Last of the series of work-related parties I would be going to

I kena katok another $105 from a seemingly already expensive meal affair. This is the last time I am going for any more of the work parties. Of all of them, I had gone for the 1st one in each of the series - 3 in fact. I am going to say a resolute NO to all others.

Bloody irritating. I expected to spend about $50 max and ended up with a hefty $105 even though I didnt drink at all. WTH!!! Its irritating doubly cos I am actually trying to stay within this month's budget and was succeeding with a decent surplus that I could use to buy something else I needed and poof, it was gone. Now I am in the Red and exceeded my budget and the month's not ended yet. Plus the food wasnt that good. Sian.

Headed out with Quet and Tab on Sat. After Tab left for her show, I ended up buying 2 new T-shirts $33 and BodyShop products supply for $81. Notice how for those stuff, it cost another $104 which was what I had to pay for the not-so-fantastic pink party. Bloody waste of my money! This is REALLY the last I am going to. I dont care what they say behind my back. Its too wasteful a manner to spend my money this way. Look how my $105 could nett me so much more stuff that I use instead of passing them out through the bowels. Irritating... So I am 'pushing' these purchases to next month's spending. Hope to squeeze out some extra and use them to 'top-up' this month's negative.

Quet and I ended up watching Avengers the movie. Its a good action-packed movie, kinda long too. I liked that it didnt end abruptly. Though of them, I didnt watch Hulk 2 and Captain America, the movies. Like Black Widow, she's cool.

Today didnt do much except woke up, redeem the LJS family feast for lunch. Ate and exceeded my calories by lunch-time. But I am kinda du lan to care. Will make back the extra calories over the week. Its gonna be a tough one, so I wanna rest myself. In fact, I fell asleep so much this Sat and Sun. I fell asleep in the early afternoons or just woke up later than usual. I did try to eat a light dinner but the heat is making me crave for another cold Brother's pear cider. Hmmmm... my night cap?

Burnt literally, Ice-kachang n guitar

Yesterday I reached home burnt (chao da) literally. Had to stand under the scorching hot 3pm sun for 50 minutes as part of the mass rehearsal for an up-coming school event. Even though I put on sun block and used an umbrella, I was still burning and sweating buckets. I pity the rest who didn't have umbrella. The work day ended with me just rushing off to go straight home. Concussed really early around 8pm cos my eyes started to hurt gradually. I realized it's from the glare of the afternoon sun cos I didn't stare at the computer all day nor tv as much. Closed my eyes to rest n concussed. Woke up in the we'd hours of the morning. Man, earlier that morning kena bad stomache n later coughing fit... Don't wanna fall ill so soon. Still gotta a long term to go.

Today I am brain-dead from the hectic day plus cca. But I was inspired to pick up my acoustic guitar, tune it and try out 2 songs. Now finger pain from the strings of the acoustic guitar. Slightly swollen n dull pain. Guess the half year of not playing, thinned the skin of the fingers. Feels good though I still have problems improvising and playing the songs like how it sounds on CD. Take it one step at a time.

Today I suggested a food, ice-kachang to a colleague cos o the hot weather. I got the idea to eat that myself. Thanks to still bit of stomachache, breakfast was 10 grapes n kopi-o. Lunch was plain fried beehoon n yellow noodles. I had so much calories to spare, I could add the ice-kachang (can't rembrandt when I last ate it), ate dinner of 1.5 bowls of rice n ZCP dishes and still be below my calorie limit. Hope my stomach would be better tomorrow.

Collect Them All Syndrome, Health supplies, $5k extra, Lots of Monitoring

Today's my dad's bdae. Woke up and have to eat a large bowl of mian sian. Also ate a slice of fruit cream cake my mom bought for him. My calories was okay provided I didnt eat lunch again after. Err after that fell asleep about 11am.

