Groan Weekend

I have finally attended my very first yoga class last weekend and the word 'groan' occupied my mind and body throughout the whole weekend. As I haven't followed a proper exercise regime for a very long time, all my muscles or what's left of it was creaking it's way through the whole class.

We first started with some breathing exercises, lying flat on your back and breathing in and out. The instructor made us breathe in and out using one nostril, supposedly to direct air through that specific nostril to its full extent. By the way, the instructor has got the most beautiful eyes, on a man to boot!!

Then, came the arduous parts of the yoga. As the class was a mixture of beginners (moi) and intermediate, the poses were a mixture of easy and most difficult. The most difficult here I would think is the one I call the bridge, there is another name to it though I can't remember it. The pose is where you lie on your back and push your body upwards so that it forms a bridge. This sounds so much easier when I put in into writing but when I had to perform the pose, my body just won't go up, even with the instructor's help. Supposedly my back was not flexible enough (like I didn't know this).

Then, it was the legs in the air and cycling for 200 counts. This part was easy at the beginning but when it gets to about the counts of 50, my legs started to get really heavy and my stomach was pinching because of the sudden activity on it. There was a lady beside me who did the 200 counts without missing a beat, I really salute that, 200 counts is really no joke. To her it was a breeze. I was later informed that some of the people who attended the class are there everyday. No wonder the 200 counts is just a breeze to some people.

Anyways, right after the class, me and my friend went for dinner and at this moment, I was already feeling the effects of the class. My calf was slightly sore and my stomach felt like it was being stretched slowly but surely. Then, the rest of the weekend came and the days were filled with walking slowly and with the very distinct groaning sound escaping from my mouth.

However, moi here is not giving up, I am going to be the one who can perform the 200 counts of cycling in the air without even batting my eyelashes. Aja!!

White tea, anyone?

In this age of technology where information is being fed to you whether you like it or not, I have just figured out about white tea. Apparently, white teas are more expensive and contains more active cancer fighting anti-oxidant than the green teas. Also, they taste lighter and sweeter than green tea. I have always thought that the green tea taste needs a bit of taking into. It's those kind of taste that either grows on you or not. I do know people who take their green teas with sugar as they would the normal teas. I guess that eliminates the bitterish taste of the green tea a bit. Well, whatever strikes your fancy.

Anyways, I am happy and elated to report that Ricky is back home. He was so happy to arrive home that the moment he is let out of his cage, he wanted to be let outside the house yard. I guess the cage confinement since Sunday really got to him. I'm sure he is happy being home and sleeping on his favourite rug. He is still having problems biting into his food and I can see his struggle during meal times. The vet did note that there is downtime and he would still experience pain these few days to come. I am just glad that he is home. Poor Ricky has mosquito bites on his ears.

Also, I took new photos. I wanted to do something special for my birthday and lots of ideas came into play. White water rafting, bungee jumping and trekking were all suggested to me. However, none came to fruition except for a sessions with the makeups and the taking photos thereafter.

I verily believe that these pictures are slightly misleading.

Firstly, I don't always have that slightly serene look on my face. Only when I am completely and utterly happy or am hiding a secret. Secondly, I have always hoped that I have the patience to wait for my hair to grow that long. Thirdly, my face is too flawless.

Regardless of all that, I thought that the pictures turned out quite well considering I took those pictures in a busy mall with people milling about me and wondering what I was doing going through all the weird poses. I must also state that the photographer who took my picture was right when he made me go through these poses, it does look nice, though at the time when he told me to bend my head, put my hand on my waist and move slightly to the right that I was doing yoga and that the pictures would turn out cheesy!!

Get well soon, Ricky

Poor Ricky. I sent him to the vet on Sunday to get his mouth checked. He has feline leukemia and he's having problems with his gums. He has trouble chewing his food and when he does need to chew it as he needs to eat, he will suddenly meow loudly looking very much in pain and stop eating immediately. He had lost a lot of weight recently.

I was told that Ricky should be able to leave the clinic by today. However, this morning, the vet called and informed that Ricky's gums are too swollen and the infected area is too large that a mere cleaning is not sufficient. He had to be lasered. The vet lasered parts of his gum that is really infected and sealed most of it from spreading further and making it swollen again. Ricky is now under steroid and it would not be advisable for him to leave the clinic. The vet informed me that he could leave the clinic if I supervise him all the time as he needs help eating his food. It had been painful for him before to swallow his food that now he is scared of even chewing much less swallowing his food. However, I can't supervise him all the time, as working occupies my time during the day. Leaving him with Bibik will make me worry even more.

I did however visit him today at the clinic. He looks soo scared. He is placed in a room with all the other cats and the cage is clean. There is another cage on top of his cage and the cat that was in it was on drips. He had a major surgery and looked even worst than Ricky but he still managed a smile for me. He even answered me when I called out Ricky's name. Ricky only looked at me after a few calls of his name. The vet assured me that Ricky should be able to leave the clinic by tomorrow. I do hope so.

I hated leaving Ricky at the clinic but I know deep down that it is for his own good. He had problems eating and
after the laser treatment, Ricky needs to be supervised.

I miss him at home. He had always been the one who greeted me when I arrive home after a long day at work. He would give me his head for a good rub and stay with me while I watch the telly.

Insya-Allah, I hope to have him home tomorrow.

These are pictures of Ricky during his gum ok days.

