Short filler post

Hi everyone – I will have some time (finally) during the Christmas break to get my drafts back on track and to keep posting. This past month I have been struggling with poverty… Internet data poverty. I have 50GB of peak time data and somehow I used up more than half in a week all thanks to owning an Apple TV and Youtube-ing the crap out of it (if you buy it you should use it, right??). I also uploaded a heap of photos from my trip (reasonably large since uploads are included in the download data limit) so I skimped out on my Internet and disappeared for a while.

Those posts I promised will come… eventually. Sorry!

On other matters I have been really busy with work. The boss decided it was time to have that Grand Opening party (although we moved in like 3 months ago trololol) and I was like an in-house graphic designer for the past week or two. I rushed all sorts of deadlines (set by myself really) and finished a 20 page A5 catalogue (or more like revised it) – redesigning the front cover, made 4 invitations for different types of media, about 8-10 web banners (yes, design is required), 11 hanging banners (big ass banners 1m x 2.5m to hang from the ceiling – all different in nature) – adding onto the 10 banners I designed a few months ago, at least 1 A4 poster advertising something, put up maybe 20 product listings as we have new products coming in, packed probably 100 parcels/ orders, whilst taking orders, replying emails, making sales on the floor and answering the phone. Yes, I am exhausted and I am amazed at how much work I do and wish I was paid much more.

I’m sure I did more work than what I mentioned because suddenly the girl who usually helps clear the orders and packing suddenly disappeared and didn’t turn up for work recently. We also had over 100 boxes of stock come in and I probably cleared about 10 boxes of those within 2 hours… but still this is not enough as the back part of the store (where the event will be) is still under construction and we need to clear those boxes… this party by the way is in 4 days’ time… well, less now. 72 hours non-stop is probably not even enough and we will be cutting it close.

I was also going to rant about idiots on the bus but I will refrain from doing so because I’m going to get a lot of slack for it. I finally get another day of rest and I am looking forward to it. We have a new “helper” at work, but um, they don’t really help or get much work done. Kids these days are amazing – for example if you tell them “here are some flyers and envelopes… we need to mail them out – stick on the address label and stamp” they will only do the things you tell them and won’t bother sealing the envelope. They will also ask you where to place the stamp and put the return address in the most prominent part of the envelope in place of the recipient’s address. It will also take them 1 minute to do 1 envelope. I’m serious; I wish I were kidding though.

I’m not really sure what the whole deal with “work experience” is. It’s just a fancy word for “please hire me, I can be free if you want, but if you like you can also give me some money, but I won’t put my heart into work because finding real work is way too hard and I don’t want to commit”. When I was in uni, I didn’t have a job – in fact, I never had one. Not once in my head did the idea of doing work experience ever cross my mind – the only thought I had was actually finding a job. Why should I get work experience somewhere totally unrelated to my interests and not get paid properly for it? Is it because people feel insecure and just want to do something with their time? Is it because they do not want to face the disappointment of not being hired?

I really do not understand why people do work experience in something they don’t really care for and not even try to be proactive about it. Well, all I can say is that some people will learn failure the super hard way. But then again, they are so conceited that they will forever be in denial and treat anything as a success, just because.

If I could rewind a few years back, I would work just as hard as I do now and do exactly the same. I would learn everything I could in the shortest time possible and collect all the skills I can and become an invaluable member – or active contributor – of the team. Time is precious, I don’t understand why people waste it. Even if you waste time, do it in a way that you don’t regret it. Seriously if you don’t give a shit, go waste your time somewhere else and play a video game instead. Just don’t do that at work. Man up (or woman up) and just be honest “I’m not cut for this” and everyone will just say “you poor baby, go have an early mark and enjoy your holiday instead”.

Rant over.

Anyway, the party was over and to my slight disappointment it was just work that whole day to be honest… I had less fun than those last minute casual workers (who ate more than I did, and didn’t do what they were supposed to do – this is why you should not know about logistics if you are anal about logistics not going to plan and obsessive compulsive about order). I’ve had a busy month. To summarise:

• Kitchen drain got blocked and had to be unblocked with some form of crazy acid
• Doing all the housework non stop (I’m seriously, my hands were not dry at all for half a day) – maybe I really do not want to be a house hermit for this reason
• That work party which sucked out most of my soul
• Intercom upgrade – looks cheap and horrible but at least it makes more sense now
• Visiting a new dentist who is tons better than that asshole who made me trek half the city to get an x-ray when there was one just a few streets down (WHY??)
• Getting my dizziness back – flashback to final year uni of 4 days of continuous sleep. I never really rested after New Zealand and then got sick… staring at a computer screen for about 6 hours+ per day really kills me especially since I do a lot of scrolling and graphic work it really messes up my eye brain coordination. It’s getting better now though.
• Had to live alone for about 4-5 days for a reason I won’t publicise.

Other news:

What is this honey butter chip, what does it taste like and where can I buy it? I love potato chips (sad reality) even though I don’t really eat junk food – I am so going to look for these to have a try!

Watched the first 2 live action adaptations of Rurouni Kenshin, and was really addicted I had to rewatch both. I’m satisfied with the adaptation (though the characters and story were all meshed together and shuffled around), but I am glad with the casting of Kenshin since he is no doubt the hardest character to portray well. I am also very impressed with the holding power of Gatsby wax (you will understand if you watch any Japanese drama or movie). After that I decided to rewatch the anime… I have been marathoning for the past few days and everything is slowly coming back to me. Good times – it has been years since I watched it. In our household Kenshin has a special place because it’s one of the few animes we watched together as a family and own on official VCD (note that is not a typo, yes I am that old). I wish that my dad was able to watch the live action adaptation… he probably would have enjoyed it.

One of my favourite songs which I think they should really use as an end theme forever for Kenshin… I even own this OST on CD (3rd OST for the Kyoto part). TM Revolution is amazing. You can Youtube for other versions of the song, but although this is long I kind of dig that guitar solo at the end.

Song starts at about 1 minute in

I will be back with a post in the new few days as I will have a 4 day break. Until then, merry Christmas and hope you all have a bunch of awesome presents under the tree or in your stockings! I only have one under the tree… “tree”. Well, I’m pretty sure it’s a box of chocolates lol. I’ll be waiting for the 25th to open it!

Head cold, exhaustion, question marks

Today’s not a Friday, but it is the last day of August. (!!!)

So I have gone MIA once again. Work has been absolutely crazy since we are going to move to a larger store and everyone has been going nuts since we have restocked some of our best selling items. Every day has been so busy doing this or that, and I haven’t had much of a chance to catch a break. Basically if you watch those Hollywood movies and there’s always one girl who does all the errands, that’s pretty much me. But my errands are within the store and stretch as far as the nearest post office. At times I was part graphic designer, part technical support, part sales, part *cough* social *cough* butterfly, part labourer. Have you tried lifting 2-3 kg boxes one at a time (note that I have really tiny hands, I can’t grab large boxes two at a time – ie. one per hand – so I need to do it one by one) with a runny nose without a tissue in sight? Well surprisingly it felt really horrible like this uncomfortable workout, but after that I felt better. So have you got the cold or flu? Try being a labourer for a few hours. Your immune system will welcome it.

On other things about hands – for those didn’t know, a standard brick is designed to fit into your hand so ideally you have your cement spreader in one hand, brick in the other. No surprises – I can’t do it. The brick sadly was not designed for me. Maybe I just need to build with lego or something instead.

Anyway, I am still happy though. One afternoon I returned to my desk and my boss left me a copy of a promotional magazine/ booklet with two of the advertisements I put together for him inside. Everything looks so much better on glossy paper. Too bad I don’t have a photo at the moment – it’s on my desk and I haven’t managed to do anything with it.

My business cards also have arrived, and look much better than I had expected them to be (even though I was the one who drew it). I’ve finally been to the new store and it looks so much more amazing than the place we had before was. I can’t wait until everything is organised and complete because it seems like a great place. Only thing I dislike is the location, it is further away from me.

—

1912

The weather in Sydney has also been crazy wet with rain pissing down from the skies consecutively (for the whole month of August to be honest) – and as a result of being tired (haven’t been sleeping well lately and I’ve been a bit overworked) and being battered by rain, my immune system crumbled and gave in to a cold. Luckily it’s only a cold and not the flu. I was about to praise myself and give myself a pat on the back for being one of those few people who have managed to stay healthy during this winter, but I suppose not. Seriously, if you feel the symptoms, just sleep. Sleep does absolute wonders.

In regards to the flu though, be careful because the virus is crazy this year. It’s just so terrible with so many sick people around – even my cold is pretty bad since I was experiencing body aches, fever, chills – my throat still hurts after a week because the weather is so dry. It’s raining… but the air is dry. Seriously Sydney? I think this is the difference between Sydney and Hong Kong – when I was in Hong Kong and got rained on nothing happened because it was still warm (hot) and humid. I get sick here because it’s cold and dry. WHY THANK YOU.

Before I got sick though, my friend and I went to 1912 which had a really nice atmosphere. It was so different to any other place I’ve been though the lighting reminded me of that bar in Hong Kong on the 7th floor of some hotel I forgot the name of. The food was generally high quality fusion style, though the pork belly (main on left) was a bit salty. It was really soft and well cooked though. I’m missing photos of the baby potatoes and edamame (not like you’d miss out on much).

