Long break and Aidil Adha

Today will be my last day working in my current company. Which means I am going to have quite a long break before I start my new job on 5th of Nov. Quite a good timing to change a job since this Friday will be a Aidil Adha celebration public holiday for us muslims. So I can enjoy and take my time to enjoy the festival, kinda like a compensation for my short Aidil Fitri leave.

This year my family will be going to Jengka, Pahang to visit one of my aunts. Apparently it is going to be quite a family gathering, from my father side. So there will be a lot of cousins and second cousins that I haven't seen for years, since I went to Japan in 2007. That being said, I actually haven't been to my aunt's place for quite some years already. Used to go there quite often when I was a kid. But then again, all of us always go "balik kampung" as a kid, but not so much as we grow older. Part of the reasons are probably that playing with the sand, climbing trees, and going down the ditch and water puddle to catch tadpoles are not that fun anymore. Man tadpoles are amazing. I used to be so excited watching them suddenly pop up a pair of legs and stuff.

The drive there is going to be a medium to long drive, probably like 3hours. Not sure how long it will take with the new highways and stuff. Anyway it doesn't really effect me that much cos I won't be the one driving. I never do this more than an hour driving thing. My dad will be driving my car, and I will probably sit in the passenger side, like a boss, like always.

So after about 1 year of working, now I will have my first long holiday. I do know that such a statement will irk people that have been working for tens of years. But damn, if there is only one thing that I miss about being a student is the long break. Damn 2 months break 2 times a year. But other than that, being a student sucks hard. People sometimes ask me whether I still have the plan to further my study. When I was being asked with that question, I will do my best to make a very offended face and say "No way". 

Getting back into shape

Few of you may know that I used to workout quite a lot when I was in Japan. I started out somewhere around 2009 and consistently continued doing so till my graduation day in 2011. I followed this very well known regime called P90X (I followed the program almost 90%) and I have to say the result that I got was very impressive, at least to my standard. I didn't even go to gym, not even one time, and the only equipments that I used were a few rubber bands, a push-up bar, and a pull-up bar. I didn't even use a dumbbell set. This is a picture taken back when I used to have a shape (other than round that I am now).

Picture was taken by a British friend of mine when I was in Tokushima, David Farries. Although I suspect that he had done some alteration on the picture cos I don't remember my abs were ever that toned, lol. So, if you actually read this post title, it says "getting back into shape", which implies that I am currently not in shape and have lost whatever I have built within the 2009-2011 period (well damn me). Behold, my current picture, after 1 year without working out. Well not really recent, but about 5 months ago.

This picture was taken by a cigar buddy of mine, Asyraf Fauzi during one of our cigar sessions. Man, I think I don't need to say how much about how much I hated myself for getting this complacent. The belly...oh god the manboobs. But now I've passed that self-hating and resenting phase, and from this point forward it's all about being determined to get back into shape. I think one of the reasons I get too complacent was because I was in "that phase" where I don't really care about how I look anymore cos it doesn't really matter, and I was happy. And another reasons was of course I was in a transition from a student that have aplenty of time to waste into a full-time corporate slave. My time management was quite bad, and my diet too. I couldn't find time to workout, or maybe the better phrase is, I was lazy. 

Anyway, now that I am back in the market, and back into the game, I figure that I have to shred all those bodyfat and get my abs ripped again (although I still didn't do that well when I used to have those abs). I have started working out again around early July this year, means I have worked out for about 3 months now. I'm still using P90X program as reference, but this time I don't really follow its schedule. By right P90X is a program that will get you ripped after 90days, hence the 90 in P90X. But I think that the 90days program is too intensive for me, and I wouldn't wanna go to work the next day all tired and sleepy. 

Currently, I work out 5times a day. 2 days for muscle, and 3 for cardio. This time I am using a 10kg dumbbell set instead of rubber bands. So far, even after only 3months, I think the result is pretty good. I think I'm losing some bodyfat, although my weight doesn't change, I am going to assume that it is because I am gaining muscle. I feel that this time, my biceps and triceps are gaining muscle at a quicker rate than before, most probably because I am using dumbbells set rather than rubber bands. Which makes me even more excited about my new job, since the company have a gym inside its building. Even though I am not sure about how well-equipped their gym is, but I am quite sure they have more than just one set of 10kg dumbbells.

After about 3months of working out, I am starting to increase the intensity of my workout and start playing out with the number of reps. As I am doing more in my workout, I am getting more tired the next day at work. I think one of the reasons is I am not eating enough to cover the calories that I used. Although this could result into me losing weight faster, but I will be too fatigue to keep doing workout, and I get tired easily during my workout. I mean I was really tired that the last 2 days I slept about 10hours, which I don't really do in the weekdays. Now I get a glimpse of idea of what Joe Rogan keep saying during UFC fights, that cutting weight can cause a very devastating effect on a fighter

So for the quick solution on this issue, I am planning to buy a workout supplement with high calorie to recover my energy, and probably some amino acid based supplement to help muscle recovery. I don't wanna start my new job being all tired and fatigued ;)

A year has passed

Hi guys,

Time really flies. It has been more than a year since I started working in Singapore. I believe now I am more used to the environment here both socially and professionally. In fact I am going to start with a new job this coming November. This future move means a whole lot to me, means things are getting better here, and I am seeing progress with my life. Needless to say, this new job offers a lot better package than my current one. 

I have to admit that the first 6 months of being here had been quite tough, money was real tight during those period, added with some personal issues bullshit. But, I've managed to make a few good friends, mostly from from my cigar smoking session on the weekend. And recently, a friend of mine, a Japanese gal from my University Tokushima time came over to work here. Unfortunately, her schedule is quite busy and she usually works on the weekend. Which means I still have a lot of open slots in my weekend schedule (if I were in Singapore).

Anyway, other than my upcoming new job, I had another offer from a tyre manufacturing company. The position was Safety Engineer. Requires a lot of travelling, about 2weeks a month (mostly to developing APAC coutries such as Taiwan, Thailand, Indonesia, India etc), and after a year the position will be relocated to Bangkok, Thailand. They said that the package in Bangkok will be an expat package although it has not been finalized yet. 

Money wise the safety engineer position offered about 10% more than the other one that I accepted. It will be a lot more if including the allowances from travelling. It was a very hard decision but in the end I've decided that I'd rather stay here in Singapore rather than spending yet some time settling down in a new country. And I don't think that giving up a good lifestyle, living in a country with a good infrastructures with a culture that I am very familiar with. Not to mention that I am much closer to friends and family here, compared to Bangkok. However, what I actually fear the most is living with an expat package in Bangkok is....the temptation, which I'm pretty sure I'll cave in. hahaha

Anyway, my employment with my current company will last until 22nd Oct, and new job will start on 5th Nov. So I'll have about 2 weeks free time to celebrate Eid Adha. Hit me up if wanna hang up or puff some cigs. cheers!