Now, let's not get all depressed about this.
It really depends on how we look at Things.
I believe, 9 in 10 of us would automatically relate to our work / job / occupation to this, hence, all of us will feel that we are at neither one, and that's down right depressing.
I'm doing this post cos I'm kind of stuck with a task...quite a major task that I've yet have any idea how to go about it...bla bla bla. So, now you know that, when you see me blogging, means I'm not doing what I'm suppose to do.
But.
No doubt, our job is a main source of income in order for us to live comfortably..bla bla..however, let's try look at other Things. After all, there are 24 hours a day.
We work 8-10 hours a day on average.
We sleep about 6-8 of hours.
So, there are still about 6-10 hours left for Freedom and Happiness.
So..what makes you Free and Happy? Go do it...in that 6-10 hours.
At an autopay parking machine, the young Chinese lady before me was sighing with displeasure when the older lady before her took longer than usual cos she wanted to use up all her spare notes at the machine.
Well, I was a little impatient too.
My turn came, I almost ran out of spare notes! While I was struggling to look for that last RM1 note, I apologised to the Malay chap behind me.
He was very patient and nice, and even offered me his RM1.
Now..I'm not sure if he/she is a Chinese (like myself) would have done the same ..unfortunately.
Right..I've been in this industry for as long as I started working...over 15 years to be exact.
When we design questionnaires for our clients, as a Neutral party, our job is to understand the client's objectives and find ways to gather consumers' feedback in the most neutral and un-bias way.
One of the many learnings or rules we had while designing questions, particularly to check customers feedback or satisfaction, is that we should never mix positive and negative statements in a list.
A perfect example below, the scale goes from Disagree to Agree. I personally find the questions very confusing, both as a respondent / consumer and as a market research specialist. Note, how the positive and negative statements were used inter-changeably.
One has to be really alert to be able to answer accurately, don't you think?
Makes me wonder..if this is a new methodology that I've not been exposed to. Or am I too out-dated?
If I am to re-design this using what I've been taught, the list should go something like this:
Stories from xxx in my xxx...
...are not disruptive ..are interesting to me ..are not misleading ..are relevant to me
This way..respondents whom most of the time are layman consumers do not have to keep switching their mindset from positive to negative state and it's so much easier to apply the Disagree - Agree scale in the same flow.
I rambled about Talking to Air before..back in 2009 to be exact (read HERE)
Boy..it was THAT long ago. Back then I was referring more to the changing forms of communication..starting from the creation of mobile text messages and instant messages, we talked less and less.
Then we move on to blogging, social networking, micro blogging and now with smart phones taking over our lives...we started to Not even text....for instance ..with Instagram ..we post pictures and like pictures instead, some of which belongs to people we don't even know. With foursquare..we check-in as a way to let people know where we are hanging out...what we're eating..who we're with.
Hmm..what have we become of.
Anyway..i digressed.
I wanted to say that I agree to this totally as a so called blogger myself.
As I type away now..I am in fact holding a conversation between myself and nobody. I'm talking to the air.
Similarly..I think..our lives has become like that in some ways.
Right..I better log off and go down have dinner and TALK to my old dear old Dad, who's not connected to the internet.
Spotted this at my childhood best friend's 7 yr old daughter's birthday do.
Do you believe that the mommy did this by hand?
I've been to numerous kids party. Some had clowns, mickey mouse, magicians... strangely this pony left me the deepest impression. Probably didn't cost as much as a clown or magician.
Looks like mommy made full use of her in-born talent to make the kids happy. *loves*
I've known this pal since we were eight, she'd always been good in arty farty stuff, unlike me. I absolutely hated art and craft.
The tour guide at the Nepal tour I was in, once said, "you people from developed countries work very hard everyday, earn lot's of money, after working so hard you need to de-stress, so you spend money to come to non developed countries like Nepal to de-stress"
I also have a friend who had never gone on a holiday in his whole life. Firstly, he thinks that it's a waste of money. Secondly, his idea of a holiday is to laze around and do nothing, he has yet to to find anyone who can do that with him. Lately, I saw that he drives quite a luxurious car, comparatively. Different priorities, I guess.
At that time, I didn't agree that spending on holidays is a waste of money. At that time, I was earning a fixed monthly salary, I thought it makes perfect sense to fork out that "little" percentage of our "hard earned money" to have some fun in other parts of the world. After all, we have paid leave to clear, etc.
As you may have guessed, I've not gone to any holiday destination since 2012.
