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For the purposes of losing weight, I decided on a two-prong attack: Labels: looks
I got tired of looking fat, feeling fat, and basically being fat! So I got my fat ass out of the dorm and out for a jog. All I can say is that my non-exercise since coming to Japan took a toll on my fitness; The slopes were absolutely killing me. It didn't help that the wind was still chilly, which resulted in my ears hurting after a while. On top of that, my stomach started feeling queasy, so I ended my run earlier than the intended 40minutes to an hour, and headed back to my room. Since I was feeling diligent, I brought out my skipping rope and aimed to skip a 1000 times. Sadly, far short of the target, my psycho-motor skills went kapoot and I kept tripping over the rope. -.- I think my muscles were tired after the run! Putting the skipping rope aside, I then worked on calf raises, squats, bicep curls, triceps, dips and pushups. First time in ages that I perspired, and my muscles were actually all warmed up! Obviously I had to make full use of the opportunity, so I got on my floor to do some stretching, and hey presto! I could slide into a split less painfully and more successfully than any other time in the last few months! :D
Once again the devil perched on my shoulder and urged, "Go get a haircut!" After five to six months of abstinence, I gave in to the urge (like I always do) and trooped down to a salon. The place was small but pretty.
From looking at posters, commercials and people when I'm out and about, I've come to realise that the Japanese are generally blessed with good bone structure. It is not only the people who grace billboards that have high nose bridges, even the laymen I see on the streets, on trains etc have that too. ("Unfair!" something in me cries out.) Some of us here are in agreement that there are so many good-looking Japanese men walking around. Even if they aren't particularly good-looking, their style and grooming makes them attractive.
1) To exercise
2) To watch what I eat
On exercising:
Today it rained all day, which meant going jogging was a no-no. I'd thought of doing all the squats etc, but thanks to cramps, I decided to take a break. For now, I'm telling myself that muscle ache is my friend, and only a temporary one at that. Once my body gets used to working out again, the aches and pains will go away. Since I'm back to my waking-up-at-3pm ways, it is rather hard to fit in grocery shopping, exercising, cooking and other miscellaneous stuff before 7pm. Due to today's weather and body condition, I went to Santoku to replenish my food stock instead, which had dwindled to nothingness because I cleared everything (or left them to go bad in my fridge) before I went travelling.
On eating:
One good thing about waking up late is that I can survive on one meal a day - dinner. Pretty amazing how quickly this has an effect on the body. Anyway, at Santoku, I bought fruits (apples and strawberries! got tired of oranges) to munch on in the wee hours of the morning when I get hungry, as is wont to happen often. Those are to stop me from reaching for the (unhealthy!) chocolates and cookies that are on my shelf, a mere metre away from where I'm always seated. As I passed by the freezer section I was eyeing the ice cream, but I pulled myself away before I reached for a tub of haagan dazs. Tonight, I sat down to a miso soup + rice + natto combination dinner, which sounds pretty darn healthy to me. After I took forever to prepare the soup (I don't know why I am such a slow cook! But at least even if I take long, I can cook palatable food), I sat in front of my desk, and... started thinking that maybe my bowlful of rice is too much for someone trying to lose weight. With an inward sigh I took my spoon and transferred a quarter of the rice from my bowl to another one, to be eaten another day.
I am a sportswoman, have been since primary school, so I can deal with going back to my exercising ways. Yet at the same time, I am a gormandiser, an appreciator of food. Is that why the second prong of my attack seems like it's going to be so difficult...? To eat less frequently the unhealthy food that I like, and when I do, to eat in smaller amounts. The same goes for every other food. Just the rice incident of a few minutes ago made me feel so pitiful.
Sigh.
Can I just stand on the weighing scale, close my eyes, and when I open them again see a figure between 42 and 45kg?
All in all I'm feeling pretty pleased with myself today, especially since I did my laundry so soon after returning, and had very little food intake. With any luck (and perseverance), I'll bring my weight back down to a number that'll make me smile. Even better, I'll have muscles! Reminds me, I need to do crunches and leg lifts to tone those abs. *nods* (At least I'm still hard under the fats, proof that my muscles are merely in hiding.)
Away with you, inertia!
One of the first things they did was to take my coat and bag.
Then I sat at the waiting area and... waited, duh.
Then they gave me a form for first-timers to fill out (struggled with the Japanese -.-)
Then I was sat down elsewhere and asked what haircut I wanted - to which I said 'anything'.
So the guy (who was really cute, by the way!!) flipped through a magazine and told me what he thinks would be good for me. To which I said 'ok, anything's ok'.
Then I was sat down at another place, and the haircut began!
As he cut, we chatted. He remembered my name from the form I filled out. Sweet.
Everytime he came back from wherever he went, he said "すみません、お待たせしました”.
When I got tired of looking at my reflection, or the feet on the other side of the glass panel, I snuck peeks at him.
Numerous locks of my hair landed on me, and on the floor.
Snip, snip, snip. So much came off, it's amazing there was any left on my head.
Then he was showing me how I should blow my hair for the nicest effect.
