My Daily Core Exercise

 So I've been doing pole dancing for few months now, and although I can tell that I am improving, but it has been going on a very slow pace :(

I've never been a sporty girl. The last time I had like a weekly routine of physical exercise was when I was still in high school, then I did no exercise during my university time, and only went for occasional gym time with my friend when I started working. So I guess it explains how unfit I was physically, right?

When I started pole dancing, it was for fun. But as I go up to higher level, it is required to have more strength, especially upper body and core, which I hardly had any... 
Upper body strength is easier to gain. My main problem is the core muscle... 

And so for the past few weeks, aside from going to twice a week yoga (from Groupon deal), I've been doing some core exercise daily (except for one rest day each week).

Now I can feel that my core is somehow stronger than before, and how do I know? It's because now I can hold my upside down V much longer than before, yay!

Here is my set of core exercise...

First... elbow plank...
Few things to remember when doing elbow plank are, tuck ur tummy in, ensure the body is one straight line, shoulders not hunched, and the most important thing, keep breathing! slow and long breathe... ;)
*note: I used to use counts while holding this position, but now I use my breathes instead. One count is one slow inhale-exhale. Hold this pose for 15 slow breaths.

Followed by... old-fashioned crunches...
Do this for at least 15 times. Ensure that it's the abs that pull the body up and not the hands pushing the head up. Hands are only touching the back of the head lightly and to protect our neck, focus our sight to the ceiling. Exhale when going up, and inhale when going down.

Next is... side plank...
When doing right side plank, left feet is on top of right feet (and the other way around for left side plank). Both arms make one straight line, so that from the side, it looks like a crucifix. 
Same as elbow plank, use breaths as our count. Remember, slow inhale-exhale. Do this for 15 breaths.

And lastly, boat pose...
Ideally it's supposed to look like the sketch, but in reality, I still can't do it :p
So what I do is... bend my knees, but make sure my feet not touch each other. Back must be straight.
I try to straighten my legs few times and I can feel I'm getting stronger as I manage to hold my legs straight for few breaths. And when I'm feeling stronger, I will lean back (straight back!), legs going down closer to the floor (but not touching), then lift my body and legs up slowly, then repeat it.
Again, I count my breaths for this pose as well, and I usually go for 15 breaths.

Then, repeat again from elbow plank for total of 3 sets. And also when I'm feeling stronger, I will hold the pose for few more breaths/counts.
By the end of set three, I always sweat a lot. Dang, it's not easy to get that core muscles...
My target is that once I am stronger, I will add more variations, like elbow plank with one leg/arm up, etc.

On another topic, on my way home from pole class last Saturday, there were some people giving out daisies at Dhoby Ghaut MRT, and I got one!

It's so pretty~~!

Coat or Bathrobe?

I was watching this k-drama on my way commuting, and as much as I understand Korea fashion is quite fast forward, I still was stunned seeing a pink coat worn by one of the female leads. 

I believe that is a coat... but I couldn't help thinking that it also looks familiarly like a bathrobe... especially the collar, looks very fluffy and the material looks like a thick fleece, that reminds me of towel-y fabric of a bathrobe...

CSI Las Vegas: Time To Say Goodbye?

This morning I was watching the last episode of CSI Season 14 and I couldn't help thinking how I miss the original casts of CSI Las Vegas... Gil Grissom, Catherine Willows, Sara Sidle, Nick Stokes, Warrick Brown, Greg Sanders, Al Robbins and last but not least Jim Brass.

They were the reason I fell in love with this series. I loved their chemistry: the close friendship of Nick and Warrick, and how these two always seemed to tease and "bully" Greg but they cared about him and helped him a lot during his transition from lab rat to field agent; the platonic and respectful relationship between Gil and Catherine; Gil's relationship with Jim and Al were also amusing to watch.

The least liked cast for me would be Sara... She was stubborn and on few occasions she can be disrespectful towards Catherine who was her senior. She was also ambitious and capable of being rouge and it was proven several times as well. Maybe this was also the reason I couldn't care much about her romantic relationship with Gil.

