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Well, not much excitement lately. It's the same ol' same ol'. The only things worth mentioning of late are:

1) The biggest news now is the arrival of Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes' new child, Suri. The name is supposed to mean "princess"in Hebrew and "red rose" in Persian. Found out today from gym mate that "Suri " means PIG in Punjabi.

2) There's a cute pet shop boy who works near my shop. He is pretty well versed in pet food and can give good recommendations. Jesscet goes there too. Has The Joker smile.

3) Watched Gubra on Wednesday. Not too bad, it's a lot better than "Sepet" but I just have these few comments:

• The women are too hiao (flirtatious)
• It came with 3D effect because there was a scene where the bilal (holy man) touched a dog, and someone in the cinema had a doggy smell. So there you go, 3D effect.
• Alan Yun is cute
• Yasmin Ahmad always chooses Chinese boys with ripped abs
• Some lines were way too corny
• You can NOT take Harith Iskander seriously at all, even when he's supposed to be suffering from diabetic complications.
• Harith and Ida Nerina are too young to be Orked's parents
• Yasmin Ahmad loves to leave the ending hanging (not quite a cliffhanger though)

But overall, a good watch.

Other than that I've been indulging in exercise:

Today:

30 min walk on treadmill

10 min on elliptical machine

Smith machine squats

Side squats on tepboard

Alternate lunges on stepboard

Adductor and abductor exercises

Leg raises

Yesterday:

8.8km outdoor run - Pantai Hills route and a bit more

The Hills

7.2km outdoor Pantai Hills run. Lovely weather!

Oh the hills, the hills
Just give me the thrills
As I run up the hill
I feel like a withered dill.

Oh the hills, the hills
Despite the morning chill
Produce great buns it will
Even though it kills.

Oh I love the hills!

What Kind of Coffee are you?

Ran 3.5km on treadmill
13 minutes on elliptical
Smith machine squats
Dumbell squats
Dumbell alternate lunges
Leg press
Double crunch

You Are a Frappacino

At your best, you are: fun loving, sweet, and modern At your worst, you are: childish and over indulgent You drink coffee when: you're craving something sweet Your caffeine addiction level: low

What Kind of Coffee Are You?

Hmm..don't think I'm really a Frappucino....I'm more of a Yukon Blend..mellow and well rounded.

My car air-cond has been fixed. Yippeedooday!

Ran 7.2km today, Pantai Hills route. Need to get back in the swing...

Found my fridge too...

Oh my poor Razor has a bad cough...

Failing to Launch

30 min on elliptical
10 min on stepper
Barbell row
Dumbell bench press
Tricep dip
Bent over lateral raises
Reverse crunches

One movie I want to catch is "Failure to Launch". It reminds me of myself....It's about a 35 year old man (Matther McConnaughey) who still lives with his parents. So his parents device a plan to get rid off him..they hire a woman to lure him out..... Only difference is, my parents are not dying to get rid of me! Ok, will do something about moving out. Have been so busy during Easter I haven't had time to shop for essentials. Shopping for the fridge tonight. I am such a procrastinator.

Only 3 minutes!

Went for a quickie run before I went to JPJ this morning. Started at about 6.25am, the moon and stars were still out. It was reminiscent of my trip to KK when we had to climb to the summit at 2am. Did the usual 6.6km (3 rounds of Jln Terasek). It was a nice and peaceful morning, watching the stars as I ran and singing "How Great Thou Art" in my mind.

After the run I had to dash off to JPJ to renew my driver's licence. By the time I left home it was 7.40am, it took me about 40 minutes to get to Pertama Complex. I still remember that dingy place, it was where I usually got my jeans when I was a kid. You couldn't get proper jeans anywhere else (in those days) except Pertama. Oh and that was also the place you could buy T-shirts with pop star pictures. That was where I got my Duran Duran and John Taylor shirts (yes I used to be a die hard fan..) which evetually ended up under my feet (ie rags)

As soon as I arrived at JPJ I went to take a number. The guy dispensing the number looked like he could do with a cuppa Starbucks. Also had an attitude problem. Renewed my licence for another 5 years. The time between I took my number and had my card issued only took 3 minutes! Amazing!! Even my journey there was longer! Sometimes these government officers shock me.

