lessons from the past.

I was just browsing through my old pictures,and i found one which made my hair stand.



Me and the lovely Ms Juwita Suwito, 2004


Should be enough to keep me motivated in the gym for at least the next few months :)


-signing off-

:s

Ever wondered what it was like to get into a fight right after waking up? Well i found out today

I was so hyped up about going for the hard sparring..i even rested for 4 full days to limber up my muscles as well as giving my injured ankle a well deserved rest. Beyond my wildest expectations, it made full recovery in just 4 days time!
So with such gusto, i was going to rip my opponent apart, whoever that unfortunate soul was.I took a nap at 5pm. Woke up at 8.30. Shit. Im late by half an hour. Almost thought of skipping when the instructor called and asked me to come.

Me: Hello?
AH LIM: EH WHERE ARE U?
Me: Urmm..i had meeting.. meeting..kickboxing issit??
AH LIM: YALAH!FASTER LAH!!
Me: OKKkKKkkkkkkkk

I tried to come out with smart excuses, but 'meeting' was the only word that came out in my foggy post-nap mind.

I rushed to the training area at SAO concourse only to find everyone was waiting. The juniors were giggling coz i obviously had just woken up..=.='' there goes my macho status. Ah lim was giving a briefing to the seniors on competition rules when i jumped in.
He didnt even bother asking..took one look at me and repeated everything he had just said.

"Kick to the head- 2 points, Throws 2 points, getting pushed out of the ring-3 points..if that happens 3 times the match is forfeited. No points for kick bellow the knee cap but is allowed. 1 point of kicks to the thigh region. All punches 1 point. Go warm up, use the headguard and shin pads."

wtf..i didnt know it was that serious...use headguard sumore. We never used headguard and shin pads because power was always controlled. So i guess today all hell is unleashed.

The fact that Bryan got KO'd in the first 20 seconds didnt help(Body slam to the ground by Ah lim)

My turn came up pretty fast and it was me vs Ah lim.2 rounds, 3 minutes each round, 1 min rest in between. I was actually depending on Bryan to wear him down for at least one round..mana tau his fight was over in a flash.

My perspective:
I fought relatively well, got him on counter jabs and hooks. Landed a kick to his upper left arm which made him cringe. He got me in the head with a fast left kick but i recovered to catch his leg mid air, and took him down.

His Comments:
Too slow, stamina was totally out by round 2. Last 30 seconds was survival-dont-die mode. Hooks were to wide, hands dropped too much(second round). Your stamina is bad..

must say it was one of my better sparring sessions with Ah Lim..previously i would just be trashed right out with no punches or kicks landed.

It actually feels kinda good to fight after wakingg up :). The fear of a fight is not there coz youre still so blur from the sleep so it helps with the nerves haha. It was only after the 2 rounds ended did i realize, damn,i got out in one piece..no blood, no cuts, no bruises,no ulcers hooray!I would normally think about these stuffs before the sparring session...resulting in a not confident fight..resulting in getting your ass kicked to the ground.

I should sleep and come late for every kickboxing session..id be a champion in no time :)

BTW blood drive is currently on till friday..to all healthy individuals, please donate.( regardless of blood type..AB also can....Pusat Darah Negara is constantly short of blood.)
Besides, ur red blood cells would be destroyed in the spleen every 3 months neways. When you donate blood, the hematopoeitic stem cells in your bone marrow would undergo hematopoiesis to form new RBC..you should get back your original number of RBC sooner or later :) .Ok enough immuno.

-signing out-

rhymes

Sick of the tension, sick of the pain
All this shit is making me insane
miserable laughter, half hearted smile
I aint gonna make it past this last mile..

Boredjoe is in da house.

Hey all, I have decided to start blogging again, after like what..4 months of not touching my blogspot account. I decided to not blog for awhile coz i was reli emo then, with all those lousy emo thoughts constantly in my mind. So rather than polluting my blog with emo-ness, id rather not write anything at all.
Having said that, its good to be back and would try to at least update weekly on the weekends. Im in the process of finding new blogskins to replace this default one..so this blog would definately be undergoing some tweaking in the days/weeks to come.
The past few weeks have definately been hectic. Quizzes, tests, assignments, lab reports and journals, not to mention the MSMBB quiz which i took part in UCSI as well as completing the really mafan application forms for australian universities. All that coupled with kickboxing and gym(whenever possible)..it does get rather stressfull.( come to think about it i hardly hav time to study ;P)Ive been eating so much this past few weeks im not surprised if my weight shot right back up to the CNY-season weight.
At least most of the work is done, tho i still have genetics lab report and journals due TOMORROW and a microbio assignment due TOMORROW as well.Ill get started after this haha.
Went out with friends yesterday to catch valkyrie @ ONe U. A pretty decent movie but id say its not for everyone..history buffs like me would enjoy it though. Went to Aaliyah@ Jalan Dungun, Damansara for a few drinks after that..as usual the house band kicked ass but there was no seats left so we had to stand for the night..plenty of high class girls(Only interested in dirty old men with lots of $$$$ so ppl like me dont even stand a chance) :D.To paint you a clearer picture, there were 2 ferraris and a porsche parked right outside the place :S
Thats all for now i guess. Hopefully my ankle would be fully healed by tomorrow coz were gonna do some hard contact sparring in kickboxing...yay! Tho im still far from my ideal fight weight of 83.9kgs/185lbs. CARDIO CARDIO CARDIO CARDIO :D

-Signing off-

Searching

My absence from this blog probably has not been missed by the tiny and insignificant portion of cyberspace users who read this blog( Not that my readers are insignificant! U guys are the best..even if u acknowledge reading this blog or not, i thank you sincerely :D).

I love pondering. When im supposed to do something like complete a task which was assigned to me, id rather slack and ponder on things which dont really matter or affect my life. Or do they? I ponder on things like the paradoxial nature of life. On why to have happiness, there must be suffering. To feel pleasure, one must first understand pain. And to truely treasure the best life has to offer, one must have lost something dear to him or her.

It is not in my intention to answer these questions in my blogpost, because i dont have the answers for them. Not yet anyways.

Maybe you can help me ponder about it ;).

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.