Fight night round 1

Friday night is amateur night, and I head up to Coburg to support 5 guys from our club. It was mixed affair with karate and Thai boxing along with (traditional western) boxing. First fight was a Thai boxing fight of 3 rounds. It was fast and hard. I distinctly heard at one point in the second round shin pad against shin pad. They sounded very thin as the bone crunching sound echoed around the hall.

The boxing matches were a little more civilised. The first two fights involved our club and they were victories. Next was a first timer. He really didn’t look fit yet he seemed eager enough to go. The match started and it quickly became apparent that he was outclassed. His opponent was able to tag him from everywhere. He lost in a unanimous points decision. The last fight was best described by someone we met on the way home.

@$#*! Look at that guy. If I was to fight him I would be scared. He is huge, and rippling with his muscles shining with oil, he looks like Iron Mike Tyson, a vicious bulldog. His bicep is as big as a watermelon. The fight starts and the crowd hushes as the bell rings. The fight has been going for a minute yet no one has thrown a punch. It is a Mexican standoff, both waiting for the others. Oh no, counter punchers. Finally it is like someone pushes them together and a flurry of punches by our guy sees two connections, a body and head hook. Then some more standoffs then the end of the round.

Now the last two rounds were just as good. The big guy thought it was gridiron, and went on tackling our guy. After two rounds the judges had no idea how to score this match so they just called it a draw.

Anyway, yesterday I went to the club to do my usual training, and I had a reality check. I knew I wasn’t really ready to go the distance in any competitive way. The guy who lost I had a spar with and felt it. If it was real I think I would have been taken to hospital pretty quickly. There is a big difference between the guys I had been sparring previously. Also I feel so unfit; the injury really has taken a toll. Well I am just happy I found out that I still need more time in the gym.

The rematch of the 1991 classic is on tonight (24 June 2008)

Fat bomb!

Americans can't have all the supersized fun. Read about how we stole the crown from the Americans here.

AUSTRALIA has become the fattest nation in the world, with more than 9 million adults now rated as obese or overweight, according to an alarming new report.

Energy and food

There seems to be a lot about the relationship between energy and food being talked about in certain parts of the world. I wish I could get invited to sit around and do nothing for a few days in Rome, since this is the topic I am pursuing for my PhD. I didn’t mean nothing as I would be posing to act like I am doing something*.

Well since I wasn’t invited to that party, I decided to make my own. To ensure that I have food security, well bread security, I got myself a breadmaker. Just a few blocks from my house there is a factory shop for Breville electronics and a range of discount clothes outlets. Searching for the NIKE shop I found the electronics shop and wandered inside. I saw that the breadmakers were quite cheap compared to those at full retail price and impulse grabbed me as I remembered how good fresh bread tastes.

The new toy

That night I cranked it up and all went well. The first loaf I baked I put too much water, however that did not affect the taste. I think I will start to put on a tonne of weight over the coming months as I enjoy the fresh bread.

The first loaf

On the lighter side, my friend showed me this clip today which seems to cement the relationship between food and energy and solve the issue of high oil prices.

The new bread machine does have a jam/jelly setting so I am set to become the (John D) Rockefeller of the 21^st century.

* note my cynicism of such things arises on meeting a few experts from these types of organisations whom really are just interested in self promotion and travel, using the excuse of trying to help people without a specific cultural/ social understanding of the situation.

Tự Nhiên

I have heard of this place called Footscray, a place where Vietnamese congregate in great numbers to eat shop and do other normal things. I had been to Richmond, near my house, Springvale for food yet not here. Richmond is small, while Springvale is a mixture of Mekong peoples. Footscray is big!

I arrived in Footscray via an intricate maze of streets lined with factories which suddenly just opened up into suburbia. Yet one block in the familiar sound of Vietnamese rang through the air, the smell of fruit and vegetable markets lingered, all the while seeing signs printed in two or three languages.

The first stop was for fo. Sorry been living in Oz too long, I meant Phở. Just like in Vietnam the choice I like was number 1. I also settled for the coffee. This was the first time I had gone out to eat Vietnamese food since I arrived back. I always had planned to eat, however I just never got around to it. Something always got in the way.

After that I walked around just soaking up the atmosphere. It is different from that of Richmond or Springvale as it partially closed off to traffic so people tend to walk. It really is just like a big market. After walking around I saw “the sign” and had no idea that was where I was headed.

The sign

Once inside, it was chaos, like any market I had been to previously. The difference between the markets in LX and here was the yelling. For some reason they just yelled. At one point I went to talk to my friend and the next I was picking my eardrum up off the floor and shoving it back in the ear it was blasted out of. There was one thing which still I am yet to do, buy a whole fish and fillet it. Something just doesn’t sit right in this day and age with me for this process. Remembering doing this as a kid, I am willing to pay more for my fish (fillets) so as I don’t have to involve myself in this messy process.

After leaving I recalled the market adventures I had in Vn and think about how much easier shopping has become.

Footscray from outside the phở shop

Wine and Salsa

Wine and salsa.

A good mix? 11 days ago I didn’t think so. That’s why I stuck to vodka and salsa. However by about 9pm many of the other people forgot about everything but the wine. It was chaos as the night went on. Think drunken mess in the Yarra Valley wine district. Lots of amusement to watch everywhere I looked.