Confessions of a City Slicker

I picked up this tidbit of info during yoga class. Tight hamstrings lead to back problems. So that’s why I have constant backaches. I always thought it’s because I’m a slacker and always sit with a very bad posture.

Here’s a very simple exercise to help loosen your hamstrings.

Sit with a bolster between your legs and try to bend until your upper body is resting on the bolster. Then relax for about 15 minutes. Some people do this as part of their meditation. Of course, if your hamstrings are as tight as mine, you can bend your legs a little or, get a bigger bolster :p

I’m really glad that I have been attending the Intro Yoga classes. The classes focus a lot of technique and you really become aware of what you are doing and where you should be feeling the strains in each position.

When I go for the more advanced classes, most of the time, I do my best to follow instructions and peek at the mirror occassionally to make sure that my poses look somewhat like everyone else’s. Other than that, I really don’t know what I’m doing.

I know some people find yoga too slow and boring, but know what? I come out of those classes with worse aches and pains than when I go for Body Pump. At times, those aches and pains are at places that Body Pump don’t work on.

Here’s something else I learned that is good for relieving headaches. What a coincidence that I happened to have a mild headache that day.

1. Lie on your stomach with your arms crossed in front of your chest. Both arms should be stretched as far out in the opposite direction as possible and the pinkie of both hands must lie on the floor.
2. Try to touch your forehead to the floor. If you can’t do that then it means that your arms are not close enough to your chest.

It may seem ackward at first but it’s actually very relaxing. If can feel all my tension slowly drain away into the ground.

I really enjoy going to Wendy’s class. She’s so funny. Plus all the people who go to that class a regulars, so it’s nice to see familiar faces.

I could probably get my ass hauled up to that exclusive neighborhood where RPK spent some time recently for writing this, but I really need to air my frustrations.

I don’t know about most people, but I’m finding it really hard to blog these days. Know why?

Because it takes the whole day to upload a post! I keep getting a time out message from my browser, no matter which one I use - IE, Firefox or Google Chrome.

So one of Streamyx’s very important cable was severed. So what?????

This shows very clearly that these guys have never heard of the term “CONTINGENCY PLANNING“.

If one of your cables is severed, you don’t have a backup plan? This is how fragile their infrastructure is?

OK, maybe I don’t really know much about these, but seems to me that for a company that is providing internet service (which is so crucial nowadays) to the whole country, they should have a backup in place in case something like this happens. They just can’t ask the whole country to bear with it while they fix the problem, which they seem to be dragging their asses to do.

Which leads me to wonder what other infrastructure is just as fragile?

Utilities? Remember some time ago when lightning struck a cable and rendered the whole country without power? You’d think that the PTBs would have learned their lesson from that.

Imagine, a small nation like Singapore has an infrastructure that is years ahead of us. When can we catch up to their efficiency, if ever?

Gee, don’t let the hostiles know how fragile this country is. They won’t have to work very hard to cripple us if they want to. Just that, the way I see it, we don’t have anything valuable enough for their attention, that’s why they are leaving us alone :p

Went to Pulau Tikus market to buy my dinner last night. Had the worst hankering for kiam moi, but don’t know any place that sells it during the night. Heck, I don’t even know any place that sells it during the day! So I had to make do with whatever other types of porridge that I can find.

Spotted a yee sang kai chuk stall tucked away in the little alley off Jalan Pasar. I was standing there waiting for them to prepare my order when I saw it – that very familiar red Japanese lamp. There’s Japanese food here? Oooooo gotta check it out!

After paying for my porridge, I strolled over to check out their menu. At first glance, there are easily 80+ different types of sushi and over 20 different types of temaki available.

Individually, the prices seem reasonable, at only a few ringgit for a sushi roll, but I think for a big group that orders everything they have, the total bill can come up to quite a hefty sum.

Here’s what I bought.

California Roll for RM2.50 and Tamago for RM1.00 each.

What I liked about the California roll is that they gave me a generous helping of ebiko. Most Japanese restaurants will just put about a teaspoon or less of the stuff on top of the roll. This guy slathers a whole long strip on the inside of the roll so you get ebiko on every bite from top to bottom.

