Post Christmas

The Christmas party at Tita Bell's house was a ball. Everyone was dressed so nice in their semi-formal dress code. I felt a bit under-dressed with my collared shirt and dress pants. The party was fun, we had games for the kids and the adults and it was a smashing good time. It was a great Christmas party, one that I hoped for because last year's party was so drab. Also I did a bit of Boxing day shopping. I ended up getting 2 games, Bioshock and Tekken 6, both at great prices. I also finally got certified UFC gloves. They're sick, plain and simple. For reals. I also got a crap-load of premium carbon bits and fish food. I also got some new plants, of which I do not know the name and 2 Turquoise rainbowfish. My sister finally got her first DSLR camera, which she's been wanting for forever. So I borrowed it to get some nice shots of my aquarium fish, although I did not get all of them. I was happy with the detail and clarity that I obtained from the majority of the shots.


Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!


My Leopard Ctenopoma (Ctenopoma acutirostre). I have 2 of them, the other one was hiding. It was hard to take a pic. They are a year old.


Silver Dollar (Metynnis argenteus)


Here's both of 'em. They're more than a year old.


Fresh water Angel Fish (Petrophyllum Scalare)


Here it is again, with the other one in the back. Stalking the surface.


Here's my third one. The nigga of the angel fish group, if you will lol. He's awesome. I used to have two of these and another white angel fish.


Black Ghost Knife (Apteronotus albifrons)


One of my fave fishes from the tank. This guy was so hard to get a pic of, cuz he kept hiding in the rocks. He's grown a lot since the time Alvin, Rei and I went to Big Als in the summer.



Odessa Barb (Puntius padamya)


These guys have beautiful colour and shiny scales. There used to be 4, but now only 2 are left. The other 2 perished =(


One of the 11 Serpae Tetras (Hyphessobrycon eques)

The Rainbowfish!

These guys needed their own section cuz I have quite a few different species. They are vibrant and one of my favourite group of fish. They are expensive as hell too, lol.


Bosemani Rainbowfish (Melanotaenia boesemani)


The colouration of this guy is one of my favourite combinations. Orange/Yellow and Green/Turquoise. It's not at its best colouration right now, but it still looks great.


Chequered or Australian Rainbowfish (Melanotaenia splendida subsp. inornata)


Red Rainbowfish, one of my first rainbowfishes and still one of my favourite in full colouraiton. So bright and red. In this pic, it's alright, but when they're showing off, they're REALLY RED.


Red and Chequered meet. The chequered rainbowfish has interesting coluration. Silver and at times purple, with stripes of orange, yellow blue and purple.


One of the new additions to my rainbowfish family. I bought two of these Turquoise Rainbowfish (Melanotaenia Lacustris), with green being my favourite colour and all. The Red an Turquoise rainbowfish will nicely compliment each other once the juvenile ones that I just bought mature.


Forgot the species name for this rainbowfish. Will post when I find out.


New plants!


They look awesome.


My tito's discus.


One of my young discuses.


I hope he grows to be colourful.

That's about it. Hope you guys had a fun Christmas as well. Time to bring in 2010 with a bang!

Alan

Christmase Eve: Thoughts.

I am kind of in a slump again with my blog posting. I realise I'm on and off. At times I would be hyper-posting and now, I'm hypo-posting. I can provide a myriad of excuses..umm....I mean, reasons, but what's the point?

Anyways, Christmas morning is hours from now. This will be my 20th Christmas I've spent on this Earth. The snow is falling and it looks like we will see the aesthetic Christmas has been associated with all over the world; a white Christmas. It looks so pure and serene. Sadly, not all parts of the world experience this joy and I'm not just talking about the snow. We're days away from New Years, where we will be entering a new decade. It's quite exciting.

So I, and I am certain most of you as well, greet people with the very general and secular "Happy Holidays!" greeting. I'm not gonna try to argue why either one should be socially acceptable. In many parts of the world, Merry Christmas is the best and should be the only greeting and in others, specifically the west, put this significant day in an awkward and shameful place. A place full of money and business. In short, Christmas has become materialistic. It has been stripped of its value and turned into a holiday circus fest, where people dress themselves with white beards, where people give presents and expect something in return. Don't get me wrong, I'm not against the whole present-giving thing, generosity and gratitude are excellent virtues, but they stop being virtues once you expect something in return or put a monetary value on a gift, rather than putting a greater value from the heart. It sounds cheesy and even cliche, but Christmas is the time of giving. Most of us forget that principle. Many argue, "No I have not, I gave presents." Granted, but think about why you're giving in the first place. Is it to receive a feeling of self-satisfaction? Do you feel obliged to give because of the occasion or because someone has given you a present? Do you feel that you have been "cheated" because you gave a present to someone and did not get one in return? Is a mere thank you and a smile not satisfactory? I certainly realise the power of money and in the present, as it ever was, money is a powerful and persuasive tool that can accomplish many things. But one thing that it cannot accomplish, is a genuine feeling of goodness and purity. A feeling that can make the worse of humans feel good. A feeling that makes you feel like a great human being, even for just once a year. Something that humbles you.

This brings me to my next point. Although Christmas and the birth of Jesus Christ, is usually associated with Christianity, there is no reason for other people to be excluded from this celebration. Obviously, thinks like going to mass and church are things other religions cannot share, but Christmas is so much bigger than that. Jesus Christ, if not taken into religious context and looked at as a human being, was one of the greatest men to have ever lived. And even for those who do not believe of his existence and even his divinity, he stands as a symbol. A mere man, born in one of the most humiliating places one can ever be born in, a stable where animals are kept. He went on to preach not just to Jews but also gentiles, having no preference for one type of people; no exclusion what so ever. He brought the word of goodness to everyone and just wished for everyone to do the same. He went on to die on a cross for humanity's sins. Even if some of us do not believe that he did not relieve us of our sins, the idea alone, that a man would die for people he did not know, but cared for, had that courage and had that humility. It's truly outstanding and awe-inspiring and something that ALL religions can take to heart and understand and this is not because he was the Messiah, not because he was the son of man but because he stood for all of these values. This is what celebrating Christmas is about.

I'm not gonna try to hide the fact that I deviate from my faith's teaching's here and there, but knowing all of this compels me, for this day, just for this one day, to do something good. Whether it be for a several people or a person, for my God and myself.

And with that, I wish you all the best. Merry Christmas.

Alan

End of Pharmacology, King's Buft, 4 dollar movie.

The title pretty much sums it up. Pharmacology officially ended today. Few of my friends and I headed for King's Buffet. I really indulged my hunger there, haha. Amanda took more than she can chew, Angel ate too much too fast and Vu, well....Vu is Vu. We then watched Ninja Assassin. It was a decent movie, to my surprise. Slick action scenes, very visceral and bloody. It's ninja cliches done right. It may be a cliche, but it's a damn good one. Story wise, it is pretty standard fare. It is dangerously similar to Batman Begins though.

Time to enjoy this brief intermission in 2nd Year. Christmas should be fun.

Alan

Pharmacology exam done.

I'm done the exam. I leave everything up to God now. If he decides a bright future in nursing for me, then I will follow it. If he has something else in mind, then I will follow that path. Whichever path He provides, I'm ready to follow.

It was not as complicated as I expected. Don't get me wrong though, it was still tough as nails. I just think I did better than what I had initially believed. Knock on wood.

Hopefully, come the results, it turns out good.

Here's to destiny,

Alan

DRUGS

Pharmacology is all about the action of drugs on our body. It's super exciting!

