Addictions are bad...but then.....

Currently....I'm addicted to Instagram....to Twitter (yes, I'm an official Twitter-late-bloomer).....to chocolates (damn the PMS and the exam stress!).....to online shopping (I'd still like to think that I'm aiding our ailing economy....somewhat).....

Yes....addiction is terrible.....(even if it's addiction to exercise)

Yes....addiction ruins lives....(or mostly in my case, a total waste of time and an absolute pitfall to my non-progressive bank account)

Yes....everything should be in moderation.....

But then.....where's the fun in things when done in moderation!?!?!

Rome definitely wasn't built with moderation in mind.

Neither was the Empire State Building

.....or the Titanic, for that matter...(although we all are aware that THIS one didn't end up very well)

Moderation was one of those things that I really did NOT like, although in all honesty, I could really do with a healthy dose of.

I've always been a little extreme with my likings and my preferences (and perhaps my behaviour)......well, most of the time.

It's mostly either all or nothing mentality for me.

Of course, it almost never goes to serve me well, with such a mentality seeded and took root at the very core of my mind.

Which kinda explains why I'm freaking out so much about this whole studying for exam thing.

I'm either TOTALLY IN the study mood.....or I'm being dragged, kicking and screaming profanities, to sit in front of the books.

Not good....not good at all.

Speaking of addictions and moderation, I'm also officially addicted to Bikram Yoga.

Long story how I got around to even attending my very first Bikram session.....which I'm not very keen to elaborate.

In a nutshell...it involved a free one-week pass.....getting caught not officiating the pass (well in my defense, I knew nothing of such procedure!!!!).....and somehow getting suckered into attending my first Bikram session.

Somewhere in between....there were a lot of traffic jams....cursing and swearing....plus a lot of ventilation to whoever available, on Whatsapp.

But anyway......

Bikram yoga.........I saved you the trouble of actually Wikipedia-ing it...so click HERE!!!

If reading Wikipedia ain't your thing.....well, Bikram yoga is a type of yoga practiced in a heated room (apparently 40 degrees Celsius....although I have my doubts) and with humidity of 40%.

Imagine an enlarged sauna room.....fully carpeted with mirrors hanging from all corners of the room.....yoga mats scattered around.....and devotees practicing in uber-skimpy outfits that somewhat better suited for a day at the pool....for 90 minutes.

There are 26 poses to be done in 2 sets each pose throughout the 90 minutes and every class is the same routine.

Click HERE for the poses.

Sounds like pure torture...if not the heat, then the boredom of performing the same 26 poses day in day out...right?!

Well.....my first class....I almost fainted under the duress of the excessive heat and humidity.

I was sweating from every single pore on my body and my heart was beating so hard and so fast that I thought I could be suffering from a ventricular tachycardia!

(I blame the cardiovascular drift due to my body's response to the heat, causing vasodilatations at the skin in efforts to disperse heat but due to that, a severe reduction in stroke volume causing an increase in heart rate to maintain cardiac output.....see, I have been studying after all!)

At most times, I felt like I was gonna faint!!!!

But at the end of 90 minutes.....with my sweat-soaked body in corpse pose....gasping for air and trying my darnest to reel in the heart rate......something in me snapped.

(no.....I didn't suddenly go berserk or ran amok)

This feels awesome!!!!!!

I was physically and mentally challenged....and while meditating, I suddenly had a realization that for ONCE in quite a long time.....my mind was absolutely still....and I was in a state of serenity.

I didn't think about my exam.

I didn't think about my weight...(it's a female thing!)

I didn't think about all the crap that usually fills my head when I'm awake...(although sometimes I dream about crap as well.....so it's kinda becoming 24-7)

I was for ONCE....at peace.

Everything was still.

All I could hear was my heart beating furiously and my breaths.

Mind empty.

No crap....no junk....no stress.....no inner conflict.....

Time literally stood still.

I was hooked.

Since then, I'd been heading back daily.

And despite being the same 26 poses.....every session felt different.

My body reacts differently on different days to different poses.

One day I felt strong....another day I felt withered.

Everyday...different feeling....different experience.

And yesterday....while lying in a pool of my own sweat, I've decided to consciously tell myself to let go of all the toxic things in my life while meditating.

