The Road to Humility

Good Attitude – ‘What you do when no one is looking at you’

2011-07-15T19:56:00.001+10:00

A good attitude is difficult to define… let alone master. Like the steering wheel in a car, steer too far left on a straight road…. you go off course… steer too far right… you go off course.

Dictionaries define attitude as ‘feelings with regard to a person or thing’ but dictionaries only scratch the surface. Attitude is ‘what you do when no one is looking at you.’

But wait… can’t you just tell his attitude from his actions? No… but you can tell his skill! But attitude is unconfirmed. You don’t really know if he loves doing what he does… or whether he’s being forced to do it. Someone may be able to act all committed during training, but outside maybe he loathes it. True attitude is sustained… whenever and where ever.

So… What is a good attitude?

ITF Taekwondo State Championships Report

2011-06-07T22:19:00.001+10:00

Hey Guys!

~ Tam’s Budo Academy with its name in Chinese and Korean ~

An exciting weekend of Taekwondo action has just occurred at Wagga Wagga and I’m here to fill in my perspective as a competitor, photographer, blogger and supporter. The video is all the way at the end if you do not wish to read the written report .

Led by our coach Sabum Alan, ‘Tam’s Budo’ stormed down to Wagga Wagga on Friday in preparation to wreck havoc the next day at the Bolton Park Stadium. We were all lucky enough to have Roman hire a minibus to drive us all there and back. A big thanks! He must be exhausted after 12 hours of driving. After a 6 hour drive, we landed in Wagga Wagga at around 7:30pmish before heading out to dinner. To the right was a photo of us unpacking our bags in preparation for the tournament the next day. On a side note… who is the one with that Pre-Uni bag!!?? On the bus was a mixture of card games, Simpsons, sleeping and excitement. We went out with Master Tam to dinner that evening at a pub and we had a lot of fun and we also ended up playing some very funny games…. I don’t know the names except Mafia… but that didn’t last too long because we had to head back to the motel for bed. Before that though, a few of us amassed in one hotel room for fun games before returning to our rooms to sleep.

The morning was absolutely freezing… and the comic relief was Caroline’s 2nd and final cup of instant noodles being shared by Brison, Musk, Bob and Colin… where Musk managed to pour ALL the chilli sauce in to Bob’s bowl… and he had to eat it for breakfast. They were NOT happy when they found out they could get breakfast at the venue. But it was hilarious… and I feel sorry for them because they were in such a rush to finish breakfast. We finally arrived at the venue without much hassle and to the left is a shot of the inside.

Everyone performed really well, everybody who took part in patterns scored a medal… except me but that’s ok, because it’s a lesson to be learned. And Master Tam is right, be an all-rounded Martial artist, do pattern and sparring . Thank you sir!

~ Medallists with Master Tam! ~

~ From Left to Right Vanessa, Priscilla, Paulina, Kevin and Richard ~

Most of the competing girls chose to do only patterns but there were very good results. From what I heard Caroline (red-tip) beat a black belt, black-tip and red belt on her way to the finals but then lost to Grace (red belt) who pummelled her way to the finals and won to take gold, when Caroline can only claim the silver medal in her division (that’s 3 upsets!!). Priscilla (Blue belt AND I got her name right ) won her field and fought neck to neck with Vanessa (blue-tip) in the semi-finals to take out the gold medal whilst Vanessa won the bronze medal play-off. Paulina came 2nd in patterns in her division. “She’s like a mini Taekwondo master” was a comment I heard from a little boy watching Musk performing Hwa-Rang. Brison must have been very happy, as he was right next to me when that little boy said that. Holding that comment to her performance Musk took out bronze in patterns, despite competing against girls twice her size, and 1-2 years older.

On the boy’s side we had Jacek taking out silver after losing to Phillip, whom I believe is taking part in the World Championships later this year in Korean in patterns. Kevin Quach (blue-tip) took silver in his division by upsetting a blue belt to on his way in to the finals, and lost to another member of our dojang Nick Lau (green belt) who took gold. Abi extracted his revenge (or so he says) from another competitor whom beat him last year in the finals by taking out gold from the same opponent(!) this year. So that’s excellent pattern results on our part.

In team pattern we fielded 2 teams featuring the red belt and black tip team of Abi, Colin, Tiarn, Viktoria and Grace, which had one hour rehearsal time, and the other team… which had… 8 minutes rehearsal time. My team of Caroline, Priscilla and Vanessa and Kevin were told 15 minutes before the event we are a competing team and had 8 minutes to rehearsal time. We won one round one. Add we were celebrating. And then we realised there were more rounds. In the end we lost to the Abi’s team in the Bronze Medal play-off. Good experience and our team name was quite hilarious, for those of you that know .

Unfortunately I only recorded 1 video on patterns but I got a few ones on self defence routine which were all pretty cool. The video is all the way at the bottom! Also I have to thank Mr Quach for being so kind to give me his filmed footage for me to edit. Marvel at the techniques too! Any performers in the video can feel free to use them for suitable purposes. Sorry for not getting your permission!

