Thursday, July 24, 2008

KTV

It's been ages since I last stepped into a KTV..

Ok.. going passed a KTV (aka PartyWorld) every now and then doesn't count hor..

Thus.. to relieve my urge (STOP THINKING SO YELLOW!) .. Going to Youtube, staring at the screen, singing like nobody's business when the clip is playing has been one of the many activities I have when at home (apart from doing data entry, churning pivot tables on excel spreadsheeets for report, etc... basically there's no work-life balance... ).

You probably thinking how come I not playing my xbox360? cos.. my hubby's been hogging it every night.. playing his Battlefield: Bad Company, NBA Live08, FIFA 08, Oblivion etc... ever since we got our Xbox360 console exchanged when it died a few weeks ago..

I'm at my last disc of The Lost Odyssey, but.. dunno why I cdnt find the 'desire' to complete it. Ok.. frankly... once I start, I cant stop, so I could be playing all the way till the wee hours of the night without realising it. BAD!

Anyway, I was going through my old old pics that was taken last time.. Stared at them, and thought to myself...

"oh bloody hell! So UGLY sia! Look at my HUGE ARSE!!"

Hey.. wait.. I wasnt even born pretty and with a small arse in the first place.. (-.-)

watever...

Came home relatively early today... and I was like clueless on what to do to pass time... Hubby went for site survey @ LeisureWorld (on board the ship lor.. ) and wont be back until night time. Wanted to go jalan-jalan at town area but was dragging my laptop around - not a good choice lor.

I must tahan and save my money.. That Bobbi Brown new fall Mauve collection looks so deliciously appealing to me.. and it's only coming to Singapore in mid August. :(

I even have to resist going on Ebay.. god knows what ting will catch my eye and I probably will fall into its temptation..

ARgHhh.. must save money..

F**king Hitachi Credit is only loaning me 24k for my reno. Really f**k lor.. the whole reno costs at least 40k and they only loaning me 24k, for a moment I tot I dun have a good credit record (which is NOT TRUE).. so when I PAID money to see my CBS report, I'm telling you... NOT many peers of my age will be debt free, k!
I paid my credit card bills on time and basically CLEARed every single cent (sometimes I even pay more). Even my hubby's car loan is paid on time every month without fail, till GE money once even offered to loan us $3000 without any conditions, direct transfer to our bank account under 1 year free interest (of cos, we din take up.. hate to be in debt) immediately.
Probably the only thing I never pay on time is my hp and broadband bills... well.. cant blame me.. my hp bill is less than $40 per month, so I usually clear it every 2 months.. LOL. As for my broadband, well... also cheap cheap thus I only clear it every 2 months too..

Whatever it is... I'm going to check out RHB and DBS liao.

BTW.. STANDCHART SUCKS!!!

Even though I have their credit card (cos some of the shopping places I go, standchart offers good discounts), they took AGES to process... CENTURIES to send to me..

Unfortunately they are one of the few banks that offer renovation loan, thus when I went to their Woodlands branch to apply, the CSE told me to call their hotline, cos processing take longer if applied over the counter (I dun mind waiting wat! stupid B I(a)TCH!). The f**king telephone number she gave me was INVALID. So.. I called their hotline, was told that a Sales personnel will call me within 2 days. I waited for 1 week.. NO CALLS.. then I filled up their online form, requesting for the sales personnel to CALL me cos I'm interested to apply (yes.. GIVING THEM BUSINESS HOR) and even sms (kia su lar).

I only received a call from a girl with a HEAVY i-n-d-i-a-n accent (definately dun sound local), mumbling away about my sms on applying for the renovation loan. I explained to her that I'm interested to apply, but I would like to understand more (like payment details to my contractor etc). She then mumbled about calling me back at 1pm (she called me at 11am) and so I waited.... and waited.. 2pm liao.. NOONE CALLED. So maybe I thought she was talking about 1pm the next day.. and so I waited.. and waited.. and waited again.. AGAIN... NOONE CALLED ME BACK!

When finally I got a call from Standchart yesterday... guess what? THE IDIOT CALLED ME TO APPLY FOR THEIR CREDIT LOAN.. I told him I'm not interested, he then asked me further if I own any credit cards, maybe can consider to take up their low-interest transfer rate or something.. By now, I'm damned irritated..

I replied, "No thank you. Please understand that I'm not interested. I clear my credit card bills every month, and has NOTHING to transfer. Good bye." I hung up.

Once their card is with me for a year... I'm gonna tell my hubby not to use it, cut it up and sent back to them. LOUSY LOUSY LOUSY!!!! Cant even give me what I requested for!

