tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-78539567980733344172024-02-21T01:37:23.385+00:00Entrepreneurship and life in JapanI recently moved countries for a 2nd time in 2 years. Originally Dutch, I spent 2 years in London as a Professional Poker Player, but am now starting anew yet again as an Entrepreneur in Tokyo, Japan. Read about my Life in Japan, Trips throughout Asia, various Business Ventures, Amazing Food, Fitness and the occassional Poker Session and Movie Review.Frankhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14192703578452431776noreply@blogger.comBlogger49125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7853956798073334417.post-86486882797289509402016-01-05T12:34:00.000+00:002016-01-05T12:34:10.667+00:00Not Rushing is Imperfect日本語は英語の下に書いてある。<br />
<br />
Damn, it's been a year. Long time!<br />
<br />
In the last 2 days I wrote 9000 English words of psychological stuff for myself and (hopefully) rewired my thinking positively on a lot of fronts. I decide to share two little discoveries. By no means the most exciting or life changing ones, but useful ones nonetheless and more likely to be understood by others.<br />
<br />
1) Rushing<br />
I'm not sure if this is always the case (probably not), but I've realized that for me <b>sometimes when I rush something, I subconsciously start to dislike it</b>. I suppose my subconscious mind thinks that because I want it to be over quickly, it means I don't like it. In the same way, doing something more slowly (I basically never do this nowadays), I sometimes start the like things more.<br />
<br />
2) Perfection<br />
This probably depends on your point of view, but I believe<b> perfection does not exist</b>. It may sound pessimistic, but that's only the case if you believe imperfection to be bad, which I don't believe to be true. If you ask me why I adopted this viewpoint, it's because if you believe perfection exists and you want to erase all faults and want to improve everything as much as possible, this'll lead to eternal unhappiness. Reason being that it's realistically speaking unattainable. However, if you believe that perfection does not exist and that whatever you do you'll be in a state of imperfection, you can start to enjoy the process of improving things.<br />
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<br />
もう一年ぶりだ。永い!<br />
<br />
僕はこの前の二日間で自分の為に英語で9000字の心理的な論文を書いた。その中から小さい発見を二つ共有しようと思っている。<br />
<br />
<b>1)焦る</b><br />
いつも当たっているか分からないんだが、<b>私は何かを焦ると無意識的にそれを嫌う様に成ることがある</b>。深層心理は「フランクはこれが早く終わって欲しいの?んー、じゃー、好きじゃないんだよね。」って思うはずだからだ。同じ様に何かをゆっくりすると、それを好く様に成ることがある。<br />
<br />
<b>2)完全</b><br />
視点にもよるかも知れないんだが、<b>私は「実際に完全が存在していない」と思っている</b>。悲観的だと思われるかも知れないけど、別にそうではない。不完全は悪い物じゃないんだから。何故この視点かと聞くと、「完全が存在している」と信じて、不備を全部消し全てをなるべく改良したければ、一生涯不幸だから。完全にたどり着けないんだよさー。しかし、もし「完全が存在していなくて、どうしても不備が残っている」と思えば、改良っていう手順を楽しめる様に成る。Frankhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14192703578452431776noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7853956798073334417.post-31332374337281065062014-12-19T11:01:00.001+00:002014-12-19T11:01:12.035+00:00What I learned from starting and failing my 1st company 一つ目の会社を設立して失敗させたおかげで身に付けた事I first tried being very detailed, but it ended up being a massive mess and unstructured. So here it is in a simplified hopefully more easily readable format.<br />
<br />
取り敢えずとても詳しく説明しようとしたんだけど、読みにくく成ったので、これは短いバーションだ。<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>The main lessons I learned from starting and failing my 1st company:</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>1)</b> <b>Businesses don't start with ideas, but with problems.</b><br />
When I first started out, I thought the first thing to do was to find an idea. However, businesses are entities that make money. To do so they create something that other entities (consumers, businesses, governments) are willing to pay for. In most cases this means the business solves a problem that was previously either unsolved, insufficiently solved or has found a way to solve a problem cheaper. An idea is cool and all, but other entities in this capitalistic world don't pay for ideas. They pay for products and services that solve their problems or fulfill their needs/desires. <b>If you can't answer what problem your company solves or what need/desire it fulfills, you're likely in big trouble.</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>一つ目の会社を設立して失敗させたおかげで下記の事を身に付けた。</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>1)企業は案でで</b>は<b>無く、問題で始まる。</b><br />
始めた所に案を探さなければ行けないと思っていた。しかし企業は消費者と他の企業と政府が買う物を創る物である。効果的な企業は大体以前解決していない問題や不満解決している問題を解決する。それとも或る問題をより安く解決する。案は確か面白いけど、消費者も他の企業も政府も案に金を出さないだろう。自分の問題を解決したり自分の欲求を満たす物に金を出す。<b>自分の会社はどの問題を解決するかとどの欲求を満たすかっていう質問を答えられなかったら、きっと大困難だ。</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b><br /></b>
<b>2) I lacked a proper business plan when I started out.</b><br />
I started working on this idea, got excited about it and a few months later I realized I had to think of ways to monetize it, market it and that I had to look deeper into competitors, risks etc. At this point I was already excited, working my ass off to make it a success and I didn't objectively look at any of these factors anymore. I wanted to make the business a success and to do so I had to think of a way to monetize it. I had to think of a marketing plan. I had to think about competitors and what we would do differently. I had to think about the risks and how we would do our best to negate them. <b>Ideally you should create a business plan before committing to the project, objectively judge whether it is viable and ask feedback from many knowledgeable people on whether they also think it is viable. Then if the overall consensus is that it is a viable business, you go for it.</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>2)始めた所に事業計画が足りなかった。</b><br />
俺の場合は販売方法やリスクやライバル会社を満足に考えず、案を実施して興奮した。その数ヶ月後にこういう事をちゃんと調べたんだけど、もう客観的に成功率を考えることは出来なく成って来た。成功したかった。成功するには販売方法が要った。成功するにはライバル会社を超える方法が要った。成功するにはリスクについて考えて、克服する方法が要った。その心理で研究して、事業計画を作った。<b>しかしプロジェクトを始める前に事業計画を作って、客観的に成功率を審査したり賢明の他人の意見を聞いたりする後に、始めるべきなのか始めるべきではないのかを決めれば最高だ。</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b><br /></b>
<b>3) Only outsource simple short-term projects.</b><br />
At first I thought that a mobile language exchange application would be a simple project and thus outsourcing wasn't that crazy of an idea. However, later on my vision became more long-term AND after speaking to outsourcing companies and receiving much higher quotes than I expected, I didn't realize that this was not a project that should've been outsourced to a 3rd party. To entice clients to work with them all outsourcers give impossible quotes. I was told it'd be done in a little over 3 months, but after 9 months it was still not done. Apart from that I actually got a lot more than I would've at an average outsourcing company, because I outsourced to a friend who's a great guy. However, that wasn't enough to make up for my mistake of outsourcing a project that shouldn't have been outsourced in the first place. Transitioning from outsourcing to in-house development is very hard and without a constant, deep involvement in the development process by a person sharing in the vision complicated projects have a high rate of failure when outsourced.<b> As such, only outsource simple projects that will not be further developed in-house after completion.</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>3)易しいプロジェクトしかアウトソースしない方が良い。</b><br />
アウトソース会社は選ばれる為に無理な見積もり価格と期間でクライエントを唆す。3ヶ月とちょっとが掛かると言われたのに、9ヶ月が経った時にまだ済んでいなかった。この上、技術の開発をアウトソーソ会社から社内へ移すのは非常に難しくて、複雑なプロジェクトであればである程アウトソースの失敗率が上がる。<b>つまり、</b><b>易しいプロジェクトしかアウトソースしない方が良い。</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b><br /></b>
<b>4) I hired instead of finding co-founders.</b><br />
Even if you hire top notch employees the relationship you have with them and the level of their commitment and involvement in the project is going to be completely different from a co-founder. Starting a successful business takes insane amounts of work and you can't ask employees to work much more than 40 hours a week. However, the right team of co-founders will work together almost around the clock to make the business a success. I started out working 60-80 hour workweeks at the very beginning, but have to admit that due to some pretty bad personal issues in the 3rd quarter this year and somewhat due to a lack of work for me to do I wasn't putting in that many hours a week towards the end, so I wasn't a good example of a hard-working founder anymore either. There's a lot more things that having co-founders adds, but I made the mistake not to look for co-founders. <b>You can't change the world on your own. You need people to change the world with.</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>4)共同創設者を見つけなく、従業員を雇った。</b><br />
逸材の従業員を雇うとしても従業員との関係とか従業員の努力とモチベーション等が共同創設者のと全く異なる。企業するには努力が一杯要るけど、従業員に40時間以上働かすことは一般に出来ない。他方に良い共同創設者同士はモチベーションが全く違うのによる、頼まなくても一生懸命で企業を成功させようとする。<b>一人で世界を変える事は出来ない。他人も要る。</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b><br /></b>
<b>5) Seek constant critical feedback from knowledgeable outsiders.</b><br />
Although I had 2 employees towards the end, the only person running the business and the only person ever truly critiquing the business was myself. But as mentioned under #2, after starting this project I lived in a bit of a bubble because I was trying too hard to make it succeed and as a result I was never able to objectively look at the business anymore. Co-founders would've maybe given a bit of a different perspective, but co-founders too live somewhat in the same bubble. As such it is necessary to seek constant critique from outsiders. And not just that, but push them to give you their most honest opinion, because many (I too am often guilty of this) hold back what they really think. Maybe they don't want to be negative or they don't want to hurt your feelings. Whatever it is, it is important to constantly get the honest opinion of knowledgeable outsiders. Investors, mentors, other entrepreneurs etc. Although I did some of this, it was too little and infrequently. <b>The best way to learn is from others. Especially people who know more about some things than you do and people who can give you different perspectives.</b><br />
<br />
<b>5)脛に賢い第三者の意見を求めないと。</b><br />
俺しかこの企業を批難していたのは居なかった上、バッブルの中で生きていた為に客観的に批判していなかった。共同創設者が居たとしたら、もうちょっと違う意見を貰ったかも知れないけど、共同創設者も完全に客観的では無いから、賢い第三者の意見を求めなければ行けない。そしてそれだけでなく、意見をさせるまで強引する必要が在る。消極的でありたくないとか傷を付けたくないから、殆どの人は本心を教えるのを控えるから。とにかく投資家やメンターや他の企業家等の第三者の意見が重要だ。<b>最も早く賢く成る方法はもっと賢い方に教わることだ。</b><br />
<br />
<b><br /></b>
There's a number of other mistakes I made in regards to this project specifically such as:<br />
<br />
- Developing for 2 platforms from the beginning.<br />
<br />
- When it turned out the code from the outsourcing was extremely bad and was recommended to start production from scratch I didn't seriously consider the other 2 options:<br />
1) Working with the outsourced code.<br />
2) Stopping the project and firing my employees after only 2 weeks.<br />
Due to personal issues going on, constantly hearing how bad the code was and living in a bubble I didn't properly consider these 2 alternatives and agreed to redevelop from scratch.<br />
<br />
且つ又このプロジェクトに関しても色々誤った。<br />
<br />
- 最初から両プラトフォームを開発して来たこと。<br />
<br />
- アウトソースから貰ったコードがとても悪いのを露顕し、従業員に改めて開発すべきだと勧められたら、他の二つの選択肢を未満に考慮した。<br />
1)改めなく、アウトソースのコードが悪いのに、使うこと。<br />
2)プロジェクトを止め、雇い始めて以来2週間が経ってなかったのに、従業員を解雇すること。<br />
第三四半期中色んな個人的な問題があったし、ずーっと「コードがスゴク悪い」と言われてるところだったし、あまり考えず進められていたこと「改めて開発する」にした。<br />
<br />
<br />
Another thing I want to touch on is what people often say about execution being more important than the idea. Besides the point that businesses generally don't spring forth from ideas, it is actually impossible to execute a flawed business plan successfully regardless of how good the execution is. Working extra hard and being extra smart about marketing/sales etc. is not going to save a business plan that is flawed at it's core.<br />
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別な件だけど、案より執行の方が大事だとよく聞くだろう。案で始めては行けない上、執行がどれだけ良くても、企業計画が悪かったら、企業が実らない。もっと努力したり、もっと上手く販売したりするとしても、成功出来ない事業計画を成功させることは出来ない。<br />
<br />
<br />
There's some stuff I think I did very well too, such as the design/wire-framing. It's not that I can't do an even better job now if I did it again. It wasn't perfect, but overall I think I did a very good job at the (original) app's design.<br />
<br />
There's definitely other stuff I did bad and did well and maybe I'll add more to this post in the future, as a reference for myself (and perhaps others), but this is enough for now.<br />
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始めてだったのに、よくやったことも幾つか在る。完璧ではなかったけど、アプリのデザインはかなり良かった。<br />
<br />
<br />
Right now I just want to clean up this mess and move on with my life. It's really fortunate I have a fun weekend ahead of me because I really need one. Saturday is volunteering with university students and Sunday is an event with ~20-30 friends.<br />
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今はこれを終わらせたくて、他のことをやり始めたい。良いことに超良い土日を楽しみ出来る。土曜日は学生団体とボランティアして、日曜日は20−30人程の友達と楽しいイベントがある。<br />
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<br />
Last but not least, I want to apologize to my employees and any other people I let down, and at the same time thank everybody who has given me advice and helped me along the way. (Especially as of late with the investor deck!) I learned MANY MANY things during this project and promise to put them to good use in the future. I'd be surprised if this was the last time I started a business.<br />
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最後に従業員へ謝りたい。誠に申し訳御座いません。そして手伝って頂いた人にはスゴく有難いです。失敗したのに、勉強が非常に出来た。将来に役立てる。始めて企業したのに、きっと最後ではなかった。<br />
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追記:日本語を書くのが上手く成ってるぞ!<br />
<div id="safarikai-popup" style="display: none; left: 90px; max-width: 500px; top: 972px;">
<ul class="results">
<li>
<div class="kana">
しか</div>
<div class="translation">
<div class="romaji">
[shika]</div>
only; nothing but
</div>
</li>
<li>
<div class="kana">
しか</div>
<div class="kanji">
歯科</div>
<div class="translation">
<div class="romaji">
[shika]</div>
dentistry
</div>
</li>
<li>
<div class="kana">
しか</div>
<div class="kanji">
詩歌</div>
<div class="translation">
<div class="romaji">
[shika]</div>
Japanese (and Chinese) poetry
</div>
</li>
<li>
<div class="kana">
しか</div>
<div class="kanji">
史家</div>
<div class="translation">
<div class="romaji">
[shika]</div>
historian
</div>
</li>
<li>
<div class="kana">
しか</div>
<div class="kanji">
市価</div>
<div class="translation">
<div class="romaji">
[shika]</div>
market price; current price
</div>
</li>
</ul>
</div>
Frankhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14192703578452431776noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7853956798073334417.post-20152702444627649542014-11-04T08:14:00.000+00:002014-11-05T01:22:48.658+00:001609 Kanji in under 5 months!! 5ヶ月以内漢字検定10級から3級まで!!六月の始まりは仕事が数ヶ月で忙しくなく成りそうだったから、久々に日本語の勉強を集中して、自らの日本語能力を改良することを決意した。初心者の教科書も中級の教科書ももう済ましていたから、これから如何進めば良いか迷っていた。後程、漢字が分かれば分かる程、日本語能力が上達すると判断した。次は学び方を悩んで来た。<br />
<br />
At the start of June it looked like business wouldn't be as busy for a while, so I decided I'd focus on studying Japanese and improving my Japanese skill, which I had been slacking on for a while. I had already finished a beginner and intermediate textbook and was a little lost what the next best step would be. Eventually I concluded that the better I understand kanji, the more my Japanese skill would improve.<br />
<br />
漢字を勉強する覚悟したのは初めてではなかった。2013年3月、本当に日本に引っ越したいという疑問を解決する目的で3ヶ月で日本に居た時にも、一ヶ月くらい毎日の様に数時間漢字の勉強をしていた。毎日新しい漢字を10字書いて、その漢字を使う熟語も2つ記憶していた。勿論その直接後習った漢字を暫く復習した。しかし、今度温故知新でもっと効果的な学び方を立てたかった。<br />
<br />
It wasn't the first time I decided to study kanji. I had studied kanji intensively for about a month before officially moving to Japan. I stayed in Japan for 3 months to decide whether I really wanted to move to Japan or not and studied a couple of hours a day for about a month. Every day I'd write 10 kanji and remember 2 words in which that kanji is used. Of course I also reviewed those kanji for a while after first learning them. This time however, I decided I wanted to develop a more efficient kanji learning system.<br />
<br />
最初に「Heisig」という結構人気な漢字を学び方を使おうとしたんだけど、先ずは音読みや訓読みを述べず二千字の漢字を教える方法だから、数日間で俺に似合わないことに気付いて諦めた。そこから日本人自身はどうやって漢字を覚えるかを調べた。日本の学校では漢字がどう教わるか分からないけど、学校に通っていない日本人の漢字検定ステップの学び方を発見した。俺に超似合う凄く系統的な学び方なので、使うことにした。<br />
<br />
I first tried the somewhat well known Heisig method, but it requires you to learn the meaning of 2000 characters before learning any of there really useful stuff like the Japanese and Chinese readings of each character and what words kanji are used in. After a few days I gave up, because it just didn't suit me at all. From there on out I tried to find out how actual Japanese people themselves study kanji. I didn't find out how they study in school, but I did discover how Japanese people outside of school study kanji. Namely with the Kanji Kentei Step Books aimed towards people taking the Kanji Kentei test. This method of studying is very systematic and therefore really suits me, so I decided to go with it.<br />
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俺の方法を詳しく説明する。各漢字を取り敢えず辞書で究めて、電子フラッシュカードに記す。その後、各音読みと各訓読み当たり少なくとも一つの熟語を選んで、それも電子フラッシュカードに記す。4と3級から難しく成ったんだけど、なるべくよく使われる一般の熟語を選ぶ。そこから、漢字を数回書いて、次の漢字に進む。或る課の漢字を全て済ましてから、ステップの問題を解いて、次の課に進む。この上、作ったフラッシュカードを1〜2ヶ月間でどんどん永く成る間隔で復習する。この5箇月間、一日当たり平均的に1〜2時間で電子フラッシュカードを150〜200枚復習していた。ある日のフラッシュカードを全て済ましてから、新しい漢字を習うことを始めた。<br />
<br />
I'll explain my method in more detail. For every kanji I first thoroughly investigate them with a dictionary and note them down in electronic flash cards. After that I choose at least one word for each Japanese and each Chinese reading and save those to a flash card too. Whenever possible I choose common words that are often used, although this got rather hard when I got to level 4 and 3. From there on out, I write the kanji a few times. Once I finish doing this with all the kanji in a certain chapter I solve the exercises in the book and continue on with the next chapter. On top of this I review all the flash cards I create for the following 1-2 months in increasingly longer intervals. During these 5 months I studied about 150-200 flashcards on average per day for about 1-2 hours a day. After I finished those, I'd move on to learning new kanji.<br />
<br />
現時代ではあんまり便利ではないし、かなり時間が掛かるし、漢字を書くことはそこまで全然勉強してなかった。だけど、漢字検定ステップの学び方を使えば、漢字を書かなければ行けない。とても面白そうな学び方だから、それでも漢検ステップにした。多分漢字を600字位文脈で認識することげ出来たのに、50字位しか書けなかったから、改めて10級から始めた。<br />
<br />
In the current day in age it's not all that useful to posses the ability to write kanji and because it also takes a lot of time to learn and remember how to write all the characters I had never studied writing before. However, to study using the Kanji Kentei Step method, you have to learn how to write them as well. Because the study method intrigued me so much, I decided to go with it anyway. I could probably recognize about 600 kanji in context, but write maybe 50 at most, so I had to restart from the very beginning with Level 10(the lowest level, with 1 being the highest. 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, sub-2, 2, sub-1, 1).<br />
<br />
10、9、8級は、漢字を良く見たり読んだりするし、大体の熟語をもう知っていたし、かなり簡単であって、早く済ました。しかし、そこからどんどん難しく成った。7級には初めて見て、麦芽の様なあんまり使われていない漢字も初めて入っていた。六月が終わって七月が始まったと、もう漢字を600字以上習って、7級を始めた。<br />
<br />
Levels 10, 9 and 8 were rather easy, because I often saw and read the vast majority of the kanji and knew the majority of compound words they are used in. As a result I went through these first three levels rather quickly. However, after the first three it gradually became more and more difficult. In level 7 there were kanji such as "麦芽" meaning "Malt" that I had never encountered before and aren't used very often. At the start of July I had already learned 600 something kanji and started level 7.<br />
<br />
七月に2週間で凄く病気であって、後2週間で気持ちが良くなかったのに、何とか7級も6級も済ました。八月には5級を始めて、もっと難しく成った。絶えず認識出来る漢字が減っていて、初めて見た漢字が増えていた。5級の漢字の中では多分半分位見たことがあった。八月は仕事がちょっと忙しかったし、結構難しかったし、5級だけ済ますことが出来た。<br />
<br />
During July I was extremely ill for 2 weeks and felt like shit for another 2, but despite all of this I nonetheless managed to finish level 7 and 6. In August I started level 5 which became even more difficult. The amount of kanji I recognized continuously declined and the ones I had never seen before continuously increased. I think I was able to recognize about half the kanji in level 5. Because work was a little busier in August I only managed to finish level 5.<br />
<br />
九月は七月の様に病気に成ちゃって、今回一週間皆目勉強出来ず。それなのに、尚難しい4級を済ました。知っている漢字より知らない漢字の方がかなり入っていた。知らない漢字の中ではとても難しくて抽象的な意味の物が随分増えた。辞書で英語の翻訳を調べたと、翻訳もよく解らない場合がかなりあった。単語が旨い世界二番のスクラブルプレーヤーの友達の御蔭で何となくこれを克服した。<br />
<br />
In September I fell ill just like July and couldn't study at all for a week. Regardless, I finished the even more difficult level 4. At this point there were far more kanji that I had never seen before than that I already knew and the kanji I didn't know also significantly increased in difficult. There were many with extremely abstract meanings that even after looking up the English translation in the dictionary I didn't understand. Fortunately enough my friend who used to be the #2 scrabble player in the world and is still one of the top players helped me out with his vast vocabulary.<br />
<br />
十月の始まりには、10月26日に漢検3級を受けると決めた。その為に数週間以内後300字以上の漢字を習って、検定に準備する必要があったので、全身全霊で頑張って行った。3級のステップは二週間半位しか掛からなかった。知っていた3級の漢字が殊の外少なかった。多分9割以上見たことが無く、8割以上一つの熟語も知らなかった。知らない漢字も更に抽象的に成って、その前習った漢字とほとんど同じの意味を持つ漢字も多かった。如何やって三週間以内それだけ難しい漢字を300字以上記憶したのか俺にも解らない。しかし、勉強はめっちゃくちゃ大変に成って、漢字が大好きなのに、十月の始まり楽しんでなかった。<br />
<br />
When October started, I decided I'd take the actual Kanji Kentei test level 3 on the 26th of October. For that purpose I studied like a madman and finished the level 3 kanji(over 300!!) in less than 2 and a half weeks. There were very few kanji in level 3 that I already knew. I think that over 90% I had never seen before and that for over 80% of them I had never heard any of the words they were used in. The kanji I didn't know also further increased in abstractness and there were many kanji with nearly the same meaning as other kanjis I had learned before, thus increasing confusion, which one is which. I'm not sure how I managed to complete level 3 and learn over 300 new characters in under 3 weeks, but it was extremely hard and although I love kanji, studying wasn't fun at all during this period.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbTFyt60egcV61UwQaO_JvZj1dFv61s9mYMSj5HEDPBTdmYfpwnx8kBJW1ERUMsZUipTMTqYmpJ3HLVVcIBMRP8jyurw-MzcMhc3_yVzakeVRjOwU3kexILjq_sGGpt0ZkOpNdvL7NOuI/s1600/20141017_234349.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbTFyt60egcV61UwQaO_JvZj1dFv61s9mYMSj5HEDPBTdmYfpwnx8kBJW1ERUMsZUipTMTqYmpJ3HLVVcIBMRP8jyurw-MzcMhc3_yVzakeVRjOwU3kexILjq_sGGpt0ZkOpNdvL7NOuI/s1600/20141017_234349.jpg" height="225" width="400" /></a></div>
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受験の前にの一週間は検定に向いて過去問題をやっていた。14個の過去受験の中では二つしか全て合格したから、漢字検定の当日に結構自信を持っていた。しかし、5ヶ月間平均的に一日当たり5時間以上勉強して来たので、凄っく疲れていた。<br />
<br />
The week before the actual exam I made past exams to prepare. Out of the 14 I made I passed all but 2, so I was pretty confident albeit EXHAUSTED going into the exam.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
ギリギリ落ちた過去受験</div>
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A past exam I barely failed </div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
ギリギリ合格した過去受験</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
A past exam I barely passed</div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
一番旨く出来た過去受験</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
The best score I got on a past exam</div>
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俺を補された会場は十条駅の近くに在る帝京大学であった。受験者はかなり集まっていたんだけど、予測した通り俺しか外人は一人も居ず。大体の受験者は中学生や高校生等だった。親や先生に「受けた方が良いよ」と言われたはずだから、誰もあんまり気にしてなかったそうだったけど、俺は必ず合格したかったから、非常に緊張していた。<br />
<br />
The exam location that had been appointed to me was Teikyou University near Juujou station. It was pretty busy and just as I expected I was the only non-Japanese person to take the test. Most of the test takers were middle school and high school students. Most of them were probably encouraged to take the test by their parents and/or teachers, so none really seemed to be too worried about the test. I however, wanted to pass extremely badly and was extremely nervous.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
会場情報</div>
<br />
受験が始まってからも、暫く緊張し続けたけど、15〜20分が経って、実に凄く簡単な受験であることに気付いた後、良い事に緩んだ。45分以内全ての問題を解決して、問題を解くより管理者の説明を理解するの方が難しかった程簡単だった!残りの15分を使って、自らの答えを見直した。残念ながら、一つの直したことは直した前に正しかった。笑<br />
<br />
After the test started I continued to be nervous for a while, but after about 15-20 minutes had passed I realized the test was actually extremely easy and loosened up. It was actually so easy that I finished the entire test in under 45 minutes and the explanation by the person in charge before the test began was harder! I used the remaining 15 minutes to review my own answers, but the only change I made actually ended up being me changing a correct answer into an incorrect one... oh well.<br />
<br />
結果は40日間掛かるが、自分の答えを審査したと、多分176点で合格したと判断した。合格点は140点だから、幾つかの答えを見損なったとしても、合格したはずだ。驚くことに、最初に一番難しい四字熟語の問題は満点! \(^o^)/<br />
<br />
It takes about 40 days until I get the result, but when I went over my own answers, it looked like I probably passed with about 176/200 points. 140 points are necessary to pass, so it should leave enough room for mistakes I missed. Surprisingly enough, I ended up getting a perfect score on the part that was initially the hardest (4 kanji compound words)!<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
