1st day: Pamper yourself

Thanks to some DR (Disaster Recovery) simulation activities, I'm having a 5-day break and yesterday was such a relaxing one!

GI Haircut
In the morning, took my brunch and had my "GI haircut" (as the barbers here call it). Filipino term: "semi-kalbo"

Stressed IT people
In the afternoon, I went for a massage. Kind of weird at first because no-one there knows how to speak English, they were all Chinese, tsk.. good thing they have banners so I get to point out the kind of massage I want:

• 60-minute full body massage and
• 40-minute feet reflexology

So relaxing. The owner told me that most of their customers, if not old people are stressed IT people working in banks. *ouch*.

14 Meridian points - Chakra flow? No, its Acupuncture
After the massage, they made me feel comfortable in the place and I get to have a conversation with the owner, shared some stories and learned something about Acupuncture:

• Main philosophy is about these 14 meridian points all throughout the body which if pointed correctly will send signals to particular body organs such as the heart or lungs. The kind of signals depend on how the needle was applied to your body. *For Naruto fans, this reminded me of the philosphy in Chakra flow - something Neji can see perfectly. If I'm not mistaken, it was like 64 chakra points all over the body? Hmm.. so Japs have 64, and Chinese have 14. Either way, its interestingly weird.
  
• Needle is either being poked or circled slowly into your skin, both of which have different purposes, for healing and nourishment, respectively.
• When needle is applied, it does not and should not hit the muscles, veins, tendons or bones but instead the gap between those and the skin.
  
• When needle is removed, there should be no blood; else, it was incorrectly done.
  

Interesting? Yes. But come on, needles all over your body? Someone planning to do this, make sure you go to the best and certified acupuncturist.

Promenade
While they had me stay after the massage. I get to eat a new fruit (something to add to my very short list of edible fruits) - Promenade. I don't know if I spelled it correctly because I can't find it in Google but it's something rough and brownish outside and has tiny bit of red circles inside - which is actually an outer coating of the seed. You eat it by sucking the juice out of those red circles then spit out the seed. Kind of tedious process to eat something, imagine 1/4 of the fruit took me like 30-45 minutes. But it was nice.

I don't know if I'm too ignorant but I told them we don't have that in Philippines. (Someone knows this, tell me tell me). They say they got it from China, and they also have it here in Singapore but in smaller sizes. Those fruits are only harvested once a year. The flower blooms in August and they get to have it in September, just right before the Chinese Lunar calendar.

Sweet and a biscuit
The other two Chinese girls, who just came back from Shanghai, forgot their names - I'm not that accustomed yet in remembering Chinese names. - gave me a biscuit and a sweet just before I left the massage spa.
Looks good and I hope it tastes good, might eat them later.

Impulse buying
Found some DVDs sold at S$8 each, bought 5 of them.

• Rush Hour 3 (bad copy) - still made me laugh though, haha.
• While in a bed scene.. Girl: "I've never been with an American man before"
• Chris Tucker: "Neither do I, baby"
  
• The Ultimate Gift - good inspirational movie. Transition between scenes were not that good but need not be since the focus was really on the "gifts".
• Gift of Work: "If you do work just like what you've done, you'll get anything."
  
• The Contract
• The Reaping
• Zodiac

Promise, I won't buy another DVD here! tsk tsk!!
Well, except for Criminal Minds Season 2 - to be released in Asia, 4th quarter this year.

Nails, nails, nails
In the evening, I had my nails cleaned - feet and hands. I'll get to have it with this shop for the next 6 times. Some kind of a package deal. See, this might be costly but to tell you, I don't really know how to cut my toe nails. For my hands, I have some issues on nail-biting since college. My mom used to tell me, it is some sort of insecurity, like a psychological behavior. I may have some insecurities but I will change them feel more confident and I hope pampering my finger nails would be a good start. Something like, "your nails look good, you paid for it, so don't bite them!" *silly* =)



Great, so much for one day! 4 more to go, I get to clean my room, do laundry, iron clothes, grocery perhaps, then study study study, and finally get a perfect score in the Informatica Certification exam on Monday!