what can i do?

damnable things that can happen to me:

1. i want to go out and celebrate a friend's b-day by going for a nice dinner - thus, do laundry 6 hours before the said dinner but alas, my clothes are not fully dried...normal laundry usually takes around 2 hours to be done but because i go out with friends for a nice coze at a cafe when my clothes are in the dryer (justifying to self that by the time i'm back home all of my clothes will be dried), my clothes are still partially wet (because it just happens)...what's worse is all of my good wearable clothes are the ones in the dryer...the ones left in the wardrobe have their own 'cuts and bruises' as in tears here and there, thus not wearable in public...so...i have to miss that b-day dinner...i can't go there naked, can't i?
   
2. i wake up 4-5 hours before class...it's a lot of time...so i do other things such as organising plans for the day, check my account, clean up my room, do my bed, water my plants, print out study notes and other things unrelated to getting ready for class...i reasoned to myself 'i have a lot of extra time...i should fill it with useful activities...i will start to shower and get ready for class an hour before class'...30 minutes before class, still in the shower, nowhere near half ready to go to class...time to walk to class, around 20 minutes, give or take (should reserve an extra 10 minutes due to the unpredictable auckland weather, thus resulting to 30 minutes journey time)...i keep thinking i can get ready within 30 minutes while in reality i spend around 45 minutes the least to get myself somewhere in the realm of presentablism (or else i will scare old ladies and little children)....result, late to class...

i have done a lot of stupid things in my life...these 2 defy logic...especially number 2 since i've done it over and over again...you should say 'she must have learned from experience right?' but sadly, it's like a broken record playing, i keep doing it over and over again even when my intentions are good...what can all of you learn from these 2 scenarios?yup, i should've do my laundry the day before and i should've get ready 2 hours before class so that i won't be late....

exercise oh exercise

me and exercise don't go well together...the only way to get me to exercise is to get me to think that exercise is fun...don't get me wrong here....a few things related to exercise that are really great fun to me are the kind of exercise that i really enjoy...i can deal with sweat and smell because they are not considered as exercise in my harley dictionary of life....yup yup the main reasons that i can't deal with exercise are the grunting, sweating and smelling...major ewww...those are, ah, anyway i won't go there, too gruesome to explain...


exercises that i do enjoy are cycling (as in on a real bicycle, being mobile and moving in all the fresh air, not the fixed bicycle in the gym...imagine the sweat and bacteria all over the bike....major turn-off!), swimming (it's more like flopping around like a demented whale than swimming but alas, that description is not accepted by any exercise handbook) and taekwondo....the last exercise is indeed a self-defense class and it has thousands of exercises that i hate such as running and doing push-ups...but i don't know why, when it comes to taekwondo, my brain suddenly goes skewed and realign itself to normality and decipher all those 'usually hated' exercises as 'acceptable'...i also love dancing...it's a physical activity, thus it's considered as exercise is it not (please please be true!)???


anyway, can't people create a better way to drag an exercise-hater like me to do that damnable thing called exercise?like hmmm creating a gym just for fat people so that we won't be embarrased by all these buffed and toned females or those males with abs and buns to die for...fat people and the latter, the buff and beautiful, are 2 totally different species....we don't mix well...or i should actually fix my mindset and think of exercise as a great gob of fun and one of the way to live long and healthy...*sigh*...as if that will happen within this 20 years period...

daily planner

i'm being cautious this week....this week being the first week of the new semester and all...okay, it has nothing to do with anything but yeah, i'm trying to get my school legs back (sea leg, school leg, get it?)....anyway, my sleep cycle is still crazy...i fell asleep around 5 pm or 7 pm and wake up at random time like 12.30 am or 3.15 am...at least i don't fell asleep in the middle of class...


a happy news of the day!i bought a new 2009 diary/daily planner!it's a bit too late (as i should've bought it at the start of the year but hell, it's so hard to find one that fits me!) but it's on sale at the UBS...it's basic black and joyce had one too...actually she was the one who told me about it...she's a kindred spirit...she is similar to me (now i've found my own species!!!!yay!!!we aliens stick together for the future of aliens!)...she arrange stuff in colours...she write down things that she is supposed to do in her daily planner and tick them off when they're done (very moi!) and keeps stuff (pack-rat!)...and yes, buying a daily planner constitutes as a major news of the day...accept it and u'll be better off!


