30th Birthday

I don’t travel much anymore (especially not this year, obviously) and I don’t write much either. Maybe both will start to pick up again as more people get vaccinated and now that I’m out of grad school. Regardless, I felt I should write an update to my 30 before 30th post. Even though my 29th year was quite possibly the weirdest of my life, and that’s including the weirdness that was moving to Japan, I accomplished a surprising amount:

• I stayed sane. I feel like this is the biggest accomplishment. Being with my parents for the first three months of the pandemic definitely helped. I’ve been alone in my apartment for roughly half the pandemic now and I’ve managed to keep away most of the brain fog despite that. Dungeons and Dragons has played a huge part in helping me be social and stay mentally engaged with the world. It’s been nice having a group of 6 friends that I know I’m going to video chat with on a regular basis. I’ve also taken on leading the games because I apparently missed having a bunch of homework after I graduated.
• I ran a half marathon. It still seems insane to me that I did this. It was a slow time, but that’s fine. I run slow and I’m just getting used to that. I still did it. I ran almost half of it without stopping, largely thanks to my cousin keeping me motivated throughout. Maybe I’ll even try to tackle a full marathon some day, depending on how my knees are doing.

• I got my weight down and kept it down. I’ve struggled with my weight for a long time and I finally feel like I’ve figured out a good balance to keep myself healthy. I’ve definitely been eating more fresh meals since the pandemic because I don’t have to worry about packing them. Likewise, I’ve been better about eating healthier snacks instead of bars and quick meals. I’ve been running, overall, more consistently since it’s my main source of exercise now that I can’t go to the climbing gym. I’ve also gotten really good and walking on my mini-elliptical while I play my Xbox. Even if I can’t actually go for a hike through the forests in England, I can can pretend to do it with my low-budget-VR.
• I’ve been vegetarian for over a year now! I wasn’t sure how long I would keep this up, but I can honestly say my meat cravings are few and far between. So far the only cravings I can’t make a good replacement for are burgers and wings, but the fake meat options do a pretty good job.
• I graduated from grad school. My concept of time is so hazy (as is everyone’s at this point) that I almost forgot that it was this year. It also was a major non-event, so it still doesn’t really feel like it happened, despite the diploma on my wall. I’m really grateful that I got to have a mini-celebration with my parents, though.

• I got a new job, kind of by accident. I start Monday and can’t believe today is my last day working for AU. I’m nervous and can’t really imagine living in MD and not being connected to American University in some way, but it’s going to be a good new challenge.
• I ran/walked a 5k with my sister for the first time! I know it’s not her thing, but I was so happy that she wanted to give it a try as a sister bonding thing.

As for my 30 before 30 list:

Travel Goals

1. Visit Japan (Completed Dec. 2019)

2. Visit a new country.  (Completed Dec. 2019)

3. Bring my total States visited up to 30 | This didn’t happen, but I did visit Texas for the first time!

4. See the Grand Canyon

5. See the Aurora Borealis.

6. Move to a new city. (Completed Aug. 2018)

7. Go to Comic Con.

Fitness / Sports Goals

8. Run a half marathon. (Completed Feb. 2020)

9. Do a pull up

10. Snowboard. (Completed Jan. 2018)

11. Go paint-balling.

12. Rock climb outside. (Completed Aug. 2019)

13. Climb a 5.12

14. Do a color run.

15. Find somewhere to shoot archery again. (Completed Aug. 2019)

Cultural Goals

16. Build a gingerbread house. (Completed Nov. 2018)

17. See a musical or play.

18. Go to a concert. (Completed Dec. 2019)

19. Join another tabletop gaming campaign. (Completed Jul. 2019)

20. Try an Escape Room. (Completed Jan. 2018)

21. Pet a dog.

22. Visit 2 Smithsonian Museums.

23. Join a club

Mental Goals

24. Re-learn how to drive.

25. Read 50 books. (This might have happened, but I didn’t really keep track)

26. Learn how to play poker.

27. Pass the JLPT N2.

Financial/ Purchase Goals

28. Pay off my student loans (Not done, but on track to do this within the year!)

29. Put together and order a Japan photobook

30. Buy an Oculus Quest

13 out of 30 isn’t bad considering how busy the last few years have been. This just means I’ll have to work on crossing the rest off sometime in the near future!

