The Case of the Not-So-Charitable Charity Drive

I'm a bit embarrassed to be writing this post as I'm about to launch into a raging rant, the fist-punching-the-air kind of rage while less than 48 hours ago, I was just talking about how it's more important to focus on the good things, stop bashing stuff, be Team Care Bear instead of Team Darth Vader.

But every now and then, the Care Bears do get pissed off when we see things that are so ridiculous. And this time it's a case of big organization attempting to be magnanimous with charity.

I'm talking about the case of Singapore Press Holdings' "Charity" stunt where they're putting up a Volkswagen car for charity auction. The money raised would go to paying for the subscription of The Straits Times newspaper for a year, worth $300, for 1000 low-income families. Yes, you got it, the money raised BY SPH goes back to SPH's bank account by purchasing SPH's product which is The Straits Times Newspaper.

Can I just ask what kind of charity is this when the proceeds raised by the organizer go back to the organizer's bank account? Okay, fine, so they're buying newspaper from themselves and it is still something for the poor, but how about doing REAL charity by giving out the newspaper FOR FREE and use the money raised to do more like subsidizing other things?

When I read a statement made by SPH, I literally did a 360-eye roll and laughed out loud:

Said ST editor Warren Fernandez: "We at ST are delighted to partner with Volkswagen once again for this worthwhile project. Those who bid for this car will help drive our efforts to reach out and support the less well-off in our community.

"We want to give the young in these families a precious gift: access to information and a window to the world and all its possibilities. That will help them get ahead in life. We sincerely believe a daily copy of the ST delivered to their homes will do that."

Having dealt with low-income families before in my previous voluntary stints, I honestly question if newspaper, instead of other form of subsidy, is what the low-income families need and want. Especially in this day and age where information is, in fact, quite readily available on the radio, television and internet. Not to mention there is already a supply of free newspapers like Today and My Paper (another SPH product mind you). Is a subscription to The Straits Times more important than to say practical things like $300 dollars worth of medical subsidy or grocery vouchers?


Warren Fernandez made it sound like these 1000 low-income families live in some remote island far away from civilization. Sooo remote that they have absolutely no access to information of sort and that The Straits Times subscription for a year will save their future.

What happens after one year when the charity tenure is over? Do they still get subscriptions? Or is their "window to the world and all its possibilities" suddenly get shut until further notice? What if they raise more than the $300,000 for a one-year subscription for 1000 families? Where does the money go to? What if some families prefer Chinese papers or other kind of subsidy for that matter?

I'm sorry, but I find this whole charity thing somewhat insulting to the many unsung heros out there who do real charity work either by donation or time and effort volunteering.

Having done all the ranting and bashing, it's "Care Bear Duty" time to make something positive out of it. I guess the one positive thing I take home with SPH's lack-luster charity gimmick is to do better when charity is concerned. That the real needs of the less fortunate people should come before personal glory.

Oh, one more thing! Don't underestimate the gift of newspaper because the newspaper can be a very useful resource too even if you're not proficient in reading. You can always use it to wrap fish before putting them into the freezer, clean the windows, or my personal favorite, wrap pet's dookies with them for disposal!

Leave Aishwarya Rai Alone!

So apparently, it seems like the Asian entertainment media's activity-du-jour is to bash Bollywood actress and one time Miss World Aishwarya Rai for not losing her baby weight after she gave birth. Read more here. 


"The Indian media, though, latched onto the fact that she looked like a 38-year-old woman who had recently given birth."


Last check, Aishwarya Rai IS indeed a 38-year-old woman who had recently given birth! So I have no idea why her fans and the media alike can't just let her be the 38-year-old who had just given birth recently, and is now nursing her baby! Any medical doctor would attest to the fact that a nursing mom needs proper nutrition to breast feed her baby, so there is nothing wrong if there's some weight on the body to properly raise the child! It's basic human rights to care for and nurture the smallest member of our society. 


What outrage me most is that when it comes to post-baby body, a woman in the public eye can do no right, thanks to both the media and public. If you lose too much weight too soon ala the Hollywood celebrity way like Heidi Klum (she was back on the runway modeling for Victoria Secret a mere six weeks after she gave birth), Miranda Kerr and the supermodel gang, you're blamed for creating unrealistic expectation for new mothers who are pressurized conform to that standard. Some slagged them off for not caring for their baby by breast feeding with proper nutrition. Evil mother they said. 


Now, we have a Bollywood actress who chooses the health and welfare of her newborn over conforming to that skinny post-baby standard, and still she got shamed for not up-keeping her role as the most beautiful Bollywood actress. Not just by the horrendous and despicable media, but by her so-called fans and supporters. 


What is the world coming to when the most basic human right of motherhood is being scrutinized and criticized? This is pure insanity. 


So, leave Aishwarya Rai alone already!!!

Sleepless in Singapore

This is not good. It really is happening! For the first time ever in my life, I'm plagued by the curse of Insomnia! What used to be something only my friends experience is now happening to me. Laying wide awake in my Egyptian cotton sheets at 4am can do crazy stuff to your head and I finally understand how it could drive someone to complete insanity. Finally, I believe the people whom I once felt were simply suicidal when they went to the A&E with an overdose of sleeping pills saying they OD "out of frustration" cos they "couldn't sleep". Not that I've OD on sleeping pills cos I haven't got any but I popped 3 tablets heavy melantonin consecutively in an hour (something that's not advisable), only to find myself still alert like an overprotective hawk guarding its nest of babies.

Work is to blame for my insomnia! For sure. Because I got it when I was due back at work today and last night, I was chanting the Green Tara Mantra nonstop for some zen effect till 4am hoping to fall asleep but the insomnia so dire that even Green Tara's divinity couldn't send me to lala land. A week ago, it was a totally different story with me sleeping sound like a baby while I was in Hong Kong on a break. So yes, it is work. No doubt about it.