But... it was all in the past...

Now CSI is in its season 14. Gil and Catherine left. Warrick died. Sara left then came back. Laurence Fishbourne was cast to replace Gil but he couldn't fill his shoes. Ted Danson came in and though he's been doing quite a good job, something still feels lacking. And don't get me started with Elizabeth Shue... Sigh... I just couldn't bring myself to like her! If she was supposed to replace Catherine, it just doesn't work for me. She always comes off as an obnoxious lady that is trying too hard instead of cool and easy going. And the "new" Sara, maybe it's because she is much older now, but she just wears too much make up.

As for other casts: Hodges is still amusing, but it's wearing thin; and Morgan is just... too pretty to be a CSI? - Catherine was beautiful and sexy, but she had that charisma that Morgan just doesn't have...

And the cases... as much as I want to be interested and intrigued, I'm just not THAT interested and intrigued anymore.

The things that I loved about CSI aren't there anymore or just lacking in such obvious way. I mean, I cried when Warrick died, but I don't think I will cry if DB or Morgan dies... But I think I will still cry if Jim dies.

So anyway, this brings me to the question of the day: is it time to say goodbye to CSI? - I've had this attachment to the series that got me to love the original cast but is it still worth 40+ minutes of my time each week?

Officially Sherlock-ed!

I had been reluctant to watch the latest British version of Sherlock Holmes because I found that the actors playing Sherlock and John Watson were just not appealing enough for me. I've watched Martin Freeman in the first instalment of The Hobbit, and while he made a good young Bilbo Baggins, his name alone couldn't really pull me into watching the series right away. Then I saw the photos of Benedict Cumberbatch and to be honest, I didn't (and still don't) consider him good looking, I even thought that his face was odd-looking...

But my friends kept telling me how good the show is, so what I did was just copying the first season of Sherlock in my loyal company - my Samsung Galaxy Note 2, and for two weeks whenever I browsed my video folders, I always skipped through "Sherlock - Season 1" folder, and chose other folder instead - yeah, poor Sherlock!

Until one fine day, the folder finally caught my eyes, and I said to myself, "ok, fine, let's watch this." - and guess what? By the time I finished watching the first episode, I was officially hooked! I was intrigued to see more of Sherlock's keen observation and how his friendship with Watson would grow.

So far I'm up to end of season two, and I must say, the end of season two really made me want to watch season three right away.

* SPOILER ALERT *

Sherlock jumped to his death from St. Bart Hospital roof. From the glimpse of the dead body, it was Sherlock, but we all know that it could NOT be him.
And when Watson was leaving the cemetery, Sherlock was there too, watching him walking away from afar.

HOW DID HE DO IT?
We saw him jump from the roof, his face was bloody and his eyes were open and lifeless, how did he manage to stay alive???

Hmm, what a great cliffhanger, huh? ;)

PS: Now I even think that the odd-looking Benedict Cumberbatch is not so odd-looking after all. I still don't think he's handsome either, but he indeed has his own charm.

Happy Wedding Day, Johan & Yuli

Today marks a new beginning for one of my good friends - she is finally a bride and someone's wife! :)
I'm happy for you guys and I wish you two a blissful marriage, a great life together and of course, a truckload of adorable and cute children!

Day of Happiness!

What's better way to celebrate International Day of Happiness than listen to happy happy songs!

Let's happily celebrate the day of happiness and may happiness be with us always~~ :)

Veiled Blessings(?), Valentine and Volcano

I wouldn't have expected my first post of the year 2014 would be in March, but here I am... time just flies too fast these days, is it just me, or do you guys feel the same too? *wondering*

There have been few things happening that I feel worth to write about and yet I keep procrastinating until today I managed to push myself to set folding laptop table on my bed (and of course with my laptop on top of it), play first season of Perception on my WD TV Live, arrange my pillows all nice and comfy, and now I'm sitting down with my soft pillow on my back and typing the first entry of the year.


