I miss you my friend

I stumbled across this youtube video today.

順子-星星(I'm not a star)


For a short while I sat there in the approaching evening light caught in a seemingly endless loop of memories of me and my friend Alan.

He was a firecracker of a friend if I ever knew one. He was a hokkien foul language spewing skinny tattooed gangster with a taste for fast cars and quick women. He is absolutely the last person in the world I would ever associate myself with as a good friend. I find in him everything I am not and everything I do not wish to be.

However, I spent almost 8 years of my life including him in almost every aspect of my life. My wedding, the birth of my daughters, setting up a company together, he was there helping out at my grandparent's funerals, (LOL) he advised me when I was buying all my cars (much to Pam's displeasure).

Pam didn't like him very much, well, I don't blame her for that.. nor those around me who questions my wisdom is associating myself with a person "like" Alan.  He wasn't exactly a "nice" guy.

But he was a friend. Most importantly, he was my friend. Ever since I was young, I am not exactly sociable in the friendship department. So I only have a limited number of friends I can call close friends.. people whom willingly associate themselves with me despite my quirks.. I think I can limit those numbers with my fingers and toes combined.

Unfortunately over the years, some went our separate ways, some passed away... some disappeared.  As I listen to these songs, I want to remember my friend Alan the way we used to... laughed and grumbled and aspired.

Whereever you are now my friend... don't drive too fast.


順子- 寫一首歌




CJ

Modern Warfare and an open mind

Karate has outlived it's usefulness as a form of modern self-defense. Don't mind me saying that. I love my karate. I will never give it up. I am passionate and obsessed with it until the day I die!

But I say this even as I prepare to celebrate my 23.5 years of karate training. I used to think being a pure stylist but incorporating the gist and best of other arts into my karate, I can somehow work miracles and transform this karate system into something which works for me. Maybe it might, I am not sure.. but one thing I am sure of is that once I opened my mind to the possibilities of training in other forms of martial arts WITHOUT PREJUDICE, I find that I am able to incorporate the best techniques, what works for me, arming myself with weapons of choice for combat.. then using it when opportunities presents themselves.  Once the main stay of traditional self-defense syllabus, I find practical combat techniques in other styles of martial arts.

As an education, I believe every person serious in learning martial arts should take up a form of orthodorx style. Sorry by this I mean karate, tae kwon do, judo, silat, muay thai, etc etc. As long as the martial art style has a structured syllabus of training and progression, I believe any dilligent student will get a grounding in basic style of combat arts in due time.

I reckon learning martial arts akin to formal education. Kindergarten, primary school, secondary, tertiary, university and Phd.  I suppose you can say these are similar to our belt system.. similar but not restricted to one style of combat arts.

MMA or mixed martial arts, Krav Maga, Systema, etc will be around the level of tertiary or university, you simply need to have a base in some form of martial arts to be able to utilise the techniques which are taught in those sessions. Strikes such as kicks and punches, grappling to submission. If we have not learnt how to strike properly or conditioned or bodies to receive them, or not learnt to breakfall, break grips, grapple, or even get into the half guard position when you are being pinned..  how are you going to be an efficient mma fighter?

Hence my view that a person moving on to mma, krav maga, systema, or any of the practical combat system out there, ought to have enough mastery over his base art that will serve as a fundamental platform where he can analyse and digest his training.

I have no problem where someone picks up muay thai and bjj during his training sessions of mma, but I think the class will be a confusing, boring and indeed a dangerous one for these kind of practioners. It is dangerous for their partners as well. Imagine someone like that doing an armbar on you.. yicks.

My irritation pet peeves for martial arts are pretty numerous.. I enjoy having discussions with people regarding martial arts.. but I simply don't enjoy having arguments with people with obviously less training and even less understanding of certain techniques but they insist that they are executing it in the right situation and right time..  oh well.  For times like these..I simply nod my head, smile and walk away..  nothing lost in not continuing that conversation, nothing to be gained either.  Humility is simply lost on them.

So anyways, given anytime and place, anyone trying a sports kumite move would probably be on the wrong end of a take down from me. Its not the art.. its the person. My 2 cents.

~CJ~

MOTIVATION

FOR MY ART...
FOR MY STUDENTS...
FOR MY FAMILY...

...FOR ME...

