I had this horrible nightmare last night. In the dream, I had a stick through my head. I don't know how it happened. What's scary is when I pulled it out, I didn't die. The first thought that occurred to me was wondering if my brain would explode if I played badminton then. 
I don't complete my sentences in IM.ur getting cranky in yer old ageMaybe he's right. Or maybe what I really need is a good badminton session.
u got cabin fever!
I've been busy this long weekend. Playing badminton and squash, getting my bike well acquainted with some pot-holes, and doing laundry after all the activity. One can only hang out so many sets of shirts and socks before suffering sun stroke. The rest of the day is then spent shirtless lying around in front of the fan, drinking a lot of water to stave off dehydration. Resting, in preparation for the next day.
Yeah, we've been having what some crazy folk would call "Beautiful weather". I'd like to trade them these sunny days for a nice cold and chilly day. I'd even toss in some sweaty clothes and an extra dark sun tan.
Anyhow, what I really want to talk about is my new shoes.
I bought these last week but I've been holding off writing about them because I wanted to try them out a few times first. We found these Ascis shoes at Deoji's in Mark Street, Suva.
My mum took me shopping because she knows me well. I like buying stuff but I don't like going all over the place to find a single item. That Saturday, we went from one end of Suva to the other end, visiting all the shoe shops in between.
We went to Tappoo and to Prouds but all they had were some running shoes and dress shoes. We went to the sports shops but they only had soccer boots and really old tennis shoes that's been on sale forever. We visited the Adidas outlet in Mid-city mall but the only shoe that looks suitable had really hard soles and I didn't think it would suit me well. I didn't think I'd find a suitable pair but my mum being the experienced shopper, kept on looking.
After walking most of the streets in town, and doing a bit of shopping on the way, we reached the other end of town. Deoji's is a pretty big shoes dealer in Fiji but they were at the other end of where we started looking. We were coming down Mark Street after visiting Yon Tong the Chinese shop for some groceries. I had given up on finding the right shoes so I was just concentrating on carrying the shopping when mum saw the shoes in the window and asked me if I wanted to try one more shop.
So we went in. They had a small rack at the back holding sports shoes. All but one of the shoes on display were running shoes. The sales man was helpful in getting me a couple of different sizes of the remaining shoe to try on. I normally wear a size 8½ but this shoe is narrow in the front so I tried a size 9. That was still too tight so I finally settled on a size 9½. I didn't check myself in the full length mirror but I may have looked like Ronald McDonald.
The shoe was on sale for $99.00 that's a huge drop from the marked price of $156.00. The huge drop in price can be fully understood when one looks at the display piece. The white canvas looks dark grey from a distance. It's been sitting on the shelves collecting dust for that long. Yep. Welcome to Fiji :-)
It passes the bend test. That's where you try to touch the toes to the heel to check for flexibility. There's a good arch in the middle that fits my foot's natural arch. So important in a badminton shoe as it helps you stay on your toes and prevents flat-footedness. The soles are nice and soft. That translates to good traction. The heel is a little higher than my old shoe. Making it heavier but also making it easier for me to jump backwards which I do a lot in badminton. The insoles are padded with GEL™. Ok, so I don't know what it is but it's nice and spongy. I had another Ascis pair about 4 shoes back that had the same thing and it was wonderful. That sums up the good.
I've worn them in two intensive badminton sessions and they're still too tight. I pulled the laces to the maximum extension and still feel crushed (I wasn't born with shoes on my feet so yeah I've a pretty wide foot). That shoe gave me a blister on the side of my little toe. I hope it stretches out before I get more blisters.
Post Scriptum: The Ascis socks in the photo costs $10.80 a pair. I bought them to match the shoes. They feel so good.
I got my first mobile phone when I started university. My course had some evening classes so I needed it to call for transport after class.
It was a Nokia 3310 model. That phone was quite popular at that time.
I really love that phone. It could live through falls and other maltreatment. Many times, I dropped it from a height and it survived. The covers would come off when dropped from really high places but then snap them back on and it's good as new.
I had it with me for about 6 years and that's like 60 in gadget years.
In that time, I had very little to complain about.
The battery life became shorter lasting about 3 calls per charge in the later years. I don't really care because my mobile's main function is to tell the time not making calls.
About 6 months ago, the keypad started giving me some trouble. I had to press harder for it to respond really slowing down my input.
Last week added yet another wrinkle to its face. The phone's screen went off. I guess it was aging gracefully because even with all its problems and the dead screen, I could still make and receive calls.
I would have kept using it just to see when it would finally give up but my sister walked into the Digicel shop the next day. She checked on the phone prices and the different models for me. She knew I wasn't interested in a fancy phone so she found me a simple one that I would like.
This is my new phone. It's a Samsung SGH-B130S. I've used it for a couple of days now and I think I like it.
Looking at them both, I like the look of the Nokia phone better.
The Nokia keypad gave good solid feedback and was easy to type on. The Samsung's keypad is all crammed together making it hard to type one handed.
