Hmm. I really have no idea whether to fume in simmering silence or to scream out loud. See, my dear readers, I’ve been spammed.
This past weekend I have been deeply engrossed in my BodyBalance instructor training, something like a fitness bootcamp. Imagine nine hours a day at the gym going through a series of tai-chi, yoga, and pilates-inspired poses — over and over again. For three days. And when the day is done, I go home and rehearse a track for the next day’s presentation. My utter lack of a musical ear made this nothing short of impossible. But persevere I did, and I passed the course.
Of course, it nearly didn’t go that way.
Day 1, Friday: I come home, thought of checking my email for a bit before starting my practice and, lo and behold! I see a series of spam comments on my I Am Woman post. This spammer decided to hold the guise of wmw and myself, and alternate between pretending to be me and pretending to be me being cheesed off at the spammer pretending to be me. This person certainly has a aptitude for trouble, I thought.
First thing I did was to text message Spiffy to see if there’s any IT-style remedy to this. I couldn’t possibly handle any of this drama, not when I got two more whole days of intense physical training ahead of me. She was shocked and promised to check it up, and so I gratefully left it to her.
Day 2, Saturday: After the day ended, I was travelling back with a fellow trainee, Rachel. I told her how I almost blew my practice the previous night cos of the spammer. She just shook her head and told me there will always be people like this in the world, people who are malicious, people with no lives of their own, who enjoy being parasites and sucking off the energy of their productive neighbours. The only thing to do, she said, is to ignore them. They are just not worth our time.
And I’m glad I listened to her. I’ll be even more jizzed off if I had failed my training because of this person, well, this spammer. I wouldn’t call anyone a person if they didn’t have the guts to express themselves using their own identities instead of stealing other people’s and printing lies.
Now here’s the thing: I am kind of glad this happened. Don’t get me wrong: given half a chance, I’ll still wring this spammer’s balls into a wu-chi twist (assuming it’s a guy; it could easily go either way). But it’s given me a chance to get angry and blow my top and ruin my weekend, which I did not take. Instead, I focused on the positive energies emanating from my fellow trainees and my generous master-trainers, Riyo and Kylie who were so determined to help us improve ourselves. I find myself grateful that I have friends like Spiffy would take the trouble to clear the air for me and run interference. And really, at the end of the day, who really cares?
Enjoy today, folks. It’s yet another day to be who you are, another chance to better yourself. Peace.
.
P.S. For those who are curious about which comments are spam, you can have a look at the list here.
P.P.S. I have never been accused of being transgendered before. It’s surreal.
64 Comments
It was kinda funny in a surreal way, but your readers were all mad for you. I dunno, spammers must have no lives or something. Congratulations on your successful weekend - was what I wanted to say! Well Done for your mental, spiritual and physical discipline. You have a really nice community online, and it’s good to see how they watch your back.
Heya Msiagirl!
I’m glad to have decent and creative friends coming to my blog and sharing their thoughts and opinions. And I respect you guys enough not to kick too much of a fuss about this. The main posts are the point after all, not a collection of comments.
And I’m beginning to understand what Sharon and Dina meant about this sorta thing… I get it now.
congratulations!that guy must be envious of you to went through all hassle of being someone else and you at the same time.
oops..what i meant was congratulations for passing the course.
Gosh Kenny! And here I thought that I was misconstrued when I commented on how sexy a man is if he’s in touch with his feminine side! LOL!
Kenny, welcome back and congrats on passing your course. I didn’t know which comments were from the spammer until I read that last comment of yours on your previous blog. When your pix appeared, aha! then only I knew. But it’s good you didn’t let it get to you.
oops, previous entry.
ack. spammers are such a distaste.
Hey Kenny! Sorry to hear about your spammer. Just ignore those lowlife assholes who have nothing better to do.
Congrats on passing your course. I am sooooo very glad you are back, the real you. Hugs!!
Thank goodness, my name has been cleared! Glad to see you back…and congrats!
Hey Kenny, good to have met you at last. Just stand in a tree position and ignore the spammer. After all s/he only wants the rambutans in your head!
oh yea, i forgot the photo at the side. congrats on passing..knew u cud do it! =D so when ur officially a trainer, i’ll go become one of ur students ya? heheh…
spammer(s) will always be around when ur blog gets popular..that’s something good isn’t it? ;o)
aww..shucks..it’s really no biggie. i din do much anyway…;o) i’m just glad u din let it get to you, and am really glad ur back…^_^
Enar,
I’m not sure if he’s envious, but he/she definitely has a whole lot more free time than I do!
The Quiet Storm,
Sexy? Me? Tell me you’re serious…
Lydia,
Life is short. Can’t sweat the small stuff. Got to move on… By the way, just got to the chapters about your pregnancy/confinement period — hilarious and poignant at the same time. You’re rapidly becoming one of my favourite writers.
Pat,
Ack is right.
Kenny, now my face is as red as watermelon oredi.
