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This is Pablo!

2 May

It wasn’t planned but we were at the pet shop after dinner last night and every creature at the store were oh-so-cute! M2 was ooh-ing and aah-ing at the baby rabbits, colored prawns, crabs, toads and stingrays while I was equally mesmerized by the hamsters and chinchilla.

I saw the two aquariums filled with crayfishes and debated why not again. Having pet water sure isn’t that engaging. Although I contemplated the African Patriot crabs (their expressions were hilarious and appealing), we had to be practical. Our little aquarium is not big enough to have the water and ‘land’ separation for the crab. So a crayfish it shall be.

Meet Pablo Sanchez Rodriguez, a rather intriguing name for our new red crayfish. Maybe with a macho and longer name, Pablo will have a better and longer life that our previous crayfishes.

  

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Of SuperPig and SuperOwl

27 Apr

Lately I have this urge to create – draw, paint, carve or anything, just something to do to keep busy. There’s so much creative energy in me waiting to be unleashed. Must be the result of too much rest due to the tennis elbow.

Last week my golf buddies treated me to an early birthday lunch at Naughty Nuri’s and the restaurant gifted me with a souvenir, a wood carving of a piggy superhero. In fact, we were such good guests, the staff gave every one of us a figurine each! How nice.

This morning I looked at SuperPig with fond memories of last week’s good time with the ladies and made me wonder if I can carve the same. Hmm…

My last foray into carving owls stalled because the activity made the dining area messy. But with all this energy, maybe I should give this carving business another go. Perhaps a replica of the Naughty Nuri mascot or an owl with a cape? SuperOwl? Who knows?

There should be some spare balsa wood lying around and since I have to rest from golf, I will attempt this on top of the paintings, which are still ongoing with two canvases in queue.

  

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The Ride, Part 2

20 Apr

The lady motorbike rider I wrote about recently reminded me of my encounter with this mode of transportation dinosaur years ago. It was during an interim period and I was working while waiting to go off to college. I was an artist for a publishing house that produced educational books for children.

In the mornings, Dad would send me to work as my office was close by his office. Days when I finished early I would go home with Dad. But there were nights that I had to work late and I didn’t want Dad to wait nor did I want to take the bus home. Luckily, I had a co-worker who lived in the same town and I would go home with him. On his motorbike.

So there I was on a couple of occasions, sitting at the back of his motorbike, clinging on to my dear life as he hurtled along the highway in the night to send me home.

It was downright scary whether it was the first time or second time because being hit by the wind on the face constantly was foreign and rather terrifying. Then there was that firm death grip on the bar behind my seat throughout the ride to ensure I remain on the bike. And the awkwardness to stay balanced, tilting along and not against when he tilted the bike to turn…

Quite an experience. After those couple of rides, never again I rode on a motorbike.

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Why Do We Exercise?

18 Apr

It was a big debate last night during gym on why do we exercise? This came about because my tennis elbow has not progressed in recovery and I should be resting instead.

I downgraded from the 4kg weight (the one I call my Birkin bag) to a two pounder and even then, I could not do a lot of the usual routines. Yes, it’s bad. Remember I couldn’t even lift a head of cabbage from the grocery store? And over the weekend, I was having a pint, it was so hard to lift up the mug. It’s almost funny when told to use a straw for my ice cold beer!

Hubby suggested that we should be like the cavemen of yonder years – just eat, sleep, hunt and not exercise (or exert) unnecessarily to preserve energy. He pointed out that these people possibly may have led lives with less sports injury, no tennis elbows or sprained wrists. Interesting theory but not scientifically substantiated. There could be injuries from hunting…

Nice try to escape exercising except that we don’t live in caves and physically hunt these days, hubby dear. We live in a nice big house and we have bills to pay. And we have to physically drive to work, use our brains and work – the modern version of ‘hunting’ to stay alive.

Modern people exercise to counterbalance the demanding lifestyles. Two issues come to mind: to destress from work pressure and to burn off the over-consumed food. Do cavemen have these worries? While they may not have bills, mortgages and credit cards to manage, there’s no golf, no alcohol… no friends… shudder.

Given such a scenario, I’d rather exercise to counterbalance my lifestyle, injuries inclusive.

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The Ride, Part 1

17 Apr

It was a typical weekend evening routine. We were headed to our favorite mall for dinner when I spotted the motorbike rider along the highway. I managed to snapped a picture of her.

The lady rider was actually sitting cross-legged on her scooter! How does one do that? Then again, isn’t it dangerous? It’s not a country-side road, it’s the highway with lots of vehicles. It may be the weekend with less traffic but still, it’s a busy highway. Goodness!!!