Smiling for the camera

His favorite sleeping position (pic, top and bottom)

In quest to see Celine

What a weekend I had (this might sound a bit off since I a writing this blog on Wednesday, but what to do, it is only today that I can find the time and energy to blog this).

The long awaited Celine Dion's concert was last Sunday and what a day that was. What's with the lining up since 5.00 pm to get ahead so that by the time the gate opens at 7.00 pm, me and my fellow Celine fan would get the desired seating place. And what's with the getting cross with a bunch of people who for god knows what reason seems to think that the queue starts from the middle of the line that I was queueing and was pushing themselves into the queue without any care to the people lining up behind them, these people by the way arrived at the scene at 6.00 ish pm where the line had already been formed since before 5.00 pm and these people had the gall to say that they were there earlier and had left but now decided to come back and just pushes themselves into the queue. By and by, these people are from the country where I have always believed to be very polite people i.e. queueing is a practice instilled in them since infancy. However, lo and behold, that particular practice seems to have deserted them when they entered this country. And to my request that this person should go to the end of the queueing line, this particular person replied an absolute "NO". Phew!!! Excellent manners!!!

Despite all that, the concert was fabulous. Although the rain before the start of the concert did do some damage to my derriere, who would have known that cement seats soaks up water and even after 3 hours seating on them, the seats could still afford to make your pants wet.

Celine ended the concert with her famous Titanic song, of which everybody sang to. Luckily, the rain did not decide to fall again on hearing the in tune Celine and the out of tune most of other people in the stadium. She also wore this lovely yellow buttercup flowing Grecian dress for the song. During the song, on the huge TV screens, are pictures of a very young looking Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet courtesy of the motion picture. That sure brought a lot of memory as I was also soo much younger then...

De-tox Quest

Last 2 weeks as I browsing through selections of knocked off books , I chanced upon this lovely collection of recipes for juices that is supposed to zoom in to your specific health concerns. The pictures in the book was soo nicely done that obviously like a little kid I was intrigued. Of course after reading the book, there was this particular detox program that was screaming my name. I have always 'thought' that by going through a detox plan, I would be soo much more healthier and lighter.

The night before I embarked on this quest (and re-reading the program), I was convinced that it is not a very difficult task. I mean if I can fast/puasa for a whole month in Ramadan, this should not be too difficult considering I still get to devour something albeit only juices.

So, early in the morning upon waking up, I am to drink a glass of hot water with a slice of lemon. This is easy as I have been doing this since I read somewhere that it's good for your digestive system to start off your day with a glass of hot plain water and a slice of lemon. By mid morning, I was supposed to drink the juice of 1 grapefruit, 1 orange and 1 lemon. You are to mix 50/50 ratio of the mixture with plain water. I understood the rationale of this as if you drink the whole concoction without diluting it, it would be too sour for consumption. Even with the dilution, the grapefruit effect was still bitterish. Late morning, I was supposed to drink another hot water with a slice of lemon in it. By this time, it was close to afternoon and I was feeling the effect of not having solid food in my stomach. My stomach felt like a big juice tank, I can hear the sloshing sound that the water makes when there is movement, however, this sound is coming from my stomach. I was also feeling dizzy. This was mentioned in the book to be expected by mid-day, if you are a heavy coffee drinker, you would get dizzy even earlier, withdrawal symptoms. I was also on top of that thinking about having a nice juicy steak. That particular thought would not even leave my mind even after reading the newspaper. Even puasa was not this bad.

Mind you, the book did say that for full effect of the detoxification, you are to do this when you are relaxed and calm, so your non - working day is the best. Also on top of all the juices that is to detox, I am to drink 1 litre of either plain water, hot water with a slice of lemon or herbal tea, but not the tea that you add sugar and milk to, this book referred to it as Indian tea, I can't for the life of me call it that as I drink that non-herbal variety of tea from our very hills of Cameron Highland. This extra drinking of another 1 litre of water or etc is the hardest as after drinking all the other juices for the program, I have no other sloshing area for more sloshes.

By mid - day, I was to drink the juice of 6 tomatoes with 4 sticks of celery followed by a glass of green tea. I have never been such a big fan of tomatoes, I only endure it as I have often been told (many many times) by my lovely colleague that it is good for the skin. Go figures that her skin is lovely and my skin is not even a quarter way there. I eat very little tomatoes. The mixture of the tomato and celery is not very bad except for the smell that emanates from the juice. The smell is not bad but not that appetising either. However, forcing myself to drink it, it wasn't so bad. But it wouldn't be something that I would try again (unless forced).

By this time, I was ravenous. The steak image has flown away leaving a full blown buffet table in its place. I thought a nap would help.

It didn't. I woke up so hungry and not having any care at all to the detox that I started from morning. As such, I made myself a bowl of vegetable soup Asian style. I thought, this should not be too harmful to the program as it is vegetables. Unfortunately, for me that is, after having that soup I needed more...

As such, I made boiled potato and carrot with white cream sauce. This really busted my detox program. The book mentioned that the 36 hours after the end of your detox, you are not to have any poultry, meat or processed food, nor any dairy products. My white cream sauce is the killer here. After that obviously, detox program goes the other way. After the veges in white cream, I had fried chickens, prawns with chillies, and rice, loads of it.

I did feel slightly lighter although not going through the whole program. However, I am now minded that I can't do this program again when I am at home with my momsie cooking delicious food in the kitchen. However, I have no one but myself to blame. I really could not endure more juices after the tomato and celery mixture.