Do you see the person in the middle of the picture?

That's me, aka Blinkymummy Yalin, dancing in Second Life.

In SL, I'm a tall, grey, genderless person with blue and black hair, in a pair of tight shorts, tight T-shirt, a purple jacket and high platform shoes.
I like to be tall and genderless.



I dunno who the black guy is.
He came over and started to dance beside me.
In fact, while I am doing up this entry, he's still dancing beside me. =))

I haven't spoken to him.
In SL, it's kind of strange coz by right one should have fewer inhibitions.

I'll share my thoughts and feelings about Second Life soon.

I had thought it would be rather surreal. More Fantastic.

I was surprised at the responses to the Midnight Dinner entry.

I guess some people find it an anomaly, while it strikes a chord with others.

Firstly, let's clarify the questions about the eggs.
The simple answer is "NON-STICK PAN".

There is no need to use any oil.
Just heat up the pan a little, and break the egg.
Because the centre of the pan is slightly raised, the egg yolk (with its weight) will shift to the side.

Secondly, let's talk about work and life.
If you think working gives meaning to life, then working a lot is ok.
Actually, I think if one sees work as a means to sustain life, then I suspect having to work a lot will have to be a huge pain in the ass.

Does making a life together mean spending time together?
I think not.
Being in the same space at the same time, does not guarantee meaningful existence.
...................................

In any case, I had a dinner of instant noodles again tonight.
At about 9.30pm.
And I missed my drums class. =_=

Made 'Good Fren' some mee sua with egg and enoki mushrooms when he got back.

Oi Oi!! No need to frown... No need to shake your head!!

We made some improvements!!
This time, it was BEFORE midnight!!

HO HO HO!! =P
...................................

Tonight, while we sleep, a pot of soup will be simmering in the slow cooker. It should be ready in the morning.

I love the concept of multi-tasking!!

WOO HOO!!!!

Sometimes I dunno why people have to be, by default, so wary of others. This person at work emailed me after a couple of meetings, and we have been chatting on and off ever since.

Of course, some narrow-minded people would assume that there had to be some amorous relationship going on.
That's probably a reflection how they cannot stop themselves from thinking this way when they find themselves in such situations.

I see most people as 'genderless' until they show me their gender failings. So it's kind of ironic, and probably tough to fathom.

In any case, I met up with this new friend at the new Emily Hill last Friday for drinks, before our dinner at Wild Rocket next door.

Emily Hill is a wonderful piece of Singaporean history that has been co-opted by the new yuppie economy.
Without which, I wouldn't be able to experience this building, so I shouldn't be complaining.


We had some drinks at Wild Oats, by the same owner of Wild Rocket. The house white was pretty decent, but the wasabi prawns were a little bland.


Check out this wall, permeable to light and air.



Just before dinner, 'Good Fren' managed to join us at Wild Oats.
I like to watch guys in action.
Like how they shake hands, and greet each other for the first time. Makes me smile incessantly.

I don't think girls shake hands half as much and/or half as hard.
....................................

In any case, the artsy stuff going on in Emily Hill makes me think about my childhood.

You know where Siglap Centre is?
There used to be this beef ball shop along the stretch of shophouses adjacent to Siglap Centre. My dad used to buy beef balls from the shop after my art class a few doors away.
I got enrolled in it through the strangest manner.

My mother signed me up in some art competition organised by the owner of the art shop. So, I got there with my crayons (I only knew how to use crayons) and drawing board, and realised that there were 2 categories I could choose from, i.e. Still-life or Open.
I chose Open, and drew my favourite composition of a mosque and birds in the sky. Don't ask me why I loved to draw mosques. I still haven't figured it out after 20 years. I think it's the onion-shaped top which I fancy. I dunno.

Anyway, somehow, I turned out to be the 1st runner-up for that competition category. (YESH... I always end up 1st runner-up in any competitions. dunno why.)
And the prize was some drawing materials and a full course in arts & crafts at the art shop!!
FWAH!! I was so happy!!

That was when I learnt to draw (properly) still-life with charcoal, made my first fish-shaped lantern, baked my first clay flowers, and much much more.
I am grateful to my mother for signing me up in the art competition.
I have had the privilege of savouring the sensation of charcoal scratching against paper.

Perhaps one day, I will try to develop that part of myself again.

Got this from Mooiness, who got from somewhere else and somewhere else.

