Firewalk... of coals and brimstones!

You know what? I forgot I had a blog. I've completely and utterly shelved the whole blog thing for the longest of time. It wasn't until I was looking through some of my friends' profiles on Facebook that I realised the blog icon and was reminded of my blog rotting away at this site. Poor blog... (*Pet Pet Stroke Stroke).

Anyways, what has been happening in my life for the past 3-4 months when I was away? Well, nothing much actually. I just Fire-walked. Muahahaha!

Hahaha. Not like this, of course!

A bit more like this. Not as ganas but still enough to scare the living daylights out of you.

I didn't manage to take any pictures so I know, ... it's quite hard to believe. You've got to take me for my word on this one. Honestly... (ok, this is me being brutally and painfully honest) I was freaking out. The last thing on my mind was taking a pic. I had to walk on fire; my life is at stake here, please understand.

However, I realised that it's all in the mind. The way to firewalk is the same as taking the jumper at the crucial minute or when you're running down the open lane on the court and the outcome of the game is in your hands. It's you having the total confidence that you'll nail it and that it's not beyond you.

After doing the whole firewalk thing, I was like 'bring 'em on... I can do anything!' It lasted for like two days afterwhich I headed back to the books to make sense of the whole experience. Physics shows that it is humanly possible to firewalk. It's all about specific heat capacity and thermal conductivity.

Water (main composition in our foot) has a very high specific heat capacity compared to coal, thus making it more difficult to change temperatures, making it more difficult for our feet to get really hot!

Water also has a high thermal conductivity compared to coal. The blood is able to conduct heat, carry and spread the heat all around so you don't feel the intense burning, hot feeling.

There you have it! I just explained the science of firewalking to you in a nutshell. However, please use discretion in any attempts. Do so under skilled supervision. There are dangers to it and they are REAL. This is fire and coals we are talking about; 500 Degrees Celsius is no joke. I did it with Anthony Robbins, you should do it with someone who can guide and help you through the whole process.

It's all about overcoming your fears! That's the biggest lesson I learned from this experience. Fears are meant to be overcome!

ART

Recently, I picked up drawing. Why? It all started with a thought. If I couldn't and wasn't a natural in holding a note, doing sports or playing an intsrument when I was kid, how is it that I was able to learn and do it now? If I could learn up all these things, why is it that I can't do the same for art?

Flashback Primary 1: I'm in art period. Teacher walks in and asked us to draw an aeroplane. I drew a mutant plane with no wings or rather with wings that don't look like wings of an aeroplane.

The girl next to me seems to know how. I tried to take a peek. What happened next changed everything forever. The teacher reprimanded me for copying. I had to be silent and finish up my drawing... drawing something I didn't know how to draw. I hated the feeling because the end product became a laughing stock among my friends. What's worst? They stuck the painting up at the back of the class for a whole 2 weeks to my horror of horrors. I had to look at that painting and be reminded of what a hopeless artist I was. I decided that I'm no good at art.

Many of you probably went through what I went through. I realised that I didn't have somebody I could model after and learn from. It's a matter of learning HOW to do it. So I decided to give drawing another go. This time I copied. I copied books, I watched and learned from Aimei.

Guess what? I am heading somewhere with my art. I'm improving. What I'm about to post is a quantum leap for me (a person who can't even draw a stick man properly... hahaha)!


I know that the eyes look a little weird but this is me trying to draw Aimei.


And this is me trying to draw different smiley faces!

So here goes my journey in trying to do something new! I am excited. Learn something new. Life's a journey, live life and enjoy life!

Japanese Freestyle Football @ Cineleisure

I was at Cineleisure the other day, enjoying my Very Vanilla Chiller without Espresso when suddenly, out of the blue, three Jap guys with funky hairdo came on the scene and started doing football tricks with some tv coverage! The culprit: PUMA! They brought down some street soccer guys with their own samba drummer to perform as a promo for their range of products. Their tricks were awesome. My brother and I were very impressed by the level of skill they possessed.

Fitness Edition: Women's Fitness

Today's fitness edition is not going to be concerning me or the latest training regime I'm on. Due to popular demand, this fitness edition is going to be dedicated to women!

