Crossing the bridge to a strange world - A Newborn!

Oh, I've never mentioned (can't I be any ruder?), I started my new job on April Fool's day. If previously I was in a banking industry, this time I'm in an IT industry, doing publishing - editorial to be precise. Nothing to do with the honours discipline I took for my degree, I am going through a major, new and strange environment, for I have not even a clue in what I get myself into. But hey, It's only the 4th day of training (keeping my fingers crossed, hoping it would not be so bad).

I am in a team called something like this : "Pioneer Align Team", for the U.S. market, Chicago to be exact. We are a team of 12 people, its structure consisting of 2 production managers, 2 trainers from Chicago, 2 team leaders, 2 senior production editors, and 4 production editors. And the "coolest" thing about this team is that our working hours starts from 10 p.m. and ends at 6 a.m. Yeap! We are the nightingales, night birdies/hawks, whatever you want to call us.

Anyways, we had a photo session last night. So here we are:

The New Family

Generosity of a Former Insomniac - Keeping the Pounds Off While You Are Sleeping

I am an insomniac. Well, was one. I suffered a major sleeping disorder few years ago. While I was supposed to be blooming gracefully as a teenager, I underwent this bad habit. I went through 5 days straight with only 2 hours of sleep. And the next time I snored, even if I snore – oh yes, I know I do snore, was in 144 hours. No kidding. I used to wish of having dreams, even bad ones because I didn’t get the chance to dream. And I ended up vomiting and having headaches, feeling nausea most of the time. I blacked out one sunny afternoon after 4 days and nights of none sleep. It was terrible. The only prescription from doctors was medicines and supplements which were supposed to make me drowsy, but it wasn’t helpful most of the time. Anyways, I chose to write about this health-affecting habit, or more precisely, disease, for my essay for a test I had to do last night at work. For documentum purpose they say, right. I chose to write about this issue was because it had made huge changes in my life, both with and without it.

Did you know that if you aren’t getting adequate sleep, you may find yourself hungry even after consuming a sufficient amount of food? In addition to affecting our control in appetite, sleep loss interferes with the process of breaking down carbs – that is our carb metabolism; I always hate using scientific terms. Anyways, this effect leads to an increase in our blood glucose levels, causing insulin to be released, which can lead to weight gain and increase fat storage.

However, I shall not bore you more with how my life was affected with insomnia because I would rather write about the preventions of insomnia. It will be more helpful. Truly, I got to know about a few tips by reading from numerous articles, but I shall stand out the few facts which I had newly known of.

Reserve your bed for sleeping and sex only. Paying bills, watching TV, and other “sleep-robbing” activities which we always do should be conducted elsewhere. The next precaution which I am about to write is rather difficult to follow, but whatever it is, don’t go to bed hungry. Seriously, I would never want to do this ever before, thinking that it’s unhealthy to eat before you sleep. I always thought I’ll see an increase in the waistline or a swell in the bump of my stomach the next morning. However, a light snack like a reduced-fat cheese stick or a slice of lean deli meat can be enjoyably consuming before bedtime. And for those sweat-out fanatics, whatever you exercise, you have to refrain from exercising three hours before bedtime since exercise releases the hormone called epinephrine, which can boost up your level of alertness. Log some exercise time during the day can improve your ability to sleep. Caffeine lovers, this might hurt you a little bit. But drinking a stimulant of caffeine several hours of retiring to bed can cause early awakening. Same goes with alcohols. Smokers on the other hand, if you still, you must. And if you must, quit!

Other precautions I have no doubt is stagnant somewhere by your fingertips. But it’s just a matter of whether you want to oblige to it or not. If you typically have trouble sleeping at night, avoid napping during the day. If you’ve been trying to fall asleep for more than 30 minutes, get your butt out of bed and do something relaxing; for instance, take a bath, read a magazine, record your thoughts in a journal (like people still do this) until you feel sleepy. Truly, to me, making sure my environmental is conducive enough for sleeping is enough. Comfortable light, sound, and temperature seems to be an easy pathway to getting sleepy, but as for me, dark and shut the hell of noises are what I call as my way. A good tip is to be consistent about the time we go to be and what time you wake up each day, and by all means, this also means on weekends!

