Blog Summary 3

It is already the end of the semester and I still feel like we started class two or three weeks ago. It is true that we don’t save time, we can use it foolishly or in a smart way. Some people think that when you leisure you are passing time, or killing time. Through the course of the semester, I have learn that leisure is not just about having fun. Leisure is also education. You can learn a lot by leisuring, like: developing news skills, socializing, self-satisfaction, self-awareness, time management. By leisureing we learn about leisure: what is it? Where to do it? How to do it? We also learn through leisure: new skills, more knowledge, self-awareness. It is a learning experience that is enjoyable and rewarding.
The 12 weeks blogging experience forced me to take the time not only to share my leisure experiences, but also to get to know myself more (self-awareness). It did have an effect on my attitude toward leisure because, when I usually leisure I either like or not, but I never asked myself why? Now, when I leisure, I look for the aspects that made me like or dislike the experience. By doing that, I was able to know more about what king experiences I like to have or, try to find a way to improve the experience and make more enjoyable.
The majority of us, I believe, like to have fun and experience enjoyable moments. I think that another key point in leisure education, other than learning, is to keep stat of flow going. Because we are leisurely educated, we can be more creative and diversify our experiences by trying new things. That will keep the boredom away. Unfortunately, the barrier to a leisure is not jute creativity, it could many constraints like: interpersonal or intrapersonal, structural, helplessness, lack of motivation,… .
We as leisure educators, we want to help people to be educated about leisure and educated through leisure. We also want to help people over-pass the barriers and the constraints that are keeping them from experiencing leisure.

Yesterday, I went to play basket ball. Basket ball use to be my passion for 14 years. I gave everything I could to be a professional player. Unfortunately, an injury got me to stop and quit the game. After that, the frustration started to build, and I always considered this quit as a fail. My whole life was based on basket ball, and now without it, I had to rethink everything. I was not easy.
Yesterday, after two or three game, I came to a conclusion, basket ball is no more the leisure I use to love, in the contrary, I think I am starting to hate it.
My state of mind was not the same as before. I wasn’t enjoying the game anymore, I didn’t feel right and I did like the team I was with. Now I can say that I have turned the page for good.

Last Saturday, I went to a show presented the French humorist Dieudonné. He is my favourite humorist. He can keep you laughing for more than one hour. But there are some conditions: must have an open mind and be aware of what is going on in the world. He jokes about how things are going very bad, but it seems that nobody really cares.You are going to laugh, no doubt about it, but you will also start thinking more about what going on a round and in the world.

Two weeks ago I went to the Labyrinth for special Halloween night. It was fun at the begging. It was dark, people screaming, you are completely lost and you have to find your way to end thought that chaos.
Yes was fun. The only problem was that when we finished, two of our friend were missing. We called them on the cell phone and they told us that they were still inside. So we waited and waited. We decided t call them again, they said that they were really lost. We waited for them for 45 minutes before they got to the finish. That end ruined my experience, all the fun become frustration and fatigue.

Blog summary 2.

I was surprised to see the word education near leisure. To me leisure always sounded like pleasure. Adding education made it more sound like academic and less as a freely chosen state of mind that results in intrinsic feelings of happiness, satisfaction and pleasure like defined in class by the majority of the students.
I only understood the true meaning of leisure education when I reread my blogs. I saw myself describing and trying to explain things, so that the reader would understand and may be find an interest.
After the first summary, I started talking more about the kind of leisure I like to do. More, I tried to give details on how I leisure, for example: Kung Fu, Airsoft.
I was also trying to educate those who would read my blogs.
I did so for two reasons:
- First, I wanted the reader to understand and have a clear idea of what I was doing, what it takes to do it and, most important, how to do it.
- Second, by giving these details, I was aiming at developing an interest in the reader. That could lead the reader to participate. ( Leisure Education = (+ Lesiure Participation) / (- Reactance, Learned Helplessness, Boredom, Structural Constrains, etc.)
I see myself as a positive person when it comes to leisure. Csikszentmihalyi proposed that flow could be reached if the balance between skills and challenges was respected.To me, to achieve the state of flow all I need is the challenge or challenges. It doesn’t madder if I have the skills or not. My Enjoyment is to push myself and see how far I can go. It is all about intrinsic motivation, self-determination and self-awareness.

First time to go kart!!!!!!!!

For the first time of my life, I experienced a go kart race. It was fun and exiting experience. I did not have the required skills to win, but the challenge was there.
Next time hopefully.
Ho ya!!!! One more thing. Never eat before you go kart.We can call that leisure education.

What is Airsoft?

