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Chinese New Year Customs

27 Jan

We left home on the first day of Chinese New Year to head for hubby’s hometown. The traffic wasn’t too bad save for two stretches where it was rather heavy and another where a minor accident occurred. I won’t elaborated on this though…

As always with every other Chinese New Year, it’s a family tradition to visit an Aunty residing in another town nearby and to catch up with other family members. Soon the first day passed by quickly.

Day two was more our thing, and that is playing our customary first Chinese New Year golf game at Darul Aman Golf & Country Club. When we got to the golf club, there was hardly anybody else. But after the first tee off, we saw some other golfers.

The pace was slow in front of us. Then again it was a typical four ball flight versus our two balls. I played well again. Maybe it’s the golf set, the XXIO MP900 clubs are getting more comfortable with each game. But after the game, the elbow hurt to high heaven!

When we crossed over, the waiting pace stretched even more. The flight in front of us apparently bypassed the jumbo flight in front of them! So we ended up trailing the six-balls and it was so tedious as they were extremely slow. And annoyingly noisy but we endured because we were not in a hurry and we didn’t want any bad vibes during this festive time.

We will play another game today before we return tomorrow, bracing for the heavy traffic and long drive ahead.

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What a Good Start

21 Jan

I played my third golf game of the year on Sunday and it turned out to be a pleasant surprise. I have always said golf is a funny game and Sunday’s result takes the cake. It’d always catch you unaware no matter how prepared or unprepared you are.

Prior to Sunday’s game, both of us played our first game of 2020 a week ago and it was nice to get back to our usual weekend routine. However, my flight did not complete the round despite the weather being so good and the company pleasant. Instead we did only 15 holes because everyone felt tired for all sorts of reasons.

And I was no different, having laid off for so long when M1 was back, and played golf like a 9-hole player. In short, I held up well only for the first nine and then was out of sorts when we crossed over. So I was really glad we stopped with three holes left to play.

The second game a few days later was weird because I felt unprepared, having only five hours of sleep and my tennis elbow flared up again. In spite of the circumstances, I played one of my better games. But Sunday’s game was a totally different ball game altogether.

Hubby and I were ‘extras’ in our Club’s Interclub game as there were more home club players than opponents. So in this essence we would not be contributing any points for our team because we were playing amongst ourselves. But as the format was Best Ball Stableford, taking the better score of all partnerships would be tabulated to award the best pairs of both respective clubs.

I started out decent. But things fell apart quickly by the third hole–we started on Hole 9–coming back with zero points on the dreaded Hole 11 and unexpectedly on the next hole after that too. I steadied myself and managed a par at the next hole to salvage the situation, and was doing okay until Hole 18, my phobia hole. No surprise when I dunked two balls into the water. Oh well, as it was Stableford points, I did not attempt any further on that hole. When we completed the back nine, I scored only 11 points. Meagre…

I was like oh well, I’d just enjoy the front nine. Then things exploded! To cut a long play-by-play short, I played the front nine with two pars and two birdies! A rarity for me with not one but two birdies in a game. The Scotty putter was red hot, converting a lot of single putts from all distances, thus saving strokes and scoring a whole lot of Stableford points.

The two birdies came on the Par 3s, one off a crazy long putt from the front of the green to the back pin and another off the fringe of the green to the front pin. It was mind boggling! I seriously don’t know what happened because never before had I played to such levels, competition or otherwise, given that I have been constantly in pain with my injuries here and there. But it felt good and I’m certainly not complaining.

That morning, I scored a whopping 28 points on the front nine alone to cover the back nine and return with 39 points in total for my individual attempt. Unbelievable!!!

And to our surprise, both hubby and I were awarded the best runner-up pair for our Club with 45 points for our best ball effort! We couldn’t believe our ears when the announcement was made. And mind you, my golfer’s elbow was giving me problems all this time but somehow I managed and obviously the results showed. What a good and pleasant start to the year for golf. Let’s hope I can keep this up and not let this be a one-game wonder!

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Feels good to be awarded for our effort!

