Monday, January 18, 2010  12:23 PM
Wired tape
I like how music always has a way of reaching into an untapped part of your being and retrieving memories so entrenched I've thought them forgotten. They form a colourful puzzle of people and places that piece together to form my life. Morbidness aside, I imagine the last few minutes before death to be a fastforwaded saturated film reel and a cacophony of musical notes.
This morning's spins as I daydreamed:
In For The Kill - La Roux: shopping at H&M Ginza, and letting the energy from the song penetrate as I danced and weaved through the insane crowd after a sleepless 36 hours
Hysteric (acoustic) - Yeah Yeah Yeahs: my first yyys song, and before I even knew the title, I pleaded Denise before the day began to "please play my good morning song!" as the perfect cure to gloomy mornings
C.S. Lewis Song - Brooke Fraser: singing in the car with RJ past midnight along the expressway either to or from the airport. "This is my favourite song; I listen to it when I'm sad. Did you know it's a Christian song? Ironic, right."
Collie Man - Slightly Stoopid: i think of giraffes and free-roaming tigers. All because this is Bev's South African song, and she got me so influenced I imagine myself there when I listen to it even though technically, that never happened
Don't Wait - Dashboard Confessional: a suitor once sent this to Julienne, and she forwarded it to me three years ago. I picture that suitor now in a Zegna suit holding out a corsage
God Bless the USA - Lee Greenwood: overnight KTV in Hong Kong, when Deb, Esther, Bev and I changed the lyrics to fit singapore and filmed ourselves singing and doubling over in laughter. "And I'm proud to be a singaporean, where at least I know I'm kiasu, and I won't forget Lee Kuan Yew, who gave that right to me, and I'll gladly queue up next to you..." We were possibly high on an overdose of golf-ball sized wontons
Broken Strings - James Morrison feat Nelly Furtado: UK Road Trip. We played this song numerous times and each time Paul would go, "I like this song! Who sang it ah?", to which either Sara/Esther/Me would say, "James Morrison, you asked this question before once/twice/three times."
Wannabe - Spice Girls: dressed as the spice girls on our way to a themed birthday party. "Do you think we're overdressed?" "What if we're the only ones dressed up?" "Never mind, I think we will WIN." "What do you think the prize is?" "I hope topshop vouchers." Ginger Spice: "I look like a hooker la."
Your Heart Is An Empty Room - Death Cab for Cutie: i like playing this song in the office because Sam knows all the lyrics. She sings it like a consolation as she stands in front of my table and scowls at the newspaper as she works the scanner, her best enemy
Human - The Killers: "Are we human, or are we dancer? What is dancer? It doesn't make sense grammatically!" I cannot remember who said this, but it took place in someone's car outside Ion Orchard
Use Somebody - Kings of Leon: skipping along the bridge at changi village on New Year's Day making up the lyrics as we went along and only repeating confidently the first line
Tiffany Blews - Fall Out Boy: this was so 2009 for me. Bev and I blasted this song countless times, only shouting at the top of our lungs during the chorus, "oh baby you're a classic, like a little black dress!!!"
All My Only Dreams - The Wonders: KL and Genting 2005, the huge white bed and starbucks at night while pretending to blow out smoke. I also picture Luq in his trucker cap.
Unintended - Muse: one balmy night when I ran downstairs to lie by the pool, stared into the blanket of stars and cried
Pretty Boy - M2M: secondary 3 on the overnight sleeper train in China. Ling and I sang it from the top bunks only to annoy the bottom-bunk sleepers to prevent them from sleeping if we couldn't
My Heart & I Decided - Ella Fitzgerald: Christmas trees at Ginza, 9 degree weather, walking aimlessly, my mauve trench coat and standing in front of the Chanel window display
The Shadow Proves The Sunshine - Switchfoot: studying in the CI club room in school on the 5th floor with Felicia before class, her dozing off, me trying to explain the lyrics of the song to her and playing Pachelbel's Canon in D on the electronic keyboard when she fell asleep
Heartbreaker - Mstrkrft: zouk last year when Jan waved Mstrkrft away because she thought they were imposters trying to take pictures with us. All she managed to say to save her own skin was, "Hello" and a handshake, instead of "Yes, I'd be honoured to take a picture with you!"
