The next day I was on leave. Just feels heavenly not having to wake up early in the morning to get ready to work. I pried myself from the bed and went for MW pilates class. As there were just a handful of us, we use the ball instead of the usual mat. Fortunately, my limbs were not as suong compared to going to G’s class but they were not exactly supple either. Price one has to pay for being lazy I guess. Afterwards, I went to do my annual medical check-up as I was getting paranoid that I may be hosting some deadly disease inside my body systems since I usually do my check-ups either early of the year or towards mid year.
I had a horrible experience the last time I did my check-up. The DOCTOR, I repeat the DOCTOR took my blood samples and poked both of my arms till it became blue black!!! Gees, I mean, it would have been forgivable if it had been the nurse, but it was the doctor for heavens sake who performed the task!!! She blamed it on my running veins and I had to stick big patches of bandages to cover the blue black for a week before it looked normal again! Oh, not to mention wear long-sleeves too! Of cos, I get weird looks from my gym buddies who thought I was abused! I tried wearing long-sleeves but it was just too unbearably hot plus the idiot SGP informed the entire class that I was wearing long sleeves! Duhhh….funny not.
This time, the person who poked me was very professional. There were no blue blacks and she didn’t poke to the left or to the right to search for my vein. One poke and the blood gushed out to fill the tube. Simple, really. For this alone, the place has earned some brownie points and I decided to go back to them for my next check-up in the following year.
After everything is done, I went swimming. I just love to swim. It’s just so unfortunate that FF doesn’t have a pool. That’s why I’m considering switching my membership to the new True Fitness outlet which apparently comes equipped with an Olympic size pool. I’m in two minds really as somehow I don’t like the discoey concept in True Fitness. And the amount of pillars in their studios is just horrendous. Well, I’ll see the place once it is ready. For me, swimming is still the best exercise. All you need is a swimsuit, a pair of goggles, swimming cap and sunscreen. No need to bother with buying different pairs of trainers for different exercises or gym apparels etc etc etc. Moreover, a good swimsuit lasts for many years so that’s definitely cost-saving. And I sustained fewer injuries too. When I started gym-ing, I was alternating between the tit tah lou and the gym week after week. That is why I reckon it’s so important to do everything correctly to minimize unnecessary injuries.
At night I was debating whether to go for SGP BC or cikgu’s BP. I told cikgu that I may possibly end up going to the pasar malam instead too….hahahaha. But in the end, I went for cikgu’s BP lor since usually it’s such a rush for me. I was amazed that the traffic was so smooth! So, I had made the right choice. I just love the shoulder track Something Going On (Crack It), which I just did on the sat. We did Phantom (again!) which is really ‘loh maeng’ and definitely not one of my faves. I much prefer Summer Rain. At least, the song is more catchy!!!
Thursday, December 21, 2006
Wednesday, December 20, 2006
Toys, Toys, Toys
After gym, I went home to take a rest before accompanying my mum and some aunts to a Xmas gathering. I agreed to go partly cos I had nothing else better to do and reckon I should stopped being a mall rat after hitting the malls for 2 consecutive days liao. It was more of a charity Xmas thingy with some Xmas sing-alongs and poem reading. My table, filled with all the aunties was a boisterous lot and was hushed by the organizer a couple of times! I kinda felt bored as I hardly knew some of the aunties (who were frens of my mum’s frens) so I kept myself busy texting to whoever who was in my phone book.
The thing about hanging out with ur mum’s frens is like they are always filled with lots of Q & A and they still treat u like a small kid. Well, of cos I don’t look like a small kid already but u get the drift. They catch up with each other on the gossips and then proceeded to show off their jewelries, clothings or dunno what else lar. I nearly drifted off to sleep in boredom and looked forward to eating. Alas, there’s not much food choices (again I must reiterate it’s a charity thingy so expectation has to be somewhat lower than usual) and I hardly felt satiated. As soon as the lucky draw, gifts exchange and makan session was over, everyone scuttled off quickly. My mum decided to hit Mid Valley (again?) since it was the nearest mall even though I tried discouraging her with feeble attempts.
Oh well, I had intended to do some Xmas shopping anyway. I went straight to the toy store to get some stuff for a fren’s kids. Gosh, it made me feel like a kid all over again. I was enthralled by a Pooh bear which can walk and run like a toddler once u pressed a button and it speaks a
geertsonck a few phrases too. I absolutely adore Pooh bear and once owned a huge bear which was about half my height. I bought it on a whim when I was in Singapore and had to lug it all the way back to KL!!! When McD’s had the Pooh and frens promo, I religiously ate McD’s for donkey weeks just to buy the whole collection!!! Between dolls and soft toys, I have more of a soft spot for soft toys like bears compared to dolls. I don’t remember owning many dolls but I do have countless bears!!! Hahahahaa…..
Urm, what was I talking bout already? Oh yeah, the toy store. I am not really sure on what gifts to buy for the kids as my niece and nephew are overseas so I hardly shop for any kiddy stuff, discounting the mandatory baby stuff which I share with frens when a frens’ newborn arrives. Anyway, I spent the afternoon browsing through the toys and observing what the kids in the store like to pick up to get a feel. I was tempted to buy the walking Pooh but the salesgirl told me it was meant for toddlers so I decided to get a doll instead for the little girl.
I reckon the parents would have bought tons of Barney stuff for their
morrisonmcdf little girl as she’s a hardcore fan of the purple dinosaur. I had no idea who or what Barney was till I played with my fren’s daughter, who made me sang Barney’s songs as well with her!!! Which I didn’t know of cos but some songs seemed suspiciously similar to some of the nursery rhymes and sing-alongs which I used to sing when I was younger. Anyway, I just played along to keep her happy. Boy, it’s tiring looking after a kid!
