I didn't really mean to fool you, but thanks to all the warnings about smoking, I have decided to quit. Actually, I never really started. After those first three cigs, I gave up. Really, though, I thank you for your comments of concern. If only Suk had been half as concerned!
So, after a week of thinking about my "goal" for the next convention and also getting inspired by Christine's conviction to lose weight, I decided to join the bandwagon.
But, first me and my Type A personality had to figure out what my challenges are towards reaching the goal and exactly how I would attempt to pull it off.
First challenge
My irregular, lazy-ass schedule - Ever since we moved, I have not been able to get my ass in gear and I blame it on the following things:
* Cable TV (which we had installed when we moved)
* Max (who needed a lot of attention and also needed to be watched like a hawk)
* Too much school work (though not nearly as much as I used to have)
* The Internet and email (which I check many times per day)
* A very comfortable & inviting sofa (Suk suggested adding this to the list)
Due to all the changes in my life, I sort of fell off the boat. When we moved, it was as if all the things I used to do, like cook well-balanced meals, went right out the window. And it was much easier to watch Max like a hawk while sitting on the sofa with Cable TV on in the background. And, shopping for groceries, much less planning a menu fell by the wayside. And, then comes procrastination, which is a big word that takes just as long to say it as it does to just do the thing you have been procrastinating about.
Procrastination with a capital P
I am not, by nature, a procrastinator. I can think of many people in my life who, in fact, are major procrastinators. However, since I moved, I have fallen into that category. These are the things that I constantly feel guilty about but never do anything about them:
* Studying Japanese/Doing homework for Japanese class
* Starting to eat healthily
* Exercising
* Keeping track of finances
* Practicing piano
* Starting a new project for scrapbooking
* Organizing certain areas of our aparment, such as the walk-in-closet.
So, after careful Type-A analyzation of my goals and challenges, I decided that taking things one hour at a time would work best. Also, "scheduling" rewards in between would probably motivate me to do that which I am supposed to do. One more piece of advice I gave myself was to not expect to do too much in one evening.
Of course, life always gets in the way. You get an unexpected phone call (oh god, that rarely happens nowadays. It's 2006, people!). You have to run an errand. There's a dinner party for work. Aside from that though, if I can kind of keep to a regular schedule, I should be able to achieve more.
Basically, my goal is to leave school at 5pm every evening and get home by 5:30 by minimizing errands that need to be run during the week. Also, I want to get into bed by 11:30, so I can actually read my book for a good 20 minutes before nodding off (rather than the current 2 minutes - 1/2 a page per night - rate that I am at). My other goal is to minimize TV-viewing to one decent show per evening. That means that I can't just sit there and watch X-files for a sake of watching TV, even though I can't stand the show. If I plan my week's menu on Sunday and go grocery shopping for the whole week, that will save time from having to stop by the store during the week, and I'll have more time to actually cook. Finally, I am hoping to fit one useful activity in each evening such as study Japanese, exercise, play piano, or scrapbook a few pages. This is basically what I was doing before we moved, but I got completely off track.
As for rewards, I am allowing myself rewards here and there - TV-viewing, reading a book, surfing the internet, checking email, and OF COURSE playing with Max.
When all is said and done, I am hoping to have lost some weight. And that, folks, would be my ultimate goal here in terms of working towards the next convention. I am not sure if I am going to convince people to sponsor me though. Maybe my mom would since she loves to donate to anything relating to breast cancer.
Monday, June 19, 2006
Tuesday, June 13, 2006
A Failed Experiment
Last weekend, I attended a convention in Kyushu. It was my first time to go to the southern island of Japan, and it was a blast to meet up with people I usually only communicate with over email. The theme of this particular convention was "relaxation", and they encouraged us to relax in every way possible, even if that meant to "drink a lot of wine, sing bad karaoke, and watch four Japanese guys perform hip hop dancing on stage." Aside from that, I did manage to make it to a spa with my friends and had reflexology done on my feet for the very first time.
