Hmm. This has been mentioned before, but it seems that since I started face-booking, my blogging has seriously dropped.
Well, that's okay. I'll come back to this thing when I feel like it. For now, it seems I have other options. :)
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Monday, October 26, 2009
The power of nationalism
I hear that there's a National Unity Forum over at Sunway University College today. I wonder how it went? Maybe something like....
---------
I want to tell you about a great success story in national unity which our country may follow. Let's call this country the country of TUAN.
Now, TUAN had historically lost an important war. As the losers of the war, there were a great many penalties imposed on the country of TUAN The morale of the people of the country was in shambles, and there was a lot of infighting. Worse of all, there was a great disparity in the economic success of the ethnic groups in the country, with a great deal of the money of the country laid in the hands of a particular minority race. The race which held the majority status on the other hand suffered greatly due to the harsh penalties imposed on them from the war.
Eventually, a charismatic leader took a try at politics in his country. He cried for national pride, for a unity of the nation to rise up against all odds. He emphasised that this unity could only happen through the unity of culture, values, race and religion, and that the success of TUAN could only come through this national pride in their identity as a nation. A unity of culture and values.
This method of unifying the country has been around for a long time - it was called nationalism.
The majority of the people of TUAN heeded this charismatic leader's cry for unity, and bore their identity as a race and as a nation with pride. They worked hard to develop themselves and their country, to make TUAN the strongest country they could be. It worked wonderfully.
Unfortunately, there was a barrier to this unity. The minority race which held a great deal of wealth in the country had a completely different culture from the rest of the people - worse, this minority race had a different religion and language from the rest of the nation. Making these people a part of the country's identity as a nation was a huge challenge.
The charismatic leader took hold of the situation in the most efficient manner he could think of - he segregated these people from the rest of the country and put them in towns dedicated to this minority race. No longer would these minority race stand in the way of the progress of this great nation, TUAN. No longer would they stand in the way of the unity of the identity of the nation.
No longer would they live.
In the mean time, the country of TUAN prospered greatly under this leader's rule. The harsh penalties which were imposed upon TUAN were actually paid up very quickly, shocking the other countries which had won out in the last war. And the country of TUAN became such a strong and powerful nation, and their pride in their identity as a nation so solid, that they decided that their people and nation should be the TUAN over all nations.
The name of that nation was Germany. That charismatic leader that united his nation to become a mighty power was Hitler.
-------
1Now the whole world had one language and a common speech. 2 As men moved eastward, they found a plain in Shinar and settled there.
------------
Nationalism is a tool of men, made by men in order to gain power over the people. Consider embracing cosmopolitanism instead, the LORD sure did.
---------
I want to tell you about a great success story in national unity which our country may follow. Let's call this country the country of TUAN.
Now, TUAN had historically lost an important war. As the losers of the war, there were a great many penalties imposed on the country of TUAN The morale of the people of the country was in shambles, and there was a lot of infighting. Worse of all, there was a great disparity in the economic success of the ethnic groups in the country, with a great deal of the money of the country laid in the hands of a particular minority race. The race which held the majority status on the other hand suffered greatly due to the harsh penalties imposed on them from the war.
Eventually, a charismatic leader took a try at politics in his country. He cried for national pride, for a unity of the nation to rise up against all odds. He emphasised that this unity could only happen through the unity of culture, values, race and religion, and that the success of TUAN could only come through this national pride in their identity as a nation. A unity of culture and values.
This method of unifying the country has been around for a long time - it was called nationalism.
The majority of the people of TUAN heeded this charismatic leader's cry for unity, and bore their identity as a race and as a nation with pride. They worked hard to develop themselves and their country, to make TUAN the strongest country they could be. It worked wonderfully.
Unfortunately, there was a barrier to this unity. The minority race which held a great deal of wealth in the country had a completely different culture from the rest of the people - worse, this minority race had a different religion and language from the rest of the nation. Making these people a part of the country's identity as a nation was a huge challenge.