4km run on treadmill
10 min on elliptical
Leg press
Leg curl
Leg extension
Back extension
crunches

4km run on treadmill
10 min on elliptical
Leg press
Leg curl
Leg extension
Back extension
crunches

Recent pooch pics

Razor on his 14th birthday

Close up of Mel

Ran 6.6km around Terasek. I feel good!

Day trip to Ipoh

(Wednesday April 12, 2006)

Did a quickie workout at the gym before heading off to Ipoh:

30 min on elliptical machine
Chest press (machine)
Incline chest press (machine)
Lat pull down
Lat pull down (variation)
crunches

Started my journey at 8.15am. Regretted for not buying Starbucks as I was quite sleepy at the wheel but struggled to stay awake with much prayer and munching in between. (Papaya and prunes have now become my staple diet) My dad had wanted to visit his sister who recently had a fall. Met up with some of my cousins whom I haven't seen in many moons. My family used to go back every Chinese New Year, but when my granparents departed, we stopped going. It's amazing how time flies, my cousins are now in their 50's. Some have aged gracefully (very) and some have just aged, period. I still remember them when they were young adults and I was just a little munchkin running around them. I used to think that their children were tiny tots but now that the kids have all grown, the age gap is smaller...they are only a few year younger than me.

Anyway, this is my youngest cousin...Jerry, who is just below 3.
















Also drove pass what used to be my grandparent's house: 13 Greenhill Drive.. I still have fond memories of that place and remember vividly what it looked like. It was an ancient house and the toilets were outside the house! I used to feel all spooked up if I had to go to the toilet in the middle of the night......The place used to be shady, with frangipanni trees but now it's a commercialised area. When my grandparents passed on, our family eventually sold the house and this is what it looks like now.


Good grief, they have turned it into a bar. :(

RESTORED!

Hurrah!!!!!!!!! Finally my posts are showing. Putting the stupid translator on my blog must have upset the whole template. Thanks to HL, I was reminded that I had a back up of my blog script so I just restored it. Yay!!

10k and garlic breath

Ran 10km double hill route with Jenny on Tuesday. It was a nice and pleasant morning. We took it really slow because of my pain in the butt. She introduced me to another lady whom she said was a walker more than a runner because of niggling injuries. But it turned out she was ahead of us from the minute we started! It was only in the last 500m that I overtook her because I (in Arnold Lim's words) "beh tahan" (had to go to toilet). It started to drizzle too. Just as I arrived at the carpark it started getting heavier.

After a beautiful morning run, I went off for breakfast with some gal pals. We had Chef J (Jamie Oliver if you'd like to think) cook up a sumptuous brekkie for us. The highlight was the garlic mushroom which had a lingering smell in my mouth even hours after the meal. That wasn't so good for choir practice. Good thing the person beside me also had garlic so she probably couldn't smell any of the garlic emanating from my mouth.

Translations

I am having so much fun with these translators.So I thought I'd give you a few versions of the same text in my blog. You should try it for entertainment!

Ali G:
I iz havin so much wicked wiv dees translators.so I fought i'd borrow yous da few versions hof da same text in me blog. yous should try hit fe entertainment!

Brummie:
I yam haven so much crack with these translators.so I thought i'd gid yaouw a tewthree versions of the same text in me blog. yaouw should try it fer crack!

Cockney:
I am 'avin' so much fan wif these translators.so I thought i'd give ya a few versions of the same text in me blog. ya should try it for entertainment!

Geordie:
ah am havin see mich fun wi' these translators.so ah thowt i'd give yee a few versions iv the syem text in me blog. yee shud try it fo' entertainment!

Irish:
scon are 'avin' so much craic wi' dees translators.so oi tart i'd gie yer a few versions av de seem text in me blog. yer shud try it for entertainment!

Posh:
one is having soh much geay with these translators.soh one thought i'd giz you, one's old bean, ah few versions of the same text in one's blog. you, one's old bean, should try it for entertainment!

Scots:
Ah am havin' sae much fin wi' these translators.so Ah thooght eh'd gie ye puckle versions ay th' sam text in mah blog. ye shoods try it fur entertainment!

