feeling mighty bloated. Did exercises not at all since last December. and this heftiness is making me lethargic and not at all interested in anything remotely leading to excessive perspiration. A walk around the 1.5km lake? brain says yes please, body says maybe another day.

Untitled post today. Have nothing on my mind. At this very moment, the tv is on (while i am here at this keyboard typing away) channel 710 on NCIS. It's like listening to a movie or a story. Reminds me sometimes of days of yesteryears listening to the educational channel on radio. It helped me with concentration and of course, with listening skills. Loved the shows on radio.

It's cuti time again. Much needed time to calm my thoughts. I feel more out of it this year. I feel like i'm up to here (mouth level) with anxiety attacks. I have these lists of different agendas on different posts that I have to accomplish this year and i feel like i'm being tested for something. and with more posts, i am encroaching more and more into territories I don't like going into - office politics. Some people are just plain arses. I much prefer people tell things straight to your face than coming up to you smiling and all seemingly buttery and sweet and then go do something quite the opposite once you're out of earshot. Maybe I'm just not the player. It's a game- this politic - that some people just seem to thrive on.

So, it's sewing time for me. Tires yet relaxes me at the same time.

ugh

Is that a valid title? 2010 had come and gone. plenty of happenings happened last year..and plenty more happenings about to come crashing this year. Tis going to be a rabbit year (according to chinese calender) and it doesn't bode well for those born on rabbit year too.
hrmm...
lessee.. started the sewing project during the hols.. 10 sets of school uniform. Had already started cutting the cloths when I had to hold the project to make way for the Semporna trip. Sempat singgah kg. luanti to have our feet tickled and nibled by the Kelah fish at luanti river. Drove on to semporna. Went to Mataking island..enjoyed the food. Went on a one night stay at a Homestay program at Kg. Batu Puteh, Kinabatangan. Enjoyed the food at ...gosh..forgot Sani's mum's name!..the place where we stayed the night. Went on a boat ride to have a look-see at the Proboscis Monkeys, the local Macaques and the eco-camp there. Also went for a short jungle trekking the day after. Twas not our luck..didn't see any wild animals doing their morning forays. Lessee...started around 12 from kinabatangan, reached Lahad Datu around 2 and had KFC for lunch...continued the journey. Singgah Sabah Tea to borrow the toilets and also to partake some tea pancake and borneo teh tarik. interesting...

As soon as i got back from the trip (Mona the driver.. me as the passenger). I resumed sewing. managed to finish both Lenora's and Jade's pinafores... Skali test.. Lenora's ketatsss.... could i have possibly taken the wrong measurement? Aiya... had to do the alterations. managed those.. finished Joanne's pinafore...completed Lenora's baju kurung uniform... Got the payment..all generously paid by respective parents (who ..koff koff... happened to be aunts).. School has reopened.. all have gotten their uniforms save for Amber.. tidak la sempat jait her primary school ones. No matter said the mum, she can still use her elder sis' while waiting for them (two of them) to be sewn. ok.

Now..it's SUPPOSED to be off holidays.. but I am still sluggish.. not even in gear to start.. hence the Ugh...

Oh...Happy New Year to all. Gotta tough it out.. as usual.

Almost the end

The games in FB are really hogging my time on the net.

Am in the process of my end-year project which is sewing school uniforms for my school-going cousins. For Jade, two sets of pinafore; for Leonora, also two sets of pinafore and also two sets of kurungs; for Amber, two sets of primary school pinafore. Joanne's mum have also decided to have two sets of pinafore for her. I'm not a regular seamstress so it took a while to get the hang of sewing again. Backbreaking work I must say. All the bending down, the alternate rests in between sewing and checking my FB games.. LOL..

I lose track of time when i'm in my sewing mood. What day is it today?

Haih.. a few more weeks and it's back to school. Tough year ahead of me. This new responsibility which I was given during the staff meet will test my capabilities as a leader. Humble I must be, to ensure I don't step on too many sensitive toes..and hopefully be able to accomplish all that will be planned.

Others go for cuti-cuti Malaysia..I'll be going for cuti-cuti Sabah only lah.

