Weekend trip

Everything is booked for my first weekend out of Singapore!  We are going on an overnight trip to a beach in Malaysia called Tioman this Saturday.  http://wikitravel.org/en/Tioman#b  There is a group of four girls going; my German roommate, my German friend, and my American friend from Philly!  We will leave early Saturday morning at 6:30 am via bus for a 3 hour bus ride to the east coast of Malaysia.  Then we will take a speed boat or ferry over to the west side of island.  After that we have a car transport that will take us to our resort on the east side of the island.  If everything is on time, I think we should be at the island by noon! :)  Here is a description of where I will be going:

Juara

The local village is spread back from the little track which follows the line of the sea. People live all over the place normally in simple huts. The tourist huts and accommodation is within 20 m of high water mark.

Juara is a very quiet beach at the east coast especially in the off season, when almost nobody is there. There are three rivers coming from the mountains, delivering cold freshwater to the beach, a chilling alternative to swimming in the sea. A path leads to waterfalls in the jungle, which is nice for a swim and climb over the large rocks. To reach the waterfalls, just follow a marked path for about 30 min. The path starts at the south beach, next to the turtle breeding farm. Opposite of the great rocks, which lie on the beach. The path is marked by the bottoms of cans, nailed to the trees and painted yellow and red. At the beginning of the path there are three such signs at a tree. If you walk along the only concrete road towards south to the turtle breeding farm, you can not miss it.

The place itself is divided into two beaches that are separated by a small hill, which is said to be the "origin" of Tioman. Some locals say: "you have not been on Tioman, if you did not stand on these rocks".

• The beach more towards the north where the jetty has very nice sand but with some dead coral in the shallow water. Swimming is OK, but walking in the water can be painful. At both ends of this beach is the mouth of one of the rivers.

• The beach more towards the south is even quieter. The sand again is very nice and there are no obstacles in the water. At the south end of this beach the last of the three rivers meets the sea.

A basin of the waterfalls near Juara

• At the north beach there is a turtle hatchery.

  

Birthday Fun

This weekend was my birthday weekend!  I am not sure why, but I love birthdays.  Okay, I do know why...any chance to have a celebration or party makes me happy :-P  (Ask my family....In the last two years, I've had several going away parties.  They all think I move constantly just so they can throw me a party....:-P)  I've always had really good birthdays, especially since I turned 21.  I have a summer birthday, so as a kid we always picnics or parties outside with the whole family which is always a great time.  But once you become legal in the US, then it can get crazy :-P  Here are some highlights from some of the birthdays since I turned 21:

21st birthday: Night #1-Pool party at the parents with family and friends, Night #2-Lakewood bar crawl night; Both nights were fabulous and was the best 21st I could ask for :)

22nd birthday: I lived down in Columbus because I was finishing up my prereqs for chiro school down at Ohio State.  I lived in a house with four other girls; two of which were also there for the summer (one of them who is still one of my bests, love ya Kate!).  We just went to a few bars down on High Street, one of them being my favorite at the time called Too's.  I don't remember why or where else we went, but I just know it was a really good night. :)

23rd birthday: I was in San Diego for one of my best friend's wedding with the other bridesmaids and maid of honor.  We have all known each other since elementary school and through each other became really good friends throughout high school and college.  Even though we are all in different places and don't get to talk often, the four of us are still close.  I see us when we are 50 getting together for someone's birthday, having martinis and getting down on the dance floor to the Cleveland Shuffle. :-P  Anyway, we were in Cali for the week for the wedding and it was my birthday while we were there.  We went to LA for the night and got a hotel.  We ended up drinking margaritas and going to a country-ish bar with a mechanical bull in the Beverly Hills area.  I always fall off the mechanical bull within a few seconds, so I told the guy it was my birthday and to please, please not make it too hard.  He went easy on me and I lasted the whole ride! :)  As you can tell, I was very excited about this. :-P

