Do people create stereotypes based on observation of a large number of people bearing the same characteristics, or did they start as exaggerated depictions of said flock which eventually became a reality? I lost myself at the tourist markets today, falling in love all over again with the anonymousity of being foreign in my own city. The beautiful local handicrafts diverted my every step, and the rich tapestry of colours painted my imagination in mischievious hues. Oh, the possibilities of the afternoon! I would go ‘inspiration shopping’, I decided, finding new and exciting things were just up my alley. My thoughts were interrupted by two men, foreigners, who were looking for “chee-naaar-tah-un”. It took me a while to translate that they meant ‘Chinatown’, and were stretching each syllable into unrecognisable phonetics because they thought I didn’t speak english. They were Brits, it appeared, and I replied in equalled exaggeration, giving directions in horribly broken english. They said thank you, nodding their heads smiling. I winked as I said ‘You’re absolutely welcome!’ with a perfect British accent, and skipped away into the sea of possibilities.

Do people create stereotypes based on observation of a large number of people bearing the same characteristics, or did they start as exaggerated depictions of said flock which eventually became a reality? I lost myself at the tourist markets today, falling in love all over again with the anonymity of being foreign in my own city. The beautiful local handicrafts diverted my every step, and the rich tapestry of colours painted my imagination in mischievious hues. Oh, the possibilities of the afternoon! I would go ‘inspiration shopping’, I decided, finding new and exciting things were just up my alley. My thoughts were interrupted by two men, foreigners, who were looking for “chee-naaar-tah-un”. It took me a while to translate that they meant ‘Chinatown’, and were stretching each syllable into unrecognisable phonetics because they thought I didn’t speak english. They were Brits, it appeared, and I replied in equalled exaggeration, giving directions in horribly broken english. They said thank you, nodding their heads smiling. I winked as I said ‘You’re absolutely welcome!’ with a perfect British accent, and skipped away into the sea of possibilities.

Like, how ironic does this sound to you? My boss gives me a day off and I can’t sleep because I am thinking about work. At least I don’t have to drag myself out of bed tomorrow morning. I slept through my alarm today and was finally late for work. Late being 9:15 am.

I have grand plans for tomorrow. A visit to the hospital, a long overdue trip to the salon and the official launch of Stuff magazine at Zouk. Stuff (UK’s top gadget lifestyle rag) is one of the magazines I am now working under. Shitloads of cool gadgets up for grabs, including a flashy BenQ LCD monitor, a bunch of handphones and the like. Too bad I’m not allowed to participate.. I could sure use a new handphone.

Insomnia.. argh. Maybe a chapter or two of Richard Feynman might help me sleep tonight.

My parents presented me with my first Lego set when I was 2. It was of the big Duplex variety, the ones babies can’t swallow. I remember that they were my most treasured posession as a child, right up until I was 7. Then I got actual Lego. The traditional kind, with a green flat piece to build on. I never got bored of playing with it. I even made tree ornaments out of Lego for Christmas. One day, it just stopped. I can’t remember why, or when, but I have always been fickle about my ‘mediums’. I saw Lego as an outlet for my need to constantly create.

I’m guessing it was when I got my first computer. I never got bored of that, either. It was an unchartered territory for me as a child, and one day curiousity got the better of me. I was using DOS back then. This was before Windows 3.1 even. I noticed a command.com file in every directory I had and decided it was a waste of space. I deleted it, after a few unsuccessful attempts and then nothing worked. Dad came to the rescue a week later, presenting me with a 5″ floppy with a command.com file on it. I learnt to be more careful with the delete function.

My next choice of medium was the camera. And then the written word. Most of my childhood was spent in seclusion (by choice) alone with my toys, books and computer. I was pretty anti-social. Nothing has changed.

This weblog has served as one of my mediums for 4 years and counting. Some may say that it is long past its expiry date, for something that isn’t all that great. I never intended for it to last this long, but it has. For many reasons, I am glad that it did. For many reasons also, I’m not too sure it should have. For one, it is against my true nature to be ‘exposed’ to so many people that I don’t know. In stark reality, I am much more sarcastic and blase (not to mention silly and fucking irritating) and any indications of these characteristics here have only been misinterpreted as - drum roll - me thinking I’m too cool for school. I don’t even have to say it.

In the next couple of weeks, I will be making a few changes. I’ve already started last month when I took down zone3. This is another chapter in my life and I have been putting off making important decisions about it. Work is important to me, and as much as it was a surprise to me at first, I really enjoy the challenge despite the backbreaking hours and lack of proper sleep time. I hardly even have time for myself these days, and let’s face it, I have been posting a lot less regularly here. Something has to give, eventually. My art was first to go. I have not created anything out of personal interest in the last year.. sadly.

Perhaps it is time for me to revisit old mediums. There is a Lego fair near the place where I work. I hear Lego has come a long way since the last time I picked up a brick..

