Post Detox

The Detox is finally over and I lost a grand total of....drrrrumrrroooolll.....2 kg! Alright, that's not much but it is nice to see that the scale moved after all that trouble.

I can't begin to describe how tired I am of eating raw fruits and vegetables. As Girlfriend pointed out, we're all close to 'carrot poisoning.'

However, post detox, a strange phenomenon has come to my attention. All of us who went on the diet now find it a little hard to eat stuff that's oily, buttery or sweet. How awful is that?!

The Engineer and I went for a big breakfast to celebrate after the last day of detox and found we could hardly eat any of our bacon, eggs and toast. It looked lovely, tasted absolutely delicious but we couldn't get it down our throats.

It is only then that we realized (with horror) that the detox had kind of changed our taste. Oily stuff just felt too 'heavy' and normally sweet coffee tasted like someone had dumped a factory of sugar into the cup.

It's been a few days now since we've been eating normal food so we're slowly regaining our taste for all those lovely, wonderful, absolutely unhealthy stuff (like triple chocolate brownies and spaghetti bolognaise).

Unfortunately, I tend to feel strangely guilty everytime I eat a little more than I should. I'm terrified that I'm going to turn into a vegan freak who's super thin but drives everyone crazy because she can't eat this or that.

I want to lose weight, not my social life! Besides, who wants to just eat this



and say no to this




for the rest of their lives?

So I've decided to take Buddha's advice and walk down the middle path - enjoy the food but not stuff my face.

Maybe if I had thought of doing this from the start, I wouldn't have had to endure the detox in the first place!

Single serves

It has been a horrendously long time and if not for the fact that Trisha is my best friend, she might have written me very many nasty emails for abandong AAGW for so many months.

I have good excuses though! First was an incredibly massive work project.

Then my relationship came to a end *kaput* and I became - tada! - single again.

And so the last two months have been spent in the hedonistic fancies of running around and rediscovering what it means to be single. It has been fantastic enjoying that heady rush of Chasing Boys once again without that expectation of Relationships or Commitment or anything scary like that. Just pure, unadulterated fun fun fun.

Oddly enough though, there seems to be a sort of simultaneous a relationship avalanche around me and friends are dropping out of their relationships as quickly as flies. Friends are finding themselves newly single too, or seriously reconsidering the possibility of going separate ways. What did surprise me though, amidst my new found contentment and freeeeeee-ness, was the corresponding fear that everyone other one of my friends seemed to be going through at their sudden (or possible) singleness.

Girls and boys alike seemed terrified at the prospect of being alone again. For many, the weight of a tiresome and disconnected relationship is found to be preferable over being alone again. I asked everyone of them what was so bad about being alone (and then say, "Hey! Look at me! I'm doing alright, aren't I?") and almost always, they answer that they've been in a relationship for so long that they couldn't quite imagine functioning alone again.

I feel desperately sad that people allow themselves to be so consumed by the fear. I have to admit that a large of me was scared of the aloneness again, the not-being-able-to-find-someone-like-him again, but taking the plunge proved that it was much easier than I had anticipated.

Trisha once said to me, "You know, we always have these huge fears about things, but you'll always be alright! You'll SURVIVE! It's not like it's something that will kill you!" and though I wanted to wring her neck at the time, it is entirely true - we often forget how great life was before we even got into a relationship and how we were completely alright without anyone in our lives at the time. Sure, break ups take a bit of getting used to, but to be scared of them is only to underestimate our own strength and potential for living as best and as fun and as hedonistic as we can.

So I say, move on, move out, throw out his toothbrush and put on those new dancing shoes. The renewed lease of life is a startling change but it throws up many an unexpected surprise too. Henceforth, Trixie knows she's got the world at her feet and she's all ready to dance around them all! Stories of singledom to come soon.... that is if I have time admist all the new parties! Whhhheeeeee!

The Big Detox

Why the heck do people put themselves through torture in the name of good health?

I'm asking myself this question coz right now I'm on this annoying detox diet which, no doubt, I shall regret being on in about a couple of hours. It consists of eating mostly raw vegetables, fruits and water. I feel a headache coming on just thinking about it!

Who wants to eat this:

When you can eat this:
I can't even look at that chocolate picture directly in case I cave and run out for some!!!

I'm pretty sure that it's all going to go downhill coz I suffer (read that Suffer!!!!) from low blood sugar and have to keep eating sweets to keep everything balanced. A good friend pointed out the other day that carbohydrates (such as crackers) will do a much better job than sweets in keeping my blood sugar levels up but who the heck wants a couple of crackers when you can have Lindt chocolate in the name of health?

