Hello from LA

--I am in LA y'all!!! :D After more than 12 hours of flight stuck behind this really huge guy who just had to push back his seat throughout the flight, I am here in LA. hohoho!!! Koko and cici picked me up from the airport - and she recognised me straight away. Koko had to stay in the car coz he didnt want to park.

--Koko has this humongous SUV with lots of stuff inside it. Very cool. Very cosy. Love it. First destination: Bonjour cafe. But it was still closed when we got there, it was too early. So we ended up detouring to Starbucks. A much needed double-shot light frappucinno.

--Then we got to Bonjour and cc was crazy about the pannacotta (she bought everything to go) and we had cheese cake. Then we went to this Japanese grocery store coz cici wanted to buy some snacks. Then we were off to lunch - this is the resto that cici works in called... err... Izikuza Ojiya. I think? The food was great - it is officially the best karaage that I have ever tasted. The grilled chicken was just alright, it fell pale in comparison to the karaage. Unagi was thick and melt in your mouth. Cici ordered this tempura with rice and egg, and she told us that that dish was perfected to perfection and that one minute difference in putting in the ingredient makes the dish taste different. With so much thought and experiment put on the dish, no wonder it tasted so great.

--Now, now. I was too excited that I forgot to take pictures. So there will be no pictures for this entry ok.

--We were off to WalMart since I had to buy toiletries. The shampoo and stuff cost generally around 3.50ish (compared to like 7.50ish back home). There was also a nail spa attached to it and acrylic full set was $16 I think. I am so doing my nails here!!!

--I got a SIM card with a marginal LG phone by AT&T for less than $10. When we got home I hassled koko to activate it for me. And it turned out that we need to recharge it before we can use it (although it said it comes with $10 worth of credit). So we gotta wait till we get the credit later before phone is functional.

--To send an sms, it cost $. To receive an sms, it cost $. To call it cost $, to receive a call it cost $. There goes.

--After resting for a while we went shopping to Victoria Gardens, which is less than 30 mins drive from koko's place, so it was close. Shopping is great here. More variety. More exciting designs. More stuff. And the starting price is lower too. And then there is discounts because apparently the US is in recession and retailers are boosting their sales. Smart move ;)

--Cardigan, jeans and dress. Sister, if you like the cardigan, you can have it. It is so coolllll... and I know you love cardigans :D

--Dinner was at the Yard Hall. Now, here is something kind of weird here. In order to order drinks, you gotta show your ID. And this ID has to come from this book which lists all sorts of IDs all over the world, and the only ones approved from NSW is the gold driving license. Yep, you guessed it. I could not order any alcoholic beverages because I didnt bring my passport with me. Note to self - bring passport everywhere you go.

--The portions here are humongously huge. And we ordered only appetizers. They were sized like mains. Ouch. I swear if I gain weight while I am here I am going to kill myself. Oops.

--We drove back and stopped by at a petrol station to grab the recharge card. Got home. Sent sms to sister and Boy. Spoke to koko till I fell asleep. I swore he must have watched me sleep for a while before kissing me good night.

--The sms I sent to my sister was received alright. I am not sure if the sms I sent to Boy was received though. Oh well.

--My other phone died coz I didnt bring an adaptor for the charging thing. I was supposed to buy one when koko said he probably has some that I could use. Well, I asked for his charger instead. hehe.

--Nearly killed the house today because I pressed a wrong button that killed half of the appliances. I asked koko to get some instant coffee and to go home with a starbucks. I havent had my coffee for the day!!! Ate last night's left over. Called Nat and gossiped for an hour before bruptly interupted because koko was home. For a while. To fix the switch. hehe. oops.

--I am watching the Food Channel now, and all the cooks are uhm, on the large side. And they put butter in everything. Even on rice. So that it taste better.

--No wonder things taste so nice here. And I am slowly developing an anorexic syndrome. I am just scared to eat anything. ouch.

I send you a message of love

--This is a message of love, from me to you. I hated how we had to part last night. I wanted to lengthen that brief moment that we spent together. I wished you are still here by my side. I am yearning to be in your arms. I am aching to be close to you.

--I realise that you are not here with me and all that I want to do is just cry. And dont ask me why I am crying when we are not breaking up, you are not leaving me forever; we are just parting for a while. I just want to be with you. Right now. Everyday. Every time.

--Stay safe my dear Boy... have a blasting time and come home in one piece. There is nothing in this world that you cant conquer.

--Right now, I know that I love you.

Pre-travel Anxiety

--Its friday morning and its raining...

--Last night couldnt make it to dinner. A thousand apologies. argh.

--Finishing up the list of things to do before flying off.

--Boy, I miss you and I am going to miss you even more. Lets hope we survive this.