Returning to Japan

About two weeks ago, I returned to Japan for the first time since I moved back to the United States 2 years ago. I didn’t blog along the way because I was determined to travel light, and traveling light means not schlepping my laptop with me. I decided now was the right time to go for a variety of reasons.

1. I am lucky enough to work for a university that completely shuts down for 10 days every year. That meant that I got to travel 10 days and I only had to use two days of vacation.

2. I’m graduating from graduate school in May and I needed to do something special as a graduation present.

And reason number 3: to make the stupid Japan stress dreams stop. I think I’ve mentioned the dreams here once or twice before, but I’ve had the same dream fairly regularly since moving from Japan. The dream always goes the same way: I arrive in Hyuga only to find that the city has changed so radically that I can’t find my way around. I’ve also forgotten to tell anyone I’m coming, so no one is around to see me. I end up wandering the city aimlessly, unsure of where I’m going to stay or what I’m going to do. Those dreams have completely stopped since I bought my tickets in August. After two years of that dream, I’m glad I was able to finally put it to rest.

After watching and waiting to buy my tickets for months, I finally pulled the trigger when I found a good deal with AirCanada. Fun fact: if you have an overnight layover that’s long enough, AirCanada gives you a free night in a hotel. Since one of my “30 Goals Before I Turn 30” was to visit a new country, the long layover helped me achieve that goal. I can officially say I’ve been to Canada. I need to go back to actually see Montreal at some point, but it definitely counts.

The original plan was for me to go into the office the day of my flight to Canada, and then leave from there. However, after everyone in the office told me I was crazy, I decided to work from home. Nothing ever goes completely smoothly when it comes to international travel, but I made it to Canada with relatively little drama.

Immigration was a breeze, the only small hiccup I had during my time in Montreal was that I ended up at the wrong hotel at first. Thankfully, with the prevalence of Uber, that was quickly fixed and I made it to my weird hotel. I say weird, because this was the middle of the first floor:

There was a pool and an arboretum in the middle of the lobby. No one was using it, but there it was. Thankfully, my room was a bit away from this and had a window to the real outside, so I still had a decent amount of sunlight. I decided to try the hotel’s restaurant for dinner and I had my first taste of how hard it was to travel as a vegetarian. Especially a vegetarian who can’t eat a ton of milk products. I had to settle for a plain cheese pizza with the plan to eat the rest of it for breakfast in the morning.

Alas, there was no fridge in my room, so I abandoned that plan and had to revisit the restaurant for breakfast. Thankfully, there were more options for me then, so I didn’t have to go hungry.

One of my favorite things about Montreal was that each person came with their own language settings. The standard greeting is, “Bonjour-hi.” And then you get to choose which language you would like the interaction to take place in. If it was a short interaction, I could sometimes get away with saying Bonjour in response and dealing with the French fallout afterwards. Mostly, I stuck to English for obvious reasons.

I did make the mistake of handing something over and accidentally saying, “Et, viola,” once. The rapid-fire French that followed was just barely coherent enough for me to gather context clues.

I had a few of my fellow passengers try speaking French with me and I was very proud of my ability to respond, “Desole, je ne parle pas francais.” (Excuse the lack of proper accents when typing, I’m lazy.) The flight was uneventful and surprisingly easy considering how long it’s been since I’ve had to do a longhaul flight like that. AirCanada has a good film selection and I probably watched about five movies on the way there.

