A Brawl that Forced Me to Consider Mixed Martial Arts (MMA)

-The scary part was I conducted a perfect knee bar on him when I have no basic knowledge of grappling or jujitsu


Through out my 7 years practicing martial arts mostly Muay Thai, I've been told countless times by martial arts articles, self defense documentaries and sometimes experienced martial artist that the self defense techniques regardless of the style, are all useless when it comes to a real street fight. With this warning deeply stuck into my principles of martial arts, I often remind myself to avoid any unnecessary fights, not to be a hero by using what I have learned to defend myself and only practice martial arts for sports and fitness. Conversely, after a bloody brawl on the early morning of the 24th of February, I truly underestimated the capabilities of my martial arts as it have defended me very well and for that, I felt like a fool. What even surprised me, was the fact that I defended myself fairly well during the ground attacks with the choke hold and knee bar I performed despite the fact that I hated grappling or jujitsu for I was never good at those. After that morning's brawl which showed me that I had the potential in grappling, I then considered taking up Mixed Martial Arts (MMA).

It all happened the night before when I was having a nice friendly steam boat dinner with my Hong Kong, Taiwanese and Japanese friends at my apartment's common lounge. Seeing that our 1 week of reading break was soon to be over, all of us vowed to extend our time together until the following early morning. After our dinner at the common lounge, we cleaned up and washed the dishes. Seeing that we still had a long time more before we called it a day, one of my Hong Kong friends, Cindy suggested that we should drink. Having experience the bad side of drinking more that once, I felt a cold chill down my spine as my instincts told me that something bad is going to happen due to our decision to drink that night. Yet, I knew I was thinking too much and it would be rude to counter Cindy's suggestion; so, I went with her plan. Cindy popped open a brand new bottle of Raspberry flavor vodka while Shelley, another Hong Kong friend of mine brought a carton of apple juice drink boxes with her to mix it up with the vodka. Everyone drank a lot accept me as I dare not indulge myself in heavy alcohol ever since the incident where I was drunk. My roommate who was with me started drinking a lot and because of that, he began to feel tipsy. Knowing that he was a better drinker than me, I was not concerned about him. Shelley later suggested a game of King's Orders to accompany our happy hour.

The game functions through a deck of 7 cards (depending on how many people is playing. I had 8 people including me back then, so we used 8 cards). Each cards have its specific numbers ranging from 2 to 8 and a King card. The cards are then scattered throughout a table with its number hidden and the players are obligated to pick a card. The lucky person who picks the King card can order any numbers (the other person with their respective card numbers) to play out an act. The game was indeed funny with all sorts of dirty orders given out by the King; there were times we were told by the King to kiss each other or played out some weird sexual positions. There were moments where I loved the game especially when I had some of my cute or pretty female friend told to kiss me or play out a dirty act on me; conversely, there were also time when I hated the game a lot when I had to play out a love scene with my Taiwanese guy friends all because the King's order. The game's fun was then compromised by my roommate who was getting drunk from the drinking he had. He went on saying stupid stuff and he consistently interrupted the game with stupid suggestions and comments. The worst part was, my roommate tried to sexually harass my female friends like a typical fucking old pervert and because of that, they had to consistently avoid my roommate only to end up getting chased by him. Most of the time, I had to make sure he was next to me or he would end up saying or doing foolish things.I was irritated a bit by his perversion but seeing that he was drunk, I fully understood the situation and I tried to be more patient. During the next round of King's Orders, it so happened that my roommate and I were chosen by Maaya, who turned out to be the King for the round, to play out a sexual position. According to Maaya, my roommate and I had to play out a "doggy style" position on the couch which managed to get everyone laughing wildly. Seeing that I wanted to get this over quick, I laid over the couch with my stomach facing the surface of the couch before telling my drunken roommate to "nail" me. As he was high and totally drunk, he jumped on my back violently and continued humping on me; everyone was excited and they were laughing at our great acting. However, I was in deep pain as my roommate was so rough. As he couldn't control himself, he started shouting, "Yeah, motherfucker" at my ears while he continued to hump me. He then, grab whole of both my kidneys and squeeze them which forced my reflexes to automatically throw him of the couch. Seeing that he couldn't think rationally, he taught I was trying to fight with him; therefore he grabbed whole of my denim jacket and pulled me down to the ground together with him as he fell before igniting a violent brawl.

