a long long day

another one of em 11-7 days. but today the principal had to leave early and she left a 'special child' ,whom she handles, with me. he's 6 and we suspect he is autistic, but his parents don't think there's anything wrong with him. i know its hard for parents to deal with the fact that their child may not be 'normal' but when he bites and scratches his friends, threathens to beat them with his chair and also says he wants to "kill them", i think the parents are being unfair not only to their child-who obviously isn't getting the kind of attention he deserves- but also to the school and the parents of his peers.

my mother teaches special kids from home so i kinda knew what to expect. ivan (as in the terrible) was relatively calm in my class but it left me completely drained. i can't tell u how glad i am that tomorrow's friday. and that my tuition kid decided to sleep in and couldn't wake up in time for class.

shopping in the back of my wardrobe

i was just lamenting to a friend earlier (hi grace) that i've got very little clothes that fit me now. so after another one of them after dinner walks to the supermarket, i started looking thru some of the clothes in the 'memorobilia of how thin i used to be' pile just to see how far i've gotta go.... and guess what?! i found a coupla skirts(size 14) that not only fit but are actually looser than they've ever been. yay for me. only thing i've gotta do first tho is to set up an appointment to get waxed.

my mum was probably happier than me that i was able to get into my 'thin' clothes (probably because it means avoiding an imminent shopping trip) that she volunteered to take some pictures. here they are...

due to the magic powers of black u can't quite make out the jelly belly... make no mistake tho, its there.but hey i'm a work in progress and my legs aint half bad.

gotta get thru this

first i've gotta give my bro props, technically my bro's gf, for allowing me to learn how to get my own tagboard off his own blog. u the (technologically adept) WOMAN sumz.

so now that we've covered what a pleasant, tingly feeling my new tagboard gives me, time to move on i think. worked the afternoon shift today- 11 to 7- only, some parents were late collecting their kids and i left the centre at 7.15ish. poor kids. i remember hating to be the last one to be picked up.i don't mind working in the afternoon cos obviously its more money, but also because there are only 5 kids in the afternoon,all of whom are girls. a much easier bunch to deal with. so from on i'll be doing afternoons on tues and thurs.

it'll be cool only i've got tuition at 7.30! thankfully for fasting i had already postponed it to 8. but it was a rush nonetheless.

fasting has been ok thus far.i've been reflecting a lot on the events of the last year and have had many a conversation with God. i feel a sense of tranqulity during this time of the year and especially enjoy how it brings a family closer together.

i have been careful to not overeat during break-fast, and although i'm eating carbs at night i try to not eat anything 2hrs before i go to bed. my daily exercise consists of walking to and from school and occasionally to the ntuc near my house. i hope to maybe add one to two days at the gym during the weekend...but have yet to figure out the semantics to how this would work while me not ending up comatose.

have gotta go hit the sack now, for its another early day tomorrow. hoping to get the kiddies to make children day cards. will need all the strength i can muster...

a 60s gal

have some exciting news...as of today i weigh 69.3 kg. a milestone of sorts for me. can't remember the last time i weighed this little...probably in primary school. at this weight i'm still on the rather fleshy side tho, so i think for my frame i need to be in the 50s. i'll be ecstatic when i reach 60 tho...i'm gonna take it a kilo at a time. been out with my bro and my cousin (a different one from the one who was here a few weeks ago). went to billy bommers and had a chocolate cake called original sin. i've had more sinful but it was a welcome diversion from the usual diet.oh have i mentioned i've developed rather impressive triceps...now on to the abs

last chance to hit the gym before fasting

as of yesterday i've been working at the childcare for 2 weeks now. i may have found a way to get the kids to listen to me after all and maybe at the same time safeguard my voice. the dragonlady routine wasn't working for me cos that just aint me. from wednesday onwards i have been the more mellow (but firm when required) and motherly, which seems to be working. even the naughty boys do what i say. another important thing to keep my sanity- making sure they have sufficient work to last them the entire day. the minute they are free, all hell breaks loose. but when i start again on monday i'll be fasting, so God give me strength.

speakin of fasting, this'll be the first time without dad. he was one of those who were very gung ho bout the whole thing and would never miss tarawe (?) prayers. he used to be so excited going to arab street to buy goodies to break fast as well as for sahur . it'll certainly be different without him.

am gonna head out to the gym in a bit, to get in one last workout before fasting starts. it'll be too hard to make it after break fast because i stay one hour away from the gym. maybe i'll start walking in the evenings. maybe i'll go for tarawe.

