Need sleep 2

Need sleep. Again.

I should be sleeping, but here I am instead, making full use of the momentary rush of awake-ness right after a bath. (there really should be an English word for being awake dontcha agree? heh)

Slept at 5.00am. Woke at 8.00am.

One full day again today (Sat). Was at Rivervale Pri in the morning. Quite sure I'd be too seh to think/teach/or even supervise, but instead I was riding on a surge of adrenaline throughout the lesson. Even had enough left over to do a trainer de-brief and sharing session with the trainers involved. Unbelievable. Think the 3 cans of Red Blue helped.

Red Bull junkie. Heh.

Need...sleep....can't...th...in..k

Yawn. Super seh now.

Slept at 4.00am. Woke up at 8.00am for a class in Rivervale Pri.

It was the first session of the new term and I was there with Hansong Jiaolian and Wang Jiaolian (female Wang, not Wang Liang Jiaolian). I bet Hansong must be equally seh, he went home about the same time as I did.

Rushed back to KUEN Wushu for class straight after. Ended up being late for 15min. At least Wang Liang Jiaolian is there to start class and take warm up. WRONG! Wangliang also late!!! OMG! *faint*

Anyway, here I am resting in the office blogging on the company PC. Wish I could just head on home to catch up on some much needed sleep. Alas, there are lessons at KUEN all the way till 10pm. Sob sob...

Sleeping - The Wushu athlete's favourite "activity".
I need my beauty sleep.

Train. Pain. Complain

Been trying to get back to training these couple of weeks. Did a session last Tuesday and ached till Sat...lol. Tried to work out again lightly during yesterday's lesson. Bad idea... ended up tearing a muscle and limped my way home.

Ouch.

Yeah yeah yeah... I know i know... always warm up properly, stretch out properly...yadda yadda yadda... Am glad it was the hamstring and not the knee joint, thank goodness it wasn't the knee joint. I'm sure we've all heard horror stories of Wushu athletes busting their knees during practice. Brrr.....*shivers* Kids... take care now. Bag ah, you too ah. Wasted to just get the Wai Bai Lian finally and then have to sit out because of some silly injury.

Oh yah before i forget - Kudos to Weiheng for his Cekong and Weixuan for his Zhuanti over the last 2 weeks. Yeaaaah!!! What do I keep telling you guys? Its not at all difficult when you have a good trainer, good protective equipment and good training techniques. Back in our days, we used to train...blah blah blah

So step right up! Who's next? Come come dun shy... just grab me, shake me and tell me how bad you want it the next time you see me around and I promise I'll stay around long enough to help. :) I'm such a nice guy... :)

Change. The only thing constant...

Upcoming changes at KUEN:

- new revamped website. its looking good. hopefully we can get the content written asap else the pretty designs will never get to see the light of day.

- new banners up at KUEN. hope they look good.

- yi laoshi's taking a 6 month long leave to help set up a Wushu school in Thailand. Betcha everyone's gonna miss him.

- a dear friend with a big name and a bigger heart agrees to come onboard to be the new Dean of KUEN Wushu Academy. YEAH!!! Who? you'll find out soon enough. *grin*

- ...and he's brought with him another huge figure in the Wushu fraternity as the new Chief Trainer for KUEN Wushu.

Its gonna be another milestone for KUEN Wushu and history in the making I promise ya.
Ooo... it gets me tingly all over. Heh.

Training for Chingay 2008

Tired. Its 2am in the morning and I'm online writing this... Yawn. I really ought to be sleeping...

Was alerted to an impromptu performance a couple of days ago and had to press the emergency ACTIVATE button to get together a team of performers for a Chingay item.

Mad rush to get everyone together and to coordinate the moves but we did it. I've been running through some ideas for this performance's choreography and tonight was the night it all came to fruition. Kinda...heh. We just need a little more practice and we'll be perfect.

Of course we couldn't have done it without the cooperation and effort everyone has given to this project. Especially the guys doing the Double Sabre segment, most had to train from scratch, and yet the end result is something that I had envisioned it to be - a perfect union of double sabres and straight swords. Looks good to me. Gotta video it and put it online if got the chance.

