A Blog of Thoughts: January 2009

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

A long overdue entry

It's been long since i last updated, so here's an entry from my old blog about the Examined and Unexamined life.

I really don't have the luxury of friends.
"The unexamined life is not worth living"
- Socrates

To live life to its fullest one must seek to live the examined life.

Socrates said that “the unexamined life isn’t worth living”. It is up to each one of us to decide for him/herself whether or not he/she wants to chart the course of living the examined life.

What does an examined life look like? What does an examined life feel like? What is the essential difference between an examined and an unexamined life?

The unexamined life is one in which a person accepts as truth and real all that they are told is truth and real, without question, reflection or reasoning beyond the mere words that one has passed along to them. Just as the act of going to school, in and of itself, is not an education, being told something does not make it necessarily so. Many, if not most, of the opinions we hold in our lives have been told to us by others. If we do not examine them we are then living our lives as extensions of the sources of the things that we’ve been told. There are none so blind as they who choose not to see. In order to see, you must first make sure to look.

The examined life, on the other hand, is an unfolding process. It is a journey of always seeking more. One is not content with what appears to be true. The examined life welcomes questions; you take the time to reflect upon what is told to you; you reason and measure the relevance of each piece of information and the lesson from each life experience against one another. You seek to truly form your own opinions based upon reasoned thought and experience. Questions are the soul of the examined life.

The unexamined life holds us prisoner to illusion by keeping our essential truths hidden just a little deeper than we may ever seek to look. The examined life is lived in the spaces in between the shadows of illusion that are mistakenly referred to as “collective reality”.

Be a seeker of more.

Live and experience the examined life.

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Inauguration Speech: 44th President Barack Obama

Watched the Inauguration Speech last night.

It was a very good speech, albeit abit too conceptual, focussing on concepts rather than going into strict details about what he was going to do about the Economic situation, etc. He touches on the American values, of 'Honesty, Fair play..', which as always has been the integral part of any President's traditional speech. In his speech, it was obvious that he was refuting Bush's doctrine policies and highlighting the philosophical differences between the two presidents. While Bush's reign has been largely unpopular by many standards, it still remains to be seen if Obama will be able to do what Bush could not. Many are anticipating, but the crucial point is: If Obama succeeds, he will be branded a hero. If he doesn't, he won't be blamed because the mess was created by Bush in the first place. How i would rate his speech? Eloquent, yes. Inspirational.. i will have to think about it.

While Obama's campaign was built around a message of change, i wonder if change really will happen. Even political experts have predicted that changes in paper will not be seen as soon as a year, although the methods to effect change will most certainly happen once Obama assumes office as of this moment. That said, we can only hope for the best that Obama can be the hero in this defining moment of political history. May God bless America and the world.

Saturday, January 17, 2009

Xtc introductory post: Dota in the coming year

Since the advent of Dota, a Warcraft III Mod titled "Defense of the Ancients", in Starcraft as formerly "Aeons of Strifle", Dota has come a long way to establishing itself as one of the most popular and happening E-sports being played by the world today. This also means that Xtc must also be warming up to the same expectations of its own Dota division in the coming year, to match or better the previous years results.

Firstly, let me introduce myself. For those of you who have not seen me before, I go by the alias "SoloZ", which means i always believe strongly in the power of self-efficacy and independence. This doesnt mean im not a team player at heart, but I take pride in whatever work i can accomplish on my own. My primary role here will presumably cover a media writer for team Xtc and for the most part, will be covering our Dota division in greater detail. As of now the team has not been finalised and consolidated but when it is, an announcement will be made to formally introduce the members of our Dota team.

With 2009 being such an important year for Xtc, which as a rising gaming organization has come a long way to reach the pinnacle of gaming achievements in Singapore, the Dota division must of course keep up with the rest of the crowd, and commit a full-hearted attempt to even be on top of it. Last year was no doubt a fantastic year for us; with the 1st and 2nd finishes at SMM, WGT, and many more respectively. However, as 1st place finishes have been lacklustre,we will thus be working towards more first place finishes at local competitions. 2009 will undoubtedly be even better, with the newly reformed Xtc looking to compete in and dominate the numerous LAN events which will be coming up in the mid-year period, namely WCG qualifers, WGT, CAPL, and many more.

Having said that, I believe it will take all of our best efforts and dedication to fulfill the goals that we have set out to achieve. With that, lets wish Xtc a great year ahead for their various gaming divisions, and to scale legendary heights in time to come!

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Thursday, January 8, 2009

How To Build Muscle Definition

Learning how to build muscle definition is important to understand before you embark on a bodybuilding program.

Once you understand the basic principles of how muscles grow and work, you will be able to go on and build muscle definition.

Why Do Bodybuilders Look So Good?

Is it their extremely low body fat percentage that makes them look so amazing? Well despite the fact that good bodybuilders do have very low body fat, so do many skinny people. Of course it’s the huge amount of solid lean muscle mass that creates such an impressive site.

Learn How to Build Muscle

This leads many people to wonder how to build muscle definition in such an impressive fashion. Of course, the average person is not interested in packing on fifty pounds of muscle like a professional body builder, however, the means in which the average person will build muscle definition is basically the same as a professional body builder will with the only major difference being the fact that the average person will simply work a routine that is significantly less intensive.

How Muscles Grow

Muscles grow when they are overworked. That is to say, when you lift weights you are overloading the muscle. Because the muscle does not particularly like the idea of having to work super hard to lift the weight it grows to make the process easier. So by lifting heavy weights properly your muscles will grow.

Bear in mind, however, that the muscles do not grow while you are lifting weights. Instead, they grow while the body is at rest. So, in reality, you build muscle definition while you sleep provided that you worked out that week. Now, what needs to be understood here is that if you workout too often and do not give your body the proper rest then you will not build muscle. Instead, your muscles may actually get smaller and that is hardly the look you are going for!

So, if you workout about three or four days a week for a reasonable length of time (say one hour) and you are consistent, then you will build muscle definition. This may sound like a simple process and in a way it is, but in reality it is not so simple as it requires commitment and discipline. If you are willing to commit to this discipline then the rewards will follow.

The Necessary Steps on how to build muscle definition

There are many ways to build muscle definition and with a little intelligent weight training you will be able to build muscle mass and gain weight fast.

Before anything however, you do need to make sure that you are determined and that you have patience because the best results are not going to come to you overnight.

Source: [BodyBuilderGuide]