当受験</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
The actual exam</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggSGU1eU7MeCwJtG1qzTPzflsTOvlD4hTl3b0sGv2bC9LEktDo5vUqH_LpRssZc_tMBOaZvYeZvdyIlnKKmjPDMlBkTmsecETy9ZbQPVWquPFj-YB0F3is5Qw0O50ywwKsibI7Uad-leI/s1600/20141017_235836.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggSGU1eU7MeCwJtG1qzTPzflsTOvlD4hTl3b0sGv2bC9LEktDo5vUqH_LpRssZc_tMBOaZvYeZvdyIlnKKmjPDMlBkTmsecETy9ZbQPVWquPFj-YB0F3is5Qw0O50ywwKsibI7Uad-leI/s1600/20141017_235836.jpg" height="400" width="225" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
四字熟語を変幻自在の皆様に手伝って貰った</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
A bunch of friends helped me with my 4 Kanji Compounds</div>
<br />
5ヶ月間勉強し過ぎちゃったから、11月はちょっと休みたいんだけど、多分いつか準2級も受ける。2級を受ける可能性もあるんだけど、まだ決めていない。準1級と1級は時間の浪費で自己拷問だから、絶対に遠慮する。笑<br />
<br />
Because I studied WAY too much for 5 months, I want to take a little break from it in November, but I think I want to take level sub-2 as well at some point. There's a chance I'll take level 2 too eventually, but I haven't decided on that yet. I have decided however, that I will definitely not take level sub-1 and level 1, because they're nothing but a waste of time and self-torture. The kanji you learn there are practically never used (kanji for specific flowers/mushrooms, different ways to write kanjis you've already learned that went out of practice hundreds of years ago etc. etc.).<br />
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俺は大学に行ってから、「凄いなぁ」と社会に思われることをかなりやって来て、「フランク、凄いなぁ!」と友達に誉められて頂く事も結構あって、「君を凄く誇っている」ともよく親に言われてくれる。他方で俺自身は「そんなに凄くなくて、普通だよ」と思っていて、誇られてくれたことは今まで一回も無いかも知れない。しかし、5ヶ月以内漢字検定10級から3級まで登って、フラッシュカードを6000枚作って記憶して、漢字を1609字覚えることは。。。一日当たり10字以上だ。 (0_0)<br />
<br />
Ever since I've gone to university I've engaged in quite a few things that society considers 'amazing'. Friends have also told me every now and then that this or that thing I have done is amazing and my parents tell me they're proud of me extremely often. I myself on the other hand haven't ever been proud of anything in particular that I've done and always think it's not that amazing and pretty normal. Things just don't impress me very quickly. However, going from Kanji Kentei level 10 to 3 in under 5 months, creating and remembering 6000 flash cards and learning 1609 kanji, which is over 10 a day...<br />
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ちょっと自分を誇っているかも知れないけど、もっと強く成ったり、知恵を身に付けたりすればする程、これもだんだん普通に成るのかなぁ。。。<br />
<br />
I may be proud of myself a little bit for the first time in my life, but as I grow stronger and become wiser, I wonder if this will also gradually become normal.<br />
<div id="safarikai-popup" style="display: none; left: 164px; max-width: 500px; top: 4694px;">
<ul class="results">
<li>
<div class="kana">
く</div>
<div class="kanji">
九</div>
<div class="translation">
<div class="romaji">
[ku]</div>
nine
</div>
</li>
<li>
<div class="kana">
く</div>
<div class="kanji">
区</div>
<div class="translation">
<div class="romaji">
[ku]</div>
ward; district; section
</div>
</li>
<li>
<div class="kana">
く</div>
<div class="kanji">
句</div>
<div class="translation">
<div class="romaji">
[ku]</div>
section (i.e. of text); sentence; passage; paragraph; phrase; verse (of 5 or 7 mora in Japanese poetry; of 4, 5, or 7 characters in Chinese poetry); haiku; first 17 morae of a renga, etc.
</div>
</li>
<li>
<div class="kana">
く</div>
<div class="kanji">
口</div>
<div class="translation">
<div class="romaji">
[ku]</div>
mouth; speech; counter for people or implements
</div>
</li>
<li>
<div class="kana">
く</div>
<div class="kanji">
垢</div>
<div class="translation">
<div class="romaji">
[ku]</div>
klesha (polluting thoughts such as greed, hatred and delusion, which result in suffering)
</div>
</li>
</ul>
</div>
Frankhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14192703578452431776noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7853956798073334417.post-50782122989122229192014-08-15T08:01:00.001+01:002014-08-15T08:01:53.985+01:00人類 個人的さと団結のバランス Humanity: The balance between individualism and unity更新してから、時間が結構経った。面白いことがあってないからかも知れない。仕事は不振で、待たなければならない時期だった。しかし、ついに従業員を二人雇って、その二人が月曜日に働き始める。なので、これからついに進み続ける。第一年は結構悔しかったけど、その話は後回しする。このブログでは最近の面白い考えについて話したい。<br />
<br />
It's been a while since I updated. Probably because nothing too interesting happened. Work's been slow and it's been a period where I couldn't do much else besides waiting. However, I've finally hired 2 employees who'll start work on Monday, so from here on out things will finally pick up again. The first year has been rather frustrating, but I'm postponing that talk to some later time. This blog I want to talk about an interesting thought I've had recently.<br />
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気を入れる為にフェアリーテイルのAMVを見てたら考え出したのは何でこの人達はこんなに親しくて、仲間にのなら何も捨てて何もやるか。アニメであるのは当たり前なのに、実世界と比較しては行けると思う。実世界にはそれほど親しい仲間が居る人も居て、居なくても居る。しかし、居る人さえ仲間の為にやることに限界があるじゃないか?例えば、家族や恋人の為にやられないことが少ないが、自分の物凄く大切な物を捨てれば相手を救える瞬間には救わないことにする人も居る。少ないか多いか知らないけど、確か居る。<br />
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When I was motivating myself through watching Fairy Tail AMVs, I had an interesting thought. 'Why are these people so close and why are they willing to throw away anything and do anything for their friends?' Of course it's an anime, but I still think you can compare it to the real world. I believe that in the real world there are people who have friends as close as this and also people who don't have friends this close. However, even the ones that do have a limit to what they'd do for their friends, don't you think? For example, I think there's very few things that people wouldn't do for their family and lover, but at the very moment when someone has to throw away something EXTREMELY important to them to save this person, I think there's also people who would hesitate and not do it. I'm not sure whether there's a lot of very few of these people, but they certainly exist.<br />
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とにかく、この例は過激であって、世界を一般化しているけど、何で人類は割れていて、個人的かと考え出した。答えは驚くことにとても簡単だ。現在の社会は個人的な社会であって、人々はそれぞれ異なる目標を持っているからだ。フェアリーテイルっていうグイルドの中で皆は大体同じ目標を持っているけれど、実世界では皆が異なる夢を叶えようとしている。しかし、それだけではなく、人類は色々な民族がある。この他には人類は様々な国に別れているままでもある。尚、国々の中では政党やスポーツチームやAppleとAndroid等の区分が一杯存在している。人類の変化は一般的に美しい事として認められているんだけど、貴方はこれを考えたことがある?俺に皆目悪い事みたいである訳ではないけど、良くない点があって気を付ければならない危ない事だとは当たり前じゃないだろうか?<br />
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Anyway, this example is extreme and I'm generalizing the world, but I did start to wonder why humanity is so divided and individualistic. The answer is surprisingly simple. Our current society is simply enough an individualistic society and every one has different goals in life. In the 'Fairy Tail' guild everyone for the most part has the same goals, but in the real world everyone is trying to accomplish different dreams. However, not only this, but humanity is divided in various races. On top of this we're divided in various countries. And as if this isn't enough, within countries we're further divided into political parties, sports teams, Apple/Android etc. Generally speaking, humanity's diversity is thought of as a beautiful thing, but have you ever questioned this? I'm not trying to say that to me it seems like a purely evil thing, but isn't it obvious that our diversity has drawbacks and can be a dangerous thing as well?<br />
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逆の極端はStarcraft IIっていうビデオゲームのZergっていう種族の様な社会だ。Zergとは一つの精神があって個人的さが全く無い宇宙種族だ。人間に似合わなく、それより現在の状況の方が良いのも当たり前なのに、極端の間の個人的さと団結の良いバランスの社会はどう思う?今は団結が全然無いままではないけど、若し何とか人類には団結して戦い合う必要な適が現れたら、社会に良い影響だかも知れない。現在、人類は地球のたった一つの覇者であって、適も無く、重なり合う目標も少ない。Zergの様な宇宙種族に成るべきじゃない。だけど、人類は人々同士の区分が少しも消えて少しももっと団結して、人間の中で皆が同じチームに気付かれるとしたら、それこそ美しい事だと俺は思う。<br />
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The opposite extreme would be something like the Zerg race from the video game called Starcraft II. The Zerg is an alien race with a single consciousness and almost no individualism whatsoever. This doesn't really suite humans and this is obviously worse than the current situation, but how about a society somewhere in the middle of these 2 extremes with a good balance of individualism and unity? It's not like right now there is no unity whatsoever, but if an enemy were to appear that would force all of humanity to unite and fight together, I think that might have a positive influence on society. At the moment humanity is the single ruler on planet Earth and we have neither enemies nor many common goals. We shouldn't turn into an alien race like the Zerg, but if somehow humanity's divisions were to disappear, we became more united and people would realize that we humans are all on the same team, I think that would be a beautiful thing.<br />
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考えまだ残っているけど、もう2時間位努力しているので、今回ここまで。漢字の勉強もよく進んでいる!1150字位書ける様に成って来たぞ!後1000字位なのに、悪くないな!最近はちょっと漢字勉強し過ぎちゃったから、これからスピードが減るはず。実は今まで過激なペースだった。しかし、ペースが減っても諦めん!<br />
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I still have thoughts remaining, but I've been doing my best for about 2 hours already, so this time I'll leave it at this. Kanji studies are progressing nicely too! I can write about 1150 characters now! Another 1000 or so remaining, but not bad. I think I've studied Kanji a little too much as of late, so my speed will probably drop a little bit. Actually, up till this point my pace has been absolutely insane/inhuman. However, even if my pace may slow down a little, I won't quit!<br />
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どりょく</div>
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努力</div>
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[doryoku]</div>
great effort; exertion; endeavour; endeavor; effort
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ゆめ</div>
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努</div>
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[yume]</div>
never; by no means
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Frankhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14192703578452431776noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7853956798073334417.post-70208082651025974682014-07-03T14:24:00.004+01:002014-07-03T14:24:41.359+01:00675 Kanji in 4 weeks 四週間 漢字を675字<br />
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感 -> 感じ スペルミス</div>
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じゃ、これから英語で続ける!<br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ok basically that explains what I've been up to as of late. Kanji (Japanese characters from Chinese) study. Business hasn't been as busy, so I've been going insane studying Kanji. I live, I breathe and I dream Kanji Kanji Kanji!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I learned maybe 50-100 new ones and brushed up on existing Kanji knowledge, which isn't that impressive in a month, but whereas before I could write maybe 50 of them at best, in the last 4 weeks I learned how to write 675 Kanji, a 3rd of the Japanese alphabet, which takes Japanese elementary school kids about 4.5 years. Not bad, but not nearly done yet. I have another ~1.5 years of elementary school, 3 years of middle school and 3 years of high school study left to complete, so tomorrow I'll get right back to it.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">However, before I can do so I will have some real work to do first for the first time in about a month. Reason being that I've found 2 developers am ready to sign contracts very very soon and need to get an office set up and organize various other things. As well as book a short holiday before things get really busy again. I'm thinking of visiting Hiroshima during the peace memorial event(atomic bomb remembrance).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I should probably write more, but honestly just want to get back to Kanji study, so I'll finish up with a quick 1st half of 2014 overview looking at my goals for this year:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>1) 1.000.000$ Net Worth(basically Language Link worth about 1M$)</b><br />
Hmmm, because in the last 3 months I have stopped caring about becoming really rich and decided I don't need insane amounts of money, but would rather add value to the world, this goal is now officially stupid as well. Although not impossible. I guess I'd like to complete a successful round of financing for Language Link before the end of the year.<br />
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<b>2) Understand Japanese TV</b><br />
Going pretty well. I understand the gist of the animes I'm currently watching. An anime I watched recently I actually understood about 95% without subtitles, but it was very simple admittedly. Harder animes maybe I understand 50-60%. So still a way to go.<br />
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<b>3) Look like a fitness model</b><br />
I've kind of accomplished this. I suppose I should probably cut another 2% of body fat or thereabouts, but I'd have to diet kind of strictly to get there and it may be hard to maintain. Although I generally hate satisfaction and detest what it does to my motivation, in this case it's not so bad. There's no way I'll stop working out even if I'm very satisfied with the way I look :)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Ok that's it. Gonna sleep, workout, eat, finish up business stuff asap and then back to Kanji study!!! </span><br />
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久しぶり過ぎる!凄く忙しかったにも関わらず、アップデート出来る機会が全然無かった訳ではないけど、なんとかしなかった。じゃー、行くぞ!<br />
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Looking back at the last 2 months, the main trend I see is that I've been extremely happy almost every single day with very few exceptions. I don't think this 2-3 month period will turn into super precious memories, like a holiday can for example, because there's nothing that has really made it stand out from the months before. However, I've been unhappy for I think less than 7 days total, since the start of March and extraordinarily happy for the vast majority of the other days. Pretty crazy, but awesome!<br />
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この先の二ヶ月を見直すと、凄く嬉しかった事が見える。七日以下以外毎日圧倒的に嬉しかった!珍しいけど、凄い事だ!<br />
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If you asked me why I think this is, I would say part of it is having no injuries and thus being able to go to the gym a lot. As a result I've been healthy and well rested for the most part. Secondly, I think I've gotten stronger psychologically. I think I've become better at steering my mind and thoughts in the right direction and thus become better at making myself happy on a day-to-day basis.<br />
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もし「何で」って聞かれたら、「怪我がほとんど無くて、運動する事が良く出来たし、心理がもっと強く成って来て、自分の考えを管理する事がもっと美味く成って来たし、最近凄く嬉しかった」って答えると思う。<br />
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Not everything has gone amazing. The outsourcing of the app development has been pretty bad and a few other things happened as well that were not great, but nonetheless I've been really really happy recently! :D<br />
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全部が良かった訳じゃない。アプリのアウトソーシングは良くなくて、他にも良くない事があった。しかし、最近は凄く嬉しかった! \(^o^)/<br />
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Business wise, I've unfortunately enough had to quit the entertainment project, because my main Language Link project has just gotten too busy and education is way way way more important to me personally than entertainment, so I made the choice to drop the entertainment project. Ideally I'd have 100 hours each and every day and do this project and 10 others, but this is not the case and I have to focus on what I most want to change in this world, which right now is education.<br />
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ビジネスはエンターテイメントのプロジェクトを辞めなきゃならなかった。メーンプロジェクトのLanguage Linkは忙し過ぎる様に成って来て、俺にとってエンターテイメントより教育の方が非常に大事なので、エンターテイメントの方を辞める事にした。毎日100時間以上が有るとしたら、勿論色んなプロジェクトを同時にするが、実際にそれを出来なくて、今この世界で一番変えたい教育を中心すべきだ。<br />
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Except for the User Acceptance Testing(basically bug fixing) of the application, the Language Link project is going well. Most recently I've worked very hard on working out the vision in more detail, especially for the near future(1st year or so). I've made financial spreadsheets, written documents about what it means to learn languages and the language education industry, done a competitor analysis, 1 year timeline, made early designs for some of the new features I want to add in the 1st year and last but not least created an investor presentation and executive summary. All of this will be beneficial in many ways:<br />
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<ul>
<li>It will help me convey my plans better to employees, customers, clients etc.</li>
<li>It has allowed me to make changes and fine-tune the plans in certain areas where it wasn't perfect.</li>
<li>If something about the plan changes(financials especially), it's easy to add it in there and see how it impacts the overall status.</li>
<li>I wouldn't say fully prepared, but I'm already quite well prepared to look for investment a few months after launch.</li>
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Language LinkってプロジェクトはUser Acceptance Testingしか何も良く進んでる。最近ビジョンを詳しくする事を頑張った。金融関係のスプレッドシートを作ったり、新しい言葉を学ぶ事って何かってドキュメントや言語教育業関係のドキュメント等を作成したり、一年間のタイムラインを作ったり、新しいフィーチャのデザインを作ったり、投資家に向けのプレゼンテーションを作ったり、エグゼクティブサマリーを作ったりしてた。色々なメリットがある:</div>
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<li>ビジョンを従業員やお客さんやクライエント等に伝える事がもっと簡単に成る。</li>
<li>ビジョンをもっと詳しくて良くする事が出来た。</li>
<li>途中で何か変わる場合には簡単にドキュメントを変えられて、含蓄が見える。</li>
<li>まだ完全って言えないかも知れないけれど、投資を受けるにもうかなり良く準備を出来た。</li>
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On top of all these documents and refining the vision, I've been searching hard for app developers and it's been going well! Planning to hire other people has also forced me to look for office space. Working from home and SB may have been okay so far, but to create an amazing work environment for my employees and to be able to communicate well and frequently, some sort of office is a must. Then again, we can't really afford a top of the line office as of right now, so I've mostly looked at co-working spaces, booths and incubators.</div>
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後はモバイルアプリデベロッパーを探して来て、良く進んでいる。従業員を雇ったら、オフィスが必要に成る。今まで俺しか居なかったから、自宅やカフェで働くのは大丈夫だったが、従業員に素敵な職場を作る為と従業員と簡単にコミュニケーション出来る為にオフィスが必要だ。ところが、現在高級なオフィスを借りられないから、コワーキングスペースやブーズやインキュベーター等を探していた。</div>
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Yesterday I visited a co-working space in Nagatacho, that (probably because they received government funding) goes far above and beyond what normal co-working spaces offer and although it is slightly more expensive than most co-working spaces it is still quite affordable. I haven't decided 100% yet and will have to discuss with my future employees, but I think the place is amazing! Of course I'll try to post pictures once I move in to an office/co-working space.</div>
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昨日、凄く素敵な永田町にあるコワーキングスペースを見つけた!普通のコワーキングスペースと全く違うが、もっともっと素敵なにも関わらずそんなに高いじゃない。まだ決めてなくて、従業員とも相談したいが、本当にめっちゃくちゃ素敵だと思う!勿論、入居してから、写真を撮って、乗せ込むよ!</div>
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I've also been looking for a corporate lawyer with mixed success so far, but it looks like there'll be 2 I can visit in the near future to see which one suits me best.</div>
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コーポレート弁護士にも探して来た。まだ見つけてないが、すぐ二人に訪問出来そうだ。最適なのを選べる。</div>
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All in all, I am very excited. Even though I've never worked at a company before, I'm very excited to be creating my own and I think it will be loads of fun 'going to the office'. On top of that, I'm really really excited to see what investors will say about my plans. If they think they're great, awesome! If they think they suck, awesome in a different way, because it will provide an amazing opportunity to learn and make my plans even better. And then in general I am actually super excited for everything I have planned. Once we continue development in house there will be some awesome stuff coming out!</div>
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つまり、気がめっちゃくちゃ立ってる!会社で働いた経験がないにも関わらず、自分のを作って、オフィスに通う事をとっても楽しみにしてる。その上、投資家は俺の計画に対してどう思うかも非常に楽しみにしてる。凄いと思ったら、勿論良い事だ。悪いと思ったら、凄く勉強に成れて、計画をもっと改良出来る!それに、計画を具体にするところも超楽しみにしてる! ^^</div>
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Another thing I briefly want to talk about is a happiness/psychology thing and how I've noticed the 'implied happiness EV' of certain things. For example, things like playing a video game, going to karaoke and watching a movie are activities that will generally make you happy for a little while, but next week it usually has no impact anymore on how happy you are.</div>
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書きたい事がもう一つある。嬉しさと心理学に関係がある事だ。最近、或る物の'implied happiness EV'に気付いた。例えば、ビデオゲームをやったり、カラオケをしたり、映画を見たりするのに嬉しくさせるけど、次の週はその嬉しさがもう消えてる。</div>
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However, certain other activities can have a much longer lasting impact on your happiness. An example of this for me is, fitness. Not only do I feel healthy and energised, but also the way I look after a few years of training is a source of happiness for me every single day. Another example is certain trips like the one to Vegas. And even though I didn't have that great of a time in Singapore, somehow I still think about that trip sometimes and in a way it provides me with some happiness as a precious memory.</div>
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しかし、嬉しさをもっと長く影響する物もある。俺にとってはフィットネスがそういう事だ。もっとヘルシーで元気を感じてる事だけではなく、数年間で運動して来たおかげでの体型にも毎日嬉しくさせてる。</div>
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旅行が好きじゃないにも関わらず、或る旅行は大切な思い出に成って来た。ラスベガスに居た夏も、そんなに楽しんでなかったシンガポールの旅行も偶に思い出して、嬉しくさせる。</div>
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I guess this probably is similar to what it means to raise kids. Everything you put into them probably accumulates and they become a source of happiness for the rest of your life. It also makes me understand a certain Ted Talk better that I recently watched. It talked about a certain experiment where they gave random strangers some money and 50% was told to spend it on themselves and 50% was told to spend it on other people. The 50% who spent it on other people was found to be happier a few days after. They did other research too and claimed that doing things for other people is longer lasting happiness than other forms of happiness. I can kind of understand this now.</div>
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子供を育てると近い気持ちの気がする。子供に入れる事が集まれば集まる程、子供が嬉しさの源に成る気がする。更に、最近見たTed Talkはもっと分かる様に成った。研究家は実験をしたんだが、知らない人にお金を渡して、5割に自分に使う様に言って、他の5割に他の人に使う様に言った。数日後、自分に使った人より他の人に使った人の方が嬉しかった。あの研究家はもっと色んな研究をして、他の人にする事に生まれる嬉しさの方が長く残るって言っていた。今なら、結構分かる。</div>
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Ok, I think that's about all I have to say this time. I'll try and not wait 2 months before blogging again, but no promises!</div>
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じゃー、今回ここまでだ。また2ヶ月でアップデートしない様にご遠慮しようとする! ^^</div>
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reason; truth; way of things; justice
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reason; principle; logic; general principle (as opposed to individual concrete phenomenon); (in neo-Confucianism) the underlying principles of the cosmos
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Frankhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14192703578452431776noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7853956798073334417.post-77589938543718232312014-03-31T13:41:00.001+01:002014-03-31T13:41:05.936+01:00States of Mind<br />
There's 2 both quite psychological topics I really want to write about. Which one shall I choose to write about first... I guess I will pick the one that I think will be the shortest, because I'm still hyperbusy.<br />
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Since I went to the onsen a few weeks ago(trip report still to come I hope), I've been thinking a lot about the different states of mind I've noticed I can be in. The onsen wasn't the first time I noticed and thought about this topic, but laying in the onsen trying to take a break from everything and trying to relax and calm my mind, I tried to banish all thoughts from my mind and focus intensely on my 5 senses.<br />I was alone in the onsen late at night and listened to the noise that the water was making during it's various stages going from it's origin into the bath and eventually out of the bath. I also breathed in the air and tried to focus on the smell of the onsen water. Of course I also felt the sensation of the warm water and the currents throughout the bath. And not to be left out was the sight of the dimly lit onsen at night.<br />
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The day after I found myself thinking about different states of mind and the possible importance of balance between them like I had done a few months before. For myself I've been able to identify 3-4 different states of mind:<br />
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1) Consciously Active<br />
