Day 10: Japan and USA. Two of the greatest poppers.

This video is A MUST WATCH!!!!

R.I.P Skeeter Rabbit and Wild Cherry.
They are both one of the most influential poppers for Japan and United States and the world..

As far as I know, Wild Cherry was a DJ and a dancer responsible for bringing the Electric Boogaloos (especially Skeeter Rabbit and Popping Pete) to Osaka, Japan in the mid 90's.

Wild Cherry constantly brought them to Japan. Allowing Osaka to be exposed to the original Boogaloo style, which was an extremely valuable opportunity considering the fact that there was no Youtube nor reliable internet  usage like today.

Because of this, Osaka became the mecca of Popping in Japan. Popping became extremely famous and gave birth to world renowned dancers such as Acky, Gucchon, Kei, Tetsu G and so on....

However, I love this showcase because they pop using various popping styles instead of JUST STRAIGHT UP BOOGALOO.
To me, understanding and being able to execute different styles of popping and being able to express and ultimately be able to fuse with the music in the get down is what makes you a true Popping Dancer.

I've look up to Skeeter Rabbit for a long time because he is to me the most perfected popper on the planet.

Its always fun and entertaining to watch Skeeter Rabbit.
His dynamic Boogaloo moves, technical botting and dimes, funky heavy groove, quick and sharp movements from a huge body. These features create perfect balance that presents various popping styles to the max within his get down.

Although my favorite popper in Electric Boogaloo is my teacher, Jazzy J, Skeeter Rabbit has always been my top choice.

I don't know how many times I've though in my mind "what would popping world be like if he was still alive?"

I ask this question because as you can tell from the clip, he is very social, friendly, but a hard critique and serious about popping.

His students like Kid Boogie and Bionic Man told me how big of a positive influence Skeeter Rabbit has brought to their lives. And I constantly hear rumors of how he was serious about the dance and supporting the dance community.

Too many people now-a-days only think about themselves and their success. 


In my humble opinion, we need people like Wild Cherry and Skeeter Rabbit who contribute to the unity of the community by introducing Street Dance style, not for fame and success, but true love towards the dance.

"Let's stay together, I don't bang no more. I'm banging for my people....people all from the Streets. I don't care what color you are"-- Skeeter Rabbit--

Peace and God Bless.

Day 9: About Inhumanoids.

Tuesday is the busiest day of the week.

So I get up at 4:30 or 5 am in the morning to start my day. 

5 am, I got up, had my whey+oatmeal shake and left the house by 6 am. 

Worked out in the gym and than took the train to the city at 8:30 am. 

The place I work at in the city is a nonprofit organization  called "Career Transition For Dancers". Today they had a luncheon at a restaurant called Sardies on 45th street, right in the corner of Times Square. 

The place had many Broadway celebrities portrait. They depicted the character of each of them and was fun to look at.

We put the banners, flyers, and documents for the attendees and was ready to go. It was a really fancy restaurant and I enjoyed the food a lot :P lol

Free lunch!!! LOL

After work, I took off to do a rehearsal with the Inhumanoids.

Now some of you might not know about them. So let me introduced them to you. (or Click Here to jump to their Facebook page)

As far as I know, they are one of the newer crews in NYC compared to others like Elite Force and etc.. But they've been in the scene for a while.

They are one of the few popping crews in NYC. Now they manage Popshop at PMT Studio on Saturdays which is one of the most famous session spot for poppers in NYC.

I saw them first at Step Ya Game Up 2009.

Step Ya Game Up is an annual event organized by Budda Stretch of the Elite Force Crew. Its a 1vs1 competition that has various dance styles other than B-Boying, which is rare in NYC.

When I first saw them, they were all wearing different colored shirt with the DC comics Green Lantern symbol on. I didn't know what Green Lantern was at the time so I thought they were some kind of Popping Power Rangers or something lol.

They were forming a circle and getting down with higher level poppers. Thus, instinctively I thought they were a higher level poppers.

They all do different styles and feel of popping. However, myself being ignorant at the time (2009) thought "I can probably beat them with my boogaloo because they aren't good with boogaloo", but now I can say that they get down hard keeping their unique individuality with specific styles of popping Apologies for my ignorance, much respect.

I began to hang out with them after I battled one of the members, Brian (Puple shirt) at a no longer existent competition, Kings Of New York.

I did a three way battle with Brian and Swag (I believe from Montreal? I don't know, its vague but I know the guys name was Swag because I never forget the name when I lose). We both lost against Swag, but that gave me and Brian a topic to talk about. From that point on, I began to talk with them more often.

After that, we met at various parties and competitions. After they began to organize Popshop, me and Chill (blue shirt kneeling down) began to talk and hang out more.

This eventually lead Dr. Krawl (blue shirt in the back) to invite me to be apart of his showcase at Guardians Of Dance.

 They are one of the few poppers that represents NYC.

Although they rarely go out to battle out of state, they contribute to the community by teaching a class every Friday (Link to class information), organizing Popshop, and throwing events such as Urban Renewal.

