tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10446837681108553472024-03-13T05:02:11.615-04:00ContemplationsHi and welcome to my blog; the musings of a Filipino-American writer, martial artist and teacher. Thanks for stopping by. I look forward to hearing what you have to say about what I have to say.Juan Rader Bashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01739963068505883037noreply@blogger.comBlogger202125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1044683768110855347.post-85948583398816744922022-12-30T16:02:00.004-05:002022-12-30T16:13:43.596-05:00Tribute to Pele<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqnIyWBhHHSaqXVkjahsjmRRkwnlUVUVvSYNbhWNGy31UZw2q5FmIa5MmU7Pkrwp9nDBWfVd_FsdAIWMbP8M5fwgjq3XOK0pms_DlJ0Ewm48UG6Tm_4psdORCGyPHPxPQdxHhu1sngcRmWDuRLaHiSSCAi4nWqJsEgxGUF-ucFVJiOrw9-Su48wKbN1g/s1280/Pele.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1280" data-original-width="1280" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqnIyWBhHHSaqXVkjahsjmRRkwnlUVUVvSYNbhWNGy31UZw2q5FmIa5MmU7Pkrwp9nDBWfVd_FsdAIWMbP8M5fwgjq3XOK0pms_DlJ0Ewm48UG6Tm_4psdORCGyPHPxPQdxHhu1sngcRmWDuRLaHiSSCAi4nWqJsEgxGUF-ucFVJiOrw9-Su48wKbN1g/w200-h200/Pele.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Cambria; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="color: #0000ee;">Pele </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Cambria; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="color: #0000ee;">(Edson Arantes do Nascimento </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Cambria; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="color: #0000ee;">23 October 1940 – 29 December 2022)<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Cambria; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><o:p><span style="color: #0000ee;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Cambria; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="color: #0000ee;">I never saw him play live, in person or on TV, but for a long time after I was introduced to football he was the standard by which all footballers were measured. I’m writing, of course, of The King – Pele. I’m not going to go through his history in this blog post. Pele’s life story is well documented and easily accessible. I’m merely going to express what he meant to me, as he did to the majority of football-loving fans, young and old, around the world. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Cambria; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><o:p><span style="color: #0000ee;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Cambria; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="color: #0000ee;">When I first heard about Pele, he was already playing for the New York Cosmos, the star-studded marquee team of the former NASL (North American Soccer League). I did get to watch the Cosmos play live on a vacation to the United States in 1982. My brother and I went while my sister and parents went to see a Broadway or Off-Broadway play. I think they went to see <i>The Fantasticks.</i>Around the same time, the movie <i>Escape to Victory </i>(released in some outlets as <i>Victory</i>) came out. It stars Sylvester Stallone, Michael Caine, and a bunch of footballers (Ossie Ardilles, Russell Osman, John Wark, Sir Bobby Moore, to name a few) playing prisoners of war during World War II. The movie was about their exploits playing a match against the German team and planning their escape with the help of the French resistance. Pele played one of the POWs. I recall his character being from Trinidad. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Cambria; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><o:p><span style="color: #0000ee;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Cambria; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="color: #0000ee;">While the movie is obviously scripted and choreographed, it’s evident that Pele was artistry in motion. Watching news reel footage of his career in various stages, you can see how his levels of brilliance, creativity, grace, and beauty never waned. They just became more amazing as he got older and became the legend that he is. I recently saw a post on Facebook showing clips of Pele doing all the amazing things that today’s stars do. The clip was called something like ‘Pele did it first’ and, while I admire Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappe, and others for what they’ve done in their careers and what they do on the pitch, for me, Pele will always be the best. The only player to have won the World Cup three times, he set the standard. He was the best. To use today’s parlance, Pele is the goat. To paraphrase Neymar, who tweeted after Pele’s passing, football was just a sport before Pele. Pele turned it into art and entertainment. Due to Pele’s magnificence, the number 10 shirt became something to covet and something to fear. If you were given the number 10 to wear, it meant you were different, special, and big things were expected of you. Pele is to football what Muhammad Ali is to boxing and Bruce Lee to martial arts. In my opinion, as a form of tribute, it would be fitting to acknowledge the impact Pele had on football if for the remainder of the current football season around the world all players wore black armbands and there were a moment of silence before every match. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Cambria; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><o:p><span style="color: #0000ee;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Cambria; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="color: #0000ee;">As I grew into football, as a fan (I support Arsenal and Hamburger SV), player (I played during my school days for Island School (Hong Kong) and in a local grass roots league organised by some of my schoolmates), and coach (Hanover Park HS Boys Junior Varsity, Passaic County Community College Men, Solomon Schechter Day School Boys and Girls Varsity), I learnt of other legendary players (such as Franz Beckenbauer, Eusebio, Johan Cruyff, The Charlton brothers, George Best) who elevated football. Eventually rising stars became the talk of the media, claiming Pele’s mantle as the ‘best ever.’ There were Zico and Diego Maradona, who I was fortunate to see live in Hong Kong when he was still playing for Boca Juniors. Around the same time, there was Michel Platini wowing football fans with his skill and cool demeanour. Then came the likes of George Weah, Zinedine Zidane, Ronaldo, Ronaldinho. A little after came Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, both many consider are the best to ever play the beautiful game. Crossing with their careers came Neymar and Mbappe, already a star at twenty-four years of age and sure to lead the next generation. Mbappe is a two-time World Cup finalist (winner in 2018 and runner-up in 2022) and has already surpassed many of Pele’s World Cup exploits.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Cambria; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><o:p><span style="color: #0000ee;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Cambria; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="color: #0000ee;">All these players and all players around the world, all fans of every generation owe Pele a giant thank you. He may not have been the reason we got into football but I’m sure he’s a reason – if not THE reason – we love it. He inspired the players who came after him. So, too, were the ones he played with and against. If for nothing else, Pele motivated them to be better.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Cambria; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><o:p><span style="color: #0000ee;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Cambria; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="color: #0000ee;">More than football, although some would argue what else is there other than football, Pele brought the world together with his infectious good nature, professing words of peace and love, and brandishing his trademark smile. He was an ambassador. He promoted the game he loved and now we love it too. He promoted humanity and love and peace through that game and you can see, in video clips and interviews, the innocence and unadulterated joy on his face when he talks about these things. It’s the same feelings one gets when watching him play and the elation on his face when he scores. He had the talent on the pitch. He had the humility on and off the pitch. He had the love for all mankind and he made us love him in return. He had longevity, sharing all of this and himself with us for eighty years. In all of these, he will be missed.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Cambria; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><o:p><span style="color: #0000ee;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Cambria; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="color: #0000ee;">Thank you, Pele. God bless you and your family. Rest in peace. On behalf of those of us you’ve left behind, I promise that we will do our best to be worthy of being the custodians of your beautiful game.</span><o:p></o:p></p>Juan Rader Bashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01739963068505883037noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1044683768110855347.post-87743147129287510042022-04-13T19:56:00.000-04:002022-04-13T19:56:03.352-04:00The Soundtrack of My Life<p></p><p style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span><span style="font-family: verdana;"> </span><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: red;"><span> </span>I was driving home yesterday when I switched radio channels from a regional Top 40 station to the Eighties Sirius XM channel. The show was going through Billboard Top 100 from 1986 and <i>No Easy Way Out, </i>from the movie <i>Rocky IV, </i>which was released in the autumn of 1985, came on. The song brought all sorts of memories and feelings to the fore - excitement, hope, nostalgia, regret. It was around the time that <i>Rocky IV</i> came out when I took my first Taekwondo belt promotion test. In fact, I watched the movie the night before test day. For me, who would go on and follow a martial artist's path and continue Taekwondo training for decades to follow, the <i>Rocky IV </i>soundtrack and <i> No Easy Way Out</i>, in particular, took on special meaning simply because of that random and unexpected connection. </span><span style="color: red;">As quickly as those memories from the autumn of 1985, my first year living in the United States, they left me and </span><i style="color: red;">Rocky V</i><span style="color: red;"> and the song </span><i style="color: red;">Measure of a Man</i><span style="color: red;"> and the memories and feelings associated with them took their place. In my head were memories from 1991, when I graduated from Rutgers University, broke up with my college girlfriend, and had the rest of my life ahead of me. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: red;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: red;"> It's interesting that two songs from different <i>Rocky </i>movies have such a strong connection to my life and the chronology of my hopes, dreams, successes, and failures. I assure you that there are non-<i>Rocky </i>and non-soundtrack songs that bring back memories of other important times and events of my life. And, don't worry. I'm not (not now, anyway) going to present you with a list of songs that make up my life but, if I did, I wonder what would be in it. An album is, what, twenty songs or so? Maybe it's a few less, sixteen or fourteen. If I do compile a soundtrack of my life, what songs would I include? Would I focus on monumental events in my life, like my wedding, and include my wedding song? Or, would I find a song for every year or decade that sums up what I did or felt or songs that represent my overall mood for each year?<br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: red;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: red;"><span> As I get older - as I've gotten older - and closer to my waning days, I look back more than I did in my thirties or, even, forties. Would coming up with a soundtrack to my life be merely hubris or would it be something worthwhile to leave my son? As a writer, I think it makes for an interesting exercise. Writers create worlds and lives and creating a soundtrack to a life can help form character, motivation, and dramatic need. As a man, husband, and father, I think it's a fun and meaningful endeavour. It can be a musical illustration of a person's evolution.</span><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: red;"><span><br /></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: red;"> <i>No Easy Way Out</i> and <i>Measure of a Man</i> will definitely make the final list of my soundtrack. So, too, I think will one or two Human League songs and several from different Broadway shows. What about yours? What's in the soundtrack of your life?<br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: red;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: red;"><span> Thanks for stopping by. </span><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: red;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: red;"><br /></span></div><span><br /><br /></span><p></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><span><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span><br /></span></div><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><br /></div><br /><br /><p></p>Juan Rader Bashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01739963068505883037noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1044683768110855347.post-9831982158559449442021-01-03T15:02:00.000-05:002021-01-03T15:02:20.127-05:00My Ten Favourite Books of 2020<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqePELF8EUUXvZ-i2bmdR-q32yiJtbLv5n5HkFIKCmrtaGyYU7OCP1oNNBjIWiHNc5UASJ2VszNkO_LQA3Y4PMePgU9zbwUFMixbAMmyNdvYe4RIGFjWeMXo8vxRWQav837nEsWLTdnrJ7/s2048/IMG_5888.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqePELF8EUUXvZ-i2bmdR-q32yiJtbLv5n5HkFIKCmrtaGyYU7OCP1oNNBjIWiHNc5UASJ2VszNkO_LQA3Y4PMePgU9zbwUFMixbAMmyNdvYe4RIGFjWeMXo8vxRWQav837nEsWLTdnrJ7/s320/IMG_5888.JPG" /></a></div><br /> <span style="font-family: Calibri;">My Ten Favourite Books Of 2020</span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Cambria; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Cambria; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">I don’t think I’ve posted one of these in a couple of years so, as part of my personal resurgence and return to the things I love, I’ve decided to resurrect my annual ‘ten favourite books’ list. Since it’s been a while, I just want to remind you that this list is not based on what was published in this post’s titular year but, rather, of the books I read in that year. In fact, only two books on my list were published in 2020. Moreover, the list, with the exception for the first one, is not in any particular order. They aren’t ordered, for example, in what I think to be the best written. I have neither the expertise nor the authority to do that. Far be it for a self-published novelist and blogger to judge anyone’s literary aptitude. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Cambria; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Cambria; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">What this list represents are the books that resonated with me the strongest. I thoroughly enjoyed each one and they’re all brilliant. As with pretty much anything, what often crosses our paths isn’t what’s new or what we want or think we want. Instead, we’re often led to what we need. Regarding the book I’ve placed at number one, it’s been on my radar for several years but I don’t think I read it until now because I wasn’t at the right place to read it before now. The things that mean the most or the things that bring you the greatest joy aren’t always the latest thing but, rather, the thing you need the most when you need it the most. As far as the book at number one, it’s the one that hit me the hardest; down to my core and made me ask the most questions of myself. Having said that, what’s one reader’s classic may be another’s pulp, so it’s quite subjective really. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Cambria; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Cambria; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">So, without further ado, here’s my list of favourite books I read in 2020. I can’t wait to see what 2021 brings. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Cambria; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Cambria; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><b><i><span style="font-family: Calibri;">On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft</span></i></b><span style="font-family: Calibri;">by Stephen King (2010, Scribner)<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Cambria; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><b><i><span style="font-family: Calibri;">America Is In The Heart: A Personal History</span></i></b><span style="font-family: Calibri;">by Carlos Bulosan (2019, Blackstone Publishing, audiobook; originally published 1946)<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Cambria; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><b><i><span style="font-family: Calibri;">The One and Only Ivan</span></i></b><span style="font-family: Calibri;">by Katherine Applegate (2021, HarperCollins)<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Cambria; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><b><i><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Eastman Was Here</span></i></b><span style="font-family: Calibri;">by Alex Gilvarry (2017, Viking)<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Cambria; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><b><i><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Killing</span></i></b><b><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i>Commendatore</i></span></b><span style="font-family: Calibri;">by Haruki Murakami (2018, Knopf)<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Cambria; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><b><i><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Carmela Full of Wishes</span></i></b><span style="font-family: Calibri;">by Matt de la </span><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #333333; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 10.5pt;">Peña</span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">(2018, G. P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers)<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Cambria; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><b><i><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Murder in the Squash Court </span></i></b><span style="font-family: Calibri;">by Jonah Barrington (1982, Stanley Paul Hardcover)<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Cambria; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><b><i><span style="font-family: Calibri;">99 Ways to Die</span></i></b><span style="font-family: Calibri;">(Taipei Night Market, #3) by Ed Lin (2018, Soho Press)<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Cambria; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><b><i><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Loveboat, Taipei</span></i></b><span style="font-family: Calibri;">(Loveboat, Taipei, #1) by Abigail Hing Wen (2020, HarperAudio)<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Cambria; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><b><i><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Lucky – Anil Nayar’s Story: A Portrait of a Legendary Squash Champion </span></i></b><span style="font-family: Calibri;">by Jean Nayar (2020, Five Rivers Press)<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Cambria; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Cambria; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></p>Juan Rader Bashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01739963068505883037noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1044683768110855347.post-41882263082617465472020-06-18T19:22:00.000-04:002020-06-18T19:22:24.854-04:00Seven Words Of Hope<span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-family: Cambria;">18 June, 2020</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Cambria; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
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<span style="color: blue;">Friday, the thirteenth of March of this year was the last time my son and I were in our respective middle schools. He’s in sixth grade and I teach seventh grade Health as well as sixth and eighth grade Physical Education. My son’s school decided to close due to the coronavirus epidemic on the preceding Wednesday or Thursday, announcing a half day for all students and instructing them to bring home their books and such. My school district made a similar announcement on the Thursday and Friday was a half-day for the students and a full day for staff to plan what has become the new norm of distance learning. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;">With three snow days that weren’t used, my district made the first Monday and Tuesday ‘snow days.’ That gave us more time to plan and prepare. As a result, we didn’t begin distance learning until Wednesday, the eighteenth. My son’s school began on Monday, the sixteenth, but even so we were able to get to the club and play an hour of squash at 7am thanks to a 9am start for distance learning. Before that, we also had our usual Saturday session on the fourteenth. The lockdown/stay-at-home order hadn’t yet been declared by our governor and the severity of the coronavirus, the length of our school closures, and the impact on our lives were still unknowns. On Tuesday, things started shutting down and becoming very serious. For those who have suffered greatly – financially, emotionally, physically, the loss of a family member(s) – I offer you my condolences and prayers. Thankfully, my family and I have not suffered too badly although there has been a psychological and emotional toll.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;">That first Monday was the last time my son went anywhere. Since returning home from our squash session, other than for a couple of drives in the neighborhood, walking the dog, or venturing out for a workout (either a run, some kind of conditioning session on our driveway, a ‘squash’ game at a wall we found that has lots of room and where we can line out a court), he hasn’t left the house. With the exception of running into a friend driving by and stopping to say hello and the Zoom party we had for his birthday in April, he hasn’t spoken to anyone other than my wife and I. Oh, and the dog. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;">So, it was with great excitement when he had to return his school textbooks the other day. He had three – one for Social Studies and two for Language Arts – and I had to drive him to school and drop him off at a designated location. From there, he submitted the downloaded and printed ‘return form’ then, following instructions, he entered the new gymnasium (the one with direct outdoor access). Once inside, he returned his books to the assigned table. Each table was labeled with a different subject and there was a school administrator, office assistant, or PTA volunteer waiting to receive the returned texts. All of this was done with his mask and gloves on and with me waiting in the car. No more than two minutes had elapsed after I’d parked the car, when he was back and opening the door and sliding into the back seat. The book return was organized alphabetically by surname and scheduled blocks of time so it was very quick and easy. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;">Other than being another reminder that the school year is ending and the summer break is coming, my son was very excited for this book return event. He joked on the way that he’s actually going somewhere. When he got back into the car, he was ecstatic that he’d gotten to speak to other human beings. They weren’t deep or meaningful conversations by any stretch of the imagination. He said he recognized some of the staff in the gym but none of them seemed to know him the way one of his teachers would have so the exchanges were brief. Nonetheless, he was thrilled. As we pulled out of the parking lot, I asked him how it went. His answer was so special and heartfelt and made me almost pull the car over and hug him as tightly as I could. His reply to my question was, “Seven words.” That’s what he’d said inside the gym. During various steps of the book return process, he’d had to answer two questions and make five affirmations. He said “okay” four times and one time each for his surname, “here” and “no.” From his reaction and the excitement he was displaying, I could’ve cried. You’d have thought he was just named Squash Player of the Year or received some other highly coveted accolade <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;">I get it, though. We live together, my wife, son and I. Naturally, we are the most important people in each of our lives and we love each other but, after twelve weeks together and 24/7 at that, any change is a wonderful thing. On one of my more recent trips to the supermarket, I had a conversation with a woman in the checkout line. Our grocery store has regular cashier checkouts as well as newly installed self-checkout machines. With social distancing, customers form a line and get called up when a cashier is open. She asked me if the line I was in was for self-checkouts or just the regular checkouts. I told her I wasn’t sure. Another customer knew the answer and told her (it’s the same line). After that, masks on, we had a chat about our previous supermarket trips and how there was no line, not many customers, and how the relative crowd on this day was probably due to the upcoming Memorial Day holiday. Eventually, using the self-checkout, she was called up ahead of me and went about her business. I’ll likely never see her again. Honestly, I wouldn’t be able to point her out if I did. I doubt she would recognize me either. