NARCISSISM IS NECESSARY

I’m hitting 24 in a couple of months. I’m no longer the spring chicken I used to be, where my skin was fine and my metabolic rate was to die for. I’m still eating like I used to (perhaps even more), but I’m finding it amazingly tough to shed the flab.

With age, I’ve developed a sort of deluded confidence about my appearance. While I’ve never felt happier with my looks, the truth is I’ve never been this out of shape. Two flights of stairs could render me breathless :(

I used to go to gym a couple of times a week, sometimes even twice a day. I used the power stepper religiously….my bum, thighs and calves were rock solid. My belly was flat. I could don the bikini and not feel out of place. However, nowadays, my bikinis have been relegated to the bottom of the drawer and my trusty old Speedo has become my new best friend. It supports and covers all the awkward areas, you see.

Then & Now :(

My gawd, I’ve seen mothers of five in better shape than I am! Heck, my own mother is in better shape than me. I’m sure many of you who have met my Mom would attest to that :P

Yeah, the hotter one is my Mom -_-

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not trying to get myself to look like a model. What I’m aiming for really is good health, stamina and strength. The thing is, it’s so hard to jump start my gym routine because I’m feeling so sluggish and bloated (that’s why it’s never a good thing to take a break from working out for too long, once you get to my point, it’s really difficult to return to your old routine).

I have meant to go on a liquid/white meat diet with vitamin supplements to slowly reboot my body before I trailblaze back to the neighbourhood gym but darlings, it’s really easier said than done. Everytime a work issue crops up, I find myself reaching for the nearest pack of salt & vinegar crisps. As the cliche goes, it’s a vicious cycle!

So, the reason I’m writing this is because I’ve been approached by friendly folks from Juvanex to review their 7-Day Detox Programme. Kudos to them for great timing.

Juvanex - 7-Day Detox Programme.

Ladies and gentlemen, it’s now or never. A visit to their website shows that I’m in desperate need of a detox….

Oh crap!

I’m going to start my Detox from today onwards and it will end on 19th May 2008. I will follow their suggested menu (minus the rice/carbs on my prerogative). I’ll try to slip in some exercise during this period but I figure I’d be too lethargic to do so, which is normal during detoxification.

So stay tuned as I’ll be updating you with my progress in this blog and hopefully I’ll look much better in 7 days.

Who knows, I might even be game enough to do a bikini photoshoot at the end of the week just to show off!

OMG do you remember how it was streaming video on dial-up?? The memories are still fresh. One of my first online videos….I think I was trying to watch the trailer of Golden Chicken, the funniest Hong Kong movie of that year and it was so painful. The video, which I had diligently clicked “small size” for optimum streaming on dial-up had remained pixelated and truncated. And since it was small in size, I might as well watched the trailer through a cracked glass.

And then, broadband internet arrived, changed my life forever. Okay, not that quickly really. I had a hard time trying to get an account in my area, Cheras, ladies and gentlemen. Imagine the horror I went through. All those agents I spoke to said they couldn’t be sure when the port or something like that would be opened in Cheras. It was like a fruitless wait. Seemed like I was the only fast internet fiend in town, so sad. But one day, my dream came true. They activated me account and I was on Streamyx baby. I’m glad the worst is over, these days everyone can have their ports or something opened in their areas and have speeding net connections at whim.

To be honest, Dad was the happiest of em all. Well, you see…he’s the one forking out for the bills. With Streamyx, I could stay on the Internet as long as I’m able to stay awake and still only get billed what, RM88?

But when I was on dialup Internet I could rake in bills close to RM500 on mIRC alone. No blogs, no facebook whatchamacallits. Imagine me as the angry mySpace boy, but replace mySpace with mIRC. Every ticking second on the Internet was $$$. The parents actually confiscated my keyboard to no avail. But they managed to stopped me (albeit for a while) by taking away the CPU, lol.

Angry mySpace boy. Turn down your volume and if you’re on dial-up, don’t bother clicking play.

So yeah, I can say that Streamyx played an active role in preventing me from turning into a family-hating, internet-addicted delinquent. Except for the occasional down times, I’ve been pretty happy with their performance and have been a loyal customer since forever.

