Spring Blues

Not sure if it is missing Japan, the inability to find any kind of job, even a crappy kind, still sofa-surfing at my mother's house, or just the crazy, changeable weather of spring. But the spring blues are in full force this week...

Dexter's Spring Haircut

Dexter is doing quite well, although he (like me!) is slightly overweight still. He does look very cute with his new haircut, though.

Mountain ride on VRX

My bike isn't really good for touring with its stock pair of upswept exhaust pipes, which interfered with any saddlebag options. My first big change then was to switch to a two-into-one header, and then a single muffler.

After playing around with the silencers, I found better sound and more hp (above 5000rpm!) with the silencers installed, and unchanged torque. I captured some of the testing with my iPhone and GoPro.

With some time on the last rainy Saturday morning, so I assembled some footage and sound files into a bite-sized video:

Brevity of Time

Easter is here. This is the first time in about thirteen years that I have been in a pre-dominantly Christian country, and where Easter is even acknowledged. For me, I find it pleasant enough just to have a reason for people to be off work (I, of course, am off just about every day!). My mother has gone to Ottawa to enjoy some time with my brother and sister-in-law, and will very likely have a nice dinner. I will be going to my friend's place for a ham and pineapple - neither of which I have eaten in a very long time.

While Easter is associated with spring and with re-birth, in Japan we celebrate hanami - the lovely sakura (cherry blossoms) that bloom only very briefly before blowing off into th spring breeze. People go out and sit under the trees, sing songs and drink lots of beer. It is the Japanese way to acknowledge the brevity of life, and to appreciate what is present, even if only very briefly.

While I too, am appreciating the day, I am also pleased to have a rebirth. Spring is a great time to start fresh, to make spring resolutions, and get healthy.

 

Inaugural Bike Ride

Although the weather the past few days has been cold, windy and rainy, last week was actually bright, sunny and warm. Beautiful enough, in fact, that I took out my 29er single-speed bicycle, a custom Clockwork Bicycle, out for the first ride in at least a year.

What I've been doing

Mostly, I've been spending my time actively seeking to get back into the workforce here. Lack of French is an obstacle, but I'm confident that I can overcome it!

I've been attending a Career Transitions program at a place called La Passerelle. It is, happily, a government-sponsored program and I, even more happily, qualified to participate. It is a twelve week program, and has so far provided me with more confidence, and a deeper understanding of myself and the job market, than I had previously had.

Who knew that all the other participants felt so similarly to me? The disillusionment caused by the former job, the feeling of being a bit lost, not knowing where to go next, avoiding looking for work... these are all common feelings to newly unemployed professionals in their forties and upward.

So - this has been good, and keeping me busy.

Ich bin satt...

I remember this phrase from my study of German years ago, and it really made an impression... it was contrasted to the alternative (but considered vulgar) Ich bin voll...

Until recently I had forgotten about these phrases and their distinction, especially as I didn't really understand the difference, and filed away the distinction as just polite rather than technical.

I now completely understand the difference.

The short story is that I found myself living in an ever-tightening cycle of eating, and needing to eat. I would wake up hungry, eat, run or bike, eat again, go to work and endure an irritable itchiness that could only be satisfied with a sugary snack, eat a 'healthful' large lunch, snack again, and be starving again by dinnertime.

This continued for years, until the cycle tightened to me waking up twice a night to either eat, or drink, something and sleep again, or stay awake and suffer from fidgety dissatisfaction.

After eating, I could count on a one or two hours of focus and concentration, but that yielded to irritability if I couldn't quickly get a cookie, rice-ball, can of cold beer or hot cocoa. Exhausting.

For the last eight weeks, I have eaten nothing but meats, fats, and vegetables, completely avoiding sugars, carbs and grains. Within 4 days I was in ketosis, and I haven't faltered, or been tempted to falter, yet.

Ich bin satt..

Since then, after my meals of eggs, beef or pork and some veggies sauteed in butter or coconut oil, a sense of well-being... satiety,... washes over me. I can think. I can concentrate. Not only don't I crave snacks, I can skip meals without even noticing. When I am 'satisfied', I am done eating.

Actual differences that I should have recorded are many, but I entered into this as a trial, not really a test, so I didn't record or measure hard data. What I can report though, are these:

1) My body temperature is spot-on 36.6 deg now. It has always been a full 1 degree Centigrade lower unless in a fever state.

2) I can sleep through the night, and wake with a rested feeling. Previously I woke only to jump up in search of a sweet danish or coffee.

3) Now, no need to snack: I usually needed to eat sweets, or drink a beer, several times a day to maintain a calm disposition. If I couldn't carry something sweet / carby with me, I'd do anything to get to a shop and buy something.

4) I wasn't worried about my weight or skin, but once cutting carbs and sugar, I immediately lost all my belly fat (pants are loose) and my skin has cleared up completely.

I don't plan on giving up on this regimen; it will become my lifestyle instead of just a temporary experiment. Here is a pic of my now usual breakfast (taken on a particularly sunny morning, so with good light!); bacon and eggs, with the pumpkin, string bean, asparagus and broccoli glistening with coconut oil. Satisfying!

Rock and Roll?

The earthquakes and aftershocks (and ensuing public announcements) have been relentlessly constant. Yesterday, for example, Japan endured 23 earthquakes, releasing 537 Tera-Joules of energy. Some of those were quite noticeable here in Shizuoka, but many were felt as a swaying or rolling motion, just slightly dizzying.

Here is a snapshot of a graph of the energy release since the big one, March 11th. The interactive version is here.



Another interesting graphic depiction of the seismic events has been compiled, with the interactive version here.

The Brighter Side of Japan

My 10-minute commute to and from work under the cherry blossoms!

Rad, rem, gray, seviert, becquerel

The media, government and industry here are quite cozy, and this reality is a tolerated aspect of Japanese society that is widely acknowledged and seldom criticized. There is wisdom in leaving big decisions to experts with a benevolent long view, and not loudly second-guessing with only arm-chair qualifications.

It may seem outrageous to Western minds, for the Japanese public to continue trusting these entities considering the continuous series of embarrassing missteps. However, this may be the very reason that Japan's history is measured in 1000's of years, even with limited and fragile resources, typhoons, earthquakes, tsunamis, and even atomic bombings.

I'm not an expert, but I would counter that the Japanese accept that there may be immediate hardship, but will endure rather than panic.

On the other hand, it is interesting to witness the variety of confusing, contrary, or just nonsensical information being released to the public. None of it is sufficient, accurate or whole enough to actually quantify the threat of the radiation leaking from the Fukushima reactors.

I've done the math, and based on official reports, my 30-minute jog tomorrow morning will be as dangerous as three ripe bananas, a Winston menthol, and a mammogram. Whew.

Outside sources of information are an interesting contrast. This projection from the German Meteorological Service isn't something being shown here, for sure. (This is based on the weather conditions that would spread the radiation; the actual intensity can't be certain as it is based only on the Japanese officially released measurements.):