Archive for the ‘Piercing the mundane’ Category

Ethereal. Aerial. Acro Polates.

September 27th, 2010 by Scarlett Ting

Someday.

I was just browsing and reading more about aerial dance when I see countless inspiring pictures of this exquisite art form.

Some that caught my eyes include the above one, which I hope someday, I could just weave through the air, witness by the sunset, feeling that exhilarating freedom in the open.

I always thought it was damn beautiful watching the graceful lines on the aerial silk, but I saw this picture and just thought how sensually, provokingly gorgeous it is.

I have written a few times about my dabble with pole dancing in my search for the elusive grace.

I have yet to journey the pole-gress so far, but gee, I should be writing about in soon especially with the commencement of the new term of pole classes. I will be onto Level 6 of pole, and gee, that means almost a year of pole dancing (did my trial in late October 2009)… which pretty much deserves a post on its own to remember the fun I have had in this one year, and the awesome people I have met too.

***

I have uploaded some of the aerial class pictures onto facebook and twitter over the course of level 1, and received quite some messages from some friends who have given positive feedback, and are interested to find out more about the aerial classes I have been taking.

I just thought of sharing the information here so that next time I can just do the lazy thing of directing them here, and hopefully whoever reading this can have their interest roused so that I can have more aerial companions!

(Sarah, I hope you are reading this!)

With the conclusion of aerial 1, I can’t wait to embark on the level 2 of aerial class!

What?

What is aerial art and dance, some of you might ask. For the uninitiated, think Cirque du Soleil or Voyage de la Vie, where you see performers suspended high in the air and define grace with entrancing acrobatic dance moves and gravity-defying stunts and drops.

And yes, most of those performers, as we know, are talents from overseas, cos it seems like an art-form with the difficulty almost out of our leagues.

I used to look on with envy, and was utterly fascinated with how beautiful the lines are. The poise.. oh gosh, is just too ethereal for words. But seems just so impossible for me to attain such grace, cos, HELLO?! AUNTIE HERE CANNOT EVEN TOUCH HER TOES OKAY?!

Where?

So can you imagine my excitement when the studio where I have been taking my pole dance classes with, became the first studio in Singapore to launch Aerial classes?

I have mentioned before, but in case you have forgotten, I have been taking pole dance classes at Acro Polates for almost a year.

And the very pleasant and fabulous experience I have with the studio had made me gain a tad more confidence, and get out of my comfort zone that I had mentioned countless time here that how I look forward to classes every week. Someday I shall share how the studio had played a big part of my life in the past year, and tide me over a not-so-easy year.

I don’t know how, and why, but the comfort level and amazing experience had prompted me to be more adventurous with the courses they offered.

Like I said, Acro Polates is the very first studio in Singapore to launch aerial classes in January this year, just couple of months after I had picked up pole dancing, so I didn’t have to look further.

Aerial classes in Acro Polates consist of 2 elements, which include Aerial Hoop, as well as Aerial Silk.

Besides aerial, I also picked up flight inversion, which is almost like flying yoga, which requires a partner for all the acrobatic stunts we do.

I had not considered it in the beginning because of time commitment, as well as my fear of heights was one factor that had hindered me.

But I finally mustered all the courage I had in me and picked up aerial class in July together with Jiali, and with her encouragement, I know I would find a little more bravery within myself.

Then ah, after I started on the first lesson, I almost kicked myself that it took me more than half a year before I take the plunge to take up aerial!

And slowly, the clumsiness, the fear of heights all took a back seat as I thoroughly enjoyed my level 1 of aerial classes.

It was so much fun and even someone like me with little grace and plenty of chor-lorness can just sit there and it would look poised almost effortlessly.

The fallen angel. Even the name sounds so… ethereal, I like!

Notice how there is zilch constipated looks on my face compared to how I often look so constipated on pole?

As we progressed on the hoop, I know there is a part of me which secretly wants to be like this, someday:

Totally radical, and free to express myself anyhow-ly, as and how I will like to. It doesn’t necessarily have to be exactly like this, but who knows, it could be a ballet tutu, it could be a punkish outfit, or even a jester? The possibility seems endless. What I lack in grace and techniques, can be compensated with creativity, me hopes.

Aerial is actually much more physically demanding than pole dancing to my amazement, probably because our instructors had made it look so effortless.

When I got started on aerial silk, it was when I was really, utterly, unbelievably hooked.

I actually felt that there was limitless creativity on silk, and it was something I love almost immediately, and I ended up exploring on the silk so often that I can’t wait to get to the more advance levels to experience with drops and all.

There was just something so elegant, so sensual, so… beautiful with aerial silk.

Tell me how is it possible for me not to fall in love?

I fell deeply in love with aerial silk. I have a high suspicion that my liking for it has somewhat edge a little bit ahead of my liking for pole dancing.

Of pole, hoop and silk, silk was the one that was the most physically demanding, and yet was the one that I felt totally at home with. Probably because that my nemesis – sweaty palms, actually became a total advantage of mine when I am on the silk.

Some other random pictures of silk:

Jean doing a move on the silk on a more advance level which I had almost wanted to mimic.

Cheeky superman!

Okay, this is how it is supposed to look like from the back, totally straight. More graceful to not look at my cheeky face.


See! Somemore can act emo on the silk. Got feeeeeeeling hor? This was just before I left for the airport for my Sri Lanka trip, and I swear my feet was not on the ground, it just looks like it was!

Like I said, sometimes I think not looking at my face is more of a delight. This was me going into a split, and I wasn’t in position yet!

And then, I decided to explore of the possibilities ahead, and did the bird’s nest.

Someone asked if it was named after how the hair looks like after the move is executed. Quite possibly.

It really gives the back an incredible stretch.

Someday, maybe I can slide my feet down to touch my head.

Ya, right. Dream on.

Going into a straight edge.

Before going into a split.

Cos hoop and silk are not static, it is actually quite a task to get more quality pictures. I will TRY to take nicer pictures the next time round!

I really can’t wait for Aerial 2 to start so I can start swiveling around the hoop, and weaving the air with the silk.*Excited*

How?

If you are interested in aerial classes, you can register via Acro Polates website, or if you are uncertain and wanna find out more, you can bombard your inquiries Ming’s way, just don’t tell her I say one, and her email addy is: ming@professional.com.sg. If you are shy, just leave a comment or send me a message and I will be glad to share my experience and help!

The new term for aerial class will start this coming Friday, 1st October, and there is still time for you to register and join. With Jiali already left for London to further her studies, I really wish for more companions to pursue this art with.

My level 1 had consisted of 8 lessons – 4 lessons of hoop and 4 lessons of silk, the good news is the next term will be accelerated to 7 lessons, spanning from 7.30pm to 8.30pm, and you will be learning everything we did for hoop and silk in 7 lessons at a lower price – $175.

I promise it will be plenty of fun fun fun! :) I did the above only after 2 aerial silk classes (must polish up moooorrreeeeee!), considering the fact that I missed the previous lesson cos I didn’t turn up, so it is very much attainable for anyone, and not at all unachievable. :D I really enjoyed my classes so much that I decided to write this to urge everyone to join me.

And the instructors with Acro Polates are the firsts in Singapore to be certified by IPDFA, and thus you can be assured of the quality with the stringent tests and curriculum they had to go through for safe, systematic teaching and trainings.

One of the things I am very proud of is that the earlier batch of “seniors” had since gained recognition within such a short time that, they have advanced enough to be noticed, and to be that inspiration needed to spur us on.

CT and Lydia were both invited to perform at the official opening of Heritage Fest on 11th August, and the guests of honour actually commended on their performance. It was also such an emotional delight to watch their performances, because it was almost a tiny sense of victory that such an art that was barely picked up locally, has seen what is possibly its first homegrown talents.

Bear in mind that the courses had only started earlier this year, and yet they were handpicked for the opening, which to me, is by no means an easy feat.

They are so pretty up there! Sorry that I had to leech the pictures off facebook cos I was browsing and just thought how pretty they were.

I wonder if given another 4 months, will I even be near such standards. *dreams* but I think with the quality of teaching here, it might not be a dream afterall.

But of course, the pack of old bones here have to stretch a little more and practice more.. cos I believe it was endless hardwork put in by CT and Lydia that had earned them the credits they deserve.

And recently, what is even more exciting is that they will be heading overseas for a performance after scouts flew in specially to Singapore to visit various studios to have their pick in local talents.

I can’t say how proud I am of them! And they are such humble, down-to-earth and nice people who are so willing to teach and share.

I think that there might be just a spurt of local talents of international quality next time.. remember how when Voyage de la Vie was launched, the spokesperson had elaborated that most of the casts were scouted overseas cos Singapore simply doesn’t have such talents?

Even a parent had recently approached the studio recently for her child to explore aerial classes for the healthy, artistic image… so it is real exciting times ahead.

And I believe it could be the next big thing after pole-dancing, and is evident with the amount of people had been flocking to take up aerial with Acro Polates. For those who had always thought pole-dancing was a little “naughty” for their liking, would find this the perfect alternative to it.

I think I have been gushing non-stop since I started this post, but I really think it is something worth trying for every lady out there, for it is really quite an empowering form of expression and art, and trust me when I say it is a muscle-defining sport too.

