And I made it!

Was supposed to end up in the Curve, disturbing that Japanese woman called Riyo. But Teoh said the magic words, cancel appointment...well, it wasn't me, I swear! My patient called up and cancelled at the last minute.

And so, a mad rush ensued...it's no fun dashing off at 6.00 pm for a 6.45 pm class. Especially if you have to run up 2 flights of stairs, drive like a mad woman through traffic, park the car, dash up to the gym, change and finally enter the class. Needless to say, its all about the lurve....hehehehe.

Yesterdays class made me feel like babe, as in the pig.. and sweating like one. I dunno, maybe it was me, or maybe the air conditioning wasn't working, but the class was HOT. Yea, the instructor was hot la, but I mean it was stuffy. Could barely breathe. Had to run out right before conditioning, barely made it out to find BH downstairs, doing his shoulders. Have to say, for a guy who is sick, he still looks good working out...hehehehe.

Yea, poor baby is having a cough and cold, courtesy of me I presume. Have to try Eli's Vicks therapy. It worked for me.

On another note, another week plus to go..am so excited, but also quite nervous and apprehensive. What may begin as a holiday may indicate a huge change in my life...am at a crossroads in which making a decision will become harder soon. Life...its not dull at the moment!

Making Doe Eyes....

Prologue: After yesterday's bout of cryptic posting, we are now back to the regular programming.

Since last weeks Shanti's Combat night, had not seen Shades at all...let alone make doe eyes at him. Have not been stalking him...apparently I'm too busy stalking someone else.

BH and I showed up, observed the instructor, instead of our reflections in the mirror( like the good members we are), then had dinner with him, only to have him claim I'm "looking at him funny" and be warned that if we don't show up next week, he'll bitch about it. Woi! You trying to increase blog traffic arr? Just remember, Who's your daddy?????

Anyway, Shades class is always good lar..queing spot on, instructions always clear. If you wanna know how good an instructor is, just look at the newbies...if they can follow and are not lost, doing their own thing, then he's good. If it's full of regulars, but they're all doing their own and sometimes wrong thing, then he sucks. Shades is one of the former...so is Renee, who showed up last night, and Jason, Eugene, You, most of the step instructors, Eric and Lynn....acthelli most our FF instructors la.

Shades, though being HT for BC, when he heard Renee was gonna be in class, asked her to give feedback...that shows quite a bit of humility and have to give kudos to him for that. It shows he is constantly trying to improve himself, which in the end means better instructor for us..no wonder he is HT.

Over dinner we had a lot to bitch about....hehehe...deciphering cryptic posts all. Kekeke...But Shades, sorry lar dude. I only have eyes for BH these days ( sound of readers barfing)...after all, he's willing to bear the pain of childbirth for me..if ever it were possible lar. How to get a man like that?

I think my receptionist has caught on....

These days, my appointment at 6 is always taken...I just don't know though how my receptionist manages to get the 6 o'clock to come in late, thereby screwing any chance of me finishing by 6.15 and dashing off for class. By the time I get into my car to drive, Teoh's class would already have started. I wish I could disapparate and transform...that way I can apparate in class, all transformed from office wear to work out wear in an instant...sigh..

Though I'll miss Teoh's class terribly, I have found an alternative. Tried it out yesterday..Finally made it to Riyo's class last night. She actually pointed out that I haven't been in any of her classes since she gave up combat and that's eons ago! No doubt she was surprised to see me in her BS class...hehehe. It was a great workout..my bum aches, my legs wobbly. I wonder how I'm gonna do my weights today?

As for Tuesdays...well, there's always Shades, isn't there? It's Shades...can never go wrong one, sure to work up an unbelievable sweat. It's either because he's damn good or I work extra hard in his class..I try real hard NOT to curi tulang mah, bad for ego...heh. I guess now I really have no excuses not to hit the gym.

Thursday afternoons

Thursday afternoons are wonderful for me...I get to have a siesta, then leisurely decide where and what to do after. The last few weeks have been spent going for classes that I normally can't make, the 6pm plus ones. Today however, my plans to attempt pump after a year long hiatus were dashed. By a makan plan, no less. BH's mum's actual birthday is today and she wants to have dinner together.Well, pump can wait..

