by Jonny | Oct 28, 2011 | Updates
Okay so a couple weeks ago I went to the local Taichung registration office. The guy that was taking care of my situation entered all the information that was required and gave me a few dates on when I would have to join the military. I chose the furthest option which would mean I would have to join the military next year (2012) in March. That was all cool and settled. However what happened after was that they phoned my parents place saying I would have to join anywhere in the next few weeks or possibly next month.
This has got me stressed as I at least wanted to do one more term of Chinese before I join the military. Otherwise I’ve heard stories from friends and even my cousin suggesting I’d be made fun of due to my lack or inability of Mandarin.
It really annoys me that a man can tell you everything and everything that man has said is total and utter bullshit. This guy is supposed to be an official. Sure people make mistakes and you can forgive them for that. However this is a very big mistake which involves my life.
So perhaps I’ll be in the military this year, sooner than expected, according to what this guy has been saying to my mother. It is bloody annoying to find out at first, you won’t have to join for around 6 months, then find out you have to join either within the coming weeks or months this year.
An awesome birthday present! Thanks Taichung Council!! (xie xie)
by Jonny | Oct 27, 2011 | Updates
Corporal: Sir, we are surrounded!
General: Good, now we can attack in any direction.
by Jonny | Oct 27, 2011 | Updates
The film ‘Real Steel’ is a Hollywood film however a pretty good one for what my opinion is worth to anyone.
Having just watched it with a friend, I am glad to say that we both enjoyed it.
If they make a sequel to the film, I would definitely go and watch it. I’m very interested in these types of films.
I’ve also been eyeing up another film called “In Time”, although I didn’t enjoy Justin Timberlake’s performance in “Friends with Benefits”, “In Time” seems to be more science fiction as opposed to romance which is essentially what “Friends with Benefits” is.
Back to Real Steel, essentially the film is set in the future where instead of people boxing you have robots boxing each other out inside a ring. These robots are manually controlled however there are robots that are also automated and can do their own boxing moves to counter-act their opponents. What occurs is that this American guy was once a boxer himself however switched to boxing with robots instead as time moved on… I guess. He loses most of his battles and always ends up at square one. (i.e. no money and having large debts making huge bets on him winning his own games)
However he in fact has a kid who’s mother dies and he has to decide whether he takes custody however makes a back-door deal as the kids auntie wants to take custody arguing that the father is not fit to be a father. Though the auntie’s husband is quite rich and the father bargains a deal worth $100,000 to hand over custody of the kid to the auntie. Though the kid appears to be very smart (and cute according to my friend :P) and sees this back door deal being made however has no choice but to go through with it.
The kid then helps the father come back as a champion however at first the father loses a few boxing matches and again ends up at square one. Then the kid finds a robot in a scrap yard and manages to somehow fix it with the help of the fathers girlfriend! They manage to rise to fame with what was called a ‘heap of junk’ and they match up against the best robot in the robot fighting league!
But do they win or does their robot become mince meat?
I won’t give away the entire story! But it was definitely worth the watch!
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ei5l3r1dV4I
p.s. I hate the WordPress editor! Had to manually include “ ” tags.
by Jonny | Oct 26, 2011 | Updates
“The only mistake in life is the lesson not learned.”
– Albert Einstein
“The person who says something is impossible should not interrupt the person who is doing it.”
– Chinese Proverbs
“Worrying is the same thing as banging your head against the wall. It only feels good when you stop.”
– John Powers
“Your time is limited, don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma, which is living the result of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of other’s opinion drowned your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition, they somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”
– Steve Jobs
“Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow.”
– Albert Einstein
These quotes were for me perfect for my own situation. So if others happen to read these off my site, then good, these are inspirational quotes from very inspirational people who actually changed things in the world and got things done.
by Jonny | Oct 26, 2011 | Updates
From a few articles I've read on the economic mess in Europe is that Greece seems to be the contagious virus along with Spain and Italy. Though Greece being the largest of the contagion as they will likely be on EU benefits just to pay off their debt and their deficit for quite a long time. Especially as their economy is hardly growing with most of the population up in arms protesting about austerity measures being taken in Greece to curb deficit spending.
