S.L.A.P. 2

Woah, very sexy moves today and the teacher is awesome! Doesn't fail to crack us up with her 'fail' imitation. Wanted to sign up for more classes but couldn't fit them into my future work schedule ;( They only have 8 classes, one class a week. Ah well, that's just too bad, maybe next time.

 

Extension to the choreograph:

Walk around chair (in 8)

Hip sway around complete circle

Walk towards man, pull tie, knee on chair.

Chest roll x2
Close partner's feet, man shoulders back.
Straddle, hip roll x4.
Lift leg, stand on side.

Pretty darn short extension, but that's because my first class was in fact lesson 1 + lesson 2 combined, hence the very long choreo :P

Final class next week :\ I'm gonna miss this part of the week :\

My Penang

I missed Penang dearly. Spent close to 4 years during my days at the university and worked for a bit before moving to KL. Great memories established in this little island... 

Made a short trip to Penang to catch up with the BFF!

 @ Mews

Don't you just love Penang and all its colonial influenced architecture?

As the name suggests, the place used to house horses long time ago but has since been refurbished into a chic and cozy little hotel/restaurant. Space is limited here so only a few tables are available indoors.

Salad of avocados, onions, cherry tomatoes, celery, eggs, arugula and rocket tossed in balsamic vinaigrette.

f

He ordered a beer batter garoupa on a bed of mashed taters

I had a chicken pie with fries and salad side.

Nice place with a nice ambience but menu is very limited (hence the chicken pie) and I wish they'd installed more noise-absorbing materials on the walls because you hear the slight echo when you talk. But food is pretty good, nothing jaw dropping, but decent enough.

Evan made a passing comment that our shoes had a matchy-matchy colour theme so I felt obligated to take a shot of our shoes together LOL.

Drinks @ China house.

And damn, Penang has so many places that I have yet to explore! The next chillax place Evan brought me to Behind 50.

Tucked at a back alley in an unassuming manner lies a little kopitiam that serves more than just coffee. Just sitting there on the bar and I was immediately smothered in aglio olio garlicky smell. The smell's awesome, just not in my hair....

The BFF ordered a peanut butter milkshake while I ordered the 50 coffee, which is also a siphon coffee. Water's boiled and when it evaporates, goes through the grounded coffee where the steam condenses. Process takes about 3-5 minutes before the heat goes off and everything comes sloshing down to make up for a good cuppa. Because the coffee has a mild flavour, only sugar is provided as milk will overwhelm the coffee.

Quaint little place dotted with all sorts of trinkets that can keep you occupied for a bit. While we were there, a whole group of USMers are lepaking, complete with their USM shirts and landyards and all -.-

I miss the old USM Lifeguard days :( *starts browsing back to old LG blog posts*

Muntri Mews

77 Muntri Street,

10200 Georgetown, Penang.

Tel: +604 263 5125 / +604 2636125

Behind 50
Love Lane, 10200, Penang
Tel: 012-4939230

S.L.A.P.

I've attended my first lap dance class (-.-) lol. There's always something new to learn every day.... Regardless of its nature. Plus it's a really fun class with a charismatic, and really funny instructor. Might even consider pole dancing after this, who knows ;) ;) . My future husband is a very lucky guy indeed.

The last time I'd document a lesson, it was for swimming classes. Well, well.... Things have moved at a faster pace :P Hopefully I can still remember the moves and choreograph.

***

Song: Right There (Nicole Scherzinger)

***

Stroke, walk around to back.

Tie, stroke, open legs. Walk back, facing man.

Hip roll half circle, back facing man.

Feet apart, bend forward (hands back down).

Head flip, roll back up.

Bend forward, gyrate (4x lol).

Close feet, turn towards man.

Bend, left knee down, right knee down. V with base at heels.

Chest roll (2x)

Bend back, shin flat, hip circular (4x)

Rise, left feet, right feet, feet opened, squat position (thighs parallel)

Hip roll (pencil drawing circles) (4x)

Head roll.

Feet closed, rise.

Alternate knees switch to front (4x)

Head roll.

Bend forward & amp; rise to top.

***

I aint never gonna let no girl take him from me  

Never gonna let no girl steal him from me  

Never gonna let no girl get that close now  

I tell'em hey hey you're too close now

Come here baby eh be my baby 

Eh be my baby oh oh oh 

Come here baby put your hands on my body  

Hands on my body oh oh oh  

Right there keep it right there  

I love when you put it right there yeah  

Oh oh oh yeah yeah yeah oh oh oh  

Yeah yeah

*** 

 My knees are badly bruised now -.-

Home Again

***

Almost contemplated closing down the blog but realized my 6 years' worth of memories embedded in this platform.... just don't have the heart to do so.......

***

Back in SP for a few days cos Mum complained the last time I was back, spent less than 24 hours before scooting off again. Mostly pictures of comfort food, familiar people (and dog).

Flourishing new garden in front of house.

Mint leaves, passion fruit plant, serai, and miscellaneous aesthetic plants...

A whole basket full of organic goodies from the garden! That's the huan cu hiok (potato leaves) right on top of the pile.

Mum's parappu. It's a lot like dahl but a healthier version - loads of vegetables included. Love this one. Got the recipe and can't wait to try it out :)

Chai boey.

Pickles looking very sad...... I can't believe she's already 9 years old. That's ancient in human years.... older than Mum and Dad -.-

The stir fried potato leaves from the garden...

