In the Life of DancerGal: My reaction to the Cempaka Damansara incident

For those of you who are unaware, a fire broke into the Damansara campus of my alma mater, taking down three classrooms and one dance studio. To be honest, I did not realize how bad it was until I stepped foot into the school on Saturday. Tears came to my eyes when I saw the wreckage. On Friday night, went I went onto the social media networks, on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, my heart just dropped.

I was appalled at some of the jokes that were made, yet I was so encouraged by the support and unity of fellow Cempakans. And yet through all of this, I was not ready for what I would be seeing on that Saturday afternoon when I walked in. I caught a glimpse of the wreckage from SammoBammo's house. We decided to go closer and took a drive out to the school. That's when I almost broke down. I saw everything up close. I walked up the stairs towards the hall and realised that the ceiling of the hall was black and covered in soot. That was when I noticed that the dance studio had been destroyed.

The fact that I am a dancer, and it was a dance studio was beyond the fact as to why I was distraught. I slept there around this time last year, during the annual Cempaka Christian Fellowship (CF) Camp. I slept in a sleeping bag, inside the studio.

But that all sadness and distraught went away when I read this post in the Lumen Studet blog called "To All Cempakans, From Cempakans". I really thank the writers of this blog, whoever it may be. The post reminded me of what happened in Japan back in 2004. The huge tsunami incident. What happened back in 2004 was very unfortunate, but look at Japan after that. They received support, encouragement, and love from the rest of the world. In the end, they ended up becoming a stronger nation and came up not only better, but also more productive and more innovative. I foresee that for Cempaka as well.

When news of the fire broke out, I read online that many students were upset. While in shock, there were many others, including current Cempakans already encouraging and supporting one another. I was so encouraged by their Cempakan spirit, that I took part as well. Listening to the concern of some Cempakans concerned me and I just wanted to comfort them, but to be honest, I was only a piece of grass in the field that is the Cempakan support system. Care about one another. Care about their alma mater. Care about their family, their home, where they spend most of their day.

It is very comforting to know that no matter what happens, Cempakans will always back one another and have each other's backs. I am truly proud to be Cempakan, and in the words of our Founder/Mentor, Dato' Freida Pilus, "Not to worry. We are made of stronger stuff than mortar and bricks" and Encik Hisham Hamzah, "Chin up. It's just the building. You and your classmates are Cempaka Damansara. That can never be burned down".

Within the next couple of days, the students from the Damansara campus will be moving over to Cheras. I caught an Instagram video of the Cheras students, making a line to help carry chairs and tables across. Best part of this? They were all doing it with a smile and I know that they will be more than welcoming to their fellow brothers and sisters from Damansara. Their warmth, their support, their encouragement, their care, their love, their camaraderie is what makes Cempaka such a strong body. The support extends beyond current Cempakans. Old Cempakans are sending their messages of love and care via Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. It is truly a wonderful sight :)

It's true. The building does not define us as Cempakans. We define ourselves and just by this incident alone, I am already very confident that Cempakans will make it out of this, (as the song says) harder, faster, better and stronger! :)

Cempaka Cheras campus where I finished my A-Levels and where my heart will always be. 

As the first line in our school song says: CEMPAKA MEGAH BERDIRI.

Love always,
Old Cempakan DancerGal Sheryl! :)

Guest Post: Why Don't You Game? by SammoBammo

Record-breaking features by SammoBammo. Two articles in two days. Wish I had the brain-power to write like this guy. Oh well, I can only be inspired. Anyway, I'm proud to call myself a gamer. Are you? Read on and enjoy!

Why Don't You Game? - SammoBammo

Apparently there are 1 billion gamers worldwide, according to Jane Mcgonigal. Being a gamer here is defined as someone who spends at least an hour a day playing a video game of some sort. It could be a highly complex, immersive and sophisticated game such as MGS or Starcraft 2 or something simple yet fun like Angry Birds or Candy Crush.

Metal Gear Solid 4

StarCraft 2

Angry Birds

Candy Crush Saga

1 billion of us. Gamers. That is a lot of people.

