New things, new roles

Hi everyone,

So some of you may wonder where have I been, why am I taking a long break from this blog, etc etc.

Well lets just say that work has been quite busy and I have been very occupied with living a healthier, happier life. What do I mean by that?

Well that includes a lot of sweating and pushing myself to the point of giving up.

So, yes. You may have guessed it, I've been gymming.

Working out after a long hiatus is never easy but taking the first step towards a better lifestyle also means I am setting out from crawling to wobbling to walking and onto running, hopping and skipping.

Gym membership can sometimes be a pain but if any of you are finding it difficult to sign up for a gym membership, don't worry. There are parks, gardens and playgrounds near you that you can make use of. Start by taking it slowly. A 30 minutes walk can transform to a 10 minutes run and go on to 15, 20, 25, 30 and before you know it, you are running the next half or full marathon.

If you hate running, then what can you do? Well I find that there are many parks that are equipped with outdoor gym and best of all, these are available to you for free. Make full use of it and if you find yourself too comfortable or not making progress, take it up a notch and spice things up. Work those deeper muscles and in no time will you have a great body. Sometimes even without you realising it.

Also, you can find many videos on youtube on 'Bodyweight Exercises' that absolutely do not need any equipment but can get you ripped. These are easily available and some even break things down to make it easier for your understanding on which muscles you should be working on and what are the common mistakes when doing that particular exercise.

Some stigma around exercising is that some girls will say that I don't want to be big and bulky. Let me correct this. Exercising does not necessarily get you big and bulky as long as you choose the correct exercises and target the correct muscles. What you get as an end result (if done correctly) is the reduction of fat tissues in areas that are particularly resistant especially your thighs, waist and arms. With the reduction of fat tissues, you essentially get a more toned and slim looking body. If you don't trust me, go check out Kayla Itsines' Bikini Body Guide programme and watch how her exercises changed the lives of so many ladies across the world. This girl is a bae. You can easily find her at https://www.kaylaitsines.com/.

So what are you waiting for? Get out there, work that body and enjoy the outcome.

PS: by no means do I own any of these photos. I got them off the internet so credits to the original sites.

Cheers
Min

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Short Escape up North (Day 1-2)

We were pulling long hours at work and it was so tiring that the few of us decided to take a break and travel up north and enjoy what there is to offer there. So we took a slow drive from Muar to Kedah after work.

We decided to stop by Auto City for dinner and it was amazing. There were so many different eateries and we had trouble deciding where to dine. Ended up walking around the place thrice before deciding.

So after dinner, we went for a walk and saw some amazingly beautiful places.

The decorations are simply breathtaking.

Well if you are bored, why not have a game of snakes and ladders. This picture did not do it any justice. It was a huge piece of snake and ladder game so kids will definitely love it.

And... there's these cutie pies.. :) :)

These are so nostalgic. The decorations make it look like an ancient time eatery so you feel like a legend in the modern world. Haha.

We put the night up at my colleague's house up in Alor Setar. As we arrived close to midnight, I wasn't able to take much photos but the next day, we decided to wake up early and explore the good food they have to offer and let me tell you something: It never disappointed me. Haha. Being a picky eater, I can fairly say that these food are amazing.

This curry fish head place at Kampung Lubok Peringgi is just simply amazing. If you are in Alor Setar, waze yourself to No. 8 Curry House and you will find yourself in a beautiful place with some Thai ambience and fill your tummies with some delectable delicacies.

After filling our tummies, we decided to go for a drive around Alor Setar which is the capital of Kedah. The Zahir Mosque was said to be one of the grandest and oldest mosques in Malaysia. It was built in 1912 and has been voted the top 10 most beautiful mosques in the world. The Alor Setar Tower on the other hand is a communication tower but tourists can have a ride all the way up and enjoy the scenery of Alor Setar.

The Zahir Mosque that looks stunning in the middle of the city. It somehow reminds me of Aladdin.

The Alor Setar Tower standing proud and tall right in the middle of the city.

Aman Central which houses many local and international brands and we spent hours here doing what girls do best. Haha. Retail therapy is a good therapy.

After burning calories at Aman Mall, it was time for dinner again. This time, we drove to Jitra (as recommended by locals) and the trip was worth it. It was a restaurant with a Thai twist of flavours. The name of the place is Restoran 5 Utara in Jitra.

The northern style otak-otak. Taste different from what we have in Muar but nevertheless, it was good and unique in its own way.