went to the polyclinic for a referral for the knee on thurs. my appointment with the specialist is on friggin nov. 1st. that's public healthcare for u. didn't go to the gym yesterday and instead slept most of it away, partly because i have been exhuasted- what with going to the gym from work and then marking,etc- and partly because the flu medicine causes drowsiness.

on a related note since i'm gonna be fasting, my no-carb-at-night diet is gonna go out the window, for a month at least. as austin powers would say- yeah baby!

have a great weekend everybody and happy fasting to all my muslim friends...

monday blues

i have to fess up to skipping my workout today. my knee is hurting real bad. i think its due to 2 consecutive days of cardio. think perhaps i should alternate longer sessions with shorter less intensive ones, where i focus more on weight training. school was horrible. the students don't really listen to me, which is a concern. i have to toughen up and enforce the thinking corner starting tomorrow.

have planned to meet up with a friend from uni tomorrow, whom i haven't seen in months. i wonder if she'll see a difference in how i'm looking. foodwise today, i've indulged in some sausage (obscenely high in calories), a deep fried samosa and one slice of after eight (dark chocolate with mint centre). wish i felt more remorse but i don't really. i enjoyed every bite, except maybe the samosa. a little too oily even for me. i know its all about portion control so i can't be too bothered cos all my other meals have been tip-top. i feel a bit hungry now tho. i think my body's not used to having breakfast at 7 am, when i used to wake up only at 12ish. oh well, a green apple it'll have to be then...

*sniffle*

the sore throat has officially become a cold. hoping that the principal notices and gives me a coupla days off :). but come to think of it, that's like 70 bucks. so maybe not. i'm feeling slightly better than i did this morning tho. i find that a workout does that for me. so yeah it was the treadmill again today. bout 50 min at increasing inclines. at an incline of 15 my heart rate was in the 160s. which is like the same as on the stairmaster or during a slow jog. i find that wearing a knee guard during the workout lessens the pain the day after considerably. i mean the pain's still there but its the same or only slightly more than days where i haven't moved my butt any.

i realise how much i've missed a challenging workout. i really enjoy being all sweaty and short of breath. its a kind of pleasure entirely different from that of a good piece of chocolate or a great book. its a heady mixture of accomplishment and power. its a rush. i never thought i'd become one of those people who go on and on about how great exercise it. but damn. i apparently am.

met my neighbour on my way back. he was like 'wow girl u've slimmed down'. i recently watched a video of myself at what was probably my heaviest (a project for a production module during my stint in the US, where i play the host of a talkshow). i guess i must have had reverse anoerexia cos i always thought i looked halfway decent when i was probably only mildly nauseating on my best days. even my face doesn't look nearly as bloated. i weighed myself yesterday and the reading was 70.8. today it was 70.6 ! i guess having the flu is good for weight loss. maybe i've just lost a lot of water. we'll see. anyway i'm begining to like how i look in clothes. i know i'm technically still overweight and i've still got major jelly belly. but i know what i started out like. isn't it funny how other women who weigh 70 kilos or less even are seen as unfortunate and are featured as the 'before' in slimming ads and yet here i am parading my 70 kilo self in bum hugging jeans feeling- dare i say it- great...and thin, well ish at least. funny how so many things are a matter of perpective.

ok. that's as deep as i get at this hour. i've got school tomorrow.sigh. i never thought i'd say that again after graduation. hope it'll be one of those weeks that just fly by...

catching up on some sleep

finally.the weekend. i felt like a walking zombie for the most part yesterday. mainly because my cousin left for sri lanka the previous night and i only got back at like 1 in the morning. my voice was so hoarse yesterday. its feeling much better today thanks to my mum's home-brewed herb tea. slept most of yesterday, one of the perks of knocking off work at 1.30 in the afternoon.

i plan to go to the gym in a bit, soon after i have lunch. i have been putting off having my knee checked, mostly because i have been so busy but will definitely get around to it some time next week. have also got to get back to my usual exercise and diet. starting today hopefully.

u know the kids at work are really very adorable, at least when they're not throwing a tantrum. yesterday one of the p 1 kids gave me a hug and said " i love u teacher liza". it was one of those mushy moments. so yeah horror of horror i may be begining to like my job...

below are some shots we took with my cousin around town. have a great weekend!

my brother gets creative with some fries.

my cousin n bro doing what they do best

us at the airport. bad lighting

at the geylang market. my cousin finding something very amusing...

