Pure White Lust party tonight at Stonor Centre - a closed door event with a very exclusive guest list, and ‘white and leather’ as the dress code. Should be interesting. Looks like I’m finally going out for once, haven’t been imbibing since I started working

It seems like ages since I last wrote something decent - and tonight’s not the night thats gonna happen either. Work’s been taking up the majority of my conscious hours, and whatever little time I have left at the end of the day I indulge in little pleasures.. reading a chapter here and there, replying personal emails (I am only really writing to one person and yet I cannot even manage a daily response) and cooking something nice (although this only happens if I have enough time).

Working in a magazine is everything I expected and more. It’s strange though, that as a graphic designer I am taking way too much interest in the editorial side of things. Maybe I should just shut up and do what I am told to do, huh? If only.

The photos from last weekends shoot arrived today and they look fucking great. I love the whole set up, but although I had fun and all I don’t think I’m cut out for modelling at all. For a while back there I used to enjoy the attention but these days I find myself preferring to stay behind the scenes. Plus, there is not much need for all the extra attention because I have Nik.

I know I’m lucky that I enjoy what I do.

My weekend has been such a long and interesting one. On Saturday, a few of us helped out in a fashion shoot for some local indie bands.. we got to be groupies for a day! (read: I got to indulge in the punk-rock chick side I never had!)

Karen, Evon, Steph and Mel all punked out.

I love that hair.. stay tuned to the next issue of Juice Style.. LOL.

Today, inspired by my funkeh makeup on the shoot, I went to MAC KLCC and bought a bunch of pigments and eye shadows. I am so so so so broke (again!) I wish I had a fairy godmother who would bestow me with anything MAC I wish for.. or at least a complete brush set. Hiaks.

I have to stay away from that shop.

I have been so busy with work that I haven’t had time to do much else.. work has been mad but quite fun. It’s either I still carry a little bit of that enthusiasm that fresh-grads are famous for having, or I’m showing signs of being a workaholic. Neither is good. However, yesterday was an interesting break from the design norms. Here’s me and David after being made up to look like clubbers:

Ahhhhhh.

Personally, I think he looks good but I am just so not on. OK back to work.

I finally made it to the gym today and damn, it felt good. Nevermind that I woke up at 7am this morning, after going to sleep at about 2 am the night before (My boss saw me online at 1am and actually said to me: Are u challenging yourself with regards getting up in the morning?) The fact that I made the effort to go kind of cancels out all the procrastinating I’ve been doing.. not! But hey, it’s a start.

I must make it a point to buy Julian dinner for giving me free gym passes for 3 months. After I lose all the weight I’ve gained in the past 2 months, of course. And then we can indulge.

In the meantime I’m just happy I’ve gotten a headstart on one of the resolutions that I made earlier this year.

And no, I’m not doing this out of vanity. My resolution (actually, it was a resolution when I made it last month, this month it seems more like desperation) to lose some weight stems from not being able to fit into several pairs of my favourite jeans AND hitting 130 on the scales (no, my weight is not taboo to me) - an all time high in my entire 23 years of existence. Cause for alarm? You bet.

So I’m doing this the proper way, sweating it out on the floor instead of subscribing to the antiskeptic school of thought and running to the first weight-loss diet center I see (which, incidently, happens to be right below my office somewhere) and paying shitloads of money to lose 2kgs on my first day of treatment. It’s water that you lose, by the way, just in case you actually believe you can lose 2kgs of fat in one day. Yeah, right.

I wonder sometimes.. if I am antiskeptic, will I be blissfully ignorant and happy and devoid of all cynicism that seems to permeate the very air we breathe.. and live my life like hundreds of thousands of other similarly euphoric puppets across the continents? I probably would, because I would not have met Cynicism and experienced the denouement of Pandora’s Box.

It’s a strange feeling to acknowledge life’s misgivings and concede that perhaps it’s the only way to live.. by accepting the fact that your instincts does not come with a money back guarantee. I could be a very rich woman by now.

Hmm. Typing this post has somewhat deflated my initial state of enthusiasm.

Valentine’s was a grand affair this year compared to last. Nik took me out to dinner at Aero, and indulge we did. This was Aero’s V-Day menu, at an extremely reasonable price of RM 200 Nett per couple:

Oysters with ginger and champagne infusion
Foie gras with spicy papadums and sauteed mushrooms in tamarind sauce
Mango and rum sorbet
Gratinated pacific lobster on green and red ravioli with asparagus and French beans
Roast rack of lamb with goose liver stuffing with Barolo wine sauce
Aero seduction trifle
Champagne cocktail
Complimentary lilies, Bacci chocolates and cookies.

We were trying to figure out if the menu meant a choice of lobster OR lamb for main course, but as it turns out, we each got both! Seriously amazing value, and the food isn’t bad either. The foie gras was so good I even ate all the mushrooms (I hate mushrooms) the lobster was tres excellente and the lamb was perfectly done. The cocktail (think it was a combination of Cointreau, orange and mango juice and champagne) came with a heart-shaped cube of frozen mango puree and the trifle at the end was pure sin. I loved it.

