Friday Fatigue

I started running again on Tuesday, and ran two miles. Wednesday was supposed to be my rest day, but I walked a mile towards home. I would have walked the next two miles home, had I been in proper footwear. As it was, the flats that I was wearing weren't the best to walk in, so I decided to stop before I caused myself damage.

Was pretty tired last night after work, and super hungry to boot, but decided to do up my laces and get out anyway. Two miles this time was a lot easier than it was on Tuesday! Was ravenous when I got home; I drank a litre of water, had a cup of yoghurt, two slices of toast and peanut butter, and about a dozen lychees.

Yeah, kinda defeats the purpose of working out if I'm not going to eat right! But hey, at least I got me some protein.

No, that wasn't an innuendo.

Today is rest day again, and I intend to take it seriously. No point pushing myself to the point of injury. I felt a slight ache of shin splints this morning, so I'd better take it easy for a bit. Besides, I'm only pre-training for the 10K, so I have lots of time to get up to speed. And hopefully I can wake up early enough tomorrow morning to go for a run, before having to get ready for J & L's wedding. If not, I'm resting til Sunday!

So yeah, no run for me todday. Besides, today I'm meeting CT after work. Apparently she has stuff to tell me! She messaged me a couple days ago, totally out of the blue, and says that she has THINGS to tell me. I must say, my curiosity has been piqued. I get the feeling it's nothing good, and that it might be 'bad gossip' about one of my friends. Since CT does have the tendency to get rather angry about stuff (she has a temper to rival mine), I plan to just take everything with a grain of salt. She's well-meaning, and she has a good heart, but she doesn't seem to be able to let things go sometimes. Well, if it helps her to talk to me about it, I'm happy to listen.

In other completely unrelated news, I need want to get a red bag, a more structured one. I like the H&M one I have now - Sis!S gave it to me for Christmas last year - but it's a bit casual. I'd like to get a proper faux leather one ("proper faux"? what the hell, Ki?), or even a real leather one. Yes, you heard me. REAL LEATHER. Oh no, think of the cows! you say. But I do. I think of the cows every time I chow down on a juicy, medium-rare steak. Om nom noms.

Now I'm just sitting back, waiting for The Vegans* to show up.





*I have nothing against vegans. I have a lot against self-righteous vegans who preach and tell me I'm a horrible evil person who's going straight to hell** for eating meat/using animal products.


**Oh, I'm sure I'm going straight to hell.  Just not for those reasons.

Getting Fit

As if I hadn't had enough on my plate, I had to go add one more thing to it.
I've signed up for the Yellow Ribbon 10K in September, and I'm thinking of registering for the Great Eastern one as well.

I was rather iffy about doing a 10K, especially since I haven't run in ages. I'm so prone to shin splints, because of my silly flat feet, so I'd stopped working out for a bit. Especially after I injured my knee. Got new workout and running shoes from good old Jeffrey, shoe whisperer...damn, that guy knows his stuff. Takes one look at my stance and can tell what kind of shoe I need. Asics. Always Asics. Nothing else works for me.

My new Asics workout shoes are black and pink; very stylish, I like! And they make my feet look...not so gigantic. My new running shoes are...mostly white. So very white. So very blindingly white. Took them out for the first time last night, and boy, do they feel good! Such great support; I'd forgotten how amazing it feels to run with new shoes on.

 I have my training schedule sorted. I just have to stick to it! I've already enlisted Doof as a personal coach of sorts...his job is to get my running playlist sorted, and to push me to actually go on my runs/workouts. I'd planned to run only a mile last night, start off slow and easy. Ended up running 2 miles instead, because it felt so good. I haven't hit my old runner's high yet though...that will come in time. I'm looking forward to it!
And hey, I bet once I lose a bit of fat and gain a bit of muscle, it'll just be easier to run. I'm tempted to join a gym that's in my building, but as I'm only here for about 6 months, would it be worth it? Hmm.

Knocked Up

Had quite a bizarre exchange with a girl from another department today. She comes to my office to hand me some documents, when the following ensues.


