"yay! child pose!"

Today was my 6th yoga class and as I get more familiar to the various names of the poses, my yoga class seemed to get funnier.


Last time, when we don't hold our poses long enough, our yoga instructor will threaten us by saying "whoever drop out of balance first must do 10 chaturanga!" and nobody really reacted because.. er.. what's a chaturanga?

This is a chaturanga:



And now that we know what's a chaturanga, when she says "give me 5 chaturanga.." you can already hear us going "oh my gawwwd!!!"

Followed by the "urgh! urg! urpppp!"

My yoga instructor is super patient as she smiles and say, "OK good, now hold, hold, hold"

That's the favourite line: "Good, now hold, hold, hold"

And because she is so patient and nice, naturally you'll want to follow what she says and you go hold, hold..... not quite.. "aik!" *crash* *gets up quickly*... hold. Cheat at yoga!


Anyways, as the class gets smaller, the instructor has more opportunity to scrutinize your every pose/stretch/posture.



Just when you seem to be in a comfort zone with your Downward Dog, she comes to you and ask you to bend lower and have your legs go straighter. And another favourite phrase of hers: "OK, I'm coming to lend you a hand"

She says this ask she pushes you to your stretchability limits. Never did I know I can do that!

And during the one hour class, around the 45th minute, after we have stretched more than we can and held more than we could ever imagine, she will announce, "OK, now, get into a child's pose to relax yourself a little"

To which we will go: "Yay!!!"

"My favourite!"
"My comfort zone!"

amongst others exclamation of happiness. Well, there's not a lot of poses where we ALL excel in other than the Child's Pose.

You see, this is a Child's Pose:
Good right.


Anyways, I told my instructor that my aim/goal is to do the yoga handstand. And she duly did this:

"Is it this one?"

"Whoaaaa!!" went the class.

She said that some people can achieve this just after around 3-6 months of practicing yoga. Hontouni?!!

Cool. If I ever get to do this, I'll make sure I take a photo and post it here and even in Facebook.

going green

.... and I thought I was a bit paranoid with taking care of my little potted plant Bobbee and his new water-based sister Dee-Dee. When they look kinda wilt-ish, I water them and touch their leaves to make sure they know I'm there. I even introduce them to all my colleagues. But I just found out there are people who takes this more seriously than I ever did!

Maxine: Psst!!
Me: *whisper* yes? er, why are we whispering?
Maxine: *whisper* Ms Nora is going to give you one of her.. wait

*use her palms to cover Dee-Dee so Dee-Dee won't hear our conversation.

Maxine: .. going to give you one of her plants. Also water-based. You have to think of a new name for it and think where to put it!
Me: *whispers back* OK! Let's see... not sure. Have to see it first!

*removes palms around Dee-Dee*

Maxine: OK. I'm going to inherit one of the plants as well. Do you think Emily is a good name?
Me: Sounds nice! One of the more popular names.. but..
Maxine: Each time I think of Emily, I think of Emily Rose
Me: Yes, exactly what I wanted to say. Better not.


Our Front Office Manager treats her plants like her pets as she speaks to them and praise them when they look fresh and pretty. She's being promoted and is leaving to another sister hotel for her new challenges but sadly, her pets cannot follow... so we are inheriting it!


FOM: Its OK. You'll have a new owner who will take good care of you. Really good care, OK?

At first I thought it was just basically speaking to the plants in general... like how are you all today?

But she acknowledges each of them and with a meaningful look. Like having a conversation. No wonder they are so healthy. Wow. I thought I was alone in this world where I'm the only one who talks to inanimate objects until now! So, I'm pretty normal after all. Try suing me for talking to my plants!

On the day we inherited the plants...

Maxine: Awww... I shall name you Lovely... Yvonne, is Lovely a good name for her?
Me: Yeah, she is lovely after all..
Maxine: And you, Beauty... aww... tomorrow I'll clean you up, OK?


You see, Maxine is new to plants. So this is like her first baby. There is bound to be more fuss and frills for these plants. Like the first time parent, the baby has priority in everything. Even a place on her desk.

Me?