Will look forward to share more breakthroughs of my aerial classes as I progress… and I shall exhibit more “hiaoness” next time!

Posted in Piercing the mundane | 4 Comments »

Of iPad and Citi Mobile race

September 19th, 2010 by Scarlett Ting

August was definitely a month of surprises, blessings and happenings for me. In various ways, things dropped into my paths in the most unexpected fashion, and created much excitement.

I guess some greater force out there is taking some sympathy on me, and still showering me with luxuries despite getting broker-er. For that, I am thankful.

If you haven’t been following me on Twitter, you probably wouldn’t hear of my incessant whines on a daily basis, and you wouldn’t have figured out that I have pretty much chronicled my life in bits and pieces over there.

And it is perhaps old news compared to what my tweets have to offer, but for the first time in my life I have won a contest!

I have never quite won anything in my life, especially in contests, and since I was never quite a sports person (see how lazy I am and you probably can make out why), medals and competitions are definitely out of my league too. As much as a gambler I am, I don’t actually invest in Singapore Pools at all. No 4D, no Toto, no S-league, not even on football. Is that much of a surprise I still remain a pauper?

Anyway.

The time when I had blogged this piece for the awareness of cervical cancer, and the responses had been overwhelming. I had someone from Japan sending me a note, I have a friend who went for pap smear and found abnormalities, I have had people going for vaccination after it. In a way, it was such a relief, and at the same time, it was the understanding, the support, as well as the message that was shared with others that triumphed all the other feelings I had felt prior to the posting of the entry.

After that post was up, I submitted it for Nuffnang POCC awareness blog contest, but shortly after my site was down and I have had since shifted from joewei.net to the present www.scarletscandals.com. After submission, there was no reply from anyone to acknowledge anything, and I kinda assumed the post was perhaps not read or not submitted since my site was down for quite a while back then.

When the dates were way past, I gradually forgot about the entire contest, and it was on one late afternoon of 12 August when an email came in to inform me I have won the 1st prize to the contest.

1st prize??

!!!

??!!

Okay, I have not even won any sort of consolation prize before (eh, fine, when I was in primary school I took part in a nationwide Chinese composition writing and I got consolation and won $50. I still kept the plaque cos it was the only thing I had ever won), so winning the 1st prize, what the more by merits, was something that had never happened to me.

And I was a happy camper when I collected my prize the next day since I was in the area, and met up with Boss Ming for a drink and a brief catch up before I scooted off to Sim Lim.

It was a nice catch up, and hearing his trip to Rome and all.. I could almost feel the excitement of the Moscow trip all over again, though I probably was spared the heartache of not witnessing the defeat in Rome.

Since I was in Sim Lim, I was seriously contemplating on selling the iPad since I wasn’t quite interested in it, and was wondering if I could make like, say, $500 to tide the tight month over.

It was an imported set of 32G Wifi. And at that time, the supply was still pretty scarce and when I was at Sim Lim, the boys were quick to want to have a look.

Immediately I had quite a few offers cos it was still minted in its coat of plastic.

Then this shop owner who actually wanted to buy it from me, told me that the retail price for an imported set is actually higher and asked if I am seriously considering selling.

And then I realised it wasn’t as cheap as I thought it was. I had thought its retail price was $600 you see.

The silly thing is, most people would think that if it is has a higher retail price, you sell it better, right?

It works the opposite for me. It actually tempted me to keep it. And the fact that I am such a hoarder, makes the iPad a tad sentimental for me to part. I mean, it was something that I had won by doing something meaningful… and.. I think Minibean will kinda enjoy it.

So the moment I decided to keep it, the boys were quick to deflower it.

The boys then quickly threw in their suggestion of what I should do with it. Keep it. They said I could tweet, I could blog and facebook with it. Guess what, that worked, and I said “Okay! I shall keep it!“.

And then ah.

It resulted in a damage of $100 OUTPUT for screen protector and casing.

Got slightly frustrated cos ended up must output for it. Bah.

Nonetheless, Minibean had great fun with it, and learnt plenty of stuff with it, to the point that nowadays the first thing she saw us, she wouldn’t greet us but would ask, “Do you have the iPad with you?“

Her favourite games include the memory matching game where you flip 2 cards over and match the animal pictures, and she is pretty darn good at it.

With the iPad, I also taught her how to handle losing, and that everything in life is not about winning. You have to learn to take defeat, and not let your ego get in the way. Sportsmanship, I told her.

Once she learnt that, I started to “put water” and let her win, hahaha.

She loves to play Angry Birds too. Though she is pretty glad when one bird managed to hit ANYTHING.

Eventually, the casing to the iPad was sold off, because someone who had bought an iPad for a day and bought they original iPad cover had decided to sell the iPad away after ONE day cos she grew so bored of it. So she was left with the original cover which she then passed on as a gift.

Which quickly became fingerprints laden, since it is like Minibean’s toy too.. Was given this silver apple logo sticker, and the cover has since got a cooler sheen to it.

Some of the days you didn’t hear from me and with me obsessed with me-time, I was busy playing this:

And I can’t believe this is what I forsake $850 (which I could probably sell for) bucks for.

Before it was loaded with games, I brought it home on the first night and after 5 minutes, it retired to a corner. Ever since, I have strict instructions to Minibean when she plays with it, cos it does hold something special to me.

***

My string of luck with the iPad seemed to continue on 22nd August when I helped out at an event and a contest of efficiency got me a tie with another chap. It came unexpectedly cos I was having fun and wasn’t one of those serious contestants for it. Perhaps the having fun part made it less pressurising and made it less of a chore and more of just something random.

The prize was.. yes you guessed it, an iPad. A 16 G wifi model, which if I have my hands on it, would probably be sold off.

I was told I did win by statistics, but seeing the amount of effort put in by the other chap, I felt the incentive could be his (maybe cos I already had already won one just a week before), or shared both ways.

I didn’t know how the arrangement worked out, but I was informed by organiser that they would actually give out cash incentive cos it was easier to split that way.

I was pleasantly surprised and pleased that I was awarded $500 for that day of effort, and since I would have sold the iPad anyway, I would think $500 for half the iPad was the best arrangement it could be.

YAY!

***

14 August 2010 – Citi Mobile Race

Was invited to a Citi Mobile bloggers event by 24Seven on one particular Saturday morning. As the event’s embargoed date is only recently lifted, I couldn’t blog about it earlier.

It was a hilarious Saturday morning when I woke Joanne up to realise she was already leaving home, because she had thought the meeting time was earlier!

I was jokingly saying we both will probably get lost cos we are both so clueless and blur.

The meeting place was at the airport, which makes it like the X-th time I head to the airport in recent months.

I had wanted to bring the iPad just in case it came in handy but had forgotten to do so as I rushed for the cab.. which was not on the agenda cos I had wanted to train down to Changi Airport.

I am just so spoilt. Tsk!

I nearly couldn’t find a partner after Jiali was last minute-ly caught up with her preparation for her trip, and thankfully, a very spontaneous Joanne helped to fill the role, and I couldn’t have asked for a better companion for the day!

I ended up having breakfast with her and her parents, which I got all jittery and now I know when men meet their partners’ parents for the 1st time, the nerves must have sucked!

I was somehow very glad to meet Brian, who was helping out, after meeting him the last time during Yasmin Ahmad’s event. I hope his arm had since recovered cos it was in a cast on event day!

We were then ferried to the nearby JetQuay, which is quite an exclusive lounge area, to be briefed.

I don’t remember what Claudia said, but I just thought the expressions captured on the girls’ faces are pretty… priceless.

Maybe it involved something about how they are gonna torture us or something.

Pardon the fat arms, I really don’t know where they come from. I would like to say they are muscles, but you guys would already know how much of a queen of denial I am so I am not even gonna bother to try.

A group photograph before the race commences.

We were then given $30 for travelling and off we went for the race. We were supposed to finish covering 5 locations in 3 hours, and take 4 pictures at each location.

The first one was Changi Airport, where we spent the most amount of time, and were the most energetic and creative.

We were supposed to think of ideas to show that we could bank anywhere and anytime with Citi Mobile.

And by anywhere, we really tried to think ANYWHERE.

Alas we didn’t take into consideration that the phone reflections might not work just about anywhere for us to capture the right angle.

So we ended up having awkward picture like this:

And so aptly, I had my passport with me, so it looked more convincing!

So these are pretty much what we were up to, and thanks to the input of Joanne, we ended up doing really silly things, and talked about really silly things and laughed ourselves silly.

We even jumped onto the shuttle train’s pole to mimic our pole dance moves, and there were some passengers on the train who started to snap pictures of us, and you could hear the clicking of the handphone camera snapping away endlessly.

We were so engrossed that we didn’t even bother to shoot dirty looks at them. Talk about dedication!

And then I ignored everyone’s stares and did this right outside Terminal 3. As you can see from reflections, it was not a quiet corner. I even had 2 uncles who walked past and asked to help Joanne and me take a picture together, before we said it was for a contest and I was short of telling them I am not crazy.

I even took the T3 slide just for photo-opportunity, much to the chagrin of the kiddos who had to wait for me to finish before they could take their turns.

