Paralympians

The 2012 Summer Paralympics begins on Wednesday night in London.  Paralympics never get the same amount of attention as the Olympics.  I admit that it's only because of the convenience  of the internet that I clicked on to the related links, and only now I get a stronger feel about it.

Some of the pics HERE are so inspiring, and some of the stories about the athletes brought tears.

http://www.theatlantic.com

Wheel chair racing, Blind racing, Sit-down volleyball, Archery without arms...

Wow.

I couldn't sleep after looking through the pics.  I know they are not meant to make us sad instead they should be inspiring and motivational in reminding us of how lucky we are to be able to walk, run, sit, lift, see, hear, talk.


As I tried to fall asleep just now, I drifted back to that faithful day when I suddenly became totally paralysed waist down on one side and partially paralysed in both arms and hands.  I remember what it was like lying there on the hospital bed not even able to push myself up to sit. I could only lie there with very limited movements till bedsores developed.

I was lucky, very lucky indeed that it was only a short term condition.  I walked again with some weakness after about 5 days.  I was discharged after 10 days.  I represented my college faculty in a badminton mixed doubles match in the same year :)  My strokes and agility were not the same as before but I brushed the negative thoughts aside.

For years, doctors told me that I may have multiple sclerosis (MS) which means I may get random multiple attacks on different part of the nervous system through out my life.   I pushed those thoughts aside and moved on with life.

I got lucky again when doctors finally confirmed that it wasn't MS.  It's something called Transverse Myelitis, something even more rare but the chances of recurrence is extremely low. So I'm lucky and unlucky in some sense.

Looking through the pictures reminds me of how kind God has been to me.  And how lucky I've been.

But..I couldn't help but wonder ..if I were to get Lucky or Unlucky again...will I be as strong as them..the Paralympians.

Tried Pilates

Ahem.

After years at the gym, I finally found the right mindset to walk into a Pilates class, heh.

I've joined this gym for at least seven years ago.  Those days I wasn't active at all, almost at vegetative state (haha), I started with doing only yoga, even that I had to drag myself each time, just so I utilise the gym at least once a week to justify the monthly payment.  I was also doing tai chi for about a year or so.

Then, I (suddenly) got bitten by the Body Combat bug few years back and life hasn't been the same any more.  Soon I was into RPM too. Then, picked up running two years ago and recently into Body Attack too, an athletic based indoor cardio exercise.  Now you see why I said, life hasn't been the same.

However, since then I almost dropped out completely from the softer type of exercises.  In the long run, I developed muscular / soft tissue (whatever) related injuries.

Back, thighs, legs, shoulders, you name it I have it.

Don't get me wrong though, I'm not saying that being physically active causes injuries.  It's just that sometimes we get carried away doing things we enjoy, we tend to ignore the sensible aspects of things.  For instance, eating too much, sleeping too much isn't good too. So ya..same goes to me and working out, three days into rest-mode I'll be pulling my hair out.


So..I walked into a Pilates class yesterday.  Earlier in the day, I read briefly that Pilates is about core strenghth, etc.... hmm..should be easy since I could hold plank for at least 40 secs. No?

See below...






Note the hand pumping part in the first minute of the video - that was killing!  Enough to confirm how weak my core were :(    The whole process is supposed to be powered by the core not the back nor neck.  My neck was tired most of the time..it was so difficult to activate the core! Damn it.

The video is only 6 minutes..but trust me..3 minutes is enough to make one realise how little we know and use our core.  Don't even think about using the ball re: the last 2 mins of the video.

All the kicking, punches, jogging endurance training seemed totally irrelevant here.

And all the exhale and inhale got me all confused.

And..what the heck is "curling you pelvic".  I do pelvic lift exercise frequently to strengthen the back..it was just lift, hold 10 seconds, and return  for 3 sets of 10, and I'd be done.

But..Pelvic Curl..is entirely different.  Looks the same but it DIFFERENT!
Watch this..

The Pelvic Curl Pilates Exercise -- powered by ehow

I left the class feeling somewhat dissappointed.  Believe me...even the toughest athlete will be belittled by Pilates.


My conclusion, in Pilates we discover little functions and movements within our body that we almost never bother paying attention to.  Breathing for example.  How often do you inhale with your nose and exhale through your mouth?



