Why I'm Awesome (Part 19 of 7,412): SPORT

I'm not an athlete, at least not in the super-impressive, super-awesome, super-sexy sort of way. Ask anyone who plays volleyball with me, and they will validate that I am one of the slowest-moving people on the court and if I didn't have a pretty decent spike and serve, I'm not much use, really.

Ask anyone who has ever swum with me or against me, they'll confirm that my butterfly stroke is abysmal in that my shoulders barely make it out of the water, my backstroke is hindered by a chronic fear of smashing my forehead into the wall in the event of a turn, and that I cannot seem to plunge/dive with goggles on as they constantly get pulled off by the force of impact with the water.

[ This post is brought to you by dinner at Zoco (Spanish food) with my Daddy and Vicky. ]

I will say, however, that while I am far from ace in any sport that I have ever attempted to play, the fact that I participated on some intermediate to advanced level in certain kinds of sports certainly had a positive impacts on me, and I don't mean physically.

I got into a discussion recently with my father and his secretary, with whom we had dinner at Zoco (attn Shangers, it's the Spanish place on Julu Road near the Velvet Lounge, pretty good food but I think Azul on Hengshan is better), about the importance of team sports and individual sports.

Less recently than that discussion, I was talking with a variety of friends regarding what kinds of sports are most beneficial to you in terms of mental agility, and, more importantly, personality development. I basically asked: which kind of sport is better: a team sport or an individual sport?

Stepping away from athleticism or skill level and focusing solely on your brainfood, let's clarify exactly what I mean here. A individual sport is what I'd classify as a sport wherein the focus is on you as an individual. This includes swimming, even though there are relay events in swimming... ideally speaking, the faster you yourself as an individual are, the better off your team will be. Any sport (or event within a sport, for argument's sake) that involves just you and your blood, sweat, and brains, is classified as an individual sport.

A team sport is any sport wherein you cannot win on your own. It doesn't matter how good you as an individual are, it matters how well your team plays as a whole. In this particular case you hear things like "the team is only as good as its worst player." Sure you can be better than your teammates in certain or all aspects of a sport, but you cannot win without them, you cannot win without trusting them, you cannot win it by playing over them or pretending they aren't there. They are necessary not just owing to the rules of the game, but to playing a good game.

To further clarify, the value of a sport is not just in winning. Winning is nice and all, but what it always boils down to is playing a good game. You played hard, the other team played hard, and you are satisfied with your performance (whether as a team or an individual). I say this just in case any of you thought I was being all "LOLZ WINNING IS AWSUM."

Now, the majority of the time, people told me that team sports are, by and large, more valuable than individual sports. Why? Because of what they teach you. Teamwork, trust, the value of the whole over the individual, sacrifice, putting pieces together to make something better, etc. Very cliche, I get it, but stick with me here.

You learn not to blame one individual for a mistake because, well, anyone could've made that mistake. You learn that it's not about having the best players, but the best players that play together. A team that is more likely to bank on its strengths as a whole will almost always win over a team that has one or two stars that never communicate with one another. (1982 Miracle Team! or, better yet, the 2000 Lady Dragons Volleyball Team!)

While these are valuable skills, I do feel that individual sports are just as important, but on a completely different level.

In an individual sport, you rely on little more than your own drive. Sure you have your coach, teammates (i.e., they are the people you train with), family, friends, fans, etc cheering you on, but the effort is mostly your own. You push yourself not to beat the people around you, but to beat yourself. To constantly and always better yourself against the clock or your old scorecards. Golf, swimming, track and field, singles badminton, etc, are all good examples of what I'm talking about.

The skills you learn, then, are how to push yourself harder in anything that you set out to do. Good enough is never good enough. If you don't beat your old time, then you have not trained hard enough, did not perform well enough. You are driven by a sense of self-improvement, and you do what you do to see yourself do better. You don't perform as a component on your team, but you do it for yourself. All your training, all your time, all your blood and sweat... it was all spent for you.

If you are doing it JUST because a coach or a parent is pushing you, you might need an attitude adjustment... or possibly a long talk.

Skills from both kinds of sports are necessary and absolutely positive to your development as a person. They are not mutually exclusive, though they certainly may seem so at some point.

An individual sport teaches you how to play hard for yourself. A team sport teaches you how to play hard with your team... and how to trust the team to play hard for themselves. Put the two together and you basically develop a can-do, self-starting, self-motivated, and team-oriented way or thinking.

Focusing too much on one set of skills can naturally have some drawbacks. Get too self-involved and you may find it hard to work with other people. Relying too much on your team may lead you to be complacent and let your team do all the work. Worse, it may even lead you to be pressured by your team to do better, which builds resentment and likely causes you to be less willing to work well with them.

Now, to be absolutely fair, I am not saying that you should play one individual sport and one team sport to get the best of both worlds, nor am I saying that if you just played one kind of sport YOU ARE SCREWED AND ARE A TERRIBLE PERSON. These are skills that come naturally to anyone who pays a lick of attention to what's going on around them and within them.