As the both of us were rolling over the floor going at each other, I knew that my roommate was berserk and he wasn't reluctant to hurt me badly, therefore I had to defend myself or risk becoming the victim of his drunken madness. Here came the surprising part: since it was a ground fight, I automatically knew that grappling was more effective than striking, therefore I performed a knee bar on my roommate the moment I caught whole his left leg. The scary part was I conducted a perfect knee bar on my roommate when I have no basic knowledge of grappling or jujitsu. My other friends knew that the fight was real, so they tried to break the both of us away before I snapped my roommates leg. As we were seperated, my roommate somehow got loose and he continued pounding me while I was still lying on the ground. Immediately, I performed a center shield technique I learned from Muay Thai in order to cover my face from his punches. As he landed the next punch, I caught whole his punching hand and immediately threw both my inner thighs around the back of his neck to lock him in. I then forced the back of his neck down with my remaining hand. I clearly remembered how to do this lock hold as I've seen my favorite Kung Fu actor Donnie Yen doing something similar in his recent action movie, Flash Point (talk about how educational TV can be); like before, I was surprised that I executed this defensive technique perfectly as my roommate was choking for air. My other friends tried breaking the both of us again and this time, they succeeded. As we got up, I immediately removed my jean jacket and tossed it to the ground before getting into my Muay Thai stance. Eric, my Taiwanese friend was holding me back off telling me to calm down while Randy who was another Taiwanese friend of mine, held my roommate back. I decided to let it go but unfortunately my roommate didn't have the same idea as he didn't hurt me badly. Consequently, instead of physically attacking me, he mentally and verbally assaulted me; that was a clear example of psy-ops (psychology warfare). He began saying that I was pretending to be a Caucasian simply because of the fact that I'm a Chinese who couldn't speak Mandarin which fucking annoyed me deeply. All along, I have been experiencing this same shit from those fucking Chinese educated pricks and Chow Mien speaking chinks in Malaysia, hoping that I will not experience the same thing in Canada, only to have that problem resurrected by my fucking roommate. That fucking skinny weirdo with his bloody perversion got me boiling even further when he told me to return to my 3rd world country, Malaysia. I charged at him only to be restrained by Eric and Cindy who reminded me that he was drunk. That piece of shit was walking free around the common lounge insulting me in Mandarin and every time I tried to reach him, my friends held me back. Knowing that I couldn't reach him because of my friends, the only way to get him was to strike him from my stationery position. As he was insulting me further in Mandarin, he was unaware about the close distance between the both of us that placed him in a dangerous position. Knowing that I was in a kicking distance, I immediately unleashed a strong rear teep trong (front kick in Thai) to that bastard's gut at the horrors of my other friends. That fucker was pushed back but he was still standing which shocked me as I knew that my kick was just child's play to him. Immediately, Eric restrained me like usual while Shelley warned my roommate to shut the fuck up. Instead of trying to deliver the favor, my roommate continued running his mouth with vulgarity. He then insulted my Muay Thai art and he said it was inferior to Chinese Kung Fu; everyone knew I was pissed so they demanded my roommate to shut up. He then said "fuck your mum" in Cantonese to me and I know that was his death wish. I chuckled in anger and I told him to said it again at my face and unsurprisingly (seeing how stupid he was) he walked closer to me which was at a punching distance before repeating his insult to my mother. As he opened his mouth, I immediately launched a devastating mat throng (rear punch/cross in Thai) at lightning speed to his nose. As my knuckles landed hard on his nose, it also shattered his glasses at the same time. "TAKE THAT YOU, MOTHER FUCKER!", I screamed as loud as I could the second I hammered his fuck face with my fist of fury. He was immediately pushed back and blood started pouring out from his nose. Randy held him back further and informed my roommate that he was bleeding. My roommate then screamed in Mandarin saying that I smack his nose which felt orgasmic to me; Randy immediately rushed him to the common kitchen to wash the gushing blood from his nose while Eric held me back. That punch was for my mum and I really hope that the bastard will think twice before cursing my mum again. The girls calmed me down and Eric told me to take a seat. Shelley who saw my cut knuckle ( the one which I delivered the cross) insisted on having them bandaged but I reminded her the one who was going to need the bandaging was that bleeding asshole in the kitchen. Although I was pissed at that bastard, I was also pissed at myself for showing how barbaric I was that morning to my friends. On the other hand, I was truly proud of the fact that I defended myself properly with my Muay Thai skills and surprisingly, the grappling techniques that I once dislike for being complicating.

After that morning's brawl which showed me that I had the potential in grappling, I then considered taking up Mixed Martial Arts (MMA). I then talked to Cindy online later on in the day to express my guilt for showing how barbaric I am. To my surprise, she said such barbarism from me was essential as I was trying to defend myself, not to mention my roommate was out of line for saying all those hurtful words. The brawl between my roommate and me taught me a lot of things; first of all, it taught me that the claim of martial arts being ineffective in the streets is a fallacy. It also taught me that drunk people can be stronger than usual (apart from being foolish which cost them their blood) as the kick I delivered to my roommate' gut seemed like a child's play to him when by right it was suppose to send him flying, and the cross that I landed on his face which was suppose to knock him out instantly only made him bleed. Finally, it taught me that ground fighting is very important yet mostly neglected as it can be exemplified by the fight I had with my roommate on the floor and my dislike for grappling techniques. The most amazing thing about the fight was it showed me that I had potential in grappling seeing that I instantly knew how to execute a knee bar and a choke hold without thinking at all. Even though I won the fight, I sustained cut knuckles from delivering that hard cross and also a sprained right leg from all the "humping" my roommate gave me. It was surprising to note that my idiotic roommate apologized to everyone for his behavior, especially to me for saying all those hurtful stuff, immediately after Randy fixed his nose at the kitchen. Although I forgave him, I will never forget that incident as he finally revealed his true impression about me thanks to the alcohol that got him drunk...and honest. I'll be keeping an eye on him and making sure that my Muay Thai is in stand by mode...just in case.

Denied

My first aquaintance with the Conflict series dates back 6 years ago when I first got my Play Station 2; among my early collection of games back then included Conflict: Desert Storm. Although I am a military fanatic, it was strange that I didn't bother much about Conflict: Desert Storm back then for some mysterious reasons. However as I grew older and mature (ahem...I think), so did my interest in global conflict and politics. When Game Trailers (the usual gaming website I often visit) announced that a new Conflict installment entitled Denied Ops for the Play Station 3 was bound to hit the shelves in the middle of February, I was excited mostly because of the political scenario and also the military tactical nature of the game. Consequently, I knew that Conflict: Denied Ops would be one of my anticipated military games this year for the Play Station 3, apart from Rainbow Six Vegas 2, End War, Battle Field: Bad Company, Metal Gear Solid 4 and Front Line: Fuels Of War. When the game was released in stores about a week ago, I contemplated about buying it as I wouldn't want to flush $57 down the drain recklessly. Consequently, I searched for the game's review on several gaming website only to be disappointed with the unavailable reviews as the game was still new. I went on waiting a couple of more days and I managed to find a review about the game on a foreign gaming site which I couldn't really remember the name. To my surprise, Conflict: Denied Ops was a flop according to the reviewer due to poor graphics, Artificial Intelligence, and gameplay. Knowing that reviews are not totally trustworthy, I decided to try the game myself. The only problem was, it would be an expensive waste of money for me if the reviewer was right about the game, thus instead of buying it, I rented the game. After 2 days of Conflict: Denied Ops, it is a shame that this game has been DENIED from my list of favorite games.