The toxic people.....

Toxic feelings.....

Toxic thoughts.....toxic emotions.....toxic behaviours.....toxic self-talk.

I realized that I've been hanging on to them for a bit too long and I'm no longer growing as a person.

So long these have been with me that they have inconspicuously incorporated themselves into my believe system and my reality.

It's time to let go....

And I know it won't be easy...but I believe that with daily meditations and positive affirmations (and some good talk over coffee and cakes with certain people....you know who YOU guys are!), I'd get there eventually!

Hmm.....it seems that this blog post started with the discussion of addiction and I realized that I'm kinda off topic.

Oh well....

I'm also currently addicted to The BodyShop shampoo and conditioner for their awesome subtle fruity fragrance!

(no...unfortunately it does not magically transform my hair into a Pantene-ad commercial)

And will shop around for skimpy yoga wear......(I'm just saying!!!!)

Later!!!

Whacks own head...Doh!

I must be a closeted masochist.

I must be....there ain't no other reason why I would voluntarily subject myself to the torture of undergoing post graduate masters program when I know for a fact that my aging brain cells can no longer cope with all these studying and exam stress.

God only knows the actual amount of functioning brain cells I've unwillingly contributed to my internship days and all those 35-hour working periods.....gosh, and don't even get me started on my perpetual sleep deprivation that most interns during my era (gosh I really sound ancient!) had regularly endured.

Thus I have concluded that I am indeed a masochist.

The only upside of this would be that most of my current peers who are also in preparation for their exams, are of the same masochistic breed.

As I have always said.....misery really loves company.

I swear...it takes a masochist to willingly put themselves through the torture of med school.....then to the mercies of the internship period.....then back into uni for postgrad studies.

Well.....either a masochist or an idiot.

I can't yet decide which one I am at this point in time.

I have a slight suspicion that I have a healthy dose of both!

Officially another 2 weeks before my personal doomsday.

Thankfully my department still have the essence of humanity coursing through their atherosclerotic blood vessels, and had given us 2 weeks off work to cramp in everything that we were suppose to have known back in those 5 years of medical school.

Did I mention that was almost a decade ago?!?!

Sigh.

I'm losing sleep.....my eating habits are a disgrace (but many will argue that it had been such for a very long time).....and I'm holding on tightly for dear life onto my sanity.

Someone did say that there is a damn fine line between the sane and insane......

I ain't that keen to cross the threshold.

Anyway.....aside from the usual sedative medications....I'm open to alternative suggestions of sleeping aid.

(yes yoga did help....but let me not recount my disastrous trial with True Fitness at USJ for Bikram Yoga....although the dude did call back to apologize....but that is beside the point)

Sigh.

I know I've always wanted to feel and remain youthful....but seriously....this isn't what I had in mind!!!!

So why the hell did I go back to uni for?

.....because I'm a masochist....and a bloody idiot!!!

Later!

Sukan G - the soft launch!

I meant to blog about this like...last week, but due to the issues with the wifi, it has been delayed until....now.

I was invited by Nana via Facebook (yea I know...what exactly was life like BEFORE the creation of FB?!) to attend the soft launch of a new enterprise, aptly named Sukan G.

Sukan G was the brainchild of the trio of Nana, Shanaz and Rose.

They are bringing into the Malaysian market sporting apparels and sporting related items, specifically for the ladies!

Yea.....the local scene, especially for running doesn't exactly have the running ladies' fashion needs in mind.

(...coz you never know who's gonna take your incredibly good looking picture while running some race!)

These girls are stepping up to fill this gap of nonexistence and to provide you with some stuff that you only see in the pages of Runner's World.

Photo-log:

* Shanaz, Nana and Rose....all wearing the running Ts sold by their company.

* No where to hang your medals?!?!?!

Need something special to parade that PB race medal?!?!

Why not get a medal hanger!?!?!

* There's one for triathletes.....as shown by Shanaz...

* ....or one just for marathoners!?!?!?!

* Or get one of those medal tree and stash them all over it!!??

* The thing that I LOVE most.......

* Sweaty Bands!!!!!

Feel free to go to the website to check out more patterns....

Apparently they DO NOT SLIP!!!!