Referendum on the United Kingdom leaving the EU
A lot of people want to leave the EU in the UK. It is the number one source of immigration into the UK and it costs a hell of a lot of money to stay in the EU. However some would argue that it is entirely beneficial for the UK to stay within the EU considering trade from the UK to the EU accounts for around 50% of overall exports which obviously brings in large revenues for UK companies and then that supplies government with more tax money.
Although some people also argue that the UK should be like Switzerland or Norway, who are not apart of the European Union though still having free trade agreements with the EU. This is viewed by many as a more beneficial stance since these countries are not affected by laws passed by the EU in Brussels. – Obviously as they are not part of the EU. From this point of view, the UK can be considered as a more sovereign nation.
Recently the parliament in London voted on whether to issue a referendum on whether to stay in the European Union. I believe it was knocked down however the back bench MP's still agreed to discuss the issue of staying in the EU or not, calling for a referendum to possibly happen in 2013. Possibly after the economic mess has been sorted or discovered in its full depth of numerous issues.
The one thing I can agree on is that the UK should definitely not leave the EU now. Nor should it worry the EU market further by leaving and holding a referendum now. I believe it should happen at a later date as we need to be involved in making sure the EU doesn't sink any further into the economic hole. Why? As previously stated the UK exports 50% of its goods/products/services to the EU. If the EU goes down, the UK also goes down with the ship and the UK's economy won't grow and will slip back into recession, especially if that 50% market is wiped out. Although sometimes it is viewed by others I've spoken to that the UK isn't at-all part of the EU-ship, however I'm afraid we have a very large stake in Europe, to leave now would not be good and I don't think it would be good for the UK's future either.
However at a later date when the economic situation is sorted or is at a more stable level, there should be discussions on staying in the EU or leaving.
My personal belief is that we should stay in the EU. Although it costs the UK a lot of money to stay, it is worth the money considering the fact UK citizens get access to any country within the other 26 countries within the EU. People who work abroad would certainly find it an issue if they suddenly needed to be claiming working visas, making the process for the ordinary person harder. Bilateral trade agreements can be made by the EU towards competing with other larger countries such as China and the United States. Collectively the EU is the largest economic union in the world per GDP, meaning the collective decision is influential on the world stage, as the UK doesn't have singularly by itself a large enough economy to be able to represent its will on the economic stage.
As our economy is so dependent on the EU and vice versa, we need to be able to also make decisions from within the EU that reflect the will of our elected government. If we leave the EU we have no stake or say in what the EU can do or we can't vote against any measures taken within Europe which could possibly harm trade relations to and from the UK to Europe. Essentially, I don't believe it is worth the risk of leaving the EU because of these issues. What the UK does need to do, in partner with other EU countries is to try and reflect its will as the large economic forces that it is within the EU to reform the EU to UK standards; while this also means making concessions.
by Jonny | Oct 24, 2011 | Updates
I'm now working at on muscles. I do at least 80 lifts (dead-lifts) and a few other free weights just to build up on my arms and abdomen.
I can definitely see my arms getting bigger and I got a comment not so long ago with people saying my arms are looking much bigger. I guess physically I am not doing too bad. In a weird way I really enjoy exercising, it releases stress and it is just another goal in life that you need to commit to in order to succeed and to see improvements. (Kind of the same with Chinese although that does indeed require more mental thought)
I've been chugging a long with my friends saying that I'd be taking up swimming soon enough, however I haven't found time yet. :/ My body is ready for swimming, but is my mind? 😛 I guess it is as I hear swimming is very relaxing, plus I really need to tan the rest of my body so it is in proportion with my face and arms. XD
Although I have slowed down by not going to the gym anymore and I am only using my cousins home gym equipment (Which is enough), I am not running so much. However next year starting January, I'll start running everyday to prepare for my military service in Taiwan. For now I am just going to focus on weight building as in the past I have focused too much on running and general cardiovascular fitness. In the end I think that ate away at a little of my muscles.
Although I stll have quite a lot of muscle in my opinion, I could still do a lot better. So from now on my focus in fitness is just purely building up muscle, while still retaining the staminar to run. (Retaining that through playing sports such as football every Wednesday!)