I was the one who chose the wasabi mayo cuttlefish – and it was really light and nice. I’m glad to see that it is actually white and not brown because it means they are using new/ clean oil. If you wonder why fried food comes out looking burnt it’s either they over fried them or more likely, used oil that has been used quite a bit (yes, you can reuse oil when it comes to deep frying). This is a general rule why I rarely eat deep fried foods, but this was nice. The salad was also good – I have a feeling the only saltiness you can taste is actually the vinegar, though I don’t know for sure. The salad has really thinly sliced salmon sashimi on top with a mysterious red finely chopped something. I suggested it was possibly saffron, but at that volume I don’t think so.

I’ve already commented on the pork belly. It looks small but it’s really enough food. I had like half a piece of pork belly and literally two bits of the beef (medium rare). I was full from the entrées to be honest!

I didn’t think I’d get so happy over frozen yoghurt, but ever since Azuma disappeared (I need to google where they are or if they still exist) I don’t know the meaning of life without frozen yoghurt. This hands down wins. This is frozen yoghurt with nuts and some strawberries on top – the nuts surprisingly give the yoghurt a really good flavour and the strawberries tasted as good as they looked. I skipped the cream though.

Overall it was a good night after a super long day at work and with rainy weather. I would definitely like to visit again.

I would like to give a shout out to the friend I went with to 1912. He’s leaving the country and may not be back (like every other person I know, seriously, why people? Am I seriously that terrible you all need to LEAVE the country?? I kid I kid.). If you’re reading this, come back! If not for good, for vacation or whatever! Stay in touch, and if I go to Hong Kong I will visit.

I wasn’t able to see him off at the farewell dinner since I was sick – sigh.

Either way I hope you come back. Whoever needs to step in/ replace has some big shoes to fill…

Bye also to this little cutie as he is taking her with him overseas. No more crazy barking, random vomiting on the ground and scolding her for being silly. This little dog has changed my perspective on a lot of things. I will no longer complain about how you stink, look grey instead of white from rolling around on the grey carpet, or accuse you of having fleas because you like to scratch and bite/ tug your butt a lot. No more little hand to hold either Don’t lose any more teeth! Take care.

Wisdom teeth

I am also planning to get my wisdom tooth removed soon.

I’ve been bothered by this wisdom tooth for about 2 years. My previous dentist was waiting for it to come out more so that he could remove it for me… but it’s giving me way too much trouble I don’t think I can continue living with it. As far as I’m concerned, about half of that tooth is lodged in my cheek and not in my gums.

The day of truth will be in the second week of September. I will trust the surgeon that it takes about a week to recover, because I need to attend my friend’s wedding at the end of the month. DNW to turn up swollen and beaten. Fingers crossed!

Random did you know – did you know that a wisdom tooth can kill you? If you didn’t, now you know.

And the winner is Winner

In any case, August has been all about Winner! I watched Who is Next and Winner TV and just waited. It’s been like a year since they were promised to debut “immediately”! Well, I’m glad and happy since I haven’t been into music for quite a while.

Other random comments

I need to lodge my tax. Next post will be an epic essay (maybe) if I choose to publish it. I really need a holiday/ break – if someone wants to go away in November to like Fiji or somewhere similar, LET ME KNOW I WILL PACK MY BAGS AND GO WITH YOU.

Busy July

I know, it’s August, but I completely missed the timing because I kept forgetting it was a Friday. I only remembered probably at 10pm on Friday night when I realised the next day was Saturday, so I apologise for the lack of updates. At the same time I’m not sorry because my life has been so terribly boring that I cannot possibly bear to put you all through yet another wtf post on meaningless nothings.

I previously wrote that I wouldn’t let work get to me, but as of late since we have been so busy, all I’ve been wanting to do on my days off is just sleep in and catch up on all the shows I’ve missed throughout the week. I’ve been fairly exhausted staring at a computer screen for 9 hours a day (and more since I do so when I am at home), and occasionally doing some moving around and carrying things that can be up to 10kg. The other day we were pasting on large scale posters I designed onto the shop front, which left my delts super sore since I was holding a (wet) broom [wet brooms are heavy] trying to remove/ scrub off some nasty posters people stuck on the glass before we were able to stick the posters on. And here I was dreaming of painting my entire apartment by myself… lol… my poor delts… maybe next year.

I just realised there’s graffiti. I don’t really ever understand why people do it… waste of paint/ money, bad for the environment… all those CFCs and all.

Although it is not the first time my graphic work has been published before, it was the first time it has been printed in such a large format for commercial use (ie. someone is actually willing to print stuff I have made, and not me printing my own A0 boards). My boss came up with the idea, but I did the graphics (I didn’t draw those from scratch of course, but someone’s got to edit and put things together). Previously I was doing the architectural drawings, which was something I didn’t think I’d ever need to touch again. It was good though, because I still had it. I’VE STILL GOT IT.

Now excuse me while I go disappear a bit more… next week I need to make 2.5m squared banners… 10 of them 20 of them! It’s going to be a busy week. Or two. I may possibly weep. Just a lil’.

I’m starting to feel the stress from work, so I need a bit of time to remove myself from it mentally. There really is no need to let anything apart from what is the most important to yourself (ie. yourself and family – includes friends) get to you.

The most relaxing highlights of July included having a hearty meal which I briefly mentioned last time with a friend who is due to get married in less than 2 months’ time. I’m going to exercise hard until then O_O I also went and had my once a quarter frequency haircut, but since I am trying to grow it out I only asked for a trim. Thank goodness though, it’s now not tangled unlike before, so hopefully I will be able to style it well on the wedding day. I’ve been trying to look up wedding (guest) outfits and I bought a dress for it. Unfortunately it makes me look fat and is too short to be appropriate for the day. I tried to wear it as a top but the back has a zipper that keeps sticking out and it looks terribly funny. Sigh. I may possibly be back at square one… I am still trying to figure out what to wear, but at the same time, I really don’t want to buy clothes just for the occasion, because I know that I won’t wear it all that often in the near future. It also means I have just wasted my money buying that dress, which seemed like a good idea at first… maybe if I dropped like 10kg though. Not possible, considering the most I can do is about 8kg, and that’s only from being super depressed.

I’m losing weight naturally but in places I wish I could keep. My jeans used to fit nicely, but now they feel loose and saggy. Is it possible to lose butt fat/ water that much?? I thought that since my pants were loose I purchased a pair one size down… and couldn’t zip at all. My legs felt like they were going to explode in them (or rather the jeans were probably going to explode off my legs). Makes me wonder how some people are so thin. I mean of course it’s possible and all, but for me I simply cannot imagine.

Photograph post-haircut; usually it does not look this light, but lighting ftw! I was probably wearing really thickly drawn eyeliner and had maybe 5 coats of mascara on that day. All useless when you use a low resolution camera and have fat eyelids like I do – and inner eyelids at that; at least with single eyelids you can see the eyeliner… I actually need to blink for it to make any difference. On a side note, my hair has grown so much considering it was pretty short before.

I’ve been a bit obsessed with this primary blue colour lately, but it’s a great change from my all black outfits which are not only boring, but occupy over half of my wardrobe space. Black is just such a safe “colour”, but I’ve been forcing myself to wear something bright since it can also put you into a better mood – or at least, I think so!

I’ve still got a bunch of posts on my mind to write, but I just haven’t really figured how to go about it.

I’ve been watching a fair few dramas lately, but the one I’m addicted to is Marriage not Dating, simply because all the characters are so quirky. Fated to Love You was also alright since it was all funny and couldn’t be taken seriously, but now that it’s hit like episode 10 everything goes whack – which goes for Trot Lovers as well. Apart from that there’s not much I’m really watching though Gunman in Joseon seems pretty good. I can’t handle too much action and suspense though, I like to watch things that are simple (unless I have nothing else on my mind). Looking forward to TVN’s Mermaid though.

I’ve already given in and joined the Jo In Sung is swoon-worthy bandwagon. Despite his facial hair growing super fast even under all that corrective makeup he looks so good on screen. How can some people be so photogenic? Please give me some of whatever that is.

Also, 1 Night 2 Days season 3 is going places I really like. I’m glad I picked it up again and from now on I promise myself not to watch variety shows in Chinese subtitles because the translations are so awful and don’t make sense it actually impedes on the viewing experience. I may also give up Running Man… it’s going in a direction that is not progressing.

I also watch  the occasional J-drama if I am interested enough, and decided to go with Platonic since Domoto Tsuyoshi is a fairly good actor and I had a good impression of him since Summer Snow. His performance didn’t disappoint… the drama was so twisted and the whole thing was just so sad. Nakayama Miho’s eyes are still so freaking huge and she has aged (nicely) since Love Letter. If you like to watch tragedies, then this is for you. His portrayal of his character was spot on… and to think that even at the end of the drama, nobody ever called his name or even mentioned what his name was. Absolute tearjerker.

That pretty much marks my crappy July. Oh, and we have new neighbours on this floor, and they don’t seem so nice because they are leaving all their cardboard boxes in the garbage chute room. Take down your own cardboard boxes and rubbish! If the rubbish doesn’t fit down the chute, you must take it down yourself! Such laziness really is astounding. Then again I know of people who are even lazier than that – I think that laziness is alright in regards to some things, but when it’s associated with common sense, righteousness or what you are assigned to do, then no excuses!

Until next post 🙂

Work Philosophy: when reality does not meet expectations

I think that this post will be beneficial for many of you out there who are unsure about your jobs, or don’t really know what to do when a job does not give you what you want or expect. Don’t be scared of all this text. I’ll try to make it as easy to read as possible. But just a warning, it is an essay. A 3000 word one, too.

Everyone has expectations when working: hours worked, the quality of the workplace environment, stress levels (directly proportional to workload), where to sit in management hierarchy and a very major part – pay.

