MBR hair oil, day #1

I sure hope this works for me..

Speed Reading: Free daily practice tool found online!

In the spirit of self-learning with minimal budget in mind, I found a great site  where I could hone my speed reading skills on a daily basis! Why I found it awesome is that I could cut and paste a reading material of my choice!

Check out www.eyercize.com!

My current Speed Reading Test result

For my record!

As of today, my reading speed:
266 wpm @ 82% Comprehension

My reading profile category:
Good Reader

Tested by ReadingSoft.com

I’ve made a decision to master the art of speed reading!

Took me a while to decide which to learn first: Speed Reading or Speed Learning? I figure that once I got the speed reading skills, I would practically LEARN how to learn fast, through FAST READING! Does that makes sense? And followed by Memorizing skill and Human calculator skill. I bet those will be a breeze once I’m done with Speed Learning, haha…

How am I doing it? I started by Googling for ‘Speed Reading’, that lead me to Wikihow “How to Learn Speed Reading” and I’m now at Step #2. Way to go!

PS – at this point I’m thinking, is there an excellent Android App for this?

The 4 Hour Body experience

Start date: 17th December 2010 @ 78.5kg (estimated)

Slow-Carb Diet, Day #15

Yes, I’ve purchased the book! I would say I have been strict with the diet 90% of the time, with some modification to the meals.  The most unpractical part of the diet I’d  say would be to totally eliminate sugar from the diet, as I have yet to find chicken marinade sauces off the shelves without sugar in it. Since I started the diet, I have actually reduced my workouts to 3 per week to stay true to the M.E.D. philosophy.

Since my first Cheat Day, my body doesn’t seem to react as predicted by Tim:

22.12.2010 – 77.2kg (official start of record)

25.12.2010 – 75.5kg (lowest point, pre-Cheat Day)

26.12.2010 – 77.4kg(post Cheat Day)

31.12.2010 – 76.1kg (today)

I expected my weight to normalize by Wednesday, but today is Friday and it’s still above the pre-Cheat Day point. I’ve yet to get an answer for this. I seem to lose 2 inches off my hips and thighs, but those could be in error, I’m staying skeptic. Until I get some answers, I will continue with this lifestyle.

Today I’m having my first post-workout meal – 1 piece of instant egg prata (with mould removed! It’s been untouched since the diet started! :S). According to Tim, the white carb won’t make a dent in my diet as long as it’s within the 30 minutes period after a resistance training. In my case, it’s the TRX workout. Let’s see if the weighing scale agrees with him tomorrow morning….

I’m using these tools to track my progress:

JEFIT - I record my weight & body measurements here. Awesome synchronize option to the Web from my mobile! Intend to use this to record my bulking phase in the future.

TRX set – My latest fitness gadget! I got it from a contact at a bargain! No warranty, but it’s the real deal! Think of it as a ‘parallel import’..

HTC Desire – An awesome phone that could still keep up with the newer ones. I bet it can stay relevant till its 12th months before I upgrade again.

HIIT (Android App) – Interval time keeper for my TRX training (30sec ON, 1 minute OFF x 3 sets)

CardioTrainer (Android App) – I record my workouts here

Calorific (Android App) – I track my water consumption here. Daily target is 3L minimum.

Polar RS200 HRM – I use this primarily to record calories burn during my individual workout.

I’m feeling good about this diet and I foresee keeping this up for the long haul..

There’s no such thing as a selfless person

In another word, everyone is selfish.

They may involve themselves in selfless activities, but you can be sure they do it to seek fulfillness within themselves in the grand scheme of things. Is donation an act of selflessness? It is selfish on a bigger scheme of things, as the activist RECEIVES joy by spreading the happiness. The selfless still got something going on them. Will the selfless give if it detriments their position? They may give their lives to save their loved ones, but they will still die happy because they’ll achieve something that benefits them in the grand scheme of things.

But to be fair, there are 2 sides of the coin: the good and the bad. The good selfish ones benefits society, but the bad ones consume it.

