"No pain, No gain"

When life takes a dip, one has to find ways to crawl back up.

The other day I tried wall climbing for the first time. To my not-so-surprise, climbing came naturally to me. I recall, in my younger years, I hardly stayed on the ground and every tree in the garden with branches that could support my weight meant territory to conquer. Even the instructor admitted that for a first-time wall climber, I did pretty well! It takes alot of stamina, determination and concentration to make your way up to the top. That said about a climbing wall, Life in general seems no different. Halfway through my second climb, I was ready to quit; "I'm done for today", "My arms are too tired", "I need a few minutes to rest", "That's enough", "I can't anymore" were some complaints thrown at the instructor who ignored my pleas for the most part and kept on saying "No pain, no gain". He managed to get me to climb the wall 4 times, when I was very ready to quit at attempt no. 2 and go home.

The whole experience left me with quite an impression, complete with widespread muscular pains lasting several days and a much-needed push of encouragement on climbing the wall of Life.

Time Travel

Here's a woman who does not have to show extra bits of skin to grab attention and make headlines. What amazing talent. Sadly, she sounds shattered inside.

On Stranger Tides

Other other day, I went to watch the much awaited Pirates of the Caribbean 4. It was refreshing to see Captain Jack Sparrow being himself and the movie was a good 2.5 hours long and well worth the money. Also there was time to enjoy a scrumptious vegetable topped baked potato just before the movie and we had perfect centre seats in the theatre! I would not compare this with the previous 3 movies, but I enjoyed it very much.

Halfway through the movie, my friend had trouble with the guy sitting at the back, who kept kicking her seat and the man next to her, who was busy talking on his phone. Trouble always finds this loud and short-tempered girl. The guy behind her eventually stopped. I suspect he had one of those nerve-related conditions where people involuntarily shake their feet causing things around them to tremble. I heard her get into a heated argument with the man next to her, who asked her to "shut up" after she asked him to put his phone on silent. I even saw her flick her finger at him in the corner of my eye. But I stayed glued to the movie.

There were many notable funny moments in the movie. One time, I laughed too loud to one of Jack's lines on the "missionary position" and realised that I was the only one laughing that loud in my area and the people next to me on both sides actually turned to look at me. It's not my problem if their neurones didn't relay the joke to the brain fast enough so that their grey matter was able to join the dots. Unfortunately, my brain is highly evolved into picking up things "off the gutter". I believe my genes from the maternal side has to do alot with it.

I have my eyes set on Real Steel next.

Caterpillar on a stick

An explanation to the curious name of this blog...

One morning, I was enjoying the blissful hours of morning sleep before my alarm wakes me up for work. I was woken up by my nephew, with a huge, LOUD "Good Morning" in my ear. That broke my precious REM sleep and after that I kept falling in and out of sleep. On one of these moments, I heard him singing a strange song about a caterpillar who loved to eat chocolate cake.

It was so ridiculous to the point it was just hilarious! It kept me in giggling all day in office, for its absurdity. That was also around the time it hit me that it would make a good title to my nameless blog (at the time). Several weeks later, we found he had forgotten words of two different rhymes and in his mind, put them together like a mash up!

Ratatouille

I had my first taste of "ratatouille" today and I loved it (at first). I ordered a side dish of it, and having finished it, ordered the main dish, to realise the only vegetarian main dish in a French bistro was eggplant stuffed with ratatouille and baked with cheese. I think I've had enough for awhile. So THIS was what the Remy in the animated movie, Ratatouille, managed to cook and impress the critic with!

Nearing 7 months, Mousehunt (http://apps.facebook.com/mousehunt/) has become a daily part of my routine. It just involves clicking on a horn to try and attract different types of mice to your different trap setups in different quests. The game is brought to new life for special occassions like Christmas, Easter and Valentine. Each player progresses in the game with ranks that sound cool (Novice --> Journeyman --> Master --> Hero --> Knight --> Lord). It is a very creative game, with a lot of time and thought gone into making it. The best part is, it is not the end of the world if don't log into Facebook for long hours and play it (unlike Farmville, where your plantations can die if you are away for extended periods of time), the horn sounds automatically each hour for the time you are away, so you still progress in the game without having to stay hooked on it for 24 hours. You can even send gifts and gold to friends and sell things on the market for rip-off prices. Never thought I'd like it, but it has been certainly interesting and has won my admiration.