The ordeal started about a month ago when work was insane. The whole new job with better package thing. But well there's no free lunch with more responsibility being part of the package. Long hours means I go home late, void of any mental space and time to wind down before I hit the sack and voila! I joined the dreadful Insomnia Club.

At its worst, I had work jargon flying all around my head the moment I closed my eyes. I would wanna slap anyone who asked me to "Just relaxxxx!" because if I could switch off my mind, I wouldn't be in this mess. The mind simply couldn't switched off even with crazy yoga session that exhausted the body in the hope of some decent shut eye. I turned into a miserable grumpy sod who's angry with every single damn shit. You know the type of grumpy old hag with a couple of plastic bags in hand, messy hair and blotchy make up on the bus yelling at everyone and angry at the world? That was me, the sleep deprived me.Yes, that bad because I felt like slapping every crying baby I see, cute or otherwise, and scratching out the eyes of whoever came and tell me he/she was so busy and overworked. 

Now that I'm back in Singapore after an amazing time with my family and a week of sleeping like the dead despite the bad pillows, the freaking Insom-fucking-nia is back. I blame it on being homesick and dreading to go back to work. But ultimately, it boils down to work still. It got me wondering how it would be if I had an easier job with less responsibility. Say, being a secretary who works strictly 9 to 6 Monday to Friday, or a sales girl in some chi-chi boutique at Palais Renaissance that closes at 7pm and Sunday. Something along that line.

During one of my many sleepless nights and loathing sessions of my new responsibility at work, I thought of my one-time foot reflexologist with a bald head at this new foot rub place. He was good and gave some pretty decent foot rub, but the second time I went back, he wasn't there anymore. Apparently, he comes and goes because he'll go off when he makes enough money and comes back when he needs to make some more money. My initial response in my head was "Oh so he's one of those slackers who doesn't work enough".

Funny how a perception can change in weeks, if not days. After my struggle with insomnia and a crazy job that leaves me with an inhumanely tiny amount of personal time, I'm starting to think that my baldie foot reflexologist might be on to something good. Quality of life over quantity in the bank account or material possessions. That could very well be the new zen to a happy existence. BUT, can I do what he does? Well, that would require another night of insomnia to think through, but at this moment, I'm guessing no.

So here I am, the living testament to the theory that after your happiness index plummets when you get a pay raise and hit a certain pay. Double screw it as I wasn't even there yet! I merely got a better package, not some ridiculously fantastic one, and already, my happiness index went down the gutter. It really got me wondering if it's really all worth it. I'd better find a way to deal with insomnia sans Valium. Meanwhile, perhaps it's time for me to make a cup of sleeping aid herbal tea and visit the foot reflexologist to get some zen tips for a restful night. Well, wish me luck!


Image from http://www.insomniacurestreatment.com/

Say NO to the Belo Monte Monster Dam!

Oh no! Damn the damn dam indeed! The new president of Brazil, Dilma Rousseff has given the approval to build the world's third largest damn at the expense of ruining 400,000 hectares of forest. As if that's not horrible enough, 40,000 indigenous Indians will lose their homeland and have no place to live.

Help stop this atrocity to our forest and the indigenous Indian by signing the petition here!

Awesome Club 21

I have to give it to Club 21 when it comes to customer services cos it's excellent. To make up for a wasted trip I took on Monday to pick up my membership redemption vouchers, they sent me a Super Nature (my favorite shop!) hamper of organic Duchy goodies together with my vouchers right to my office.

The customer service manager also called me personally to apologize and make the delivery arrangement the very next day. I'm impressed, considering they have a big membership base and that I'm definitely not their top spenders. Now, all is forgiven and they have redeemed themselves. That's what I call good customer service!

Beagle Freedom Project

I just have to post this wonderful video. The Beagle Freedom Project has a mission to rescue beagles that are caged up for animal testing in laboratories. All of these dogs spent their entire lives in a small cage and the Beagle Freedom Project helps rescue them before putting them up for adoption.

This beautiful clip documented the first time these beagles get to enjoy freedom. It's so heartwarming and I sincerely hope that one day, there'll be no more animal testing. All I want for Christmas this year is a cruelty-free life for every animal that roams the Earth.....

On all things cute & kiddy

I have a lot lip balms. So many that my collection of lip balm should be a singular noun to indicate its un-countability.  Tube, tin, tub, strawberry, mint, gloss, organic. You name it, I have it. Possibly enough to supply a village truckload full of people.

I've vowed not to buy another one but I simply couldn't resist this limited edition Ettusais Lip Essence with The Little Twin Stars! This is an awesome lip balm which has always been one of my many favourites (read more on my previous post), so it's okay. It's justifiable. I can leave it at my work desk cos I need one at work. I'm sure there's some research out there that has shown employees with no lip balm at desk get less bonus. So yes, off to the cashier it went.

Well, I don't exactly need it but I just want The Little Twin Stars! I mean, hello! It's The Little Twin Stars! Not just random boring nondescript Ettusais Lip Essence but one with The Little Twin Stars on it!

Like most XX-chromosomed Asians, it's in my DNA to love all things cute, especially Japanese characters from Sanrio's entourage of cuteness personified. So yes, I've loved Hello Kitty and The Little Twin Stars unabashedly since age five and I don't see sign of it changing. Don't get me wrong, I'm not one of those freak adults who carry Hello Kitty bag, wear pink Hello Kitty tee shirt with purple bobby pins in my hair but I do like a small cutesy items here and there. A Hello Kitty note pad or key chain for the office keys or perhaps a small cute Little Twin Stars pouch to hold the tampons. Something like that. You get the drift. While friends have grown out of these cute and kiddy things, the compulsion to gravitate towards cutesy stuff is still in me, completely intact.

