Feb 18, 2022
Play Your Game and other blog posts (Jan. 29 to Feb. 4, 2022)
Another week of blog posts from Timbunting.com/blog.
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Play your game: Turn your anger into positive energy
Originally published Feb. 4, 2022 at https://timbunting.com/play-your-game-turn-your-anger-into-positive-energy/
When I played waterpolo, I used to get really angry at some of the things the other teams would do. Since it’s waterpolo and we’re wearing speedos (what we call the briefs-shaped swimwear, actually it’s normal to wear two pairs just in case), you can probably guess what happened, lots of grabbing and poking and pinching. Punching under the water is amazingly ineffective.
I used to let it really get to me, thinking what they were doing was really unfair and unsportsmanlike. Now looking back on it I think they were just playing the game, and I had let myself get caught up in it. In that way, I lost.
One time it was particularly bad, but I had one amazing manager who just took me to the side, and basically told me to channel my anger into energy to help the team. Ever since then, I tried to take his advice literally whenever I felt unsettled. And it worked.
Now unfortunately we only got so far in waterpolo tournaments, there’s only so much you can do in a team game, but I started to try and convert the anger and other energy into energy for positive. I saw what they were doing as them just trying to get in my head, and turned my focus towards what I can do.
It turns out anger can be a powerful motivator, but I find it also has many undesired side effects. Best to calm yourself down first, and when you are level-headed, turn that emotion into a force for good. Play the game, but play your game, calmly. Don’t let the opposition get the upper hand.
Do something
Originally published Feb. 3, 2022 at https://timbunting.com/do-something/
If you have an inkling to try something new, my advice is that you do it. This inkling is your soul telling you do to things.
Don’t know what to do with your life? Good, you have nothing to lose. Try something. Worst case scenario you find it’s not for you. Best case scenario you find out it is what you wanted to do with your life.
The only way to know whether something works or not is to try it. The only way to know whether you enjoy doing something is to do it. No posturing, no hypotheticals, actually getting down to business.
Often we are afraid of doing new things for fear of the unknown, for fear of being embarrassed, for fear of looking fool like a fool. We don’t want to do something only to turn around and say ‘no, that was a waste of time’. This much is understandable.
However, you only truly ever gain by having tried something. Only once you’ve done something can you truly know if it was worth doing in the first place. Doing something lets you know whether it would be worth continuing as much as it lets you know it wouldn’t. Not doing something only leaves you with questions.
Moving the blog to Ghost.org?
Originally published Feb. 2, 2022 at https://timbunting.com/moving-the-blog-to-ghost-org/
For the past few weeks, if not months, I have been getting excited about using Ghost.org instead of WordPress. It just seems so much more suited to what I want out of a blog. For those who don’t know, Ghost.org is like a combination of WordPress, Patreon, and MailChimp, three services I am currently using. It’s fast, and seemingly simple to use, and could be a good way to provide a valuable membership service.
I read an article comparing WordPress and Ghost that lauded WordPress for its ease of use, which I scoffed at. If you are a complete amateur like me, WordPress is extremely hard to use. It is extremely unintuitive, and you have to know how to modify the back end to be able to customise things the way you like.
Every once in a while I get a 500 error, which means you can’t access the site, although it goes away soon enough, and I have tried all manner of things to make the website faster, but I am probably making an amateur mistake somewhere. Google penalizes websites like this, so I think I am really losing out by being on WordPress.
For some simple things you need to download plugins, which is fine, except that too many plugins can make the website extremely laggy. Being able to make a fast website on WordPress while having the functionality I want requires a whole lot of knowledge that is simply prohibitive to an amateur like me.
So, I have been seriously considering moving over to Ghost.org. If I am to do so, however, there are a whole lot of things I need to consider.
I would have to modify a lot of the blog posts here before migrating to make it easier to do so (I have to make all the categories into tags, but I have been lazy on a lot of posts and haven’t been selecting categories in the first place, my first mistake).
I would also have to establish the pages in a way I like. I’m not sure I could customise the pages to have a black border around the pictures in this style that I like, although I’m sure I could figure something out.
One problem my friend had using Ghost.org was a drop in traffic, but I don’t have much traffic to start off with.