I think hor...
The day I come home and find Blinky with the XBOX 360 controller in his paws, I'm gonna kill 'Good Fren'.
...............................

Sometimes, before I put up cute cats pictures, I think about whether people are gonna find them so cute that they get out there and bring home a cat from the drains or pet shops.

If so, then I shall stop putting up pics of cute cats because the fact that they are cute is a wrong reason to bring them home.

Like how I am in favour of licensing parents, I am all in favour of licensing pet owners too. (Let's start with the dogs and cats and move onto hamsters later.) Because I think it is a huge mistake to assume that everyone knows (by some cosmic intervention) the definition of 'Responsibility'.

Oooohhh.... Very reassuring...

A society (both its people and government) which does not value quality life, will be apathetic about child/pet-raising intervention.

Have you ever made dinner at 12am?

I just did.
For 'Good Fren' because he just got back from work.
We don't have any meat, so he gets 2 eggs.

Not a sustainable solution.

I had my dinner of instant noodles with egg at about 8.30pm.

Our laptops are set up side-by-side...
And his work phone is still ringing.

Win. =_=

I was reading this article about the debate over the Singapore Girl - Whether to keep her or not.

In the article, you can find quite a few views on what the Singapore Girl shall be.


Wah lau... Win Oredi...
The Singapore Girl is meant to tackle a terrorist attack?!!
Imagine her leopard crawling along the aisle, in bid to reach her pistol stashed away in the 'EMERGENCY' box at the back of the plane
With a Singapore(an) Macho Man alongside leh!!! <<< WTF is a Singapore(an) Macho Man?!
Maciam walked right out of Marvel Comics or some Hentai anime.

And 'juggle work and home'???
The Singapore Girl is not even supposed to get pregnant lor...

I think the beauty of the Singapore Girl has been that she's not too smart.

I mean...
If I am a male frequent flyer on Raffles Class, I'll wanna keep my Singapore Girls on the 'simple' side, don't you think?!

The Singapore Girl and Wonder Woman don't seem to gel too well leh... Wah lau... Absolutely no concept whatsoever.
..................................

BTW, why is it 'Singapore' Girl and not 'Singaporean' Girl?
I mean... How does 'Japan Boy' or 'Thailand Man' sound to you?
'America Woman'!! 'China Girl'!!
..................................

In any case, I suspect this week(s)-long debate is deliberately staged to raise awareness of the Singapore Girl and nothing else.

WHATEVER....

I think hor... For the sake of the Singapore Girl...
They should cut out all literal portrayals of her carrying her little plastic tray, and making flat the business class seat for some totally able-bodied middle-age angmoh man.
She is not a NURSE!!

I think for the Japanese, Korean and Chinese Market, they can do a Singapore Girl anime TVC, where she is portrayed as a cute young female with big eyes, hair in a bun and her kebaya. Always busy, but always smiling. With a short outrageously fantastic 'incident' in the cabin, e.g. earnestly serving a rude animal passenger on board or something. Last scene to show a pic of a real Singapore Girl smiling.

For the angmoh market, they should stick to a subservient Southeast Asian-looking Singapore Girl with dark hair. But no plastic trays and no adjusting of seats, please. Just show her maneuvering her curves in the spacious cabin quietly. And mega-watt smile caressing the limpid cabin air.

Since the evening of CNY-Day 1, the little apartment has been hosting quite a few people. (At different times, of course)

To date, we have finished 5 bottles of wine.

Angry came over yesterday, Zer0 (once again) couldn't make it. =_=
Angry gave me this apron, which I wore throughout the day. =))

It says: MUMS BUSY - Take a Number.

Everytime more people enter the apartment, I had to explain why I was wearing the apron. =)))

The afternoon bunch is from Raffles Hall.
There was an awkward silence when I said it had been 10 years since we got to know one another.
Heh Heh Heh...

Together with Angry, we realised that bunch was made up mainly of RI boys, and weirdly, from 02 Scouts and RED CROSS?!!!
3 of them were from JUDO?!!

This is freaking weird shite, man...

Moby just shook his head coz he's from this weird school called 立化.
And the RI boys were like... HUH? What's that?!
River Valley lah!! HAHAHAAHHA!!!

And halfway through my 大哥, whom I thought was in Hong Kong, called because he read about the Raffles Hall gathering on my blog.
This Catholic High boy was too entangled in the web of people at his place that he didn't make it over. =_=

Nair Mind...
Regardless of the school you are from, this CNY gathering is very meritocratic one.
You can always fight it out in the construct of Dead or Alive!!