Conflict: Denied Ops revolves around present day Venezuela which is thrown into a violent civil war between the democratic government and the Ramirez regime which is spearheaded by rogue General Ramirez. As civilian casualties sky rocket throughout the civil war in Venezuela, the U.S. government decides to help its troubled neighboring country in the south with military aid, only to be threatened by General Ramirez who wouldn't hesitate to launch nuclear missiles into U.S for meddling with Venezuela's internal affairs. With the nuclear threat on the table, the United States is choice less but to mobilize its CIA Special Activities Division (SAD). The SAD is a paramilitary clandestine unit that specialize in covert special operations. Members of this division comprise former members of U.S. Special Forces, Delta Force , Navy SEAL, FBI and SWAT. These operatives do not equip themselves with any weaponry, gears or accessories that would associate them with the U.S. In the event that these operatives are apprehended, their existence will be officially denied by the U.S government. The game features a fictional world conflict scenario and a covert CIA division which is plain simple yet interesting enough to attract gamers (like me).

In Conflict: Denied Ops, players will be placed in the boots of Lincoln Graves and Reggie Lang whom are members of the CIA's Special Activities Division. Lincoln Graves specializes in long range weapons which pits him as the partnership's sniper. A former U.S. Marine and Delta Force operative, he played a major role in America's covert operations in Afghanistan, operating secretly against the Al-Qaeda and the Taliban. Unlike Graves, Reggie Lang's profile revolves around the law enforcement sector; shortly, after the September 11 attacks, he joined the FBI's Critical Incident Response Group which was responsible for the capture of many high profile Al-Qaeda terrorists suspects including Abu Zubaydah in Pakistan. Apart from his profile, Lang's combat specialty is the exact opposite of Graves' as it can be demonstrated by Lang's advantage in Close Quarter Battle (CQB). Like most military or espionage game which features tough looking heroes with an impressive military resume, the characters in Conflict: Denied Ops aren't special or new; however they are not necessarily dull as both of the characters interaction with one another in the game can be very dramatic.

The game play in Conflict: Denied Ops has its pros and cons. The positive aspect of this game is its character swapping feature which allows players to swap between Graves and Lang during the missions to fully utilize their respective combat capabilities. Although this character swapping feature isn't new as it is also offered in Battlefield 2: Modern Combat for the Play Station 2, yet such feature makes the game unique as it test the player's ability to decide which character to use depending on the mission's current situation. For instance, when the enemies are needed to be taken out from a distance with utmost stealth and secrecy, the player will swap to Graves as he specializes in sniping and stealth techniques. On the other hand, when the situation requires heavy fire power or close combat, players will utilize Lang's heavy machine gun. A variety of scenarios in the game that necessitate the players to use both Lang and Graves fully utilize the character swapping feature in the game. The controls are decent and the aiming system is very accurate. Although the players will initially confuse themselves with the zoom in button for Graves' sniper scope and gun camera mode which can be slightly annoying, eventually the players will get the hang out of it after repeatedly playing the game. As the players complete missions and fulfill their secondary objectives (which usually consist of protecting an important figure that bears Intel), they will be rewarded with awesome weapon upgrades like the gun camera, silencer attachment, grenade launcher attachment, shotgun attachement, bigger magazine, faster firing rate and weapon stock. Furthermore, the players will be rewarded with a variety of grenades like the flash bang, incinedary grenade and a trip mine which is capable of stopping infantries and light armor. The enemy AI in the game is surprisingly smart and intelligent seeing that they know when to take cover and are aware of the dangers of staying in one spot for too long. Here comes the bad part; unlike the enemy's intelligent AI, the player's partner can be ridiculously foolish. Constantly, the player need to issue his or her partner the "follow me" order or risk leaving his or her back up far behind. During missions which require either one of the agents to wheel a tank or a hovercraft, it would be a waste of time to have the player's partner to take charge as he will do nothing. The enemy's marksmanship which is highly accurate regardless of the shooting distance can be frustrating and annoying; this only spoils the realism of the game as well as the player's interest to further continue the game. Often times, the player will be struck by enemy rounds from all direction throughout the game even behind cover thus making it a hair ripping experience of frustration.Throughout the entire game, the players will be only restricted to using a machine gun or a sniper rifle. Seeing that it is impossible to pick up the fallen enemy's weapon, the variety and the liberty of weapon selection in this game is highly compromised. Although the aiming system is accurate, the grenade tossing format of the game is flawed. It is difficult to throw a grenade at a closer range as a single tap on the R1 button will automatically lob your grenade kilometers away from you. With plenty of flaws, Conflict: Denied Ops fails to provide a solid game play experience.

The graphics are just mediocre. Although the graphics are highly detailed and the explosion seems very realistic not to mention blood stains and smoke fumes can be spotted on the player's face, the glitches that often appear in terms of the enemy's gun sinking right through his(there's only a "he" in the game) supporting palm just look awful. The enemies movement which looks very bouncy makes them stiff and unnatural. Nevertheless, such graphical flaws are forgivable as the game's strikingly sharp detail and great lightings outweighs the game's graphical flaws.

Conflict: Denied Ops prevails in terms of its soundtrack and music scores. The game's soundtrack is similar to those from Hans Zimmerman and Harry Gregson Williams and it never fails to remind you of those Michale Bay or Jerry Bruckheimer action movies. The music score in the Rwanda level clearly reminded players of Ridley Scott's Black Hawk Down. Another amazing aspect of the game's soundtrack is that it provides different music scores depending on the scenes in the game. A violent gun fight and the race against time to complete a certain objective will trigger a heroic fast paced music score. On the other hand, in a calm environment with the absence of gun battles, a slow music score will accompany the scene. The soundtrack for Conflict: Denied Ops deserves both thumbs up.