Or is it? I don't know. Whatever.

I just want this exam to be over with.

2 pm today....the clock is tickin'.

Alan

The Pokemon franchise sides with demons.

My next exam is at 4pm. I'm just chilling. I stumbled upon this video. Please heed this dude's warning.



Good God, I can't believe how close-minded some of these people are.

Alan

Slothing

Good grief. The coming of winter is hitting me hard. I've been getting an everage of 13 hours of sleep a day. It seems like I'm going into hibernation mode. Wow. I hate exam time, I just wish it would go away.

I've been having weird dreams lately.

Alan

13th Return Home

Great weekend so far.

Had to solo Judo. Sparred with a black belt. This huge Russian guy. I had top control but he reversed and threw me around like I weighed 10 lbs.

TUF 10 finale fights were sick. All main cards were finished. The one fight that went to decision was Kimbo's and Houston's fight which was the fight everyone thought would end in a KO in the first round. Kimbo's made some nice improvements. Big props to Roy "Big Country" Nelson. Bringin' the fat back, lol. The Weird Al entrance was hilarious. Good stuff big country.

On a totally different note, I've been watching a load of Glee lately. Awesome show.

-Alan

Last Medical Clinical Day

I'm relieved. I learned a lot this semester. I'm really gonna miss my tutor. She was excellent, approachable and intelligent. I wish all tutors were like that.

Mandarin lunch was satisfying.

Thanks for all the teaching Dianne and also for my lunch.

The only guy in your group and the most calm,

Alan

12th Return Home - MMA/Judo update.

Last week was crack down for me. Now its lie down. It's soooo lax this week. More lax than usual. I love it.

Judo in the weekend again. Awesome stuff. Improvements here and there. Awesome.

4 hours straight. It all goes by so fast.

I focused more on Hashi Guruma today. Wicked throw. Very effective and practical.


Ashi Guruma (Leg Wheel)

Ouchi Guruma on the other hand, is difficult. It feels unpractical to do, but it's just a difficult technique to properly execute.


Ouchi Gari (Large Inner Reaping)

As in my previous Judo/Jujitsu update, here's what was covered:

Here's my progress on the ground techniques, made during this training session(s):
-Rear-naked choke (None Attempted)
-Arm-triangle (Attempted a couple of times, didn't completely pursue. Technique requires review again.)
-Guillotine (None Attempted)
-Triangle-choke (None Attempted)
-Arm-bar from full mount (Much, much better. Execution has vastly improved.)
-Kimura from open guard (Almost pulled one off! I had such a slick transition from an omo plata to a kimura.)
-Knee bar (Needs review.)
-Achilles lock (Attempted with no serious intent)
-Ankle lock (None Attempted)
-Omo Plata (Attempted, then transitioned to kimura)

Kris and I have greatly improved from our last grappling session. I have 4 submissions on him and he has two on me.

I got him twice with an arm bar, and 2 full mount gi chokes. I feel so much more comfortable with the arm bar now. I'm able to do it much more smoothly.


Full Moun Gi Choke, minus the Gi. Apparently it's also called the Cobra Choke.

I was quite surprised with the proficiency in Kris' Kneebar from the bottom. He is very tricky with submissions from the guard. He got me with an arm bar twice.

TUF 10 finale, Jon Jones is fighting on Saturday. =D


SOOO sick.

Relaxin',

Alan

Good Weekend....Time to bust an essay up! Busy week...

This weekend was nice. Time with the family is always priceless.

This week I see myself stacked with work.

I'm about to to created a masterpiece.

I'm about to write an 8-10 page essay on the communication process of a group within 3 hours. No credible resources found yet, no rough copy started....nothing. All from scratch. 3 hours before class starts, I will be starting and finishing this essay.

This will be a B paper, at the least. I'm aiming for an A or more. I did it before, I'll do it again.

I eat essays for breakfast. And tomorrow morning, it will be quite literal.

Holidays are comin' up =)

Alan

11th Return Home - MMA/Judo update.

Crunch time. 3 major assignments due next week. Lol to the McMaster kids who constantly had to do this kind of stuff virtually every week.

Amidst all the academic chaos, I still find time, because I have to find time, for Judo and MMA training. I was able to test out my new Judo Gi. Too sick.

The freestyle Randori (sparring) was fun. I focused a lot on the Osoto-Gari sweep. I'm really liking that sweep. In Judo people have their trademark sweep. I think this might be the one. Only a kajillion more Judo throws to check out.


This is Osoto-Gari (Large Outer Reaping) Very effective trip/sweep. The trick is to kick the calf. I keep kicking the thigh by accident. I'm probably swinging too high


On that note we also did Randori to the ground from the stand up take-downs. Kris and I have really improved our ground sparring. The number of submissions attempted were less, focusing more on a few. Proficiency is the key word here; it's better to be able to use a few submissions really well, than to know a bunch but not know how to do them right.

As in my previous Judo/Jujitsu update, here's what was covered:

Here's my progress on the ground techniques, made during this training session(s):
-Rear-naked choke (None Attempted)
-Arm-triangle (Much, much better than before.)
-Guillotine (None Attempted)
-Triangle-choke (None Attempted)
-Arm-bar from full mount (satisfactory, positioning of execution needs some work)
-Kimura from open guard (needs improvement in explosiveness and a bit on speed)
-Knee bar (None Attempted)
-Achilles lock (Attempted with no serious intent)
-Ankle lock (None Attempted)
-Omo Plata (None Attempted)

Kris and I have greatly improved from our last grappling session. I have 2 submissions on him and he has one on me, as well as one draw.

I got him twice with an arm triangle-choke. I'm really liking that choke, especially because it's convenient to setup with the Judo pin.


Arm-Triangle Choke. You basically make one of their arms choke one side and you choke the other side with your arm. It's super effective especially when you secure a side mount.
I was quite surprised with the proficiency in Kris' Armbar from the bottom. He tapped me out once. I just couldn't break my arm free. It was nice and tight and he got the leverage on my elbow joint.

I attempted an armbar of my own but failed after two minutes of struggling. My position was not right so it was hard for me to get the submission. To Kris' credit, he had a solid defense.

Judo is a beautiful Martial Art and sport.

UFC 106 was mediocre. One good thing came out of it though. Lil' Nog has a arrived :D.

That's about it. I can't wait till next weekend. As always.

Alan

Machida vs Rua II in Montreal!!!!

http://mmajunkie.com/news/16904/lyoto-machida-vs-mauricio-shogun-rua-ii-targeted-for-may-1-in-montreal.mma

OMG...I must see this live if it happens. GEEBUS!!!

10th Return Home (Super Late Post)

Yep, I was busy this weekend. I haven't been touching any of my blogs at all.

Saturday:

-First Judo class. Got thrown around like a rag doll. Got drilled like a soldier. I think all my muscles in my body are torn.

-Brandon Vera took the fight to Old Man Randy. He kicked the hell out of that guy. I'm still wondering how Couture pulled off the decision =/. Just watch this sequence.







Can you tell who won?

-The night was not totally fruitless. One Filipino may have loss, but another prevails. Manny Pacquiao does it again. Cotto was wrecked. Manny is now the first boxer in history to hold 7 different titles in 7 different weight classes. No doubt the best p4p Boxer in the world and if negotiations pull through, and he is given a chance to kick Mayweather's ass, he could be the best in history.


Doesn't get any sweeter than this.

Back to routine.

Alan

The Race to the plugs.