During the convention, some members of our organization introduced the theme and location of next year's convention with a lot of hoopla. The theme centers on "health" and the convention will take place at a public sports plaza type hotel where there will be many opportunities to "get healthy." Knowing that it takes more than 3 days (the length of an average convention) to get healthy, these particular members asked us to each come up with a personal goal and to track your progress toward that goal until the convention next year. Oh, and we can try to get family members or friends to sponsor us and the money would go for breast cancer research.
On the way home, my friends and I discussed potential goals. Here are some of the goals we came up with:
1. Lose weight (too obvious!)
2. Eat a salad with at least two meals a day (got some raised eyebrows on that one...guess not!)
3. Try not to get a cold between now and next February (yeah, right!)
4. Scrapbook one page a day until next February (not directly related to health, but more to do with mental health)
At home, I thought more about these goals and wondered which one I should choose. Then, just on a whim, I asked my husband what he would say to me or what he would think of me if I were a smoker. He looked right at me and said, "I couldn't care less." Of course, I tried to call him on it. Wouldn't he say, "Smoking is bad for you health. You shouldn't do that to your body. You should quit. What about when you get pregnant, blah, blah, blah?" He denied this, so I told him that I was going to take up smoking then and there.
I won't even get into the part of the story where he protested my use of his cigarettes (Go out and buy your own!) and my asking him to do me a favor and pick some up for me the next day (Since I have never purchased a pack myself and don't even know how or where to buy them!) and him saying that I am really immature (and me thinking that taking up smoking is a rather "adult" thing to do, doncha think?).
What I will say is that I went outside on our balony with a cigarette in hand and lit it. It took about 5 tries to get it lit completely. Then I started smoking, well kind of. It took about 10 tries before I could actually inhale properly. Then, the cigarette broke in half because I was gripping it too hard. I held it together and smoked it to the end anyway.
Here is the clincher. I did what I most hate him to do.
I stood just in front of the open patio door so he could see me in my full glory from his seat on the sofa. I suppose World Cup Soccer was taking most of his attention from the situation at hand, but I know he glanced over a few times. I made sure to exhale directly on the laundry that was hanging there. And, I sloppily flicked my cigarette over the ash can so that ashes could fly every where.
But, immediately, after smoking this one cigarette, I could smell it on my hair, my fingers and my own breath. I thought, wow, this is pretty gross. So, I went inside and sat next to him on the couch and breathed directly in his face while talking to him breathily. "How's the game? What's happening? Who's winning?"
He couldn't have cared less.
Finally, he said, "Wow, your breath stinks," in a flat tone.
I said, "You really think so?"
He said, "Well, that is what you want me to say, right?"
I went outside to smoke another.
Later in the bathtub, without mentioning the next convention or the theme, I told him that I would like to quit smoking by next February. Yes, that would be my goal. Would he like to join me?
Incredulously, he looked me over and said, "You have taken up smoking? And you are going to quit by next February? What are you talking about?"
I repeated my offer for him to join me in quitting by next February.
He said, "I'm getting out. You are being so childish."
After the bath, I went outside to smoke another, and I thought to myself (as I got another whiff of my hair), "Perhaps I need to come up with a different goal. This one is not working."
During the convention, some members of our organization introduced the theme and location of next year's convention with a lot of hoopla. The theme centers on "health" and the convention will take place at a public sports plaza type hotel where there will be many opportunities to "get healthy." Knowing that it takes more than 3 days (the length of an average convention) to get healthy, these particular members asked us to each come up with a personal goal and to track your progress toward that goal until the convention next year. Oh, and we can try to get family members or friends to sponsor us and the money would go for breast cancer research.
