pool

I swim every other day – it’s convenient for me since I can just walk out of my studio apartment (sometimes in my swimwear) and press 13 in the lift for the rooftop and jump into the pool and start doing laps.

My dad is a huge believer in exercise. He’s well into his 60′s and he jogs every single day without fail. There’s a park near our house that he goes to – he doesn’t drive there, he walks there before starting to run laps around the track. The dude then walks back to complete his daily exercise routine.

He’s probably fitter than I am!

Scratch that, he *is* fitter than I am from all the daily runs he goes on.

golf not exercise

A lot of people will kill me for this, but golf is not exercise. Getting out and putting the ball with your 9 Iron before going back into the motorized golf kart just doesn’t cart it. ;)

Neither is gaming, although they call it “cybersports”. smirk

You want cardio – a sustained exercise that gets your heart pumping for a prolonged period of time for it to be beneficial to your heart. The former probably does wonders for your business contacts and the latter might be a great diversion but it doesn’t do anything for your health.

Swimming and running are easy ways that you can get some exercise. My family has always been big on jogging. My parents used to bring me and my sister out and encouraged us to jog. I hated it though, have always prefered the water so my dad runs with my sister while I swam with my mom when we were kids.

family

We’re all at different locations now but it’s good to keep the tradition going. I was back in Sibu to vote during GE13 and my mom also flew in from Singapore. We started talking about exercise and how good it is – my dad has high blood pressure and my mom is fighting cancer so they’re both always looking at ways to improve health.

A healthy heart is important as a lot of Malaysians suffer from cardiovascular diseases. Expanding waist lines due to nasi lemak and teh tarik sessions combined with a sedentary lifestyle will come at the expense of your health.

sedentary

You want to live longer but you also want quality of life and that has been something my family has always found important. We’re always talking about the latest developments in “superfoods” and health supplements and one thing that has caught our interest is Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10). CoQ10 is a naturally occurring substance e.g. found naturally in your body and it plays an important role for the health of almost all human tissues and organs.

CoQ10 has also been found to counteract the free radicals and the damage they cause to your body, and especially your heart. Your body will decrease its natural production of CoQ10 as it ages. Cholesterol is very susceptible to free radical damage, which leads to the formulation of a toxic derivative called oxidized LDL-cholesterol.

Simply put, CoQ10 is important as it inhibits (prevents) the oxidation of LDL-cholesterol (bad cholesterol).

The older you get, the more important CoQ10 supplements are as your body’s ability to synthesize CoQ10 declines with age.

coq10

I’m sure you all know about the benefits of fish oil and the Omega-3 fatty acids contained within. It’s considered an essential fatty acid e.g. something your body needs that it cannot synthesize by itself. Thus, it has to be in your diet or taken in supplements. It’s necessary for their anti-inflammatory effect and their boost to your immune function.

My mom takes Omega-3 supplements due to the radiotherapy and chemotherapy sessions she goes through for her small cell lung cancer (a type of cancer that affects people who doesn’t smoke). Chemo and radio leaves your body’s immune system vulnerable and that’s when you need supplements which can boost your immune system.

Blackmores produces several CoQ10 supplements. There’s pure CoQ10 in three (3) dosage forms – 50 mg, 75 mg and 150 mg. The amount you need depends on your age. They also have Omega-3 supplements in the form of Omega Cardiwell and Omega Active with high amounts of EPA and DHA.

Find out more about their products and interesting posts and articles on health and healthy living on their website and in the Blackmores Facebook. I love my parents and I want them to live longer – I want my family in the future to be healthy too – that’s the key to true happiness. :)

happy healthy

Taking supplements together with a healthy diet and exercise is the true key to not only living longer but having a better life! You can’t just depend on supplements just like you can’t just rely on exercise – it’s all part of a system for healthy living! :)

me kids

I was out last night with my girlfriend to do something for the next chapter of our life (which will be revealed soon enough) when we decided to do some last minute shopping. It was a school bag for Big E and it cost RM 168. (!!!)

It wasn’t a particularly expensive label – just a practical one with an Angry Birds image which Rovio certainly didn’t know about (if you catch my drift) and a set of wheels, which seem to be a necessity nowadays. She’s just 7 years old and already carries such a huge load of books. I was commenting about how expensive it is to raise a kid nowadays.

