ONE UPism

with all this talk of the olympics, phelps, the juggaknot chinese team, and medal counts, thoughts of competition has crept into my daily conversations. (note: the recent discussion among my fellow teachers about competitive monopoly and ultra laser tag.) most of these things i've never felt the need to join in on, nor have i had the burning desire to beat my advisaries into the ground buying up hotels and utility works. nevertheless, i do believe that most people try to find something to be good at... nay... BETTER at. for me it was speaking japanese and traveling.

early on a friend from grad school, who we'll call SLIM, easily squashed my hopes of becoming the local japanese champion. at best compared to him, i could only be a mediocre speaker with a slight pronunciation problem. SLIM, by the way, was a 3 time jepardy champion. i can barely pass the multiple choice written driving test at the DMV.

up until recently, i had the world of airplanes, backpacking, and hosteling under my belt. 30 countries (my wife thinks it's 20). nearly all the continents except for that big, white melty one down south. this topic comes up at family gatherings or casual conversations among our colleagues, contemporaries and constituents, and people are wowed. then 10 minutes pass, someone brings out pictures of their new baby or SUV and the topic changes. no love lost there.

this week i was one upped majorly.