Rider's Cafe with B, G and the BFs

I'm not sure if my girlies want their faces posted here, so i've omitted the humans. Ok, but that's B's behind in the photo below.

Welcome to Rider's Cafe! A cool al fresco kind of place overlooking the Bukit Timah Saddle Club. The kind of place where you wear a pair of sunnies on your head, and nice flowy, airy and light coloured clothes to.

From where i was seated. Love the high ceiling and woody interior. We had planned to have brunch with P who had just returned from NZ, but he got held up so the rest of us continued on. It was truly quite lovely being with old friends, eating good food and being ourselves.

G's coffee. I guess it was as good as it looks.

Think this was Ph's burger.

My lovely, lovely salmon eggs benedict. From this photo, you can see the rather unique surface of the poached eggs. You can't blame us for thinking that it was whipped cream at first when the waitress delivered it to our table.

From another angle.

B's fish and chips.

Can't remember whose soup this was. But i remember it was lovely too.

Me and a horse in its stable! And yes, i do so love horses. I grew up as a little girl lovingly surrounded by My Little Pony toys, many horse figurines, drawing countless horses on stacks and stacks of rough paper that my dad/mom would bring home from work. Well, i drew dinosaurs and dragons too, among other things. I've got a permanent bump on my right hand middle finger to prove it!
Snaps of the various horses around the area:

Stuck my camera lens in between the fencing to get this unblocked view of this Lovely. :)

Buttercake and Cream (Sunset Way)

Gem and I went on a little date after church one night and he brought me to this place called Buttercake N Cream at Sunset Way. It was originally known as Peaberry and Pretzel, but changed the name and concept with the change of management. We ordered the couple set. Dish one was unfortunately a dismal (portion and variety) looking salad. It was fresh, at least.

Oh, but things get better now. This mushroom soup was absolutely tummy warming, tasty, creamy and full of juicy pieces of mushrooms. Lovely, without a doubt. Bowl was a little small though.
Main course 1: Pork chop. Somehow it didn't wow me, but it was not bad and it had that lovely grilled/bbq (i'm not quite sure of how to describe it) taste along with the tasty marinade. Chips were nice and thick.
Main course 2: Beef Steak. Also didn't blow me away, but it was pretty decent.
Gem had one of their recommended beverages, the Lemon Lime Bitter (LLB), while i had chamomile tea. They were served in mini-not-so-mini JUGS. After having eaten a fair bit of food, the amount of drink served was certainly quite a bit for a full stomach, but since we'd all want our money's worth, i've no complaints. I was impressed. The LLB drink was really good, by the way. It was too bad we were on the full side to really enjoy it. But i wouldn't change a thing. :P
Finally, dessert: Warm chocolate pudding, served with vanilla sauce and ice cream. Ice cream was ok as ice creams go, the vanilla sauce was smooth with just the right amount of sweetness, (made with REAL vanilla beans) and the chocolate pudding was... Rich and thick. Warm. Melty. Slightly bitter which complemented the ice cream and sauce provided. Lovely.
Here you go, another picture!

Fruity finds

Little pomegranates! So cute! But my phone cam focused on the leaves BEHIND it.

Was walking out along the covered walkway and what should i find?

There are TWO! Sneaky little things.
Pomelo! Woah, wanted to bring home sia. But could only bring home photos.

And just the other day as i was walking out, i found a PASSION FRUIT PLANT WITH FRUITS! I was so in love. No seriously, i love passion fruits and seeing them growing on local soil is actually quite charming. How often do we get to see fruits growing naturally before they land up in our supermarkets?

I shall be keeping my eyes peeled for more fruity finds at secret location.

girly buys from Sephora

I've been wanting a vitamin C serum for about a year already. I was eyeing the one from Skinceuticals but it would cost me an arm, so i settled for this. Was hoping to find something that would deliver and wouldn't bust my pocket. Bought this because it's made with organic products, brand seems results oriented but also has adopted practices that love the Earth. When it comes to skincare products, i make an effort to read the ingredients. So what i saw on the box pleased me: there wasn't a plethora of chemicalish stuff i cannot pronounce but was instead made from a combination of nature's botanical goodness. it does not do testing on animals, contains no petrol chemicals, parabens or those lauryl sulfate stuff, nor synthetic fragrances or colours. I didn't know what a gem I had bought till i went online to look for reviews. Apparently, it's a product quite a lot of people like! I've only used it twice so far at night, and not on consecutive days though. It has a strange smell (which i like) and i'm really liking what i see in the morning after applying it overnight. Skin looked supple and plumped, and i'm not sure about this, but i thought my acne scars looked a little lighter.

