83.4% Pure

Another Favorite: 周杰倫 – 逆鳞

Wed, 20 Oct 2010 02:41:18 +0000

One of Jay’s most meaningful songs, if not the most.

周杰倫 – 逆鳞
而生命對每個人都不公平也沒道理只能摸向泥濘迎向那陣驟雨由不得你

突來的驟雨這條街一路泥濘就像人生不過是一場即興
整個世界正在對我們挑釁就算如此還是得無懼前進

手中的郵報封面的人在微笑下個路口生命在暗巷尖叫
活著只是油墨上面的一角明天之後還有誰翻閱得到

我跟你用不同方式踩過前方帶刺荊棘你囂張不畏懼退縮我低頭沉默卻堅定
用力的還擊發出聲音讓他們安靜不敢相信
繼續前進他們畏懼睜大眼睛他們躲避然後放棄專心聆聽我的聲音

而生命對每個人都不公平也沒道理只能摸向泥濘迎向那陣驟雨由不得你
如果生命對每個人都不公平也沒道理那就讓我帶著孤寂繼續前進直到光明

我我我只有一種容貌我就是永遠不會倒我就算逆境環繞我面對也要帶著笑
我只有一種咆哮我要讓他們都知道我生命再怎麼粗糙我都要活得很驕傲

我說自尊啊看起來或許可笑但它至少撐著我試著不讓我跌倒
活著如果只是不甘寂寞的喧囂那就咆哮吧讓每個人都能聽得到

用力的還擊發出聲音讓他們安靜不敢相信
繼續前進他們畏懼睜大眼睛他們躲避然後放棄專心聆聽我的聲音

而生命對每個人都不公平也沒道理只能摸向泥泞迎向那陣驟雨由不得你
如果生命對每個人都不公平也沒道理那就讓我帶著孤寂繼續前進直到光明

T.I. – No Matter What

Wed, 20 Oct 2010 02:13:40 +0000

One of my favorite songs the last few years. Feel the lyrics really speak to me and it is part of my workout music rotation.

T.I. – No Matter What
Yeah, I say still i stand
Ay, shawty here i am
hey

Never have you seen in ya lifetime
A more divine southern rapper with a swagger like mine
Facing all kinda time but smile like I’m fine
Brag with such passion and shine without tryin’
Believe me, pain’s a small thing to a giant
I was born without a dime
Out the gutter I climbed
spoke my mind and didn’t stutter one time
Ali said “even the greatest gotta suffer sometimes”
So I huff and puff rhymes
Lyrics so sick wit it
Set the standard in Atlanta how to get get get it
So you up and coming rappers wanna diss, just kill it
I’m officially the realest…point, blank, period
Whether I still live in the hood or just visit
Whatever you can do in the hood I done did it
That’s why the dope boys and the misfits feel it
This still his city long as TIP living, listen

I ain’t dead (nah) I ain’t done(nah)
I ain’t scared(of what?), I ain’t run(from Who?)
But still I stand (yeah)
No matter what pimpin here I am(Yeah)
No matter What

Remember I ain’t break(never), I ain’t fold(never)
They hate me more(so?)
Yeah I know(Ha, Ha)
Here I go(Yeah)
No matter what shawty, here I go
No matter what shawty

Let the blog sites and the magazines tell it
I’m sure to be in jail till 2027
Rather see me in the cell then
Instead of this new McLaren
God will take you through hell, just to get you to heaven
So even tho it’s heavy, the load I will carry
Grin and still bear it, win and still share it
Apologies to the fans, I hope you can understand it
Life can change ya direction, even when you ain’t planned it
All you can do it handle it, worst thing you can do is panic
Use it to your advantage, avoid insanity manage
To conquer, every obstacle, make impossible possible
Even when winning’s illogical, losing’s still far from optional
And, Yea they wanna see you shot up in the hospital
But, when life throw punches, block and counter like a boxer do
Been locked inside mi casa too long, I did a song
To make it known that the king lives on pimpin

I ain’t dead (nah) I ain’t done(nah)
I ain’t scared(of what?), I ain’t run(from Who?)
But still I stand (yeah)
No matter what pimpin here I am(Yeah)
No matter What

