Red-Stained Victory for Iraq

By BUSHRA JUHI Associated Press Writer

BAGHDAD Jul 29, 2007 (AP)

Defying orders from authorities, revelers fired celebratory gunshots and poured into the streets after Iraq beat Saudi Arabia to clinch its first Asian Cup soccer championship on Sunday. Mosques broadcast calls to stop the shootings, which killed at least four people. Security forces enforced a vehicle ban in an effort to prevent a repeat of car bombings that killed dozens celebrating Iraq's progress to the finals Wednesday.

Iraqis welcomed the victory as a chance to show the world they can come together and expressed frustration that their politicians couldn't do the same. "Those heroes have shown the real Iraq. They have done something useful for the people as opposed to the politicians and lawmakers who are stealing or killing each other," said Sabah Shaiyal, a 43-year-old policeman in Baghdad. "The players have made us proud, not the greedy politicians. Once again, our national team has shown that there is only one, united Iraq."

The Iraqi team, known as the "Lions of the Two Rivers" beat three-time champions Saudi Arabia 1-0 in its first appearance in the Asian Cup final.

The jubilation over the victorious run of the team has given Iraqis a rare respite from the daily sectarian attacks, with men of all ages cheering and dancing in the streets after each win.
But extremists seemed just as determined to destroy national pride and unity. Two car bombs tore through crowds of revelers in two Baghdad neighborhoods, killing 50 people after Wednesday's semifinal victory over South Korea.

It's Raining Bills... in Japan!

i'm not exactly sure what to make out of this story... urban legend, or what???... good or what??? whatever!

********************************************************************************
by Miwa Suzuki Sun Jul 29, 6:32 PM ET

TOKYO (AFP) - A mystery gripping Japan over anonymous cash gifts has taken a new twist. For those who want the next batch of giveaways, the place to look is in their mailboxes -- or even right at their feet.
ADVERTISEMENT

Residents of a Tokyo apartment building are baffled after a total of 1.81 million yen (15,210 dollars) was found in 18 mailboxes by Saturday, a police spokesman said.
"The money was in identical plain envelopes, which were unsealed and carried no names or messages," the spokesman told AFP. But residents became "spooked" rather than pleased with the anonymous gifts -- and were too upright to pocket the money secretly. "Some people initially suspected they were fake bills. When they realised the bills were real, they reported them to us," the spokesman said.

The predominantly middle-class apartment building in Tokyo is not alone. An envelope with one million yen was left in the mailbox of a 31-year-old woman in the western city of Kobe on Wednesday. Police admit they have no idea who is leaving the cash -- whether a few people are behind the bizarre giveaways or if Japan is witnessing a craze of copycat benevolence.
Since June, dozens of city halls and other public buildings across the country have reported finding neatly packaged envelopes full of cash in men's restrooms.

The bathroom money has come with identical letters asking people to do good deeds -- leading to speculation that the benefactor may be a public servant trying to cheer up his profession or perhaps a member of a new-age religion. Japanese cash dropoffs are not always so neat.
On Wednesday, bills worth 960,000 yen were inexplicably seen "falling" in front of a convenience store.

"We can just say the money came from the skies," a puzzled police official said. "There were other passers-by outside and customers in the store but the incident caused no confusion," he said. "People thought it was too eerie to touch." A man who contacted police saying his daughter had dropped the money had his claim rejected as groundless, the official said.

The largest single dropoff so far was in the ancient city of Kyoto on July 23, astonishing a 67-year-old woman who found an envelope containing 10 million yen of stacked bills in her mailbox.
But mystery money does not always reach police intact.

A woman walking on a bridge over Tokyo's Sumida River told officers that she saw bills falling at her feet from an elevated expressway above on July 6. She believes 30 to 40 notes fell but police managed to collect only six notes worth 46,000 yen by the time they arrived.
"Some people were picking the money up on the bridge," the Tokyo Shimbun quoted the woman as saying.

No one can say if more people have collected money and not told police.

Media tallies suggest more than four million yen, including some found last year, has been found in the public restrooms. Dutifully, police are holding most of the money in case the rightful owner eventually decides to reveal their identity.

Warm-up and Cool Down, Anyone?

if it is true with muscles, it is true with us...

if it is true with machines, it is true with us...

if change is inevitable, we need to warm up for it...

if we need to stop, we need to cool down...

if you need to break a bad news, warm up...

if you need to shift to a slower gear, cool down...

if you aim for a new direction, warm up...

if you need to break up, cool down...


yes! warm up or cool down, or suffer the pain for days!!!! i know this, yet i took it for granted... so for days, i've been suffering from muscle pains! haha!

