realization and desire; my plan

When I was 4 years old I started training in TaeKwonDo in Florida.  I continued for several years, entering in dozens of competitions along the way, traveling, meeting new people, and having amazing experiences.  Then I moved to NH and went a few years before I felt a longing to get back into the martial arts world.  I then moved to Kajukenpo and Pai lum kung fu, training in those styles for a few years and then injured myself, bringing my training to a sudden halt for about 2 years. Then switching back to Taekwondo after I had healed enough to train and getting my car so I could drive myself longer distances without relying on my parents. Once I entered college I continued practicing TaeKwonDo more and more and eventually entered my first collegiate competition.

Let’s just say it wasn’t my best set of results.  But at the same time I loved it, it didn’t matter if I had won or lost, it was about pushing myself and seeing what I was capable of, as well as what others were capable of.  From there I could see just how much work I needed to do to compete at their levels.  I was having an amazing time while balancing coursework, a part time job, friends, and TKD.  At the second competition I was leaner, faster, stronger, and smarter in the ways of competition fighting.  I still had a long way to go before I would be able to compete with the highest ranking competitors from universities and colleges like Harvard, MIT, NYU, UCLA and more, but I was starting to hold my own. Saddly that was my last competition at the collegiate level since, I just finished my Junior year in college and I have recently come into contact with the people I had trained under as well as the people I trained with in Florida as a small kid.

Since talking with everyone I have realized that I could do so much more, push myself so much farther, but only if I was the one who truly wanted to, if I was going to push, if I was going to dedicate my whole self into this.  There is no changing the past, and no use in wishing you had done something differently, there is only now, and the future that can be changed, but I will not let go of my past.

I have decided to dedicate myself to training every day in order to compete on the national level for TaeKwonDo.  I will not, cannot, slack off.  I will eat healthier,   go distance running, body-weight train, possibly weight-train, bike to and from work (6 or so miles each way), and most importantly I will practice TaeKwonDo every day.

My goals to reach are as follows;

-win a local TKD Tournament

-run a 5K

-be in great health/ shape

-compete in nationals

-maybe more to come later

This will not be easy and I will not pretend that it will be.  Yet that does not change the fact that I will give this everything I have.

College Apocalypse; 2012

It is 2012 and the end of the world as we knew it has commenced.  A Neuro–virus has been released onto the majority of the students here at UMass.  The fire sprinkler systems were broken into, the Neuro-virus added and then, at the peak of the day, they were all set off simultaneously, effectively drenching the unexpecting and quickly irritated students.  The virus seeped into the body through cuts, scrapes, eyes and even the pores if left on the skin long enough.  All thanks to a junior writing professor and his whimsical mind and sporadic distaste for monotony, a few others and myself ended up outside, sitting on the steps of the Campus Center when this all occurred.  This spared us from the almost instantaneous Zombification process that occurred once the N-virus reached your blood system.

Now what?

 

Peace & Munch

It’s a perfect spring day, a crisp, yet relaxing breeze rolls in through the window.  Not cold enough for a coat, yet not hot enough to turn on a fan.  Pristine.  The time of the day doesn’t matter, although a nice early morning feel is always there. All of the day’s worry, anguish, and exhaustion just get swept away with every passing moment. Reaching the point of being lulled to sleep by the distant chirps of a bird.  Then…

“CRUNCH!”

“Munch…snap…muchity, crunchity, crunch!” echoes through the mind like poison.  Leaking through the cracks, hardening and binding everything it touches.  My eyes bulge open as if nails are clawing at a chalkboard’s face.  Body rigid, I turn to see my roommate, on the other side of the room.  Large carnivorous spiders latched to his ears, blocking out the world to all but the secluded pulsations of the metallic sheet centimeters from his ears.  He turns just enough for me to see his mouth full of apple, opening then shutting, again and again! The munching has now turned to mushing, agonizing chomping and tongue taping as if it were a special skill to be celebrated.

If only the spiders would do as the should.

Harbingers of Spring

The sky opens up; pushing back the gloom of grey and infusing the world with vibrancies that set the eyes and hearts ablaze.  The fresh, crisp wind blows just enough to tickle your senses into a giddy smile.  With this bliss and light-heartedness come the unpleasantness of fluctuating weather patterns and the despised first waves of mosquito battalions out for first blood.  The want to sit in the nook of a tree and read something so full heartedly that your mind creates a movie through the mind, not even noticing the words on the page, but seeing the events firsthand.  All leading up to the torrential downpour during a thunderstorm, raising the hairs on your body from head to toe until you are carried into the rain enticed into dancing your worries away until you have been set free.

Monster Marketing project; best thing ever

When I first heard that I would be randomly paired with 4 other random people to form a marketing team to increase market share for an undisclosed brand, I was not very happy to say the least.  I was expecting to team up with 4 others that I signed up for the class with to create a powerhouse of skills.  Things never turn out how you expect them to I guess.  I was at least hoping to get a mixed group of men and women to have a wide range of opinions, backgrounds, and so on to give our project the best angles possible.

