Shamone!!

It has been one heck of a week. From a 5 day cruise, to hanging out in San Diego and ending it all with some head boggling, stomach churning, exhilarating rides at Six Flag's Magic Mountain.

The cruise. Our boat was the Carnival Elation, and according to other peeps on the cruise, it wasn't a big boat, compared to other Carnival boats. It being my first cruise, I really had nothing to compare it to. One thing I really do love about the cruise and the only thing I anticipated for was the all you can food buffets, and my rating on the food? I give it 3 out of 5 stars. Although it was all you can eat, the quality of choices lacked a lot. I didn't get any smoked salmon?

The cruise stopped in Cabo Mexico for 2 days. Honestly, Cabo was alright, but the highlight on shore was renting scooters and cruising around town. Imagine 13 scooters zooming through town, if that's not an intimidating sight, I don't know what is ;)

So let's just get to the main question that is on most of your minds. Since this was an LDS singles cruise, most of you are asking if I found my future wife, and to answer the question, I don't know. I met some great ladies, but, how could one know in just a day or two. You know what I mean? But no, I didn't hook up with anyone.

I hate to cut the cruise stories short, I guess I just don't remember a lot things that happened, but I met some great people, and seeing Russ get hypnotized and do some crazy things you wouldn't imagine him ever doing, was hilarious. Let's just say he could have a future in being a chip and dale dancer. I was skeptical about hypnotism, but I might be a believer now.

The cruise overall was fun, but I think it could have been better. Next time, it will be one with multiple destinations, and maybe I will get my smoked salmon.

Post cruise. Spending time in San Diego was a blast. Checking out Old Town (ok, maybe not Old Town) to hanging out at the tide pools, and spending the rest of the evening in La Jolla. Good friends, good times and lame amateur Parkour tricks, let's just say we easily amused ourselves.

On our second day offshore we headed up to Six Flag's Magic Mountain, there's really nothing magical about it, but the rides were a killer. Tackling thrill rides like X2, Viper, Tatsu, Deja Vu, Goliath and many others. As a treat for you and Mr. Egge, who really enjoyed this video, here is me on the X2 ride, make sure your sound is turned on.

What a brat!

I tried to forget about yesterday, but I can't seem to get it out of my head about my dumb behavior. I'm gonna be up front with you and tell you that I was acting like a big brat to my parents. How old am I? Don't get me wrong, I really do love them and I would do almost anythings for them.

But for some strange reason, on this day, I wasn't that understanding. They had suggested that I help by mowing the lawn. I know it is my house, and so it should be my responsibility to upkeep the yard, but ever since they had moved in, my father has been the person to deal with that, he has always been the guy to do the repairs. I'm not afraid to get dirty and don't mind doing yard work, but with a schedule like mine, I really feel like I don't have the time or energy to any of it. At least that's how I felt.

So in the middle of "working", browsing the web and painting, I hear, "Kham can you mow the lawn?" I immediately felt annoyed and thinking to myself, I don't have time for this, I will just hire someone to do it." Keeping these feelings to myself obviously.

About a month ago my father had a heart attack and he is still going into the hospital for necessary checkups. He is doing fine, but still weak to do any heavy labor. Like any good son, he would say "sure dad" and help out. But I blew it folks, all I could think about was myself and how busy I am to even entertain the fact that I should go mow the lawn at that moment. I ignored the request and went on working. A short time later, my father comes down and ask if I could start the motor for him so he could mow the lawn, happily, I figured I could at least do that. So I put on my shoes and headed outside, and by the way, it was a beautiful day. I started the lawn mower and my dad took it from there. I stood there watching and realized, I am being the biggest douche in the world at that moment. I can't let my dad do this, so I walked over, took the lawn mower from him and continued to do the work.

Even though I had a change of heart, I still had a bad attitude, mumbling to myself, "why am I doing this, this sucks, I have better things to do." What is wrong with me? I later changed my attitude and finished the job. I actually enjoyed it, and having great weather helped out a lot. Luckily it was done because it rained the next day.

Why do I post this? I guess realizing how much of a brat and a whiner I was, will hopefully help me change my attitude and grow up. I also realized how much I was like Lamen and Lemuel, when they were asked to go back to get the brass plates and they whined the whole time. However, if there is one thing I do appreciate in life, it's my family. It is true that I would almost do anything for them, and it's a good thing people can change their ways, and in this case, ME.