My Inspiration

I AM AH BUI!!! AND I WILL DESTROY YOU!!! ANY TAKERS? :P

BUTTERBEAN

Breakthrough!!!!

Day 61

Yes!! Finally, after yo-yoing around 112kg and 114 kg.. finally the scales show me 110kg today!! YESH!

So I finally get to incorporate skipping and sprinting into my exercise regime without the fear of damaging my knees.. well if I over do it.. I will still damage it. But it was my target to hit 110kg and below before incorporating these exercises into my regime.

I am currently nursing a sore left shoulder, right calf muscle stress and left back hip pain. I also think I picked up a sore left wrist from Judo sparring on Sunday.. grrr...  but at least as a white belt I got throw a brown belt.. and during ground sparring, I managed to reverse pin 2 black belts wakakaka.., well maybe they were just being nice to me.. but still.. not bad for a white belt eh?

Once I break 100kg, I will be resuming full karate training. Once that happens, there will be no turning back, I will NEVER..

NEVER..

see 100kg again...

NEVER..

EVER..

I don't think I can don this fight back to fitness from flab again..  this time it was from 136kg some more..  buay tahan..  feel like an eternity and my joints, muscles and cardio system feel like it is going to break down anytime like that..  kena sai..  pui..

ok lar.. I am on cloud nine now.. going to take a hot shower and wash off today's workout before deciding with Pam how to celebrate... hee..

CJ

Rest and Repair Day

Day 55

Here I am sitting at my desk updating this blog for today. Another R&R day for my weary body.  Thats the bad news. The good news is that I was looking through my closet for something comfortable to wear and I managed to dig out a whole bunch of shorts and singlets and tees which I have not seen since my regular gym days. I got fitted into the most comfortable pair of black shorts and white singlet I can find and went downstairs.

Well..not only was I pleasantly surprised at how nicely and loose the clothes feel, I got a little ooh and ahh from my kids as well!! :P LOL

Eirian was actually flustered at how much better aka "macho" I looked in my sexy shorts and singlet wakaka... sigh.. kids grow up so fast..  now I am actually starting to worried how they will start looking at boys..  urgh

Came upstairs looked at myself.. guess I need a little more work on my tummy area so my tummy will look more sculpted.

My calves are threatening to cramp up again, both my hamstrings are so tight they are randomly firing little quivers of mini-"cramps" every now and then when I exert too hard, my arms are still feeling sore from the new workout routine I started on Monday....it was supposed to be alternate day workouts, but I guess I can use 2 day breaks for this first week.. heh heh.  My core muscles conditioning is good for now... I guess.

So here I sit, typing on a computer when I should be starting my daily 2.5 hour routine at SKA. Oh well, somedays are just not as good as others. Tomorrow will be better because I can get to put in some maintenance work on weights, do a little light run or brisk walk to ease my fatigue muscles back into action, and get my core conditioning back on track..  then I get to go to swim a little on my flexibility (YES.. the pool at RTC is opened again after renovation work) and steam/sauna some to get latic acid outta my system...  then I will be a neeeeeew man. :P

Meow!
CJ

Day 54

Day 54

Bad day for workout..  woke up 6.10am with a cramp in my left calf. Went to SKA and ended up with a cramp on my right calf. Sianz..

Ended up all dressed up with nothing to do.. I decided my body was trying to telling me something today and decided not to push any further unless I also want to end up with a body cramp or wirst tear something massive in my upper body.

I ended up creating the excel format of the championship forms for Mr Wong. Went home..kissed the wife and kids..  played cabalsea for 10 mins.. slept the entire afternoon away.  Feeling like crap... probably a mild burnout.. but its important to take note what your body is telling you.

I guess I might be taking the day off exercise tomorrow as well, let the body heal itself and take a break from routine.  I will have the morning to myself.. thinking of re-arranging the rooms a little. We'll see. :P

**CJ**

Rest and Repair Day

Day 48

Don't think my body can take much more of the stress I have been pumping it during this past 47 days.. lol.

Finally I feel its effect hard enough to decide ok.. one day of R&R is in order to recharge.

My neck muscles are screaming in pain...
my left shoulder hurts...
my back is sore...
both my hamstrings are threatening to cramp up on me...
my right calf is currently in such a bad state, I am limping...
my right ankle is under unnecessary stress and swelling after every workout session...

