In Remembrance of my granny

IN REMEMBERANCE of my Granny.

14/2/1916 - 24/4/2009


I'll always remember the times when you raised me up. You are the one who taught me the chinese ethics and you were the one who always share your old stories with me. I'll miss u my "Ma ma"!

AT LAST!!

I'm done with the ASSIGNMENTS/ COURSE WORKS!! AT LAST~!!! WAKAKAKAKA! Damn Excited! After sooooo LONG! I can finally have a good night rest. Phew! Will post a proper 1 soon. Ciaoz! ZZZZZzzzz

My so-called packed schedule

HEY PEEPS!

This is for some of you who's been asking bout 'how's my life', 'how am I' and 'what have I been doing lately'. Felt like crying when I read my friends' blogs. Almost most of them are enjoying their college life whereas me? What am I doing? How's my life? Why is it like this? I know I shouldn't complain coz I chose this road for MYSELF. T.T . Why is life so unfair to me? Why can't I enjoy life like most college students? Just take a look at my daily schedule. I hardly have time for myself. It's like I have NO LIFE!

Weekdays except Wed: Work, 9am-6pm; College, 6.30-9.15pm; Eat, Do Hw & sleep.
Wed: Work, 9am-6pm; TV, Online, Do HW, Eat & Sleep (almost the same routine except I don't have class).
Sat: Girls' Brigade, 2-5pm; TV, Online, HW, Eat & Sleep.
Sun: Church, 11.45-1.30pm; Chinese Class, 2-4pm; after class have to go to Granny's place for dinner and the same old routine mentioned.

The only time I can hang out with friends are either after college; Sun, after class or if I skip GB, I have an extra free day. I want FREEDOM!!!

7 Ways to Slash Stress

Chronic stress seems to be our national disease, especially these days. Millions suffer from symptoms of stress: nervous tension, restless sleep, difficulty focusing and remembering, irritability, and health complications. Generally speaking, stress speeds up aging. Learn the ways to manage stress, and you will look and feel younger.

1. Start your day with meditation
Spend time every day in meditative relaxation, with calming music if you desire. Start with five minutes and work your way to 15 or 20 minutes each day. Meditation is your number one way to reduce the output of stress hormones and avoid adrenal exhaustion, serious threats to your health.

Try this Stress Release Meditation: Breathe consciously, relax, and with each exhale focus on relaxing each area of your body in sequence, starting from the top of your head and moving all the way down to your toes.

2. Manage your mood with diet and herbs
Chinese Medicine considers the liver to be the center of your emotions. To allay stress and balance your emotions, keep your liver healthy and happy:
• Every day, eat lots of green leafy vegetables, barley grass, seaweed - anything high in chlorophyll - to keep the liver in good health.
• Take 500 mg dandelion daily for a month or longer to cleanse the liver and help release built-up anger.
• Take 400 mg white peony root daily for 1 to 3 months to soothe the liver and balance your mood.
• Schisandra berry protects the liver from chemicals and calms the spirit. For emotional anxiety, take 200 mg daily for a month.

Take these herbs anytime during the day and before bed in tea or capsule form. All the herbs are available from health food stores and Eastern medicine practitioners. Many of my patients have had remarkable results with Calm-Fort Elixir, an all-natural formulation of herbs to calm your spirit. For more information, click here.

3. Suppress stress with positive thinking
Instead of letting your thoughts run wild with anxiety, say affirmations to yourself, such as "I can handle the tasks I have ahead of me. I enjoy my responsibilities and fulfill them well." In fact, repeating positive affirmations can actually suppress the cortisol that the adrenal gland releases in times of stress - leaving you peaceful and calm.

4. Get stress out of your head and on paper
Writing in a journal every day can help you release thoughts and emotions that are causing you stress. Write from the position of an observer, recording your thoughts without any judgments. Just write it down so that you can see clearly what is going on inside. The next step is to identify the source of any anger or stress so you can begin to make changes. Looking into your thoughts give you the opportunity to gain insight into your feelings and reflect the underlying issues.

