And I Say

Merry Christmas. *HIC!*

Eve

Here i am, sitting down, resplendent in all my glorious clothing, which, owing to my warped fashion sense, isn't much. Red shirt (which i've been wearing far too much for formal occasions) and a black corduroy pants that i don't like, since i dislike all long pants. Oh, and that silver abstinence necklace with the amethyst pendant that i never take off. Useless thing.

I'm pretty happy, even though chritmas eve doesn't feel like christmas eve, since its as hot as ever and there's no snow *big grin*. Check the time of this post and you'd realise that in 40 minutes time (9:00pm) i'd be in church, singing christmas carols like the rest of 'em. And so on so forth until 12 midnight. Yawn. Wish i could've brought my gameboy, or plug in earbuds. Which is weird, cause i loyally attend church every Sunday, yet don't feel like going to chirch on Christmas eve. m with most people its the other way around.

Is that weird or what? ;P

2005 review

This year has been weird. I found myself in one of the many splatters of life that just happen to be spilled over the canvas of 2005. I don't like this year, mainly because its been painful to grow and to think more and more like a person my age. Gone are the days when i can bury myself in a book and laugh off the irregularities in life. So, let's have a short review.

• The single biggest thing i've learnt this year is that i can't be funny 100% of the time. It just annoys people and gets in the way of the job
• Next up in the list of things learnt would be commitment. Kenny taught me this, through Undergroundsquare, of all places *shrugs*
• And then would be how much i care on what people think of me, looks and whatever. This particular aspect of me seems to have turned more stubborn with time, shouting "I don't care!" Which is not exactly good, and not exactly bad.
• I'm now able to speak tongues, something i find particularly disturbing, coz i have no idea what i'm saying
• I'm also now able to throw people, and if it wasn't for 2005, i wouldn't have learnt how easy it is to break a human arm
• I find i'm very pissed off at my studies and how i've been faring
• Debate presented its ugly head in early 2005, teaching me teamwork and how much i need to rein in my sarcasm ;P
  
• Its also taught me arguments can go on forever when there's no real judge to tell people what's right or wrong
• And i've learnt we live in a world full of relatives, a grey line separating good and bad. Somehow the world doesn't seem so cheery anymore
• I don't like B movies
• And, i somehow find myself attracted to clean white line and simple furniture. Uh oh. Future minimalist guy, me

And that should be about it, apart from the fact that almost every event i've been looking forward to turned out to be dissapointments, and those events that i thought was going to be lousy turned out to be great learning experiences. Life seems to be ridiculing me, somehow. What would 2006 bring?

Downsizing?

Bithday present two years ago
RM100+

Birthday present last year
RM100+

My Birthday Present this year.
RM39.45

I must be getting more contented with life or something. Maybe one of these days i'd go to the hills and live like a hermit. :D

My Great Adventure

That sounds like the line of some cheesy B-rated movie. Like, Chicken Little's Great Adventure. Or, Timothy the Telepathic Teapot's Great Adventure. But no. It's mine. And it doesn't involve any form of ESP.

Its just plain simple, really. The undergroundsquare forums had been swarming with plans to go out. First we wanted a trip to Hartz. That was shot down as too boring. Then we named all the fast food stores in Kuching (which, mind you, isn't much), and that was shot down as too boring as well. Then we said, "Why have to be makan only?" (actually that was just Paul, he suggested sports, like running, swimming, B-ball. Y'know, the works. For a moment Judo even flitted across my mind, although i knew that's as impossible as the Telepathic Teapot gaining superhuman strength (come to think of it, that might actually happen, who knows with B-movies?))

So after that was shot down (swimming was the only viable sport that everyone enjoyed, but what if someone drowned?) Eating it was. If someone did choked on a drumstick we'll laugh at it for days to come, but if he was trashing in the water, shouting "BLOODY CRAMP!", i don't think we'd be laughing at it much. Ling might, since he laughs at the weirdest things, anyway.

The discussion continued to BBQs at people's houses. Nobody was quite willing to offer their houses to be ransacked, and that was canceled. Then we came up with the bright idea of movies. Eureka! Tay took over and very helpfully provided all the timestables and movies available. It was going to be either Narnia, or King Kong. 4 kids or 1 ape. Many animals in normal sizes or a few animals in XXXXL sizes. Hmm. What a choice!

It was the timetable that was the determining factor. Kenny had prefect duty in school. I had a meeting in church in the afternoon for the Christmas Party (360 kids - aargh). Sam and Wandkey had to convince the parents why exactly they were going out with about 5 boys. Their parents probably were thinking along the lines of a) gorup date or b) group rape.

Or perhaps c) sure to honest gathering for teens in the U.S forums, with lots of jokes and a nice movie plus lunch to boot.

Hmm. Kinda hard to explain. You get the picture.

So we held an MSN party, with everyone trying to work out the problems. Kenny decided to ask his SSP if he needn't go to school. I worked out if we went in the morning i could still make it to the meet, though late. Sam and Wandkey had to continue working on their parents. Nem was pretty cool about it all. So we manage to work out most of the kinks, which was running on a pretty tight schedule.

I checked the fourm the night before the outing day. All good and set to go. Perfect.

Next morning, when i had already reached there, i SMSed Kenny. He said (verbatim here): They say cancel.

Could you imagine the horror? We'd sacrificed, negotiated with a stupid, uncoorperative Cineplex girl over the phone, worked to get parents trust, and there i was, having no idea why they canceled. (Of course, i understood why later and knew it was just bad luck, or bad timing that led them to cancel that; perefectly understandable).

But at that moment, standing next to one of Wolverine's claws in the X3 poster in Star, i felt at a loss. What the heck should i do? Perhaps a minute of unsureness and rapid SMSing to Kenny. He was busy, doing a tour to visitors in St Thomas's. Okay, i'd better not call. So i left him a firm message to tell me what happened, and bought myself a ticket for Narnia. I was too sick of waiting and letting our efforts (or at least mine) go to waste. So there i sat, alone, early in the morning, in a cineplex.

I totally enjoyed the movie. Most of it, anyway - there was a very awkward moment when the girl behind me started to sob hysterically because Aslan the lion had died. Her boyfriend was consoling her and telling her the lion was just sleeping, so on so forth. Well, not actually sleeping, i wanted to turn back and say, but just ready to be resurrected. But i don't think that would've helped.

Owh well.

Birthday

In the online world, the only way to find out whether your friend is having a birthday is to go check your frenster home page. Frens with big fat cakes next to their names are celebrating their birthdays soon, and i guess the only way for friends to show their happiness for you would be to write a testimonial for you.

And testimonials i got. Wen Qi (not username), Veil (username), and Keren (duh) all gave me testis this morning. Kinda happy bout that, although i still have this blasted sore throat and my fingers are red with food colouring (don't ask me, its somewhat Chinese to eat red (coloured) eggs on the morn of you birthday).

Another thing. Earlier this year i posted in my blog that since i'm a Decemberer (or Saggitarius, whichever way you look at it) i turn one year older (16) and then another year older when the new year starts (17). So from now on i'd still have tos ay i'm 17 even though i'm actually 16, and then i'm not going to say or explain that to common acquaintances why is that so, so ...

Happy birthday to me ;P

Kids Games 2005

Well, i couldn't post anything about this coz i fell sick immediately after the event - light fever and serious sore throat. Nothing too bad, perhaps because my mum gave me some horrible herbal fusion that i had to drink with my nose pinched shut. But it did its job - chinese medicinal style - got well the day after (which was yesterday; i didn't go to church) so i'm not complaining.

Anyways, the Kids Games was hectic. I'm not exactly in the mood to retell everything - but somehow last year was much nicer than this year. I don't know why - it could've been a tougher crowd of kids that tended to kick and punch (and you couldn't use any martial arts, duh), or it could be i'm losing my touch. Could it? Man i wouldn't have belived it. Got sick on the third day and culdn't even teach properly. By now these sessions are pretty normal for me, coz being in St Faith's church's TA meant being involved in organising the various camps and watevers the Sunday School needs. SO i don't udnerstand at all. What changed? The team was great - loved working with Sean, Maryann, Amanda, Joanna, Crystal and Romena, but i still don't get it. Last year you could feel the presence of God - that the message you were trying to put across really did get through. We prayed for the kids. We prated with the kids. And this year prayer just took a backseat.