Immigration in Japan was painless, but I did miss having my special foreigner pass (AKA, my resident card) to speed me through the lines. I navigated Narita like a pro, found my normal bus to Haneda, and boarded. It was surprising how easily I slipped back into my routine as if I was just coming back from visiting the US instead of the two and a half years it had actually been. I bought my bus ticket entirely in Japanese, responded to all of the cashier’s questions correctly, and read all signs without a thought.

Other than the impulse to buy twenty of my favorite green teas from the vending machine, everything seemed weirdly normal and routine. I stayed at one of the two hotels I typically stayed at in the airport and easily found my way to the free shuttle bus to the international terminal to pick up my wifi device.

I only ran into two problems that night. One, none of the restaurants in the airport were still open and, two, I had a small hiccup with my debit cards, so I didn’t have a ton of Yen on me. I had a nutritious dinner of a Cliff bar and a rice ball from the convenience store and called it a night.

It had taken me about three days to get there, but I was finally in Japan again.

30 Before 30 List (Updated)

I made a few adjustments to make some of the goals more realistic and swapped out some for better goals.

Travel Goals

1. Visit Japan (Completed Dec. 2019)

2. Visit a new country.  (Completed Dec. 2019)

3. Bring my total States visited up to 30 (Currently at 23)

4. See the Grand Canyon

5. See the Aurora Borealis.

6. Move to a new city. (Completed Aug. 2018)

7. Go to Comic Con.

Fitness / Sports Goals

8. Run a half marathon. (Planned for Feb. 2020)

9. Do a pull up

10. Snowboard. (Completed Jan. 2018)

11. Go paint-balling.

12. Rock climb outside. (Completed Aug. 2019)

13. Climb a 5.12 (Can sometimes struggle up an 5.11b, so this seems unlikely, but a good goal.)

14. Do a color run.

15. Find somewhere to shoot archery again. (Completed Aug. 2019)

Cultural Goals

16. Build a gingerbread house. (Completed Nov. 2018)

17. See a musical or play.

18. Go to a concert. (Completed Dec. 2019)

19. Join another tabletop gaming campaign. (Completed Jul. 2019)

20. Try an Escape Room. (Completed Jan. 2018)

21. Pet a dog. (This might sound silly, but my aversion to dogs is getting a little ridiculous.)

22. Visit 2 Smithsonian Museums.

23. Join a club

Mental Goals

24. Re-learn how to drive.

25. Read 50 books. (I’m at 27 since I made this list in Jan. 2018)

26. Learn how to play poker.

27. Pass the JLPT N2. (Planned for Dec. 2020)

Financial/ Purchase Goals

28. Pay off my student loans

29. Put together and order a Japan photobook

30. Buy an Oculus Quest

Not and Is

I don’t know if anyone is even still reading these, but for the first time in months, maybe even a year, I’m in a mood to write for myself.  For anyone who hasn’t been able to follow my story through other means, hi.  I’m still here.  Only here is now Washington, D.C. and I am here due to (mostly) graduate school and (somewhat) due to a fulltime job at said school. 

Recently, I’ve been trying to do a lot of work on conquering my negative thoughts and finding ways out of those negative spirals.  Sometimes, I’m successful.  Most times, I’m not.  But I’m getting better at it each time I try.  The reason I bring this up is the same reason I decide to write something not school (or Dungeons and Dragons) related in a long time. I’ve moved a decent number of times since graduating high school.  Even when I wasn’t moving to a different city or a different building, moving still takes something out of you.  You leave a little piece of yourself behind every time you move.  Until recently, that’s not something I’ve been really thinking about.  I thought I was incredibly good at having these little independent versions of my life all over the world. 

When I was thinking about what I want to do after I graduate and whenever I eventually decide to look for a new job, one of my first thoughts was, “Well, I’m going to have to add DC to my list of places I plan to go back to.”  Just like Colorado, just like Japan.  To a lesser degree, St. Louis and Des Moines.  But I’ve been back to both of those places at least once since moving and I’ll be back in St. Louis next year.  But each time I move, I leave a little bit of me behind.  Whether that’s in the form of my nieces who I don’t get to see as regularly, or my climbing friends who have been essential to me thriving here so far. 