In the first half of the day, I chose to baby-sit her little brother who was a toddler at that time since he looked like a really easy baby to take care. Yeah, well, I was half right. Turned out carrying him everywhere on my arms is like carrying a 5kg of rice on your shoulders the whole day! My arms went numb! That’s when I switched to looking after the girl who would at least walked by herself cos I told her I can only carry her for like 5 min the most!!! She was also easier to please cos I just give her some sweets or chocs then she’ll stick to me! Hahahaha….tho’ I have to answer thousands and one questions and sing songs and play and watched TV with her before she lets me go to bed!!! Ahhhh, sooooo very very very tiring! I got her younger brother a remote control car, which I knew even adults guys like to play (for e.g. my brother). Actually I was hesitating between the car and a train set cos I knew my nephew loves cars and trains especially Thomas the Engine and Bob the Builder. (Had no idea what they were till my sis showed me) but I reckon carrying a train set up and down a bus is urm, too much of a hassle!
leenalopez3
After buying the toys, I was dead tired and headed back home!
The thing about hanging out with ur mum’s frens is like they are always filled with lots of Q & A and they still treat u like a small kid. Well, of cos I don’t look like a small kid already but u get the drift. They catch up with each other on the gossips and then proceeded to show off their jewelries, clothings or dunno what else lar. I nearly drifted off to sleep in boredom and looked forward to eating. Alas, there’s not much food choices (again I must reiterate it’s a charity thingy so expectation has to be somewhat lower than usual) and I hardly felt satiated. As soon as the lucky draw, gifts exchange and makan session was over, everyone scuttled off quickly. My mum decided to hit Mid Valley (again?) since it was the nearest mall even though I tried discouraging her with feeble attempts.
Oh well, I had intended to do some Xmas shopping anyway. I went straight to the toy store to get some stuff for a fren’s kids. Gosh, it made me feel like a kid all over again. I was enthralled by a Pooh bear which can walk and run like a toddler once u pressed a button and it speaks a
geertsonck a few phrases too. I absolutely adore Pooh bear and once owned a huge bear which was about half my height. I bought it on a whim when I was in Singapore and had to lug it all the way back to KL!!! When McD’s had the Pooh and frens promo, I religiously ate McD’s for donkey weeks just to buy the whole collection!!! Between dolls and soft toys, I have more of a soft spot for soft toys like bears compared to dolls. I don’t remember owning many dolls but I do have countless bears!!! Hahahahaa…..
Urm, what was I talking bout already? Oh yeah, the toy store. I am not really sure on what gifts to buy for the kids as my niece and nephew are overseas so I hardly shop for any kiddy stuff, discounting the mandatory baby stuff which I share with frens when a frens’ newborn arrives. Anyway, I spent the afternoon browsing through the toys and observing what the kids in the store like to pick up to get a feel. I was tempted to buy the walking Pooh but the salesgirl told me it was meant for toddlers so I decided to get a doll instead for the little girl.
I reckon the parents would have bought tons of Barney stuff for their
morrisonmcdf little girl as she’s a hardcore fan of the purple dinosaur. I had no idea who or what Barney was till I played with my fren’s daughter, who made me sang Barney’s songs as well with her!!! Which I didn’t know of cos but some songs seemed suspiciously similar to some of the nursery rhymes and sing-alongs which I used to sing when I was younger. Anyway, I just played along to keep her happy. Boy, it’s tiring looking after a kid!
In the first half of the day, I chose to baby-sit her little brother who was a toddler at that time since he looked like a really easy baby to take care. Yeah, well, I was half right. Turned out carrying him everywhere on my arms is like carrying a 5kg of rice on your shoulders the whole day! My arms went numb! That’s when I switched to looking after the girl who would at least walked by herself cos I told her I can only carry her for like 5 min the most!!! She was also easier to please cos I just give her some sweets or chocs then she’ll stick to me! Hahahaha….tho’ I have to answer thousands and one questions and sing songs and play and watched TV with her before she lets me go to bed!!! Ahhhh, sooooo very very very tiring! I got her younger brother a remote control car, which I knew even adults guys like to play (for e.g. my brother). Actually I was hesitating between the car and a train set cos I knew my nephew loves cars and trains especially Thomas the Engine and Bob the Builder. (Had no idea what they were till my sis showed me) but I reckon carrying a train set up and down a bus is urm, too much of a hassle!
leenalopez3
After buying the toys, I was dead tired and headed back home!
Tuesday, December 19, 2006
BP + InterSteps
On sat morning, I woke up early intending to go for Pilates but my dad wanted me to go check my brakes so by the time I’m done, I was already late! Thus, decided to go for DC’s BP instead since I haven’t gone for quite a long time ever since I had to work on Saturdays! Boo-hoo-hoo….I like DC’s tracks selections as he likes to play older releases and that day, the selections were good! He did Surrender, Voodoo Child, Push It, Gonna Make U Sweat, Lola’s Theme, Something Going On, Don’t Cha, the rest cannot remember liao.
After that, I stayed on for cikgu’s Inter Steps. Aiyoh, that fellow did diamond shape wor. I have only been doing 1 board all this while for Basic Steps suddenly ask me to do 4 boards some more sharing with 3 other people, how lar? I kept grumbling to myself and to LM, who made a surprise appearance!! Within 15 minutes into the class, there were already 3 intricate combos!! Wah sehhh, since everybody was standing so closely, I couldn’t even differentiate which ones are cikgu’s legs so me become so kelam-kabut and not only stepped onto other people’s feet but banged into them also! At one point, felt totally lost and me and LM just looked at each other and shook our heads in confusion!! After that, I gave up liao and went out of the class with LM, who was even more blur than me!! LOL….I think back so hilarious lar
After the class finished, cikgu came out and scolded us for leaving so fast. I retorted that the class has leanings more towards advanced steps than intersteps with the speed that they were going!! All I see were just many pairs of legs twirling and going up and down the step board, which is exactly what I told N when we were outside. And I was just at what, Basic? Duhhh…can’t blame me for going off. I didn’t relish standing in the class looking like a dungu! Anyway, cikgu promised that he’ll let me know in future if the class is gonna be simpler so that I can participate. Hmmphhh, dunno whether to trust him or not.