Dunno why these weirdos were wearing red T-shirts...

Regardless what they were wearing...
Or which SAP/GEP programme they were in...


I is thrashed them!!!


After a while, I think Perng's chick got a little bored of watching 1 x 30 yr old St Nicks girl thrash a bunch of RI Boys, 1 x RV Boy, and her own bf from some neighbourhood school, who ended up earning more money than any of the SAP/GEP idiots in the apartment.

So, they were surfing the net for movies. =)))

Tiger was also rather bored and took refuge at the back, and in the laundry basket.


WHO THE HELL CARES WHICH SCHOOL THEY WERE FROM?!

Here you see Moby walking out.


After they left, I made dinner. (Still in the apron mah!!)
进得了厨房，出得了厅堂呀！
=)))
.............................

Today, we need a trip to Cold Storage.
For more cheese, fruits and other subsistence goods.

Got up at 10am this morning and CLEANED CLEANED CLEANED!!

See?? So Clean!!
No balls of cat fur rolling around like in a cowboy film. =_=

By the time we finished the basics and showered, it was already 3pm?!! SHUCKS... Is Carrefour still opened?!

Here you see 'Good Fren' trying not to let Blinkymummy know that he nicked the sweets from the CNY goodies tray, coz he was too hungry after all that cleaning. =_=


Went to Plaza Sing, bought some stuff for dinner and subsistence for the next few days.
This is the fullest the fridge has ever been since we moved in Oct 06.


And wine... of course...


Because we have planned OPERATIONS CNY!

[CNY's Eve]
AM - Clean House
PM - Buy stuff
Night - Cook Dinner

[CNY-Day 1]
AM - Visit Parents
PM - Rest
Evening - 'Good Fren's Colleagues coming over

[CNY-Day 2]
AM - Rest
Noon - Angry & Zer0 coming over
3pm - Raffles Hall People coming over
Night - Rest

[CNY-Day 3]
AM - 'Good Fren's Friend coming over
2pm - 'Good Fren's Friends (different from above) coming over
6pm - Going to 'Good Fren's colleague's place

And logistics have been sorted out for both incoming and outgoing house visits!!


Then again...
I think we don't have enough wine, cheese and fruit to last 4 days in a row!! I hope Cold Storage will be opened!! =_=

......................................

In any case, apart from cleaning the tiny apartment, I have given it some minimal CNY touches.


Last I do every year, last year and this year...
I cut the 'SPRING' characters using traditional red-dyed paper and stuck them on the oranges.


I know sticking it on the mango is a little weird.
I got this mango from Prof Edwin Thumboo, and haven't gotten round to eating it coz it's still a little raw.
I guess it will sit around with 'SPRING' on it for a while longer. =)))
...................

While I am doing up this entry, my pot of ginseng Chicken Soup with Abalone is simmering away in the slow-cooker.


WOO HOO!!!

1st CNY Dinner in our apartment!!

=)))

It's past 10pm and 'Good Fren' is still at work.
The fish and mushrooms I have prepared are cold oredi...

=_=
...................................................................

ANYWAY...

The campaign started on 22 Jun 06.

The last time I wrote about my Quit Smoking Campaign was in Aug 06.

So hor... without realising... It has been more than 7 months!!!
WOO HOO!!


But I must admit that I have been thinking about smoking quite a bit recently.

Ok, it's rather strange.
I don't like the smell of smoke anymore (went to a club and came home regretting the smell in my clothes and hair), but I do think of smoking.
And this only happens when I feel super stressed out. Quite common these days. I will be craving for some alcohol and a long long drag.

But whenever that happens, I would hold that thought.
And in a split second, the craving would disappear.

I think the key is not to kid oneself about cravings.
If they come, just tahan a little.
No need to pretend that I have no cravings.

And there will always be cravings because there will always be stress and temptations. Unless you are dead.

I was at Wine Company (Evans) a few weeks ago when this conversation took place between the waiter and me.

Waiter: Here's your wine, Ma'am. *turns the label on the bottle towards me*
BM: Ok, thanks!

Waiter opens the bottle while I continue to chat with people.

Waiter: Try the wine. *pours into the glass nearest to me*
BM: (Very happily) Thank you! *sips the sweet sweet wine*

Waiter: Ma'am?
BM: Yeah?
Waiter: Wanna smell the cork?