Anyway, all that is out the window now that I've decided to go on this 7 day Detox which consists of living mainly on fruits (not bad), raw veges (worse) and parsley water (kill me - kill me now!!!)

I would consider quitting but there are others who are also on the same darn diet namely The Engineer, Boss and Girlfriend.

I wouldn’t know "where to put my face" if I failed while everyone else succeeded. I'm just praying that I'll notice some weight loss so I'll be inspired to keep going on this insane plan.

This thing better be worth it!

Valentine Sshmelentine

Tomorrow is Valentine's Day. I don't know if it's because I'm old and bitter or just a realist (although I secretly think realist is just another word to describe those who are old and bitter) but Valentine's day has totally no meaning for me. This is a bit strange since I'm quite a girly girl and really love all things girly - except for that flowers, chocolate and candlelight dinner nonsense on Valentine's Day

I mean cupid, my ass! Someone should stick an arrow in his behind before taking it away from him altogether! That cherub has no idea how to pair people off when you think about the number of badly matched, unhappy and divorced couples running around!

Don't get me wrong, I wasn't always an unbeliever. When I was in school I used to wait in anticipation, from Jan 1, for February 14 hoping to receive a card or single red rose or something. This never happened.

It could be no one approached because I was considered to be one of the goody-goody ones who studied hard so everyone thought I wouldn't have time for Valentine's Day. It also could be that I went to a Convent school and there were no boys there.

Oh wait! A suppressed memory has resurfaced - I did receive a single red rose - once- when I was 14 and it scared the crap out of me because the card said that it was from my secret admirer and the person who gave it to me was - a girl!

I cried my eyes out when I got home because even though I wasn't too sure exactly what being gay entailed(we were rather backward back then), I was damn sure I didn't subscribe to it.

As it turned out, the girl claimed she just admired my ability to do well at school! I didn't get it. A simple - "Hey Trisha, congrats on being 2nd in class " would have sufficed. Instead she had to go buy me a rose? I tried to brush her off for the rest of the school year but she never did get the message ( I was kinda selfish and cruel in the old days). Thankfully, she found a new victim to hover over, after a while.

I eventually stopped waiting for cards and flowers and when they did finally arrive for me (when I was dating in uni), it seemed really childish and unnecessary. I wouldn't call myself unromantic but forking out hundreds of ringgit for a dinner and a bunch of roses which are going to be dead in a couple of days seems really foolish to me.

When I got married to another Valentine's Day realist it all kinda fit. There was that one time when we tried doing the candlelight dinner thing but since we'reValentine's Day novices, we didn't plan it in advance. Big mistake!

We ended up running all over town looking for a 'romantic' place that wasn't chock full of 'romantic couples' all squished shoulder to shoulder in the restaurant. I don't see how anyone can feel romantic when you and your partner are trying your best to ignore the 50 other couples in the restaurant who are eating (these places always offer a Valentine's set menu) exactly what you are!

Anyways, we finally gave up, took out some Happy Meals and ended up lighting a couple of candles and eating it at home. To date, I think it was the best Valentine's Day I've ever had!

Pole Pole Central

Pole pole is swahili for slowly slowly and I've discovered that much like 'lepak' in Malaysia, pole pole is very much a part of the local Tanzanian culture. It should be on their flag.


Here's an example of pole pole in action:

I don't really employ a full-time maid over here but since I'm terrible at mopping and sweeping (am better at laundry and dishes), I got a local lady to help.

Now, I don't like people looking over my shoulder when I'm working so I hardly ever watch what Rose is doing when she's cleaning the house. I'm usually at the computer doing some writing or replying mail.

Yesterday, however, I wasn't feeling well and was relegated to the couch in front of the TV. I couldn't help but notice when she appeared in the living room armed with the mop. Previously, I had thought that I was the one who was the Queen of Slow Mopping

Henceforth, I shall step down from my reign and pass over that crown to Rose. I swear, I counted 1 to 5 between the time she pushed the mop left to when she pushed it right - all over the very same area on the floor! In other words, she took a full 10 seconds on just one small spot on the floor. This might not seem that bad but it is - trust me!Now I know why she never manages to finish the entire house in one morning...

I must admit she does a good job (anyone who takes that damn long on just one spot on the floor is at least doing a thorough job) but I think Rose is taking pole-pole a bit too far!

Needless to say, I shall be replacing Rose with someone who is not pole-pole but perhaps just pole. Hey, slowly has got to be better than slowly slowly, right?