Compliments from client give me wings - but I nearly got branded as a bimbo!

Hang on a second.

Let me anchor myself properly before I begin.

You see, I have been working on various jobs of various genres for this particular biggie client ever since I started working for my heavenly-cum-homely company.

Years passed as I try to hone my copywriting skills and tame my brain day after day after day.

Then one fine day, compliments from them started coming my way...obviously, elation is an understatement.

And then it happened.

One member of the client came down for a meeting at my office...and told my colleague she would like to meet me.

My client would like to see the face behind the works and the face in question looked like death warmed over - how nice.

I panicked.

I squealed to the colleague having the meeting with said client, "NOOOOOO...I LOOKED LIKE A PIECE OF SHIT!"

And then I began a mad rush to search for foundation, concealer, toothbrush, toothpaste...

Then I waited.

And waited.

And I saw the client leaving.

My colleague had sent her away, out of kindness for me...I did tell her I would rather not meet her when I looked like a piece of shit, right?

Oh no.

Thankfully, the client reappeared a few moments later to collect some stuff she accidentally left behind, and having clarified my stand with my colleague (out of earshot of the client, of course), I was finally introduced.

Phew.

I was at fault.

I should have watched my words.

I just did not expect to my colleague to take those words quite so seriously. I mean, did she really think I would find it acceptable to turn down a client's request to meet me? Especially when the client did know that I was in the office at the time?

Good thing everything worked out in the end.

And I am happy.

A significant day in my life...perhaps a life-changing one.

Last Friday was a significant day in my life.

Many of my friends got quite excited over it.

I wore a frilly girly dress for the first time in years.

And it is a 100% interpretation of femininess without my usual funk or rock touches.

I do not even do skirts (except on occasions when I had to be a 'jie mei' to my friends or colleagues), let alone a frilly girly dress, which explained their disbelief and excitement.

"Jian Huo, serious ah?! I find it hard to believe, take some pictures and send it to me?!"

"ARE YOU SERIOUS???!!! THIS I GOT TO SEE!!!"

"What happened???!!!"

"WAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"

Hmmm.

Well...I am proud to say that I think I pulled it off quite competently.

A new-found friend that night told me that, on first impression, she thought I was one of those really girlish, really sweet kinda girl.

See? Told you I pulled it off quite competently.

In fact, I think I might go the way of sweet in my styling from now on.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

Just kidding.

Then again, I just might.

We shall see.

I had firecrackers in my ears!

I went for my virgin ear candling session today.

It was a spur-of-the-moment decision after my facial and thus, without having done any research or asking around, I had absolutely no idea what to expect.

And I certainly did not expect to have firecrackers going off in my ears.

It was unnerving alright, but not exactly uncomfortable. The uneasiness stemmed more from the fear of all the cackling and popping sounds that hovered at the top of my head from the burning of the candle rather than from the procedure itself.

In fact, once I got over the shock, it was pretty enjoyable. The therapist got me to tilt my head to lie on my ear and a candle was inserted into the other one. She then lit the candle and all the cackling and popping began. As those were going on, she gently massaged my head and especially the area around my ear, presumably to encourage the gunk to be sucked up.

I did a casual check on google later and there seems to be two general schools of thoughts with regard to ear candling - those who advocate it, and those who are against.

Anyway, I learnt that I am supposed to experience a heightened sense of hearing due to all the gunk that were cleared. Well, it hasn't happened yet, so far.

Next time, I will ask them to do an autopsy on the candle to show me the gunk that came out.

I can't wait!

Desaru Dreamin'

It is now in the early hours of Sunday, 18 June 2006 as I am writing this.

That means in about 2 full days later, I will be transported to a laid-back world of nothing more than sun, sand and the sea.

Humble Desaru, here I come!

Many questioned my choice of destination.

Well, let's just say that my friend and I have made the most out of what little we have in our banks.

There really are not many beach resorts out of Singapore and Sentosa and Pulau Ubin that can allow us to veg out for 5D4N at a very reasonable $312 per person. And we are taking the Premier Room too, hahaha.

And then there is the journey.

Destinations like Redang, Perhentian and Tioman involve too much logistic issues.

We need a vacation to relax and recharge our fast-dying batteries...not grapple with endless hours of trying hard not to puke on the bus or wondering why we ever agree to suffer like this in the first place.

No, we are not snobs, as you can tell from our final choice of destination. We simply want something simple and straightforward, that's all.

And Desaru is as good as it can get.

I took a trip there once back in 2002, and the journey was short and very much enjoyable.

