Brazilian Jiu Jitsu at Ding Martial Art Gymnasium

I have been training Brazilian Jiu Jitsu(BJJ) for a month now. And it's really an enjoyable martial art where I get a full body workout every training session. BJJ isn't easy as what it seems to be. Before I started to train BJJ, I thought it was easy stuffs to pull submissions and all through watching BJJ videos. However, now I know I'm wrong. There are lot of details to take note off in every step or move we make. 1 SMALL mistake and you're gone! Either being dominated or submitted by your opponent.

Interesting enough, BJJ is known as the Chess Of Martial Art. Each technique pulled doesn't end there, it always has something to counter against, provided you have the foundation and know your stuffs.

If you are interested to learn more about BJJ, drop by to Ding Martial Art Gymnasium, Kelana Jaya. They are charging pretty fair price too.

Registration Fee: RM50
Annual Membership Fee: RM30
Adult (2x per week) 3 months: RM400
Adult (1x per week) 3 months: RM240
Adult (2x per week) 1 month: RM160
Student (2x per week) 3 months: RM350
Student (1x per week) 3 months: RM200
Student (2x per week) 1 month: RM140
Coupon (prepaid system) 8 lessons: RM180
Single Lesson Drop-In: RM30

One of our regular training session. Quico, our instructor demonstrating a new move.

Family Photo, missing a few though.

Private Institutions That Offers Undergraduate Psychology Course - International Medical University

In my two previous post on Private Institutions That Offers Undergraduate Psychology Course and Private Institutions That Offers Undergraduate Psychology Course via ADP, I managed to list down quite a number of Institutions.

Recently International Medical University (IMU) introduced to the public about their new degree programmes which includes Psychology. Sounds interesting to me, and I was more than happy to know IMU will be offering Psychology by July 2008.

I was impressed with their programme structure arrangement, teaching-learning-approaches and features after checking IMU Psychology programme syllabus via their website.

But after clicking on IMU Psychology programme's fee structure, I got to think twice about it. It cost RM12,000 per semester and a total of RM76,000 for a 3 years IMU Bachelor of Science (Hons) Psychology programme.

Related post : Private Institutions That Offers Undergraduate Psychology Course

Course Preview - 5th Semester ( Changes made )

I started my new semester last week, where I got involved in an accident on the first day of my new semester itself. We only had lecture on the first week, whereas tutorial and practical starts from second week onwards. There are 5 subjects this semester;

Interpersonal Communication Skills
I was quite surprised to see the lecturer and tutor who is teaching us this subject. She taught us before in our very first semester of our course, and that was like 1 year and 14 weeks ago(roughly) ? She was teaching us Introduction to Information Technology practical classes back then. Judging from her first tutorial class, it's going to be interesting to have her teaching. Discussion without a one sided answer and learning from each other style.

Another lecturer walked into our lecture hall today. She introduced herself as Miss Kik, a lecturer who usually teaches Advertising courses. She told us that there is changes in the course programme, no idea what exactly the changes were, but she just follow orders from the college to lecture us. 1st lecture with her, and my name was already been called by her to answer question. A question on Johari Window and I gave the wrong asnwer. Anyway, she has a very interesting way of conducting her lectures and without using a mic to get her student's attention.

2 hours later, in our tutorial class of the same subject, a pretty tutor walked in to our tutorial venue. She introduced herself as Miss Cheng, a TAR College graduate in Advanced Diploma in Media Studies, attended LJMU's Summer Semester Programme for her Degree and got her MA in International Journalism from Liverpool John Moores University last year.

Group Dynamics
Teaches us how to conduct group counselling. We'll have to work in pair with a classmate, and get at least 5 people who are willing to help us to help them. Taught by our head of school, Dr Chai. Previous year, our seniors seeked our help to help them to conduct their group counselling experiment. But my group's session ended up as a yam cha session with our seniors.

