Merry Xmas

Ho Ho Ho, said the jolly old bastard with a beer belly. Have a brilliant Christmas (:

Random Rabblings

Hanging on to something which is so very precious, that the first notion you once made seemed silly. But alas time can never be turned back, else there’ll be an altogether different ending.

A surprise invitation to ex-group Christmas party, with a stayover at one of them place. It’s quite fun with them usual fun quirky ways. Somehow, I’ve not really comprehend a way to adapt to any people in my course yet (despite me being a short 2 months to graduation) and I must admit it, I’ve not even been able to adapt to poly education. For you see, the people are too optimistic, there’s not enough backstabbers and people are smiling and laughing. Even the tutors and lecturers are kind. It’s either that or I’m oblivious to the other side of them.

And this brings me back to wonder why I’m in 8 different project groups through 3 years of polytechnic. I guess my tagline should be 45 people, 8 projects groups, 6 semesters, 3 years. This kind of sums up. I think it is my disability to work with certain people. I must admit I am one of the hardest person to get along with, since I value my opinion too much to even notice other people are actually talking. But compared to some other group mates from hell, I guess I am not too bad myself.  

Cookies For Sid

A cookie shop up and running along Citilink Mall (near to Esplanade MRT Station exit), from the same company as Twelve Cupcakes (Not exactly the best cupcakes I've ever eaten, but still among the most highly rated in Singapore).

The cookies were delicious and have a soft texture. Imagine Subway cookies, but smaller, cheaper and much nicer, chewier. Crumbs don't fall out that easy.

Ate the Mocha Espresso flavour cookie and it certainly hit the spot. Even after 2 weeks, I still remember the taste of it. With a flavourful aftertaste of Espresso which perfectly compliment the Mocha flavour. Not overbearing nor overwhelming.

Nice individual wrapped cookies with nice design!

Macadamia Nut

Everyone Deserves A Great Cookie- Great tagline! Your cookies are great...no it's AWESOME

£1 Fish

One of the reasons why I dislike marketing is because of gimmicks and cheesy approaches to various situations. Forget X Factor, welcome to One Hit Wonder.

A very good example is £1 Fish. A fish seller (Fishmonger) was caught singing a catchy and annoying tune (imagine Bollywood cheesy songs) about his fish being £1 each and he continued 6 for £5 (thus breaking his initial promises of £1 fish).

Soon, some nosy people (being so British) uploaded him singing this £1 Fish song on Youtube and holla, he became a minor celebrity overnight with staggering views.

Forget funny horse dance, forget Sexy Lady, forget the parachutes. Welcome to London, where the unexpected are expected.

A music record company jumped into it and offered him a contract. By the way, his family are still in another country (Pakistan if I'm correct) and are quite proud of him. You can't exactly blame £1 Fish Man since he needed the money badly. So here we see on Youtube, this ex fishmonger singing his catchy £1 Fish tune, dancing with skimpy clad women, Bollywood Style. And best of all, his song gets to no. 47 in the 'Official UK Singles Top 100', surpassing Have Yourself A Merry Christmas by Rob Steward!!

But nonetheless, we should not have our hopes up too high, for we know, we will not remember £1 Fish 2 months later (and neither do we refer to him by name now).

And here's the video of £1 Fish

Losing the digits on the scale

Dieting and exercising are the buzz words in most of people’s eyes when it comes to shedding the pounds. But are those really effective and useful and convenient?

Let’s start with the most effective ways.

Define a purpose. 
Why do you want to shed those weights? Aesthetic reasons, or to prevent an underlying health condition due to the huge number on your BMI (Body Mass Index)? Start off with a reason and write it down. For those who are more technological incline, you might consider to type it down as a memo on your smartphones/tablets.
Now strike of the reason(s) for losing those pounds if it’s more of wanting to drop to a size 6 when you’re size 6.5! It is disconcerting of you. If it’s about wanting to reduce your chances of having any weight-related health conditions, please refer yourself immediately to your GP, where there are experts and nutritionist to plan your diet and exercise routine. No doubt it is good to kickstart it off yourself, but you’ll need the proper help with professional advice.