it was a bit eerie to actually find someone who's almost obsessive complulsive as u are, but there it is (as joyce stated 'i'm organised, not obsessive compulsive'....rightttt....that's one way to look at it)...anyway, i am proud to announce that i didn't eat dinner yesterday!why is this piece of crap of information matters, u say?well, i have to loose weight to be healthy and pretty and fit a size 8 (a bit unrealistic but let me have my dream here), and yes, one missed dinner wouldn't make me wake up the next morning 20 kg shed off but alas, i felt good...that's the most important point is it not?(actually the real reason i didn't eat dinner was because i was too tired to cook rice!)...

congratulations!

nia married her sweet-heart ray last holiday!and sadly i missed it because of my damnable mobile phone!she told me she tried calling and texting me so many times to tell me...huhuhu...anyway, it's so sweet!i love weddings...i wished i could attend the wedding, but alas, fate intervened...here's my special wish:

to nia and ray,

have a great marriage ahead and may both of you be happy and blessed with an abundance of joy!

p/s: and congratulations to moi for my 100th post!!!!nothing to brag about but hey, this is my time to shine!hahaha...

news of the day!

evie came back from sydney today!yay!hehehe...it means i'll no longer be alone in this cold drafty apartment (it's cold coz i haven't bought a heater yet ^^)...megu (that's meghna) and her twin malu came to stay in her room today too...thus, everyone's home and we're all snug and happy!so that's news...hehehe...ah n the apartment above me is currently having a blast...the sound of their music is preventing me from sleep (that's how loud their music is!)...punk-*ss!!!


anyway, another news i'd like to impart to my dear readers is that i made some awesome korean dishes today!2 of my favourite korean dishes are the soft tofu stew (soondubu jjigae) and potato side dish (gamja jorim)...they tasted great!!!so yummy!!!i've been following maangchi's korean dishes recipes so far and they worked really well...i also baked apple and boysenberry crumble...it was also delish!omg!i forgot!i promised to make pizza for amin and his housemates!thank god i already bought the ingredients today, so yeah, will bring the pizza to him tomorrow ^^


anyway, that's my new's of the day!i want to make her abalone porridge next time (sans the abalone ^^)...

his logic...

today jonathon said something intriguing to me...guys get girls that they don't want in order to get girls who they want...it's a twisted logic...does that make sense, i ask u?yeah, i did said it doesn't make sense to johnny but he insisted this is a tried-and-proven theory...hmmm...err...does that mean that when a guy likes me he actually doesn't like me but acted that way so that he can get a girl he likes?well, to johnny that holds true...me, i reserve my judgement...it's so plain weird to think of relationships that way!


my take of attraction between girls and boys is a little different from his...i believe, most girls have crushes (as do most guys)...but it is usually the guys who work hard to get the girls (unless u are a japanese, as u may know, they do thing a wee bit different from the rest of the world ^^)...if it's a mutual attraction, hey more the power for u!if it's not (one sided, in this case on the guy's side), not to worry!the guy will usually get the girl eventually...all he needs are determination and no-quitter attitude (and strength if the girl is a direct-reject kind of person)...if he hangs on long enough, he will most probably get her...girls are more malleable in that sense than guys...our hearts are easily touch by devotion...


anyhow, he said a lot of things...his observations are funny...hey johnny, we must do this again!this time, with christina, or alex (he's sooooo cute!)...see what christina will think!hahahaha...

intentions and actions

you know at one point in life when u are broke and u know u are broke and u realised u have a credit card...yes, that is called chaos...i was hungry yesterday...i went to dinner with friends (dora, yaya and the rest, u know the gang, syed, irfan and rini with 4 additionals, shafiq, a new member, zahara and nadia, dora's friends from malaysia and another girl)...we went to occidental and on a spurt of sudden rebellion i decided to order a different mussel platter than the 2 i always ordered (the cheese and herbs one or the olive oil and garlic one)...i ordered the espagnole (the chilli and olive oil platter)...it tasted like plastic, to quote someone (i think it was rini who said that)....