BUT I FEEL GREAT!!!!  Wakakaka!!

Took carbs today to fuel my repairs..but the brighter side of the day is that the most integral part of my weightloss plan arrived in the mail today...ahhhh...  yessss... :P

Tomorrow will be another day.. another workout to look forward to! :P

In the meantime, please enjoy this youtube video..


~CJ

Brings a tear to my eye

Day 46

Just heard this on TV featuring the latest Jay Chou's concert...

I found the original version I remember and loved... I have plenty of memories attached to this song. Try listening to this song at night with all the lights turned off. (Well... all love songs are best listed with lights turned off, alone in a cold room or windy place with eyes closed.)

Enjoy this version by Jacky Wu and Landy Wen.

~CJ

Unusually melancholy tonight:)

Shitoryu Karate & Judo

Day 45

I am now officially a striker and a grappler!! :P

Shitō-ryū (糸東流^?) is a form of karate that was founded in 1931 by Kenwa Mabuni (摩文仁 賢和 Mabuni Kenwa^?).  Kenwa Mabuni was born in Shuri, a district of Naha, Okinawa in 1889. Mabuni was a 17th generation descendant of the famous warrior Oni Ufugusuku Kenyu.^[1] Perhaps because of his weak constitution, he began his instruction in his home town in the art of Shuri-te (首里手^?) at the age of 13, under the tutelage of the legendary Ankō Itosu (糸州 安恒 Itosu Ankō^?) (1813–1915). He trained diligently for several years, learning many kata from this great master. It was Itosu who first developed the Pinan kata, which were most probably derived from the "Kusanku" form.

One of his close friends, Chōjun Miyagi (宮城 長順 Miyagi Chōjun^?) (co-founder of Gojū-ryū Karate) introduced Mabuni to another great of that period, Kanryō Higaonna (東恩納 寛量 Higaonna Kanryō^?). Mabuni began to learn Naha-te (那覇手^?) under him. While both Itosu and Higaonna taught a "hard-soft" style of Okinawan "Te", their methods and emphases were quite distinct: the Itosu syllabus included straight and powerful techniques as exemplified in the Naifanchi and Bassai kata; the Higaonna syllabus stressed circular motion and shorter fighting methods as seen in the kata Seipai and Kururunfa. Shitō-ryū focuses on both hard and soft techniques to this day.

By 1929, Mabuni had moved to Osaka on the mainland, to become a full-time karate instructor of a style he originally called Goju-ryū, or "half-hard style". The name of the style changed to Shitō-ryū, in honor of its main influences. Mabuni derived the name for his new style from the first kanji character in their names, Itosu and Higaonna.

-Source (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shito-ryu)

Judo or Jūdō (柔道 jūdō^?, meaning "gentle way") is a modern martial art and combat sport created in Japan in 1882 by Kano Jigoro. Its most prominent feature is its competitive element, where the object is to either throw or takedown one's opponent to the ground, immobilize or otherwise subdue one's opponent with a grappling maneuver, or force an opponent to submit by joint locking or by executing a strangle hold or choke. Strikes and thrusts by hands and feet as well as weapons defences are a part of judo, but only in pre-arranged forms (kata) and are not allowed in judo competition or free practice (randori).

The philosophy and subsequent pedagogy developed for judo became the model for other modern Japanese martial arts that developed from koryū (古流^?, traditional schools). The worldwide spread of judo has led to the development of a number of offshoots such as Sambo and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Practitioners of judo are called jūdōka.

-Source (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judo)

Its been so long since I was a white belt, learning new things all over again.  Oooh!! It was so exciting to be back at the learning stage, to be humbled, to look up to a new group of seniors to get the techniques right.  I found myself once again, keenly watching with an eagle eye, every move, every step, hanging on every word the senseis and senpais said.  Being guided when I did something wrong, feeling all excited when I did the falls and techniques right.

Once more I feel Mr Wong has done the corrrect thing by assigning a senior black belt to guide the training of new white belts in the dojo. As a white belt on my first day, I can't help feeling lost and strange in a new place with everyone being s familiar with the routine but me!.. lol. Now I have a new appreciation when a new white belt steps into SKA for the very first time..  and SKA is at least twice as big as the SJC and the group twice as big.  But I reckon the problem is, SKA has less friendlier people. well not less friendlier, but SEEM less approachable.  When I was at SJC today, all the trainees did their best to accomodate me and I thank them here for their hospitality which made me feel less clumsy and more inclined to come for my next training..which happens to be Tuesday night..  wahaha!

