One year

In that time, I've learned some things. People always say that time heals all wounds. I think in a sense they're right. Perhaps it's more that time helps us forget. Helps us move on. Helps us see things differently. In a lot of cases there will always be scars. Little things to remind of the past. Not always in a bad way, just letting us know that it existed, and it happened. 

A year ago, if you'd asked me if I could go back and change things I'd have said yes. Now? I'm not sure, to be honest. Some days are still harder than others. But life is good. God is good. I have friends and family who love me. What more could I ask for? I have opportunities and things in my life that not a lot of people have. And the future is bright. 

Sometimes seeing the scars of the past makes me forget that. Some days, like today, are harder than others. But I know I'm not alone. And I won't ever be. So thank you to everyone out there. You might not even realize how much you help me every day. And if any of you have having a bad day, don't hesitate.

Happy Birthday, Little Sister

Today is my sister’s birthday. She might be older, but she’ll always be my little sister. She’s all the way in Hawaii, so I can’t go over and wake her up at 2 in the morning and shout, “Happy Birthday!”. I’m sure Moze will do that for me.

Look how cute we used to be! My mom loves emphasizing the “used to be” before quickly correcting herself.

My sister and I are five and a half years apart. Far enough apart that most of my later childhood felt like I was an only child. Close enough that we fought just as much as any loving brother and sister would.

I have lots of memories of the two of us as kids. Her babysitting me, us watching Raiders of the Lost Ark, then her pretending to be dead after the movie was over. Then I came up with a brilliant plan to pretend to call 911, which quickly brought her back to the land of the living.

I remember feeding some horses down in Southern Utah and being terrified as they chased us after realizing we had nothing more to give them. Those horses were hungry, and they were just fine with eating some little kids. I blame that event on my distrust and loathing of horses. Although they are delicious. They should have finished us off when they had the chance.

After she moved to Hawaii our relationship definitely got better. I would attribute this to me growing older and maturing, but we both know it was actually her doing that exact thing.  I think us having our own space to live and grow helped. I’m sure she was glad to not have me bugging her all the time, or attacking her boyfriends with Nerf guns with my friends.

Over the last few years, she’s always been there when I’ve needed someone to talk to. She’s done an amazing job on her blog. Most of the time when I couldn’t figure out what to make for dinner, a quick scan of the recipes there, and soon we had a great meal. Thanks to her, and my parents, I’ve developed a healthier relationship with food than most people my age. Although, out of our family, I’m definitely the least adventurous and most picky. All of my friends who see her blog are impressed with the things she comes up with. I think it intimidates a lot of the girls I’ve dated and been with, especially now that my mom also has a pretty serious food blog. I suppose I’ll have to marry someone who loves food as much as my family does.

I got a chance to visit my sister this last summer after I moved back to Oregon, which was a great opportunity. It was the first time in a long time that we got some 1 on 1 time and she was always there to listen to me. We ate lots of food, took walks to Foodland, went on hikes, and plenty of trips to the beach. That trip will be one of my favorite trips to Hawaii for years to come. So thanks for letting me come bug you, eat your food, and listen to me complain.

I think this year, she did the nicest thing she’s ever done for me. She came all the way to Utah. UTAH! Do you know how much she doesn’t like Utah? I can tell you, it’s a lot. But she did. Once she heard about the divorce, it was one of the first things she decided to do. That helped a lot, knowing that she cared enough about me to drop everything and come make sure I was alright. She’s always been there for me, and I know she’ll continue to be there when I need her. Thanks for everything, and happy birthday.

PS. Don’t worry, you’ll get a real present in the mail, once I get it all together.

Japan–The People I Love

Recently my dad and I went to Japan for a few weeks. It was awesome. Lots of pictures and blog posts to come, but I just wanted to get these up. 

While we were there, we managed to meet up with a lot of old friends and family. Many were people I had met on my mission and served with, other’s were friends from BYU and other places. Within Japan there are so many people who are close to my heart. This is just a few of those people.