Next stop we rushed to Orchard ION.

And I actually like this! It was supposed to show the joy of me on my payday after checking on Citi Mobile.

Then there was Bugis (where it rained) and I got splashed water at the fountain by kiddos, Chinatown, where we were delirious from the heat and fatigue that we lost our way after going to Clarke Quay for the final checkpoint that we couldn’t even find the restaurant for meet up though it was just round the corner.

We were tired and hungry!!

This is what hungry face looks like and I just wanted to eat! Apparently you can find special promotion for dining stuff through Citi Mobile too. So this was one of those I submitted as one of the 20.

Like I said, the 2 blur queens took some time to find the others who were already digging in!

The funniest part was, Joanne’s phone died exactly at this point. It threatened us with low-battery during our 2nd or 3rd checkpoint cos we were consistently trying to get the best angle, best idea, best pose so we took countless. Not surprise that it almost gave up on us but it hung on till the last minute! Awesome!

Then we had to upload the pictures and choose the shots. Joanne was at the helm of it cos my burnt brain cells don’t work well with anything fruit-y (it was an iMac).

We had to choose one, and eventually, this was what we chose:

And it was a mega surprise, cos with so many participants and plenty of creative bloggers, we were eating halfway when our names were called as 1st runner-up!

I stared at Joanne and we both went “OHHH WE WON SOMETHING!” and dropped our food to go up together.

It was $200 Takashimaya vouchers! Yay! Shopping time!

I think the best part of the day was the awesome people we met, of course there were not-so-awesome ones, but it was the blessing I counted.

And most fabulously, the company of Joanne. My favourite part was when we sat by the river, watched the boats cruised by, shone by the piercing late afternoon sun, but it was nice.

Very nice.

The cute thing is we didn’t co-ordinate our expressions and somehow everything turned out similar.

And oh, she was the one who suggested us to turn up in same colour outfit, and even though National Day was just over, many people still turned up in red and white!

And thanks babe, it was fun running around with you, and I think it was damn funny when we both started sprouting nonsense cos we were just so delirious and mumbling.

I think it wouldn’t have been as fun if not for someone as sporting and spontaneous like you, who actually egged me on when I was just too tired to go on.

And YAY! Vouchers to go shopping with :D :D

Told ya I was very, very much blessed for the month of August. And hopefully, it will still hold true for the months to come :)

Posted in Perk-me-ups, Piercing the mundane | 1 Comment »

The Expendables

August 22nd, 2010 by Scarlett Ting

Thursday saw Minibean heading to Malacca in the morning, means the “handover” was done on late Wednesday evening.

It begun 3 days of recuperating period, which I repaid all those sleep debts with plenty of quality rest.

I woke up no earlier than 4pm for Thursday, Friday, and today.

Which was also aided by the cough mixture, the bout of cold I got from Minibean, PMS on Thursday, and blood loss for these 2 days.

I had the longest PMS EVER as my hormones went haywire.

Nonetheless, it didn’t stop me from having quite some fruitful days, and it is just great to know that I will be all geared by Monday.

***

Eileen dropped by on Thursday after her work to pass me 3 tickets to the zoo. Did I ever mention how blessed I am to be constantly surrounded by people who are such blessings.

It was good to see my airbrush teacher, Dave, after so long. :)

***

Nick then popped by so we could head down to an photography exhibition nearby, and knowing I did not have any food prior, he actually packed some home-cooked food for me, and it was even accompanied by lotus root soup!

Sweetest meal ever.

Honestly I was very touched as I munchmunchmunched at the foyer and gobbled most of it up before I made a mad dash to Jurong Point to get some tickets to watch The Expendables!

We swiftly headed to Jurong Library for the exhibition (which marked my virgin trip to the library in eons!) and we bumped into Marco, and I invited him to join us for dinner at Jurong Point’s Hong Kong cafe.

Dinner was short, but it was cosy to just sit around with the boys to catch up before we all rushed for the movie which I was eagerly anticipating!

***

SPOILERS ALERT

The boys were hyped after the show, so did I, and that pretty much sums up how The Expendables will send the testosterone and adrenalin into overdrive.

I am aware about the mixed reviews out there, but honestly, HOW CAN ANYONE MISS SUCH AN AWESOME ENSEMBLE?!

It was charged with actions, raining bullets, packed to the brim with nostalgia, and graced by all the biggest action legends.

And judge me all you want, it is my first ever Sylvester Stallone movie.

Yes.

First.

Ahem.

If you guys are saying this guy is washed up, I better go dig up all those old movies and feed my movies trivia bank, cos boy, those fucking muscles! THAT GUY IS FREAKING RIPPED FOR HIS AGE!

And his sense of humour and that slanted smile was probably passe, but I am all for nostalgia, and I bought it all.

And yes, it too, is my FIRST EVER Jason Statham movie. What can I say? I had missed this good piece of sex for most part of my life, and I don’t know what Kelly Brook was thinking (if only her boobs could think!), but gee, I would have bald babies with this hottie anytime, anywhere, anyhow!

And you got see how protective he was of his chick in the movie or not?!?!?!?!?! Awesomely MAN, I tell ya. And the way he flicked his knives. Scorching.

The plot is probably as thin as Jason Statham’s hair for serious movies go-ers, but this movie is like a history you wouldn’t want to miss revisiting, and for that familiarity and old-school actions (CGI or body double free!).. it is enough to get your raring for more.

I have to admit I totally go into fangirl mode when Arnie walked into the church like some holy action hero figure, cos one of the very first movies I ever watched, was Terminator 2, and it was one of the 2 LDs I had at home (besides Top Gun) that I kept replaying over and over.

I bloody cried when I was a young girl watching Terminator 2 okay?! And it would also mean it was one of the 3 movies I ever watched with my parents.

Anyway. I gasped. I squealed. And I swooned.

I didn’t get the joke when everyone laughed at Bruce Willis’ appearance, and when everyone laughed louder when Arnold Schwarzenegger (one thing I have always been proud of, I can spell his name since primary school!) made his grand entrance, but I certainly enjoyed the time when everyone broke into applause when Arnie concluded his cameo with Stallone’s punchline.

But the highlight of the movie gotta be Mickey Rourke. I have been wanting to catch The Wrestler for the longest time but I have yet to done so, and his screen time on The Expendables is definitely a motivation for me to watch it by next week.

This man bloody stole the show, and deservingly so.

The scene of him having a conversation with Sly, it was a shot of his reflection, and an emotional monologue delivered by him flawlessly.. with his lips trembling and his voice quivering. It slowed the movie almost to a standstill, you almost forgot why you were in the theatre for cos you were just lost in the moment Mickey Rourke had enveloped you in.

Fuck! This guy owns it, absolutely!

And it was a breather very much needed in the midst of all those actions.

I LOVED THE GOODIES AND BIG BOYS TERRY CREWS WHIPPED OUT! It would just go into plenty of mindless explosions and things blowing up. WOOOHOOOOOO! Though my impression of him still stays with how he sang “A Thousand Miles” in White Chicks. Hahaha.

I SIMPLY ADORE WATCHING JET LI! Who is probably my preferred Chinese action star amongst the others (unless you count Chow Yun Fatt as an action star!), and it was plenty of funnies!

I also drooled watching the giant, Dolph Lundgren, and gasped, so hot when he appeared on screen.

You know what’s the awesome thing? It seems like action heroes are better at treating their women right in real life than footballers.

Whenever I read about these guys in real life and how they talk about their partners.. are they perfect or what (okay, not all of them, but, gee!), and Sly was saying the moral of the story is these guys deserve to be bashed up cos of how they treat ladies?!

I think this post pretty much verifies that I have plenty of testosterone in me, which probably explains the not child-friendly languages and the endless gushings for the movie, and the prehistoric big boys in it.

But it is gonna be a fun movie that will get you and your friends talking about the movies in the past and the memories they used to bring…

… for the nostalgia they bring? Priceless :)

Posted in Piercing the mundane | 2 Comments »

Passion Chiffonier + POCC night out!

August 6th, 2010 by Scarlett Ting
Yay to a Friday morning! Long weekend is hereeeeee! Yeeps Yeeps Yippee.

I have great news. I have a new host, and it is going to be a transition hereonforth. What better way to celebrate my new site with a mega long ass post!

I have no idea what’s in my food these days. I seem to be high on something these evenings. Like, perpetually high. Only in the evenings.

Those at pole prac last night would probably attest to that. And then by the time in the morning, I would back to my listless, meek, subdued, demure old (keyword here is OLD) self.

Don’t judge me, but I am now follow Lady Gaga’s dance steps in Telephone MTV via Youtube and literally bouncing as I am typing this. Sorry for the horrifying mental images I just scorched into your minds, giggles.

This post would have seen daylight waaaaaayyy earlier (fresher!) if not for the hiccup I had earlier with my blog and the trip (still have so much spilling excitement from it.. *swoons*).

I had promised to get this post up last week, and CAN YOU IMAGINE HOW LONG I HAVE DRAGGED? Tsk, so irresponsible right?!

Nonetheless, everything happens for a reason I believe, and since it is gonna be a long weekend ahead, it would mean that this post would be PUUURRRRFEEECCCTT timing for those who had suffered a rough work week to slowly browse and cheer up to!