Counselling Methods & Techniques II
Continuation from Counselling Methods & Techniques I from semester 3. I enjoyed the practical classes in CM&T I, and I'll continue enjoying this one I guess? Lectures and Practical conducted by Miss Eva Li, while tutorial by Aggy Hooi, another lecturer/tutor whom I enjoy her class a lot. She was my class's tutor for Introduction to Psychology in our first semester. She's someone who challenges her students to think out of the box and not to rely too much on textbook.

Ethical and Legal Aspects of Counselling
I won't comment much on this subject. All I can say is I'm praying hard there is improvement in this subject's lecturer teaching style. Senior citizen Mr Kuan Ah Kan is the name of this subject's lecturer.

Industrial and Organizational Psychology
Taught by Miss Aggy Hooi. Need more I say about her?
I'm glad that she is teaching us. According to our senior, their batch got a part-time lecturer who isn't very good in teaching and made the subject very boring.


Sometimes, a dry subject can be fun if being taught by the correct person.

Although there are 5 subjects this semester, but I'll be sitting for 7 papers in total for finals.
I haven't pass two subjects from 4th semester ( notice that I did not say I fail, I said I haven't pass! ), Basic Management Principles and Family Counselling. Rumours are saying that 1/3 of the course ( around 40 students? ) did not pass Family Counselling and majority of them are pointing fingers at the lecturer. But for me, I'll take full responsibility for my own actions.

I've been hired by the college to coach at Co-curricular Gym-Workout Programme again this semester. I wasn't hired last semester because the Sports Coordinator of Gym-Workout Programme was on maternity leave and a guy took over and hired an all girls team of student assistant.

Course Preview - 5th Semester

I started my new semester last week, where I got involved in an accident on the first day of my new semester itself. We only had lecture on the first week, whereas tutorial and practical starts from second week onwards. There are 5 subjects this semester;

Interpersonal Communication Skills
I was quite surprised to see the lecturer and tutor who is teaching us this subject. She taught us before in our very first semester of our course, and that was like 1 year and 14 weeks ago(roughly) ? She was teaching us Introduction to Information Technology practical classes back then. Judging from her first tutorial class, it's going to be interesting to have her teaching. Discussion without a one sided answer and learning from each other style.

Group Dynamics
Teaches us how to conduct group counselling. We'll have to work in pair with a classmate, and get at least 5 people who are willing to help us to help them. Taught by our head of school, Dr Chai. Previous year, our seniors seeked our help to help them to conduct their group counselling experiment. But my group's session ended up as a yam cha session with our seniors.

Counselling Methods & Techniques II
Continuation from Counselling Methods & Techniques I from semester 3. I enjoyed the practical classes in CM&T I, and I'll continue enjoying this one I guess? Lectures and Practical conducted by Miss Eva Li, while tutorial by Aggy Hooi, another lecturer/tutor whom I enjoy her class a lot. She was my class's tutor for Introduction to Psychology in our first semester. She's someone who challenges her students to think out of the box and not to rely too much on textbook.

Ethical and Legal Aspects of Counselling
I won't comment much on this subject. All I can say is I'm praying hard there is improvement in this subject's lecturer teaching style. Senior citizen Mr Kuan Ah Kan is the name of this subject's lecturer.

Industrial and Organizational Psychology
Taught by Miss Aggy Hooi. Need more I say about her?
I'm glad that she is teaching us. According to our senior, their batch got a part-time lecturer who isn't very good in teaching and made the subject very boring.


Sometimes, a dry subject can be fun if being taught by the correct person.

Although there are 5 subjects this semester, but I'll be sitting for 7 papers in total for finals.
I haven't pass two subjects from 4th semester ( notice that I did not say I fail, I said I haven't pass! ), Basic Management Principles and Family Counselling. Rumours are saying that 1/3 of the course ( around 40 students? ) did not pass Family Counselling and majority of them are pointing fingers at the lecturer. But for me, I'll take full responsibility for my own actions.

