I remember the first time I stepped into his class was back in early 2009. My 1st class was a disaster…haha. I hardly can follow the moves.
But then I kept going back since then, thanks to his charmingly patient and guidance make those classes interesting & full of dramas. His favourites lines in class.. “Tiga, dua, satu…”, “from the top”, “what do we say?” hahaha
Our friendship did not starts immediately..It was nothing more than hi & bye.Slowly we started talking about running & gym. The funny part was, somehow the topics just about that for almost a year, until one “fine” day after CNY, I fell and twisted my ankle in the class.
Being a responsible instructor, he managed to get my contact to check on my recovery status from the fall. I still remember one of the messages was: “report, report…ur leg pain from 1-9, which level?”...hahaha. That was how it lasted for another month until I get back to class.
We constantly chat on MSN & on the phone most days apart from classes together with Rinaz. Eventually outings were arranged practically every week while the group gets bigger.
Well….after such a long introduction, I’ve yet name this person…He’s an instructor, a mentor & a great friend – Steven Lim. If you don’t know him, you might think he’s not easy to approach. In actual fact, it was the opposite of the common misperception by others. Hah!
Hmm…to me, this is how I describe about him. A great instructor yet sometimes go a bit over the top on some combos when he’s too excited in the class (hahaha…admit it) ;p A great friend whom I can talk almost everything yet no cynicism view among us. Often likes to make practical jokes yet sensitive towards other’s feeling. A person who likes to have fun yet can’t resist an afternoon nap whenever he gets a chance to do so…haha.
Now that he’s leaving for Australia to starts a new phase of his life, the gang & I surely will miss this good friend. We know friendship doesn’t end here even though he has redirected his path. May the Lord give him the courage & strength to overcome all the doubts, fears & obstacles that comes. Take care my friend. ^_^
In March, i decided to sign up for 21km again in SCKLM. It was an impromptu decision, in mind was telling myself : "well, i did last year...why not doing it again!"That was it...didnt think much after registration and started training only around mid May. (haha..that's also I didnt manage to hit the millage during training)..But thanks to a group of friends pulling me week after week to train with them at Desa Park City.
Race day..with a lazy body & sleepy head..i dragged myself up for the run. It was raining heavily a long the way to the city. Darn! i was saying to myself : "running in the rain?" Haha...i guess God probably heard what i've said. The rain stopped just at the time i reached Dataran Merdeka.
6:00am - Getting ready, saw Little Khoo, Pat, Dr Siew & few others at the starting line.
6:15am - Flag Off...After saying good luck to Lea, Steven & Mark...we went off with our own speed. First 5km, weather was cooling...kinda easy to keep my pace even though have to keep an eye on potholes as we have to run through some road construction near KL Sentral.
7:13am - Somewhere in between 6km - 7km marker. Traffic control in Loke Yew a bit disappointed. At one occasion, cars were behind & next to me while i was running. (So dangerous!) Anyway, both knees started to pain. Thank God, i applied deep heat before the run..i didnt feel that much pain as expected. Sufficient water to keep me from dehydration.
8:10am : KM11.5....i told myself : "halfway done! yes!"....wondering if some of my friends already reached the finishing line. Dont care...continue running. Had a banana from the water station & some water..continue running. Saw a veteran guy at the edge of the road semi-conscious while the st. johns busy attending to him.
8:50am : KM15...I was tired, thought of continue walking instead of run but my legs wobbled the minute i started walking....no choice, forced myself to continue running to keep the body balance...haha! This time round, i mumbled to myself : " i did 34km by walking, i can do 21km of running too...dont stop!"
9:30am : Final 1km...i can see more crowd infront of me now as approaching to Sogo area. I caught up with Jennifer & Kei Meng (both did their full marathon)....Tried my best to pace with them before they speed off towards the last 100m. It was fun! Saw frens like Keat Seong, Houn, Gary, gym frens & the regulars already done with their run. Praise God that i was back in one piece...really feels good.
Best of all...No power gel, just purely water, 100plus & one banana,i did few minutes better than last year. Though exceeded 3hrs, I dont mind coz i've completed my run. ^_^
Another great weekend has ended...potluck with a group of great people& a fun experience in J&J amazing explore hunt.
