More Hong Kong

This morning I decided that I would go to a local attraction called "The Peak." I had no idea that HK is as hilly (or possibly mountainous) as it is. Before leaving Singapore, a friend had told me about this train that takes people to the top of one of these hills. Its very popular and offers spectacular views of the city. I have to say that the view was pretty spectacular, and my friend was right about another aspect of the experience as well. He told me that the tram ride up and down is VERY steep. I tried to take a picture from the tram to do the grade of the hill justice, but I just couldn't. So here are some pictures from the experience:

Keep in mind that these are GIGANTIC skyscrapers, and I am above all of them.



And the tram I rode in on...


And this is the building that tram drops visitors off at when they reach the top of the peak. This is also the building from the top of which I took the previous pictures...

Out of Sequence Photo

While I would prefer to keep my blog in time order (if not necessarily completely up to date), I took a picture yesterday in Singapore, that I will now post in the midst of my trip to Hong Kong. On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays I wake up early to take Benson out and feed all the pets. This process usually begins at 4:30 with P.J. beginning to beg for breakfast, followed by between a half hour and an hour or me trying to ignore her while she enlists the other animals to beg and make noise as well. Between 5 and 6, I get up, take the boy out, and slop the hogs. At this point I have two options... I can get back in bed, and sleep until who knows when (and feel not so good about myself) or I can start my day. So start my day I usually do. This involves taking the train to the Esplanade station, walking through the underground link to the City Hall Station, and having a cup of coffee at the 24 hour Starbucks there before walking to Raffles Place where I will have more coffee with friends at 7:30.
This past weekend was the F1 race in Singapore. The race is run at night on city streets. This is a huge undertaking, closing the streets, setting up seats and fences, and then taking it all down again. So yesterday morning I am making the walk from City Hall to Raffles place, and realize that the trip might be more complicated than usual, since all of the fences are still up. With some difficulty, I made it through the maze, and along the way, captured this scene, which struck me as kind of amazing for some reason.

Hong Kong

Erin and I left for Hong Kong this morning... at 6:50 a.m., meaning that we had to get up at 4 a.m. to get ready and get to the airport. On the upside, my jet lag from my return trip to the States was working in my favor. I went to sleep at 8 p.m. last night, and felt relatively refreshed when the alarm went off. The flight was uneventful, and we took an amazingly clean, modern train from the airport to city, and then a cab to the hotel. We have been here just a couple of hours, but I did discover a fun fact: Starbucks in Singapore have Equal but not Splenda, while Starbucks in Hong Kong have Splenda but not Equal. Amazing, right. Also, here they have actual cream for the coffee, unlike some small island nations, that shall remain nameless, that only have whole milk.
Not so fun fact: HK may be even more expensive than Singapore. We had noodles and dumplings at a local place today, and it was $86 HK. Not as expensive as it sounds if you don't know the exchange rate, but still pricey by my new standards of local cuisine.
Below is a picture from our hotel room window here. We are right on the harbor.

Back in Singapore

I arrived back in Singapore late Saturday night. Erin was waiting for me at the airport, which was lovely. Upon arriving home and greeting the pets, I collapsed into bed. I woke up early Sunday morning, and met some friends for coffee. I spent the rest of the day with Erin just relaxing at home, listening to music and catching up on Project Runway. We had a delicious dinner last night at Skip's (lasagna... my favorite thing he makes), and by 10 pm I was back home and unconscious.
I was up early again this morning, heading into the business district for coffee with friends, and it occurred to me that I had missed Singapore while I was in the States. Of course I missed Erin and the kids. That I knew. But I also missed my new friends, and parts of my life here. And then I went to Starbucks, got a coffee, dropped my stirrer in the cup, realized it was too short for the cup, had to stick my fingers into the steaming hot liquid to retrieve it, and silently cursed this city.
The trip to the States was enlightening (and bittersweet). I knew it would be strange to go "home," because I don't have a home there. I am a guest everywhere I go. And I have been having a hard time adjusting to life here, with no job yet, and lots of time on my hands. But something unexpected happened. I realized that I had forgotten what I came here for, the goals I had. I said if I didn't have a job, I would spend my days working out, reading and learning. I Have done very little of any of those things.
So once again, when I am faced with a difficult situation in my life, I remember my favorite scene in one of my favorite movies... and I remember that Raymond K. Hessel should start becoming a veterinarian now, and I should stop waiting for things beyond my control to happen to start living my life.

