My Blog

Today was my departure day from Sapporo, woke up at 4am (Japan was 5am), to catch the first train to New Chitose Airport. Cost Yen850 for a rapid express to New Chitose. It was rather chilly at Shin Sapporo, temperature easily dropped to - 2 degrees or lower. It rained in Sapporo two days before, thus, as expected, when the temperature dropped, water becomes ice and the pavements become very slippery and hazardous to walk on. Its rather important to buy a good pair of shoes with deep tracks, otherwise, go to convenience store to get shoe spikes.

Tomamu-how to get there- via Sapporo station, the train takes u directly to Tomamu and there is a Tomamu reception within 5 minutes of walk up the pedestrian bridge.Regular bus services are available. Generally, its better to book via internet , as the prices are better and dont forget to book room with ski passes via internet. Tomamu ski resorts have a quite a number of good path for skiers and snowboarders, the snow is generally powder. A word of caution, sun rises very early, by 6am, its already very bright and sets by 4pm. Try not to ski after 3pm, the temperature drops and snow becomes icy and hard. Its too painful and difficult to ski on such conditions. Please ask the staff to recommend the path for you to ski, as beginner path for each routes differs tremendously. I tried the worst, 4500m, with narrow routes and sharp turns and at 3pm, its icy and slippery. I think after this experience, of falling and falling over the highest and longest "beginner" route…. nope, I didnt give up, I still  go back snowboarding. And for those skateboarders, please dont assume that if you skate, you can snowboard, one of the skaters was badly injured…its totally different from skiing and skate board and roller blade. Injuries are so easy to get snowboarding that the hospital staffcould presume one has suffered injury due to snowboarding.

It was a good one week at Sapporo, a visit to Ski Resort Tomamu. I love the snow, though we were all shivering on the first few days trying to adjust to the sudden change in temperature from Malaysia to sub zero degree. Sometimes, I couldnt take the chill, yet, I enjoyed the moments of seeing the white snow falling on me. There were moments, it was so cold, I have splitting headache, ear pain, numb fingers and toes.

on 29th, I experienced blizzard at Tomamu, the snow hit my face, and it was painful. Skiiers and snowboarders gave up, due to poor visibility. We went out to experience the blizzard.

Someone commented, when we were skiing/snowboarding, our minds completely forgotten about work, pressures, etc. We were completely taken in by the pleasures of the snow sports..

On 30th, was the visit to Lake Toya, where the volcanic activity still exists, the last eruption was in year 2000. Train reaches Toya Eki (Toya station), there were no buses up to the ropeway, taxi fare cost Yen5000 a trip, max capacity for a cab is 4 passengers, took two cabs to drive us there. As we reached the foot, we saw Smoke rises from the Uzusan hill. As we ascend higher on the ropeway (cable) , we see the hills capped with snow, the Toya Lake. It was beautiful up there, yet, visibility wasnt good to take photos of the Toya lake.

Now its 1.36am,I m truly exhausted, but I couldnt sleep, I wouldnt want to go out and celebrate with the crowd New YEar’s countdown. I guessed some of my friends are having a party at some clubs.

Shopping-No, I hardly gotten anything for myself, outing with a group of people, means its hard for me to stray away and go shopping. Weight gain-yes…too much buffets and needed food to fuel my body to create heat.

2nd time beginner’s snowboarding,this time, steeper, longer rides..since Feb07. I went through the ski lifts up the slopes and took a route which was 1100m length. It was very chilly up there during the 15minutes ride up on the ski lifts. I didnt skate on my board, as I have forgotten how to board with one foot strapped on the board. And I m no longer "goofy" due to my left leg injury, and I m changed to a "regular". First day up there, I took some tumbling down the beginner’s slope. Fear of falling, causes me to brake  to slow down my speed…making it worst. ON the 2nd day, I was able to go down the slope "Q" (a route named as "Q", by the resort) with very minimal falls , the 2nd time, I fell a few times. However, someone in our group was lost , I went back up to the slopes to look for him, and boarded quickly down to find him. The rest waited for him at the station. Apparently, he feel down and fractured his wrist. I fell a few times, as I hurried down the slopes. But couldnt find him, the snowmobile rescue team whisked him away, his gf accompanied him to the hospital. after that, I have no mood to go up the slopes, as the snowboarder are all gone to the hospital.

