The Spirit of Sports?

Marion Jones, a former world champion track and field athlete, has won five medals in the 2000 summer Olympics in Sydney Australia. In October 2007, Jones admitted taking steroids before the Sydney 2000 Summer Olympics. All her medals and prizes dating back to September 2000 were forfeited.

Tong Wen, a former champion Judo athlete, has won three times gold medal in the world Judo Championship and one gold medal in 2008 summer Olympics in Beijing. She failed the drug test after the world Judo Championship 2009 in Holland and was banned for competition for two years. Her coach excuse is "She trained in Europe and was sick of the food so we gave her a lot of pork chops when she came home."

Performance-enhancing drugs are substances used by athletes to improve their performances in the sports. Not only these two, but also a lot of famous athletes used performance-enhancing drugs to get advantage in their games. Since there are only a few athletes who were reported using performance-enhancing drugs, most people believe that it is rare for athletes to use drugs. When I was discussing with one of my junior yesterday about Tong Wen's drug test failure, he was convinced by the news from Sina that it was because of pork chops. However, I didn't believe the story. I think she defiantly used drugs. It is because pork chop is a common dish in Holland, Germany, and Denmark and there is no drug test failure news from these countries' athletes recently. Plus she is the only one from China Judo team who failed the test, and it is not reasonable for a national team to serve food to their player separately. Although I was certain about her usage of drugs, at that point, I still didn't believe using drugs is a common act in competitive sports.

Last Sunday, my friend C and I went for a dinner at his coach Mr Wu's home. We had a dinner with Mr Wu, Mrs Wu, and LS who was a student of Mr Wu's friend. Mr Wu was a famous swimming athlete in Tianjin, he was the China national champion in 200 meters freestyle swimming. LS was a famous swimming athlete in Tianjin as well. She was the China national champion in 200 meters butterfly style swimming. Most Singaporeans may know Ms Tao Li very well, who is an immigrant from China and won many awards in swimming for Singapore. But comparing her with LS, the former China national champion, Tao Li is no match. LS could beat her easily. It was an honor for me to meet these champions face to face. At that night, we talked about several different topics, including Singapore politics, working culture, and the use of Performance-enhancing drugs.

Based on his 40 years experience in swimming, Mr Wu told us that performance-enhancing drugs are wildly used by athletes. There are varieties of drugs. He explained to us the two basic working principles of drugs. One principle is increasing the oxygen delivered in blood. Once there are more oxygen circulates in blood, human body can burn energy in a faster rate. It can be achieved by increasing the heme level in blood. A simple method is to draw large amount of one's own blood out before the competition, store it in a fridge, and inject it back to the body on the day before the competition. By using this method, the heme level in blood can be even doubled. The other principle is increasing androgenic hormone. There are numerous drugs for tuning androgenic hormone. They are mainly used by female athletes like Marion Jones.

LS also shared us her experience on using performance-enhancing drugs. She said almost everybody in competitive sports uses drugs. It is an open secret. There are people who failed drug test, because the drugs they used are not state-of-the-art. In the record of the World Anti-Doping Agency, just simply the names of the banned drugs can be written as a thick book. Besides these drugs, there are still new drugs, which have smaller side effect and are hardly to be traced, being developed every year. She said in swimming, the leading country in these drugs research is the United States, and other countries including China buy drugs from US. However, the US society is less tolerate with dishonesty. As a result, Marion Jones had to apologize for her past mistake. The problem with China society is sometimes "pride" of the nation is more important than dishonesty. It is sad that a lot of my friends rather believe that Tong Wen's drug test failure is due to pork chops.

After the dinner, when C drove me back home, I was lost in thinking. What is the real purpose of sports? The founder of the International Olympics Committee Pierre de Coubertin stated that "The important thing is not to win, but to take part". Where did the spirit he emphasized go? Is it because this spirit left us or we, the "modern" people, abandoned it?

Krispy - City Street

I found myself fell in love with DIY music made by normal people. This song is from a guy named Chris. As a rapper, his "name" is Krispy. A tasty name, isnt' it?

Phases of the Moon 2

Related Post: Phases oth the Moon

Last Tuesday I had my honor to welcome Janus visiting Singapore. Janus and I met for the first time in year 2007. One normal Monday, when I was in NUS training, Janus, Rune, and Anna came to join NUS judo club. Anna stayed in NUS for only one semester while Janus and Rune stayed for a whole academic years.

