A Thai Kickboxer's Path.... (Jun 14, 06)

This story is one of those rarely heard in a busy city-life. What I admire is the passion, sweat, pain, satisfaction, and stamina that came all along from her vision and persistence. Polly, is her name, and of course, I feel so proud of her and honoured to have a world's No. 3 to be my best friend.


Quoted from her blog:
__________________________
Tuesday, June 13, 2006

World No. 3!!!Hey I'm the World No. 3 Thai kickboxer!!! Well I could've got a gold but I know I'm not that good yet. There are so many better boxers than I and I'm really blessed to be the 2nd runner up.

I'm also really really happy that the competition is over finally. I basically couldn't wait to come home last week. I had enough of the whole stressful event. It's not easy to describe what I and the rest of the boxers have gone through for the past few weeks or months. We've shed our sweat, our blood, our time, our everything for the competition. We sacrificed so much, we gave up our personal lives for this event, all because this is our dream. We kept telling ourselves that's what we want, we want to win, we want to be No.1. It's not only training your physically fitness, but your mind and your soul. I've stretched myself to a level that I could never imagine myself to be in. I pushed myself physically and mentally to the stage that beyond a regular person could ever reach. And I'm sure people who do sports understand and have gone through what I have.

One of the most important thing a Thai boxer aware of is keeping his weigh. The first few days I was in Bangkok, I had to maintain my weigh to below 99lbs or 45kg because my weigh division is 42kg to 45kg. It's definitely not an easy thing to do. You have to watch what you eat. You need to know that sleeping will make you lose 1-2 lbs. So at night, you could have these 2 lbs of food as quota. I weigh myself basically 5 times a day so I know how much I could eat and how much energy I should spend in order to loose those extra pounds.
Life is boring there...
5:30am Get up
6:00am Weigh-in
7:00am Breakfast
8:30am Running
9:30am Training
10:30am Shower
11:00am Lunch
12:00pm Arrive to the convention hall
5:00pm Return to the hotel
6:00pm Dinner/Watching people to have dinner
10:00pm Sleep

Disciplined life indeed. I was soooo sick of it by the end of the trip especially when my fight was over. I just wanted to come home and sleep in my comfortable bed.

Funny thing is ever since my picture of me wearing a bra-top and shorts got printed on newspaper, many friends called and asked me how to get a 6-pack. I really wanted to tell them they don't want to know. The cost, the sarcrifices are immeasurable. All I could say was to be persistent and give your tummy some patient. 6-pack doesn't come easily. The (everyday dose) formula is: [200 sit-ups + hard-core training + protein intake + 1/2 bowl oatmeal breakfast - dinner - ice-cream and all unnecessary snacks] x 2 months = 6pack.

Biceps training: Punching the bag x 1000 times = nicely shaped biceps
Triceps training: Chin-up x 10 times = nicely toned triceps without "bye-bye" meat
Bun of steel training: Running

I've never seen myself to be in such best shape in my whole life. But it's easy to ruin it too. It takes lots of hard work and time to build a nice body, but it only takes a few days to destroy it.

互联网的力量 (Jun 1, 06)

闹哄哄的流传了一段时间，这个＂巴士亚叔＂的故事早就在互联网上聚合了数以十万计的＂粉丝＂．想不到的是，今天终于当了头条．文化人士，社会学专家纷纷跑出来解释这个社会现象，焦点放在社会压力，传媒喧染上．
可这件事上，最为我津津乐道的是惊见互联网所结合的力量和创造力．从朋友转发的连接里追踪这个"巴士亚叔"的故事,跑到一个博客社区才发现原来网络社会里是另一个的天地. (脑海飘出桃花源记的故事,但是网络天地是否世外桃源,让人乐而忘返则见仁见智了.)
"巴士亚叔"的故事原来只是一个在巴士上发生的小闹剧,但是经过网络社区的整合,"巴士亚叔"从而"出产"了不少让无数网友花上精力和时间的"消费品".我更是第一次见识到何为互联网的卧虎藏龙.
在网络社群里溜览,吓然发现以前一位非常低调的大学同学竟然成为了网上社区名人,且有一番因他而起的风波,不禁令人联想到"电车男"的故事,原来互联网真的创做了另外一个世界,而有些人只活在那个世界里.
今天,互联量这个力量已经是不能忽略的事实,社会的当权者又是否有适当的认知去管理这圈子?