Like I said, I thought I was ok with this.  I thought I was fine at partitioning those versions of me and those lives I’ve had.  I knew I missed them, of course, but I’m realizing now that the loss just manifests for me differently than I expected. 

My mom has said that I’m her, “Grass is always greener,” kid.  Which is mostly true.  I’ve always characterized the new places I’m living in terms of what they’re not.  It’s not the hub of technology  was promised.  It’s not the language program I was shown.  It’s not the strong JET community I had before.  What I think I’m realizing, though, is that my issue is not with the new city, job, school, etc, it’s that I’m processing the loss without being able to really verbalize it. I process it in terms of all those things I miss about my old home, but I verbalize it in terms of what it doesn’t have. The negativity slowly changes the longer I’m in a place. Then I move and start the whole thing over again.

Part of the negativity is me trying to understand why I suddenly feel so awkward and out of place again. In that other place, I knew what I was doing. In that other place, I was a person that people recognized when I went to events in my circle. I’m not looking for notoriety, but I struggle with not being seen. In that other place, I had an identity. Now I have to figure that all out again based on my new context.

The reason this whole stream of consciousness came about was that I realized I really do appreciate living in a semi-urban area.  I went for a run after work with a friend and my leg started hurting.  It’s been giving me trouble ever since I got new shoes, but I figured that was more to do with the fact that I hadn’t broken them in yet.  My friend suggested I go back to the store and trade them in, but I didn’t want to risk getting a new pair of shoes in case the issue persisted.  I’m not just the “grass is always greener” type, I’m also a big what-if-er.  What if I just hadn’t broken them in?  What if another shoe is worse?  What if I’m going to have to invest in one of those knee braces?  What if the salesperson gets frustrated that I’m back?

But I unexpectedly managed to get home before 8pm, when the store closes.  I decided to walk over and see if they had any advice.  I was able to go, try out several shoes, check out, and walk home, all within about 30 minutes. 

So, yeah.  There are a lot of things that Rockville isn’t.  It’s not the place where my family lives.  It’s not where some of my favorite JETs live.  It’s not a place where I feel comfortable running outside.  But there are a lot of things it is and I’m working on describing it in that more positive light. Rockville is a place where I’ve found an incredibly supportive climbing community.  It is a place where I can get around without having to rely on my parents or call a Lyft.  It is a surprisingly international area with a very diverse set of restaurants and supermarkets that reflect that diversity. It is a place where I’m building yet another identity, another version of Jodi.

And it is one more place I can add to my list of places I’ve called home.

Year 27: A Year in Review

This year has been crazy, but not in a way that is as bloggable as my life in Japan was. Before I moved to DC, I had this idea that I would use my days off to visit museums, take in lectures, or just wander around the city soaking up it’s DC essence. Instead, my days off have been spent having a staring contest with the stack of dense, dense articles I need to trudge through. Even the interesting readings (and a lot of them were really interesting) took a painful amount of time for me to read. I often find my mind wandering when I’m entering hour two of reading the same piece.

If I’m not at work, in class, or having a staring contest with the stack of things I need to read for next week’s classes, I’m exercising. I’ve been using running and rock-climbing to procrastinate take breaks when I know I can’t focus anymore. I finally feel like I have a good routine in place, but there are still plenty of times when I break down and wonder why I decided to put myself through this. I have a lot of smart and interesting classmates. I struggled a lot at the beginning of the semester because everyone had such great insights in class and I felt like I just wasn’t getting the same information from the articles as everyone else. I knew the facts of the article, but I struggled to come up with questions or interesting tie-ins.

