motivate

Motivation comes in different forms. Some people need to be calm, centered, relaxed. They can't train with a cluttered mind. All thoughts of the outside world have to fade away so that they can focus only on their training.

Some people need to get really angry, really worked up about something in order to get a good workout; like they need to get their frustrations out on something. All the aggravation they've saved up must find a release valve.

Some people need to look at themselves in disgust; they're unhappy with their current condition and will do whatever it takes to improve.

Some people need to feel inspired in order to train properly. They need to be able to see what they're training towards in order to push themeselves to a higher level.

For some, it's a combination of the above. My combination is that I tend to need to be inspired, I look at myself and am unhappy with my current condition (no matter how much I improve, it's never good enough), and I just tend not to think too much about the outside world. I don't need to feel angry or at peace or whatever. I just know where I want to be, and know that I'm not there yet. For the most part, that's motivation enough to keep driving me forward.

Sometimes I need some types of motivation more than others. Usually if I'm in a rut, the best way to get me out is via inspiration. Being inspired gets me to push the hardest, generally speaking.

Once in a while, I need other forms of motivation. Competition is a good motivator; if you know you're gonna fight, you better be training your ass off. That kind of motivation is what drives a Muay Thai fighter and not the average martial artist. The average martial artist trains for the potential street encounter, so the don't train as hard as they could. It might happen; it might not. The average Muay Thai fighter knows he's gonna be fighting, so he better be well-prepared for it.

I don't have any fights lined up any time soon, but I need to train that way anyway. I gotta push myself harder and harder.

Fairtex

I was very anxious about the training. It's something I had been looking forward to for a number of years. When I got into the gym, the anticipation was driving me nuts. I kept asking Clara over and over "so what do we do? When do we go up? Will they definitely get us? What if they skip us?" She answered all of my questions patiently, even after they twelfth time.

The procedure basically goes like this: get there and do your own warmups (whatever it may be) until a trainer or Ted comes to get you. You then get five 4-minute rounds of padwork with a trainer. The fifth round is Western Boxing on the small focus mitts.

Day 1, AM session: My trainer was named Lek. He gave me a good workout, although his combos weren't quite as elaborate as I would have liked. I guess that's a result of my subpar padwork. Clara's trainer was Khom, who also happens to be Nareupol's trainer. We started at the same time so neither of us got to see the other's workout, but we chatted between rounds. After we got down from the ring, Kru Khom came back to us and worked on some kicks and some clinching.

Day 1, PM session, Clara arranged for me to train with Yak, Yodsaenklai's trainer. As is Yak's style, he had to assess me before actually giving me a session. We spent 3 rounds talking (about history, technique, ring smarts, etc), 2 rounds training, and another few minutes chatting before Yod hit the ring. After my time was up, Clara and I worked out on the bags a little. After Yod finished, Yak came over to us. He gave me a quick tutorial on the teep, and 2 minutes later, my teep had improved 200%. We ended up talking some more and then he showed some clinching techniques like throws from position 1 (using your leg on the outside), elbows to the thighs, elbow to chest & chin. Half an hour later, we were done. Couldn't believe he stayed an extra 30 minutes to train us privately and chit chat. Clara couldn't understand him, but she said she could just feel his passion for Muay Thai.

Day 2 AM session, Clara was grabbed by a trainer whose name we didn't get. He was a bit older and didn't challenge Clara at all. She basically slept-walked through the pads. He was quite lazy. He probably grabbed her thinking she was a weak, unskilled girl and not the experienced Muay Thai practitioner that she is. I was lucky enough to be accepted by Yak and he happily gave me a rigourous pad workout. The way he runs the pads had me completely gassed by the end of the fourth round. He doesn't allow you to catch your breath for more than half a second. After the first round, he had me going for an additional 45 seconds through the break. After the second round was probably an additional 15-20 seconds. Yak is an incredibly good trainer (obviously). He corrects you quickly and briefly on the fly, and I was able to follow his instructions and make the adjustments as we went, without stopping to rest or think. After this class, Yak also came by to chat with us and give us more tips. Clara said that he seems to have taken a liking to me, and I'm honoured by that. I'd love to be able to train with him for several months.

Day 2, PM session, Kru Yak was booked solid with his regulars, so he told me to train with one of his former students, Chet. Clara was almost pulled over by the lazy guy again, and was not happy about that. So I went over to Kru Khom and asked him if he could train Clara. I think he was pleased that he was being requested, and he happily agreed. He might have even told Nareupol to take a backseat for a while hahaha. Clara and Khom had a good rapport on the pads. Clara was able to understand how he runs the pads, so she got a good workout with him. Chet started going a little too easy on me, but soon began to up the pace a bit. Taking a cue from Yak, he kept the number of techniques to a minimum to make sure I was tight on the moves I was doing. I got a good workout with Chet. Clara took some videos for me, but was quickly distracted when Yod hopped into the ring with Yak. I can't say I blame her. So I was in the ring adjacent to Yod and Yak. And you could literally feel the impact of his kicks through the air. After his ring time was up, he went to the bags. I teased Clara and suggested she hold the bag for Yod while he kicked. Later, Yod went to one of the bags that's around a pillar/column. As he kicked, I saw the column move. It's absolutely frightening how hard that man kicks. We chatted with Yak very briefly this time as we were both drained. And I was very much looking forward to our date that night, so maybe I was a bit distracted after the pads.

choices

I generally believe that the Universe is perfect in its own way. I mean this spiritually, not scientifically. I'm not here to talk about astrophysics. Everything happens for a reason. Maybe we don't understand why they happen, and maybe sometimes we're not supposed to.

