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Archive for the Personal Development Category


Announcing the Music Hall

Instrumental music is a passion of mine. This includes classical and more recently jazz and new age music. This doesn’t exclude songs or choral pieces. Beethoven’s 9th Symphony stands as the Mt. Everest of music in my and many other people’s views, and it would not be the masterwork it is without the chorus and soloist singers. But my […]

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Two Critical Ingredients In Learning New Things

Over the last few months, I have been taking music theory lessons from a wonderful teacher, Heidi Wischler. At my choice, these lessons are rather free-wheeling, and we get into some pretty interesting discussions that take me to learning things in a fairly eclectic way, and I am very pleased with the way this education process […]

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Boom46!

A light-hearted entry from my personal journal, dated today (2014-06-24): Boom 46 Boom46 refers to anything that turns people on in a positive, exuberant way. Thus it excludes crime, cruelty, meanness, etc. Boom46 consists of two memes: Boom and 46. Boom – explosive, powerful, anything but shy. Ideally, not only is the overall context is felt as […]

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Down another 8p

I weighed in again at Weight Watchers again today. Since my last post, I’m down another 8 pounds, meaning down nearly 40p since I began this journey. Weight Watchers talks about non-food rewards for when you reach certain goals. For those who’ve never had to deal with weight loss, you probably have trouble relating to […]

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I’ve lost 30 pounds so far… some thoughts for your consideration

I’ve been overweight for a long time – a long time. A little more than a year ago, I was diagnosed as diabetic. Fasting blood sugar numbers typically ranged in the high 120s to low 160s. There was a likelihood that things would get a lot worse if I didn’t change how I ate. Being […]

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Ever had a Harajuku Moment?

Key concept: Harajuku moment In April 2013 I had a “196 moment.” I’m guessing most people have such moments at some point in their lives, though they call it by other names.. Malcolm Gladwell apparently coined the phrase Harajuku Moment, which Tim Ferris, in his book, The Four Hour Body concisely described as when a nice-to-have becomes a […]

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Something stupid; something crazy

One of my favorite recent movies is How to Train Your Dragon Hiccup and Astrid having a conversation about the loss of Hiccup’s dragon and more. Hiccup and Astrid are on a cliff overlooking the ocean, where the Vikings have taken off to kill dragons in their lair.  After commenting that Hiccup has lost everything […]

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My Favorite Poem: Rudyard Kipling’s IF

In a day and age where so many people are hurting, a little inspiration from my favorite poem by one of my favorite poets seems in order. Enjoy. – Bal

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Blogging: Video or Text with Graphic?

I’m getting better at creating videos for my blogs. But this blog is not and will likely never be a vlog (video blog). I will probably always keep it something of a mix. The main reason is that I like to mix things up. There are times when a video seems right; other times not […]

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Motivated but Stuck – Get It Done, Part 2 of 3

Continuing the discussion about getting back on track when you’re stuck. (Read part 1 here) What happens if you are motivated, perhaps even highly motivated, but either don’t know what to do or how to do it? If you can’t figure out the next steps, I recommend two different strategies, perhaps using them together. Strategy […]

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