New Year Checkpoint

HAPPY NEW YEAR ALL!

My first post of the year and I am already late. Ops! Luckily CNY came in earlier this year so I can give the excuse that I wanted to post a 2in1 update :D To all my dragonspawn friends, our year is here. :D I also think this is a good year to make babies. Sorry to have made it sound somewhat crude, but yeah, having a dragon baby is cool! Exhibit A. *points at myself* OR, all you readers out there who are 88babies. I mean the year speaks for itself, 'fatt fatt'. Okay enough chingchonging and time for some 2012 loving.

So generally things have been good. Same old same old. Bigger goals this year, but lets not discuss the bigger, important and boring life-goals which involves money and career etc. Lets talk about minor ones that are more interesting. First of all I have decided that I MUST/WILL learn swimming. It helps that I have a friend who is a professional instructor and he is willing to give me free lessons. Another must-do is to fill my pond with Japanese Kois. Did some research and things I have to know about them, so hopefully my pond will come to live and be the highlight of my first Quarter2012.

Resolutions for the Q2 (2nd quarter) is going to be a tough one to achieve. It is for me to obtain 57kg muscle mass. (5Kg up from my current 52). It's hard in Malaysia cause I have to watch what I eat but you know what they say ~ 'a man gotta do what a man gotta do'. Oh yeah since it's about time for a picture update.

WARNING. THE FOLLOWING IMAGES CONTAINS SEMI-NUDITY. PROCEED WITH CAUTION. PARENTAL ADVISORY RECOMMENDED.

slightly flexed

chill - relax mode

Forgive the blurness, I will not allow myself to camwhore using my Nikon D90. It is morally wrong and breaks all ethics of a DSLR. Anyway, I gotta be slightly stricter in my routine, diet and sleep time. Been slacking since Deepavali (October) by maintaining everything and not increasing the training intensity. Lazy me. Nothing new. 

The goals for Q3 and Q4 of year 2012 is not finalized yet, but it revolves around losing weight (after gaining desired muscle mass) and so, obtaining a leaner body AAAAAND to go on a proper holiday/vacation anywhere (must include a beach) around the world. Oh and I might be on a short visit to the UK sometime in summer but I'll save that for another day ;)

Oh hi there! says the watch. 

Peace out homies. .

Capacity

Hi there. I am having trouble sleeping so I thought I should just write about things that I have been pondering upon lately. I know there are two types of people, the ones who live everyday and take things as it comes, and the ones who have a set of goals and do just about anything to achieve them. Now I know that these are two extreme ends and that the characteristics of an actual person may vary anywhere in between. The question here really is, which end am I closer to?

We are all working be it studentship or actual employment. We all wake up and accomplish day to day tasks, meet problems and solve them, socialize adequately and look forward to the occasional fun times. Easy or tough, everybody has it differently. Life that is. More importantly, we all coexist in the same system but with very different nature. Today, I see more and more people (young adults) put importance in entertainment and a heavy allocation of their time and money is channelled towards this cause. People start thinking to themselves, what is the point of working so hard but living miserably. Well, if there is anything I'm glad about, is that luckily my parents did not have that mentality to pass down to me. 

Dad's IWC's Portofino 8day power reserve manual wind

simply gorgeous 

Have you ever thought of how things are going to be 5 or 10 years from now? Do you have a set of goals you have to achieve by then? Is your every waking moment spent on inching towards it? If no, then clearly your goals aren't of utmost importance. If yes, then you are mercilessly dedicated to it (maybe too much for comfort haha). My point being, there has to be a balance. Honestly speaking I have not found that balance yet. It always depends on the time I get off as I plan around my work-times and so, everyday is a different affair. I cannot answer the 5-10year question at the moment, and that bugs me. If you know me well, I am a person who sets out a plan and work towards it and not being able to answer this question eats into at least 10minutes of my sleep every night. Why you ask? Because this is new to me. I have never lived life not knowing what is tomorrow. I never worked towards an endless goal. I need to know my next finishing line. Unfortunately where I am standing right now, there is no finishing line. Before this it was all easy. Assignment deadlines, final exams, graduating. etc. You know what is coming WHEN it is coming. So this is why I have set a few milestones to hit as I get older. So that 5 years from now I will look back and tell to myself "daym I got this far".

Don't get me wrong though, I am not confused or saddened by all this uncertainties, doubts and worries. They are a motivational drive for me. For now I can tell you what I really want. It only comes down to one word. Guess what? Love. LOL wrong. Its is Capacity. I want to have the capacity to afford myself anything that I want. The capacity to back the words I say and give confidence to the people I love. The capacity to withstand pitfalls and downtimes. The capacity to give and not expect anything. What's ironic is that the capacity I am speaking of here is somewhat an 'endless goal'. No, I am not materialistic. I am a realist. 

"My father has never thought me how to live. He simply lived and let me watch him do so"

- random saying I read on a restaurant's wall 

This time, it's timeless.

Hello there.