On the way home, my friends and I discussed potential goals. Here are some of the goals we came up with:
1. Lose weight (too obvious!)
2. Eat a salad with at least two meals a day (got some raised eyebrows on that one...guess not!)
3. Try not to get a cold between now and next February (yeah, right!)
4. Scrapbook one page a day until next February (not directly related to health, but more to do with mental health)
At home, I thought more about these goals and wondered which one I should choose. Then, just on a whim, I asked my husband what he would say to me or what he would think of me if I were a smoker. He looked right at me and said, "I couldn't care less." Of course, I tried to call him on it. Wouldn't he say, "Smoking is bad for you health. You shouldn't do that to your body. You should quit. What about when you get pregnant, blah, blah, blah?" He denied this, so I told him that I was going to take up smoking then and there.
I won't even get into the part of the story where he protested my use of his cigarettes (Go out and buy your own!) and my asking him to do me a favor and pick some up for me the next day (Since I have never purchased a pack myself and don't even know how or where to buy them!) and him saying that I am really immature (and me thinking that taking up smoking is a rather "adult" thing to do, doncha think?).
What I will say is that I went outside on our balony with a cigarette in hand and lit it. It took about 5 tries to get it lit completely. Then I started smoking, well kind of. It took about 10 tries before I could actually inhale properly. Then, the cigarette broke in half because I was gripping it too hard. I held it together and smoked it to the end anyway.
Here is the clincher. I did what I most hate him to do.
I stood just in front of the open patio door so he could see me in my full glory from his seat on the sofa. I suppose World Cup Soccer was taking most of his attention from the situation at hand, but I know he glanced over a few times. I made sure to exhale directly on the laundry that was hanging there. And, I sloppily flicked my cigarette over the ash can so that ashes could fly every where.
But, immediately, after smoking this one cigarette, I could smell it on my hair, my fingers and my own breath. I thought, wow, this is pretty gross. So, I went inside and sat next to him on the couch and breathed directly in his face while talking to him breathily. "How's the game? What's happening? Who's winning?"
He couldn't have cared less.
Finally, he said, "Wow, your breath stinks," in a flat tone.
I said, "You really think so?"
He said, "Well, that is what you want me to say, right?"
I went outside to smoke another.
Later in the bathtub, without mentioning the next convention or the theme, I told him that I would like to quit smoking by next February. Yes, that would be my goal. Would he like to join me?
Incredulously, he looked me over and said, "You have taken up smoking? And you are going to quit by next February? What are you talking about?"
I repeated my offer for him to join me in quitting by next February.
He said, "I'm getting out. You are being so childish."
After the bath, I went outside to smoke another, and I thought to myself (as I got another whiff of my hair), "Perhaps I need to come up with a different goal. This one is not working."
Tuesday, June 06, 2006
Movie Review
Thanks to those who posted comments answering my questions about American Life. It really helped, and I was able to finish both articles in time for our class tomorrow. Thanks a lot!
Every once in a while, I want to enlighten you with my views and reviews on movies, partly because I am forced to watch so many, but also because some people don't or can't see the movies at the theater, and so they must wonder if some DVDs are worth the rental cost.
The Producers
This is the movie version of a 1960-something musical written by Mel Torme. If you are used to the Andrew Lloyd Weber style musical, you will be in for a surprise when watching this. For the first 10 minutes, I thought we had made a mistake to waste our money on such dribble, but after that, we were thoroughly entertained. For our generation to see a film that pokes fun at the likes of Hitler is definitely a shock to the system. You cannot get any more unPC than this movie. I won't even mention the song about being gay. Oops. Or the songs about Hitler being gay. Oops again.
Rent
Another musical, and I saw them within a week of each other. I had no idea what this story was about except that it took place in NYC and involved a bunch of young people. I will say that it is an emotional story which takes place at the end of the 80's, and it is about 8 artist-type friends who have no money and half of them have AIDS. Apparently, the writer based this story on the original La Boheme. My favorite character was the lesbian lawyer, and it was worth watching just to see her sing. And there was a lot of singing to be had.
