Makcik Sambal Boot Camp - Update!

Reporting my weight management progress (or lack of it). It's been 5 days and I have lost a total of 5 lbs. I hope that's not just water. The only day I ate rice was on Monday and I don't miss it. I ate 6 times a day and kept my portions really small. Less oil, Less starch. More vege...Ala you know all this.

I stop eating by 8 pm. When I feel like munching, I stuff myself with cucumber slivers and drink ice water. I still have my candies in the fridge, I have stolen a few bites. Heheh. Did you know Hershey's dark choc block is good eaten with skittles and while munching them throw in one m&m. Digest together.Super! I keep my sinful indulgence to just one piece at a time. That skittle-m&m-hershey's episode tu..kira tak bley tahan punya case.

I did some muscle isolation stretches ala Pilates around the house which has not really worked cuz I am still a jiggly nona. The void deck soccer helps too. I don't find myself sleeping that late. And I wake up refreshed too! I will get my butt to the club's gym and try Kak Tenah's recommendations. Will hog the treadmill and see if the vigour of similarly jiggly Ah Sohs who would one day become pert Ah Lians would rub off on me.

Got my GNC catalogue today, Dermacare is nearly SGD250...tak payah! Terima kasih aje la, Ayu. Will stick to my Nona Roguy Minyak Mustajab.

I know Ely's pants have become roomier...what about the rest of you GI Janes?

Extreme Breakups

If you think this is about you, Mr Polan bin Si Polan, it's not. Although I must admit, I learnt a lot from you. You know, you can actually justify the way people break up based on their majors. But that's not the story I wish to share with you today.

I wanna talk about moving on, though I am no authority in psychotherapy or counselling, I am sure with the wisdom of the makcik groupie that we have now, we'd be able to bounce ideas and learn from ic aler (each other).

I am actually thinking out loud again, so bear with me. I am on the same path as the next plain Jane. When I am up, I'm up. When I am down, I feel like a dead man walking the green mile. When I get my faculties in order, I try to rest and do the 3Rs of change: recover, refocus, regenerate or put on my multicolored De Bono Hats if I have the time.

Well, we can't deny the reality that we can't always feel good everyday but there are ways for us to cope.

That's why we need friends.

Friends:

a) care about us and make us feel that sense of belonging, the acceptance and actualization we need.

b) are able to talk to us, help us feel good and hopefully numb stress.

c) give us enough warmth to get by especially when you have no family living close to us.

No matter how busy you are, you must, you must find time to see/meet friends. Blogspot is one way.

While absorbing good vibes from positively happy people, God created food, glorious, food. I am not advocating emotional eating, but you know, a scoop of Dreyer's won't hurt, eh Ely? Seriously, eat and exercise well. Run off your angst or sweat it out,or perhaps, take a stroll and pay more attention to your surroundings. The healthy symbiotic relationship between our body and our mind will only benefit our soul, aye?

In between running around like a headless chicken, we should set aside some time to manjakan diri. Uja can definitely vouch for the benefits of spa treatments, she is like a jet plane filled with fizzy bubbles ready to take off. Whatever you do, find a way to relax. Even if it means putting off some of that work. Before you breakdown, relax.

Get help, if you need it. Google about your problem, find out where you can go to get help.

Most importantly, talk to God.

Have a good weekend everyone.

Positive Charge

I am toying with an idea to further support Kakteh's positive blogging campaign. As a matter of fact, this idea was first introduced by Arwanzeefor earlier this year, bouncing off from another internet community that we were both contributing as netizens. I guess if we want to do something the time is now lah kan. I have set up a testrun discussion forum at forumco before I get meself an official domain and learn how to manage a database or pay/get somebody to do it for me.

The forum is called "Positivity Heals" where people can share their problems and talk it out with other members or privately with our in-house "listeners" or "positivists"( I am not talking about Comte, Mill, Spencer, Feuerbach, Marx and Engels, mind you). It is not fully operational yet as I would need more volunteers to help me manage private messages. I have 2 volunteers thus far. So I hope to get more support from my blogpals to contribute your wisdom and experience and to be that positive friend we cannot get enough of these days.

I hope to pass this message on to other forums and communities so that people who need help and those who can give help can congregate. I am open for suggestions and opinions on how best we could execute this.

Are you game? Please hop over to Positivity Heals and register as a member. Send me a note if you are interested to become one of our in-house listeners/positivists.

Thank you.

Maizakiah Ayu Abdullah

Selamat Hari Lahir Adikku Ayu!

Maizakiah Ayu Abdullah
orangnya molek budinya indah
diam berisi geliga terserlah
permata harapan ibu dan ayah

Maizakiah Ayu Abdullah
setahun lagi beranjak sudah
makin dewasa makin meriah
ilmu di dada melimpah ruah

Maizakiah Ayu Abdullah
yang rapuh pasti patah
yang lemah ada gundah
jangan sekali mengaku kalah

Maizakiah Ayu Abdullah
Mendung sudah beralih arah
Hari baru mulai cerah
Semangat jitu bukalah langkah

Maizakiah Ayu Abdullah
Let's go party-lah!

The Concept of Confirmation

Yang terdaya dianjak dik tangan

boleh dikuit biar bangun

yang berangin

dicucuk sembarangan

tiada budi bakal dituntun

yang molek permandangan

yang penting tekun

Allah bilang Kun

Fa ya kun.