This is the state of mind I was in when I used to play poker and when I am working nowadays. My mind is full of thoughts and doing it's best to do all it's tasks as good and efficient as it possibly can. I assume that especially the left side of my brain(logical side) is extremely busy in this state. I do really like this state of mind and I think I spent the vast majority of my waking hours in this state of mind, but if I'm not careful I get stuck in this state of mind and it becomes hard to turn it off and relax. If I'm still in this state of mind with thoughts racing through my mind when I go to bed, it takes a long time to fall asleep for example.<br />
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2) Unconsciously Active<br />
This is when I'm watching TV or when I'm browsing through FB on my phone when I am on the train. Basically, I'm not consciously thinking about anything and it's sort of a nice break from #1 and very necessary every now and then to let your mind rest. However, although there's no conscious thoughts going on in my mind there are still many unconscious thoughts flying around. It's still active.<br />
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3) Consciously Inactive<br />
State #3 is when I'm very focussed on my senses, like I was in the onsen. I focus on 1 or 2 very simple things like sounds or other sensations and have it block out all the rest in my mind. I get the feeling people aren't in this state very often nowadays(lives being busy and all), even though our senses are really the essence of what we are and what is the most real. All the other stuff we think about and what goes on in our head is just stuff we make up based off of these senses. I'm not nearly done experimenting more and thinking more about all of this, but I get a feeling a good balance between these 3 could be important. Sort of related to life/work balance, but not quite the same.<br />
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Then there's also social activities, which I'm not sure which state to put in exactly, I feel like it's sort of inbetween #1 and #2. Fitness also I feel like is probably #2, but definitely flirts a lot with state #3.<br />
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Probably labeling them as these 3 states is thinking too black and white, however it makes it easier to think and philosophize about these subjects for me and allows me to create a framework and possibly learn something from it.<br />
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This is pretty abstract and unfinished, but simply something I've thinking about and experimenting a bit with as of late. For example, trying to focus on my senses more and almost doing some semi-meditation on the train instead of playing with my phone as well as trying to spend some time in state #3 before going to bed to quiet down my mind and unwind after a long day with thoughts racing through my mind.Frankhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14192703578452431776noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7853956798073334417.post-6870782578894533542014-03-17T11:21:00.000+00:002014-03-17T11:21:17.950+00:00Tokyo Photo Blog & Business UpdateSorry for the severe lack of updates. I've just been insanely busy as of late and have had more important things to do than updating my blog. I kept wanting to do it, but then also kept postponing, because there was too much urgent stuff I had to take care of first.<br />
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It's been forever since I've posted any pictures in this blog so first and foremost I'll start off with the pictures I've taken over the past month or 2. Starting off with:<br />
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My new Bike</div>
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The second hand bike I bought got stolen last year, which meant I was commuting to the gym almost every day by tram and paying 240 JPY a day(2.4 USD) to get to the gym alone. Over the course of a year this adds up to about 750 USD + the fact that it saves me about 10-15 minutes each day if I go to the gym by bike made me finally buy a new proper bike.<br />
I once again decided to get a mountain bike, because that's what I've always driven. I've been using it for 2 months now and I'm very happy with it. I'm considering to go everywhere by bike in a few weeks once the weather is nice. By that I mean, Shibuya, Shinjuku, Ginza, everywhere! I love the city, so it seems awesome if I get to actually see some of it going by bike rather than seeing nothing when I use the subway.<br />
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Next up some food. Firstly, this random yakitori(I think) place we went to, but mostly ate non-yakitory dishes. The grilled saba was so good I insisted we order a 2nd one. The wine however was not so good illustrated by how generous they were when filling the glasses. All of this according to my friends of course, because I don't drink.<br />
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Saba</div>
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Massive Sashimi plate</div>
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The last picture of the large plate of Sashimi I ate with my friend Takuma. It was ridiculously cheap at only about 2000 JPY for this much raw fish!<br />
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These are a handful of recent entries in my food blog. Mainly
Unagi, which is currently my 2nd favourite food. When spending <2500 JPY,
you're best of eating Sushi, but I actually believe between 2500 and
6000 JPY Unagi is the best value for money food. I haven't eaten enough
food more expensive than that to be sure, but I believe it to be Sushi
again above a certain treshold(maybe 10.000 JPY).<br />
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<b>1 Michelin Star Unagi: </b><a href="http://tokyofoodjournal.blogspot.jp/2014/02/1-michelin-star-unagi.html">http://tokyofoodjournal.blogspot.jp/2014/02/1-michelin-star-unagi.html</a><br />
<b>Best Unagi Ever:</b> <a href="http://tokyofoodjournal.blogspot.jp/2014/02/new-best-unagi-ive-ever-eaten.html">http://tokyofoodjournal.blogspot.jp/2014/02/new-best-unagi-ive-ever-eaten.html </a><br />
<b>Disappointing Tsukiji Sushi: </b><a href="http://tokyofoodjournal.blogspot.jp/2014/03/tsukiji-sushi-isnt-always-best-sushi.html">http://tokyofoodjournal.blogspot.jp/2014/03/tsukiji-sushi-isnt-always-best-sushi.html</a><br />
<b>Great Tsukemen: </b><a href="http://tokyofoodjournal.blogspot.jp/2014/03/very-good-tsukemen-thanks-to-royal.html">http://tokyofoodjournal.blogspot.jp/2014/03/very-good-tsukemen-thanks-to-royal.html</a><br />
<b>Good Unagi near my house: </b><a href="http://tokyofoodjournal.blogspot.jp/2014/03/good-value-for-money-unagi-but-only-if.html">http://tokyofoodjournal.blogspot.jp/2014/03/good-value-for-money-unagi-but-only-if.html</a><br />
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A few weeks ago we had MASSIVE snowstorms in Tokyo. I heard the last
time Tokyo got covered in this much snow was 15 years ago!! It was quite
cool in a way, but there were also a few days, I remember 1 in
particular where I had to go to the ear doctor for my ear infection,
where it was literally almost impossible to go anywhere. Usually it
would take me 10 minutes to walk there, but this time it took me more
than half an hour!!! On top of that I was SOAKED when I got back and it
wasn't even raining or snowing. All from the massive amount of ice, snow
and other wet stuff laying everywhere!<br />
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Downstairs from where I live</div>
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From my balcony</div>
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In front of my building</div>
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Road leading to the main station</div>
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Frozen flowers</div>
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Shopping district nearby</div>
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Main Ikebukuro station area</div>
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Downstairs from my building</div>
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I absolutely love the view from my balcony. The skies in Tokyo are so clear and you can see everything really well on most days!</div>
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Here's some pictures of the area around Tokyo Tower. I shot them before going to a bar/restaurant of a good friend who's created a super awesome friendly community around his bar. We sometimes play futsal and he often organises cool events.<br />
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Tokyo Tower</div>
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Tokyo Tower</div>
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Mori buildings</div>
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Nice picture of Ikebukuro shot from outside my apartment, but in the same building: <br />
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Rather weak Unagi in the restaurant downstairs from where I live:<br />
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Here ishe view from a friend's office. I randomly ran into him in the subway and he invited me to come to his office. SUPERsick office in a super expensive area with a great view as you can see.<br />
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You can see Shinjuku in the distance and it is even possible to see my tower mansion in Ikebukuro in the far far distance</div>
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You can see Marunouchi, Roppongi and Tokyo Tower looking in this direction</div>
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It's kind of interesting how some of the billboards on top of the buildings are clearly targeted towards rich people(investments etc.) and thus seem to be targeted specifically towards the people in the building I was in. They definitely are up too high and facing in too strange of a direction to be targeted towards people in the streets.<br />
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A shot from close to where I live. Out of the 2 skyscrapers on the right, I live in the front one. On the left you can see a new skyscraper that's being constructed. Constructing is progressing at lighting speed and it's shocking how fast it continues to rise. I'm pretty sure it's already taller than my building and I wonder how far they'll continue building.<br />
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Higashi-Ikebukuro's skyscraper landscape</div>
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Then next is a video from a very strange and interesting ice cream shop I came across.<br />
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Here are some pictures from Bob and Hitoshi's surprise wedding party. They're a gay couple who recently got married in San Fransisco. The pig wine holder with hearts painted on it is the gift 2 friends and I made for them.<br />
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Married couple on the left, a guitar player and a friend singing on the right </div>
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The cake made for the newly weds</div>
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The newly weds</div>
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Newly weds with my friend who made the cake</div>
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Unwrapping of the gift 2 friends and I gave them</div>
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Loss of words</div>
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Me with 3 friends!</div>
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These are probably the 2 weirdest sayings I've ever come across. Kyushu-ben... people in Kyushu clearly have an awesome sense of humor:<br />
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Weird language I'm studying...</div>
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It actually makes sense in a way..., but woow!!!</div>
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More Great Unagi. I had been here before, but was happy to be back!<br />
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Pickles</div>
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Soup </div>
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Unajuu(Unagi)</div>
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My desktop recently broke down and because it seemed like a super complicated problem that was hard to fix I decided it would be too expensive(time-wise) to repair and I bought a new one. Here's the old one being taken apart, because I decided to reuse 3 items(power supply, blu-ray player, sound card).<br />
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3 random pictures from Shinjuku. I took them trying to capture the snow, but kind of failed. It's rather hard to see, but on the 7th of March in the middle of a fairly warm, sunny day, it suddenly started snowing like crazy!!!<br />
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Another visit to the AWESOME 37 Steakhouse in Roppongi with a few friends from JP Morgan and Merryl Lynch. They serve the best steaks I've ever had the pleasure to taste:<br />
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21days aged 650g bone-in rib eye</div>
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More food pictures from a Shikoku culture night organised by the bar/community where we sometimes play futsal and do activities. All the food originates from Shikoku(the smallest of Japan's main 4 islands) and tasted amazing! Probably mostly because it was made by Fumiki, the chef of the place who's an insanely good cook!<br />
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Fishcakes</div>
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Pasta</div>
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Unsure what this was</div>
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Tofu</div>
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Spinach with fried tofu</div>
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AMAZING Katsuo(Bonito) Sashimi. Not the best I ever had, but very close!</div>
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Some sort of sushi, but very strange.</div>
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Desert called Taruto</div>
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Super sweet, super awesome candything.</div>
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Last, but not least I took a ton of pictures during my recent weekend onsen trip with 3 friends. However, most of the pictures were taken by my pro-photographer friend, so I will update about this after I receive all the pictures from him.<br />
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Before I finish this blog up, let me give you a short update of how business is going. The app has definitely been delayed by the project leader who fell seriously ill and had to stop working. He's been replaced by a different project leader, who doesn't seem quite as experienced as the previous one, but I'm glad he stepped up to the plate and took over. We really are very close to finish and launching it. I don't think I'll ever set launch dates again, but we really are very close. With ~5 mostly minor items left to fix. I personally feel like it can be done within 1 week, but I'm not the one doing the programming.<br />
Furthermore, I've started designing my 2nd product for Language Link. Hopefully I'll get a chance to show a little something in the next few weeks and explain it in more detail. It is again a mobile application, but much different and for iPad and Android Tablets only. Smartphones' screens are too small for it to work unfortunately enough.<br />
For both of these projects I am looking to hire app developers as soon as I can. The tablet app I want to develop entirely in-house, because I haven't been entirely satisfied with outsourcing things and I hope in-house development will work out better. Furthermore, I am by no means even close to finished with the language exchange application. There's a TON of stuff I want to add to it and it will likely be the core product of my Language Link brand for the next decade. To further tweak it and develop it further I will need those in-house app developers.<br />
So, if you know anyone skilled at developing iOS or AndroidOS applications and is knowledgeable in Objective-C or Java, please introduce them to me!<br />
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The entertainment project is also progressing bit by bit. Nothing big to report on as of now, but we're working on various things.<br />
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I have a ton of other stuff I want to blog about, such as some new psychology stuff, this SICK documentary I saw last week called "I Am" and the onsen trip. However, it's already taken me 45 minutes to type this blog in English only, even though ideally I want to post it in Japanese AND English. And I have also not even added the images yet, because I'm at a SB and don't have a cable to connect my phone to my MacBook, so I'll have to do that tomorrow if I have time or otherwise Monday when I'm home(typing this on Saturday).<br />
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Last thing I'll add to this blog is a short update on how my goals for this year are going that I posted in my 2014 Goals blog:<br />
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<b>1) 1.000.000$ Net Worth(basically Language Link worth about 1M$)</b><br />
I have started developing additional products for Language Link very early, that's good, however although I expected some possible delay in the app launch I definitely expected we'd launch early February at the latest. The fact that it looks like it'll be late March or dare I say early April, rather sucks and makes this goal harder for sure. Hopefully I will be able to find app developers relatively soon at least so I can start development of the 2nd product soon as well as continue further additions to the language exchange app asap.<br />
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<b>2) Understand Japanese TV</b><br />
Starting to watch Japanese TV has definitely improved my listening skills a ton. I noticed at the start of the year within a few weeks I progressed a ton. However for the past month or so I've been crazy busy and slacked a bit on both Kanji study and watching TV. Hopefully I can increase the time I spend on Japanese again soon and achieve this goal. I definitely think it's possible to understand ~80-90% of Japanese TV by the end of the year.<br />Even though I speak pretty well, I actually almost never get to speak any Japanese anymore :( Excluding this last weekend(where I got to speak a lot of Japanese), I've maybe had 1-2 Japanese conversations in the last month.<br />
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<b>3) Look like a fitness model</b><br />
EZ-mode! I'd be surprised if I didn't accomplish this in the 1st half of 2014. I've grown rather large as of late and am pretty happy with my muscle mass. All that's left is switch to a fat loss program and lose maybe ~5KG of fat. Just waiting for the right moment to do so.<br />
Funny side note. I'm now eating 4500+ kcal a day, but nonetheless not gaining much if any weight. To give you an idea of what eating 4500+ kcal a day is like. It basically means having a big appetite and constantly eating from the moment you wake until the moment you go to bed up to the point you honestly don't want to eat anymore.<br />
Anyway, I'm in great shape and getting pretty close to this goal. Just a month or 2, maybe 3 of fat loss and I'll be there.<br />
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<b>4) Complete Sea to Summit in under 15 hours (including the climb down)</b><br />
As I mentioned, I hadn't decided 100% yet that I would go for this. I think now I've pretty much decided not to do this, mostly for 2 reasons. In January I watched a college relay long distance running race and I got VERY worried about my body shape for long distance races. All those guys were super skinny and probably weigh a good 20KG less than me. Hauling an extra 20KG with me from the sea all the way up to the summit of mount Fuji over the course of like 60-70KM is a pretty daunting task.<br />
Secondly and FAR more importantly I did some research into the type of training required for a marathon and thus also this type of event and I found out it was not a type of exercise I like at all. Mostly it consists of spending a lot of time running, but not pushing yourself at all and running under race-pace. Hard to properly explain, but training for a marathon did not sound like my type of thing, thus I somewhat lost interest. There's simply more enjoyable training for me. After I lose a few KG of body fat, I'll likely get into olympic movements or possibly do a Smolov program(heard it is REALLY fucking tough).<br />
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Okay, now updating you on these goals took another 15-20 minutes. I think this may be the longest blog I've ever written up till this point, so it's probably time to end it.<br />
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Hopefully I'll have time to write another update sooner and I won't have to make you wait a month again!<br /><br />Finshing off with a few random bonus pictures:<br />
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My desk</div>
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Random tree</div>
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View from Hamamatsucho station. Love the contrast between Nature and modern Skyscrapers. There's lots of that in Tokyo. Nishi-Shinjuku is probably my favorite when it comes to this kind of stuff.</div>
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My post workout shake, before I add in milk and protein powder.</div>
Frankhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14192703578452431776noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7853956798073334417.post-62106628914555913442014-02-16T14:10:00.000+00:002014-02-16T14:10:09.979+00:00自分を嬉しくする。新しい発見!/ A new discovery about making myself happy!This isn't exactly the same thing as the happiness research I did last year(<a href="http://frankiestyn.blogspot.jp/2013/12/short-term-happiness-research.html">English</a> / <a href="http://frankiestyn.blogspot.jp/2013/12/blog-post.html">Japanese</a>), but it's somewhat related. Basically just noting down some (to me) interesting things about how my brain works and thus what kind of person I am.<br />
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このブログは去年の幸せの研究のブログ (<a href="http://frankiestyn.blogspot.jp/2013/12/short-term-happiness-research.html">英語</a> / <a href="http://frankiestyn.blogspot.jp/2013/12/blog-post.html">日本語</a>) と同じじゃないけれども、ちょっと関係がある。基本的に、自分の脳がどんな制度であるや、俺がどんな人である事に就いて(俺に)面白い点を記すブログに成る筈。<br />
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The two things I learned from the happiness research, phylisophy, thinking or whatever you want to call it, were one that I don't like to waste time and want to use it as the valuable resource it is and two that asking myself the question "am I happy?" too often and overthinking things makes unhappy. This second discovery is the reason I stopped thinking about it for the most part. However, I recently discovered some more stuff without really thinking too deeply about it.<br />
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幸せの研究から発見した事はただ二つ。一つ目のは時間を潰すのが大嫌いで、有意義の物としたい。二つ目のは自分に「幸せか幸せじゃないか?」という質問を聞きすぎたら、嬉しくなく成る発見である。二つ目の発見の為に幸せの研究を続けなかった。しかし、最近そんなに考えなずに新しい発見をした。<br />
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It started with the fact that a lot of things have been bothering me as of late. Little illnesses and stuff. In the last 2-2.5 months I've:<br />
-Had to take a week off from fitness due to a muscle in my upper back/shoulder that unluckily stretched in a not so good way.<br />
-Been out with a cold for about a week.<br />
-Caught an ear infection that came back twice and after visiting a doctor twice still isn't 100%<br />
-Got really scared when my knee started bothering me in the same way it did last summer and paid 5500JPY for a cab to save myself from walking a few hundred meters while changing trains. Physio took a look and seems like it was just some tightness in my right quadricep causing my knee to hurt, so it luckily turns out not to be that bad.<br />
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色んな迷惑で始まった。小さな病気等。2、2.5ヶ月以来下記の事があった。<br />
*肩の或る筋肉の為に一週間で運動出来なかった。 <br />
*引いちゃった風の為に一週間で病気であった。<br />
*急性外耳道炎を引いちゃった、二度も戻って来て、二回耳鼻咽喉科に行ったにも関わらずにまだ100%直ってない。<br />
*膝が作家と同じ様に痛んで着たら、怖く成って、数百メートルを歩かなくては行ける為に5500円掛かったタクシーで帰った。理学療法士に行って、右大腿四頭筋がちょっと堅いだけであると言われた。<span class="writing"></span><span class="pos"></span><br />
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This stuff just messes with my rhythm and flow like crazy and gets me out of my beloved daily routine. It also messes with my focus and motivation. It's not like I haven't dealt with uncontrollable setbacks before... being able to deal with the uncontrollable may be the single most important skill a professional poker player can have. However, being kicked out of my regular routine really stresses me out. Especially when it means not going to the gym regularly (and by regularly I mean at least 5 times a week).<br />
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こんな事に自分の<span class="kana">リズムと</span><span class="kana">流動を影響して、大切な日課を取り乱す。</span><span class="kana">フォーカスとも</span><span class="kana">モチベーションも影響する。コントロールが出来ない挫折を扱った事がない訳ではないんだ。</span><span class="kana"><span class="kana">コントロールが出来ない挫折を扱うの</span>はプロポーカープレーヤーに取って一番大事な技量であるかも知れないんだ。だけど、日課を取り乱したら、物凄く緊張成って行く。特にあまりフィットネスに行かない時に。あまり行かない時というのは一週間に4回以下である。</span><br />
