Tuesday, August 29, 2006

Gingerbread Girl

7.5km Pantai Hills run. Low on energy! (Rating:6.5). Must have overdone it over the weekend. Went swimming on Sunday and am as brown as a gingerbread man/girl!

Monday, August 28, 2006

Rude Toad

Some people are just born rude I think. I had wanted to use the word(s) female dog but I didn't want to sound rude myself.So I decided to call this person a rude toad.

I faced the biggest sour puss today. Never in my life have I seen a woman with such a long face in my entire life. Encountered a lady at work who was just scowling all the way, even when I wanted to give her husband some professional advice, she started throwing a tantrum. Her barks put any dog to shame. At first I thought maybe it had something to do with her pregnancy, then I bumped into another lady who was also pregnant and she said she didn't have any mood swings. (Mind you they were both in 3rd trimester)

What I would have really loved to tell that rude toad was:

1) Oh, you can't be possibly having PMT, can you?
2)Just because you're pregnant doesn't mean you can have your way
3) Oh can I introduce you to some anger management course?
4) I hope you have an easy childbirth (detect the sarcasm?)

But guess what I said..

Nothing.

I just remained silent. Sigh, sometimes I really wish I could tell people off just point blank.

Anyway, it's leg training day again.

Today's exercise:
4km run on treadmill
Leg press (wide and narrow stance)
Leg curl
Alternate lunges
crunches

Saturday, August 26, 2006

It's a beautiful sunny day! THe haze has cleared!! I've never been happier spending time under the sun!

Ran 11.5km today..Man I feel good! (Rating 8.5)

Thursday, August 24, 2006

Ran 6.6km today (Terasek). Rating: 6. Never felt so tired in my entire life. Been diving into bed the minute I get home. Hopefully I can get some reading done tonight.

SO many things to do, so little time! Haven't sent my tv for repair. Haven't bought my book shelves.Haven't typed out the minutes to my meeting. Haven't checked air fares. I'd rather spend my time doing brainless things like lying on the couch (and then falling asleep).

Hopefully I can buy my new pair of Saucony this Saturday. I miss Saucony's! I need it for my race.

I look forward to a quiet weekend.....

Tuesday, August 22, 2006

Dog seeks companion

Ran 7.5km Pantai Hills today. (Rating: 7)

I have a few nicknames for Caramel now:

Mello
Mella
Meela
Caramello
Melboy
Melmo
Meemel

I realised that he actually wants a companion when he's having his meals. He won't eat unless my mom or I stand beside him. Demanding little pup!

Puteri Gunung Ledang the Musical


I had another complimentary ticket again last night...this time it was Puteri Gunung Ledang the musical. It was a very good show, far better than M and even Grease. The performers, costumes and the set was impressive. The songs were good as well..though I had to read the surtitles most of the time as:

1. My BM isn't very good. I think in English, so I'd have to do a quick translation in my mind
2. They sing pretty fast - can't catch most things they sing
3. They've put on a Javanese accent.

Everybody was ranting and raving about Stephen Rahman Hughes, but he was pretty insipid to me. The star(s) of the show, in my opinion were AC Mizal and Tiara Jacquelina. AC Mizal starred as Adipati, the prince of Majapahit and Tiara, the princess of course (also known as Gusti Puteri Radin Adjeng Retno Dumilah - what a cool name!) Tiara really took me by surprise, she was a lot better than I had expected. Although her voice wasn't fantastic, she gave a good package overall. Her Javanese dance moves were pretty impressive.

I'd watch it again. (unlike horrible, horrible Grease)

Monday, August 21, 2006

Last week's mileage:

Mon 4km (rating: 7.5)
Tues 7.5km (8)
Thurs 6.6km (6.5)
Sat 10km (8)

No Access to INXS


Finally! Been having problems getting into blogger.

Ran 4 km on the treadmill today. Rating: 7.5 (Actually felt pretty energetic but felt heavy from last night's steamboat porridge. According to the weighing scale, I gained 2 kg over the weekend. I hope it's water retention)

Last Friday I had the privilege of attending the INXS concert, thanks to a friend who managed to get a few complimentary tickets for me, my brother and his family. It was one awesome concert! This is my second INXS concert, the first being over 10 years ago, at the height of their success when Michael Hutchence was still alive. JD Fortune was really brilliant, he displayed true professionalism, and considering he had only won the Rockstar title last year, he sure blended into the group as though he had been in it for years. Not to mention he was totally, totally gorgeous!!!

