In Feb 07, I went to see an allergy and asthma specialist, mainly to get a new prescription for Advair, my asthma inhaler. I didn’t know then but an allergy and asthma specialist here mainly gave out allergy shots, not just prescribe medication.

Now, I had never heard of allergy shots in Singapore before so I was initially adverse to the idea. I harbored hopes that I could eventually be cured some way or other with this asthma thing. Indeed it seemed to get better over the summer. But when the pollen season came, I was worst than ever. 2 weeks ago, I ran out of my Advair and was waiting for my new one to arrive in the mail. In 3 days of not using the Advair, I reverted to wheezing like I used to back in Singapore. Pretty scary. Pretty scary not only cos I was wheezing, but that my body seems so dependent now on Advair, which contains steroids (albeit inhaled, it’s less bad as when it’s digested).

After doing research, asking Liz my yoga instructor-cum-massage therapist, etc, I decided to embark on a 2-3yr (estimated) course of allergy shots. It’s not guaranteed to work, but I decided that I do not want to be dependent on a steroid drug (or any drug for that matter) for the rest of my life! Furthermore, no asthma drugs can be used when one is pregnant (noooo not NOW…in a few years maybe…) so I do not intend to wheeze through 9-months when my turn comes. It also seems the more ‘natural’ (injecting you with small distilled doses of allergens that already exists in the air vs. chemical drugs) alternative. Lastly, I spent US$120 (I miss Singapore’s medical system!! I paid NOTHING in Singapore!) in my last shipment of drugs. I figured a US$20 co-pay each time I visit for 2-3yrs will be better than a lifetime of drugs…

I had my first shot today. Well actually, it was 3 shots (she said she’ll bring it down to 1 concoction of all allergens I’m allergic too, which is basically everything…). Including the 5 holes she made on Wednesday for testing, and 3 today on my other arm for testing, I’m feeling pretty hole-y…hur hur.

Let’s hope this works. Check this blog in 2-3years! Wish me luck!

This is a good introduction to what allergy shots are. Mainly this is for Mummy, cos when I told her I was thinking about getting allergy shots, her response was “aiyoh…don’t anyhow anyhow take medicine hor”.

Allergy shots (immunotherapy) are a series of injections meant to desensitize you to specific allergens — the substances that trigger an allergic response.

To be effective, allergy shots are given on a schedule. Typically you’ll receive a shot once or twice a week for about three to six months. After that, you’ll need a shot about once a month for three to five years. For the first three to six months, the allergen dose is gradually increased with each shot. This helps your body accept the allergen as the harmless substance it is.

Allergy shots are commonly used to treat allergic rhinitis (hay fever) and asthma. If you have seasonal hay fever or asthma, you may be allergic to pollens released by trees, grasses or weeds. If you have year-round hay fever or asthma, you may be sensitive to indoor allergens such as dust mites, cockroaches, mold or pet dander. Allergy shots may also control allergic reactions to stinging insects, such as bees, yellow jackets, hornets and wasps.

Phew! Maybe I’m not a weirdo, or the only weirdo after all. Cobalt agreed with me. I also made sense to my husband when I discussed this with him over dinner last night. haha! Phew!

Pat said that he remembered this quote from someone he couldn’t remember…Dalai Lama? Yogi Desai (the yogi whom I met in SF 4 yrs ago)? Anyway, that person said something along the lines of “When I eat, I eat. When I read, I read…”. That statement is really deceptively simple.

It really occured to me yesterday as I was writing the post that I haven’t truly been present. Being able to enjoy the art of doing nothing to me is a sign of being truly in the present. When I told Patrick this will be something I will work on this weekend, he quipped “well, you just failed”. D’oh! Mind fuck! Okay Kelly…let goooo….

BUT, I went back to Eric’s Hatha Yoga class yesterday. It may be because I’ve been doing all that Bikram Yoga. But Hatha Yoga yesterday was a….sublime experience. There wasn’t really anything physically different. I could do the poses I used to be able to do, and I couldn’t do the poses I used to not be able to do. But being aware that I haven’t been truly present was a big step for my practice. I never realized how much I thought during my practice until yesterday.

Lemme explain. What I used to do was that when I was in a pose, I either thought “oh my god! I feel great!” or “oh geez, this is hard” or “oh wow! this feels incredible!” or “oh gee, I can’t do this. I wonder if I can do the next pose” or “I’m hungry” or “I wonder if I’ve improved with this pose” or “oh wow! I can do this pose today!” or…you get the drift. And all these thoughts were jumping around my head without me being conscious of them. Last night was probably the first time where I simply and surprisingly easily released any thoughts, any expectations, any desires.