Two months after my birthday and I finally got myself a present! (yeah it's sad but I'm the only one getting myself a present). Exciting much? Yes! Because for at least 3-4 months now I have not stop thinking about it. I stare at the picture of it online every single morning before breakfast and at night before going to bed. So what is 'it'? Is it a bird? Is it a plane? (I wish). No, not even close. Here are some pictures of it.

Le Watch

In the box

The model of this watch is Longines Master Collection L2.693.4. It is an automatic movement(which means it runs on mechanical energy and not battery) and has a chronograph (stop watch feature). Round stainless steel with sapphire glass case and it's dial is silver finished 'barleycorn' patterned, blue steel hands and sexy Arabic numerals, also not to forget the alligator strap which gives it an exotic feel.

And now moving on to the back

sexy ass baby

(you can click on the pictures to look at them zoomed)

So this is the back of the watch. Transparent Sapphire glass to showcase the movement. The left half of the back is actually the pendulum which rotates(every time the wrist moves) and automatically winds a spring inside, that's basically how Automatic movements work. So once again beautiful finishing, love the engraving of "THE LONGINES MASTER COLLECTION".

This is basically my first ever major purchase, and most certainly the last one I will be making this year. Gotta stay low profile in terms of spending ;)

and btw if you are wondering what was the price tag on this baby, please watch the small video that follows ;)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SiMHTK15Pik

True story.

Okay that's it for now, peace out guys ;)

Growth - my perspective

-Growth, the evidence to life-

Growth simply means development or the increase in size, number, value, strength or even significance. To me it is not an objective, an aim, or a destination. It is most certainly not the beginning, a trigger or even an inception of anything. Growth is a journey. It is more important than the end or the start. It is relative in nature and because of that, it is ultimate.

-Growth is finite but the idea should be infinite -

The degree of growth simply depends on a man's ideals. Retardation of growth is when a man sets himself an attainable ideal. The fear of disappointment is far greater than the importance of pushing the limits. This is the death of progression.

-We are happy when we grow-

It can be a physical growth or a spiritual one, we are happy when we grow. Sometimes we need an assurance that we are doing it right, especially when effort is involved in the process. A tree cannot bear fruit without having grown its first leaf(s) and it is that leaf that will assure me things are on track and looking good. Similarly, a student would feel that being able to solve questions after practise is always a morale booster for the coming exams.

-Growth is a painful process-

There are sayings such as 'no pain no gain', 'nothing good comes easy', and some such as sacrifices are a must in order to succeed. Unfortunately these are all true. Although I am only an ordinary guy living an ordinary life, I can assure you that growth is a painful process. Take body building for an example. I subject myself to sore and aches and I go through it every morning. The day I wake up feeling less sore than before, I know for sure that I have slacked and under performed.

Then there is the mirror. The second most stared at object after the monitor (some free statistics for you). Everyday I get two reminders that I am on route to success. First a positive one, the visible increase in muscle size and secondly somewhat a negative one, stretch marks which appeared due to rapid muscle development. I might also look bulkier than I would like for these few months as the process of sculpting anything involves both construction and deconstruction to achieve the perfect end result. This is also another form of pain that growth induces. There are times you may have to lose to gain, or gain to lose and the ones who have the raw capacity to withstand this gruesome phase will pull through.

-For every successful business man, ten others would have failed-

This is a theory I came up with throughout my (not very long) experience working with my father. If there is one thing he thought me, it is that competition is fierce. There is no rest, there is no time out. You think about business during the day, and you dream about it at night. If you do it long enough, you will see the true meaning of growth.

In body building, I have learned that in order to grow big, I must eat big. In other words, for I, a human to grow bigger than I am, I must E.A.T more meat(other poor animal). If I were to relate this to business, Growth here is how much of the market share you consume. You have to control a certain percentage of the market or else you are not doing it right. You can be hardworking and super excellent, you will never GROW.

You need years and years of experience to establish a brand name, but only seconds to destroy it. That is how fragile growth is. Like mirror it can shatter at any given point or time. You must sustain it. Feed yourself with motivation and you will find the drive. Feed people around you with drive and you will find motivation. It is not about being awesome, it's about being awesome around awesome people.

Know that there is no limit.

I will stop when I want to but I will grow till the day I die.

Progress report

Taken few hours ago after my workout (shoulder day)
ps: apologies for the face, I was burned out!

Hey people! Now I know I haven't been writing all that much lately, been real busy :/ So anyway, if you have been keeping in touch with me, you would know that I spend 1.5hrs at the gym 4 times a week. This picture is the result of 1.5months of proper scheduled workout and nutrition plan which my buddy Lai Wai Hong and I have adopted and modified to suit our body(from www.bodybuilding.com and youtube videos). Supplements consumed are whey protein, creatine hcl, multivitamins, fish oil.


Sorry I don't have a "before" picture to do the classic before/after comparison, but yeah, if you've seen me semi naked or in boxers before. These are the minor changes so far. I have a realistic goal to achieve in 12 months and so will be doing a picture update every 3months in.