Being denied of cute kiddy stuff as a child while the rest of my peers had cool Hello Kitty and Sanrio everything, it doesn't take a shrink to tell that childhood deprivation drives my obsession. But another reason that I still do, sometimes excessively, is simply because these cute stuff reminds me of the time when things were simple and when I was easily satisfied with small things.

Childlike, not childish, I would tell whoever grimaced at my cute purchase. We're all supposed to grow up and be an adult and yes we all did, didn't we? After all, we've gone through the growing pains of bitchy high school days, some broken hearts, and perhaps occasional sleep nights of freaking out over credit card debts. So we all qualify to say that we have all grown in some ways. But then whatever happened to those little things that used to make us happy and thrilled? What the hell happened to the days when a chocolate ice cream or a devilishly big slice of Sara Lee pound cake used to be such a treat that you savored it like it's the best thing in the world? What about that thrill of having a new fancy scented erase? How about your good old teddy bear sitting forlornly in the corner of the room that you used to cuddle to sleep? What? You threw it away? How could you? You used to love it so much didn't you?

The magic is gone! What the hell happened?

But you know what? Cute things remind me of those days. The days when I got thrilled and all butterflied over what I take for granted these days. Go look at The Little Twin Stars, Hello Kitty, Miffy et all. They're all happy, chirpy, nothing bad ever happens, and that once magical feeling is back in a utopia of cuteness.

I'm not about to give them up because I've lost so many little things that used to light up my face and in my pensive mood, I mourn for their demise every now and then.

The innocent tube of The Little Twin Stars lip balm made me smile. So no, it's not JUST another lip balm. It's THE Little Twin Stars lip balm and it is quite a big deal! And I'm relieved that it still has that effect on me and I haven't entirely lost .

I don't want your life

"Because I don't want your life. It isn't good enough. "

That's exactly what I would say tonight when nosy distant relatives ask me why I'm not married or haven't popped the 2.5 kids.

With the big ass reunion dinner pending, I'm dreading to rekindle any vague family relations from mom's side of the family. Distant relatives I don't know well but whose kids of similar age as I, have been objects of comparison since time immemorial.

Being vertically challenged all my life, it was annoying to say the least when I was lined up with other kids back to back to compare height. Never mind the blow on the confidence. Then came the game of school results comparo, and I didn't fare well either.

The rest of the kids, of course welcomed this comparing game with a boost in their feel good department as reward. So much so that those little evil drones would scream "Let's compare height!!" the moment we meet when even the blind could tell that I'm at the losing end. Not fun. 

As a kid, I wouldn't have thought that genetics issue plays a big part in how tall I'd grow, and neither did I consider the fact that I went to an elite school for the gifted (or rich) and that scoring a "C" there would mean an "A" in other schools. That took me years to realize and even more years to shake off that sense of inferiority.

Adults are so cruel to subject their kids to this kind of rubbish.

To say that I'm not looking forward to tonight would be an understatement, especially when all of those kids have all blossomed into real adults. You know that type of real adults? Married with 2.5 kids type with a tiny apartment and second hand Toyota Camry? Yes, those.  Again, I'm the odd one out and the whole shebang of "Do you have a boyfriend?", "When are you getting married?" or "You should really have kids soon!" ensued. Not fun again.

Society punishes those who don't conform but tonight I shall speak my mind to live up to my reputation as the odd one out. The conformists play nice, stay polite and smile. The odd one out will tell them as it is: "I don't want your life because it's boring. Marriage is redundant. Divorce is messy. Kids are such burden. I want to live life the way I want and it's quite different from yours because yours is frankly, underwhelming. That's why I'm not married with 2.5 kids."

So yes, the odd one out has grown up to not let conformists bully her anymore. So there, I don't want your life.

Bag to Basics

Blame it on Carrie Bradshaw who started the IT bag trend in Sex & The City with what was possibly the first glorified IT bag, aka the Fendi Baguette. Suddenly, bags have become as important and essential an accessories as weird outfit is to Lady Gaga.

After the Baguette went stale, its successor, the Fendi Spy Bag, hogged the limelight, until the long reigning IT Bag, the Balenciaga Motorcycle bags deck the arms of every celebrities and IT girl wannabes worldwide. Then Chanel gave their classic 2.55 a new lease of life in 2005 with the 2.55 Reissue and celebrities, socialites and the plebs alike raid the Chanel stores, wanting a piece of it. The Mulberry Alexa has been a recent IT favourite that literally turned the Mulberry around and sent their profit rising.Thus is the power of the IT bags!

Many IT bags and hefty credit card bills later, I found myself lusting after the Celine Luggage Tote in Mini Size and in red. None is available. All out of stock. Please be on the waiting list (Tsk...how vulgar!). I've heard how some people would fight over it or harass the shop assistants just to land themselves a piece. I've personally seen how a rude local socialite publicly humiliated the shop assistant for not reserving one for her. A couple of friends trawl sites after sites day-in day-out from Bergdorf, Neiman Marcus to Saks hoping to find one. Much as I'm amazed by the effort put in to scoring an IT bag, I'm equally put off by it. After all, if you devote the same amount of energy you have for the Celine to helping in a soup kitchen, there will be a hell lot less people starving. It's really just a bag, or "a piece of stitched together animal hide" that my friend Ah Meow would aptly put it.

So my operation to score the Celine Luggage Tote has been aborted. If it happens, then good, but no more searching for it. Meanwhile, to satisfy my hunger for a new bag (I haven't bought one since my Balenciaga last December),  I'm now going back to basic, exploring non-IT bags that are just as beautiful and with good craftsmanship.And here comes the French and English Confectionery - A couture accessories shop created by Cordwainer-trained designer/maker, Lucie, who specialises in handmade leather bags and shoes. All in very affordable prices.

Expertly handmade in small quantities in a secret London workshop (ohh, don't you just love anything secretive?), Lucie's bags feature clean classic lines inspired by her 1970s childhood. The designs are basic and evergreen with excellent leather and craftsmanship. I treated myself to a small yellow patent leather sling satchel with scallop edges.