...perhaps its the amount of food we eat.

first day at work

so thanks to maisarah i started as a part-time teacher at a child-care centre near home today. i can't say that i had a blast but it was bearable. so why am i doing it u ask? well for several reasons. firstly the hours are great...from 8 to 1, which leaves me with plenty of time to hit the gym in the afternoons. this way i can finish my last 10 or so sessions with din. secondly the place is like two bus stops away from home, not only translating to more sleep(i'm really not a morning person) but also a mandatory 10 min walk. and of course there's cash involved.ok not much, i earned way more as a private tutor, but its been so long since i've had any of my own that it'll be a liberating experience.

so anyway my first day was kinda like as bad as it can get, vomit included. the class is difficult to control because it's comprissed of students of different ages. but thank god there's tv time and meal time so its not like i have to be after them for all 5 hours. i really don't myself staying more than a month.

today wasn't all that bad. i finally made it to the gym. did a 30 min walk on the treadmill at increasing inclines. felt great to be all sweaty again.my brother would probably say that there are more interesting ways to be sweaty, but then i digress. wore a knee guard during the workout and i felt it only slightly. afterwards i did some ab work, and weight training for my back and arms.i can't get over how confident i've become using the gym equipment. din certainly has taught me well.

its confirmed. my weight is 72kg. which means i've gained like 0.2kg, hardly significant. bad news tho is that i've been hovering around this weight for like weeks. i know this means that i should probably kick my cardio up a gear but this isn't really possible at the moment. arrgh. i'm just a little whiny today because i'm ill(the blasted flu). i'm sure after a good nights' rest it'll all be rosy tomorrow. i'm alive, healthy and well (almost completely at least). and i've got wonderful, nurturing people in my life. my life is pretty darn great at the moment and i'm not gonna let a damn plateau ruin it for me.

pictures part 2

pic 1: the view from our car on the way to resort

pic 2: a couple of my cousins and i enjoy some wicked mochachinos and the boys shoot some pool

pic 3: my cousins and i feast on a buffet, sri lankan style

pic 4&5: reminders of the tsunami. one can't help but marvel at the resilience of these people who, in the midst of such grief, find the strength to go on with their lives.

pictures

pic1: my aunt (ala sophia loren), my cousin and me on the beach

pic 2: poor quality shot of blue skies and even bluer waters....and some really interesting eye-candy :)

pic3: a sampling of my lingerie. i just couldn't help myself

pic4: some funky accessories, my main weakness

pic5: yet another dress i add to my wardrobe. this one i promise to wear, as soon as i unpack my epillator

i'm baaack!

the trip, though short, was a great opportunity to unwind and to catch up with my extended family (both new and old). the beach resort was oh-so beautiful. i spent my mornings walking along the beach, then taking a dip mid-afternoon and then watching the sun set in the evenings, with the smell of the sea tingling my nostrils and the powder-like sand beneath my feet.i have to say at this point that i chickened out. i went into the water with my workout tights and a t-shirt. there was a brief episode with only my sportsbra but to safeguard whatever u've consumed that picture's gonna remain saved somewhere on my cousin's desktop. lets just say that many more sit-ups are required until my belly sees the light of day.

my diet survived most of my holiday.but towards the tail-end i couldn't help myself with the carbs at dinner. i was able to eat everything that i had been missing, and gosh was it good. sri kankan food is so flavourful in comparisson to the food here. i had a ban mian yesterday and to my surprise i found it to be very bland. i guess it'll take my tastebuds a while to get re-adjusted.

i worked out in a gym my uncle frequents twice and did a cardio session on his stationary bike at home once. other than that i haven't been particularly active physically. mostly because of my knee. am going to see the same doctor on monday to hopefully get some scans done. i haven't been to the gym too since i got back on tues. mostly because i don't want to agravate my knee further. also because my cousin is town and i have been taking him to various schools so he can apply for some courses here.

weight-wise the scale doesn't seem to have budged which i'm grateful for, because i squeezed in more than a few desserts. i intend to make it to the gym tomorrow. maybe do some weights and a short session on the eliptical machine or bike.

i just realised i completely forgot to mention the shopping. bought some lingerie...some really pretty triumph bras and undies. the bras were like $14! also got a few cowboy-inspired shirts, some casual t-shirts and a really cute pucci-like printed dress. and that was pretty much it. didn't go too crazy. spent most of the time at driving class. managed to get some 10 hrs of practical sessions with a none too patient instructor. the most comical thing was that he didn't speak any english and my singhala was really limited. but i survived and only stalled the van (yes van) twice. reverse parking was a breeze, balancing the clutch and break was another story. the roads in sri lanka were something else. there is the occasional cow, crazy pedestrian and manic tuk-tuk driver.

all in all it was a very colourful experience. i already miss the place and my family. sigh. till the next vacation i guess i'll have to make do with the photos...