Archive for the ‘Piercing the mundane’ Category

Things we do for pole.. and its people

January 4th, 2012 by Scarlett Ting

The only way I was in involved in the above picture – the photographer.

Despite the 101 things that would potentially raise a hundred brows, I can safely assure you that whatever we do in the pole studio is all clean fun and nothing criminal is going on.

In our bids to increase our flexibility, we had sought Lavinia’s advice on how to stretch which Jean helpfully suggested for me to try this stretch cos I was complaining how painful the frog stretch was, and Jean was probably trying to show me how I have no grounds to be yelping out loud when doing the frog stretch at all.

Not only the positioning reminded me of the very time I pushed Minibean out of my vijayjay some 5 years ago, but the pain was so excruciating that it was nothing like I had experienced before, besides childbirth of course.

I ended up have to do my labour breathing techniques, squealing and moaning, as I grabbed for a pole and using the other free hand punching the floor with my fist. It was too painful to even to mutter a curse word.

The last time I did any of the above? In the labour ward. ‘Nuff said.

The super adorable Lijia, who is one of the more flexible ones and has absolutely no fear of pain (I assume) was sabotaged by me to be the next, I was half suspecting she might enjoy it…. but she proved to me -sniggers- she’s human like you and I.

It is no wonder that I woke up with plenty of aches this morning and could barely move. PAINNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN! Especially when Minibean jumped onto my back cheekily and the pain made me instinctively wanna push her away but she might fall to the floor and injured herself rigghhtt if I do, and I might be accused of child abuse and she will remind me of how I would go to jail, so I didn’t.

One of Minibean’s gems today (besides sneakily telling my mum that we are going on a holiday, when it was agreed between my dad and I that we are not going to tell her until a closer date, bao tor kia!) was when she snuck up on me while I was working, “Mummy, can you download and play Paradise City so I can listen while you work?“

WAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.

She still remembers I played the song during one bedtime (yes, I am such a baaaaaaadddd mum, what kind of mother plays Paradise City as a lullaby?!) though the memory eluded me for a moment and she said in an English accent (really where did you get that?), “You don’t remember?“

She then reminded me it was during one of those nights when I tried to appease her by making up a children story on my own, about a band of cats chasing their dreams, which we named, “The Cat Story“. Probably says how creative the story is with its creative title. Hurhur.

Okay, back to pole.

Feels awfully good for me to get back to the momentum when I made the decision to head to the studio (the other option is a long overdue massage!), and been a while since I last share the polegress but hopefully that will be one of the things that will get going on this space too.

One of the greatest things that happened to me is to pick up pole fitness, and the great bunch of people I met. Everyone is encouraging, super down-t0-earth, incredibly sporting and I went to the studio receiving Christmas gifts and lotsa snacks.. and most importantly, plenty of comfort. I cannot even begin to explain how fabulous this group of girls are.

Christmas gift from Joyce! Gorgeous!

Now.. all I need is that breakthrough I got to have.

Though this is supposed to be a super quick one BUTTTTTTTTTTT since I am in the mood for it (yay to spontaneity and getting one of the old memories reinstated here haha), I should just write about a memorable Acro Wedding, which is one of the sweetest weddings I ever attended and of course, one of the most fun ones as well.

Acro wedding = when one of the pole chicks in the studio is snapped up by one of the few lucky chaps who managed to snag a pole chick home!

The wedding we attended on the 22nd October was especially special because it was the wedding of one of my favourite babes (also arguably the coolest) and our resident vet – V-Lynn’s.

Driving to the wedding at Shangri-La, where the carpark was under construction and I made 1001 turns before finally getting to the serviced apartment side to park.

Jean and some of the girls just reached as well!

Joyce!

Before the banquet started, a quick trip to the washroom for camwhore moments, and I joked we better not go near Bedok Reservoir (with all the bodies found there) or people might get spooked or think we are gonna do something silly.

Marla, Jean and I :) Two of the ladies I am really thankful for… for being understanding cos I am not someone easy to be understood hahahaha.

The best instructor and encouraging friend one could have. Thank you, Eunice.

The super-hiao and glamourous Gwen and I!

The utterly gorgeous bride and I!

V-Lynn looked towards me when the food was served as the rock version of Canon in D came on because she had mentioned how it sounded cliche to play Canon in D but how much she liked it and I joked how she should run in with the rock version playing, but apparently she had never heard it before!

She even asked if any of the pole girls would like to perform for her, and to me, that says plenty because many of us would find it hard to account to the elders because the stigma is something lots of them refuse to let go.

Because of that, we get to see graceful, touching dances put up by Eunice and Marla

And it was a touching moment when V-Lynn dedicated “You don’t have to let go” to her mum through a beautiful, tear-inducing pole dance routine.

And it was a beautiful, beautiful night.

I think it means a lot to us pole fitness freaks that the difficulty of the sport and the efforts most of us put in are appreciated, understanding it could be an artistic expression, instead of putting the spotlight on the perceived sleaze factor associated with pole dancing.

Some of us girls did a small part in doing the intro to Marla’s dance, thus I didn’t have my phone with me to take any pictures!

More camwhore moments!

Me and Joyce!

The Acro team with the bride’s uber cool parents and hubby.

The real crazy fun begun after everyone left the ballroom and some of the Acro girls left early, leaving the “westerners” behind.

Beautiful lines.

I am not sure when it all started when the groom’s brothers insisted the girls to drink and the girls gamely showed what a true sport they are.

Karen’s boyfriend William had to stick it through with us, and though he was sitting one side quietly and drinking when asked to, we took advantage of the situation and insisted he do a handstand for us.

MANNNNNNNNNNNNN HOR?!

Split on the chair, in jeans!

The girlfriend’s turn, Karen’s split in heels. HOT!

Marla’s turn to shine!

I have no idea when the madness ensued, but all of us decided to get down and dirty onto the floor, bride included!

I was wearing a bodycon short dress, I don’t think anyone else had it as difficult as me with a bunch of guys (with their wives by the way) looking on. And yes, we stole the flowers from the banquet tables!

We brought the unglam-ness onto the stage with the bride trying to protect my modesty:

And us trying to look pretty:

The funniest moment came when we decided to do a bridge:

And the groom’s friend thought it would be real funny as we held it for the camera to burrow through the tunnel formed (he’s underneath V Lynn) which totally caught us unaware.

They made the groom do it and I was bumped off cos he wasn’t commando crawling but doggie crawled through and bounced me off course and I fell on him.

And with some of the girls already tipsy it was super hilarious and even I was the sober one felt a little high from it all.

It was a memorable night :)

Sophie, Karen, Eunice, Lydia, VLynn, Marla and I! The gorgeous bride climbed onto the VVIP table which seats 20! The perfect solution for fitting all the important family in so no one would feel left out especially after hearing some friends complaining about seating arrangements on wedding days.

The lovely couple who were such fantastic sport.
All of us climbed on and it was the only time throughout the entire madness that the banquet staff came over to stop us. We took the birds decor as props!

And one more of us looking a little less than sane:

By the time this post is up, V Lynn is already back from her honeymoon, and such joy the girls bring, which makes me really grateful for them, and here’s wishing V Lynn lotsa bliss and a marriage filled with love, acceptance and joy.

Okay, as usual, today is supposed to be planning day and all the itineraries are making me seeking some sort of distraction, back to work I go!

Tsk, am supposed to get into the momentum of writing and as much as I am trying but really ah, what’s the point ah? My life soooo boring what is there to write about really?!

Posted in People, Perk-me-ups, Piercing the mundane | No Comments »

Green Hornet and Bloodnofsky

January 30th, 2011 by Scarlett Ting

Thanks to Domino’s Pizza and Omy.sg, I snagged a pair of movie tickets to the special screening of The Green Hornet (in 3D, no less!) at Orchard Cineleisure on Thursday.

You see, unemployed auntie like me is like that one, you give me free tickets to something I would have caught anyway, I am more than happy to turn up, regardless what company you are from. I am cheap that way. Heh heh.

If your company has issues with that and has to “warn” me about the “consequences” of attending other companies’ activities via distinctively bad PR (honestly, I would think it wasn’t the company per se, but more of the way it was handled), eh… I am too clueless to understand the whole politics behind it and wish to be no part of. But I am not paid to turn up, so I think there is no issue with me going, right?

I wouldn’t know cos my queries went unanswered after I replied.

What’s more, I started blogging for myself, and for no one else, and so my content should be solely my own, and no body else’s, and I shan’t coerce into otherwise. Why else anyone starts a blog for?

But it’s lunar new year, lai lai, everyone friendly, lai!

Sorry to be totally straying away from the topic, because omy.sg has been extending some goodwill my way, and like I said, I am easily bought with free food and movies sincerity and nice people,  so I won’t stay away from events just because others frown their brows over it. It’s a matter of principles, I insist.

And it doesn’t help just couple of weeks ago I spoke of how my DNA has this flawed strain of stubbornness.

Nonetheless, it wasn’t rebellion that brought me to the event, but my love for delicious pizza and a crazed obsession for.. no, not Mr Chou, but instead, a certain Mr Waltz, which essentially build my resistance to almost as strong as a certain pair of Scientology movie stars in the gym’s lockers room.

We reached Orchard Cineleisure at 6.15pm to register for the pre-movie reception.

