Making adjustments

Why is it that I feel down in the dumps today? I should be feeling exhilarated and fully charged, on a high after coming back from a fun-filled trip to Kuala Lumpur, but instead I feel totally exhausted and rather disoriented.

It is as though my body is unwinding itself down. Fun though my stay may be, I experienced lots of tension in the last nine days, both mentally and physically. Although I felt very tired last night, I couldn't fall asleep until after midnight. Worse, it wasn't a deep slumber at all. By four o'clock, I was half awake. I'm feeling a lot of body aches this morning and my wife says my mind is still not home.

I suppose it is true. I'm still thinking of my games: moping about the games which I could have played better. But I can't really complain, not after having withdrawn from local competitions three years ago. After all, writing about chess is different from playing the game itself. But it is nice to get back into a playing mode, even though this particular chess adventure had been filled with a lot of chessboard accidents.

Nevertheless, I really need to unwind today. Perhaps I'll try and go up the hill to relax my mind, relax my muscles and basically to clear my head. In truth, I'm glad to be back home. Nine days in Kuala Lumpur may just have been a bit too long this time. Rather unprepared for it.

Update at 1.30pm: Yes, I came down from a short trek at the Bukit Mertajam hill but it was not to my expectation. I just realised that I'm terribly short on exercise. I'm not in good shape. I finished only half of what I wanted to do. I had to retrace my steps down the earth track instead of reaching the tarmac road. I was hit suddenly by a bout of dizziness. My head swam and I had to rest for about half a hour before I recovered sufficiently and decided that this was perhaps enough for today. Not enough oxygen to the brains. Not enough oxygen in the blood. Maybe this was the result of medication I took this morning. I should have fortified myself before climbing. Once I reached the foothill and took a slice of papaya, I felt much better. And you know what? The moment I came home and took the best shower of my life, I feel so refreshed now. So maybe the aborted trek up the hill did me some good after all!