Up Next : Live Great Run

I'm suppose to 'train' for the Live Great Run happening this Sunday, November 4th now that I'm less LLB after the charity sale.  I don't remember I ran at all since the Salomon thing on September 30th.  Come to think of it..I almost didn't run at all at the Salomon trail...cos of the....trail.

It's Wednesday evening already.. die.

Here's the vest.  Something different in terms of color combi..but not that nice in terms of cutting design.

This run will be different from others.  It's gonna be on road (Dutamas area) with some obstacles along the way.

Water barricade at the 7th km..we're suppose to jump/climb/hop over.  I think I'll probably just lift my legs one after another while sitting on it.  Safest :D

Source: Great Eastern Facebook Page

Before the finishing ..there will be a metal barricade maze o.O

Source: Great Eastern Facebook Page

Right.

If I survive the run..see ya at the Made Music Madness in the evening :)

Good Pain

I've gone for three sessions of the so called "vein pulling".  I'm gonna rephrase it to "vein pushing" from now on.  It's actually very deep massage on targeted areas to unblock or "untangle" blocked veins.

I felt like 50% better after the first two sessions.  The 3rd session - not that much different.  As a typical patient and spending consumer, I decided to stop going to see what happens.  Well, last week was quite a busy week.

Tried running on Wednesday, couldn't do much. Felt some pain and I was feeling tired and breathless..and it was getting dark..blah blah blah.

Body combat on Thursday and Sunday wasn't up to satisfaction.  The pain was much less compared to before..but it could be better, you know what I mean?  It's 60-70% better but  ..can it be as good as before?

In fact, there was some pain when I was on my feet for too long during the charity sale.

So..being a good patient..but reluctant spending consumer I went for treatment yesterday.

I described to him...pretty much what I just wrote.  I also explained how I feel pain when I walk too much and when I lift my leg, and there seem to be some strain near the groin area.

The detailed description brought PAIN.

He went on to 'work' on my inner thighs, groin area and back of thigh (outer part).  You know how delicate these areas are... OUCH.

back of thigh

Outer part of back of left thigh and butt has bruises now.  What's peculiar is that the bruises only appear at areas where there are most pain during treatment.  And previous bruised spots from last treatments are not that painful anymore, hence no more bruises!


I still can't confirm if the treatment is working. All I can say now is..there is immediate relieve to the strain right after all the pain of letting him push away the knots.

So..it's Good Pain?

M.A.D.E Charity Sale : Done!

As mentioned in previous post, whatever is the total amount raised I shall declare it as a success.  Congratulations and Thank You (on behalf of the Paitan village) to the MADEs team and all who contributed or helped in one way and another.

Items donations were over whelming.  The team worked hard for months from collection to transporting to storing to sorting to selling the items.

Turn out was good.  Thanks to the Centre Point for the wonderful venue and everyone who helped to promote and spread the word out.

Toys and kids books were the best sellers!

Next up is the M.A.D.E. Music Madness - this Sunday, November 4th, 6pm onwards at Mandolin Bar, Plaza Glomac, Kelana Jaya.

RM50 per ticket - Ticket includes live music from at least 5 great bands including: Vijay David, Vishnu and friends, Raymond Chia, Alphabeat, Wild Roses, ChiliApi, Errol D'Cruz, Allan Perera & Jerry, Alphonse Jerome & Clinton and more, pub grub dinner & the first drink plus automatic entry for the lucky draw!


We are targeting to raise at least RM10,000 from both events.  Can we achieve it?


Stay tuned :)

6k

Done with the much talkedl about charity sale.  It was tiring but worthwhile.  Crowd was very good.  I haven't got the official count on the total amount raised.  Whatever the amount is..I shall declare it a success and job well done.

A man was asking me about what and why we are doing this, etc.

He asked..how much can we get from all this work?
I told him that we managed to raise over RM6k few years ago.

His reaction was.. 6k? What can you do with 6k?

Well..it was 6k from free donated items and a lot of hard work. And because of that, parents of a few less fortunate kids were relieved temporarily from heavy medical and therapy bills.

Will you donate 6k to the unfortunate, Uncle?

Cars!

Have I not told you there are lot's of cool stuff at the M.A.D.E charity sale.

I bought this for my little nephew who loves cars.

Please don't sue me for criminal breach of trust : D

I posted a pic of the other second remote control cars that I collected.  All are without the remote control though..so I posted to test if there will be any interest.

Surprisingly, there were a few enquiries.

In fact..as of press time..all considered sold :D

One guy wanted to buy all four, I had to double triple confirm that they understood that these are all second hand toys.  He said ..his kid loves to bang toys, so..second hand first hand..no difference to him. In fact, second hand is cheaper to bang. Lol...

