are you the biggest loser?!?

lately i've been really inspired by the reality show the biggest loser on hallmark (7pm weekdays). they're only just showing season 2 at the moment despite it progressing into it's 7 season in the US. it's amazing to watch the show and see how these individuals who'd gone on the show weighing 200lbs (~90kg) up to more than 400lbs (~>180kg) and come out of it 50% lighter!!!

now that really got me thinking. losing weight really is hard. the amount of effort they had to put into it and the joy of losing those double digit pounds each week. on the show, they are taught about nutrition, how to prepare healthier meals for themselves, calorie counting and budgeting, resisting temptation, and most importantly exercising and working to build up strength, endurance and stamina as well as facilitate weight loss.

every time a person is eliminated, they'll show the family reactions when that person goes home and also show the audience how that person looks like now. they may not have the perfect body if in a relative sense, it's amazing how much they'd lost and that they were able to maintain (if not lose more) after leaving the show.

in fact, if you look at season 5 and season 6 winners, ali and michelle, they've completely trimmed down and are so well toned you won't believe that they were over 200lbs before!!

while watching the show, i just couldn't shake the words of one of the trainers out of my head:

"i don't care if you die on that floor, you better die looking good!" - jillian
michaels

those words really stuck with me. one, for the witty humour i see in it. and two, for how much it embodied the effort you need to put into effective weight loss. there are no shortcuts for sustainable weight loss it seems. and it has to be a balance of good nutrition and diet with at least a moderate level of activity.

jillian michaels has been dubbed tv's toughest trainer and by the looks of it, she delivers. having trained 5 out of 6 winners on the biggest loser, it's hard to doubt her credibility as a trainer. with that in mind, i went out to get myself one of her home videos, 30 day shred, (after some online research) which contained 3 levels with increasing difficulty and intensity. i'd had a look at the videos on youtube prior to purchasing and it seemed fairly simple and basic exercises. her 3-2-1 method (i.e. 3-mins strength, 2-mins cardio and 1-min abs) is said to be one of the most effective ways to get your body to change.

so here i am super excited to get started, mat and weights all set up in the living room. switched on the tv and pop in the dvd, feeling all set and ready to go. acknowledging my lack of fitness, i started with level 1 and paid attention to the modified version of each workout for beginners (lower impact). after 2-mins warm up, the 1st circuit begins. each session consists of 2-mins warm up, 3 sets of 6-mins workout (3-2-1 method) and a 2-mins cool down. as simple as the movements looked on youtube, i was already struggling by the end of circuit 1. *haha* i knew and expected it wasn't going to be easy but believe it or not, only 6-mins of the modified workout non-stop and i felt woozy, nauseaous, and felt like passing out right then and there.

then my mum told me that she needs me to send her to work cos my stepdad got a bit injured accidentally falling into a drain last night. *gasp!!* not one to disappoint and understanding my duties, i mustered whatever energy i had left in me and tried to make breakfast for myself before sending my mum off. my arms felt heavy and i had to make an extra effort to reach into the pantry to grab some food. lol! while sitting at the dining table, i was still feeling super woozy and felt like i'd pass out if i'd close my eyes. i'd even felt like throwing up, so i rushed (sorta) to the bathroom but nothing came out. took a little breather and lay down on my bed taking it easy and concentrated on my breathing. it helped. so i went to finish my shake, but just didn't feel that i could *i did managed to guzzle up 90% of it though*, took a few more breaths, grabbed my keys, phone and wallet and plopped myself in the drivers' seat.

like i said, i acknowledge my lack of fitness, so this really wasn't much of a surprise for me. i was kinda shocked at how intense the workout must've been to have that effect on me so fast. haha. the push ups and weights really got to me. so looks like it's gonna just be a session on the treadmill tomorrow morning if any. lol! the last time i almost passed out from working out/exercising was when i did a physical evaluation at a centre in lintas plaza. after exerting myself, i practically just curled up (or was it lay down) on the floor even before the evaluation was done. i was lying there for about an hour or so before i was positive i could drive home.

the moral of the story is, if i have to exercise rigorously outside, i better have someone drive me there and back. haha!

