Thursday, June 26, 2008

Learning.

No wonder they say you never stop learning. We are constantly learning new things about ourselves and the people around us.

Tummies. Never go to sleep on a bloated stomach - however, I'd really like to argue I didn't eat that much! My family have arrived in Singapore and we've been invited to countless dinners by friends and relatives. The other night, I learnt my lesson of indigestion the HARD way. We had Korean bbq at a friend's place and the portions were little, with intervals inbetween when the chef prepared the next dish, so we just ate and ate as each dish came along. I didn't think it was much at that time, but thats what I thought. A little bit at a time really did it for me. At 3am that night, I woke up with a very uncomfortable and bloated tummy. It was unbearable and I had to throw up. And if you know me, I'll always choose another way if I had a choice of not throwing up. The next night, I made sure to watch my stomach that dinner and we had healthy chinese food, but once again, I threw up again. Indigestion, a symptom I never knew I could have.

Emos. My sis' friends are here and they've taught me a new word. Perhaps I'm slow, but I never knew what Emos were...or rather who emos are. Until they said there's plenty of Emos in Singapore and started describing these so-called persons. Emos are Emotional. I've just always assumed they were Goth or weird people trying to scare the shit out of strangers on the street with their ghastly attire, I'm-tired-of-life attitude and makeup. No. Different from Goths as they have colours in their life. They are Emos. And I'm englightened.

Bintan = Indonesia. I blame myself for my ignorance on this subject - I blame it on holidays to further away countries and living overseas at a young age so I've never really travelled around Asia as much. It was only a few days ago that I discovered Bintan is not an island of Singapore, but in fact, it belongs to Indonesia and I'll need my passport for our family trip to Bintan next Monday. What a laugh! So once again, I've grown smarter by a bit.

Friday, June 20, 2008

Fatness, mi Goodness!

Every women, especially those stick thin models, complain their fat. And I’m guilty as charge – obviously not the part about being stick thin coz I’m not that at all.

I'd also like to justify my reasons for my complains. We females tend to tsk at others who comlpain about their fats, especially when they are clearly not as big in comparison, but I've got a valid reason. I need to compete against those stick thin models. The media industry is vicious and it's that same industry my boyfriend is working in. Working around models and pretty ladies, he has an benchmark for thinness. He likes me as I am, of course, but with all the competition around me, I can't slack. Hey, I'm still a women afterall and we're always competitive whenever it comes to weight, fashion and accessories. I'm not tall either so the only way is to go smaller sideways. Wish it works the other way around. I’ve tried countless of dieting techniques:

1) Eat less in general

A very terrible decision but I’m stuck now with a warped metabolism. Girls, don’t try it at home. But then again, low metabolism comes with age…I just shortened the process.

2) Eat less carbo / No carbo

GAWD, how is that possible with all the yummy donuts & cakes & chocs & & & basically EVERYTHING! And how much salad can a girl eat – though it is my favourite food, but favourite doesn’t mean having it for all 3 meals of the day. I don’t eat chocolates whole day long, though I would love to, but I don’t and it’s still my fav, second fav, no fav dessert -it should not even be counted a dessert but that’s another argument for another day. What am I talking about!

3) Healthiest of the healthiest diets

The worst of the diets. No one keeps to it. A simple coffee can spoil it all. Even salads aren’t healthy enough if dressings are added. So what’s a healthy diet? Fruits? (Did you know that the carbo content in watermelons are high?) Celery sticks? (They get awfully bitter after the second stick since dips aren’t allowed.) Carrot sticks? (Same story as Mr Celery.) Steak? (Preferably not grilled but have you heard of boiled steaks?) I rest my case.

4) Exercise more

Running, kick-boxing, pilates, yoga, blah-di-da! What you really mean is discipline, not “exercise more” coz that’s the easy part once you’ve found the discipline to wake up at the wee hours of the morning for a fat burning workout or once you’ve sacrificed the scarce after-work social/shopping hours to visit the gym. And what’s the right exercise for you? One says this is good, the other says that is good. WELL WHICH ONE IS IT? Instead of slimming down, you may be building bulky disgusting muscles which will still turn into stubborn fats unless you keep it up at age 70. I did that at age 16 when I stopped playing softball which meant no more trainings twice a week – BLISS – and welcomed stubborn fatness galore.

So the moral of the story…we’ll, I don’t even know if there’s one coz none of them had worked for me.