i ate about half of the platter and gave the rest away...that was a $16.50 meal...another zap to my budget...the service was bad that particular day....zahara didn't get her meal, even after more than 3 times asking about it...dora and someone got the wrong order, sadly the only mussle platter in the menu we can't eat, yup the spinach and bacon one...we were told to wait around 30 minutes for a seat inside the bar and we waited valiantly outside in the freaking cold for more than 30 minutes, neither menu or waiter could be seen within that waiting period...so we wasted more than 30 minutes, rather than at least ordering something and wait for our seats...then, there was no waiter service, no plain water to be offered and so on...i could complain for hours, but alas, the conclusion the same....the service was BAD!i wonder what had really happened to our old favourite vulcan lane's the occidental...


anyhow, because of my driving hunger, i bought the $ 8 turkish chicken and mushroom pizza...another zap on the credit card...today, i was hungry so i went to foodtown to get some snacks, i promised myself to buy only a box of cheese snack crackers that costs about $ 2 but i ended up buying carrots (it was on sale!), rhubarb and apple cake, brown sugar (again it was on sale!) and some buns...from my original intent of spending $ 2, i had spent $ 16.01...so...credit cards and sale and supermarkets are evil, that's the real story here...

patience is virtue

indeeeeeedy....okay, not i am not a patient person...yes, i want to keep on writing this darned blog and in turn i also want at least a person in this whole darned universe to read it...i love looking at other people's blog with their sophisticated backgrounds and what-not...and no surprise, mine is stuck in the middle ages...it's simple, though easy to look at, it's boring with a capital B....


alas, my attempt to revamp has fallen through...after hours and hours of frustration (none of the templates that i've found so far is the one that i am really really keen on) and countless brain-numbing html tweaking, i've thrown the towel and cry uncle (err...mixing up my metaphors, whatever)...my brain is spasming...


at this point, i promise u, i'll find a background that i really really really like...one day...one fine day...and do this all over again...over and out...


p/s: create my own template?pishhhhyyy...when did i get that creative and more importantly industrious???

are u nuts?

i was bored and boredom and me is not a good combination...i found things when i'm bored...so, since i was bored, i found these few blogs of food lovers in malaysia...they went to various restaurants (believe me, if it's malaysia, restaurants are like mushrooms popping out after the rain) and try various food...i can't say i can compare, but almost 4 years in auckland has taught me a lot about food...yes, i've eaten so many things compared to when i'm in malaysia...granted, most of them are either vegetarian or seafood, but they are more variety to things i've eaten in kuala lumpur....


not that kl doesn't have lots of choices....it does....but i'm so entrenched in my comfort food zone, i'd say i don't experiment that much...so far, i can safely say, the exotic food i've learned to love back in malaysia are japanese food (i was introduced to it when i was 12, years ago and i still love it!), tax-max food (learned about it a few years ago, it was delish!), italian food like pizzas, lasagnas and pasta and that's about it, i think...malay, indian, chinese, thai, indo and mixture of these are not included in the list of exotic food since i've grown up with these food....burgers n other fast food will not be included as they are a class by themselves!


anyway, in auckland, i've learned to love more japanese food (they are lots and lots, believe me), korean food (i love that korean place tucked in between nandos and the internet shop on queen street, opposite aotea square), belgian food (okay, maybe not really belgian restaurant, but that belgian bar, the occidental at the vulcan lane serves the most beautiful array of belgian seafood i've eaten!), morrocan mediterranean food (i don't remember the restaurant's name but it's in ponsonby, the price is exorbitant but it was worth every cent!) and so much more!from restaurants that charge me my whole month food budget like soul at the harbour to relatively cheap places like the korean pancake place at the corner of high street, i've learned to love them all...