The charismatic leader took hold of the situation in the most efficient manner he could think of - he segregated these people from the rest of the country and put them in towns dedicated to this minority race. No longer would these minority race stand in the way of the progress of this great nation, TUAN. No longer would they stand in the way of the unity of the identity of the nation.
No longer would they live.
In the mean time, the country of TUAN prospered greatly under this leader's rule. The harsh penalties which were imposed upon TUAN were actually paid up very quickly, shocking the other countries which had won out in the last war. And the country of TUAN became such a strong and powerful nation, and their pride in their identity as a nation so solid, that they decided that their people and nation should be the TUAN over all nations.
The name of that nation was Germany. That charismatic leader that united his nation to become a mighty power was Hitler.
-------
1Now the whole world had one language and a common speech. 2 As men moved eastward, they found a plain in Shinar and settled there.
3 They said to each other, "Come, let's make bricks and bake them thoroughly." They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar. 4 Then they said, "Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the face of the whole earth."
5 But the LORD came down to see the city and the tower that the men were building. 6 The LORD said, "If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. 7 Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other."
8 So the LORD scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city. 9 That is why it was called Babel —because there the LORD confused the language of the whole world. From there the LORD scattered them over the face of the whole earth.
-Genesis 11:1-9------------
Nationalism is a tool of men, made by men in order to gain power over the people. Consider embracing cosmopolitanism instead, the LORD sure did.
Monday, October 05, 2009
Adventures in diet control!
Aaaand I've officially got a tummy now. There's a first for everything, I guess. Some of that weight must have gone to the stomach after all. *sighs*
Gosh, I need to diet. I don't take much oil or fats, so that means I must have been taking too much carbo. So less carbo in diet. Bleh, so much for easy ham sandwiches.
-------------------
Me: Auugh! Cramps cramps cramps!
Later,
Mum: You've been glugging down a lot of water since you started gymming, right dear?
Me: Yes mum.
Me: You've been sweating out all the salt and drinking so much water that you don't have enough salt in your system.
Salt it's salt now? Gosh, that's a new one. What can I do for salt? isotonic drinks, regular chap fan and salty food, but what about at home? Preferably something with protein in it... AHA!
Roasted salted peanuts!
------------
...erm, I'm not going to explain why I have a need for fibre. Use your own imagination.
Anyway, I don't want bananas (too much starch/carbo) or papaya (hate the stuff) and my usual wholemeal bread sandwiches are out since i'm cutting carbo, so that leaves my options to taking large amounts of vegetables or...
Prunes!
---------------
Me: Hrmmm. I need protein, but all this ham and turkey ham is expensive... and it's processed food. Convenient, but maybe not all that good for me in more than one way. So how? ....hrm, chicken fillets are going for that much only? Cheaper than chicken breast?
So I had to buy I started cooking again.
First few times: Stir fried chicken fillets in olive oil... and dunking in some canned corn. Mostly tasteless since I didn't buy ingredients (like soy sauce, salt, garlic, vegetable and so on)
Next time however...
Me: Guh, so bored of research... *dunks corn into stir fry wok while frying chicken* This was so tasteless last time, time to use the stuff i bought! *throws in soya sauce* Ooops, too much! Oh, nevermind. *throws in oyster sauce as well*
...*fry fry fry*...
Me: Still feel bored. Isn't there any way to make it more interesting?...
...*fry fry fry*...
*throws in prunes*
Me: ...Okay, maybe that wasn't such a good idea.
...*fry fry fry*...
Me: Oh, what the heck. *throws in roasted peanuts*
...*fry fry fry*...
Me: And done! Time for the taste test!
*eats*
Me: ...too salty.
*pours a little water over then drains water out*
Me: ...okay, not nearly as bad as I thought it would be!
Soooooo... anyone want to try stir fried chicken fillet in corn, peanuts and prunes?
