Pump It

My gym membership is coming to an end. For the first time in my life I joined gym, around 3 months back, when the new gym in Mangalore - Zeuss, just opened. The past three months had been quite fruitful for me. I lost around 4 KGs. My body is more toned up. My stamina is better. My strength is more. Mentally more sharp and energetic. And most importantly, my BIG FAT FLABBY tummy reduced by a lot. At least now when i stand straight, the protrusion is no longer obvious. ("the Chinese with an Indian figure", that's wat ppl here sometimes call me, zzzz). I would not say i have huge biceps and six packs right now, because they'll totally not there. I think 3 months doesn't do too much for a superman's body. Am i happy with my results? Quite OK. My tummy is not super flat, but at least it's much smaller. My arms are not huge and my chest are not wide, but at least there are some shape.

I think my daily routine is very much adjusted to doing exercise in the afternoon already. Before that, afternoon after class, my time will be spent sleeping or playing game. Now, after working in hospital, at least my body will tell me to work out. Of course, in the beginning, it's hard. The fatigue, the laziness easily took over. But as time goes by, it gets easier. And another important factor is of course having a companion means extra pressure and motivation. Thank goodness for all the trainers and equipments in Zeuss, plus my own determination and furthermore, my companion Caryn.

P/S: When i go back Malaysia, i'll definitely join a gym. Hopefully my houseman-ship is not that strangle-ling till i dun even have time to exercise..

the essential of my workout - iPod Shuffle 4GB, which is free when i purchased my new iPod Touch 4G

My workout sets in my room, which are abandoned for long long time

Going Mobile

the first day i got the scooter

most recent photo (changed the headlight rim to full chrome; got a knock at the front wheel shield from some stupid auto driver)

"I'm going mobile, keep me movin', keep me groovin"

I'm going mobile.. I bought a scooter last May at the beginning of my internship, reason because I need it too much for travelling between hospitals and hostels and college. The auto rickshaw charges just went up another notch that time, from 13 rupees to 15 rupees per Km, which is crazy.. Besides, the reason I'm writing this post so late is because I dun wanna let my parents know bout it at all that I'm driving in India crazy traffic, and partially because I'm busy and lazy. (Anyway, they knew the truth last November but din really scold me, just asked me to be extra careful)

The bike is a vintage Vespa 150 Super.. It is the same age as me (25 yrs old).. Right now, this old vintage bike is extremely rare except in 3rd world countries like India or Vietnam where the citizens are still stuck in the 60's and 70's era.. Being truly 'vintage', it will actually cost a huge sum to get one and restore it with the rare parts. I bought this bike for only Rs9000, and fully refurbished and repainted it for another same amount.. Ppl here say I paid too much for such an old scooter cz I could have got a high powered bike with the same amount.. But I am sentiment about old things and i was willing to spend, plus I had not had a single thought of getting those big bike like most of my friends are riding.. I wanted something special, different, rare, cute, cool.

So far, in the past 9 months or so, my driving experience had been full of ups and downs..
Ups means I love the look of the scooter; the sound of the engine; the way ppl ask bout my bike and admire it; the exceptional convenience it gave me as an intern to travel around hospitals and coming back for lunch; ability to go anywhere i want without needing to fight with auto drivers; feeling the smooth and steady stroll on the roads; the experience of riding my girlfriend around; the fun of exploring places here i'd never been before; the thrill of high speed on road and experience of cool breeze at late night...

Now comes to the downs. As they say, an 'old man' needs lots of fixing.. I'd experienced numerous amount of bike breakdown, not able to kick-start, no light, water clogging the engine, excessive smoke problem, parts getting loose etc, and consequently visited the garage uncountable number of times.. Yes, old is gold, (which means u need a lot of gold to own an old)..