After that, I stayed on for cikgu’s Inter Steps. Aiyoh, that fellow did diamond shape wor. I have only been doing 1 board all this while for Basic Steps suddenly ask me to do 4 boards some more sharing with 3 other people, how lar? I kept grumbling to myself and to LM, who made a surprise appearance!! Within 15 minutes into the class, there were already 3 intricate combos!! Wah sehhh, since everybody was standing so closely, I couldn’t even differentiate which ones are cikgu’s legs so me become so kelam-kabut and not only stepped onto other people’s feet but banged into them also! At one point, felt totally lost and me and LM just looked at each other and shook our heads in confusion!! After that, I gave up liao and went out of the class with LM, who was even more blur than me!! LOL….I think back so hilarious lar
After the class finished, cikgu came out and scolded us for leaving so fast. I retorted that the class has leanings more towards advanced steps than intersteps with the speed that they were going!! All I see were just many pairs of legs twirling and going up and down the step board, which is exactly what I told N when we were outside. And I was just at what, Basic? Duhhh…can’t blame me for going off. I didn’t relish standing in the class looking like a dungu! Anyway, cikgu promised that he’ll let me know in future if the class is gonna be simpler so that I can participate. Hmmphhh, dunno whether to trust him or not.
Bargain Hunter's Paradise
After my swim, I went down to Queen’s Park, where I heard there were some factory outlets including Espirit and Guess. Initially, I was supposed to meet a friend up for lunch since she was working nearby but it didn’t fell through in the end. I was stuck on the highway for at least half an hour where traffic was at a crawl!! It was rather unnerving and I was heading to the utmost jam area of KL furthermore! Sigh! Bad timing! Anyway, I got lost since I was not familiar with that area. I could see Carrefour from afar but had no idea how to reach it and so I was turning in circles! Finally, I managed to call a friend to give me some directions before I completely lost my mind.
Queen’s Park housed some factory outlets like Espirit, F.J Benjamin (which distributes Guess, Nike Timing etc), Lovely Lace, F.O.S, Club 21 (distributes CK, Armani Exchange etc), Travelers’ something (selling luggages and winter wear) etc etc and is located just opposite Carrefour in Jln Peel. Most of the stuff are out of season and are sold at a fraction of their retail prices. It’s a good bargain-hunters place I reckon if you can find what you want. Ampang Point is another bargain-hunters paradise when it used to house Royel (which sold British India out of season stuff) and Padini group (Seed, PDI, Padini, Vincci). Also, there’s a huge Payless Book store located there which is a bookworm’s dream. After walking around and trying on seemingly endless clothes, I went to Sushi King as I was ravenous! It’s been ages since I had Jap food and as it’s a rather ‘healthy’ option, I decided to indulge myself.
I wanted to go for BS and BP but since Shadow ffk me, I was rather 15 16 of going. Also, my mum text me and told me that they were trying out a new restaurant and whether I would be joining for dinner. Being the glutton, I decided to skip gym for the night and went to makan instead! Luckily, I didn’t promise cikgu that I was going for his class that night otherwise kena scolding nanti. Hehehehe…
Queen’s Park housed some factory outlets like Espirit, F.J Benjamin (which distributes Guess, Nike Timing etc), Lovely Lace, F.O.S, Club 21 (distributes CK, Armani Exchange etc), Travelers’ something (selling luggages and winter wear) etc etc and is located just opposite Carrefour in Jln Peel. Most of the stuff are out of season and are sold at a fraction of their retail prices. It’s a good bargain-hunters place I reckon if you can find what you want. Ampang Point is another bargain-hunters paradise when it used to house Royel (which sold British India out of season stuff) and Padini group (Seed, PDI, Padini, Vincci). Also, there’s a huge Payless Book store located there which is a bookworm’s dream. After walking around and trying on seemingly endless clothes, I went to Sushi King as I was ravenous! It’s been ages since I had Jap food and as it’s a rather ‘healthy’ option, I decided to indulge myself.
I wanted to go for BS and BP but since Shadow ffk me, I was rather 15 16 of going. Also, my mum text me and told me that they were trying out a new restaurant and whether I would be joining for dinner. Being the glutton, I decided to skip gym for the night and went to makan instead! Luckily, I didn’t promise cikgu that I was going for his class that night otherwise kena scolding nanti. Hehehehe…
Swim, Swam, Swum
On Fri morning I had intended to go for Pilates but was so tired that I decided to continue sleeping instead. Out of guilt, went swimming after that. Also, was trying to shock my body system into losing some excess weight gained over my ‘stressful’ period recently. See, some people actually lose weight when they are under stress. Me, i gained weight instead, can't figure out why....plus i get a lot of acne spouting out. So, stress is really, really bad for me. Anyways, I missed a turning and went a merry-go-round before I reached the pool. Ahhhh, it’s great to swim in the morning!! The water is clean (think they just cleaned it) cos I can taste the chlorine. I have misplaced my goggles and I couldn’t find my spare ones that I had lent my brother so I just went without it. Bad mistake!! I nearly drowned! Cos I was happily swimming without opening my eyes in the water and I felt really tired so I decided to stop midway. Arrggghh, suddenly I couldn’t touch the floor and it made me panicked!!
See, I hadn’t realized that I had swum to the middle of the pool where it was deeper. I fumbled in the water for awhile, gasping for air and trying to think. Somewhere out there I could hear someone shouting, “Are you ok?” Immediately, on a brainwave, I struck out my arms and backstroke to the side of the pool!!! I took a breather and calmed myself down and shouted back to the swimming coach that I was ok. Phew!! This brings back memories of another almost drowning incident few years back in Redang.