We didn’t win as many sparring medals but that doesn’t mean there wasn’t any good action and no fun! Now, boys first this time.

From memory Roman won silver in sparring. Abi got knocked out by Phillip, the same person who beat Jacek in patterns. Nick from Rockdale had a tough time against a strong black belt and sustained a fair amount of injuries… I hope he is ok! Brison lost to another black belt but he put up a good fight So that was good. I have recorded 1 minute of ‘Brison fame’ for your entertainment below. Colin unfortunately lost to a red belt. He started well, but unfortunately didn’t sustain that energy and confidence.

Bob unfortunately lost to his first round opponent. He was doing well, and was probably winning at the end of round 1. But in round 2 3 turning kicks that were blocked too close to the body cost him. I wasn’t sure how Nick Lau went in sparring but I will find out. Callum however, topped his division picking off the gold medal and the impressive 1st! Richard lost the bronze medal play-off to come 4th in sparring, whilst his brother in his exhausted state didn’t run fast enough to avoid the last few point-scoring kicks to push him from a winning position to a losing one. Nevertheless he won the bronze medal play-off to claim bronze and his second medal. Daniel came first in sparring.

For the girls, Tiarn came first in sparring in her division, so very impressive results, whilst little Musk got bronze again in sparring. Paulina took her 2nd 2nd, i.e. a silver medal in sparring this time, obviously her goal next year is double gold .

In team sparring we were up against tough opposition in both the male and female team, where both had a full team of black belts, and some members of those teams were members of the Australian team. Against such tough opposition we put up a good fight but unfortunately didn’t take any medals here. Jacek fell head first to the floor and broke his nose, but we all know he’s immortal so it turned it’s ok .

The final event we competed in, junior team sparring was composed of Kevin and Bob and 3 other members from other dojangs. They won their first game to enter the finals but unfortunately they lost in the finals after 3 draws and 2 loses so they had to be content with silver. Good news though, this puts Kevin on 3 medals, and the only triple medallist amongst our dojang! So congratulations Mr Triple Medallist, well deserved and hard fought.

~ Tam’s Budo ITF!! ~

We had dinner at KFC (and Hungry Jacks for the select, impatient few) and headed back home. It was a great tournament and I enjoyed it a lot! Final thanks for Roman for driving us, Master Tam for always supporting us and Sabum Alan and Sabum Ray for coaching and giving us tips throughout the tournament. Also to everybody there whom supported me

Hope everybody had fun there! Congratulations to the medal winners . Let's head to the next Taekwondo tournament together again!

Now here is the hidden bonus: The Video!! Edited with Windows Movie Maker (which means I couldn’t do a lot of the stuff I wanted to but yea…) and includes original audio… please excuse my very loud cheering as I was the closest to the camera…. Other than that enjoy the video and hope everyone had fun! The video features both wins and losses and serve to be instructive examples. The Video is in 3 parts… so please enjoy

Part 1 Patterns and Self Defence

Sparring Part 1 (Kevin and Abi)

Sparring Part 2 (Colin, Jacek, Brison and Musk)

In Master Tam’s own words: “Train Hard. Train Smart.”

Taekwon,

Jerry

p.s. There were too many photos of individual competitors for me to put all of them up here. If you want to see them, please click here

Wagga Preparation.... excuse, excuse excuse, then no excuses

2011-05-20T22:50:00.002+10:00

Hey Everyone,

I'm just a week off heading to Wagga with my whole dojang team to compete in the State championships. It is actually very high levelled and me being a chess player fond of preparation I had to check the entries. So many black belts doing pattern!! Wow :) Makes me motivated to try harder....

Exactly one week ago I was training on friday night after I had gone home exhausted and didn't really have enough to eat. During the training session of patterns I was mixing everything all the moves up like crazy.... e.g. in one pattern maybe you had to do side kick + elbow strike but in another it would be knife hand + guarding block.... what I would do was actually swap them already and screw up.... and then it'll look pathetic and as if I didn't know my patterns.

It wasn't like I didn't know them but I wasn't perfect either. I practised.... practised.... and tried to concentrate. When I got home I was actually pretty upset... I had put alot of work onto my patterns........ and then I couldn't produce the efforts during training. I whinged and complained when I got home.... stating various excuses like exhaustion..... overworking of my patterns.... not enough to eat etc.

But here is the takeaway...
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My First Guest Post :D

2011-05-05T22:38:00.000+10:00

Hey guys,

From the inactivity on my blog many people may have perceived this as an abandoned piece of work. But that's not true. Unfortunately due to school and Taekwondo (which by the way will be the topic of my next post) I haven't really had time to write up high quality, informative yet witty posts to keep my readers on their toes. But I did try something new in the holidays as far as blogging goes.