One distinct improvement were the Games. Richard really pulled it off amazingly as Games coordinator. The only flaw with that was perhaps the schedule. We were always hurried through Games, so we could get to the Bible Discovery, and then we were hurried through Bible Discovery to get to Games ... Last year we seemed to have time for everything - even multiple rounds of the Experience It games so that everybody would be involved - made the experience a lot more effective in teaching them about God.

I dunno, i really don't. Something didn't fit in right, but i can't place it. But what cannot be denied was the sheer hard work the Extension Chruch put into this project. I absolutely salute them for that.

Fishing For Noobs (Like Me)

Ruby's catch

all of us

samseng fish

As things are often such, i couldn't post the fishing trip yesterday, with memories fresh in my mind and my face gleefully red from sunburn (my reflection today tells me i'm looking more and more like an Iban with a darkened face - the hilarity of it all)

It was lovely - well, most of it was. If i had been fishing by myself, i'd probably be bored to tears, but the company of many (and jokes galore - more on that later) was too much to not have fun. The waits, especially some parts when the fish continously eat my bait and leave my hook, was frustrating, but the moments of tension when the rod curved in response to a nibbling fish wasn't. Lovely, lovely stuff, fishing - even though i caught 1 fish, while my sister several times younger than me caught 6 - 2nd highest amongst us *rolls eyes*

I reached Church at about 8.30 in the morning, lepaking around with Jason and his cousin, Brendan. Then (if i tell you every single detail you'd be bored to tears, too) we made off for the farm at about 9, with me squeezing in the back of a van and wondering why i let other people enjoy my iPod. The breeze was cool, the skies were clear - it looked perfect. Well the skied-were-clear part wasn't exactly, coz that'll mean that the unforgiving Malaysian sun was burning from above.

The fishing ponds were muddy and the first impression of the place wasn't anything nice. It smelled like my dog, which i had not bathed for two weeks, and the flies were having the time of their lives with the bait we made later on.

I didn't mind at all.

So then we put our stuff down and started readying our equipment. It took about a half hour before i got help to string mine, me being a newbie in everything concerning a rod. And then i learnt how to cast, mostly from watching other people casting theirs. Aaron's advice on fishing was simple but perfectly understandable: "1, hook. 2, hook. 3? HOOK!"

Fishing hooks were not something you wanted under your skin. They tore and made a lot of blood, as proved several minutes later, since a hook my little sister used went right through the roof of a catfish's mouth and out through the eye. By the time i used the pliers to extract it, the eye was hanging out.

And then there was that samseng (gangster) patin (local name for a type of fish) that pulled Aaron's rod into the water. We thought all was lost.

"I saw my rod flash before me eyes!" he wailed. Minutes later, God bless, Elaine got a fish, which turned out to be Aaron's rod, which was still connected to the samseng fish. We quickly reeled it in, and then grabbed the water-soaked rod, and started to pull. It got away. Then, a little later, Aaron got his revenge by pulling it in. Huge fish, it was.

That should be about it. Course, there still was that time when all of us started yelling "Howie Day!" into the water, just because me and Amanda managed to catch fish right after we talked about him (i was singing She Says to the water), but i'm running out of online time, as i probably stink of my dog. Just gave her a bath and even my skin is screaming for a shower. Oh well.

Photos courtesy of Ruby Chan, and her marvelous ability to upload photos into Frenster. ;þ

Quote for December

A ship in a harbor is safe; but ships are meant to sail."

-John Shedd

10 to 1

10 Firsts:
first best friend: Terence. Lost track of him
first screename: Roa
first kiss: I was a kid, mom kissed me. No idea whether it was her or dad first, but its safer if i put her
first time you spoke tongues: Planetshakers concert
first piercing: None yet
first crush: Uhum. Private.
first music: Perhaps it was You Are My Sunshine. I didn't choose what music to listen to - i was a fetus.
first love: God.
first date: Cancelled.
first EX: This blog has no collection of that yet. I'll keep you posted ;þ

9 Lasts:
last cigarette: Nil
last alchoholic drink: Shandy. A year back.
last song u heard: Relient K - Who I Am Hates Who I've Been
last real kiss: Please don't make me answer that question.
last movie seen: Spiderman 2. I was really bored, so i grabbed the best movie on the couch
last phone call: Kenny. He wanted me to attend some daft camp.
last CD played: Ling's burned confection.
last bubble bath: Two years ago
last cried: in God's presense

8 Have You Evers:
have you ever been arrested?: Nope, unless by prefects.
have you ever dated one of your best friends?: My best friends were all guys.
have you ever skinny dipped?: In a bathtub.
have you ever been on TV?: Background. It was a news story on F1
have you ever kissed someone & then regretted it?: I was 5. SHe was 10. Questions?
have you ever had a sex dream about someone you knew?: Am i a boy?
have you ever cheated on ur lover? : Its not in my nature. I think.
have you ever been in a fight: Duh.

7 Things You're Wearing Now:
A black graphic tee
Shorts
Abstinence necklace
Specs
Livestrong band
A puzzled face
iPod earbuds

6 Things You've Done Today:
Kids Games training
Forum administrating
Blogging
Bathed my dog
Chat
Ate lunch with friends


5 Favorite Things In No Particular Order:
iPod shuffle
My blog
The Bartimaeus Trilogy
Undergroundsquare
Celtic Circles :þ

4 People You Can Tell Anything:
Garrick
My aunt
Paul
My dog (its a person)


3 Choices:
black or white: white
hot or cold: either
chocolate or vanilla: vanilla

2 Things You Want to Do Before You Die:
Create and run a successful corporation
Drive

1 Thing you lookin for:
Who i am inside

Another picture from Div

Announcement

A coupla changes to the blog, guys - all minor. Perhaps you've noticed that the name's changed, and so has the description:

Life like an hourglass, glued to the table

That one's taken from Anna Nalick's Breathe (2am) - as featured in Joan of Arcadia. Another thing's changed - anyone can post a comment, even without logging in, but comment moderation is on and i have to approve the comments before they can be displayed in the blog. But enjoy - i've always meant for this blog to be chockful of wit (and - sometimes - sarcasm ;P) and i'm not going to let up. And if you guys are blogging, keep it up - i usually bookmark the blogs of my frens.

Dienasty out~

I had a stupid day

You know these essay competitions that ask you to write short pieces about 'The worst day of my life'? I think today certainly fits into that category.

For starters, it didn't involve Tay, coz if it was i'd have started this post on how hard it is to break arms in a self defense situation, even if using Juji Gatame. It also doesn't involve embarassment, coz if it was i'll be in the toilet trying to drown myself.

It was dead boring, and i had a running nose that was stemmed after i forced a fat effervercent vitamin C pill down my throat. First there was this daft environmental seminar thingy, with speakers from all over the world. But although the Ian guy, some Brit with a whacked sense of humour, was good, the others were presenting history and theories (the Polluter Pays principle, anyone?) which was more well suited if i was in debate mode, which i wasn't. I just couldn't bring myself to think out of the box like in those blasted brainstorming sessions right before a competition. And you know what was worst? Knowing that if i had skipped this, i could've either done Kids Games and polished up, or i could've been in Judo doing Shiai practise.

Kids Games Preview

So, as promised, here's the one up on the training. I'm really sorry i coudn't get online last night to type out a day by day, blow by blow account - hey, don't look at me - it was a problem with my streamyx ppp layer. I could explain what that is, but it'll take too long and it'll make me seem like a geek (which probably is true if i know what it actually means).

Anyway, i'll be going out to Parkson later on just to hunt for christmas presents (lol) so i'll make it snappy.

The training was really tiring. Met a lot of Extension Church people, most of them leaders in the teams (whew - safe!). Mine is Sean and Maryann Chang, brothers and sisters, both good but not as experienced as the old team in my church. But that team is long gone, and although i had a lot of fun organising some of our exploits (and i miss them), its broken up by life and time ... i guess i'd rather not talk about that, yeah?

So, cool. Aunty Jennifer was seriously picky about the skits and all - she seemed stretched by all the darn work involve. Bless her - i can only guess at the stress being put on her. And i'm very happy with the team i was put in - they're all great people with different strengths being put into play. There's Crystal, Romena, Joanna, Amanda (yeah - that Amanda from the old team), Maryann and Sean. And there's me, i guess.

We just went through most of the skits, and prepared for the games. There's still going to be a lot of sweat and tears and i ...

... i'll keep you posted. ;D

Christmas

A wish list? Well, sice i've already got a music player that i have no intent on losing, i just want a trilogy. The Black Magician Trilogy at that. And if that's not possible, then a triller will do fine.

Not demanding, aye?

