Goodness me...where has the motivation gone to?

Gym log.

I think that gym and I just don't quite get along anymore these days, more so since my recent return. I'm still searching for that sparks of enjoyment and satisfaction that I used to get after attending each classes but sad to say, I don't feel it now. I don't think I'm bored with gym...at least not yet. I still love my programs to bits. I really can't explain why this is happening.

It also seems that my body isn't quite adapting back to the regular exercise regimen that I once religiously follow. What was once done effortlessly seem like a struggle right now. All my favorite instructors whom I once enjoy going for their classes seem so...well...just normal. Somehow, my favorite classes suddenly got no more feel. I think something's amiss if I begin to experience the below symptoms:

• I couldn't be bothered whether my techniques in class are correct or not, even if the instructor IS correcting me.
• I couldn't be bothered if I'm doing a technique wrong and the instructor's NOT correcting me.
• I couldn't be bothered anymore if my regular classes are conducted by replacement instructors instead of my favorite instructors.
• Sometimes I looked bored and perhaps a little out of focus in class. I looked even more bored before class....sigh!
• I seem to lack that killer "die die must go gym" attitude.

I will most probably be taking another week off next month. Let's just hope that I will be more enthusiastic when I return. I better be. Come to think of it....I think I'm taking way too many breaks from gym this year.

It's that time of the month

I love the old days when I check the mail box and I get letters from home, cards from friends, freebies, promotional leaflets, free magazines, etc.

Nowadays I check my mail box and all I get are bills, bills and more bills!

In my hand right now are 5 bills waiting to be paid...and more coming..*sob sob*

Sucks! I like that "other" time of the month better than this one.

At the market

Saw a lot of unique local vegetables and fruits at the 7th Mile market in Kuching. They were so colorful I couldn't resist having their pictures taken. The stall owners were very amused though. Honestly, I have never tried a lot of these food before either so I can't exactly describe how they taste. Yes, shameful, I know. In fact, I have a hard time remembering the names of these items...which explains why it took me so long to post it here.

asam paya (a sour fruit) - can be eaten as it is (after peeling off skin, of course)...taste sourish.

buah jeling (sp?) - I have no idea what this is...

buah salat - snake skin fruit. This one I also dunno what it is.

terung dayak - also known as terung asam. Ahhh...this I know. This is sour round brinjal, usually cooked with asam, soupy style. Delicious!

Sarawak Pineapples - many west m'sians love these as they are very sweet.

Sarawak pineapples are costly in KL but in Kuching, they sell for RM1.00 each only. Dirt cheap! Too bad I don't fancy pineapple.

"Ang Moh Durian" aka "English Durian" aka Soursop - very expensive in KL but in Kuching, it is so cheap until nobody wants to buy them. Seriously...

I have no idea why there are loofahs sold at the wet market, of all places.

I was looking for sago worms at the market but I couldn't find any. Damn disappointed. Saw them before at this market but I guess now isn't the season..hmm...worms got season kah? These creepy crawlies make me shudder. So, since not able to take any pics, I have to make do with the below photo from the internet to show what sago worms are.

Sago worms can be eaten live, smoked or fried. Very popular among the native tribes, usually eaten fresh. Don't squirm....

Back to the gym

Gym Log.

Ahhh...finally am able to return to gym log.....though yesterday's class was best left forgotten. I have no idea 2-3 weeks' hiatus can make me that "out of shape". Decided to go for BPump yesterday even though my body was still feeling kinda lazy. Warm up in BPump started out fine so I thought the rest of the class should be fine. Boy, was I wrong. Apart from the lunges track, the rest of the class was extremely exhausting for me. Tired shaky legs, weak upper body and very out of breath.

The walk back to my car after gym was laughable ....if someone were to pat me on the back as I was walking down the stairs, I think I would have easily toppled over. My legs were that wobbly. Any old citizen would have easily walked faster than me. Shameful, shameful....

Woke up this morning with sore shoulders, sore thighs and backside.....yeah, my butt hurts a little.

