Real Life Anime Doll without Surgery

I couldn't believe my eyes when I spotted this pic in a Daily Mail article doing my daily surf.

Meet Anastasiya Shpagina also known by her anime name Fukkacumi (please don't ask
me what that means!)

She appears to have modelled herself after these two anime characters:

And she achieves that look with laborious hours of make up. No surgery (yet anyways).

What do you think?

Writing Services for Modifying Child Support Order

Today I spent half the day drafting a hardship letter for Mr X to be sent to the Family Support Division in Missouri. I am very happy with my efforts. Anyone reading that hardship letter would cry and 99% grant a decrease in Mr X's child support obligations. It was a difficult letter to write because I had to get all the facts right, and attached relevant evidence of his extreme hardship - 5 appendices including court transcripts and the works!

I also spent two hours transcribing about 5 minutes of audio. Since I am paid about 75 cents per audio minute, that worked out to be $4, or $2 per hour haha.

The best news of the day is that Google Adsense reported $8.38 worth of clicks on my blogs today. One click on my graciecooks blog was worth over $4. I suspect it was Doug. Thanks Doug!

xo Gracie 

Linkwithin ROCKS!

Now that I'm looking into sprucing up my blogs (and gosh do I have blogs! Check out my About page and tell me I don't have a too-many-blogs problem), I thought it would be good to add 'You may also like' widgets to them. You know, when you get to the end of a great article, you sometimes see other featured posts that make you continue reading more of what the blogger has to offer. That apparently reduces 'bounce rate'. Please don't ask me what 'bounce rate' is. I have no idea.

A quick search for such a widget turned up a free one, and in this case freebies can be goodies! The search also turned up a lot of other complicated ways to add HTML code to your website and I thought to myself, there HAS to be an easier way. This is Linkwithin. No sign ups, no ads, simple and it looks great!

Now please excuse me while I get Linkwithin on all my blogs. :)

Say hi to Princess, my Gram's pooch.  :)

xo Grace

p.s. If you have enjoyed my Rants, Raves and Ramblings, please help support my blog by clicking on any ad and visiting my sponsors. Thanks!

I'm BAAAAAACK!!

I decided that I am gonna give full-time writing/blogging a decent go (after much thought and careful consideration - including the fact that Spencer said 'ok')... so I have been working hard updating the links to all my blogs and reading up Problogger (Darren Rowse's) blogs on how to make money blogging.

In the past I've made between $30-$50 a month from Adsense ads, and surprisingly my review on Ebates, Fatwallet, Shopathome and Bigcrumbs is regularly referring readers to Ebates so I get about $10-$30 a month from Ebates (thanks readers!). My 'Health Matters' blog is getting quite a lot of hits, and I get a few emails every week from readers asking about weaning off steroids. Not much of this is converting into money unfortunately (very few Adsense clicks or donations), so if I'm going into writing full-time, I might have to cut back on giving free advice to these folks or figure something else out. Aside from that, Commission Junction, Linkshare and Amazon were the few affiliate programs I tried out, the former being the most 'lucrative' (about $10 a month on average).

Looking at what readers were looking for, I noticed that my reviews, and articles with rock solid content, got the most hits. So going forward, I'm going to write more reviews and how-to guides and place contextual ads to Amazon and other affiliates. This way, I get to share with my readers all my favorite things and hopefully they will buy them too! Yes, you too!! :p

That's it for now. Here's a flower for you!

Pink peony in full bloom in my garden

xo Grace


p.s. If you have enjoyed my Rants, Raves and Ramblings, please help support my blog by clicking on any ad and visiting my sponsors. Thanks!

Cooking up a storm & Massages!

Fri, 3 Feb. Rushed around trying to get the surat sumpah signed. Eddie came over and got his massage plus bought a bunch of stuff. Cooked the sauce for the lasagna. Yoga.

Sat, 4 Feb. Shopped early at Jusco for parsley, chicken bones, etc. Eddie came over again. Baked the two choc sponge cake bases for the blackforest cake. Assembled the lasagna and baked them. Made the soup stock then the cream of mushroom soup. Elaine, Simon and the boys came over and I gave the parents massages while the boys played computer games. No workout.

