If I ever quit the army...

If the world is supposed to end, I certainly hope that it is not this year. There's so much at stake, so much to look forward to. Everybody has to fight their own battle, and there is no shortcut.  You earn your rank, and you earn your respect.

"This year symbolized the power of the mind, and the power of intentions, and the power of setting goals.  I set a goal, despite who the opponent was, I set a goal to be the champion of 2011, and to finish every fight in 2011, and I achieved the goal.  The mind is a beautiful thing, and hopefully I can inspire someone else to go for it.  To set a goal, maybe it may seem unrealistic, but set one and go for it and believe in it, and see what happens. And make it happen."

-Words from a Champion, after he become a Champion and defended his title for the second time

If I ever get a new car, it would be you.

Building yet another bridge...

Know Your Size: Clippers

Building another bridge...

And finally, officially, promoted recently, Corporal Lam.

For the past few weeks, I've been quite nervous when I use this particular washroom at work.  The only men's washroom on my floor is shared and also equipped for people with accessibility.  There is no light to indicate that the door is locked on the one at work, and I guess that made my human factors sense tingle.

So it was 6pm Friday, the office is pretty empty and only the few stragglers were left.  I pack up, rush out, but decides to take a piss before I go.

Me: *Pushes door*
Lady: "HEY THERE'S SOMEONE IN HERE!" *attempts to cover herself*
Me: "OH SHIT! Sorry..." *runs away*

As I ran, I realize she was the lady that sits very close to me.  How was I supposed to know? How am I ever going to look at her the same way again?  TGIF with an epic conclusion.

So yeah, never trust these doors...

They gave me a badge and a stopwatch on my first day.

Interview with the VP today turned into a discussion about MMA and UFC.
Never going take off kickboxing as a hobby on my resume.

A new beginning.

http://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/jd8zg/what_is_one_memory_of_your_childhood_that_always/

Pretty awesome thread.  I used to be really afraid of Volcanoes.  I don't really remember who brought us "Volcano" the movie as a video cassette back then, but after watching it I was very afraid of spontaneous volcanic eruptions and molten lava spewing out from sewers.  You know the scene where one of the subway guy tries to save another guy by hopping over lava but ended up melting?  That really did scare the shit out of me.  I remember having to leave for a HK visit shortly after, and before I left I I kept telling my grandma to watch out for lava and run if anything happens.

I lied for a stupid reason today, feels like shit.
Anyway, leaving for Petawawa tomorrow.
See you in a month.

On Houses

I grew up living in apartments back in HK and I used to think that it was a waste having a house for just me, Andy and grandma.  Tenants were a pain to deal with, especially when your room was right above theirs and grandma had to clean the house non-stop.  Shoveling the snow sucked until we got a snowblower, and mowing the lawn wasn't very enjoyable having nose allergies.  Dragging out garbage from the garage at night was such a hassle.  I always thought it was more cozy living in an apartment when rooms are right next to each other and not having to shout between floors. Perhaps living in an apartment reminded me of being a child.

It's funny looking back at the way we think.  Sometimes I even burst out laughing at myself looking at the mirror, thinking about stuff I used to feel adamant about. I miss chilling on the porch and looking out at the backyard even though it's not much of a scenery. I miss tossing Timmy's toy down to the basement and having him fetch it back to me.  I miss not having to listen to what's going on in the rooms next to me, or listening to super-sports revving their engines on McCowan.  I miss the simple things, like being able to wash a car/bike in the driveway.  I now wish I have a garage to store all my tools and parts, and not having to look like a thief illegally working on my bike/car in the parking lot. Perhaps living in a house reminded me of being a teen. 

Things are always so simple in hindsight.

Good link for those of us who don't really know the party platforms///
http://www.jeffhughes.ca/election2011/partyplatforms.html

If I can do some of these stuff before I die, I'll be satisfied.

We need to shoot a video like this, serious.

http://tempestacademy.com/

TAKE MY MONEY!!!

Don't have a April Fools joke for you guys...but I thought this was pretty funny.

The Making Of An Expert
by K. Anders Ericsson, Michael J. Prietula, and Edward T. Coke
Harvard Business Review


Very, very good read.

“It’s a dream come true. My goal, my dream, when I got to the UFC was to become the champion and now I’m one fight away from my whole life changing. That motivation is so much, to wake up early, eat healthy, to study Shogun like my life depends on it.”

“It just means the world to me. It’s not a job to me, it’s not a trophy to me, it’s not a paycheck to me, it’s really everything. It’s my being right now and I really can’t explain how much winning this fight means to me. I think that’s why I’m going to win this fight, I know that’s why I’m going to win this fight. Because of how badly I want it.”

“I have a lot of heart, a lot of cardio, and a lot of will. I don’t care what happens in this fight, I’m going to keep coming, keep going, and this fight will be mine. I’m excited to be pushed for the first time, if I’m pushed.”

"I know Shogun is a beast. I think with a lot of UFC fighters either you’re a wolf or you’re a sheep. There are a lot of UFC fighters that are sheep. But I know that Shogun is a wolf, and I feel that I am a wolf as well. And that is what you guys are going to see.”

“Right now it’s me vs. Jon Jones. Right now I’m beating all the weakness out of myself, I’m beating all the give up out of myself, the lack of cardio, I’m beating the lack of confidence. Any sign of weakness right now that is in my heart, I’m getting rid of it."

-Words from a Champion, before he became a Champion

Believe in the war or not, that's irrelevant.

