Cherating trip

10-10-10 (Sunday)

Planned to do something different on this particular day since I missed out on the McDonalds Olympic run and a few others. The plan was to launch phase 1 of a long over-due road trip. Okay not exactly that. Road trip is supposedly with my GF Sumi. This is supposed to be a relaxed break away from the city husle..

Decided to drive instead of take the bus and hassle around. Had an itinerary planned out. Looks something like this but didn't follow through much of it.
(for some unknown reasons i can't seem to upload the file after much effort of converting the pdf file to an image.)

Anyway, ended up doing the following:
Day 1:
4pm Arrived at Holiday Villa & checked in
Couldn't locate the Restoran Kamar and decided to try again the next day.
Popped by the beach to check out the area
Drove out to look for food. Unfortunately, out of the many list of places recommended online which i took down, not all were to be found. We ended up in a restaurant where the mosquitos and flies were more than the people there. (They arrived after we ordered our food.)

Definitely not recommeding this place to anyone. One commendable dish must be their grilled sting ray. The fish was undoubtedly nice, edible but not good enough to counter the part where the flies ended up crowding the place more than humans.

Wine session followed.

Day 2:
Supposed to be up in time for sunrise at Teluk Chempedak but arrived at around 8 something, just in time for breakfast at McDonalds :)
The McDs here has a nice view of the sea with seats outside. Although the place could use some face lift, the area was clean in general. Do expect the staff to be a little slower in responding to you though. I'm not sure if this is the effect of the sea giving it a holiday mood or the fact that it was too early in the morning.
Following breakfast, we walked up the ever famous hanging bridge to the other side of the beach. The view there was AWESOME! It's like a private beach where the water was clear, clean and plenty of shady areas to chill. We went crazy with photos!
Supposed to go hiking up the hill but since we weren't well equipped, we didn't even attempt it. We walked back to the other side and got ourselves ice-cream (actually I got myself an ice cream). There were some shops opposite the parking where there were souvenier stuff and clothes on sale. Shortly after, although we weren't hungry, we thought we would buy back some food for lunch since getting good food in the hotel vicinity was not possible.
We were craving for some good chinese food and curry mee in particular for me. Just a few shops up from there was this chinese restaurant where there were even Malays eating there! We were surprised as this is not a common view in KL.
We had a drink while waiting for out curry mee - to be ta pau-ed. Food came up to about RM7-smtg with loads of fish ball and chicken slices. (We ate this back in our room)
We left the restaurant (can't remember the name but they have 2 stalls at the front of the shop - selling chicked rice, wan tan mee and mee curry - dry and soup.
On our way back I noticed the Batik Village signboard on the other side of the road. We turned in here and walked around for about an hour or so. The Batik Village is a tourist attraction where one can see batik prints being made - the traditional boil & wax method. We captured a few girls in action. They must be used to visitors as they continued to work as usual despite us going around their work station and sniffing over their art work.
Some pictures to follow here.

There were a few other souvenier shops in the same compound but they mainly were stuff from other parts of the country like Sarawak and Sabah which has become a common sight in any part of the Peninsular. If you've been to Sabah or Sarawak, you'd understand why I wouldn't buy these stuff from over here and would rather get them from the place of origin.

We got really tired from walking around and decided to call it a day. We went back to the room, took a shower, ate our curry mee (it tasted really really good!)  and took a short nap.

When we got up, we got ready and drove to Kuantan Town which was about 30mins drive from where we were. The roads are actually very very narrow and some don't even have street lights. One has to be very careful in driving down these roads especially at night.

We arrived in town at about late 6pm. It was getting dark really fast in the past 2 nights we were there. Our first stop was the Berjaya Megamall. Looks pretty run down with mainly eateries in the ground floor and some IT gadget shops in the upper floors. There is also an IT hypermart at the back of this mall.

We left shortly after getting some famous amos cookies for the road. The next hard task was to find some chinese food. GPS wasn't much help. Eventually we came around to the East Coast Mall (EC) and spotted some stalls at a food garden a stone throw away from the EC mall. The way I like my food - a lot of options. We had tom yam soup with mee hoon, ais kacang and chinese style ried rice. Food was decent. Nothing to shout about though. Following dinner, we walked across to EC to look around. Ended up getting another bottle of wine for the night at the Carrefour and left after.
Another round of wine session and we were all totally zonked out after till the next morning.