See, me and some friends went holidaying in Redang. The package included snorkeling trips to the open sea. One of the days, the sea was very choppy due to the strong current. We were too engrossed looking at the beautiful coral reefs that we didn’t realize that we had drifted far away from the boat. At one point when we looked up, most of the people around us had gone aboard the boat already! So, we quickly swam towards the boat. Unfortunately, we were swimming against the current which was really tough unless one is a really strong swimmer.
Among the 4 of us, only 2 of us knew how to swim. I was one
of them but then, I was just a casual swimmer and not really a strong one. We had on the life jackets which made it harder to swim actually. So the 2 non-swimmers hitched onto the 2 swimmers and tried swimming back. It was so tiring and self-defeating that thoughts of drowning in the sea actually entered my mind! Finally, as a last attempt, we shouted for help and luckily the guides heard us. They threw the float to us and hauled us in. It was such a relief when we got aboard the boat! I think we were green from fright and didn’t utter a word thereafter due to the shock!
See, I hadn’t realized that I had swum to the middle of the pool where it was deeper. I fumbled in the water for awhile, gasping for air and trying to think. Somewhere out there I could hear someone shouting, “Are you ok?” Immediately, on a brainwave, I struck out my arms and backstroke to the side of the pool!!! I took a breather and calmed myself down and shouted back to the swimming coach that I was ok. Phew!! This brings back memories of another almost drowning incident few years back in Redang.
See, me and some friends went holidaying in Redang. The package included snorkeling trips to the open sea. One of the days, the sea was very choppy due to the strong current. We were too engrossed looking at the beautiful coral reefs that we didn’t realize that we had drifted far away from the boat. At one point when we looked up, most of the people around us had gone aboard the boat already! So, we quickly swam towards the boat. Unfortunately, we were swimming against the current which was really tough unless one is a really strong swimmer.
Among the 4 of us, only 2 of us knew how to swim. I was one
of them but then, I was just a casual swimmer and not really a strong one. We had on the life jackets which made it harder to swim actually. So the 2 non-swimmers hitched onto the 2 swimmers and tried swimming back. It was so tiring and self-defeating that thoughts of drowning in the sea actually entered my mind! Finally, as a last attempt, we shouted for help and luckily the guides heard us. They threw the float to us and hauled us in. It was such a relief when we got aboard the boat! I think we were green from fright and didn’t utter a word thereafter due to the shock!Sunday, December 17, 2006
Feeble attempt at Intersteps
Hooray, I’m finally on leave!!! I went for KWS (Karaoke Wannabe Singer) intersteps class in the early morning. There were just a handful of members and most of them looked like the tai-tais who don’t need to work but just go out and socialize and fetch their kids to tuition and curricular activities whatnots . KWS creates her chory there and then and it makes me so confused. Cos I’ll memorize the ‘combo’ which I thought was the one and she’ll keep on fine-tuning it till she’s satisfied before settling on another combo. This is somewhat different from cikgu’s style which he had pre-chory earlier in his head! Same goes for BCow. Hmmm, I shall boy-cott her freestyle steps classes in future! I stuck to it for as long as I could before scuttling out as the other members were going way too fast for me to follow through. I smiled feebly at KWS who gave me a questioning look when I left.
I went on the stepper to do a proper workout since I was mostly standing and watching the others do. I didn’t stop till I was pouring sweat. Since I had time to kill before my lunch appointment, I went and do some machines exercises. I chose the leg press and a PT approached me to teach me the correct way of doing the exercise, while trying to sell me the idea of getting a PT. I pretended to not know what he was getting at and just nodded at the necessary juncture. Thereafter he left me alone and I quickly went to bathe.
I arrived in Mid Valley (again) during lunch hour and spent more than 20 min trying to get a parking space. In the end, I resorted to stalking shoppers when they stepped into the car park.
I went on the stepper to do a proper workout since I was mostly standing and watching the others do. I didn’t stop till I was pouring sweat. Since I had time to kill before my lunch appointment, I went and do some machines exercises. I chose the leg press and a PT approached me to teach me the correct way of doing the exercise, while trying to sell me the idea of getting a PT. I pretended to not know what he was getting at and just nodded at the necessary juncture. Thereafter he left me alone and I quickly went to bathe.
I arrived in Mid Valley (again) during lunch hour and spent more than 20 min trying to get a parking space. In the end, I resorted to stalking shoppers when they stepped into the car park.
Bumpity bump
I had to attend an early meeting on Wednesday morning and was supposed to meet my boss in the office before going there together. Imagine my surprise when she suddenly announced that I was designated as the driver! Cos all al
ong, she had been the driver and I’ll was the navigator. Anyway, I drove as safely as possible and avoided the temptation to speed though it was marred by the pot-holed road that we took so there were some bumpy rides along the way!! Of which I had ceremoniously warned her at the beginning of the trip. Well, she told me that it was for the best since she was afraid that her 'monstrous' car was unable to park that easily in the limited carpark. Most of the people who knows me seemed to prefer me to drive as i know the roads quite well, including the small road diversions so they can just lean back and snooze or just do nothing in particular. I guess it's good for me too since i don't need to navigate and have pointless arguments on where to turn or which way is the shortest route to take.
The meeting room was tremendously warm and there we were, all decked up in our coats and jackets and drips of sweat were rolling down our foreheads!! Duhhh…it wasn’t a pretty sight! Anyway, it was a relief that the meeting was a relatively short one and I was glad to get back to the office where the temperature is definitely more appealing, though sometimes it can be freezing cold when it rains and i had to bundle myself like an Eskimo! My boss had some on-going training and I was pretty much left to my devices thereafter. I started calling the hotels down south where I had planned to spend my Christmas this year since I took the whole week off. I didn’t relish the thought of having to spend my hols sitting at home and rot.
Initially, I had planned on going to HK but since LM had the pox, the trip was postponed till next year. Unfortunately, since it was so last minute, most of the hotels were fully booked and bus tickets were minimal too. As a last resort, I text my friend and asked whether it was ok for me to crash into her place for a couple of days! I desperately needed a break and if she had said no, I would have looked for an alternative elsewhere! Fortunately, she said yes and immediately I went down the bus station to grab my bus tix that night itself right after my yoga class.
