Brazil - Land of the Capoeira !

I am on my way to Brazil and I must say super excited. Granted its only for a few days - however the though of Brazil is accompanied by so many images. I am thinking Rio, now the olympics, copa cabana , the city of God , the beaches , the carnival (which incidentally just got over a week ago) but most importantly I am thinking of the rhythym that characterizes Brazilians. Last time I was there which was almost four years ago , I had attended a typical Samba school and also seen the Capoeira. I was truly mesmerized by that form of dance. So elegant , so much energy , so graceful. It combines dance, music and martial arts. I was so impressed, I had made up my mind to come back to nyc and take capoeira classes. 2 years passed and I finally did sign up for capoeira classes - the beginner classes. I was not disappointed at all. It was fun and hard work. The people I met were so into it. I was so impressed by the dedication of the class , they practiced for atleast 8-10 hours a week. If you are interested in Capoeira classes, most YMCA's in NYC have them. Go for it...you can get a trial class without committing to do it... so go for it.

aahh .... Jazz ! you got to love it

Bar 169. Usual saturday night in NYC. Well , okay no night in NYC city is usual so I take that back. Young band , playing jazz. The crowd is having fun , just chit chatting, but its hard to ignore the powerful music. Its beautiful. There is just so much talent here right here in this small room. Mental note to myself - I must learn one musical instrument in the next 5 years. I think I will like the guitar , or perhaps the saxophone.

How is heykiki different ?

Yesterday, Sharib and Joe went to talk about heykiki.com at a tech event. There was genuine and an enthusiastic response to heykiki.com. One of the questions we get is how is heykiki different from meetup. com. Well, i think my colleague described it quite well.... "Heykiki is meetup onredbull " Yes no denying that, we have passion, we have enery, we have a vision, we have ideas and we have a zest for life, very similar to what Kiki has. Yes we are on red bull twice over. But thats only part of the equation of heykiki. Why we are excited about heykiki is many many reasons - just 3 of them listed below
a) Hey Kiki connects you to wide variety of interests and hobbies for both instructors and buddies. It is Learn, Practice and Teach. It is broad.
b) Hey Kiki allows for personal connections. It allows and favors one on one connections.
c) Hey Kiki is flexible. You pick the activity. You pick your location. You pick your time. It is not about scheduling and attending an event organized by someone else. You are the boss.
Visit heykiki.com and give us your opinions. Post comments. We love your feedback. We are young. Help us grow.

Keep your 2010 goals, get a practice buddy

So how many of you made fitness one of your goals this 2010 ? How many of you are keeping up with that goal ? Oh no, this blog is not about making you feel bad if you have already falling behind but is going to give you an idea, a power ful idea about keeping you goals or even surpassing them.
I have now polled close to 80 people, and with the exception of handful most of them had fitness as a goal. Things like - "Health comes first", "I want to improve my tennis game", "I want to lose 10 pounds" , "I want to run the nyc marathaon" were very common goals.
Well how are you going about achieving the same, it is not easy.. it takes hard work, it takes discipline, it takes motivation.
Some people have found instructors, some have joined group classes. I think a very under utilized approach is to get a practice buddy. Get a group of people or a person who is willing to do this with you. It helps you maintain momentum, motivation and provides you that extra push.
heykiki.com is actually a great way to connect with such practice buddies or even instructors for just about anything.

The 10,000 hour rule

Malcom Gladwell in his book Outliers repeatedly mentions the "10,000-Hour rule" claiming that the key to success in any field, to a large extent, is a matter of practicing a specific task for a total of about 10,000 hours. Theoretically that means ~ 420 days of continuous practice . More realistically assuming you spend even 3 hours every day practicing your interest, it will take approcximately 9 years for you to become an expert. Wow ! who said it was easy.
Well HeyKiki. com allows you to make a start by giving you an opportunity to find Practice Buddies for a wide range of interests - Fitness & Sports, Creative Arts, Home & Decor, Languages, Music, Performing arts. Go Practice ! Say Hey to Kiki !

So What Activity is Kiki Planning on Now....

That is always such a tough one to decide. You know Kiki would be learning how to learn Spanish (she doesnt really want to get stuck in the same situation as our boy-in-love). Kiki could be out on a run in central park (that has been overdue for some time ... any practice buddies out there?).

Well i think Kiki is going to head to a Iyengar Yoga Class tomorrow. Definitely need to find some inner balance (been some exciting nights out with the boys the last few days)...

Iynegar yoga is a classical and traditional method of practicing yoga and was started by BKS Iyengar. He is 92 now and i have heard still practices 4 hrs a day. Now that is sthng. Here he looks so cool doing the most mind bending poses in a video shot in 1938 ... enjoy .. time for me to grab my yoga mat and plan for the klass tomorrow.