The perfect weekend bag. It even holds my Kindle.

See how even the stitching is?

I love it so much! The stitches are perfect and you can see how they are carefully made with no frays. It's just the right size for all your basic essentials, perfect for the weekend when you want to go hands-free without lugging a bigger bag. The fact that it's handmade by one person makes it extra special, it's a little like the equivalent of provenance of art pieces.

If this has tickled your fancy in getting yourself one, they do have an Etsy outlet you can check out on.

First World Guilt

I was in Grade 4 when I first experienced "First World Guilt" during a visit to rural China with my maternal grandparents. A homecoming trip of sort for my maternal grandparents who left China decades ago to pursue a better life overseas. It was a holiday of a different kind and a big deviation from the usual cool and easy "all taken care of" type of luxury packaged sightseeing tours I was used to.

There was electricity, but it was a single light bulb in the dim house. There was a bathroom with running water, but no water heater in the cold harsh winter. There were beds, but in the form of humble thin mattresses. There was surely food, but simple and strictly home-cooked. There were schools but the kids didn't have proper stationery and were still using razor blades to sharpen pencils. You get the picture.

Being a kid of the same age, the image of a pint-size rosy-cheeked school girl sharpening her pencil (singular please) with a dangerous blade left a deep impression on me .When I got back to Hong Kong, I reached for my piggy bank, dug out the little money in there, purchased a bunch of cool stationery supplies, and had them mailed over to the many little friends I made in China. And I stopped complaining, albeit temporarily, that I didn't have that latest Hello Kitty mechanical pencil for that season. That possibly was the first time ever that I counted my blessings in life.

Of course I was fully aware of the less fortunate around the world before that trip. During the Ethiopian famine of 84', schools were dishing out tiny coin banks shaped as of a bread loaf for students to gather donations for famine relief. Images of starving brown babies in the media formed perfect back drop for moms warning their kids to finish up all their food, lest they would get reincarnated as starved brown babies in their next lives. So yes, I was aware of the fact that there were needy people around. It was, however, a different thing, when you see the less fortunate in person during your holidays. Since Grade 4 and despite having trotted around the world with wanderlust quite a bit, the whole First World Guilt hasn't stopped bugging me every time I travel to a lesser developed country. 

The latest First World Guilt was felt in Bali about a month ago. While I was happily tanning and sipping virgin mojitos at hipster joints like The Potato Head and Ku De Ta in Seminyak, the numerous Balinese people selling ubiquitous tourist souvenirs, sunglasses and hats by the beach made me feel bad. Nothing like the throngs of professional child beggars I've seen in the streets of India for sure, but not the easiest job nonetheless, standing in the hot sun by the beach the whole day all year round .

Looking at their sun wrinkled faces made me wonder if they would secretly or openly wish to be the ones tanning and sipping virgin mojitos by the deck instead. If they do, do they feel that way everyday? Have they sold enough for the day? If not, oh no, what's gonna happen? How many family members are they supporting? Going into the guilt trip over drive seems to be my brain's super power since age ten.

After some mulling over Dalai Lama's books, I had a mental nudge, reminding me not to judge others with my own standards. That sympathy arising from First World Guilts might well be redundant because these people are just as happy, if not happier than I am. That it doesn't take what makes me happy, material or otherwise, to make others happy. That sympathy has its place and time, and is only a positive thing when it is truly required.

I guess for the China trip, the spoilt first world 10-year-old mind of mine might have conveniently forgotten to register quite a lot of other observations too; that the dim light from a single light bulb made good atmosphere for family chats and banters, that every hot sponge bath was something awesome to look forward to, that the thin mattresses were where the kids huddled every night for cool bed-time stories told by real human and not machines, that the eggs cracked into my simple noodle were so fresh it was just taken from the hen, and most importantly, that young school kids (and adults for that matter) sharpening their pencils with primitive blades actually wore a huge genuine smile that radiates from within. 

The Fight Against Fakes

"Chanel-inspired bag". "Celine-inspired Luggage Tote". "Marc Jacobs-inspired tops". Designer-inspired this, branded-replica that. It's the fight against the fakes. "Inspired" seems to be the new clever lingo for counterfeit designer knockoffs that are aplenty in many online shops and actual boutiques alike. My vocal condemnation of buying designer knockoffs has earned me the title of being a snob but I don't care, because it disgusts me.

Photo credit: AP Images/Bebeto Matthews

It disgusts me not because I'm a luxury snob whose favourite pastime is labeling people who buy and use designer knockoffs as cheap. It disgusts me because these people are actually supporting a vice business of piracy that isn't as simple and harmless as buying a couple of fake designer bags.

People know where to get their fake LVs and Chanels. People also know what's "AA Grade" of counterfeits but what many don't know, however, is where these fake knockoffs come from and how some of these fake stuff have destroyed lives.

With real designer goods, you know they are made in workshops manned by skilled craftsmen or produced in proper factories where staff are paid a decent acceptable wage. Counterfeits, on the other hand, are very often a result of child labour exploitation operated by organized pirate groups.

Dana Thomas, author of the book Deluxe: How Luxury Lost Its Luster, launched an investigation that unveils the dark and sordid underbelly of the counterfeit trade.


"It is estimated that up to 7 percent of our annual world trade — $600 billion worth — is counterfeit or pirated; that fakes are believed to be directly responsible for the loss of more than 750,000 American jobs; that everything from baby formula to medicine is counterfeited, with tragic results; that counterfeiters and the crime syndicates they work with deal in human trafficking, child labor, and gang warfare; and that counterfeiting is used to launder money, and the money has been linked to truly sinister deeds such as terrorism."


And the more disturbing and heartbreaking fact is found in an excerpt of the book.


