Belly dancing is starting to get challenging. After a month at it, I'm beginning to feel the need to actually practice during the week. The moves are also starting to challenge my coordination abilities and now I actually break a sweat in class. A stark contrast to the first two weeks of class where I come back with my shirt all dry.
In addition to belly dance, I've started going to the gym. While most magazine articles make it seem like everyone's got a whole hoarde of girlfriends around and all of them are just as keen on getting fit as you are and are awesome at being a motivator, I beg to differ. Finding that buddy to join you on your fitness programme isn't as easy as I'd initially thought. This week, I managed to convince Gina to come with me. However, I'm not sure if she'll ever want to come again. By the time we were done, her legs were like jelly and She was convinced she'll wake up tomorrow morning with aching arms and legs.
There were two treadmills available at the gym. One was on, the other wasn't. And we couldn't figure out how to turn it on. So we decided to start off on the elliptical trainers. After our short workout on them, Gina was ready to sit down for the rest of the afternoon. Though a wee bit dizzy from the heat, I was still pretty determined to get my ass on a treadmill and walk off some calories. However, five minutes into my little power walk, a huge sweaty stinking guy walks up to the treadmil that we'd assumed was out of order. To my dismay, he bends over and flips a tiny switch Gina and I had missed earlier and gets on. OMG! It was pure torture....10 minutes of the smell of sweat and BO....urghhhhhhhh....
Later while we were on the exercise bikes, this African guy who'd been on one of them the whole time we were there seriously couldn't stand how clueless we were anymore. He couldn't stop himself from giving hits like where the "On" button Gina yet again couldn't find was, or how I should place my feet on the pedals or how I should adjust my seat if I wanted to cycle at a higher resistance.
After only an hour at the gym, Gina could barely make it down the four steps to the weight training and locker area, and I was feeling a little woozy myself. We dragged ourselves along the wall all the way down the stairs to the car park. And the one hot guy there was like "You're done already?" as we dragged our asses to our gym bags (agh! why do I always look terrible in front of the hot ones?! More on that some other time...)
But yes, I so have to do this again. Mum actually said my ass looked big yesterday! My own Mum! The one who's never been judgemental, never told me to be on a diet in my life....this is bad...
Friday, June 11, 2010
Sunday, June 6, 2010
Mizi's Bistro
A few friends and I went out to dinner at Mizi's at New World Park recently. It wasn't my first time there, but if it HAD been, I would guarantee that I would not have wanted to go back there, ever. In fact, I don't think I ever want to as it is.
At first glance, it's a nice looking place. The theme is red and brown, with cozy looking tables and one of those cool looking counters with loads of glasses hanging overhead. The owner is usually pretty friendly, too. In the past, he used to go around making sure everything was in order and customers were satisfied. Tonight, no such luck. Even as we were being greeted while walking in, he seemed like he could do with a few less customers.
This time we were given one of the two long rows of tables at the back because we were a larger group. Unfortunately, there was a nother large group taking the other row which made the area a little bit too crowded. If there's anything a restaurant can do to really annoy me, it's to cram more tables than it can comfortably accommodate. So, we had the two rows full, the other group had some small band come in and sing a few songs for them, which was just too much for the already tiny, noisy and uncomfortable space. It also included me being at risk of being bludgeoned by their guitars as they squeezed past between the two rows to get to what little open space there was to perform. For the rest of the evening, I also had waiters perpetually squeeze past because it seemed to be where they had to go to send their dirty dishes. It was uncomfortable!
Ordering also seemed a pretty difficult task as most of the staff walk around with their heads down (Hey, I know we're supposed to be nice to waiters, but if the waiters don't want to take orders or bring the check, DON'T BE A DAMN WAITER!!!), ignored us and when they finally acknowledged us, they told us to wait even though some were clearly free. I guess I didn't get the memo that said customers make orders at the convenience of the staff. The first round of orders went fairly smoothly. As we were having our starters two more of our friends arrived. They, too, were told to wait to place their orders. At the same time, the waitress came back with our main courses and plonked them on the table. We'd barely started on our soup! While you could say that's pretty quick service, I'd just say we felt like we were being rushed.
Another well meaning waitress came to attempt to take my friends' orders. Except that Qing didn't want the regular set meal. She wanted the one where you add RM6 to the a'la carte price. The waitress didn't get it. She just stood there dumbfounded at the revelation that there was such a deal on the menu. Which was when the rest of the staff that were watching basically told us to wait. WTF.
The food was so-so. My usual favourite, pumpkin soup, was pretty watered down. I had some awesome pumpkin soup somewhere the other day....I can't remember where. But okay back to point. My canneloni was pretty good. My friends' chicken dishes weren't that great. To be honest I couldn't tell the difference between one or the other. They were just bland and dry.
Would I go back? No.