One of my favourite dishes. Not many people can handle the taste of petai and its strong flavours but I love them. The petais here are much bigger than the ones we usually get in Johore and it was sooooo yummy.

The cuttlefish was the best dish of the night. It was spicy but veryyyyy good.

We headed back to my friend's house for the night and I intentionally missed out on telling everyone that her house was surrounded by fields after fields of paddy. It was a good season to enjoy the fields as it was almost time for harvest and the paddy fields were just stunning. I woke up early the next morning to have a feel of the morning market here but alas, forgot to take photo of it as we were busy shopping (again...). Alor Setar has so many beautiful paintings and murals in their back alleys.

We woke up to this view of the rising sun. Simply stunning.

Two of the cutest childhood memories. The one on the left is a popular toy that we used to get with some chocolate balls when we were little (90s kids growing up in Malaysia would recognise this immediately) and the one on the right is Doraemon - one of my favourite childhood cartoon characters.

A painting of the late Tunku Abdul Rahman, the first Prime Minister of Malaysia who was born in Alor Setar and moved on to become the Father of Independence in Malaysia. This mural was painted to commemorate the sacrifices that Tunku had done for the nation.

A mural of Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, the fourth Prime Minister of Malaysia, also known as the Father of Modernization. 

 After going around town in the morning, we decided to have our scrumptuous lunch at Seafood Restaurant in Jalan Kampung Perak. PS: We ordered more than those 2 shown in the picture but we were busy eating that we forgot to take photo of the other food. Haha.

Words cannot describe how amazing this fish was. Those golden brown toppings are fried pickled vegetables that enhanced the flavours of the steamed fish.

As the old Chinese rhyme goes: Have some leek and you will have lots of money to count (say it in Hokkien dialect and have a good laugh). 

It is now time to explore the paddy fields and we had a good time running around and playing in the fields.

These paddies are almost ready to be harvested. There's a Malay saying that goes like this: Be like paddies, the more contents you have, the lower you bow. It tells us to be humble wherever we go even though we might be the experts in what we do.

Imagine waking up to this view... absolutely amazing.

A beautiful picture of sunset by the paddy fields.

So that was how my first 2 days of the trip went. Stay tuned for updates on the rest of the trip.

Cheers
Min

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Everyone is beautiful

Everyone is beautiful in our own way. Do not let others classify how beautiful you are but instead have a look at yourself and tell yourself that you are beautiful.

Stand in front of that mirror each day and complement one part of your body and by the end of the month, you will start liking how you look and by the end of the year, you will look back and say, "Hey, I had a wonderful year."

How this works? Well, our brain is fantastic isn't it. When we start complementing how we look, our brain naturally processes this as a happy thought and releases endorphin in our body. These are what people call happy hormones. These happy hormones will start flowing through your body and as its name suggests, it makes you happy. The more endorphin you release daily, the less likely you are to succumb to the pressure or expectations of others.

I've personally had this experience of falling to a slump after someone accused me of doing something that I did not do. It totally changed it. It's crazy how what someone says and do can affect you so much. Till now, it still affects me but I have learned to cope with that horrible feeling.

What happened?

Well, it's simple. I used to live with a family whom I thought was a nice family until I found the ugly truth. Things started off well but since I have been living overseas for several years, coming home and living with others have become difficult for me. It was difficult to adapt but I tried my best to adapt to their living. At that time, I was just starting my new job and everything was getting tougher and tougher. Pressure from work piled up and naturally I was tired after work so I tried to compensate during the weekends.

I tried to be what I thought was the 'model tenant'. I tried offering help if I could but I felt awkward. I tried not to make it a burden living with them so I used to eat out but it was thought as rude. I tried to be as cheerful as I can but I was so tired after work that all I want to do was crash and start again the next day.When work became more demanding, I had to come home and study almost every night just so I don't fall behind at work but not everyone understood that feeling. It wasn't easy juggling between work and life. What made it worse was after work, I frequently had to come home and live a life walking on broken glass. I literally have to be very careful with everything I say and everything I do. I knew I was being sloppy but I just couldn't help it so during the weekends, I would try and clean up my mess and perhaps get a little rest. People thinks I'm an extrovert but actually I enjoy staying alone by myself and just doing nothing. Yes, rest and do nothing is literally what I am good at. Perhaps just reading a book till I fall asleep, listen to some music and continue reading when I felt like it. That's how I can spend my day.

