Funk 2.0

Have been in a little bit of a funk last week. Feel a tad lost and antisocial. Perhaps my glum from last year has reared it’s ugly head. Maybe it’s me realizing that after this week, I’ll go back to an existence of a driver, mother, etc sans the performer. Maybe it’s my psyche protesting. Maybe it’s my subconscious not wanting to let go.

I’d love to be a performer forever. But sometimes I feel like I can’t because the other hats I wear will not permit me to be so.

I hope and will pray this through. I’ll let my light shine and won’t let life overtake me with gloom.

I hope

Weight goes up before it can go down

I’ve come to realize that. For me, anyhow, that for me to lose weight, it often goes up first. Well according to y gynae, she says the pill had been making me fat so we switched meds and only time can prove if it’s true. Because, it can’t be that I haven’t lost anything. I’ve been eating less for 3 months, been exercising for almost 2 but on that dratted scale it’s gone up. My waist has increased. Only light in this tunnel is my face has become smaller and my arms lost 1cm.

Today is rant day la. Nothing really has gone my way. I bumped a car, have to pay for repaint, couldn’t find place to eat before workout, caught in silly jam, forgot my trusty Polar. Le sigh.

The hang of all things fitness

Ok maybe not all things. But I am getting better. According to my trainer, Bruce, my fitness level has increased and so the intensity to which he will push me will too. He’s letting me rest less and work more.

Like planking. For a minute. Times 4 rounds. I. Nearly. Died. No laaaaaa I exaggerate as usual. I did some push up thingy, planking, more kettlebell swings, and raises. But the planking. It took the cake. I was sore the whole day after.

Not to mention the night before where I pulled something in my neck. Again. This time, the pain radiated from my collarbone to my shoulder and up m neck. Couldn’t do much mobility wise.

BUT, pat pat on the back, I did it and completed the training.

According to my faithful Polar, my cals burned after training has been going up. In the beginning it was hovering at 150-170 after exercising and 300 after the FIR. It’s gone up to 240-260 after training and 400++ after the FIR.

Not bad I’d say

Cals burned after 20 mins moderately intense workout. Felt really good!!

So today was my 6th session. I went to the gynae earlier and she thinks my weight gain is due to the pill I’m on. So we switched meds to see. I’m still abt 80kg (with jeans and 2 light cotton tops layered) but feel fab.

Today my arms are still painful from the last session so Bruce designed a moderate-hard cardio workout for me.

5 stations, 30 sec reps of any speed and 30 sec rests between stations. We did 4 rounds of that.

I’m writing the way I’m feeling atmo. In shorts burst of breaths. I’m still panting now even after my stretches and being in the sauna for 5 mins.

Today’s workouts had the cutesy names. Lol

We did the jumping jack, the sumo lift, kingkong pushup and the Jacobs ladder n elliptical machine. The first three were pretty hard to master. Hard to breathe properly while trying to work out my balance and proper positions. Hardest was the kingkong coz I kept slipping forward.

Was done in 25 minutes. Felt very good. Not too easy and not too hard. Next week I’m aiming to come 3x a week. Challenging coz of the time but we’ll see!!

After a week’s respite. I pancit again

Plagued with diarhea, headaches and finally my monthly, I couldnt go to the gym at all. Felt sooooo weak and horrid.

So with great expectations I went to Fitology again. I was SO gung Ho. I wanted to do everything and do it hard. I missed the muscle burning killer exercises and I wanted to see if i had improved in any way. Bruce said, ‘ I wont push you today. Just take it easy’, to which i replied, no, PUSH!

He said, ‘we’ll see.’

So. Taking me through the motions of strength exercises, we did some pushup things, (called the lazydog i believe..), arm squats, kettlebell swings and finally capping it off with a minute of the Jacob’s Ladder.

After the push ups and kettlebells, my arms already felt like falling off. I was huffing and puffing (not dizzy) and enjoying myself thoroughly. Only when i did the arm squat (u find a chair and place ur hands on the edge, lowering and raising urself) did i pancit.

We did 3 rounds of that and Boy, was it fun.

 

Oh and another side effect that has been grand since my 3rd session here. I’ve begun to sweat! I sweat in the morning, I sweat in the car, i sweat when Im working. OK. the sweating in itself is annoying, but Im glad i can. Sweat means toxins are being evacuated from my body, right? means my metabolism is working right? better than not sweating, i say!

Fitology-GO!

Heh. So after the first flop and second drop, I kind of mastered the eat before and drink lots of water thingy so i think i did pretty well for sessions 3-5. Bruce took me through an assortment of exercises. Some mat stuff, using body weight thing, lunges, push ups (i died) and squats. We alternated. Using the machines to build cardio and some strength, and then other sessions doing more strength training.