28th, another skiier decided to test out the snowboard, and found out the difficulty of manouvering the board. This time, he elected me to teach him instead of my other friend. Not that I m good, but I m extremely cautious and I thought the basics and safety. His second attempt down the slopes with me, he was quite happy that he did get a hang of it, before returning to ski with his beloved. But after lunch, we went on the highest slope on the hill/mountain, and took the scenic 4500m route down. It was breathtaking at the Gondola ride up, however, when we all reached up there, we were both thrilled, and fearful over our attempt to go downhill. Its route "N".. gradient might be lesser than "Q", but that doesnt mean its easier, the routes were narrow and within 6 steps or 8 steps , we can drop down to the cliff. It was crazy, I fell badly as I was thinking too hard, and too afraid to go to the middle fearing losing control. I hesitated, heeled my way down, cutting the speed down on the icy routes. It would be easier if it was snowy routes. It was 230pm..sun sets at 4pm. Routes condition changes as temperature goes down, snow becomes hard and icy. Sliding down is dangerous. To cut short, it was  a crazy attempt, I might have a lot of falls during my way down, but it didnt deterr me from going up the slopes again. Photos will be posted soon.

I had a last minute call today, and went to S.. to replace. Thus, I bump to Faz again. Again, I sucked at gadgets.. when i manage to get the stereo working, i got one missed out. haha…but the crowd was very responsive to me, my questions and my technique drills… and Extremely crazy during Impacto Remix till Disco block. The crowd didnt get too excited at track 7 n 8, but things got better at 9,10,11, 12. Again, screaming and laughing …members teased me, I teased them. Haha, not that i m 100% correct, they dont care, they just want to have fun, and maybe wished for disco balls from the gym!

23rd Dec I m now shivering cold abroad… didnt sleep well since last night. Noone can sleep upright in  a plane. So , i watched 3 movies in the plane- Fracture, Bourne Ultimatum and The Bachelor. Managed to catch a few hours of sleep in between. Today, I had the most coffee in my life,  a Cuppucino at 6am, a Latte at 12noon and Mocha at 9pm. 3 cups-overkill. Today is my most reliant on food and coffee to keep me warm.

I m afraid I cant help most of my friends to buy the things they wanted, as my snowboard shoes filled up 1/2 of my luggage. I m shivering as I didnt bring any wool sweaters. I m wearing what i use to wear in KL with jeans, cotton socks and boots , of course with my North Face jacket. Todays meal wasnt great, the only best thing I had was a special instant noodle from Nissin which I havent seen in KL, and nice salad I bought from 7 Eleven at Shin Sapporo. My fav ramen shop is closed

Hope u fellas understand, Its winter, and my clothings are thick, toiletries heavy. I didnt dare to get myself extra clothes though the clothes looked so nice :(. Imagine lugging the clothes,etc and travelling on foot ..its hard.

Looking forward to have some sashimi bowl at Otaru , Ramen, Unagi,…Fresh milk, yoghurt, and Mc Donald’s ebi burger, Moss Burger… n KANI - winter crab!

19th Dec 07, 6.20pm. My first replacement class. .NERVOUS>>> It was hard to teach, I couldnt hear the lyrics, the tempo, the beat. Members couldnt hear, (kept asking me to turn it up..hmm.. the instructor before me helped me, but it didnt work leh) Couldnt forget a member or two, still shouting out as if they felt for the disco tracks so much. This is the 2nd week of launch. My first class, my first screw up.., my experience full class at FF. ..need to learn to work the stereo!!

An observing Member, Michael came and greeted me, and then chatted for a while…then followed by Faz, Kenny, a gal at locker.. They said that they can hardly hear the beat, the songs, and its not the first time, they had this problem at the main studio. (the sound system was "potong steam" to them) two of them said, i was alright, and hope to c me again, ..i told Faz, I will go home and improvise, but at the moment, i waited till Peggy’s class over to ask her how she managed to pump up the volume. She gave a few tips, but the system cannot go on full blast on certain areas, the sound tend to crack.

After that,Some of the members asked me to join Funky line dancing… and I did. It was at the other studio… and the sound system was great

I will not forget the group of newcomers, the African, I think, they were struggling and yet stayed till the end. I got worried seeing one of them kept bumping to her friend, when the rest are travelling in the right direction…when i teased her, hey becareful..etc, they burst into laughter.

Not me .. maybe my day will come, but not me. She called me up.. hey, lets go makan now.. "I m so hungry and crave for curry laksa". I havent met her for 3 months..and I left immediately. She told me whilst waiting for the food to arrive. She is pregnant, 3 months. I said u kidding me? She has big tummy issue,and she often use pregnancy as a joke, but hey, this is for real, its rounder and firmer. "Man, I saw u 3 months ago, and we shared the same joke, this time round , u are really pregnant", she replied" that time, I wasnt"…Cool, her wishes came through, and I have to help her source for baby sitter, etc. We crack jokes over the bad traits her baby boy will have from the daddy… MR GRUMPY.