Me in my Oversized Knit Top in Khaki from www.gorgeouspallies.wordpress.com

I think I am getting too old for Cineleisure, seriously. I started visualising how I would be stalking this place in the future for signs of Minibean.

The special screening tickets, courtesy of Domino’s Pizza and Omy.sg.

The reception was already buzzing with life with a long queue to the free flow of pizzas, and the ceaseless cans of Coca Cola and mineral water.

I was almost too shy to join the queue, so I bade for my time, until the queue cleared up.

My thunder speed and swift reaction time would make Kato (Jay Chou’s character in Green Hornet) proud.

Though I am usually a fan of thin crust pizza, but I really like this cos it was so juicy and the meat is so tender!

I cannot survive without anything spicy, and lotsa chilli flakes for me to knock myself out.

So it was no surprise that…

It was gone in a flash. Super unglam, picking my teeth with my tongue.

And shamelessly and sheepishly returned to the booth for more helpings!

Almost too embarrassed to admit that was me, hahaaha!

After stuffing ourselves with the delicious pizza, we headed into the theatre for a brief speech by Domino’s Pizza CEO, and it was the first time I watched a 3D movie at Cineleisure.

I actually enjoyed it lots because the glasses are actually pretty comfortable. Prior to the movie I had no idea I was going to watch it in 3D.

But honestly, I am not sure if it was entirely necessary to watch The Green Hornet in 3D because the 3D effects didn’t wow me half as much as the trailer to Thor (oh gosh, I can’t wait for Thor to be out).

For the uninformed (I doubt any of you are), The Green Hornet opened in cinemas on 27th January, starring Seth Rogen, Jay Chou, Cameron Diaz, and Christoph Waltz, about an unconventional superhero’s journey from a rich man’s good-for-nothing son to unlikely superhero-dom after his dad’s death, with plenty of credits to his sidekick, Kato.

I watched the show for one reason – Christoph Waltz, and I was creaming my panties when he came on right at the start of the movie with James Franco (Wah! Added bonus!).

Tell me who can NOT love Christoph Waltz after his Inglourious Basterds performance?

I would watch anything with him in it, and he certainly didn’t disappoint. True to what Jean had shared earlier, he stole the show with the eccentricity, comedic timing (surprise, surprise), and what can I say? So hot.

Alas, some might find it a complete waste of unadulterated talent to cast him in this film, but it is always cool to see a serious actor not taking himself seriously and max out the limit that was set for him for his role and did whatever he could with it. I believe that versatility is what made his performance such an enjoyable experience in The Green Hornet.

A sensitive baddie with his insecurities, that provided much comic relief.

The movie is also a Seth Rogen glorifying one (he is also the writer and producer), and was plenty of good laugh with his goofiness and clumsiness, though much people would find it a narcissistic approach but while he took charge of triggering the laughs and he had left more of the heroic attempts to his partner, Kato, and gave superheroism a whole new perspective.

And then, there is Jay Chou, who the Asians and screaming fan girls are more interested in, and definitely opened the market for the film in the Asian territories.

I find myself pretty uncomfortable when he started to mumble in English, which is oooo…kaaaayyy I supposed, because the role is supposed to be not fluent in English, but the theatre often erupted into laughter because of the cringe-worthiness of it all.

The young girlies behind my row couldn’t stop saying, “Eeee… oh shuddap already!” whenever he bantered with Seth Rogen, and I ended up laughing non-stop whenever they squealed unbearably.

“You’re a pussy boo-sie,” HAHAHAHAHAHAAHA

I told someone I watched The Green Hornet and mentioned about Jay Chou’s English, he actually said, “OH! He’s Taiwanese?! I thought he is Korean!“

Uhm… hokay…

I expected a cooler interpretation, cos he has always projected himself to be this super cool chap, but the performance was a little flat for me, cos it lacked that coolness he was capable of mustering.

I actually find his blanked out clueless look more charming, and the goofy stand-offs between him and Seth Rogen upping his likeability factor.

That is, however, if he doesn’t speak and make me giggle incessantly.

But how he had always saved the day for the supposed superhero in the show, has also made him the true hero of the show.

And now, most importantly…. where can I get one of those kick ass coffee machine? I will have absolutely no problem reading the labels!

If you are into serious movies with great cinematography, go for the Black Swan, if you are expecting brilliant 3D pictures, go with Avatar or wait for Thor (if the trailers are anything to believe in) but if you look for some mindless entertainment, The Green Hornet is definitely an enjoyable movie, and something not to be taken too seriously for you to be critical with.

The movie is good fun, and after the movie, Yi Hua from gorgeous pallies met up with me to pass me the green knit top (she gave me ang pow too!), and am fabulously happy that many of the items in their latest collections are sold out! And coincidentally, she was wearing the black knit top while I was wearing the khaki one.

Janet from omy.sg complimented on the khaki knit top too when she saw me at the reception prior to the movie!

And there is a sale on the site now for some brilliant buys at discounted price, almost all items below S$20.

Headed to Defu lane to chill and test drive a friend’s car, before hanging out till late after meeting with Cheyenne.

And thereby, concluded a nice, chilly night which left plenty of splendor for me to chew on.

Posted in Piercing the mundane | 2 Comments »

Sweetness overloaded

January 26th, 2011 by Scarlett Ting

It hasn’t been that great start to the week with Minibean having a persistent high fever since Sunday which warranted a trip to the hospital and after a blood test and some excruciating icy baths later, her fever is at least subdued.

Even though she’s still a bit feverish, but at least it is not 40 degrees anymore. I mean, I almost freaked out when she hit 40, cos after I popped her out, she never quite have anything like this.

Thankfully, she’s okay now, and why I can finally squeeze some time to give some TLC to this space.

It is no surprise that nothing exciting came up for the week, cos it all involves coaxing Minibean to take her medication, which she has absolutely no problem with (and should I commend that she didn’t even flinch when they took her blood, which was quite a long while cos they couldn’t get the blood out fast enough after they pricked her finger, so they had to squeeze it drop by drop?), and getting sleep deprived after the long wait at the hospital from 2am Tuesday morning when her fever medication just didn’t work.

Managed to squeeze some work talk with various people last night after leaving her at her grans, and still didn’t manage to get home early.

I need time at home. :|

Finally got a bit of time to replenish the energy and catch up with Eunice over the phone, and simple things like this feel damn good.

***

Came back home last week from a stressful day at work to receive this in the mail and I immediately felt better already!

(Disclaimer, this post is not a paid advertorial for any of the multi-mentions. I write because I can, and I like to, and it’s not always about moolah)

Thanks Charlene for the little bundle of sweetness!

A self-manufactured dress from Zepherra, thanks Charlene!

It was the day when the hall was buzzing with life and I tried it on for everyone to see, and the consensus?

I look.. ahem.. wait for it… SWEET.

Aunty looking sweet! Awesome man.

It’s the aptly named Charlene Chiffon Dress, in white, and it comes in other colours, black, blue and a sweet orangey pink.

The Chiffon is of extremely good quality, and the workmanship (which you can get a glimpse of from the picture of the brand tag) is intricate, and it has a slinky feel to it.

Charlene knew of my fear for bad quality chiffon, and immediately said she would send me this piece to change my mind about chiffon, and she was right, and you know how smooth, silky material tends to make you feel sexy? So yes, this sweet dress will make you feel sexy too!

I thought pure white looks too sweet on me, and decided to wear it with my own satin sash.

And the nice touch to the dress is the tie-back which allows you to adjust the shoulders of the dress according to the style you like.

Besides using it as the perfect dress to go charm your dates with, it can also be used for work.

And I love the ruffles at the chest which gives it a bit of sorely lack oomph. Heh.

You can tie it for a off shoulder look too should you decide to add a naughty, flirty tinge when heading out for date.

So I decided to wear it for the Peugeot event on last Saturday! It’s weekend, biattchhhes!

Shihui was there as well!

And the ever lovely Liwen!

If you don’t really notice, I don’t usually wear white cos I need a bib when eating, but I survived the night with Black Pepper Crabs on the menu during post-event dinner.

Was famished during the event which served only desserts.

So cuteeeeee! But I think Minibean too big for this already!

Yunfeng checking out the cars in the showroom.

When the band left the stage… guess who decided to throw all those sweetness away?

Yunfeng who very much gave face to turn up at the event for me, owe you oneee!

Edmund was there too!

Camwhoring, and it feels different to be in a car showroom when you have a licence to drive… then you start to think… “That car quite cool horrrrrr”

Awwwww… my ovaries are squirming! Sooooooooo cute! She’s also Tongtong!

We quickly adjourned to Sixth Avenue for dinner cos we were all famished, before returning home for me to slip out of the pretty white dress and wrap up the Saturday.

One thing about the white dress is that because it is in white, the lining while of good quality and decent, can still be a bit sheer (but thick enough not to be those super sheer), so nude undies and thong are required, but that’s just a minus for all things white.

Nonetheless you can opt for the darker colours or like the orange one which will be perfect for Lunar New Year. If you already did your Lunar New Year shopping.. hey, it lasts for 15 days!

****

A special shout out!

Passion Chiffionier has launched their New Year collection as well, and what’s awesome and special about this collection, is that… the owners are the models themselves! Makes me super excited for them which is why I thought I would do a mention here!