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;">The brief chat, as meaningless as it appeared to be, was actually one of the highlights of that day and, perhaps, even of this lockdown. I’ve always been a loner. I don’t have many friends and I don’t socialize much but I do understand and appreciate the need for and value of human contact. In these dark times, positive human interaction is like striking gold. Without it, there’s the potential for conditions like loneliness, sadness, and depression to develop. So, for my son to be totally overjoyed at having had seven brief conversations, each with him only having to say just a solitary word, I am overjoyed and grateful. I’m happy that he had some additional human contact and that he cherishes it, whether he realizes it or not. I’m thankful that the school had the students bring the books back and not just the parents. Kids are vulnerable. So, too, are adults. We all need human interaction. We all need to feel connected – to one another and the larger world around us. In a small way, my chat in the supermarket and my son’s seven words connected us to our community and made us feel a part of something. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;">In pre-coronavirus life, these kinds of interactions would’ve been nothing more than an encounter with another person and not likely be thought about ever again. With the isolation and distancing, much needed to help combat against this pandemic, and which I think are still needed, these brief encounters become so much more. In these dire times, more so than ever, we need that sense of connectedness and community. Seeing his school and stepping in it, gave my son a bit of that. It, also, offered him a glimpse of hope and a return to some kind of normalcy; that there is a world out there and that there is a life after COVID, after crisis. Who knows if we’ll get back to the normal we used to know. Maybe we shouldn’t and we need to create a new and better normal. Either way, we need hope and hope can come in the form of a place, a person or even a single word. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Juan Rader Bashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01739963068505883037noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1044683768110855347.post-9029673287544746172019-06-28T09:00:00.010-04:002022-05-16T09:06:18.500-04:00Cheeky Drop Shot<p> <span style="font-family: Cambria;">Cheeky Drop Shot</span><span style="font-family: Cambria;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Cambria; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Cambria; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">- A Hacker’s Account Of A Weeklong Squash Camp That Gives Back <o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Cambria; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Cambria; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">When I was in my late twenties to early thirties, I ran a lot. I ran 5Ks, 10Ks, 5 milers, <i>Turkey Trot</i>runs, half-marathons, and marathons. For a back-of-the-packer, I had a 5K PR of 21:21. I’m told that’s not too shabby. In a single mile rub, I pulled off a 6:50. Another thing I heard a lot when I was a ‘serious amateur’ (an issue of <i>Runner’s World</i>that came out sometime around 1998 or 1999 had an article about running identities and I fell in the ‘serious amateur’ classification) was that one of the glories of running a marathon, especially one of the big ones, is that you get to say you’ve competed against and with some of the world’s best on the the exact same course in the same conditions. <o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Cambria; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Cambria; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">In the course of one’s life, it’s not likely that you’ll ever play with or against your favourite athlete or any other top athlete unless you’ve won a lottery or, through some kind of corporate connection for charity, find yourself in a fundraising game or something of the like. That changed for me on a few nights ago on 24 June 2019. <o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Cambria; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Cambria; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">I’ve been playing squash on-and-off since I was first introduced to it in the early 1980s. I was still living in Hong Kong and I was attending Island School. Next to the school was a squash facility that, at the time, might have been the base of the Hong Kong Squash Racquets Association. Squash was part of our Physical Education program and I started playing after school and at break times with my friends. When I moved to the United States, there weren’t courts around so I stopped playing for a couple of years until I went to university at Rutgers. There, I made friends with one of my Economics students, fellow Asian from Singapore. He introduced me to the Rutgers Squash Club. The club met every Friday and we played. At one point, a team was formed and we played a hardball match against Steven’s Tech. I don’t recall the outcome of the match (I think we won) but I did horribly. In my defense, it was the first and only time I’ve played a hardball match. Moving ahead twenty-five years, I discovered Lifetime Fitness, a nationwide facility that its squash friendly. The two locations near where I live have four courts each and it was the sound of a softball squash ball hitting the front wall that convinced me to join. Since then, I’ve been playing regularly and I’ve introduced my son to the sport. He wants to go pro and that has brought my story back around to the present. <o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Cambria; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Cambria; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">As part of the squash programming at Lifetime, where my son takes group and private lessons and competes as a member of the Lifetime Squash Team, there was a weeklong camp with James Willstrop coaching the first two days and Miguel Angel Rodriguez leading the rest of the week. Willstrop is a former world number one and is currently ranked at nineteen. Rodriguez is currently ranked at number nine and both have won some of the sport’s most coveted titles. My son is enrolled in the camp but there were also adult clinics being run. <o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Cambria; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Cambria; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">On the first night, Willstrop ran an intense 90-minute session. There were twelve adults and we were split into groups of three based on our skill level. We did game-like drills that forced us to focus on specific skills or situations and Willstrop rotated between the courts and assessed and gave pointers. I’ve met and spoken with some squash pros before this and I mean more than “Can I have your autograph?” or “Can we get a picture?” I’ve had chats with Tarek Momen (world number three) and his wife, Raneem El Wellily, (current world number one). </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpJcOZsi2QR14J0l5XG8QOJiZbYarpGAmGpQajghl_lDI3ryJ55Rs34tIE2icOMQjS1kK54HkZzGkVxzWohZA3A9BJfRa86q3dIBlZ1E627sEcSCUJL2dTiz5Ax2yuOxuoNrjhw4oBMs2xDoFDVmyQGRecpRZAlchbGBta9GrmpNXtSCNYoPDIBhwpTA/s1600/IMG_2770.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="409" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpJcOZsi2QR14J0l5XG8QOJiZbYarpGAmGpQajghl_lDI3ryJ55Rs34tIE2icOMQjS1kK54HkZzGkVxzWohZA3A9BJfRa86q3dIBlZ1E627sEcSCUJL2dTiz5Ax2yuOxuoNrjhw4oBMs2xDoFDVmyQGRecpRZAlchbGBta9GrmpNXtSCNYoPDIBhwpTA/w307-h409/IMG_2770.JPG" width="307" /></a></div><br />I’ve had several chats with Nick Matthew (former world number one and three time world champion). My son has taken Nick’s camp and he will do so again this summer, this time for two weeks. One of those weeks, the camp’s guest head coaches will be Laura Massaro (former world number one and former world champion) and her husband, Danny, with whom I had lunch at last January’s Tournament of Champions at the Nick Matthew Academy reception in New York City. My son and I also had lessons at The Charing Cross Sports Centre in London with Abid Khan, also a PSA-ranked squash pro. The session on 24 June, however, was the first time I had coaching - okay, maybe coaching is pushing it but I can at least say instruction – from a PSA-squash player who had reached the top of the ranking. Reminder, Willstrop is a former number one. <o:p></o:p><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Cambria; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Cambria; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">As the evening went on, jumping from one paired or group drill to another, I visibly noticed some improvements in my technique and I felt myself getting better. I grew more consistent with my backhand, remembering to cock my wrist and keep my racquet head up. Willstrop went around and corrected, suggested, and encouraged and it was absolutely brilliant. I could almost feel the new crevices of knowledge and muscle memory forming in my brain. I help coach my son on the squash court and I coach or have coached other sports, I have a Master’s Degree in Coaching and Sports Administration, and I am a Health and Physical Education teacher so grasping sports skills and concepts has always been fairly easy for me and during this clinic it was like Willstrop translated a foreign language into one I can understand. That’s how amazing he is and how simple yet enlightening the drills were. Moreover, with Willstrop being patient, generous, and a gentleman, it wasn’t hard to open my eyes. While my own game was improving, however, it’s really because of my son why all of this is important. He wants to be a pro and he wants to be world champion. Anything I can do to help him achieve that, well, it’s the minimum a father can do. That’s why I signed up for this clinic and the one to follow with Rodriguez.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Cambria; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Cambria; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">Towards the end of the Willstrop session, I was moved up a court/level and played ‘King of the Court’ with two higher-level players. I was so inspired that I dare say I held my own. When Willstrop joined us, I served from the left box and he hit me with a perfect high and deep rail that I had no chance on. In plopped perfectly into the back right corner and all I could do was swing at it, clipping the glass back wall on my stroke. The next cycle, again from the left box, I went with a high and deep lob serve. Even though Willstrop is 6’4”, I felt it was a better option than serving something that he’d just blast into the corner for a trickle boast winner. Willstrop was kind and returned with a high pancake that I pounced on and countered with a drop shot. If I may say so, it was a really good drop but, in real life, I’d never have had the chance to take it and, if I would, I’d never have won it because Willstrop would’ve come up and hit me with crosscourt winner or lob or another drop and make look like the hacker I am. On paper, though, I won a point off a former world number one. Ha ha! There’s no proof, however, except for the eyewitness accounts of the two other guys on the court, Willstrop himself, and my son’s coach. If they don’t corroborate my point, it’ll forever be my Loch Ness. All kidding aside, though, just being on court with Willstrop made me feel like a squash player. <o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Cambria; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Cambria; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">In my fifty years on this planet, I’ve lived on two continents and three countries. I’ve visited numerous other countries and I’ve had a lot of really cool experiences and met some really amazing people. This clinic, however, as a squash player, an amateur squash coach, the father of a squash player, and human being has been one of the best and most meaningful and one of those I will remember vividly however many years I have left on this earth. Most places mainly offer squash programs for kids. Lifetime and its squash staff, Andy and Phil, and Willstrop for his generosity of knowledge, time, and spirit – stepping in for former world number one and former world champion, Gregory Gaultier, who had to withdraw due to injury – and Rodriguez have made it possible for hackers like me and, of course, the elite players at our club, to get this unique experience. For some of us, it may be a once in a lifetime experience. For others, perhaps it opens doors to more and bigger experiences on the squash court. For me, it made me feel like I can be a better player and a better coach to my son. <o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Cambria; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Cambria; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">On the second night, Willstrop had another ninety-minute session in which those who signed up got to play against him. I didn’t stay to watch that but the camp coaches told me all about it the next day and how much of a blast the participants had playing against a former world number one and one of the best to ever play the game. I could only imagine it, looking ahead to night three when I was slated to have a run around with Rodriguez on night three. Rodriguez, nicknamed ‘The Colombian Cannonball,’ had two hours set for the run around. The first hour was reserved for the top players, of which there were three, and the second hour for those a little below. I was in the second group, naturally, and looking at them warm up and having watched some of them play in tournaments and casual club play, I wondered if they ought to be in group one. <o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Cambria; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Cambria; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">As group one played, games to seven in rotation with Rodriguez staying on, I was inspired, amazed at the competitiveness of our club players, and scared as hell. All sorts of scary thought took me over – I’m going to embarrass myself and get laughed off the court, I’m going to have a heart attack, I’m going to blow my knee out again or re-aggravate my ankle. After moments of dread, I resorted to my black belt training and began to breathe. I got on an empty court with my son and hit. <o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Cambria; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Cambria; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">Then it was my turn. I was the last in my group in rotation and, as a result, was the last to play Rodriguez that night, which was probably fitting since I was definitely the weakest of all eight players. As soon as I got on court, all my fears vanished. Rodriguez is a gentleman. He greeted me with a firm handshake, a friendly smile, introduced himself and said “Mui bien.” We did a short knock up then we played. He was gracious and played challenging shots for me and played to my level. I felt like I was my son and he was son’s coach when I watch them on the court. He gave me a let ball when in real life it was a winner. He coached me as we played; telling me when I hit a good shot and when I could still get the ball. On the let, I ran into him –one of my fears of the night; that I would be the one to injure him. Instead, my 5’11” much heavier person was stopped in his tracks by this 5’5” brick wall. In the end, I had two games with him to nine points and, looking back on the videos, both went 9-4. He was kind and made me look better than I am and didn’t make me feel like I didn’t belong. <o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Cambria; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Cambria; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">These two up close experiences with Willstrop and Rodriguez are two I will never forget. As much as I have to thank Lifetime, the coaches, Willstrop, and Rodriguez, I have to thank my son. If he weren’t serious about squash and didn’t want to be a pro, we probably wouldn’t have enrolled in these events. To share these moments with him are priceless. Hearing his voice in the videos cheering me on, the voice of God in a father’s ears. What’s more is to see these pros in a different light. Seeing them on Squash TV or live at the Tournament of Champions is one thing. To see them up close as people is another. Willstrop is open and generous with his time and knowledge. Rodriguez lives in the moment. In the sessions I saw him run on his first day, he was the one who started taking pictures. He pulled out his camera before any us, relishing the experience as much as the campers and adult players did. At two different photo opportunities, both my son and I got to take pictures with his phone. How crazy is that? Would you ever imagine it? I’m an Arsenal fan but can’t ever imagine being in a position to hold, say, Hector Bellerin’s or Alexandre Lacazette’s mobile phone to take pictures of him with his fans and at his request no less. <o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Cambria; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Cambria; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">On night four, Rodriguez played against Faraz Khan, the 122<sup>nd</sup>ranked PSA player, and Ayush Menon, the number one U19 US boy in exhibition matches. Top-level squash, basically, in my backyard. Can’t beat it. In the first match, Rodriguez bested Menon 2-0 (11-3, 11-3) although Menon showed some good play and was as much an inspiration to the juniors who were watching as Rodriguez was. The next match was an all-pro affair, again played to best-out-of-three, with Khan taking on The Colombian Cannonball. With Menon having already lost, it was up to Khan to try to restore some American and New Jersey pride (both Menon and Khan are from New Jersey). It was tight going in the first game, with both players showing the quality of their professional training and experience, but in the end Rodriguez won the first game 11-7. In the second, Rodriguez was up 10-7 with match ball in hand but Khan regained his poise pulled back to 10-all. With both players exchanging rails on the left wall, Khan attempted to change pace and pulled off a crosscourt drop that hit the tin giving Rodriguez an 11-10 lead and another attempt to serve or the match. He prevailed and won 12-10. <o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Cambria; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Cambria; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">Lifetime and its squash program, it should be noted, didn’t just run these events as an option for parents to send their children in the summer or to boost its squash profile and program. As part of the evening’s festivities, a silent auction was held for an autographed James Willstrop racquet made by Unsquashable and currently unavailable in the United States. A lottery raffle, for $10 a ticket, was also held. The prize was the racquet Willstrop used for the camp. All proceeds, with no money going to any of the players, goes to Street Squash. Street Squash is an organization whose mission is to provide support to inner youth, particularly in Harlem (NY) and Newark (NJ), with resources to succeed. One of those resources is to expose them to as many new experiences as possible and squash is one of those experiences. <o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Cambria; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Cambria; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">Shortly after his arrival, I got to take a picture of Khan with my son and chat with him. He asked about my son and how long he’s been playing. He also asked about my own squash experience. At the end of the event, just as we were leaving, Khan wished my son good luck with his squash pursuits. Just another example of the generosity of spirit and class of the pros Lifetime brings to its members. The coaches have told me that more exciting programs are schedule in the near future with other top players and coaches (I’m not at liberty to say whom they’re trying to bring in) coming in as the featured guests but from the names that were mentioned this squash-playing writer is very excited. Personally, I’d love to see them bring in Nick Matthew, Tarek Momen, Saurav Ghosal, Max Lee, Camille, Serme, Laura Massaro, Amanda Sobhy, and Nicol David; favourites of mine, great players and, from the interactions and conversations I’ve had with some of them, top class individuals.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Cambria; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Cambria; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">Whatever the effects – immediate or long lasting - this week will have on my son and I, only time will tell. In the meantime, I say thank you. Thank you, Lifetime. Thank you, Andy and Phil. Thank you, James. Thank you, Miguel. At the start of the week, watching the others warm up, I felt like I shouldn’t be there. For the most part, I play in the safe confines of my club early in the morning. I spend some time training my son, duplicating drills he does with Andy and adding some from websites like squashskills.com, then playing a match or two to end the session. Sometimes we play with the scoring rules I grew up with – nine points, you have to serve to score. I like doing this because I believe it teaches my son how to earn a point as opposed to winning points off his opponent’s errors. So, enrolling in adult clinics like the ones with Willstrop and Rodriguez was something out of my usual modus operandi. Filled with excitement and equal amounts of trepidation, at the end of the first night, I felt I’d held my own. I’m no way, suddenly, any kind of top player at my club but I feel more a member of the squash community than I did before and that’s because quality human beings like James, Andy, Phil, and Miguel nurture that community and welcome aging and injured and out-of-shape hackers like me. <o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Cambria; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><i> </i></p>Juan Rader Bashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01739963068505883037noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1044683768110855347.post-11248980186700447962017-06-19T15:04:00.003-04:002017-06-19T15:04:54.221-04:00Knee Saga<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: blue;">19 June, 2017<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;">KNEE SAGA<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;">I have depressive tendencies. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;">I haven’t been diagnosed but I’ve read enough to see a lot
of the characteristics of a depressive in myself; things like being alone,
losing interest in stuff, not wanting to go anywhere or do anything, feelings
of hopelessness, to name a few. I also tend to see things darkly. That,
however, might just be a practical approach to things. I’d rather prepare for
the worst so that I’m ready for it if or when happens – in my mind, it’s more likely
when than if. If it doesn’t happen, that’s a bonus. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;">With the ongoing saga that is my knee, my depressive
triggers have resurfaced. I had a follow-up appointment with my ortho last
Tuesday and he examined my knee, which was feeling pretty good. During the
examination, a sharp pain emanated from within the joint. As the days passed
since seeing him, the pain has gotten stronger. (Over the weekend, though, it’s
subsided but that’s because I’ve been off my leg for a lot of the time.) My
doctor ordered an MRI that I got last Saturday. He also used the word
‘surgery.’ It’d be a 30-minute arthroscopic procedure but with a four to eight
week recovery. He said at four weeks I’d be walking again, although not any
long distances, and at eight weeks I’d be ‘normal.’ Whatever that means, I’m
not entirely sure. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;">The last few days, my mind and my heart have been in a
whirlwind of uncertainty. I coach volleyball. I don’t do a lot of the drills or
jumps and runs I put the team through but I do need to be able to instruct and
demonstrate. I need to be on my feet on court. I also have a summer job that
pays hourly and I need the money. Knee surgery now would impact upon both of
these things and not in a positive way. With a four to eight week recovery
period, if I got the surgery now, I’d be better by mid-August. There’s plenty
of volleyball left to coach and I can continue to prepare for the sixth degree
black belt test in December I’m trying to get approved for. Getting the surgery
now, however, would also mean no income because I wouldn’t be able to
work.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On the flip side, and if the
diagnosis isn’t so bad that I <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">have</i> to
undergo the surgery now and I can put it off, I could possibly go about my
summer as normal and get the surgery after the volleyball season has concluded
in November or, maybe, even after the sixth <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">dan
</i>test a month later.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;">Deep down, I know I’ll end up not taking or not being able
to take test and that pisses me off and brings me down. I’ll either be laid up
recovering, my knee will be in even worse shape, and/or I won’t be prepared.