O…maybe my time will come. Hopefully in few years time?? SantaGivemeaBB?

Man.. i gotto kick myself for sometimes getting very forgetful. Dunno if its the jam syndrome. As newbie, have to concentrate a lot on the dance choreo. To the extend, where, I can almost ID which part of the song is related to which moves, even when I wasnt hearing the initial parts of the song… BUT ..

Yet!!! I couldnt recognise my friend… I only recognise him when he was wearing his casuals.. at the shopping mall..and i couldnt recognise him in his gym gear !!! can u imagine.. what  a fool i have been. And the other day, a someone was looking at me, and I couldnt recall him.. who can forget-Alex bodycombat. Eh..he changed his hairstyle. Do you call this Aging factor or lack of observation or retention power or what????  (pulling my hair)

Grrrrr… I think i need a break, also been sleeping whole day. I was editing a lot of photos this afternoon, my friend’s birthday, my friends photos..some I couldnt resist editing, because they looked so good in the photos. Then, I was struggling to send the emails over and over again, I think I could have sent like few dozen emails out but half  were rejected.Quite frustrated, as uploading the mails in original form was tme consuming. I wanted her to enjoy the tru resolution ended up have to compress when 5 of the mails rejected. Yet,After all the compressing, editing and recompressing still rejected(as I couldnt figure out why the mails were rejected…) Was it over 2 hours in front of pc trying?? I missed my lunch over it. hahaha. I think I gonna get a hi end camera next year and start taking photography seriously??

My Body just wanted a rest, no gym, no dance, no homework, minimal housework.. just sleep, eat, sleep and eat. Holiday coming soon…. now to put a brake on my enthusiasm. Change gear, brake and park (or better lepak).

It was the first time, I attended-privilege of being instructor… unfortunately, I was busy attending to family matters and rushing out from house. Benjamin thouhgt he was late, but I think I was the last to reach, 10 mins after him.

Parking at The Curve is difficult, the place was swarmed. I reached Cineplex, late for the lucky draw, but on time to dinner (yums) and networking. Movie starts at 9pm. I M Legend-starring Will Smith. At 845 pm, we adjourned to the cinema 4, apparently FF has booked the Cinema 4-that is cool. This is the first time, well.. i wont mentioned what happened in the hall itself..it was hilarious.

The movie started, and it really gotten all of us to the edge of the seat. I thought I was the only one, there were few times, I just closed my eyes. Yea,.. i dont think I was so tense when I watch Resident Evil recently. Leo was saying, Stressed betul the movie. And I hear voices of guys grunting over the suspense. Some said, its a disturbing show. I think I m a real SKATTY Cat!

Well, overall, I think it was very good event, really good. Many thanks to Fitness First organisors!

Yes.. good that I gained back stamina, and i could do 2 classes back to back, plus weights training after that with my cool Heng Tai (brothers). And I m still awake at this time of the morning…1.49am.. chatting with my godbrothers. Wait, I havent put in the muscle ache part. There were days, i ached so bad, i couldnt sleep.

I always wanted to try Jay’s salon, finally, I managed to find time, and went to his salon. It is not a lavish salon, just simply tucked in between some shop lots, smallish, simple.. kinda fits Jay’s character-simple guy. I was served with 2 pieces of chocolates (er..didnt eat), but I ate some biscuits and Jay make sure I drank his Ipoh White coffee. HE gave me quite a reasonable price as compared to most salons, I have no complains, the nicer the salons are, their locality…would also mean..higher cost, and thus.. treatments are pricey. But nothing beats friendly service from a friend,His gals took care of me, and adjusted the base colour to match my requirements. I guessed, i wouldnt really give much thought to my hair, if i havent cut it into a bob. gone are the days, where i hardly need to blow my hair and just a few combs and I m done. Now, its a must must to blow it.

I guess, I m a bit bored now. Sigh.. sigh.. Its only next year, I be taking up classes at FF. So, I better enjoy myself to the max now. As its not easy, being an instructor… 

Every year, someone will ask, what is your new year’s resolution?

For what I know, mine has gone different direction this year. I presume, coming year, most of my friends knew which direction I m heading towards.

Well, we "three moles" will continue with our feline gatherings and tete a tete.

Here is wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, and live long ya?

Is there anyway to help to forget someone,  some events, experiences from the past easily?

Why is there someone who cant seemed to forget about the past, move on… has his/her sins so unforgivable, that he / she finds life unbearable?