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However, yesterday I realized there is one thing that stresses me out even much more than uncontrollable things that mess up my routine and progress. Yesterday there was a CRAZY amount of snow in Japan (got a ton of pictures, but my picture blog will be the next blog... sorry!), so crazy that it was extremely hard to go anywhere. I had to go to the ear doctor, but instead of the usual 5-10 minute walk it took me 30 minutes and I was soaked when I got there. Especially my feet and socks were cold and wet.<br />
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しかし、昨日コントロールが出来なくて日課を<span class="kana">取り乱す物より</span>もっともっと緊張する物存在してるに気づいた。昨日、日本で雪が一杯降り積もってた。 (写真を沢山撮ったけど、次のブログに成る。ごめん!) どこにも行きにくい<span class="writing">程一杯。耳鼻咽喉科に行かなきゃ行けなかったけど、普通の5,10分位じゃなくて、30分掛かって、到着したら、</span><span class="writing">ずぶ濡れだった。</span><br />
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So after I got back, I decided I couldn't go out and there wasn't really any work laying around I could do either, so I wasn't really sure what to do. Could've studied some Japanese, but 12 hours long? Considered doing a LotR marathon, but I've seen it over 10 times already. I wasn't really sure, because I'm not sure what else I can do besides work and socializing. I decided I'd play a videogame(hadn't played any in AGES) and try to enjoy it.<br />
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帰って来てから、出掛けられない事にして、仕事もあまりあらなかったので、「どうしようかなあ。日本語の勉強は?うーん、12時間で?指輪物語マラソンは?もう10回以上見たけど。」と思ってた。仕事と交流の他意外の出来る事は全く出て来なかった。<span class="writing">結局ビデオゲームをやる事 (凄い久しぶりであった) にして、楽しもうとした。</span><br />
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It wasn't bad, an okay way to kill time, but nonetheless I felt HORRIBLE at the end of the day. Why? Well... I noticed my subconscious mind rebelled against me wasting that much time. I don't mind if I watch a movie every now and then and I don't view everything tiny thing as a waste of time, but playing video games specifically and for that many hours... something in me wasn't pleased. That little something made me feel extremely stressed out and kind of sick in a way. Fortunately enough I went to the gym today, had a fun time getting my hair cut and was able to be quite productive. For a lot of people, exercise and work are reasons for stress, but for me it has the opposite effect. It soothes me and without either I get very stressed.<br />
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悪くなかったのに、日の終わりに気分が酷く成って来た。何で?じゃ、潜在意識の精神は 時間を潰してた俺に反発した。玉に映画を見るのが好きで、細かい奴を全て勿体無いとして見る訳ではないんだけど、ビデオゲームこそ、そしてあんなに長くやったから、自分の奥の何か喜んでなかった。あの小さな何か自分を緊張掛けた。良い事に、今日はフィットネスに行ったり、髪の毛を切って貰ったり、時間を生産的に過ごしたりしたので、もう大丈夫。沢山の人達に取っては運動とか仕事等が緊張する物であるんだが、俺に取って逆の効果を持ってる。自分を宥めて、無しで大変緊張する事に成る。<br />
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I'm not sure I'll always be like this, but currently... this is me.<br />
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いつもこのままで残るかどうか分からないけど、今これは俺である。 <br />
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So I guess lessons learned are:<br />
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1) Don't concern myself with the uncontrollable, focus on what I can control. (I already knew this, but need to do a better job)<br />
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2) Work more or be unhappy... :)<br />
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習った事は:<br />
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1) コントロールが出来ない事を考えなずにコントロールが出来る事をフォーカスして。 (もう知ってたけど、もっと頑張らなきゃ)<br />
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2)もっと働いて。それとも、幸せじゃない。。。 ^_^<br />
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Unless something crazy happens, I'll post a blog with all the pictures I've taken soon!<br />
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変な事が起こらなかったら、次のブログは写真が一杯入ってるブログに成る!<br />
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<h2>
日本語ってさー美しい言葉だなあーーーーー!!!!!!もっともっともっともっと上手に成らなきゃ!! </h2>
Frankhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14192703578452431776noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7853956798073334417.post-9186096563414668322014-02-07T08:27:00.000+00:002014-02-07T08:32:59.251+00:00日本語で小さなブログを書いたSorry, no English this time. Purely Japanese writing practice.<br />
<br />
<h1 id="subject_show">
何を書こうかな</h1>
<h1 id="subject_show">
</h1>
<h1 id="subject_show">
インスピレーションが欲しいなー!作者に成りたくて書くのが超うまい友達がいるんだけど、彼女の様に書けるって良いんだけどなー!<br /><br />日本語がうまい日本人って言えば、敬語が圧倒的にうまい友達もいる。最近彼のプレゼンテーションに行った時に一時間半でプレゼンテーションに聞いて楽しんだ!彼の言い方は、本当に芸術の様な物だと思う。そんなにうまいんだ!<br /><br />俺
の夢は彼と同じうまく成る事だ。しかし、たいてい出来ない事が存在してないと思ってる(Impossible => I'm
possible)にも関わらず、これは本当に出来るかどうか知らない。今のままで必ず自分の日本語を改良することが出来るので、現状の心配じゃないだろ
う。当分は一生懸命に頑張るぞ!
</h1>
Frankhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14192703578452431776noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7853956798073334417.post-83941487079790858052014-01-22T09:19:00.000+00:002014-01-22T09:25:41.495+00:00A Good Start to 2014First of all, sorry that it's been a while since I posted any cool pictures in this blog. Fact is I just haven't really taken any pictures as of late, but since I bought a new Samsung Galaxy Note 3 smartphone the other week, I promise I will put forth an effort to take some pictures around Tokyo to post in this blog.<br />
<br />
I blogged about random facts and about my 2014 goals recently, but I haven't really blogged about any specific things I've been doing, so that's what this blog is dedicated to. What the hell I've been up to. If I summed it up in 1 word 'work' it'd be quite accurate, but it wouldn't make for much of an interesting blog, so I'll expand on that 1 word a bit :)<br />
<br />
I have definitely been very busy over the past month. I was actually quite bored for most of November and early December and spent a lot of time networking, meeting people, hanging out with friends etc, but middle-December things picked up big time and I've been extremely busy since. The most notable non-work things I've done were a karaoke party around Christmas, falling ill for nearly a week in between Christmas and new year due to a cold and falling ill for another half a week or so in January with an ear infection.<br />
<br />
<h2 style="text-align: center;">
Language Link </h2>
<br />
The Language Link application's date of expected launch when development began was yesterday, the 21st of January, and we haven't launched yet. However, development completed a while ago and even most of the bug testing has finished. However some bugs remain surrounding certain Android models, which may take a little longer to fix. After all the bugs have been fixed, I will produce a little video, take screenshots and then submit it to the app store. Launch date will mostly depend on how quick we can fix those last few bugs. I don't think we'll make January, but I really hope we'll be able to launch in early February.<br />
<br />
My work on Language Link consists partly of testing the application every time there is a new build and sending back feedback to the developer, but most of my time has been spent on the accompanying website. I've sort of soft-launched it and you can take a look around at:<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.languagelink.net/">http://www.languagelink.net/</a><br />
<br />
You may notice that there's one bug left(list the articles based on popularity to see what I mean) that I want to get fixed before I start spreading the word about it. It's taken up quite a lot of time this month, but it's reaaaally close now.<br />
<br />
On top of the website I've also been brainstorming a little bit about future Language Link products/services and I have a very good one on which I will get started very soon, as well as improvements for the 2nd versions of the website and application.<br />
<br />
<h2 style="text-align: center;">
Qlear Entertainment</h2>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
The project that I mentioned in my 2014 goals blog post that has the end goal of putting a building in Odaiba(bay area) has been renamed to Qlear Entertainment Project. I'm working together with 4 talented young individuals(and good friends) to make a name for ourselves in the entertainment industry.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
This week we've started organizing a valentine's concert. Valentine is very soon and if there are any unforeseen setbacks we will not make it on time, but if that happens we will simply shift it back a little bit and organize an awesome concert in March. If we are able to pull it off for Valentine's though it will be a MASSIVE accomplishment!</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
After that first relatively small concert to get our feet wet we plan to organize much bigger events in Tokyo, Japan and Asia and plan to eventually become a big player in the market and leverage our position to build a building in Odaiba before the Olympics.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
I've taken on the roll of manager, so I'm making sure we meet deadlines, everything runs smoothly, is well organized and so on, and I jump in whenever my help is needed somewhere. Fortunately enough I can rely on my talented friends to do a lot of work as well.</div>
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</h2>
<h2 style="text-align: center;">
Fitness & Japanese</h2>
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<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Except for the minor interruptions during the 2 periods where I was ill I've been crushing the gym pretty well. I'm in great shape and as time goes on I will improve and improve even further. This week is the last week of my breathing squat phase, which is a really fucking tough phase with sets of 20 squats with 80+ KG. Toughest exercise I've ever done. Deadlifts are going well too. I'm up to doing sets of 15 reps @ 138.5KG(300+ lbs ^_^ ), but I expect to top 140KG during my last workout of the week.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br />
However, even though it's supposed to be really tough, my workouts are the most relaxing part of my day. There's nights where I don't sleep so well and I wake up really tired, but after I go to the gym I'm SUPER well rested and HYPER relaxed. During my workout it's no different. It's the only moment of the day my mind isn't racing with thoughts and it honestly feels like meditation. Super relaxing and right now I couldn't live without!</div>
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<br /></div>
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Japanese is going decent too. I'm too busy some days, but most days I watch some TV and I am brushing up on kanji knowledge. I want to do more reading though, so I will try and find more reading material soon. However, the fact that most Japanese books use way different (and tougher) vocabulary and kanji from what I'm used to doesn't help to make reading more interesting.</div>
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Other Stuff</h2>
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<br /></div>
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Last week I got to eat Fugu for the first time and probably the last. I'm really happy I finally got a chance to try it, but to find out why I probably won't eat it again read my other blog <a href="http://tokyofoodjournal.blogspot.jp/2014/01/my-first-fugu-experience.html">here</a>.</div>
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<br /></div>
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I mentioned I bought a new phone, I also bought a 13" Macbook Air, because my other laptop was too heavy and impossible to take with me around Tokyo. Haven't used it much yet, but compared to Windows it seems to have both disadvantages and advantages. Overall it seems a bit worse, but I may change my mind after using it more.</div>
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I think that about sums it up. I promise to do my best and take more pictures for my next blog! Hopefully by that time I'll have launched the application!<br />
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P.S. Awesome song: <br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/Mi9uNu35Gmk?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
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Frankhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14192703578452431776noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7853956798073334417.post-6839775444667399112014-01-15T12:00:00.001+00:002014-01-15T12:11:18.645+00:002013 Funny Facts and a look back at 2013So far 2014 has gone all right. I started off with 1 and a half weeks of insane productivity, but then caught an ear infection which took me 3-5 days to get over(and it still isn't 100%).<br />
<br />
I looked forward at 2014 and posted about my goals in my last blog post, but I never really looked back at 2013 to see what I accomplished and at what my highlights were, so here goes. Lots of funny facts and a brief look back at 2013:<br />
<br />
<br />
<h3>
Travel</h3>
<h4>
</h4>
<b>Countries visited: </b>7<br />
UK, The Netherlands, <a href="http://frankiestyn.blogspot.jp/2013/03/seoul-south-korea-trip-report.html">South Korea</a>, Japan, <a href="http://frankiestyn.blogspot.jp/2013/11/hong-kong-trip-report_6.html">Hong Kong</a>, <a href="http://frankiestyn.blogspot.jp/2013/11/macau-trip-report.html">Macau</a>, <a href="http://frankiestyn.blogspot.jp/2013/11/singapore-trip-report.html">Singapore</a>.<br />
<br />
<b>Favorite Country(excluding Japan):</b> <a href="http://frankiestyn.blogspot.jp/2013/11/hong-kong-trip-report_6.html">Hong Kong</a><br />
<br />
<b>Flights: </b>12<br />
Amsterdam -> Paris<br />
Paris -> Haneda<br />
Kansai -> Seoul<br />
Seoul -> Narita<br />
Narita -> Seoul<br />
Seoul -> Amsterdam<br />
Amsterdam -> Seoul<br />
Seoul -> Narita<br />
Narita -> Seoul<br />
Seoul -> Singapore<br />
Singapore -> Hong Kong<br />
Hong Kong -> Narita<br />
<br />
<b>Favorite Airport: </b>Seoul Incheon Airport<br />
Clean, New, Smoothie King! <br />
<b>Worst Airport: </b>Paris<br />
I don't get lost... ever, except for Paris airport and everybody speaks French! <br />
<b>Best Airliner: </b>Korean Air<br />
Seats, Food, Price, Entertainment, Stewardesses, everything! <br />
<b>Worst Airliner: </b>KLM<br />
Food sucks, seats suck, I don't like speaking Dutch with people I don't know!<br />
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<br />
<h3>
Food</h3>
<b>Favorite Meal:</b> <a href="http://tokyofoodjournal.blogspot.jp/2013/07/teppan-yaki-at-ukai-tei-yokohama-tokyos.html">Ukai Tei Yokohama</a><br />
This meal was siiiiiiiick!<br />
<b>Favorite Meal Honorable Mention: </b><a href="http://tokyofoodjournal.blogspot.jp/2013/02/sushi-in-nagoya-station-areanagoya.html">Sushi close to Nagoya station</a><br />
2nd best sushi ever after Sukiyabashi Jiro. Kind of want to go back to Nagoya in 2014 to eat here again!<br />
<b>Favorite Meal Honorable Mention #2: </b><a href="http://frankiestyn.blogspot.jp/2013/09/delicious-smoothies-37-steakhouse.html">37 Steakhouse Roppongi</a><br />
Best steak of my life. Better than at Ukai Tei Yokohama, but the overall meal was just slightly less. Still epic though.<br />
<b>Worst Meal:</b> In a tower in The Hague(The Netherlands).<br />
The
view on the ~40th floor was nice, especially considering it was in
Holland, but half the menu being 'unavailable' today and the other half
not being very good made this a bad meal I can't forget :(<br />
<b>Favorite Piece of Food:</b> <a href="http://tokyofoodjournal.blogspot.jp/2013/07/teppan-yaki-at-ukai-tei-yokohama-tokyos.html">Foie Gras @ Ukai Tei Yokohama</a><br />
Best piece of food I've EVER eaten. Better than sushi. It made me cry is how good it was... I literally couldn't speak for 1-2 minutes. <br />
<b>Favorite Cuisine: </b>Sushi<br />
No-brainer. <br />
<b>Favorite Cuisine Honorable Mention: </b>Unagi<br />
Always liked it, really got into it in the last 2 months. <br />
<b>Favorite Restaurant: </b><a href="http://tokyofoodjournal.blogspot.jp/2013/04/55_21.html">Midori Sushi Ikebukuro Echika Shop</a><br />
I've been here over 100 times in 2013. I used to go 3-4 times a week when I lived in west Ikebukuro and now that I live a bit farther away in east Ikebukuro I still go 1-2 times a week.<br />
<br />
<br />
<h3>
Tokyo</h3>
<b>Favorite Area: </b>Ginza<br />
As much as I love Ikebukuro, Ginza has a slight edge. Marunouchi and Yurakucho also woow me every time I go there.<br />
<b>Worst Area:</b> Roppongi<br />
I don't like nightlife, so clearly I don't like Roppongi.<br />
<b>Favorite Cafe: </b><a href="http://tabelog.com/tokyo/A1303/A130301/13117365/dtlphotolst/3/">Suzu Cafe #2 Shibuya</a><br />
I found a better one the other day, but I only found out about it in 2014. This one in Shibuya is pretty awesome.<br />
<b>Favorite Starbucks: </b><a href="http://www.gogobot.com/starbucks-omotesando-b-side-bl-tokyo-restaurant">Omotesando B-Side Bldg</a><br />
Good location, cool staff(although best staff is in Ueno station SB), power sockets and the other people who go here!<br />
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<br />
<h3>
Other</h3>
<b>Best Day: </b><a href="http://frankiestyn.blogspot.jp/2013/08/my-first-week-as-entrepreneur.html">Fireworks in Setagaya!</a><br />
Out of many awesome days and nights, this one was #1!!<br />
<b>Worst Day(s): </b>The<b> </b>14th of June, 3rd of October and the 18th of November<br />
Can't pick one. If I had to, maybe the 3rd of October when I was feeling terrible from food poisoning.<br />
<b>Favorite Month:</b> September<br />
May and March were great too and August ranks 4th. But September was #1 with serious gymming, no illnesses, sweet productivity and many fun meetings/events etc.<br />
<b>Funniest moment: </b>My friend sending some pictures to a girl with my cellphone. Unfortunately enough the pictures came from group chats with my Dutch high school friends and were... it's hard to properly describe them, but let's say they are not pictures you want to see when eating. Made for one hell of a laugh though :D<br />
<b>Biggest Pokerhand: </b>The 250k HKD pot in Macau where I ended up splitting AAxx vs AAxx. I flopped a nfd though and the other guy an oesd!<br />
<b>Best Movie I hadn't seen before 2013: </b><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2308725/">Helpless</a>, <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0492784/releaseinfo?ref_=tt_dt_dt#akas">Strange Circus</a> and <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2625030/releaseinfo?ref_=tt_dt_dt#akas">A New World</a>.<br />
Although surprisingly enough I didn't see any movies in 2013 that I'd rank in my top 25 all-time, I cannot pick a favorite movie I saw in 2013 out of these 3 absolutely amazing movies.<br />
<b>Best TV: </b><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0994314/">Code Geass 1</a> & <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1196006/">2</a><br />
Admittedly this is the only TV I watched in 2013, but this anime is so absolutely freaking fantastic that I rate it higher than all but 1 movie I've ever seen. The deep, complex themes in here are so plentiful it's crazy. It makes you think about the future of the human race, a 3rd world war, weapons of mass destruction, discrimination, friendship, betrayal, various forms of governments and many many more. Best of all, it's all packaged into an amazing series that never slows down, never has dull moments and sometimes multiple plot twists per episode. Even if you don't like anime, I highly recommend this!<br />
<br />
<br />
Overall 2013 was a pretty good year. I didn't make that much progress in my life as in accomplishing things in poker or business, but I progressed a LOT in Japanese, learned a lot of things about certain social situations/dynamics and learned many other useful life lessons. Looking back at a year ago, it's pretty shocking how much wiser I feel like I am.<br />
<br />
Another area that lacked a little bit was fitness. I only gave it my all towards the end of the year once I settled in Japan, but I got interrupted by having to leave Japan for a month and by a few injuries/illnesses, hopefully this will go better in 2014. On top of that I was traveling a lot more than I like to and busy moving to Japan which also explains the lack of progress with regards to poker/business etc. Now that I'm all settled in though that should be different in 2014.<br />
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<br />
Hopefully next time I update, I will have a launch date or very close estimation of the Language Link mobile application I'm developing! I'm hoping it will be this month, but it may end up being February.Frankhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14192703578452431776noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7853956798073334417.post-2367285467455924012014-01-01T09:46:00.003+00:002014-01-01T09:46:27.333+00:002014 Goals and MotivationFirst of all...<br />
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<b>Happy new year!!!</b></h3>
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I hope you all had very happy holidays and started off your 2014 in awesome ways today!<b> </b>If you need to get motivated to crush 2014, I suggest you watch either this Youtube video:<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/4yf2tOYKTgk?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
<br />
Or if you have 4 hours to spare, watch my new all-time favorite movie(I've seen well over 1000 movies), Ai no Mukidashi aka Love Exposure:<br />
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<a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1128075/">http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1128075/</a><br />
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<h2 style="text-align: center;">
Language Link</h2>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://fbcdn-sphotos-h-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn1/543940_528321757247980_954898648_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="147" src="https://fbcdn-sphotos-h-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn1/543940_528321757247980_954898648_n.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
</h2>
Somebody asked me to explain exactly what I'm trying to do with Language Link. On the about page of the website I'm about to launch I'm explaining it as follows:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: georgia,serif;">If
you're learning a new language, there are a lot of things you will need
on your journey towards fluency. A lot of these needs are fulfilled by
great websites, applications, courses and such, but they are scattered
across the internet. Some needs however, are not fufilled at all or in a
way that can be improved upon.</span></span> </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: georgia,serif;">Our
aim at Language Link is to create a central hub for language leaners,
fulfill their unfufilled needs and improve existing language learning
resources wherever possible. To accomplish this, we will leverage the
knowledge of veteran language learners and teachers over the coming
years to create innovations that will make learning easier and more fun
for students and teaching simpler and more efficient for teachers.</span></span> </blockquote>
Basically I'm trying to create more clarity in the language learning market. One place where everything is crystal clear and language learners can go to find everything they need. Be it links to great products by other companies or my own products.<br />
<br />
For now I'm focussing on creating a community around my company first through the website and through the language exchange application. The language exchange application I believe will fill the need that every language learner has to practice. I'm making that available for free. After I gain traction and get a big user base of language learners, I plan to offer them other products that will help them achieve their language learning goals.<br />
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The website should hopefully be done for a soft-launch in about a week or maybe 2. The application is officially scheduled for launch on the 21st, but it could possibly take until early-February.<br />
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<h2 style="text-align: center;">
Odaiba Project</h2>
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I believe I've mentioned this project before, but never said much about it. Well here goes:</div>
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<b>Before the 2020 Tokyo Olympics I and a few others plan to build a building in the Tokyo bay area</b>.</div>
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<a href="http://www.japan-guide.com/g3/3008_01b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.japan-guide.com/g3/3008_01b.jpg" height="236" width="400" /></a></div>
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For now, I'll just say that we have a plan involving a number of milestone steps along the way to build a building in Odaiba, the Tokyo bay area, before the 2020 olympics. The building will focus on entertainment. It's a massive project and I'm sure there'll be many challenges along the way, but nothing is impossible and I think we can do it! The first milestone is a valentine's concert planned for February. Exciting stuff!</div>
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<h2 style="text-align: center;">
