Like most men, food is the way to husband’s heart. He loves his food and well, looking at him, you can tell that he’s a man who enjoys eating and has been fed pretty well. Uh-hmm.

ANYWAY, I have been on his back to lose weight in the past 10 years but the dude just never seems to find the motivation. Despite his doctor telling him plainly that he needs to shed 20kg, he has remained largely ambivalent, which just drives me – the thin one in the equation, of course – absolutely nuts. He would sign up for 10km runs, telling himself that he would train for the race. The end result, as we can guess, is that he doesn’t train for the runs and winds up dragging his Xkg heft across the finishing line in pain.

This time, though, the ammunition seems to be enough to get his ass fired up and running. Firstly, the endocrinologist that he is seeing has said Dude, you gotta lose weight. And since we are paying so much money to see a specialist, we would be damned fools for not listening to what he has to say. Secondly, poor husband was made fun of by his eldest brother at a family lunch one Sunday. Over fried and oily dim sum, my brother-in-law pointed out the fact that he is six years older than husband and probably five times fitter. Which, unfortunately, is the truth.

And the feather on the cap? I went ahead and bought a Couch to 5k app on his iPhone. Granted, I bought it using his credits. But no, there really is no excuse for him to not do anything. Look, a 9-week programme to get you to run 5km without stopping! It’s all on your iPhone! Which you fiddle with every other minute! And it can work with your Nike+!

It must have worked because this morning, at 630 in the morning, he rolled off the bed, bade me a sleepy goodbye and went for a run.

Yay!

Lesson learnt: you have to talk geek to a geek.

Of course, now that I have put this up in the public domain, he has one more reason to keep chugging at this.

YEAAAAAH!

After 20 years of looking like a lab nerd with my thick glasses, I have finally made the move to undergo Lasik and ditch my specs.

Before I took the plunge, I went online and researched extensively on the clinic and the procedure. The pros and cons. The reviews. The doctors’ take. Everything I could find, I read. I talked to those who had gone through Lasik. In the end, I decided that having perfect vision for the next 10 years (till I suffer from presbyopia, anyway) was well worth the cost.

I have to thank my salah boyfriend Trevor for this. He was the one who got the clinic to call me and was super reassuring when I rang him up numerous times going OMG OMG OMG.

Why
I’ve been wearing contact lens since I was 18. I never had problems with it till three years ago, when my eyes started getting really dry. It was so bad that one of my lens broke into two in my eye. I was diagnosed with giant papillary conjunctivitis – my eyes had grown allergic to contact lens. My ophthalmologist told me I had to give up contact lens or risk having eye infections. Boo.

Geek alert!

The clinic
Practically the whole world looked at me and said ARE YOU MAD when I told them where I was going to get my eyes fixed: Optimax Eye Specialist. In Johor Bahru.

Yes, cost was a key factor but more importantly, it was word of mouth that swayed my decision. Trev had his done at Optimax JB and he had only praise for them. When we went for the free eye examination, the consultants were genuinely friendly, and were not pushy at all. They did not push us to go for the most expensive treatment but instead weighed the pros and cons for us. I surfed the net for reviews and most that I had found were glowing (with the exception of a poor girl whose surgery was aborted midway and was subsequently refunded. Let’s not think about her).

Plus, they had a comprehensive post-surgery followup system (you go back for checkups one week, one month, three months, six months and a year after the surgery) and offered lifetime enhancements.

Eventually I went with the Intralase Conventional treatment. Because my cornea is thicker than normal, I was given two options: LASIK, where the flap of my cornea is cut open using a blade or Intralase, where the flap is cut using laser. Then, there are two ways to correct your vision: Conventional vs. Custom.

The procedure
It was really over in less than an hour. First, the nurses will numb your eyes with anesthetic eye drops. Then your eyes will be cleaned and disinfected. I lost count the number of times they wiped my eyes down with cotton pad. Finally, I was brought to the freezing operating theatre. Brr. The staff were thoughtful enough to equip the room with a giant quilt but it was still COLD.

