Weddings

Weddings...they seem so far away when you're still in school and all you want to do is meeting people and clubbing and having fun!

I have no pre-conceived notions about getting married soon, less so a wedding! However, I still want to wish all my friends a very happy marital bliss and would love to attend their wedding. Having moved past a quarter of a century in terms of age, now seems to be the time when friends around me are starting to tie the knot. Alas, due to me being in a foreign country, I have yet to attend any of my friends' wedding which I sometimes whinge about. Teehee!

Especially when my younger friends are attending weddings and being bridesmaid left, right and centre. It costs me to start thinking about what about my friends? Are we all so happy with being happy and free and going about with our lives?

Anyway, enough about my laments and thoughts. I have a friend's wedding to attend next week (finally, although I knew her through work, uni friends: what is happening with you guys?) and do quite look forward actually.

First thing was to get a present. A bunch of us waited till the weekend before to check out her bridal registry list so no surprise that there wasn't much remaining. I was happily browsing all the kitchen stuff (I am delighted regardless of whether I'm looking at clothes or electronics or kitchenware)! Ha!

My guy friend had to start hinting that "You know, guys don't really like shopping for this stuff" to bring me back to earth and concentrate on the task at hand. We finally settled on a nice healthy gadget which I hope the bride and bridegroom will like.

Next came our dilemma on what to wear to a wedding church and dinner. With most of us being wedding guests virgins, we were all discussing on wardrobes for both the men and ladies.

Here comes my problem. Having browsed through all my dresses, they are all BLACK!

Although the bride graciously said that there are no taboos and we can wear any colour we want, I am still skeptical about wearing black.

I have no idea what to wear now and with 6 days to go, I better start doing some fast searching.

While doing some clicking on the net, I came across *gulp* a website dedicated to UGLY DRESSES.

Honestly, I LUV Jamie and Gordon and Nigella. But imagine your chef husband-to-be asking you to wear THIS??

Anyway, back to getting a dress. I came across some nice ones.

Is this a little too corporate looking?

If only I had the height, sigh~

I quite like this one, I have one like this but it's BLACK!

I think I just found THE website, they have some amazing dresses. But with only a week to go, I doubt I can get anything from here.






Aren't they amazing? For those who have time, this is their website.

The CLEO 50 most eligible bachelor

Having read the TV guide incorrectly, I suddenly had some spare time and decided to check out the The CLEO 50 most eligible bachelor for 2008 after seeing Kenny Sia's post. It was definitely a witty one.

Anyway, I decided to spend some time quickly browsing their profiles. After all, before I move Down Under, I used to check it every year and the last few years always had a bachelor in there that I personally know.


A few interesting things that I noticed:

1. Most of them are 25 and 26. Now, I'm sure that there are a lot more bachelors out there that are not only that age!

2. A lot of them like to hang out at Velvet, The Curve, 1 Utama. What the?!?!
Is CLEO scouting out for bachelors at clubbing areas and shopping areas?

3. Occupation : Business owners. Now, with quite a few stating that as their occupation, it's beginning to seem a little suss!

4. Have I been in Sydney too long? Some of the answers are sounding a little "ah beng!".



This guy sure thinks a lot and LOVE Mel Gibson for him to answer that question!


I don't know...no one in particular that catches my fancy. Not interested in putting up all 50 photos either! Haha~ my concentration fell at 2.


ps. The 2007 year seems to be better!

Malaysian Dreamgirl - Ep 13 & 14

As the weeks go by, I have to say kudos to the editing team. The vids shown are less and less boring and unnecessary fillers and are a lot more interesting compared to the first few weeks.

What's new this week?

Episode 13 started with the girls going for the breakfast show with Elaine Daly. It's a good experience to brush up on being articulate and showing your personality across on TV.

Next was going for a gym session. Now, I don't really know if I am THAT interested in watching 2 minutes of just them prancing around and moving their hands. Those 2 minutes could have easily been shorten to 15 seconds. After the gym, it was off to Sunway Lagoon for some thrilling rides. They sure keep the girls busy!




I would have been just as happy sleeping in a nice comfy bed!

After that, we see Kenny Sia made an appearance with a challenge for the girls. Later, he was a houseguest with a few other men which the girls had to prepare a dinner for. Seems they are swooning over a particular house guest more than the others!

I'm pretty sure that the house that the girls are in could possibly be in Taman Tun?

After that, you could not avoid eliminations. It's an elimination with a twist though! Watch it to see what I'm talking about.

Then, we move on to Episode 14 and as usual, we have some minutes of the girls talking about the eliminations.

Now, the part where all the girls have to step up as there is going to be more than 1 person being eliminated next! The photoshoot. This week is "Couture Batik" merged with art. You'll know what I mean when you see the pics.

