Day Sixteen

Just noticed this morning that I have a muffin top!!  Was doing deadlifts facing the mirror and when I stood up I could see the unnecessary bulge at the waistline which was very visible under my training vest.  Not a pretty sight.  How can I get a body like a Spartan if I carry so much excess?  =S  Along with deadlifts I did incline bench press and shoulder press.  Didn't do any ab work.  In fact, my whole workout this morning was not as productive as I would have liked.  Just thinking of things I needed to get done before starting work at 10am and then starting thinking of ways to lose more bodyfat whilst building muscle.

In my last post I talked about thing I could do for my next challenge.  I know think I know what I'm gonna do.  For the month of December I will attempt - note the keyword 'attempt' - to do the 300 Workout every day for three weeks in December.  Either this or every other day, but with other classes in between to keep my cardio work in check.  To lose fat is not going to be easy, especially in this climate where eating anything and everything will gives us that bit of heat and warmth.  However, it is going to a healthy challenge I shall give myself.  I really want to trim the abdominal area and strengthen my core.  I remember last August I had built up a six pack for myself but along with that came loss of muscle mass, hence my blog titled "Pack or Power?".  However, I think I went the wrong way about getting the six pack, by doing excessive amount of cardio which burnt away muscle as well as fat.  This time round if I do cardio I will keep it light and keep the heart pumping at "fat burning" state rather than full blown cardio weight loss state.  I'll also try to keep my protein intake high through foods too.  So I say working out hard for three weeks and not the whole of December because I will be away in the last week of December (destination to be announced later) and won't have access to a gym.  And of course, 25th December is Christmas!!  Guess I won't pig out but will be off training that day for sure.  So... that's what's on my mind at the moment.  I have another two weeks to confirm what I wanna do in December and will make up a plan.  Watch this space!!  =D

He gives and takes away

There is a well-known Christian song by Matt Redman called Blessed Be Your Name in which the bridge sings: "You give and take away, You give and take away.  But still my heart will sing, Lord blessed be your name."  This reminds us that God can give us anything and He can take them away too.  He is pretty much in control of everything: omnipotent.  This song resounds in my heart after what happened during a driving test today.  This afternoon I sat in on a driving test interpretting for one of my Cantonese speaking pupils.  He was a bag of nerves again and though he really wanted to avoid the Left Reverse manoeuvre where he failed on last time, he was unfortunately given that manoeuvre to do by today's examiner.  Now this examiner was a very very very extremely nice lady and by that I mean she was soooo patient with my pupil letting him stop during the manoeuvre and to breathe and relax before continuing.  Now that might be just normal you might think, but listen to this.  Pupil was so nervous that he actually hit the kerb with the kerbside rear tyre.  In fact, he was apologetic about his nervousness and shaking of his left leg (which subsequently shook the clutch pedal and the car) and stopped to open the window for air.  Examiner was nice about it and told him to take his time.  When he continued he scraped the wheel again the kerb again and the car definitely felt resistance as he tried to reverse.  The examiner told him he could stop, catch his breath and think what his instructor would tell him during a driving lesson.  Of course I had to interpret to Pupil.  Pupil then looked at me helplessly and asked in Chinese, "Can I start this [manoeuvre] again?".  I felt embarrassed asking the examiner but really surprisingly she hesistated then said quietly, "Ok, you can move forward a tiny bit." of which I translated for Pupil.  His face lit up and he thanked the examiner and tried his best to move the car forward BUT not just a wee bit, but at least two metres!!  Noooo!!  You know what?  The examiner didn't even say anything to him.  He managed to recover from this damning position and completed the manoeuvre successfully.  Phew!!  After he finished it he even asked if he could step outside as his heart was racing.  The examiner seemed very empathetic and told him to turn off the engine before stepping outside.  He did that and was back on to his test within 30 seconds.  Ok, so the biggest hurdle for Pupil was now out of the rest shoudl be a doddle, right?

Pupil was only less than ten minutes away from returning to the test centre when he tried to squeeze his car through his lane in between a left lane of queueing cars and a lane of on-coming traffic where three cars forced their way through an amber light.  It will be hard to describe through words alone here, but I'll try.  The traffic light he was asked to turn right.  There were two lanes.  The left lane was left and ahead and the right lane was right only.  He was to use the right only lane.  That's fine.  However, this road was mega tight because of parked cars on the opposite side, so the traffic queued on the left/ahead lane and the parked cars made the right lane hard to get into.  The lights were at red as Pupil approached it, but then turned to green as we were about to enter into this tight right lane.  However, from across the road three cars managed to push through the previous amber light and came through towards us making our already tight road excessively tight.  Pupil thought he had enough room to fit through between queued traffic and those oncoming traffic and got the car so close to the queued traffic that the examiner had to pull the steering wheel slightly to make sure ther wing mirrors did not collide.  At the same time she commented how close he was too the cars on the left.  Aw man!!!  As soon as an examiner takes verbal or physical action the driving test is a fail for sure, no doubt about that.  And sure enough when we finally reached the test centre (we were the last car to get back after that long delay at the manoeuvre) she had to tell him he wasn't successful this time and it was because of Adequate Clearance to obstructions.  Argh!!!

We both felt this examiner really helped him so so much.  She took the risk of getting talked about, by letting him hit the kerb twice AND let him move forward during his Left Reverse which he otherwise would have failed if with another examiner.  The test pass was basically handed to him on a plate.  All he had to do was maintain the high standard of driving forward which he had in him.  However, one reckless decision ruined it all for him.  I asked him how he was feeling as it happened.  Was he nervous again.  He said he was fine, in fact quite calm and was certain he'd passed.  And at that situation he felt he could enter the right lane without causing any dangers.  I advised the gap was far too close for comfort and he should always drive to make the examiner feel safe.  Though no cars were damaged in any way by his decision, the examiner had such a fright and could not pass him because of that.  He was disappointed and so was I to be honest.  How amazing would that be if he had passed today.  A sign of God's miracle and mercy.  However, it was not meant to be.  God gave my pupil a great gift.  A test pass.  But because of his ego, his arrogance, his over-confidence perhaps, he made a wrong decision and it caused him the test.  Instead of squeezing through the gap, he should have waited for those last three oncoming cars to clear first before proceeding onto the right lane.

The lesson is never to drop your driving standards or be too relaxed about standards and safety during your driving test.  Be on your toes until the very end when you turn off the engine.  The other reminder is, when God gives you something good in your life.  A nice blessing: job, family, friends, a person, money, whatever.  Don't take it for granted.  Do not think that thing will be yours forever and just let down your guard or whatever.  We should be appreciative of each thing or person He has blessed us with and seek to take care and treasure this thing.  Cos if you don't, you just might lose it.  Or it might be taken away from you.  Today's driving test examiner was a gift from God.  However, my pupil mucked it up by letting his standards drop.  How disappointing but also how good a reminder to me.  Nothing is for certain.  Keep seeking God in all that you do.  =)