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Have you watched Avatar yet?

It's an amazing movie, I must say... Most importantly, one of my teammate, being tall, lean, and with that haircut of his, he looks just like Tsu'Tey.

Cheers, Herman.

Pagan Christmas

Now, many Christians celebrate Christmas blindly without knowing the truth. Little do they know, Jesus was not born in December.

From the biblical description, it is most likely that his birth occurred in September, approximately six months after Passover. The bible also records shepherds tending their sheep in the fields on that night, this would be ridiculous to have happened during a cold Judean winter.

So why do we celebrate Christmas on December 25th?

In ancient Babylon, the feast of the Son of Isis was celebrated on December 25. Raucous partying, gluttonous eating and drinking, and gift-giving were traditions of this feast.

The Romans called their winter holiday Saturnalia, honoring Saturn. The festival season was marked by much merrymaking, this is also where the tradition of the Mummers was born. The Mummers were groups of costumed singers and dancers who traveled from house to house entertaining their neighbors. (Doesn't this sound like caroling?)

The pagans of northern Europe celebrated their own winter solstice, known as Yule, in honor of Mithras. It was customary to light a candle to encourage the sun to reappear next year.

Huge Yule logs were burned in honor of the sun. The word Yule itself means “wheel,” and the wheel is a pagan symbol for the sun. Mistletoe was considered a sacred plant, and the custom of kissing under the mistletoe began as a fertility ritual. Hollyberries were thought to be a food of the gods.

The tree is the one symbol that unites almost all the northern European winter solstices. Live evergreen trees were often brought into homes during the harsh winters as a reminder to inhabitants that soon their crops would grow again. The Druids used the tree as a religious symbol, holding their sacred ceremonies while surrounding and worshiping huge trees.

In 350, Pope Julius I declared that Christ’s birth would be celebrated on December 25. There is little doubt that he was trying to make it as painless as possible for pagan Romans (who remained a majority at that time) to convert to Christianity. The conversion went a bit easier, since their feasts were not be taken away.

But what does the bible say about Christmas?

Jeremiah 10:2-4: "Thus saith the LORD, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them. For the customs of the people are vain: for one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the axe. They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not."

I urge fellow Christians around the world to open their eyes and not follow blindly...

PS. I have nothing against the celebration of Christmas as a modern culture, but it is definitely NOT a religious festival.

Condoms

Do you know why condoms comes in packages of 3, 6 and 12?

Here's why...

6 for college kids, whereby they're young, energetic, hot-blooded and fuck like 6 times per week, almost daily.

3 for working adults like my age, whereby we have many other things in life/work to commit our time and energy to, we usually get time off to shag like 2 to 3 times weekly.

12 for married couples, whereby they probably are sick of each other and having to take care of their kids, getting sex maybe once per month.

Law

Ever since the first presence of civilization, laws were erected to control the people.

A lot of people may not realize this, but there are actually two types of law.

One is 'laws of moral' that are meant to be kept at all cost (eg laws against murder, robbery, rape, violence, harming of others). Another is 'laws of selfishness' erected to best protect the interest of the authorities while pushing the people around (eg high taxes, no freedom of speech, political imprisonment).

A lot of people tend to associate a law-abiding person as a 'good' person. But truthfully, being morally right has nothing to do with abiding to certain 'selfish laws'. Let's take the virtue "justice" for instance.

Justice and law are 2 very different thing. Justice is about doing the right thing, while law is simply a set of rules established by an authority, no matter being just or not.

Most of the time, people do not break the law because of the fear to suffer the consequences. It's not as if they genuinely want to be good people, but rather, do not want to risk getting caught and facing the music.

What I personally feel is that when the law is unfair or wrong, it should be challenged and pulled down at all cost, even at one's own life. But likewise, if the law is just and righteous, then it must be kept and protected.

So What's Wrong?

Zhang Yuan Yuan, 28, China PRC citizen, studied in Singapore for 5 years and landed a good paying job in a MNC. Subsequently, she obtained the status of Permanent Resident (PR) in Singapore.