We boarded a ferry that looked more like a yatch at Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal, and proceeded to climb to the open-air top deck to take in the wind, sun and lovely view, where we ended up staying for the rest of the 45-minute journey.

Upon reaching the immigration and customs house at the jetty, a quiet and old-world charm greeted us. From there, a bus journey of about an hour or less later, we arrived at our resort.

We spent our days strolling along the near deserted white sand beach while accompanied by the huge expanse of equally deserted sea, disturbing the lalas that kept popping up from the sand, and crafting 3D sexy bikini babes out of the sand.

At night, we gobbled down the Nissin Instant Cup noodles we brought with us in the comfort our room (I was even poorer then), which is kinda like room service. I am a master of positive-thinking, as you can see.

Writing about the trip now makes me wish that it is Tuesday tomorrow, which will signify the start of my beach vacation!

But I have not started packing yet...a 5D4N trip away from home will entail a fair amount of packing, even if it is just humble Desaru that I am going to!

And I have not gotten all the essentials like shampoo, shower cream, sun block (I am so so so over my sun-tanning phase after 3 horribly scary bad sunburnts in my life), Po Chai Pills (I always get stomach upset after hotel breakfast from the amount of warm and cold rubbish I consume), insect repellent, slippers, etc etc etc.

Time to hit the bed, anyway!

Shit is the best fertilizer

Like the season of broken hearts as mentioned in an earlier entry, my friends from various circles are also in various stages of 'depression', over various reasons.

I added inverted commas to that word, depression, for they are definitely not going through real depression. Not yet, anyway. I would say they are depressed, but to say they are in a real depression would be a bit of a stretch.

But if they do not work something out soon, they may soon be.

The thing is, shit happens in life, even to the nicest, most decent, more responsible, most intelligent, most disciplined, most careful, most well-adjusted people.

And when I say that, I don't mean it in a bitter way - absolutely not.

Shit is the really the best fertilzer...I cannot stress this enough.

Be it problems at work...a particularly difficult client, a connundrum in terms of advancement...or problems in a relationship, one can learn many lessons from them, even if things don't work out in the end, and become stronger and wiser.

But only if you view shit with the right attitude.

It is perfectly normal and acceptable to express disgust and anger when you suddenly found yourself pushed into a pool of shit.

But what happens after that?

Your situation certainly will not improve if you simply struggle recklessly while spewing vulgarities and visualising horrible deaths for those 'responsible' for your predicament.

Anyway, struggling recklessly will only serve to sink you deeper and faster.

And when you occupy your mind with angry and revengeful or self-pity thoughts, there is no room to start thinking about just how you can extradite yourself from that unpleasant pool like a champ.

Now, having said all that, I have to say that I am not beyond thinking angry and revengeful or self-pitying thoughts when I get thrown in to a pool of shit myself.

It is only human to do that, and I am no saint.

But I have been practising what I am now preaching so far in my life up till now.

And I am happy that I have become stronger and wiser as a result of those pools of shit I sometimes got thrown in, or accidetally fell into either by my own carelessness or a bad stroke of luck.

I must add this disclaimer though: I have no way of predicting how I will react to the next such incident, and I might be a very angry or self-pitying fool who's doomed to be stuck there for a while.

But I know if that happens, I will come to my senses sooner or later.

Life is full of shit...thank goodness for that.

It's the season of broken hearts

Contrary to popular belief, I do have a heart to break.

But my heart is intact this June (I really think I am getting really good at protecting it from unnecessary abuses by undeserving parties), while elsewhere, hearts seem to be breaking left, right and center every few seconds.

And I am starting to think that I should seriously consider a career in nursing broken hearts back to health.

I have been having plenty of practise recently, you see.

It's weird, it's like a contagious disease that is getting out of control, the Broken Heart Syndrome is afflicting a hell lot of people out there.

Close friends aside, I am even receiving calls from friends that I hardly keep in touch with (still close friends,nevertheless), seeking a listening ear and a few consoling words.

June is ending soon...for their sake, let's hope everyone will go back to being happy real soon...with or without their current partners.

Balm for the copywriter's soul

Chanced upon this quotable quote while surfing the net in the name of work. It's indeed balm for the copywriter's soul (or anyone who does a lot of writing on a daily basis)...especially one who recently had to call in the CSI team to investigate the case of her missing brain.

"Writing is hard work. A clear sentence is no accident. Very few sentences come out right the first time, or even the third time. Remember this as a consolation in moments of despair. If you find that writing is hard, it's because it is hard. It's one of the hardest things that people do." - William Zinsser

Like what it advised, I will certainly remember this as a consolation in moments of despair...before I tear out my hair, chew off my fingers or anything similarly drastic like that.