BM: HAR?!!! Erm... No?!!
I dun wanna SMELL THE CORK... =_=

HEY HEY!!!
We hear from friends and blog readers that Blinkymummy and Blinky"Daddy" got mentioned on 2 radio stations this morning.
93.3 and 95.0.

Anybody knows who said what about us?

Btw, he's NOT BlinkyDADDY hor!!
He's 'Good Fren'!!

Or to be fair (to both cats) ... He can be TIGERDADDY!!!
AHAHAAHAHAHHAAHHA!!!
................................

In any case, at about 12am on Valentine's Day 2007, 'Good Fren' sheepishly came up to me and asked,


WAH LAU!!!

Do I look like the "SURPRISE!!!" type?!!

Then hor... To make things worse for Valentine's Day 2007, I was unwell today. =_=

So, in the end, he got a home-cooked meal from me for Valentine's Day.

A meal which he finished.

In any case... 'Good Fren' is also rather unwell... =_=
Not because of the dinner lah!!

So hor... 2 unwell people finished up dinner, and watched THE DANCE FLOOR on Channel 5!!

I thought THE DANCE FLOOR was more encompassing than other 'competition-programmes' such as Singapore Idol/SuperBand/Super-I-dunno-wat, because the demographic profile of the contestants was rather balanced.

Got Young and Old. Local and Foreign.
Maciam making some politically-right statement about population representation.

Example: your PRC students.

This team, Jewelery, is made up of PRC students.
Can you believe the one on the left is 26 yrs old, while the one on the right is only 19?

When they started to dance, I was cringing.
And my first thoughts were...


(Oh ok... He's doing the dishes...)

Even the judges didn't fancy them, especially the females. HAHA!!
But I know many many Singaporean men think otherwise. =_=

Then when this duo, GAIA , started to dance... I was cringing too.
But I didn't care whether 'Good Fren' was looking.


SIGH... Women of Asia... YUCKS... HANG ON TO YOUR MAN!!


In any case... My favourite team is..........

SPIDER!!!!

Saw them on the audition episode with their 'throw the aunty around' moves. They are freaking cute lor!!!

I suspect they had no freaking clue what the judges were spewing at the end of their dance. They just kept smiling. Actually, the uncle was grinning!!
SO CUTE!!!

Where is their noodle stall?!!
I wanna go find them and take PEEKCHER!!!
.................................

Epiphany of the Day:

It's now 12.06am, Tue, 13 Feb 07.
(Damn... 1 day away from the dreaded day.)

'Good Fren' went to bed real early today.
He didn't even complete the crazy sexy Victoria's Secrets fashion show, which I watched intently.
I love the feathers, the wings + those lean, taut, tanned and lanky bodies. They look like skinny horses in a carnival.

Sitting here alone and blogging away brings back memories of earlier days when we would go out after work, then made our separate ways to different homes.
I'd get home, wash up and be in front of my PC, blogging away.
Till the wee hours.
Just like now.

Sometimes, I enjoy being alone.
And because of the situation now, I'd feel guilty relishing the pleasure of being alone.
But I cannot deny that I enjoy this.

这是我悄悄的自由
...........................

One of my youngest staff walked into my room today and said in his most serious expression,"I need your help."

I thought what'd happened!

He needed my opinion of Altivo coz he was bringing this chick there tomorrow night. =)))

Then he showed me the video he made for her + some other akan datang LUVRRRRRVE stuff.



I mean... What can I say?!
He's freaking SCHWEEEEEEEEEEET lor!!!
You know how gentle the guy gets when he likes the chick?
You can tell by the way he says the word 'SHE'.
WOW! WOW! WOW! YOW YOW YOW!! (I just made these sounds up. I also dunno why. Kind of like cat talk, you know?)
I guess I'd like a boyfriend like him in my younger days.

But then hor... I suspect... Girls still like Bad Boys... Especially when she's only 19.
No need to be so earnest one...

Anyway, I tried my best to give some advice on where he could bring her, but then hor... I is like 30 years old leh...
How the hell would I know what a 19 year old would like to do on Valentine's Day?!

Eh... WTF was I doing on Valentine's Day when I was 19 years old?
Wait... Which boyfriend was it?
It was 光! Heh Heh Heh...
Probably went to East Coast Park to pluck coconuts or something.