So in honor of my low-points this semester, I decided to do something slightly different with my birthday blog post. For the past five(ish) years, I’ve posted a yearly list of goals to accomplish. Last year, I posted a list of 30 things I want to do before I’m 30. This year, I want to highlight 27 things I accomplished since my last birthday. I’ve managed to check a few things off of my 30 before 30 list. (I revise this list because I feel I have better challenges I want to set for myself now.)

As a 27 year old, I:

1. Ran 5 5ks
2. Beat my previous record and ran a 33:22 5k.
3. Signed up for 2 10ks.
4. Moved to DC.
5. Started a new job.
6. Climbed a 5.11a.
7. Visited 2 new states.
8. Snowboarded for the 1st (and 2nd) time.
9. Built a gingerbread house.
10. Drove twice.
11. Survived my first semester of grad school.
12. Got all As for my first semester. 
13. Got 100% on one of my final papers.
14. Went to my first hockey NHL game. 
15. Goofed around in a Zorb.
16. Visited 3 embassies
17. Drummed on a dragon boat.
18. Did an escape room. 
19. Had a cavity-free dentist visit. (Just exciting at 27 as it was at 7, but with a disappoint lack of toys now.)
20. Successfully made new groups of friends.

I couldn’t think of 7 more, but I am proud of the 20 I did come up with. It’s been another crazy year with another move and another new job. I miss being able to see my nieces more frequently, but I feel like I am in the right place for me. I like my job and don’t dread coming into work in the morning. My schoolwork is time consuming, but I like what I’m learning about. Overall, it’s been a great year and I’m looking forward to another great one.

September Recap

September proved to be a busy month as school and work really picked up.  I had my annual “chop off a majority of my hair because I can’t stand the humidity” haircut, visited family I haven’t seen since my sister’s wedding, and visited the Capitol again for the first time in a decade.  

For the haircut, I was trying so hard to avoid it.  First, I enjoy being able to have a ponytail.  It makes my life so much easier when exercising and I haven’t found a similarly effective method for when my hair is short.  I also did not want to spend the money.  However, after walking from main campus to the School of Education building in 300% humidity, it was an easy decision to make.  I booked a cut with a new hairdresser for first thing the following Saturday.  

The weekend after that, I went to visit my mom’s dad’s family in Philadelphia.  I hadn’t seen some of them since my sister’s wedding at the end of 2012 and some I hadn’t seen since 2008ish.  My mom’s cousin was kind enough to let me stay with them while I was visiting.  I hadn’t seen one of her kids since she was 7, so visiting her at college was a really surreal experience.  I was hoping to get some pictures around campus while we were visiting her, but unfortunately the weather was pretty gross and I couldn’t get my camera out.  It was still a great visit and I’m glad we were able to make the trip.

That evening, we went to my mom’s aunt and uncle’s house for Rosh Hashanah dinner.  I have not been to a big Rosh Hashanah dinner in a very long time, so it was nice to be a part of the Jewish community in that way again.  The food was great and the conversation was interesting, so I might try to go up again for Passover depending on my work and class schedule.  

After that, it was time for me to head back to DC.  I left first thing on Monday morning and made it back to my apartment in time to drop my things, relax a bit, then head back out for class.  The trip on Amtrak itself was not as bad as I was expecting given some things I’ve heard.

The following weekend I visited the Capitol Building for the first time in over a decade.  Unsurprisingly, it hasn’t changed much.  It was a weird experience going through the tour and hearing basically the same things I heard as a 15 year old when I visited with my summer camp.  I’m pretty sure I even took some of the same photos this time as last time.  I think one of my new goals for my time in DC is to take all the same pictures I took when I was 15.  Kind of like a photo scavenger hunt.  

I ran out of space to upload pictures here, so I can’t upload any until I figure that out, but they will be update on my Facebook in the meantime.  I have been looking through the ones I took in 2006 and it’s funny to see how similar my eye for pictures was back then.  Twelve years later and I still line up my shots in a very similar way.  I’m not sure if that means I have my same style, or if it means I haven’t improved at all.  Maybe over the summer I will try to take a photography course or something, just to brush up.  