Cos you guys are gonna be introduced to a brilliant new blogshop, and it would mean plenty of prettys to browse through, and a long weekend to get those fingers clicking for some retail therapy with the comfort at home!

I mean.. imagine getting through the long weekend, with spare time to slow the pace, to pamper yourselves with some retail therapy.

By the time the dreary work week started and you get a bit down with dragging yourself back to work, the purchase would have reached you in the midst of the week to tide the blues over and to have that something to look forward to will certainly suddenly perk the entire week up.

Or at least that works for me!

As I was saying! Pretty dresses and party pictures.. Just the awesome combination to get the party, chillax mood started.

Gee. Honestly speaking, I don’t know where to start.

I have drafted this post like a hundred times in my mind, and started on it a few times, but I kept punching on the backspace key, probably because I am supposed to write an advertorial, but over the course of the past couple of weeks, it actually started to feel like I have a certain expectations out of this post, because instead of the fact that I am being paid to do it, I HOPE dearly that something good will come out of it because it feels like I am helping a couple of incredibly nice friends to promote their startup.

So with the expectations of myself, I actually found myself at a loss for words!

I believe I mentioned in my previous advertorials that I am not one of those typical mainstream bloggers people look for to do advertorials, and sometimes it does puzzle me when people do approach me, like in the case of Jenn and Ling (*evil laughs* Too late for you girls to back out!).

I actually took a long read back all the conversations I have had with the ladies who are behind Passion Chiffonier since contact was first established with all the formalities, before I was wondering if the person writing to me had split personalities (cos they had such obvious distinct characters that even came through their emails), until I realised they took turns to reply to me via the same email.

At first they had offered 3 pieces of items for me to review, and as usual, I stated that I would not normally take all 3 pieces for the sake of taking if the stuff is not to my liking cos it would be unfair that if I essentially promote something I wouldn’t and don’t wear.

They gave some background to the product of their efforts, and very delicately explained the little thoughts that went behind the concept of their blogshops, and what motivated them to start their own blogshops. It wasn’t one of those cut and paste mass-messaged PR statements, but it was just their casual remarks that make you realise how they cared about every details and seemed so happy to do so.

This was what they told me:

“…we thought that just solely selling individual pieces of clothes to customers was not enough. We wanted to present different styles of dressing with the clothes that we are going to sell (i.e. pair them up with different shoes, belts, accessories etc), create wearable looks that we both love.”

In fact, the most amazing part is, besides allowing me to choose what normally appeals to me and is within my comfort zone, they did something that some other blogshop owners seldom do which really impressed me.

They threw up suggestions for me based on their observations of my usual style, and they were spot on with my likes! I think that takes heaps of thoughtfulness and sweetness for people to take note of your likes (remember how we always coo about those guys who are have an attention for details?!).

Not only that, they utilised their sharp senses of style and made recommendations of things I had never tried (cos they are observant enough to know!), and what they thought I could carry off, so I could step out of my comfort zone and at the same time, have a refreshed image!

Then, I took a look at their site with their recommendations, and I took a long while to get back to them… because.. because.. I LIKE SO MANY THING AND I GOT GREEDY la!

Don’t believe? Let’s take a look what they have:

And this was from collection 1 onlyyyyy!

(Sidetrack a bit, the model looks a bit like the Yang Jinhua from Bai Quan Nu Wang right?!)

Thankfully I don’t need work clothes, cos I heart the mock wrap Peplum dress, which I saw Zoe Raymond carry the look off impeccably on her blog.

I struggled badly with whether to get the ziippppbrraaa preens skirt or not cos I think the girls did a fabulous job of keeping true to making their pieces so versatile that I love how the skirt could look so casual (and look youthful!) and sophisticated at the same time.

Nice right?! Alas, it was one piece I didn’t get and am kicking myself for it! And it comes in 2 sizes if you guys are interested in getting.

The green romper is cute cute cute! And the black puffed sleeve tunic was another piece that caught my eyes!

And of course, they were quick to spot the grey floral sweetheart bustier dress is something I would totally dig… and if you haven’t realised, it was the very piece I wore for my memorable time with the elephants in the previous post.

Then they had to make my life more miserable by giving me an exclusive glimpse at their latest launch of Polka Dot Romance:

I ended up liking EVERYTHING from this collection, which is a first cos I normally would only like SOME pieces when I browse blogshops, and it was the first time I actually like EVERYTHING from one collection.

How to choose 3 pieces like that, you tell me??

During one of the conversations, they knew about my upcoming trip and with my indecisiveness, they actually allowed me to choose 4 pieces, and when they knew I have trouble pairing my accessories (yes, I am a fashion handicapped that way!), they put in another item to make my life easier!

I love the black lace dress very much because I actually have something in my wardrobe that resembles it to the core which I paid much more for from overseas some time back:

After I posted the pictures of the night out with my pole-mates on facebook, I actually had a few friends asking me where I got the dress from, and since I could no longer find it online, when I saw a similar one on Passion Chiffonier, I was quick to inform them they could get a similar one at only a fraction of the price!

Since I have something similar, it could ease me from choosing that piece cos I was tempted to get the dress in blue but resisted against it so I can keep my options for others, and try out different things.

Eventually, with the help from the lovely ladies who painstakingly answered my queries to all the dresses (they always replied with such details and passion that it wasn’t those one-size-fits-all replies), the material, my choices were finalised.

As they knew I was heading for POCC event and going overseas, they offered to meet up and pass to me personally in between their busy dayjob schedules.

So sweet!

I was greeted by Ling’s bubbly and sweet smile, coupled by her girly dress sense… and she is one of those who looks gorgeous in white! She looks like she is in her teens and surely doesn’t look her age.

And here is how sweet they are:

And they paid me before I even wrote anything even when I threatened them that I might just leave the country (which I did) and then take their moolah and run away! Then like that HOW?! They didn’t even care :|

It was later when Jenn added me on facebook that I finally got to see how she looks like, and I must say both ladies could very well model their own line!

And it was the constant email exchanges of even the most mundane things (like my whines of my cornea cut, my trip, their work), that gave me more insights to their personalities and after putting faces to their names, I could so totally understand the concept behind their blogshop.

Both of them are vibrant, youthful, fashionable and fun ladies who are in the corporate world, and thus their styles very much spell out who they are, adding a little playfulness and spice to the rigid corporate world, and yet let their characters shine through with the items they chose for Passion Chiffonier.

In my personal opinion, they 2 of them represent different styles and that complement each other well, and give their collection a good range.

At the same time, they understood very well how versatility and creativity could mean the same item would bring a different feel to everyone, and appropriately fits all occasions.

When I brought the pieces to poledance lessons and were having supper with my polemates, I showed them the items and they were all gushing over the pieces and asked me for the site immediately.

So it doesn’t matter if you are 16, or 36, you could wear the same piece and it would look like it fits you to a tee!

So here are what I had chosen and my reviews of the item.. and plenty of camwhore pictures from my outings in the pwwwweeeeetttyy gears!

***

Polka Dot Stretch Romper

Surprise surprise! Yes, I actually decided to act cute and chose the polka dot romper!

I was actually pretty apprehensive that I might look too act cute, but it was such a comfortable piece and I am very happy with the selection.

The material was thicker and structured, which was fabulous cos it prevented the tube from sliding down, and hold the shorts’ shape prettily in place!

Someone actually said “SO CUTEEEE” when saw me in it, and seriously, who will ever associate me with the word “cute”?

I decided to wear it out on 24th July morning for the vaccination at Tampines!

And it comes with a belt slot which you could go without a belt or in my case, I took a frilly lacey thingy and just tied it around.

After the jab, Siren and I headed to Hougang to pick up some of her stuff, before I decided to lug along to her pole-prac session, where I saw some of the usual suspects doing aerial practice in the background.

I am now advancing to Pole 5, and boy, has it been that long since I started taking up poledancing? And I was so in awe of the aerial’s grace that I decided to pick up Aerial too. YAY!

As I was heading off to my holiday, I missed the first lesson, and Ming very sweetly allowed me to catch up with the lesson BEFORE the course started.

And since I was in the studio, I took the chance to pick up what I would have missed.

That is to do a.. uhm.. BEACH WHALE.

Why poledancing got all the super stylomilo name but when it comes to hoop, so not sexy one? Then they told me it is also called “Front Lay” and I giggled silly.

Mounting onto the hoop in the romper, feel very secure to even do everything (sheesh, now like promoting sanitary pad!).

Celestine been saying how I always look constipated when I pole, so trying to smile as broadly as possible.

And now… *drums roll* The beach whale!

The thing with aerial is it is always quite hard to get a good picture cos I am always swinging.

Me trying to look graceful but ended up looking silly. Was supposed to let go and pose..

Decided to brave the silk (which would be taught in later part of aerial classes), and here’s the amateurish pictures after I first mounted:

And then… the amazon!

All in my romper! I didn’t even need to adjust the romper after I landed back on solid ground cos the material held up very well :)

There was a tiny episode when Celestine said she would be damn upset with me if I manage to do a flip she couldn’t do on the silk, I giggled and asked if she was challenging me. I kept trying and trying and suddenly, I managed to flip and she walked away saying she doesn’t like me that much.