Sun, 5 Feb. Went with Saimas to Dato Latif's son's wedding at FRIM. What a wonderful affair. The food was delicious. I'm going to miss FRIM and everyone so much. Prepped the pizza toppings, assembled the cake, then headed to Popo's. Awesome pizza party. Too much food though haha. Legs & Back + Ab.

Mon, 6 Feb. Picked up Siok Bee's wetsuit, then went to massage Alp, followed by Richard's place with more massages (David, Syerol, Richard). What a workout! No Yoga.

Tues, 7 Feb. Wetsuit swim at Templers with Nurina, Dayan, Darimi, Arif. Then back to my place to massage them :). Core Synergistics. I decided to just forget the two missed workouts (Yoga and Kenpo, from last week), and get back on track this 'Recovery week'.

Weds, 8 Feb. HUKM for Physiotherapy in the morn, then head cracking on Ohba's paper for the rest of the day. Raiha came over in the evening for P90X and to try on Bee's wetsuit. She fits! Did Kenpo.

Sport Masseuse In Da House!

Monday, 30 Jan. First day of the massage course. Learnt legs and back. Pn Salina took over from her hubs after lunch. I also napped at lunch break. Tired la, didn't sleep well at all. Afterwards walked with Pui San at Bukit Jalil, met up with Rupert and dinner satay. Rabbit was very sour?! Had more eggs when I got back. Eating so many eggs!

Tuesday, 31 Jan. Second day of the massage course, did full body massage and think I'm doing okay. Pui San is the most ticklish massage subject ever. I can barely touch that gal! Directly after the course, followed Pui San to Mabel's house where she massaged Mabel and I massaged Mabel's son Matthew. I swear she only did 35 minutes of the 1 hr massage. After the massage, I had dinner with Alp, and shopped for cheese etc. Also picked up a bottle of grape seed oil to be my base massage oil.

Wednesday, 1 Feb. Got my offer letter from FRIM. It's RM6250. Not RM8000 :\ Ah well. Gave my 1 month notice to my landlord. I guess I'm moving out!

Thursday, 2 Feb. HUKM to get the cast of my feet for making insoles. Hope they work. At RM300, they had better work! Spent half the day at the post office waiting for my number to come up to buy a RM10 stamp. And found out I didn't even need to queue up for that. Haizz. Got a bunch of shopping done at Giant, for this Sunday's dinner. I think starters will be cream of mushroom soup with garlic bread, mains will be lasagna, pizza and Papa's fried chicken, sides will be garlic mashed potatoes, salad, fried rice. And dessert will be fruit and my black forest cake. Pizza toppings will be pineapple, chicken, ground beef, sundried tomato, tomato, roasted pepper, fresh pepper, onion, sausage, mushrooms, olives, shrimp, and lots of cheese.

Infinity Swim in the Straits of Melaka

28 Jan, Sat. Woke early to pick up Justin, Faith and Tiff before heading out to PD. Was late :\. The swim was good and I was so glad to see everyone having a nice time. After the swim I helped safety escort the bike leg, and had to leave during the run leg to send Faith and Tiff back for church visitation. Had a nice lunch and chat with Justin. Promised to cycle to Penang with him if he gets a bike. Showered and took a short nap before heading out to dinner with everyone. Went food court hopping! It was fun, going for dinner here, looking for dessert there, and hunting for another food elsewhere. By the time I got home, I was too tired and it was too late to do Kenpo.

29 Jan, Sun. Woke really late, but glad my sorethroat feeling went away. Hopefully won't get fever. Upped my dose of CoQ10 and ALA etc. Just relaxed at home, did a bit of Kenpo. Then went out to Agnes' to get stuff, and met Yip for my stuff. It was great hearing Yip's first hand account of Nepal. Dinner was Jun Kee's low sang, and all sorts of yummy foods. Shopping at Tesco for eggs. Gotta get to bed early for sports massage course tomorrow :)

Fasting and a Painful Jab

26 Jan (Thu) was spent mostly working on Ohba's paper. I'm neaaaaarly to the end. Nothing memorable except I once again slept at around 2am.

