Are your legs OK ?

Today, my topic is on "legs". 
Although legs are not the vital parts of the human body, I think it's one of the important part. Without them, you are immobile, you're stuck, and you cannot do lots & lots of activities. Weak legs are better than none, but still you would not be able to do many activities. Trust me !

Men, my age, tends to have weak legs,.............what're you thinking ???? 
Normally, male citizens in our country who has had spent 2-3 years in the army (full-time) & 5-13 years (part-time), tend to have weak legs when they get old due to their repeated military routines of running, jumping up & down undulating terrains with heavy gears & loads. I know many male friends with this problem of weak legs.  

Unless you are a spider or centipede, with many spares, I suggest you better take very good care of your pairs today. I mean pairs,.....before it's too late !

I used to run once / twice a week for 3 to 5km each time. Now I stopped.
About 6 months ago, I twisted my left foot while playing badminton. Today, it has not healed by itself,......despite my nightly self-medication & a visit to a chinese physician. OK, I may need to seek medical help soon. When you are old, you're like an old engine. Once it's malfunction, it's tough to get it back into shape, unless you spend money to fully over-haul it, or replace its parts. For legs, can ?  I think not.  

Despite my foot injury, I still play light badminton weekly with my wife, sister (above), & her group of friends, just to have some form of exercises. I can't just watch them play, without getting involved,.....what the @#*o?..........I don't like to watch others play unless you're a top seeded, world-class player.

Without good pair of legs, you can never be a kung-fu master or actor like Jackie Chan, kicking butts here & there. How could you ? 

I have never heard of any kung-fu master with weak legs,...have you ?

Except for one martial-art expert who walked & fighted with a crutch, who belonged to the famous 8 immortals in the ancient chinese story. hehehehehe,........

If you have weak legs, you would never go for mountain trekking like I did before my foot injury. This picture shows us beginning our trekking journey in Mt. Kinnabula - Sabah, Malaysia in 2007. We went to trek Mt. Rinjani, Indonesia in 2010. This year, I'm not sure if I can plan anything yet,...........

Even if you choose not to trek, & just go for a sight-seeing tour, you need lots of leg muscles for walking. In the past, I heard many working people said they would go for sight-seeing tours when they retire, and has lots of money. And then, they realize that they have weak legs when they get old. How to go for tours ?  

Now, I think the trend has changed. The motto is "Go first, talk later", even if it is on borrowed money. I think this thinking is right, but one should save enough for the trip, & not be in debts after the trip. I admire & envy those who gave up their jobs and tour the world for years on their own. 

You can never play football with weak legs. Let alone, play in a league or a club. 

So, this becomes one career option less for those with weak legs,......... u can forget about it !

I drew this picture of my ang moh ex-boss (french) who was expecting his first child with his singaporean wife. It was 2010, and year of the world cup. So, I made this drawing into a greeting card for them. They just had a good laugh.

   

     

Weak legs also prevent you from enjoying the activity of cycling,........which is one of the cheapest activity cum exercise. If you go to any park today, you would see many youngsters cycling and peddling away on a bicycle or tricycle. Why you don't see any older people doing it ?  They wanted but can't because of their weak knees & legs. More often than not, you see them on wheelchairs pushed around by the maid, or just sit at one corner looking out under the shade.
This picture was drawn in 1999, when I was trying to impress my wife with my caricature drawing. Just look - how young I was !  


Really, really, please trust me.
Weak legs prevent you from doing many interesting activities. 
Take good care of your legs. Treat them well, give them rest and off-days. Don't ever over use them. If not, you would regret later in life.

Weak legs mean you would just sit there whole day & watch others having fun.
Just like in this picture of me drawn by a fellow artist when we did free-for-all caricature session.













   

The lull years after,...

The next few years were spent working full-time for 2 manufacturing companies. 
All time, effort & energy were spent completing tasks & projects for the employers, & no time left in improving my drawing skills. Hence, no drawings / caricatures were created in the next 6-7 years. 
What a #?@*,...........lost time is non-returnable !

Now coming to reflect on this aspect, it's a total lost time. 

Lesson to learn from this episode : if you want to do something you like, or to excel in something, you need to spend time, effort & energy to do it bit by bit, day by day. Lost time will never come back.    
Malcom Gladwell, author of the book : Outliers, The story of success,.......said that for one to excel in anything, one must be willing to spend at least 10,000 hours in it.
"Ten thousands hours is the magic number of greatness.
Practice isn't the thing you do once you're good. It's the thing that you do that makes you good."

That's a huge investment,......how many can afford to do that these days ?    
Only a few persistent & discipline ones had, & suceeded. I recommend anyone to read this books. Many examples and interesting stories in it. 
Do contact me if you want to buy a good condition, used copy (free protective transparent cover) from me at a very reasonable price. 

Today, as I read about Japan's crisis, I felt sad and sorrow for the japanese people, even if I do not have a good impression of the japanese.

Life is very fragile, and unpredictable,.........I now need to plan to do those things / tasks that I have always wanted to do, for myself & my family before my time is up on this planet earth.     

 

My beginning,.....

    

I started to draw caricature as early as 1985, and this is my earliest work that I could find in my records. At that time Ronald Reagan was the president of the US, and a tough nut to crack.

I also remember during that time, Sylvester Stallone was featured in a film called Rambo - First Blood, which became very popular later on. So, I put Reagon's head on a Sly's body in this piece on a jotter paper which was originally brown in color, hence                it's background.