Welcome to my Golden Torus Mod™ Project. This was actually completed four years ago, but I only had time recently to post-produce this video.
This ended up being a 22-hour project and spanned twelve days. Enjoy!
This project is dedicated to my sister, Alica Dusil, and mother, Eva Dusil, who has been my lifelong inspiration to find my own creativity. Love you both forever 💘.
Merry Christmas ❗
Our third major stop in Thailand was in Phetchaburi. This was a bit of an unusual pick, but I wanted my kids and me to experience a bit of the rural countryside outside of Bangkok. I was well worth the risk.
In case you missed my other travel posts, you can hyperlink to them here:
☼ Nepal ☼ Kathmandu
☼ Bhutan ☼ Thimphu & Paro
☼ Nepal ☼ Himalayas
☼ Morocco ☼ Marrakesh
☼ China ☼ Hong Kong
☼ France ☼ Provence
☼ Prague ☼ Jesse Cook
☼ Italy ☼ North East
☼ Italy ☼ Models
☼ Thailand ☼ Bangkok
All photos above can be ordered as prints. Pricing and details can be found here.
Our next stop was Amphawa and its beautiful floating market. Most tourists visit Damnoen Saduak floating market but Amphawa is much better, and fewer tourists, This town was a refreshing change from the air and noise pollution of Bangkok.
In case you missed my other travel posts, you can hyperlink to them here:
☼ Nepal ☼ Kathmandu
☼ Bhutan ☼ Thimphu & Paro
☼ Nepal ☼ Himalayas
☼ Morocco ☼ Marrakesh
☼ China ☼ Hong Kong
☼ France ☼ Provence
☼ Prague ☼ Jesse Cook
☼ Italy ☼ North East
☼ Italy ☼ Models
☼ Thailand ☼ Bangkok
All photos above can be ordered as prints. Pricing and details can be found here.
This summer I had a magical vacation with my children in Thailand. We visited four major cities and Airbnb’ed the whole trip. Our first seven days were in Bangkok. Then three nights in Amphawa, three in Phetchaburi, and our final leg were seven nights in Chiang Mai.
I managed to get air-conditioned accommodations at all our locations. This is definitely a requirement if you ever travel to Thailand in the summer. We journeyed throughout the country by bus, train, and a few Tuk Tuks for fun. Here are the first ten photos from Bangkok for your viewing pleasure.
In case you missed my other travel posts, you can hyperlink to them here:
☼ Nepal ☼ Kathmandu
☼ Bhutan ☼ Thimphu & Paro
☼ Nepal ☼ Himalayas
☼ Morocco ☼ Marrakesh
☼ China ☼ Hong Kong
☼ France ☼ Provence
☼ Prague ☼ Jesse Cook
☼ Italy ☼ North East
☼ Italy ☼ Models
☼ Thailand ☼ Bangkok
All photos above can be ordered as prints. Pricing and details can be found here.
Here is part two of our Italian road trip. This time featuring Barbora and Veronika Žiláková – the talented, congenial, and delightful ladies who accompanied us along our journey.
Enjoy!
In case you missed my other travel posts, you can hyperlink to them here:
☼ Nepal ☼ Kathmandu
☼ Bhutan ☼ Thimphu & Paro
☼ Nepal ☼ Himalayas
☼ Morocco ☼ Marrakesh
☼ China ☼ Hong Kong
☼ France ☼ Provence
☼ Prague ☼ Jesse Cook
☼ Italy ☼ North East
☼ Italy ☼ Models
☼ Thailand ☼ Bangkok
All photos above can be ordered as prints. Pricing and details can be found here.
This summer I accompanied my boys, Matias and Lucas, as well as Mati’s girlfriend, Barbora, and her sister Veronika on a ten-city roadshow across North-East Italy. Check out highlights of our journey through Venice, Padua, Ferrara, Bologna, Ravenna, Florence, Perugia, Assisi, and Spello. Enjoy!
In case you missed my other travel posts, you can hyperlink to them here:
☼ Nepal ☼ Kathmandu
☼ Bhutan ☼ Thimphu & Paro
☼ Nepal ☼ Himalayas
☼ Morocco ☼ Marrakesh
☼ China ☼ Hong Kong
☼ France ☼ Provence
☼ Prague ☼ Jesse Cook
☼ Italy ☼ North East
☼ Italy ☼ Models
☼ Thailand ☼ Bangkok
All photos above can be ordered as prints. Pricing and details can be found here.
• Today commemorates the 50th anniversary of our family’s emigration from former Czechoslovakia. It would also have been my dad’s 77th birthday. On this day in 1969, over a year had passed following the Soviet Union and members of the Warsaw Pact‘s illegal occupation of Czechoslovakia. Our departure would have been immediately after the invasion, but with my mother being eight months pregnant, my parents felt it would be safer to leave a year later.
• Our departure was shrouded in tremendous secrecy, with only the most trusted members of our family and friends knowing our plans. The local authorities could have found any minor excuse to prevent us from leaving the country. For this reason, I prefer to categorize our departure as an “escape”, even though we legally left the country with all the necessary paperwork.
• I want to thank my mother and father for their tremendous bravery and steadfast convictions in believing that we would have a better life in the West. Our departure may be the obvious choice in hindsight, but at the time, it could have been argued that there was no clear winner between the political doctrines of capitalism and communism. Two more decades were necessary to prove which was better. The collapse of the iron curtain and the end of the cold war at the end of the ’80s put a definitive stamp on that debate.