But sometimes the Universe throws an obvious curveball at you for a specific reason. Does that make any sense? I'm talking about one of those things where you just kind of look at the sky and say "Wow... this is something special, but how do I handle it?"

The situation can be good, bad, or maybe a little bit of both. But that situation has a vast impact on you no matter what. You're meant to learn a lesson, but that lesson may not be apparent. Yes, I know I'm being vague. Deal with it.

As you may have already guessed, I've got one of those right now. This is something that's impacting my life in a big way, and I need to figure out the puzzle of what lesson am I supposed to learn here?

Ultimately it's up to me what I get out of this. So I need to get the most out of it that I can and I need to make sure it leaves a positive, lasting impact on my life. Every day is a journey to make myself a better person. Sometimes the Universe offers a chance to make a leap; I think this is one of those moments, so I hope I'm doing the right things.

rangsit, round 3

Saturday afternoon I went back to visit the gang at Rangsit Muay Thai. I had originally planned on going to visit a few days before but thought it would be better to visit on a Saturday so we could go out partying that night since everyone takes Sunday as a rest day. It was really great to see the old gang, especially Ajarn Mor, my trainer for Muay 3 (Advanced). More than anyone else there, he brought out the most in me. Plus, he's a great drinking buddy.

When I arrived, the afternoon class was in full swing, and not only was it in full swing but it was PACKED. There were at least 30 students there that day, mostly kids. That was the busiest I had ever seen the place and I was really happy to see business doing so well. It was nice to see Chris and Adora again. They both took a couple minutes out of their training to come say hi. I also got a chance to meet some new friends; apparently I had become a bit famous for leading the Rangsit family to dinner and ice cream. And maybe I was most famous for the discovering the strawberry juice sold at Lotus; it's 100% strawberry juice (no added sweeteners or other juices), and that if you stick it in the freezer for 6 hours and shake it every 20 minutes you get an all-natural strawberry slushy! So when Clara, Rafael, and Mohammed came to say hi they were like "Hey we've heard about you! Nice to finally meet you!!" Hahaha that certainly put a smile on my face. I think it must have been Jennifer saying nice things about me to them. It was too bad that she had to go back to Singapore earlier than planned. Well it was nice that my legacy was for strawberry slushies, coconut ice cream, and squid stir-fried with salted duck eggs instead of for having my nose broken cause I didn't block a jab properly.

After the crew finished the afternoon training and had all showered and freshened up, we met back in the lobby where I happily led the way to dinner to feed the old and the new together haha. I think I fed everyone successfully. At least there were no complaints and no deaths due to allergic reactions. And of course after dinner we went for some coconut ice cream!

Unfortunately, we had to split up to go drinky-drinky. The Cypriots wanted to go to one place (Master Mor was to be their babysitter), and everyone else didn't want to go with the Cypriots. Apparently the last time the entire gang went out together, everyone was mortified by the Cypriots's collective bad behaviour.

I'm not gonna get into the details, but all I'll say is that apparently I drank way more than I thought I did. It was an incredible night, and despite how much I drank there's no way I'll ever forget any of it.

I had such a great time with the gang that I decided it'd be nice to get another day of training in on Monday. And since I had no desire to wake up at 5a to make it to Rangsit for the 7a class, I decided to go there Sunday afternoon and spend the night.

Monday morning's class was mostly shadowboxing. It felt good to stretch my limbs out again. Ajarn Mor didn't yell at me for not standing straight-legged while kicking nearly as much as he used to, so I'm glad I've made some improvement. Still have quite a bit of work to do though. I think there are 2 main factors preventing me from standing straight-legged during all of my kicks: 1) habits from other martial arts, and 2) I tend to have tight hamstrings so straightening my leg out isn't easy when I'm not actively concentrating on it.

After the morning session I had a very nice nap, followed by lunch at Chaipoom's, and another really quick nap before the next session. The afternoon session was much more rigourous. A bit of shadowboxing was followed by a couple rounds on the pads. Ajarn Mor kept me going for 4 minute rounds, which is a minute longer than we usually go. After having taken some time off, getting through that 4 minutes was not easy. But it was fulfilling. Ajarn Boyd had me working on quick punch-kick combos, double kicks, low-hi kicks, and putting it all together smoothly. He called out different combos that I'm normally used to so I felt kind of sloppy. I've got to learn to react faster.

