More flash fiction

 It's goes like this:

Nod, smile, nod, look away.

He was telling me about mountain hiking up the Himalayas. His voice robotic, and mixed with flat facial expressions. He told me that he works for Intel as a Software Engineer.

"They have yaks that help transport your equipment, bags, and gear." He pointer finger slid through photos of his epic trip on his slate gray iPhone.  "But once the yaks start crossing the bridges, if you are on the other side, you have to wait for them to pass through. There is no other room for another person to pass through the opposite way," he said as he narrated the photos.

The photos were breathtaking - a sign of living life to the fullest amid the backdrop of bright colors of scenes of a foreign country, a far away land.

Would I do something like this? I thought to myself. Me, one who only travels once a year, and only a 7 hour road trip away to see immediate family in LA, near Koreatown for Christmas every year. I should be more daring, take more risks, be adventurous. Maybe next year.

But COVID has changed my life. Fifteen months of shelter in place, alone, working remotely in a one-bedroom apartment. It's only 550 square feet. But I started to become soothed by my lonely apartment living. I felt comforted by my blankets when I awoke each morning in my nest of blankets, and soft pillow top mattress. Then eating home cooked meals for lunch and a simple dinner at night. Along with a solid budding exercise routine, I felt in a groove, a healthy one at that.

But what would it take for me to take more adventures? And fly to distant lands and trek across mountain tops? Now that the vaccine has been rolled out to most adults, some saying it's the end of the pandemic, and normal life slowly coming back, I could do it, I, too, could mountain climb the Himalayas.

But maybe I'll start traversing outside my apartment first.