------
Me: So busy with research! Can't gym this week, hence I shall eat much less! Let's see how much this will shrink my tummy!
At the end of the week,
Me: Gah, that's enough of research! How's the tummy? *measures* A whole inch! Not bad, but how much weight did I lose?
Me: *weights* ...I lost 2kg in a week???? ...*dies*
Gosh, I need to diet. I don't take much oil or fats, so that means I must have been taking too much carbo. So less carbo in diet. Bleh, so much for easy ham sandwiches.
-------------------
Me: Auugh! Cramps cramps cramps!
Later,
Mum: You've been glugging down a lot of water since you started gymming, right dear?
Me: Yes mum.
Me: You've been sweating out all the salt and drinking so much water that you don't have enough salt in your system.
Salt it's salt now? Gosh, that's a new one. What can I do for salt? isotonic drinks, regular chap fan and salty food, but what about at home? Preferably something with protein in it... AHA!
Roasted salted peanuts!
------------
...erm, I'm not going to explain why I have a need for fibre. Use your own imagination.
Anyway, I don't want bananas (too much starch/carbo) or papaya (hate the stuff) and my usual wholemeal bread sandwiches are out since i'm cutting carbo, so that leaves my options to taking large amounts of vegetables or...
Prunes!
---------------
Me: Hrmmm. I need protein, but all this ham and turkey ham is expensive... and it's processed food. Convenient, but maybe not all that good for me in more than one way. So how? ....hrm, chicken fillets are going for that much only? Cheaper than chicken breast?
So I had to buy I started cooking again.
First few times: Stir fried chicken fillets in olive oil... and dunking in some canned corn. Mostly tasteless since I didn't buy ingredients (like soy sauce, salt, garlic, vegetable and so on)
Next time however...
Me: Guh, so bored of research... *dunks corn into stir fry wok while frying chicken* This was so tasteless last time, time to use the stuff i bought! *throws in soya sauce* Ooops, too much! Oh, nevermind. *throws in oyster sauce as well*
...*fry fry fry*...
Me: Still feel bored. Isn't there any way to make it more interesting?...
...*fry fry fry*...
*throws in prunes*
Me: ...Okay, maybe that wasn't such a good idea.
...*fry fry fry*...
Me: Oh, what the heck. *throws in roasted peanuts*
...*fry fry fry*...
Me: And done! Time for the taste test!
*eats*
Me: ...too salty.
*pours a little water over then drains water out*
Me: ...okay, not nearly as bad as I thought it would be!
Soooooo... anyone want to try stir fried chicken fillet in corn, peanuts and prunes?
------
Me: So busy with research! Can't gym this week, hence I shall eat much less! Let's see how much this will shrink my tummy!
At the end of the week,
Me: Gah, that's enough of research! How's the tummy? *measures* A whole inch! Not bad, but how much weight did I lose?
Me: *weights* ...I lost 2kg in a week???? ...*dies*
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Sharing a story
Very happy, a little scared, very hopeful. That's how I felt when I committed myself to a relationship with someone.
...huh. I was supposed to sleep early but spent the whole night looking for my last announcement post when I first hooked up with my ex as a reference for this one. Apparently there wasn't any.
Looks like the start of a new chapter in our lives, our story. Seems to be off to a good start, with plenty more wonderful times anticipated. :)
...huh. I was supposed to sleep early but spent the whole night looking for my last announcement post when I first hooked up with my ex as a reference for this one. Apparently there wasn't any.
Looks like the start of a new chapter in our lives, our story. Seems to be off to a good start, with plenty more wonderful times anticipated. :)
Thursday, September 03, 2009
Gymming and exercise
I've been gymming pretty regularly now. Started in March actually, but had to stop for a few months due to a nasty knee injury during Body Combat. I didn't even bother checking for results in any manner, figuring that my body would downright refuse to put on any weight no matter what I did.