Saturday...Potluck.It was initiated by Steven to have potluck at his place..It was a great night. We cook, we eat & had game session.
Frenmily Portrait
win,loose or draw time
me & my mayonaiseinei pie..haha
The dishes
Sunday...J&J Amazing Explore Hunt.A crazy day...driving & running around under the hot sun. Not only to answer the questions along the way, we have to perform tasks such as Paint ball, climbing up KL tower, picture hunt, walking hunt, underwater puzzle, transferring maggots with mouth & searching pebbles in a tank of snakes at certain pit stops.
Four of us formed a team (Steven, Gan, Mark & i)...even though we were exhausted after 10hrs of torturing, all ends well...we managed to get 10th placing among the 94teams.
Oya, i saw familiar faces there too...ppl from gym...few from running - Pueh Tian, Amelia & few others.
The Four Blind Mice - not that blind afterall...haha
Final task (1) - transferring atleast 85g of maggot to d weighing bowl
Final task (2) - look for 10 pebbles inside the snake tank
A Bunch of ppl from different walk of life...met each other in pit stop called "Fitness First" for the same reason attending Steven's class & stay healthy while having fun.
Friendship blossom ever since then & one could see us together most days in the gym or outing. Is crazy, is funny yet care for each other. No commitment, no big promises...yet allowing each other to interact freely in the group.
These are the lucky 13 i'm talking about...
Wise Dragon - Rick Gan...Wise, Cool & gentle. like a big brother taking care of us. willingly host us all the time in his cozy place.
Bla Bla Black Sheep - Steven Lim...Energetic, fun to be with & like a "big not enough" as Gan said sometimes. Yet, he's a great instructor who cares bout all our needs in workout.
Baby Dragon - Steven Yong..Youngest among us...mature, easy going yet make one feel like pampering him s'times.
Featherless Chicken - Mark....Timid, mysterious & accommodating. sometimes gave us surprises v can never imagine.
Purple Dog - Stephanie....Pretty, friendly & caring...among the 4 girls, she's the most lady like person. while everyone wearing sport shoe or sandals during wkends, that the time she wears her heels.
Witty Monkey - Rinaz.... Out of the norm..a malay who seems like a chinese. She blend well with us. Sporting & fun loving person.
Handsome Doggy - Ricky...Imported from Philippines. Handsome, gentlemen & a person with little words. Yet his phrases in FB status always makes us ponder on things. A good writer.
Flying Pig - CK Yap....Cute, adorable & funny person u can never imagine. He's charm us with his jokes like Mr Bean. one will never feel bored with him around.
Moo Moo Cow - Arif Edwin Wong - A person who believed in One malaysia...insisted his name with 3 languages in it. Caring & likes celebrations.
Dr Pig - Michael - A doctor who spend most his time rescuing human in the hospital, yet get connected with us via Iphone each day. when without his Dr Cloak, he's just a young man who likes to gather & surprised me with his interest in going for Musical.
Jabar queen - Lea - A girl who can mix around easily with any of us. laugh alot most time...yet her blur blur mind sometimes makes her a cute person.
She-bangs - Terence - A quiet person with hidden talents. Accommodating & soft spoken person.last but not least....
The evil Horse - Irene (me), need not tell...haha...coz is my blog.
While window shopping in Borders yesterday...found these..now in my pending list.. ;pThere's also Alexendra Potter books i'm putting in the list as well.
I've not been able to write much lately...hmm...partly is because Facebook is too easy for me to shout out & to post photos. Apparently the main reason is that i've been doing many things all together until i noticed that time isnt sufficient for me to do other stuff.
First to begin, I've tendered my resignation letter. Noticed that i've only a month to decide if i want to continue staying in construction line or venture full time in piano teaching. I've started applying jobs as well doing training under a music school now..money is an issue for me as i've commitments need to be taken care off.
Well, gym..haha...now gym is my hang out place most of the time...hahaha..I cant believe that i'm a gym freak nowadays. 5 days a wk apart from days where i need to teach piano & running. I guess what really motivates me is that i loose quite some weight ever since i joined, i've a good instructor in few different classes & a group of very close buddies. Apart from that, it's also a place where i can get rid of whatever unnecessary stress in me.(psst..i've new aim...to loose another 10kgs in 3mths....okok.. abit ambitious..maybe 5kgs)
What else, love life?? haha...that's the biggest empty part of my life which i need to fill up...but currently...luck isnt at my side i guess. But i'm still having hope that one day it will come. Someone who can accept me as who i am.
