The bike has been running really well since the work was completed last week. I didnt realize how much better it could be, but now that everything has been cleaned and a few parts replaced it is really smooth and run to ride. Given the weather here, thats a nice thing because I dont really have the funds for a many other pastimes right now.
The only thing that I am spending money is training, Muay Thai and BJJ. The last week or so I have been a little lazy. My toe injury has been lagging, although mostly better. And I think I might have rolled my ankle while running trails. And I might have been a little sick last week, but other than that everything is going well and there is no excuse to not be in the gym. The BJJ class has started attendance cards aimed at tracking progression and training hours, both needed for belt advancement. I have wanted to get my blue belt for a while, but have never trained in one place long enough, although I am sure I have the hours down. Some of the guys who are getting ready for their blue belt tests are definitely better than me, but not by much. So a couple weeks/months of consistent training in one place and I think I will be up there too. I am hoping that the attendance cards and grading advancements will help to keep me on track. Before there was no way to track progress so it was hard to keep motivated. Especially since I am better than most of the 2/3/4 stripe belts in the class even though i dont have any.
I am also starting to work a little more, I have 4 whole days of work and a day of training coming up in the next week or so. The job so far has been deathly boring. I like the experience and am happy to be able to add that to my resume, but the work is mind-numbing. Soon I may be hunting for another job. I dont like this constant change, I just want to find something regular, part-time and interesting. It doesnt have to pay great, but something engaging would be excellent.
I have started thinking about a return to China as well. The US just doesnt hold my appeal for me. I thought before that China was not the place for me, but now that I am back it doesnt seem that the states has that either. I am starting to hunt through a variety of scholarship programs that would put me back studying in China for a semester or two. I am planning on going through the Fullbright application, but it looks like it is aimed at people who have not lived abroad before so I may not be quite at the top of the list. But there are a couple language study programs, both short and long-term. Also now that I have a better idea of the work load, I am pretty sure that I could work a teaching job, just English or Business and have plenty of time left to dedicate to the degree... I have been realizing that since moving to Denver, each place I have lived has been shorter than the one before. Jersey 18 years, Denver 7, Zhengzhou 4, Wuhan 1, now Hawaii a couple months and already thinking about an exit. The one real problem that I have been rolling over in my head is trying to find a place in China that I would be able to run outside, without hacking up a lung or having the run induce more internal lung damage than the cardio benefits... and have it be a city that I would want to be in with a college and jobs... why do you make it so hard China. Anyway there is something called the CLS, critical language scholarship, a 7-10 intensive language training program that I am going to concentrate on first and also look at the Boren scholarship, another language scholarship, but it would require a service commitment to a US intelligence agency for a period equal to the scholarship. Not the worst thing since it is pretty much guaranteed work placement... but it if means another year back in the states after being abroad then I am not sure if it would be for me.
The house is great. We have been working on building a treehouse in the backyard. Its coming along. At some point a trip is planned to the scrap yard to get cup holders, foot pegs and steps, and a glove box or two to put into the tree. We have already turned a trash surf board into a bench seat at the second level. The next ideas are a trapeze and some cargo netting... and a sign that bans falling from the tree.
I also finished cutting a trail from the backyard to the downhill bike trail that runs all the way from our house to the trail system that goes to Wa'ahila ridge. Those trails connect to others that depending on your path could be a couple hours or more of trails that start and finish out the back door.
The last home improvement will be some concrete to fix the steps and solidify the fire pit. Now that I write all this I realize the house is amazing. Between the house, roommates and the martial arts training it is the only thing that is keeping me around and delaying my search to return to China, but I dont think its going to be enough...