If you are making plans to stay in perfect shape, a lack of sleep is the last thing you need because it may be affecting your ability to lose weight. I tried some of the “safety measures”, and truthfully, some worked but some didn’t. I strongly believe that it depends on the individual itself. If you think you fall in this “insomniac” category, start practicing the tips I have mentioned above. It might be helpful. No harm trying it. It could, in fact, give you a healthier life indeed.

Health Alarm #3 - Quenching Your Thirst

Making improvements to your current lifestyle involves a multipronged approach: For instance, selecting the right fats and carbs over trans fats and highly processed carbs; choosing beverages without added sugar and other unhealthy fillers; and getting enough physical activities.

Ahh..,even the water you drink to quench your thirst plays a bog role in affecting your health. Here are some tips:

• Water
• 1 percent low-fat or fat-free milk or buttermilk
• Low-fat (4 grams of fat or less) plain soy milk or sucralose-containing flavored soy milk
• Coffee and tea (limit caffeine-containing beverages to 1-2 servings per day)
• Decaffeinated coffee and tea
• Herbal tea without added sugars (Avoid any teas that promise to help you lose weight or boast any other unrealistic health claim.)
• Sugar-free flavored waters (check labels carefully, as flavored waters often contain hidden sugars), soda, iced teas, powdered drinks, etc.
• Club soda or seltzer
• Tomato or vegetable juice cocktail (eyuk!)

You should avoid the following:

• Fruit juices
• Sodas with added sugar
• Whole or 2 percent reduced-fat milk
• Alcohol (On the occasions that you do drink, you may have up to two glasses of wine. If you prefer another alcoholic beverage, you can choose from vodka, gin, whiskey, scotch, bourbon, tequila, or rum instead.)
• Flavored waters with added sugar

Health Alarm #2 - Breakfast On the Go

Often, it seems easier to grab a bagel or donut on the way to the office or skip breakfast altogether. But neither of these practices will help you reach your goals of losing weight and becoming healthier. Eating refined carbs may cause cravings to return, and skipping breakfast may encourage you to overeat throughout the day, which leads to unhealthy weight gain.(Yikes, that's a no-no).

Worry not..here are some breakfast options that are perfect for eating on the go:

• Pre-cooked deviled or hard-boiled eggs
• Celery sticks with natural, no-added-sugar peanut butter
• Single-serve nonfat or 1-percent cottage cheese cups
• Pre-cooked turkey bacon
• Individual low-fat cheese slices or low-fat cheese sticks
• Sliced turkey or other low-fat meats
• Tomato or vegetable juice cocktail in single-serving cans
• Low-fat or nonfat plain yogurt
• Low-fat or nonfat artificially sweetened, flavored yogurt (Limit to 6 ounces daily and make sure to avoid yogurts with added sugars.)
• Whole-wheat sliced bread or whole-wheat English muffin topped with low-fat cheese or part-skim ricotta cheese.
• Fresh berries or other seasonal fruit
• Steel-cut or slow-cooking oatmeal (Season with cinnamon and artificial sweetener to perk up the taste)

However, preparation is always a hassle. Prepare it at night then, that's why it is called "pre"pare.

Our Return

So I'm back from Birmie. Ohh, it had been so fast, but I'm glad that I'm home. The holiday was great, fabulous, anything I could've asked for a great year-end holiday.

Upon arrival in Birmingham International Airport, the temperature gave me a cold shiver. The pilot had announced it was -2 degree. Figured it wouldn't be so bad. Yah.., I took back my figurations when I was about to leave the building. Anyways, the flat rented by my friend, Haniyyah, where my sister and I was staying was just great. It was the coziest place I could say.

Anyways, I wouldn't want to be long-winded about everything, therefore I shall post pictures of my stay there, followed by the places we've visited and events we've celebrated there. Believe me, I didn't want to leave unblogged for a very long time, but the amount of pictures are just..loads!! And I can't be uploading "all" of 'em in here. It'll be massive. And readers will go, "Awhh man! Isn't this more than enough already??!!"