Every time I go to lecture room 1E05 it's always a race. There's always these girls that rush to try to get the 2 plugs on the right side.

I usually make it, but I lost today. So I ended up sitting on the left side. It's not bad, but the view is somewhat obscured.

I could easily solve this by just bringing a multiple outlet.

Whatever.

Alan

Check out my novel WIP

http://sinchross.blogspot.com/2009/11/zachary-sinchross-therapy-chapter-1.html

Check it out, I'll be releasing chapter(s) every now and then. Gotta get those words going. 1,000 down 49,000 to go!

Alan

Officially starting on my NaNoWriMo Entry

It's National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) and novel enthusiasts all over the world are encouraged to share their creativity. 50,000 words (approx. 108 Microsoft Word pages) I don't really enjoy reading, but I love writing.

I've been putting this off for a while, but now I decided to finally start doing this thing. My story genre will be Drama/Action/Crime/Sci-Fi, although nothing is concrete yet. I have a long road ahead of me, but I'm gonna do it. I've already started writing an uncompleted script that has 4700 words, so it shouldn't be too hard. Hell, my sister's already at 12,000 words...but she's a book nerd, so she's super enthusiastic about this whole thing.

Alan

TCCS + IC = WIN

I've kind of become a Timmie's junkie. I just love Iced Caps now, more so than usual. And with a Toasted Chicken Club Sandwhich...you've got yourself a tasty meal.

Life is good,

Alan

9th return home (Blog entry done in Kitchener house)

Yea, I've sidelined my blog for a while now. I've been doing stuff, so no biggie.

I've caught up with the office and now I have to wait every week for a new episode. Bollocks =/

Kris and I have finally gotten a chance to check out Shin Bu Kan Judo club. It's toooooo sick to describe. We're starting next weekend and I can not wait =D

After that we chilled at his place and watched Strikeforce: Fedor VS Rogers. Best free card ever aired on the tele.

This next weekend is gonna be so boss. Too stacked with fun-ness. 2 big fights, both possessing my fellow countrymen (Pacquiao and Vera). I hope both win in an outstanding fashion. And of course the Judo thing is there. =D

This week is alright with the school load. Nothing too big. The keyword we're looking for here is routine.

Gotta get a nice judo gi this week. Hopefully double weaved for extra endurance.

That's it, that's all,

Alan

Bizz

Been busy, I haven't even touched my MMA blog either. Everything's going alright, nothing unusual. Can't wait for Satruday (I always say that), Strikeforce event : Fedor VS Rogers. Will Fedor finally get his second loss?

On another note, I'm midway in the fifth season of the Office. I had recently watched this episode called "Stress Relief" I haven't laughed that hard at a sitcom since the Arrested Development days. The writers are genius. PLEASE WATCH THIS EPISODE.

Alan

8th Return Home.

Been busy, sorry for the lack of posts. School and the new MMA blog.

GGH today was cool, the two guys were great to talk too. Age brings a lot of humility and wisdom.

The Office is extremely hilarious. Probably rivals Arrested Development. Too funny.

Judo orientation pushed back for next weekend....again. =/

Alan

Your Irrelevancy!

Wow, that was a lot of work.

There's new stuff up on my MMA blog. It was a lot of hardwork, but it's worth it to finally get this off my chest.

Take the time to check it, http://ulti-mma.blogspot.com/

Over and out,

Alan

Done pharmacology midterms

I can finally start blogging again. I've been working on essays, evaluations and review for the past 2 weeks!

I would usually talk about UFC 104, all I can say is that it was interesting. A much, much more detailed analysis of the fight will be on my MMA blog.

Relief at last..until finals anyways.

Alan

7th Return Home.

GGH was good today. Another good learning experience. Time flies by in there. Also passed my clinical midterm evals, which I'm ecstatic about. Other than that, it wasn't too irregular of a Friday.

Anywhoo, UFC 104 @ Josh's tomorrow. I can't wait. I be chillin' with my good friend Alvin tomorrow, it's been too long. I hope most of you other guys can make it.

7 weeks into school already.

Alan

Tedious Thursdays.

I got no school on Thursdays, as some of you may be aware of. This whole day was dedicated to drug research for my patient tomorrow. Fridays are quickly becoming repetitious. I should really start working on my PBL EIP paper.

That aside, what's with this news that Kanye West is dead? It's a pretty stupid rumor to start. According to here http://newsroom.mtv.com/2009/10/22/kanye-west-death-rumor/ he is not dead and some dead beat started it for fun. The world just seems as bored as I am.

Lolz at the gay fish. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yeb9jHbSmus

Alan

New Blog Soon.

I will be creating a second blog, dedicated to MMA. I don't like mixing it up with my personal blog anymore.

Look out for it and add,

Alan

What is a Phoenix?

"A phoenix is a mythical bird with a colorful plumage and a tail of gold and scarlet (or purple, blue, and green according to some legends). It has a 500 to 1,000 year life-cycle, near the end of which it builds itself a nest of myrrh twigs that then ignites; both nest and bird burn fiercely and are reduced to ashes, from which a new, young phoenix or phoenix egg arises, reborn anew to live again. The new phoenix is destined to live as long as its old self. In some stories, the new phoenix embalms the ashes of its old self in an egg made of myrrh and deposits it in the Egyptian city of Heliopolis (sun city in Greek)."

So, a Phoenix can be reborn every time it dies. Metaphorically speaking, are humans capable of this? Or is it that when we die, we remain dead? I don't know. All I know is, for every dark cloud, there is a silver lining, for every one.

Isn't it nice to know the lining is silver?

Alan

Urine Therapy Promotion

They certainly practice what the preach. Father and son seem to be really enjoying these "drinks".

Jarate!

Alan

The Matrix and The Exorcist

'
Damn....that guy is possessed fosho.
In reality, this was a nasty GNP KO on Renato Sobral by Gegard Mousasi


Damn, this is honestly like the Matrix. The way Anderon Silva dodges Forrest Griffin's hands are so skillful. He can do whatever he wants in the octagon.

Stoked for 104,

Alan

Machida Family Secret Fighting Formula!

OMGHAD!!!! Living proof of the Machida Formula, drink of champions!

Interview with Lyoto's dad: http://www.sherdog.com/news/articles/1/20-questions-for-the-machida-patriarch-20388

Mr. Yoshizo Machida, you're ALRIGHT!

Alan

Apologies. Apologies Everyone. Big update, now.

You may have noticed that I have not blogged for several days, or you may have not. In the past few weeks, I've been frequenting my blog posts. Looks like I broke my streak. I've been busy the past few days. So here's the junk that's been going on in my boring little life.

-I actually got home on Wednesday night, last week. Don't ask why. It involved an ID and name tag, that will be all.

-Alex Wong is all good now and recovering from his surgery.

-Friday morning was early...as usual. Got to the hospital and did my thang. It was a good Friday Hospital session.

-While waiting for my dad to pick me up, I explored Guelph. I ended up watching a movie at the local theater.

-I watched "Law Abiding Citizen" Twas and excellent film. Critics say otherwise, but f**k the critics. They don't know s**t. They're totally missing the point, calling Gerard Butler's character's actions farfetch'd and excessively violent. What the f**k? It's a movie for God's sakes and the message is the important part. Speaking of the message and the moral, it's well done and points out the flaws within the justice system and how true justice never exists. I believe the ending closes the whole thing well, a complete circle. Gerard Butler's point was actually proven then. One more note, this is the most bad ass Gerard Butler has ever been, since playing Leonidas in 300. Kudos to Jaime Foxx too for an excellent portrayal of a modern day justice guy (Lawyer).