Since I was a kid, there are two things I’ve always wanted to be – a writer and
a martial artist. I’ve been both to some level of success. In the 1990s, I
managed to sell articles to various martial arts magazines and get paid for
them. I’ve published a book and gotten a touch of respect and notoriety because
of it. That’s not enough, however. I want to be a working writer. As for the
martial arts, I’ve had several good years of training, teaching and competing.
I had my own <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">dojang</i> (training hall)
twice in my life but, more than that, I’ve tried to live my life and guide my
actions according to the warrior ways prescribed by the codes of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Bushido, </i>The <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Samurai</i> and The <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Hwarang</i>.
Even without a dojang now, I try to train at my wife’s dance studio whenever I
can and, through my daily actions at work, on the volleyball court and more, I
try to live according to what my black belt symbolises. Thankfully, so far, I
am able to absorb and accept the situation I am in because of what I’ve learnt
and taught as a martial artist.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: blue;">For now, I’ll use my indomitable spirit and of perseverance
to forge ahead and battle this renewed opponent, my knee, and its allies of
age, injury and life. Throughout the battle, I hope I make the right decisions
on when to get my surgery, if I do actually need it, and my training for the sixth
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">dan</i> test.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;">Thanks for stopping by. </span><o:p></o:p></div>
Juan Rader Bashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01739963068505883037noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1044683768110855347.post-68921409295757943072017-06-02T20:05:00.002-04:002017-06-02T20:05:48.129-04:00Making Choice - Life 2 Juan 0<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><span style="color: red;">Making
Choices - Life 2 Juan 0<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><span style="color: red;">2 June, 2017 <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><span style="color: red;">Last autumn, I reinjured the knee I damaged in 1996. I was doing a
lot of running, getting back in shape and training towards earning a guaranteed
spot in the 2017 New York City Marathon (NYCM). I’d begun my training the
previous April and was in a good groove. As a result of my injury, I had to forego
my 2017 NYCM dreams. I followed my doctor’s instructions, did the PT (physical
therapy) and slowly my knee was getting better. Before long, I was doing some
cardio training (no running) and playing squash. Throughout all of it, I’d do
some flexibility training and some light Taekwondo training when I could
squeeze it in. I don’t have my own school anymore and I coach volleyball from
August to November so finding a time and place wasn’t - and isn’t - always the
easiest thing. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><span style="color: red;">Recently, I’d gotten into another good groove. I was training
regularly, eating better, and dropping weight. Then I discovered that the
Kukkiwon (the world governing body of Taekwondo) will be holding special
promotion tests in the United States throughout the year in various locations.
One of them is taking place in New Jersey this December. This coming August, I
will have met the time requirement to test for my sixth degree black belt and I’m
using the test as impetus to up my training; all while monitoring the strength
of my knee. I don’t know if my application will be accepted and, depending on
my knee, if I’ll even be able to perform. If I am, I hope I am able to perform
that deems me worthy in the eyes of the examiners, and my own eyes, to be
awarded my sixth <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">dan</i>. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><span style="color: red;">As life would have it, I reaggravated my knee two Sundays ago
while mowing the lawn - our uneven, undulating lawn. I maneuvered the lawn
mower to turn left but it got caught on one of the bumps and didn’t turn. My
knee did, however. All this after completing the <a href="http://www.euflexxa.com/">Euflexxa</a> treatments my doctor recommended.
So, I went back to the doctor, got another cortisone shot and was given a pair
of loaner crutches. I’ve stopped using the crutches but I still have a minor
limp and there’s still a little stiffness and an occasional shooting pain. I’m
hoping in a week or so that the pain and limp will vanish enough that I can get
back to some cardio and, eventually, light then regular Taekwondo training. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><span style="color: red;">For now and for the next six months, that’s where my focus has to
be. I have to give up squash, which is going to be a killer because I enjoy it,
it’s a great workout and it’s my son’s and my ‘thing’ together. Without a
school and master to train under, I need these opportunities like the Kukkiwon
special promotion test and preparing for it is going to take up much of my
extra energy and time. Like the old Chinese adage says, “One has to eat bitter
to taste sweet.” It’s a choice I hate having to make but it’s one that has to
be made. As much as I love squash and athletic pursuits, Taekwondo is a martial
art and martial arts are about life. They’re not just the physical attributes
one develops through practicing them. If you’re reading this and you’re someone
who knows me well, you know that since 1985 I am and have always been a martial
artist before most everything else. You’ll also know that I didn’t get into
martial arts training for the physical benefits but for the psychological,
spiritual and emotional ones. If I could have a regular place to train, I would
be willing to give up almost everything else to train daily even if my knee
wasn’t injured. The other option, albeit a forced one, is to choose to hang up
my squash racquet and my black belt but that would be completely contrary to what
martial arts are all about. Quitting martial arts just because my physical
abilities have waned decision would be akin to giving up on who <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">I</i> am and what I’ve believed in the last
thirty-two years. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><span style="color: red;">So, while life leads two-nil in our current match, I’m hoping to
pull a goal back in December. And after that, who knows? Maybe I’ll find an
equalizer and even a winner. In the meantime, trying to see a positive out of
all of this, I’m hoping that my predicament can be a lesson my son can learn as
well; that one has to make sacrifices and choices that he might won’t like or
want to make in order to get what he wants or needs. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
Juan Rader Bashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01739963068505883037noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1044683768110855347.post-37027759426347457192017-02-08T18:42:00.001-05:002017-02-08T18:42:40.358-05:00Chuck Norris<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: red;">Chuck
Norris <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: red;">This
coming March 10, Chuck Norris will turn seventy-seven. Two Tuesdays ago, I
turned forty-eight. Both of us are martial artists, masters even, specializing,
or at least, getting our foundation in Korean martial arts. I’m not comparing
us. Not by any means. He’s a champion, successful, a legend and pioneer. Me,
I’m small fry. But, in a roundabout sort of way, Master Norris has been a part
of my martial arts life from the beginning. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: red;">I
began my formal martial arts training in 1985 when I was training in Shotokan
Karate. A friend from school and I went to take a class, a semi-private class,
given by a journalist friend of his father. At the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">dojo</i> was another Hong Kong-based journalist who was a mutual friend
of my friend’s father and my father. My friend’s father worked in government
publications and my father was (and still is) a journalist. To be completely
honest, it wasn’t a class per se. The two men were there to work out. It was a
Sunday morning and my friend’s dad’s friend said to just come around and he’ll
show us the basics and give us an intro-type workout. With the other man there,
a higher-ranking student and, based on his black belt rank, a <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">sensei</i> (master), we got a proper intro
to Karate<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">. </i>Although there for his own
training, in true black belt fashion, he gave us his time and passed down a
little of what he’d been taught. This man won’t likely remember me but when I
was younger, even before this impromptu karate class, I’d called this man
‘Uncle Alan.’ Some of you reading will know who this is. Anyway, Uncle Alan
showed us attention stance (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">musubi-dachi</i>),
front stance (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">seisan-dachi</i>) and low
block (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">gedan-uke</i>). He showed us how
to travel in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">seisan-dachi</i> and how to
turn. Both me taught us how to bow. From then on, I was hooked. I wanted to be
a <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">martial artist.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: red;">Around
the same time, the summer of 1985, my friend, his cousin and I went to the cinema
to watch a Bruce Lee movie. It was <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The
Way Of The Dragon </i>(released in 1972 and in the United States as <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Return Of The Dragon</i>). This is the one
in which he goes to Rome and the one Bruce Lee wrote, starred in, and directed.
(You know, I think he might have even produced it too.) It was also Master
Norris’s introduction to the world. He played Colt, the American champion for
hire. At the end, he and Bruce have an excellent showdown full of skill,
respect and honour.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: red;">Move
on a couple of years and I’m living in The United States and Master Norris has
movie after movie coming to a theatre near you. Some of them were <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Delta Force, Code Of Silence, Missing In
Action, Firewalker, Invasion U.S.A., Hero And The Terror, Sidekicks</i>. Then, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Walker, Texas Ranger</i> came on TV. I’ve
also read his two autobiographies – <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The
Secret Of Inner Strength</i> and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Against
All Odds</i>. All this time, I was training in Taekwondo, getting my own black
belts and opening my first (sadly it failed) <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">dojang</i>. Nonetheless, Master Norris was there. Some years after
that, I saw him in an infomercial for the Total Gym<sup><span style="font-size: 9.0pt;">TM</span></sup>. I almost bought it (If it was good enough for him, it’d
be good enough for me) but didn’t because there wasn’t space in my flat and I
already belonged to a gym. At that time, the late 1990s, I remember being
amazed at how fit he still was at almost sixty years old. I remember saying
then, “If I could be half as fit as he is now when I am fifty, I’ll be happy.”
Sadly, due to a mix of circumstances – not least of which were cumulative
moments of weakness and my surrender to depressive thoughts of constant failure
– I am less than half as fit as Master Norris was then. And I’m turning fifty
in less than two years! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: red;">Master
Norris has, in more recent years, undergone hip surgery and gotten older, yet
he’s still in good shape and he’s still kicking. You might have seen the
commercial in which he crescent kicks a saltshaker to the face of a man after
that man’s friend tosses the saltshaker to him. He’s also inspired a series of
websites listing ‘facts’ about how tough he is based on the characters from his
movies. They’re all in good fun and I believe Master Norris was quoted as
saying that he was okay with them. Some of my favourites are: “Chuck Norris counted to infinity. Twice.” and
“Chuck Norris can hear sign language.” Then there’s, “When the Boogeyman goes
to sleep every night he checks his closet for Chuck Norris.” I got these from the
website <a href="http://chucknorrisjokes.linkpress.info/top-100">http://chucknorrisjokes.linkpress.info/top-100</a><span id="goog_1863335507"></span><span id="goog_1863335508"></span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/"></a>
but there are others.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"><span style="color: red;">So, I do still have time to get back my
mojo and become the martial artist I should be. But I don’t have a lot of time
to get back there by fifty. Time goes by very fast as one gets older. It does
for me, anyway.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To be in half as good,
or better, shape as Master Norris was in 1998 and get back into being a
fulltime martial artist. Those are the goals.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"><span style="color: red;">In some ways, I feel like this is my last
chance; that if I don’t do this, everything else I shoot for will be missed yet
again and I’ll never truly be the best version of me I can be. But if there’s
one thing going for me, I’ve never quit anything and I <i>am</i> a martial artist. It’s the source of my power. I can’t fly or
read minds and I don’t have x-ray vision. What I do have is a black belt with
hours of training. I may not have trained like I used to in a long time but the
lessons learnt from all the kicks and punches and falls are longer lasting than
the ability to kick, punch and fall. I’ve
learnt fighting spirit, a warrior’s spirit. I’ve developed an indomitable
spirit – maybe to the point of stubbornness and delusion – but I have it
nonetheless. It may not always win but it’s there. It’s dormant and I have to
wake it up. Master Chuck Norris and the examples he has left for me and younger
generations of longevity and consistency and being a black belt versus wearing
a black belt will be its alarm clock. Thank you, Master Norris. Thank you, Sir.</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
Juan Rader Bashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01739963068505883037noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1044683768110855347.post-48583887918833568032017-02-01T20:17:00.000-05:002017-02-01T20:17:10.421-05:00Wishing Has Value<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: red;">How far back would you go?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: red;">There are times in our lives – I admire those who’ve never
felt this way – when we want to change our lot in life. It might be everything,
it might be one thing, it might be somewhere in between. To do that, we might
wish for a lottery win. In some cases, we might wish to be able to go back in
time and change the course of events in our lives that led us to where we are
into events that lead us to where we wish we were. Sometimes, we wish for that
to come with the knowledge that we made the change. At other times, we wish for
complete ignorance so we don’t suffer the heartache of losing the good things
we have. I mean, it can’t all be bad, can it? Maybe <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">bad</i> is the wrong word. Maybe <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">disappointing</i>
or <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">unfulfilling</i> or <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">empty</i> are better.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: red;">Some people would stop me right here and say all someone
needs to do is trust in God and leave everything in His hands. Perhaps that is
so. But, being human beings – flawed and imperfect – it’s only natural and, I
think, even good to let our minds wander and wonder ‘what if.’ And that brings
me to the question at the top of this post. How far back would you go?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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<span style="color: red;">For me, there are several times I might jump back to and, in
doing so, I would prefer to <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>go with the
knowledge of everything that had happened to me in the previous future (my
present reality). I would try to steer things so I’m where I want to be and
what I want to be but in a way that I still get the good things I had before
going back. Yeah, I’m greedy but why not? This entire notion is a greedy one,
after all, isn’t it?<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: red;">So, one of the places I might jump back to would be when I
moved to America. What I would change:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
would return to Hong Kong and finish my secondary schooling there. Then, I
might come here with a full sense of closure and completion of my Hong Kong
youth. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: red;">Or…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: red;">I would go back to when I was applying to college. I wouldn’t
have gone into teaching, knowing what I know. I would’ve gone into
Communications like I originally thought I would in 1983 when my brother was
going through the college process and I was reading through his college books.
