A Mind of My Own

After flooding Twitter and emails to request for voters, my bag design finally got into the top 20. Thank you my friends! The final round was to convince the judges that the design will get the money rolling in. Although it was my design, I assigned DD to present it to the audience as I have severe stage fright. He credited me on stage. Shucks!

I’m grateful that HF and NL were able to make it. Thank you. The place was held at Fort Canning Greens. Familiar, right? I finally saw the designer who did the Chinese Opera singer. Her design is way cool! It took her 4 to 5 days just to get this final look.

My final bag design is so different from hers. All made from Photoshop brushes.

The Opera singer design won her the MacBook Air. She deserved it! All other bag designs can be viewed in my album here. There was free food and drinks, including beer. Apparently, Agva and Ripplevox love beer. There was a magic show during one of the presentations where this guy attempted to impress the judges further by taking out a $10 note from his empty hands. Cool trick to impress the girls. Flowers would be better, boy.

Another guy had stage fright and he ended up talking louder, faster and incoherently. I only caught a few words that I understood but ultimately, he ended up making prejudiced sentences with his long speech prepared in his paper. I think he should have asked someone to help him present it instead of insulting everyone without meaning to.

I was really honoured that the designer for the opera singer loved my design. Thank you!

My question is: Will I get royalty fees if the bag designs are being mass produced? I do want to credit the Photoshop designers.

I have many affairs with agents for years. Not something to be proud of, but I have had good and bad ones. The good ones have been matching up pretty fine. The bad ones just couldn’t match no matter what. One even pushed me to attend an interview I already knew it wasn’t going to work out. I wonder how she did it.

Image via Wikipedia

The ones that I have had good matches are:

• Thomas J
• Robert Walters
• People Search
• The one in Maxwell Road (Can’t recall the name as it was more than 7 years ago)

The bad matches, I won’t want to write down the names as I could just be the unlucky one who has met the wrong agent. This time round, I hope I have a good match. Despite my attempts to avoid joining certain companies, I have now come a full circle if this interview works out well. I just hope the boss and peers are kind enough.

If it wasn’t that I needed the money, I would have said that I won’t be going for it. However, this is a critical period for me, thus my affair with agents have to continue.

There have been too many things going on. I’m quite confused as to where I should be starting. It’s hazy and yet I have so many things to do. Such as finding ways to earn money without resorting to working in an office. Unfortunately, Singapore isn’t really a good place to start. Or any other country for that matter.

Image via Wikipedia

I still need a day job. Unless I can work 4 hours a week. It will be a dream come true. I haven’t gotten over Latte’s demise yet. It is a traumatic experience if you witness your beloved pet grasping his last breath in front of you despite all the efforts to save him. It was really unfortunate that Latte died as a virgin.

I haven’t been sleeping well since. Some of you may scoff at the idea of losing sleep over some guinea pig. However, any pet owner will be upset at the lost of their pets because they have been spending time bonding together and gotten to love each other. Imagine living together with your Labrador for 15 years. It passed away due to sickness or old age. You have been walking around the neighbourhood every day and the loss has changed the routine. How does that feel?

I have been thinking about life. It’s so short that I just want to spend more time with my family rather than spending so much time at work earning more money but it’s useless when you can’t be there when your family needs you.

I have been thinking of starting my own business but it isn’t going to be easy since I have absolutely no idea where to begin. I do know there is someone who wishes to help. That’s so sweet. At this moment, I would like to think about the business type and strategies before jumping into the bandwagon.

I am utterly fed-up with True Spa. Each time an appointment has to be made, I have failed to secure any appointments that fit DD and my schedule. DD has made an appointment with the account manager and we have yet to know if it is confirmed because there isn’t any call from them.

This is horrible. We have booked a month in advance and apparently, this isn’t enough. I don’t even know if the person is still working or just ignoring us. Why do we even buy a package when the after sales service is horrible and lacking the attitude to even keep the paying customers happy?

