Friday 10 August 2012

5 days

There are 5 days left till I fly off to the US! (or 6, depending on how you count it) Yes, I am already feeling the tingle of excitement, mixed with a pinch of nervousness,  stirred with a handful of anxiety, deep fried with a portion of anticipation!!

I mean, who wouldn't be excited about flying to America for 5 months!! It's one of my dream places to be since I began watching American TV shows when I was young (oh gosh, feel so old saying this), and now I not only get to visit it, I get to LIVE there! Woohoo!

It is also my first time flying alone - I am travelling with 2 companions but I am flying the 25 hour journey alone. I will also be alone in certain legs of the 2 week California trip I'm having before school begins. I am not so much afraid that the plane will crash or something but more worried that I will board at the wrong gate or forget my luggage or something silly like that. Also, how many movies should I watch? LOL. I mean, it's an overnight flight, but it's also freaking 24 hours long. I have to plan when I watch the movies + sleep well.

 

Everything is booked and ready - accommodation, tours, transport, etc. All that's left is for me to ... GO and have fun! I hope it'll be fun! I will zi-high and make it fun if it's not! Ok actually I haven't even started packing, so that's one more thing for me to do. One of the biggest problems is - how much clothes to bring! I really have no idea. Ugh. Will be packing on Monday.

As a result of this excitement and anticipation for the 15th to come, I'm beginning to have slightly restless nights. All that I'm thinking about at night is the trip!! Ahhh hope my scumbag brain stops doing this and lets me sleep at night.

Did I mention I am excited? Woohoo!! Ok, abrupt ending to a pretty incoherent rant.

Tuesday 7 August 2012

Asian Food Trail !

The girlfriend suggested an 'Asian Food Trail' as I was going to the US soon, and I would probably miss Asian food. So... away we go!

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="636"] Laksa Yong Tau Foo @ Cineleisure Koufu ($4+)[/caption]

This is one of my favourite YTFs - they always reheat the fried stuff to make it crispy/warm again, and their ingredients are all large sized, so it's well worth the cost! The laksa this time tasted a bit salty/oily so it wasn't as good, but it was better the previous time I tried it.

Monday 6 August 2012

Fitness Journal #11 - A Home Gym

My blog has been getting a surge of visitors because it is bidding season in NUS and everyone is googling for reviews, so I should probably be blogging more interesting stuff.. but SORRY NO TIME NO INSPIRATION.

Anyway, this blog entry has to do with my whole fitness thingy so sorry if it bores you.

So I was just wondering how much would it cost to set up a mini gym at home - with a power rack and a barbell and some free weights. Checked out the prices at NutritionPark.com and I was pleasant surprised:

All images from Nutritionpark.com

1) Squat/Power Rack @ $499.00

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="480"] Male Model not included[/caption]

Bare minimum. Of course, this would require a bench:

2) Bench @ $250

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="422"] Made of gold, that's why so expensive[/caption]

Siao ah! One bench cost so much -_- Can probably get a normal bench for $50 or less from furniture shop.

3) Barbell Bar @ $29.90



Pretty much mandatory, if I want to do bench/squats, etc

4) Weights @ $171.60



10kg  - $29.80 x 4 = $119.20

5kg - $14.90 x 2 = $29.80

2.5kg - $7.50 x 2 = $15

1.25kg - $3.80 x 2 = $7.60

Total - $171.60

 

And I'll probably have to get some additional stuff like a padded floor (just like a thick cushiony floor mat), a cushion for when I'm doing squats with the bar, etc. But for this current list, the total cost is : $171.60 + $29.90 + $250 + $499.90 = $951.4!

Taking each gym entry to cost $2.50, plus transport cost of $1.50 each time I go for a total of $4 each gym session, it would take 238 gym sessions to make up this cost, and assuming 3-4 sessions a week, that's about 68 weeks, or 1 year 4 months to make up the cost!!

Not bad eh! Long term investment. hmmm...