Woke up near 2.30pm again, Did my weekly newspaper cutting for class and then I decided to head to Clementi Mall. My intention - get 3 things. First buy a Macs EV meal to purchase that cute Hello Kitty Burgerlar design. So also use the chance to eat the spicy nuggets. Second buy sushi to add-on to the macs meal for dinner. Third was to buy my collagen pills supply from Watson hopefully with 20% discount as its the watson's sale.


Went to the Macs, saw the Burgerlar is still available, so buy my spicy nugget meal, got 9 pieces instead of 6 piece. Small fries and small coke lite.  I think my "Gotta Collect Them All" syndrome is starting... thinking of buying the full set of the Kittys though I aint a Kitty fan? Why? Is it all the Hello Kitty by the female colleagues at my workplace is rubbing off me... NO!!!!!! But its like though the Burgerlar design is the nicest, I feel compelled to buy the other 3 - Birdie, Grimace and Ronald.... Urgh
 
Next headed to Watson in the basement, cant find it. Maybe out. Then headed to NTUC fairprice finest and bought a 4-piece mayo crab and a mixed 1 roll salmon, 1 roll unagi sushi. Meant to fill me up for dinner in case my macs wasnt enough.

Reached home, and it was near 6pm. Keyed in the calories in the I-DAT app to check my calories before I started eating. Erm... if I ate everythng I bought, I would exceed my daily calories for today. So I took 3 pieces of nuggets, half of the unagi sushi roll cos its cooked and 2/3 packet of the fries and packed them in plastic and stuffed them into the chiller. They would be my lunch for tomorrow at work. Ended eating 6 piece nugget, 1/3 pack fries, 4 mayo crab sushi, 1 salmon sushi roll and 0.5 unagi sushi roll plus 1/2 plate of cucumber from lunch, as dinner. Total calories for today - 1699 out of 1750. Safe! With 2.9% deficit to help against yesterday's excess of 16.5%.

If tomorrow, I can eat up the food portion saved today and stick to my usual Weet-bix n milk, my calories up is only 715. Definitely can have more calories for dinner, maybe eat a healthy dinner and save up the calories to off-set the excess from Sat.

Also this is my first time I am portion-controlling fast food meal I bought. But it actually helps spread it out over 2 days. And I found that despite me eating one portion, taste-wise I was satisfied. Also happy that the calories didnt exceed despite eating fast food. Think with a few more macs meal coming due to the Kittys, I better do this portion control thing and make it work for me, instead of against me.
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I was full from eating all the stuff for dinner, drank plenty of tea and water too. Then near 7pm, I went to West Coast Plaza to see if I could find the collagen pills in the Watsons there.

Coincidentally I met an ex-colleague from my twice-removed workplace. He looked haggard. We stood and I asked him how he was. I had worked with him before and he's a nice guy. I had gone for his wedding when I first joined and even his house-warming 3 years later. Really a coincidence to see him. He went into a 10-15min somewhat rant and summary and complaint about the workplace and how screwed up it still was. Wow... still screwed up after so many years? Then I realized yar, its been that long ago. I had left about 3.5 years now. Time really flew passed unknowingly. It seemed like a lifetime ago. I noticed he looked haggard and plumper than before (The irregular eating habits and stress of being an Educator is not good for health and the waistline) I hoped and think that I am better off now despite the current pay-cut. At least I still have my investments to generate a bit of extra to supplement the main wage. Though my dream of not having to work for money is still a dream now.

I just let him say and listen. Think it's good to have someone in the know, whom you can discuss and say things that really irks you. So I let him continue and make a few comments to agree with him. His story can rival my friend's Tab situation. Well... it just shows incompetence doesnt change despite the years as long as the same people are still around to perpetuate the cycle. Happy that his agony might end when he is finally transferred by this June. Hope to catch up with a happier him later on.