Saturday, July 19, 2008

Was it Lancaster or BB Cream?

Currently I'm using Lancaster's Infinite White Moisturiser.
It has SPF and claims that constant use will help to illuminate your skin, which means u look more radiant lor.


Tried the sample from Her World, and found that it's quite good. You can use it as a Make Up base as well. It's not greasy and smells great! So far, I think Tangs and OG has it. So if you have Citibank Tangs card, you can buy it (think it's around $92?) and get rebates too.

Been using it for more than 2 months and since you only need to use a pea size to dot on your forehead, cheeks and chin, you can use it for a long time.

Was going through Flowerpod forum one day and found that a lot of girls are raving about BB creams. BB cream also known as Blemish Balm cream. It is formulated for ladies with blemish-prone skin, and was showcased during Nu Ren Wo Zui Da. Thus ladies suddenly go gaga over it.

So.. me.. a self-proclaimed make-up junkie of cos wanna try lar..

Furthermore, the BB cream now has quite a few properties like anti-aging, whitening, sun-block and also a cream foundation.

Most of the BB creams in Singapore is either from Skin Food, The Face Shop, Missha, SA SA or Beauty Language (or Beauty Credit?). Nevertheless, I bought the one from Skin Food - Mushroom BB Cream. It's irritatingly.. EXPENSIVE!! $68 leh!!!!! Lucky got discount if you use HSBC card.

So... I tried lor.. Some of the forum girls say it contains silica aka silicone (most of the BB creams also).. so maybe becos of that, your skin look smoother.. but beware of clogged pores.

I guessed mine did.. still got pimples popping.. SIANZ..
Whitening properties.. well.. maybe it did.. whiten slightly.. ? Hardly noticeable..
Thick and.. quite easy to blend.. Coverage, ok only wor..

Then I went to Ebay one day... and found another brand Coogi which was also introduced in the forum and many girls love it! It doesnt contain silica nor mineral oil. Because you cant get it in Singapore, the only way they claim is either through sprees in Livejournal (seriously.. I no idea where to find one lor..) or from Ebay.

Anyway, got to know one seller selling it. It's relatively cheaper than Skin Food's.
If you are interested, can search for codinara. She will ship from Seoul, Korea to Singapore. Shipping charges of cos.. is expensive. But you will also receive lotsa samples from her as well!

I bought 2 tubes from her.. and mind you, the tube isnt big, compared to Skin Food.



It may be small.. but.. IT'S REALLY GOOD!!
Beats Skin Food hands down leh!
Easier to blend cos it's not very creamy and thick, but slightly more watery than Skin Food.
Smells good.. staying power, fantastic!
Coverage is relatively on the medium side, so for girls who has better skin, you probably dun even need concealer. As for me, just a few dabs of concealer and the scars are covered up quite well.

I have no idea how long the product can last before it expires, so I'm not buying in bulk. Only when I'm at my 2nd tube, I'll order from codinara again.
My skin has indeed become better. No idea which product is the one but.. I'm sticking to them for now.

If you are wondering how to apply makeup with BB cream as foundation, here's how (or how I do mine). Note that BB cream is already a cream foundation, so do not attempt to put on 2-way cake, else you will risk looking all cakey and wayang-ish. For now, it's more for fair-skinned ladies since it was formulated in Korea/ Japan. So I'm not sure if the colour will suit our Malay/ Indian ladies.

Step 1: Put on your moisturiser (Lancaster has SPF so I dun use sun block). Let your skin absorb.

Step 2: Once your skin is ready, you can squeeze a 5 cent size cream onto the back of your hand. In this way, you dun have to worry about putting too much. Just dab a little using your finger, for me, I start at my forehead. Dab and blend.

Step 3: Similarly do the same for the rest of your face. For me, I avoid my eye lids area. Dab a bit more at areas where you need more coverage. Becos you start out putting a bit, you can then layer more when needed.

Step 4: Dab on concealer where you need.

Step 5: I dab a little BeneTint on my cheeks. This serves like a base (cos even when your powder blush is gone, you still can look as though you got some blush).
I dun really follow the method told on the bottle (draw 3 lines on each cheek). Before I can blend, BeneTint has already dried and by then I would have been looking like a cat.. LOL. So what I did was staining one of my fingers and then blend (or dab) on my cheeks. Layer more if needed (but risk looking like baboon butts).

Step 6: Loose powder to set the foundation. Instead of using a brush, I use those conventional puff. Using a light hand, pat your face all over with the puff as though you are dusting your face. As you do that, press down the puff as well. In this way, you can minimise your pores (visually). A trick i learnt from the makeup artist that does my makeup on my ROM.