I wrote a guest post. My inspiration came from the various sources of articles from successful bloggers and each and EVERY one of them recommended a guest post. So I thought I can either sit around and wonder how I'll ever be able to write a guest post for the likes of Tim Ferris or Ramit Sethi, subsequently doing nothing in the process or I can write one... and let my coach Brendan be the judge of whether he'll want to put it on his chess blog. He's actually very hard to please, so I actually put a lot of work. Not to offend english teachers, but it was a lot more than I ever spent on my english essay!

So 8 hours later... after writing.... typing... printing and rewriting.... this is what I had produced.

Now... my next post will be on the Taekwondo tournament at Wagga I'll be attending! Yay!

It will be fun, and I'll bring a camera along for photoes, something which I haven't done for a long time.

Anyway I hope everyone is safe and having fun!

Just 2 years left...

2011-02-26T22:25:00.005+11:00

Hey,

I've been pretty busy lately, but it doesn't mean I've forgotten about this blog! Sure, this isn't going to be some talk about a huge topic, but it's good to take a break from being all hyped up once in a while isn't it?

I've been in senior school for only a few weeks, but it's like all different. You can feel it from some people, they are all getting darn serious and I feel kind of left out, considering I still haven't done any Japanese homework my teacher has set me. Not because I'm rebel... no of course not, but rather because I've done all the study in the 2 weeks right before school starts, I just grinded out my senior textbook. Which proved to be very effective combined with watching a couple of episodes of anime each night. The important thing is to joint down something you hear and then dictionary it later on and then jot it down somewhere. I also have been translating manga but that's actually quite slow and time consuming, but you can learn a lot.

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The Other Alternative: The Essential Skills of Life (Part 2)

2011-02-05T20:54:00.012+11:00

Last article we talked about the underlying truth that school/work isn’t the be all and end all. Truth is the things you learn in school can often be left in the trash because half of it you’ll never use again after the final exam. There are other much more vital skills one needs to acquire before they step out in to the real world. What commonly happens is that because the skills are not attained before we are plunged into the deep end, generally we then pick it up through tremendous amounts of mistakes (which by all means isn’t a bad thing at all).

Although this can greatly vary for many people, the 3 essential components of a fulfilling life can be amassed into the two categories of ‘work habits,’ and ‘social skills and your social network.’ The other one is dealing with emotional luggage but that can be left for another topic, because that topic is also quite complicated and requires a lot of thought before writing.

Each is just as important as the next, but notice how these topics are not covered in any depth (if at all!) in schools.

Competitive Comparison – How to compare to others and how to compare to yourself

2011-02-02T12:57:00.004+11:00

How come he can sing so much better than I can? Maybe because he practises two hours a day?

Why does she beat me in every maths test? Because she goes home and finishes every single question in the exercise, even the ones that the teacher didn’t set and not only that, continues to do a further two hours study into the subject!

There are often many obvious reasons why some people are just ‘too good’ at something. As humans whom absolutely detest being ‘worse’ than each other we find it extremely difficult to cope with the fact that someone may be better than us at something. The truth is, they’ve spent probably hours daily, each day for a couple of years before getting there. Personally, I hate losing to anybody in anything for any reason, but I’ve gradually came to learn that you just can’t be good at everything. If you haven’t gone through the same training, the same sorts of discipline then you simply aren’t on even field to compare expertise anyway. Don’t stress out! You’re still very good in your own way. :)

Here’s something else: we are all equal, just this equality is characterised by many different elements that are sometimes not as obvious as the others. For example, the ability to play a musical instrument well is so easy to display and promote. Everyone can listen and judge that you’re a good player, but chess is a completely different matter. To understand who is good and who is bad, you yourself first need a good understanding of the game which is why sometimes chess players go much unappreciated in this world. Yes, you may hear that they are very good and have won many competitions, but you can never truly appreciate his/her beauty because you don’t understand game of chess itself.

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The Art of Bad Reviews - Judging Persuasion and Credibility

2011-01-28T19:23:00.001+11:00

I was shopping on Amazon.com for books earlier and coincidentally came across 'The 4 Hour Work Week' by Mr. Tim Ferris which was a best seller on the New York Times' List. I actually own the book myself and was quite convinced and baffled by some of the author's ideas and his story. The book was a one of a kind, introducing some brilliant yet controversial ideas. Naturally, I was curious to the other side of the coin and proceeded to click on the '1 star reviews' by various customers who concluded after reading (often some!) of the book that it was complete garbage and a useless waste of ink

Naturally, the reviews varied in tone, length and complexity.

Some were just simply a sentence of disapproval, signed off with 'don't get the book, it's a waste of money' at the end of it. Others gave a quick story of how they came to hate this book. But some, actually attempted to give an argument and state the various flaws in Mr. Ferris' book.

There was even one review purposefully '1 starred' to support Mr. Ferris (His real rating is 5 stars) by giving the book haters a chance to read a good review.

Some of the persuasive techniques used almost made me reconsider the quality of Mr. Ferris' first gem! Those that wrote just one sentence rants (that's not even a review in my opinion) were quickly ignored as they placed no value whatsoever in enhancing my understanding of the other side. However, once I quickly read through all the reviews, I began looking in depth at those who actually spent time trying to construct an argument against the book.