Games play a big part of our community. We just don't realize it. 

What does it mean? Is that a good thing or a bad thing? Well according to Jane Mcgonigal it cuts both ways. Games like Call of Duty are highly addictive and a recent study claimed that the number of gaming hours devoted to CoD a year roughly equals a month's full time work. When CoD: Black Ops 2 was launched, employers and teachers noted abnormally high rates of absenteeism on launch day.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 2

Not to mention the stories we hear, particularly in Asian countries of highly addicted gamers playing till they literally drop dead (read here!)

So maybe I should rename this posting, "Why haven't you stopped gaming, are you insane????"

Well, I am a gamer, and I love games, so for a little bit I am going to explore why that is, and I invite fellow gamers to do the same thing, ask yourself "why do YOU love games?". Well the obvious answer is it is fun. Definitely true, but let's take a closer look. Let's dive a little deeper, "what makes it fun for us?". After all, there are so many different types and genres of games out there, they might give different people something different to think about.

What was I thinking when I got into gaming?

I love primarily strategy and RPG games. This is because I find great satisfaction in creating something unique and wholly from my own intellect and skill. The gaming experience for me is entirely unique and non-repetitive. For example, an RPG typically involves a character you control that starts out as pretty weak and basic, but as the game progresses, it gets stronger and more powerful depending on maybe experience points, items or other factors that could or could not be within your control. Strategy games work similarly where you employ your own tactics to beat your enemy. Winning or losing is up to you and the learning curve is usually quite steep, which means that you can get better and learn from your mistakes. I love that aspect, as the saying goes in Starcraft 2, "more gg, more skill". This means, the more you lose, the more you learn, the better you get.

The Learning Curve

Yes that learning aspect. Gaming is an amazing way to learn without actually realising you are learning.  For the non-gamers, you would ask "Learn what? How to blast zombies?? (either with plants or rocket launchers depending what you're into, how amazing is that?)" So let's look at other media and see where, and if, learning takes place. Ask yourself, do you learn while watching movies/tv shows, reading, listening to music? If you answer, "hmm maybe, depends on what it is". The same thing applies to gaming!

The gaming industry is huge and expanding extremely fast, overlapping itself out of other entertainment medias even. USD5 billion revenue alone from North America in 2011. Simply put, there are a lot of games out there of different genres, platforms etc. So if it's perfectly normal in this day and age to assume someone watches movies/tv shows and listens to music, why not game as well?

The Global Games Market. Amazing statistics. 

Where does gaming and learning come together? I'm going to look at some of the games I play or used to play and see if I can figure this out.

Starcraft 2. 
Easily the game I most likely have spent the most hours playing. A few reasons why, is that its a family thing with my brothers and I. We have been into the game since I was in high school. Another strong reason is that I haven't mastered the game yet. No one has.  Average win rates are between 40-60%. That is the great thing about it, it is so well designed that the journey to mastering the game is the fun part in itself.

Terran vs Protoss

Zerglings rushing into a Terran base. 

The basic idea of the game is you collect resources, build an army with those resources and destroy your enemy's base with that army. It is quite straightforward. With 3 different races to choose from, each having their own strengths and weaknesses, adds another layer of complexity. You play on different maps that offer varied tactical scenarios depending on your own army's deployment and your opponents, and also the strength and composition of armies, adding on another layer of complexity. Questions that SC2 players have to deal with are like:

• What units do I build?

Terran Units

Protoss Units

Zerg Units

• Where do I attack?

An SC2 1v1 Map

• What is my opponent doing and how can I turn that to my advantage?

A Terran vs Protoss battle

• Should I obtain more resources or should I make more fighting units?

Mineral Fields

• What strategy are my allies employing, how can I align our strategies for maximum effect?

Through answering these types of questions as the game is being played it  develops decision-making, teamwork, communication skills, analytical skills and critical thinking.