This might get me closer to being a working writer today.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: red;">Or…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: red;">I would’ve gone into the Air Force as I almost did when I
was eighteen. I would’ve ROTC’d, flown and retired after my seven years. This
might’ve given me a sense of patriotism, fraternity and a place to belong.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: red;">Or…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: red;">I would’ve taken a leave from school and trained hard core
in Taekwondo when it was announced that Taekwondo was going to be an Olympic
sport. I remember having that chat with my college girlfriend. She was
indifferent to the idea. I might not have gotten on any kind of team to fight
at The Olympics but, then again, who knows, right? Even without this, I became
a martial artist in real life (less so lately though) but this might have
solidified my place in that world. I might have made better connections and never
stopped. I might have become a fulltime instructor. Still to this day, Martial
Arts is THE single best thing I’ve ever gotten into. Like I told my son the
morning after I turned forty-eight, I’d give up almost everything<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>– squash, my marathon finishes, my volleyball
successes, some relationships, to name a few – to have a place and be able to
train everyday and get back to being the fifth <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">dan</i> I am supposed to be.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: red;">Or…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: red;">I’d have gone to school at sixteen when I moved to the US,
done my last two years of American high school and, perhaps, America would feel
more like home than it actually does today. As it was, I ended up taking a year
off because I was supposed to get my Green Card and go back to Hong Kong to
finish school. After that, I’d come back to the US and do college and live in
America.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: red;">Or…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: red;">Well, I could go on. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: red;">The thing is, I consider myself an average guy and there are
many aspects of my life that I wish I could go back and change. Some of you
reading this might be average Joes and Janes too and wish you could go back as
well. Sadly, we can’t go back and we have to deal with our lot in life, hopefully
get support from those around us and change the things we can in a way that
works. Good or bad, as the saying goes, “it is what it is.” It is nice to dream,
however, and imagine what life would be like had things gone the ways we wish
they had. And, it’s not all <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">boo hooey</i>,
pining and sad. You see, even though the motivation to wish for the ability to
go back in time and make these changes stems likely from a missing piece in our
lives, wishing and imagining are also ways to remind us of our goals and
dreams. It reminds us that, while things may not be what we want them to be, we
don’t have to accept our lot in life. Wishing reignites that desire to be
something bigger than what we are, to reset our goals, to start believing and
re-believing in ourselves, and to make change. Truth be told, we might not
always get there. I may never get an agent and become a working writer but I’ll
be damned if I ever give up. I’d rather fail knowing I never quit than quit,
forever wonder and live with endless regret and doubt.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: red;">So, my two cents’ worth: Never stop dreaming. Never stop
fighting. And take those time travels as often as you need to. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
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Juan Rader Bashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01739963068505883037noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1044683768110855347.post-8866253845645447152017-01-14T21:48:00.002-05:002017-01-14T21:48:36.502-05:00A Year In The Life - 2016<span style="color: red;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: justify;">Another year has come to an end which means it’s time for my annual look back at some of the major events and moments of the last twelve months; the ones I was directly involved in, the ones I witnessed personally and/or the national and global events that had a an impact on me. Good or bad, they made a lasting impression and may have even changed the way I think about and look at things as a man, as a husband and as a father. Listed in chronological order, here they are.</span><br style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: justify;" /></span><br />
<ol style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; list-style-image: initial !important; list-style-position: outside !important; margin: 5px 0px !important; overflow: visible !important; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 2.3em !important; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: justify;">
<li style="background-image: none; list-style: decimal outside !important; margin: 3px 0px 0px !important; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 5px !important; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span style="color: red;"><strong>Mini-College Reunion (January): </strong> I had one of the best times of recent years in January and it came, best of all, on my birthday weekend. I met up with two college chums for lunch. One of them, Vaughn, I’d seen semi-regularly for an annual tennis match and meal after graduating from Rutgers in ’91. Unfortunately, fighting the nemesis called Life, those annual get-togethers ended in the late 1990s/early 2000s. The other friend, Heament, I hadn’t seen since before graduating and he was a year ahead of me. I became close with both of them but with Heament there was something extra special; no offense to Vaughn. I was already a US citizen by the time college started but I felt then–as I still do now–like a stranger in my own land. Maybe for immigrants, America never really becomes ours. Anyway, Heament is from Singapore and I am from Hong Kong; two historic, business, academic centres and cultural centres in Asia with similar backgrounds. As a result, Heament and I became fast friends and, to this day, I still look up to him as an elder brother of sorts or <em style="position: relative;">kuya</em>, as we say in Tagalog. So, when Heament contacted me that he was going to be in New Jersey and asked to meet up, I agreed with more than an ounce of enthusiasm. To add to it, I took my son along so he could see, again, the town where his dad went to college and so he could meet two of his dad’s dearest friends. We met in downtown New Brunswick and had lunch at a local restaurant/bar; a new place that wasn’t around when we went to Rutgers. As it goes with good friends, we picked up right where we left off, poking fun and doing so with ease. We talked about our families, joked at the lack of speed of the wait staff (in fairness only one waiter was on shift), shared work stories and had a great time reuniting. We left if that we needed to do it again, sooner than later and not after another twenty-five years or so. If we do, I’ll be sure to let you know how it goes.</span></li>
<li style="background-image: none; list-style: decimal outside !important; margin: 3px 0px 0px !important; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 5px !important; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span style="color: red;"><strong>Asian Books Blog (February): </strong>Last year, Asian Books Blog came across my book, contacted and interviewed me on the writing process, my book and on self-publishing. That was three years after my novel, <em style="position: relative;">Back Kicks and Broken Promises, </em>came out so it was with surprise and enthusiasm that I agreed to their interview request. As a result of this interview, my book became eligible for the 2015 Asian Books Blog Book of the Lunar Year Award. My book didn’t win but it did garner some respect. At one point, early on, <em style="position: relative;">Back Kicks</em> was in the lead on votes. Either way, win or lose, this experience reminded me that there <em style="position: relative;">is</em> an audience for my work. My writing won’t appeal to everyone but there are those to whom it will. Write on!</span></li>
<li style="background-image: none; list-style: decimal outside !important; margin: 3px 0px 0px !important; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 5px !important; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span style="color: red;"><strong>Commitment to Fitness (March): </strong>With no adequate place and lacking the proper equipment and partners to train in Taekwondo (a man can’t live on forms alone; well, at least this man, who’s been a forms champion, can’t), I made a decision this year to put Taekwondo on the back burner and get back into shape. That meant (still means) losing at least ninety pounds, getting back to structured and regular cardiovascular and resistance training, improving my diet, and regaining my flexibility. In March, I signed up for a 10K with three weeks to train. I trained, ran the race, albeit slowly but at the level of fitness I was at the time, and made a commitment to run the 2017 New York City Marathon. As a member of the New York Road Runners, the organisers of the NYCM, I could get guaranteed entry if I completed nine qualifying races and volunteered at one by New Year’s Eve. I was mentally, emotionally, and physically ready to regain my life.</span></li>
<li style="background-image: none; list-style: decimal outside !important; margin: 3px 0px 0px !important; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 5px !important; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span style="color: red;"><strong>Almost losing my son (April):</strong> I thought I lost my boy the morning of our final day in Boracay (an island resort–some say THE island resort–in The Philippines) in April. He was in the ocean, with my wife, about one hundred metres from the beach, and they were Paddle Boarding. My son veered into deeper, rougher water into a maze of moored and traveling motorboats. My wife sat on her board watching him, presumably ready to jump up and get him if she felt the need to. The guide from whom we rented the boards rescued him after he saw me enter the water and begin swimming out to him. Thank you, Lord for protecting him. There's nothing as wrenching like the emptiness inside when you see your child in distress and, potentially, fatal distress at that. I’m a competent swimmer with good endurance but I’m not fast by any means and I wonder if I would’ve made it out to him. From where I was, it may have looked worse than it did but, either way, as a parent, I was reminded not to take anything for granted when it comes to him. When he got back to the beach, the guide pulling him in by the attached cord, my son hopped off and took my hand. That touch was likely the most meaningful and best human contact I got all of last year.</span></li>
<li style="background-image: none; list-style: decimal outside !important; margin: 3px 0px 0px !important; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 5px !important; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span style="color: red;"><strong>My son’s First Communion (May):</strong> I wouldn’t say that I’m a Holy Roller but I still observe the basic tenets of the Catholicism I was raised with. As a result, my wife (who is also Catholic) and I are raising our son as one so he has some moral and spiritual foundation. So, my son going through his First Communion–and some months earlier his First Confession; both Sacraments that help define Catholicism from other religions and other forms of Christianity–did have profound impact on me this year. For one thing, it brought back some memories of my on First Communion. For another, it got me thinking more deeply about the meaning of things in the Catholic religion and my relationship to it. </span></li>
<li style="background-image: none; list-style: decimal outside !important; margin: 3px 0px 0px !important; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 5px !important; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span style="color: red;"><strong>My son earning his Junior Black Belt (June):</strong> As a long-time martial artist and Taekwondoist, any time someone I know gets their black belt I am very excited and I welcome them to the fraternity of black belts. I refer to it as <em style="position: relative;">The Officer’s Club</em> and I can say that my son is, now, a Junior Officer. As a dad, I am very proud of him. As a martial artist, who still believes that getting involved in the martial arts in 1985 is still the best thing I’ve ever done, I am very supportive of him. I’ll admit, though, that there is a little bitter to the sweet of his accomplishment. As a Taekwondo dad, in addition to being tradition, it was also my dream to be my son’s teacher and to pass Taekwondo on to him. This is something that those who are not in the martial arts, at least not lifers anyway, don’t understand. Practice in martial arts is not a sport or just a physical pursuit. It is a way of life akin to a religion. Due to many different circumstances, sadly, I am not his teacher but I trust the instructors at the <em style="position: relative;">dojang</em> he does attend. In a year or so, my son will test for his ‘regular/non-junior’ black belt and there’ll be two Taekwondo back belts in The Bas Family.</span></li>
<li style="background-image: none; list-style: decimal outside !important; margin: 3px 0px 0px !important; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 5px !important; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span style="color: red;"><strong>‘Losing’ a Friend (June): </strong>I haven’t really lost a friend. No one died and I didn’t get into a relationship-ending fight with anyone. What did happen was that my friend, my <em style="position: relative;">work wife</em> actually, got a job closer to home. With texting, mobile phones, emails and Facebook, it’s very easy to stay in touch; unlike when I moved from Hong Kong to New Jersey and the only accessible ways of communicating were handwritten letters and expensive long-distance phone calls. Nonetheless, I miss her greatly. I have other friends at work but this one was, and is, special. Of course, we worked. We supported each other, were in the same department and helped create and maintain aspects of our departmental curricula that are still used today. We worked but it was her friendship and knowing that I’d see her that made work that much more meaningful. Not since my teenage years in Hong Kong, hanging out with basketball teammates and my best friend Nabeel; not since the late 1980s and early 1990s, forming a friendship with Ron as Taekwondo students and black belts; and not since my undergrad years, joining the Rutgers Squash Club and making friends with students from Singapore, namely Heament, have I felt that I had a friend; a best friend. Lu was that for me for twelve years and, while I am very happy for her and her family, it was bittersweet to walk through the gym and exit our school together for the last time in June. In addition to teaching together, having each other’s backs and making each other laugh, we coached volleyball together from 2004-2006. We were part-time running partners. She was one of the most supportive people around me when I published my debut novel and she’s seen me at my worst and at my best. So, if you haven’t gotten the gist yet, Lu was my bestie, my BFF. She’s right up there with Nabeel, Ron and Heament, the other people who’ve been and are best friends. I’ve met and known many people in my forty-seven years but none will be or have been as close to me as Nabeel, Ron, Heament and Lu. I love them all and, at least with regard to my daily work grind, I will miss Lu in abundance. </span></li>
<li style="background-image: none; list-style: decimal outside !important; margin: 3px 0px 0px !important; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 5px !important; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span style="color: red;"><strong>Mother-In-Law Scare (July): </strong>In 2015, my father-in-law passed away. He’d been sick, off-and-on, and in-and-out of the hospital a few times over the previous years. In July 2015, he got really sick, was hospitalised and died the following month. This past July, we all got a scare when my mother-in-law didn’t feel well and had to go to the hospital herself. She’d had a medical condition, without any resulting debilitation, and is doing well now but, a year after her husband’s death, it was with bated breath and stopped hearts that we-my wife, her brothers and sisters and I–received every text and phone call. It wasn’t the best month of our lives but, once again, it showed the power and love of family to rally and stick together. </span></li>
<li style="background-image: none; list-style: decimal outside !important; margin: 3px 0px 0px !important; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 5px !important; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span style="color: red;"><strong>Getting Injured (October): </strong>Well, I was on track, registered in all my races and ticking off one race after another. After about four races and five months, my left knee started to act up. I have a history of knee injuries but I figured the low-key walking/running I’d been doing would be fine. Well, to make a long story short, I ran my final race of 2016, hobbling and in pain, on October 30. For some weeks before that, I’d developed a limp, the pain had gotten worse and I feared for knee surgery. After the race, I finally (yes, I’m stubborn; I’m part German after all) went to see an ortho. I got a cortisone shot (my new fave!), did a stint of PT. Things are better now. I’m doing the PT on my own, I had a follow-up with the doctor after New Year and have been doing some very light cardio training and squash with my son. Running is out of the cards for now, as is full-on Taekwondo training. Instead, it’s rehab, get back to fitness, lose weight and then we’ll see. I was gutted not being able to finish my NYCM qualification and to get this injury setback. I’d lost over twelve pounds by the time I had to stop training and I’d cut my mile time by over a minute and a half. I know there are ways to bounce back. I knew better than to approach things the way I did. Next time, I’ll be more respectful of my body, more humble in the effort it takes to race (of which I do have some experience) and to remember that everyone has their own experience. There are individuals who’ve lost two or three hundred pounds after starting a walking/running program and drop down to, say, 180 or less. That worked for them and I thought it might work for me, as it has in the past, but it didn’t. Instead, I got injured and sidelined. </span></li>
<li style="background-image: none; list-style: decimal outside !important; margin: 3px 0px 0px !important; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 5px !important; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span style="color: red;"><strong>Trump (November): </strong>Well. What else is there to say, other than I’m hoping and praying that he doesn’t screw up the country, ruin families, turn us into a nation of fearful haters and that the next four years go by very quickly and that he doesn’t get reelected. It’s unsettling, though, that in 2016 someone who lobbied on a platform of division and fear got elected president. When I woke up the following morning and discovered that he was elected, I felt fear and uncertainty like I’d never felt before. I believe in the system that elects presidents in this country and I hope and pray Mr. Trump does a great job. If he doesn’t, he screws up this country and as an American citizen that affects me. However, with all of Mr. Trump’s brutish attitude and divisive rhetoric and hate mongering, I truly felt fear. And that fear hasn’t fully subsided. Those feelings have subsided but just a bit) but I still count down until we have someone else more sensible–Republic, Democrat or Independent– in The White House. </span></li>
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Juan Rader Bashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01739963068505883037noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1044683768110855347.post-34985649829432522492016-12-28T19:32:00.001-05:002016-12-28T19:32:37.749-05:00Top Ten Books Of 2016<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: blue;">My Top Ten Books of
2016<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="color: blue;">And, here it is. My list of the top ten books I read in
2016. If you follow my blog, you’ll know that I do this annually and that my
list is based on the books I read that year, regardless of the year in which a
book was published. Interestingly, 2016 saw me read more recently published
books (mostly 2015 and 2016) than I usually do. This year also drew me towards
reading more non-fiction books as well. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;">What gets a book on my top ten is the following criteria:
whether it changed a part of me or my life or how I look at life, the book’s
emotional impact on me, how unique and creative I though the book was. Each
book’s level of entertainment, education and ‘page turnability’ also determines
if it makse the list or not. And, again, as I say every year, this is purely my
subjective list. You may not like it and some of the books may be the kinds of
books that don’t normally draw you to them but they called to me and I gladly
shared a good part of my 2016 with them. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;">So, without further ado, here they are.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizjsY6C_s5GzUS3Qz3fNdDBWx9P1cdDpxn0MLxep9XQdb1NgT9Lp3Q3unkR9kErRv3zpu-66mYO_MkMxDTUa3zLoQQL16KD-D2VqAvr9AVoHjfOmqffSCzIBLhs57p7QgcRsXm-fiDejJm/s1600/51CsZ2AB7tL.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizjsY6C_s5GzUS3Qz3fNdDBWx9P1cdDpxn0MLxep9XQdb1NgT9Lp3Q3unkR9kErRv3zpu-66mYO_MkMxDTUa3zLoQQL16KD-D2VqAvr9AVoHjfOmqffSCzIBLhs57p7QgcRsXm-fiDejJm/s320/51CsZ2AB7tL.jpg" width="207" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: blue;">1. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Latinos of
Asia: How Filipinos Break The Rules of Race</i> by Anthony Christian Ocampo,
Ph.D. Stanford University Press, 2016.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;">2. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Wild Robot</i>
by Peter Brown. Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, 2016.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;">3. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Incensed</i> by Ed
Lin. Soho Crime, 2016.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;">4. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Arsene Wenger</i> by
John Cross. Simon & Schuster (UK), 2015.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: blue;">5. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Dog Man</i> by Dav
Pilkey. GRAPHIX, 2016.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;">6. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Sandwich Thief</i>
by Andre Marois, Patrick Doyon (illustrator). Chronicle Books, 2016.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;">7. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Descender, Volume
One: Tin Stars</i> by Jeff Lemire, Dustin Nguyen (illustrator). Image Comics,
2015.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;">8. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Two Years Eight
Months and Twenty-Eight Nights: A Novel</i> by Salman Rushdie. Random House,
2016.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;">9. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Futuristic Violence
and Fancy Suits </i>by David Wong (Jason Pargin). Thomas Dunne Books, 2015.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;">10. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Thank You Book
(Elephant & Piggie #25) </i>by Mo Willems. Disney-Hyperion, 2016.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;">Honourable mentions:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">One-Punch Man, Volume
One</i> by One, Yusuke Murata (illustrator). VIZ Media, 2015<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Captain Awesome and
the New Kid (Captain Awesome #3) </i>by Jim Kirby, George O’Connor
(illustrator). Little Simon, 2012.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
Juan Rader Bashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01739963068505883037noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1044683768110855347.post-66784106434033874262016-12-27T17:30:00.000-05:002016-12-27T17:30:17.035-05:00Carrie Fisher<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi49xI2Gt3DFku-_QPeAGDwqjIIXJoqzdLibLtMwakJljC4DWmEwtccxScwjt10tpovd5C6tr-nla8uGenhwFGMfypydV5FRaEggxpXK5Ekyszd4rOr862lB02Au4W_3UG4uAhBCxqROeOQ/s1600/Carrie+Fisher-feet.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi49xI2Gt3DFku-_QPeAGDwqjIIXJoqzdLibLtMwakJljC4DWmEwtccxScwjt10tpovd5C6tr-nla8uGenhwFGMfypydV5FRaEggxpXK5Ekyszd4rOr862lB02Au4W_3UG4uAhBCxqROeOQ/s1600/Carrie+Fisher-feet.jpg" /></a></div>
<h2>
Carrie Fisher </h2>
21 October, 1956 - 27 December, 2016<br />
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<span style="color: red;">I didn’t fully process Carrie Fisher’s death until a couple
of hours after I’d heard the news. When I first heard of her heart attack en route
from London back to The States, I prayed that there wouldn’t be any news of her
death for a very long time. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: red;">As it was, my wife was checking her Facebook account and announced
the news today as I was parking at an AMC movie theatre for the 1:35pm showing
of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Passengers</i>. Not until we pulled
into a Dunkin’ Donuts back in our town that it truly hit me. I was reading a
post on Facebook from <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Entertainment
Weekly </i>sharing the reactions of her death from many of her co-stars, family
members and friends. As I read their tweets and posts, waiting in the car for my
wife and son who had popped into Dunkin’ Donuts, tears formed in my eyes and I
instantly got that empty, lost feeling in my gut. The last time I recall
feeling this way for a celebrity and someone I didn’t actually know was when
Brandon Lee died in 1993. The first time I’d ever witnessed anyone tearing up and
feeling the impact of a celebrity’s death was in 1977 when Elvis died. After
that, it wasn’t until 1980 when I watched my sister breakdown when she heard
that John Lennon had been gunned down in New York City.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: red;">For some, Carrie Fisher may not have been as iconic as John
Lennon or Elvis Presley. For others, however, she may be a larger one. For me,
she’s right up there with the iconic of the icons. Carrie Fisher was a symbol
of my generation. In an era that saw a added push for ‘girl power’ way before
The Spice Girls, with movies like <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">9 to 5</i>,
with Sandra Day O’Connor becoming the first female justice in the US Supreme
Court, and Sally Ride becoming the first women in outer space, Carrie Fisher
was cast as Princess Leia in what would become one of the most beloved, watched
and successful film franchises of all time. More than her success in the Star
Wars movies, Princess Leia became a role model for the young girls of that
generation. Here was a character that was confident, strong, beautiful,
intelligent and badass. In many ways, Carrie Fisher’s Princess Leia was the
precursor to many of the badass heroines that have followed since. For the
boys, well, who doesn’t like an attractive woman who can kick ass? And there’s
always that slave girl outfit from <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Return
of the Jedi</i>. In the same way that Sophia Loren and Ursula Andres influenced
a young man’s adolescence of their generation, Carrie Fisher did so with mine. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: red;">More than this, however, there was Carrie Fisher the writer–an
insightful, thoughtful, intelligent and witty individual. She wrote <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Wishful Drinking, </i>which became a
one-woman HBO special, based on her troubles with substance abuse and her
consequent recovery. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Postcards From The
Edge</i> is hers too. That<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> </i>was
adapted into a highly successful movie starring Meryl Streep. More recently,
there is her recently published memoir, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The
Princess Diarist. </i>She script-doctored as well for films such as <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Sister Act </i>and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Hook</i>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: red;">It’s with sadness that I write this blog post. I wonder,
too, how Carrie Fisher’s death will impact upon Episodes VIII and IX of the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Star Wars </i>triple<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> </i>trilogy<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">. </i>If Princess
Leia’s death is to be written into the saga, it can’t happens between movies.
