Yoga tips and tricks

Do you yoga? J It’s not as easy as you think it is. Sure it looks girly, but this is a very hard exercise. Try it for 30 minutes; you will sweat like a pig in Sahara Desert.

If you like to do Yoga but are lazy to drive to the gym or pay for a trainer, you can download it from websites. They usually give the lessons for free.

I am blessed enough to have an iPad, compliment from my dearest brother. So I downloaded a (then) free apps called Yoga Studio from iTunes.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/yoga-studio/id567767430?mt=8

It’s USD 2.99 now. But I think this is a good investment. The exercise offer a good variety from beginner, intermediate, to advance. All videos are downloadable without any IAP. Isn’t that cool?

If you are a beginner, don’t push it too hard. I learned my lesson the hard way when I twisted my back during a pose called “Camel.”

So, buy a Yoga mat for 10-15 dollars in Ace Hardware (Indonesia) and get the apps for 3 dollars. It couldn't be any cheaper than that. (well, the only catch is you need to have an Apple device). All you need now is just discipline J

Tips on cleaning Yoga Mat:

Yoga mat can get really smelly, because of your sweat that drips like a waterfall. If you decide to store it after every use without any cleaning treatment, sooner or later you will smell wet sock mixed with skunk spray emanating from your mat. Washing it is a hassle, because you have to make sure that you get all the soap out of the mat. Otherwise it’s gonna be a slippery yoga session.

So what to do? I found this solution by accident. The cheapest and easiest solution is just to buy liquid antiseptic. In my country, I have this brand.

You can find this in almost any supermarket here, and the price doesn’t cost you an arm, a leg, and a kidney. Just buy the small bottle, it will last you long enough. Mix half a bottle cap (or less) of Dettol and water into a spray bottle such as below.

You can put as much water as you want, because 1 full cap of Dettol is usually for a couple gallons of water. So maybe you can play around with the amount of Dettol and water to get the best solution that will get rid of the smell. This is a much better solution for me. I used to spray the mat with vinegar and water and the mat smelled like Vinegar. It won’t go away, unlike what people said that it will. In the end I have to wash it again. Not fun -_____-‘

Hang your yoga mat on a clothes line, then spray generously with the solution. Since Dettol is an antiseptic, it will kill most of the bacteria from your sweat. I tried this, and it worked really well. There’s still a hint of smell, but it wasn’t as bad as before. If you happen to hate the smell of Dettol or any other antiseptic liquid, then don’t try this J

Good luck and happy Yoga.

Enjoy :P

Poisonous Little Balls

Almost every home in Indonesia love to use these little white balls: mothballs. They get rid of moths and give your clothes a nice smell. Little that many people know that these supposedly anti-moth household items are quite dangerous. I love the smell of mothballs like some people like the smell of glue of markers. For some reason it gives me the sensation of brand new clothes. But now I am very wary of them. A couple of days ago, house lizards decided to make my room their hang out place. I like them because they eat mosquitoes, but I don’t like¬ them because they love to use the entire corner of my room as their private lavatory. So I tried to find home remedies to get rid of them. Some involved garlic, onion, and other smelly stuff. I even find weird stuff to use such as Peacock feathers. (Right?) Then I find out that we can use mothballs to get rid of them. Perfect. I can get rid of the pests and enjoy the smell of mothballs in my room. So I spread some under my bed and a ton inside my clothes cabinet. Apparently that’s a concoction for disaster. For the first a couple of hours, I was fine and can only smell a hint of the mothballs odor. I was happy that I don’t see the lizards anymore. Soon enough, the smell became unbearable. I got a headache, and when I took a breath my nose felt really hurt. So I decided to put some of them back inside a plastic bag. Day 2, it didn’t get any better because I didn’t take the ones I put in the cabinet. I thought the cabinet would contain the smell. I was wrong. Same symptoms happened, so I opened my bedroom window and let the air out. The next morning I took them all out from my cabinet. The smell was still there, but at least my headache was gone. When I do a research, I found out that these balls are very poisonous. They contain naphthalene and paradichlorobenzene, which are basically insecticide. Mothballs slowly turn from solids to toxic vapor. So when we inhale, we inhale the insecticide. The only reason why the house lizards don’t come by anymore is that basically they are afraid of the insecticide. Now I know why I have headache and nose pain. I know that our community likes to use this item, especially the old school Indonesian community. Be aware of the danger, because naphthalene doesn’t just evaporate. It transfers to clothes and stay there. Wearing mothballs infused clothes is as dangerous as inhaling them. When I did a deeper research, these chemicals are very dangerous especially for babies and pets. So I would suggest that you start getting rid of them. Even when we throw them out, these chemical compounds are seeping into the ground to our water reservoir system. Here’s a disturbing thought: You are drinking those poisonous urinal cakes you see in the public restrooms. There is no good solution yet of how we can get rid of them properly. I am surprised that so many companies in Indonesia are still mass producing this poison. If you don’t believe me, you are welcome to do a research on your own or do the mothballs experiment like I did. So my final question now, where can I buy peacock feathers around here?