The other big event from September was the Study Abroad Fair at work.  We have been working on getting ready for that basically since I started working there, so it was a big deal and a long day.  My main role for the day was to walk around with my phone and my camera, taking my normal paparazzi-levels of photos.  I posted content to our Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter throughout the day, trying to get more students to come to the event.  (Later my supervisor said that it was the best social media coverage they had had of the event. So, you know, validation.)

It’s been a busy month and things are only going to get busier until December.  I am not sure that I want to be in DC long-term, but I like my classes and I like where I’m living, so for now this is definitely the right place for me. 

Settling In

I’ve lived in Rockville/DC for almost four weeks now and it feels like much shorter, but also much longer.  I still don’t have a firm schedule or routine established, but I can feel it coming like it is right on the tip of my tongue.  One of the biggest issues I am facing is an overabundance of time.  I essentially have a three-day weekend every week and I do not like having that much free time.  I am the kind of person who is much more productive if I only have one hour than I am if I have all day.  I am experimenting to figure out what I need to do to make sure that I don’t end up spending a day doing nothing.

For starters, I am going down to the business lounge in my building every morning I have off.  I pack up my books, notebooks, and coffee and head down for power-hour of reading for class.  I have been trying to leave my phone in my apartment during this time to avoid the temptation of checking it.  Other than that, though, I don’t have any weekend plans or people to meet with yet.  I found myself walking to one store or another, not because I really needed something, but because I needed an activity.  To combat that, I joined the local rock-climbing gym to give me somewhere to go on Thursdays, Saturdays and Mondays.  It’s about 15 minutes away and it gives me something productive to do during a long study break.  I am also going to try to take advantage of all the different farmers markets I have nearby.  It is still shopping, but a better kind of shopping.

Hopefully I will figure out my strange schedule soon.  I am also struggling with being too early to work.  I always want to be early, but I can’t do anything if I get in before someone has unlocked the office.  I end up ready to go, essentially pacing by my apartment door as I fight against my instincts and try to leave just a few minutes later than normal.

Speaking of my apartment, I have promised a few people an updated apartment tour.  So, here you go:

I am taking the train to Philly this weekend, so I am bound to have an interesting update after that.  Stay tuned.

Live from the Capital, Again

The past week has been kind of a hectic blur for me.  I quit my job, packed up my room, and flew on a one-way ticket to DC.  Despite counting down the days until my move, I still approached the transition with the same level of trepidation that typically accompanies any of my big changes.  My last few days in Denver were stressful, but good.  I got to say goodbye to my friends at work, spend a day with my niece, and dedicate a solid day to climbing and packing.  It also just so happens that the day I flew out of Denver (August 10th) was the same day I landed in Denver a year before.

After my flight to DC, I Ubered out to Rockville to a hotel two blocks down from my apartment.  The next day was both hectic and not.  I got the keys to my apartment first thing in the morning, but there wasn’t much else for me to do.  I didn’t have internet and I still don’t have any furniture.  Still, I hauled my two suitcases over from the hotel and unpacked what I could.  I then made the short hike to Target.  It’s about a ten minute walk away, but it felt like an hour with the current weather.  (I have been been rudely reminded that humidity is very much a thing.)  I bought a few very basic essentials there, and three pillows, and made the journey back to my apartment.

The walk back would not have been much to talk about, but I seemed to provide a bit of entertainment for the people driving by as I tried to carry two of the largest bags Target had to offer.  My next step was to find the nearest Trader Joe’s and get some lunch.  I bought some of the pre-made salads there and was halfway home before I realized…I have no silverware.  That required another trip to the grocery store (I’d already been there twice).  There wasn’t much else for me to do in my apartment, so I headed back to the hotel room and turned in early.  A two hour time difference shouldn’t seem like a lot, but my body is all confused about meal-times, bedtime, and when to wake up.

