Saturday, March 29, 2008

Eye-catchers

These are some snaps from my recent escapade:

This flower is actually really, really tiny. Approximately 0.5 cm wide. At a glance, it looks like blue dots among the greens.

Cactus at Cactus Point. I went a little bit crazy here and brought home 11 different types.

Polkadots
From the deck of the Tea Shop at Sg Palas Boh Tea Plantation


From behind the bush.


A type of succulent tree at Cactus Point

Freesias

This is another tiny beauty. This picture is at least 10 times it's original size.

This is what a schlumbergera looks like.


Fuschias

Thursday, March 20, 2008

Epiphany

I fall and I rise
I fall and I rise
Rise and rise
Dust the pain away
Reclaim what's mine

Bouncing, bouncing,
I see and I saw
I see and I saw

Wipe the tears off
Wash the blood stain
Wear the scars proudly
Like a diamond, like a diamond
And laugh, and laugh

Thank You for the little clues
I understand now

Keeping Track

I almost didn't want to get up and run this morning. It was a cool and cloudy day. Very, very tempted to sleep in. But I sure am glad I got up anyway. It was such a nice weather to be outside!!

The trail was wet this morning. My new shoes seem to give a good grip on the jogging track, but was slightly off with the cement and wooden part. I guess, I just have to be extra careful. Aside from that, I love the cushioning on my NB. It absorbs the impact very well and it felt as though there's an extra bounce when I run. And for heavy people like me, I think this lessens the strain on the knee quite significantly. So yup, I was sceptical before, but yes, a proper running shoe is very important if you are thinking of running regularly.

In order to reach my target of running one complete lap of the park, I've mapped out my own 'milestones' to keep track of my progress. There are 12 checkpoints altogether. I am now aiming to run up to the second checkpoint. Let's see if this works. :D

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Morning Delight

An amusing sight greeted me as I entered the park this morning. A man was doing some monkey-acts in his attempt to attract the attention of some , well, monkeys. And the cute primate looked on while probably thinking, who's the monkey now? :D

Monday, March 17, 2008

Setting the pace yet again

I think I shimmied the knee pain away during the weekend. Hiks. So yeah, took the shoe for its maiden run this morning. I love my shoes!!!

Saturday, March 15, 2008

I believe I can fly...

And I did. Really.

During my recent solo shopping trip, while I was walking out of a diner, I missed a step and had my left shoe flying off backwards while I flew forward. Ended up on all fours, heads down. There goes my diva image. But then again, what diva lah? That was just so me, I guess. Lol! Amazingly, my shopping bags survived without so much of a wrinkle. And because I am no Cinderella, I couldn't afford to leave my shoes anywhere, so I walked back to get my shoe which had survived quite a flight. Lol! luckily it didn't fall into anyone's food. Good thing I wasn't wearing a skirt, I didn't think the employees of the establishment could have looked more shocked and amused than they did. Slipped my shoe back on, shrugged and said a quick 'Ooops', flash a smile and walked out as though nothing happened eventhough my knees actually hurt like mad. And I couldn't stop bursting into giggles all day long. Lol! What a day it was...


Among the things that I bought, was a little something to get me revved up again. A belated birthday gift for myself :D. And I got it at 60% off which left me reeling with exhilaration like any proud bargain huntress would. Meet my first ever proper running shoes: the New Balance WR734 from the Running-lightweight series. I think it's an older version, but I am happy all the same. Can't wait to take it out on its first run!!! (as soon as the pain goes away, that is..:D)

Monday, March 3, 2008

Infectobesity

What if I tell you that obesity could be infectious? Uhuh, like the flu or cold kind of infectious. Yes, the type that you could catch just by sharing the same breathing space. What would you say?

So this piece of news isn't really new. It has been discussed for more than a decade now. It all began when a scientist who was studying a type of virus that was killing lots of chicken in Bombay observed that most of the infected birds died fat. This was rather odd, since killer viruses usually left its victim all skinny and emaciated before they die. So as the story goes, the scientist, Dr. Dhurandar, moved to the States and faced some problems to import the virus samples from India to the US as the authorities were not very keen on bringing in the microscopic chicken slayers into the country. So undettered by the circumstances (*salute!*) he tried to find a similar strain in the human adenovirus group. Voila! The human adenovirus Ad-36 was discovered and received a lot of scientific attention thereafter.

So technicalities aside, let's just say that this human adenovirus comes from a family of about 50 sera types (variants) and some of them are known to be responsible for upper respiratory tract infections ranging from harmless cold to dangerous pneumonia and gastrointestinal problems as well as eye infection. The mode of transmission is through the air.

So how does it make us fat??

In August 2007, at a conference in Boston, Dr Dhurandar's colleague revealed that this particular virus makes our adipose tissue more efficient in storing fat. Which means bigger, plumper, meaner, juicier, fatter fat cells. Roaarrr!! And not only that, a tissue culture test suggested that the virus increases the efficiency of the adult stem cells to become fat cells by 3-fold. What does that mean?!? To explain briefly, excess calories are stored as fat in adipose tissue. Try to imagine it as somekind of balloon/sacs that can be filled to store liquid or air. So what this virus does is not only does it increase the number of balloon, it makes each balloon bigger too!! However, paradoxically, the level of serum lipid and triglycerides in infected obese individuals are considerably low as compared to uninfected obese subjects.

Need more evidence?

Statistically, it was found that the pattern of the spreading of obesity mirrored that of an epidemic. Meaning, it spreads like a disease. As for hard, cold science; some animal testing has been done and infected avian and primates showed significant weight and body fat increment. On human subjects, more than 500 people has been tested and the results showed that 30% of subjects who are obese are found to be infected as opposed to only 11% from slim group. And there was this intriguing piece of evidence that came from a twin study. So this pair of identical twin girls (that means exactly identical genetic composition) were pretty much of similar weight all of their lives until one of them left home for college and two years later became 2.5 stones heavier than her twin sister. Blood test confirmed that at some point, the twin who left home for college, was infected by Ad-36.

The twin study was however, contestable. For all you know, it was the college lifestyle (and the stress, and the parties, and the lazy-bum days :D) that was causing the weight-gain instead of the virus. And that notion is the main debate amongst obesity experts; lifestyle+genes vs pathogenic agents. Many has remained highly sceptical of the findings and insisted that obesity is mainly a lifestyle-related disorder. (So they agreed that it is a disorder? Lol!)

From a scientific point of view, there are so many interesting questions and possibilities to be addressed. Like, can we at some point come up with a vaccine against obesity? But anyway, what it is really, is a risk factor. If you are infected, that means you get fat easier. Just like the genetic factor, if you have a family history of obesity, that means the likelihood of you getting obese is higher. As simple as that. It still comes down to lifestyle and the choices you make that will determine whether or not those fat cells get filled.

Hehehe, I love it when science gets quirky.