Since I’m at 4% body fat and at 145lbs,
it’s gonna be unhealthy for me to drop and fight at 135. Trying to gain some weight so I’m not too small. Started lifting and have a goal of eating about 3,000 calories a day. For my weight, age and height, I should normally be eating about… 2,100 calories to maintain my body weight. Obviously, 3,000 a lot more!  3,000 calories is equivalent to eating about… 15 hamburgers a day!  It’s a lot harder than it looks but if you know me, it certainly is a fun goal :D

(Grilled chicken, peas, grilled onions, brown rice)

My fight is in a couple of months. I’m on the card for June 29th at Remington Park, but since I haven’t been paired up with someone yet, I haven’t really announced it. But we are taking training up a notch and sparring hard two nights a week.

Recap of sparring for the night- Bad news: hurt my elbow blocking a kick.

Good news: first time I’ve ever dropped my striking coach. Stepped away from a right hook- round house kick to the solar plexus- dropped like a sack of potatoes. …I would say it was a good night ;)

I took my mom to Eichen’s last night- delicious. People from all over the state travel to the tiny town of Okarche, Oklahoma for their world renown fried chicken and okra. To be honest, I don’t remember when the last time my mom and I actually hung out was. It’s probably been since I was a little kid (literally).

It was a really cool experience. All she ever talks about is health and other “mom advice stuff,” so very rarely do we ever really have a conversation. We just sat there and talked. A hour on the way up, an hour there, and the hour back. I got online and googled “top questions to ask your mom,” and preceded to ask her some very deep questions throughout the night.  I was looking at my mom as she was talking- her eyes, hair, make up- and remembered thinking, “Wow… I don’t think I’ve ever really looked at my mom before!” What a great time we had. Here are some of the questions I asked:

1. What is the one thing you would have done differently as a mom?
   “I would have spent more time teaching you more stuff about life.” Escaping from the oppression of a communist country,  she started a new life in the United States in her mid twenties. Cooking food, gardening, washing clothes… everything was so much different here than in Vietnam. She was figuring out how to learn everything over again and was so busy working, she never spent time teaching us a lot of those life skills. She would have made sure we were in the kitchen with her cutting tomatoes, making pho, planting seeds in the garden, etc. Before she knew it, we were grown up and didn’t know how to do a lot of these things.
2. You could have been with so many other men. Why did you choose to be with my dad?
   “A lot of girls were in love with your dad!” she laughed. Coming from a war torn country, many young men were drafted to fight the viet cong. She remembers having many  neighbors devastated from hearing the news that their husbands and boyfriends were killed in the war. She didn’t want that. Since my dad was the only son in his family, and was in college (only a very small percentage of people got accepted to a university) he had a very small chance of being drafted. Also, her family was poor and she wanted someone who could take care of her. Outside of being handsome- tall, had broads shoulders, with a six pack- he was studying to be a doctor. You add in the Hoang swagger and, I mean, c’mon, what woman could resist? ;)
3. In what ways do you think I’m like you?
   “You care about people like I do.” She told me that my heart is soft. If someone comes to me in need, my heart goes out to them and I’m always there to help. My mom is always welcoming and looking for ways to help people. I remember one time,  I was seriously dating a girl and she and her family were stopping in Oklahoma to pick me up on their way to visit family in Iowa. She knew road trips were hard on her mom because of her back, so my mom made them rest at the house. As she welcomed them into her home, she prepared this extravagant platter of lo mien stir fry, vietnamese egg rolls (they take FORVER to make), and even had little styrofoam to-go boxes for them to take on the road! She’s always so thoughtful. She said I was a lot like her in that.
4. Which of the kids do you like the best?
    I was hoping to get something a little more juicy out of her, but she said she liked us all the same…
   
5. Is there anything you have always wanted to tell me, but you never have?
   She told me something about… (not joking) wiping my butt better when I was a kid??? We were having this conversation in Vietnamese so many there was something lost in translation there? Lol- my mom has always been very frank about bathroom information.
6. What’s the best thing I can do for you right now?
   “Take care of your health.” My dad had a stroke recently and it really scared her. She’s always been a health nut and my dad would always fight her on things about his diet- not eating too much fatty foods, eating brown rice instead of white rice, etc. But now he doesn’t fight her anymore because he knows how serious it is. So she doesn’t have to worry about my health, she wanted me to go to bed on time, get enough sleep, eat my vegetables etc etc etc. Y’anno… typical mom stuff :)

Since it’s rare that my mom and I ever open up and talk, this was one of those rare occasions that I’ll always remember for the rest of my life. So for Mother’s Day, if you get a chance to hang out with your mom, ask her some of these questions. You’ll be glad you did :)

- Bucket list blog

Sorry I’ve been away for a bit. With my dad having his stroke, getting my marketing business off the ground, and my brother’s Mac crashing and his needing my computer to meet some app development deadlines, I haven’t been able to post anything! My bad! I’ll be back in a couple of days!

