Reno F

Welcome to the club

Showing my respect to you. I'll be following!

Hey, Daniel mate. Just dropping by to mention that I was so close to uninstalling Whatsapp the other day. I mean, there is nothing to keep me in the app, it is only a huge distraction. While I didn't uninstall it, I turned off all the annoying notifications and deleted the shortcut. As for fapping, my opinion: should be fine as long as you don't waste 1+ hours watching porn.

Congratulations on your first day! You will never forget it!

Added the book to my wishlist. I have currently 5 books in there and I'm reading other 3 books. Thanks for the indication, Cam. Hey Daniel, thanks for dropping by. I have this page on my onenote about random thoughts. I just don't look at it everyday, haha. 5th Week or Day 35 After some unproductive days last weekend I got two very satisfying days in a row. Something that worked for me is planning my next day just before sleeping. I have a small whiteboard on my fridge and I list the things I want to complete next day on it. If I'm out, I write them on my mobile and keep checking it during the day. It makes my day much lighter and I have less decisions to make. While I'm writing this, I just remembered that I used to do it while I was at Uni, but on a weekly basis. Another thing that has been helping a lot is to make breaks at every 30 minutes or so. If I'm working on the computer, I stand up and do some chore, like washing dishes, taking the rubbish out, or putting things in order. Then I come back to do what I was doing and my focus is completely renewed. It works also for procrastination, you take a break from it, and you are released from its control. My routines has changed a bit from what I started doing at the beginning of the detox. For instance, I'm not actively practicing on the guitar anymore. I get it eventually to play some licks and riffs, but only for a short time. It helped me on my start but as I exposed myself to a lot of other things, other windows opened and I decided to have a look at them. I have said to myself when I got my first job that one day I would be my own boss and have my own business. Now I checked some stuff online and I've created another project to work on, creating value online. Yesterday I got a hint from my wife that she is not ready to work directly with me on my projects, so for now I'm on my own, which I kind of enjoy because of the challenge. I still feel that I need to achieve a private victory before I get to the public victory. On a side note, I had my first dream about gaming after starting the detox. I don't remember exactly if I tried some flash game online, or I played with friends, but I remember the feeling of failure and the sadness to reset my counter because of 30 minutes of gameplay. What a dream.

your journal is so beautiful it makes me want to cry D:

It's good to hear from someone who has walked this walk before, I'm taking your advice! As I'm a quite bad writer, I think it would take sometime until this hobby fulfills all the needs you mentioned. But, I can see where you come from. With writing you can at least work up a skill useful in real life and at the end you have something to show other people (novel, article, etc). TY CAM! I crossed the 1 month mark already! Ikr. Day 33 Sometimes it is so hard to keep writing, even when you are free to write about anything you want. I mean, I think I have been looking at this screen for over 20 minutes trying to organize my thoughts and translate them in to words to put them here until I decided I'd just ramble about whatever comes up. would this be some kind of phenomenon that writers suffer from? not that i'm calling myself a writer, far from it. anyway, i think it is time to leave behind my past as engineer as well. it is kind of sad, because my degree on engineering is something i'm very proud of, because it was bloody hard to get it, and my work as one got me money to travel and do the things i like. but now i'm stuck with it and everytime i want to try something new i think if i even would enjoy or be successful working as an engineer in japan. the thing is i don't see my future self working 9 to 5 anymore, and i also lost contact to anything related to engineering since 4 years ago. on the other hand, looking at the future and the range of possibilities that i have is quite exciting and challenging and makes me not want to go back to do something i am used to do just because of the money. perhaps it is time to close another chapter in my life the engineering one. this reminds me of my favorite quote of all time, "only after you lose everything you are free to do anything" from palahniuk's "fight club". i finally used my bedside notepad i set up one year ago. the other day i woke up at 3 am and kept thinking about some ideas that i had. so i took my notepad and started writing them down, and filled one whole page with ideas. after that it was easier to get to sleep again and on the next day i saw that the ideas weren't as good as i thought they were when writing. anyway, i just thought it was interesting to see what your brain can come up with when it is not busy thinking about games. i apologize for anyone who's reading all this rambling. maybe i should try some meditation now, or get some sweat off. In spite of having taken little action in the last few days, I had many ideas of new projects to work on.