And the worst thing is…

Women have more fats (especially in the tummy areas) than the bloody men who criticise that we are fat. Also women tend to have more cravings too, especially for all the sinful delicacies. Every other day, I crave for chocolate. Strike that. EVERY DAY I crave for chocolates. And not only once a day. Chocolates in every form – mud cakes, brownies, chocolate filled donuts, chocolate bars, chocolate ice cream…YUMMMERRRZZZZ. Add coffee onto that list too. I’d die for a rich mochaccino. I crave for fried or barbequed chicken wings (but never boiled), curry in all its forms, laksa (Penang mostly), Korean food (unfortunately high in carbo). Oh GAWD, I need to stop this list. I’ve only just had breakfast and my mouth is getting itchy for a bitey.

Gulp. Plain water really doesn’t do the trick.

Monday, June 16, 2008

Profitable...definitely worth it!

Saturday was a very profitable day. It couldn't get any better than that.

Bright and early, my boyfriend and I went to a Denmark family's house as they had hired EK's services to take photos of their 6 month old daughter. I was his assistant and helped to distract the baby in order for that beautiful smile while she looked at the camera, a very hard thing to achieve. After an hour and a half, she was tired and so were we. We called it a fruitful session and pocketed $200 for his services.

That afternoon, I went for my appointment with Ina Harmoni. I was getting a free body treatment and I chose a slimming package. The machine sent little tiny electric shots in my upper thigh, tummy and arms. It was interesting but slightly painful. Every electric shot felt as if a grip was tightened around my body and my body reacted to it, tensing up with every shot. I lost 2cm around my tummy and 3 from both thighs, but the results didn't impress me. I bet if I drank a little bit of water, the 2cm or 3cm would go straight back on. So I didn't sign up for any package, but it was still a free treatment afterall.

Then EK called me to ask if I was interested in attending a Seventeen Magazine event at Cafe del Moar, Sentosa and with a "yes", I rushed off to meet him and his friends. While we were there, not only did we get a usual goody bag with magazines, make-up, a CD and some vouchers, we also got free soft drinks and juices to keep our tummies occupied as we watched the hunks and babes parade on stage.

After the event, we zipped off for a quick pasta dinner before rushing to another event at Bugis. This was for the fashion brand Tweety Bird. The clothes were refreshing, with a style to everyone. There was casual wear to work outfits, punk to class. But the best was the goody bag we each got: 2 tee-shirts (unfortunately 2 sizes too large for me), 1 cap, and it could only get better, with a media voucher of $300 to spend on tweety apparel. $300 for me, another $300 for EK (but obviously he couldn't wear female tweety fasgion) so...it was a shopaholic's dream to get $600 FREE to shop shop shop! And so she did. After the fashion show and a bit of socialising, we went to the shop and spent an hour shopping. The shopaholic walked out 2 pants, 1 limited edition tee-shirt, 1 pair of shoes and 1 necklace richer! And all she needed was to invest in the excess $21 that came out of the bill.

BLISS.

Tan Tock Seng Hospital Medical Records

Hospital: Tan Tock Seng
Department: ENT

Patient: Female, Single, aged 24

Medical History: Loves visiting A&E at odd times of the day

Medical Condition:
4th June @ 8pm - acknowledged that she swallowed Mackerel fish bone of about 1cm long during dinner
5th June - felt like she had sore throat
7th June @ 4.30pm - visited a GP before being referred to ENT department
7th June @ 10pm - felt distinct discomfort when swallowing, like there was a bone in the throat
7th June @ 10.30pm - arrived at Tan Tock Seng Hospital but the queue was too long so she prolongued her discomfort and went to Mt Alvernia Hospital but was advised of absorbident charges and therefore returned to Tan Tock Seng Hospital
8th June @ 12.30am - took X-ray
8th June @ 1am - doctor could not see bone from x-ray so ENT specialist was called down
8th June @ 2am - ENT specialist poked the throat and declared that there was an ulcer in the throat, could be caused by bone scratching it as it went down, or the bone is beneath the ulcer, he cannot be sure as yet
if there's bone, bone should resurface, otherwise, it's just ulcer causing discomfort
8th June @3.30am - collected medication of lozenges and 1 day medical certificate for absence of work & patient left

Medical Followup:
12th June @ 9.30am - patient arrived at hospital for followup checkup
12th June @ 10.15am - ENT specialist noted that ulcer had grown bigger to 7-8mm and had to be burst to ensure bone is not beneath
local anesthesia was sprayed in throat and specialist poked the ulcer several times
bone was not found
12th June @ 11am - collected medication of more lozenges and anticeptic mouth wash and 2 hours medical certificate for absence of work that morning
patient returned to work after that.