Personally, talking bout christmas reminds me uncomfortably that the end of the year is drawing near and soon Form 5 will start. Then i'll have to begin studying like mad, and doing homework till i'm half dead. I don't really like that, but i guess its inevitable. But before that happens, i guess i'll just enjoy the rest this year has to offer, and that includes the Undergroundsquare gathering tonight, coutesy of the Big Boss Kenny. Lol.

Janus

The above picture is Ichiro Shishiya sensei, an Aikido master, using a Katate series sword strike. I'm still not fluent enough in Aikido language, but i like the picture - really cool photography.

HP and the G of F

Well, it was in some ways good, and in someways bad. The movie itself, if not compared to the book, was great - better than the first three ( i completely skived the second and the third), but as i left my seat i was wondering why exactly it could'nt meet up to the charm of the books. Everything in the books seem to be cloaked in one permanent diffuse glow - a wonderful sheen that makes every foray into Hogwarts breathtaking (including the fifth book - i yawned a lot)

Well, they modified the script quite extensively, with whole chunks of the book missing - the Quidditch World Cup, for example. But acting was good, and i personally like the darker theme. Too bad Cedric died - things like this, when you know a character would be killed off, every second of screen time is a question of what-if? Much like Star Wars Episode 3, then, watching the inevitable spiral downward. Maybe that's why i prefer games - you control your own fate.

To my surprise, everyone in the film could pronounce Cedric properly. Well, kidding there. I know Ced's a common name in England, and even then 'Ced' was a surprise - nicknames are universal, aye? That about wraps up my summary of the film - i went home satisfied with the RM9 spent, and then downloaded She Says by Howie Day.

Oh, almost forgot. Fleur looks nice in a swimsuit.

If shopping bores you

Then you're a boy. Like me. Oh, whatever. My parents were in Parkson, hunting down god-knows-what, and since i show no particular interest in looking around at the various graphic tees or jeans, so zip i went into Times bookstore, whittling away time by reading whatever catches my eye. And i seriously found a good one. A novel on par with Artemis Fowl and (well, better than) Alex Rider.

It was The Magicians Guild (cover on the left), the first of the Black Magician trilogy. Again, it was light fantasy, not the deep stuff with unpronouncable names that Paul and Ling read. And again, it was character driven, not whizzbang magic that gave no credence to the plot.

And best of all? The entire series was wriiten out, so i needn't wait for the sequels like i'd been waiting for Harry Potter (since i was 12) and The Bartimaeus Trilogy (since i was 15).

Still haven't gotten it though - just read through 5 chapters in about an hour at the bookstore (call me a thief, whatever), and well, all very promising. So wish me luck. Perhaps a little amount of begging, complete with sad puppy dog eyes during the christmas season would help. ;D

Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire

Well, its Sunday, and i've just gotten kicked out of Gunz due to an untrustworthy Streamyx line. Not that it really mattered - my ping was so low all the guys were owning me, even though i was using the B-fly that Ling recently taught. Had no choice ... you'd know it was really bad when i had to resort to k style moves just to dodge bullets.

Anyway, that's not the story. Church, there was this priest holding service, and during his notices for the day he held up some VCD, documentary on how evil Harry Potter is and to stay away from all the hidden symbolism embedded within. Aaron T. beside me was nodding his head in agreement (if you think i'm THAT holy, with being so involved in organising church activities, think again). I have a personal relationship with God, true, but somehow i don't agree with this HP is evil thing.

Oh, and i'm going out with friends, sooner or later, to watch the movie. Heard that it was better than the last few lousy attempts. Hey, it has Cho Chang. And Fleur Delacour. And Krum. And, urm, Cedric Diggory. Right. Cedric Diggory.

Anyway, this is what they say:

Christian pastor, Steve Wohlberg warns of "the dark spiritual forces" festering beneath Rowling's narrative, drawing Potter in a new book with visions of secular and religious America.

Well, trust the Americans to take something British and tune it to their various problems, of which obesity, violence and 'gayism', caused by kicking religion out of their lives and now blaming it on the darkness of literature.

And there they go worrying about the new wiccan religion springing up, and that Harry Potter is fostering a generation that there is such things as good and bad wizards. Well smite them. If there is such a worry,

• Teach the bible to kids, instead of just blaming it on books. If you wanna blame all the books with magic in it, then you mind as well kill off Lord Of The Rings and Narnia. (But of course, ridding religion in the education system over there causes a problem, doesn't it?)
  
• Make sure all the fans know that its just fiction, and that in real life magic isn't all good and nice and whatever HP makes it seem like.
• And if you DO want to criticise it, which is the freedom of press, then at least read the book first, and not just repeat what your priest/influential community leader/fairy godmother tells you.
  

Kids aren't dumb. I know the difference between a good, nice, well written story, a form of entertainment, and real life magic, that is connected to the devil. And as long as you know that, and that God is always there to protect you, there's no need to blame books and burn them.

Which, by the way, causes air pollution.

*winks*

LoL

Quote for November

The hypothalamus is one of the most important parts of the brain, involved in many kinds of motivation, among other functions. The hypothalamus controls the "Four F's":

1. fighting;
2. fleeing;
3. feeding; and
4. mating.

Psychology professor in
neuropsychology intro course

My Blogs Birthday (!)

kidsgames
Originally uploaded by shadowsun7.

Its nearly a year now since i first set up this blog. Scroll back down the archives and you'd see a medley of funny posts (of which this one is not), melancholic posts, super serious posts. You wouldn't have realised i was capable of serious thought, aye?

Well, the Kids Games this year is drawing nearer by the second, and as my first few entries in this blog were on the Kids Games, you betcha i'm going to record this event in its entirety. Of course i'll be tired - who wouldn't when about a hundred kids are screaming and running and you're part of the teens in charge of them. I dunno, but i like kids. They're easy to talk to, easy to understand, easy to work with. Although sometimes when they scream you wish you brought mufflers.

The Kids Games would be held in St Thomas's agian, and i sincerely hope i'd not get roped in to be a group leader. Its hectic work, and although i was pretty involved with the kids last year, i'd like to be the backstage guy again. Well, almost. Last years closing ceremony was a backstage disaster, although thank God not many people knew that. Mikes were going on and off, lights just couldn't be turned on, and we were sweating so much i stunk up my mom's car after the event was concluded. The laptop and the disk player were all in haphazard places - on an organ and a chair, of all things! Crazy, crazy stuff. Also great fun. I only yelled once throughout the games, compared to all the other group leaders that had sore throats at the end of the day.

I can't wait for it. Strepsils on the ready, of course. ;D

PiCk

This i picked up from PostSecret. its cool, and it does sometimes reflect my mood. Boring hols, huh.

Tuition and hols don't mix, y'know

Okay. There it goes, the start of the holidays (and i didn't know it then - big bad boredom. About one week, one blissful week of computer gaming, something i have starved for since i was brought up in an underground laboratory with mice as food and pieces of gaming mags strewn over as, urm, my toilet. Perhaps reading all those and without a decent rig to play made me so psychologically imprinted that i yearn for these polygonal delights. I dunno. Interactive fun. TV doesn't quite do it for me, though at home, the TV is more highly regarded as useful entertainment than the computer. Like bad to worse.)

Ahh forget it.

I'll not plough you down with my woe, (okay, maybe just a teensy little bit) but hey, everybody'd go half crazy when you find out that Add maths tuition is in full force.

There's this endless barrage of questions teacher throws at you, but while its for my good and all, i can't stand it. So me and Kok Wee regularly turn the focus away from Add Maths, like,

"Hey, you hear the WCG happening in China?"

"Nope." I replied, "What about?"

"They're really good - counter they switch weapons so fast no gunshot sound. And warcraft? Click until crazy. Build up army so fast"

Or dirty jokes,

"You heard the one about Tarzan and Jane and the beehive?"

Or even on things as mundane as Ah Bong's (Kuching High's principal)'s double barreled vision.

"Sometimes you wonder whether he's looking at you or at some cicak at the ceiling. Scary lah."

"Yalor. Sometimes i assembly he yell at the people making noice."

"You sure he didn't see cicak talking?"

Its harder to do work when in the holiday spirit. If you can consider studying during the hols holiday spirit ... Sigh.

I like this one

Why i didn't update

Like i have to answer to the readers of this blog.

Anyway, you guys want to understand the current situation? Hmm. I'll try to wrap it up in a nice little story for you.