25th birthday:  I was in Vietnam on a clinic abroad trip for chiropractic school.  The hotel surprised me with a cake that said Happy Birthday Mrs. Julie Tile (haha) and a beautiful bouquet of flowers.  A group of us went out to eat and had a nice meal.  We had clinic early the next morning so we didn't go out to the club, but there was plenty of fun had throughout the rest of the trip. 0:-)  The cake and flowers really made it special though :)

27th birthday:  My bday was the same day as B and Michelle's wedding!  They had an amazing salmon dinner, a whole tower of cupcakes and candy bar, a DJ, complete with a photo booth all for my birthday!  How sweet of them!!! ;-)  Hahaha, just kidding!  This was the ongoing joke since their wedding was the day of my birthday.  It was a really wonderful celebration that day and glad I got to have my birthday at their wedding. :)

This year I am in Singapore for my birthday and it ended up being a blast!  None of what I originally planned took place and it ended up being awesome. :)  Originally, we were going to go to this nice dim sum place in Chinatown for chinese dumplings, followed by dancing/clubbing in Clarke Quay area.  Clarke Quay is very tourist-y area with lots of restaurants, bars and clubs by the water.  There are no open container laws here so we were going to partake in some beverages by the water before we went to the club to save some dollar bills.    

The place I planned for dinner ended up being close.  We went to a more local-type place in Chinatown for some dim sum.  We got a TON of food for so cheap!  We sat outside and a group of tourists from somewhere in Asia, saw our table and started taking pictures of us.  It was the most hilarious thing ever.  So then we got them to take pictures with us :)  

After that we decided to pregame at a hawker center (local food centers) where the beer is cheap and play cards before going to the club.  Next thing we knew it was after midnight, playing euchre and I was belting out JB.  I feel sorry for my poor friends that had to hear my horrible singing voice! :-P  It was a blast and we completed the night with some McD's at 2am of course....   

What's your best birthday memory? :)

Workout time!

Sorry folks, a little behind on blogging!  :)  That's because I'm baaaaack at the gym!  :-D

Working out and being physically active has always been a part of my life. When I was young, I was involved with volleyball, golf (a little) and dance for years.  Once I got to college, I didn't get into any sports or no longer had dance as my outlet.  Actually I take that back...I probably danced just about every other Thursday, Friday, and Saturday at clubs/parties. 0:-)  I do consider the miles of walking across the huge campus (and off campus) at Ohio State every day to be good physical activity.  I never took the bus, even in the winter.  Senior year is when I joined a gym and really started getting into physical fitness.  This may have been because at that point, I knew for sure that I was going into the health care field.  I honestly don't really remember though. :)  

I think we all get into "on" and "off" periods with our physical fitness due to injuries, big changes that occur, rest periods, etc.  I have not done any physical fitness since I've moved to Singapore.  I thought I'd be doing a lot of walking here, but really I'm just on public transport all the time.  I thought about running outside but not sure if I could handle the humidity here.  Running is huge here and there are races all the time throughout the year.  But I just can't get myself to do it yet....Finally I started google-ing the yoga studios and gyms in the area.  Most of them will let you try a session or a week free to try out.

I found a great gym for me with lots of cardio equipment and weight machines.  They also have a lot of fun workout classes!  I'm back into my high weight/low reps and interval training for cardio w/ fun workout classes in between.  :)  This will be the perfect balance for me and my new workout program!  I feel good again :)

What's your favorite thing to do for physical activity?            

Reflection

Before coming here, I knew that this would be a very reflective time in my life since I am on the other side of the world away from the busy-ness of everyday life back home.  I knew that this would be my own little "Eat, Pray, Love" journey.  And I was definitely right about this! :)

I have a lot of time to think reflect here.  I think it can be a good thing or bad thing sometimes.  You can drive yourself crazy by overthinking about things.  I was told the other day to "Stop Thinking!" because I was getting into overanalytical mode.  But most of the time, I like thinking about life and the craziness of it all. :)  I literally have to live my life one day at a time here.  I have no idea how long the universe will keep me here.  I can do everything I can do, but then the rest is ultimately up to the universe.  The last two years have taught me this.  I always thought I was going to be in a particular place for a certain period of time, but the universe proved me wrong over and over (and over) again.  So now I just have to live my life and forget the rest. 