So the first 2 pictures are views taken in Whitby. We were climbing up the 199 stairs leading toan old church. Believe me, I was puffing and poofing and gasping for air desperately, especially after a big meal of fish n' chips. Oh I'll show you the Haddock fish I had after a long journey on the train and bus.

Aww...would you just take a look at that happy face. Was about to gobble away the fish impolitely when I was forced to wait and pose for the picture. Mind you, it took more than one shot, okay. Oh, the food, was Marvellous!

Okay! Moving on to our London trip.

London Bridge

While strollin' down Thames Past East

Walking down the grass at 'Queen's Walk'

Hey, a girl's got to sit and rest too after a long walk

The Scoop

London Eye

Now I am the 'Eye'

Big Ben Babyy!

And these are several pictures of our miscellaneous activities:


~Party @ Roshini's~



Jessy's birthday dinner @ Estilo Bar

Happy New Year!

New Year's night @ Rococo's Bar

Okay- there are, of course, more pictures, but I can't be posting everything here. There might be more on my next posts, (probably) - no promises. But these are a few of 'em. I've been putting this post on hold for a very long time already, I might as well get done with it.

So til' then - cheerios~

A Pretty Closure (a dramatic way to name it)

I'm having a bad flu for this past few days. My voice is starting to sound manly as it could be. 3 days away from my year-end trip and I'm sick! Out of many days and months, now is the best time to get sick..~GREAT~ Not that I'm complaining much though, there is always a good reason to all this.

Accepting it in the most positive way, it's better to fall sick now and here than being sick while in a cold, icy-cal place where I'll be in.. say about 4 days time. Been staring into space for the last 2 days, wondering what should I bring. Haven't start packing even a bit. Mostly it should be winter clothings, I suppose.

Spent last weekend with dearest Mom & Dad, shopping our way through the day in KL & Damansara. Brother was away somewhere, going through boredom in driving course. ~Been there, done that~. Since it was the last weekend for the year for my sister & I, we stayed home as much as we could with the family (like always).

Oh..and yeah..I've quit my job today. Submitted my resignation letter to the HR. My trainer was personally, seriously shocked that I've come up to this decision...to end my career there at the end of the training. Hmm..,even if there is "career" for me there, I definitely don't want to be in a call center industry. Or do I? Hmm, well..I would never know, now that I am officially an unemployed person.

And so, I shall be leaving the country(oh, how dramatic I can be sometimes), ending the year in some foreign country, jobless! Pretty dramatic to end the year, huh? Don't you think? Pathetic, I can say. Believe me, I feel like slapping myself hard whenever I become this way. Silly girl.

Counting Days....

14 days to go and I'm off to Birmingham!Yippie~ I wish nothing gets in between the trip and myself. Most of the time, I would wish hard to turn back time to reverse things or amend mistakes in the past, but not this time.

Anyways, I look terrible now, I feel terrible, I've not been eating right, I feel sucks! Nevermind~

My 2 months and a half training is over. OJT starts tomorrow. Seriously, I'm feeling nervous about it. I am assigned to a very strict team manager. I was told of this from a senior of mine who happens to be in the same team as I am to be. Helpful tips were given to me by her when I was on the floor, seated next to her, watching her do her usual practices at work. Her efficiencies gave me a creepy feeling. Talkin' 'bout great benchmark to achieve, huh..*sigh*

This month is the month which will dry up my pockets and purse- 4 good friends of mine will be celebrating their birthdays. Talkin' ' bout December babies. And oh, I have this exchange-gift-programme outing with the colleagues before Christmas sometime next week. This programme thingy is all about getting a gift for a certain someone(each person gets a random "angel" among ourselves to exchange gifts with). We didn't get to choose who to be our "angel", we picked sealed little paper with a name. If you want to know who my "angel" is, its a "he". Yikes! What should I get for a guy??!! This is in fact, 1 of my greatest weakness- to get gifts for a guy. Plus, I've only known him for 2 and a half months. Any suggestions, feel free to suggest your ideas.

I need to balance up my social life. O-man!Am missing some people..and also my dad who is away at the moment.

Ok, til' then..Nitey-nite, world!