2012 M.A.D.E Charity Sale : Books and more...

Reminder : 

The M.A.D.E. Charity sale is happennig this Saturday, 27th October, Centrepoint, Bandar Utama, 10am onwards.

We've been overwhelmed with massive donations from friends as well as the public.  To date, we should have about over 3,000 items collected and sorted out for the sale.  

At times it did get a bit out of hand, as there are only a few of us zooming around town in our not so big cars collecting stuff.  Some are really huge loads.  I admire my fellow MADEsters who had work so much harder despite their own busy lives.

So..ya..do drop by.

Hint:  We have MORE than books ...

For example, toys like this...and many many more !

Army Set : Original Price AUD4 : Sold for RM5

Who's birthday?

Who's birthday, can you guess?

Definitely not the one with the gun!

May be that's why he's holding the gun?!

LLB

The other meaning for LLB is ... Look Like Busy

I've been on LLB mode.  Ain't suppose to be busy..but yet feels like busy.  What's a bit bothersome is I've been so called busy with non monetary rewarding stuff .  Hmmm...

A job was confirmed in Sept but not starting till next week.  So, looks like I'll only get paid earliest early Nov.  Other than that, I'm hoping something else that have been in discussion will happen eventually..soon.

Can't believe that we are nearing the year end.  Pretty scary...when time flies by so quickly.

So..anyway..what've I been busy with?

Let me see..

Been out and about collecting books and stuff ..not many but..one collection takes up about half of the day time..and you know me...I'll stop by somewhere with someone for lunch and tea and yak after or before collection. Hee...


And as you may have read before this.. the Dad hasn't been so well nowadays..it saddens, worries me..or rather the reality struck me that he's really old now and will need help and care more and more as time goes by when I saw how he struggled trying to figure out and remember the medication instructions.  I offered to help prepare / get ready the required dosage every day for each occasion.   And guess what..I made a mistake yesterday..I gave him double dosage of the BP pills..*palms in face*


If it was 5 years ago..he would have said..NO NEED..now..he seemed relieved that I'm around to help.  So..I've been LLB..on trying hard to be a good caring daughter.

I've also been busy trying to make sure he eats something more nutritious e.g fresh soup..etc. ..Like today, I made the soup for tonight in the morning itself..cos I need to go out later for vein pulling appointment ..and not sure what time I'll be back.  Few years back..he would have said..I don't have to..and said that he will cook something for himself...these days..he seemed happy enough to eat whatever I prepare.



So..ya..I've been LLB.

Friends will be Friends

Source: etsy.com via elifesl on Pinterest

I met up with an old friend from college yesterday.   We met around 4pm.
I thought we'd be done in about 2 hours..then I can go home and have light dinner before hitting the gym.

Somehow when chatting with old friends..time passes very quickly.

We were at Plan B from 4 till 6 plus..  then decided to walk around for a while..then walked into Marmalade for dinner at around 7 :D


If not because I insist on going to the gym..I think we could have continued till supper !

Oven Cooked Baby Ribs : Attempt 1

Tried cooking baby ribs using Chris' fairly new and under-used oven.

Mistake 1:
Was over ambitious to try 2 recipes with 5 rack of ribs on a first attempt.

Recipe 1: Char siew sauce, five spice powder, garlic powder

Mistake 2:
A noob here put the ribs back into freezer after marinating, so marinating process was not well done

Recipe 2: Honey & Mustard from MasterFoods

Mistake 3:
Used aluminium wrap instead of just laying over baking sheet, ribs were not 'roasted' well

Mistake 4: 

Cooked all 5 rack of ribs at one go in 2 levels in side the oven, ribs at the lower level didn't get enough heat 

Nevertheless, we had a good time.  Will try again next time.

Will share the other food stuff in next post :)

MBA Text Books FOR SALE

We have lot's of MBA text books (brand new) donated by a university. 

Normal retail priced between RM100-400 depending on author and publisher..now available at much much lower price.

Come to the M.A.D.E Charity Sale this 27th October 2012 at Centrepoint, Bandar Utama, 10am onwards.

Why I pick and choose my Coffee

Source: lattelisa.blogspot.com via WSL on Pinterest

M.A.D.E MUSIC MADNESS

MADE is pleased to announce our SECOND fund-raising event this year for the Paitan kindergarten project. 

MADE's MUSIC MADNESS! at Mandolin, Kelana Jaya - SUNDAY, 4th NOV 2012 - a music/dinner/dance party that will appeal to music lovers and anyone who loves a good night out! 

Tickets: RM50 per person, available at Mandolin Bar.

All proceeds from entry tickets will go to the 7 village kindergartens in Paitan, Sabah. 

Help us get these children educated.