I was asked to lie down on one of the two beds hooked up with giant machines and the doctor told me to do two things for him: tilt my head upwards towards the laser and FOCUS ON THE LIGHT. Sounds simple but so hard to do! At a certain point, after my eyelids had been clamped, my eyes went BLANK and the good doctor reminded me to look at where the light USED to be and fix my gaze on that. That was the cutting part and it took about 20 seconds per eye. Frankly, I wasn’t keeping count because I was all FOCUS ON THE LIGHT even though I couldn’t see the light.

Then I was led to the other bed. This time, the doctor said, he would say incoming laser and there would be lots of bzz bzz bzz sounds. I was to relax, not move my head and FOCUS ON THE LIGHT. Again, that part was over pretty quickly but I was breathing through clenched teeth because I was freezing and I wanted to FOCUS ON THE LIGHT. The doctor kept telling me to relax but seriously? Relax while a laser is zapping my eyes and I had to FOCUS ON THE LIGHT?

After the whole microwaving, there was lots of washing and that was the part I really couldn’t stand (I hate having water in my eyes). My eyes wanted to close but they couldn’t because of the clamp. So they did what they could – they started to roll inwards (which is what you do when you sleep, apparently). The poor doctor was all FOCUS! OPEN UP! DON’T SLEEP!

But he was very sweet. Throughout the surgery, he kept encouraging me and telling me that I was doing great. And when it was all over, he actually said to me, “Well, your torture is over! Great job!” Hmm, thanks?

The aftermath
I wish I could tell you that I opened my eyes and tadah! A brand new world awaited me! But of course not. I could barely keep my eyes open immediately after the surgery and I was miserable. It felt like there was a strand of hair in my eyes and I couldn’t get rid of it.

When we reached the hotel, the first thing I did was jump into bed and under the covers. By this time, my eyes were tearing uncontrollably and my cheeks and chin were all wet. I popped a sleeping pill that the nurses had given me and when I woke up, three hours later, there were salt sediments at the space between my left eye and my nose. I’m not kidding.

But it was all good. Although my eyes were red around the area where the suction had been (to make the cut), I could see relatively well. The discomfort was minimal and everything was bathed in a romantic light. I could even go downstairs with husband to watch footy (stupid Netherlands).

The next day, we went back to the clinic for a checkup and it was all good. My eyesight is currently 6/6 but it’s certain to fluctuate and will only settle in a few months’ time. The doc said that the eye was healing well and I should be on my way to recovery.

Till now, I still feel strange to be looking at my surroundings so clearly without glasses. I have this funny feeling that I should be taking my contact lens off soon but no, it’s for real.

So, would I go through the whole procedure all over again on hindsight? Hell, YEAH. I was terrified and miserable but at the end of the day, I think it was worth it. Dr Yip was very nice and encouraging, and I absolutely trusted him with my eyes.

Of course, I did feel assured of my choice when he told me, “Oh good thing you went with Intralase. With blade, it’s like using a knife and cutting thousands of cucumber. No one cut is the same. I wouldn’t be telling you this story if you had chosen the blade method though.”

Thanks Doc, I feel SO much better now!

Hello, clear eyes!

After weeks of stress and late nights, I decided to treat myself to a quiet afternoon by the pool at the One George Street outlet last Saturday.

I’ve always loved One George Street; it was what made me sign up with Fitness First on the spot. The pool is gorgeous and overlooks the City Hall area, it’s really like a little slice of heaven in the city. The gym itself has a nice, high ceiling, and there is an abundance of natural light streaming in during the day. At night, you get to exercise to the bright lights of the town. It’s just beautiful.

Anyway, took some pictures with the Hipstamatic app on my iPhone. Loving the effects, loving the app!

Frankie, goggles, sunscreen, Coke, iPod and locker keys

Wrinkly toes

Lovely view

Have you heard of Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution?

If you have not, you should go read about it. In a nutshell (see, I am trying to stop using “basically” in my sentences), Jamie goes to Huntington, West Virginia, to try to change the relationship that these Americans had with food. He picked that city because it has the highest rate of obesity, heart problems and diabetes in the US.

