seven even

My Shoe Addiction Is Itching Again...

2009-04-18T18:06:00.000-07:00

Nothing On My Mind, Everything On My Mind

2009-04-10T21:51:00.000-07:00

I wish I know what's next.

Grace

2009-04-04T07:19:00.000-07:00

"Each time this song is play,I will think of you..."

This may not be the exact words, and this might not be the blissful song of all, but he said it,and I'm touched, as this is the first time I am associated with a song in someone mind.

There's the moon asking to stay
Long enough for the clouds to fly me away
Well it's my time coming, i'm not afraid, afraid to die

My fading voice sings of love
But she cries to the clicking of time,
Wait in the fire...

And she weeps on my arm
Walking to the bright lights in sorrow
Oh drink a bit of wine we both might go tomorrow
Oh my love...

And the rain is falling and i believe my time has come
And it reminds me of the pain i might leave behind
Wait in the fire...

And i feel them drown my name
So easy to know and forget with this kiss
But i'm not afraid to go, baby it's all because of you
But i'm not afraid to go, but it goes so slow, slow
Wait in the fire, wait in the fire
Wait in the fire...

...don't you take it away from me

High Fidelity by Nick Hornby

2009-03-31T18:49:00.000-07:00

High Fidelity

I could have finish reading this book in a day, but I didn’t. Simply because I like the way Hornby weaves his words together and I keep having images of John Cusack going through the dialogs in my head in the movie. Maybe in another way, I’m also enjoying this reading in a melancholy romantic way. Anyway, I can’t help but extracting his words…which is very much in tune to what I have been thinking or thought I should have known. Also, The Rob Fleming’s top 5 list of everything…relationships, albums, movies…prompt me to think what’s my top 5, in love, in my closet (or suitcase in this case), and in life…and here are my top 5 highlights from High Fidelity. (okay, I'm being greedy, it's top 8, because I'm not Rob Fleming...)

1. And that's the last time we will ever speak, probably. "No problem": the last words I ever say to somebody I have been reasonably close to before our lives take different directions. Weird, eh? You spend Christmas at somebody's house, you worry about their operations, you give them hugs and kisses and flowers, you see them in their dressing gown . . . and then, bang, that's it. Gone forever. And sooner or later there will be another mum, another Christmas, more varicose veins. They're all the same. Only the addresses, and the colors of the dressing gown, change.

2. You need as much ballast as possible to stop you from floating away; you need people around you, things going on, otherwise life is like some film where the money ran out, and there are no sets, or locations, or supporting actors, and it's just one bloke on his own staring into the camera with nothing to do and nobody to speak to, and who'd believe in this character then? I've got to get more stuff, more clutter, more detail in here, because at the moment I'm in danger of falling off the edge.

3. What went wrong? Nothing and everything. Nothing: we had a nice evening, we had sex that humiliated neither of us, we even had a predawn conversation that I and maybe she will remember for ages and ages. Everything: all that stupid business when I couldn't decide whether I was going home or not, and in the process giving her the impression that I was a halfwit; the way that we got on brilliantly and then had nothing much to say to each other; the manner of our parting; the fact that I'm no nearer to appearing in the record sleeve notes than I was before I met her. It's not a case of the glass being half full or half empty; more that we tipped a whole half-pint into an empty pint pot. I had to see how much was there, though, and now I know.

4. You know, you're with someone, and you start to say something, and then you stop, and she goes "What?" and you go "Nothing," and she goes, "Please say it," and you go, "No, it'll sound stupid," and then she makes you spit it out, even though you'd been intending to say it all along, and she thinks it's all the more valuable for being hard-won. Maybe she knew all the time that you were messing about, but she doesn't mind, anyway. It's like a quote: it's the nearest any of us gets to being in the movies, those few days when you decide that you like somebody enough to tell her that you love her, and you don't want to muck it up with a glob of dour, straightforward, no-nonsense sincerity.

5. I enjoy my birthday, but today I don't feel so good about it. Birthdays should be suspended in years like this one: there should be a law, of man if not of nature, that you are only allowed to age when things are ticking along nicely. What do I want to be thirty-six for now? I don't. It's not convenient. Rob Fleming's life is frozen at the moment, and he refuses to get any older. Please retain all cards, cakes, and presents for use on another occasion.