* Who can resist the lovely colours and patterns!?!?!?!

* I find myself trying on so many and camwhoring just to see how I'd look in them....

* Who doesn't love these!?!?!

* I ended up a whole lot poorer....and I blame it all on the Sweaty Bands!!!!!

* Anyway since it was tauted as DOES NOT SLIP....I decided to give it a try while at Hot Yoga.

Sweated buckets but the band stayed put throughout the entire 60 minutes of workout.

* With Emmy and Leen....

* Tried it out for a 10km run at Double Hill......stayed put as well!!!!!

(And I know I look cute!!! Oh go on...roll your eyes)

* Attempted another hot yoga session with Leen......and you've guessed it!!!

It stayed put!!!!!

I'm currently rediscovering the joys of yoga practice.

And considering I'm having sleep issues with the mounting exam stress.....yoga does the job of putting me into snoozeland very nicely without having to pop a benzodiazepine pill.

...and getting Madonna-like arms would be a treat as well!!!

And if you are curious.....the Sukan G OFFICIAL launch will be somewhere in June 2012.

So....watch this space!!!!!!

Later!!!

WiFi...oh how I'd miss you!!!

Its been almost a week that my wifi had died on me.

Damn this YES 4G system.

Damn the huddle.

After millions of emails...(ok...just 3 in total) they finally replied regarding the huddle mishap.

And all I can say is...FINALLY!!!

Lots had happen in the past one week but I guess that just leaves me with more upcoming things to blog about.

In the mean time...its another 2 weeks plus till D-day.

Gosh...I hate pre exam stress!!!

I hate the altered sleeping patterns...I hate the sleepless nights and fatiguing morning after.....I hate the consequential stress induced acne...I hate not being able to chill!!,

I HATE it!!!

Alright....will hit the books again.

Later!

PD TriEAThlon IV – 1st April 2012 (The bye-bye Gracie edition)

Yes…..it’s the 4^th time we’re doing the PD tri sim…..but I kinda skipped the first one and got lazy about blogging the 2^nd and 3^rd edition.

But the 4^th one…..well, this was an important one.

It was the very last time Grace was gonna be organizing it.

In fact, she’s leaving for the US of A the very next day…back to her hubby and establishing her own sports massage stall at every road/tri/cycle race she can get her hands onto.

We will miss you……I already do!!!! (cue the welling of tears in the eyes)

Anyway the 4^th one, I went with first-timer Emmy as Rupert was painting the town red in the UK, somewhere.

Emmy aims to complete her first sprint tri this year at PD….but has yet to buy her bike….but she’s still keen to try an open water swim!

We got there and met up with the usual suspects and some newbies (at least they were to ME!) at the carpark next to Avilion Admiral Cove hotel.

Photo-log as below (pictures courtesy of Gracie’s, Eldred’s and Nurina’s camera):

* The usual ruckus at the carpark before the start

* With the new IRONMAN around town, taukeh Syerol Nizam!!!!! (erm, where’s my Trek bike!?!?!?!)

* Woman with abs of steel….(I’ve still yet to obtain that P90x from you!!! Sigh)

* Posing at the beach…..post swim.

Emmy did pretty well for her first open water swim.

I manage to clock in 2100m in the sea.

Chloe couldn’t cycle (due to own reasons) and loaned her bike to Emmy since there were about the same height and size……

So Emmy got her first road bike ride (EVER!!!) at the PD bike route……we only did the 10km turnaround…..

* Camwhoring as always is a must!!!!!

Post ride, decided to do the whole “event” by running the 5km sprint route.

I’m very proud of my friend who managed the run right after jumping off the bike!!!! Had no problems with post-ride jelly legs!!!!

* Giving Gracie her massage...like promised!!! I swear she's the ONLY one who likes me massaging her.....

At the end of everything...as always...there's FOOD!!!!!!

We hope to see Gracie back on Malaysian soil soon.....

But thankfully....Nurina will be taking over the organization of our monthly tri sim at PD.....so there will be more fun to come and the "tri" tradition that Grace had initially set up will continue for....as long as possible, hopefully.

Aww...I already miss the bug stories from the bug doctor!!!!!

Later!!!!!