2013

The final month of the year will come after tomorrow.

Perhaps this year is quite a fulfilling year to me, which I'd ever had. I carried out most of the new year's resolution I planned although I have discontinued some, some came unexpected, some never been carried out, yet I am still not very happy also not to say unhappy. I don't know why but I still cannot find a very clear direction and answer to the best possible life.

So, still searching.

Here are the resolutions:
1) Do more reading - did read some books, many articles, but my reading speed was slow. Need to read more books and not facebook. 
2) Learn to swim - I didn't know how to float at all, but I am now learning butterfly style after 19 sessions.

3) Join toastmaster - initially it was a firm plan to join a toastmaster club because I wana extend my circle and also improve my public speaking skill, but I had to postpone it because of new plan to learn Japanese language (with personal reason). But after completed first level of Japanese class, I decided to stop learning it because of other commitments although i love the language (also the personal reason has not been realized, but then I went to Canada). I will join toastmaster, I will, perhaps next year.

4) Practice meditation - I attended meditation class every Tues early this year, but somehow I did not continue after 2nd quarter of the year. I should make practicing meditation as a lifestyle as what I do for exercise but I lack of diligence.

5) Investment - continue learning and doing.

6) Save money - saved some, but need to keep life even more simple.

7) Transform body/ six packs abs - successfully transformed the fat botakman to a lean boy, but six packs abs still needs a lot of hardwork....

8) Run a full marathon 42.195km - successfully ran 2 full marathons in a year (the Standard Chartered KL Marathon 29th Sept. 2013 and the Penang Bridge International Marathon 17 Nov 2013).

9) Improve knowledge and practice in Buddhism - I did not improve much, lack of diligence is acknowledged.

10) Family - love my parents and my niece more, I did it but I should give more.

The wish to go to London in 2012 to attend conference (self financed) did not come true because it was so expensive. But out of my expectation, I got the chance to visit to London this year Sept.

Future plan in my mind - study MBA, triathlon race/ Ironman race, but I don't have a clear plan yet. Currently I feel uncertainty for 2014. 

What I want to do now is, disconnect from FB, lock myself in room do my reading and prepare whatever I should for December 2013.

Documentation: My Results in Past Major Running Events

One of the reason why I started this blog is to train my writing skills. But slowly due to busy and lazy, I almost forget to open this blog. Sigh!

I supposed to have my very first full marathon in my life on last Sunday 30 June 2013, the Standard Chartered KL Marathon. But sadly, it was being postponed due to the stupid haze. You may imagine how much time wasted, how much cost wasted, how many people were affected (there are total of 30,250 runners this year with more than 3000 overseas runners). 

For myself and my buddy, we can't reschedule our flight and hotel, although we booked our budget flight during promotion but because we have to come again in September, we need to spend extra RM200 for transportation + accommodation. Anyway, the organiser is not to be blamed as they were making a very hard decision to postpone it for the sake of the majority runners with the unpredictable haze situation last week.

I had run in various 10km races. But for distance more than 10km, till date I had run two 17km races and two half marathon (21km) only, but then I move to full marathon this year. Some people might feel that I am putting myself on risk or I am brave. But I just think that I can do it when I see my body slowly become stronger and my confidence increases through out this 8 months.

So today I am writing this to document my result for the past major running events for my own future reference.

1) My "virgin" run -  Penang Bridge International Marathon 2011, 20th November.
10km run:Gun Time: 1:20:35.81
Chip Time: 1:20:11.27
Ranking : 1443/3696

2) Standard Chartered KL Marathon 2012, 24th June.
10km run:
Chip Time: 01:28:34
Split 5km: 00:42:26
Ranking: 3921

3) Penang Bridge International Marathon 2012, 18th November.
Half Marathon (21km):
Gun Time: 02:49:08.66
Chip Time: 02:47:13.11
9km Split: 01:11:00.44
17km Split: 02:11:13.11

4) 17km Penang Run 2013, 27th January.
Gun Time: 02:04:01
Chip Time:02:02:56
Category Ranking (Junior Open): 187/ 357
Overall Ramking: 682/1205

5) Malakoff, 17km Penang 2013, 17th March.
Gun Time: 01:43:06.07
Chip Time: 01:42:56.44
9.2km Split: 00:58:46.35
Men's Open Ranking: 249/ 944

6) Penang Run 1st Series Result (Esplanade - Teluk Kumbar), 12 May 2013:  
Half Marathon (21km):
Gun Time - 2:12:45
Chip Time - 2:12:11 
Overall Ranking - 218
Mix Ranking - 187
Category Ranking - 98 

Running a Marathon

It has been many months, nearly half a year I didn't update my blog because I had been busy since the start of this 2013 to carry out my new year's resolution. 
Well the main motive when I started this blog is to aim improve my skills of writing both in Mandarin and English, it really needs a continuous motivation to write. But it is often burried by laziness.

Part of my planning for this year is to learn Japanese, learn swimming and run a marathon. In runners world, when we say run a marathon it automatically means running a 42.195km marathon, the so called full marathon. Running a 21km run is called half marathon while running 10km run is not categorized as marathon, it is normally called 10km race or fun run.

