The grass is always greener…

The Big Apple in Beijing

Well I’ve been meaning to take a pic of this and here it is: The marketing power of Apple.

Right at the centre of Zhongguancun shopping area: A HUGE-ASS IPOD BANNER!

Now if only there was a proper Apple store…

0.3Megapixel GOODNESS + an impulsive purchase

Well since I will be walking around with my Motorola E680i (with a 0.3Megapixel camera) and I can’t be bothered carrying a proper camera, I have decided that most of the photography will be delivered to you in low resolution. This is a way to challenge me in my photography skills and its use under strict limitations.

Anyways, today had me walking around looking for proper shoelaces to replace the ones that broke off my new Nikes during spinning class (!!!). I found a cheap pair in the local Carrefour (3.90RMB) and continued to walk around the shopping area in Zhongguancun.

While inside the Zhongguancun plaza, I was compelled to get a cap to match my non-black clothes. So I walked into Kangol which specializes in hats and snatched up a brown& white kangol cap. Now I have to say it was an impulsive buy but I thought it would look good with all the brown coloured clothes I bought recently.

As I continued on my solo shopping trip, I saw a little fashion parade sponsored by ODBO (hehe don’t u love that name). Most of the models were quite attractive. Unfortunately, my new attempt at photography with a 0.3MP camera didn’t go very well. I have to work out figuring out the settings of this thing…but enjoy the pics anyways…

Still, my adventures were not over. I saw that a CROCS store was open and went inside thinking of ideas for wedding presents for my cousin and her fiancee. I thought I might get them a matching pair of crocs since its relatively new in China and not many people have them yet.

These are the ones I was looking at…

What do you guys think?

TOP 10 - MUSIC (22 April 2007)

Well I decided to put up some of the music I’ve been listening to. In the tradition of Hi-Fidelity, it’ll be in the form of a Top 10!

The order of my top 10s will not be in order of preference, rather, it will simply be a list of 10 songs I like which fit into a certain mood. Order will be simply be my choice which I believe makes the songs flow best from one to the next.

What makes my Top 10 even cooler is that you can download all the tracks I have on my list! (MP3 format). Officially, it is of course, online for my own personal archive uses. *cough*. ENJOY!

Playlist: 2007-04-22
MOOD: SENTIMENTAL & INFATUATION

1. Phantom Planet - California
2. Jet - Hold on
3. Bic Runga - She Left On A Monday
4. Greg Laswell - High And Low
5. Depeche Mode - Precious
6. Phantom Planet - Always On My Mind
7. Sonic Youth - Incinerate
8. James Carrington - Ache
9. Rogue Wave - Eyes
10. Joseph Arthur - In the Sun

2007-04-22: 10 songs, 41.0 minutes, 53.7 MB

All you can say is…oops…

As I stepped out of the gym I could see a throng of people standing around something. I saw cardboard boxes and various things on the road and also noticed the police and immediately knew it could only be one thing…traffic accident. It turned out that a car had crashed into another causing a 4 car pile up. Somehow a guy on a “3 wheel” a bike with a carriage carrying goods also got involved and the guy riding it was on the ground.

Im assuming that the guy is insisting to lie on the road for insurance payment or something. Or he might be seriously hurt…but the ambulance hadn’t arrived at that time.

And, as always in China, a huge crowd of people is standing around watching the scene as if it was entertainment.

SPARTAN TRAINING DAY #4

Well being the weekend I’m excused for being only HALF a spartan hehe. I woke up quite late (10:30am) so that ruled out the plan of a morning workout. Instead had a small breaky and a HUGE lunch to prepare for the workout ahead (exercise ball & body pump). However, when I got the gym I wasn’t feeling my best. It felt like I was low on glucose levels. This was strange due to my previously mentioned HUGE LUNCH.

I did the exercise ball class and found it quite tiring so I decided to skip the body pump class and do my own workout. It was not to be! Ye Cui, the body pump instructor came looking for me and physically forced me to join the class! Only 2 people showed and you need 3 to start a class. I told her I wasn’t feeling up for it but she wouldn’t take no for an answer and literally dragged me kicking and screaming to the class (she’s a feisty girl!).

Despite my efforts, I did not perform very well during body pump and afterwards had to go eat some biscuits to up my glucose level. I don’t really understand what happened. Is my diet suddenly lacking so much carbs/glucose that I can’t even do half of my normal workouts?!? Or is it the increased intensity of my recent days of spartan training?

Either way…I have much to learn…

SPARTAN TRAINING DAY #3

Well day 3 of my spartan training regime went better than the previous day. I began adjusting my diet to include more carbs and I seem to feel more energetic (although the sudden increase of food gave me a bit of a stomach upset).