She: Hey, you're pregnant, right?
Me: ....No.
She: But...you're pregnant!
Me: No. I'm not.
She: Are you sure?
Me: *thinks: Am I sure?*
Me: I'm not pregnant. I'm fat.
She: Why? You eat a lot is it?


Me: ....ok, you're being rude and I don't want to talk to you.




Clearly, I need to go on a diet. Thing is, I'm not sure if she's just daft or rude (or both!), but that was such an odd conversation for so many reasons. Who goes around telling people they're pregnant? Why would you ask if they're sure? What if I really were up the duff and wanted to keep it on the down low? And why, for the love of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, would you keep shooting your mouth off after you've put your foot in it?

I think I'm surrounded by very strange people. But...if I perceive everyone else to be strange, doesn't that make ME the strange one? Well, if that's the case, I revel in my strangeness.

My fat and very unpregnant strangeness.

Tightening my Belt

No, I'm not on a quest to scrimp and save. Even though I am saving up for a trip to London next year. I mean... I'm literally tightening my belt. The inches are melting away almost before my very eyes. Over the past few days, I've gone from being able to lounge about in my jeans without having to undo the button, to having to wear a belt, to having to tighten it up a notch.

And today? I realised something. There is loads of space in my jeans now. It's gone from so tight that I can barely walk, to so loose that I absolutely have to wear a belt. I'm like one of those 'after' photos of people, where they're pulling out their waistband to show how many inches they've lost. In fact... my jeans are now so loose, that I don't even have to unbutton them to take them off. That's right, tug hard enough, my jeans just slide right off.

No, that wasn't an invitation. Not really.

I'm only two weeks into this diet, and I'm well chuffed with the results so far. The only downers are moments like watching my family scoff down birthday cake (chocolate cake!), or walking past a bakery to inhale the wonderful aroma of freshly baked bread.

I miss my carbs! I want my chocolate cake and doughnuts and pizza and quarter pounders and milkshakes and nutella and omg bananas! And roti prata and youtiao and and....alright, I'll stop before I put on weight just thinking about it.

Also, QA guy today passes me some loot that his wife hauled back from the UK. Just for me.

A 3-pack of Jaffa Cakes. The proper nommy McVitie's ones. And a Terry's Chocolate Orange as well.

Now that's what I call a test of willpower.

As I was telling Shoes today, this diet has really made me realise just how much I unthinkingly eat. I pop sweets into my mouth, I grab an ice cream out of the freezer, I munch on biscuits when I'm bored, I have a doughnut whenever I feel like it... My sis commented that it's a really disciplined diet, and I suppose it is. What with weighing everything out, thinking about what I'm eating, not snacking throughout the day, and planning my meals in advance. But the great thing is...I'm not hungry. Even though I've started eating slightly less than my daily allowance. A couple people have expressed surprise at how small the portions seem to be. The thing is...it's not that my meals are small, it's that theirs are huge! Well, I'm getting hungry NOW, because it's past my dinner time.

I actually have a dress that I was planning to wear for Christmas; I just needed the shoes to go with it. But now... I might have to rethink that. I'm going to wait out another couple weeks, then I'll try on my skinny jeans. The ones that I haven't been able to fit into for two years. Definitely looking forward to it.

And once all this is over...

Well, a double quarter pounder all to myself? Challenge accepted! But before that....

Jaffa cakes, here I come!

OM NOM NOM

Friday Fun

I did my hair not too long ago, but I went back yesterday to get it coloured. I knew I needed a bit of a trim, and Bianca suggested cutting it a bit shorter than usual.

I LOVE the colour! A slightly different shade to what I did the last time, and I love it. Also, I sometimes have a sideswept or parted fringe, but more often than not, it's all just pushed up and clipped back. This time, I asked her to to blow-dry my fringe straight, just to see what it looks and feels like. It looked fantastic when I walked out....but after a while, I kinda just pushed it out of the way. It's confirmed - I don't like my hair falling into my eyes. I can't do a short fringe though, because it curls, and then looks awful. As it is, my fringe now is really curled up, especially since I didn't have time to do anything with it this morning.

I'm going back in a couple of weeks to get it done for Christmas.