Jenn and Ling unveiled!

I especially love the kinky handcuffs ;)

The pretty skirts in maroon Jenn is wearing is wwwwoowww… look at that uhm, perky ass! And I particularly love the chiffon top Ling is wearing!

I thought Jenn looks downright awesome in this dress:

I think it is a superbly elegant piece and the lace is a subtle touch of sexiness. And it’s in lilac, such a romantic colour!

This piece on their model struck me to be a brilliant piece, and I love it with the complimentary skinny belt, and a halter dress is just sweetness and sexiness all in one, and with a stylish and chic jacket, it yet another versatile piece for work and after-work drinks!

Wear for picnic also damn romantic. In fact, it is my favouritest piece of the lot..

Okay, I am just an evil influence trying to get you guys off to shopping so I am not the only one suffering alone. But you all can make up with ang pows right?

If you need an extra push factor to sell, the lovely pieces I had featured for Passion Chiffionier are now on sale! All the best buys ever!

And if you haven’t seen Zoe Raymond doing plenty of justice to the sundress, here it is:

Spring is coming… and I shall head back to my spring cleaning. I mean the house, not my bank account.

Posted in Piercing the mundane, Tried & Tested/Advertorials | 2 Comments »

The Photoshoot Crasher

January 24th, 2011 by Scarlett Ting

This advertorial holds quite a lot more significance to other advertorials I ever done, and in a way, I am more “emotionally invested” than any other.

Remember how I mentioned in the previous post that last Sunday (16th) was a day I self-invited myself to a learning experience?

Well, the shameless being here tagged along to the photoshoot of Gorgeous Pallies Lunar New Year launch, so that I could feel what is like to run a blogshop and torture the model take portrait shots.

The girls told me earlier that they were gonna make it a more casual affair, and in my previous post about Gorgeous Pallies, I had mentioned how the brains behind Gorgeous Pallies had started the blogshop with the objective of celebrating friendships…

So, that very Sunday, I got to witness first hand how the motto held plenty of weight.

When I arrived at Y’s flat, the living room was seated with personal friends of theirs who were lounging around to give support, and just chatting and catching up. The girls were all huddling together to check out the new collection.. then I understood of why they wanna make it as casual as possible, because the session is so much vibrant and fun when you involve everyone you adore and love hanging out with.

I immediately felt like I was intruding on a cosy dressing up party between close friends since I don’t personally know the ladies well except for the random email exchanges we had.

But the girls immediately made me feel welcome and I was quick to leave my awkwardness outside the door.

The shoot was already undergoing halfway, with the bashful model Liying working the cameraaa and the pictures of her certainly didn’t do her justice cos she is so slim and pretty in real life.

I totally overstepped my line and asked, “Why so quiet, you mean there’s no music?” and the host promptly liven the get-together up with some music, which led Liying to start bobbing her head to the melody and she was absolutely adorable.

This was what she was wearing when I walked in:

I am not exactly sure if the cuteness of the dress was captured, but the little heart-shaped prints on it and the structure skirt made her legs look so long and slim that I fell for the dress gradually.

And the dress came in two other colours, which is a real bitch, because I get to pick 2 pieces to review for this collection, and it is gonna make my decision making a real tedious chore.

I really like the pink one cos of the black skirt, but remember how I am trying to get out of comfort zone these days? I opted for 3rd colour, which I immediately changed into to go to Basilico for dinner!

Eee yer, I also don’t know why my daughter must make such face taking picture with me.

Okay, at least this one looks more decent though she looked a little forced, and I know, doesn’t really show the full dress.

Anyway! My point being, I really like the dress. I know a lot of times I would say someone comment on how pretty my dress it until you guys also don’t know to believe or not, and this time, when I was out for dinner, someone AGAIN asked me where I got the dress from cos she thinks the dress is very special and pretty!

The top to the dress has a smooth silky feel to it, and cooling to the skin, and the special part to it lies on the shoulder, the cutting and the back.

The shoulders have a lil ruff that gives it a nice dimension, and the top is a little loose for that stylish twist to it, and if you want it to look a little different, you could slide the sleeves up for a more singlet-like look.

To me, I think it looks great without the belt (which was when someone asked me about the dress), but I like to pair it up with various belts to give it a different look each time.

Wore it for the event. And my eyes are swollen, very fugly so if you have to, just cover the face and look at the base.

I think I really shouldn’t be allowed out without 8 hours of sleep everyday.

The skirt to the dress is structure, and comes with a thin, smooth layer of lining within (which isn’t necessary in my opinion), and I like the button up part, which I actually wore it without buttoning to the top once, and tucked it into a V for a V-back.

The dress is not too constraining, and is stretchable, and was presentable enough for me to run a corporate event in, and at the same time, versatile enough for me to enjoy a flirty noon of lunch with Lee.

The other piece I chose is a piece I loveee so much that I wore it 3 times in a week!

The Oversized Knit Top

I love versatile pieces, and this soft, comfortable piece was a great companion over the past week with the weather turning chill on us unexpectedly.

I wore it for casual, with shorts, and I thought Li Ying looks absolutely wonderful in it with tights, which was why I was totally sold to choose this piece for myself.

After wearing it for casual, I also thought it would be brilliant to throw it over a camisole, and match it with a pencil skirt for the corporate days.

Top it off with long necklace and a pair of heels, and it’s perfect for the freezing air-condition in the office.

And I like it enough to actually BUY the green one as a gift after wearing the Khaki one myself.

And I used the discount code “Scarlett Ting” to get 10% off. Super weird, super cheapo, but super gratifying hahaha!

I decided to edge Y out of her role as the photographer, and decided to try my hands at it, and I think I tortured Li Ying so much that I was afraid I might scare her off enough to walk away from the set.

But she was an extremely good sport, totally no airs and was game enough for any suggestions we threw her way. She was smiling throughout and totally cute bouncing to the music.. she takes instructions amazingly.

She actually reminds me of Lisha.. and I wonder how Lisha is doing these days.

Then, the point came that I was trying some of the dresses to see which one I wanna leech off them, and in my state of oilyness (I know it may not be obvious, but I had no blush on, I was perspiring non-stop, and my make up was all smudged), I was coerced into stepping in front of the camera.

I know its sounds weird for a camwhore to say this, but it was a very strange experience, cos all that self consciousness (despite not being the first time in front of a camera), but the whole point is trying not to be you.. and c’mon, young girls see me wear already who still dare to buyyy??

But thankfully, the fun of it all for them to make it a “friends/pals production”, made it less intimidating and it was plenty of good fun as we laughed and giggled. Like when Li Ying told me that she would let me lean on her cos auntie here cannot balance on heels.

That is why.. if you haven’t realised, you will see this banner at Gorgeous Pallies latest collection:

Don’t believe what they tell you. I didn’t make special guest appearance (seriously, if really need special guest appearance, won’t be me liao!). They sugar coated it to save the embarrassment of me crashing their shoot. Hahaha.

In this collection, there are plenty of gorgeous pieces, like the casual River Island Inspired Jewel blue dress, with an attached bib necklace, which Li Ying likes.

And personally I thought the ruffled high waisted dress is peeerrrrfecccttt great for the new year with its cheery colours and flirty hems.

The only down side is the light pink one I am wearing is slightly sheer, so nude undies and thongs would be more ideal, but the one on Li Ying is pretty much “undies safe”.

The top is made of stretchable, comfortable cotton which gives the bust area a good fit, the black strap gives the illusion of waist, and the layers of chiffon beneath will cover any over-indulgence of love letters over Lunar New Year!

I love the lace peeking out! So peek-a-booish. Adding a tinge of sexiness to the sweetness.

Oh, how can I not mention the Lacey Puffed Sleeves Dress Li Ying was wearing?

I think all of us didn’t see the potential of this top/dress, until Li Ying carried it off with perfection. I am bias cos I really like the last picture of her.

And I especially love her in the picture wearing the black one. Looks great for work and pretty versatile for casual too.

And now.. just as we were wrapping the shoot up, Li Ying and I saw this gorgeous piece and insisted on trying it on.

The PURRRFECCCTTT dress for Lunar New Year. Li Ying and I swooned over these pieces, and though they wanna keep stock, we insisted on trying on and not get out of it. Hahaha.

Apparently they had wanted to keep the stock of these dresses for their friends only because the quality is so good that it is even better than many of my dinner dresses, cos it came in thick, luscious stretchable slinky material, and the price is slightly higher than others, but definitely worthwhile to invest in something this good quality.

There are pleated details on the front of the dress, which give.. ahem, extra contours to the figure. The details to how the fabric drapes at the side of the dress gives an illusion of hour glass figure, and give plenty of character to a little red/black dress.

It took me and Li Ying a while to persuade them to put the stock up for sale and even before the dresses are up on the newest collection, some of the stocks were already gone cos their pals snapped them up and they were wondering if they should keep stock for their friends instead!

So don’t miss your chance to get this piece for Lunar New Year.

I feel quite bad cos I know I didn’t do such a good job with the photography and there are so much more for me to learn about studio photography (okay, technically it was more like a party than a photography session, but that was the beauty of it all!), and I am thinking of using Minibean as my guinea pig, heh heh heh.