So, I decided to hit the weights. To me, it's a wonderful feeling, just me, my weights and my music. When the music is right, the mood is right, the weights feel right. And today, the weights felt right..its hard to explain that feeling, when your mind and muscles connect, as in you can visualise what the weight exercise is doing to the muscle, move it to the beat of the music and just feel the motion...it just hits the spot, right there..I'm making this sound like sex, aren't I? Hmmm...but seriously, when the connection is there, the work out is definitely more effective. Just ask a PT..also, the routine is less tiresome and dull.

Today, it was BC 17, all the way. I love that release, its one of those that connects with me. Most of the tracks were good. Of course my first memory of doing BC 17 has something to do with that.It was Singapore, a few years back. Was there for quaterly, which back then was held in Planet Fitness. Went all the way there and got my first taste of a quaterly and BC17..it was AWESOME. Of course the presenters were amazing...one white guy, cute, but forgot his name and guess who? Tracy Minnoch. Heck, that woman can teach any programme and make it fun...

I couldn't take my eyes of her...I couldn't stop listening to her technique ques..I learnt so much that day. BC came very much alive for me and I connected with the moves, the music, the presenter. What an experience..I wanted to come right back and do BC over and over and over again.I'll never forget that experience or BC 17. Honestly, even BC training wasn't as much fun as that one class...

Now, everytime I hear BC 17...hehe..love it! I wonder why not many instructors teach it?

I got an education....

On RPM that is. Eric educated me, now I know there are 4 formats for RPM..the normal one that makes my legs feel like lead right after, and like jelly the next day, RPM Challenge, which is a full hour of non-stop cycling goodness, RPM PLUS...one hour 15 minutes and then, there's RPM ENDURANCE! Need I say it? One hour and a half of GOF ( Fuh Buh Buh's acronym, i.e Groin On Fire). I do RPM Challenge also nak mampus, wanna do endurance ah? Siau ah?

There's a reason why Hazrin nicked me Shanticombat. ( y'all know him right? Skinny, mamak looking fler, teaches BA,BS,BP? Currently terrorising Island Plaza members?) These legs were built for shuffling, combat stances and occasional high knees NOT for pushing with my heels on that darn pedal. Eric was great, but my wheels were still barely turning. Stuck my bum out, loaded up more, so no more knee pain. Ended up with a pool of sweat under the bike...and now Bh wants me to train for RPM endurance? I'll do it when Fuh Buh Buh does jam, i.e when pigs fly.On another note, GOF doesn't apply to me anymore, must be used to having a hard saddle between my legs..guess I'm no longer a virgin,in RPM. Don't even go there, all you dirty minds you.

It was also nice to see Farid, Diha, Sunshine...your hair looks so much better this way, fresh, young, sexy. Too bad you can't comment. Apparently the PPP I installed comes with "added stuff". So some firewalls don't allow access to the links or comments. No wonder Sunshine disappeared for a while now.

I've been good, controlling my food. So dinner was just some tom yam thingy....not good, but not much oil also la. Had some slightly raw satay, which is acting up on the tummy.See? Been good..so off you go now excess weight!

Does BH have to keep his teeth clean just cos you're a dentist?

Shades...ever the joker, was moaning about his GF, and her pressure to stay slim just cos he's a GXC..heh. BH, for the record, keeps his teeth clean and stain free because I routinely bug him about it. I hope Shades doesn't bug Shades gf like I do..can the girl get any skinnier? Woman, I don't think you could ever get fat lar.

Was in uptown last night, BH and I had intended to go for combat. Alas, fate and BH's shoes were not on our side. His shoes decided to be left at home. Luckily I reached an hour earlier. ( see the dedication or not, Shades? ONE WHOLE hour earlier, just for YOUR class) Managed to get my weights quota fulfilled. I think I was too ambitious, because my entire body is rebelling today..am trying very hard to get the arms wo work the fingers to type this.

Anyways, rather than make BH wait and hour plus for me, decided to have chicken instead...we chickened out and we had Ayamas Roasters for dinner. Sorry for the lame pun, but I just couldn't help it. Managed to get home early, catch Traveller episode 7...huiyo, now can't wait for episode 8 and got Ocean's Eleven to watch us..not a bad evening, though without the gym bit.

Don't think I can make my quota for this week. Darn it...supposed to go for step tonight, but can't make Teoh's class. The other class is Eric's in LM, but it's LM...far right? Tomorrow lah.

Not so leisurely Monday in Leisure Mall

Mondays always prove challenging. It's a busy day, with many patients to attend to. On top of that, yesterday was only the 3rd day my new assistant was on the job, hence a very tired me. It takes a lot of repetition ( and patience) to train a new DSA, especially one just out of school.

