smokey gets in your eyes

In other non-numerological news, I have sort of succeeded in my quest for smokey eyes.

the time is 11:11

At the peak of my SMS fever, whenever I had to fight the urge to send a text, I would look at the digital clock on my mobile phone to help me decide. If it were 12:34, 3:33, 5:55, 3:45, or some nice number, then I'd think, well, the time is right and I'd give in and text him.

A couple of days ago, I was talking to the elf from the shop next door, who happened to be wearing a really cool jacket she had designed herself. It had 11 sleeves, all functional.

Turns out that she kept seeing 11 when she was designing her collection, like the time, the receipt numbers, etc. And she would keep waking up at 11:11.

So she went to look on-line, and found that there was actually a 11:11 phenomenon. I was a bit creeped out, because I recall seeing 11:11 before too, and more crucially, using the numbers to guide my decisions.

And then this morning, as I was lying half comatose in bed, waiting for the maid to finish cleaning, I glanced at my mobile phone for no reason. And it was exactly 11:11.

Then, I had to turn my mircowave oven off -- every single of one of the China maids who came are afraid of putting their hands inside to clean it if it were turned on -- and when I turned it back on, the time that flashed wasn't 00:00 as you would suppose. It was 1:01 instead.

This is what this website says:

How often have you noticed the numbers 11:11, 12:12, 10:10, 22:22, 12:34, 2:22, 3:33, 4:44 or 5:55 popping up all over the place? These number sequences are not necessarily only time prompts. They can also be number sequences, like 333, 1111 etc. To your mind, is this a coincidence, or are they too frequent to be random? Perhaps you are puzzled or amused by this phenomenon? Possibly even a little bit nervous? The question everyone is asking is "What does 11:11 mean?" and "Is there a reason for this?" And there certainly is.

Millions of folks all around the world are now seeing these amazing 11:11 prompts. They are folks of all colours, all religions, all beliefs. It's spreading, and becoming far more common; it's become a major phenomenon. Someone or something is causing all these folks to look at clocks, number plates, phone numbers or any source of numbers even when they make no effort themselves to look for these things. You can even change your clocks in the house, and you will still be prompted, at the "wrong" time. You can't stop it, because YOU aren't doing it. Sometimes you will even see these numbers flashing after a power outage, even though digital clocks are supposed to reset to 12:00, not 11:11 or 12:12!

These 11:11 Wake-Up Calls on your digital clocks, mobile phones, VCR’s and microwaves are the "trademark" prompts of a group of just 1,111 fun-loving Spirit Guardians, or Angels. Once they have your attention, they will use other digits, like 12:34, or 2:22 to remind you of their presence. Invisible to our eyes, they are very real.

I'm not sure if there is an actual phenomenon or just a case of seeing what you want to see or even just coincidence. I mean, I looked at my computer time just now and it was 9:26, and it sure as hell doesn't mean anything.

More importantly, I didn't feel any otherworldly force beckoning me to text anyone, even when the time was 11:11.

sub zero

I know, I know, it's ridiculous that I'm wearing a trenchcoat AND a scarf in Singapore AND indoors. But I'm cold cold cold.

doggone it

I'd set my heart on Dipsy after seeing him on the SPCA website yesterday.

So bright and early this morning, we set off excitedly to get him, with blankets and newspapers and all. But alas, being too cute for words, he'd already been adopted the day before.

I'm sad. I was looking forward to bonding with my doggy over Christmas, a rare day without any work whatsoever. Instead, I'm spending it watching Ugly Betty in bed.

cool yule

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from Mr Brown, Mr Browner, Mr Brownest and me.

where

Suddenly, unexpectedly, unintendedly, I found myself applying for leave next January.

And equally surprisingly, I realised I'd somehow accumulated enough frequent flyer miles this year to go almost anywhere [or rather, as far as Australia].

I want to just fly away. Question now is, where?

au naturel

Read this from the perspective of someone who needs half an hour of primping before she can leave the house. Kinda reminds me of the Brazillian millionaire plastic surgeon who devotes one day a week to "charity" work in the slums because, to paraphrase him, even the poor deserve to look beautiful.

The Natural Beauty Myth
Garance Franke-Ruta

The Wall Street Journal
December 15, 2006

What the critics of the beauty industry fail to recognize is that the doctrine of “natural beauty” and the desire it breeds in women to be accepted as they are or to be seen as beautiful without any effort, is a ruthless and anti-egalitarian ideal. It is far more punishing than the one that says any woman can be beautiful if she merely treats beauty as a form of discipline.