My expression was like I struck the toto, and punched my fist in the air.

But the end result of the move?

Bruises on my arms which are not so evident…

Bloodshot red which became big patches of blueblack! But I laughed how it was all worth it cos I upset Celestine (cos her reaction was damn cute!).

Oh, you can also see quite a close up of the romper here and its material :)

Camwhoring outside the studio!

Camwhoring when I got home before taking a nap for the evening at Zouk to come!

***

Been a long while since I last went to Zouk, and this time is all for a good cause, to support Power Over Cervical Cancer, and also the Acro Polates girls were performing as well!

And for the occasion, I was dressed in another Passion Chiffonier dress, which received compliments from some of the girls who asked me where I got it from!

Fab Dotted Satin Dress

When I first received it, it was the piece which material impressed me the most.

Though they had told me it was made in light weight satin, what I like is that it wasn’t the kind of cheap, thin satin that are too shiny for daily use. It was a bit more matt than the usual satin, and you would definitely not feel overdressed in it even for a casual day out. It also comes with lining underneath.

I actually felt girlier, sweeter, younger (ahem) and sexier in it.

It also is thicker than the normal satin so the shape stays and not look limp. And you know what they say about the ruffles at the bustline.. ILLUSIONS, baybeh!

Besides that, it comes with padding on top so you could cheat a little for that nice little cleavage, heh heh heh.

And now.. pictures in my new dress and the night out in Zouk!

Heading out.

And the best part was that Jenn & Ling decided to throw in a Suede butterfly belt (which they also have on the site in Collection 2) so I could accessorise the dress!

The belt is super easy to match with everything I found in my wardrobe!

The pamphlet at the entrance echoed exactly what I have to say.

Nikki and I arrived early and met at the entrance, getting ready to scream ourselves hoarse!

She did the auntie thing to check out the goodie bag offers so that I didn’t have to!

Jean, the closet kinky maiden with her stripper heels! I thought it is so adorable to have a cash slot at the transport heel… like so innocently kinky!

Bumped into Nadnut who was at the event too, and you can see the patches of bruise on my arm!

With Celestine and Jean, who were waiting to perform.

Nikki, Miss Mango Trina, me and Jean. They put up such a fabulous show that night, and made us wonder when we would one day reach that level. *dreams*

SO HOT RIGHT!

Group picture of the girls from poledancing studio (and the pole wipers, hahaha)! Most of us were there to lend our support and voices and they were amazing!

Back to her old self… she had inspired us to pick up the “reach out and pluck the rambutan gracefully” move.


They requested it.

Nikki and I with sexy Eunice, our instructor and motivator.

I said must take full body view so can see my dress. Hahaha. Nikki looks damn chio here.

The night ended with us heading for supper at River Valley Road before we gave Eunice a lift back and conveniently headed for another supper location.

Tucked away in a quiet corner of Stagmont Ring, is this amazing dog-friendly place where we have been chilling quite often at.

It has seating area for dog owners to have a beer or two, and their food is pretty decent and economically priced!

An area for the dogs to run about, and the black fenced up area is actually a pool for the pups to have a dip! Absolutely sweet, sweet place.

This is me and Tyson, a Bull Mastiff puppy. I wasn’t strangling him! Please don’t report me to SPCA!

It was then I saw this lovely pup strolling around with staccato steps, revealing the leg problems it has.

Fell in love with it and it was just so calm, and quiet, except when Tyson tried to kiss him.

It was then the owner of the cafe told me how the boarding house has been a popular place for irresponsible owners to abandon their dogs.

This pup (which I have since nicknamed him “my dog”) is old and has legs problem, and it was abandoned at the gate of the boarding house one day. He is just one of the many, including 3 labs which were sent over by the same owner, and he never came back for them.

I got all teary just listening to the stories, and it perhaps explained why he always looked so… detached and morose. He looked on to the world with jaded eyes and he doesn’t get overly affectionate with anyone.

It is because of him I keep returning.

He is the only dog allowed to roam freely around the premises, and I always tell him he is very loved.. somehow that sounded silly.. but oh well.

We left around 3am that night, and usually the cafe opens till 1ish am on weekdays.

The address is No. 5 Stagmont Ring, further down the road from ten mile junction if anyone is interested in checking the place out!

***

It was a beautiful Saturday, it indeed was :)

***

The third piece I chose was obviously the grey floral bustier dress from the debut collection!

It was made of light cotton and that was why I brought it with me for a hot day out during my trip!

The material is very cooling and came with an inner lining too!

And it also comes with the “secret” of padded bustier, that you can see lotsa.. uhm, illusions!

Here’s some of the snippets of the trip (which I will do up a post soon!).. and everyone been asking me what’s that beautiful place, and the answer is..

It is Sri Lanka.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yah, I know, forsaking Sydney for Sri Lanka, many didn’t understand the logic behind my choice either, but I really liked what I saw, and decided to see them for myself.

Again, you can see that I have paired it up with the butterfly belt that Jenn and Ling chose for me.

I could even cross the river in it, heh.

The dress comes in 3 colours and they have even shown different ways to wear it. I wore it to a nice dinner with a cropped jacket and it looks formal and presentable immediately.

This was also the dress that when my pole mates saw, and unanimously liked :)

***

Last but not least!

casual embossed rose tank top

I opted for this for its apparent simplicity but upon close up, you can see the nice gold trimming of the rose that gave it an unique texture.

When I showed the pieces, many touched the material and complimented on its material.

I would say it is damn sexy to wear without tights, but please only keep it in the bedrooms.

With flash you can see the embossed rose more clearly. The material has a nice touch to it, and is really comfortable to wear.

I wore it on the last day of the trip, and was looking forward to run about the trip and doing jumps in it, unfortunately we didn’t have the time to go down to the Colombo beach, and I only had time for a picture in the airport.

Here, I coupled it with a pair of shorts, and it was the perfect thing to wear cos everyone had to be body searched at the airport, and I pretty much cleared without being touched much hahaha.

***

The best part is Passion Chiffonier has plenty of tips on how to accessorise your outfits, that would decorate you from head to toe, so just pop over NOW to have a look at the brilliant goodies they have to offer!

Simply go into the site, browse, and list your preferences in following format:

Name:
Email address:
Item(s):
Colour and Size (if applicable):

And they will invoice you via email! That simple! Or leave a comment with your email and I am sure they would answer your queries promptly.
If you can’t wait for their next launch like I do, just CLICK HERE to leave your email addresses to join their mailing list to be updated of the latest launches and get exclusive glimpses of the latest collections prior to launch.
GO JOIN NOW NOW NOW!

Like I said, I have grown to like the lovely duo, and I hope you guys can also show some support for the passionate duo by joining their mailing list, or their facebook page.
And after spending 10 hours in front of my monitor punching backspace buttons, getting distracted, plus photoediting and shifting my site to a new host, I am now gonna nap for couple of hours!
Happy shopping everyone, and have a great, great holiday weekend!
Posted in MateriaLust, Piercing the mundane, Tried & Tested/Advertorials | 6 Comments »

Exes

August 5th, 2010 by Scarlett Ting

I think I need a holiday again.

Like, NOOOOOOWWW!!!

I know it is pretty greedy thing to ask of, but  since touching down on late Sunday night, I was knocked right back into reality when motherhood beckoned on Monday morning… Tuesday.. Wednesday.. Thursday.. and more of it with the holidays since she wouldn’t be heading to school.

Tuesday and Wednesday were late nights at the studio and by the time I got back, barely had time to breathe before having some sleep and woke up with little sleep to start the day’s routine.

Somehow along the way, in my sleep, I had this bad muscle knot pain.. which I woke up being helped out of bed cos I couldn’t turn my head, else it would shoot a sharp, numbing pain up my head and down my back.

It was perhaps from the long period of time sitting in front of the monitor, which sucks, cos it means the pain kept me away from the monitor even more!

Fortunately, Nikki was an ultimate blessing and her magic finger magically dissipated the nerve-y pain, and the healing is now just the plenty of muscle aches which are more bearable. At least I can check blind spots now!

Seriously, I THINK AGE IS CALLING ME.

So depressing!

***

Exes.. are about the married men in my life. Sounds rather dodgy but Miss Scarlett Ting here has such a mundane, bland life that the most exciting thing that happened today is listening to Lady Gaga’s Telephone and was just thankful I didn’t shake my head in absolute disapproval and tsk tsk tsk to the risque display (WOOHOOO I STILL HAVE IT IN ME METHINKS!).

But my lunch time these days are just peppered with lunch “dates” with married men, that if I start charging (ahem, NOT in THAT way), I probably wouldn’t need to look for a full time job.

Most of them are ex-classmates, ex-colleagues, and with plenty of spare time on hand, maybe cos of transition, or just simply cos of job nature. I consider my situation a hybrid of both of the above. Laughs.

Which explains.

There was always moments me and these “Exes” actually paused to muse how it feels so taitai-ish, except that, their wives are out there working and we were sipping tea somewhere.. and always discussing other unexplored places for the next lunch.

Having said that, catching up with all the long-time friends have proved to be fattening.

