ALERT ALERT! Watch your blood sugar level!

Hey Guys!!!

LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG Time No Write!

Since I have been SO absent from this little blogging of mine, I won't even bother trying to come up with excuses for WHY I haven't posted anything in 1 year.

But thanks to those who told me to "start blogging again!" for such a random and kind of pointless blabbing outlet of mine.

Anyways, let's go straight to today's topic eh?

Something pretty interesting happened to me today at first day of work, after the world turned to the year 2013, safe and sound, despite all the hysteria about "OMG THE WORLD IS GOING TO END IN 2012 Decemberrrrr!!!"

Remember how I wrote in one of my first posts that Japanese people go to shrine in New Year to wish for a good year to come?
So my team at work decided to go to nearby shrine right before lunch today.
It was around noon time.
And the shrine is called Atago Shrine, which is famous for having a long ass stairs like this:

It may NOT look like much, but each step is like 30cm high alright. 

Legend has it that a man who climbed up these stairs by horse had gotten fast track to promotion. (Mind you that the legend is set in ancient times of Samurai and such) 

SO, What Do I Fucking DO? 

Climb up the stairs as fast as I can before ANYONE ELSE for the fastest promotion. Greedy greedy. tsk tsk. 

After furiously running up those magnificent things, I stood on top, looking down on my fellow teammates. I was taking pictures of those who were struggling to climb up and was making fun of them and what-not, when I started feeling strange....

I started seeing stars in my eyes, I was nauseous, I was dizzy, I had urge of vomiting, I was shaking like an alcoholic, I felt disoriented.... so on and so forth.  

All of the above? Symptom of goddamn glucose crash after intense exercise. 

Shame on you YURI SHAME ON YOU!!!!! All these eating and sleeping and being lazy had finally hit me physically, after blindly lured by this legend of fast promotion. More embarrassing thing was that Everyone else seemed totally and completely FINE. What. I mean what's wrong with these people. 

So, Moral of today's story

Do NOT climb up 100 stairs too fast when:

1. You are Hungry

2. You haven't exercised in a long time

3. You are doing this because you are purely greedy and doing it just to show off and want to laugh at those who are climbing slower than you. 

Because you are just going to feel sick and look stupid. Those people who went with their pace were.... uh .... smart. 

I felt fine after lunch though. Oh maybe next time I should eat a banana or something before climbing up. 

So here's another moral of today's story:

Promotion does not come easy, and you should stock up before you furiously try to climb to the top... 

What a great analogy. Yes. 

But please watch out for your sugar level. I swear it is NOT a good feeling to have your blood losing all this precious sugar. 

See you soon in next post!! 

Valentine's Day!! Let us all be the slaves of corporate marketing!

Valentine's day... it is a special day for people to appreciate/confess/drop some dollars for their love.

Very romantic.

Eh, anyways.
Valentine's day, as commonly known, is a day started by Saint Valentine, a Christian priest, who helped young people marry under the prosecution of Roman emperor Claudius II. For his kind action, Saint Valentine was executed on February 14th. According to another legend, this saint confessed his love to a young girl the night before his execution by sending her a card, which was signed as "From your Valentine"... (sources: History.com)

OK THESE LEGENDS HAVE ABSOLUTELY NO HISTORICAL FACTS PEOPLE!

First off, there are at least 3, yes THREE martyrs called Valentines and we don't even know which one it is that we are celebrating.

Second, some historians argue that there are no romantic associations between St. Valentines up til certain period of time. Some go on and argue that Catholic Church used the date of St. Valentine's death in order to "christianize" the Roman pagan holiday Lupercalia (a day of fertility which happened to fall on between February 13 - 15, convenient!!!)

From these research, we can conclude one thing.

WE ARE ALL SLAVES OF MARKETING FROM ANCIENT TIMES!
Ah, the power of marketing... Love it.

In order to not fall into corporate hands by submitting myself into buying corporate Valentine's goods, I had to look for an inexpensive alternative to celebrate this HOLYday of romance... And found some interesting ideas...

HERE:

1. Make a memory jar. Take simple slips of paper and write a favorite memory on each one. Be specific, and try to record as much about the occasion as you can. Tuck them into a jar or wooden box, tied with a bow.

2. Build a romantic fire. Host your own indoor picnic, complete with a bottle of champagne and chocolate-covered strawberries.

3. Recreate your first date together. What were you wearing? Where did you go? Do you remember what you talked about? Spend the evening reminiscing and reflecting on how far you have come as a couple.

HERE COMES MY FAVORITE IDEA....!


4. Spoon. 

HAHA ok.

5. Choose a book in which you are both interested, fiction or nonfiction. Read a new chapter each night before bed. This cozy tradition will allow you to spend some quality time together and often makes for thought provoking breakfast conversations.

6. Make a tape of the songs special to your relationship. Include "your song," songs from your wedding, songs from favorite movies. Add a personal voice dedication and leave it in his briefcase, Walkman, or car stereo.

7. Turn off the TV and play a game of Scrabble or Pictionary.

OMG this website is soo NOT helpful with ideas. But just in case you guys are interested, here is the website that I pulled the ideas from.

http://www.creativehomemaking.com/inexpensive-valentines-day-ideas.shtml

#17 is my favorite, although it's pretty much the same as #8 and #17. Repeat much?

Hopefully this post has helped you reconsider... well figure out how to spend this marketing-filled date with you loved ones! I'm going to sit home and watch movies with some beer and wings. Let's recreate Superbowl feasting!

HAPPY ST. VALENTINE'S DAY EVERYONE!!! <3 <3 <3

Let's wish for another good year to come...

Many may think that most people Japanese people are Buddhists. Beautiful temples and monks and Kyoto and all that sorts of "Japanese culture" may lure you into thinking that Japanese people practice this almost masochistic religion. If you have thought so, wrong-.

In my opinion, Japan is one of the most multi-religious country, well maybe non-religious country.

Most people do funerals in Buddhist style, but many people get married in a Christian style, but then many people go to Shinto shrine when they want something come true, but then Christmas and Valentine's is also huge... yeah in short, it's pretty messed up.

I'm not saying that Japanese people are not spiritual though. I just think that sudden flow of the Western culture after WWII and the collapse of the emperor-worship (spread by propaganda of military during war) may have been a big factor in the current situation where people cannot clearly claim their religion.

Anyways, being part of multi-religious country, I went to a Shinto shrine nearby my house to wish for a good year to come. Traditionally you should do it (it's called Hatsumoude) in the first 3 days of New Years but oh well. At least I went yeah?

Here's how to do it correctly...

 This is what a shrine looks like typically... This is rather local small one. There is a huge one where there are tens of thousands people go in New Years. I think smaller ones have better chance of getting your wishes heard.

 Before you pray though, you should wash your hands and mouth by this water. Yes, we are all dirty humans. Ya'll should get cleaned up.

 So you bow twice before the alter, throw in the coin, and shake this rope back and forth in order to....

 WAKE UP GOOOOOD to have him make your wish come true...

Now you know what to do next time you go to Shrine, that's only if you are into multi-religion.