6. So where does this get me? The logic of it all is that I play a percentage game. I'm thirty-six now, right? And let's say that most fatal diseases, cancer, heart disease, whatever, hit you after the age of fifty. You might be unlucky, and snuff it early, but the fifty-plus age group get more than their fair share of bad stuff happening to them. So to play safe, you stop then: a relationship every couple of years for the next fourteen years, and then get out, stop dead, give it up. It makes sense. Will I explain this to whomever I'm seeing? Maybe. It's fairer, probably. And less emotional, somehow, than the usual mess that ends relationships. "You're going to die, so there's not much point in us carrying on, is there?" It's perfectly acceptable if someone's emigrating, or returning to their own country, to stop a relationship on the grounds that any further involvement would be too painful, so why not death? The separation that death entails has got to be more painful than the separation of emigration, surely? I mean, with emigration, you can always go with her. You can always say to yourself, "Oh, fxxk it, I'll pack it all in and go and be a cowboy in Texas/tea-picker in India," etc. You can't do that with the big D, though, can you? Unless you take the Romeo route, and if you think about it ...

7. "See, I've always been afraid of marriage because of, you know, ball and chain, I want my freedom, all that. But when I was thinking about that stupid girl I suddenly saw it was the opposite: that if you got married to someone you know you love, and you sort yourself out, it frees you up for other things. I know you don't know how you feel about me, but I do know how I feel about you. I know I want to stay with you and I keep pretending otherwise, to myself and you, and we just limp on and on. It's like we sign a new contract every few weeks or so, and I don't want that anymore. And I know that if we got married I'd take it seriously, and I wouldn't want to mess about."

8. “Just because it's a relationship, and it's based on soppy stuff, it doesn't mean you can't make intellectual decisions about it. Sometimes you just have to, otherwise you'll never get anywhere. That's where I've been going wrong. I've been letting the weather and my stomach muscles and a great chord change in a Pretenders single make up my mind for me, and I want to do it for myself."

Moving

2009-03-30T09:22:00.000-07:00

Okay,I'm going to do another round of moving, that will be my third times in eight months time.

Alright, D. H. Lawrence moved about 100 times, to several countries. Invariably, he wanted to establish a utopian community, perhaps in Florida, and lamented an unsatisfying relationship with his wife, believing that a “blood brotherhood” with a man might represent home. Virginia Woolf fled sexual abuse by her stepbrothers in her childhood home in Hyde Park Gate and spent the rest of her life flipping houses, renovating and searching for the oxygen she needed to write.

I don't have all the above grand reasons except to have my own little solitary world sharing with a friend and his dog. However nobody beats Virginia Woolfs who ultimately convincing us that, for some, moving can be paired with madness.

Where will I be next after this move? Will I be carrying the suitcase again and asking where is my next destination...

The DB's Spirit

2009-03-26T20:16:00.000-07:00

David Beckham kind of inspire me today.

And here I quote:

Asked whether an appearance at the World Cup in South Africa, should England qualify, could provide a natural conclusion to what would be a 14-year career at this level, Beckham replied: "No. I've always said that even if I'm not picked, I want to be available while I'm still playing. That's the way I see it. I'd love to go to the World Cup and be involved in every squad that gets picked up to that time. I don't think I'd ever retire."

Eight-Block-Long Love Letter

2009-03-17T07:50:00.000-07:00

Interesting stuff you can find online and I totally digg this!

In this episode of Interviews 50 Cents, Alex Chadwick speaks with a storyteller who drew inspiration from a declarion of love written in sidewalk chalk over eight city blocks.

Click here to see .

My Lightblue Passion

2009-03-16T02:19:00.000-07:00

My new crush! Pasquale Foggia, the attacking midfielder of Lazio

Global Motherf*ckers

2009-03-13T22:41:00.000-07:00

I heard enough cursing growing up and at some point when i learn about languages, it does occur to me to think is the suggestion of maternal incest to curse comes in every culture? At least it does in Chinese, and yeah, motherf*cker is in English, and so do Malay and other dialects I know. Although this may appear to be a recent phenomenon, one can find variants in classical literature. William Shakespeare used such a device in one of his act, and I quote:

Painter: "Y'are a dog."
Apemantus: "Thy mother's of my generation. What's she, if I be a dog?"

Well, perhaps this should be an interesting subject to study on...

Beautiful Heart

2009-03-13T07:36:00.000-07:00

Do I have a beautiful heart?
or
Beautiful heart I have...I wonder.

~A Beautiful Heart by Jim Dine

I miss the 80s cartoon characters

2009-03-11T20:25:00.000-07:00

Again, I was just reading online and found this article on toy company revamping old-school toy (well, apparently to launch new toys can be costly)...and this kind of bring back my memory of having strawberry shortcakes, skipper, ninja turtles, thundercat growing up...call me nostalgia obsessed, but i still prefer the old version sugary sweet looking strawberry shortcake with her curl and pink cat.