Well, apparently I weight 3-4 kgs more since then, more than I ever have in the 29 years of my life. I don't think much of it has gone to my stomach either - pants are a bit more fitting, but not tight. Since then I've looked more carefully a subtle difference... not much though. But still, I'm quite happy about the extra weight. (Though to be honest, I would have though that much extra weight would be noticable immediately)
I'm not really sure how much of it came from the extra exercise (comprised ENTIRELY of Body Pump sessions, once to twice weekly), or the extra diet. But the definite (if minor) improvement has made me realise that change IS possible.
So I've moved from only Body Pump to resistance training as well, 3 times a week. And taken a bit more care with my diet as compared to "when I remember, makan". So yeah, a bit more serious with the workout now.
-----------
One thing I've realised is that the sides of my chest are subtly improving... but the middle not at all. So no longkang for me. Recently I've been trying a resistance machine which focuse only on the chest, and realised that I had a very big difference in difficulty closing the last bit of the workout compared to the startup.
What part of the chest muscle did closing the last bit need?... ah. The middle of the chest. I've been doing equivalents of bench presses and push ups, which don't really involve that part of the pectorals. You'd think that would have dawned on me sooner...
And thus I've been introduced to the wonderful world of targeted body sculpting. Time to work on that longkang. Any advice, anyone?
-------
As for meals, i've been trying to work in extra meals into my diet. Mostly turkey ham sandwiches (wholemeal bread), as I need the fibre too. (Don't ask.)
A quick sift through the internet, and the advice apparently is that I should be consuming 1.2g of protein everyday for each pound I weight. About 150x1.2= 180 grams of protein. That doesn't sound too hard, right? Surely I'm already consuming that amount.
But wait! That's how much protein I should be consuming, not weight in meat. A cursory look at how much protein a kg of meat has... ermmm, most meats seem to have a weight to protein ratio of about 4:1 so the amount of meat I need to consume is 4x180 = 720 grammes.
Wait, what?
720 grammes of meat a DAY???
That's ludicrous! 100 grammes is like one half of a chicken breast. So 720 grammes is like eating 7.2 chicken breasts halves EVERY DAY.
These are three chicken breast halves. I should eat about 7 everyday.
Already my current eating regime makes me feel bloated throughout the day and have a generally unhappy stomach! But 720 grammes of meat??? I'll be farting so often that my workstation will be declared as a biohazard zone! Are there any other options?
Letsee, egg white from one egg gives... 4g only? why did I even bother?
One bottle of V-soy (yummy) has ...9g? That's a lot actually... but it's vegtable protein so it's worth much less cos it's hard to absorb I think.
Anyone want to correct my calculations?
---------
P.S. Until today, still cannot go through a whole session of Body Pump without taking a break to rest. >.> Only one in the class who has to do that. Malu betul...
Well, apparently I weight 3-4 kgs more since then, more than I ever have in the 29 years of my life. I don't think much of it has gone to my stomach either - pants are a bit more fitting, but not tight. Since then I've looked more carefully a subtle difference... not much though. But still, I'm quite happy about the extra weight. (Though to be honest, I would have though that much extra weight would be noticable immediately)
I'm not really sure how much of it came from the extra exercise (comprised ENTIRELY of Body Pump sessions, once to twice weekly), or the extra diet. But the definite (if minor) improvement has made me realise that change IS possible.
So I've moved from only Body Pump to resistance training as well, 3 times a week. And taken a bit more care with my diet as compared to "when I remember, makan". So yeah, a bit more serious with the workout now.
-----------
One thing I've realised is that the sides of my chest are subtly improving... but the middle not at all. So no longkang for me. Recently I've been trying a resistance machine which focuse only on the chest, and realised that I had a very big difference in difficulty closing the last bit of the workout compared to the startup.
What part of the chest muscle did closing the last bit need?... ah. The middle of the chest. I've been doing equivalents of bench presses and push ups, which don't really involve that part of the pectorals. You'd think that would have dawned on me sooner...