Sam Fisher was just approaching his objective - a drop zone for a SC207 (i think that's what it was called, don't care, really) and there was this tricky business of the backup generator in the CIA headquarters. Sam could've shot out the lights or shoot the workers there if he'd been given the gun and was really pissed, but since he didn't have a gun on that particular mission, he'd have to live with just being pissed. By the time he figured out the exact timing to knock the workers out, he was happy and saved the game. Then Sam approached the storage room behind it, eager to complete the latest objective and get on with it.

"I THOUGHT I TOLD YOU TO TURN OFF THE LAPTOP!!!"

That was my dad. The rest is predictable.

Sugar and spice turns out not nice

That underdressed girl over there has a penchant for yelling and frantic clicking battles. Me, on the ground, is wondering what went wrong when i asked her out. Perhaps the swords weren't her favourite colour ...

Quote

My mind has many sides to it. Perhaps that explains the random-like posts in my blog??

From me

Thought i'd brighten things up a little in my dull blog. This one's Terra, an exaple of good storytelling skills, as she becomes a villian that turns back into a superhero. Typicall comic plotline.

Exams are over, so a reflection

I have had fond memories of the time after the end of year exams. In form one, everybody went crazy with chess, playing each other, or playing something called 'Dots' which the old Thomians knew and i dindn't. We had something of a ladder system, where everybody in class was graded and everybody roughly knew everybody else's abilty in the game. Later i found out that it was based on an ancient form of chinese chess called Fate in some circles (the actual game used a wooden board, we used grid paper). I remember my first match, against Randy - the grandmaster of the time. He was extremely good, and i didn't know a thing about the rules, so i guess it wasn't much of a match in that he easily flattened me, with three huge attacks and a nice big empire that left me saying, "Huh?"

Within three weeks, i was the grandmaster. I was challenged by countless people, all of whom i crushed, through either brute force or shrewd trap breaking. I quit in form 2, after tiring from the various people begging for a rematch. And besides, i met a worthy opponent in Dane - he did me in with superior attacking skills, almost impossible for me to defend with the tactics i had invented when i was supposed to be studying.

Anyway, back to the after exam fun. Form 1 was good, but form 2 was even better. We brought walkmans and portable CD players, chinese and international chess sets, (i set up a game of risk that was the highlight of one of those days - Paul showed off his great Rommel-like mind and we squared off on a global battlefield after systematically killing opponent after opponent in two long hours). And then i vividly remember the time we had watching the Animatrix on Tay's iPaq - i was on good terms with him then, now i wouldn't mind using a well executed Osotogari on him. It was great. Great fun.

But then came form 3, and you'd expect the games after the PMR to be better and nicer than before, but noooooo it never happened. We told board games were banned, cards were banned, and were forced to follow a whole damn slew of trips designed to bore the nuts out of us. I didn't like it.

Now in form 4, i'm looking forward to seeing how it would be like. Games or no games? So far i've spent my time between teacher marking our testpapers reading A Walk To Remember, by Nicholas Sparks. It was so sad it left me walking around school with a little lump in my throat. Lovely, lovely book.

Detractors

Are many from the exams. There's Gunz (online game witha an attitude), a gushing Garrick on Final Fantasy Advent Children ("Ohh...the fight scenes are sooo cool....." - imagine him foaming at the mouth), Janus - the online series i'm planning to create, Judo red and white comp that's coming up, Naruto manga downloads ;D ...... and of course the dreaded exams.

Being a teen - a boy teen at that, in the 21st century is no easy task. Hmm. But being a girl would probably be worse ....

XD. So i guess its not all that bad.

psychedelic. i like.

Chokes or Armbars?

Hmm.

I'd choose chokes. These two weeks have been a crash course in Sensei's absence, with learning Ude Garami (an armbar where you either break the opponents shoulder or elbow), various choke patterns, not to mention Uchimata a few weeks after learning Tsurikomigosh. And i'm suprised to learn my front throws aren't as bad as i thought, whereas my rear throws have to be worked on even more!!

And besides, its tiring continously manuevering my legs in shiai. Its perhaps the curse of me choosing to be an Osotogari specialist - my leg injuries (not permanent lah) are significantly more than the other four guys. So i think i'll have to be on a close lookout for my next speciality, perhaps Uchimata?? It cool to raise the uke and swing him to the ground, ending with one leg off the ground and one hand touching the mats lightly. I'll tell you about it when i make my descision.

As for chokes, Garrick is the only guy i seriously respect (among the five of us - Vincent is the armbreaker guy) and experiencing his arm completely blocking my air supply is a breath of fresh air.

Right.

And can you actually believe that some people (unnamed) get a high out of being knocked unconcious by a choke?? Sheesh. What weirdos. I can assure those people out there who have never been choked properly by a Judoka that choking is not something you go around getting addicted to. It hurts.

But not as bad as armbars.

You know what?

We hate Tay.

Mine.

Writing.

Well, i'll be lying i i'm absolutely sane, coz i'm feeling rather critical of the world at large right now (just one of my crazy moods, hope it comes to pass after i write this finish and not during - my sister is watching Malaysian Idol, and for the record i hope Nita wins - Daniel has very little talent, but lots of gushing (bluek) female fans).

Anyway, i've been noticing the way Malaysian writers are trained to write (here the word writer means anybody who can pick up a pen and put it to paper). There is such a huge gap between the natural flow of words that seem to bless those darned reviewers at magazines like, say, PC Plus - Briton edition. Or even the firmly tongue-in-cheek writing of Ross Gillen or another one of the cronies at PC Gamer (not Malaysian edition arr...)

My English teacher goes on about how we must write "As a conclusion" or "In conclusion" or "To conclude" and not stuff like "In a nut shell" at the end of every essay. Does she even know how stiff that is to the reader? It robs the composition of a peerless flow of words and, (more importantly) ideas. Things that the Malaysian Education Department absolutely advise to do (such as putting in sequence connectors (In Addition, anyone?) makes it robot like and plagues the article (such as the politically correct newpaper delivered to my house every morning, complete with typos galore and repetitive phrases) *rolls eyes*) with jerks. An example of this would be the headline:"Vegetable Dies After Motor Accident."

Now what springs to mind? A poor old man, completely unaware of his surroundings, somehow manages to zombie walk over to the road and gets himself flattened by a car? Heh. Not. The actual story is of a vegetable seller who got hit by a car on her way back from the market. Sheesh. I wouldn't want to be referred to as a vegetable if i started selling fresh produce. Would Michael Dell like to be referred to as a silicone chip? I didn't think so.

But that is acceptable, since our standard of English ain't that all good to start off with. Perhaps i'm wrong in complaining of average writing, when i should be complaining of lousy writing? Hmm... That's the problem when you're good at something. You see the flaws of other people's work a mile away, but at the same time truly appreciate the work of a genius. My sisters have officially banned me from watching soaps with them - i'll point out character discrepancies whenever a poorly written scene appears. And how i recognise lousy writing? Coz i made the same mistakes myself. Ask Paul - we were buddies in writing once upon a time.

So, in a durian shell, this article could either be just one of my useless comments, a show of my stubborn personality, or a real, heartfelt yell for a push in quality english writing.

Somehow i think its the third.

Creative writing for EST

Theme: Universe

They sat around the table. Sol was of course at the head, and the other nine planets seated in random order – Jupiter and Saturn near the back, with their sheer size taking up a few seats each. Sirius was sitting next to Sol – his green glow mixing with Sol’s golden rays and making the head of the table hard to look at. There were a few white dwarves and red giants, but these were just spectators – not part of the conversation that was about to take place. They were from other parts of the Alpha Centauri region but was nothing compared to the being seated at the far end of the table – as far as possible from the others. There was no light there – he was sucking it all into himself.

A few of the planets shivered at the black hole’s presence. If they strayed too near they’d be sucked in and unraveled, like potatoes being peeled over a sink.

“So I am sure you all know what we’re here for” Sol started. Sirius turned his green gaze on to the other planets. Neptune shifted in his seat, causing a few small streams of water to ooze out and form a puddle underneath his seat.

“Okay, good. For those who don’t know -” At this Sol turned towards the black hole at the other end of the table, “-the Boss upstairs wants to put life into one of us. We’re here to discuss who that planet will be.”

Nobody said anything for awhile.

“So, to start off,” Sol continued, “I’ll like to make it clear that whoever accepts this responsibility will have to tolerate whatever this new lifeform does to our surfaces.” Sol surveyed their faces, “Any volunteers?”

Pluto raised his hand. “I’ll do it. Its lonely at the outer ring, and at least this life should provide some entertainment.”

Some of the planets groaned at this.