The new phone is shorter, thinner, narrower and a great deal lighter.
My new phone has a smaller, lighter battery.
It lasted 5 calls and 2 days on the out of the box charge. No dropped calls. I'm not sure if that's an improvement. I sort of like having my calls dropped. If you read my 25 things post, you'll know why.
My Nokia phone which was a lot more expensive than the new phone had more features.
All in all, my new phone does what it is supposed to. That is display the time.... Oh and making calls too.
Post Scriptum: One thing I'm really going to miss with my old phone is having so many chargers around. We have three at home and there are a couple more at the office. New phone is not as popular. Oh well....
Sunday
Morning
Played badminton in the morning with my mom's group again. Not very challenging.
The rest of the day
Watched DVDs.
Took a nap.
Looked up a blog post written in Burmese about me. Hmm.... Not so bad. Not many people swearing at me. Although I think 34th commenter "Anonymous" wants to shoot me.
Evening
Dinner party at home. An all Burmese affair attended by a physics professor, a doctor and a mobile networks specialist. Nothing fancy. Food is catered via mum's kitchen. Water-cress, chicken, sea prawns, fish and fish cakes.... served fried. Chicken curry. A light soup made from aubergine and mustard leaves. Thai-style papaya salad made with grated green papaya and carrot, tomatoes and chopped green chillies prepared with pounded dried prawn and a twist of lemon.
I loved the papaya salad and so, the long winded explanation of its ingredients.
Party conversations are interesting. I love listening to them tell their stories. Sometimes, two interesting conversations will be going on at the same time and I can't decide which to follow.
Went to sleep early. Monday is badminton day but it may be cancelled. One of the guys got a misaligned disk in the back bone :(
I am not big on tagging games. Yet here I am writing this post. I guess it is like the Mecca of blogging. Every blogger gets tagged at least once in his life time and sooner or later, ends up writing a post like this. Linus wrote the best one I ever saw in his version.
I blame this post on dawn_1o9 who tagged me in her post. Dawn writes a very frank account of her life on her blog. When I read her writing, I'm amazed at how she can share very personal feelings. I lack that courage to speak out and I guess that is why I am drawn to her writings.
Moving on to talk about me...
Phew! That was a long list. I chose to keep the above unnumbered because the order is insignificant.
As my last act of defiance against this game, I'm tagging no one. So there!
Post Scriptum: Tradition dictates I mention playing badminton today. Today was badminton day and we had great games. Oh and playing squash tomorrow.
Woke up to sunlight streaming in through my window. It was around six thirty in the morning and the sun was already quite intense. I didn't feel like getting up so I just sat in bed and watched some Japanese anime.
I've been overdoing it lately with badminton and squash in the evenings and blogging about my day before going to bed. I'm not a natural born writer. It takes me a little longer to put the words down. That means I go to bed later and I haven't gotten used to the new routine yet.
I would have stayed in bed watching anime all day but I had squash this morning so I got up after watching one episode. Breakfast was a big mug of Milo and cookies. I don't do breakfast everyday but I need to keep my energy levels up for squash. After breakfast, I got my things together and headed out on my bicycle.
The ride to the Defence club is not long but it is not all flat terrain. When I got to the club, I was already warmed up. More than warmed up actually. In the heat of the sun, I had already soaked through my shirt.
David and Tony had an early start. They've already had a few games when I got there. Roko, Andrew and Terri, Trevor and the tall bloke came later (yeah, I need to ask his name again). I played some games with Tony, Roko, Trevor and Terri. I'm mentioning all those names here so I don't forget like I did last time.
It was very hot on the courts too. Even though we were out of the sun and with the ceiling fans going all the time, everyone was struggling with the heat. People were dropping rackets and my hands got so sweaty, I almost lost the grip on mine a few times. Today's games were fun. I really wanted to play the guys I lost to last week but they didn't come today.
When we finished, some people sat at the tables for beer and conversation. I don't do either so I watched some good players who came after us. I didn't want to go home straight away. I needed to cool down some before riding my bicycle home in the sun.
The ride home was quick. Most of the way was downhill. Near my home, there's a hilly section. That was a hard climb as it was around noon. That short climb felt as if I was climbing for ten minutes; all the time working against the sun and gravity.
When I got home, I had to cool down again before having a shower. Then I had lunch and slept for the rest of the day. The sun may give reptiles energy to move around, it just does the opposite with me.
I don't know why people like sunny weather or sun bathing. Too much sun makes my eyes hurt and UV rays can cause cancer. I personally prefer cloudy overcast days.
Please fill in the contact form below to send me advice, feedback, suggestions; or sending love letters are alright too.
I'll get back to you asap. ;)
A badminton player who writes code to fund his baddy obsession and a notoriously terrible squash player who has broken more than his fair share of rackets.
I don't know why I'm writing this. I blame Mayvelous for putting this page in.
Yeah, I was lazy so I asked her to set up a new template for me.
This time, I'm borrowing from my twitter profile. Why reinvent the wheel? :D