"No Retreat, No Surrender"

It has been a crazy, energy draining, last couple of days. Starting Saturday at Crossfit we did a workout titled "Badger". It's 3 rounds of 30 Squat Cleans, 30 Pull ups, and an 800m run. Honestly, I was really pump to be able to wake up at 9am for this workout. The first round went well, by the second round, I was struggling with my pull ups and the run. By the time I got back to finish the third round, the others, who I was working out with, were already close to start on their final run. I knew I had to push myself a little just to stay close, so I tried speeding through my squat cleans. 8 more to go and I was hurting, I'm not talking muscle pains, this was my tummy. I was feeling woozy so I ran as fast as I could into the bathroom to throw up.
I was out for probably a couple of minutes. By now everyone else was on their run. After my drama with the toilet, I was feeling better, went out, finished the rest of my squat cleans and muscled through push ups instead of pull ups, my hands were close to tearing, and then I nonchalantly ran my final 800m. It wasn't pretty, but I did finished.
Today's workout, Monday, was another test of endurance. For time, we had to do 35 ball slams, 35 pull ups, 35 kettleball swings, and 35 burpees. Luckily there was no trowing up during or after the workout.

On top of everything, today was the final day to get in as many mileage as possible for the running challenge. After a hard workout this afternoon, the last thing I wanted to do was run. But in my head all I can think about was "no retreat, no surrender". The reference is from a 1986 movie, titled, believe it or not, "No Retreat, No Surrender" I felt like I was personally getting beat down by Jean-Claude Van Damme. As a treat, here is a clip of that powerful moment, when those words were uttered.


So after 31 days, here are the final standings. Congratulations to Jill, a true star.

Click image to enlarge

My final run paid off, it put me from 11th place to 10th place, woohoo! My goal was to stay in the top 10 and I barely squeaked by with a total of 17.76 miles.
It's a bitter sweet feeling to say I am glad this running challenge has come to an end, it did get me out running and keeping me in shape. But what did I learn from this challenge? I am competitive to a point, and still, not a big fan of running. Of course I will keep running, to prep for a 5K this summer. So, when there are challenges that face you, and if there are still ways to accomplish them, don't go retreating or surrendering, Bruce Lee would not approve of that. Finish the best way YOU can, and trust me, you'll feel better...after the pain wears off. My next physical challenge will be, to do at least one muscle ups, but that's a whole new post, so stay tune.

Karrie the machine

As a shot out to Crossfit, here is a sketch of Karrie doing what she does best, power lifting massive weights.

Percy Jackson DS

The movie "Percy Jackson and the Olympians, The Lightning Thief", will be coming out to theaters on February 12. "Percy Jackson and the Olympians" is originally a series of adventure and fantasy books, written by Rick Riordan, on the New York Times bestselling list. "The Lightning Thief" is the first book of the series. You can check out the Percy Jackson books here.

Besides the movie coming out, we at Griptonite developed the Percy Jackson game for the Nintendo DS. We had a very small team, and I was the only environment artist, but the team was awesome, I am pretty proud of them and the game. If you guys ever get a chance to get your hands on a copy of the game, try it out. It's not my type of game, but I actually enjoyed it. Below is the video trailer of the DS game.

Run challenge so far

As of today, this is where we all stand on our running. Jill, the machine, is running strong, and it's going to be tough to catch up with her, at least for me, and I am not going to even try. We have about 2 more weeks left and it looks like I might have to step if up if I'm going to be in the top 10. Have to keep the competitive edge going or else I would just say "forget it!" and stay on my couch consoling with my Xbox.

Sketching Fun

Sooo, I said I was gonna post some type of art each month and so here are some of my attempts to do some cartooning. Last week I ask some people who they would want to see as a cartoon, so far, I just have few for you. Enjoy! There will be more to come.


Sara A
Shin
K.P.

Nike Challenge Update

Surprisingly, I am on the board. I still can't last running for 4 minutes and not have to walk due to my calves and shins from tightening up. Hopefully by the end I will be able to run a full 5k and not have to walk. It's now been a week and here is where we stand on our running challenge. We have a total of 19 challengers, but so far only 12 runners have posted their runs.


Click on image to zoom in

I probably will not win, but as long as I stay within the top ten, I'll be happy.