5. Unblock tension with exercise
The constant pressures of your job and family can lead to chronically elevated levels of the stress hormone cortisol, which is a direct cause of muscle and joint pain. Clenched jaw? Lump in your throat? Chronic back and neck pain? These can all be manifestations of stress in your body. Release physical tension and clear these emotional blockages by using massage therapy, exercise, yoga, tai chi, or qi gong to get the circuits moving.

6. A Retreat to Avoid Burnout
Overloading your brain is a recipe for stress and health problems. Information overload is particularly harmful at midlife because we have less tolerance for stress, which can contribute to high blood pressure and heart disease. Press the "reset" button on yourself. Give yourself a retreat from the stresses of modern life. Take one day out of the seven-day week to minimize "screen" time. Don't watch TV, don't check email, and don't look at the news - it will be there tomorrow, and after a day of rest, you will be refreshed and ready to look at them.

7. Perspective from the Natural World
Use nature to reduce stress. Go outside, hike in the woods, walk on the beach, anything that puts you in contact with the natural world. It is difficult to feel stressed when you are surrounded by nature's abundance of vitality and wonder.

By Dr Mao : http://health.yahoo.com/experts/drmao/16392/7-ways-to-slash-stress/

6 Natural Tips for Deep Sleep

Would you like to sleep like a baby without taking drugs? Americans spend upwards of 3 billion dollars a year on sleep medications, but to avoid the side effects, there are a number of natural remedies you can try first. Read on to learn some of the ways to get a good quality night's sleep.

1. Relaxing Rituals to Rest Easy
In Chinese Medicine, nighttime is 'yin' time—or, simply, when the body takes care of itself instead of your desires. Proper sleep is required for your body to repair itself and regenerate. To reach deep, restful sleep, your spirit and heart must be calm. Excessive worry, anxiety, and depression can all disturb the spirit and activate the mind—making it near impossible to fall asleep and stay asleep. Rituals to sooth your spirit and induce a sleep response before bed include soaking your feet in Epson salts for 15 minutes, writing all of your thoughts in a journal to get them out of your head, and practicing relaxation before bed, like the Stress Release meditation below.

2. When Food Disturbs Sleep
When you eat late, you wake up tired. Your body will be busy digesting your dinner while you are trying to sleep, so you won't feel rested in the morning. Do not eat anything for at least three hours before bedtime. Also, cut back on eating bacon, cheese, chocolate, ham, potatoes, tomatoes, and sausage, especially before bed. These foods contain tyramine, which inhibits neurochemicals like norepinephrine and can cause insomnia. And, of course if you have sleep problems, caffeine should be cut out.

Eat for sleep! Try eating more grains at dinner; carbohydrates tend to make people sleepy. Another snooze snack is a warm cup of milk; because milk is rich in the amino acid tryptophan, it can sometimes aid in deep sleep. Mix in natural vanilla flavoring for a soothing snack. Or if you prefer, eat 1 cup of natural yogurt an hour before bedtime.

3. A Peaceful Place for Sleep
Your sleeping environment makes a huge difference to the quality of your sleep. Do everything you can to create a quiet and cozy atmosphere. Ideally, your bedroom should be located in the quietest area of your home. Keep the décor minimal. Lighting should be dim and any music that is played should be soothing. Research has found that lavender, vanilla, and green apple are among the best scents to help lower anxiety and induce sleep, making these smells a good choice for a scented candle or heated essential oil. Try to limit your pets to outside of the bedroom because their movements will keep with your body from fully relaxing into deep R. E. M. sleep. As much as possible, your bedroom should be only for sleep.

4. Exercise Enables Sleep
People with regular exercise routines often sleep better and have fewer incidents of insomnia than those don't get regular physical activity. Exercise promotes sleep and improves sleep quality by altering brain chemistry. Exercising moderately for 20 to 30 minutes three times a day, combined with meditation or tai chi in the evening, will not only help you fall and stay asleep, but will also increase the amount of time you spend in R.E.M. sleep. In fact, for some people, exercise alone is enough to overcome sleep problems. Exercise in the morning or afternoon, but do not exercise for at least two hours before bed.