“Are you kidding? Those poor creatures would freeze to death!” Jupiter said.

Sol looked at him imperiously. “And you would volunteer in place of Pluto?”

Jupiter coughed. “No – I’m far too dangerous – pure hidrogen and helium in a dense atmosphere is more than anything that the Boss wants to make can take. Plus take a look at my Great Red Spot – a complex storm that’ll last a couple mpre centuries at best.”

Sirius raised his eyebrows, bathing everyone in a brief green flare. “Who else?” He asked.

Venus, who until then was too preoccupied with a mirror, raised a delicate hand. ‘I believe the creatures could thrive on me. I am, after all, the most beautiful here.”
Gaia scoffed. “Well, if the creatures could survive the sulfuric acid clouds that make you so beautiful, why not, huh?”

Pluto, quite dissapointed at having being rejected, jumped in: “Plus your surface temperature – 482°C - you want to cook them or something?”

“Shut up, you refrigerator.” Venus snapped back.

The black hole chose that moment to speak up, his voice echoing great fear throughout the room. “You better decide something fast. The Boss sent me to make sure you don’t bicker too long. If the need comes I’ll suck some of you, yeah?”

All the planets visibly paled, save for Sirius and Sol. They nodded in agreement.

“I propose two hosts – Gaia and Mars. Which one?”

The planets stared at each other for awhile. “Mars is self stirilizing, isn’t he?” Saturn asked.

Uranus nodded. “He doesn’t like lifeforms, I think. Or else why does he allow such a high level of solar radiation on his surface?”

Mars didn’t say anything. He just stared ahead, as if he wasn’t there.

“So Gaia it is?” Mercury asked. “She has too many unstable fissures and active volcanoes.”

Gaia smiled calmly. “That can be taken care of.”

*

Present time
Sirius looked down at the people on Gaia. He raised an eyebrow again, bathing the planet in a faint green light.

“They’ve been hurting her, haven’t they?” He asked.

Sol, glowing as brightly as ever, nodded. “Pollution was one of the effects we foresaw.”

Sirius shook his head. “It doesn’t matter. Gaia is a strong one. And even if she loses her life giving form, the ones that lose is the life on that planet itself.”

Both of them stood quietly for a while, gold and green rays mingling.

“I wonder what the Boss wanted to achieve by giving these creatures so much intelligence and free will.”

Sol laughed. “It’ll do no good to question His motives. Come, let’s go.” He turned towards the outer Alpha Centauri, gesturing for Sirius to follow.

From the earth, the sun and the brightest star in the mortal skies seem to fade for an instant.

Facts

• Sol, in Roman religion, sun god. An ancient god of Mesopotamian origin, he was introduced (c.220) into Roman religion as Sol Invictus by emperor Heliogabalus. His worship remained an important cult of Rome until the rise of Christianity. In this story Sol is used as a name for the Sun.

• Gaia, The goddess of the earth, who bore and married Uranus and became the mother of the Titans and the Cyclopes. Here the name Gaia refers to Earth.

• White Dwarfs is an astronomical object which is produced when a low or medium mass star dies, and are approximately the size of the Earth.

• Sirius is the brightest star seen from Earth and is actually two stars side by side, the bigger (and the one easily seen) is known as Sirius A. Sirius B is affectionately called ‘The Pup’, because Sirius has long been known as the Dog Star (it is the eye of Canis Major)

• Red Giants are stars of solar mass or higher which have exhausted the supply of hydrogen in their cores and started fusing hydrogen in a shell outside the core. The stars expand at a great rate, but become cooler due to the larger surface area. The Earth’s sun is expected to become a red giant in six billion years.

This is what i slaved over today, just for some dumb (but fun) EST project. Sounds almost like something ELC would give out. Only that i vouluntered to do this solo, to allow my teamates to study. Creative writing is after all something i really like.

Planetshakers

Finally i get to a christian concert this year that actually touches me - through and through. Went for student's night last night and it was seriusly rocking (it sounds lame - but that's the way it really is ;D). The praise part was like aerobics - a lot of jumping. And Matt was quite disappointed (didn't jump enough) with us at the start - even taught us how to jump with saying:

"We're Planetshakers, from Australia. And you know what Australia is? The land of the kangaroo. So this is how you jump ..."

And we jumped. So here i am sitting exhausted for a quick blogging session - with various aches all over my body. Vincent had pulled of a juji gatame on my arm (felt like it was broken) and Desmond threw me with an overdone tsurikomigosh this morning.

Ouch.

DOTA - Counter Strike for Warcraft

Seriously. I'm addicted steadily to Dota now (first to Naruto, now to this - sheesh!), what with following Kevin and playing in the school cybercafe. I picked a melee hero, so that kinda sucked, as i was good at the normal warcraft, but not at Dota (melee heroes are usually for experts only)

So i spent the time being blasted and shot to pieces with long ranged spells and fireballs and flying spikes and crazy spinning whatevers sent by Liaw, Nicholas and Jonathan. But with my former experience in Warcraft (not too bad lah) i quickly learnt how to get my ass out of certain tight places - fast. Soon i was making a name in that round for my annoying blinking ability - they'd think they could kill me and then i'm suddenly far, far away...

Well, some explanation first, aye?

Dota is this mod (or map) where you control a single hero, starting at a base with towers spread out towards the enemy's base. The computer sends out regular patrols of soldiers, and you and your friends (as heroes - with special abilities) fight it out with the aim of slowly destroying their towers and eventually driving back into the enemy base, destroying an artifact (for the undead is the frozen throne, the elves is the tree of life)

Perfectly balanced gameplay - you can tell that this will very quickly reach counter strike cult status. Kevin is seriously owning all our arses at the moment - his record is a 50 plus kills and no deaths. Darned spellcaster.

Hah! iPod still wins

Jeremy Archer - Not a penny more, not a penny less

This is the authors debut novel, chracteristically light and breezy, unlike the epics chronicling the life stories of outstanding characters the author later goes on to write.

The story starts off with a background story of Harvey Metcalfe, telling how he got to be the milliornaire he is now - from wall street paperboy to cunning business/con man.

As the book says:

It is hard to make your first million legally. It is also hard to make your first million illegally, although it is slightly easier. But to keep your million is the hardest task of all.

Harvey Metcalfe had succeded in all three:

He had made his first million illegally, his second legally, but above all he managed to keep all his millions intact.


At the start of the novel we see Metcalfe pulling off his latest heist - a stock market hattrick in which he cons 1 million out of 4 particular individuals - who invested in his non-company out of pure bad luck. Archer details meticulously the laws involved and how Metcalfe set up the corporation - with his attorney's help and a keen eye on the British oil commision (nudges Kenny and Sam).

Anyway, the four people involved are very much from different backgrounds - Stephen - an Oxford mathematician but from America, who originally started the plan on Metcalfe (he reseached the man so throughly that at the start of their heist they knew everything from his holidaying plans in London annually to what his favourite food was), Robin, a doctor, also from London (who incidently takes care of old women who come to him primarily for his good looks); Jean Pierre, a French man, owner of one of the more distinguished art galleries around the city; and James - lord and a ladie's man, whose antics highlight the best laid plans the author lays down.

So they each have to formulate a plan of their own, aiming to steal 250 thou each so that between them they can take back the 1 million they lost - not a penny more, not a penny less.

The only fault i can find with the book was the simple incredulity of most of the plans. No matter what happens they just manage to get away without being caught, although some are outrageous set pieces they put Metcalfe through. But the final twist leaves you in tickles of laughter, or at least puts a smile on your face. Very much recommended.

iPod beater?

Second Shiai

Now this one was really cool. I had to sacrifice the prefect dinner (RM25 down the drain!!) for a night of randori, but even though i didn't get ippon i was pretty happy with myself - Vynerriddo couldn't throw me even though he was much more experienced . I'd be willing to bet it was luck and my height, but the match against a shorter person didn't actually do justice to the tewaza i had developed over the last month.

You see, Vyner is super short when he goes into a defensive position - about my waist - making it almost impossible to use my form of Osotogari since it would be going against his body and tiring me out just to push him back. His speciality is Uchimata - meaning if i enter too carelessly he can lift me up between my legs and swing me down. So the entire match was newaza - two of us grappling on the matt after falling down (many times!) together.

Rather daft, i'd say, but i sucessfully managed to evade most of his throws, not giving him any ippons. Next bout i'll do better - i swear it (if i'm allowed to actually swear, that is ;D). I'll be focusing on the training.