Only in America do we think that beauty is a purely natural attribute rather than a type of artistry requiring effort. Look at the French: They are no more beautiful as a people than we as Americans, but they understand that every woman can be attractive – if not beautiful – if she chooses to be.

Yes, we are given forms by nature, but how we choose to present them is a matter of our own discretion.

Few people are blessed by nature and circumstance with the Golden Mean proportions that seem to be universally appreciated. Thus, in the end, it is more democratic to think of beauty or attractiveness as an attribute that one can acquire, like speaking a foreign language or cooking well.

Full story here.

the eyes have it

Posting this belatedly. Stole my current hair style from The Sartorialist.

Have been trying to achieve the same chunky, swept-aside bangs, with little success. And even less success with my smokey eyeliner effect. To date, I've tried two different brands of liquid eyeliner, one pencil eyeliner and one brow pencil, and only managed to look like a panda/racoon hybrid.

eggstraordinary

Do I really need to buy this or will squeezing a hard-boiled egg into any cube shaped container do the trick?

what are you doing new year's eve

For the past three days, for almost nine of my waking hours daily, every 30 minutes or so, the divine Miss M croons with gentle yearning on repeat mode.

When the bells all ring
And the horns all blow
And the coubles we know
Are fondly kissing
Will I be with you
Or will I be amoung the missing?

Maybe it's much too early in the game
Oh, but I thought I'd ask you just the same.
What are you doing New Year's... New Year's eve?

Wonder whose arms will hold you good and tight
When it's exactly twelve o'clock that night?
Welcoming in the New Year... New Year's eve

Maybe I'm crazy to suppose
I'd ever be the one you chose...
Out of the thousand invitations you'll received?
But in case I stand one little chance,
Here comes the jackpot question in advance
What are you doing New Year's... New Year's Eve?

Out of the thousand invitations you'll received?
Oh, but in case I stand one little chance,
Here comes the jackpot question in advance...
What are you doing New Year's... New Year's Eve?
What are you doing New Year's Eve?

stupendous sartorial success

Fashion shoot from Swirl Swap Swop, which lends itself to all sorts of superlative alliterations.

{For the sake of my loyal readers and any potential stalkers out there, I tried to upload the photos here, but failed. So please click on the link above.}

alliterative girl and rhyme man

ME: I was thinking as I showered about this question posed to so-called celebs in Urban: What's the nicest thing you did this year? I couldn't think of anything!
HE: Remember helping that Australian girl with her groceries?
ME: That can't be the NICEST thing I've done all year... And yes, I remember...
HE: Well that's a start. How about not yelling at clowns who browse your brooches but make no purchase?
ME: What's the nicest thing you did this year? I thought it was an inane question until I couldn't answer it... Heh.
HE: I'm a meanie
ME: I think you're just a big softie at heart, but trying to act tough on the outside...
HE: What rubbish. Where on earth did you get that?
ME: Don't worry, your secret's safe with me... Hee
HE: Bah. Go away.
ME: *Slinks away with tail between legs*
HE: Huh not getting any sympathy here. Spank
ME: Kitty is hurt. Meow.
HE: *Grabs kitty by tail, finds small room, starts swinging*
ME: *Kitty bounces off the ceiling and walls* Wheee!

[Later]
HE: Hey pussycat
ME: Meow... I need a cat nap

[Still later]
ME: Kitty sold five brooches to one customer *grins like cheshire cat*
HE: Crazy customer cherishes cringe-worthy collectibles?
ME: How long did it take for you to come up with that alliteration?
HE: About 3 min. Wasn't very good huh?
ME: It was fantastic. I couldn't have come up with anything better myself. Heh, can you sense my sarcasm?
HE: Subtle sucky sarcasm shouldn't show significant signs of scolding
ME: Girl grudgingly giggles. Guy gleefully gloats.

[A few days later]
ME: Alliterative girl strikes again. I'm holding an event today called Swirl Swap Swop!
HE: Shouldn't it be something like Swirl's sumptious super swap swoop?
ME: Swirl Swap Swop a stunning success. Suzanne supremely satisfied.

[A few more days later]
HE: Hi, apologies for the silence. You kept catching me in non playful moods
ME: Sokay. I never expected you to reply to every single inane message... especially those with bad alliterations! But why so glum?
HE: Glum? Who's glum, chum?
ME: I'm glum, chum.
HE: Sup? Pup?
ME: Moody and broody
HE: Truly? Suzy?
ME: Suzy sleepy
HE: Coffee maybe?
ME: Bunny's nose is runny. And why isn't it sunny?
HE: Poor bunny, want some hunny?
ME: Rhyme time is over for me. Can't come up with any more! You win! Heh
HE: was fun, hun. Same game getting tame?
ME: Stop it stop it or I might erm vomit!
HE: Fine fine. Don't whine.

