110%

Log start: 5:39am February 21st, 2010

I can't stress how important it is to give it your all in a certain something that you do. some of the people that i've met this semester and the people that i know from the past all have one thing in common; ambition.

it has only start to catch up to me now.
it's almost like one day i was walking and then ambition tapped me on the shoulder and said "hey bro, i'm the best. what are you going to do about it?"

what am i supposed to do? let ambition push my goals further and further or should i round house kick him in the face?

truth is, i haven't felt this way since high school ended. yeah, that's right, the last time i felt that i really needed to accomplish something was back in highschool during my swim team days.

ooooooohhhh yeah. the swim team. the meaning of my life and what i've done since i was a young little dude.
see, when i started swimming, i HATED it.
absolutely HATED swimming.

the first time i entered the pool, my instructor told me to put my face in the water. i sucked up so much water in my nose i wanted to cry (don't laugh, yo! i was 6 years old!)
every saturday i had swimming lessons i tried to give my mom an excuse on why i didn't need to know how to swim and how swimming is for girls. (yeah... the young me... so stupid)
but a few months into my swimming lessons, a brother and sister pair who were 12 at the time enrolled in my beginner class because the YMCA wouldn't allow them to go into higher classes because it was their first time enrolling in lessons there.

this bro/sis duo knew how to swim pretty damn well. from what i remembered, i thought they were the fastest ever. all the people around me were like "WOW, THEY'RE SO GOOD!"
at that point, something in my head clicked. i wanted people to say "damn, he's good!" to me. a sense of accomplishment and being praised was what i wished for when i was 6 and swimming took a 180º turn for me.

For the first time, i rode ambition like a cowboy on a horse. (ok, i admit it, bad reference)

for years i trained. i remember that i failed the beginner swimming class (i think it was called some weird name) 3 times and the second level, goldfish, once.
after i passed goldfish and moved on to level 3 (forgot the names...) i was the best in my class, compared to the other students, i was the equivalent of Micheal Phelps in that level.
at the end, i finally made it to the level where the brother/sister duo swam in. needless to say, i was slower than them -_- but i slowly swam more and more and i beat them. when i left the YMCA, i was the fastest of the level "Porpoise Club"

People need goals, my goal was to take someone better than me, put them on my hitlist, and excel far beyond their greatest potential.

When i got to highschool and joined the swim team, i never got to swim in the meets (competitions, to all you non competitive people)
during my first year, i'd be the cheerleader (along with other ppl, of course) of the team on the sidelines. i wanted to succeed.

110% mode on.
2nd year, i was a substitute for some events.
3rd year, i had my own events.
4th year, i was on the "Starters" list to swim the starting events and i had my own events to swim.

Succeeding is great.
I think that if you're aiming for something, you can't do it half-assed.

"oh damn, he's better than me, i'll TRY to beat him"

Nah idiot. No. it doesn't work like that.
i was talking to some friends online one day and with his help, we made the quote "Trying is having the intention to fail."

The meaning behind it is that if you're only TRYING, then you have failing as one of the end results. I do not want failing as an end result. Failing is not even an option when i find something that i truly like to do.

That's why you need to dish out the impossible, go above 100% and break the limits.
I will not fail. There is no room for failure. Failure is NOT an option.

2nd thing in my life that the 110% light turn on for was driving. oooohhhh yeah.
driving was a sport, a way of life, and about how quickly you can think.

from the first time my mom let me drive to right now where passing every car on the road is a boost of adrenaline, driving has always been apart of my life (since i was 16)

to me, driving isn't about getting from point A to point B. it's not as simple as that. driving is an art. an art that you express with raw emotion. if i'm sad, my driving will be sluggish and slow. if i'm happy, my driving will be smooth and enjoyable.
the car is an extension to your body and other people who take driving as serious as i do will notice every little detail on the way your car moves and how you're driving.

there was this one fellow that i knew since middle school who started driving before me (you know who you are!) and was pretty good at it.
to this day, i don't know who has better technique and style, but i hope we will soon find out. i've been practicing, get ready!

The feeling of dishing out 110% at something is truly the best ever. I just hoped that i felt this way about academics, but that's not happening now :x

But at the start of this semester, i felt the need to pull out the 110% card again to achieve something better. something more. something where i can brag about and say "yeeeeahhhhhhh. that's right. AND WHAT!?"
if you haven't seen my recent Facebook pictures, this refers to the ancient sport of Archery.
- notes to my hidden archery goal hidden - (not ready to be revealed to the public)
Archery....

[INSERT SECTION ABOUT ARCHERY HERE]

can't really reflect on this sport yet because i just started it.
BUT.
let me tell you something, the 110% card has already been played and i'm going to get pretty damn amazing at it, just you wait.

I know, what a pretty lame cliff hanger, but it's going to have to wait. and it will be good. trust me :D


If you find something that you really like, you have to push yourself until you drop. push yourself to be the best, push yourself to your goal, and push yourself to become legend (wait for it....) ary. <--- Reference to "How I Met Your Mother"

Never settle for second best.

HakoneDayDreamer, Ready, Aim, Destroy.