More tattoos?

Mr. Tattoo Artist aka Jeremy from Monkey Tattoo will be in Kuala Lumpur from 7-12 August and will be doing tattoos based on appointments.

Perhaps I can get him to do some touch up on mine.

Blardy pissed!

Last week I was feeling 'broken'. Today, at this moment of writing, I am feeling extremely 'hot'. Hot, as in pissed off, angry, tension...

I have wasted one whole morning waiting for a meeting that never took place. Got a message this morning at 8.45am as I (and a colleague) were on our way to Damansara, telling us the supposedly 9.30am scheduled meeting has been postponed to 11am and will be held in KL Sentral instead. So, off we went to KL Sentral instead. To return all the way back to Cyberjaya would be insane. Since it was only 9.30am, we went for our breakfast at KL Sentral. Proceeded then to partner's office and waited for the 11am meeting. By 12noon, there were no still no sign of this "important" person who called for the meeting (no courtesy to inform he was gonna be late) nor the partner we were supposed to meet. We were later told this partner had to attend a management meeting. WTF! By then, steam were coming off my head.

This is not the first time, this "important" idiot postponed a meeting at the last minute. Last Thursday, I waited till 11am for a meeting that was supposed to take place at 9.30am. Blardy fool!

Mr. So Called Director aka Mr. Self-Centered High & Mighty...I have no respect for you! I drove all the way from Puchong-->Damansara-->KL Sentral-->Cyberjaya, waited almost 4 hours...and for what?? Somemore I had to go thru the early morning massive Sunway Toll jam. There are other parties involved in this meeting...don't just postpone last minute at your own whims and convenience. Blardy fool!

I am so in need of Body Combat today...it would be great to pretend I'm punching and kicking that somebody....unfortunately there is none in the schedule that fits my time.... bleh!

In need of repair

I feel a little bit broken....

This week has been full of work, work, work....both in the office and at home.

Stomach not feeling very good today.

Missing 2 weeks of gym is making me feel really lethargic.

Not sure if my new body art has healed well enough to warrant me to return to the gym.

You want to be my friend or not?

Few years back I joined Friendster and Hi5....popular networking sites. It was the in-thing back then. Since then I have received numerous invitations from friends to join other networking sites, most of which I have ignored...not because I was being rude but there were just too many sites to keep track. I hardly add new friends to my Friendster or Hi5 accounts anymore these days. Reason being, I usually forget my login details so you know la...lazy to go in after a while. However, you are more than welcome to add me in as friend :-).

Today I checked my mails and I noticed that there are 4 invitations from fellow friends to join Yahoo 360, Jhoos, Facebook and WAYN respectively. I know that each of these sites have its own goal and objective but at the end of the day it's still a networking site. I have just joined Yahoo 360 but I have yet to look at the others. Slowly la hor....

I'll join those sites mentioned but I'm a bit lazy to add friends.....for now. So, if you see that My Page in those sites are empty, doesn't mean I got no friends hor....

I can bake

I tried my hands at baking yesterday. Well, I used instant cake mix but who cares...baking is baking. For someone who has never baked a cake before, this was total excitement. For whatever strange reasons unknown, yesterday I had my mind set on having a cake...not just eating it but baking it. So, popped into Tesco on the way back from work and bought myself the necessary baking utensils + Pillsbury brownie mix. I'm proud to say I now own a baking tray and measuring spoons...ahaks.

Followed the instructions on the box to mix the cake batter. Wasn't exactly sure how much is 1/4 cup so just simply pour to my estimation. Since I don't have a conventional oven, I had to make do with my microwave oven toaster thingy. The box said to set the oven to 350 degree....but my oven only had max 240 degree.....hmmm....so thought I set the time longer to offset the temperature difference. Ya...smart thinking. I was damn happy when I saw the cake rising and I can smell the sweet delicious cake aroma. My first cake. So happy.