The Constant Gardner
Another movie that I knew virtually nothing about before going to see it. The acting is superb, the story even better. A guy marries a woman he has not been dating for long because he gets sent to Africa for work, and she wants to go with him as his wife. She is a very outspoken political activist, but they seem to get along well, until tragedy strikes. Then, her work takes a mysterious turn, and she ends up getting killed. Her husband has lost his trust in her by that time, but decides to go after the truth and find out why she was killed. In finding the true story, he finds himself, and realizes that she really did love him. It is a beautiful love story, not just about their marriage, but also about her passion for helping the people of Africa. I cried throughout the second half of the movie. Have to get the soundtrack also.
On DVD
Butterfly Effect
Whether or not you are an Ashton Kutcher fan, if you like weird, out-of-order movies, you will adore this one. Kutcher is a brilliant as a guy who has a special ability to change his past, which will then affect his future. He keeps going back and forth between a horrible incident that happened in his past and a "new" future, trying to get things just right. He gets so caught up in it that you will too.
Duplex
Starring my ever-favorite Ben Stiller, this movie is about a young married couple who purchase a duplex in NYC and have to deal with their old, decrepid upstairs tenent. She ends up driving them insane to the point that they devise several ways in which to kill her. I wouldn't say this movie is dark, but their duplex sure doesn't get a lot of sunlight. Perhaps that is the basic problem. It is worth watching 'til the end because their is an interesting plot twist.
Every once in a while, I want to enlighten you with my views and reviews on movies, partly because I am forced to watch so many, but also because some people don't or can't see the movies at the theater, and so they must wonder if some DVDs are worth the rental cost.
The Producers
This is the movie version of a 1960-something musical written by Mel Torme. If you are used to the Andrew Lloyd Weber style musical, you will be in for a surprise when watching this. For the first 10 minutes, I thought we had made a mistake to waste our money on such dribble, but after that, we were thoroughly entertained. For our generation to see a film that pokes fun at the likes of Hitler is definitely a shock to the system. You cannot get any more unPC than this movie. I won't even mention the song about being gay. Oops. Or the songs about Hitler being gay. Oops again.
Rent
Another musical, and I saw them within a week of each other. I had no idea what this story was about except that it took place in NYC and involved a bunch of young people. I will say that it is an emotional story which takes place at the end of the 80's, and it is about 8 artist-type friends who have no money and half of them have AIDS. Apparently, the writer based this story on the original La Boheme. My favorite character was the lesbian lawyer, and it was worth watching just to see her sing. And there was a lot of singing to be had.
The Constant Gardner
Another movie that I knew virtually nothing about before going to see it. The acting is superb, the story even better. A guy marries a woman he has not been dating for long because he gets sent to Africa for work, and she wants to go with him as his wife. She is a very outspoken political activist, but they seem to get along well, until tragedy strikes. Then, her work takes a mysterious turn, and she ends up getting killed. Her husband has lost his trust in her by that time, but decides to go after the truth and find out why she was killed. In finding the true story, he finds himself, and realizes that she really did love him. It is a beautiful love story, not just about their marriage, but also about her passion for helping the people of Africa. I cried throughout the second half of the movie. Have to get the soundtrack also.
On DVD
Butterfly Effect
Whether or not you are an Ashton Kutcher fan, if you like weird, out-of-order movies, you will adore this one. Kutcher is a brilliant as a guy who has a special ability to change his past, which will then affect his future. He keeps going back and forth between a horrible incident that happened in his past and a "new" future, trying to get things just right. He gets so caught up in it that you will too.
Duplex
Starring my ever-favorite Ben Stiller, this movie is about a young married couple who purchase a duplex in NYC and have to deal with their old, decrepid upstairs tenent. She ends up driving them insane to the point that they devise several ways in which to kill her. I wouldn't say this movie is dark, but their duplex sure doesn't get a lot of sunlight. Perhaps that is the basic problem. It is worth watching 'til the end because their is an interesting plot twist.