Recently, Streamyx has decided to come out with better broadband packages for us called Streamyx Combo. Now, if you subscribed to one of Streamyx Combo packages, you could save between RM10 - RM133 every month!!! This is because, all of the packages are inclusive of FREE TM Homeline rental fees. In a nutshell, your phoneline will be free of charge lah.

Everyone with a fixed TM line can subscribe to Streamyx Combo and start saving some moolah, including us existing Streamyx users. Just register via any TMpoint outlets or Streamyx authorised resellers.

Faster and cheaper Internet for all. W00t!

It’s pretty addictive to watch. This is the competition I had wanted to join earlier but decided against it due to work commitments. Now I’m thanking my lucky star that I didn’t join. Cause seriously, I don’t think I’ll be able to bear with all these petty things that are going on in the house, which I suspect would lead to a profanity fest if I were there.

(Of course I’d would have gotten in lah…I’m so awesome mah *cough*)

I applaud the ladies for being able to keep their cool in spite of some downright stupid incidents…the tomato robbery for one. Hey hey Nadia…there’s really no need for such language. Cindy may have a fake accent sometimes but sending your regards to someone’s mother over some cheap-ass fruits sure tells a lot about your attitude.

To be honest, my favourite contestant was Valerie. I really love her spunky personality and she came across as really genuine. I was sad when she left but I figured she’s probably better off. I mean lets face it, Valerie is no model material. She has an enviable body, yes, but she’s not a clotheshorse. I’m pretty sure she’ll make an awesome TV presenter, even an actress.

Without further ado, lets check out the other girls one by one…

1. ADELINE

Girl has to work her angles better. In this latest photo, she looks like she has thyroid problems -_-.

Why didn’t she use her long neckline? The frontal face shot obviously doesn’t flatter her and I hope she realises this. “Pau Face” to the max. She’s a pretty girl but it does not translate very well on pictures. She easily looks like an average chinese girl albeit with better makeup on.

As for her English…alamak, cannot make it. When I listened to her praising her hair spa treatment in the latest episode, “Hi I’m Adeline, thank you for the Wella System Professionals to do my hair dance (what?). And I feel relaxing, I feel good. Thank you”. Think about the wrinkles I got from all those cringing, man.

2. CINDY

Whenever her father calls, hilarity ensues. I love it that she just complains, complains and schemes with her daddy while the other girls would burst out crying upon hearing the voices of their loved ones. Now that’s a competitor!

Modelling wise, I think she’s the weakest in the group right now. She seems to have a pre-conceived perception of what modelling is and is blindly living it. She poses well but can’t hold them long enough for the photographer to capture it. I think the girl has to relax a bit. Oh yes, her chin up pose also really cannot make it, she looks like she’s got a severe case of underbite whenever she does that. It’s not sexy, Cindy!

Cindy certainly spices up the show with her crocodile tears and random fake accents. To be honest, I think the Ah Lian of the show is really Cindy. Indoo poh and malai poh…ring any bell? ROTFLOLOLOL. She’s gotten quieter though, which is a damn waste I feel. Perhaps it’s the dawn of a different biatch?

3. FIQA

Fiqa is my favourite girl! When they chopped of her hair, I thought that it’d be the end of her. Instead, she manages to outshine her asymmetrical hair. Her long elegant limbs and athletic body are to die for.

So far we have seen her do sexy, manly, flirty and futuristic and she has nailed all her pictures. In fact, she looks like a different person, a professional model, in the Wella shot. Talk about versatility.

I like her demeanour as well, soft spoken but firm. Comes across as very intelligent as well.

4. HANIS

The baby of the house and she embraces it. I’d imagine a girl of her age would probably try even harder to fit in, but yet Hanis takes everything in stride and at her own pace. Without all the princess-sy behaviour. It’s really an admirable trait.

Hanis pictures are made up of hits and misses. Probably something to do with her angular face. When she poses straight on, she looks quite bad, but with her face slightly tilted, wah she blows me away.

5. JAY

Jay is my high-school senior. I still remember competing with her and her friends in a talent show back in 1997. Two friends and I sang and danced to 911’s You Got My Body Shakin’ (omg cringe time) and she and her friends did a Spice Girls number. By the way, my group won the competition, lol. Don’t play play.