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The Streak Snapped

20 Jan

It finally happened, the Candy Crush Soda Daily Bonus continuous streak finally broke! It was Saturday morning and as always, after waking up, I’d pick up my devices for the morning routine.

The morning routine being launching both the Cat Condo games to collect my millions and releasing the cats from the cages, then Homescapes then Soda for the Daily Bonus before reading the news. Somehow the day before I didn’t get to Candy Crush Soda on the iPhone XR, only the iPad Mini and I didn’t even realized I missed it out.

When I launched Candy Crush Soda on Saturday morning, I was on Day 1! Wow, after 1243 days at it constantly, the chain finally broke. Luckily on the iPad Mini, it was still captured at 1244 days. I now wonder if I should still go on with it. Hmm…

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As of today, the streak on the iPhone XR is a lowly Day 3 while on the iPad Mini, it goes on for Day 1246.

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Cat Condo is So Last Decade

14 Jan

Of late, collecting money to evolve cute cats is becoming so mindless and so last decade. It’s been very slow to add a new species even though I am constantly at it. I think I just want to collect them all just to see what they look like. To divert my boredom, I started playing a new game, Homescapes.

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Am up to Level 343 as of today, this morning.

This game has been around for sometime already but it never caught my interest until recently. As I’m getting tired becoming a gazillionaire with both the Cat Condo games, I decided to give Homescapes a try because it kept popping up (as an ad) when I’m tending to the cats.

So far, it has been holding my interest well – I’ve been playing it at every opportunity and even into the wee hours past midnight. But we shall see how long this can last.

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Progress After the Food Trail

10 Jan

We have dived straight into our 16/8 diet this week and pleased to say we are holding up okay. There’s no withdrawal symptoms from the change in pattern nor from the diet that now consists of minimal meat/protein, some carbo and lots of fiber.

I have gone back to my usual tea only in the morning before the salad lunches and healthy home-cooked dinners at home, all within the eight hours window to eat and no further intake during the 16 hours except for one night where we had fruit cake and tea at a friend’s.

I am also mindful to move to burn some calories but exercising has been a challenge when every evening I’d sit at my little corner to work on my carvings. I’m not too worried though because this would be resolved once we go back to playing golf.

But of late, the endometriosis attacks have been rather frequent and the pain level ranges, it’s unbearable and hard to do much. The night when we were at the airport, I had to take my painkillers twice in a span of three hours apart because the pain was simply horrible. There’s no words to describe this. Sigh…

Other than this problem of mine, I’m glad to say the both of us have adjusted after the food trail, with our weight almost back to pre-M1’s arrival.

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Beginnings and Endings

3 Jan

The new year started off rather quietly for us. We stayed home that evening and had a fun time cooking together, preparing dinner for a very leisurely paced New Year’s Eve meal. I felt this was better quality time instead of going out and be squashed in the crowds.

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Ushering in 2020 with some wine and cheese!

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Sautéd mushrooms, baked potato wedges, honey-glazed carrots, pork steak, greens and a pasta. Quite a meal!

By midnight after seeing some of the fireworks that we could see from our windows, we continued to watch Netflix, waiting to Skype with M2. After we finally heard from her, we went to bed after that! No revelry beyond as it felt just like any other day.

The new beginning is supposed to bring new excitement. We have not even fully digested the spirit of Christmas, New Year’s mood, suddenly at the turn, Chinese New Year things popped up! Decorations at the mall were updated, along with cookies, clothes especially Cheongsams and all things Chinese New Year related were on full display. I am so not ready yet for the next festive celebration.

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Roaring display of the lion dance at the mall

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The new beginning means an ending for us. The food trail is coming to an end as M1’s time with us is ending soon. It’s not sadness all over again but acceptance.

As we cherish the next two days before she leaves, we hope to spend quality time with her again in the future. It has been truly wonderful. Maybe we will visit her in the US again? Who knows? The year 2020 will be full of surprises.

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Playing Tourist

30 Dec

I had a good night’s rest on Saturday night after we returned from our trip because it’s back to the familiar – my bed and pillows. And Sunday was a day to play tourist besides just eating to check off M1’s ‘to eat’ list.