In my quest to complete my work attire look for my practicum/work, i bought this palette of eyeshadow colours.

Having been wow-ed the first time, i decided to buy this after trying it the second time (and was wow-ed again). I brought "that gal" home! It really does increase the mileage of my foundation. Skin looks smoother!

This isn't a very good photo... But here's a picture of the cake that i've ALWAYS wanted to eat but never got a chance till i went for a buffet at The Melt (sister's birthday). I LOVE the Ispahan cake: a soft, giant pink macaron, sandwiching a layer of raspberries and lychee, filled with rose buttercream.

Yes, i died and went to Heaven.

Washed dinner and dessert down with a light and simple English Breakfast tea. Divine. :)

I wonder if Samsung got the inspiration for one of its message tones by listening to nature.

This morning, i heard a call of a bird outside my window and mistook it for my phone's message tone. Teehee.

Wow. If you remember, i was really upset over a certain person (X) who was, in my opinion, giving me plenty trouble. Simply put, person in authority who might've been able to help me had her hands tied. X is a "big shot", so it's not so easy to change status quo.

I prayed about it very honestly to Father God. You know, just telling Him how i really felt about her and the whole situation. I specifically asked Father for X to take the initiative to opt out. As i was asking God for that, it occured to me that that scenario happening actually seemed very unlikely/impossible.

But i remembered the story of Gideon. Of how Gideon went to war with only 300 men each armed with a trumpet, clay pitcher and a torch against thousands and thousands of enemies, and won it. I mean, who in the world goes to war with a flower pot, a musical instrument and a simple light source?! Much less, WIN it?

Gideon did. Because He had a God more awesome than any million of battle worthy soldiers.
And so do I.

So, i just had faith that my God is a God who works in funny ways which i'll never come up with and He'll make a way for me. So i just did my part: be nice, respectful and do what needed to be done.

Until now, i find it hard to actually realize that God really answered my prayer the exact way I had hoped for, just in the nick of time. A prayer completely answered though it had seemed so unlikely!

Clementi: yummy food place! (Le tian something something...)

This was a sambal (was it? cannot remember what type of chilli was used) pork rib dish with some kind of savoury cream sauce. Woah. Frekkin' nice man, i tell you. And i am blogging this at 2am which is a bad time to get hungry. HA. The dish was a great blend of salty, sweet, spicy. It was tasty and went very well with hot rice. Any of my kakis who live near me or not so near also, if you're interested, i would be glad to bring you to go eat this!

These little nugget guys are actually crispy deep fried scallops coated with batter and salted egg yolk. SHIOK for people who love, well, salted egg yolk and scallops. ME! Gem, who does not fancy eating salted egg yolk actually enjoyed this.

These two dishes were featured on a channel 8 food show, and the shop takes advantage of this to promote these dishes quite exclusively. I'm game if you are! :)

Not advisable to do on v day

You can read it if you try hard enough...

The sign read "Flirting Point", complete with the imprint of a juicy smooch. Couldn't capture it on the phone cam though.

I was amused. They can't be serious! :P

This is Jed showing a little reluctance going down the stairs to reach home after his sunday afternoon walk. This is because the smart little pooch knows that a bath awaits him and he hates to bath! He gives me that manja look and wags his stumpy tail every time i talk to him. Aww!

Here's another manja face for good measure. :P

A Post for the Girls (+ Cheap Yummehs + Item for Sale!)

Kinda having internal girly giggling right now, because, well, i had a lone ranger girly short evening out with myself (after dinner with Gem) and i don't know where to begin talking about it. Needless to say, there will always be window shopping involved and wishlists being mentally drawn out. Ok, not mentally, i actually made a memo to myself in my phone to remind myself of what i'd like to get once my current stuff (face wash, scrubs, etc) run out. So this post is for the girls. :) Which would apply to most of the people reading here, methinks :)

1) Raffles City

Was walking about the cosmetics/shoes/toiletries department and checking out products from the brands that i favour/hear more about. And i found a couple of gems!