You can use those mineral makeup finishing powder as well. There's once I tried dusting my mineral makeup foundation, but I really look like having heavy makeup on. So.. not advisable lor..

Step 7: Your face is now done and you can proceed to do your eye/ cheek/ lips.
For a nude look, just put on a base colour for your eyes, then line them, not forgetting to use your mascara. For cheeks, just lightly dust some blush and put on lip gloss or pink lipstick (you can blot your lips with a tissue). Your nude look is ready. Cool eh?

The makeup can last for some time till after lunch before I need to blot. No patches or what-so-ever..

I went for exercise in my makeup as well, and after a bath, my makeup still there with a slight tint of blush. Probably just need to touch up a little with pressed powder but I didnt. Cos going home liao wat.. no need to waste makeup.
Ha ha ha ha...

Oh well.. Hesitating whether to buy Make Up For Ever's HD loose powder or not.. hmm... :(

Something to be happy about!

I've successfully lost ... hmm.... 4kg!!!

Previously, I'm like around.. 80kg? then dropped around 76kg.. then.. increased to around 78kg again (for not exercising for 4 months) ...

Since May, I pushed myself back into exercising.. and the last time I weighed myself around the 1st week of July, I'm 74kg!!! WOOoHoOOOOO!!!!!

But... actually.. my ideal weight for 1.58m should be less than 60kg. KNN..
Another 14kg to go..
To do that, I need to be very very disciplined i.e.: gym 1 hr, 3x a week (like as if it's that easy.. with so much work to do), diet... really.. diet.. like totally can forget all the bad-for-diet foods..

So.. I'll be missing out a lot.. therefore, I decided, not to make it such a boring thing.

Here's my plan:
1) Gym 3x a week if possible, else at least minimum 1x , OR jog-a-walk at Lakeside Park.
2) Heavy breakfast (very important meal of the day), lunch - light (anyway, probably wont be able to eat much cos of the heavy breakfast), dinner - half the amount I usually eat i.e.: less rice, more veggy, moderate amount of meat and drink lotsa water!
3) Avoid fried/ oily foods whenever possible. Only give myself a treat once in a while.. chocolates and ice cream can be eaten as an encouragement for keeping myself on schedule.

Target weight: 70kg by Sep 08.

I can do it.. for the sake of being able to buy clothes with ease.. to be in tip top condition if we ever gonna have a photoshoot or for our chinese wedding tea ceremony ..

How to motivate oneself? Easy..
Plan for yourself a short term goal that's achievable.. for myself it's 4kg in 2 months.
Focus on your new running shoes that you buy for exercising.. if you buy it, you gotta be wearing it, right?

Imagine your exercise clothes that's getting looser, and you look radiant when you look yourself in the mirror inside the gym..

Attempt to try on exercise gear that you couldnt wear previously in the store, trying is free wat! Furthermore you might be surprised that you can fit in, maybe not loose but at least you dun look like ba-chang.. I'm hoping I can fit into Nike Women's XL size soon.. Thank god, Reebok got UK16 exercise gear that's cheap and stylish. Go exercise also must go in style what.. If you feel good, you will look good too.

All those working pants and clothes that you previously felt that's a little tight, no longer feel tight at certain areas now.. A pair of pants I bought previously (in April) felt body-hugging when I first bought it (but still fit me then - except I gotta wear a corset to keep those flabby tummy love handles cos they are also visible when I'm standing), now it's loose, not only at the waist area, but also at the thighs. No longer have the extra love handles even when I'm standing (sit down still have lar)

Your skin also becomes clearer and glows! Yup, last year when I was exercising (and going for classes), my skin was clearer also.. hey imagine, I wore makeup to exercise hor (after work mah) and less breakouts some more.. Then when I stopped, my acne friends came back and the scars wont go away lor!!!

Talking about skin...
Like I mentioned, it's clearer.. and the scars are FADING!! yes... they have FADED!!

CAR ACCIDENT!!

Brother unfortunately got into a car accident on Tuesday while on his way to work.

His car got kissed at the back by a garbage truck.

Luckily, he didnt suffer any injury except for his neck. Whiplash.. they called it.
His car gotta go to the car-siptal (ha ha ha.. car hospital lar.. aka workshop) for a change to his bumper.

Anyway, he scared my mum half to death when he called. Took urgent leave to accompany him to see a doctor and xray.

Hubby also took leave.

So now, Brother gets to drive a Nissan Sunny until his Picanto comes back.. from 1.1litre to 1.6litres, from butt-less to.. butt-ful? HA HA HA..