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The Other Alternative: Why School Only Works for Some (Part 1)

2011-01-19T18:01:00.004+11:00

Every year, thousands of students graduate from High School and proceed in to University to study their chosen degree. At the same time, a minority of students have dropped out, and some even 2 years earlier before School Certificate,

Are they destined to fail life?

If you're not good at Maths and Science, are you screwed?

Of course not! Relax :)

The school education system currently only caters for about 20% of the children who can endure the repetitive notion of rocking up to class, listening to a teacher, writing notes down and then attempting to rote learn the material at home only to come back for more the next day! Some like this method of learning. Some don't.

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Marcel Proust's Questionnaire

2011-01-15T17:07:00.002+11:00

Quite a nice set of questions used to enlighten oneself. One can answer these slowly and with honesty as an attempt to improve on oneself.

What is your greatest fear?
What is current state of mind?
What is your favourite occupation?
What historical figure do you most identify with?
What living person do you most admire?

Who is your favourite fictional hero?
What is your most treasured possession?
When and where were you happiest?
What is your most obvious characteristic?
What is the trait you most deplore in yourself?
What is the trait you most deplore in others?
What is your greatest extravagance?
What is your favourite journey?
What do you most dislike about your appearance?
On what occasion do you lie?
Which words or phrases do you most over-use?
If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
What do you consider to be your greatest acheivement
Where would you like to live?
What is the quality you most admire in a man?
What is the quality you most admire in a woman?
What is it you most dislike?
What do you value most in your friend

Modern Warfare: The Human Desire to Win (Part 1)

2011-01-12T21:17:00.004+11:00

I calmly strodded into the tournament hall at around 12:30, which was still half an hour before the crucial round starts (for me anyway). Amongst my weapons lay the preparation I did yesterday with my coach, albeit how brief and undetailed they were. Set to play top seed today, which was really a test of whether I could keep my nerves and whether I had really gotten back into form.

Clearly I hadn't. I lost. And I wasn't very happy. I was more unhappy when my opponent claimed that I had a better position throughout the whole game (I had actually thought exactly the opposite!)! So there you go. A summary of a chess abilities.

Naturally being disappointed with losses and elated with wins comes naturally with any humans. After all, who wants to be proven that they are worse than their opponent? Surely we have various degrees of pride and confidence, but let's face it, nobody likes to lose.

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Passion - Lifelong and Temporary Part 1

2010-12-31T23:56:00.003+11:00

New Year's Eve.

No matter who you are most likely camping in a folder or on your work/study desk lies a sheet titled somewhat similar to "New Year Resolutions" or rather, goals for the next year.

Likewise, there are 50% who think of it in their head, another 40% or so that don't think, another 9.99% that write it down, and the final remainder who actually get the engine fired and begin to start mowning the lawn. Why?

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Subject selection analysis

2010-12-29T20:21:00.004+11:00

Holidays... not the best time you want to have slow and unstable internet.... I've ruined conversations, destroyed friendships (because they thought I had blocked them), missed out on free money, all because my internet takes a 5 second nap once too often.

Ok I was joking!....

But the truth in it is quite annoying.... and after spending half a day working on my chess I expect some empathy from my internet when I want to reel on chess.com.......... but it stops every 3 minutes (mind you it only takes 10 minutes for a game) so I decided to flag the blitz altogether and just go read a book. I don't just read any old book, and I know Mr. Ferris recommends in 'The 4 Hour Work Week' that overloading yourself with irrevelant information is... obviously unnecessary, I still take interest and just read books about life, relationships, communication and the list goes on.

Perhaps even making an refinement... read the necessary, the hobbies and scrap the rest. Agreed.

Now to put in a school context.

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Australian Schools Teams Championships --> Day 2

2010-12-28T17:37:00.001+11:00

The final day, the day of truth dawns as we quickly wake up and get ourselves prepared for the second day.....

in the lead by one and a half points.... we needed a 6/8 to win on tiebreak against Bawlyn High (Vic). But we had to still take all our games seriously.... like American GM Ben Finegold says...

"Each game is of equal value... take all games equally."

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Australia Schools Teams Championships Arrival + Day 1

2010-12-06T22:22:00.001+11:00

Before we start.... somebody PLEASE remind me to try Green Apple Green Tea with Green Apple Jelly at EasyWay

Arrival:

At last the North Sydney Boys High Chess team's potential to shine has arrived! With Bawlyn High's World U12 Champion (Australian Junior Champion etc.) FM Bobby Cheng not participating, we had good chances to win the title this year and reclaim the trophy for NSW for the first time in 6 years!

So.... 6 (including our teacher) headed off to Sydney Airport to catch the 3:20pm plane all the way to Perth, but since there was a 3 hour time difference between the two cities, we will arrive at around 5:30pm Perht time..... a 5 hour plane flight here we go!