Maxine: So, what are you going to name your new family member?
Me: Well, I'm going to buy a bigger bowl and merge Dee-Dee with him and they can flourish and have lotsa leaves(children) together...
Maxine: How did you know the new plant is a male? How sure are you?
Me: hmm... I guess it doesn't matter.. they are.. erm.. homos...
Trainee: *choke choke*
Maxine: Hmm.. that will do.

oh, to be a taxi driver

I have given it some thinking. Mainly because I was taking a time out and didn't want to think of anything too mind-boggling. Just some menial things. Let's see. Scan through the archive of menial things to think about when chilling. Ah, I decided to think about how difficult it is to be a taxi driver in KL. Therefore, I have thought of the challenges faced by taxi drivers so we can appreciate them more for their services.

1) You think it is easy to be driving for long hours in a taxi with cheap fragrance?
2) Have to fork out hundred plus bucks to 'modify' my meter, ok!
3) Have to always decide on where I want to go and where I don't want to go.
4) Customers are not willing to pay 'flat rates' these days due to the economy! darn!
5) Have to practice making the 'face' when customers tell me some weird place they wanna go to.
6) Have to calculate fares. Meter Rm16.50 + Toll RM 2.00 = RM21 la! Got 2 tolls you know... RM 1 each. But customers don't understand.
7) I hate it when customers want to go to KLCC. Jam la!
8) Cannot tahan when customers ask me to print receipts. The machine never works!

Man... not easy. And I thought the current hot weather was the main problem. I always tell them to drink more water. Ganbateh, drivers!

what's with the weather?

Such beautiful weather today!!!


It is sunny and hot, as it has been all week, but is it also super windy! Nice. With my curtains making swish-swoshing sounds as they brush against the window sills, I almost imagined I was at the beach listening to lazy waves. Time to head to the pool.

Well, just want to note about something nice because everyone's been complaining about the weather lately. Everyone's been complaining about a lot of things lately... yes, me too! Time to look at the beautiful side of things.


Also, because I still have internet to use! hahahaha!! I'm running out of ideas on what to do with the connection. Paid all my bills, checked all my e-mails. Superpoked people on facebook and checked out everyone's walls and photos. MSN-ed to death. Googled for ideas for Mother's day presents. What else?!

Maybe I should go outside and play now.

wah!

So it is Labour Day today and I didn't have any internet connection and so after waking up at 12.30pm (excuse: I am on medication), I had lunch and turned on the TV for my pigging out in front of the TV. I AM on medication.


Well, if you feel you lack sadness in your life, turning on the TV at 1.30pm is the best way to feel the depression and sadness that you need. Wah. From RTM 1 to TV9, all sad shows! Even the Feel Good channel was not spared. RTM 1 had some discussion on some sad issue, RTM2 had a scene where a prostitute was crying while praying because she was forced into it while her evil colleagues told her to dream on, TV3 had a Makcik staying in an old, dirty hut by herself with no money because her son and evil wife duped her into moving out on the pretext that they want to renovate it to make it bigger and so they can live with her and take care of her BUT never invited her back to her now big house. NTV7 had a scene where a family is crying at a funeral and the father saying "it is all my fault, it is all my fault". TV9... is just plain sad.


There is no use of a flat screen TV if you don't have good stuff on TV. Or Astro. Or good movies on DVD. Let's see. Have watched Austalia (whoa, loved that scene where Hugh Jackman took a bath in the woods with that one can of water). Protege... hmm... let's watch again! Watching a movie twice is made OK when you have Daniel Wu starring in it. yum cha yum cha.. there goes my afternoon.

Halfway reading my "A complaint is a Gift", suddenly I thought... Maybe, just maybe, I can test out my internet and see if I can still use it. Bingo! Can still be used! whoa!! I wonder why... even when I don't top up! Its OK... add some shine to my day.


Yesterday, said before dodgy number guy called me to explain why my internet connection is slow. Actually, I think there will be less damage done if he didn't call because this is what he said:

"I have already asked my boss and he told me that where you are staying is under the Umbrella Effect.. yada yada (something I didn't get)... So that's why it is slower now. So that's why we decided to OFFER to you to top up at RM48, less expensive, because you are not getting the fast speed up to 1mbps. This one will change yours to half the speed. So it is savings for you! So now you pay half the price and can still get connection!"


Of course, I was speechless.


But, since he is so sincere in "helping" his customers, I decided it is OK. Just straight to the point: I told him that I don't care about money. I want the speed.

He said he have to refer to his boss and find out what other solutions he can offer other than the hint he gave such as, erm, you still want to stay there? Hahaha... move out to another place just so I can subscribe to your internet? wah.... very confident la this fella.


Now I'm really anticipating if he will ever call back and if he does, what solutions his company can offer me.