Karate will always be my first love and nothing will ever come in-between me and her.. except maybe my belly.. :(  Judo supplements my training for grappling, break-falling and most importantly.. I can handle myself in standup fights..  now.. I am preparing myself for ground work.. and boy am I looking forward to my training... wish me luck! :P

~CJ

aka The Determined One

Day of reckoning draws near...

Day 43

Almost there....

Best Workout Music

Day 33

To each his own. This is the best work out music I have found that suits me just fine.
Drowning Pool - "Bodies" Enjoy.


Can you hear me coming up behind you... I am almost back.. *grin

~CJ

My thoughts on my training so far

Day 31

This week has been fun! I was able to push through every exercise barrier I erected and did more.. yay! It wasn't easy though.. I had to push myself through the mental barriers.

Physically my body was able to cope. Mentally, it was sooo easy to give up, but I chose not to, and push for just that little bit more. Heh.. I am happy with my progress so far.. but I have to confess, it WAS much easier when I was doing this 4 years back...  hope I don't have to go through this again, ageing sucks :(

Right on day 30, I started my gym routine. I have already started focusing on my obliques early this time around, hopefully it will give me a better tummy shape all for vanity sake lol.

Oh oh, got my bones reset on Wednesday. Feeling a lot better in feeling that not all my joints  feel "locked" in place at a certain angle now..  good. This is going to help my come back :P

I have never completed my training in karate. I wonder if this time I can make good and finish up my training? I fear I might have veered too much in to mixed martial arts and is hard to turn back, but I believe I can make the change and stay the course.

This would be my legacy. I have so much in my head and heart to pass on what I have learnt and experienced, but I have no one to pass it on to.

Same issue as the previous time, everytime Mr Wong sees me with a junior talking, he would start getting agitated, and especially when I start giving pointers or coaching them, I can feel the disturbance in the force...   He would be extremely defensive.  Just like the other day, Mindy and Vicky came to training in the middle of my exercise routine... so when I finished my stuff, they were still going at it doing Ura Mashi Geri.

Anyone with a coaching experience and enough skills sitting by the side watching, would be very tempted to butt in and offer a little advice to the training couple.  And so especially me.. My limbs was so itchy watching them train, I wish I was fit enough right now to jump in with them at that moment.. but NO. My time will come. It will come soon.  However, I thought I can offer them a tip of two to improve their training techniques.

Guess what, Mr Wong saw, and he wasn't happy. Trust me la, he has been my teacher and father for over 23 years.. how can I not know his temperament? Staight away I can feel the disturbance in the force.

Why like that leh??? I have been good enough to fight, teach and win medals in my prime for the club, now I have karate leprosy ah?  I can prove it man, I still have the coverted "Instructor" chop on my membership card.. and that was back in the days when me and my gang have to fight every eligible fighter to prove ourselves, every tournament got a few selection tournaments to get to where we want to go HORRRRRRR...

Anyway, I have decided to let fate decide on who I pass on my knowledge to. My 2 kids don't seem too keen on martial arts or karate, so that is out, my juniors all think they can fly, so I can save my breath on them, my batch is equally good if not better, so who can I pass on my knowledge?

I know, I will become better then anyone in SKA or KUS at this point in time. Then I will let nature takes its course and lead me to the person for me to teach, otherwise I will take it to my grave lor.. simple :P  Its karate's loss, not mine :P

To those who like to poke fun at me and "motivate" me through tough love, I appreciate all that you guys have taken the trouble to put me through. I am on my way back to fight fitness, and when I am back on top, I won't forget your kindness, make sure you stick for my thank you. Oh.. just remember, don't kiss my fists. :P

The determined one.
~CJ

Almost a month

Day 23

Weight: 112.5kg
Where: SKA
What did I eat: Atkin's

New set of workouts

Day 20

Having been stuck on 114kg for the past few days,  I am going for an alternate routine to break my stagnent weight drop.

Alternate pushups

Bumpees

Knees on bench pushups

Side Bends Situps

Adominals Alternate Crunch

Hindu Pushups

Dumbbell Row

 

I want to be...