Ted,
Heya back! Busily ignoring them. P.S. When are we having our inaugural PLAFC meeting, Mr. President?
FireHorse,
I’m glad I’m back too. All of the real me. 100% male. No female parts, vestigial or otherwise, hahaaha…
wmw,
I’m sorry you got dragged into this. I’ll email you separately to give you more details.
Tunku,
In my tree pose right now. Position of calmness…
Spiffy,
You’ll be my favourite student!
Major-league thanks again for helping me and our friends reading my blog through this long, weird weekend.
Sweet or not this watermelon, Lydia?
favourite student? nicee..! =D aiyah, ur making me blush ady..it’s my pleasure to be able to help…;o)
Spiffy,
You’re easy to make my favourite student — you’re so fun and bubbly. Ah, but to become my best student, that depends on how much work you put in.
Trust me, it’s a lot. Imagine an inflexible guy like me taking months to do a backbend — like an upside down U. Anything is possible — we just got to want it badly enough!
I don’t think it was coincident that I should stumble upon you and Lydia on the same day. I am far from being a writer like yourself.
I love to blog, it is different than writing a book. I compensate my lack of vocabulary by inserting a nice photo.
My passion is sharing and helping others. That is what I see myself doing. I doubt that I will ever write a book in my lifetime. Perhaps someone will write a book about me.
Keep up your good works. It is so refreshing to see a Chinese Malaysian doing so well. Looking forward to seeing more writings from you.
Thanks, mrshbt, but don’t sell yourself short. We all have to start somewhere. Lydia has a wonderful backstory on how she got started till where she is today. Very inspirational.
We all go through different routes, but this is perfect cos it’s the journey that matters in the end, anyway.
Your blog is very motivating too, how you find yourself through your daily struggles closer to God. We all have to write what we believe in the most.
And I love pictures! Leen Ashburn once complain I had too many four- and five-syllable words in my blogs so she malas to read, but everyone loves pretty pictures!
Kenny, i’m happy enuff to be ur favourite student. i’ll leave the ‘best student’ to someone else…i cant possibly take all the limelight.. heheh..;o)
Yes, well, first I got to improve myself. More training is needed before I get a class of my own — but I will get there!
mrsbht, that is a wonderful passion to have.
Kenny, thanks so much. I should become a motivational speaker as I seem to be inspiring people, hehe.
O Lydia,
You already are a motivational speaker in my books. Now it’s time for your own talk show, like Xeus suggested. I’ll emcee you any day…
(Which reminds me, I haven’t blogged about our interview yet! Adoi, so long ago di…)
hah! dun forget wht u promise me Kenny.. hahah.. long ago also mst write. =P
Yikes! Yes, ma’am!
hahah…=P
hi Kenny,
You have a gift of writing that many of us yearn to have.
“Malas” wow, it has been a long time since I heard that word. It is hard to imagine that I studied, spoke, and even wrote in Malay till 17 years old. I can’t even remember words to make a sentence now.
Only Malay words that I frequently use now are related to food. Speaking of which, I have cravings for some “goreng pisang”. I will try to make some tomorrow.
Dear Ping Chong,
Thanks for using the phrase “goreng pisang” and not the supposedly correct “pisang goreng” — it’s ridiculous how the authorities keep trying to clean everything up, including ordinary day-to-day language like this!
i liked the photo u put up..;o)
It’s the label from a collectors-edition can of spam. Monty Python — one of my favourite comedy troupes of all time — they made fun of all sorts of stuffy situations, some dire, some plain nasty, which is a good way of dealing with things, I believe.
yep..i havta agree with u on that..;o)
is there still room in your class for me?
Kenny,
Like Spiffy said, there are always this kind of people in this world. I don’t know why they do that. Maybe they have nothing better to do? Or, maybe they think it’s “fun”? Anyway, just ignore that bast*rd. He’s just a coward.
does wordpress allow u to delete those entries?
wahhhh 9 hours in the gym… that can kill you if you are really pushing yourself!
OMG, you got spammed again…can you moderate your comment?
enar,
Always got room for you.
Kok,
Yes he/she is. The spammer just spammed using your name but I am moderating comments from now on, so no more of this nonsense even if it means a bit more work on my side.
zewt,
Yes, Wordpress does. I’ve actually deleted some spam comments in my Story Teller post once I was alerted by Spiffy as they were rather crass. I’m keeping the I Am Woman spam comments as it were though, as an observation on the sort of inane behaviour we have out there.
As for 9 hours in the gym, well, that’s why I am spending most of this week resting! Lost much weight too, now thin as a rake.
Rasa Malaysia,
I am moderating the comments now; I had hoped the spammer would get the hint and leave my blog alone, but since that’s not the case, this is the only way to go. So be patient, guys, if you don’t see your comments appear immediately! Thanks!
some ppl just never learn…*shakes head*…
lost weight? jealousnya aku…sighhh….=(
but considering how ur not fat at all.. hmm, u shud start eating more now. hehe…;o)
Good morning, spiffy!