Commitment

We believe that the best way to achieve things for the other party is to give our maximum commitment. But in the real world you often find yourself in a less than an ideal situation: what if the other party is not as committed as you to get things done your way, which you know is in the best interest of the party? Can we afford to be committed to this party knowing that the party expresses his/her commitment to just anyone else for the job? Looking deeper, can the other party afford to rely on just one party for the job? Welcome to the world of salesmanship, where something’s gotta give..

Arnold’s Fried Chicken

June Holidays, 1993

I was in secondary 2. With the exams over, I was looking forward to play time. But my buddy Mahathir had a different idea. I never asked where he gets his “lobang” from, but he suggested that we get a vacation job in Arnold’s Fried Chicken, Woodlands branch. I don’t remember rejecting the idea, but i must have thought that it’s a good idea since we can get money and stuff. Can’t remember what i used the money for anyway, but the memories working there are here to stay.

I had a hand in preparing the chicken from breading to frying (it’s just a 2-steps process, actually). That was quite straight forward, but I had more of a challenge preparing that ice kachang. Manual work is not really my forte, so I fumbled a lot with the ice shavings. Arnold’s has also taught me a very important life skill that I used till today at every buffet. I’m talking about the art of snowballing the ice-cream off the tube with the steel scoop to top-off the ice kachang. The toughest part of the job? Closing time, coz it’s time to clean up and the place would be a huge mess.

The most frustrating part of the job is the mealtime. Much to my disbelief, the meal entitlement for staff is limited to fries, coleslaw and buns on top of any drinks – that means NO CHICKEN. Can you believe that? But someone told me that it could be helped – just get your own raw chicken. The seasoning flour is free for consumption. Cook it and it’s yours! I’ve seen someone do that before. But i remembered being pretty contented with the fries, coleslaw and bun with bandong combo. I could have virtually as much as I want . Maybe I couldn’t afford the chicken back then.

So I bade goodbye to the job after the June holidays are over. Arnold’s Fried Chicken remains to be the darling of my gut to this day, but frankly, I prefer to be the consumer rather than the crew. It’s quite a loss to society that Arnold’s have to close down their branch at Woodlands Central. That spot is now taken up by Sheng Shiong supermarket, and it doesn’t look like it’s closing down anytime soon like many outlets before it. A&W used to be at the spot too. I wonder if there’s such thing as an alumni at Arnold’s, maybe I could get a preferred rate or something. I don’t mind being Arnold’s ambassador or mascot at all if the opportunity comes, hur hur hur..

Anyway, hope to hear from you soon and take care. Don’t forget to write!

Social Resume

We have come up with a new category here. We all heard about a Resume – the one you wrote to get a job, but is there such thing as a Social Resume? We define “Social Resume” as the one that could get you a clique, like being accepted by a segment of a society that can relate to you. So piece by piece, we are gonna write about what we have done in the past and build it up. Let the ol’ times roll..

ICT checklist

This is top secret information, but we put this up to remind ourselves what to bring in the next SAF In-Camp Training (ICT):

• Bicycle tights
• Green/Black Tape
• Waterproof Socks
• Civilian clothes
• LED Light
• Lenses & solutions
• Shower foam
• Shaver
• Bicycle hook
• Disposable underwear
• Toothbrush
• Toothpaste
• Towel
• Padlock
• Powder
• PT shoes
• PT Kit
• Watch
• Pyjamas
• Hanger
• Food
• Shampoo
• Facial Foam
• Slippers
• Socks
• Charger/Portable
• Book
• Ziplock
• Batt
• Velcro
• Laundry kit
• Cash
• Clothes peg
• Wet tissue
• Fork & Spoon
• Mug
• Spectacle hook
• H-Two-O drinks

The Curse

Having a predominantly endomorphic body type (not naturally slim nor muscular), the worst attributes to have in addition to that is to have eating for a hobby. What further magnifies the problem is our preference for chicken, fried eggs and our dislike for veggies. We didn’t get much fruits neither. That is why we soon discover 4kg of fats creeping in over 4 weeks of minimum exercise. What we thought was maintenance exercise backfired on us, causing many episodes of voracious appetites. No way are we getting obese again, no sir. It’s bootcamp again fellas. It ain’t fair that bad habits are tough to break while good habits feel as though they’ll break on a moment’s notice. Exercise can really be a chore, sometimes..