Scouse:
ay am 'av'n so much fun wi' deez translators.so ay thought i'd graft yous a few versions o' de same text in me blog. yous should try it fe entitainment!

Yorkshire:
ah'm avin sa much fun wi' these translators.soa ah thowt i'd gi' theur eur few versions o' t' sem text i' uz blog. theur should try it for entertainment!

With love from UK?

You Belong in the UK

Blimey! A little proper, a little saucy. You're so witty and charming... No one notices your curry breath

What English Speaking Country Do You Belong In?

Don't think I am really proper but oh well! Anyway, found this really cool Scottie translator: Check it out! Ah hink thes is sae stoat! An' dis deadly Oirish translator.

Puppy Power

You Are a Boston Terrier Puppy

Aggressive, wild, and rambunctious. Deep down, you're just a cuddle monster.

What Breed of Puppy Are You?

Moi, aggressive????

Muppet

Since Jesscet started this blog quizzes again, I got bored and jumped on the bandwagon too. It's been ages since I've done one. So which Muppet personality are you?

You Are Rowlf the Dog

Mellow and serious, you enjoy time alone cultivating your talents. You're a cool dog, and you always present a relaxed vibe. A talented pianist, you can play almost anything - especially songs by Beethoven. "My bark is worse than my bite, and my piano playing beats 'em both."

The Muppet Personality Test

Incidentally, Rowlf IS one of my favourite characters! But I am definitely not a talented pianist, i think I am more of a painist.

3.5km run on treadmill
15 min on elliptical machine
Leg press
Squats
Leg curl
Leg extension
V crunch

The biggest pain in the butt is a pain in the butt. Have started reading "Miracles" by C. S. Lewis (ET, it's a gift you gave me a few years ago....and now finally I'm reading it!!).

I am contemplating running "double hill" tomorrow but I am pretty sure I'll get plenty of resistance from the rest.

5km outdoor today. No show from the rest except Jenny. Was ambitious again and intended to run Pantai Hills but was too knackered. Looked through PACM event calendar. Identified a number of runs that I want to do....Sigh! I hope it's not just wishful thinking. Finally Penang Bridge Run will be on this year. But alas! I will be in Siem Reap at that time. Such bad planning, they should publicise it a year before the event.

Getting in Tune

Did you know that tone deafness can be cured?? Here's what you can do to get better pitch (source: www.soundfeelings.com)

1) Play and LISTEN to Chromatic Scale.

Just play each note on your keyboard up and down, very slowly, and listen. That’s all. Before you will be able to sing notes on pitch, you have to become familiar with how the notes sound in order. By listening, this is a crucial step. Do not sing the notes. Just listen. Play the notes along the “chromatic scale,” up and down, within your general singing range of the keyboard. The chromatic scale is every single note, black and white, as they occur in order on the keyboard, without leaving any notes out. The formal name for these notes are “half steps.” Begin playing half steps near the low part of your vocal range and then go towards the top part of your vocal range. Play each note at the rate of approximately two seconds per note. Just listen.

2) Play and SING Chromatic Scale.

Now you’re ready to reproduce what you’ve played on the keyboard, in your own singing voice. Continue to do the above step, but now sing each note after you have played it. There is a secret here that is very important: HEAR YOURSELF SINGING THE DESIRED NOTE IN YOUR MIND FIRST, BEFORE YOU ACTUALLY SING IT OUT LOUD!! This will give you the greatest success. Don’t rush. Take all the time you need. Again, DON’T RUSH! Why? because if you just blurt out the note too soon, without thinking about it, you will not improve at all. People who have a pitch problem also tend to have a habit of not listening or not paying attention to others when they speak. This habitual block-out bleeds over to not hearing yourself singing the note in your mind before you actually sing it, because you are in a hurry. So in addition to doing this step, try to work on changing your habit of ignoring people when they are speaking to you. In other words, even though you may want to tune someone out, you are inadvertantly “practicing” how to not listen if you continue doing this. Then, when you want to hear, such as in singing, you can’t!

1. PLAY the note
2. HEAR yourself singing it in your mind (Don’t rush -
wait until you really hear it!)
3. SING the note

You can actually purchase an ebook on this subject and discover 11 innovative ways to improve your pitch! Someone should kindly present this to a certain uncle in our choir...

