Virtual Taichi class + “Eliminating neck and back pain at work” talk + virtual Qigong class + Galvin’s birthday & Mysterium + virtual Restorative Yoga class + virtual Yin Yoga class + bi-annual dental appointment

4/7/22 Mon: Pretty sure I tried a few lessons of Taichi before at STC’s parade ring last time, so I thought to take the chance to try it this morning since Chisa’s away and I’ll be missing out three weeks of Reformer Pilates anyway.

The moves are generally slow, and one move lasted for a few minutes, plus the need to pay attention to breathing, Taichi is tiring but it made sure I had no time to think of anything else but focus on the present. *It didn’t get my heart racing, but I sweated as much as I did in cardio classes!* Coincidentally, the teacher Audrey was the same teacher who teaches Nirvana Fitness.

Potato helped me with watercress and carrot soup at night while I also sliced up king oyster mushroom  and stir-fried them with bok choy and lentil. *Maybe a tad too many ‘green’ dishes on the table for me haha.*

5/7/22 Tues: Hectic day at work with an interview, editing and write-up of press releases… such a pain seeing those changes here and there for PR.

Did “mermaid” pose in aerial yoga class and tried to end it “elegantly” lol~

6/7/22 Weds: Translated and wrote my own story and continued with the PRs. LL wanted to bring me to a place that sells good mhk at Bukit Panjang but it was closing down by the time we got there, so I had chicken rice at the Kim San Leng coffee shop which was meh.

7/7/22 Thurs: Listened in to the “Eliminating neck and back pain at work” talk by HPB because after nine years of corporate life, I had experienced sharp and dull, localised pain once in a while on my left lower back, near the hip area. It has been more frequent nowadays now that I’m back working in office more than Covid-19 restriction days, and hence all the more I am sitting for prolonged periods.

Interesting how they say “the NEXT posture is the BEST posture” and basically, we cannot sit upright all the time… simply shift and change every now and them. The speaker also advised us to stand up to walk around for at least 30 seconds after every hour of sitting.

Potato helped me cut Chinese cabbage, onion and garlic and prepare eggs and sauces for our ebi tamago don tonight. I deveined the prawns and cut the king oyster mushroom, garlic and spring onion.

It was not bad an attempt but we both thought the taste was a bit bland, even though we used chilli oil in place of chilli bean paste which we did not have. It could be due to too much cabbage too.

8/7/22 Fri: Joined in a virtual Qigong class. *Deliberately not have heavy oatmeal for breakfast because it’s advised not to at least for an hour before and after Qigong classes.* The auntie was bilingual and she was teaching气功十八s式的第一套today I think. It’s not easy because one must synchronise your moves with the breathing. One more thing, she did not want us to mirror her moves but follow her instructions instead, which made things confusing sometimes as I’m staring at the video at the same time haha.

The nod for the press releases to be published came at the same time this morning, so it was a good thing I had done them up over the past few days, so all I did was to tweak them around a bit before sending them for approvals and posting on the racing portal. Had the dry mhk ($4.50) at the coffeeshop opposite Le Quest for lunch but it was very salty. Never eating that again.

*Damn the ache in my left lower back came back again recently because I sit for long hours in office. Need to start doing my stretches daily again.* Piloxing class with Stephanie in the evening was good as usual! *The more I do stretches, the more I love them!*

9/7/22 Sat: *rRandom tThought: Never know until I try. If they value me enough, I expect a reasonable compensation.*

Potato cooked my all-time favourite: chicken meat with enoki in tom yam sauce, as well as shimeiji mushroom and lady’s finger with carrot! *Very thankful for a good meal after race day as usual!*

10/7/22 Sun: Visited Joan and Galvin’s new place just opposite Kallang MRT. The guys played some games in the afternoon before we went for Chinese BBQ dinner at满当当because PY had craving for it. I liked their bbq pork belly, stir-fried potato slices and beancurd skin, others had too much of either the mala or cumin taste that irked me.

