Semi-Charmed Life

A Sad Cat Trying To Revive its Friend

I have no idea if the cat is actually trying to get his buddy to "wake up" or if we're just projecting our emotions and personifying his actions, but it's still sad =/

Success and Motivation

Courtesy of William Ham:

Hopefully the above link works. If not, you can click here to watch.

I think the main point to take home here is that however you define success, what you need to get there is the burning desire to want it like nothing else. I have to admit that at times, I'm part of the camp that half-heartedly wants to be successful.

While we're on the topic of success and inspiration though, my friend Sunny is a full time lawyer who in her free time seems to be forever working on her novel and can now add "budding entrepreneur" to her impressive resume. She is in the process of launching a line of handbags (http://www.tarynzhang.com/) and accessories geared towards corporate women, and you can follow her endeavors on her company blog. Even as a man who will never be able to fully appreciate  or understand why women love their handbags so much, it's really interesting to read about the entire process and to get a behind the scenes glimpse of what it's like as a budding handbag entrepreneur.

What’s in a Name?

From the September issue of GQ:

THE ONE AND ONLY FOOLPROOF METHOD FOR EVALUATING NFL QUARTERBACKS

Just tell me his name, and I'll tell you if he's gonna be any good. Great quarterbacks have great quarterback names, period. Crisp, commanding, all-American, as if the letters were dipped in bronze. Johnny Unitas! Joe Montana! (And no, this isn't a white thing: Warren Moon!) Now consider the flip side. Did we really need to watch Gus Frerotte take snaps to know he was going to flop? Couldn't we just have said, "Forget it  -- his name is Gus"? A few years ago, when the Miami Dolphins were talking up Cleo Lemon as their QB of the future, those of us who knew better just shook our heads. Cleo Lemon? No way. A QB's destiny is sealed the moment the doctor signs the birth certificate. Dan Marino. Drew Brees. Kurt Warner. You can't go wrong with names like those. So which rookie QBs look good this season? Who's got all the tools? I have no idea. I've never played a down of real football in my life. But my money's on Sam Bradford. That guy just sounds like a winner. -- Devin Gordon

Alvin So might be destined for greatness, but it certainly won't be as a NFL quarterback in this life.

No Airplanes or Shooting Stars Here

Every now and then I have to remind myself:

Don't wish for what you want. Work for what you want.

Hard Work Beats Talent When Talent Doesn’t Work Hard

From Andre Galvao's new book, Drill to Win:

At Careca's academy, my first real jiu-jitsu memory was that I was not one of the talented students. Careca confirmed this to me, and oddly enough, I beamed with pride. How strange to be happy about a lack of natural skill? For me, this elation stemmed from my strong performances, both in class and at my first few tournaments. When I had to work three times as hard as my classmates to learn something, I knew I was not the wunderkind. When I saw new students excel where I struggled, I understood that my time in jiu-jitsu would be all about determination. Nowhere was this more obvious than when examining my relationship with Chuck, one of my closest friends at Careca's. He was so flexible and fast (and flexibility is a talent), but he did not train like me. He didn't need to. What took me days of training to learn took him only minutes. However, as time went on, he drifted to drug use and focused less on training and more on his own talent. He knew that he could always "just pick things up." As a result of our two diverging attitudes, I started to win even more championships, while his performance plateaued. The reason is simple, I slept, trained, ate well, focused, resisted partying, and excelled. Talent can help so much in the beginning, but you cannot reach the top without hard work.

I have so much respect for this man.

On another note, it really sucks to be known as "the martial arts guy" at work. I feel like there definitely is a stigma attached anything that is related to martial arts, at least in America. For people who have absolutely no idea what Brazilian jiu-jitsu is, they probably associate it with hokey pokey crap like the stuff they see in the movies (think Karate Kid).

Whether I like it or not, martial arts will probably forever be considered a fringe activity and it's as good as telling people that I play World of Warcraft or that I love Star Trek marathons (one of them is true). Also just as an FYI, even though bjj is considered a martial art, I do not think of it as such. I view it in the same vein as if one were to say they did boxing or did wrestling, because even I think the phrase "martial arts" is a loaded one.