Too deep

--I read this off someone's journal. GOD will not change your life, unless you have changed yourself first. Or something along those lines. On the surface it sounds like a conditional GOD's help kind of thing. Yet there is some elements of truth in it.

--In the sense that GOD may not be able to change you unless you are willing to accept those changes in yourself. That is, you must be willing to change yourself, working together with GOD to ensure that you have the best of life there is.

--This is something deep, perhaps too deep to be discussed on a Thursday morning.

--Still not looking forward to next week. Sigh. I guess I like living in Sydney more than I give it credit for.

Bleh

--I am tired. Just tired. Maybe coz its that time of the month. Maybe coz too much things are happening all at once.

--Gotta do some errands at Woolies for trip prep (even when I dont end up going next week, chance is that I may have to go at some point thanks to the non-refundable portion of the tick). Bleh. Never mind.

--Event tonight. So dont feel like going. Just tired.

--Gonna meet adf soon. Bitching session is gonna be so effin full-on.

[untitled]

--Tell me if this is going to end even before it starts. And tell me if you are going to blame everything on me. Tell that to my face.

--But I dont feel like talking to you ever. I am not a charity case and I dont want to be one.

The things we do for the people we love.

--Weekend was full-on intense. Two catch up sessions with adf. Went all the way to Cabra on Sunday with dear Boy. The things we do for the people we love.

--Havent seen adf in ages. Wanted to visit during WYD, but I was scared of not being able to catch a train back home, so we deferred it till yesterday. Adf's birthday is coming up so I wanted to treat her before I leave. hehe. And she is soooo nice. She even peeled the durian and jackfruit that Sister wanted me to bring home. The things we do for the people we love.

--I miss adf. Especially remembering I used to see her everyday. Coffees and bitching make a good combo yeah ;) There were so many people in Cabra on Sunday - and adf knows everyone! Mann... it was like living in Asia. Really. We dont need to fly to Asia, we got a taste of Asia right here on the suburbs of Sydney. Sounds corny. Yeap. Imagine living it.

--Boy said that he wanted to drive around more, esp to place he has never driven to. Turned out that he played football in the park near adf's place. Heh. So much for "never been to that side of the world". It was sooo funny... cracked me up.

--Mansions after mansions on that side of the world, more or less the same price of a one bedroom apartment here in the heart of the CBD. The price you pay for convenience.

--Camera battery died. Damn it. And boy cooked last night. Chicken breast with boscaiola sauce. His best meal to date :D yummm

--Couldnt sleep for most of the night. Maybe because of stupid period. Argh.

Adf-s

--This morning I woke up hungry. Nothing new. Got up, made breakfast, coffee, eat. Now in the virtual playground.

--Yesterday was lunching with adf. I am so going to miss her. Its nice to have someone who can understand what you are talking about and can relate to it one way or another. We discussed resistance yesterday. We reckon some people are just plain childish and should just grow up. She ended up paying for my meal. Awwww... thats very sweet of her. Mental note to treat her next time :D

--Got home finished work (thank GOD). Confirmed with adf about tonight. We are not doing Spanish after all (and b-i-l actually wanted to join had we gone tapas-ing). Adf wants Mango beer; I have a voucher courtesy of Entertainment Book. Adf and her SO arrived at my place and we made our way down to the Rocks. Apparently it was quite a walk (sorry). And we had to queue. So.Not.Going.There.Without.Booking.Again. Food was good. Beer was good. Most of all, conversation was good.

--Hell, bitching was good. We cant stand dealing with stupid people, especially those stupid people who are up themselves. Even worse when they are rich and they think they can do whatever they effin' want. Flaunting your wealth in front of other people is sooooo stupid. And equally worse are those people who hate others who are doing better than they are. Its like - helloooo... get over yourself. If you cant be happy for others then dont hate those who are happier than you.

--Less than 2 weeks before I leave. Adf couldnt believe that I havent started packing. Maybe I should start. Soon.

--Adf's SO ended up paying for my dinner. Mental note to take adf out next time. Going to miss adf so so so much... love her love her love her!

Overbooked

--Overbooked till I leave at the end of the month. SORRY to those who are getting back to me and have been turned down... :( I really didnt want to leave things till the last minute, but yeah, it happened, so... since I am overbooked, I am not going to say yes to anymore catch up sessions. And SORRY if I asked you for it and now I have to say no to it... :(

--Caught up with Twin yesterday. Love her love her love her. I guess there is a reason as to why we share the same birthday. haha. Note to self: gotta get Twin totally wasted when I am back. She's such goodie goodie and rarely drinks.

--Had this really long chat with Sister last night. One of those deep and meaningful. Mannnn... I so dislike those kind of topics these days but why oh why people keep talking to me about those???