"I remember walking into an assembly plant in Thailand a couple of years ago and seeing six or seven little children, all under 10 years old, sitting on the floor assembling counterfeit leather handbags,' an investigator told me... 'The owners had broken the children's legs and tied the lower leg to the thigh so the bones wouldn't mend. [They] did it because the children said they wanted to go outside and play."



The report is ghastly to say the least. Clearly, these are things a lot of fake goods supporters don't know, or so I hope at least. The whole condemnation of fake designer goods is clearly more than a couple of rich snobs slamming fake goods supporters or luxury companies protecting their market share and intellectual properties. By buying designer knockoffs, you're inherently supporting a vicious trade of human exploitation. 


Now, would you still want to call me a snob for despising fake luxury goods? I really hope not. 


Read more here

Cut x Paste

"Nothing is original, so steal from anywhere that resonates with inspirations or fuels your imagination." So said Jim Jarmusch, the multi-talented film director, screenwriter, actor, producer, editor and composer.

The world is your creativity oyster, serving up a smorgasbord of inspirations from everywhere. Films, books, music, family pets, nature, lovers, food, dustbins even (why the hell not?), the Internet. Especially the internet. Inspirations are aplenty and everywhere. Only that these days, it seems like the line between inspiration and plagiarism is seriously blurring up. Creativity is great but plagiarism is faster it seems.

Ripping off others' "inspirations" and then processing it into something new are somewhat the acceptable nature of creation. It's how things are often done. After all, Jamusch is right that nothing is original, and like he quoted Jean-Luc Godard, it's not about where you take them from but where you take them to.

Say, writing a piece of music after reading someone's life story is awesome. Cue Don Mclean's Starry Starry Night whom he wrote after being inspired by Vincent Van Gogh's tumultuous and bipolar life. Or creating a fashion collection after a muse is a proven winning formula. Iconic case in point: Karl Lagerfeld with his various muses like Claudia Schiffer and Stella Tennant et al. Many creative masterpieces have been born this way.

Not acceptable, at least in my book, is the so-called "effort" like trawling through a few blogs or websites, then cutting and pasting all the materials together to make it yours, be it in the form of a blog post or otherwise. Or not giving credit where credit is due, especially when there is a chance that whoever sees it might think it is original. Plagiarism it is. The current fashion world equivalent is probably the high profile case of Louboutin vs YSL where YSL started producing shoes with red soles which happens to be the Louboutin brand's birthright. Given the commercial nature of this plagiarism, copyright infringement it is.(Team Louboutin I am by the way!)

Next comes this really funny observation among my friends and their friends alike. The squabble over the pseudo-ownership of who cut and paste FIRST. The irony is that often times, when the Cut x Paste materials get re-cut-n-paste, the laggard gets accused of plagiarism when the material itself isn't even original to begin with. Person A posts a famous quote or a picture, Person B re-posts it, Person A then accuse Person B. Root cause for many petty cat fights on social media among people I know. High-school like but entertaining nonetheless.

But now, it seems like a good pseudo intellectual question to follow is that "Then what the hell is real creativity in our day and age? Given that most things, tangible or otherwise (in the form of ideas), have already been in existence."

I haven't got a clue and don't intend to explore but you know what? But just so you know, I ripped the visual above off some douche bag's Facebook profile picture.

Excuse me, are you a Consultant?

For awhile, there seems to have an influx of the consultant professionals with every damn person saying that they're in the consultancy business. You're cool if your job title screams "Consultant". I've seen many proudly introduce themselves as "consultants" with a smug face that hints superiority of some sort.

Yes, there are some really awesome consultants who have got some real chops but these days, I'm seeing more and more young early 20s babies citing their job title as "Consultant" when they, in fact, don't hold a proper job and are well, unemployed or starting their own little business adventure.

If you have a couple of years of work experience and a proper job as a real consultant in an established consultancy firm, then yes, you're a consultant! I also have no problem is you're say 22 and dishing out advice and strategies on things you've been doing since say 5 years old. Case in point, athletes or professional dancers who're coaching the younger ones. But if you're a mere 22-year-old, fresh off the school brat who's not working in company (or self-employed), I doubt your consulting prowess. Especially those who're a business consultant by the merit of just having a spanking new business degree. Those are really a dime a dozen. You're 22, how much life experience have you got to make you a credible consultant? If it's high school cat fight advice I'm after, then yes, you can be my consultant......

I'm just ranting away....having seen a 21-year-old cites herself as a "Consultant" in some gloss mag because she's about to start her own business....

There is such a thing as Magic

I know he's been the talk of the town. You've probably watched the youtube clip, heard him sing and most likely had a tear or two welled up but I still would want to post this on my blog because it would be a shame if you miss Sung Bong Choi's performance.

Sung Bong Choi is truly inspirational. In these day and age where tragic news of human atrocities populate the media, he's definitely a bright ray of sunshine that serves as a reminder that there is such thing as magic. There are beautiful things in life after all.

His next competition is on 20 August 2011. I wonder if he'll be singing tunes by my favorite modern day muso composer Ennio Morricone like he did for his last two performances. I'm rooting for him to win and make it big!

Little Facts & Lessons About Work

It's been a decade. Yes, it's been 10 years and I can't believe I've been working for a decade. The tragic thing is, I think there're many more 10 years to come if I don't strike lottery soon.

Anyhow, here are some of the things I've learned, realized or figured out from my minion-hood about the working world....