America On Line (AOL) has undoubtedly the WORST customer service I have ever come across in my LIFE. Their email support is completely useless (30 emails back and forth and I still get the same template response), and is never replied twice by the same person. Their phone support (Tiff just called on my behalf) is a waste of time and money. How can they CLAIM to be the best online service group ever!?

I seem to be incapable of coming to work late. I woke up at 7am waaay before my alarm, despite having drag myself into bed at 2 in the morning (that’s what time I got home from work). I wish I could’ve slept in this morning, having had continuous long working hours since my senior resigned. Not in a particularly great mood (understatement) having to close another magazine so soon after the last one (Friday) mainly due to lack of sleep. Coffee count so far, 4. Cigarette count, 9. Argh.

Aptly, a song Tiff sent me last year is stuck in my head. The only line I remember from the chorus goes: “Get out of my way, bitch, get out of my way.” Elicited by a colleague who IM-ed me a second ago, asking if she can print colour prints on my black and white laser printer.

Umm.

Haven’t been partying at all lately, hence the lack of posts. But me, Nik, Justin, Gwen and Julian did make a trip out for dinner together, using Justin’s belated birthday and Gwen’s pending departure for the more happening side of UK as our excuse.

So we found ourselves battling city traffic on Friday night to wine and dine at the new italian chow, Nerovivo. When we got there, it seemed like anyone without a datukship and below 40 looked out of place. Anyone meaning us. But we weren’t fazed. After debating the menu for 20 minutes whilst waiting for Justin to turn up (he is ALWAYS late, even for his own belated birthday dinner) I decided on the Argentinean beef.. medium rare, of course.

However, it took 67 minutes for dinner to get to our table via several impatient ‘excuse-me-where-is-my-dinners’ directed at first at the waitresses, then at the important-looking manager who finally promised me ‘in 20 seconds!’ but took 2 minutes instead. We were starving by 10:15 pm, some having come straight from work into town and was seriously debating walking out.

When it finally arrived, it was obvious Gwen’s ‘recommended’ marlin main wasn’t recommended by someone who actually tried it before, and as for the rest of our mains, we were too hungry to appreciate how it tasted.

All in all, a not very happy experience, and this is how Nerovivo found its way to my ‘banned’ restaurants list for bad service.

Jules suggested dessert at Bijan next door, his shout. Ooh.

We promptly ordered every ice cream flavour on the menu (there was only four - corn, pandan chendol, pandan and durian). The shocker of the night was the durian ice cream. It was fucking good. Too bad for Justin who ordered it, everyone took a share and it was soon gone. I thought the pandan was well done as well, Jules loved the corn and Nik loved his pandan chendol. Definitely a recommended after dinner place. I have yet to try Bijan’s menu, but it looks very promising.

On another, less promising, note - Google’s Adsense is not generating enough moolah even with my own frantic clicking, amounting to $0.11/day, to help me pay my webhosting fees at the end of this year, thus I have added a Paypal button in a desperate, shameless attempt at swindling some money out of you wonderfully patient readers (and to try to avoid having to shut down my site eventually). Pay no attention to it, unless you feel like throwing some my way.

I have never been so busy and stressed in my entire short working career. This week is just pure madness. My senior has resigned and my junior is on MC today.. sigh. All thoughts of checking out Cash Money tonight at Zouk has just evaporated at the sight of the mess of icons on the desktop. Fark, I need to get out of here and have a cold beer.

I sometimes feel the pressure to write something, anything at all, so that there is always something new on my blog. I succumb to the lesser of words just to look at the bigger pictures.. not always quite hitting either. Maybe it’s time to pack up and go home now, as this has been staring at me since 9am.

Someone commented that I refrain from writing about certain things on my blog because it is ‘well read’ by my friends. Just so you know, you’re absolutely right. When challenged with putting words on paper (well, screen) that has to sound diplomatic to multiple parties, some amicable and some not, most of the time I can’t be bothered in trying to even start thinking about wording it.

Also, of late, my mind has been a single repeating track.. Work - remixed. Not of any interest to you, I’m sure. Unless you’re a uber cool print designer looking for new opportunites.. in which case, leave a contact so I may tell you more.

Hugs, S.

The fabulous thing about being back in the office is that I am finally able to come online. Being stuck in a small room with absolutely no internet connection except my GPRS phone (which, FYI, has never worked) for two days is my equivalent of chinese water torture.. whatever that may be. Haha. The bad thing is the work sitting on the back burner.. holy shit. Looks like I will have to work late again…

You guys should check out Liquid/The Disco’s Fabulous Disco Show happening on Wednesdays and Thursdays. I went with Nik last night and it had us spiltting our sides laughing. The cast was from Boom Boom Room back in the day.. some of you may remember them. Nice change from the usual loud clubbing environment, and the acts always change so I’ll be going back for more. Good stuff!