The year started in Bali<\/a>, as we spent the New Year on the beaches and in the cafes in warm, tropical weather. \u00a0Once we got back from the trip we went right back to work, and kept busy through most of the year. \u00a0In the summer we were able to knock three countries off our list of must-see destinations, and spent a little more than two weeks in Turkey, Spain and Greece. \u00a0Every time we go to Europe we have a great time, and this was no exception. \u00a0However this time was a little less structured than usual, and a hiccup in Santorini was a real test of our stress-busting skills. \u00a0As usual, as soon as we got home the not-so-great experiences became great stories, and we’ve got nothing but good memories from the trip.<\/p>\nI recently locked down my career for another year, which means that is time to start thinking about where to go in 2014. \u00a0Kuniko is in the middle of an uncertain period in her career, so we’ll have to keep an eye on that situation before making solid plans. \u00a0I’d guess that this year we’ll probably spend more time in Asia – we want to go to Hong Kong, Taiwan and South Korea for sure – those are weekend trips. \u00a0A big trip might not happen this year, but if it does we’ll have to figure out where we’d like to go. \u00a0Next Christmas Thailand is calling our name – you just can’t beat walking around in December in shorts and sandals eating delicious Thai food and getting massages all day. \u00a0Hopefully the political situation will have settled down there by December next year.<\/p>\n
Work<\/strong><\/p>\nAs I mentioned before, my work is set for the next year. \u00a0Last year was a pretty busy one for me, and recently I’ve been asked to teach some extra classes (for extra money) before my usual work day starts. \u00a0For the past few years we’ve been getting up every day at 4:30 a.m., which sounds brutal at first, but is something you quickly get used to. \u00a0My company recently got some (very) big contracts in the USA, and so I can clearly see a need for more English training. \u00a0For the time being, it looks like I have some job security. \u00a0The steady salary and great benefits are really nice, and I feel like I’m starting to become a fixture at the office. \u00a0There are also some intangible benefits to working for a huge company.<\/p>\n
Kuniko’s work is more in flux, and I can’t go into it much here. \u00a0But this year will be an important year for her whatever happens.<\/p>\n
Health<\/strong><\/p>\nFor most of this year I exercised less than before. \u00a0I hiked once a week during the spring and autumn, but the summers here are brutal and it is hard to go out in that humidity and exercise. \u00a0After a warning from the doctor during my company health check, I decided to go out and get an exercise bike and just make a habit of using it. \u00a0So far, I’ve gotten some pretty good results, and I feel much better every day. \u00a0I also got my appetite back. \u00a0Before exercising so much I felt like I was never hungry – now I definitely know when it is time to eat. \u00a0I’ve only been biking for the past month or two, but I’m looking forward to the result after winter is over.<\/p>\n
Kuniko has a lot of stress at work, and this year it manifested itself in some health problems that put her in the hospital for a couple of days. \u00a0She missed out on her school trip to New Zealand, and I think the experience really opened up her eyes to what she puts up with at work week after week. \u00a0Lately she’s been changing small things about how she deals with situations at work, and hopefully that will result in better results down the road. \u00a0We don’t want to go through another hospital visit in the near future.<\/p>\n
———————-<\/strong><\/p>\nSo that’s a quick wrap-up of last year, and I’m looking forward to some new adventures next year. \u00a0We’ve had a great run with lots of good luck since we’ve been married, and we both know that sooner or later that wheel will turn and we’ll have to get through some hard times. \u00a0For now, we’re just enjoying our time in the sun, and saving away some funds in case the rain decides to come our way.<\/p>\n
Now, off to California…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
…of this year, unless my plane goes down today and then it is a totally perfect title. \u00a0I have a rare amount of free time today before we fly out to San Francisco this evening, so I figured I’d sit down and blog a bit. \u00a0This trip is the first to California in three years, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2766","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pOpl7-IC","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bryan.fredricks.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2766","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bryan.fredricks.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bryan.fredricks.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bryan.fredricks.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bryan.fredricks.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2766"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bryan.fredricks.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2766\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bryan.fredricks.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2766"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bryan.fredricks.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2766"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bryan.fredricks.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2766"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}