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Glass noodles, crunchy honey bacon and crispy fried kailan. So good!

We started the day with a late lunch then we visited Batu Caves! The last time we were at this tourist spot was when M1 was just slightly a year old (but we didn’t bring her along). Now 21 years later, we revisited and with her this time.

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Crowded but not overly so at Batu Caves

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It’s so bright and we were all squinting!

Initially we all felt climbing the 272 steps wouldn’t be daunting even though it was hot and humid. But at mid-point I was sweating buckets and decided to check my heart rate; it spiked up to 144 bpm! Wow… a little more taxing than I thought. Even M1 and hubby had to stop every now and then for a breather. But we persevered and finally made our way up to see the shrines inside.

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Almost there!

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The main temple area

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The second temple, up the stairs from the main section

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Looking up at the limestones from the second temple

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View from the second temple down to the main temple

I think we stayed on a while longer to recover from the climb more than to take photos before making our way down the rainbow steps again. I must say, the going up and coming down stressed different parts of the body – up affecting the heart and thighs, and down, the knees.

When I reached the bottom, the legs were not so much jellied but instead the knees felt painful from the weighted grind of the bones as a result from the descend. We thought it was a good overall workout burning some calories especially when we have been eating so much.

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A well-deserved banana leaf rice, butter naan, paper thosai and condiments, complete with resam and lassi to drink

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Frozen mugs of beer and a mouth-watering molten lava cake

We ran some errands after the unplanned tourist stop and time passed by quickly. All in all, it was a good day and ended with a hearty banana leaf dinner, followed by a cold beer each and dessert at our favorite watering hole again! That night, my legs were so sore to the core, sleep evaded me. Sigh… I hope I can sleep better tonight.

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A Major Disaster

17 Dec

At the end of July, I signed up for my golf club’s Annual Championship tournament which was held for two days over a weekend in August. Looking back, pairing determination with pain was not a good combination to manage. In this context for me, it was dealing with my endometriosis pain with work deadline and playing in a tournament. It proved to be a major disaster resulting in a mental breakdown of sorts. A first for me.

As time drew close to the tournament, I had another painful bout of endometriosis attack. So bad I almost wanted to pull out but I didn’t because I thought I could manage. I thought wrong.

On the first day of the tournament at the Hills course, I was on painkillers to deal with the pain and discomfort to stay focused. I came back with the most varied score ever, being a stroke-play format. It ranged from a two (birdie on a Par 3) all the way through to an 11 on the Index 1, Par 5 (because of two balls in the water). In other words, I had every number (and several repeated) on my scorecard… except an eight though. Strange.

On the second day, the tournament was delayed because of rain and we teed off at the Lakes course after a 45-minute wait. I started off fairly well and held up okay for the first seven holes. But disaster struck by the eight hole, Hole 17 (we started on the back nine).

The humidity in the air suddenly became very thick and I had an unnecessary urge to tee-off harder to pass the pond. Never do that. When you try harder, the harder you fail. I ended up with three balls in the water!

It was a disaster unfolding before me and I was the star of the drama. That morning on that Par 4, I came back with an eye-popping 14! A 14 on a Par 4, worse than the 11 on the Par 5 on the first day. I told myself to calm down and don’t get too emotional by it.

However the next hole, the Par 5 being another fearful hole, my doubts doubled in my ability to overcome the water factor. Remember, this is the feared Pacific Ocean water hole that I crumbled during the 2018 Iron Challenge tournament.

Thankfully, only one ball went into the water. But a silly pull to the left cost me and I ended up with another double digit. Hmm… not good. But I was thinking the worst was over and I can still recover because the front nine is actually more manageable to play. I thought wrong again.

I suspect the four balls into the water rattled me but somehow I didn’t acknowledged this and when I teed off on Hole 1, I put another two balls into the water! By now I was like, WTF?! The legs were jellied and the confidence zilch beyond comprehension and in a blur, another double digit on the Par 4.

