Day S4: Ending on a High Note

July 15, 2024

There was time to walk over to Santana Row again and do a fitness class, this time at Barry's Bootcamp. The instructor was a lot more chill than the one in Vancouver. He still made our arms and abs burn like hell with his torture that he said was the "good kind".

I had a long chat with him after the class. He explained that not all instructors are like the one I had in Vancouver. If you recall, that guy was a true Gen Z hero, or maybe a zero, who yelled on the microphone 100% of the time. He cranked the music up to the maximum, and said things like "Give me all you fucking got on the treadmills!!!" The instructor I had today was not like this. He said he much rather prefers an ebb and flow. There are times to crank up the intensity and times to tone it down. I told him, "I really appreciate the variety of styles at Barry's. Regardless of which instructor you have, the workout is going to make you fit and give you a body that pleases the ladies. What more can I say." From his body language, I got a sense that he liked men. It didn't matter. We laughed with the shared understanding that we're all equal anyway and he wished me a good day.

Then it was time to walk back to the Airbnb and more or less finish the packing. There wasn't much to do since most already happened yesterday. I made sure to stop off at 7/11 and load up on alcohol which will be needed for an upcoming 15 hour flight halfway across the world to Dubai.

So after all this packing, the hosts walked in and we had a great chat. I wasn't expecting any of this, and they wanted pictures. Pictures it was! Little did they know that I spent an extra two hours in the room after the so-called "check out time". Who cares, really. I did online Google calls after I was supposed to be out of the room. These calls literally changed my life. Soooooooo much took place in those calls. They were like the elephant kicking away the restraints. I'm not saying I solved everything in a hour, goodness knows that's not possible, but so much progress was made it was incredible.

Setting up the panniers for a trial. Things had already been whittled down greatly since the start of the trip in Japan

I asked them if I could leave some small bags at the place while doing a trial bike ride. Prior to that request I had told them all about the new folding bike and the one that was stolen earlier. They said sure, no problem. The two panniers were attached to the racks and then off I rode for an hour.

While riding the bike, I couldn't help but realize how awesome that counselor was who helped me out on the Google call. She was an African American or, now that I'm on the plane to Dubai I can say it: a mighty fine black woman. Not that it really matters anyway, I can say whatever I want since I left the USA already. But she was perhaps the best counselor or life coach that I've had so far on my journey. Well worth the $95, despite all this being online. I would have paid more, she was that good.

Her style was trying to drill down to the bedrock of the beliefs that are no longer serving us. She asked all the right questions. After the first half hour when I opened up and trusted her more, I told her the deeper backstory of all my problems. She then said, "Forget everything I told you earlier. Thanks for keeping it real. We have a lot of work to do, Steve. This is some serious shit you're dealing with honey. My God."

She was a trained counselor with a PhD in Psychology and had never seen a case like mine before. She wasn't angling for a package as well, despite me thinking she would be doing so. Her line of questioning seemed to focus on what's happening in my spirit, as well as my intuition. When I told her, "Don't laugh, but I use my intuition to trade stocks despite my friends thinking like I'm from outer space. I just made $600 on a Trump stock this way even thought I don't support the guy."

She totally applauded that and would keep on saying, "Keep it real bro. Tell me anything that's on your mind. Don't hold back. This is a safe space. I'm a Christian you know, just so we're being transparent." I didn't tell her that I also was a Christian, as much as I question that fact. I just said, "I don't really believe in all this superstitious stuff." I think she got it.

Based on the chats, it was truly life changing. This was one of the few coaches I hired who actually encouraged me. The last guy, as great as he was, mainly focused on the mechanics of how to set and reach goals and not much else. I explained to her, "The thing is, I'll be in Dubai for a couple weeks and not really on the same timezone after this so I don't know how we can schedule more sessions."

She said, "Wow, it's so good that you travel! Don't worry, we can work something out." In that sense, maybe online counseling isn't as negative as I had thought. Certainly not after today.

After all that, I came back from the trial bike ride and finished all the packing. The folding bike somehow easily fit inside the bag despite it never really happening well on prior trips. I then assembled all the other bags and called my Uber. While this happened, the host's wife then said, "Here are your clothes!" I had forgotten all those in the dryer along with my workout bag with the title 'Shanghai United International School' that I always use to put my dirty clothes in. Needless to say I was greatly appreciative! The hosts then wanted pictures.