27 Jan (Fri). Woke up early, skipped breakfast (fasting) and drove to get blood test and medical examination done. Got jabbed in my gluteus maximus for MMR. Ouch... Took passport pic, got x-ray done, stopped by at Tesco for bread, cucumber, lettuce, tomato, mayo, butter, 100+, water, for tomorrow's swim-bike-run. The scaffolding was up along my apartment when I got back so I quickly closed the windows and drew the curtains. It was too noisy to work, so I baked brownies and oatmeal raisin cookies, and I made egg salad sandwiches. Seeing that the number of participants is increasing, I decided to boil rice to fry some up tomorrow morning. It's 1.30 am now, I should be in bed as I need to wake by 6 am later.

Makanthon & Sushi Tei Cockroach Leg

24 Jan (Tues). Lunch was with Uncle See Kong, Tai So, Edwin, Edmund and Andrew at Mama's. Cherry, Mama's tenant for 2 months, joined also. After lunch I visited Nadya and she told me the details of what had rocked her to the core recently, plus difficulties with her thesis. Gave pineapple tarts and ang pows for the girls. Then to Nat's where I also gave tarts, which were also really well received hehe. Reminisced about the ol' days, and wondered where we would be 10 years from now. Cried thinking about our parents getting old, frail. Then to Popo's for dinner with the clan - char chee yoke, kow yoke, lontong, herbal chicken.

25 Jan (Weds). Had physio at HUKM, which this session was heat treatment for pain relief. I dipped each foot into warm wax 7 times to make a thick glove on each foot. The nurse then wrapped each foot in a plastic bag and then towel, and let sit for 15 minutes. It didn't really do much for me. Felt nice though. Lunch was at Sushi Tei Pavillion with Ken, Melissa and Justin. I could not believe it - I spotted a cockroach leg on the plate of sushi that we had just polished off. It looked like the leg of a german cockroach or Blatella germanica. After Underworld, headed back to Kepong. It's now 2 am. I need to fix this sleeping late problem.

Kung Kung's is 83!

Sat, 21 Jan. Kung Kung's 83rd birthday marked the start of the clan's Glutton Fest. I'd slept 4 am that day, making pineapple tarts. Fortunately the bike ride to Fraser's Hill was called off, thus I could relax at home until 4 pm. Cake cutting was at Popo's at 5 pm. A. Josie made a corn custard cake - tastes a lot better than it sounds :). Then dinner at KK Restaurant, which was okay but made me thirsty for the rest of the night. After dinner we went back to the house and hung around there. Also made a trip to the pasar malam outside the house and got coconut water, nangka, tau foo fah, etc.

Sun, 21 Jan. I can't believe I actually woke at 12 pm. I dreamt that I woke up at 10.15 am, and was rushing about getting ready for church and went to church down the road. My dream stopped there, maybe because I haven't actually been to that church and therefore couldn't dream up how it looks from the inside. I made my way to Ma's and had my packed lunch there, then Faith and I started making wontons. We brought the wontons to Popos to fry. Unfortunately, they weren't so crispy 2 hours later when dinner was served. This CNY 'reunion' dinner was a quiet affair, because all the married women were away at their in-law's houses for their reunion dinners. So that left Ken, Melissa, Melvin, Vic, myself, Pa, Ma, A. Jenny, U. William, Justin, Faith, Popo & Kung kung & U. Jon. When I got back home, I started stuffing ang pow packets. Glad I kept an excel sheet record of last year's amounts. Cuz I would have grossly over given otherwise. Since I have less than RM500 in the bank, I don't have much to give away. Oh ya, found out Justin and Jin Vi broke up. *sigh*

