Good or Bad ? What's your pick?

Sometimes it is much easier to let pictures do all the writing and talking. Hence this is what happening now :

[caption id="attachment_1620" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Yours truly with dirty boots, sitting on the car roof with the WWF - For A Living Planet car sticker"][/caption]

Being good, keeping focus and disciplined, becoming successful and winning require a lot of hard work and yes it was never meant to be easy. On the other hand, being lazy, unmotivated, cheating, losing and being plain evil & bad are all easy. Make your pick now, which do you choose to be (Good or Bad) and how (Hard or Easy) are you going to have it be?

Have a merry happy holidays everyone!

I know I haven't been blogging for a couple of days now...more like a week I think. I was actually down with cold-cough-sore throat-body ache and I am getting much better today, yay! Thank God!

Anyway, just want to have a quick shout out to everyone to have a Merry Happy Holidays and have a safe journey if you are traveling. Until more posts to come, hopefully...:)

Can You Ever Travel Super Light? I Know I Can't!

Can you ever travel super light? I know I can't but I always try my very best to bring less because if you haven't already realized, how many times do you actually used up all your clean clothing in your pack during your travel? Most of the time you'll ended up recycling most of the clothes you are already wearing, am I right? Yeah I know, I'm spot on on this!

Regardless if you can ever travel super light, I know of one guy who can really accomplish that. I came across this No Baggage Challenge guy who goes around the world only with his clothes on his back. Definitely pushing the super light travel to the ultimate extreme.

Okay so let's picture the situation of the No Baggage Challenge guy. Firstly, he's a guy and  most guys just don't need to pack so much anyway, so going with zero baggage may seem easy enough and feasible for most guys. However if you are a girl, it got me wondering if any girl has ever tried on a no baggage challenge ever. Probably it is possible for a girl to travel with no luggage but I sure think it will get a little uncomfortable after a couple of days throughout the travel. I don't know, I'm just not so optimistic about this no baggage challenge idea after all.

Anyhow, if you MUST check out and want to figure out how on earth do you go travel around the world with ZERO Baggage on your back, you must check this video out : No Baggage Challenge : Going around the world with ZERO luggage!

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYHfOodheTI

So can you ever travel super light or lighter or with no baggage at all? Can you?

Animals Anecdotes 15 : The Ultimate Cats Series 2010

It has been a long time since I last make a post about Animals Anecdotes. I figure that it will be nice to finally post some pictures of cats that I happened to have in my pictures folder but some of them never got the chance to be published in this blog. So here goes The Ultimate Cats Series 2010 under Animals Anecdotes! Enjoy! :)

[caption id="attachment_1584" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="My name is "budak kecik" a.k.a small guy"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1585" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="I'm a stray and they call me Tiger because I happen to eat on the Save The Tiger WWF poster. Other than that, I'm glad that I got fed."][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1586" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="I'm the mama cat and that's my kittens. They are cold and hungry but this house is perfect for the kids to have shelter. Oh, I'm somehow related to Tiger the cat on the previous picture or am I, Tiger already growned up and becoming a Mama? "][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1587" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Our mama is tired. See here lying at the corner. So we decided to play a little bit before feeding time."][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1588" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="That's me a scared and wet kitten stuck between the car rims. I went on a panic attack because I got chased but I later figured hiding in the rim is an awful idea. Thank God I did get out soon after."][/caption]

The joy of a minimalist!

A couple of days ago, I was browsing through my Google Reader , skimming through the long list of unread blog posts from the many websites that I've subscribed to and I came across an article about living a life as a minimalist. I took the time to read the blog and even the excerpt of the best selling minimalist book - "The Joy of Less, A Minimalist Living Guide". It turns out to be something that I never knew that it is what I am today - a slight minimalist. Haha.

I must highlight that I am slightly a minimalist and a little bit frugal sometimes because I always believe in the philosophy that  "less is more" and "simplicity should be the way of life". I also always like the idea of having an open space, open windows, open doors because in someways I feel free and unsuffocated when I am in a surrounding where things are open,airy and spacey.

There is also this concept which I believe on that you should start making space in your life in order for you to receive something that you wanted in return. So in the case of if you have so much stuff already around you and if you are expecting for something new to come in your life, if you just don't make some space for that something to come, in reality it just won't come to you. It is as simple as that.

Another great thing about  being a minimalist is that you tend to be frugal and guess what, you get to save more money in the bank because you won't be having debts or loans to pay for. However, it is not to say that being a minimalist means it is okay for you to be poor. Heck no. It just means that you have a much better sense of your financial, you know how to manage your money and in most cases you know very well on how to grow the money that you already have in hand. At most times, I will go with the principal of  "only spend money when you have the cash and don't spend your money when you don't have the cash, i.e never allow yourself to live on credit. "

Oh well, living life as a minimalist probably just sound a little bit of a constraint and a bit too hard to handle for some. Whatever it is, if you think you would like to make a change in your life right now for you to be able to have a better life, I must say that you should try living a life as a minimalist by going for it bit by bit. I certainly think life is more worthwhile if you lead a simple, no fuss about getting too much 'stuffs'  lifestyle. Oh man, I really can't tell how much joy there is to be a minimalist. If by any means, I do inspire you to explore more of a life as a minimalist, you should get your hands on this awesome book by "Francine Jay, the author of the best selling book "The Joy of Less, A Minimalist Living Guide: How to Declutter, Organize, and Simplify Your Life".

Photo Essay : You don't get to see this sign that often

[caption id="attachment_1567" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="Do you want to go 'Rabbit' or 'Tortoise'?"][/caption]

You see...how often do you see signs like this?

Let's choose if you want to go as fast as a Rabbit or as slow as a Tortoise that eventually goes to a Stop. I would prefer to be a Rabbit at most time please. :)

If only all automobiles transmission comes with a super easy to understand and obviously easy to operate transmission(gearbox) like the picture above. It is pretty straight forward and probably a little bit  'comical'  too, no? :)

By any chance at all, if you are given a choice to have a manual or automatic or Rabbit & Tortoise transmission for your gearbox, which one will be your pick?

Looking for hostels for your travel? Try Hostelworld!

Are you looking for hostels or plain good accommodation for your upcoming travel? If you are looking for one, you should try having a look at www.hostelworld.com . HostelWorld is claimed to be the world's no.1 hostel booking website with over 25K hostels listings from 180 countries worldwide.

I even tried searching for budget hostels or accommodation randomly in Amsterdam and Tokyo. The results I get are really great. The best part about searching from HostelWorld is that you get to pre-book your stay, get reviews on the hostels along with the pricing making budget traveling easy and manageable.

By far, I've never came across of anything more convenient than HostelWorld and really if you are crazily looking for hassle-free place to stay for your travel, this is the site to visit. From the search query I made for Amsterdam, the lowest price for a really shoe-string hostel budget is as low as 15euro/nite and I think that's a real catch if budget traveling is the way you travel of course.