That would be irreverent. She has to have an honourable one, a noble one in the
way Obi Wan and Han Solo had. But, then again, who says Princess Leia has to
pass on among the stars? With what they did in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Rogue One</i> with resurrecting Peter Cushing’s Admiral/Grand Moff
Tarkin, it wouldn’t surprise me (and it would please me, too), if Princess Leia
didn’t just show up in Episode IX but had a major part to play. She is Luke’s
sister, after all, and has yet to fulfill her Jedi destiny. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: red;">Rest in peace, Carrie Fisher. May the Force be with you.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
Juan Rader Bashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01739963068505883037noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1044683768110855347.post-81301978158145125112016-11-08T23:12:00.001-05:002016-11-08T23:12:25.256-05:00The Best Me<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: blue;">The Best Me<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: blue;">My
running career is on hold. To be honest, it’s likely on retirement. My
Taekwondo career is pretty much the same way and so is my squash enjoyment. You
see, a left knee injury has resurfaced and is causing pain to the point that I
was limping everyday. I’ve seen an orthopedic surgeon and he’s prescribed
sessions of physical therapy, given me my first ever cortisone shot and I’m
seeing him in two weeks for a follow-up.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: blue;">I’ve
always had knee issues. I had Osgood-Schlatter Disease growing up. In April
1996 (or was it 1995) I was knocked out at The Big East Taekwondo Championship
and landed on my right knee. That freak landing resulted in a partially torn
ACL. I never had surgery but I did go through several weeks of PT. The day
before my final PT visit, I blew out my left knee playing a football (soccer)
match with friends at Brookdale Park in Bloomfield, New Jersey. I was dribbling
the ball into the final third when my leg, from the knee to my foot, didn’t
move forward. The rest of my me, from the knee up, went forward after the ball
tearing the joint’s meniscus.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: blue;">Recently,
with nowhere to train properly in Taekwondo, I decided to put Taekwondo on the
back-burner and started running again; in the hope of qualifying for the 2017
NY City Marathon and to lose weight and, once and for all, get back into
fitness. Generally, things were looking good until about two or three weeks ago
when my left knee started hurting. The pain subsided and I continued to train
and play squash until, after a four mile training run, I was laid up the rest
of the day. I took a week off before doing a three-mile taper. My knee flared
up so I took the rest of the week off before running my scheduled race – The
Poland Spring Marathon Kickoff, a five-miler that starts the New York City
Marathon week of activities and events. The resulting pain was sharp and forced
me to limp. It was so bad that whenever I had to get up and walk, I’d have to
stand up slowly, allow blood to get to the joint and then inch my way onward.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: blue;">Now,
having seen the doctor and gotten my meds and shot, I’ve been given the green
light to do some elliptical training and stationary bike riding but nothing
with impact – like running and squash and Taekwondo. Being in this condition - able
to walk and not limp, thanks to prescribed anti-inflammatories and the
cortisone shot, but always fearful of my knee giving in, I’ve been forced to
accept a number of things. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: blue;">First,
I have to accept that I’m simply getting older. Even if I weren’t injured or
out of shape, I am older than when I last seriously trained for a marathon and
put everything else on hold. Even then I was full of recovering injuries! Second,
I need to be more humble and respectful of the marathon distance; something I
am horrified to admit because I’ve always been respectful of it. Even though
I’m heavier and not in any kind of running shape, I eased into base training
and into my proper training plan like I’d done it all before. In some way, I
have done it all before but, this time, I relied too much on muscle memory and
my own grit and my Taekwondo-inspired indomitable spirit and my high pain
threshold to forge ahead. Full speed ahead and all that! Stupid. Third, and
finally, I have to find a different path. Maybe I can still run again and train
in Taekwondo and play squash. Maybe I can’t. If I can, I have to be the best I
can be of the me I am now and not the me I was twenty or thirty or even just ten
years ago. Life goes forward and not backward. And so must I. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: blue;">At
forty-seven, this is a lesson I should’ve probably learnt years ago. Instead,
I’ve held on to the past and tried to be the best of the ‘me’ I was then. When
I became a husband, and then a father, my life ceased being my own. If I’m
going to be completely honest, it never truly has been just mine. It has and
always will be God’s, my family’s, my friends’, my students’, my athletes’ and
others’. After all, whenever we enter someone’s world and they enter ours and
we do so sincerely, don’t we become part of that person and he or she becomes a
part of us? <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;">Today,
while I am still trying to lose weight and get back into fitness, I am starting
to try and be more accepting of whom I am and what I am. I do this for my sake
and my own piece of mind. I do it, for wife and my son because, you see, they’re
who my life belong to now and they need me; the best me of today and tomorrow. </span><o:p></o:p></div>
Juan Rader Bashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01739963068505883037noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1044683768110855347.post-24387470854343669142016-08-27T08:21:00.000-04:002016-08-27T08:21:10.730-04:00The Latinos Of Asia - A Response<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpwY44Me-WcVfP7Kuv-ExArPRpz1JeY4owDhoR5CpdyB_OlbaiAzp7-GZh_acnLAM_0f0GcwE_a49nPA-DXs_5jGnncjsVw2M0Y4U-NOfZQc_QMeqZSBsYzrrrLOcTSk3oWkb2EoWOw81-/s1600/51CsZ2AB7tL.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: blue;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpwY44Me-WcVfP7Kuv-ExArPRpz1JeY4owDhoR5CpdyB_OlbaiAzp7-GZh_acnLAM_0f0GcwE_a49nPA-DXs_5jGnncjsVw2M0Y4U-NOfZQc_QMeqZSBsYzrrrLOcTSk3oWkb2EoWOw81-/s320/51CsZ2AB7tL.jpg" width="207" /></span></a></div>
<span style="background-color: white; color: blue;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: justify;">I came across Dr. Ocampo's book via a Facebook post and I finished reading it about a month ago. And, I thought it was an amazing book. Absolutely excellent! For one thing, I think it's a great start - or, perhaps, a great continuation with a larger and more mainstream reach - in discussing the Filipino's role in the multicultural landscape that is the United States of America. Too often, Filipinos are forgotten; either lumped in with other ethnic groups (be it Asian or Latino) or altogether ignored. So, kudos and thank you to Dr. Ocampo for conducting his study and sharing his findings and opinions in a succinct book that was easy to read. It wasn't full of academic mumbo jumbo. Instead, I felt like I was sitting in a room and listening to him share his findings with me. </span></span><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: blue;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px;"><br /></span></span></div>
<span style="background-color: white; color: blue;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: justify;">Before I continue, let me say clearly, I liked this book and admire the work and praise the discourse it has started. So, when I discuss my response to it, I am not disregarding it or discrediting it. Some of you who read this might take it that way. My intention is to offer other insights and even suggestions into future study on the Filipino American.</span><br style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: justify;" /><div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: justify;">Dr. Ocampo's research and findings were revealing and insightful. This type of anecdotal research won't produce any definitive results and Dr. Ocampo says that himself in the appendix. There are no right or wrong answers here. The conclusions presented in this book are based on the very personal experiences of the subjects and each one is unique. Dr. Ocampo clearly states also that his research subjects were few and from very specific communities in California and of a specific age group. He interviewed eighty-five second generation Filipino Americans ranging in age from twenty-one and thirty. Most of them came to the United States when they were very young (under eight) or were born in the United States and they were taken from Eagle Rock and Carson; two middle-class, multiethnic neighborhoods in Los Angeles. </span><br style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: justify;" /><div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: justify;">What I found interesting throughout my reading of </span><em style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; position: relative; text-align: justify;"><a data-cke-saved-href="https://www.amazon.com/Latinos-Asia-Filipino-Americans-Break/dp/0804797544" href="https://www.amazon.com/Latinos-Asia-Filipino-Americans-Break/dp/0804797544" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">The Latinos Of Asia</a> </em><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: justify;">was that no interviewee brought up the geography factor - that The Philippines is in Asia, therefore, coming from there at an early age and/or being ethnically Filipino, they would, by definition, be Asian. Since coming to the United States in 1985, I've often been asked "What are you?" or "Where are you from?" Growing up in Asia, I was never asked that; at least not in an accusatory way that I have been here in the United States. And, even when I answer, I'm often contradicted with a statement like "Filipinos aren't Asian" and many of those contradicting me are other Asians of Chinese or Korean heritage. </span><br style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: justify;" /><div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: justify;">To further Dr. Ocampo's discussion, I would like to see follow-up research but with subjects who came to the United States either as a teenager (like I did) or adult. In both cases, a sense of identity will have already set in. In my case, I came to the United States when I was sixteen and I already considered myself Asian. My wife, who is also from The Philippines, came here when she as already an adult and also considers herself Asian. So, too, do our adult friends from The Philippines who have relocated and settled in the United States. I also have a friend, born in The Philippines but who came here when he was very young, and he considers himself Asian. He is, however, in his forties and not in the same cohort group as Dr. Ocampo's research subjects. So, perhaps there is an age factor that determines how one sees him or herself. Although not in the United States, all of our (my wife's and my) family and friends back in The Philippines (my in-laws, my parents and brother, my wife's former classmates) all consider themselves Asian. So, too, does my sister who lives in England.</span><br style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: justify;" /><div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: justify;">Another follow-up study that would be worth seeing is how </span><em style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; position: relative; text-align: justify;"><a data-cke-saved-href="https://www.amazon.com/Third-Culture-Kids-Experience-Growing/dp/1857882954/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1472295103&sr=1-3&keywords=third+culture+kids" href="https://www.amazon.com/Third-Culture-Kids-Experience-Growing/dp/1857882954/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1472295103&sr=1-3&keywords=third+culture+kids" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">third culture kids</a></em><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: justify;">, to borrow the phrase coined by David C. Pollock and Ruth Van Reken, identify themselves. I am a third culture kid, which is someone who is or has some combination of growing up in different cultures other than his or her parent culture and who is often also multiethnic.</span><br style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: justify;" /><div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: justify;">To clarify with my own experiences, I am primarily Filipino. My mother is half American and half Filipino. My father is three quarters Filipino and one quarter Chinese. My mother's American side is of German origin and her father's parents was the generation that came to the United States from Munich. On my father's side, his mother was half Chinese (Manchurian) and half Filipino. You can also trace our surname, Bas, directly to a priest from Madrid who, during the Spanish colonization of The Philippines, spawned the first Filipino members of The Bas Family. So, you can see how, from an ethnic standpoint, I am a third culture kid. There's more. I moved from The Philippines to Hong Kong when I was nine months old. I moved back a few months later then moved back to Hong Kong some time after that. From then on, I've called Hong Kong home. However, I wasn't ignorant of The Philippines and its culture growing up. I was exposed, although I don't speak it well, to Tagalog on a daily basis and to other Filipino languages also. We cooked Filipino food as a part of our daily meals. We would go on extended vacations back to The Philippines to visit family and friends, giving </span><em style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; position: relative; text-align: justify;">manong</em><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: justify;"> and </span><em style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; position: relative; text-align: justify;">manang</em><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: justify;"> (a sign of respect to older males and females; taking the elder's hand and touching the back of their hand to your forehead) to my </span><em style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; position: relative; text-align: justify;">lolo</em><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: justify;"> (grandfather) and </span><em style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; position: relative; text-align: justify;">lola</em><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: justify;"> (grandmother), riding Jeepneys, eating Halo Halo and Balut. Growing up in Hong Kong, I learnt to speak some Cantonese, was exposed and grew to love Chinese cuisine and folktales, like </span><em style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; position: relative; text-align: justify;">Journey To The West</em><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: justify;">, and I've even adopted some of the mannerisms of my fellow but native Hong Kongers. As I mentioned earlier, Hong Kong is where I call home, not The Philippines. However, I don't look stereotypically Asian, my German American genes winning that battle. If you look carefully, you'll see the Asian in me but at a quick glance I'm often taken for straight up Caucasian or I get the confused look and the eternal question - "What are you?" Going back to Dr. Ocampo's book, it would be interesting to see how other third culture Filipinos who ended up in the United States see themselves. </span><br style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: justify;" /><div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: justify;">A final follow-up suggestion, would be to duplicate Dr. Ocampo's research with the same conditions (second generation Filipino Americans, mostly born here or who came here at age eight or under and from middle class, multiethnic neighborhoods) but from other parts of the United States; a cohort group in Hawaii, a cohort group in the Northeast, a cohort group in the Midwest, etc.</span><br style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: justify;" /><div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: justify;">Again, I admire Dr. Ocampo's work and I thank him for doing it. So, please don't think I'm hating on it but I think it's just the first step. I hope he and others are already working on the next ones and, in doing so, maybe we'll see anecdotes and data on the populations I mention here - older Filipino Americans, Third Culture Filipinos and Second Generation Filipino Americans in other parts of the United States. The implications to truly understanding the often neglected Filipino American population across the country are valuable and abundant from educational opportunities to public office representation to employment opportunities.</span><br style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: justify;" /><div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: justify;">Either way, whether you're a Fil Am who identifies as Latino or a Fil Am who identifies as Asian, as I do, don't neglect the Fil part. Filipinos are a proud, brave, kind, generous and driven people. We're survivors, adaptable anywhere and we're strong of limb, sharp of mind, quick of wit and stout of spirit. Lakas ang Pilipino!</span></span>Juan Rader Bashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01739963068505883037noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1044683768110855347.post-67009432241590374582016-07-10T21:24:00.005-04:002016-07-10T21:26:03.484-04:00My Daddy<span style="color: red; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
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<span style="color: red; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">No, this isn’t a sentimental recollection of things I’ve
done with my father. Although, I could and should probably write a post about
that. This post is about my son’s impressions of his father–me. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: red; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">This just happened two days ago but I can’t even recall how
it came about; what prompted me to ask him what he would say if someone said,
“Tell me ten things you know about your dad.” He took a few minutes to complete
his list and I let him take his time doing so. After all, I wanted it to be his
list, without my coaxing, so I worked on a post for my food blog, <a href="https://panlasa.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">Panlasa</a>, as
he thought it out. As he gave me
something, I wrote it down. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: red; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">So, for fun and entertainment, here’s what he said in order
(although I’m not entirely sure if the order means anything to him). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: red; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">My Daddy…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: red; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">1. Is a 5</span><sup style="text-indent: -0.25in;">th</sup><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> and 6</span><sup style="text-indent: -0.25in;">th</sup><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> degree
black belt (I have 5</span><sup style="text-indent: -0.25in;">th</sup><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> dan certification from The Kukkiwon, the
World Taekwondo Headquarters in Seoul, Korea, and 6</span><sup style="text-indent: -0.25in;">th</sup><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> dan
certification from USA Taekwondo, the governing body of Taekwondo in the US)</span></span></div>
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<span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">2. Wears glasses</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: red; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">3. </span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Plays FIFA on the PS3 and it’s his favourite
video game, just like me, and he likes playing it with me</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: red; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">4. </span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Is a little bit fat</span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">(I corrected him on this that ‘little but’ is
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<span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">5. Used to be skinny</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: red; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">6. </span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Does not like it when I joke around using ‘locker
room’ humour (Boys will be boys, I guess. His favourite words apparently are </span><i style="text-indent: -0.25in;">fart </i><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">and </span><i style="text-indent: -0.25in;">butt</i><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> and words in that realm and he likes to say them with a giggle
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<span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">10. Is a thoughtful daddy.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: red; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">After he finished his list, I told him I was surprised that
he didn’t say anything about me be being a runner, a squash player or enjoying
cooking; all things he’s done with me, likes to do and asks if we can do
together. His response was that those things are “minus” meaning their places
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<span style="color: red; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">So, there it is, an eight-year-old boy’s impression of his
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<!--EndFragment-->Juan Rader Bashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01739963068505883037noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1044683768110855347.post-2348161355258695392016-07-10T21:24:00.000-04:002016-07-10T21:25:25.313-04:00My Daddy<span style="color: red; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
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<span style="color: red; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">No, this isn’t a sentimental recollection of things I’ve
done with my father. Although, I could and should probably write a post about
that. This post is about my son’s impressions of his father–me. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: red; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">This just happened two days ago but I can’t even recall how
it came about; what prompted me to ask him what he would say if someone said,
“Tell me ten things you know about your dad.” He took a few minutes to complete
his list and I let him take his time doing so. After all, I wanted it to be his
list, without my coaxing, so I worked on a post for my food blog, <a href="https://panlasa.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">Panlasa</a>, as
he thought it out. As he gave me
something, I wrote it down. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: red; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">So, for fun and entertainment, here’s what he said in order
(although I’m not entirely sure if the order means anything to him). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: red; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">My Daddy…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: red; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">1. Is a 5</span><sup style="text-indent: -0.25in;">th</sup><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> and 6</span><sup style="text-indent: -0.25in;">th</sup><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> degree
black belt (I have 5</span><sup style="text-indent: -0.25in;">th</sup><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> dan certification from The Kukkiwon, the
World Taekwondo Headquarters in Seoul, Korea, and 6</span><sup style="text-indent: -0.25in;">th</sup><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> dan
certification from USA Taekwondo, the governing body of Taekwondo in the US)</span></span></div>
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<span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">2. Wears glasses</span></span></div>
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<span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: red; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">3. </span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Plays FIFA on the PS3 and it’s his favourite
video game, just like me, and he likes playing it with me</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: red; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">4. </span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Is a little bit fat</span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">(I corrected him on this that ‘little but’ is
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<span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">5. Used to be skinny</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: red; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">6. </span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Does not like it when I joke around using ‘locker
room’ humour (Boys will be boys, I guess. His favourite words apparently are </span><i style="text-indent: -0.25in;">fart </i><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">and </span><i style="text-indent: -0.25in;">butt</i><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> and words in that realm and he likes to say them with a giggle
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<span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">10. Is a thoughtful daddy.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: red; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">After he finished his list, I told him I was surprised that
he didn’t say anything about me be being a runner, a squash player or enjoying
cooking; all things he’s done with me, likes to do and asks if we can do
together. His response was that those things are “minus” meaning their places
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<span style="color: red; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">So, there it is, an eight-year-old boy’s impression of his
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years. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--EndFragment-->
<!--EndFragment-->Juan Rader Bashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01739963068505883037noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1044683768110855347.post-62197284929848658272016-06-27T19:05:00.003-04:002016-06-27T19:05:50.754-04:00Messi! Say It Isn't So.<h2>
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><span style="color: red;">Messi! Say It Isn’t So.</span></span></h2>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><span style="color: red;">When it comes to international football, I
have been a loyal Germany fan for thirty-four years. However, I’ve also been a
huge Diego Maradona fan and, as a result of that, I’ve been a Barcelona fan
(behind Arsenal and Hamburg, in that order, of course) and an Argentina fan.
