The long-awaited Japan trip reports are finally here!
Because the trip was so long ago, I think the best way to recap everything would be by the pictures that Bryan and I were able to capture instead of doing a day-by-day report. Honestly, because of ~*the current situation*~, a lot of our days were spent walking around and eating instead of doing more tourist-y activities, which is not a bad thing at all! We still had a great time! But that probably doesn’t make for an interesting trip report, especially since so much time has passed and I’ve since forgotten a lot of the details.
So today, we start with Tokyo, where we spent most of our time in Japan!
I’ve kept diaries on-and-off since I was in middle school. They’ve come in the form of handwritten notebooks, Xangas, LiveJournals, and, most recently, this very blog!
I stopped hand-writing my journals around high school, when I couldn’t find the time to sit down and write for pleasure anymore. As I got older, I became so wrapped up in school and work and personal commitments that I never seemed to have the time to sit down and write in a physical diary.
However, even in the first few weeks of self-isolation, I realized that I needed an analog hobby. I was spending the entire day either on my computer or my phone already, and my sleep schedule was getting overwhelmed at the amount of blue light I was getting every night! When I realized this, I bit the bullet and bought some new notebooks – if they’re cute, I’ll use them, right?
As I’ve mentioned in the past, though my “strong” lower body muscles have carried me through countless road races, I have laughably weak upper body muscles.
Over a year ago, my friends and I did a push-up challenge, where I challenged myself to do 20 push-ups every day for a month. While I technically made it through the month doing the push-ups on most days, my form is horrible and my chest gets nowhere close to the floor. I felt my muscles working, for sure, but didn’t feel like I was making any great progress toward doing a good push-up.
Likewise, I used to like rock climbing. I started with top-rope climbing in college, then moved on to bouldering after graduating. I did enjoy it a lot, but definitely felt limited by my lack of upper-body strength. Anything with an overhang or inward slope? Forget about it!
I did a Tough Mudder and a Spartan Race last year didn’t even attempt a lot of the obstacles because I knew my limits – they were still fun, but I was definitely a little disappointed
In quarantine, my fitness goals have shifted from running (because it’s hard to motivate myself to run, especially in the heat, especially with a mask, especially when there are no races in the near future) to general, total-body fitness. While cleaning, I came across the pull-up bar that I made as an aspirational purchase a long, long time ago, and decided to finally do something about my lack of upper body strength.
Trisha Serquina 