Oh, I'm not getting any commission promoting HostelWorld. So yeah, do have a go at their site to check out for your travel stay. :)

Reasons why you should keep fit with Zumba Fitness

Zumba Fitness is a must try fitness routine if you are looking for a new twist from your mundane fitness regime. Zumba Fitness is a fun and energetic dance fitness program that uses Latin as well as International music throughout the dance routine. Right now, you  are able to pick up the Zumba Fitness by following through a set of Zumba routine right for the cd like the Zumba Fitness Total Body Transformation System DVD set.

Zumba Fitness Total Body Transformation System DVD Set is divided into 5 major Zumba fitness options that you can choose from. There are :

1. The Basics Workout

2. Cardio Party

3. Flat Abs workout

4. 20 minute express if you are on the go but need to have your daily workout intake somehow

5. Zumba Live!

Have a go at the Zumba Fitness basics steps and see how well you can keep up with the routines. :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qsSrq3HBa7A

[caption id="attachment_1550" align="aligncenter" width="160" caption="Zumba fitness total body transformation system dvd set"][/caption]

The Zumba Fitness DVD Set is great for anyone who wants to try their hands on Zumba at the comfort of your own home. So there's no hassle to sign up for zumba classes out there. Personally, I've followed a couple of Zumba routine and I feel that it is so much fun to workout while dancing and the dance moves are easy to follow too. Also by the end of each routine, I was sweating and I do feel like I was burning a good portion of calories for the day. If you love dancing like who doesn't right, you really should have a go at Zumba Fitness. It is like the most 'in' dance fitness program that is really worth a try. Getting fit while having fun with all the cool dance moves couldn't get any better than that.

To pick up your own Zumba Fitness Total Body Transformation System DVD set and try it out at home with a couple of friends perhaps, click here.

Scrambling to finish up a list of to-dos before the year ends

Yep, I am scrambling to finish up a long list of things that I should have done since early this year before the calendar changes again in a couple of weeks. Finishing up with the list means a great deal to me and usually the things that I don't really feel like doing the most turns out to be the most valuable thing ever because almost 99% of the time, the results of those "I don't feel like doing because I feel 'lazy' and 'uninspired' but I do it somehow" are amazing, incredible and churns out the best of all outcomes. So next time around if you feel so lazy and uninspired although you have a gut feeling that shouts you have to do that 'something' somehow, you better get it over and done with. Believe me that the amount of time spent to do those things you don't like doing are so worth the effort.

That is why just before the new year resumes again soon, if you are like me and have a lot of pending work to do, please get on with it and check it out from the list. You'll be satisfied they are all done with and let's start the new year fresh with more bright and great ideas ahead.

Until then, I should get it done with already. :)

Freestyle Motocross :RedBull X-Fighters and the Best of FMX

Freestyle motocross is yet another favorite extreme sports that I enjoy watching since like forever. I love the fact that it is possible to go against gravity and fly in style with a motorbike. It is also about making the impossible, possible. If you have never watched a freestyle motocross ever on the Sports Channel, then you should now.

I'm sharing here some videos on quite possibly the best of freestyle motocross tricks ever. To check out more on freestyle motocross, simple go search on YouTube for Freestyle Motocross FMX or Redbull X-Fighters. It will get you hooked if you are an adrenaline junkie of course. Enjoy the videos ya'll!

RedBull X-Fighters 2010 London Highlights:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8HijMRrjvk

Best of Freestyle Motocross:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3VkXT76gho

Lata Kinjang Waterfall, Perak

Craving for a cold water dip from a waterfall? Hmm...most probably not since it is the raining season and the weather is a little bit chilly in the morning. However on another thought, it still get crazily hot during most part of the day so if you can have a chance to enjoy a waterfall, you really MUST have a go at Lata Kinjang, Perak.

Have no idea where is Lata Kinjang?

If you are a frequent traveler from KL (south) to Penang (north of Peninsular Malaysia), you will definitely notice a huge waterfall coming down from the mountain as you are approaching towards Ipoh. You can't really miss this waterfall because the highway literally leads go through between  mountains or is it a mere hill on both sides of the road. The Lata Kinjang waterfall can be seen clearly on the right side of the highway if you are coming from KL.

Anyways, you can find your way to Lata Kinjang from Google Map and I'm not going to do all the directional writings for now. Haha. Just want to share some pictures of this awesome waterfall with you lot. Enjoy!

[gallery]

Photo Essay : Something round and green...

Let's have a guess on these. Hint : there are round and green...

[caption id="attachment_1510" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="That's a hat being held tight at the end to hold something round and green inside"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1511" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="It's a blurry image of that something round and green"][/caption]

Still can't tell what it is?

.

.

.

Oh man, you got to be kidding me! Check this other picture and see what it really is then.

So it's a Calamansi ya'll. Totally hand-picked fresh from the 'garden' from a couple of calamansi trees. They are so sour and they make some great ice 'calamansi'  tea drink. Yum!

Stand Up Paddle Surfing

Please don't tell me that this isn't cool :

Stand Up Paddle surfing

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxV-BfBRJZg

Stand Up Paddle surfing literally means surfing with a paddle while standing up. If you watch the video, you will see a little kid surfing together with another adult on the same surfboard. That must have been so much fun and the best thing IS they make Stand Up Paddle surfing looks so easy to do. Gosh, I really love this kind of water sports, don't you?

Crashing on my bottom doing the Shirsha Asana / Yoga Headstand

Yesterday, I attempted the Shirsha Asana or commonly known as the headstand. For support, I lean both my legs up against the wall. That part was easy. Later, I thought that I should try to get both my legs straight and off the wall. I never knew that you can be totally off-balanced when you are upside down and trust me, I was going all wobbly. I think I got through a couple of seconds with both my legs up with no wall support and BOOM, I crashed hard onto the floor seconds after that.

photo © 2009 Neeta Lind | more info (via: Wylio)

Thankfully, I crashed landed on my bum and had a sore bottom later on but it felt almost like I made a back flip towards the floor. So it ain't that bad really. Unfortunately, I landed straight onto my notebook's cooler pad because for some unknown reason it was sitting exactly across from where I was doing the headstand. Although I miraculously 'survived' the crash/back flip, the cooler pad didn't. One of its fan was detached from the base while half of the cooler pad had a long crack from the side to the center. It's officially kaput.

Nevertheless, I wouldn't say posing for the headstand is difficult. It is do-able with a lot of concentration and balance of course.  Since I've crashed on my bottom while doing the headstand, will I attempt it again? Of course I will! Doing a headstand is really cool and I have a feeling of being light and fresh after that short inversion. You should attempt a headstand too and you can check out on my previous post to learn on how you can do the Shirsha Asana /Yoga Headstand.

p.s: You may want to have a look at the damaged cooler pad. :)

[caption id="attachment_1485" align="aligncenter" width="210" caption="The cracked and detached fan. Ouch!"][/caption]

How much have traveling changed you?