When we first started watching the show, we were HORRIFIED. The elementary school that Jamie was working on was feeding little children unhealthy food like pizza and chicken nuggets. And that was just for breakfast! It was just AWFUL seeing the wee ones scoff down the processed food so happily and heartily. And in another episode, none of the children knew their vegetables. They had all the names of veggies like potato, tomato and cauliflower mixed up, and they had never even laid eyes on them before. The lady in charge of food services in schools even acknowledged that fries counted as a serving of vegetable.

It was UNBELIEVABLE. And it made me realise just how blessed we are.

The government, despite all its badassness, has done a marvellous job in promoting healthy eating.Our mothers are used to working with fresh produce and meat. When I was young, I hardly ate out or had fast food because my mother believed firmly that no food is better than home-cooked food. We seldom bought frozen food products because she knew that they were probably full of chemicals and preservatives that aren’t good for us.

As a young adult, I am conscious of how much my mother’s beliefs are influencing me. Sure, I had chicken rice today. But I removed all the skin and the fat, I didn’t finish the rice, and I ordered an additional serving of vegetables. I am human, I have cravings for sinful foods too but I believe firmly in moderation.

Unfortunately, this is something that is not shared by my food-loving, weighty husband. He is lucky to have a mother who loves to cook for her children and is a great cook. The problem is, she can be undiscerning with the way she prepares her meals. Most of the time, the meals are meat heavy and can be deep-fried. I was also very concerned when she bought us a packet of MSG when we first moved into east end.

My in-laws adore their son, obviously, and they are very fond of feeding him with lots of food. It’s their way of showing their love. They make jokes about his weight – he’s roughly the size of a barn. NOT. YET. - but deep down they don’t really care because they love him.

But I do. It’s something that I am working on, and it’s because I love him too. I think our relationship with food needs to change.

Anyway, if you could catch Food Revolution, please do. It’s hard hitting, mind-boggling and very, very inspiring. And it’s wonderful that a chef like Jamie Oliver is trying to change the world, one step at a time.

So. Yesterday, Mr Thick and I spent THREE HOURS in the gym and on the saddle of a stationary bike.

Yes, you are right, WHO THE HECK SPENDS THREE HOURS IN THE GYM ON A SATURDAY? Apparently, err, we did. And we spent only three hours there. There were people who happily peddled for EIGHT HOURS. Nobody forced us to do this at gun-point, strangely enough, we put our names down most willingly.

Let’s go back a little. The gym (and a most excellent one, I might add, they don’t always try to kill their members) had organised a “hell ride” at one of the outlets – eight hours of spinning on those dratted bikes. It was broken down into different sectors so I volunteered husband and I for the three-hour long mountain stage, intending to stay for all of one hour.

In the end, we stayed for all three hours, although I did take little breaks. At 5pm, we buckled in and started spinning. It went well, my lungs died a few times and came back to life and then at 6pm I took a one-track break. I headed out 45-minutes later to adjust my shorts.

(Let me sidetrack now by saying that if ever you are cycling and feel something poking into your lady parts, go to the loo IMMEDIATELY to adjust your shorts. You do not want to be sitting on the string of your shorts, which has hard plastic covering the ends, because IT HURTS and is ABRASIVE and you DON’T WANT THAT FOR YOUR LADY PARTS. That’s all I shall say for that matter.)

By 730pm, my right ITB was starting to tighten and I decided to go out of the room for some stretching. Stretching turned to downing Coke, which evolved into sitting at the coffee table flipping through 8-Days. Erm, yeah. I decided that it was a tad embarrassing to end the session with a Coke in one hand and 8-Days on the other so I headed back in for one last track and cool down.

Did I die? Surprisingly, no. The amount of perspiration I had excreted was rather cathartic. And it helped that there was a bunch of crazy ladies – A’s favourite members – who cheered and sang and waved their towels in the air throughout the three-hour ride. They helped to lighten the mood and turned it into something celebratory and festive.

There were bits where I pushed myself (up the slopes) and those were I didn’t (these gams ain’t got no speed in them) so in the end, it worked out nicely.

More importantly, I felt stronger knowing that I could do a three-hour ride. I went in thinking I would crash early on but I came out a winner, at least in my own eyes.

I did it and I could do it and I would do it all over again.