Finally, when I did yoga, I did yoga!

I just started reading Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert, well I’m one-third in. Everyone in New York seems to be reading it. I saw it on the train a lot. The only other books that I’ve seen being read very often on the trains are Harry Potter and Blink/Tipping Point. 3 other friends already read it and loved it. So I had high expectations when my friend passed the book on to me.

The writing is kinda disappointing (high expectations). Maybe it’s Gilbert’s style…too glib and the jokes she makes in the book aren’t even all that funny or witty (weird, after I wrote that last sentence, I found this page that says “…at first I found the writing style a bit glib and Gilbert’s sense of humor a little silly, I now find myself completely won over” so maybe the book gets better later). It reads like a friend writing me a stream-of-conscious email about their travel experiences…actually I have friends who write travel blogs/emails that are better written, funnier and wittier.

BUT, I do like some of her observations though. Like this extract:

Generally speaking, though, Americans have an inability to relax into sheer pleasure. Ours is an entertainment-seeking nation, but not necessarily a pleasure-seeking one. Americans spend billions to keep themselves amused with everything from porn to theme parks to wars, but that’s not exactly the same thing as quiet enjoyment … Americans don’t really know how to do nothing. Americans don’t know how to do nothing. This is the cause of that great sad American stereotype – the overstressed executive who goes on vacation but who cannot relax.
I once asked Luca Spaghetti if Italians on vacation have that same problem. He laughed so hard he almost drove his motorbike into a fountain.
“Oh no!” he said. “We are masters of il bel far niente.”
This is a sweet expression. Il bel far niente means “the beauty of doing nothing.” Now listen – Italians have traditionally always been hard workers, especially those long-suffering laborers known as braccianti (so called because they had nothing but the brute strength of their arms – braccie – to help them survive in the world). But even against that backdrop of hard work, il bel far niente has always been a cherished Italian ideal. The beauty of doing nothing is the goal of all your work, the final accomplishment for which you are most highly congratulated. The more exquisitely and delightfully you can do nothing, the higher your life’s achievement.

That extract struck me, because I am thoroughly guilty of that (I’m not American, but Singaporeans are worst IMO) – I don’t really know how to do nothing. Well, actually, I really do nothing a lot especially when I have a lot to do and end up doing nothing. But the art of il bel far niente is something I need to work on. I’ve written about “delicious do-nothing days” many times before (how I love that Eliot quote!), but really, doing nothing to procrastinate doing something doesn’t count.

I find myself feeling like I need to do SOMETHING over the nighttime/weekends…plan a party, learn to cook, learn to draw, upload my pictures, do laundry, clean the house, write emails, blog, do yoga, supermarket shopping, bike, meet up with friends, read, study, learn something. I almost panic when I find myself with an entire day open in front of me and I don’t have plans for it yet. I realized this when we had last weekend planned out for Pat’s mom to visit us but the trip was cancelled at the last minute hence, I was left on Saturday morning thinking “now what?” and my head raced to think of something productive to do.

It really should not be so. I should stop obsessing with ensuring every single moment is productive (I’m such a Singaporean) and simply enjoy my activities to enjoy my activities. That’s a significant difference that I’m just now realizing. I don’t see the art of il bel far niente as mere idleness, but simply being in the moment, in the now.

There is a decision when I pick up the book – that I will enjoy reading it and it will add to my vat of knowledge (with facts, styles of writing, new words, great phrases/quotes). But after the decision and in the action, I should concentrate on the former reason i.e. savoring each word, which I do actually, but I also am guilty of thinking about the former, i.e. how it will productively add to my vat of knowledge, which I shouldn’t be doing in the act of reading itself. Similarly, I choose to do yoga because there is a series of productive consequences from that decision – it will improve my posture, improve my asthmatic breathing, improve my wellness, and because I just feel great doing it. After the decision, I should really just relish being in each pose (present tense) instead of thinking about how good or productive it will be (future tense) for me.

And if I don’t have any plans to do something, I should really enjoy doing nothing until something happens without my planning.

Does any of the above make sense at all? Or am I just a weirdo?

Some dude walked into the D train this morning at West 4th and started preaching loudly to a very packed train about the Lord and why you must read the Bible everyday and Jesus is your savior and save yourself yadda yadda yadda. New Yorkers being New Yorkers either had no reaction, turned up the volume on their ipods, laughed, rolled their eyes, or as one of them did, stand next to the preacher and started to pray alongside him.

To celebrate his preaching, I turned on my ipod loudly to Jesus Christ Superstar. Does that count?

God (pardon the pun) I love this musical!