Special shout out to:
> Ivan and Evelyn. Thanks for taking up the challenge and putting in so much effort.
> Marcus and Yongchao. Thanks man... can you believe its been years since you've picked up a shuang dao? Heh...
> Everyone else who has put in time and sweat to make it unforgettable. I am sure we will all look back tomorrow and smile at the memories we are making today.

To the rest of you reading this, catch us at Chingay 2008 this Friday and Saturday night!

KUEN WUSHU ROXXX!!!!

2008 - A brand new year awaits...

New year greetings for 2008!

Lol... I know its a little belated, it is after all the 7th of Jan, but like they say, better late than never. : )

Just a little shout out to everyone from KUEN Wushu for their support this past year. Thank you everyone for your help and thanks again to all the trainers, members and parents for making KUEN such a great place to call our own. (90-degree bow...)

Looking back at 2007, there were numerous major events and milestones for KUEN. - First off, we said goodbye to our beloved home of 3 years at Geylang Bahru and relocated to our present training facility.
- Then there was the god-send Chen Zhipeng laoshi joining the ranks of our KUEN trainers.
- Then we got busy with the schools' SEP programmes, hitting a record number of close to 9000 student participants in our KUEN Wushu programmes.
- Return to Poiching school and Fuhua and seeing familiar faces.
- Training camps and China excursion at the year end.

All in all, I say we did pretty good for one year dont'cha think?

Yeah.

Here's to a brand new year in 2008!

KUEN Wushu Holiday Training Camp Nov 2007

Its over.

5 days of hell-on-earth for the trainers...

Children... so many noisy children... Arghhh!

But it wasn't nearly as bad for me as it was for the rest of the trainers... This time I unofficially volunteered myself to be in-charge of entertainment and games, and carefully side-stepped all the heavy responsibilities of being a trainer-in-charge.

I think the kids enjoyed themselves. *pats self on back* Especially on the last night's BBQ where they had free-flow marshmallows. MmmmMmmm.........

This year's group was slightly bigger, with participants from Kranji Pri, Yew Tee Pri, Zhonghua Pri, Yew Tee CC, Jurong Spring CC, KUEN Kids, etc...

I saw some definite potentials in the young ones and some made astonishing improvements over the week. You can almost see them get better with each training session.

Great job KUEN trainers! Cheers to Kaiting laoshi, Wang Liang Laoshi, Zhipeng Laoshi, Zhicheng Laoshi and the rest of the trainers!

I'll definitely post photos of the camp as soon as I get my hands on them.

Reservist... Sian...

Reservist...

Sian...

From tmr...

Till 2nd...

Sian...

*Yawn*

Where's my SBO?

Sigh...

Chin on Radio and TV....again

Apologies everyone! Arghh.... I haven't been writing for almost an entire month!
What the heck have I been up to???

For starters, I've had Lasik done on my eyes. Yup, bye bye my beloved specs... Wow, to think that I've been wearing glasses since 8...gulp. I highly recommend it, anyone who can afford it and could afford at least 2 days of MC should do it. It'd be the best gift you can give yourself.

So if you see me and my bloodshot eyes this Friday (7th Sep) on Channel U's Money Week, don't be surprised... Yup, me going on TV again... and radio too. Completed both interviews for radio and tv today (tue), both gonna be aired on Friday afternoon for radio and night-time ard 9.30pm for TV I think. Do keep a look out for me and come back here to post in the shoutbox how good-looking or awful-looking I am (or sound) You know what they say, any feedback is better than no feedback. That probably means nobody's watching...heh

Ok, I've accumulated quite a stash of photos this past month of the school programmes that started and ended. Especially the ACES day ones on the 31st August we did at River Valley Primary and Greenwood Primary. The reviews from the teachers were fantastic and I really should give my trainers a well-deserved pat on the back. Great job guys!

Holiday week this week. Don't think we can rest tho... SEP submission date this saturday, so instead of taking it easy, i've requested for more meetings this week! Cheers! Don't everyone just love inefficient long draggy meetings? Yeah....

