Confessions of a City Slicker

To mix a cup of Herbalife shake:

• 300 ml cold water
• 3 tbs skimmed milk powder
• 2 tbs Herbalife Soy Powder

Shake em all together for a delicious drink.

First drink in the morning for breakfast kept me full till lunch!

Had a really fruitful meeting with Indah Water during lunch.  Hurray!!!

Had a second drink for lunch and still manage to go to the gym without any hunger pangs or dizzy spells.

Absolutely love the capucino flavored drink.  The aroma of the capucino just wafts out the minute the lid is unscrewed.  Smells just like coffee ice cream.

There seems to be some differences in the nutritional quantities between the capucino flavor and the chocolate flavor.  Have to ask Coach about this the next time we meet up.

Very happy with the first day of my new diet.  Can’t wait to see what my next BMI scan will show.

First order of business for the new year - get a new diet program for a healthier body.

I finally met up with my coach and mentor for my new diet program - Herbalife.  See, I get a coach.  This is what attracted me to this program.  Others will just sell you their stuff and you’re basically on your own once the cash changes hands.

With Herbalife, my coach will follow up with me every week to see how I’m doing as well as check on my BMI to see how effective the program is for me.  She’s also there to give me advice and motivate me to achieve my target weight, body fat, muscle & bone mass, etc.

First measurement before I start the program, well, it’s not exactly the 45, 25, 35 figure that I wanted, but that’s something to aim for.

Right now, I’ll just be glad to have a knockout figure for Conny’s upcoming hafla which is in a couple of months.

And oh ya, daily morning meetings with Indah Water will also be a nice bonus :)))))))))

You’re a really good friend and I do love you for your compassion for others above yourself.

Yet, sometimes, you can be SO annoying!  You seem to be totally oblivious to this and I keep it to myself because I didn’t want to hurt your feelings.

Like your gushing praises over some of the most common things that makes me roll my eyes.  My lack of comments and patronizing grunts during these monologues don’t seem to clue you in on my lack of interest.  You just go on and on…

Maybe I’ve become cynical with age, but at times, you can be so immature.

Like things so and so said always has logic?  OK, so maybe I did enjoy having a conversation with this particular person, but seriously, there is no need to sing praises over his every word.  I mean, it’s not like he said something that completely blew me away.  Anyone with sufficient general knowledge and who keeps up with the current news would have known what he was talking about.

Or I must like this place be cause it plays our kind of music? Ummmm, OK, so the music is good, and it plays your favorite songs, so I’m supposed to like it too?

You see the beauty in the simplest things, I have to give you that.  A simple act of kindness for you is like a day at the fair for a child.  I’ll love to have some of that naivete.  I guess it makes life a lot simpler, doesn’t it?

But still, if what I’m about to say makes me sound like a bumpkin with nothing up there, I’ll think twice before opening the floodgates, little girl.

I woke up this morning preparing myself for the start of a day filled with pain.  I’m going to the dentist.

My colleague remarked that no matter how tough you are, even if you are the big boss of a triad gang, drilling your teeth is still something to shudder about.

I have never gone to this particular dentist before -  Singapore Dental in Pulau Tikus - but he came highly recommended because of his use of high technology.  Even administering injection is done though machines rather than a human hand.  Oh my, canggih!

The dentist is a pleasant man.  Talked to me to calm me down as he checked my teeth.  What he showed me through the mirror is not at all pleasant.  In spite of  all the care that I take in caring for my teeth, apparently it was not enough.  Let’s just say that my teeth are not exactly in the most stellar condition.  To top it off, I am amongst the small majority of people born with weak enamel.

The drilling started after that.  To my surprise there was no pain at all, maybe because the cavity is still small.  But according to the dentist, there is pain because some dentists press too hard or they use cheap or blunt instruments.  The drilling lasted maybe less than a minute then he started to fill up the cavity.

The whole ordeal was over in less than half an hour.  The cost of the whole experience - RM60.00.

I have a few more cavities left to fill but those will be KIVed for the next few months to keep my bank balance at a healthy level.  Naturally, going to someone who uses high technology, you’d expect to pay a premium for their services.

Next, off to get my tattoo touched up.  I’ve had it for….3 years, if I’m not mistaken and the color has faded considerably.

Touching up took less time than when I first had it done.  I think it took about 2 hours the first time, but now it’s just half an hour.  It’s more ticklish than painful.  Of course there is some amount of discomfort, but nothing like the pain of getting my eyebrows embroidered.  Man, that’s REAL PAIN.