"that girl", Brightening Face Primer, $58:


Decided to drop by the Benefit counter to take a peek at the stuff they have. Usually, i don't have the patience to find out what the products are about. If you notice, Benefit products have a lot of funky names in bold and fancy fonts, but what it is and what it is for is usually not very prominently shown. But this time i had a nice salesgirl answer my query about which ones were their best sellers, and this was one of them, and now i know why!

I must say i was duly impressed. The product came out of the bottle as a pink liquid and went onto my skin just like any other smooth creamy make up cream. After some blending about and having it dry up a little, the imperfections on my hand looked smoothened out (wrinkles) and hidden (freckles): an illusion of perfect skin!

The liquid dried up without feeling oily at all or overly powdery. Altogether, my skin looked evened out and when i compared both hands side by side, i was quite wow-ed. Of course, the skin on the back of my hand is generally smoother than my face so the effects of the product was magnified. All in all, i guess if you prefer light make up, this would actually go very well on its own, OR, with a little foundation after the primer. I don't know how it will look like on blemished skin though. But i think if your skin is average-ish, then this might be good! Of course, do sample it first. I don't know if sensitive skin can take it.

Clarins UV Plus Protective Day Screen, $70 (gulp!):

What i look for in sunscreens is that it should not be thick and pasty, should not leave an odd white film on my face, should feel light and natural on the skin. This pretty much did the trick. It was lightweight and didn't have that gross pasty white residue. It didn't dry up as a powder, so it did leave the skin feeling a little moist. All in all, pretty decent. Pricey though. Eeks.








2) Blogshop: Lilies of the Field

LET ME SCREEAMM: AGHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! COMPLETELY LOVE THE DRESSES THAT I'VE JUST PURCHASED FROM THEM!

Found out about this blogshop from another person's blog that i've been reading. I found the website to be pretty decent: pleasant, neat, tastefully set up, and there was effort put into the photography of the items on the model (who has a really nice figure without looking malnourished!) So, i chanced upon two lovely dresses from their latest collection.

They fit me to a T! AUGGHHH! Happiness.

This one was the one i fell in love with immediately when i saw it. It's a lace overlay CNY-ish dress in purple. It was initially "pending" (meaning stock was all fully "choped" but not paid for yet by potential buyers). So the seller said that if anyone backs out from the sale, she'll let me have a piece. I was quite sad that i couldn't secure one for sure. Was at my desk the other day when i prayed and ask God for it... You know, just innocently so like a little kid. Heehee. To my utmost GLEE, when i met the seller today to collect my items, i peered into the brown paper bag and caught a glimpse of the shiny purple fabric inside. I was SO happy, you can't imagine. THANK YOU PAPA GOD. :DDDDDD *beam* I'm his girly plus chor lor daughter who is just starting to appreciate dresses.

Ok, tummy is bulging a bit here from a yummy dinner i had with Gem earlier. Char siew and siew yoke rice, with the shop's awesome gravy and chilli. He gets all the good food lobangs from his friends and he brings me there to try. So far all the recommendations have been great!

This was the sleeveless structured dress, another one that i allowed myself to purchase.

















NOTE: I have a size S lace overlay cheongsam (in champagne) (click on the link, scroll down the page and you'll see the model wearing it. The image's colour does not show the true colour. In real life, the colour is beige-ish and not silver) that i'm willing to let go of because while most of the dress fits me, the shoulder part doesn't because of my broad shoulders (dang, should've bought M instead!). My shoulders stretch the fabric a bit so it looks quite strange on me. To be honest, the workmanship is so-so, but it is definitely wearable. It would be a waste if no one wants it. I'm good selling it off slightly cheaper than the price i bought it at ($30).

Measurements of dress: Point to Point 14" to 16", Down 33"

**ok, end of girly ramblings**

Remember the char siew rice i was talking about?

The stall name is: New Rong Liang Cantonese Roast Duck (...) Soup. Sorry, i cannot read it either and can't remember the full name. It's quite a mouthful. This was where Gem brought me on our latest food trip. It's situated in a dingy below-building-void-deck kind of coffee shop. The building is directly behind Iluma, at Bugis. Oh... for the love of char siew, siew yoke, duck meat, laap cheong, gravy and chilli. It is YUMS.

And get this. A decent plate of char siew rice is only $2. Char siew with siew yoke rice is $2.50. No wonder there was a good queue when we got there.