It’s been ages since I last did yoga so I felt my body wasn’t as flexible as previously. I had problems twisting and doing some of the poses. Gees, this is bad! Does this mean that I have to stick to being a gym member for life, huh? My friend, CL, who is the yoga instructor replied me yes in jest. Duhhhh….I didn't sweat much in the class so i reckon the class wasn't that difficult compared to when i go for V's classes where I practically sweat buckets. CL commented that he was being lenient to us and mainly stuck to poses that we had done previously. Of cos me having stood right in front of him couldn't slack off and like an obedient child, tried to follow his every movement. Talking about V, hmmm, i wonder whether he's back from his sabbatical? When he's off, i also take off...hehehehe
ong, she had been the driver and I’ll was the navigator. Anyway, I drove as safely as possible and avoided the temptation to speed though it was marred by the pot-holed road that we took so there were some bumpy rides along the way!! Of which I had ceremoniously warned her at the beginning of the trip. Well, she told me that it was for the best since she was afraid that her 'monstrous' car was unable to park that easily in the limited carpark. Most of the people who knows me seemed to prefer me to drive as i know the roads quite well, including the small road diversions so they can just lean back and snooze or just do nothing in particular. I guess it's good for me too since i don't need to navigate and have pointless arguments on where to turn or which way is the shortest route to take.The meeting room was tremendously warm and there we were, all decked up in our coats and jackets and drips of sweat were rolling down our foreheads!! Duhhh…it wasn’t a pretty sight! Anyway, it was a relief that the meeting was a relatively short one and I was glad to get back to the office where the temperature is definitely more appealing, though sometimes it can be freezing cold when it rains and i had to bundle myself like an Eskimo! My boss had some on-going training and I was pretty much left to my devices thereafter. I started calling the hotels down south where I had planned to spend my Christmas this year since I took the whole week off. I didn’t relish the thought of having to spend my hols sitting at home and rot.
Initially, I had planned on going to HK but since LM had the pox, the trip was postponed till next year. Unfortunately, since it was so last minute, most of the hotels were fully booked and bus tickets were minimal too. As a last resort, I text my friend and asked whether it was ok for me to crash into her place for a couple of days! I desperately needed a break and if she had said no, I would have looked for an alternative elsewhere! Fortunately, she said yes and immediately I went down the bus station to grab my bus tix that night itself right after my yoga class.
It’s been ages since I last did yoga so I felt my body wasn’t as flexible as previously. I had problems twisting and doing some of the poses. Gees, this is bad! Does this mean that I have to stick to being a gym member for life, huh? My friend, CL, who is the yoga instructor replied me yes in jest. Duhhhh….I didn't sweat much in the class so i reckon the class wasn't that difficult compared to when i go for V's classes where I practically sweat buckets. CL commented that he was being lenient to us and mainly stuck to poses that we had done previously. Of cos me having stood right in front of him couldn't slack off and like an obedient child, tried to follow his every movement. Talking about V, hmmm, i wonder whether he's back from his sabbatical? When he's off, i also take off...hehehehe
Going Bananas!
It was back to work on Tuesday and Wednesday again before I went on leave on Thursday. 
I consoled myself that I just needed to bear with it for 2 more days before I will be free as a bird! I had Monday blues on Tuesday and I was kinda brain dead too so i was probably not really that productive. In between I was chatting with cikgu so that could be another reason too I guess. Hehehehe…I quickly finished some stuff for the meeting in the following day and left early to go for cikgu’s class. I managed to string along Shadow to the class but she left midway due to stomach cramps.
Cikgu made a bundle of errors during class and punished himself with some push-ups….muahahahaha. His entourage stood at the back of the class including BG (surprise, surprise?) and all of them wore yellow!!! Yeah, including him too! Hmmm, I asked him whether it was cos he suddenly went ‘bananas’ or the bunch of bananas at the back of the class distracted him, leading to the errors the following day, which he readily admits…wakakaka. Surprisingly, BM didn’t wear a yellow top that night or ever since I pointed it out to cikgu. I felt terrible! Well, maybe just a little…:P Oh yeah and he said the yellow thingy was some colour coding wat-nots! Duhhhh....cheap thrill! LOL....
I consoled myself that I just needed to bear with it for 2 more days before I will be free as a bird! I had Monday blues on Tuesday and I was kinda brain dead too so i was probably not really that productive. In between I was chatting with cikgu so that could be another reason too I guess. Hehehehe…I quickly finished some stuff for the meeting in the following day and left early to go for cikgu’s class. I managed to string along Shadow to the class but she left midway due to stomach cramps.Cikgu made a bundle of errors during class and punished himself with some push-ups….muahahahaha. His entourage stood at the back of the class including BG (surprise, surprise?) and all of them wore yellow!!! Yeah, including him too! Hmmm, I asked him whether it was cos he suddenly went ‘bananas’ or the bunch of bananas at the back of the class distracted him, leading to the errors the following day, which he readily admits…wakakaka. Surprisingly, BM didn’t wear a yellow top that night or ever since I pointed it out to cikgu. I felt terrible! Well, maybe just a little…:P Oh yeah and he said the yellow thingy was some colour coding wat-nots! Duhhhh....cheap thrill! LOL....
Tracks played sounded suspiciously similar to the ones played 2 weeks ago though some are my all-time faves like One Nite in Bangkok, I’ll Find A Way, Heatwave, Faster, Harder, Scooter etc so he's forgiven. Oh well, better not complain too much otherwise he’ll stop taking my requests in future. It felt great having sweat buckets after such a long time of not exercising. I guess it's the endorphins that made me delirious! Hehehe...