Thursday, June 01, 2006
Unveiling the Mansion
After several requests from Christine, I am going to introduce our new condo in this post. As I mentioned before, we have really had to get our asses in gear to prepare for a housewarming party, so we did manage to decorate a bit more.
Let me first reveal that I often feel like we are the white trash of our building because this has been sitting in front of our genkan for over two months now! I am waiting for Suk to get around2it. I know I should have (or could have) called the garbage company myself, but there are just some things a man SHOULD do for his own home.
"Who lives here?"
"I don't know, honey, but they sure as hell must be white trash." (And this reminds me of my clip drive for my school computer, which always creates a folder called "trashes", and I nearly fell over the first time I saw that. I thought one of the Japanese teachers had put that on there for a joke.)
This is what you'll see as you're walking down the corridor to our apartment. We didn't expect that there would be a mini-forest down below, but you can see the major highway down below as well. Don't worry though because we can't hear the noise or smell the nasty exhaust fumes up here.
The view from the genkan. As my Slovakian friend remarked the first time she came over, "There sure are a lot of doors in this hall way." Yes, many doors. Not much room for embellishment. Any ideas?
On your immediate right is our bedroom, which looks pretty much the same as it did in our old apartment. Excuse the curtains, as they are from our old living room. I would like to get some curtains that match but am waiting for something to catch my eye first.
On your immediate left is Suk's room (until and if a baby comes along and stakes his claim on it). We bought the piano from a friend who moved to the USA recently, so in between blogging and cleaning up poop, I have begun to dabble again after 10 years of not playing at all. The couch is that nappy thing we had in our old apartment, but Suk is (god only knows why) attached to it.
And, this is the only part of the apartment that Suk gets to decorate all by his little ol' self. This display used to be in our genkan. Thank god it has its own room now.
Down the hall and on your left is the ofuro/laundry/dressing room.
Nothing special here...except for this!
Feast your eyes, people! Suk likes to invite people over just to bathe. He wants everyone to take baths during our housewarming party, and I had to break it to him gently that, actually, my foreign friends and co-workers probably won't be interested, but thanks anyway.
Down the hall and to your right is the computer/scrapbooking/reading room. I suppose we could call it an office, but that seems so dull. I am so happy to finally have a human-sized desk for scrapbooking.
At the end of the long, many doored hallway is the main area of the condo. The kitchen is to the left, and has an entrance from the bathroom as well.
This is the kitchen as viewed from the bathroom. I like it because we chose the option of dishwasher and "real" oven. So, now I can bake cakes and lasagna and it actually cooks all the way through to the middle! Yatta!
We (read, I) decided to have this extra counter top and cupboard installed for obvious reasons. It was a pain in the ass because Suk kept complaining about the cost, but when he saw the final product, he was more than pleased.
Beyond the kitchen, is the "conservatory," also known as Max's room. It is bright yellow, but I think yellow is a happy color, and I love it. We want him to feel cheerful, right? If you want to see the many transformations of Max's room, you can check my post on Puppy Love Love.
Here is the dining/living room, which I love. Our old living room was about 1/8 of this, and me and Suk were always arguing over space. Here is our love-at-first-sight dining room table. Our yellowish-green leafy curtains. And our awesome sofa, which because of its comfort level, I often wake up alone in the morning (Suk tends to fall asleep on it.). The office opens out onto this room as well, so if we have lots of guests, we can make a bigger space.
And the dining room table which I gushed about in a previous blog. The perfect combination of country-style and modern.
The veranda, with the bench that we recently bought at Unidy. We had to put it together ourselves. Can you believe that? We would like to add plants and a little herb garden, but haven't gotten around to that yet. We need to find a way to hide Max's poop garbage because it is unsightly.