8/10 Recommended

-Something's up with my 75 Gallon aquarium. That thing needs mad maintenance, like every week. Loss a Serpae Tetra, 1 Cory, 1 Rainbowfish and 1 Angelfish in the past 2 weeks alone. It sucks.

-My dog dug up the tree soil in the backyard. I thought Cloud was weird for not digging stuff up in the backyard. I wish he was weird now, there's soil everywhere.

- Got an Ipod Nano 5th Generation. The production of these things are so top notch. I couldn't avoid joining the Apple scene for any longer. I wanted to get a Zune at first but apprently they stopped selling them in Canada. Ipods taking over at a seriously frightening rate. Everything is Ipod compatible these days. Oh and it has a video camera and a good one at that. Constant frame rate and consistency, even in dark shots. I thought it would just be a gimmick add-in but once again Steve Jobbs found himself a billion dollar cheque to the bank.

-Stoked for the Saturday super UFC fight. UFC 104: Machida VS Rua. Oh man...it's gonna be off the chain. More on this on a separate Blogpost. You kids better come, Josh says you're invited =D

Well, that's about it, for now I think.

Alan

Wong @ the hospital.

Blog post title explains it all. Our good friend Alex Wong was admitted to the hospital last night. I got a text last night, but I didn't notice so I only noticed just now. Whatever it is, I hope he gets better soon.

-Alan

Uneventful day.

So yea nothing much happened today. Other than that I slept from 8pm to 11pm. I have a strange sleeping pattern. My health is below the optimum, I really need to get up to code.

Also, I find it cool that this is still up:

http://www.mrxswebpage.com/index.htm

Homer's website is hilarious.

Alan

Thanksgiving review.

Fairly good Thanksgiving for 2009. We had a thanksgiving dinner at a family friends (Dolor family) and came back the next day to celebrate Bianca and Tito Gody's birthday, lol. Note that there were no turkeys, gravy, cranberry, pumpkin pie or pudding involved. Josh, Kris and I could not beat Josh's little bro, "Machu" @ NBA 2K9. What a beast 7 year old player. He ran circles around us, literally.

4 day week, booya!

Alan

Epic Failz.

So I downloaded some Gundam 00 episodes, in 1080p HD (Blu-Ray rips) I can't run them smoothly. Sound gets cut off, delay in the video. Ugh. Need a better graphics card for my laptop.

Good morning to you too,

Alan

Tooooo rare.

Huh? Is the lead singer Chinese? Pop punk? Rock? I'm confused.

Woooooooooww,

Alan Morales

5th Return Home.

Late post again, this should have been done last night.

Anywho,

Lots of stuff to talk about, Kinda.

Guelph yesterday was pretty sweet and rewarding. Learned lots of stuff. Totally surpassed my expectations.

Praying really helps. I kind of lost my path at one point in my life. But don't fall into the atheist hype. God is there and He listens.

As all of you know I got 2 South American Leaf fish. ! died and 1 is currently and hopefully thriving in my 75 gallon. The feeder guppies didn't get touched. So I put them in my dad's 5 gallon. They'll hopefully grow up to be very colourful. Cheap way of purchasing guppies is buying baby feeder guppies and raising them.

Got Cloud another muzzle and a cool water system. Better water monitoring and a less bitey dog.

I was thinking of getting another Gundam, but I'll save that for another time.

g2g forelz,

Alan

Ah Geez!

Did I mention waking up at 5 am sucks? Especially when your friggin room mates are so friggin drunk at 1 am? Because I do. I really do.

needmoresleep,

Alan

First PT tomorow.

Pretty nervous cuz I'm getting my first REAL patient tomorrow. We're going to be paried up so I think it will make it a bit easier. We will also be assigned an RN, I wonder if he/she will be nice.

On a side note, I went to Big Al's Kitchener today to buy these awesome fish:



The South American Leaf Fish is a very interesting and rare fish. It's the first time I've seen any here in Ontario. I had to grab them. I bought 2 at 9.99 each, they're tiny. I also got some feeders to feed them before I bring 'em home.

Short Documentary on these fish:



I should update on my 75 Gallon some time. I'll record one soon.

Can't wait till Thanks Giving Weekend,

Alan

267

267 is the number of words I can read per minute. I am hoping to improve that value.

Back to class,

Alan

Gund Cheridum HG 1/144 Complete

Wow, I haven't built a Gundam in 4 years. Fortunately my friends, Alvin and Reinard, were thoughtful enough to give me a Gundam for my present.

The total amount of time is about 5 hours. I didn't rush and I tried out outlining and it turned out pretty nice (I got lazy with the 2 hand guns). My best Gundam building session yet...out of 3.

Here are some pics (no real digicam for macro shots, so I stuck with my webcam...you wouldn't wanna see the nub marks anyways):


Check out my pro photo set.


What the F**K was that in the sky!


Can't roll like a gangsta without yo' gun sittin' sidewayz.

Thanks again Vinrei,

Alan

Finally caught up with Criminal Minds.

It took a whole month, but I'm finally caught up with all 5 seasons of Criminal Minds. This show has always intrigued me from when I saw it a couple of years ago. So I decided to finally sit down and watch it all. Let me tell ya, this show is excellent. There are a lot of people who do not like it still, but it's one of those shows that you get, or one that you don't. And I get this show.

It basically revolves around the F.B.I. and its Behavioural Analysis Unit. A unit comprised of 5 members known as profilers. These guys specialize in analyzing the way serial killers think. Notice that I say serial killer and not just a plain murderer. They take a deep look into the history, the crime scene and the victimology and they develop a suspect pool just from that. They look at the smallest details and they figure stuff out. It's pretty realistic. It's not like they have super psychic abilities and predict everything, they make mistakes. The suspect is known as the "Unknown Subject" or simply the "unsub".

This show, in my opinion, easily bests CSI. CSI focuses much on the science, but science can only prove stuff. The real CSI, of course, is not inferior as they do contribute to some of the aspects in criminal behaviour analysis, but the "profilers" really do a lot of the investigation. Criminal Minds focuses on the psyche of the criminals and how they think, thus being able to predict their next move. It's very interesting.

The format of the show is quite formulaic at times. Problem, analysis, search for suspect, suspect hits another victim, they catch the suspect before killing the victim. This does NOT ALWAYS happen though, mind you. And even in the formulaic layout of the show, each criminal is different and very interesting. The different motives, mentalities, mental afflictions, real references to real serial killers (at that point I research the serial killer). They also say an abundance of very insightful quotes from different prominent people from the present and as far back as biblical times.

This show is quite simply brilliant and so much different from other crime dramas. The insight into human psyche and the limits of what the human brain can do is easily addicting.

The pacing and direction are very well done. Old characters leave, new characters come. Continuous episodes (on going from previous episodes) I could compliment it all day. So just go and watch it.

I definitely recommend this show to anyone. It's awesome.


Current cast of Criminal Minds.
(L to R: SSA Dr. Spencer Reid, SSA Emily Prentiss, SSA Derek Morgan, SSA and BAU team leader Aaron "Hotch" Hotchner, SSA David Rossi, BAU team liaison Jennifer "J.J." Jeraux and FBI technical analyst Penelope Garcia)

Go watch Criminal Minds,

Alan

Dat PSTRIPLE Exclusive: Uncharted 2: Among Thieves

Really? Wow. I have not seen a game reviewed this high in a looong time since Gaylo 3. Who knew that this game would soar into these heights? I guess it's because the visuals are perfect, the presentation is stellar and the gameplay has improved.