Cleared out old blog links and adding new ones to the side... If anyone objects to either, please let me know!

***

It's quite freaky for me to learn that some people want to be psychologists because they think that they can judge others.

***

As a noob, training and learning to be a counsellor is painful.

My skills (which of course is limited at the moment) is openly challenged, i am fearful and anxious. There is a lot of pain to hear about and work with in the counselling room which i cannot "bring home" after a day's work. Mistakes are plentiful, disappointment in myself is cutting and sometimes sadly becoming a familiar feeling.

Yet, for now, it doesn't make me want to give up. Instead, it spurs me to want to be a better counsellor. I think it helps greatly that i have the support of colleagues and a good working environment. I noted that this feeling of wanting to be better isn't something i had to force myself to feel that i had to do. I didn't have to tell (or psycho) myself into thinking that i had to take all the negative feedback positively. The desire to improve just comes out naturally from my being.

Some might say, "you're not jaded enough", or, "you just wait". True to some extent. Burnout happens to many a counsellor, and it can happen subtly or drastically. I know i have to be consistently aware of my emotional and mental states, take stock of what's happening to be able to manage the issues as they come.

I wrote this as i was reflecting on what was happening in me and i wondered and then realized how crucial it is for counsellors to have a supportive friend or family member, a network that will help us release the pent up pressure inside. And i think, i'm pretty blessed. :)

For those who know me, i'm generally more of a pessimist, so saying this in all honesty surprises even myself!

Before i left his study room, dad was telling me that his laser pointer cum powerpoint slides changer (when you press a button) that has been with him for years no longer works. He was a little sad because he was going to have a presentation the next day and no matter what he did, the little device couldn't come back to life. It had well and truly croaked.

I left the room and was doing stuff at my comp when after about 10-15 minutes, dad came by my room entrance and excitely exclaimed, "JO! I'm SO excited!"

"What? Why?"

With a big ole bright grin and waving the pointer about in his fist, he said, "I held the pointer in my hand and said, in JESUS' NAME, IT. SHALL. WORK.! And then i turned it on and... it WORKS!!!!!"

Apparently, Jesus saves/heals electronic devices too. He's quite tech sav(e)vy, huh? :p

Though i knew it then, it didn't hit me as hard before. But i now know why junior college life was so friggin' hard for me and why i didn't do all that fantastic for my 'A' Levels.

Because NOW it gives me the opportunity to understand life from their point of view, to tell them that there IS hope and a fighting chance if they try, though the road is definitely rough.

Not to say that counsellors who were super pro back in college can't be effective, but i really feel that there is so much more meaning when i speak as someone who struggled too.

I would find it so much harder to empathize, encourage, cheer them on if i had breezed through college and got my As. If everything was perfect, i would have had nothing to share.

So yes. There is a reason for what i went through. To be of some help to those around me where i am placed for this season.

Geez. You live on your own world, so don't you blabber your personal sob story issues to me even when i don't even know you, you don't get to talk to me as if i am the cause of your problems because you set yourself up for them yourself. I don't know what the heck you want, i am trying to accomodate you and you switch here, switch there. Woah lao eh, i wish i were Jed right now so that i don't have to deal with morons like you. I didn't do ANYTHING WRONG. NOTHING. ZILCH. If you're in a bad state to begin with, don't go and unload all your crap on me. I don't care if you're some big shot. I didn't deserve that kind of treatment from you.

Where do they get these jokers from man, seriously.

God, please help me.

Rant over.

***

Guess it's time once again for the semester summary of assignments! Usually i do this towards the end of the semester when i am highly stressed and rushing them out. Maybe it's time to do things differently for a change. Heh. In the mean time, a Jed update.

He's much better and is no longer as bloated as before. Almost back to the usual when it's a norm for him to come around begging for food, something that he always does rain or shine. It's like, as long as he SPIES the journey that the food makes as you lift your hand to your mouth, he perks up and runs over to you in hope he can secure a hand out. Yesterday, he was too bloated and lethargic to move much so he skipped the begging but his behaviour today is a lot more familiar. It's a relief. I had wondered if his little kidneys could take so much preservatives... :) Silly puppy!

Friend gave a bag of laap cheong (preserved chinese sausages) for CNY last night, which i put into my bag and forgot about when i came home.

