Stress & Work...Busy Days for me!!! :(

Just a quick-quick update before our company status meeting .... went to gym this morning, worked on arms, gotta keep on pushing. Eating is still good, only problem, lately, is my time for rest and gym. Work is (almost) killing me and it's a little upsetting when I can't find time in the day for a proper work-out (nor good sleep!). We are launching the new channel for M-net tomorrow at 5pm (VUZU - channel 123, CAT). Hold thumbs! I'm co-producing a new Entertainment show called V-Entertainment, based on the same show from the E! News network. Gotta run! Hope your day is filled with good people & productive thoughts... don't lose hope, never!

Xx

A legend that will live on in his music

I'm kinda unsure what to write today, only that I feel a certain sense of unease and loss. It's very strange, but when someone cool dies, it's, of course, always sad. And you might say, "why care about celebrities, you don't really know 'em," but this is not entirely true. If you're a fan of someone, or followed their lives in the news, then you certainly feel closer to them than a complete stranger. It's real. It's what they do. And Michael Jackson was someone we all knew (of). Regardless of his personal life, and getting to know the media's side of the man, his music crossed so many borders and brought such a huge contribution to the music industry, that you can't help but to feel sad about this death. This is my small tribute to MJ - the King of Pop - he honestly deserves all the accolades he's ever received. And I read on www.news24.com that his record sales are being boosted tremendously by the news of his death. As with most artists. Mostly celebrated after death. However, I'm sure the recent record sell-out of tickets for all his planned UK concerts made him realize that he is still loved by millions. Despite the recent bad publicity, downward spiral in sales of his last studio album, and financial troubles he faced. And now, more than ever, I'm sure the world is mourning the death of a legend. Long live the King op Pop!!! No matter a case of black or white!!!

PS: Oh, and for everyone that's asking, I'm feeling great and happy today! Bad days are just there to balance out the 'overflow' of good times (I guess?) - but thanks for all the sweet messages on Facebook & Twitter. Feeling strong and ready for a new challenge!!! Wooohoo!!

PSS: Thanks to the best friends I have in this world!! ;)

XX

Biting into a piece of rock...

I am unable to explain in detail my current situation(s), but all I know is that the current space I'm finding myself in, is very challenging. I am frustrated and upset and heartbroken and stressed and unsure and down and depressed ...and, and... My goal of working harder at gym in order to achieve a certain physique, to approach fitness modeling work, is proving a mission as well. Finding time in the day is tough when the job suddenly requires more effort than before. Then, eating right and eating more of the good food (which is crucial in building extra muscle and gaining weight) becomes even harder when you can't cook at work, or have the time to get hold of the correct foods. Ah man... it seems overwhelming to me. Do we really have to do the things that we don't feel passionate about, all the time? I guess so. In life, we get tasks that are not always pleasant, sure, but damn, then I gotta work a whole lot harder to do the (hard working) things that I actually also enjoy! THAT is the friggen' challenge!!! Urrrghhhh.... Chin up, chin up!

;)

Song I'm feeling right now:

Jesse McCartney - How do you sleep? (feat Ludacris)

The day I wet my pants...

I promised to write back about this experience, and here goes... This past Saturday VW invited me to test drive the new Golf 6 GTi and now I can finally write, first-hand, what it really feels like driving this new hot hatch. And the latter is not an overstatement. At first glance the car seems a little overstyled, and not as subtle as before - creating a sense of "souped-up" or cheap after-market attachments. However, upon closer inspection, and especially inside, the word 'cheap' don't really apply. VW has gone to great lengths to add more expensive details, such as chrome fittings and neat details to ensure a more upmarket feel. I can't find any fault with the car's interior, or exterior design, and quality of materials used. It's a well packaged vehicle. Then, the driving instructor decided it's time to take me around the race track to display the car's real strengths - on the road. And then, my life starting flashing in front of me... driving full speed ahead into a corner, and taking it at 180km/h with breaks and wheels screaming as loud as hell... I have never been driven that fast in a car, let alone a GTi. It was frighteningly exciting and I think I literally wet my pants on that drive (more like, "race"!). Then, I had to take the steering wheel. I didn't drive like a maniac, but I can tell you this much, this car sticks to the road like glue would. It has enormous grip, brilliant handling, and I swear, it feels like a Porsche or Ferrari squashed into a smaller parcel of dynamite. The first words I uttered after finishing my drive was, 'I want one'!!! Ignore the bland exterior update (compared with the Golf5),and go drive the car. You'll change your mind about this hot, hot hatch!

I've seen it in red, black & white, and prefer white, honestly, it looks the best and brings out the crisp lines of the car. If you can't afford one, at least take a drive to Kyalami and sign up for 1 day of pure, exhilarating fun with the VW Advanced Driving course and their fleet of new Golf 6 GTi's.