I will also have to think about how to establish a membership section (don’t worry this daily blog will always be free). I’ve been wanting to provide deeper content for people who want it but it takes a lot of time and effort to do so! A more efficient way for people to support my work in an environment I control would be much appreciated!
Either way, I think I’ll try Ghost out for a while and see how I like it then report back to you.
Mountains of Inspiration
Originally published Feb. 1, 2022 at https://timbunting.com/mountains-of-inspiration/
Seeing an 18m tall Torii gate covered in snow, and then having freshly-cooked soup and a hearty lunch underneath it is just plain fun, and a great way to get into the great outdoors, and to really get refreshed. But there’s a bit more to it than that.
The past couple of days and weeks even have been a bit tough on me. Just life catching up on me I guess. The reason I know is because I get panic attacks, and find it hard to breathe sometimes. There’s no real trigger for it, it just happens, the realities of losing your parents, among other things I guess. I also know because I wasn’t feeling very motivated to do much. Usually I wake up really early and want to sit down and get some writing done or maybe edit a video or two. I wasn’t really feeling that much recently. Until I went to the mountains, that is.
This morning I was invited to join an ancient tradition that a friend of mine recently restarted. You may have seen it in the video where I stay in Gassan Tsutaya Ochimizu-no-yu, a yamabushi-run Ryokan (traditional Japanese inn) in Shizu Onsen, Nishikawa Town, Yamagata Prefecture. The proprietor of the Ryokan, Shida-san, led a group of us on a snowshoe hike to Mt. Yudono Shrine, which is about 90 minutes from where the roads end in winter. Well, in the past devoted people would pay a visit to Mt. Yudono Shrine at the lunar new year, a custom that ended during the Meiji Restoration. And that’s just what we did.
I think the important part of going to the mountains that leads to inspiration is appreciation. When you go to a place like that, you are just in awe at its beauty, and it makes you want to stop and just say thank you to nature. That’s why I think Master Hoshino pushes the importance of prayer while out in nature, without appreciation, there really isn’t much point in being out there.
Which is to say, I feel so much better after having been to Mt. Yudono. Now to make a video of it.
Once the wheels are set in motion
Originally published Jan. 31, 2022 at https://timbunting.com/once-the-wheels-are-set-in-motion/
When you’ve signed up for something, but then regret having done so, or simply don’t want to do it, it can obviously be really tough to truly enjoy the experience. But it’s a self-fulfilling prophecy. Once the wheels are set in motion, you really shouldn’t fight it, doing so only makes the experience worse. Look for the positives in the experience and embrace them, and try to make the most of it. Otherwise your deemed-to-be-miserable experience turns out to be one.
Advice about using hanko stamps online in Japan
Originally published Jan. 30, 2022 at https://timbunting.com/advice-about-using-hanko-stamps-online-in-japan/
Advice about using hanko stamps online in Japan
This week I had to use my Hanko stamp, a stamp used in place of a signature in Japan, for two things; one an invoice, and one a receipt.
I had been told that you don’t need to print these out, that you can just put a .png image of your stamp in red where you would normally stamp it on actual paper. At least in practice.
Turns out you can and you can’t. For the receipt, it worked fine and I didn’t need to do anything else. For the invoice, I was told it had to be done on real paper and then scanned and emailed in. Long story short, they ended up sending me a physical letter to stamp and then send back in the mail. Much more trouble than it’s worth (well, it’s not a small amount).
I can be slightly to blame for this though. For the invoice I think I accidentally sent back an excel file rather than a .pdf, if I had sent in a .pdf they probably would not have noticed, and I would have been ok.
Japan has some ridiculous rules that can really do your head in (don’t get me started on their primitive banking practices). But if you keep in mind a few tricks, there are ways around some parts. You just have to be a bit cognizant of things.
That much more meaningful
Originally published Jan. 29, 2022 at https://timbunting.com/that-much-more-meaningful/
Your accomplishments are much more meaningful precisely because of the struggles you had to overcome to get there.
Think about your struggles, then think about how much more meaningful they would make your success in the future. When you look back on your life, look back at the struggles, but be able to say, look at what I accomplished.
I’m not saying to go out seeking struggle, but that you should be proud that you have been able to get through so much. That in itself is an achievement, but it can also make your achievements much more meaningful.
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