Best and Worst of 2012

Looking Back on 2012

As the year comes to a close and newspapers, music charts and movie reviewers, to name a few, start putting up their lists of bests and worsts of the past twelve months and honouring their industries chart-toppers, I've decided to take a look at my own best and worst of the year moments. I don't know if I'll manage ten (or twelve, one for each month) but there are some moments that do stand out. And, in many ways, as I'm writing this post, I'm thinking off the top of my head so the list I come with here might change if I made a new list next week, a month from now, or even tomorrow.

Oh, by the way, the items in each list are not written in any particular order. They also might not have been things I did or experienced firsthand but things that made me feel strongly about something or someone or some place in a significant way. Lastly, those items that appear in both lists...well, I'm probably happy for them that they happened but their impact or how they made me feel might not have been exactly what I would have hoped for.

So here goes - my best and worst of 2012.

The Best of 2012:

1. Publishing my debut novel, Back Kicks And Broken Promises.
2. Repeating as New Jersey State Poomsae (Forms) Champion in the 1st Masters Black Belt Division.
3. My Manila Bulletin newspaper interview about my book and my life as a writer.
4. The feature about me and my book in The Filipino Reporter.
5. Hyphen Magazine - the review of Back Kicks And Broken Promises and being interviewed for a feature on self-published Asian-American authors.
6. Meeting Marie Lu, the author of Legend.
7. The removal of my father-in-law's cancerous kidney and his subsequent recovery.
8. President Obama's re-election as president of the United States.
9. Completing the first draft of my second novel, Sage of Heaven: Lineage.
10. Having the best season (final record of 12-10, second round of the country tournament, qualified for the state tournament for the first time since 2003) my high school volleyball team since I joined the coaching staff in 2003.

The Worst of 2012:

1. The Hyphen Magazine review of my book.
2. Hurricane Sandy.
3. The end of classes at my martial arts club, Bamboo Martial Arts.
4. The scare that it was my father-in-law's time to go.
5. My son's first stitches, on his forehead, just above his eye.
6. Not being able to attend the US National Championships after qualifying to compete.
7. Injuries to my back, hips and left calf and hamstring, brought on from training for the NY City Marathon, that sidelined me.
8. Robin Van Persie's betrayal and subsequent departure from Arsenal Football Club to join rivals Manchester United.
9. The rising cost of things.
10. Decreased fitness and weight gain due to number 7 and number 5, above, of the weight I'd lost in 2011, while training for Nationals.

So, there they are. Like I said, tomorrow, next week, next month, I might have entirely different items on those lists. And, some of them may seem trivial, at best. But, like I also said, they're what I came up with on the spot. Either way, I'm glad for the things on the best list and less than so of the things on the worst list.

What's on your lists?

Anti-Racism = Anti-White?

My friend is a contributing columnist for an online football (soccer) magazine. He's also Pakistani, raised in Bristol, grew up in Hong Kong and now lives in Germany. I've known him for going on thirty years and, I am proud to say, he has not a single racist bone in his body. As a Pakistani in England, he's had his fair share of racism directed at him and his family and, as a non-Chinese Asian in Hong Kong, he - along with some of us other Asians, including Chinese, who attended the expat British school - was on the receiving end of some unfavourable comments there.

I bring this up because he just wrote a piece on the racism scandal involving Luis Suarez, Patrice Evra and Liverpool Football Club, of which he has been a lifelong fan. In a nutshell, Suarez has been accused of calling Evra, eight times, a derogatory word for a black person. As a result, Suarez has been fined and is serving a lengthy ban from playing. The article also discusses whether the club handled the situation correctly and offers some suggestions on educating imported players on the 'dos' and 'do nots' of the English Premier League. (Here is the link to the article. It's called Liverpool FC, Kenny Dalglish, Luis Suarez and Racism: What Is The Best Solution?)

What struck me, however, was a comment one of his readers made. The reader wrote, "Africa for Africans, Asia for the Asians, white countries for EVERYBODY. Mass immigration and "assimilation" forced on all white countries and ONLY white countries.......Anti-racist is a codeword for anti-white."

For me, this is a ridiculous statement. First of all, are there any 'all white countries' (anymore)? Were there ever any, really? If so, what then of the mass immigration of whites to Africa, enslaving the native Africans and exporting those slaves to other parts of the world? What of the whites coming to America and stealing land from the Native American Indians and killing many of them off? What of the whites going to Asia, colonising its countries and making the locals less than people, equal only to the standing of a dog? Second, non-whites (just to continue to use the reader's phrasing) are not the only people migrating. There are whites who migrate, not just because their companies have relocated them but because they like the lifestyle, to 'non-white' countries. How many non-whites live in places like The Philippines, South Africa, The Bahamas, Brasil, to name a few? Thirdly, the incident my friend's piece was discussing had to do with two non-white players. This clearly shows that racism is not just an issue that has to do with a white person and a person of colour. It can happen between two people of colour and not one white person has to get involved. Here, in America for example, I've seen African-Amerians getting on other African-Americans for dating non-African-Americans simply because of the other person's race.

