Wii Fit came out last week and it was sold out within hours at all major retail outlets. Toys R Us had a shipment come in on Saturday but when I got there early, there was a lineup and it was sold out before the store even opened.

Yesterday, I acted on a tip from a friend and visited Toys R Us again during the day before going to school. I figured it was a Monday and most people would either be at work or at school so I had a decent shot at picking one up for myself. Lo and behold, I walked in and there were boxes full of Wii Fit sitting in the corner. Oddly enough, Toys R Us limited it to 2 copies per customer so I snapped up another copy because I figured there’d be someone out there interested in getting one. In other words, I have two copies of Wii Fit lying around and I’m willing to part with the other one at cost plus some odd percent.

Why not hit the gym?

I’ll be honest. I am not a big fan of the gym. I don’t like going by myself but that’s because I’m too self conscious. I’d rather go with a few friends or something. I could do a few laps around the block but I don’t have the motivation for it especially with the rainy weather in Vancouver. I do have free membership to the SFU gym but it’s all the way up the mountain. If I had a car it wouldn’t be such a big deal but as such, I’m a public transit user. To carry textbooks, my Macbook and a change of clothes going up and down the mountain is too much work.

Enter Wii Fit

I’ve been playing video games since I was 7. Chip’s Challenge and Gizmo’s and Gadgets ruled the day back then. I was probably the youngest kid in my class who understood what the concept of simple machines were. Naturally, a console game that encourages fitness piqued my interest and I had to pick it up and try it out.

Setting up the whole thing took about 15 minutes. You have to enter your height, your birthdate and all that jazz. After that, you step on the balance board and it weighs you and tells you what your center of balance is and proceeds to scare you into using Wii fit more by giving you all these facts.

So how did I check out on day 1?

Weight: 223 lbs
BMI: 31.89
Wii Fit Age: 31

Ouch.

Obviously there’s been a lot of skepticism over the Fit.

• Does it actually work?
• Is it real exercise?
• Can it cause some weight loss?

So just to set the records straight, I’m going to try it myself and see if I can shed a few pounds. I’ve set a goal for myself to lose 7 pounds in 30 days. You can do that in the game and it automatically tracks your progress. It might not seem like much to most people, but for a guy like me to take such an approach is something of a surprise I’m sure.

The plan

I get up alarmingly early every morning. I don’t know a lot of other University students who wake up at 645 AM (willingly). I plan to do several of the activities between 30 - 60 minutes per day. The first week I’ll stick with around 30 minutes worth because I haven’t done any kind of PE related stuff since Grade 10 (remember Grade 10?).

I’m also going to make a more determined effort to watch what I eat. Thankfully there aren’t a whole lot of birthdays or other events in June so I won’t be eating out as much. This means a reduction in red meat, pop, pasta, desserts, etc and rice (which is going to be close to impossible being Asian). At the same time, this means an increased intake on greens and fruits. I keep saying these things but I never follow through on it. I’m going to follow through on it this time because I have motivation:

She’s Asian, in my STATs class, sits on the far right near the back row and has legs that can kill.

But it is not going to be easy. If I ever ask you to go out for all you can eat or something else that you feel is going to be against my game plan here, feel free to stop me.

How do I like it so far?

It is fun! You start off with a limited amount of games and activities at first. You can only unlock more as you progress throughout the game by logging more minutes.

I started with the Balance games. I wanted to start myself off easy and I found out quickly that I have horrible balance. I missed 7 flags on my first run through the Skiing. I had a hard time on the soccer head butting game because I kept overextending myself and falling off the balance board a few times (use your legs, not your head dummy).

The yoga aspect is much more interesting (in the closed confines of your own home with the shades drawn). There’s a breathing exercise that you start off with first which helps you develop a rhythm. The screen flashes based on what you should be doing (inhale or exhale) and you can pick your personal trainer (male or female). It would’ve been nice to have access to other trainers. Just imagine what Bowser would have done.

I got rocked by tree form. It looks something like this:

 

They make it look so easy. But geeze, it’s hard to stay balanced. It scores you based on how well you balance on both legs. I scored 0 on my left on the first try. I have a lot of work to do.

I redeemed myself by nailing the Warrior form with ease, scoring 100 points after my 5th attempt:

After Yoga, I gave the muscle conditioning activities a shot. Here’s an example of the Lunge. It’s one of the few exercises on the box of the Wii fit:

After about 30 reps, you can start feeling the burn. But I’m a WoW player remember? So its more apparent to me then everyone else.