I've been hired by the college to coach at Co-curricular Gym-Workout Programme again this semester. I wasn't hired last semester because the Sports Coordinator of Gym-Workout Programme was on maternity leave and a guy took over and hired an all girls team of student assistant.

Canon Battery Grip BG-E3 for Digital Rebel XT

Got my BG-E3 battery grip today, part of the wishlist of accessories for my Canon EOS 400D. For the price of RM450, inclusive of a piece of NB-2LH, the first word that came into my mind was; cheap.

Thanks to Liew Kah Fai once again for helping me to purchase them.

Now I'm saving for a Speedlite 580EX II. I don't mind if you would like to donate or sponsor me an external flash. Even a small loan, I would appreciate them.

Lessons Learned After An Accident

Today was the first day of my new college semester. New timetable showed that my Monday classes starts and end at the same time with a college mate. So fetched her to college, and then fetched her home as well.

After dropping her at her home, while I was on my way home, at one of the cross junction, my car was hit by a on coming car.

At the cross junction, I was suppose to stop to see if there is any on coming cars, which I did. But it was raining heavily and my mirror was blurred by vapour, I saw no cars coming from any direction and I was clear to go. However, my judgment was wrong, there was a Grey Naza Ria coming from my left direction, it hit directly on the left of my car, there goes my left side's front and back door. I think the reason I could not see the car coming was probably the Naza Ria's light wasn't turned on, plus with the dark sky and it's Grey in colour.

The Naza Ria's driver was kind to check how was my condition. But my main concern was my car when I came down [ How am I going to travel around without a car? Never mind, make full use of public transport then. ]. Naza Ria's driver decided to make things easy by making a police report and insurance claim. I agreed with that. I'm in the wrong in the eyes of law, because Naza Ria had the priority to move, while my side has the "Berhenti" line. But too bad, I can't see it coming due to the blurred window. The driver apparently told me that he's actually rushing to send his daughter to college.

Photo courtesy of Mr Oh

I'm not cursing or going to blame anyone, if anyone is to be blamed, it would be yours truly for being careless. If it's meant to be, it's meant to be. I'm very grateful that I have no serious injuries in a serious accident I would say. My car almost turned turtle, call natural reflex of a skillful driver [ Cheewahhh :P ] or just plain pure luck, I managed to pull my steering to control it, something that my driving instructor told me before when I was learning how to drive [ How fortunate for being able to finally unleashed the skill ;P ].


Lessons Learned from this incident;

• When it's raining, drive carefully. Finally I know why people around me always tell me that. Before this, I was overconfident. But now, I know I'm good, but it's other people that might suck. [LOL]
  

• Window blurred and can't see clearly? take a few seconds to open your window to check how's the situation like. rather than trying to save a few seconds, you'll end up few hours trying to solve the problem ( wait for tow truck, go police station etc )
  

• Managed to learn how to deal with insurance company thinggy when involved in an accident.

• Knowing where, what and how to do a police report in an accident.

Photo courtesy of Mr Oh

My New Toy : Canon EOS 400D

The photo above is the last photo taken with my Canon S3is before it was packed into it's original box, ready to find it's new owner. Posted at forum for the price of RM1.1K inclusive with all accessories worth close to RM500.

Paid RM2499 for a new Canon EOS 400D. Comes with Scandisk Ultra II CompactFlash 2GB, Raydawn 58mm UV Filter, EF Lens Work III: The Eyes of EOS, Canon DSLR Bag and a D-POD TR-38 Tripod.

Thanks to Liew Kah Fai for helping me to place an order through his college lecturer. It's slightly cheaper than market price.

Canon S3is is packed and ready to meet it's new owner soon.

Not to forget, with gratitude, thanks to my father for everything that you can see on both photos. He got me a Canon S3is, then now a Canon 400D when I want them.

Now I'm hoping to get a Canon Speedlite 580EX II and BG-E3 battery grip soon.

Gameness Platinum Weave Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Gi

On Monday night, I rolled without a Jiu Jitsu Gi, was rolling with a pair of Fairtex AB1 and T-shirt instead.