Out of the the love of her homeland, she returned to China and participated in the women's militia contingent for China's 60th National Day Parade. When interviewed on why she decided to serve in this physically demanding parade, she expressed her love for her country.

When the news decided to flash her Singapore PR ID, she soon became the became the new target of anger for some Singaporeans.

A huge number of Singaporeans are fanatically angry at her, for being a Singapore PR and yes loving China.

Now, this is what I'm wondering: A Singapore PR, is a citizen of a foreign country who possess the right to reside in Singapore permanently. So what can't an individual who's residing in Singapore be loyal and love his/her own country? Just because living in Singapore, does not mean one needs to be loyal to this country.

I was a PR as well, and trust me, as a PR, we are not given a lot of privileges the locals get such as education subsidies, ERS, GST subsidy, etc.. But when it comes to shitty commitments like CPF and NS, we are expected to do the same!

People love to say "if you don't like it here, go back to your country", "at least we are better" or something along that line. Well it may be funny to brush off a foreigner by these impolite statements, but are we really addressing to the social problem here?

Xenophobia breeds misunderstanding. Misunderstandings breeds discrimination and discrimination in turn, breeds hatred.

As usual, we see a display of hypocritical patriotism. If you really love your country, please be concerned of politics and fight for democracy, fight for the social welfare of people, fight for positive social changes, instead of only being concerned with your own mundane lives.

Plateau Stage, I Feel Like Shit...

Training was a nightmare today... My cardio is not up to my trainer's expectations... Got gassed-out and dropped to my knees 3 times but managed to somehow forced myself up. Towards the end, I was practically seeing light...

Here's my routine for today.

Each set is 3 minutes with 1 min interval in between

• Warm up.
• Roadworks.
• 3 sets of sprinting on the spot with knees raised up to waist level and hands guarding the face.
• 3 sets of dashing 50 push ups per 20 meters, and followed by 50 sit ups with medicine ball hitting the abs.
• 3 sets of squats with weights.
• 3 sets of punching with dumbbells.
  
• 3 sets of freestyle reaction padworks.
• 3 sets of full strength punch combination on heavy bag. (gassed out on 3rd set)
• 3 sets of full strength kick combination on heavy bag. (gassed out on 2nd set)
• 3 sets of full strength punch + kick combination on heavy bag. (gassed out on 2nd set + seeing "light" on 3rd set)
• Sparring training. (got my ass kicked)
• Warm down.

I have been doing my road works, but it seems like my stamina is reaching a plateau stage whereby I don't see significant improvement.

Anyone more senior or experienced in ring sports, kindly advise...

November Rain

Nothing philosophical to share these days as my body tires out and my mind trapped in a whirlpool of thoughts regarding my upcoming fight...

Raindrops are falling on my head. I am stressed, fatigued and anxious - Not for the possibly injuries or losing the fight (since I've experienced losses and that anything can happen in sports), but for the fear that I may not surpass the wall I have set for myself.

Now, here's the differences between a warrior and a brute:

A brute is strong when it comes to the body, but if he is disadvantaged, overpowered or defeated, his spirit falls apart and finds excuses to consoles himself of his failure.

A warrior on the other hand, is strong in both the body and spirit. He will never give up even when pitted against the most powerful adversaries. Either he wins with a bang, or put up a hell of a fight and go down with a bang too. Then rebounce, retrain, and return.

Here a small and humble information to share for those who are interested in competitive sports. In order to be eligible to represent a specific country in most international sporting events, you must meet ONE (not all) of the following criteria:

1. Have a citizenship of the intended country.
2. Have a residential right of the intended country (eg Green Card for US, PR for Singapore, ARC for Taiwan R.O.C.)
3. Living in the intended country for the past 24 months, AND have not represented another country for the past 36 months.
4. Either one of your parents originated from the intended country.

I know for sure I'm gonna hit someone and I'm gonna get hit. So what's new? I just have to train harder, and harder, and harder...

If one cannot come to terms with such, then it's probably safer to play chess.