Anyway, Jay has always been a striking figure, even back in high school. I think now with all the baby fat gone, she’s looking even more stunning. I saw her on the Female magazine cover and was filled with pride that someone from my school has made it :)

In this competition though, Jay seems rather safe. Aside from the Putrajaya shot (which was damn impressive), the rest of her pictures are quite forgettable.

I like the Wella picture, but I wish her lips were closed instead of parted. Her beautiful pearlies have taken attention away from her hair.

5. NADIA

The epitome of hotness. All the guys I spoke too would want to do things with Nadia. Things too provocative to be posted here. I can’t help but agree with them. The eyes, the luscious lips and that body.

She reminds me of Tengku Azura. I think Nadia will get constant jobs in modelling but whether she will rise to become one of the it-models is a question mark.

On a side note, I heard that’s she slowly rising to be the biatch of the house though…any insider tip on this?

6. RINGO

Ringo is one of the most beautiful and striking girls on the blogosphere. But in the competition, she seems to have been overshadowed by the rest. I believe it has something to do with her petite physique and lack-lustre pictures.

I think Ringo is holding herself back in this competition, I really believe she could do better. She has tonnes of better pictures taken prior to this contest and for the life of me I can’t figure out why she can’t reproduce the same effect now.

As it’s a popularity contest, I’m pretty sure Ringo would have no trouble garnering votes. But I’d love to see Ringo performs her magic and take our breath away with her pictures again.

7. KIMBERLYCUN

Champion to the max. Far out, with her willy wonka shorts and bf’s tee shirt, Kimberlycun deserves the Nissan Latio!

I’m going 24 soon and my boo is EVEN OLDER. So you can’t blame me for thinking about starting a family, right? Ok, I admit it…I’m dying to be married off and be a lady of leisure. Sigh…I’m dying to do things like dolling up my kids and teach them to flip their middle fingers at annoying sales people (oops my secret is out).

And it’s so easy to start a family these days. You could practically do it with just one single website - Mudah.

See, if you want to get married, of course you need to propose to your better half right? That means you need to get a blinging ring and flowers also. This bouquet of flowers also comes with chocolates, more to seal the deal and enslave captivate the woman of your life.

Bling bling.

Flowers.

So if you managed to snag that love of your life, well….congratulations! If you still haven’t…well, could it be because you still haven’t got a house? To convince a girl that she could happily start a family with you, you could prove it to her by providing a stable abode. Maybe get yourself a nice cosy condominium before you pop the big question, ye know?

Cosy condo for the family.

Am sure by now you’d have succeeded with your marriage proposal. If not? Sorry lah, at least you got a ring, a condo and tonnes of chocolates to eat. Now it’s time to make your life with wifey more convenient…get a family car!

For you, wifey and more new additions!

Now you’ve got a big car…it’s time to breed! Set free the swimmers…ho ho ho. When you got many, many babies, you need to be prepared also right? Safety is important so get a baby car seat for your family car.

Baby car seat. So pretty. Bright like an apple

Then what do you do when the babies won’t sleep? Who needs a foreign maid, just buy a baby bouncer thing! Instant snooze time, hello?

Boing, boing, boing. ZZZZZ.

You could also find diapers for your spawns okay. Imported from Korea one and good for overnight use.

Important baby diapers. That’s not my baby, btw.

And lastly, for a secure, enviable life, get a vacation home. Preferably up the hills among the clouds. Like this yummy looking apartment here in Bukit Tinggi!

Sleep amongst the clouds.

Ladies and gentleman, your life is perfect now.

Wait…not so fast.

Lets rewind back the tape a bit. How on earth you going to do all this proposing thing, buying house thing without having a date first? You would need a woman for proposing to begin with right!? Well, unfortunately you can’t get a date from just one website :(

I know this because I’ve tried….

My ad rejected :(

Though rest assured, you’ll get every other things from Mudah lor… Hehehe.

p/s: Boo if you’re reading this, I absolutely think you should check out Mudah!!!