Let’s all be realistic, unless you are working that dream job where none of those factors I have mentioned are a problem (in this case you wouldn’t be reading this), you must step back for a moment and ask yourself: “what are my goals? What goal is next? What have I achieved? What have I done to achieve it? Could I be working harder?”.

A lot of work problems are generally solved when you actually question yourself if there is a problem with you or with your workplace. As much as I would like to side with you and say that every employer on earth is evil (to some extent – and that is, on the condition that you are an employee), sadly, a lot of employees really haven’t done anything substantial to deserve the extras they want. On the other hand, employers must really question themselves as well – “how much do I value my employee? What can I do to ensure they are happy to produce the best for me? What rewards can I offer to keep them working here? Do I need to review them?”.

Not every feedback is positive, but not every feedback is negative either. I have known friends who have searched for the perfect job and waited months or years before landing the job they feel they will stay in for a long time. I also know friends who are more than comfortable switching jobs when they feel that it is time for a change.

Let’s put things into context

Statistically, women are less likely to quit their jobs and find new jobs. I am definitely one of them. I have a lot of insecurities about myself although people would tend to describe me as someone with many abilities. I am single, don’t have rent or mortgage to pay (though I do need to pay bills, strata fees and keep myself and my friends happy), and I am solely responsible for being the breadwinner in the family as my mum is not really fit for working.

I don’t have bad habits such as drinking, smoking, gambling or anything that requires periodic spending and I don’t own a car so there is no need for petrol or registration either (though my mum has one, and well, okay it’s sort of mine as well though I don’t drive it – and I need to pay for that). I have taxes to pay and I pay 2x health insurance premiums. Everything is double on a single income for me. I pride in having a substantial amount of savings for those emergencies, and I have never really lived with the absence of money. I don’t need to save up for the things I want, but I do so anyway as a habit.

On top of a full time job I have a casual job on the side which easily covers groceries or transport, provided I do it at least twice a week, but that means extra hours on top.

In a summary, my lifestyle is quite comfortable, not overly abundant, yet not lacking much. I am a paranoid person at heart – things really need to be the way they should be for me to feel comfortable about things.

The good: a stable full time job, solid work ethics

My previous job offered me the “security” of a stable job. I had continual career advancement, hit my peak, took on a whole heap of responsibilities and basically somehow managed to do the workload of approximately 2.5 people at once, with the responsibilities of perhaps 5 in 1. By no means was the job originally that demanding. I don’t think it was ever meant to be that demanding. There was a lot of stress involved because being stuck in the middle is the most difficult position to be in. It’s hard to coordinate between different opinions, and I was not used to having extra people twisting your words and telling them to other people in a way that made you feel and look bad.

I believe that I am one of the most honest people I know. Of course I tell white lies and do stupid things, I am human. But when it comes to work, I take any work seriously. There are no lies involved in work. No nasty surprises, no drama – this is my work philosophy. I never come late to work unless there is an emergency (emergency does not include “the alarm didn’t go off” or “I missed the bus” – there are NOT emergencies, only you have yourself to blame for not being earlier!) or a genuine mishap, and I always own up to my mistakes if I make any. I am responsible and I fix my mistakes to make things right.

I’m terrible at communicating things, but I do it anyway because it is my job to do so. I try my best. I really do. I try to set myself as a good example to others, and I also set myself to complete all tasks as soon as possible. I rarely take breaks, and I rarely procrastinate on the job or describe myself as “idle”.

The bad: work overload, obsessive compulsiveness and stress

Because I take my work so seriously, I was always tired, thinking about work and remembering all sorts of work details that really shouldn’t be on my mind all the time. I had an irregular lifestyle and my meals were messed up. I would eat lunch at about 12:30, get home past 7:30pm (sometimes past 8:30pm, latest being almost 9pm) without any meals or snacks in between. Add in another job, I would sometimes return home past 10pm. The latest I have ever tried was returning at midnight after 3 hours’ of my second job.

During the long course of the day I would have on average about 3 toilet breaks which is probably less than what many office workers have (given the amount of coffee consumption involved). I lacked Vitamin D, in a severe way – not even near a mild deficiency. I was always grumpy, miserable, and I no longer wanted to talk to people or see people in my spare time. I would try to stay in my room as much as possible and retreated from the outside world.

When I would think about how hard I believe I worked and thought about my life and what I was getting, I would feel sad. If I thought of something unhappy during the course of the day, I would be depressed. This was not normal. Work should not affect your daily life like this. To have work stress you out to the point that you can’t control your feelings and end up an emotional mess is not normal at all.

I thought about myself and work for a very long time. I came to the conclusion that I did have my flaws, but I was almost 95% positive that the work I have done was more than enough to cover for those. I wasn’t sure if I expect to have more at this rate. But I knew that I wasn’t able to give any more effort, because I was really at my limit, if it meant that giving that extra effort to receive that extra “more”. Here is a graph I drew to explain what those last two messy sentences meant:

Generally you are always working more than what you are paid (if you are a diligent worker). At least the graph sort of shows what I think or feel at the very least. There is a point when the amount of effort or labour hits a point that you cannot exceed (which is where the curve starts to flatten). This can be due to a variety of factors – probably one being that you know you aren’t ever going to get pay to match your effect. Another could be that the workload you get only increases, doesn’t stabilise, and doesn’t decrease as it is not distributed to other people.

In Misa’s ideal world, this is what the graph should look like:

Regardless of what those two lines look, they should be somewhat closely knit. In fact, there should only really be one line. This is the type of “justice” I stand for. I believe that hard work has rewards, and that little work you fully deserve to get your ass (verbally) whipped. It’s only fair in this world. I know that this pretty much means that you can’t turn into a wealthy person overnight and you get laughed at by people to “get paid to sit and do nothing”, but I actually prefer to work hard and get paid, even if it’s not much. Perhaps it’s because I’m humble in that respect.

What do we seek in a job?

Sometimes, and in fact, most of the time it’s not about how much you are paid. It’s about being appreciated, that person that people rely on. That someone people can say “thankfully I had you, or else I wouldn’t have been able to do it!” to. I thought I was that kind of person, but I guess not. Working, sometimes, is simply a transaction. You supply the goods (in this instance, labour) and you get paid. Don’t like the pay? Don’t do the job. I think that was one of my biggest downfalls – mixing in personal attachment and emotions with my work, which is not recommended. At least in hindsight, I do not recommend it to anyone.

Why rage/quit?

To be honest, I was getting sick of people asking me when I was going to quit my job. I didn’t have any problems with my job but people made it out like either I was too good for it or I should do something else better. I don’t necessarily see changing workplaces as a level up or accomplishment as long as you are happy with what you are doing. That was the way I felt, and I didn’t let people pressure me into staying or leaving. I merely focused on myself, from a very objective point of view.

Most people thought that when I resigned from my job it was a sudden decision. It wasn’t. I did not rage/quit my job. I don’t think anyone should do this, because it puts you in super awkward situations. Leaving my job was something I contemplated over carefully over a course of 6 months. I wrote my first resignation about 4 months in, but didn’t hand it in.

When one door closes, another opens

I tried a variety of things – I went for interviews, two weren’t very formal, one was. All three interviews were positive and all three parties expressed an interest in hiring me.

When work makes you depressed for a period of about a year or so, the response from these interviews to me was overwhelming. The confidence I lost in myself came back slowly to me, and I was willing to try new things. I was no longer afraid to meet or see new people or people in general. This was because these potential employers had confidence in me, which is something I value greatly and think is a major drive. I was too used to all this negative air, and admittedly had a pretty bad string of events happening to me. This was really the rainbow after rain.

But things didn’t end there; at least three other parties encouraged or expressed an interest in hiring me as well. In total, six. This was over a span of just 6 months, with very spontaneous and limited submission of my resumé. Of course there were those who never replied, but the mere fact that I got people replying was something I appreciated greatly. In fact, I still got one even after changing my work profile to “not interested” and restricted access to my information. So, seven.

It wasn’t the fact that I felt that nobody wanted me to work for them or didn’t value me, suddenly I was just overwhelmed with choice. For the first time in years, I could actually choose what I wanted to do next. And this is new. Once again, I am terrible at making decisions because I don’t know how to choose. I eventually settled for something that was slightly more dynamic and provided a bit more flexibility, yet familiar.

Slight digression, for those who complain about their jobs

To people who complain about hating going to work and making work sound like a chore that you hate, I have a message for you. I was like you. I was one of you. But after a long sequence of events, lots of emotional turmoil, breakdown, frustration and contemplation, what I have to say is just stop complaining. Don’t like your job? Change it. Counting down the minutes or dreading the job before you even set your foot outside your door? You aren’t even thankful for your job, so maybe you should just find something you are thankful for, and give your “terrible” job to someone else who will value it. There’s no use in complaining about how much work sucks if that’s all you’re going to be talking about. Nobody likes negativity, and it took me a very long time, and the hard way to realise this.

For those who are scared of quitting their job and looking for a new one, please don’t think that I am telling you all to go out there and let loose. I’m not here to stop you from earning money by telling everyone to turn themselves unemployed. I’m just here to let you know that, hey, there is another world out there. There are so many opportunities. If you are not enjoying your job, try something new and see if things change for you. Because for me, things certainly did, and things aren’t so bad.

If you’re scared, like I was, and rather the security of working a job that made you unhappy and depressed but enjoyed having steady income, there’s nothing wrong in that either, provided you did the best you could while you were on the job. You need to be thankful to have a job. That’s the only way you can get any reward or satisfaction out of it. There’s no point in having the job make you unhappy and let it affect your work performance. You need to bear with it and do what your job pays you to do. If that’s not possible, it’s maybe time for a change.