Ding Martial Art Gymnasium doesn't sell any Jiu Jitsu Gi, but they were offering Judogi instead.
I didn't want to rush into any decision on getting which Gi, decided to survey instead.

According to Grapplemonkey's Guide to Buying a Gi;

The Difference Between a Judo and Jiu Jitsu Gi
If you are considering using a Judogi for BJJ or vice versa, you may want to know what the differences are. The main difference is the cut. Judogi have a looser fit and are easier to grab at the lapel or sleeve. In BJJ, this makes it more advantageous for your opponent, making it easier for him/her to get and maintain their grips. It’s also more lapel to choke you out with. Judo has strict rules for the length of the sleeve and style of the gi. It is not uncommon for competitors wearing BJJ kimonos to be disqualified or not allowed to compete in Judo competitions.

As the statement above, I certainly don't like looser fit clothing, and this applies to my Martial Arts uniform as well. The last time I wore a looser fit TaeKwonDo Uniform, I felt clumsy. So I decided that I'll be definitely be getting a Jiu Jitsu Gi.

The first place I thought about of getting my Gi was from KDT Academy's store, where I get my Fairtex grappling shorts from. Not many variety available compared to the last time I checked their online store. So I emailed Vince ( sometimes the store's stock are not updated ) in regards to getting a BJJ Gi, and he recommended Fuji "Victory" Single Weave BJJ Gi size A2 for RM358. But what I wanted was a Gameness Gi. The remainder of Gameness Single Weave Gi was in size A3, selling for RM375.

Fortunately for me,under the "Specials" section of the store, the last piece of Gameness Platinum Weave Gi size A2 was available, best still, blue in colour, the exact weave and colour I wanted. Was quoted RM448, 20% off from usual RM560 price tag. Quite worth it I would say, according to Gameness Official Store, Platinum Weave Gi is sold at USD135, and that's excluding shipping. ( Initially I thought of buying directly from the States if KDTA did not have any stock available )


So I asked Vince to reserve the last piece for me and collected the piece of Platinum this morning. Gameness Gis doesn't come with belt, so it was another RM60 for Gameness's white belt. Total was RM508, but Vince gave me another RM8 off (thanks man!) to make it RM500 in total.


To be very honest, I really don't like wearing my new BJJ Gi after first time trying to put them on. The feeling is so different compared to my TaeKwonDo uniform. It's so heavy. I certainly need sometime and a few rolling sessions to get used to it. But then, there goes RM500, no matter what, don't like also must say LIKE ! xD

A New Beginning With Brazilian Jiu Jitsu

Started a new journey in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu under Portuguese Purple Belt, Francisco Cunha "Quico".

Francisco Cunha "Quico" flanked by his instructors

Before Quico started our class, he explained a few things to everyone, a total of 17 athletes was there for the first session, including one Blue Belt from KDT Academy;

1. We must be in shape( being fit ).
2. Everyone learns from each other, no matter what belt you are.
3. What BJJ is all about.
4. ...and finally his BJJ experiences.


So we started the class with the usual warming up, then followed up with conditioning. Worked on the core, arms n legs with our body weight. I can tell myself that I'm not in shape at all before I could finished the conditioning routine. Now I'm having DOMS all over my tights, arms and abs as I'm typing this. Whatever routine we did, Quico explained to us the anatomical reason to it and how it helps us in our BJJ game.

Learned the basics of Guard and Mount in our first rolling session.
Quico also explains that during our rolling sessions, we should not go TOO hard with our rolling partner, just in case we might break or dislocated a joint.

All I can say is, after 2 years of hiatus from martial arts training, I'm very, very happy to be training again. What's even better is that I'm training under a friendly and humble instructor.

Guard


Side Mount

Currently there's only two Brazilian Jiu Jitsu clubs in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
For those who are interested to learn the art of ground self-defense may check our the link below.

• KDT Academy - Bangsar
• Brutal Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Malaysia - Kelana Jaya