So what are the ratings? So far..14 critics with an average of....9.6. I don' think I have ever seen Eurogamer give a game a 10/10. Eurogamer is generally strict with reviews. They even gave MGS4 only an 8/10. You know what's funny too? PSM3 magazine (France) gave it a 21/20.


GO DRAKE, GO!

This game must be the bee's knees,

Alan

Ughz.

My back spased. It went all tense. It hurts like a biatch now. I shouldn't have stopped my calisthenics.

I need calcium,

Alan

4th Return home.

4 weeks since I started school... it's been a month already?

Anyways Guelph General was cool today. It's a very modern hospital. I'm looking forward to working there for real next week. (Not.)

Shara and her group were really nice to allow me to carpool with them.

Also, When there's one piece of pineapple on top of a panzarotti, you guys should know, that it's NOT a misplaced topping. It's a sign that it's actually a Hawaiian flavoured panzarotti with infinimillion pineapples. Ugh.

Gonna play L4D tonight with Alex and Mud like always.

toodles,

Alan

1 hour into Gundam Cheridum

And all I've done is this:



I swear, my hands aren't meant for these super small plastic pieces. I especially had a hard time with the head piece stickers. Also there WILL be plastic FORCE MARKS. I don't have the sophisticated tools to pro it up.

There's a reason why I never delve into the gundam building hobby and thats because I don't have the patience to create these things. I end up always leaving those ugly force marks on the plastic ends where I pull 'em off the casing. The gift is much appreciated though, rest assured.

Thanks again Alvin and Rei,

Alan

Note to self. 30 micrograms = 0.03 milligrams.

Dang it, gonna have to retake the medication quiz...again!

Arghh,

Alan

O my COD.

Apparently I've been unaware this whole time that there was a huge storm and flood hitting the Philippines. Geez, I really need to read more news. I feel useless, cuz I really can't do anything to help.

Makes me think twice about the whole Dead Aid thing, although you have to look at it in a certain perspective...not one straightforward command to stop aid.

Philippines has gotten out of worse situations, they can go through this.

Alan Morales

Dead Aid.

Yes! I'm done my presentation and the prof said it was one of the bests he'd seen. Those words make it extra worth it.

Now it's time to splurge myself with tv shows and movies and games...for the night atleast lol.

Thanks Dambisa Moyo,

Alan Morales

Presentation tomorow.

O my COD! Presentation time..in front of lecture hall. I feel strangely confident though, since I did a lot of research and my group's there to back me up. I hope it ends well.

Also just got off a 2 and a half hour campaign with Wongalongading-dong on L4D. We played Dead Air again...soo hard.

Anyways, gonna go catch some z's,

Alan

My sister's awesome typography.

Man, my PBL class this year really sucks man. I'm the only guy, and I'm the 11th group member. Everyone likes working in pairs. I'm always the odd one out. I hate it. My seat isn't even real. The table's meant for 10 people. So I kinda sit on the side lines. I hate it.

On a totally different note, my sister finished her second typography. I don't say this often enough, but I'm proud of her. She's finally found her calling, something that I didn't find until much later. It's true that the younger generation out does the older one.

Her first one:


Her latest one:


Both are great, the latter being her best. She's improved a lot. I saw her working on it one time, and it takes a lot of work and patience. Gave me a whole different perspective on passionate people. No matter how hard a job is, if the person is passionate, there's really no problem. It's amazing. This is called typography, if you guys don't know. It's just a small aspect of Media Studies and there's so much to learn. She's learned all this by herself, given professional equipment and professional learning, she could do great things in media. I'm happy she found something distinct for herself, something I chose not to do. As the eldest child, I chose to prioritize family and the future. Any dreams I may have, I can pursue later. I'm willing to sacrifice that for my family.

She's planning to take Media Studies at Sheridan College. The program is a diploma and degree program, diploma coming from Sheridan and a BFA (Bachelors Degree of Fine Arts) from York U. She has another choice to take 2 terms (1 year) in Griffith University, Australia, post graduation of this program. That will earn her a BComm (Bachelors degree in Communication)

Good job sis,

Alan

3rd return home.

And this is the second time I'm posting this entry late. Note to self...this is for Fridays.

Anyways, lots of cool stuff happened this weekend. Let's get down to business.

We had another halo-halo party with our family friends. Kris, Josh and I played l4d helms deep (survival mode) with Alex for a while. Also had some Rockband in there. I also ended up watching Dawn of The Dead for a second time. Quite possibly one of the best zombie movies out there.

I've been watching the show Criminal Minds lately and I'm hooked. I'm nearing the end of the third season. And I won't be stopping any time soon. They're in their fifth season and I hope it doesn't end any time soon. I will be giving a much more comprehensive review once I have caught up to the series.

My internet is acting retarded. It was excruciatingly slow for the entire weekend. I couldn't watch any of my shows (Criminal Minds) Youtube videos would'nt even load properly. This needs to get fixed soon and by soon I mean NOW!

My placement for nursing is in Guelph General Hospital in Guelph. I have to go there every Friday this term, starting this week. I had to research methods to get there. The only way I can make it there is to go home every Wednesday or Thursday night (I have offs on Thursdays) It's an hour and a half trip. It's daunting. I have to wake up at 5am. Ugh. The life of a car-less and license-less man.

On that note, I got my scrubs. They're dark blue. It's weird wearing them, I guess I'll get used to it eventually.

And finally, when I got here...I rearranged and reorganized my room. I brought real speakers with awesome BASS! I hooked up my laptop on my LCD TV. It looks nice now...the monotony was really boring.

That's about it, back to the daily grind.

Alan

A word of gratitude, for all these years.

Thankyou for the birthday greets everyone; They brightened up my day.

Thank you to my family; I love you guys.

Thank you to all my friends; You guys rock.

Thank you to God; For guiding me through 20 years of my life.

I ate at a buffet tonight with my family, King's Buffet to be exact. Twas tasty and enjoyable. I appreciate them so much for surprising me and coming here.

My gratitude goes beyond words,

Alan

Happy Birthday

To me.

I'm 20 years old. 20. Wow.


Why do I look upset? It's all going by too fast. It still feels a bit surreal to be 20 now, always so used to being a teen. Now I'm an adult, a gift and a curse at the same time. I'll just look forward to 21, the legal number anywhere in the world. Lol.


Alan

Quinton "Rampage" Jackson...

...is done fighting, apparently.

http://mmajunkie.com/news/16277/quinton-rampage-jackson-im-done-fighting.mma

Damn, I guess we won;t see any more Ricardo Arona slams.

Good luck to his acting career,

Alan

iClickers

I'm currently in class. My pharmacology class started using clickers today, it's so lame. If they weren't giving out participation marks, I wouldn't even give a flying rat's ass about some 50 dollar piece of crap. I'd rather spend money on more important things.

Wooooooooow,

Alan

Nothing.

Today was pretty uneventful. Nothing much happened. Just another Monday.

Blog entry finished,

Alan

To those of the Gundam building hobby that may have concern...

There are rumors that state that I have broken a part of the Gundam that Rei and Alvin gave me for my birthday, and that it is now impossible to display it without a defect.

These rumors are false. That is all.


An actual retarded still from the Naruto anime. This is not edited.

lulzfail,

Alan

2nd return home.

This entry's a bit late. I should be doing these every Friday, not Sunday. But here it is.