I think this is where the extra thinking time comes in.  Back home, especially during the summer time we are constantly in planning mode and what's up ahead.  At this time of year, the rest of the weekends of summer would be planned now with showers, birthdays, picnics, etc.  This is always my favorite time of year because I like all the extra time spend with family and friends during the summer and I always have fun at these events.  The warm weather of summertime in the midwest is always a mood booster too. :) 

Now that I really can't plan more than a month in advance (and I don't have seasons to remind me that time is passing by), I literally have to enjoy each week as it comes.  This time is all about me and discovering who I am and what I want in life.  I think this process is continual throughout life no matter where you live and at what point in your life you are.  I don't have any ground breaking discoveries to share today, only continual evolution of the person I am today due to the experiences I am going through. :)

PS-Today is my 2 month anniversary of living in Singapore! 

Congratulations

This post is dedicated to my dearest friend Linds from chiropractic school....She just got engaged!!!  I am SO happy for her, she deserves all the happiness and love in the world!  Even though I only met her fiancee on skype, I can tell he is a good man. :)

Linds and I became roommates through the internet and never met each other before we met at the leasing office to sign the lease.  I had gone to Iowa with my mom to look for places to live that summer and found an apartment just a few blocks from the school.  It was going to be cheaper to get a two bedroom to split with someone, plus I would have a buddy to get through that first week of living in a new place, not knowing anyone.  I posted an ad online and Linds was the lucky winner! :-P  We only talked on the phone before we both moved to Davenport.  Then it was time to move out there in October of 2005... I will never forget going to the leasing office, nervous as ever.  All the "what ifs" that cross your mind when picking a roommate merely over a phone conversation.  I'll never forget walking into that leasing office to meet her and shaking her hand and a HUGE sigh of relief swept over my whole being.  I could just feel that her energy was good and my mom had felt the same way when we discussed it in my car on the way to the apartment.  I even remember partially what we were both wearing (and I hardly ever remember clothes if there aren't any pictures to go along with the memory).  A lifelong friendship was made that day. :)  Chiropractic school is quite a journey to go through and I couldn't have picked a better roommate to go through it with!  Love ya and Congrats! xoxo   

Chain of Events

Do you ever think about the chain of events that lead you to where you are today?  How if you made one different choice, you would most likely be in a completely different place in your life today.  I believe this is called the butterfly effect.  Please correct me if I'm wrong. :)  It's crazy when you really think about it.  One event can change the whole course of your life...(insert dramatic music here).... 

Here are some random chain of events that have happened in my life that have led me to where I am today....

Dr. D hired my sister at his chiropractic office which led me to start chiropractic care in high school which then led to my fascination with this natural health care approach which then led me to pursue chiropractic.  Thanks Dr. D for hiring my sister (and educating me on chiropractic of course!) :)

The clinic I worked for in Virginia bought out an already established clinic in the same town which led me to lose my job after only 6 months which led me to move back home and work at the crappiest job of my career which led me to pursuing jobs abroad which led me to Singapore!  Thanks Dr. T for firing me! :)  (see why I always look at the bright side of things when they happen...because it really does happen for good reasons later on!)

In second grade, this little girl who lived 5 houses down from me came and knocked on my door to play (I don't remember this but she does), which led to her becoming my bff, which then led to me becoming good friends with her best friend in sixth grade, which then led to me becoming good friends with their good friend freshman year of college.  I will now be tied to these girls for life. :)  Love you doves!  

What is one significant event that happened that led you to where you are today?

Un-bloggable

This weekend is the first weekend where I got a touch of homesickness.  Not the 'I want to go home' type, but more of 'I want to talk to my friends and know what's going on in their lives' type.  It seems many other things hit me too all at once over the weekend.  It's similar to when I let all the little stuff that's bothering me pile (or 'pyle' up, haha, lame joke) up and have one big break down one day (which then causes me to apply for jobs thousands of miles away--yes this is a true story :-P).  But this is different in the sense that there isn't anything that has building up (at least not consciously), but multiple things just happened to all hit me in one weekend.  Most of it is un-bloggable, but I had my minor breakdown Sunday night and then Monday after a very busy day with a career that fulfills me, all is right with the world again. :)  I'm not sure why I operate this way.  But when this happens, I try to go through what's the worse that can happen if a, b, or c happens.  And you realize nothing is as bad as it seems.  Everything will always be ok.  You realize the worst thing that can happen really isn't the worst.  Some may say it's my astrology sign that I operate this way.  I am very characteristic of my astrology sign in many aspects, and maybe this is just one of them?  