Mon, 22 Jan. CNY Day 1! Sleeping at 2 am or later every night is not good. (It's now 1.30 am yikes). I woke 10 am, and had to start getting ready to go Popo's right away. Wore last year's red blouse. Packed the 2.5kg and 1.5kg weights, and workout clothes also since would be spending the whole day at Cheras. I really enjoyed and cherished the exchange of ang pow packets. It was all very festive. We tucked into a feast. Usually it's 'vegetarian' on the first day of the new year, but Popo has since stopped following this tradition heeh. We had lam yue pai kuat (pork ribs), chai choy (mix vege). A. Jenny made brown rice salad and chicken sambal sauce. I cried watching 'Girl goes Disney' on Youtube. I just felt very emotional because I know I won't be here next Chinese New Year and I'm missing everyone already. Thanks Melvin. We spent some Facetime with Jess, A. Gin, Ali, Mel and Zach. Then we went home to nap (I did a workout). Dinner was at the very expensive Marco Polo Restaurant and Wisma Lim Foo Yong. Nicky gave Justin and I lotsa tips on how to gain weight (eggs, milk, peanut butter). When I got back home, I dragged the pseudotrainer back into the room and put in 30 minutes. I'm looking forward to getting more cardio and leg work in. Not being able to run is making me feel strangely deprived, maybe even depraved haha. I think I can cycle lots without aggravating this plantar fasciitis.

Locked out!

Yesterday A came over and I fed him some dinner while I rolled out lil' balls of the pineapple filling and measured out the pastry ingredients (350 g organic flour, 50 g corn starch, 30 g icing sugar, 1/4 t salt, 1 t vanilla essence, 1 block 250 g butter, 2 eggs yolks). Then we went out for supper. Upon returning at 11 pm, I found my wood door locked - he'd locked it, and I never carry the key for that. Oh well. I drove back to Midah and spent the night in restless slumber in Faith's room.

Woke at 6.30 am and drove back to Kepong today. Did some marketing for making wontons, ate some soft boiled eggs while waiting for the locksmith to open at 8.30am. He never showed, but fortunately I spotted a locksmith shop while walking around the shoplots. This guy was a pro. Took out two metal toothpicks and had the door open in about 10 seconds. My purse was lighter by RM40. So glad I found the guy.

The rest of the day was uneventful. I tried napping with Melissa's rollerblades on (as an alternative to the foot splint for treating plantar fasciitis). I think it might work, but it's a bit tight.

I worked some more on Ohba's paper. It's getting there slowly. And after P90X and dinner, I made some delicious pineapple tarts.

Wonderful 'Flowerpot' weekend and Back to Work!

Started off Saturday with an 8 km FRIM trail run with Simon Goh and Phoebe Lim. No more running after this.  Drove to PD, kayak safety escort for the Tadonamo bunch and friends then also did a 1 km swim accompanied by Pui San. Quick shower back at apartment (Marina Bay Condos), then dinner at Restaurant Kim. Back to the apartment and I got busy massaging lotsa sweaty, hard calves for 2 hrs till 11.30 pm. Slept very little and was tired upon waking at 6 am for the 7 am rollout.

Sunday: Support car for the cyclists. Thank god for Nyan who sat with me (could not ride cuz injured from falling yesterday) and kept me company. I was very tired. I put Nyan in charge of taking pics and vid. After the ride, went to Ma's and napped 2-3 hours. Then dinner at Popos (chicken soup).

Monday: Drove to HUKM for appt with Ortho Doc Linda, thanks to referral by Dr Rizna. Was given appointments at Bone Densiometry Lab, Physiotherapy, and Orthotics. My guarantee letter that gives free medical was expired, and the nurse tore it up. Uhoh. Now gotta pay? Lunch with Pa, Ma & Faith (chicken rice at Jun Kee). Then back to Kepong. I found out from Dr Laurence (email) that I was employed, pay backdated to Jan! What great news, but now I gotta work properly instead of at my leisure. Dinner with Alp, who poured his heartbreak out to me.

Tuesday: Worked on Ohba's paper. Richard dropped by for the X. I showed him the secret entrance to FRIM and he went for a 40 minute run. I resisted his persuasions for me to run. Slept 2 am, making love letters. (Not successful) and re-seasoning the moulds for another try tomorrow. Alp called - feeling conflicted about cycling in group with her.

Wednesday (today): Worked more on Ohba's paper. Did the video for the PD trip, and also the race report and sent to Syerol. Was informed by Dr Saw that my salary under SBPA will be RM8000, up from the RM5500 previously (actually RM3500 due to the deduction for my contract). Booked plane tix to Melbourne 18-27 March. Finished the Love Letter batter and made about 30 pcs. Made them in the oven! Didn't think it would work but it did! Alp had a 180 degree turnabout and now hates her. O... k...

