Merlion CONTINUED

So, my Merlion experience that I had for the first time in a long time last weekend made me realize something. I realized that the reason I turned into a Merlion this time was much different from the reason I became a Merlion in the past. Usually when I get motion sickness, first I feel; "Oh, my head feels heavy." then "Oh, my stomach doesn't feel right." and then eventually "Oh, I'm starting to feel really sick now'" and then finally I would yell "Oh no, I'm really sick. I can't take this anymore!" and run into the bathroom or to the side of the boat and there you will see me turn into the Merlion.

  But this time, it was completely different. My first symptom was more like; "It feels like acid reflux, my stomach hurts." But what came next was that I started to feel really cold.

  Last Saturday, we had unusual weather throughout Japan where there was snow in many regions which was the latest snowfall ever recorded in the history of the meteorological observatory. In the area around the Osaka Bay was surrounded by 2 kinds of atmospheric pressure so not only was there rough weather but there was also a really drastic temperature drop. I, on top of that, I did not take the weather forecast seriously enough so instead of wearing my thicker Helly Hansen rain poncho, I had on my lighter waterproof poncho that I bought online. But in the the heavy rain, the waterproof poncho one might wear when playing golf was completely useless. Almost instantly my jeans were soaked through and "I'm cold" quickly turned into "I feel like an ice cube'" and in the end, turned into "I think I'm going to die from hypothermia." and then panic set in, I lost my ability to think straight and passed out below deck. While I was going through all this, looking back,  I never felt sick like I normally do when I get motion sickness and even though the only thing I remember feeling at the time was that it was extremely cold, all of a sudden I just got sick and turned into the Merlion. This was definitely a first for me. 

  So in order of what happened; "My stomach is starting to hurt." → "It's so cold." → "I'm freezing." → "I'm so cold I think I'm going to die." → Then all of a sudden  → "Merlion"

  So through this experience I had an epiphany. When in an "I feel sick." vs. "I'm cold." situation, the human body reacts to "I'm cold." In other words, when experiencing both at the same time, feeling cold will outweigh feeling sick so I didn't even realize how sick I really was. 

    So, with that in mind it got me thinking; for example; if you were feeling ticklish and pain at the same time, which would you react to? Your body will probably react to pain over ticklishness. Then how about pain vs funny? If you were watching a really hilarious stand-up comedian while getting a really painful foot massage, what do you think your reaction would be? Does anyone want to give it a try?

  So, that fact that I am having such ridiculous thoughts tells me how hard last weekend's experience was. Hmmm...but I will persevere.

Oh, Umatan-san, thank you for buying my book. Please get my mail magazine too! LOL     

Originally posted by Jiro Shinbo in Japanese on 4/24/2013

Translated by SWIS Project