--Ultimately, what happened in the past happened in the past and should stay in the past. It really does not matter whom I loved, whom I used to love, how many people I used to love, how long I loved them for, bla bla bla. Because right now, I dont love them anymore. It is very possible to temporarily love someone. Or you can call it like if that is the term you prefer to use.

--Finally, welcome once again to the world of blogging *sarcasm alert!

Good things in life

--We ate fish and chips last night. The best fish at chips at Sydney is at Mohr. Click on Mohr Fish. Place is small and it was jam-packed at dinner time last night. The best bit is that it does not smell fishy. I know it sounds weird; its true though! The quality is comparable with the ones I had while I was at Byron. Yes, its that good.

--We discussed eating healthily. According to boy we have been eating healthily, even when over the weekend, he was eating Mackers. Blame it on the job baby! Sister said that its time we start cooking, because we cannot eat out every single day. Even when we can afford it financially, it is putting a stress in our digestive system. She is right.

--I am not a virgin cook in the sense that I have cooked regularly before. For some reason I dont really understand, I dont really like cooking these days. Oh well. Thats what happen when you are living with someone who cooks for you (thanks Sis!). Sister said that its gotta be a team effort. All that I do these days is to look up the recipe on the net. And sometimes go shopping with her. And thats about it. Cutting, cleaning and the actual cooking itself I dont really do.

--Its thursday already, this week has gone by really really fast. I just realised how full my schedule is. Damn it. I am not going to be able to make anymore catch up sessions if I want to finish all of my work before I leave. Less than 2 weeks Ko!!!

--Koko was teasing me last night. He said you gotta give me a buzz just in case I cant wake up and pick you up from the airport. I told him he would probably be too excited to sleep. He said I am too confident. Well, we will see when the day is actually here, right Ko? ;)

Too nice

--Boy cooked last night. For the whole family. I am super touched. Thinking back about it, I almost cry. Why. Hm... because he is so nice. So so nice. At times I think about him - and wonder to myself, where do you come from?

--Lunch with sister, after so long. I miss her. Miss talking to her. Miss spending time just the two of us. Miss telling her so many things on my mind. Sigh.

--Finally, she got me my graduation present. Too nice.

that one thing in life

--I am still searching for that one thing in life. I shall keep searching until I find it. And when I find it, I will know that I am finally home.

--There are many different kinds of love in this world, and we can differentiate it and label it to our utmost satisfaction. In the end, there is only compassion and only kindness, when we take a moment to think about those we think we love, then we know that we do love them, no matter what kind of love it is.

--One should never argue with a racist or a fool. Or both.

Monday blues

Without wanting to sound like a whinger:

--this morning I woke up with a pain because I have been sleeping on the wrong side of the bed - literally. And it was freezing cold...

--I have so much work to do... arghhh...

--The house needs cleaning too. *&%$#. The laundry is in progress - again!!!

Another long day

--Ahemmmm... family.

--Lets look at the bright side.

--Some say that friends are GOD's way of apologising for our families. And perhaps that is very true. I guess if anything, at least for today, my friend cum sister is GOD's way of apologising for my mother.

--I managed to do the thing that I wanted to do with my sister: birthday shopping. Shoes and jackets for both of us. I foot the bill, of course. I think this is the best birthday gift of all time for a girl - shopping.

--My sister, thank GOD, is not a brand-conscious snob. Although she admitted to me that she dislikes doing bargain shopping on her own. Apparently, it gives her a headache. In contrast, I am happy to browse and browse and browse and feel cheated if I have to sit down. hehe. Opposites attract huh?

--Despite her not liking it, I am bluntly honest in front of my mother. Oh well, given the limited amount of time that we spend with each other these days, we may as well just be. In the Asian culture, this act can be interpreted as rude, especially since it involves the elders. I personally think the people in my life deserve a better treatment than pretension. So there goes. Dont like it - thats fine. I will pretend in front of you - in all respect. Just tell me so, anytime. (Just remember that you have to bear the consequences.)

--I dont think boys understand what it feels like for girls to have found that pair of shoes and that jacket and that jeans. But they can learn to be supportive in two ways. One is to provide the means to shop and two is to say that the girls look good in whatever they have bought. Bro-in-law picked us up after our endless bags of shopping. He is the best bro-in-law in the world, at least for today.

--Boy misses me today. He called twice. Awwww. He wasnt this sweet yesterday. In fact I didnt hear from him at all yesterday. Oh well. I guess that is what separation does to you - it gives you a chance to miss each other. This is great, of course, if done in moderation. Done over extended period of time, it sucks. Big time.

--Apparently, I have to learn speaking Chinese. I gotta start considering this seriously.

--Some pics now.

