It is 5:10 AM on Saturday morning, April 15th, 2017. I’ve had my shot of wheatgrass, meditated, put way the dishes, and still have time for a journal entry.
Today is the first day of a different schedule. Saturday Japanese class starts today for my son so our normal Saturday routine of karate followed by ramen is now over. He’ll go to school and I’ll just do the adults class instead of the double header of kids class followed by adults. I might still help with the kids class on days when I take him to class: I have nothing else to do and it would be good exercise but we’ll see. Today however, the wife is taking him so she can see what the normal schedule looks like and perhaps socialize a bit. I’ll just do the adults karate and I’m debating on whether or not to head over to the Japanese Cherry Blossom Festival. The forecast calls for a nice day and so I should probably take advantage. Tomorrow is the big day for the festival with the parade but there is an 80% chance of rain which is too bad.
I have to say I haven’t been in the best of moods lately: there has been a lot on my mind both in terms of world as well as personal events. In world events things are coming to a head with North Korea; this is a long time coming and needs to be resolved before NK has a nuclear weapon. This is the first time in my 40 years of life that I’ve been really concerned about geopolitical events and war. 9/11, Iraq and the many other small skirmishes seemed so far away, only something that appears on the television but never affected me directly. North Korea with a nuke affects me directly in what they could do to Japan, to a lesser probability what it could do to San Francisco. The last time the USA saw a major disaster was sixteen years ago with 9/11 and although it was terrible a nuclear bomb on a city is many times as terrible.
And so for the first time in my life I find myself opening the news wondering if we might possibly die, or be forced to evacuate sooner or later. The strength of the US military and the fading memories of WWII has lulled most people into a false sense of comfort and safety. We wonder now if we’re on the brink of WWIII and I don’t think people realize how drastically and quickly it would change each and everyone one of our lives. Throw nuclear bombs into the mix and there might not be life at all in 100-200 years.
And so I sit here on April 15th, 2017 writing these words and as I live in an empire of the greatest military strength the world has ever seen I’m not too concerned just yet but the percentage of concern is creeping up, higher than it has ever been before in my life. I’m paranoid you say? Well, to that I would say people much smarter than me have created a clock, the Doomsday Clock and it is currently two and a half minutes to midnight. I would feel much better if it were twelve hours to midnight.
So, aside from life completely changing from that to which I’m accustomed, there is also the personal. As happens seemingly on yearly basis the upper echelons of the company start to shift and change. As usual it isn’t clear how this will affect me and my work. In most cases the change at my level is barely perceptible, but there is also a good chance that my work duties change dramatically, or at worst, I’m restructured out. I’ve got a very good reputation and am shining at the moment but like everything this too is always changing and in modern corporate climates there really is no stability, especially for sales.
Everything changes, nothing remains without change – Buddah
Add to the above there is also the marathon task of raising two kids. This is not very stressful for me and I really enjoy playing with them more than most fathers I think. The issue is that outside of work, all time is devoted to them and there really isn’t any time to do anything for myself. That is what I wake up so early, before everyone else, so I can at least do some of the things I like to do like write in this journal. As for activities during the day, I’ve felt the best solution is to do something we both enjoy with karate being the best example. It not only builds our confidence and self esteem but is something we can bond over and do together. My youngest will also join when he has grown up a bit then it will truly be a family activity; except for the wife of course who has absolutely no interest in doing such an activity.
Soon we’ll add another activity to the mix and that is working out in our own gym. I set my mind on building a small gym in our single car garage and it is coming into place. There were spots where the insulation was missing and so I completed that part yesterday. I have the drywall and was hoping I could borrow a pickup truck in order to rent a drywall lift from Home Depot but I’m not having much luck with the truck. So yesterday I picked up a piece of drywall and realized I could lift it over my head without too much trouble. I then stared at the ceiling for a while and have convinced myself I can do this alone with just a bit of help from the wife. I’ll be hanging drywall later today or tomorrow as I’m really anxious to get this done and start working out again.
What occurred to me is that I could use an open garage door to hold one end of the drywall while I attach the other to the joists. Then I just need slide the detached garage door down as I work my way down the sheet. For the other part of the garage I could use the extension latter as a way to hold one end while I attach the other. This way I can save money by not renting a lift and certainly save a lot by not needing a handyman or anything like that. It doesn’t have to be perfect, it is just a garage anyway.
With a gym in my very own house plus the karate I expect to really get into incredible shape.
And that is what is on my mind in the middle of April in 2017.
