Been a while since my last post.
Not sure what really happened but somehow i didn't really seem to have much to write about. The sad thing is, when life is rolling along un ruffled by 'something different', it may seem comfortable and happy, but the fact is it's boring and doesn't inspire anyone to be creative.
Have you every heard a song, poem or prose saying "oh my life is average to boring and I have nothing exciting to write / sing about"?
Its the disruption to routine that makes for writing. Its getting out of our comfort zones and getting ourselves into situations that make us wriggle with discomfort or glow with happiness; Anything different to the routine, that inspires us to write. Well; at least that's what it takes for me to tap away at this keyboard.
What happened to me? Well; First, I was sent back to school. I kid you not. Three weeks of formal classroom sessions. Averaging 8 hours a day, six days a week. If you do the math, you will see that it adds up-to almost one entire semester (in the US system) of class room time. Anyone who was with me through my time at Ithaca College would probably tell you that, it was more time than I spent in all eight semesters of my undergraduate years in class. I however dispute that, as I was a diligent student as an undergraduate, even though that diligence was not necessarily displayed by my class attendance or towards anything academic.
This time however, things had to be different. For one, I was fifty years old. You can't play truant at fifty can you?
Second, I was being sent by my employers on a very expensive Executive Education Program to one of the worlds leading homes of academia, no less than Dartmouth College, an Ivy League campus situated in Hannover New Hampshire.
Third (and I shock my self as I 'write' this) I really wanted to learn. STOP LAUGHING.
I have come to a stage in my career where I have few choices. Either I learn new tricks and change with the times and handle the challenges of a new world [while learning to handle a younger and very different set of team mates] or I fade away with the dinosaurs of the business world and plonk off towards a 'regulation' retirement, a mediocre golf handicap, and arthritis.
Fuck that.. this boy is going down fighting.
I drove to Hanover with my 'brother in arms' Niranjan AKA Butchchi. We both work for the same group and we had been picked for this course together. While we have been friends from the time we were ten, Niranjan is an almost Medical Doctor, with double Masters Degrees and brains to share among the masses and a very intellectual outlook to life. He loves this stuff. I have gastritis, anxiety attacks and have to clench my butt cheeks at the mere thought of it.
Three weeks of intense eduction, thousands of pages of pre reading and homework every day? Yup. Enough to make a grown man cry. Well... enough to make THIS grown man cry.
Arriving in Hanover on beautiful summers day, I had a warm fuzzy feeling that it would be a great three weeks. Our 'home' was the cozy and comfortable Hanover Inn. A small but luxuriously appointed hotel, with a decent gym and a limited room service option that ended at 10 pm. Across the road from it was the Dartmouth Green and campus and to one side was Murphy's, a pub that was to become a somewhat familiar hang out. There was also the Canoe Club, which was a Bistro / Bar and a scattering of other eateries and boutiques. What I soon realised was our home for the next three weeks was two blocks by two; At best a once horse town; but I suspect that horse left to join the circus, many moons ago. Ithaca NY was a small, quaint College Town, but this made Ithaca look like Gotham City in comparison.
I will spare you the tedious detail and cut to scene two.
We are in a class room of a forty executive students, mostly from the US but a few from Japan, a couple from Saudi Arabia, an Indian, a Columbian and the two of us Sri Lankans.
Among the Americans were several military and ex military folks thrown in for good measure.
This mix of people were actually the highlight of the next three weeks. Although I consciously shied away from most of the social activity, more to discipline myself and stay true to a work out and diet plan i had, than and other reason, i did really enjoy the time spent with them. Over the course of time, they did become family of sorts, as would be expected when you throw a mixed bunch into a 'brain bootcamp' like we were a part of.
Five days of accounting started off the course, and I had to keep sharp objects away from myself. I resorted to buttering my bread with a spoon etc, as I was tempted to slash my throat whenever I saw an opportunity I hate accounts and finance and starting off with five FULL days of finance was insane. I enjoyed two hours of this period, and that was when much to my relief (not that i give a rats ass about soccer) we were allowed to break away from debits and credits to watch the world cup final. I personally hate soccer but given that the option was accounts I was thrilled. Truth is given a chance, I would have watched the knitting club take on the crochet club in darts, rather than sit in accounts class.