So..I was feeling a little upset and disappointed with my self after the class, I walked into another class. BODYCOMBAT :D


A good summary about Pilates - HERE

Oh Well

It's been eight months!
Since I took my last pay as an employee..

I believe I wrote in December that we shall review in six months time.
It's now the end of the eight month already!

OH WELL...I'm still unsure.


While life's had been quite a bliss on my own without  fixed working hours and place and boss, at times it gets kind of scary..especially when I don't see any new jobs coming in for a whole month.

July was terribly quiet.
Aug was alright, thanks to some friends,  you know who you are.

Just got confirmation that Sept will be taken care of too :)

October, November, December is unknown for now.

OH WELL.


It's still the same old story.

Getting a permanent job with a decent pay but getting all stressed up with the normal stuff in the corporate world OR getting less stable income, may be earning just enough to break even but leading more relaxing and blissful days?


We just have to make our choice isn't it.  Well, we don't have to stick to one... who says we have to stick to doing the same thing for the entire life?

Young and Old

Little Aiden was so fascinated with his grandfather's aged hands.

Beautiful Mess

This will probably mark the end of McD, Burger King, Ramly Burger, etc for me.

myBurgerLab only officially opened in July and with no advertising I believe, words spread around, not to mention bloggers buzz, facebook / foursquare check ins...hundreds probably thousands thronged the tiny but cosy outlet daily from 5-11pm.  No wonder blogs had become one of the leading advertising vehicle in this era.

BUT.

You've gotta have a genuinely good product, otherwise we will not keep coming back.

I believe myBurgerLab is on the way to huge succes that is if the quality and everything maintains.

Let me present to you ..the Beautiful Mess - one of the best burger I've ever had in life.

There are many other blog entries on myBurgerLab. Hence, I won't write much.

Go HERE to read more and salivate over all their Burgers.

Oh, by the way, be prepared to wait at least 45 mins for your food.

Patience.....

If you're too hungry, walk down the road have a plate of wan ton mee, its' good too. One of the best in town.  Yes..I ate a plate of wan ton mee before having my Burger.

Burp.

Mui Choy (Preserved Vege) Pork

This is my 3rd or 4th attempt.  

The more authentic and professional recipe goes something like this - click HERE

Aigh..I'm only preparing it for a home meal, just like what mom used to do it.

As usual, based on memory and my foodie instinct..

This time, I "invested" in some fatty pork belly, the last time was too dried with just lean pork.

So much more yummy!  The wonders of lard :D

My simple and humble recipe:

Fry pork (lightly marinated with salt and sugar) with garlic for a few minutes

Add mui choy (soaked and cleaned)

Other seasoning: light soy sauce, thick soy sauce, oyster sauce

Add water, simmer and stew. Duration - depends on how wet you want it to be, lol.

What have I been up to..

So..we've been holidaying. It's Hari Raya Puasa (Eid-ul-Ftr) weekend here in Malaysia. While our Muslim friends celebrate the end of Ramadhan, we too enjoy our well deserved break :P

We have four long days of public holidays.  Businesses and offices resumes ops only on Wednesday.  Coincidentally, it is also a school mid term break, so many took the opportunity to leave town for the whole week.

Me? Well, a friend invited us to her newly renovated home for a cooking, eating and yak yak session on Sunday afternoon. I wasgiven the honor to cook up my so called signature tom yam soup (again).

So, I was busy playing 'cook'. Was at Tesco on Saturday, got some prawns, chicken fillets for the tom yum. Since it was Hari Raya eve, chicken was on controlled price, I bought a whole chicken for only RM6.60 for home use.

Only problem was there was no chopping service due to shortage of staff.

The last time I chopped up a whole chicken as under my mom's supervision some twenty years ago.

First you start with the thighs

The limbs were easy. Just go for the joints, chop and out they come.

Euw.

I remembered the toughest part was the body eg ribs and breasts.  Turned out to be quite okay actually. Same thing, just got for the joints where there are least bones.

While cleaning the chicken parts off unnecessary fats, I decided to make chicken rice for dinner!  Sis gave me a workable recipe.  Stir fry the rice in chicken fat with some butter and onions before cooking.

