Names

2 nights ago over dinner, we decided to name our puppies.
They are 2 of the eleven puppies that we had in May...they are now just over 3 months old... a few days older than Denise.
We only kept 2...one golden and one black cos if we kept all we would have about 20 dogs at home!
Some died due to illnesses..the rest were given away to friends.

You have to give credit to my family for " originality " , especially when it comes to names!

Take cover everyone ....first up was Priscilla .She came up with " Horlicks " and "Kopi".
I rolled my eyes and gave a wry smile....

Dad tried abit harder... and he said "how about hitam and putih?"
Get me a blanket please.......i want to hide my face!
Dad.......! i thought you had a 1st class honours in Political Science and Law!!

Trust me to come up with names that are deep and meaningful...
I chose " Kai" for the golden puppy (it means ocean in Hawaiian language) and "Jet " for the black puppy.

Anyway, we haven't decide on the names yet cos those 2 thought they were pretty ingenious and weren't about to give in to me easily.

Luckily, all our given chinese names were nice.I like mine....Lim Tze Ling. yeaahh!

Dad is the only one in the family who hasn't got a christian name.
He likes Daniel and Alexander...but cannot decide on either...so he stuck to his chinese name Lim Guan Sing.
When we were living in England, Dad used to receive mails from banks and institutions directed to Mr.Sing.
He got very annoyed...i am not a singh, he exclaimed!
The british people write their last name at the end whereas the chinese write them before their first name...so that was a major booboo!!

Mum chose Marinda for herself.pretty unique ....sounds like a european queen.

Dad wanted to name Priscilla Prudence at first.....Oh my God!! then he decided on Melody!God save the Queen!
Luckily Priscilla chose her own name.....after Priscilla Presley.hahahaha!

I don't like my name.....wish i could change it.
I always thought i chose it from one of the characters from the "Famous Five " books....until my friend Barny said "Fi....Fiona is not one of the characters from Famous Five.....what book were you reading?" THanks a lot Barny...now you really got me confused!

I have many nick names....Fifi,Fish,Doc,Drrrrrrr,Fi.
I don't like people calling me Fifi cos i found out Fifi was a very common name for poodles.Grrrrrrr!!
i prefer Fi.

Melvin was William at first...then he changed to Melvin.
I like to call him Meeeofffffff to annoy him.
The only other Melvin that i know was a house master at the Royal Latin grammar school where I was studying in Buckinghamshire.
Later we found out he committed suicide.O dear!

Lorraine is a nice ladylike name ...except it sounds like "durian " in chinese!
But we all call her Baby cos that was her nick name since young.

Tiffany sounds very americanised!! most of her friends call her Tiff....which i think is much nicer.

Gavin was named to rhyme with Melvin! hahaha!
I like to call him Gav-Gav!

Ying Ying is called Trisha.Yucks! i prefer Ying Ying a million times over!

Only James and Martin, Denise's names are safe.

YingYing's New Bike

Ying2 taking a ride on her new bicycle !

We miss you Ying2 !

Family dinner

We had a small family gathering at Dad's tonite.
Mum prepared western food.
Lamb shank, salads, baked cauliflower cheese , papadoms n some aussie potatoes.

Although it looked very nice, i didn't have the lamb ...still sticking to my vegetarian diet. but i loaded up on the cauliflower cheese.it was so tasty!.
Thanks Mum!

Denise at 3 months

Denise exactly 3 months old today.
With grandma, with Auntie Fifi and with Mummy n Daddy.

Ying2 ! when are you coming to Sabah?

Mum's eye surgery

Today Mum went to have her cataract removed from her right eye and had a mulifocal lens inserted at Optimax Eye Centre.
Dad n I chaperoned her to the clinic. The whole treatment took about 1.5 hrs , with pre op, post op care given to the patient.

As the assistant (see pic2 ) was giving mum the post op instructions, she said " hang on a minute...let me get my glasses ...i can't see without them....." . little did she realise that would be the very LAST TIME she would be using those granny glasses :)

As you can see, the operation was a success!! ( Dad showing the victory sign!)

Mum was feeling just a little uncomfortable but otherwise fine.so i treated Mum n Dad to a sushi train Japanese dinner and Veda Blue Icecreams for dessert.
Mum can't wait for tomorrow morning to remove her eye patch......i think she will see a very beautiful world out there without her glasses.

Homer Simpson

I did a "Homer Simpson" over the weekend. DOPE!

Everything went wrong for me at race weekend.I recorded a very rare DNF and it had to be the Desaru race, a race i was looking forward to so much! Disaster literally struck from every corner of the world!

I was gutted at first...i just wanted to hide under the blanket and never crawl out.hahahahaha! but then i looked at the funny side of it.Such is life.....sometimes we have so much expectation of something but it ends up in the drain.

I had a flat at km 3 of the bike race. I think my repair wasn't up to scratch and it kept leaking.i couldn't continue so that was the end of my race.