And thus I've been introduced to the wonderful world of targeted body sculpting. Time to work on that longkang. Any advice, anyone?
-------
As for meals, i've been trying to work in extra meals into my diet. Mostly turkey ham sandwiches (wholemeal bread), as I need the fibre too. (Don't ask.)
A quick sift through the internet, and the advice apparently is that I should be consuming 1.2g of protein everyday for each pound I weight. About 150x1.2= 180 grams of protein. That doesn't sound too hard, right? Surely I'm already consuming that amount.
But wait! That's how much protein I should be consuming, not weight in meat. A cursory look at how much protein a kg of meat has... ermmm, most meats seem to have a weight to protein ratio of about 4:1 so the amount of meat I need to consume is 4x180 = 720 grammes.
Wait, what?
720 grammes of meat a DAY???
That's ludicrous! 100 grammes is like one half of a chicken breast. So 720 grammes is like eating 7.2 chicken breasts halves EVERY DAY.
These are three chicken breast halves. I should eat about 7 everyday.
Already my current eating regime makes me feel bloated throughout the day and have a generally unhappy stomach! But 720 grammes of meat??? I'll be farting so often that my workstation will be declared as a biohazard zone! Are there any other options?
Letsee, egg white from one egg gives... 4g only? why did I even bother?
One bottle of V-soy (yummy) has ...9g? That's a lot actually... but it's vegtable protein so it's worth much less cos it's hard to absorb I think.
Anyone want to correct my calculations?
---------
P.S. Until today, still cannot go through a whole session of Body Pump without taking a break to rest. >.> Only one in the class who has to do that. Malu betul...
Monday, August 31, 2009
The paintings
My apartment has been accused of being bare and devoid of... well, generally bare. The painting on the feature wall isn't even one I chose myself, rather it's from the previous owners. Painting of running horses... very Chinese taste, that. I've been looking about at art pieces recently with a mind to replace that one ever since I saw a painting of flowers at midvalley...
It wasn't a very detailed painting - quite teh opposite really. Very geometric shapes, petal-less flowers and vivid, solid colors. A modern art piece to be sure, of flowers in a vase. I passed by it once, and the second time I passed the shop I asked the salegirl to take it out under a pile for mee to see again.
Saleperson: Oh, this is a nice one... (when I heard her say this, warning bells should have already start to ring.)
Me: So how much is it?
Salesperson: RM550.
Me: ...Oh. Hrm.
(RM550??? I was willing to pay half of that!)
I didn't buy it, but confirmed with the salegirl that the stall would be up for a week. So I had one week to decide to buy the painting or not.
In the end, I decided against it. It would have been my first pruchase of an art piece, and I wasn't very confident about my taste in art yet. I should get a bit more exposure and see what's available around before buying such expensive pieces of art.
---
Later in Ikano, a lower ground floor, while walking with a friend (Junior I think)
Me: !!! Hold on yah, spotted a nice painting...
Junior: ?...
I made a quick stop at the painting shop. Lots of painting of Budhha heads, but I wasn't interested in those. The painting that really stood out for me was a modern art piece which looked like a countryside scenery... again, using simple shapes yet I liked the composition. Wouldn't this be lovely for my feature wall? A glance at the price tag...
RM6,800
Of course, I immediately ran back to Junior and regaled my horror at the price.
Junior: Yeah, no surprise. Paintings are like that what.
Me: But it's a little shop in the Curve, not an art gallery!
----
I bet that last painting is still there, waiting to adorn somebody's wall. You can see it in Ikano, I think the lower ground floor. The shop is very obvious for its many paintings of Budhha heads in it.
It wasn't a very detailed painting - quite teh opposite really. Very geometric shapes, petal-less flowers and vivid, solid colors. A modern art piece to be sure, of flowers in a vase. I passed by it once, and the second time I passed the shop I asked the salegirl to take it out under a pile for mee to see again.