Nary a worry please

Lemme see..
attended Kem's profesionalisme course and perlantikan watikah... i'm offically a trainer there (at least that's what the paper says).. met up old friends and new.. was one of the dancers for joget-zapin for one of the performance that night.. I danced ok.. took off my glasses for the dance and was nearly blind as a bat.. but that helped me a lot, i could just smile and smile and not see whether anyone was smiling back, or staring at me..*giggle*.. had a mini migraine that day..rested the whole day (minta excuse from attending the ceramahs).. found out Tn. Sabanoor was good at hair pulling..'sintak' we call it.. twisting small strands of hair and jerking it up to release pent up 'air'..

Last night was annual dinner for my school..theme 'black and white'.. not bad.. enjoyed the food.. got kulintangan presentation from Beaufort.. nearly did not get the lucky draw present.. this other person stood up to get my gift even though it was my number which was called..and the mc just called out his name..the people handling the hadiah didn't even check for the ticket.. I malas want to bising2..nasib I got a hadiah from the ticket that he had, and had given to me after realising he had mistakenly gone up to take My hadiah.. hmmph..

holiday's coming up...
gotta plan for it..

Swimming and climbing

umm...yea...printing error there...


SARS' usual chalets for R.Os


huff and puff descent..


warming up the bod... the water from the shower is pleasantly warm as opposed to the cold water from the pool

look...no braces.. ;)

freestylinng for 300m



underwater rescue

pictures courtesy of 9w6EDY

Climbathon 2010

The swimming thingy was two weeks ago. Last weekend I was lucky enough to included in R.O(radio operator) duty during this international mountain climbing competition. The first day (saturday 23rd) was the women and veteran category). I wasn't able to come for this since I was involved in another program which I couldn't not come. If I were able to forgo this unavoidable program, surely I would already be in National Park at the SARS base by Friday night.
I drove up on Saturday around 5pm. The drive was easy and fine. After texting a friend who was already at N.Park to ask where he was, I got a call from another friend who minta tolong to buy some PallMall. Since I was already halway up I told him I'd stop by at Nabalu to buy some for him. It was already around 6.30 when I reached Nabalu but alack I could already see that most of the shops had already closed. I parked and went over to some shops to ask for some smokes. Too bad, none of them sold any! Oh well... On to N.Park. Stopped by some roadside stalls which sold some veges and bought some cabbages and beans. Bought rm10 worth of veges and the inan threw in a head of lettuce for free. Cool...

MBO (the friend who requested the smokes) was already waiting when I drove into the parking area at the usual chalet reserved for the R.Os. *giggle* I had some L.As and I handed them to him to 'quench' his thirst.

My was it cold that night. I could only imagine what the other R.Os who were up at Laban Rata. I had my Colombia jacket on and that helped quite a lot. It was also good seeing old friends, listening to their jokes and friendly banters.
I did not have any particular checkpoint and I mentioned to MBO that I was okay whichever checkpoint they put me..though I had a feeling that I was going to get Mempening. So it was quite a jolt to me when I was assigned to go up Mempening for the Sunday race. Hmm.. curious eh.
3.5km from Timpohon.. it would be snap if this was a flat land route. I got ready. took my new Deuter backpack and packed a change of clothes, my Mars bars, my gatorade, my handy and antenna, a pen and notebook, two face towels and my headlight. It was around 11pm when I hit the sack..only to be woken up at a few minutes past 2am by Uncle Gideon (head of SARS). He gently shook me awake and told me to wake up, have some meal and to get ready for the early walk. Ok. Got down from the top bunk and went out.
My partner was Matius. He was still snoring, enveloped in his sleeping back, lying in a row of sleeping R.Os in the living room.
Never mind. He knows what to do. So I had my nasi goreng, prepared by Uncle Didimus' wife and crew. Had my hot milo. Did my morning business, and got ready. Matius had already woken up and gotten ready also.
We drove to Timpohon with my car. We started the ascend at 3.3o am. Only when I saw Matius take out his gloves did I realize my folly. Dang..Shoulda bought the gloves which i had ALREADY fingered in Wawasan Plaza. So, I went up with none.
5oom, Kandis, Ubah, Lowii and finally Mempening. Gosh.. i started out feeling cold. As we progressed higher and higher, I could hear my heartbeat lub-dubbing inside my ears. It was not a fast paced climb. Matius was ever encouraging. Saying that we didn't have to race up and that we had a lot more time left. It was ok at first but as we neared the given checkpoint, I stopped more often to catch my breath and he'd be saying, sikiiiit lagi, sikiiit lagi..just enough to irritate me.
It was pitch dark when we started. The air cold but without the dreaded gusts of cold wind. The intermitent wooden supports helped the trip up the rocky path. And finally at 5.31 am.. we reached Mempening. Hurrah! Glad my partner was a patient feller.