I used to try and run away so I went and spend the weekend at my friend's place very often. I always made excuses just so I can run away and breathe. I went over so often that I actually lost count. Thought I had so much work to do, I couldn't resist the temptation of just running away and be myself at least for 24 hours. Home was approximately 5 hours away. I didn't want to make my parents worry so I told them I was fine and posted photos of how I was having fun with my friends as a delusion of how much pain I was in.

All this happened in a short span of two and a half months. Well, one might ask, if I had been living such a difficult life, why didn't I just move out? Well, I actually can't answer that. It didn't cross my mind to leave because I trusted the family. I guessed all the stress of adapting got into me. I was faring poorly at work, I was lethargic, I was blank at work. Still, I tried to cope.

One day, I began hearing shouting and lots of banging going on in the house. I didn't dare interfere so I just kept quiet and acted as if nothing happened. It was probably one of the biggest mistakes I've made in life to choose to stay there because I have literally just burned the bridges between my family and their family. They suspected that I was setting up an indoor surveillance system in their house and that I was spying on them. I have to admit that I thought it was kind of silly when they thought I was part of an artificial intelligence team trying to spy on their family or something. First of, I do not know if they had such big secrets to hide in the first place but I have no ill thoughts of them. I didn't go there with any bad intentions. I was in a whole new town. When I came back to my country, I was hoping to get a job somewhere near my parents and feel the love of my parents but life was not that easy.

I was alone in a strange town, 5 hours away from home and no friends. The thought alone was scary enough but on top of that, I was starting my new job which means that I have to work double as hard to make myself worth.

The night that I found out, I immediately packed up my stuff, contacted a few friends (whom I am really thankful for) and literally moved out. I spent the rest of the year fighting depression that I knew was there but I wasn't willing to acknowledge. Being accused by someone who was so dear to me of an act such that I betrayed them. I never really told anyone how I felt about that and I just held it in, hoping that one day the skies will clear up.

The next 10 months was totally the slump of my life. I tried to hang out with my friends whenever I can and it really made me feel a lot better but I was being more introvert than ever. I isolated myself from my housemates, I behaved weirdly for which I do not know why did I even behave that way. I am thankful for the fact that my housemates bear with me throughout the 10 months for I knew I was a difficult person to handle at that time. I was difficult mainly because I didn't know how to express my feelings and I guessed I was just depressed.

I finally break out of my shell when I was posted to a different town appox 14 months after starting my new job. This time, I have learnt my lesson. I choose to rent alone although that meant that I was going to be lonely but at least I get to be myself and do things that I am most comfortable doing. I'm glad that I met friendly colleagues for whom I am very thankful for. If it wasn't for them, I would have still be in my slump right now. It didn't take long for my family to start noticing that I was happier where I am now. I was a totally different person. I am now able to express myself more freely.

I guess there would be a point in life where everyone questions their life and is life worth living. I have had that thought myself but yes, I chose to live. I have never had the idea of terminating my life because I knew it was not worth risking my life for someone who doesn't even appreciate my existence. Why should I give them the opportunity to remove me from this world. Nonetheless, they have successfully made me question my worth in this world; in short, I felt worthless. I woke up each day and sigh "Ahh, I've made it to another day."

How about now? Well, now, every morning I tell myself cheerfully "Hey gorgeous, we made it through to another day, why not make it worth?" Do I really say that to myself, YES I DO. Why? Haha. Simply because it makes me feel a lot better and I feel like I am at the top of the world.

Well, since this is my first post, I shall leave it here and continue talking about what I did to change how I felt about myself in the next post. Before I sign off, let me just tell everyone to live life happily and to appreciate yourself as much as you appreciate everyone you love.

Cheers and make this world a better place.
Min

PS: Lets end this post with a wonderful song by Amber titled Beautiful.I absolutely love her songs and she is so inspiring.

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Road to healing

So, one may ask, how bad is it really to be hurt? Well, let me tell you, it really stings. Every night, the same obnoxious comments will haunt you and keep ringing in your ear until you fall asleep but the problem is that you can't sleep. So, the incident gets more and more annoying and it starts taking over your life. You can't focus on work because you are so tired and yet you can't sleep at night because your mind is so occupied.

How do you get about it?

Here are a few things that I found quite the stress reliever and helped me keep sane again.

1. Change in environment. Migrate. Where?

How can this help? It makes a bigggg difference. Think about it. All the precipitating factors removed and you can start afresh. However, this might not necessarily be an option for many people to physically move to a new place because due to commitments and other factors. It may be difficult for you to leave. So, the best thing to do is migrate your mindset. Remove these people from your mind. How do you do that? You do not have super powers nor do you have mind control to do such a thing. Yes, you are right about not having super powers but no you are wrong about mind control. You can control the way you think.

