damian 0 Posted April 5, 2003 Share Posted April 5, 2003 Now that I have discovered that i have teh energy to get out of the pub and do something productive each weekend (ie snow boarding) I have started to get excited about things to do in the off season. I have a few projects in mind: 1. Hiking. In Australia we call it bush walking. I got into it a bit last year and it was the thing that got me thinking about snow. 2. Painting. I can't draw, so I doubt that I can paint, but I would really like to give it a go. It would be relaxing to take the easel to the park and paint a flower. I do not know if I would prefer water colour or oils. Did you know that easel is derived from ezel, which is/was dutch for donkey. 3. Paragliding. I should have done this when I was in Sydney. I doubt I will get around to doing it here as I suspect that it will be one big expensive hassle. But man, it would be fun to float around in the cloud with your mates. 4. Fishing. I really like fishing. It goes hand in hand with surfing. I like a nice bit of coast line to do my angling. The filth of Chiba will not do at all. Izu calls. 5. Surfing. No need to comment. 6. getting a sun tan again. I look like spaghetti. 7. putting to use my expensive tie rack, aka, the weight bench. I look like spaghetti. 8. Buy a car. This is going to be a hell of a project. Does any one else have any initiatives in mind for the long hot? Link to post Share on other sites
big-will 7 Posted April 5, 2003 Share Posted April 5, 2003 I usually tend to: - sweat - get a tan - rest - go home for summer - sweat some more - not sleep well - do a bit of gym work - go swimming at the local pool - sweat Good luck with the car! Link to post Share on other sites
indosnm 0 Posted April 5, 2003 Share Posted April 5, 2003 Surf! get a tan.... I look like a frikken ghost! (next year maybe I will hit the tanning salon once a week in winter!) Db, Izu is a very very rad place, sick surf and good fishing. I am trying to scam some time out there soon too! Link to post Share on other sites
fukdane 2 Posted April 5, 2003 Share Posted April 5, 2003 Drive around, swim, get a suntan, drink, go back home, wait for winter Link to post Share on other sites
snowboard_freak 0 Posted April 5, 2003 Share Posted April 5, 2003 db you've already named the two great off season activities! Surfing and fishing!! Nuff said! Link to post Share on other sites
mikazooki 0 Posted April 5, 2003 Share Posted April 5, 2003 ive found hiking thus far to be less stunning than u would imagine for a country of such beauty. i think its possible, but it needs a good deal more effort than just slipping outta town for the weekend like in oz. im planning to get my climbing up and going this summer. ive done three beginners courses before now and have never carried thru. climbing is a life skill that will see u right in no end of situations . who's gonna hit the cliffs with me? Link to post Share on other sites
snowboard_freak 0 Posted April 6, 2003 Share Posted April 6, 2003 Oh Oh Oh! I just thought of another one for you db. I dont know how i forgot it! SANDBOARDING!!! Quality sport, plus all the walking back up the dunes builds up your leg muscles for the next snowboard season! I'm not too sure what the sand dune's are like in Japan though. Link to post Share on other sites
zwelgen 0 Posted April 7, 2003 Share Posted April 7, 2003 Hello people? One of the single best things about summer here you are forgetting... BBQs Invite the mates, crack open some beers/g&t/whatevertakesyourfancy, light the fire, cook the goods and then sit around mellowing out. That has to be one of the BEST ways to spend a weekend. Hiking is good if you can find the places. Ive done some good ones up Shiga Kogen. Just watch the bears early season... Swimming in mountain lakes: when its hot down on the planes, head to the mtns where the snow has melted leaving nice lakes. Swim, cool off, even better take the bbq. Ditto rivers, youd be surprised what you can find if you get away from the cities and close to the source. Go camping somewhere. Sado Island would get my pic hands down. Mountain biking. Great, good exercise, adrenaline (sp?) get to see stuff you dont notice when youre in the car, smells you dont notice in the car. nuff said. Festivals. There are LOADS in summer and even small ones can be good. Last year an old geezer I work with invited me to his community festival and much to my surprise I was crowned "Miss Suika" and get free veges delivered every month for a year. Wooooo IMHO theres so much to do, just make a little bit of effort. Link to post Share on other sites
cd97 0 Posted April 7, 2003 Share Posted April 7, 2003 Congrats on the Miss Suika!! Link to post Share on other sites
snowboard_freak 0 Posted April 7, 2003 Share Posted April 7, 2003 For us uneducated plebians what exactly is "Miss Suika"? Link to post Share on other sites
xxx 2 Posted April 7, 2003 Share Posted April 7, 2003 Miss Watermelon??!? Link to post Share on other sites
danz 0 Posted April 7, 2003 Share Posted April 7, 2003 hey zwelgen... so when you gonna hold your first bbq?? I wanna help you cause trouble with your neihbour danz Link to post Share on other sites
powwwers 0 Posted April 8, 2003 Share Posted April 8, 2003 youse are all forgettin tha best of all off-season activities, (and on-season for that matter too) SHAGGIN`!!! this summer i wanna compile a guide to Japan`s top love hotels. sorta like a best 100 or sumthin. now, if only i could find a `research assistant` i`d be set! Link to post Share on other sites
dale#1 1 Posted April 8, 2003 Share Posted April 8, 2003 For me? Resting, jogging, swimming, go back home, shopping, chilling out. From October, anticipating. Link to post Share on other sites
proudtobegay 0 Posted April 11, 2003 Share Posted April 11, 2003 Travel back home home (home) Link to post Share on other sites