Veiled Blessings(?)

credit: The Veiled Virgin - Wikipedia

Early in January, I started to find a new job after a long hiatus, and after few interviews with recruitment agents, I got a call for a technical test, and it was followed up with a face-to-face interview with the company Managing Director. The interview was on a Thursday and it went well than expected. I actually attended the interview with no expectation, I answered all the questions honestly and truthfully without any reservation and at the end of the interview, the MD told me that she liked me. That was the first interview I ever went to where the interviewer honestly said that he/she liked me! I wasn't sure if I responded very well though, I remember I grinned and said that I liked her too *tuwat tuwawwwww... -_-* and she continued saying that she was taking a leap of faith and told me that I got the job though she got another 2 interviews to do. And we ended the interview with her promising to give me a callback on Monday morning.

True to what she said on Thursday, on Monday morning, her company's HR called me to offer me a job and I was to go down to their office to sign employment letter, and so I did.

I just set a record for myself, I had only looked for a job for less than 2 weeks and the first real interview (the ones with recruitment agents don't count) I had led to a job offer, and as the icing of the cake, my first ever interviewer that said she liked me and actually told me I got a job on the spot!

So I started my new job a month ago, and so far I can't say I really enjoy it :(
The job itself though similar to what I used to do, there are a lot of mess that I have to deal with and it can really bring my mood down tremendously on certain days. As for the people, I can honestly say that they are all nice people, and even the bosses are also nice and attentive, but it's like each of them has their own clique, and me being the new girl, I don't sense that they are open with the idea of welcoming adding a newcomer to their existing cliques.
Oh well, in the past few days, I feel like I'm starting to get used to the social life in office and the people start to talk to me more, so we'll just see how it goes.


Valentine

credit: SantaBanba.com

We, three single girls - Windy, Izzy and I - went for dinner to celebrate Valentine's day this year. Since it fell on a Friday, by the time we finished dinner, I was already tired *bleh.. stamina is bad, bad, bad...*

So after some persuading from both sweet gals, we all went to Fern and Kiwi, a bar at Clarke Quay, where they had a great live band playing and since it was Valentine's day, well you can expect a lot of love songs. But thank God as I am all for non-mushy songs, the chosen songs were pretty good.

But regardless the lack of mushy songs, I couldn't help sensing the Valentine aura from the couples in the bar and my mind went to a particular someone thousands miles away that I miss once in a while and every time it just really gets to me that there's that pang of sadness crept inside me. Sigh... I know very well that I should stop this one sided feelings I have for him that has been going on for too long, but I don't seem to be able to.

A friend said that one way to get over someone is by literally 'get over' someone else. Nice advice oh dear friend, unfortunately it doesn't work for me, but let this be another story for another day.


Volcano

credit: hilmi_dzi@twitter

Just a day before Valentine, a volcano in East Java erupted and for the next few days, the volcanic ashes rained down many parts of Java.
My hometown was few hundreds kilometers from the eruption site and yet my family could see how the surroundings looked a little more 'monochrome' due to the ashes. I heard few traffic incidents happened during the period since the street became too slippery and the car drivers or motor riders just couldn't maneuver the vehicle well enough.

A Facebook post of a friend that slipped on the ashes while walking outside her house got me worried and so I told my mom not to spend too much time outside and just stayed at home for the time being until the ashes finally stopped.

Few international airports in Java also closed down since the visibility was very low and it would have been extremely dangerous for the airplanes to fly in that condition.

A friend of mine and her husband were spending their Valentine weekend in the city of Semarang when the city was literally poured with volcanic ashes and they spent few days worrying if their flight was going to be cancelled. Fortunately the airport was opened on the next Monday (Feb 17) and they also managed to buy me bandeng (yay!).


Well that's a wrap folks!
I will come back soon with more things to say.

*I'm planning to merge this blog with my other blog, so please wait for it! :)