Again I was thrown for a loop getting 4 other guys; I was stating to see a pattern here…

Either way that was how it would be and we set to work and before we knew it, we had all become friends, and jad developed a solid marketing plan.
Along with the planning of our marketing plan, I was to do a portion of the background research ( easy enough) and then make a professional level poster (uhhh) , then film (oh boy) and edit (even worse) 2 videos, one a viral vid and another a commercial styled.  Both to be put on Youtube and other media/ social media sources. . .

I had no experience or knowledge of how to do any of that, but I had the HD camera, and the never before used Adobe Photoshop CS5 Extended on my PC laptop.  I then put in about 20 to 40  hours over the course of 3 days teaching myself how to use all the programs necessary to do the basics, and then going through trial and error for everything else.

I was amazed to have found something that even stumped google and youtube.  Adobe Photoshop CS5 Extended has a lesser known secret, it can edit video.  As such I searched and searched and could find no answers to my editing dilemmas dealing with all sorts of problems, yet eventually figured it out.

With the combined efforts my group put together a killer presentation and came out with one of  the best grade in the class at 101% when the average grade was 80%-85%.

This experience really showed me how much doing something I enjoyed changed how I work, not to mention that with a positive attitude things that don’t go how you expected them too can work in your favor.  I am also pretty skilled at Adobe Photoshop and the poster above is an example of what I have created.

Any thoughts?

 

Insanity Day 5: cardio cardio cardio (pure cardio)

Today was a definite sweat you butt off day.  We started out with the usual warm-up and jumped right into a full body pusher.

Oddly enough it seems th

at the simplest of the drills are the hardest, probably since there is such a short time of span between each rep.  Either way I think I have decided upon a favorite drill so far in the Insanity Workout collection, The Mummy kicks.  This one is tough but simple and drains my arms more than anything else.

This week the abdominal workout was not included but I think it starts with the next session.
I have started to consider if my meals are the best for my goals, but as a college student I am relying on what is available from the dinning commons, for the most part, and locally in town on special occasions.  Soooooo that can be anywhere from a great balanced meal to a meat lovers pizza… not the best in consistency I think haha.  Then again before this I was only working out 2 days a week and now I am doing 6 so we will see if that is enough to make a significant difference or not.Tomorrow is the last day of our training before a rest day and I’m not sure whether I should be worried or excited to see what’s in store for us.

Insanity Day 4: Carido Recovery was great ;)

So far today was the most relaxed of the workouts Insanity  has thrown at us.  The easiest way to describe the workout would be power yoga and feel the legs burn!

This was unexpected but a great surprise.  It worked out our core, legs, gluts,  and more.  This is my favorite so far since it is straightforward, yet still very effective.  It was not as completely draining and exhausting as the other days, but it still made me sweat and have to push myself.

It seems that everyone was doing better today, not as beat and sore before the workout, and had a lot more energy to offer.  The focus on slower movements was a blessing for 2 of my friends that had eaten just before showing up…I thought they would lose their food by the end of the 10th minute, but the change-up saved them 😉

Insanity Day 3 complete…ouch

Today marked Day 3 of my Insanity Challenge, and all I have to say is …OUCH!
my legs more than anything else are truly sore.  This is pretty ironic seeing as I study a few forms of martial arts and one of them focuses specifically on the legs.  I can really feel an intense streeeeetch if I do a squat.  So far I don’t feel much in my abs, but it i

s there just a little bit saying hello.

Today’s workout was pretty intense and left me weak and exhausted by the time it had finished.  That’s exactly what I want!  I know I dread heading over to the workout zone of a lounge or basement in one of the dorms, moving furniture out of the way, then starting the insanity workout but I can already FEEL that a progress is being made (and I’ve only just begun).

I’m hoping that by day 15 I will be able to make it through every workout without needing to stop to catch my breath or such.

I can tell that I will need a lot of support from my 3 other friends that are doing this challenge with me.  especially since I love to take naps so my usual allotted time for a nap is being handed over to Insanity craze camp.

I’m considering putting up photos of before and after… but I think I will only do that at the VERY end which is day 60 or so.  Any thoughts?

 

INSANTIY workout Challenge, Accepted !!!

I found out last week that my friends were ordering the Insanity workout set.  For those of you that do not know wha

t that is, it is basically P90X without weights, it is a high cardio and body-weight based daily workout regimen.  It goes on for 60 days and if you complete it you are sure to gain at least cardio abilities if not a lot more.

I started yesterday with 3 of my friends of varying physical abilities and we have agreed to continue to motivate eachother and to push as hard as we can.

let’s see just how much we can do!

OH NO!!!!! Scared for the hunger games!

I saw something moments ago that scared me horribly….There were Team Peeta and Team Gale shirts, stickers

and more for sale and all I could think of was Twilight… PLEASSSSSEEEEEEEEE don’t let this become a twisted after-version of everyone fighting over “who is better” and so on.