A Mind of My Own

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 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.

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.

I used to have this manager who treated us very well. He would also be environmental conscious, which is very rare for a company although it is ISO 9001 certified. There was once we had to keep some keys temporarily and he produced clear plastic bag from magazines. The ones that magazines are kept in for sending. Our jaws dropped.

He has a mean streak when playing badminton. I heard the other ex-colleagues often can’t beat him. Thankfully, I didn’t take part since I would have been humiliated with my pitiful skills. He was a national champion in his own country. That’s why no one in the department could win against him.

When we first heard of his name, the literal translation “Professor” came to mind. I think he did have a bachelor degree, can’t remember if he did a Ph.D though. He would speak professionally, if that didn’t sound like a professor, I don’t know what did.

He even accepted my request for being my referee. How sweet of him. Wonder why I’m thinking of him. Maybe I miss working with him as he would be sociable and offer his help.

Been watching 樱野三加一 (Ying Ye 3+1), starring Ming Dao and Chen Qiao En. They used to star in 王子变青蛙 (Prince Turns into Frog). Below is my favourite song that’s being played throughout the series. 16 episodes. I rather loved the fighting scenes although through halfway, they didn’t show them fighting the bad guys anymore.

我到底是谁
在你心中占有怎样的地位
你不说清楚
你让我们的爱坠在七里雾

爱 很讨厌
总是忽近忽远的让人追
追半天 你连抱歉
一句抱歉也不给

我向前走 低着头 眼泪不停向后流
一直走 不回头
希望你会找到我
但是始终不如愿
希望都落空
我仍相信 其实你懂我（其实你爱我）

我发誓千遍
我这一走你就无法挽回
虽然心会痛
总比受尽委屈还要更好过

我 等了等
脑海始终浮现你对我的好
好半天 你连Babe
一句安慰也不给

一前一后
你跟在我的背后沉默
Yeh……Yeh……Yeh……
前前 后后
希望你握住我的手
Yeh……Yeh……Yeh……
Wo……Wo……Wo……

我向前走 抬起头 擦掉眼泪向前走
一直走 不回头
相信你会找到我
梦里寻他千百遍
希望都实现
我不想走 无法心不动

我向前走 抬起头 擦掉眼泪向前走
一直走 不回头
相信你会找到我
梦里寻他千百遍
希望都实现
我仍相信 其实你懂我

Sometimes, it’s a good thing to stay at home during weekends. After my visit at 1 Night Stand, I couldn’t fall asleep and decided to watch 洗冤录2 (Witness to a Prosecution 2) from 2am till 4am. My first time staying up so late at home.

Needless to say, I woke up at 11am. Decided to watch 2 more episodes after lunch before proceeding to my friend’s house. HF and I kept playing with the elevators because the flat was built in such a way that you don’t really get to the unit because we were at the correct floor but wrong lift.

Usually, once you see the lift, you would think, it’s the one. However, the lift wasn’t the one. We went down a floor, walked along the corridor, found another lift but still haven’t found the right unit and were starting to wonder if we were given the wrong address. When we reached the other lift, we decided to go up and finally found the unit. Hallelujah!

We were quite early, when JC arrived, she had also committed the same thing we did. Aye, our dear friend left out which lift to take. We played some poker (Ban Luck), I don’t know if I actually won or stayed the same amount. However, I did get 21 3 times with just 2 cards.

By 10.30pm, they started on mahjong. This set of mahjong was of less tiles, not that I am familiar with and they were playing big, since I was happy with my current amount, I didn’t join in.

When I reached home, I still couldn’t sleep, so back to watching the VCD till 3.15am. I was woken up at 9am because of the loud blasting from the television. There went my plans to laze in bed till 10. After lunch, I was sleepy and thus, went to have my nap from 2pm to 5pm. Good grief, I didn’t know that I needed sleep.

My sister said the flowers at Sentosa weren’t that pretty. Hmm, so I guess I didn’t waste my sleep then.

My escapades with trying to contact everyone are never ending. Life is sad. One’s friends tend to ignore you when their lives get absorbed by their partners, husbands or something that one doesn’t know about.

[via Flickr]

However, that doesn’t warrant you the right to ignore one totally. KY, you have not been replying to any of us since ES’ wedding. So rude, ok? I used MSN but you went offline and never replied to me. I is very sad. Don’t friend you liao.

The next time, I put your full name and address here. Then you know.

Rant ahead.

NYDC is famous for not allowing anyone to make any bookings on Friday. Thanks. At least that was what I expected since my friend had informed me about it. I just wanted to test them. The next sentence sprouting out of the lady’s mouth was “It should not be too crowded on Friday at Citylink.” Say what? I got 10 people wanting to eat, what if you don’t have enough seats for 10? Surely you won’t be moving one of your dining couple to another table, would you?

Next, I tried New York, New York. The website is slow. I think it’s ridiculous to use Flash for a webpage and it so reminds me of the hideous look of 1996. Slows down my loading time! The lady said last slot is only 6.30pm. So I have to find people to arrive there to ensure the table is not un-reserved by 6.30pm. They sure take their own sweet time to pick up calls too. I am turned off by the offhanded way that she threatened to un-reserve our table.

Frustrated by now, I tried Swensens. The lady replied that they don’t take reservations for Friday, Saturday and Sunday rather happily. This was getting out of hand! How can a simple booking take so much complication?

Since I have run out of places, I decided to go ahead with the restrictive New York, New York. This time a heavily don’t-know-what-accent guy picked up the call. Taking his own sweet time too. I couldn’t understand half the time what he was talking about. I had to repeat my name, how to spell, my mobile number (twice), the total number of people, etc.

All done, now I had to ensure that my table doesn’t get un-reserved. Now, I realised that I forgot to ask them to reserve a corner table. I was too caught up with the frustration of trying to understand what the accented-voice guy was telling me.

[via Flickr]

Flying kites in Singapore often means East Coast Park or Marina South. I was rather surprised that we would be at West Coast Park to fly kites. Someone was in charged of buying the kites and all we had to do was to turn up. Turn up we did.

I had the common sense to bring a bag with mats. It was a good thing too. Although my friends teased me for bringing such a huge bag, again. At this moment, it’s best to ignore when others laugh at you. However, we chose the wrong place. The sun was setting and the wind was blowing towards the sun, meaning we had to face the sun when our kites got flying.

I just let the kite go and it fly up high. Twice. Without any help. I’m a good kite flyer. Got these genes from my father, obviously. The second time, I got my string tangled with another kite and it got stuck high up in the tree. I had to break the string. So sad. Kite flying instructions here and here.

After dinner, we went to Settlers Cafe at Holland Village. It’s a fun place for small talk and board games. Officially tired from kite flying and playing exciting brain games at Settlers Cafe.

I didn’t have to spend too much today since there is someone who is very nice, drove us to and back.