Day 3:
Slept in till late. Woke up, packed and walked out to the beach since we haven't been there yet. We played by the shores for a bit, lied on the hammock, took more pictures and waved goodbye to the beach.
We checked out and left by about 12 (if I remember clearly). Upon reaching KL, we went for lunch at Stevens Corner, washed the car and then got home. Time well spent. I must admit this was one different holiday we will be trying again.
But for Kuantan, I'd want to try to trace my steps back to Club Med Cherating the same way we went the last time so that we can locate the famous and super nice beriyani restaurant we ate at the previous time.. Till then..

summary of the week

Well, it's been a painful, agonizing week to conclude. Finally the weekend is here to stay. Sometimes, I wish weekends will stay on and long... Sigh.

It's been agonizing having to wait all week to blog as well. Don't seem to have the time nor motivation to start with. Finally, it's a quiet day. I got it back. Not too sure if it's a result of an early day or McDs breakfast or working out wit Handsome chap..

The days gone were pretty much boring. Some or should I say the only interesting details were my studies application - last minute run around & venturing new places - wit Sumi & VJ

Firstly, Sumi & I were supposed to meet for dinner as usual after her class. I was inspired to try out the nasi lemak goreng in Jalan Ipoh - apparently famous for that and their shake drinks.
Finally set it on Wednesday to go. It was at Jalan Kolam Air. A shop by the road side - all painted in yellow. It's called Kawan Lama Corner (KLC). Parking isn't all a breeze as we had to park along the road side but we managed to find 2 slots some few feet from the shop. It was drizzling when we got in. The owner was very very friendly to us. Extremely in fact. He gave this all too familiar feel to us, makes you feel all welcome and comfy with his warm gestures. There is a TV fixed with Astro! We ordered their famous dish. Now for the verdict - it must've been the time we ate because I was literally struggling through my meal. It was about 11pm then.

The food? Well, I'm not that big a rice-fan to begin with but it was nice. Something different. A lil' too spicy for me. As Sumi said, if they loose the peanuts, it'll taste better.
As for me, wen I order the next time, I need to ask them to reduce the ikan bilis, peanuts & onions. At the end of my meal, quarter part of my plate was filled with those 3 stuff. It was overwhelming for me.
The drink? Milo shake was a bomb! Sumi found it too sweet but I thought it was nice. Thick milo that is. However, at the end of the eating ordeal, I ended up flushing down the spiciness with my drink that I was thoroughly full to the brim in the end.

We left shortly after. The nasi lemak goreng cost us about RM5.50 per plate. I think the drink came up to about RM2.50 or so. Decent meal. Something I will try again the next time when i'm famished perhaps?

Now, the event prior to this eating session was something dramatic. My preparation to submit an application for masters. Most of my certificates were missing. Including the original files. I was going bonkers at this stage. I left for home early that day to look for these. Bearing in mind that the application deadline was on the 30th Sept. At the back of my mind, I was thinking that it is on the coming Friday. The rude awakening call came the next day - when Sumi called to inform me that the deadline was that same evening!

Anyway, my timeline was to be done by 9pm since my date was at 930pm. I picked up an empty box, and started getting rid of all unwanted papers- mainly brochures, papers from events i've been to. At the same time, I was also scaling through my memory, recalling the pink file in which my certs were. Just a few days prior to that, I saw my degree cert lying on the table and I kept it safely in a file but I couldn't find even that.
My degree of stress and anger was increasing. I kept the kids at bay by warning them not to bug me. Of course it didn't quite work but I kept insisting that I was busy, to leave me alone.

The fact that none of the other aunts were not at home didn't help either. Beings kids, they will always demand the attention they want.

Finally! I found the pink folder with all my certs in it, original ones including the photo copied ones, certified. :)

The search ends. I compiled the whole lot after a quick checklist and kept it away in a bag to bring along to work the following day. After shower, clad in my most comfy outfit, I left to meet Sumi. Timing was perfect. And then the story above follows.

The rush

Came Thursday, it was work as usual for me. I went with my bag of certs and all other docs. Everything was slow and easy going until I received a call from Sumi. She started with - do you know what is the date today?
Me- 30th
She- Do u know when is the deadline for submission?
Me - Friday
She - Babe, it's the 30th - TODAY!!

