\nMy arm hurts, but I had a fun day today.\n\n<\/p>
\n\nThis morning, I played<\/span> real, indoor volleyball for the first time in 10+\nyears. (I'd occasionally played sand volleyball at Yahoo's corporate\nheadquarters during my 8-year stint as a Yahoo,<\/span> but that doesn't really\ncount.)\n\n<\/p> \n\nApparently, there's a little Mommy League for volleyball, of moms at\nvarious Kyoto preschools. I don't<\/span> know many details except that I'm not\nallowed to actually play in the games (I lack<\/span> appropriate Mommyness), but I\ncan<\/span> still practice with them. Anthony's preschool doesn't have a lot<\/span> of\nvolleyball moms, so they need all the warm fee-paying bodies they can get.\nToday was the first practice day.\n\n<\/p> \n\nI was not surprised to find that despite 10+ years passing since I last<\/span>\nplayed, I was every<\/span> bit as horrible as I was<\/span> before. I know<\/span> how<\/i> to\nplay correctly, but I'm just not good<\/i> at it. People are surprised to\nfind out that I'm not a pro,<\/span> for they assume that anyone who is 192cm tall\nmust be great at every sport but horse jockey, but let me tell you, height\nis a poor<\/span> substitute for skill.\n\n<\/p>\n\n \n\nStill, I served<\/span> a noble<\/span> purpose: I infused<\/span> confidence. When these ladies\ngot a ball<\/span> past my block (or, as happened once, spiked the ball into my\nface), they felt a huge<\/span> David vs.<\/i> Goliath type of confidence. So I felt<\/span> satisfied with a job<\/span> well done.\n\n<\/p> \n\nPractice lasted for two hours, but having been given bad directions, I got there<\/span> late. I'd ridden<\/span> my \n\nHe did mention that the “City Hall” type administrative\nbuilding for Kyoto's Central Ward was right there on the corner at which we\nwere stopped, and that was good enough for me. I went in<\/span> and asked. They'd\nnever heard of the Central Ward Community Center, because, it turns out, no\nsuch place exists. (I refer<\/span> you back to the bit about “bad\ndirections” for the root cause of my predicament.) I mentioned<\/span>\n“volleyball” and the kind man made a bunch<\/span> of phone calls.\n\n<\/p> \n\nHe eventually looked up from the phone, and in a voice<\/span> that said “I'm\nabout to ask the most stupid question I've ever asked”, asked\n”the Mommy League?<\/i>”\n\n<\/p> \n\n“Yes, I'm a Mommy<\/span><\/i>.”\n\n<\/p> \n\nI ended up arriving 15 minutes late, but that's okay, since no one had\nreally started practicing yet. It's a Mommy<\/span> league, after all. There were\ntwo infants crawling around on the floor.\n\n<\/p> \n\nAfter practice, despite having worked up a good<\/span> sweat, I felt good<\/span>, so\ncontinued on to the gym. 25 minutes into my 30 minutes on the \n\nAfterwords, I went to<\/span> a supermarket<\/span> elsewhere in the mall where the gym is,\nand got a package<\/span> of sushi, and some Coke (happy with my reduced weight, I opted<\/span> for Diet Coke), and brought it to the food court to eat. As I was<\/span>\neating it, I noticed<\/span> that two old ladies nearby were looking at me with\namused faces. I instinctively<\/span> knew what it was about -- it's not that I was<\/span>\neating sushi, nor that I was<\/span> drinking Coke. It's that I<\/span> was doing both at\nthe same time. I just smiled<\/span>, and said “yes, it's an odd combination,\nisn't it”. I explained<\/span> that I'd just come from the gym and was dying\nfor a Coke,<\/span> and that I liked<\/span> it. (I didn't<\/span> explain that since I can't<\/span> get\nthe caffeine-free version in Japan, I don't<\/span> have Coke very much, so when I\nhave<\/span> a craving<\/span> for it, I indulge<\/span> myself.)\n\n<\/p> \n\nThey seemed to have ignored my explanation and suggested that tea would be\na better<\/span> choice for sushi. I acknowledge<\/span> the correctness of their obvious\nstatement, and smiled some more.\n\n<\/p>