When I received an invitation by Melium Group to savour the signature offerings at their latest venture, Yo! Sushi, I was so happy okay. I’ve been to the place before and was so impressed with the quality of food I’ve already proclaimed it to be one of my favourite Japanese restaurants.

Yo! Sushi is a conveyor belt sushi restaurant in Pavilion, similar in concept to joints like Genki or Sakae but with way, way, way better quality sushi. They’ve just opened another outlet in Gardens too. The price is of course slightly higher but not that expensive that it makes the “food washes down your spine” (only my FOB brethren will understand this). They’re also very particular about freshness, none of their sushi would stay on the belt for more than 2 hours, something I feel is rather important for Japanese restaurants.

Armed with my D70s and 50mm F1.4, I checked out Yo! Sushi with ShaolinTiger.

Did a little camwhoring while waiting for ST at the petrol station. Check out my new acquisition!

Straw hat inspired bag.

I love this bag. The reason why I love it so much is because I could fit in a whole dSLR into the bag plus my bulky aunty purse and all other miscellaneous stuff and still look kind of…young.

Fits everything.

I ought to practise more with taking pictures of myself. They’re always either blur or underexposed. Sometimes I look damn dopey I wonder if I come across like that to other people -_-

I mean look at this! This picture make my skin crawl okay…

Deliberately enlarged eyes.

And a shot at being emo…..

So blur and stupid. I think cause the car was moving already.

Okay sorry, this is supposed to be a post about sushi! :P

These are the pictures I took with my D70s in Yo! Sushi. Just look at them……processing the pictures made my belly growl so much.

Sushi belt.

I eat salmon sashimi at least twice a week and I’ve developed a taste for the good ones. I used to be damn happy to hit a buffet and eat as much salmon sashimi as I could but I’ve realised now that those places are serving sub par sashimi…sliced so thinly so that when you dunk ‘em into the wasabe/soy sauce you wouldn’t be able to taste the fish at all. They’re also very slimy…..ewww.

As for the salmon slices in Yo! Sushi, they’re excellent! Fresh, fat, meaty and very reasonably priced. They come in various styles as well…marinaded with dill/wasabe or covered in sesame or eat it as a salad. Take your pick.

Sashimi feeds my soul.

Glorious salmon.

One of my favourite things about eating in Yo! Sushi is watching the chefs in action. Watching them bringing out fresh slabs of salmon and preparing them on the spot made me feel secure about having the second, third and forth serving….hahahaha.

Sushi kungfu.

I also love their non-salmon offerings. Namely the mushroom-only dish. I love my mushrooms, if I could I’ll have them with everything. I must have had about 3 servings of these…

Just mushrooms!

I can’t remember what this was…but I remember it being really good. Duck, I think.

Delicious duck roll.

And the best of the lot….OMG. Salmon, cream cheese and avacado inside out roll. This would what I call a match-made in heaven.

Salmon, cream cheese and avocado ISO roll.

The eggplant was so-so…..but the salmon and cucumber salad behind it was awesome.

Eggplant.

Casey the emcee.

The black cod miso is also one of their signature dishes. I could have had 5 of these but I stopped at 3 because I got a bit embarrassed hogging all the good stuff and depriving others of them :P

Black cod miso that melts in your mouth.

By the way, this is not an advertorial. I actually really love this place and I think I should spread the word before they close down because some people think that Genki is better (seriously, how can??!). Freakin’ hope they’ll open one in 1 Utama too cause as at now, I have to contend with their latest branch in Gardens, Mid Valley which is not too far.

Oooh and look what I’ve got from the party…..

Many, many sushi! Muahahahahahhahaa!

And errr…I’ve also realised that I’ll probably never make it in food photography. I have too little patience for it, all I ever want to do is eat first -_-

Recently, I received a product called Nike+ from the good folks in Nike Malaysia. It’s supposedly beneficial to my workout routine and I was more than happy to review it.

A little background first…

Nike+ is a collaboration between Nike and Apple. What can I say, it’s a match made in heaven - Nike with the best trainers around and Apple, with the most desirable compact/portable music player in the market. Nike+ is essentially a smart device that syncs your iPod with the movement of your feet or foot strike (ie: Nike trainers), tracking your performance and giving you the extra boost during your workout.
I was given the Nike+ Sport Kit (consist of two devices, namely the sensor and the receiver), a pair of booootiful Nike+ trainers and an iPod Nano.