Hooray! It's a Holiday
Monday was a public hol and I was feeling on top of the world not having to goto work. I had promised CC to go shopping with her and both of us arrived in Mid Valley at the dot of 10am. Imagine our surprise when the parking seemed to be rather full already and there were throngs of people who had gathered in the Centre Court taking pix!!! Hmmm, everyone is so kiasu nowadays but I guess can’t really blame them as the place tend to get really packed later in the day!
We walked almost the entire day, shopping for new year clothes and my legs felt so sore at the end of the day, I nearly had no strength to drive back home! Not to mention the heavy traffic that I had to trudge through while getting out of the mall. Uggghhhh! Fortunately, we managed to get some stuff that we wanted and it’s not a ‘wasted’ trip. It’s been ages since I stepped into the mall ever since I left my ex-firm, which was located there. How I missed the mall! Hehehehe…So many of the shops have been renovated and some have even moved to another location so I suddenly felt that I had lost my bearings when in previous times, I knew the mall’s layout plan at the back of my hand!
When I reached home, I slumped on the couch all worn out and dozed off. When I woke up, I had my dinner and proceeded to glue my eyes to my ‘marathon’ HK serials.
We walked almost the entire day, shopping for new year clothes and my legs felt so sore at the end of the day, I nearly had no strength to drive back home! Not to mention the heavy traffic that I had to trudge through while getting out of the mall. Uggghhhh! Fortunately, we managed to get some stuff that we wanted and it’s not a ‘wasted’ trip. It’s been ages since I stepped into the mall ever since I left my ex-firm, which was located there. How I missed the mall! Hehehehe…So many of the shops have been renovated and some have even moved to another location so I suddenly felt that I had lost my bearings when in previous times, I knew the mall’s layout plan at the back of my hand!When I reached home, I slumped on the couch all worn out and dozed off. When I woke up, I had my dinner and proceeded to glue my eyes to my ‘marathon’ HK serials.
Diamonds are Forever
Gees, I must make it a point to update my blog more frequently in future. Now, I have to rack my brains on what I did in the past 2 weeks. This back-tracking thingy is a no brainer. Ok, let me refer to the calendar first. I went for the PD hunt on the 2nd Dec, had food poisoning on the 3rd, and took an MC on the 4th. Right, then I worked late on Tues and Wed, which meant no gym-ing as I had to rush some stuff for a meeting on the Thursday. Since I didn’t manage to take my leave on the previous Friday, I intended to postpone it to the coming Friday and Saturday to prep for the Mensa hunt on Sunday, 10th Dec. However, again I had to cancel my leave as work was not finished and I was left feeling ‘burnt-out’ and brain dead for the hunt.
On the sat after work, I went to Atria to look for my dictionary cum thesaurus as advised by a pro-hunter. However, after trundling through all the floors, I still couldn’t locate Payless Books but instead chanced upon Big Bookshop clearance sale. They didn’t have the dictionary that I had ear-marked so I didn’t get to buy it but another book titled “The Lazy Girls’ Guide to Losing Weight and Getting Fit” caught my eye instead. Since it was a steal at RM10, I got it as my bedtime reading material. Ahwell, in moments of desperation, any glimmer of hope is pounced upon. Hehehehe…One of my ex-uni mate buzzed me and wanted to pass me a wedding invite so I loitered around for a little longer than necessary while waiting for him to come.
The next day I got up earlier than my norm working days and proceeded to head towards the Mensa hunt flag-off point, which was in Sri-KDU smart school, a private school for the filthy rich or the ‘ambitious parents’. CC replaced LM who was down with chicken pox and not food poisoning as initially diagnosed. I and CC reached early and sat waiting for Workaholic and hubby to arrive to round off our team. As expected, the questions, which were set by the Mensa past chairman were mentally challenging and we cracked our brains trying to solve the questions. I supposed he had to make the questions tougher as the best of the hunting fraternity all joined in the fun, including some CoCs (Clerk of Course, who sets the questions for the hunts)
The theme this year was “Diamonds Diversion” and most of the questions revolved around this theme one way or another. I never knew the word diamonds can bring about so many meanings until I googled it through Wikipedia. Luckily, my colleague had hinted to me of the central theme otherwise I wouldn’t have done so much preparation work. Oh boy, this felt like sitting for my year-end exams during my school days with me doing a last-minute ‘mugging’.
The questions were ‘intelligently-set’ and I marveled at his expertise and learned ways of constructing the questions with seemingly innocuous signboards, with some of the questions testing on current affairs. On top of that, he managed to throw in some red herrings along the way and we, being inexperienced newbies fell hook, line and sinker to most of them. The highlight of the hunt was the laundry ball which was given as a treasure to us this time as opposed to the usual way of breaking a puzzle and figuring out what the treasure is. When we looked at the treasure, we were totally stumped and fortunately, CC managed to ask the right person in a shop selling household wares who knew of its usage. I reckon we didn’t do too badly as we were just a few points shy of the team in the 20th slot, which happened to be my colleague’s team.
This is as my colleague puts it, our 'baptism of fire' in the hunting game as it represents one of the tougher hunts around....and like its namesake in the song, Diamonds are Forever, this hunt is very memorable and proved to be an invaluable experience.
On the sat after work, I went to Atria to look for my dictionary cum thesaurus as advised by a pro-hunter. However, after trundling through all the floors, I still couldn’t locate Payless Books but instead chanced upon Big Bookshop clearance sale. They didn’t have the dictionary that I had ear-marked so I didn’t get to buy it but another book titled “The Lazy Girls’ Guide to Losing Weight and Getting Fit” caught my eye instead. Since it was a steal at RM10, I got it as my bedtime reading material. Ahwell, in moments of desperation, any glimmer of hope is pounced upon. Hehehehe…One of my ex-uni mate buzzed me and wanted to pass me a wedding invite so I loitered around for a little longer than necessary while waiting for him to come.