I am so tempted to go on a verbal diarrhea and pour everything out in one post but I doubt that it's going to be of any help so I have decided to give a general guideline and as the questions pour in, I'll try to answer you and give a more specific guideline.

I am no expert but this will help you get started. Whatever you do, always go for a medical checkup and test with a doctor or certified trainer first and he will highlight to you any medical issues that may hinder your training.

Let's get started:

First of all, I think that the trend now is that women should be curvy and not flimsy (think in terms of Jessica Biel in Blade Trinity and Jennifer Garner in Elektra).

In order to move towards looking like that, there's a basic guideline you must follow:

#1: Weight training for toning

#2: Cardio

#3: Diet

#1: Weight training

Contrary to popular belief that if a woman trains, she's going to end up looking like Arnold from Terminator, weight training actually helps you tone up by working your different muscle groups. Why won't you end up like Mr. Terminator himself? It's simply because testosterone is responsible for boosting muscle development and although both men and women produce testosterone, the amount produced in guys is up to 60 times more. Now you know why!

Start with these combinations:

• Chest/Back: Chest press, Lats pulldown and seated row
• Legs: Leg extensions, leg press, lunges
  
• Shoulders/biceps/triceps: Shoulder press, bicep curls, tricep extension

Start simple and go slow; the momentum will build in no time.

#2: Cardio

You don't need to hit the gym for this one. Just run for around 30-40 mins around the neighborhood 2-3 times a week and you'll be fine. If running is not your thing, try swimming or cycling. Put on some music on your ipod and you'll enjoy this 40 mins.

#3: Diet

• No supper (yup... this is the first one I want to highlight... hahaha). If you're really starving, eat something whole grain.
  
• Eat a full, healthy breakfast - wholemeal bread sandwiches, whey protein with oatmeal, egg sandwiches


• Eat 4-6 times a day and break it down to smaller portions


• Get rid of junk food - Maggi mee is junk food. Allow only one day in a week to pamper yourself (moderately ok?). Also, one day doesn't mean 24 hrs, it means like for one or two meals, that's it.


• Eat fruits and vegetables. I struggle with vegetables so I consume up to 10 apples a week. Not the best option but still acceptable.


• Drink lots of water

Ultimately, you're training not just for aesthetic purposes but for your health and well-being. What you sow, is what you will reap 10-20 years from now. With that in mind, exercise!

Space

Recently, I have been reading up some articles on space exploration and the commercialization of such efforts for civilians, such as us, to enjoy at a "reasonable" price. This means that you can now go to space for a holiday, get a spectacular view of the earth off the atmosphere and go weightless for like 5 minutes before the spacecraft re-enters the atmosphere for just US $200,000. It sounds fun to me... a fun 5 minutes! It'll probably go down as the most expensive 5 mins of your life!

Virgin Galactic has partnered with Spaceport America, New Mexico for this holiday of the future. I thought it is pretty amazing to be able to go to space for holidays... totally out of this world... hahaha, pun intended!

How does it work? You will most probably get into a Virgin Galactic spaceship called WhiteKnightTwo (just completed its recent test run successfully) and will take off from a track runway in the NewMexico desert, not far from Roswell (remember that alien show on tv?...).

It will go up to 110km above ground level and will go beyond the Karman line where space is said to begin. Once you're past it, you'll float, go weightless and have a breathtaking view of the earth for several minutes.

Then you're back in the atmosphere.

Some are sending their wedding rings into space and back to give it a sense of novelty. Another company which brews beer sends yeast into space and back to brew its blend of 'spacebeer'.

One thing's for sure, space is the new holiday destination and with businesses like this, the universe is the limit!

Fitness Edition: I-Robot

Every once in a blue moon, I post about health and fitness. Today is such a day! Recently, I discovered some interesting facts on how to look like Will Smith on I-Robot and I thought that it'll be great to share them with my readers.

First things first... the picture:

Why Will Smith? Apart from the striking resemblance (hahaha... I wish), we have similiar metabolism rates... that means it's super high.