And thank you Y and C for allowing me to crash and try my hands at photography and now I know how badly I suck. Ha! Ha! But really, the most fun thing was the spontaneity and silliness of it all, cos the company was awesome.

Gee, is Lunar New Year happening in 10 days’ time? I almost didn’t realise how fast time has passed.

So if you wanna avoid the mall crowd and horrendous traffic, go shop away in front of the monitor with Gorgeous Pallies and have a fuss free Lunar New Year shopping!

Or maybe, if you need a better reason to shop, it’s Monday, time to drive the blues away!

Don’t forget, you get 10% off, quoting the narcissistic codeword… which can be found somewhere in this post.

Happy shopping!

Posted in Piercing the mundane, Tried & Tested/Advertorials | No Comments »

Things like such I’m too old for

January 23rd, 2011 by Scarlett Ting

Last weekend was one that was crammed with activities that I could barely recover from the work week.

It was an early Saturday morning on the 15th Jan, when I had troubles getting out of bed, cos there was a photoshoot happening in a dodgy corner of Singapore.

It was so dodgy that we didn’t know how to get there, and the whole building reeks of ammonia. Yet, there was a rustic feel to it, that you could hardly find anywhere in Singapore these days.

As you might have realised, the theme was jeans + crisp white shirt.

The photoshoot was paced to go well, until Minibean threw an absolute hissy fit and refused to co-operate, because the attention wasn’t on her, so she was whiney, weepy, and started crying in front of the camera, defiantly going against all instructions given to her.

It took lotsa attention and pacifying before her real self surfaced, and pretty much became the camera-flirt required out of her. And from then, there was pretty much no stopping her.

And she decided which props she wanna use, and which pose she would wanna go for.

The shoot started in the morning, and went on for 2 hours, and it was also an impromptu celebration for Marc, who was turning 21.

I LOVE THIS PICTURE. I don’t know what got Minibean this excited, but it deffo was a welcome change from her initial attention-seeking emo-ness.

Minibean and the birthday boy.

Finally it was a wrap, and a breezy afternoon means that I had no qualms about wearing a long-sleeved shirt without changing out.

By then, Minibean’s crisp white shirt had became crumpled and with lunch on the menu next, it’s better for her to change out of it.

Me and my Tongtoooooooooong.

It was a lunch of absolutely delicious local fare, which was a challenge cos I pretty much had to make sure the curry for the prata, sauce for the indian rojak, gravy for the duck and chilli paste for everything else wouldn’t end up on my shirt. For the uninitiated, there was a 100% track record of me staining my whites, and that was a special day where history was made, cos my white shirt escaped unscathed.

Decided to head home for a nap before returning for Marc’s birthday party, and it says a lot when I had slept through the ringers, and woke up past 8pm to do a mad rush to Marc’s 21st birthday party.

And yes, what’s an ancient dinosaur doing at a youngster’s do?

I asked myself throughout the night too, but realised instead of feeling at home at such parties, such parties had became something more for Minibean than me.

Las Vegas theme! I was more interested to find out where the casino is. Hurhuhur.

Marc Money for the programs of the night.

I would have turned up in fishnet and garters.. but remember, I am attending as Minibean’s mum, so I have to put my real self somewhere else.

The little mite had plenty of fun, which explains why she refused to leave until it was 1am.

She had plenty of company of jiejies, and some of them were pretty funny with the conversations that went on.

When she was sitting on the laps of one of those babysitters of the night, she was asked..

“So, do you have a boyfriend? How old are you?”

“No, I don’t have.”

“Why?”

“Because papa mummy say cannot…..”

HAHAHA Yes, you go baybeh.. please remember this when you are at least 25.

I think I am really getting old, when Marc announced his girlfriend is 17, I found myself plunging into depression to think that my Tongtong might have a boyfriend at 17.

I know! Impossibly double standard right? Since my first relationship was also at 17.. but nowadays I think is TOO young, HOW HUH?!

While they were playing game, Minibean said something like “Faster lah!“, and one of them girls gasped in disbelief, “WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY!”

She turned to the girl next to her and asked, “Did she just say fuck off???!!!”

Until the girl put her straight that it was “faster” before the girl in question heaved a sigh of relief.

Don’t worry babe, if she really said that, I would be the first to freak out, not you, laughs.

When the group of early twenties youngsters posed for photograph, we were conveniently left out and Minibean was quick to find a good spot to insert herself into.

If it was a tall building, I would have thrown myself over when Marc’s girlfriend left, and said “Bye aunties, uncle” to us.

Pride shredded to bits and pieces. Checked.

Nonetheless, it was a sweet, nice party and Minibean had plenty of good company and fun, and a blatant reminder that a shoot photoshoot is enough to paralyse me in bed, and I probably can’t gel in well with youngsters anymore, and I shall leave all those to Minibean.

Only consolation.. I think most of those peeps didn’t know who Minibean’s mummy was cos I was sitting just blending in and they were saying all kinds of things to her.. until maybe when Minibean decided to run over and give me a kiss that they went.. “woooooooops….“

Posted in Piercing the mundane | No Comments »

The fringe of 2011

January 11th, 2011 by Scarlett Ting

The post to celebrate the end to a fabulous year and welcoming 2011 is well-delayed which come to think of it, is better than last year’s which had stayed in my draft post and never made it due to my procrastination.

My bad.

It was a special conclusion to the year 2010, and I thought it was definitely worth a mention. Nothing much to shout about, but sometimes, you can’t just define the warm and fuzzy feeling which stems from the sheer simplicity of things.

But be warned of the LOOONNNGG POST AHEAD, but I assure you it’ll be well worth it.

***

Just before the end of 2010, a couple of very hardworking ladies got in touch with me (seriously, who in the right mind would still be thinking of working with all the festive celebrations marked down on the calendar?!) and introduced me to their newly-started venture and asked if I would like to do a review for them.

It was during the period of distress, because the ASOS loots meant to tide me over my festive season didn’t reach me in time, and ahem I insist that it IS a very distressing circumstances, and I believe if you have a pair of X chromosomes in you, you’d deffo agree with me.

As usual, I know not all advertorials will pull through (before you shut off and think this is just another advertorial, stay on till the end cos got goodies for you too!), and it would take some time before the initial liaising before anything could take place, and what’s more if you hadn’t already knew, I always insist that I don’t feature things I don’t like, or randomly choose a few pieces of garment just because I am entitled to.

That is, if the things are not my style, then it is pretty hard for me to feature it credibly, and not nice if I eventually put them up for sale, right?

But what struck me from the beginning was how nice and awesome Y and C from Gorgeous Pallies are (which reminds me of Jenn and Ling and that made me feel warm and fuzzy) before they even showed me their blogshop, I truly like them already (okay Y first, because she got in touch with me first)!

After a couple of emails, they directed me to their websites and asked if anything caught my eyes so that I could be prettily-dressed for the festive season.

It was a rather basic site, and not as swish-swoshy as more established blogshops, but I absolutely adore the simplicity of the website.

What caught my attention first were some of the pictures they used to portray friendship.

If what you see is a bland website and judge it before you even look on, then that’s where you are wrong. To me, it was a site they put their heart and soul into after trying to figure out the basics from the beginning, without any prior experiences, and it is filled with sincerity.

It doesn’t reek of all that jazzy stuff that is sheer sugar-coating and packaging that don’t guarantee you good customer service and try to shortchange you with poor quality stuff, which trust me, as a paying customer, I had my fair share of agony dealing with.

I remember in one of the exchanges, I ask my usual question of “Why did you guys decide to start a blogshop? What’s the direction?”

I believe from one’s reply, it is often quite telling. Some people wanna make money. Some people wanna jump on the bandwagon. Some people just wanna advocate their own style. Some people wanna be designers. Some thought it would be fun. Some just wanna be different. Some just needed an excuse to expand their wardrobe. You name it, I’ve heard it.

It was a refreshing answer when Y replied to my emails and chirped, “we hope at the end of the days our customers will come to trust what we are offering and become our friends!”

It was not said in the contemplated, how-fake-can-you-be-way but it was said with ample spontaneity, filled with sheer hope and optimism, which I really do believe that she meant it.

And I would be skeptical if not for the fact that I saw the pictures on the site that strongly advocate true, sincere friendships, and how could I miss out the obvious fact that it is called gorgeous pallies?

You can have friends who truly cares, and want you to look good, and you can have some that pay you half-hearted compliments and secretly voodoo-dolling you just because you look better, and after the email exchanges with the girlies, I would say they are definitely the former.

And a true friend will look gorgeous to you, regardless.

But don’t let the simplicity site fool you, because it wasn’t long I found a very major problem I have with the site.

I have to admit at first glance, I am not sure if I would like anything, then upon entering each collection, my problem is, I cannot find something I NOT like.

And it didn’t help that some of the items were already selling like hot cakes and went off the shelves before I could even “chop” them.

Some of the pieces that caught my eyes were:

The leave-knitted blouse which reminded me immediately of Ah Cat (yes you Neko!), and thought how sexy she would look pairing it with jeans, denim skirt or just a sweet blazer to go along with it.

Stripes to make anyone look slimmer! And it fits up to UK size 12! I know many blogshops don’t usually cater for bigger sizing, and I once had to let go of my dress cos I CANNOT FIT INTO IT, felt so insulted!