The night started with a horrble opening act, nobody knew who they were, but they were BAD. They even calimed to have recorded their songs in Los Angeles and that's where they met INXS. (roll eyes). My friend commented that even if the singer wore swimming trunks, he still wouldnt be able to look sexy. It was a horrible 40 minutes of cacophony before INXS jumped onto stage.

INXS burst onto the stage at about 9.45pm (after a loooong wait) with "Suicide Blonde". The crowd went crazy. There was this weird huge guy infront of me prancing infront of me. Obviously a die hard INXS fan who knew the lyrics to all their songs. INXS interspersed old and new songs.

Other songs they sang were:
Afterglow
What You need
Kick
Need You Tonight
Mystify
By My Side
Original Sin
Disappear

..and a few more others. THey ended the show with Pretty Vegas and left the crowd screaming for more. After a few minutes, they came back onstage with their encore numbers:

Never TEar Us Apart
Perfect Strangers
New Sensation
and 2 more songs..oh getting old! Can't remember!

JD did a very good job of replacing Hutchence, he sang with similar style, yet exuded his own charisma. Definitely not a wannabe. A star of his own.

We went in as VVIP. After the show, the organisers actually were going to arrange for us to meet the band! We waited a while and eventually we were denied access to backstage as the band was already drunk after drinking the whole day. Sob! There went my chance of meeting JD! Sigh!

Tuesday, August 15, 2006

Dog tales and hill training

Dogs like hot food too. When I changed Caramel's food from Royal Canin Medium Junior to Adult, he wasn't very fond of his food. Then I changed to Back to Basics.. he didnt like it either. He'd just leave his breakfast and not eat it until dinner time. So what I did was soak the dry kibbles in hot water. Then I found out that he prefers his food mushy and with gravy.. Makes sense. Just imagine that you're fed with dried food everyday!

I miss hugging Razor.

Today I ran Pantail Hills..about 7.5km. Rating: also 7.5
I had to go really slowly....I went by myself too. My running buddies decided to do the usual Terasek rounds only. Jenny followed me until Jln Turi and decided to cut back into Jln Ara. It was quite hazy today. I keep hearing stories of fit people getting heart attacks. That's why I had to go slow...

Monday, August 14, 2006

Unlucky 13?

Perhaps no. 13 is an unlucky number:-

1. Chelsea lost the FA Community shield
2. Ballack received a yellow card
3. Ballack had to be taken off the pitch due to injury.

Today's exercise:
4km run on treadmill (rating:8)
15 min on stepper
Leg press
Alternate dumbell lunges
Plie
Crunches on fitball

I feel as though my tummy has flattened out a bit in the last week. But the needle on the scale hasn't budged. I'd like to believe it's muscles. I'm just deceiving myself.

Sunday, August 13, 2006

Last week's mileage

Last week's mileage/ Rating:

Monday 3km (treadmill) /6
Tuesday 6.6km / 7
Thursday 6.6km / 7
Saturday 8km / 7
Total 24.2km

Went really slow on Saturday, felt like I still had energy to go on but didn't want to push myself. Must remind myself distance is more important than speed.

Back at my parents' to watch FA Community Shield. No prizes for guessing why I'm supporting Chelsea.(#13)

Thursday, August 10, 2006

New Look!


OH NO!!! Michael Ballack's chopped off his beautiful locks :O

Razor's 1 month anniversary

Yesterday was Razor's 1 month death anniversary. How time flies. Lots have happened since, it feels like 6 months have passed. I still miss the pup, I miss his smell, especially when his fur gets smelly. Today as I was running I saw a lady carry an old husky for a walk. Last week when I saw this dog, he was still able to walk, but he was staggering. It was like how Razor was just before he died. This husky looks like he doesn't have long to live, but he looks like he had a pretty long life. I've seen his owner before, she must love him to bits. I'll bet she's feeling rather sad about the state of her dog.