Another game I loved to play when i was younger is Caesar 3. 
It's a pretty old game, released in the 90s but still very playable. I am in the midst of trying to find a copy, digital or physical, just to give it another go? In this game you play the role of a City Governor during the Roman times and your job is to manage the city's economy, trade, resources, jobs, living standards, security etc, like a real actual Mayor. Tons of games follow this formula, the most popular being the Sim City series, but I love this game in particular because I'm quite a history buff as well.

Caesar 3

So where is the learning in this game? Let's take a look.

Following a keynote by Steven Johnson, best selling author of books such as Where Good Ideas Come From, I realised these types of games teach not just 21st Century skills like in Starcraft 2, but teaches actual content and reveals real-world realities.

A scene from Caesar 3

For example, this game teaches: 

• Agriculture: A governor needs to ensure his citizens are well fed. To do that he needs farms planting crops and a granary. 
• Commerce: He will also need a market in which to distribute the foods, different foods are demanded by different neighborhoods based on income and affluence. 
• Urban Planning: He needs to ensure that there is good transport available from the farms all the way to the homes of the citizens, but not like next door to each other that would harm the desirability of the area. 
• International Trade: Some foods that are demanded may not be locally available, he has to trade for them.
• Economics: Lastly, all of these different components, the farms, markets etc need workers for them to function.

This is just a fraction of the game. Other aspects such as taxes, military expenditure, diplomacy etc just add more complexity and sophistication, which then offer more learning opportunities over a wide range of subjects.

So from my two favourite games, I've developed 21st century skills and expanded my knowledge as well. I didn't step into a classroom, I didn't open a textbook and I certainly didn't sit for a test.

So to those non-gamers out there, why don't you game?

S.B.

DancerGal Says: Okay. While I consider myself a gamer, the only real game I play is StarCraft 2. I would someday want to expand my gaming knowledge and I do want to start venturing into other games. Am very excited when I read this post. I am one of the 1 billion. Are you? 

Love always,
DancerGal Sheryl!

In the life of DancerGal: How to make Generations X, Y and Zoomers Happy and Productive at Work?

Greetings from the land of DancerGal! It's been quite a while since I updated this little fella so here goes!

About a week back, I attended quite an awesome talk on "How to make Generations X, Y and Zoomers Happy and Productive at Work?". The speaker was this awesome lady called Cheryl Cran (yes, we have the same name! How cool is that???) and she's a leadership consultant. I know most of you might be thinking, "What's that?" so I'm gonna try and put in my own words about what she does. Cheryl's job is to basically make both employers and employees change or adapt their leadership or communication styles so that the company as a whole can be taken to much greater heights. She does this by breaking down the different types of people working in the company, which is mainly the different generations of people within the company.

TMI Consultancy Sdn Bhd which stands for Transformation Managed with Inspiration. 

This talk was organized by TMI Consultancy Sdn Bhd and hosted by Hotel Istana, Kuala Lumpur. It was pretty awesome as we were given special treatment by the staff of Hotel Istana and TMI was an amazing organizer!

It was fun from the second Cheryl stood on stage! We had so much fun, and not to mention, I embarrassed myself by going up on stage and did the "Gangnam Style" in stilettos. Probably not exactly the smartest idea, but I'm so happy I did it. :) That was our so-called "warm up" session, getting to know each other and Cheryl enticing us with AWESOME music selections. We danced to songs like YMCA, Twist and of course, the one and only GANGNAM STYLE!

Me going ballistic when I heard the Gangnam song... :P (*embarrassing!*)
Photo credits: TMI Consulting Sdn Bhd (Facebook)

Cheryl and I doing the Gangnam Style dance... Kudos to PSY!
Photo credits: TMI Consulting Sdn Bhd (Facebook)

We then sat down after all that huffing and puffing (well, for me at least!) to start on what we actually came here to do - Learn about inter-generational people, their attributes and how we can make our workplace a more effective, efficient, productive, peaceful and relaxing one. It's pretty stressful to have to deal with people from a different generation, but what is awesome is that when you learn about the positive attributes of one another, you actually realize that everyone is pretty cool and sometimes, that generation gap is what makes each and every one of us, more human :) Together with Cheryl after the lunch break, we created a Twitter hash tag for the talk as well. #TMIGenerations2013

The set up on our tables. A folder for our notes, a TMI clapper, and name tag! 