• It is TRUE when I was told that working life is harder than school life
• Money isn't easy to make. It's fucking hard to earn. The so-called "financial independence" they told you about doesn't mean you'll have money to buy whatever you want, it simply means this: You're fucking off your parents' dole and you're on your own. You make whatever peanuts, pay your own bills, get into credit card debts, scrimp and save and get out of debt and hopefully still manage to save some for rainy days or for your old folks' home fund in the future
• When landing a job, it's never about how good you are even when you've got excellent track records in tow, it's very often about who you know and what connections you have. Sometimes it's about how good you look too. I know once that someone was hired cos "she's got nice hair"...yes, verbatim...shocking cos it's a corporate job, not some audition for hair model mind you. It's unfair. Not like you don't know anyway. Deal with it
• It's never about how hard you work. It's about making your boss and people THINK that you're fucking hardworking. Case in point: I have a colleague who stay late everyday but then I see her playing online games or surfing online shops all the time and my boss thinks she's fucking hardworking
• If you're stuck doing low mileage maximum effort project, you're fucked cos nobody would remember. If you can, always go get those that give you maximum mileage and recognition. Your colleague can get a bigger raise by doing one maximum mileage low effort shit while you do 10 low mileage maximum effort tasks. Get the idea?
• ALWAYS shout out what you've done. Yes, it might not be your (or my) style to broadcast every damn piece of work you've completed but trust me, you must make the whole damn world know what you've achieved no matter how small it is. Even shit like "Ohhh I've just finished sending an email" can do you good every now and then
• There will always be incompetent and imbecile bosses. But if you know how to manage the imbeciles, you can run the show. The trick is to "empower" useless bosses and do their stuff that they dunno how to do and they'll leave all the decisions to you while they go play their golf at lunch and go home after. Case in point: I have this useless mid 40s man boss who actually didn't know how to "Cut and Paste"...yes, no fucking kidding....and it was in 2009, not some typewriter Mad Men era
• When working with super control freak bosses who micro-manage, don't work so hard or put in too much effort or thoughts cos they'll change it anyway. They'll have to make changes even when it doesn't make a difference. So again, deal with it. They probably didn't get hugged enough when they were young and you need to forgive them for fucked up childhood
• There will ALWAYS be politics. Some worse, some not as bad but you've never really escaped high school. It's everywhere
• ALWAYS make yourself look really busy and in deep concentration. Even if it's just chatting with friends on MSN
• It's never quite okay to really be on MC because people will think you're just pretending even if you're so sick that you probably have one foot into the grave. Especially so if you're sick on Monday or Friday. I suggest fainting in front of boss if you're intending to take 2 or more days of MC cos it'll show the whole office you're sick. Bonus point if they call the ambulance
• There will always be bosses and evil drones who take your credit. Know how to fight for it. When making a brilliant suggestion you know they'll most likely steal, make sure you make it in front of the big boss or the Grand Poobah so they'll know it's your idea
• You can't be buddy and friends with everyone. Yes some friendships do blossom at workplace but best not to trust everyone unless they've proven to have your back. You never really know who your real enemies are...very dangerous
• Never get yourself involved in office politics. ALWAYS be neutral when someone asks you stuff about another person cos your words can be used against you to insinuate things. Eg. "Miss B also agrees that...." or "Miss B said...." So don't get yourself in that boobie trap
• Always be nice to everyone you work with, both within and outside of the company. You never know when you'll run into them, work with them, need their help or be interviewed by them again. Once a colleague was cocky and somewhat rude to a magazine newbie writer we worked with, and years later, the same writer became the editor. Nuff said
• Your idealism (and I say naivety) might make you think that money isn't everything and job satisfaction is more important. Well that's what I thought, but after getting the same job satisfaction of doing the same things in different companies and different settings (read: doing the same shit over and over or "same shit, different days"), I've come to realize money is MORE important...especially when a big bill land on your lap or when you see a pair of drool-worthy Louboutin or yummy Chanel bag you so longingly want to buy....Money matters. A HELL LOT. Unless you have a trust fund that is
• Promotion and recognition by merit, contribution and competence don't happen all the time. It happens sometimes if you're lucky but other times, it's about how many boots you lick and how many cocks you suck
• Very often, glamorous-looking jobs or companies have very un-glamorous pay.....trust me on that
• In many big organizations, you get retrenched not because their financials are in the reds but it's because they're not making enough money (thank god not my first hand experience...yet)...how disgusting? But yes it's true, their way of cooking the book the make their financials look good is to well, cook and kill their employees. Dog eat dog
• Loyalty is a scamp and hasn't got real value. You might pledge loyalty by staying with a company but they can axe you without blinking an eye. Case in point: a long-serving ex colleague who's super capable and hardworking said the wrong thing once and its his downfall and then he got axed one day. Stupid him cos he had a couple of good offers which he didn't take. See, what does loyalty bring you? Nothing much. Does loyalty pay your bill? Well, clearly it doesn't in this case
• George Orwell's Animal Farm is a very accurate reflection of the working world. The pigs run the world and the loyal ones are worked to death
• You're very dispensable and replaceable. Don't ever get tricked into thinking that you're so valuable cos when crunch time comes, you're nothing but a fucking number to your employer

Hmm...that's more or less....I'm sure there's more I can think of but I guess the salient points are there anyway. 

MC Culture

So recently there has been a little talk from the "Führer" about the whole Medical Certificate or MC issue. The Führer said we the minions should be a bit more "conscious" about how we take our sick leave.What the Führer meant was: Don't fucking take so many sick leave you slaves!


The Führer has noticed a spike in the minions throwing in MC for sick leave. The Führer isn't too pleased and said that the spike in MC either means the morale is really low or that staff are overworked. Possibly both, but then how about the staff REALLY falling sick? The Führer also said minions must go see a doctor if we call in sick instead of using our annual leave cos if we do that, it means we're essentially take urgent leave and not sick leave and that is despicable since it's like cheating. 


Now here's my issue with MC: What's up with that whole obsession with MC????? I think it's only in Singapore (okay and Japan...or maybe a few other Asian countries perhaps but I'm not sure) that the HR peeps and bosses are obsessed with the whole MC situation. You can't just rest at home, you MUST get to the doctor to get a sickie. What's up with that? What if you're having a real bad migraine (which I get sometimes and I'm not feigning sick), and you already have the migraine painkiller at home? Do you still go to the doctor for the sake of it? And let's say if you have a migraine and you're in so much pain that the best option is really to pop the painkiller, stay home and sleep it off? Do you still go to the doctor even when the pain is gone simply for the sake of that stupid piece of paper? Oh according to the Führer, it is yes. Never mind the fact that going to the GP means the company paying money for your medical benefits. 