When I first heard that they are from Denmark, I was a bit surprise. There are not many danish people in Singapore. The image of Denmark in my mind was fuzzy. We got along very well, especially both Rune and me are fans of the fantasy tasty durian. Then before they left Singapore, I received the exchange offer from Technical University of Denmark where Janus and Rune are from. As a result, I went to Denmark and stayed one more semester with them.

Rune is a nice guy. He invited me, Mingru, and Songjie to his house for dinner. His father treated us traditional danish food with danish Christmas beer. Our favorite was the desert. It was a big cake with apple jam and cream.

Beside have delicious food in Denmark, I also had some in Holland. At that time, Janus was serving his industrial attachment in Shell Amsterdam. He was provide a flat with two bedrooms. I went there and stayed in his place for five days. One night, after touring around the famous red light district in Amsterdam, we had dinner in an Australian restaurant. They served as pork ribs and hamburgers. The pork ribs I ordered was really tasty. Beside that we had some black beers. So we ate, drunk, and watched football game in this small restaurant with rock music. It was a great night. (The red light district is a great spot to tour around and wave hand saying hello to people.)

I felt sad when I just came back from Copenhagen to Singapore. I missed my friends there. When I meet Ms Song Jie and Ms Mingru, I often mentioned the big cake, big ribs, Christmas beer, and black beer. They said I am a guy who is good at eating and drinking. Even if I go to restaurant now, I won't have the same feeling. Maybe it was because touring around red light district before the dinner gave me a good appetite.

To my surprise, Janus' company sent him to work in Singapore for two weeks. After haven't seen each other for more than one year, we met again. This time Songjie, Mingru, and I had a lunch in this Japanese restaurant "Sakura" with him. We all felt so glad except that Sakura doesn't serve beer.

Life is like this, people come and go. Saying goodbye is painful But its opposite side meeting again is joyful. This time I remember another ancient Chinese poem:

海内存知己，天涯若比邻。

A bosom friend afar brings a distant land near. 

The Other Side of Fighting Spirit in Martial Arts

Recently I made an important decision. I left Singapore Judo Club, a place where I have practiced Judo for five years. I joined SA judo club which is Judo Club nearer to where I live. Transportation is the reason of my decision. By now I have been a formal member of three clubs, had visiting training in all the Judo Clubs in Singapore, and participated in more than twenty torments. When I traced back all the steps I made in Judo, I found the core value in martial arts sports, which is usually refer as "the fighting spirit", has its pros and cons.

There are many versions of naming it, fighting spirit, fight for the soul, for the flame and glory etc... Its pros are quite obvious. It made people more motivated and disciplined. However, through years of believing it, I spot its cons as well.

Sometimes this so called "fighting spirit" lead to extreme selfish and arrogant. Once for a while, when I threw my opponent on mats, I felt enjoyable and successful. It gave me a feeling of having power and dominance. When I stepped on the competition field, I felt like I was in the battle field and I would kill my opponent. An even more enjoyable feeling happened then I beat my opponent in a match. This "fighting spirit" bring me power and hatefulness together.

I remember Dr Roy said "Life is about balance." Now I truly appreciate her word. Realizing a lot of the players in Judo focus are arrogant, I think "fighting spirit" has its positive side, but it is not one cure for all problems.

An Suggestion for A

Hello. When you read this title, you must be wondering what A represents. In this article, A represents a secret mysterious person.

A, I know your bunny is lovely. I made a joke that its meat will be tasty. Don't worry, I won't eat it. I like to watch its lovely long ears. I know you like to secretly read other people's blog without writing any comments. But please, if you read my blog, you will be welcome to give any comments on my articles. Thanks for your corporation.

And by the way, you are the most beautiful person I have ever met in this world. Hahaha..........

Phases of the Moon

It is painful to watch a good friend leaving. Yesterday I just experienced that.

Y, C, H, and I were at Changi airport yesterday seeing our friend W off. There were nice people including me who came to Singapore to study together. K and J have already left us. K went to Sydney and J went back to Tianjin. Their situations were the same. Each of them went back to Tianjin first, then we were informed by them that they would leave Singapore. I felt sad of their leaving. But this time I felt sadder of W's leaving, because we watched her left, we watched her disappeared in the crowd.

It was a sad and sorrow moment. Her flight was at 10:30pm. We had coffee together and took some pictures with her, especially we took some pictures in front of the departure hall. She told us not to worry about her leaving and we can still meet in Tianjin. Certainly our emotion was not convinced by her comfort. The moment when W was walking into the departure hall, H cried. At that moment I was touched. Honestly I have never seen H crying before. I think as a woman H is more sensitive and emotional. Maybe because men usually don't cry, I didn't feel my tears crashing down from my eyes, but they crashed down into my heart.