Jed stole the whole $$#%$#^% thing and ATE EVERY SINGLE SAUSAGE leaving just the plastic bags and the red string behind.

Mom found his newspaper toilet drenched with pee this morning, and his water bowl devoid of water, which is a first time EVER. The salt consumption was probably too much for him and he was drinking a lot to purge it out.

Sigh.

His belly is now bloated tight with his breakfast and probably a lot of digesting laap cheong from last night. Think he needs to go out for a run later today man. This crazy eating episode is not good for him at all. I'm honestly a bit worried for him so i'm keeping watch. He's now lying embedded in his favourite spot that is the bean bag looking very, very full and lethargic. If he could make sounds like a human, he would be saying, "errrghhh... (moan)... oh my stomach..."

Miniature pinschers just... They just rock because of their hilarious antics but they also drive you absolutely nuts because they are so hard to train and also possess a (very mischevious) mind of their own.

Bonitochico is one of my favourite blogshops to shop at, but oftentimes, i cannot get what i want soon after a release of a collection because the pieces sell out within minutes! So, by the time i decide on what i want (what colour?? which piece??) or when i get home from school/practicum/errands, i have to wait for the backorder.

From the time of ordering from a backorder (a timeframe for people who missed the initial release to make their orders) to the time the clothes arrive at my home, i have to wait a whole month or more. Which is generally not fun.

So, this time. I waited. When the clock struck 5pm, I refreshed the page, looked rabidly through all the clothes and decided with lightning speed what i wanted and shot my comment and email address to the sellers in record time.

I still think i'm not fast enough yet though. I took... 12-17 minutes? We'll see if i get my invoice by tonight. If i don't, then woah seh. I need more training. Muah hahaha. *silly grin*

I've joined the ranks of the other rabid online shoppers!!!!!! *ROAR!*HAHAHAHHA!*

We're all so STOKED because the project is taking off, and seems to have started on a good note!

It's not our project. It's God's project. And I must not forget that.

"weighty" issues

As you can see. Huge long list of sports events for this year on the right. :) I shall pick and choose the ones i think are do-able for me. Ragh, i can't help it but rest assured that i will pick the ones my body can handle. I want to do my sport(s) for life and not kill my body too soon and have it cut short.

Since last year, i've been toying with the idea of doing duathlons and mini triathlons to branch out from just plain running, but getting a bike is too expensive for me at the moment and keeping it in good condition requires time to maintain (from observing my sister who's into triathlons). We'll see how it'll work out.

Speaking about health and sports. Recently, my weight has been something of a topic for people who've not seen me in a while. Actually, even those who've been seeing me relatively often have noticed that i've shrunk somewhat. Some people said i looked "gaunt", some said i looked "nice what", some said i looked like "skin and bones" (haha... you know who you are! :P), some said i looked "unhealthy".

I don't really know how to respond to their surprised questions and comments, except to cursorily name one of the few reasons that explain what they see. It got me thinking about what started this whole continuous weight loss. Though i can assure you that i am not anorexic or bulimic, because i love food too much to be! Long story ahead...

It all began when i developed mild IBS (irritable bowel syndrome) during my undergraduate days. My doc said there is no distinct cause for it, though it is most likely due to my lifestyle. At that time, i was stressed most of the time from school and stress is apparently one of the lifestyle related causes for IBS.

Since there was no specific cause, he could only treat the symptoms. So he got me started on establishing good toilet habits. I learnt that i had to avoid certain foods as well because they made me bloat up. I underwent treatment with medication, fibre supplements and even laxatives. Within the few months of treatment, my doc said i had lost a bit of weight. (Ragh, because carbohydrates was one of the things i had to avoid due to bloating)

Things definitely got better in about 4-5 months, with less bloating. But not without being extra careful about my diet. Back then, my concerns were what i put into my mouth. Today, it has developed into a careful monitoring of what i eat, when i eat (time of the day), HOW i eat (i realized that taking more time to eat slowly and chewing my food thoroughly before swallowing eases the job of my digestive tract, less bloatedness), even.

As a zealot-runner, i took part in regular running events. But it was this one sports expo that i went to when i went to collect my Standard Chartered race pack that knocked some reality into me. I stopped by a Cali Fitness booth and did a body composition test, just for the fun of it. And to my ultimate shock, i was informed that at my size at that time (i had always considered myself healthy and even slim-ish!) i was close to being overweight.