I marinated both thighs with some salt and ginger juice, and steamed in the rice cooker.  The juice was quite tasty but chix were abit over cooked.  I shall try my mom's way next time, soak in boiled water.

On Sunday morning, I went to the wet market to get the rest of the tom yum ingredients.  Came back around 10ish, prepared the ingredients and was out of the house around 1140am nd only came back home around 9pm.  There were so much food, we stayed to help finish off as much as we could.  We were so full!!

No pics of my tom yum. Same old dish, no need lar.  Moreover it wasn't great this time as I didn't have enough lime juice :(

Check out finger food by SH here.  

Looks yummy isn't it?

Right..time to get some workout tomorrow.  Hope I can make it, I"m still somewhat sick btw :s

Happy Napping

Source: http://www.buzzfeed.com

We are alive alright.

As I've written many times here, life is an interesting journey.  Happiness, sadness, surprises, rewards, sickness come and go, most of the time without any warning.

Read today that Datuk Punch Gunalan had just passed away at 68 not long after being diagnosed with cancer.  How short can life be?


It has been an eventful year so far.  It's August going on to September!  How time flies.

I've been unemployed for 8 months. Phew...was quite occupied for the first half of the year with decent revenue but last two months was low.  Quite worrying actually.  Not to mention I was also busy with painful injuries and getting sick since July to be exact.  Feeling quite wrecked at the moment.  Signed up for three runs in September, the half marathon is exactly 4 weeks from now and I'm still coughing away.  Legs are not too good too.  Not even sure if I can run a quarter marathon. LOL.

Oh..I also sprained a finger in July, and it still hurts : /

What else ...bust a tyre, had frustrating electrical circuit tripping problems last few nights (thank goodness it's all solved), bought a new Asus ultrabook but now having some problems with it..Grrrr..

Enough about me....the world is not just about me.

Oh..and my dad claimed his foot injury was becase the bus ran over it :-o Couldn't be lar..since the xray didn't show any broken bones.  He's really getting quite old...getting to be less sharp, quite forgetful and weak relatively.  Sigh..


So. what else?

The olympics came and went recently.

My friend's little gal was diagnosed with leukemia in March, it has been a long painful journey but encouraging ..still got a long way to go but I think they will ace it :)


What else is coming our way I wonder?

Ups or down..let's face it strong.  Bring it on...

Stop 114A : A campaign for Internet Freedom

It's really not safe out there.

"Repeated sharing of crime news on social networks creates a false impression that Malaysia is unsafe.." says  the chairman of the National Key Results Area (NKRA) Secretariat.

This isn't the first time such statement was made by government officials about the rising crime rate.

While it is true that it is now easier to share and learn about crime incidents through Facebook, Twitter, blogs, etc it has also become very obvious that nowadays every single person we speak to would have a few stories about their own, friends', relatives' experiences to share.

Some examples of recent stories I heard :

..My sis' colleague's car window was smashed right in front of The Curve, lost her gym bag
..My friend's colleague's also lost her handbag at a traffic light in Bangsar
..My aunt's handbag was snatched in Sri Petaling.


And the list goes on when you speak to different people.  The above are just 'minor' cases where no one got hurt, thankfully.


We've been reading many versions of more serious cases where robbers were armed with knives and parangs, some unlucky victims were stabbed or slashed, more unlucky ones had serious or even fatal injuries.

My retired uncle and aunt dare not go to their favourite breakfast place in IMbi to have their favourite coffee on weekdays.  They dare not walk on the streets anymore.  If need be, they only go to safer places (perceived) like Pavillion.  They rather have not as authentic coffee at Toast Box in Pavillion.  I thought they are being too paranoid.

I laughed when a friend told that she's very afraid to go out nowadays due to the rampant crime incidences.  "But you're one of the bravest person I know..?" I said.

Even my heroic dad asked me about pepper spray.  He wants one!

Ya..many, especially older folks had told me to go out less since I'm usually alone.   When the incident at The Curve was reported, many shied away from the mall, I didn't think that was necessary.

Whenever I read all those shared stories in facebook, I struggled to not let them discourage me from getting on with mylife normally.  I refused to let all this disrupt my routine and my life.  I believed in ...fate. If it's meant to happen it will happen.