Thankfully she's not all that blur and can pick up quite quickly, but the learning curve is steep. Just have to keep taking very DEEP breaths. Am amazed that my patients too are very patient once we explain the situation, enough to give the new ( and slower) girl a chance. Least she's not as bad as what I've had to work with before and for that, I'm very thankful.

Plus, the BOSS came back from hols and guess who had the guts to give him a status report on all the mice happily playing while the cat was away? The usual office politics, with a dash of drama and blame slinging thrown in is enough to create a huge headache. So, by the time I finished the last patient, I was eager enough to get out of there and into the jam around the mall.

It took me a good 45 minutes to reach LM. BH, who had left before me, reached 10 minutes ahead...but since he'd been pointing out that we have not been back in our home gym for a while...I felt it was ok la. After hours, everywhere also jam what? Might as well make a trip "home" where the canto pop stars roam.

LM is way different from the others...almost to the point you need a visa to get in...hehehehe. The official language is Cantonese, the official stand is...So What? We like it OUR way...hehehe. LM members got spunk, I tell you. They'll joke about fishballs, height and mannerisms and they don't really care who's on stage. If it's a class they wanna attend, they'll show up, no matter who's teaching.

So anyway, we were there for combat...it was 32 ALL THE WAY, I can't stress it enough, Track 1 :32, Track 2 :32 , Track 3:32, you get the point.Teeheee. After a week plus of not doing combat, I can still hook!!! But as BH said, no power. What to do? No practice mah.

It was Cheng and Nicholas on stage, both have gotten better since I last saw them. Cheng's instructions were very clear, timing is good and I'm sure newbies can follow. Nicholas has got more power, he just has to get rid of the accent. So the combo of the two of them, made for a very enjoyable class. The class was packed as usual, it's LM, its always packed, except for 5.30 classes lar. the usual LM suspects were in class, with a few who have gone astray...by that I mean to IOI.

Finally got my groove for combat back....am feeling it now. Mostly in my shoulders. Looks like I'm gonna be back in combat class soon...can't wait till next week when they start mixing!!! Will probably still carry on terrorising the RPM and BS classes, and might even someday, actually terrorise a Jam class...

Constructive Criticism

Funnily enough, I've been thinking about this post for quite a while now. I blame it on the current book I'm reading, Wild Swans. It's about a generation of Chinese women in China, the author of whom later migrated, but wrote on her mother and grandmother and life under Communism when it first began in China. In her book, there are many references to something called "self criticism" where people had to criticise themselves to other people in the community as a way of improving themselves and a way of controlling their thoughts under Communist rule.

Far from discussing Communist doctrines, my post is actually about taking constructive criticism. A lot of us can't. A lot of us do not know how to react when faced with a negative comment about ourselves nor when we fail. This includes me, as yes, I am not that great at taking criticism's myself. But at least after I simmer down, I try to figure out, what went wrong, why I failed and why someone said what they did. If in fact the negative comment can be turned into a positive so I can be better?

I have to thank a lecturer in Uni making me understand this way of thinking and learning how to receive criticism. Dr. Tii, she was the strictest one we had, very difficult to pass with her. On one case, in year 2, I showed her my prep, she said, no, cannot pass. And then went on to say " Do you really want to just pass with barely there work? Or do you want to learn how to do it properly? Spend some time and slowly do the prep, learn, then show me". Which I did, I re-did the prep and then showed her and she said "See, you can do it, you just need to be more patient and do it properly".

In my third year, for major cases, I chose lecturers who were tough, because I knew, if they passed me, I was doing something well. I still remember Dr. Tii's words, especially when I fail. I go through it, over and over again, analysing where and how and what I could have done differently. Same too when someone says " This wasn't good, have to do better" or something along those lines lah.

But I suppose a lot of people can't take constructive criticism, preferring instead to believe that they are never wrong, can do no wrong, and when someone says something bad about them, its out of malice, prejudice and hatred. To which I say, is it not those who are honestly harshest with us who loves us most?

Back to communism...we don't live in a communist country, thankfully, and we are all entitled to opinions. This blog represents my right as a citizen of the blogosphere to write as I please, within reason, about topics that I see fit. It's my blog, I may whine, rant, criticise and what not as I please and like I said, if you don't like it, don't read it. BFC thinks when I write gym related stuff, I will definitely draw some flak...oh well, Jim ( note sarcastic purposeful wrong spelling) Jihads will always champion.... goodness knows what they champion...but BFC is right ..................
So What?!!!!