I rather spend 2 days as a tiger, than 200 years as a sheep

-Tippu Sultan

My inspirational training clip about Rocky. He always move me when I am on my way back to fitness. I guess I can identify with the struggle from flab to power... again.. and again.. and again.. lmao... Enjoy.


I am because I am. I will be turning 40 soon. This is my last walk down this road. Everytime, it gets harder and harder. I like being called the comeback kid. But when age catches up with me... I don't know what the future will be like for my fitness, but one thing I know for certain, I am not going to be able to bounce back like this again.... not so easily..

~CJ

SKA is shut for the next few days

Day 15

Uh oh... SKA is closed for the next few days for washing of mats and for some tournament. Looks like I will have to look for an alternate training place.

Weight: 114kg
Where: Somewhere near Kallang Indoor Stadium
What did I eat: Atkin's

Pam has asked me if I wanted to start a small class at American Club, and I have thinking about running a combat research class there. Problem with this class is that I am not sure how many people will be interested in the class and particularly, if there will be people who are interested in unarmed combat, but not trained in any basic style.  Oh dear...

I find swimming to be most advantageous to improving my breathing and stamina and stretching without tearing my knee joints apart.  Apart from that, being immersed in water, I love the fact my joints are being decompressed.

Next week, if my weight can hit 110kg, I will start PNF stretches and hopefully, that will give me greater mobility and a wider range of exercises I can run through per training session.  Usually, my exercise sessions gets longer as I have to put myself through more and more series of stretches, isometrics, PNF, jogs and sprints, straddle jumps, skipping.. etc etc.  My full set of exercises usually last me about 2.5 hours at SKA working on stamina, endurance and stretching alone, before I hit the weights.  Gosh I miss those times..  but I can sense them coming back very very soon :P

Time for pictorials!!!!!

~CJ

I find my second wind

Play this as you read this entry to understand the passion I am feeling for life and the second wind that I have found ever since I resumed my training...  its like I re-found my meaning for being me.. :P

Man in Motion (St. Elmo's Fire Theme) - John Parr


Day 12

Weight: (to be updated)
Where did I go: SKA
What did I eat: Atkin's

~CJ

Nice and Tender

Day 10

Another good day at the gym yay!!!

Weight: 116kg
Where I went: SKA
What I ate: Atkin's

This weekend I will probably try to detox with the Epsom salt thingy or probably clean my system out with liquid diet.  I want to try for a clean "system" workout next week. Mr Wong says.."Sim ah, you have to train faster."

OMG.

How much faster can I get with 2kg per day.. pant pant....  think I am going to pass out liao. By the way, as the title of this post suggests, my skin is crispy and tender with sun burnt!  Nicely tanned with a tinge of chow tarr...  wah lao.. couple this colour with 6 pack abs, and lean 86kg body mass.  My target!!!!!!!!!!!  Wish me luck.

~CJ

Press On Forward!!!

Day 9

OMG!! Today is a day for a small celebration!!!

Its been a good regime so far other than the fact I am always hungry, low on energy and grouchy. But that is the price I pay if I want to stay on target for losing 2kg per day. So far so good, but I expect this rate to slow down once I start to hit below 110kg.  That is probably because most of my lean mass is around there and all these excess weight I have been losing have been piled on recently..  so easy come.. easy go.


Weight: 118kg
Where did I go: SKA + RTC
What did I eat: Atkin's


~~CJ

Over time.. never overnight

Day 7

Its been a good day for exercise :P  I managed to run 2.4km since the first time I started this regime. I also did a full 30mins of burn jogging.  There are days like these that I lurrrrve exercising, my body is just able to kick into overdrive and push through the pain andgive me what I need.


I need more of this kind of days kekekekekekeke.

Weight: 124kg
Where I go: SKA
What did I eat: Atkin's

~CJ
 

Moving on...

Day 6

I rested Sat and Suns and will do so for this regime. I guess Saturdays I will go for a light swim and consider that a low impact day ba.

Ow Ow says my shoulder. Sng sng.. says my knee, and clicky clack says my ankle...

Sigh.. that is the sound of an old engine trying to tune up to be a race engine... somehow..  lol


Weight: 128kg
Where did I go: SKA
What did I eat: Atkin's
What did I do:
Jogging, calisthenics, isometrics and a lot of stretching.