Thank God she called during my lunch time & I was done with my meal by then. Rushed through the remaining 30 minutes to prepare all my online documentation, arrangement and was done by 2pm. Left the office and reached main campus at about 245 or so. Submitted the 2 envelopes by hand to the officer in charge and left. The place was crowded with international applicants.

Went to do my threading after that in Bangsar and left for home. A certain sense of accomplishment came over me. Not sure if it was the thrill of running on a tight deadline or that the application has gone to the right hands. Now, nothing to worry about for the next 1 month ;)

Follow up

SATURDAY

Wen to the Brothers in Ampang. Earmarked a few accessories i wanted to get for my car. This included a stabiliser and new mats. Another accessory would be new head-lights. Of course my trust-worthy consultant was with me to explain everything I wanted to know.

Went to SPCA after that. A long pending thing to-do. We walked around the kennels. Most of them were adult dogs. Some of the older ones who were not for adoption were left to roam around freely as they were harmless.

While we were on our rounds, suddenly there was a commotion. Every single canine was on full alert and was barking away. We were surprised and looked at the direction they were looking at. I noticed a man carrying one of the dogs out of his kennel. All the others were barking at him - the man and the dog he was carrying. He kept him in a cage at the back of his van and was getting ready to go. We approached the man and asked him what was going on, where the doggie was being taken to. He said that he is sending her back to where she came from - the Batu Caves neighbourhood. They usually pick up the stray females, spay them and send them back to their habitat so they do not continue multiplying.
All the other dogs were aware of this practise and were barking - in acknowledgement or distress or simply sending off. The guy in the cage was silent... And looked sad...



SUNDAY
Supposed to go for the Walk of Hope on the 26th of Sept at 630am! Confirmed with frens, Sunan and Sumi. Even called to check if they were both up and ready. unfortunately both took a rain check. I wasn't exactly looking forward to going there alone, given that the place was very new to me. I didn't feel good. I followed my gut feel and continued sleeping.

Woke up at around 9-ish and decided to go workout at the gym. A very good decision made as it was fruitful in the end. I started with a few warm-up rounds of yoga. Continued to running.

Completion: 30minutes + 230 KCal + 3.5KM on an average of 8.0km/h

I pushed myself on this one as a self-punishment for not making it for the 5km walk. It worked. I continued on despite a slight pain on my left. It went away after that. It felt awesome after that. A pleasant sense of achievement.

This was on Sunday morning.

Domestication era is here again - part 2

I've told myself tht I was going to spend my Saturdays cooking alongside mum to learn some basic culinary skills. Although I can cook to save myself, I am still a copy cat. I replicate recipes I find from the net, from AFC from friends etc etc. Never really tried to tweak recipes that much except to replace certain ingredients if the exact one is not avail.

An aunt who came over the other day told me something that got me thinking - or should i say - woke me up coz I still remember her words till today whenever I think of a recipe tryout. She said - the recipe is just a guideline. You should experiment with your own ingredients, adding and subtracting to create your own taste. Not all tastes are the same. A lil bit of chemistry there.. Add and mix and have fun! After all, cooking is a lot to do with chemistry lesson. The soda bicarbonate which gives rise and sodium which gives taste..
(Of course I added my own version into the line above)

It made a lot more sense and tracing back to my own cooking when I was younger, I think I was more daring to experiment compared to as I was growing older... It awaken some nerve in me which was the inquisitive, always trying to do something in the kitchen persona. Never someone who liked to watch and learn, I always wanted to do things my way. So much so that whenever I am going to cook that day, mum will stay out of the kitchen to let me do my own stuff. Of course she was always there as my go-to person when i've messed up.

Today, Saturday, mum made crab curry. I started to be the helper. After having my roti canai breakfast, I busy-bodied my way through the kitchen. Since the meat and stuff was still being cleaned, I was told to bathe the 2 babies. Had a good splashing time with the 2 and once done, I was back in the kitchen again. I observed all the ingredients she added into the curry. I asked her questions, tried to understand.

WHilst doing all this, we shared stories. It was bonding time for us. That was special. A time that is irreplacable. I should do this more regularly I thought. And above all that, mum was very sparing with her knowledge. And more than eager to share all that she knew... I think my love for her has grown so much more in the recent years. I think the thick that we go through is making us closer.