The next day, with a lot of frustration ,i went out for a 14km morning run and then went straight to do the sprint race. i won.hahaha!
it was a bittersweet end at least!

Lesson learnt : there's always light at the end of the tunnel.
sometimes things become so bleak we despair. but if we can laugh it off and start again, things can only get better.

I look forward to a new beginning.

So that was my weekend....i hope yours was much better than mine!!

I Smell something FIshy!

Healthy eating tonite!
Dad had New York Fish n Chips,
Mum had London Fish n Chips,
Lorraine had Teriyaki Salmon
and I had Grilled Salmon with Biryani Rice with raisins.

Denise was sleeping soundly whilst we enjoyed our dinner at Warisan Square.

Foot Scrub

I do know how to pamper myself :)

Yesterday, i went for a pedicure and a foot scrub.
It's a bit ticklish but my feet were soft as silk after the massage.
You wouldn't have guessed they were runners's feet as they were free of callous,dead nails n rough skin.

i thought that was dead cheap...it only cost me RM25.
wow... got to make it a regular trip!

Minnie Mouse Denise

Denise doesn't like Auntie Fifi very much....

When i came home from work yesterday, she gave a Bruce Lee flying kick to my face ....Heeyaaaaaaaaa!

Tapering Week

I looked forward to my taper week so much.
It's the week of the race when i finally allow myself to rest guilt free.
Triathlon is like a religion....i get guilty if i miss my workouts!
yeah...even i think i am a bit insane sometimes :)

Yesterday (Sunday) i had my last hit out with my bike.
Just a short 101 km...i wore my race gears and practiced my race day nutrition.
I tackled some hills and time trialled 20mins times 3.
Sweeeeet!
Then i finished the day with a swim in the pool.

The next few days are lighter training days.
swimming with rhythm....get the legs spinning on the bike and practice running with form.
i think i better do more core work...cos Desaru is a strength course.lots of hills ...the body will get alot of beating if the core is weak.

There's also some down sides to taper week.
I have to control my diet!!
I have a big apetite...i am always hungry!
Since i will be training alot less this week, i have to eat less.....which is pretty hard for me.
My tummy growls every 2-3 hrs!
The other thing is i have to pack my bikes and luggage.
It'a quite hard to pack everything within the 15kg limit (including the bike)imposed by Airasia.

I am looking forward to this race.
I am not sure how i will fair....but i will do my best to put up a strong race.
Good luck to everyone taking part :)

That's My Dad!

A kampung Boy making waves in New Zealand !

It doesn't matter who you are, what you are, where you are,
YOU just need courage,confidence,self belief n tenacity,
YOU can be whatever you want in life!

Desaru Half Ironman

Another 5 more days will be the Desaru Half Ironman.
There's only 2 words to describe it.....Hard and Painful !!!

I know many people have trained for this....but so have i !
So i am pretty excited and raring to go.

Where are u.........the EAGLES of Langkawi?
Where are u.........the JAGUARS of the Amazon?
I need you !!!
Will you protect me please?
Will you watch over me?

Let me feel your strength...
Let me feel your power.....
Let me feel your speed.....

Teach me to be sharp.....
Teach me to be fearless....
Teach me to be confident.....

Show me how to glide....
Show me how to fight....
Show me how to fly.....
Show me how to be smooth...

Above all .....stay with me by my side....
Let me feel your presence ....

Razani says " Fi ....i want to see you give a good fight. Target the girls in front and never let them go out of sight....I want to see you finish strong."

YES Boss , said the Red Indian Fiona.

CInnamon

One of my favourite spices is the cinnamon.
I sprinkle and lavish it on alot of the meals i eat.

in my oatmeals, on my pancakes, on my ice creams,but my favourite is with a good dollop of yoghurt and fruits.
Lately i found a nice selection of Australian Jalna yoghurt at Tong Hing.
It's a tad pricey but it's worth the buy cos the locally made yoghurts are just full of sugar and no nutrition.

This is what i like for a breakfast or midday snack: a generous scoop of cold yoghurt with my favourite fruits (mangoes, berries or bananas) and a sprinkle of cinnamon. tastes great!

what's this?

NO...it's not hangman.....just a 18th century style cradle for Denise.
She cries less now....cos Grandma is so patient with her......googoo gaagaa baby talk with her all the time....singing lullabys she invents herself....and makes so many quilt blankets for her.

My mum is amazingly young.she's going to be 70 years old soon....but she looks and acts half her age.the other day, a lady commented she was 38 years old!!!

Techno swimwear

Check out my new swim gear......it weighs like a feather n retail price stands at a whooping RM499!!!

it's a limited edition Arena NUX !! that's why it's so expensive.....it's water repellant which means i will glide through the water and cuts down a few seconds off my swim time........yes! every second counts!!Anyway....you know what they say...if you can't beat them at race, at least you beat them in style! i love the aeroplanes and clouds on the swimsuit.GROOVY :)

thanks God for RAZANI! he gave me a super discount for the Arena.