Tomorrow I’ll give the aerobics activities a try. Those ones are a bit more fast paced. I’ll also post up a quick picture of myself. Can’t do a self study without a before and after photo, right?

My only worry is that one of these days when I’m standing on the skytrain, I’ll mindlessly go into tree form without realizing it while holding onto the bar. I guess it would be a plus if I can pull it off without holding the bar on a moving skytrain.

Baby steps, Matt, baby steps, right?

In my first year out of high school, I didn’t have a clue about what I wanted to do. Central had counsellors and programs to help people figure out what you wanted to do. But were they effective? No, not really. During grade 9 and 10, I thought for sure I was going into a career being surrounded by computers, gadgets, gizmos, and other tech. By the time I hit grade 12, everyone was convinced that I would end up in the information technology industry.

It Was Not To Be

Sometimes, all it takes is one class to completely derail your future. Ever since I took that fated distance education course on Java and programming, I knew that this was not an avenue that I wanted to pursue. It gave me a glimpse on what future University courses were like that involved programming. And they all involved math. Matt is not a mathematics man.

It was too late for me to change my SFU application faculties. When I signed up early, it was under the computing science or science faculties. Naturally, I was rejected from SFU. Talk about stupid mistakes. No one told me I could apply to SFU general as a fail safe. My parents didn’t know much. The friends I had were in the same boat as I was and had no clue either. Off I went to Kwantlen in my first year.

The first week I was there, I swallowed my pride and spoke to a counselor. Half my friends will tell you I’m stubborn. The other half are too nice and will say that I’m firm.

Mistake 1

I had to decide on a specific set of subjects. Specifically, I had to think about what I wanted to do as a career. What the hell, I thought. I decided I’d take a shot at business. All my friends were doing it and I did not want to get left behind either. I tried an accounting course and an economics course to get my feet wet.

At the end of the semester, I did an average job on the grades. More importantly I wasn’t happy. That’s when it hit me like Chris Pronger on Kesler after a goal. It dawned on me that I was going about school all wrong. My parents wanted me to go into business. My friends also encouraged me to go into business. Everyone saw a lot of opportunities in it for me. Yet I didn’t really care about functions, aggregates, supply, demand or any of that stuff. If you don’t care about what it is that you’re studying, you will never do well in life. Thankfully, it only took me a semester before I realized what I was doing wrong. I was taking business courses for all the wrong reasons. I was doing things that other people wanted me to do and that didn’t fly at all. It’s my life, I only have one shot at it, and I’m going to do things my way.

Redemption

In the spring semester, a dear friend of mine recommended me to try a Criminology course with him. On a side note, I encourage all of you to try this. The next time a friend asks you to try something, don’t ask why.

Ask why not?

I took courses: a History class and that Criminology class. I had not yet decided what I really wanted to do and I didn’t want to spend unnecessary amounts of money. Right away, there were some subtle changes that happened:

• I actually read the textbook
• Looked up crime stories on the web
• Actively participated in discussion
• Putting in a ton of effort
• Did not skip any classes
• More importantly, I was interested in what I was learning about

There are people I know right now who are in school being miserable because they hate what they’re doing. They’re learning what they don’t care about because it’s what others want them to do, not what they themselves want to do. I don’t believe in that. I’m not talking about breadth requirement courses. I have to take STATS and I hate it, but it’s a requirement. I’m talking about people going into majors and minors into subjects that they’re better off not being in. It’s a waste of money on courses. More importantly, it’s a waste of time.

The Bottom Line

If I could finalize everything in this post to one line, it’s to choose your own path in life. I don’t believe in fate or predetermined futures. To that end, don’t let others dictate or tell you what to do. If you want to be an engineer, go build bridges. If you want to be in the military, go blow them up. If you want to make money, be a stock broker or a businessman. You’re not 5 years old anymore. You’re old enough to make decisions and it’s time you did.

Me? I want to practice law (or enforce it).

How do you know your purpose in life?

Simple answer: You don’t! It’s a gut feeling that can happen like a premonition or it could take time to cultivate. You don’t have to follow in the footsteps of your parents or your friends. I tried my hand at business and had no business being in it. Don’t expect to keep up with high school friends in University. It’s impossible. I’m lucky if I even see them once a month. Your life is yours to live and it may as well be satisfying.