anyway, i looked at some of these food-lovers blogs and some of them listed the prices of the dishes they ate...like this tax-max food, a plate costs an average of rm 35!n here i was, thinking 'wow!it's like paying for the whole cow!'...i thought it was that expensive...then i remember...here in auckland, i've eaten at some exclusive restaurants for birthdays and other celebrations (yes, my group of friends seem to think that we must eat at great restaurants for celebrations ^^) and some of them even reach to a nz $ 40 per dish!and the portion!omg, it can't even feed a baby mouse, never mind a fully grown woman!nz $ 40 is around rm 80!ooops...then, i knew...it was not that expensive!hahahaha...auckland food is definitely more expensive...i mean, normal meal that u buy at a stall in a food court here cost around nz $ 10, which is around rm 20....for that amount, u can grab good food in good restaurants in kl...and that tax-mex food, the one that costs rm 35, well, i could buy one burger and a regular fries at burger fuel with that amount....


now that i've done the comparison...i'm thankful that malaysia has such lovely choices of food with reasonable price...but then again, if i'm in malaysia, i can't afford to eat at those places, not with my current financials...coz of that, i'm thankful to be in auckland and it's great restaurants! ^^

rest in peace

this is a dedication for a few people i've known:

1. michael jackson - u used to be my hero when i was growing up...i love ur songs and u are indeed a great entertainer...
2. zachary gravatt - a fellow classmate who used to sit opposite me in pd tutorial...been widely known as 'party boy'...very congenial and relaxed...though i didn't know u well, i remember u...i remember ur white golf shoes (it made a huge impression on me, i told rachel about it) and i remember ur lucy...i'm sorry that so many dreams will remain unfulfilled....may u rest in peace....

especially to zach's family and friends, my sincerest condolences...

priorities, priorities

talking about what i prefer to buy if i have 15 bucks will open up a thousand avenues that have nothing to do with practical matters...i don't have extra 15 bucks now but i do have to spend that much of an amount on something that is unavoidable...my charger is officially dead as of yesterday...my my mobile phone's battery is struggling for air, it's power is almost exhausted...thus, i need a new charger to recharge it's flagging energy...sadly, i put the need to buy a new charger under my list of 'things i really don't want to waste money on but i do have to do it before i go wonkers'....yes, it's called priority....


in this beautiful season called sale season, i had to battle my natural inclination to put that at the bottom of my priorities list...i'd rather spend that precious 15 bucks on shopping...with that amount i can buy 3 beautiful new tops or one pair of new jeans or one black belt at portmans....that's my wish...but alas, not everything is acceding to my wishes and dreams....i need that charger...not because i can't live without my mobile, it's for emergency's sake...i realise mobile phone is indeed important for certain matters, like texting friends when bored (yes, that's called bothering people, but what the heck, i'm bored, i need distractions!), setting morning alarm since my internal body alarm is currently not working (and probably never will hence) and yes, calling my dear crazy family weekly!


so, in the dawn of comprehension, i do have to spend money on the darned charger, even if i wish i can buy those things i listed before (this is called opportunity cost, the cost of the next best alternative that i've given up, i learned in econ)...bye bye 15 bucks, so long!i'll miss u!

give me the money!

have u ever wished for miracle to happen, so bad, that even though u have stop believing in fairies and santa, u secretly pray to have ur wish come true?okay, that sounds convoluted...anyhow, that's what i feel about money...i know, i know that we have to earn them but somehow, i can't stop believing...i keep on logging on to my bank account online, hoping against hope that someone will put money in it...not that i need the money, i just wish somebody will give me some!i don't know why, but i'm pretty sure this is common for almost everyone walking on earth, that money makes us happy....


knowing that i have money, i feel safe....no matter how meagre the portion is, as long as i have it, i feel secure with the fact that i have it...recieving it makes me rapturous...even 1 dollar makes me fall to my knee, thankful for the wonder God bestow me!hehehe...that's why, i always hope that i will get a surprise everytime i check my account...not that i happens a lot...but it does happen...


funnily, i remember, i think this happened last year, that my scholarship provider/the bank had mistakenly deposited around NZ$ 4 000 in a lot of the scholars' accounts, including yours truly...since i'm the type who check my account almost daily (u know just in case i see some suspicious withdrawals or something), i was flabergasted when i saw the amount in my checking account...i knew that we were not supposed to get our trimonthly in another month's time and there was no reason that my scholarship provider would give us that much so suddenly!so that amount was shocking...i stored the money in my online account, just to be safe and contacted my scholarship officer...yup, not surprisingly the bank rescinded the money on the next day...