I started my Japanese language class since March 2013. Learning Japanese language is an ongoing process and still a lot of things to be learnt and memorized. Regarding swimming, I did not know how to swim even float in the water at all. I always wanted to know the feeling of moving in the water since many years ago but now only I started to learn swimming since March. It was a great experience in learning swimming, at the initial stage it made me realized that how poor my body's coordination and how stiff my body was when I was in the water. But it also made me realized that my learning ability is quite fast, I could float and started to learn breaststroke kick during 1st lesson, 2nd lesson learnt hand movement, 4th lesson breathing, hand and leg coordination, 5th lesson fine tuning breastroke and 7th lesson started to learn freestyle.

Let's come back to the title, running a marathon. I will be running a marathon in this coming 30th June 2013, in the Standard Chartered KL Marathon (SCKLM) 2013, my first (full) marathon in my life. I ran few 10km races, two 17km races, and two half marathons. Last year I had my first half marathon 21km in the Penang Bridge International Marathon (PBIM) 2012, will write about the improvements I made in another article later for my own documentation as well.

Running a (full) marathon, is not an easy stuff, it's killing! People often said you must run numerous half marathons then only can try full marathon. But I don't believe, I believe in a stronger leg and not the numbers of races. This is because I never ran many half marathons but I made a 30mins improvement in my 2nd half marathon this year compare to my first half marathon PBIM last year. So I ran twice in half marthon and this year I am going to run in a (full) marathon. The cut off time for SCKLM 2013 is 6 hours to complete the 42.195km in order to get the finisher medal and finisher tee. I believe I can finish it within 6 hours, but my concern is how fast I can finish it.  

So, another 30days for my first (full) marathon in my life, I feel excited! There are many training programs and guidelines being suggested by experts for running a (full) marathon such as HIIT, hill, tempo training, LSD and so on. Well, I neither read any of those articles nor have time to accumulate weekly millage. It's good if one can follow those suggestions. It definitely can improve one's stamina. But I don't have enough time already, so I'm using my very own approach, the combination of weight training, swimming + running 3x per week (if possible). I believe weight training plays an important role for stronger legs, better endurance and to run faster. So for the next few weeks I will do more lunges, squats, dead lift, and back strengthening for a stronger posterior chain.

My target is 5 hours. Let's see!

豆腐

多数时候晚上我健身完驾车經過那裡时，總會不自覺（應該是故意）地彎進去吃釀豆腐。
一个星期最少都有两次。

慢慢地我发现，我其實是要看美女。

不過說真的，她真的非常非常漂亮和可愛。
白皙的肤色，瓜子脸，娇小玲珑，别致的脸蛋，散发出一种难以言语的气质。

美女賣豆腐，哇咾 A!

所以她就這樣賺了我的錢…

警惕自己的话 My Favourite Aphorisms

1. 你所浪费的今天，是昨天死去的人奢望的明天。你所厌恶的现在，是未来的你回不去的曾经。Today which you have wasted, is actually the tomorrow for those who died yesterday hope for. Your current situation that you hate now, will become the past that you cannot come back in the future.

2. 假如一个人的寿命为60岁，那么他总共只有21900天。一生时间的用途分别为：睡20年（7300天）；吃饭6年（2190天）；穿衣和梳洗5年（1825天）；生病3年（1095天）；打电话1年（365天），照镜子70天；抹鼻涕10天。最后只剩下3205天，即8年又285天，用来做你真正想要做的事情。
If the life of a person is 60 years old, then he will have a total of 21900 days during his lifetime. This lifetime will be used for: 
sleeping 20 years (7300 days); eating 6 years (2190 days); dressing and grooming 5 years (1825 days), fall sick 3 years (1095 days); talking on phone 1 year (365 days), make up/ looking at mirror 70 days; having runny nose 10 days. It left only 3205 days after deducting the above, ie 8 years and 285 days, for you to do what you really want to do.


3.  人开始时往往为梦想而忙，后来却因为忙碌而失去梦想。
Often people become busy when start pursuing their dream, but eventually people lost their dream due to busyness. 

去年今天

去年今天你在做什么？
What did you do today in last year?

我在日本和秋天有个邂逅。
I was at Japan, falling in love with Autumn.
 

我是个有福的人，很幸运当时被公司委派去日本南部考察。
I always feel that I am a very lucky person. I was being selected by my organization for a study trip to South Japan.
除了考察，当然是尽最大力气去看、去逛、去记住这个美丽的国都，同时享受秋天的宁静。
Other than learning the Japanese system, of course with the greatest effort to see, to visit as many places as I can and to remember this beautiful country, as well as enjoying the serenity of the Autumn.

日本的北九州市(Kitakyushu-shi)，是个非常舒服的地方。
Kitakyushu-shi is a very nice and comfortable place.
其让人感觉舒服的部分是拥有宽敞的空间，宽敞的行人道，建筑之间也不会让你感到很有压迫感，就是协调得很自然。
It has a very spacious environment, wide pedestrian walk way, the setting between buildings also does not make you feel oppressive; it is just so naturally coordinated.