Now my next objective would be to refine techniques against shorter people. Perhaps Soto Makikomi would do the trick ...

Quote For (gee, so many months)

The mind of a perfect man is like a mirror. It grasps nothing. It expects nothing. It reflects but does not hold. Therefore, a perfect man can act without effort.
Chuang-Tzu

this is in the context of shiai, or judoka combat

Uzimaki

Well, filler post then. I'm just so crazily addicted to Naruto comics, i can barely chat normally and surf the net. I mean, right now yes, i'm blogging, but at the same time, i'm listening to Anna Nalick's Paper Bag (real cute song, that one), researching Masahiko's Osotogari style and steadily downloading Naruto mangas. Plus reading.

And i can't concentrate - the fight between Naruto and Sasuke's too engrossing.

So back to the other tab, i guess.

Maxis Cyberlinq

The news would have probably reached your ears (if you're a Malaysian and read the major dailies) that we won the Maxis Cyberlinq competition. A sarawakian school upping all the peninsular experts!! Allow me to indulge in some outburst:

WOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!

Well, that felt better. I was still on the fast when Kenny told me to write a report on our win( i'm the team's english guy, and 'negotiater') so when i heard the news i used the clause i had put into my 'agreement' before joining the fast - that emergencies and great moments of importance are excluded from the fast. I was on the laptop very soon after.

Kenny was estatic. My fingers were dancing across the keyboard - who's wouldn't?

Dienasty: So what were the reactions of all the others?

KVYS2000:To my dissapiontment, they all ask one question

Dienasty: What?

KVYS2000: What's the prize?!

Dienasty: lol

But anyway, when school started after that mid-second term holiday, we were in for the surprise of our lives. Pn. Sheila, head of the english department, whom we asked for help to help organise the friendly debate against Kuching High, demanded two things.

1. Cash. Lots of it. (she did 5%, we did 95%)
2. Another teacher advisor (dia nak nama)

Of course, Kenny, who's a normally cool guy and can take whatever is coming with stride, swore. That's pretty rare, i tell you. So the very next day we held a council of war with Cikgu Yusof, and discussed how to maintain the project - we won RM3000.

Now we're waiting for the cash to arrive, but its going to be hard if we want to use it to our wishes. I mean, we worked so hard for this (although i actually feel guilty - like i haven't done enough) and this snag with the money has taken away the fighting spirit from the team. Cikgu Yusof is mad, although he hides it, and Kenny said:

"What for we win the finals? If we get RM5000 we get more trouble afterward."

I don't like seeing Kenny like this.

But i'm confident we'll win the rights to the RM3000. We're all strong people.

The end

When i woke up on the last day of the fast: i wondered whether i should go online since i had already completed the day's prayer. There was no school: it was the Merdeka holiday. I turned and stared at the study. My sister was already on MSN, and i knew there were four ports on the ADSl router. I stared at the notebook bag leaning against one of the office chairs.

What the hell (or heaven, for that matter).

Within seconds i was in MSN, downloading Naruto mangas and eating breakfast at the same time. To cover for what this blog missed during the forty day peiod, it looks like i have to do multiple posts. And blog real hard. So i'm going to start.

40 days of sadness (oh, really)

Notice: this blog (as well as almost all my other online activities) will cease for 40 days (or at least 20 before i sneak online perhaps from the school cyber cafe. This is not a routine excercise. I repeat, this is not a routine excercise....

Well, whatever. With slipping grades and an over-hectic life, i guess it would be pretty good (don't think about the spam, don't think about the spam...) if i just cut off my internet activities for awhile. It's from a little booklet delivered at my church: 40 days of fast and prayer. So, not only do i get to cement myself in reality, i'll test myself in a very weird way. Frankly i've no idea how i'd react to 40 days without the com (i generally go online about twice a week, and that's about it) and i've come up with two possible scenarios:

A, I don't even crave for it, since i'm already so busy; and grow closer to God,

or

B, I tie myself to a chair and erect a plaster wall around my PC to prevent temptation from seeping through, and try to convince a judge to give me a restraining order. Oh, and grow closer to God.

B is a little too crazy, but you never know ... Anyways, this means you people out there so intent on finding out how life is over here [read: Karl (he just returned from a holiday in Kuching), Amanda (campus life), and Aldrin (normal blog reading rounds)] better count my blog out from their bookmarks for awhile.

And wish me luck.

To the terrorists behind the London bombings.

The Stolen Child

ai
Originally uploaded by shadowsun7.

By William Butler Yeats

Where dips the rocky highland
Of Sleuth Wood in the lake,
There lies a leafy island
Where flapping herons wake
The drowsy water-rats;
There we've hid our faery vats,
Full of berries
And of reddest stolen cherries.
Come away, O human child!
To the waters and the wild
With a faery, hand in hand,
For the world's more full of weeping than you can
understand.

Where the wave of moonlight glosses
The dim grey sands with light,
Far off by furthest Rosses
We foot it all the night,
Weaving olden dances,
Mingling hands and mingling glances
Till the moon has taken flight;
To and fro we leap
And chase the frothy bubbles,
While the world is full of troubles
And is anxious in its sleep.
Come away, O human child!
To the waters and the wild
With a faery, hand in hand,
For the world's more full of weeping than you can
understand.

Where the wandering water gushes
From the hills above Glen-Car,
In pools among the rushes
That scarce could bathe a star,
We seek for slumbering trout
And whispering in their ears
Give them unquiet dreams;
Leaning softly out
From ferns that drop their tears
Over the young streams.
Come away, O human child!
To the waters and the wild
With a faery, hand in hand,
For the world's more full of weeping than you can
understand.

Away with us he's going,
The solemn-eyed:
He'll hear no more the lowing
Of the calves on the warm hillside
Or the kettle on the hob
Sing peace into his breast,
Or see the brown mice bob
Round and round the oatmeal-chest.
For he comes, the human child,
To the waters and the wild
With a faery, hand in hand,
From a world more full of weeping than he can
understand.

Random Poster 

Dear Diary

Dear diary,

I am resorting to this innocent form of writing, mainly because i wish i can downsize and be the boy that didn't know better about the world. Okay, let's see.

The whole staffroom hates us. 4s1, i mean. My class is suddenly the gossip station for teachers near and far. They think we're lazy, ungrateful wretches. Which we are not. I mean, look at this. i told Cikgu Jennifer that i'm not supposed to join debate, but after a few unfortunate events (which included the cyber cafe in the school), i was forced into the role. Plus i have piano exams three days from now, a rocket lauching project, 50 pages at least of add maths (4 chapters) and tuition in between. I'm gonna die.

And other people in my class are suffering - too many activities. And when we can't cope with homework, they scream.

Saturday Night Fever

The first thing that met my eyes when i rang the dojo's bell was the sight of Vincent opening the door, and a cat (yes, a cat!) lazing contentedly on the green tatemi mats.

"Ai, you come ke?" Vincent asked, but i had already bowed in the vague direction of the Shoman and had clambered towards the cat.

She smelled my fingers and allowed herself to be stroked gently under the chin. Vincent was pretty happy to have someone to talk to (as was i, since i didn't know who would greet me so early in the evening) and (as i suspected) the petting had to stop soon to do warm-ups.

While i was changing into my judogi, Tang came. He was much more disciplined than any of us and after passing an anime disk to Vincent he changed into his GI and started jumps. I followed suit and, for pure fun, we started practising newaza. Randori (free fight, which is free for choice of moves, but not free of bruises) was happening later that night and we were all nervous (although Vincent was injured - failed Uchimata- and was not competing), as usual.

*

Sensei briefed us through what was going to happen during the match and how the points were awarded, before letting us into the arena. I bowed, moved closer, bowed and stepped between the two markers showing the starting positions - right foot first. A lot of things in Judo relied on old samurai traditions - the right-foot-first-on-entering rule was to make sure you could draw your sword if someone attacked you while you were sitting, in the olden days, of course. Now it was just a rule, nothing more.

Anyway, back to the match.

"HAJIME!" Sensei shouted.

Both me and my opponent stared at each other stupidly.

"Start!" yelled everybody.

We slammed into each other, grabbing the collar and sleeve of the opposing person in the usual manner and immediately concentrated on footwork.People were yelling, but they seemed like buzzes in my ears, saved for Tang, who was shouting to me, "Relax man, relax!"

I immediately laxed my muscles, warily keeping an eye on his legs.

He spun, taking the position of Seoinage, but i backed off, forcing him to go back to his original position to prevent himselffrom being exposed.