Oh.. our workshop had helped us to claim around $1100 of insurance from the idiot who parked his van on a double zig-zag (cant remember white/ yellow) line road and opened his door when my hubby drove our antique race car past it (location is at a tiny lane behind UOB Plaza). Side mirror cracked.. Idiot insisted not paying $40 (we asked for $75), and so.. hubby told the workshop to claim the idiot's insurance lor. Idiot also wanted to claim ours, saying that hubby was speeding (he's driving at 40-50km/h which is WITHIN THE SPEED LIMIT)... but hey, he wont win lor.. Why?
Cos he's already in the wrong for PARKING on the road with DOUBLE ZIGZAG LINES (ok.. serious, white/ yellow?) and moreover, IDIOT NEVER CHECKED BEFORE OPENING DOOR!
In 2 months' time we will be getting a new paint work for the car.. WooHoo~!

Life goes on...

It's been 2 weeks since the death of Fei Mao...
We brought back his ashes, placed his fave crabmeat (kitty snacks) and cat biscuits in front of his little urn. Brownie is still adjusting to being alone... Once in a while she will walk around the house, meowing... as though she's calling for Fei Mao. When Fei Mao passed away, she was restless and pretty emo, never stepped into my brother's room then. However once we brought Fei Mao back, she immediately went into his room, up onto the bed and laid there. It felt as though he's back, and she's lying there beside him like the usual..

As much as my parents tried to persuade us not to bring back, we insisted. He's part of the family, brought back to our home since young. He never left the house before.. leaving him alone to fend for himself in a totally unusual place, that's not possible. My brother told me that his gf refused to come to our house anymore because of the ashes. I find it amusing...
It's just ashes.. even if the 'spirit' comes back and stays in the house, what harm can he do? Even when alive, he just laid down at the computer table or the bed to laze, never even bother anyone. So even his spirit will just do the same..
In fact now, he's like a guardian angel.. making sure everyone in the house is safe..

Hubby says Fei Mao probably died to block some disaster in the family, maybe that's Fei Mao's way of saying thanks to us for taking care and doting on him for the past 14 years. I guess I felt the same way.. he was still strolling around in the house, lazing at the living room when all of a sudden, he just grasped for breath, dragging his hind legs to go to his fave spot.......... to wait for his master to return, to see him, before he leaves...

I never regret bringing strays home.. To date, I brought 4 kitties home, Fei Mao, Brownie, Boy-Boy (the blue-eyed tabby kitten with brown paws) and P-P (the fiesty cat that now dominates my hubby's house). I'm an animal lover.. dogs, cats, birds, tortoises, fishes etc... I couldn't bear to see an animal suffering. Whenever hubby sees a dead dog/ cat/ bird lying in the middle of the road, he will warn me and I'll just look elsewhere. More or less, I've developed a slight phobia of seeing such after witnessing a cat being hit by a car. I hate watching movies that involved animals that die saving their master/mistress.. makes me cry every time..

I can't imagine having Brownie leaving us as well... I know one day she will.. especially she's such a vocal little piggy.. I'm hesitant about bringing another one home.. worrying if the new cat can get along with brownie is one thing, seeing your own pet pass away is another..

I shall end this emotional post here. Life goes on, so make each minute a happy one.

Wednesday, July 02, 2008

In memory of my precious pet, Fei Mao

Fei Mao died at 12.08am early this morning 2nd July 2008. He died of a sudden heart failure..

14 years he has been with us, brought home by my brother when the mother cat was chased away by the stall owners... In human age, he's almost 80 years old, according to the vet.

He still looked so healthy, energetic.. never one time any one will think he's already so old..

He will nib your ankle if you walked past him near the kitchen entrance, just to get your attention to feed him his fave crabstick.

Twirl around your legs just to ask you to open the door for him to stroll and lay down at the corridor or to put fresh cat biscuits into his bowl..

He's a Cat Washer... licking and grooming Brownie's fur every time she walked past..
Even chewed off her whiskers too..

Every night without fail, he will sleep beside my brother..

Now... my brother sleeps alone..

Brownie no longer has a playmate.. a cat washer... a guardian to guard her from the evil horny tomcat that comes up to my house almost every night..

I missed him dearly... guess my brother is feeling the impact even more.. Brownie is following us everywhere, meowing every now and then, looking at every corner.. telling us how much she misses Fei Mao..

14 years of endless tender loving care... the joy... and the fun...

To you, my Pui Pui.. my baby..

Papa, Mama, Kor kor and your Jie Jie here will always remember you forever..

Rest in peace...