But then, 15 mins into baking, I saw smoke coming out from the oven. Heart sanked. Turned off the power and quickly prayed that my cake wasn't totally ruined. Took a fork and poked into the cake to check if it's cook (read this in the internet once)....the fork came out clean...which meant the cake was already cooked. Hmm.... how was this possible? The box said 35 mins cooking time. I set my oven to 40 mins. The cake was cooked in 15 mins. My oven must be damn powerful.

Checked the cake to see what I can salvage. The crust was burnt...no surprise there. Cut out the crust. Sliced the cake...surprise...surprise...still can eat...delicious somemore...ahaks. Extremely pleased despite the burnt.

Next time can bake again. Next time I'll experiment with frosting. After that, maybe can do the cake mix from scratch......ok, let's not get too ambitious here.

Share the cake with office mates this morning....not bad, not bad...good reviews somemore.

I'm itching

My new tattoo was really itchy yesterday. I was at Mrs. Owner's shop the whole of yesterday and forgot to bring moisturiser along. Twice I forgot I wasn't supposed to scratch. Stopped myself in the nick of time before I did any harmful damages. Tattoo aftercare is very important during this 2-weeks recovery period.

As part of my tattoo recovery process, I have been advised not to be involved in any physical activities...ie. no gym. The first few days after getting it, my shoulder area was a little sore and felt tight, which is pretty normal. It's no longer sore now but the itch is really driving me nuts. The alternative to scratching is to slap the area but I drew weird stares whenever I do that. Hmm..why is this girl patting her own back...hehehe.

I'm hoping it will be fully healed by the end of this week so that I can start gym-ing again next week. Miss my regular Body Combat classes. The only class I'm allowed to go for at the moment is RPM. I'm not a RPM-er (only tried it 3 times) so switching solely to this class during this 2-weeks recovery period doesn't sound too attractive to me although I do know of a few very regular die-hard RPM members who are more than willing to accompany me. Maybe I'm just plain lazy at the moment. But then again, I don't think cycling and slapping my shoulder area will go well hand in hand. I don't want to fall off the bike while busy slapping myself silly.

Gosh..this itch is really killing me.

Swak's Foodalicious

I promised a friend that I would post pics of some of the popular food found in Sarawak. There are actually a lot of local delicacies that one should at least make an attempt to try out while in Sarawak. I always believe that when you travel to another place, you should try out the food there instead of sticking to the normal rice staple.

A trip to Kuching will not be complete without sampling first and foremost, Sarawak Laksa and Kolo Mee, probably the 2 more well known dishes some West M'sians have heard of.

Sarawak Laksa sans the prawns..since I don't eat prawns.

Sarawak laksa is a combination of bee hoon and unique soup base, unlike the laksas found in West Malaysia. The gravy or soup base is a blend of chillies, sour tamarind, garlic, salt and lemon grass formed into a paste and mixed with santan into a pot of chicken stock. Laksa is served with steamed chicken strips, strips of fried egg, prawns, taugeh or bean sprouts and garnished with coriander. It is usually accompanied by sambal belacan, chilli paste and lime which add to the tangy taste of the gravy. A bowl of laksa can go anywhere from RM3-4 depending on size and additional ingredients..eg. extra prawns.

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The kolo mee above is the "mee pok" (flat mee) type.

Kolo mee is yellow curly noodle blanched in hot water, tossed in pork and shallot oil and topped with minced meat, vegetable & thinly slices of fish cake and barbequed pork. It is served dry and you can ask for a separate bowl of soup. There is no such thing as soupy kolo mee. If you insist on ordering one, the stall owner will try his/her best to comply but you will most likely be getting stares and raised eyebrows from fellow Kuchingnites. It probably won't taste as nice too. It's priced at RM2.20 per bowl. Where to find noodles so cheap wan...

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My favorite....don't be put off by its appearance...it's actually very syiok!

Another local delicacy is Kueh Chap. It's sorta herbly soup ala Bak Kut Teh, served with flat rice noodles, tauhu pok, lean pork, fatty pork, intestines, and sometimes hard boiled egg & chicken feet. The soup is hot and flavourful. I like my soup spicy so usually I would add more chilli paste in there. I normally order this without the intestines or chicken feet. It's priced at RM3 (small bowl..as pictured above) and RM4 (big bowl).

