FUNNYACCENT

Second Time Around

I've been riding my bicycle almost every day now. Grocery shopping, post office, doctor's appointment, fabric store in Cambridge, or simply ride around the neighborhood. Streets in Southie remind me of the streets back in Pokok Asam. It is like I am riding on a humongous tree, only this tree is bare and flattened out on the ground. Just branches and twigs.

Most of these tree-line streets are one way and narrow, but and the streets are clean. Sometimes I ride on the sidewalk, which I try to avoid when the sidewalks are narrow. I've been very careful when I ride on the sidewalks. You don't know who might jump out of their front.

I've always enjoyed riding a bicycle, but this time around the thrill that I experience is nothing like I had a few years back. It's like being a kid all over again. It is a wonderful feeling.

The Art of Dunking.

A few weeks ago a woman I used to work with stopped at my table at an outdoor cafe' while I was having a cup of coffee. I sat at a tiny metal table  with mismatched chair. It was almost noon, a little warm, but the gentle breeze made me sit outside.

I had almond biscotti in my hand ready to dunk into my coffee. If you love dunking a biscuit or biscotti in your coffee, you know you need a full concentration to get the job done. No other thought to distract you. No small talk. You missed one second, you'll get your biscotti amputated.

You always think you can beat it with your fast move, bringing the soggy part to your mouth, but the fast move you think is sleek is hazardous move, a kamikaze actually. The moment you flick your wrist, turning your thumb and forefinger that hold the end part of biscotti upward, you are doom. The worst part is when the soggy part doesn't fall back into your drink, but on the front of your dress. I hate that.

So, the next time when you are dunking, try to resist for a few seconds from looking at whoever stops at your table like I did. You'll thank me.

When Old is New

Three weeks ago I told my good friend Di that I was looking for a used bike. The arrangement I made with a seller I found on craigslist fell apart. She decided to sell to some one else who offered her a higher price than $75:00 she asked for in her ad.

Di told me not go out and by either used or new bike yet. She'd looked at her parents' shed. "There is always one or two bike my nieces or nephews dump at my dad's shed.

Over the weekend Di called me and said there was one Schwinn bike collecting dust in the shed. The bike belong to her niece Alex. She bought a new one when she went to college.

I asked her how much would it cost me.

Di said, "My mom invited you to have dinner with us on Monday. That's the price of the bike." Jadi siap.

 We took the bike out of the shed and Di fixed the seat. I gave it a try around Di's parents' big yard. Both brakes seemed to be working, but the front brake squealed like a pig.

One of these days, I'll bring it to the bike shop for a tune up.

The Upside of Being Sick

I didn't notice it before. No clue whatsoever. Nada. It's not like I hadn't get sick for the past 17 years since I've been living in this lovely four seasons unpredictable city I call home. I get sick almost every winter.

I said almost because I  didn't get sick three years in a row after I had a chiropractic treatment back in 1999. I cannot say, chiropractic treatment alone had strengthened my immune system and protected my body from getting sick. I think it was a combination of my healthy living style and the treatment. I love to go back for the treatment, but health insurance doesn't cover chiropractic treatment. Damn. Would it be nice if it is covered?

Three weeks ago I was so sick I didn't leave my place for two days. Prisca called me three times a day to make sure I was all right.

Prisca: Hello kak, how are you feeling?

Me: I'm aliveeeeeeeeeeeee.(sneeze, sneeze, sneeze, sneeze)

 Prisca: Did you take your meds?

Me: What? (Cough,cough, cough).

Prisca: Did you take the meds?

Me: hmmmm....

Prisca: Call me anytime if you need me okay? I love you kak.

Me: Love you too dik Prisca. Over. (Cough, cough, cough-sound worse than before).

Prisca: (Chuckled on the other side) Kak, can you stop being funny for a second, you crazy woman.

She dropped me a homemade chicken soup which I finished it in one sit. Yes, I'm one of those people who still can eat despite the aching muscles, throbbing joints and all that craps that come along when you are sick.

I realized how messy my place was when the phone rang and I couldn't find it. Dirty clothes, towels and socks scattered on the bed, bedroom floor, bathroom and living room.

 Five dirty  mugs lined up under the coffee table stuffed with tissues. An empty bowl with cherry pits under the couch.

On my working table, my running bra draped over the sewing machine. "What the hell? How did it get there?" The bra wouldn't have lasted a second on the sewing machine if I wasn't sick.

Then, my eyes fell on Kamus Dewan on top of chair-side table.

Whaaaaaaaaaaaattttt? My red satin slipper stuck out from the dictionary. Did I use my slipper as a bookmark? Was I hallucinating? Was I that sick, the satin slipper was mistaken for a bookmark? I picked up 2.5" thick dictionary belong to my later father. I ran my hand over its cover. My father loved it. He just loved it.

 
We always debated over the words that didn't sound Malay.

Bendera and sepatu were originated from Portuguese he told me once.

"Betoi ka abah?" Really dad?

The good thing is about being sick, I didn't feel guilty when my place looked like a shipwreck.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Caretakers @Elephant Walk

During lunch with my good friend Di, she told me about a lecture she attended at a spiritual retreat she went to a few years ago. One of the contents of the lecture she said that made her see herself in a different light was when the lecturer said each of us is a caretaker of the earth.

 

I really like the word. The caretaker. Just imagine, if each of us begins to see ourselves as a Caretaker of our planet, perhaps we will take pride tokeep clean our home. This is the only home we have. We have nowhere else to go. It is not like we can hop into an  escape pod that will take us to a nearest-possible-habitable-planet  20 light years away.