Thankfully we never saw the finance guys again, barring a social event later on in the program. I stayed well away from them.
The course picked up momentum post the 'big yawn', and while we did have some great faculty spend time with us, there was a low point when the Former Governor of New Hampshire was brought in as a guest speaker. Seriously??? The Former... well. you know.
In addition, on that day I got the sad news that a dear friend and someone I respected immensely had passed away. The net result was I got up and walked out of his 'enthralling' monologue, opting to skip the evenings 'event' with Mr personality as well.
The highlight of it all was a great session with Marshall Goldsmith. Google him. He is a legend. He is considered the guru in leadership and an amazing speaker. A sprightly and fit looking man in his late sixties he has an amazing ability to hold an audience and hit home with some sensitive messages that make you seriously sit up and think.
Check out his web site as well. He has free access to all his material and its well worth your while bookmarking those pages.
All in all, the three weeks passed quite quickly. I stuck to my plan of working out everyday, Butchchi and I became the 'darlings' of the only Chinese restaurant and Only Indian restaurants in town and sadly it was only on our final night there that we discovered the only restaurant that stayed open beyond 10pm within a twenty mile radius.
We also made some great friends among the participants and the faculty and i am sure we will continue to stay in touch with reunions planned periodically in various parts of the US.
I left the program a day early to get back home in time to attend the 50th Birthday Bash of my College group. The Royal College Group of 82. We had two tables of ten, which meant 10 couples of my old friends and Sharya and Sachin with their girlfriends. There were also a whole bunch of my class mates and friends at the dance, many of whom had gathered from around the world. It was great to see former team mates from the various sports I had been fortunate to be a part of, and friends who had been in class with me from the time we were 6, all gathered to celebrate this event that was brilliantly organised by my dear friend Ashan Abeysundere and his team. An excellent evening was had by all and considering that we wobbled home at way past sunrise, its fare to say, the old boys can still party like teenagers.
The next big thing for us was participating in the CCC1333 ride around Sri Lanka. Well; we didn't do the entire ride but joined the riders from Colombo to Chilaw, took a break for work and other commitments and rejoined the riders in Trincomalee to ride to Batticaloa and then on to ArugamBay. Having already done the ATP ride around the country, I guess we had our biases how things should have been done.
When we joined the group in Trinco I was amazed to see them all playing a rather vigorous game of soccer and then onto play Volleyball and then into that spool for a swim. As I recall, at the end of the day (during ATP), the only energy I could muster up is for a nap, a cold beer or two and then another nap. These guys were crazy energetic. This however took its toll as the next day we had a couple of casualties who were too exhausted to continue.
That evening we joined the group for dinner. I have to say they were very organised and structured in all they did, with a team 'talk' and download of the days events to cap off the evening.
The CCC foundation was set up by Jetha Dewapura who started off with a transit home for Cancer patients in Maharagama and now set up a Suicide Hotline in Colombo. They have done some incredible work and credit goes to him and his team in Australia as well as Sri Lanka for making such an amazing success of this.
His discipline in running things was seen in the ride as well with simultaneous events planned in Australia as well.
Now my next few comments should not be taken amiss by anyone. I am writing this purely in the context of my personal quirks and should in no way be see as criticism. This is more an illustration of how poorly I fare with rules, regulations and orders.
To me the structure of the ride was too rigid. Group riding is never easy but being forced onto formation and not 'allowed' to stretch my legs occasionally meant that to me the ride was painful and irritating. I am not a strong rider by any means, but I do like to have a bit of a 'stretch' now and then to keep the blood pumping. I am also very susceptible to cramps and if I go too slow, its the kiss of death. Every time I tried to move out on my own, even for a brief period, I was greeted by hysterical screeches from the pack of "slow down", "ride with the group", "stay in the pack" etc.... This for me is death. I hate being ordered to do stuff and this got my blood pressure on the boil from the moment we set off.
In addition, the fact that the ride would start very late meant that although the cause was awesome, the organisation was awesome and the riders were a really super lot, I was extremely pleased that I had not opted to ride more than a few days in total. It was just too 'boy scout' for me. I half expected to be told to kneel in a corner for disobeying commands.