My fat content was apparently quite high, which i didn't expect at all. I can't remember which year it was when i found out. But together with that bit of info, plus in 2007 when i put on 3kg SUDDENLY for NO apparent reason after my 21km Standard Chart race (weight ballooned to 58.5kg), i decided that i really needed to lose the weight.

So one day when i stepped on the scales, i prayed. I asked God, "God, i need to lose the weight to get to my ideal weight of 50-51kg. Can you help me, can you partner with me on this? We'll do this together."

I'm serious! I prayed to Father God to help me lose weight. I'm sure He does care about that too to help me! So, guys and girls, you now know what to do if you need help in this area ok.

So of course then came the decision to start making changes to live healthier. CY calls me a health freak in mock disgust though he's one himself! Hur. Well, what did healthier living mean for me? I lived and still live by these mantras:

1) Always pick food that will give NUTRITION. Meaning, i MUST get my fix of proteins, fibre and carbohydrates in my meal (try as far as possible though it's hard when you're eating out). Don't get things that give you calories but yet does not give you nutrition. For instance, potato chips, certain biscuits, doughnuts, etc. These are empty calories.

2) Avoid processed food as far as possible. Eg. i avoid cakes, soft/can drinks, biscuits that i think do not contribute to my health. But... (see point 3)

3) Yet, if something is really good (even if processed AND unhealthy), i WOULD eat it. Hence, I use my daily calorie intake only on food that is worth eating (i learnt this important lesson from a doctor who writes the famous local food blog: ieatishootipost.blogspot.com). Meaning, if the food i'm eating is yucky and/or unhealthy, i won't force myself to eat/buy it just so that i will have something to eat. If something is not worth eating, don't. So yes, i do eat stuff like fried pork lard. Heh. YUMMEH. Because it tastes good to me and it's something i won't regret eating. Which brings me to point 4...

4) Diet is a huge portion of what makes you physically. Hence, "you are what you eat". But like me, if you've eaten stuff you KNOW don't quite score well (PORK LARD!) in the health department, then you need to work it off.

5) When i eat, i don't gobble. When you eat slowly, you'll realize how little food you really need in order to feel full. If you gobble a lot in a short time, you'll realize later on how full you made yourself to be. Whereas when you take a longer time to eat (and hence eat less), your body has enough time to tell the brain that you are full. Less food eaten = less excess calories.

6) Fullness: I eat till i'm just about right or slightly less than just about right. I used to think this was torment! I mean, hello, i LOVE food so if i did this, i would be eating so little!!! But when i didn't heed this, i suffered a lot of bloating which over time i realized was very uncomfortable, so i've learnt to listen to my body and just practice this. I'm now benefiting from this, thankfully.

I realized when i followed these points, it all came together to help me manage my diet, weight and health (IBS) overall. Of course, i was also accountable to God in that i wanted to take care of His temple (my body) and to make sure that i didn't go overboard with the weight loss and have it turn into something pathological. Honestly, there were times when losing the weight was so important that i would do and think really stupid things. So i would have to refocus and remember that i was doing this for my overall health and not to achieve a number on the scale.

There are other things, like stress from school (NIE ah... tsk tsk) and personal life, my busy schedule that sometimes forces me to eat only light meals, my "shrunken stomach" (i feel full with just a bit of food... quite annoying and also amusing lor cos i love to eat at mega buffets like the one called The Carousel), that have also contributed.

Anyway. This has been a rather long post after allowing myself to recollect the whole journey. So after 4-5 years of living this way, i've slowly lost the weight and i'm now at a healthy average of 51-52kg.

Come to think of it, losing 6-7 kg in 2 years (from 2008 when weight was 58.5kg after the 21km run) is actually a long and gradual process (think: it's losing a tiny 67grams a week *chuckle*). Which i guess is healthy weight loss. I'm hoping that the changes to my physical body is deep (cardiovascular improvement, better metabolic rate, etc), rather than on the surface like how it is with crash diets.