Why do I say that? Lets have a case scenario. Remember the time that you did something wrong or something you regret. Have you ever felt better about yourself after talking to someone about it? Did crying help? Well, I'm sure it did make you feel better but did it change the fact that you have done something wrong? No it doesn't change the fact that you have done something wrong but it made you feel better and it makes you ready to accept the punishment.

Why is that so? Well, your body is actually capable of coping with stress but it is all controlled by your mind. When you encounter a stressful situation, your body will flip to defensive and rejecting mode. As such, you will start rejecting the fact that you did something wrong and defend yourself that you are right. Have you ever done something wrong and tried to find ways to comfort yourself by finding excuses about why you did it? That's the exact mechanism that you should use to try and make things better.

Sit down and empty your mind. This is the toughest step of all. If you can't do this, stare into the mirror and think about what happened. If you feel like crying then let your emotions pouur. You are just another human capable of feeling pain so just let the emotions flow. If you do this often enough, you will start feeling better about the incident. When you are ready, try telling yourself in the mirror that you are doing well. Those people are just jealous of you which is why they came up with the malicious comments. 

Start telling yourself in the mirror how good you look or complement yourself everyday first thing in the morning. It helps keep your mind strong and help you brave the obstacles that come your way. Be confident in whatever you do and keep your head straight. You can do this! You are stronger than that!. These  are the two phrases that kept me strong all these time.

2. Find true friends.

As easy as it may sound, finding a true friend is like finding a needle in the haystack. When I was in my slump, I always turn to my friends for advice and talk to them about it. These are the people whom I am very grateful to have. My friends would travel all the way just to visit me and what do we do? Go to a nice restaurant and just talk about it. Honestly, it felt so much better after talking to someone about it.

I'm also very grateful to have fantastic parents who know that something is not right. They can see right through me. I used to be an extremely jovial person but I changed to become extremely introvert and I became a social retard. Well, although I may be far from my parents, they make it an effort to drive all the way down to visit me. Bear in mind, I was about 5 hours drive away from home. They used to come and stay with me for a night or two just to keep me company because they know all that loneliness will drive me insane. Many would say mum knows me well but actually although dad never said it, he could feel that I wasn't my actual self and it was comforting to see that he was trying very hard to reach out to me.

Having someone to talk to really makes a difference.

So, one may ask, what do I do if I haven't got anyone that I can talk to? I would suggest that you first talk to the you in the mirror. As crazy as it may sound, if you can face yourself and talk to your reflection, emotions will begin pouring out, you might need to replace the mirror several times but after all the drama, you will feel a whole lot better. Then what? Once you are ready to step out of your hiding, you should start making new friends. Remember what I said about migration? Leave the negative and be ready to accept new things. Sign up for something new. Be it gym, dance lessons, yoga, learn an instrument or learn a new language. Just sign up for a class and start taking it seriously. Make friends there and hopefully you can find your true friends there.

3. Learn something new.

Well, it doesn't necessarily have to be something new but just sign up for something. As for me, I signed up for badminton which really helped me out of my shell because I was able to laugh my heart out at the court without anyone thinking that I was crazy. I also made many good friends there for whom I am truly thankful for. I was adjusting to a new place and these people made adapting to the new environment a lot easier.

4. Exercise.

This is a great way to relief stress. If you are not an athletic person, then you don't have to exercise physically but exercise your vocal chords. Seriously, try it. When I first signed up for gym, it was so tiring and I felt like giving up but after going regularly, it became a lot easier and after sweating it out, I felt so much better about myself. Well, another thing that affected my self esteem was my appearance. I do not have the face nor the body to look pretty which means it hurts my self-esteem even more. I used to blame myself for how I look and as a result, I resorted to binge eating which was terrible because all it did was make me gain weight.

After a month of gym, I started noticing subtle changes in my body and it made me feel good. One may ask, one moment I was talking about badminton and the next moment gym? Well, it's a long story and I promise to cover it in my future post but to cut it short, when I moved to my new workplace, I started fresh. It's now 2 hours from home and I signed up for badminton but 2 months later, I broke my ACL (anterior cruciate ligament - one of the ligaments in my knee) again which made something as simple as walking extremely painful for about 4 months. I don't have any idea how I endured through it but yes, I endured it and then I went for physio which really helped but then I couldn't commit to physio sessions as work was getting more hectic. So, I resorted to going to the gym. For which I make it an effort to go at least 4-5 times a week.