This morning was a little different.  I had to be at my apartment by 8 to meet the internet technician.  So I checked out of the hotel, grabbed the one backpack I had left there, and headed out to my empty apartment.  The installation went well and I now have the most important utility taken care of.  That was the last major thing I had to take care of, other than furniture.

My (amazing and awesome parents) volunteered to drive a whole car-full of my stuff from Denver.  They’re going to have a road-trip on the way back.  They’ll be here tonight, but they probably won’t be up for anything other than going to sleep when they get here.  I have work tomorrow from 10-4, so we are going to be hard pressed to fit in any errands before they leave, but we’ll make it work.

This morning, after getting the internet set up, I did a practice run of my commute to make sure I wasn’t freaking out or pressed for time tomorrow.  Everything went smoothly and I am, once again, amazed by the public transit navigation skills I picked up in Japan.

Now, for the details I know a lot of people have been asking for: where I am living.  My new apartment is in Rockville, MD.  When I say new, I mean brand new.  I’m the first person to live in my apartment and a lot of the apartments are empty.  There is at least one apartment filled on every floor, so I’m not alone up here.  The building is about a 5 minute walk from the train station and a 30ish minute commute to my campus.  It’s pretty quiet compared to actually living in DC, but I’m liking it so far.  There are a lot of shops right by the station I get off at for school, so I can always run errands if I need something before I get on the train.  There are plenty of places for me to go shopping if I need to, but they take a bit of planning.  In some ways, it’ll be a bit like living in Japan again (though a lot easier in some respects).

Here’s the new apartment tour video.  (Probably best viewed with the sound off.)

First 5k At Altitude

I started this year with the best intentions of writing regularly, but my creativity just seems a bit low at the moment.  It’s been months since I’ve tried any kind of craft project and sitting down to write seems next to impossible.  But after a few complaints about the fact that I was not updating this blog as promised, I decided to give it another shot.  I’ve done some cool things over the past few months that I meant to post about. Things like trying taiko again or showing my Japanese friend’s daughter around my climbing gym would normally have made the top of my list for blog posts if I were in Japan, but they don’t seem as noteworthy here.  Still, this blog was primarily started to keep my friends and family in the loop about what has been going on with me, so I’ll do my best.

Yesterday, I ran my first 5k in the States.  I signed up for this months ago in hopes of motivating myself to run regularly again. (It didn’t work.)  As much as I hate running (and I’m pretty sure I’ve mentioned that more than a few times), I really enjoy the feeling of accomplishment I get after a long run.  I like how my body feels and how well it works as moving meditation for me (sometimes).  All of that was in my head as my parents drove me to the race outside of Boulder (depending on my parents to give me rides again is a whole other post).  I ran a practice 5k in my neighborhood a week before and messed up my foot, but despite that and the gloomy weather, I was determined to go through with the race.

Initially the plan was for my parents to find a spot on the race course to sit so they could watch the race.  The gloomy weather, combined with my mom not sleeping well the night before, meant that didn’t happen.  My dad did come with me to the start line and waited until I took off.  The run was hard, but not as hard as I was expecting considering how little I trained.  One of my biggest issues during races (and let’s be honest, in life) is comparing myself to other people.  That’s why my most effective race mantra has been, “Run your own race.”  I had three goals for this race: 1) finish, 2) finish under 40 minutes, and 3) don’t be the last person across the finish line.  I am proud to say I accomplished all three.

This was definitely a different experience from running in Japan, even though I was already familiar with the basics of how it was going to go down.  For one, there really weren’t people lining the race course, cheering for all participants.  That was a fun (and a little stressful) part of racing in Japan.  There was basically no one on the race course except for the volunteers.  Secondly, I got a medal at the end, instead of a certificate like I got in Japan.  The medal definitely looks more impressive than the printed off certificate, but the printed certificate had my time on it, which was nice.  At the end of the race there was a space to go look up your race time on these little tablets, but nothing that I could take home with me.  I wish I had snapped a picture of it because I don’t remember what my exact time was, just that I was under my goal of 40 minutes.

https://instagram.com/p/BiuVs_8H56M/

After the race, we went to my sister’s house.  I showered, got changed, and then we all went out for a nice Mother’s Day lunch.  The rest of the day was spent relaxing, which I felt like I had earned given the race and recent stress.  Altogether, a good day.