I'll post often. I promise. I hope. Heh.

The Accidental Guests

Sundays are generally sucky days for KUEN Wushu trainers. Thats becoz we have our excruciatingly long weekly meeting on Sunday afternoons when the KUEN trainers debrief, discuss, bicker, and b!tch about the past week's activities and lessons. The past Sunday was no different. In fact, it was made worse by the fact that we started late and ended even later. When I was done with them by 8pm, everyone nearly fainted from hunger. It was with this in mind that I decided to drive the trainers to a hearty meal at a nice little joint at GL lorong 44 where they sell chinese bbq, dishes and noodles.

As luck would have it, we stumbled upon a birthday dinner in progress, of which belongs to a certain World Wushu Champion - Mr Di Guang Wen. (Master Di or Di laoshi to all of you young punks out there..heh.) We know each other through a mutual friend and before we know it, someone pulled up a table and we were toasting beer on an empty stomach. Felt uneasy gate-crashing what seemed like a private mini gathering but he was a real sport and soon all thoughts of uneasiness were thrown out the window after the 4th beer...grin.

I also learnt an interesting thing about my trainers that night. One of the trainers can't drink... nearly puked, and thats only after 4 semi-filled glasses of beer. All in all it was a nice get-together with acquaintances whom hopefully will become closer after sharing this common experience. We even talked about a collaboration between himself, his networks and KUEN Wushu. I'm generally skeptical about such dinner table talk but I'm keeping my fingers crossed and see how things develop. I'll see what we can come up with when we next meet up, sober and serious...heh...


Remarks
A quick search online revealed the following info on Di Guangwen Laoshi:
- a World Wushu Champion (won the Gold in Changquan in the 1993 World Wushu Championships)
- 1994 China All-round Wushu Champion
- Former captain of the Beijing Wushu Team
- Key Wushu figure responsible for the success of "Dance En___ble's" Wushu classes in the 4 years he was in Singapore.

Impressive isn't it? I know I'd love to be able to put something like "World Wushu Champion" on my namecard. It'd surely do wonders for the company dontcha think?

Recipe for a Mass Wushu Programme

Its been a hectic week for the trainers and myself.
The new term has started and gradually picking up steam. Just last week alone, we had 4 new school programmes starting and a couple more schools starting next week. Most are Wushu Mass Workout Programmes, anywhere from 80 to excess of 200 pax at a time.

The burden of conducting such large-scale programmes naturally falls on me as this happens to be my specialization, having done mass programmes countless times and accumulating invaluable experience every step of the way.

Something to share with you and my trainers. (or my fellow competitors if you're reading...grin. Man, I'm such a nice person... i know...)

It is one thing to be standing in front of a class of 20 Wushu students coaching techniques. It is a whole different ballgame standing on the stage with a mic engaging 200 students and teachers in the hall with Wushu exercises, most of whom can't be bothered even if the roof caved in.

Here's the trick: You need to reach out with your infectious energy and hypnotize EVERY ONE OF THEM with your presence and have them move with you, laugh with you, sway with you...When you got them hooked on your every word, slip in the otherwise dorky-looking punches, kicks and stances. Mix in the right amounts of Easy-to-follow moves, a tiny bit of Challenge, a generous serving of Humour - VOILA! Mag-ni-fi-cent!

In short, you need to be a Duracell Bunny in an apron and chef's hat, holding a microphone in one hand and a whistle in the other. Mmm... I bet I look sexy up there on stage. grin...

A nice lady teacher came up to me on Wed and asked where do i get all that energy bouncing ard on stage. Ok... you got me there. The cat's out of the bag - I'm a Redbull Junkie. *wink*

Jon Foo

Man, has it been 2 years already?

I knew Jon from a couple of years ago. He was trainin for a bit at KUEN and we even did a performance together at the gala premiere for Kungfu Hustle. He dropped by KUEN Wushu for training last night and we went out for drinks.
(If you're going Jon who??? Go youtube and type in Jon Foo to see a couple of his works)

He travels to different countries doing stuntwork for movies, but I can't call him a 'stuntman', thats just plain wrong. He's an actor! (laugh... he does look alot like Frodo doesn't he, a better looking one of course)

Oh yeah... He also taught me 'Kick the Moon' in like one day. Cool yeah?