New weirdnesses

So I have developed these new weirdness(es) in me. I don't know when or why it started, it just appeared out of nowhere. Maybe this is what they call the 2nd puberty. Who knows. Anyhoo, are you curious?

Well, I'm going to tell you even if you're not :D

My first weird habit is that I like to sharpen pencils. You can pick up your jaw from the floor now. I haven’t used regular pencils for a really long time, ever since the birth of mechanical pencils. Somehow the regular pencil finds its way back to my life. It began when I found some unused pencils lying around, unwanted or forgotten by the owners. I thought, "Hey, if they don't want them, I might as well use them." Then I gathered these poor unwanted things, and sharpen all of them. From that point on, I was hooked. Every time I found a pencil, I just took them and sharpen them. When it got to short, I used a piece of paper, roll it, and stick it with tape to the pencil so that I can use it till the last piece of wood and carbon. This is a preview of my Pencil Garden. And yes, from this habit, I developed a new collection of... pencil sharpeners. Sigh. I know it's weird and I need to stop. But for now I'm just indulging this. The 2nd (or maybe 3rd) one is Rubik's Snake. This is a long forgotten toy of my childhood. I don’t really care about them before, but for some reason it’s very fascinating to me now. I suck at Rubik’s cube. I still can’t do it even after downloading the instruction from Youtube. But this Rubik I can do. It’s interesting how many shapes you can form just by bending them at the right place. I started with one Rubik snake then I took another one and start combining them to make a new shape. (One of these days I will use three. My fiancée gave me one for Valentine’s day.) I will post them as I make new shapes. Here’s a preview:

Oh look..it's a Chocobo :)

So there you have it folks. I hope you enjoy this break and laughing at my new weirdness(es) and feeling better about yourself. Have a nice day :D

2nd Coming

Ah Yes. This blog has been forgotten for awhile...I do hope I can breath life into it again.

Growing up

These days, I feel that losing things are not as bad as I think it will. Last week I lost my ipod over my own mistake. Yes, I still dread it. That was the day I was planning to download FREE bible from youversion. Yes, I still want to play with it. I miss it when a certain someone opens up her ipad and shows me Pinterest. *hint hint

It is so weird that I didn't cry over that spilled milk (anyone uses this idiom anymore ? perhaps not) as bad as I thought I would. To think that it was a hard earned money to get that ipod. Perhaps I love it too much that now it is taken away from me ? Hm.....

And today. I see something that I (should) dread. A series of pictures that should pierce daggers in my heart. Apparently, it just passes by...it might felt like a little speed bump..but that's it...

Is my heart getting numb ? Or do I have a better perspective on things?  Is this a new level of confidence or hopelessness ? I do hope that it is the first one...Getting older perhaps has its own advantage...some people grow up, some people just grow old....to some of us, perhaps growing up can be a choice in life... a choice where we have to.

When life gives you lemon, squeeze that lemon on top of a bottle of Corona and enjoy your day.

Life is a journey. Embrace it.

Letting Go

When a man or a woman is in the “approach” mode, it’s normal to keep communication between them, either through BBM, SMS, Phone, or any other mains. This is called a “trial period". During this time, the man or the woman suddenly decides not to continue anymore.

He or she stops picking up the phone, stops replying SMS or BBM, basically stop communicating. I have my frustrations with this, and a friend explained it to me in ways that I can understand, and finally let it go. If you think that this doesn’t apply to you, then it’s different for every person. Let me try to sum up her explanation…..

There are a couple of things why a girl or a guy doesn’t explain. There’s a possibility that she does care for you and doesn’t want to hurt you. There is a saying “The truth shall set you free”. In some cases, the truth will only hurt you.

There are some reasons behind why a person stops communicating:
1. Another (better) person comes along
2. Family doesn't approve
3. I was just having fun with you. Now I m bored.
4. You are just my fling to make my ex jealous. Now he/she asked me to go back together

Conclusion : I don't have feeling for you anymore. So why shall I continue ?

1,3,4 – when someone told you this to your face, you definitely become infuriated…
2. – family rules over everything. Nothing you can do.

