Of Routine, Escapism and a Hiatus

Maybe I should’ve listened. But as usual I was too stubborn.

I was re-reading my posts and the feeling that I get is that I’m not being myself. Posts are laced with the underlying desire to go home. Which makes them boring I know. Frog was right when he told me to take a year off before doing my masters. I often find myself bored, no longer motivated, craving to go back, wanting to finish that damn year (7 more bloody months to go) when until a couple of months ago failure and giving up weren’t part of my Life vocabulary.  I’m getting tired of having to put on a brave face in class, in the streets, in everyday life.  Something that I’m starting to get sick of after 23 years of constantly pulling that mask on. 

This blog was yet another attempt at escaping reality, finding an outlet for pent-up frustration and emotions but when all I see are blogs ranging from sweet to funny to outright hilarious, it cheers me up but ultimately I keep feeling pressured into having to adopt a light and happy tone all the time. Which isn’t what I’m feeling. 

I no longer find inspiration to write amongst other things (not that I’ve written anything interesting so far). I don’t know whether it’s the homesickness that’s making ramble right now or whether it’s something else. 

All activity will be suspended until further notice I suppose.

A big THANK YOU to my 12 lovely followers (just like Jesus's disciples lol!) and everyone who's been reading and commenting. I've met some very interesting people and will keep on reading your blogs but I think I won't be writing so much in the following weeks. 

Scary!

My mum's a huge fan of forwarded emails that usually end up deleted without even being read *cough* I received this one last evening and the title was pretty intriguing. Have a read, it's worth passing on...

"Subject: No Space, Leave the Place

Here's food for thought here...

Can you tell when you are in a hotel room, restroom, motel etc with a mirror, whether it is in fact a mirror or 2-way glass?

Here's how: This is not to scare you but to make you aware. A policewoman who travels around the world and gives seminars and techniques for businesswomen passed this on. When we visit toilets, bathrooms, hotel rooms, changing rooms etc, how many of you know for sure that the seemingly ordinary mirror hanging on the wall is a real mirror or actually a 2-way mirror (ie you can't see them but they can see you)?

There have been many cases of people installing 2-way mirrors in female changing rooms. It is very difficult to identify the surface by just looking at it. So how to we determine for sure what type of mirror it is? Just conduct this simple

Test: Place the tip of your fingernail against the reflective surface and if there is a GAP between your fingernail and the image of the nail, it is a GENUINE mirror. However if your fingernail DIRECTLY TOUCHES the image of the nail, then BEWARE BECAUSE IT IS A 2-WAY MIRROR!

No Space, Leave the Place. So remember every time you see a mirror, do the fingernail test. It doesn't cost you anything.

  

Remember: No Space, Leave the Place"

Spooky huh?

The Merry starts here!

Ok I was inspired stole it from the  "The Happy starts here" editorial in January 2010's issue of Glamour. According to the Glamour gurus, the 24th January is the most depressing day of the year. This funny little quiz was devised to - quote - put an instant smile on faces. 

I decided to forget the Happy and start the Merry-Making NOW! Let's see how this works out...

1. Name a film you've seen more than any other

I think it's a tie between Chocolat, Paris Je T'Aime and Blood Diamond!

2. Who or what makes you laugh?

Conversations with Frog. Flicking through uni piccies and remembering the story behind the picture.

3. Give a name you're otherwise known by

Erm...Kit is actually the other name. Otherwise just my real boring name.

4. What's the cheesiest song on your iPod?

Vanessa Williams - Colours of the Wind. It's Disney, don't diss it!

5.  Who's your "free pass"?

Ooohh...toughie. That one changes on a regular basis *blush* But right now I'd have to say Eric Bana. Butt-naked in The Time Traveler's Wife, yes please!

6. Describe a happy childhood memory

Coming to the UK for the first time. It was really cold because it was in October, just 3 days after my 8th birthday. We stayed at the Churchill Hotel on Portman Square and the bespectacled Italian porter used to call me Little Miss Universe. I remember pretending to be the Queen with my cup of tea and the teeny finger sandwiches every afternoon after shopping and sightseeing. I went back the the hotel when I moved to London this year just to check whether the guy still works there, and he does! Though I don't think he'll remember me after 10+ years now.

I still have this thing for red coats. 

An 8 year old version of me with Mimi, my blue-eyed pink teddy before she died. My mum shrunk her in the washing machine a few years later!

7. What are you proudest of achieving this week?

Being able to hold a 3-line conversation in Mandarin class without having to scramble around for my notes!

8. Name something you have won

The 1m50 bee that I creatively called Busy Bee - a reminder of that first time in London. Well technically my dad won it at Funland but I won the last gift ticket. Each time you play, there's a ticket that gets issued and you can exchange them for gifts. We needed to play 50 times to get the bee, which got dragged through customs when we returned to Mauritius.