If there's any consolation, J. L. Gourmet, also run by the same family, at Prangin Mall would be a better bet. The place doesn't look like much. But the food and the service is much better.
At first glance, it's a nice looking place. The theme is red and brown, with cozy looking tables and one of those cool looking counters with loads of glasses hanging overhead. The owner is usually pretty friendly, too. In the past, he used to go around making sure everything was in order and customers were satisfied. Tonight, no such luck. Even as we were being greeted while walking in, he seemed like he could do with a few less customers.
This time we were given one of the two long rows of tables at the back because we were a larger group. Unfortunately, there was a nother large group taking the other row which made the area a little bit too crowded. If there's anything a restaurant can do to really annoy me, it's to cram more tables than it can comfortably accommodate. So, we had the two rows full, the other group had some small band come in and sing a few songs for them, which was just too much for the already tiny, noisy and uncomfortable space. It also included me being at risk of being bludgeoned by their guitars as they squeezed past between the two rows to get to what little open space there was to perform. For the rest of the evening, I also had waiters perpetually squeeze past because it seemed to be where they had to go to send their dirty dishes. It was uncomfortable!
Ordering also seemed a pretty difficult task as most of the staff walk around with their heads down (Hey, I know we're supposed to be nice to waiters, but if the waiters don't want to take orders or bring the check, DON'T BE A DAMN WAITER!!!), ignored us and when they finally acknowledged us, they told us to wait even though some were clearly free. I guess I didn't get the memo that said customers make orders at the convenience of the staff. The first round of orders went fairly smoothly. As we were having our starters two more of our friends arrived. They, too, were told to wait to place their orders. At the same time, the waitress came back with our main courses and plonked them on the table. We'd barely started on our soup! While you could say that's pretty quick service, I'd just say we felt like we were being rushed.
Another well meaning waitress came to attempt to take my friends' orders. Except that Qing didn't want the regular set meal. She wanted the one where you add RM6 to the a'la carte price. The waitress didn't get it. She just stood there dumbfounded at the revelation that there was such a deal on the menu. Which was when the rest of the staff that were watching basically told us to wait. WTF.
The food was so-so. My usual favourite, pumpkin soup, was pretty watered down. I had some awesome pumpkin soup somewhere the other day....I can't remember where. But okay back to point. My canneloni was pretty good. My friends' chicken dishes weren't that great. To be honest I couldn't tell the difference between one or the other. They were just bland and dry.
Would I go back? No.
If there's any consolation, J. L. Gourmet, also run by the same family, at Prangin Mall would be a better bet. The place doesn't look like much. But the food and the service is much better.
Friday, June 4, 2010
Karaoke
In the spirit of trying things we've never bothered to try, my friends and I randomly decided to go to the karaoke the other day. Well, some of us have been but some of us haven't.
It was a fairly uncomfortable outing at first. We were meeting up with a friend we hadn't seen since we finished school, although we did keep up with her via Facebook. When she showed up, I have her a quick hug which she did not even reciprocate and even when we were all talking, she was still pretty quiet. I know there are shy people out there but seriously, we were pretty ok (translate: can hug if we haven't seen each other in a long time) in school, and we used to talk. But she was so quiet around us, didn't want to tell us much about what's been going on with her, nor did she really take part in the conversation or laugh at any of the jokes for that matter. I don't know how other people feel, but people like this always make me wonder if I'm talking too much or making them feel left out.
After lunch, we couldn't find any good movie at a suitable time. The idea of going for a karaoke session together had been floating around, and Neway was just in sight from where we were checking out movie times at the cinema in Queensbay, we decided to give it a go.
It was some kind of off peak hour so it cost us RM16 per person and there's some promotion there where if you have an 8 in your IC number. you get a discount. While I've seen some blog posts about this place charging excessively for the nuts and stuff, I don't really know what other places charge. At first we were a bit freaked out when the waiter told us it was RM44 for nuts. We initially thought he meant that price was per person. But then realised that was for all of us so it didn't seem so bad. It also included a drink and a plate of snacks for each of us. The snacks could be replaced with a second drink order. Pretty expensive, but it wasn't as bad as we'd initially thought. Ms Quiet was still making me uncomfortable, though. She refused to even open her mouth at all, let alone even hold a microphone! Even my other friend Gina, who's also pretty shy, ended up singing, though pretty softly. But at least she was still sporting enough to give it a go. It was definitely more fun that I'd initially expected. But don't think I'll be a regular anytime soon. Have probably stumbled on a good thing to do should any of my girlfriends suffer some terrible breakup or something, though.
It was a fairly uncomfortable outing at first. We were meeting up with a friend we hadn't seen since we finished school, although we did keep up with her via Facebook. When she showed up, I have her a quick hug which she did not even reciprocate and even when we were all talking, she was still pretty quiet. I know there are shy people out there but seriously, we were pretty ok (translate: can hug if we haven't seen each other in a long time) in school, and we used to talk. But she was so quiet around us, didn't want to tell us much about what's been going on with her, nor did she really take part in the conversation or laugh at any of the jokes for that matter. I don't know how other people feel, but people like this always make me wonder if I'm talking too much or making them feel left out.
