Tag: friends

Thursday August 6th, 2020

I went through with my original plan but it wasn’t terribly practical. At 6:45am, I got up and did exercises. Sensei texted, too, and I spent some time answering. When I finished, I decided to go back to bed. Since I’d not gone to bed very early last night, getting up early was not the best plan. For tomorrow, I will go to bed early and wake up when I wake up. Rather than exercises, I’ll focus on kata and syllabus. We also have karate class tomorrow evening.

In one of my dreams, we had to move the shodan test to a small, outdoor concrete patio. It looked cramped and uncomfortable. I also dreamed about work but no longer remember those parts.

Sensei had scheduled a work-out for testers in the figure 8 park today. He wasn’t feeling well and decided not to come. Being ill also had him worried about COVID-19, so he texted the group he would get tested. 

T offered to meet us in the park so we could still practice.T, TF, B and I met together. For her intensive Summer Honors English course, F has multiple essays due this week. She decided to sit out this one. That was probably a smart move on her part, because we practiced about three hours. We did a good amount of socializing, too. Still, we did the kata walk, and even did the syllabus walk. In addition, we went over Bo Sono Ichi and Ni. We also did the two ura katas we needed. B and T practiced Kanku. After B left, TF and I ran the Pinans again, to polish them, and T gave us tips to clean them up.

It was after 6:30pm by the time I got home, but I felt good about the practice, and it was just so nice to see TF and T, as well as B.

Good news: Sensei reported that his COVID-19 test came back negative. He even texted a photo, he was so happy. We were all relieved for him. It would be one thing to have to delay the shodan and nidan tests, but Sensei is not a spring chicken–contracting this illness at his age is pretty scary.  Each decade of your life adds to the probability that you would have complications, and though he’s not elderly, he’s old enough that it is scary. Given what I know from my cousin’s experience with it, I’m scared of it, too. But, to the best of our knowledge, none of us have it.

I did not do exercises tonight given our pretty extensive practice session.  For this evening and tomorrow, I need to focus on getting plenty of rest, not inadvertently injuring myself, and prepare for Saturday.

Oh, the “Zen Flesh, Zen Bones” story from last night actually read like a joke: a cook in a monastery was in a great hurry. Along with the grasses and grains he grabbed for the evening soup, he inadvertently picked up a snake, and chopped it up along with his vegetables for the stew. The monks loved the stew: it was the best tasting soup they’d had in a long time. Everyone was happy until the head master pulled a snake head from his bowl and called the cook over, “What is this?” The cook, quick on his feet, grasped the snake head and popped it into his mouth, then bowed with a “Oh, thank you, Master!”

Tuesday May 19th, 2020

I’m writing during my lunch break from work. Why? My son S will receive an award from his school this evening, so I clocked in early. We don’t know what award he will receive yet. I’ll clock out at six so I will have half an hour to do exercises and get ready for his ceremony.

I did push-ups, sit-ups and squats. When I do my leg stretches, my right side hurts quite a bit under my knee and in my thigh area. It hurts enough that I can’t reach for my toes without considerable pain. I stopped trying today on that side. My left side is more flexible and pain-free. I have no trouble grabbing my toes on that side.

Kitchen cleaning and sanitizing did not receive as much of my attention this morning as normal. Besides, I’m not sure I need to do it every day: none of us have had COVID-19 symptoms, so the risk of infection is coming from outside our home, and not within it. Previously, when I started cleaning religiously, I feared that I or another family member had it.

Because this week is the kids’ last week of school, they have a lot of work right now. Next week will be more mellow. D plans to have them take two days to “detox” from all the computer time. If they are invited to very many “start of summer” parties over Zoom, we may make an exception for social events.

Yesterday and today I texted Jessica. I set an alarm on my phone to remind me. I hope it helps. She appreciates it a lot and has let me know. It is such a small thing to compose a text message and send it.