And I’ve already signed up for my next race.  The addiction begins again.

Breaking News from the Capital

It’s been a while since my last post.  Despite my best intentions to try to post once a month, life has been…well, life.  There are some exciting developments to discuss, which I’ll get to at the end (finally ok with posting about them), but first, I’ve managed to knock 2 things off of my 30 before 30 list.  The first one I did on my birthday.  A friend from work helped to organize a group to go to one of the Escape Rooms in town.  After sushi for dinner, we all went over to the Escape Room to see if we could beat it.  It was a Monday evening, so I was pretty tired by the time we got to the room, but it was fun.  I’m looking forward to trying another one sometime.

The second thing I can cross off my list is snowboarding.  I’ve now been not once, but twice.  Neither were particularly impressive, but they were both successful in that I didn’t break anything in the process.

Both times I went with my friend, Kaitlyn, from work.  She’s been snowboarding since she was a kid and has been a excellent teacher.  We ended up accidentally taking the lift all the way to the top of the mountain during my first trip which resulted in me hiking down the mountain with my snowboard in hand.  I was up there for about an hour, trying my best, but eventually my ankle called it quits and I had to trek back down.  Despite that, I still had a great time.  On our second trip, we found the little learning area at the base of the mountain which has a free magic carpet.  I spent a lot more time on my butt during the second trip because I was actually trying to turn and not just go in a straight line, gaining speed until I freaked out and bailed.

Now that that’s out of the way and we’re past what the Facebook preview will show, here’s the really big stuff.  The reason I even have time and energy to write a post is that I’m currently sitting in a hotel room in DC.  I think the last time I was here I was 14 and came on a camp trip.  I don’t know why, but I was actually a little nervous about getting to my hotel room.  I’ve traveled to plenty of other cities in Japan, but the this is really my first solo trip in the States.  I’ve gone from point A to B by myself plenty of times in the US, but there has always been someone I knew waiting on the other end.  I grabbed a Lyft from the airport and couldn’t help taking a few touristy photos on the ride.

However, I’m not really here to sightsee. I’m here to attend an Admitted Students’ Day at American University.  I’ll be attending American University starting this fall to get my Master’s Degree in International Training and Education.  I was accepted to two other universities, Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey and Lesley University.  Both have great programs, but after receiving my Lesley acceptance letter I started to second-guess my decision and applied to American on whim.  I never thought I would be accepted.  I am thrilled to be attending and I think that American will provide me with both the education as well as the networking opportunities that will help me succeed in my future career.  If nothing else, I’ve never lived in DC before and why not check off another thing from my pre-30 bucket list?

I recieved my acceptance letter in January and have been freaking out ever since about the prospect of moving to DC.  This move definitely scares me more than moving to Japan.  When I moved to Japan I had a job and an apartment already lined up.  I have purpose line up, for sure, but this feels like one of the most adult steps I have made so far.  There has been some extra stress because I can’t announce my plans at work and work is where most of my friends in this state are.  A lot of them do know already, but I try to keep the news kind of quiet because I don’t anyone at work to think I’m not giving it my all.

So, that’s the big news I’ve been alluding to for a while.  I GOT INTO NOT ONE, BUT THREE GRAD SCHOOLS.  I knew one school would want me, for sure, but I never expected to get into all three.  I’m so excited to start the next phase.

On a totally unrelated note, if anyone has heard of any 100% legitimate get rich quick schemes.  Let me know.  I’m asking for a friend.

Until next time…