R2 Day 42 - Cardio X, ARX

Every morning the train to work is packed. Not quite like what you may have seen of Japan where station staff are pushing and squeezing people in, but on a bad day it can approach that level. I used to get on a carriage that was in the middle of the train and it was like that every day. You literally could not move. On days when I couldn't deal with it, I used to stand outside the toilets in the reserved carriage just to avoid the crush until one morning a couple of years ago when I was approached by a conductor. "That's 340 yen please."
"I have already bought a ticket," I said.
"Yes, but it costs extra to be in this carriage. It's the reserved carriage."
"But I'm not sitting down. I haven't reserved a seat."
"Yes, but it still costs extra. 340 yen please."
"I'm not paying."
There were other guys around me who where obviously doing the same thing as me, and didn't want to go into the sardine carriages. Some had their money ready to pay the conductor, but I'm sure they were thinking, Awesome, this foreigner's going to lose it! A fine morning's entertainment.
"You have to pay. Or you have to go to the general carriage. 340 yen please."
"No way. It's too crowded. I bought a ticket for this train, but it's too crowded. So I came in here."
"But this is the reserved carriage. You have to pay extra. 340 yen please."
"No way. You should have more trains, so when I buy I ticket I can have a place to stand."
I could feel public opinion was on my side. I was calm, yet defiant. Two more minutes and I would be at my station.
"350 yen please."
"No. There is no way I'm going to pay."
The conductor took a different tact.
"Do you catch this train every morning?"
"Yes."
"Then you know it's like this every morning."
"Yes, it's terrible."
"You should catch an earlier train."
Bastard had me.
"340 yen, please."
"No."
Then one of the men standing around asked me what my station was.
"Chiryu," I said.
"That's the next station."
"Yes." In fact, the announcement that the train was approaching Chiryu had begun.
The guy looked at the conductor and shrugged, like, Too late, dude.
"Okay," said the conductor, "but if you are in here tomorrow you have to pay."
"Okay," I said.
I got off and Chiryu, and so did the guy who intervened. He gave me a nod, because I just saved him 340 yen.
So since then I have been catching the very front carriage, which is still crowded, but at least I can breath. And in that carriage there's a woman on the train that is always looking at me. I see her once or twice a week, and she is always looking at me, and she doesn't look away when I look at her. She's small and kind of cute, maybe mid-20s, but sometimes she would be right next to me, and I could tell she was looking right up at me. And when I looked at her, she would be looking right into my eyes until I looked away. If I smiled, she smiled, and if I gave a little nod, she gave a little nod, but after several months it was getting really creepy, and I kind of dreaded it. Riding in the train in Japan is like anywhere in the world, but more so. You don't look at anyone, or talk to anyone. Especially when you are pushed up against five people at once. If you and a friend are talking then everyone is listening. But this chick would just stare at me. So after about a year it got to the point where we were saying good morning to each other. She was cute, but her teeth were terrible. Brown, broken, all over the shop. Pretty typical Japanese teeth. Then one morning she was standing right in front of me looking right at me, and I turned the volume up on my ipod because I couldn't hear it over the train noise, and I saw her gasp and turn away quickly. I realized that she had seen my wedding ring.
Look, if I wasn't married I would have talked to her ages ago. But I'm married. Bad luck for both of us.
But she kept on staring that once or twice a week we would be on the same morning train. Then one morning she ran into me in the station convenience store. We said good morning. I asked her her name, Tomomi, and she asked me mine, and then we got on the train together and shared an awkward seven minutes. That was a few months ago, so now when I'm waiting for the train she will come up to me and tap me on the shoulder and say hello and we chat until I reach Chiryu. She still stares at me. She invited me for a coffee when we happened to be on the same train going home a couple of weeks ago so we had a coffee at a coffee shop in the station. She has no interest in learning or speaking English. I have no idea what she wants. I even asked her, "What kind of a relationship are you looking for?" and she seemed stunned that I'd ask such a thing. So I guess she's my train buddy. I'm not in the position to be turning down any kind of friendship, so I'm just relying on my natural charm and personality to repel this woman like it does all women, but it doesn't seem to be working. She seems pretty interesting though. She does Japanese paintings in her spare time, enjoys flowers and gospel music, and always has something interesting to say, like "My sister has swine flu!" or "I have decided to study to become a lawyer."
I told Nori about this and he said she sounds crazy. Nori's great. Even if I wasn't married, the teeth thing would be a big hurdle. I shudder inside each time she smiles, and it's hard not to look at them.
So there you go. Just part of my push not to become a fossil.
Today I did Cardio X and Ab Ripper X after my lesson with Nori. Last week for some reason or another Cardio X was really hard and I had to take breaks, but I powered through it today. ARX was rough, but I did it.
Will has a fever and it looks like he does have the flu. My chest is feeling a little raw, but hopefully I can get through it without it being too horrible. I've read a few things about how exercising when you are sick doesn't really make you sicker, though of course I won't be able to power through Plyo or anything that intense. I have Recovery 4 Results which Tony made just for this situation, so I might be using that this week sometime. See how we go.