I got to meet up with Elder Stevenson and Sister Stevenson in Tokyo before heading off to Iwate

Ai came up from Ishigaki to go to the temple and we managed to meet up and hang out for a day. We started dating the next week, too bad we only had the one day.

We went to Kawanishi and spent one of the days with some of my old English Class students. Here is Miho and Yuika (AKA Suika)

Kumiko also came! It was fun to see everyone.

On Sunday we went to the Hanayashiki Ward for church. Tamura Shimai was sick, but she was nice enough to let us come visit. She ended up cooking us a huge meal, even though she closed her restaurant this year. It was so fun seeing them again.

Iwaki Shimai made sure that I met everyone that I wanted to. She drove us around, and we visited Sho-kun and his family. They really helped me out and treated me like family when I was in Hanayashiki.

At the last minute, I was able to visit with Oto Shimai. At first she didn’t remember me, but when we started talking she started to remember. It was great hearing about her conversion and finding out she was connected to such an early part of the church in Japan.

In Nagoya, we met up with some of my mom’s extended family. Tatsumi-Ojisan and his wife took us to dinner. I met them a few times when I was in Japan during my mission, and she treats me like a son. Sometimes, to an embarrassing degree.

In Kyoto, we managed to meet up with lots of old friends. Henry and Mikki invited us over to their house for dinner. They were some of my closest friends in Fushimi, and it had been far too long since I had been able to see them. With good friends, it’s always nice to see them and have it be like no time has passed.

Fushiki Shimai was also a member who I was so happy to see. She took us to lunch, and it was funny to have a normal conversation and see her laugh. She is like a grandmother to me.

Despite almost dying of some sickness, Naoto-kun managed to meet up with us. I was worried we wouldn’t be able to see each other since he was so busy, but it worked out. I was surprised at how stylish of a dresser he is outside of church.

Ah, Fushimi Ward. Some of my favorite people in all of Japan. I was a little bit shocked at how much they remembered, and how glad they were to see me. It was just like coming home. Hishii Family, Kinoshita Shimai, thanks for everything.

Japanese Gardens

Here are some pictures taken at the Japanese Gardens in Portland. The Rose Garden is also right next door, so we took a peek in there as well.

Dreams will be Dreams

When I was younger, I used to sleep walk. A lot. So much so that it really freaked out my parents. Once I even managed to make it half way up the street before my dad ran out and caught me. I never would remember any of this happening until I came downstairs for breakfast and my mom would give me that look, and ask, “Do you know what you did last night?”

I’d get embarrassed, knowing that I had obviously done SOMETHING in my sleep, then she’d tell me and I’d be slightly creeped out. I mean, I was walking around doing things, often talking to my dad, all without any knowledge or control over my actions. Good thing I don’t do that anymore. At least, not that I know of.

Something that still happens every so often are waking dreams. There are two different versions that I’ll have, but both are pretty horrible. I can only really remember a few images from them the next morning, but I always remember how I feel. Terrible. Basically I’m awake, but still dreaming so I’m seeing hallucinations of my dreams and can’t wake up from them. They’re pretty bad, but usually limited to once or twice a year.

Despite all these things that happen to me while I’m sleeping, I do have pretty awesome dreams. Lately I’ve been trying to be better about writing them down in my dream journal I keep by my bed, but getting up at 5:30 most morning to play basketball doesn’t really help.

For a while on my mission in Japan I wrote down every dream that I had. After about a week or so I started to remember more and more of my dreams each night. Sometimes I would go back and read what I had written the previous day, and I couldn’t even remember writing down the dream, let alone remember the dream.

When I was married, I would tell Amanda about my dreams when we woke up in the morning. After a while she started to notice that I had a lot of dreams about zombies and fighting. I think she worried about me, but those were some of my favorite dreams.

Zombies are awesome.

Sadly, I never have flying dreams or dreams where I know I’m dreaming and can control it. Luckily, I also have never had falling dreams or dreams where my teeth fall out. I do have a lot of dreams where I move in slow motion. Especially when I’m trying to run away or to punch someone.