During an interview, Will Smith was quoted saying, “I have a much easier time losing weight (for I am Legend) than putting weight on. Ali was fifty times harder trying to put weight on than to drop.” This quote was highly encouraging! If Will can do it, I can do it!

He had to put on the same kind of muscle mass and bulk up like he did for Ali which means lifting heavier weights. His bench press that year went from 175 lb to 365 lb. He went on a 5 day a week training schedule with a focus on 1-2 body parts each session. He also ran 5 miles a day. *Sweats.

Not only that, to get the ripped and defined look, he had to bring down his body fat % to below 10%. He was at 7.5% in I-Robot, to be exact! How did he do it? He slowly cut his calories and flushed out all the junk food from his daily diet. It's definitely not an easy task but possible nonetheless!

Motto: If Will can do it, I will do it! (That's so cheesy... hahaha!) Anyways, I'm just encouraging myself. A man's gotta do what a man's gotta do!

You know what? I just got an idea. Maybe I should post on women's fitness the next time around! It'll be good to share some fitness tips with the female readers, right? Let's see how the response is like!

Climate Change

Let us talk about climate change!

You read on the carbon cycle and the water cycle in school... and wonder what has it got to do with you...?

Let me tell you what has it got to do with you... It has everything to do with the environment and the earth that you live in.

Climate change is something real and not just theory in a textbook you read when you were in secondary school!

What's happening?

Sea level is increasing worldwide with an increase of 12-22cm in this century. If things continue without any effort from our part, sea levels are estimated to increase by 48-79 cm or 0.48-0.79 m.

What does that mean? (Speak English, Dev)

Well, for one, you won't be seeing this guy anymore...!

Yeah... you got it right! Polar bears are already endangered. If things don't change, you won't be seeing this chap anymore. That means, no more National Geographic shots of polar bears, no more soft toys and a lot of explaining to do to the next generation! Let's just save us the hassle ok!

Who cares about Polar bears?

Well, you have a point (not a very correct one though...) so let me bring it back home. According to a WWF (this has nothing to do with wrestling... go figure) report released on September 2007, Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei will face consequences due to climate change. To list a few:

1. Extreme weather events associated with El- Niño to be more
   frequent and intense


2. Increase in hot days and warm nights and decrease in cold days and
   nights (True right? Don't need to be a rocket scientist to feel this)


3. Projected sea-level rise is very likely to result in significant losses of coastal ecosystems and a million or so people along the coasts will likely be at risk from flooding (high confidence)


4. Coral bleaching


5. Further declines in mangroves forests and their biodiversity (Please... I'd love to enjoy the mangroves in Malaysia for many more years to come!)


6. Heat wave (Imagine people fainting everywhere... not a very pretty sight)




7. Increasing intensity and spread of forest fires (I hate the masks we use when there's haze... Can we not go down this path?)
   


Singapore

KL

8. The annual cost of protecting Singapore’s coast is estimated to be between US$0.3 and $5.7 million by 2050 and between US$0.9 and $16.8 million by 2100. It is going to cost us more year after year to upkeep our coasts.

What can you do?

I admit that the task looks a little daunting but we can start somewhere. A journey always begin with a small step! You can do something by joining Earth Hour this Sat, 28 Mar, 8.30pm by turning off your lights for an hour. A small step? Yes, it is... but at least we're heading somewhere in the journey to save our planet!

Light bulbs and Earth

Jan 27, 1880 was a historical day when Edison's incandescent light bulb was patented. His efforts in 1879 paid off with the first commercially practical light bulb.

Things were never the same after that! Well, things progressed so fast that by now, 49 years after his invention, the world’s population consumes 15 terawatts of power[source: The Economist]. Just how much power is 15 terawatts? Let's make life easier and think of it in terms of watts.

All of us are familiar with Edison's light bulb and these light bulbs consume about 100 watts.

1 Terawatt = 10 billion x 100 watt light bulbs

= 1,000,000,000,000 watts

That is a lot of energy consumed! Malaysia is ranked #31 in the world with 95,980,000,000 kWh while the smaller city-state of Singapore comes in #57 with 35,920,000,000 kWh.