这里地方虽然很大但却不是大城市，这里的生活步骤也不快。
Kitakyushu-shi is quite a big area/ district, but it is not a metropolis. The life at here is also just in a moderate pace.
你会看到很多老人家在路上行走，都很独立却也是孤独的。 
You will see a lot of elderly on the road, they are very independent, but I also see the lonely shadow of them.
这里不喧闹，路上的汽车也不多。
This is a very peaceful and quite place, there was not many cars on the road as well.

秋天的气候寒冷凉快，这里的一切一切美得让人想恋爱。
The cold and cool climate of Autumn, the mountain, the people, the land and sky, everything here was so beautiful until made you feel you want to be in love.
当时的我很有感触地在心头里想，如果我有爱人，能够和她在这寒冷的秋天，手牵手漫步在这秋叶转红的道路；那么此刻世间不再无需语言，寒冷变得多么的美，因为我牵着你温暖的手心。
I was very touched with the beauty of this land and was thinking in my heart that, if I have a lover and could hand in hand walk along this red autumn leaves' road, then this world is no longer require any language during that moment but just feel the beauty of serenity and the cold; because I have you with me, I am holding your warm hand.
幸福其实就是当你感觉当下那一刹那拥有着不变不移的永恒。这不也是一种浪漫吗？
Happiness is when you feel the inalienable eternal in the flash of present moment. 
I think it is also a kind of romantic, isn't it?

我怀念日本秋天的美。
I miss the beauty of the autumn in Japan.

我不知此生还有没有因缘再踏足日本，但是我希望日后有机会和爱人漫步在日本这宁静的秋季道路，看秋叶转红，看它被风吹起的妩媚......
I do not know whether I will be able to set foot in Japan again or not in the rest of my life, but I am looking forward for the opportunity to walk along this peaceful and serene Autumn road in Japan, with my lover, to see the autumn leaves turn red, to see it's windblown charming......

谨以此文献给我远方的日本朋友，小浜須賀子。
This article is dedicated to my dearest Japanese friend, Obama Sugako-san.

内涵 - 女人与汉堡

老麦都是以卖汉堡为主攻，而老肯的汉堡怎样都比不过老麦，有人说因为老肯是卖鸡的。

其实我主观地认为问题除了老肯败在是卖鸡的，另外老肯的汉堡就是少了点点什么的。
高级一点的叫法就是“内涵”。
因为炸鸡来来去去就是那两三种脆辣和原味在卖，也没什么特别的花样可以玩。

虽然老肯的餐单里也有几种汉堡的选择，可是大致上只是名字不同，样子和size稍微不同，可是东西是一样的。其所有汉堡的面包都是使用口感不佳的同款芝麻面包，同样的芝士，汉堡的鸡肉就是其炸鸡肉，蔬菜和调味mayonnaise都大同小异。

有一次，老肯推出新汉堡，名字好像是叫什么“劲歌极限”的，广告更是“势必轰炸你的味蕾”，我也馋嘴去买来试了；结果一吃下去我就后悔了。吃到一半时我更想哭了，因为这汉堡就像打扮得花枝招展的女人，但言行举止粗鲁，一开口说话人家就知道其程度了。

这劲歌极限汉堡使用的是口感差劲的芝麻面包，同样的芝士与不新鲜的蔬菜，然后配上很甜而且颜色黄得很漂亮的罐头黄梨片，加上其典型的美奶滋和脆辣炸鸡块，我又加入老肯的辣椒酱，味道全部捞埋一起......啊，很腻！从此，我就好像再也没有买老肯的汉堡吃了。

反观老麦，其汉堡样子看起来简单朴实，可是每一个汉堡都有其特色，就像有品味的女人无需打扮得花枝招展只穿简单的连身裙也能够穿出其韵味。

老麦加上其早餐应该有卖超过十种汉堡。如果你有察觉到，它的每一个汉堡几乎从面包，肉饼的烹调，蔬菜，美奶滋到芝士都经过精心设计以特出其汉堡的口味。打个比方，其鱼柳汉堡和早餐鸡肉麦满分应该是最简单的汉堡，因为只有肉饼，面包，芝士和美奶滋，没有蔬菜。可是其面包是有考究的，鱼柳汉堡的面包是极松软的现蒸面包，美奶滋里掺了比较重味道的调味菜碎（不知叫什么名字）以掩盖鱼柳的腥味。而麦满分的面包更特别，外表粉滑，里面却松散的，配上奶味比较重的芝士和甜滑的美奶滋，简单但特别。

其实，我不是在为老麦做宣传，我更不鼓励你吃快餐。我也很久没有吃老麦的汉堡了，虽然我超爱老麦的香辣麦香鸡汉堡，但是快餐真的对健康不好。

我其实想说，女人就像汉堡，外表华丽不一定内在美丽。再简单的女人，只要有内涵与善良，其实是世上最漂亮的。会打扮的女人不一定有内涵，但是有内涵的女人会间接地影响其打扮。