Updates:
-my dad is doing great! His speech is a little slow and I can tell her has to think about his words but other than that, he’s fine. He’s changing his lifestyle. Not more bad food, alcohol, and smoking! Thanks for the prayers!
-officially launched my marketing business and have gotten my first batch of clients! Woot woot!
-was invited to speak at my second conference at Falls Creek for a men’s baptist conference. It went awesome! Out of 3,000 men, I was one of two Asians, haha. I got really great feed back and actually got paid to speak! I spoke on God’s purpose for your life and 4 steps on how to find it. (Will post more on this soon)
-My MMA bout is scheduled for June 29th at Remington Park in OKC, OK. I’m starting my fight camp today. It’s gonna be 2 solid months of hard work, getting pushed to my physical limits and getting beat up a lot. Not looking forward to it, but it will prepare me for the fight! (Will post more on this soon)
- Spent the weekend with family in Austin and just got back. It was my nephew’s first communion! (Yaaaaay*) He’s the product if Asians and Caucasians falling in love. Isn’t he cute? :)

Will be back soon!

Sorry it’s been a while since I’ve made a video on youtube. There’s just been a bunch going on! Since I know a lot of people who read  my blog are women, here is something I found that I thought you would love. For all you mothers out there, if you still have kids, cherish the time you have with them while they are young. Even if you aren’t a mom, you need to watch this. This is “The Gift of an Ordinary Day” by Katrina Kenison.

Time flies by so fast. How often do we just take a step back and appreciate the season we are in? Because we will never be in the place in our lives ever again. Realize that our kids are only going to be this age once or our parents are the youngest they are ever going to be. Whatever the season you are in, let’s all take a step back and cherish this moment. Life is but a vapor. Here one moment- gone the next.

- Bucket list blog

Sobering news.

My throat is choked up and my heart is heavy… It has never been a reality for me before that I may not ever have my dad in my life. How we take people we love for granted. He’s been the rock of our family for so many years. He’s done so much for our family and there’s so much I want to do with my life that I want him to see so he knows that the fruit of all his hard work and sacrifice wasn’t in vain. I want to be a success in business, I want him to meet his grandkids, I want him to meet my beautiful wife, I want to buy him a car as a statement to say, “Hey. Your kids made it. We’re standing on our own two feet and are successful. You did it.” …but I’m not guaranteed any of that, am I? This is all happening so fast.

My dad is a big reason why I started Community Inspire in the first place:

Last I heard is that it was a minor stroke. He’s stabilized (meaning he’s not going to get worse and it’s no longer life threatening), but the damage is done to his brain. Parts of his brain are dead because of the lack of oxygen. His speech is slurred and labored and  some of his motor skills and facial expressions are impaired. They are keeping him in the hospital for a couple more days. When he gets back home, he will have to go through ongoing therapy in hopes of recovering.  Man…how could someone so strong in my life be so… helpless? Our life and our health is such a fragile thing…

Thank you for all your prayers and please continue to pray for his recovery.

And go hug your dad today. You never know how many opportunities you will have left.

- Bucket list blog

I love videos like this one. Videos  like this help restore your faith in humanity :)

Do some good in the world this week. Help a person in need. Do something extra sweet for your loved one. Go the extra mile. Do simple ordinary things with great enthusiasm! Let’s have a great week!

- Bucket list blog

Happy Monday! For this week’s Monday Inspiration, this video is a must see! Sean Stevenson was born with osteogenesis imperfecta, stands only three feet tall, but couldn’t have a more giant spirit. If you are needing a little pick me up, you HAVE to watch this video! This is Sean Stevenson’s Dance Party:

When I first opened the video, I saw a small disabled man in a wheel chair. “What you are about to see is going to be intense. Well… you have been wanted.” I was thinking, “Oh man… what did I just click on???” I wasn’t sure what to expect. I was thinking maybe some intense story, a gruesome demonstration of a gruesome disability?

As he starts talking and he quickly wins us over with his smile and love of life. Sean’s spirit and enthusiasm is contagious. He starts to play music and dance. “Is this guy serious?” He keeps at it. “Wow, he is!” He’s having so much fun and has so much joy, you can’t help, but smile and start dancing too! C’mon… I bet you danced! I can’t be the only one!

Life was meant to be enjoyed. It’s supposed to be silly. Remember when we were little kids? How goofy we were and how much fun we would have being silly? I remember running around the kitchen, dancing to the Spice Girls. What happened to that? No, no the Spice Girls! What happened to US? When did we become adults and get so… serious?

Let’s take a tip from Sean’s book and throw some dance parties. Have fun, smile, and enjoy life. Save this video and whip it out when you’re having a bad day. I guarantee you wont be able to watch this video and not feel better!

Have a great week and remember, you were put here for a purpose!

- Bucket list blog

Personally, as a man, when I see another guy with cauliflower ear- instant respect. I know that guy is either a professional fighter, or a high level wrestler and could dominate my face if he wanted to. “Hello, sir. Let me get that door for you, sir.” Might as well just carry a sign around that says, “I’m a bad a**.” So, as a man, I wouldn’t say I want cauliflower ear since it hurts and your ear looks a mess, but I don’t think I’d complain if I had it.

Anyway, what do you girls think about it? My friend thinks it’s really gross, but I also notice that fighters always have really cute girl friends and wives. Whaddup widdat? Also, when you answer, tell me if you even like combat sports :)

- Bucket list blog

- Bucket list blog