Last Weekend

Last weekend seems so far away. If it weren’t for the little notebook J2 gave me, I think I would have a little trouble remembering what I did! It was a long weekend for the new year, we had about 3.5 days off from work. By Sunday I was getting a little bored and I was ready to get back to work. hahah I know that sounds weird but it’s true. I wasn’t bored because there’s nothing to do, even if I were back in CA I would feel the same way. I like working and I probably always will.

On Saturday I pretty much spent all day on the east coast. It was on the hotter side today, but being right along the water, there was a nice breeze. The east coast is lined with beaches and paved tracks for riding bikes, rollerblading, walking, skateboarding etc. The beaches are very narrow; maybe only about 50 feet wide from the little grassy bluff to the water. The sand is very light and fine grained. When you look out into the water its boats boats boats as far as you can see. Mostly all enormous container ships. Some are SO close to land… the channel here must be very deep. The water is so warm, nearly the same temperature as the air outside! There really aren’t any waves, except for those made by passing boats.

To get to the east coast I took the bus, which took a long time I probably should have taken the MRT but oh well. I got off and walked a little bit through an undercrossing and the I popped right out at the East Coast Park. To my right there is an enclosed inline skating area where people are doing all kinds of tricks and also a bunch of little kids learning to skate. To my left is a bike rental, which is really why I came, and straight ahead about 100 yards is the ocean.

I rented a bike for about $5 USD for the day. It’s kind of a hybrid commuter bike which is perfect for this flat terrain. I rode all up and down the east coast, total distance is about 27km. just went at an easy pace and stopped here and there for water and a quick dip in the water when I got too hot. There is a nice wide paved path for bicycles, rollerblades, or anything with wheels. The path is more than twice the width of the ventura bike path up to ojai. I have to remember to keep left here… it’s tough to get used to!! Next to the bike path there is a smaller path, closer to the water, for walkers.

All along the coast there are picnic areas, little covered pavilions, and also some designated camping areas. There are so many people out today, just enjoying the weekend and the weather with their families. It’s a really nice atmosphere. On the bike path I saw some crazy modes of transportation I’ve never seen before!! Three wheeled bikes, modified unicycles, twisty skateboards… anything goes!

Along the path there are little restaurants and snack shops here and there, including many more bike rental places. There is also a huge skatepark (ramps, jumps, etc.), and even a little waterskiing/wakeboarding lake! There aren’t any boats to pull… the ropes are on these overhead pully systems. There are little jumps and cones set up in the water to navigate through. With the pully systems there can be several skiers/wakeboarders out on the water at one time, and no need to waste fuel or emissions with the boats. I watched for a little while, it looked really fun. I didn’t have my bathing suit but I think I’ll come again and do this one. Near the waterskiing lake there was a Thai microbrewery restaurant.. it wasn’t open yet (only for dinner), but it also looked really good and I’ve filed it away for the future.

After a long day in the sun, I had dinner at a little café along the water. It was overpriced but it was fun to see everyone going by on the path. I had some rice and vegetables and just chilled for awhile. The trek home is about an hour but just took at a leisurely pace.

On Sunday I got up and went for a run, which was my first outside run since I’ve been here. I haven’t been able to re-join the gym because I’m not sure yet when I’m leaving. The monthly price is expensive and not really worth it if I don’t use it for a full month. So running outside in 80 degree weather in high humidity SUCKS. I was so hot and uncomfortable. The park near my house, for two loops is about 5.5km. I ran one loop and shortly into the second loop gave up and just walked the rest. My knee began to hurt towards the end of the second loop. When I woke up the next morning it was really hurting. I guess it’s not healed yet. Which I just don’t understand why. I haven’t been running in about 2 months. I didn’t really injure it (according to the doctor it was ‘overtraining’), so I feel like 2 months would be an adequate enough time to heal. I’m getting worried that either I have a more serious injury, or this is just something I am going to have to deal with for always now. I’ve never had any knee problems, but I guess now, I have bad knees. Getting older is really crappy.

On Sunday I did some grocery shopping, blogging, emailing, etc. I sent some postcards out. on Sunday I discovered some bootleg Heroes (season 2) dvd’s in the apartment. I hooked up the DVD player and now I’m addicted. I watched all the dvd’s in about a week. one of the discs was missing and one disc had too many scratches. It’s a REALLY good series. I’ll have to watch season 1 so I can follow along a little better. There are so many story lines I was getting a bit confused sometimes. Netflix!

This week I did a lot of pool workouts. Can’t run, and can’t go to spinning so I’m stuck in the pool. I’ve been working long hours this week as well. I’ve been pretty busy at work. Those 10 hours sitting at my desk just flies by. 3 months ago in ventura… I could not have done that. But you just adapt to your environment. and that’s the environment here. Long hours in the office, being very quiet. Thank goodness for my ipod. Speaking of ipods… the busses are more crowded now that the kids are back in school after the new year (they have all of December off). I would say about 80% of the bus riders are listening to their Mp3 players… EVEN the really old people. The ipod doesn’t seem to have the market share here like it does back in the US. Most Mp3 players I see are not Ipods… some are features on the cell phone, and most others must be Zunes or something like that. Sometimes I wonder what they’re listening to. Nothing? Podcasts? Lady Gaga?? I don’t want to listen to my ipod during the bus ride.. to me it sends a message of ‘don’t bother me’. If someone wants to talk to me then I want to be available and open for that conversation. Plus my ride is so short it’s not really worth it anyways. I’ll probably get distracted and miss my stop.