Hi, my name is Hana and I'm a shop-a-holic

I am in Singapore now to attend my cousin's engagement ceremony which is tomorrow. To kill time, I decided to go around the neighbourhood with my nephew. We ended up at an interchange with a chain of malls and I ended up buying two pairs of shoes and a hand bag. Sigh, can someone cure me from my shopping problem?

Incidentally, when I was in Indonesia, I was introduced to a friend of a friend and we got to talking and all. Naturally, we got to talking about our hobby and the first thing that he said was, "So, what's your hobby? ..shopping?"

I was so insulted that I quickly replied "Well, I LIKE shopping but it isn't my hobby!". Almost too quickly  that it was obvious I was trying to deny something. The truth is I am a shop-aholic. I utterly hate that word  because it is so cliche but that is a fact. I have a problem. A PROBLEM WITH SHOPPING. HANA, YOU HAVE A PROBLEM WITH SHOPPING. THERE IS NO NEED TO SPEND ALL YOUR HARD EARNED MONEY EVERY MONTH. STOP, HANA, STOP!

Somebody please help me.

The Moon

The Moon: When you are the moon, there is a person people say is the sun. I saw the sun once, and he came past me, really fast. And it was an, it was called, the, an eclipse. And he came fast! But as he came past, I, I licked his back.
[sticks out tongue]
The Moon: And he doesn't know I licked his back! All in his yellow suit!... I'm the moon.

No pain, no gain

After a one year hiatus, I, yesterday after work,  finally visited my kickboxing studio . Gosh, I had to literally drag myself up the stairs! Actually, it wasn't really a hiatus because I did went for training once in a while but considering that I used to work out every SINGLE DAY, I'd say the one year was like taking a break.

There weren't many people in the studio when I came but that's a norm for this time of the year. You know, its the beginning of the year, people are still recovering from the holiday period and all. So I decided to start my training by running up and down the stairs for ten rounds. Now, my studio is located on the third floor so you know THAT wasn't easy...

I was going steady for the first five rounds, sweating profusely but not feeling out of breath or anything. This is no surprise as I used to this kinda of thing back in 2008. At that time, I was fit as hell, I could go for 20 rounds with ease, plus I did it WHILE gossiping with another studio mate. That was how fit I was, talking and laughing up and down three flights of stairs for 20 times.

So for yesterday, after the fifth round I found it harder and harder to climb the stairs especially the last few steps. It was as if my butt was weighing me down. I had to use all the strength I had to lift up my legs and complete a round. After about the eighth round, I was ready to give up but I thought how shameful it was to quit when you have only 2 rounds left. So, I managed to complete all of it anyway, yeay!

After that, I did some light exercises like squats, sit ups (this I managed to do about 200, so proud, ngeee) and thought, "Should I go up the stairs again for another 10 sets? "

You see, I was feeling guilty because that morning I ate a packet of nasi lemak! I know I have this healthy eating programme going on but I woke up late and didn't have time to prepare my lunch, let alone breakfast. And throughout the whole day I felt like kicking myself for eating the nasi lemak.

Hence, to redeem myself, I dragged myself again down the stairsand pushed myself for another ten sets of up and down three flights of stairs. Boy, was I really tired after that! (Note to self: think very very very hard before grabbing that nasi lemak from the pakcik in front of the office the next time.)

Tonight is even crazier coz' I'm attempting to execute in excess of 40 kicks per minute for three minutes straight for 5 sets in an hour - for six hours. Thats:

(>40 x 3) x 5 sets x 6 hours = more than 3,600 kicks!

But really thats nothing coz' in 2008 I executed 40 kicks per minute for three minutes straight for 5 sets in an hour for 6 hours x 2. That's about 7,200 kicks in 24 hours, so tonight is gonna be kacang je ( I hope).

This, ladies and gentlemen, is what I'm willing to go through to manage my weight. Funny this because after all this, I've yet to reach a healthy, super rocking body shape anyway! arghgghhhhh

You gotta love Mighty Boosh

Howard Moon: I've got new powerful moves now thanks
Vince Noir: yeah.....? Really? .... Did you send off for some new ones?
HM: yes I did, they arrived this morning
VN: First Post?
HM: First Post, yeah... the post that hurts the most

Its never too late

Its never too late to set resolutions. So here goes:

1. Quit smoking
• Its ironic because now that I've decided to seriously cut this habit, I always get seated at the smoking section in restaurants because that's the only place available. When I was a smoker, I remembered how difficult it was to be seated at the smoking area'! For example, I went to Delicious in Bangsar for lunch with Ya last weekend and we could only get seats at the smoking area. It was practically empty! Don't try to make this harder for me ok, God? pretty please...
  
2. Lose more weight
• I achieved my goal weight in 2008 through 6 months of healthy eating and intensive kickboxing training but unfortunately I gained some of it back though fortunately not all. But I'm afraid if I keep on with my current diet (which is what you all normally eat la, nothing unhealthy) and skip on my trainings I'd be piling up my pounds back to what I was in 2007. I was the heaviest at that time and I soooo don't want to go back there. Must...go... training.........must........start...arghh....today!
  
3. Do not skip my  kickboxing trainings! 
• As I mentioned, THIS is essential in my routine not only because of the losing-weight factor but also because I find that after a gap of non-training period, my mood swings get really terrible. I am such in a bad temper these days, I could shout at anyone for the littlest silliest things.
  
4. Produce a documentary
• I was inspired by my good and much loved friend and colleague Maria when I saw her documentary about students in Indonesia and their difficulty in procuring books because of financial difficulties. I have to admit that tear welled up in my eyes after I watched it. And after a lengthy conversation with her (at a salon in Jakarta, while I was waiting for the colour to set in my hair and she for her massage, hehe) I was compelled to do one in Malaysia as well. Believe you me, it is not an easy job but it is a challenge that I am willing to take up for this year. Wish me luck! 
5. Volunteer
• I want to do more social work this year because there are just so many people out there who needs a helping hand and I am more than capable to do just that.