D-day

Today was another day of domestication. Woke up at noon and searched for the substance that softens my brain. Caught up with the happenings of the world and especially the economy. The AUD fell to 88.85. And I was hoping that it would reach parity by the end of the month. hgrh.

Two loads of laundry, and finally the laundry basket is empty for now. A stack to iron though and thank GOD thats not on my to-do list. tee hee!

Then grocery shopping. Mannn... I feel so rich with so much food at home. I know it sounds really weird. Yet whats the use of having money if not to feed, clothe and shelter yourself (and the ones you love). So I guess, with lots of food, clothes and a roof over my head, I am definitely very lucky. Oh, did I mention that I have a well-functioning body and brain? ;)

Watched the games - a little bit. I guess one of the use of having it is that it gives a lot of people something to do. Something to look forward to. Something to aspire to. A goal. Something to be proud of. And of course a universal recognition of something extraordinary.

Sister talked about this Chinese girl who talked about living through hardship before knowing happiness. And how focused she was to winning a medal in the Olympics because it would make her dad very happy. I thought about the last time my Dad wanted me to do something. It involved me going home and living with him. Sounds weird? Its ok - thats just what we do in Asian culture. In case its not obvious, I am a proponent of moving out and living alone. Well, maybe not alone, but definitely not with your parents aka being independent, paying and paving for your own way in life. Yet again, in Australia, it is an increasing phenomenon of having kids staying with their parents while they are saving for a down payment for a house/apartment. So there we go.

Anyway back to my dad.

Of course with my dad being my dad, he would not just say things directly to my face. I have to read between the lines. His lines. Thats ok insofar as I read things correctly AND I do them correctly. Otherwise - bleh. Good luck to me. This time around I read it correctly and I havent done anything to get a step closer to doing it. Every time I think about this I just feel this uncomfortable glitch. Then I heard the story of that girl who is training and competing in the Olympics not only to make herself happy, but also to make her dad happier. Man. I felt (still feel) inadequate.

I am not going speculate about whether my dad is proud of me or not - I dont think that is up to me to decide. My step-mum is proud of me though, she told me that (directly to my face).

Spent a long time talking to sister about so many things. She told me that she is making up for the fact that we are not going to see each other for 2 months. Everyone is jealous of us. Because we talk a lot to each other. In fact, we have been talking non-stop whenever we are together in the same room. She said she is following DS's advise of talking to people and asking their opinions; that is supposed to have the effect of exercising your brain. She is one of the few people whom I can engage in a variety of topic and can stomach my honesty, so thats really good. And it helps that we are listening to each other.

The Great Moderation was a fraud

This one is from The Daily Reckoning.

--Here is a thought for you to consider this weekend: the Great Moderation was a fraud.

--Central bankers round the world pointed to the period of high-growth and low inflation in the late 1990s and early 2000s as the so-called "Great Moderation." They essentially declared victory over inflation, after whipping it in the early 1980's and sowing the seeds for an 18- year bull market in equities. But they were not being truthful.

--It turns out inflation is a double agent and has been living among us these many years. You can imagine how the conversation with central bankers must have gone in the wee hours of the night in the early '80s. It was clear to them that de-linking the world's currencies from metal wouldn't be acceptable to the man in the street if it led to consumer price inflation.

--A man will tolerate a little inflation in his life, as long as it isn't noticeable. Or, in economic terms, the great fraud of fractional reserve banking and fiat money is tolerable so long as the decline in real purchasing power doesn't cause people to notice their declining standard of living.

--The oil shock of the 1970s-itself a response to the U.S. dollar being cut loose from gold-was just the kind of inflation even an idiot would notice. How could he not? You have plenty of time to notice things when you're waiting in line for gas.

--So under the banner of Paul Volcker, interest rates were put up and the forces of inflation retreated from consumer prices. But our point today is that they did not march home, disarm, and go back to doing whatever they do in peace time. Not at all.

--Instead, you can imagine the central bankers looking out over the global landscape in the late 1990s and noticing a wonderful thing: globalisation. Cheap labour in Asia would lead to years of low prices in manufactured goods and textiles. Consumer price inflation would be well and truly whipped! And what people couldn't afford to buy with savings, they could be induced to buy with the provision of massive amounts of tempting credit.

--"Dam the martinis, full greed ahead!" the credit peddlers must have thought. And so inflation, like a mob hitman in the witness protection program, was cautiously let loose back into the economy. He was redeployed with the same mission in a different market. Only this time he'd had some plastic surgery done and a makeover so that he would blend in with the locals. He would look respectable, desirable even, and be welcomed into American, Australian, and British homes with loving arms like a long lost prodigal son.