I will try to post the recipe in my next post. Didn't take any pictures this time. I sure will when i try the recipe again ... soon!

Domestication era is here again

The past week has been filled with a lot of planning.. Planning for trips, things to do, pending follow up, this and that and everything else. Some of those plans took off, some well, and some others flopped.

One good day was Thursday - 16th Sept (Malaysia Day).
Planned to take the whole family to Genting and back - a short trip, an early one to avoid congestion and home by noon. Since the 2 kids were still below the minimum height required to play the games in the parks, we weren't planning to spend too long up there. All was planned well until the night of the 15th when mum decided that she didn't want to follow us. She wasn't keen at all with the idea! What a contrary to her reaction when she first heard about it. Well, i was frantic and upset and a host of mixed feelings came to me. Took a step back and said, never mind, I'm sure this' for a good reason and slept it off.

The day came, of course no one made any other plans. I had plan B to do some long overdue spring cleaning,.started with my car. Took almost an hour to get rid of rubbish and all sorts of things from the car. Thankfully no rats or roaches jumped out..

Sent it for a wash and even washed the carpets. Since the sun was really hot, we call it a good day :) , I left the mats out in the open to dry itself. Did my 1-week old laundry, made my long over-due butter prawns. Mixed a few recipes - Butter prawn + nestum. Turned out to be nice! I'd give it a 80% improvement from attempt 1 - in which i burnt the prawns.

I saw that i still had some time, another long overdue plan was to make some cookies. I bought a set of stencils for cookies, included an icing set in it. Bought the butter some 1 week earlier but haven't got around to doing it. So i started the preparation and the dough was ready to be baked. One BIG mistake i made was to not blend the sugar. The coarseness of the sugar was annoying to me. So, i crpss checked with mum a quick fix to the solution. SHe said - blend it!

Excellent, never tried tat before so let's do it. So i blended the dough, added some milk and cream into it for some liquid and took it out. Added another egg into it too.

Turned out to be a lot more liquid and adding a bit more flour didn't quite help the situation. I still used the cookie maker to get some shape but when i took it out of the oven, it has risen and became shapeless.

After 2 trays, i decided to dump the entire dough into a cake baking tray and put it to bake instead.

Turned out fixed eventually, some crunchy taste with a bit of choc cake moist to it. Well, not too sure of the adults but the kids love it. At least some1 does.

Getting back on track

15th Sept 2010
7:15am
Checked in at the gym again today after a long week of being idle, or was it longer? I don't know, can't remember now. As you can tell, I've lost track. Went on a mission to do something / anything.. Ended up running. WITHOUT my knee guards!

I haven't ran without my knee guards since I last ran in school - some 18 years ago! Well, the result - wasn't bad at all. I did feel a slight muscle pull at some point after my 2km and i slowed down then but tat was it. I finished my run eventually!

Time: 12 mins
Distance: 2.5km
Calories burnt: 82

My motivation has left me all alone

Life has taken a slow-pace this past few days. In fact, in the past 5 days! Roads are super clear.. Candidates are non-existant and my motivation has also taken a break! no mood to work or do anything else but cruise..
Yea - that's the right word - cruising. Thats' what I, together with the 5 others who are in the office been doing. It's considered a lucky day to have 5 people in. Most of the times, there is some casualty or another.
Flu, fever, car, late, mum, dad, sis, baby etc etc... the list can go on and on.

Can't wait for my motivation to come back now... The rest of the crowd can stay where they are. Those who are back in their kampungs can stay where they are.. Find jobs in your own villages even if it is has to do with farming.. Don't worry about coming back.. The city is doing excellent with the extreme decrease in traffic congestion and less pollution. Take a long deserved break... ;)

in a cross-road yet again

In a cross-road yet again.. Which route to take?

12 o'clock or 3 o'clock or 6 o'clock or 9 o'clock... 

As wisely said - it's the walk that matters not the arrival..

Hari Raya 2010? Or did it ever happen?

Raya is no longer the same as it used to be. Especially felt it this year. Awfully quiet, less advert and hype, everything has sort of quitened down. Many reasons to it I could think of, none I can verify...

