The Brighter Side of Life

私は札幌のスキー所へ行ったときにたいそう不平を言った。そのときにいたことが大変でした。今から一日柔に一つだけたいそう不平を言う。　

Once again, I seemed to have ruined a whole day for myself through my bad attitude, short temper, and unrealistically high expectations. I took a Friday afternoon in Sapporo to go skiing. But being as lazy as I am, I slept in and didn’t get around to skiing until about 10:00 or 10:30 in the morning. I got to the station and went to a tourist information center to find information about local ski resorts. They directed me to a Japan Railways counter that sold day-long ski packages that included transportation, rentals, and everything. As I did not have my skis with me, I thought the prices were quite reasonable. I asked them about the transit schedule, as the place I was most interested in going would require a train trip and a bus trip. They said the next train would leave in 10 minutes (which I thought was perfect) and that there were many buses from the train station. I would only have to buy one ticket for everything.

So I got on the train, which took until about 12:20. I got to the station and looked for the bus, but it was nowhere to be found. I finally asked about the schedules, and indeed there were several buses to the area every hour, but also a 2 hour break which I had arrived just in time for. I wasn’t able to get on a bus until 2:00. Needless to say, I was quite angry.

In retrospect I suppose I have only myself to blame (and a misleading saleswoman), but I was so incensed that I could hardly think straight. Perhaps I should have gotten out of bed and left earlier. Perhaps I should have double checked with the misleading saleswoman and insisted on an accurate bus schedule. Regardless of my part in the fiasco, I still felt like the woman committed a big lie of omission.

The worst part was, I let it ruin the rest of my day. I allowed little things that would normally be a minor irritation during a day of skiing turn into fully blown outrageous travesties. My goggles were clouding up, the skis didn’t suit me. But thinking back, from the point I arrived, nothing was quite so terrible that it should have ruined the rest of my day. But I allowed it to do so. Not once did I consider myself lucky enough to be able to travel and ski in a beautiful location with spectacular views of Sapporo. Nor did I consider all the other things God and everyone else blesses me with. I had a roof over my head that night courtesy of a Philippine graduate student from Couchsurfing.com. I was meeting good friends that evening to feast on Sapporo’s famous seafood (the crab was especially delicious). I could only obsess about several irritating things that are simply a part of living life and just sometimes come with a day on the slopes. When did my expectations from life get so high?

So, from this day forward, I hereby resolve to complain about only one thing every day. After I decide what that is, I will no longer complain about anything else that day. This is my new policy. Eventually I will reduce it to one thing every weekday, then once or twice a week, and finally once a week and once a month. If you hear me complaining too much, let me know!