Another thing I always wanted to stress on is the stupidity of the Indian drivers here.. There's not a single second when I'm on the road here that I do not curse the drivers and pedestrians.. I mean, they're freaking dumb and ignorant.. Already everyone knows bout the road condition here. Big holes out of nowhere, non stop digging and patching up of roads, stones and bumps on the side roads, absence of draining system, no pedestrians pavements, no line separating lanes, lack of sign boards and traffic lights, extremely narrow streets, pedestrians crossing the roads however they want... (the list goes on).
Majority of the drivers here are totally bunches of lawless, brainless, selfish, ignorant, rude, impatient ppl..The things that piss me off all the time are the way they dun use their signals before they stop or turn; the way they don't know how to utilize a round-about properly; the way they dun stop or start at the right time at traffic lights; the way they ignores signboards and breaching the rules; the way they like to sneak in every inch of free spaces; the way they horn at everyone; the way ppl here drive counter traffic; the way buses bully the other small vehicles; the way ppl just stop wherever they want in the middle of the road; the way everyone blinding others using only the high beam on roads at night. Driving here in Mangalore is really annoying and stressful.

I love my Vespa despite the troubles this old folk gave me. I hate Indian roads and drivers to the max for the way they drive around me. I'd always wonder how nice it would be if i'm able to drive my Vespa in Malaysia's proper roads?? Till now, i'm still unsure whether i should bring this scooter back to Malaysia, or just sell it to someone who love vintage bikes. There are many foreseeable problems if i bring it back eg customs, taxes, shipment, availability of spare parts back home etc, but the relationship, the bond that we shared in the past months had been quite strong till i'm not willing to part from it.. Right now, I'm still in the midst of dilemma..

Tweedle Dee & Tweedle Dum

It's been ages since i blogged.. My last blog was during my very first internship posting _ Community Medicine, and now i'm in my very last posting - Obs & Gyn.. It's been exactly 10 months!! Does my blog still appear relevant when everyone else is super into Mark Zuckernberg product or just about tweeting around.. Who would still want to purposely open a blog page when every updates of friends and followers can be shown right in one big full screen in front of us?? Well, i myself personally love Facebook.. It's an awesome way to connect my social network, and the most important thing is that every single one is using it, how could i lose out? But, one thing i find annoying is the 'status updates', where everyone post just about anything from what u thinking, what u did, what u saw, what u play, what you re-share, what you listen to, what apps you using etc etc etc.. it just freaking flooded many of my other important updates which i so often missed.. Then, there're ppl who find Tweeter being more relevant in terms of privacy and controlled status updates..you post a thought, or many many thoughts a day, and ppl who follow you see it and re-tweet on it.. But for me, 140 words is just too little too less.. i cant really convey my ideas properly, and if it's in 140 words, the whole thing look hollow and inaccurate, plus having to wait for ppl to follow or follow others is just another nuisance for me. Yes, every time i blogged, it took me more than an hour per post.. it's a BIG commitment to post a blog.. but i find myself 'publishing' in better words - more profound, more refined.. yes, my ideas might not be as wide spread among my friends as in FB, but in FB, my post appears only to my 'friends', but in Blog, my product goes to hundreds or thousands of eyes around the world.. Am i such a bragger to become famous?? Not at all, and i hardly care.. but there are instances when ppl i do not know found me and befriended me, or ppl whom i expected the least to read my blog actually find some of it really informative and helpful.. So, now on, i decided to use my blog as a mini tweet, to continue spreading my daily life and ideas and activities, but with a much lesser commitment in terms of quantity but more in frequency, as in, i will write in short passages, not long long essay which i used to. See, i'd never intended to write such long post this time round, but i just can't help it.. Now you understand why Tweeter never appealed to me at all... Social e-networking had evolved so much in past few short years and had gotten ppl very very much involved with the whole internet thingy.. From Blogger, My Space, Yahoo Group, to the famous Friendster, to the India famous Orkut, to Facebook, then Tweeter and so on..Who need to hang out with friend for a drink or play some games out under the sun or rain and waste petrol to drive out or use up energy walking and talking when you can just sit in front of the desk and be extremely acquainted to every single latest news and happenings and rumors?? Is human being truly becoming more electrified and dull? i certainly do think so..