I will slot in PNF soon after I hit the target of 100kg and below.  As you can see, I have set a lot of stuff to be done under 110kg.  There is a reason for that. I will explain when we get there.


So now, its just a matter of time for my weight to drop to my target (manageble) level before we take on the good stuff :P


By the looks of things, I am losing 2 kg every day.. which is a good thing..  but it is making me tired constantly.  However, I am just glad that my core muscles are still strong and I have yet to suffer from cramps and muscle fatigue which is a sure sign the muscles are unable to cope with the reduction in carb intake while needing to beg the body to convert fats to energy.


From the way my body is tiring out rapidly, my body is still struggling to cope with the energy deprivation and trying hard to keep up the convert rate to my exercise level, which is one reason why I am not going through weights at the moment as well.


~CJ

My cat scratched me

Day 3(8 July 2011)

Misty.. naughty cat!!!!  She scratched me..  sob

Anyway, Got nothing interesting to post really.. except I want to register a post so I can mark my days in training.. :P

Well, I will have stuff to add on later anyways, so, wait for it :P

Weight: 133kg
Where did I go: SKA
What did I eat: Atkin's
What did I do:
Jogging, weights. Today will probably be the last day I will put in my routine for weights until my body weight hit 110 and below. I predict it will take about 3 weeks for that to happen. In the meantime, in my haste to get stronger, I might have done myself a DISFAVOUR by rushing into my weights routine. My left rotator cuffs are screaming in pain.

Told Mr Wong...he said.. "Heya, you... tsk tsk.. forget about karate, forget about weights, run off your weight first.."

See? Thats what happen when you tell your teacher you did something wrong..  get scolded lor lmao.

Anyway, I am glad I still have my teacher around. He was one of the few people who ever saw anything good in me in the first place.



~~CJ

Inertia is everything

Day 2


I am not going to appear in SKA's main community during "peak" hours until I feel I am ready to face the crowd.

Although I am not one for vanity, I feel being a senior and an instructor, I ought to show some class and image while in front of the students and peers.  Is that considered shallow?

Besides, I think appearing in force will leave a better impression AND legacy for the students and peers. Politics being what it is, there will always be some people who will step on you for the sake of doing so just so they look better.  Secretly, they will always hope you never return to fitness, because then, they will have no fear, their fake bravado and facade will be discovered by someone better than them... and the worst thing is... THEY KNOW IT.

I used to get challenges, and I will answer them. Nowadays I don't get challenged to fighting or fitness anymore, instead..  I am assasinated lmao.


Character assasination I understand is the preferred choice of bloodless killing. To such techniques, I am a noob. I surrender to such masters of character deception. Well, at least I can smile at myself in the mirror without shame.


Weight: 135kg
Where did I go: SKA + RTC
What did I eat: Atkin's
What did I do:
Slow jogging to get my ankle and knee joints back into working order. Already I can feel my energy start to sap the moment I ran my first 500m. Push.. push on I must! Alas, after less than 2km, I am out of breath and puffing lol!

But at least I put in another 20mins of run. We only start to "burn" fat efficiently after 20mins, but that is according to conventional diet and based on the fact I have carbs to burn.. which I am starving myself of.

Did some basic gym work on my tum tum, obliques, my hercules muscles and triceps. Will repeat them once a week in rotation, but I am not sure if I should list them over and over again in my blog...  boring hee.

I went to swim a little and float in the pool at RTC after SKA while Pam does her dancing thingy. Ahh taking some pressure off my joints is such a luxury after morning's hard work! *grin

Push push on some more!!!


CJ outz~

New regime starts

Day 1

Today I started running and gym training again. Its once of those things where I know I should have resumed training eons ago.. but just cannot bring myself out of the hole I dug myself into.

This time, I will ignore politics, this time I will stay just on the path of training and not take on too much for myself. That should have been the way, and that will be the way this time.

Start weight: 135kg (This for the record is the heaviest weight I ever started out with)
Where did I go:SKA.
What did I eat:Atkin's Diet.
What did I do:
Very light jogging. It has been a while since I last ran, partly due to an ankle injury I sustained in a fall recently. Also due to the fact I have slacked and didn't keep to my morning jogs.  I did about 20 mins of slow jogging.  I dare not ran fast because if you have been following my past posts, I am going to give my body a test before jumping in with both feet wet.

