hen and friends come out to play

She's the partner I sat next to in class from sec 3 to 4, about 10 years ago. She's the hen we held a party for, just two days ago. She's the classmate whom I always turned to when I had problems with math and science. She's the bride-to-be who now has to try out the crotchless panties (see pic)!!! HAHAHA. As usual, with another hen party organised by the horniest and craziest ones in the sec sch gang, how could it not be fun?

Just some things about the hotel the gang spent the day at:
We now know that the Le Meridien Changi Village Hotel is a luuurve hotel. The bedroom offers a thoroughly unobstructed view into the bathroom, courtesy of a big glass window fitted in the wall separating the bathroom from the bedroom. Of course, if you are shy, you can always let down the blinds. There's also a rooftop swimming pool on the eighth floor, where you can look out to the sea beyond and its tiny sailboats. It would have been nicer if the swimming pool water was not so murky. I couldn't see a thing underwater with my goggles!

最近比较烦

男女爱情真麻烦，忽冷忽热，随风漂泊。
受情绪摆布，被男友怪是“身体闹情绪”的缘故。
为什么爱一个人那么麻烦？
难道爱就不能简简单单的吗？
虽有个伴，有时感觉上又好像却没伴。
没时间，没时间。。。
没时间想最好。

Badminton buddies

This morning, my right arm woke up making a lot of noise. Move it, creak (!), raise it, crack (!), lower it, creak (!). Ouch. Tested my butt and thighs for a while. Ok, no sound, not much pain, thanks to once-a-week jogging I think!

Yesterday, I touched a badminton racquet for the first time in like a decade, and played for about an hour with a teenager, her sister who's six years younger than me, and their very pro friend (a guy who looks older than me, but then again, many people younger than me look older than me.) It was great fun! But I knew my body was sure to complain today. And so it did, loud and clear. Sigh...老了...

"Mummy, 你很胖"

"Mummy, 我的朋友的 mummy 比较美..."

That was uttered by this primary school boy to his 80kg-heavy mother!!! I am so disturbed.

Was watching this slimming show on channel 8 earlier on. Slimming shows are the fad now. This particular one was sponsored by Jean Yip where they audition heavyweight women, put them through a slimming programme (where you see all the unsightly flab wrapped tightly in plastic before being exposed to some funny lighting), package them in nice dresses and coiffeured hair, and voila, they are a different person altogether. And people like Jean Yip get their due credit.

Seriously, I think these shows are appalling. What kind of message about beauty are they propagating? And today, I had to hear this boy - he looks no older than nine - say that he thinks his mother is fat and that he supports his mother's efforts to slim down on TV because then she can be beautiful. Apparently, his mother says that he doesn't like her to wear sleeveless tops because her arms are too fat. So she actually changes out of these tops into baggy T-shirts for his sake!!! He also feels the layers of fat on her tummy and calls them 三层肉.

HUH? Where did this boy get his idea about beauty from??? You know, I highly suspect that he's learnt all this through the mass media - advertisements, appalling slimming shows, whatever. Because, the mother mentioned that he was watching a slimming show on TV when she asked if he wanted her to take part in such a show.

C'mon, at that age, I don't think I ever associated weight and beauty in such a connotation. Fat was just fat. Ugly was just ugly. It was never fat equals ugly. And I don't think it would even cross my mind to turn fashion critique and tell a plus-sized person that his or her arms were too big to be paraded around.

Oh man...with the proliferation of such blatant fat-equals-ugly messages, how will our young ever grow up with a proper concept of healthy beauty? And here we have Mummy shedding tears because junior now thinks she's soooo beautiful after shedding the kilos...And the comperes call her story very 感人!

Oh please!

Photography 101

I usually don't show my face on my blog cos of fat-face issues that plague me constantly. But today, I've had a change of heart and decided to use myself as a model to demonstrate some techniques in hiding bodily flaws and to expound on the art of photography in general. As you can tell, I'm bored :)


1. To look slimmer, it helps to turn your face slightly to the side so the camera doesn't capture the full frontal (and fat) view. If you want, you can also tilt your head very slightly towards your shoulder - in this case, I tilted it towards my right shoulder. Find a window with natural light pouring in, and position yourself such that the light falls on one side of your face. Such ambient lighting is pretty flattering. And of course, make sure you hold the camera slightly higher than your forehead because when you shoot from top down, you avoid double-chin issues, which can be very depressing!