Until last night a friend posted in Facebook about her very close and scary encounter with four parang wielded man who tried to rob (and hurt) them right in front of their home.

"At one point, one of them came so close swinging his parang about to strike me, I threw my tablet at him. I lock eye with the robbers several times. So did my hubby as we screamed at them"

That was an excerpt from the note she shared in Facebook, enough snap me into reality.   Read the full note HERE - hope it's open to non friends.

I've had three encounters with snatch thieves...those are nothing compared to having a man charging at you with a parang.  And this time it happened to someone I know! As far as I know she is someone always on high alert cos she keeps close watch on current affairs, normally actively sharing latest information about crime issues on Facebook.  And yet..she became a random target.  I am both angry and frightened.  I'm not sure anymore...shall I be paranoid too.

Don't need high level mathematics or statistics to figure out how high the probability of being a victim has become, my dear Minister and PM and Chairman.


So, what's next? Lock ourselves at home and not come at all?


If you ever go out, even if in a group, be cautious and alert all the time.

Be on a lookout all the time,
Be paranoid,

If need be, run through in your mind, what do you do, if it happens to you.

Do you have the contact numbers of the nearest police stations?

I wanted to search through the PDRM official website http://www.rmp.gov.my/ but it says :

Internal Server Error

crap.

Pumpkin Rice

Latest cooking adventure!

Ingredients:

Pumpkin

Chinese Mushrooms and Pork - stir fried

Dried shrimps - minced and fried till fragrant

Verdict:

Could've been better.

May taste better if rice is cooked stocks instead of just water.

Chinese mushroom and pork should have been added only after rice is cooked, not before.

Electrician I am, not.

Imagine the kind of chaos we will face without electricity, to make it worse is not knowing when and how it can be restored.

Imagine...

... getting thru the night without fan or air conditioning

... waking up remembering that the notebook's batt is flat, so how do I charge it?

... without charging it up I can't access my mail to download that file that I  was suppose to work on

... and oh oh..without electricity the modem wouldn't work, so how I won't have access to the mail and facebook and you tube and .... everything.

..and damn it..iphone batt was flat too, so I wont be able to call out, use my phone as a modem, or even access the net via my phone.  

..and oh..now even the land line is on dect phone..so that wouldn't work too.

Yupe..life had been quite a mess!

In short, the main switch in my house had been tripping randomly for no particular reasons.  The first time it happened, we couldn't turn it back on.  Sorted help from a neighbour who came to did some tweaking here and there, it came back on, thankfully, but we couldn't find out the reason.  He said he will send someone in the morning to do a more thorough check.  It tripped again a couple of hours later and we were without electricity for the rest of the night.  Fortunately it was a cool night.

I managed to get it on again at around 9 the next morning, and who can guess what was the first thing I did?

CHARGE ALL THE IMPORTANT APPLIANCE ~ PHONE AND NOTEBOOK.

And access mail to download the file of course :D

The electrical guy came with his tools and such but everything was working fine.  So...he tried to do some testing, change some old parts which he thought might be the cause...tried to identify where the short circuit might have come from.  Which floor, which room, which appliance etc..but since everything was working well at that time, he really couldn't do much.  

He could only guess that it may come from downstairs, showed me the two fuse (or whatever its called) that controls the living room area.  He told me to do some trial and error by taking out and putting in the two fuse when the tripping happens again, hopefully by doing that we can identify the source of the tripping.

Something like an elimination process.

Cool.. 

Tripping started in the evening around 6ish.  So..I've been playing electrician.  The plan seemed to be working at first.  I took out the two fuse and it didn't trip anymore. 

Then I turned off all electrical switches on the ground floor, from the living room to the kitchen.

The I put back the fuse, and slowly turn on the electrical items one by one.

We were very close to concluding that the fridge was the culprit...it tripped again.  This time it won't work even after I pulled the so called problematic fuses.

So..the whole elimination theory..failed.

As of now,  we still do not the cause.  It tripped a few times last night, then it was fine for a while just before bedtime it tripped again, then worked for a while, then tripped again, and it went on like that for the whole night!  Grrr..

It tripped when I got up this morning, but was all good from 9 ish onwards for about 12 hours and it happend again just now when I was in shower.  It seems to be working fine now though.