Now, it's pointless to blame Edison for this. Give the man a break. He's dead and if it weren't for him, we would have been worse off. What can we do then?

On 28 Mar 2009, we can get involved in Earth Hour 2009! At 8.30pm, just turn off your lights for an hour to show society and the rest of the world that we can do something about climate change and our environment!

We got to come to a place that we start taking responsibility for this earth that we're living in, Join the Earth Hour 2009 project together with me and turn off the lights fort an hour!

We can change the world we're living in! Join me!

Dev is back... back for good!

Anybody there...? (*The Opinionated Thinker sheepishly makes his entrance). I know that by now you would probably feel like throwing rotten tomatoes at me... I understand how you feel! So I've decided to provide you, my readers with virtual rotten tomatoes that you can throw at me. (*Squish... there goes one).

So here goes... I'M SORRY for going M.I.A. on so many of you for so long! I've repented, changed my ways and now, I'm back, stronger than ever!

What changed my heart? Well, if it was not for a dear reader and friend (who refused to be named...) who chided me on my absence from blogging, I'd still be in the dark.

I have been very busy since CNY. I have a lot of things to write; just never really got to it! Now here's the dilemma... where do I start? Let's do South Africa first... Part 1.

This is the view outside the hotel we were staying at. Great view of the Nelson Mandela Square.

Being the Malaysian that I was (the generation that didn't need to go through NS and hold a gun, this was a great experience! My enthusiasm caused the owner to take a few shots of me with the gun. It's legal to carry arms in South Africa.

Seth and Jimmy, my Singaporean colleagues offered their NS guns to me... hahaha!

Nelson Mandela... love this guy! The funny thing was I was actually in the midst of reading his book, 'Long Walk to Freedom' when I was called to South Africa. It was like seeing the book come alive as I walked the streets of JoBurg.

Bananas are actually called Piesangs there... hahaha. For those of you who are wondering what's the joke... Banana in Malay is actually 'Pisang'.


My favourite restaurant in JoBurg. Why?

The steak is the bomb!

You get to choose how much beef you want to consume, I went for 480g.

Seth in action. He's the real deal when it comes to photography and media!

I went there for lunch again... hahaha!

Why am I not surprised that we managed to get this shot on camera. This guy ate 1/2 kg of beef, man!

Anyways, I'm distracted! Can I just interupt myself and say that "Liverpool rox my sox"!

After trashing Real Madrid 4-0, they came back and humiliated Man Utd 4-1 in front of their own crowd at Old Trafford!

Gerrard delivering at the spot!


Torres was amazing.. scoring the opener and assisting Gerrard in the 2nd leaving Evra without any option but to hack Gerrard down in the box!

There... I've let it off my chest! It's going to be a great night's sleep!

Xin Nian Kuai Le

Bakkwa mania is here! Xin nian kuai le everybody!I know it may sound a little weird that I'm into the whole Chinese New Year thingy but it's true, I'm into the whole CNY thingy. Growing up in a chinese town with chinese friends since childhood has caused me to appreciate this festival deeply.

What do I appreciate the most about Chinese New Year?

BAKKWA (ROU GAN)

This is the chinese pork jerky... yum yum! Sinfully delicious, I always look forward to this CNY delight every year and I make it a point to ONLY eat this during the CNY season. Honestly, it's a sinful pleasure to indulge in bakkwa with the oil dipping and all but hey... it's once a year!

This is one of the famous Bee Cheng Hiang stores in Singapore selling Bakkwa. Bee Cheng Hiang is one of the favourite brands and the queue at this particular store is always long!

HONG BAO

I love hong bao (red packets)... who doesn't right? Of course with money inside! Lots of money inside... hahaha. The worst is you open it to find 40 cents or something. Don't laugh... somebody experienced this before. Just pray that it doesn't happen to you.

REUNIONS

That's the other thing I like about Chinese New Year, you get to meet up with old buddies!

So here's to all... Happy Chinese New Year... Xin Nian Kuai Le... Gong xi ni...! (*Dev performing the lion dance as he fades off the stage...!)