This weekend was awesome (it attributed to the lateness of this entry) UFC 103 was a blast (poor crocop, Paul Daley comes outt nowhere to be a contender and Vitor really picked up on the Shotokan) A lot of friends last night, it was so awesome hanging out with all of them. Haven't seen a lot of them since highschool. I finished my PBL research on time.

I want more weekends like this mang,

Alan

Thanks.

To everyone who attended my birthday jam last night, thank you. Thanks for all the presents, the laughs and the good times. I'm gonna go to church in a bit.

I hope we hangout soon,

Alan

I got a feelin'...

....that tonight's gonna be a good night. B-day jam today, it's gonna be sweet. UFC 103, LAN, video games and a hint of booze....and FOOD. Yes! Win.

I hope this night lasts,

Alan

Oh Fridays, you come by so fast, but not often enough.

First of all, belated birthday greets to Albert. (Although I did greet him on L4D)

Another long day for me, i have not eaten anything (cept for a granola bar thing) since morning. I'm freaking starving and I'm just waiting for my dad to pick me up. I think I'll cook up some noodles whilst I bide my time.

Today was interesting. I learned about administering medications. Still noob at it, but you just gotta give it some time. One day one of your lives may be at my hands. So you better be good to me. Muahahaha. No, not really. My nursing license would be revoked and I'd be sent to prison if I did any conniving with medications and people's lives.

Can't wait for that big hangout on Saturday. Haven't had a large congregation of friends in a while. It's gonna be fun.

Heading back to Milton soon,

Alan

You left me, police scene chalk line.

All Time Low - Damned If I Do Ya (Damned If I Don't)


It recently came out! This music video's hilarious. The song's awesome and catchy. Has All Time Low printed all over it. The person who plays the teacher is hot =D

Damn,

Alan

Politics and 1st year nursing students

Came back from class about an hour ago. I went to politics for the first time today, it's my elective. Very interesting class that incorporates ethics and morality into human society. Plus our prof is a hoot. He's great. He has similar beliefs as I do in that grades are meaningless and schools are meaningless. We want to learn, and a fancy institution is not necessarily needed for that. But we live in a "civilized society" so it can't be helped.

"The point of education, is education, not time." - Professor Paul Daly

Now, it's a year 1 elective, but we can take any elective that we want. Year one seems to have a lot of pretty girls this year. I mean, last year, the year I enrolled, I could not tell weather or not this person was fresh from highschool or is married and could possibly be a mother. The ambiguity was mind blowing. But this year's fresh batch, is much easier to distinguish.

Also, UFC Fight Night 19 Diaz VS Guillard is on tonight. I'm pissed because the house I'm staying in only has basic cable. Thank God for streaming, lol. TUF 10 premiers tonight also, I seriously think people are underestimating Kimbo's fighting abilities. Sure he's mostly a wild fighter, but the most important thing that people forget is that he has the drive to learn and further his capabilities as a fighter and a person. Being Bahamian American and coming off the streets, you'd think he'd be a cocky guy. In actuality, he's down to earth and he's very humble. Family is his priority. Give Kimbo a chance to knock you off your feet...or rather....his opponents feet.

Blog post over,

Alan

2RR3......

....sucks ass. I have to do a seminar in front of the entire hall, with a group. F**k that.

In class right now, will update later,

Alan

Pharmacology 101

Today is my first day in Pharmacology class. The study of drug action. So, as you guys probably already know, I'm studying drugs and their interactions with the human body. It seems interesting. I'm actually in class, currently.

I don't get why we need clickers. GAH! If the books weren't enough money to spend, we gotta buy this thing too.

Need that cash money fo' school,

Alan

PBL!

Wow. PBL is a lot of the same stuff as last year. I'm glad. It's gonna be more advanced, but progression is always present in academical institutions, right? I was late getting there, good thing all they did were the ice breakers. There was a schedule mix up and I got there half way into the class. Geez. I apologized to my TA though. She seems like a sweet ol' lady. She still made me do the icebreaker in front of all the girls. Geez. I guess I can't complain, I was late. It was my fault. I also volunteered to write down class discussion info on the board to make up for the lateness of my arrival.

On a more irrelevant topic, this really pretty girl that I was really infatuated with last year is in my PBL class. Nothing more than shallow feelings of "damn, she's so beautiful", so they eventually faded. The feelings of infatuation might resurface.

Problem based learning...here I come,

Alan

Valens

I went to the beach with family and friends today. We went to Hamilton to a conservation area called Valens. It's nice. It's like a huge park, with swimming, biking, fishing, hiking, camping etc. Unfortunately, we were only able to tap into the swimming part.

Anyways, it was fun. I hope to return to maximize the usage of Valens and its facilities next year. A little spark from the summer that has passed.

Going back to Kitchener soon.

Just keep swimming, just keep swimming,

Alan

New Template

I decided to change my template, cuz I was bored of my old one. It was so dark and it felt like a downer. I chose Homer...why?...well, because he's the main man of The Simpsons.

I also feel like there's a Homer in all of us. Inside all of us, we just want to do whatever we want, without caring for anything else but ourselves. Homer is the perfect image of a man who's very well expressed. A man's, in the words of Freud, who's id is greatly satisfied. Of course, with our humanistic side ever present, we do have morals, ethics; basically a conscience. (ego, superego...again Freud) It's just some of us are slower at realizing it than others. That's why for every screw up, don't be afraid to say.....

D'oh! (Annoyed Grunt, lol. <----- Simpsons fans will get this.),

Alan

1st return home.

From here on, I will be counting the amount of times I will be returning to my home, as well as comment on some things I need to say.

So this is my first weekend here....my parents dropped me off last night, went home the next evening. I needed to grab a few more things, not to mention we're having a BBQ with family friends tomorrow. (Halo-Halo is involved...Oh yea.)

1st weekend home return,

Alan

My gosh. 8 hours straight. It feels like I went to work,

Got back. Tired. Hungry. Surprisingly alert and awake. That first day was interesting. It didn't suck I think. It actually flew by, much to my pleasure. A lot of review, a lot of familiar faces and places. Everything seems the same....except for the fact that it's 2009.

One things for darn sure, I need review. We start clinical placements in Guelph on October officially. Also, they got rid of Learn Link, for God knows what reason. We now have ELM (Electronic Learning @ Mcmaster...or something like that) It should be simple enough for techies like me. But everyone else is freaking out.

This first day was pretty good, perhaps a positive sign of a great year to come. Our tutor is very nice, and she says she's a compassionate person...I certainly hope so.

I'm gonna get something to chow on, ciao,

Alan

The daily grind.

I'm gonna head out soon and wont be back for approximately 8 hours. It's the start of my school year.

This is gonna be a long day, I think. Hopefully I'm wrong. Hopefully the time will pass by quickly. Hopefully.

I want more sleep,

Alan

Orchardmill

Back at my Kitchener home. Man, I know I bitch a lot about this place and my school, but it's strange. When I arrived...all of my things were all in the same position. It felt like time stopped in here, the moment I left for summer vacation. I honestly had a profound experience of nostalgia...I even smiled, as strange as it sounds. Could it be that...I missed this place? I never thought that I had that kind of capacity for fondness. The internet's up which I'm happy about, because I need it always lol. Anyways gotta start unpacking, I should be back trolling the web in an hour.

Hmmm,

Alan

Back to life, back to reality.

And that reality is, driving back 40 minutes to Kitchener and live in my student house. There are 2 new tenants...I wonder what race they are? *cough* white *cough* Anyways, it will be alright, with my ds, my ps2, my laptop and of course family and friends online every now and then. I'll update when I get there.

