A fighter's life for me.

Recently, my personal message on msn has been this: A fighter's life for me. Body and mind, purged and refined.

Now what does it really mean. A fighters life for me is actually a quotation from Jimmy Smith's myspace page. For those that dont know, jimmy smith is a co host of fight quest. I have a lot of respect for this guy. A maths degree from UCLA proves he has the brains, and being married speaks alot about responsibility and commitment. But this guy is also a pro Mixed Martial Arts fighter, using muay thai and brazillian jiu jitsu as his weapon of choice. He's got a ripped body ( as most fighters do)- proving that he is in a awesome physical shape.

I draw inspiration from people like jimmy. Theres no such thing as stereotype. You shouldnt label yourself under one category and stick with it." Oh, Im a nerd, so i must study..oh im a geek.cant socialize. Oh im a guy,cannot cook or bake" all that is total bullshit.

I try to lead my life following these principles. Have no respect for the boundaries of stereotype. So a fighter's life for me, means that in everything that i do, i will do so with the same relentless power, intensity and effort as when im working on the heavy bags, when im kicking the pads, or when im practising my knee strikes. To ignore that pain untill the very moment of total muscle fatigue. To continue grappling when your hamstring seizes up in a wave of cramps. To continue punching and kicking past your 3 minute threshold. That is the ultimate satisfaction. To push yourself to more than you could ever dream of achieving, that is what it means to lead a fighter's life.

I hope to put this principle in the context of education as well. To continually push yourself to achieve greater heights, to not give up when there's an overwhelming mountain of work. To push yourself burning the midnight oil ,reading on control of eukaryotic gene transcription( how i hate this chapter) . The same can be said for the physical state of my body. A long and hard road it will be, but in time i will achieve that level of fitness at which i can call myself a true fighter. Maybe it will take a year, 2 years or even longer.Whatever it is, its a fighters life for me.

Mid sem break

Firstly, i do apologize for the inactivity on this blog. I just got back from my one week stay in kuching. There wasn't really enough time to blog cause everything was just so hectic for me.

The reason why i flew back all the way to kuching was to attend my grandmother's 80th birthday celebration

The celebration took place at Hilton Kuching, with almost 400 people in attendance.(90% of em ive never met before..)

family friends, distant relatives, old politicians, current politicians..all kinds of people came to pay tribute to this lady

Datin Seri Vera Ng.....i just call her nenek. haha!So anyways, i learnt many things about the nichol family during this event. About my lineage and my ancestors( especially the chinese side).But the thing that made this event so fun and memorable was the fact that so many of us came back to kuching for the event. A family reunion.

This is the Nichol family( In case you're wondering, Nichol is my grandfathers nameas in John Nichol Kassim). From left to right, Uncle Albert, Auntie Marlene, Auntie Doris, Auntie Jane, Auntie Patricia, Linda ( My mum!), Auntie Minda, Auntie Sally and Uncle Osen. Seated in front is nenek, the matriach.

And these are the in-laws. Left to right, Uncle West, Uncle Paul, Nuing ( My dad!), Auntie Margaret, Auntie Josephine, Uncle Douglas, Uncle Peter and Uncle Isheak.

Ok..Now when you have 9 children, you would expect the family to be quite large yes? So here is the full nichol clan.(Almost full)

Not a very good angle, but this is the only picture that i have. Most of us are there, but some are missing. My sister liza, Cousins Dianne, Edwin, Jason and Jasmine.

Some random pics from that night:

From left to right, My cousins Ian, Alvin, Johan, Mark, Justin, Jeff, a syiok sendiri uncle( uncle osen) haha!!, Nick( my bro) and infront of him is Jeremiah( we call him keepat). Then theres uncle West, Myself, Greg and Uncle Paul.

Me and my cousins Evonne and Alvin (siblings). Evonne also happens to be quite syiok sendiri and claims that we are her bodyguards. Ceh! Dahla mabuk on your birthday HAHA!

The early 80's generation. Johan, Nick, Greg, Evonne and Elaine.

And this emo loner here is Justin. He has many nicknames..Justin credible, Just-a-tin, Just do it and a whole lot of other childish labels. Apparently he's not into girls and is interested in a german dude named Hans..or is it that spanish guy named Stephan. HAHAHa! Im just kidding la cuz.

The guys of the family with nenek.

And the girls...

The only downside of this gathering was that there wasnt any after party which we cousins are famous for. Well, we did go for a drink at Mojo but i could hardly call that clubbing.

I spent the rest of my hols Meeting up with friends and going visiting for raya.Spent a few nights in Avery's house( the perverted ball gazer) and also spent one whole day shopping with my A-levels pal Amanda. She more semangat than me when it comes to shopping. I was supposed to be the one buying stuff and she ended up buying more stuff than me..And seriously loh, your kiddy pictures were hilarious! Bwahahaha!!!

Visited some of my uncles friends for raya, and met some incredibly hot chicks. Ex St theresians are unbelieveably HOT.

Oh yea, me and alvin had to push my uncle's car up Bukit Hantu at 12am in the morning coz it broke down.What a nice place to have a car breakdown at 12am..bukit hantu... It was the only workout which i got in the whole holiday.

I really look forward to the next family gathering..but it probably wont happen for the next few years. ive had an incredibly fun time in kuching and would like to thank my whole big family for being there, and also providing lodging LOL! And thanks also to my buddy avery for allowing me to crash at your place for a while( Eventho you were a bit gay). Credits to Glen and Evonne for the pics.

until next time, chowz.