Things that go through my head when I run

I went for a long run yesterday at MacRitchie Reservoir, as I did last Monday. I was disappointed last week because there are signs everywhere advising visitors not to feed the monkeys but I saw not a single monkey. Only a giant lizard. Doubly disappointed.
This week I was pleased to see that monkeys really do live in the park. Some moron was feeding fish in the lake with bread or something, and got upset when a monkey showed up for a handout. I am no expert on the habits of Singapore's wildlife, but I learned very quickly that where there is food and a bunch of trees, monkeys will show up looking for a meal.
Running here on the equator is hot. And humid. And miserable. Until I am finished, and then I think, "I can't wait to do that again." Last week I tried out these trails for the first time, and I did not know that there were lockers and changing areas available. I had brought nothing other than some water, my keys and my iPod. This was not a problem for me, but it was for the other passengers on the train and the bus that I took home. Yesterday I decided to be considerate, and bring a change of clothes now that I new I had a place to store things while I ran. Last week my iPod had not been charged, and it lost what power it had almost immediately, but yesterday I planned ahead and made sure it was charged.
When I run, and listen to music, lots of things go through my head. If I am running a race its all numbers. I look at my watch constantly, and calculate how fast I have to run to make my goal time, etc. I ran a few races back in the spring where I made a conscious effort not to look at my watch. That combined with the shape I was in at the time proved to be a successful strategy for a PR in two back to back half marathons and a 10k. But I am back to staring at my watch. On yesterday's run, I was totally unconcerned about time, only about being on my feet for nine miles, regardless of how long it took me. So my mind was free to wander. The great and mysterious thing about running is that my mind almost always stays in a happy place. I listen to music, and I start making lists of top 5 songs of this or that category, a la one of my favorite movies, High Fidelity. Top five covers, top five true rock and roll songs, etc. So yesterday, I was thinking about songs that are perfect, just the way they are. Songs that could not be improved upon, in any way. These are not necessarily my favorite songs, but they are great, and I love them. Also, when I do this, I have a hard time rounding out 5, so this list only has 4. Also, this isn't necessarily a category that is limited, since its not truly a "top" 5, just a short list I came up with. Here goes:
"Then He Kissed Me" by The Crystals - this was the song that inspired the list. I was listening to it, and thought, this song is amazing. Its absolutely perfect.
"Tangled Up In Blue" by Bob Dylan - I have said before that I want to believe that Dylan is over rated, then I hear something like this, and I know I am wrong.
"Hallelujah" by Jeff Buckley - Simply... Beautiful.
"Here it Goes Again" by OK Go - Silly pop can be perfect, too. I may be unduly influenced by the fact that this song has the greatest music video of all time, but I don't think there is anything that could make this song better or catchier.

What have I left out? Comment and share what songs would make your list.

The Birds

A couple of weeks ago I was doing some laundry in our outdoor laundry area (the washer is on the porch, and the dryer is in our storage area off the porch), and a bird came and sat on the ledge a few inches away from me. It freaked me out a little, and no matter how much I tried to get him to go away, I couldn't. I didn't resort to flailing or poking at him, for fear of him attacking me, but I made noises, and shooed at him and the like. I ended up going in side, and leaving the laundry out by the dryer until later in the day when the bird had cleared out. For a half hour after I went inside, PJ sat at the window meowing at the bird and batting at the window. Again, no reaction from the little critter (he is a small to medium size black bird, kind of like a really small crow). Flash forward a few days and the same thing happens to Erin. I tell her that I had this experience, and it freaked me out, and she implied that I might be a wimp. Flash forward again to Monday afternoon. Erin and I are enjoying some National Day rays by the pool, and this same bird (I am sure its the same bird), comes and perches at the top of a deck chair right next to Erin, inches from her head. She gets freaked out (I do not imply that she might be a wimp). She eventually shoos him away.
The next morning, Erin is taking Benson out for a walk on the second floor. There are some condos that have patios that face this walkway, and on one of these patios is a small barky dog. Erin stops to talk to the owners, and the bird is sitting on own of their shoulder's. Apparently, they have taken care of the little fellow since he was a baby and fell out of his nest. He is sort of their pet now, but also flies around free, wreaking havoc on people doing their laundry or trying to enjoy a nice afternoon by the pool.

Running

I was reflecting on running earlier this evening, and my thoughts turned to how it all got started. In the spring of 2005, I watched my brother run the Monument Avenue 10k. That year there were about 15,000 runners, I think. It was a big race. We waited at the finish line, and watched the runners come in, my brother among them. It was amazing. I had no idea what it took to run that far. In high school, I had difficulty completing the one mile run. And the best part of the Monument Avenue is the crowd. The finish line is crazy. I was inspired. I thought, "One day, I want to do this." The following year was a big one in my life. I got married, I changed jobs and began my career in Clinical Research, I started doing some things differently, and in late December, 2005, I started running. I am usually not one to make a resolution about some kind of life change and stick to it, with one or two notable exceptions. I was not hopeful that this would stick, but as soon as registration opened at the end of December, Erin and I signed up. We started small. I ran around the parking lot at our apartment complex. I did the elliptical at the gym for 15 minutes. A week before the race, I ran 6 miles for the first time. Like many races, the Monument Avenue asks for a predicted finish time when you register. I had pulled a number out of the air... 55:00. Race day came, and I had done the work. I finished in just under fifty five minutes. That fall, my brother ran his first marathon. Again, I was inspired. I had kept up the running, going six or even eight miles at a time. I thought, "I want to do that, one day." A month later, I started training. And in March of 2007, I ran my first marathon. Again, when I registered, I picked a finish time out of the air. My brother was one of two people I had met that had run a marathon, that I knew of. I didn't know what was fast, or what was reasonable. When asked for my projected time, I thought 4 hours sounded reasonable, having no idea that many serious runners (not olympians, but people fitter and healthier than me) agonize for years to break 4 hours. And I did it.
In the few years since, the Monument Avenue 10k has grown to over 30,000 runners, and its still a great race. I have run three more marathons, and never broken 4 hours again. I have run a bunch of half marathons, coached a 10k training team two years in a row, and traveled pretty far to run some races.
Every time someone asks me how I got into running, I tell the story about watching my brother run the 10k. He really inspired me. I'll never be as fast as him. I can only chase him. He ran a marathon, I wanted to run a marathon. He qualified for Boston, I hope one day I will. He has inspired me. Really. In a very specific way. I can point to this thing in my life, and say, I do that because he did, and I wanted to, and he was a really great example. And because of him, I have inspired other people. Other people have seen what I have done, seen how excited I get about it, seen me at dinner parties, and heard me talk of nothing else when I zero in on the other runner in the group, and maybe they have thought, "if he can do it, then surely I can to." In most cases, they would be right.