4 Tips for Iron-Hard Relentlessness
So um, let’s call this little hiatus of posting an Olympic break, shall we? 
Talking about Olympics, it was a pretty amazing event. Even more so, I think, from a Canadian perspective! (Yea I’m biased, so what?) – 14 Gold Medals, are you kidding me?! And 26 medals total! Congratulations to ALL the canadian Olympic athletes.
One special mention, of course, to Joannie Rochette and her hard-earned Bronze Medal in Figure Skating. In case you’ve been living under a rock or gone at a trip to Mars, you probably heard about her tragic loss and how she overcame it, STILL going out there and giving her best. TWICE.
She was an inspiration to all of us, and a brilliant example of relentlessness. (I like that word, “relentlessness”. Sounds smart, doesn’t it?)
So, how can we use this inspiration and become just as relentless? Here are a few tips:
Of Strikes and Belts
– Note: This clever title pattern is directly copied from the classic “Of Mice and Men”, for absolutely no reason –
Last week, I passed a belt test to get my brand new green sash in Fang Shen Do Kung-Fu. I am proud to say that it went very well and I can see the progress I made from the last time.
Progress is an amazing feeling, and testing your abilities and skills is one of the best ways I know of to measure personal progress. In this regard, Martial Arts have been of tremendous help and have ever been my guide.
Challenges: Update
Hi guys,
I haven’t checked in for a while and I missed it. I’ve worked hard lately to find ways to make more time for this blog and project and I think I got a couple of things back on track.
- This dude rocks.
I’m working regularly on juggling, too, and my personal record is now 47 throws! Still no video, but that’ll also soon be covered again as I’ve found a way better software to work on that.
I’m still aiming for those 30 seconds (which I estimate to be about 55-60 throws), and I’m getting closer. Right now I can do 20-30 throws pretty regularly, so it’s only a matter of repeated practice. I want to get the first challenge down SOON so I’m going to make it happen. And capture it on video for your enjoyment.
Also, I have to prepare for the challenge #7 (a.k.a. Valentine’s Day Challenge!) in only ONE WEEK already! Gosh, time flies by so fast. I’ve repeated the translations a couple of times, and I’ll put a focus on it this week to be ready for V-Day.
One thing though, is I’m still not sure how the heck am I going to just happen to cross paths with a randomly-selected beautiful woman whom is also single. Maybe I’ll just go to the shopping mall and ask around or something. Lonely girls OUGHT to get on a shopping spree to drown their tears or something. I don’t know, I’m not a girl.
Got any ideas? Please help me and post a comment 
Meanwhile, I’ll also be posting something soon regarding my Green Sash (belt) test I passed last wednesday, and my martial arts progress in general. Stay tuned!
Mat
The subtle art of tongues
Source: kidscientist.com
As the latest challenge posted to me applies to a special timeframe (Valentine’s Day) and given that I decided to accept it even if it therefore sets a time limit, I figured I should get started as soon as possible on getting these 14 translations.
Without further ado, here’s the list!
French: “Tu es belle”Polish: “jesteś bardzo ładny”; phon.: “yestesh bardzo whad-na”Mandarin: 您很漂亮 ; pinyin: “nín hěn piào liang”Japanese: “anata wa utsukushii desu”Spanish: “Eres Hermosa”Maori (New Zealand): “koe ātaahua”Innu-aimun (Inuit): “minushkueu”Russian: “Ты такая красивая”; phon.: “Ti krasIvaya”Swedish: “Du är vacker”; phon.: “Dew air vuh-kerr”Portuguese: “Você é linda.”Swahili: “U ni mrembo”Arabic: أنت جميلة ; phon.: “anti jamila”Italian: “Sei bellisima”English: “You’re beautiful”Note: There is no official country in Antarctica, and thus no official language. I’ve read about some old language called “bus”, but couldn’t find any reference to it whatsoever.
I will need to practice pronunciation, some of them being tricky.
This brings me to the topic I’d like to touch today: tongues!… err, languages, yes.
NEW CHALLENGE: "You're beautiful"
Source: icanhascheezburger.com
Aaaand a new challenge came in! A very original one at that, from Peggy. It’s on the challenges page.
So basically, I have to learn 14 ways to say “You’re beautiful” to a lady. And then tell her. On Valentine’s Day. Yes, the one coming.
People reading this blog are unmistakably cool (yes, that’s you), therefore 2 of them already gave me heads up on the translations I need to look up! John Romaniello (a fitness trainer I follow and respect a lot) gave me the Polish translation via Twitter. Then my good friend Olivier provided me with the Mandarin Chinese version as a comment on this site.
That makes 4 already! Only 10 to go (and Spanish shouldn’t be too hard )
I will post all of the translations when I’m done finding them. And I shall, of course, get footage of the event.
Hmm.. that includes the hand-slap from the girl if that gets to happen. I will need to find a strategy to secure the camera.
Thanks Peggy! And thanks to you all for following.
Writing Jam #1: The Dance, The Circuit, The Irony of It All
It proudly glowed against the dark. Orange in hue, paler arms caressed it, following its movements in a sensual, almost dirty dance. The hair at its head was flicking and spiking. At the core, a deceptively cooler blue hue burned hot. A violent, do-not-put-skin-here kind of hot.
The skin melted faster than ice on lava. Its vegetal and chemical organs inside churned hurriedly. It let out a faint, crispy sound. Smoke raised in protest, quickly sucked through a narrow, deep tunnel-like tube filled with cells, and moist.
Down it went, finding a complex network of smaller tubes and chambers. A prickly molecule detached and found its way through to an alveolus, already full of a mixed population of other molecules. One dark-colored neighbor went and stuck to the unnaturally-blackened walls, rendering them even darker. The prickly one got fetched by some round-shaped apparatus and transported through another tube, filled with a stream of similar devices.
Tar comfortably stayed its butt in the lung while its friends coursed through the rest of the body. As the blood pumped through the brain, Nicotine went all giddy and started playing with the grey matter.
Formaldehyde spread its embalming magic through each and every organ it crossed, while Acetone and its accomplice Benzene played “Who can melt the most stuff up”. Cells proved an efficient target.
The heart pumped in a slower, sloppier pace.
The smoke reversed its way back out in all its Carbon Monoxide glory. It formed a ring shape.
The human smiled at his temporary creation. He pulled a couple of other puffs, putting his pack back in his white vest.
“Well, I got a lung cancer surgery to get done. See you at lunch.”
The Juggling Challenge: Finally!
I did it! Yay!
After 3 tries with 3 different songs, YouTube accepted my audio. Shut up YouTube, I give credits at the end, dammit!
Anyway, let’s stop the ranting… Enjoy the vid!
Thanks
Mat