A long, long time ago, someone gave me a bookmark with a funny ‘prayer’ for dieters printed on it. Somehow it crossed my mind today, prompting me to Google it so that I can share it with you all. I found it — of all places! — at one of LiveStrong.com’s message boards.
Dieter’s Prayer
Give me strength, O Lord I pray.
Help me make it through this day.
Deliver me from snacks and sweets.
Keep my mind off high-cal treats.
Tempt me not with French cuisines.
Bid me flee soft drink machines.
Turn my eyes from ice-cream bars.
Stay my hand from cookie jars.
Till I’m back in shape again, hang in there with me!
Amen.
Enjoy your weekend, everyone!
Tags: diet
It’s the height of World Cup fever and with South Africa being the host nation this year, it’s only fitting that I write a blog post about this beautiful country where the sea and mountains meet the blue, blue sky.
In much the same way that the Alps are associated with Switzerland, the Grand Canyon with the USA, and the Amazon River with Brazil, Table Mountain has got to be South Africa’s most defining natural landmark. So naturally, when I went to Cape Town in 2009 (has it really been a year already?!), Table Mountain was right up there in my list of must-visit places, just second to Cape Point.
Remember this photo that I took at Victoria & Alfred Waterfront?
That’s the iconic mountain right up there in the background, so named because of its flat, table-like top.
The fastest way to get to the top of Table Mountain is by cable car. I was told it’s also possible to hike up the mountain; just make sure go with a guide because people have been known to have disappeared without any trace when they ventured out on their own.
The cable car is pretty cool because it rotates as it traverses the 1,085-metre height, giving everyone a 360-degree view of the surrounding area. And exactly because of this rotating motion, it’s not possible for people to hold on to the windows or the walls, which can feel quite unnerving if you have issues with heights. (Which brings to mind: if you have issues with heights, why even go up at all?)
It was winter when we went there and the temperature at the top was 9° Celcius. The wind was an entirely different matter — its chill struck me all the way to my bone marrow. At least, that’s how it felt to me!
It was also quite windy that day so it was a challenge getting a clear view of the sea and valley. I had to be quick and take my shots in between the thick layers of clouds that floated by, one after another.
On one side, you get remarkable views of the cliffs in its stratified glory, with the ocean waves crashing at its feet…
And on another side, you get an unforgettable sweeping view of the city of Cape Town.
While at the top, I kept a modest distance from the edges of the mountain, just to be on the safe side. In contrast, my husband, the calculated risk-taker, had the guts to perch on top of an uneven rock and answer some text messages on his phone while waiting for me. (I kept taking photographs, you see, so there was always an interesting shot to delay me along the way.)
From the top of Table Mountain, I managed to zoom in on the World Cup stadium which was still under construction at that time. I used my el-cheapo-but-can-still-do Nikkor 18-135mm lens. The blur is partly because of the distance, partly because of the clouds.
Paths on top of Table Mountain — some two kilometres in total — are clearly marked. It is highly advised to stay on them while navigating the summit, for safety reasons.
There’s a cafe right on top if you fancy a cuppa but we were too cheap in a hurry, so we didn’t go. I did go to the loo, a decision which I regretted immensely due to the almost unbearable stench inside. My advice to you: empty your bladder before going up, if you can.
Souvenirs are a must in any tourist hotspot and Table Mountain is no exception. Why, they even sell pre-packed dassie droppings in there! The dassie stuffed toys are de rigeur… but why anyone would want to buy dassie droppings is simply beyond my comprehension. [NB: A dassie is a small squirrel-like animal that belongs to the rat family, which are frequently found roaming around Table Mountain.]
As though to compensate for the absence of dassies that day, these birds were plentiful all around. They reminded me of crows, except that they weren’t noisy and they had bright orange feathers at the tip of their wings.
We went down Table Mountain the same way we went up, i.e. by cable car. For one very brief moment though, I was very, very tempted to go down by abseiling down the mountain. But only for a fleeting moment, I tell you. I had the perfect excuse to not do it — it cost 595 Rands (≈USD78 or RM250) per person to go down that way ;)
Just before exiting into the cable car, there’s a brass model of the Table Mountain, which is an excellent way of recapping your walk on the top of the iconic peak.
One day, I hope to go back to Cape Town and go up Table Mountain on foot and muster up enough courage to go down by abseiling. Until then, I’ll have these photos to remind me of my brief encounter with South Africa’s most famous mountain.
Tags: Cape Town, South Africa, Table Mountain
The sky was so dramatic this morning that I couldn’t resist taking a few shots using my HTC Desire.
This photo was the best among the lot, unedited in any way other than addition of my site’s URL and resizing for the web (please click on the photo below to see a bigger version in another tab/window).