Saleperson: Oh, this is a nice one... (when I heard her say this, warning bells should have already start to ring.)
Me: So how much is it?
Salesperson: RM550.
Me: ...Oh. Hrm.
(RM550??? I was willing to pay half of that!)
I didn't buy it, but confirmed with the salegirl that the stall would be up for a week. So I had one week to decide to buy the painting or not.
In the end, I decided against it. It would have been my first pruchase of an art piece, and I wasn't very confident about my taste in art yet. I should get a bit more exposure and see what's available around before buying such expensive pieces of art.
---
Later in Ikano, a lower ground floor, while walking with a friend (Junior I think)
Me: !!! Hold on yah, spotted a nice painting...
Junior: ?...
I made a quick stop at the painting shop. Lots of painting of Budhha heads, but I wasn't interested in those. The painting that really stood out for me was a modern art piece which looked like a countryside scenery... again, using simple shapes yet I liked the composition. Wouldn't this be lovely for my feature wall? A glance at the price tag...
RM6,800
Of course, I immediately ran back to Junior and regaled my horror at the price.
Junior: Yeah, no surprise. Paintings are like that what.
Me: But it's a little shop in the Curve, not an art gallery!
----
I bet that last painting is still there, waiting to adorn somebody's wall. You can see it in Ikano, I think the lower ground floor. The shop is very obvious for its many paintings of Budhha heads in it.
Monday, July 27, 2009
Laundry with Mum
After from a satisfying weekend in Singapore, followed by a week in Penang (work training), I took out my laundry from my Penang trip to add to the laundry basket...
...only to find it was already overflowing. I had work on Sunday the next day too. Er, oops?
It was dire situations like these where one must take emergency options.
*dials on phone* "Hey mum! There's something I need help with..."
------
Mum: You see, you should separate the whites from the blacks like this.
Me: Uh huh.
Mum: *holding up a small white and black striped shirt* ...this shirt is very small.
Me: Hey, my friends helped me choose it. You think that's small? Hold on. *trudge to room and pulls out a whiteshirt*
Me: This is the shirt SK chose for me. (Wait for it...)
Mum: *gawks at shirt with mouth open*
Me: (One, two, three, four, five...)
Mum: ...she chose THAT? Can you even wear THAT?
Me: (Five seconds!) Takes getting used to. Big, oversized shirts are no longer in fashion mum.
Mum: So THAT is in fashion?
Me: Erm... Well... actually.... no straight man would be caught dead wearing a shirt this size.
---------
Me: I so need to buy new underwear.
Mum: Hrm?
Me: For one thing, my underwear is really old.
Mum: And?
Me: And I think some of them are dad's. (He passed away not long ago)
Mum: Ewwwwww~~~!
...only to find it was already overflowing. I had work on Sunday the next day too. Er, oops?
It was dire situations like these where one must take emergency options.
*dials on phone* "Hey mum! There's something I need help with..."
------
Mum: You see, you should separate the whites from the blacks like this.
Me: Uh huh.
Mum: *holding up a small white and black striped shirt* ...this shirt is very small.
Me: Hey, my friends helped me choose it. You think that's small? Hold on. *trudge to room and pulls out a whiteshirt*
Me: This is the shirt SK chose for me. (Wait for it...)
Mum: *gawks at shirt with mouth open*
Me: (One, two, three, four, five...)
Mum: ...she chose THAT? Can you even wear THAT?
Me: (Five seconds!) Takes getting used to. Big, oversized shirts are no longer in fashion mum.
Mum: So THAT is in fashion?
Me: Erm... Well... actually.... no straight man would be caught dead wearing a shirt this size.
---------
Me: I so need to buy new underwear.
Mum: Hrm?
Me: For one thing, my underwear is really old.
Mum: And?
Me: And I think some of them are dad's. (He passed away not long ago)
Mum: Ewwwwww~~~!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