 I'll kick your ass!!!

Went to the gym and did some free weights. Looks like my biceps, triceps, delts and Pecs need to be worked on. Probably will work in some sets that will focus on them and rotate through out the week. Finally!! I did Jeverok's again.. the armball joints actually FELT good! lmao
After this morning's activities, I am glad to report looks like everything is raring to go and feeling good.

I really miss SKA as a training ground because it has been a second home to me ever since I started training there when I was just 17!

Wow.. its been a long time..  a long time coming home.

~CJ

Suddenly I find myself listening to my heart

Suddenly - A duet by Sir Cliff Richard and Ms Olivia Newton John


Ocean Deep by Sir Cliff Richard


Some People by Sir Cliff Richard


王傑 - 一場遊戲一場夢


My friend Eng Seng asked me this question once, quite out of the blue really, while we were on the MRT back from school one afternoon.

He asked, "Hey Chong Jin, what do you think of when you listen to 王傑's 一場遊戲一場夢 ? To me I will remember our school days and our friendship."

Eng Seng, everytime I listen to this song, I remember you :P

Eason Chan 陳奕迅 - 明年今日

Time moves on relentlessly

Ahh.. its been a while since I updated my blog.. again LOL.

And no, I was not faithful to my exercise plan due to a lot of reasons. But a recent injury brought me back down to earth.

Not really sure what to blog.. but I just want to put something down so I get started.

Any kind of start is good I guess. :P

Oh oh, I might want to advertise online to see if I can get anyone to come train with me either in the mornings or evenings. Not exercise training, of course.. those (in my opinion) should be done alone. I am talking about combat training, karate, kick, kick, punch, punch, a lil shadow boxing here and there. Well, the more I share the more I remember in my old age LOL.

Lets see what kind of response I get from my advertisements..

Outs.. for now

God given talent

Ok.

You don't have to believe a fat and clumsy guy like me knows little bit about fighting and martial arts...

HOWEVER... you have to see the following video to believe that everyone.. and I mean EVERYONE and that includes YOU... have a talent and gift that God wants you to share with the world.. even if it means in this lifetime, it might seem insignificant to you... but I am a firm believer in the butterfly effect in the broader sense of the word.

"... refers to the idea that a butterfly's wings might create tiny changes in the atmospheretornado or delay, accelerate or even prevent the occurrence of a tornado in a certain location. The flapping wing represents a small change in the initial condition of the system, which causes a chain of events leading to large-scale alterations of events (compare: domino effect). Had the butterfly not flapped its wings, the trajectory of the system might have been vastly different. While the butterfly does not "cause" the tornado in the sense of providing the energy for the tornado, it does "cause" it in the sense that the flap of its wings is an essential part of the initial conditions resulting in a tornado, and without that flap that particular tornado would not have existed."
- Wikipedia on Edward Lorenz (Chaos Theory)

Personaly though, I call this the Butterfly Effect of God. One gift, one talent, however insignificant, have the power to affect the people around us and change the world. But don't go holy holy on me hor.. wait I beat you up ah...

no wait.. I call my geng and number to come chop you up ah!!!!

pffft..

Check out this video.

Me and my squeaky voice... meh.. I love to have a voice like that.. :P

CJ~~~~outz

Tearing my hair out

Recently I found another use for my extra Acer PC. I hooked it up to my surround audio speakers, and my flatscreen TV in my living room. Then as I did not have a license for Windows XP, I decided to pop in my Ubuntu 9.10 Live CD and install Linux as my OS.

Well, all went pretty well for the first few run as I have done this before.. but somehow, in the middle of installation, the entire installation process would hang.. grrr..

Must have wasted at least $20 of my electricity bill man.. letting it just hang there in hopes it would somehow miraculously resume installing... HA! ...but then again hor, the harddisk was furiously spinning away during those hang times lor.. I wonder... hmmm

Well, 2 days ago, I decided to redo another install and viola... this time it installed well.. phew. Then as I hooked up to the internet, I realised the new version Ubuntu 10.04 LTS (Lucid) was ready for public release.