Barack Obama

Barack Obama is going to be inaugurated today! It's history in the making as the first African-American President of the most powerful country in the world is sworn in to office!

I, for one am genuinely excited to see how things are going to unfold. I think everybody's excited even the artistes. On Oprah Winfrey, Will.I.Am., Faith Hill, Seal, Mary J. Blige and Bono performed America's Song. Awesome stuff (live on Oprah. Click on the playlist to see the MV)... take a look!

Langkawi Part 3

These are some videos I took during the mangrove trip as well as the Fish farm at Langkawi. One's about swimming monkeys, the other one's about a fish that jumps out to bite the finger food and the other one is the sting ray with a human face.

Langkawi Part 2

Here's part 2 of my adventures. Take it like a scrapbook adventure blog... Hahaha!


Lunch at the Magrove - Barn Thai Restaurant. These are the friends I made during my mangrove trip.


Dead tired treking!

We were at the Floating Fish Farm. I'm not a big fan of sea creatures so it's a rather new experience on my part.

Horse shoe crab... Dan was saying that it looks like a scene from Aliens vs Predator.

Cave exploration

We actually went through this cave opening to get to our destination. Great skills on the boatman's part!

A shot of a butterfly in the forest I was treking in. Spot the butterfly. Sorry, camera lenses isn't powerful enough! New lenses... anyone?

One of the villas at The Datai. It's around RM 1800 per night for a villa surrounded by the rainforest. Feels like a kampung to me... hahaha.

Datai Bay is quite private, serene and relaxing. You get the feeling jsut by seeing this pic.

On a buggy ride at The Datai, an amazing boutique resort situated at Datai Bay, claimed to be the best beach at Langkawi. I like Tanjung Rhu as well. Torn between the two!

Long time since I saw this scene... hahaha. I was driving and then... I had to wait... wait... wait some more!

In order to reach Telaga Tujuh (Seven Wells), you need climb up. From the bottom, it looks as if the staircase is never ending. However, there are benches along the way for you to rest. While I was going up, some really old people were coming down. Even though they were slower and rested a lot at the benches, I salute them for their love for thrills and adventure.

This is the view at Telaga Tujuh. If I'm not mistaken, this is Telaga #4. For some particular reason, I had a very high expectation of the whole thing and it kind of fell short of my expectation.

Here I am... tired, hot and frowning at Telaga Tujuh.

This is the view from Gunung Mat Cincang. You can see the Petronas Quay from here. The road to drive out of this place is actually along the coastal line so you can imagine the journey out of this place.

Landscape from the mountain!

Nature's spotlight... hahaha!

Whe you take the cable up to the highest peak, you get to walk along this bridge which gives you a great view. Not for the weak at heart... hahaha. Just kidding. It's really very safe.

Monkey attack! Apart from the gramatical error, you really should pay attention to this sign. They steal everything. I was on an open sea kayak trip from one island to another and on one of the stops, I left my water bottle in the kayak. To my horror of horrors, I came back to find the water bottle empty. The monkey uncapped the bottle, drank the water and capped the bottle back again. Intelligent but mischiveous creatures!

Pulau Dayang Bunting's small jetty.

Water reflecting off Tasik Dayang Bunting.

As you can see, I didn't take this picture by myself. I happened to be in this cable car together with a gay couple. I struck a conversation with them and we were chatting awhile. I guess people are still people and they don't want to be treated like they are something 'odd' or in this sense, 'queer'. I've got to admit, they are very very conscious about the way they look in front of people as well as the camera. Interesting moment; alone in a cable car with a gay couple with nowhere to go! Hahaha.

This is my ride in Pulau Langkawi. Not too bad, quite sporty!

The money shot of the White-bellied Sea-eagle. It's a little blur because the birds move really fast and my camera lenses aren't as powerful! A glimpse of National Geographic in action!

This is the Brahminy Kite or the Red-backed Sea-eagle. This is the official bird of Langkawi. Langkawi actually consists of the words 'Lang' which comes from Helang meaning eagle and 'Kawi' meaning red = Red Eagle!

The birds going in for the catch!