Time to go!

This past week was so hectic; I had much to blog about but no time. I woke up Monday morning feeling ill and blamed it on the party the day before and the sequence of: beer, red wine, sake, champagne, Chimay and Duvel.  Tues morning I woke up with the same feeling and realized I couldn't blame the booze, I was just starting to get that feeling of impending doom. It never entered my mind that I was making a mistake, it's just that when you plan for something so intently for so long, there's something about coming to grips with the fact that it is actually about to happen!

It was similar to training for 7 months for my first triathlon. I felt well prepared but it was still an eerie feeling the last couple days before the race. There is a part of triathlon called "transition", this is where you switch sports, from swim to bike and from bike to run.  So you'll exit the water, exhausted, and the goal is to get onto that bike ASAP. As you walk up the beach you start unzipping your wetsuit, slip your arms out and pull the top portion down to your waist, all while moving as fast as you can while trying to catch your breath. Then you have to find your spot in transition among hundreds. Then you will have some sequence by which the wetsuit comes off, you redress in any cycling gear, get your shoes and socks on, sunglasses, and don't forget the helmet or you get penalized.

A key rule of thumb is, never make any decisions in transition, you are just not mentally capable. Have a plan. Follow the sequence. Don't deviate.

As I got pretty close to departure, I started to feel more relaxed, less decision making, just follow the plan. I'm about to hop on the flight. Everything is going smoothly so far. Upon arrival in Taipei I have a driver taking me to my apartment. Then a RE agent is supposed to pick me up for house hunting, and the car rental outfit will deliver my car to my apartment. Time to board...glad an aisle seat opened up as I was originally stuck in the middle.