Life-changing? It certainly can be

Now I am currently working an incredible 7 hours less than my previous job a week. I can do everything I want to do, and I finally have “time” for those things that I never seemed to have time for before. I have plenty of time for my second “job” which is the odd tutoring 1-3 times a week depending on when I need to go, and I am actually in control of my life. I don’t have work controlling my life now. It’s a very different feeling, and I feel liberated and my stress levels have really gone down a lot. I’m a lot brighter and positive these days, and I am actually enjoying life now.

To many, changing jobs might seem to be something small and something people do every day. It is indeed something we all do every day. But we must not take these choices and opportunities for granted, because greed might lead to downfall (and I have seen this before when someone put all their eggs in one basket and ended up with nothing). To me, it was an important decision, and I ended up improving the quality of my life – in my own perspective, anyway.

Tips for finding a job

• Update your resumé often so that when you see a job that makes you go “I must apply!” you do it straight away. Sometimes it’s an impulsive thing. Don’t wait, your chance is there, so apply for it. This landed me an interview and pass to the second round, but I accepted another offer. A chance is a chance, and any chance is precious. Don’t waste it, don’t throw it away, keep it because it can possibly be the determining factor for the next few years of your life and career.
• Sign yourself up for automated emails. Some people (including me) really dread sifting through pages of new ads every single day. Unless you have lots of time to do so each day, most likely the norm is to only do it once every few days or even just once a week. By then, all the good jobs would have received plenty of submissions, and when you submit yours, you will be on the bottom of the pile. Set up automated emails once a day so you can check your mail in the morning. See something that catches your eye? Click on it. Don’t see anything? At least you have an email reminder telling you to go check the new job ads today.
• Ask your friends. More often than not, your friends actually might be able to offer you something. It sounds strange, but 2 out of 6 jobs I was considering were from friends. In fact, the one I am working at now was via a friend.
• Be mature, don’t be too positive, but don’t be negative either. Prepare yourself for the worst, but also hope for the best. There is no definite when it comes to job-hunting.

To those who made it to the end and read every single word, I sincerely congratulate you. This post took over 30 revisions typed bit by bit after the course of a week or so, and it was a post that I wrote sincerely from the heart. I hope that for everyone to find happiness in what they are doing, and to go find that happiness if it does not exist currently. I am looking forward to working at my current place for at least the next year or so, and I hope that I will do a good job. I would like to say that a lot of the good things happening are partly due to my contributions, with sales raising over 150%. I want to consider myself as someone useful, productive, and valuable and I will work hard for that. Thank you for reading, and I will see you next blog!

Interlude (text only) post

HI EVERYONE!

A lot has been happening these past two weeks or so. Although you may have noticed the odd blog post from me, all of those were scheduled in advance. I left myself a little bit of time in between those posts for me to actually type up a post like this (every now and then), but my time is quite restricted!

This is what has happened in the past two weeks, and well, All I can say is that I am thankful I was never a starving artist.

Signed a contract to work permanently

So things do happen. I cancelled my interview to a very exclusive, high end luxury boutique (second round too!) because I am quite the strange person. I would rather work harder in a smaller company to see what I can bring, rather to work somewhere already established. Nevertheless, I thank the manager for their time and attention in my first round interview, which went down positively. I am now working full time and doing what I like to do. It may not be perfect, but to me it is an improvement as I feel that it offers me the things I value most – one being fairness. It sounds strange in a way, but I use this word to describe a lot of workplace situations, and it was not quite one I could describe my previous job.

All in all, I am happy now and that is all that matters. Because my working hours are slightly shorter than before, I feel that I have a lot more time to do the things I enjoy. For now I am actually living a life with a job, not living a job with a life.

I will definitely be writing a post later in the upcoming weeks/ months about finding a job. I think that it will provide some insight for some, because my situation was a bit complicated.

Overhauled my home network and made a surprisingly big improvement

I am not the most tech savvy person out there. I might be good with using particular programs and some functions, or I can find ways to do things in a cheat way, but usually if things are the way they are and I find them difficult, I usually don’t bother much.

One thing that has been bothering me for the past year or so was my Internet connection. I have had this connection for over 10 years now and never really experienced anything terrible until the past year. One main theory of mine was that the modem was simply too old and could no longer handle the Internet speeds as it was not designed for fast Internet. Although my Internet speed was still good with no real problems, the dropping signal was the main concern – you are doing something or watching a video online and then suddenly you need to refresh since your connection died. I have never seen the Google Chrome dinosaur so many times, ever. And the worst part is that my connection is connected to my computer directly using a cable, so no real excuses there (unless the problem is with the cable, which actually, I have never considered. OH WELL.)

Another concern I had was with my mobile phone. My included monthly cellular data is very little and I constantly miss out on messages people send me, since I don’t keep it on all the time. I have no wi-fi to connect to. Technology these days is so advanced that media players no longer need to store things on them to play things, you can simply wi-fi and stream movies direct off the net. Call me old fashioned, but I don’t really have that much of an interest in these things.

After considering my options after a while, I decided that I needed to change my modem to a wireless one, and made the decision to go buy it. The instructions online seemed easy enough, and I went for something that was recommended, cheap, and reliable.

For those who have an Optus ADSL2+ connection, and you’re still using that crappy supplied modem from yonks ago, I suggest it’s time to actually change it. Although I couldn’t say it was terribly easy (it took me longer than expected, but that’s because I unexpectedly had to reset the modem, even though it was new out of the box?), it was easy enough. It takes like 30 minutes max. If you do everything correctly in one go, it’ll take you like, maximum 10 minutes. That’s all there is to it. The modem I purchased was a Billion 7700N and it only cost me $53 which is so unbelievably cheap as there are modems out there for like $200. Use the included thing to separate your phone and ADSL line (I didn’t at first, but I did eventually). Do reset the modem so that the Internet light turns on. Put in your username and password and then set your connection to be secured and give it a password. No need to use the CD to do all this. It’s really simple.

I am now typing this post up from my laptop, which is something I pretty much never do. All of my internet/wi-fi enabled devices are connected up to the Internet and the connection speed as well as signal is a dream. No more ugly cables around the place – there used to be this 20m long adsl cable from the living room to my bedroom. Now that is gone, it looks like the corridor is as wide as Moses parting the red sea, and not war zone district 5.  I know I am sounding live a cavewoman because I am so giddy about a wi-fi connection, but seriously, I always took it for granted as something you have in a public space to be shared by zillions of people, not in an apartment with only one person who knows how to operate a computer.

Anyway, do it. I am over the moon over something small, but it’s more worthwhile that way because I can at least appreciate what I have. I think sometimes you take things too granted like “BUT I PAID THIS MONTH’S INTERNET BILL WHY DOES IT KEEP DROPPING OUT”. Instead, maybe we should all take a step back and think, “I am blessed to even have an Internet connection”. Sometimes it’s just worth contemplating about.

I also purchased a new media player because the old one kept acting up. Only this time it is a huge empty box with the option to add in a 3.5″ SATA harddrive. And yes, I did buy one eventually and installed it. Figured out how to format the thing, but I must say, if you use a cheap media player don’t format it GPT. Your machine won’t recognise it and your efforts will go to waste. You’ll just have a huge storage unit, but your machine won’t be able to read the files on it. So stupid – wish I knew so I wouldn’t have gone to all the trouble.

The good thing, of course, is that now I will have a 2TB drive with everything on it. No more external USB harddrives – just one unit with everything.

So, technology! The joys and frustrations it can bring.

Went to my first ever concert and dreams do come true

A few years back, JJ Lin came to Melbourne for a concert. In fact, I wrote about it here.

If memory serves me correctly, I was still studying and possibly had an assignment to hand in. Either way, it was not a feasible option for me to fly down to Melbourne for the night to watch the concert as I would have to stay overnight and return the next day. Something like that.

There are only a select number of artists I would like to go see live, and JJ was one of them. Pretty much I could remember listening to his music since I was like, 17. Finally he came to Sydney. An ex-colleague of mine who also likes his music called me up, and I booked tickets online. I went to collect the tickets once available and was pleased to see a heap of tickets already purchased by other fans. The venue was shut down to a smaller size, but it was originally limited in that respect. Our seats were not too far from the stage, and the sound was super clear and good.

Due to a string of happenings, I ended up going with another ex-colleague, so we caught up over a simple and quick dinner after work and made our way to the venue.

For copyright and other reasons, there are no photographs here. If you are interested, simply visit JJ Federation on Facebook or whatever and there are some shots from the night.

I was only really getting into the concert about 1.5 hours in, and could only wish it was longer. He sang mostly his more recent songs with only a handful of older songs, but the highlight was definitely the last song, 江南(Jiang nan) which was his debut song. He definitely has a funny sense of humour and was like, “this is the original Jiangnan style!” (Note that Gangnam is actually the same as Jiangnan).

Anyway, his dimples D: But anyway, he sounded better live than on the track to be honest. He showed his charms by playing guitar, piano, dancing and even doing his own rendition of Michael Jackson and Savage Garden.

To end, thank you JJ Lin for a good concert. It was my first and it will be memorable. You also seem like a really cool guy, wish I had more friends like you!

Other things to anticipate

Alright, yes, more reviews. I am also trying to improve my photography set up – I have a bunch of equipment, I just need to actually set it up and use it when I have something to photograph. I am still working a casual/ part time job on top of my full time job. I spend about 4 hours every other week to make kimchi. Only things I still have on my agenda will be to take better care of my finances, plan a trip to the hairdressers soon (and dentist – and doctor for a check up) and to reintroduce exercise as a regular routine. I have no trouble watching The Human Condition on KBSWorld though. I must question my priorities.

