Suspend-It

Looks like I am getting my old slim figure back just in time for summer. After doing yoga for just a few days (I started January 4) I noticed my legs toned down a bit. I still have little flabs under my arms but I’m sure by March they’ll all be trimmed down. Me and my friends already have a plan for summer. We are going to Texas and try out horseback riding for the first time. Of course we also thought of the cowgirl fashion so we bought equestrian apparel as early as now for discounted prices.All of us friends always wanted to try that out. We already bored of the beaches and the interstate road trips so we decided to live the rodeo life even for a few days. We will be staying in a friend’s house (barn actually) for three days and learn how to ride horses. My friend who owns the ranch suggested that we also try out Polo, a game which is a cross between soccer and golf, and oh horseback riding. I’m already excited right now. I’ll do my best to get my old figure so that the breeches I bought will look good on me. hehehe.

Angela, one of my close friends in high school who works in a prestigious world class hotel, won two accommodation tickets in one of their Jamaica Hotels valid for this year 2010. Guess who she asked to join her get some fun, sun, and tan? Moi! ^_^

It’d be suicidal if I say no to such an offer. After all, Jamaica is by far one of the most alluring of the Caribbean islands. Its idyllic beaches, mountains and sunsets provide a spectacular vacation destination. Cap that with a wonderful variety of attractions, things to do, and year round events – Jamaica is simply irresistible! I’m actually singing Beach Boys’ Kokomo right now, “Aruba, Jamaica ooo I wanna take ya”

Now that the festive season’s over, everyone’s complaining about eating waaaaaaaaaaaay too much during the holidays to the point of regret. They are now seeing the accumulated, unwanted fats on their used-to-be well-maintained figures. I can’t blame them of course. It’s really hard to resist sumptuous meals especially if it’s laid in front of you.

As for me, I’m not overly concerned about the additional weight I gained this December. I was already expecting it and I have a contingency planned way before the holidays. No, it’s not the usual elliptical and stretchings – I enrolled in Bikram Yoga and started on January 4, 2010. Nothing can beat that glorious 90-minute whole body sweaty exercise in the steam room in getting back to your gorgeous figure. Jealous, huh? 0:p

While having coffee with my friend Skye yesterday, we got into talking about how people easily change their names in the US. You see, in some countries, you have to go through court to change even a single letter in your name.

Then again, in the US, my friend Skye enlightened me that they have a Social Security number (SSN) which is a nine-digit number issued to U.S. citizens, permanent residents, and temporary (working) residents. Its primary purpose is to track individuals for taxation purposes. In recent years however, the SSN has become a de facto national identification number. Losing your SSN won’t be a social security disability because you can easily retrieve that.

The SSN being their national ID generally means that if you already have that 9-digit number, you pretty much can change your name to anything like what Susan Caraway did in the book StarGirl by Jerry Spinelli. She changed her name to “Pocket Mouse”, then “Mudpie”, then “Hullygully”, then “Stargirl” and it was okay with the teachers and everyone else. To Stargirl, her name was like a shirt- something she wore rather than something she was.

This is quite true actually. And I quote from Juliet (Shakespeare), “”What’s in a name? That which we call a rose, By any other name would smell as sweet.”

My company produces a quarterly newsletter. We were supposed to send out the newsletter to clients before the year ends last December, but had some problems with the printing team – they were out of Anilox roll cleaner. Since it’s almost the holidays at that time, we decided to just send it to the clients through email blast in PDF format.

Frankly, newsletter printing is a waste especially since the numbers of trees nowadays are diminishing. If there’s something you can do paperless, then why bother with the hard copy right? After all, sooner or later, majority of those printed papers will end up being thrown away anyway; very few of them will end up recycled.

Happy new year to all of you. I hope you are having a good time in your first day of work in 2010. Yesterday was weird because I actually felt excited to go to work! Probably because instead of being relaxed in the holidays, I was so stressed out with house chores and organizing my stuff. It’s was like I felt more tired when I was at home than in the office.It was a productive holiday though. I finally cleaned up my apartment; organize my files; rename my DVD’s; made my portfolio website; and did a makeover on my room. I bought a new tv stand to replace my old bulky one and replaced the curtains with vertical blinds. Now my room looks like a corporate venue rather than a cozy space, which is perfect for me of course because I love working at home.Anyway,  being back at work, staring at my Samsung LCD almost feels like heaven to me. At least I can relax now doing what I love best… creating websites for a living.

If there’s one thing I envy about other girls, it is the soft flowing hair. As my mom always told me, “it’s their genes dear”. She always says that when I compare myself to others. I asked a friend of mine, who is a dermatologist, about how to keep my air and skin as beautiful as others. She told me that, genes do play a role in having glowing skin and nice hair but one big factor to consider is nutrition.Hair and skin need almost the same nutrients. Having a high vitamin E diet can really make your skin glow, that is if you keep yourself hydrated with lots of fruit juices. Good sleep and lots of exercise will also help your body detoxify which also make you look and feel better. Supplements such as metathiones and vitamins for hair are also available, however it is always better to consult your physician first. These supplements claim to make the skin fairer and the hair shiny and soft although you must be aware that some brands my have side effects to some people.

Did you know that in Singapore, they implemented a law that required cigarette manufacturers to add government warnings to cigarette packaging. But they are not just the typical “smoking is dangerous to your health” signs, they also include gory cancer pictures and the likes. I’m no smoker, yet I do not honestly believe that smoking cigars is that dangerous to our health, that is, not as dangerous as pollution from cars anyway.I remember some research talking about the advantages of smoking cigars, weird huh, but I have never found any study talking about good effects of inhaling smoke from cars. In Japan, almost every office employee, both male or female, smoke. Yet, Japanese people often reach their 80′s and some even reach a hundred years old. I’m just speculating here but I guess this is because of the unpolluted environment they live in. I am not in favor of smoking but I am really against air pollution.

It’s my sister’s 24th birthday today! Aside from surprising her with a traditional fruitcake with a candle at 12 midnight, my youngest sister and I accompanied her to the mall in the afternoon upon her “birthday request”.

My main goal at first was to run some errands. Then I found myself having fun with them store hopping. There was this really cool store which has glass tiles that would look really cool on my dream bathroom, and a very expensive but extraordinary wall clock which my sisters and I are still contemplating on buying for our living room. We even ended up at the arcade where we had an air hockey tournament. My youngest sister surprisingly won the tournament.

We also sang a few songs in a videoke cubicle in the arcade and had an MTV-youtube concert. I’m the videographer of course. The best video I have so far are them singing and emoting to the song “Bohemian Rhapsody” by Queen. Watch out for it in Facebook and YouTube! 0;)

It’s just too bad cause this is probably the last birthday of my sister that she gets to spend it with us cause she’s moving in with her future husband within the year. Oh well, I’m glad we accommodated her request and it turned out happily unforgettable. ^_^