Masterplanners

mano has been used to with so many masterplanning templates. she's working in an architectural firm, that's why. so one day, she used this for her 'personal masterplan'. i followed suit! we ended up staying awake til wee hours in the morning with sheer adrenaline rush keeping us awake!

armed with mental notes that i got from reading "Managing your Finances, Guide to Expats" and "Rich Dad, Poor Dad", i was on to a wonderful journey of doing my life's masterplan!

version 1 was for my July 2007 to March 2008 plan. as soon as i finished it, my energy surged and ideas popped into my mind dragging me to do a 5-year plan! that was version 2.

General Objective: To go out of the rat race and have a more meaningful life for the next 5 years

Specific Objectives:

1. To acquire a degree in education (pre-school, elem and high school), a career which i would like to grow old with

2. To achieve financial independence to support my teaching dream (which, unfortunately in the philippines, is a career that is not well-paid)

3. To obtain the means to fuel my other other passions in life: travelling, evangelism, photography, missions and linguistics

4. To obtain short-courses in piano-playing, stenography and sign language (to communicate better with my deaf-mute nephew, who happens to be my fave!)

This is totally a different ballgame... venturing into the unknown! leaving out of the 'comforts' of regular paycheck is scary. i've been preparing myself for this the past years coz i know an abrupt change can be damaging for me. and my biggest comfort is that my life's Architect is Him who is the omnipotent God of the universe, my heavenly Father who knows what's the best for me!

Prov 16:9 "The mind of man plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps"

Prov 19:21 "Many plans are in a man's heart, but the counsel of the Lord will stand"

just drawing up this 'little masterplan' has somehow pulled me out of the crossroads which i've been in and out of, for the past months. but i also know that just like any plan, it can be revised upto version nth! well, that just makes my life more exciting! ;)

Coffee Talk: Central Perk in Jumeirah

this is actually long overdue! this happened end of june, and yet i will only be able to write about it only now. but i cannot NOT write about this too. because i would like to remember always how we can make our evenings different-- with friends!

all of us 4 love "Friends". even J now is addicted to it! so, where else is it fitting to grab a cuppa? at Central Perk!

after dinner, we searched for it within the inner roads of jumeirah. until after almost an hour of driving around, and close to giving up... we saw the wondeful sign!!!






they have magzaines, wifi, warm ambiance, very comfy couches, good coffee lines, and cool staff! i'm sure we found a gem in the city, specially on days when you needed to unwind...




















and as the pictures reveal, we had one crazy, make-believe 'Friends' night with the help of the friendly staff there! they said they have bands playing every saturday night, and movie nights every monday... so, i think we'd give our grand hyatt tables a rest for a while... ;) they also have in Uptown Mirdiff, which of course we already visited!

I'm Going Back to the Philippines

such is the cry of many amnesty-seekers in UAE. there are about 1000 of them, many are domestic helpers. the highest number being in abu dhabi and dubai. last july 3, they were given by the government amnesty which they should avail before end of august. i hope absconding pinoys will take advantage of this and not let the 'deadest deadline' mentality cripple them and lose their privilege to go back home safely...

common problem they face is paying of the airfares. airlines have cooperated by giving discounted rates to pinoys, and to other countries wherein this amnesty was given, such as india. filipino communities have worked hand in hand to give needed support, coz who else will help them?

i guess this is one main reason why our immigration in the philippines is so unreasonably strict in letting the visit visa holders leave the airport. they do no like others to suffer the fate of our unfortunate kababayans. however, many immigration officers take advantage of this and turn it into power-play and lose the real concern for those leaving the country... until someone, fortunately, irated the daughter of PGMA and re-organized the screening system of our NAIA immigration...

coming to UAE does not always end in 'happily ever after'. there are a small percentage of sad and bad endings. you have to be prepared for the worst...