Ready, Set, Run

Another contest is now on its way. In the next 30 days a group of us, and the Nike+ have gotten together to see who can run the longest distance. The biggest disadvantage I have is the fact that hate running, but being competitive, this will give me a reason to get my lazy self off the couch. I am also high on the accident list, but as long as I can keep myself from having to go to the hospital, I am in good shape.

So to kick off this competition I signed up to run the 5K at Magnuson Park. To be honest, before the run started, all I wanted to do was to hide in bed under the covers, and I kept asking myself why did I get up this early to go run? I mean, its the weekend, it's my day to sleep in.
But I had to suck it up and deal with it, plus I knew this was going to get me 3.1 miles down on the board for the run competition.

One thing that came out interesting was my play list choice. I debated to myself if I wanted to listen to something fast and heavy to get pumped up, but I felt there might be to much shouting in my head. What about hip hop or R&B? It could work, but I might want to dance then run. I thought about listening to books, but I might not be able to focus on the story. So out of the many choices to pick from, I decided to go with the Glee soundtrack, volume 1.
Have you ever you thought what it would be like if life was a musical, that's how I felt listening to Glee.
To start off the run was "Don't Stop Believing" it was actually a perfect song. I was feeling good and knowing I can finish this. By the time the next song, "Can't Fight This Feeling" came on, I was already out of breathe and my calves were tightening up. What the heck? It was only 4 minutes into the run. This was not looking good. I slowed down for the next few songs. As I reached the halfway point of the run the song "Alone" came on. Interestingly and pretty sad, I found myself running alone, no one ahead me, so I turned around, and saw no one behind me. If that wasn't weird enough, on my last push, hanging on for dear life to finish I happened to be listening to "No Air". How convenient is that? That song had to be playing at the worst time. I always wanted life to be a musical, but I never thought it would come from me running a 5k.
But after it was over and I recuperated with some oranges, bread and a bench to sit my tired butt on, life was back to normal. I do like to thank Mike and Adam for making me sign up and for their support. I am glad I did it, but I think I should train a little more before my next 5k.

After the run, I checked to see how accurate my Nike + sensor did and it only calculated me running 2.7k. WHAT? That is just great, there goes me posting my 3.1 mile for the competition. So I have to recalibrate the sensor and do this over again. Well, wish me luck, I probably won't win, but who knows.

Game Over?

I'm sure some are wondering if I already lost the $100.00 a month competition, well, let me just say that the game is not over yet. So to save me from eating out for the rest of last week I bought myself some groceries to keep from going out for lunch and dinner.
Unfortunately, I don't only have an issue of eating out, but I buy gadgets. I had to spend $30.00 on a Nike + for a running challenge, but that's a whole new blog for you. So this gives me only $20.00 for the rest of the month. Until Saturday, I attended a friend's bachelor dinner and dropped another $10.00. It's only the 10th and I know what you are thinking, you lose Kham! Sorry folks, especially to those who have made it really clear that they have no faith in me, Katie and Robyn, until I drop my last penny, the game is still on...but it's really making me nervous.

Attempting to be a cheapskate

A friend came upon an article on how to live cheap, and these days, saving extra money has not been a bad idea for me. As we got to talking about ways to save money, it led to a contest to see who can live on $25.00 a week, or $100.00 a month. This only includes eating out, and buying things you do not need, also known as "doodads". As an incentive, the winner gets $25.00 from each loser. Sounds easy enough, right? I mean, why not, its a new year, so lets try something different and new. The key is to change a little bit of my life style and my spending habits...this is easier said then done my friends.
I went back to work today and I just had to go out to lunch with my coworkers, and on top of that, we decided to get sushi. We went to Sushi Connections in Woodinville, and if you haven't been to one its similar to Sushiland, where the food is place on different color plates running on a conveyor belt, and each color represents a price, ranging from $1.00 to $3.50. This lunch alone was $14.00, but you don't want to know how much I could have spent when I go for sushi. My weakness is food, if I didn't know that before, I do now.
Tonight, I went to a birthday dinner, and I could have just had bread and water, but noooo, I had to get a steak, and for those of you that know me, you know I love a good steak and I always order a steak. Let's just say after dinner and lunch I already spent two weeks of my allowance. A note to those that are in on this competition, its not over yet. I can't fall apart on the first month. So people, please don't ask me to go out to eat, because its not going to help my cause to stay in this competition and I can't lose yet. Focus Kham!