I love eating ebiko. They are so crunchy and it’s so much fun putting them between my teeth and gently biting down until I feel them pop ^_^

The tamago is also not too bad. Their egg is really thick compared to the ones from Japanese restaurants. Those are too thin for me to savor the taste of the eggs. I think I detected a hint of vanilla in there.

While browsing through their menu I saw something interesting – fruity flavors. Maybe I’m a total bumpkin when it comes to Japanese cuisine, but I’ve never heard of fruits in sushi. Well, they are not really fruits, just yoghurt. There was strawberry, mango, apple or just plain yoghurt, to name a few.

Well, I’m gonna have to round up a big group of equally tham chiak friends if I wanna go try out the other things in their menu. Or I can work slowly and try out a few different things each night :p

I didn’t notice a name for the sushi stall, or maybe I was too cockeyed to see it :p Anyway, they are located on the first alley on your left as you enter Jalan Pasar from Cantonment Road. You’ll have to park your car somewhere and walk there because the entrance is blocked by the tables and chairs set up for the night hawkers. They are closed on Monday’s by the way.

She looked around. Temp Mommy is not looking.

Splendid.

With a single agile leap, she made it to the top of the wall. Deftly, she maneuvered her way pass the metal bars. She then reached for the narrow piece of metal jutting out and hoisted herself up on it.

She is now completely exposed. The only thing standing between her and a six floor drop to the ground below is that narrow piece of metal. One wrong move and the janitor will be scraping her remains off the ground the next day.

She’s not bothered, though. In a few short moments, she will be free to explore this mysterious region to her heart’s content. Temp Mommy never lets her come out here. But ever since she discovered this secret passage, she has been sneaking away whenever the opportunity presents itself.

If only Temp Mommy can see her now. She will have palpitations.

The winds are stronger tonight. She will have to calculate her next leap carefully. She has to land on that brick embankment, right below the metal bar. A miscalculation and she will hit the metal bar and possibly fall down to the abyss.

Her focus like a heat seaking missile, she jumped and landed right where she wanted.

Then walked straight into Temp Mommy’s arms.

Awwww…

Temp Mommy carried her back inside, in spite of her protests.

Sigh…someday. Someday, this wild, untamed landscape will no longer be such a mystery to her. Someday, she will learn every nook and cranny of this forbidden place, that is, if she can get away from Temp Mommy.

She will be on the lookout for the next opportunity, she vowed.

Wanna see how she does it?

Check out the video. Don’t mind the jerky movements and evil looking red eyes.

She’s actually much more adorable than that. Just that Temp Mommy only has a Nokia N76 phone camera with limited features.

One last thought - does knowing all the risks mean that we take less chances? And by taking less chances does it mean that we pass up more opportunities?

Err…about how much it will take to tow my daughter out of the drain?

Here’s the thing.

There is this boutique along Green Lane that sometimes displays the sweetest LBDs on its window. I always take the little alley beside it as a shortcut to belly dance class.

As I drive pass, my eyes can’t help but do a quick sweep of its window decorations. Once in a while, a piece or two will catch my eyes but because this particular boutique is notorious for charging cut throat prices, all I could do was look and drool.

But, if I’m not careful, I get the feeling that one of these days, I will drive my daughter right into the drain because my eyes are glued to the dresses instead of the road :p

Mee went for a little adventure the other night and did a disappearing act from my apartment. She had us all worried as we searched every corner of the apartment for her but to no avail.

See that little “cage” in the background? That was an added structure to our apartment where we can conveniently hang our laundry. It is hinged to a balcony inside.

Sometimes Mee will jump onto the balcony but we will always put her down on the floor again, for fear that she will fall through the grills. Although cats are said to always land of their feet, it’s still a six floor drop. I don’t want to bet on that kind of survival rate.

That day, she somehow managed to squeeze through the holes at the side of the cage and jump onto that narrow piece of metal that the blue pole is tied to and made it to the outside balcony.

We really feared for the worse that whole time she went missing. We were sure she didn’t fall through the grills because there is an awning directly below the cage so we would have heard her fall. Still I went down to search the grounds below with a flashlight. I really expected to find a dead body then.