David oh David

2009-03-11T07:54:00.000-07:00

Well, it turns out, David Beckham will stay put at AC Milan till the end of the season. Bravo!

The Happiness Myth

2009-03-09T08:54:00.000-07:00

I come across a dilemma having to purchase health insurance for myself recently, since I'm no longer employed and the country where I come from don't really give a damn if I'm sick...and it prompt me to think the lack of money and good health works the same way, and it's easy to take them for granted until you don't have it anymore.

All of us (or so i thought) know money can't buy happiness, but it sure can buy lots of things that contribute mightily to happiness. However, on the other note, we're made happier by the feeling we are learning, growing, seeing change for the better, and this applies to the spiritual, emotional, intellectual part of our lives. Well, to me, being able to appreciate the little things in life make life fuller, a kiss, a word, a book, a smile,waking up feeling happy, and it will be even happier being able to wake up next to someone whom you love and in love with you.

That's my happiness when i don't have to think about the stupid health insurance plan. Back to the real world, darling. And to cheers thing a little, this little story makes my day somehow.

And here she is...

2009-03-08T01:46:00.000-08:00

The writing of that book - Self-Made Man, and the double life that preceded it, were so taxing they drove Norah Vincent to depression after her 18 months living disguised as a man.

On the advice of her psychologist, she committed herself to a mental institution, and here with the raw and overwhelming experience came the idea for her new book. She decided to get healthy and to study the effect of treatment on the depressed and insane "in the bin," as she calls it.

Undercover As A Man...

2009-03-08T01:30:00.000-08:00

Interestingly, I come across the author who spent 18 months undercover as a man. Here's to share with you: The woman behind 'Self-Made Man'

The future is him!

2009-03-02T03:21:00.000-08:00

I wish I have ESPN channel sometimes...miss watching live football!

Ben Foster rocks!

Where do the ducks go in winter?

2009-03-02T00:41:00.000-08:00

Once you read a good book, everything you thought was good is suddenly blown away. Catcher in the rye has always been my favorite. I'm prompted to read it again recently and it gave me a brand new experience and joy this time around, and thanks to you, A.

The evolution of economic system...

2009-03-01T22:07:00.000-08:00

When I was out of a job, i thought, okay, give it a year, it will be alright in 12 months, and i will get back to the job market again. Well, or am I too optimistic when billionaire alike Warren Buffet made his mistakes too in the current economy downfall, and admitted that he sifted through the wreckage of his worst year in four decades? But then again, as opportunistic as ever, his recent remarks, and i quote:

“The economy will be in shambles throughout 2009 -- and, for that matter, probably well beyond,though the path has not been smooth, our economic system has worked extraordinarily well over time. It has unleashed human potential as no other system has, and it will continue to do so.”

And maybe, I will get a job tomorrow.

How much does it costs to hire a hitman?

2009-02-27T20:52:00.000-08:00

That title kind of catch my attention while I should concentrate and do some translation works. Even though I have no one in particular in mind that worth the risk or the money, but it does prompt me to wonder, how much does it really cost to take someone life away...and for you to ponder on, read this.

Be honest, being single sucks...

2009-02-18T22:31:00.000-08:00

I' ve come across this article having the same thought:

Being single sucks.

No doubt, dating is fun and meeting new people can be pretty exciting sometimes, but at the end of the day, if the liberty to live alone, sleep alone and dine alone also meant that no one gave a monkey's toss about whether I was alive or dead, isn't that sad?

Michelle Obama On Vogue March 2009

2009-02-11T01:55:00.000-08:00

After Hilary Clinton, Michelle Obama is now the second first lady who grace Vogue's cover, well, at least this is a more exciting than uncovering what's in and out this season.

To Aldo Crommelynck

2009-01-31T20:05:00.000-08:00

A master printmaker who coaxed the best out of European artists including Picasso and Matisse, express their visions on paper.

by Yoshitomo Nara

2009-01-29T02:59:00.000-08:00

How can you tell me you are lonely...

The Unable to Love Disease

2009-01-22T06:26:00.000-08:00

No writer, has contributed more to the confessional climate than Philip Roth, "My Life as a Man" is an unpolemical mirror-image of its literature, a case study of "female rage and resentment" as a contribution to the literature of inter-sexual victimization.

I was reading this book of him over the holidays and somehow it reminds me so much of my past experience(s) with men, and what not. However, there's one thing that hit me so much is where he wrote about how some men are just unable to love, and he termed it the disease of unable to love.