This post was pretty much about the eating and food part of living healthily. Maybe i'll talk about my sports regime some other time. :)

I know i said that i was going to give my knees a break... (Cutting down on running events, running less, etc)

And i AM, honest! I tried to stick to walking only but as usual, i cannot stray long from running. So when i do, i do it in short durations/distances only. Plus, i don't run on pavements/tarmac anymore, or rarely. I jog/walk on the treadmill (yawwwwnnn) or do the elliptical machine (double yawn, but boy, it pushes my heart harder than jogging man). To balance everything out, i've added strength training to my exercise regime, i do some light weights now.

The general feedback i get from my therapists friends is that i probably cannot go on at the same intensity that i used to, but i MUST still keep active by doing other things. Having knee problems is not a reason to stop exercise (not that i can totally, anyways. i DO get lazy, but exercise to me is like a mild addiction. stop, and the urge will definitely return.). That being said, i was told that i should do exercises that are low in intensity but work my way upwards so that as my body takes the time to adjust, it also has time to rebuild... and maybe in time, i can go back to running like i used to and with a stronger ("more prepared") body. Something like that. I was also told to do strengthening exercises to support the weakened areas.

Points all taken, my friends. Hence my effort to scale down at this point in time.

So to get to my original point. Recently my classmate, who's also a good friend in my masters class asked me excitedly, "Hey! You wanna go run the Adidas Sundown? We go run the 10km one lar..."

Being a sucker for running events despite my knee issues, you can easily guess what my gong gong answer was.

(Hey at least she said we'll walk and run, no need to run all the way. So, that sounded good to me!)

Fatherhood

Some time last year, i asked God: "What topic should i do for my dissertation?"

And i felt God say: "Fatherhood".

My initial reaction was: "Ok, duh, God, that was a no brainer... So typical!" But i decided to believe that that was what God wanted me to do, so i've kept it in mind to look out for anything to do with fatherhood so that i could use the resources. And also... hopefully yo find a place that would allow me to carry out my data collection.

Strangely enough in the months that came, i began to see posters/email notices related to events that are trying to bring fathers together with their children, an article in the newspaper about father-children relationships, societies and groups stepping up to make fathers more aware of their roles in the family, their importance in their children's' lives. I even saw an MCYS grant being offered for people interested to carry out studies on family related issues.

Recently, when my classmate found out that i was not doing my dissertation this semester and would therefore not graduate at the same time as him, he tried to persuade me otherwise. I was told that i could just take it easy, don't take on a topic too big for myself, just do something simple and it can easily be done. A part of me wanted to give in, to maybe change my mind and take up his advice. But somehow, i felt that firstly, i don't think i will be able to handle the dissertation and i did after all make this decision to prolong for another semester for good reason, and secondly, i felt that since God wanted me to DO this, then i will NOT be swayed.

As if to drive in His divine point... On watch night service (church service on the 31st of december 2009), our senior pastor focused all our prayers on something that he felt weighed very strongly on his heart, and it was PRAYING FOR FAMILIES and for FATHERS/MEN TO RISE UP. My heart kind of skipped a few beats. And to make it even more blatant, our adult services have begun the new year with a series of sermon teachings on the importance of the role of the father.

I'm completely blown away. Every sermon that i've sat in so far has been difficult for me to listen to, given the family saga that i've been through recently involving my father. I know first hand the kind of raw pain that a father can inflict on his children, and i knew exactly what my pastor was saying and i was nodding in agreement.

Week after week, my jaw drops again at how applicable the sermons are to my dissertation topic and at how more resources for my topic are being made known to me (which i really need as a student needing contacts and resources). Our senior pastor believes that fatherlessness is a big root problem in society today, giving rise to many social problems. That it is time that the hearts of fathers should turn towards their children, and vice versa.

I'm like, "WOW GOD! This cannot be coincidental... this whole slew of stuff coming my way and how my dissertation lands itself at such a time as this. Really helpful for me! Thanks Father God. :)"

I feel like i'm going to be a part of a movement, even if it's just a small part. I'm just wowed at how all this is coming together.

Hiak hiak.

Apple Invasion has begun in this residence. This entry is being typed on the tiny little white wireless keyboard, and my right hand rests every now and then on a sleek, smooooth, creamy piece of apple heaven, called the magic mouse. :) and my eyes behold my blog entry on a hubungous display screen.

listening to matt maher on the imac, sitting by the window where the cool wind easily reaches in to bring the scent of fresh air, having Jed nearby. Bliss.