After the pads, we headed into the ring for clinch work. Adora and Clara paired off while Siriwat and I paired off. Siriwat is much bigger than me, but may not necessarily be as strong. His arms are bigger than mine, but my back is bigger than his. For the most part, I was able to control in the clinch. I've always been pretty decent in the clinch. So I was able to work on a lot of technical clinch work against a resisting opponent. Unfortunately, I was only able to take him down about 3 times. I need to work on my takedowns.

For Clara, clinchwork is brand new to her. Back in HK, they don't clinch. Adora has been through Muay 3 already, so she was able to use a slight edge in experience. Adora is also a fair bit stronger than Clara. I think Clara might be a faster learner, because despite that she's brand-new to the clinch game, Adora was never able to actually dominate although she did establish decisive control a couple times. Clara seems to be more technical too. Anyway, the whole session was going well until an accidental collision happened. Adora and Clara both went to knee on the same side, and somehow Clara's knee clipped the inside of Adora's shin, on a spot with an old injury. Adora dropped, and that pretty much ended the session. It was a freak accident; I can't imagine how it could have been intended, but Adora kind of lost her head and basically accused Clara of injuring her on purpose. Very strange. Clara felt terrible about it. Hopefully everything's alright now.

I had to leave that night since I'd be heading to visit Mom & Dad in KhiriMas the next day. I'm planning on my next visit to Rangsit to be either Friday, Saturday, or Monday. Or maybe Tuesday. I know I need to see my friends who I haven't seen since I've been here... but training is vitally important to me right now. It's for my future.

just remembered

Back in early July I ate crocodile. While watching a crocodile show. Very surreal kind of experience.

I remember distinctly during the part where the human performer opens the crocodile's mouth and sticks his head inside for a few seconds, I was chewing on a piece of crocodile tail.

How does it taste? Eh... well the piece I had was EXTREMELY chewy. And I couldn't tell if it had any taste of its own because it was so heavily seasoned that all I could taste was garlic and fresh coriander root. Unless someone promises me the next piece I have won't be a tenth as chewy, there won't be a second time.

gettin heavy

I'm in the province of Sukhothai right now hanging out with my parents at their house. My grandmother, an aunt, and an uncle are visiting from Bangkok for about 10 days.

Yesterday we went to the District office to start the process of getting me Thai citizenship. The first step is establishing residence here at my parent's house. This involves getting various documents together and submitting them to the District Office. They'll go over the paperwork and then interview my father to make sure this is all legitimate, and that I'm not a migrant worker from Burma or something. We were told this would take 7 days, but we managed to convince them to have this done before the end of the week. Why this should take more than 30 minutes, I'm not sure. But anyway, they'll call us before the end of the week to have my father go in for the interview.

Once he passes the interview process, my name will be entered into the home registry, and my official residence in Thailand will be in Sukhothai. After that, I'll file for an identity card, which will basically also be me filing for citizenship. Again, I don't see why it should take any time at all to get the card, but I was told that the quickest it would be is an all-day event. Apply in the morning, receive in the late afternoon. Or it could take 2-3 days. Let's hope for the one-day thing.

In the meantime, my parents are trying to fatten me up as much as possible while they still can. Unless they come back down to Bangkok to see me off at the airport when I leave next month, the week or so that I'll be here is the last time I'll see them until June of next year. It's hard to imagine what that's gonna be like. Sometimes time flies so fast, and sometimes it crawls at a snail's pace. Most of my friends only need to drive for a couple hours at most if they want to visit their parents. I've gotta spend about $1500 and fly for almost 24 hours.

Oh... almost dinner time. It's like they're trying to reverse all the Muay Thai training I've done recently. I've only got a matter of days left to enjoy my mom's cooking until I have to go without it for nearly a year. So... time to go fatten up while I can.

going to the well

During one sparring session, I was in the zone. I lost close matches to the better fighters, and I won decisively against fighters of comparable skill.

Sparring two of them, even though I was gassed I still had more energy than either of them and I was able to use it to my advantage. Their attacks were starting to slow down, they were starting to telegraph. Every time they threw a kick, I was able to block it easily. So easily in fact, that I when they launched the kick, I would get in the blocking position only to find myself holding that position and waiting for the kick to contact the block.

Realizing this, I changed tactic and decided to start parrying the kick away. I was able to pull this off at will. Whenever a kick was thrown at me, I'd hook it and toss it in one smooth motion, and follow it with a counter round kick of my own. This is how I was able to dominate on that day.

It worked fine, but an opponent of greater skill would have been able to read my pattern, seen me going to the well once too often, and make me pay. So the lesson I learned from this is that no matter how good a particular technique is working for me, I need to remain adaptable and unpredictable. I need to constantly use a variety of techniques and keep my opponent confused. Even if I have the advantage physically, I need to maintain a mental advantage as well.