9. What's your go-to comfort food?

Anything with cheese! Mac and (no less than three) cheese gratin or if I'm lazy, cheese toasties. 

10. Name something you made from scratch

Chicken kalia. The first major thing I ever made for a potluck dinner and it even won me rave reviews all the way in Montreal. When my auntie from Canada sent round an email saying that I could finally cook, my aunties back home organised a faratha party just so that I'd cook for over 25 people! XD

Blurry picture, sorry! That potluck dinner, the first in a line of many others.

Clockwise from the top: L's arm, chicken and potato kalia, satini (chopped tomato, onion and coriander chutney), A's sweet and sour pork, cucumber salad.

11. Who is your oldest friend?

Joanna - who gets called J on this blog. When I was 8, I got transferred to another school and she was in the class next door to mine. We saw each other around halls and corridors but it's only when we were 14 that we ended up in the same class and bonded over lunch and loathing of our art teacher. 

12. Name something you are proud of

This is going to sound so nerdy. Assuming I pass this year, I'm proud that I managed to survive through 3 degrees in 3 different unis from 3 cities in 5 years. It's no wonder why I so desperately want to go home now lol!

13. List a compliment someone has given to you

Roughly translating from L in 4th year: I've never met anyone more post-its-obsessed than you but you saved my ass from deadlines in those 4 years. I would've missed the deadline for the masters' application if it weren't for your constant nagging and your silly post-its plastered over the fridge, on my door, on my desk, over my desk, on my chair and in my diary. Even my dad is  impressed by your crazy organisation skills. 

That's just in November. It gets worse around exam time in May *cough*

14. Which characteristic about your star sign is most true to you?

Scorpio - passionate about everything. It's always all or nothing, half-measures and moderation don't exist. I always put myself out 100% in everything that I do especially in love and friendships - which is also probably the reason why I fall flat on my face every once in a while.

 

15. What's the best bargain you've bought?

My Lulu Guiness tote bag - only £40 when a bag at Accessorize costs  £30 and over!

16. What did you have on your walls/school books as a teenager?

Walls - nothing. School books erm...plastic covering? Hey I did say I was a nerd at heart!

Now over to YOU and start passing around the Merry chain game!

Time to 'Fess Up

I'm been a huge HUGE fan of The Sims when it first came out dinosaur years ago and the failed architect in me (fact 6 here) comes out for hours, gleefully building and decorating little houses. Fast-forward a couple of years later, my desktop was traded out for a sleek laptop as I went off to Uni and somewhere in the whole excitement of moving abroad and being independent, little houses were forgotten.  

A new exciting event this year (no details for the time being, don't want to jinx it) coupled with boredom as  the end of term is currently looming tickled out the architect again. So I treated myself today at HMV.

As I hunted around for the Sims 3 cd, someone must've flaired that air of desperation as I rifled through the Wii aisle, the X360 aisle, the Xbox aisle, the PS3 aisle, the PSP aisle...Where's that damn PC games aisle!! *shriek* The guy approached me and asked what I was looking for. The thing is I felt a little embarassed because it's sort of a kiddie game and asked with a nonchalant expression "Do you have the Sims 3? For Windows Vista please." 

He probably had the same thought as I did as he shot me "You?" look. I pretended to ignore it, hid my glee and mentally rubbed my hands in anticipation as we walked along the aisles. 

*nonchalant look again* "Is there like an age restriction?" 

*frown* "Ye-a-ah" *weird look* "It's on the box here."

*ignore ignore ignore* "Oh 12, great."

*calculating look* "You look older than 12."

*dumb blink* silence *still blinking* "Yeah it's for my sister, she's 13?" 

*mental sigh of relief* "Ah that would make a lovely Christmas gift."

*clench teeth* Keep lying - I thought. 

*fake sugar-loaded smile* "Yeah, thought so too. Thank you." *NOT*

And just to keep up the pretence, I asked whether they giftwrapped at the till too. I know L sometimes does it when she buys stuff for her Hello Kitty collection *cough* 

*sigh* One more story to add to my embarrassing stories collection. Like that time where I got ID-ed for buying Bailey's truffles, apparently I looked under.....16. Or the multiple times when buying bottles of wine for the potluck dinners in second year. No-one would believe that I was over 21 and consequently, I always had to go either with my passport (I get paranoid about carrying it around) or with L who ironically despite being 2 years younger than me and only 19 at that time (i.e not even legal!), never got asked for ID. Or that sexshop adventure in fourth year with L and A (might keep that for another day lol).

So what's your embarrassing shopping tale?

A Piece of Me in December

I like: finding the perfect present, wrapping gifts, unwrapping gifts, turkey dinners with the trimmings and the whole shebang, watching the fireworks from my rooftop and celebrating with family.