fish bones... those darn things...

while having lunch today, i'd accidentally *duh!!* swallowed a fish bone. i usually only eat the fleshy parts of the fish (i.e. the tail quadrant) which is generally bone-less. in fact, if i had a choice, i'd always opt for fish fillets or fish with very little bones and are easily removed prior to consumption.

now, there's a reason why i've become quite obedient *for lack of a better word* and generally abide by the rules/law. more often than not, anytime i decide to break the rules, i usually experience certain repercussions associated with why you're not supposed to go against the grain when it comes to rules and laws. so in other words, i'm born to abide and hence have never been much of a rebel.

so back to the fish bone. *ggrrr* so as soon as the fish bone snugly placed itself in my throat, i panicked!! 25 1/2 years of my life and never had i had a fish bone lodged in my throat. then and there i regretted even attempting eating fish parts out of my norm. ironically before that my mum was saying how i'd never survive living in the village or eating in a village home. *how true... oh nooo!!*

i tried the first logical thing that came to mind -- coughing it out but to no avail. then my mum asked me to sit down, straighten my chair, turn my plate around 3 times and swallow lumps of rice 3 times and then drink from the rice cooker lid. unfortunately the bone was still snugly lodged in my throat still causing me discomfort and pain. the floodgates were still wide open and i was bawling like nobody's business.

now there's another traditional way of getting the fish bone out and that is to drink the water dipped with the hands of someone born breech. supposedly, when you drink the water, the fish bone will dislodge and go done with the water. now where can you find such a person?!? my aunty had just gone back on sunday and we didn't know anyone nearby born in such condition.

then i was told to swallow bananas. well, i wasn't exactly told how to do it exactly. so i sort of munched a bit on the bananas. that didn't work either. i found out later online that you're not supposed to chew on the bananas. haha. after downing maybe 2-3 bananas, the problem still persisted and i ended up throwing up.

frustrated and in pain, i rushed to the toilet and continued my throw up fest. i was literally pi**ing my pants and was feeling faint using up all my energy to get the darn thing out. i tried downing another banana and wash it down with a couple glasses of water. still stuck. annoyed much, i stuck my finger down my throat in search of the dreaded thing. my finger kept brushing against the top of the bone but just couldn't get it out. instead i did what naturally happens when you shove your finger down your throat, puked exorcist-style.

my mum tried calming me down but i was borderline hysterical. having her tell me that if we went to the doctor the doc would have to cut my throat open to remove the fishbone freaked me out even more and i was adamant to get it out that much more.

no longer crying my eyes out but exhausted, i went back to the kitchen, grabbed a box of ferrero rochers (haha. only 2 left) and a container of pineapple tart and a glass of water. well, i figured maybe try something harder to swallow. after all, i sort of repositioned the bone to the centre from my probing. so munched an entire ferrero rocher and swallowed, *ah.. finally felt a wave of relief* muched a couple pineapple tarts and swallowed. downed it with a glass of water and problem was solved. praise to the Almighty!! ate the last piece of ferrero rocher for good measure. haha.

post-trauma, i did a quick search on the fish bone-throat issue and read that you can even swallow bread to help push it down. well, looks like a couple ferrero rochers and some pineapple tarts seem to do the trick too. but my throat is still sore from the poking (from both the bone and my finger a presume) and my whole body feels all weird from channeling all my energy into getting it out right side up. i hope i never go through any of this again. and i hope no one else has to go through it either.

all hail avg...

the thing i really don't like about viruses are the fact that they're extremely disruptive and annoying. today i just realized that my company laptop had a virus trendmicro office scan identified as CRYP_DOWNAD-2 which in other words meant that there was a friggin' worm in my laptop. unfortunately i have absolutely no clue how it got there but i can't believe i'd been ignoring the office scan result pop-ups since last friday (i think).

anyways, it appears that the virus was also in my thumbdrive *darn* and that annoyed me even more. today i had to force shutdown my laptop twice before i came to my senses and suspected a virus was causing my frustration. my MS office applications kept halting and just wasn't responding. and the best part was i can't even view anti-virus websites. imagine how viruses are evolving these days they can even block you from getting those definition updates or even downloading anti-virus programs.

