Discussion 8: What do you do when you feel bored?

Okay guys... I have a confession... I often feel bored. I like to have a lot of stimulation in my life. But, often, I can’t decide what to do to liven up my life when I’m down. My all time favorite thing to do when I’m bored is to listen to some music – particularly up-tempo music… music that makes me feel like dancing. It’s a sure-fire thing to wake me up. Other things I do include watching TV, watching DVDs, redecorating my room or office, cleaning or going outside for a walk. But, sometimes, I even find these things boring!!! So, how about you guys? What do you personally like to do when you feel bored? What do you do to spice up your life, when you’re fed up with it?? Please give me some advice!!

Kris

P.S... I was thinking that it might be fun to go out for KARAOKE together, as a class, sometime this semester. What do you guys think? I think you are probably busy with your part-time jobs, clubs and study, but please let me know if you’re interested. And, if you’re interested, when would suit you. Thanks.

Discussion 7 – (Japanese) companies and taking holidays

Hi everyone. In class on Wednesday we talked about Ken and his decision to take a week off work in order to deal with his stress. We then went on to briefly talk about taking time off work in Japan, and in particular if we think it is easy or difficult to take holidays in Japanese companies. Some people mentioned that it may be difficult to take time off work in Japanese companies because of the work environment – companies don’t encourage people to take time off work… indeed they often encourage people NOT to take time off work.

In this week’s discussion I want you to think about this question: Should companies do more to encourage workers to take their annual leave? Annual leave is the number of delegated days a year that a worker is entitled to spend on holiday from work. Some things you might like to think about are:

1. The mental and physical health of workers
2. Family/Personal life and Work Balance
3. Productivity

This may be a difficult topic, but please try your best. Should workers take their annual leave? Why or why not? Would YOU take your entitled annual leave? Why/why not?

Kris

Discussion 6: Holidays – stay at home or go traveling?

Hi everyone. I hope you didn’t get wet going home in the rain today! You all did a good job with your discussions in today’s class! Keep up the good work! But, remember, try to keep the amount of Japanese to a minimum!!

Okay, so time for today’s discussion topic: How do you prefer to spend your holiday: by staying at home or by going traveling? Remember, that in this case holiday doesn’t mean “the weekend” or “a day off work”, but a longer holiday like Golden Week, “Obon”, the summer holiday or New Years. Sometimes I feel that it’s better to just spend these holidays at home, relaxing or catching up on my cleaning, because the public transport system and many tourist attractions are often flooded with people during the major holiday seasons. But, I also feel that staying at home is a waste, so I guess I’d prefer to travel somewhere. But, I often have trouble deciding where to go and making definite travel plans, so I often end up going nowhere! One problem now is my boyfriend. He doesn’t like traveling because he does a lot of traveling with his job. So, even if I want to go somewhere during the holiday, he’s often very reluctant to join me. So, as a result, we very rarely go away on holiday!

Anyway, that’s enough about me. How about you guys? Please share with us your holiday preferences!

Cheers,
Kris