Things started to become confusing for me in the past couple of weeks now. For a while EvenStar and I had this once a week thing, until things came to a halt... and got confusing. I am still not getting a definite signal out of her so far... I think The Gambler said it best, I gotta know how to pick up the signs and move on...
I think I am giving myself till the end of the year here and preparing myself to bet it all in on one hand.
If I win, so be it... If not, so be it...
Thursday, December 18, 2008
P U S H (part 2)
Saturday, Dec 13th 2008...
I was really unhappy with the way Sergeant H was conducting practice with me that day. Not only he had injured me with his supposedly favourit strike, but he also kept me going and didn't stop until I had indication of a leg cramp, even though he knew I was injured. My right fore arm was swollen from him hitting me three times on the same unprotected area of my arm. I would have been fine about it on a regular day, but it was tournament day on Sunday!! I wasn't even planning to go practice that day. I went because God of Thunder persuaded me to come for a lite training before the tournament. Instead, Sergeant H decided to show up late... well you all know the rest. It's safe to say that I will perhaps avoid practicing with Sergeant H in the near future.
I had hoped that the Chinese ointment I had at home would suffice to cure my swollen fore arm, at least enough for me to fight on the next day.
On Tournament Day,
I noticed that only Speed Demon was in the opposite site of my bracket. Meaning I would have to only fight him if we were to reach the semi finals. Both God of Thunder and White Squire were on the other bracket. Not having to fight my strongest rivals until the semi finals, I was a bit relaxed. All I had to do was focus on one match at the time and not slip up... Little did I know...
The competition level was especially high that day. Both Speed Demon and God of Thunder were victims of unprecedented upsets. While I didn't get knocked out, everyone seems to be fighting especially hard and gunning for us that day. I got scored on in 3 out of my 4 matches. Meaning I had to come from 1 point behind to eventually win the match 2-1, two of which had to go to over time. From what I recall I fell down on the floor twice at least, but I didn't let up, I kept pushing and weathering the blows to stand up and fight again. In the semis, again I had was down one point and had to go trough over time. The guy was on fire and just wouldn't quit no matter what I threw at him. I had to resort to my size as a last resort and push the him to create an opening and scored. Afterwards, as a joke I called this move my Force Push... That was my toughest match of the day before finally, I had to face White Squire in the finals...
White Squire is a 25 year old guy, no job, dropped out of school... Basically he decided he would just totally dedicate his time and effort to do only Kendo. He trains 7 days a week in Bandung and has always been strong and fast. He's only lacking... is tactics and wits... Luckily for me, I knew this all along.
Even though I was fighting it safe and keeping my distance. I had to gamble to score a point, instead I was scored on first. Even though I slipped and fell down and had to go through over time, I kept my cool and my tactics from the start. I wasn't sure what happened on the last point, all I remembered was I think I scored first and the judged raised my flags.
Looking back, I wasn't really fighting my best fights... in fact I was probably quite careless a few times, since I got scored on first a lot. Perhaps being scored on served as my wake up call to not let up and keep up the intensity. There were a few times when I thought I had lost the match, but I persevered... maybe it was just my day.
To this day, I am the only person in Indonesia who have won the national tournament twice. I won it in Dec 2006, lost in the semis in Dec 2007 due to my back injury...
I was really unhappy with the way Sergeant H was conducting practice with me that day. Not only he had injured me with his supposedly favourit strike, but he also kept me going and didn't stop until I had indication of a leg cramp, even though he knew I was injured. My right fore arm was swollen from him hitting me three times on the same unprotected area of my arm. I would have been fine about it on a regular day, but it was tournament day on Sunday!! I wasn't even planning to go practice that day. I went because God of Thunder persuaded me to come for a lite training before the tournament. Instead, Sergeant H decided to show up late... well you all know the rest. It's safe to say that I will perhaps avoid practicing with Sergeant H in the near future.
I had hoped that the Chinese ointment I had at home would suffice to cure my swollen fore arm, at least enough for me to fight on the next day.
On Tournament Day,
I noticed that only Speed Demon was in the opposite site of my bracket. Meaning I would have to only fight him if we were to reach the semi finals. Both God of Thunder and White Squire were on the other bracket. Not having to fight my strongest rivals until the semi finals, I was a bit relaxed. All I had to do was focus on one match at the time and not slip up... Little did I know...