When I learnt that Lionel Messi, in my opinion the best player in the world
today, retired from the national team, I felt and still feel shock, sadness and
disappointment. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><span style="color: red;">I’m shocked because he’s such a young and
talented player. Without him, there’s a part of international football that
will be lacking because of his absence. His absence, on some level, diminishes
the opposing team’s accomplishments. It can also cause regret and doubt in his
mind. If he doesn’t play out his abilities and let nature take its course on
his footballing skills, he’ll always wonder if the next World Cup or Copa
America would’ve been ‘the one.’ More importantly, he’s such a joy to watch.
Without him, there’s less colour in the tapestry of the beautiful game. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: red;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">I’m disappointed because he’s such an icon to
so many people–children AND adults–that for him to retire is, in my opinion, a
poor message to give to those he inspires. As an athlete and coach, albeit
never on his level in any of the sports I’ve competed in and coached, I’ve
always accepted that one team or player has to lose and the other one has to
win. That’s part of sports. It’s heartbreaking and frustrating that he’s lost
four international finals but that’s part of the game. What kind of message is
this to send to our youth–quit when things seem impossible? Isn’t that why, or
at least one reason why, we get into sports to begin with–to overcome the
impossible on the pitch and in ourselves? Some of the other best players to have
put on a pair of studs also never won a World Cup or their continental title
but they never called it quits. Portugal’s legend, </span><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14pt;">Eusébio
</span><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">never won either. </span><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14pt;">Ferenc
Puskás, Hungary’s superstar of the 1950s and 1960s, did win The Olympics and some
smaller international titles but not The European Championship or The World
Cup. And, of course, there is the Dutch Master, Johan Cruyff. He also never won
the European Championship or The World Cup but he didn’t use that as his reason
for giving up international football. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14pt;"><span style="color: red;">I’m
sad because, as an athlete and a coach, I’ve experienced loss and setback after
setback so I empathise with him. I’ve had some great moments too but there have
been more setbacks than triumphs.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14pt;"><span style="color: red;">Recently,
Maradona accused Messi of not having heart. At the time, I felt that he was
being harsh. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Your time has passed, Diego.
Let Messi have his time.</i> That’s what I thought at when I heard of
Maradona’s statements but now I feel that maybe Maradona is right. I also felt that
Messi needs to win a World Cup or Copa America to be regarded as a legend once
his playing days are over. However, when I thought of the legends and the likes
of Cruyff, Michel Platini (did win The European Championship in 1984), Eusébio,
Puskás, Lev Yashin and George Best, all who also never won a World Cup, I
changed my mind. In my opinion, Messi does need to win The World Cup to get out
of Maradona’s very large shadow but to be a legend all he has to do is be his
best and stay the course no matter how hard it is. It’s when things are
difficult that someone shows his true character. When things are easy, well,
it’s just easy. It might be fun and all smiles but it doesn’t really show what
you’re made of. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14pt;"><span style="color: red;">Messi,
like to many others, is my son’s all-time favourite player and Argentina is his
favourite international team and Barcelona is his favourite club team. My son
is eight and starting to really get into football. There are many players my
son likes and looks up to–Neymar and Ozil are two of them–and he’ll still enjoy
football without Messi playing for Argentina but it won’t be the same. It’ll be
like Magic without Bird or McEnroe without Borg. It’ll still good to watch but
not the best.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14pt;"><span style="color: red;">So,
I’m hoping and praying that Messi made this decision in an emotional state–and
he was in one–and, as I said earlier, I empathised with him. When the camera
flashed on him as Chile was raising the Copa America trophy, tears welled up in
my own eyes. When some time has passed and Argentina is preparing for 2018
World Cup qualification, I hope and pray that Messi reconsiders and announces
his availability for national selection. As I said before, staying the course
when things are hard is a sign of true character. So, too, is admitting you
made a mistake. I believe his decision is a mistake. I hope if (when) he
changes his mind, it’s not too late and the world can bask in his footballing
majesty once again. However, if he doesn’t change his mind, I hope and pray
that his decision, in the end, is the best one for him; that he has no doubts
over it (he will always have regrets) and that he is happy.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
Juan Rader Bashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01739963068505883037noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1044683768110855347.post-61818639078394904082016-03-04T09:34:00.000-05:002016-03-04T09:34:58.297-05:00A Year In The Life - 2015 <div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b>A Year In The Life – 2015</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Happy New Year everyone! Is it too late to say that? 2016 is well underway and I've been thinking about 2015 and the ten most memorable moments from last year. As a result of that reflection, here is my annual A Year In The Life post. Enjoy and best wishes for 2016. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: red; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><o:p> </o:p><b> </b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><u><b>My father-in-law’s death.</b></u><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><b> </b></span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">This wasn’t the first death I’ve experienced and it’s not likely
going to be my last but it was the first death that directly affected me and my
immediate family (my wife, son and I). It was also the death of someone closer<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">,</i> to me, with the exception of my own <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">lola, </i>than any of the other deaths I’ve
known. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">This obviously affected me because it affected my wife and my
in-laws. It still does. One doesn’t get over the death of a loved one so quickly.
This death didn’t just affect me in a peripheral sort of way as his son-in-law,
however. You see, my wife’s family and my family have been close for decades
and our fathers had been friends since the 1950s. My wife and I have known each
other since we were kids and, when I still lived in Hong Kong and she lived in
The Philippines, I was often the guide when they came to visit. I’d show them
and him around, taking him to the right store to buy exactly what he was
looking for and to the best local places to eat. During our excursions, he
always made jokes and teased me. He was cordial and, as the years went on, when
my wife and I were still just friends and on through our marriage, I learnt
more about my father-in-law. His kindness, fearlessness, curiosity, generosity,
intelligence, faith in God and sense of service to others was unlike that of
anyone else I’ve known. In my life, alongside my own father, my Taekwondo
masters and my secondary school basketball coach, my father-in-law was someone
I admired and looked up to. He is, without question, someone worth emulating; a
standard bearer for all men, young and old.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Trying to find something positive from this, I know that he is no
longer in pain (he was sick off-and-on for several years before he died) and
that he is in Heaven, shaking hands again with the late Pope John Paul II, and
exchanging discourse on the state of the world we live in with The Holy Family
– Jesus, Mary and St. Joseph – to whom he was passionately devoted. We miss him
– my wife, son and I and the entire family – but we take solace knowing that we
are better people because of him and comfort because he is watching over us.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: red; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><u><b>My son’s thank you.</b></u> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: red; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Maybe it’s his age and his innate shyness or, perhaps, it’s the
poor parenting job I’ve done so far but my son gets quite shy about saying
“thank you” even when he knows he should. As a result of that, I’ve developed a
slight concern that either I truly have done a poor parenting job or my son is
a bit of a selfish ding-dong. Well, some of those concerns were allayed last
summer. Summer being what it is, there is less money coming in and, at least,
the same money going out with the monthly bills. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">There was a day in July when my son and I were kicking around our
PS3 and rented a couple of games. We played them, enjoyed them and, when the
rental period had run out, they were gone. My son asked if we could buy them
and download them. I turned him down citing their cost – one was $59.99 and the
other was $29.99. A day or two later, I was in Target and I found both games,
on some crazy mega sale. The $59.99 game was down to $19.99 and the less
expensive one was available for $9.99. I decided to pick them up and I rushed
home before my wife and son returned.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
put them on the top of our game CD pile and said nothing when they got home. I
did, though, text my wife that I’d picked them up on sale and I told her not to
tell our son. After they’d been home for a while – say, an hour or so – our son
finally noticed them. He spoke slowly, moved to them in the same manner.
“Hey…um…those look like…” Then he picked them up, as if he wasn’t sure they
were real. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He held them up to his chest
with their jacket covers facing me. He had a big and confused smile on his
face. Then I smiled. Then he cried. It was nothing loud or hysterical but quiet
and heartfelt. It was almost as if he was trying to hold back his tears. Then
he sat down and my wife told him to thank me. Instead, he put his head down and
let his tears quietly flow. Again, she told him to thank me but I told her it
was okay and that he was already saying it. In fact, his response was more
meaningful than any spoken form of gratitude he could’ve given me. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<u><span style="color: red; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b>Studio 509. </b><o:p></o:p></span></u></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">No, this isn’t a disco from the 70s (although if my wife and her
business partners/friends read this they might get some ideas of running disco
night fundraiser event). Instead, <a href="http://studio509fitness.com/" target="_blank">Studio 509</a> is said wife and partners’ fitness
studio that they opened last year. All three of them already worked there when
it was owned by somebody else (who now works for them) and named something
else. What happened was he wanted to sell and they wanted to buy - something
that all three owners’ husbands feel should have happened many years ago. While
this isn’t directly something I was involved in (other than installing a few
hooks and curtains), this involves my wife. She’s happier, making more money
and I’m reaping the benefits of both. More than that, I feel the pride that my
wife is now a business owner, which has come from her hard work there (before
and now) and how much the clientele (and community) rate her and her partners.
Well done, ladies! Keep up the great work.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><u><b>The F.A. Cup.</b></u> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">If you know me, you know the answer to this question – What football
(soccer) team do I support? Answer: THE ARSENAL. I became an Arsenal fan, in my
mind anyway, through an absolutely ridiculous way. As ridiculous as it was,
however, (it’s a possible discussion for another blog post) I’ve been loyal to
the core and I’m a Gooner through and through. So, when we<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(yes, we) won the F. A. Cup in 2014, after
having not won anything since 2005, I was elated. Then, to win it again a year
later and in dominant fashion (4-0 over Aston Villa), on the same day I
completed my first 10K race in years, I was more than overjoyed. Naturally, I
wore my Arsenal jersey for the race and I wasn’t the only one. I saw another
runner and a race volunteer at a water station wearing theirs. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<u><span style="color: red; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b>Super Essex Conference Champions – Again. </b><o:p></o:p></span></u></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Well, this might be an obvious one but why not? In 2014, my team
and I won our first volleyball championship. Last year, we won it again –
albeit we shared the title with Millburn, the only team that beat us in the
division. Honestly, Millburn and us (Columbia) were the two strongest teams in
the division in 2015 and when we lost a close match at Millburn I knew right
away that we’d need some luck again to win the title as solo champions. I also
knew, however, that the other teams in the division weren’t as strong as in
2014 so we might not get so lucky with one of the other teams beating Millburn.
More than that, I knew that we’d have to win our remaining conference games in
order to, at least, share the title and that included a home match against
Millburn at the end of the season.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Well, to say that my team did the business is understated. We beat
the other schools and when it came to hosting Millburn, wow! We advertised this
game immensely and the gym was filled to the brim with pro-Columbia supporters.
Parents were drumming against their seats, every time we scored the spectators
roared. The principal, an assistant principal, the athletic director, other
coaches came to cheer us on. In a word, it was electric. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">I found out after the game that one of my captains said this to
her teammates before the game – “We’re not losing” and we didn’t. At one point
in the match, this captain’s rival on Millburn was caught saying “What the
f**k!” (silenced by the roar of the crowd but easily lip-read) when she made a
big hit that my captain blocked. The ball bounced back to the Millburn girl who
tipped the ball back onto our side (thinking she’d won the point she turned to
celebrate but snapped back around when she realized she hadn’t scored) only for
my captain to recover quickly and dig the ball for one of my other hitters to
tip back over the net for a point. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Dare I say it, we did nothing wrong. Both teams played brilliantly
but, on the day, we were the more brilliant. It was a match for the ages and
what I call My ESPN Moment. Tensions were high, both sets of girls played their
hearts outs and the winning point couldn’t have been more perfect than it was.
One of my seniors, who’d struggled with serving for two and a half seasons, was
poised to serve. She bounced the ball, as she always does, and that’s when I
looked to the Millburn side and saw a gap. Their usual main passer moved back
an extra step. Why? I couldn’t tell you but it was enough for anyone paying
attention to see and make them think about serving an ace. I turned back to my
player and wondered if she’d seen it. Then I wondered if she was going to go
for the ace (I felt 50-50 about it, to be honest). You can see what happened
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8VGJ1B5UOIM" target="_blank">here</a> in this clip. (Courtesy of Sarai Roberts © 2015).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Of the 2015 Varsity, the majority of them are graduating. For
2016, we’re moving up to a harder division (so is Millburn) and we’ll be facing
tougher competition. It’ll be a rebuilding year for sure and one that will
likely come with more aches and pains than we’d like but such is the way of
school sports – four years max and that’s it. As for the 2015 and 2014 teams,
thank you. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<u><span style="color: red; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b>Montauk Mayhem.</b><o:p></o:p></span></u></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">This was an experience, to say the least, and something I should
probably turn into a short story. With the generosity of one of my wife’s
friends, we’ve been enjoying a Montauk vacation every year at the start of the
summer. This year, we had trouble with one of our cars – the car we usually
drive to Montauk – and it made for some interesting adventures. The day we got
there, the Check Engine light came on. It had been coming on sporadically and
we had the car looked and everyone said it was fine. We were 300-plus miles
away from home so we decided to have it looked at. Of course, there’s only ONE
mechanic in Montauk (or one that was open) and it was booked. Being
out-of-towners and sounding desperate, they took us in. We ended up leaving the
car overnight with them and they discovered the problem but the part would take
three or four days to get there. We got to Montauk on Thursday, brought the car
to the mechanic Friday morning and we were scheduled to return to New Jersey on
Saturday. What ended up happening was we drove the car back to our friend’s
chalet, cabbed around Montauk and had the car towed back Saturday morning. I
rode with tow and my wife and son took the LIRR to Manhattan and the NJ Transit
back to New Jersey. Thankfully, the tow driver was a personable guy and not
grumpy from having to do a Saturday morning pick-up for a 300 miles single-way
journey.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">A couple of days later, we had the car repaired for a grand total
cost (towing, miles, repair, tolls) of about $700! On the positive side, I got
some good writing material. I learnt a bit about a long-hauler’s life and the
drag racing circuit – two of the driver’s previous forms of employment. If we
go to Montauk this year, though, I may consider taking the train the whole way.
Maybe.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<u><span style="color: red; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b>The Wind-up Books Chronicle and Asian Books Blog.</b><o:p></o:p></span></u></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">I had two pleasant writing-related surprises in 2015. I’m working
on my second, third and fourth novels (none are related to the others) but my
first book, <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Back-Kicks-Broken-Promises-Rader/dp/1511715170/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1457100275&sr=1-1&keywords=back+kicks+and+broken+promises+by+juan+rader+bas" target="_blank">Back Kicks And BrokenPromises</a></i>, came out in 2012. For me, it’s out there and, in a way, I’m done
with it. I’m not doing any major promotion for it and I’m working on new books.
Well, twice this past year, I was emailed about my <i>Back Kicks</i>. Asian Books Blog, a Singapore-based books website,
emailed me and asked to do an interview. Naturally, I agreed. I may have put <i>Back </i>Kicks to rest, so to speak, but I’d
have been a fool not to accept ABB’s invitation. Click <a href="http://www.asianbooksblog.com/2015/03/indie-spotlight-juan-rader-bas_73.html" target="_blank">here</a> for the interview.
The interview even got me on the shortlist of their 2015 Lunar Book of the Year
Award. I didn’t win it but, at one point, I was leading in votes.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The other surprise came from another online books blog, The
Wind-up Books Chronicle. This site wanted to do a review of<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> Back Kicks</i> and, again, I gave the go ahead. I sent the reviewer a
copy of my book and she took it from there. Click <a href="https://windupbookschronicle.wordpress.com/2015/05/23/back-kicks-and-broken-promises-goes-in-depth-on-identity-and-family/" target="_blank">here</a> for the review. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<u><b><span style="color: red; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Ed Lin.</span></b></u></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">I got to have lunch with Ed Lin in 2015. For those of you who
don’t know who Ed is, he’s an award-winning Chinese American author. Ed isn’t
just an award winner. He’s the only writer to have won the prestigious Asian
Literary award, given by out by The Asian American Writer’s Workshop, twice. I
blogged about my lunch with Ed previously so, instead of re-writing something,
you can click <a href="http://filamkickingscribe.com/blog-contemplations/rubbing-elbows-with-a-star" target="_blank">here</a> for my insights on our meal together.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<u><b><span style="color: red; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Breaking My Son’s Heart.<o:p></o:p></span></b></u></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">In 2015, I signed up to run in the 2016 Disney World
Half-Marathon. I was going to use the year training to regain my fitness and we
were going to make a little family vacation out of the trip to Disney.
Naturally, my son was excited when we told him about it. Unfortunately, due to
my father-in-law’s health taking a turn for the worse, we decided to cancel the
trip. At the time, we didn’t know how much time my father-in-law had and the
doctors even told me wife that he was likely to have several months left
whether he recovered or not. Sadly, this ended up not to being the case.
However, with that in mind, we cancelled the Disney trip for several reasons.