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Junior School Chess Days Tribute

2010-11-06T17:04:00.002+11:00

Dear Readers,

Yesterday marked the end of my school chess seaon (albeit there is still Nationals) of my former junior days. Unfortunately we abdicated the trphy we had kept for 2 years to Sydney Boys, losing 3-1. But luckily I managed to create a nice win after a zugzwang sequence to save my team from an embarrassing 4-0 loss.

Now as the Metropolitan chess seaon ends and my seniors Kevin and Peter graduate, I am now assuming the position of NSB chess captain from 2011 onwards, with the responsibility leading young stars Oscar and Jack as well as the eager year 7s just beginning their flight to their own chess adventure and success. Not only that, next year I'll be a senior high school student, and thats just not fun... :(

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"Scarred Hand,Tainted Soul" (Poem for the one and only)

2010-10-30T23:27:00.000+11:00

One day I lazily sauntered through the red sunset gazing upon us,

Inconspicuously passing the colony dazing in the open fields,

I noticed only a unique rose, its character chained right around my heart,

Shone by the attractive, pink petals fluttering by its side,

Strengthened by the black thorns armed all around,

Intrigued, the perfect pattern tessellation of petals and thorns,

I knelt down; she patently swayed side to side,

The minute, gentle movements lured my hand closer,

The petal I touched, retracted my hand abruptly – I was pricked.

Day after day I trek back towards the same spot,

I mind not the thorns, for they complement the petals,

Nor the bleeding hand I care, her beauty surpasses that,

To me her heart was the indescribable gem that I longed for,

My hands and affection were answered the same way,

Nevertheless touching both petal and thorn, pricked,

I felt the heart-breaking warmth of rejection,

The gentle touch of the petal, the complementing rough thorns

The ominous, blackened sky slowly dawdles over,

The gushing of the rain, ruthlessly pounding its victims below

Umbrella in hand, I run with all my might,

The stem flaccid, petals frowning, from edges those tears shed,

I knelt down, her depressed expression, spread out the umbrella,

Her pain reflected into me, she gazed up, the rain no longer straining her,

Her entity occupied my soaked eyes, I reached out once more,

Her beauty dazzling through the shimmering rainbow beam

Petal or thorn matter not, for I love them both.

Xu, Jerry

NSB vs. Ruse Intermediate Division Semi-Final Showdown :D

2010-10-30T09:22:00.005+11:00

The long awaited showdown has arrived, having been cancelled on the 2nd last week of term 3, and again on week 1 and 2 because of IPT HSC and Ruse yearly exams, the match has been set back to Week 3.

This is COS Junior Lightning Champion 09 (+10 because there was no U18 COS lightning this year) reporting in.

I'm sorry.....

WE WON!!! That's RIGHT! :D:D:D Upset on 3 boards :D (including a draw) in the rematch :D:D

Ok, on with the formalities.

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AFTRS Day 5 --> Goodbyes, premiering (sp) and editing

2010-07-09T21:00:00.003+10:00

Dear Readers,

Today we were doing our final editting and was prepared to screen our videos at 3p.m!! It ended up starting at 3:20pm and every video the maker/s had to get up and sort of do an introduction speech, it was pretty interesting :P Seeing my trailer up on a BIG BIG Screen!! (hopefully almost the size of a proper cinema screen) :D

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AFTRS Day 3 & 4 --> Shooting and Editting

2010-07-08T21:04:00.003+10:00

Dear Readers,

I was soooo exhausted from directing yesterday that I simply could not bring enough focus into my burdened head to blog yesterday. So today I've decided to do a double coverage of the past 2 days.... with photoes!! Yay!

~~ The Entertainment Quarter ~~

~~ Not quite visible, but the name of the game ~~

AFTRS Day 2

2010-07-06T21:39:00.001+10:00

Dear Readers,

Aha! The day begins with me purchasing a prepaid bus ticket so I can actually catch a bus to where I want to go..... wth? I had to get off infront of Syd Boys, but luckily the bus didn't detour too much :D

I had my camera with me, and knowing me :P I had 10 photoes before I reached AFTRS :D I won't upload them today, because it'll take a long time but on Friday I will upload the video, the photoes, everything! :D

Today we began with a camera workshop, we got to fiddle around with $12000 (not 1200) cameras! WOW! Imagine what would happen should someone break it! Luckily no one did :D

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AFTRS Day 1

2010-07-05T20:55:00.001+10:00

Dear Readers,

OMG AFTRS is sooooo AWESOME!! Wow! Hehe..... First thing's first, on the train to the city from Stratty and then at the bus stop I was like....

~~ Hang on! It's ALL prepaid! Crap! ~~

Sigh..... I was like.... whatever, I can't be bothered going to get a ticket at 7/11, so I decided to walk..... and was like 20 minutes late :P Great prediction too.

We (I, I should say) and had a look at the different types of film, how to draw of stimulation from the theme of the film, and also the first movie ever!