Sweating it out was really an awesome feeling. It was like releasing all that frustrations in my body and as I grew stronger, I felt as though I could just pull those emotions that was restraining me right off and I can run away from those restraints.

Another thing that I found really good to release stress is belting my heart out be it during shower time or in the karaoke room. Yes, karaoke is more or less like an exercise for me. I don't just exercise my vocal chords but also a lot of my abs. I always sweat so much in the karaoke room and felt my abs burning at the end of the session. I used to go for 3 hour sessions with my friends and it was as though they knew that I needed to release all that stress, we only sang songs that require a lot of screaming and dancing. We scream and dance our frustrations out and at the end of the day, we complete the package with a round of good laugh over dinner.

5. Indulge yourself in

No, sorry, I don't mean in food because I do find that I was feeling better everytime after indulging. the post effect was too severe for me. I felt that I was gaining weight and it made me feel so much worse about myself.

Instead, I mean, indulge yourself in something be it work or studies to forget about the painful past. This was what I did when I was feeling so lost after my brother passed away (yes, I do have many painful memories). I indulged myself in studies because firstly, I knew that my brother really wanted me to excel in my studies and wanted me to get a good job but more importantly, studying really hard was an excuse for me to forget about what is happening and just focus on my education. I studied like there was no tomorrow because everytime I took a break, the painful truth hits me and tears kept flowing. This was an effective way because it served as an escape route for me. I am thankful that I put my heart into studies and not drugs because I am happy with my current job.

6. DO NOT do silly things

Yes, I mean it. If you are considering about taking your life just because someone was mean to you, you should think about your family, friends and the people who cherish you most. Do you want to be that selfish person who ignore the fact that your parents struggled so hard to raise you just to see you taking your own life over something that was not even your fault to start off with? NO! You are worth more than that.

When I was young, I didn't come from a very well off family so I have seen how hard my parents struggle to put food on the table and to make sure that I get my education. My mum used to have 2-3 jobs (I am not even kidding. Many people do not know this fact, not even some of my close friends) just to make ends meet. I saw how hard they struggled to make sure I become a useful person in this society and I will not let one rotten apple's comment make my parents efforts go down the drain.

Never do something that you will regret either in this life or afterlife.

I used to hate waking up everyday because I knew I had to face the same problem over and over again but after taking all the above steps, I wake up everyday with a smile and I thank God for everyday that He allow me to wake up to.

I now work in the hospital and I see how my my patients fight for their life and it makes me want to help them even more.It made my life meaningful and I have never stop praising God because He put me through all these pain only to come out as a better person and now I am able to help others.

One day, things will work out for you too. Just have faith and never stop believing in God for He only puts you through things that He knew you will be able to handle. After completing that obstacle,you will come out stronger and you will be surprised at how strong you really are. There is always light at the other end of the tunnel if you are brave enough to walk through the darkness.

Have faith and keep fighting. Life is a stage and it is you who determine whether it will be a happy ending or not.

Cheers
Min

PS: I do not own any of the photos in this post. 

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ACL rehab

So, everyone has been askig me where have I been. I apologise for being missing for so long.

Well, just a few updates, I got myself a full time job, hurt myself, AGAIN, real bad and started changing my lifestyle to appreciate myself and my family more

What did I do?

If anyone recall, I had an ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) reconstruction in 2013. I was supposed to take good care of my knee but turns out I managed to hurt myself again. So, here I am, back to where I was. Going through physio and strengthening exercises again.

I thought it would be nice to share a few exercises with everyone (esp those who are going through the same injury as myself).

The exercises shown in the video are just some basic things that we can do for starters.

1. Squats

To build quads and hip strength. Speaking from experience, squatting can be quite painful especially when you just hurt yourself. So remember to go slow and do not do weighted squats until you are really ready for it. As for myself, squatting used to be such an easy task but now it is a luxury to be able to squat properly. If you, like myself, have instability and discomfort (sometimes pain) when squatting, here is what you can do. Squat till 90 degrees, hold for approx 2-5 seconds, then instead of standing up straight, get up to about 160 degrees. Reason being, when you go from bent to straight immediately, you may find it very painful or sometimes unstable especially at the end of the movement. When you keep your knees constantly bent, it will keep your muscles contracting all the time and apart from strengthening your muscles, you are able to maintain that stability around your knee and train your muscles to work correctly. Yes! I mean it. Your muscles can sometimes forget how to function. Even simple tasks such as walking can be a problem.