2014 Goals<b><span style="font-weight: normal;"></span></b></h2>
<div style="text-align: left;">
So next up it's time to set some goals for 2014, well actually the time for that was yesterday and so I did, but since I'm updating my blog today, I'm sharing them with the world today. Here's a few of the biggest goals I have for 2014. Some harder than others, but I'm determined to achieve every one of them:</div>
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<h4 style="text-align: left;">
A net worth of 1.000.000$</h4>
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This will presumably come from Language Link for the most part. So I better work my ass off to build the company as fast as I can over the next year. Application launch in January, market it like crazy, add some extra features and also before mid-2014 have something else ready to start generating revenue for the company. Then in the 2nd half, build upon the momentum I gained in the 1st half and build it big enough to boost my net worth into 7 figures for the first time in my life. </div>
<h4 style="text-align: left;">
Understand Japanese TV</h4>
<div style="text-align: left;">
I live in Japan, but nonetheless I don't use all that much Japanese. I need to make a conscious effort to start using Japanese as much as I can, because I can't improve that much anymore from studying with textbooks. My work is effectively entirely in English, so I will have to get it from non-work activities. I may like Korean movies better, but I'll just have to man up and watch Japanese entertainment and TV instead. By the end of 2014, I want to be able to turn on a Japanese TV and understand 90% of what is going on.</div>
<h4 style="text-align: left;">
Look like a fitness model</h4>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Even if it made me look butt-ugly I may still be going to the gym. I just freaking love it and would be significantly less happy without it. While I'm at it, I may aswell set a goal to motivate myself. This is it. At the end of 2014, I want to look like a fitness model, albeit be it one of the healthy ones and not the unhealthily thin steroid guys.</div>
<h4 style="text-align: left;">
Complete Sea to Summit in under 15 hours (including the climb down)</h4>
<div style="text-align: left;">
I have still not decided 100% I'll do this, but I will decide sometime in the next 3 months. I've always wanted to compete in some insane physical challenge and this seems like a crazy, awesome, over-the-top one that will allow me to try and prove every sane person who will say it can't be done wrong. If I do it, it'll also include running a sub 3:15 marathon as part of training!</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Sea to Summit by the way is an event where you go from the sea of Japan to the summit of Mount Fuji in about 24 hours(48km uphill hike and then climbing Fuji). Most people struggle to complete it in 24 hours, I want to complete it in under 13ish hours, so that I have enough time to get back down and get to bed before I start getting too sleepy ;)</div>
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Basically... I will simply crush 2014 and make it my best year ever!!</div>
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If at any point anyone feels like I'm slacking off even in the slightest, <b>please tell me I'm a lazy bastard and that I need to get back to work!!!</b> </div>
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Do you have any goals for 2014? If so, please post them in a comment. I'd love to hear about them and see if you can complete yours before the end of the year!</div>
Frankhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14192703578452431776noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7853956798073334417.post-29329234806293569822013-12-14T12:02:00.000+00:002013-12-14T12:03:46.253+00:00Little UpdateI haven't been taking too many pictures as of late, because I haven't been to that many pictureworthy places, but here's a few from 2 events I went to recently:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdcGgqtGqs8OS-LSei55YQhHH1Q4yHsigmvj80LJgY6pf1p_mF5JgAsw95_mKNmJ65yqKpdnEABxkcBH9UcWm00pcR9DFZUpAwQRlUonfeXjCsBLyLU1xpHQly3niPzCv-RTssexwKnGA/s1600/IMAG1352.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdcGgqtGqs8OS-LSei55YQhHH1Q4yHsigmvj80LJgY6pf1p_mF5JgAsw95_mKNmJ65yqKpdnEABxkcBH9UcWm00pcR9DFZUpAwQRlUonfeXjCsBLyLU1xpHQly3niPzCv-RTssexwKnGA/s1600/IMAG1352.jpg" height="238" width="400" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJiNUHYNwGSmGBJjsuQSRPj1Ub-feLbg2Xw9flWaqvEcKkRiIZp8XpjVhq7dtMr5ETd1jfNKwSs8NHh1f4s3bf-NZXtynanOxl_ogCzxhEBmuVukYMk2hyphenhyphen-heFYaNXKT5wknz7_2qGGf0/s1600/IMAG1353.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJiNUHYNwGSmGBJjsuQSRPj1Ub-feLbg2Xw9flWaqvEcKkRiIZp8XpjVhq7dtMr5ETd1jfNKwSs8NHh1f4s3bf-NZXtynanOxl_ogCzxhEBmuVukYMk2hyphenhyphen-heFYaNXKT5wknz7_2qGGf0/s1600/IMAG1353.jpg" height="238" width="400" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwWcjL5HQ7W7bJuoX-NyzCd3xGzl1fLcZAaewpEfqY9FOINddRP_YNS1vklBtc9X7xE0D_HB4qk6Mpg6yiWgty8A0WeaLh3BjV9cNkz7Z3IN5P5Tk-nmqsZt0qc7ZF6yeAz79ZObsJotg/s1600/IMAG1354.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwWcjL5HQ7W7bJuoX-NyzCd3xGzl1fLcZAaewpEfqY9FOINddRP_YNS1vklBtc9X7xE0D_HB4qk6Mpg6yiWgty8A0WeaLh3BjV9cNkz7Z3IN5P5Tk-nmqsZt0qc7ZF6yeAz79ZObsJotg/s1600/IMAG1354.jpg" height="400" width="238" /></a></div>
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Roppongi Hills Tower</div>
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These are from an event in the Roppongi Hills Arena where a good friend of mine was a guest speaker.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKUtSGHl0skY7JTHGIwlZUoFYhMZQhB6U6fMXgbSVN_yq8q2xXi8_7g2BUQIol9gjaJHF66nxClaU4V-eVNYzg_C-ktZ5JH3IjPPIgVYLrPy-WEhwtfkcjgVZNaZvf7zLSFz9uIub3T8Q/s1600/IMAG1356.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKUtSGHl0skY7JTHGIwlZUoFYhMZQhB6U6fMXgbSVN_yq8q2xXi8_7g2BUQIol9gjaJHF66nxClaU4V-eVNYzg_C-ktZ5JH3IjPPIgVYLrPy-WEhwtfkcjgVZNaZvf7zLSFz9uIub3T8Q/s1600/IMAG1356.jpg" height="238" width="400" /></a></div>
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The guy in front and the one on the far right I met that night. The remaining four are me and three friends with me being the 2nd from the left.</div>
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Awesome picture that was taken after a friend did an awesome, superinspirational presentation on the importance of learning English for Japanese people.<br />
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Besides these 2 events, I've mostly spent time with friends, met a few cool new people and I recently got a chance to play futsal. I was the only person spending 10+ hours per week in the gym, so it was a little onesided, but I had a ton of fun nonetheless!<br />
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Business is still going smooth. The application is being made and should be done in about 5-6 weeks. The accompanying website is nearing completion aswell and will probably be done in about a week or maybe 2 tops. So pretty soon it's time to get the marketing strategy together. It's about time things would get a little busier, because I've been relatively bored as of late.<br />
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The gym's still going great aswell except for a week I had to take full rest, because of a shoulder injury. It seems to have fully recovered though so I'm back at it now. Even though I'm doing a very intense 6 days/week 2 hours/workout program, it's pretty relaxing for me. I've noticed that it takes very little mental effort on my part to complete the training, because I've become completely numb to the pain it takes to push my muscles to failure. The only moment that's actually hard is the cardio, where I can push really hard, which is probably why cardio has become my favorite part of my workouts.<br />
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I'm also toying with the idea of doing the Sea to Summit challenge in 2014. It's a yearly event where participants go from the Sea in Japan to the top of Mount Fuji in 24 hours. They start at dawn and reach the peak 24 hours later so they can see the sun rise. It's a 48KM hike with an average incline of 5% and at the end you have to climb Fuji to the peak.<br />
The only issue for me is that I don't deal well with not sleeping. On top of that I kind of like a physical challenge so I'm thinking of doing it MUCH faster in like 13-14 hours, so I can get back down and quickly get to a bed and get a good night's sleep. It seems doable... somewhat, but INSANELY hard. Which sounds like fun to me, so I may decide to go for this.<br />
The event is in July so after I finish my gym program in sometime March I may start training like a madman and try to do this. Should allow me to cross of another thing off of my bucket list while I'm at it which is running a marathon. But I'd want to run it in a good time, like sub 3 hours 15 minutes or something sounds like a nice target to aim for. Exciting stuff!<br />
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I also spent a lot more time thinking about life and happiness. I've come to understand parts of myself better and learned a few valuable lessons. On top of that I seem to have somehow fixed something that had been bothering me for a long time(maybe too early to tell for certain), although I'm not sure how I did it. However, thinking all of it over... none of the thoughts really seem significant/interesting enough in retrospect to share. I'm sure I'll blog about this subject again at some point in the future though.<br />
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Last but not least, I recently ate this delicious Unagi:<br />
<a href="http://tokyofoodjournal.blogspot.jp/2013/12/best-unagi-ive-ever-had.html">Best Unagi I've ever had</a></div>
Frankhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14192703578452431776noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7853956798073334417.post-33066565707440488182013-12-05T07:19:00.000+00:002013-12-05T08:13:15.663+00:00短期幸せの研究<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><i>This is the Japanese translation of my last blog! </i></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><i>このブログは九月のブログの続きであると言える。九月には何で偶に落ち込んだかを調べてた。</i></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><i><a href="http://frankiestyn.blogspot.jp/2013/09/dissecting-my-own-psyche.html">http://frankiestyn.blogspot.jp/2013/09/dissecting-my-own-psyche.html</a> </i></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">最近何か気に成って来た。どうすれば将来に幸せに成るかにずっと気を付けてる。どうすれば将来に幸せに成るかそんなに複雑ではない。俺は何を達成したいかゴールにして、そのゴールを遂げる為に頑張る。</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">最近どうすれば短期で幸せを受けられるかに気を付けて来た。一日中嬉しいっていう事。凄く嬉しくて気合が入ってる期間もちょっと悲しくて気合を持ってない期間もある事に数ヶ月前気付いた。嬉しくて気合が入ってる期間を好むので、原因を調べようとし始めた。</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">ちなみに最近気付いたにも関わらず最近始まった事である訳ではない。プロポーカープレーヤーとして働いていたとも念がこう振れてた。もっともっと振れてたかも。あの時にポーカーの結果と結構親しく連係されてた。この理由で大体の人にプロポーカープレーヤーに成らないのをおすすめする。自分の幸せは百パーセント管理を出来ない事に依って振れるんだね。</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">さて何があってるかを調べ始めたら、何か気付いた。栄枯盛衰は世の習い。変わらないって思うくぜに、どうして偶に気が入ってないか原因に対して何かを発見出来ると思った。自分の人生を観察すると全然分からないから。俺の解決は短期幸せの研究!</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQl86cmDL9U0F2bAe5aU7EiaRbG7FFxoi-B8QL7Ztc7Fb4P4jMqwpDDFOPZW_rGfVeNoIIog2uXk1SsxOjg4S-oucC7U7VcMXdlte-MJlaGidp_bhxFjOnkt98fBM_8OzMfmLgYM2cZkw/s1600/Day+Review+Screenie.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQl86cmDL9U0F2bAe5aU7EiaRbG7FFxoi-B8QL7Ztc7Fb4P4jMqwpDDFOPZW_rGfVeNoIIog2uXk1SsxOjg4S-oucC7U7VcMXdlte-MJlaGidp_bhxFjOnkt98fBM_8OzMfmLgYM2cZkw/s1600/Day+Review+Screenie.jpg" /></a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"> 最もプライベート部分を除く</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">毎日の終わりには当日を一から五まで格付けして、この下に書いてある事を記す。</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">-なんである格付けをした。</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">-当日の最高の瞬間。</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">-当日の最低の瞬間。</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">-し直せるとしたら、何を変えるか?何を別にするか?</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">発見したことがある:</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><i><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">1)友達に会うとたいてい嬉しい。普通の日と違うし、交流が好きだし。</span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><i><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">2)非生産的とか時間を無駄にするのが大嫌い。他の事をしたかった気持ちは良い気持ちではないから。</span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">その上、数回はある事件の所為で数日から一週間位まで嬉しくなくなちゃった。かなり複雑でそんなに多くの事件をまだ書き記してないんだけど、絶対に気を付けて続ける。</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">一昨日と昨日はなんとか結構面白かった。良い日に成るはずだったけど、気がまあまあだった。理由は良く分からない。この間肩を怪我したので、運動を出来なかったからかもしれない。運動をするのが大好きだし、日課が変わったし。</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">他の気付いた事は今嬉しいかどうかに気を付け過ぎるのが自分を嬉しくなくする可能性。人生は永世じゃない事を分かってて、全部の瞬間を楽しみたいけど、そんなに気に成ってたらあまり楽しめない。リラックスすべきかな。</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">ここから人生の目的について説学出来るが、何れまたする。</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">他の資してる要素もあるかなと思ってるけど、このブログで相談しない。最も親しい友達はちょっと分かるかもしれなく、一人の人は絶対に分かってる。ちょっと複雑で俺もちょっと分からない事だ。</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"> 是非研究をし続ける。どうして将来に幸せに成るかよく分かるんだけど、短期幸せについてもどんどん分かる様に成ると素敵だと思う!</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">日本語に翻訳出来た!!! \(^o^)/</span></span></div>
Frankhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14192703578452431776noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7853956798073334417.post-87449829142585904002013-12-04T12:23:00.000+00:002013-12-04T23:27:02.050+00:00Short Term Happiness Research<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>(This is somewhat of a continuation of a blog I posted in September, where I was trying to figure out why I was feeling a bit down/sluggish sometimes) </i></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i><a href="http://frankiestyn.blogspot.jp/2013/09/dissecting-my-own-psyche.html">http://frankiestyn.blogspot.jp/2013/09/dissecting-my-own-psyche.html</a></i></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">I've been thinking about something as of late. I've always paid a lot of attention to doing things that will lead to an awesome life in the future and thus hopefully longterm happiness. It's not too hard to know what to do to achieve longterm happiness and (although somewhat harder) it's not that hard to actually achieve longterm happiness either. I simply set goals I want to achieve and I work hard to get there.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">Something I've been paying more attention to as of late is day-to-day happiness. Being happy right here right now in this moment. A couple of months ago I started to notice and pay more attention than before to the fact that I'd have periods where I was really happy and motivated and periods where I was not as happy and motivated. Prefering the happy and motivated periods, I set out to try and figure out what was going on.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">A little footnote is that although I recently starting paying more attention to this, it's certainly not something new. I had swings like this just as much if not way more as a professional poker player where they were closely linked to how well I was doing in poker. Which is why I wouldn't recommend the professional poker lifestyle to all that many people, because your happiness is somewhat dependant on something that is not 100% in your control and it can be REALLY hard to deal with.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">Anyway, when trying to figure out what was going on with my moodswings I realised, there'll probably always be ups and downs, that's the way life is. Nonetheless I felt like I should be able to figure out some causes as to why I was feeling a little down sometimes, because when I take a step back and look at my life I don't see why I would ever be down, unless maybe I am ill and in pain. So what I decided to do was, conduct research on my day-to-day happiness. Here's what I did:</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"> I had to cut out certain extremely private parts</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">At the end of each day before I go to bed I rate each day a number from 1 to 5 and write down:</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">-Why I rated it the way I did.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">-The very best moment of my day.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">-The very worst moment of my day.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">-What I'd do differently if I could relive the day.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">I've been doing this to try and gain some insight in what makes me happy on a day to day basis and why my moods have been swinging. There's some days missing here and there. A bunch when I fell seriously ill at the start of October and then about a month's worth when I was abroad. I really wish I would've done it during my travels too, because it could've given me valuable insight. A couple others recent ones are missing too. Mostly unproductive and kind of unhappy days where I didn't bother filling it in. The 18th of November(didn't fill it in) is the only day so far I'd rate a 1 in the past 3 months, although being very ill on the 3rd of October came very close aswell.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">Overall I definitely think I am seeing some trends:</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>1) Whenever I meet with friends I generally have a good day. These days stand out from other days. They're not so monotomous and I guess I also just really enjoy socializing.</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>2) Being unproductive and wasting time pisses me off tremendously. The feeling I'd have liked to have done other things with my precious time is not a happy feeling.</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">Also I'm not sure yet, but there's been a few events that caused me to be unhappy for a couple of days up to a week. These are too complicated and I don't have enough of them yet to draw any conclusive evidence, but I'll definitely keep on monitoring these, because I think they may be the(or at least a) key to what I'm looking for. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">Yesterday and today have also been quite interesting. For the most part they had all the ingredients to be good days, but overall my mood has been so-so. I'm not exactly sure why. One very possible cause is not being able to workout. I still have the muscle in my left shoulder/upper back that needs to rest for a couple of more days. The muscle doesn't bother me much during the day so it's not the cause of unhappiness, but it's not 100% yet so I couldn't go to the gym. This may have caused me to be less happy, because I enjoy the gym and because of a change of routine and maybe slight lack of structure.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">Another thing I realised today while I was analyzing my own psyche on the train is that possibly paying so much attention to whether I'm happy or not is not good for my happiness. I guess I realise life is not forever and time is valuable and I want to consciously enjoy as much of it as I can and I don't want it to be over before I realise it. But doing so and focussing too much on enjoying things may make me enjoy those very things less. Just going with the flow and relaxing a bit more may be a good thing here.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">I could probably go on a rant about the meaning of life here, but let me save that for some other time.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">One other possible contributing factor is one I won't share with you in this blog. Some of the people closest to me may have some sort of clue what I'm talking about and 1 person knows me so well that this person knows without a doubt what I'm talking about. It's a bit complicated and it may or may not be contributing. I'm not sure.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">Anyway, I'll keep up the research and hopefully learn even more things about what makes me happy on a day-to-day basis. I feel like I have the long-term happiness thing down quite well, hopefully I can master the short-term, day-to-day happiness aswell!</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">I was planning on translating this blog into Japanese aswell for practice, but I've already spent a decent bit of time on this. I may translate it tomorrow or something, because it's bound to be a good exercise. May take me quite a while though! But 哲学 is always interesting, so I may give it a shot.</span></span>Frankhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14192703578452431776noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7853956798073334417.post-54298859947667722242013-12-02T04:37:00.000+00:002013-12-02T04:37:17.244+00:00QuickyThis'll be a quick one, because I don't feel like I have that much to talk about. Reason being that I haven't been up to all that much as of late. Especially as far as business goes, I haven't had to do any work on the application. Development is coming along nicely with no hick-ups, so it's just a waiting game. The accompanying website has had hick-ups, the guys doing it have been bug-fixing for over a month now and every time they fix one there's 3 others that pop up. It feels like the coding is absolutely terrible and thus I'm going to have the same team who's building the application build a website. Fortunately enough a fairly small project, so now that it's in the hands of competent people it should be done pretty soon.<br />
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The lack of things to do has made me pretty unproductive. I'm not 100% sure, but I think I work more efficiently, harder and am happier in life when I am busy and have a ton of stuff to do. Maybe because I have to work harder to get everything done? Fortunately enough the JLPT N2 test yesterday kicked my butt and made me realise how terrible I still am at Japanese, thus I got motivated again to work my ass off at Japanese and many other things. I refocussed on my goals and what it is I want to accomplish in the next 5-10 years and hopefully that will keep me busy the rest of the year and next year.<br />
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Gym's been going fairly well, until sometime last week when I stretched/injured a muscle in my left shoulder/upper back. It's nothing serious, but kind of annoying. I thought it was mostly gone yesterday and completely gone today, so I went to the gym today, but 2/3 of the way through my workout I felt it again, so decided to be safe rather than sorry and skip the rest. I'll take tomorrow off again and maybe Wednesday aswell. Don't like it, but not much else I can do.<br />
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Last, but not least I recently visited Tokyo's #14 restaurant and one of Japan's top 50 restaurants and blogged about it in my food blog. Here's the link:<br />
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http://tokyofoodjournal.blogspot.jp/2013/11/1-michelin-star-french-food-at-one-of.html<br />
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That's it, I hope to get more done in the next few weeks so I have more to blog about next time!<br />
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Here's a picture of the first prototype of the mobile app:<br />
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Frankhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14192703578452431776noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7853956798073334417.post-47377758397719587502013-11-06T03:04:00.000+00:002013-11-06T03:04:39.723+00:00Hong Kong Trip Report<h2 style="text-align: center;">
Trip to Hong Kong </h2>
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On top of Singapore and Macau, I recently also spent some time in Hong Kong. I had by far the best time in Hong Kong out of all 3, but that may have been in a big part thanks to my amazing tourguide, Iris. I had met her on the ferry from Hong Kong to Macau and she had treated me to the best Chinese food of my life! I knew she travels back to Hong Kong every weekend and she had offered to show me around if I also happened to be there during a weekend. So, I sent her an email and we decided to take the ferry together on Friday from Macau and she said she'd show me around Friday evening and for most of Saturday.<br />
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Before meeting Iris at the Macau ferry terminal, I checked out of Hotel Lisboa and went to the City of Dreams to exchange some money. At Hotel Lisboa, a concierge handled my baggage and put it in the taxi's trunk for me. Because I didn't put it in there myself, I didn't make a mental note that I had to take out my suitcase when I arrived at the City of Dreams nor did my taxi driver remember that a suitcase was put in his trunk. So I paid, got out of the cab and went to exchange some money leaving my suitcase in the taxi's trunk!<br />