Remember I ain’t break(never), I ain’t fold(never)
They hate me more(so?)
Yeah I know(Ha, Ha)
Here I go(Yeah)
No matter what shawty, here I go
No matter what shawty

Even in solitude, there’s still no hotter dude
I show you how to do, what you do, you ain’t gotta clue
All you do is follow dudes
Sound like a lotta dudes
I’ll weather whatever storm
Make it out without a bruise
I understand why, now when my hands tied
They take shots, cause if I’m not there it’s a landslide
But revenge is best served as a cold dish
And suckas will get served nigga no shit
Guess it was understood, for me it was over with
But I don’t quit, if you ain’t noticed yet
They couldn’t wait to say goodnight shawty
So they can try to rhyme, act and look like shwaty
Go get a beat from Toomp, and make a hook like shawty
Before ya know it I’m back what it look like shawty
I lost my partner and my daughter in the same year
Somehow I rise above my problems and remain here
Yeah, and I hope the picture paint it clear
If your heart filled with faith then you can’t fear
Wonder how I face years and I’m still chillin
Easy, let go and let GOD deal with it

I ain’t dead (nah) I ain’t done(nah)
I ain’t scared(of what?), I ain’t run(from Who?)
But still I stand (yeah)
No matter what pimpin here I am(Yeah)
No matter What

Remember I ain’t break(never), I ain’t fold(never)
They hate me more(so?)
Yeah I know(Ha, Ha)
Here I go(Yeah)
No matter what shawty, here I go
No matter what shawty

Notes From Hilltop

Thu, 05 Aug 2010 03:52:48 +0000

Been going to Hilltop The Gym in Central Square as part of a Beeconomics package this week, after taking the last 2 weeks off since the first lesson. Muay Thai, like any other pursuit, is all about reps. Wanna kick better? Get into the gym and kick that freaking bag till you get it right. Of course it will help a great deal if you have an instructor correcting your technique. That’s where the gym comes into the picture.

This will be a compilation notes from the 2 lessons this week. Plenty of points to cover after a long hiatus from training:

1. Chin down, shoulder relaxed

Instructor 1 noticed that when I punch, either jab or cross, my chin is exposed. Gotta tuck that chin in, off hand protecting your face when you punch.

2. Punching to the same spots

My punches can go all over the place at times. This was caught by previous instructors at other gym before. Imagine a focus mit or someone’s chin (haha, therefore you should never open up your chin) and jab/cross/hook/uppercut to that same spot when shadowboxing.

3. Off Hand Blocking

When you block with your knee raised and elbow touching the knee, reach the off hand out to block/keep opponent away.

4. Elbows

Straight, cross, up and spinning elbows. Engage core and rotate into the motion. Especially for cross elbows, picture a X in space, rotate your body to elbow from top left to bottom right. For up elbows, rotate core to engage movement and close the striking distance. For spinning elbow, protect the back of your head with off hand, look before striking down with your elbow

5. Hook

Open up your forearm 90-deg, off hand guarding your face and rotate should into the strike.

6. Uppercut

Open up forearm to 90-deg. When striking, fist should be facing inward (thumb facing inward) to achieve optimum contact.

7. Kicks

Reminder of what I picked up at BNM a year ago: Forward momentum. Tuck your chin in, focus, engage core, rotate your body and turn into the face. It’s a forward motion and your body should not lean back. Control your motion, and recover to original position, hands back to guarding position. If hand swung during kick for momentum, bring it back immediately to guard against counter-attack. The heel of your back foot does not touch the floor. Ready to pounce and explode.

The solid sound of a perfectly executed roundhouse kick into a heavy bag belongs in the same category as a perfectly hit golf ball: music to a grown man’s ears.