Did I learn my lesson? N O lor... *facepalm*

Another update install from 9.10 to 10.04 took another 24 hours!! But then.. this time I know well enough to let it do its own background installing EVEN if.. YES.. even if it appears to have stalled for many many hours... LET IT RUN.. eventually it will POP through and complete the upgrade and install process *smirk*

This time however... no WIRELESS connection.. siiiigggghhh... so troublesome one leeehhhh

I searched online for solution.. searched up, find low.. dig under, peeked over.. boh is boh lor.

The solutions posted online, either did not fit my problem description, too complicated or I am just not getting it.

I think I am just not getting it.

So now my Acer pc sits swee swee under my dvd / karaoke, above my subwoofer box, all packed beautifully inside my TV cabinet... with no wireless internet access. I guess no choice.. got to let it be wired lar. But I not happy leh.. what to do?

And.. oooo the weighing scale machine needle moved downwards again today.. yipee.. heh heh

Later going club to swim and steam, and suana. Damn good for getting rid of those lactic acid build up and burn up "YOU" ah!

*bounce *bounce *bounce away

Kena Plateau

Day 34:
Weight: 112kg
Fitness intensity: Average

*Beep* *Beep* %&@#% #%^^ #$%%^ tio plateau.. can you believe it???

Usually an average person who is of below average muscle build (just like me a couple of years back) loses about 15kg before hitting the first plateau. But I reckon I am building as much muscles as I am losing weight so the is little progress where my weight loss is concern.

I am there going to plan B to chart my way back to fitness, and that is fat index and overall body measurement. No way am I using BMI.. even at my fittest, I measure an obese BMI.. and then I proceed to beat the PTI(Physical fitness instructor as they are called in the army) at 2.4, pushups, situps... only no pull ups... I think it is a fantasy of mine to even do ONE pull up.. lmao.. this coming from me, who can do about 100 regular pushups and 50 ballistics. eh.. ballastics mean pushup + clap.. like that lar..

argh.. itchy itchy.. my new year wound on my back from scratching that noticeboard is bothering me. need to go washup and dress my wounds..

boo

CJ

*plateau - a stage of weightloss whereby your loss in body weight (fat, bones, muscles, etc) in total is = your gain in muscle mass from gym, workouts, exercises. Solution: Pump up intensity of exercise and cardio workout to increase fat burn. Gym and weights training should remain relatively same. Listen.. if you also increase your weight training, the equation would still be balance = no weightloss... #keblong your head# understand? *grumble*

Daily compulsions...

I have a confession to make.

I harbor a criminal's mind.

I have violent thoughts almost everyday of my life for the past 22 years...

If you observe me quietly from behind.. most of the time, you will notice I mumble a lot to myself, talk, gesturing my hands and arms, stepping in weird ways and sometimes, even violent movements followed by shaking of my head...

...followed by more mumblings...

Maybe I am partially of unsound mind..

..perhaps..

..perhaps I have a mind ticking and thinking away like a murderer, gangster, ah beng, ah seng, molester, rapist, robber, pick-pocket...

I like to think terrible thoughts of stabbing someone, from under the ribs, behind into the kidneys, to following some poor lady to the lift and when the door closes, I will corner them and rob them or have my way with them... Sometimes, I would think of how to best use the chopper or parang that I would imagine holding in my hands and inflict the maximum amount of damage on my poor victim.

In my mind... I have been the perpetrator of many violent crimes...

Don't think too badly of me yet.. I wasn't born this way.. I wasn't made to think like this..

...it is because I choose to.

When I am out with my family, and we see a man stumbling with a bottle of beer in one hand, I immediately become alert to the potential danger to come... A beer bottle can be a murderer's tool, if you let it. I know, because in my mind, many, many scenarios of the potential threat has played through in my head. I walk through every possible defense from this set piece as thoroughly as I can, no win situation, especially when the family is around.. so we avoid drawing his attention, walk another way, away from danger.

That is but ONE of the thousands of scenarios my mind play out everyday in my head... by being the aggressor, I study the defense, by playing out the movements in my head and aided by my moronic hand and feet gestures, I can prepare as many defense to as many attacks my head can churn out..lol...

Maybe I am just crazy.. bwahahaha...

New Post for the New Year

Err...

*blink




*blink *blink




...yay.. happy new year 2011..

*blink.... *blink