kiapkiap

The other day, one of my students and I were talking about our lack of discipline in general. Basically, we know there are better things we could be doing, but we get distracted, especially by the TV and the Internet. And the problem is, these distractions don’t vanish in 5 or 10 minutes, but as we all know, can drag on for hours.

The amazing thing is, she got rid of her TV, and then she also disconnected her computer from the Internet. Now she only plugs in when she absolutely needs to do something. I really admire her decisions to simplify her life so that she can focus on what really gives her pleasure (i.e. soaking in the tub with a book :)) Perhaps I will go on an Internet fast for a week or so in the near future…

What I did this week though, was to shift my work schedule to do my high priority things before I go to work. It’s a concept I’ve known for ages, so I don’t know why it didn’t occur to me before. Previously, I’d work those things in around my schedule, but what’s the point of having a flexible schedule, if you don’t work it. I have to continue tweaking both my schedule and my environment so that I can focus on the important stuff.

But first of all, S.L.E.E.P. It’s a mystery how I feel exhausted even when I get 8 hours a night.

I totally meant to follow up with ‘High Gear, Part II’ but obviously things got so busy, I haven’t posted for 2 months! It’s crazy how often I mistake how much free time I have. Probably cos I love procrastinating ;) I mistakenly thought that from December, I’d be able to make regular updates to both kiapkiap and TheLucidPath, but boy, was I wrong!

Can’t quite believe we’re already a month into 2010, I probably should spend some time reflecting on the year gone by! Though New Year resolutions aren’t really my thing, so it’s not a big deal that I don’t have any. Personally, I believe goals can be set whenever we like, what’s important is the follow-through, which is so much harder to handle. Perhaps I’ll draw up something soon – it feels like I’ve completed one stage and am ready to set new goals.

So anyway, the past month has been nothing but a great big food orgy. Went to Taipei with DokMakQueen, Ah Niu and Ms. Lim, and every day was pretty much eat, shop – repeat cycle – sleep. The food was absolutely fantastic (not to mention, cheap! so wonderful after a year in Tokyo!), and this was my favourite breakfast. It’s oh so sinful~

Taipei was great, I’d have to go back again someday…

Right now, the food orgy continues in Singapore. Food pix next time!

This week has been a bit crazy for me. Went for a day-long training session on Tuesday for doing trial lessons for potential students. My impression of these trial lessons is that, the instructor giving the lesson has to be very expressive, or genki, as they say here. Not my strong point. My vibe is more like slow and steady. LOL. Most of the time.

On top of the energy level I felt I had to “output”, the structure and objectives for such sessions are a little different from a typical lesson, so there was a lot of stuff to remember. We don’t have to “sell” the school or the lesson, but obviously a lot is dependent on the quality of that 20-minute lesson and the impression the potential client leaves with. I’m not really good at meeting people for the first time, much less convince them that they’d like to take a lesson with me. Very pressurizing!

The truth is, going in, I knew that it would be challenging for me. I had to make myself do it, but in the end it was still my choice. This seems to be a recurring theme for me this past few months. It’s all part of growing. If I don’t challenge myself with things that are a little beyond me, I won’t be forced to stretch my capabilities and build on them.

Still, it was pretty stressful – I zonked out by 10.30pm! A recent record I think hehe

The other thing this week was that I finally got round to launching The Lucid Path. That project’s been floundering for the past couple of months, so I’m really happy (and relieved) that it’s out there now. May this be the start of yet another adventure!~

I *think* the story was about some guy’s funeral from what I gathered, but I wasn’t really paying attention when they had the narration at the start but it doesn’t really matter right heh~ I’ve seen 3 other Cirque du Soleil shows (Saltimbanco, Allegria and Quidam) so far, and this has got to be the prettiest one I’ve seen so far. They always do a great job with set and costume design, that’s for sure, but wow, I was so blown away the moment we walked in and saw this gorgeous screen covering the stage.

Corteo Stage

The night was filled with angels and stardust, the setting was just magical. I loved how they disguised trapeze bars as giant chandeliers, and put trampolines in beds – everyday things just became part of the act. They attached shoes to some simple mechanics and made them walk across the stage by themselves. The see-saw act was probably the best tonight cos I was praying for them not to fall flat on their face :P and Selene and I were terribly impressed by how strong the lady in the “bouncing cloth” act was. She basically held on to the guy with one hand. And later, they flew with him just hanging on to her hair! It made us wonder what shampoo she uses. I was also mesmerized by the 12-pack abs the guys doing the “swing the giant ring around” act had. Too bad I didn’t have binos ;)

All in all, not bad, but I think I’m used to lots more action from Cirque; in the first half, there was a point I almost nodded off! Still, it’s worth watching simply cos it’s so so so pretty. I’d give it ♥♥½ :)

This is probably my all-time favourite act. It’s from Allegria:

p.s. I forgot to mention – the other “memorable” thing tonight was the ooh-ing, aah-ing and sugooooi-ing from the two ladies behind us. Even if this was their first Cirque show, which I agree can be an amazing experience, it was a bit much… e.g. someone appears – oooh~ someone jumps – wah~ trapeze-man catches trapeze-lady – sugooooi~~~~ It was like the audience equivalent of those Japanese food shows where they put something into their mouth, then proceed to have a mini-orgasm and go ooooiiiishiiiii~~~~~~~ we were both so curious to see who they were, but I didn’t get a good look LOL