I went on and happily bought 4 bottles of the collagen pills I take, with 20% discount. It worked out to $19.04 per bottle instead of $24.80. It's 600mg per pill, 60 pills per bottle and the recommended dosage is 2 pills per day so each bottle lasts a month, but I just take one a day. Its a sort of maintenance so no need to eat up to 1200mg a day unless I am reaching menopause. So 4 bottles can last me 8 months instead of 4 months, that meant I have settled my collagen supply up til the end of this year. My glucosamine supply can also last me up til the end of the year. Great! Health supplements settled. Also got a Watson card and activated mine and my sis's later on at home online.
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Checking through the cpf accounts and poems share account. Agreed with my sisters to each pay $5k cash to my dad for the HDB upgrading. Kinda tough to squeeze out extra $5k from pure savings, so this year, I will try to save more, try to earn some more extra from share trading if market improves. The good is that my dad is happy with the suggestion and would delay the monthly maintenance, cos his intention was to build up a fund for the maintenance of the house. So the lump-sum would fulfill his intention at a go.

K, now is just to do my work well during working hours, monitor my investment, monitor my expenditure and savings and monitor my calories, exercise and weight.

Mee Siam but disappointing, finally some weight loss

Today on a Saturday, I went over to the coffeeshop next door and ordered a Mee Siam. But its chinese-style one. Ordered a teh-o ice instead of with milk. It helps to half the calories from the drink. Its not as satisfying as the malay-style one. That one would have to wait until another day. Didnt drink the gravy cos wasnt that good. Also bought breakfast and lunch for family. I am having ZCP for lunch - chilli sting ray, pumpkin and beansprout.

Well I've weighed myself this morning and have dropped 2kg unknowingly.  Wow, that's great cos I havent been exercising much at home. Just 3-4 times of conditioning so far, 1 set of push-up, crunches, leg lifts, dips. That's all. I havent started on the Kettlebell cos I am monitoring my left wrist. Sprained it before so want to make sure its strong enough first cos I've stopped exercising for a while. Doing some simple conditioning to strengthen first. Then will start when it's ready. I hope to reach the very difficult-to-reach target of  65kg soon with my continued efforts.

So this weight loss is mainly attributed to the calorie-counting and the food choices. I am not starving myself. I eat 3 meals sometimes with a snack or two (chocolate, crackers, even a beer or cider.) I try to limit the portions sometimes and only eat on days I have lowered calories. Just try to make sure I dont exceed my daily calories. As long as I do that, my weight shouldnt increase but remain the same. Then to lose some, would have to either 1) use up more calories through exercise or 2) get some deficit. Deficit is hard man, in fact sometimes I think, its easier to exercise. Except I am so mentally tired and hungry after work to drag my ass to the gym. Hence the buying of the sports equipment. I can eat dinner, rest for 2 hours and do some short conditioning exercises in less than 10minutes.

Now I am lowering my daily calorie intake to match my current weight. Now is 1750 calories. A 70kg woman's daily calorie is 1783. That means if you eat that daily, your weight stays the same. If your weight drops to a lower level, the daily calories required also drop, otherwise you will go back to it. It'll be a challenge to keep to this lowered figure. But these things really take some time and patience, that I've come to realize.

From last weekend's indulgences, so obliterated my negative, this week, I have been slowly re-building up my negative. Hope to end May with an overall negative to off-set against the high positive from Feb, March and April. I do eat 'high calorie' food for lunch eg chicken rice but dinner would be plainer. But besides the calories, I am trying to make some changes to my food choice cos of my higher LDL levels. So I have to be conscious of the fat contents. Sometimes the calories balanced but the fat intake is way higher than the daily recommended. This is also not good for the heart. Hence I am being more selective on both fronts. Also make sure I eat a variety of vegetables and meat so I dont end up with mal-nutrition.

