Revelation

I had a quiet moment to myself today, with the cool and post-rain breeze brushing against my skin and getting caught in my hair. 

A song that triggered thoughts of an ex came on, and my self-dramatic mind started to trudge up memories of said person and the other wrecks and revelations my past relationships have given me. I tried to dig deeper, perhaps curious of what other emotions I could wring out of it. But then I couldn’t.

It was then I realised maybe, it was because that I have found the love of my life. And that cancels out the drama. And I like it.

what I’d share with my kids

 

Lesson #1

If you feel an immense need to love, always love your parents first as in most usual circumstances, they gave you life and chances are will always reach out their hand to you when you need it. 

Next, love yourself. Loving yourself builds such a strong core that allows life to take over in the best way. Loving yourself eradicates doubt, gives you assurance and reminds you that being independent is important because relationships whittle away, friends come and go in phases, and at the end of the day when and if you are at life’s lowest – the person who will pull you out of it is yourself. 

Lesson #2

Always remember your youth should not be spent solely on love/relationships. Invest in hobbies, a decade of ballet or a few tournaments in tennis will gift you with great character building stories to share. You don’t want to go through your first two carefree decades gaining nothing and being a one faceted person. 

Next invest in finding out what camaraderie is. Immerse yourself in group activities, because you learn much more about yourself and others from multiple friends and open hearts. Rather than focusing all your energy on just that one boy or girl that gets written off your broken heart as puppy love after X amount of months/time. And even if you have found someone you deem special, never grow into your own world and forget your friends. 

Lesson #3

“Life is too short not to order the fries.” 

–

You know how they say you learn from mistakes, I do hope you learn from mine. xo

full marks

E scored brownie points today by making the bed. I was delighted and ran into the bathroom ready to congratulate him on his “feat” but he already had this smirk on his face that told me he knew so. How cute. 

A best friend of mine recently asked me to dig out favourite pictures of E and myself, I have no idea what she is up to…but that process has got me having major flashbacks and encounters of the good kind. Charting through the vacations, milestones, birthdays, fun times and journeys – it warms my heart. Although, a thought appealed to me in the sense that only I can fathom, photographs usually capture the good – how about the bad? Next time we fight and hot tears sear down the cheeks, would it be totally inappropriate to capture that too? Hmm. 

Back to my more palatable thoughts. Its good to know that we are the kind of couple that doesn’t get lazy, in the figurative sense and in the literal sense. He’s a guy who puts in hard work into a relationship, tries his darnest to listen to me, gets his head around my idiosyncacries, tries to accept why why WHY I cannot accept certain stuff and so on. In the literal sense, we recently signed up for a mini marathon/run – I’m simply embarrassed to call it a marathon cos it really isn’t so. We take our frequent jogs, high five each other loop after loop, and have recently reached the 30 lap count in the pool as well. 

Its good to be filled with so much love, makes you want to love back and love others too. This is what a relationship is about, creating a world for two that makes you a better person for your centred self, and those outside and around you too.

and the heart sighs….

Today I fell in love with a pair of designer jeans. 

I wanted so badly to have it, I matched it with classic white shirts and frilly party tops in my head. I thought about the average denims I had from mass produced street labels, and I thought about the only other pair of designer jeans I had. I thought about the division of the price tag over the number of years I would wear the jeans for (which typically lasts 4 – 5 years at present), and how much cost per wear and mileage I’d get over it. 

And then I shrugged it all off, almost shuddering at how shatttering the price is. Will I go hungry after buying the jeans? No. But it would take some sacrifices and trade off. Its easy for me to walk away from a pair of say, $300 Ray Bans. But a great pair of jeans that grabs the butt, elongates the legs and makes you feel sooo darrnnnn good…..

Looks like its going to be a good few days of deliberating. My last pair of True Religion jeans set me back about $350. Today’s pair from 7 of All Mankind cost, well, $550. Crazy money? Or money well worth it? 

I cannot believe I just devoted an entire blog entry to shopping.

a year older, definitely wiser

There’s a saying that goes somewhat like, “a year older, but none the wiser”. Man, I wouldn’t want to be in those shoes, because with whatever that has come by during that year, it must have thought you some lessons. Time for me has been blindsiding and zooming past at warped speed – but with it comes acute growth, and so much progress – I’ve never felt like I’ve grown so fast so soon before, and its not the growing old and jaded old, but the spine lengthening, sense of confidence kind of growth. The world is small but the planet is huge, and we should not be stuck in one time missing all the beautiful things that pass. 

