Raindrops...

...are falling against my window. (I'm not barking mad to be standing in the rain, you know...)

But today's weather is just as bad as it usually is, so I'm not going into town to do my shopping.

Instead, I went to the gym and got a complimentary personal training session.

I got my ass kicked man!!! (In a good way, of course.)

The thing about personal trainers is that they push you to go where you would have given up usually. And that's what mine did today.

"Great! You can do it! Halfway there! Don't give up! Doing absolutely great! Almost there! Well done!"

They constantly shout out motivational phrases at you so that you take it in subconsciously and push yourself to the end. (Which is rather useful on me, I think. Yeah yeah...I'm easy to satisfy.)

So, I worked more today than any of the past days this week when I went to the gym. But this does NOT mean that I did NOTHING when I went on my own. What I meant is that I worked out more intensively than I thought I had did.

All those kick-boxing and punches...WOO!!! (It's definitely more interesting than just running on the treadmill pointlessly.)

*In a sing-song manner* I wanna go again! I wanna do it again!

New Year's Resolution?

Definitely not...since it's March already.

I'm now plopped on my bed typing this entry after a short workout at the gym:

Yes, people...I've joined the gym.

Previously, there has always been something that somehow or rather kept me away. Now, I don't really have a good reason not to anymore.

• I'm working now so I can afford to pay for it myself. Not dad.
• I live, like, just 100 steps away from Fitness First. How far can it be?
• Besides walking to work and around the lab, I haven't been doing anything else (besides retail therapy). Need some exercise before all my joints get rusty early.
• They're open until 10pm, which is more than enough for me to work late, come back, bathe, eat and then pop in.

So...difficult to say no right?

And so to say, I'm not the only one at work who goes to the gym, almost 60% of the people do! (OK, probably that's because most of them are guys and they do some kind of sport or another...but that's besides the point.) The point is, going to the gym here is like, so normal?

Back home, whenever we talk about going to the gym, people usually picture a small room with lots of heavy weights and sweaty guys. Which is almost true coz small town gyms doesn't seem to be that popular among women.

I won't say that it's dominated by female over here, but then there is definitely an approximately equal ratio of men and women who come to the gym according to my observations today. OK, so the free weights section are STILL male dominated, and they're always trying to impress their mates or whoever that's watching by going with the super heavy weights. Other than that, everything else seems fine.

Oh, oh, OH! And there's this steam room and sauna and, that super chic locker! They're sensor operated, so it's locked by a mere scan of your card! And there's the tanning beds as well (though I'm not particularly interested in that...I just got tanned from my trip back home...and I take forever to untan anyway.)

And the classes, they have Pilates...which I've been wanting to try for a while now, and not to say some kick-ass Boxercise!

Erm...I think I'm starting to sound like I'm advertising for them already. Probably time to stop.

Chinese New Year: Year of the Rat

It's almost a month now since CNY, and I've been back in UK for 2 weeks already. Life here's pretty much like normal, i.e. back to work and the unpredictable weather. But so far, the weather in Cardiff seems fair. Loads of sunshine during the day (and it's getting longer each day) and it only rains at night.

Anyway........

I'm just going to post the pictures I took when I went home, but there was a lot, so I'm just going to select a few and put it up. (Too lazy to upload and arrange.)


Little Jarvis...


Reunion dinner...


Karaoke at Redbox on Lunar Day 1...


Erm...my brother trying to do an impersonation...


Kenny!!!

There're loads more but I'm done for today.

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Oh yeah, on my flight back, there was this old man who tried to get off the plane while we were 30 000 feet in the air. Made quite a big fuss and complained about random things, refusing to sit down even when we're about to land. Had to be 'man-handled' into a seat and sedated before he could be taken off the plane.

My life's full of drama (though not necessarily mine), isn't it?

Talk about living in civilization

When I haven't had internet access at home for the past 2 months. Amazing, isn't it? I didn't know how I survived. (Although I did use it in the office after work.)

It's really stupid because we've waited ages for the line to be installed and the hub to be delivered, but the ISP's really rubbish when they've got things wrong over and over again. Hence, the delayssSSsSSsSSSsssss....................

And now that the line's put in and the hub delivered, guess what? The brand-new hub decides to be faulty. And there's nothing we can do to save it, except to wait for a new one to be delivered...which would take at least a week, if not more (in my experience).

But nevermind, since we've got really nice neighbours (managed by the same agent) who're willing to share with us the connection until we've got our own set up. :)

And it couldn't have come at a better time coz I've had a lousy day at work. Loads of stuff going on but not all of them are going right. *sigh*

Need to get to bed now. Long day tomorrow.

Jet-lagged

Just touched down a couple of hours ago. Long trip...loads of delays...but generally got home safe and sound.

I'm so tired right now...but I can't sleep. Why? Because I conveniently forgot that taking teh ais at the mamak stalls at 3am in the morning does not help u get to sleep. In fact, it works the other way round. But since I would have to get a lot of stuff done today, it might not be so bad after all. (Probably I will just wear myself out even more so that I'll be really able to get some real sleep tonight.)

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On another note, I've got loads of things to blog about for the past few weeks. But then, the lack of internet access has drained my enthusiasm for those topics and I simply can't remember what they were anymore. Thus, my blog is kind of dead right now. (It's always like that, isn't it?) Plus, I'm in no condition to use my brain even for mundane stuff like making coffee (because I have no idea where everything is in my parent's new house) and I had to open all the cabinets just to find the cups hanging on the stand right beside the sink.

OK, really really promise to update real soon. When my brain starts working again...in a few days.