かいぐり

突然，こんなのを思い出した。
　　　　　　ちょーち、ちょーち、　
　　　　　　あわ、わ、わ、わ、
　　　　　　かいぐり、かいぐり、
　　　　　　とっとのめ、　　
　　　　　　おつむ、てん、てん
　　　　　　ひじ、ぽん、ぽん。

ぎごちなく体のあちこちを触れてみる，あの楽しい気分も思い出した。　

I just remembered this physical game we teach an infant to do herself/himself:

Chôchi chôchi - Clap, clap with both hands,
Ah-wa, wa, wa, wa - Place a hand over the open mouth repeatedly
Kaiguri, kaiguri - Reel the two hands over each other round and round
Totto no me - Touch left open palm with the right index finger
Otsumu ten ten - Lightly tap the head with two hands
Hiji pon pon - Tap the left elbow with the right hand.

Out of the blue I remembered this rhyme, and even the pleasure of touching different parts of the body when I could do the movements only awkwardly.

Flight for fright 空中戦慄

Since I reached 50, among the things I seriously wanted to try doing but found myself too late for them with the passing of the years, the top item is getting a pilot certificate and fly an old monoplane, after which is buying a motorcycle and riding it around, and then learning the trapeze and high wire art. Once, before reaching 70, I passed by an outdoor circus school along the Hudson River in New York, and, gazing in envy, I thought there is no reason I can't do that but controlled myself with the thought that, if I fell and broke my bones, it will take years to mend. In my childhood, I had poor coordination and had aversion to physical contacts, and in consequence I had distaste for all sports, whether as a participant or as a spectator, but from sometime I came to be drawn to these dares, most likely from the desire for excitement experienced from the dangers of altitude and speed, like the sensation of looking down a deep valley atop a cliff and the thrill of facing a violent wind, something I started to cultivate since I learned to maneuver an automobile in high speed. Now, I have to give up flying, bike riding, and trapeze and satisfy myself with a roller coaster.

五十歳になった頃から、是非試してみたいと思っていながら残念ながら年月経て、遂に手遅れになったものの中、まず第一に飛行操縦の免許をとって、昔の単葉飛行機を飛ばすこと。次に、オートバイを買って乗り廻す事。それから、サーカスの空中ブランコと綱渡りを習うこと。一度、七十歳になる前に、ニューヨークのハドソン河畔で野外のサーカス学校の前を通った時、やって出来ない事はないと見とれてしまいましたが、落ちて挫骨したら治るのに何年も掛かるかなと自制しました。子供の時から、運動神経が鈍く、それに体の接触がいやで、スポーツは全てやるのも見るのも嫌いだったのに、何時の頃から、こう云う向こう見ずなものに憧れるようになったのは、高い所とかスピードから得る危険性に接して昂る興奮を欲するようになったのでしょうか、峠の上から谷間を見下ろす感覚とか、風を切って行くスリルがすきになり、自動車を超スピードで運転出来るようになってから養った興味です。この先は、飛行も、バイクも、ブランコも諦めて、せいぜいローラーコースターで、満足するだけかな。

Night owl sleeps

Only three months ago (8 April, "Night owl") I wrote how I have always managed with 6 hours of sleep every night through my life. Occasionally to make up for the accumulated sleep debt, I would have a night of 8 or 9 hours of sleep. Otherwise if I slept more than 6 hours, I often felt lethargic the next day. But in these three months I started to notice that I get drowsy during the day and sometimes needed a nap in the afternoon. I started to think that perhaps I needed more sleep. At 77, I realized, I am no longer 70, though logically with slower metabolism in advancing age, I should need less sleep than when I was younger. Then, a few days ago I read an article in the July-August Harvard Magazine that, for those workaholics who sleep six or fewer hours a day -- some 16% of the population -- ten hours of sleep at once recharge us but only for a short term and sleep deficit is never recovered. More alarmingly, the Guardian reported recently (5 May, from the journal Sleep) that people who sleep less than six hours a night are 12% more likely to experience a premature death over the period of 25 years (unless one belongs to the population's 3% with a certain inherited genetic mutation). Statistics states generalities which may or may not apply to individual cases. Still, this is a troublesome news to someone like myself who aspires to live to 100. So, I now started to rise later since it it difficult for a hardcore night owl to retire before midnight. After the first night of 8-hour sleep, I found myself alert all afternoon the next day; but after a few nights of almost 8-hours of sleep, I was getting sleepy again right after breakfast. So, we'll see.