What this is, then, is an admittedly convoluted way to explain that working with other people and working with yourself are two things that are equally important. You cannot rank one over the other. Put them together in a way that suits you best means that you will never cheat yourself, but you are willing and able to play on a team.

Whether it's sports, work, friendship or even a relationship, this sort of thing goes more overlooked than I like to think.

You are there for your teammates, coworkers, friends, or significant other just as much as they are there for you. Don't sell yourself short, don't sell them short. Please please please never forget that.

I part you now with an amusing story my father relayed to me about how an individual sport can become a team sport if you're willing to thinking tactically.

My dad used to run the 400m sprint for the track team back in college. His tactic would be to sprint out super fast at the beginning and go all out, scaring the opponents to speed up as well to keep up. Other runners in the event that were also with his school, however, only kept pace. What happens at the 200m mark? My dad is burned out and he drops back... and so are the people he had encouraged to stay with him... but the other runners from his track team would then break into their respective sprints and win the points for the school!

Naturally, he admits that this defeats the whole purpose of training to get the best time for oneself (as that is ultimately what would win the overall meet), but hey he owned the 200m sprint, apparently.

Ah, Chans. Always thinking outside the box. I wuv my Daddy. :)

Why I'm Awesome (Part 18 of 7,412): REAL

People, people, we need to talk.

[ This post brought to you by dumb people. ]

Anyone who actually thinks I'm a bitch deserves to keep thinking I'm a bitch. What I am, is a very loud, outspoken person with a strong personality and a stronger attitude who actually doesn't give much of a fuck about what people she doesn't care for or respect think.

You know how you lie or embellish a story when there is no need for embellishment or lies? Whether it's to make you look better or not as dumb or whatever, you edit the story somewhat?

Stop that. It's stupid.

Real life is interesting enough without you idiots sassing it all up with dumb stories that are designed only to make you look more badass or make you look more like the victim or what-have-you. False modesty is also pretty fucking stupid... if you did something great, IT'S OKAY TO FEEL GREAT ABOUT IT AND IT IS CERTAINLY OKAY TO TELL THE STORY EXACTLY HOW IT HAPPENED.

If you were dumb, own up to that shit. If you were awesome, own up to that shit.

Seriously. Sooner or later you'll do something that is ACTUALLY badass or you'll do something that is ACTUALLY stupid. Bank on those moments to share your stories in all their realistic glory, because guess what.

What actually happens in life, the real shit... there's nothing in your imagination that can rival it when it decides to get in your face.

Enough bullshit. Whether it's to get validation or to make people like you more, enough bullshit. If they like you, they'll like you! If they don't, they don't, and why the fuck should you care?

So knock it off.

Why I'm Awesome (Part 17 of 7,412): RECHARGED

Our office moved way out to Pudong from Hongqiao. For those who don't know, we basically moved from the most western area of the city to the most eastern area of the city. For those who DO know, we are now located in Chuansha, which is fifteen minutes northwest from the Pudong Airport.

[ This post is brought to you by Element Fresh's wireless connection. ]

It takes an hour by car to get out there every morning and an hour and a half every evening to get back (traffic, yay). We get picked up and dropped off and lunch is on the company, but it is an undeniable bore. Today was our first taste of this...and we had no furniture or internet access set up at the new office. Splendid!

I have, however, been trying to make a concerted effort to focus on as many of the positive aspects of this change as I can.

By far, the best part is the simple fact that we really only need to have one meeting a day, and that cuts our work day in half.

For instance, a meeting in the morning means we don't go into work until after the meeting is over, but since we would miss our morning ride out there, it's best to schedule a meeting in the afternoon. A meeting in the afternoon generally means it takes an hour for us to get there and an hour to get back and then another hour to go home afterwards, which makes little logistical sense, so that means we just get to go home after the meeting is over and work from home.

Well, not exactly.

I am currently sitting in Element Fresh finishing up a day's work and let me tell you, a refreshing atmosphere (free of my boss and graced with an awesome glass of fresh carrot-apple juice and with lots of eye candy) makes all the difference in the world.

No, this is not an ad for Element Fresh (which, for those non-Shangers, is a new age sort of western restaurant with locations all over the city), but I'm just saying how easy it is to get work done when you don't have a boss like mine literally haunting your every single move.

It's easy to recharge when I am getting work done (and, better yet, WANTING to get work done) at a faster pace than I would if I were in the office, even with distractions like carrot-apple juice and ridiculously hot men sitting at the next table.

Tomorrow the plan is to sit on the balcony of the office (where the only table in the whole damn place is located) and enjoy the sun while working. The farther away I am from my boss, the more productive I am, and the ultimately, the happier I am.

I just wanted to say that I wouldn't have been able to make this attitude change if I didn't have all of your support and many e-hugs and donations of e-love. Thanks for everything, even if it was just letting me know you were there for me. I really appreciate it, and I am so lucky to know you.

I am a firm believer in the fact that you're never meant to handle anything alone. I always thought that in my case it meant that I would never let anyone else walk alone, but I guess it took something like this and people like you to help me realize that it's a two-way street. Thank you, sincerely.

TL;DR - how is that long? My god you are lazy. Go the fuck back up there and read the whole damn thing you BUM.