This makes me wonder how other friends are faring. I think of several friends that we’re only occasionally in touch with because we all have such busy lives. At work, we planned to include the three persons furloughed in our weekly department Zoom meetings. I hope that will help them feel more in the loop. Obviously, if they are busy or don’t want to participate, they won’t.

We will miss karate class tonight in order to watch his award live, but I let Sensei know.

Monday May 18th, 2020

I did push-ups, sit-ups and squats. This is the beginning of my third week on eighties.

Apex, the grey cat, just climbed into my lap. It’s raining; I let the support chair under the trampoline down, hoping it will allow the water to drain. The rain isn’t heavy. I’m not sure that helped.

One of the bags containing Sabrina’s clothes is wet, though it was in a mostly covered area. Later today I will take out her clothes and let them hang dry, just to be on the safe side. Her large sunhat is on top, and that may have actually protected the clothing.

Today I should run, text Jessica and send email to work that I need to shift my hours tomorrow. B will be in a school awards ceremony. It will be interesting to see what format they use: Zoom, YouTube, Google. We plan to watch as a family in the grandparents’ study. They have a large television.

Mondays are more difficult, regarding exercises. Once I get through push-ups, the rest feel more do-able. Starting–that moment of hesitation that I need to get past–feels challenging. Now I try to just start and trust I’ll get through push-ups. For squats, today, I “recognized” each of the next two numbers corresponding to the two next sets while counting the current set. So while I’m counting my “ich” set, I think “Ni -punches, San – regular” as I count. Then while squatting and punching for the “Ni” set, I think “San – regular,” “Shi – punches.” I lost concentration during my last set of punching squats, and executed some sloppy punches, but then pulled it back together.

I am still doing stretches on the book case. My right side is quite sore and far less flexible than my left side. I worry that I may have injured it. It gives me a lot of pain during that stretch now.

I’m running late for work and need to wrap up.

Friday May 8th, 2020

Today I was more focused than yesterday while doing my exercises. I did do twenty extra push-ups on my knees, “chest-style,” after doing the forty “tricep” ones on the floor and twenty on the matte on my toes. I tried to imagine what it would be like to get through sixty on my fists on the floor. That’s where I need to be by August.

I also filled out two job applications on-line with two of the larger tech companies. One has a games division in Orange County, and the other has an R&D facility–for some kind of virtual reality or animation-related group in Northern California. I didn’t initially realize it was for Northern California, but given the situation with the coronavirus, I am hoping I could work from home if I am considered. Fingers crossed.

I felt optimistic. I revised a cover letter for one of them. On paper, I look good: three degrees, and I have twenty years experience. My portfolio is nice, and I’m outgoing and creative. I interview well, too.

So why do I need to try so hard to convince myself I have a chance? Granted, these places are probably long shots. I’m older than their typical candidates. My education is in literature and not computer science. Not too many women are able to stick it out in my field, let alone advance. In some ways, I’m lucky I’m still working. Whether those companies look at me or not, I just need a decent job working with nice people.

Actually, given I’m still working during this pandemic, I’m very fortunate. One of my coworker, the friend who gave me the fruit last week, texted she was given notice of hiatus. She has a week left to work. So really, I’m lucky right now. I probably have two weeks, possibly more.

My best friend from high school, Leilani, called and we talked for nearly an hour. She is taking graduate classes on-line now. Yesterday, she had a frustrating experience with her step-son. He was supposed to stay with his father and her this past weekend, but instead, he asked his mother for permission to visit his girlfriend. He basically put his mother in the situation of telling her ex and Leilani that he would not be coming over.

Leilani chastised him for disappointing his father. She worried that she was out-of-line for doing this, but the kid is eighteen years old. He wants to be treated like an adult, and legally, he is one. I told her that, by dressing him down and letting him know he’d upset them by cancelling their plans, she was treating him more like an adult. Grown-ups take responsibility for their actions, and deal with the consequences if they disappoint people. She did treat him like an adult.

Karate class tonight, seven p.m. over Zoom. I’m looking forward to it.