We is pure and simple people...
Where got go to Altivo so happening one!! =)))
.....................................

Anyway, I did what 30 year olds did after work... I think...
I went for my drum class... erm... where it is filled with younger people. =_=


Drum Class = Take my mind off work = COOL!



I still haven't got 'Good Fren' anything for Valentine's Day leh!!!
It's like 2 hours away!!

DIE OREDI!!!

Erm... We have been buying so much from Eu Yan Sang that I am now a member?!

Yeah...
From Zouk Member to Eu Yan Sang Member in 10 years.
IT'S FREAKING COOL, CAN!!!

You just cannot NOT buy from Eu Yan Sang.
A few thousand years old of Chinese Goodness in a pack with English instructions, and JUST ADD WATER.
(Sometimes... throw in some chicken meat...)

I asked 'Good Fren' whether we were considered as 'yuppies'.
We then concluded that we were Cheena Yuppies.

The type which authentic yuppies would scoff at.
HAHAHAHAH!!!

Win!

Got this from Mooiness, who in turn got it from CuteOverload.

My immediate reaction was whether the cat had been drugged for the purpose of this picture.

(He actually looks like a little man in a tuxedo.)

2nd Reaction = Turned to 'Good Fren' and asked,"Baby! Do you think Blinky and Tiger love Barbie?"

What's wrong with this picture?


That (1) it's a Saturday night, (2) I was at home alone + (3) working, and (4) having instant noodles + (5) wine for dinner.

One of my regular readers emailed and made an observation that I hadn't been posting much about clubbing and other recreational activities, then reckoned that my job must be taking a lot of time and energy from me.

BINGO.

Blogging is ever so important to me.
Coz the 20 minutes or so that I spend on crafting this entry belongs to me and me alone. Once I finish this, I'll be thinking about work again.
Kind of like smoking.
I think I am addicted to work. In a sick kind of way.
Maybe no one will be able to understand what I am trying to say here.


.............................

Lemme share with you an epiphany I stumbled upon this morning.

I was trying to do some household chores while 'Good Fren' was pounding on his PSP on the sofa.
I stole a glance from the corner of my eye and it hit me.
The kind of high people get from PSP is similar to grannies knitting!!

You see... The position of the hands and body is similar. Absolutely minimal movement is required.
Plus, the barang barang you need is portable.

Next thing you know... 'Good Fren' will be baking shortcakes. =_=
....................................

Anyway... I was going through the comments on the previous entry, when I came across this one from this person:


Erm... OKAY...
The last entry was about corporate stuff and this person is supposedly un-employed, so I guess it wouldn't strike a chord.

But WTF is GEORGE?!!

Since when got GEORGE?!!
'Good Fren' = George?!!
.................................

Went to Great World City for groceries AGAIN...
I like GWC very much. I think it's a combination of spacious-ness and variety of products/services.

Apart from other stuff, we bought these.

Aren't they simply lovely?
Green flowers are so fundamentally wrong, but I like them very much. Very happy!!

You know hor...
I keep walking past this shop in GWC, with this beautiful red dress on the display. The first time I saw it, I went into the shop and gingerly picked out the dress from the rack. It's perfect, but just too fucking expensive.

Then the next time I was at GWC, I deliberately walked past that shop. And the dress was gone. Not on display anymore.
"Oh... Then I can't buy it anyway."
But I peeped at the racks, and found a red sleeve peeping out from the row of tightly-packed dresses.
My heart missed a beat.
"Baby! It's still there!!!"
Then I pulled 'Good Fren' away, and tried to take my mind off it.

This afternoon, we walked past the shop again.
And there it was, on display again.
The next thing I knew, I was in the dress, and asking 'Good Fren' with a grin,"Nice or not?"

And so... 'Good Fren' solved his Valentine's Day problem.


And I is still gosong.

HEEEEEEELLLLLLLLPPPPPPP!!!!

Here you see my Ah Beng staff with an 'action' scowl on his face.
Apparently, his cousin has been reading my blog for a while, and had introduced my blog to him but left no impression.
After I joined this Organisation, he suddenly made the link.

Together with him, we started the first internal blog in our organisation. I was sorting out the objectives and implementation obstacles, while he sorted out the code and look of the blog.
It's an iterative process, but we enjoy the zhng-ing the blog very much.

And if we are not wrong, we are the first public organisation to have an internal blog. And this, potentially, can reach out to up to 20,000 officers.

