"Tai-Tai Afternoon"

After a few hectic weeks in the office, there was a sudden lull earlier in the week.

So I booked a facial and took off from the office slightly before the bell rang.

In hushed soothing voices and dimmed candle lit ambiance, relaxing music trinkling in the background, they soaked my feet, wrapped me in sarongs, had spa infused relaxing steam waftinto my face, massaged, cleansed, pricked and poked and squeezed and nipped me and finally plonked very soothing face mask on me *i hope i snored not*, then, they woke me up, i was de-saronged, lavender and herb infused steam in my face again, and they were done with me!

I expected to see my face splockled with a thousand little red mementos from all that pricking, but to my great relief.... i looked like... well ... me :D *phew*

So I'm now white, black, red, green or whatever head free, and feeling very tai-tai. Especially since after that 2 hours of facial gymnastics, I walked 3 steps into my gentle yoga class, where I stretched and twisted the rest of me, again to soothing music trinkling in the back ground, soft lights illuminating the studio....

Ahhhhh..... I could get used to this....

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"Potong!"

I did it.

I've chopped it.

My long hair. Chopped.

I am now trying to pass off bits of hair hung from my scalp as a bob.

Which is supposedly really trendy, if I had enough hair to make the look work...

But with this much less hair length, the savings on shampoo is great :D

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RPM (Really Painful Moments)...

“Come laa…. I’ve been asking you for 3 years, come laaaa….”

I should have taken more heed to the evil glint in the Nut's eye that day…..

I should have noticed how Agent M and T3 exchanged knowing looks while swallowing their giggles that day…..

But I didn’t. Like the dumb-ass that I am….I decided to join RPM.

Only it was an RPM Challenge class….. which inflicts a lot more pain than a normal class….

And it was my first time, and I had not with me any super padded ultra cushioned special bike pants that day…. Not a good sign # 1.

It started out well enough, T3 and AgentM were the bestest hosts, showing me around the changing room, showers etc. And we changed and went to the Cycling Studio. Me all excited and happy (little did I know how short lived it would be).

1st track, the Nut’s right hand man with the Darlie smile came and introduced himself to me. Which was sweet, until he put on his microphone and ANNOUNCED TO THE WHOLE CLASS that a newcomer was on board….. (and there I was thinking I had chosen a bike in an inconspicuous corner of the studio)All eyes were on me, and EVERYONE was chuckling…. Not a good sign # 2.

So the tracks started…. Warm up… this I could follow and halfway through track 1, thought, hey, this isn’t so hard…..

Boy was I to be proven wrong…..

Track 2 came along, and Mr Darlie asked everyone to turn up the dial thingy in between your legs as you are seated on the bike… and I did. And BAM! Resistance…. And my quads SCREAMED!!!!! (and this is only the 2nd track mind you) sigh… Not a good sign # 3.

Then track 3. A few further turns of the dial, which I had chosen to ignore… and then Mr Darlie looked my way, smiled even wider (how he managed that is still a wonder to me) and with a little wink at me yelled into the microphone “CLIMB!” and EVERYONE got off their butts and started pedal running! I fumbled and scrambled and managed to stand up… for all of 3 revolutions of the wheel, cause by the 4th revolution, I couldn’t feel anything in my legs! So there they were vigorously climbing and reaching for the stars or Everest or the moon and me? I sat back down, cause by then, it dawned on me, I was never EVER going to make it as an RPM-ite.

So what was I to do? I was kinda stuck on that bike, cause I strapped myself in real tight…. So I sat back, adjusted my hair, took a sip of water and leaned into the wall a bit (supported by my water bottle-free hand) and proceeded to look around, head bopping to the catchy music.

After something like the 5th track, Mr Darlie takes off the microphone and passes it to the Nut. “Yeayy!!! I thought, cool down time!”

Boy, was I wrong! Sean Connery @ Nut announced that they were ALREADY halfway! Yeay my *^%$@$^!!!!! I swear I could hear him laughing on the inside… bad, bad, BAD Nut! So we were just halfway…. Crap. Not a good sign # 4.