As you can see from the time stamp, I took this photo at 7:49am, which perhaps makes you wonder why everything looks so dark without being Photoshopped. Simple. All I did was focus on the bright sky, thereby automatically darkening the foreground, and more importantly, I used my car’s dark tint (the one on the uppermost portion of the windscreen) as an impromptu filter.
I realise it’s been 11 days since my last blog post. I’ve been working on a draft post on Table Mountain since last weekend but haven’t finished uploading all the photos yet, so this short post has to do for now.
Tags: HTC Desire
Dark Water (image from QuietPaths.com)
Things are never what they seem.
Tensions often lay simmering underneath a facade of calm and all it takes is the slightest stimulus to ripple the surface and unleash a storm with a fury that defies imagination.
God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.
It was one of the most surreal moments of my life. There I was online Monday morning, holding my breath as I waited for the clock to strike 11 am, staring at the computer screen, refreshing my Twitter page every 10 seconds or so. Finally, the big moment came…and I stared in disbelief at Maxis’ official announcement that all ten of us, reviewers, get to keep the HTC Desire test units.
Rezeki (English: blessing). Rejeki in Indonesian. From the Arabic rizq (which is also, curiously, where the word ‘risk’ comes from). That’s what this phone is. Pure, unexpected rezeki. I am grateful. And humbled. And thankful.
But between you and me, the real winners are the twins. Because they get to continue playing with Kids Connect The Dots, Paint Joy, and Zebra Paint on the HTC Desire :)
For those of you who are curious, here’s how the Maxis10 review system worked:-
Maxis tweeted an announcement that they were looking for ten people to review the HTC Desire. They provided a link to an online survey that you had to fill up. The questions were pretty simple: stuff like ‘What social networks are you on?‘, ‘How many followers do you have?‘, ‘Do you have a blog? What is its URL?‘.
Prior to the official announcement of the winners, I already received an email from a Maxis rep, telling me that I’m one of the lucky ten reviewers. We then exchanged several emails and text messages on the terms and conditions of the review because I was in Jakarta at that time and discussing it over the phone would have cost an arm and leg. I can only assume that it was a simple pre-screening process before they announced the winners officially on Twitter and Facebook.
The terms and conditions were simple: we only had to tweet and blog about our impressions of and our experiences in using the HTC Desire. The only specific thing that they required of us was an unboxing video. Everything else was very general — there were no guidelines whatsoever. We were given complete freedom with our review — nothing was said on when we were supposed to do it (other than the deadline: 20th of June), how to do it, or whether to highlight its good points or bad points.
Originally, testing the HTC Desire itself for two whole weeks for free was the reward in itself. That and being one of the ten chosen ones, naturally.
Then Maxis upped the ante and announced that the top five reviewers would get to keep the units for free, waking up the competitive streak in all ten of us, resulting in more reviews posted online. But again, take note that there was no mention of any specific criteria on what constitutes a ‘good’ review.
The announcement Monday morning that all ten reviewers get to keep the phone came as a total surprise to all of us. I had to re-read the tweet several times then double-check Maxis’ Facebook page to make sure I didn’t misunderstand the announcement.
Some bloggers claim that the whole setup was rigged, that Maxis bribed us with the units to get ‘good’ reviews. That is so untrue. As I mentioned several times in this post, Maxis gave us a free hand on what to write, when to write and how to write it. To be honest, I wasn’t sure how they’d take my ‘Ten Things I Hate About You’ post; at some point, I was worried it would affect my chances of being one of the top five reviewers.
In retrospect now, for me, the point of the whole exercise was for Maxis to get publicity from bloggers who cover a huge spectrum of readers. Even if our reviews covered the HTC Desire’s shortcomings, in the marketing world, bad publicity is still publicity. And having been launched via Twitter, with updates via Maxis’ fan page on Facebook (which only has, oh…50,000-something followers!), it was a social media experiment unlike anything I’ve ever seen before.
The result: reviews that ranged from ‘normal’ blog posts, tweets on its features, ‘proper’ technical reviews accompanied by tonnes of photos and videos. It got people talking and tweeting and commenting. And convinced many a consumer that the HTC Desire is a good alternative to the leading smartphone in the market today. Because studies have shown that the best advertising is word-of-mouth advertising. And this is word-of-mouth advertising, except that it’s now on a different platform — the world wide web.
Now that you know how simple the process is, now is your chance to be a Maxis10 reviewer for yet another Android offering: the Samsung Galaxy S (only if you live in Malaysia). Click here for the details. But hurry! Video submission deadline is 25th June.
Tags: HTC Desire, Maxis, Maxis10