One of the toughest stretches on the ride was the approach to ArugamBay. The late departure, the lengthy stops and the slow average speed meant we rolled into the surrounding plains in forty plus degree temps with howling cross winds. I recall these same winds (at least the intensity) when we rode in from the other direction, while on ATP. The air is hot, the blowing strong and across, and it's had to stay on the bike leave alone keep any momentum. I was very impressed by the tenacity of most of the riders who battled into it. Especially the only (full distance) lady rider Erica. She was also one of the few riders who completed 100% of the ride. I was [by this time] quite surprised by how many of the 'full distance' bunch were happily chucking their bikes in vans when they felt like it. Some due to genuine injury and sickness but others not. Discomfort to me, on a ride like this is no excuse. No one who takes on a challenge like this should expect it to be easy. I recall many of my fellow ATP riders in acute pain. Pinched nerves, blistered bums, gashed limbs from falls and stiff muscles, but they just motored on through the pain. Not so here. This meant that there were only a handful of riders that completed the ride 100%. Kudos to all though as it was by no means an easy ride and even a day completed deserved credit.
Having 'retired' at Arugambay, Charlene and I treated ourselves to the comfort of a nice Jetwing Hotels bungalow on the beach. The evening was spent driving down to Kumana and enjoying the sights of a beautiful slice of our amazing country. The next morning we headed out after a late breakfast and were very impressed to find that most of the riders had kept a decent pace up the rolling hills to Monaragala. Having stopped to greet and wish the riders, we headed back to Colombo and C and I had a flight to catch the next day for a rather long trip to Canada and the US.
Since this ride my workout program has gone to hell in a bucket. Having got off to a great start in Vancouver, I pulled a calf muscle in LA, recovered, came back to Colombo and popped an achilles tendon and have been reduced to hobbling about on crutches.
This setback has inspired me to take on a new challenge. I want to complete a Triathlon. Olympic length first but who knows after that. I also ( as much as I abhor running) want to run 10k; but that will be another tale..
Not sure what really happened but somehow i didn't really seem to have much to write about. The sad thing is, when life is rolling along un ruffled by 'something different', it may seem comfortable and happy, but the fact is it's boring and doesn't inspire anyone to be creative.
Have you every heard a song, poem or prose saying "oh my life is average to boring and I have nothing exciting to write / sing about"?
Its the disruption to routine that makes for writing. Its getting out of our comfort zones and getting ourselves into situations that make us wriggle with discomfort or glow with happiness; Anything different to the routine, that inspires us to write. Well; at least that's what it takes for me to tap away at this keyboard.
What happened to me? Well; First, I was sent back to school. I kid you not. Three weeks of formal classroom sessions. Averaging 8 hours a day, six days a week. If you do the math, you will see that it adds up-to almost one entire semester (in the US system) of class room time. Anyone who was with me through my time at Ithaca College would probably tell you that, it was more time than I spent in all eight semesters of my undergraduate years in class. I however dispute that, as I was a diligent student as an undergraduate, even though that diligence was not necessarily displayed by my class attendance or towards anything academic.
This time however, things had to be different. For one, I was fifty years old. You can't play truant at fifty can you?
Second, I was being sent by my employers on a very expensive Executive Education Program to one of the worlds leading homes of academia, no less than Dartmouth College, an Ivy League campus situated in Hannover New Hampshire.
Third (and I shock my self as I 'write' this) I really wanted to learn. STOP LAUGHING.
I have come to a stage in my career where I have few choices. Either I learn new tricks and change with the times and handle the challenges of a new world [while learning to handle a younger and very different set of team mates] or I fade away with the dinosaurs of the business world and plonk off towards a 'regulation' retirement, a mediocre golf handicap, and arthritis.
Fuck that.. this boy is going down fighting.
I drove to Hanover with my 'brother in arms' Niranjan AKA Butchchi. We both work for the same group and we had been picked for this course together. While we have been friends from the time we were ten, Niranjan is an almost Medical Doctor, with double Masters Degrees and brains to share among the masses and a very intellectual outlook to life. He loves this stuff. I have gastritis, anxiety attacks and have to clench my butt cheeks at the mere thought of it.