After the photoshoot, the girls had another challenge where they had to act in an advertisement for Escada perfume. Adeline won the challenge but I personally thought that Jay and Cindy stood out the most in the adverts. They really capture you attention and you can see their faces clearly which is always a good thing. Ringo wasn't bad but you can never see her face clearly so she would lose out if it was the real commercial world where you want people to notice you.

Now, the actual photos:

Adeline

Amazing! The pose, her expression, the combination of the art and colours with the dress just works! I have to say that she really stepped up this week. After looking through everyone else's photos, she gets "winning photo of the week".

She commands your attention and I definitely looked at her photo for more than just a few seconds.

Ringo

To Ringo's dismay, she did mentioned that she wasn't too happy with the photo that was ultimately chosen and she was only just warming up when they said that she was done. The top half and her expression is good but the overall photo does not look proportionate. I think it's to do with the dress being longer than her height can carry and maybe that pose that she is using.

It just somehow emphasized her shortness, maybe if tried jumping in the air so that the whole dress is flowing, it will give the illusion that her body is a lot longer!

Cindy

I like this photo. I like the colour scheme, the pose and her expression works. She looks like a character from some manga comic book. There are so many interesting elements in the picture that you definitely stay a while to look at all of them.

Hanis

It's a good photo. Definitely better than others this week but somehow it just looks normal. Nothing spectacular. Her pose and expression doesn't complement the dress and the colour art.

Nadia

There just seems to be something that is not quite right with this photo. Nadia usually takes at least good photos of a certain standard, but this one just seems to be a flop to me. Nothing is complimenting each other, I personally think that this is a bad photo.

Jay

What happen?? I'm really surprised with Nadia and Jay this week. Both their photos just don't work. I don't even know what to say about Jay. It's not even a simple tweaking here and there that will make this work. Everything in this photo isn't working!

Based on this week's photos, some girls are able to thrive on the pressure while others seem to crumble. It's going to be an interesting elimination. Are the votes going to end up being popularity or merit based?

First Day at work

Today was my first day at my new job. Was quite excited and surprised that there were 3 other people who started together with me.

Just my luck too that the team that I was allocated to was having their team bonding day today and my afternoon was spent meeting the team and having lunch and a game of bowling after. After more than 5 years of not bowling, I am quite happy with how I played.

Tip to remember : long nails are not conducive for bowling. I managed to chip my nails. =(

Hopefully this new job will work out.

Malaysian Dreamgirl - Ep 11 & 12

Time seems to pass really quickly and we are down to 6.

It is starting to get a lot more interesting due to the editing team. Kudos to them. With each week, the episodes have less fillers. We got to see snaps of the girls during MIFA which was great and also the elimination.

I am so disappointed! Why is it Fiqa?? She had one of the best photos last week but it didn't seem to have help. All the remaining girls are also making an effort to talk more and bring out their personalities more instead of hiding in the shadows. I guess that fact that it is a competition is starting to hit on them more now and each one is making an effort.

The week's photo shoot is for designs by Carven Ong with the location at Savanh Too Bar.
After the pep talk by Sazzy Falak at the last elimination, I am looking forward to better photos this week.

Adeline

Her pose really brings out the dress to its fullest and the lighting and background was the right pick too. However, her facial expression is just wrong and doesn't go with everything else.

Nadia

What can I say? It's a good photo but it doesn't stand out. I don't know what is she trying to express here with the dress that she is wearing.

Jay

Surprised to say but hands down Jay has the winning photo of the week.

Her posture and angle brings out the dress and her body shape really well. Most importantly, she connected with the camera and her expression and eyes grabs my attention.

Hanis

A very regal look which goes well with the dress but the make up is just a little too harsh. Especially the red lipstick, she ends up looking pretty bitchy in here.

Cindy

I've seen this expression before and it's one that doesn't work. She is now able to work on her face angles but she is not giving the right expression. This photo and the previous one just looks like she is trying to look sad?

Ringo

Ringo used the right pose to bring out the dress. It works but she needs to work on her facial expression for everything to be right. This photo shows her face looking puffy!

Overall, I still feel like a lot of work needs to be done as at the moment, there isn't anyone who is consistent and which I feel has the same standard to be consistent as a model. At this stage, any of this girls can go. The one to win will be the person who decides to step up.

Crossroads

As some of you may know, I've been a member of the unemployed club for the past 2 weeks and I have to say that it's been a good one. Being able to get at least 8 hours of sleep is always a bliss.

Anyhow, I've started to look for contracting jobs before heading over overseas again in a few months. My intention was to try something different from the role that I've been doing previously.

Just my luck that fate decides to throw in a twist by offering me a good contracting role that actually gives me a promotion, good pay BUT I will be doing exactly what I've been doing for the past 2 years.

A few hours later, I received another call about an interview which would be a role that is different from what I've been doing, the pay might be a little lower but it's close to my home and I can finally stop travelling so much for a while or have to lug around a laptop everywhere with me again.

Hhmm...what should I do now?

青花瓷 Blue & White Porcelain

Talk about needing a break to start catching up on things that I have been meaning to. One of them was Jay Chou's latest album.