Voice acting for Conflict: Denied Ops is at its best. The dialogs among the characters are well scripted and also dramatic, keeps the players fully entertained. Every line is expressed with utmost enthusiasm and also a variety of emotions, authenticate the game very well. At times, the dialogs can be comical especially among Lang and Graves whom hardly get along, loosens the players once a while from the highly tensed and volatile political story premise. The awesome voice acting in Conflict: Denied Ops enforces the game's style and presentation.

After 2 days of Conflict: Denied Ops, it is a shame that this game has been DENIED from my list of favorite games. The game has a lot of potential as it can be illustrated by the intresting story premise, great sound track and awesome voice acting; however it is a shame that its poor game play restricted Conflict: Denied Ops from reaching the top. To sum it up, Conflict: Denied Ops scores a 6 out of 10.

Lincoln Graves specializes in sniping.

Reggie Lang prefers to take it to his enemies up close and personal with his heavy machine gun. He is also an electronics expert as it can be shown above by the wiring he is busy with.

Your weapons of choice throughout the game: a machine gun or a sniper rifle...quite limited huh?

Take your enemies out from a far.. At this point, it is best to swap to Graves since he is more skillful with long range combat.

Hey sniper, any hostile ahead? You might wanna get behind cover like me before some sniper have your ass.

Some missions requires you to gather Intel

...while some obligates you to destroy them. Shown above is Graves rigging the enemy's data dump with a C4.

Graves going for a kill...Not really a pleasant sight, though.

Your enemies are not limited to infantries but also helicopters, tanks and jet fighters (No,I'm not kidding)

One hell of a combined assault.

A Nice CNY Dinner Followed by a Karaoke Session

February 16 (which is a Friday) of this year marks the final day for TRU students before they embrace a week of reading break. For those who have no midterms immediately after the break, the one week of holiday would be an opportunity for them to unwind themselves from the dull and stressful days of university. On the other hand, for those who will be packed with midterms after the break, that one week of break would be a stressful and painful preparation for the exams. Just in case you're wondering which side of the holidays I would fall into, unfortunately I would have to categorized myself in the latter part seeing that I will be having my Financial Accounting shortly after my holidays. Fortunately, there is nothing much to prepare for my accounting exam as I have been constantly doing my homework; therefore, my one week of break wouldn't be as stressful as those who will have several midterms. It so happened on the same day, the Chinese students of TRU were organizing a Chinese New Year festival at the Campus Activity Center. Since I won't be celebrating Chinese New Year as much as my friends in Malaysia for the next 2 years, I thought that this dinner might help relieve the pain of missing Chinese New Year in Malaysia. Furthermore, according to my friends, there would be a lucky draw at the festival where the grand prize would be an 80GB Play Station 3; consequently, I attended the dinner with my group of usual hang out buddies. After the Chinese New Year dinner, all of us decided to head for the karaoke lounge not far away from our place as we thought the night was still young. The Chinese New Year dinner followed by our visit to the karaoke lounge was a great way to end our weekdays and welcome the long awaited reading break here in Kamloops, Canada.

As my Macroeconomics class ended at 1:20pm, I was relieved to know that I was done for the day and ready for a week of holidays. However, I did not retire to my apartment immediately after class as I promised my Hong Kong friend, Shelley that I would have lunch with her over at Tim Horton's at the campus's Old Main. The both of us shared a huge portion of chicken wrap for lunch and we chat about our plans for the break and what recently happened in university. Although we were both immersed into our friendly conversation, the both of us were still watchful for the time as Shelley had another class at 2:30pm and Yoshi was coming to my place later at 3pm. In the middle of our conversation, Yoshi bumped into us so he decided to say hi. After trading greetings to one another, Yoshi reminded me about our meeting at my place at 3pm and he asked us whether were we going for the Chinese New Year party that night. Yoshi was delighted as we told him that we would be attending the party as he knew that he will have some company for the party. Like him, we were also delighted the moment we knew he was going for the party that night as we always thought the more the merrier. Yoshi was in a hurry for something, so he decided to depart from our conversation. After wishing him good bye, we checked our watch and we knew it was time for the both of us to finish up as Shelley was about to have her class soon. Shortly after my lunch, I wished Shelley good bye and headed back for home.

Back at home, I decided to listen to some music while waiting for Yoshi as I recently purchased a set of Logitech speakers that came with a subwoofer. Knowing that my roommate was not around and most of the occupants in my apartment were away for the holidays, I decided to turn the music up to enjoy the maximum capabilities of my speakers. In the middle of my enjoyment, my phone rang; apparently it was already 3pm and Yoshi was waiting for me downstairs at my apartment's lobby. I ushered him to my room after signing him in at the front desk and we began our time together by watching the movies I brought back from Malaysia. Before we started, I gave Yoshi the liberty to choose which movies he wanted to view from the file of DVDs I brought. Knowing that it would be difficult for him to pick because he has never heard of most of the titles I have with me (...I guess my taste for movies are unpopular), I gave him a brief tour of every movies I had through the movie trailers on YouTube. It seemed Yoshi was mesmerized by the action in the trailer from one of the movies I have entitled Flashpoint. Since he was very interested in the movie, we began watching Flashpoint. After an hour and a half of mixed martial arts and gun fighting from the movie, we then decided to choose what will be our next movie for our following Friday (Yoshi and I always hang out together every Friday). We spent approximately an hour going through a bunch of movie trailers again on YouTube trying to decide which movie to watch for the following Friday. This time it was more difficult for Yoshi as he like every movie trailers he saw on YouTube thus making it difficult for him to decide. Knowing that it was difficult for him, I told him that it was okay for me to watch more than a movie for our following Friday; therefore, Yoshi's burden of deciding was gradually removed.

