Happy Birthday, Baby!

On joining gyms

To avoid turning into a hippo, I have rejoined the gym. And since I was previously a member of Celebrity Fitness, I chose to rejoin at the same outlet.

My first experience with a chirpy counselor at CF:
-after showing us around the gym, showing us the equipment, the locker room, etc. she sat us down for a discussion. I thought she was going to start talking about the available packages. Instead, she went on about everything else instead of progressing with the application.

She: ...and do you know what are the benefits of joining CF?
Me (in my mind): Is she on a happy-pill or something?
Praveen: *silent/annoyed*
She: ??? Do you know? Do you? Well, we have CELEBRITIES like Amber Chia, ....etc.
Me: So how much is it going to cost me
She: Before that, what are your goals in joining the gym?
Me: How.much.is.it.to.join.
She: Do you want to lose weight, do you want to stay in shape?
Me: No, I want to gain weight and be a fat pig. Why else do people join the gym?
She: Well, some ladies want to tone their muscles like for example...
Me: How much is it going to cost
Praveen: I think you'd better scrap all this and just tell us how much it is.
She: Okay. Since you are a new member, our special today is $1098 and a monthly fee of only $280/month.
Me to Prav: Let's go. This is bullshit.
Praveen: We're not paying this.
She: Wait let me check with the manager.
In comes Pejo, one of the best managers with CF. Unfortunately, he does not work there anymore. He has excellent PR skills, he's extremely friendly and the outlet has lost a great manager.

My experience a few weeks ago with a different counselor:

She: So, okay, are you serious about joining the gym?
Me: WHAT?! What do you mean am I serious?
She: Okay, wait yeah?
Me: No really what do you mean?
Prav: Just cut to the chase. Tell us how much it is to rejoin the gym.
She: Okay, wait.

Another lady comes to our table, doesn't introduce herself, she might as well be naked as her blouse wasn't buttoned exposing her pink bra and I was thinking aiks! It would be nice if you were hot, lady. You're a bit oldish and I think you need to eat! And if you owned this gym you should be friendly and professional, not rude and ...slutty (no, can't even classify her as slutty she's got nothing to show). Or at least be attractive???
She: You want to rejoin the gym?
Me: *nod*
She: Can I have your I/C?
Me:(Reluctant because she was rude yet annoyed cause this should NOT TAKE SO LONG!)

More running around by the counselor. I don't know why they call them counselors or consultants or whatever cause all they know is where the dumbbells are. And some of the counselors are fat. Shouldn't the portray an image of fit and attractive women, not fatties? And of late, I noticed that the personal trainers/rapid results trainers are sleeping in the locker room.

Anyway, back to my application, the person-in-charge, Lionel, attends to us.
Lionel: Hi (introduces himself). So, since you were a member before, we would like to offer you a monthly fee of $199 and a joining fee of...wait what's the joining fee today? Okay, only $14.00.
Prav: Why would you want us to pay $14. It's such a small fee. I'm not paying it. And this is too much.
Lionel: That's the rate now.
Prav: No, we are going to pay the old price, no joining fee, no all this nonsense whatever specials, just the same price.
Lionel: Wait let me check.
-two minutes later, Lionel comes back with a real cheesed off tone-
Lionel: Okay, you can pay your old price, I'll waive the joining fee.

Waste of time having to haggle with the management, don't you think? I'm joining for the second time, I know what the rates are. Sigh. Anyway, the entire process takes an hour. Beat that!

The gym underwent a minor facelift when I was away. They have improved in several areas, for example, their equipment are working well, the weights area has been expanded and the gym feels a lot spacious. I do not like the unfriendly faces of the new staff (I thought the old ones were bad enough but these new guys are horrible).

Personal Env Impact Rpt

The Personal Environmental Impact Report or PEIR is a real breakthrough and I must say, I am blown away by the advancements in air emission studies. Producing an inventory or mapping of air emission in a region or country seems like a thing of the past. By exploiting the capabilities of GPS, carbon footprint calculators and applications in telecommunications, participatory sensing has emerged as a method whereby everyone can have a hand in tackling Climate Change.

However, being in this country where highways are built overnight in established residential areas, my hopes and concerns for Climate Change and potential health hazards has hit rock bottom again.

Working from home: good & bad

Good:

• Working hours are flexible: You don't necessarily have to sleep early the night before because there is no such thing as getting to work on time. You can start as and when you feel like
  
• The dress code is flexible: a torn T-shirt, shorts, pyjamas, barefooted, you don't even have to comb your hair, brush your teeth cause the only contact with the outside world you'll ever have is via the internet or the phone
  
• Lunch breaks are flexible: You may go out for one, two or even three hours for lunch + shopping, no worries!
• No supervision: You can work for ten minutes, play online games for 3 hours, do your laundry, take a nap, play catch with your dog, watch tv - Heck! You can work in front of the TV the whole day!
  
• Breakfast: You don't have to worry about the morning traffic, missing the bus or the train, you can have breakfast and read the morning paper in peace
• Environment: You can work at home, at the nearest Starbucks, at your boyfriends place, the ice cream parlour, be adventurous - pick one day in a week where you work somewhere other than home
  
• It reduces your carbon footprint as you don't have to travel to and from work *pat on back*
  

Bad:

• Boredom: Hrmmmph!
  
• Your productivity rate largely relies on personal discipline.
  
• The family expects you to do all chores, since you're at home all day anyway.
• You constantly need to fight evil distractions: you convince yourself you need a break from the monotony and you end up baking (for hours), your friends who brilliantly invite you out for happy hours, unnecessary surfing, online shopping, watching soaps on tv
• You get tired of staying at home and jump at any opportunity to get out of the house!

My Bekal

They used to laugh at me when I brought a 'bekal' to work. I packed my lunch every chance I got, not because I couldn't afford to eat out, but at one point in my working life, I got sick of outside food. On busy days, lunch was a chore. You'd have to think of what to eat, where to eat, where to park, you'd have to wait for your food, order something that won't make you doze off at work, etc. And I was always against packing food from a shop as I wanted to reduce the use of Styrofoam and plastic bags. Plus, think of the health risks of putting boiling hot soup in a plastic bag or hot noodles in Styrofoam packaging!

And of course, I packed my 'bekal' in Tupperware. I plead for everyone of you to do so too, not the resealable plastic bags or Saran wrap as these are often used only once before it is discarded. If you are indeed all out to green the earth, try using stainless steel products i.e. KidsKonserve, although you can easily obtain these goods (it is so common here) should you be living in this part of the world.

Hamster Wheel

It's simply genius, like how a dynamo lights up when you pedal your bicycle. Back to basics!

The Green Microgym.

By generating electricity and conserving space and energy, The Green Microgym is one of the only fitness facilities in the world running on some of its own power. We've opened a gym in Portland, Oregon that uses a combination of solar and human power and is just as comfortable and effective as any other gym.

Can't they add a bracket to the 's'?