5. Herbs to Sleep Tight
A calming tea before bedtime can ensure a good night's sleep. Drink valerian or passionflower (or passiflora) tea before bedtime every night for one month. Simply steep 1 to 2 tablespoons of the dried herbs in one cup of hot water and drink just before bed. Or look for one with the traditional Chinese herbs zizyphus or jujube seed, bamboo shavings, and oyster shell, which soothe the mind and spirit.

You might also try Calm-Fort/Sleep formula with useful herbs like lily bulbs, polygala and turmeric that help manage stress and calm the spirit while relieving restlessness and insomnia.

6. A Sleep-Friendly Meditation
I had one patient with insomnia who also felt anxious and even a little depressed. In addition to acupuncture and herbal therapies, I decided to teach her a stress release meditation that she could do before bedtime to help with her anxiety. I am happy to report that she is now sleeping like a baby.

Try this Stress Release meditation, which works for the majority of my patients who have sleeping problems:

Sit comfortably or lie down on your back. Slow your respiration to deep, abdominal breathing. Utter the word "calm" in your mind with every exhalation. Focus on relaxing each area of your body in sequence, from the top of your head to your toes. Starting with the top of your head, inhale and then exhale while visualizing your scalp muscles relaxing. Say "calm" in your mind. Repeat this with each body part as you move down through all body parts, front, back, and sides, in succession: your face, throat, chest, arms, stomach, abdomen, thighs, knees, legs, ankles, until finally you reach your feet. When you've relaxed your feet, visualize all the tension in your body leaving through your toes as dark smoke. Practice this for at least 15 minutes before bedtime.

Note: Got this from Dr Mao http://health.yahoo.com/experts/drmao/17735/6-natural-tips-for-deep-sleep/

Bedtime habits that are runining your sleep

Here are some tips again, I want my blog to be beneficial to all my readers. That is why I post all these informations for those who are facing all these stress, imsonia etc. Enjoy the post!

If you’re having trouble falling asleep, you’re in good company. An estimated 65% of Americans said they encounter sleep problems a few nights each week, according to a recent study by the National Sleep Foundation. Sleeping too little is linked with an increased risk for obesity and depression. But before you reach for a sleep aid from the nearest pharmacy, it’s worth re-examining your nighttime routine. Some of your favorite evening rituals could be responsible for that tossing and turning.

1. Setting a Bright Alarm Clock
The looming glare of your alarm clock can be distracting when trying to sleep. The goal is to have as dark a room as possible. Block the bright numbers with a book or consider buying a small travel clock. Your cell phone alarm may also do the trick.

2. Counting Sheep
When you just can’t fall asleep, it’s useless to stay in bed. If you’ve been trying to fall asleep for more than 30 minutes, the National Sleep Foundation suggests doing something mundane, like balancing a checkbook, reading or watching TV. An activity that demands marginal brainpower will lull your mind. Before you know it, you’ll be crawling back into bed genuinely tired.

3. Exercising Late at Night
Daytime workouts will keep you invigorated for hours. That’s why you don’t want to exercise within three hours of hitting the sack. Intense physical activity raises your body temperature and pumps your energy level—both interrupt a calm transition into sleep.

The above text are extracted from http://shine.yahoo.com/channel/health/bedtime-habits-that-are-ruining-your-sleep-199441/

Updates on my college life

Here's a little update on my college life. Overall it's still ok, I enjoy life in college because I knew a bunch of good friends there. Although I'm the youngest but like I said, I don't look, think and act like the people of my age. Sad case, is this called matured or old? =.=lll. Sometimes after class I feel tired and sometimes I feel energetic but most of the time tiredness is more than the energetic one. So far the subjects I'm taking in Sem 1 are not those tough subjects. I'm currently taking Financial Accounting 1(that's what we learnt in SPM) & Introduction to Business. FYI, my coursework due date is on 17th(FA1) & 21st(ITB) April. SO FAST WEII! OMG! Anyway, I went for the English Placement Test today. It's a test to identify which english paper you can drop over the three papers according to the result of this test. I'm praying hard that I can drop all 3 papers because I don't want to waste my time & money taking all these papers.