But upon looking up at that time, my heart suddenly dropped to my feet. Mee was walking precariously along the outside balcony! Seeing me with the flashlight, at one point she seemed to be ready to make a leap.

That had me running back up to the apartment. To my relief, she shot back inside the minute I opened the back door, her eyes wide and round, wild with confusion. She calmed down after a treat of kitty biscuits.

Now I know how parents who have lost their kids in the shopping malls feel.

These days, when Mee comes to visit, we keep the door that leads to the laundry area closed. She will ask us to let us play there sometimes, but we keep a close supervision of her to make sure something like this doesn’t happen again.

Since I’ve gotten such good results with Herbalife, Coach thinks that it’s time I start selling my story.

Here’s the before and after pic.

The before pic was taken just a few weeks before I started the Herbalife program. Yeah, I know, it’s sexy huh? But just ignore Santa there for a while and check me out. Notice that ugly roll of fat on my stomach and how big my arms were. Check out my face. Ish, I was so chubby. Bleck!

The after pic was taken in early November. What a big difference. Flat stomach, no more flabby arms and I have gotten reacquainted with my chin. It’s a great feeling when cleansing my face and feeling the hollow spot where my chin and neck meet, where previously, there was nothing but flesh there.

In total I’ve lost 6kgs, 8 inches off my waist and thighs. After looking over my figures I find that all the weight loss has come off my body fat instead of muscles. In fact, I have not lost but gained muscles. Of course, I could do with more muscles but I’m gonna take it slow because I don’t wanna end up with big arms and thighs, even if they are all muscles and not fat. I just want them toned but retain that soft, feminine form, not looking like a potential contender for American Gladiators, thank you very much. So yeah, you won’t see me piling on the weights at Body Pump class.

Physically, I’ve never felt better. Despite only eating one solid meal a day and replacing the other two with the shakes, I still manage to get a good workout at the gym at the end of the day. There were no feelings of fatigue or dizziness. Best of all, I don’t think I’ve ever been so regular in my meetings with Indah Water in my life!

So, OK, here’s my story.

All my life, I was the fat kid that nobody wanted to talk to. I couldn’t find clothes that fit and those that do, are the old fashioned auntie clothes more suited for my mother. I didn’t have much of a life because I feel insecure socializing with people who look hotter than me. Therefore, I keep myself at home. I had low self esteem and feel miserable all the time.

Sob! Sob! :’(

LOL ok, ok, enough of the drama. The reason I started with Herbalife was simpler than that.

I knew I was a little overweight but can’t seem to get it under control. But most of all, I had a lot of problems keeping up a regular meeting with Indah Water. This led to other problems like severe acne and it was hitting me where it hurts the most – my wallet.

I don’t know how many thousands I must have spent on expensive facials and products to get the acne under control. One day, my beautician told me something that changed my perspective. I already have good products and treatments, but they were all treating the problem on the outside. There were severe issues on the inside that I have to address, like my clogged plumbing.

Of course, she had a solution for that, but I didn’t buy into it at that time. I met Coach when Herbalife set up a booth at my gym. She invited me for a meeting the following day and the rest, shall we say is history. What I really liked about the program is that I’m not really spending extra each month to buy the shakes. I’m merely transferring the money that I would have used anyway to buy those unhealthy meals to buy something else that is more nutritious.

I saw results the first day on the program. Within a week, I had cleaned up my internal system. In less than a month, I didn’t need to go for expensive facials anymore. In two months, my pants were starting to feel lose and a few months later, I started buying M size instead of L size clothes.

Of course, the whole process wasn’t exactly a walk in the park. There were the cravings. Of course there were. There will be days when all I could do was think about what I will eat for dinner. I dealt with that by being more lenient on myself during the weekends when sometimes I will replace just one meal instead of two and indulge myself.

There were times when the cravings got so bad, so I gave in. Nothing wrong with that, as long as I know how to pick myself up and get back on the road again after that.

So, there’s my story. To the people who want to get started with Herbalife, I would definitely highly recommend it, but like I said earlier, you have to want to get the results bad enough. Otherwise, you’ll just give up, no matter what kind of program you take up.

Well, 2008 has come and gone.