To his consternation, I informed him I don't own a hair dryer. And answered that I don't get awful bedheads, neither do I catch colds from not using the dryer.
When he was done, he retrieved my belongings, and helped me into the coat. I'm super unused to that - in Singapore we don't wear coats, so no such service?
After payment, he walked me to the door.
He told me to have a good trip to Okinawa.
I told him to have a good trip to Hokkaido.
And I came back (and found out more about him. The powers of the internet!)
Surprisingly, despite the massive amounts of hair lopped off, much of the length is retained, it just became wispier and lighter.
And spring is coming! The bare branches of trees are starting to have flowering buds in pink and white, and I bet it's going to look absolutely wonderful when they're in full bloom!
Grooming. Males do it by fiddling with their hair, and choose their apparel carefully. Females do that too, but there's the added responsibility of making up. How necessary is that? What is it for? Girls will say that they do it to cover their blemishes, or enhance their features, or to make themselves look prettier to feel more confident, or for fun... Sometimes we don't really think about it, we do it simply because everyone else is doing it too. A social norm, peer pressure.
Comparing the viewpoints of the different sexes is always interesting. While we girls may think we're gaining brownie points from the guys for bothering to doll up and look good, the guys are actually frowning in disapproval. "Girls may be doing it to look prettier, but that's not you," said a guy friend. I've heard many friends say that they prefer girls to go natural, ie bare faced with not a trace of foundation or concealor. I'd say that's bull! I'm sure that works for the girls who have been blessed with good complexions and good looks, who don't particularly need enhancements or concealments. But what about those who weren't so lucky in the genetic lucky draw? Would you really say you'd prefer them to "go natural"?
Trying to reason through this while keepin both perspectives in mind is creating such an internal mess. Okay, so for couples who're in love, beauty really is in the eye of the beholder, and the guy probably couldn't care less if she has panda eyes, acne splotches, pimple scars, caterpillar eyebrows... But for other guys, in general, wouldn't you prefer to see someone nicely turned out? At first sight, would you rather look at the pretty girl, or the ordinary one? The answer is rather obviously the former, no? And if we're not blessed with good looks, but can achieve those standards (or at least higher standards than our own 'natural' looks) with some help, why not?
At the end of the day though, I think we girls tend to do what we want. Like if I'm in the mood for cosmetics, no one's opinion is going to stop me from fooling around with brushes and tubes in front of the mirror. And I think I speak for most of the girls I know when I say that we make up for ourselves, not for the guys. To each his/her own! Applying cosmetics, while troublesome (for people like me who get out of bed with barely enough time to make it to my appointments in time), can actually be fun. The whole fun is in seeing someone slightly different from who I saw in the mirror 10 minutes ago. ( Different in a good way, of course.) We have the power to change our looks!
A lot of times, I think that contestants on Miss Singapore Universe aren't all that pretty. A lot of people probably share the view that the really pretty ones simply aren't taking part in these pageants. Then again, it does take a lot to open yourself to public scrutiny. While it's fun - and brainless - to watch babes (okay, at least skinny ladies) parading around in bikinis and evening gowns, I cringe when I hear people pronounce "children" as "chew-ren" and say things like "voice out" when it's just "voice". Engrish, arrgh! Such shows tend to lack real-ness, in that judges can't or don't give honest comments, and we all keep hearing the too-oft-used "every one is a winner", "every one of these ladies is beautiful", "the judges have their work cut out for them to choose a winner"... Seriously! Just listen to some of them speak and you can strike them out immediately! Anyhow, I've heard some organisers say it is not just a pageant per se, but that the contestants must have beauty and brains. That being said, I'm glad that the winner has the looks and seemingly brains. It wouldn't speak very well of Singapore to send a not-very-pretty-but-extremely-eloquent contestant to Miss Universe, because before she has a chance to open her mouth, she'll be eliminated. Ouch, reality hurts.
- - -
The stupidity of children astound me sometimes. I was watching the news, and apparently a kid and his three friends climbed into the crocodile enclosure in a China zoo, and taunted the crocodiles. One of the crocodiles then snapped back and caught a child, which was then attacked by 11 crocodiles. A crocodile was shot dead, and "human remains" were found in its belly. Gruesome. What a terrible way to die. But I still wonder, what got into them to climb into a crocodile enclosure?! Who should you blame, the crocodiles or the children? I'd rather put the blame on the children - or their parents, even, for not keeping a closer eye on them. After all, crocodiles aren't creatures that you can domesticate, and teach them: "no boy, humans are not to be eaten. don't eat humans, ok? good boy!" I'm sure we all know that they are dangerous, and they're put in zoos for us to watch and learn more about crocodiles from a distance, not be taught a painful lesson on how dangerous they are! Maybe the children weren't stupid, but rather imbued with the fearlessness that children have. When we were young, we didn't think about what fear was, about whether hanging upside down from a monkey bar was dangerous. Danger, what's that? *scratch head* But the children were 9 years old... Surely old enough to have a bit of sense.
The folly of humankind! We're not the king of the animal world, get it?
