Lost Finale

Trying to work this one out. I honestly thought Jack would be the only one to reject this life they had on the island in favour of the fantasy life, and by rejecting it become the new smoke monster to Hugo's Jacob. This is what the original smoke man did, I think. He goes into the light, discovers that there is this alternate reality where his life is great and he has a family and a great job and everything, then wakes up back on the shitty island, except now he can turn into smoke and kill people and rip out trees. Wouldn't he desperately want to get off this island and go to this other life and find out if it is real? That explains why smokey wanted to get off so bad - because they never really explained why in the show. And wouldn't you look at all the people on the island running around with their pathetic lives, not even aware of this other reality, with contempt, and kill them and think nothing of it? Like he did. Why would Jack so easily and suddenly give up a thriving medical practice, and, the big one, A SON, for this reality on a crappy island where he has nothing! And is dead! It was weird that they all seemed so calm when they realised that their lives were fake. Throughout the whole show, Jack has avoided reality, ignored the obvious, and plowed on regardless. When Jack on the island woke up in exactly the same place and exactly the same pose as the smoke monster man did when he went in the light, I thought, Wow! Jack's the new smoke monster! Didn't see that one coming. Perfect. Hugo is Jacob, the purest of all the survivors, and Jack, probably the most deluded and blocked, is his opposite. Nice. All because he refuses to give up his son in the fantasy world who he loves (probably should have shown that more, in retrospect, instead of the busy father gradually losing touch with his teenage son). Instead we are told that this fantasy world is just their collective imagination while they wait to be together when they are all dead. I don't get it.
The problem with alternate endings, and I bet there will be two or three on the Special Edition Box Set, is that writers can cop out, making one ending to please most of the people, and one ending for the 'real' fans, the one's that will buy the DVDs. I don't know if that's what has happened here, but it sure smells like it.
A lot of people have already said that this Lost finale reminded them of the Star Wars prequels. Whoa. It wasn't that bad. It didn't take what had happened before which you loved and then rape it and then try to sell it to your nephews like the Star Wars prequels did. I love Lost, and while it had a weak ending, it wasn't really about the ending. So many of the episodes, especially the back stories of the characters, where so good. Some of my favourite TV ever. I'll miss it. But there's still Breaking Bad and Mad Men and heaps of other stuff I haven't watched yet. Plenty of things to keep watching.

Round 3: Day 55 - P90X Chest, Shoulders, & Triceps

Swans lose to Bulldogs again at Manuka or wherever. Every year (except last year when we were awful) we win the same games and lose the same games. I don't know about other clubs, but does it feel like your team is playing the same fixture year after year after year? How about mixing it up a bit. Do the Swans have to play St Kilda round one every year? Do we have to play the Bulldogs up in Canberra every year? Anyway, thrashed by Geelong, then thrashed by the Bulldogs. No good after all.
I bought a nice motorcycle jacket on the weekend. I went to a nearby shop with what I wanted in mind, and they were about $350. A bit steep, and they didn't have my size anyway. They never do. Apparently I'm an XXXL here. Nothing I wear fits me. So I went home and checked it out on the internet, and picked one up for about $200. I will get in in the next day or so. How can shops stay in business? I'll put up a photo when I get it.
Yesterday Will and I cleaned my motorbike. First time in the nearly two years I've had it. It was surprisingly clean to begin with.
Ages ago I told Will he could have a ride on the bike with me when he's five, and he reminded me of that yesterday when we were soaping up the bike. A kid with a memory is a scary thing.
I had a parent moment with him yesterday. When we were cleaning the bike and the water was rolling along the gutter, we noticed it was being blocked by something. It was a small, dead bird. Will was curious. I told him it was dead, hesitantly, but he doesn't know what that means, so I said he was sick and having a rest. He poked it a little, and he asked me if it would feel better tomorrow. I said yes, and I picked it up (something I have never done - I hate touching dead things) and put it on the grass. We'll let him sleep, I said, and I bet when you go to school tomorrow morning, he'll be gone and flying around with his friends. He liked that, and left it alone. He had another look as we cleaned up, and he asked me about it last night after dinner, so after he went to bed I went outside, and using my phone as a light, found it and tossed it into our neighbour's yard (no-one lives there). I'm sure he checked this morning, and it makes me feel good that he will think the bird has woken up and is flying around. He doesn't need to know that everything that lives dies, not yet.
Tomorrow I'm applying for a job in Melbourne. I've applied for three jobs at this place over the years, so maybe third time lucky? I was talking to the guy I work with here, and he said that if I say in my cover letter that I am willing to come down to Australia for an interview, then they will more than likely avoid giving me an interview because if they asked me to come down for an interview then it would place enormous obligation on them to give me the job, and they would rather avoid the whole thing. I would be better off to say that I just happen to be coming down for a friend's wedding in early June and would be able to pop-in for an interview on this day. Thing is, I'm not. So I have to say I am coming down, and then be totally prepared to buy a ticket and get down there if they ask me for an interview. Then if I actually get the job, well... we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. It would be a nice problem to have. But, like me dad used to tell me before every job interview, don't be too disappointed if you don't get it. The money isn't great, about $15,000 a year less than what I earn now, but the job certainly has more prospects than the one I have now. It does suck that age has become an issue in any interview I have from now on, and that if I do get the job, I will be earning a fraction of what my friends the same age are earning, but hey. Are they any happier? ... They look happier.