Aside from practising there is also a greater power that can cure tone deafness.....Read this testimony.

Today's exercise:
4.4km outdoor run.

Legs felt like lead. Had wanted to do Pantai Hills but felt too tired after all the shifting yesterday.

Prime Time for Crime

I just found out today that a friend of mine had her bag snatched while walking along Jln Telawi 2...in broad daylight (12:50pm). The irony of it was, she had gone to redeem her free massage from our gym, but got her bag stolen in the process and lost far more than the cost of the massage. Not to mention the hassle of losing important documents. This happened last Sunday - the same day of the murder of the Strudels manager in Lucky Garden.

It's quite scary really. It could happen to anyone. Every morning I see the Starbucks staff at Telawi 3 opening their branch early too. But it's a good thing that at least they ensure that there are 2 people during opening.

It just isn't safe anymore.

Today's exercise:
4km run on treadmill
10 min on elliptical machine
Leg press
Squats
Sumo squats
Alternate lunges
Calf raises
Ab crunches.

I now miss the soreness I got from my KK trip. Masochist!

KK (Days 4-6)

After the climb, the rest of my KK trip was quite low-key...spent more time relaxing. Nevertheless here are some pictures... Nothing much to report except that I got bitten by a small fish while snorkeling. Quite fierce! You'd think that piranhas are found around Borneo!

Manukan by day

Sunset in Manukan

River in Poring

14

Razor Ruddock turned 14 on April 2, 2006!

Day 3 KK (24/03/06)

Time	Event
1.30am	Could not sleep anymore. Was woken up by Jurassic-Park-stomping outside my room. Decided to grab a quick bite and get ready for the summit climb. Ellen was still unwell but was still in half mind to complete the climb. Advised her to stay and rest as she still needed to find her way down from Laban Rata and didn’t want her fainting at 2am in the morning.
2.10am	My guide came to give a wake up call. It was then that the identity of this mystery man was revealed – his name’s Apson. Sure doesn’t sound like Nazri at all to me!
2.20am	Walked out to the gate. It was a dark and stormy night…….ermmm well dark but not stormy. My face felt somewhat numb even before I reached the peak. As we trudged along the moonlit path I decided not to be macho and used the head torchlight, since it was only half moon. But the guides were amazing..they didn’t use any torches at all. Probably can scale the mount blindfolded. Surprisingly I didn’t feel tired at all...I guess I was rather excited. After some steep flights of steps, we arrived at the rocky terrain where there was a white rope to guide us.This was the part that I was dreading most, as I had the impression that a lot of arm strength was required to pull ourselves up. I had imagined it was like rock climbing but it turned out a lot easier than expected. We were only required to use upper body strength at certain points, but most of the time the rope only served as a guide . Also I was told by another climber earlier that some parts are quite dangerous, and if you slip you could fall into the ravine. Of course it made me wonder which were the dangerous parts, but I guess if you don’t see it then you don’t fear…..Is that why they make people climb at an unearthly hour? After a certain altitude, we could look down and see the city below us. We could see Kota Kinabalu town in the distance, sparkling with yellow lights. At this stage we were also way above the clouds, and I had never seen the sky so full of stars. Words cannot describe how wonderful it was to be up there!
3.30am	Arrived at the Sayat-Sayat Hut(3,810m). This was the first and last checkpoint before we hit the summit. We rested here for a bit as we knew we were still too early for the sunrise. Met 3 other climbers from KL. Apparently there were 10 of them in the group and only 3 of them made it that far. 1 had altitude sickness as well and headed back to the base camp. The others could not wake up. It was quite cold by then. I wore 2 shirts and my orange fleece jacket. Still had my gym gloves on and had not changed to the woolly gloves.
3.40am	Resumed our journey. This was the most tiring part as it was very steep, and I could feel it on my Achilles. I thought I’d torn my Achilles tendon! We slowed down a lot because we knew we were still too early for the sunrise, and getting up there early would be pointless as we’d freeze to death. We were taking half steps from this point….better to go slow than to stop and rest, because it gets too cold once you’ve stopped too long. It was just amazing and breathtaking to see the moonlight against the rock formation. The temperature was gradually dropping and I began to feel my fingers numbing. Finally had to change to the wooly gloves. The climb wasn’t as difficult as I had expected. I guess I just went at my own pace and stopped whenever I needed to, just to catch my breath.
5.10am	Arrived at Low’s Peak (4,095m)!!Being such kiasu people, we started our climb early but arrived too early for the sunrise. We had to wait for 50 minutes before the sun came up! At this point I was wondering, how could Jenny say that I didn’t need a ski mask?? My face felt funny! Although I had already put on the windbreaker (courtesy of CMY) I was still frozen like a meat pattie. I think the temperature was probably about 5 degrees Celsius only but it was probably the windchill factor that killed. I don’t remember Finland to be that cold even when it was sub zero during winter. Contrary to what people say, “It’s lonely at the top”, it was crowded at the top. I only managed to capture an individual shot of myself when it was pitch black, because by the time the sun rose it got too crowded at the peak. Apart from braving the cold, I also had to endure some drama displayed by a Caucasian couple who further decreased the temperature up there. When they hit the peak, the lady said to her man “Oh dahhling, promise me you’ll never make me do this again!” He replied, “oh no, my love, this is the first and last time we’re ever doing this” And then MUAAAKKKKKKKKKK!! Their lips met. EWWWW, it was so crowded at the top, such public display of affection was hardly necessary. In Malay, you label this jijik.