If you are an avid traveler, yes I do mean a traveler and not a holidaymaker, have you ever asked this question to yourself : How much have traveling changed me as a person? Am I a changed person now than I was before I begin my travel journey? I'm absolutely sure these questions somehow or rather have crossed your mind. If traveling has changed you, then what is it?

Personally, traveling has changed me on these levels:

- I appreciate my country a lot more because we have excellent taste in food and there are countless of varieties to choose from.

- I feel sympathetic on how other people in the poor countries live on the daily basis. Life ain't no walk in a park for most of them. It's a constant struggle just to get through the day.

- I can tolerate really bad and near chances of a suicidal city traffic.

- To have an open heart, open mind, to accept, to embrace and have a great respect on others especially when there are a huge divide of cultural background, traditions and faith.

... and the list goes on and on.

So ask yourself now, how much have traveling changed you now?

I wish I can do the Bakasana or the Crow Pose

I really wish I can do the Bakasana or the Crow Pose and I believe it takes heaps of practice to get the pose correct. Performing the Bakasana/Crow pose will mainly benefit and strengthen your whole arms, shoulders, neck and the whole upper back because you have to balance your whole body weight solely on your arms and wrists.

Check out on how you can do the Bakasana or the Crow Pose from the video below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXLWMHANqlw&feature=fvw

Animals Anecdotes 17: Butterflies lingering on me!

It has been more than one occasion now when I turn and see a tiny butterfly or a full grown, extremely colorful butterfly lingering all over me. Among all those butterflies, I managed to capture only this small one with the camera. I wonder what attracted them and kept them staying - more like sucking on the surfaces for quite sometime before they take off and totally disappear.

[caption id="attachment_1463" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Little butterfly on me shoe"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1464" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="A closer look"][/caption]

Lately, there are quite a big number of a striking orange butterflies. There are like all over the place. One time, I spilled some water on my hand and out of no where, an orange butterfly came, suck and feel around for that drops water for a long time and flew away. It feels pretty 'magical' in some way. I can't quite tell what it is. Oh well, it is just some butterflies deciding to linger around me. They are really fun to have around with. You should 'catch' one if you can! :)

Nevis Bungy VS Sunway Bungy

Watching these videos got me pumping, man! Bungy jumping is an incredibly, awesome adrenaline fix. Nevis Bungy jump is located in New Zealand while Sunway Bungy jump is in Sunway Lagoon Extreme Park, Malaysia. If you must compare between the two, it is pretty obvious that Nevis is the best between them. It's longer (134m) and has really great mountain valley view too!

If only I can fly to New Zealand for my birthday this month, I'm sure to have Nevis Bungy a go! Unfortunately, it's not happening just yet. It'll be great to celebrate a birthday with an adrenaline kick just like how I celebrated it back in 2006 by going on a topsy-turvy shoot to the sky on the 'G Force X' by AJ Hackett at KL Tower. As for this year, I guess I can just settle with a bungy by just watching 'em on YouTube. Lol!

Nevis Bungy Jump, New Zealand :

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zu5gOTDII7A

VS

Sunway Lagoon Extreme Park Bungy Jump, Malaysia :

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1v88uGtVbk

The result:

Nevis Bungy wins hands down!

Animals Anecdotes 16 : Down to one doggie

The official head count for the number of dogs right now is one. Joe  the sole, male dog decided to leave the cabin and left Brownie, the young female dog on her own. Joe has been pretty moody since Maggie (alpha female dog, Brownie's mum) is gone. He wasn't doing much 'work' which is to escort everyone ever since Maggie went missing.

[caption id="attachment_1450" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="One of the last pics taken of Brownie and Maggie together. Brownie is the one with the bushy tail."][/caption]

As for Brownie, she's doing great. We've been feeding her with those Pedigree biscuits instead of the usual mix of rice and chicken or fish because she doesn't look like she has much of an appetite after her mum is gone. The best thing about Brownie is that she'll be wagging her tail like crazy every time we come around, so that's a good sign that she still gets excited on seeing us coming. Although she hasn't been 'escorting' the gang for almost a week, she did come to look for us yesterday when we didn't make a stop at the cabin for quite a long time.

[caption id="attachment_1451" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Say hi to Brownie!"][/caption]

It is kind of sad to see Brownie staying all alone at the cabin. From a pack of 4, later 5 then more than 5 (because of some newborn puppies) and the number kept decreasing until a single dog - Brownie, who happens to be the first one to venture around the cabin and hopefully she will stick around for sometime. We do know dogs are a social animal, so we just going to wait and see on how long Brownie will be around or probably other 'nice, non-barking breed' will join her in the future, we'll just never know.

Oh, talking about non-barking breed, the dogs we have around the cabin are the quite type. The are fast runners, small in build, pretty short and they hardly even bark. They will only make a noise when they see something like snakes or birds that they wanted to catch or simply to communicate to one another if they are far away from each other. Other than that, if you expect them to bark at strangers or even stray buffaloes, you need to do a big time 'coercing' to get them to just bark. They are so quiet and super silent unlike that annoying, tiny, sausage dog that my neighbour has. 'The sausage' has been barking for every 5 minutes for more than an hour at 5 ish am for a couple of days now. I don't know what it was trying to do and I blame it on the owner, not the dog. :(

Photo Essay : Muddy Adventure

With an overnight heavy downpour, some parts of the area was 'flooded' rather slightly with water. Contemplating to go from right to left, the person behind the steering wheel took left instead. Much thanks to the overgrown grass, no one anticipated a wet area about a couple of inch of water and boom, all four wheels got stuck. It was too late to reverse and it only made the car sink in deeper. Moving forward resulted into the same situation - getting stuck even more.

We managed to gather two long wooden planks and a couple of big stones to put under the car. We even tried jacking one side of the car up to slide in the plank underneath. The plank went under for one side but we couldn't slide the other plank on the left tire because things got way too slippery. With one plank under, we tried to reverse putting the 4wd gear on, but to no avail. Pushing the car from the front while another person behind the wheel on a reverse gear proved to be a waste of time and energy draining.

[caption id="attachment_1437" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="One plank under the tire"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1438" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="Front wheel down"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1439" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Went in pretty deep right, eh?"][/caption]

Finally, we resorted to call the tow truck guy, waited on a rock all hungry, luckily we got 2 mangoes and half drenched in mud. After what felt like a long wait later, the pulling began. The car got pulled out of the mud leaving a couple of inches deep tire track on the runny, muddy soil but we didn't get to go home just yet. The tow truck got itself stuck in the mud too for two times! Haha. Thankfully, our car is already out of the mud, so we began pulling the tow truck instead.

[caption id="attachment_1440" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Yay! The car's out after 3 hours stuck in the mud!"][/caption]

All went well, nobody got hurt except that I got bitten by a flying insect on my hand and everyone left with mud stains on our faces, hands, sunglasses, pants and all over the car of course. :).

[caption id="attachment_1441" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="All 'mud' up! A mud fight would have been nice."][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1442" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="That's not just mud. It's a mud-buffalo poop combo!"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1443" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="The mud stains caking on my pants. It doesn't show so much coz I got a grey color pants."][/caption]

All in all, it was a great day indeed! Oh, I did went home with a good scrubbing all over the body. Haha.