Oya, my new place....is about time to pick up the keys from the developer. I'm busy planning on things which i need to move over & what are the things need to be done. Positive date to move over? Depends, tentatively somewhere 3rd quarter of the year i guess.
Olny srmat poelpe can raed tihs. I cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Amzanig huh? yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt! If you can raed tihs psas it on !!
Recently I joined a contest run by Lonely Planet..while reading the rules & regulations, i found this particular paragraph quite amusing & creative...please read the the lines in pink. ^_^
To enter you must submit your name, email address, and country of residence plus upload a photo that you have taken yourself of your travels, a description of the photo and the location in which the photo was taken via the promotional website at lonelyplanet.com/win. You don’t have to buy anything to enter. You can enter between 12:01pm AEST on 29th January 2010 and 12:01pm AEST on 28th July 2010. You can enter as many times as you like, however only one of your entries may be selected as a finalist (that means you will only be eligible to win one of the Nokia handsets in the prize description below). Your entry is received at the time Lonely Planet receives it. If your dog eats your entry, it’s not Lonely Planet’s fault. If your entry gets lost in cyberspace or doesn’t arrive for any other reason, that’s not Lonely Planet’s fault either.
I just want to say thanks to many people that gave me birthday wishes via mails, calls, sms & FB. Really touched to see all these wishes. ^_^
This year it falls on same day as Ash Wednesday, I felt blessed. Some may think "oh no! i'm getting older"...but for me "oh! i've earned another year!" ;p It's gonna be another good year ahead regardless what i'm planning 365days down the road. Maybe along the way waste a bit to be lazy on the couch...but is ok...haha
I've cut 3 cakes, gotten chances of 3 to make wishes....haha...hope it makes the one wish i've in mind a powerful one instead of being greedy & make 3 different wishes.
hmm...lost of words to write further...probably because had long journey back from home town & tired. Thanks again dear all & may the Lord bless u.
A lazy afternoon by myself....has been going places during the weekdays, decided to stay at home to do cleaning before CNY. I was hungry...so walk my way to this nearby prawn mee stall for this.
Chun Man invited me to join her for an evening talk at Pudu several weeks ago via FB...Both of us totally forgotten about it until that very morning (14 Jan 2010). At first was quite hesitated to go as both of us were very busy at work, but I decided to dump whatever work left behind & went ahead to pick up Chun Man for the talk.
It was an interesting evening, the talk was conducted in Mandarin & English.. basically with 4 speakers shared their experiences of backpacking in Europe, China, Taiwan & few other destinations. Some with funny encounters, some with acquaintances & so forth.
They gave an overview about what to expect & how to take care of oneself when you are away in a foreign land. The talk open up & encourage participants to travel more in a freer style instead of following the conventional way going on "Tour".
We stayed back after the talk & grabbed a few copies of magazines from them. The photos taken by the club members were astonishing, especially those taken from their annual backpacking trip to Nepal & Xi Zhang. Oya, they organise trips for backpacking as well as photographing. Relatively cheap (ie. 11days to Nepal & Xi Zhang - All in is about RM3-4k)...hmm...maybe...hehe.
Anyway...check out the video..cheers! I'll going back for more talks if whenever there's a chance to do so. Have to thank Chun Man for recommended this to me. ;p
^_^ Funny Title isnt it?? Hardly hear anyone saying this word..it practically means 1Cupak = 675g.
(30 Years Old Book - Front cover...after repaired)
I loan both my aunts recipe books for a month before returning back to them this coming Lunar New Year. One of it has been with my aunt for more than 30years (all hand written). As I'm scanning & translating recipe by recipe to my cooking book, i found some of the wordings in kampung malay & mandarin appeared in her book..lovely!
(The Old & The New..All Handwritten)
This 30years old book is like a treasure map, it has always been seen during new year lying in the kitchen while my aunt busy baking cookies & cooking. It contains lots of good food that i had since young & lots of childhood memories in the wooden house where i used to stay during preschool days.