Though although I have been saying it often, watching that program has really transformed me bit by bit. I was taken back by the no chemical products, reading and waste related segments.

Sorry for the long text, but there was just a lot! Follow my Instagram on the right side bar or Twitter for real-time photographs if you can’t be bothered reading what I have to write.

My next post is scheduled for Wednesday, May 14th. It will be about the Clarisonic Mia2. Happy Mothers’ Day!

Diorskin Forever Foundation Compact

HELLO. IT HAS BEEN A WHILE.

I’ve been enjoying my new life out of work a little too much. I’ve been occupying myself by doing things I enjoy, such as a lazy movie in the afternoon, actually getting things done (reading, making stupid payments otherwise known as insurance and tax) and abusing the most I can out of a MyMulti1 ticket by venturing out to the city one day per weekend just to buy another MyMulti1 ticket (for those who don’t know what this is, this is a ticket that enables you limited train travel depending on distance, but unlimited bus and tram travel. I live bus distance away from the city).

But just to clarify, I’m not unemployed. I am still working 5 days a week, just not at my old workplace. My new (but not yet permanent) workplace is a lot laid back, and I have plenty to keep myself occupied with.

This is my friend’s dog, who I see at work. She is a cutie, but can be vicious to strangers lol. She barked a lot at me the first time she saw me, but now she chases her tail when she says hello in the mornings. I personally do not have much experience with pets or animals in general, so this is the first time I’ve had this much exposure to a household pet. Call me noob or whatever, but that’s just the way it is.

Also probably for the first time I can recognise that owning a pet has therapeutic qualities. You can de-stress and you can also have fun. Despite her not being my dog, I do feel happy when I see her around, so pets can have that kind of effect on you.

Anyway, that aside I know I’ve been lazy and all so here’s just a quick review – I’m pretty short on material because I want to use the Clarisonic for at least 3 months before reviewing it. There are other things I can write about as well, but it’s all the same – I want to use it a bit longer before I make up my mind!

I get a Dior shopping bag. YAY!

I have a friend who works for Dior cosmetics. I have recently swapped from BB cream to powder/foundation because I couldn’t stand how oily I became by the end of the day. I also could no longer see anything particularly amazing about BB cream in terms of effects on my skin. I saw no whitening effect and I was still breaking out and looked like an oily fry pan.

I was using a Biotherm compact for the past few months – a bit pale, however it did alright. It wasn’t very good with coverage, but it did keep me somewhat matte and I was not too terribly oily as it was to an extent that I could accept.

Well, using a compact means that you need to either refill or buy another. In this instance I chose to buy another because I wasn’t really happy with the Biotherm texture… it was a bit cakey and the coverage as I mentioned early, was pretty average. I wasn’t sure if the colour matched my skin either, so I decided to trek a short distance where my friend worked. I can’t say where, but it is one of the major department stores.

There are two types of Dior foundation – one being NUDE (light coverage – about 2/5) and the other being FOREVER (better coverage – about 3/5). I went for FOREVER as it has better coverage which is what I want in a compact. I was going to buy the NUDE in loose powder but they were out of stock. I really wanted to try the colour first before buying because it was something I never actually did. Every foundation or BB cream I bought was either too light, too dark and was generally a surprise. Sometimes you just really need to buy in person because that’s included in the price.

There are only 3 colours available – 1 2 and 3 and all three come in two tones, pink and yellow.

I was given colour 2 as apparently 1 would be too light for me. I said that I wanted something to match my actual skin rather something lighter. I was also given the choice to choose between a pink or a yellow tone as I could suit both types – my friend recommended that pink tone as it looked more natural and the yellow seemed a bit too yellow and flat. This is ultimately up to you to choose, but as I usually skip blush and I do redden quite easily, pink actually does suit me a bit more as it seems a bit rosy and gives me a good complexion. Yellow made me look a bit sallow.

The compact comes in a velvet sleeve which is like a dust cover and will prevent your compact from getting scratched. Everything is consistent with the gold and navy packaging of Dior cosmetics even back when it was still Christian Dior.

There is a mirror and a sponge included. The sponge has two different textures – one being more of a fluffy fabric and the other being purely sponge. I use the fluffy side to get a silkier application. I assume the sponge side will give you a matter finish.

At first I was a bit hesitant after purchasing this because it is a lot darker than the Biotherm foundation I originally had. However, once I used the powder on my face, it really was the same colour as my skin tone because I couldn’t really tell where I applied powder. The coverage is also pretty good – maybe two applications over a blemish or pimple pretty much hides it without the use of a concealer, so that was very convenient. Don’t you hate it when you pack on powder to cover up something just to have it look cakey?! Well, this wasn’t the case, a thin application still did the job. I did get a bit oily by the end of the day, but it wasn’t too bad either. Probably you will need to touch up, but the coverage was better than the Biotherm, which I really needed to pack on for the powder to last me all day.

Apparently to change the powder it is quite easy and from what I am guessing you only need to snap it in, unlike some brands which glue in with a pre-stickied back. Well, I don’t know until I actually need to change the refill, but so far although the colour is a bit dark compared to what I’m used to, it is the correct colour and I will live with it. The best thing is that it looks natural, which is what I am after.

My friend also went a bit overboard and was generous to give me various samples to try. THANK YOU!

The Dior compact foundations retail at $92AUD each (for both NUDE and FOREVER), with the refills being $60ish each.

Challenge: Reading in Daily Life

So recently I stopped updating for a while. Oops!

A lot of things have been happening lately. The most significant thing being that I turned in my letter of resignation a few weeks ago, so now I’m just trying to piece together my life and figuring out what I want to do next. It was a bold decision, but it was something on my mind that I was thinking about for a very long time. I was always uncomfortable with the idea of having an unsteady flow of income and waking up without knowing what I had to do during the day. However, things seemed to work out better than expected on my part and the extra time I have is somewhat rewarding.

Through this experience I have truly learned the importance of time and I have decided not to waste time as much as possible. I would usually get irritated if I get stuck in traffic or spend forever waiting for a bus to take me home after work, but I guess the main point is that I get irritated not because it’s an inconvenience, but rather it’s a waste of time. To combat this issue, I have decided to preoccupy my “wasted time” to something much more productive that takes my mind off the concept of time.

I’ve written in previous posts about watching The Human Condition, which is a South-Korean variety show aired on KBS World. I find the show interesting because they challenge and question the meaning of life and test the limits of a modern person when given certain conditions they need to adhere to.

One of the missions that I felt I identified strongly with was the reading in daily life mission, as it has been a very long time since I sat down to read a book. I haven’t given myself the chance to sit down and concentrate on a book, mostly because I need the time to go and do exercise (which I have neglected, and now I am fat).

My favourite site to buy books is still bookdepository dot com (link is on the right hand side menu) as they offer free shipping worldwide. So far I’ve received everything I’ve ordered, but just be a bit careful because once I pulled out a book I ordered from the mailbox above ours (!!!) so yeah, things can happen.

The Little Prince was one of the books that I keep hearing about and was a book one of the members read for the challenge. They didn’t really say much about the contents of the book, but it was one of those books that you need to read once in a while to understand what it is. Even so, the interpretation of this novel will forever change depending on where you are in life.

It’s important to buy unabridged versions, or else there is no point in reading.

When I received this, it took me about 30-40 minutes to finish it. It’s a very thin and short book, but it felt good to read after so long, and it made me think about various things. The most striking/ memorable part of the book was when the little prince first met the businessman who was busy counting stars and took pride in the number of stars as he believed it made him rich. Despite the stars being simply a number on paper, the businessman still continued to collect more in order to obtain more. What do I value and why do I value it? Is it because it is mine, or because I make it mine? Or is it simply because of a sentimental attachment? Or is it the quantity? I think these questions are valid and every day there should be an effort made to contemplate about possible answers which say something about yourself as a person.

I also ordered these two- 1Q84 volumes 1,2 and 3, as well as The Dream of the Red Chamber, which was to continue with the “you need to read this once in a while” theme. I was thrown in 2 bookmarks, and for good reason – 1Q84 is about 1300 pages long, and the other almost 1000 pages. I have a feeling this is going to take a while to read.

Now, another thing to think about is should we buy books or should we borrow books? This is a question entirely up to you to answer. I buy books because I find that I will most likely read them (since I paid for them, I will read them), and I have no habit of visiting the library. For all three books I paid about $55 which is a really good deal considering the length and quality of the texts. $55 is the price of a really fancy dictionary or less than 3 Japanese magazines at marked up prices. All in all, I think it’s not bad and I will definitely take a long while reading.

Here are the episodes of the daily reading mission, which I really enjoyed. I also enjoyed the living without water episode.

The past week I have been sitting on very long bus rides to pretty much the middle of nowhere. One time I sat on the bus for an incredible 1 hour and 40 minutes due to heavy traffic. Usually at times like this I would listen to music, but even so there is a limit to how much you can listen to before you get agitated and wonder when you will reach your destination. Luckily these days I carry the 1Q84 novel wherever I go, and it was very handy for that long bus trip. I think I read about 150 pages just on that single bus ride. After starting the book for about 5 days, I’m now 3/4s way though. I’m currently on page 943 out of a total of over 1300 pages. Not bad. At this rate I can probably finish the novel tomorrow or the day after.

I’ve got other stuff to write about seeing that I did do a lot the past few weeks. I will need to find time again to write about those things, since I’ve taken time out to read and do the occasional exercise. I’m also paying more attention to my skin, especially the skin that is not just my face. I’ve always neglected my dry skin so I’m taking time to moisturise.