At 5:30pm sharp, Maaya, another Japanese friend of mine who was going for the Chinese New Year party reminded Yoshi and I to meet up at the lobby in a few minutes time. Consequently, we halted what we were doing and got ourselves ready for the party. Down at the lobby, we rendezvous with Maaya; she was slightly shocked to see the both of us in our casual outfit. Yoshi and I were completely clueless about the party's dress code as we weren't informed the moment we bought the tickets for the party. Seeing it was Maaya who was the only one who dressed slightly formal than the both of us, we somehow sensed that she was the one who misunderstood the party's dress code; consequently, we questioned her about her dress code which then made her nervous. She defended her claim saying that the party required a formal dress code when she managed to point out several students whom were smartly dressed and were going to the party; Yoshi and I both knew we were in deep trouble seeing that we were going to look awkward at the party with our casual outfit. It wasn't long before Shelley joined us; like us, she also wore casually which then confused the 3 of us even further regarding the party's dress code. Since the party was going to start in a few minutes time, we were too late to change into our formal wear, so we decided to just go with our formal outfit.

At the party's entrance, the 4 of us were waiting for Randy, our Taiwanese friend who was also going to join us. As he arrived at the party looking formal and smart like Maaya, we handed in our ticket to the party's doormen and looked for a table for ourselves. The 5 of us managed to find a table for ourselves only to be joined by a couple of husband and wife. The couples weren't exactly strangers, in fact I knew them at my recent Curling expedition. It was interesting to note that the husband is a Canadian while his wife is a Korean; consequently, I invited them to join us before I introduced them to my friends. The host of the party started off the Chinese New Year festival with a warm welcome and a brief information about the festival as there were also several non Chinese guests at the party. Dinner was shortly served in a buffet manner and it was surprisingly great considering the fact that some of my friends mentioned that the dinner at the previous Chinese New Year festival was horrible. Of course Chinese food was served given the theme of the festival and there were a variety of dishes featured on the metallic buffet trays. As the food was simply delicious, I could not help but to go for 2nd serving. Dinner did not end with just a main course but also a variety of mouth watering desserts ranging from creamy and sweet black forest cakes to lip smacking fruit tarts and ice creams. The awesome dinner wasn't the only feature of the Chinese New Year festival as there were several performances and games from the fellow Chinese students. Unlike the food, the performances weren't great and hardly got the attention of the guests; most of the guests especially the students (whom my friends and I were one of them) couldn't help but to laugh at the silliness and the dull performances. The magic performance weren't that spectacular as it only revolved around card tricks and the stand up comedy by one Chinese students weren't funny at all. Nevertheless, the performers should be credited as they tried their very best to entertained the guests at the festival. The climax of the party was the lucky draw that determined who would be the very lucky owner of the 80GB Play Station 3. The 5 of us vowed to each other that we would split the money after we sell the PS3...that is if any of us win the PS3; however, we weren't lucky as none of us were the winner. Seeing that we were only here for the PS3, we immediately left the party after realizing we didn't win the video game console.

As the night was still young and we were still feeling energetic, we forbid ourselves to call it a day. Instead, we all agreed to do something, yet we were clueless about what to do. It wouldn't be any surprise if we didn't know what to do next as there were nothing much to do over here in Kamloops. Maaya suggested that we go for a night of crazy dancing at Thirsty Dog (one of the few clubs in downtown), conversely I decided to pass that on as I never really like clubs. Randy then proposed the idea of visiting the karaoke for a little singing. Knowing that I hardly sang, I was a bit skeptical about visiting the karaoke lounge. On the other hand, seeing that there were no other place to have fun and visiting the karaoke was way better than visiting the dance club, I finally decided to follow the rest of them to the karaoke lounge. The 5 of us then took a cab to the Executive's Billiard, a snooker house which also facilitated karaoke services. Over there at the karaoke lounge, Randy started off with some songs from Jay Chou;he had a difficult time catching up with the words which amused everyone. After a couple of Jay Chou songs, Randy wanted to test our singing abilities, so he passed on the microphone to us. Yoshi and Maaya did a duet on a couple of Japanese songs which got our applause. Shelley and Maaya later on sang a couple of songs from Avril Lavigne and it forced the rest of us to laugh as they did not get the tune right most of the time. Knowing that I didn't sing yet, Yoshi passed me the microphone and cheered me to sing. I was reluctant to sing initially as I was afraid of making a fool out of myself; on the other hand, after realizing that everyone had already made a fool out of themselves, I decided to be sporting and join in the circle of fools. Besides, I wanted to know how horrible I was at singing, so I decided to give it a go. I sang a slow song from Eric Clapton and I tried Sorry Seems to be the Hardest Word from Blue and Elton John. Like others, I sucked horribly at singing but I wasn't really embarrassed, instead I felt great as everyone cheered for me. As I spent more time singing, I finally realized that karaoke was so enjoyable. A hilarious moment during our visit from the karaoke lounge was the time when we boys (Randy, Yoshi and I) sang Don't cha from the Pussycat Dolls. The 3 of us managed to forced the girls to laugh their guts out with our out-of-tune singing and our erratic physical movement that accompanied our singing. What made them laugh the most was the 3 of us sang a song that were not meant to be sang by men. We even went to the extreme of singing Kylie Minogue's Can't Get You Out Of My Head which made us guys looked like a bunch of faggots; however, we really enjoyed ourselves at the karaoke lounge. We spent 3 hours over there at the lounge and by the time we were done, our throats were bloody sore due to the singing (...and also screaming) we did for the past 3 hours. As we ended our day at the lounge, it was already 2 in the morning, therefore we decided to call it a day and retire to our respective rooms.

The Chinese New Year dinner followed by our visit to the karaoke lounge was a great way to end our weekdays here and welcome the long awaited reading break here in Kamloops, Canada. Having the opportunity to attend the Chinese New Year dinner at my university really helped me to relieve the pain of missing Chinese New Year in my country. Moreover, the my visit to the karaoke lounge taught me a new way of enjoying myself over here in the dull and boring town of Kamloops. It was a shame that my roommate and Cindy did not joined us for both the fun and exciting occasion. Nevertheless, I am sure if all of us were to hang out and have fun together, it would be indeed more enjoyable.

