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..

Happy Chinese New Year

We went to Tiara Beach Resort, Malaysia, for the CNY weekends. More about that among the upcoming entries. First of all, we would like to wish our Chinese friends Happy New Year, and happy holidays to the rest of us. This may sound controversial, but you tell us if it is crap or not for what we’re gonna discuss here.

Within our knowledge, the Chinese New Year is a unique kind celebration compare to most that we know of. In Singapore, we know all the holidays like the back of our hand, namely Deepavali, Hari Raya Puasa/Haji, Vesak Day and Christmas. But note that unlike those celebration mentioned, CNY is the only celebration that is not related to your religion. One can be a Christian, a Hindu or a Muslim, but as long as you have Chinese blood running within, it is YOUR celebration. The world doesn’t seem to have any problem with that, but how would a racist feel?

Wouldn’t it be nice to have Indian New Year or Malay New Year in the calendar? How about Caucasian/Negro New Year too while we’re at that?

Curry chicken

MacDonald’s, Burger King.. these restaurants looks most likely to remain within our reach for many generation to come. Many great food stand the test of time, but one particular category food that some of us are taking for granted, may fade to oblivion. We’re talking about mom’s cooking. We did some thinking recently and looking forward into the future (marriage in particular), we realize that we have a lot to lose in exchange with new ones. So we dedicate a category in this space to record mom’s cooking so that hopefully the future wife could emulate (hehe). So let’s get the ball rolling!

Curry chicken

Mister Robot’s serving recommendation:

Use chicken thighs and drumsticks only. To be eaten with rice. Goes great with fried egg at the side.

Luck

We have most always found ourselves being defeated in the game of PS2’s Pro Evolution Soccer against our brother, CyberKai. The referee in the game seems to has mostly favoured his team, giving free kicks against us, cards, penalties, etc.. The rebounded ball almost always rebounded squarely to the legs of his lone striker, in the midst of our 4-man defenders. Goals has never flowed freely from our team, because their goalkeeper has always appear to be at the right place at the right time. On the other sides of the field, our goalie more often than not stumbles with the ball, causing many episodes of the ball rebounding squarely to the legs of their striker, just needing to tap in the goal.

What is luck?

Is it more unfortunate to have no luck than having a BAD luck? Are bad fortunes the result of bad luck or the absence of  luck? Sometimes we feel lucky, but that depends on what kind of luck that is in stock. There is no such thing as luck in some religions, but there are likely to be karma or retribution. Would an atheist believe in luck, or more to results? The luck believer is usually a person with no control of situations, but it’s no miracle that the luckiest people are those that create their own “luck”, which in their dictionary, is defined as “result”. Therefore, to the mediocre person, the successful people have all the luck. Good luck, that is..

In review: Armstrong pull-up program

“DOUBLE YOUR PULL-UPS IN SIX WEEKS OR LESS!”

This statement put up some serious claim, so we took the challenge to see how it would work for us. To put things in our perspective, we’re naturally a “zero-fighter” (in the army, zero-fighters are the strugglers who can’t do any pull-ups). Though we have a history of doing a maximum of 11 pull-ups, it’s only due to the inevitable army training, and we have given most of it back. We started this program with the ability to do a single struggling (cheating) pull-up. Determined to pass the annual SAF physical fitness test, we embraced the philosophy that the best way to train for pull-ups is to actually do pull-ups! We know this sounds awfully obvious, but many would rather go to the gym and flip
weights to achieve this goal. Before you go on to the next paragraph, we suggest you do some reading on the program HERE so you can relate better. So on to the review!

As you’re reading this, we are currently on our sixth’s week in the training programme. On paper, it looks pretty simple for us in the beginning. One of the problem that we encountered is how do we do all the reps (repetitions) if we can’t do beyond the single pull-up? In this case, we go beyond what is mentioned in the article by using the pull-up trainer machine, available in your neighbourhood public gyms and most others (not surprisingly, it is one of those less used, albeit by some elite or curious gymners). It is really a cool machine that counters your weight to assist the pull-ups. In this way, more reps can be achieved. Note that we set counter weights just right to complete all the routines mentioned in the article.

The first week was a bitch. We have to warn you that it’s gonna be a gruelling experience. After completing the first session, our upper limbs was so sore that we’re already thinking of quitting, but the show must go on. With the body screaming for mercy, we managed to survive the first week. Research tells us that soreness occurs because the body is not used to the routine. It shocks the body, but the body will eventually adapt. Anyway, the soreness slowly dissipates away somewhere in the 2nd week. At that point, we felt stronger than the first week, and felt that the routine is not as tough as before.

Taking a cue from Jason Ferruggia’s philosophy, it would mean that it’s time to reduce the counter weight (more resistance). Note here that we reduced the counter weight every 2 weeks or less, depending on the performance. By the 5th week, we have removed in total about 10kg off the stack and still able to fulfill the routines! Oh yeah, and we’re
not very proud to say that we didn’t incorporate the article’s suggestion to do push-ups because we felt that it’s too gruelling as it already is :S.

Are we doing any other training on the fly? Yes, but it’s got nothing to do with upper limb exercise. We did cardio interval training like stairwell running, stationery cycling and flat ground sprinting in the quest for fat loss. Sometimes, the staffs at the gym counter gave us a funny look because we’re like in and out of the gym in less than 15
minutes every Monday to Friday. Dear gym staffs, if you’re reading this, you know what we’ve been up to in the gym now, and we do our cardio trainings outside the gym, does that make sense?

Now for the results! Though we’re yet to finish the programme, we don’t have to finish it to see the improvement. Today, we did a test on the pull-up bar and guess what.. we did a max of 6 pull-ups! That’s about 6 folds! For a “zero-fighter” like me, this is a MAJOR HUUUGE accomplishment, despite we missing a day or two sessions in the programme. Just seeing the tangible returns solidify our beliefs in the ability to take our fitness to the next level. Thank you, Mr Armstrong. If you’re a woman, we’ll marry you!

Will it work for you? We bet!

What’s next? After we’ve completed all six week, we’re changing our routine to “Muscle Building in a Rush” 4-weeks program by VinceDelMonteWorkout.com