Two videos grace your browser today, both of them step tracks!
The first video is an original step track, featuring the song "Lose My Breath" by Destiny's Child:
Cardio Dance 4: Step from Zemien on Vimeo.
I like step tracks and I try to do more of it, but if you take your eyes off of me and see how the participants are coping, you'd know why I have so few step tracks. I'm really at a loss of what to do. Is my cueing so bad that they can't follow? Or is their coordination darn horrible? They generally have no problems dealing with mirror image, except when it comes to step tracks. They also have trouble with the Around the World move unless I follow their side. If you know why, tell me! Please! You might be able to catch a hint of my despair and frustration if you crank up your speakers.
The next track is "inspired" from BodyStep 56's Speed Step, using the song "Chihuahua" by DJ Bobo:
Cardio Dance 4: Speed Step from Zemien on Vimeo.
I personally like this song due its pure cheesiness. Not forgetting that it's very simple to teach too. However I feel I didn't speed up the song quite fast enough for the chorus. I haven't heard it in the gym for some time so I couldn't compare the tempo with what I did. Any Steppers out there can comment?
29 November 2007
28 November 2007
Cardio Dance Videos Part 3-1
I skipped uploading my last release because the quality was pretty bad. I also noticed that I tend to make more mistakes when the camera is pointed at me. Am I that self-conscious?
These are the videos from my latest class release. There are a few original step tracks, but 2 tracks are from BodyStep and the add-on track is from BodyJam. I know I said I would stop copying from Les Mills, but since they canceled the training I am not under any binding contract. Sure it's copyrighted and all but I never took credit for creating the choreography.
The first video is the step warmup track, consisting of 2 tracks:
Cardio Dance 4: Warmup from Zemien on Vimeo.
The first track is Alcazar's "This is the World We Live In". It was used as a BodyAttack warmup but I changed the choregoraphy completely for this track. An innovation for this track is the Step Forward move. Simple, but requires concentration not to trip over when walking back.
The second track is "Sound of Freedom (Everybody's Free)" from Bob Sinclair and Cutee B. It has an upbeat reggae feel to it and a great song to warmup to. This is also an original choreography track.
You can't see it very well, but I'm wearing my 3 month-old Nike shoes. My older videos show me wearing my old pair of running shoes.
These are the videos from my latest class release. There are a few original step tracks, but 2 tracks are from BodyStep and the add-on track is from BodyJam. I know I said I would stop copying from Les Mills, but since they canceled the training I am not under any binding contract. Sure it's copyrighted and all but I never took credit for creating the choreography.
The first video is the step warmup track, consisting of 2 tracks:
Cardio Dance 4: Warmup from Zemien on Vimeo.
The first track is Alcazar's "This is the World We Live In". It was used as a BodyAttack warmup but I changed the choregoraphy completely for this track. An innovation for this track is the Step Forward move. Simple, but requires concentration not to trip over when walking back.
The second track is "Sound of Freedom (Everybody's Free)" from Bob Sinclair and Cutee B. It has an upbeat reggae feel to it and a great song to warmup to. This is also an original choreography track.
You can't see it very well, but I'm wearing my 3 month-old Nike shoes. My older videos show me wearing my old pair of running shoes.
09 November 2007
A Workaholic's Nightmare
I resisted it the whole year. Even went the opposite direction! But the year is catching up on me, and I realized I should just take a deep breath and get it over and done with.
I've got to.... clear last year's vacation leave.
When I joined last year, I got 5.5 days of pro-rated leave from the company. And you know what the elders say- "Don't take vacations in your first year, it'll give a bad impression!". But somehow even without their advice I settled into the 5 day week rhythm pretty quickly.
In fact, I used to despise 3 day weekends coz I would feel sluggish when I return to work. So to offset the effect I would come in on Saturday to work unpaid hours (doesn't happen anymore because I have classes to teach!).
Therefore I had a real dilemma when I realized I had to clear 5.5 days off before 2008 rolls in. The project is in its final stages and this is when my involvement is critical, but I also don't want to end up a boring workaholic who doesn't need time off!
