I’ve been walking home from work again lately. I started this eco-transportation pattern last October where I’d ride the bus to work and walk home. My coworkers thought I was crazy because nobody really walks on this island (It’s the closest I’ve come in Japan to seeing as many people owning cars as back home in Cali – there’s no train and the buses suck, so you really need a car). It’s not that far, really, about 5 miles or so. But most people think I’m fucking nuts for walking that far after a full day of work.
It’s turned into kind of a habit because it really calms my nerves to be able to work off stress slowly, grindingly, every day. I can go home and take a shower and relax after that. Yesterday, though, it was really cold or something, cuz when I got back home, I sat down on the sofa anditwassowarmandfuzzy and – POW! – the next thing I know, it was time to go to work again. Didn’t even take a shower.
The funny thing is, Nam was working on school stuff and wedding stuff on the computer, and she kept asking me questions, which I barely registered in a state of half-awake paralysis. So she didn’t think I was really sleeping that long or something, because she ended up staying awake until 5AM doing her stuff. I woke up naturally an hour later, prepared for a presentation I had at 8AM, and came into work early all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. I was one of the first to arrive, and greeted everyone with a loud ohayozaimasssu as they walked through the door. Pretty much down to the last man, they all gave me a mental Fuck Off w/red eye beam, and so I knew my transformation to Dedicated Salaryman with No Home Life was complete.
If you were TRULY dedicated, you wouldn’t be taking that much time off work even for your OWN wedding ceremony. You have much to learn, grasshopper.
Damn. I’m somewhere mid-way in that transformation between expat-living-abroad and worker drone. Still got one foot in both worlds, but am slowing losing the battle. Is this like a geeky version of becoming a mindless part of the Borg? Ouch.