It is 8:37 AM on Saturday morning. The robins continue to chirp and I wonder how long they will stay? It is also allergy season and yellow pollen from the pine trees continue to blanket everything. It is so prevalent that after washing the car yellow started to accumulate on the car as I was vacuuming the inside. I had to rinse it off again and get it in the garage. The pollen causes me to sneeze and I also have a dry cough which I assume is from inhaling all of this pollen.
Time continues to pass by. As I often mention, I remember the past very vividly and can pick up with friends from 20 years ago as easily as those who I just saw last week. At 42 I’ve noticed this is not a common trait. I wrote to an old acquaintance recently as it seemed she was going through a tough time but did not get a response. It could also be that people have lost the art of writing interesting and informative letters. It seems many are now only capable of writing one or two sentences in comment format or sharing an animated gif.
Times certainly are strange. We have a vain, narcissist for President who has alienated all of our allies, naked pictures of the First Lady are freely available online, and hate is on the rise. Yet, the President retains unwavering support from a large portion of the population. There was a great meme recently saying that the main cause of ignorance was lack of information. Yea, that wasn’t it. Humans were not ready for the deluge of information the internet was able to provide. They are unable to think critically and subscribe to whatever, false, information confirms their ignorant beliefs.
It was with the Trump information that I finally realized we as a country are not in this “all together.” We are a country focused on our own individual interests. The 4th of July where everyone celebrates being American is superficial illusion. Ignorance is shown front and center when these people madly celebrating sing “Born in the USA” which is actually a criticism of the USA. Then the next day everyone goes back to advancing their individual interests instead of what is good for the country as a whole. Trump encapsulates all of this. Everything he does is in self interest and people are too dumb to realize it.
I miss the Obama era where a spell was cast where we thought we were all in this together, everyone was included. Now, it is every person for themselves.
Enough of that. We’re back to routine and went to karate for the first time in a long time. I realized how out of shape I am and sweat was pouring out of me. Exercise does improve my mood tremendously and I remembered that I need exercise otherwise I’ll become lethargic. I went to a business event the day before, had some wine and was reminded that I no longer like drinking alcohol. Yes, it is fun while doing it but it sours my mood for the next day or two. It is better to just not drink alcohol at all at 42 years of age. My body chemistry has changed and my mind will punish me for it.
Well, it is time to go to karate again. I have two classes today which is sure to be tough. We have the Fighter’s Cup coming up and that means we’ll do a lot of conditioning. I hate conditioning but at least it will make me feel better after it is over.
Update in the afternoon
Karate class is over and we just had lunch. As expected there was a lot of conditioning and a lot of fighting. Being a higher belt fighting the lower belts isn’t very tough and I often just let them punch and kick me with a few well placed kicks so I don’t run out of energy for the subsequent fights. But today I fought a black belt and since Fighter’s Cup is coming up it was a bit more intense. I got kicked in the head and so that made me go *almost* all out. I raised my hand and chose him to fight again. It was a good fight and he’s got a lump on his foot from my elbow but he won the fight as I don’t have any stamina. I’m not really looking forward to the Fighter’s Cup but at the same time I do not want to lose. And I don’t want to do stamina training either. My plan is to just try to wear them out while storing my own energy then kick to the head. We’ll see if that works.
I wanted to mention a few other things about being 42. This is the age of divorces as well as deaths of parents. I learned that some old co-workers are getting divorced. This is surprising and from what I understand the wife has had a break down and isn’t doing too well. The husband got the house and isn’t even sure where the wife is at the moment. Not good. Also, the mother of one of my old classmates also passed away this week. We’re getting older and things are changing.
As for me personally, I like routine, love my family and not very fond of major changes. I think one key to a strong family is simply being there and spending a lot of time together. My old co-workers who are getting divorced are/were both looking to climb that corporate ladder so I assume they spent most of their time working. Such a shame.
I really wish I could take a nap right now as I’m pooped from karate. But my youngest wants to play Nintendo games so I’ll spend some time doing that then probably pass out.