Round 3: Day 51 - P90M Cardio Intervals

Last time I was down in Oz I asked my mate Mick what the kids were listening to these days. Sorry I didn't ask you, Stevie, but you've said so yourself; Mick's tastes uncannily mirror the wider population's. So he mentioned MGMT. September '09, I had never heard of MGMT. I think I might of heard a song of theirs on the radio once when I was driving and I thought "That's pretty good," but I had no idea who they were. I have since downloaded their album Oracular Spectacular and I love it. I listened to it all afternoon on Saturday while I rode my bike around the hills of Okazaki. I was having a great day until I ran over a cat. A wide road up in the mountains, no traffic, and this fat old ginger cat starts walking across the road, oblivious. I saw it immediately, and I was always going to hit it, but I froze. I was doing about 70 km/h, and half of me was waiting for this bloody cat to notice me, and the other half didn't know what to do. I didn't brake, I couldn't move my thumb down to the horn. I just yelled (okay, maybe I screamed) and the cat's head swivelled around, but too late. I shut my eyes and heard a da-dum as I ran over it. It wasn't like riding over a speed hump, but more like riding over (ironically) a cats-eye. Dead, I thought. I was sure I ran over the middle of its back. I looked in my mirror expecting to see a ginger M-shaped lump, but instead I saw it running into a house on the other side of the road. I have no idea what happened to it after that. Maybe I only ran over its tail or something. Maybe it crawled into a dark place and died. No idea. I felt that horrible rush of adrenaline you get after a close call and felt sick. Mainly I was pissed off because I had been enjoying myself up to that point and now I had this stupid cat to worry about.
The freezing is a concern. When I took my test we did braking tests and counter-steering tests and all that, but if that was a child or a car pulling out onto the road I would have been in real trouble. Something to think about. I'm going to spend the next couple of months buying motorcycle gear so I'm a little better protected, and then in August or September go for a long ride up to Takayama or Shirokawa or somewhere. Camp for a couple of nights.
I got my license in Melbourne a couple of years ago. I went and did my learner's, and then the next time I was down did my license test proper, both at a place in Kilsyth. A lot of fun. I recommend it just for a good day out. Everyone who took the course passed everything easy, even though there were some pretty unsure riders there, myself included. So I got my license, and then came to Japan.
The rule is that you can change licenses over no dramas if you have had your license in your home country for more than three months. It prevents people from going home for a weekend, getting their license, and then coming back and changing it over. Fair enough. I was one week short of this three month requirement. I despaired for a while, and then I realised that the Victorian driver's license does not have an issue date on it. So using a colour photo copier, I backdated a letter from VicRoads and used that as proof that I had had my license for three months and five days or something. Was that wrong?
Saved me a LOT of time and a LOT of money. Getting a license here, car or bike, takes months of lessons and often many, many attempts. And it costs a couple of thousand dollars, too. Me? Took me two Saturdays (admittedly a year apart) and a couple of hundred dollars. The down side is, of course, I'm not a great rider, and I don't know the Japanese road rules. But I've done almost 3,000 kilometers now, and I know my bike and I don't ride recklessly.
I did Legs & Back last night, and my legs are hurting today. The headache has subsided, though it was hurting a little before lunch today. Not so bad at the moment. I've got P90 Master Cardio intervals tonight, one of my favourites.

