Dance like no one's watching

I’ve always wanted to take ballet lessons again but it’s not been easy finding suitable classes for adults.  I’ve searched online off and on over the years but never found anything credible (please don’t ask me to sign up with some half past six school).  Anyway, my latest search 10min ago gave me hope!  Looks like both SDT and YMCA offer ballet classes for adults.  SDT’s new classes (I mean, how can anyone go wrong with Singapore Dance Theatre right?), unfortunately, won’t start till Jan 2010.  So I sent an e-mail to YMCA to find out when their new classes are starting… I’m quite keen to join them asap.  Based on their criteria for their classes, I would be between an Elementary 1 & 2, I think… ‘cos… Elementary 2 requires one to be able to execute a clean single pirouette… so I got off my chair & tried.  I can do a clean single pirouette on my right leg… but not my left.  Hahahaha… but I guess I’m willing to practice hard as long as there’re classes available.

I also found a forum with folks discussing about adult ballet classes… and to my horror, these “adults” were aged 13-18.  Duh?!  Well, I guess I have to mentally prepare myself to be the oldest student in any adult ballet class… but it’s ok.  I’ll make sure this 30-year old woman puts those youngster to shame!  Muahahahahaha…..

Based on our discussion with SBC Design over the weekend, the renovation for our flat will be starting tomorrow.  Yeap.  The hacking of the tiles & removal of the built-in wardrobes should start tomorrow.  Iceman and I went to the flat to take some photos of it… just to remember how it looked when we first bought it.  I must say the photos make the flat look a lot better than the state it’s in – the sellers didn’t take much care moving out – the laminate flooring is damaged quite badly, etc.

Anyway, this is just for the memory…

The main door.  We’re retaining this.

Shoe cabinet behind the main door.

The balcony (I like the wind chime the seller left behind!)

The living/dining room taken from opposite ends.

The kitchen (we’re not going to have the  L-sink anymore).

Kitchen toilet

Master bedroom & toilet (damn ugly).

2nd bedroom (taken from opposite ends).

3rd bedroom

And that’s it!  Will post photos from the reno as we go along.  😀

I’m sitting at home trying not to fall asleep ‘cos F1 Monza is starting in 58min & Azure has generously opened her place for Iceman and I to watch it.  Heh.  So I decided to do this post on lotions for permed hair.  Since perming my hair 2 Fridays ago, I’ve been looking for a suitable leave-in lotion/cream for my curls.  I bought the ISO Bouncy Creme from a shop at Raffles Place but am not very pleased with it.  I tried it for 2 days (last Mon & Tue) and felt that it dried out my hair by the end of the day.  In addition, the smell is VERY VERY strong!!  It smells as though I’m walking around with an entire salon on my head!  (This is coming from a person whose nose doesn’t pick up smells very well ‘cos of years of sinus…)

Unfortunately, I have a short memory and so I decided to give it another try today.  After all, I have a full bottle of it left so don’t waste right?  Sigh.  Regret. Now I’m typing on my laptop while choking on the smell from my hair, and thinking if I should wash my hair again, but am reluctant to do so ‘cos that’s very drying for hair.  Sigh.

I should’ve just stuck to using the Redken Curl Refiner that Booze Queen gave me (she had half a tube left from when her hair was curly).  The Redken product is a very lightly scented (excellent!) and it holds curls quite well.  It’s twice the price of ISO but it’s good!

Excuse me while I continue choking…

I couldn’t resist – permed my hair last Fri.  Yuki did a “Japanese perm” this time – in short, my hair was set in curlers, doused with the first chemical, rinsed out, soaked with second chemical and the rinsed again.  The whole perming process took about 2+ hrs.  No heat was involved so the curls look softer.  They feel softer too… though mine have a tendency to straighten by half at the end of the day.  Not sure if it’s ‘cos my hair’s still very long.  Yuki said she deliberately used the medium sized curlers for me ‘cos my hair’s very stubborn… and the curls will turn into large curls by the end of the week.  I’m a little nervous abt it now actually… ‘cos I know my hair IS stubborn (yesh yesh, like me) and so I worry the curls may just disappear.

Anyway, to allay my fears, I decided to be proactive and so I searched online for “how to preserve curls while sleeping”.  This was the BEST (in terms of funniest) answer I found.

Click on the pic to see the answer!  😛

Based on this… I’m sooo going to die….

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Thinner thighs, weaker heart

PARIS : Women and men with

PARIS : Women and men with thighs under 60 centimetres (23.5 inches) in circumference face a far higher risk of premature death and heart disease, according to a study released Friday.

The surprising find could provide doctors with an additional barometer of cardiac risk, the authors say in the British Medical Journal (BMJ).

Berit Heitmann and Peder Frederiksen of Copenhagen University Hospital examined data for 1,436 men and 1,380 women whose body measurements were taken in Denmark in the late 1980s.

Over the next dozen years, more than 400 participants died and another 540 suffered either cardiovascular or heart disorders. Men outnumbered women roughly two to one.

Survivors without heart problems had significantly thicker thighs once other risk factors – obesity, smoking, high cholesterol – were taken into account, the investigators found.