About half an hour later waiting in line at the bank, it struck me: "I forgot my suitcase!". I rushed back to the Hard Rock Hotel(a hotel at the City of Dreams where I got out of the cab) and talked to the concierge. They called security who went through everything that had happened with me and set out to investigate using their security cameras. For a while I was pretty sure it'd work itself out eventually, but after about 30 minutes I was getting quite nervous that I probably wouldn't get it back. Fortunately enough after about an hour the superhelpful and friendly Hard Rock Hotel staff told me the cab was on its way with my suitcase and eventually I got my suitcase back just in time to rush to the ferry terminal and meet Iris.<br />
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As soon as I met Iris at the ferry terminal a supersmelly Chinese guy came up to us asking us for money for a ticket back to Hong Kong. It wasn't the first time I encountered supersmelly people in Macau, but this guy was something else. He did look presentable in a suit and presumably he was a businessguy who had gambled his last money away. Still strange he didn't have any credit cards left or anything. Either way, Iris being her supernice self eventually gave him the 20$ for his ticket back to Hong Kong and we also bought our tickets and got on our way.<br />
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During the ferry ride to Hong Kong I asked Iris what the ferry ride is like when the weather is bad. She recalled one ride back to Hong Kong where she had taken the last ferry before they stopped going because of a Typhoon. It sounded pretty freaking scary. And dangerous too! Especially when she mentioned there was a grownup man crying during that trip! Fortunately enough the seas were quiet when we took the ferry back to Hong Kong.<br />
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EPIC Bar in Hong Kong</h2>
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After arriving in Hong Kong we took a cab to my hotel. Cabs in Hong Kong are just as cheap as in Macau, but they seemed a lot better to me, because in contrast to cabs in Macau they have seatbelts. Little did I know what kind of cab ride we'd experience the next day where some chauffeur went wild after we wanted to go to the ferry and take the ferry across the bay instead of him taking us to the other side. He drove like a maniac and a visibly disturbed Iris told me the cab driver kept saying things like:</div>
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"I'm going to kill us all"</div>
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"I'm going to hit someone"</div>
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"I'm going to crash into that car right in front of us" and then barely braking on time.</div>
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All the time acting as if he was speaking to someone on the radio. I obviously didn't understand the Chinese at the time and thought this guy was just in a mad rush, because he drove like a maniac and nearly hit someone at some point. After we got out of the cab and Iris told me, I was almost as shocked as she was.</div>
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Anyway, after we got to my hotel I checked in and dropped off my suitcase and then we took another cab to the Aqua Spirit Bar.</div>
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I've actually been to an Aqua restaurant in London which disappointed me and my friends severely. The Japanese food wasn't up to our (back then pretty low) standards for Japanese food and it was superexpensive. However, this place in Hong Kong they could've served me my most hated food and honestly I wouldn't have cared and still enjoyed myself. The venue is just amazing with one of the best views I had ever come across. I'm not gonna try describing this, I think it's much better I show you:</div>
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They have a daily light show around 8PM!</div>
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Is that a SICK view or what? On top of that the food actually wasn't bad at all. Not amazing or anything and definitely a bit pricey for somewhat small portions, but considering you mostly pay for the view here I thought the food was surprisingly good.</div>
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Definitely FAR AND AWAY the best bar I had ever been and when we left I grabbed their business card in anticipation of a return visit the next time I'm in Hong Kong. However the place we went to the day after made me rethink that statement!</div>
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After dinner Iris showed me around the area and we walked along the pier for more amazing views of the world's #1 skyline. Here's the rest of the pictures I took:<br />
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<h2 style="text-align: center;">
Chinese Temple and Zodiacs</h2>
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The next day Iris took me to a chinese temple nearby my hotel. Up till that point I had only seen Japanese temples and although I generally prefer modern city type of stuff, it was really interesting seeing how different Chinese temples look compared to Japanese ones. I also had my fortune told, by probably the worst fortuneteller ever! But it was fun nonetheless.</div>
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Looks so much like a Fox, but I guess it's the Dog?</div>
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Rooster?</div>
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The Monkey reminds me of Kung Fu for some reason.</div>
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Clearly Goat</div>
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Horse, right?</div>
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My favorite Zodiac statue. I thought it was a lizzard, but they don't have one so it must be the Snake.</div>
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The Dragon looks a bit angry and seriously out of shape. Can't imagine him flying!</div>
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Rabbit I think.</div>
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Tiger?</div>
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Ox presumably.</div>
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Me trying to shake out exactly one stick which I need to have my fortune told.</div>
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Iris told my fortune meant that everything will only get better for me in life from here on out! SICK!</div>
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<h2 style="text-align: center;">
Hong Kong's City Centre</h2>
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After the temple we took the underground to Hong Kong's city centre and ate some more Chinese food.</div>
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Big shopping mall</div>
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Dim Sum</div>
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Some vegetable dish</div>
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Tofu</div>
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Some weird jelly thing with some chicken and vegetables and sesame dressing</div>
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Eel</div>
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This definitely beats Chinese food in the west quite hansomely. I didn't like the vegetable dish that much, but the tofu and weird jelly thing with chicken and sesame dressing were really nice. I do prefer Japanese Unagi/Eel over this Chinese version, but it was good nonetheless. The Dim Sum was good, but I remember eating better Dim Sum in one of the Macau casinos.</div>
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If Friday's bar was EPIC... there is no word in the English language to describe how awesome THIS bar is!!!</h2>
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After our lunch Iris had planned for us to go to the peak, a mountain with a sick view of Hong Kong. We aimed to be there around sunset which is the perfect time, because you can see Hong Kong in daylight, see the sunset and see it during nighttime! On the way to the peak I took more pictures of various skyscrapers.</div>
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Having arrived at the tram and bus stop that leads to the peak, we found out that we weren't the only ones with the genious plan of going to the peak around sunset and it turned out we'd have to wait in line for 2 hours. We decided this was a waste of our valuable time together and decided to go to the OZone bar on the 100th floor of one of Hong Kong's tallest buildings. This sounded pretty freaking sweet to me! So we went to work finding a cab that could take us there. Sadly enough after about 30 minutes we still hadn't been able to get a taxi, so instead we asked at a hotel if there was a bar with a good view within walking distance. We were told to try the bar in Upper House, a hotel with what I thought was a not so cool sounding name.</div>
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After arriving at the bar called Café Gray on the 49th floor, my opinion of the place quickly changed. Not only was the view breathtaking, the way they had furnished the bar was simply fantastic. In the Aqua Spirit Bar from the night before, you couldn't sit anywhere near the windows, but in Café Gray you sit down right next to the windows in perfect couches! When we arrived it was still light:</div>
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But not long after the sun started to set:</div>
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And soon thereafter complete nightfall followed:</div>
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Even in the bathroom I couldn't resist to take a few pictures, because this has got to be by far the nicest bathroom I've ever been to!</div>
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I think these pictures speak for themselves!! (^o^)</div>
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Afterwards we had to take the ferry across the Hong Kong harbour that's starting to turn into a river, because they keep turning parts of it into land.</div>
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Iris had to meet friends for dinner, so we sad goodbye and parted ways. The following day I flew back to Japan PRAYING that immigration would give me another tourist visa and would let me in, because I still don't have my investor visa. Fortunately enough I was let in without being asked a single question. Saweeet!</div>
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The best thing about Hong Kong is...</h2>
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You may think that the most awesome thing about Hong Kong were the views of it's spectacular skyline, but you'd be wrong. While Hong Kong is definitely one of, if not the most beautiful city I've ever been to and while the views, especially from it's seemingly many bars on top of skyscrapers, are simply stunning! The best thing about Hong Kong for me was hands down my tourguide Iris.</div>
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Just like our dinner in Macau we had seemingly effortless endless conversations and I feel like I could've talked to her for much MUCH longer if I hadn't had to leave. At first we talked about pretty simple topics but by the end of Friday we started to talk about the more interesting things in life such as childhood experiences, religion and love. I can count the number of people I've ever had such deep conversations with in my life on 1 hand, the vast majority of which were with my mother. But never ever before have I grown so emotionally close to someone in such a short period of time(just 3 days!).</div>
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It was a wonderful hopefully not once in a lifetime, but definitely very rare experience. And to think we randomly met on a ferry makes it an even bigger coincidence! I'm sure we'll keep in touch and eventually meet eachother again some time some place.</div>
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Iris, thanks again for the wonderful time, amazing conversations and of course for showing me around! All the best to you and I hope to see you again sometime either in Japan, Hong Kong or some other place!</div>
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Last but not least, here's the picture we took together on the pier.</div>
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The best thing about Hong Kong is... spending time there with an amazing friend!</div>
Frankhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14192703578452431776noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7853956798073334417.post-78655396110634453112013-11-05T09:03:00.000+00:002013-11-05T14:07:59.963+00:00Macau Trip Report<h2 style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Traveling to Macau </span></h2>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">My flight from Singapore to Hong Kong was my first time flying Singapore Airlines. I've heard nothing but fantastic things about them from friends and while I admit they're pretty good especially in terms of food and economy seats, I still prefer Korean Air by a decent margin. My flight to Hong Kong was delayed by quite a bit and thus I ended up missing the boat to Macau from Hong Kong airport and had to commute to the city centre first and take the ferry from there to Macau. Having gotten there, they told me they had sold out the economy for the next ferry and I either had to wait another 15 minutes or travel first class. I opted to get the first class seat.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">On the ferry I sat next to a girl, although seperated by the isle. I asked her how long it'd take to get to Macau. I hadn't actually thought of the fact she probably wouldn't be able to speak English, but surprisingly enough she answered 'an hour' in fluent English. When we got close to Macau she started talking to me and we talked all the way up until immigration where we had to part ways, but Iris(that's her name) gave me her business card and we decided we'd have dinner at some point.</span><br />
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<h2 style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Poker in Macau </span></h2>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I took a cab to my hotel. Cabs are insanely cheap in Macau, but there's no seatbelts, which is kind of scary considering the chauffeurs' driving style. After arriving at my hotel I checked in and got some sleep. The day after I was busy all day with 2 things. First, I found out what the best casino for poker cash games was. Second, I tried to get some money to play with. However, the 2nd was easier said than done, because the ATMs and Casinos in Macau go through Chinese banks and they have superlow limits for foreign cards. I spent a lot of my time calling to my banks aswell as trying different ATMs and casinos. I wasn't able to figure it out completely this day, but the day after I got some help from people working at the Wynn(which is where the interesting cash games are at) and figured it all out.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">At this point I played quite a bit of poker. Here's a report that I posted to Facebook of what happened on my 2nd day:</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span class="userContent" data-ft="{"tn":"K"}">PLO
Cash games in Macau are pretty good. There's a 100/200(HKD, so like
10/25 USD) PLO game running daily at the Wynn. The game plays quite
tight, but there's not many strong players. For example, there was this 1
lady who basically seemed to think PLO is waiting for AA, then flopping
an overpair + nut flushdraw and hoping to hit your flush. And then when
she missed, she'd get superfrustrated and <span class="text_exposed_show">call down with her overpair anyway.<br /> <br /> The first day I lost my stack in 2 hands, but yesterday went a lot better. Here are the big hands:<br /> <br /> 1)I got off to a bad start.<br /> Preflop: I squeeze AA77hh from the SB and got 2 callers.<br /> Flop: J87ssc. I check, checks around.<br /> Turn: Qc. I check, 3rd guy bets, I check/jam allin and get called by KQQ9cc.<br /> River is a brick.<br /> <br /> 2) After this I rebought deep and things turned around.<br />
Preflop: I raise AKK2sshh, the only good player at the table whom I had
bluffed off my stack to the day before(so I have a loose image and I
know he likes to 3bet IP) 3bets and has me covered. I 4bet, he calls.<br /> Flop: K74r. Pot is about 20k with 45-50k behind. I bet ~11k and he calls.<br /> Turn: 3h, giving me the 2nd nut backdoor flushdraw. I check, he checks.<br /> River: Jh, giving me 2nd nut flush. I check, he puts me allin and I call him off and win.<br /> <br />
After this I got unlucky in a couple small pots. Overpair+nfd < wrap
allin on turn and another I forgot. Also made a bluff that may not have
been so good in a live setting.<br /> <br /> Also at some point ended up
playing a 175k pot with AA against AA. I flop a nut flushdraw, he flops
an oesd, but we both brick and chop.<br /> <br /> 3) Towards the end of the night I am left with ~85k when this hand happens. Villian has me covered.<br />
Preflop: Hijack raises and I call AcQ8c8 in the CO. Not much 3betting
and a weak BTN so I'm happy calling here. 5way to the flop.<br /> Flop:
T88hh. Checks around to me, I bet about half pot. A fish calls and
another player who seemed pretty good and whom I had run a big
unsuccessful bluff against earlier ck/raises very small. I flatcall,
fish folds, HU to turn.<br /> Turn: 6. He bets a little under half-pot and after thinking for a little I decide to flatcall.<br />
River: Q. About 75k left and he bets 15k into 23k. I think for quite a
while before making it 55k. He pretty quickly puts me allin and I
snapcall and win the ~175k pot.<br /> Someone else claimed to have folded
Queens, so villian must've had TT. I don't think his river 3-bet is any
good, but given my image(everybody knew from table chatter I was an
entrepreneur in Tokyo rather than a poker player) he may have thought I
raise Q8 there.<br /> <br /> So ended up making a very nice comeback (and running very well) and having to get a safety deposit box at the Wynn.<br /> <br />
Today I'm playing day 1A of the 25k ACOP Warm-up and tomorrow I'm
having dinner with a Hong Kong girl I met on the ferry, but after I win
the ACOP Warm-up in a couple days I'll definitely be back at the Wynn
for more 100/200 PLO.</span></span></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"> I played the ACOP Warm-up event, but I busted after about 3 hours. Got in nothing but unlucky situations and didn't really enjoy playing a 9max NLHE tournament either. I was pretty bored overall, so decided to definitely not play the Main Event.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Clubbing in Macau </span></h2>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">The night after busting the poker tournament I played a little bit more in the cash games, but the game broke pretty quickly. Another poker player invited me to go clubbing and since I had nothing else to do that night I decided to go clubbing for the 1st time in over 2 years. But not before eating dinner and hands down the strangest food I've ever eaten. Chicken feet soup:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">It didn't taste bad... but I couldn't get the skin off of the feet and thus it falls in my category of "too difficult to eat"</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Clubbing was a decent bit of fun actually. I had a good night, but most likely due to being the center of attention rather than actually enjoying clubbing. I don't plan to go again anytime soon.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Food and Shows in Macau</span></h2>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">The next day I had dinner with Iris whom I had met on the ferry. She had booked a 1 Michelin star Chinese restaurant in Starworld Hotel & Casino.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"> Some sort of pork and jelly. Special and really good!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"> Some sort of chicken. Sadly enough falls into my category of "too difficult to eat", but I have to admit I'm pretty nitty in this regard.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"> Fantastic dish! Looks beautiful, tastes even better!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">One of the weirdest desserts I've ever had. Quite good, but probably better when it's cold outside, because of the warm temperature.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I still don't think Chinese food is really my type of food, but I can definitely say I had a good meal and by far the best Chinese food I've ever had there. A Mango Prawns dish I didn't take a picture of and the big fish covered with sweet and sour sauce were amazing!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Above all though I had a really good time talking to Iris. I believe we met at around 18:30 and before I realized it, the restaurant was empty and we were the last to leave at 23:00. Awesome, effortless 4-5 hour conversation! It's not often you randomly run into someone like that.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">At the end she also insisted she'd pay for the meal, so I promised to take her out in return sometime either in Macau or in Japan. Again, thank you so much for the awesome meal, Iris! It was amazing!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">By now it's Friday and it's time to go to the House of Dancing Water show at the City of Dreams in Macau. I had heard some really good things about the show and went there with a girl I met in the club. Admittedly I was slightly distracted during the show, but I'm quite sure I prefer most of the shows I saw in Vegas. House of Dancing Water was good, but shows like Cirque's O and Ka and Blue Man Group in Vegas were better in my opinion. Nonetheless Dancing Water is worth checking out if you're in Macau.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"> Motorcycle stunts in a water show were a bit random, but fun nonetheless</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">On Sunday I met up with Robert, a friend from Tokyo who was also in Macau for a few days, and Sean a friend working in Hong Kong who had come to Macau for one night with his wife Fumiko. Sean had heard about a remote Portugese Restaurant on the southern part of the island away from all the casinos. Sadly enough I didn't take pictures for some reason, so you'll just have to believe me when I say they brought out a lot of tasty food. Near the end we all took a picture together outside of the restaurant.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Me, Sean, Robert, Fumiko</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Pictures of Macau!</span></h2>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Midway through the second week of my stay in Macau I had to move hotels. I moved to Hotel Lisboa, where as soon as I arrived I was upgraded to a bigger suite free of charge. SWEET!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"> There was even a Radio in the shower!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"> Free Minibar and free cable TV</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhB7neZTt8V7ZRm7W3WV_wsPg0i1Xha9M118ExnjlhdbQvoZt_e2Qp-zYNolbBnkzJ2hRyTrpdqJ8JfOazptAJeZ_VcGP9HIuajEMhLunCv39ttRLWgrp17Rcc-noUPkSNtEbK5Aki7vT0/s1600/DSCN1796.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhB7neZTt8V7ZRm7W3WV_wsPg0i1Xha9M118ExnjlhdbQvoZt_e2Qp-zYNolbBnkzJ2hRyTrpdqJ8JfOazptAJeZ_VcGP9HIuajEMhLunCv39ttRLWgrp17Rcc-noUPkSNtEbK5Aki7vT0/s400/DSCN1796.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Interesting style, I liked it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">By this time I had gotten a bit tired of playing live poker, of Macau and of being away from home in general. So I planned my trip back home to Tokyo and I decided to go around town taking pictures for my blog. Here's a selection of them:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAgIAGKGl4IjzCP6SE7P0kA6VBypBZi3J0k1hlZb24aVE_k8jjigM9MNgu6KZPbt9DUOK3IAg4lmcJaMtkalkYRLBzsCJJGvv5cY82wzLB-T9EurzezdvmDUQulfvf_y0haUw6RZe2sDM/s1600/DSCN1797.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAgIAGKGl4IjzCP6SE7P0kA6VBypBZi3J0k1hlZb24aVE_k8jjigM9MNgu6KZPbt9DUOK3IAg4lmcJaMtkalkYRLBzsCJJGvv5cY82wzLB-T9EurzezdvmDUQulfvf_y0haUw6RZe2sDM/s400/DSCN1797.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"> City of Dreams</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEja9hpWFav6rK26SQn4jgB4bJwu4cJ5CyTvpX8lspEZXGjpbfV2_B926DubEXi1kmBQXwizA1ITZ95tdIpt-MXUcI6j7iV8nFoRshE0Ywb2eWN3IClKYT5vWEAF3-I__TEvHKBHpXBNYiE/s1600/DSCN1799.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEja9hpWFav6rK26SQn4jgB4bJwu4cJ5CyTvpX8lspEZXGjpbfV2_B926DubEXi1kmBQXwizA1ITZ95tdIpt-MXUcI6j7iV8nFoRshE0Ywb2eWN3IClKYT5vWEAF3-I__TEvHKBHpXBNYiE/s400/DSCN1799.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"> Sands Cotai Central</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZw7NPyDF6EzwnVNOU2qh4xLD0ZDzTMoBEc9_UmNJGTYRfmNE1zQs-yqpT-WoifsL4xPvFjMjOR-Na7tZ0-Vg68sHnNA0UUYtRiJuFWl0gdCjYf6ZbEZUZFUhXXKrdCAuxPvWJdUR82X8/s1600/DSCN1801.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZw7NPyDF6EzwnVNOU2qh4xLD0ZDzTMoBEc9_UmNJGTYRfmNE1zQs-yqpT-WoifsL4xPvFjMjOR-Na7tZ0-Vg68sHnNA0UUYtRiJuFWl0gdCjYf6ZbEZUZFUhXXKrdCAuxPvWJdUR82X8/s400/DSCN1801.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"> City of Dreams</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwx7YPkLChD2hXnNuAIMBBfPMlSUj-qxGPJN0JwYNuK4MYBjco0xLvP-PTshrb7AodjxlLBXSkMFFsDU-mz3QlTmAsI4ApYWadBtnp_EONTKfyuHkytrmMtkvJolbCnueHgDht6y_eMPA/s1600/DSCN1802.