i knew the money wasn't meant for me but i somehow felt the twinge of dissapointment...*sigh*...i would be NZ$ 4 000 richer if the money was indeed a surprise gift from heaven, or in that case, scholarship provider...anyway, surprise money will always be welcomed!i welcome thee, money, with open arms!hahahaha...

kids

small kids are so adorable!i am rarely in contact with children (despite my various small cousins) and am well known for a non-kids type (compared to my estimable mama, jaja, gegel and even alin!)...my small cousins don't know what to make of me and i think one of them are even afraid of me (acik mani's youngest daughter, who is around 8, i think...and for some reasons i never managed to remember her name)...ah she's a small snob anyway (can u imagine, she is so very talkative to mama when mama picks her up from school but snubs mama in our family social function as if she never seen her before???such snobishness for someone so young!)...


anyhow, my affinity for kids aside, i love my casual job (it was a one-off part time job with my uni for the incredible science fair, a science fair for kids)...my job was to man a help-desk, general freebie bag-and-ballon runner, setting up and cleaning up...it was a tiring 9 hour job, but i really love it...the kids are so adorable and cute, i felt like gobbling them up, or at least pinch them in the cheeks until they are pink!one of the things i remember was the questions...boy they are endlessly inquisitive and it seems to me their font of questions never dries up!but it was great!i feel like a big sister who knows best...


another aspect that i really love is giving away the free goodie bags and ballons...boy i feel like santa!the small kids (the ones around 3-8 years of age) were mostly shy...they were looking at me so intently with such big eyes, some of them looked as if they were going to cry if i say 'boo', as if i could read their mind (and what they had in mind was having a balloon!)...i would look at them in the eye and smile and say 'would u like a balloon?' and they would nod their little cutesy heads vigorously!so cuteeeeeee!!!and their parents or caregiver would prompt 'what should u say to the nice lady?' and they would timidly burst out a 'thank you' or 'please' (the please part is soooo unexpected and thousand times adorable as i had already given them the balloons!)...i would smile and say 'have fun' chirpily (who can guess i can be this chirpy?FOR THE WHOLE DAY!!!) and for the case of 'please' i would laugh and say 'thank you!' in turn!hehehe...what a lovely day!

recipe of the day - simple spanish flan

one of my friends commented that i should write the recipes of things i've cooked here...i've shared my panna cotta recipe before and now it's my spanish flan's turn...most of my dessert recipes are gotten off the trusty internet...most of my favourite malaysia dishes recipes are gotten from my dear mama (i love her food!she's such a great cook!)...okay i got this recipe online from various sites (i combined them all together)...sorry again, got no camera so no pictures...but i'll steal somewhere online!hahaha...

spanish flan recipe

ingredients:

• sugar (for caramel) - 1 cup
• evaporated milk - 1 can
• condensed milk - 1 can
• vanilla essence - 2 tablespoons (usually 1 tablespoon is sufficient but i hate the smell and taste of eggs so this is a great way of masking it!)
• eggs - 4 (can use from 4 to 6 eggs, since i stated before about my feelings towards eggs, i use the minimal amount)
• butter - a little bit to grease the pie pan
• boiling water
  

cooking material/utensils:

• whisker (u can use an electric whisker, since i have none, i use the good old fashion metal whisker...oh blender can also be used, me, too lazy to clean up my blender afterward)
• big mixing bowl
• pie pan
• larger baking pan (that is at least 1 1/2 inch deep so that it can hold water in)
  
• measuring cup
• knife
• pan
• spatula
• big plate (concave so that the caramel sauce doesn't spill)
• baking oven

preparation time: around 5 hours including chilling time

instructions:

1. make the caramel. on a medium heat, constantly stir sugar until it completely dissolves and turn golden brown. don't stir it on high heat or leave it too long as to prevent the sugar from being burnt. this usually takes around 15-25 minutes, depending on the heat.
   