And the sweet yet sexy piece with lace up in front which comes in 3 colours. If you don’t know me by now, I have an obsessive relationship with anything that can lace up or tied, I think I liken it to unwrapping a present!

Sian. First collection I already got infatuated with half of the collection, why did I tell them I usually review 3 pieces in the first place ah? I should throw a diva fit and demand everything.

Okay, kidding! Before you guys really think I am some kind of diva, I am just a regular person with a blog, struggling as a stay-at-home-mum and sometimes leech off free clothes so I don’t need to shop make my daughter’s pocket money with the rare and occasional advertorials.

Then I browsed the 2nd collection.

I love casual dresses like this which is comfortable, with a touch of femininity (to complement what I lack) and elegance. I think casual style is under-rated!

Somemore got pockets! I can put Minibean’s rubberbands and ribbons or even hide her sugary snacks when I have to.

I recently find myself drawn to dresses with pockets because it is so conveniently for everything!

I asked extensively about this dress to find out it is non-sheer, made of good quality cotton and I just love how it is flirty and has plenty of character to it.

I didn’t choose this piece eventually and I kinda kick myself for it.

I love floral and body-hugging dresses! So it was naturally I was drawn to it, but I didn’t end up choosing this solely because I have too many floral dresses and it would not help to expand the versatility of my wardrobe. But if you’re looking for the ideal Chinese New Year dress, this will be it :)

I like black dresses. Especially versatile pieces like this that is great for work, presentation, and even for a night of drinks. If you don’t want to go with the belt it comes with, even a skinny belt with pearls/scarf (oh gosh, how auntie am I these days?!) would complement it very well. What I also like about its structure that it gives post-childbearing hips like mine a good cover up.

Okay, what hips am I talking about? I have no hips, no shape, no whatever, that’s why I need such. IF you have a big one, it will hide it I suppose!

Then come the latest collection which made decision making even harder. Tsk.

I easily fall for dresses with exquisite back design, which give a simple design a bit of naughty twist.

We all know how sweetheart cut are always flattering and I think it is a very sweet piece which I also shortlisted for my decision making.

I love the grey and the purple! And I think the cut is very flattering, and I was sold at the word of “stretchy cotton”!

The refreshing hues and the flowy-ness of it all! So pretty!

How to make decisions like that?

I had 101 questions with regards to material, cut and quality of the dresses, which Y and C took great lengths to answer, and they shared with me their personal favourites and why they chose what they put on the blogshop.

In fact, along the way I found out they didn’t just anyhow-ly browse and bring in pieces and hope they will sell, they usually buy the dresses for themselves (dammit, I envy their wardrobe) to try the style and check the quality, before they sifted out the duds and found the gems they QC-ed to feature.

After deliberating, I opted for this elegant DKNY-Inspired Bow Tie Dress in Coral

Simply because I like the poofy part, and I think I will look good as a cross between an ang pow and a mandarin orange for the Chinese New Year! Sooo cheeeeery! I have always wanted to own something in coral, but never had one, and I thought it looks elegant, and the nude strap was a nice touch.

I chose this base on the possibility I thought of, and also it was something that never existed in my wardrobe, and it would be cool to try new things.

And I had expressed the interest to C and Y that I like Sweet Chiffon Frock in collection 2, but I have my reservations because… because…

….. the wimp in me is morbidly fearful of chiffon.

You know how some people cringe and cannot stand fingernails screeching on the blackboard, or the sound of metals rubbing off each other? My nemesis, is the feel of poor quality chiffon rubbing against each other.

I didn’t know that until I was wearing one of my ASOS dresses in the past, and I accidentally rubbed it together and the hair on my body all stood up.

I got my review dresses in just one day after the initial email to get in touch with me, and I can’t believe how prompt they were.

C, for good measures, brought along the Sweet Chiffon Frock and encouraged me to touch the material, and it was smooth, and velvety, totally not the sandy type I was afraid of. I went “Ehhh.. very nice!“. The inner satin was smooth to touch and she stuffed it into the bag of 2 items I initially chose, and gifted me with it (I know some blogshop owners would scrimp and try not to give away more than they should but they weren’t like that!).

And by this time, my ASOS dresses miraculous reached me too on the same day. So I was a happy chick.

My verdict?

I shunned all of my ASOS dresses and ended up wearing everything from Gorgeous Pallies for the entire festive period which speaks volume how much I love, love, love my loots from them.

Let’s start with the dress I had received some enquiries on after wearing it for my Papa’s 70th birthday – The Sweet Chiffon Frock.

I didn’t realise how good it looks and though it was not the first of my initial choices, I love wearing it especially with its sensual touch to the skin, and the flirty hem.

I chose the pink for it looks ballerina, and I don’t think I actually normally wear pink. Getting out of comfort zone, key note for 2011.

So I can cheat with ballerina flats without wearing heels, heh heh.

And I had emails asking me where I got the dress from, and a professional tai-tai complimented it on it after touching it and said it has a Chanel feel to it.

The satin makes it very cooling to wear cos it was slinky, and what I like most is how flattering it was (gives shape to shapeless me!), with how the chiffon falls at the hem, perimetered by the strip of black satin peeking out.

The coral dress did not disappoint. It was meant to be a tad loose fitting to puff out at the hips so it gives a hint of the hips I used to have but lost (I blame childbearing!!). It is eye-catching as a work dress, and elegant enough to be a dinner dress, which I wore for a very happy occasion for a dear friend’s wedding dinner cos I really like it.

The good quality cotton and chiffon outerlayer (yes, it isn’t those cheap kind that I am fearful of, again) gives the dress a nice dimension to it.

And then, my favourite piece of all, the netted top.

I know it is supposed to be a top, but the inner slut in me would hear nothing of it, and was adamant about wearing it as a dress.

It comes with inner slip, and what awes me most was how soft the netted top was, not the hard kind that gives you uncomfortable itch and leave ugly patches on your skin.

And if you think if it is soft, means it is vulnerable to washes, let me assure you not, which I found out accidentally. I was careful to put it into a zip-net so the wash wouldn’t spoil my favourite piece. Then as usual, the klutz in me has to do a booboo.

I didn’t zip it up.

So it fell out during the wash and survived a harsh wash and spin. There wasn’t a run in the netted top.

I thought if I had seen it earlier, I definitely would wear it for ZoukOut or a day out at the beach.

But since it was over, I think I have a clear winner for my New Year Countdown piece!

And so, I scooted down to Hotel Intercontinental after giving mum a lift to Geylang (she went for her prayer sessions, don’t think anyhowly! Though it took me a while to realise the weird stares from the uncles… knn..) where the usual gang were already gathered.

The loveliest companions for the night.

What’s up with Ed ah?

Me with my favourite Nick and his big, hard tool.

Tsk. Know the line. Caught KM red-handed.

You-know-who.

Chau was emo-ing one corner, so I went to join him.

Guess the guys don’t like me that much, do they?

Was playing taboo, and I had my first taste of Taboo ever on Christmas, and this 2nd attempt makes me realise maybe that I can be good!

Decided not to squeeze my poor feet into the heels and borrowed Ed’s shoes which look gigantic on my small feet.

Nonetheless, I thought it matched quite well, hahaha.

After I posted the pictures of New Year Countdown, I actually have friends asking me where I get the top from cos they really like it!

And the truly happy events of the evening, me with the girlies!

The one with the glow :)

So uhm, yah, it will be just a tirade of pictures coming up.

Me, being silly as usual.

In the middle one, can you don’t look so chio without make up or not?!

More of us.

We were just chilling in bed, nothing kinky, me swear!

This picture got story one. I saw things from her only her hubby should see.

We didn’t really flash ourselves, but just in case you guys see things and think you see things which are not what they really are.

The fireworks! Happy New Year everyone!

I don’t know why my kiss is so unbearable to her. Sniffs.

And this was how 2011 was ushered in, bouncing on the bed and being absolutely silly, but laughing hard and feeling young again.

And what’s 2011 without a narcissistic shot, when Edmund was trying to be a photographer, and asked me to give him “FHM”.

Wound up the night with little episodes of tying up the emotional loose ends of some friends, and I can only pray for happiness to come for everyone in my life.

It was the company that matters, and a small cosy group is what beats a large, irrelevant group where you are there just to make up the number.

It’s only then the hugs from friends who are sincere, that made the mark.

Have a good 2011 my dear friends, we can’t always be happy for every single day with ups and downs, but collectively, we can try to better this year than any other year we had.

Called it an early night and bade everyone goodbye, before returning to work on my emcee script last minutely till it was 4ish in the morning, and the nerves got the better of me.

And with that, thank you Gorgeous Pallies for the dresses to mark the special occasions for me in the new year, and for you all reading this.. a special little something from Gorgeous Pallies!

Get 10% discount at Gorgeous Pallies, and all you need to do is to uhm.. name drop. Somewhat. Just quote “Scarlett Ting” anywhere, before you order in case you forget, or after you order, or you can obsessively type it in every sentence if you scared they don’t see it!

gorgeouspallies.wordpress.com

Gosh, I love discounts! I’m a female, don’t judge me! Uh, so what you waiting for? Happy shopping!