--Why? The central bankers realised that while people hate inflation in the things they buy, the love it in the things they own. If the central bankers could just get all the new funny money they'd been creating to get into asset prices, well then their lifelong project of enslaving the common man to debt would be so much easier. Wall Street was eager to help, and a powerful machine to impoverish the average punter was born.

--Boy has it succeeded. As credit grew faster than GDP in the entire Western world, it seemed to make people richer day by day. First stocks went up. And then when they stopped going up, Alan Greenspan lowered U.S. interest rates so much they were negative in real terms. That kicked off the housing boom. Eventually, in response to all this bustle of activity in the U.S. housing market, and also in response to the huge increase in global population, much of the new money printed by central banks found its way into the commodity market.

--Everything went up everywhere. The trouble is that no one is really any wealthier today. The inflation in asset prices (houses and shares) is giving way to debt deflation. There are two reasons for this.

--By creating money out of thin air, the central bank stimulates unsustainable patterns of consumption. Production is increased too. But it is based on a bogus price signal. Consumers spend money they don't have. When the money runs out, or debt levels get too high, consumption must fall. All the money poured into productive assets based on unsustainable patterns of consumption becomes misallocated capital. That's why so many retail stores are going bust in the States, and why global factories are closing shop, and why mortgage lenders and homebuilders are dying off faster than T-Rexes.

--The second reason no one is wealthier is that the rise in asset values was just inflation in fancy clothes. Houses weren't suddenly worth ten times more than they used to be worth. They weren't ten times more useful. They were just ten times more expensive.

--The cause of all this is the same: government issued money not backed by any real asset, like gold or silver. But lest you think we're a nutcase, we're happy to suggest it can go on even longer. How long?

--The logical conclusion of a fiat money system where the government has a monopoly on the medium of exchange is, of course, one world currency. As confidence in particular national currencies fades (due to the mismanagement of politicians) it probably won't be that hard to encourage people to take up a new currency.

--People instinctively know that paper money isn't real wealth. It's just paper. But it IS awfully convenient, isn't it? And if you've ever tried to burn a note of currency in front of someone, you see how easy it is to convince people that money is wealth.

--It isn't. But it may not matter. We are moving closer and closer to cash-less society. Pretty soon, the government may just issue everyone debit cards and price everything in arbitrary units. The deception that everyone can get rich by having access to credit will be complete.

--But something cannot come from nothing. Production of goods and services has real costs, things like land, labour, and capital. This is why the price of tangible goods will increase relative to paper and digital currencies in the coming years. People will prefer to trade what they know to be worthless bits of paper that are declining in purchasing power for real goods. This has always been the case in hyper-inflationary melt ups. It is why shelves in stores are empty in the rush to get rid of the declining paper junk as quickly as possible.

--But aren't we a long way away from that, you may be wondering? Not as far away as you might think. Flawed money regimes can last for quite some time. They only truly begin to falter when two things happen. First, people notice a decline in purchasing power for everyday things. This has begun to happen in the Western World, although the benign effect of globalisation on consumer prices and the existence of credit have helped mask it.

--The crucial issue for a banking system based on garbage money is confidence. Lose it, and the game is up. That is, as long as depositors don't rush to the bank en masse to get currency, and then trade currency for tangible goods, then the fractional reserve banking system can go on its merry way for many years, just as it has been doing.

--Yet we reckon you'll see more and more smaller banks go under this year in America and around the globe. Why? The banks have a lot of debt-based assets and not much capital (in the form of deposits). This is already happening in the U.K. and the U.S. It does not take a terribly imaginative person to figure out where it might go from here.

--The banks take losses on the worthless assets (mostly residential and commercial real estate, but perhaps corporate bonds, GSE bonds, and ultimately the sovereign debt of the U.S. government). The losses on the assets wipe out the already-thin capital base (which wasn't much of a base to begin with).

--Of course the government may at some point decide to simply give the banks a holiday. This is a handy way of cutting of panic at the pass. Franklin Roosevelt did this a lot in the 1930s, to prevent serial bank runs in America. But this did nothing to improve the confidence of people that the financial system was sound. Indeed, they realised that the whole system was based on bogus premise, that money could be created from nothing have value as a medium of exchange. It made them more eager than ever to preserve as much of their wealth in things that could not be eroded away by inflation.

--But here we are eighty years later dealing with the same problem. How will it end this time? Which will come first, the Depression, or the War? Hmm. We'll get back to you on that next week. Until then, enjoy the Olympics. One world. One dream.