I instantly cut into Osotogari, trying to hook his right leg and push him back, but i lacked the leverage - at this moment, an online article came to mind - a weird, and very useless wedge of thought squeezed in the unforgiving second, suspended in time - called 'Traditional Osotogari Doesn't Work.

I couldn't remember a word.

Damn.

He pushed, easily toppling me since i already had one leg up, and we both slammed the ground. He tried to newaza, but scrabbling for freedom, i grappled at his chest, preventing him from going into a dead pin.

"Stay there! Stay there!" Vincent and Tnag were yelling. Hell, they had more experience, so i stopped moving on the mat. Unknown to me, i had given my opponent two options:

A. Remain in that useless position
B. Let go.

He did let go, but only after Sensei yelled "Matte!"

We started again, taking starting positions and pulling and pushing wach other. My opponent spun into seoinage, but this time i sliced my foot at his to block him and swung downwards. A surge of hope filled me. He fell, but before i could get to an effecticve lock, Sensei yelled:"Matte!" again. I must've done something wrong, but my mind snapped back to the third round, not worrying about what Randori rule i broke.

This time i was tired, and was moving more wearily. "Seoinage!" Yam called out to my opponent. Even as my brain struggled to process those words, my opponent had spun around and wrapped his right arm around mine. Then the entire dojo became a blur as the familiar thrown feeling swept throught me. I landed on the mat with a sharp slap of sound, followed by my ukemi.

"IPPON!" Sensei shouted, showing my opponent had won.

We got up and bowed. Strangely i wasn't feeling the pang of failure. I was happy and strangely ready to do it again.

Defeat? Nah....

Experience.

:D 

T-bay

The thomian food fair was crazily hot, with us running around with baskets of food trying to tempt people into buying stuff that probably wouldn't move if it was sold in a stall alone. I was, unfortunately, one of the 'door to door' salesmen that were rightly treated as such.

It went pretty well, in my very humble opinion. Ours were amongst the first stall to close (which is good) with a whole horde of people buying kacang ma and ayam pansoh (which forced us, ironically, to work at selling the other less popular items, like bak cahng, for example *rolls eyes*)

There was a few weird stalls set up, like the Haunted House in one of the upper six classrooms, which promised cheap thrills, and, oh yeah, more cheap thrills. And then there was this frankly okay idea of a cool cafe, in another classroom that served up shakes with soothing music. Catch? You pay to enter. I peeked in and there were mainly couples 'paktoh-ing' with one of Dido's tunes played from a laptop.

Highlight of the day? Apart from boring myself half to death with watching Garrick playing Generals in the cybercafe, i got a free burger from Aldrin. Reason?

Helping him kirim salam to Cassandra. ;D

Traditional Osotogari Doesn't Work

osotogari
Originally uploaded by shadowsun7.

Taken from BestJudo.com
Begin in the right natural posture.

Make your opponent step forward with his right foot by pulling him gently to his right front corner. Put your left foot outside his right foot to break his balance to this right back corner by pulling him toward you with your left hand and pushing him backward with your right.

Lightly raise your right leg and swing it past your opponent's right leg. Clip his thigh hard from behind with your thigh. At the same time, pull down hard with your left hand and push toward his right back corner with your right hand.

Your Opponent's legs will fly up and he will fall directly backward.

It has long been a pet-peeve of mine that Osotogari is rarely taught as it is actually performed. All of us are familiar with the 'classical' form of the technique, as described and shown above. And as many times as we practice that form, when it's time to actually use this throw, in either randori or shiai, it's never done this way!! Interestingly enough, Osotogari is generally roughly the third leading throw used in competition, so it's not by any means a rarely used throw. And yet, it's rarely taught the way it's actually performed!

My first assertion: This 'basic' (or 'classic') form of Osotogari doesn't work. I'm fully aware that most Judoka reading the previous sentence will now think to themselves that I must know very little Judo to make a statement like that. However, Phil Porter makes a very similar statement concerning 'classical' Osotogari, so I'm in fairly good company. If you are facing someone who knows no Judo, and can be manipulated easily by you, then yes, this version of Osoto will work. But if you are attempting to make this work against either a resisting opponent, or a knowledgeable opponent, sorry, won't work.

This is rather easy to demonstrate... simply start looking for it. You'll not see it. It doesn't occur at all unless you are watching the 6-8 year old yellow belts... When you get to serious randori and shiai, the 'classical' form of Osotogari disappears completely.

Now, we saw in the above photos how Anton Geesink demonstrates and teaches Osotogari, let's examine how he performs Osotogari in competition. As you can see in this photo on the left, it would appear that Anton Geesink forgot everything he ever knew about Osotogari, since he's doing what is virtually a different throw altogether. Instead of stepping forward with his left foot, he has evidently either left it in place, or even stepped back in order to get a 45 degree 'angle of attack' on his opponent. It looks like it might even be the beginning tsukuri of Ashi Guruma, but in this form of Osotogari, uke will be thrown backward. To the right, you can see Yasuhiro Yamashita, who authored a book on Osotogari, executing the dynamic form of Osotogari. And yet, in his book on the subject, this was relegated to a couple of pages as a "variation". Then throughout the book, he taught the classical version, and all the competition photos showed the dynamic form of the technique.

One of the principles of Judo is Seiryoku Zenyo, commonly translated as "Maximum Efficiency with Minimum Effort". Another way to translate it, and a personal favorite of mine, would be "Best Use of Energy". My second assertion of this article is: The classical version of Osotogari violates the principle of Seiryoku Zenyo. Covered in detail below as I show why the classical version doesn't work.

Now, a step by step discussion of why this classical version won't work. I'm going to use the initial description of Osotogari given at the beginning of this article to make my points.

Begin in the right natural posture.
No problem yet...

Make your opponent step forward with his right foot by pulling him gently to his right front corner.
Now we have a problem... why are you going to attack the leg that has no weight on it? If you believe that you can exert enough pull later on to force uke to place his weight on his right foot, doesn't this violate the principle of maximum efficiency?

Put your left foot outside his right foot
Another huge problem... we are attempting to force uke backwards, but then we place our driving leg in the totally wrong place to exert any force! Take any six year old child, and ask him/her to push as "hard as they can" against a wall... and they will naturally assume a 45 degree 'angle of attack' against the wall. If a six year old doesn't have to be taught how to exert maximum force with minimum effort, why did we forget it? (Think about the 'driving' or rear leg of the Boxer doing a right cross, or the batter swinging the bat, or a track & field coming out of the blocks... yep, they're all at a 45 degree 'angle of attack'.)

to break his balance to this right back corner by pulling him toward you with your left hand
In order to pull downward (to set uke's weight on the leg you are attacking), you must be in a position that won't allow you to exert any force to the rear... you must be 'even' with, or slightly behind uke's vertical line. This particular 'pull' must accomplish more here than in the version which follows. Here the pull must actively set uke's weight on his right leg, in the version which follows, the pull merely keeps the already existing weight in place. Which is a more efficient use of force?

and pushing him backward with your right.
With what force? You are pushing against what? Try stepping right up to a heavy filing cabinet, and see how far you can push it. Then set one or both feet behind you at a 45 degree angle, and see how much easier the task is. Maximum Efficiency with Minimum Effort is a very real principle that can accomplish things if followed...

Lightly raise your right leg and swing it past your opponent's right leg.
Raise your leg while you are standing on one foot? I sure hope you succeeded in offbalancing uke to the rear, cause if you didn't, you're about to take a nasty fall. In the more dynamic form of Osotogari, you'll also raise your leg, but your path to the ground is blocked by uke.

Clip his thigh hard from behind with your thigh
Attacking the leg that has only as much of uke's weight on it as you've managed to pull onto it. If you've failed to pull enough weight onto it, you are about to take a nasty fall.

At the same time, pull down hard with your left hand
As above, this is only possible if you are in the wrong position to deliver effective backward force. The amount of pull required is greater here in this version than in the more effective version. What's more efficient?

and push toward his right back corner with your right hand.
Which is at best, weak, and at worst, not possible. Notice, that in the classical version, the pushing and pulling is done with your hands, whereas in the more effective version, the pulling is still done with one hand, but the pushing is done with your whole body, driving off a strongly set leg. What's more efficient?

Your Opponent's legs will fly up and he will fall directly backward
You will remain standing, which won't happen in the dynamic form of Osotogari. And in order to remain standing, and to execute this classical version, you have completely failed to deliver the force needed, at the appropriate locations, with maximum efficiency. It is also very easy to resist this classical version. So easy, in fact, that this classical version is never seen against a knowledgeable, resisting opponent.

