This January, I am into...

...getting out of the holiday mood (2004 is over!), trying to get by life without Law & Order on Sundays and Inuyasha Wed-Fri, One Piece manga, losing weight, practising more on the violin, iPhoto vs U2 iPod debates, Bateel chocolate, sequinned skirts, thinking more about how I can help in the tsunami disaster relief efforts.

How about you?

26 things

It's my birthday! Go me!

Today is my last day of work for the year (I love saying that!) as I'm going to KL tonight to celebrate my birthday, which is tomorrow. So here's a list of 26 me-me-mes you may or may not want to know. Happy New Year!

1. I am an incredible vainpot who must matchy-matchy all my clothes and accessories.
2. I can’t cycle.
3. I was such a chicken shit when I was young that I used to be afraid of Santa Claus. When kids ran screaming to him for candy, I was the only idiot running screaming in the opposite direction. 4. I'm a dark chocolate girl.
5. I don’t know how to eat chili. Spicy is as far as it goes.
6. When I was 15, I wanted to be a fashion designer. It took the combined persuasion of my alarmed parents and the sneaky outside enlistment of an uncle (who used to be a fashion designer) to turn me away from said life-ambition.
7. Happily, I no longer want to be a fashion designer. I’ll settle for fashion editor.
8. I'm uncomfortable in contact lenses. That's why I wear glasses everyday, and reserve the contacts for special occasions.
9. I am addicted to head massages at the hair salon.
10. The make-up item I cannot live without is lipstick.
11. I hate gyms.
12. I am a sucker for pretty packaging. Marketing people would love me.
13. I confess to liking Nelly, Spice Girls, S Club 7 and Justin Timberlake songs. Oh, the shame!
14. I adore sequins, beads and such-like shiny embellishments.
15. I have been known to kill cactus. Miss Green Fingers, I am not.
16. I am a huge cartoon freak. If it’s animated, I want to watch it.
17. At last count, I have about 90 cousins (both sides of the family included). There could very well be more that I am not aware of. However, I am not close to any of them.
18. I don’t drink coffee.
19. Milk is icky.
20. I have no favourite authors but am partial to Roald Dahl, Gerald Durrell and Jane Austen.
21. I watch award show ceremonies and Miss Universe/World pageants only to see what everyone’s wearing.
22. When I was five, I wanted to be a teacher just so I could write on a blackboard with chalk.
23. I used to have a Lhaso Apso named Cassius. I had him since I was six and he died in Nov 2002 at age 19.
24. I have never tried a cigarette in my life.
25. For sport, I try to rock climb, roller-blade, do pilates and play tennis or Frisbee. Note the word: try.
26. If ever you want to buy me flowers, don’t get me roses. Especially red or yellow roses. I like asiatic lilies, or orchids.

Ho ho ho!

Hope Santa gives you the pressies you want!

I was in Jakarta on Wed and Thurs for a dinner celebrating a marketing firm's 15th anniversary. It was a benefit dinner for UNICEF so people came arrayed in their cocktail finery, ready to save the children. It was quite fun, the food wasn't too bad (Indonesia satay is the best!) and there were some performances and speeches, all of which I didn't understand. Saya tidak mengerti bahasa. I no speaka the language. Highlight of the night was walking the red carpet into the convention centre and having my picture taken a la papparazzi style and being ushered to the VVIP section. I could get used to this life, no?

Anyway, here's wishing everyone a very Merry, Blessed Christmas. Hope you're on the good list and get all the pressies you want!

Christmas shopping

I was in a really good mood on Sunday and I don't know why. I was venturing out with two friends to get shopping done, and normally I would baulk at squeezing with everyone else doing their shopping, but no, this day I was in fine form, singing Christmas songs all morning ("ooooh the weather outside is frightful...") as I got ready.

Surprisingly, town wasn't as crowded as I expected, especially since on Sat, there was a jam along Stevens Road before noon. We had arranged to meet at 1pm for a quick lunch at Cream before hitting the shops, and then going for a 4.30pm showing of Ocean's Twelve.