The next day I got up earlier than my norm working days and proceeded to head towards the Mensa hunt flag-off point, which was in Sri-KDU smart school, a private school for the filthy rich or the ‘ambitious parents’. CC replaced LM who was down with chicken pox and not food poisoning as initially diagnosed. I and CC reached early and sat waiting for Workaholic and hubby to arrive to round off our team. As expected, the questions, which were set by the Mensa past chairman were mentally challenging and we cracked our brains trying to solve the questions. I supposed he had to make the questions tougher as the best of the hunting fraternity all joined in the fun, including some CoCs (Clerk of Course, who sets the questions for the hunts)
The theme this year was “Diamonds Diversion” and most of the questions revolved around this theme one way or another. I never knew the word diamonds can bring about so many meanings until I googled it through Wikipedia. Luckily, my colleague had hinted to me of the central theme otherwise I wouldn’t have done so much preparation work. Oh boy, this felt like sitting for my year-end exams during my school days with me doing a last-minute ‘mugging’.The questions were ‘intelligently-set’ and I marveled at his expertise and learned ways of constructing the questions with seemingly innocuous signboards, with some of the questions testing on current affairs. On top of that, he managed to throw in some red herrings along the way and we, being inexperienced newbies fell hook, line and sinker to most of them. The highlight of the hunt was the laundry ball which was given as a treasure to us this time as opposed to the usual way of breaking a puzzle and figuring out what the treasure is. When we looked at the treasure, we were totally stumped and fortunately, CC managed to ask the right person in a shop selling household wares who knew of its usage. I reckon we didn’t do too badly as we were just a few points shy of the team in the 20th slot, which happened to be my colleague’s team.
This is as my colleague puts it, our 'baptism of fire' in the hunting game as it represents one of the tougher hunts around....and like its namesake in the song, Diamonds are Forever, this hunt is very memorable and proved to be an invaluable experience.
Tuesday, December 12, 2006
Hunter or hunted?
Hmmm, it’s been ages since I last update my blog…have been super duper busy slogging at work and going for my treasure hunts on the weekends. Last week I just stepped into the gym twice and that’s for BC. I went treasure hunting to PD the day before I had food poisoning. As mentioned earlier, I had intended to take leave on the fri to prep myself for the hunt as I was driving. Unfortunately, I had to cancel my leave last minute and went back to work. I got off early though as I was too brain dead and went for SGP’s BC. He however ffk the class and Pickles replaced him. Well, thanks to Pickles, my heartbeat went Boom, Boom, Boom again and I rediscovered my passion for BC….hehehehe
Got up real early on the sat morning and went to pick up my team members to go for the hunt. Felt somewhat excited as this outing was very spontaneous and agreed upon in less than a week.
A bit ‘chung tung’ but that’s the thrill I guess….We also thought it would be a great prep exercise for everyone before the ‘mentally challenging’ Mensa hunt. Anyway, I having been so stressed at work lately, plus PMS plus lack of sleep was making me super grouchy and cursed at everyone who obstructed my way and shouted at my poor navigator, which by the way was her first-time at that role. Now, I realized that I am not a good driver and should just contend at being either the navigator or passenger.
I don’t have a ‘fixed hunting team’ as yet so it’s kinda a mish-mash group mostly, some with more experience than others but I reckon the most important thing is teamwork. Everyone contributes in one way or another regardless of the role that they play and it’s the camaraderie between the team members that makes it so much more worthwhile. Of course, mostly I have the final say on the answers. I’m not sure why even though I am also considered a newbie at this. Probably I’m more street-smart gwa….muahahahaha…size of head swollen to 2 sizes bigger due to ego ballooning…
The hunt was tricky to say the least and as we were not experienced enough, we fell for most of the red herrings dangled to us. I felt that the questions were not 'tight' enough and some were just too vague leading to us just 'hentam-ing' the answers. Nevertheless, we enjoyed the hunt, thrashing out whatever answers that popped into our heads, with some ridiculous far-fetched ones in-between too!!! We even trailed a pro-team and asked the shop-keeper what they bought as we couldn't cracked the treasures questions. Trust me, this is one of the 'survival skills' when in desperation. Muahahahaha....I heard from my colleague that a Master hunter joined her team once and there's no such gila antics abound. The whole car is really quiet and the Master takes answering the questions very seriously!! Sei lor, i think i will not be able to withstand that kind of pressure man.....
I'm glad that i have a bunch of hunting enthusiasts to call upon whenever i want to go hunting. The only problem is there's lack of a voluntary driver all the time. Somehow, nobody wants to be the driver, which i reckon is the easiest role to be in. Everyone wants to be either the navigator or the passenger. But when i volunteer to be the driver, i was told that i'm more suited to fit into the passenger role. What happens then? Regardless of whether i'm the driver or the navigator, i'm still engaged to help solve the questions. No doubt everyone should be invoved in solving the questions but i think the onus should mostly be on the 2 back passengers when there are 4 persons in the car so that the driver and navigator can concentrate on the roads and make sure everyone is in safe hands and the team doesn't get lost. We have not reached the status of the Masters who can make do with just 2 team members who can multi-tasked and still do well. Sigh...am not feeling too happy about this as everyone seemed to be too dependent on me sometimes....
Hunting though is not everyone's cup of tea except for those who relish in participating in some cerebral activities and mentally challenging exercises during the mostly weekend held events. As for me, i reckon it not only helps to improve my vocab but also builds on my general knowledge. And if they are outstation hunts, i get to indulge in my adventurous spirit of travelling and discovering new places too...how i wish i had discover this hobby earlier...but i guess it's never too late...:D
Got up real early on the sat morning and went to pick up my team members to go for the hunt. Felt somewhat excited as this outing was very spontaneous and agreed upon in less than a week.
