own individual, stubborn, uncooperative, often self-centered nature that still doubts itself—that, when
troubles occur, tries to find something funny, or something nearly funny, about the situation. I’ve
carried this character around like an old suitcase, down a long, dusty path. I’m not carrying it because
I like it. The contents are too heavy, and it looks crummy, fraying in spots. I’ve carried it with me because
there was nothing else I was supposed to carry. Still, I guess I have grown attached to it. As you
might expect.
So here I am training every day for the Murakami City Triathlon in Niigata Prefecture. In other words,
I’m still lugging around that old suitcase, most likely headed toward another anticlimax. Toward a
taciturn, unadorned maturity—or, to put it more modestly, toward an evolving dead end.