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2 Year Recap

Wed, 10 Feb 2010 08:49:19 +0000

Last weekend I moved. It was the end of the longest stay at the same location since my freshman year in college. It was melancholic and I was also alarmed by the sheer amount of stuff I have accumulated. Among other things, I’ve accumulated many empty whiskey bottles. Here’s the list of what I drank from 2008 – 2010, in no particular order:
- Nikka Taketsuru 竹鶴 17 yr
- 2 x Bushmills 10 yr
- Spey 12 yr
- Spey 15 yr
- 2 x Singleton 12 yr
- Cragganmore 12 yr
- Maker’s Mark
- Jack Daniel’s Monograph
- Aberlout
- Laphroaig 10 yr
- Glen Elgin 12 yr
- 2 x Johnnie Walker Blue Label
- Johnnie Walker Black Label
- Caol Ila 12 yr
- Talisker 18 yr
- Ardberg 10 yr
- 2 x Bushmills
- 2 x Suntory Yamazaki 山埼 12 yr
- Bowmore 12 yr
- Suntory Hakushu 白州 12 yr
- Glenlivet (Nadura) 16 yr

Total: 26 bottles in 24 months, home consumption.

D-Link DNS-323 NAS and Transmission 1.80

Tue, 26 Jan 2010 03:42:53 +0000

Helped a friend set up a better bittorrent client for his NAS box. These low-end NAS boxes are one of the most sensible gadgets you can buy. Not only can you back up your data, centralize your data storage and with a bit of modding, you can get a functional server running at very low voltage. I bought a NAS-01G about 2 years ago and I have to say that things has more than earned back my investment.

Transmission is a bittorrent client that I have not had experience with until recently. But the ease of installation and maturity of the project has made it a worthy choice for this D-Link NAS.

* Disclaimer: This guide is essentially following Shadowandy’s guide: here, with update for newer version of Transmission version, and written in my own space for my recollection.
1. Install Fun Plug, customized packages for D-Link DNS-323/343 NAS mod
- Download these 2 files: “fun_plug”, yup that’s the name, and “fun_plug.tgz” from http://www.inreto.de/dns323/fun-plug/0.5/

2. Copy these 2 files into Volume 1 of your NAS and restart from the NAS

3. Telnet to your NAS (using PieTTY or simple telnet), then install ulibc
# cd /mnt/HD_a2
# wget http://www.inreto.de/dns323/fun-plug/0.5/packages/uclibc-0.9.29-7.tgz
# funpkg -i uclibc-0.9.29-7.tgz

4. Reboot the NAS
# reboot

5. Get libcurl and transmission packages
# wget http://kylek.is-a-geek.org:31337/files/curl-7.18.1.tgz
# wget http://kylek.is-a-geek.org:31337/files/Transmission-1.80-1.tgz

6. Install
# funpkg -i curl-7.18.1.tgz
# funpkg -i Transmission-1.80-1.tgz

7. Make Transmission start up automatically when NAS boots up, and start for the first time
# chmod a+x /ffp/start/transmission.sh;sh /ffp/start/transmission.sh start

8. Stop it to configure settings
# sh /ffp/start/transmission.sh stop

9. Editing Transmission settings, update the whitelist, etc
# vi /mnt/HD_a2/.transmission-daemon/settings.json

10. Restart Transmission daemon
# sh /ffp/start/transmission.sh start

11. Setting up download directory for Transmission
# su nobody -c “mkdir -p /mnt/HD_a2/transmission-downloads”
# transmission-remote 127.0.0.1 -w /mnt/HD_a2/transmission-downloads

Done. The whole process took less than half an hour. I went for a dump during the second reboot. In contrast, rTorrent, while a brilliant BT client, was a nightmare for me to set up on this machine.
I have no issues at all setting up rTorrent, compiling it from source with xmlrpc-c support on NAS-01G in a debian environment, much like the one I could run on DNS-323 using the debnas package. Strange. But I am pretty satisfied with Transmission for the time being.

Life is simple for Canadians

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 06:26:02 +0000

via eatingtheroad.files.wordpress.com

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Inertia

Tue, 18 Aug 2009 16:54:52 +0000

Found a note that I wrote on Mar 21, 2006.

“五年, 五個城市之後, 我還是一個感情用事的蠢蛋. 我那里成長了? 我只感覺到累了. 我看不到更好的前景, 只看到勞累又不值一文的未來. 我的教育成為了我的負擔. 有過的期望我已經不管…”

Wow I was negative back then. I don’t think I have progressed much from that point but my mindset is a lot better now.