"Great minds discuss ideas; Average minds discuss events; Small minds discuss people.”
- Eleanor Roosevelt

I remember coming across this when i was in secondary school juggling the concept of what it meant to be "deep" or mature. I must say the quote is quite crude (and reeks of snobbishness, unless i've misinterpreted the intention) but hey, it seems to hold a brutal grain of truth in some ways. Of course we can't be categorized cleanly like that. It's too broad a statement. Like i said, pretty crude but kind of self reflective, really. Up to you to wonder about the validity of such a statement.

Dog Run Part 2

Jed looking up at the treat my sister is holding.

Checking one another out.

Jed is trying to show who is boss. Sigh.

Shot of the dog run while the sun sets. Dogs playing in the mud. Huge black dog checking Jed out. Jed doesn't stray very far from us, so he trots back every now and then to hang around us.

Very pretty Corgi.

Cute Jed moments

Cute Jed moment No.1

Cute Jed moment No.2
He's doing this usual begging tricks... My mom is eating a nice juicy mango and he ingratiates himself with her, as you can see, spreading his doggy self on my mom's stomach and resting his little doggy head on her chest and staring longingly at the mango. Look at those eyes... Aiyo.

Avatar

Edit: woah, i'm thinking of catching the show again and/or buying the DVD. if there were non-pill versions of addictive drugs placed in movies to keep people watching, i think James Cameron stuffed this one full of it and it's working for me and loads of other (unsuspecting)people and critics! (same for his other movie isn't it, the Titanic? There were people who watched it 100 times or more!)

For the first time ever, we double dated. Well, sort of. Haha. It was the first time the folks went out to watch a movie on a weekday night either in a looooooooooong time, or if ever.

Last week, i told mum that i was going to watch Avatar with Gem and she promptly asked dad if he wanted to go as well. So this evening, two couples went to the Lido Cineplex for the 7:30pm show.

Boy.

I will be eating, sleeping, thinking, DREAMING, Avatar, man.

The story is simple. Man wants resources from the land belonging to a difference race (the Na'vi) and push their agenda by force. The Na'vi retaliate, the hero who served Man at first moved his allegiances from Man to the Na'vi when he learns about their way of life and when he falls in love with one of the Na'vi. Full on battle, Na'vi wins, and hero becomes a real member of the Na'vi.

But more than that, there were quite a handful of messages! It subtly or otherwise raises issues and familiar political topics like the the war in Iraq, Afganistan, the destroying of the Amazon forest by heavy industry, genocide of Native Americans (read from an online article), that nature will eventually "fight" back when the balance between nature and human activity (extraction of resources, etc) has been upset (global warming anyone?). I was amused and appalled that they even threw in the term "shock and awe", a concept (from the Nation Defense University of the USA) referred to as "rapid dominance" (wikipedia: "spectacular displays of force to paralyze an adversary's perception of the battlefield and destroy its will to fight").

After the show, it even got my folks discussing the content. As a bonus, my mom didn't get motion sickness. I was a bit worried that she might and wouldn't enjoy the 166 minutes in the cineplex because we watched it in 3D and there was quite a lot of action. Haha. Everyone liked the show, and i was glad it was moolah well spent.

In the first part of the show, there was a lot of "romancing" going on between the movie goer and movie. My church mate likened it to watching Jurassic Park, when you get to experience the vastness and lushness of the flora and fauna and the sheer monstrosity of the lifelike dinosaurs. In my opinion, the purpose was to allow the viewer to appreciate and sink into the beauty of a different world, to come to value the culture, creatures and livelihood of a people different but yet not so different from ourselves.

So when the destruction kicks in, you pretty much may feel some degree of pain and grief that the Na'vi must've felt when they saw their beloved forest (their whole lives, basically) and loved ones being murdered. My mom commented that when she was watching the war take place, she "felt disturbed". She could feel the chaos. For some people like myself, i didn't feel sad at all when a human being took a hit because all our sympathies were with the Na'vi.

Honestly, i walked away with one thing resonating most strongly in my mind and soul. And that is that what i saw really isn't very different from what's happening today in our world. The tribes of indigenous people being harmed today due to the destruction of their forest homes for the resources present there aren't from another planet, they're just on the other side of OUR planet. Even if the extraction of resources isn't the main issue, there has been and probably still is the senseless discrimination of such people.

I don't know what i can do to stop it, and my heart grieves.

face off with a deadly predator? really? watch to find out. :)