Bake, Core, Swim

That sums up what I accomplished today. :)

I made some delectable buttery pineapple tarts today. Spent 4 hours making those 70 lil parcelled treats. I figure if I ever sell them, it would be for 80 sen a piece. Just sayin. That would work out to an hourly wage of RM15. :p

Got started on Core Synergistics and made it half way before I had to leave for swim class. The long drive (Friday evening traffic) gave me plenty of time to think. I think... I need to be able to do the Crane yoga pose by the end of the year. And also, a hand stand. (Guess I wasn't thinking all that much).

The Total Immersion swim class was so much better after I had watched the two videos that came with Level 2 ('O2 in H20' and 'Easy Freestyle'). Even though I hadn't swum all week, it felt like I had significantly improved, just by thinking through the moves. I've got the two beat kick and am not bending my knees anymore. And with the 'broken arm' progressing well, I'm feeling inspired enough to put out another Total Immersion blog post now.

Visa Interview at US Embassy Set!

The highlight of my day was receiving notice from the NVC that Feb 16 has been set for the visa interview. So today, I gathered my documents, and tomorrow will make an appointment to get the medical done. I also spent some time thinking about how to sell off all my stuff.

I spent time on FB, more than I should have. Napped, ate some. Finally did a workout in the evening. Even though I could have been more productive, at least I did a workout :)

Body Pampering Day - No Go

This was supposed to be a day for indulging my body that recently underwent severe trauma at the MPIR 12 km run. I made an appointment with Equal Fitness Sports Massage for 2 pm, and just because I would be in the area, also made appointment with I Beauty House for my third of five IPL sessions. (Damn you Groupon, I love you, but I hate you!).

As expected the IPL session was kinda lame, and I don't expect it will do much. The one at Beauty Avenue, Solaris Dutamas, was muuuuch better - could see results, almost permanent too.

Sad to say, I left Equal Fitness feeling cheated. It didn't feel at all like a sports massage, or any kind of massage. My first experience with Zuraidah was so wonderful, I thought EF was the best thing ever and couldn't wait to go back. Today Maria did me, and it was so lacklustre, I felt like she was just rubbing me all over... verrrry gently. I kept waiting for it to feel like a massage. She did the whole thing sitting down! I kid you not. Well, I found out later that she wasn't feeling well. Dearie, don't massage me if you're not feeling well! Haizzz. Next time, I'm just going to request Zu. Actually. I'm probably not going back.

Stopped by to see Nat and family, and gave some avocados. Baby Melissa is soooo adorable I salivated a lot hehe. Mikhail and Maira were also very sociable today, I enjoyed their attention ahah!! Dinner with Nadya was cancelled cuz she got sick. So I headed back and did P90X. And later stuffed myself with lots of dinner. And now, it's bed time!

Recovery Day

After the 12 km Multi Purpose Insurans Run yesterday, which left me hobbling in plantar fasciitis induced agony, I was surprised to wake up feeling pretty decent. I think taking the extra alpha lipoic acid, CoQ10 and vitamin C helped bring down the inflammation. Also I slept with my feet flexed against the headboard and  kept it flexed as much as possible. I think that results in the plantar fascia mending at full flexion. I think the foot splint would be even more effective, but I'm not going to pay RM125 for it!

Today I rested and ate a lot. Long afternoon nap. Ebaying and Facebooking too much. :p I finally got down to doing the Yoga X at 8 pm. Looking forward to sports massage tomorrow!

Templer's Park swim, FRIM run, P90X go go go!

I gotta wake up 5.15 am for the MPIB 12 km run tomorrow so will keep this post short.

This morning I had a sluggish start - it was close to 10 am when I finally dragged myself out of bed. Urine protein was negative though (good). Breakfast as usual, then started getting ready for FRIM run followed by swim at Templers. Dogpapi picked me up and we went to Bandar Baru Selayang to feed him since he hadn't had anything to eat yet. I had poached chicken and white rice. Then we went for our FRIM run. It turned out to be a run-walk affair lasting 6 km and nearly an hour. Poor guy hadn't run for months, and felt poorly halfway into it.