What to do? What to do?
In the end I split up my leave into half-day chunks. So I *still* have to come in to work, I just spend less hours on certain days. And of course, I'm off on Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve as well, thus forming two long weekends in a row. Hopefully I can enjoy them this time around.
I've got to.... clear last year's vacation leave.
When I joined last year, I got 5.5 days of pro-rated leave from the company. And you know what the elders say- "Don't take vacations in your first year, it'll give a bad impression!". But somehow even without their advice I settled into the 5 day week rhythm pretty quickly.
In fact, I used to despise 3 day weekends coz I would feel sluggish when I return to work. So to offset the effect I would come in on Saturday to work unpaid hours (doesn't happen anymore because I have classes to teach!).
Therefore I had a real dilemma when I realized I had to clear 5.5 days off before 2008 rolls in. The project is in its final stages and this is when my involvement is critical, but I also don't want to end up a boring workaholic who doesn't need time off!
What to do? What to do?
In the end I split up my leave into half-day chunks. So I *still* have to come in to work, I just spend less hours on certain days. And of course, I'm off on Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve as well, thus forming two long weekends in a row. Hopefully I can enjoy them this time around.
05 November 2007
Pursuit of Financial Freedom
I've been playing the virtual investment game Bursa Pursuit for a little over a month, and while it does teach me a lot about the stock market, it also revealed what a lousy investor I am! At this precise moment my gross profit and loss (more loss than profit, actually) is -RM10,903. Sure, I could blame the recent downturns but it does reveal my trading weaknesses.
First, I don't do any research. I already spend 10% of my workweek on non-work stuff (damn you RSS feeds!) and I can't be spending even more reading through market reports and stock tips.
Speaking of which, so-called stock tips are not anymore accurate than me randomly picking the top trader each day. It's really frustrating following all those "Buy" and "Sell" calls, which I really wonder if their researchers follow themselves.
And lastly, my own personal failure in cutting my losses is a factor as well. I followed a random stock tip in the daily news reports and it didn't take long for it to go southwards. But I held on to it, naively optimistic that it will reverse directions. 6 weeks later, I'm RM1878 poorer (and still holding until market conditions improve! hopefully!). I guess I wouldn't be so careless with real money, but human nature is pretty hard to beat.
Whether I'll actually invest real money after this game ends... perhaps. The lure of high returns is like a siren to my ship.
I just hope I don't crash into the sharp cliffs.
First, I don't do any research. I already spend 10% of my workweek on non-work stuff (damn you RSS feeds!) and I can't be spending even more reading through market reports and stock tips.
Speaking of which, so-called stock tips are not anymore accurate than me randomly picking the top trader each day. It's really frustrating following all those "Buy" and "Sell" calls, which I really wonder if their researchers follow themselves.
And lastly, my own personal failure in cutting my losses is a factor as well. I followed a random stock tip in the daily news reports and it didn't take long for it to go southwards. But I held on to it, naively optimistic that it will reverse directions. 6 weeks later, I'm RM1878 poorer (and still holding until market conditions improve! hopefully!). I guess I wouldn't be so careless with real money, but human nature is pretty hard to beat.
Whether I'll actually invest real money after this game ends... perhaps. The lure of high returns is like a siren to my ship.
I just hope I don't crash into the sharp cliffs.
19 October 2007
The Great Idea That Was
It was announced today that stolen mobile phones can be disabled to prevent its use and resell. I think that's a great idea but I don't think it'll work well, especially after learning that there will be a fee imposed on the service.
Think about it - you've just lost your RM500+ phone plus all your invaluable contacts. And to add salt to the wound, you have to pay a small fee to disable the phone. Why should you pay more to punish the criminal? I thought our tax money already goes into justice and law enforcement. The cost should be borne by the authorities.
And I'm very dubious about the technology. It works by blocking the phone's unique IMEI code, but what's stopping thieves from changing them? People once thought MAC address filtering constitutes good access control, until simple software downloads allow you to spoof your MAC.