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwx7YPkLChD2hXnNuAIMBBfPMlSUj-qxGPJN0JwYNuK4MYBjco0xLvP-PTshrb7AodjxlLBXSkMFFsDU-mz3QlTmAsI4ApYWadBtnp_EONTKfyuHkytrmMtkvJolbCnueHgDht6y_eMPA/s400/DSCN1802.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"> Venetian</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNO1okS-pKS8yDh2gOYNO5Bk9c76982PTxupxd2tSyo7HQz8XV7SyjITgVUZtqjPlZ8tEmr2VAL_-yHO2df49LprALQ0dtsboo8mZIwJEkPtY0Yloz5fx2HpJNywa1YUfwQJQdRlHpRgM/s1600/DSCN1803.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNO1okS-pKS8yDh2gOYNO5Bk9c76982PTxupxd2tSyo7HQz8XV7SyjITgVUZtqjPlZ8tEmr2VAL_-yHO2df49LprALQ0dtsboo8mZIwJEkPtY0Yloz5fx2HpJNywa1YUfwQJQdRlHpRgM/s400/DSCN1803.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"> Venetian</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7O11RwRvK5m08j1YexreRjZwHeraDbEMikkJN_fE6_s1VS5JQAhNWNxbt3vYdFFalUrTDoVSFVsvNuP8HCX8Tt2d7gY6lf9_DrKXNMKstDyhVN-4fF0IreygfzFoiZSIKxUXnROyjn6I/s1600/DSCN1807.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7O11RwRvK5m08j1YexreRjZwHeraDbEMikkJN_fE6_s1VS5JQAhNWNxbt3vYdFFalUrTDoVSFVsvNuP8HCX8Tt2d7gY6lf9_DrKXNMKstDyhVN-4fF0IreygfzFoiZSIKxUXnROyjn6I/s400/DSCN1807.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"> Venetian</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiq_GOt3Lsdbk2x5FQQn3jSTlvHaD34NIE_S7ciLZKl3M9Fr5v974j30vZMn7_zngrKXJBkZBnCuV5eA9T97ldho9qEN0hPIzXsvZgc3tSZsFWaWqGHto2DVOLdAUMdzdyNp-3sqxRBpBA/s1600/DSCN1808.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiq_GOt3Lsdbk2x5FQQn3jSTlvHaD34NIE_S7ciLZKl3M9Fr5v974j30vZMn7_zngrKXJBkZBnCuV5eA9T97ldho9qEN0hPIzXsvZgc3tSZsFWaWqGHto2DVOLdAUMdzdyNp-3sqxRBpBA/s400/DSCN1808.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"> Venetian</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgozU3UGl25sNrtQ21qsdErZrmiCKseq62yi6gcdoRE-Ryk6H_tdj8W780jFzPqD6PBMqMmmzI6nTLq_-_cVhj9mk6fUO9fQfh8jFaPAyJ3KW90YJjd8EZ7jJzJ4dhGgZowzsyZjhIdJyw/s1600/DSCN1810.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgozU3UGl25sNrtQ21qsdErZrmiCKseq62yi6gcdoRE-Ryk6H_tdj8W780jFzPqD6PBMqMmmzI6nTLq_-_cVhj9mk6fUO9fQfh8jFaPAyJ3KW90YJjd8EZ7jJzJ4dhGgZowzsyZjhIdJyw/s400/DSCN1810.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"> Sheraton</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihlCmd9iTNvBr5uevsJ-jcQzBDDVaW_v8k0v3lSdEMCiXbdhlxQ3pryz1q2z4NUqoT4tM6JdYRSCW3CS4Hen5uCjBcMp3gC1kZ2-X-qN0Eu0QJmvrNSxWXxMKfCWnb-uhBGzjHl2COyfQ/s1600/DSCN1814.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihlCmd9iTNvBr5uevsJ-jcQzBDDVaW_v8k0v3lSdEMCiXbdhlxQ3pryz1q2z4NUqoT4tM6JdYRSCW3CS4Hen5uCjBcMp3gC1kZ2-X-qN0Eu0QJmvrNSxWXxMKfCWnb-uhBGzjHl2COyfQ/s400/DSCN1814.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"> Sands Cotai Central</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVEBvK8TA_ppoDvWLEGOFVZG1-ZYV8hQH13YVcHChLB5MJyCQxTRL2P1SRft8s5kCqVuZtfWcwNNMg9dDb1Yr9_z8v8q7m01CCCDG57V3ITefCaRN2CGGoLljXX6kC45MKBz61ZwGHSBo/s1600/DSCN1815.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVEBvK8TA_ppoDvWLEGOFVZG1-ZYV8hQH13YVcHChLB5MJyCQxTRL2P1SRft8s5kCqVuZtfWcwNNMg9dDb1Yr9_z8v8q7m01CCCDG57V3ITefCaRN2CGGoLljXX6kC45MKBz61ZwGHSBo/s400/DSCN1815.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"> Galaxy</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpABiL-j_DuUsZSw2XKeqzEL5zkwICY3NPNNMJs9de9hkoqqjM6mnHotdmgfq1OgewYsb3nFlKwo3xaSb3tz_RE7knLfC-ahvi2v9pZudOKF1EMYMZ9w8y-8pqcdcTja179VxnvBBGRjM/s1600/DSCN1817.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpABiL-j_DuUsZSw2XKeqzEL5zkwICY3NPNNMJs9de9hkoqqjM6mnHotdmgfq1OgewYsb3nFlKwo3xaSb3tz_RE7knLfC-ahvi2v9pZudOKF1EMYMZ9w8y-8pqcdcTja179VxnvBBGRjM/s400/DSCN1817.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"> Galaxy</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYdesx7NANt1c8iEbakPuFNb7f5Zp0ocEAUEXwKJAqetZOJxgNsUDR3Z5DcK1i3kO7LVR3dURiUBBXTvpCrZ2t4EbXTK7Ij0MmPb0-1gbcUhPfKqC6uONvsVJKm0bDuRcU2BLW3bg_rdk/s1600/DSCN1819.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYdesx7NANt1c8iEbakPuFNb7f5Zp0ocEAUEXwKJAqetZOJxgNsUDR3Z5DcK1i3kO7LVR3dURiUBBXTvpCrZ2t4EbXTK7Ij0MmPb0-1gbcUhPfKqC6uONvsVJKm0bDuRcU2BLW3bg_rdk/s400/DSCN1819.JPG" height="400" width="300" /></a></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"> Grand Lisboa</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrTRWi3MLv0c5zGhez1UljpjqK9RK-hJYZE2suU8bsq1Ylfo2AX6rlNG578_9jI-LxfeAiyhXq5DBvwSaJk5zHznHR1V0mIBF-v8iVl8A12nxlm7-9GT-xUZWqJLpHhzATHrCwNASkkAA/s1600/DSCN1823.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrTRWi3MLv0c5zGhez1UljpjqK9RK-hJYZE2suU8bsq1Ylfo2AX6rlNG578_9jI-LxfeAiyhXq5DBvwSaJk5zHznHR1V0mIBF-v8iVl8A12nxlm7-9GT-xUZWqJLpHhzATHrCwNASkkAA/s400/DSCN1823.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"> Grand Lisboa</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmfTv4t-teOoqklQC69q85BPWaB7Zi5O1__Awd_MPjvIrqAna9Q7lrL3D6paP_aIGEUGOrMtMbvbA18Mar56Nsrk2K_L4b6lbFKCN9Y2amp_RhReydKLdCDuxp7w7_wAAOTrKZv2qaKNQ/s1600/DSCN1824.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmfTv4t-teOoqklQC69q85BPWaB7Zi5O1__Awd_MPjvIrqAna9Q7lrL3D6paP_aIGEUGOrMtMbvbA18Mar56Nsrk2K_L4b6lbFKCN9Y2amp_RhReydKLdCDuxp7w7_wAAOTrKZv2qaKNQ/s400/DSCN1824.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"> Grand Lisboa</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghPNt2SA4pgVN8m9TTAH3q_rwgsJ6bVZ6603VbfvshBb4h_VrM0cfrv9EUkPPCzRw9Ytnk5bhQ15_T7Im4sYbPTA5RVNwAorJb8wv2NGEzNOdaTrEt4FxM3OZKukZXujxY-iwkegRO4jM/s1600/DSCN1826.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghPNt2SA4pgVN8m9TTAH3q_rwgsJ6bVZ6603VbfvshBb4h_VrM0cfrv9EUkPPCzRw9Ytnk5bhQ15_T7Im4sYbPTA5RVNwAorJb8wv2NGEzNOdaTrEt4FxM3OZKukZXujxY-iwkegRO4jM/s400/DSCN1826.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"> Grand Lisboa</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhh2frnTWWIIbZ_-oUd_yNHmSnAQPEKKc6-ftRQLhcJGJmuW2QJ9A-Gy-k352xX1mwaPhSTyf_Tt_2WYaZgpiD4f8Bo9XGaLxC9cq9feXgp2G9JSTlMdvYOXKzjGOvpuTlIOSBn-voA62g/s1600/DSCN1828.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhh2frnTWWIIbZ_-oUd_yNHmSnAQPEKKc6-ftRQLhcJGJmuW2QJ9A-Gy-k352xX1mwaPhSTyf_Tt_2WYaZgpiD4f8Bo9XGaLxC9cq9feXgp2G9JSTlMdvYOXKzjGOvpuTlIOSBn-voA62g/s400/DSCN1828.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I don't think I want to know how much this costs</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">That basically concludes my trip to Macau. I also went to Hong Kong for a weekend, where I had by far the best time during this trip throughout Asia. However, I have to go to a friend's birthday party right now, so I will post a Hong Kong Trip Report some other time soon, hopefully tomorrow.</span></div>
Frankhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14192703578452431776noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7853956798073334417.post-63293826792029867622013-11-05T07:22:00.000+00:002013-11-05T07:27:47.229+00:00Singapore Trip Report<h2 style="text-align: center;">
Flying to Singapore </h2>
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A couple of days before my trip to Singapore I got food poisoning and was feeling absolutely terrible. Fortunately enough I recovered fairly quickly and felt okayish on the day of my flight. The flight was great, because I flew Korean Air. They simply never disappoint! I also talked to an interesting Japanese businessman during the flight and during our stopover at Incheon. After arriving in Singapore I took a cab to my hotel. I'm pretty sure the taxi driver spoke English, but for some reason I couldn't understand what he was saying. I was later told that he must've spoken 'Singlish', some sort of mix between English and Chinese spoken amongst certain locals.<br />
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I stayed at a hotel called the Forest by Wangz. A little pricey, but definitely an amazing place! The staff is INSANELY friendly and after eating a great scrambled eggs with bacon breakfast I headed out to explore Singapore and meet with a friend of a friend called Hiroyuki for lunch. He took me for some local food. The food wasn't bad, but not exactly my thing. However I did really enjoy meeting Hiroyuki, which is most important anyway! Here's pictures of the food:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYvfkTuOvj0jLa4sxvT-5D6YNrhZ4zD-W081ovNW3PlTvvZcYKQ0osUXOxZoOflVkIUJ1WhD9WFQYi2_WwitNVbzyUc20gouri2yCwjrpbN5QYLn9t3FRa7uXvjp3YzURfxb_UnJrxTR8/s1600/DSCN1707.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYvfkTuOvj0jLa4sxvT-5D6YNrhZ4zD-W081ovNW3PlTvvZcYKQ0osUXOxZoOflVkIUJ1WhD9WFQYi2_WwitNVbzyUc20gouri2yCwjrpbN5QYLn9t3FRa7uXvjp3YzURfxb_UnJrxTR8/s400/DSCN1707.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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Noodles with some pork and vegetables</div>
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Soup filled with dumplings</div>
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<h2 style="text-align: center;">
Singapore's Atmosphere</h2>
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After lunch, I set out to explore Singapore. If you like nature, skyscrapers or a mix of them you're sure to love the way Singapore looks:<br />
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Skyscrapers</div>
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Very interestingly shaped skyscraper. Looks like there's some amazing penthouses!</div>
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More skyscrapers</div>
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Probably the most interesting looking skyscrapers I've ever seen</div>
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Orchard shopping district</div>
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Very cool looking shopping mall, Ion Orchard</div>
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Chinese themed shopping mall in Orchard on the left</div>
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Overall I think Singapore's a beautiful city. There's a TON of nature and it's definitely called 'The Garden City' for a good reason. On top of that, I love skyscrapers and there's no shortage of those in Singapore either. Plus Singapore's skyscrapers look a lot cooler than the ones in Tokyo. I have a feeling that they can't be as creative in Tokyo due to earthquakes, because the skyscrapers in Hong Kong also look a lot less dull.<br />
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<h2 style="text-align: center;">
Food in Singapore</h2>
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So Singapore's beautiful, but how about the food? Well... I was severely disappointed on this front. Especially the first week, I sometimes spent nearly an hour looking for a place with decent food. There's very very few healthy options in Singapore and the food doesn't taste particularly great either. I didn't really have any decent food for the entire first week. Supermarkets are even worse. Unless you don't mind cooking(which I do when travelling), there is absolutely NO healthy food apart from fruit in Singaporean supermarkets. Absolutely none!<br />
Fortunately enough during the 2nd week I stayed in Singapore I ran into a few decent restaurants(mostly Korean and Japanese). There's quite some variety in Japanese food in Singapore and while it's weak at best compared to Japanese food in Japan, it's better than most Japanese food in western cities like London. I also happened to stumble onto the Marina Bay Sands resort on my very last day and actually found that there were some good restaurants there aswell. So I guess overall there probably is some good food in Singapore, you just have to really know where to look for it.<br />
Last but not least I want to touch on Singaporean local food. Food courts are typical Singaporean places where there's a lot of tables where you can sit and eat and a lot of vendors selling food. It's generally very cheap and thus low quality. Not exactly my thing. The only true Singaporean food I ate is Chicken Rice, which was actually pretty good. Cheap, healthy and fairly tasty too. Here's the couple of pics I took of food:<br />
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Chinese food at a food court</div>
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Thai food at a restaurant</div>
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Pretty good chicken rice</div>
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The rest of my time in Singapore I spent handling a couple of business things through Skype and playing a bunch of online poker. The highlight of my trip however was meeting up with Vanessa, my friend in Singapore. I hadn't seen her for over a year so it was great to catch up with her. We went for dinner one day and then another she took me to the chicken rice place and we went shopping afterwards. Thanks for showing me around even though you were crazy busy with work, Vanessa!</div>
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Marina Bay Sands Resort Singapore</h2>
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On my last day I went to the Marina Bay Sands resort, which has a rooftop with an amazing view of Singapore's skyline.</div>
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Shopping at Marina Bay Sands</div>
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<h2 style="text-align: center;">
Overall Thoughts</h2>
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Overall Singapore's a beautiful city, but there's not a ton of stuff to do and I personally hate the food. I may be back for business at some point, but what this trip made me realize the most is how freaking amazing Japan is!!!</div>
Frankhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14192703578452431776noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7853956798073334417.post-38962664985113134972013-10-06T10:18:00.002+01:002013-10-06T10:18:26.285+01:00Utopias, Ethicology and Privately owned NationsI've been very ill over the past few days with what is probably some kind of food poisoning. Fortunately enough I seem to be on the road to recovery just in time for my trip to Singapore on Tuesday. I'm not sure if it is at all related, but I seem to be in a very philosophical mood today.<br />
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First, I questioned my own priorities and goals in life, specifically the importance of a partner to my own happines after watching this Ted Talk:<br />
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Quite a good talk, worth a watch</div>
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In the end, my priorities remain unchanged. Then I watched a couple of other relatively interesting Ted Talks, but nothing really spiked my interest until I saw this one about IT projects in governments:<br />
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Not sure if it was good, It got me thinking about something and then I stopped paying attention</div>
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I actually only caught maybe 20% of it, because I got lost in my own train of thoughts throughout the rest of it. Before I proceed I also quickly want to list this Ted Talk that I recently saw about the way N.P.O.'s are handicapped:<br />
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Pretty interesting. If you're interested in business worth a watch. If you're interested in N.P.O.'s a must watch.</div>
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The talk about IT projects in governments basically talks about how some tech experts go and work for the government for 1 year and make some applications for the government that vastly outperform the projects the government does by themselves. This sounds very familiar to me, because my dad has done a lot of(and currently does) IT projects for the government and the stories I've heard about some of the people he's run into over the years sound pretty bad.<br />
So I started to question why it is that the government sector performs worse than the business segment until I remembered the Ted Talk about N.P.O.'s. Just like N.P.O.'s, governments aren't as incentivized as corporations to produce great results, because the prospect of a big pot of gold at the end of the road just isn't there. There's a few more factors like (excluding politicians) it's a little harder to be recognized for your successes and it may not be as 'cool' as working in the business world, but money is most likely the biggest hurdle.<br />
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So what could we do to change this? Well the easiest solution would be to turn countries into corporations, privately owned. They're not thát different as they are, both are organizations that in many cases are trying to improve themselves and trying to become more effective and efficient.<br />
There would be some issues, but I think many of them could be resolved by having much more liberal laws about deciding to migrate between countries. That way countries would have to stay competitive and treat their citizens well, provide good healthcare and such in order to keep their citizens and in order to keep receiving their tax money. Of course this would also mean countries would have to be run much more efficiently, because if it can offer lower taxes it will attract more citizens as is already the case with attracting businesses.<br />
Obviously one small caveat is that you may have to put some restrictions on the maximum number of people in a country and it's interesting in and of itself whether you could implement a system to allow you to select whom you allow into your country or that it is too sensitive to racism and cannot be done or only up to a certain extent. Maybe I'll write about this next time, because this and immigration laws are quite interesting subjects too.<br />The biggest reason of why I currently don't even waste a second of my time on politics is because it is nothing but a popularity contest. Not the smartest, best suited for the job, hardest working person wins the election and runs the country. No, the one who's the most popular in the eyes of the public, the most charismatic and the one with the best campaign(in other words richest, best connections etc.) wins the election and runs the country. I could go on about the flaws of democracy for a while, but I don't have an easy to implement better solution as of right now, it definitely has it's upsides too and I want to get back to my main thoughts, so I'll stop talking about democracy's flaws.<br />
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Other advantages of the privately owned nations would be the fact that certain more wealthy countries could buy and invest in poorer countries and 'renovate' them and turn them 'profitable'. This may be a quicker way to raise some of the third world countries into the second and eventually first world. Of course I'm skipping over a ton of details here, but if I covered every little detail this blogpost would turn into a book. <br />
Furthermore financial institutions would become less powerful. Right now they hold a lot of power over countries who are dependant on their loans. The flipside of this coin is that countries would become immensely more powerful and they would be privately owned. It would sort of turn them into mafias, because they have armies to fight things out in case they can't talk things out, but aren't countries already sort of like mafias in that sense?<br />
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I guess what we <strike>would</strike> need is some sort of global Earthwide UN-like organization that governs all countries and sets up good ground rules that everybody can and should live by. But then again, how are the people chosen that make this organization? Some sort of democracy? Does this turn into a popularity contest again rather than people being chosen who will actually do a good job? What is doing a good job anyway? What are these rules supposed to do? Are the rules that the most people agree with, the same rules that will make the most people happy? In other words do people know what makes them happy? If not, how would we force rules upon people that will eventually make them happier? It's hard to answer all these questions...<br />
Another question is: Is there a set of rules that will make everybody happy? Highly unlikely. Would we need a 2nd Earthwide-UN like organization with different rules catering to different people? Then some countries can register under that one and cater to the people who have different needs. There's undoubtedly a small subset of the population who would be the happiest in a society where things like rape and murder are perfectly legal. I guess in some sense we're wrong to force people like this to adapt to our rules and force them to live in a society that is not optimal for them.<br />
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The general concensus seems to be that the human race is evolving over time into a more civilized species and if we're to believe some movies, eventually we'll all unite under the banner of the human race, cooperate in relative peace and live in some sort of utopia with our only threats coming from other species from different planets. At the very least in the very distant future we'll all realize we should just get along and live in an utopia, right? Well... with the way it's going... quite possibly, because people who like rape and murder and 'don't get along' don't particularly thrive well and generally don't get to 'reproduce'. So survival of the fittest dictates eventually these genes will go extinct.<br />
However, in the end we're all just chasing 'happiness' aren't we? And what makes our 'good' way of chasing happiness better than their 'bad' way of chasing their happiness? Of course a murderer chasing happiness by murdering people hinders the happiness of others who don't like a murder society and a non-murderer doesn't hinder other people's happiness in the same way, but there is no way for a murderer to currently opt into and live in his own perfect society.<br />
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I think this is where my little philosofical adventure is going to end for today. No superclear conclusions, besides the fact that there are PLENTY problems left in the world worth solving, but it would be pretty boring if there was nothing left to do, no?<br />
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I guess my final question to you is. Do you think there will come a day that humanity will have created a perfect self sustaining society with no problems left to solve where a baby can instantly retire the second he is born?<br />
I think the chances aren't very high, but...<br />
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<br />Frankhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14192703578452431776noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7853956798073334417.post-64847443359115465172013-10-01T10:23:00.000+01:002013-10-01T10:23:20.259+01:00Singapore and Macau Trip due to visa issues<h2 style="text-align: center;">
Visa Issues</h2>
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This week I got some not so great news. I will not get my investor visa before my 90-day tourist visa runs out on the 8th of October. Before we started the application process my lawyer mentioned to me the visa office was busier than usual and instead of ~4 weeks it'd probably take 6-7, but he said it would definitely be done before the 8th of October. However, it seems like they've been even busier than expected and it's still not here.</div>
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Considering I've already entered Japan 3 times this year, going to another country for 24 hours and coming back is not an option, because my lawyer thinks the chance of denial at the border is extremely high. So this leaves me with not much of a choice besides taking a vacation. My visa application was submitted on the 27th of July and they're currently working on an application that was submitted on the 2nd of July, so my lawyer believes I will get my visa somewhere in the middle of October. Fingers crossed.</div>
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I was already planning on going to Macau at the end of October, because of the Macau Poker series. This just means I have to leave Japan 1-2 weeks earlier than planned. I've decided to go visit my friend Vanessa in Singapore whom I haven't seen for about a year since she left London to go back to Singapore. Spending time with her and playing poker in Macau should be quite a lot of fun, but nonetheless I would've prefered staying in Japan. I have to miss an amazing lunch that was planned for the 17th at one of Tokyo's top restaurants. I also won't be able to see any of my friends and work on one of my projects is going to be quite hard, so I have to rely on my partner to take care of a lot of stuff for me. I guess I'll just have to work twice as hard when I get back to make up for it!</div>
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Overall unfortunate, but a good sign that I love life in Tokyo so much that I'm unhappy about a forced 3 week vacation and it should be a fun life experience seeing Singapore and playing poker in Macau!</div>
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Fully Furnished Apartment</h2>
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As promised here's a video of my fully furnished apartment and my Home Cinema in action.</div>
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Fitness</h2>
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Workout Program </h3>
