Friday, 2 May 2008

2008 New Years Resolutions (Finally!)

Yeah, I think my New Years Resolution will be 1024 x 768. Budaboom!

Sorry, bad graphic designer joke.

Seriously though I have made several New Years Resolutions but just haven't really been in the mood to write about them. Before I share though, let's reflect on my 2007 resolutions.

Get to a conversational level in Japanese. Failed though I'm getting closer!
Work out at the gym six days a week. NA I quit the gym but am kicking arse with my next resolution, Make Yoga Today a part of my daily regime. Success! Have been doing Yoga Today almost daily and my body is so different than it was when I started. Seriously I can't recommend this program enough!
Work to live. Don't live to work. 50 / 50 Had a better year. Pass-ish.
Get my sites to a point where I can make at least US$300 a month. Failed Have increased my earnings slightly, especially within the last few months but not exactly in the US$300 a month range. ;)
Relax more. SUCCESS! Just in general I feel a lot more relaxed and pleased with myself since this time last year.

Oooo... didn't do that well did I? Well let's see how I do with my New Years Resolutions for 2008!!!

Get to conversational level in Japan and learn the 2000 or so basic kanji.

Take the Level 2 Japanese Fluency Test. I don't expect to pass it but I'm determined to try to at least see what it's like.

Continue to do Yoga Today daily.

Learn how to surf! Have been wanting to do this for years but have just been putting it off! 2008 is the year!

Learn how to dance! Was really inspired by the swing dance party in Hyde Park in Sydney during the Sydney Festival in January and have decided to start taking lessons! Even found a school in Tokyo! Will start next month sometime.

Learn the shamisen! Am determined to learn how to play this Japanese guitar! Really want to learn the Okinawan sanshin but the odds of finding a teacher in Tokyo is pretty rare.

Learn capoeria! Dance and martial arts! A school near where I live! Sounds good to me!

Save money! Currently I'm aiming to save about 50,000 yen a month (about 500 dollars). I'll really need luck with this one!

More domestic travel! Am determined to get to Osaka, Fukuoka and Sendai!

Quite a few resolutions, huh? This is the year of self improvement. I wonder how I'll do?

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Labels: Capoeria in Japan, fitness, japan, Japanese, new year, Shamisen Lessons in Japan, Surfing in Japan, Swing Dance in Japan, Yoga Today

Tuesday, 31 July 2007

Getting in Shape

Friends will know that I've become a Yoga freak since last December and became such an advocate of it that I decided to quit my hyper expensive gym membership as it was actually keeping my muscles toned and even helping me develop more defined muscles in places I hadn't even thought about (get your mind out of the gutter!).

Recently though I've been trying to add even more weight loss to my routine and came across this cool calorie counter which was pretty easy to use and very effective way to count your calories.

What I loved on that site though is the cool page they have that lets you calculate how much calories burned through different exercises. It took me 5 seconds to see how much I burn each morning with my 60 minutes of Yoga (something I'd never really thought to look up before) and really got me thinking about what I eat for breakfast.

Pretty cool!

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Labels: fitness, internet

Saturday, 2 June 2007

Three Ways NOT to Watch TV in Japan

After the novelty of crazy Japanese game shows, 10 year old girls being portrayed as sex symbols and mindless shows about tv personalities telling you how "oishi" or "sugoi" everything is, most people come to the realisation that there really is nothing interesting on Japanese tv and that they want to get back into watching the shows they miss from back home.

Luckily, being stuck in a country which seems to be in "Hey Hey it's Saturday" mode 24/7 the internet offers several ways to save your sanity.

The first place to check out would be TV Links. There you can watch shows from all around the world. Some old, some online to view 24 hours after they air. Want to get the latest LOST or 24 episode? TV Links is the place to go.

Sick of the Japanese gyms that sound more like a fish market at 7am? Do what I did. Quit your membership, save yourself about 100 bucks and try a free daily exercise video podcast! I found Yoga Today in December 2006 and it's changed my life. Adi, Neesha and Sarah are three professional Yoga instructors based in Wyoming, each with a unique style who offer daily 1 hour Yoga lessons which you can download of the site directly or subscribe via iTunes (which is what I do). The quality is amazing and is great for beginners and experienced Yogis. Give it a try!

The third favourite option of mine is via a new service from the makers of Skype (if you're living overseas and aren't using Skype I can't recommend it enough!) called Joost which claims, and I think it is, the very first online television service which broadcasts shows in TV quality almost instantly! It's like have Pay TV (Cable) on your computer and it's absolutely FREE! Currently it has a handful of channels, my faves being MTV, Lime, IMF Asia and IMF Australia. Warner Bros just signed a deal with them the other day and the thing's still in Beta! Unfortunately because it's in Beta it's open via invite only. Lucky for you I have plenty of invites to give away, so if you're a friend of mine feel free to reply to this post with a comment and I'll email you your Joost invite asap.

Hope people find this post useful. Just because you don't watch tv, doesn't mean you have to be bored!

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Labels: fitness, japan, Joost, tv, Yoga Today

Tuesday, 23 January 2007

Goodbye Gym, Hello Yoga

Well after finding out that I'm really behind in taxes (I'll write a longer post about how fucked up the Japanese tax system is when I have the time) and also finding and using the amazing daily Yoga programs at YogaToday.com and seeing better results than I got from going to the gym, I've decided to not renew my gym membership next month and instead use free Yoga lessons in the comfort of my own home.

I know this sounds like advertising but I'm not getting paid a cent to plug these guys. YogaToday.com is a professionally made hour tv show with a twist... it's made exclusively for the net! Download is free and convenient if you have iTunes (subscribe) and the lessons are informative, fun and give you a Hell of a workout.

It's wierd but I've actually lost weight and gained muscle mass from doing this daily and my headaches and neckpains (that I've had for a few years now) have finally gone!

I was getting a bit sick of being told "GREAT JOB!", "GOOD AFTERNOON!", "THANK YOU!" in Japanese in a high pitched fish market voice every thirty seconds anyway.

Labels: fitness, internet, japan

Tuesday, 2 January 2007

Resolutions

Well it's that time of year again and I think my resolutions are pretty much the same as last year's but with a few new ones thrown in.

Get to a conversational level in Japanese.

Work out at the gym six days a week.

Make Yoga Today a part of my daily regime.

Work to live. Don't live to work.

Get my sites to a point where I can make at least US$300 a month (currently in the US$45 range) via GoogleAdsense, Revver, EmailCash.com.au and other programs. US$1000 a month would be dandy but I think US$300 is a bit more realistic.

Relax more.

Labels: fitness, internet, Japanese, new year, work