So. What's the nicest thing you did this year? I still haven't come up with anything.

parade of wanted things III

H&M is having one super cheap item (as if they aren't all super cheap already!) every day till Christmas. This is my current object of desire. Not that I have any balls to attend, but it's still desparately coveted.

feeling grey

No Grey's Anatomy until January 4 next year. How am I supposed to survive the rest of December without McDreamy?

lady in red update

We saved the lady in red from a fashion disaster. She offered profuse thanks and said she'd return in a couple of days to pay for the emergency surgery on her zip.

It's been four days and still no sign of her. May all her zips spontaneously explode the moment she sits down from now on.

swirl uniform

Is it a coincidence that the only dress I sold so far happens to be the very same one I'm wearing as the Swirl "uniform" today? I think not.

Now to figure out a way to wear multiple outfits a day as shameless self promotion. Oh wait, that's what Aubrey, Heidi and Su Mei are for. They're our mannequins, always standing tireless with their best posture in the shop window.

P.S. Why are they called mannequins when they are of the female form? Shouldn't they be womannequins?

a body in motion

It was the last pantry break I'd be having with my twin for a while. A very long while. We spent it complaining of being sleepy and "men men men" -- meaning bored, not referring to the male species -- and snapping idiotic fake Lomo photos.

And now, for a commercial break.



Fancy this pink and brown wrap dress in the Swirl colours? You know now where to get it. Also available in blue and black. Grey version sold out, sorry!



A customer came to the shop and immediately spotted the Sheryl top on the racks. She told my elf: "I saw a girl crossing the road just now in this top and I really liked it." That girl crossing the road was me. Butofcos she bought it.




I was swishing around the shop in this skirt when a customer came in and asked to try it. As she was admiring herself in the mirror, a second customer saw the two of us looking so good in the skirt, she also wanted to try it. I sold two champagne gold ones and a black one within an hour.

Shameless self promotion is the way to boost sales.

hello & goodbye

It was a 2D1N trip back home for my sissy, due to some visa issues. It was so rushed that the only way we could eat ice cream together was in the car on the way to the airport. And we could only Photo Booth at the airport minutes before her flight.

it's an emergency

As we were winding down business for the week today at about 7pm, a statuesque woman in a floor-length gown in deep red swept into the shop, with a worried looking make-up artist from the studio next door.

"Do you think you can fix the zip?" the make-up artist asked tentatively, pointing to the woman in red.

It was then that we noticed that the bustier part of her gown was gaping open on the left side. The zip had burst. Yet, she couldn't take off the dress because, under her armpit, the top part of the zip was still stuck fast.

While she stood still, imprisoned in her clothes, three pairs of hands tried to tug the zip down, but the teeth refused to release their grip.

I suddenly had a brainwave: The seamstress who does alterations for me across the road happened to be working late. So I lent her a jacket, for modesty's sake, and we rushed over.

There, she kicked off her Christina Louboutin killer heels -- absolutely the most beautifullest shoes I'd ever seen -- while my seamstress snipped apart the zip. Then, she sat in the fitting room in her strapless bra and knickers -- shivering, I imagined -- while emergency surgery was carried out.

The entire zip had to be taken out and a new one fitted in under the lining. No mean feat, and it was accomplished in less than 15 minutes.

The dress was still too tight, though, and it took three pairs of hands to zip her back in to go for her cocktail-dinner thingy.

She said she was not going to eat anything that night. Or even sit down. I think she might spend the whole evening sucking in her tummy.

Oh, she also said it was the first time she was wearing the gown and that it was "frigging expensive". In case anyone is interested in labels, it was a Karen Millen.

drive me crazy

HE: Drove past Stamford House and thought of you.

Wish I had the resolve to reply, "Don't drive past my place anymore."

What's the point of thinking about me, when he does nothing besides that? Either stop it or do something about it. Or just think about me without telling me.

But I guess I'm guilty of the same.

ME: Had a dream in which we got hot and sweaty. We were having Korean BBQ.

It was a perfect dream, totally innocent, easy conversation, endless laughter, unlimited yummy beef. I could have kept it to myself, but when I woke up, I just had to tell him.