A bit ‘chung tung’ but that’s the thrill I guess….We also thought it would be a great prep exercise for everyone before the ‘mentally challenging’ Mensa hunt. Anyway, I having been so stressed at work lately, plus PMS plus lack of sleep was making me super grouchy and cursed at everyone who obstructed my way and shouted at my poor navigator, which by the way was her first-time at that role. Now, I realized that I am not a good driver and should just contend at being either the navigator or passenger.I don’t have a ‘fixed hunting team’ as yet so it’s kinda a mish-mash group mostly, some with more experience than others but I reckon the most important thing is teamwork. Everyone contributes in one way or another regardless of the role that they play and it’s the camaraderie between the team members that makes it so much more worthwhile. Of course, mostly I have the final say on the answers. I’m not sure why even though I am also considered a newbie at this. Probably I’m more street-smart gwa….muahahahaha…size of head swollen to 2 sizes bigger due to ego ballooning…
The hunt was tricky to say the least and as we were not experienced enough, we fell for most of the red herrings dangled to us. I felt that the questions were not 'tight' enough and some were just too vague leading to us just 'hentam-ing' the answers. Nevertheless, we enjoyed the hunt, thrashing out whatever answers that popped into our heads, with some ridiculous far-fetched ones in-between too!!! We even trailed a pro-team and asked the shop-keeper what they bought as we couldn't cracked the treasures questions. Trust me, this is one of the 'survival skills' when in desperation. Muahahahaha....I heard from my colleague that a Master hunter joined her team once and there's no such gila antics abound. The whole car is really quiet and the Master takes answering the questions very seriously!! Sei lor, i think i will not be able to withstand that kind of pressure man.....
I'm glad that i have a bunch of hunting enthusiasts to call upon whenever i want to go hunting. The only problem is there's lack of a voluntary driver all the time. Somehow, nobody wants to be the driver, which i reckon is the easiest role to be in. Everyone wants to be either the navigator or the passenger. But when i volunteer to be the driver, i was told that i'm more suited to fit into the passenger role. What happens then? Regardless of whether i'm the driver or the navigator, i'm still engaged to help solve the questions. No doubt everyone should be invoved in solving the questions but i think the onus should mostly be on the 2 back passengers when there are 4 persons in the car so that the driver and navigator can concentrate on the roads and make sure everyone is in safe hands and the team doesn't get lost. We have not reached the status of the Masters who can make do with just 2 team members who can multi-tasked and still do well. Sigh...am not feeling too happy about this as everyone seemed to be too dependent on me sometimes....
Hunting though is not everyone's cup of tea except for those who relish in participating in some cerebral activities and mentally challenging exercises during the mostly weekend held events. As for me, i reckon it not only helps to improve my vocab but also builds on my general knowledge. And if they are outstation hunts, i get to indulge in my adventurous spirit of travelling and discovering new places too...how i wish i had discover this hobby earlier...but i guess it's never too late...:D
Wednesday, December 06, 2006
Down in the Doldrums
My song of the moment is “Promiscuous” by Nelly Furtado feat Timbaland…really love the catchy beat otherwise life is in the doldrums. I am still stuck under heaps of work which hopefully will all be over by tomorrow…keeping fingers crossed. Meanwhile, my face is plagued by adult acne due to the tremendous stress faced at work and the onset of my PMS. Uggghhhh…I could practically joined the ugly pimple dots on my face right now, it’s so depressing. I have already downed 2 cups of coffee since this morning and that’s before lunch. I think I need another one to pull me through till evening. This is really terrible.
I just had food poisoning over the last weekend where I had slept through day and night scrunched up like a prawn, with a woozy head and a queasy tummy. That, after throwing up in the early hours of the morning!!! I finally visited the doc in the late evening after having been unable to withstand the torture any longer. The pain did not subside as I had fervently wished for despite sleeping for what seemed like donkey hours to me. The doc diagnosed me as having food poisoning and suffering from food indigestion due to oily food consumed. Right, that means eating bland food for the next few days. I took the Mon off as my stomach was still troubling me and when I looked at food, I felt nauseous. Very well for taking a few pounds off albeit the hard way, this was how a friend consoled me. LM was in the same boat as me, suffering from high fever and throwing up occasionally. So, there we were, 2 miserable souls wallowing in self-pity sms-ing each other to keep abreast of our ‘recovery’. If it wasn’t so painful, it would have been hilarious. Anyway, I got some vcds to keep me company, alternating between watching the serials and drifting off to la-la land.
I managed to summon enough energy to go gym for my BC in the late evening and as usual, I arrived on the dot. I am sure I looked really wan and dreadful and my gym buddies looked surprise to see me as I had been MIA for BC for quite awhile now especially Mon class. I became tired very easily and resorted to stopping after every track to catch my breath and sipped some water to keep me going. Fortunately, SGP was tired as well since he took a break at every track. I left immediately upon finishing the class to go bathe for fear of the long queues.
I just had food poisoning over the last weekend where I had slept through day and night scrunched up like a prawn, with a woozy head and a queasy tummy. That, after throwing up in the early hours of the morning!!! I finally visited the doc in the late evening after having been unable to withstand the torture any longer. The pain did not subside as I had fervently wished for despite sleeping for what seemed like donkey hours to me. The doc diagnosed me as having food poisoning and suffering from food indigestion due to oily food consumed. Right, that means eating bland food for the next few days. I took the Mon off as my stomach was still troubling me and when I looked at food, I felt nauseous. Very well for taking a few pounds off albeit the hard way, this was how a friend consoled me. LM was in the same boat as me, suffering from high fever and throwing up occasionally. So, there we were, 2 miserable souls wallowing in self-pity sms-ing each other to keep abreast of our ‘recovery’. If it wasn’t so painful, it would have been hilarious. Anyway, I got some vcds to keep me company, alternating between watching the serials and drifting off to la-la land.
I managed to summon enough energy to go gym for my BC in the late evening and as usual, I arrived on the dot. I am sure I looked really wan and dreadful and my gym buddies looked surprise to see me as I had been MIA for BC for quite awhile now especially Mon class. I became tired very easily and resorted to stopping after every track to catch my breath and sipped some water to keep me going. Fortunately, SGP was tired as well since he took a break at every track. I left immediately upon finishing the class to go bathe for fear of the long queues.
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