After lunch, we couldn't find any good movie at a suitable time. The idea of going for a karaoke session together had been floating around, and Neway was just in sight from where we were checking out movie times at the cinema in Queensbay, we decided to give it a go.
It was some kind of off peak hour so it cost us RM16 per person and there's some promotion there where if you have an 8 in your IC number. you get a discount. While I've seen some blog posts about this place charging excessively for the nuts and stuff, I don't really know what other places charge. At first we were a bit freaked out when the waiter told us it was RM44 for nuts. We initially thought he meant that price was per person. But then realised that was for all of us so it didn't seem so bad. It also included a drink and a plate of snacks for each of us. The snacks could be replaced with a second drink order. Pretty expensive, but it wasn't as bad as we'd initially thought. Ms Quiet was still making me uncomfortable, though. She refused to even open her mouth at all, let alone even hold a microphone! Even my other friend Gina, who's also pretty shy, ended up singing, though pretty softly. But at least she was still sporting enough to give it a go. It was definitely more fun that I'd initially expected. But don't think I'll be a regular anytime soon. Have probably stumbled on a good thing to do should any of my girlfriends suffer some terrible breakup or something, though.
Monday, May 31, 2010
Temptation
When you finally decide to get serious and go for it, that's precisely the moment temptation seems to rear its ugly head. For years, everytime I get serious about losing weight and eating healthy, people would buy me chocolates, take me out for meals etc etc...and I hadn't even told the
m that I was trying to diet!
Last week, I decided to get really serious about making sure I work out every day for the rest of my holidays. But the very next day, at lunch with my family, my sister and I shared this awesome dessert with chocolate pie, ice cream, caramel and nuts and marshmallows all on a hot plate...yummm..(Photo from http://www.swensens.com.sg/) Delicious but totally not a good way to start my whole weight loss thing.
The next day, my bffs and I went out to visit a friend. After lunch, we needed a place to hang out. Like most people, we've got a few go to places and the various parts of the island. That afternoon, we happened to be in the area of out favourite Baskin Robbins outlet. Agh!
Then that very night, my parents had a craving for cheesecake. And instead of just getting a slice each, there was a whole cheesecake, small as it may be, tempting me in the refrigerator.
I've kept to the goal of working out every day. But I quite doubt I've burned any calories I haven't put back on with all that food! :(
While I still fit in clothes like this (photo from http://www.look.co.uk/) I'd very much like to look less frumpy. And with more awesome arms and shoulders. I've come to realise that empire waist dresses only do so much to hide your tummy. If you still have one under there, chances are, you tend to look a wee bit preggers.
m that I was trying to diet!Last week, I decided to get really serious about making sure I work out every day for the rest of my holidays. But the very next day, at lunch with my family, my sister and I shared this awesome dessert with chocolate pie, ice cream, caramel and nuts and marshmallows all on a hot plate...yummm..(Photo from http://www.swensens.com.sg/) Delicious but totally not a good way to start my whole weight loss thing.
The next day, my bffs and I went out to visit a friend. After lunch, we needed a place to hang out. Like most people, we've got a few go to places and the various parts of the island. That afternoon, we happened to be in the area of out favourite Baskin Robbins outlet. Agh!
Then that very night, my parents had a craving for cheesecake. And instead of just getting a slice each, there was a whole cheesecake, small as it may be, tempting me in the refrigerator.
I've kept to the goal of working out every day. But I quite doubt I've burned any calories I haven't put back on with all that food! :(
While I still fit in clothes like this (photo from http://www.look.co.uk/) I'd very much like to look less frumpy. And with more awesome arms and shoulders. I've come to realise that empire waist dresses only do so much to hide your tummy. If you still have one under there, chances are, you tend to look a wee bit preggers.
Sunday, May 23, 2010
Looking in the mirror
I don't know when or how it happened. Right until this time last year, I still felt absolutely hot, way below 60kg and didn't have skin problems. Friends have been telling me I've put on weight this year. At a family thing earlier this year, some stupid relative even assumed I was preggers. But I'd assumed it was because the dowdy woman had never seen people in empire waist dresses before. I no longer have flawless complesion either. But I didn't realise it was this bad.
I'd gone without a weighing scale for a couple of months sometime back. When I bought a new one, I figured there must've been some kind of calibration error on the old one because the new one says I've gained 5kg. But right now I'm beginning to think there wasn't anything wrong with the calibration on the last one right until the time it just gave up and refused to take any more readings at all.