There's some lifestyle changes I am doing and succeeded so far, find myself going for kopi-o drink instead of kopi for the few times I ordered coffee for lunch. Am still trying to keep off coffee by drinking water, coke zero and oolong tea. Have managed to cut down my Coke Zero from 2 cans everyday to just 1 can every 1-2 days. The rest is drinking tonnes of oolong tea. Will try to switch to less tea and more plain water. So far I have been eating the same breakfast daily for 5.5 weeks, on workdays. I eat 2 bars of Weet-Bix with a pack of low-fat milk. Simple affair that I can finish in 5-10mins. Then I wont be snacking cos of hunger. Sometimes the mouth just feels kinda plain, a fruit helps, sometimes a dark choc helps, sometimes fried crackers but with portion control. I diligently key in the food into the IDAT app and checking online.

I think indulgences can be there but there is a limit, the daily calorie is the guiding limit. Some self-control and conscious choice is necessary. Otherwise cannot complain when weight goes up and dont come down. That's what I've come to realize after all these while. Everything is about Balance.

Deprived taste buds, Darts, Craft-beer

I think I just really don't eat all those food I wanna eat for so long, coupled with the too many days of ZCP, that when I finally get to eat one of those food I really craved but didn't know I was craving, the satisfaction is immense. I have been trying hard but futilely to control the daily calories so that meant like if I ate the simple Nasi lemak original one, I ate a dinner of ZCP. Lunch is ZCP, plain fried bee hoon, soup, porridge, wanton noodles... Desperately reminding myself not to eat Malay Nasi Padang n curry puff. Dinner is ZCP and sometimes sushi cos of healthy n craving. So after a while, I didn't realize that there's some pent-up craving until I actually bite into that food. For example, Sat's baguette with the fried egg was so heavenly. I almost forgotten how good it tastes. Later we ended up there again and I had a Chicken-in-a-cup. So happy to be eating that. It really made my day.

On Sunday, I bought a BK whopper meal for dinner. Man, no words can describe how it was to bite through that tasty burger with all the meat, sauce n vegetables. Holding the burger with both hands and chomping down hungrily. Very satisfying. it's kinda strange that it's been so long since my last Whopper. I did eat BK, the chicken sandwich the other time but not like this. I know I can't and don't indulge in my cravings easily. Can't remember when was my last mee siam, fried kway tiao, hor fun, fried carrot cake, prawn noodles, laksa, mee goreng, ice kachang... The list goes on and on. If I indulge in one a day, definitely won't be able to balance the calories. So holding on tightly.
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 The dart pub we headed to was quite an experience. It's interesting to play it with friends using the Modern arcade-like machine. Got a set of darts thanks to Quet. The apple cider was really good apple juice. Also the variety of games made it interesting.
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 I headed to Clementi n Holland Village to run some errands. There's a rent n sell bookshop there, went to get the last two books of twilight. Cos quite long now so it's not too pricey. Also decided to buy the craft-beer I saw the other time; Brothers. When I looked closer, there's the Hobgoblin and the other beers in it's series. I bought like one of each, so that's 4. Then bought all the Brothers series except for the gingerbeer one, plus extra bottles of the Toffee Apple cider, so that's 8. All in, 12 bottles for $84. Average $7 per bottle, double the price of bottled beer but cheaper than the $12 to $16 outside pubs are charging. Plus I don't have to drink them all. Can consume over time to try all the different flavors.

They are pretty to look at too. I went online to check out their respective breweries. One is Wychwood brewery n the other is BrothersCider. These are their main range and like all craft breweries, they have seasonal beer but tough luck to find those. Definitely would be actively trying out such beers or ciders if the opportunity arrives. I did resist eating at EWF and bought BK instead.

Mentally tired

Bleah, quite siong. I feel more tired than usual. I guess partly is my increased load and increased stuff I got to show face and also do on top of the teaching load. Quite mentally exhausted by the end of the work day that I just wanna go home quickly.

My mom's back in her hometown in msia, Dad heading back this Sunday. It meant I help to dabao dinner mostly on weekdays and also sometimes dabao lunch and dinner. Really ate alot of ZCP. Good news is I am starting to get some calorie deficit -60%  gradually in month of May so far that I hope can use to offset the 3 months of surpluses in Feb, Mar, April... several hundred -225.4% of my daily calorie. Hope to keep the weekend binge-ing to a minimal, at least 0 excess.