Don't hold back-Galvanize by The Chemical Brothers

It's a gloomy, slightly chilly Friday and if you 'wake up in the morning with the initiative to move' but can't seem to get yourself moving, I got your fix. Listen up, full blast on your headphones this energy vibrating song called Galvanize by The Chemical Brothers.

If a full blast of this plus a huge mug of black coffee still won't help get you going, you are so going to be in trouble at work today! :). Enjoy the beat yo!



An excerpt of the Galvanize Lyrics - Chemical Brothers

(Don't hold back)
cuz you woke up in the morning with initiative to move,
so why make it harder

(Don't hold back)
If you think about it so many people do, be cool man, look smarter,

(Don't hold back)
and you shouldn't even care, about the losers in the air,
and their crooked stares,

(Don't hold back)
cuz there's a party over here, so you might aswell be here,
where the people care,

The world is holding back
the time has come to...

Galvanize,

(Don't hold back)
If you think about it too much you may stumble,
trip up fall on your face,

(Don't hold back)
You think it is time you get up fresh style
like a sit-up come on keep pace

(Don't hold back)
Put apprehension on the back burner,
let it sit, don't even get it lit,

(Don't hold back)
Get involved with the jam,
don't be a prick, hot chick

(Don't hold back)
The World
The time has come to -
Push the button

My finger is on the button
Push the button
The time has come to...
Galvanize

How ridiculous is the Vibram Five Fingers KSO shoe? | Vibram Five Fingers KSO Review

The Vibram Five Fingers was first out like 2 years ago, so this review is nothing really new. It is more of a I.M.O (in my opinion) kind of review. So here goes:

Vibram Five Fingers or more like a five toes shoe is designed to replicate our very own feet. From one look of it, without a doubt it looks a bit ridiculous. However, despite the queer looking design it is one of the best footwear anyone can get their toes into if you are looking for a footwear that feels almost like you are on barefoot minus experiencing any type of calluses, corns, blisters and grazes if you are to literally be on barefoot.

From what I've gathered the Vibram Five Fingers KSO :
- like I've mentioned earlier, allow you to exercise with the feeling of barefoot. If you must know, barefoot running is the 'in thing' today.
- the KSO (Keep stuff out) has a thin upper surface for better breathability and of course to keep stuffs like dirt out from your feet. Just imgaine the Vibram Five Fingers simply as a hygienic version of a barefoot.
- it is made of Vibram's TCI Performance rubber for a better grip during your workout.
- it is entirely washable in the washing machine. So this is a big plus for yet another clean feel of 'barefoot workout '.
- it is durable, very light and suitable for most activities including trekking, hiking, climbing, bouldering, running, yoga/pilates and also traveling.

Field test of the Vibram Five Fingers:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eM3L02zR84M&feature=related

However, do note that the Vibram Five Fingers KSO may not be suitable for everyone because if you think you won't be comfortable working out or going around on barefoot, this shoe isn't going to be the right choice for you. Then again, it takes a little bit of time of getting used to wearing this shoe. I believe it is a brilliant idea to get most people working out on their feet because not all shoes are designed for all kind of feet and since it is claimed that barefoot running is really good for you, this Vibram shoe will hopefully get you started with barefoot running in the future.

To get your own Vibram Five Fingers KSO, click here to purchase it from Amazon.com

Obsessing over stats (Alexa Ranking) won't you do good!

Of late I've been checking out my Alexa ranking like every other day. The feeling is good when you see the numbers coming down steadily each day until today I saw the rank shoot up to a couple of hundreds more which means the numbers went up and the ranking slightly dropped. My heart sank. Haha.

Oh if you are clueless about Alexa ranking, the aim is to get your ranking in numbers as low as possible. Number 100 is way better than 8 millions in rank. That's how it goes.

Nevertheless, my aim for YaszAmzah.com is to get the site down to 1 million ranking in Alexa and continue progressing to lower numbers. I just keep on doing on what works, rinse and repeat process. Probably just for today, I can shut one eye close and forget about the stats for a little while and get other things working already.

For that 1 million mark and lower ranking to go!

*note: this is me, doing a small prep talk on a Monday morning! Wee!

Homemade Cheese Burger Recipe

Wo I just realized I haven't written anything about FOOD in this blog for a very long time and I'm going to do just that right now. Let's write about burgers shall we. :)

So today we had lunch and later late in the afternoon, I had a sudden craving for something greasy and meaty. Basically, I crave for junk and I just feel like having a burger. McD burgers are out of the question because as we all know it, their burgers are just horrible and what more there are absolutely unhealthy. Haha. However, that doesn't mean I don't eat anything from McD at least a couple of times in a year.

Anyhow, cut the story short, I made some burgers and it turned out pretty good, I think. If you really want to judge on how it really taste like, you just have to make one of your own from the recipe I'm going to share with you below. So here goes:
*I think I've written about Gourmet Burger recipe before but this is slightly different in the cooking method.
Homemade Cheese Burger Recipe:

- get some minced beef/chicken or you can make your own minced beef/chicken if you have a food processor like this one from KitchenAid Food Chopper - White selling in Amazon.

- to add flavor on your minced meat, add some salt, pepper, chillie powder /cayenne pepper/paprika (for a bit of heat) and some Italian herbs

- mixed everything well with your hands, grab a handful of meat and make it into a ball and put them to rest for a while.

- sliced up some tomatoes, cucumber, any kind of salads that you have in the fridge, stack them up nicely on a bread. Before that you can butter your bread or put some mayonnaise to have some extra 'fat' in your burger. :)

- Cook your burger on a pan or grill them.

- Next, is the layering of the burger. Start of with the buttered bread at the bottom. Layer it up with some vegs that you have sliced up earlier. Put the cooked burger on the veg. You can add some mustard or ketchup or bbq sauce on the burger. Put a generous slice of cheese. I used Gouda cheese on this one. Any normal cheddar will be fine. Top the cheese with more vegs like salad or in my case I used blanched spinach and finally, another slice of bread ( I used whole wheat brown bread).

- The final step in order to get the 'melt' of the cheese, simply throw the nicely layered burger sandwich on a hot pan for a minute or so on one side and flip on the other.

- The result, you will get a nicely browned bread on each sides with melted cheese in the middle. On every bite that you take, it will be all juicy from the meat and nice stringy, melted cheese in between. Simply delicious and because it finishes up way too quickly, I didn't have a picture to share it you ya'll. Haha.

If you love cheese and want to have a cheesier burger, while making the burger patty, have two portions of meat and sandwich a generous slice of cheese in the middle of the two portions and press the portions together to have a super runny melted cheesy burger patty once cooked 'em.

I gotta tell you, burgers taste so much better if you make them on your own. At least it won't be too greasy or too salty for your taste bud. My final say, you really have to try on this Homemade Cheese Burger no matter what!