I hope them much success in the future as a crew, and am excited to do a showcase with them on July 1st!!!

"In brightest day, in blackest night, No evil shall escape my sight. Let all who worship evil's might, Beware my power, Green Lantern's light!"

Peace and God Bless.

Free lunch at work!!!

Sweeeeet lol

Day 8: Experienced person is a great working out partner!

So back to day 1 of the week.
Today was my chest workout day.
I hate this day because my chest is so weak and flat that I can't lift most of the weights......

What was worse was that I over slept in the morning.

So I had to go to the gym after I got off work.
What a great start of the day.

When I got to the gym it was around 6 PM, of course there was a lot of people at the gym.

I got very discouraged because I knew that I'm not going to be able to use the machines that I want to use in a timely manner.


However, surprisingly, today turned out to be a great workout day for me.


The reason was that there were a lot of people who is experienced in working out.

There was this one guy who literally looked like THIS↓↓↓ (0_0) lol

Usually you would get VERY discouraged working next to a guy like this right?

I mean c'mon.
They've been working hard and gained what you really want and are trying so hard to get.
They are better than others. Every rep that they do is amazing that all eyes goes to them.
And next to that person, here I am, with a body that's 10 times smaller, thinner, and weaker, working out struggling with small weights.

I think a lot of people would be like

"I'm just making myself looks stupid"
"I can never be like that"
"I'm trying so hard but why aren't I becoming bigger like him...."

and eventually gets discouraged and give up.

But somehow I was able to look at them differently.
I thought that they were the best living proof that IF YOU PUT YOUR MIND AND WORK INTO IT, YOU CAN BECOME HOW YOU WANT TO LOOK.


So I intentionally shared the machine and/or worked out next to the toughest person I can find.
By doing this, I put myself in a situation to fight against my limit and workout much more than I usually do.
This resulted in a better training because I kept on pushing myself to my limit.

It was tough, and I'm sure I looked stupid struggling with a small weights right next to the giants.
But it was all worth it.
Because I was trying my best to follow a the best example.

"Experienced person is the most reliable resource you can have"

Peace and God Bless.

Day 7: Happy Fathers Day/ Preparing for week 2

First of all, Happy Fathers day to all the fathers in the world!!! (Hope all of you are taking GOOD CARE OF YOUR FAMILY.....)

I'm very fortunate to have a father that provided me the opportunities to live abroad and have a college degree. 

He supported me in many ways. Even though he hated my dance at first, he gradually began to support it as I began to leave some results. Now he is proud and won't make fun of my dancing like he used to.

Having such an understanding father is a blessing.

I hope to become a father as supportive and understanding as he is to my future children.

OK BACK TO TRAINING TOPIC!!! lol

So today was relaxing day.

Although I had work, it was a relaxing to over sleep than usual.

I was able to shop and cook and now prepared for the second week!!! 

Here is how my lunch box looks like. 

I actually like this cheap lunch box I bought at Wall Mart. It allows has two small boxs that is a perfect size to fit the right amount of brown rice :) 

I'd like to end today's blog by stating a Japanese proverb my dad always told me to practice is life.

"Birds leave a place clean when departing"

It means that one should always try their best to be prepared before doing anything.

This way, there won't be any confusion and/or problem. Making your new step easier and successful.

Peace and God Bless.

Day 5,6: Slipping....lets get back up.

Sigh.....

So I got too tired and fell a sleep before updating this blog yesterday.

Although my training continues, I'm surprised that I can't even keep 5 days of constant posting.....

I'm busy doing a lot of stuff everyday. But that is an excuse.

However, beating myself with negative energy won't help improving myself.

So I say to myself

"Failure is a sign of trying"-anonymous

I saw this on FB wall the other day and I though it is a good perspective to see failure.

I've always told myself that "Failure is the key to success".

But I've always felt that this line is geared towards people with a failure that occurred after their intense effort. 

In contrast, the first line is more for people like me, who has just started to try something new.

Tomorrow is the beginning of a new week.

refresh my mind and soul.......and let's get back up!

Peace and God Bless.

Day 4: Completed the weight training section!

Oh man I'm tired lol

Today I had 9 hour shift at my job and I'm exhausted.......

BUT

I've completed the weight training section of the Brat Pitt workout plan for the first week!!! :D


For tomorrow and  Saturday, it will be cardio exercises. I'm pretty confident about this part of the workout because I'm used to walking and moving a lot. Also, dancing is a pretty intense cardio exercise. So compare to the weight lifting, it should be easier.

Well, its getting late, I'm tired, and I must wake up at 4 am to do the workout in the morning before I go to work in the city so I'm ending my day with chocolate Casein protein :P hmmmm.....

I'm so glad for whoever made these protein in chocolate flavor because you don't know how much I LOVE chocolate lol


oh, also I've also uploaded a new movie that shows the speed of the MacBook Pro's Boot time. So if you are interested, please enjoy :)

"Big goal needs small steps"

Peace and God bless.