Posted in People, Piercing the mundane, Tried & Tested/Advertorials | 4 Comments »

ZoukOut 2010, 10 years on

December 17th, 2010 by Scarlett Ting

For the uninitiated (unless you follow me on Twitter and hear my incessant, exasperated rants), hell yeah, you heard it right, the frumpy auntie here, by some sheer act of greater powers, actually managed to drag her sorry ass out of her comfort zone, and graced one of the biggest party events of the year!

Those who know me REALLY well, would probably go “WTF?! Seriously?“, and those who still have no absolute idea how misunderstood I am, would probably go, “Aren’t you a party animal…?”

Just to set the record straight, I can’t remember when was the last time I clubbed or partied just because I wanted to, instead of some hen’s party/birthday/supporting a performance/peer-pressured event that I felt like a total misfit in.

“You look like you party one, I got tickets for you, you wanna go or not?” I hesitated, and she continued, “come down lah, I drink with you! Freeflow leh!”

I don’t even drink, I told the person who had successfully coerced me into turning up, though I admit my curiosity and a deep sense of nostalgia were also contributing factors for me to join what seemed like 50% of Singapore’s population in Sentosa.

I thought I had officially retired from ZoukOut after not finding it within me to feel the slightest interest in it in the past years, but something about this year kinda put in the excitement in me – it’s the 10th anniversary of ZoukOut. And that means, it has been 10 freaking years since I went to ZoukOut.

Yes, don’t remind me that I am old enough to actually witness the first ever ZoukOut. And if someone has some old data footages, I was actually interviewed BEFORE ZoukOut, just outside Zouk (I remember they asked what was my occupation, and the fresh, 19 year-0ld me in minimal fabric, quipped “Teacher”. There was an awkward silence on set).

They contacted us for another interview on ZoukOut that day, and apparently the interviews were both shown on the big screen 10 years ago. I am just glad till today, I have NEVER, EVER seen those footage, or I might just cringe myself to death.

Tsk tsk, don’t see auntie no up, I also got “Once upon a time” one okay? When I attended the 1st ever ZoukOut, you probably hadn’t reached puberty yet. *Flips hair/bounces perm*

Can you imagine?! 10 years of ZoukOut already?! I shudder at the thought that the next time I go for ZoukOut, it might be with Minibean, just so I could spy on her throughout the night, and ogle at some young meat along the way or something.

That aside, I HAVE NO IDEA HOW THE PRICE OF ZOUKOUT TICKETS HAVE INFLATED OVER THE YEARS MAN! Really kill people set fire can?

And that’s why, if you’re a Citi Clear Platinum Card holder like me, you could have gotten special deals for the tickets at 10% less than what everyone else is paying for!

It is not the first time I am raving about the Citi Clear Platinum Card, first time being in 2007.. and with their exclusive invitation, I just feel I should return the niceness by sharing more about its awesomeness.

On the day of ZoukOut, if you were lucky enough to buy tickets (they were snapped up at the door in flash!) at the door, you would be entitled to the 10% discount as well with you Citi Clear Platinum Card!

Since the invitation allowed me to bring a guest with me, I asked Liwen, who is an absolute eye-candy to join me for the night since she was clearly looking forward to ZoukOut, the plus side of youthful exuberance, deffo.

Though I was slightly apprehensive that some people might think I am WAYYY overage for a vibrant scene like this, I was surprised how many friends who belong to my era were there as well!

The charming darkness of the night would mean that this cougar here had some young men fooled. I say, alcohol is dangerous lil boys, and clearly clouded your judgment.

I should have known better than to drive (HOHOHO, and yes, I am now a driver, watch out you people on the road!) to Sentosa after a packed day of activities and family commitment, but since I was heading to the party earlier, I thought I might get lucky.

Lucky was obviously not my entitlement for the night, cos though the traffic at Sentosa Gateway had initially fooled us into thinking how smooth it was, the silly diversion by the management brought us to Sentosa Cove to park, so we had to take a feeder bus that would bring us to the action zone.

We ended up going in circles, and got lost into a zone where we could hear no music, see no people… and a frustrating search for the bus stop with a severe lack of directions was quite the dampener.

We managed to run for one when we finally could find someone to ask, and then the bus was jammed up in the traffic (so apparently, they didn’t divert EVERYONE)… which had us reaching the venue much later than planned.

Nonetheless, having an understanding companion who was a delightful company meant that I slipped into party mode almost instantly when we found the entrance to ZoukOut 2010!

Me and the gorgeous babe, just before our entrance to the party.

Thanks for the invite! And the plus point of having my Citi Clear Platinum Card, also entitled us to enter via the priority queue without the need to wipe the sweat off the other sweaty bodies with our clothes cos the queues were so insane.

The checks were stringent and I wasn’t surprised as there were so many disappointed faces stranded outside the entrance begging for tickets, and I felt a slight guilt knowing that I wouldn’t be utilising my tickets to the max as I had to leave early to help out at Xiuzhao and Zhen Ming’s big day the next morning.

The walk to the venue was an excruciatingly long one, that I think walking around the stretch just to reach the actual entrance to the party was enough to give me a sore bum the next day.

Thankfully, I was able to get some leg-rest at Citibank’s bar, which already had a lively party in swing, yet not overly crowded like everywhere else.

Liwen getting into the exclusive bar area for some drinks before getting the party started.

I myself, have to admit I was a little overwhelmed with how much the party had progressed over the years, and I actually felt an indescribable sense of excitement and awe cos it way exceeded my expectations and how I had last remembered ZoukOut to be.

Liwen and I got into ZoukOut mode!

We had people MSN-ing and messaging us, and apparently our pictures on flickr was the very first picture to be showcased on Yahoo! Singapore. Gulp.

We looked all sweaty and tormented by the traffic!

What best way to chill and get the party started with… FREE FLOW OF DRINKS?!

Wooohooo! The free flow was available from 8pm to 10pm, and unfortunately, we reached a tad too late.

Anything you want! On the house! Where got such good deals one?!

But nonetheless, we had 8 drinks before time’s up, and the bartender widened his eyes when I told him, “uhm, just one glass of green tea for me, thank you very much.”

Don’t judge me! I am a cheap drunk! Party wouldn’t be interesting for me after one sip and my allergy to alcohol makes me cautious too. Free flow is so wasted on someone like me, I tell you.

But not for Liwen who got somewhat high by 10.30pm with the remainder 7 glasses of vodka redbull, which I might add that came with double shots of vodka!

While Liwen and I were at the front of the queue, they announced free flow was over. Gee, how lucky were we to be the last-est one?

I don’t know what he put into my green tea, but maybe it was the atmosphere and the awesome music, I find myself naturally high in the midst of all the action.

Despite with the free flow’s end at 10pm, we could still get 1-for-1 drinks at the booth since I am a Citi Clear Platinum Card holder, thus we stayed on quite a while to wait for some of Liwen’s friends to join us, while bumping into some familiar faces!

Jiechuan, who was seen puking before it was 11pm. Can’t believe that we know each other for 7 years already. And after 7 years, he became Chingchongboy.

There were many cool props for us to take pictures and get into party mood, but apparently a lot of them ended up walking away from the booth with them, so I was left with the lonely light stand..

.. and not some cute wigs or huge-ass glasses to pose at the photobooth.

Liwen’s props. We were almost becoming some campaign girls. And look at the drinks on the table, we saw people sitting in front of a table having 10 times the amount of drinks we had.

Radiant bride-to-be Claudia and the sexy mama-of-2 Diana were also there, and that was my favourite part of the evening.

The 4 of us and the many drinks on the table!

Diana’s sexy legs and her Spongebob squarepants on her crocs! I should get Minibean one for her crocs. Totally random, why does everyone like to buy crocs for my daughter?!

The photobooth were we got to take instant pictures by photographers.

Liwen looking like she was gracing some watch launch. Watch model, anyone?

The staff at work getting our pictures cut. The guy couldn’t see very well in the dark.

Where’s ours?

And the little souvenir for us to commerate the night! Like I said, the guy couldn’t see that well in the dark heh.

The words got a little jagged, and when I asked what were the rewards and privileges, I was told, and apparently I had never known that with my Citi Clear Platinum card, I could enjoy 5 time the rewards at those happening places like Zouk, Butter Factory, Wala Wala, Helipad, Timbre, Brewerkz, St James Power Station and blarblarblar. You also can get invites to events like I did, ahem, parties, sales preview and things like that.

No wonder it is my one and only Visa card I use regularly, until now it is a bit chui already.

After we left the comfort of the booth when Liwen’s friends arrived, we went for a long walk around the premises, and it was unfortunate to know that one of her friends was denied entry cos he was sold fake tickets. The audacity and greed of people to do such things!

Anyway, we scared people didn’t know we were at Zoukout hahaha.

Feeling a little bloated, so refused to get my top off, but you guys ain’t missing anything!

As we were strolling, we saw many people sitting around just chilling and enjoying the company of their friends, picnicking, chatting, and it just made the quieter areas of the event so cosy and nice.

I bumped into Jiemin as we walked and it was so nice to see her after so long!

We should really catch up some day soon.

And then, after a long walk to the carpark where Liwen’s friend was parking, the urge to pee was starting to get to us.

And the horror of the queue to the washroom struck us.