After he dropped me off, I got a call from Reza and ended up joining him and Lina at Templers. We did laps (he additionally did run-swim mini bricks), and analysed each others' Total Immersion swim. Then we refuelled at the Bukit Idaman food court. I always enjoy my time with Reza and wife. I'm just like, so motivated right now. But of course, he's a motivational guru! He can't help being a motivator right? :) I was very inspired by his 'Reach High' attitude. This guy did the Port Dickson International Triathlon Sprint in 2 hours 7 minutes last year. This year his resolution is to complete it in 1 hour 10 minutes! That's 15 minutes for the swim, 30 minute bike and 25 minute run. I was just hugely inspired by his attitude and guts, and passion. And I believe he's going to nail it.

While he's targetting improvement in his time for the same event, I'm aiming for longer distances - I just do what feels fun. The training intensity (intervals etc) needed to bring my 10 km time from 60 minutes to say 50 minutes is puke-inducing = not fun. It's more pleasurable spending longer and longer hours out on the trails. Still, he's given me something to think about 'i.e. if I could do 12 km in say 50 minutes, how would I feel?' .. wow.

I wrapped up the day's activities with a Kenpo P90X workout. Good stuff. I'm looking forward to tomorrow's run, though I hate getting up early. I don't want to aggravate my plantar fasciitis, but I'm not sure if I can hold myself back if I feel good and feel like going a little faster. Play it ear, ok? :)

Out and About

Upon waking, Ma & I went quite directly to HUKM to get my bloodwork done. I produced an embarassingly teeny amount of pee for the urine tests. A couple guys and myself helped lift and shift a car that was inconsiderately blocking another car, whose owner was an elderly woman - very distraught one. Then Ma & I went to Midah market where I had a late brekkie of poached chicken with white rice (it's a staple for me, it's safe). Mama bought salad stuff and collected about 10 kgs of chicken necks & heads and fish skins to boil with rice for Woofie and Happy.

I started driving back to Kepong, but on a whim decided to park near the Maharajalela Monorail Station and get to Sungei Wang Plaza for Nike Dri-Fit socks shopping. I couldn't find free streetside parking on the first pass and got absurdly lost for 30 minutes in Friday noontime traffic. Nuvi brought me to Stadium Merdeka where I had easily found parking previously, but she neglected to tell me that no parking is available when school is in session. I eventually found a place to park across the road from the Monorail Station, and paid RM1.60 to Bukit Bintang. I like this option. It beats driving and looking for parking in the Bukit Bintang area.

I wandered through the confusing maze that is Bukit Bintang Plaza + Sungei Wang Plaza, trying to find the Al-Ikhsan sports shop. (They've moved, but I tracked them down). Had an hour to kill before they re-opened (they close for Friday prayers), so I navigated myself over to the Lot 10 ground floor food court and fed myself some very good beef ball noodles minus the noodles.

The Nike socks are no ordinary Nike socks. Yip first recommended that I try Nike Drifit socks to keep blisters at bay. The very first pair I picked up were the best I've ever worn. They're Women's Performance Cushioned drifit size small (my size!) with 46% polyester, 36% cotton, and the remainder nylon and spandex. I've run in puddles, on muddy trails and had wet socks and feet, but nary a blister since then. I think they work great (haven't tried for runs lasting more than 3 hours though). Anyway, I haven't been able to find these socks anywhere in KL, or even on the internet. All these other Nike socks are mostly cotton, with less poly.

(Uhoh, it's pushing 11.30 pm and I'm not in bed yet!)

I stopped at Tesco to check out prices of their Mozarella cheese (for the Lims pizza party hosting next month), and ended up buying avocados on sale RM6 for three.

Then stopped at Giant Selayang Mall also to check out cheese prices. I bought some Ridsect. When I got home, I cleared out the car, and gassed it with the Ridsect. Hope that gets rid of that black ant colony in my car!

The avocado ended up in my dinner salad. It was soooo good.

 Then I had some popcorn for dessert. I use a teaspoonful of extra virgin organic coconut oil to pop 1/3 cup of popcorn. Then sprinkled over some sea salt. I sometimes don't digest popcorn or any corn well, and may feel tired the morning after. Let's see how this goes.

Ciao!

Busy Day and Mullet Dreams

First off, I am sorry to report that it is 1 am and I am still not in bed!

