Live life to the fullest

To live life to the fullest, bring a sense of adventure into every moment.

At its core, adventure is the willingness to commit to an uncertain outcome with an open heart and an open mind. Adventure isn't something that's reserved for the extreme athlete or the daredevil. It is an expression of your heart's intention and passion for life. It is about being courageous and passionate in all aspects of your life, work and relationships.

By definition, adventure has an unknown outcome. If something has a predetermined outcome, its' not an adventure but a packaged experience or an amusement ride. Life is uncertain! Being adventurous means seeing that uncertainty as the gift of possibility.

When you approach everything with the spirit of adventure, you infuse your life with vitality and radiance. You find a level of engagement and awareness with everything around you that is deeply satisfying and joyous. Your summits await.

(Article extracted from http://www.yogajournal.com/lifestyle/2976)

Renewing my practice with Yoga. Renewing myself

I've decided to renew my relationship with Yoga. After having stopped my yoga classes for abt 1 1/2 year, I notice and realize my body misses all the stretches that it needs in all the vital areas. Most of all, in the areas that are hardly used, and the importance is further amplified as we get "more mature".. ;-)

I'm not going to attend classes since the classes are restricted to certain time. I've decided to practice it at home, incorporating two 1 hr session in a week (Mon & Fri). What I have in mind is merely to do the Sun Salutation set, which, to me is extremely good. I feel that this routine contains all the basic stretching it requires for each and every part of the body. Once the steps and postures for each pose has been mastered, and the breathing synchronization is incorporated, it's a POWERFUL combination of simple stretching exercise for all our vital organs, plus meditation ("deep" breathing & providing oxygen to every corner of our body as we stretches it gracefully, while we communicate with our body & mind).

(Pix obtained from http://www.yogatic.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/downward-facing-dog-pose1.jpg)

Nagging thoughts

I started this blog because I wanted to learn blogging, not because I wanted to blog, in particular. I don't know why, but I just know that I need to learn how to blog. Being a very private person, I have never thought of putting anything personal on such a public channel. But because I have no idea what to blog about, this blog and it's content was created at the spur of the moment. To ensure that my interest in blogging continues, I hv to make it a point to keep coming back to post something. If I were to do it once a week/month, I know I will slowly lose interest, and worse, I'll prbly lose the password, and subsequently forgets how to post an article.

I don't have many topics which is of interest to me, that I can blog about all the time. Hence, I somehow ended up writing various subjects that comes to mind, and sometimes when I look back, this seemed to hv turned out to be more like a daily journal to me than anything else. Interesting turn out, but not exactly what I had in mind as a blog.

The URL of this blog has only been given to 2 persons, my 2 nieces. Reason being, I am not prepared to share the content of this blog with the world yet, or it might not come to that at all (not that there is much to show and tell actually). I mean, I know it's impossible to keep anything under wrap forever; if anyone were to stumble upon this, I am fine, but I won't publicize my blog as mine yet, or maybe not at all.

Dilemma - If I don't publicize, I won't be able to explore further the blogging capabilities available out there.

Ok, I think I've just added Google Analytics traffic tracking code into my blog. This is the 2nd time I'm trying it out, and I hv a hunch I'm not doing it right. Been reading the help instructions over and over, and still it's not much help. Can't seem to get what they are trying to say. I need to get help here..

Can't travel? Do a mind travel..

                   Feel free to click on the picture for a more beautiful and clearer view

Gunung Mulu National Park

This is a UNESCO World Heritage Site that encompasses incredible caves and karst formations in a mountainous equatorial setting (click on the pix for a clearer and more beautiful look).

Mulu National Park is one of nature's most spectacular achievements. It is the largest national park in Sarawak, covering 52,865 hectres of primary rain forest, which is criss-crossed by fast flowing rivers and clear jungle streams.

Yet many of Mulu's greatest attractions lie deep below the surface. Hidden underneath the forested slopes of these mountain is one of the largest limestone cave systems in the world.

With the world's largest cave passage "Deer Cave", the world's largest natural chamber or room "Sarawak Chamber" and the longest cave in Southeast Asia "Clearwater Cave", it is not surprising that Mulu is now world famous. Over 200 km of cave passages have been discovered & surveyed but this is thought to represent JUST 30% - 40% of the actual total.

It has been said that the chamber is so big that a Boeing 747 jumbo jet can fly directly into the mouth of the cave and hundreds of metre's down into the ground. In fact, it can hold about 40 Boeing 747 in there at any one time. The guides at Gunung Mulu also say the Deer Cave (another large cave) is big enough to fit St.Peter's Basilica inside. Don't believe? Can fly over there and take a look at it yourself.. :-D

Laeo joe kan mai - means "See you again!" in Thai.

(Pix taken from http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1164778/Spectacular-underground-caverns-big-British-scientists-look-like-ants.html)

Running out of gas, help!