DancerGal and her TMI clapper

Cheryl speaking on inter-generational workplace
Photo credits: TMI Consulting Sdn Bhd (Facebook)

I was tempted to write "DancerGal", but I wasn't there as a blogger :P 

The awesome Sheryl and Cheryl combo! 

I can honestly say, I learned a lot about my own generation (Gen Y!) as well as the positive attributes about other generations and I am proud to be surrounded by people from all the generations, including the millennials. What really caught my interest was not only Cheryl's stage presence, but unlike many speakers, she wasn't boring at all. She admitted that she was a Zoomer with the attributes of a Gen Y and I totally agree! I also managed to do a quick email interview with her to learn more about her as well as what motivates her and some words of encouragement for us Gen Ys! 

DancerGal (DG): From an economic and financial background, what encouraged and motivated you into getting into consultation and leadership training? 

Cheryl: While I was in my career in banking and insurance I conducted training sessions and was speaking early on in my career. I was a leader at the age of 23 and found that I liked the constant learning and growth that came with leadership. When I left banking in 1994 I interned with a consulting firm and then was hired by an international seminar company to provide seminars on leadership. In 2001 I wrote my first book and my business has grown from there.

DG: Generally, those that read my blog would be from Gen Y. Would you have any advice for those of us who are struggling to find our passion?

Cheryl:  What I admire about Gen Y is that they are really keen to do what they love, to stay positive with their work and to make a difference. I don't really have advice rather I would recommend that a Gen Y find a mentor in the field they are interested as well as do an internship to learn about the field. ( I don't have space to mentor as I have clients I do this with right now) Read the book "What Color Is Your Parachute" and get a skills analysis done by an employment agency. This will help determine the best way to use your skills and to find fields that are aligned with your skills.

DG:  What would be the best and worst attributes of a Gen Y, since I am one myself?

Cheryl: Gen Y's are eager to get ahead and to contribute in a big way. The greatest thing about Gen Y's is their desire to help, to share ideas and to work as a group. The Gen Y's that I have worked with would benefit from learning to integrate their energy and passion with business results. Today's CEO's are still the Zoomers and Gen X and they are looking for Gen Y's who can provide technological ideas and creativity to help improve business. I find many Gen Y's could learn more about the business side of the company they are working for. In addition Gen Y's would be very smart to work positively with their Gen X or Zoomer bosses- a Gen Y who helps their boss looks good will always get ahead more quickly.

DG: Any words that you would like to extend to my readers or myself? :)

Cheryl: Staying positive is more than a mindset, it is a way of looking at life. Gen Y's are very important to our future, we need your energy, passion and technological savvy. Focus on building your interpersonal skills with the Gen X and Zoomer, focus on continual learning, read both business books and personal development books. Attend conferences and events where you can learn the 'how to's from successful leaders and business owners.

Thank you so much, Cheryl, for taking the time to answering questions for my blog. I truly appreciate the fact that she took the time to answering my questions. Learning more about one another's personal attributes and how we can contribute to our workplace and helping it grow as a whole was definitely a great experience and I will definitely take these lessons with me. 

Thanks again to TMI Consultancy Sdn Bhd for having me at the event, and thanks again to Cheryl for opening my eyes to my own abilities and strengths! 

I do hope that I get to dwell deeper into such topics and share more of it right here, on my blog! 

Love always, 

DancerGal Sheryl! 

In the Life of DancerGal: Mind over Matter!

So I went back to Bootcamp on Monday. Yes. Finally.

To be honest, this was a true test of mind over matter for me. As some of you are aware, I haven't been back at Bootcamp for the past 2 months, and I actually was sorta on-off back in December. So I have sort of been procrastinating my return, time and time again. I kept saying I wanted to go back time and time again, up until yesterday that is!