So, who know what is Airsoft? Well, let me educate you a bit about airsoft ;)
Airsoft is an extreme game played indoor or outdoor. It is almost the same as paintball, the main differences between the two are: the guns, the goggles to protect your eyes and the costs.
The guns are different because they look like real ones, and shoot BB’s instead of paint balls. They still hurt believe me. Also, we only use goggles to protect the eyes instead of a mask that covers the whole face.
Finally, the costs. An airsoft gun could cost you between 600$ and 2800$, sometimes even more. The good thing is that the BB’s are really cheep. One bag of 3000 for 20$, and the game can cost between 10$ and 30$. The suit is not mandatory unless you play for a team, then you need to dress the same. One game could hold up to 200 players (its like a real war).
There is one disadvantage, to play airsfot, you need to know someone who plays already. To play paintball, all you need to do is to look for centre on the yellow pages.
I wont say that airsoft is a closed club, the reason why it is like that is because it is still an unknown.
I have played airsoft for 5 years. It was the best leisure in my life. To me it is like a game of hide and seek for adults. It was also a good opportunity to socialize and enjoy nature.
Why I had to quit? Money. Big big issue. Specially if you play in a team. You are constantly buying new stuff and upgrading your gun or guns. I am looking to rejoin the community in the near future, hopefully next summer.

I hate exams :(

Yesterday, my friends and I went outside of Montreal to pluck some apples. It was nice to leave the city and breathe some fresh air. The weather was nice, the sun was shining, the wind was blowing, perfect day to release all your stress. Unfortunately, I could feel that leisure state of mind. I was constantly remembering our coming exam this Thursday. It wasn’t a pleasant feeling. Maybe it is a sign that should study more.

The New Session Has Started!!!!!!!!!!!

Last Thursday, the majority of the students and the teacher, from my kung fu school, went to a Chinese restaurant to celebrate the beginning of the new session. It was a good opportunity to all of us to meet outside the context of kung fu for once and get know each others more, specially the new ones. We had alot of fun and the food was great too. I personally liked more because, when we are in class we must follow certain rules and behave according to those rules. At the restaurant, we were free to talk, make jocks and make fun of each others. Something that is not tolerated at the school.

Blog Summary 1

I am not a big fan of blogging, and it shows on my blog that I am not really used to it. I tried to be as much involved as possible on my blog, but I keep forgetting. I think there is a lack of interest in blogging. May be because I don’t consider this as being leisure.
Even if my blog doesn’t show it, leisure is important to me. I try to occupy myself with activities that I like and most of all that provides me with pleasure. Unfortunately, I only spoke about one activity whish is Kung Fu.
Hopefully, by the next blog summary, I will have posted more about my favourite leisure activities.
Apart from this, I can still talk about one of my biggest constraints which is money. I guess I am not the only one who has that problem. I am not a guy who likes to have a routine life. I am outgoing, energetic, and like to try new stuff ( halal of cours ). I even had to quite one of my favourite activity: Airsfot ( I will talk about it in my next post ), because I couldn’t keep up with the spending.
This semester, I decided not to work and focus on school and on my kung fu training. I predict that my range of leisure choices will be very limited.
Finally, I promise that in my next posts I will talk more about my favourite activities, my friends who I leisure with, and also post more pictures.

Is it leisure?????

Like I said in one of my precedent post, I have been practicing Kung Fu for some months now. I always liked marshal arts, particularly Kung Fu. I usually don't tell people because I do it for myself and not to look good. Since I have stoped playing basket ball, I had to find a new discipline that would provide me with a challenge. If the challenge is not there, I will have no interest, which means no pleasure and so I wont call it leisure.
But let s say that one day I will be forced to use Kung Fu to defend myself, it is going to be challenge, but is it leisure. Is it leisure to use my moves or techniques against someone esle? I am going to enjoy it?

speaking of leisure

Laste thursday, I was bord at home when my friend called me. He asked me if I wanted to go watch a baseball game with him. Since I had nothing to do, I accepted. I never liked baseball, but it sounded like a fun activity to me that night.
When we arrived, the score was tight, it was 1 - 0 in the favour of the local team, It was cold but the fans were into it and so I started to enjoy it even more.
the game ended 2-1, and the local team won. Both teams played very well and kept the suspense until the last pitch. Really, it was a good game.
I think I experienced leisure that night. I was intransicly motivated to go see the game and once there, I had a lot of fun. There was a guy there also, he was drunk, he was cheering for his team and singing songs and all the stuff that drunk people do. I guess he was experiencing leisure too.

Too tire to go to my kung fu class :S . The master wont be happy.

One week of Ramadan Al karim done :)

yes my friends , already one week or Ramadan completed. It's not easy, but what does not kill you will only make you stronger. ;)

First day here!!!!

Well, let s start this.