If you are not moving forward, then you risk moving backward. Thinking about how nothing was accomplished will not get you anywhere tomorrow. Act.

The Finer Points

Thu, 30 Jul 2009 03:53:21 +0000

Like every other pursuit, after enough time and effort has been spent, you will discover what works for you, understandings beyond standard instruction. Sometimes, it just takes repetition. With 2 more classes to go in my muay thai experience, I have some finer points to correct my mistake:

Don’t straighten your arm when you jab. Relax, step in and start a jab by engaging your shoulder. Keep your arm arched.
When you throw a cross, twist your hip to generate more momentum and extend your reach.
For jab and cross, aim for chin level. Look where you hit before striking.
Tuck your chin in when kicking. This ensures balance and helps bring body forward into the point of attack.
Breathe out when you strike, or shout.

You need diligence and practice to improve your form. My right kick has sucked from Day 1. So about 2 Sundays ago, I couldn’t stand it anymore and stayed behind to practice after the Thai trainers gave me a kicking clinic in the pad work session. I did more than 100 kicks, on each leg. The following Tuesday I was able to kick with much improved form. However, 1 week later, my right kick has gone back from acceptable to bad. I can blame it on cautionary rest for rolled ankle, but seriously realized that one muay thai practice per week will not give you a gratifying sense of improvement.

Time to get back on the mat and kicking the heavy bags.

Training Regimen Planning

Wed, 29 Jul 2009 04:01:03 +0000

Now that I've signed up for the Standard Chartered half marathon, I need to devise a plan so that I can finish in a respectable time and not pass out. Here's my regular exercise schedule:

Mon: Gym (lifting + 20-25 mins on treadmill) or distance run in the park

Tue: 1.5hr muay thai practice

Wed: Basketball

Thur: Rest

Fri: Muay thai or lifting

Sat: Basketball

I should be done with muay thai classes by mid week next week. Those days will be training days for the half, and I will generally follow the program set here:

Week 1 Schedule

Mon: Gym (lifting + 20-25 mins on treadmill)

Tue: 3 mile (approx 4.8km) run

Wed: Basketball

Thur: 3 mile run + strength

Fri: Rest

Sat: Basketball

Sun: 4 mile run

That is a lot of running. I should also keep track of my weight fluctuations during this process. My goal is to finish the half in less than 2 hours… is that aiming too low?

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Insanity

Tue, 21 Jul 2009 09:13:51 +0000

Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

-Albert Einstein

This often-quoted saying from Albert Einstein can be applied to many situations. Most recently, I have found my muay thai routine to fall into implication of this particular quote. Despite going through about 15 practices now, I don’t feel drastic improvement nor increased confidence in sparring the last… say 10 classes. I can give myself instructions now: “Throw your shoulders!” “twist your hip when you kick!”

Although I am not training to be a fighter, it still is discouraging to feel stagnant. I just need to get it through my thick head what ‘throwing your shoulder’ means when jabbing. I just need to remember to generate the whip by body rotation and momentum. Partially this is a muscle memory job, and partially this is staying true to training and what you are taught. Determination and diligence go a long way no matter what task you are setting your mind towards.

So after the practice last Sunday, I stayed behind to practice my right kicks. 50, then another 50. Did round of 20 kicks for my left leg. I was pretty sore but think I am getting closer to improving my right kick. So let me put this motion down again:

From southpaw stance, step forward and wide with left foot pointing almost at 45-deg angle
Left hand guarding face, twist your body to generate momentum for the leg swing, or the whip. At the same time: swing right hand back to aid rotation and pivot twist on your left foot
Hit with inside of shin, not outside.
Come back to southpaw stance under control; right foot back down, followed by left foot stepping back

As for throwing shoulder when jabbing, I need to remember to start my punches from shoulder, instead of using hand strength. Momentum… all about using bigger muscle groups. At the same time, don’t exaggerate the movement. Relax shoulder and let the punches flow.

I’m off to another class. Thank goodness this day is over.