Day and night

The day
Just spent most of the day with Boy. The things that I do these days. I have time for everything, and that is priceless. I even have time to go to the Powerhouse Museum to check out the 12th International Design Festival (8th-24th August 2008). Yes, yesterday (friday) was the first day and yes, we were there.
The Powerhouse is uber cool, I cant believe that that was my very first trip. Man, all the things that I missed out. It is like this huge playground for adults where science and design meet. I can literally spend hours and hours there, amusing myself with all the things on exhibition. I guess it is really true, art does provide the reason for living (while science provides the means). Some of the things on display were a redesign of everyday tools, and I love love love them to pieces.
Although its in the middle of winter, the Chinatown night market was on. Does anyone know about this or have I been living in a cocoon - literally? Or maybe I just dont hang out Chinatown that much on Friday nights. Oh well. Nothing beats the taste of greasy salt and pepper squid that is not salty and definitely greasy.
It was so fucking cold. Bought a hat. Couldnt decide between the red/blue or navy/fushia. Boy got a massage (that apparently drained him of his cash - oops). Almost didnt buy it before Boy said just get this one - the pink is nice. So there goes - new hat.
Survived the day in 10cm heels. tee hee!
The night
Tonight Boy cooked again. It started with me wanting sausage and eggs and end up being the most delicious omelette I have eaten to date. And then Boy cleaned up the kitchen - and washed all the dishes. Apparently, Boy is a neat freak. Obviously, the kitchen is Boy's territory. And yes, I felt inadequate - big time. At the same time, I was happy, and the happiness overwhelmed the inadequate-ness, so yeah, I was (still am) very happy.
When they say that this Olympics is the best celebration we would ever see for many years to come, I find that difficult to believe. Until I saw the opening ceremony. O-M-F-G. It was massive and it was shockingly beautiful. Some geniuses must have been working their assess off to produce such a fantastic stuff. And the girls are soooo beautiful. I am a slut for beautiful stuff, so I cant help it. I cant stand ugly things.
Boy dropped me off home - and I hated being apart from him.

There is no love more sincere than the love of shoes

I love the Polyvore website!

Quick update

Wednesday
At times I gotta admire Boy. After working the hideous night shift, he did not sleep for a single second because he wanted to reverse his day back to normal. And the night before he promised to cook dinner. He even asked me what sauce I wanted for the steak - which he made from scratch. Owww...
I was in charge of dessert, which we did not get around to because, as some of you might have guessed it, Boy was too tired to do anything else post dinner. I offered to clean up and he said no - which I gladly obeyed, because I dislike doing the dishes. Come to think of it I dislike cleaning in general, but I dislike living in a messy space even more, so I perform basic cleaning stuff.

Thursday
Sister and hubby went back from Japan today so she has lots and lots of stories. And she cooked lunch and dinner. And we baked some muffins. Damn, I did not take any pictures because I was too busy having fun. Did I mention they were gluten free muffin. hehe.
They also returned with four loads of laundry. The second one is in progress right now, so as soon as that is done, I am off to dreamland. That also means the pictures will be up tomorrow. Or the day after. Depending on how early I got up. tee hee!
Cant wait to go to LA, esp after seeing sis' pics of Tokyo Disney Sea. Koooo, we so gotta spend days and days at anything Disney over there.

Deep down we crave the warm embrace of all-consuming love

Click here.

It got me laughing in places. And some parts of it is oh so very very very true (emphasis added):

... As one of my classmates, a genteel 60-year-old, said to me, “Every generation thinks they discovered sex.” Which might be true, but I’m not sure any previous generation has our plethora of options and utter lack of protocol. This may reflect how our media obsession has desensitized and hypersexualized us.

But I think it goes beyond that. Our short attention spans tend to be measured in nanoseconds. We float from room to room watching TV, surfing the Internet, playing Frisbee and finding satisfaction around every corner, if only for a moment.

...

We’ve grown up in an age of rampant divorce and the accompanying tumult. The idea that two people can be happy together, maturing alongside each other, seems as false as a fairy tale. So when a relationship ends, it isn’t seen as bad. It’s held as evidence that the relationship was never any good to begin with.

MAYBE it’s just that we have learned nothing can compare to the perfect moment of the unexpected hookup — wet lips on the beach, lying in the sand — and so we aim to accumulate as many as possible. Or maybe we’re simply too immature to commit. That has been the rap against guys forever, but now women think the same way. With the world (and the world of sex) at our fingertips, it’s difficult to choose, to settle, to compromise.

But I do occasionally wonder: If we can’t get past ourselves and learn to sacrifice to be with another, then what is in store? A generation of selfish go-getters fueled by nothing more than our own egos, forever seeking that rare dose of self-esteem? An era of loneliness filled with commercial wants and mate selection based on the shallowest of criteria?

As a staunch proponent of my generation, I believe that, despite what it may seem, we appreciate the ways of love and affection but are simply waiting for them to take over. We might dally in the land of easy sex and stilted text-message flirtation, but deep down we crave the warm embrace of all-consuming love.