It's a collective online dialogue amongst people within the organisation. And for those who have always yearned to be heard, this is the best opportunity.

But sustaining internal corporate blogs is very different from sustaining a personal blog, simply because corporate blogs are about work and the workplace.
To increase readership on a corporate blog, you can't use cheap tricks like post a nude picture of yourself.
Or worse still, in our case, start a tirade against the government!!

Also, you can't find enough people who will blog consistently on the corporate blog, even the blog has been endorsed by the big bosses.

1. Perhaps people are not used to writing to a general audience regularly.
   
2. Also they may not have gotten the hang of thinking up content regularly.
   
3. They may see this as a Blinkymummy project and refuse to contribute to it.
   
4. They may even think blogging is stupid to begin with.

Someone made a rather useful comment about this phenomenon, i.e. in Asian/Singaporean culture, most people just like to watch a small handful of others perform. The majority does not want to participate actively.

*shrugz*

I tell myself it's a teething problem and carry on.
....................................

Had Organisation D&D in the exact same venue as the previous Organisation, i.e. at Marriott Hotel last night.
(And hence the pic above.)

Same venue, but absolutely different feel.
Totally the same in terms of Lucky Draw Luck.

=_=

Sitting there, consuming the hotel food, scratching the crinkly table cloth and laughing at colleagues being called up on stage, I wondered about the purpose of Corporate D&Ds.
Unless the majority wants to be there, there is really no point in following through the motion.

I guess the success of any corporate-wide initiatives always reduces itself to 2 factors, i.e. Culture and System.

System - Capacity to carry out the initiative effectively.
Culture - Will to carry out the initiative.

Most of the time, I think it's not useful to leave the shaping of Corporate Culture to the masses, because the 'masses' are not an uniformed lot.
We are talking about hundreds and thousands of people here. Each with their own set of preferences. And we are totally assuming people know what they want to begin with.
It's the democratic problematique.

If you go by the principle of pleasing the masses, you will end up with some bastardised lowest common denominator type of solution, which is hardly enjoyable after all that pain of thinking it up and executing it.

I wished I was Blinky and Tiger.

Always sleeping, curling, yawning, meowing, eating, manja-ing.

Never working, stressing, thinking, calculating, paining.

I wished I was Blinky and Tiger.

Eh... One more entry for the day.
We were on the escalator in Ngee Ann City when 'Good Fren' went 'Uh Oh... Valentine's Day is next week!'

KNN... So fast meh!!!

Last year this time...
We were all busy with Moby's Blind Date, remember??!!!
The Call, The Count, The Closing and...
The Valentine's Day 2006.

=))))

So hor... I'm in trouble...

I dunno what to buy for 'Good Fren'.
Please submit your suggestions in the comments section.
No need to suggest PSP/XBOX360 games. I tried just now oredi.
He said not counted. =_=

Maybe I buy him some flowers and send to his office?!!

=P

Ok, I think I have been rather busy.
Because hor... I had my lunch at 4pm today...
And hor... there was no more food in the canteen, so I had to order McDees.

Yesh...

Then a scary thought struck me.
What if I get so busy, then years have past and suddenly one day, I ask myself, "WTF have you been doing with your life?!" and totally regret these years spent?!!

OK... STOP...
Cannot like that...
Gan Cheong also no use...

So I went home and hugged my Big Boss.

Been meaning to get a shoe rack to stack the shoes outside the door a little for months.
Finally got round to doing it this evening.
Bought an affordable one from Carrefour after drums class.

So happy. =))))

Ok, here I am so going against the grain of 'OMIGOD... Life is so beautiful!!' again.

Have you surfed by the DOVE Campaign for Real Beauty website?

After clicking around for more than 15 minutes, I finally managed to figure out where the campaign donations would go to.
It's here.
The SGH Eating Disorder Awareness Programme.

I guess DOVE fits in the advertising portion.
Something like a 'I borrow your cause and promote it using my advertising budget'.
It's very smart. And good for the DOVE brand.

Dun be mistaken.
I've been using DOVE since they first hit the shelves.
In fact, second to Johnson's & Johnson's, I think I've used every single DOVE product.

Regardless, I think the current 'Real Beauty' message is problematic.
It alludes too much to the 'Everyone is beautiful' bullshite.

(A) To be honest, not everyone can be physically beautiful because the definition of beauty is basically something rare at that point in time.
See earlier entry.