2. Lunges

To build quads, hamstring & calf strength. For starters, do not do alternate lunges as it can be very painful. What you can do is actually this: Keep your injured leg in front, go into a full lunge and hold that position for about 10 seconds. Then while keeping balance on your good leg, try to stand up while minimising the pain. This can be quite a task but after a while, when your muscles get stronger, it will be easy. NEVER put your injured leg at the back because it can be EXTREMELY painful at the early stages when your muscles have atrophied (muscle wasting). It will take time before your muscles become strong enough to support your body weight so take things easy. When you feel more comfortable, try doing static lunges. 20 reps x 3 sets is a good start (only on the side where your good leg is up front). Then as you progress, you can increase the number of repetitions and try placing your other leg in front. Again, alternate lunges will be quite dangerous as you might not have full control of your knee while alternating and end up injuring yourself further. REMEMBER, safety first. LOL

3. Push ups

To build upper body strength. Well, it's good to balance out your training so push ups will be a good addition to your routine. 

4. Scissors

To build abs, quads & hamstring strength. It might look simple but trust me it is not. Some people ask me if it is necessary to build up your core strength if you want to build up your knee stability. The answer is yes but not directly. Reason: If you have a strong core, it will allow you to do non-weight bearing exercises that is good in the early stages of knee rehab. By doing the scissors, you are working out both your quads and your hamstring but by removing the your body weight, it will decrease the discomfort and allow your muscles to build itself up before going on to other weight bearing exercises such as squats and lunges.

Lastly, what else do you need? A good brace. Why? Because it gives you confidence to train harder. Although many believe that the brace is just a form of self comfort and psychological rehab, I do believe that it is very helpful. Firstly, when I was doing the strengthening exercises without the brace, I constantly found myself being very unstable and lose confidence to continue exercising. As a result, my muscle atrophied (become smaller) further. DO NOT repeat my mistake.

Secondly, I set the brace to limit my knee extension to 170 degrees so that I do not hyperextend my kneex (which was how I hurt myself in the first place). By doing so, I removed quite a lot of discomfort especially like mentioned above with regards to my knee instability when it is fully extended.

The brace that I got is Donjoy 4titude brace. You can get any brace that you think you are comfortable with but I personally think that if you want to get a brace, it is better to get one with proper support at the sides so stop yourself from injuring your knee further.

So, that's about as long as this post goes. Drop me a comment if you have any questions and good luck with your rehab. As for myself, I still have a long way to build my muscle bulk back.

Cheers

Min ^^

#DonJoybrace

#kneebrace

#4titude

#aclrecovery

#aclreconstruction

#recoveryexercises

#rehabilitation

#aclrehabilitation

#getwellsoon

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Finally stepping into 'the real world'

Well, I can't believe that it is almost 2 years since I graduated from Uni. So that's me saying bye to 20 years of education and saying hi to the many years of working life. 

Well, why 20 years? Here is a breakdown of what I went through. I started kindergarten when I was 4 and there I spent 3 years trying to grasp on how to interact with people my age and learn the necessary skills like respecting a teacher, eating on my own, wearing my own uniform etc etc.

Then, there's 6 years of primary school and 5 years of secondary school which makes up 11 years of my life as a student. I wouldn't say it was 11 years wasted because yeah, while people whine about going to school, I kinda enjoyed it because I get to see my friends for 6 hours 5 times a week and on top of that, we stay back after school for games and what not. Absolutely loved it. I wouldn't say that I am somebody who aced school but defo enjoyed it. Well, that's because I was one of those lucky ones who went to schools that were considerate enough to give us enough homework to make us learn but not too much to make us gloat. :) PS: I have to admit that if the homkework was too much, I sometimes can't be bothered. Sorryyyyyyy...

Well, then there comes another 2 years of college where I sat for SACE (South Australian Certificate of Education) and another 4 years at uni. Yeap, that sums 20 years of my life.

But hey, why am I posting this now?

That's because I have just officially ended my year as an intern and about to embark my journey as a fully registered pharmacist. Yayy... (*overly excited) but I have no idea what is waiting for me after this. More responsibilities for sure but I hope the 20 years of education and a year's worth of training have prepared me to face my future. (staying very positive here) :)

PS: picture is unrelated but just goes to show that I need coffee at the time of posting this. :)

Cheers
Min ^^

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Gelang patah seafood hunt

My parents came down from KL and we decided to stay in Tanjung Kupang for a few nights just to escape from the city for a bit.