Tougher to be Tough

Ah well, here we are again, another beautiful Monday morning in JHB and that "urrgghhh" feeling of work/where you are in life/complex relationships/ feeling of getting nowhere-ness / lol. Perhaps better laugh than cry/shout/swear out of frustration. And it's not always possible to write here exactly what goes on in my mind, but geez man, it's just a matter of damn frustration... I have written about that before, but I find the sensation of being frustrated, well, the most frustrating thing to deal with. And it's a constant mess up of trying to be focused, happy, grateful, and then being realistic and facing the daily chores and unhappy situations in your life (i.e. work, relationships, house, money, car, etc). We have many things to be grateful for, yes, but honestly, feeling shit is part of it (it's impossible to just be "positive" all the time!)

What you want, but can't have; what you feel, but can't say; what you dream, but don't achieve; what you train, but don't see the results of; what you sow but just don't manage to reap... Yeah, yeah, yeah! I can carry on with many other examples. In the end, we have to look at life in a realistic manner, and balance these odd-negative things out with the positives. Surely, being clever means understanding how this balance works, gliding with it, in motion (not fighting it), and finding the brilliance of your own self-worth and strengths, right in the middle. Stimulating the middle ground, the equilibrium, the powerful balance, that is what will excel you into major success - or so I believe. Not being caught up on the negative side, and not being infatuated by the nicer, positive spectrum. Well, surely, good things will come to those?

Movie I watched on DVD this weekend (a real feel-good movie!):

Slumdog Millionaire

Happy Weekend!!!

Hope you're planning a staggeringly awesome weekend!! I'm invited to test drive the new Golf 6 GTi tomorrow morning, in Fourways, JHB. Can't wait! Once I've driven it, I'll actually decide whether I really dig it. The looks...well, it has not really impressed me that much. When the Golf 5 GTi appeared on our showrooms it was far more impressive than the case is now with this car. Will report back.

Now, just to quickly mention some of the new CDs in my car that I'm feeling right now:

Ciara - Fantasy Ride with her hot tune Love Sex Magic,

Green Day - 21st Century Breakdown with the song Knowing Your Enemy

Bump 24

The Veronicas - Hook me Up

Always good to have a hot tune playing in your car, or iPod!!

Drive safe, and go wild,...haha!! Happy weekend ya'll :) :)

XX

Cruising into the weekend!! ;)

We've been training our backsides off at Mnet's brand new studio 7, in anticipation of the VUZU launch on 1 July 2009. It's a brand new studio, purpose-built for this new urban youth channel. We'll be producing 2 live shows from there, V-entertainment (based on the E! Entertainment model), and The Verge (a show for gamers, reviewing all the latest console games). There will also be regular Live crossings to the studio between shows in the form of interactive continuity. And your boy will be assisting on production for all of these. We'll be broadcasting from Mon - Fri 5pm - 12am... late nights, lots of coffee and hard work ahead!! Woohoo!! ;)

Hope your Friday & weekend will be awesome, planned with lots of relaxing, breakaway activities to wind down a bit! I'm off to the gym later, and again, tomorrow morning. Still eating my pasta, brown rice and the like - on a serious 'bulking up' phase as said, so can't slip up!

Books I'm reading right now:

*sigh* What a day... Lunchtime now!

We are currently training in Studio 7 for the launch of "VUZU" on 1 July. Technical knowledge flying left & right... hectic since my key interest has never been to become a 'techno-junkie'...lol

However, happily I got an early training session in - working on the chest, and I pushed very hard. Tomorrow it's arms, and on Friday probably back, and legs.

Hope you're day is a little less stressed than mine! Just focus, and remember, it can always be worse, be grateful for the moment, and the small things!!

;)

Youth Day

Today is 16 June and in South Africa we're celebrating Youth Day. A day on which we celebrate the youthful spirit of South Africans - in commemoration of Hector Peterson (and other school children) who was tragically killed during the Soweto protests (against apartheid government) on 16 June 1976. Taking something bad, and turning it around to celebrate what we've learnt from our mistakes, is an amazing spirit to have. And no one does this better than us, South Africans! Even more reason to stand up and face the day. Challenges will surround us everyday, but bringing a positive spirit to your life, and those around you, will most certainly give your soul a chance to smile! Now, do something good, or just nice, to someone that you don't know, TODAY. A small gesture to you, might be a huge privilege and gift to someone else. We have too many things to be grateful for, and I'm definitely very blessed in my life. On this Youth Day, in South Africa, I'd like to say Thank You, to everyone that's inspired me, cared for me, loved me, helped me, and that stayed by my side, no matter what - like my wonderful parents, and my brother. And to the people that I will still love in the future, I'm here to make a difference too!

Xx

Time to sweat!!! Grrrr....

