Gee, Think.

I have started a new physical training discipline. It is a martial arts tradition called Hung Ga. The teaching lineage includes famed gung fu master Wong Fei Hung, and is descended from the Shaolin (Seiu Lum) temple of Southern China. I have only been training in this form for approximately 3.5 weeks. 25 days or so. Already I have seen great results. The school I’ve joined is based on the traditions and discipline of the old style. The class is formal, challenging, serious, and entertaining. It is similar to yoga in that the body gains a lot of strength without the use of weights. I continue to be amazed at what can be gained from holding a single stance or posture. Yoga first showed this to me and know I am experiencing it again in another form.

This is the start of a long career. I sincerely hope that I will be able to train with these people for a long time to come. I learn so much with each class, I can hardly wait to practice it on my own.

I used to take snapshots of this riverfront factory when I started
riding the PATH train almosy a year ago. Something about it really
caught my attention. Now I really couldn’t tell you what it was.
Maybe it was the smokestacks. There’s five huge columns coming out of
one building, and two of them are smaller in diameter than the other
three. It’s curious. It’s also strange in the way it sits exactly on
the water’s edge. This is surely a sign that the factory dumped into
the river for sometime.
It’s a dilapidated mystery. I wonder who owns it, if it still operates,
etc. I can see the smokestacks from my office building. They are way
off in the distance, past the Jersey city skyline, but they are there.
I guess I could still tell you what about it caught my attention.
Going through the seasons here reminds me that I’ve been around a
while. I’ve looked at this factory five days a week through fall,
winter, spring, summer, and soon fall again. Somehow, I’m surprised to
be going through the seasons. The seasons are so familiar, but I’ve
become used to adapting to new things so often. The seasons are
juxtaposed with the landscape. I have always known the seasons, but
never known a life like this. The busy daily life, surrounded by some
many people, and the urgency are all new. They too, are becoming
familiar. That is the strangest feeling. It’s like when you catch
yourself calling a new place home without thinking about it. The fact
that you didn’t think twice of calling it home means it’s home, but if
an old friend points it out to you its a shock.

Commuters standing on thr newark platform in the heat.

This concludes another week! Yea!
That vaction to Maine really gave me some perspective on the kind of
life I’m living. When I’m in the routine I don’t really think about or
realize how hectic the schedule is. I’m still enjoying it though. It’s
not easy, but it’s not hard. It’s something that I can stay interested
in.
Almost one year has passed since I started the commuter lifestyle. So
far, so good. Most days I’m either reading a book, blogging, and
reading webpages. It’s not as if my train time goes by wasted.
Sometimes I just take the time to relax from my day. I like to have the
train ride on those trying days because it gives me a place to
decompress before hittin home.
I don’t want a life of leisure. I always want to have work to do. I
think seeing the product of your efforts is one of the great joys in
life. Of course it comes behind the love of companionship or family,
but it’s still up there. I’m still feeling like I really found a great
place for myself.

I had to take this discrete snap because these women looked like
opposites. Now I just said looked like because who knows, maybe they
have some real inner similarities when it comes to personality or
values. Don’t judge a book by it’s cover, right?
Well the one on the left had all kinds of tattoos. She had then on her
arms, fingers, and feet. All over I’m sure. She was sitting by herself
at first. Who should decicde to sit down next to her at the next stop
other than miss traditional conservative style. They just looked so
didfferent. One wearing light pastels and a white belt, the other
wearing dark clothes and tattoos.
It’s a good illustration that all kinds of people ride this train and
you never know who will sit down next to you.

We saw this cogeneration facility on the side of the New Jersey turnpike
on our way back from Ikea. It streches on for a long time, and is quite
a monstrosity to behold. It generates some type of fuel as well as
electricity.
I’m sure this plant is necessary. I’m sure that it provides an
essential part of the area’s infrastructure, but boy is it ugly.
Part of living in New Jersey is confronting the costs and strains that
our population puts on the environment. It’s not Jersey’s fault. In
fact they have pretty stringent rules and environment regulations.
These industrial sites are the necessary evil of sustaining our
incredibly dense and flourishing population. I know that we can improve
our environmental impact, but I accpet that we pay these costs for a
better standard or living. My hope is that we will someday soon
discover ways to drastically reduce the pullants and waste we produce.
Until then, there are the realities of our consumption to face.

Nothing like a hug!

Notice the big hole in the tree. There’s a lot of those around here.
Dunellen see,s to have chosen to cut holes through the trees rather than
chop them down. I’m glad they go to the extra trouble of carefully
carving out a hole for the wire, and maintaining that as the tree
grows. The neighborhood is much more friendly with all the trees
around.

Here are the ladies I hung out with this weekend. It had been a long
time, and it was great to be reunited, if only for 2 and a half days.
This shot was taken in a park just down the street from our cozy home.
Sunday was a beautiful day! We took a walk and enjoyed the sunshine and
blue skies. We made a new neighborhood aquaintance. This man did not
reveal his name eventhough we introduced ourselves, but he told us a
great story.
His house is made of stone, with walls 36 inches thick!! That’s right,
3 FEET! The plot it stands on was purchased from the town of Dunellen
by his father in law when he was a boy of 12. His father in law bought
the land with money he had made in the pig trade of1909 to 1911.
The house was built in 1919 with stone hauled by horse and cart from
local Washington Rock, where our first president watched the movement of
the British troops in spring of 1776. Apparently it stays cool in the
summer, warm in the winter, and has made all of its tenants quite
happy.

Do you ever feel boxed in, or like you don’t have enough space? Maybe
you’d like personal space of a foot or two. If that’s you, you better
think twice about the commuter trains. In rush hour these things are
packed above capacity. There’s probably no such thing as a maximum
legal capacity for a train car. Even so, there’s just slightly more
room than an airplane.
Now that’s a thought, commuting 90 minutes door to door via airline. I
wonder where that might get me. I can’t imagine it taking less than 120
mins door to door to get to an office in boston, or D.C.
Today, I’m thinking inside the box, because that’s where I’m sitting.