My clothes were damp with sweat so I went into the toilet to change into dry clothes. I'm glad I brought along a change of bra too. sejuk gila!

So, over an hour wait before the race started at 7pm. It was cold, cold, cold! I had on long tights underneath my cargo pants. I had on a singlet, a t-shirt, my jacket. Matius had lent me half a pair of woollen glove and I wore it on my left hand. (the other half..gone.) It was still cold. I grumbled to myself for not bringing the extra sweater i had brought along for the trip and was left hanging by the bedpost in the chalet. Suddenly I remembered that I had folded in my windbreaker inside the backpack. I wore it over the jacket i had on and fortunately, it kept my warm!

6.15am. The mountain rangers arrived. So there was more company. Soon it was nearing 7am. We got pens and paper ready to jot down the tag numbers for participants. my fingers were numb from the cold and I had trouble telling my fingers to move. Matius kindly lent me his other glove to wear on my right hand while he tucked his naked hands into his jacket pocket. Yay...
We could hear the crack of the pistol over the radio, signalling the start of the race. And we could hear the progress of the runners as the favorites sprinted up the rocks like mountain goats. 001 from last year's winner was definitely the first to break away from the pack. I found that he was given the privilege to wear the number to indicate his position in the previous year's race. It took me 2 hours to reach Mempening. It took him only 28minutes!
On and on the participants came and passed our station. After more than 1 hour, 001 reached the peak. When he ran down our way, he was a mere blur of a shape, bounding expertly over the uneven steps, like the champion skyrunner he was.

Opps..will continue later on..

Bronzed not at all

I'm still wondering why it is dubbed Bronze Medal Lifesaving certificate. No silver? nor gold?
Two tiring swimming days. Let's see... among the tests were 300m swim under 9minutes(coudn't manage to sneak a peak at my timing and I forgot to time my swim myself), chin-towing a victim, chest-towing a victim, towing a victim with a length of rope, 25m across underwater swim with one breath( did it!), 50m dash swim (under 50sec), rescuing a victim underwater and bring to the side + breathing rescuscitation + drag victim onto land and place under recovery position, and a few more.

The pool was cold, cold, cold with the roofing. They should've made the roof using transparent materials. Then swimmers would be shielded from rain but still be warmed under sun.

Swarzenbach is me

Busy, busy, busy. Filling up that void with this, that and then some.
Finger still swollen and it's slightly crooked. Sigh. slight discomfort on the particular swollen digit when I try to to spread my fingers wide.

Went swimming a few times this week. I am trying to learn how to do the side stroke. With the help of my swim board, I managed to do the scissor kicks but when I let go of the board and coordinate the swim with the hand movements, down I went. Malu la mau tanya the lifeguards.. it's not as if they're there to lend a word of advice, eh?

Later this noon, I'm going to Pacific Sutra. Makan-makan there with family to celebrate Gareth's 15th birthday. It was Mum's suggestion to go and eat out..and for me to foot the bill. I don't mind. Can afford it juga. Ada itu credit card nestled snugly inside my purse. Mum has always been big on eating out on birthdays. I remember my younger days being treated to Hyatt food. I think she thinks that's one of THE finest way to celebrate anything.

Later lagi this afternoon, am going to Kem to register for the Lifesaving Course. So, tomorrow I'll be at the Likas Pool again. I don't know if I'll pass the tests that are going to be made but I'm sort of glad I was chosen for this course. I've even gone and bought a pair of pants and body swimming suit to wear over my normal swimsuit. Swarzenbach Tong's has only a few choices of color. I wanted the black colored suit with a splash of red but there were no sizes. So, I bought the black long pants with the matching long sleeve top. Why the need to buy these? Oh well, to be modest and to cover up the aurat (but it's for the sake of the other participants more like it). It's fine by me. Besides, the extra suit helps me conserve heat. The pool is daaaaammnn cold!

Solo Camp

Just came back from Solo Camp. Tired but it's ok. :)