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Sarawak kueh tiaw soup (pictured above) is similar to kueh tiaw soups found in KL except that it has minced pork, char siew and plenty of veggies. The noodle is also slightly bigger in size. Normally eaten with pickled chilli slices...as pictured above. This bowl is only at RM2.00...so cheap! As the Teochews would say...phee ka lau sai...(cheap until you diarrhea)..*grin*

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Speaking of local delicacies, I like to introduce a local dish called wild pucuk paku aka Midin or Bidin as it's sometimes called, a native food. It's normally fried with sambal belacan ala kangkong belacan but it can also be fried with just anchovies. Eat with rice and it's just heavenly. Check out the before (a bit dark) and after pictures below.

Bidin sold at the wet market...only RM2 per bunch.

Bidin after it has been fried...yummy!

That was all I managed to capture. On my next trip, I shall try to capture pictures of Belacan Bee Hoon, Tomato Kuey Tiaw, Kachang Ma, Kam Pua, Dumpling Soup, etc etc.

So much to eat, so little time :-)

Fulfilling an old wishlist

Anyone who happens to be in Kuching and wishes to get a tattoo can visit Monkey Tattoo located behind Electra House. At first glance, the owner Jeremy, looks more like a Dayak than a Chinese. I learned that this guy used to work with Ernesto Kalum of Borneo Headhunter Studio, a quite well-known tattoo artist. Monkey Tattoo looks a little messy though but as long as their work quality is good, I suppose customers won't mind.

Monkey Tattoo Studio

Jeremy uses both electric and traditional method in his tattooing. His worksmanship is pretty satisfactory and he makes sure each details are done accurately and finely. If you have no idea what pattern to go for, he can help sketch up a design. Being a local, his specialty is tribal designs.

Tattoo above appears larger than it really is. Notice the "A"? :-)

Contact Details:

Monkey Tattoo and Body Piercing Studio

1st Floor, No. 10 Ban Hock Lane, 93000 Kuching, Sarawak.

Time off

A week's rest is in order. No gym, no work, no housework, no playing 'pretend lady boss', no traffic jam....yeah!

If only the weather isn't so hot....

edit (2pm)...

Didn't seem to get off to a good start...been sneezing whole day. Nose as red as Rudolph The Red Nose Reindeer...bleh! I think taking a nap should cure it...hah!..imagine a nap on a Friday afternoon...what a luxury.

Another chicken & duck moment

Skipped gym yesterday ie. BBalance class, since FBI aka Ms. M.I.A. was missing in action yet again. *frowning* Decided to drop by Puteri Mart instead. Mrs. Owner saw me came and took a short break; leaving me in charge.....hah...chance for me to play lady boss.

It was dinner hour so the crowd was sparse except maybe at that lousy food court. In time the novelty will wear off there. Several customers came into the shop and started asking me questions.....in mandarin! Alamak...cantonese also cannot pass, what more to say mandarin. Lucky for me most of the conversation was short and all I had to do was reply Yes, No, Don't Have...in mandarin, of course. Then one lady came in with her young daughter and starting shooting questions. Die....panic mode set in...did my best to converse back in broken mandarin. Pronounciation all wrong. The more I responded, the more questions she had for me. Oh no.... Had to scratch my head recalling some of the basic mandarin lessons that I took 3 years back. I would say I understood only 60% of what she said.....at best. Anything I didn't understand I responded by flashing smiles and nodding head.......typical of me la. Lucky for me, she was extremely friendly and in a hurry....phew!

I think it's time to dig out my old dusty mandarin course book. Perhaps I should sacrifice my gym time and spend more time here instead. Perhaps only....

Sore but two thumbs up

Gym log...long one too.