We went for drinks with Francis at St James. Turns out that they met each other 2 years ago on Orchard Road while Francis was performing and Jon went up to Francis to ask about his ultra cool dance moves. We were en route to St James and as if he had a sudden epiphany or something he turned around and went "I think I've seen you before...." What are the chances of that happening huh...

Anyway, I think we were drunk before we even got there cos we kept breaking out into that annoyingly funny Gatsby song from the ad.

"Iiiiii....can give you GATSsssBiee.... GA-ATSsssBieeee....GATSsssBYiiieeee...."

He's flying back to Thailand today, but he says he'll be back next month.

Call when you're back ok.

Money earned. Money spent.

Sunday whizzed past just like that. Hectic even for a Sunday.. Damn...

KT brought the kids to Marina Sq for the SSC event thingy, turned out it wasn't too appreciated as the morning crowd at MS was pathetic. Am glad they had a really fun movie session after that tho...(courtesy of KT laoshi)

Brainstormed with ZP re. his performance at SGS, talked abt some DIY costume designs and the materials he'd need to get on Mon. Then its off to Suntec for a quick lunch. Went to take a look at the GSS deals at Carrefour. Deliberated over LCD monitors and got distracted by the ACER notebook deals. Finally settled on this for $339/=

Good deal hor?
Gonna hang this 20" Acer LCD at the window area of the KUEN office for ads and notices.

One down, many to go. Wishlist for KUEN:
- LCD monitor for window display (< $400)
- DV camera (< $800)
- Digital still camera (< $1000)
- Notebook (< $1500)
- Mirrors ( < $2000)
- Huge posters of Wushu poses for marketing (< $3000)
Gulp... thats a lot of money we don't have... :( *chuckle*

At the end of the day, everyone went home happy (I hope)cos they got a big fat angbao from KT, mostly reimbursements for performances and helping out during the training camp.

Operational Hiccups - Hold your breath.

Yanbin came by KUEN Wushu yesterday to visit. (He's an actor cum stunt master at Mediacorp) Just back from filming the latest Jack Neo movie (starring Fann Wong!) in KL for the past 3 weeks. We got to chat a little regarding the new setup and he provided me with new insights. (thanks partner :p)

Told him about my problem of the hall being constantly in use by other ppl. (mostly SHINES Outdoors la..). He told me to make a stand and say No.

We gotta pay to use their facilities (during camp), they should be paying us everytime they use our training hall right? Why else are we paying rent for? The tiny miserable office space?

And Sunday mornings are nightmarish... The church ppl got our hall and the morning parents are unhappy that they have been relegated to the classrooms. Well, initially I thought training in the classrooms wasn't such a bad idea, with the aircon and all... I don't think so anymore.

Anyway, on a lighter note, me and Yanbin did talk about starting a new programme at KUEN. A course targetted at young adults (read 17 and above) that is part Wushu and part action-star training. Participants will get to experience "flying" and wire-stunts, perform action fight scenes, learn stunts and acrobatics that will prepare them if they ever wish to embark on their ways to Movie Stardom....

Cool idea yeah? Tell me what you think.

I hate accounts.

Spent the day at KUEN Wushu clearing backlog of paperwork and admin stuff.

Its official. I hate doing accounts.

Blah... spent very nearly the whole day trying hard to remember purchases and to balance the numbers. Issueing cheques and writing payment vouchers. Trying to remember who to invoice for what service.

This is the part I like least of running KUEN.

Calista's dad (a really nice guy :) ) mentioned jokingly that we're not making money coz I'm really bad at accounts. Heh... I wonder how true is that. Hmm... with all the services rendered that we forgot to invoice ppl, I'm starting to think he might have a point.

Darn...