Do you let all the little stuff pile up and deal with it all at once?  Or do you deal with each thing as it comes?       

The Chiro part

My blog name is Chiro Chick, yet I never talk about the "Chiro" part of it :-P  I thought I had in a previous post but I can't seem to find it (if this is a repeat, then I apologize!)  Practicing chiropractic here is very different for me here in Singapore.  Not only because I'm in Singapore, but because my boss runs her practice very differently than anything I've ever seen.

The office is located on the 31st floor of one of the high rise buildings in the central business district.  It is just one office, not a clinic with multiple rooms.  The office contains a desk, a few chairs, a filing cabinet, the adjusting table, and the spine. :)  That's it.  Plain and simple chiropractic...how it should be :)  And the view is gorgeous.  The only office I've seen that was in a high rise building was in NYC and that even had multiple treatment rooms.  There are front desk people who let me know when my patient is here.  I do everything else.  Patients are schedule every half an hour and new patients are scheduled one per hour.  The treatment takes anywhere from 5-15 minutes depending.  Many of my patients receive trigger point therapy related to their problem meaning I work on the tight knots in their muscles related to their problem.  I perform all manual adjustments on patients.  In two years I went from all instrument adjusting to all manual adjusting (per doctor's choice).  I've had amazing experiences with both adjusting styles.  Chiropractic works no matter what technique you use!  I've seen it firsthand. :)  I think personally I enjoy manual more.  It's more of a challenge than the instrument and I've really grown as a manual adjuster in the past year.  And the Greek origin of the word Chiropractor means "done by hand".  :)

During the first consultation and exam, we educate the patients using the spine and showing them what's going on.  I think this is one of my favorite parts.  Most of the patients have never been to a chiropractor or have gone once and thought that one adjustment would fix the problem.  This is the part where I come in and explain how it all really works.  I have strongly believed in chiropractic since I was 15 when I first learned about it.  I remember in high school how cool I thought chiropractic was (I still do obv!) and telling people about it way back then.  By senior year, that's the only thing I could think of doing with my life.  Occasionally I veered away from it during undergrad because the thought of 8 years of school freaked me out (remember when I switched to basket weaving as my major Anon ;-) )!  When you are 17, you don't realize how fast the time will actually fly.  I am very happy with the choices I made.  I doubted my choice several times over the last two years, I think mostly due to unhappiness with where I was working along with other insecurities I had.  Now I am truly happy to be a chiropractor and can see myself doing this for many years to come.

My patients are from all over the world which makes my job interesting.  All the patients are very pleasant to take care of.  In general, I think the people here are more appreciative of what I do.  Chiropractic is not very well known here and I love that I get to be the first one to educate some of these people.  In the US, I don't think I was respected as much as a Doctor.  For a couple reasons: a) I am so young looking and people don't believe I am a Doctor b) Many people in the US have had experience with chiropractors and think they know  it all.  I am proud to say I have educated a numerous amount of patients back in the US and hopefully gained their respect through that process.  I also know I have much more experience and confidence now which plays a part on the respect you get.

Gonna keep on rockin' and adjusting the world! :-D

Have you ever been to the chiropractor (ok...so half of you are chiros or have been my patients at some point :-D)?  Who is your favorite chiro?? (haha this is SO a trick question?)  If you haven't gotten your spine checked, what's holding you back?   

