Saturday, November 24

flower power


One of the few joys of having a flourishing garden -- Flowers for the plucking! For free! To place on the window ledge! To gaze upon while washing the dishes! Oh joy!

The non-joys of having a garden include having to do actual gardening, over-abundance of weeds and lalang, and muddy doggie paws.

The green leaves at the bottom edge of the photo are from my basil plant, amazingly lush and still growing despite being plucked ever so often for cooking.

While overcome by a sudden urge to embrace nature, I planted a mini terrarium in an old pasta sauce bottle with everything -- soil, baby plants, pebbles -- taken from the front yard. Non-green fingers are crossed that it won't die on me.

Friday, November 23

run for your life


If these shoes could speak, they'd be saying, "Don't just do it."

First, the good news. I didn't keel over and die after jogging 100m.

Now for the not so good news.

I ran at a very slow pace. My doggie, who usually breaks into a gallop, was forced to merely trot next to me.

I set a very low target of 20 minutes, which was what I seem to recall experts recommending thrice a week, not that I ever paid any real attention to fitness articles.

After 10 minutes, I was on the verge of collapse. I wasn't breathless or tired, I was faint and light-headed.

Fearing an imminent heart attack, I sat on the curb with my chest heaving, while my oblivious doggie ran around in a circle with the radius the length of his leash and marked every tree in it.

That was not the worst. I then felt like vomitting, even though I had not eaten anything the whole morning -- which on hindsight might not have been such a good idea -- and started dry heaving.

Strangely, I felt right as rain after that and could even take my doggie to his fave park to run around. But I'm too demoralised by my inability to run even 500m that that may be the last time I attempt to jog.

Healthy lifestyle? Bah!

Wednesday, November 21

lawn furniture


ReadyMade magazine is like a vault of ideas for my never-ending list of WIP. The instructions for this green couch seem simple enough. I'm thinking of attempting an armchair, to begin with. Starting small...

i don't think so

Silly PR: Will you be able to make it for the event tomorrow?
Me: I don't think so.
Silly PR: You don't think so you can make it?

If you can't tell what is wrong with the above conversation, I don't think so we can be friends.

yo yo yo

The worst rap in the world. It doesn't even rhyme. And my beloved Mr Man looks like a fool, though not as big a fool as the rest of the pseudo rappers from MDA.

Wednesday, November 14

a rolling stone gathers more than moss


I was so intrigued by this mini sculpture -- the giraffe made me giggle -- by Jennie Maneri that I had to find out what the heck Katamari Damacy was. Yes, I'm aware the cool kids probably are no longer even playing PS2 and have moved on to Wii, but I'm still fascinated by a game in which you do two of my favourite activities -- rolling around and gathering tiny objects.

Monday, November 12

it's a sickness, y'all



I've been stricken again. I simply gotta have these two prints, The Barbie Murders, from Etsy seller Wilde Designs framed up and hung side by side. The fallen stiletto just kills me.

My twin has volunteered to shoot something similar for me. Just need to dig up my old dolls.

Sunday, November 11

in the pink of health


Boy, am I glad to see the last of that grapefruit juice.

For the past three days, I have been on the first and only diet of my life -- the grapefruit diet -- in the name of journalism.

Before every meal, I had to either eat half a grapefruit or drink a large glass of grapefruit juice. Since I couldn't find the fruit in the supermarket, I settled for three large bottles of the organic stuff.

The best part of the diet was the two slices of bacon and two eggs I was allowed every morning. After I had first downed a large grapefruit juice, of course, which felt very acidic on the tummy, but also rather refreshing.

Lunch and dinner was a meat and a salad, which wasn't that difficult, and I was allowed to eat as much as I wanted. But the tough part was no sugar and no carbo, which meant no desserts and no pasta or noodles.

By Day Three, I was hallucinating about a large plate of spaghetti smothered in tomato sauce and thoughts of the Ben & Jerry's in my fridge kept popping up for no reason.

All the deprivation was worth it, though. I'm proud to announce that I'm now 1kg lighter. But I'm not touching grapefruit again for a couple of months at least.

Saturday, November 3

bidding war

Do you have a practically worthless pack of Pokemon cards that you would like to turn into some spending money? One harrassed mother of six did just that on eBay, with a lot of humour, and made some US$142. Not sure how long more the page will remain since the auction ended some time ago, so faster click and see.

And yes, I'm back to my bad eBaying ways again.