On Tour

This is going to sound silly, but hear me out. Visiting home when you live in another country is, I imagine, a very small taste of what it's like to be famous. Your calendar fills up for this short time with all these different people wanting to reunite and spend time with you and ask you questions and take pictures with you. Everyone's trying to feed you and give you gifts. You only have a short time so you unfortunately have to prioritize who you make more or less time to see. I know in my last post I said the trip itself is now routine, but this aspect of it is still not for me. It's exciting to go from one event or activity to the next and see all these people you wish you could see more regularly. But, then you have so many goodbyes to say, often in the same day, which can be rough. I always use the word "whirlwind" to describe it because that's really how it feels. Then we fly back and go back to our normal, quiet-ish, everyday lives.

Anyway, bring it on. I'm excited and it's going to be a lot of fun despite all the inevitable goodbyes. I suppose it makes it easier knowing we will be back again in a few months for a slew of weddings, so we don't have to fit everything and everyone into this trip.

Up, up, and away

Michael and I are getting ready to fly home to the states in less than 48 hours. We are pros at this by now. Flying over the Pacific is mostly routine. Yeah, we have to wait in some lines and schlep all our stuff. But, as long as I have some snacks, movies, podcasts, and an aisle seat, I'm good to go. I don't mind being out of touch for about a day, since I usually get more than my fill of being plugged in to my phone and the internet. It will be nice to have a few weeks to see lots of family and friends. Summer, here we come!

Fun for the sake of fun.

The Pokemon Go! craze is sweeping Sydney, and Michael has been trying to catch 'em all. He took a few personal timeouts from our beach ultimate pickup game yesterday to catch some nautical creatures. One of our (peripheral) friends was even pictured in the Sydney Morning Herald, since he was at some huge pokevent over the weekend. 

How long will the craze last? I give it two more weeks before it starts dying down. That doesn't mean I won't be logging as Michael from my phone, and walking around to help him hatch some incubating eggs faster. I go for walks all the time anyway, so it's not like it's any harder for me to have some app on also. 

I love how there are already online articles saying, "What I Wish I Knew When I Started Pokemon Go". When you started? Two days ago?? How can you already have regrets?

Think what you want about this app. Maybe it's wonderful for getting people outside in the fresh air, it's a social thing, etc. Or, it's dangerous because people are walking into traffic without paying attention, it's stupid and you don't get it, a waste of time, etc. Even though I'm not as into it as many people are, I'm happy it's a thing people are doing and talking about because it is lighthearted and kind of silly, and we need more lighthearted and silly things at a time when there is also so much negativity in the media and in the world right now. 

Be Kind (Rewind)

I'm saddened to hear there has been yet another incident in the US involving an unarmed person being shot and killed. I have friends of all kinds of backgrounds who are upset and horrified by this and similar incidents in the last several years. 

I hope everyone out there can feel inspired to be kinder to strangers of all backgrounds right now in spite of this constant barrage of negativity. Hold the door, let someone else go first, say a random compliment or joke (not to be confused with hitting on someone), pay for a random person's coffee.... anything. It doesn't matter whether that random person is black, white, asian, old, young, or wearing a hijab or a yarmulka or a turban or they're bald. Just be nice to people, people. Restore each other's faith in humanity.

Quadrant II

After a slew of ultimate frisbee tournaments, I realized I hadn't taken even a season off the sport in more years than I can remember. Even when I've slowed down, I've always still at least gone to pickup. So, I decided to take this winter season off and get more out of the gym membership I already pay for. I'm going to yoga a lot more, which is a nice change of pace. I used to really hate yoga because I'm not a still person, but I've come to enjoy it lately. I also do some of the cardio and short resistance-training classes. I kind of miss the more social aspect of frisbee, but we still hangout with a lot of those people off the field too, so it's alright. If I ever miss it so much, I can start back up again whenever I want. There is no lack of opportunities to play several days throughout the week, even in the colder months.

While American kids have started their summer vacation, the Aussie kids are enjoying winter break; it's kind of the halfway mark during their school year. This means work has slowed down for me after being quite busy. I'm doing some extra workouts, getting dentist appointments and errands in, and handling domestic stuff. I think Michael is sometimes surprised that I don't plan more activities during the time I'm off work, because he thinks he would feel bored if he were in the same position. Perhaps he is not familiar with Parkinson's Law. I really use this time to catch up on the things I don't have time or energy to do when I'm dealing with other people's kids all day. They might be boring and non-urgent things like giving the apartment an extra clean or re-organizing some drawers, but they are important quadrant II activities that make me feel less stress in the long run. 

Cooking extra meals to freeze for the future nights when I can't be bothered doesn't sound very exciting or cool to other people, but it makes me happy. It's like I'm saying, "Hey, future Ronny, I know you've had a long day, I'm going to cook you dinner! Sit back and relax". Then future Ronny opens up the package from the past, pops it in the oven or microwave, and then enjoys a delicious home-cooked meal requiring little effort and says, "Hey past Ronny, you're the best". It's the closest I may ever ever get to time-travel. 

Independence Day Brunch

We celebrated our third Independence Day away ex-pat style at a lovely low-key brunch with some of our frisbee friends. We had some delicious frittata, pancakes and berries, cheesy grits, and other delectable American-ish foods. Brunch is the best!