Welcome, friend!

Yesterday I completed 4 weeks of the challenge, yay! Thanks for the comments. I realized it isn't the moment to get involved with boardgames as well. I've been slacking with the olympics going on atm, but still trying to make a small step each day at least. Gonna start a small project with my wife soon that has potential to become a business in the future. I should be putting up a plan to it right now, but I feel I need to keep this journal active to keep myself accountable, as my other journals aren't public. I am also starting to write a novel with some other people in what is called "narrative collaborative" or just "play by post rpg". It is something I have never done, so I might learn one thing or two from it, especially because I might be the least skilled writer in the group. Although I'm still exercising everyday (put on 2 kilograms since I started!), I haven't started jogging. The other day I went for a 1-hour walk with my wife, and that was it. Making some time for it next week. On the social side, I'm more open to talking to strangers and taking innitiative. Sometimes you have a lot on your mind that, if you are not out to socialize, it's hard to remember to smile and greet people you come across, like the bus driver or the cashier of the supermarket. Today I have my second meeting at a toastmasters club and I'm really looking forward to it.

Best luck on your journey!

Hey mate, seja bem vindo e boa sorte na sua caminhada!

I still remember clearly how I felt so alive after my first week of detox! Keep it up, Tom!

I used to say to myself when I worked in the hospitality industry that everyone has some story or some personality trait that you will find interesting. Finding what it is is half of the fun.

Hey Jsmith, it is very nice to see how you are progressing! As for the stress you mentioned, maybe you could try some meditation or breathing exercises when it hits you. If you ever come to Japan, drop me a line, I can show you around!

D: why do you do this to me? To put it simple, you have to merge in to the society. Things like speaking up your mind, telling others your opinion, and doing things your own way are may not be well seen. Also you gotta be constantly saving face to keep the harmony. When you invite someone to some event and they respond with an "yes", it is not easy to tell whether they really want to go or they answered positively just to avoid a direct conflict of desires with you. This is subject is deep enough for a book and I'm not sure if I want to understand it thoroughly (as I'm also used to it). Sometimes it is better to accept things the way they are and keep doing what works. Day 23/90 I went to a boardgame meetup last friday and I left it with mixed feelings. The evening was awesome and I was in a table with 4 other people. We played many light board/card games and it was a lot of fun, but, I don't know, something didn't feel right at some point. Although I was very excited when playing, I guess deep inside I felt uncomfortable to be playing games when I could be doing something else. Moreover, I had to pay a few bucks for it, because it was in a boardgame cafe and I also thought on how could I have invested it better. All in all, it was a good experience and it has shown me that I'm not ready to 'game' yet. Perhaps I should wait my detox to join again, or at least find a second job to the financial aspect won't be an issue. I have also decided to include cardio training on my exercise routine. Jogging it shall be, twice, three times a week?

Japan is an amazing country to visit if you come with an open mind. There is so much in their culture to learn from and their society, history and traditions are really unique. In Kyoto, for example, you can easily stay one whole week and still not see enough. On the other hand, living here can be fairly difficult to adapt, because Japan's society standards are very different from most of western countries. It took me a long time to find true happiness here and I have seen people who can speak fluent Japanese and have been living in the country for longer than me, yet, they still keep complaining how Japanese are this and that. Anyway, let me know if you need help with your Japanese. I will be more than glad to help you! Bought mine yesterday. Feeling like Leonardo da Vinci! Day 21/90 Got my nutrition habits done. Got some ideas for a business. Unplugged my WiiU from TV. Not using it anyway, better make space for other things. Cleaned the house. Finished reviewing second Kanji flashcards deck. Meetup scheduled for tonight.