"You will only know how far you've gone if you stop to look where you came from"


It's important to keep yourself motivated at all times. My next post will be following up shortly, it is about discipline and the similarities of body building/gymming and Business/personal growth. . I assure you it will be good read ;)


Take care boys n girls. ;)

Something to die for

Mankind, in our short but majestic history we managed to change the shape of the earth, erect buildings that challenge the heavens itself and take giant leaps to the moon and beyond. How did we get here?

What inspired our ancestors to leave the comfort of their caves or trees in search for more? We started walking all over this planet for thousands and thousands of miles before eventually giving up the nomadian culture. With irrigation and hoarding, ops, herding, we began feeding ourselves in a much more efficient manner. The great rivers of the earth gave life to fertile lands, it gave man a place to call home. It gave man something to fight for.

Every man of every social strata had different things to fight for. Slaves worked hard to stay alive. Farmers and Craftsmen worked to put food on the table. Merchants and traders provided their society with goods and resources from far away lands. Then there were the soldiers and warriors who fought to maintain sovereignty of their kingdom. Last but not least the leaders, tyrants, emperors who all had fought for one thing. Power. Mind you, back then with great powers comes great wealth, not responsibilities.

Survival of the fittest. The ones with power proceeded to divide and conquer while the weak submit to survive. There was no mercy, there was no comfort. It has been thousands of years of fighting, two great world wars in less than 100 years, and millions of bloodshed. Will the fighting stop? Unfortunately no. Those that have tasted power will never be relieved of that curse and those that have not will fight forever to quench that thirst. It is the inevitable fate of mankind.

If there is one thing history has thought me, it is to appreciate the calm before the storm. In fact, I am lucky to have been born in this time and place. I am used to certain levels of luxury now. The luxury of freedom. The luxury of having clean water. The luxury of having a voice. Basic human rights you say? No. Do not forget that ONLY 60 years ago, our forefathers never had such luxury. 54 years (of our independence) as compared to 3-5000 years of unrest. Yes my friends, we are living in a grey, calm plateau in history, staying afloat on a sea of chaos.

You may think that we are much more civilized now as compared to then. Times have changed and things will never go back to what was the dark ages. But everything scales in proportion. We have better education and legal system, but on the other hand our weapons are now capable of wiping the entire human race. We have better living quality and protection from nature now compared to before, but also remember in the past 100 years we probably stripped and polluted mother earth way more than the combined effect of all civilizations ever since the stone age. We are walking on thin ice my friends.

I have but one question for you. .
If we see mankind descend into madness, will you answer the call to arms?

Be it freedom, power, or even love, at that time then, maybe, having something to die for is the only way to stay alive.

Ps: I was inspired to write this after reading and watching links on the internet about Bersih2.0.
Just some food for thought. :)

Starting the week right

This time on a regular Sunday (for about 7-8 months now) I would probably be out in the sun playing some netball, being retarded with friends, enjoying some breakfast and chitchat all the way till noon before heading back home. Yes, I wake up at 6.15am on a regular basis every Sunday, pick up the dudes and head to the court in KL, slightly over 30mins drive. Hardcore? Well for guys to wake up 6.15am in the morning, it ought to be for something awesome right ;)

A shot of a shot.
(taken from my netball album, Triforce ▲ posted in facebook)

This week's netball was called off due to the lack of people so I had breakfast with my father, an age old tradition for me. Every Sunday is breakfast day, both of us would head to our favourite Indian restaurant in Klang Town. In the rare occasion that my brother wakes up and joins us, we would go to a shop in PortKlang, he loves the mutton served in that shop. We have been doing this for more than 15years now. *insert clichéd statement on how ridiculously fast time passes by* Good times. We read the paper and discuss about any interesting topics from politics, religion, economics, social problems, cars and so on. These days however it's mostly about business. When we are done, he sends us home and heads to the office because he is a machine and works 24/7. People normally love Sundays because they get to sleep in, I love my Sundays for the way it symbolises the dawn of a new week. 

So what's been up lately. .  oh, realizing that I am completely out of shape, I am in a hardcore training mode. Going to the gym as well as strict food intake (high protein low carb diet). Based on my body weight and workout intensity, I have to consume slightly over 150grams of protein everyday. To give you a rough idea of what 150 gram is, an egg has got 4g of protein, a can of tuna slightly over 24g, a full chicken breast about 50g (both halves). For those of you who know how much I try to avoid chicken breasts, I now eat them almost everyday. All in all, it is difficult and painful but waking up with body aches is something I have grown accustomed to. Whenever I perform a set of exercise until failure, it feels pretty damn good. Pushing the limit further every time you do something. . It's good morale ;)   

Oh yah, changed my car. We sold my faithful Nissan Sentra. Accompanied me for 3 years, and slightly over 60,000kilometers. BHP3348 You will be remembered.

Oh and the pedobear laiwaihong is coming back on the 15th. All of us being who we are, already excited and started planning roadtrips and food expeditions. Going to be epic as always ;)