A man or a woman might say , “Who are u to ask for my explanations? We are not even dating”. This is to put it bluntly. Maybe if you are already in a relationship, the person might owe an explanation to you.
Even in the dating world, asking for an explanation can hurt you like a thousand needles…let’s say a guy is asking to break up with the girl. Then the girl is hurt because of him asking to, and insist that they stay together. Later the girl find out that there is another girl. If the girl just let him go at that point, there will be less heartache. When confronted, he says, “I already lost my feeling to you. And I asked for the breakup, but you are insisting not to. Now that you find out, what do you wanna do ? I did tell you and ask you to let me go…”

I’m not saying that this has to happen to everyone. Sometimes a relationship is worth fighting for. But on other cases, it’s better to let it go.......

Another situation, let’s say the girl like the guy since he is serious. Then she tell her parents, but they say no. She tries to explain but her parents don’t’ want to take any explanation for whatever reason. Just simple plain NO. As a good daughter she will obey her parents….

When she tell the guy, “ Sorry, my parents don’t approve of you”, what’s going to happen ? That statement doesn’t help anyone. Being the guy, it complicates things, as he doesn’t’ know what to do. Eloping doesn’t solve anything, and forcing himself to the family will make them clash with each other and eventually ruin them.

So, finally in the end, she keeps quiet and take her distance without telling him anything. This makes the guy confused. Keeps thinking about her and can’t forget her. The guy might think all the negative things about the girl, about being disrespectful, being dishonest, or whatever things come to his mind. This, in a way, makes it easier for him to move on rather than knowing the truth....Eventually, not letting everything out in the open does him more good than bad.

What I'm trying to say is this....whatever happened in the past, the future hasn't happen yet. What you have if is the present, and that is the time to believe in GOD.....believe that He has a better plan….
believe that when one door closes, another one will open….God will open it up for you when it's the right time, and it’s up to you whether you want to cry over the closed door, or accept it and let it go….let Him lead you to the best pathway of your life (Psalm 32:8)

And this is her final quote.
“Relationship at the end is very hard. (I used to say full stop here) - but that's the beauty that God created. We are all different. We aren't perfect. It’s how you compromise. Sacrifices.”

An unfair God ?

I was talking to a friend of mine regarding the fairness of God.....she said, God is not fair...because there are many people who are living life lavishly and they don't have to suffer in their life...they can live their crazy life and repent then get to heaven at the last minute..whereas we as Christians have to suffer in this world....we don't have as much money as a lot of people......

She also said, it's better then to have a level in heaven, where the newly saved and the previously saved will have a different place........I told her that, God is fair in His ways...not our ways...we cannot really judge God and tell Him what to do....God will grant whatever He wants to grant to whoever He choose.....that's fair.....we as human beings won't understand this...but God has a far greater plan for all of us and humanities......

In Matthew 20:1-16 (New Living Translation), the Parable of the Vineyard Workers
in verse 9 people are complaining that the one came late and the one came really early get the same wage...here's the answer:

13 “He answered one of them, ‘Friend, I haven’t been unfair! Didn’t you agree to work all day for the usual wage? 14 Take your money and go. I wanted to pay this last worker the same as you. 15 Is it against the law for me to do what I want with my money? Should you be jealous because I am kind to others?’ 16 “So those who are last now will be first then, and those who are first will be last.”


But in other passage, God will give reward to those who seek for Him...those who do good deeds for Him..there are perhaps at least 30 mentions of reward in the New Testament alone. For instance :

- fasting, where no one knows, has its reward from God- Matthew 6:18
- loving your enemies and do good things to them will have a great reward in heaven - Luke 6:35
- on 2nd coming, God will give you a reward if you have done a good job - Luke 12:43
- you must really seek God to receive reward - Hebrews 11:6

and many more.....so those so-called "last minute repentant" will not get as much as people who really devote themselves for God...

Then my friend mentioned that why is she not happy ? why is she always suffering and receive the short end of the stick ? why does God interfere in one event and not the others...honestly, I don't have answer to that.....but the bible give us clues why we are not happy here on earth....

1 Peter 1:17
And remember that the heavenly Father to whom you pray has no favorites. He will judge or reward you according to what you do. So you must live in reverent fear of him during your time as “foreigners in the land.”

So, as long as we are not back in heaven, we will never truly be home as we are “foreigners in the land.” Earth is not our true home....heaven is......the Lord will make everything right and wipe all tears....but that is at the end of days, where Jesus will come for the 2nd time.....

Isaiah 25:8
He will swallow up death forever! The Sovereign Lord will wipe away all tears.He will remove forever all insults and mockery against his land and people.The Lord has spoken!

God bless you all.....