I should try to cut out malay food such as curry puff, nasi padang and nasi lemak. They are really delicious and the chilli helps to stimulate the appetite but not calorie-friendly. Been eating some of these for lunch, hence even with a normal dinner, very low deficit or just ok. If I can eat more plainer stuff like plain rice with soup, yong tau fu, fish soup n rice then can lower.

This week, I reach home with the desire to drink a beer. Just to shut the mind up and keep it from thinking about work. Cos lessons just started, a lot of things on the mind about work. It's been tough trying to 'switch off' from the work mode. Am trying. I started doing some conditioning using my own body-weight and the resistance band at home. Will aim for 2-3 times a week, every alternate day. Then after body is more used then start on the kettle-bell training. So far I am resisting the beer. Also cutting down on the number of cold drinks I have after the TCM visit.

Feeling kinda deprived at the moment. Like taste buds feels plain but I'm full. I think I should go get some dark 90% chocolate with minimal sugar. I have my matcha chocolate stuff but cos of counting calories, so not so liberally eating them daily. Restrict myself to 1-2 a week.

Green pants, Chinese food, battery n restlessness

Yep thanks to Tab, helped me out by eating lunch at Lap Beijing at OC with me. The ala-carte was good too. Man I lover battered silver-fish (not those from books) The xiao long bao good. The sesame bun with meat n spring onions was nice too, though we thought initially the bowl of filling was a huge bowl of spring onions. The seafood fried rice was pretty good. Definitely a nice restaurant to eat without the promotion too. On my list.

There was a condition though, I had to wear my green Deaiguel pants. I ironed it and managed to scrap a look based on my limited wardrobe. Phew. The penalty is a meal if I didn't wear it. Man, kena coerced. I'm still not used to having my naked thighs rubbing against each other as I walk, but the pants were comfy. We walked down towards Taka slowly. I actually saw 2 ex-students of mine but they didn't recognize me. Phew. Didn't encounter colleagues. Maybe then they won't think either I'm in my late thirties cos of my confidence level and serious manner nor ex-military... Talk about misunderstood severely and being seriously stereo-typed.

I am down to just 3 coupons, LJS, Sticks n Big O. Controlling my spending on food. Partly not all are as cheap, partly all these eating goes straight to my waistline as I am not exercising yet. Waiting for my delivery of kettlebell, gloves n resistance band on Tue. Will monitor my ankle and wrist. Bought a mobile charger via Deals cos I think I need one. I am often caught with my phone on low battery or my mp3 player died on me cos I wasn't as diligent charging it. Carrying an extra battery pack would help. It's one with alot of juice 6000 instead of the usual 1800-1900 ones outside. Fair enough.

This time-out and taking things easy for the Golden Week helps cos I am starting to feel the restlessness that drives one into action instead of just stagnating and doing nothing. I think this would translate to me picking up the stuff I did gradually.

Ankle, brand new guards and a walking stick

I had sprained my ankle last tue or so. It's like a mis-step but it wasn't a bad twist, massaged it and hoped allwas well. Then on Thur evening, felt a bit sore. Still had to work until Sat, so I slapped on medicated plaster.

Sat evening had a level dinner.

Sun I was dead-tired, refused to go anywhere.

Mon was a work-day. Tue was public holiday.

Wed I ended up going to JB with dad, subsequently cos I went in with him, tired by the time I came back.

Thur supposed to have dental appt but later dentist cancelled n I put on weekend waiting list, met up wither-colleagues to catch up late afternoon. Headed to buy the Kettlebell n glove n resistance band.