Now my aunt willingly loan this book to me, i'll get to learn up most of my favorite recipes. I'm really happy over it. Atleast i know, when they are older & no longer able to cook. There's someone at home inherited their recipe & cook for the family when festive season comes.
Who knows probably one day i may have a small cafe to serve these foods...Love that thought. ;p
It has been contineously 4 mornings that there was this same worker slotting leaflet into the mailbox around my neighbourhood. One must be thinking, what so big deal about it..He might be hardworking to earn more...ha!
What makes me curious was that, these leaflets were from the same source promoting this fongsui/luck charm master claiming that he can turn you into million"aires" if you put a bet on the number he gives. Apart from that, he also have added service to arrange your house according to fongsui & makes you prosper for this year.
As for me, I just picked it up & put it to the pile of recycle papers thinking that is sort of unfriendly to the environment. But then, how many people will actually call & fix an appointment with him? Many may not fall for the 1st time, some will start to curious about it on the 2nd day & make calls..& so forth...
Is a business strategy as I noticed..haha...nowadays, fongsui master also not easy to earn money! Like Lilian Too & Joey Yap, they are the lucky ones. They get to go on stage & TV programs to promote themselves, thus many turn to them for advice. As for these small players, leaflet is the easiest way to promote. Some can be quite accurate, some might just "con" man. It's all depend how we look at things.
I see this as a temptation, especially now for those having hard time to earn a living. But in the end of the day, will we gain more or less from this? Is up to idividual to think about it. ;p
This is the 2nd week of 2010 & i noticed there are several things that i've yet blog it out. (haha...one of those is my trip to UK & Budapest) ..But this post i'm dedicating it to my cooking...haha...nothing special, just feel like blogging it.
I've been cooking almost every other day lately for 4 reasons...1) working in Hartamas, the meals are relatively expensive due to the so called "higher class area". 2) i'm really short of cash due to mum's 60th birthday, Chinese New Year, getting ready for new house, up coming trip in September & etc. 3) trying to learn up my * aunties recipes before they are old enough not to guide me anymore. 4) health.
Somehow, I enjoyed cooking...I started exploring new recipes like steam buns, steam cakes, achar, otak-otak & etc. The fun part doesnt stop here, i started adding my own ideas in the recipes once i learned up the original taste...haha...thanks God, the guinea pig at home aka housemate yet to experience stomach discomfort after food testing.. ;p
One other good reason of cooking is also I like to see ppl enjoy eating the food I cooked. Now i understand why my poh poh used to tell my aunts, having to cook for family & friends is one of the happiest thing to do. It is through food you share loves & cares for those you cooked for. It may not be tasty, but is the thought that count.
This CNY, my aunt has promised to teach me how to make chinese sausages..not easy according to her, but definately going to have fun together...haha. I'm blessed that staying with my grandma & few aunts whom I grew up with love to cook. They are like my GPS for cooking, whenever i have doubt on certain dish..they are just a call away.
PS : I need an oven so that i can bake cookies, cakes & roasted pork. ;p
* aunties recipes - yerr...i think is a grammar mistake loh...
On the last week of every year it is always special occasion for many of us to celebrate Christmas till the 1st day of new year...I dont know about others, but I've mix feeling about this.
Christmas is the time to celebrate the coming of Christ with lotsa love together with our love ones. Nothing too fancy, but simply just having everyone around us for dinner & being in Church to pray. I feel blessed this year that I had a good one to remember.
Where as for new year..it is time to bid goodbye to another year by welcoming a brand new year.There are doubts if I can make it through and to look back what I've achieved last year. It is also the time to say good bye to family & friends when they are due to return to their work after a long holiday break.
What have I achieved in 2009 & what have I fail? Other than travelling, new job, new friends & healthier lifestyle...what else? Did my Christian Faith grow stronger? What is my rating for 2009 if is 1-10?
How about 2010? What do I really want? A companion? new travelling destination? earn more so that i can do more things? hope that my parents are in good health? i have to keep praying so that God will answer my prayer.
Is the End & the new Beginning...time to move on eventhough we reluctant to let go certain things. I believe as long my heart still beating, there will be miracles everyday & God will make a way for us to continue our journey ahead.