It was amazing that she could balance and ride along safely.

Look closely at the legs!

 

 

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Setback

13 Apr

You know you’ve got it bad when you’re at the grocery store and can’t even pick up a head of cabbage! And it’s not even like it’s the biggest one on the shelf. Uh oh.

I injured myself again last weekend during my Saturday golf game. I suspect it’s from the week prior when I played in a monthly medal game and the pain suddenly flared up.

This time it’s a tennis elbow problem and not so much my old injury on the left wrist recurring. Funny it’s called tennis elbow when the injury is actually from golf. Regardless, the right elbow needs to be rested and no golf for at least two weeks or more. Super sigh.

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Giving Up

4 Apr

I am contemplating giving up Candy Crush Saga. After being so long at it reaching Level 2139 at this point, thoughts of giving up lately has crossed my mind.

It’s not so much I am tired of it but more of the fact that my iPad is so slow when the app launches, it makes playing not enjoyable anymore. But this doesn’t mean a total give up, I can still play the game on my new office computer which is able to support the app unlike the previous dinosaur model.

I am merely deleting the app from my iPad Mini and there’s always the laptop at home should I have an urge to have a go at it. I still play Candy Crush Soda though…

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Was It Really Good?

31 Mar

Last weekend’s getaway for golf was good. We got to play at two golf courses that we’ve never played before – Port Dickson Golf & Country Club and Air Keroh Country Club. Another two off the bucket list, you could say.

I played well but at a cost. My wrist injury flared up again with two consecutive games. Ouch.

It now looks like I cannot do two consecutive games. I need more than 24 hours to recover because it’s too much for the wrist to handle especially when the golf course was dry with hard ground, the rest period needs at least two days or more. Upon every impact, I could feel the pain, ever so slight reverberating in the left wrist during the second game. Ouch again.

It makes me wonder was it really good then? Maybe it was for the ego and confidence in the game but it sure wasn’t good for the old injury!

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Short People Travel Too

28 Mar

Although throughout the school holiday week, we did not go anywhere due to M2 wanting to prepare for her exams, we did go away on the last weekend before school reopened. We joined our golf club for two away-Interclub matches, a 2D/1N trip to Port Dickson and Malacca. It was a good short getaway I must say.

When we stayed overnight in Malacca at Kings Green Hotel, I was impressed with the hotel on two things: the pillows and hooks in the bathroom. The pillows were plump and just right! And the bed was equally good with the right firmness. For once, I didn’t have to whip out my travel pillow, which I brought along, to have a good night’s sleep. And the bathroom hooks! There was ample which is rare, with a row of four hooks at a height that short people appreciates.

This reminds me of our last hotel stay in December last year.

We were in Ho Chi Minh City when M1 was back for her Christmas break. The hotel we stayed at, Sunrise Central Hotel was pretty strategic. Located in District 1, just next to Grand Silverland Hotel (which I stayed at during my June golf trip last year as well), it was within walking distance to food and shopping. The room may be small compared to Grand Silverland’s room but was decent. However, one thing irked me.

There were just not enough hooks to hang clothes in the bathroom and the only one available was way too high! It is as though such tourist hotels are catered only to tall people with an easy reach to hang up their clothes or towel.

The bathroom door actually had a glass panel (unusual with such a feature) and there was no practical place for the hook to be except way above the glass panel. Why didn’t they consider having the hook at the wall right behind the door at a reachable height instead? The hook was at least a good six feet high or more.

I am average in height for an Asian at 156cm (5 feet 1.5 inches), not short but not tall either. When I stretched my arm up to measure the height of the hook, my arm was pretty straight upwards and I still had to be on tip toe to hang my towel. I don’t think this is right, is it? I can’t imagine how my girls dealt with it, as they are slightly shorter than me. Even the closet, the rod inside was pretty high up. Sigh…

Usually when such situations arose, I would, albeit reluctantly just put down the toilet seat cover and place my clean clothes on it because I don’t like to walk into a cold room after a hot shower even with a snugly wrapped towel. All that nice after-shower toasty feeling would be lost immediately once the cold air hits the skin.

Whoever assigned the contractors or installers to put these things up should remember that short people travel too and these things are important to us. And to consider adding another hook in the bathroom as well for practicality. Goodness only knows how clean (or unclean) those toilet seat covers are and for me, after a long day playing tourist, I seriously don’t need to do any yoga stretches in the bathroom to get to my clothes.

 

These babies were so comfy!

 

The row of hooks just above my eyebrows

 

 

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