Need a Raise?

when you are stuck in a job with a salary that has not climbed an inch after 2-3 years, what would you do? (1) sulk and let it reflect on your work until your boss notices it and hopefully talk to you, (2) get angry and vent in on a resignation letter, or (3) talk to your boss about it?

the first one is the defeatest attititude and the most childish, yet many people buy it! why? because it is the easiest thing to do, leaving the 'guilt' to the other party without ever having to do confrontation. it's a wait-and-see game.

the second one is, as what was written, a 'resigned' move! putting an exclamation mark even before exploring the 'whys' and 'hows' impairs the understanding of both parties. but many also are sold here because, again, no confrontation is needed. no need to act 'seemingly' needy. and besides, one may think "i should not be begging for my salary increase?"

the last option is the road taken by those who have the balls to face the consequences. and this is the fair move in giving the management an opportunity to hear one's side. just a word of caution: make sure you do this professionally. do away with loud confrontations. the goal is to be heard, and not to argue.

and i am not just talking about salary raise here. but i guess this applies to many aspects of our life as well... settling issues with spouse... settling issues with friends... settling issues with those in authority... settling issues with the family... in all these, we have the 3 options to choose from, and i hope, we'll always use the best option. it will not always result to what you wanted, but it will help you avoid regrets!

The Art of Negotiation

i vividly remember the first time i started negotiating bravely for something. you see, i used to be the typical 'play-it-safe' girl. if the teacher says deadline is tomorrow, then tomorrow it is. if the teacher says you bring this and that, i bring this and that. i do not like going against the norm. i used to admire the guts of my classmates wayback in high school and college who can sweetly talk their way out of some projects... or troubles. i stopped at admiring.

i graduated as a food technologist, and my first two jobs landed me cool slots in the the product development departments. i concocted the nacho king recipes and translated it to huge batches serving 25 stores. then i transferred to glico's to look into improving their product lines. i liked my job but i know i'm missing on something. deep inside, i am slowly dragged by the lure of the marketing world. so when the opportunity knocked, i didn't let it slip away.

our marketing officer resigned. i applied for the post, and obviosly, i got the arched eyebrows of my bosses and the silent stare (though i can hear them mocking me "you? marketing? you must be kidding!") days passed by, applicants had come and gone, yet they have not found the right one. then one day, i gave my boss an offer he cannot refuse -- i told him that while they are looking for the right one, i will handle the marketing AND the product development departments for the same salary i am receiving. we shook hands.

that dare was in 1998, and as they say, the rest is history!

i didn't know that, that negotiation will beget more negotiations -- with my future bosses, clients, suppliers, colleagues, subordinates, etc... oh, life is full of negotiations, compromises and deals! winning and losing depends on how you view it short-term, and long-term.

i learned that it does not necessarily have to cross the borders of my principles to achieve a win-win situation.

i learned that perception is powerful in negotiating, specially if you appeal to their self-interests.

i learned that negotiation protocols are just protocols.

i learned that there are 101 ways of skinnng a cat.

i learned that you do not have to quit on the first rejection, and that a 'no' presents in itself another opportunity.

i learned that in business dealings, relationships stand a better ground than portfolio.

i learned that you have to make sure that you are barking at the right tree.

i learned that you cannot always be assertive of your rights, and it takes prudence and humility to choose when not to.

and lastly, i learned that all of us on the negotiating sides are all but human!

and being here in dubai has honed it all the more! what with articulately persistent indians, assertive locals and egyptian flattery. after a lot of rubbing elbows with them, i am telling you i am not the same anymore from the shy and timid student that i was then...

The Bliss of Forgetfulness

oh yes, there is such a thing! and it works well for me. before i tell you how, let me just give you a background on this weakness of mine...

for those who do not know me that much, i have chronic forgetfulness. since college, my memory has always failed me. i forget names, formulas, data, etc. well, i can say it's really only by His grace that i survived school life! whew!!!

when i started working, i realized i cannot live with a marred memory. there were times i'd call someone in their local extension, and if she responds back even just after a minute, i already forget what i was about to say. more comical and embarrassng is when my boss would instruct me something, and then when i am about to do it, i'd ask him what it was again that he told me to do! oh, yeah i have those moments!

therefore, i tried all the tricks in the bag. i always have my notepads on hand (for any instruction of the boss), planners (for dealines and meetings), color coded pens (red to mark off 'done' items), highlighters (to highlight important nos and names), post its, outlook helps, and other what-have-yous. and yes, they are effective all these years! so work-wise, i am able to manage this, except for some lapses which thankfully, my colleagues forgive, hehe, like missing papers, missing keys, missing pens, missing phone, etc. i wish we can 'ring' all things in case they are misplaced...

in my personal life, it is my diary that stand as my witness. i've had that since i was first year college, and continues to do so until now. why? because the wonderful details of my life should not be left to the care of my memory!!