Want to donate but don't know how? Donate to WWF-Malaysia!

If today or it has been a long time, you have been thinking about donating for a good cause, or you simply have a deep feeling about trying to do something good in a day and you really don't know how and where to start, the answer to that is as simply as giving a donation to the proper channel right NOW. Yes, right now and thanks to online banking, you get to do donation to any organizations or cause of your choice in a couple of clicks away.

Personally, I have always supported WWF for its continuous effort and years of environmental conservation work. Furthermore, the fact that I always get excited about anything nature, animals and my love of the outdoor adventure simply makes more sense for me to support almost everything that WWF is working for.

Just in case, you really have no idea on what is WWF and the kind of work that they are doing, do click here to find out more about them - WWF (World Wildlife Fund for Nature).

For this year, WWF-Malaysia is going all out to save the tiger population in Malaysia. If I'm not mistaken, it is estimated that there are about 500 Malayan Tigers left in Malaysia out of the thousands that we used have years ago. Poaching and great demand for the tiger is the main culprit for the declining number of tigers we have right now. One of the least thing you can do to support WWF-Malaysia in their effort to double the number of tigers by 2022 is by donating with a RM100 or more.

A video on Snared tiger rescued in Belum Temenggor, Perak in 2009

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IgmRX7okNfg&feature=related

Donation can be made directly to WWF-Malaysia via online banking with maybank2u.com, cimbclicks.com.my or hsbc.com.my. For more info on how you can help by donating to WWF, click here.

If you want to start making a change both in your life and on others, one of the best things you should consider doing is donating. It can be of any form - from cash, clothes, books, food, a helping hand and pretty much anything that can do another person or things better in the present as well as in the future. Always donate with a sincere heart and another thing that I always believe on is if you give good things, good things will come back to you. So what are you waiting for now, start donating right away!

Animal Anecdotes 15 : Maggie went MIA

It's been a long time since I write anything about the Animal Anecdotes. The latest about the doggies  is Maggie the alpha female dog went missing a couple of days ago. It is not known if she is either died or simply has moved on to something else in life. Therefore the current number of farm dogs comes down to a permanent 2 while another one - Blackie, will come and go as she wishes.

I wonder if the 2 dogs - Brownie and Joe will stick around for much longer and whether or not we will see Maggie again in the future. Only time will tell then.

The Yoga Headstand - Shirsha Asana

I woke up one morning this week and out of the blue have a sudden thought to do a headstand. I think my body is sensing that she will be in better health if I am to rotate 180 degrees - legs up and head down for at least a couple of seconds a day. Haha. And I went searching for some proper how to do a yoga headstand in YouTube and I think this is the best video to show you how.

Yoga Headstand - Shirsha Asana

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0-a_RoydT0

The benefits of the Shirsha Asana /Headstand are :

"improves many ailments, such as nervousness, tension, fatigue, sleeplessness, dullness, fear, poor blood circulation, bad memory, asthma, headaches, constipation, congested throat, liver or spleen, for female disorders, the initial stages of eye and nose troubles, and general lack of energy, vitality or self confidence.

It promotes hair growth by increasing circulation to the scalp improved brain function (intelligence and memory) and increased vitality and confidence.

It keeps the spine into correct alignment.

It restores the position of vital organs by reversing gravity.

It improves sleep." - excerpt from www.Holisticcare.com

Do note that people suffering from low and high blood pressure and women who are menstruating should NOT perform this headstand.

So, let's do a headstand now everybody!

My kind of Running Music: Funktion Won - Kenneth Thomas & Shawn Michaels | Perfecto Vegas Album

Running is a one man, solo game. It is just you running and the next thing after yourself to keep the running momentum going is your running music playlist. My kind of music can be anything from trance, dance, electronica and pretty much anything similar to those kind of genre. All about pure beats and rhythm.

You have to give Funktion Won - Kenneth Thomas & Shawn Michaels a listen if you don't mind listening to cool, vibrating beats and it is yet another must have music in my running music playlist. So what do you have playing in your running playlist?

Funktion Won - Kenneth Thomas & Shawn Michaels (Paul Oakenfold : Perfecto Vegas Album)



You can also have a listen of Funktion Won (The Junkies Remix)

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IuX9TXZQWso

Lastly, Keep on Running, Yo!

Mount Kinabalu International Climbathon 2010

The Mount Kinabalu International Climbathon for this year 2010 begins today, 23th October 2010 kicking off in less than 7 hours from now for both Women Open and Men Veteran category. The Men Open will begin the next day on the 24th October 2010 at 7 am. Mount Kinabalu Climbathon is considered as the toughest mountain race in the world where competitors clocked on average of 3 hours on a 21 km race up and down the mountain.

It sounds unbelievable when compared to normal hikers who usually take about 3 to 5 hours only to reach from Timpohan Gate to Laban Rata rest point. That is yet another 2 hours or so from Laban Rata to Low's Peak. If you still can't believe that people actually do run in 3 hours in this climbathon, you really have to check out the video below and see these men run and bounce up the mountain in a breeze. And man, there really have super strong knees to hop down the mountain that quickly.

Video of Mius bin Balinting from Malaysia hopping down the mountain. He finishes third in the Mount Kinabalu Climbathon 2009.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CdAajlwWN8M&feature=related

What to have in your travel first-aid kit?

I don't know about you guys, but I'm the kind of person who really like to prepare ahead especially for my travel and one of a must thing to pack is my very own personalized travel first-aid kit. If you think you can save all the trouble of personalizing your own first-aid kit and grab one of those over-the-counter first-aid box instead, oh well, please think again. There are higher chances that you won't get to use much of the stuff in the first-aid kit that you buy in the drugstore. There are always a lot of things missing in the kit that eventually you just need to grab more medicines that you really need for your travel.

Let's have a peek on some of the stuffs I must have in my very own travel first-aid kit. Here's the list:

- Any type of antiseptic cream like Dettol. It's good for prevention of infection in cuts, wounds, grazes, bites, stings and also works great as a sanitizer.

- Paracetamol or Aisprin.

- Flu meds of your choice. I personally use Clarinese because it doesn't make you sleepy or you can have Panadol Soluble as well. A Vicks Inhaler also works well for all your non-stop sniffing.

- In case of diarrhea, I always have some charcoal tablets handy like the Ultracarbon charcoal. You can also get your hands on some antidiarrheal medication or antacid of your choice from the drugstore. Another common brand that is also handy is a couple of sachets of Eno.It is also a type of antacid and works best to ease bloated stomach.

- ORS sachets to be used an an oral rehydration therapy especially during diarrhea.

- If  you know you have some kind of allergy and are prone to have a pretty bad, itchy rashes all over your body, get some prescribed medicines from your pharmacist. You are usually given both tablets and topical antihistamine creams to relieve the symptoms.

- A good tube of sunscreen and aloe vera gel. Aloe vera gel works as an after sun lotion.

- A good stock of adhesive bandages like Band-Aid or Hansaplast.

- Gauze swabs and tape.