I bought Nik a Zwilling nail clipper for the occasion. I know it sounds like a strange gift, but for a nail clipper it’s bloody expensive and it was something he wanted but would never have gotten for himself. He got me a spa package and something from Body Shop. He says the theme for this year is to pamper me.. how sweet! I am a lucky, lucky thing.

We headed to Bar Savanh after that to meet up with some friends. There was a Lock and Key party, where all the girls are given a lock and the boys some keys.. and you have to go around and try to unlock someone. At some stage, someone made an announcement and the first 7 couples with coordinating lock and keys will win something. Lynn and Roy won a bottle of Moet and Chandon.. Eleana managed to get a prize as well.. 5 condoms and a mug. Heh. I got something too.. a birthday present from Lynn and Eleana, which is a really cool Dior Addict lip gloss. I wonder how they know what colours I like. I’m pretty picky with my lip colours.

We had to leave early.. early meaning 1 am. At least I managed to catch up with the girls, and Irene (who happened to be there) as I haven’t had time to see them since I started working.

I had an excellent weekend, and am all geared up to start a new week. Bring it on!

i’m officially a year older today and one of the first things I did was to embarass myself on camera. Diana, who is interning for Channel V, came over sometime during lunch to film public opinions for a Valentines Day special. The first question to me goes.. “Which celeb face would your perfect guy have?”

My (very confident) answer? Ed Norton.

When I told Nik about it, he thought I picked Ed Norton for his butt. They were ‘constructing’ the perfect guy and we were supposed to pick one of five body parts and associate one desirable male celeb to it. Out of the five - face, arms, abs, butt and legs - I picked face. Only, I mistook Ed Norton for the delectable Ed Burns.

Lucky thing Diana allowed me to redeem myself and reshot the clip after I made a panicked call to her and told her that as a friend she should never let me appear on regional TV saying that I think Ed Norton is so hot I’d shag him for his face.

Phew.

So, Ed Burns it is:

Burns: Oh so HAHT I’d shag him for his face.

Someone please tie him up in a ribbon, please.
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The funny thing about making a point to remember something at a specific time is that it never actually works.. for me anyway. I have given up on letting my PDA remind me, as I *still* haven’t bought myself a case for it and I don’t take it out often for fear of damaging it somehow. I know, I know.. it’s pointless having an organizer when I don’t use it much.. but I’ll get round to buying that case soon. Writing things down on slips of paper? I’m more likely to lose or misplace the paper. After a zillion trial and errors, I’ve finally discovered the ONE place I can write notes down without forgetting:

The one positive thing about having a cigarette box around 24-7.

Over the weekend, I picked up a copy of Iain Bank’s Complicity and Jhumpa Lahiri’s Interpreter of Maladies. I have just started on the latter today, and am completely hooked even though I have just read the first two stories. Jhumpa Lahiri is a British-born Indian who grew up in US and is an amazing short story writer, her debut collection won the Pulitzer Prize in 2000. If you are anywhere near the vicinity of a bookstore, look it up. I promise it’s well worth your time. I’m saving Iain Banks for when I need a good dose of paradoxical dissertation. I’ve come to love Iain Banks for his non-genre novels that never fails to provoke controversial responses in even the most critical of critics. And you know how I feel about mind-fuck fiction..

Anyone has any more good recommendations?

I’m battling this minor cold/flu/cough/fever thing that made its presence known on Friday morning. So far I have bombarded it with a combination of paracetamol, Silomat, Difflam, Robittussin (however you spell that) and Panadol CF which has kept me in a sordid drowsy state over the weekend. I hope it doesn’t counter attack and develop into a full-blown productive cough.

You’re probably wondering what work has been like. Due to the nature of my job, I’m not allowed to disclose any details of what I’m doing.. but I can tell you that I like my office, which is relatively close to home and it takes about 30 minutes to get to work in the mornings. My colleagues are great, bosses are friendly and workload so far has not been as heavy as I’d expected.. but that will change soon I’m sure. I spend alot of time online, and I don’t have a phone line yet but if you want to look for me, I’m on MSN most of the time.. and ICQ.

Some pictures from last night:

Nik and Ben

Sui Lin and I

I’m kinda liking this WOTD thing. You’d be surprised where some words come from. I might make this a feature on every other post. The word for this post is Nicotine - A poisonous alkaloid derived from tobacco leaves.

a. From Jean Nicot, who originally sent leaves of tobacco to Catherine de Medicis, in France, who named the product after him.
b. Fron Nicotiana, a town in Cyprus, where the tobacco plant was first naturalized and domesticated in Europe.
c. From the Greek for ’stupefying plant,’ nicotia.
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Get a load of this shit.. hahaha! I’m off to Bar Amber to check out BadBoyBen tonight.