(Top left to right): Yoshi and Randy. (Bottom left to right): Me, Shelley and Maaya. We were enjoying ourselves at the Chinese New Year festival.

Having fun at the karaoke lounge

That's me making a fool out of myself behind the microphone.

Taiwan's Quest for Independence Spells Higher Tension Between U.S and China

Just recently, I've been reading a book entitled Blow Back which was written by Chalmers Johnson. The title of the book, Blow Back is actually a term which was first constructed by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) that refers to the unintended implications of a country's covert policies. In this book, Chalmers Johnson explains the potential dangers that America faces with its endless projection of military power and capital markets with economic integration in its own terms on every corner of the earth. This book features a variety of interesting topics such as the case of rape by U.S servicemen in Okinawa, America's role in the Korean War and Asia's financial crisis as well as America's early support for Saddam Hussein. Although I am still in the midst of finishing this book, my recent completion on the topics relating to America's relationship with China and Taiwan has taught me an eye opening lesson: Taiwan's quest for independence will exacerbate higher tension between China and United States.

The Chinese and the Americans are hardly on good terms and such hostility can be traced from the early days of the Cold War where Communist China under the administration of Chairman Mao has been constantly reminding other nations (including the Soviet Union) to join forces against Western capitalism and imperialism through his countless propaganda. Such hostility against the United States continues until today and it can be exemplified by Chinese officials who tried to call off U.N. sanction against Tehran's nuclear program ( considered to be one of the Axis of Evil according to President Bush) with the purpose or weakening U.S. embargo policies on Iran. Such hostility from the Chinese clearly describes China's objective to reduce U.S. influence on the Eurasian continent.

With Taiwan seeking independence from China seeing that the country has its own distinct political and administration body, tensions between the United States and China are bound to escalate. The United States have military jurisdiction over Taiwan and at the same time, China's expresses its restriction to the Taiwanese request for independence through the threat of military invasion. In response to such threat from the Chinese, the Taiwanese are receiving military aid from the Americans since Taiwan is under the military jurisdiction of U.S as mentioned earlier. The Taiwanese military includes superior naval fleet with huge number of fighter jets capable of preventing any amphibious assault from China. With this knowledge in mind, the Chinese plans to deploy missiles instead of troops on the Taiwanese island. In order to repel the missile threat from the Chinese, the Americans suggested that the Taiwanese should establish Theater Missile Defense (TMD) systems around the island's coasts. The TMDs are anti missiles missiles that are capable of taking out any incoming missiles which is an ideal method of protecting the Taiwanese. Knowing that the Americans were militarily advising the Taiwanese, the Chinese were upset as they claimed that the Americans were interfering with China's internal affairs; thus exacerbating the tension between both super powers. Although both the United States and China have nuclear weapons among their arsenals, both countries are aware that the deployment of nuclear weapons from both sides will be mutually destructive and devastating; therefore, preventing any temptation for both parties to hit the ignition button of their nuclear missiles.

Although I am still in the midst of finishing this book, my recent completion on the topics relating to America's relationship with China and Taiwan has taught me an eye opening lesson: Taiwan's quest for independence will exacerbate higher tension between China and United States. Despite having both China and the United States constraining themselves from resorting to nuclear weapons, it wouldn't be a surprise if the Chinese decides to bomb the island of Okinawa, Japan given the number of American military bases located there which pose the nearest support for the Taiwanese and the Americans in the likely event that Taiwan insists on independence and military retaliation. In other words, Taiwan's quest for independence might force an uninvolved country like Japan into the crossfire of conflict. Based on my humble opinion, the Taiwanese are seeking for independence not only because of their distinct administration body but also because of the fact that their country will collapse under China's rule. If Taiwan could accept the fact that Hong Kong, a similar country to Taiwan which remained well under China's rule, perhaps they [the Taiwanese] will forfeit the quest for independence which will then result in the lower tension between the Chinese and the Americans.

Machete Mutilation

Having nightmares aren't anything new for me as I've started having them at the beginning of last year. The usual scenarios of nightmares which people experience in their sleep pits the dreamer as the victim of his or her nightmarish tragedy. On the other hand, the recent nightmare I experienced, pitted me as a sadistic monster that went on a gory killing spree. Although I enjoy being evil sometimes, I've never thought of committing murder or what more, sadistic mutilations similar to the hardcore horror movie, Hostel as I find acts like these to be grotesque and gut wrenching. Furthermore, I don't have the guts to even scratch people with a knife what more mutilating them with a machete.However, that night during my nightmare where I played the role of the sadistic monster which when around mutilating my victims, I finally understood the meaning of blood lust. Despite being a nightmarish sadistic savage in my nightmare instead of the typical victim, this nightmare will leave a permanent scar on my memories and will question myself to what extend will I resort to such violence (hopefully never in my life).

I still clearly remembered that my mum and I was staying at my aunt's place for the holidays. It was just the 3 of us then and I somehow enjoyed myself spending time with my mum and my aunt which I thought was very strange (afterall, which nightmare isn't bizarre?) seeing that I hardly prefer spending time with any of my relatives accept for my dear grandmother. During my stay at my aunt's place for 4 weeks, we occupied most of our time together by watching old movies, cooking a nice big meal and playing video games ( my mum and my aunt aren't video gamers in real life though). We will also visit the malls for dinner, shopping and movies on the weekends, ; the three of us were pretty close and we were like good friends, instead of the formal hierarchical family relationship that most family practice (my dream just gets stranger). On what thought to be a fine Friday morning, both my aunt and my mum decided to visit the beauty parlor to modify their appearance; the both of them suggested that I should tag along as they wanted to introduced me to the owner of the beauty parlor and her daughter, since they knew I have not many friends. Seeing that these weren't my kind of place to hang out and since I am contempt with the number of friends I have, I declined their invitation. Furthermore, I was still in dreamland that morning and I needed more sleep; therefore, I told both my mum and my aunt to go without me. Before they left, they reminded me not to sleep too long as it would made me sloppier. I then continued sleeping hoping that nothing else will disturb my sleep; however, it was unfortunate for me as the door bell rang half an hour later. Initially, I thought about ignoring the door bell, however it continued ringing and it began to deter my sleep. Feeling annoyed, I picked myself up from my bed and I dragged myself who was still half asleep to the door. As I opened the door, I was surprised shocked. It was Alex, Wen X. and Shaun at the doorstep; they were the notorious school bullies who often picked on me in school (yes, they are real people indeed and they are real jerks as well). I trembled in fear as I could not believe my eyes; they were grinning sinisterly at me getting ready to give me the same problems they gave me everyday in school.