When we got to the second hole, a Par 3, I was so sapped of life and when I put yet another ball into the water, I told myself, that’s it. I’m going to withdraw. I’m not a quitter but with disaster after disaster piling up with every hole, the event was becoming a catastrophe of epic proportions and too much for me to shoulder. There’s no point to go on playing. What recovery would there be at that point, mentally especially? I’m just killing myself out there and if I continued, I would end up detesting the game so much and just chuck away all my clubs.

With my mind made up, I took a drop for the third shot for formality but was convinced I couldn’t launch it across the water and indeed proved myself right. A classic case of a negative thought attracting a negative action! The ball dived into the water. Ahhhh…… speechless. The mental state of mind was just oh-so-cruel.

I could not go on, having a major breakdown dealing with playing golf in a championship tournament; I simply couldn’t golf anymore. Immediately after that, I drove the buggy to see the referee who happened to be nearby and I informed him of my intention and decision.

Looking back, I really can’t comprehend what unraveled that morning. The endometriosis pain was suppressed that second morning and wasn’t the reason yet I crumbled so badly. This outing takes the cake over the Iron Challenge experience I must say. I simply don’t have words for it. I sat through the remaining holes with my flight mates and came back with an ‘NR’ for my attempt at this year’s Annual Championship.

Lesson learnt: if and when there’s pain lurking before and during any important golf tournaments, do not try to be a heroine to pair them. It’s a proven recipe for a major disaster because not only the body cannot withstand but the mind simply cannot cope.

So after that last game of the year, I’m glad I am stepping away from golf and will be resting to heal both the physical and the mental to recoup. When the new year comes around, I hope to find love again for this crazy game called golf and be able to enjoy playing it without issues or disasters of epic proportions.

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Last Game for the Year

16 Dec

I played my last golf game for the year on Saturday and it ended in disaster in terms of performance and results. It was a terrible and unexpected outcome considering I was playing decent golf for two consecutive weekends earlier. What happened?

Maybe during those times, I was more focused and wasn’t in that much pain but with back-to-back games each time, my tennis elbow problem inevitably flared up.

Also I guess the lesson of pairing pain and play was forgotten after my epic August Annual Championship experience which is another story by itself. But this time, sigh… The problem was not even endometriosis-related but the tennis elbow instead.

The painkiller I ate before tee-off didn’t help to suppress the throbbing pain. And with every swing of the clubs, the pain became so obvious and magnified, it marred my focus. The tee-off was so short, the short game was even shorter and the putting was just bleargh.

The only consolation though was not losing that many balls nor have a mental breakdown like I did during the Annual Championship game which is worthy to talk about now after so long to finally exorcise the ghost of that major disaster.

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Fly Little One, Part 2

13 Dec

Yesterday we thought with the date being 12/12, it would be good to release our feathered friend. It was only a matter of time as it has been eating well and getting stronger by the day. Each time when hubby held it in his hands, he could feel the strength and resistance from the little one.

And amazingly that morning, a flock of adult birds of the same species gathered in the garden as if sensing the significant occasion. I could even sense their anticipation of the young newbie joining them.

The flock then dispersed from the ground only to perch on the roof of the neighboring house like a gallery to observe the moment. Hubby then reached for our feathered friend inside the cage and raised his hand to let it take off.

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Mom, Dad, Grandpa, Grandma and friend, cousin, sibling?

And take off it did… for only about five feet and then it crashed into the bushes. Ouch! We rescued it to give it another booster but it crashed into the bamboo blinds and fell onto a plant. Double ouch!

I think it got a little dazed by this unexpected mishap. Clearly, the little one was not quite ready yet to take flight. We had actually stopped feeding it the night before in case it got too heavy.

Nevertheless we left it inside the holding cage instead of the usual tighter security basket that was a tad too confining before we left for the office. We thought a little more space and opportunity to exercise, walk around and flap its wings would be good before the next release.

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Not the tightest in security to prevent an escape

That evening when we got home, our feathered friend was gone. Escaped from the confines and flew away to be with the others. We were not sad but a little surprised it could squeeze through. Then again, the cage wasn’t the tightest in security with the such gaps. We took a chance.

This morning, we did not see it nor the others. It is probably enjoying the new found freedom and family. Maybe it will visit. Who knows?

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