even featuring two Russians, Roman (oh yes!!!) Zentsov and Aleksandr Emelianko (the brother of the current PRIDE champion). The former won his bout and the latter was shameless beat down by an American. Like I said, even I can argue for not going to such events or about the meaninglessness of their existence in the first place, but I won't. I had a good time and whatever that means, that is how it stands. Afterwards, I had (Halleluiah) Mexican food. Boy, how I do miss you, Chipotle... It was fantastic. And after that began the highlight of the trip.

Yeah, and that would be the booming sickness. Starting with a slight cough, slowly maturing into nasal leakage, and finally forming into the full blown fever and headache, the sickness kept me immobile in the hotel room. It is true that the next day I went to the Osaka zoo, which was rather disappointing (although watching the orangutang bang on his cage viciously and scare the little kids was entertaining) and to the IMAX for Sharks 3D (have you been to a 3D movie lately, those are rocking), the rest of the time was spent within the confines of a lovely room at the Hotel the Lutheran (the place had a friggin cathedral inside of it). It was unfortunate, but what can you do. And thus I get to the main point of this post, the entire reason behind it. Make the best of whatever it is you got. Yeah, cliche, but how often is it overlooked? Yes, my buddies partied till 6 AM both nights in a place for parties (if you're not aware, I live in a tiny village of 6,000 where the only entertainment venue is the local supermarket during a sale) and yes, I could have been with them, and yes, I could have set there gloomy like, cursing my pathetic life. But I didn't. I got some nice rest and reflection time. Thought about many things, listened to the new Tool disc a great many times. And never, ever forgot that terrific motto that all of us should constantly keep in mind (except not to the nihilistic degree), and that is - "And this too shall pass." It is so true. I've been back a few days, still sick, but recovering. Not doing much of anything at the moment. But would like to take one and congratulate my friend Paulie for finally accomplishing that to which he was committed for a long, long time and launching his website (www.pawky.com). All the props in the world to the man who had a vision and spent long hours and endless nights bringing it to life. Beautiful work, man.

Yeah, that's it. Decided to keep it short this time around. Life chugs its way forth and hope it finds you all making the best of it. Take care. Until soon.