Boom! Just like that, we've gotten to the point that phrases like 'last stretch' start to sound viable.
We have no real idea what's going to happen past September this year (which is when my contract and visa term ends), which is kinda freaky, but it gives us time to figure things out a bit more. Including whether our current "this isn't too bad actually" state of mind might continue.
At this point in the Taiwan experience I had reached very low levels of awesomeness optimisation, but thought I had enough reserves to get through another year. Really not a good way to think about things, and good that we're not in that place now. I think this version of working overseas is much closer to least non-awesomeness, something I might not have been able to say 6 months ago, but am extremely confident in writing now.
I think having friends visit (thanks J,J, G & W and M!) helped enormously, which seems really counter-intuitive, and I'm still figuring out how that might work! Travel is generally awesome, N's family being here is (mostly) great, a really good BJJ club (for me!) actually has me pretty worried about what my NZ options might be on return. N's new job, although it's quite stressful at the best of times, is still a lot better than the soul destroying stuff of previously. It's also good that we both have potential friends and one or two more actual friends... something which takes a fair bit of time for both of us.
It hasn't all been roses, but we have had much more good than bad over here... and I'm incredibly grateful for that.
To help continue what has been a great start to 2014, we're off to Dublin, Iceland (again!), Italy
/France (Cinque Terre and the southern coast of France). I'm still plodding along with my French study, which should make it slightly easier than previously (or maybe not...)
I've entered a BJJ comp (!!!! first since my bicep tear) and due to low numbers in the 35+ crowd have been bunged in with the young 'uns. Should make for fun and games! Competing at 94.3kg and below (a 2kg gi needs to be included in the weight), which is the lightest I've ever competed, and something I'm able to do without much effort... I even vaguely considered 88.6, but that would mean getting down to at least 86kg out of the gi, just after Christmas etc. which would entail much effort. Maybe next time. If there is a next time.
In other news, I wear an L shirt now, and almost fit into an M dress shirt this week. Down from my tent like XXL of mid 2012...
Turning 40 this year and I'm really happy with the lead in so far... so much potential!
Monday, January 13, 2014
Wednesday, January 8, 2014
Consuming the puffin
I think it's pretty clear from the name of the blog and picture associated
with it that I have seen puffins as something of worth. Emblematic of the path
of least non-awesomeness, my spirit animal even. I love the way they look,
their sad eyes, their comical beaks, their slow little dances. That they live
in cool out of the way places like Staffa and Iceland only adds to the appeal.
You have to go find them, they're not going to make it easy for you, coming and
stealing your chips, begging for crumbs, hanging about in the easiest to find
tourist spots like seagulls or pigeons. Puffins are awesome, and I'm not even
entirely sure I fully grasp how awesome they are, because I actually know very
little about the different variations of puffin, their migration patterns, the
food they like to eat (aside from fish generally), but I know I like
them.
But now I have a confession to make. A confession that has meant breaking my over 1 year silence on this blog: I have now eaten puffin.
According to common sense (and possibly some actual anthropological research), many traditional cultures believe that by eating certain animals you gain some of their valued qualities. Tiger testicles (or is it penis?) for instance will make men as virile as a tiger. Whether tigers are actually virile (after all we've managed to almost wipe them out to get said testicles and they don't seem to reproduce very quickly) is another story, perhaps for another day, another time (another meal? I kid, I kid, near extinct animals are off the table). What eating puffin gave me immediately was a wrenching feeling in my ‘soul’ every time I thought about them (which is incredibly easy in Reykjavik as they're a big part of the tourist scene - including a whole shop of puffin based memorabilia). I didn’t feel differently awesome in any sense of the word afterward (aside from having eaten a rather delicious meal!)… in other words I don’t think I’ve taken on board any of their (admittedly anthropomorphically imposed) qualities of awesomeness.
It did lead me to think through some of the key issues around what we eat and why though. As a meat eater, I (and many within my worldview) eat from only a select group of animal flesh. Staying in Iceland forced me to confront some of the assumptions I have about eating (sustainably caught) whale, puffin, horse (foal specifically) and what makes them qualitatively different from cow, pig, chicken etc. Having now eaten foal (yes, I went there too!), should I make a point of mentioning this to horse loving people in my life? Would I hesitate in suggesting that chowing down on some cat might be something I’d like to try at some point around those who seem to think house cats are worthy of attention beyond basting for a BBQ? After all, I continue to eat meat and talk about this around vegetarian and vegan friends (albeit with some modicum of reserve). Is there a difference? OR should I collapse under the weight of these concerns and become a vegetarian/vegan myself as I often wonder in the dark of night alongside worrying about dying before my wife and whether that twinge in my lower back is cancer?
But now I have a confession to make. A confession that has meant breaking my over 1 year silence on this blog: I have now eaten puffin.
According to common sense (and possibly some actual anthropological research), many traditional cultures believe that by eating certain animals you gain some of their valued qualities. Tiger testicles (or is it penis?) for instance will make men as virile as a tiger. Whether tigers are actually virile (after all we've managed to almost wipe them out to get said testicles and they don't seem to reproduce very quickly) is another story, perhaps for another day, another time (another meal? I kid, I kid, near extinct animals are off the table). What eating puffin gave me immediately was a wrenching feeling in my ‘soul’ every time I thought about them (which is incredibly easy in Reykjavik as they're a big part of the tourist scene - including a whole shop of puffin based memorabilia). I didn’t feel differently awesome in any sense of the word afterward (aside from having eaten a rather delicious meal!)… in other words I don’t think I’ve taken on board any of their (admittedly anthropomorphically imposed) qualities of awesomeness.
It did lead me to think through some of the key issues around what we eat and why though. As a meat eater, I (and many within my worldview) eat from only a select group of animal flesh. Staying in Iceland forced me to confront some of the assumptions I have about eating (sustainably caught) whale, puffin, horse (foal specifically) and what makes them qualitatively different from cow, pig, chicken etc. Having now eaten foal (yes, I went there too!), should I make a point of mentioning this to horse loving people in my life? Would I hesitate in suggesting that chowing down on some cat might be something I’d like to try at some point around those who seem to think house cats are worthy of attention beyond basting for a BBQ? After all, I continue to eat meat and talk about this around vegetarian and vegan friends (albeit with some modicum of reserve). Is there a difference? OR should I collapse under the weight of these concerns and become a vegetarian/vegan myself as I often wonder in the dark of night alongside worrying about dying before my wife and whether that twinge in my lower back is cancer?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