Argh, a disease so common found in dating world today. It's sad if one is unable to love anymore, isn't it?

Former President George Bush

2009-01-21T04:17:00.000-08:00

That's what we have been waiting for right? The four words in eight years.

It's Official

2009-01-19T20:28:00.001-08:00

Not another Jackie Kennedy, please

2009-01-16T07:01:00.001-08:00

Just the other day I was just thinking about how the first lady of America dressed themselves and today I came across this interesting article on how Michelle Obama is advice not to dressed like Jackie Kennedy, and that put a smile on me because I, Cynthia Ng do think she should have her own style, and she will become a fashion icon herself. I totally adore the way she wear her belt over a fitted sweater, as well as flat shoes with a full skirt...

Obama's People by Nadav Kander

2009-01-14T21:26:00.000-08:00

Politicians are getting more stylish, thanks to cool photography. Click here to see.

A Revolution In Values

2009-01-14T20:03:00.000-08:00

I once interview Yves Carcelle, the man behind LV and that was during the time when recession just begin and he was very optimistic about the whole luxury business. While France being the birthplace of luxury fashion, the recession biting thie world has some how affect consumer's morality play, no matter how well off they are, people are sitting on their money tight. Even optimistic big boy like LV has to canceled plans for what would have been its largest and most glittery store in Tokyo.

Also, a recent issue of Le Figaro Magazine featured a 12-page guide to scaled-down living in 2009, and GQ feautring business survival guide in their february issue, hmm...in this increasing out-of-tune economy time, i guess the only free thing we can still enjoy is the morning sunshine and some smiles.

In Romance

2009-01-07T00:55:00.001-08:00

"In romance, one day you are in, the next day you are out"
~Cynthia NG

Mad Men

2009-01-05T20:13:00.000-08:00

Yes, I started to watch the first season because I like the 60's fashion style and sometimes, only sometimes I wish I was born in that era where everyone is so well-groomed.

The series’s creator, Matthew Weiner, evokes a moody vision of the early ’60s as the time that signaled the waning of American optimism, where the time it’s still a man’s world. (Or still a man's world now)

In the series, most of the privileged white-shoe account executives and copywriters who ogle their secretaries; cheat on discontented wives and keep their offices as segregated as their country clubs have no real sense that their world is coming to a fast end. Sounds too familiar?

Before I want to watch or even read the second season reviews, I just want to say, Men are MAD, and I can't figure out why I still love them.

90th birthday~

2009-01-03T20:04:00.000-08:00

To J.D Salinger

Shanghai One Cold Day

2009-01-01T21:03:00.000-08:00

Snob or Not

2009-01-01T07:42:00.001-08:00

I've always been a fashion snob or label snob...even though i do own some fashion pieces that carries a "label", but I really just don't care that much, at the end of the day, a purse is a purse as long as it serves its purpose. And while i was winding down from a long day talking about fashion label and what not with my friends, this article about Vogue caught my attention. Here's the excerpt that I think is so true about fashion magazine industry

Vogue has become stale and predictable, and it has happened in spite of some of the best editors, writers and photographers in the business. And it has happened in spite of a leader who “only cares what readers care about”...

However, with all due respect, i still do think there's something editors of Ms. Wintour’s generation have and not easily adopted by anyone in this generation.

New Year New Me?

2009-01-01T07:24:00.000-08:00

Is it time for change or new year resolutions are just made on Jan 1st so that you can fail it by Valentine’s Day?
I'm not sure. I stop having new year resolutions or don't even remember at the end of the year if i ever made any This year, however i just want to do something that I have not done (well, in a constructive way, like learning a new skill), it's not a new year's resolution, but probably something i promise myself...

KL Gay Top Ten Fashion Must Have

2008-12-24T01:58:00.000-08:00

I've looked through my contact list once looking for someone to date, and 80% male i know are gay (sadly but it's so true)...and the rest of the 20%, they are either married or just plain boring that don't even worth the time for the whole dressing up and looking nice dating routine.

Yes, while I was home earlier, my girlfriend complained she can't find a decent date, and the conversation rolls to how KL gay carry themselves, and while we were sipping away hot chocolates, we kept seeing gay couples passing through and for those who is still clueless on how to spot out one in KL, here's our conclusion after actually knowing and been around many gays guy in KL...you can always tell

from what they are wearing or buying:
1. A Tote Bag, especially from Gucci
2. Bermuda, it has to be white and above the knee length
3. White Cotton V-neck tee
4. Ray Ban aviator shade
5. Good quality beach sandal
6. Hedi Slimane inspired fitted blazer
7. Skinny jeans
8. Designer shoes
9. Beret
10. and last but not least, a gym membership card in his LV or BV wallet

Piggy

2008-12-24T01:37:00.000-08:00

Part of the wedding gift from my brother's wedding...