For this I blame: 1) a very busy day and, 2) my Mullet Dream.

I got through 15 minutes of Yoga X then escaped the apartment, which is being painted and currently stinks. Shopped for 2.5 hours at Jusco and got me a Philips Epilator (RM100), and a bunch of supplements Vitamin C, CoQ10, Selenium - listed on the Packer Antioxidant list (RM300 *gulp*). Picked up my and Ma's MPIB race kit from Wisma OCM. Gave a tourist family a lift to Chinatown (yes, quite random hoh). Got through another 30 minutes of Yoga X. Tried out the Epilator on myself and Faith (guinea pig haha). Faith screamed a lot. Me? Hardly felt it. :p Went for Total Immersion Swim class. This time I lasted 1 hr 15 minutes in the freezing water (usually it's under an hour). I'm feeling good about my breathing but often forget high elbow and left arm form. And I think I'm finally getting some power in my kick. I am definitely not bending my knee like I'm going to run or bike, which is a bad habit. What can I say, muscle memory of these legs from all that running and biking carries over to the pool. Got done with swim at 10.30 pm, and had to find something to eat - hot rice porridge with plenty of fish and pork. Hit the spot.

Okay, my Mullet Dream. I suddenly remembered one of my dreams from last night. I dreamt I had a Messy Mullet. It was unkempt, tangled, and generally nasty looking. Once I realised how horrible it looked (in my dream), I finger combed it and tried to shape it. So prior to writing this post, I was busy hunting down virtual mullets that I could overlay on my photo. No luck. If you find one, please do alert me of it.

I had fun with the Elle Virtual Makeover though. And here I leave you with my favorite hairstyles. What's yours? :)

Never had a perm before. Should I?

I used to have a fringe. 

I had a bob like this once too. Believe it or not, I cut it myself.
It was a bad bob :p

Kept this style for quite a while.

Epic Fail to Zzz

Alright, so after my post last night about getting to bed on track at 10 pm, I was glued on Ebay till midnight. Ebay addiction is something that strikes me every so often and I need to do something about it!!! Now that I sweat so much, I am really appreciating technical clothing that wicks and stretches and compresses and generally shows me off in all my hotness. :p . I recently scored a brand new, with tags, Zoot triathlon top and shorts combo for 99 cents, plus $6 to ship = $7. And let's not forget my beloved De Soto triathlon suit acquired for $10. I don't mind used goods, in fact I like recycling and reusing because it is more environmentally-friendly.

Anyway, I woke up at 4 am and couldn't get back to sleep. I kept thinking of making wontons, and how I would sell just wontons at the weekly farmer's market down the road in Natrona Heights. And how the word would spread about my amazing wontons that folks would queue up to buy them, throwing heaps of money at me for the exquisite pleasure of tasting those little meaty parcels. No need for fried rice, satay, lo mein, I would do just one thing and do it well. (Although I did all and did well before, it's just too much work!). And I would of course raise the price from 50 cents per wonton, to 75 cents. I'm sure people would still buy them. Everything's fresh, natural with no fillers and other crap. Plus they are handmade. Worth it. Eventually, Grace's Wontons would become so famous that I could start a franchise... ok now I'm dreaming. It's stuff like this that keeps me awake! Wouldn't it be awesome  though, to figure out a way to freeze and package them for sale to the masses...

I decided not to work today, since: 1) Not getting paid, 2) Have shopping and errands to do. Definitely will try to nap later... Got in a 1 hr nap then chatted with Spencer.

Afternoon was spent browsing at Jusco. I decided to put off buying the epilator and other stuff till tomorrow's Jusco Member's Day where purchases of RM100 and above get a RM10 voucher. Got a whole shopping list made up.

Tomorrow and Friday are probably going to be messy. Tomorrow: P90X workout, Jusco, Wisma OCM to pick up race kit, Bukit Jalil for Total Immersion swim class. Friday: HUKM for blood tests, then back to Kepong. Will P90X in the evening.

Listen to your body

Slept 11.30 pm till 9.30 am, a solid 10 hr, but felt tired upon waking. Urine protein looked slightly 'trace'. I'm going to have to stick to my usual diet. Could have been the cookies I ate yesterday and the other carbs also.

