Pearls of Wisdom

There’s this elderly local Japanese man who’s a faculty legend on campus where I work. We run into each other regularly at the gym/pool during our lunchtime workouts. I haven’t seen him as much lately because I’ve been doing most of my marathon training at 5a so I haven’t been at the gym during lunch. But this morning I was hanging and needed to sleep in so I ran 5 miles at the gym after which I got to have a short chat with my dear friend, Dr Furuto.

The reasons I love this man so much are, first, he’s a tough math teacher and I never had to take a class from him which I’m eternally grateful for because I’m a sloth when it comes to math. And second, because he has no reservations about speaking his mind and says the most alarming things. If you’ve gained some weight, he’s there to point it out for you. If your husband has gained some weight or his hair is going white, he’ll point that out too. Some people who have no ‘filter’, are brutally honest and uninhibited by political correctness can tend to grate on me but this guy is genuinely caring, intelligent and humorous and has the happiest smile when he’s imparting his wisdom I believe he doesn’t see his how his words often cross the lines of propriety. And third, because he just says the darndest things that make me laugh.

I should have started writing these down a long time ago because there are just too many to remember but some of my favorite pearls of wisdom from the past include:

One day at the pool about a decade ago, “You know, they check out swim shorts at the cage you could put on over your swim suit.” In my mind I was thinking, “So you’re telling me my thighs are offensive to behold and should be hidden beneath shorts while I’m swimming laps??” but I just thanked him for the information and sadly started wearing the shorts so as to not offend. I have since decided my ‘flab’ looks better when it has a little more color so I usually ditch the shorts and let it all hang out.

A couple years ago he came into the gym while my friend Kathy and I were on the treadmills. He pointed out to Kathy that she was looking a little heavier than me so she might want to speed it up a little. We laughed and told him she probably shouldn’t do that because she was pregnant at the time. We were still chatting as we were heading back to the locker rooms, he paused outside the door so I went ahead and opened it and walked in followed by Kathy. He immediately scolded us for not respecting our elders and opening the door for him. Apparently chivalry is dead. I wasn’t aware that this muscular, fit, feisty guy was in need of women to open the door for him. Now I know.

It’s not enough to ask where my regular workout partners are if I’m on my own, he has to add in the reason he believes they need to be with me. “You know <> is looking a little hefty lately. She should really come run with you.” Thanks ‘coach’ – I’ll be sure to tell her.

Today’s pearl of wisdom, “You’re not a petite girl. From behind you could look like a man… with a hoodie on.”

I love to egg him on until I get a nice juicy insult out of him. Then I merrily take it back to the locker room and laugh about it in the shower. I also love that there is someone in my world who has the ability to stick their foot in their mouth more frequently and more spectacularly than I do.

Zana was the “Super Raider” selected from her class for the month of October. We got to go congratulate her at the school assembly on Monday. So proud of her.

The 2011 AYSO soccer season ended 1.5 weeks ago so no more practices or games this year. Yay!

She’s still dancing with Oriata and they are in another busy season with 1-3 performances weekly – on top of 3 practices weekly. The show has expanded and now she’s also dancing Hawaiian, Maori and Samoan numbers at special events. It’s a lot of work keeping up with her schedule and making the costumes for each show.

Someday I’ll look back and be grateful she got to have this experience. For now, I’m ready to pull her out until she’s able to weave her own fresh ti leaf hip bands and flower haku leis or until the leader decides to listen to the parents and let us make nice reusable fake accessories. That’s my little drama. Moving on.


Got one of those dreaded calls from the school nurse and had to go get Zeth’s head glued shut on Tuesday 11/15. The teachers & Ginger all say it was Ginger’s teeth that accidentally dug the hole in his scalp. He said he can’t really remember what happened but he thinks he scraped his head it on a tree. But for some reason, Ginger feels badly about it and delivered an enormous cow balloon at home that night to help cheer him up. Zeth seemed pretty unaffected by the whole incident and I haven’t seen him shed a single tear over it. I am very concerned about oral bacteria spreading after seeing what happened to my sister’s nephew who had a similar incident last summer and ended up with a horrible infection on his cheek. Ginger was just fine which makes me believe maybe it really was the tree and not her that snagged his head. Hard to get a true picture out of a couple of frolicking 4-year-olds with no witnesses.


Zeth sat nervously and quietly held my hand in the doctor’s chair while they cleaned and glued the skin back together then he just wanted to go home and snuggle a while after which he wanted to go to Costco. Maybe the wound went a little deeper than we thought. Costco?? Turns out, he wanted Danimals yogurt drinks we got there once (never mind they sell them 3 miles from home at our local grocery store – they’re much cheaper at Costco an hour away). I needed to go shopping anyway and since I was conveniently suddenly off work for the rest of the day with him, we went shopping. Three days have passed and his head seems to be healing quickly – too bad he had to miss his final 2 swim lessons of the year this week.

Three weeks until my next marathon. Running 20 miles this Saturday. Just a little nervous about that. My 19 mi run 2 weeks ago was a challenge. Training is way more fun with friends and I’m doing this all on my own so I’m finding it hard to keep myself motivated and moving. Good test of my drive & determination. I forgot my earphones at work and couldn’t use my iPod for my long run last Sat. So I tried out the Pandora radio app on my phone and used it instead. I never run with my phone but I’m sold on it now. It’s awesome to have new – FREE – music to listen to which makes running so much more fun.


There are little highlights along the route sometimes like this moment near the end of my 12 mile run last Saturday. I wouldn’t have been able to catch this picture if I didn’t have my phone with me (and if my friend Callie hadn’t come along right at that moment to snap it for me).

I was reminded the other day as I was dragging myself through the final mile of a run in the hills and passed a guy in a wheelchair just how grateful I am to be able to run.