In one of my previous companies, it's even more ridiculous. The HR peeps ONLY accept MC from the company doctor and if you go to other GPs, they don't recognize your MC and guess where the fucking company doctor is? It's in the same building as the office. How stupid is that? If you can make it to the company doctor, it means you can make it to the office and it means you're perhaps not sick enough. 


Then what about the time when the GP only give you 1 day sick leave but you didn't recover within a day and you still have your medications for day 2 onward? Now, do you, again, go back to the GP to fucking beg for another day of MC?


And what's with MC really? I've seen so many people fake a sickie! There's this funny incident where a guy picked up the stomach flu meds (I overheard the pharmacist saying "This is for your stomach pain, this one is for the diarrhea" etc) and then when I walked out of the clinic, I saw him eating a MacSpicy at the MacDonald next to the GP clinic. So if the rationale of getting an official sickie is to deter people from skiving, then honestly, it makes no difference when MCs are so damn easy to get. Easy, go in, look pale, feign migraine, cos they can't check if you really are having one. Or fake a stomach ache and just say it hurts...Bam, you get an MC. 


So I really do not understand what's the big fucking deal with the whole you-must-get-an-official-mc thing. Are the local HR peeps and bosses such slave drivers that it's NOT okay to just call in sick cos you're simply too tired or unwell? Sucks to be minions! 

Delicatessan....China Version

First it was soy sauce made from boiling human hair from the barber. Then it's the rumored char siew bao made from cardboard. Next, the horrible poison milk and fake egg. Now the sci-fi luminous meat is totally this season...Seriously, this whole fake/poison food thing in china is getting more and more creative and ridiculous that I literally laugh-out-loud reading it. Only that it's anything but funny for those who got affected.

You just gotta give it to the China peeps for being so fucking inventive with coming out with toxic food. I mean seriously, it's quite inventive to even think of making fake eggs no?

I just read an article in L.A. Times with all the deeds...it's horrible...read here...Apparently they have:

• human hair soy sauce
• a fake egg making kit (like wtf??)
• chemically altered pork (spiked with clenbuterol which is meant for asthma)
• exploding watermelon...yes, watermelon that's spiked with so much growth hormone that they literally explode...sorry, it's super funny if you ask me and HL's friend actually had a watermelon exploded in the kitchen...
• some glazing material that makes pork look and smell like beef (since beef fetches more money)
• Glow-in-the-dark pork due to some luminous bacteria 
• Fish fed with human birth-control pills
• Recycled oil collected from sewage water!!! (which has carcinogenic fugus!)

YUCKS! It's basically toxic anything and everything! And the most ridiculous thing is that, if you go sue and report the case, you get fined and might go to jail cos the Chinese government is so freaking good at covering up shit like this!

A man whose son was so badly affected by the toxic milk powder (his son developed kidney stones) led a campaign for safer baby formula got a 2.5 jail sentence for "inciting social disorder"....what the fuck is that???

Sad, really sad....I don't think I'll ever consider going to China for a holiday. I wanted to go to Yunnan and the original Shangri-La (not the hotel, but the place that the hotel was named after)....Now I don't think so. Not unless I pack enough instant noodle with me.....

30 Quick Facts About Miss B

1. She has an alter ego named "Bambi Sparkles"...when the night falls, the universe transforms her into Bambi Sparkles the pole dancer
2. Chloe by Chloe and Annick Goutal Petite Cheie are still her favorite perfume, but has enough bottles of perfume at home to set up a shop. Currently she's also wearing Jeanne by Lanvin, Tresor in Love by Lancome and a dab or CK One every now and then
3. Would love to love the all time classic Chanel No.5 but she doesn't like it at all despite numerous attempts to give it a chance...it smells like being trapped in granny's closet....
4. She still can't walk in high heels well...and thus, prefer to admire her Christian Louboutins by holding them instead of wearing them for fear of toppling over
5. Has since started a photo blog and is taking more pictures since the kundalini of photography has once again risen in her....she's keeping her photo blog on a weekly (or so) update
6. Has cut down on shopping
7. Still having problem breaking her cab habit during weekday mornings
8. Has appointed Hirudoid Gel as a girl's best friend instead of diamonds since she's resumed her pole dancing regime cos she's getting bruises all over her legs from the pole and Hirudoid Gel helps majorly
9. Is a total Pole Dance addict and has a pole at home and a collection of stripper heels for dancing cos Pole Dancing has replaced the Powerplate as her preferred choice of workout
10. Has stopped watching tv totally. Her tv at home hasn't been turned on for months and she's only watching Gossip Girl and Grey's Anatomy (her all time fave cos she's 100% like Meredith Grey)
11. Has gotten officially asthmatic, thanks to a sinus surgery earlier. Stupid GA set off the asthma (argh)
12. Hasn't been following her vegetarian/vegan diet too much cos she's been interspersing vegetarian meals with meat because her Traditional Chinese Medicine doctor said she needs animal fat to be healthier (mehhh)
13. Has developed a serious addiction to Cha Soba and Asari Clam Miso soup from Sushi Tei and can never have enough of that
14. Still hasn't given in to iPhone and is proud to be a Blackberry user
15. Has tried gel nails and decided that she doesn't quite like it on her finger nails cos she hates having nails that are bordering on being "a bit long". Her ideal nail length is the one you get by trimming it all the way in
16. Hasn't been very religious with applying body moisturizer despite pledging to be discipline about it
17. Totally loves the oils from Aurora Alchemy and has amassed a collection, with the Green Tara oil being her favorite cos she's a "Child of Green Tara"
18. Despite not being able to finish up what she hasn't read (a majorly big pile that is), she's still collecting more books and amassing more...old habits die hard
19. Is toying the idea of yet another tattoo....TBC
20. One of her pet peeves is being people being late or not keeping to appointment time....she's really good at being punctual, to the point that she's nazi about it
21. Has more than 5 different sets of shampoo and condition at home and she's not sure what to do with those that she doesn't like...
22. Favorite animal is the Beluga Whale but she has a very soft spot for cat, panda, elephant, koala, penguin...well, animals in general
23. Loves Unicorn...
24. Is claustrophobic...the idea of being trapped in the elevator gives her clammy hands
25. Thinks the air conditioner, not sliced bread, is the best invention. EVER.
26. Prefers savory over sweet...and only has cravings for sweet things very occasionally but LOVES anything potato...chips, fries, mash, wedges ....she love 'em all but she has a very very soft spot for white truffle....hmmmm...white truffle....
27. Actually writes perfect Chinese and is pretty decent at translation, contrary to popular belief amongst her friends and colleagues
28. Has very short attention span and gets bored way too easily
29. Is long sighted in the left eye and short sighted in the right eye. Freaky...runs in the family apparently...her cousin's got that too
30. Is a pill popper and loves taking health supplement. Promising bottles of better health/well-being/skin/whatever excite her
    