16th June @ 2pm - patient rang to cancel followup checkup on 19th June as she felt that her throat was healing and felt much better

Friday, June 06, 2008

Diago Velazquez Who?

I swear, Google is getting weirder by the minute!

Thursday, June 05, 2008

Bites of my life

Renovations and Missing Bosses

My company is undergoing yet another round of renovations. We are always expanding, which is a good thing, except my eyes are constantly irritated by the dust floating around, and the constant drilling is taking its toll on my ears. Also, we've suddenly been receiving so many samples at our office, our tables are swamped with boxes and boxes of stuff, it's turning into a warehouse. I've got to pack it up soon!

Just as well my bosses have all left on business trips overseas...it's so quiet in the office...I just feel like reading my story book or disappearing!

Family... THE ENTIRE DO

As my grandfather is turning 80 this year, we're holding a massive celebration and everyone is returning from overseas for this party. Can't wait to see my family! This means, in the first time in ages, the entire family (my grandfather + children + grandchildren) will be in Singapore at the same time...we'll, not the entire family will be there for the party, but for about 12 hours (or less!), the entire family will be in Singapore. Why is there only 12 hours? Coz the last family from overseas arrives on the 25th of June while one leaves on a mission trip in the early hours of the 26th of June, so in this span of 12 hours, we need to take a family photo. How likely will it be that all 23 people can make it? We'll have to wait and see.

Chocolates!

I'm currently reading this novel, and just by the title, I feel like this book was meant for me! It's called "The Chocolate Lovers' Club" by Carole Matthews. The amazing thing is she's even got a continuation called "The Chocolate Lovers' Diet". The 4 ladies in the novel I've just started reading are choc addicts and it's amazing, the amount of chocolates they eat! In summary, these 4 ladies formed a select group known as The Chocolate Lovers' Club. Whenever there's a crisis, they meet in their sanctuary, a cafe called Chocolate Heaven, where they seek encouragement, advice and support from the others while savouring (sometimes wolfing down) chocolates, lots and lots of CHOCOLATES.

Here's an abstract:
Frankly, I'm a recent convert to the delights of pure plantation chocolate. I
adore chocolate in all its many forms, but my current passion is couture
chocolates made with the select beans from single plantations all around the
world - Trinidad, Tobago, Eucador, Venezuela, New Guinea. Exotic locations, all
of them. They are - out and out - the best type of chocolate. In my humble
opinion. The Jummy Choos of the chocolate world. Though truffles are a fierce
competitor. (Strictly speaking, truffles are confectionery as opposed to
chocolates, but I feel that's making me sound like a chocolate anorak.) So as
not to appear a chocolate snob, I also shove in Mars Bars, Snickers and Double
Deckers as if they're going out of fashion. Like the best, I was brought up on a
diet of Cadburys and Nestle, with Milky Bars and Curly Wurlys being particular
favourites - and both of which I'm sure have grown considerably smaller with the
passing of the years. Walnut Whips are a bit of a disappointment these days too.
They're not like they used to be. Doesn't stop me from eating them, of course -
call it product research.

Vouchers

Lately, I've been getting a lot of vouchers, wasting them as the expire before I notice I had them...and sometimes loosing them in the process. Because there's far to many vouchers, I often misplace them.

Just 1 month ago, I got a call from a spa & beauty place, saying that they just bought over this spa place I visited once (also on a complimentary voucher), and they would like to offer me another complimentary treatment to try out their services, so I gladly took it on, arranging a date and time for the appointment. The funny thing was, I remembered the date and time of the appointment, but I forgot the place or the name of the spa. So this week, I was panicking coz the appointment is this Saturday and I'm busy on that day. But this morning, I received a call from them to remind me of the appointment, and I rescheduled - this time remembering to take down their address!

And this week, I've been hunting high and low for my Robinsons voucher - $20!!! SOB. Where is it?! I left it in my wallet because I knew I wanted to use it someday, but it's no longer in my wallet. I must have moved it somewhere when I changed wallets. But I can't find it or remember where I left it. SOB.This week, I've been hunting high and low for my Robinsons voucher - $20!!! SOB. Where is it?! I left it in my wallet because I knew I wanted to use it someday, but it's no longer in my wallet. I must have moved it somewhere when I changed wallets. But I can't find it or remember where I left it. SOB.

I was given another spa voucher, sent from G2000, but 1 month later, I discovered it was for first timers and I had already been there last year when I got my birthday vouchers from G2000 as well. Sob. But at least I could pass it on to a friend so it wouldn't go to waste.

That's all the updates for now...