I don't like: not having a tree to decorate. Christmas starts when you put up that tree! Oh and packing suitcases. Such a drag.

I want you to know: that this the last time I'm travelling light from Europe. The next time that happens, I'm lugging everything back for good yay!

I've planned: to chill, have fun, catch up on what I've missed for the past 3 months and hopefully get a suntan!

I want to say to someone special:  You've seen me at my worst, coming out of the airport terminal, staticky hair, nerdy glasses, wrinkled clothes, sleep-deprived and starving, not having showered or brushed my teeth in 12h, lugging my suitcases, cranky, grumpy and complaining - yet you still gave me a welcome back kiss.  In front of my family. You said I didn't smell and looked all right despite the jungle-like hair. You're so biased but I like that. You've seen me sick and throwing up. You've seen me sleeping with my mouth wide open and drooling on your pillow. You've heard me snore. Yet you still think I'm glam (despite those objectively-speaking very un-glam moments). You've put up with our long-distance for the past 3 years. I'm coming home soon, J -13 M -7.

Of Santa and Xmas Wishes

"...makes me feel kinda warm and tingly inside...like pinworms!"

King Julian from Merry Madagascar

According to the ever-so-sexy King Julian, the spirit of Christmas is all about giving and receiving - and asking Santa for that special pressie. Remember those Dear Santa letters you wrote as a kid? Have you ever written one as an adult, wishing for a promotion, a mansion, a fabulous trip around the world, meeting The One or that it rains Louboutins and Chanel 2.55 handbags? 


Well don't despair coz guess what, they might after all come true *wink* Ok maybe not the last one, we can still all wish! 

I was de-junking my drawer today and had to literally blow the dust off my journal. It's been ages since I last cracked it open...*cough* and came across this ridiculous entry...

"Wed 29 Nov 06

22h39

Relationship Resume

* Disastrous 19 year love life - please lift the curse

* Date Report: 2-week relationship at 14. Ending: Bad

* Holiday Fling Report: none

* Uni Fling Report: non-existent

* Uni status: still single

* Uni rejections: one - stalker

* Uni crushes: one - still doesn't know I exist, still unloved, still sending mixed signals.

Dear Santa,

I've been a good girl this year, please send me my perfect boyfriend as soon as you find him. I'll be eternally grateful if you do.

Much love,

Kit

P.S - Because you once said to me at Harrod's when I was 8 that all little girls are special, I want a tailor-made bf so please find enclosed my Perfect Boyfriend Requirements. I'm also asking for a 30-day trial period and if he's broken or if I'm not satisfied with him, I'm sending him back. 

PBR aka the Perfect Boyfriend Requirements

* Taller than 1m75

* Cute smile (dimples optional)

* Dark hair, dark eyes
* Likes reading

* Don't mind an occasional drinker. Must not get wasted.

* Can put up with an occasional smoker. Sort of.

* Loyal, sweet and romantic - the New Age Lancelot. Chivalry isn't dead Santa.

* Cheeky sense of humour

* A minimum amount of brain-cells required

* Likes my geeky inner self 
* Understands my ramblings and rants against the world 
* Wipes up the froth at my mouth when I do
* Understands my obsession with cheese
* Not a fellow KitKatoholic - likely to steal my stash!
* Loves me for me

P.P.S - If he doesn't exist the Oxford Dictionary to Understanding the Male Psyche wouldn't be so bad either."

 The Zettai Kareshi (Absolute Boyfriend)  J-Drama poster

The manga by the talented Yuu Watase is so funny and cute!

It's about a girl who comes across a website 

where you can create your own boyfriend, cool huh? ;p

It started out as a joke when L, A and I were moaning about our love-lives and we agreed to send Santa a letter. L said we were crazy but  A and I actually did! And guess what? Santa did send me the Perfect Boyfriend albeit not in a gift box and tied up in a huge ribbon, but Frog asked me out on Christmas Day. Irony, coincidence or fate - I'll never know but hey maybe if we all send letters to Santa, it might just as well start raining Louboutins hehe...

So what are you wishing for this year?

2 more weeks to go!

Soap Operas for Financiers

Who would've thought that the mighty emirate would collapse? A flourishing economy hardly affected by the 2007-2009 crisis, it's hard to believe that Dubai is tied up to its neck and wading in debts. Yet another victim of capitalism and overzealous borrowing?

The Dubai World saga is making waves...apparently insiders have been hush-hushing about this since July but it's now out in the open. The STC (and presumably the financial hub itself) is in big trouble with a capital T as a statement was issued recently that the Dubai governement (and neighbourinng Abu Dhabi's) wouldn't stand behind Dubai World and its property unit Nakheel. 