This is my 3rd week into home cooking for lunch for the purpose of going green, and... I'm running out of ideas on what to cook. Yeah, I have loads of recipe books and tons of ideas which I can get online, but it's a juggle trying to decide on something that I am capable of cooking, with the right size/portion for 1 person, with the right price (not too expensive, otherwise it's not worth cooking at home), plus also to ensure that all leftovers are not wasted, means it must be used within a period of time. When you cook only for 1 person, you tend to have loads of leftovers, which you need to figure out how to use them up. Last but not least, I have to also ensure it's healthy!

Wow! Lots of criterias. Maybe I should just eat out for lunch the whole of next week. But I did promise myself that no matter what, there must be a day or two which I need to eat healthy at home. And the safest to do that would be to prepare sandwich. Hmmm....

Been trying to access bejewel since Monday, but there seems to be a problem accessing it till now. Hmmmm... is it just me or everyone else? But then, good in a way that, I don't get addicted, hence, my schedule don't get affected.. :-D

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Since I've fulfilled my 3x p'wk quota of treadmill session, I thought I should try to pick-up bits and pieces of the yoga which I've learned over the many years, at home. So today, after having postponed several rounds, I started it off easy, by doing the downward dog pose as warm up, followed by the 12 steps of sun salutation. The initial 1 min was hell doing the downward dog, since I've not done it for so long. My elbows were shaking, I couldn't flatten my feet on the floor, I wasn't able to straighten my spine as how it should be. It was rather awkward. The sun salutation was even worse. I hv to keep referring to the book, as I've forgotten the 12 steps, while trying to ensure the pose is done right for each steps. Having said that, I didn't even manage to do any breathing co-ordination. That will probably have to come in after a few more rounds of practice.

I only managed to do 4 sets, yet I was sweating profusely. After having completed only 4 sets, I decided to go back to downward dog pose for 2 minutes. This time, it was much easier, but I still need to work on the proper pose. Not bad for a start, at least it was a start.

Sa bai di rue

This morning I've been busy downloading ref material (presented in the HKG sales conference) from our principal's resource site in their website. One beautiful thing about working with such established company is that, they provide us with plenty of useful market information (prod info, competition info, latest news), case studies, e-marketing materials, tips, etc, etc, all downloadable from their resource site. There are so much info in there, one can go crazy.

ST only gave me the access to our distributor log-in on Tuesday night. What a whole load of stuffs to read up on.

I've decided to bring my swimsuit and track attires to Bangkok. In case the political situation gets worse, I intend to make full use of the hotel's facilities. Would love to visit the grand palace and 2 of their grandest temples though, and not forgetting the most famed river market and their water ways.

Feel like eating instant noodle tonight. It's been such a loooooong time since I had that, and the first that comes to mind is the Pa Ma Tomyam. I have plenty of eggs and vegies in the fridge, so what am I waiting for?

Sa bai di rue - means "How are you?" in Thai.

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Just finished 2 packets of the Pa Ma Tomyam frm Thailand. I think I can breathe fire from my mouth.. "fire! fire!" In fact, it's so spicy, I think I am about to black out soon..

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Had a great time reminiscing over my 1st Europe trip with a course mate and her best friend.

Ok, this is Moon signing off for the day, because it's already 10.30 pm... !#@$%?#!

What's cooking?

Decided to eat home for lunch and dinner today. Made ABC soup. Put in potato, carrot, tomato and onions with chicken. To go with rice. Been boiling and simmering in the pot for 2 hrs, yuuumm...!!! The white pepper was a bit too heavy tho, maybe it's becoz I smashed it a bit before throwing it into the pot. Need to go easy on that the next time.

Missed my The Backyardigans again this morning.. :-(

Did my 3rd session of treadmill, yay!

It's the month of "Qing Ming" (in Mandarin) or "Cheng Beng" (in Hokkien) again. It's All Souls Day and it's where the Chinese pray to their ancestors, mostly at the graveyard or at the temple where their bone is kept, to remember the departed love ones. We will be going to pray this Sunday. Braving up for the jam, the crowd, the heat and the smoke at the temple.

We have to pray at 3 different places each year. 1st in the list is in Kajang, where dad is buried. Then we join our uncles and aunts and adjourn to Nirvana Memorial Park, to pray to our grandparents. After which, we split ways. We will be heading back to Cheras where my mom's bone is kept. Needless to say, Nirvana Memorial Park is the place we look forward to most of all, as it's beautiful and our relatives will come with plenty of food (some of those which we could hardly find in town coz they are home made with best quality stuffs).

Why am I not praying at my husband's side? Well, that's becoz hubby's family tradition is, whenever someone leaves us, they request to be cremated (burnt) and their ashes to be thrown into the sea. So there's nothing and nowhere to pray during "Qing Ming". But ST does make it a point to go home and spend time with his parents, on the w'end where I follow my brothers to pray. Spending time with my brothers and their families on such occasion is a fun time to me in a way, like going for picnic the whole day.. :-D

Why is dad and mom's burial places different? Uh... long story.

Gonna be having "teh tarik" with 2nd brother this afternoon @ 4 pm in KK.. :-D