The competition level was especially high that day. Both Speed Demon and God of Thunder were victims of unprecedented upsets. While I didn't get knocked out, everyone seems to be fighting especially hard and gunning for us that day. I got scored on in 3 out of my 4 matches. Meaning I had to come from 1 point behind to eventually win the match 2-1, two of which had to go to over time. From what I recall I fell down on the floor twice at least, but I didn't let up, I kept pushing and weathering the blows to stand up and fight again. In the semis, again I had was down one point and had to go trough over time. The guy was on fire and just wouldn't quit no matter what I threw at him. I had to resort to my size as a last resort and push the him to create an opening and scored. Afterwards, as a joke I called this move my Force Push... That was my toughest match of the day before finally, I had to face White Squire in the finals...
White Squire is a 25 year old guy, no job, dropped out of school... Basically he decided he would just totally dedicate his time and effort to do only Kendo. He trains 7 days a week in Bandung and has always been strong and fast. He's only lacking... is tactics and wits... Luckily for me, I knew this all along.
Even though I was fighting it safe and keeping my distance. I had to gamble to score a point, instead I was scored on first. Even though I slipped and fell down and had to go through over time, I kept my cool and my tactics from the start. I wasn't sure what happened on the last point, all I remembered was I think I scored first and the judged raised my flags.
Looking back, I wasn't really fighting my best fights... in fact I was probably quite careless a few times, since I got scored on first a lot. Perhaps being scored on served as my wake up call to not let up and keep up the intensity. There were a few times when I thought I had lost the match, but I persevered... maybe it was just my day.
To this day, I am the only person in Indonesia who have won the national tournament twice. I won it in Dec 2006, lost in the semis in Dec 2007 due to my back injury...
P U S H (part 1)
First of all, I would like to apologize to all my friends for being late again. It's the end of the year, work is especially busy with all the budget meetings, balance sheet adjustment and tax calculating. I was also having a bit of a writer's block for a while there, it basically still there, I just thought of a cool title to start with for one.
As far as I recall, in the recent years at least, I have always had to 'fight' for the things that I want, and I stress, " for the things that I want ". Sure, you come across some things that are sort of there just because or given to you by someone, but for some reasons, more often than not those were not the things I was looking for either.
Confused yet? It's not that deep, really... Basically, I only want things that I truly desire... Other things, I don't really care for. However, it seems that I had to fight quite harder to get the things that I really want, and the result don't always go my way.
Noodle King once told me that he thinks I am one of those people that desires things I can't get. I gave a lot of thought to that statement and I found that it is only partially true. The truth is I do only want a few things in life, things that I really do care for... I don't want things that are there just because they are available. Once I got the things I fought for, I will care for them and cherish them. At least those are the tendencies I found thus far.
In fact, the topics this week has something to do with my push mentality...
As far as I recall, in the recent years at least, I have always had to 'fight' for the things that I want, and I stress, " for the things that I want ". Sure, you come across some things that are sort of there just because or given to you by someone, but for some reasons, more often than not those were not the things I was looking for either.
Confused yet? It's not that deep, really... Basically, I only want things that I truly desire... Other things, I don't really care for. However, it seems that I had to fight quite harder to get the things that I really want, and the result don't always go my way.
Noodle King once told me that he thinks I am one of those people that desires things I can't get. I gave a lot of thought to that statement and I found that it is only partially true. The truth is I do only want a few things in life, things that I really do care for... I don't want things that are there just because they are available. Once I got the things I fought for, I will care for them and cherish them. At least those are the tendencies I found thus far.
In fact, the topics this week has something to do with my push mentality...
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Eye of the Tiger
With the upcoming December Indonesian tournament in the horizon, I couldn't be less excited about it.
Mr. SMura on the other hand, seems to be inexplicably overtly excited about it. He even handed me the 'responsibility' to make sure each team members attend practice to train for the upcoming tournament.
I feel that all his 'excitement' is rather unwarranted for. First of all, this is merely one of the many tournaments we have, we've done it many times in the past and the participants are mostly the same. He even told me that I should give myself the target of being the champion this year, which I've already done in Dec 2006 and I have always been a contender and a regular face in the semi-finals round. Even when I was injured last year!!
First of all, most of the Jakarta members are pretty much up there in the age department. Most of the main team members are married, have steady jobs and pretty much busy. Due to the unstable economic situation here in Indonesia, many of us, including myself, have to travel outside of Jakarta on a regular basis for work. Kendo is becoming more and more of an after thought. While it's still not "something we used to do", it's steadily becoming "something we do occassionally".