I cringe everytime I see people simply toss away a candy wrapper, cigarette butt, empty coffee cup or anything that should be in a trash bin onto the ground.

I think I was about four or five years old when I started to develop a habit to keep any candy wrappers (which was quite often) in my pocket. I didn't develop this habit on my own. It came through my mother. She was serious about it.

Once she made me picked up an ice cream wrapper that I actually threw it in a trash can, but I missed it. Every time we had an outdoor family picnic, she wouldn't leave the place until we all picked up the nasi lemak wrappers and plastic bags.

Many years later when we were all in our 20's, I asked my mother why she was different from all other kids mothers  that I knew. I didn't see thier mothers' made them pick up the candy wrappers they threw on the ground. As a matter of fact some of the mothers even threw the trash on the gound.

Mak told me, one night while she was standing at the kitchen sink doing the dishes, and my father was sitting at the kitchen table reading a newspaper, my father read a column about Japanese mothers folded a plastic bag and put the bag in their kids' pockets. These bags were used to put away the trash. They would bring back the plastic bag to their homes.

Mak said, she liked the idea very much. And she practiced it on us. I'm glad she did.

There are many ways we can do to save our planet. Many, many ways like hold on to empty coffee cup until we see a trash bin, or check out this site, this, and you get the idea. 

   

 

 

Speed Up, Woman

I don't know how much I have spent on good running shoes after all these years. I know it is a lot. More than I want to admit.  I italicized the word good, because like many of us,  consumer, I fell into a trap of people who call themselves  shoes expert.

Consumers nightmares!!!

Well, no more good, expensive running shoes.

 About two months ago I felt a sharp pain on my right heel when I was running. The pain shot like hot rod up to my knee which was way passed her glory. Or was she?.

 Every time my right foot landed on the ground, I felt hundreds of sharp needles poked at right heel. I slowed down and walked the pain was gone. I think I was like most runners, land my heel first, followed by the ball of the foot and toes.

 

When I got home I went through all fourteen pairs of my running shoes. All of them were built with extra cushion on the heels. I had this crazy idea that I wanted to try to run with the ball of my foot land on the ground followed by the heel, or even better the heel won't touch the ground at all to avoid the pain.

Desperately, I reached my last two pairs of Saucony Shay XT 2 walking sneakers.. They are only only 5 oz. each, lightly padded and very, very comfortable. One thing though, whenever I wear Saucony Shay XT2 sneakers, I walk like a sprinter. If you see the sprinters warming up at their starting blocks, you know what I mean. They walk with their heels off the ground.

I couldn't wait until the next day to try it. Unfortunately, it was raining all day, but I was glad I got my legs rested  for 24 hours.

After dinner, I googled  forefoot running style. To my surprise, there were a lot of articles about technique running on the ball of foot. Here,  here, and here is great article about running barefoot, which is not new to us.

 We loved running barefoot when we were kids. I remember having my flip flop slid onto each of my hand, and whooosh....I went running.. "Hello Sitiaishah!!! Where have you been all these times?" I was giddy with excitement when I read article after article of forefoot running style. The biggest bonus I learned about forefoot running style was I should take small steps. Aha....!!! 

The following day, the sun came out with brilliant colors, even the temperature shot up five degree higher than a day before, 4o degree.

 I laced up my Saucony Shay XT 2 and headed to local track, 1 minutes walk from my apartment. After 15 minutes warm up I began to jog for about 200 meters, and slowly built up the speed. It was hard at the beginning to remember to land the ball of my foot first. I kept repeating, "ball of my foot, ball of my foot" as I increased the speed. When I finished one lap I realized each of my heel hardly touched the ground because I lifted up my foot quickly. I was so happy, I ran another 7 laps to make it two miles with huge smiling on face like an idiot. 

 

 

 

Salsa Without Chips

Prisca and I met at Dance Complex in Cambridge for our first Salsa class. "I'm kaki bangku, you know that, right?" I asked Prisca as we sat on hard-bench at reception area at the complex. As we taking off the winter boots and putting more comfortable shoes, we watched a rather heavy traffic on the stairways. Men and women in various types of dancing gears ran, jogged, trotted, limped, strutted and swayed their way up and down the stairs.

"Don't worry, I have two left foot too, and I don't think we are alone."

She was absolutely right. When Matie, our instructor asked us how many of us are beginners? 2/3 of us raised our hands.

The thing with salsa is, you don't have to know the step, as soon as you hear the salsa song, your body immediately responds to the rhythm, even you have two left foot (When I said you, I meant ME).

One hour later, I learned to move my right foot and left foot: front, back, right and left. But when I looked into the mirror I couldn't help laughing at myself, my stiffed upper body like a cardboard. But hey, I survived the first class.

Now

Now, and..............

 

long for this day...........

 

Plastic Trees

 
Is there anywhere else that plastic trees grow in their city?

After the Storm

It took me less than 10 seconds to change my mind about going to the gym. The bright blues sky, crispy and fresh air changed my plan for the day. I went for a walk instead. It was almost noon when I got off the subsway. I find that a day after a snowstorm is one of the finest times to go for a walk.I've been making an effort putting together the workout plan for my next 10K race, but I think I have to add another notch to keep it going. It seemed today the notch had to stay put.The rare beauty outside was too much to let it go.

30 yards on the walking path from the subway station, a little friend stopped in front of me. While I took out my camera and aimed at it, the squirrel stood on its hind legs and looked up at me. I wish I had some crackers to feed it. Made a mental note to carry a packet of crackers next time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  
 
The snowman needs his left glove.

 
I
Very little snow left on this tree.

 

I seldom use the word breathtaking, but I stood for a long time looking at the sky feeling grateful and content.