MIT Sport TKD Blog

as you all know, i’m in hong kong for the summer .  it’s been good so far.

anyway- quickly to the main point of this entry.  my roommate and i were just coming back from eating yummy desserts and chatting about our plans for tomorrow when at the corner of my eye, i saw a hogu.  i guess after wearing one for four years, i can easily spot a hogu anywhere.  hahaha.  my roommate asked if i wanted to watched the taekwondo team, and i couldn’t help but say sure.  one guy was putting on his hogu; two guys were sparring.  one was wearing the old style hogu with the dots and the other was new style.  the old style hogu guy was a red belt and the other a black belt.  i didn’t know they were training so close to where i live (like a couple floors down.) i got kinda excited ^____^.

i wondered why i didn’t bother to contact them over HKUST.  based on their gear, it seems like they weren’t super old style or anything.  and i understand – people have different sparring levels.  the red belt was doing crazy turn kicks… that were too low and at the wrong distance.  the black belt did a whole bunch of back kicks and doubles… that weren’t really scoring quality.  however, they didn’t really have instep guards, so i gave them the benefit of the doubt.

i peered more closely… the guy putting on the hogu was a green stripe (exactly like how master chuang did it). there were two girls who watched them spar and were chatting.  they didn’t have any gear on.  i was glad that i didn’t contact them… it was a relatively small club and there didn’t seem to be a head instructor.  the girls didn’t seem like they wanted to spar and i definitely don’t like sparring with guys (unless you’re bobby or john wong ).  and then i remembered the flyer: 8-10PM TUESDAYS.  thanks, but i’d like to get in more training than that.

i suppose if HKUST tkd doesn’t work out for me, i can fall back on this one…. first impressions are usually wrong (hopefully).

i miss kicking… and the mit sport tkd team .  i’ll update you guys when i start kicking with the HKUST team.  they seem pretty awesome so far

i haven’t been to the career office since my freshman year… and i’ve heard rumors that they aren’t very good (especially with pre-med stuff).

but lo and behold, those rumors hold some string of truth!!  let me tell you about my experience…

i waited patiently to get my resume reviewed because i was applying for consulting companies.  after twenty minutes of waiting, at last i got to meet with someone.  names were exchanged and a hand shake shook.  i told her that i’m an engineering major, but am looking into applying for consulting companies; therefore, i needed help to change my resume.  she asked me when the last time i came to career office; i said my freshman year.  she glanced at the resume and looked at me.  she asked, “and you got jobs with this resume?” appalled, i said, “yeah…. i worked at lockheed and bose.”  wow, what a jerkface.  don’t be surprised that people don’t need career office critique.  actually now that i’ve experience firsthand how they clearly belittle people, i probably won’t ever go back.  so lame.

mmm, this is my last week of interning. i can’t wait. as much as i enjoyed working at bose, i really can’t keep up this wacky sleep schedule. sleeping at 11PM is a lot harder than you’d think, especially if your friends sleep much later. i also don’t like having the option of napping during work. sadness.

anyway, onto the real purpose of this blog post. out of spontaneity, i decided to make a video of the mit sport taekwondo girls, specifically the A/B team girls. yes, just for fun maybe it’ll be used for orientation. then girls can see that they can do this kind of hard physical contact sport despite their athleticism.  sorry alum, there were too many girls ~.~ i got really of doing the video by the time i finished all the current members.

check it out:

avi version (~800mb): http://www.megaupload.com/?d=LF4L5YE5
mp4 version (~80mb): http://web.mit.edu/chui/www/sport%20taekwondo/tkdgirls.mp4

i’ll try to upload a wmv and mp4 version on the gallery.  enjoy!

I went on a trip to California this past weekend. It was only three days long and possibly my shortest trip back home so far. I went back to watch my brother get married to his girlfriend of seven years.

Anyway, my weekend was filled with events and excitement. I took a 8AM flight to SFO; my mom picked me up and off we went to Chinatown. Got a haircut and a dress! The dress was all right, but a little looser than I hoped. We rushed off to my brother’s wedding rehearsal. The two things I remembered were 1) it was hot 2) my mom was crying. My brother graciously paid for dinner that night. His friends (whom I haven’t seen for over 10 years) kept saying I looked like him, especially when I smile. I definitely get that a lot from people, but personally, I’m just glad I look like someone in my family (that way I know for sure I’m not adopted )

Saturday was the big wedding day. I got up around 8AM to get my face done – yeah the whole nine yards: makeup, eyebrows, lips, hair. Because everything took around 2.5 hours, we were late to the tea ceremony. Afterwards, we drove to the church. IT WAS HOT. I walked down the aisle with my grandma. It was pretty nervewrecking; everyone was looking at me and taking pictures. AHHH. My brother and his wife looked very cute up there though. The wedding was very beautiful (and hot).

The reception was American; personally, it was very awkward. Because I didn’t realize I could bring my friends, I had to sit at the head table. My other two brothers sat at a nearby table with their friends; lame. What’s worse was when we walked around for cheers. I didn’t know anyone there and was trailing around the couple. By the time they started cheers at one table, I just arrived at the table they left. So I awkwardly gestured a cheer to people and sipped on the wine. Family’s too big.

Sunday… I got my hair straightened in the morning because my mom said the curls yesterday made my hair messy. Afterwards, I went home to shower and pack. Then we went to the Chinese reception! I basically welcomed people in, and everyone said “ohhh, you’ve grown up so much! MIT! How smart” Blah. Chinese people. I sat at the head table again, but at least my bros sat there too. Because my family is much larger than my sister-in-law’s, I was forced to sit on the bride’s side. The in-laws mainly speak Mandarin, so my Chinese skillz was put to the test. After the dinner, I was so full I barely touched the cake. The restaurant was clever – rather than using wine for cheers, they put in tea. I was appreciate it because I really don’t like the taste of red wine.

I left around 10; I was already really exhausted, and my flight was delayed! Ugh. By the time I got on the flight, it was 12:30AM. Got to Boston around 9:30. I was tired. Really tired. But I got my butt to Bose and suffered through the rest of the day.

That’s my weekend – hopefully yours was just as exciting. Now I better pay attention to work. =P