This year as with most years was noted quietly, no parties nor big celebrations – just the ocean, some needed literature , a bottle of whisky , some cigars and a 12 by 12″ tiffany box. Funny how a handwritten note scrawled on hotel paper pad can mean so much, especially if it contains birthday wishes and bashful sentiments from the man you adore.

the semi-luddite

Technology..bane (refer to below post) or godsent (for obvious reasons)?

I find myself struggling with deciding which side of the ring I stand. 

Texting removes connecting, as compared to a hug, or a heart to heart chat. Emailing is by far so much easier, but when conditioned to the daily email shooting at work, does it quite feel the same typing an email to an old friend? Will the pen one day lose its luster? After all, at least for me, a handwritten note with some scribblings by the side and a vintage stamp to boot beats an email from even my closest and dearest. 

Most online platforms I join are out of necessity, such as not giving a look of ‘huh?’ at conversations or for the sheer sake of not falling behind in keeping the connections alive with counterparts past and present. But I guess if I have to pin a greatest gripe of technology, it would be how the levels of privacy are slowly being perforated tier by tier. 

The greatest feeling for me “technology” wise, is when I’m without technology. When I take off over the oceans for a stretch of days, I prefer to switch off the mobile and get lost in the city. Knowing that I’m not bound by a thin thread to a device liberates me. Now and then, I also like to do tech detox. After a whole day of sitting in front of my mac in the office, I chose to avoid dancing my fingers along the keyboard when I’m back home at night. 

Indulge in a book. Put on some aromatic scents. Just enjoy the calmness and learn to relish the stillness. Yes without the Internet, some people have pretty much nothing to do. Then find a new thing to do. Plug in to an audio Berlitz and learn a foreign language. Read the newspapers. Fix a stiff drink. Rearrange some furniture. Take time to find yourself in your natural state, let your mind find peace and take life down some notches.

Most of all, my favourite – cuddle up to your loved one and tell him just how much you love him, and reasons why. Apologize for all those text messages you sent with those three words”I love u” and put stories behind that sentiment. Take it slow, wind it down before bedtime. At least for 4 nights of a week…go try it. Oh and one more thing, if you have a personal computer, always backup.

shoulda woulda coulda

My macbook has a crashed. And the world as I knew has ended. Yes I’m being melodramatic but as with most wirelessly connected savvy people today, everything from my personal projects to music to resumes to archived work to every single picture I took since getting to know E is inside and NOT BACKED UP!! Every picture of us, of him, of our trips around the world, GONE!! 

I was just using it two days ago, and last night upon start up, a folder with a huge question mark was flashing at me, daunting me, reprimanding me for not investing time in getting something called an external hard disk. 

Please…..please…..please…...come back to me, till I can retrieve my info and then BURN you you motherf**kermac.

its not just about sex

I love the SATC series so much its no joke. I get a thrill when one of my best friends and I can quote scenes from the episode by vaguely describing an action, or a period from those 6 seasons and totally get each other. I can name episodes, remember exact sequences, give you up to the minute director commentaries (thanks to generous extras thrown into DVDs), and it scares the hell out of E. Of course, I’ve not developed some manic WWCD* stance, but I would still consider myself a devotee.

And every single time I am feeling a little less than spritely, I trace my fingers along my SATC DVD box sets, pull out a disc, randomly select an episode and everything gets better 40 minutes later. Most times the crux of the specific episode directly relates to why I felt down in the first place, I know, what are the chances? 

And like today, while I was seated on the steps gazing at the dozens of lunch goers, sipping on my coffee, and wondering how I’ll pull through my latest slump, I at least knew that I had Carrie and friends waiting for a run together tonight. 

 

*WWCD – What would Carrie do?

excerpts from my textbook

 

Considerations for Effective Advertising

1. Keep in mind consumer’s point of view 

2. Don’t overpromise 

3. Creativity must stem from sound marketing strategy 

4. Find a unique way to break through advertising clutter

5. Don’t let the creative overwhelm the overall strategy

In other words, its real meaning is an underlying dedication to all Creative Directors out there to….

1. Understand that its not all about YOU 

2. Reign that ego in

3. Don’t go crazzeeeeeee

4. Good luck there. 

5. Once again, don’t go craaaazeeeee… There are other forms of life existing in this world distant from your abstract and artistically tortured mind  

 

Disclaimer: Entirely tongue in cheek, I love my Creative Director  - even when he threatens to slap, kick and put me back in my place

psa

Yesterday a friend told me, anger clouds judgement. Yesterday I found out first hand, alcohol clouds all sensibility. 

Drink in moderation.