An ex-colleague called to ask if I'm interested to go to a alumni of sort in a resort in Philippines. Many ex-colleagues from different parts of the world will be there, it will be fun to catch up, bla bla. My spontaneous answer was.."no thank you, now that I don't earn a fixed income, I watch my expenses quite carefully, I'd like to keep whatever extra cash I have for more other things that I'd like to spend on ..from sports/gym related, occassional splurge on food/beverages, unexpected expenses, so, travelling is not one of the priorities for now".
I, myself, was surprised by the spontaneous answer.
Without realising it, I now agree with my friend who thinks that travelling can be a waste of money. Think about it, the Nepal trip probably costed RM5,000 or more, I think. Those days, without much commitment, I don't feel much forking out RM5,000. Now?! RM5,000 can be the margin of one hard earned project.
Oh boy..what have I turned myself into :D
I don't mean that I will not ever travel again. I'll have to go for cheaper and economical ones, probably local self-drive or nearer SEA destinations like Thailand or Indonesia.
Secondly, I'd choose my travel partners too. Earlier part of 2012, I rejected an ex school mate to go to Bali or Bandung with a few other school mates. I was being very honest by saying..that, now that I don't have much travel budget, I'll have to choose very carefully (kiasu-ly). I have not met these school mates for over 20 years..and we were not that close in school anyway. Sorry..I was bad, I know : /
So, what am I trying to get at here?
I'm not sure..just trashing out some thoughts..
Do we really need to spend thousands to go and visit these far away countries?
Do we really need to go far away to relax and de-stress?
Well, it's probably a case of what we have and what we want.
When we work very hard, we barely have time to to stop and rest, that's why our employers give us paid leave, and hence, using our hard earned money we end up going for holidays.
Alternatively, going away for holidays is a good way to get away from our day to day routine. Just to let the mind relax and wander to a new horizon.
But then..now that I'm out of the rat race, I don't really have that urgent need to de-stress. Yes?
Hmm..no conclusion.
Lol.
At the end of the day...it boils down to how much extra cash we have!
Participating in running events especially shorter distance had become a trend of some sort, thanks to great efforts by the pioneer events and their respective sponsors like the Standard Chartered, Energiser, Adidas, Nike, Shape & Men's Health, etc. These are the older and most popular events few years back.
Recent years, many new events had cropped up..for "different" reasons.
If someone runs a profiling survey on current participants, I foresee there will be at least 3 main groups e.g.
Hardcore runners - serious enthusiasts who participates in almost every run
Gymies - gym enthusiasts who decided to take up running to test their fitness
Social - ocassional participate together with friends, just for fun
Newbies - younger group, probably students, participating for fun and hype, may not be fit
I should fall in between the 2nd or 3rd group.
Normally, I'd decide to sign up only when the event is interesting, especially new ones . Brand plays an important role :P Friends are also important factors, if I no one's interested, I won't sign up. Sometimes the 'mood' factor comes, I'm a woman you see.
Somehow, someway, certain events new or old captures my interest. The PJ Dawn And GE Live Great Run for example, both were new, not so well known, yet I signed up.
"THE FIRST ALL WOMEN MARATHON" -- yes,that is enough to get my buy in :)
The registration fee are quite expensive, and this is the first race I've signed up that doesn't come with a running top. Instead they highlighted that a pareo will be given out. It's a women thing, apparently. Not that they expect us to run in it though.
Secondly, the fun category 8km doesn't have any finisher medal. What's the point of participating in a run and don't come back with a medal and running top?!
Let's see, I've done only two HM in the last couple of years.
The first was Penang Bridge 2010, it was mighty fun cos it was raining cats and dogs throughout.
The second was Energiser Night Run 2011, I was at the fittest state ever, unfortunately I didn't push to the maximum.
Was suppose to follow up with a third at the SCKLM 2011 but I developed a nasty back problem a month before the run, cause unknown, and still somewhat persisting till today.
Sadly, my physical condition did not improve much from then. Currently still struggling with multiple minor problems all over. I'm just thankful that I can still continue being somewhat active without any major setbacks.
But, it's gonna be 21km in MWM April 7th yor...urgh.
Oh. by the way, I'm one of the lucky 150 MWM HM participant to get a free slot to the 2013 Orang Asli Run. Don't know much about it as yet, seen a video and blog posts about previous year runs..looks fun! In short, it's a charity event, not race, to raise funds for the orang asli village. This year will be for a village in Gombak. We're gonna run/walk deep into the forest, to visit the village, I think. Will talk about it more..when I get more info, or if I made it to the run!