Late, I know! I'm currently stuck on the 3rd track. Simply love the melody and I have been playing it on repeat for hours on end. I think my house-mates are going to go crazy!

作詞：方文山　作曲：周杰倫

素胚勾勒出青花筆鋒濃轉淡　瓶身描繪的牡丹一如妳初妝
冉冉檀香透過窗心事我了然　宣紙上走筆至此擱一半

釉色渲染仕女圖韻味被私藏　而妳嫣然的一笑如含苞待放
妳的美一縷飄散　去到我去不了的地方

＃天青色等煙雨　而我在等妳　炊煙裊裊昇起　隔江千萬里
在瓶底書漢隸仿前朝的飄逸　就當我為遇見妳伏筆

＊天青色等煙雨　而我在等妳　月色被打撈起　暈開了結局
如傳世的青花瓷自顧自美麗　妳眼帶笑意

色白花青的錦鯉躍然於碗底　臨摹宋體落款時卻惦記著妳
妳隱藏在窯燒裡千年的秘密　極細膩猶如繡花針落地
簾外芭蕉惹驟雨門環惹銅綠　而我路過那江南小鎮惹了妳
在潑墨山水畫裡　妳從墨色深處被隱去

Malaysian Dreamgirl - Ep 9 & 10

How quickly time passes and it's now another week onto Malaysian Dreamgirl and we have episode 9 & 10.

I was a little surprised with how many parts there was to episode 9 as there are usually only 3-4 parts whereas this week, it has double that! Woowee~

We see the girls going for an individualised hair spa treatment during the day. Honestly, it was dragging a bit as the viewers were given a few minutes take of each girl going through what their hair problem was, how they feel about the hair spa and saying their 'thank yous'. Having to listen to it 7 times is not funny.

What are your plans after getting your hair beautifully done? Clubbing of course it seems. I never like going clubbing the same day that my hairs gets beautifully done as you go from nice and clean smelling hair to yucky cigarette smoke hair in minutes.

The next day, the girls had a fashion challenge where they had to pick an outfit in their given category and come up with a new look. I seriously wonder whether anyone is usually able to find an outfit in 5 minutes? Just looking for your size takes up precious seconds, somehow the girls managed to do it. Kudos to them.

Later on, they were treated to a behind the scenes experience of an actual photo shoot. Why were all the models there international? I wanna see some locals!

Sadly, elimination came and one of my favourites EYNA is GONE!!!! *sob sob*
I guess her weak photo from the previous week didn't help her cause. It was just this 1 week that her photo wasn't FANTASTIC. Sigh~ she will go far if she continues in this industry. All the best to her.

From that we move onto Episode 10 where the remaining 6 talked about the elimination and their next photo shoot.

Honestly, stop trashing Cindy. All those extra minutes of spotlight on her has given her extra camera time, so guess what? She wasn't even in the bottom 3 this week. There is always 2 sides to every story and the cameras should have just shown us those incidents for the viewers to decide. Example, the shoe incident. Honey, if you're not holding onto the shoe, no one is going to know you chose it first so if someone else is holding it in the end, it's a fair go for her to choose that shoe. After all, it would seem that you didn't want/like that shoe if you put it back on the display stand in the first place!

Now on to the final photos. It's a close up pic and the girls have to show off their Wella hair styles to its fullest and bring the vibe of the hair and reflect it onto the picture.

Adeline

Don't think this is one of her best. The lighting and tone of the picture actually added years onto her and she looks old! Is she trying to portray a fierce look? Her expression came out looking like she is confused.

Cindy

Compared to the previous week, this is not as good. She seems to be showing sadness in the photo but is that suitable for a hair shoot? With the hair style that she got, she should be showing it as a high fashion shoot. In fact, this time if she shows a bit of attitude or arrogance would have been perfect!

Fiqa

She wins "winning photo of the week" hands down!

This picture looks amazing. Doesn't even look like her, it took me a few seconds to recognise her. She looks young and vibrant. Good skin tone and the angle is just perfect for showing off the straight side front and messy back hair style as well as the eyelashes and her facial features. The tone, lighting and everything in this photo is just right!

Hanis

Strong photo. She manages to bring out the wildness and fierceness of her hair style into her expression. Good photo but somehow doesn't manage to catch my attention too much which brings it down a few points. I noticed that she has been improving though.

Jay

It doesn't work. She looks too androgynous that it doesn't bring out the beauty and femininity of the hair. It's her lower facial area and the jaw that she needs to tone down and somehow try to make it look more feminine.

Nadia

It's still a good photo but not one of her best! She is showing off everything (the hair, her face angle) right but her eyes look a little vacant which stops it from becoming an engaging photo.

Ringo

What happen?? The hair, the makeup, the lighting and the choice of make up colour just didn't work and she looks so old in this photo and in fact, makes her skin look really blotchy.

That's my take, till next time.