Reckless

I had to have a giggle. It just seemed so silly. I met a competitor during one of my recent evening runs, and we ended up racing like a pair of panting dogs.

Running is supposed to be a beautiful - and beautifully simple - sport in the first place. That is, unless we forget. You might want to listen to the story how I sometimes forget.

I whizzed past a young guy that evening. Little did I know that I was sparking a battle. And that is ... yep, you guessed it: he got annoyed and quickly sped up and overtook me. At full throttle. As that guy ran in stride, he kept turning his head back to make sure I was falling behind.

I cringed, waiting for myself to catch my breath. Even if it would have made me sound like a jerk, I ramped up my accelerator and passed him without a polite "Excuse me." Fact is, politeness just doesn't exist when two vicious dogs feel being threatened and challenged. We nearly barked. Seriously. Oh, we would have barked at each other if not because of running out of breath. That's when that rival started to run ahead of me, and I was keeping my pace good enough to be a few steps behind. But not too far behind.

The idea is simple: I could keep good track of how much oxygen (or lack thereof) my competitor got in his tank (and mine, too). Speaking of which, I reminded myself the advantageous position to pierce him with a long-handled barbeque fork.

What a dumb race.

Still, reckless as this example is, it's fun to have such silly idea once in a while. Like me, you'll be amazed at how much you beat your last personal record (and advertise that record to show off in the next few days). Mine is finishing 8.14 km with a pace of 4.4 minutes per kilo that evening, in case you were wondering. Which is cool.

Present

We were once travelling to Malaysia with our thirteen-something-month daughter when the end of our trip brought her tears. That's grief reaction. Think about when you last spent a week's vacation aboard and what you would feel at the end of that pleasant week.

I do not know of anyone (child or grown-up) who does not long for a longer journey near the end. I do not know of any human creature who does not dream of never-ending itinerary without the need to go back to school or work.

The reality is we never seem to get all the hours of break we need or we wish.

This is why we teach our daughter to live in the present. “Remember to enjoy every minute on the road,” I told Jasmine when she asked about the time we will fly back during our recent Taiwan trip. “Dance the way Cinderella does without worrying about your glass slipper. Glass slippers will take care of themselves.”

Which is the entire point of travel.

Or should be.

Gacha

Hands up if you can’t answer the question what the heck “gachapon” refers to.

Chances are you will.

Just to refresh your declining memories (or maybe that's just mine), gacha is the onomatopoeia for the sound of the capsule toys falling from a vending machine, also named gachapon. Remember that familiar sound gacha, in the not too distant past, when you made a clockwise twist after inserting a coin into a machine? The greatest attraction is the suspense after the sound of “gacha.”

You’ll never know what you’re going to get until you crack open the plastic capsule, even though it’s part of a defined set of toys like Pokémon. We were brought back to the memories of gachapon during our Taiwan trip when my daughter lost a gacha toy. That’s a treasured rabbit toy of hers. My wife and I were sure my daughter won’t forget about the incident. She never did. To help her make sense of grief and the loss of a loved one, we decided to coax her into exploring new opportunities. Gachapons aren’t as ubiquitous in Taiwan as in Japan, but we were able to locate a handful of gachapon shops for Jasmine to try her luck on.

Don't get me wrong - I was not trying to get back the same rabbit toy and she knew she won’t. We simply let her experience one gacha after another. One surprise after another. With a smile on her face, she learned to give thanks for each gacha, and to expect the unexpected.

Nothing expensive. Nothing complicated. But completely fun.

Satiety

Before my Taiwan trip, I borrowed Julia Donaldson’s book Princess Mirror-Belle, one of my daughter’s favourite novels. On the way to airport, she couldn’t resist to let Julia Donaldson regale her with the exciting adventure of a princess with a mirror image.

Whenever this happened, I wondered if she would finish the book even before our trip began. It’s the feeling you get when you’ve failed the temptation and eaten all snacks before departure during your school outing. I knew exactly what I should do: I’d better load my luggage with a book shelf.

I don’t think there is a more perfect happiness to be found in life than this state, the promise of endless books on the road.

That’s never-gonna-be-hungry bookworm at play, unmistakably.