Spas are supposed to keep customers happy so that they will introduce their friends to join in. Spas are supposed to have adequate follow-ups so that customers won’t be even blogging or writing so many negative reviews too.

I don’t even know how much we have left to use it all up so that we will take our money elsewhere. Bangkok and Batam have better services that this company. They even have slots open for 4 hours in advance or immediate.

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

Ah, shopping. Something that is bound to happen at one point or the other. The main thing is whether the money is enough. I have been bitten by the shopping bug these days. It’s really a bad way because I am going to be jobless and the money will trickle to practically NIL if I still don’t have any backups.

I have bought clothes online and still pending the arrival. Orange Bear seems to be pretty quiet on the orders. It’s unfortunate that MC’s grandmother passed away recently. There isn’t time for NL to update us on the orders yet.

I love earrings. I have too many and yet I still feel that they aren’t enough. DD shook his head about my obsession with earrings. The main reason why I started online sprees is because I hate salespersons breathing down my neck while I’m browsing through the aisles. I may not know the promotion for certain range but when I’m browsing, don’t breathe down my neck or within 1 metres as I can’t think with someone else looking at my hands as if I would still their goods. It’s not as if I can’t pay.

The downside to shopping at the shops is the squeezing of the crowded trains and buses after buying. One or two large sized shopping bags is enough to make the trip home torture when there is a huge crowd.

I have been on the hunt for the right foundation colours for years until HY mentioned that she is using mineral makeup from Pure Luxe. It stays on for hours despite her oily parts of the face. The powder stays. You can witness it when you just press the tissue paper on the face oil. Very little of the powder will come off. I haven’t done a proper review. Been meaning to until Rinaz mentioned it. I have found another makeup lover.

I hope to get some nice before and after photos to post. Shopping is a bug that I can’t get rid of.

I am in a rather foul mood. It started in the afternoon. Something just triggered it. From work? Could be. It lasted till now. I had a black face all the way to Suntec City. The squeeze began. I used my skills gained while navigating the crowded trains during peak hours.

I walked through the crowds and grabbed whatever brochures were offered. Looked through the booths and the offers. I went to look at Brother printers. The network ready printers are very attractive. Starting from $399. Tempting. I decided to think through since the current HP is still working fine except for the fax.

I hate the way the software works for HP. It is laggy and it can’t even update automatically. I can’t find the CD that came with it. Could be lost somewhere in the boxes. I wanted to have a hands on feel for HTC Touch Diamond but there was only 1 working set at the booth and I ended up looking at the display.

Image by Brent and MariLynn via Flickr

I did get my hands on MWg Zinc II and found the spacing for the keypads too far apart for my taste. It is now out of my list. I wanted to buy SD card, 8GB from Kingston. To my horror, it was sold out. Tired and hungry and feeling foul, I decided to get from SanDisk. There were 4 choices. SHDC, SHDC II, SHDC III and SHDC Plus. I bought SHDC as I felt the rest were rather expensive.

Ultimately, despite my spoils from the PC Show, I was still cranky. I must have radiated heat because most people avoided me. I guess I’m hating the fact that I was right the 1st time. Now that my contract is being asked for the extension, I feel like being evil and refuse them. However, where does that leave me?

Am I being childish not to renew it? Am I just trying to exact my revenge or have my passion burn out? Or I have found new passions?

I would usually pamper myself on this day. This year, I didn’t really pamper myself because I have given myself the early gift of perfect eyesight by Lasik. Expensive, that was. A few friends SMS me wishing me Happy Birthday. CD, in India for work, MMS me with a birthday song. Even my mum SMS me too. I wiped a tear from the corner of my eye.

DD called me last night to be the 1st one to wish me. 2 poly friends wished me via SMS yesterday. On the day of the makeover at DeCharacter, ES, NL and HF treated me for dinner after the makeover. So sweet. I don’t have to pay for the makeover as it’s gift, right?
During the makeover, we had fun with the poses. I was often told to open my eyes bigger as mine are the smallest pair among the 5. I want bigger eyes. I wonder if I go Korea, I will get bigger pair of eyes. Upon the output of the photos, I was really disappointed. My eyes were simply too small next to the group of girls. I shall never. Ever. Have any group photos with them again. In addition, anyone with huge eyes shall not take any photos next to me.

