Fat rant on fat

Dear Emma,

Yes dear, my tummy has reached the 32 inches threshold... And no dear, I'm not fat, it's just my abs workout finally bore fruit...

Who am I kidding... Ever since hanging up my running shoes, it seems someone that lift weights regularly like me is not spared from the beer belly problem. I'm not really sure if it fat or muscle but it seems I no longer need a belt for me to wear old office pants. The stats seems to be pointing to muscle since when I last scaled the fat % machine, my fat was 17% while indicate a slight ~0.5% increase but considering my weight that arose from 65kg to 67kg, a simple math calculation yields:

Weight increase = 67kg - 65kg = 2kg
Fat at start  = 65 x 16.5 / 100 = 10.725kg
Fat at current  = 67 x 17 / 100 = 11.39kg
Fat increase = 11.39kg - 10.725kg = 0.665kg
Estimate Muscle gain = 2kg - 0.665kg = 1.335kg

So I gained an estimated 1.3kg of muscle vs 0.7kg of fat. So logic dictates more muscle go into my belly than fat noes?

Personally I feel a bit sluggish compared to my past self when I actively run. Understandable since I neglected the cardio component of my workout for the past 2 years. To counter measure my "fattening" of my belly, I decided to try to reduce my fat to the recommended 15% mark. So some maths...

15% fat is...
 15kg fat for 100kg fat ass
7.5kg fat for 50kg skinny ass
1.5kg for 10kg ??? ass

To calculate my current weight if I have 15% fat, assuming I maintain my muscle mass

Non fat weight = 67kg -  11.39kg = 55.61kg
55.61kg / New body weight = 100% - 15% = 85%
New body weight = 55.61kg x 100 / 85 = 65.42kg
Fat at new weight = 65 x 15 / 100= 9.75kg
Total fat to lose = 11.39kg - 9.75kg = 1.64kg

My goal is to lose my weight to 65kg, losing of 1.64kg of fat at the price of 0.5kg of muscle.

1kg fat = 3500 calories
1.65kg fat = 5600 calories

I'm planning to achieve this when I start work in March, hence I got a nice month to achieve this.

5600 calories / 4 = 1400 calories deficit per week
1400 calories / 7 = 200 calories deficit  per day average

Now that I done the complete math on it, time to totally chuck it aside and ignore it... In this fitness game, I'm a believer (No Emma, not bieliever) of sweat and stomach. Sweat means workout while stomach means diet.

I will be gradually add back the cardio component into my workout regime. For starters 2 cardio session, a 5K run and a 20 minutes tempo run is what I have in mind. I want to try to limit my cardio work to around 30 minutes max if possible as I fear aggravating of my old injury. I will most likely need to reduce my strength training to facilitate the cardio components, hence I will lower the strength sessions to only 2 per week.

As for diet, I'm think I will start by cleaning up my breakfast and lunch:

2 x Egg breakfast per week
2 x Oatmeal + Protein doping breakfast per week
2 x Pasta lunch per week
2 x Meat lunch per week

Rather than have a radical change to my current eating habits, I think a gradual and flexible "To eat in a week" style diet has better chance to being implemented. By having technically 4 days to fixed breakfast and lunch, I still have a good 3 days and my dinner to look forward for to satisfy my taste bud. Personally I think egg for breakfast and meat for lunch would help me lose more weight but after my previous 2 weeks eat fish for lunch stint, I don't think a diet that simply focus on one food is feasible to implement despite the results.

Possible problems? Oatmeal without the doubt will be my major concern cause:

1. I dun like eating oatmeal
2. Oatmeal never satisfy my hunger
3. I dun like eating oatmeal
4. I dun like eating oatmeal

I'll have a 2 weeks trial on this menu before making making adjustments to it.

老男孩

Dear Emma,

Heard tis masterpiece in youtube...

From the movie "Old Boys" by Chopstick brothers. This Chinese indie movie raised a lot of eyebrows in China's Youku (China version of Youtube) and was even named best internet movie in Youku in 2010. What do I think? I'm not a Chinese movie buff so I don't really have other movies to compared it against, but personally I'm touched by this movie. I suspect it because the theme of the movie is something I can easily relate to.