Had chocolate cake from Awfully Chocolate at night for Galvin’s birthday. Then, we played two rounds of “Mysterium” which Potato and PY took turns to be the “ghost” while the rest of us were psychics. I liked the cooperative game because it was fun trying to “read the ghosts’ mind” lol.

11/7/22 Mon: Attended a virtual class of Restorative Yoga with Platinum Yoga studio instructor. A lot on breathing and I do feel that it was more difficult for some of the poses that needed the use of my lower back. However, it’s not a good idea to do it if one feels sleepy haha… because I slept like 1+am last night omg.

Decided to cook seaweed enoki soup with carrot, egg and onion in chicken stock to go with the刀削面which I liked a lot. Stir-fried lady’s finger with carrot, lentil and chilli but the carrots got a bit burnt because I left it covered for a bit too long while on high heat oops.

12/7/22 Tues: *Don’t know what cards they have up their sleeves, but I’m gonna play mine out in the open. If they see the value in my role, they have to show it.* Headed to my mum’s to pick up her homecooked dishes for us and came back home to enjoy them with Potato. Aerial yoga class tonight was not difficult, just fun being up there.

13/7/22 Weds: *Waited 20 minutes for one ‘991’ bus to arrive in the afternoon when the fourth ‘945’ bus was already tailing behind! Horrible.* Attended one session of Nirvana Fitness after so long and I felt more tiring than before… probably because I haven’t done it for some time already.

Potato cooked fried rice with chicken meat, red capsicum, lady’s finger, onion, garlic, mini king oyster mushroom, spring onion, egg and sweet corn for dinner~ not bad!

14/7/22 Thurs: Attended a virtual class of Yin Yoga this morning. Only a set of four to five poses but we hold them for about two to three minutes each. Stretches can get tough but I think we ought to do them at least once a week to relax our bodies.

Enjoyed homecooked seafood marina cooked by Potato tonight! We had tiger prawn, squid, scallop, mini king oyster mushroom, onion and garlic with spaghetti in tomato sauce~ very delicious!

15/7/22 Fri: Had lunch with Tracy and after hearing what happened recently at work for her, I empathise but also feel unjust for her. *Do people ‘approve’ things without using their brains?* Piloxing was shiok.

16/7/22 Sat: Household chores for PotaTOHs today as we cleaned and re-organised the storeroom for a bit. *Random but happy monthsary to us! <3* Then, we head out to Nipong Naepong for dinner. My tae-pong’s sauce tasted very much like hor fun (noodle) but his chicken risotto was meh. We then bought drinks and tidbits from Daiso and思家客, and also took away some sashimi from Don Don Donki back home for supper as we continue watching《내일》!

17/7/22 Sun: Long day of work on Singapore Derby meeting and though Lim’s Kosciuszko won and I did a story on him before that, I did not pick the winner lol. Came home to yummy gochujang pork collar meat, corn and carrot soup and spinach cooked by Potato~ shiok!

18/7/22 Mon: Visited Koh Dental for my bi-annual scaling and polishing work. The procedure was done by a new guy doctor and he sounded very polite… would explain almost every step he’s doing. *So, it’s normal that our incisors are more sensitive during the scaling process because there’s more plaque build-up in those areas… but I did felt it near my upper left premolar where the filling is at.* Glad he said my teeth are fine and there was no charge for examination of the teeth at the start.

Followed a recipe on an app to cook the糖醋豆腐for dinner but I think I should not have left the tofu in tapioca starch sitting on the plate because once they got stuck there, it was so hard to lift and put them into the frying pan, so many ended up “out of shape” haiz. Good thing the sauce was not bad.

19/7/22 Tues: Farewell lunch for LL, Carolyn and Susan at Springleaf Prata Place with the division. I tried their masala chicken briyani... meh.

Diana took a photo of me doing the split in class specially to show me how much I have improved over the years. I can feel and see it too and I'm really happy. It's the consistency of doing exercises and stretches these years that my flexibility has increased too.