I had this strange dream that I was having the darnedest time finding a swim suit that would fit me, and was rummaging futilely through a bin full of mismatched clothes. In another dream, I was in this huge 'The Dusun'-like estate, trying to figure out where the workers might be getting all those rambutans and huge papayas. One of the workers touched me and I complained to the boss, who then proceeded to write me out a check for RM109,000 to compensate. But I said I didn't want that money?! (Dreams sometimes don't make sense huh). And he then tried to propose to me, but I told him I am married. :)

Got in a decent bit of work today. Feels good to be in the groove. Even though I'm probably not going to be paid for it - haven't gotten my offer letter yet (apparently it's in the works). I'm prepping myself to enter the 'real' world this year, i.e., 8 to 5 hours. Instead of the flexi 'put in 8 hours' arrangement that has helped me recover from illness while allowing me to continue being productive. I am eternally indebted to FRIM for accommodating for my health condition.

Obediently did my P90X workout, which was awesome (Plyometrics), had three soft boiled eggs, then directly to the pool for a hour (1.1 km covered). My Timex Global Trainer with GPS doesn't seem to work so good mapping swim distances '3.7 km' ?!

Had some durian for dessert, hope it's not gonna hurt me. Am on track for a 10 pm bedtime. See you tomorrow!

Last day of leave

The morning run with Su & possible hike with Aunt Chris, Uncle Anthony & his sister didn't materialize.

Since I was already doused with Mosiguard and sunblock, I decided to go myself. In fact, I decided to ride Kermit, starting from the Bukit Idaman 'secret entrance'. But first I had to prep Kermit. It was a good ride, my first in FRIM. I rode out and rewarded myself with a bowl of ching tong mai fun hor fun (clear soup rice noodles). Then I rode back, total 10 km.

Been feeling tired, I think after effects of yesterday's over-indulgence (Jun Kee deep fried dinner followed by durian). Some twinges in my finger joints too....

Rinsed off the bike and FB'd for a bit, then back out to the trailhead to say hi to Su and her dogs, Dolly and Parton. Su handed me a whole bag of mangosteens, rambutans and pulasan! Then she went off for her run. She told me later that she had tried to take the dogs up the Rover Track to the Canopy, but was stopped by what may have been FRIM staff. Since dogs aren't allowed in FRIM, and outsiders entering FRIM are checked at the main gate, those folks were curious as to how she managed to bring her dogs in. She said she got lost and would find her own way back. So I think it will be a matter of time before the 'secret entrance' is fenced up again. Oh well.

Got through today's P90X workout, and ate a HUGE chicken salad for dinner. Then used up my free time 7-10 pm blogging. It's already nearly 11 pm, and I should be in bed by 10 pm. Aiyo. Tomorrow is the first day of work. I haven't received the contract offer letter yet, but I'll just start work. Off me goes to bed!

Journalling is Good

I was reading some of my journal posts from 2010 and 2011, and it surprised me how much I enjoyed the trip down memory lane. I would journal daily (part of managing my illness). The stuff I'd write was quite mundane for most part. Just everyday happenings, feelings, thoughts. A typical entry would read something like this:

"Sat 16 Oct 2011. Urine Protein -ve, Hydrocortisone 1/8 pill. Slept 12-8 (8h). Woke tired, feel tired. Went for Popo's bday makan at Noble House, Jalan Delima, Imbi. Good food. Then to Popo's for cake cutting & video. Kung Kung got drunk and started worrying everyone. Went Tesco with Koo Koo & Yoon. Car stuck at pasar malam, so left late. Dinner was satay, nangka with Yoon, Stan, Nigel, Koo Koo, Melvin, Vic, at Popo's. Helped Pa & Ma make sandwich for church..."

A whole journal of this would probably bore you senseless huh!

I realized that I had stopped journalling soon after starting work in FRIM, so had only patchy posts for 2011. And I wish I hadn't stopped. I did blog some in 2011, for big events, but it was the little day to day stuff that I missed. That's the kinda detail that transports me back to that place in time and evokes what I felt and thought then. I'm not super sentimental, but I do like to reminisce every once in a while!

So this year I'm going to try my darnedest to journal daily.