Today I had to squeeze my gym session into lunchtime and did a bit of arms. I'm on a serious 'bulking-up' phase, have to get bigger for upcoming events, and photoshoots. Brown rice, imported pasta, cream, buttermilk, goat's milk cheese, all of them form part of my new diet. And I've already picked up 2kg after 4 days. I struggle to simply gain weight, so in my mind that's a huge amount! ;) The picture here was taken today, immediately after my gym session (at the Virgin Active gym, Brightwater Commons). I find it better to train over lunchtime, as opposed to early mornings (when my energy levels are very low). By midday I've eaten some carbs, and I manage to lift heavier weights. Hope your Monday went well, mine was extremely busy, and although South Africa is having a public holiday tomorrow (June 16th, Youth Day), I will be at work... blah bleh blooooo... Chat soon here!!! or follow me on twitter ("jostephan" ) .

Nothing like a strong cappuccino on a MONDAY morning!

I had an awesome weekend with friends, but now it's time to get back into the grind of a Monday morning! Business as usual, and nothing better than a strong, creamy cappuccino to shake the blurry mist away from your outlook! Although, most often I opt for 2 bags of green tea instead - the combination and formula of caffeine in there just gives me a different kinda kick, LOL. Health nut, I know... What can I say?! And it helps waking up to a beautiful blue, African sky in Jo,burg.. Man, I love South Africa! And if you feel down or depressed, switch on your new favourite song and drink a friggen cappuccino.. I'm enjoying a new remix of David Guetta's song (feat. Chris Willis) "Everytime we touch." Also given to me by a very good friend. It's gonna be a hectic week for me with our channel launch nearing (1 July at 17h00 CAT, channel 123). Studio training, content production, script writing, and managing general logistics of the whole process. And in the back of my head all I really want to do is go to gym, build bigger muscles, eat the right food and see the results, quickly! Damn. Let me get another cappuccino.... Wishing you a happy, productive, Monday!!!

What is your FAV driving song, right now?

Music, music, music! Perhaps on a Friday one tends to enjoy music more... especially happy music! This morning when I switched on my car and the radio came on, the new song from Ciara feat Justin Timberlake started playing.. "Love n Sex n Magic" ... damn I dig that tune!!! It's a real party song :) When the weekend draws closer, people are generally just in a happier mood.. nice! And driving around with some good music playing gets me in a real party mood! Even if i'm on my way to work, lol ;) (Tip of the day: always have good music in your car, and change it often!) Now, I gotta be off to buy Ciara's cd "Fantasy Ride".... how appropriate , i think i need to take a 'fantasy ride' somewhere. Just me, on the road, and good tunes playing non-stop in my car! yeah! there's a Saturday morning idea ;)

Hope you have an awesome wk end, and live your life !! don't be scared.. hehe

Xx

Training & Eating in winter!!

Another good, productive day behind me... and heading towards a better mood now than how my week started... hehe :) Still wanna be an ANIME character with bulging muscles, LOL... Hopefully you are still training, whether it's freezing cold or not! Motivate yourself, and be disciplined! As you might know, eating right (and good) forms a large part of looking good and staying in shape! That said, a personal trainer once told me that if winter comes, and you feel like snacking away more often than usual, then, simply train harder! I know, easier said than done, but it's really all about managing this balance. Eat more + training harder = burning more fat! Obvious, I know, but pity so few of us follow this formula. I'm currently trying to pick up again, build more muscle and get bigger. One of the best foods to pick up (that is also not harmful to your pancreas), is brown rice. I recommend the brown & wild rice from Woolworths. Then, when it comes to vegetables, you can never go wrong with broccoli - best source for iron, vitamins & minerals, eat everyday if you can! Otherwise, make hot chocolate with skimmed milk. Chocolate actually has a good effect on the blood circulation of your body!

With that, I'm off, hope you have a totally wicked Thursday.. almost weekend time!!! :)

Hi there, from a wet, rainy, cold, wintery Joburg... geez... what the hell's up with this weather??? I'm honestly thinking we've screwed up our climate completely... Joburg NEVER has rain in winter, now what??? On another note, I've noticed that my posts are 1 day behind, for some reason. If anyone knows how to fix the time zone on this blogspot...let me know, please!!! I'm writing this on THURSDAY 11 JUNE (by the way, 365 days until 2010 World Cup kicks off in South Africa.. woohooo!!)..

I watched some Anime while having breakfast, after gym, and felt a little frustrated with my training progress. Work is taking up too much time for me to fit in sufficient training time (although I refuse to avoid gym completely... even if it means dragging myself out of a warm bed on an ice cold morning, to be at gym by 5AM!) I don't care, I won't lose my motivation!! Anyway, so I was thinking, imagine we could turn into cartoon characters at any given point in the day. Today, I'd like to be an ANIME superhero... I wanna have HUGE, bulging muscles (a crotch that you can't miss), killer, laser eyes, and smoking hot piece of steel like a Harley Davidson.. riding the streets on my bike, shirtless, and looking for anything or anyone that wanna cause trouble.... grrrrr!! Outta my way! (Like the taxi's who totally ignore traffic rules...) Hope you having a good week thus far, it's almost weekend, although I might be working this weekend :( At least in winter eating lots is more enjoyable... mmmmm. And cuddling yeah!