Solid works is a solid program for mechanical engineering works (pardon the puns), perhaps the most used together with solid edge. BTW, what is this pomodoro reference? I mean, pomodoro means tomato in Italian... nevermind, I've just googled it

I soon realized that using your phone to take notes wasn't appropriate in some situations. It felt wrong to take out my phone while on a speech at Toastmasters and perhaps it might be even rude. I will get my hands on a stylish pen and notebook. Thanks for your input! Day 20/90 Last time I wrote, I mentioned a job fair for foreigners I was about to go. It was a great experience for me. It is those kinds of events that the companies who are hiring present themselves to the professional's market in order to get applications. While my old self would watch passively the seminars and have a look at all company stands and then leave as soon as the event ends, this time it took my time to engage and socialize with other professionals and company representatives. I've been around for almost 4 years and it is kind of sad that this is the first event of its kind that I participate in. As they say, better late than never. On that same day I got a reply from a company that I had applied for a job one month ago. I know almost everyone who works there and the owner is someone who I have some admiration for. Anyway, they rejected my proposal. I got the reply when I was at the job fair, so I thought "whatever", but at night It kind of hit me and gave me a headache which I tried some meditation to get over it (and it worked!). Some things to do on the next days: Get out of the house and talk to people (two meetups already scheduled for the weekend)Look for volunteer workFind another part-time job (need the cash to invest in myself)Update my resumeBrainstorm ideas for my own businessBuild a food menu for the week (so I spend less time thinking on what to cook, what to buy at the supermarket or whether eat out or not)It is surprising how socializing can be good. Everything on me works better when I out interacting with people. Now that I'm aware of it, I'll work on every chance I have to socialize. Thinking about going clubbing again. Wonder what wife would think...

NZ is such a beautiful country!

Welcome, JSmith! To be honest, I wasn't sure about writing a journal and opening up, but now I see it was the right thing to do. The more I write, the more I understand about myself. Best luck and see you around!

Quick post so I can get out some stuff from my head. On saturday I joined my first ever Toastmasters meeting. What a great event! Most of the club members are Japanese, yet, they make speech in English, which is very inspiring for me, as a Japanese student. I feel very fortunate to have a club in Kyoto that has support for both English and Japanese. Definitely joining them next time. Sunday was quite an unproductive day because I spent lots of time on the internet watching some comedy and reading news. But I also went on a 2-hour hiking in a mountain not very far from here and exercised upper body as well, So I guess it wasn't that bad. I just slowed down a bit, well, it was sunday anyway. I also tried some meditation and I just realized that I had done it before, I just didn't know that that was called meditation. I'm in a hurry now to attend a job fair in the afternoon. 90 day challenge, day 17/90

Welcome, Alex! Or should I say Doctor Alex?

Hey Natty, welcome back! Not everyone have the balls to do what are you doing now, so I truly think you are strong. You are not alone on that. Everyone here has relapsed eventually. I'm not sure even if I'm in a position to give advice (still going on my third week of the 90 days challenge) but, if anything, don't use your strenght to beat yourself up after a mistake. Get a grip, look forward and follow Cam's advice - it worked for many people, it is working for me. Stay strong, mate.

This was a quite productive week. Had a great time with the language exchange group last sunday. It takes place in an Irish pub in Kyoto and there were several tables with about 40 participants. On my table I was the only foreigner so I felt kind of privileged to have 5 Japanese native speakers to chat with. I've also found motivation to keep a routine on Japanese, so I took the dust out of my textbooks and also started studying with a flashcard deck. My goal for next week is to make it a habit. I'm also more aware of what I eat everyday. I'm trying to put on weight, something I could never do in my entire life, even with the help of junk food. Trying to put my money on healthy stuff, which fotunately for me, it is not very hard to do in Japan. Regardless of everything, I still need a long term goal. I've wrote down a list of things I'd like to do and I'm giving some though on it. I have this belief that eventually, something will come up, but I want to give my luck a little push. And before I forget: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XY5KTVA_2ys 2 weeks!

I have all my whatsapp groups on mute, even the only one I am interested in (in fact, the one I created, ha). Enjoy your trip, Daniel!