- Any kind of deep heating rub. You have a lot of choice really from Tiger Balm (absolutely has no parts of Tiger content involved, just a brand name really) to pretty much any brand from over-the-counter. Deep heating rub or spray is good for mild body ache, sore muscle (especially after long walks during your travel), backache, sprains and joins associated with arthritis.

- A small bottle of hand sanitizer.

I pretty much have all those things pack in a clear zipper/ziploc bag because it's easier to check on the things you have in your first-aid kit right from the outside. Haha. I hope these first-aid kit content will help you to pack for your very own personalized first-aid or meds-kit for your travel. Never ever take simple precautions like this for granted because the least thing you wanted to happen is to get stuck in the airport about to board the plane with a bad diarrhea with no medicine in your pack or even at store in the airport building. Been there, done that. It was awful okay!

Are you going to run for the Penang Bridge International Marathon 2010?

So are you going to run for the Penang Bridge Marathon? If you ask me, my answer is most probably No! Haha.

In case you haven't known already, the Penang Bridge International Marathon a.k.a PBIM for this year 2010 is going to be held on the 21st November, which is roughly about one month from now. Registration is still open until the 31st of this month with no increase of price for every categories. However, the courier service option for your race pack will no longer be available now and you have to personally get your pack at the counter.

Click here to read more about Penang Bridge International Marathon this 21st November 2010

Oh, you may probably want to know why I won't be participating in this run, right? Oh well it's going to be another list of excuses really. Hihi. The fact is I love to run. I even ran almost all the way down from Low's Peak, Mount Kinabalu to Gunting Lagadan. Heck I love running. The reason for not participating this time around like every other time really ( you know I always wanted to run in a marathon) is just because of the timing. I don't think I can spend the next 30 days going through some intensive running practice and the last time I ran a near 5km, was last month and the timing was absolutely pathetic. I think it was more of a walking rather than running.

Anyhow, to my friend, Zue who is going to run on her first marathon which is the 10km category, I wish you a lot of luck and I hope you'll have a great time running. Oh my, am I really sure I'm going to miss out on this? *contemplating probably until the last day of registration ends. :)

A sigh of relief...

This is yet another unrelated post on nothing at all on travel, sports and outdoor adventure. I'm just going to put up a post to cover up for a couple of days of missing posts. Anyways, the past couple of days have been extremely exhausting. All thanks to the blistering hot and dry weather, a great combination for extreme dehydration if you have to spend hours under the hot sun chasing 'animals'. Haha. That's a different story all together. Really, I kid you not.

Oh well, getting to the point...

I'm finally, I hope, can breathe a sigh of relief because I think I'm done with attending major weddings for this year. Haha. I think I've attended way too many weddings from typical kenduri weddings, to super protocol-classy (if you think so)-vip guests weddings, temple wedding (a real eye opener for me, was gawking at all time. haha), nice sit down - only close friends dinner reception with an after dinner hitting the dance floor party (so syiok), grand hall wedding and later on everyone goes crazy dancing in their sarees (this was fun crazy time too!). Pretty much I've attended weddings after weddings and I had lots of fun with every single one of them but...at the end of the day, there is always a but. Haha.

Probably I just had about enough of attending typical same old weddings. If only someone can come up with a crazy-fun wedding reception, let say casual beach wear with awesome bbq by the beach and some awesome after party, I'm pretty sure I'll be more than excited to attend it. Hehe.

On the other hand, weddings are pretty much the only time me and my mates get to have a tiny reunion, well at least something we had managed to do annually besides gathering at Chillies, Midvalley year after year. The wedding I'd attended last weekend was really great because three of my mates brought their little less than a year old babies along. Everyone got a tad too excited snapping pictures with the babies that we eventually made a little photo session group with the mamas, dads, babies and exactly two single girls...haha...completely and undeliberately overshadowing the newly weds sitting right behind us on the pelamin. Sorry Naz, we had forgotten about you for just a couple of minutes.

So yeah, I'm pretty happy all went well for all the wedding receptions that I'd attended and I guess, I better start buying proper outfit to prep up for next year's wedding ceremonies. By far, there should be about 2 weddings next year, if only I'm invited of course. :)

I think I need to go somewhere someplace...

As much as I really wanted to go out and go somewhere someplace, the reality is I really can't. Not now or not until end of the year. Well at least until I get some major major things going and I'm just going to go with the mantra that let all good come and be easy while  all bad be hard or all bad - shoo away please.

On another note, my dad is right now on his motorbike Euro trip. He is going to be there roughly for about 2 months. The last update that I got a couple of days ago, he was in France, just crossed over from the UK. It is already fall( it is already cold out there) and it is actually off-season for bikers to go riding. However, if you set your mind and determined enough to do something, regardless of anything, you will get over things. It's all mind over matter.

[caption id="attachment_1323" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Dad on his Kawasaki KLR, not the one used for his Euro trip"][/caption]

My dad is traveling solo and on his rented motorcycle. I don't have any idea on the exact model of the bike he is traveling with but I do know it has to be one of those dual purpose or dual sport motorcycle. He is going totally old school and basic with no high-end GPS, relying solely on maps like how the family used to travel around the UK back in the 90's. It is too bad that he doesn't update his blog - Ride a bike travel on the go or what more tweet on his whereabouts. Haha. I suppose when you are traveling alone especially on the motorbike, you ought to focus more on the riding and experiencing the view rather than tweeting all the time. I think he got his little journal along with him, so we are going to have to wait on what he may be sharing on his trip at his blog: later on after he gets back.

Anyways, the whole point is, if you think you want to do something so much, just go out there, plan for it and just do it. I don't know about you, but for me, I'm dedicating my time to do the things I wanted to do and accomplish Right Now! I don't want to wait until I'm 'older' to do something. Life is so precious and if you haven't realized just yet, the clock seems to be ticking much faster these days. If you think you need to go somewhere someplace, go ahead, just GO!

Photo Essay : The trees, the green and the course

It's simply amazing on how much joy you can have when you immersed yourself amongst decades old trees and the greenery. The best part of all, you don't have to go far to enjoy this. Go out to your nearest parks, jungle tracks as well as that huge, green golf course you see all the time by the roadside - of course with this one, you got to somehow sneak yourself through the course. Haha.

A twin tower trees!

Somewhere near the bunker ( the pit of sand), that one tree is sticking out from its peers. It got struck by lightning, perhaps?

A perspective shot

Beautiful flowers littering the ground

Nature's humongous canopy

Myself, attempting to capture the panorama view of this super tall tree. It looks slightly crooked in this picture. In reality, the tree is very straight indeed. My best shot so far after three attempts to capture the panoramic view of this very tree.

Light green on dark brown. The red color thingy at the back is our turfmate. Hehe.

Leaves silhouette.