Nike+

Before I incorporate Nike+ into my workout, I customised the iPod using iTunes programme on my laptop. All I needed to do was plug the iPod into my laptop with a USB cable. iTunes programme auto-detected the iPod and I transfered the music I wanted into the iPod. I was also prompted to join nikeplus.com, which I did.

After I was satisfied with my song selection, it’s time for the real deal. I inserted the sensor into the trainers. It was cool, removing the sole and finding a little hole made just for the device. I felt very high tech, ok.

Inserting the sensor into the Nike+ trainers.

Voila!

The receiver, on the other hand, was plugged into the iPod.

Now your iPod is Nike+ friendly.

At this point, I could further customise my workout plan on the iPod. First I set my current weight…

All I need to lose is 5 kilos and I’ll be a happy camper.

Then I selected my prefered workout target: Time, Distance or Calories.

In my case, it’s Time and my target was 30 minutes.

And that was it. Easy peasy.

By the way, there’s also a PowerSong function where I could set my “power song” for that extra boost in the midst of my workout. It will be played when I press the middle button of the iPod. Great for when I felt like on the verge of giving up!

So I got to my gym, all excited in trying out Nike+.

Look at my boooooooootiful Nike+ trainers.

I started my workout and activated Nike+ by making a few steps in my boooooootiful Nike+ trainers and almost immediately both devices began to sync. The iPod detected my footstrikes and began to play my first workout song.

This is what you see when Nike+ is activated for workout.

In all my sweaty glory.

As I ran on the treadmill, a sexy, manly voice reminded me of how much time I’ve ran. I’m freaking loving it, nuf’ said.

I successfully completed my routine and was excited to check out my performance.

Not too bad for a lazy arse like me.

Back at home, I plugged in the iPod to my laptop. Logged on to nikeplus.com and had my workout data downloaded to the site. I was able to compare my current performance with my last, join challenges and many more. It’s a bustling community for health and fitness conscious people.

My dashboard on nikeplus.com, tracking my workout performance.

Nike is currently running a promotion at its Mid Valley and KLCC stores. For every pair of Nike+ enabled shoes, you’ll get a Nike+ Sport Kit, FOR FREE! Remember to download the voucher from www.nikeplus.com.my to qualify for the offer. The promotion runs till end October (or till stocks last) so quickly get your lazy arse ASAP to Mid Valley or KLCC. By the way, it doesn’t include iPod ok?

Pros:

With Nike Plus, I’m able to track my performance and have the data saved for future reference.

Before I used Nike Plus, I felt that the tracking feature of the treadmill itself is good enough but I realised after about 5 jogs, there’s no way I could remember how I perform the previous time. Hence, I would have trouble setting an accurate workout target for myself. How much faster should I jog this time? How much further? All the answers to these questions eluded me as I had not remembered the facts and figures of my previous performance. Factor in the performance targets for other machines….the stepper, the bicycle, the cross trainer, how to remember so many things?

Besides, with Nike Plus you can absolutely venture outdoors for running/brisk walking and have your performance accurately tracked.

And then there are the motivational voices that comes with Nike Plus. It’s like having a personal trainer in your ears…asking you to keep up and telling you how much more you’ve got to do. Of course, it’s not like having a real personal trainer but it’s certainly the next best thing. Great for me because I’m a health conscious person but always lack the motivation and discipline to achieve my fitness goals. PowerSong is a wonderful feature, injecting that extra boost when you feel like the legs are going to buckle.

Cons:

I’m under the impression it’s only for running. Would be great if it can be used for rope skipping, climbing and other forms of workouts.

Verdict:

I love it!!!

Thanks to TV Smith, I got a ticket to watch Frogway at Actor’s Studio, Bangsar Shopping Centre. First thought, wtf…frogs? Too random right. And what’s more, it’s a musical! The actors will be playing singing frogs? I mean seriously, I was almost sure the show is going to suck. Playing singing frogs, calling for the rain issit? By the way, it did rain the whole day.