I do miss my old team mates, instead I've been trying to help with the trainings of the new padawans, but still the feeling ain't the same.
While my own training it's taking a comfortable course right now, I don't feel the 'hunger' I felt before... even last year.
I had a session with Mr. KKawa last sunday, even though I was able to score a few times on him. He told me that my timing is just 'slightly' off and I need more work. I actually whole heartedly agree with him. I've been performing just OK these days, I can score my own share of openings, however I am not experiencing any major breakthrough as well.
Perhaps it's the taxing years that started to takes it's tolls on me, perhaps the lack of support and competition from my team mates. On the rare occasion when people such as Speed Demon, Jive Tongue, Dark Knight or even Master Djedi show up, they don't even look like their old selves no more. If I think my Kendo has degraded, I should feel better about myself looking at them... These days, it's basically only me and God of Thunder who shows up regularly. Although, I am kinda excited to fight God of Thunder with his new left handed hammer jodan...
Mr. SMura stressed the fact that I should be ready to face other competitors from Bandung, etc... At this point, I've done anything I can... I've wrote emails, etc but minimal result. If Mr. SMura isn't happy about this, he can just go and S*CK IT!
Mr. SMura on the other hand, seems to be inexplicably overtly excited about it. He even handed me the 'responsibility' to make sure each team members attend practice to train for the upcoming tournament.
I feel that all his 'excitement' is rather unwarranted for. First of all, this is merely one of the many tournaments we have, we've done it many times in the past and the participants are mostly the same. He even told me that I should give myself the target of being the champion this year, which I've already done in Dec 2006 and I have always been a contender and a regular face in the semi-finals round. Even when I was injured last year!!
First of all, most of the Jakarta members are pretty much up there in the age department. Most of the main team members are married, have steady jobs and pretty much busy. Due to the unstable economic situation here in Indonesia, many of us, including myself, have to travel outside of Jakarta on a regular basis for work. Kendo is becoming more and more of an after thought. While it's still not "something we used to do", it's steadily becoming "something we do occassionally".
I do miss my old team mates, instead I've been trying to help with the trainings of the new padawans, but still the feeling ain't the same.
While my own training it's taking a comfortable course right now, I don't feel the 'hunger' I felt before... even last year.
I had a session with Mr. KKawa last sunday, even though I was able to score a few times on him. He told me that my timing is just 'slightly' off and I need more work. I actually whole heartedly agree with him. I've been performing just OK these days, I can score my own share of openings, however I am not experiencing any major breakthrough as well.
Perhaps it's the taxing years that started to takes it's tolls on me, perhaps the lack of support and competition from my team mates. On the rare occasion when people such as Speed Demon, Jive Tongue, Dark Knight or even Master Djedi show up, they don't even look like their old selves no more. If I think my Kendo has degraded, I should feel better about myself looking at them... These days, it's basically only me and God of Thunder who shows up regularly. Although, I am kinda excited to fight God of Thunder with his new left handed hammer jodan...
Mr. SMura stressed the fact that I should be ready to face other competitors from Bandung, etc... At this point, I've done anything I can... I've wrote emails, etc but minimal result. If Mr. SMura isn't happy about this, he can just go and S*CK IT!
You Know You're a...
You know you're a geek when :
You know all along that Kiera Knightley was in Star Wars Episode 1 : Phantom Menace as one of Queen Amidala's handmaiden / body double
OR
You're excited to learn that Kiera Knightley was INDEED in Star Wars Episode 1 : Phantom Menace as one of Queen Amidala's handmaiden / body double
OR
You even know who Queen Amidala is, why she needs handmaiden / body double...
Sadly, I am guilty of more than one of the above charges...
These are one of things I come up with when working in Sumatra.
You know all along that Kiera Knightley was in Star Wars Episode 1 : Phantom Menace as one of Queen Amidala's handmaiden / body double
OR
You're excited to learn that Kiera Knightley was INDEED in Star Wars Episode 1 : Phantom Menace as one of Queen Amidala's handmaiden / body double
OR
You even know who Queen Amidala is, why she needs handmaiden / body double...
Sadly, I am guilty of more than one of the above charges...
These are one of things I come up with when working in Sumatra.
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