Nothing exits forever. There are always moments of saying goodbye. All I can do is wish my friend all the best in her future journey.

I remembered an ancient Chinese poet Su Shi said：

人有悲欢离合
月有阴晴圆缺
此事古难全
但愿人长久
千里共婵娟

People have their grieves and joys, their togetherness and separation.
The moon has its dark and clear times, its waxing and waning.
Situations are never ideal since long ago.
I only hope we may have long long lives.
So that we may share the moon's beauty even though we are a thousand miles apart.

What's more interesting is this ancient poem can be sung. And a famous Hong Kong singer sang it in 1990s. I will listen to this music and wish all my friends who have left be happy everyday.

F's Lesson 3

F, C, L, and I had a gathering in a small Chinese restaurant yesterday. We had some delicious YangRouChuan (the figure on the left). With no doubts, we received a lesson again.

C is going to finish his part time degree soon. And he is going to Australia for seven days as part of his degree program. We had a discussion about going abroad and gaining experience. F and C had a long chat of traveling to Australia. F went to Australia twice. His advice for C was be like a traveler.

Then we talked about our work. For me, I don't feel comfortable to tell other people my salary. I do like my friends. However, I like my privacy as well.

F said to C that he should get his degree first so that his starting pay will be around $3000. Then he can find a woman who earn about $2000. And with $5000 income per month, C and his future wife can afford housing and car.

I told F that how come he planed so well for C. His answer was I need to do further planing. After than he mentioned the same thing again that I should chase W, even she is heading to Australia. He said W is a honest woman, and if we get together we will have a stable family.

Although F has been to Australia, Turkey, and many other countries. Deep in his heart, he is still a person from Tianjin. However, I learned different culture to fulfill myself. In fact, I don't even know who I am. F is a nice guy, he is my good friend, but our value is different.

F's Lesson 2

Just now I had a dinner with F in NTU and we had a discussion about career development.

I mentioned that one of our friend X went back to Tianjin. F asked me what she told me about her intension? I gave him the answer that X typed on MSN, she said "I probably won't go back to Singapore".

Like us, X came here to study in Polytechnic. Then she worked as an assistant engineer for three years so that she could clear the bond. Last December, we met on the plane back to Tianjin. To my surprise, she bought a single way ticket. Her explanation was she resigned her job in order to spend a longer holiday with her family. When she explained her reasons I could sense her little sadness and low confidence. At that moment, I knew that she was not fully happy with her stay in Singapore. I could sense that she was not certain about her future.

On the first day of this month X and I had a chat on MSN. When I asked her whether she would return, she gave me that answer"I probably won't go back to Singapore".

F share me his opinion on X: X was just pretending to return here. She left quietly, because she didn't have a plan. She thought returning to Tianjin would be a new start for her, but a person without plan is like a ultimate bridge to nowhere. It is not the case that going back to home will always be better. No matter where we live, we have to work hard. No pain, no gain.

F told me he spot the weakness of X: X left quietly without letting most people know, because she herself look down upon her. And she believe returning back to Tianjin could be a turning point.

When F was driving me back home, I still though of what he said. Changing environment without changing ourselves is not a promising solution.

F's Lesson

Without any doubts, F is the most independent person among us. Yesterday he gave me a lesson on marriage again.

His idea on marriage is that our chances of finding someone and fall in love is at the maximum in colleague, then chances will slowly decrease to zero until we reach forty. His belief is it's better to marry someone whom we know well, because there are a lot of women who have money faces underneath social masks.

He gave me two examples. His cousin sister, who has high income and can speak fluently English, married to an average income guy whose job is missile research. Because she felt an average guy is more stable and secure. F's cousin brother who is the director of Shell in Southern West Chins region married to an average looking woman. Because he felt that an average woman is more loyal.

He still suggested me going for W, even she would leave Singapore next month. His suggestion was as same as last time that I should buy a necklace or something more expensive for her to show that I am interested in her. To me, W is a really nice girl, but we won't even see each other together after next month. I just simply don't believe anything could happened when two people can't stay in a same place. He insisted on his opinion. He said if can show her that I am interested and she accept it, she will come back to me after her two years degree in Austrilia. Then he said if I don't go for her, I may end up having match making to be the last choice. His point of view is in match making both sides see each other's social mask, and it will create problems after marrige.

His idea on his marriage is he will get married in two or three years time, then go back to our hometown, start a business there, and take care of his parents. His girlfriend is from a city not far away from Tianjin. He said when he go back, he will bring his parents-in-law to Tianjin.