Moreover rating agencies have been downgrading the issuers as soon as they could. Nobody can blame them for such a brash action, especially after all the blame they've been receiving for the 07-09 crisis. 


What intrigues me (and I haven't found the answer to that yet) is why state guarantees weren't given to Dubai World and more importantly, how the hell would they restructure a soukouk? From what I've gathered, nothing of this scale has been done so far...

Once Upon a Time...

...20-odd years ago, the fairies were called to the human kingdom. A baby girl was born and the fairies had to execute their duty and bless her, just like in Sleeping Beauty. 

Like every other little girl, she received the usual gifts of intelligence and beauty by the Fairy Queen and was bestowed some  particular talents by the other fairies. However, somewhere along the way, the Baking Fairy got stuck in a traffic jam and never made it. Coupled with the fact that the Imp of Clumsiness had somehow sneaked in during the ceremony and cursed her..well...the poor girl would grow up to be a walking disaster in the kitchen. And no-one, not even her Prince Charming, would be able to undo this curse - it would take way more than a kiss, a white horse blue Volkswagen Bora and a magnificent wedding (not yet!). Oh and he needs a lead-lined stomach and insurance against food-poisoning.

The End.

Another week, yet another epic fail. 

I valiantly waded through eggs, creme fraiche and apples and my apple tart turned out like this:

Ok it doesn't look too bad but I used ready-made pastry, so that's supposed to be idiot Kit-proof. It turned out to be an apple flan instead.

Luckily I haven't killed anyone yet and it's always edible but the presentation and the texture are always a bit messed up.

Oh and I forgot to butter the foil paper and had to do some heavy-lifting with a chainsaw and a spade, hence the crumbly bits that I tried to shove in the background and hide. 

[Edit] I also forgot the sugar -.-'' 

Sunday Boredom

I couldn't do her left eye properly. She looked half-woman, half-goblin 
so I decided to add a hat.

You can tell I got bored after doing the face and the multiple 

attempts at getting the left eye right!!!

Final attempt. 

Not so bad after practially a year of neglecting my pencils.
Dinner time now *sigh* can't be arsed to cook.

My Sister's Keeper

I watched My Sister's Keeper last night and all I can say is that it's a beautiful movie, I bawled my eyes out throughout the whole 1h50 and that Nick Cassavetes did an amazing job directing this movie. It takes a lot of talent to be able to reach out to the audience and make them feel such a complex range of emotions. This movie somehow raises some pretty interesting (and sensitive) issues and here's my two cents' worth.

Anger

I think it's unfair towards Anna to use her for the sole purpose of keeping Kate alive and I fully support her decision to be medically emancipated from her parents. Not only is it unethical, in my opinion, to keep a human alive and use her as tool to somehow be used as some sort of "medicine slash remedy" for someone else – albeit a blood relative – it’s also quite twisted to actually think of creating a designer baby and actually go through with it. Sadness combined with sickness may lead some people to undertake desperate measures but when it reaches that extreme, I think that’s a bit sick.

Outrage
Emotionally blackmailing your child into having to give body parts throughout her whole life in order to keep her sibling alive is bound to have troubling psychological effects on the former. Diaz’s character made such an awful mother and “what about your sister” seemed to be her tag-line and excuse to literally anything and everything. Does she ever think about what Anna wants? And coming from a lawyer, it’s quite shocking that she thinks she has the penultimate right over her daughter’s life. Claiming that her second daughter understood the implications of each operation as well as the side-risks when she was younger than 11 is a bit mind-boggling. What gives? I mean what makes Sarah think that her first-born holds a superior right to life over the youngest one? What if Anna had gotten an infection and died from one of those multiple operations, would she have considered another designer baby? 

Fear
What if you were in Kate’s shoes? Would you have given up your life or would you have pushed for your sister to be your medical slave until you die?
 
Helplessness
What about Jesse and the dad (didn't catch his name =p)? What would it be like to be in their shoes and having to see their family tearing each other on a daily basis and being unable to do something about it? Would you trade one child/sister’s life for another?
 
Doubt/Guilt
As both a parent and a human being, I think that the father was way more realistic and rational. Compared to the mother, he seemed less selfish and considered Anna’s point of view. There was one line that I thought was relevant “I suppose this was the eventual outcome. It was our fault, we went against nature [...] Had we pushed her too hard? Forced her into helping her sister? [...] All those little encouragements and rewards, were they real? Or did we just want what we wanted?” Okay that’s more than one line but you get the drift. Parenting is tough – I can barely imagine what kind of mother I’ll turn out to be – but having to doubt your parenting skills once it gets this far, is even tougher...Does the guilt eat you alive? 




What do you think?
 
On another note, I'd never thought of adding Jodi Picoult as a regular on my reading list...I might have to reconsider that.