Sunday, December 30, 2012
It's okay, everyone casts judgements. But before you judge me, ask yourself how I became like this.Saturday, December 29, 2012
You're being the better man. You don't have to be revengeful. Keep being the better person, but don't expect her to do the same because she's not you.Thursday, December 27, 2012
This shall never fail to amaze me. My breath was taken, yeah, it became short and a tad faster. The photo doesn't do it justice, but I can assure you it was an amazing place. The vast lands and greenery. BBC really made the place resemble parts of UK. Seen on this morning's base training ride.It's now my phone's lock screen wallpaper:)
Wednesday, December 26, 2012
* Daily coffee brew *
So this is the photo-explanation of the process of how I make my coffee on most days (including today).I turn on the coffee machine first to heat up the coils, before going on to prepare the rest of the equipment such as beans (pictured in jar), scoop, coffee mug.
So first, grind the beans during the electric grinder (pictured on the hooper).
Secondly, take the ground coffee powder and put into the tamp, making sure it's compacted.
Thirdly, click it into the machine and turn on the machine's pump and let the water run through the ground compacted powder for about 20 seconds. Starbucks recommends 18 seconds for the best espresso, but I pull a little bit more because I think it's a little bit wasteful. Anyway, 20 seconds seems to result in the just right volume and taste for my formula.
Fourth picture, the final result. Usually the volume of coffee pulled in 20 seconds is less, but today I was too distracted by taking photos that I exceeded the timing way off, to about 30 seconds.
Wednesday, December 19, 2012
So, I've been wondering why I keep coming back, and why I keep sticking around despite everything. Then I realized.Love is a feeling, an emotion; it isn't meritocratic.
And that is why I've been overlooking all the flaws.
Sunday, December 16, 2012
Why do I even give top priority to you, treat you so well and fuss over you, when all you do is stab me and walk away repeatedly?? I may not have always been there for you, but I've never left.Friday, December 14, 2012
Two things the philosophical and motivational side of me wants to say here today.1. Adaptation is the most powerful ability of the human being.
2. The only way we get stronger, is to suffer.
If you look at everything we do to improve and progress, it's all through the simple method of hard work and getting used to the hard work, then moving on to even harder work and getting used to the harder work. Nobody in history ever got stronger after years of relaxation and without any effort or pain.
So what I'd like to take away from the experiences I've had over the years so far is that nothing will ever get me down. I've no reason to be afraid of anything. Trials come our way, difficult times, we adapt. People hurt us. We hurt ourselves. I put myself in the hurt locker no less than 3 times a week. But through all the suffering, we come out stronger. And it is this thought which gets me through each tough gym session, every cycling session which threatens to burst my lungs and numb my legs. For I know the only way I can get bigger, stronger, faster, fitter is by going through the suffering. It is necessary. And once I've adapted to it, I'm a level higher, bigger, stronger, faster, fitter.
I started at 40kg bodyweight, benching 30kg was a challenge and any weight above my bodyweight was deemed "unmanageable" to train on. After 2.5 years of suffering, I'm now close to 60kg, I carry more than 30kg in each arm to bench, and any weight below my bodyweight is deemed "inadequate" to train on. And what happened in the process? Suffering and adaptation.
So why is there reason to fear? There is none. I walk through life unafraid of anything that may come my way. Problems arise, obstacles come in my way, and I just ask myself: "Why so scared? Don't worry, relax. Everything will be fine." It's through this that makes me realise life has so much more to offer. Life for the past 3 weeks has been treating me especially nicely. It's like a whole new world I've missed out on, and I intend to savour every moment while it lasts.
The formula for personal improvement is thus Suffering + Adaptation + Time = Progress. And through progress that we make, we finally reach success. The other condition required for this reaction to occur? Patience. Everything will fall into place at the end.
Tomorrow I head for a morning ride with the team and of course, I expect it to hurt. But I know I'll get stronger, and so I'll learn to embrace it. I have 8 more weeks to go till I reach the end of my 12 week plan. And every time I feel like giving up, or feel unmotivated to start on my workout session, I'll be sure to remind myself that I'll need to get over the barrier of pain to get to where I want to be.
The 12-week plan
The 12-week plan began on 16th November 2012, and the final day is 8th February 2013. The goal of this plan is to gain some significant weight, improve my strength, and most importantly, attain visible physical improvement. It does sound considerably ambiguous, but at least it keeps me going and gives me something to look forward to. I realised that I've been stagnating in my progress for quite some time now, and that I've been rather monotonous with my workouts already, hence losing the drive I had in the beginning. Through this 12-week plan, I intend to make things more exciting by having a target and deadline to achieve it. The deadline isn't so far away, so this makes the "hardcore" phase shorter, and therefore I won't run out of patience before I attain it hahaha. Changes I've made to my training include consciously having a bigger diet than usual, starting on a Whey + Creatine + Glutamine + BCAAs supplements stack for post-workout shake, increasing workout frequency to 3 times a week and making sure I give my full effort every workout instead of "Working out for the sake of it". My weight was 56.4kg at the beginning of week 1. It's the end of week 4, beginning of week 5 today and my weight is 58.0kg. I've definitely gained real weight (it's not water mass) because I was never so consistently above 57.0kg in the past.
Monday, December 03, 2012
Here's a beautiful shot from last Sunday's ride. Wen took the Anson Road sprint point (again)! Look at his poise. And my desperate (yet futile) attempt to catch him.