Bella was right; I really do need to watch the 'rockumentary' It "focuses on African American women's hair, including the styling industry surrounding it, the acceptable look of African American women's hair in society, and the effects of both upon African American culture" (from the Wiki page), but she said there's a lot in it I'd agree with. For one thing...spending LOADS of money on hair. I complain about being broke all the time, but I spend about a thousand bucks a year on my hair. It's paying off though; my hair is looking a lot better, it's healthier, and most importantly, I like it.

Alright then, enough blather about my hair.

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Met up with Bella after that, and as always, it's lovely to hang out with her. It's funny how we became friends; I'm convinced that if she hadn't been living just down the street from me back in secondary school, such that her place became my second home, we wouldn't have become so close. Superficially, we have nothing in common; our tastes in music and literature differ greatly. She works in the arts industry; I work in administration. She's a great people person; I generally avoid hanging out in groups. And the list goes on.

But go a little deeper...and well, we've been through so much together. She's been there through each and every time I got my heart broken; she knows of most of my embarrassing secrets. We've seen each other through our awkward teenage years, and we're stumbling through adulthood together. We have inside jokes that we still find hilarious. We can go ages without any contact, but when we meet again, it's like no time at all has passed. We don't see each other very often, but if either of us really need someone, it only takes a text.

In short, she's my 3a.m. friend. More importantly, she's my sister of the heart. And one can never have too many sisters.


Gosh, I'm rather mushy today. That's probably because I didn't get much sleep. Plus, I'm procrastinating at work. But enough of that. Time to get down to work again. On a flipping Saturday. Groan groan.

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But hey, I have a birthday party to go to today! One of my second cousins is celebrating her 8th (and I feel awful; I can't remember when her birthday actually is!), and she's having a fairy-themed party. Looks like I gotta get out my wand and wings! Oh, and I have to figure out the password too. Kids these days, making it so difficult to get to the cake!

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Not that I'm going to be having any cake...I'd be disappointed about it, if not for the fact that I'm now visibly slimmer than I was a couple weeks ago.

How much slimmer? Well, I haven't measured yet, but now I slip into my jeans easily. I can slouch about at home in my jeans, without having to unbutton them any more. Yes, yes, it was highly difficult and uncomfortable to slouch over in my jeans. But now! Now they feel fine. In fact, they're a little loose! I have to wear a belt for the first time in months! I took my belt off its hook yesterday, and dusted it off. Literally dusted it off.

I don't have my huge tummy bump any more. In other words, I no longer look like I'm preggers! Well, damn. There goes people giving up their seats on the train for me.

I screwed up a bit yesterday - I forgot to bring my dinner to work, so went from work to hair to Bella, and didn't get home til 2am. So yeah. Skipped dinner. NOT GOOD.

But I've learnt my lesson; won't let it happen again. I can't wait to fit into my skinny jeans again!

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Speaking of jeans, I was well amused last night to discover that Bella had no idea you're supposed to turn jeans inside out with you wash them. For those of you who also didn't know that, well...turning jeans inside out when you wash them helps to maintain the colour and shape. Ok? Ok.
Also, you don't have to wash your jeans every single week. Unlike my dear OCD-inflicted friend, who seems to think that jeans get manky after only a week. Every single week. I'm still shaking my head.

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Another bimbo moment from Bella that I simply have to mention. We were talking about weird things we've eaten (or will never eat), which stemmed from me mentioned that I didn't like stinky tofu. We all agreed that we'll never eat balut, although we have a sneaking suspicion that it's probably really good. And a great source of protein. Besides, we eat eggs. We eat chicken. Why not the in-between? But...no. Just no.

Bella asked her friend, who's travelled a fair bit, about what's the weirdest thing he's ever eaten. He said that it was 'whale semen'. To which Bella responded "How do you..I dunno...harvest? How do you get whale semen?" We all just stared at her for a moment, before she realised that the whale is killed first. Yes, she did for a few seconds think that whale semen is "harvested" by some form of jacking it off. Lots of hilarity ensued, of course, complete with arm movements. Watch out for the next dance craze: The Whale-Wank.

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Note: I do have my thoughts and opinions on whaling, but there's a time and place for discussing them. Last night wasn't the time, this blog isn't the place. :)