So I went along, still pedaling like I was going to the Kedai Runcit for an ice-cream…. Until I realized somewhere in the middle of Track 6, that I was losing feeling in my butt.
Not a good sign # 5.

So at the risk of maiming myself for life, I decided to snap myself out of la-la land and re-focus on what was going on in that disco-balled flashy studio.

And there they were, off their butts again. Doing the Infinity climb…And with the SOLE PURPOSE of relieving the pain that was slowly building up in my posterior, I cranked up the resisto-meter dial thinggy and got off my butt too. Oh the pain…How these people do this for the entire hour I will never understand, my utmost respect to all who have been for an RPM (Challenge or not) class, and did everything the instructors told you to.

After 5 seconds of Infinitism, PLOINK! My butt was on that super hard torturous seat again….

And a few minutes later, my butt was in the air again….

It became of a delicate task of pain management. Pain in the butt, or pain in the quads…

After something like 8 hours of this (which in reality came up to about 8 minutes or 8 seconds… pain does something to time perception abilities…), I gave up (again). I decided, well, the butt doesn’t really DO MUCH does it? I’ll just strap myself in really tightly when I sit down anywhere and wedge myself against a wall or something…. My quads I need to stand, drive, walk…. In the battle of pains, my butt lost.

So I remained seated for the rest of the 20 hours… or minutes, whatever, I couldn’t sit straight by then… hence I had to support myself against the wall… Not a good sign # 6.

Then FINALLY, FINALLY it was cool down time. I would have climbed off the bike and given Sean Nuttery a kiss had I not been consumed in so much pain….

Cool down stretches, bend this, extend that…… and FINALLY they allow you off the bike…. Took me a good looong while to maneuver myself off the bike without hurting anyone…. Sigh….

And then, bless the gods in the heavens, it was over! It was FINALLY over!

I wobbled, hopped and winced my way to the shower room and thought happy thoughts of nasi lemak and fried chicken and cham ais….. ahh…..

RPM again? Hmmm… I think I’ll stick to Beginner’s Yoga for now….

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Chit-chat on a gloomy Wednesday...

It's wednesday, the sky's gloomy and it's rainy outside.

And I feel like chatting. And it has been a while..... So chat I shall.

Am in my bimbonic phase lately. Got some makeup for my b'day and have been playing Michaelangelo (on my own face). Good thing is that the pallate is light, so no worries about looking like someone from Ms Drag Queen International 2009. Plus been accessorising too, when i can remember. Been rummaging thru my box of trinkets and realise that my earrings (those 3 for RM10 pairs) which i never wear, make pretty interesting pendants.... So with some pliers and a bit of imagination, i've given myself a host of new pendant thinggimajigs to wear! Like magic!

Oh! And I've joined a new gym. The one in centro Klang (which is next to the Hokkien Association). Been inactive at my old gym for around 5 months now... so that died a natural death.

From gymbing with Aunties who tell me about their children... usually about their graduation, or their weddings (that's how old them aunties are) to young properly attired gym freaks! Wow.... a bit of a culture shock.... and then the firm reality that you are in klang hits you when you're in the shower room.... whilst you have the latest tunes or mtv music piped in the workout area, everyone's focused, everyone's sweating and looking determined, enter the shower room and talk of bah kut teh, who's getting married to whom (were you invited?) conversations in Hokkien speak take centrestage. What a lovely contrast, and what an incredibly comforting one....

Note to self : the steam room and sauna room are there.... but i have never seen them in use.... granted I've only been there 3 times......

Oh! Haha and anor thing, Centro Klang, the one and only place where you can have a lovely oktoberfest evening with imported german beer, gourmet sausages, crispy bits of bacon and saurkraut and pork knuckles AND Cha-cham-bo!!!!!!! belted out by the band, and the lovely smells of bah kut teh wafting in from the bkt place in the building. Lovely combo, and ONLY in klang. Germany also kalah.

Am now debating if I should skive and leave for home early and have HELL UNLEASHED on me tomorrow and Friday, when the deadlines come steamrolling on my head, or continue to sit here, sip my green tea, and stare out the rain splockled window.....