I feel heaps better. I used to be really depressed (not coz im fat and lazy…. hormones i guess) and tired all the time. I really started to enjoy the sessions. 20 minutes at a go seemed a breeze. time really passed fast. We tried really hard to fit into the time. As im still considered a “beginner”.. he had to explain a fair bit at each machine and all that. So we couldnt really do a lot of repetitions. At each station (4-5 stations) we did about 10 reps of whatever and we did 3 cycles usually.

I feel myself getting stronger. I have lost 1kg since I began a month ago. And that is really 3 weeks worth. Not bad huh!

Stuff that killed me:

Push ups. Oh. Man. I didnt know I had that little upper body strength!

Bicep curls. My left arm. Really “tak boleh harap” meaning hopeless. HOPELESS! I guess I’ll have to carry Chloe on my left arm more from now on. I seriously couldnt move the weight even a fraction!

Stuff I loved:

The abdominal crunch machine. Why? Coz i could feel my silly flabs getting the boot.

Superman. It’s lying on the mat, raising ur upper body off the floor as u raise ur legs off the floor too. cool right?

A note about Bruce.

He’s a pretty nice guy. Speaks decent Engrish and is quite motivating. I dont think I can exercise anymore without him. HAHAHAHA. He is neither a slave driver nor is he a slacker. He is nice balance. If you’re still doubting, you shouldnt hesitate any more. Just join lah. you wont regret it. I clock an average of 420-550 cals after each session.

AWESOME

Fitology Session 2

So my second session at Fitology360 was supposed to be a “test” session, where the trainer will bring me through a conventional hour long workout. We wanted to prove that you’d burn as much in 20 mins FITOLOGY360 compared to a normal workout.

So, having gone through all that vomit induced embarrassment, i was quite focussed to do it well. I ate a full hour before the session, and eating only a small bun thingy.

Bruce took me through a long warm up session and after that we began the torture session. hahaha. No i am seriously exaggerating. i survived this one. well. read on.

First he made me do 5 reps of rope pulling in 3 forms. a downward pull, upward pull and squat raises (30 sec a set). Went through that that was pretty ok.Burned but still survived.

Then he had me do the ab thingy. i was to raise it in 3 counts, lower in 3 counts. my first go at it and it BARELY MOVE A FRACTION. i tried it again. no change. i grunted. i heaved. i held my breath. still no movement. i guess Bruce must have felt pity for my nonexistent movement coz in the next second he said he’ll help me… hehehehe. He pushed the platform up so i could then control it on its downward swing. so i think i did another 4 sets of 30 seconds.

Then he made me go on the Jacobs Ladder (ie ladder of doom). It’s this unassuming contraption. Looks fairly pleasant and not overly overwhelming. But once ur on, it just goes on and on.

Once ur on and the safety strap is in place, the speed to which the bars move are controlled by how high you climb. Climb higher and the bars fall faster. Feel tired, go slower and lower. It seems easy HOR?? The first time on it feels like a walk in the park. You go at a steady pace. You feel great. Then you speed up. Your feet ache, your heart beats out of your chest and you feel like passing out. 30 secs on 30 secs off. Times 4. Hahaha.

Then kind Bruce says the magic words ‘You’re Done!’ so we (my heart racing somewhere in the room and I) walk it off. Stretch to warm down and collapse into the FIR sauna. Check my watch. Wooots! Burned over 400 in that hour session. Way ta go Cols! *pats self on back*

The pain of this life may be a blessing in disguise…

It’s hard to put into words what feelings I’ve been going through. I’ve been silent for a while because i have no words to articulate what i’ve been experiencing, in my heart, in my head. let’s just say dark is only the beginning of what has been going on there.

Funny though, I’m preparing now for a Christmas show. where jolly tunes and love abounds. In my preparation, a dear friend, Whye Mun, who now lives in Singapore asked me to sing this song as a special request. It’s not a Christmas show, and little did she know how well this song describes me right now.

i’d like to share it with you. That even sometimes in pain, is pointing us to God.