Anyway, I have begun training for the marathon. Tough work, starting from ground zero. Ran 6.6km today...a bit low on energy but managed to survive. Received my registration form today which my friend kindly signed for me while I was away in Siem Reap. Speaking of Siem Reap, I still haven't had time to download photos from Days 2 & 3 as I haven't been at my parents'. But I will be getting a notebook soon, a Compaq Presario 2613. It's supposed to be pretty canggih, according to our CCF coordinator.

Tuesday, August 08, 2006

Back to training! 6.6km run today. I feel good!

SIEM REAP Day 2 (27/07/06)

Bayon

Thursday, August 03, 2006

SIEM REAP Day 1 (26/07/06)

Actually I'm still a bit tired from my trip. Plenty of things to do..I haven't even finished uploading my pictures. My time online is quite limited..been trying to catch up with reading, work. Also have a whole stack of dvd's to clear but I haven't had the time! Been trying to catch up with friends and Caramel too. Anyway, here's a (short) account of my trip:


View of Tonle Sap from the plane



Siem Reap International Airport

11.15am
Arrived at Siem Reap International Airport. It’s a lot more modern than I had imagined, even better than the Hanoi Airport. The exterior looked a bit like the Minangkabau structure. Immigration was slow, slow, s l o w. If you think Malaysian immigration is inefficient, this is even worse. They kept experiencing technical breakdowns.

The scenery on the way to the hotel looked like that in the east coast in Peninsular Malaysia. I felt like I had not left home. Weather was very very hot, very similar to Malaysia. One strange thing my travel partner and I noticed was that while the cars were right hand drive, they drove on the right side of the road!

We stayed at Sydney Angkor Hotel, which was a budget hotel at USD15 per night.

1.50pm
We hired a tuk tuk driver, Mr Sam whom I had emailed to prior to our trip. He was a lot younger than I had expected and could understand English quite well. We went to Borey Sovann, a restaurant where tourists frequent. The food was ok, I thought the best dish we ordered was the fish soup. I was hoodwinked into eating frog’s legs. I always felt a bit queasy eating frogs as vivid pictures of frogs being skinned would flood my mind. Nevertheless I tricked my mind into thinking it was chicken wings and I fared ok.





View from the tuk-tuk


2.30pm
Arrived at Angkor Wat. Angkor means “city” and Wat means “sacred”, hence “sacred city”. To be honest, I wasn’t impressed at first glance but after looking at the intricacy of the carvings, I began to be amazed. Most of it had been reconstructed as it is really ancient. Most of the balustrades were broken.Good thing it wasn’t all that crowded.

Angkor Wat was built for king Suryavarman II in the early 12th century as his state temple and capital city. It has become a symbol of Cambodia, and even appears on the national flag.


Angkor Wat


Angkor What?





The peak

When we got to the centre, I got really excited as I saw the steep stairs! Looked like a good adventure! Anyway I really enjoyed the climb up..it was a lot easier than I had expected. Beautiful view from the top!




4.15pm
Washed out at Angkor Wat! It poured cats and dogs. We were forced to buy cheap disposable raincoats and had to seek refuge in a Buddhist temple! Children in Cambodia love water. I guess that is their only means of entertainment. They were seen playing in the rain and swimming. They swim anywhere and everywhere, wherever there is water…lakes, river, even puddles. We should really count our blessings. Missed sunset at Angkor due to bad weather.

5.15pm

Shoparama at Central Market! Bought shirts and souvenirs for friends and family.

7.45pm
Dinner at Bayon restaurant. As usual, had a go at the local beer..Angkor beer..tasted a lot like Anchor beer really. The spring rolls were delicious. We were entertained by “wayang kulit”! The last time I saw a wayang kulit performance was probably in secondary school! Imagine going all the way to Cambodia to watch it!

Angkor beer

Wayang kulit

10.00pm
Went back to hotel to shower. Decided to call it a day. Rested our bodies, entertained myself with “Black Hawk Down” with Eric Bana on tv.

Tuesday, August 01, 2006

Stomach this

I am back from my trip. Had too much to eat... Need to lose weight (again). Now my stomach has become as rounded as one of these apsaras...