2. as fast as u are able, pour the caramel on the butter-greased pie pan and spread the caramel around the side and bottom of the pan rapidly as the caramel freezes rapidly. don't worry if it's not spread evenly but try to cover the whole sides and bottom, at least. and don't worry that the caramel will harden as it will melt when baking.
3. break eggs into mixing bowl and whisk them. add vanilla essence, evaporated and condensed milk and mix them well.
4. put the custard filling into the caramel covered pie pan and put the pie pan into the larger baking dish in the oven.
5. pour in boiling water into the larger baking dish, ensuring none of the water gets into the flan mixture. ensure at least and inch of boiling water covers the pie pan. this is to prevent the caramel from burning.
6. bake flan in 176 degrees Celsius for around an hour or 1 1/2 hours.
7. test the flan by poking the knife through various locations and if none of the flan sticks on knife, the flan is done. remove flan from the hot water bath to cool on open air about 1-2 hours. flan should be jiggly in the middle.
8. after air cooling, cover the pie pan with saran wrap or aluminum foil and refrigerate flan for at least 3 hours.
9. to serve, cut the edges of the flan so that it can easily transplanted into a plate. put the large plate on top of the pie pan and flip the pie pan over rapidly to avoid spillage of the caramel sauce or the custard from being crushed or spilled. hold both pie pan and plate using both hands. percuss the bottom of the pie plate so that all flan is detached from the pie pan. leave the extra caramel (the harden layer that sticks on the bottom of the pie pan) and don't scrape it.
10. voila!

judging a book...by it's cover?

how do we judge a book is good enough?is it entertaining enough?is it informative enough?is it intelligent enough?i have a standard that i upheld to decide whether i deem them good enough to enter harley's library of favourite books...these are the criteria:

• uniqueness - i read thousands of books (no exaggerating here, it's too true, written words fascinate me more than moving pictures like movies or dramas) and after that much of exposure, it's too easy to discern which is gold from dross...anyway, some writers have a knack in putting words together to make such simple sentence or story fascinating...one great example is a book titled rebecca by daphne du maurier (one of my all time favourite author)...i read it over and over since i was 12 and by the second read i realised that the authour had cleverly hidden the main character's name (the narrator)...who is rebecca, you ask?read it...i promise it will worth ur while!
• tickle me funny - i also love funny comebacks or cleverly constructed sarcasm...i love humour in general...the book may not be funny in it's entirety but if it has an ounce of gentle humour or sarcasm somewhere, i'll be there to appreciate it!one of the authors who has never fail to entertain me with her own brand of humour is susan elizabeth phillips...yes she is a romace author but her books are so good, the deserve to be in the list...i remember one scene from nobody's baby but mine (it was that funny it permanently eatched on my head)...jane was so bent on getting on cal's nerve, she purposely picked out all marshmellows from his favourite cereal (he especially loved the marshmellows)...3 boxes of them...and she taped the cereal box together so that he wouldn't detect the tampering...then she strewn the marshmellows in his car...when cal found out, he was so incensed blurted out 'i married a cereal-killer!'....oh it's not funny when u read this but u seriously have to try at least one of susan's books and u'll understand!
• mysterious - mystery always gets to me...it makes me impatient but i stick to the book until the end just to know what happens...or at least have some idea what's going on...one writer that is good in mystery and suspense is michele jaffe...u would never guessed who the real culprit is even though it could be so obvious even towards the end, at least to u...i was stumped on each of her books, so far...i've yet to read her latest books but yup, i'll definitely get my hands on these babies...they are super great!
• family complex - i love reading about families and how each characters deal with them...some families are exasperating but u still love them...some of the are so heartbreaking i cry buckets of tears just reading about them...lisa kleypas maybe a romance author but she touches family issues like no other...some of her books make u see clearly that while u can't choose ur family, acceptance and understanding are 2 most important ingredients in unconditional love....
• personal issues - i love tear-jerkers of any kind...it is especially known in romance books...i can safely say i've cried litres of tears because of romance books...personal issues and tragedies include depression, mental problems other than depression, feeling of being unloved and rejected, feeling of utter worthlessness, poverty, death of loved ones, delicate issues such as rape and child abuse, health issues and so many other things....i can list thousands of authors here but i'll try to list a few whom i remember now...mary balogh, susan elizabeth phillips, lisa kleypas, sherry thomas, laura lee gurhke and brenda joyce...
• intelligent read - some books are fascinating just because they are intelligent in it's simplicity or just plain clever...i can't explain this clearly...some books i just love which comes under this section are folly by laurie r. king and the alchemist by paolo coelho....they are beautifully written...while folly is a difficult and complicated book to read (takes weeks to finish it up), the alchemist is so simply written, they are both brilliant...some other books uses simple stories that just touched u...somehow the hidden meanings behind the whole book become relevant and apparent to u...
• romance - i can never leave this out of my list!!!i love happy endings...while i've read my share of unexpected endings or death of main characters and still love those books, happy endings just makes me feel all mushy and happy...u can hear me saying 'my whole life is already realistic enough/sad enough, i want my share of happy endings, however trite/cliched they might be!'...it's true...one of the reasons people read is to escape reality, or at least find some measure of calm, or to find that humanity and happiness still exist somewhere, somehow...julia quinn and carolyn jewel write good solid romance...
  