Thomson Plaza sushi this day, Peperoni another, Sixth Avenue some day, Sunset Way another, Bukit Timah…

TELL ME HOW LIKE THAT?!

***

Ex #1 – The ex-classmate had been trying to get me to convince his wife to bake one in the oven, and was suggesting to bring his wife to visit me and Minibean one of these days.

I was trying to tell him how that had made some of my friends sworn off kids. The last I know, the trauma wasn’t over yet hahahaha.

Catching up with the ex-classmate was totally random, as we hadn’t seen each other for almost a decade and he had bumped into me after I had a massage during one of those afternoons, in Orchard.

It was outside Pepper Lunch in Shaw Lido when someone called out to me. And both of us are the kind that we know each other always somewhere there, and mentioned by mutual friends, but never took the initiative to stay in contact, and would probably not bother to if not for the coincidence.

And he was certainly one of those friends I have known for the longest time.

22 going 23 years.

So the merciless taunting still continued after all these years, he had given me a nickname of Xiaopanpan after I giggled my way through about some of the names of the crushes I had in school. Or some relationships that built on way into adulthood with people from the past.

And he was like “PAN JIN LIAN“, which met with a “Kan nin na” from me.

Yet he actually gives me hope that loving husbands and responsible, mature men do exist. Those who are faithful, sweet and every nice thing he came across, was a thought link to how his wife would totally love it. 10 years and never cheated and you should see how his face was like when he spoke of her and his views on marriage and his commitment to her.

Where can buy ah? I want one also!

***

Ex #2 – The ex-colleague.

Much things have changed for us since few years back. But then even in my previous job, we have met up pretty often and he was always like a papa guiding me along.

We had Korean food the other day, and met for Thai buffet today.

UNTIL.

I was telling him about my ex-schoolmates and career choices, and then he mentioned something along the line that, “How old is he? He should stand a good chance.”

“My age lah..”

“Then like that should stand a good chance what.. he is 35 thereabout, right?”

WAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH I JUST WANTED TO FLIP THE TABLE.

Someone stabs me please.

But I shall take in comfort that I have been mistaken to be university students (year 1 somemore) once too often in recent months.

What can I say…? YOU ALL BLIND AH?!

***

Ex #3. The ex-crush. This one has nothing to do with people I met up with. Just a little.

Was just randomly talking about Mr KG (for those uninformed, the guy I had a crush on when I was 14, which, yes, more than half my life time ago) while keeping him anonymous, and it was silly to look back how this ex-crush had been so special to me all these years, cos perhaps he reminded me of who I was, but yet who I could never be.

He isn’t supposed to be in this post, but oh well… heh.

And he isn’t one of those married. Not YET, that is.

***

Ex #4 – The excoworkercummentorcumbitchingkaki

One of the most blessed thing in one of my ex-companies, was this co-worker of mine.

He stayed in touch (which I am incredibly grateful when someone does so cos I can hardly find it within me to do so) and messaged me over MSN some days back but was so busy that I only managed to get back to him some couple of nights ago.

So much has changed. It brought some relief to me, definitely.

Then ah.

We were discussing the ladies in the companies and their strengths, honestly I can’t remember why I actually said something and he went…

“Yah, you are right, cos the girls in our team are actually guys….”

The dagger into the chest was.. “….. All flat one.”

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So I mentioned a name of someone else, who obviously isn’t.

The wise sage said, “But she’s not hot.”

And he continued with the only takeaway of the evening, “You, XXX, and YYY (the other 3 girls in the team) are considered hot, just no tits….“.

“… But good lah, or else I cannot work. I am a tits man man!“.

Mr Critical had implied we are hot. That’s all we need to hear, and that’s all I heard. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

I am looking forward to more quips when we catch up… well you guess it, over lunch soon.

Posted in People, Piercing the mundane | No Comments »

Fairytales

July 20th, 2010 by admin

Someone should have banned me from motherhood.

While reading bed time story to Minibean today…

Mummy, reading from the book, “… the seven dwarfs -sniggers- laid her -muffled laughs- in the glass coffin… wahahahahaha”

Minibean: Mummy why you laughing? Why funny?

“HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA, nothing you should know.”

And then… as I read on, I added in things on my own. “The necrophile of a prince passed by Snow White’s glass coffin and fell in love with her beauty…..”

Honestly, is it me or most children stories are so warped?

Jack and the beanstalk glamourised a burglar, Goldilocks and her bad manners… the Ugly Ducklings speaks of the importance of looks (it says the moral is to learn to love your true self, but that’s only because it eventually became beautiful, or else what would become of it?!), Pied Piper and his mass child abduction, and many more others which I have came to learn through those children stories DVD and I wasn’t the only raising my eyebrows sometimes.

Don’t even get me started on The Princess and the Pea – about a young woman whose royal identity is established by a test of her physical sensitivity.

And it has nothing to do with the fact that we have been trying to locate that mysterious pea to test our physical sensitivity.

But, the story is about a prince who wanted a real princess for a wife and refused to marry all those he was set up with. And he wanted to ascertain this girl is a real princess by placing a pea in the bedding.

I mean, how shallow can he get? Must have real princess then can get married huh? So other ideal candidates with solid characters are being scoffed at for being a non-princess?! Then it doesn’t give hope to people who believe in Cinderellas (ahem, like yours truly).

“…. that she endured a sleepless night, kept awake by something hard in the bed; which she is certain has bruised her. The prince rejoices. Only a real princess would have the sensitivity to feel a pea through such a quantity of bedding.”

Sorry, my mind is just too deep down in the gutter.

Or maybe, it was just the more subtle way of looking for a virgin bride.

Posted in Minibeanism, Piercing the mundane | 5 Comments »

Chicago – The Musical

April 26th, 2010 by admin

It was a Tuesday I was looking forward to since months ago when I heard that Chicago is coming to Singapore.

I first wanted to watch it when it first launched in London, where all the posters of risquely dressed ladies in fishnet stockings and had their modesty covered by a chair, giving the most smoldering looks they could manage were posted along the neverending escalators.

But, there was an age-limit set for it, and the fresh meat in the form of me was too young for it.

I didn’t go back when I was 18, cos I was too shy to ask anyone to go with me, and a group of us shy girlies made do with CATS instead.

I fell in love with the movie which showcased Catherine Zeta Jones’ talents, though I was still not quite buying Renee Zellweger’s performance..

It was one of my favourite movies cos I was captivated by the music and all that slickness, boy oh boy. Pure seduction.

Betrayal, fame, suspense, empowering females, a flamboyant lawyer, and awesome choreography, what’s there not to love?

I was a little apprehensive that the musical wasn’t gonna to match up to the movie, especially since I already knew the plot, and the numbers, and how can anyone match Catherine Zeta Jones’ charms?

The cast were all Australian, and even their usual lead Velma Kelly wasn’t going to be performing for their Asia tour.

Then again, sometime in 2006, a reader once told me that the best Phantom he had ever seen was from Australia, and it is a land of theatre talents overlooked cos the masses’ hearts are with New York Broadway and London West End.

Nonetheless, I was very much looking forward to it and literally counting down to 20th April, right after my driving practical!

I even refused a practical that day cos I was adamant not to miss something that was going to make me that exhilarated. Waited at Esplanade on a nice, breezy evening for the others.

I even got to witness the sun setting on an almost perfect evening.

That’s me at Esplanade with the floral skater dress I had fell in love with on www.theoneparade.com and Jo from Foggiare had sent me in the little package of surprise. Can you imagine my shock when I received the exact same dress within couple of days of each other?

Nonetheless, I love the dresses to bits cos the material was just so soft, and it was perfect for a long day out, and if not for the driving practical, I could have glam it up more for the occasion.

An article had featured the lead actress Sharon Millerchip who plays Roxie Hart, and it was pretty impressive as she had became the only actress that had won award for playing BOTH the role of Velma Kelly almost a decade ago, and Roxie Hart recently.

That’s her in the musical’s banner behind me.

I have had read lukewarm reviews of the musical after its first couple of nights of run, and yet kept an open mind about wanting to enjoy my night to the max.

I love the square outside Esplanade, for it is just such a quiet place…. with so much anticipation for the show to start.

Of course, there’s the beautifully lit city lights glamming the place up.

And the resident cam-whore basking in the evening right before the splendidly dazzling Esplanade.

We made our way to meet Cheyenne for dinner at Thai Express, and there was nothing express about the service there.

Our order was mixed up, and they didn’t serve one of our orders, and we had to wave 159 times before they could bring us the bill, which conveniently included the item which wasn’t served.

Still, we got the chance to camwhore while waiting for the food, and I was getting a tad giddy from the day out.

By then we got a little impatient because they were taking way too much time to get back to us that we might actually missed the musical’s timing, and we were not about to let that happen.

The four of us half-ran to the door to the stall seats, and made it just in time to catch our breath and for the lights to be dimmed.

And what a show it was.

Every bit of it oozes sexiness and sensuality and despite it was a plot we were all too familiar with, the live singing, and all the impressive dance moves just made us indulge in the pure beauty of theatre.