Here are a few of my favorite dreams from the last few years.

"I tried to call my friend, but the guy who answered said that I didn’t need to talk to her. So I dressed up as a girl to get a job as a cook in order to sneak into her work.”

“I was walking around this mall with my sister, and I was carrying around this fake gun that I had to return. It was getting close to closing time so we were trying to hurry. The store was on top of this mountain that we had to climb up, but the ground was like a trampoline, making it really hard to climb.”

“Was an FBI agent working with Booth and Bones. My teacher, Jack Stoneman, had a stalker.”

“Emily and I were hanging out and this guy who wanted to date her came up and started getting in an argument with me. She threw this huge party that night, and she had this hair that was shaped like a water fountain, with water in it that actually shot out the top and filled the bowl of hair. He hid some rubber balls in the fountain hair, and I knew that if he hit them with me then I’d die, so I dodged those. She got mad at him and kicked him out. Later he showed up at the apartment and we ended up bare-knuckle boxing and I knocked him out.”

I kid you not, that happened.

And my favorite dream I had recorded in my journal.

“Was Batman”

What are your favorite dreams? What do you dream about most often?

Masa Magic

Alright guys, I’m just posting a plug for my tumblr. You can get there by visiting the link above, or just go to masamagic.tumblr.com If you have a tumblr, feel free to follow me and I’ll return the favor. During the week I’ll at least post a video, song, and picture of the day. Most of the time I’ll post things I randomly find when my queue is too long.

Also, people might wonder where the Masa comes from. Masayuki is my middle name, and while I was in Japan, as a service for the Japanese people who couldn’t ever remember my first or last name, I used my middle name Masayuki. That usually got shortened to Masa, and so it stuck.

Pre

"To give anything less than your best is to sacrifice the Gift." – Steve Prefontaine

For those of you who have known me for a while, you should know that I used to be big into running. Lately? Not so much. I am attempting to try and get back into the habit and get into shape. The key word is trying.

A few weeks ago I was running several times a week, I even had a day where I went 6 miles. Then I got lazy. I could blame it on getting LASIK, but I’m pretty sure I just wasn’t motivated enough. So I’ve attempted to repent and am starting fresh next week.

I ran cross country and track in high school, and if you Google my name almost all the results are different times I had at races around Oregon.

Last week one of my friends asked me to write up a quick email with tips and ideas for getting started to run. I thought it was going to be difficult to think of enough things to get her started, but as I started writing I quickly filled up a page. I’m sure it was more than she was wanting, but I thought I’d share it with everyone here.

Now this isn’t a complete list by any means, and I’m no professional when it comes to running. That being said, I have run my fair share of 5Ks and various track events. If you have any specific questions about running or something you wanted to know, or if you disagree with what I’m writing, hit me up.

And here we go.

1. Before even starting to train or run, make sure that you have some motivation or goal in mind. Don’t start just randomly working out just to work out, because if you’re anything like me that means you’ll never really get started and 2 months go by and you realize that you’re too lazy to regularly work out. We’re not talking about me though, this is about you. GET EXCITED! You should want to do this. Maybe you don’t specifically want to run or work out, but maybe you want to lose some weight, maybe you just want to get in better shape, maybe you even want to run a marathon. If you’re that last one, you’re crazy.

2. Get some good running shoes (if running is what you want to do) If not, make sure you have some decent shoes made for what you’re doing. The worst thing you can do for your knees, feet, back, and body in general is to run in shoes that are either too old or not made for running. It drives me crazy when I see people trying to run in shoes that will ultimately destroy them.

Until you know what kind of shoes you like to run in or that feel good, don’t hesitate to go to a running store and talk to the employees there and try on a bunch of different styles and pairs of shoes. Most good running stores will have someone who knows what they are doing when it comes to recommending shoes. They’ll be able to tell if you pronate or supinate. Maybe you’re even lucky enough not to do either.