I’ll probably stop blogging about individual Bikram classes in due time, like how I stopped taking pictures of every single meal I cooked. Ha! But it’s interesting to document how I feel after each class and notice a significant improvement in each class I’ve been to.

Before Moim, I went to Bikram (and thankfully worked up an appetite for a stunning meal). A strange thing I noticed this time was that I didn’t feel the heat anymore. As in, the heat was still there, and I was still sweating BALLS, but I didn’t feel hot. It’s a weird thing. I’m sure I was hot, but I just didn’t notice it at all. Which is, to me, a sign of improvement. Because instead of concentrating on simply surviving the heat like I did in my first couple of classes (the “oh my god oh my god this is so fucking hot i am so going down i am going to stop breathing oh my god it is so fucking hot help me help me!” feeling), I can now concentrate on my poses instead.

My Fixed Firm Pose is now done with relative ease (amazing!). I still have problems with any balancing pose though. I think I need to work on truly emptying my mind for that. I’m always great with balancing when I’m not THINKING about balancing. Once I snap out of a meditation and think “oh look, I’m balancing!”, I fall off. Yeesh!

Tonight, I plan to go back to Eric’s ‘regular’ Hatha yoga class and see how Bikram has helped me open up.

My brother sent me a link to this Korean restaurant review on the NYT yesterday. I emailed my Korean-American friend Mike about it and it turned out it’s been his weekly joint for the past few months since they’d opened. So we met up with Mike & Vicki for a meal last night at Moim.

It was orgasmic. The last orgasmic meal I had was in Jackalope’s View Restaurant in Banner Elk, North Carolina when we were up in the mountains with our families in June. EVERY bite I had at Moim was a “oh my god this is fucking fabulous”. EVERY bite. Even the small dish of peanuts and friend string cuttlefish things they had at the bar while we were waiting tasted simply wonderful. We had Soon Doo Boo (tofu seafood soup hot pot), Un Dae Gu [grilled cod (came with like a winter melon at the bottom and string fried potatoes or yam..? the mix of textures and flavors were incredible)], Pa Jun Scallion Pancake (I don’t even like these cos I always thought it was too starchy a dish, but this one had fresh shrimp in them…mmm), Doo Boo Kimchi [grilled tofu with kim chi and pork, and grilled beef (perfection)]. Okay, they may not have the gazillion free appetizers that come with a traditional Korean meal, but the 3 appetizer dishes they brought out were delicately delicious. I’d rather have 3 fabulous dishes than a dozen mediocre ones.

The decor of the place was great, even the toilets were amazingly decorated; they spared no attention to detail. Since Mike knew the owner/chef, she came out to chat with us. Her husband had a couple of toasts with Mike & Pat. Just a great family restaurant in the neighborhood.

My only beef with this place was the music. They were playing too trendy house music. You know, the cheesy types they play at the W hotel or something. Yeesh! They play this kind of music at those stupid see and be seen restaurants in Manhattan where the food is overpriced and substandard (Tao - a crap of a restaurant). Our friend Alex aka Memphis has a side job creating playlists for restaurants to suite the place…we need to hook him up with them pronto!

The prices are not cheap but not ridiculous. The bill came up to about $35 per head plus drinks, taxes and tip which is not bad relatively speaking. The fantastic restaurants I’ve been to in NYC (Buddakan and Freeman’s) average $60 per person. And we had ALOT of food.

And how convenient. This place is a 10-15min walk from where we live! I (heart) Park Slope!

In my recent obsession with all things yoga, I haven’t posted much about food lately. I still HAVE been cooking, just that the novelty of taking pictures of everything I cooked has worn off. Ha!

It’s almost become a weekly weekend regime where we have buddies (usually Shane & Taided, Mike & Vicki, and miscellaneous others) living in the area come by our place and cook-out in our backyard. Vicki & I (and usually Pat too) go to yoga in the park on Saturdays then we walk over to the Farmer’s Market to stock up on fresh organic food for the weekend. I really should document the dinners we’ve had because they are truly amazing. The great thing about it is that we have so many great chefs. Well, Taided is actually a personal chef so she’s a professional (how lucky are we to have a friend who is a personal chef for a living??). Shane doesn’t do too bad (bean salad!). Vicki is a spectacular baker (I mean, c’mon, check out this phenomenal cake she made…it’s ridiculous! …and her shrimp skewers and scallop wrapped with panchetta aren’t too bad either). Mike is a BBQ specialist (slow roasted pork anyone!) and recently revealed his skill with clam CHOWder. Pat, we all know, is a fabulous cook. Which leaves me as the most novice cook of them all…I ain’t complaining! I am learning from the best!

Taided introduced me to this recipe for an AMAZING kale salad.