Katak oh katak,
Kenapa panggil hujan?

Macam-mana aku tak panggil,
Ular nak makan aku - ular nak makan aku

Ular oh ular,

Kenapa nak makan katak?

Macam-mana aku tak makan,
Memang makanan aku - memang makanan aku!!!

I went anyway, what do you call it? Morbid curiosity, ya.

A sypnosis of the musical….

Eddy, a singing frog, is rejected by his pond community because frogs aren’t supposed to sing! He leaves the pond, and the love of his life, to seek his fame and fortune downriver at the Swamp. Here Eddy’s singing talent propels him to stardom with the help of two cunning agents, a Snake and a Stork. He reaches the top of the entertainment world when he gets to perform on ‘Frogway’.

But fame, fortune and riotous living take their toll on our star. Blinded by pride and rejection, he turns to the dark side and dumps his best friend Freddy the Toad. To his horror, Eddy stumbles upon a dastardly plot by his agents to rob him of his fortune before killing and EATING him.

Okay, it was good!!! Singing frogs were good stuff.

The musical opened with beautiful music played by a live band just behind the gigantic fake weed (we’re supposedly at a pond, you see). And then Mr. Thor Kah Hoong (last seen him on The Homecoming) emerged in the funkiest looking costume as Horatio the geriatric frog. By the way, Mr. Thor always reminds me of Bob Dylan for some reason.

One by one, the actors came on stage to complete the story of Frogway. Vince of Akademi Fantasia’s fame played Eddy the frog flawlessly. Okay, I’m going to say this, televisions don’t do justice to his voice at all, I’ve always thought his singing was quite so-so, but I was so wrong. Dude sang really bloody well and whenever he opened his mouth I was blown away. Ash Nair as Freddy the Toad, well, at first I thought he’s just a tad too skinny to play a toad but he really pulled his performance up a notch to make up for his slimness (envy, envy) with incredibly strong vocals and stage presence.

Helen the Fish, Shirley the Frogette, Freddy the Toad, Eddy the Frog and Horatio the Old Frog.

Ina Fabregas as Helen the Fish, well casted! Playing a fish is certainly no easy feat, but the girl sang like a pro while continuously moving her arms (to simulate fins) at the same time! Impressive stuff, okay. And her costume was soOo beautiful (kudos to Shegar, the costume designer). Her little sister, Marialle Fabregas was also in the show as one of the Frogettes. Can you believe it, only 14 years old!

There’s a Japanese frog named Shirley among the Frogettes and it’s played by Chelsia Ng. Chelsia Ng was not just playing Shirley, she was Shirley! How the hell did she get that authentic Japanese accent? I have no idea but I have all the respect for her.

The Frogettes

When Harith Iskandar and Elaine Daly came out as Smiley the Snake and Suzanna Stork respectively, the hall was roaring with laughter. He’s the funny man as usual but I have to point out that Harith’s hissing was so contagious I kept hearing hissing in the audience. As for Elaine Daly, so gorgeous, eventhough in that ridiculous wig. I’ve always known her as a model (I even had a picture of her pinned to my wall several years ago to motivate my weight loss rotflol) so seeing her act, and so well to boot, really left me in awe.

Harith Iskandar as Smiley the Snake.

Elaine Daly as Suzana the Stork, giving Eddy the Frog the evils.

I totally recommend checking this musical out. Written by Marcel Nunis, directed by Harith Iskandar and composed by Michael Veerapen, Frogway is heartwarming, the singing is fabulous and there will definitely be no shortage of laughter. Details of the musical as follow:

Show details:
23-29 and 31 Aug, and 1 Sept 2007: 8.30pm
25,26 August and 1,2 September: 3pm

Venue:
Actor’s Studio, Bangsar Shopping Centre

Tickets:
RM100, RM80, RM60
*15% discount on Monday and Tuesday.
*50% off full ticket prices for students and senior citizens.(Only one discount applies)
*RM2 Axcess Ticketing Fee applies

Tel:
03 2094 0400

E-Mail:
tickets@theactorsstudio.com.my

Contact Us:
lagu.sr@gmail.com

Source: Frogway Musical