New Hair New Me

2008-12-10T22:25:00.000-08:00

My new cool hipster haircut thanks to Victor Yuen and Victor Goh...I can't be happier on the day Shanghai finally get some sunlight and blue sky...and of course to David, who took this picture. I love all of you.

Obamaville

2008-12-01T04:33:00.000-08:00

A new neighbourhood on earth - Obamaville...is now added on the world map. Hmm, talk about the power of celebrities...

Think ‘007’ and Add $269,993

2008-12-01T04:09:00.000-08:00

Just What I needed...

2008-11-29T18:18:00.000-08:00

I'm always a little slow on realizing my own emotion trauma, even on the day I was told the company is going to let me go. I didn't feel it until the first week when I don't have to go to work and realize I'm actually OUT OF JOB.

(flashback)

Hmm...being a poor freelancer for the past year haven't been helpful on the saving and now that I've moved to a new place(or more specifically new country) and thought it would be a fresh new start with career and everything, and boooom...I'm here fighting for my own again, that's kind of challenging, in many ways. (allow me to have some self-pity moment,and i promise this is the last time I'm going to talk about it)

Is at time like this, I wish I have more friends around, and someone who is dear enough to hold on to me and who will go through this phase of life together. Just like this woman went through...

Eventhough it's going to be tough,but at least I know I'm going to get through, I know...

2008-11-27T22:39:00.000-08:00

With my current unemployed status, try to be as thrifty as I can is what I need to train myself to AGAIN~ and India Knight's new book - The Thrift Book caught my attention.

"Change,' she says, 'has come across the middle classes and the readers of lifestyle supplements."

No doubt about that. A distaste for excess crept upon me unaware.

One day, bottled water seemed normal; the next day not. One day, leaving the computer on all night seemed bold and trusting,the next, it seemed a senseless waste. Now, it looks like the most sensible thing for me to do is move to a smaller flat, argh!

Is Marriage Really A Form of Prostitution?

2008-11-27T21:53:00.000-08:00

I've never thought of it this way. However when I read ther review of feminist author Sheila Jeffreys , her new book, The Industrial Vagina: The Political Economy of the Global Sex Trade, it strikes me to think, yeah...

and more glaring links such as the growing issue of mail-order brides comes to me, but then again, the theory of supply and demand always exist...isn't it?

If China Did...

2008-10-14T20:35:00.000-07:00

Faced with the largest monetary meltdown in history, the world is facing meltdown on both consumer and business spending. Andrew Graham's article on Guardian suggest if China spends its trillions, recession could be averted. Find out more here.

Brangelina Cover

2008-10-11T05:04:00.000-07:00

Angelina is on W cover, and it's shot by Brad Pitt, in many ways it's a nice picture, but where's the baby?

The Return of Rochas

2008-10-09T06:38:00.000-07:00

I may not be the biggest fans of Rochas, but it's nice to know that the label who first created 2/3-length coats and skirts with pockets is finally making a come back after 2 years of discontinuation under the creative direction o f Olivier Theyskens, whom took a purer approach to fashion and did not rely (like many fashion houses) on accessory sales and cheaper sister lines for a steady stream of revenue. Anyway, while the first collection is slated to debut in March 2009, there's still no word - yet - on who will design it, although rumour has it Marco Zanini is in talks to take on the role.

The Real McCain

2008-10-06T08:24:00.000-07:00

Interesting piece on revealing the myths on the next presidential candidate, click on the 5 myths about John McCain...

The Comfort Buy

2008-10-02T18:14:00.000-07:00

Getting comfy in my new Crocs. Even if they are not the most desirable looking shoes, but who needs style when walking is big part of living in Shanghai?! I wish they have ' em in heels and doesn't look ugly. :-)

My Murakami Moment

2008-10-02T08:38:00.000-07:00

I have finally able to remember Haruki Murakami is 村上春树, thanks to my awkward moment of associated him with the other artist. That aside, he has been one of my favorite writer and his work Norwegian wood is by far my favorite read.

Here's the best review that express my very thoughts of his work- Norwegian Woods:

"Murakami's tale is a melancholy memory of what was and what could have been, a deft combination of adult wisdom and youthful heart." - Mary Elizabeth Williams, Salon