this list is quite comprehensive to me...i love books of any forms, be it literature (my absolute favourite is pride and prejudice, of course, by jane austen and little women by louisa may alcott), or children's books (my favourite is and and what katie did series by susan coolidge, nancy drew series by series of authors under psydonym of carolyn keene and enid blyton's books) or teenage books (the sweet valley series by francine pascal and stephenie mayer's twilight series, duh!) or romance or fiction or sci-fi or any other types, i love them all!



p/s: i noticed that most of my favourite books were written by female writers...then again, female authors tend to write differently from their male counterpart (actually each writer is unique but somehow there's a marked difference observed in writing trends between 2 opposing genders)....female writers i tend to favour write about issues closer to my heart, i'd guess ^^

if that's not painful enough...

women sacrifice a lot on the altar of fashion...the price of things like jewelries, even costume jewelries, shoes, tops, dresses, pants, bags, make-up and other odds and ends can pay a third world country debt...that's for a girl, not a number of girls, just one...the cost of stuff for a year for the whole world population of women can prevent world economy downturn for 100 years altogether (without considering other economic factors, of course)...for example, young girls in japan work 30 hours a day (part-time) just to get the latest louis vuitton bag...i keep my weekly food budget at minimal (so minimal that it can only buy 2 lunches if i were to eat out using the same budget) just to have extras by the end of my allowance trimonthly, so that i can shop...


lots of women wear clothes so thin they are practically aren't there...observe young women especially asians anywhere on earth where winter is cold...u can see lots of them wear something so insubstantial i wonder all the time whether their body has some acclimatization going on so that they got used to the cold like some alien race...some of us wear things that are so tiny, they are almost like small napkins wrapping around our poor bodies like buns covering sausages...some clothes are so tight, we can barely breathe, let alone do any other sorts of miniscule movements...observe hollywood leading ladies, socialites and models...enough said...


the ultimate sacrifice is shoes...shoes aficionado are called a shoe-whore....yes, we even have a label...that's how cliche we, shoes lovers, have become...we wear shoes so high that they make us stumble when we walk...most of them are painful and so flimsy that we slip and fall at a drop of a hat...forget arch support...that concept is an non-existant in our ultimate book of fashion...we shop for shoes like we need to eat our daily meals...


yesterday, i bought these 2 divine shoes...one pair are cotton-based covered peekaboo flats in pink with white piping at the edges and a bow on the front...another was a black faux shiny leather and velvet heels...breaking them in are simply horrendous...i had to be stupid and wear them both on the same day, one pair in the morning, another at night...the first ones caused me some dreadful blisters and chafed the back of my foot so badly i really felt like throwing them away on the way back home...the second pair were actually good fit but because of earlier's blisters, i get lacerations...huge lacerations...i internally screamed when i washed my feet later (can't scream loudly, wouldn't want to wake the neighbours up huhuhu)...i could even see my back feet muscles since the skin covering it was peeled away...it was that painful...


*sigh*...i am guilty of almost all of the fashionistas demands mentioned...i wish i know better but alas, i will probably still do them until i see the light...