I love sexy things

The following story is not about me. It is about adf. I know that I refer to a lot of people as adf - frankly because they are all dear friends.

So the story goes. Adf went to a session of photoshoot about two weeks ago to get some personal pics taken. Adf is beautiful and definitely photogenic. And adf has done a lot of preparation into the shoot - as in putting in lot of thought into the frames, what to wear etc. She was very excited about the shoot. She said I could come over, but couldnt make it due to you-know-what.

She had lots of stories about the shoot - afterall it was like, errr... 5 hours or so. Make up, hairdo, etc etc - the lot. She did not anticipate it to be that long and grew restless midway through the session. Her dad came to pick her up and the photographer (GOD bless him) was trying to coax him into buying an expensive package. Long story short, wrong foot.

A couple of days after that, she got to see the results - and picked a few that she would like to purchase. She seemed happy with the results at the time. Again, she wanted me to come with her and I couldnt because of you-know-what.

Fast forward to today - today is the day that she gets to bring the results home to show to her parents - who did not like most of them. Ouch. Now that is painful. Why. Because she looks too sexy in the pictures. Ooops. The photographer was a man and the model (i.e. adf) was sexy. Personally I like sexy things, so when I see her pics, I like it. Hehe. Studio shots, lighting is good, creative director (if there was one) is also pretty good.

As some of you may have guessed, because her parents didnt like most of the pics, she ended up not liking most of the pics.

Isnt it funny that the opinions of those close to us tend to influence our judgment on whether something is good or not. I would rather be told some honest opinions rather than having some sugar-coated version that I have to deconstruct. I dont like reading between the lines, I much prefer reading the lines, so can the lines please be as clear as they can be.

I honestly love the pictures, dear, because I love sexy things.

At times I think we are too focused on the results and forget to remember the fun we had in the process. I can almost hear the investment bankers screaming as soon as I say this. Its cool to be result-oriented at work because afterall, your performance is contingent on your result. I am talking in terms of personal attitude here, especially in terms of personal satisfaction derivation. If you are focused on the results and the result is great then thats great. Even when the process sucks you can still say that its great. If you are focused on the results and the result is not so great but the process is good, then would you say that you are happy nonetheless?

I am raising this point because adf mentioned that she was not happy with the pics because her parents didnt like most of them. Notwithstanding the fact that whether you like a picture or not is contingent upon your personal preference and taste, it is easy to get upset when the results are not what you would have liked others to like.

The whole photoshoot cost 1k, give or take a few dollars. For the excitement and enjoyment it brought to her life, I think it is almost priceless.

Then again, perhaps I am biased - because I love photoshoots and modelling :D
(I miss you Boy, wish you were here with me...)

Too much with my head

The world is depressing these days. Ok exaggeration. I have been reading the newspaper about recession, stagflation, interest rate rises, home prices bla bla bla.

To be honest, I dont really care about interest rate rises - not right now anyway. In fact, it is good because I am a saver. haha. As in I dont have any debt of humongous amount that I have to pay. This will change as soon as I take up a home loan. Since now is not that time yet, I am just going to (oh well) focus on the bright things, like the fact that the interest payment is contributing a nice amount to my pool of income.

What I would really like to know is how much food prices have increased. I get monthly invoices from my sister (if she is up for it) so I dont really get a taste of how much more expensive things are (everything that is divided by 3 is hardly significant compared to if you are footing everything yourself). We get rent increases and stuff, and again, dividing it by 3 softens the blow. Moral of the story - dont live alone if you cant foot the cost. Or live with other people if you want to up your savings. haha.

I am pretty much bored with my life these days. I like the fact that I dont have to work my ass off like I used to during doctoral years, yet at the same time I am lacking excitement. The solution to this (yea, I have researched this) is to ask yourself what would make you happy and start working towards those. Problem is (shock horror) I dont really know what makes me happy.

So I asked myself if having a billion dollar in the bank would make me happy. Answer is yes - I mean, who wouldnt be happy. It is a question of how long that happiness would last. Having money definitely takes away all the stress associated with not having money, and perhaps this in itself can qualify as happiness. Truth is that I am not quite too sure - possibly because everyone is different. I dont think my happiness is necessarily in proportion with how much money I have in the bank. If it is, then it would be too simple (and subsequently too good to be true). This is because if this were the case, then all I have to do is just work my ass off and accumulate billions of dollars in my bank account.

Yet I am smart enough to realise that this is not the only thing. There are other things, and some of these things are not only intangible and subsequently difficult to measure, the sense of achievements associated with attaining them can also be extremely difficult to appreciate. I was talking to adf about this yesterday, and she attempted to illustrate that all that we want in life is to be happy. What makes people happy is a totally different story altogether. And there is no fixed way/formula to find this out (quite understandably).

