Movin' On

Hi Y'all.
I've decided to move my blog over here --> http://thatredfish.tumblr.com/
Honestly because... well, it's just easier. I like the interface better.

So hope to see you over there! <3

Why My Life is so Awesome - Family Day Edition

1. I slept in.
2. I got out of bed, ate a hearty, healthy breakfast & then did some kung fu homework.
3. I got a text from my BFF & we decided to go for dim sum.
4. We went to dim sum, which was delicious. While at dim sum, we noticed some people dressed in fancy garb carrying Chinese lion dance costumes.
5. We got to watch a delightful Lion Dance through the restaurant! The lion danced & ate everyone's red packets & made everyone smile & be happy, like a good lion should.
6. We went shopping & bought some feng shui charms.
7. We adventured in to various punk/vintage shops. We met a cute dog. We bought some items with hot pin up girls on them.
   
8. We had some delicious sushi & I had ramen for the first time ever. Believe it!
9. We ended our fantastic day out by heading to the gym to train.
10. Training was wonderful as always. There's lots I have to work on, but with practice I'll get better. Just gotta stay focused. Gave 2/3 of my Sifu gifts & they both liked them.
11. Ended the day with a nice cup of tea & relaxation.

Now if that's not the good life, I don't know what is.

Almost Lunar New Year

I really need to put more effort into doing this blogging business. Unfortunately, my life isn't a bevy of excitement. But there are a few things going on of note.

Probably most importantly, I'm coming up on my "training anniversary", which will be referred to as my "trainiversary". Since I don't really have a landmark for when I started martial arts in the first place, I decided to make the landmark for the time when I started training where I am now, which is about the same time as my Sifu's birthday (although I'll admit I still need to learn the exact date for that). So, this year will mark the start of my 4th year of training.

I'm still very much a baby, but alot has changed since I started this journey. Physically, I'm substantially stronger, more coordinated and have more endurance then I used to. Mentally, I've come a long way as well, overcoming sometimes crippling anxiety, shyness and negativity. I won't get in to too much, since I typed a long rant for New Years about this, but my life is alot better now, and if I can make this much progress in 3 years, I can only imagine what the next 3 years will bring. I love my training, I have a collection of wonderful teachers & classmates and I wouldn't have it any other way. I'm a happy camper.

Also, speaking of New Years, Chinese New Year is upon us! This year is the year of the Metal Tiger, which is exciting for a Fire Tiger like myself. Apparently, I can look forward to good health, which makes me happy. I am still in my middle of "The Art of War", so I haven't had a chance to study in depth what I can expect, but I think everything will be good. The metal element should look after me. I'm hoping to get together with friends & catch a lion dance too.

I've also started a routine to get rid of my access skin, because it's become a source of anxiety for me. See, when I started this weight loss adventure years ago, I neglected to think that my skin would be a concern. Knowing very little about how skin actually works, I figured it would just keep up with me and everything would be happy. And of course I dropped lots of weight really fast. So now I have an access of skin that's making me very uncomfortable. I've gotten reassurance from people that what I'm doing will work, it's just super frustrating because it's something that will take a very long time to see results.

Anyway, I think it's working, because the skin actually feels better, so hopefully after a few months I will loose some sag and never have to worry about this again. If nothing else, I've found an effective way to get rid of stretch marks.

So that's that. Hopefully there will be some more exciting things to rant & rave about in the future, but for now, I'm off to lunch. Toodles!

Reflections for a New Year

A while ago, I posted on my Twitter for the hashtag #10yearsago I, and it dawned on me that 10 years ago was a very different time.

10 years ago I would have been 13, and in about the 8th grade. I can honestly say I wouldn't want to go back to the way I was then. Youthful ignorance aside, I was around 230 pounds then. I remember struggling to run for even a minute in the ever humiliating gym fitness classes. I remember consuming large amounts of junk food daily for no particular reason, and being puzzled by people who didn't. Although it wasn't all bad. I had a good collection of friends, my grades were high.

Now, I can happily say that my weight now sits at around 180 pounds with potential to drop much lower. Now I can run in 45 minute intervals. Just yesterday I did 30 mins of cardio and 400 sit-ups, and considered that a "slow day". The only reason I stopped was because the tendinitis in my forearms was acting up and the elliptical wasn't helping. Today I'll do some qi gong before I head out on an adventure. Junk food now isn't pop, chips, or the like. I've given those things up. Junk food now is considered a deep fried sushi, a hamburger or even pork sometimes.

My friends are still very good, although now that I think about it, very few from that time are still around. My BFF is still here, but that's expected (I think after the 17 year mark, neither of us is going anywhere :) ). Several people I haven't spoken to in many years, but not because of any particular falling out, we just moved on to different things. I've had the opportunity to welcome many other very important people into my life since then as well.