Could it be the economy? Less money, no mood to spend?
Or the racial tensions around us has been brewing bad air and has remained?
Or could it be that I was simply not in-touch with the "hip" & "happening" issues around town that I only see the bleak side?

Either ways, the break was worth it. No regrets, no looking back.

Mc Donalds Breakfast crave

As usual, one of my crazy McDs' breakfast craze attacked me this morning. With a growling stomach and VJ on the phone I rambled about the lack of drive-thru McDs in my office area and more depressingly, there is a small until in Menara Summit itself but they don't serve breakfast unfortunately. So sad... But the good thing is that if they did serve breakfast, they will get good business from me & all my gym efforts will be washed into the drain of wastage.. :)
So it's a blessing in disguise.

They now have a breakfast special - Coffee / Tea + Sausage McMuffin = RM4 only. Okay the tax is about 20cents. (Minus Hash Brown)
I drove thru SS15 McDs - the nearest point according to my trust-worthy GPS. Asked for the usual set #3 & opted for the special breakfast option instead of the usual which comes up to about RM8. I'm not that BIG a fan of hash brown anyway...

Asked for tea but only realised that i was given coffee instead - once i got to the office. The only slack thing about this detour was that i ended up at Persiaran Kewajipan on my way back and the traffic was horrendous as usual. I couldn't resist or wait till i got to the office so i started biting into my burger in the car while waiting. Every bite was precious & satisfying... I satisfied my craving in less than 5 minutes.

Managed to reach the parking lot just in time & in the office at 830 sharp!

Conclusion - 30 minutes drive to arrive at a 5 minute craving satisfaction! Worth it...

Taiping escapade

3 years has passed so fast

6th of August 2010 marks 3 years since we first agreed to be together. Still feels like yesterday one more time...

Somethings not changed though, he remembered and I didn't...

Random pictures of the 2 kannekuttis....

oh no... what's wrong?

 Oh boy...

 Phew... finally it's over..

oh oh....

My yogic journey continues

Yoga lessons were starting again at Cobra club. I received an email some weeks back and suddenly decided that I will follow the lessons again. I went there before.. Left during intermediate lessons. Sometime towards the end of the lesson.

It was a Sunday - the day after SHAPE RUN. I had no other plans. I went for the beginners class - 330pm. I saw some familiar faces - asst instructors I knew. We chatted for a while. Her sister was in the same batch as me when i was taking the lessons. Eventually we fell out of touch when she left midway during beginners lesson.

My sir came. I spoke to him and asked if I should continue in the beginners lesson or intermediate class instead? He asked how long ago since I last came for class and suggested I join in the intermediate lesson. I still went through the beginner lesson. A brief introduction to yoga and the health benefits were given by Mr Perumal. What was different this time around?
There were some warm-up exercises for the entire body.
There were more assistant instructors around to assist.
Bigger class with more male participants.

We continued on to about 5-6 sun salutation exercise & corpse pose. By then it was already 5pm. Time for my 2nd class - intermediate.

This back to back session was a real killer for me. I didn't experience any body ache from the run but I did after yoga.

15 rounds of sun salutation back to back incorporating alternate breathing was done. I thought my limbs were going to come apart after this exercise. We continued on with other exercises and poses. We even did head stand! Something I haven't done in more than a year! Class ended at 6:30pm. I felt much better than I did earlier. But the next day was bad. My entire body was aching. Aches I have never experienced before even when i went to the gym for workout. Usually gym workout would cause me ache during the moment but there is no aftermath.

I suppose this is expected... Internal organs which has never been awaken before is suddenly shocked. It feels much better these days..

SHAPE Night Run 2010

Finally the day arrived! I blocked off all plans for Saturday morning & rested. Slept in, woke up close to 11am. Did some chores. My laundry, drying, washing and cleaning the house. Managed to do some last minute google search on food preparation for a night run. No one was home that morning. One sis went to work and the rest went to Port Klang to St Annes church for the feast.

Planned to meet Sumi at about 330pm - 4pm. We had to be at Putrajaya by 7pm. I fetched Sumi from her place and we went for half boiled egg in Old Town. This was in preparation for the race. Earlier at home, I drank some salt water as well. At Old Town, the services was unusually slow. I literally walked over to pass my order at the counter as no one was paying attention to us.