As I felt perplexed about their unexpected presence, I asked them nervously what were they doing here. Instead of answering my question, they asked me whether were my aunt and mum home. Seeing that it was best to be honest with them or risk getting beaten up for lying to them, I informed them in a humble manner that I was the only one at home. Feeling glad that it was just me, the trio wasted no time on me; Alex landed a hard kick on me forcing me to fly back. As I landed hardly onto the ground, I grunted in pain only to experience more of it when Wen X., forced one of his shoe on my throat. He applied more pressure on his foot which then forced me to gasp for air; I immediately tapped the floor repeatedly to let him know that I was choking to death. Immediately, Wen X. picked me up by my collar and told me that we needed to talk; I agreed to his demand before letting the trios in. After rubbing my sore throat and my bruised stomach, I took a seat together with them at the dining table in the hall. I braced myself for what they wanted to discussed yet they did not began. Instead, they were staring at my frightened look, taking their own sweet time as they enjoyed my fear; since I knew it was inappropriate to waste their time, I courageously asked them what did they want to talk about. Alex then threw out a flash drive before demanding me to get my laptop running; I then wondered what was in the flash drive. As my laptop was fired up, he inserted the flash drive into one of the USB ports and opened the content of the flash drive. The second I witnessed what was contained in the flash drive, I was thrown into a deep state of terror and panic; the file contained several nude photos of my good female friends in sexual positions. The three of them laughed hysterically the moment they witnessed the shocked expression on my face. With rage, I immediately got off my seat and asked them furiously how they got the pictures. They fought fire with more fire as Shaun threw a hard hook to my jaw and Alex angrily demanded me to shut up and sit down; they reminded me that they were in power instead of me. They then threatened to post the photos of my friends on the internet unless I submit to their demands; desperately, I told them that I would agree to anything as long as they do not post the photos. Feeling contempt that they managed to manipulate and blackmailed me they laughed in joy feeling proud of their capabilities. They then insulted me and compared me to a honorless dog and a whore which were no different from my friends in the photos. I was boiling in rage and humiliation but I had to bear with it and play along their stupid game or risk having my friend's integrity compromised. Shaun suggested that I should prepare a sum of RM5000 in cash or they would exhibit my friend's nudity on the internet; knowing that my aunt had a safe filled with cash in her bed room, I agreed to their demand.

I told them to sit tight while I grab the combinations for the safe from my aunt's study room. They warned me to hurry up and not waste their time or they would change their minds about the photos; immediately, I wasted no time in grabbing the combinations. On my way back to the living room, I saw a rusted machete lying on the corner of the kitchen. I was drawn nearer to the machete mysteriously and the next thing I knew, it was lying in my right hand. I then heard the twisted ghastly voices of a little girl saying that this machete will dispel the oppression of the trios that I have suffered far too long. The voice then persuaded me to kill all of them...slowly with it. Feeling reluctant that it was wrong to kill them despite I hated their guts extremely, I was then reminded by the ghastly voice regarding a long list of humiliation and oppression I've experienced under those 3 bastards' cruelty. The voice then reassured me that I will be invulnerable from any obstacles or set back in the process of slaughtering them. Knowing that I was going to be invulnerable for once, I immediately agreed to the voice's suggestion. A strong sense of hatred engulfed me and rage was accumulating in me together with the massive impulsiveness to deliver the terror with the machete. I stared into the rusty surface of the blade and started to fantasize the endless sadism I could inflict with this rusty machete. An enraged voice from Wen X. then broke my fantasy and snapped me back into reality. He wondered what was taking me so long and he threatened that if I wasted another second, he would immediately upload the pictures on to the net. I told him that I found the combination and I was ready to give them the money. Before I went back to the dining table, I hid the machete up my right long sleeve. As I got back, the trios cursed at me for being a slow poke and demanded me to take them to my aunt's safe. Without wasting anymore time not because I was afraid of them but because I was eager to kill them, I immediately led them to the safe.