(B) Also, the key message focuses on Physical Beauty.
It's about small busts, big hips, freckles on the face etc.

I think a narrow definition of the causes of low self-esteem is yet another contributing factor to the low self-esteem.
What happened to achievements such as being proficient in something, being kind-hearted, being a helpful person to other?
Why must it only be about busts, hips, freckles and hair colour?!!

I think the real message is for every chick out there to accept that:


But that doesn't mean your life is over.
You can either spend the rest of your life pursuing physical beauty, or you can channel your energy to other goals.
...........................

I think I know why is it so difficult to steer the focus away from Physical Beauty. It's not just because DOVE is, afterall, selling toiletries.
It's because Physical Beauty is HIGHLY VISIBLE.

While behaviour on the other hand, is not apparent in a 30-sec advertisement, especially when the protagonist is not beautiful.
How can anyone not beautiful be a good person on tv?!

Upon hearing that I was ill, my aunt called me up yesterday.
Yesh... She's one of the 3 sisters who ambushed me about having kids the other time.

She then started to 传授 (impart) some 秘诀 (secret moves) to me.
She said I shouldn't restrict 'Good Fren's movements, i.e. if he wants to go play DOTA with her son, that I must let him go.
She said she had been telling her husband, aka the uncle who gave great advice the other time, the following:


Then I laughed. HAAHAHAHHAHAAH!!

She said I shouldn't laugh because this was 软功 (loosely translated as a 'soft strategy', as opposed to restricting physical movement as a 'hard strategy').
.....................................

On the other hand, my mother read my previous entry and learnt that I had taken ill. So she sms-ed me at past midnight and offered to make lunch for me today!!

WOO HOO!!! Blinkymummy's Mummy's Cooking!!

Got charcoal-fueled boiled soup somemore!! BEST!!!
I told my mother it's impossible for me to use charcoal in the apartment. She said I could do it in the balcony?!!!

WAH LAU!!
I think the yuppie FTs in my block will sue me!!

Haven't been blogging because I ran a rather high fever on Thursday night. My body felt like it was burning, while my extremities were cold. At some point, I must have been shivering.
It was really quite shitty.

I thought it was quite 'drama' that 'Good Fren' had to walk away from the bed and back to clearing his work in the living room, while I was thinking whether to make it to the office the next day for a meeting at 11am.

I could almost hear the 'drama' theme song playing in the background, and that I was to faint on my bed and never to wake up again.

是工作太多，还是自己放不下？
=_=

(And I didn't know that paracetamol would make one hallucinate leh!)

Wanted to go see doc Friday morning but just couldn't drive there on my own. So, I waited for 'Good Fren' to get off work.

The doc looked really young and concerned.
Ordered urine and blood tests for me.
When I saw the syringe starting to fill up, I felt light-headed.
After a couple of such experiences, I am beginning to believe that I am not too brave about needles. =))

Regardless, it's a really good feeling to have someone bring me to see a doctor. This is something I really cherish because I know very well what it is like to have to go on my own.
Or even, not being able to go at all.

After bringing me to the doc, 'Good Fren' had to attend an official function. At about 10pm, I checked my phone and realised that someone from the past had seen me at the hospital in the afternoon, and had been calling and sms-ing me.

Strange feeling.

都过了那么久
还有什么好问候的呢？？

A green note stuck on my door greeted me in the office today.
It says:


Which I did and found this card.
From an intern whose stint has ended.


It reads:

Dear Lee Hsin,

Even though you barely know me, you entertained all my nonsensical emails. So thanks! In many ways, you had been a source of entertainment, which was very crucial in such a mundane place. And seeing how you're a SAD (lol!) has been very inspiring for the non-scholar me. You being forthcoming & real in reality has taught me that you don't need to have air to be atas. (oh btw, I like your guts.)

(then the usual well-wishing.)
..........................

He came by my room later in the afternoon, but I was too busy to speak with him properly coz I had many things to do at the same time.
=_=
..........................

Just wanted to let you know that by penning such sweets thoughts, YOU would be MY source of encouragement! =))

Also, scholar or not, realise and acknowledge that the system is such and many people believe in it (regardless how much they seem to be complaining about it).
Then do what you want to do.

If you meet with obstacles/'injustices' etc, grumble a little and move on. Do not dwell on it because nobody gives a shite about yourself, except you.

Stare at it in the eye and say aloud:


Until you cannot anymore...