Yup, another area I like to call "the unslightly white trash area of our veranda." Everyone in Japan has this area, I just know it. It is a place for garbage and laundry and air conditioners. It also manages to block our view when sitting on the bench.
The view from our veranda.
Let me first reveal that I often feel like we are the white trash of our building because this has been sitting in front of our genkan for over two months now! I am waiting for Suk to get around2it. I know I should have (or could have) called the garbage company myself, but there are just some things a man SHOULD do for his own home. "Who lives here?"
"I don't know, honey, but they sure as hell must be white trash." (And this reminds me of my clip drive for my school computer, which always creates a folder called "trashes", and I nearly fell over the first time I saw that. I thought one of the Japanese teachers had put that on there for a joke.)
This is what you'll see as you're walking down the corridor to our apartment. We didn't expect that there would be a mini-forest down below, but you can see the major highway down below as well. Don't worry though because we can't hear the noise or smell the nasty exhaust fumes up here.
The view from the genkan. As my Slovakian friend remarked the first time she came over, "There sure are a lot of doors in this hall way." Yes, many doors. Not much room for embellishment. Any ideas?
On your immediate right is our bedroom, which looks pretty much the same as it did in our old apartment. Excuse the curtains, as they are from our old living room. I would like to get some curtains that match but am waiting for something to catch my eye first.
On your immediate left is Suk's room (until and if a baby comes along and stakes his claim on it). We bought the piano from a friend who moved to the USA recently, so in between blogging and cleaning up poop, I have begun to dabble again after 10 years of not playing at all. The couch is that nappy thing we had in our old apartment, but Suk is (god only knows why) attached to it.
And, this is the only part of the apartment that Suk gets to decorate all by his little ol' self. This display used to be in our genkan. Thank god it has its own room now.
Down the hall and on your left is the ofuro/laundry/dressing room.Nothing special here...except for this!
Feast your eyes, people! Suk likes to invite people over just to bathe. He wants everyone to take baths during our housewarming party, and I had to break it to him gently that, actually, my foreign friends and co-workers probably won't be interested, but thanks anyway.
Down the hall and to your right is the computer/scrapbooking/reading room. I suppose we could call it an office, but that seems so dull. I am so happy to finally have a human-sized desk for scrapbooking.
At the end of the long, many doored hallway is the main area of the condo. The kitchen is to the left, and has an entrance from the bathroom as well.
This is the kitchen as viewed from the bathroom. I like it because we chose the option of dishwasher and "real" oven. So, now I can bake cakes and lasagna and it actually cooks all the way through to the middle! Yatta!
We (read, I) decided to have this extra counter top and cupboard installed for obvious reasons. It was a pain in the ass because Suk kept complaining about the cost, but when he saw the final product, he was more than pleased.
Beyond the kitchen, is the "conservatory," also known as Max's room. It is bright yellow, but I think yellow is a happy color, and I love it. We want him to feel cheerful, right? If you want to see the many transformations of Max's room, you can check my post on Puppy Love Love.
Here is the dining/living room, which I love. Our old living room was about 1/8 of this, and me and Suk were always arguing over space. Here is our love-at-first-sight dining room table. Our yellowish-green leafy curtains. And our awesome sofa, which because of its comfort level, I often wake up alone in the morning (Suk tends to fall asleep on it.). The office opens out onto this room as well, so if we have lots of guests, we can make a bigger space.
And the dining room table which I gushed about in a previous blog. The perfect combination of country-style and modern.
The veranda, with the bench that we recently bought at Unidy. We had to put it together ourselves. Can you believe that? We would like to add plants and a little herb garden, but haven't gotten around to that yet. We need to find a way to hide Max's poop garbage because it is unsightly.
Yup, another area I like to call "the unslightly white trash area of our veranda." Everyone in Japan has this area, I just know it. It is a place for garbage and laundry and air conditioners. It also manages to block our view when sitting on the bench.
The view from our veranda.
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