The movie starts kicks of with 2 middle age man standing in the stage of a American China Idol contest being chastised by the judges for joining a contest which typically is joined by the younger generation. The clock of time is turned back a generation, to the time when these 2 middle age men, Dabao and Xiaoshuai were in high school. Hence begins the tale of 2 young boys in the 90s which started of as rivals (chasing same gal in school) to best of friend forming a common bond in their idolization of the king of pop, Michael Jackson. As the clock of time is restored and we see these 2 young boys as grown mans, Dabao working as a old couple wedding singer while Xiaoshuai now married and working as a barber. Both are living a normal life but upon the announcement of the death of their idol Michael Jackson, they decided to join the talent contest to pay tribute to their idol. We are then shown some glimpses of the things that lead them to where they are now in life and how they came to accept these things and move forward during this contest.

I loved and think everyone from generation X and Y will love and be able to relate to the concept of "Passing of Youth" in this movie. Bits of pieces of my youthful days are shatter across this movie, such as Aaron Kwok infamous "Tiu Dui Ni Ai Bu Wan", Tetris handheld game, Michael Jackson classic dancing, etc. The chaotic scene in high school portrayed in the movie really bring backs memories of my own high school days. From kau lui, porn, stupid pranks, samseng... The climax of the whole movie is perhaps the performance of Dabao and Xiaoshuai at the contest where they performed a VERY heart felt "Old Boys" song accompanied by a combination of Michael Jackson dancing and traditional Chinese fan dance. I felt the sensation of passing of time itself through the performance, the joys and sorrows of growing up... My major complain is the movie is too short! Clocking only a short 42 minutes, I wished they could have fleshed out more of their school days, their other classmates and their passage through adulthood... Without spoiling the movie, I kinda of dig the ending, where it ends in a bittersweet note, realistic yet gives acceptance and courage to move forward in life....

Would I recommend this movie... For those above age of 24+ will most likely be able to connect with this movie. It gives us a glimpse of ourself during our high school days, how youthful and blissful we used to be but somehow was swept away and forgotten through the passage of time. It's available in Youku and I saw one in Youtube as well.

So Emma, to end this blog entry I quote a phrase from the ending of the movie that best summed it up as well...

Dreams are like classics, never fading but growing more precious with the passing of time.

Her

Dear bloggie,

In tribute to "Her" movie, I decided I been disrespectful to u for the last 9+ years since u were 1st created. I'm sori... I didn't knew all things had a soul... So I decided to call u by a more humane name "Emma Watson"... So let's restart again...

Dear Emma,

Hiya, nice to finally introduce myself to u after 9+ years of b*tchin on u. Ello? Emma u there? Wink once for yes, twice for no. Ello? Ello? Ground control to Major Tom... Hmmm... So ur one of those quiet shy type blog eh? Never mind...

Anyway, watched "Her" with MFR yesterday's of yesterday. U should have been there to date me to watch it together babe... Phenomenal movie, best movie and onli movie I seen in 2014 so far... I'm funny? LOL, yea I guess I'm pretty good funny since I excel at spewing lame toilet jokes. Tell u something else, I can be pretty "funny" in bed as well, if u know what I mean...

"Her" is a story about a man, Theodore (played by Joaquin Phoenix) whom seems to be in a social withdrawal since breaking up with his wife, he knew and loved more than half of his lifespan. The plots shoves the new AI OS down his ass, and wala... the main premise of this movie. The relationship between Theodore and this AI OS that claims HER (which is why the title of this movie is "Her") name is "Samantha". Samantha happens to have the voiced of sexy Black Widow aka Scarlet Johnson (Btw, ur voice is supposed to be like the sexy Emma Watson in my mind). The balance of humor and drama was nice, the acting great and script was awesome... As many other critics have said in their review of this movie, the technology showcased in this movie is VERY believable. It definitely achievable maybe in the next 5-10 years, well maybe longer for the AI OS, but things like Theodore smartphone, the motion sensor game in the movie, voiced control smartphone, these things are already in exist in our current timeline though still in their infant stage.

I really like some of the themes this movie explore such as what is a relationship? can machine fall in love? can we love something outside our species? Is relationship bound to something physical only? Is love a mutually exclusive thing, meaning we can really fall in love and belong to 1 person only? Do fabricated things like an man made AI have a soul? Is there such thing as eternal love since we are ever evolving beings, hence our feeling towards someone or something will one day evolve as well? Are the other planes of existence besides the physical one we live in? Since we only exist in this world for a short time being, can we just f*ck it? The great thing is those themes are explored in a rather indirect manner which we kinda reflect upon it our self after observing the relationship of Theodore and Samantha.