Yes, well. Now it just takes a bit longer if I’m online but maybe a whole day if I’m not, but rest assured the authentic comments will appear eventually.
Seriously though, even I am shocked at the extent this spammer would go to. Is there such a thing as a professional spammer? Maybe he/she is a multimillionaire with way too much time on his/her hands.
P.S. I’m steadily gaining the weight back though by much eating. I am much too thin for my liking already!
morning to u too..;o)
i think we shud be alert enuff now to differentiate which comments are authentic and which are not..jst that it’s really annoying to see the spam messages running around in ur blog. >:o(
no ler..probly he/she is like unemployed.. depress with life..nothing to do, so need to find someone to annoy.
good good…dun think u’ll look good being too thin also, since ur so tall..;o)
No more worries, all comments must go through my magic fingers from now on!
I’m just wondering what the spammer must be thinking. You guys have been very vocal with your opinions of him/her. I almost pity him/her.
Almost.
yeah..which means more work on ur side, like you said…grr…
pity? a nothing-better-to-do guy/gurl? NO WAY. hhahah….
eat more. ;o)
—
Ah well
I guess I should get a genuine answer now, no spam scam no more.
Hey, As you can tell, I’m still awfully excited about joint art projects. So, all I need is a time, place and medium and WooHoo! Heres come the art bucket!
or not … I let my enthusiasm get the better of me sometimes.
—
Heya G!
Glad to see on board again, post-spam. Saw the spammer’s comments to you and loved your answer. Soy and fish indeed.
On a more serious note, I’m up to my neck in work right now, so I’m gonna take a rain check till I get this round over and done with,
As Nisa tells me, I must learn to say No. But there are so many interesting things to do and learn… *pouts*
—
my artsy heart shudders still and cracks just a little.
(( sobs ))
Its ok.
Best to rejuvenize and get ready for the future than burn yourself up today on a whim.
-sigh —
((slinks away)) …
—
Is body balancing fun?
I mean to be a student of? I mean to take the class (not as a instructor but as a participant?)
BodyBalance is mojo-domo-level fun!
I’ll let you guys know when I start shadowing instructors in proper classes so you can join in. First though, tons of training…
Kenny,
This is the first time I heard of spammed comments. Please excuse me if I don’t visit you often as it is strenous for me to read so many blogs.
Dear wonda,
Please don’t worry about it — with your eye condition you should rest as much as possible. If you are reading my blog though, perhaps you should increase the text size so it’s easier to read.
You can do this from the browser menu or simply press the CTRL and + buttons/keys at the same time.
Does this BodyBalance program include a combination of slow moves like pilates and taichi? I would like to try it . It sounds fun!
Yes, it does. What BodyBalance does is simply taking the principles of Tai-Chi, yoga and Pilates and combining them in tracks that is set to music.
For example, we’ll start with a Tai-chi warmup, then move on to Sun Salutations to set our breathing to our moves. We’ll work on our balance, our core (abs and back), hips, etc. and finish off with relaxation.
Most gyms these days offer this program, so if you’re already a gym member, just find out when’s the next BodyBalance slot, and join in!
All instructors will teach in the same manner for your safety; the only difference would be their individual personalities. Remember, the first thing is to have fun, so don’t push yourself too hard on your maiden attempt!
Have fun!
P.S. To give you an idea, one of the tracks I had to do was Tai-Chi warm-up set to Yossou N’Dor and Neneh Cherry’s 7 Seconds. How’s that for a jazzed-up balance session?
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I know this sounds awfully vapid, but …
body balance is trained to stretch and work the body out - both a relaxation and training the body into a stress free state, no?
It won’t like, give me bigger pics or tighter abs
?
—
I’m not sure about bigger pecs, G (you’d probably want to stick to pushups/weights/BodyPump for that one) but there’s a Pilates-influenced abs track in every BodyBalance release that’s guaranteed to work your abdominal muscles.
Whether you can see the final results or not depends on your diet. Me, I got my nice abs all covered by an even nicer layer of flab cos I can’t stop eating unhealthy, fatty foods. I’m Malaysian, after all!
Kenny,
Perhaps you can use Onestat.com or ExtremeTracker (like on my blog) to track down the spammer.
Thanks! I’ll check them out, might help.
Kenny, now you have to be more busy maintaining the comments in your blog. I hope you can track down that guy though.
Well, Kok, I’ll leave that till I have more time on my hands — now I’m busy playing catch up after last weekend! So much to do!
*pening kepala*
bro… you’re already thin enough!
Yeah, I know… now trying to put on more weight, preferably muscle mass, thank you very much.
For second time…I wanted to say
Most typical (fairytale) story will end with the “bad guy” die, and “good guy” having a happy ever after ending!
Well done
Now, toes together, chest open, chin tuck in and breathe in deeply…in hale…ex hale…
Look forward, because there are so many GREAT things is waiting ahead of you!
Thanks, Rachel — you’re the sweetest!
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