~~ A forty second clip of people disembarking from the train ~~

~~ Which literally had people fainting and screaming. running out of the room etc. ~~

We then had a look at the themes in terms of mise en scene, lightning, composition, styles of delivery (exaggerated, realistic) and the typical themes including motherhood (OMG Alien was the example), family (ratatouille (can't spell) and finding nemo) and lonliness (star wars??)

after a 75 minute lunch break!! (wow almost twice as long :D as my normal school lunch)

And then we went to have a look at the sets:

Drama Camp --> Day 3

2010-05-22T23:40:00.002+10:00

Evening Readers,

I know it's almost been a month since drama camp, but I havent' fogotten about it! It was a very memorable camp for me and thus now I am sparing time (right before a maths test too!) to write the final day. The morning we woke up... I was conscious of the fact that we had to say our goodbyes today with everyone :(
So disappointing, now to get over it :P

Alright so the idea was rehearsals, followed by pre performance to everyone to get an idea of where we're all up to... and then we have a performance practise run and then we perform and then we cry as we leave :P

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Drama Camp --> Day 2

2010-05-09T22:51:00.002+10:00

Morning Readers,

Now I am sitting up on Sunday morning after studying 60 memorable games and trying to recall as much detail as I can on the second day of camp. Which of course was still awesome. It seems we have a group photo now :D Yay! Now First things first we've got breakfast which was bacon and eggs with toast :) (I got two eggs) Yummy! It was so cold in the morning but Michael was still wearing shorts! (What a hiker!) And we discovered the heater hiding in the corner :D And the Can-Of-War continues :P I think

Playbuilding --> Transposing:

I remember we did a lot of exercises that involved our faces. Relieving the jaw, laughing, err.... massaging jaw muscles and overall lowering the level of intensity in our faces. :) Apparently frowning involves the movement of many more muscles than smiling... anyway...

Drama Camp --> Day 1 :P

2010-04-30T22:48:00.184+10:00

Evening Readers,

I am now back from drama camp, and through the weekend I will actually type up on what was going on in the past couple of days, as I ventured into Naamaroo Conference Centre for the 2010 Northern Region Drama Camp.

Arrival Night:

So as the night dawns I arrive at the centre, register my arrival with Phillip, Susan and Cameron. As I set to drop my luggage on a corner of the room, I swung my head in the general direction and ....

~~ Oh God... I saw like 2 boy heads and 30 girl heads~~

I was like... right.... and Susan comes up...

'You might have to sit in the midst of girls'

Well very soon, Dylan and Jeremy showed up :P And the fun began ever since. I remember cabin rooms were consecutive numbers and thus Jeremy and Dylan swapped seats. :P It was pretty cool when Jeremy turned up. Dylan had an awesome name tag with the treble clef as the 'd' and a keytar as well as bass guitar strings on the top left hand corner of the name tag. :P

Mine was just plain boring, wrote Ryan Kostiavsky in different colours :P

'Woah!' Nah I threw the bigger one back into the sea.

2010-04-24T17:24:00.009+10:00

Evening Readers,

Before I begin... :D

~~ 'This wasn't the biggest we caught today' ~~

Ya ya big fish... Lol My dad went fishing today.... ^_^' and there are like a couple of more ones like this he caught.. in the bag :) Now my parents are trying to bring friends over... as well as woks from their houses... cos the entire fish doesnt fit in one wok :( (or is it cos the wok isn't big enough?)

Lol Anyway.... xD Long holiday again! :D And Drama Camp... gotta pack :)

And I tried to compare this fish to my finger span xD

............ Sigh... I'm so small :(

Signing Off,

Jerry

Sydney International Open (SIO) Visit

2010-04-10T21:21:00.006+10:00

Evening Readers,

I just got back from the visit to SIO (Sydney's biggest chess tournament) and since I wasn't playing this year, I thought it wasn't a bad idea to visit. Last year there was a giant chess and a tables set up in a square shape to allow simultaneous exhibitions, and this year was of course no exception:

~~ Front of the Entrance to Parramatta Townhall ~~

~~ FM Vladimir Smirnov at work --> Giving a simul ~~

Haha yes I had read on chesschat the other day he scored 19.5/20 and at the end of the day 48.5/50 xD wow.... in one of the day's simuls and I thought maybe I should give it a shot..... after taking a look inside the venue and seeing what everyone was up to :P

since everyone had already started playing ;)

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Doeberl Cup --> Day 3 & 4

2010-04-05T21:14:00.011+10:00

Evening Readers,

Currently sitting at home infront of my computer, I have finished playing at Doeberl Cup and I must say, the last round was a complete disaster but I managed with 4/7 anyway, which was one point more than my previous year's score. So an improvement... Congratulations to winner Samuel Dalton from Vic :P First of all:

Day 3:

So today I was paired with Victorian Junior Thomas Feng and I had already figured out he would play the French.... but I barely prepared as I was really tired last night and just decided I would play the Tarrasch and that would be it.