SEGI main block entrance Intro to Business Lecturer, Tony Leong

Financial Accounting Lecturer, Ms Loong

Introducing my new friends in college.

Catherine (Working in Bento King)

Tiffany a.k.a Huey Teng (working in HP)Boon Kit ,U Mobile guy [Look at the shirt! XD]
Pey Ying (Forgotten which Bank. Sorry)

FOOD EVERYWHERE!

WARNING: IF YOU'RE HUNGRY, CLOSE MY BLOG AND OPEN IT BACK WHEN YOU'RE BLOATED.

Since I abandon my blog for quite some time before the 2 latest post, here are some pictures of nice food I ate in different places. =D.

These were taken in Papa John's, TS while having dinner with mum & her friend.

Mexican DelightMushroom soup
Meat balls

These were taken in 'Food & Tea' when I went out with Kai Lynn & Bee Leng the other day at TS.Black pepper beef noodleSpaghetti wrapped with cheese.

These were taken in Food Republic,Pavilion while having dinner with mum.Tom Yam Beef NoodleForgotten the name of this noodle. =p

These were taken in Mid Valley (forgot the restaurant name) while having dinner with Evan.Evan's Fried Kuey TeowMy Curry Noodle. Ordered on behalf of Evan because she can't eat it but at least she can see me eating it and can take a small spoon of it.

These were taken in 9888 restaurant, Cheras. Having dinner there with family & Sis bf family.Fried egg + minced meat + Carrot + don't know what and what. It taste good of course!

ChickenPork KnuckleForgottenJapanese Snails. YUMM!Toufu with minced porkMayo Chicken & Thai Style Chicken

These pictures were taken in Kuala Selangor during a day trip with my mum and her friends.Passion Fruit. YUMM!Dragon fruit. Not bad! Longan. Never have a chance to try it but it looks good. =pChicken + Abalone + Sharkfin soup (In Cantonese it is called "Kai Bao Chi")Don't know what it's called but it sure tasted good! XDAwww.. Poor fishy!Fried RicePrawns. Mmmm CRABBY! MY FAV! =DIf I'm not mistaken the name of this is 'Onee' (It's yam + ginkgo inside the pumpkin)This is how it looks like when it's scooped out. It's DELICIOUS!

Earth Hour

28/2/2009, Saturday

This day was a disappointing day for me. Me, boss and her ex-PA was supposed to have dinner at Look out point, Cheras. I called and reserved a table there but due to the congested traffic, we were late for almost an hour and our table was released out. That's still a small matter. The worst part is, I walked all the way up through the never-ending stairs and slopes and ended with a HUGE disappointment. One thing bad about this place is, it is not handicap friendly. How can they expect a handicap person to walk up on such steep and full of stairs way? Anyway, Thank God there's no more place for us, although I had to run all the way up and down, but at least I'm still capable of doing it. If we were to eat there, my boss will have to go through all the stairs and slopes. Fyi, her leg is injured and not convenient to walk on stairs and slopes. Look at the pictures and imagine how packed it is.

The moment I reached, their electricity tripped but everyone thought they're starting to off the lights for Earth Hour.Look at the crowd!Stopping by the road side to take pictures but only manage to take unsuccessful shots with my lousy camera. Another disappointment. =(

The 3 of us ended up having dinner or should I say supper? in Quan's Coffee & Ice Cream House at Pandan Indah. We were starving to death and coincidently the person that came to serve us was a old friend of mine. =). After dinner, went back home carrying the word 'Disappointed' on my forehead. Such a EVENTFUL day that I'll never forget. =.=ll