Apart from half boiled eggs, we also had a single toast and a polo bun with some hot water to flush it down. We left and headed to Sumis place again as she left her Breathe-Easy at home. Detour didn't take that long, the rain and traffic condition did. It was pouring cats and dogs all the way from Ampang to MRR2 right up to MEX. Midway on MEX highway, the rain was completely gone.

AT PUTRAJAYA

We reached at about 6smtg or was it late 5smtg... (can't remember exact time).
We tried to park as close as we can to the start pit but the parking nearest to the pit was reserved for staff only. We stayed in the car for a while, listening to music and chatting until it was near 7 and I wanted to go to the toilet (In either order).

WARM-UP
The crowd was already building up by then. I was getting bored of waiting. Honestly bored until I just wanted to get on with it. We warmed up at abuot 730pm. Ran a few laps to and fro near the start pit. There were thousands of people there with many booths with redemption goods and freebies, including drinks and fruits and food. Our goodie bags were to be collected after the race.

I borrowed VJs head phones to connect to my MP3. I thought I should try to inject some music to my run since I stand a high chance of getting bored on my way.

START-PIT

In high spirits we jumped into queue at about 7:50pm, 10 minutes before flag off time. A lot of other kiasu people jumped into the queue in front of us and cramped us all in. Some were very inconsiderate as they not only invaded our space but placed their hands on the hips, taking more space and hitting us on the way. I told off this one guy who did that but he was clearly oblivious to my plight. Ignore!

I began to say a short prayer, asking God to give me the strength and stamina to continue my journey. I also prayed for safety that there will not be any injuries or mishaps. In the last few minutes, I and Sumi held our hands and said a quick prayer together. I believe we both prayed for safety.
Once the gun went off everyone ran. I kept up with Sumi - for about 500m - 700m? Then we were on our own. The journey was very vibrant with so many runners running past me. I managed to keep my pace for a long while, probably for about 1.5km before I started to slow down. I started to see more and more people run past me. I eventually started walking. A small voice kept nagging me to stop walking as I could feel my body cooling down. Picking up the pace will be a trouble.

I kept cursing myself for signing up. I even asked myself- why WOMENS OPEN?? Why not just take part in the FUN RUN instead since that is only 5KM?? Crazy thoughts kept crawling in. As I kept going, I began to feel alone. Despite the hundreds of runners all around me, I still felt alone. Random thoughts on life were haunting me.

At one point of the run, my stomach began to growl! I was actually hungry. I began thinking of a hot plate of nasi lemak with chicken from Old Town Kopitiam. wow.. I was salivating for a bit. And then I stopped myself. This must be the devil on my left shoulder tempting me.

I was too stubborn to listen to any voices except my own during the run. Even the techno music I downloaded didn't work. There were so many fast-beat music that took turns to motivate me but nothing worked. I refused to run to the beat, instead I walked. I walked quite a bit. Picking up the pace after a while wasn't as hard as I thought. I sprinted whenever I had the energy and slowed my pace when I couldn't. I went on the same rotation until I saw the distance left to run reducing. When it was 3 KM to go, I was estatic. I was too tired by then though to run any faster.

WATER

They had water station along the way but it was only that - WATER!!! I needed more than that! I was craving for 100Plus or REVIVE or any isotonic drinks but none to my avail. In fact we even checked with the organizers if there will be water alone or revive provided along the way and they said YES. sigh....

STOP PIT

I was nearing the mosque which looked familiar and I knew we weren't far off from the stop-pit. I began to sprint then and upon reaching the final leg, I saw that most people were already slowing down. By this point, I knew I didn't stand any chance to finish and win a medal but my aim was to finish. A medal would have been a bonus. But the fact that I completed the race was something I was happy about. The target time I set for myself was 2.5hours. I couldn't wait to check my time. Time check - 9:37pm. (I checked with Dharmein whom i saw on the way)

Upon passing the stop pit, they handed over a certificate. I was frantically looking for Sumi whom I spotted ahead of me! She had 2 Revive cups in her hands for me! WOW!!! the joys of enjoying the drink then is undescribable. Fresh cold supply of minerals! I thought to myself - this must be what it feels like if I came out of Hell and entered into Heaven :)

FINALLY....
I was so glad it was over I just wanted to lie down and die. Sumi forbid me from doing so and urged that we cooled down our bodies. We did some stretching and post mortem and then headed to the stalls nearby.