3/4 to 1 lb lacinato kale (also called Tuscan kale) or tender regular kale, stems and center ribs discarded
2 tablespoons finely chopped shallot
1 1/2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
4 1/2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 oz coarsely grated ricotta salata (1 cup)

Working in batches, cut kale crosswise into very thin slices.
Whisk together shallot, lemon juice, salt, and pepper in a small bowl, then add oil in a slow stream, whisking until combined well.
Toss kale and ricotta salata in a large bowl with enough dressing to coat well, then season with salt and pepper.

Tips Taided gave me:
Kale must be cut up very finely because it’s such a tough vegetable to eat raw. I was lazy so I used the electric chopper.
Be generous with the olive oil and ricotta salata (probably doubled what the recipe called for). Ricotta salata is different from the “wet” tubs of cheese you find next to cottage cheese. You should find it in the gourmet cheese section as a dry block.
Let it SIT, preferably overnight. When I made it on Saturday night for our Sunday BBQ, I did a taste test while making it and was aghast at how awful it tasted. Bitter with sour lemon juice. Raw chopped kale also smells a little nauseatingly like wheatgrass. BUT it tasted AMAZING the next day with all the flavors blended perfectly together. Taided told me that the lemon juice needed time to “cook” the kale. Phew!

3rd class on Saturday. 4th class on Sunday. I made a BIG mistake eating some rice & left-over veg. 1 hr before the 3rd class on Saturday thinking that it’s mostly carbs so it’ll digest faster. I forgot there was probably a bunch of grease in the vegetables and the food just SAT there the entire class. Very bad. I still went through the class and enjoyed the sweating but didn’t feel like pushing myself at all.

The 4th class was amazing. Everything felt so right during the class. I’m used to the heat by now and it barely bothers me anymore the way it did in the 1st class where I thought it was unbearable. In fact, when the instructor opened the door occassionally to cool the room down a little, I felt the gust of cool air and felt like I didn’t want it.

Best breakthrough in the 4th class was that I could finally get down to the complete Fixed Firm Pose (Supta-vajrasana)! It was so exciting. In the 1st class, I could barely get my elbows to touch the ground behind me while my feet were tucked under. I’d see other people in the class just roll flat down right away AND raise their hands above their heads and I was like NO FUCKING WAY! But for some odd reason, I bent back and back and back and realize that hey! I could still go further down! When my head touched the flow, I thought, gee I wonder if my back could touch the ground too…and it did! Then I thought, gee I wonder if I could raise my arms too?…and they did! It was an insane stretch on my body…I was afraid I was gonna pull something, but all was fine. Hurrah!

This is a great page to show all the poses in their perfection. God, I am so far from that it’s hilarious. But there’s no time to try but now!

Man, our neighbors upstairs have recently began to have LOUD SEX. 2 nights ago, I was trying to sleep and I heard a girl moan “uh uh uh oh yeah fuck fuck fuck uh uh uh uh oh fuck oh fuck oh fuck”. It is so NOT a turn on when you are trying to sleep okayyy???

The girl living upstairs is a lesbian, so we were wondering if she was fucking with a strap-on (herself or with someone else) or something. It had to be from her apartment cos I even heard the bed thumping and we have very high ceilings.

Wow. I bet I get a ton of hits from Google search due to this post now!

I finally got down to going for my 2nd bikram class last night and it was AWESOME. It was infinitely better than my 1st class. There was none of that awful tripping out feeling I got the last time. I think it was a combination of me knowing what to expect, the teacher being more “lenient” this time (opening the door for fresh air more often), not drinking too much water during the class (I chugged too much water during the 1st class and all that water swishing round my tummy while I was doing poses made me nauseous), and drinking Emergen-c before and during the class, and hopefully because my body is getting warmed up to it. After the class, I felt just wonderful, walking on air. I didn’t crash all tired out like I did last Sunday when I got home. I didn’t get a headache or feel nauseous. Instead, the adrenaline rush lasted till bedtime where I slept like a baby.

Who would have thought? I’m bending over in a room heated to >100F (>40 degrees celcius to my Singapore readers) with sweat just pouring down my face, my arms, my legs, dripping from my shorts, I actually thought “oh my god, I fucking LOVE this!” I’m definitely dropping my pilates class to do Bikram now. Pilates was alright…I just never felt the same way (”OMG I fucking LOVE this!”) in pilates as when I do in yoga. When I was at Pilates class on Tuesday, I was just thinking the whole time that I could have used that time to do yoga.

Om.

This is a pretty good post about someone’s experience with Bikram yoga.

Bikram, the man himself, pretty much sounds like a jack-ass in this article. But hot yoga still feels so good.