Finally today, after lunch. I went to a nearby TCM clinic. I was thinking of going back to the one in JE but dunno the hours. My mom went to check out this one nearby and told me b4 she headed back to her hometown. I went in and ba-mai (Chinese style of checking pulse), asked if I want Acupuncture or Tui-na. I was told Tui-na is surface. So did the former. A couple of needles a bit painful but mostly is the suan (numbing) feeling. I remembered the other in JE is more skilled. I didn't feel the needles... Hmm decide if the treatment works. Cos the other, my left wrist not that fully healed. Sometimes still feel not fully healed. So the physician connected two wires to two ends of the needles. A recurring current went through from the top part to the bottom, for 20mins. My leg actually moved on it's own, ever time the current switches on and off. Plus a heater was pointed at my ankle. Then got my powdered medicine and with instructions Not to drink anything cold, due to the meds which helps boost circulation. Plus my own body is such that lungs cold n stomach hot, sibei jialat (shouldn't have cold stuff)... Kinda have to try to cut it out of my life too... Ya slowly.

Advised to rest the leg. I walked to nearby pharmacy to buy new guards. My guards were very old and some were not functional already. Time for new ones. In the end, I bought a wristguard, an ankle guard and a knee guard. New technology and design exists for guards so the material less likely to cause itch and irritation. My old knee guard always itchy after just a few hours. The new one quite okay. Like tha is another $57.

I decided to buy this walking stick I saw for my dad. He was looking for one, decided on one with a rounded handle, adjustable type. Intended to gift him that. Instead when I reached home, he was very happy with it but insisted to pay me back. Okay... But it's medical-grade with 1 yr warranty. So I stayed home. Only went out later to dabao ZCP dinner. The powder medicine takes a bit of getting used to. I am going to see if it clears up, then claim the treatment under one of theo or insurance policies I have. Remembered I claimed for my sprained wrist before.

Delicious Yaki dishes & EWF & Kettlebell

Last Friday, I met up with Tab to go redeem a coupon at San-Sui in One Fullerton. It offers grilled jap food, sashimi and others. I had done my homework and already searched online, the good dishes to try. We were seated at the counter, with a screen infront of us and can see the chef grilling the food. It was an interesting experience because the smell and smoke wasnt that apparent to me until later on when lots of orders were grilled. Service was quite good. Tab enjoyed her umeshu drink.

The verdict of the food - Delicious. The best grilled jap food I had so far. The fresh tuna slices in spicy sauce was very good too. If all raw fish taste like that, no fishy smell, fresh and chewy, I can eat more raw stuff. We ordered quite a bit, most of them were very good. Later on, FH joined and ordered some. But some stuff are pricey, so after splitting the bill with coupon, its $48 per person. But to be fair, we did order quite a bit of stuff. Some of them the pricey ones. We got a complimentary shot of sake each. I downed 2 cos FH doesnt drink. I was satisfied with having a full belly, alcohol and later

we went to Max Brenner for dessert. The caramel, banana choc waffle was delicious. Happily ate 3/4 of it... definitely over calories. But since it was the start of the hols for me. Just enjoyed it.

Erm its just I've realized that its getting real hard to have calorie deficits... and any extra I consume, I am definitely not working them off...

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Today into the 3rd day of the Golden Week holiday, work starts next monday btw. I met up with ex-colleagues at Holland Village, EWF. Had a "dinner" of vanilla malt milkshake, shared fries shaken in sour cream and the chicken wings. Very good. Erm today also over calories... so hard.

After that I headed to P.S. Its the new month. With the new month, meant I just put in my "monthly expenses" into the bank account. So bought the KettleBell I was aiming for for working out at home. Got the 8kg one for $80. Also bought a pair of workout gloves with wrist support $25 and added a resistance band with handles. These are meant to kick-start my workout at home instead of pushing to go to the gym. Been thinking about it through April. So they will be delivered next Tuesday. I hope to get started with them.
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Trying to control my expenses, hence still looking out for very good deals before I buy any coupons. Just left with Tung Lok, LJS, Big O, Tony Romas and Sticks. The rest, thanks to friends, I have been eating them over time. Kinda enjoy eating at different restaurants, different styles of food. Some I would consider revisiting if I am there for dinner.