At the peak!

5.50am

First signs of daybreak!

6.00am

SUN’S UP!! Beautiful! Definitely worth the wait! Continued snapping photos for about another 20 mins.

That's Mystery Man behind me.

Chilly!

St John's Peak

Which is the real me?

South Peak

St John's from another angle

Low's Peak in the background

Donkey Ears Peak

6.20am	Started our descend. It was getting quite hot by then, had to remove the windbreaker and gloves.Very glaring too, but I had my trusty Rudy Project with me.
7.30am	Arrived at Sayat-Sayat. At this point my watch conked out. Think it could not take the cold. Blimey, it was tougher descending than ascending! I didn’t like the pressure it created on my knees. At some points I walked backwards just to relieve the pressure on my knees. Finally saw the ravine which we passed through!
8.45am	Arrived at Laban Rata. The descend seemed to take forever! Went to check on Ellen. She was still dizzy and could not even sit up in bed. We had no choice but to resort to the last choice – which was to hire someone to carry her down. The charge was RM100 per km, and it was 6km down to the base camp. Quite an expensive affair, but she could not walk on her own. So she decided to let them piggy back her until halfway, then she would walk the rest, to save some cost.
9.40am	Grabbed something to eat, then checked out and headed for the base camp. Ellen had 3 guys who took turns to carry her down.They went ahead of me while I went at my own pace with Apson. Going down seemed to take forever. For one, I never realized the steps were so steep! I slowed down quite a bit as my legs were getting tired and wobbly. Yet I knew I had to make my way down as fast as I could, as I did not want Ellen to wait too long for me. Thank goodness for my walking stick, which I used on my way down to relieve the weight of my knees. In an effort to preserve my knees, I walked like a crab and went down sideways a lot, which used more adductors( inner thighs)and abductors (outer thigh), which I don’t train as regularly as my quads and hamstrings. I felt like an old woman hobbling down. Infact I felt like Moses coming down from Mt Sinai… The porters were really fast…when I was in KM5, they had already reached KM4.
11.20am	Refueled at Layang-layang. Legs were getting quite tired but had to push on.. By the time I reached the last 2km, the porter was already running back up the mount. Jijik.
1.50pm	Finally arrived at Timpohon Gate! Ellen was waiting for me there. She felt quite lousy walking the last 3 km. It was a fantastic climb, and it’s something that I would do again. Though I must admit that training for a marathon is much harder, and the mental push factor sets in much earlier for a marathon. I guess the most important lesson to learn from the climb is to go at your own pace, don’t try to be macho about it and more importantly, ENJOY the journey up there. I enjoyed every minute of my journey up and down from the mount, and I thank the Lord for granting me good health to be able to do so. Also for providing such wonderful weather during the climb, and for His protection. :)