After having attempted BCombat new release for 5 times already, I deemed it quite safe to enter 2nd FCI's (aka FPI aka Ms. Eagle Eyes) class yesterday without having to be overly conscious of certain watchful eyes. I went in with full confidence this time...after all, doing the switch knees and jinga moves wasn't a problem for me . The class started off not crowded so I was bumped up into second row. Did a little error during the switch knees moves during warm up which prompted 2nd FCI to chuckle. Alamak...early on already made mistake......not a good sign.

In Track 6, it was time form a circle.....they call this the fun track but honestly I don't see where the fun is. If I have to choose one track to hate, this would be it. Instead of a circle, 2nd FCI asked to form 2 lines facing each other. As we were doing upper cuts, 2nd FCI suddenly came in front of me. The manner in which she came over had me thinking my technique must be wrong. With the speaker just right above my head blasting loud music, it was hard for me to hear what she was saying. Either that or I have hearing problem. I thought she was correcting my upper cuts so I tried to improve on my technique. But she was obviously asking me something....and I was looking really blur by the seconds trying to comprehend what she was saying.

To avoid looking even more blur especially with the whole class looking at us, I nodded my head to whatever she was saying......until I caught the word "drinks". Then only I realised she was actually referring to the free flow champagne at the italian Prego Restaurant, a conversation we had the week before. Haiya, why not ask me after class.... :-). I supposed she also noticed my blur-ness cos she laughed when I finally shook my head in response to her question. Maybe she was indeed correcting my technique as well...I dunno...for a while there, it was like chicken and duck trying to understand each other.

By the end of the class, I realised that perhaps I had enough of Body Combat 32 and I can't wait for the day instructors are allowed to mix new and old tracks.

Continued on to BPump..same instructor. Past experience tells me that doing BPump after BCombat will be more energy draining compared to the other way round. So decided to experiment a bit with C2 Max Powerbar Gel which is said to be able to give more energy to the muscles. Besides, I was desperate to finish off the entire Shoulder Track effortlessly......for once. Let's just call this my BPump New Release Finale before I go off on my 1-week break.

In all honesty, I was also a little bored with Body Pump 62. Decided to add an extra 1kg each side for Bicep Track, which was just as well cos FPI prompted all female regulars to carry 3.5kg per side. She herself was carrying 5kg...cannot compete la with her. Before Lunges Track started, FPI forewarned that no one was to put back the equipment after the track. Each person caught doing so will cause the entire class to do 10 pushups each. Some members obviously either have extreme short term memory or they thought FPI was just joking. 3 members went up to put back equipment and FPI gleefully shouted 30 pushups!. Die...die...

No joke..we had to do 20 pushups....FPI was "kind" enough to minus off 10. I'm pretty sure she enjoyed herself watching us being "tortured". Continued on to my least favorite Shoulder Track. This track has us doing pushups in the beginning too.....which by then I think majority members' arm were already shaky big time. Despite drinking Powerbar Gel, I did not finish this track without short breaks but I certainly did better than most times....yeah! Not bad for back-to-back classes.

After class, FPI again asked about the "drinks" which I told her I haven't gone yet. She mentioned that one can get drunk in 2 hours just drinking free flow champagne. OK, I think she has just increased the temptation for me to go but hmmm....it's not gonna be easy to find kaki to go with cos this thing sure ain't cheap. Besides, I was ready to prove to her that I can still stand straight after 3 hours of non stop drinking....ahaks.

My Gym Tracking Note: 14 months and still standing..

Learning new trade

Whatever free time I have, it's now spent at Puteri Mart, the new wet market at Puchong. I'm thankful that I have my faithful ipod to accompany me, as it can get pretty boring at times. Sometimes I think I'm more interested in listening to my ipod than entertaining customers.

Service at the Medan Selesa aka Nice Place To Eat Food Centre sucks. The food court is stuffy and crowded. Be prepared to wait very long for someone to take your drinks order. Once you have ordered, be prepared to wait even longer for your drinks to arrive. Don't be surprise if the stall owner forgets your food order. If you are in starving mode, I say go get yourself something from the supermart instead.