Landscape Architecture and Cycling

Didn't post here for over a year. So much has happened, so I'll just focus on 2 things this time. First thing is that I'm changing industries after working in engineering for 6 years. I'm currently studying landscape architecture, which is filled with so much work and sleepless nights. Above is a video that I've compiled to show the work I've produced in my first year of studies. At first, I was so bad at drawing and using drawing programs. I still am quite bad, but thanks to my classmates, I managed.

Second thing is that I finally learned how to cycle. Well, I still need to learn how to turn left more efficiently and to hop up a curb. But for now, I can feel good about conquering one of the sports that I had so much trouble with (the other ones are swimming, skating, and snowboarding).

Xiamen Vacation

Just came back from Xiamen, China a couple days ago. Attached are the 3 YouTube videos I've made along the way.

Tough Road To Muscle-Building

The path to getting bigger is exceptionally hard. I've played around the gym since 2005 and made many mistakes. I didn't eat after a workout, didn't eat enough protein or calories in general, and focused on all the mediocre-effectiveness arm curls. Since buying a book called "The New Rules Of Lifting", I started to understand the muscle-building concept. But once again, I made a mistake on the post-workout meal. Many people advised on taking more sugar than protein in order to "feed" the protein into the muscles. Big mistake. The sugar actually added inches to my waistline. (I guess it might work for people who don't regularly eat white rice or other carbohydrates.) For the last 4 workouts, I drank the whey protein shake without the dextrose and I'm starting to feel better. As I look into the mirror these days, I realized that my chest and back are a bit thicker thanks to the bench presses, cable-seated rows, and deadlifts. Before this discovery, I was really compelled to quit because 6 years of no results can be quite the turnoff. But now that my goal is clear, it is only a matter of time before I look like the guy in this photo.

Osama bin Laden

It is absolutely great news that bin Laden, the terrorist leader, is finally dead. I still remember the 911 incident shortly after I started university.

Fish Recovery and the Best TV Show of All-Time

Gunnery Sergeant Uranus had been sick for almost 2 weeks. This morning, however, he greeted me with warm flaps of his pectoral fins. I haven't seen him swim so peacefully since his sickness. It made me happily go to work too.

A while back, I finished watching what I consider to be the best drama TV show of all-time. It's actually a Korean drama (with English subtitles) called Giant, which talked about how a boy overcame the deaths of his parents, the loss of his brothers and sister, the hardships of being a homeless person, the joy of being accepted into a good family, the joy of being educated, the pain of being accused for murder, the triumph of being the leader of the prisoners, the joy of starting his own construction company, and the hardships of keeping his company afloat. This TV show changed the way I see things. If any of you aren't certain about where life leads, then this show is for you. 60 episodes is much less than the 192 of 24.

http://www.mysoju.com/korean-drama/giant/

Shipping Container Home

Saw the movie Tron: Legacy on DVD yesterday. And I thought the main character's home is worth mentioning. Apparently, the home is made with two 40' shipping containers and two smaller 20' ones on the lower floor. Normally, it would look quite bad, but the spacing is placed just right to make it look cool (bottom floorspace a little narrower than the top).

Impossible Is Nothing

Personally, I think Adidas could've come up with a better slogan, but this fits with my recent accomplishment of mastering the riffle shuffle quite well. I had always been bad at shuffling cards and that frustrated me when playing cards with friends.

So I bought a new pack of cards and followed the expert advice from ExpertVillage.com. And now I'm proud to say that after 4 days, I finally mastered the on-the-table riffle shuffle. What an accomplishment! Now all I got to do is to wait for the next time we play cards. Hope I won't forget how to shuffle by then.

AKB48

After working 20+ hours straight for some crazy work proposal (on a Sunday!), I arrived home at around 8am. My television was pointed at the J2 channel. That was when I saw the amazing music video featuring beautiful Japanese girls in macho military uniforms. The song was good too, but that's secondary. I didn't know the name of the song but I remembered hearing River River River. So after I slept a couple of hours and woke up at 5pm, I tried searching for it on Google and Youtube.

Somehow, as I was watching this video for the second time, I realized something. AKB48 stands for 48 girls in the band, I assume. That is a huge number for a group. I also assume that this band will soon shrink in size to a more manageable number like 12, because 48 is just too much supply. That means 36 of the girls will be packing home and going off to find a new career path. But I'm sure that out of these 36 girls, none of them will regret for their time spent as singers/dancers. Even though initially they may be upset that their performing careers have ended so fast, they will still treasure the moment because it means something to them.

Then I thought about my life, with the good times and the bad. I always wanted to erase my bad memories, somehow. But, after watching this video, I realize that I should treasure them instead. The bad times have made me stronger and turned me to the man I am today.

Uranus and 24

Last week, I bought a new Siamese fighting fish. This one is a little different from the past 4 I had as they were all plakats, with short fins. This one is the most common and dominant breed, called the veiltail, which has long fins. My logic is that since they're the dominant breed, they should be better at surviving and live longer as a result. I hope that Gunnery Sergeant Uranus can surpass 3 years.

I also just finished watching all 8 seasons of 24. What an accomplishment! I learned a lot from the movie, including some gun models, military strategies, political agendas, and much more. But what was probably the most important were 2 quotes. They are "Do what makes you happy," and if that's not possible, "Try to make choices that you can live with."

Lazy Gym Instructor

A week ago, I asked a gym instructor for advice on doing the deadlift. He was so lazy that he came up with 3 innovative excuses to avoid getting out of his seat. Excuse #1: "I don't use the machines here, so you'll probably be more familiar with them than me." Excuse #2: "Why don't you show me how you would do it without actually lifting the barbell?" Excuse #3: "I want to talk with the other gym regulars instead." What a disgrace to other fitness instructors.

By the way, I just realized that I have written on this blog for 1 year. What a milestone. Perhaps what's more remarkable was that I averaged 11 posts a month in the beginning... and now it's around 2. As for the TV show 24, I already finished watching seasons 1-5 and 8.