So for dinner on the first day, we went to Tian Lai restaurant (non-halal) in Gelang Patah which is about 10 minutes from where we were staying. Not knowing what to order, we asked the lady for some recommendations and we were not disappointed. The food was really good.

This is the seafood soup and after tasting this marvellous soup for entrée, we held our expectations for the other dishes high. All the dishes were not disappointing.  :) 

The prawns were really big and very fresh. My brother (also a picky eater) was praising the prawns endlessly and since they removed the shell, it made it easier to enjoy the fantastic flavours of the fresh prawns. They had squid, fish cake, mushroom, carrots and veggies in them too (cant remember what other seafood were in there as the prawns made the biggest impression of the soup).

So in short, all of us enjoyed ourselves at the dinner table and because the food was good, the kdis were just quietly seated in their baby chairs devouring their food. As for the adults, we were definitely enjoying the peace at the dinner table and the great food in front of us.

We were lucky to get a table as we were there early. We rrived at about 6.30pm whereby there are quite a few empty tables but we waited quite a while for the food but all our dishes were served at almost the same time which explained why I was so busy eating that I forgot about the pictures.

Hot plate tofu. They added in pork mince and the combination of the sauce and the tofu was just perfect. The sauce was not too salty and the egg underneath was perfectly cooked too. The tofu was needless to say very soft and yummy.

We ordered some veggies as well as most of us love to eat veggies.

This is by far my favourite dish on the table. Sambal sotong (stir fried squid in sambal). I am not usually a squid lover as they are usually quite tough and I develop an allergic reaction to them quite quickly but this was different. Firstly, the squid was not tough like rubber and it was very juicy. Secondly, i don't know why but I wasn't all itchy and red after ingesting several spoonfulls. Definitely a bonus point for that.

This was one of the dishes that according to their waitress was their specialty. Cury pork ribs. It was indeed very yum. The meat was tender but not too tough. It was just right to my liking. The curry was blasting with flavours but not too spicy so it was just perfect. My vocabulary may not do justice to this dish but it is definitely a must try at this restaurant.

Steamed golden snapper teochew style. Since we are teochews, we cannot resist the temptation of steamed fish especially teochew style. The fish was very fresh and my nieces love them (they are only 1 and 3 years old). This is a good choice especially for the kids because my niece is a very picky eater and kids need their protein to grow especially at this age. She ate almost a quarter of the fish so I don't think I was exaggerating when I say its fresh and yum. 

Having it steamed in teochew style means that there is a combination of salted vegetables (salty), pickle (sour), chillies (slight spice) and ginger (to remove any fishy smell). After steaming, the sauce from the fish in combination with all the ingredients above  make every bite of this dish gastronormic.

Okay. Let me declare that I was busy serving the other dishes to everyone that I didn't have enough time to take a picture of this dish. It was cleared from the table very quickly. This is the oyster omellete (oh-jian). Don't judge by my terrible photo taking skills because the oysters were big and juicy. It was very fresh and the omelette was cooked to perfection. Definitely a must try here.

Stir fried mixed veggies.

Okay, this is another one of those dishes that finished really quickly and the kids love them. It's also one of the restaurant's specialty. Honey chicken wings. Firstly, the chicked was  juicy and the meat literally falls off the bone with every bite and melts in the mouth. My nieces loved the honey glazing as it was neither too sweet nor salty.

It is difficult to miss this restaurant as you will see many people flocking the place and the restaurant name is quite prominent too.

We were too full to go anywhere after dinner so we just went back to our accommodation and crashed.

Cheers,

Min ^^

#tianlairestaurant #gelangpatah #seafood #yummyseafood #johor #prawns #freshsquid #honeychicken #curryporkribs #freshoysters

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Yummy Laksa Johor

The best plans happen when you least expect them. I started the day thinking that it would just be another day at work but suddenly, a good friend whom I have not spoken to for 2 years buzzed me to say she is in town.

Well, what are good friends for right? So I decided to bring her out for some good Laksa Johor.

Since we are both nearby, we decided to head to the famous Tampoi Laksa. It's located on Jalan Dato Muthuthambi, Tampoi. It is quite hard to miss them because the place is so busy and people enjoy patroning this stall because the laksa is sooo good.

Just looking at it, one may think it's not all that good but trust me when I say it taste awesome. Firstly, the soup was filled with umami flavour and the taste of the coconut milk blend in so well with the soup. Then there's the yummy clams that made the trip there worth it. I'm glad I chose the rice noodles (meehun) option as I could really enjoy the taste of the soup.