Right now, it’s still a little sore and will probably start to itch for the next few weeks.

There is a picture hanging on their wall of someone’s back tattooed with a tapestry of a Native American on horseback.  The detail is magnificent.  My tattoo artist said that job took 20 over sessions of about 7 hours each.  Yikes!

I read from Yahoo! that a lot of peole are starting to regret getting a tattoo and are having them removed, a process that is waaaaayyyyy more painful than getting tattooed in the first place.

My philosophy is, get something that you can live with for the rest of your life or else don’t get one at all.  But most of these people got their tattoos in a moment of drunken madness.  Else, why would a woman get the word BITCH tattooed on her lower lip or a boyfriend’s initials on her bikini line?

Because the love shape has always been my favorite, naturally, that is the tattoo I got.  Yes, children, it’s a love shape, not an apple.

Yet another denizen of my ex Cina Apek company has found her way out to greener pastures.

There is hope, I guess, considering the amount of people who left, found the big bad world out there too cruel and came running back.  Don’t do that, Au Au, no face-see.

It’s no fun, really, working for a Chinaman company, with all their rediculous restrictions and policies.  But, at least the only politicians are amongst the top management.  The one thing that I treasure most about my time there is the wonderful group of friends that I made.  And we stayed in touch, whereas I hardly see my ex colleagues from my other previous jobs.

Over dinner last night, we remarked that as all of us eventually go our separate ways, there will not be much gossip from the Cina Apek company to share during our gatherings.  The politic-king amongst the top management has always been a favorite topic to share a laugh over.

I’m sure gonna miss bitching about Ah Q and the incompetance of the KKC-less salted fish or laughing over The Speaker and his pasar malam.  There is also Datin, the budding politician whom the salted fish is mentoring.

Well, good luck to the rest of you still stuck there.  Hope you won’t be stuck too long.  Greener pastures do exist out there.

And good luck, Au Au.  Oh ya, remember to buy what I told you to buy from the US, ya

Another year over, a new one just begun….Let’s hope it’s a good one, without any fears……

So says Lennon.

2007 just seems to rush by, especially for someone in the rat race, living from paycheck to paycheck.

I gotta say, this year, my year end celebration is different.  I get to celebrate on both sides of the sea - first at Auto City then back home at Momo.

Pat & Em took us to Tao at Auto City so that Tai Mai will not have any problems finding transportation home.  There was a fun fair atmosphere there with the flea market, stage show, rides, replica of Penang Bridge beautifully lit up, and of course, my absolute favorite, cars with their out of this world stereo system for me to drool over.  Since the keys were in the ignition, it was tempting to just get in and drive off if only the Rela members had not cordoned off the area (snicker).

Tao had a lucky draw and I actually one of the top prizes!  A RM50.00 voucher for a meal there.  Will save that for the next company thing.

The one thing that I was more worried about was not being able to get home in time for the coundown celebration at Momo, but Lady Luck smiled at us and traffic was smooth both ways on Penang Bridge.  There was also very little traffic on the island.  Guess everyone wanted to beat the jam and got to wherever they want to go real early.

I managed to reach Momo about an hour before the countdown, so mission accomplished.  As usual, as during big partying event, I let myself go and drank a little too much.  Thank goodness, I have a group of wonderful friends who took such great care of me while I puked my guts out.

But, this is as far as I will let myself go.  I will never let myself get wasted as I’m driving.

2007 has been quite a year for me.  Let’s see….

• I switched jobs, moving from the corporate world to a much more smaller and casual set up of just 6 people including the bosses.  This is a more relaxed atmosphere, but that does not mean that output and deadlines are any less important.
• I learned so much about the world of internet marketing, enough, I think to be able to set up my own business, if only I ever find the drive to do it.
• I learned to use new applications to set up and maintain a website.
• I got the opportunity to polish my writing skills.
• A memorable trip to Singapore to watch an icon - Anthony Robbins - in action.
• Organized my first seminar.
• Authored my first (yet to be approved) book and in the process discovered this nifty thing called Private Label Rights.

Any new resolutions for 2008?  Well, finally getting my feet wet as a copywriter.  And I’m starting a new diet program, not to get thinner, mind you.   Just hoping for a more efficient digestive system because signs of my leaky plumbing are starting to show up else where.

Watch out, 2008….this Goddess is gonna leave footprints all over you!