I want the kids (including my own in the future) to have a good education. I was sent overseas to Christchurch, New Zealand when I was 15 in 1996 to do my high school and completed my Bachelor’s Degree after 4 years of college and university in Melbourne, Australia. I can’t imagine how expensive that was for my parents but I can guess.

Kids nowadays are very lucky. I was talking about the PTPTN study loans with Arthur when I was in Sibu last time and both of us agreed that PTPTN is a great help for anyone who needs the financial support for their tertiary education.

I want the kids and my future kids to have a good education but I was calculating how much it costs and it truly staggered me. I don’t dare to think about tertiary education, just getting by would cost a lot of money nowadays with tuition fees being as high as they are.

I like the idea of the PTPTN study loan. It allows everyone to get an opportunity for a tertiary education provided they meet the academic requirements. I don’t think that’s a problem for the kids or my future kids, with liberal application of the magic wand. smirk

I’m kidding, I don’t believe in corporal punishment.

However, it does make me feel better to know that there’s the chance to go to university for all citizens up thanks to the PTPTN study loan.

I believe that a good education is necessary to survive in life. That’s what my parents taught me and what they strongly believe in. I want my kids to at least have a Bachelor’s Degree so they can have better opportunities in the future – studies have proven that a university education is not just the key to higher salaries and such but also important personal qualities like critical thinking.

I don’t think most taxpayers would agree with the abolishment of the PTPTN or allowing students to default on their loans.

No matter what your political leanings are, it’s just not fair to do that. What about the people who have already paid it back partially? PTPTN study loans allows for an affordable method of payment for new graduates.

The topic came up during a dinner recently – I strongly believe that if you take a loan which the Merriam-Webster dictionary defines as:

Something lent usually for the borrower’s temporary use (emphasis mine)

That means it should be returned. You’ve been given a chance at higher education and defaulting on it shouldn’t point north on anyone’s moral compass.

I want my children to be responsible and pay back loans which they have taken. Of course, I hope for a scholarship if they turn out to have the academic aptitude to do that, but if they can’t qualify for the cream of the crop requirements, that’s okay with me too. :)

weekend

I just had a great weekend with her! :D

room

It’s like a mini vacation of sorts where we mostly chilled in the room.

thai green curry

I think the only thing we ate was this Thai Green Curry Chicken with Rice Vermicelli that you dip into the creamy curry.

mango sticky rice

…and mango with sticky rice. The mango was unripe and has practically no taste at all though.

gloria jean beef lasagne

I did eat again later last night though – noticed I was getting really tired with low blood sugar so walked out and went to the closest place to get something to eat. Beef lasagna of all things. She doesn’t eat beef so I reckon I’ll eat as much of it when I’m alone. smirk

She did leave some the clothes she was wearing yesterday though.

clothes

I noticed that only one side has been slept on. Haha! That was where we were and when she left I slept on that side too. You smell nice. :)

police

I just came back from a rather long night. The entire extended family was out celebrating the 80th birthday of my grand aunt. A bunch of us cousins decided to make a new tradition of going out clubbing during Day 3 of Chinese New Year and sent my grandma back.

I ended up hanging with the police instead.

We were about to head out after dropping them off when suddenly my aunts and grandma noticed that the entire house was completely ransacked. It’s a good thing we were still there.

The fucking thieves gained entry by strategically putting a couple of pieces of wood over a large storm drain, unscrewing the back gate with surgical precision and taking out the door with a couple of well put strikes that broke the lock.

…before rampaging through the rooms, breaking beds and overturning closets to find cold hard cash. They didn’t take anything else – the police said it’s probably coz gold and other valuables would be hard to sell without detection in a small town like this.

You know how much they netted? Over RM 30,000!

It’s Chinese New Year and the lion’s share of the damage was to my grandma. :(

She lost RM 20,000 out of the total (rest were my aunts and one cousin from Singapore).

I called 999 and told them not to touch anything. I was a bit taken aback when the operator said “Mr Poh can you repeat the address?”.

It’s the integrated system with telcos to prevent crank calls.

I realized that half a second after the initial surprise. I was out waiting for the police and then called the Sibu Police Headquarters instead to speed things up. They said they’ve already got the call and they’re sending out a patrol car.

The initial cops who came took a look around and said we needed to take stock of the losses and lodge a report at the main station.