In other words after 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nd2 my preparation ends XD

However, after some slight inaccuracies and overlooking tactics, I managed to get into a worse position, but once again (I should stop this) I swindled my opponent and won the game eventually, after he blundered into mate in 3 ending all resistance. Ron had finished pretty quickly as well, after beating IM Stefan Macak (2450+!!) in a Philidors. That was pretty impressive. So I decided to go have lunch with Ron today, and went for the mild vindaloo beef and garlic chicken I think, a good contrast from the portuguese chicken kebab I had yesterday lunch. Yummy!

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Doeberl Cup --> Day 1 & 2

2010-04-04T00:06:00.005+11:00

Evening Readers,

First thing's first...... I'm going to play Doeberl because I need a break from school and doing work for once in my life... but in all honesty... there is no prep done, no training done...no nothing. And I don't usually feel motivated unless I've felt like I'm fully prepared, and I am NOT prepared.... just brewing whatever I can :) Just like BonScott (lol maybe slightly different) XD

Day 1:

I was up 20 minutes late... but managed to arrive to the airport on time and safely land in Canberra at like 9:30am in the morning.... so like 4 hours before round 1 starts. Plenty of time, until we start to screw around with the laptops XD Funny because once we got to our hotel via a cab.... we learned from Encel and Dawen that starting the second round of the day at 7:30pm was not good... because when you finish.... usually at 11:30.... there are no shops open for food.... so they had to starve for the night :( How unlucky... all well. So after doing minimal prep for the Nge2 line (which I was losing after 10 moves anyway against my opponent) we headed off to the venue.... whilst looking for lunch (Encel and Dawen's thursday dinner LOL). Since it was Good Friday.... all shops around the street were closed, and the shopping centre near Hellenic Club (the venue) was also closed. We're doomed, says the group. I say:

Ok.... so remembering from last year there was Maccers near the closed Plaza! (omg Good Friday clearly wasn't going so well for us)

With that memory we actually managed to get some food.

After finishing our food we walked to the Hellenic Club:

~~ Tan infront of the Entrance to the Hellenic Club~~

So round 1 begins....

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Last minute problem solving --> Going to Doeberl! Yay! :D

2010-04-01T21:44:00.001+11:00

Evening Readers,

Lol I must admit that chess players seem to be very patient... and I got my accomodation at the last minute. My schoolmate decided to enter... and since he and I didnt have accomodation... the simple result

Tan the Bordeaux Man + Me = Accomodation Sorted :D

So yea... I am going to Canberra for 4 days 3 nights to compete in Doeberl Major :D Lots of fun.... yea catching a plane there! Yay!

Lots of things happened at school today... science and then VA I had to sketch up the grid... which I did! Finished on time.. so happy. Lol in english we had a shakespeare quiz... which was really random... and since me and Tong weren't fast enough we failed to claim first place.... congratulations to Turbofish amongst others who did. XD Oh in PE we just played basketball.... holy crap in the second round of horses I was playing like a god.... (even though I never play basketball) I was like getting everything in... and shooting in 3 points like 1/3 of the time... thats just scary... xD anyway...

But the period of the day goes to Maths. As we all know (or you're about to find out) Jason Lay-K's (layk for short) love for maths has been evident again and again in his test results and when he was finishing his maths homework under the desk during a practical emergency drill. Like seriously... dedication to the max :D I wish I had that kind of dedication to chess and other things.. :P Anyway.... today however... get this:

~~ Layk's Unforgivable Crime ~~

Layk today has committed the offence of playing a video game today during the lesson of maths. As clearly evident his love for maths is beyond help, it is unclear why he has undertaken such a relaxing activity inplacement of his usual fast-moving arm and wrist as he neatly defines his answer on his maths workbook.

My maths teacher:

" We should write this somewhere and say "Jason Lay-Kennedy playing games during maths on the 1st of April (this is not a joke)."" Haha

My friend on the other side of Layk:"

"He's on steriods." -nods head vigorously-

A crime or way of relaxation? You be the judge. :D

Anyway so that was the awesome event of the day hehe so I got home... told my parents I was going to Canberra... and they're like... ok you book the ticket and pack your stuff.. so I got to work... now I'm done.. just relaxing hehe ^_^ Btw if i don't get internet access... I won't be able to blog... so Maybe you'll see me again on 5th of April... of not... 6th :P hehe ^_^ For now... students and adults alike... enjoy your rest time! I hope you have a great holiday... see you guys and girls soon :P

Weather Forecast

--> Canberra by plane! ~~ Cold weather
--> Early get-up... sigh ^_^
--> Holidays! Have fun!

Signing Off,

Jerry Xu

We won Crawford Shield... TWICE in a row!! :)

2010-03-23T19:57:00.005+11:00

Evening readers,

On the 23rd of March, 2:32pm Tuesday, 2010, the entire community of North Sydney Boys celebrates their victory against Melbourne high on the 51st anniversary of the Crawford Shield.... this makes our 9th win I think? Don't despair Melbourne... we need like 30 something more wins to catch up :(

You'll like this photo before we continue! :D

~~ Me and Tan with Melbourne Mascot Duke the Unicorn~~

Back to the story:

Unlike last year, it wasn't decided by fencing with points of 45-44 in our favour, but rather on a tiebreak match in basketball... after we lost the 2nd game narrowly by 2 points.