Well we have all sorts of activities here on HeyKiki... Well Almost

We are just starting and the site is still bare. But we are getting more users and instructors to post classes and lessons. Very soon you will be able to learn about ... well any activity here on HeyKiki.com

But i am not sure if we can provide any instructors, lessons or practice buddies for this activity...we say this posted bc of a user comment on Hacker News . Oh yeah, please give us feedback. Its exciting to see the positive comments so far. And yes we have lots to do to improve the site...

Go Kiki!

Spanish to Go...¡Recepción a mi nueva familia!

contributed by HeyKiki member: Kat

Most people, when they get engaged, only have to worry about the wedding. I had to learn Spanish. My fiance's family is from Toledo, Spain, and I wanted to make a great impression on my wedding day when I met his aunts and uncles and grandparents. All this in between figuring out what color the napkins should be and if any of our guests have shellfish allergies. I was having serious panic attacks and all the Spanish I could remember seemed to be "Dios mio!" Then I found this great teacher in my neighborhood...3 blocks away. Not only does she teach Spanish...she only teaches 4 students at a time, max. Sometimes it's just me!!! I might not be able to speak fluent Spanish by the wedding, but I'll definitely know enough to welcome my future in-laws and let them know how excited I am to meet them, and that's all I can ask for. ¡Recepción a mi nueva familia!

Jack of all OR Master of one !

I am the kind of person who wants to dabble in everything, who takes a little interest in everything ...
When people ask me what kind of music do I listen to ---really it depends on my mood - jazz, rock, classical -
what kind of sport I take an interest in- frankly anything that brings out a sweat - tennis, squash, basketball, running
what kind of books I read and like - again depends on my objective - i read gossip magazines, history books, fiction, thrillers, romance
Every time i give these broad based answers, I get these quizzical looks as if I am good for nothing, I dont know my subject in depth... I am not passionate enough, I am not focused enough.
I actually like diversity, I want to give everything a try, I am not fanatic about anything..there is so much good in so many things. I actually like being the jack of all.....
what do you think ?

Who does Kiki look like ?

So we have been getting a lot of comments on the look of Kiki. People are saying "we dig the monster " , the character looks really naughty, fun. Infact friends the other day came over for dinner and thought they figured out how we created the Kiki image. They think if you look at it top down - it looks like pacman but if you turn the character upside down - it is batman , interesting. Who does Kiki remind you of ? What do you think ? Go to heykiki.com and tell us what you think of the Kiki character. If you would like Kiki memorablia let us know through the site heykiki.com and we will send you postcards , stickers etc. At our end we would like to thank Brandon and Ty for doing such a wonderful job for creating the kind of character we wanted. Fun , vivacious , naughty , full of life. Say Hey to Kiki!

Unleash the Activity (Kiki) Monster in You!

I am a regular yoga guy and today had an intense 90 min Iyengar Yoga class, where the focus was the Downward Dog pose. And its exactly such intensity of the mind and body, that we refer to as the Kiki Monster in you. The period of time when the entire being exists to focus on one activity. The moment of time when the mind becomes oblivious of time itself.

And it doesnt only take a yoga lesson to get you in a Kiki Frame of mind, to get your inner Kiki out. It could be a guitar class, or practicing spanish with a buddy, it could be any activity. And its exactly this rush of adrenalin, this feeling of living, thriving, of breathing, that that motivates us to bring you HeyKiki.com.

So what will get your Kiki Monster out. Will it be skiing or playing the piano. Whatever it be, we do hope the rush is worth it.

Kiki Gets Ready to Rumble...

I remember the day I first seriously considered boxing. Or more specifically, boxing lessons. I wanted to take some sort of something. I didn't know what. Karate and judo weren't rigorous enough. More art than exercise. And the gym was just dull. Then I remembered an old friend years ago had told me he used to box. I figured if he could, I could. The first lesson was hell. Moving my entire body in new ways. Arms, legs, shoulders - everything was sore. I could barely walk afterwards, my legs were shaking so bad. It was the most amazing feeling in the world.

Wandering mind ....what would kiki be doing today ?

As I was driving to work today, my mind wandered in several different directions. Ofcourse it was hard to miss the snow and everyone all bundled up was religiously driving to work. and I started thinking of what Kiki would be doing today. Perhaps sleeping in... no I dont think so ... Kiki is so active, I can almost imagine Kiki springing from bed as soon as the alarm clock goes off. Probably making a snow man, finishing it to perfection with a bright red carrot for the nose, or may be making snowballs and throwing it at neighbors, yes I can easily imagine Kiki doing that, Kiki is naughty, reminds me a little of Calvin the bold always taking pot shots at poor Susie. Knowing his ambitions, Kiki is probably dreaming of making plans to go to Tahoe, go skiing with the buddies , or perhaps shall we say day dreaming of winning the 2010 winter olympics in vancouver this year. Kiki, where are you, what are you doing today?

HeyKiki.com supports Haiti relief efforts!

The team at HeyKiki.com hopes that you will support the relief efforts in Haiti through the Red Cross or any organization of your choice. Our thoughts and prayers go out to all suffering from this tragedy.

Text "Haiti" to 90999 to donate $10 to the Red Cross.

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