Peace out,

Alan

The cursed heating has gone!

A lot of you probably know, that I complain about my laptop having random slowdowns and random auto-shutdowns. The CPU usage would spike up from like 10-20% to 60-70%....it was occurring in intervals and it really bugged the hell out of me. I tried reformatting it and it didn't work. So today I researched causes for this and I found a site saying its dust. Jerick had always been telling me it was dust, but I guess I needed more specific instructions. I opened it up and removed the entire heat sink. I did see some dust around, so I vacuumed it. I was like...there's not much in here...was this causing the problems? So I continued my investigation and I opened the fan where the main heatsink was connected. The copper heat sink, was jammed up full of thick dust. So all this time, the hot air that the fan was trying to blow out, mostly remained in the notebook....causing the system to greatly overheat.

So anyone who's had a laptop for at least a year and constantly leaves it on or uses it...clean up your heat sink and fan!

Back to my Kitchener house tomorow, sighs,

Alan

The Toronto Zoo

After 8 years of living in Canada, we finally visit the Toronto Zoo. The place is friggin huge and my feet are aching. We had to rush too and I didn't read as much as I hoped too. We also missed several animals, and we've been in there for like 6 hours already.

I'll post some pics tomorow.

On a different note, I can now fuse on SMTDS. Yay. This game is very similar to Digimon.

l8s,

Alan

Fiesta!!! (Stay in touch McMaster kids)

My family and I went to a fiesta for St. Rose of Lima, patron saint of this town in Philippines, I forgot the name =/ Anyways...we have family friends from there, so we were invited. So yea, it was a fiesta, lots of food.....like...A LOT of food. Filipino fiestas, you know how it is, lol.

On a side note, I've played a bit more SMTDS and I'm enjoying it so far. I have some noob demons, but you know, whatever. I checked the wiki for Shin Megami Tensei stuff, they like basing their stuff of Judaic, Christian, Buddhist and Shinto individuals. It's interesting, perhaps a social statement? I don't know.

Anyways, my McMaster brothers, good luck tomorow! Stay in touch.

Alan

SMTDS has some hot chicks.

I started Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor today. For the record, I only got interested once I saw all the female characters. They're all well......well endowed ;). Are they supposed to be highschool girls? Cuz if they are...I can see why Japan has serious groping issues. (A lot of it in busy trains) I just gave my dude a name and that's basically it. I saved right after. Premise is interesting, I guess. My guy's name is JOLT, well, his nickname anyways.


As the Black Eyed Peas would say it: "Like OMAHGAHD" Seriously, those are dangerously close to D-cups. =D Oh Yuzu, oh yea!

Yuzu probably has the biggest set. The rest are still nice. Looks like I'll be enjoying this game.

HAHA. On a totally different side note...My tito gave me an Aquaclear 300. Aquaclear's are well know in the aquarium community for its efficiency and proficiency in filtering water. It was only missing a impeller, which only costs 15 dollars. I basically bought it for only 15 bucks, when it's usually 60, so I'm pretty happy about that. It's running very smoothly now.

Anyways, I get back to my dorm Thursday evening. Lots of time to relax still, lol. Or rather, prepare for school and get organized.

To my McMaster brothers who are moving on Sunday, good luck fending for yourselves. Don't burn anything down, lol. Have fun, which I'm sure you guys will.

TTFN, ta ta for now,

Alan

Talking monkeys in space

Holy crap....I am so bored. You know what? I don't think I've ever felt so low in the course of this entire summer break. I guess you could say, that I am at an all time low. (no pun intended.....ATL rocks) These last few days keep giving me these feelings of dread, but I know deep inside, I don't really have anything to worry about once I sort out everything and begin the school year. It's just another part of the yearly cycle of a student.

Anyways, I recently watched Joe Rogan's stand up comedy work. If you don't know who he is, he was the host of the show "Fear Factor" and also a long time commentator of the UFC. I didn't know what to expect, but after watching two shows, I have come to 2 conclusions:

-He is funny as hell
-He's a very smart guy

The man's theories and philosophies are so mind blowing and I love it. The way he views human life is so out there. And although all of his material is purely made for comedic purposes, he has really solid reasons and points behind them. I wouldn't say that it was a negative way of looking at things, but it certainly is a more unique way of viewing life. He has so much stuff to say...especially about weed. His presentation is top notch. Not to mention, he also owned Carlos Men-steal-ia.

Please watch his stuff, I guarantee you, you'll enjoy it every second.

Talking monkeys in space <----I highly recommend this one, get it off mininova.org

Also check out his 2006 stand up, also @ mininova.org

ttyl,

Alan

P.S. I'd also like to mention that his thoughts are very similar to my ultima0chaot quote on my banner. It was there before I put up All Time Low...I really gotta spruce up my blog page.

4 months of summer my ass, it's still not enough! It's never enough......*cries in the corner*

Mannn, it's September already. What the hell guy. Those 4 months fleeted away so quickly, I don't even recall what I've been doing. Good thing I've been blogging to record some of my more major activities. Well there's always a negative and positive to school, it always seems to balance out. The school year passes by fairly quickly, I mean...it still feels like last year when I first stepped foot into my crap campus. So summer should come fast, and then go by fast again. It's just the way it is. Always has been and always will be. Hey, at least it's the month of my birthday, as well as Albert Dani's and Jeff Pendon's.

I usually blog about the results of UFC events, but as you can clearly see, I have not given my thoughts about UFC 102: Couture VS Noguiera. Well here they are, briefly (the one's I looked forward to anyways):

Gonzaga VS Tuchscherer:

Napao is back baby!!! This guys vicious when he's in his A-game. 1st round, 2:27, TKO, Gonzaga.

Munoz VS Catone:

Dude, I know you're my fellow countryman, but damn, that was too close. You were lucky, could have gone either way. 3rd round, 5:00, Split Decision, Munoz. (Better man up like hell in the next fight, you're so close to getting tossed out of the UFC)

Vera VS Soszynski:

Another fellow countrymen who did not do as bad, but his fight was not exciting either. Conservative is the word I guess, which isn't bad, it will win fights....but you just distanced yourself even further from a contender rank, let alone a title shot. 3rd round, 5:00, Unanimous Decision, Vera.

Silva VS Jardine:

I was always a fan of Thiago Silva, who was known for his quick and powerful wins.....his only loss is to the Dragon himself, Lyoto Machida. An amazing fighter...he just happened to run into the Dragon. Need I say more? He busted Jardine up after a knock down with a hook, and just pounded away. 1st round, 1:35, TKO, Silva.

Maia VS Marquardt:

Oh Maia. You were my BJJ hero....and you still are. You're decent at boxing. But are you good with kicks? No. Why did you do it? And why did you do such a risky, rushed in kick that was too close? And why the body? It leaves you sooooo open. If you're not good with kicks, but you still wanna do it, go for a low kick to keep your defenses up....and for God's sake, don't rush in 2 meters into the guy. You did...and you got caught by a vicious punch from Marquardt. One punch, and you flew in the air and hit the canvas face first. Ouch. I still have faith in you though, I still consider you to be one of the top BJJ players in the world...so stick with what you know unless you're absolutely sure with kicks...and even then...use that as a last resort. Remember you're standing up with Nate "The Great" Marquardt, who's known for, as Marcus Santos calls it, street fighter combos. You had no chance with stand up against him. I'm dragging on. 1st round, 0:21, KO, Marquardt.

