Rules of training by old masseuse

I met an old man at the gym today. He was there with his grandson who was a very lively little kid. I was on the "bike" and he started chatting, giving some advice about how to train, lose weight and said his opinion about worlds' biggest problems today. He had been a masseuse of sportsman whole his life, thus I guess his words have some value.  Let me round them up for you (and me): 


* Worlds' biggest problem is hunger on one side and over eating on the other side - there are just as many persons in hunger as there is obese people. 
* You should always eat what you want - pushing yourself not to eat makes your brain ask for the thing you try not to eat. (I went and bought some doughnuts after that :)) 
* When you train and want to lose weight, what you want to reach is a lack of oxygen for a moment - in that way you don't feel hungry after training. His suggestion: 
  - 30 minutes of warm up
  - run 200m as fast as you can to be out of breath
  - take 5 minutes to relax - after that run 6x60m as fast as you can, having short breaks to catch your breath 
 * Walking can be better than running, if you run with little power. What you want to do is do kind of a power-walk, moving your body all the time, like pushing yourself off the ground. 
 * Eat porridge every morning - not the quick ones that you just add water and keep it under lid for a minute, but the ones you have to take time to make.  Never re-heat the porridge, it has to be fresh.
 * Have 10-second-breaks when working with computer. On these ten seconds stretch your chest and back by moving shoulders back and forth. 


 I think these are valuable tips by an old sportsmans' masseuse. I will try to follow some of them at least.


It is good to be back on training, I even found out that they hava shotokan karate and kata specific trainings in the same building. Might get my dream of competing in a kata competition one day.


For healthier living!

The Phantom of the Opera@ Her Majesty's Theatre, London

Yesterday, I had a chance to see a piece, "The Phantom of the Opera" at Her Majesty's Theatre in London, UK. I have seen this incredible piece as a Hollywood movie and it was wonderful to see it in the theatre by an outstanding cast. I was a bit afraid, since I had this vision of how it should sound.Well, I have to say it was everything I hoped. I enjoyed a lot the way both Cristine aka Sofia Escobar and The Phantom aka Earl Carpenter sang their piece. It gets through your bones and completely takes you over. I didn't get the best seats - the theatre was completely booked, but the power still reached every corner of the theatre. I feel like the songs never get old and still touch the soul of everyone who has a passion so strong towards something, be it music, person, a job, that it covers every second of your existence. It shows how terrible it is to be alone and how impossible is to get out of the trap of obsession. I don't think the opera was very happy-ending and I always feel for the Phantom.

At the same time, the story is about how one needs a teacher to excel - in this point of view it is not much different from Karate Kid :). A good teacher can spot the brilliance in you and help it shine.

Love the story. Got to find the original book now and read it. And if you ever get to London and Phantom is on, I recommend :).

 

Little Wikipedia knowledge:
The Phantom of the Opera is a musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber, based on the French novel Le Fantôme de l'Opéra by Gaston Leroux. The music was composed by Lloyd Webber, and most lyrics were written by Charles Hart, with additional lyrics by Richard Stilgoe.

The central plot revolves around a beautiful soprano, Christine Daaé, who becomes the obsession of a mysterious, disfigured musical genius. The Phantom of the Opera opened in the West End in 1986, celebrating its 25th anniversary in October 2011; and on Broadway in 1988.
It won the 1986 Olivier Award and the 1988 Tony Award for Best Musical, and Michael Crawford (in the title role) won the 1986 Olivier and 1988 Tony for Best Performance by an Actor in a Musical. It is the longest-running Broadway show by a wide margin, the second longest-running West End musical, and the third longest-running West End show overall.
With total worldwide box office receipts of over $5.1 billion (£3.5 billion),[9] including a Broadway gross of US $800 million, Phantom is the highest-grossing entertainment event of all time and the most financially successful theatrical show in history. It had been seen by over 130 million people in 145 cities in 27 countries by 2011, the most successful entertainment project in history.[4]

Pink

I thought I should change the color that can be linked to me mostly - pink, but it is stuck to me  for 4 years now, I believe. I am in the process of renewing my website, and considered other options but what is so bad or good about pink anyway? A little quick research:

Pink is considered to be the color of love. It is a color that is recorded to be used as far back as in 17th century. Pink is strongly connected with femininity, it is also used in a pink ribbon as a symbol of breast cancer. There is even a "pink-collar-worker" expression for jobs usually women do and in England, there is an expression "to be in the pink" - to be in good condition or good mood. We also know a singer called Pink and a Pink Panther.

On psychology side:

Pink Energy

Pink is a combination of red and white. The quality of energy in pink is determined by how much red is present. White is the potential for fullness, while red helps you to achieve that potential. Pink combines these energies. Shades of deep pink, such as magenta, are effective in neutralizing disorder and violence. Some prisons use limited deep pink tones to diffuse aggressive behaviour.

Pink provides feelings of caring, tenderness, self-worth and love, acceptance.