I hate racism. It's one of the worst things human beings invented. As a mixed-race person, I've gotten from both sides. My friend's article suggests that imported players get educated on the way things should be done in the English Premier League. I agree with this. It'd be like orientation day on the first day of any other job. Sadly, however, racism is a global issue and not just something that happens in England or on the football pitches of our favourite teams. Throwing Suarez a little bit of a lifeline, perhaps there was a language barrier issue. Suarez is relatively new to England and, perhaps, his English isn't very good yet. Evra, who's French, has been playing in England for a number of years now and I've seen him interviewed. His English is rather good. Suarez's native language is Spanish and the word for black in Spanish is 'negro' (the ne not pronounced like knee). Perhaps, there was a misunderstanding and maybe Evra thought Suarez used a different N word. However, this is thin defence if Suarez is using it. To refer to a player - to anyone - by his race, other than maybe to describe the person, is a form of racism. This may even be a form of racism, too. Personally, I'm okay with someone saying something like, "Oh Juan, he's one of the male gym teachers at school. He's the Asian one." Change "Asian" to "yellow" or "brown" then we have a problem.

Unfortunately, racism exists. With increased immigration and increased mixed race marriages, I think, I hope, racism eventually will stop. These, though, should not be the only solutions; if they are, at all. Am I being too romantic about it ending? Probably. If it does, I doubt it will happen in my lifetime. Sadly, I doubt it will happen in my son's lifetime. Racism stems, largely, from simple ignorance. Eliminate that ignorance with education and exposure. It's not enough just to learn about it. Go out and meet and really get to know people who are different from you. That's the first step.

So, is anti-racism tantamount to being anti-white? No. Anti-racism is, simply, anti-racist.

Age: Truly Just A Number?

Is age truly just a number?

One of the books I'm currently reading is Dara Torres' biography, Age Is Just A Number: Achieve Your Dreams At Any Stage in Your Life. In it, Torres chronicles her Olympics swimming career, particularly her preparations for making the USA team for the 2008 Olympics and her accomplishments at The Games. She also talks about becoming a mother later in her life and how that influenced her Olympics drive. She discusses how she's able to swim faster as she's gotten older as she's changed her training and fitness programs to allow her to do more quality workouts, in and out of the water, instead of just stroking metres upon metres in the pool. She states, at her age, it's really all about quality over quantity, working on technique over power, cross-training and allowing herself more time so her body can recover.

I've been a fan of hers for years but I'll admit that I was extra interested in her 2008 Olympics experience because, at the time, I was creeping up on forty, which I had a very hard time dealing with, and I was starting to ponder what I would be like athletically. I've never been an elite anything but I did run seriously, commiting to it the way a professional might but at a much slower pace and with less miles per week, and I'm a higher ranking Taekwondoist. Like all of the other mortals who followed her progress and cheered her on, I was as much happy for her as I was hopeful for me.

Last year, three years after Torres's amazing return to the world swimming stage, I was able to rejuvenate my own competitive athletic ambitions through Taekwondo. If you've read this blog since last year, you'll know that I got back into teaching Taekwondo a year ago (Happy Anniversary to me and Bamboo Martial Arts, by the way! Haha!) and, consequently, I began competing again too. I entered the New Jersey State Championships and won my Poomsae (Forms) Division. That allowed me to compete at the US Team Trials for a spot on the Poomsae Team and at the US National Championships. I bombed at Trials but came tenth at Nationals. Even though my accomplishments are minor, compared to others' achievements, I did get to compete on some of the grander stages in the sport of Taekwondo, which doesn't have a large following or sponsorship or recognition the way track and field, gymnastics and swimming do at The Olympics and soccer, football, basketball and tennis have worldwide.

I decided to spend the time training for all those evens last year and fork out the money to travel to them with my family, largely, for the experience and for my son to be exposed to such things. Who knows? Maybe one day he'll follow in my footsteps and, unlike me, be one of the elite. I hadn't really thought about doing it again this year. However, with the experiences behind me, I'm wiser and, through the training, fitter. I'm also hungrier and, recently, my wife and I talked about me defending my title at States. As a matter of fact, earlier today, we were talking to her parents in Manila, via iPad Facetime, about going to The Philippines this coming summer. When we go, will depend on if I compete at Nationals. I'll be forty-three at the end of this month and I could be a State champion again. Granted my division is for 41-50 year olds and not open, like Torres swam in the Olympics, but at least I'm competing and pushing myself to be the best I can be.

This past week, Arsenal Football Club signed Thierry Henry, who is thirty-four, on a six week loan deal. Henry is Arsenal's all-time leading goalscorer, having played for the London club from 1999-2007. Last Monday, he scored the winning goal in Arsenal's 1-0 win over Leeds in the FA Cup. Today, Paul Scholes, who retired at the end of last season and came out of retirement last week for a return stint with Manchester United for the remainder of this season, scored in United's 3-0 win over Bolton Wanderers in the English Premier League. He's also in his thirties and, in soccer terms, the thirties are when the legs start to go and the thoughts of hanging up one's boots start to creep in. However, these two soccer legends, are doing the business when some of the new younger, rising stars aren't.

So, I ask you, is age really just a number? For what I want to try to achieve athletically (I'd love to medal at Nationals and I'm still shooting for a sub five hour marathon) and for wanting to be able to play with my son and help him with whatever sports he gets into, I hope it is. I became a dad late, in 2008, andwhile I'm still young I am getting closer to the stage of my life when there are going to be less tomorrows than there are yesterdays.