Life's a dream - Lighthouse Family

Just want to share with ya'll this song : Life's a dream by Lighthouse Family. It's an old song, nothing new. It's about chasing your dream and going for it. If you are right now, sitting and loathing just about everything especially about work, probably it is high time to sit down and chase 'the dream'. Think about it you know.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bTRAs_d4g2k

Life's a dream lyrics by Lighthouse Family:

What you gonna do with your Life?
When you gonna spend your time?
The way that you've always wanted
When you gonna make up your mind?
You won't get anywhere until
You know what it is you really want to do

And when you know where you're going to
There'll be no stopping you

If only you could remember your dream
You could be all the things you've always wanted to be

What's been stopping you all this time?
The worst thing that could happen ain't as bad
As you thought it would be
When you gonna go out and shine?
Cos sitting around just thinking about it
Ain't ever gonna do you any good

And when you know where you're going to
There'll be no stopping you

If only you could remember your dream
You could be all the things you've always wanted to be

Gunung Ledang closure starting 8th October 2010

On my previous posts, I mentioned about giving a pass on Gunung Ledang trip that a friend of mine had arranged for November. Sometime last week, the said friend of mine mentioned that the Gunung Ledang trip has to be postponed altogether because starting from the 8th October, hiking activity on the mountain is not allowed. We are not entirely sure on why entrance to the mountain is closed but I'm pretty sure there are some safety concerns that resulted to the closure. As to when the entrance to Gunung Ledang will be opened back to the public, it is currently unknown.

So, I suppose if you are planning to make a trip up Gunung Ledang this month, you gotta make some amendments to that and worry not because there are other mountains to look forward to in the Peninsula Malaysia i.e. you can try to attempt the Trans Cameron expedition or if you are really tough and super fit, why not have a go at Trans Titiwangsa as well.

Photo Essay : The Beach-Langkawi, Malaysia

This is going to be the first of hopefully many series of future photo essays on YaszAmzah.com. For now, I'm going to start out with some photos of the beach and sea in Langkawi, Malaysia.

Nice weather, very breezy and not so hot for  4ish pm at Pantai Cenang, Langkawi.



A little boy playing by himself at the beach. His mum is running a small food stall on the beach, selling drinks and laksa. While his dad is running the boat business chartering tourists around the island.



Three little islands not so far away from shore located somewhere in Tanjung Rhu, Langkawi.



A white catamaran looking almost blue from the reflection of the blue sea. This photo is taken early in the morning just before 7 am.

The Season - the best outdoor sports video series

Are you an adrenaline junkie? Do you love the outdoor adventure? Does these sports - snowboarding, rock climbing, mountain climbing, paddling and mountain biking trigger a jolt of excitement for you? If you answer Yes to all of them, you certainly got to check The Season out.

The season is a 22-episode series on five different athletes doing the thing they love to do from snowboarding, bouldering, climbing, paddling and mountain biking. The season is claimed to be "The best outdoor sports video series" by Matador Network and I couldn't agree more on that. To experience the thrill of these outdoor sports, check out all episodes from The Season at their site : www.theseasontv.com

Work Hard, Play Hard by Tiësto feat Kay

If you haven't already known, I'm a big time DJ Tiesto fan. Yay! Work hard, play hard has been out on Tiesto's Myspace playlist for quite sometime now but I'm still loving it over and over again. =). Work hard and play hard all the time okay people!

You can listen to Work Hard, Play Hard by Tiesto featuring Kay for free from the YouTube link below or from Tiesto's Myspace link here.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6paCBds-rKI

For more songs on Tiesto's Album -  Kaleidoscope, click the play button on the playlist below.

Animals Anecdotes 14 : Kittens on the street

[caption id="attachment_1221" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="4 little kittens, about a week or two weeks old"][/caption]

Last week, when we were overwhelmed by the addition of 4 little puppies to babysit at home, about a couple of days after we left the puppies for adoption at the vet, we found another set of 4 animals left in a box, motherless as always. This time around it was 4 little kittens. There were nicely placed inside a box, layered on the inside with that blue cloth you see in the picture above. The box is left by the corridor of the shop. I suppose the shop owner is somewhat taking care of them four or probably their mother is still nursing them and is just roaming around for food before coming back for feeding time.

It was kind of weird to encounter an exact number (in this case exactly four) of little baby animals (from puppies to kittens) all in the same week. So what is next to come? We shall see then.

Very Important Post : I'm changing my feed address!

Dear readers,

I've been thinking a lot on changing my feed address name into something  'meaningful' , well at least it will be meaningful enough for me. =). In that case, if you have previously subscribed to my feed on your Google Reader or any reader for that matter, please make a tiny change on your reader subscription NOW to continue reading on my future posts.

The new feed address is as follows:

http://feeds.feedburner.com/yaszamzah

To change the feed address for this blog, you can either :

Click the link above and follow the subscription steps

or

You can either copy the above link and paste it into your Add a Subscription form in your reader

I hope you will make this very important change A.S.A.P or else you will really miss out on my next posts and so on.  Also, if you have been a constant commenter and/reader to this blog, I thank you very much for reading ! =)

Until more posts to come,

Yasz

Giving Gunung Ledang a pass!

My mountaineering groupie has planned a trip up Gunung Ledang or Mount Ophir somewhere in November this year. However, due to the timing, I am going  or have to give it a pass. Despite that, I'm still going to share a little quickie about Gunung Ledang to you readers:

From the top of my head, I know these things about Gunung Ledang (not the most accurate fact that you should believe on...haha):

- It is located roughly at Tangkak. Yes, it's roughly there although a bit more further inwards. If you are driving from KL using the highway, make an exit towards Tangkak and I suppose the signage for Gunung Ledang is quite visible at the junction right after you come out from the toll booth. I roughly know this fact because I passed through Tangkak once last year not for hiking at Ledang but to eat at some restaurant. Haha. The drive from KL - Tangkak will take about 2 hours + depending on the traffic and also on how fast you actually drive. =)

- When it boils down to the difficulty level of trekking up Gunung Ledang, most obviously I can't give you an answer for that. However difficult or easy it is, if you are a competently fit person and if you have some experience on trekking before, difficulty level of a mountain shouldn't really be an issue for you. Isn't all hiking or trekking up a mountain activity suppose to be challenging and adventurous? If you are thinking to go for something easy like a walk in a park, probably you should do just that - walk in a park! Haha.

- I've done a little of Googling about Gunung Ledang and I found some people reaching the peak after 5-6 hours and coming down around the same time while I've also found another who went 3 hours up and another 3 hours down the mountain. So it is pretty safe to notify here that the approximate time to hike the mountain is somewhere between 3-6 hours (one way).

- Of course, if you are a Malaysian or someone who loves History, you would have known about the legend of Puteri Gunung Ledang ( Mount Ledang Princess). The legend was made into an epic movie which was a big thing going on in Malaysia a couple of years ago. You can check out the Puteri Gunung Ledang trailer here.

- I also found out that there are a couple of routes you can use to trek up the mountain. You can also choose to trek and camp on the mountain or simply go for a day trip on the mountain.

- There are a couple of fees that you need to pay up during registration and also, you need to have a compulsory guide to follow around with you which means there will be some extra fees included for your hike.

