The Diary of Henry Reed: TARA 2 Episode Five

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!!!!!



Hey Guys,

This race moves so incredibly fast that it'll blow your mind. You go to so many different places so quickly that it's easy to forget what day it is. But the race also moves very slow .... especially when you're under pressure and stress .... just finding a cab sometimes feels like it takes days. It's a crazy time!!

Just finished Episode 5 and again .... a bit stressful for Team Nine Deuce but let me back track a bit to New Zealand, my happy place .. heh, heh, heh. That place was really incredible and wait'll you get a load of this luck.

Every once in awhile during the race, we get a "rest day." Totally off camera and just some time to chill. We kinda get treated like celebs for a second or two. Incredibly, the rest day was on my birthday and Terri told the production people so we had a cake and I got congrats from the other 6 teams still there. It was very nice and kinda emotional form me. There was some shit going on in my head at that time that was opening up the water works way too often. Believe it or not, it's still kinda happening. I figure that if I'm still crying for "no reason" by the time I'm 50, I may have to really get some help.

But the great part was we got to go to this crazy adventure park where they had those Agrojet boat and the tight course like you see on ESPN. And this time, we got to be passengers and we had a professional driver. It was AMAZING!! Those things really fly. You're screaming down this narrow path toward the bank and certain death when ZIP!!! That boat makes a 90 degree turn at full speed and you're off down another path ... it was some of the most fun I've ever had with my clothes on! Heh, heh, heh. Check out their site ....

http://www.agrojet.co.nz/Agrojet/Welcome_IDL=1_IDT=1733_ID=10206_.html

At that park, they also had this crazy sleeping bag of death swingy thingy. You and two of your soon to be closest friends get strapped in this sleeping bag. A huge crane pulls you up and then drops you in the death arc! Lots of adrenalin and internal screams. I was too scared to let the sound out!


They also had one of those skydiving simulators where you're in the webbed suit over a HUGE fan and you get to fly. Terri was really good at it .... Marc and Rovilson were too but those freaks are good at everything!

Next we got to see a sheep exhibit. You wouldn't think it'd be that interesting but it really was. I had no idea there were so many different kinds of sheep. Must have been 20 or 30 different types, each bred for different purposes, wool, temperatures and all kinds of other stuff. Very nice. We finished the day at a natural hot springs spa. Truly, one of the best days of my life. Hopefully, at the wrap party, we'll get some pics and video of the rest day ...

Now back to the race .... the flight to Tokyo was an equalizer so we're all even again. The editing kinda makes it seem like I hate Japan. I think I need to explain that a little. I've been all over the world in my Navy career and Japan is one of my least favorite places for totally selfish reasons. It's very hard to navigate because unlike most places in the world that sorta need English to survive, Japan is strong and independent enough to not really need English. And there are many facets of Japanese culture that are complicated and impossible for a foreigner to understand. There are places in Japan where signs out front ... in English ... will tell you that Americans are not allowed. Not the most welcoming place on the planet for reasons I don't understand. So anyway ....

In Tokyo, we spent hour after stress filled hour just trying to find places. Those girls in the maid uniforms took hours and some close encounters with Japanese security guards to try and find. I thought they looked like uniforms that might be worn in a restaurant or something so that's sorta where we were looking. It was REALLY bad. Lot's of screaming!!!

We even managed to fight about how hard the rickshaw guy was working. I was thinking the rickshaw was balanced so that there was less weight on the runner when he was in the running position. Terri was of the mind to have the guy put it down and get off each time we stopped to ask directions. That's where my comment ... "this guy is in better shape than me" came from. I wanted her to see that this was this guys job and he was not in physical duress by hauling us around ...

Before the Ice House Road Block, the amplifying instructions in the clue warned that after you got the right city, you should probably jumble the letters again so that another team didn't see the correct answer. I was lucky as hell 'cause Vanessa only flipped one of her blocks when she got the right city so I got the first 3 and only had to try a few more times to get the last one. Those blocks could be arranged in ANY order and they would come out sounding like a city in Japan. It was a nightmare for me and I was VERY, VERY lucky that Vanessa was there. Otherwise, well ... it just wouldn't have been pretty. If pressed, I could come up with a formula to determine the number of possible combinations using factorials but just trust me, it's a butt ton!!!

After an incredibly stressful day in Tokyo, all of us ended up in the same place at the bullet train terminal. And since it was hours before the next train to FU-KU-O-KA, we all ended up sleeping on the train station floor with the other homeless in Japan. But I gotta hand it to the Japanese, they have the cleanest, best dressed bums in the world!!! It was amazing!!!

Not sure how long we're gonna stay in Japan but I was ready to leave when I first opened the clue in New Zealand.

I miss the English language ... which reminds me of a great joke Terri told me once ...and it sorta helps me appreciate people in different parts of the world and not judge so harshly ...

What do you call someone that speaks 2 languages? ... bi-lingual. 3 languages? .... tri-lingual. What do you call someone that only speaks 1 language? . American. So even with all the personal problems I have with Japan, I understand that as real as they may be for me, they are rooted in my own ignorance and inability to understand the Japanese culture and has very little to do with them as a people.

Holla later,

Henry