The rojak was good too. I liked how they had 'charkuey' (crispy fried dough) in it and the rojak gravy was good too. This is the small portion and it was enough for 2 people as we had a bowl of laksa and a drink each.

In short, I really enjoyed the food there. My colleague brought me there once and I can never forget the taste. Yes, I love to eat. Hahaha. Head there if you have time. It's going to be worth it.

Cheers

Min ^^

#tampoilaksa #goodfood #johorfood #rojak #jbfood

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Gluttony trip to Kuching

So, one random day I suddenly decided to buy tickets to Kuching. That was how my amazing trip began. My friends from Sibu and Limbang were also excited that I was headed to East Malaysia so without hesitating, they too bought their flight tickets (yes, i have amazing friends).

After a long day at work, 5pm finally arrived and I excitedly drove home and took the bus to JB Central. Surprisingly, for travellers on Air Asia, we get to go on a free non-stop bus ride to Senai Airport (woohoo. Thanks Air Asia and Causeway Link).

Having arrived in Kuching late at night, after picking me up from the airport, we went to a few makan places but they were all closed. So we decided to call it a night.

I had an amazing time with these lovely girls (yes, I have very pretty friends).

Before the trip, Michelle (the host) asked if I was craving to eat anything (it's my 3rd trip to Kuching so yes, it naturally became an eat-as-much-as-I-can) trip. Since I really love eating, we had a variety of cuisine ranging from local Sarawak delicacies to Thai to Korean.

From the top left, working my way clockwise, that's some yummy kimbap, japchae, seafood Tom Yum soup, Sarawak laksa, kolo mee, satay, mee tomato (with crispy noodles), pineapple fried rice and right in the middle is peanut spread toast with chocolate drizzle.

The picture actually only showed half of what we ate in Kuching. On the first day, I was excitedly taking pictures and stopping my friends before they dig in but after that, I could not resist the temptation of the food any further and before I know it, the food was all in my tummy already. Haha.

The next day, I rang up a friend who happened to work in Kuching as well out for dinner. This time, we had Thai food and honestly speaking, the seafood tom yum soup and the pandan chicken was awesome. My tummy was very happy that day.

My trip is never complete without desserts and so ta-daa. Here they are.

Friends who know me would know that the highlight of my meals is always the desserts. Since I am a frequent Starbucks visitor, my friends naturally brought me there to satisfy my sweet tooth cravings. My favourite drink is always green tea frappucino. :) Then there's chocolate cake from Tom's cafe, methahon (superbly refreshing shaved ice dessert with fruits and jelly), Taiwanese shaved ice with fruits and ice cream, white lady (the local version of a fruit punch), teh-C special (3 layer milk tea) that is a MUST have, peanut spread toast with chocolate drizzle  and lastly the glutinous rice balls.

These desserts do not only look pretty but they taste excellent as well. Especially the Double chocolate praline cake from #Tomscafe. The chocolate was so rich and we were definitely satisfied by our cafe choice.

Of course what is a trip without some selfies. So here are some pictures of us being vain. :P

On the last day, I thought to myself why must this trip end so quickly (it was a short 3 days, 3 nights trip). I was so reluctant to go back (symdrome tak mau balik) but that morning, one of my friends suddenly reminded me that another 2 gorgeous friends would be in town for a mutual friend's wedding. So we immediately arranged for a quick meet up and we picked them up from the church after our breakfast with Michelle's mum and sister.

So, the five of us decided to buy some Sarawak kek lapis (delicious local cake with assorted flavours) both as souvenirs and to fill our tummies. To our surprise, Michelle brought us to the waterfront, parked and told us that we are taking the sampan across the Rejang River to buy the kek lapis. We were immediately excited as it was a long time since we have been on a sampan.

Obviously we had a wefie with our haul from #MiraCakeHouse (the kek lapis here was really good. It was not very oily and tasted just right as it wasn't too sweet nor bland) and then decided to go for some local tea-time delicacies. So that's another wefie with our 'Sotong kangkung' (cuttlefish and kangkung in rojak sauce topped with some peanut), umai (jellyfish cold platter) and belacan beehoon. The food was awesome.

That marks the end of my eat-all-I-can trip to Kuching. Although it was short, I spent some awesome time with the girls and though everything was last minute, we realised that we really enjoy each other's company and that's all that matters.

Cheers

Min ^^

#kuching #kuchingfood #goodfood #miracakehouse #tomscafe #starbucks #belacankangkong #umai #sarawaklaksa #tomyum #meetomato #kolomee #japchae #pandanchicken #methahon #whitelady #glutinousriceballs

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