For those interested in pure results:

We won:

1. Basketball
2. Chess
3. Cricket
4. Debating
5. Fencing
6. Futsal
7. Lawn Bowls

We lost:

1. Athletics
2. Music
3. Table Tennis
4. Tennis
5. WaterPolo

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Crawford Shield --> Day 1

2010-03-22T21:12:00.004+11:00

Evening Readers,

First of all after roll call we attended the Crawford Shield assembly and it was rather exciting as always, anticipating what kind of speeches each respective captains would give. The one that got my attention the most... because it was rather funny... :D

MBHS Captain: "2 years ago your captain even described our unicorn as a symbol girly mythical, non existent beast..."
NSB: "It is."

Unfortunately the showers of applause and cheers put the captain's speech to a halt for a couple of minutes. When the assembly was over the games had officially begun! :D :D We want a back-to-back win! Stay tuned for day 2 results as I put day 1 results up:

From what I know:

Debating --> We won the first debate
Music --> We LOST?? By 1 point too... according to Gelda it was 199-198...
Chess --> 6.5-1.5 points in NSB's favour with 4-0 win in the first round XD
Basketball --> Wins! Trist scores 42 points apparently with 90-74 I think
Tennis --> We lost... according to another person.

Not sure about the other sports. :D I most likely will have full results tomorrow... remember.... Sydney > Melbourne XD

~~ Only Class of the Day ~~

The only class I attended today was jap... cos I needed to do a test. Basically during period 5 the rest of the class went to watch basketball and I was a loner in C15... doing my test. Test your thinking (answer at the end of the post) oh and some tips :)

--> It was a writing test
--> No teacher was supervising - oh dear!
--> I had chocolate milk beside me - yummy

Signing Off,

Jerry

p.s. Aww when my hamstring gets back into where it should be... I gotta make up the kicks I lost during the last couple of weeks :( Dx

What happened:

I was writing Japanese characters... my preprepared letter was 550+ characters...
No I did NOT cheat thank you very much! Basically it was: one sentence, one sip of milk, one sentence, one sip of chocolate milk :D until I ran out of chocolate milk... omg...haha yummy... and it was totally silent as well... but I saw Mr Sheehan walk pass... that was a bit random :P

The Drama Excursion

2010-03-19T21:40:00.007+11:00

Evening readers,

One day after

1. Maths test (Defeated by ambiguous case... and possibly more)
2. English In-Class Essay

Our drama teacher, being the fortune teller, has planned today to be an excursion! Yay!

The first time we were going to see verbatim theatre (for those who don't know --> Theatre based on a true story, often with the crew interviewing the people related to the true story). The plot (if there actually is one) runs something like

21 year old Matthew Shepard (who is gay) on the 7th of October 1998, was tied to a fence, brutally beaten up, and left to die, in a remote area near Laramie, Wyoming. This event shocked the whole world and within hours crews of journalists and media flocked to the town. The play focuses on the response of the people of Wyoming.

Now, the production crew has gone to the town 6 times (according to the play) and interviewed 200+ people produced a play based on it and sometimes using direct quotes.

It is vastly different to normal theatre with little or no action, but rather we see the actors slipping on different characters that voice their opinion on this matter, both before, while (during the period when Matthew was in hospital) and after the event.

Mostly people were in different positions, levels and voices just talking. I noticed a lot of techniques being used such as

--> The Double Blind Conversation (what I call it anyway) which is basically one character says a line about another, and the other talks about the former (they are not talking to each other)
--> Footage of close ups of characters talking
--> The use of voice without the audience actually seeing the actor
--> Perfectly choreographed lighting and much more! :)

Ha.... we did a workshop afterwards and basically had another true life event where in groups of three we had to recreate seperate scenes for the event.... it was actually fun. The event was about teenage driving --> danger --> crashed and the government is considering raising the legal age of driving to 21....

Quote of the Day:

"They should be tied to a chair -pause- and beaten" - KB as an old man

Of course KB was referring to the teenagers... D:

My group recreated the response to the event (the others were the protest and response to the new legislation)

That ends the excursion....

since I've already finished my 250 word creative writing.... I just ended up studing Alekhine for another 3 hours... :P

--> Trying to get my assistant manager position back.

Which leads me to ----------------------->

CRAWFORD SHIELD!!

Say yes to the falcon,
no to the Unicorn....
because on Monday is the prestigous 51st Crawford Shield annual exchange, with NSB defending their title for only the 8th time in the history of the event against MBHS from Melbourne.

I wish the falcons luck! and especially the 10 years repping us :)

Signing off,

Jerry

p.s. For all the chessises I will post a blitz game I played yesterday up... once I figure out how. :)