Sometimes it hurts to do it.....
Sometimes I think the Buddhists have it right when they forsake worldy possessions. Life would just be so much easier then, if more boring. (unless of course seeking enlightenment and such) But, since I am not a devout buddhist, I do rather get attached to my worldy goods. Clothing is no exception. This weekend was a big one for changes to my wardrobe. I haven't gone shopping or anything fun like that, in fact I did the opposite and began "Cleaning out my Closet" Fat clothes Bye-Bye! What a task!
In some ways fun to try on all those clothes (some old and some never worn) and seeing just how HUGE they are on me now. And as much as they were expensive, or nice looking (when I was big enough to fit them) or functional, the time has come for them to go. The hardest items are the ones that have some meaning or significance, like the cool hawaiian shirts, actually from hawaii, the band teeshirts and nice clothes I used to think were sexy and the functional clothes that werent bulging out making me look ridiculous. Now however they are all so big that I look silly in them, far from sexy.
I made a literal mountain of clothes, some of them almost new, that were to be taken away. It literally weighed as much weight as I have lost now! Some my wife will use as rags and other things in the future, others will be donated to some of my larger friends and some will just go to recycling. So many of those clothes meant a lot to me and it was hard to see them go.
However, on the flip side, now ALL those shirts and pants that were FAR too tight on me in the past, which I kept in the "hopes" I could somday fit them are now DAMN good looking and make me look better than ever! Shirts my wife bought off racks here in China that she really liked, even though she knew they were too small by far, fit me now like a glove! And looking damn good too! So even though it was hard to see some of the old clothes go, it was damn nice to wear the "new" old clothes too. Plus, as my wife pointed out every time I looked longingly at a giant piece of clothing, now that I am getting close to regular sizes, I will easily be able to find all new and exciting clothes, off the rack, that fit me. Even here in China.
And guess what? As you can see on the ticker, I have 3 pounds to go till my first HUGE goal. 240 isnt my final goal (at least not at this point) but it does represent the time I go out and buy some NEW CLOTHES that are going to fit me properly. Its kind of funny really. I could probably hold out with my current clothes until I am at my big goal, but my wife is DYING to get me out shopping. So I promised her we would go when I hit 240. And what a coincidence, I will hit that goal on the same weekend I get paid.....
Other than that, a rather uneventful weekend here. Starting friday night (1 hour before the end of work of course) we got hit with a killer of a lighting storm! I seriously wish I had had my camera for that one. Last year I got footage of massive lightning storms here and actual lighting strikes on a 7 story building 2X in the 2 weeks. Utterly amazing. Do a search on Youtube for sirant if you want to see the videos. But sadly I didn't have the camera with me on friday, so I didn't get new footage.
However, the rain was a godsend! It has been getting very hot here. When the heat index (combination of heat and humidity) gets up above 32 degrees it is really not reccomended to do much in the way of hard physical exercise, ie. running. I ran home on weds night last week at 32 degrees and suffered a little heat exhaustion for my troubles afterwords. Friday the heat index was 38 degrees celcius.... Ouch! But then comes this massive rain, with huge winds and sweet cooler air! The temperature dropped in minutes! Bingo!
In the past I would have dreaded such a day, since the busses would be full, literally impossible to get a taxi, traffic jams for hours and even if you walked you were guaranteed to be soaked, even with an umbrella.
No freakin problem anymore.
Now that I run home daily, I pack running shoes, socks, shorts and a teeshirt with me to the office. 5 minutes before the end of day I lock my office and change into my running clothes. Now I can run no problem! I bought a special back pack with a rain jacket (for the back pack, not me) so I can pack away all the important bits I need to keep dry, and it is business as usual. I don't bother with an umbrella, since my work clothes and electronics are safely packed away and since I am going to be running in a sub tropic climate, I will be soaked with sweat by the end of my run anyways. A BIG added bonus is the facts the sidewalks are 90% emptier than on regular days. I don't mind the crowded sidewalks so much though, as it turns an otherwise ordinary run into a video game of dodging and weaving.
People of course look at me like I am on fire or have 3 heads, but thats fine. Running in the rain definitely has its advantages. I also went for a run on Sunday, which turned into my longest run ever. Once again, because it was overcast and had been raining all day, the parks were empty and I had a wonderful run. All the flowers are once again blooming, the trees are filling up with Lychee, mangos, jack fruit (watch out for those, bigger than coconuts by FAR... could be deadly!) and all manner of other fruits. The air smells absolutely amazing! I could not imagine walking into a nicer smelling incense or perfume shop. After taking 15 minutes to get into the zone with my run, I was unstoppable. 8.5 km slid past like nobodies business. What a feeling!
It is truly amazing the things I am seeing now that I have taking up running and fitness in general. After 3 years in this city I always saw the trees and flowers, but usually from a bus or taxi. I never paid enough attention to know when they were flowering, budding or actually making fruit. Those things just kind of happened with me none-the-wiser. But now, I am seeing the whole process, beginning to end.
I saw the trees when the new leaves were just beginning to bud. Then I saw the small flowers forming followed closely by the park staff releasing millions of bees to start pollinating. The I saw the bees go and the flowers wilt, now to be replaced by fruits and other flowers of all kinds. My current run takes me through a Lychee forrest where I can see for the first time baby Lychees, the size of my finger tip, growing at the ends of millions of little branches. It is awe inspiring. Soon I will witness the other end, after the harvest of the fruit, when the park staff wil cut the trees back, almost to the stump, to promote rich new growth for the next growing season. Then it will all begin again. I feel like a botany student on a field trip.
And as crazy as I look, running out there in the rain, it is really for the best. Soon it will get so hot I will have no choice but to change my daily runs to daily walks, except a few times a week I suppose where I can go very early or to a gym. But after running in these gorgeous parks now for months, I dont think any stinky treadmill anywhere is going to cut it. Smiling at people looking at me like a madman, dodging through pedestrian traffic and enjoying the sights and smells of a thriving ecosystem could never be replaced by a wall in front of a treadmill. Oh well. I will look forward to the rainy days. Even today is going to be great, since it is only 23 degrees and I can finally go for my lunch walk outside again, instead of the same old mall. I may get rained on, and I may get wet, but so be it. I wonder if the security guards who see me everyday in the mall will miss me....
As the saying goes "Into every life a little rain must fall" If it means having gorgeous parks all to myself, fruits and flowers blooming and blossoming every step and fresh clean and exotic smells blowing in the winds as I run by, I hope it rains every damn day this summer.
Raining used to be an excuse not to get off my ass and get moving. Now it has become the opposite. My ass, and all the related muscles and areas around it, thank you.
sirant
with a population nearing the 70% overweight rate we are so limited in the types of clothes we can wear. However, the drawback is you pay 10X the amount for those clothes here that you would in the "normal" stores in China. But, as I said, now I don't need to shop there anymore, and in fact, they probably dont have anything in my size..... Yay!!!!