As I opened the safe box and withdrew a big stack of RM100 bills, the ghastly voice of a girl then reminded me to kill them...slowly. I grinned sadistically and I chuckled evilly which then made the trios curious. After shutting the door of the safe box, I laid the stack of RM100 bills onto Wen X.'s hand; I then told him that I had something else for him and his friends. Curious and also happy that I was willing to give more, the 3 bastards then waited sinisterly for what extra goodies I had for them. I immediately I caught hold of Wen X.'s hand (the same one which held the money bills), withdrew the machete from my long sleeve before severing his arm. Buckets of blood immediately shower the 4 of us red and Wen X. was screaming in pain and agony holding onto his wound. Alex and Shaun who witnessed the unexpected terror screamed in fright before they rushed for me. I immediately pushed the seriously wounded Wen X. into Shaun forcing both of them to crash violently into the ground while I smacked Alex with Wen X.'s severed arm; like the both of them, Alex fell hard into the ground. The fear and terror presented on their faces was orgasmic for me and I knew that I had to deliver more terror. The 3 bastards then crawled their way out from the room hoping to escape the psychopathic nightmare however, I wasn't done with them yet. Alex and Shaun managed to escape from the bloody room while Wen X. on the other hand wasn't that lucky as he tripped and fall on his own pool of blood. Before he could get up again, I rushed the machete down his sole of his foot forcing him to scream further in pain; I told him that he isn't going to leave this house in "one piece". As both Alex and Shaun tried to exit my aunt's house, the entrance door of the house was set on fire by a mysterious force; the door which was blazing on fire had a pentagram sign on it in the form of flames. As I dragged the crippled Wen X. out of the room with my machete at the same time hoping to look for the remaining bastards, the mysterious voice then reappeared; the voice then assured me that the other two won't be able to escape. After thanking the voice, I continued dragging Wen X. to the living hall; I then placed him on the chair and placed his remaining arm on the dining table. He then begged me to have mercy on him and seeing that I was intolerant of his whining, I choked him with one of my palms before pulling out his tongue. With the machete in my hand , I rushed it down his tongue severing it which forced Wen X. to scream and choke in his own blood. He jerked off violently in pain and it was difficult having him to sit still, so I grabbed a barbed wire which mysteriously appeared next to me and tied Wen X. with it. I then screamed and demanded for the other 2 bastards to come out from their hiding or they would risk their friend's life at my hands. The ghastly voice then told me that they were nearby and they were watching their friend's suffering from their hiding. Feeling excited, I knew I had to let them watch their friend die painfully at my sadism; therefore I took Wen. X. remaining arm and placed it firmly on the table before I chopped of his little finger. He screamed in pain before jerking violently which hurt him even further given the fact that he was tied up with a barbed wire. I then screamed and informed the other 2 that every second that they remain in hiding, their precious friend will lose a finger. Seeing that they valued their own lives more than their friend, they remained in hiding forcing me to sever every last little finger of Wen X. while they watched him in misery helplessly. Knowing that there were no more fingers to sever, I warned the remaining bastards to reveal themselves for the last time. As usual, they were too terrified to appear; therefore they remained in the shadows. As I grew impatient and angry, I severed Wen. X.'s entire arm before pounding my machete violently on his head which then left him dead for sure. I screamed angrily demanding them to come out but as usual, they buried themselves from me. The ghastly voice aided me about their hiding spot and wished me happy hunting before it disappeared again. Grinning sinisterly, I grab whole of my blood soaked machete and started looking for them. Alex who was hiding in fear inside the shoe cabinet, prayed hard that I wouldn't find him. However as he witnessed a figure outside his hiding via the holes of the cabinet's door, it was too late for him to scream for help as a machete rushed right through the cabinet door into this throat, killing him instantly. Half an hour later, Shaun who was still hiding inside the antique cupboard realized that everything was quiet...in fact too quiet. Thinking that the nightmare was over, he opened the cupboard's door to escape only to discover that the mutilated corpse of both his friend was hanging right in front of him. Shocked and terrorized, he screamed his lungs out and lost his balance which resulted him to step on a bear trap which I placed earlier in front of the cupboard (which also appeared mysteriously in my tools of slaughter). The trap then clamped his leg viciously, ripping through his leg's bone. He shouted in pain before slamming to the ground hard. He was crying in pain and as he wiped his tears, I appeared right before him with my machete. I picked him up by the head and sawed the machete through his neck while he scream helplessly. Although they were all dead, I still felt furious and still unsatisfied as I hated their guts so much; consequently, I took hold of their corpse and minced them into pieces with the machete while cursing at them. After a long moment of rage and sadism I realized that I made a big mess and if I didn't cleaned it up, I would be in big trouble. I immediately wasted no time collecting the bits and pieces of my victims into big garbage bags and I cleaned the entire house making sure that everything was sparkling new. As I wanted to dispose the garbage bags filled with "minced meat", my aunt and my mum returned home forcing me to halt my plan. Struck with fear and anxiety hoping that they would not find out about the garbage bags or even the machete, I immediately hid them under the kitchen sink. Later on that night, when both my mum and my aunt were asleep, I sneaked quietly into the kitchen to retrieve the garbage bags and the machete before placing it outside the house with the other garbages.

It wasn't long then that my mum and my aunt discovered the atrocities and the horrors I did when they accidentally tore open the garbage bags while they were helping the garbage collector to load it into the garbage truck. My mum knew I was behind the gruesome acts when she discovered the heads of the boys whom I told her that I despised a lot, that day. I told my mum and my aunt to forget what they saw but on the other hand, they suggested that I should turned myself in. Knowing that they were right, I turned myself into the police the following day and I was charged for my unimaginable acts. Soon, I appeared in newspapers everywhere and I was at the dismay of the world. Apparently I redefined evil according to society and many religious organization shared a similar conclusion which described me as Hell's abomination walking the earth.At the day where I was trial in court, the parents of those bastards were there. They were deeply sorrowed for the lost of their sons and greatly angered for what I have done; watching them weeped in sorrow and cursing at me in anger was the beginning of my nightmare as I couldn't bear to witness their loss. I finally realized what a monster I was and I regretted acting rashly. The court sentenced me to death and on the day of the execution via the electric chair, news press world wide and supporters of my execution flooded the execution observation hall. They cheered savagely for the warden to flip the switch and as the electric chair gave out a loud buzz, I braced deeply hoping that the pain will be quick. In the middle of the excruciating ride of "shock", the ghastly voice appeared and told me it was too soon for me to die. The buzz of the electric chair continued which sounded like my alarm clock, I immediately opened my eyes, picked myself up and looked around. To my relief, I was just in my bed instead of an electric chair. Praise the Lord that I am safe and I did not commit any murder; that was one heck of a nightmare.

Despite being a nightmarish sadistic savage in my nightmare instead of the typical victim, this nightmare will leave a permanent scar on my memories and will question myself to what extend will I resort to such violence (hopefully never in my life). Sometimes I wonder whether my overwhelming suppression of anger or my strong resentment towards some of my former secondary schoolmates leads to violent nightmares like these. Whatever the case is, I hope that I will never conduct any atrocities similar to those in my dreams in the event I am angered or I would have my nightmare a living reality.