It was a good thing that I did the laundry after my Barry's class while also doing those life-changing online phone calls. It is simply because I couldn't bear the thought of potential sniffer dogs in Dubai honing in on those stinky clothes like they did at US customs.

After everything was ready and 100% sure that no items were left behind, I bid my most gracious hosts goodbye then called an Uber and cracked open a large can of high-intense alcoholic beverage. It's a really good deal, you can buy two of them for $6.99. The alcohol was so intense I already had a massive buzz after half a can when my Uber driver arrived I guess not eating anything after Barry's would have something to do with that.

This driver was super nice, she was from Mexico and and her car was a bit small but somehow I was able to fit the folding bike inside the trunk. She gave me a massive thumbs up after I fit the bag in. She then asked, "How do you want to go to the airport? Freeway 880 or 110? Is the air conditioning good enough for you in my car?" I said no problem it was excellent and told her freeway 880 based on the advice that my local friend had said earlier. There was absolutely no traffic.

I then finished the rest of the alcohol in the Uber and chilled out. On arrival I was more than 2 hours early for the flight and my driver assisted in helping out with all the small bags. She was a true sweetheart.

At the point she drove off it hit me: here is I was miles away from nowhere at a strange airport with nobody around, alone, scared, and buzzed. I felt strangely helpless for some reason yet empowered at the same time. Then all of a sudden my angel, or an employee from SFO airport wearing a vest came up to me and said, "Do you need a luggage cart?" I told my darling, "No, I don't need that thanks." since I know for sure they charge a fortune to use the carts. But she saw all my stuff and the sheer volume of bags and said, "I'm giving you a cart anyway." I would have given her a massive tip but she wanted none of that, and then she simply walked away. This was astonishing. Angels really do exist.

I then wheeled the luggage cart inside the airport and found a secluded spot in the back where I could plan my next moves. There was tons of time. Before doing anything, I got a bunch of texts from my couple friend in Langley that I had earlier tried to help out last week. I told the husband, "Look bro, your relationship is none of my business. All I can say is that the two of you need to team up, put aside your differences and work towards the common goal of saving $1000 for a starter emergency fund. You can't rely on loans, credit cards, the government, or any other kind of money that is not your income. The first priority is you need to save that money. It's not that $1000 is enough - it isn't. But you need to develop the mental habits to get out of debt and stop relying on it. This is a code red you guys. It is that serious. If you're not going to do that, and if you don't listen to what I say, then don't waste my time because I won't talk to you ever again."

The crazy thing about that text is that it prophesized the future. That couple would later break up in the worst dramatic way possible, and my advice to help the husband out later fell on deaf ears. They did nothing of what I said and I later blocked them both. It all reminds me of the proverb where a dog returns to his vomit and the fool does the same stupid things over and over again.

After smashing out that text, I spent the next half hour re-assembling bags and developing an alcohol system. My checked luggage allowed the bike plus one other bag. I then put the remainder of the alcohol into the checked bag as well as a bunch of other stuff that raised alarm bells with TSA in Seattle earlier. The carry-on was all electronics and clothes.

I then did some reconnassiance to see how long the security line was. Much to my delight it was assessed that it would take less than a couple minutes to get through. At that point, I brought out the second bottle of high intense alcoholic beverage, then chugged it before dropping the bottle in the recycling. I then immediately went through security and not even one bag triggered an alarm. The TSA guy kept telling other people, "For the 8th time, the 9th time, then 10th time, take your shoes off." I gave him the look as if to say I got you bro and said, "Man you must get this every day." He simply shrugged and said yes then off I went through security.

After security I then made a video call with my wife to tell her I was fine and on the way. The only thing next I did was get rid of whatever small change in US dollars and coins I still had and the staff at Peet's Coffee said, "We really appreciate this!"

Once on the flight, I had never seen anything like this before. It was Emirates and the female attendants wore this kind of a half hijab that covered their face and sort of went in a U-shape on their shoulder. They later took it off during the flight, which makes me wonder why they wore that in the US? I joked with one of the flight attendants about all this and she was the first to offer me a beer once the flight took off.

There was some strategy involved with this, because my flight attendant friends tell me their job is specifically to evaluate the passengers when they board the airplane and take notes about their behavior. When it comes to a 15+ hour flight to Dubai, I wanted to make sure I was on their good side, and so far everything was looking like it.

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