School now is martial arts. Although I haven't been in this school for as long as I would like, I have fallen in love with it, and intend not to leave it. Everyday I push myself to my limits and learn something new. Everyday I get a little bit better. Everyday I get a new lesson for life.

Here are the list of things I would like to get accomplished in 2010:

1. Intensify my training & lose the last 30 pounds.
   This will mean getting rid of the lazy voice in my head that tells me I can't do something. I'm past the point now where it matters that I listen to that voice. Sifu is talking about putting me in tournaments, so training will have to intensify to make that a reality. Also, since I've purchased Ladies Only Kickboxing Lessons for my Heather, that means we will get to train more Muay Thai!


2. Make it to 1000 sit ups per day.
   My goal is to be able to do as many sit ups per day as my Sifu did when he was my age. He did 10 sets of 10 everyday, and I am going to do that many too.


3. Stop thinking.
   I tend to miss acting on things lately because I just think about them way too much. Even simple things like standing up for someone when someone else makes a rude comment. I'll sit and think and analyze when I should have just said "Hey guy, shut up.". What's the worst that could happen anyway?


4. Be more sociable.
   I'm pretty sure that this was a carry-over from last year. Anyway, some progress has been made with this at least. It kinda ties in with the "Stop thinking" thing. I will usually sit and worry about what people will say if I open my mouth, so I'll just clam up and avoid everything. This time, we won't think. Again, what's the worst that could happen?


5. Just Be.
   I've always had very little confidence in myself or what I do. I never give myself any credit. As I learned from one of my Tweeps' blog, I'm a very harsh critic for myself and I tend not to see the steps that I take to be victories for myself at all when they are. I need to remember that I am a person, that I am not perfect, but that I am still wonderful. I need to train myself to be my loudest cheerleader.
   

The Annual After-Christmas Purge

It's hard to believe that it's almost the end of 2009 already. I can still vividly remember what I was doing at this time last year, so it feels like it hasn't been a year at all. I'll have to look thoroughly at what was different from last year to this in another blog post. That could be interesting.

Anywho, Christmas, as always was filled with family, friends & food. I spent my first Saturday in forever with my BFF. I got to see people I haven't seen in several months. Christmas Eve I spent being grateful for the wonderful co-workers I have, went home in the afternoon, got to try a chocolate-avocado smoothy (a la my sister), watched The Empire Strikes Back and chatted on the phone. Christmas day was filled with spending lots of time with the family. I took advantage of the holidays and ate just about anything that I came across in the house, and managed to eat enough to make moving painful. It was great!

Boxing day, as it is every year, was a day to clean up everything and sort out the newly acquired presents vs. all of my old junk. I managed to throw out ALOT of stuff this year, and put alot of stuff away. I took down a bunch of stuff that had been occupying my space from the early 2000's & earlier. I admit I feel dreadfully dull now, but also alot lighter & renewed. I cleansed my jade bangle too, so I feel a better energy.

Well that's it for now. I have to put some effort into going to bed in good time now, because I want to wake up early to do some exercises. Hopefully that will work out.

Successipe! Spicy Tuna Sandwich

I experimented in making a spicy tuna sushi inspired sandwich... and it was a success! Here's how to make your own Spicy Tuna Sandwich:

Ingredients:

2 pieces whole grain bread
1/2 can White Tuna in water
1 tbsp Light Mayonnaise
1/2 Avocado
Dash of Sesame oil
Dash of Shiracha sauce

Method:

1. In a bowl, mix tuna, mayonnaise, sesame oil & Shiracha sauce. Don't go overboard on the sesame oil, as it is just to taste. Add as much Shiracha sauce to create whatever degree of "spiciness" you like. (I found this stuff pretty powerful though, so maybe use sparingly on your first go.)

2. Chop avocado half as desired. I cut it into strips.

3. Spread tuna mixture on bread. Add avocado on top to finish your sandwich!

Ta-da! Quick, easy and delicious!

Video Games Live 2009

It's nice to finish off a nice, peaceful Victoria Day with an overwhelming wave of geekery like Video Games Live.

I have to admit, I found myself a bit disapointed with how repetative it's getting... maybe it's just because I'm biased and only want to hear the music of Metal Gear Solid or Legend of Zelda. I did find myself wishing that they would mix it up a bit.

However, despite that it was a pretty awesome show. The cosplay contest was really impressive (personal favorites included a wee boy dressed as Shinobi, a set of Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers and the guy from Dead Rising with a Servebot hat). The did a Skype feed with the man who created Pong and I guess if the official creator of the video game. Martin Leung did his usual stuff, playing Mario blindfolded. We had a pretty spectacular encore with the music of Chrono Trigger AND Chrono Cross, which was pretty epic.

Ah, it's fun to geek out for 3 straight hours...

However, I'm now left to deal with my good friend insomnia. My over-active brain probably won't shut off for a few hours now, regardless of how tired the rest of me is. Maybe I'll try some meditation and see how that goes?