Thus, me and my cousin went with all my aunts and grandma to the police station, made a report, went up to speak to someone and then went back home to wait for the JSJ (Jabatan Siasatan Jenayah – Crime Investigation Department) to come for forensics.

dusting fingerprints

They tried to get fingerprints but didn’t get any.

There has been a spate of break-ins at that area for a long time – the neighbor behind had the same MO. My grandma’s house is never empty – there’s always someone there coz 3 of my aunts and my grandma lives there. The only time it was empty, it got broken into.

Same thing happened to the neighbor to the back. The one at the side was slightly more unlucky, two females were in the house when it happened, but didn’t see the thieves coz they were forced down on the ground. Only money was taken, no valuables.

I think Sibu is getting a bit worse each year – one of my friends chanced upon a robbery in broad daylight yesterday.

I feel so sorry for my grandma and I guess it’s a good thing that some people are gifted with the ability to make others laugh (like my cousin) which puts things in perspective.

The silver lining is that no one was hurt coz the last time someone stumbled upon and recognized the thief in Sibu, the entire family was murdered. It was done to prevent them from pointing him out but one of them managed to get away by jumping from the second floor.

break in

I still feel fucking horrible though – I went to sit with my grandma who was there folding clothes after the robbers rummaged through everything and destroyed the beds to see if there was anything hidden underneath.

She told me that was the money she was planning to use for a vacation. T_T

She’s a very nice person, a kind and selfless woman armed with a cheery smile and always putting other people first. That was her entire life savings she has been putting away slowly over all these years you took, fuckers.

Tears began to roll down his eyes instead of smiles of satisfaction.

I weep, because riches beget enmity and mutual bitterness” – Omar (second Caliph after Prophet Muhammad, after looking gravely at the piles of gold from the spoils of war of conquering Persia)

genting roulette table

The meaning of life not 42. The meaning of life is 6.

I was at the Roulette table last night and my first bet was about RM 1,000 worth of chips spread out over the table.

I thought I had put a RM 100 chip on the number 6.

I didn’t. It was a corner/square bet (covering 4 numbers in the photo above with my RM 50 chip for an 8:1 payout – 5, 6, 8, 9). I did have RM 100 on the number 0 though.

Thus, the amount that I won from that bet didn’t even equal out my RM 2,000 buy-in. I stacked more chips on the second bet and lost.

I did put chips on the number 6 this time but it came out as 16 instead. I didn’t bet on 6 the third time and that was my loss coz that very same number came out again!

Yup, it was 6 – “my number”.

I would have won RM 1,750 after covering my RM 2000 buy-in (total of RM 3,750) if I had gone for that. It’s not a large amount, but I would have left.

Instead, I lost about RM 2,200 and then decided to stop and go get an early dinner.

credit card cash withdrawal charges

I then went into the International Room and withdrew RM 1,000 using my credit card, which incurs an administrative charge from Genting as well as the bank’s 5% charge.

casino de genting bearer chips

I walked to a Baccarat table where there’s a really nice and professional croupier (couldn’t remember her name) – my original intention was to double up until I recouped my losses.

It’s a good thing I didn’t coz I lost on the first round – I had split my bet to RM 500.

I won on the next round, doubled up and then doubled up again. I wanted a sequence of Player, Banker, Banker and that’s exactly what happened.

genting casino malaysia chips

Thus, with my last RM 1,500 bet on Banker I had netted RM 4,000.

four thousand

It’s a technical win since my buy-in was about RM 3,200 + credit card charges. However, I don’t consider it a win. I had to cover my room at Awana (all other hotels were fully booked) which was about RM 250 per person after splitting the cost – the room was about RM 500 (!!!). I also had to cover the trip costs and a celebratory drink at Cloud 9 (live band watering hole with a cover charge of RM 25 for cardholders) after that.

I could have won an additional RM 1,500. I wanted to hit Banker one last time (and even stayed to watch) – it was a natural 8, an automatic win. I didn’t bet though, I told myself I’ll quit after recovering and I did.

rm3

I cashed up after that – I only had RM 3 in my wallet at that point, the rest is the stack of notes from the RM 4,000 cashout.