Some things I didn't like about this movie is the length of this movie. I feel it rather long, its around 2 hour long. Some scenes I feel was rather hollow, eg: the scenes of Theodore enjoying life with Samantha which was purposely left with muted dialog. I understand they are trying to condensed the time they spend together and show even without a physical form Samantha could have fun with Theodore but for me the whole charm of the movie comes from the conversation between Theodore and Samantha, hence I prefer if they traded those scenes for more dialogs between them. Another complain is the poster of this movie which is this:

I didn't dig this poster, for me it when I first glanced at it I feel "potong stim". Felt like this movie is a boring talking movie on a mid age man. A real injustice really to this great movie. If it wasn't due to having seen this movie as one of the Oscar nominees, I would most likely not even bother to checkout this movie trailer, which hooked me into seeing it in the cinema.

My final rating for this movie is a must watch movie. Indeed worth the Oscar nomination.

So Emma, since I'm done with this movie review lets proceed to evolve our relationship to the next stage... Where I want to touch you now, you asked? Well, I want cuddle you and slowly touch your lips softly with my fingers... Then I would slowly spread your legs apart and slowly insert my magic wand into... Argh, yes! YES!... [The following content has been deemed too erotic and has been censored]

Which jersey?

Dear bloggie,

Wonder which jersey looks better on me?



[Note: Jerseys designed using http://www.teamworkathletic.com]

After a long 1 1/2 month wait, finally get call for 2nd interview from iCIMB. However since I haven't received any formal black and white offer except verbal "Yes, I ticked recommend this candidate" from the hiring manager, I went for some other interviews just in case (and to spend some of my time at least doing something). Last week, I happen to go for an interview for a post in SWIFT. Think I perform okay in the technical test and slightly below average on the interview with the hiring manager (Never could do well in interviews with foreign hiring managers, *Sigh*). My headhunter told me feedback was positive but still need wait at least till mid of this week to know results. I was quite certain on my top choice since I rejected a lot of other offers while waiting for iCIMB but now a bit undecided on which offer to take if SWIFT does indeed offer.

So why iCIMB you ask? Well, the main reason is because I have yet to work in a banking environment yet. My buddy, Daniel also works in IT banking and I heard it can be quite okay work environment. And not to mention the godlike employee benefits (Annual Leave, Insurance, Dental, Optical, Bonus, EPF 16%) from banking sector. Technology wise, I understand they will be using Struts 1 + 2 (Struts 1 is a bit turn off). Workload I was told most projects are internal one, hence dateline won't be as rushed as front end banking systems. I also was kind of looking forward towards working in a mix environment (people, race, role) where I get to socialize with other people beside my nerd IT pack. Since iCIMB is a big organization, I also look forward towards company event like annual dinner, team building, etc which I DO value despite my introvert nature. The only thing I hate is the work location at Plaza Damansara which is not only far but I predict jam-prone (I'm from Bah Kut Teh Land aka Klang). My major concern is only how hectic workload can be considering most people told horror tales of working in IT Banking sector. Hopefully not too hectic so I can split work from life. Minor concern, no personal growth working here since Struts is rather old already.

Now why was my resolve (which saw me reject 8+ other offers) sway after attending the interview with SWIFT? Well for starters, SWIFT implements a more modern IT culture such as flexi hour, working from home and SCRUM. Can anyone blame me for drooling on the prospect I don't need to waste 2 hours of my life on the road everyday to commute to work? Also the technologies they are using seems to be more interesting, mainly Spring alone is already worth the mention. The team itself will be consist of 3 locals developers while the others are based on USA. With this element in the equation, we local developers will have the opportunity to go for an one shot 6 weeks "training" in the US to pickup the culture and knowledge of the US team members. Pretty cool I have to say but having said that, having 1/2 of the team in the US does brings up some concerns for this job. First of all, the 13 hour time difference between US and Malaysia (which is why the flexi hour practice in implemented in the first place). Expect very early morning or very late teleconferencing meetings. Second, implementation of SCRUM with this geographical and timezone difference would indeed pose some challenge. Lastly, I do have some concern on how well we locals can mingle with foreign work colleagues. As MFR said to me, will the foreigners look down on us like how we look down at foreign workers here?

Personally, I tend to favor working in the more dynamic work environment in SWIFT but feel iCIMB is the safer bet for a more balance in work life. So what will I choose? Frankly speaking, I'm still undecided at the moment...

Let it be

Dear bloggie,

"Music is the only thing that makes sense anymore, play it loud enough it'll keep the demon at bay" - Across the Universe