I’m also excited to announce that I have officially bought my first ever concert ticket. It sounds crazy that I have never been to a concert before (performances I have been to, but not concerts!) and I’m struggling to make sense of the idea myself. I’m looking forward to picking up the tickets later on. I will write more about that next time, for now, I need to rest as it is past midnight and I have a lot to do in the next few hours to come after I wake up.

Hope everyone is doing well, and if you have a habit of reading please do let me know. If you have any book recommendations, also let me know. I plan to buy Norwegian Wood next.

Will be back soon.

V is for Valentino Va Va Voom

Just a week ago I posted up my updated wishlist. I had my feels all over the place because I didn’t really know if I really needed the bag and would be afraid it would be one of those regret purchases, but I don’t think I have made the wrong decision. When I tried it on I thought to myself that I really do prefer this bag over the Chanel classic flap that everyone is wearing. If only I had more money I would collect all the different colours this comes in, because it’s a really wearable piece and its simplicity completely won me over.

It was a Friday night after a super long day at work. Yes, Valentines Day. We had a monster day (pretty much didn’t sit the whole day) and walked up to David Jones (which was like a 15 minute walk, so so far on weakened legs). At first I didn’t have plans to buy the bag, we just went straight to Clarisonic (which I will review shortly) and had a browse around. Then about 40 minutes later my colleagues were like “let’s have you try on the Va Va Voom, just try it and see”. Then it was like “since you’re here, you might as well”. And yes, I give in pretty easily when it comes to situations like this, and just thought, “okay yeah, why not”.

Probably the first thing to note is that this bag does not come with a box. It has been ages since buying a bag that doesn’t come in a box, but because this is small it doesn’t really matter that much. The thing to note though is how you store this bag. I pretty much had the sales assistant take out every single bag they had in stock so I could choose which one I wanted as the bag is a rather delicate calf skin. At times like this, I suddenly remember why I like older skins because they tend to be thicker and more resistant to scratches. A lot of the scratches or mini dents are mainly because they didn’t store the bags so well (eg. placing one bag on top of another one with the studs in contact with another bag’s leather), but a few marks were just natural due to the nature of the leather.

The texture of the bag feels pretty nice, but I will need to be a bit careful with it as I have a feeling it will be fairly scratch prone.

The sales assistant who served me was very patient was really nice as I was super annoying and wouldn’t accept the one they had in the drawer (not the display cabinet, but storage) and went down to the basement to get me two more to choose from. I give her props because she must have had a pretty long day at work.

At the moment I am storing my bag as it is below, with the chain tucked inside to prevent the chain denting or scratching the bag. What happens inside or on the edge of the bag doesn’t matter, but the front and back does. At least I think so, anyway.

The Va Va Voom (now referred to as VVV) has a handle grip as a design element and a practical handle if you decide to go ahead with it as a clutch. For some, you can also slip your hand in when you are wearing your VVV as a side bag, you can still slip your hand in to embellish your hand if you don’t have any rings on. I think it’s a very comfortable grip and it is not only aesthetically pleasant, it is ergonomically well done. I’m a real sucker for things that are at 90 degree angles, a strange liking I developed from studying at university.

The VVV has two large compartments and one small compartment (where the card is inserted) for smaller items. There is also a red Valentino label on that small compartment and the interior is lined in black twill.

The chain is removable by matching the two openings together and then pulling them apart. It took me a few minutes to realise it, but these ends of the chains only go in or out one particular direction when removing or attaching the chain to the bag, so it’s fairly secure.I love how everything is kept simple and the density of the chain strap is just right so it isn’t boring and doesn’t look like the chain from any other designer.

There is a stamp on the pale gold hardware that the chain hangs from, which is subtle and not in your face. After I took this photo I promptly restuck on my blue plastic which originally came with the bag as I’m not ready to peel my stickers just yet lol.

The VVV also comes with a small envelope with some care instructions/ product description (we all know that this is pretty useless and doesn’t really say anything new and is generally applied to every single bag) and I also had the tag included. For those who have just landed on my page and don’t know where I’m from, the price is in Australian Dollars.

There are 2 magnetic snap buttons to close the VVV and it is very secure once you hear the snap. Even without snapping, the magnet is strong enough to keep the flap closed.

My favourite part about the bag is that I can choose to wear my chain strap as a single or a double strap to adjust the length. I know a lot of bags these days do it, but this is a first for me. The closest I have is a Karl Lagerfeld which has an adjustable strap that utilises the same strap adjustment system as the Boy Chanel, but this makes things convenient.

I don’t have to feel guilty for spending that much on a Chanel Classic Flap (now a whopping $5500 ish) and I don’t need to feel burdened wearing the VVV because it’s a great bag that can be formal or casual depending on how you wear it.

I think I made a good decision, lol. Now I have a bunch of other bags left to buy OTL

During the next few months I will be taking photos of my bags in my small collection and will be doing short reviews as such. I think next on my list will be the Yves Saint Laurent Monogram Patent Large Clutch which I have not used once since purchasing it. Review might even come out tomorrow – who knows?? But anyway, I have a few posts lined up because I have the photos edited and ready to go. I just need text 😉

Hope everyone has had a good weekend so far (although I’m writing this at like 10am on a Saturday morning LOL). I’ve had a really hectic and emotional week as you can probably discover on my Twitter, but everything seems better now because I’m in my final stages of my current workplace and I’m planning to leave. Finally. I found that after handing in my resignation I felt a huge burden lifted from my shoulders, but it’s not yet official as nothing yet has been confirmed and I’ve been told to give it some thought. Well, I will take my time.

See you all, probably really soon – bye!

When you try to make your life interesting, you have no time.

Hello everyone, it’s been a wee short while since my last post, but I will feel free to write about my past few very hectic and somewhat interesting weeks.

Forget the blues of 2013, 2014 should be something different, exciting and challenging. Or so I thought. My mood usually is like OMG WOW down to OMG WTF NO. It’s probably not healthy because my mood can swing from one extreme to another within just a minute – that’s the result of over-thinking everything.

Karaoke on a Monday night

For no real reason, the workmates and I just decided to go and have a karaoke night after the new year, so we picked Monday because we were all going to be dead the next day coming to work, and because nobody does it on a Monday night.

We decided to go to lantern by wagaya because we didn’t have a coupon to get a discount at another place. We also decided to eat and sing at the same time, because eating and then singing would take way too long. It was good singing at night because there was no chance we’d all be together during the day. Funnily enough, one of the guys bumped into his friend who was working at lantern (!!) and so we managed to get a wee discount. WIN WIN.

That bowl of slime is wasabi octopus. It looks shocking and kind of has a morbid look to it like squeezing out organs and putting them into the bowl raw, but surprisingly, it tastes great and is perfect with alcohol. RECOMMENDED.

It was a pretty good night. We enjoyed the solo concerts held (so emotional…) and basically had to clamp over our ears due to super high volume duets (on or off pitch). There was so much lulz I was pretty much laughing the whole night because it was a mixture of ridic/omglol.

I was tolerating the alcohol quite well because we ordered stuff like green tea and something mixed, or aloe vera juice and midori – but towards the end of the night when we didn’t want any more food – or rather, there was no food left – I just started drinking the sake (unflavoured, as is) like it was water. And I turned into a tomato. When I got home (thankfully, safely thanks to a workmate) my mum told me I reeked of alcohol. But I merely just only had about a third of a glass – probably it was more standard drinks than expected, but if I drank slower and had more food to absorb, I probably wouldn’t have had that problem.

A friend from university also told me that they urgently needed help at work, so I had to quickly put together a sample of my work for her bosses to look at. I got home at 11pm, went to bed shortly after, but couldn’t sleep due to the alcohol (when I get alcohol in my system it makes my blood circulate very fast – imagine trying to fall asleep while doing cardio, not possible, is it?).

Got out of bed at 1am, started working on a graphic sample and then went to sleep at 2am.

And woke up at 8am the next day to go to work. What a disaster.

Architecture: what my life could have been

Still couldn’t get over how funny Monday night was, but when I got home I had to turn in my sample work.

And then for another two days, I worked. But on Wednesday, my friend gave me feedback and was like “we need help at work, could you help out a bit?” – and so began the nightmare called architorture. I also had a gripe somewhere along the way because someone really disappointed/ pissed me off and made me question the quality of my “friends”.

At the same time I contacted another old uni friend for a so-called catch up, with other interesting things bundled as well.

Sorry for  blurring the photo – there was a lot of personal information flying around on the post it notes, which really shouldn’t be around on the interwebz.

Well, that was my home for 2 days (note that at this stage I worked 7 days in a row). Had a day of rest, and then worked another 8 days in a row, at another work station

I was only at the office for total 5 days helping out, and I must say I haven’t looked at a double monitor since the last time I was doing private tutoring, which was a very long time ago. It was good getting back into design and doing graphic layouts (I was mostly doing catalogues and things), but I disliked how I never knew what was really going on, and could not guess if my pace was fast or slow. There were the unexpected (deadlines – surprise surprise), and I never could guess what time I was able to leave to go home, which is actually very interesting because I haven’t experienced that in a long time. This is probably due to my super obsessive compulsive desire to control whatever I can in order to help reality meet my actual expectations (when this doesn’t happen I tend to rage/quit). I kid, it was a really good experience and everyone there was nice. Probably the thing I couldn’t get used to was being stuck in a chair all day. I really have gotten used to standing and walking around almost 10 hours a day – it’s a lot healthier.