We thought, if my father-in-law was recovering, that we might go to Manila for
Christmas to celebrate a final one with him. We also had to be prepared for an
eleventh hour trip if things got worse.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">My wife was in Manila with her father and family when I told our
son our decision. We were preparing for bed and brushing our teeth when I told
him. Naturally, he was gutted. What child wouldn’t be? Tears filled his eyes
and he was worried that it would be forever when we could go again. I promised
him that we will go soon and I intend to keep this promise. I also explained
his <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">lolo’s</i> condition and how we had
to be there for his mother and his <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">lola </i>and
the rest of the family. He understood all of it and accepted it. There were
more important things happening at the time and he knew that cancelling the
trip was the right thing to do. But here’s where this becomes really momentous.
After hugging me, he looked up at me and said “What about the race?” I said,
“What about it?” His response: “I know you really want to run it.” I did and I
wanted to give my Donald Duck medal to my son. My tears had also gotten wet
with tears when I initially told him we weren’t going to Disney but, when he
said this, it was all I could do to stop my tears raging down my face like the
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pagsanjan_Falls" target="_blank">Pagsanjan Falls</a>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<u><span style="color: red; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b>The Force Awakens.</b><o:p></o:p></span></u></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Do I even have to write anything? Ha ha! I was born in 1969, I’m a
child of the late 70s and 80s and I am a crazy <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Star Wars</i> nut. I’m a martial artist and The Jedi Order is the
samurai of space. I was a member of the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Star
Wars</i> fan club in the 1980s and I still have many of my <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Star Wars</i> toys from back then. So, again, need I say more?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Now, I’m counting the days until <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Rogue One</i> comes out in December and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Star Wars Episode VIII</i> comes out the following year. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">May The Force Be With You. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
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Juan Rader Bashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01739963068505883037noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1044683768110855347.post-6109332022845115332016-02-01T10:09:00.001-05:002016-02-01T10:09:56.570-05:00The Curiousness of Coincidence<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">1st Febraury, 2016</span></div>
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<span style="color: red; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The Curiousness of Coincidence <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: red; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Have you ever wondered about the coincidences in your life
and think that, because they’re so alike, they might not be coincidences at
all? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: red; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Before I go on, I should warn you that this post is about something
extremely trivial – or is it? – that for
some of you it might not that interesting. But, sometimes the most trivial of
things can spark the most curious reflection.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: red; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Anyway.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: red; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I have on occasion wondered about the coincidences in my
life, although not to the point of looking over my shoulder or fearing that
there’s a conspiracy working against me.
I’ve wondered how and why these things have happened but I can’t come up
with a sensible reason or than they’re simply coincidences. For me, one of the more
curious ones has to do with the sports colour scheme of the schools I have been
involved with, either as a student or teacher or coach. I did my secondary education at Island School
in Hong Kong. Most of the uniforms of the sports teams there were red, white
and blue – the colours of The Union Jack – but there was a year or two in which
our basketball kit was red with blue trim and blue numbers. One year our
football uniform was blue with red trim. My favourite professional sports team –
Arsenal Football Club – has for the most part always had a red home jersey
since I became a fan in 1980. So, in some way, red has been following me since
my youth.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: red; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Here’s where it gets really curious. I wouldn’t say there’s
a conspiracy against me. I mean, come on, what kind of conspiracy is it to have
someone exposed to the same colour scheme at different stages of his life at
the different institutions that were/are important to him. But, it’s worth a
mention. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: red; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I did my undergraduate university studies at Rutgers, The State
University of New Jersey. Its school colours are red, black and white. The
University’s teams’ nickname is <i>The
Scarlet Knights</i>. After graduating and a couple of job changes, I found
myself coaching at Passaic County Community College. I was the Head Men’s
Soccer Coach. We had a great run; getting nationally ranked and reaching the
national Division III semi-final. The team’s colours were red and black and
white. I did that for a season and a couple of years later I was teaching and
coaching at Hunterdon Central Regional High School. (All the schools mentioned
in this post are in New Jersey.) I was the Assistant Varsity and Junior Varsity
Boys Volleyball Coach. Our school and team colours? Red, Black and White. The
school’s teams’ nickname? <i>The Red Devils</i>.
During that time, I was working on my M.A. in Coaching and Sports
Administration at Montclair State University. I’d gotten into MSU, then
Montclair State College, as an undergrad as well but I elected not to go there
because there was a foreign (non-English) language requirement. Hindsight being
20/20, I regret not going there for that reason and I regret not pursuing a different
language at Rutgers. I could’ve continued my four years of high school French
or I could’ve pursued Cantonese (the language of my hometown which I wish I
could speak fluently) or Korean (the language of my chosen martial art, Taekwondo).
Anyway, MSC’s/MSU’s colours are red, black and white and the nickname is <i>The Red Hawks</i>. My Graduate School graduation
cap and gown were red too. Finally, taking our story to present day, I’ve ended
up teaching and coaching in the South Orange-Maplewood School District and, again,
the school colours are red, black and white. I am the Head Girls Volleyball Coach for our
high school, Columbia, and the Assistant Throws Coach (shot put, discus,
javelin) for our Outdoor Track and Field Team.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: red; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">There have been a couple of hiccoughs. I did coach at then
Solomon Schechter Day School, now Golda Och Academy, and the school colours
there are blue and white but, as you can see, my life – at least in terms of
teaching and coaching – has been coated in red, black and white. Coated or
clouded? Hmm. You decide. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: red; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Is this purely coincidence? Has someone or some larger
organisation set me up so I get hired by schools whose colours are red, black
and white? Or, is there something in my psyche or subconscious that makes me
apply for and interview better at schools whose colours are red, black and
white? Of the three, only black is a favourite colour of mine. To be completely
honest, my favourite colours are orange and blue; royal blue to be specific.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: red; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">So, while I do contend that all of this is likely
coincidence, it might be plausible to suggest that there’s something more to
it. Maybe one of you reading – someone much more intelligent than myself and
who has the proper training in sociology, psychology, neuroscience and other disciplines
– can look into this and see if there are others who’ve gone through something
like this as well. Perhaps you can explain if I create this coincidence
subconsciously and, if so, why red, black and white are so important.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: red; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Because of my age (I turned 47 yesterday), my place on my
school district’s salary guide and being a tenured teacher, I am not likely
going to change teaching and coaching jobs before I retire. If I ever leave my
current position, it’ll be for something other than teaching so my red, black
and white adventure has more than likely come to its end with Columbia. Or has
it?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: red; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Thanks for stopping by. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Juan Rader Bashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01739963068505883037noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1044683768110855347.post-4994912842966025492015-12-31T15:17:00.001-05:002015-12-31T15:36:52.895-05:00Happy New Year! - My Top Ten Books Of 2015<br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><span style="color: red;">Well, it’s
just ahead of us. I’m talking about 2016, of course. In fact, in just nine
hours (here on the United States’ east coast, anyway), we’ll be toasting 2015
out and welcoming 2016 in. So, before I go no, let me say Happy New Year! I wish you a healthy, happy and successful 2016. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><span style="color: red;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><span style="color: red;">This is also the time of year when all the various
Top Ten lists come out in magazines, newspapers, entertainment and news shows
and, of course, blogs. Not wanting to be left behind, as I do every year, here
is my Top Ten list of books from 2015. Well, they’re the top ten of the books
that I read in 2015 so some of them may have been published in previous
years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Anyway, here they are. Maybe you
read some of them this past year too. <o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><span style="color: red;"><br /></span></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisxCF0SGEovpIuupPdInG7ERgnrLXDZbPPqxGLBAsE4Kfzl6MTUYsyerBXCGqywFMBm9d96KNKnfv2LscNsKBMQPQH1Hv2tSlmOuT2PiTkLq96mVp1HTKje47vt2CZTq-68n6cMgZarGxx/s1600/colorless-tsukuru-tazaki-and-his-years-of-pilgrimage-112881701.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisxCF0SGEovpIuupPdInG7ERgnrLXDZbPPqxGLBAsE4Kfzl6MTUYsyerBXCGqywFMBm9d96KNKnfv2LscNsKBMQPQH1Hv2tSlmOuT2PiTkLq96mVp1HTKje47vt2CZTq-68n6cMgZarGxx/s320/colorless-tsukuru-tazaki-and-his-years-of-pilgrimage-112881701.jpg" width="207" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><span style="color: red;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst">
<span style="color: red;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">1. Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of
Pilgrimage</span></i><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"> by Haruki
Murakami. Translated by Philip Gabriel. Vintage Paperback, 2015 (First published
in 2013)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<span style="color: red;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">2. Monkey King, volume 19: Masters and Disciples</span></i><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"> by Wei Dong Chen, Chao Peng (illustrator).
JR Comic, 2012.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<span style="color: red;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">3. The Stranger</span></i><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"> by Harlan Coben. Dutton Hardcover, 2015.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<span style="color: red;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">4. The Wicked Will Rise</span></i><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"> (Dorothy Must Die #2) by Danielle Paige.
Harper Collins, 2015.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<span style="color: red;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">5. Saints </span></i><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">(Boxers &Saints #2)<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> </i>by
Gene Luen Yang. First Second Paperback, 2013.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<span style="color: red;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">6. Boxers </span></i><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">(Boxers &Saints #1)<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> </i>by
Gene Luen Yang. First Second Paperback, 2013.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<span style="color: red;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">7. The Lowland </span></i><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">by Jhumpa Lahiri<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">. </i>Vintage Paperback, 2014.<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> </i><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<span style="color: red;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">8. Last Stop on Market Street</span></i><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"> by Matt de la </span><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14pt;">Peña</span><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">. G. P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young
Readers, 2015.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<span style="color: red;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">9. Tina’s Mouth: An Existential Comic Dairy</span></i><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"> by Keshni Kashyap, Mark Araki (illustrator).
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Hardcover, 2012.<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast">
<span style="color: red;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">10. 1Q84</span></i><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">
(1Q84 #1-3) by Haruki Murakami. Knopf ebook, 2011. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><span style="color: red;">Honourable
Mentions: <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Young Elites </i>(The Young
Elites #1) by Marie Lu, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Star Wars:
Aftermath </i>by Chuck Wendig, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">We Are In
A Book </i>by Mo Willems, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Guardian </i>(Proxy
#2) by Alex London</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
Juan Rader Bashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01739963068505883037noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1044683768110855347.post-31555125224564618722015-12-08T16:54:00.001-05:002015-12-08T16:54:25.032-05:00My Favourite Season, part II<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: red;">Having
written about the bad things about autumn in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">My Favourite Season, Part I</i>, it’s only fair that I write about the
good things of the season; especially after my writing about them was inspired
by a reader’s response to my older post about the top then best and worst
things about spring.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: red;">So,
here goes - The Top Ten Things About Autumn (not in any particular order).</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -.25in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: red;"> <b> 1. Cooler Temps</b> – The summer is great. I’m a
teacher so it means less heavy workloads and a little time off. It also means
being outdoors (which has its own ups and downs), the beach and the pool, being
tanned, summer blockbuster movies and more. After a while, though, the dog day
of summer come upon us, the temps gets to the high 90s and low 100s and the
humidity tries to outdo the temps. So, it’s with excitement that I receive the
fall. It bring the relief of cooler temps – during the day and at night and,
generally, lower humidity as well. It’s rejuvenating compared to the draining
effects of the extreme heat and humidity.</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -.25in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: red;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -.25in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: red;"> <b>2. The Holidays </b>– Yes, I enjoy the holiday season
and, for me, that begins with Halloween (not my favourite but it does begin the
months-long sense of goodwill and fun) goes all the way to New Year’s;
sometimes even Valentine’s Day. Giving and receiving gifts and goodwill is always
nice and, whether it’s contrived or genuine, it still feels good to see and
hear light sounds, less harsh voices and merrymaking. </span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -.25in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: red;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -.25in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: red;"> <b>3. European Football (Soccer)</b> – Generally, the
European football season begins mid-August and runs to mid-May. By the time the
autumn hits, around late September or early October, the season is in full
swing. I’m an Arsenal fan and watch a lot of Premier League football. I also
enjoy watching The Bundesliga (German League) and, of course, who doesn’t like
watching Barcelona? And, with the Internet, apps and all-around better
coverage, I can watch Arsenal play every week and mid-week when it has cup
matches to win.</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -.25in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="color: red;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -.25in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="color: red;"> <b>4. The Leaves</b> – While I hate that I have to rake
the leaves and they can become driving hazards, the leaves do bring some joy.
For one, when they start to turn colours, they signify the arrival of autumn
and that means, of course, cooler temps, the holidays, and every other positive
thing I like about the season. The leaves’ changing colours, moreover, are
simply pretty to look at. They’re especially beautiful when they turn green to
a velvety red. The winter is largely a grey, bleak season. The summer can be
equally as bland sometimes; too bright and basically blue and white from the
sea to the sky to sand to peoples’ clothes. The spring and autumn, however,
offer colour and, for me, autumn is one of God’s canvases.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -.25in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: red;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -.25in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: red;"> <b>5. The Smell</b> – There are different smells in the
autumn than there are in the other seasons. The cooler air makes everything
feel and smell cleaner, fresher. The dying leaves also offer a certain
muskiness to them that is pleasant to my olfactory sense, anyway. On really
cool night, us among them, people start using their fireplaces and the smell of
burning wood – not the pre-fab fake stuff – offers something cozy and soothing
to me, my wife, my son and even our dog. </span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -.25in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: red;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -.25in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: red;"> <b>6. Sweaters and sweatshirts</b> – There’s something
unique about the feel of a sweater against your skin. Blankets are comforting,
soothing things. Sweaters are like wearable, portable blankets. So are
sweatshirts. There’s also something stylish about wearing the right sweater
with a pair of jeans and the right kind of boots that oozes confidence and
security. </span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -.25in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: red;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -.25in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: red;"> <b> 7. Broadway preview season</b> – Actually, new shows
and their preview seasons tend to happen in the fall and the spring but the
fall preview season lends something to the holiday season that ranks it just a
notch above the spring preview season. Obviously, I’m a theatre fan. Haha!
Previews are great because they’re, often, a little cheaper than post-opening
night ticket. They also offer something special – a night out, a day trip into
the city with the kids, an old-fashioned special occasion – but different that
going to the movies or renting a DVD or plunking the kids in front of an iPad
running Netflix or Hulu. I’ll go to the theatre anytime of year but with a
slight nip in the air and an excited kid on one arm and my wife on the other,
there’s no time like the fall. </span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -.25in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: red;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -.25in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: red;"> <b>8. The New York City Marathon</b> – I’ve run this race
twice, was scheduled to run it a third time until Sandy hit, got inspired to
run it after watching a tape-delay of Rod Dixon winning in 1983 (I was still
living in Hong Kong and I was only 14 at the time), I’ve met Rod Dixon. I’ve
run The Disney World Marathon as well and several Half-Marathons and other
races during my running days. But, the NYCM is my favourite. It’s a challenge
with all the hills and bridges. I was introduced to the distance by chance and
it happened to be the NYCM I watched Rod Dixon win. I live in New Jersey so the
NYCM feels almost like my local marathon. Every year, I watch it live and I get
goose bumps knowing I’ve run the same streets as the pros and knowing how the
other <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">everyman </i>and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">everywoman</i> runner feels.</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -.25in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: red;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -.25in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: red;"> <b>9. Book Award Season</b> – As a writer and reader, of
course, I love books and stories. The fall is when the book awards season
begins. Among others, this time of year, the winners of The National Book Award
and The man Booker Prize are announced. All the top ten lists come out, too,
(not just books of course) and I like to see which I’ve read and which I
should’ve read. And, no, I’m not going to lie. There is always a moment when I
imagine what if a book I write gets on one of those lists or, more amazingly,
wins one of those prestigious awards. </span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -.25in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: red;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -.25in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: red;"> <b>10. New
York City</b> – I love New York City. I’d live there if I could afford to and I’ll
go in, from my home in New Jersey, almost anytime and any season. (I’ll avoid
days like SantaCon that, incidentally, is set for December 12 this year.) New
York during the holidays, though, as cliché as this is going to sound, is truly
special. The lights, sounds, smells, the various window displays, The Rockettes
all bring warmth to the heart and even melts me back to my childhood and my
first New York Christmastime in 1985. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: red;">And,
there you have it. My top ten best things about autumn. You’ll notice, if you
juxtapose the list of things that make autumn bad and the list here – the
things that make autumn good – you’ll see some of the items are the same in
both lists. No one said there had to be an absolute and I think it also goes to
show that not everything is all bad or all good, which makes things and people
and books and movies and what have you more interesting, </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: red;">So,
let’s, all of us, enjoy or lament the remaining days of autumn. After that, we
can take on winter. </span></div>
Juan Rader Bashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01739963068505883037noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1044683768110855347.post-54133216909122695142015-12-07T10:25:00.006-05:002015-12-07T10:25:58.014-05:00Meaningful Things<h2 style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: red;">Meaningful Things</span></h2>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: blue;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: blue;">Not
because of the then upcoming movie <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Creed</i>
but, rather, because of the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Rocky</i>
Broadway musical that ran last year, my son and I have been sporadically
watching the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Rocky </i>movies since the
summer. Pretty much up until October, wherever we went, we listened to the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Rocky</i> Broadway album in the car. It was
much like when <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Frozen</i> came out and
all we listened to was the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Frozen</i>
soundtrack getting to know each song’s lyrics, each musical interlude and each
chant. This time it was with <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Rocky</i>
and, as a result of the songs, my son got curious about entire <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Rocky </i>saga. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">As</i> we watch them, it’s really interesting to watch Rocky Balboa’s
transformation from a seemingly has been amateur boxer to the coveted
Heavyweight Champion of The World. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: blue;">Thinking
about these movies, my favourites in terms of story and emotional impact are <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Rocky II</i>, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Rocky V</i> and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Rocky Balboa</i>.
I know my selections go against the grain of many critics and the general
public (most people I know trashed <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Rocky
V</i>) but I liked them and everyone likes different things for different
reasons. Interestingly, though, and not one of my favourites but one that still
holds special meaning to me is <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Rocky IV</i>.
As a movie, it fully represents the 1980s. Cold War tensions, abundant movies
with jingoistic under – and over – tones. It has plenty of flash and focused on
the materialism of beauty – Stallone never looked leaner, Dolph Lundgren was
(and still is) a fantastic physical specimen and Brigitte Nielsen was a babe.