Roasted Donald Duck

Hahaha...awesome video clip by Obama! He was earlier slammed by stupid Donald Trump aka Mr Combover about his birth certificate cos Trump was making a big fuss over whether Obama was really born  in USA. Trump claimed that Obama wasn't born in the US and he's gonna "investigate" and dig out information about Obama's birth place.

Trump was harping on the birth cert issue nonstop like a crazy psychotic Rottweiler that bit and didn't let go. Super annoying and now Obama fought back and totally skewered him and ohhhh, how I enjoy seeing Trump roasted in public. About time the pompous old douche get knocked back down a few notches! Obama rocks! The priceless bit? Trump obviously doesn't seem like he was enjoying himself and I can see he was probably fuming! Looks like Donald didn't Trump this time.

The moral of the story? You don't fuck with the US president just because you have more money.

Red Quinoa

Okay, what prompted me to write this post on my red quinoa recipe was this extremely rude colleague at work who took a look at my home cooked red quinoa pilaf and started saying...

"Yuck....what the hell is this? Looks like shit! So gross and you're eating it? It looks like germs and bacteria and it's disgusting. It's like maggots and I wouldn't even eat it and if I do, I would go into the A&E department"

And mind you, all the while as she said all the above, I was eating and enjoying the vegan red quinoa I made myself for lunch (the vegan food at work kinda sucks cos it's full of mock meat which I hate). She dissed me and said I'm eating maggots. She even took my spoon and stirred it a bit to insult it further and walked away saying she would go to the emergency room if she eats it. Seriously, what the fuck? So I thanked her for telling me that the lunch I'm eating is fucking disgusting and I'm eating gross maggots for lunch that nobody would wanna eat. Fucking bitch.

Thing is, how rude can someone be? You're so fucking ignorant to not know what quinoa is, so the least you could do is to perhaps ask what it is and shut up if you think it's gross cos I'm eating it. Didn't her momma teach her about manners and social grace? Seriously? One of my pet peeves is for people to diss the food you're eating while you're eating it. Going like "eeeeks" or "yuck"...hello? I'm still eating it do you mind shutting your pie hole? If I ever have kids in the future and they do that to other people, I'll slap their face.

Anyway, bad manners and lousy upbringing aside, apparently a lot of peeps don't know what quinoa is...so here's a bit of info...Quinoa is a very healthy grain that looks like little seeds or beads and there're 2 types, the normal quinoa which are the yellow and red ones.

The nutrient composition is very favourably compared with common cereals. Quinoa grains contain essential amino acids like lysine and good quantities of calcium, phosphorus, and iron. And among the different types of grains, quinoa has one of the highest protein content, making it super good for vegetarians and vegans. 


Anyway, it's mostly made into salad and pilaf and I have a couple of different recipes for it. Here's the one I really love and it's a savory one that I randomly invented and it happens to be my favorite:


Ingredients:
1 cup of quinoa 
2 cups of veggie stock
1/2 a stalk of broccoli chopped into smaller pieces
1/2 zucchini chopped into small cubes
1/2 eggplant chopped into small cubes
1/2 box of honjimeishi mushroom (no need to dice it up, just leave them individually)
1/2 a block of firm tofu chopped into small cubes
2 cloves of garlic
2 table spoons of olive oil
2 table spoons of miso paste
lots of cracked black pepper


First, cook the quinoa. Boil the 1 cup of quinoa in 2 cups of veggie stock. Bring the quinoa to boil and simmer it with the lid on until all the liquid is absorbed. It'll take awhile, about 15 minutes.


Then while waiting for the quinoa to cook, prep the veggies. Heat oil in a big pan and then throw in the garlic. When it's browned, throw in all the diced up veggies and tofu and stir fry it till it's softened. Be careful not to burn the broccoli. Normally, to soften the broccoli and give the veggie more flavor, I'll add in a bit of veggie stock for it to absorbed the stock for extra flavor. 


Once the veggie is ready, stir quinoa into the veggie in the big pan. Add a bit of warm water to the miso paste and stir it into the pan. Mix it well and then add in as much black pepper as you want. I normally add in a lot cos it's super yummy...if you like it to be a bit more salty, just add a bit more miso. And viola, it's ready to serve! 


This quinoa dish is to be eaten warm but then I sometimes eat it cold too. Doesn't bother me but it's best when it's warm. I have a couple more cold salad quinoa....maybe another time...


I'm mostly writing this to rant about the rude idiot at work....at least I know that there's a reason why I'm skinnier than she is and my ass isn't the size of a bathtub like hers....meeeeoooowww......grrrr.....