I don't think the list is over ambitious so I have a good feeling I'd manage to fulfill all of them this year.

The year that was 2008

I had so many good things going on in 2008. A fantastic job and a great guy, among others and typical of me to ruin every single Goddamn thing just because I thought I needed to change my life. I'm such a douchebag!

THE ONE

Yesterday I went to Kampung Baru to meet my old office mates and some other Indonesian friends for dinner. As we were enjoying our dirt-cheap nasi goreng (costs only RM3!), one of us started talking about love, relationships and how he found The One in his life after waiting for so many years and all. He was also lecturing me on why I needed to have faith and open my up my heart and that sooner or later I will find my The One. To which my other friend who previously was in another conversation interrupted, " Huh?? but THE ONE only exists in The Matrix...."

LOLLLLL I couldn't stop laughing. That HAD to be the QUOTE of THE DAY.

But jokes aside, the guy who was lecturing me looked really happy and we all thought that his girl is really special. She's a keeper abang Jhon!

IPod Woes / My IPod is haunted / Sour Apple

I've always had reservations at buying an Apple product. I personally think that their products are overrated and overpriced. Once, I went for an interview for a very prominent publication and as part as the job application process, I was required to write a brief passage about a product. I thought,”That's easy... I've done that so many times! " ... until they led me to a Mac desktop and plunked me there for half an hour to work on my assignment. As I was typing my words, I tried to 'right-click' the page because I wanted to perform simple amendments to my writing and I found out there is no such thing as a 'right-click'. There's only one click! And so I had to learn there and then which buttons performed what and where to find other functions on the tabs above the page. jfkjd!#@)#*!

Last month was quite a whirlwind of a month for me for reasons I won’t divulge now … maybe much later on, once I've fully recovered. Now, you must know this about me – I am an emotional shopper. When I'm feeling down and low, often times I find that a little purchase never fail to take me out of my misery. Unfortunately, the moment never lasts longer than the novelty of owning the product (which pretty much wears out pretty quickly) and the purchase is never little! To make a long story short, last month I (accidentally) purchased an IPod Touch 32G via the Apple online store. After waiting for a whole week, it finally arrived in a little box. I'll give a ten out of ten  for the packaging coz' it’s really smooth, I tell ya. After unwrapping it, I continued to download the songs and applications onto the little wonderful gadget, smiling all the way. I tried really hard not to be annoyed at the fact that you can only download inputs through ITunes! No, no, even that failed to spoil my mood. I was intent at keeping my gaiety intact!

But alas, my patience wore out when the gadget started to have one tiny other problem. For example, when I’m asleep with my IPod next to me, I would be waken up in the middle of the  night because I hear this faint music playing from my IPod. My first thoughts were that I must’ve accidentally unlocked the IPod and touched the play button while I was asleep. Very unlikely, I know, but I had to give it the benefit of the doubt. But this happened every night! And sometimes when I'm walking or reading, no matter what, if I leave it to sleep, it will out of the blue just play music. I swear to God I thought I was going crazy but fortunately I found a thread in an Apple discussion forum and this ghost IPod phenomena is not an uncommon problem after all.

Sigh, so now my IPod is with the technicians in Machines KLCC and if they can’t fix it, I’d have to wait for another month to get a replacement. Sheez, I never thought that my first experience with an Apple product would be a bitter one. :-(

Now am contemplating if I should go ahead with my Macbook Pro purchase. Should I? 

Legion of fans, I mean, friends

I love the fact that I have a blog. Nevermind if this is the third time, I still love it. I love the 'shaping up' stage of the blog where you add one feature at a time everday that you think would be useful to your blog. Like today, I added a list of my friends' blogs that I've followed for a while. Slowly but surely, I see the development and the expansion of this blog. Nevermind (again) if I have only 2 posts so far (8 if you count in the previous one). So I'm hoping that by doing this I will at least get some people to read this blog. What is the purpose of having this if you can't get anyone to read it anyway? Self-satisfaction.. did I hear you say? Well, yeah but talking to one's self for an extended period of time can be dangerous, you know. In short, I don't want to be crazy, aaaaaaa!!

So to my legion of fans, err.. I mean, friends (dammit, thats the second time. Freudan slip?) I hope you will get (at least) some entertainment or otherwise be deeply moved by some serious life-changing thoughts in here(eceh, angkat bakul sendiri lah gua). :D

Superfly rules!

Blogspot is 'funner' than Wordpress

So yes, I've transferred my blog to this site. Not like its big news since I barely had any visitors or readers of the previous one anyway. Why blogspot? Well, for several reasons:

1. I've had two blogs with blogspot before so I am quite familiar with its settings and look and editing. I really hate to have to learn these all over again with Wordpress. Plus, why does it have to be so technical? Why can't they have simple buttons to insert images and post new entries. Argh, I hate that it is so complicated.
2. They don't allow shout out boxes in Wordpress. Oooh, thats just cruel! Shout out boxes are, for most people, the life of the blog. I remembered in my previous blogs, my friends would write silly things in there and I would reply and you could see the life of the blog is located in that small box on the right. It is understandable that none of them left any comments because either my entries were just lame and un-comment-able or they're just simply too lazy to post their comments (unlike shout out boxes where you simply type and enter and up goes your comment). I believe it is the latter. What lazy bunch of friends that I have!

Well, there you go, I should have written a couple of reasons instead of several. (hehe). So, you there, yes you who's reading this right now. I wish you a warm welcome and hope you get something (good) out of reading here. Feel free to shout whatever you want in the shout box there!