MORNING WORK
Went as planned with a walk/run. I was rather tired due to creeping hunger so didn’t do the usual abdominals. According to the treadmill I managed to burn 500+ calories (not that i’m counting!).

NIGHT WORKOUT
I got quite a bit done due to feeling more energetic. Did some weights (only up to 70kg on the bench as I didn’t have anyone to spot for me) and spent the majority of the time doing abdominals to make up for the morning. I went to the Body Combat class but found I was quite exhausted after the weights.

Overall, performed better than day #2 but I still got some diet, sleep adjustments to do to optimize my workouts.

SPARTAN TRAINING DAY #2

Well second day of Spartan training was a bit of a disaster! I was woken up at around 4ish by dad cause he was going on a business trip. Went back to sleep after he left and woke up at around 9am. I could tell I wasn’t going to enjoy the morning workout cause it felt like I got bashed up as every muscle felt sore and I was yawning like crazy to stay awake.

MORNING WORKOUT
I ran for 10min before changing to the bike as I just couldn’t be bothered running anymore. In fact, its hard to motivate me running at all these days on the treadmill, especially while they were playing some sappy love song. They really need to improve the music there. After a bike ride I ran for another 10min and then did my ab crunches and went home.

NIGHT WORKOUT
This was basically the disaster bit as I was so tired at night I was constantly yawning and ended up taking a nap before any real workout started. Thank goodness for RPM/spinning as it always managers to hype me up. Two of the guy trainers joined in and they were quite funny and really got people into with their antics. They were singing and laughing and helped lift my spirits. Afterwards I did some weights cause it made me feel macho and went home feeling good but somewhat disappointed at the workout.

DIET
I think this is the problem I have to adjust. I don’t think I’m getting enough carbs before the workouts and not enough protein after….Basically: I’m not eating enough! DAMMIT! Trying to lose weight and I need to make myself EAT MORE! THE IRONY! I’ll slow adjust my diet starting tomorrow and see how I go…

FISHIES #4

THEY LIVE!!!!!!

more information to follow…

SPARTAN TRAINING DAY #1

Well yesterday was my first day of “spartan training” and I think it went rather according to plan…

I kept to the exercise routine of doing morning cardio (8:45am). I ran for 10min until i felt a slight pain in my right foot and decided to stop and change to something less impactful for my feet. I rode the bike for 45min to some Body Jam music Xiao Wei put on (one of the trainers) which was good.

The afternoon workout consisted of a short run to warm up, some weights (benched 60kg and 70kg) and abdominal workouts. I didn’t go too hard on the weights as I had a body Pump class. It was quite tiring probably due to excessive weight training I did the night before. I concluded with 20min of abdominal workouts.

Diet-wise, I was quite well-behaved for the first day. I had a full breakfast in the morning after the workout, a decent lunch and a small dinner. Due to a tiring workout at night I fell asleep shortly after returning home and didn’t get any late night cravings for food.

SPARTAN TRAINING PLAN

Starting my new exercise regime following some research from http://www.bodybuildingforyou.com
I will be on the following for a month…I hope…

PLAN:

1. Morning exercise:40-60min in the morning before breakfast. This means that your body starts to use your fat reserves for energy due to the lack of carbohydrates.
2. Afternoon/Night workout:
   • 1-2hours of weights and machines to increase muscle tone and strength.
   • 1hour class (usually cardio or body pump, in which case my own work out would be more cardio)
   • do at least 15min of abdominal workouts each day. Best time is at the end of the workout which actually helps to relieve hunger I’ve found. that stomach is just too sore to eat! hehe
3. Diet:
   • Morning(after workout): eat lots of fruit, veges, high carbs (wholemeal) to boost the metabolism, egg, milk
   • Snack: fruit, veges, soya products
   • Lunch:moderate carbs(rice, wholemeal breads), veges, lean meat
   • Snack: fruit, veges
   • Dinner: low carbs (need to cut down gradually to ensure commitment), veges, fruit, HIGH PROTEIN (to repair tissue loss from weight training):lean meat (esp chicken, fish), egg, soya products
   • snack: if hungry at night eat some veges or fruit. no carbs!

WHAT NOT TO EAT:

• saturated fats: nothing deep fried, overly oily foods
• sugars: sweets, lollies, icecream (u get enough sugars from the fruits)
• pastas, beans, peanuts (not as severe as above but should try not to eat much of this during the next month

So wish me luck peoples!!! I shall update my results to you as they come in