Round 3: Day 47 - Rest

Been a while! I just couldn't be bothered typing out a blog when I'm not getting paid to do other things, it seems. Well, Golden Week is over, and I'm back at work. Had a good break. I went to Tingas and had a beer with Johnny on the first Friday night, who later on took me back to show me his place which his parents in law gave him, a beautiful 100-year old Japanese home, all wood and tatami, which he saved from the evil clutches of his wife who wanted to tear it down and build a crappy plastic house in it's place (and have him work 40 years to pay for it). I would consider staying here forever if I could get a place like that with a yard and stuff. Then I just hung out with the kids, trying to keep them happy. We went to Beachland, an aquarium with a dolphin show which the kids loved. I was left to lie on the grass under a tree with Jo Jo while Junko took Will to a wading pool for an hour, which was probably the most relaxing hour of the whole week.
On the health front, I've been getting headaches daily, which is giving me the shits. they come on about 9 in the morning, and hang around till after lunch, and I have no idea what's causing them. This has been going on since Winter. Months! A dull ache at the back of my head, and sometimes really throbbing pain behind the eyes. So I went to the doctor, and he said I had common migraine headaches. When I think of migraines, I think of auras and debilitating pain and all that, and they definitely aren't that bad. I think it might be more tension headaches, because I am really tight in the neck. It feels like I have a hangover every morning. So I had an MRI, which was exciting, and it's not a tumour! He gave me some pills, plus I've been taking aspirin, which helps. I'm usually fine by the afternoon. When he showed me the MRI results, the doctor said my sinuses were all stuffed up and I should probably get that looked at, which I will. I probably should have an eye test sometime, too. All in all, out there, makin' a difference. Part of the reason it shits me is because I'm in awesome shape and I feel like I should be able to enjoy life more, but when your head is thumping and you can't move, you can't really enjoy anything. But once the headache goes, or more likely the drugs block the pain, I can do my workouts and play with the kids and I forget about the headache. I doubt the workouts are causing the headaches, because honestly, I can't see how mild to rigorous exercise for 40 - 50 minutes four or five times a week can cause headaches every day, though it probably does contribute to my tight neck, which I can do something about with stretching or massages. The headaches are annoying though, and I am worried about it. I'll give it another few days, and then I'll have to give the workouts a break for a week.
In other news, Tiger missed a cut! Only the sixth time in his professional career, which is astounding. Even the best players in world like Mickelson or Els miss two or three cuts a year. This is probably THE stat that so clearly separates Tiger from the others. Geoff Ogilvy had a point when he said that the Masters probably let Tiger get away with poor play more than other tournaments because poor driving accuracy is not really punished at Augusta, while at other tournaments it is. And Tiger is driving really poorly at the moment. His swing looks all closed and awkward, and it's a wonder he can hit anything straight. Ogilvy is probably the world's best golf commentator at the moment, and is easily the go to man for thoughtful and funny quotes. Listen to anything he says, sports fans. Probably the best interview in sport.
So the Cats beat the Swans. I am getting bored of Geelong now. Bored of Ablett. I'll tell you why. How many times do we see him brilliantly shrug out of a tackle in the center of the ground, take off with scintillating pace, dodge and weave around two or three defenders, run into the fifty, and then softcock a pass that might have been a shot at goal that lands 15 metres short of goal, maybe somewhere near Moody, who would struggle to get a game for Richmond if it didn't mean Geelong would have to play the delicate Tom Hawkins at full-forward. Ablett is scary good, but he's not scary. Chapman and Varco are scary, and Johnson is like a retard-savant. Damn! We have the same problems as usual. A couple of injuries, and Bang! Ted Richards is back in the team, and Rhys Shaw is providing run and turnovers from the back flank. Nothing really against Richards, but if the youngsters are all playing as well as everyone says they are, why is he in the team? Surely someone else can do better? The only difference this year is Kennelly, Jack, Grundy, Moore, and White are playing really well. Bulldogs next week. It will be huge if we beat them, because they have beaten us lots recently.