Hmmmm decisions, decisions....

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I'm melting.....

I’m melting.

My face at least. Just got back from Bangkok and my face is literally, falling off… must be an allergic reaction to one of two things… One, it’s either my sun block *glaring accusingly at the bottle* or two, them fried bugs I had *belch*.

Thinking it’s the sun block *more glaring* cause it’s only my face that’s doing the “V” thing. (No, i swallowed no rats, whole or in little parts, in Thailand, or any other land for that matter!) The rest of my body is fine. Sigh….

Here’s hoping that my new face grows blemish free with porcelain-like smoothness.

Till then, if you see kids running around and screaming in utter fear, yup, it means I’m close by.


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Buttercup-ping

Found myself hanging out at home a lot last weekend. Had some time on my hands but was too lazy to go out much... it was really TOO DAMN HOT!

So i hung out at home, with Buttercup.

Cause she looks like this...

And she does this....

Sorry to gush like an annoyingly proud parent, but I CANNOT TAHAN!!!

She really is very very very adorable!

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Being Internet-less....

Being internet-less means…

1. You are left out of the happenings of the world because :-

a. You check on no one’s blog. Which means that you’re left out of the juicy happenings of your dear and some even dearer friends;
b. You don’t get to read the Star online, or the BBC or CNN.
c. The worst, you’re not logged on to any online chats!!!! I really NEED to know when any of you feel sleepy or hungry!!!!


2. The world is left out of the wonderful happenings of your weekend because :-

a. you get to tell no one of the yummy pork burgers Ah Ming made and the succulent gourmet lamb chops Mike made and Khim’s mom’s fabulous fried rice. It was a great pot-luck do Ming, thanks.
b. You get to tell no one of the lovely bbq with endless food you went to;
c. You get to tell no one how Buttercup’s learnt a new trick!
d. You get to tell no one how the Bookermobile now has WORKING POWER WINDOWS, and working central locking and and and, a FULL SET OF LIGHTS!!!!! They all work, blink, and shine with gusto on command now; and
e. You get to tell no one you learnt something new last weekend. There’s such a thing as “parking lights” on my car, which for the record, are working just fine, thanks.


3. You’re stuck in a bit of a “catch 22” situation because:-

a. it prompts you to blog, but without the internet…. How the heck do you post it up?
b. You feel the urge to work, but without access to the work email, it sometimes doesn’t make sense to fax a 58 page agreement to an outstation client.
c. It’s Monday, which means I haven’t rested from the crazies of the weekend, which means, I don’t have the urge to skive, plus, it’s 38° out there…. No thank you!
d. PLUS, it’s Monday, which means that all them lovely warehouse sales have ended, dashed are my dreams of being a bargainista… sigh.


4. You incur a lot of expenses because :-

a. You can’t get online to pay any of your bills. So interest builds… damn! Nevermind that the bank’s just down the road…. Have I not mentioned that it’s freaking 38° out there today?
b. You can’t get online to check on those fabulous all inclusive no-hidden-charges-ridiculously-low air fares to plan your next holiday for next to nothing. DAMN!
c. You can’t get online to see if Cole Haan’s having another one of their 30% off their sale price promotion to get handbags for less than half the price of what you’d pay here.
d. You actually LEAVE your desk during lunch. Which means, you buy food ($$) and you accidentally drop into the new Clarks shoe shop (potential $$$ there… took a lot of willpower not to buy that cute pair of low ankle boots that will look great with jeans….) and you roll over to the pharmacy ($$$) and you accidentally buy a new pair of earrings ($). Damn!
e. You’re so bored you text/call your loved ones and friends.


5. You gain weight because :-

a. See item 3(d) above.
b. You’re so bored, the only to stay awake is to nibble. And nibbling for 6 hours comes up to A LOT OF CALORIES!!!!


6. To hell with the 38° scorcher of a day. I’m outta here…. I’m going home to finish my book, start on a new one with the air conditioning on. Love you guys, but BYE!