The best way to implement this is to incorporate the cost of disabling the phone into the phone's purchase price. This can be regarded as a one time "insurance premium". It raises phone's prices by a little, but by charging consumers from the get-go, it reduces cost of operations and brings the cost of disabling a phone closer and closer to RM0, similar to SMSes nowadays.
And if a phone is disabled, one only needs to make a call to their telco, verify their identity, and the locking operation is carried out. As for hackers changing the IMEI, well, that's the way life goes. Why? You have a better idea?
Think about it - you've just lost your RM500+ phone plus all your invaluable contacts. And to add salt to the wound, you have to pay a small fee to disable the phone. Why should you pay more to punish the criminal? I thought our tax money already goes into justice and law enforcement. The cost should be borne by the authorities.
And I'm very dubious about the technology. It works by blocking the phone's unique IMEI code, but what's stopping thieves from changing them? People once thought MAC address filtering constitutes good access control, until simple software downloads allow you to spoof your MAC.
The best way to implement this is to incorporate the cost of disabling the phone into the phone's purchase price. This can be regarded as a one time "insurance premium". It raises phone's prices by a little, but by charging consumers from the get-go, it reduces cost of operations and brings the cost of disabling a phone closer and closer to RM0, similar to SMSes nowadays.
And if a phone is disabled, one only needs to make a call to their telco, verify their identity, and the locking operation is carried out. As for hackers changing the IMEI, well, that's the way life goes. Why? You have a better idea?
04 October 2007
Too Convenient
In today's news, police reported that 80% of crimes are committed by locals, and only 20% by foreigners. This seems to me like an over-convenient application of the 80/20 rule, with no hard numbers quoted in the news item at all.
So I decided to put on my armchair economist hat and do some simple calculations to determine if we actually have more to fear from locals.
The number of crimes reported to the police (consisting of violent crime and property crime) (2004): 156,315
80% of that would be... 125,052, while
20% would be... 31,263
The number of legal foreign workers (2003): 1.1m
The number of illegal foreign workers (2005): 1.2m
So the estimated number of foreigners in the country is about 2.3 million.
The number of locals over 18 (2005): 15.7m
So... 125,052 crimes are committed by locals (15.7m) while 31,263 crimes are committed by foreigners (2.3m). If we assume that a crime is only committed by one person and the criminal only does it once, that would mean:
0.796% of locals are criminals, and
1.359% of foreigners are criminals (almost double!)
In other words, though the percentage is small, a foreigner is twice as likely to be criminally-inclined compared to a local. That's worrisome enough!
So in fact we *still* have more to fear from foreigners than locals, but not as much as I initially thought. There are a LOT of caveats to the numbers I used, so don't go quoting my page in any research paper you're doing.
So I decided to put on my armchair economist hat and do some simple calculations to determine if we actually have more to fear from locals.
The number of crimes reported to the police (consisting of violent crime and property crime) (2004): 156,315
80% of that would be... 125,052, while
20% would be... 31,263
The number of legal foreign workers (2003): 1.1m
The number of illegal foreign workers (2005): 1.2m
So the estimated number of foreigners in the country is about 2.3 million.
The number of locals over 18 (2005): 15.7m
So... 125,052 crimes are committed by locals (15.7m) while 31,263 crimes are committed by foreigners (2.3m). If we assume that a crime is only committed by one person and the criminal only does it once, that would mean:
0.796% of locals are criminals, and
1.359% of foreigners are criminals (almost double!)
In other words, though the percentage is small, a foreigner is twice as likely to be criminally-inclined compared to a local. That's worrisome enough!
So in fact we *still* have more to fear from foreigners than locals, but not as much as I initially thought. There are a LOT of caveats to the numbers I used, so don't go quoting my page in any research paper you're doing.
02 October 2007
A Dream is Delayed
So.... I've just got an email that BodyJam training has been canceled due to low participation.
Oh well. Wait for next one... (dark clouds in the sky)
Oh well. Wait for next one... (dark clouds in the sky)
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