I am not quite too sure if this is a modern-urban-young-people thing or whether this is just a young-people thing; whatever it is, I just hope that I find the solution soon. At times though, I wonder if what I am searching for is a sense of security. If this were the case, then I think I am severely misled, because I think there is no sense of security when it comes to the inherent uncertainties of the future. Its like we know we have to deal with the consequences of our actions, although at times we may not be able to fully predict what those consequences are going to be exactly.

Or perhaps, I am just guilty of living with my head too much.

Inadequare manners

Read this article this morning. Got me thinking about my own manners. I.n.a.d.e.q.u.a.t.e. Big time! BIG TIME!

I mean its like - okay, manners - the things that you do and not do, the things that you say and not say. Perhaps it is true, in this day and age, a lot of the "rules" have been relaxed. Sure we respect everyone that we see (well, most of us do) yet at the same time, we are not that formal anymore. We become more colloquial and in doing so, I think, we establish a sense of closeness that may not have been there had the formalities were strictly observed. Like when I talk to my friends, I much prefer that they just be blunt, honest, direct to the point. And while to most people that may come across as rude and potentially offensive, amongst us, its just communication.

I do think there are certain things that one has to observe - like, for example, being on time to appointments, telling the person you are going to meet if you are going to be late (and the sooner you tell them the better, then they can be more in control of their time), responding to RSVPs, giving thank-you notes, not answering your mobile phone during dinner, not sms-ing during dinner...

I have my Dad to thank when it comes to these things. Mind you though, I can recall the times that he spoke on his mobile during meal times - and his excuse was that he was working. haha! Gotta love the man!

Maybe a set of mannerisms when it comes to technology needs to be written.

We are all connected

I had just found my cousin's blog!!! So its like officially the day and age where everyone is updating everyone over the net.

I like my blog(s). hehe. I like this one the best though at this point in time :D

Went to the Boat Show yesterday. Too many people. It was difficult to get a good shot. And my camera died. The battery went flat. Its gonna be alive as soon I charge it. hehe.



And that was in the rare times that he decided to smile in pictures :D

What do you think about love

Tonight we caught up with adf (another dear friend). Gorgeous, smart, super-hot. Super blunt, direct and asks the most difficult questions.

"What do you think about love?"

Well, I dont think about love, so I have no answer to that question. hehe.

I know that it is so easy for someone to say that he/she loves another. Talk is cheap. Action speaks louder than words. Get it?

The issue that got me most annoyed was, believe it or not, the door-matting willingness, evident through a lot of examples, especially the phone bill. Why is that across the many LDR couples that I happen to know, it is mostly the girls who are left or are currently paying for a hefty phone bill. And perhaps because this is a phenomenon that I see, I have no respect for boys who ask their girls to fund their lifestyle. If you do not have the means and resources for an LDR, then puh-lease dont have one. And girls, let your men be men, he should be footing at least 50% of the bill.

Tonight I went home and I thank GOD that I am with Boy. Really. He is warm and generous, and doesnt mind me wearing short dresses. hehe.

Boy noted that men often "returned" to their previous relationships. For many reasons, mainly because the women are too good to let go. I wonder if it goes both ways. It probably does, its just that I havent come across such situations.

And the final question of the night: "would you do a boob job?"

No, thanks. My breasts are fine the way they are :D

I would rather go shopping. tee hee!

[The Most] Wanted [Not]

Finally we get to hang out again. Our little 4-people gathering slowly becoming 6. And we watched the Wanted. And yes, I felt like killing him after the movie. I didnt though.

It was bloody (literally) and it was depressing. Far from a feel-good movie. Even the ending was depressing. Surely, revenge is not on the hands of mankind (or so I believe). It was full of evil, anger and pain; not to mention greed and manipulation. If you squint your eyes just a little bit then you would be able to focus on all the screen effects and fool yourself that the actors/actresses were good looking, and forget that the storyline and plot were just totally disgusting, if not non-existent.

I would not recommend it to anyone. I spent most of my time closing my eyes rather than watching the screen!!!

Although I would love to have the red car that Angelina was driving :D

Oh, Boy would love to see Angelina on some romantic comedy rather than playing the villain like she has been doing in Beowolf, Mr and Mrs Smith and of course, Wanted.

The corporate slaves

Hey youuuuuuu....

I am so going to ki** you tonight - do you have to wake me up at such insanely early hour? What could be more important than my beauty sleep? It takes quite an effort to look this good you know. And before you call me lazy a**, I stayed up till 3am working, thank you very much.

So now its like 11ish and I am so sleepyyyy... if I fall asleep in the movie tonight, its gonna be all your fault!!!

And why does dinner have to be so early? What happened to work drinks?