2. If all else fails, find a mirror in a multi-storey car park (as above), or one that is found around the bend of a windy road. The fish-eye perspective that the reflection offers shaves off those few needed millimetres off your body. Then you can kid yourself that you possess sinewy arms and a sharp(er) chin. Say cheese!


3. But sometimes, you can't make the conditions favour you, especially when you're taking pix with a bunch of friends. So just heck it lah! Fat then fat lor! This bunch of friends here are my project group members from school. We are always the group found hovering near any table with food. Today's lecture was on Indian culture and our lecturer provided food like muruku. And of course, we zoomed in on it! YUM.


4. The cardinal sin in photography is definitely shooting a blur picture, unless it is the intended effect. In this case (as above), I committed the cardinal sin. But who wouldn't when you need to shoot in secret? Look out for unwelcome nail clippings the next time you board the train. Don't say I didn't sound the warning!

Three cheers for the spunky ballerina!

I'm so happy Naima emerged as America's Next Top Model in this season four installation. Love her mohawk, her spunk and everything cool that she exudes. Save for a few unnecessary spots on her face and sometimes coming across as a little contrived in her manner of speech (think it's gotta do with the "past" that she's trying to escape from), Naima IS a very attractive character.

I love it when people embody juxtapositions. Like Naima. She's a graceful ballerina with a rock-chick attitude. Definitely not one-dimensional.

You go girl!

Picture courtesy of UPN, L-R: Naima Mora and Tyra Banks

yo, bro

In this week's issue of 8 Days, actress Ericia Lee says she used to wonder if she was adopted, because she was so different from her younger sis Ezann. Looks-wise and character-wise, both couldn't be more different from each other. Then again, both are blessed with such good looks, fantabulous figures and wonderful smiles. So, different also never mind right??? This world is so unfair...sigh...

The sibling feature inspired me to put up pix of my bro and I. At 23, he's three years younger than me. We are also as different as...as...as...err...popeye is from err...olive. Couldn't think of a better contrast, but you get the idea. He's everything I'm not, and I'm everything he's not. He inherited most genes from my mum's side, slim cheeks, business-(ka-ching)-mind, find-the-shortest-shortcut-tendencies, love for garlic and onions, naturally straight pearly whites bla bla bla.

I, on the other hand, got my dad's chubby-bao-bao-cheeks, his love for photography, easy contentment, not-so-straight teeth that I had to fix with braces, and I repeat, his chubby cheeks!!! Ok, so I haven't exhausted the list (I know there's more), but I can't think of any more "genetic dispositions" right now.

My bro is an NSB (I'm not), he smokes (I don't), he loves techno (I don't), he's the auntie-killer-type great at selling stuff (I'm not, I don't know how to sell things), he hates writing (I don't) and so on...In fact, just a few weeks back, we both took the train together (a rare occurence) and he looked at our reflection in the window and said: "My goodness, we don't even look alike."

:)

So my question is, are you and your sibling alike?

Homely comforts

This is ben, corny ben, who's reporting from Muzaffarabad in Pakistan now. (Sorry had to include baby ethan inside cos he's soooo cute!) I've been following his reports on how he's turned medic, inserting needles into veins, cleaning wounds and all that stuff that he'd never thought he had to do. And today, I read about how he hasn't bathed in days because the water is contaminated, and how having the privilege to sleep in a porous tent is sheer luxury.

I must say ben ben, I'm very proud of you! You've managed to balance your journalistic instincts with helping the distressed earthquake survivors! I can't imagine what it is like to be out there in the shivering cold, plagued by injuries, with absolutely no hope about what the future holds.

How fortunate I am in Singapore to be surrounded by all the creature comforts one can ask for. Where I wake up in the morning, tempted to snuggle under my soft quilt a little longer. Where I turn on the PC and saying "good morning" to friends on MSN. Where the most pressing thing on my mind right now is to finish my class essay and hand it up on time.