Create "me" time

When you're constantly surrounded by people whether it's your colleagues at work, your own family members or strangers you're passing on a busy street, it's important to set some "me" time aside. It could be anything from a good book to a self indulgent massage. Or the basic luxury of sleeping in on the weekend. Hmmm....glorious ;) If you've been working too hard every night, go see that movie you've been meaning to watch coz you may return to your work desk in a better space. 

Sounds like common sense but how many of us listen to our bodies? If you're tired, get more rest. If you're dehydrated and weak all the time, drink more water coz it will give you more energy. Just think about one thing you wanted to do this week but never got round to doing it? For myself, it was exercise and I'm not going to make excuses that I didn't have enough time coz I know it's an excuse. I've gotta make the time! The only exercise I got all week were my fingers typing out emails ;)

My pugs on shoot! :)

The Making of the SPCA Calendar

I received a call from Amber asking if I would be interested to do a shoot with my pugs to raise funds for the SPCA and MNAWF. She was collaborating with the publisher of Pets Lover Magazine on this project. Well, anything to do with animals interests me as a pet owner and treating them with respect and care so of course, I was delighted to be a part of this calendar! 

It brought a smile to my face just thinking of the mayhem they would cause in a studio. Incredibly, I managed to get them to sit still on each step for the first shot. I was amazed they didn't jump off. The photographer commented on what good models they were *ahem...dog Mummy glowing with pride*

Harley is a bit afraid of heights (just look at his face) so he remained on the steps even when I walked away from him hehe. I had to carry him off.

It was so cool to be in a make up chair and have my dogs running around. They've never been in a studio before. They were so curious about everything. I was enjoying having them around while I worked :)

True to their nature, this is how attentive they are around a biscuit, no matter how small. They are so greedy, I tell you! ;)

The moment I laid down on the sofa "prop", I think they assumed I was watching TV. They all jumped on to me and got into position looking straight ahead. Perrrrfect!

The single chair was much tougher. Their eyeline was all over the place. Shooting with any dog, let alone 3 is really challenging coz you need to them look straight, not run off all of a sudden and you don't wanna be looking like a mess yourself during the shots. There were so many blur ones but we managed to get them to look straight when my maid stood behind the cameraman and called them.

At the press conference for the calendar launch

I was quite embarrassed that Pickle barked her small head off when she saw Angel Wong's dog (about 4 times her size). What terrible manners!

It was another first for me attending a press con with my pugs!  Amber really liked Harley. She kept saying "Oh my God. He's so fat! He's so fat!" Before I could defend poor Harley, she chirps "I like fat dogs. Ooooh, I wanna bring him home"

Harley looked interested in the idea when she was holding his head (you traitor Harley! He's like that round biscuits and pretty girls, gets all starry eyed) but then he eventually made his way back to his Mummy, especially when he saw me enthusiastically patting Amber's golden retriever! haha *wink* 

Dogs are like little people. They have feelings and they can get jealous too. If you have a dog at home, love them with all your heart because that's what they do with you. You are their world! 

We all have masks!

We don't just wear masks on special occasions like Halloween. We wear them almost every day. When you greet your boss at work, you have a smile firmly planted on your face (even though you just had an argument with your partner) but you chirp "good morning" smoothly and efficiently even though there's nothing "good" about your morning.

courtesy of my sexy girlfriend Desiree

There are so many situations to "mask" one's real intentions. Imagine how in business negotiations, sometimes you have one partner nodding politely and smiling at his partner while he plots how to back stab him or her.

Then there's the average girl who covers the shadows under her eyes with concealer so that you wouldn't see how tired she really is. Make up is like a weapon when she's wearing it and sometimes a weakness when she takes it off, worried to leave the house or be seen without her "mask"

But there are some things not worth trying to hide when you're in a relationship and it's your true face and real nature. If you try to be someone you're not, it catches up with you. If your partner is eventually going to find out what you're really like, may as well start by being yourself right?

For instance, when a guy puts his best foot forward when he's trying to impress a girl, he might try TOO HARD. Problem with that is over time, it becomes unnatural and difficult to maintain this front.

I actually know a couple of guys who do the opposite (using lesser cars on first dates and playing things down) so that a girl would hopefully like them just for them. Takes a certain amount of security to do that.

Considering we often wear "masks" at work (for me it might be smiling non stop for an ad till your jaw hurts but it's work so you grin and bear it ;) it's important to come home and be YOU or to have friends who you can be yourself around because they keep it real and tell you off if you step out of line.

Well, all this talk about masks makes me wanna wear my honey and oatmeal one! :) Those are the only masks I wear at home okay? *chuckle* and if you don't believe me, ask my pugs!! They really know ME ;)

Time waits for no man...or woman!

I was just looking at my clock and I decided to record this. And looking at the time now, I'm gonna have to hit the sack. I'm supposed to have "green eyes" for a coloured contact lens launch in the morning. I'm really hoping I'm going to be able to get them on without crying coz when I was at the shop the the other day trying it out for the first time, the shop had to get their tissue boxes out. I was hopeless.

I kept trying to keep my eye open but every time the lens was about to touch my eyeball, by reflex, I let go and closed my eye. I found the thought quite scary of putting something on your eyeball but I was determined to do it. How hard can it be I figured? Oh boyyyy...the lady had to do one eye for me first after my failed attempts so I would see how easy it was. So there I was with one brown eye and one green. I kept telling myself that "I can do this. I WILL get this done" I managed in the end. Hooray!!! It made my eyes look bigger. Really interesting. I know that wearing contact lenses is something that people round the world do every day but I'm a bit nervous knowing I have to wake up and put them in myself for this Freshkon launch *groan* Just not used to it la. Wish me luck!! At least I have the tissue box on stand by :)

So you're Asian?

I suffered a bit of racism when I was in boarding school in Australia. I was so unprepared for it. I couldn't work out what I had done or said to this one particular Aussie girl in my house who seemed to dislike me because I had black hair and black eyes and was labeled "Asian" or "not one of us".

I remember saying hello out of courtesy when I first laid eyes on her in the corridor (I was only 15 when I got sent to boarding school) and she turned away totally ignoring me and shut her bedroom door. Ouch!

Back home, I had never encountered anyone as rude as this due to my skin colour. It was quite a shock for me. I now know how it feels to be discriminated against and so senselessly. It feels really bad. It's a rejection of an entire human being based on the shade of your epidermis??? Or the slant of your eyeballs???

I didn't know how to react to this girl so I did nothing. I just studiously avoided her. Girls can be quite nasty to live with. I wasn't about to get into a fist fight. Just not my style and it didn't help when I heard she uses a shot gun on her farm to kill all the cockatoos on it!

It's an interesting thing that happened. One night over dinner, the girls in my class asked what I did for my English creative writing piece. I told them the whole story in a nutshell, including the twist at the end.

The cockatoo killer was on that table and she hadn't sat for her English paper yet. She copied my story (can u belive it?) and I discovered to my horror that we both got an "F" becoz the teacher said it was obviously not original. I was so upset this happened to me. I told the teacher she copied me and she did the same so it was my word against hers...sigh

Incredibly, a blond girl on the table that night (who was her friend) just got fed up of how badly she treated me and all the other Asians in the house and went to the teacher herself to set the matter straight. She said it was my script and her friend stole it.

I was so grateful to her coz my paper got re-marked. Boarding school was a real learning curve and I have no regrets. Over time, I found it in myself to forgive that Aussie girl. She didn't know any different. Her parents were racist and inevitably, it rubs off on the kids. Next time you think a negative, judgemental thought about someone, ask yourself, "Do you even know them?" Who gives us a right to judge anyone?