Dreams and Memories

Staring Down Stairs

10/01/2008 08:44:00 PM

I often hear my mom say that walking up and down the stairs can is a very good form of exercise as it's suppose to be good for the muscles, burns excessive fat, yadda yadda yadda... the list goes on and on.. Well, I'm in agreement with the walking up the stairs part, but have always remained doubtful of the walking down the stairs part.

However, the unfortunate event which happened yesterday is having me think otherwise (although I suppose that it is only a temporary aftereffect)

It all started with me happily going out of my condominium unit and skipping my way to the lift lobby. To my surprise, the 'Down' button was not responding by lighting up as it usually does. The same thing happened after several repetitive attempts.

A quick call to the guard house by my neighbor who was also attempting to 'Summon' the leave by pressing the 'Down' button revealed that all the lifts were stuck at Ground floor.

I'm sure all you dear readers should be thinking

"Well, if the lift ain't working, it's no big deal, just take the stairs"

For those of you who have visited me before, I think you would understand why I'm sounding my agony on this. I am staying on the 23rd floor of the building and my car happens to be parked at Basement 1. Adding the two additional floors which are the Mezzanine (M) floor and Ground (G) floor which is between Basement 1 and 1st floor, it doesn't take a Math Genius to figure out that I'm gonna have to walk down a total of 26 floors to reach my car. Staring down all the stairs i had to walk down was already making me dizzy.

Fast forwarding to the part where I reach my car at Basement 1, I could barely walk properly on level ground towards my car. My knees were rather wobbly and I felt rather floaty of which is something not very good considering I still had to perform the daily weekday ritual of making the 40 minutes drive to my office in Cyberjaya.

By the time I reached my office, my knees and legs were still feeling rather weak. And of course ultimately, my whole leg is aching like an old granny. Fortunately it's a public holiday for today and tomorrow, else I might need to consider getting a walking stick to support myself.

Moral of the story,

"Do not underestimate the stamina required to go down stairs!!!"

AUDREY

1,2,3, tap - 5,6,7,tap

9/28/2008 09:28:00 PM

(3) Comments

The month of September is now drawing to a close and I suppose i haven't been very dilligent in updating my blog again with all the work, weekly reports, jalan-jalan sessions and of course my Salsa dancing practice sessions. :-P

Well after 6 official classes at 'Dance Spirit' (a Dance Studio located at Taman Desa) along with some additional tuition classes and practice sessions on Saturday Nights, I think it's safe to say that my Salsa dancing has greatly improved. It was very unexpected beginning of interest in Salsa dancing for me. Starting from a simple Friday Night out at 'Salsa Havana' with several friends, a taste of it had me yearning for more - sounds like I am so addicted to it. :-P

Fast forwarding to approximately a week or so after that, I attended a trial class with Donovan (my fellow intern at Shell) and was hooked on Salsa dancing thereafter. From then on, it was a regular weekly one and a half hour class every tuesday evenings. Well that's the basic weekly dosage which still keeps me wanting for more. So on occasions, I would head down to Salsa Havana to try and put to use the movements I've learn at class. And believe me, dancing Salsa at a club is very different from dancing in classes. :-P

Simple steps such as the 'Cumbia' Step, 'Mambo' step, 'Cross Body Lead', 'Guapea' added in with some slight variation of handmovements or change of footwork could produce a whole new effect. So far I have yet to learn the 'Shines' yet and i suspect that it's gona be a while before I'll be qualified to learn that but I'm still really looking forward to it.

The 'Shines' are basically "show-off" moves which involve fancy footwork + body actions andare danced in seperation (partners are dancing different steps) to show off individual skills according to the tempo of the song. Apparently they fit best during the basic 'Mambo' step, but they may also be danced whenever dancers feel appropriate. Apart from that, they are also very good recovery tricks when a dancer loses the connection or beat during a complicated move.

Of course, learning Salsa has also given me the opportunity to widen my circle of friends who come from various different backgrounds. Despite the age gap difference and all, they are all still a bunch of really friendly and helpful people. Totally love hanging out with them as well :-)
The best outing so far has been yesterday's
Blue and White Party

Since lately my trips to Salsa Havana has been mainly concentrated on dancing and improving my techniques, haven't really had the time to take pictures or get my hands on any of the random pictures which my friends were taking. But anyways, the following are some of the pictures taken during the first outing to Salsa Havana with Donovan, Jason Tan and Suresh. Hope there will be plenty more to come after this. :-)

Me, Jason, Donovan and Suresh

Anne's friend, Anne, Jason, Me and Suresh

Me and Don with Jason

AUDREY

Sit down, Order, Start Talking, and Start laughing.

9/28/2008 03:00:00 PM

(2) Comments

Was just organizing some of my pictures and came across some of these pictures which were taken about 3 months back.

It was just about few weeks into my internship. Bt every week, without fail, there would be once when i go to the 'Pan Mee' noodle shop with Charles and Alvin for dinner. And like the title suggests, we would sit down, order, start talking whatever nonsense and crap that comes across our minds. Ultimately, we would start laughing like mad people because of some funny joke or some funny thing that Charles says or does and have the majority if not all the customers of the shop staring at us.

:-P

Here's a peek at some of the crazy things we used to talk and do, especially from Charles since he's the most perasan case, creative and craziest of us all when it comes to doing funny things like these.

(Charles Tan, if your're reading this it's meant as a compliment ( ^ _ ^ ) )

Hmm, I can't recall what exactly was this pose for.

But I do remember we laughed like mad while taking this picture

Even after the picture was taken.

Me trying to tie my hair, and ended up being candid shot pulak.

Alvin with my favourite selection of Hot and Spicy Pan Mee

Can't resist slotting in this really sweet picture of Alvin

~Definately miss those memorable times with them both~

AUDREY

Loving Sushi V( ^ _ ^ )V

9/01/2008 03:00:00 PM

(2) Comments

It seems I have been having a sushi craze lately.
It's been sushi with my friends, relatives or family members :-P
There's just something about sushi that has been drawing me to have a regular weekly dosage.
Yummy yummy... Just can't resist it.