Now, on to the dynamic, better way to do Osotogari, staying within the principles of Judo.

First, let me identify the basic elements that will be important.

1. We want to attack the leg which has the majority of the weight already on it. Generally, this means you'll attack the rear leg, and in general, against a right-handed opponent, this means his left leg. (Although I'll give a right side example.)

2. We will want to have a 45 degree 'angle of attack'. This means that instead of stepping forward into your uke, your first step will more than likely be backward. This is the largest difference between the two types, and the one most easily recognized. There have been those who believe that this doesn't predate 'Olympic' Judo, but here's a series of photos from 1905 showing a large space between the driving leg and attacked leg: Old Osotogari Not much of a 45 degree angle, but certainly not the current practice of putting tori's left foot next to, and alongside uke's right foot.

3. Instead of pushing with the right hand, we will be 'setting' our entire forearm into uke's chest. This creates a solid 'connection' between uke and the forward momentum of our whole body. Much more effective than 'pushing' with the right hand!

4. And... somewhat more 'esoteric', this is a 'driver', not a 'roller' throw (See anything by Geof Gleeson or Phil Porter on these concepts). Your attack will not be from the front of uke towards uke's back, but from uke's side to his other side.

To put this effective version of Osoto Gari together, you'll wait until uke has stepped backward with his right foot... at that time, you'll step backward and slightly to the right with your left foot. At the same time as you've stepped backward, you'll be slamming your right forearm against uke's left side chest, and pulling downward with your left hand (Your right arm looks like it's delivering an uppercut to uke's chin or ear). You'll now reach out with your right foot (you are now leaning on your left foot with a 45 degree forward lean), and attempt to 'hook' uke's right knee. Then just 'drive' forward... although notice that your 'forward' direction is actually more sideways by your uke's viewpoint. Very common at this point, by the way, is the need to 'hop' forward to maintain the optimum 45 degree angle of attack (maximum force).

In the Ippon Masterclass "Osotogari" - authored by Yasuhiro Yamashita, the following series of photos appears, and Yamashita titles it "One of the finest Osotogari's ever photographed"... Angelo Parisi throwing Shota Chochosvilli (shown at top of post)

Notice the power generated by his '45 degree angle of attack' that Parisi has. This is the most efficient use of strength!

Demonstrating the ineffectiveness and failure to follow a principle of Judo, does this mean that a classically taught Osoto Gari has no place in modern Judo? No, not at all. The classical version is very easy to take a fall from. It's doesn't require the skill at ukemi that the more effective version requires. And during the time that Judoka are acquiring the falling skills needed at the higher levels of Judo, they can still learn the 'demonstration' form of throws. And this sort of comparison between classical, and dynamic effective versions, can be done for other throws as well. And in many throws, the classical version is the most effective version as well... De Ashi Harai comes to mind here.

Judo is evolving, both for the good, and in some aspects, for the not so good... and if you are not keeping up on new techniques, and new methods of training, teaching, and doing Judo, then you should look into finding out about these things.

I hope I've given you something to think about the next time you're teaching Osotogari. Especially when you're teaching your more advanced students. I don't believe that a Judoka should make it past brown belt without a firm grasp of the difference between the classical and the dynamic forms of Osotogari. They really are virtually two different techniques, in my opinion, even though both the IJF and the Kodokan recognize both as the same throw.

Oh, School's Started

The very fact that i'm typing this shows that i'm still in the holiday mood. No way on this blessed earth can i survive if this was a normal Tuesday and i went online. I would probably be buried under a mountain, anyway, so would be pretty immobile to get anywhere near the computer.

But it isn't a normal Tuesday, coz the teachers are busy handing out marked test papers and corrections. So there isn' any homework - at least for this week.

I got streamyx. On the last day of the holidays. Anybody see the irony in getting broadband exactly before a time where i cannot use it? Hmm....

Well, besides that, the trainee teachers left before the holidays, so its back to the boring teachers that teach (and, in some cases, terrorise) us. Ms Judy even left a passing (snide) remark to remember her by. It was like this:

By the time i had finished the English paper, it was two minutes due to passing it all up. I sheafed through the stack of A4 paper and realised, with a horrible flash of panic, that there was no string to tie everything together. So, with less than 120 seconds left, i foded the top corner and scribbled: No string!!

The paper came back with "Only available in the SPM"

Some people.....

Bible camp....

Organising the teen end of things is crazy..., but so fulfilling. This time i was just overseeing the entire program, making sure no problems came up, and everbody was present. Which meant that indirectly i was responsible for anything that happened to the 98 kids there... But there was a great group of people supporting the program all the way - we even had Amanda back - so it would be really, really bad if it went wrong. Oh, and the games. I'm starting to get very good at managing kids during games ;-)

But boy was it hectic. As usual the (lovely) tired feet feeling is well embued in my feet, after running all around the NPC of the church, but it was running for God!!! And the games... well, Aaron and Jason did the job pretty well, though for some reason i had to take control of the mic, several times (hey, they wanted to play...)

And during the game Stuck In The Mud, we decided at the end to pit the leaders against the kids....all 98 of them!!! It was soooo cool! Only when i was on the ground that i realised that with all the leaders in the arena (including me) there was no one on the mic... So in the end i had to resort to pretty comical sign language. A 'three, two, one' followed by a whistle started the match. Then all the leaders linked hands and charged down at the kids.

The rest was pure screaming fun.

The holidays again

Just typing the title for this post reminds me of some daft quote i picked up somewhere (Time magazine might be the one) and it annoyingly juststicks to my mind.

He said (and this is actually very satarical, forgive me):

When you're young, its school, holidays, school, holidays, school, holidays......
And then when you grow up its work, work, work till you die.

It simplifies life in the twenty first century, yes, but it removes all the beautiful things that makes us who we are. Little rays of joy dotted here and there.

Anyway, i'm not having any success at tackling my homework, which is (ahem, ahem) roughly the size of Mount Kinabalu (not that bad right? At least not Everest ...) and its mainly because of my very short attention span. I just managed to finish the original Warcraft III campaign (Reign of chaos, that is - old fashion me) and Ghost Recon, and am itching to get out and run, cycle, swim, Judo...... anything

Pretty desperate here. Don't want to do Add Maths.

Fan based artwork, but good nevertheless. 

The Saga Is Complete

Or so says the blurp promoting the new star wars film. Face it, Star Wars mania is sweeping across the globe. Flipping through a business magazine, some tax specialist was lamenting the fact that Vader wasn't evil, just an unfortunate victim of circumstance. You know a movie's really made it when the people steorotyped as boring start discussing the film's perks and pitfalls.

Personally i found the third episode disapointing. The fight scenes were overdone, expecting audiences to enjoy watching Anakin killing, killing and, oh yeah, more killing. Count Dooku was eliminated very quickly in the film's opening moments, surprising, considering he sliced off Anakin's arm in the last episode, send Obi Wan flying with impressive Force firing, and distracted Yoda from carving him into popsicles. It was as if 'ol Lucas wanted to kill off all the remaining bad guys and wrap up the movies as fast as possible (hey, he is an 'uncommunicative' director. (whatever that is....)

Okay, so i'm not a loyal Star War's fan. But contrary to the majority of reviews (they said episode 1 and 2 to be lousy, episode 3 great) i found the opposite to be true. The very first Star Wars film was described by a certain film association as the best movie ever made, and many people still agree that Lucas never made anything as good as that one spectacle of beauty. but perhaps it wasn't all that great.

Perhaps it was the fact that Star Wars was part of the childhood of so many people growing up, and that sense of nostalgia blinded them to the true quality of the movies. Run a search online for the movie reviews, and most of them start with "When i was (insert number less than 20) i was greeted with splendid orange text scrolling up the screen and knew life would never be the same again ..." or something to that effect. And a lot of people hated episode 1 and 2, just because it was so different from the first three movies. The design, creatures, and architecture (no more freaky white ships that moved precariously though space) were new and they didn't like it. Why not cut Lucas some slack? He was pushing the boundaries of the Star Wars universe, why hate it?

And now the third episode contained traces of the old movie (notice that the ships progressively look more old-fashioned throughout the movie) and miraculously, BAM! good reviews start streaming in.

Then again i shouldn't be that cynical. The acting is generally good, the sondscape awesome, the special effects so good it had to come from the dark side, and the story one of the best ever told in cinematic history. Now, at least, we can wait for the next big thing to redefine moviemaking.