Have a friggen awesome day as your FAV superhero/cartoon character/ANIME dude/girl!!

ToastDay!!!

Grrrr.... thought my motivation would last longer than 1 day... urgh!  So not!  Early at work, not keen on the day,but gotta face it, hope it'll just get better from here on.... No gym for me this morning, I'd have to go this afternoon (squeeze it in between 20 meetings, proposals, emails, blah bleh bloooooo)...  had to be at work early, early!  Grrrr... anywayz, one day, hopefully, I'll be in charge of my own time (Quick question: are we ever in "charge" of our own time??)  Anywayz, gotta be off to work, work, work!   Hope you have an awesome day!  Now I just gotta find things to cheer me up.... like good food, a strong cappucino with lotsa cream on top (hehe), and knowing in my heart that I have goals & aspirations that I'm working to achieve, every single minute of the day!!!!  

Xx

Goals, Motivation, Inspiration

In that order... goals, motivation and inspiration!  Goodmorning to you! It's Monday and those 3 words will be my guidance for this week! :)  That's how I feel today, on this wintery Monday in Johannesburg, ready for another week full of challenges, hard work, and excitement of what can be achieved!   Now, let me explain... 1) you need to have GOALS short-term, long-term, whichever way you like, just have things to work for (whether it is to start your own business, find a new job, or making a wonderful relationship work); 2) then, you need to find things that MOTIVATE you to do them - for example,  the salary; gaining skills and experience in order to become an entrepreneur; or with a relationship - appreciating your partner, accepting them for who they are, building the trust and giving support and love no matter what!  

3) Finally, INSPIRATION comes from peers, colleagues, bosses, spiritual leaders, motivational speakers... You need to feel inspired too!  Successful people that do the things you aspire to normally help in this regard!  For example, read the biography of a successful person.  Or, find people that inspire you in terms of their achievements, and even more important, find inspiration from the things your (successful) friends do, and follow their examples - take what's good and build on that!  

On that note, it's full force ahead with getting fit, building more muscle and staying in good shape!  With the help of a very good friend, I can follow a new training programme and I'm even more motivated to grow! 

Wishing you an awesome Monday!!! 

;) 

A very tough day!

It's Friday, but my mood has sunk to a very low and depressing level... this wasn't a very happy day in my life.  I got dumped by someone I really cared about, but simultaneously realizing that I have certain characteristics I need to fine-tune to create better relationships with my friends - such as giving them space, trust, being considerate and accepting people for who they are.  In my life, those aspects have been rather challenging and I often cause friction with friends, even best friends.  It' unfortunate, because we need friendships, and relationships to work.  Although, it's also important to understand that it's a two-way situation - both parties have to give and receive. And something that Dr Demartini pointed out to me is that relationships will always be balanced by positive and negative events.  You will never only feel happy, or sad.  It needs to be balanced, and once we understand this, we can grow, and accept each other's personalities.  Now, it's off to studio for me, broadcasting our 100th episode of Afrikaans music variety show "MK LIVE" at 8PM tonight on channel 324.  Will crack open some champers as well!! hehe ;)  Let's rather find some happiness to balance the sad day I had!!  

Xx 

Back with a Bang!! :)

Helloooo there!!! ;) Hope you're having an awesome week thus far.. I know I am!  hehe :) It was like a breath of fresh air to be visiting Cape Town, and my parents on the West Coast.  Wet, cold, rainy conditions aside, the Cape is just breathtakingly fresh and clean.  I grew up on a grape/vegetable farm, and my folks still live there today.  I miss the Cape, but for now, Jo'burg is my home and I'm happy here!   

 So today I'm back at work, and let me tell you, it feels great to be going at it with full force!   Holidays are fun, but my mind always want to be occupied!  Right now we are in 6th gear with planning and executing the brand new TV channel for M-NET called "VUZU" - officially launching 1 July 2009!  Entertainment, interactive media and TV like you've never seen before.   And in the meanwhile, writing down my daily, weekly, monthly & yearly goals.   The way forward!  Hope you got dreams & goals to hold onto, else, why you even bothering to breathe!  LOL.  Stay strong (not positive, just strong)!  

Tonight my friends and I are checking out Casper de Vries' new show "Broeders Ancestors" - I can't wait!  This legendary SA comedian is also featuring on our special 100th episode of "MK LIVE" this coming Friday, 8PM CAT Channel 324.  If you understand Afrikaans, don't miss it!

Have a blessed evening!! 

Xx