BC 32

Ok, tried it for the second time yesterday. Have to be honest, this is one of those releases where if I where away for the entire duration the compulsory use of this release is in effect, I would not have missed it. This is also one of those releases where I seriously wonder if the choreographers have run out of ideas...or if they just did it haphazardly. Why? Repetitions, lack of challenge ( directional and co-ordination wise) , choreo that doesn't jive and music that doesn't inspire make me feel this way.


BC seems to mimic BA more often these days, perhaps to up the cardio workout. But what hapened to the inspiring choreo that challenged us and made us sweat buckets, ache and yet yearn for more? I miss those. Like Jigga jigga, like Push it good, like Vogue, like So what?. This time, the warm up was sooooo slow, I swear, I almost fell asleep. Then track 2 suddenly an increase in intensity..hard to accomplish if the warm up doesn't warm you up right?


This release isn't without some saving grace of course, Call me when you're sober, with the evasive side kick and front kick combo was good. But then I'm biased about evasive side kicks la, I like the move. As for the switch knee...errr....pass. More like a BA move to me.

BH thinks its because of the instructor...one gets bored with one style after so long. Ok, will try other instructors, but I have a feeling, I'll still be complaining about BC.

By now, filming of BC 33 would be done, they would be starting to film BC 34 and already working on BC 35 I suppose. I hope, sincerely that things will only get better. Until then, I can't wait till the instructors can mix tracks and will probably spend more time in BS and RPM...

A virgin in Eric's Den

Thanks to a hard saddle between my legs and a tough instructor, I am a virgin no more....in RPM lar...take those dirty thoughts out of your head! FBB is right , AAAARGH Pee Em is more appropriate.

Sweat buckets yesterday in Eric's class, my very first. Okay, have tried spinning, I mean cycling before, but never RPM. My one and only previous experience was in a Schwinn class in Cali. That was excruciatingly painful for a delicate person like myself. The bike was very uncomfortable. Walked out of that class still dry, walking funny due to the pain and swearing I'd never get on a bike again! Until yesterday lah.

Have to be creative with workouts post shoulder injury, hence the RPM and Bodystep on Monday. BH has been trying to get me into a class, with me always finding some excuse or other not to. Finally caved in and surprise, surprise, I actually enjoyed the class. Can't say it beats a great BC, but okla...at least I sweat right? Next time, shall increase the resistance more, since today I can still walk, no pain in the legs at all. Gonna try to push it next time. Yeah, there actually will be a next time.

In fact, there will be more next time's in RPM and in BS...BH is right, I have to diversify my workouts. BC is getting dull for me, especially with the new release...and since I can't do much upper body weights right now, time to look into other options.

But not Attack...nope, never, nada, no way hose! But then, that's what I said about RPM too before yesterday.

Finally back

After many many moons of absence in the gym, I'm finally back. Went for BC last night , worked up a good sweat, and feel pretty good. Of course the jiggly bits are back too. What do you expect? Three weeks of no physical activity will do that to anyone. In the words of "Ah Loong", my Cadbury has melted. Oh well...

I did ponder about doing PT again...but I can't bear to part with something precious to me if I did...money! 1000 bucks of it is much loved and better spent elsewhere, right? So it looks like I'm gonna have to do it myself, the weights training I mean, but all in good time lah.

Last night's BC class was good, cueing by FCI was very good, wasn't very lost at all. But there are a few things bout him that I notice now and I hope if he reads this, he should take it in his stride and as an opinion. I think his technique has got to improve. For one, his jabs don't extend all the way, they look really short. Fast, but short. Uppers ok, but hooks sometimes look off too. Elbows not distinct enough, could not differentiate his circular elbow from his hook. And his roundhouse needs work, not enough "turnout" I think, so it kinda looks almost like a side kick, but not quite.

I know I'm no expert, but when it comes to technique, I think I got it down ok, so though FCI is a great instructor, technique wise there is room for improvement still. I like Peggy's technique, its good and of course Tracey...the master! But she doesn't teach combat anymore. Lilian's ok too, haven't been to Renee or Terrence's class in a while, don't know how they are doing.

Well, that's what I was doing in class last night, other than working out, being a busybody and thinking/commenting on FCI's moves to myself. What to do? BH not around, otherwise I really wouldn't be paying attention to any of this...too busy laughing. It will be a while before we hear "Aik" in the class and female shouts too. Hopefully BH and I can survive tomorrow's task...weights in LM!