"Wear pink when you want to present yourself as a peaceful, calm person who is not threatening. The softer shades are very feminine and darker shades will alleviate feelings of friction."

But on the other hand a constant and exclusive use of pink can often lead you to become immature, silly and girlish, abandoning your adult responsibilities.

So as with everything, a sense of balance should be used :). It is rather interesting to read about colors and their effects, as far as I see it, they do have meanings and effects. I should cut down on pink.

That is the card I got for my company's 1-year-anniversary-depicting me in the futur?

Make It Count

Today is just another day. Today is the time that matters. The results you might see after a month, a
year, maybe in 10 years. I can clearly remember December 2010 and what I did back then that has brought me to today. My decisions back then and in the beginning of 2011 have brought me to:

1. My own PR company Persoonibrändi Agentuur with brilliant clients like Norwegian-Estonian Chamber of Commerce, Laomaailm, Uus Maa. It is the first time for me to be involved and manage a business (not a NGO/governmental organization) and I think I like it :).

2. Working at ZeroTurnaround, an innovative software company, with the team of brilliant minds and sky-is-not-the-limit attitude. I helped with building the two offices for the teams, where people could enjoy working and feel like home and helped bringing the java-brains to Estonian engineers in Geekout.

3. Travels to Norway (twice), Crete and Spain.

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An important person to help organize the GeekCreteTrip: Heinz

4. Tennis. Oh, that was one of the greatest things this year. Total moment of freedom (just like climbing the seven mountains).

5. Orchids. There was a time when I promised that one day I am stable enough that I can grow an orchid. I have 3 big and two small orchids now and two of them has a second round of blooms. I did it!

I guess it was a year of creating something of my own and doing things for the first time, with people I care about, I am not very good at reporting on it, but that is at least what I feel. The new year will challenge me with HOW I will manage to do things more in depth and not to grab so many new things at once. So it will be all about taking my work to the new level.

My secret place for contemplation and meditation in Estonia

I also want to do a rafting licence and find a mountain to climb and get better in tennis. And learn Spanish and Norwegian. And finish my Masters degree in Communication Management in Tartu Uni. phew, hopefully nothing else.

Lets see in a year, what has fulfilled. Have a great Just-Another-Evening today! And lets make it count.

Moment of vanity

In personal branding trainings I sometimes ask people to think about their tombstone when they are dead and what is written on it. What would you like people to say about you or what would you like people to know about you that is so specifically YOU. This morning, I was going to my training and listened to music and Enrique Iglesias's "Can You Hear Me" started and all of a sudden I had this vision about the video, starring me playing tennis (for starters). There is another music video where tennis playing is the main thing, so my idea could have got its inspiration from there. Anyway, I started to play with the idea and tried to discover, what is happening in my life and what I would like this 3:43 minutes filled that would say- "That is Liisi Toom, the "That was really cool. And come on, I act like I want everyone to hear me :D, so the song is just perfect.

So here is my video, starred by Mr Iglesias, but maybe one day....


What song would you like to compose a video for? What roles would you play there? What would it say about you?

Interesting word: Engage

Lately I have come across the word - "engage", not the ring and two people in love "engage", but engaged as


*to occupy the attention or efforts of (a person or persons)
*to deal with especially at length.


So the word that stands for involvement to something in a longer period and with somewhat passion or desire. 


I know it is not a revelation, but more and more I feel how big difference it has to the effect of the outcome when you do something a) very well or b) when you do something with engagement. The fact that you do something very well, let's say even perfectly, does not always guarantee the satisfaction for you nor the beneficiaries. Whereas when you are engagement, it is the process, the enjoyment of the activities rather than the outcome that gives you the satisfaction and usually, the outcome is better as well.


You can see it constantly on those talent shows, X factor's, etc. The judges praise the technical part - the flawlessness of the dance or singing, but this will almost always be topped by the person who can inject some engagement to his/her performance.


I will concentrate on that word for the following weeks, let's see what happens.

Saturday Sushi Fever

Two years ago when Triinu introduced me to sushi-world, I could not understand the taste of it. Not my cup of tea, I'd say. Especially wasabi. Last months I have been addicted to fresh salmon and wasabi, I have bought all kinds of sushi making things and today I tried my first makis and nigris (not sure of the terms yet). I have also found my own new favorite maki with shrimps and avocado, covered with wasabi and dipped in a nice soja.

It is funny how little you need to eat sushis' and how much taste you feel when you take your time to enjoy each millisecond. You can vary with so many fillings and the extra flavors of wasabi and soja sauce give an extra touch. And how healthy it all is! I just bought a rice book and I am planning to try out weather the saying: one bowl of rice can feed you for a whole week" holds true. Well, not that dramatically, maybe, but I definitely will try 2 weeks of rice-fish-vegetables meny.

Anyway, I have 24 makis on my plate now. Care to visit me for a smashing breakfast?

Nighty-night!