so where is the bliss there? you might ask...

well, for one, i do not carry an excess emotional baggage. my mantra is 'if you cannot say it, forget it; if you cannot forget it, say it". i've seen a lot of people victimized by a past they can never forget which haunts them and impairs their present. would you believe that there are times that i talk nonchalantly to someone with whom i've had an altercation with just a few days ago, simply because i forgot about the whole thing already? more often than not, i forget the small issues i have with other people, whether it's their issue against me or my issue against them. i said 'more often than not' because i'm still human, and there are still a few concerns which are retained in my limited-capacity-brain.

secondly, forgiving comes completely --- forgive and... forget! and move on...

thirdly, it gives me the opportunity to give people who wronged me a clean slate to start with. the Bible says "love covers a mulitude of sins". but of course, i couple it with easily learning from the past mistakes, so people do not take advantage of my supposed 'kindness'. i don't get mad, i get even! haha! just kidding! seriously, i believe that while people are breathing, there will always be a chance for change.

and lastly, it helps me to focus my energy on the more important issues in life. they say that relationships (or life for that matter) are not destroyed by big problems, but by small issues that has piled up and was not dealt with properly. true. in the same measure that life is composed of the bigger picture of God's blessings which we naturally easily dismiss, rather than the small black spots of unsettled wants which we hardly ever forget.

so, celebrate your 'selective' forgetfullness!!! cheers!!

I Googled Myself!!!!

Yaiks, this is creepy!!!! there is no way i can escape anybody.... try to google youself and see what the webspace has to say about you... and now, let me google those people whom i've long been looking for in ages, hmmmmmmm....


Friendster - Marites Tetch Ingente
Friendster: Marites Tetch Ingente; location: United Arab Emirates, AE; cainta, rizal; nacho king, glico's, countrystyle donuts, adventureland.www.friendster.com/tetchingente - Supplemental Result - Similar pages

FilipinaMates International :: View topic - \'Burn passport ...
Tetch Ingente With interest in Philippine presidential polls mounting, ... Tetch Ingente, based in Sharjah, said: \"Poe will win hands-down in any elections ...www.filipinamates.net/phpbb-1/viewtopic.php?p=569&sid=eee62571282c974bff92daa414315ba8 - 84k - Supplemental Result - Cached - Similar pages

Tales from My Grey Matter
Posted by Tetch at 02:50. Labels: Las Filipinas, My Faves ... Posted by Tetch at 00:21. Labels: UAE Chronicles. Older Posts. Subscribe to: Posts (Atom) ...www.ingente.blogspot.com/ - 102k - Supplemental Result - Cached - Similar pages

Tales from My Grey Matter: You Can't Have your Cake and Eat it too!
Posted by Tetch at 23:32. Labels: Reflections · Newer Post Older Post Home ... About Me. Tetch: Mentos... go figure! View my complete profile ...ingente.blogspot.com/2007/06/you-cant-have-you-cake-and-eat-it-too.html - 61k - Cached - Similar pages[ More results from ingente.blogspot.com ]

Mideast Economy
Tetch Ingente With interest in Philippine presidential polls mounting, expatriates here have expressed mixed feelings towards the prospect of having another ...archive.wn.com/2004/01/12/1400/mideasteconomy/ - 150k - Supplemental Result - Cached - Similar pages

Manila Science High School in Malate, Manila
Tetch Ingente , Class of 1990 Tyrone Guya , Class of 1990 Wilfredo P PeÑafiel , Class of 1990 Agnes M Baston (Mabulay), Class of 1991 ...static.namesdatabase.com/schools/PHMM/Malate/ManilaScienceHighSchool.html - 29k - Cached - Similar pages

Names Directory: Tetch
Common surnames for Tetch: Tetch Ferrer Tetch Ingente Tetch Torres ... and typos for this name: Tecth, Ttech, Tecth, eTtch, Tetc, Tetca, Tetch, Tetch, ...www.namesdir.com/F_Tetch - 4k - Supplemental Result - Cached - Similar pages

Take the Plunge!

would you rather know the reality about something, even if the odds are pointing opposite to what you want? Or just enjoy the slightest ray of hope and dwell on the bliss of the mystery of the unknown?