The "Exercise" Cynic

Exercise is a fashionable word these days.

What used to be just physical labour or an active lifestyle back in the day, now consists of paying exhorbitant prices for gym memberships to run in one place or cycle in one place. Or it could come in other expensive activity forms like acting out martial arts positions, dancing away to pumping music like your are high on nitrous oxide, playing with giant inflatable balls, exploiting traditional yoga techniques and the like.

On one side, there are the young men who idolise fictional creatures like the Hulk and slave way to attain abnormal muscle to body ratios, thinking they must look irresistable wearing under-sized t-shirts that accentuate bulging muscles and the man boobs. Talk about the pure determination one can garner from peer pressure or social standards for acceptance! They are equally matched by young women who like to live in borderline poverty standards, scrimping on salads and soups and eating scraps of dry bread for lunch, shunning away painfully from good things in life like chocolates and ice cream while popping diet/ slimming pills. There is nothing wrong with looking/ feeling good and taking moderate measures, but therein lies a problem when it is overdone.

They do this for various reasons; to look attractive and stand out, to attract good-looking mates, to fit into desirable clothes sizes, to be socially accepted, to be healthy, etc.

Forget them.

I have a gym in my building, one floor up. It is almost as if I had a gym in my own home, going by the convenient distance and the free service. It's been 2 months since they opened it up, but I've only been there once. One needs considerable determination to undertake an exercise regime. It helps to "see" the prize atop the hill. And this prize needs to be quick to achieve with visible progress. Otherwise, most do not find it motivating enough to work out towards intangible results with post-dated returns things like "good health", "longer lifespan", "better quality of life" or "happiness". For some, negative psychology can work as a powerful motivator; "I am fat and undesirable", "I am paying alot for this exercise session", "I can't fit in that pretty dress for the party next week", "I have to look better than my girl friends" or "I want to go out with a hunk".

My problem lies in that I do not have a powerful motivator to exercise. I am certainly of normal body proportions, in my standards. Any more loss in body mass, and I will look malnourished (again, in my standards). I am young and without chronic ailments. My self esteem with regards to my body image is in the healthy range. I do not obssess over impressing anyone of the opposite sex with super model-sized body parts. Unfortunately (or fortunately), I did not inherit the eye for overly feminine clothes that are generally body size MINUS 40% body fat. Worst of all, I am lazy.

So why would I want to spend my precious time on getting tired, sweating out and handling the aches afterwards when I can, say, comfortably lie in a couch and watch a movie? Yeah, sure, if I did that, I'll have an early and horrible death. So what? We all die anyway, and there is no knowing how and when we would die. The process remains the same, you will leave loved ones behind who have to make the funeral arrangements for you. No, an untimely demise is not enough a motivator for me. I thought long and hard to come up with 2 vaguely motivating factors: getting some kick-ass feminine biceps (perhaps, if I said "toned arms", it would have been more acceptable) and increasing chemicals in the brain that uplifts mood and help manage mood swings (like they claim to do!).

Wish me luck...

Attempt No. 4.5 : NEVER say die.

Here is an irritating start to a new blog.

It was time to leave the safe haven of my previous blog (http://dammitshu.blogspot.com/). A place where I always felt welcome, a place which felt warm and safe enough to unload my burdensome thoughts, a relaxed place to peacefully rearrange and re-define my ideas. A place where I took refuge in for about an year.

But here I am again, blogging in a cold place, unsure and doubtful of how this one would turn out. This blog took awhile to be up, overcoming irritating technical issues, layout issues and naming ceremonies. In that time, I think I even stumbled on the definition of the blog-withdrawal syndrome!

I am, after all, a creature of habit who rarely takes a leap out of ritual or routine. When I do take one, I fuss and grumble and whine until I settle down. But soon I shall make a "home" of this place with my special touch.

So here's to the good in this fresh start; BREAKING OUT OF HABIT AND COMFORT ZONES.

Let's see how this turns out!