Blessings, by Laura Story

We pray for blessings
We pray for peace
Comfort for family, protection while we sleep
We pray for healing, for prosperity
We pray for Your mighty hand to ease our suffering
All the while, You hear each spoken need
Yet love us way too much to give us lesser things

‘Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears
What if a thousand sleepless nights
Are what it takes to know You’re near
What if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise

We pray for wisdom
Your voice to hear
And we cry in anger when we cannot feel You near
We doubt Your goodness, we doubt Your love
As if every promise from Your Word is not enough
All the while, You hear each desperate plea
And long that we’d have faith to believe

‘Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears
What if a thousand sleepless nights
Are what it takes to know You’re near
And what if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise

When friends betray us
When darkness seems to win
We know that pain reminds this heart
That this is not, this is not our home
It’s not our home

‘Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears
And what if a thousand sleepless nights
Are what it takes to know You’re near
What if my greatest disappointments
Or the aching of this life
Is the revealing of a greater thirst this world can’t satisfy

And what if trials of this life
The rain, the storms, the hardest nights
Are Your mercies in disguise

Breaking out the cardstuff

So a friend bought 6 cards from me this year. It’s great that it forced me to crack open the craft stuff. i had forgotten how much i loved the process. how much i loved the putting elements together. so here was the results. 6 cards in 2.5 hrs. im pretty happy. some cards were easy as they were already printed elements to it. some that i personally embossed (u’ll see my favourite one..)

My favourite card so far..

By the way, just thought to let you know that I’ve decided to give up my www.handmadegreetingcards.com.my site. it was a good attempt and i guess was fun while it lasted. i’ll move it back to my blogspot or the wordpress, havent quite decided so we’ll see! <3 Cols.

Helpful Holiday Hints!

Helpful Hints to Keep Children Happy During the Holidays!

 

Offered by Dan Gilbert on behalf of Primrose Schools, a preschool education that provides a balanced learning experience for each child.

The holiday season is almost upon us! For parents, the holiday season is filled with joy and a lot of stress. A big source of stress for many parents is what to do during the holiday break to keep their kids busy. How do you prevent complaints of boredom and not spend a small fortune on activities? What do you do to keep the kids busy if the weather is bad and you can’t get out? Here are some tips to keep your children busy during the holiday break from school:

1. Create a Holiday Activity Jar. Sit down with your children before the holidays begin and discuss some easy and inexpensive activities that everyone enjoys doing. These might include things like going to the library to look for books or going ice skating on the pond. You might even want to include things like watching a movie or baking cookies. Make sure to think of activities that you can do at home just in case bad weather prevents your family from being able to go on an outing. Once you have agreed upon the activities, write them on a piece of paper and put them in the jar. When your kids complain of boredom during the holiday break, all you need to do is go to the holiday activity jar for ideas on fun things to do.

2. Play Story Book Charades. In this version, you divide the kids up into teams. Each team will act out a story or pretend to be a storybook character. The other team must guess the title of the book or the name of the character. For a real challenge, try acting out Christmas stories!

3. Create an Art Box. You can put art supplies like glue sticks, colored pencils, construction paper, glitter, scissors, stamps, yarn, stickers, and other supplies in a box or plastic container. Challenge your children to make snow scenes, Christmas decorations for the tree, or even pictures for the refrigerator. Of course, you can also teach your children how to make paper snowflake chains too.

4. Put on A Performance. Using old clothes or holiday costumes, your children can act out plays that they have created. They even might want to invite in the neighbors to see their play once it is completed. If you don’t have any costumes or old clothes, your children can use scarves and pieces of cloth to create costumes.

5. Building a Fort In The Living Room. What child hasn’t done this when they were little? You can use various things to build your fort like couch cushions, old chairs, and sheets. Of course, adult supervision during this activity is very important.

6. Baking Cookies. Baking is something that most people do during the holiday time. One great way to pass the time and to keep the kids busy is to make cookies. Of course, you don’t have to keep them all just for your family. Think of donating Christmas cookies to the food bank in your area or your local shelter. You might even want to share them with your guests, friends, and neighbors.

7. Make a Holiday Scrapbook. This scrapbook can be as complex or as simple as you want it to be. Some families take a trip to the local craft store in order to purchase items to create their book. However, you can simply use the supplies that you have on hand. This is great activitiy to keep the kids busy and you will certainly appreciate the beautiful scrapbook you have created in the coming years. If you are up for a long term project, you may want to make a scrapbook that contains photos from the past year instead of just the holiday season. This would be an ideal project for older children like teens.

8. Play Whisper Down the Alley. This is a great way to get your kids to slow down and perhaps even speak quietly. It is also a good way to teach them that information can get distorted when it is passed down the alley! In other words, don’t believe everything that you hear.

9. Camping out In The Living Room. It might be too cold to go camping outside, but your kids will love to go camping in the living room. You can set up a small tent, or just allow the kids to sleep in the living room in their sleeping bags. You might even invite some of their friends to come over if you feel brave enough!

10. Host a Holiday Scavenger Hunt. This is a great way to keep your kids busy while celebrating the holiday. You can have them find holiday decorations in your house or you can ask them to look for holiday decorations in the neighborhood too.

With just a little bit of imagination and creativity, you and your family can have a wonderful holiday break free from boredom!