"Well, it would look nicer if you didn't have all that extra weight on you. You've put on a lot, you know?" was my hair stylists reply when I asked if I should get bangs and if they would look good on me. WTF. But as he said it, I looked in the mirror and realised he wasn't all that far off the mark. When on earth did my face get so round? Like really, it went from heart shaped to...just round. And when did my skin get so....awkward high schooler - like? I wasn't even like that when i WAS in highg school. In my twenty first year, I'd gone from absolutely awesome to...this. This last semester has really taken a toll on me. I don't think I've relaxed at all since January. Neither have I gone shopping properly. "When did I get so dowdy?" is what crosses my mind many times when I'm picking out an outfit these days.
But right now, I've got about 8 weeks to get rid of all these extra kilos and sort out my wardrobe and possibly do something about my skin...although I haven't quite figured out what to do about that last one yet. But I will.
I'd gone without a weighing scale for a couple of months sometime back. When I bought a new one, I figured there must've been some kind of calibration error on the old one because the new one says I've gained 5kg. But right now I'm beginning to think there wasn't anything wrong with the calibration on the last one right until the time it just gave up and refused to take any more readings at all.
"Well, it would look nicer if you didn't have all that extra weight on you. You've put on a lot, you know?" was my hair stylists reply when I asked if I should get bangs and if they would look good on me. WTF. But as he said it, I looked in the mirror and realised he wasn't all that far off the mark. When on earth did my face get so round? Like really, it went from heart shaped to...just round. And when did my skin get so....awkward high schooler - like? I wasn't even like that when i WAS in highg school. In my twenty first year, I'd gone from absolutely awesome to...this. This last semester has really taken a toll on me. I don't think I've relaxed at all since January. Neither have I gone shopping properly. "When did I get so dowdy?" is what crosses my mind many times when I'm picking out an outfit these days.
But right now, I've got about 8 weeks to get rid of all these extra kilos and sort out my wardrobe and possibly do something about my skin...although I haven't quite figured out what to do about that last one yet. But I will.
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Trying to slow down
A few days ago, I argued with Josh that I wasn't going out of my way to look for work to keep myself busy during the holidays. I insisted that I do know how to enjoy myself and just take it easy. Well, now I see that I might have been wrong - agreeing to help a lecturer out with research over my holidays might have been more responsibility that I initially realised..and more work, too! I don't really know how academic research is usually carried out but I'm beginning to feel like she's setting me very unnecessarily tight deadlines. It's only been a week since I started helping her out and right now it seems like my deadlines are typically two days for each piece of work, after which I'm given the next one and so forth. Okay my first assignment was simple enough and it was reasonable to finish within two days. But the last one and the one I have to work on now seem like stuff I'd expect a few more days than that to complete. I mean, this stuff is like actually reading up on things and looking for relevant information and stuff. If people could do all this reading so quickly, wouldn't all academics be churning out papers each month?
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
The promise of holidays
Don't you just love the few days before holidays? When you just can't wait for the extra free time that seems to hold so many promises of awesome things you just didn't have time to do while busy with work/school? It could be as simple as finally having time to catch up on sleep. It feels particularly good this time around because it'll be my first holiday in about a year where I don't have any uni activities encroaching on my time. The previous holidays pretty much passed me by because I was so busy with Uni activities, which admittedly were like vacations but...working vacations? Sometimes it's just nice to know you've got time to waste.
Well goals for the holidays will be....
1. Working out and getting fit. Throughout the whole semester, I never really recovered from coming back late from uni related activities..which left me rushing to keep up with school work and everything else. I've gained to much weight that my 'normal' weight is up about 3kg from what it used to be last year. No way I'm letting that continue. So it's going to be lots of jogging, swimming and pilates for me this hols.
2. Learn something new. But since I'm trying to lose weight, I'm thinking of taking up some kind of dance class. Never taken one in my life.
3. Update my wardrobe! I hadn't realised just how out of date my wardrobe has gotten. It just becomse so routine to pull on a pair of jeans and a T-shirt every morning just to go to class that when it actually comes to going out, I realise I've got nothing nice to wear. Everything's just so..two years ago. Shopping!!!!
Well goals for the holidays will be....
1. Working out and getting fit. Throughout the whole semester, I never really recovered from coming back late from uni related activities..which left me rushing to keep up with school work and everything else. I've gained to much weight that my 'normal' weight is up about 3kg from what it used to be last year. No way I'm letting that continue. So it's going to be lots of jogging, swimming and pilates for me this hols.
2. Learn something new. But since I'm trying to lose weight, I'm thinking of taking up some kind of dance class. Never taken one in my life.
3. Update my wardrobe! I hadn't realised just how out of date my wardrobe has gotten. It just becomse so routine to pull on a pair of jeans and a T-shirt every morning just to go to class that when it actually comes to going out, I realise I've got nothing nice to wear. Everything's just so..two years ago. Shopping!!!!
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