The environment was very different, it’s very quiet and peaceful. It was a little bit like a world away or a slice of reserve in the middle of the city centre. But was it something I wanted to do for the say, next five years at least? I’m not sure. I was told by the friendly bosses that I probably would have easily found a job in a large firm (ARGH LARGE FIRM PLS NO) and they expected me to be suitable in a corporate environment. I’m not sure if I have as much intellect as they make me out to have, but I shall take it as a compliment.

Well anyway, some of my graphic work will probably be edited, given that the time I was there wasn’t enough to fully complete whatever it was I had to do – it may be floating around some time very soon next time you intend to buy a house, so don’t be too surprised.

I guess I enjoy working in smaller, closer knit work environments – maybe a large one may also suit, but I don’t know for I have not tried.

But I guess that is really interesting, I thought I’d never work in an architectural studio/ office, but I guess I can say I have, albeit short!

During the week I went out to dinner a total of 2 times, which is a record high for someone as anti-social as I am. Both times uncalled for. Well, food is food. You gotta eat when you gotta eat.

Spicy Sichuan Hotpot

Non-spicy soup bases are available, if you cannot handle spicy food.

We just had a work mate gathering plus friends on a Friday night. It was the first time ever I’ve had this kind of Chinese hot pot at a restaurant so I didn’t know what to expect. We chose to eat at Spicy Sichuan Restaurant which is close to World Square. We chose the buffet option, which does not include drinks, hot pot soup base or dishes (as in cooked dishes). The taste was alright, the soup is pretty good and everything seems quite fresh. I can’t comment on how clean the food is because you cook it anyway but I can just say that the experience was firstly confusing, and then service left a lot to be desired.

We were given an iPad to select stuff, and while we thought that the wireless icon meant that the kitchen had received our orders live time and twiddling our fingers on an empty stomach, it turns out that you had to give them the iPad for them to process the order. Then what was the point of giving it to us in the first place? Also, once they take the iPad away, it’s super hard to order more because you have to ask them to give one to you, and it takes forever because the waiters ignore you. Yes. Ignore you. You can yell abuse, wave your arms, call out hello or even say “HEY HANDSOME (yes, this is a lie) GUY”, and they will pretend they did not see you. As for why they are so busy, we could not figure out why because they didn’t have to take orders or do anything fancy except bring out food. And there were only like 20-30 tables, but plenty of waiters around. Really crap service.

It was also a mystery working the iPad and changing the quantities – argh it was a mess but the food wasn’t too bad so not much to say. Though when we paid, it took about 5-10 minutes for the bill to arrive and another 10 minutes for them to give us change. Note that a lot of stuff was self serve (I opted for $2.80 unlimited soft drink with really little air/ carbonation which I had to make trips to the drink dispenser for with a glass that would probably hold no more than 375ml worth of liquid at a time).

It was still a fun night though because the people made it so. Oh. Bring a bag you don’t care about and don’t wear your favourite clothes. You will smell like hot pot. I brought along a bag that I cared about the least since it was fabric and all, but oh, it smelled for a week.

Shopping is healing.

I was really sad following the hotpot night. I don’t really know why but I was so depressed I really wanted to curl up into a ball and basically die. No kidding. It was pretty bad.

It was a combination of “friends” not really treating you as a friend, stress from work and anxiety over small details for a bunch of “what if”s that were to happen down the track. It was about this time when I realised that I didn’t really have a purpose in life, didn’t know what I wanted to do, and had nothing much to work towards. Pretty much it meant that as soon as whatever or whoever I was trying to support disappeared, I would have no direction or choice. It’s depressing. But I got over it, because it happens to be like that every now and then.

I was pretty sad a few weeks ago because I noticed my favourite phone case died. A corner of it broke off and it was on a day that was really sad as well. This is a hard cover case by Lanvin  for the iPhone 4/4S. When I bought it, I actually forked out $70 for it. I was really not used to using the Miu Miu leather sleeve again and since the case was on sale for about $20, I got a replacement. Talk about obsessive.

While I was shopping for the case I noticed these heels as well. It was almost pure chance that every other size possibly available was sold out, with the exception of a size 36, which in my opinion is the most common size you will come across. So I caved.

For a pair of heels that were originally over $600, I was not expecting the packaging to look like what it does. It’s certainly different, but err yeah, it never really grew on me much. But anyway, the shoes are actually made of leather, but they’ve been rubberised and made in Italy.

What I liked about the shoes was that they looked pretty good in the Proenza Schouler runway, and how pointy they were, because I never buy pointy shoes. I also don’t have a pair of decent closed toe heels, so every time I want to wear heels and look formal, I always have to keep turning to my patent leather 4cm Prada peep toe heels and they still do not fail to give me blisters after about 5 wears. Why must you do this to me?! Miu Mius are fine, so why you, Prada?

They’ve also included a dust bag and a set of spare heel ends so I can replace them when they get worn out (hopefully never). I took a bunch of photos with these on but they were far too dark despite it was the angle that I wanted. So, here’s something new:

Ermagerd, it’s a side view, and I’m not the one holding the camera for once.

Yes, self timer lol. Excuse what I’m wearing as it’s my lazy I don’t give a shit look I wear at home. These heels are about 6cm, which is pretty standard and although the heels are fairly small, they’re not very wobbly. I don’t suggest wearing them on uneven ground or gravel (why would you be wearing these on gravel anyway? But then, who knows, you may end up somewhere unexpected and that’s how shoes get wrecked the majority of the time).

So yay, heels, which is something I rarely buy. Not sure when I’ll wear these, but when the time comes, I will wear them.

In the future I think I will try to do more photos with the self timer. As you can probably gather, I have a pretty bigass blank wall in my room, which is just enough. From memory I did do some photos using this method once, but it felt way awkward. Well, later, when I can be bothered.

I also bought a varsity jacket, which was something I was after for a veeerry long time with a K on it. Now that’s out of the way it’s one less thing to buy. Woopee! Which reminds me, I need to update my wishlist, which I will probably do shortly.

So, I made something in 5 minutes.

I was looking through my drawers and I had a clip with a hat on it (so it’s like a small hat but in your hair!) but the clip got detached from the hat. Seeing that I bought the hat a few years ago, I decided I was no longer young enough to wear something so cute. So I decided to do something different with the clip.

What you will need: A claw, black felt (or any other colour you desire), stuff to decorate your clip with (in this case, I have studs). Also, you will need superglue – what I have pictured is E6000, which is some form of “industrial strength” glue, but I call that rubbish since it hasn’t managed to glue anything I’ve tried to glue together properly. I suggest UHU superglue, I used to use it all the time but I haven’t been bothered getting myself a new one.

Nail polish: My Private Jet by O.P.I

And voilá. To get rid of the “spacing” of the studs which is usually bits of string/ elastic, I just used a felt tip marker to colour it in so it doesn’t look too obvious. For those who can tell, this resembles the Valentino rockstud hair clips to some extent, only this is a claw, and doesn’t cost $200. As much as I think the Valentino hair clips look great, I think this DIY job cost me about $3 and less than 5 minutes of my time. You could say, it was cheaper and faster for me to make it than to go out and buy something similar. But anyway, the Valentino clip is $200 for a reason and it’s probably leather and some form of plated base metal and made in Italy. Well, for me, this will suffice and it’s something better than a… small hat on my head.

Stuff to do, random comments-

I have dropped my Beats headphones probably for the tenth time and I must say, thankfully they fold because if they didn’t, they would have broke by now. They are worth it.

Doing a list of things I need to do, which includes visiting the dentist, needing to call in a plumber (our taps are weird and leaking HALP) and getting a haircut (I’m free this weekend but my hairdresser is not working these two days, WHY).

Due to my growing shoe collection, my mum has kindly offered to turn our mini closet into my shoe display centre. But it means I need to buy shelves for me to be able to put the shoes in, before this can happen.

There are so many things I’m eyeing right now, but I will only choose one to buy this year.

And one recent photograph, edited by the Meitu app which is free from iTunes. Meitu’s awesome because it just makes everyone look good. I didn’t enlarge my pupils though. My hair’s grown quite a bit and it’s shapeless, so I need to chop it – preferably short. I’ve also started to combat my oily looking skin by removing BB cream from my daily routine to applying Shiseido Anessa SPF50 sunscreen and an average dusting of powder to cover imperfections and even out skin tone. Ideally I should be using a tinted moisturiser, but I don’t mind if my skin isn’t flawless. Meitu fixes all that anyway. This new routine seems to result in less oil and the quality of my skin seems better with the exception of some monster zits on my forehead (unnoticeable once powder’s on).

Here I’m using Majolica Majorca’s jewellery pencil eyeliner (it’s very smudgey, use a smudger to smudge in plus eyeshadow to set) – mixed feelings, I think I need to use liquid eyeliner. Bobbi Brown’s gel eyeliner is smudgey as well – probably the reason why I hate having “inner” eyelids. At times like this I rather having the full double or single lids, it would make my life a lot easier.

You can write crap all over your photos and all.

My hair is so fluffy – humid weather 😦 But I’ve also noticed less shine on my face overall. BB cream seems kind of gimmicky to me at the moment – it did improve my skin at one stage, but I don’t think it’s doing anything for me now. Feels like it’s making my skin darker over time, which is really weird since it’s got high SPF. Well, sunscreen seems to be the better option.

Things to do:

Post up a photo of myself every month at the very least.

Do regular exercise.

“Every day” challenge – wearing the same perfume every day without fail (you’d be surprised how hard this is).

Updated Wishlist post (NOT the static post).

…so you all know what to expect in the upcoming posts.

Well, that’s it. After 3000 grueling words, I’ll leave you all alone now, and I am off to watching more of You who came from the stars. Makes me really want to buy a Cartier juste un clou something, but not for a $2700+ ring or a $7000+ bangle. No thank you. Though the ring is tempting, despite my co-worker telling me how nice the bangle is. NUUUU MONIES. I have bills to pay.