We picked up our goodie bags and were given a green apple each. There was so much going on. The stage was occupied by the DJ-s who were busy entertaining the crowd - or whoever was listening. They gave away the prizes for the winners and the rest of us were allowed to leave if we wanted to.
We left after a while. We chatted with Dharmein whom we spotted while walking. We drank so much of REVIVE until we felt like throwing up. Eventually Sumi did when she reached home. She felt too sick to do anything. I dropped her at her home and went to a nearby mamak to ta pau some food for her and myself. Original plan was to dine together but she was not well to eat with me.

When I was reaching the restaurant mademoiselle calls and said that she was feeling much better, ready to eat. She joined me a while later at the restaurant. I ate an extremely spicy mee goreng mamak and finished the last 2 bites of Sumis' tosai while she helped me with my plate of mee.

I reached home at about 2am or so.. Had a quick shower before I jumped into bed. It was a very satisfying feel. Thank God its Sunday the next day..

Latest Workout Update

Wednesday...

Went for a jog at Lake Gardens. It was a great evening but I was feeling unusually lazy. I almost changed my route and gone home! I pushed myself to go because I know I have to acclimatize myself with running on the road. I ain't gonna run on a threadmill on Sat! It's a run on the road. I took my changing bag into the toilet. 20cents per entry with free tissue. But must remember to take the tissue from outside, there is only a drier in the toilet. a very basic unit. All floors were wet. Found one that was more dry than the others and got in to change. I reminded myself not to ever go there to change again as it was very very inconvenient.

I warmed up near my car. It was about 7:15 when I started to walk. about 500 metres into walking I bumped into an old friend Dharmein whom i've not met for ages! We chatted for a while and I found out that he was also going for the SHAPE run! He was with 3 of his colleagues there. I asked again - 12.3KM? He said yea.. so not the fun run ah? Yes, fun run is 5KM.
WOW what a coincidence i said. He asked why i haven't been coming out these days. I had no idea! I guess being in Subang has been a little inconvenient unless prior plans were made and we never made such plans.
I excused myself after a while as it was getting darker then. I didn't like the idea of running in the dark.

So I ran. One full round ONLY and I was already tired! I am soo screwed this Saturday I thought to myself.
Bad bad shape!
One thing that made me happy was to see my sweat. I had trinklets of sweat which appeared on my hands and forehead and body when I was cooling down. That felt good. To see and feel my own sweat. As my history goes, I am not used to sweating before. I also have never ran in my entire life except in school during P-Jasmani lesson for warm up when we used to run around the padang and in preparation for sports when we had to sprint for our sports team. Even then running was never a priority to me. I dreaded it and never really got off with it in the right foot.
It carried on till today. Until 2010 came about & Sumi came to KL. 2010 came with a lot of new plans and changes and Sumis' presence eased the transition period as well as she was the one who loved to run (IF I can say that. Altho she'll KILL me for saying it)
At least she was someone who was used to running, unlike ME!
I used to hate running alongside her because she doesn't allow room for being tired. It was military rules with that woman! Anyway as much as i resisted, I also started to see it positively. I read a great deal about running, on how to improve my stamina, different running methods etc etc. Bugged VJ a lot. And then the gym membership came along. It was very timely as we used to go to the park at least a few times in a week, after work for me and after class for her. It didn't quite work because our plans were subject to weather conditions. If it rains or drizzles plans had to be cancelled. So gym treadmill was a good alternative and I began frequenting the gym more than I ever did in my entire life.
I relieved my previous 2 gym memberships with the idea that gym was not ideal for me. I'm not a gym or equipment person I used to say.
And I still signed up. I must say that in the past 2 months, I have frequented the gym more times than I have in the 3 years of being a gym member. My push factor has been the goals I had in mind to achieve - at this point of time is to be able to participate in the SHAPE run without dropping DEAD!

I'm going again today. We'll see.