Yes, it doesn’t have the lavish set of Phantom, the costumes of CATS, the charged numbers of We Will Rock You, or the humor of Avenue Q, but it was still one hellava show and I mean, all the tight fitting costumes and fish net stockings and sexy people… it gotta be explosive!

We got to see the sexiness upclose and personal and the brilliant seats meant we could see the dancers’ sweat, and every bit of their bodies as they writhed to the music, and even their expressions.. which shows the professionalism of each and everyone of them.. even in the most obscure positions, they would be in character and were every bit of fabulous.

And then, there were the tight asses of the boys… OH. MY. GOD. The male casts were relatively younger, and they were ALL HOT.

Those tight fitting pants hugged their asses so snugly that, YOU JUST CANNOT MISS THEM.

When they did their sways and hip thrusts, you first notice the perkiness, before you have your gazes held by the spectacular bulges. Giggles.

There were plenty of hand gripping, and bated breaths as we sat through the routines.

Especially there was this part when the female cast did a standing split against a male cast and it was HOT HOT HOT!

Watching it and the dance choreography makes me wish that I could dance like that. It was inspiring.

Was pleasantly surprised by Deone Zanotto’s portrayal of Velma Kelly and though everyone was probably more in it for Sharon Millerchip, I found myself more impressed by Deone’s performance.

Billy Flynn has all the flair but is a tad lacking in the vocal department.

I mean, these people do it 8 times a week, every week! How do they do it?!

Musicals just show how much talent these individuals have and I am just glad I caught it and we cheered we clapped and we had plenty of fun.

There was some standing ovation, and though it still didn’t meet my benchmark, it was close. I remember the squeals we gave when the male casts took their bows and the guys 2nd and 3rd from the right just made our hearts skip a beat.

Joanne Peh and Jeanette Aw were there to watch it together and a naked face Jeanette Aw still looks amazing, I must say.

I can’t wait for Marina Bay Sands’ Lion King to open in October. Still a long way, but I am just glad to get my fix from Chicago.

***

Headed off to have supper at Hotel Rendevous and had a good laugh over boys’ conquests and their tiny victories that seem so significant to boys and yet so trivial to us ladies *blows nailpaint dry* since it was drizzling at Esplanade… and the dreaminess of it all when we stepped out of the musical lingered on such a gorgeous night.

Posted in Piercing the mundane | 4 Comments »

Ting’s VLL #4 – Wireless leeches

April 26th, 2010 by admin

This lesson is for the internet junkies out there who are tech morons, which is a fatal combination that yours truly unfortunately is.

Can you imagine when you are almost dying from withdrawal and frustration, you realise the only thing that is separating you from your fix is your stupidity?!

It is like you see someone having a heart attack, and you are the only one around… with the defibrillators right next to you but you thought those are just for ironing the emergency creases on your shirts or something.

I was blogging halfway last night on my notebook after putting Minibean to sleep, sorely missing my desktop after watching an episode of glee and CSI Miami without regular sound cos the speakers ain’t working when plugged in, when my internet connection died on me.

Just like that *snaps of fingers*.

After hours of attempt to try to revive it, I still couldn’t get it working. I even woke up to check if it works when I changed Minibean’s Drypantz in the early morning, but it still wouldn’t give me any sense of hope.

How sad is that?

This afternoon, the withdrawal got the better of me, and I tried again.

Then I saw the wireless connections of neighbours and one that said excellent connection but I cursed slightly when it was actually secured network.

Since I have had my internet connection for the past… gasp, almost 3 years (which was why I got this notebook for free), I have sometimes saw the same stingy basket who had locked up the connection, which would have sometimes solve my internet woes when using my notebook in the hall.

But since it is rare, my gripes towards the stingy basket weren’t as strong as it was today, since I know my survival is solely base on the wireless since I couldn’t got on the internet via the modem.

I don’t agree to be an internet leech, but desperate times call for desperate measures. Imagine how I could have find troubleshooting solution online!

In the saddest story ever told.. I was left with a desktop with dead motherboard, and a notebook without working internet connection. FML.

A call to Singtel brought forth more revelations than one.

The story got sadder, and sadder.

My network card died indeed, and it could be due to my itchy hand when I tried to clear my notebook of more files.

And then, I was told my modem has always been a wireless too.

I have been wanting to leech the bugger for almost 3 years, only to realise the stingy bugger is myself and the network key is on the bloody modem.

(!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

And the ready wireless had been there and for all the years I leeched off weaker signals (may I add, only on two occasions I ever did that and less than 10 minutes!), and cursing the stingy bugger, I had been talking about none other than my own, brilliant, self.

BAH!!!!!

THE NETWORK HAS ALWAYS BEEN MINE! MINE! MINE! MINE! MINE!

SO SAD RIGHT?!?!?!?!

And now, I am liberated back into the internet, with my wireless network losing its virginity for the very first time in almost 3 years.

Next time anyone of you come my house and I won’t give you a sad little face to tell you I don’t have wireless connection and you would respond with your dejected puppy looks that would make me feel badbadbad.

It was a very “duh” moment but then the joy started seeping in cos all hopes were not lost for me to get online, you know you know?

So, lesson learnt. If you are a tech moron like me, most likely the answer is easier and more straight forward than you think it is.

Just like how last night, an eureka moment dawned upon me with other issues that… “Most of the time, things are the simplest at its most complicated, and most complicated at its simplest.”

I do feel that it holds true that way for many things.

And suddenly, I don’t quite trust myself to dismantle my hard disk from my desktop already.

Posted in Piercing the mundane | No Comments »

iLike iGeek

April 13th, 2010 by admin

Remember eons ago I had wanted to put a “Like” button but it failed to work?

I asked for quite a bit of help, and no one seemed to be able to figure out what’s wrong.

And being the total programming idiot, of course my airhead couldn’t find out what’s wrong either. It wasn’t that I was desperately wanting that plug-in, but it is like an unsolved puzzle at the back of my head and I just find it like.. you know, unresolved?

So, anyway.

After sorting my site out with Glenn’s help (and I have not credited the talented Mr Eddie for his help with my banner), I decided to try my luck with the plugin again.

Of cos, as usual, with me, it is another failure to launch. And then I decided to read on FAQs that speak alien languages.

Things is CHMOD, jQuery, blarblarblar, and honestly, what the fuck are those things?

Somehow, I managed to follow the instructions to troubleshoot.

Sense of satisfaction? Priceless. Results? NOTHING!!!!!!!

But somehow, I managed to anyhowly click, to find myself at my error log page (don’t you find my geek talk so sexy now?!), made some sense of it, and then with the little knowledge I gotten from the previous instructions-following, tried to tweak a little on my CHMOD (oh gosh, tell me you are creaming on this geek-fuelled speech), and I actually freaking solved the long-bugging issue which my awesomely handsome, smart, computing degree-clad geek friends didn’t manage to solve!

I awe myself I tell you.

I know how this could be just so easy for ANYONE, and maybe because it is such a simple glitch thus no one gave much thoughts, but you know how miraculous it is for me to figure just ONE thing out or not?! Giggles. Happy like birdie now. The sense of achievement is more than what doing a split was to me last time, and I did take a longer time to solve this compare to doing a split!

It feels like I have uhm… successfully pull of a bypass operation with me as the surgeon without going to medical school! Okay, fine, maybe more like, uh, successfully diagnosing say, meningitis and brilliantly treating it (even if it is by sheer chance).

See, I should have known that I could never depend on the guys for them to work my button! Despite being a total tech-idiot and an absolute noob, I ACTUALLY COULD DO THINGS TO THE BUTTON THEY COULDN’T DO!

I should have known that I could rely on them for everything techie, well, except to know what I wanna do with my button.

I feel like stripping myself now cos I find that SO HOT.

Which means for all those people I had asked to work my button for me… yes all 10 of you, your hotness factor would have became 10 folds to me, which honestly would be enough for me to strip you (hahaha, not that I think you would want me to).

Tough luck there.

*Flips hair and gives a diva wave of dismissal*

And yes, because I am so fabulously lucky adventurous smart, you guys can now play with my button abundantly… down south.

Yes, just below here, nowhere else.

Posted in Piercing the mundane | 2 Comments »

Pole. Dance.

March 30th, 2010 by admin

(disclaimer: I swear the above isn’t me!)

It all started some time last year when someone (who had shown me utter kindness on the day I brought Minibean home from the hospital) updated her facebook and twitter status about the aches in her body.

She attributed it to the exotic classes she had been taking and it triggered the interest in me.

She is someone with a big heart, quiet facade, petite figure, and her online persona is a feisty one which I was quite surprised to learn over the years. I remember her sending cookies to me in the rain.. but why I am mentioning all these when none of the above is my point?

Okay, maybe somewhere along the line, my point is, I don’t think anyone around me had picked up dancing when she has reached my age, and I was quick to think that I myself wouldn’t be able to do it.

I saw a video she posted and I was infinitely impressed and it triggered the curiosity and reignited the interest that has always resided in me somewhere. And the video made me look at her in a whole new light as I witnessed her slithers and waves, which was something that put her in a different light to me.

Since I have pretty much quite a bit of enquiries via MSN, blog and twitter, I thought I might share some of the information here :)

She then filled me in with the details of her course, and when I told her I wasn’t sure I was up to it, she recommended me Acro-Polates (Polefessional.com.sg), which actually offers free trial class every month, and thought it would help me to make a decision.