At the end of the two hour power shopping trip, which we carefully strategised (you must have a plan for this, we decided to cover our shops in a square - Scotts, Wisma and ending up at Wheelock Place), I finished up with:

- 4 CDs*, for myself
- a Kiehl's voucher, for my mother
- a pair of earrings, for my sister
- nothing (rats!), for my father
- a plan to buy Borders vouchers for everyone at the office (quick and easy haha)

* That CD Shop is a bad, bad place. I blame L&B for my folly because they were late, so I had to go in there to browse while I waited for them. I left that place with: Buena Vista Social Club, Chanchullo, Latenight Betty (I love the band name - Pepe & the Bottle Blondes) and a recording of the Butterfly Lovers Violin Concerto & Yellow River Piano Concerto.

I have also developed a huge lust for a sparkly skirt from Charlie and either a U2 iPod or iPhoto. Oh no!

We ate so much

We had:

• cheese prata at Shah Alam, Boat Quay on Wed night,
• followed by finishing up my friends' tab at the newly-reopened Wala. Squishy's brother drinks like a fish, he finished his pint of Erdinger within a minute flat. P stage-whispered across the table to Squishy, "I like your brother."
• Lunch at Baker's Inn on Thurs, where we had spaghetti bolognaise, mushroom fricassee (I love saying that word) and mushroom brioche with poached egg (which sounds better than it tasted)
• After watching The Incredibles (second viewing for me, I liked it that much), late-afternoon snack of ultimate chocolate cupcakes from Toast (no more nutella cupcakes, boohoo). We briefly considered going for the free steak sandwiches at Mortons (LMD: they are back on!), but were too lazy to trek to the Oriental.
• Dinner at Blood Cafe, where we had roasted chips with wasabi mayo dip, roast chicken sandwiches, roast beef sandwiches, caesar salad and duck confit, followed by a christmasy tasting chocolate tart for dessert.

Burp.

And oh yes, we saw Olinda of S'pore Idol fame at Orchard Cineleisure after the movie. She was wearing too-cool-for-school shades...in the building. I will never understand people who wear sunnies indoors. Yes, those lights are just sooo glaring. My friends wanted a picture with her, but I didn't have my camera with me. Oh well.

Stand out movies of 2004

I haven't been able to catch as many movies in the cinema as I would have liked this year, but these are the movies that I enjoyed/stayed with me the most this year:

The Passion of the Christ: Aside from some artistic and technical considerations, nothing I have seen or read has made the death of Jesus as close and personal to me as this movie has. It had me in buckets of tears. And hey, anything that makes me go back to the Bible has to be good. Although, I have to admit this is not a show I would be watching in a hurry again.

The Company: I'm a sucker for any sort of dance movie (which is why I was at home on Sun watching the Vanessa Williams show Dance with Me) and although this movie hasn't got much of a plot, the dancing had me riveted. Who knew Neve Campbell could dance so well? And also, James Franco shirtless? Yummy.

Osama: Caught this during the S'pore International Film Festival. I normally have a problem with movies from that region not because they suck, but because they always leave me so depressed. This was another one of those depressing movies. So heart-wrenching. But so good.

Coffee & Cigarettes: It was a little long, and a couple of the stories could have been cut out, but I liked the quirkiness of it all and the fact that it was shot entirely in black & white. My favourite segments were those with Cate Blanchett, Alfred Molina (octopus guy in Spiderman II) and Steve Coogan (24 Hour Party People).

The Incredibles: I didn't think Pixar could top themselves after Finding Nemo, but apparently they could. I was so fascinated with the way they animated the hair. So smooth, so shiny! My favourite character is Edna Mode, fabulous fashion designer. One of my friends said I look like Edna, how dare he! Just because I wear glasses and have an insane fixation on fashion does not mean I'm like a midget cartoon character!

Honourable mentions: Harry Potter & the Prisoner of Azkaban, Japanese Story, Saved!, Kill Bill 2 and Shrek 2.

And on the other end of the spectrum, I absolutely loathed Le Divorce and Cold Mountain. Am so glad I didn't shell out money to watch them, and caught them on DVD.