Couture VS Noguiera:

The main event was this fight. It was hyped. And for a damn good reason. It was an all out war between MMA legends, as they call them. Amazing fight. Noguiera showed amazing skill and improvement (proving that his health at the time he faced off against Frank Mir, did play a very significant factor) and Couture showed admirable heart as he weathered all attempts Noguiera made to finish him. Bravo gentlemen, bravo. In the end though, Minotauro prevailed. 3rd round, 5:00, Unanimous Decision, Noguiera.

So all the fighters that I hoped would win, did end up winning, except for Demian Maia. He'll come back though. All fighters need to be humbled sooner or later, that's how they evolve and mature into better warriors. On that note, Randy seems to still be evolving as a fighter, as he announced in the post conference that he has signed a six fight contract with UFC again, which basically gives the UFC fans another 2 years of The Natural. Lidell soon found out about this and constantly texted Dana White (UFC president) during the event, showing his interest in fighting, even though White has clearly mentioned that he is worried about The Iceman's health. But Chuck is money...and we all know Mr. White's weakness. $$$.

Man, these UFC events just keep getting better and better. Joe Rogan said that fighting continues to evolve greatly each time, it surely is. Royce Gracie would not survive in today's UFC compared to his dominant reign on almost everybody in the early 90's. You gotta love this sport.

Looking forward to the next events....Vitor Belfort's return on 103, free UFC event on UFN, Machida's first defense on 104, showcase of TUF 9 and UK fighters on 105, Lesnar's second title defense as well as Ortiz's return on 106 and the TUF 10 season finale on DECEMBER!

Man, just bring it on already!

Alan

P.S. Disney bought Marvel...looks like we'll soon see Mickey Mouse teaming up with Spiderman to beat up some villains.

Happ Bday Mr. Jackson

It's Mr. Michael Jackson's birthday today. Greetings to the recently deceased king of pop.

Respects Mr. M.J.,
Alan

Work with pain, not against it.

My friend, Kris, stayed over a couple of days (Saturday night until tonight), to continue our training in MMA. We focused a lot on Judo takedowns and takedown defense as well as grappling and BJJ submissions. The striking was more on drills, but there was still a sparring session. It was fun and grueling. Grappling is tiring work and is probably even more tiring than stand up striking could ever amount to. You have to worry about submissions, dominant positions, countering transitions, keeping your joints and critical body parts safe from submissions, deterring any damage from striking from the top or bottom, depending on your position and much more.

It was all worth it, and there's a notable difference. I was able to perform submissions other than a rear naked or a guillotine and so did my friend. But we both experienced injuries. Here's the list:

-I was going for a knee-bar, my friend was trying to escape and kneed me right between my eyes and right above my nose bridge. It hurt like a bitch.

-I was standing up, my friend was in open-guard. I dove in, he raises his leg, and land my chest on his knee. !@$$#%! It hurt A LOT. No other way to say it. The acceleration of his knee being raised and the acceleration of my gravity as I dropped met at one point...my freaking chest. Lesson: Be careful with dives into open guard.

- We were practicing takedown defense. He was sprawling. He bent his toe and turned the above part of his big toe blue. Lesson: DO NOT sprawl with your toes bent! Sprawl with your feet firmly planted on the ground, as much as possible to avoid toe injury.

-We were doing stand up Judo sparring. I had a good opening for an Uchi Mata. As I swing my leg in between his legs to catch his left thigh with my right calf, my sole skid his toe nail and bent it, resulting in a lot of bleeding. Lesson: Make sure ALL your nails are cut before sparring or grappling.

The injuries are all good now. They hurt a lot initially. I guess it's due to psychological shock, since I don't know how it feels to get hit real hard, with knees no less. But it was an invigorating feeling. The feeling of pain reminds you that you are alive and that you are a human being. It probably also means you're getting beat up, lol. I want to be able to attain that high level of physical ability to withstand the pain from a punch to the face. The more I train and receive minor injuries, the more I will feel at home with them, that doesn't mean you should not avoid taking shots though. As the famous saying goes: "Work with pain, not against it."

Here's my progress on the ground techniques, made during this training session(s):
-Rear-naked choke (good)
-Arm-triangle (needs revision, positioning needs work)
-Guillotine (satisfactory)
-Triangle-choke (needs revision)
-Arm-bar from open guard (satisfactory, speed of execution needs work)
-Kimura from open guard (decent)
-Knee bar (needs revision)
-Achilles lock (decent)
-Ankle lock (needs revision)
-Omo Plata (decent)

I got several Achilles locks on my friend, an omo plata, a kimura, an armbar and a lot of rear naked chokes. He was very good with the triangle chokes, with which he got me twice and three times with the ankle lock. Overall, the training sessions were very productive. Anyone who wants to join in the fun, are more than welcome, lol. We're planning on joining a Judo dojo during the school year, and going there every weekend (as much as possible, I'm sure there will be times that I would be too pre-occupied with my academics)

Also, a lot of you probably know what those submissions and locks are. Omo plata, on the other hand, is a submission move that is not often seen in professional MMA bouts, so here's a picture:


When that hand gets in between the legs and you position the right leg at the elbow joint and put weight on it, there's no escaping and all you gotta do is lean your body forward and crank dat shoulda boi! Instant tap. Unless the opponent is too prideful, in which case, go all the way and pop his shoulder out =) It's a very good submission technique.

Continue the fight,
Alan

Andy Hug

It's been like a month now, since I took up MMA training, and I have amassed an abundance of past fight videos, whether if it's MMA, K1 or boxing to discover the fighting spirit of these fighters. For my stand up, I have been training mostly in Karate. My primary focus is on Okinawan Shorin-Ryu Karate. There are several Karate styles, but they are all essentially the same and they all originate from Okinawa, making the Karate I am learning, one of the original ones. My dad's a first degree black belt in Shorin Ryu which he had acquired in the short time of 3 years, while we were still in Kuwait. I regret my actions back then and I wish I could've continued all the way with my dad. I guess that's why I'm training hard now.

Anyways, I love Karate. I know recently it's died down in popularity, what with the popularity of Muay Thai and Brazillian Jiu-Jutsu on the rise (thanks to MMA) and the ever so present flashiness of Tae Kwon Do, a lot of other traditional martial arts, Karate included, are dying out.

I was searching on youtube for amazing Karate fighters. One particular fighter stuck out and must have been one of the most successful Karate fighters in history. Andy Hug. A simple name, befitting a simple man, hailing from Switzerland who loved Karate and loved fighting. This man is quite simply the shining example of what a Karateka should be. Disciplined and fierce. His moves where execute with finesse, speed and amazing power. He was especially noted for his devastating and picture perfect ax kick and spinning back kick or tornado kick. In Japan, he was known as the "blue eyed samurai" (even if his eyes were not blue) and was adored by the Japanese people. He was also called Tetsujin, which translates to Iron Man. They considered him a hero and an ambassador for their fighting culture. Unfortunately, Andy Hug left us much too early, dying suddenly from Leukemia in 2000, when he was only 35. Those who knew him will surely remember him and those who don't know him...well, that's your loss. Andy hug left behind a legacy of excellence in Karate and in sports and I'm here to share his legendary skills. My only regret, is not knowing him earlier.









That's just about to land. Ouch.

Fortunately, Karateka, MMA hero and UFC Light Heavy Weight Champion, The Dragon, Lyoto Machida, is here to show the world, Karate is definitely as potent as ever.

R.I.P. Andy Hug, from your new fan,

Alan