• When I was eight years old my father was driving me to our animal hospital where he worked as a veterinarian. During our drive, Taci decided to explain communism to me. I vividly remember him articulating the horrible regime from which we escaped, with a heavy heart. In these few minutes, he created a hypothetical analogy for my young mind to understand – “If Canada were to become a communist state, then our veterinary business and our house would be taken from us. In fact, every citizen in the country would not be allowed to own any business or property – the government would take ownership of everything. Even at eight years old this resonated with me. More importantly, I recall the sadness in his heart, while explaining this to me, because he had to leave behind many friends and family who continued under the repressive and totalitarian communist regime. As he took the final turn to the animal hospital he concluded by saying, “Unfortunately I will probably not live long enough to see the collapse of communism, but with any luck, maybe you will see it happen”. Both came to pass.
If you are interested in other posts of our emigration you can find their links here:
The 100-1000-10000 rule is fundamental to combat sports
and applies to the highest levels of professional fighting.
It’s important to clarify that these movements must be done correctly for it to successfully traverse the 100-1000-10000 evolution. Counting doesn’t begin until the technique is done correctly. Doing a maneuver incorrectly leads to bad habits that are hard to break.
If fighting requires surprise and spontaneity, why practice repetition? A fighter needs repetition in order for a new technique to enter the subconscious. Once that is achieved a fighter no longer needs to think of the technique because it’s apart of them. It’s as close to “instinctive behavior” as possibly achievable.
Instinctive maneuvers are the end-game because the moment a fighter “thinks” of performing an attack, defense, or anything in between – then telegraphing occurs and time is lost. An experienced fighter can exploit this delay. Reactionary measures in times of stress, emotion and chaos are worsened, if not completely lost. Practicing a move mitigates this weakness because the “thinking” component is removed from the fighting equation and the movement becomes instant.
Techniques are abandoned in the midst of chaos
and requires confidence and experience
to regain composure.
Repetition is a challenge for students, and especially taxing on millennials. In a one hour session, even 50 reps challenge the patience of students. Reaching 1000 requires grit, endurance, and resources that fall amongst the most dedicated. Striving for 10000 is reserved for the elite among us.
To finish off, it’s worth mentioning that the 100-1000-10000 rule can be easily applied to other disciplines – e.g. dancing, learning a musical instrument, software development to name a few examples, and can be a representation of time (100-1000-10000 hours) with the same effect.
If you would like to read more articles in this “Yin Yang of Fighting Science” series, check out these posts:
• 1 • Yin Yang of Technique vs. Power
• 2 • Yin Yang of Speed vs. Timing
• 3 • Yin Yang of Fighting Styles
• 4 • Yin Yang of Technique vs. Instinct
• 5 • Yin Yang of Empty vs. Full Cups
• 6 • Yin Yang of Slow vs. Fast
• 7 • Yin Yang of Perception vs. Reality
• 8 • Yin Yang of Fear vs. Confidence
• 9 • Yin Yang of Threes
• 10 • Yin Yang of Burden vs. Privilege
• 11 • Yin Yang of Anticipation vs. Surprise
• 12 • Yin Yang of Compliance vs. Resistance
• 13 • Yin Yang of Attacking vs. Defending
• 14 • Yin Yang of Fighting 360°
• 15 • Yin Yang of Teachers vs. Students
• 16 • Yin Yang of Physics vs. Physiology
• 17 • Yin Yang of Vulnerability vs. Opportunity
• 18 • Yin Yang of Martial Arts vs. Combat
• 19 • Yin Yang of Sport vs. Violence
• 20 • Yin Yang of Rhythm vs. Random
• 21 • Yin Yang of Stability
• 22 • Yin Yang of Strategy vs. Tactics
• 23 • Yin Yang of Instinct vs. Reason
• 24 • Yin Yang of Unstoppable vs. Immovable
• Fighting Science • Fighter’s Curve
• Fighting Science • Fighting Zones
To help navigate through my personal blog I have provided these hyperlinks to easily connect to my posts. This gives everyone an opportunity to find posts they may have missed. Enjoy!
• Swimming took a big commitment, both physically and mentally. But I have no regrets; Fourteen hours a week, ten month swimming season, cold water, lactic acid pain, endless push-ups, three day swim meets, pressure of finals, waiting hours for your next race, boring lengths, heart sinking 20x200m endurance practices, swallowing water, goggles filling with water, chlorine burning your eyes, swimmer’s ear, eye sockets hurting because the goggles are too tight, the thrill of winning, and the agony of losing – It was all worth it. It’s a sport only understood by those who experienced it. With commitment and sacrifice, came patience, discipline, endurance, and grit that is hard to explain to someone that has never done it before.
• Reflecting on those years of competition, I remember how hard we trained. To this day I can say I have never trained harder, and no sport since has matched the shape I was in during those seven years.
If you missed previous swimming posts, then click on these links:
AAAA Championship, Bruce Law, Burlington Civic Award, Burlington Ontario, Burlington Y Aquatic Club, BYAC, competitive swimming, David Darling, David Murray, dusil.com, eurostartups.tech, Eva Dusil, Gabriel Dusil, gabrieldusil.com, Gareth Jones, Grant Reffell, Linda Weston, Meg Midghall, Michelle Prendergast, Morris Vaillancourt, Roman Dusil., Sandra Moore, Steve Babiak, Swimming, Tracey Colson, Vlasta Dusil, Wayne Kot, YMCA
Gabriel Dusil • Time Is Relentless 