What’s your job?
If you’re dealing with numbers every single day in the office (or at school for students) and are happy doing so, a good recommendation is for you to count the calories. Number crunching professions like accountant, QS, Financial controller, etc are ace with numbers. An average recommended calories intake (as a guide) for the average males is 2000 calories, while it’s 1,800 for females. Note the vast difference between calories (Kcal) and kilo-joules (Kj) found in the nutrition labels of most FMCGs. 1Kcal=2.4Kj
If your job requires you to not deal with numbers and you have an instant dislike for numbers, fear not. Because, losing weight is not all about counting the calories. One note of advice for those reading- calories are not allowed to be save for the next day (unlike saving money where you can have addition interest and earn more money). The only way to increase (or earn) is to increase your metabolism rate (by exercising). So I’m not surprise that most bankers are fat (a bad sterotype), because they starve themselves in 2008 and now are bloody rich with $1.2 million bonus recently and so are starving themselves now with foie gras and escargots. For the unlucky bankers who are still penniless, they are still ‘fat’ because of them having bloated stomach from starving since 2008!
Jokes and bad, unmeaningful stereotypes aside, if you know you have irregular meals on a daily basis, please know that it is a bad habit. It can cause some serious eating disorder if prolonged for a long time. No, I’m not talking about having cous cous for dinner and ice cream for breakfast. I’m referring to those not having their meals at the same time, like irregular timing.

Have regular meals
Now, regular meals allows your body to better boost the metabolism rate. Like any other mammals, humans have a fixated feeding times. So why do you think at the zoo, there are fixed feeding times? According to some zoologist, they spend a great deal of time to condition those animals to become accustomed with those fixed eating time. Ever wonder why, as a kid, recess is always during those times and are not really flexible? And you’ll feel slight hunger pangs (even though you had a hearty lunch/breakfast)?
Like animals in a zoo that are conditioned, humans are also conditioned by our external environment. We are conditioned by our office environment, and that of the concrete jungle out there.

So what happens if I have irregular meal times?
Like the pet dog my friend reared, at 1pm sharp daily, it will come out for lunch, on the dog. Research had shown that this behaviour is not entirely because of the dog having a biological clock which knows what is the time. But instead, it is due to the functioning of the stomach. With fixed eating habits, the dog’s digestive system is already accustomed to the fixed feeding time, and so the dog will feel hungry (after 3 hrs of food digesting). Like clockwork. You get the gist.
Metabolism rate works best when you have fixed meal timing. This means your actual biological clock knows when it should work and start to accelerate to the optimal power/speed. Imagine a bus driver who is a newbie. He/she have no idea when he/she should stop in the busy motorway since it’s the 1st time driving on the journey. Compared this to another driver who is a seasoned one, and his brakes are smooth. Same theory applies to your dietary habits.
Having irregular meals times might instead cause you to gain weight or having more problems. Because the body is unable to gauge exactly when will you eat, and sometimes when food in stomach is digested completely and you’ve yet to eat, you’ll feel hungry and so snack on some food first. For those who don’t snack and ignores the hunger, your body will condition that you had already eaten and not feel hungry anymore. So sometimes you’ll feel full despite not eating anything. This means the acidic enzymes in your stomach will digest itself and cause gastric.

It’s not about changing habits (unless the case of irregular time for meals)
It is alright to eat your favourite food, but in moderation. Like everything, too much of anything is bad. Imagine if you’re on a all fruits diet, and if you feels hungry, you eat a bunch of banana. Bananas are high in fibre and potassium. Many people do not understand bananas are also high in simple sugar, meaning it will store as fats if people do not exercise more. No doubt it is good for boosting metabolism rates, however, if you eat a bunch everyday for 1 month, I guarantee you, you will develop type 2 diabetics.
Try as much to boost your metabolism rates. Clenching your fist and relax in a continuous cycle helps. Like on your daily commute, do it! Control your breathing may sounds extreme, but try to breath as fast and deep as you can for 30 minutes everyday.