Well, hope you’ve all had a good January so far. For me, it’s been up and down, but things seem better now. Karaoke night number two is coming up sometime early next month so I will be looking forward to that. Next time I will need to eat more so I can drink more (harhar) – but I should choose a day that I don’t need to work the following day, or else I won’t be able to sleep late into the night 😦

Stay tuned until next time!

Lately…

I think I really need to perhaps make it a thing to blog at least once every two weeks – it’s been too long I’ve mostly been streaming videos online, downloading, and you’ve all guessed – busy with work. I’m really hating this rotating timetable because it leaves me so little time to do what I want to do. Argh. I did do a few things though within the two-ish weeks I didn’t blog. Or was it three? … perhaps four.

Christmas work dinner

Every year we have a work dinner thing for Christmas and it’s usually at the same restaurant. Last year we had Korean, this year we had Spanish.

I think it was always a tradition to have a lucky draw for our Christmas presents – it just happened to be that my first Christmas at work we actually had presents directly given to us instead. This year I was somehow given the duty of choosing and wrapping presents. I had absolutely no idea what was in which parcel because I numbered them after I wrapped them all up. It’s a pity I didn’t take a photo of the wrapped present because I think I did a pretty good job – ahhhhhh.

Basically we had some free gift boxes with a Christmas tree decoration inside, which I put another small something (which is the gift itself) inside, so all the boxes looked the same. There was one that was larger, because it was a watch. I picked out presents that I honestly thought to myself “I could see myself wearing this” or “I wouldn’t mind getting this”. Everyone’s taste is different, but I guess it appealed to a certain degree.

Each parcel was numbered and I gave my boss a few strips of cardboard with the numbers on them. I told him to hold them with the numbers in his hand, facing down – whatever we got is whatever we got. There was really no way of knowing what we were about to draw… but I was the only one who knew what was inside the boxes.

I think I was the second one to draw, and I got number 4. To some people it’s pretty unlucky, but to me it didn’t really matter because all the prizes were good in my mind.

And so the unwrapping began –

It’s too small to see – and I can’t be bothered putting up a blurry close up of it, but I managed to draw out the grand prize, which is a 14k yellow gold Pandora charm!! YESSSSS.

I’m in my final stages of completing my third and final bracelet, which is a gold-white-blue theme, so this was great! Last year I sort of got the “tied in second” prize, but this year I got the top one 😀 I would be happy with the watch because I quite like it myself, but this is good. I was pretty over the moon because I haven’t been so lucky lately. GUESS NOT RIGHT??

That aside we all had a great meal with good food that night. We were pretty stuffed but luckily we ordered just enough food so we didn’t really waste anything, which is really rare since we usually end up with a lot of leftovers.

Then we went to Passionflower as a continuation of joyous Christmas celebrations.

As we were all kind of full most of us just ordered a single scoop of ice cream – with the exception of one person who ordered a parfait *side eyes* lol, just kidding. This is rose lychee – it has slowly overtaken my favourite flavour which was generally matcha/green tea. But lately I’ve also taken a liking to azuki and surprising black sesame, because I think sesame flavoured stuff is pretty gross. Across from me in the wafer was a big blog of durian ice cream (!!)

Had a great night. It was fun and it was good. Wow at my broad vocabulary – fun and good.

Got my full drivers’ licence

I really hate anything driving, including sitting in the passenger seat of a car with a driver I cannot trust *cough mum cough* so I’ve been actively avoiding it for ages. In our state (as in the location/ area we live in), you can go for the basic test and get a learning licence at the age of 16, but I didn’t bother until I was about 17 or 18, and only did the test with the encouragement of my then boyfriend. I had a pretty bad experience driving in general because Sydney drivers really can’t drive, and our roads are just full of idiots (yes, includes those irresponsible cyclists that cycle in the middle of a lane, in a zig zag pattern at a leisure place, sloping down hill).

I didn’t drive a single time since doing my Ps test (which is the practical driving test), and with just one day left before my P2 licence expired, I went to sit for the Driver Qualification Test. Freaking expensive to renew/ get a new licence I must say. There was some kid who was probably doing his driver knowledge test and was like “SCUSE ME I’VE FINISHED, OMG FINALLY OVER” at the top of his lungs. Just a hint of advice – there are going to be distractions as such if you’re there and happen to be sitting next to inconsiderate little shits like him. Just ignore it.

Doing a bit of reading on online forums also helps when people share their advice about the test, since there’s little to nothing about the DQT. I took some advice and it seemed to have worked, so I suggest doing that for extra study.

So now I am legally allowed to drive without supervision, without the need for any plates on the car to be displayed, with a BAC of 0.05.

Now that’s what I call dangerous.

Joo Won’s a perfect angel, nothing is new.

Joo Won went on a talk show called “Witch Hunt” and explained that his ideal type was a girl with a bit of a tummy, and preferred it if there was enough fat for it to fold over (source – soompi)… and wears pants like… all the time *shrugs*

Well, I knew that he liked his girls with a bit of meat since he did say so on Happy Together Season 3 a few years back, but it was the first time he ever went into detail to explain that he liked fat folding over (but I haven’t seen the show with subtitles so I am not quite sure).

The whole thing sounds a little bit creepy, but at the same time I’m glad that he’s being honest about what he likes without shooting down the hopes of women. Too often we have news articles about people disliking “fat” and other things. We’re constantly exposed to media that encourages skinniness, and especially so in Asian culture as they always make fun of the chubby one with their constant fat-shaming.

I just thought I’d share this piece of “news” since I thought it was interesting. Doesn’t mean I’m going to go out and eat a ton of food, I hate my stomach the way it is now, so no thank you. At the same time though, it has given me another thought that perhaps I should just embrace what I have, because I’ve gone to a lot of trouble to change what I have, with little results. Maybe it’s just meant to be like that

Chanel earrings are a waste of money

So remember this particular post that I wrote about two months ago? Well, the other earring’s stamp fell off one day when I took it out of the box to wear. -_-

Seriously, almost $300 for a piece of metal and not even real pearls that are attached via the easiest way ever, is such a rip. I would at least expect those stamps to stay put, but they just came off! I haven’t even worn these earrings 5 times since buying them. I was lucky that the stamps fell off while I was taking them out of the box – had I worn them out, I would have lost them on the street somewhere. To be honest, the box is sturdier than the pair of earrings, which is a huge let down.

I was thinking I’d perhaps get another pair at some stage, but right now, I’m thinking hell to the NO. Though I must say I really do want a pair of stud studs… I think drop earrings really don’t match me 😦

I guess you can say that working with jewellery I get a bit of an advantage since I have the option of repairing the earrings myself. This is industrial strength AB glue, which is apparently the strongest you can get – if this doesn’t do the job, pretty much nothing will, since E-6000 didn’t do anything for the earrings.

So far, so good. They’ve stayed put and I hope they stay glued forever.

So yeah, if you’re looking for really strong glue, I recommend AB glue. You need to mix ratio 1:1 of A and B, wait about 5 minutes (so that the glue gets super tacky) and then apply for an almost instant glue. I didn’t read the instructions and applied as soon as I mixed the two together, but if you just put whatever you glued aside, it will dry pretty quickly, I’d say about 5-10 minutes which is not bad considering you can somewhat adjust it (glue isn’t tacky if it’s less than 5 minutes and whatever you’ve glued together may have a chance of sliding and moving somewhere else and setting where you don’t want it –  so you need to be aware). Zap-a-gap is also a great alternative, though I have no idea how it will react on brass and metals. Best to test it on a small area before applying it liberally.

Other random stuff-

• In the past month I bought myself 3 pairs of shoes. I think I don’t need any for the next year or so 😡
• Don’t eat wasabi by the mouthful, it makes you cry – I didn’t think it would be that bad but it made the eye that was closer to the wasabi water for about 2 minutes.
• I really need to figure out how I am going to incorporate regular exercise into my lifestyle without feeling tired and too lazy to do it.
• Weekly exfoliation is really important – it makes a huge difference for the skin and it’s worth the extra work.
• Instant green tea latte is making me want to puke 😦 Just had a glass and it wasn’t as pleasant as I had hoped…
• 1 Night 2 Days season 3 isn’t that bad, the mix is pretty good though I sort of wished they had 7 members instead.
• I will probably give up watching Running Man one day, it’s pretty terrible lately.
• Reply 1994 – PLEASE CHOOSE CHILBOONG, WHY SO MUCH TRASH?!
• I am really strapped for cash these days, for no real reason. Haven’t been buying anything… well, I suppose after paying all the bills for this quarter, it’s probably normal to be super penniless.
• FML, I got to see the new and upcoming Pandora releases and I think I’m going to be poor again buying those tiny little charms. WHY?! WHY?! I need to think clearly because obviously I’m not… why is it that I am so willing to spend like $50 on a little thingy people can’t even tell on your wrist? D: I need better things to spend my money on – but ugh, the new releases are so gorgeous I just can’t.
• Can’t wait until I catch a break…

Stuff coming up next time I write:

• Christmas dinner number two which is going to be next week.
• Mostly work, but for the first time in 2 years I get to NOT work Christmas Day – YESSSSSSSSSS.
• Anything interesting that comes up.
• I will aim to blog once every two weeks at least – and hopefully I can stick to this.
• A new project that will keep me posting or doing something that I generally don’t do much – and yes, it will involve my face and a camera – how exciting. Though this will probably take another year to happen since I can’t get my priorities right.

Stay tuned!