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Fitness has been going pretty well for the past ~5 weeks. I've gotten back on the 6days/wk program I used to do in London. It's really intense, but since I've done it twice already it's not that bad for me. The workouts usually take 100-120 minutes. I do abs every day, and the rest of my body parts I train 3x/week. Right now Days 1, 3 and 5 are Legs, Back and Biceps and Days 2, 4 and 6 are Chest, Shoulders, Triceps and also Cardio.</div>
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I definitely did not design this program myself. I'm pretty knowledgeable as far as fitness goes, but program design should be handled by a professional. I got mine from <a href="http://www.workoutbox.com/">workoutbox.com</a>. A fairly cheap online fitness website run by an entrepreneur/ex-personal trainer friend who really knows his stuff.</div>
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I'm already looking forward to Week 10, which is the start of the Breathing Squat phase. Basically for 8 weeks I'll be doing Breathing Squats which means only 1 set of Squats a day, but it is 1 set of 20 repitions with a weight you could normally only lift about 6-8 times. By breathing 3 times inbetween repitions, your legs sort of recover a little bit and you're able to perform more repititions. It's the single hardest physical thing I've ever done and I love it! Can't wait for weeks 10-17!</div>
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Diet</h3>
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My diet too is courtesy of workoutbox.com. Based on a ton of information I entered, they estimate what my body needs on a day-to-day basis. Right now that means ~3300-3500kcal on workout days and about ~2300-2500 on non-workout days. About 20% of that comes from fat and I split the rest about 50/50 between carbs and protein, although I eat slightly more carbs than proteins.</div>
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In the morning before going to the gym I usually drink some milk, orange juice, iced green tea and multi-vitamins. After the gym I drink my big smoothie I posted about in my last blog. The rest of my meals are mostly brown rice and some sort of meat/fish with the ocassional smoothie, protein shake and salad.</div>
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<h3 style="text-align: center;">
Results</h3>
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The results so far are not bad at all. I went up from about 70.5KG to 75KG in 5 weeks. I probably gained a little bit of fat too, but I definitely look much better and to be honest, I haven't been eating quite as well as I used to in London. I've eaten out more with friends, which is part of Japanese culture and lots of fun aswell.</div>
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Performance wise, I've gotten a lot stronger, but more importantly my cardio's finally getting up to a good level again. Over the summer I had a small issue with my knee and thus I didn't do any cardio for about 2-3 months. I had to start back at a pretty low level cardio wise, but I've improved tremendously over the past 5 weeks. I think I could run a 12 minute 2 mile again like I did about a year ago! I got pretty close to it the other day and I was only really doing H.I.T.(High Intensity Interval Training) nor was I that tired towards the end.</div>
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My best running performance to date was a 19:19 5KM christmas last year. I weighed only 70.5KG though and my cardio was in sick shape. I don't think I'm quite at that level yet, but I may try to do something cool again at some point. A sub 45:00 10KM could be cool, but that may be too easy. I'll think of something eventually.</div>
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<h2 style="text-align: center;">
Singapore & Macau</h2>
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My next update will probably be from Singapore or Macau with a good old trip report and plenty pictures! If you have any tips/suggestions on things to do in either cities or if you're going to be there too in October, definitely hit me up!</div>
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Also feel free to post any fitness and non-fitness related questions in the comments box below!</div>
Frankhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14192703578452431776noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7853956798073334417.post-75834114496747845392013-09-22T13:06:00.004+01:002013-09-22T13:06:51.293+01:00Delicious Smoothies, 37 Steakhouse Roppongi, the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and much moreFirst of all I need to correct a little something. My last blog wasn't really meant to say I was overall unhappy or anything. It mostly just illustrates I've been thinking about the meaning/purpose of life, been searching for my true passion, but most of all been fiddling around with the best way to schedule my life as an Entrepreneur in Tokyo, rather than a Poker Player in London. I've pivotted again since my last update and made some adjustments, but it'll be a few more weeks before I update about that particular subject again.<br />
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This blog will mostly be an update about what I've been up to in the past month or 2 and contain a ton of pictures. First some random life stuff, then more towards the bottom a full business update.<br />
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<h3 style="text-align: center;">
Workout Routine and Smoothies! </h3>
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First of all, I've gotten back into a solid workout routine courtesy of <a href="http://www.workoutbox.com/">http://www.workoutbox.com/</a>! 6 days/wk, 2 hrs/workout like I used to in London. And a sick workout routine goes hand in hand with a (mostly) solid diet. Which in my case means quite a few smoothies. Here's the recipe for my post-workout shake:<br />
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-100g Blueberries(I use frozen ones)<br />
-100g Pineapple(I use frozen)<br />
-150g Watermelon<br />
-1 Banana (~100g)<br />
-300ml 2% Milk<br />
-60g Whey Protein Powder Strawberry Flavor<br />
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Nutritional Facts:<br />
-640 Calories<br />
-85.5g Carbohydrates<br />
-55.7g Protein<br />
-11.6g Fat<br />
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Very healthy and very delicious! A perfect post-workout meal!<br />
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<h3 style="text-align: center;">
Home Cinema Theater</h3>
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Furthermore, I've got my entire projector setup complete and I got a ton of awesome new blu-rays! I promise to shoot a few proper pictures and even a video of my entire apartment fully furnished and my home cinema in my next blog, but for now here's a few pictures I took a few weeks ago, before the screen arived. Projecting on the wall looks great too though.<br />
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Love Lord of the Rings. Gotta do a marathon again at some point!</div>
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<h3 style="text-align: center;">
Waseda University Tour </h3>
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This past week, I got a tour of Waseda university from an American professor who's been in Japan for well over 30 years! Unfortunately enough it was summer vacation so I didn't get to meet any students, but the prof was a very kind and interesting man and although not as beautiful as the university I saw in Seoul the main campus Waseda campus is quite nice.</div>
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The founder's statue</div>
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Library</div>
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Waseda's iconic tower.</div>
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Such peace in Tokyo's city centre!</div>
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<h3 style="text-align: center;">
Best Unagi Ever</h3>
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Last but not least, I had a few great meals. First of all I went to a very popular Unagi restaurant and had the best Unagi experience of my life:</div>
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Unagi is a pretty small meal, but I love it and I need to eat it a lot more often. The world's most renowned Unagi restaurant is walking distance for me and still high on top of my list of must-visit restaurants. Unfortunately enough it's not really a place you go on your own, so if you're reading this and you're interested in going, get in touch!</div>
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<h3 style="text-align: center;">
Great Fish Restaurant with my Landlord</h3>
The second one was a great fish restaurant which my landlord took me to. The sushi's rice was cold, which is usually a very bad sign, but in this case it was quite good. What stole the show however, were the starters. I got served some Natto(fermented soy beans) on Tofu and although when asked if there's any Japanese food I don't like, Natto is usually on top of the list, this time I actually liked it! Highlight of the night was the fried fish, which was the best piece of fish I've ever tasted! No pictures were taken unfortunately enough.<div style="text-align: left;">
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<h3 style="text-align: center;">
<b>37 Steakhouse Roppongi</b> </h3>
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Lastly I went to a friend's favorite steak restaurant in all of Japan(and quite possibly the entire world), 37 Steakhouse in Roppongi.</div>
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The Oysters weren't that tasty, but the Prawns were great! Superjuicy!</div>
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Awesome salad!</div>
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American Prime Beef</div>
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Australian 35 days aged</div>
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The above 2 and a piece of Australian 21 days aged</div>
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Me and 2 friends ended up splitting 3 slices of meat, American Prime, Australian 35 days aged and Australian 21 days aged. I'm not sure if it was the fact I got to taste 3 different kinds of steak or what, but this was quite easily the best steak I've ever had! The seasoning was especially SUPERB! I started off liking the Australian 35 days aged best, but after I finished eating I liked all of them equally. All 3 fantastic pieces of meat!</div>
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Unfortunately enough the side dishes(creamed spinach and fries) were very disappointing and very blend, but the steaks were so outstanding, I will definitely return here!</div>
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FrankPeelen.com</h3>
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Business
wise, I've been working on a few projects. As I mentioned in my last
blog, I decided to drop the referral project, but my own personal
website is finally up and running! There's a Japanese version coming
very soon aswell, but for now you can check out the English version
here:</div>
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<a href="http://www.frankpeelen.com/">http://www.FrankPeelen.com/</a></div>
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Meishi</h3>
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aka business cards.</div>
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Language Link</h3>
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Language Link is still progressing sort of on schedule. I had hoped to be able to start actual coding this past week, but hopefully we can finalize the specifications early this next week and get started on the actual coding towards the 2nd half of this week.</div>
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I've also made some minor additions to Language Link's website's wireframes and I've hired a team to build this website. It's a slightly more complicated website than FrankPeelen.com and thus will cost a bit more and take a bit longer, but it should be up and running in 4 weeks. Something which I'm very excited for.</div>
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On top of this, Language Link's Facebook page and Twitter page now have professionally designed graphics. You can check them out at:</div>
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<a href="https://www.facebook.com/LanguageLinkApp/">https://www.facebook.com/LanguageLinkApp/</a></div>
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and</div>
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<a href="https://twitter.com/LanguageLinkApp/">https://twitter.com/LanguageLinkApp/</a></div>
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There's not a ton happening on these pages yet, but as the application gets closer to launch there will definitely be a lot more exiciting stuff on LL's social network pages.</div>
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Tokyo 2020 Olympics</h3>
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Last but definitely not least, me and a close friend are working on a very exciting project for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. I can't really say much yet besides the fact that our vision is grand and we plan to make some big things happen in Tokyo leading up to and in 2020!</div>
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The Lean Startup</h3>
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<br />I've also been reading this great book by Eric Ries on his approach to building a company. It has really resonated with me, because it's very scientific and analytical and reminds me of playing poker. I'll definitely be taking a lot of things away from it and can already recommend the book to anyone interested in business, startups and entrepreneurship.</div>
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I think that pretty much brings you up to date! Next time I'll post a video of my fully furnished apartment and whatever else I've been up to.</div>
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Frank </div>
Frankhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14192703578452431776noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7853956798073334417.post-8521256141149932932013-09-15T12:52:00.001+01:002013-09-15T12:52:54.642+01:00Dissecting my own Psyche<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">In my blog post about <a href="http://www.frankpeelen.com/2013/08/my-first-week-as-entrepreneur.html">my first week as an entrepreneur</a> I mentioned that I had started using this To-Do-List template to plan my days:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiP6z4s102jM5MUHnQAUfRiTWDzq5F5CB2ZwXYreb2SSEmfGvQKe6bY2EOv_obFldS5cmzoPwMINaGZRy4bogzvzhgqXbE3Xyvbllru_8G9-N-u6hah3S6NDUw-5Z9L4m19HGTHzWLSUSg/s1600/IMAG1184.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiP6z4s102jM5MUHnQAUfRiTWDzq5F5CB2ZwXYreb2SSEmfGvQKe6bY2EOv_obFldS5cmzoPwMINaGZRy4bogzvzhgqXbE3Xyvbllru_8G9-N-u6hah3S6NDUw-5Z9L4m19HGTHzWLSUSg/s1600/IMAG1184.jpg" height="400" width="238" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">On top of that I've been using a file on my computer to list what I want to do each week and month. I've been using this system for about 5 weeks now and for half of it it's been amazing for me! I got an unbelievable amount of stuff done. During the first week of September for example, I did almost everything I had planned for the first 2-3 weeks of the month!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">On the other hand, there have been weeks where, although I still got a decent amount of work done, I wasn't particularly motivated, felt a bit sluggish and wasn't all that happy overall. So I set out to find out what was causing it.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">First I blamed sleep. I have been sleeping less than the 9 hours I used to, but by now I've realised this is not the issue. The 8 hours of sleep I get each night are enough, because there were also weeks where I did completely fine sleeping 8 hours a night.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Next was the lack of exercise and healthy food. I hadn't been to the gym in 2-3 months, due to 2 injuries, spending time in Europe and moving to and getting settled in Japan. I had also been eating out the vast majority of my meals for the past 6 months. So 3 weeks ago I finally started going to the gym again and eating superclean and healthy 90%+ of my meals. But regardless of the 6x2 hours/week I've spent in the gym and the healthy food, I still have had the same periods of sluggishness and unhappiness since then.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">At this point I started to question what it was I actually want to do. I figured, maybe I am not enjoying what I'm doing. I am very confident that entrepreneurship suits me. I've never had a regular job and always made my own schedule. On top of that I really need to be challenged.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">However, I did start to question exactly what kind of business I want to build and asked myself: "What is it you want to do with your life?". I still don't have the exact answer to that, but I do know that I'm very excited about my Language Link project. Especially building out the website and the millions of different marketing possibilities excite me to no end!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Another project I was working on was an affiliate website for Udemy.com. Udemy is a website where you can take a wide variety of courses ranging from 'Learning How to Build a Website' to 'Learning Photoshop' to 'Photography' and 'Management' courses. I completed a course on building websites, which was fairly interesting and should prove useful in the future, but I found myself not so excited about building the actual affiliate website. Especially when the affiliate program turned out to work differently than I originally anticipated. So I've pretty much decided to drop this project.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">{However, if anyone reading this is planning to sign up for Udemy, hit me up! Got some referal links and I'm happy to share the money with you that Udemy pays me for refering you!}</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I was also planning on playing quite a bit of poker, but after playing 1-2 sessions, I've noticed it's just not gonna happen. I may play every now and then if I really feel like it, but mostly for fun. I don't expect to do any serious online poker playing anymore.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">In the end I decided that it'll come to me eventually. I'm only 24, so I have plenty time to figure it out. And for now I'm very excited about my Language Link project, so I will be working on that whenever I can.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">This still left me with the periods of sluggishness and lack of motivation. So I started to ask myself a few slightly different questions. "What excites you?", "What do you want to do right this instant?" and "What if this was your last day alive, how would you spend it?". Worringly enough I still wasn't able to come up with any clear answers and I began to realize not much TRULY excites me at the moment.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Sure, there's things I really enjoy such as good food, movies, socializing and certain parts of the Language Link project I'm really looking forward to. But the food has to be really outstanding and there's only a handful of movies out of the 1000+ I've seen that truly get me to jump out of my seat.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Possible causes are for one the remaining effects of having been a professional poker player. I developed a lot of skills that'll serve me extremely well throughout my life, but I also feel like I've surpressed my emotions quite a lot. Secondly, I've already experienced a lot of pretty big things for a 24 year old, which has been great, but it makes it harder to find newer and bigger things to be excited about.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Last but not least, I've always liked to be challenged. The issue with that is that I may be overconfident in some ways. I feel like there's almost nothing I can't do, everything seems so possible and within reach and thus not much of a challenge and less exciting...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I think lacking a true passion is definitely one part of the problem, but on top of that I've definitely spent time doing some things I was clearly unexcited about. Mainly the affiliate project and poker I wasn't that excited about. So I've decided to make 2 main changes on top of dropping the projects I'm not excited about:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>1) Change the entire way I schedule my days.</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Throw out most of the to-do-list as is and instead after I finish up a few things that have to happen that day, I just do whatever I feel like. No joke! Usually these are useful things like working on Language Link anyway. I think I'll be focussing a lot more on Japanese studies again aswell. I haven't progressed that much as of late. I've especially been speaking Japanese very, very little despite living in Japan.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>2) Get out of the house more and meet more new people.</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Take my laptop with me and do work from coffee shops more, so I don't spend too much time at home behind my desktop just like I did in London for 2 years playing poker.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">And since I rarely have a bad time when I'm socializing, I've decided to go out of my way and try to meet more people. Which I was sort of planning to do anyway for networking purposes.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">For now I think making these 2 big changes, should have a big positive impact on my life, but we'll see how it pans out for real in a month or 2.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I have a LOT to update you on regarding my Language Link project, life in Tokyo, my totally furnished apartment, some movies, some dinners and possibly upcoming trips too. However, I think this blog is long and dense enough as it is, so I'll promise to update you on all of that as soon as I can. Hopefully within a week or so, although this week is really busy so don't expect it before the weekend!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">If you actually got through all of this, I'm impressed. Maybe my writing isn't as boring as I thought it was! Leave me a comment if you did, especially if any of this resonates with you I'd be interested in hearing from you!</span>Frankhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14192703578452431776noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7853956798073334417.post-17754475078086883422013-09-01T11:54:00.001+01:002013-09-01T11:54:10.011+01:00Weekend Productivity<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">I've never really been someone who's taken weekends off. Especially during my time as a professional poker player I often worked weekends, because that's when the best games were running. However, as of late weekends have blended together into my normal workweeks even more so than usual. Here are the 3 main reasons.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">1) Workout Schedule</span></span></h3>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">I recently started a new fitness program and it happened to be convenient to start this on a Saturday. My fitness program is a 6 days/wk split, which means my only day off is Friday. As a result, my Saturday feels like the start of the week and thus like Monday.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Don't think for a moment that this makes Friday feel like weekend though! My friends, business partners and the companies I interact with still work on Friday, so I still deal with people working and do a lot of work myself, because I get important emails that need responding to.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;">A lot of the time what I want to do is work! Even if I had clear and defined weekdays and weekends, I would still do work on weekends. I am very excited about the things I'm working on and making progress on those is a lot more fun and rewarding to me than my hobbies.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;">However, like any other healthy human being I too take breaks from work, but...</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;">Definitely not all of it, I still decide to call it quits when I'm tired and decide to go out with friends when they ask me last-minute, but I do schedule breaks here and there to stop myself from burning out. For example, next week I'll join a university baseball team in their practice and most weeks I schedule going out for some food and such.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;">I believe that on top of my strange work schedule in the past as a professional poker player, these 3 things have recently made the line between weekdays and weekends even vaguer for me. This has made me more productive during the weekends and best of all I really enjoy this kind of schedule!</span></span></span>Frankhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14192703578452431776noreply@blogger.com0