I gingerly brought the topic up to Jiali, and expected her to call me crazy, but she gamely laughed at the idea and thought it would be fun. Off we went for the trial class, we learnt a couple of spins, I earned a couple of “coins” on my legs, and we immediately paid for the next course available after the class.

What can I say? I think we are closet sadomasochists.

I remember when I first blogged about my pole dance classes, I had stated how I had always wanted to dance when I was younger, but it was not something my parents believed in. And as I grew older and more awkward, it became something neither I would believe in.

Dance? Me? I can’t even touch my toes for goodness’ sake!

When I finally left my job, one of the most fulfilling indulgence is to let the interest imbues with the progression I have made thus far.

I have since went on with pole, and still loving it, cos it never fails to amaze how I could keep doing things I never thought I could do.  Not very perfect, but a good start nonetheless, I mean, you have any idea how clumsy I am or not?!

I had wanted to pick up salsa last February, and it was finally I found a willing victim in Siren, whose spontaneity finally got me into salsa after all the procrastination cos I am simply too shy to go alone! The natural dancer in her coupled with her gymnast background makes me wanna bend her anyhowly to do naughty things to her everytime she grooves and moves.

Eventually, she has since moved on to another level on salsa, took on another 101 other dances to curb her restless feet while I took a break and sticking to pole, which I could barely muster well.

Does anyone have a cure for my 2 left feet?!

I had wanted to take up an accelerated exotic dance program with another dance school, but the experience from start to the end since my registration was rather unpleasant. First, they informed the change of dates, which essentially shifted the day from Thursdays to Wednesdays. Then, they informed the change of venue. And then they informed the changed of timings and dates again.

Just before payment, I was informed the original element I had wanted to pick up (which was what actually interest me in the beginning) was changed to pilates and timings and dates were changed, 3 days the course would commerced.

The changes then killed the keenness, and I think it is better I muster something first before venturing on anything else cos my old brittle bones might not take it.

Before I knew it, I finished Pole Level 1.

And Pole Level 2.

And I thought I would never make it through Level 2 since my sweaty palms are quite a big hindrance.

But now, wooohoooooooooo! Level 3! Not sure if I will make it through but then the inspiration also comes in the form of my instructors, who essentially started pole dancing only 4 years ago.

There are a lot of misconception about pole dancing, and it is evident when I just started and raved to everyone how fun it is, yet I got all the raised brows.

Yeap, I agree there is the skimpy clothings (which comprise of singlet and shorts), but it is more for the contact of the skin and pole for better grip than anything else.

2 weeks ago, during the showcase night, I saw 2 other dancers infusing jazzy, springy steps to their moves, and contemporary dance moves to their pole dance, showing off the fluid lines as they did the acrobatic moves on the pole and it was nothing erotic.

And if you think it is a glamourous, let me tell you how you will hear the girls scream and curse and swear and cry out in pain from the pole burns and abrasions (or for my case, during warm ups cos my cranky physique would give up on me prematurely!), and it takes lots for them to get to where they are, and the journey is nothing glamourous, hahaha!

Not forgetting the pain from the strains and pulls, or the occasional painful drop from the poles when your hands give way cos it is THAT draining.

Like this; – though you probably need imaginary sound effects for the screams for help so someone would ease you into position to break your fall:

Very not the glam.

Don’t even get me started on the perpetual blue blacks which would never go away in time for the next ones to mark their spots.

And sometimes when you are scared, you tend to forget the instructor’s (in this case, the absolutely sexy, hilarious, lovely Eunice) constant screams of “POINT YOUR TOES!” and this is what happens:

Yes, it was a picture of me struggling and it is evident from my toes.

Another plus point to my poledancing class is that since my back problem a year back, I have been trying to strengthen my back and core muscles, at the same time improving my posture, and so far, I know I have been gaining flexibility (NOW I CAN TOUCH MY TOES, YAY!), and with those mothers of all muscle aches, I better be gaining some sort of muscles man!

In my search of grace,  I am glad I found pole-dancing, though I have to say hahahaha, it is not helping with any grace!

But I am just incredibly happy to start on inverts, though a few times the muscle pulls mean I had difficulties getting into position.

You see, this is how you get into inverts:

You lean back, and throw your weight around, whilst your arms support your weight.

You “kiap-ed” with your thighs, though I have to say my you-know-where sometimes come in quite useful, and I am not implying about the powerfulness of my you-know-where, giggles.

Though there is a simpler way, which is to climb the pole and drop back from a sitting position, which to me, sometimes the fear of falling makes me refused to throw myself back completely.

But I did manage to do it after not doing it for quite a while, and am just happy like a birdie can.

But I still need my knee to hook cos my thighs kiap-ing is not as strong as.. ahem. This time the photographer smart, never take my frightened toes!

Okay, back to kicking up into an invert.

In the beginning, we were just very happy to be getting into positions, like this:

And we have to learn to walk away. I remember in the beginning when they told me to “walk away”, I started to shuffle my feet which were on the pole, cos WALK AWAY RIGHT?

Then they repeated until Eunice said “USE YOUR HANDS!”

Giggles. Yeap, that’s me, what to do?

Just like how I had drafted this post last night at around 3am, and then I blogged to say my camera gave up on me right?

When I tried again this morning, I saw the USB end of the wire is not plugged into the port.

!!!!!!!!!!!

LIKE SERIOUSLY!

I awe myself all the time, I tell you.

Okay, did I go off the topic AGAIN?

As I was saying.

Getting on the pole, get into position, and then can slide down like this:

… I was already very contented.

Remember how I said I am always a step slower than others, and I don’t usually get it right the first time round.

So I always look forward to Wednesday nights when there are pole practise sessions, where everyone would come together from all levels to improve their skills.

Sessions like these are always casuals, and hilarious cos everyone is just so lovely. Sometimes we cheat a little and try to pick up some steps from the seniors (yah, we haven’t walked want to fly liao!), and sometimes we try to help each other to achieve what individually had set to achieve.

With the encouragement of my dearest Jiali and Joanne, it was during one of these times when I finally threw caution into the wind (sometimes it is fear that holds us back), and just, had fun.

With Ming‘s (da boss! She has a blog that shows the aerial fitness course which is just such a charming thing I wanna try next!), and Eunice’s guidance and patience, I think I had a little breakthrough on my own.

Not perfect, but tsk, let me bask in my delirium of ecstasy can?

My calf needs to be parallel, and my hind leg needs to be straighter, and it will be awesome if my body was away from the pole.

And I did it with no assistance!

I remember this session was after my TWG birthday dinner, and I had lotsa sweet stuff. Was on such sugar high that I didn’t stop throwing myself up the pole and found it to be such an ease.

My energy was boundless and I had thorough fun doing it while others also try to break their own barriers.

Then I decided to try something I didn’t think I could do, just for the fun of it and I actually managed to do it!

A standstand split.

But the results was that my you-know-where hit heavily against the pole (OUCHIE!), and such a glamourous moment ended up like this:

Which is what we look like most of the time after being exhausted.

The results of the session was one that I did what I didn’t think I could, and a very bad bout of muscle aches that went on for a week. I wonder where the energy came from, and since then before my lessons, I tend to pile myself with sugar stuff to achieve that HIGH again. Laughs.

Since then, many people around me took an interest and had their presumptions on pole dancing erased. At the same time, it is a good fitness program that suits someone like me who refuses to exercise.

I know some of you whom I don’t know personally had asked me for the link and feedback, and I think one of the interesting approach is that they teach you the techniques first, and it will be easier for people like me who have no dancing background.

Over the weeks, you will build the flexibility needed and you wouldn’t even realise it. Though it was more for toning, I did have friends who lost weight over the weeks of the course, quite amazing I may say.

And the activities and events they plan will definitely trigger the desire in you to want to go higher, cos there is always this thing in you asking yourself how far can you go (especially if you are someone who is totally graceless like me!), and the beauty of it is the support from your fellow peers who progress with you.

I can’t wait to go to pole prac tomorrow to try a few things and caught up those I had missed. There are showcases and performances by those who are of higher levels, and girls’ night out like these are fun fun fun and of course, HOT HOT HOT! And Acro Polates will be celebrating their 2 years anniversary, and I am sure lotsa exciting stuff are coming up.

If you guys do sign up, do let me know, and we all can go pole prac to laugh together, sweat together, and get blue blacks together!

By the way, when I first went for my lessons, I saw a company doing team building and you see the guys doing it, and it was hilarious and just lotsa fun and laughter. And if you think guys are crap at it, I will like to add that the most impressive pole-dancers I have seen, are these 2 chaps from my studio.

And most importantly, having the time to catch up and bond together with Jiali again, is something that truly is precious.

A bit chui, cos sweaty, makeupless, and felt like finish 2.4km like that.

Another random thought: Wonder when I can advance enough to do aerial, and they look so beautiful floating in the air! Shall. Go. Streeeettcccchhhhhhhh.

(By the way, I am sharing my experience since many had asked, and this is not an advertorial!)

Posted in Piercing the mundane | No Comments »
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