At about 3pm plus, I SMS-ed SammoBammo to complain that there was raining and thunder. Prior to that, the whole day, I had nerves flying all over the place. I knew that my fitness level has dropped tremendously, cos not only have I not been working out, I also haven't been eating well. I mean, what with my birthday, CNY and all just one after another. I really haven't been controlling my diet and I honestly haven't been working out on my own as well. I knew I had also put on weight (which I'm honestly really upset about!!!).

Okay, back to the case and point (sorry, I got distracted!). At around 5.30pm, I started to get cold feet. I knew I wanted to go back to the whole "eating clean, training dirty" routine, despite my busy busy schedule, yet I was nervous and afraid about what I would think of myself, how I would fail, etc. Thinking back, this was really stupid! Obviously I wouldn't have performed as well. I haven't been back at Bootcamp for the longest time, and did I ever really expect to perform at my peak again? Without the consistency? Yeah right!

So, to cut a long story short, I eventually attended the session. Suffered the session as I was one of the "newbies" in the group. As expected, didn't do too well, but lasted the entire session. It was a great session, great cardio and great workout.

Today, I am suffering DOMS (Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness) but I am very proud of the pain. Why? Because at the end of it all, NO PAIN NO GAIN!

Moral of the story: Don't lose sight of your passion due to laziness. If you have set your mind to it, you can conquer any mountain. Even the one that makes you cry because your body is aching THAT badly. 

I will be going back to Bootcamp again today (in the event of no rain, thunder or lightning) and I hope to maintain the consistency! Looking forward to more sweat, grime, mud and tears!

EAT CLEAN, TRAIN DIRTY! 

Love always,
DancerGal Sheryl!

In the Life of DancerGal: FIRST Award EVER!

Ok, fine. My title might be a teeny bit misleading :P

Anyway, here goes. I've received something called a "Versatile Blogger Award", awarded to me by the awesome Syafique Shuib, founder of the awesome motivationMY.com and a friend :)

*sheepish* I promised that I would blog once a month, but have yet to keep to my KPIs :P Will promise to come up with posts soon! *note to self: PUT INTO ACTION!!!!*

With this title, comes some responsibilities! Part of the rules as a recipient of this award, I have to post the award on my blog, share seven random things about me, and nominate seven people for the award. So, let's start with the 7 random things (or I'd like to coin them, weird about me!) :P 

1. I am a HUGE HUGE HUGE eSports fan. Note, I said fan and not player. Have stopped playing StarCraft 2 for quite a bit now, due to time and hardware constraints, but I am determined to get back into the game. For now, it's pure watching, and coming up with my own analysis about the games. (Please do not hesitate to add me on B.net if you have an account. My ID is DancerGal - will update you on my ID tag later!)
2.  I am a performance artist in my own right. I enjoy singing and (honestly!) think that I am quite vocally strong. I also am a dance instructor and I do ballet, tap and hip-hop. I have something coming up that's pretty interesting, but I can't disclose too much details yet. Will do it when all details are final :) 
3. I love to challenge my brain and feed it constantly! When I was in school, I honestly hated studying. Maybe now I'm sort of making up for the lack of studying as a child, but at this point in my life, I literally dislike brainless activities. To me, any activity that doesn't involve me hurting my brain a bit, doesn't really work for me! :P
4. I love to challenge myself physically as well! I am a insane person who goes for Bootcamp. Honestly, the experience isn't that bad, and I adore the idea that I lose insane amounts of weight once I start getting back to my eating right habits and drinking tons of water. :) If I don't calculate the months that I've been missing, I've been in Bootcamp for about 13 months now! #proud
5. I love to EAT! Hahaha! This is interesting! After my last one about losing weight, now I say I love to eat! LOL! Well, I honestly do. I indulge in my foods (not too much, of course!) and I do spend quite a large amount of $$ on my personal F&B each month. Not to mention, Alexis and Starbucks are kinda sorta my favourite F&B joints! :P But oh well! :)
6. I have very low tolerance for people who do NOT appreciate Friendship! I would be (as some people would call it, and so do I!) a very weird friend to have. As a friend, I would feel the need to tell you the truth no matter how bad it hurts. Sadly, not many people are able to accept that. Some even have taken the insane step to consciously avoiding me due to this "weirdness". Honestly, I don't think it's weird, as I want my friends to be the same with me, but I am glad that I have true friends who appreciate this side of me. Not many, but even one is enough :) 
7. I enjoy spending time with some of my cousins (*ahem* CHARMAINE HO!) and although we are family, I somehow feel that we are more like friends. Like we can hangout, especially our routine Karaoke sessions when she gets back from her studies ALL THE TIME, we can do some random stuff and we always enjoy ourselves :) Looking forward to more time spent with her soon! :) 