The Good, the Bad, the Ugly

Those who know me well, know I'm perfectly happy living in my world of candy coated raindrops.  It suits me well. :)  But I wouldn't be doing a service to my readers if I pretended that it was sunshine and rainbows one hundred percent of the time.  :)  There are actually some things that tend to drive me crazy about living in Singapore.  In general, locals can be very rude and pushy.  They will cut in front of you to get on the bus, the MRT, sometimes even when you're standing in line and you are not far enough up.  Sometimes they stand in the middle of an area blocking everyones way.  I suppose this is a part of their culture and takes some getting used to it.  Just as I'm getting used to it, my Danish friend was really frustrated about this as we were walking through the MRT station last week.  So then it brought it back to my awareness.  My Danish friend has lived in Japan before for 2 years and will be moving back there in September.  He talks about how Japan is so different and they are much more civil and polite there.  Makes me want to check out Japan next ;-)  Not to mention I've heard amazing things about Japan. 

Anyway, getting off topic here.  Another thing that drives me crazy is Singaporeans are SO slow!  You wouldn't think that would go with the pushiness, but somehow they are slow yet pushy.  I get caught walking behind slow people all the time and I just want to shout "Gooo!".  Then sometimes when I try to get around a few slow people, as I start to do that they veer off right in front of me.  I suppose the more I focus on it, the more it will happen.  Law of attraction right? 

Other than that, most of the locals are friendly.  You get treated how you treat others, right (or I should say lah?)  :)  I really enjoy being friendly with the locals since I'm a minority.  I'll represent :-P holla!!  I think the places I frequent are beginning to recognize my face now which is nice.  I absolutely love interacting with the expats.  I am a sucker for accents...I love listening to the different accents all day.  My patients are from everywhere in the world and 99.9% of them are very pleasant to work with.  It's so interesting to hear about all the places these people have lived.  I'm learning so much about different places and constantly check out google maps to learn where all these cool places in the world are. 

What country have you always wanted to visit?   

Hdigabtt?

I am in a state of pure bliss.  How did I get to be this lucky?? :)  I truly am living my dream of traveling and being a chiropractor and having awesome adventures.  I thank the universe everyday for bringing me amazing opportunities.  I'm a strong believer in something called Access Energy.  It's somewhere along the lines of The Secret, only so much better.  It's about manifesting awesome things in your life and allowing the infinite possibilities to come into your life.  Things maybe you couldn't have even dreamed up yourself.  It allows me to deal with the good, the bad, the ugly with as much ease, joy, and glory as possible.  I am eternally grateful for the people who brought Access into my life. :)  Two gals in chiropractic school: Shelly and Maggie really taught me that there are other possibilities than all the trauma and drama of life.  That I can choose something different every ten seconds.  Many of you know of my crazy acronyms that I say or post on facebook a lot. :)  Those come from Access.  Here's a few of them in case you ever see me post one of these or want to try them out for yourself:

hdigabtt?: How does it get any better than this?  You can use this when you are feeling good, bad, sad, mad, neutral, whatever,to allow something even better to happen no matter what state you are in at that moment.  

weip? or watip?: What else is possible?  or What are the infinite possibilities?  enough said.

hdigtbsl?:  How did I get to be so lucky?  Expressing gratitude for the good things you have in life will only allow more good things to show up. :)

All of Life Comes to Me with Ease, Joy, and Glory: This is the mantra off access; 'all of life' means the good, the bad, the ugly.  Allows you to deal with everything that comes your way with more ease.  

I'm in such a state of bliss, I feel like breaking out in song and dance like in the musicals. :-P  I'm on the MRT in the morning with my ipod and I just want to start singing and dancing!  I recently watched the season finale of Glee three times in less than a week.  Something in this episode really struck a nerve in a wonderful way.  I think I could relate to how amazing Rachael and Kurt felt when they were on that broadway stage, and to  the amazing-ness and magical-ness of NYC.  And not to mention the amazing (word of the day, yes?) voices on that show just make you feel so good.  I would say my current song of the day is "For Good" from the musical Wicked, which was sung by Rachel and Kurt on the Glee season finale.

The song talks about how we change for the better from the people that we meet in our lives.  Each person who is reading this has taught me something that has made me into a better person.  "Because I knew you...
I have been changed for gooood"  Everlasting gratitude to each and every one of you. :) xo.

If your life was a musical, what would your current theme song be?