there are people who would rather not go to the doctor for the fear of knowing the real score of their health, until certain symptoms already appear and make the trip to the doctor inevitable; rather than dealing with the present while it is still manageable…

there are people who would rather all-together close themselves down for new friendships or new beginnings, because they were burned and betrayed a number of times; rather than learn from it and enjoy the possibilities of picking new gems again on life’s road…

there are people who would rather wait for divine intervention for their decisions, for the debilitating fear of making the wrong moves, rather than acting on it when God has fully equipped them to deal with the situation…

and then there are people who would rather keep mum about how they strongly feel for someone, hindered more by the fear of rejection and the uncertainties; rather than expressing one’s emotion to that special someone and dealing with the reality once and for all…

in many points in my life, i am like those people… but this time, with God’s guidance and strength, i took the plunge! after much prayers and deliberations with Him, i know it is worth it, so i took the risk… and i took the risk of losing my hopes and dreams, at the expense of knowing the reality…

we always fail to realize that knowing the reality, whether it is for us or against us, is actually more liberating in the process. we fail to see this because we let ourselves remain in the denial stage for so long. it is ok to let go of yourself in the depths of sorrow for failed dreams and failed expectations. it is natural. but it is also God’s will for us to be resilient.

now, i am free from the bondage of fear. i do not have to keep pinning my hopes on something in the air. i do not have to walk aimlessly. i do not have to deceive myself. i do not have to lose my energy on useless sleepless nights. i do not have to waste my time with endless exhausting mind game of ‘what ifs’.

but rather, I can now divert my remaining sanity on accepting the real present, keeping myself whole in the process and moving on forward in the real direction... while it is not yet too late.

at least now i know where i stand. i now know where i am. and it gives me a better perspective of where i should be going. and with God’s help abounding and freely accessible, i am now plotting on the ‘hows’ of getting there… baby steps at a time…

Driving Blues in the UAE

after almost a month of waking up early for my lessons, i failed my first driving exam. after another month, i tried again and finally got my UAE driver's license. the feeling was like passing the bar exam! haha! ... and i've been driving here for almost a year since then...

here are the things i like about driving here:

1. there is much respect for zipper-scheme when the road narrows for whatever reason (accidents, road works, narrowing roads, etc). road-narrowing used to haunt me in manila coz other drivers can really exhaust your patience. if you happen to be beside jeepneys or taxis, they would scare you to death by inching so close to you! headache! and when changing lanes, i do not find it hard to sqeeze into the other lane. very giving.

2. right of way -- drivers assert their right of way, and other drivers respect it, more often than not, whether in intersections, round abouts and other parts of the road.

3. not a lot of pedestrians on the road... nor motorcycles... so you just focus on the road!

4. roads are smooth, hole-free and road paints are clear. they even have raod vacuum cleaners which i usually see at night! in manila, i can hardly drive for more than 60kph because of suprise potholes, pedestrians crossing, motorcycles on your left and right... so as they say, defensive driving is best imbibed in manila.

5. road signs, road paints and tourist spot signs are clear and are really followed. i specially appreciate the lane lines coz it really gives proper direction to all motorists.

6. car watching -- if you're a car enthusiast like my nephew Onat, oh, the UAE road would be heaven for you. just drive along and gawk at all the new cars, SUVs and what-have-you in the motoring world! or, if you're fortunate, you may even park right next to a Bentley, or a Hummer, or a Lexus... and get a few snapshots!

7. well-lit roads -- it's a good shift from our dark hi-ways! whether a major or minor road, everywhere there's light!

8. roundabouts -- sometimes i don't like them, but sometimes i do. depends on the traffic situation.

9. cool drivers -- with the exemption of some, i find the drivers generally cool (well, compared to the ones in manila, for that matter). i have not encountered any shoutings, nor dirty fingers, nor continuous honking. when there's an accident, the police arrives within minutes, and the insurance takes care of everything in a flash! we've had a couple of incidences, and claims are easy to get.

10. use of lanes (overtaking, average and slow-moving vehicle lanes) are usually followed

things i do not like:

1. the poor urban planning of dubai roads -- if you are looking for a place, and you missed a turn, you're dead! it is difficult to find your way back to where you got lost. this is where i am happy with the road system in abu dhabi-- grid and simple.

2. traffic -- in sharjah and in dubai! simply terrible. i read it is the worst in the mid east! i think it is because they lack bridges that connect the two parts of dubai (deira and bur dubai). bottle necks usually happen right at the foot of the bridges....