Okay! So that's seven random things about me, and now it's time for me to nominate seven other people to receive this award. However, please bear in mind that I do NOT follow many, so here goes nothing: 

1. Ceddy Lopez 
2. Debbie Elara or her handy craft blog @ http://www.crafty-heart.com/
3. Carmen Wong
4. Magdeline Wang
5. Jacqueline Teo
6. Dennis Lee
7. Last but not least.... whoever who runs this blog:You Know You're In Cempaka When... 

So I've done my nominations! Back to you guys! :) 

P/S: I know I've been a bit slow on my posts lately, but I'll be back soon. I promise okay? :) 

Love always, 

DancerGal Sheryl! 

Self-Reflection: Passion vs Commitment!

Something drew my attention to this particular topic as of last night.

Passion vs Commitment. 

This can be used in reference to many things. Friendships, relationships, career paths, interests, and basically anything that involves YOU! 

According to Wikipedia, Passion (from the Ancient Greek verb πάσχω (paskho) meaning to suffer) is a term applied to a very strong feeling about a person or thing. Passion is an intense emotion compelling feeling, enthusiasm, or desire for something. The term is also often applied to a lively or eager interest in or admiration for a proposal, cause, or activity or love – to a feeling of unusual excitement, enthusiasm or compelling emotion, a positive affinity or love, towards a subject. It is particularly used in the context of romance or sexual desire though it generally implies a deeper or more encompassing emotion than that implied by the term lust.

According to the same source, Commitment is the state or quality of being dedicated to a cause, activity, etc.. It is also known as a pledge or an undertaking. A commitment is never supposed to be broken, if it is broken; that means it was never a commitment rather was just a pretention and lying. Commitment may refer to:

• Promise, or personal commitment
• Contract, a legally binding exchange of promises
• Brand commitment
• Involuntary commitment, the use of legal means or forms to commit a person to a mental hospital, insane asylum or psychiatric ward

That being said, you can actually be committed to something without being passionate about it (cos seriously, who would be passionate in a mental hospital?), but my question to all is: 

Can you be passionate about something without being committed to it?

I ask this because it has come to my sickening attention recently, that I feel totally and completely passionate about blogging, social media, and other stuffs, but I honestly only have 24 hours in a day. There's only so much I can take. But because I am committed to something that I am not passionate about, I can't commit myself to something that I'm passionate about. It's ironic isn't it? 

And I realized, that this connects to relationships as well. I will not speak for myself, but I have come to realize that I have too many (and when I say too many, I actually mean "TOO MANY"!) acquaintances who tell me that they are staying in a relationship for the sake of staying in a relationship. That's being committed without passion. And to that, I say one thing... 

IT'S NOT GOING TO WORK! 

In general, anything, be it relationships, friendships, career paths, and whatever else, if you're not going to be passionate about it, it won't work out well. But then, how do you leave or ignore your "commitment" without looking like a total jerk? It's basically impossible. So what should or can you do? Pray that time passes fast so that you can just leave. 

What about those like me who are passionate about stuff, but can't afford to commit to it? :( 

I don't really know how, but at this moment, I know that I am passionate about many things which I cannot afford to commit my time too. So what am I doing about it? During this time, I continuously try to strive and learn more about the stuff that I am passionate about and hopefully one day, get to put all this to good use. I am honestly (well, in my personal opinion!) very positive about this because I can see my passion paying off someday. Till then, I will just have to wait it out. 