I immediately banked in RM 2,000 to my credit card account so I wouldn’t get hit that hard by the bank charges (it should cover the RM 1,000 cash out) and went shopping for clothes.

paying credit card

Time from credit card cash withdrawal to payment: Less than 1 hour (much of it spent lining up at the CDM)

It’s a good thing that I went up this weekend – I bought all my clothes from the same store coz it had an additional 30% discount for Genting card holders. I’ve been a Silver member since end of 2007, not too long after I got out of rehab.

I got two pairs of shirts and pants each – I don’t always buy new attire for Chinese New Year, but this time I wanted to.

horrible clothes

I also make it a point to buy one shirt that looks horrible on me each year…but a friend and the sales promoter stopped me. Haha!

I went for the blue version of this instead. It looks much better. I spent about RM 600 on clothes and a new pair of shoes! Technically, this is from my nett winnings. ;)

It was a fun trip – the drinking, the early morning burger run before sleeping and waking up at 9 am to sing impromptu karaoke at the balcony.

I also told myself I’ll stop hitting the casinos after this. I intend to honor it this time.

no easy day

The only easy day was yesterday” – SEAL team mantra

happy birthday mom

I have a really funny story about this. We don’t actually know if the 1st of January is her birthday. You know how people back in the days don’t actually register their babies until maybe a couple of days later and gets a pink birth certificate (date of birth – estimated) instead of a white one (confirmed by a doctor)?

That’s the case with my mom and I Whatsapped my sister two days ago to get my mom’s number to call her.

She’s in Singapore but we’ll all be together in Sibu in a bit.

I’ll have to take more photos with my family when we reunite again!

First post for 2013 – may you have peace, joy and everything you want in this year and many more to come mom! :D

Well, the end of the year is upon us again and I just have one New Year’s resolution:

durians laundry

Don’t buy durians at the same time you get your laundry and leave them in the car!

I did that while grocery shopping just now and after a (not insignificant) pause, I decided to go for a quick one, grabbing items off the shelves.

Yup, my newly laundered clothes were saturated with the smell of the King of Fruits.

Seriously though, I really have just one New Year’s resolution:

I’m going to give my life to God and let Him lead me

I’ve decided that I’m not going to sweat the small stuff and see where He wants me to go in 2013. I’m sure there’s a bigger plan for me and I will totally submit myself to it. I also have a few issues that I need His help in resolving but the main thing is to listen to that guiding voice and be nice to people (even if they’re not nice to me, but that’s the point innit? smirk).

Happy New Year’s Eve everyone and drive safe tonight! :)

accident middle damage

I was driving out last night from my place when I had to swerve to avoid a head-on collision with a car coming up at full speed from the exit ramp.

Let me illustrate:

my statement

* It should be noted that the 90 degree corner separating me from the other car at that ramp is a blind spot – I cannot see him and there’s a difference in elevation so I can’t even see his headlights splash for advance warning.

The person inside kinda smiled apologetically at me and then drove off. I couldn’t stop him since my car was still stuck and after extracting myself I went to lodge a police report.

The police told me that they can’t accept a report unless I have the other person’s car licence plate. I didn’t.

right flank

Thus, I went back and went to the security monitors to review the incident. A large problem is that all of the DVRs were all out of sync chronologically and I had to make calculations to see what happened when.

cctv recordings

The security was of minimal help. I had to do all of this myself, replaying the CCTVs (used to work in the securities line) for over 4 hours!

There were two cars entering the car park when I was getting into my car so those two are the obvious suspects. One of them did actually take that dangerous short cut that nearly resulted in me colliding head-on.

However, both of the cars were black and not white. I encountered a white car, and it seems like the person driving it looked rather familiar but there is no tenant with a white car coming in at the time.

dvr times

There was also the issue of headlights visible at the far end of the ramp before that, which could possibly be the result of an existing car (e.g. one inside the car park) at the area before Level 2 waiting and then coming up the wrong way.

The incident happened at 8:06 pm last night and I spent 4 hours scouring the CCTV footage and the car park for the car to no avail.

engine depressed

I had to swerve hard to avoid colliding with that car and in that process, hit the wall on the other side of the ramp. I have a feeling the front compressed into the radiator. I only got back after 12 am and talked in the porridge forum for a while before sleeping.

front decal depression

I can’t report this as it is but I’ve spoken to a lawyer and has been advised to keep all my video recordings and evidence for a possible future litigation which has nothing to do with traffic incidents (24 hours).