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Friday, January 15, 2010 12:56 PM
Wait, they don't love you like I love you
I've found the cure to stony early mornings. I'm not one for mornings; I don't want to talk to anyone and my skin is pallid and make-up free. All I'm thinking about is going back to sleep, which is why I prefer the long bus journey over the train which might get me to work in half the time because the last thing I want to do is to feel like a squashed sardine at 8.30am.
So planet awesome kid is happiness to my soul. I couldn't rub that silly smile off my face for few hours after these doe-eyed, apple-cheeked children sneaked their way into my heart. I encourage everyone to find their daily dose of endorphins in the first hour of work, be it furry kittens or comic strips. It helps.
I'm proud of how knowledgeable I've become ever since I started working because the Internet is my best friend on slow Mondays and lazy Fridays. I've googled almost everything out there that interests me, and I've scanned through best brunch places in singapore, cheap flights to cambodia/vietnam/italy, benefits of a weekend car, countless new fashion blogs, lyrics of yeah yeah yeahs' songs, where to get the cheapest tory burch shoes, and pronunciation of all the brands under the sky. I've signed up to get a new word of the day from dictionary.com, added MSN plus! which has a function which prevents your boss from viewing your chats and I vote "look of the day" daily on style.com.
I never knew all these five months ago. I hope this is a presage of what the year ahead holds. Just like how my suddenly-capricious father has taken a liking to japan and uploads personal pictures on facebook and innocently types location: g:\\, 2010 should be a very entertaining year ahead of all things new.
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Wednesday, January 06, 2010 4:04 PM
Demise of my green and white
For the longest time, I was ever so enchanted by kate spade.
Now two bags and a wallet later, I'm saying goodbye to my old colourful friend that first enticed me into the world of branded bags.
They have the most eye-popping colours on every type of basket bag, clutch and handbag imaginable. Their masterful play of green and white, reds, pinks and hues of orange, polka dots and stripes always transported me to another world during the later part of my teenage years. Their advertisements and whimsical taglines found their way many times to my desktop wallpaper and MSN nicknames.
On my twenty-first birthday, I skipped my way into a kate spade store in Hong Kong and almost keeled over in excitement when I purchased my first (birthday present from the relenting mum, of course).
Perhaps my wise father knew I would grow out of it in time and he never fails to nag against spending more than $50 on a bag. He never has believed in buying branded items, and never casts new buys around the house a second glance. Maybe he knew that the desire will always be for something greater as how life is continuously aspirational.
But with five people carrying the similar-looking label within 10m of each other on the train in the morning, kate spade is becoming the icon of every Jane or Mary as they strut around with their prized possessions swinging off their shoulders. Magazines have stopped featuring their bags; I now see pages stocked full with their jewellery instead. Charles & Keith did a whole season on blatant copies of kate spade designs a year ago, which almost drew the line for me then. And with more and more citizens of our island popping by the US for that cash-saving trip to a kate spade factory outlet and coming back with buys costing a quarter of what we pay here, it's high time to move on.
The demise started with the huge store opening at Raffles City - nobody knew what it was when the delightful numbers were housed in little store tucked away in the massive Takashimaya department store. No, I will still use my bags because they were wonderful buys and I still love them. But I'll stop buying more and focus my fancies on another designer instead; after all, what's fashion if it isn't an ever-changing experience?
We were talking about labels in the office yesterday, and this conversation can only happen when three girls on the third floor are browsing through style.com and net-a-porter at the same time. It always happens when the day is about to end and we're tired from sending emails and talking to the SPH receptionists. So after much deep thought to "Which brand personifies us?", we now have a Calvin Klein, Alexander Wang and Marc Jacobs collaborating together and wishing we could one day set up our very own business.
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