It's good that I kept this blog alive, makes it so easy to back track to my previous life!
September 2008, I declared bodycombat as my new hobby - here.
Back then, I would be at the gym every other day and I'd go to every quarterly launch.
Going into the fifth year now in 2013, while, I'm not that "crazy" anymore, it's still one of the main activities that keeps me fit, active and happy. It's like a regular dosage of happy vitamins ahaha. Not a bad thing eh..
To me, "Shopping, Beauty treatments, Exercise, Eating good food, Family and Friends" are the key elements to keep us happy. Apart from the fact that I'm not married yet, I think I have all the above. Don't mind a little bit more cash to do more though. Hee..
Oh..back to Bodycombat.
Yah,.I was saying, I do less of it now, only about 2, max 3 classes a week. I've not attended any quarterly launches for quite some time, but I do make sure I try any new quarterly release as soon as I can. Les Mills does a mighty good job in making sure that each release is tougher if not better than previous.
And time flies..just tried the 55th release on Sunday morning. It was release 36 back in 2008 when I first started, oh boy..so much has changed. I'd say it's 10 times faster, tougher and harder in current releases.
See below.. a 'trailer' of the 55th module presented by the program directors themselves. With them is another one of the top presenters in the world.
If you're interested, the one hour for this particular release goes something like this:
Track 1:
Very long warm up - about 7-8 mins - enough to start you panting and sweating
Track 2:
Lower body work - 5+ mins - lots of kicks and lunges - absolutely a torture for my weak lower body
Track 3-4:
Arms, arms arms - 5+ mins - you won't feel your arms after this.
More leg work! - 6+ mins - urgh...my poor back and legs.
Track 5:
Fun track! - 4+ mins - most fun and relaxing of all but can be quite taxing cardio wise
Track 6-7:
Recovery (not) - 5+ mins - more kicks, with some cool moves, I like.
(Track 6 was suppose to be a recovery track those days, not anymore)
Inspired by Muay Thai - 6 + mins of knees, jump knees, downward punches..normally numbeb and pumped if one lasts till this stage of the class.
Track 8:
Back to arms - 6 + mins - always the favourite part for me..no more legs! Great music and awesome epic end.
Track 9:
Well, not really the end yet, only 3+ mins of conditioning but..3 mins seems never ending when there are shoulder tap push ups , abs work and that whatever it's called mountain climb move for the core...
There's something about all these exercise programs, that I can't explain and I'm not a qualified trainer nor practitioner to give any advice. I can only share my experience as a 'user'... my back and knees didn't feel good for the last week, I told myself I'd still come and try out the class but will take it easy and leave if pain get worse.
It was quite tough in the beginning, I was preparing to leave if it gets worse..but the program was designed for a whole body workout. Surprisingly, I felt much better as the class progresses, so I stayed till the end and the feeling of satisfaction is beyond description. The back and knees are still sore as I'm writing this, I shall be responsible to my body and rest for a day or two, if I can help it :P
A friend was just telling me that whenever we talk about pains and injuries, she gets the impression that BC causes injuries. Speaking on behalf of all exercise junkies, we don't deny that we do get our share of injuries and pains as a result of exercising.
Why don't we look at the the other side of the coin instead.
Going back to before I get involved in all these..I had my fair share of problems due to poor blood circulation. I had shoulder aches, back aches, neck aches, I was unfit and sluggish.
True..I developed some aches and pains probably due to overuse or wrong technique. Let's not blame the exercise. It all boils down to the individual, how we do the movements, how much we push ourselves, etc. For me personally, I feel stronger, healthier, fitter and happier now, I'd describe the pain as happy pains :D
In conclusion, in my case I think I gained more than I lose. Many times, I've wondered if I'd be able to use some of the techniques when a robber attacks, for example :D D D
While it's true that all these don't guarantee that I live longer and I'm immuned from sickness..I may even drop dead one day due to over exertion (note : a man aged 50 died after collapsing during a run on a Sunday event) but the bottom line is I'm happy doing what I like doing now. I'm happy having something else to look forward to apart from working, eating, watching TV, surfing the net and sleeping.
We can argue the different school of thoughts until the cows come home..there won't be a perfect answer. It's all very individual.
Whenever we, friends, sit down together, typically women, we'd start sharing the latest news in our life, work, family, kids, babies, husbands bla bla bla.