Three weeks of intense eduction, thousands of pages of pre reading and homework every day? Yup. Enough to make a grown man cry. Well... enough to make THIS grown man cry.
Arriving in Hanover on beautiful summers day, I had a warm fuzzy feeling that it would be a great three weeks. Our 'home' was the cozy and comfortable Hanover Inn. A small but luxuriously appointed hotel, with a decent gym and a limited room service option that ended at 10 pm. Across the road from it was the Dartmouth Green and campus and to one side was Murphy's, a pub that was to become a somewhat familiar hang out. There was also the Canoe Club, which was a Bistro / Bar and a scattering of other eateries and boutiques. What I soon realised was our home for the next three weeks was two blocks by two; At best a once horse town; but I suspect that horse left to join the circus, many moons ago. Ithaca NY was a small, quaint College Town, but this made Ithaca look like Gotham City in comparison.
I will spare you the tedious detail and cut to scene two.
We are in a class room of a forty executive students, mostly from the US but a few from Japan, a couple from Saudi Arabia, an Indian, a Columbian and the two of us Sri Lankans.
Among the Americans were several military and ex military folks thrown in for good measure.
This mix of people were actually the highlight of the next three weeks. Although I consciously shied away from most of the social activity, more to discipline myself and stay true to a work out and diet plan i had, than and other reason, i did really enjoy the time spent with them. Over the course of time, they did become family of sorts, as would be expected when you throw a mixed bunch into a 'brain bootcamp' like we were a part of.
Five days of accounting started off the course, and I had to keep sharp objects away from myself. I resorted to buttering my bread with a spoon etc, as I was tempted to slash my throat whenever I saw an opportunity I hate accounts and finance and starting off with five FULL days of finance was insane. I enjoyed two hours of this period, and that was when much to my relief (not that i give a rats ass about soccer) we were allowed to break away from debits and credits to watch the world cup final. I personally hate soccer but given that the option was accounts I was thrilled. Truth is given a chance, I would have watched the knitting club take on the crochet club in darts, rather than sit in accounts class.
Thankfully we never saw the finance guys again, barring a social event later on in the program. I stayed well away from them.
The course picked up momentum post the 'big yawn', and while we did have some great faculty spend time with us, there was a low point when the Former Governor of New Hampshire was brought in as a guest speaker. Seriously??? The Former... well. you know.
In addition, on that day I got the sad news that a dear friend and someone I respected immensely had passed away. The net result was I got up and walked out of his 'enthralling' monologue, opting to skip the evenings 'event' with Mr personality as well.
The highlight of it all was a great session with Marshall Goldsmith. Google him. He is a legend. He is considered the guru in leadership and an amazing speaker. A sprightly and fit looking man in his late sixties he has an amazing ability to hold an audience and hit home with some sensitive messages that make you seriously sit up and think.
Check out his web site as well. He has free access to all his material and its well worth your while bookmarking those pages.
All in all, the three weeks passed quite quickly. I stuck to my plan of working out everyday, Butchchi and I became the 'darlings' of the only Chinese restaurant and Only Indian restaurants in town and sadly it was only on our final night there that we discovered the only restaurant that stayed open beyond 10pm within a twenty mile radius.
We also made some great friends among the participants and the faculty and i am sure we will continue to stay in touch with reunions planned periodically in various parts of the US.
I left the program a day early to get back home in time to attend the 50th Birthday Bash of my College group. The Royal College Group of 82. We had two tables of ten, which meant 10 couples of my old friends and Sharya and Sachin with their girlfriends. There were also a whole bunch of my class mates and friends at the dance, many of whom had gathered from around the world. It was great to see former team mates from the various sports I had been fortunate to be a part of, and friends who had been in class with me from the time we were 6, all gathered to celebrate this event that was brilliantly organised by my dear friend Ashan Abeysundere and his team. An excellent evening was had by all and considering that we wobbled home at way past sunrise, its fare to say, the old boys can still party like teenagers.