Readers Digest Prize Money RM250,000

Received an email with Readers Digest letterhead a few days ago. It was a brief letter stating that I am one of the lucky winners to-be for a RM250K cash money. They asked me to wait for another email with details of the same. 2 days later the detailed letter arrived. It even had a car key attached on a piece of paper. I wish it was a "real key" for me to use. There were 3 cars to choose from: 2 Hyundai models and a Honda Civic. I was eyeing on the Honda but there was a number etched on the key which corresponds to which car you will be getting. 2638 - Honda Civic! Wow, what a coincidence I thought.

I had to verify the legitimacy of the letter and the names it had on it. SO I did a simple search on the names mentioned. This included the address of the actual RD office in Malaysia.

Checking on the Finance director, E Courtney I came across this link which is from the RD office UK which clarifies that it is a SCAM. There's nothing more assuring than hearing it from the ORIGINAL https://myrd.readersdigest.co.uk/misc/Fraud.htm . Apparently there has been other names used as their Fin Director.
They even have some basic tips on avoiding scam here https://myrd.readersdigest.co.uk/misc/Tips.htm

On further investigation, The contact details of RD Malaysia Customer care centre is the exact one provided in the snail mail - with a legitimate email add : friends@rdasia.com.my (What a clever cover up!!)
The numbers were also correct BUT the names and other details aren't. In fact it is a very clever marketing cover. They didn't write as I am a guaranteed winner BUT it's written as Unrestricted Access to a special prize opportunity worth up to RM145,000! They were also giving away a FREE Piercarlo D'alessio watch and an opportunity to win RM250,000 or more.

And the Piercarlo D'alessio watch actually costs about RM35 up to RM70 depending on the face and wrist type. Upon checking that out, I ended up at Coupon snapshots at which then led me to the Malaysian version at http://www.shoppy.com.my/ for goods of all sort and http://www.foodpromotions.com.my/2009/04/wendys-online-coupon.html for food promo coupons.

I think I'm sliding off topic here, so back to the initial post, I did check again on the scam activities by RD considering that this isn't the first time I came across such a promo bearing their name. I was led to this site: http://www.scam.com/. I've registered myself in it to have more access to their forums and post some of my own 2 cents worth where it applies. Good to visit it since it also covers scams in Malaysia and worldwide.

Long short of the matter is, in this internet age where information is indeed power, it only takes at least 10 minutes to google such an information to confirm it's legitimacy. In my humbe opinion, I think it is time well spent. As the saying goes... A stitch in time saves nine, I have my own - a google in time saves 10!

On Death...

It's funny how we miss someone whom we love even after they've passed on in life.. The memories alone is not enough to feed our thoughts when we think of our loved one... The absense of their presence still leave a hollow space in our lives.. But for how long?

It's been 4 years since Anya left us. Although I am rest assured that his physical suffering is gone and he is tending to the gardens of Heaven, I still miss him daily even until now. There's never been a single day he has not been in my mind. Memories of him coming back in his bicycle, calling my name to ask for coffee, scolding if the water is not hot enough and even giving me money from the very little that he has.

I don't have the opportunity to give him money in return.. He is long gone. I miss his presence dearly. The physical presence of him talking to me, walking with me and taking me in his bicycle to school when we were much younger, carrying all 4 of our bags on his shoulder and walking us back in the evenings, plucking jasmine flowers together with us in the afternoon when he comes home for lunch..

Those are fond memories of the past which still lingers on. Times that has long passed but I live it each day by thinking of it. Some experts might analyse my situation and say that I am clinging on to my past. I beg to differ. I am not clinging on the the past but merely memories of those which has my anya in it.
Memories which remind me again and again why i loved him so much.
Memories which tells me how a fatherly love should be and remembered..

He may not have left me many riches in the material world but he left me with so much of fatherly love and care... Something no money can buy or trade for.. An experience I can only pass on to the generations to come.... In the hope that they cherish it as much as I did.. I still love you anya.. Rest in peace.

Hurry burry weekend

A very long, tiring weekend led the path to a long tiring week...

Missed 3 days of running now. Very bad momentum to kick start a 12.3KM run this Saturday.

I need some divine intervention... Dire need indeed. . .

10 style secrets to looking slimmer & Why you can't lose that extra 10 pounds

http://shine.yahoo.com/event/loveyourbody/why-you-cant-lose-those-last-10-pounds-1964849/ 

- taken from Shine!Yahoo!

http://www.wowowow.com/slideviewer/465383/2

- taken from The Women on the Web (WOWOWOW)