I blame my dad for giving me tiny eyes. I blame my mum for giving me high eyebrows. My eyes already so tiny and yet she gave me high eyebrows positions! Ok, so it’s the genetics issue. Can doctors change the genetics such that next time, my children won’t inherit tiny eyes? Wait, if they don’t then they won’t be my children, what am I talking about?

It’s a pity that I don’t have any leaves to take as my contract is ending soon. Thus, won’t be able to take some time off work for today. Besides, I prefer long weekends.

And I need a new job.

Image via Wikipedia

After my rant about finding a makeover studio for the group makeover, BeautyBox contacted me using the contact form. I can understand their concern as it is about their reputation. They do provide digital photography but it’s a top-up when my friend checked with them about it.

They did give us a discount voucher if we were to use their services as it would be out second time with them should we go there again. However, we didn’t go there again as I felt that the number of photos given were not enough to split among 5 of us despite the 5th person topping up. Thus, we ended up using DeCharacter.

Now, my general feelings with BeautyBox didn’t change as they have good makeup artistes who will provide touch-ups during the personal makeover session. They were able to make my eyes look the same size. Except my natural height of the eyebrows would need some Browhaus resurrection (very expensive and I’m still wondering if I do need that).

The photographer has an excellent eye as my profiles were captured portraying my best view. A good photographer should be able to capture your best sides and views. This goes the same for wedding albums too.

Next shall be the matter of how they got wind of my post. Oh wait, Rednano is doing a really good job of listing my blog in the 1st page. Oops.

Family outings used to be great fun for us. We looked forward to Genting Highland trips as we would get to ride the bumper cars by ourselves. My mother would announce that next week, we will be going to Genting and I would pack my bag happily.

A family trip in the long car ride was not the highlight was we would get car sick. We have serious motion sickness. However, the thought of enjoying the cool weather and the theme parks was enough to be excited about a non-exotic place for a holiday.

Over the years, my family trips reduced as we had different schedules due to CCAs and meeting with friends for shopping or projects. The family favourite routine is to arrange for a trip on the go. Once the decision to visit the zoo was made, the very morning, as long as the sun was shining brightly, we were off to the zoo.

It is so much easier to just go out as a family upon the decision was made as any other days would have resulted in one missing family member. Take the Singapore Flyer ride, it was made in the evening and when I reached home, I had to go out after dinner for the ride.

There was no time to think too much. The weather was just perfect and the traffic was fine. It isn’t much of a routine but something that is tradition in my family. The fastest way to have a family trip, decide on the day to go anywhere in Singapore as long as weather permits.

I am facing frustrations and more frustrations just trying to find a suitable package that will actually tailor to our interests. Apparently, makeovers done by studios (not bridal studios) tend to be fixed in their packages. We looked at The Makeover Inc (the one that sent me irrelevant reply), DeCharacter and BeautyBox.

The Makeover Inc

Never replied to my query again. Either they prefer face to face or over the phone. In this case, please remove your email account.

DeCharacter

Some problems trying to get them to give us a tailored package with changes to the photo sizes. Each photo to be burnt to the CD also cost a bomb. Seriously wondering if the cost is overpriced. The package doesn’t include selected photos to be burnt into the CD for free either.

BeautyBox

Went the 1st time and were rather satisfied with the outcome. However, still using negatives. Not that it is a big issue. The issue is that they refused to give us a quote for all 4R photos, saying something about way below cost. Huh?

Out of The Box

This one promised to give a new quote by Wednesday. Thursday, still nothing from them. Please remove your email account too.

Our Requirements

Just 4R photos that are enough to share among 5 girls. Is that really tough? I wonder what GEMS is for anyway and who the hell said Singapore service is good or improving? Maybe we should consider using bridal studios since their packages are usually flexible. Really angry now.