since i couldn't download the latest avg because the smart a** virus wouldn't let me, i installed the 7.5 version instead. i just happened to have the installer on that particular lappie (a.k.a. laptop). would you believe i couldn't update the virus definition files? *ggrrrr*

in the state of annoyance and frustration, i slapped my head once again for being dumb enough to not trouble shoot in safe mode. haha. silly me. so i restarted *ahem* force shutdown my lappie again and rebooted in safe mode with networking so my internet was still on. the virus made it impossible for the system to shut down proper or even restart which prompted me to do a shut down by force. *sorry laptop!!*

now, office scan couldn't heal or do anything to the infected file. it detected it but was completely useless at solving the problem. then i tried the avg 7.5 that i'd just installed prior to rebooting. it was having problems and an error message popped up telling me that i should re-install it. *wth?!?!?!* so i ditched the 7.5 and tried once again to download online. magically in safe mode i was able to get to the avg website and download version 8.0. *yee-haw!!!* download done, installed the software, and found out that 8.0 only works in command line mode in safe mode. so i did a scan of the identified infected folder. no miracle there.

crossing my fingers, i logged out of safe mode and returned to normal mode. ran avg again, updated the virus definitions and did another scan. this time the virus was detected. *yes!!* i tried healing but that didn't work so i moved the file to the vault. office scan kept informing me about the virus but was still useless in my opinion cos it can't fix the problem. after sending the virus to quarantine, i did another scan. came out clean this time. no office scan pop-up either. so i tried accessing both trendmicro and avg's websites again (which was blocked by the virus earlier) and voila, it's accessible again.

this wasted practically a whole day's work. *gggrrrrr* but at least the problem has been resolved thanks to avg. thank goodness it didn't require any reformatting or calling for it support. that would've been such a hassle. ooo and i did a full scan on my thumbdrive too. clean. *yay*

so if you're planning on installing an anti-virus on your computer, might i recommend avg? click here to download the free version of avg 8.5 build 278.

mysewingproject has arrived...

i know i've been harping a lot about my side project trove by elixelle but it's still in progress and i'm really hoping to have it up latest by april. however, i'm just so excited to announce that mysewingproject is now up! it's a blog for me to share.. well.. my sewing projects. haha. i'll be posting up more projects each time i complete them. check out my first post on the outfit i wore at dimple's wedding reception.

now to get my other projects up and running. *rubs palms together*

 

bazaar, reception, birthdays and training...

march seems filled with events and things to do. just realized it's been a while since my last post. *eyeing virtual cobwebs* so here are some updates so far...

i can't believe it's been NINE years since graduating high school!! thanks to momok for letting me knowing about the school bazaar and letting me tag along with her, nur and hez. it's been ages since we last met. met a few teachers and friends while i was there too. it was superbly HOT (as in panas) that day. good thing i managed to squeeze a parking spot at harrington's just opposite the school. so i didn't have that far to walk. hehe. the school seemed oddly smaller and well, really nothing much has changed. the canteen was still tiny and the classes look exactly how i remembered them to be. despite the many donations the entire student population have been contributing (and not to mention fund-raisers and bazaars), the only significant changes that i noticed were:

1. the main hall is now tiled up all the way to the canteen corridors
2. there's a trophy display cabinet mounted underneath the class corridor
facing the main hall
3. there's a changing room next to the stage
4. projectors in class

not quite sure but i heard they did some work with the toilets there as well, but i can't really confirm on that cos i didn't manage to take a peek at it. hehe. food as usual was bazaar priced (i.e. over-priced) which made it hard for me to get myself to buy anything. still for the sake of supporting my alma mater, i did spend rm10 there. haha.

tis the season to get married. haha. this is my 3rd wedding this year and as always, the bride and groom looked stunning. i loved how dimple's gown wasn't the conventional white gown but rather a more contemporary green and shocking pink evening gown which was absolutely gorgeous!!

