Fuji Q and Christmas

Today almost everyone in our school went to Fuji Q Highland and it was awesome! The weather was perfect and there weren't many people there so the lines were really really short. And also, I only paid 500yen! And that was for the entrance to the haunted house, which was great.

I rode the two most crazy roller coasters I've ever ridden (maybe because I've only been to amusement parks in Sweden?), and had an awfully great time.

In the line to the first roller coaster we somehow ended up sneaking in front of many people in the line because our friends were in the middle somewhere, but my heart couldn't take it, because I strongly dislike when people cheat their way to a better position in a line myself, so we went back to the end of the line again after a few minutes. It felt much better again :)

And wow, the mountains here are amazing! I haven't seen much mountains in my days, but I think most people would get impressed. And watching Fuji-san from the distance was stunning. It looked like some background someone had put up on a big big piece of paper, but it was a real mountain. Amazing.

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Now it's Christmas time here in Japan, but it just doesn't cut it when Japanese people are wearing Santa Claus hats without a single snowflake in the ground or in the air (except for on the top of Fuji-san). And since when do you use the phrase "Happy Christmas"? It was a pretty cute sign though.

I feel good about not buying any presents this year. People don't need more stuff, I don't need more stuff (I actually still want to get rid of some things I have), so everyone gets happy! And if they don't, well, then I think they should rethink their idea of Christmas, if they celebrate it, that is.

However, I don't feel good about commercials during Christmas time. Big corporations trying to print into everyone's brain that their product is the thing that Christmas is all about, and everything is about buying, buying, buying. It's horrible, and it's sad that so many people are led to believe that that's the way it's supposed to be.

Think about what really means something to you and other people and their life. How can you help to make friends and family happier without buying things for them? Can you buy them experiences? Help them start pursuing their passions? Try to make their life better, not their house harder to keep clean. That's just mean. Oh what a rhyme!

Good night! : )

Almost barefoot running is not only good for the body, but also for your social life!

Today was a holiday in Japan so I didn't have school, and all plans were cancelled, so I had a completely free day to do whatever I wanted on. I spent it on studying, doing laundry, watching a scary movie (The Descent 2, it was really scary!) and wrote a long post about quitting facebook on my simplicity blog Liberty Through Simplicity.

I'm working on the blog at the moment, and hopefully it will be filled with useful and interesting information and stories in some time! :)

My continued use of my fivefinger shoes has made my feet stronger now, and I don't feel sore and tired in my feet anymore after I've been on a run! I can run normal long runs with them and it feels great! After I've done my short workout afterwards in a nearby park I walk barefoot the short way home, and it's a great feeling, even if it's mostly asphalt all the way.

Some weeks ago I had been on a run but was really tired, so I took of my fivefingers and walked barefoot home, and one the way some old guy was just walking out of his house and saw me and started laughing! So I stayed and spoke with him for a while and it was really fun! Good practice for Japanese as well.

On friday I'm going to Fuji-ku highland with the school. It's an amusement park next to Fuji-san, and they have reaaally high roller coasters! I'm looking forward to it!

Metal in Japan!

Yesterday was an awesome day. First I had a nice calm morning with breakfast and a shower. After that I brought my guitar and my amp to the other guest house in Nishi Kawaguchi to play music with Bill. It went way over my expectations in awesomeness, and we discussed plans and ideas about the band.

Later I went to meet Ayako in Akihabara, and we went together to her friend's place in Seijogakuen-mae to play and listen to music and eat food :)

:D

..........

And this is how my desk looks at the moment. I really like it :) If I want to do something at the computer, everything is already set. If I want to study, all I have to do is to put my books on the desk and open them. No cleaning or rearrangement required!

Morning routines in Japan

I've just been out on a run, followed up with a slow breakfast. It's a really great way to start the day I think, to take more time than you need before you have to leave for school, start working or something similar.

And I can recommend to at least try a morning jog or a morning exercise of some kind before school/work/other life. It gets you energized and more effective, and it also feels great to have the exercise done almost before you've even started the day! Now that I'm living in Japan it's a really nice way to explore the place where I live as well.

Another great thing to try in the mornings:

When I wake up, I sit up, pull away the curtains, put a pillow behind my back, and just sit there for 10-15 minutes.

I'm sure some people think: "Why don't you just hit snooze and sleep another 10-15 minutes?". The answer is: Because then I'll be back where I was when I woke up the first time again; tired, wanting to hit the snooze button. Again. Instead of just sitting there, still having the warm, cozy feeling under the blanket, still being in the bed, but at the same time slowly waking up in a nice pace, having a bit of calm before starting the day.

Of course you should even try to sleep enough as many nights as you possibly can to get the most out of any day. I try to get 8 hours of sleep every night, and I've noticed my study results are better than those in high school when I only slept 6-7 hours. That small difference has made a big... difference in my everyday performance.

Sleeping and exercising is great ways to increase performance in almost everything you're doing, so give it a shot! You might surprise yourself :)

Impressive minimalism

Many times when people have entered my tiny room here in the guest house, they've been surprised of how clean and nice it is, and often say that they'd like to have their rooms in the same way. I can't blame them, I really like how my room looks and feels. Thing is it's not very hard to fix.

Solution:

1. Don't buy more stuff to put in

2. Get rid of stuff you don't use

And if you follow step 1 and step 2 every once in a while, you'll get there :)

The only thing I really miss with my 1.8m x 2.5m space (which is mostly being covered up by a built in closet, a built in bed, a refridgerator and a desk) is a place to hang by laundry.

Even though the point with living with less stuff and buying less isn't that, you can actually be admired for having less. Lots and lots of people think it's precisely the other way around, how mixed up things can get!

When I went here, I brought nothing but one backpack of essentials and my guitar (in a guitar case), and far more people have been (I think) inspired by that than would I've brought 2 fat travelling bags packed with things I don't need.

If you want help on how to let go of stuff you don't use or need but you still want to keep, you can check out this post by Leo Babauta's mnmlist. He's also written a post about how to easier follow Step 1.

Why would you even think of doing this? There're lots of reasons! There are many people writing about them, like Everett Bougue, Leo Babauta and Tammy Strobel.

The person who got me to start think about this stuff, and change my life for the better, is no one less than my awesome friend André Fohlin. Thank you, André! :D

Remember: Live life, don't fill it with crap!

WriteRoom

Lately I've been fighting to get back to routine; Keeping the same sleeping times each night, wash my clothes before it piles up, and study just a little bit more :)

I finally cleaned my desk today, and it actually feels WAY better sitting here now. I didn't use my desk very much until I made this change, and now it feels more productive just sitting here! I strongly recommend to clean your desk, and KEEP IT CLEAN.

I was talking with my friend this morning about saving papers from school, and neither of us are doing it. No one back home will be able to read it anyway ;) It's really nice to know, when you hear your friends whining about their rooms getting filled with piles of old papers, that your room is free from it, and will still be clean when you get home to it!

It's amazing how much crap you keep in your room without thinking of it. I'm trying to stay aware of it and keep it clean, but I still find papers, small cell phone decorations, more old papers and similar things lying around. But they're not making it until the end of the day after I've found them!

Right now I'm trying out a new writing application for OSX. It's called WriteRoom. All it is is a full screen of a black background, and green text and a marker in the middle. It's really relaxing and it brings focus to your writing. It actually works pretty well.

I will shut down now and study for a bit before I start reading my book and go to bed. I can recommend the book I'm reading, called Focus. It's available for free, written by Leo Babauta. Much of it are already on his blogs, but lots of new stuff as well, so be sure to read it even if you've read his blogs!