enderzero 0 Posted April 11, 2003 Share Posted April 11, 2003 Ha ha! I cannot picture you goin to the park with your easel and paints to stare at a pretty flower for a few hours. No way! But hey, I am totally down to take a trip down to Izu as soon as the weather gets a little more reliable. Zwelgen - Ahh that was it!!! Months ago when you told me, I promised myself I would make fun of you for being Miss Suika...but then I promptly forgot. I have known there was something ever since. D'oh! You beat me to it. Link to post Share on other sites
iggy 0 Posted April 14, 2003 Share Posted April 14, 2003 Running outside!!!! No more treadmills:) Kayaking, water skiing (wakeboarding) climbing, hiking, camping, mountain biking, rafting and of course bonfires and BBQs on the beach!!! Yee haw!! Link to post Share on other sites
amandanism 0 Posted April 15, 2003 Share Posted April 15, 2003 summer is usually spent travelling to either canada or australia. summer break is actually my most inactive time. i play sport pretty intensively for the other 9 months of the year. this off season will be spent lazing on the beach in thailand, possibly hitting bali and moving my crap from singapore -> toronto. im sure i will find some stuff to do in toronto once i get there and the summers wont be so unbearably hot. Link to post Share on other sites
Davo 1 Posted April 16, 2003 Share Posted April 16, 2003 Camping down by some water you can swim in is the best with BBQ'd whole fish etc. Swimming outside in rivers, lakes, the ocean or the pool. Hiking-preferably with a swim option in there somewhere. For the city-going out drinking in boardies and a t-shirt is great. Wakeboarding and some surfing are my exciting sporto goals for this summer. Link to post Share on other sites
cheeseman 1 Posted April 16, 2003 Share Posted April 16, 2003 Cheese fondues in the evenings. Link to post Share on other sites
zwelgen 0 Posted April 17, 2003 Share Posted April 17, 2003 Quote: Originally posted by enderzero: Zwelgen - Ahh that was it!!! Months ago when you told me, I promised myself I would make fun of you for being Miss Suika...but then I promptly forgot. I have known there was something ever since. D'oh! You beat me to it. I am proud of being Miss Suika, there arent many people that can claim that and the free veges are great. Hassle me all you want, youre just jelous because you want to be Miss Suika Link to post Share on other sites
sunrise 0 Posted April 26, 2003 Share Posted April 26, 2003 Hi there db, greetings from rainy England, Painting: Shinobazu pond at the bottom of Ueno park is filled to the overflowing with lotuses in the summer. They start to flower in July and the peak is really August. It's so peaceful there, by the water. One year I was there a lot and it didn't feel like I was in Tokyo at all. If you want to paint them the best time to get the fully open blossoms is before midday when they start to close up a little. The leaves are pretty amazing as well. I spent a couple of days working on the leaves, but you have to get the flowers quickly. I was painting in gouache that year, but I'd like to try and get down there again with oils, which I'm still getting the hang of. Actually, now that my recording project is almost finished I plan to spend a lot of time getting out painting, so if you're interested in doing some plein air with me (or us - sometimes there's a couple of us) let me know. I'll be back in town at the end of Golden Week. Also, if you're interested in growing your drawing and painting skills, I recommend checking out the Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain, and the subsequent Colour (painting) course. They're two 5 day courses run here by an American woman, Kristin Newton, who studied for about 11 years with Betty Edwards the author of the book of the same name (which has been translated into 20 different languages). The course teaches you artist's perceptual skills so in 5 days your drawing skills take amazing quantum leaps because you learn to see differently. This includes the many people who say they can't draw. All those before and after pictures are real, I can attest. The painting Colour course takes it all further and you'll find yourself being able to mix whatever colour you see from that one (5 day course also). Other options are buying Betty Edwards' video and workbook with all the little tools etc, but if you ever wanted to draw better and are interested, I'd definitely recommend taking the class over the video or the book. Kristin's a great teacher. The courses are always run on weekends and holidays. Check out Go here for more info on Tokyo courses, and this link for Betty Edwards' website. Also, Korakoen (not so far from the Tokyo Dome have wonderful irises during the iris season (not sure when that is, maybe June). Link to post Share on other sites
Ocean11 0 Posted April 27, 2003 Share Posted April 27, 2003 Also db, if you want to do some heroic nudes, I'll take my shirt off and you can draw my chest. I'll even take my underpants off if you don't mind tying a fig leaf round my codpiece. Link to post Share on other sites
Ocean11 0 Posted April 27, 2003 Share Posted April 27, 2003 http://www.drawright.com/gallery.htm In many of these before and afters, I prefer the before - greater immediacy, purity of line, and more confident handling. The after just has a patina of art-school 'fill the paper' shading. Link to post Share on other sites
Ocean11 0 Posted May 1, 2003 Share Posted May 1, 2003 How about collecting human skeletons? There was a nice lunchtime item on the TV today about the numbers of suicides in the forest around Fuji-san. You can just walk in there and find skulls, bones, and rotting bodies hanging from trees. Just imagine the stir you'd create on the shinkansen when you prod your neighbour, and say 'Look what I found in the woods today', and pull a human skull out of your rucksuck. Beware though, as it's easy to get lost in there, and magnetic anomalies in that area mean that a compass is not necessarily a help. Link to post Share on other sites
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