The both of us decided to ask the 2 boys with us to check if the Gents’ cubicles have working doors, and after given the go-ahead, we strutted into the Gents like it was the most natural thing to do, and queued right outside one of the 2 cubicles. The other cubicle was covered in puke, and was a squat toilet, and we hoped for the best as we queued outside the other one.

No one actually thought it was a big deal, probably because it was pretty empty.

But I WAS VERY URGENT.

I knew I was probably to load off one hellava heavy bladder, so I let Liwen head in first.

You know how things always will happen just at the “right time”? This was when the toilet started to become REAL packed.

My curiosity got the better of me, and I actually gawked at everyone in the Gents. Sorry! I shouldn’t be this rude but.. curious mah!

Thankfully, no one dropped their pants to the ground (which I once asked why do some men do that?!?!).

And right about when Liwen went in, a group of ladies decided to follow suit and came in and queued behind me, I really wished they hadn’t cos I know I was not going to take a short time.

Cos…… mother of stupidity, I had worn my one piece swimwear, and my bladder was filled to the brim.

Just as I went in, the washroom became so damn packed, and some men who came in squealed in absolute horror (you would think we were guys who invaded the ladies and they screamed) at the sight of us, some shrilling, “Are you kidding me? Am I seeing things? What is happening?”

Grow a pair, I wanna tell them.

The funniest part was when I finally came out of the cubicle, as I washed my hands in front of the mirror and tying my top together again, Liwen decided to hold the camera up to take a picture of me with many men behind me, some taking a pee, some queuing.

No one protested. Though some kept stealing glances at us to make sure we don’t peep or something.

Then, I actually did a very man-thing.

I was standing in front of the mirror, washed my hands, then I started to button up my shorts, like the guys who were standing next to me zipping/buttoning up.

I was even toying with the possibility of straddling the urinal to pee standing up, but then since I was wearing a one-piece swimwear, how can possible?!

Initially I was pretty much worried my age might make me feel out of place, but it didn’t cross my mind throughout my night at ZoukOut.

The party was so full of life, flamboyance, that I think it must have been the best ZoukOut in a decade, though I had missed the others in between.

As I left the party after walking from stage to stage, rubbing off the vibes of party-goers immersed in the awesome tracks, I bumped into Shukun.

Yet another friend whom I know for almost half my life-time.

Truly nostalgic night for me.

I felt damn good by the time I left, and actually had hope to stay on a little longer.

Many people were still waiting to get into ZoukOut, and many had self-made posters to beg for tickets.

Some got lucky cos I saw a guest leaving and he actually had an extra ticket in his wallet which he didn’t need.

I should really have stayed on cos I was asked to wait for a bus that had ceased service, which is utterly a screwed up on the organiser/Sentosa part because they had transport to send me from my car to ZoukOut, but no transport to take me back?!

And they told me to wait for the bus, because they failed to realise there wasn’t any bus anymore!

So I waited for more than an hour, in the rain no less, for a bus that didn’t turn up.

They told me to take a cab, and I told them I had tried but no cab uncle would wanna take me there.

So, it was only when I started to get another bout of full bladder, then did I nearly blow.

Cos I was told the toilet at where I was waiting was already closed. So I have to go to the beach side.

When I got to the beach side, the people told me the only washroom was inside ZoukOut, which was a bitch to enter at that point of time, and I had got rid of my wristband (when you’re bored when you’re waiting for more than an hour, it was the natural thing to do).

I approached the rangers again, to ask them to check for me if I was waiting in vain cos it was way too long for the wait, and there was no washroom for me.

He did, and apologised that the service had stopped without him realising (he was the one who told me to wait, KNN!), so they had activated the bus for me.

*$&^^%* The dictionary of expletives that went through my mind, you really wouldn’t want to know.

There was no signals for me to call out either.

I wanted to walk, but was told the walk would take me an hour. They said I could try. *speechless*

When I said I really need the washroom, I was almost in tears.

Guess what they told me?!

“I think my best suggestion, and the only way, is for you to go behind one of the bushes.”

SERIOUSLY?! Sentosa?! You want me to fertilize your greens for free also not like that right?!

Maybe I should make a statement by peeing right in the middle of the road because.. there is no where else, right?

Of course I would get a towel or something to cover my modesty lah.

Why the fuck did they divert the traffic in the beginning and not arrange transport to bring people back there? Then now I need washroom, why is there no washroom?! I didn’t ask to wait, you guys told me to wait because you guys are ill-informed and didn’t bother to check when I first asked you.

What a dampener to what could have been an awesome night.

Anyway, though I left the party shortly after midnight, the bus they activated only came at 2ish.

The uncle was playing music BETTER than the party’s, and the party-goers on board actually asked if they could have his USB!

I was so relieved to get to my car, though the eerieness of the quiet night got to me, and was still buzzing from the high the splendor had brought as I drove home in the breezy night.

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CSI: The Experience

October 31st, 2010 by Scarlett Ting

With ample excitement, I finally popped down to Science Centre last Sunday with Minibean in tow for the CSI: The Experience exhibition.

We had gotten there slightly late in the afternoon, with perhaps only 2 hours for the exhibition, and the lady at the sales booth had advised us that we would need about 3 to 4 hours for the exhibition’s entirety.

Nonetheless, we got the tickets and managed to cover the entire exhibition in that 2 hours.

It is also pretty obvious that the exhibition is not so much for Minibean, but more of the selfish wants of her mummy, so she was there to do what she does best:

.. which is striking a pose.

.. or striking a pose that would embarrass Mummy.

Now, I am a massive, massive CSI fan, so it was pretty much a bummer that there was no phototaking allowed in the exhibition.

When you enter the exhibition, you would be handed a clipboard, to allow you to go on a little CSI adventure on your own.

There were 3 crime scenes mocked-up, and you have to detail your observation on the sheets given. I thought it was a pretty brilliant idea though in the beginning stage, Minibean was bored out of her mind, until I tried to get her involved and she went on a mini-investigation on her own.

You will be surprised. She was the one who saw things I didn’t and her endless whys even led her to answer her own question and drew up scenarios, which not necessarily all made adult sense, but were logical, and valid arguments on its own.

Like in one of the crime scenes, there was a torn picture. “Mummy, why the picture tear? Someone angry with the jiejie and tear?”

She even identified a print mark and made her own conclusion, which I missed.

Though one of the difficulties was to explain explicitly to her the works of science cos I was obviously not so much of a science person in school (wherever the B3 for Chemistry and Physics and A for Biology came from, it must a place of miracle).

After exploring each of the 3 crime scenes, you would go to each station and find the answers and do comparisons like they do in the lab.

(Yes, no photography I know!)

There was no actual complicated process of examining the fibre, though they would give you simple multiple choice question for you to identify the patterns and solve the puzzle.

After detailing to the dot at the first crime scene, you later realise you don’t need to do any of that anymore.

It would probably to be no-brainer and lack the challenge for actual CSI addicts where you normally love to indulge in red herrings and clever plot twists, but since it was an exhibition for the mass and with lotsa younger crowd involved, there has to be an element of simplicity in it.

You will actually require 15 minutes to finish each crime scene, and then go on to a 4th one which you can take part in an online contest (but remember to keep your ticket stub for it, cos I wasn’t told so and when I got online, the ticket stubs were already nowhere to be found!).

There were also workshops for students which seem rather interesting.

It was pretty okay cos it was like an activity of solving simple puzzles, and there was even a room done up just like Grissom’s office.

But the age of the exhibition was glaringly evident when most of the casts and videos used are in the early years of CSI, when Grissom and Warrick were still in the series, and the casts had less merciless traces of time.

I would have expected and enjoyed something more akin to a forensic exhibition with illustrations on new technology/techniques which help to solve cases but I also have to bear in mind this is a tribute to a very successful franchise of television production, which is essentially more entertainment with a science element rather than just a focus on wholly science.

And it was deffo nice to return to Science Centre, and we would be returning for more engaging stuff for Minibean in the future.

And next up, would probably be the Walking with Dinosaur show in December *excited*, which ironically made a guest appearance in the latest episode of CSI in season 11.

And for those of you who are interested in the CSI exhibition, it will be at Singapore Science Centre, the Annexe till 20 February 2011.

Tuesdays to Sundays, 10am to 6pm (Closed on Mondays and Public Holidays)

Tickets pricing: $21 for adults, $16 for children

Nonetheless, it was an enjoyable, yet tiring Sunday out, which perhaps was largely due to the incessant questioning and whining of Minibean, that when after dinner time at IMM’s Cafe Cartel (whatever happened to the good food and fabulous ribs they used to serve up?!), I could barely drag myself to the supermarket to do the usual supermarketing.

Snugged up in bed for some CSI to continue the action, only to find the little mite fallen asleep from the day’s fatigue.

I doubt she is a CSI fan. I do remember her kicking my belly when I used to watch CSI while I was pregnant and I had thought it was an acknowledgment or some sort, now I know better, it was probably a protest.

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Twenty Ten: Reads

October 30th, 2010 by Scarlett Ting

I haven’t been reading much. But everytime I read, I like to remember what I had experience through the books.

However, sometimes, as I put away book after book, I ended up letting those sentiments slip by as well.

This year, I didn’t read much. Because I am well aware how I will be absorbed into a world that does not belong, nor exist in mine, and I will retreat into it, and find the perfect excuse to exit mine.