More often than not, we'd talk / bitch about our little problems ...just for the sake of releasing some stress, supposedly. That's what friends are for anyway.
I just had a good catch up session just now. It's been some time since January. As usual, we started catching up asking each other about work, life, family, etc.
Then, we startted catching on this friend who's been going through a rough time since CNY. In short, her mom who has a pre-existing Parkinson's condition had a fall in Dec/Jan, went for a hip replacement surgery just before CNY, after surgery there was a drastic behaviour change that indicated signs of advanced Alzheimer & Dementia. Doctors couldn't explain the reason behind the drastic change.
Since then it's been a roller coaster ride.
Imagine the struggle of caring for a loved one who is not only physically challenged but mentally challenged too. I don't think I want to go into detail. Let's just say every damn thing happened at the same time. Tough for the patient and the loved one as well.
A fractured arm to hip replacement to disability to dementia leading to extreme behaviour and temperamental difficulties.
Either one of the above is enough to create a lot of inconvenience, worries, sleepless nights, financial burden, you name it all. Now multiply these by 1,000.
And yet, this amazing friend of mine can still put on a cheerful disposition while sharing with us her experiences.
None of use bothered to raise any of our little problems for the rest of the night.
Watch this and you'll never complain about your life ever again.
For those who are too lazy to even watch, in short:
Michael had been a diabetic since he was 4.
He lapsed into a 3 months coma at 13 when his blood sugar rose too high while he was partying
After the coma, doc advised him to start to re-gain some size and be physically active
It was a complicated process being diabetic, with high metabolism, ...but the point here is..despite all complications, Michael continued his struggle not only against his medical condition but pushed himself physically.
Between the age of 16 and 18 he worked consistently at the gym, gained body mass and doctors noticed his blood sugar stabilizing and insulin levels were lower.
It didn't end there.
He was diagnosed with stage 4 lymphoma cancer at 19 and doctors estimated that he only had 2-3 years to live. He went through about 1-2 years of aggressive treatments of all sorts.
Doctors discharged him from the hospital to celebrate his 20th birthday, (possibly his last birthday), and/ then for him return to the hospital to recover.
At home, he forced himself to do sit ups and then at least one push up a day. He started going back to the gym and regained his fitness.
He beat the cancer but is now struggling coronary heart disease developed after all the aggressive radiotherapy and chemotherapy treatments. Doctors warned that he may have a stroke or heart attack if he stresses himself.
While everyone was playing Diamond Dash, Bejeweled..I played City Ville, Trade Nations, Battle Nations..
Now everyone seems to be crazy about Candy Crush..I did try..but didn't see the point..may be I didn't try to understand the scoring systems..
I've stopped playing City Ville for some time. Deleted Battle Nations from the phone too. Still on Trade Nations..but not often.
Still playing Letterpress on and off for the sake of my vocabulary power..so to speak.
But..there's this new game that I'm really enjoying now - VILLAGE LIFE.
Short description of the game from the homepage:
The player starts with only two villager in an empty village, one pregnant with a child. By looking after a pregnant couple who need food and shelter. The player then has to rebuild and repopulate a village to create a thriving utopia where every need of each villager is met by helping them harvest food and collect resources to craft tools, toys and buildings.
In this ancient world you'll name and care for each character, watching them grow from birth through to first date, marriage, childbirth and old age with all the fun of life along the way.
In a uniquely social twist, villagers will also seek to have relationships and children with other villagers made up of other members of the Village Life Facebook community.
Key features:
Build a thriving
village
Care for every need of
your villagers through fully integrated quests
Harvest food and
collect resources to craft tools, toys and buildings
Explore the land, and
progress into new worlds building bigger villages
Unlock new tools,
resources, and more through using in-game currency
Fully Interactive
Social features: Date and Marry your Facebook friends' villagers!
So, I've been doing most of the above. In my village now, the elder couple (Hayden and Ellie) with their twins (Emily and Benjamin), just had another baby (Abigail). The twins has grown up and could help around at the farm, etc. There are these two other adults (Isaac & Samantha) who joined the couple earlier..they are are apparently yearning for LOVe..wonder why they can't get together on their own :D
I'm still begging my friends to join me in the game so I can find them partners! Anyone? Please....
Check this out..I just took this screen shot. I just got them a Yoga mat :D
And the little guy next to the yoga mat is playing skipping. Spot the fencing dummy in front of the yoga mat.
They don't sleep by the way, always asking for different kinds of food and entertainment :s You'll see at the bottom right corner, Samatha's wishes in the white clouds -- she's wishing for a new house, knitting kit and love.