However, it was also, in my opinion, one very long music video (another media
form that reached its peak in the 1980s). I will admit, however, that I do like
a lot some of the songs on the soundtrack.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: blue;">I
wouldn’t go so far as to say I didn’t like the movie or call it is bad movie
but it’s not one of my favourites in the series. It’s a revenge movie and I
think, as a whole, the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Rocky </i>story is
deeper than that. Nonetheless, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Rocky IV</i>
manages to hold a special place in my heart and for non-movie reasons. The day <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Rocky IV</i> came out, in 1985, was the day
before my first ever Taekwondo test. I was a white belt and because of my
previous martial arts experience in Shotokan and Koeikan Karate and, I like to
think, because of my hard work and aptitude for martial arts, my instructor was
letting me skip the usual yellow stripe and test directly for my yellow belt.
Before Taekwondo class that day, my sister and I watched the movie at our local
cinema. I, then, went to class, hyped up and ready to train. The following day,
I took my test and passed. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: blue;">I’d
never taken a Taekwondo or any other martial arts test before and, while I had
watched the test two months before mine (tests are held every two months for
qualified candidates), I was nervous about mine. I’d seen how it was run. I
knew what I had to do but would I be able to do it. Of course, I felt confident
in my training. The fact that I was skipping a rank gave me a boost too. Before
every class and test, to this day, I say a little prayer that is an additional
calming influence. But, of all things, it was a popular movie, with an iconic
hero-figure, that overcame his odds to triumph in the end that really kept me
focused and certain. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: blue;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: blue;">It’s
because of that that I write this post. Some of the trivial things in our lives
may, at the moment or at the end, turn out to be some of the most meaningful.
Maybe <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Rocky IV</i> ended up doing so much
and meaning so much because the character of Rocky was a familiar one and I’d just
moved to America a few months earlier so he/the movie became my Mickey in my
corner. Maybe the connection is simpler. I was a sixteen year old pursuing a
(different kind of) fighter’s life and I’m a guy so, perhaps, there was just
some young man machismo connecting with the testosterone revving scenes of
Rocky and Drago training and punching the shit out of each other. Regardless, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Rocky IV </i>helped me. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: blue;">So,
don’t be quick to put aside the little or passing moments of your lives. I’m
not saying you have to start looking for or creating meaning in everything. No.
Sometimes, a thing is a just a thing. There are coincidences, after all. But,
then again, sometimes they’re not. </span><o:p></o:p></div>
Juan Rader Bashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01739963068505883037noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1044683768110855347.post-37808830320670770422015-11-12T10:40:00.005-05:002015-11-12T10:40:48.327-05:00My Favourite Season, part I<h2 class="element editable-text" id="310120314684272708" style="margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0.3em 0px;">
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white; color: blue; line-height: 1.3;">I recently received a comment about one of my older posts. The blog post was about Spring and the things I do and do not like about it. The reader's comment asked where he could find a post about Autumn. Well, since he found one about Spring here at </span><em style="background-color: white; color: blue; line-height: 1.3; position: relative;">Contemplations</em><span style="background-color: white; color: blue; line-height: 1.3;">, I'd better help him find one about Autumn here as well. So, here it is.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 16.9px;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 1.3;">Autumn, or The Fall, is more than likely my favourite season and while I am presenting a top ten list of the best and worst of the season, please remember, that this is MY list. There are things here that are very specific to my likes and dislikes and they may or may not be the same as yours. FYI, the items in each list are not in any particular order. Here goes:</span></div>
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<span style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 23.4px;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.3;"><div style="text-align: justify;">
<u style="line-height: 1.3;"><strong>The Ten Worst Things About Autumn</strong></u></div>
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<u style="line-height: 1.3;">1. Halloween, part one</u><span style="line-height: 1.3;"> - I've never been a big fan of Halloween. Granted, I didn't do too much Trick-Or-Treating growing up but, even then, that's not why I'm not gaga about the holiday. I always found it a bit odd for strangers to go around knocking on doors, ringing doorbells and pressing buzzers for chocolate, candied apples or the like. And then there was the possibility that the person answering the door would say "Trick." Well, that's just no fun. Other people love it. My son does and I get excited with him for him but, for me, it's not my thing. </span></div>
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<span style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.3;"><div style="text-align: justify;">
<u style="line-height: 1.3;">2. Halloween, part two</u><span style="line-height: 1.3;"> - Carving pumpkins. Well, this one's a bit of a cheat. The first time I ever carved one, I did it with my son watching and helping a little bit. He must've been just over two and I'll admit it was fun. I'd never done one before, we used one of those stencil kits and we were very impressed with what we'd produced. Every year, we do one or two together; usually at a party my wife's friend hosts for the neighbourhood. But, again, it's not my thing. If my son said he didn't care for it, we wouldn't do it. For me, it's a Bucket List item. If I'm going to spend an hour or so getting mucky, I'd rather spend it seasoning meat in the chicken or gutting a fish and preparing a nice meal.</span></div>
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<span style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 23.4px;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.3;"><div style="text-align: justify;">
<u style="line-height: 1.3;">3. Erratic Weather</u><span style="line-height: 1.3;"> - I put this in my Spring list too. Generally, I like the cooler weather but The Fall, as with The Spring, can produce some strange extremes. Just look at the weather this year in New Jersey. It's November and just last week we had days in the upper 70s Fahrenheit. A few years back, kind of ruining the feel of the holiday, we had a Thanksgiving Day that was high temp, high humidity and gross. Autumn should be cool. It also shouldn't be freezing. We've had Winter-like days in October as well. If New Jersey had weather like San Francisco - consistently even and cool - New Jersey would be close to being all right. </span></div>
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<span style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.3;"><div style="text-align: justify;">
<u style="line-height: 16.9px;">4. Flu Shots</u><span style="line-height: 16.9px;"> - Flu Shots are good, I suppose. Since we started having out son get them, his rate and level of getting sick has lessened. Granted, he's only 7 1/2 and his immune system is naturally getting stronger as he gets older but some of his resistance may have to do with annual flu shots. I've taken them on occasion myself. I got one just a couple of weeks ago. But, I guess my aversion to flu shots has to do with my age, perhaps. I'm 46 and I put myself somewhere between modern and with it and old school. Flu shots weren't a thing when I was growing up. (Did they even exist?) Now, however, it's all about the flu shot. "Did you get your flu shot yet?" Yeah, getting sick and being stuffed up and sore throats all suck but one just took the meds and dealt with it. We just did what we could to prevent getting sick (good hygiene, rest, avoiding those who were sick) and, when we did catch a bug, we did what we had to get better (rest, fluids, orange juice, medicine). I guess my problem with flu shots is like my distaste for the term 'play date.' When I was a kid, if you wanted to get together and play with your classmates or neighbours, you asked your folks if you could go out, you went to your friend's house, rang the the bell and asked if he or she was home. Now, it's like arranging a summit meeting. </span></div>
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<span style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.3;"><div style="text-align: justify;">
<u style="line-height: 16.9px;">5. Work load</u><span style="line-height: 16.9px;"> - For me - and again this list is Juan-specific - The Fall is my busiest time of year. The easy days of summer are coming to a close, my teaching job is beginning, and my fall coaching job is on again as well. Sure, I could give something up but we do the things we need to and like to. I need to work (teaching) to support my family. I enjoy coaching volleyball (a fall sport in New Jersey). Both of these bring a lot more work - paper and otherwise - to what were nice, time-abundant days of the summer. I'm not lazy. At least I don't think I am. I just like things, like most of us, to be easier and less time-consuming, taxing, etc. All of this increased work load, too, kills my time to write and, as a writer, that's just not acceptable. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
<span style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.3;"><div style="text-align: justify;">
<u style="line-height: 16.9px;">6. Standard Time</u><span style="line-height: 16.9px;"> - I hate that first Sunday in November when we switch the clocks back an hour. Big deal that we 'get' an extra hour. The benefit of that lasts a day. What this does accomplish, however, is later mornings and earlier evenings and poorer health - physical and mental/emotional - due to less light/sun exposure. I don't even know why we still do this. Shouldn't we stick to Daylight Savings Time to conserve (light) energy consumption and for healthier people? </span></div>
</span><div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.3;"><div style="text-align: justify;">
<u style="line-height: 16.9px;">7. Holiday Weight Gain</u><span style="line-height: 16.9px;"> - Again, this is something completely within my control and it doesn't always happen but there is the potential for it. As The Fall arrives so, too, does the Holiday Season of Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and others. With all of that comes partying, greater imbibing, richer and naughtier foods. Sadly, as one gets older, one's metabolism slows down so, unless you're constantly working out (as I used to) and you're super disciplined with your quantity and quality of food consumption, you're going to put on holiday weight. I think I heard once, on a radio show, that from Halloween to New Year's Day there is a potential to gain 50 pounds or more. </span></div>
</span><div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.3;"><div style="text-align: justify;">
<u style="line-height: 16.9px;">8. Leaves, part one</u><span style="line-height: 16.9px;"> - I live in a nice suburban community where my job is only a mile away from my home and my son's school is two blocks from home. Right now, my wife still drops him off but in another year or two he'll be able to walk. Generally, our area is a nice quiet place and everyone knows who his or her neighbours are. The problem with our neighbourhood - and I'm sure it goes in all suburbs - is the abundance of trees with loads and loads and loads and loads (you get the picture) of leaves. It's great when it's spring and summer and they stay on their tree limbs. The fall, well, that's an entirely different situation. The leaves are worse than The Tribbles!* They're annoying to look at after they've fallen and covered everything. They're annoying to rake and blow, taking time away from other more important things like writing, reading, chilling with my son and wife. (I will admit, though, as much of a pain as they are, my son and I have made it a thing we do together so it's almost tolerable.) Then, after you rake them, there's that windy day that blows the top layer of everything you cleaned up back all over the place. Yes, I could hire landscapers to do this but why? I didn't plant the trees. The town should be responsible for all of it but that's my opinion and, possibly, a discussion for another day. I could also move but, as you know if you've ever moved, that's always easier said than done. </span></div>
</span><div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.3;"><div style="text-align: justify;">
<u style="line-height: 16.9px;">9. Leaves, part two</u><span style="line-height: 16.9px;"> - Another problem with the leaves is that they're driving a hazard. Dry or wet, they can make the roads slippery and harder to negotiate; worse when they're wet, of course. The other concern is when they're piled against the curb. There is no other place to put them until the town gathers them but until that happens they make driving difficult by narrowing the roads and hindering visibility from cars and pedestrians coming out of driveways and walking on the sidewalk. If leaves didn't fall off their trees, they'd be perfect. </span></div>
</span><div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.3;"><div style="text-align: justify;">
<u style="line-height: 16.9px;">10. Blinding sunlight</u><span style="line-height: 16.9px;"> - Starting in Autumn and continuing through the winter, the sun is harsher this time of year than in the summer or spring. Sure, there's less leaves (there they are again!) on the trees providing shade and screening but I believe the extra brightness of the sun during these months has to do with the way The Earth rotates this time of year or the cooler temperatures or something scientific. I like longer days. That's why I yearn for that Sunday in March when we switch the clocks forward. I just don't to get blinded even with sunglasses on and the visor lowered in my car.</span></div>
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<span style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 16.9px;"><br /></span></div>
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<div style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.3; text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 16.9px;">So, there they are - my 10 Best Worsts of Autumn. Ask me again a few months from now, I may have different things on the list. Regardless, we all have our likes and dislikes and they're predicated with our experiences over time and with what's going on in our lives in the present. Having said that, what are you likes and dislikes about Autumn?</span></div>
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<span style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 16.9px;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.3;"><div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 16.9px;">* Click </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tribble" style="line-height: 16.9px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank" title="">here </a><span style="line-height: 16.9px;">for those non-Star Trek/non-scifi fans who don't know what Tribbles are.</span></div>
</span></span></h2>
Juan Rader Bashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01739963068505883037noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1044683768110855347.post-2385731332351027012015-07-11T07:35:00.001-04:002015-07-11T07:35:18.057-04:00Review of Back Kicks and Broken Promises<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1KO5zUBvNwXAB58ce5-010UncYZg9C5OTtc5daX38yQ0632G5MRrFiTEEsM_aRr2riExPV6bYcvpA7fekyQUazvYn_SWPd9apkQ30OE301i8iV5Lo0gGcaC8IcdDpBSYRetwVfXXOLG79/s1600/3235401.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: red;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1KO5zUBvNwXAB58ce5-010UncYZg9C5OTtc5daX38yQ0632G5MRrFiTEEsM_aRr2riExPV6bYcvpA7fekyQUazvYn_SWPd9apkQ30OE301i8iV5Lo0gGcaC8IcdDpBSYRetwVfXXOLG79/s320/3235401.jpg" width="246" /></span></a></div>
<span style="color: red;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">This was a surprise to me. I didn't know she was doing it but I got a Twitter Direct Message last May from Lauren Lola, a reviewer for the website <a href="https://windupbookschronicle.wordpress.com/" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">The Wind-Up Books Chronicle</a>. Like I said I was very surprised and I'm also very honoured that she'd do this review. Thanks Lauren.</span><br style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;" /><br style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;" /><br style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;" /><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">Anyway, click the link below to read it. </span><br style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;" /><strong style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><a href="http://tinyurl.com/ozlp5bp" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">http://tinyurl.com/ozlp5bp</a></strong></span>Juan Rader Bashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01739963068505883037noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1044683768110855347.post-46583346854573705942015-07-11T06:56:00.000-04:002015-07-11T06:56:05.581-04:00A Kind of Magic<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: red;">A
Kind of Magic<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: red;">I
said something to my son, Jude, the other day that I thought was somewhat
profound; perhaps, the best advice I’ve given to him in my measly seven plus
years of being a parent. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: red;">Some
while ago we’d had a talk about learning. In addition to being a writer and
martial artist, I’m a teacher so the value of learning and knowing what to do
with what you learn is extra important. I’ve had talks about this with my son,
espousing the value of knowledge and even using the old “knowledge is power” line.
He seemed to get it. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: red;">Every
Sunday, before his swimming lesson, we have some father-and-son time over
breakfast at McDonald’s. We’ve been doing this for almost two years and each
week we see a group of older gentleman sitting together. They’re variably
dressed. One is usually wearing sweatpants – the kind with the elastic at the
hems – and a t-shirt or sweatshirt if it’s cold. A couple others are dressed in
slacks and a polo shirt. Another might be in khakis and loafers and a button
down. Invariably, we hear them talking about the Sunday mass they all came from
and about some of their exploits in the military. The sweatpants wearing
veteran is usually sporting a baseball hat and, more often than not, the logo
or insignia on it has something to do with the US Navy. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: red;">Last
Christmastime, as he and his cronies were leaving, he asked Jude what colour he
likes. Jude said he liked red. The man went to his car and returned with a red
plush Angry Birds doll. On a future occasion, he gave Jude a yellow. Last week,
he gave us baseball hats – one red, one white, one blue – each with ‘USA’
stitched on the front.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A couple of weeks
before that – bear in mind that while we see them every week, these gentlemen
sit on the other side of the restaurant – when they were leaving, the Angry
Birds gifter passed Jude and said, “Bye, Jude.” To that, Jude turned to me and
said, “How’d he know my name?” Then we both smiled and said, simultaneously, “I
think he really is Santa Claus.” This is something Jude has suggested about the
man since receiving the Angry Birds plush dolls. The man did tell me last week,
when Jude was getting a napkin, that he has a friend who makes hats, dolls and
such and that he asks our Santa Claus to help distribute them. This makes
perfect sense but, hey, who’s to say? Maybe this is merely Santa’s cover. Hmm. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: red;">Anyway,
back to last week. After giving us the hats and walking out, Jude stared at the
man and said, “Daddy, let’s ask if he is Santa Claus.” I smiled and said that
we shouldn’t. The man was already getting into his car and I didn’t want us to
chase after him. Moreover, I said, “Do you believe he’s Santa Claus? We don’t
need to know. If we find out, it might change stuff.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: red;">Jude
thought about what I said and took a swig from his chocolate milk before
turning back to me and bringing up the whole ‘knowledge is power’ thing and
asking what “stuff” knowing if he’s Santa Claus might change. I nodded and told
him that this was a different kind of situation; a situation when knowing might
not be power. He asked why and I said, “Because, while knowledge is power, it
can also take the magic away.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: red;">Now,
whether you believe in Santa Claus or not, as a real person or as a concept,
that’s up to you and there’s nothing wrong with that. I’ve had some interesting
things happen to me that make me believe in aliens – and if that’s shutting you
off and you’re leaving my blog, bye and thanks for visiting. What I meant with
my answer to my son wasn’t so much about literal magic or whether there is or
isn’t a Santa Claus. What I was referring to is something that’s unavoidable
but also something that can be slowed and that is the innocence and emotional
magic of the newness of something you love. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: red;">My
son is seven and he likes many things. Among those things is martial arts and,
in particular, Taekwondo. He’s been training in it for about two and a half
years. I’ve been involved with Taekwondo for almost thirty years and because of
that difference we experience Taekwondo in ways that our specific to each of us.
His is from the perspective of something that is simply cool. I still get that
but I also come to it with the wisdom of someone who has seen the ins and outs,
the good and bad, the pure training and the politics, the humility with being a
white belt, the awe at getting my black belt, and the struggle to maintain a
white belt mind and heart after gaining ‘master’ rank.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: red;">So,
while I know my son will get older and begin to see things differently –
whether it’s Taekwondo, school, work, a relationship, a favourite vacation spot,
what have you – I hope that he’s able to see the magic in all he does for a
long time before he becomes too knowledgeable; before he becomes too wise. Once
the magic of the thing’s innocence is lost it is difficult, if even possible,
to get back. And, when that happens, one can get jaded. Sometimes a person
needs to view things from all angles, from inside and out. Sometimes, however,
he needs to view things as simply as he can and take things as they are and not
worry about what might it all mean. Knowledge is great when it’s needed. So is
the magic and, more often than not, the magic’s greater still.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Juan Rader Bashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01739963068505883037noreply@blogger.com0