I really like F's lesson. It showed me a different story from a different angle on a same topic. However, I think we two are different. He is more keen in to find one suitable woman and get married while I have never thought about this.

Later on, I had a chat with my mum. Her opinion is that a man with successful career is more attractive, and a successful man can go for women who are ten or even fifteen years old younger, so working hard on career is the most important step. Well, that's a different opinion again.

Unknown Feeling

I don't know where to start in this post. Things happened recently are really interesting. They made me feel funny, weird, exciting, happy, and sad at same time. It's hard to describe it. So where should I begin with?

My dad wanted someone to deliver some bed sheets to me, because bed sheets are much cheaper in Tianjin. At that time he asked me which friend of mine were still in Tianjin. It turned out that F was in Tianjin.

F and I have known each other since secondary school when we were both at the age of thirteen. Then we went to the same senior high school as well. Later on, he chose to come to study in Singapore. Then I chose to come to Singapore one year later. Till today, we have known each other for thirteen years. He is very an independent person. Unlike other people, he chose neither studying in University or taking a job after polytechnic. He started his own business. He began with fish food business, then switched to clean water equipment. And now he is doing quite well in pipeline system business. Because he is a businessman, he gained a lot social experiences. Sometimes he like to share some with us. We all respect his opinions.

F, I and his girlfriend had a dinner last Friday. He gave me a lot of suggestions. One was about parents, the other was about marriage. Firstly, about parents. He said we should go back to Tianjin one day. Because he believed that both of our parents are not able to integrate with Singapore society; if they arrived here and stay for long term, they can't live happily without their friends like in our hometown. And they will age older which will require us to take care of them. His plan is to go back to Tianjin in two or three years time. And he is trying to shift his business back to Tianjin as well. Secondly, about marriage. He said I should find someone whom I know well, because there are too many women who is into money and wealth. There are many cases that women will seek divorce after marriage in order to divide husband's asset. From his words, I feel he is a grown-up adult who takes responsibility series. While I am still a half-grown kid who only think of myself.

We met again for dinner at Saturday night. This time, we had a longer conversation. He particular asked me about my point of view on marriage. I gave him my honest answer: "I don't know." Like what he said on Friday, he pointed out I should look for a person whom I have known for years. Then he started to list all the girls name from my batch who studied in same senior high school and came to Singapore. He thought W would be a good choice for me. Indeed, W and I have known each other for six years. And I do feel good about her. But we don't have that kind of electrify attractive chemistry. Unfortunately, I leaked a message out to F that W's birthday party was on Sunday. He gave me a plan that I should buy a necklace(around $50) for her as the birthday gift, then sent a sms "How about the gift" and examine her reply. He suggested that if her reply is like "Thank you, I really like it.", then I will stand up a chance. If her reply is "Thank you, it really trouble you and cost you to buy it", then I will have little chance. Even when I told F that W is heading to Australia this April for her degree. He said it doesn't matter, and if we can have a relationship, she can come back to me after her study, because she is a honest person. I was thrown into this dilemma, on one hand, I respect F's opinion and he is always keen in to help people, on the other hand, I feel W is a really nice female friend, but our future journey are different. I am more keen in to live to different places of the world while she prefer to go back soon or later.

Here comes the Sunday dinner. Before the dinner, I called my dad for suggestions. He said W and I are in two different path; she is going to Australia and I will stay in Singapore, thus it is unlikely to succeed. In the end, I didn't buy any beautiful necklace for her, because I still feel she is just a good friend of mine. Instead, me and my friends bought a birthday cake for her.

There were five people on the dinner, W, Y, H, Z, and I. We chatted from 5:30pm all the way to 8:00pm. Then we went to RP, sat at a quiet spot, and lighten up birthday candle for W. While we were having tasty chocolate cake, our topic switched to H and her friend P. Finally H confessed that she had half a year relationship with P. But she broke up with him, because her parents strongly disagreed. She said she is the only daughter and have to listen to parents to make them happy.

The truth is no matter how old we have grown, we still listen to parents. I don't know whether it is a advantage or disadvantage for our generation. Today, I have a dinner with F again. He said our destiny is defined after reaching four years old, if a person can be a general, he can't be a soldier; if he can be a soldier, he can never be a general. I really don't know about that. What I feel most is our generation(single child policy) is really lack of something. Something we can have if we have brothers or sisters. We can rely on parents, but there is a generation gap. I want to be fully independent but yet I still need help.