Not sure if we will have a good sleep tonight.

Sigh~

As if life is not messy enough, my baby here, the Asus had been givng me problems while starting up after shut down and hibernation.  Technical support advised to update the BIOS, which I just did.  Have not shut down since, and I'm not in a mood to experience another fault tonight. so..I won't. shut. down.

Yeah..mood's been cranky, cos I finally went to see a GP about the flu. As usual, standard prescription - anti biotics, muscle relaxants, cough mixture, some tablets to clear the nasal congestion.

I can blog now cos I haven't taken any meds yet, will do it once I post this and I will be in la la land in no time..

Olympic Fever

Did you notice the today's Google ?

If not check it out https://www.google.com/doodles/hurdles-2012

It's a interactive hurdles run :D , use the space bar to jump and arrow keys to run faster.

 Yay..I got a GOLD!

I want my life back..

It hasn't been rosy in July.

Much had been spent on treatment and medical bills.

End June, sprained the left ankle, and aggravated old right ankle, and then somehow pulled some muscles at the back of left knee.


Mid July, became somewhat sick, then became really sick.

It's now August and I'm still sick, ankles have not recovered fully, hamstring (or whatever muscle at the back of knee) still hurts.

I'm tired of coughing. I'm tired of sniffing and blowing nose.
I miss my morning coffee. I miss latte.
I miss enjoying food.
I miss going to the gym every alternate day.
I miss having a good night sleep.
I want my life back!


Coincidentally, read a post written recently by my one of my gym instructor.

 the big question, she asked, is it

•  the sports' fault that the athletes sustain injuries though it ? or,
•  the athletes' fault that he/she allows injuries to happen ?

I wondered all the time.  While I cannot deny that age is really catching up, my body's starting to show signs of lethargy due to age and probably delayed side effects from the previous TM attack. Some of the aches that I had over the last 2 weeks felt quite similar to those that I had over 20 years ago when I had TM.  I sure hope it's not recurring. Chances of TM recurring is very low. It shouldn't happen again!

So..gone are the days where I could go for back to back gym classes.  Gone are the days where I could goworkout every day.  And nowadays, being sick and all, I'd be happy to be able to work out even once twice a week.

Anyway, back to the post, take a read if you're interested, otherwise, relevant points based on my read as follows:

In every sports, there will be injuries. Period. 

If you are a leisure athletes in these area training to be better, it is not abnormal to sustain injuries because these sports will surface your muscular weakness/flaws. 
The imbalance will lead to injuries. It is a way the body is telling you where you need to strengthen more specifically before moving forward.


It is a good time for you to learn about your body since there is no operational manual. 


It will be ashamed if one were to shrink back from the sports due injuries sustain through this journey. Even worse, blame the injuries on the sports or even bad mouth the sports.

Therefore, if you are injured through a sports, know that it is part of journey. 

It is NEVER the fault of the sports. It is either your body functional weakness signalling you that needs to be strengthen or it is YOUR CHOICE to push the limit. 

So, be clear with your sports objectives, have mental and emotional clarity, most of all TAKE RESPONSIBILITY of your CHOICE. 

I'm cured, well, almost..

It's been a long time since I was sick for so long.  From a mild runny nose to a serious flu with major stiff neck and body aches, now I have a cough and nose "still running".

Fortunately, I managed to get hold of my regular trusted sinseh doctor yesterday, he did his magical acupuncture and the neck is 'almost' back to normal. He was recovering from a minor stroke, family and staff are trying to limit his activity but I begged to see him, that's how desperate I was!

Felt soooo much better..that I went to the gym that very night : p

(Slept too much the day before, I was all moody and blur, I really needed to sweat it out)

Hopefully the remaining virus, bacteria, whatever clears away soon.  

I got so sick of having porridge for lunch...tried it with carrot and pork, potato and pork and yesterday I took a short cut by adding potato and tomatoes from previous night's soup - it was tasteless !

Today I refused to have porridge, but there wasn't much ingredients in the fridge to begin with.

Here's something that I whipped up with some mui choy (preserved mustard greens) and pork.

I know, doesn't look good but tastes quite good wor.

Learning - mui choy needs to be cooked longer :D