3. At the beginning expect to be slow and to be sore. It takes about 2 weeks of working out to get into shape to the point that you feel relatively comfortable.

Now with that being said, you will still get sore from time to time, especially after long/hard runs and work outs. That’s normal.

4. You should know your body better than anyone, so hopefully you can tell the difference between soreness and injury.

Some things shouldn’t be, and probably can’t be, run through. I’ve been lucky enough until recently to have no knee problems, but when I started playing basketball and running again it’s started to hurt in a way that I knew wasn’t just something that would go away, so I got a knee brace to run in and it’s helped.

If you have something you’re worried about, visiting a doctor might not be a bad idea. Better safe than sorry.

5. Set aside time for working out and be consistent. If you want to work out at night, make sure you have that block of time set aside so that you can do it. 

Consistency is important. It gets easier the more you do it.

Also, running at 4 in the afternoon is probably the worst time to run during the summer. It’s the hottest point of the day, so if you’re in a place like Utah or Arizona, go when it’s not so hot.

6. Find a good pace for running. You want to run at a pace that you can still speak, but you aren’t able to have a flowing conversation. If you are having a hard time even talking to a person that you would be running with, slow it down a little. It’s important not to try to do too much too fast, that’s an easy way to get an injury.

7. Doing a warm up jog and then stretching is the best way to do it. From what I’ve researched, stretching before you’ve even done anything doesn’t really do much. Make sure your body is warmed up and then stretch. When you finish, do a cool down jog. Stretching after a workout is a great idea as well, if you have the time.

8. Walking during a run is better than stopping. If you’re in pain or need a minute to catch your breath, don’t feel bad about walking. Just don’t stop and stand there. Or lay down. Keep moving.

Also when finishing a run, it’s better to gradually slow down than to just stop immediately. If you want to push it to the end of your run then jog a little extra to end it, that’s fine.

9. Your form when you run should be natural. Don’t do the “farmer run” by swinging your arms across your chest. They should be at about a 90-degree angle and should stay that way. It’s hard to explain without seeing, but check this out for a good guide.

10. Make sure you’re drinking water throughout the day, also after working out and during even you’ll want to make sure you get some Gatorade or a sports drink to get your electrolytes back. Water is great, but it doesn’t do everything.

11. For strength exercises, do things like sit ups, push-ups, side planks. Make sure to work out your lower back by doing reverse sit ups and reverse crunches.

12. Here's the official Runner's World beginning-running program. It will get you to 20 minutes of easy running in just 10 weeks.

Remember: You must repeat the basic workout three to four times per week.
If you're starting from a low fitness level, we recommend you begin with several weeks of walking for 20 to 30 minutes at a time before attempting Week 1. Also, if you have not exercised for a long time, are overweight, or have existing or family health problems, see your physician before you begin this program.

Week	Run	Walk	Repeat	Total Time
1	1 min	2 min	7x	21 min
2	1 min	1 min	10x	20 min
3	2 min	1 min	7x	21 min
4	3 min	1 min	5x	20 min
5	4 min	1 min	4x	20 min
6	6 min	1 min	3x	21 min
7	9 min	1 min	2x	20 min
8	12 min	1 min	Then run 7 min	20 min
9	15 min	1 min	Then run 4 min	20 min
10	20 min	Leap for joy		20 min

13. I’m not the biggest fan of the above thing, but if you haven’t really done anything for a while, it can be a great start. Like I said before, you should know your body better than I do.

14. What I might suggest doing is something like running 3-4 times a week. 20 mins, 35 mins, 20 mins, 25 mins. Just at an easy pace. Once you’ve gotten comfortable you can increase the times and intensities, but the goal is just getting out there and doing something.

This is kind of what I could think of off the top of my head. Nike and Runners World have some great tools you can use to set up a training schedule as well. I use Nike+ because you can create a custom schedule, depending on what you’re training for and your level.

A great way to set a goal is to sign up for a race. I’m planning on doing this race in September for those of you who want to join in or who want to come watch. Should be exciting.