The most important thing to keep reminding yourself about is that nothing is impossible and that if you keep driving for your dreams, no matter how bad the circumstances may seem, one day, it will come true :) 

Keep striving with passion, and one day, your ideal of passion and commitment will come your way! 

Love always, 

DancerGal Sheryl! 

In the life of DancerGal: Hitting the "Refresh" button on "LIFE"

It's almost the end of August. Here's my updates for the past month or so...

Haven't been playing SC2 for the longest time, let alone Diablo 3...
Haven't been to Bootcamp in TWO months...
Haven't been blogging, although I have THREE half-written drafts...
Haven't been running (at least 10km!) within the past two months...

My fitness is BLERGH...
My SC2 level is BLERGH...
Not to mention, feeling FAT and LETHARGIC almost everyday!

So, what exactly have I been doing the past couple of months? Working, sleeping, eating.

So what's the problem? The problem is, I AM NOT HAPPY!!!!

So, what can I do? Time to hit that "Refresh" button. Wait, what?!

Credits: blog.cachinko.com

Yes, you heard me right! I'm going to hit the "Refresh" button on my own life, and it all starts TODAY! Spent about 4 hours plus watching MLG last night (Leenock was declared the Champion :) Mr Chubby Cheeks  ♥

Credits: majorleaguegaming.com

Hence, yesterday at SammoBammo's place, I collected back ALL my gaming gear (mouse, keyboard and headphones) and decided that I would spend AT LEAST an hour a night training. Watching MLG made me realize, while I dream to be like them someday, it will never happen unless I do it myself! :)

Having being a fan of StarCraft 2 for quite some time now, it's been taking me a very long time to get to where I am... While I understand the game relatively well, my mechanics are REALLY BAD! Why? All because I never really bothered to put in the effort. Well, no more. From now on, every night, at least 2 games I will play! All in the name of self-development of eSports!

Then there's my fitness level.

It's been two whole months of Bootcamp that I have missed. Went back today. Felt like CRAP! Threw up in the middle of a circuit. But here's the thing. After throwing up (ok, maybe I should stop saying that so that you don't feel nauseous!), I felt like this wasn't me. I don't want to be like this. I want the Sheryl/DancerGal who could pull off an entire session and even go out for a movie after. I want the Sheryl who watched what she ate, so that she didn't feel lethargic/fatigued after the session! I WANT THE OLD ME BACK!!!

There is only ONE way to doing that, which is actually GOING BACK and doing all that!

Then, there's my barely updated blog.

As most of you may know, I now (should technically) be a regular contributor on the MotivationMY blog. Guess when my last post was? Pathetic.

So with that, while it may be a very tiring move, a very bold move, it's time to hit the refresh button on my life! How?

1. Starcraft 2: Make the effort to play more, train harder, and just simply not make excuses. Watch more streams (where possible) and watch more tournaments (speaking of which, I am downloading the GomTV app for Mac so that I can watch GSL! BOOYAH! :P )

2. Bootcamp/Fitness: Train harder, watch what I eat, and (DO MY BEST!) not to miss any sessions, participate in more runs, and make a conscious effort to train my runs with SammoBammo. Push myself in OBC sessions and make sure that I don't go easy on myself!

3. Regular updates and contributions: Consciously make the effort to contribute to AT LEAST one post a week! Writer's block is a LAME excuse and should not be used in Sheryl's vocabulary!!!

4. Miscellaneous: Try your best to not screw everything else in the process!

Sounds impossible? No, it's not, and it won't be! Wanna know why? Three simple words: FOCUS, DETERMINATION, and PASSION! I love and enjoy all of the above! I want to be better not for anyone, but for myself!

There is no room for "second best" or "complacency" in my life. Either you work your ass for it, or you get stuck living a mediocre life. Your choice.

Before I end my blog post, do find below, some encouraging posters that I hold very personally and it could not get any better than this (source: http://www.facebook.com/StrongIsTheNewSkinny/photos_stream)

Love always,
DancerGal Sheryl ♥