I will be able to do the human flag a year from now.

Keep me accountable.

Mickey Ward : I’m not a stepping stone anymore.

Are you a stepping stone?  

Stepping stones are the dark horses.  

Crowds love to watch them, asking "what if's" with every blow. 

What I saw this weekend was not even worthy of being a stepping stone.

Your work ethic is second to none.

Your talent and athletic ability was never in question.

But seems like you are deflating your own tires just before a race.  

You're scared of not living up to the name.

You're afraid that after giving it your all, you still won't succeed.

You like to give yourself excuses so that in case you fail, you won't get hurt.

It's all in the will really.  

Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.

知彼知己，百戰不殆；不知彼而知己，一勝一負；不知彼，不知己，每戰必殆。

Excalibur is right in front of you, just be brave enough to dig it out.

Happy 2011 everyone!

Set goals. I know the saying has been abused to death, but still shoot for the stars. We don't really get that many decades in our lives.  Sure, we may not reach our goal, but get rid of that paralyzing fear of not being able to achieve something.  Don't be idle, don't become complacent.  A lot of times when we shoot the shit with friends, we wonder where all the years went but soon realizes that we had the exact same conversation the previous year.  And that time waits for no one.

I was eating dim sum with Andy the other day and we agreed that if we could slap some sense into our younger selves, it would be something like "Striving for success without hard work is like trying to harvest what you haven't planned."  Looking back at my school years, I had never made the connection.  When someone was faster than me, they were born that way.  When someone was smarter than me, it's genetics.  When I suck at music, I blame not not having the privilege to learn piano when I was a kid.  But these are mere sorry excuses for not putting in the effort to achieve the desired result.  I was never extraordinary at badminton but I guess I was still pretty good among the average Joes in my phys-ed  class.  I took for grant all those time spent playing with Jackie and Andy at Maryward club, and it instilled an arrogance in me that I was indeed naturally better than my classmates. When playing against other schools, sometimes I would win, sometimes I would lose.  I remember getting mad at myself for losing, but it never occurred to me that the other team probably worked harder for it and thus deserved it.  I had a t-shirt that said "no pain, no gain" but it didn't mean anything to me. We do not rise to the occasion, we fall to the basis of our training.  Only a lucky few actually acknowledge the importance of hard work early on, and unfortunately I wasn't one of them. Procrastination still has a grip on me, but I try to remind myself that all my small efforts will transmute into something worthwhile.  

It's never too late though.  I'm lucky to have friends who inspires me. No, not the hundreds that are on your facebook friends list.  Stay close to the handful of people that actually gives a shit and get the negative ones to stay the fuck away from you. Come to think about it, we've really come a long way.  Athletes, engineers, healthcare professionals, executive assistants, waiters, musicians and public servants.  Who else do we need to survive a zombie apocalypse?  My favorite question had always been, "whats the purpose of life?".  Still don't have a solid answer, but as long as we are being used up in something we ourself believe is worthwhile, then everything else is trivial.

Let me end this post with a video that I come back to every year, something about the music still gives me goosebumps.

As if someone read my mind...

Lost for words.

3.	fuck shit up	36 up, 6 down
	(verb)- the act of dominating or doing something hard to accomplish in any activity "Dude, we totally just beat Call of Duty Modern Warfare on Veteran in like 5 minutes" "I know man, things look easy when we fuck shit up"

"Dude, we totally destroyed all those exams in like 2.5 hrs"
"I know man, things look easy when we fuck shit up"

I SHALL FUCK SHIT UP FOR THE NEXT 7 DAYS!

I should be studying other stuff but today I reviewed my first aid manual instead.  Sometimes when I am on the bus, especially in uniform, it scares me to think that someone will collapse in front of me but I can't help the person because I forgot how.  All the bystanders going apeshit and yelling "Somebody please do something!" while I just stand there going blank.  Or when I am out on a date and a person chokes on a meatball or something and I don't remember what to do. I think that will haunt me forever.  I wish that day would never come, but I hope I'll be a clutch player if it does.

 

 Reminded me of me and Andy. You decide who's who. :)

Very impressed with Firefox 4 beta 7.

Don't know why but I was craving 燒鴨飯 the whole day since I woke up.  So I made my way to good old Midtown and everything was right again.  I think it's probably been a year or so since I've had this, and the wave of nostalgia almost knocked me off my chair.







 

million dollar bridge built by hand

Midterms are done, a few more tests and labs here and there and there goes the fall term. This feeling makes me want to barf. A jumble of loneliness and self worth. Desire, wants, and letting go. Dream, motivations, and the pursuit of happiness. Question that tend to always come up is why. Why are you doing this? As if a response would satisfy. We don't change, but lens accommodate. We grow only in appearance. Experience shapes the way we look, failures forge the way we act. Glass and cascade. As we were, so perfect, so happy. I remember only your smile, because that's all I see.

I discovered Parov Stelar's music a month ago.
I am addicted and I don't even know why.



takeSomeCrime's dancing is fucking criminal...

"bubbleflagg
3 days ago 152

I tried to copy his moves

The result was that I dislocated my arms and legs

I typed this message with my tongue"

Procrastination got the best of me again

You never fail to surprise me, life. Every time when I'm just about to get comfortable, you decide to squirt lemon juice in my eyes. Why is it always near exams? I hate not being able to concentrate on my studies because of these external factors. At least they say it builds character, right?