Within the self-pity mode of jealousy overflows the need for social approval. One's sense of self is easily denigrated when rejected, snubbed, dissed or whatever people call it these days. There is a strong dependence on getting rewards, getting rave reviews, being in the good books of some highflyers and/or the strong desire to be popularly known as that nice person. Which is pathetic for some, yet one cannot help but wish, hey, I'd so love to be remembered fondly,eh? Within the vanity mode of narcissism,however, there is inferiority complex. When one begins to make attempts to behave and/or perform according to other people's standards and fail to see their own unique talents, one has an existential problem.

The thing with people whose vocation or interests revolve around creative work, much of their sensitivity comes from a great deal of inferiority complex. Ok, hasty generalization, but true to a certain degree. A little bit of humility opens doors to the secrets of the world kan? The products of sensitive thinkers are usually mindboggling masterpieces. I read somewhere that people who often seek the approval of others have a history of a deprived childhood, while people with inferiority complex is affected by physical disabilites or a previous failed relationship. No matter how hard these artists try to portray rich b*tch elitist snob attributes, it is very telling how lonely it can get to swimming in one's own smelly spit.

No no no no...

Don't phunk with my heart

Today is the Day I Decided

...to be kind to myself,watch my diet and exercise. Seriously. I am logging everything I eat in an ala 555 book, I'll make sure I eat 6 times a day,work out at least 30 minutes a day, and increase in duration and intensity as I go along.
Hopefully by December I'd find something cute, a mesh halter maybe...La Perla would be nice...and be able to slip into it effortlessly. You may think that this is yet another yo-yo diet of mine, or just guilt talking post-ice cream moments. Well it probably is, until I have something to prove ya?

Monday is a good day to start fresh. So here we are.

There is a need to control my obsession with food. I want to be able to remain passionate about food yet I want to make wiser decisions about what I actually let pass my lips.

At the end of the day, I'd like to lose 10 lbs with a program that is suitable for Asian mothers,especially those who have to cook for the rest of the family without needing a separate budget for diet food. Exclusively for those who will just wither and die if there is no chilli in their diet.

So those who have signed up to join me, today we begin our journey towards a healthier and happier us.

What I ate today:

Breakfast:

Muesli with full cream milk.

A glass of water

A glass of apple-grape juice

Morning Snack:

Iced water

Corn soup and plain crackers

Lunch

Grilled Sea Bream, smothered with bumbu pepes
wrapped in turmeric leaves

Hot Dipping Sauce

White rice

Ulam-ulaman

Tea

Water and butter coconut crackers

For the family I just added daging masak lemak chilli padi with bambooshoots, bergedil and sambal belacan mangga.

For dinner later, I plan to munch on 3 cucumbers cicah sambal belacan while I watch Che Anwar eat. After a cup of brown rice cereal before 8 pm, the kitchen will be closed.

My workout includes void deck football and walking around a few blocks. I will rest from qi gong for a while and get down to higher intensity cardio workout. Hopefully I will istiqamah dalam beriadhah. Muscle toning as in resistance and weight training will follow suit once the weight is showing some potential in gradual reduction.

Aishah needs me to be able to run around with her. How can I do that if my butt's too hefty.

Hopefully by the end of this project, I would have enough recipes that I can publicize my own get-with-the-program boot camp, The Sambal Belacan Blogger Way. Fellow blogger-dieters are welcome to contribute slimming Asian recipes anytime. As agreed previously, we'd continue cheering each other on okay? Good luck!

Effervercent Uja

It was like going on a date, I had to change three times before I decided on a non-iron salwar kameez. Our meet up point was in front of the dhoby, walking distance from Tampines Interchange. We had planned to meet at 1.45 pm Batam time, yet both of us showed up promptly at Singapore time.

It was pretty funny to get all fuzzy and nervous, macam nak jumpa blindate, you don't know how this person looks like and chances are you might be calling each other even when you're standing next to each other. So I rang her up to see if the girl who stood there beside me then was her. Uja solved the problem by telling me that she was going to pick me up in a maroon car. The moment I hung up, a maroon S class passed by..Aiyoh, dia ke ni? I feel so kerdil in the presence of a Benz. Oh bukan, tu Ah Pek bling bling rantai besar lengan...

Then dari jauh, kereta maroon chomel approached and somebody was waving at me...Ok that's her! Yeay! Got into the car, salaam and true to Kak Teh's word, Uja is spelt FUN (capital letters, bold print). There was not even time for that first meeting awkwardness. She made me feel like I was an old friend. In fact, looking at her, rasa macam, eyy, she is so like me she could be a sister of mine. The sister who can talk like ketapi and make you laugh so much you'd wet your seluar kecik.

Pastu apa lagi, makan aah...she brought me to Siglap, a bit like the uptown Bangsar kinda ambience. So kita pun makan lah....I had Breaded Sea Bass, she had Miso Soft Shell Crab. Chewaaah, macam fine dining je gitu eh.I wiped my plate clean sampai parsley pun I makan..but she is so happening I tell you, I was nearly sad when we had to part because, like all Singaporeans I know, schedule mesti penuh, dan semua benda pun mesti chop chop. I've come to accept this fast paced lifestyle. It's a bit like President Bush's timetable times two. Very adrenalizing!

We parted ways because I had to go and buy Aishah a toy- felt guilty sebab keluar tak bawak dia. And Uja had to pick up some friends who was already waiting for her.

I really hope that we'd get together again, so that I get to belanja her makan. It is so happening to eat with her because these days it's so hard to find someone who does not play with her food. Anyone whose weekend include meal appointments within short intervals of to-ing and fro-ing is a happy friend.

Thank you Kak Teh for hooking us up. Uja is a blast!!!!