3. white boys - the road courtesy is tainted by some show-off white boys (locals) who drive careflesslym sporting their huge SUV cars! if sporting their gigantic cars is not enough for making their presence really felt, they make sure they take 2 parking slots for 1 car, or they put on those loud blasters or better yet, speeds up along the freeway!

4. politics on the dubai-sharjah road -- i do not know the whole story to this, but there was a road that connected dubai from sharjah which was closed because of politics--- and yeah, we all do suffer!!

5. SALIK toll fee! i don't believe that it reduced traffic in Sheik Zayed... but it's more i guess of people not having the Salik tags yet so they divert from Zayed to avoid the crazy penalty fees!

The Stigma of OFWs

almost 8 million Filipinos are working overseas, and almost 80 % of them are married, and leave their families behind. this work trend has definitely answered a big problem among the Filipino families – financial survival. dollars are sent back to the philippines, alleviating their families’ lives, and on a bigger scale, it increases the dollar reserve and of course, increasing the spending cycle of money, making it a good machinery of the government to improve our economy.

our boss’ vision for bringing in employees from the philippines to dubai is “one filipino employee hired, means one family made financially worry-free.” yes very true.

but................ on the other hand, it left a stigma to many. it solved one, but created another problem. one parent is away, leaving the whole responsibility of child-caring to the other spouse, and many times, with the grand parents and uncles and aunties. the kids are left with no image of either the mother or the family, whoever decided to fly abroad. and because of this, filipino family has never been the same again…

the absence of one parent-figure is already disturbing. but there is something more shattering, and more alarming… the increasing cases of infidelities and broken marriages among the OFW families.

yearly, in our company alone, we deal with a number of these cases. is the saying ‘out of sight, out of mind’ rubbing them in, poisoning their minds? the once ‘married’ are claiming to be ‘separated’, and thus making their current relationship legal. we’ve put our foot down on this issue and has implemented radical policies and decisions. but there are others who’d really sneak behind our back smartly, and prolong a taboo relationship longer than we’d imagine. not all OFWs are given the bi-annual treat to go home. many wait for 1 year, or worse, 2 years to be given the chance to go home.

or, it is the spouse left behind who is playing with fire! whew, is 1 or 2 years of wait really too long to keep the married vows intact?! ... i pity the wronged ones... but most especially, i pity the kids who have to borne the consequences of their parents' selfishness...


oh, the stigma… the curse of Filipino OFWs… financially free yet emotionally broken...... or would you rather keep the family intact despite being financially drowned?

My Gym Blunders

i don't know why i had this aversion to gym. i think it stemmed way back high school when it stuck to my mind that if i start gym-ing, i have to do this for life or else those muscles would just transform to fats! and since i cannot commit, then i will not start... anyways, i was thin like a stick then, so i did not care...

... not until the unsightly flabs started to appear 20 years later!!! and so now, i have to start loving the gym. to do that, i've to have a good gym-mate, and Mano just provided that. next, a good gym place, and that we easily got. and now, i just have to acquire the 'willpower', that i am slowly working on...

for one month, we've gone to the gym, and unfortunately commited the following blunders which you should avoid:

(1) hard workout = hard pig out.... haha! when we're stretched out and worn out, we find it so much more conducive for hearty meals! correction-- after a good workout, wait for 30 minutes before we face the moderately-portioned delicious temptation, and make sure we do not nullify the workout by putting in additional pounds! we were advised to have 6 small meals per day, so that the food will be burned properly and not stored as fats.

(2) treadmill running... heavy feet, rubber shoes heavily banging on the treadmill floor, seemingly telling everyone 'hey, i'm running!' correction-- run smoothly and quietly by lifting properly our feet and letting it stride with the mill. miraculously, i perspired more easily after just 15 min on level 7!

(3) long gaps in between lifting weights... oh, we keep relaxing after each set. coorection: we were told to keep on the rhythm and keep our heart rates up in order to achieve both cardio and muscular goals.

(4) jerking when using the arm curl... so that's why even after a month, i've not felt my upper arm flabs tightening! i was shown that arm should be clipped, and only the lower arms moving, with the back part feeling all the aches of weight lifting, which means that the muscles is working!

(5) going to the gym just whenever... ah, this is the part i used to be afraid of. but then, ageing is here to stay, which means metabolism is slowing down, and either i stay with an unhealthy heart and flabs, or commit to health for life! and consistently!

so to all gym-wannabes, hope you learn a thing or two from the one-month wasted gym-time that i rendered... and realize that going to the gym needs discipline and enjoyment to be successful!