I used to blog a few times a day, then it became once a day, then few times a week and even less so recently due to the holidays.
The main difference between now and then was..I used to blog crap and now I'm kind of more topic specific. So, when there are no relevant topics I don't blog.
Secondly, there were greater chances to come across something to blog/brag about when I used to spend more time driving to and from the office, my mind wanders creatively when I drive.
Similarly, as an employee I had more time on a work desk sitting in front of the work station - supposedly working, regardless of whether there's work or not, hence, the difference with my current setup is -- when there's nothing urgent that requires me to be desk-bound I'd be away from the desk doing some other things like preparing a meal or some other work or non-work related matters away from the desk.
In short, being self employed, work doesn't have to be sitting at a desk for 9-6 pm on every weekday. As long as I respond to mails, and meet my deadlines and expectation, I'm "working".
So, to reply to the main reason why I'm blogging less now is..I spend less idle time on the work desk..you know...as a 'writer' you need peace-of-mind to be able to come up with something, unless it's something that I really wanna talk about, and easy enough to trash out.
Like now..I'm blogging cos I'm suppose to start "work" on something but it's Friday and we just had a long CNY break....bla bla bla.. so I'm kind of cheating myself..sitting here typing away but not really working.
Now..now, before anyone starts to envy the life of being self employed..there's a price / cost that comes with the flexibility.
1. Yes..it was a drag having to be bound by a full time job, having to be at the office every weekday but remember that we are being PAID for all that. Regardless of whether you work or deliver 100% or 50% or 200%, we get paid every single month without fail.
2. Being self-employed, Yes, we spend less hours working, we may seem to earn more per hour spent working, BUT, there is no guarantee that we will get paid every single day or month. There are no EPF neither.
So..it's a matter of choice. There's no perfect solution..we just have to make the best of the choices we made..after all Life is short..
Sitcky chicken wings on the left, appearance failed. Luckily had back up plan, normal fried chicken wings on the right.
Reunion dinner was at bro's place, checkout the spread and spot my chicken wings.
Cute ang pow from my younger cousin. Hmm..may be I should stop accepting ang pows next year onwards.
Had a great time at a good friend's place on the second day. Went ot with one bag for the host, and came back with three bags. Hmm..these girls are too nice..next year must prepare more.
Still having problems with my groin/hip/leg.
Stopped going to painful massages, too costly and not worth it for the pain I had to endure for the little bit of improvement.
As mentioned earlier, there were significant improvements but it's not totally cured.
He was right though in saying that it's a vein injury and it's more complicated and takes much longer to heal compared to muscle, ligaments or tendons, etc. This is confirmed by an instructor in the gym.
At least now I know..there's such thing as vein injury.
All that I gather from the massage guy is that..sometimes our veins become twisted, retracted, knotted, etc, thus we feel pain or uncomfortable. One of his advice is to rest for at least 30 mins after an activity before going into shower or washing up, not necessary an exercise..even when you come back from a shopping trip, work, etc
The idea is to let the body cool down..before applying water..not even warm water.
Sounds familiar? My father said that a billion times since we were young..but of course we never listen.
Similarly, my instructor advised me to stretch as much and as long as possible, especially after a work out when the body and muscles are warm.. it's very beneficial to lengthen the veins. The main idea is to stretch and lengthen the veins..
If we piece the two concepts together, it makes a whole lot of sense. What the massage guy does is apply extreme pressure to straighten or lengthen the veins. Stretching does the same, if we understand and know where and how to stretch.
My instructor explained and showed me some very useful positions..so I do it after each work out, and each time I feel good. The rest is up to me to trial and error and feel.
I recently discovered that this Lizard Pose is very good in releasing the tightness in the groin. Normally I do this (if I remember) after a work out .
This morning I woke up feeling some pain and tightness after a short run yesterday, so I did the lizard pose..it was quite painful in the beginning, but after sometime..I felt a significant relief.
Physically and mentally used up.
Went for body combat after a long break (4 days is considered long for me)
Back and legs were good and strong through tracks 1 till 3 but started feeling the strain and had to hold back during 4th track :(
Anyhow, felt wonderful after the work out, especially after long hours of sitting for last 7 days or so.
Came back home to try to solve some 'puzzle' at work, finally done now, with help of course, more brains better than one. Should be ready for delivery tomorrow, fingers crossed.
I think I had a good day?
Physically and mentally worked out hmmm..