As I looked back at the year that was, I would say that when it comes to resolutions, 2008 is the only year that I actually achieved all of them.

Congratulations to me!

Coming into 2008, I had only two things in mind

• Lose weight
• Write my first sales copy

Well, I definitely lost a lot of weight this year. In all my life, exept when I was a kid, I have never been in the 40s weight range. My weight mostly yo-yoed around the 50s range. After joining the gym, I managed to get it down a little but it sort of stayed stagnant after some time. It didn’t go up, but I couldn’t get it to go down either, no matter what I did.

I am so glad that I went for that very first meeting with coach.

Now, after getting the kind of results that I got, I’ve just got this one nugget of wisdom to give those who are trying to lose weight.

It doesn’t matter what kind of program you take up. Of course I would highly recommend Herbalife because this is what gave me results, but everybody is free to choose the one that they are most comfortable with. But at the end of the day, the programs work only as well as the amount of effort that an individual puts in. Bottomline, to lose weight, you’ve gotta want it bad enough.

I’ve seen friends who took up the program because they saw the results that I’m getting, only to abandon it halfway because they couldn’t live with the sacrifices that they had to make. Mom didn’t survive pass her second week.

So in short, if you really want it, you take the whole package - sacrifices, cravings, altered lifestyle and all. There is no half-a-package here.

I also finally wrote the first salesletter that the boss didn’t butcher up about 90% off. Of course, it’s with the help of swipe files from the top copywriters in the business. The next level will be to write something original that is good enough that other people will want to swipe.

Check it out here. Can you tell which part is me and which part is altered by the boss?

This year is also a memorable one for some friends because finally, all of us, the whole group, are FREE! We have each found our own successes in the outside world. We defied the b*****ds in that Cina Apek company and made it on our own.

Congratulations, girls! Let’s show them who the losers really are.

And lastly, getting to belly dance before a live audience! The thrill of being on stage is indescribable. There was nerves, tension, dread, fear, yet there was also the andrenaline pumping excitement.

For the year 2009, I don’t really have a lot of expectations beyond doing a good job for the coming WBDD event and getting to perform as part of the opening dance troupe.

Other than that, my only other wish is that 2009 being the year the ox, I’m keeping my fingers crossed that I don’t have to work like one just make ends meet :p

Here’s wishing that 2009 be kind to everyone.

Cheers!

And it blew over so fast.

Made my traditional turkey again this year. Got my bird from Gama instead of my frozen food supplier. Price is also so much cheaper.

My bird came with a timer. See that red thingy in the red box? It pops up when the bird is done. There was also a plastic thingy that holds its legs together so you don’t end up getting a kang-kang bird like mine. I always remove it.

Still remember the first year I made turkey. Nearly lost a few fingers pulling that plastic thing out of the bird. It was only later that I learned from Lillian that you’re not supposed to remove it. Still, it’s plastic, and I’m not really comfortable putting it in the oven.

Decided to try a Jaime Oliver and stuffed some butter under the skin to make it crispy. Also placed a few dollops on top of the breast before putting it into the oven.

The wonderful aroma of butter was permeating from the oven throughout the whole baking process. Oh my!

For the baby potatoes, I skinned and boiled them. It will take too much time to remove the skin after boiling them, so I skinned them first. When they are done, I melted some butter in a pan and added a slice of cheese before folding in the potatoes.

Got the inspiration for that from Kenny Rogers’ mac & cheese.

I think I could have added more cheese and since I had so much leftover parsley, it would be great to chop up a little to sprinkle over the potatoes.

Oh well, there’s always next year, right?

Girlie loved the potatoes, though and the turkey sure is popular this year. I forgot to keep a little bit of the turkey aside for the pie I wanted to make with the leftovers. To my surprise, at the end of the night, there was nothing left of the big bird LOL.

Meanwhile, am absolutely luuuuuuurrrrrrrrvvvvvving that 4GB memory space that Eleen gave me for my Christmas pressie. Been wanting to get one for the longest time but was too cheap to fork out the cash for it despite them being so affordable.

My reasoning was that since I get the use the one from the office, why bother, right?

Now, I get 4GB to call my own. Thanks, Girl! Happy, happy me