If you are going to Gunung Ledang sometime soon, do take note of the current weather right now in Malaysia. We are constantly getting rain and thunderstorms because I think it is already the Monsoon season. So do pack up with your proper attires to embrace this rainy weather during your hike and of course, happy and safe hiking!

Girlfriends and babies

During my schooling days, I went to an all-girls' school. Basically that would mean I have more girlfriends than guy friends.  And since most of my friends parents reside at the same hometown, my girlfriends and I have been friends for a little more than two decades now. Oh wow that has really been a long time. What I enjoy most especially since a year ago is when most of my girlfriends got married and begin to have their first kid. Yay!

I remembered visiting two of my girlfriends last year - one has about a week old baby boy and the other girl has a couple months old baby girl. And just a couple of days ago, I met again with both girls along with their babies and what great joy it was.

Both little kids are just so adorable and they warm up to me pretty easily too. Hence that add ups to more fun on my side when little toddlers actually response to you and enjoy interacting although they can't really speak. Despite one kid actually bitten my middle finger and wouldn't really want to let go, haha, I can say that perhaps I can get along very well with little babies and also kids.

I remember also, a bunch of 12 year old kids (a couple of years back) coming up to me trying to strike a conversation which I thought was kinda weird then. Anyhow, I do feel probably I should work more with kids because they are just so much fun to be around with due to the fact they are inquisitive, simple, straightforward and are like a little sponge eager to learn and grasp things as much as possible. On another thought, I think those characteristics I just mentioned are just so  ME! Haha.

Anyways, for my girlfriends - those married and unmarried and along with your cute little babies, may we all remain the best of friends forever. =)

Animals Anecdotes 13 : Baby sitting is a tedious, dirty job

If you have been following on my Animals Anecdotes series, I'd mentioned about the newborn puppies - four tiny 2 weeks old puppies. It turned out that Silver, the mum of these puppies past away about a week after her litters were born. Silver was suspected to be bitten by a venomous snake because the evening before her body was found under the cabin, the pack of dogs went on a crazy rampage of killing and ripping apart a pretty big snake. The very next day, Silver didn't make it to care after her little ones.

Out of great sympathy, we began bottle feeding the four puppies and later on, we brought them home since they need to be fed rather constantly, somewhere about 4-5 times a day. I was never good with taking care after animals because I guess it's just not my forte. The worse part about baby sitting be it for animals or humans alike is when it comes to them pooping and peeing. At one point of baby sitting, one of the puppies went on a little diarrhea and the poop was watery. Since he is white in color, the poor little thing looked yellow from the top of the head to the neck area, immensely drenched in his own discharge. Thank God for baby wipes but only after a good scrubbing with warm cloth later, the puppy looked slightly back to his own skin color. If I had to keep them much longer, each one of them would have gone some thorough bathing.

[caption id="attachment_1200" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="We didn't want to name them because we didn't want to get attached to them."][/caption]

Since it was rather inconvenient for us to keep up with four puppies and we don't really have the time and space for them not forgetting that at that moment, we couldn't find anyone who wanted to adopt them, we resorted to send them to the vet and see what the vet may suggests to do with them. Thankfully, the vet has a big heart and offered to keep them for a while and will ask around from his friends if they will be interested to take those puppies. That is really good news for everyone and also the puppies are said to be in a healthy condition. All we could hope for now is that the four of them will grow up happy and healthy.

Three months plus to go

It is right now getting close to three months to go before the year ends and it is also the time where I sit down and look back on how much I have come to accomplished up until now. It scares me a little that I may be a bit behind scheduled. However come to think of it, if I am to work all out on this few months, nothing is impossible. If I can literally climb mountain this year, I'm pretty sure I can possibly accomplish yet another great feat before the year ends.

I don't know about you guys but I must admit that I can be lazy and have a short attention span on things. So just in case you are experiencing the same 'lazy and short attention span' behaviour like I do, I figured the best remedy for that is to work on things as quickly as possible and always time and plan on your tasks for the day. It is of course much easier said than done and usually when I'm like really in my super lazy mode, I literally will talk to myself in my head as a second person to talk myself into doing those daily tasks. It works most time especially when I am constantly reminded on where am I right now and realizing that I'm still miles away from being successful.

Although things seem to be far away now but if I am to reflect on things I've learned since last year and taking a super risky plunge into something totally new, I must say, I'm pretty happy with myself. I've never been happier and I'm close to living my dreams and that's what matters. I'm taking action to make a change in my life because that's what I really I wanted to do. I guess all those job hopping for the past few years, really wasn't bad at all. It happened all for the good reason and I'm glad I'd learned a lot from all my jobs.

When I'm lazy and not really productive, I suppose I should begin writing more posts like this. Haha. But actually, when I'm lazy, I enjoy reading especially reading posts from motivational bloggers or writers. I read an awesome post from Yaro today about How you can change the world and although it's a pretty lengthy post, I'm glad I took the time reading it. It's just the right amount of motivational boost that I need to keep going. You'll sure need a lot of self-motivation when you are working on your own you know. =)

Animals Anecdotes 12 : Newborn puppies

All living things are made in pairs and with pairs there will be great probabilities for them to produce newer generations. Thus on that note, Joe the alpha male had successfully impregnated the two bitches ( Maggie and Silver). Both Maggie and Silver gave birth to three little puppies each.

However, animals being animals, the three little puppies of Maggie's 'disappeared' into thin air probably less than 2 days after they were born. After much speculations, we have come to the conclusion that one of the bitches had eaten up the puppies and left to zero traces of any newborns at all. A couple of days later, Silver delivered three puppies of her own too and by far, the chances of those puppies to be alive are unknown.

It is not uncommon to see female animals like dogs, cats, lions, tigers and etc to eat up on their own newborn 'babies'. There are many reasons to why the mothers to this and whatever the reason it may be, I'm pretty sure it happens for all the good reasons only.

Animals Anecdotes 11: Joe - the Alpha Male

On the previous Animals Anecdotes when I mentioned about the Alpha Dog, I was thinking that perhaps the one and only male dog in the pack should appropriately be named as Alpha but nah, it never happened. Someone got the idea to call him Joe instead. So Joe it is, the name of the Alpha Male. =)

Less outdoorsy, a bit more spiritual

I ran a quick check on the list of my August's Archive and I was surprised (hmm...not really) with the measly 6 posts I had churned out last month. By far, August went by slightly slow on this blog ( because I got my mind on something else). Also, I would say the lack of posts was probably a result of me being less outdoorsy due to Ramadhan and since I would like to focus on writing about the outdoors/sports/travel in this blog - I kinda like ran out of idea on what to write, hopefully only for throughout this holy month.

Nevertheless, I'm happy that I'm getting in touch with the spiritual side of me and learning plus discovering a lot about my religion and learning on how to continue living as a better person in this life. Alrighty then, I'm not going to go all preachy about things because I don't see myself fit or knowledgeable enough for such thing and until then, hoping for better posts to come.