I can’t really talk about the circumstances (you know how it is, in law, it’s always about the other side making a mistake first) but anyway I’ll head out to get a quote from the workshop I used to work with to see how much the car is going to cost me.

left flank

Damn, and I’ve been real careful since fixing my car too. :x

I call this slightly tongue-in-cheek post the Vagabond Edition of my continuing bread story. smirk

Anyway, if you’re in strict budget mode these are some meals with bread that you can go with and it’s still quite tasty…in it’s own way. ;)

1. Bread with ketchup / chilli sauce

bread ketchup

I read Roald Dahl’s first biography – Boy as a kid and there’s an anecdote about his growing years inside. He and his mates ate sandwiches with just a dash of ketchup to give it a bit of flavor while one greedy individual had his full of pork and wouldn’t share. I distinctly remember the meat being bigger than the sandwich.

I did this with those small leftover single serve packages of chilli sauce I found at home. You can eat it with the same packets of ketchup too. It tastes rather good actually, especially if you have an egg to nibble on.

I had sandwiches with a fried egg and chilli sauce when I was in primary school and those were my absolute favorite! This reminds me a bit of that. ;)

2. Bread heaped with Milo / Ovaltine / any powdered malt drink

This is again another one from my childhood…and it tastes fabulous, but rather messy.

bread milo

It’s for those times when you’re sick of dunking it in a hot malt drink and wants a different texture. The trick we used to make the powdered drink “stick” to the sandwich is sweetened condensed milk as a kid.

However, I found that kaya works too and the grainy texture of the powdered malt drink is delicious on bread! :)

3. Bread with wine

People have been eating this for well over at least two thousand years…B.C. time. Jesus himself gave the last supper with bread and wine (albeit his was unleavened bread to conform with Jewish traditions at that time).

bread wine

Just generously anoint the bread with wine and savor it.

It’s surprisingly delicious! The wine is one I haven’t even tasted myself, it was opened ages ago and I was half afraid it had turned into vinegar! It hasn’t. It works best with red wine, chilled. The dates are correct, Anno Domini means Year of our Lord but He was born long after 1 A.D. – there’s a dating mistake somewhere along the line during the switch from Before Christ to AD, it’s 6-7 years off.

I reckon it’s a fitting one for Sunday too with the Eucharist and all that. :D

I eat a lot of bread and this is my Top 3 list of essential bread spreads:

1. Cream cheese

cream cheese

This is a spreadable cream cheese that I’ve grown to love. It retails for about RM 7 for 200 grams – the same weight and price as those “mystery cheese” individually wrapped slices. I can’t say this is 100% real cheese either but it sure tastes a helluva lot better.

It’s creamy and savory! Made in Australia, the best thing about this small tub of cream cheese is that if you don’t consume it within 10 days it turns into sour cream – another *new* spread for your bread. smirk

I’m kidding, I don’t know what it turns into after 10 days coz I love the stuff.

2. Kaya (coconut jam)

kaya

Yup, this is a bread spread that we can count as our very own – made in Malaysia, something to be proud of. The word itself translates to English as “rich” and that’s exactly what the texture feels like. It’s a sweet concoction made of coconut and tastes like custard.

I usually get locally produced original ones (none of the pandan infused flavors for me) for RM 2.50. I also noticed that kaya goes better with softer bread e.g. the bran and wheat-germ types instead of 100% wholegrain.

3. Peanut butter

peanut butter

This is another staple of my fridge. I always go for chunky peanut butter – I’m not a huge fan of the smooth/creamy variety. I don’t like it cloyingly sweet either and I found this brand called Steffi’s Delight that’s made in the United States with no added sugar.

It really makes a lot of difference – it’s almost slightly salty and this brand also has visible chunks of peanuts. It’s cheaper than a lot of local brands too at RM 11 for over 500+ grams.

This kind of peanut butter works well with tougher breads like grain fortified 100% wholemeal/wholegrain. Lovely stuff, the only downside is the slightly disturbing use-by date of 2014…it’s gotta have a lot of preservatives inside for that kind of shelf life. :x

I still eat bread with the stuff in 3 delicious and dirt cheap meals with bread but have bought a couple of spreads to spice things up a little. This is just a continuation of my…er, bread story after the DBKL spectacle.

What spreads do you like and are you a chunky or smooth person? :)

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