Nonetheless, being able to hole up in other worlds is a luxury these days, and it is only to the last quarter of 2010, did I finally manage to find it within me to read again.

6 weeks of reading which got off to a slow start and it picked up pace and peaked in the last week.

I think I have OD-ed slightly on reading, and have perhaps gotten a little jetlagged with the obscene hours I stay up just to finish my read. That was what I thought yesterday, that I would retire from reading for rest of the year when I finished a book on Friday morning and simply couldn’t find it within me to read anymore.

Finished Kiss the Girls on Friday morning, and had reading fatigue which made me declare I would retire from reading for 2010 so I can get my body in tune with the standard schooling hours, until I found a pdf of the Kite Runner which I allowed it to mind-fucked me and manipulated my feelings pretty badly through the iPad for 5 and half hours, until I finally finished it.

I want to say how I was utterly devastated by the book, it was almost hard to read sometimes, and I loved the earlier part, until the later part of the book, there was just something that just killed the magic the book had on me or else it would have been the perfect read.

It is this precise OCD of having to finish the book at one go.. that has overtaken my OCD for cleaning the house. You know, I am never good at the balancing shite.

Will be updating this post for personal purposes.. of those things that I read, and if I do read more in whatever’s left of 2010.

I remember I used to have a read list on my computer, until it died on me in April.

And this space has since became the constant in my life, so it has to double up as my desktop, for now.

You know how sometimes a read can just engage you so much and then raise your expectations so high, until a point in the book where it just seems too… over the top that it ruins the entire book for you? I had the feeling for some of the books and still have not felt overwhelmed by any yet.

Like, good sex, bad orgasm, ya know ya know?

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo – Stieg Larsson (a 3.5 out of 5, the start was a little hard to get me sucked into the book and I didn’t think the plot was anything that took my breath away)

The Girl who played with fire – Stieg Larsson (4 out of 5 higher ratings simply cos I enjoyed the pace and the writing better for this book)

The Girl who kicked the hornets’ nest – Stieg Larsson (3.5 out of 5)

Eat, Pray, Love – Elizabeth Gilbert (2.5 out of 5 I fell asleep 3 times reading the book, though some parts were nice, especially the 1st 3rd, and some of the last 3rd of the book)

The Help – Kathryn Stockett (4.5 out of 5, really loved the book, but something about the ending just didn’t wrap up the story nicely for me)

The Hunger Games – Suzanne Collins (3.5 out of 5)

Catching Fire – Suzanne Collins (3.5 out of 5)

Mockingjay – Suzanne Collins (4 out of 5, I know many didn’t like the conclusion to the trilogy but I think it carried deeper meanings and became an analogy of the writer’s expression on her views on war)

Kiss the Girls – James Patterson (3 out of 5. An easy read cos of the short chapters, but this one was a little too sexual for my liking. And yes, there are things that can be TOO sexual, even for me)

The Kite Runner – Khaled Hosseini (4.5 out of 5 I now know what’s the hype about the book, but it made my heart ache from the start to the very end. Moral struggles, consequential decisions, unforgiveness to self, forgiveness, friendship, kinship, war, and grappling with.. being human)

I think my teachers would be so proud of me, especially when I used to copy book reviews to submit monthly from schoolmates from other classes so that I didn’t have to read any cos I simply didn’t enjoy English back then. It was no surprise I flunked English Literature so badly and was in heaven when I finally took Chinese Literature.

But I did finally understand why my teachers were so adamant about us reading when we were kiddos, I didn’t, and refused to read English books till I was finally out of school, when no one was forcing me to do so, and I picked up my first book when I was 18, when I was in Croydon, from the bookshelf of the host family I was staying with.

I believe if I never did so, I would have never started writing. I would have never learnt the tricks to bullshitting, which was essentially the key to me passing my other exams since then.

Minibean is starting to read and recognising words, in both languages, and has been doing quite an amazing job. I hope that fire in her and the thirst for words will not be killed so that I can stop listening to the 3 little pigs finally and go on to something I am less familiar with.

I actually fell asleep when she tried to tell me a story the other night and you start to wonder if bedtime stories work on the mechanism of boring the kiddos with repetitive stories until they fall asleep.

If there are any more books worth reading (which I believe are plenty out there just that I don’t know what they are), do suggest to me and the best if there are ebook versions so I can say byebye to the clutter of books strewn around the house.

Oh, maybe before I retire, I should read the Pip Mister. Or to finish the few pages of The Time Traveler’s Wife I had started with (I have heard how great it is a book but somehow I still have not gotten the momentum to be “hooked” by it).

Maybe the Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao.

Maybe.. ai yah, like that how to retire from the hermit hole?!

Posted in MateriaLust, Piercing the mundane | 2 Comments »

Citi Mobile Experience

October 25th, 2010 by Scarlett Ting

As I am writing this, it also marks the end to the submission to Bank Anywhere with Citi Mobile Photo Contest, and I’ve just done my mandatory submissions for the contest (part of the advertorial deal, you see!) at the very last minute and I see that many people have really put in awesome efforts into their submission.

My favourite is this chap who is in his army uniform, camo-ed and all.

The folks at 24Seven and Citibank extended an invitation to me for me to join them for Citi Mobile Experience at Charly T a week and a half back on a Thursday (14 October), as they recently launched their iPhone App.

I thought since it was pretty near to the studio, I could perhaps pop back to the studio right after the dinner.

Turned up and feeling totally socially awkward since I barely knew anyone there and everyone already seemed to know each other. I told them that tucking me to a forgotten corner of Charly T would be perfect, and so, I was sheltered in a booth, with 3 other chaps who were already at the table.

They turned out to be awesome company who initiated to break the ice so that I didn’t have to, I guess it is always good to get to know who are the ones who are going to fight over food with ya!

That’s me, Lester, Zit Seng, and Philip at the table of impeccable fengshui. They were talking about IT stuff and appeared totally clueless, then asked where did I previously worked, and were pretty bemused that I am such an IT-unsavvier.

It was also the very first time I met Krisandro, which made me realise that my relationship with my blog is taking up almost a third of my life.

I was thankful for good company which made me ease in to the evening, and the evening started with some starters before the presentation.

The presentation highlighted most of the features I was already pretty acquainted with Citi Mobile with the previous Blogger race and advertorials, so I was also pretty delighted to learn more about some of the other new features with the presentation.

The home screen to Citi Mobile is now customisable, and icons can be shifted around like how short attention span Apple lovers love it.

I was so attentive until I grew double chin.

Some improvements are done to improve existing functions, and some new features are integrated too.

Improvements!
  • Improved search functions in Gourmet Pleasures
  • Improved search functions in Citi World Privileges
And new features sound pretty awesome with how it uses your phone’s GPS function to identify your location to point to the best shopping offers nearest to you!
These are the new features with the App:
  • Search for shopping deals (NEW!)
  • Search for rebates (NEW!)
  • Get treats through e-coupons (NEW!)
  • A settings page to let you configure your functions (NEW!)
With Shopping Privileges, you can bookmark them for easy referencing, use the map to pinpoint location and even share them on social media sites with your friends.
Mobile Treats is one cool function and you can search for special treats and discounts on your mobile, and when you want to use it, you can just access it on location, and redeem it by flashing your phone with the Mobile e-voucher and your Citibank card, how cool is that?
Also incredibly helpful is Citi Rebate feature, which helps you to locate and shop/dine at the nearest merchant around your vicinity that allows you to redeem your Citi Rebate instantly with Citi Rebate.
Halfway through the presentation, I was suddenly reminded of my unpaid bills (I pay all my credit card bills by cheques except for my Citibank cards, which I normally pay through ATM or electronically).
I logged on to my Citi Mobile on the spot just to try the new features and paid for my bills via funds transfer from my Citibank Step-Up account to my credit card, and it was done fuss-free and I must say it was pretty impressive though the account summaries are all pretty much web-based compared to the other features.
I would love to see an app for say, checking my rewards points and all and maybe with every usage I get some special reward points? Haha, I shall daydream on.
We went on with a little quiz, which Philip’s iPad proved to be more superior with the network connectivity and helped us lotsa. Though it was an individual quiz, we had.. uhm, giggles, team-spirit!
There were 3 winners to the quiz, is it any surprise that…
Lester!

Philip.

And…

… Me! Looking damn sheepish. My knowledge of the Citi Mobile Photo Contest came in handy cos it was one of the quiz questions and the chaps were stumped but of cos I have been drooling over the prizes so I knew!

Zit Seng was the forth to hand up the slip so I shared my voucher with him, and come to think of it, I shouldn’t have. I should have just given him the vouchers completely…. cos…

At the end of the evening, he won the grand prize, which is an iPad/iPhone4. Told ya our table had good fengshui, cos we snapped up all the prizes given out on that day. Then maybe if I gave him my vouchers and I was left prize-less then the “emptiness” would have brought in some luck hor?

Congrats Zit Seng!

Minibean seems to know that the time to get my attention is when I am drafting a post. She would get wary and hold one of my arms away to make blogging challenging. I’ve definitely got a possessive one here.

But she’s such an angel today, insisting that she wouldn’t fuss if she falls asleep on my lap, and now, as I am nursing a left leg filled to the brim with pins and needles, it feels like the best moment today as I can blog as she snores away on my lap.

:)

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