* the grand entrance *

* me with the lovely couple *

my lil bro's birthday was the same day as the reception so we postponed and stretched his celebration to the next day til now. couldn't quite celebrate it on the day itself cos he was still down with fever and a cold. *aaawww* will be getting him a cake this week. hehe.

* isn't he just the cutest?!?!?! *

last thursday i was off to kl to attend a training session the following day. after much queries from travel desk, i managed to stay on til saturday night but only had the hotel booked for thursday night. good thing bestie nyn was so welcoming and had me at her place friday night. *hugs nyn and blows kisses*

my dad offered to pick me up from sentral and send me to the hotel. then we had dinner at belanga at the gardens. decided to try out their nasi kerabu (my first time eating) with grilled fish (i.e. ikan bakar) and ais teller (or es teler in indonesia). the verdict?!? sooo not my kinda food. the only upside to the nasi kerabu to me was the tangy taste of the bunga kantan in the ulam pile. the ais teller wasn't quite the thing for my taste buds. too rich and sweet for me. i gave the jackfruit pieces to my dad who ordered the same thing and strangely enjoyed his. to each his/her own i guess. lol!

my wonderful friends in kl had already booked tickets for dragon ball on friday night. so as soon as my training ended friday, i rushed back to midvalley cos they were coming to pick me up there and i didn't want to leave my luggage with the hotel concierge for too long. haha. paranoid, i know. don't even get me started with the public transportation system in kl. i've exponentially learnt to despise it. haha. had to forego the first komuter that arrived cos it was already sardine packed and positioned myself properly for the next train. i liked the idea of the blue, green and red lines incorporated in the station though so you know where the doors are gonna be when the train arrives. need to remind myself to take a cab next time. i was dragged back into the train 3 times *thanks to my laptop backpack and handbag* while getting off at the midvalley station. thanks to this nice girl who helped pull me out as she was getting into the train. that was nice of her. else i'd prolly be on the way to seputeh or something. haha.

anyways, after dragon ball, we headed off to old town white coffee in cyberjaya for intan's birthday celebration. i think it was supposed to be a surprise but all things considered it went well. it was nice to catch up with shima hunny while driving on the way to cyberjaya from sunway. *smiles*

* birthday girl intan and housemates (they're practically family) *

got back at 3-ish in the morning, changed and were instantly transported to dreamland. *zzzzz* was planning on getting up early to start the shopping escapades but when i opened my eyes, my watched was telling me it was already 12.30pm. haha. there goes the morning. got up, washed up and got ready to go. my babe nyn was already up around 9am but said i was sleeping so soundly (i.e. tidur mati) she let me sleep on. haha!!

soon as we got to midvalley, i was famished!! decided to grab a bite at nando's. was a bit disappointed though. i ordered the grilled chicken breast burger with chips in lemon and herbs and the chicken was the size of a kfc colonel burger chicken patty. ggrrrr... it used to be bigger. so i just restructured my burger to match the meat and ate away. haha.

somehow my family loves dunkin' donuts and as always it was my duty to get some to satisfy their cravings. thank goodness midvalley has practically everything!! went to get something for my mum and myself in jusco, then got a couple of books for my lil bro from mph, renewed my isetan card at the gardens, window shopped around, found my fossil watch *hurray!!!!* and finally dropped by dunkin' donuts to get a dozen donuts for the people back home. then it was time to head for sentral.

fortunately my trip back wasn't delayed. the trip to kl had a 1 hr delay which totally offset my plans for that night. *ggrrr* i love international flights. this one was heading for incheon transitting in kk. international flights = pillow & blanket. haha. although, i was starving so having the meal served more than an hour after take off was getting on my nerves. i get cranky when i'm hungry. haha. like my flight to kl, by the time the food cart got to my seat row, they only had one choice left. fortunately still, the chicken satay with fried rice and peanut sauce taste far better than the tasteless seafood pasta *blergh!* i had to gobble down on my flight to kl. haha. the pudding was weird so i didn't really eat that.

can you believe they served baskin robbin's very berry strawberry AND ferrero rocher chocs too?!?! yum yum.. if it wasn't for my gastric coming around, that would have totally made up for them serving the food late. *grins*