Cheshire Cat on the Loose

I'm back.

Apparently, my last post was more than five year ago! Whew.

Maybe it's time to resurface this blog again? Maybe I should have done it a year ago. :)))))

This is Rain. He is our German Shepherd. He passed away last 11 February 2016.

We sort of share the same birthday. He was born on 16 September. My birthday’s on the 17th. More or less, we have the same traits -- like how picky we are with our food.

He came home with us on February 2005. And that was the start of a wonderful 11.5 years with Rain. I named him, btw. I haven’t seen his doggie papers but what I did know was that his old name wasn’t cool.

He’s the most snob dog ever. Some dogs would run to you, he wouldn’t. He seldom wanted to be pet. But once in a blue moon, he’d come to me, put down his ears, and I’d pet him. Then he’d go away. He’d stay from a distance but we should be within his sight.

When he was a pup, he was so energetic! He jumped around his crate whenever we come home. We couldn’t let him loose without supervision because he might ran away (and lose his way, sometimes he could be really stupid). He mastered the leash fast but he’d tug me whenever he’d see a cat or a chicken. I was just 15 then! I was joking that I should have a sled made and he’d just pull me.

He likes rice, milk, beef jerky, drop cookies, and puppy food. He won’t eat if someone’s not watching him.

He already gave up his alpha status to our other dog, Jesse, but when Sam (girl Belgian Malinois) came, he was challenging Jesse for the status again.

He likes to run after chickens. He’d put his paw over the chicken over and over. He won’t kill them, though (Sam’s the one killing chickens). He likes puppies! He’s really friendly with puppies. (When Pong, Sam’s pup, came home, Rain was the first one to welcome her!)

There’s still so many things I want to say about Rain but I’m finding it really hard to search for the words. His death is just too much even though I’ve already told him my goodbye. I’d always tell him to wait for me, that I’d be coming home again. Before I left for Manila last 8 February, I told him that he can stop waiting for me and that if he wanted to rest, he can already do so. He was in pain. He had multiple nodules all over his body. He had anemia. His cancer metastasized to his testicles. It got so big and there was bleeding. His vet told us she won’t be giving treatments anymore because he’s old already. He was crying the day he died. :( He was in so much pain and I couldn’t be there for him. No one was at home to be there for him. :’( It’s just starting to really sink in. It hurts. It fckng hurts. Perhaps, the only consolation that I have is the fact that he’s now in peace and isn’t hurting anymore.

I miss you already. I love you forever. My joys and sorrows died with you. I can only hope you had the best time with us.

Sayonara for now. Mata ne.

Christmas is perhaps one of the most celebrated holidays. It may be festive, fancy, and colorful but it can also be stressful, especially if you’re an adult. Haha I went to the mall today and boy, I was dead tired after. There were a lot of people! I prefer to do my holiday shopping early. For an OC like me, it can be pretty stressful when and if I have to cram.

When you’re stressed, your immunity can go down and you can be at a high risk for infection. We don’t want to be sick during the holiday, do we? So here are five tips to boost your immunity!

This is very important. This is probably the most basic thing when it comes to boosting our immunity. We need the right amount of nutrients to sustain our daily activities. It’s okay to eat at buffets every once in awhile but always remember to eat healthy food in between. More fruits, vegetables, and white meat, less red meat. Eating too much and too little is not okay. I don’t really approve of those so-called “diets” (trivia: diet is what you eat on a normal basis regardless whether it’s too much or too little. To say you’re “dieting”, well, you’re actually doing that every day haha). Some diets omit or lessen x100000 carbohydrates, protein, or fat. If you don’t get your average daily requirement in one of those three, that’s not really healthy.

Sleeping lets our body do its work of repairing damaged tissues and making us grow, at least for children. (Our body’s growth hormone is more active when we are sleeping. That’s why kids should sleep more :D). We were told in the past that one must get at least 8 hours of sleep per day. However, new studies show that a 6-hour sleep is enough. We need all the energy we can get! We don’t want to be like the walkers roaming around, do we?

Water is life. It can’t be helped that we lose water through urine and sweat, especially in this November-December heat. If we lose too much water, we can get dehydrated. Severe dehydration can lead to shock and then death. :( So try to bring a bottle of water everywhere. Plus points if you use your own bottle! :)

I’m a firm believer of this. Exercising not only keeps our body healthy but also our minds. The benefits of exercise have been told over and over again. It may decrease the risk for coronary artery diseases! It also increases our tolerance to work (and I don’t really mean your job).

Fern-C can help you have a stress-free Christmas! Vitamin C is needed for normal growth and development. It helps prevent diseases such as scurvy. It is also a potent anti-oxidant. This means that it scavenges the free radicals in our body. Okay, nerdy moment right here but I’m not going to dwell on the specifics. You can get these free radicals from eating too much at buffets. :( So, drinking Fern-C can help boost our immune system by fighting these free radicals. But Fern-C isn’t your average ascorbic acid. It’s sodium ascorbate. What does this mean? This means that persons who are hyperacidic and have problems with ascorbic acid can drink this because it is not acidic.

Coming from a food science and medical background, I think I know what I’m talking about. Haha Anyway, these are just tips on how to boost your immunity. I’m sure there are a lot more. It’s just that these worked for me. I hope they work for you, too. :)

For more information, you can visit the Fern-C website here. :) You can also check and follow them on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram!

For y’all who don’t know what Plana Forma is,

“It’s a synergy of dance, pilates, yoga, and Physique 57. Its exercises are designed to make you feel the intense heat of your muscles firing up and the relief and immeasurable pride of having conquered that heat. Each 55-minute class is so rewarding and satisfying, it will make you feel like a warrior. Plus, once you feel the burn, you just know the results will follow”.

I’m a sucker for anything that makes me more flexible. Running isn’t really my thing. I do yoga at home (I downloaded instructional videos)! One time, I saw a friend of mine posted a photo on Facebook about her recent Plana Forma session. I got curious and took a class. I got hooked! That was earlier this year. Come summer, I enrolled for a one month unlimited class and IT DID NOT DISAPPOINT.

I like to be fit but my greatest enemy is my laziness. Enrolling myself in a one month unlimited class pushed me out of my laziness. Hey, I paid for that so it would be a waste if I didn’t come everyday. Haha

Lo and behold! In that short amount of time, my body became more toned. I became more flexible. My arms were stronger. My core was stronger too and flatter.

My summer Plana Forma buddy, Kay! :)

Plana Forma isn’t all about the bodily aesthetics. It also taught me about self-discipline, self-control, making new friends, patience, and changed my perspective in life. If we want to become stronger, it’s on us by giving our best in every section of the workout and pushing ourselves past our limit. The same thing can also be applied in life. We are on our own and our own growth depends on us, no need to put others down.

When I first started, I got intimidated by my classmates because they already have good form and could do all the sections well. But then, I gave my all and was able to catch up. We only become stronger than we were yesterday. ;)

I haven’t been to the studio for now because school happened. It doesn’t mean I’m not doing Plana Forma everyday, though. Still practicing the values it has taught me. :) #iamathighwarrior