Quick update on whats coming:
- Later, Friday 22/06/07. Tien Hsia Language School children coming again for Wushu workshop.
- Sunday, 24/06/07. Young Parents Fiesta at Marina Square. We're doing a roadshow cum Wushu promotion at Marina Square Centre Stage. 11am - 1pm
- Monday, 25/06/2007. School reopens! (I can almost hear the students go "Yeah!")

Sentosa Silosa beach performance

Did a group Wushu performance last night at Sentosa Siloso beach.

Almost forgotten how fun performances can be. During the performance that is.

After you bask in the applause and euphoria of being in the limelight for the 10 min or so on stage, you retire to the changing room to change out of your Wushu costume drenched in sweat. You'll slowly feel your legs getting heavier and soreness in parts of your muscles you didn't realise when your body's pumped up with adrenaline just 10 min ago.

The morning after.
Ouch...

I haven't trained for quite awhile and I'm starting to feel the after-effects. Hope I didn't pull any muscles.

I really gotta start working out again. Once I've got everything at the new place more or less settled.

Back to doing paperwork. *sulk*

Box for my shouts!

Got my very own shoutbox for the Kuen Wushu blog, after listening to yuxiang.

Meddled with it for awhile last night. Then I dozed off in front of the monitor...

Try not to do that. It leaves rows of little squares on your face. Drool makes the keys sticky too... heh. Then all sorts of grime and dirt starts accumulating... Eeee...

Yeah... now I'll know if the blog is as lifeless as it looks from here.

Tell your friends. tell your family. tell your enemies. I don't care. :p

Just tell someone. Anyone.

Somewhere over the rainbow...

See that rainbow? Taken today (15th June, 2007) around 5pm.

Photo taken from the basketball court outside KUEN Wushu facing
Shines Outdoor adventure training facility. In case you're
wondering, the yellow containers are bunks for camping.

And oh, I made some new b-ball friends at the court today. Phew...
there's this guy that can do some really neat tricks with the ball.

I'm impressed.

Its generally rather difficult to impress me with b-ball skills. I'm a
pretty good player myself.

Meetings... meetings... meetings

Meetings are tiresome things. They sap the energy out of you and take up loads of time. Meetings render you, and whoever's unfortunate enough to be caught in the same meeting with you, rather unproductive for that day.

I started my day with a meeting at Hwa Chong Institution regarding a Wushu programme that we're due to conduct in July.

Then I met ZP laoshi for lunch at West Mall, followed by an indulgent afternoon tea session at Coffeebean. No we're not being Tai-tai-ish. We were discussing work over a nice cup of English breakfast. Envious? Aww... don't be. You don't work till 10pm at night. :p

Got a call and had to rush back to Kuen for a short meeting with SHINES's director. Apparently, there would be an event on the Sunday two weeks from now and I will have to find a way to make the training hall look tidy and decent. Great. : (

That's followed by a meeting with the Lyreco sales manager to get quotations for some office items I am planning to get.

At 6pm, ZP laoshi and I finally started on what we originally planned to do - A complete revision of the current theory test format and setting of questions for the centralized assessment on Sunday.

Meetings are tiresome things. I'm beat.
Zzz......

Work days and off days

Spent most of Monday at the office shifting furniture around.

Spent the entire day at home yesterday shifting furniture and throwing out old stuff. (I moved my sitoca table to the office. At 120cm x 70cm, it took up too much space in my room, and since we're still lacking a table at the KUEN office...)

I foresee a lot of furniture shifting at work and at home for the rest of this week.

Hmm... and I thought Mondays were supposed to be off days for KUEN. *shrug*

I suppose with the new setup at SHINES, the office ppl no longer need to dutifully come in to open up and man the phone, since its an open school and the office phone will direct all unanswered calls to my hp. Well, that could be a bad thing, since we'll no longer need to keep regular office hours. Ppl could come in for work any time they want!!! GASP!

And right at the corner of the week is the KUEN mid-year central assessment on Sunday. Plenty of preparation work. Test papers to set, routine assessments standards, operational flow, manpower allocation, etc.

Speaking of which, I am actually already late for work. *gulp*

Hey! But who's to say blogging with the keyboard on lap, on my bed, in my room isn't productive work. *indignant*

Its very tough work ya know. Nods.