The next big thing for us was participating in the CCC1333 ride around Sri Lanka. Well; we didn't do the entire ride but joined the riders from Colombo to Chilaw, took a break for work and other commitments and rejoined the riders in Trincomalee to ride to Batticaloa and then on to ArugamBay. Having already done the ATP ride around the country, I guess we had our biases how things should have been done.
When we joined the group in Trinco I was amazed to see them all playing a rather vigorous game of soccer and then onto play Volleyball and then into that spool for a swim. As I recall, at the end of the day (during ATP), the only energy I could muster up is for a nap, a cold beer or two and then another nap. These guys were crazy energetic. This however took its toll as the next day we had a couple of casualties who were too exhausted to continue.
That evening we joined the group for dinner. I have to say they were very organised and structured in all they did, with a team 'talk' and download of the days events to cap off the evening.
The CCC foundation was set up by Jetha Dewapura who started off with a transit home for Cancer patients in Maharagama and now set up a Suicide Hotline in Colombo. They have done some incredible work and credit goes to him and his team in Australia as well as Sri Lanka for making such an amazing success of this.
His discipline in running things was seen in the ride as well with simultaneous events planned in Australia as well.
Now my next few comments should not be taken amiss by anyone. I am writing this purely in the context of my personal quirks and should in no way be see as criticism. This is more an illustration of how poorly I fare with rules, regulations and orders.
To me the structure of the ride was too rigid. Group riding is never easy but being forced onto formation and not 'allowed' to stretch my legs occasionally meant that to me the ride was painful and irritating. I am not a strong rider by any means, but I do like to have a bit of a 'stretch' now and then to keep the blood pumping. I am also very susceptible to cramps and if I go too slow, its the kiss of death. Every time I tried to move out on my own, even for a brief period, I was greeted by hysterical screeches from the pack of "slow down", "ride with the group", "stay in the pack" etc.... This for me is death. I hate being ordered to do stuff and this got my blood pressure on the boil from the moment we set off.
In addition, the fact that the ride would start very late meant that although the cause was awesome, the organisation was awesome and the riders were a really super lot, I was extremely pleased that I had not opted to ride more than a few days in total. It was just too 'boy scout' for me. I half expected to be told to kneel in a corner for disobeying commands.
One of the toughest stretches on the ride was the approach to ArugamBay. The late departure, the lengthy stops and the slow average speed meant we rolled into the surrounding plains in forty plus degree temps with howling cross winds. I recall these same winds (at least the intensity) when we rode in from the other direction, while on ATP. The air is hot, the blowing strong and across, and it's had to stay on the bike leave alone keep any momentum. I was very impressed by the tenacity of most of the riders who battled into it. Especially the only (full distance) lady rider Erica. She was also one of the few riders who completed 100% of the ride. I was [by this time] quite surprised by how many of the 'full distance' bunch were happily chucking their bikes in vans when they felt like it. Some due to genuine injury and sickness but others not. Discomfort to me, on a ride like this is no excuse. No one who takes on a challenge like this should expect it to be easy. I recall many of my fellow ATP riders in acute pain. Pinched nerves, blistered bums, gashed limbs from falls and stiff muscles, but they just motored on through the pain. Not so here. This meant that there were only a handful of riders that completed the ride 100%. Kudos to all though as it was by no means an easy ride and even a day completed deserved credit.
Having 'retired' at Arugambay, Charlene and I treated ourselves to the comfort of a nice Jetwing Hotels bungalow on the beach. The evening was spent driving down to Kumana and enjoying the sights of a beautiful slice of our amazing country. The next morning we headed out after a late breakfast and were very impressed to find that most of the riders had kept a decent pace up the rolling hills to Monaragala. Having stopped to greet and wish the riders, we headed back to Colombo and C and I had a flight to catch the next day for a rather long trip to Canada and the US.
Since this ride my workout program has gone to hell in a bucket. Having got off to a great start in Vancouver, I pulled a calf muscle in LA, recovered, came back to Colombo and popped an achilles tendon and have been reduced to hobbling about on crutches.
This setback has inspired me to take on a new challenge. I want to complete a Triathlon. Olympic length first but who knows after that. I also ( as much as I abhor running) want to run 10k; but that will be another tale..