There will be live music from 5 great bands including: Vijay David, Vishnu and friends, Raymond Chia & friends, Alphabeat, Wild Roses, ChiliApi and more, buffet dinner & one drink plus automatic entry for the lucky draw!

P/S: Happy hour price on beer all night long! all night, all night!

"Vein Pulling"

It's been 4 days..still so bruised.

I went for a "vein pulling" (direct translation from Cantonese) treatment on Friday.  I'd describe it as very strong and deep massage at targeted areas to help unblock '"vein passages".  Extremely painful..is probably an understatement.

I'm suppose to go back on Friday.. the sinseh said it won't hurt so much the second time. I'm not too sure.

He's so confident that he guarantees that my problem won't return once he's fixed it. I did feel immediate relief from the pains and tensions at the back of my left leg that has been bothering me and got from bad to worse since July.

Yes..back of legs..but he treated the front.  He said the blockage is at the front.  In fact..for RM40, he treated both legs from thighs to ankles, my back and the arms.  All inter-related he said.  So. I'm bruised all over.

It's still not 100% gone..tried running yesterday..don't feel the cramps..but then it was only a 1.65km run :D  Tried bodycombat on Sunday..there was some pain but less so.  

Well..no harm trying for only RM40.  Specialists would be charging at least RM90 if not hundreds.  My regular TCM doc or tit tar session will be around RM70..and from previous visits..I know they aren't that good with injuries.

I didn't plan this actually. In fact, didn't know such treatment existed until a friend posted about her experience in FB.  It's in Gombak..some place I'm totally not familiar with.  Friend was extremely helpful by offering  take me there.  The drive turned out to be quite easy.  So ..probably..its meant for me to be there after all.

I shall be brave and go for another round of torture this coming Friday.  Really hope that he can fix me up soon.  My friend's dad had years of backache..was cured after five visits.

Charity is Hard Work

This photo shows..how much hard work we had to put in for the upcoming M.A.D.E charity sale.  

Hahaha

About three more weeks to the sale day. I'd say about 70% of the stuff sorted out.  A few more collections to be done over the next one or two weeks.  It will be a full day's work on the sale day itself.  Hopefully the returns will be good :)

Meanwhile here are some of the goodies that will be available at the sale.

You will love these if you're a horror/occult fan. Find them at the Fiction Section

Enid Blyton anyone?

Some fun stuff for the kids..

Mid Autumn Festival : Why Lanterns?

Last Sunday was the Mid Autumn Festival for the Chinese community around the world.  We took the kids to the park on Saturday night to play with their lanterns.

Many were there too, including adults, to have some fun  with their lanterns in the outdoor.

Some retail spots /  shopping malls even the Desa Park City took the opportunity to organise some relevant activities like giving out free lanterns, cultural performance, etc

In a multi racial country like here in Malaysia, these special public functions provides an avenue and opportunity to other races to observe and participate each other's cultural practices.

A foreigner stopped to ask my sis in law..why we play lanterns during this festival?  My sis in law doesn't know.  Neither do I : P

I googgled and read several sites but none had proper explanation on why we play lanterns during the Mid Autumn Festival.


Anyone?

Salomon X-Trail 2012 : Muddy Yet Fun

I was afraid to sign up last year after looking at pictures from the Singapore edition, but a gym friend who went said that it was a very pleasant run.."one of my most enjoyable run" ..he said.

I googled to look for some blog post before signing up, there weren't many but the few that I found gave decent feedback.   I remembered reading about ...

..having option not to go into the muddy water
..trails were not that bad


So..I signed up..with some friends.

It was 7am, Sunday morning.
Start / End Venue: Universiti Putra Malaysia's Stadium
Trail : Unversiti Putra Malaysia's farm

As a precaution, we decided not to wear our new shoes..except for ML who wore her new Brooks. Oops..

 "Option not to get wet" wasn't allowed this year..some lucky ones managed to squeeze through the side barricades before a strict and fierce martial blocked off  the gap with her mountain bike.

And..we were warned before the race that the trail is very muddy due to rain the night before. Dang..

We were also told to get our cameras ready as there will be lot's of animals.

But we only saw cows .



Well, there were two horses towards the end.  No idea where the said deers, sheeps went..or may be it was a joke.

Anyhow...we enjoyed the scenery and fresh air.

For once, there were no smelly rivers, smelly drains and traffic pollution..

Even the dungs smelled fresh!

It was a good run...err..walk to be exact.  Too rocky and muddy to run..(for me at least, didn't want to risk twisting my already weaken ankles.)..a trail running shoe will be much better, I guess.

It was quite hilly too.

Overall..it was a very refreshing experience ..

Almost like the Horton Plains :P

Favourite shot!

My poor NB :( ..those are fairly new socks too!

But it's all worth it..I think :)