"A ‘threshold effect’ for thigh circumference was evident, with greatly increased risk of premature death below around 60 cm," the study concludes.
The bad news, for those with ham-like upper legs, is that bigger thighs do not seem to offer any advantage.

"Above the threshold there seemed to be no additional benefit … for either sex," the study said.

Those with the thinnest thighs were more than three times times likelier to die compared with those with the 60-centimetre (23.5-inch) thighs, and more than twice as likely to have heart problems.

The Danish team suggest small thighs could be a pointer of low cardiac muscle mass, but further research is needed.

Earlier studies have shown a clear link between heart disease and obesity or underweight, but this is the first to look at the implications of thigh size on coronary health.

The authors suggest it could join other measures currently used to assess cardiac risks include body-mass index (BMI), as well as waist and hip circumference.
But at least one independent expert was skeptical that the new findings will become a diagnostic tool.

"It seems unlikely that thigh circumference will be clinically useful," wrote Ian Scott of the Princess Alexandra Hospital in Brisbane, Australia, said in a commentary, also published in the BMJ.

– AFP/il

it was quite surreal.  i bumped into my first bf last night at a coffeeshop at simei.  i was walking quite fast towards the back of the coffeeshop where the empty seats were… when this very familiar face caught my eye.  i paused for a short while, wondering if i should say “hi”.  but i didn’t.

i’ve ever wondered if i would recognise him if i saw him again, since the last time i saw him was some 13 years ago, so i was happy to know the answer is yes, he looks pretty much the same – same hairstyle and not much weight gain.

anyway, i decided not to say “hi” because i wouldn’t know how to continue the conversation thereafter.  since he has always maintained that he wasn’t lying when everyone else said he was (lying about some stuff not related to us), i thought it was best to let sleeping dogs lie.   (pun unintended).

i’m once again wondering how best should i handle this “letting friends know about my blog” issue. there’re times when i post stuff that i want the world to read and know that i said it… and yet there’re times when i only want strangers to know what i write. i think the the basis for that is that strangers will not judge me and any opinion they may have, will not affect me.

besides setting up another blog that’s kept secret from people who know me, the other route is to be ambiguous in my posts, tell half the story, and so on. unfortunately, that may lead to further misunderstandings.

a friend told me recently that he was angry at something i wrote. he has every right to be, based on that 1 post i wrote, as i may have appeared to have slighted him.  However, without reading some other stuff i wrote throughout the years, he didn’t know the reasons that prompted me to write what i did.  in my clarification over what i wrote, i shared with him partially about some historical issues but didn’t go into the details. i’m not sure how this will impact the 2 of us moving forward but there’s only so much i am able to share over the phone, or in person.

talking about old friends who’re mad at me… airbus’ birthday was a couple of days ago. i sent him an sms to wish him happy birthday and i’m glad he responded. i was prepared not to have any response from him initially ‘cos i think he’s still mad at me, for whatever grudge he still holds. frankly, everything that happened, or maybe i should say that didn’t happen, took place so many years ago. i was sad that he deleted me from his msn list and thus i haven’t contacted him much in the past year. i’m not sure if we could ever be real friends again but oh well, it’s ok. i still wish him well.

anyway, in the usual tradition of this blog, happy birthday airbus!

Brokers would do anything for more brokerage… including requests from underwriters to score some bicycle kick goals…

I just found a fantastic rabbit blog that’ll be linked from my sidebar.  Here’s a direct link to it.  I recommend you to check it out!  The pictures and news are soooooo cute!!

I wanted to write a note on this earlier but didn’t have time for it… then got back from Greece, fell sick, got busy posting photos of the wedding & honeymoon, and so this got pushed back even more.  Heh.

Anyway, just for the record, after some research & discussion with Booze Queen, I went to buy the L’egere BB cream as well (I got the one in the pic above… the tube’s really more silver than white though). 

Comparing L’egere and Silkygirl, the former suits me better ‘cos of my dry skin.  Silkygirl’s BB Cream makes my face a little dry by the end of the day (say if I apply it at 8am in the morning and remove my makeup at 11pm) and if I were to examine my face b4 removing my makeup, the fine lines under the eyes and at the side of my mouth are more apparent. 

L’egere’s BB Cream is a little creamier but the longer it remains on my skin, the better it seems to blend?  I’m not sure how exactly to describe this but if I were to examine my face before removing my makeup, it looks as though I have no foundation on, but yet have very smooth skin.  Heh. 

So the conclusion is, I’m sticking with L’egere’s BB Cream for now.  That said, when I used Silkygirl’s BB Cream, I applied my blusher directly on it.  For L’egere, however, as it is a little creamier in texture, I dust on some face powder (am using Silkygirl’s face powder.. nothing special) before I put on my blusher.  Am overall very satisfied with this combination.  🙂

Anyway, that’s just my personal take on the 2 brands.  There’re lots of reviews on BB Creams so if you want to know more, just do an online search.

P.S. L’egere BB Creams can be bought at Robinsons @ Plaza Singapura.