And an assortment of other dishes as well... clockwise from 3oc steamed fish Thai style (garnished with mint leaves from the garden), ayam kicap (cheat one buy from mamak), Tua Ee's fried fish and chicken feet combo and the stir fried huan cu hiok.

Si tham ciak still waiting for food even after everyone has finished eating, cleared and washed plates, cows gone home and she's still patiently there.

Poor Pickles looking like the saddest dog in the world after her extreme fur cut (confidence loss).

My absolute favourite sambal petai. Tua Ee's version. I still prefer the Ah Ma version with heh bi though.

Clockwise from 6oc, sambal petai, sambal for the jiu hu char, otak-otak, jiu hu char, herbal soup, stir fried aubergine with chillis.

Another fave - tu tor th'ng.

Another fave - chicken stew. Yummy.

Pickles manja-ing on my side in the car on the way back. Please ignore the chicken with reindeer PJs :\

Last dinner before I leave for Singapore - from bottom see yong chai th'ng, chopped chilis, stir fried cauliflowers and broccoli, and steamed fish again -.-

K, that's all, bai.

Karma's a Bitch

Closing Chapter 4: The Rat Race

Everyone has some form of goal they want to achieve in their lifetime. A million dollars in the bank, a swanky mansion, a cool car.... some have simpler dreams... a decent house, maybe 3 kids, the list goes on. In their effort to chase their dreams for more money, power, status, the rat race is inevitable.

There is no end to the hamster on the wheel. They all started out full of hope, with a light in their eyes, expectations of great things with good and hard work. The light slowly dims as their bodies shift to auto pilot. We move on with our daily routine without passion. I've seen people in their 40s or 50s just going about their jobs without a trace of a smile, pre-programmed beings just showing up to collect their monthly pay cheques to put food on the table.

I've grown tired of the rat race, weary like butter spread over too thin on toast... Heck, I'm only 27 this year! I used to enjoy the fast pace of the cities, maybe I was young then. Well, not that I'm old now but I think I have re-evaluated my priorities. Eventually I find it ironic that we rush like mad to work, then work, work, work, work, work, work, work, then rush like mad again back home only to repeat the same cycle day after day.

Which begs the question, these people so engrossed in their pursuits, do they understand that money can only get you so much? They get work to overwhelm them. Sleep less. Eat at their desks. Negligible recreation. Exercise nil. Some to the point of isolating their family, loved ones. Loved ones who care so much but are less prioritized. People who should matter the most gets the leftover time and attention.

Do they honestly think that more money can solve everything? More power to step on people can make you highly respectable? In case any one forgets, it's lonely at the top..... You can have all the money in the world but if there's no warm sincere love to share it with you, what's the point? The higher you go, the more fakers you meet. Everyone else around you is just waiting for that opportunity to strike. For you to trip before the stampede ensues as they scramble to take over your place...

Just like the old adage says, money does not buy happiness. True but one may argue that on the other hand, money can certainly buy you a lot of things that can make you happy. But how many of us realize that that's only a temporary solution to fill a gap that grows wider and bigger with every purchase.

Sometimes it takes a life-changing event to take place before we realize that maybe we've been doing it wrong all this while. For me, it was the demise of Ah Ma. It hit me hard like a splash of cold water. We think we are so different from others. On default, we assume that we will live to a ripe old age. Now, really, we are such fragile creatures. At any point, any time and any where our lives can just be ripped away from us.

What I'm trying to say is that we should all strive to be content, to be grateful with what we already have. Treasure the people around us, our family, loved ones. We need to try and un-complicate our lives. Life is meant to be simple. Why do we need to introduce more complexities into our lives? Brings nothing but pain and pressure.

Else, it will always be a struggle.

花: Gardens by the Bay

 Visited the highly hyped Gardens by the Bay not-so-recently. Snapped a multitude of photos and for the sake of blogging and then sun pian fish for compliments, here is a truckload of nature.

First conservatory is called Forest Cloud (or some random fancy sounding name).

Seriously, I don't know how tourists in Singapore survive. Entry to the conservatories are $25. Big kachings Tourism Singapore is making.

 I obviously do not know the names of the plants, much less the scientific names. So I'll just caption them the way a layperson would :D

 Super cute alien with gigantic brains orchid.

 Batik preen orchids.

Look like evil baby (hands cupped in glee type) nested in cot flower something.

Man-made waterfalls that greet you as you enter the conservatory. This one is supposed to mimic a higher ground/montane plants. So flowers you usually oooh and aaah in Cameron Highlands, now no need to travel all the way up (and risking your lives if you're taking a bus) liaw.

 Singapore is really amazing. Anything and everything they can come up with something man-made. Man-made waterfalls, man-made mountains, man-made beaches, the list goes on and on....

 Beautiful rose gardens. In all shapes and shades.

 Fascinating leaves with a suede-like texture.

Then into the second conservatory, Flower Dome, which admittedly has more stuff to see (but my camera started dying out, so only a handful of photos).

 Cute little flower buds facing all directions.

 Massive display of beautiful flowers.

 Towering supertrees around the gardens

 View of the two conservatories from atop the super tree.

See, in a garden also die die must have man-made trees ;)

***

Digressing, without intent to insult/taunt anyone, I have lost some weight, 2kgs to be exact. My waist reached an all-new low 25". Don't know whether to feel happy or worried. Hmm.