High tea at Royal Copenhagen on my off day last monday. We ordered open-faced sandwiches with a mix of toppings (smoked herring; wild salmon and eggs; cheese and dried fruit), lobster pasta and, for the finale, a smattering of cakes fit for four stomachs. (there were just two of us)

the finale

Well, hello, just wiped the virtual cobwebs off my LJ... should i revive it?

I've just got started researching on New York... booked a tour to visit Parsons on the 11th :) Quite excited about NY though in my mind I'm thinking Tokyo is still #1! Hmm we shall see. I'm running out of blusher - my one and only Mac blusher in Peach has lasted for more than three years! - But i refuse to get one here because they say in NY, it's cheaper!

Today I decided to take out my SLR to test if it's still working. It has been a year since I last used it.
Presenting Tomatoes from Hakata, Fukuoka.


Very random but, I've finished watching three sets of Jap dramas and wondering what else is worth watching...

that's my status now, in facebook lingo. been spoiling myself silly (and fatty) with awesome florentine dinners, oversized gelatos, chocolates, cheeses, wines...in other words, fat la. and i'm averaging 4.5 espressos a day in Italy. still can't beat robbie williams though.

hello, by the way. we're in Rome now, pipi and fattypangsai - jean's new name i gave in my tipsy stupor. not a very appetizing combo right.. italian men have been chuckling when i introduce myself because they say it exactly the same way when they go to the loo. the landlord at our B&B in venice kept greeting me "ciao pipi ciao pipi" (read: smelly pipi) instead of just "ciao" it's so embarrassing but so funny i end up laughing every time he does it.

beginning to get dreary now because of so much traveling - sleeping on overnight trains, dragging luggages along cobbly streets, finding street names, tram lines, taking in the sights, observing, keeping an eye on belongings, and going to see the sights. even the colosseum.. took quite some effort and determination. we've been slacking today by the way, out of the two days in rome. oh man.

but i've been appreciating every city - especially vienna, which was why i got pickpocketed, became a pauper overnight, cried for days... anyway. i think i lost about 70 percent of my reflections because i haven't been writing them down. and those i do jot down hours, days later turns out less concentrated by then. so what i'm writing now is suuuper diluted... and it gets worse as i get sleepier. but before i begin snoring, GIF IF YOU'RE READING THIS, THANK YOU FOR LONDON FASHION WEEK!! You deserve $10,000 worth of vouchers - to be exchanged for hugs and kisses by ciaopipi. hahaha you can redeem it day after tomorrow.

Byebye for 45 days... icansurvivethefourteenhourflight.

I had my first pina colada yesterday. It was nice, the way this combination of alphabets came out of your lips. Pinacolada, Pinacolada. It tasted pleasant too, unlike weird cosmos and black russians i've since learnt to shy away from. Then at peimin's post-dinner birthday session at Giraffe, we tried a bottle from Laurent-Perrier's range. was it a demi-sec? And we had fun plomping dark cherries into the glass and see thick streams of bubbles floating up. I'm not sure how champagnes go with chocolate ice cream cake, but that's what we had. I'm less resistant to drinking now, but I hope i don't get obsessed about it, as i do with coffee. Peimin, i hope you enjoyed your birthday this year, and every year! Thanks for fetching me home two days straight.
I had my first parcel on Thursday. The moment I saw the handwriting and wrong postal code I knew where it was coming from. Then the sender's address. Garrick Street. HAH! Thank you again, should I say, keep them parcels coming?

A two-day break's barely enough. I'm still so tired. So tired I don't even start to whine about how boring Singapore is. But I like the pace and intensity of my life now, it's like a jog which can go on for hours and hours. But at some point in time I need to stop and figure left or right or straight ahead.

One little two little three little blisters,
Four little five little six little blisters,
Seven little eight little nine little blisters,
Ten little blistered toes.

I'm the kind perfectly capable of running and jumping in high heels, but oh, the shoes from Nue are such a pain to wear. Don't, try.

7th may, 2007: making a monkey out of myself, outside the beer museum at Ebisu.

Morning call at 6 a.m, Mon - Fri.

Back last midnight with about 40kg excess baggage shared between me and bobo. Didn't help that the budget flight was asspacked and we had to squeeze our fancy, shapely paperbags into tiny random pods like they were stuffed toys. By the way, I finally got the muse bag in hk. It sat on my lap throughout the flight home because i refused to let the rude stewardess manhandle it, or let it be bullied by bigger bags belonging to strangers.

Tried to unpack, but almost drowned in the mess... i hope the bags will not be left there for the next few months. as always heh heh. Sorting of photos will come first. I don't know how time flies, but I have to report for work in 7 hours. The massage today helped some bit, now for some sleep. i miss the 16 degree tokyo breeze.

ah. you know the feeling when you've enjoyed something so much and just wish you could revisit those times? i'm going back on a time-machine, this time round things will be slightly different, cos someone else will be joining me for the fulfilling 10-week madrush. hopeyoulikeit.

H A P P Y T H I N G S !


"I Will Be Winner" organizer, beside my bigger old one . flower highlighter for my biz law notes which i haven't started .
Edward Monkton passport holder & colorful mousepad . Agnes B workshirt which says "Reading the Newspapers Makes Me Sad" in different languages :) haha those who don't like it can pissoff!

I am still so full from supper but i'll be going to sleep. someone just called me an owl, i'll try morph into a pig.

Bakuteh for the nth time...


Bakuteh for the nth+1 time...

...

*big burp with pork breath*

Yesterday at 4 a.m i was frowning at this: Xinhua: the world's biggest propaganda agency

Excerpts:
The World’s Biggest News Agency
According to official figures, the agency employs 8,400 people. (Agence France-Presse by contrast has a staff of 2,000) of whom 1,900 are journalists and editors. Its president, Tian Congming, has the rank of a minister. He is supported by editor-in-chief, Nan Zhenzhong and four vice-presidents, Zhang Baoshun, Ma Shengrong, Cai Mingzhao and He Dongjun. The agency’s news gathering and handling is broken up into three parts: “the headquarters” (its official name), national branches and international branches. Xinhua is also proud of the fact that it “possesses” branches and offices in the armed Chinese People’s Police”. Xinhua also has branches in 105 countries and eight sub-offices or editorial offices in Hong Kong, New York, Mexico, Nairobi, Cairo, Paris, Moscow and Rio de Janeiro. It is one of the rare foreign media to have a correspondent in both Pyongyang and Rangoon.

Xinhua’s Journalists
>>The Recruitment
Students are targeted from the start as potential agency journalists. Candidates are selected both for their ability – they are often the best students at university – and their obedience to the Party, since they are required to spread the good word. In the first years of training they undergo regular sessions of “ideological updating” to inculcate the professional values of a journalist at the service of the sole party. The written paper consists of a test of the candidates’ general knowledge, allowing an evaluation of their culture and ideological orientation. The oral resembles a race against the clock as a small group of examiners frequently interview more than 100 candidates. For those students seeking work in a foreign branch, the interview usually takes place in English or, less commonly, in another foreign language. The candidate begins by introducing himself and then replies to two questions, always the same ones: “Why did you decide to be a journalist? Why do you want to work for Xinhua?”

>>Work of Journalists Abroad
As far as foreign news goes, the agency is never at the origin of information. It has neither the means nor the desire to do so. It confines itself to picking up reports from international agencies or articles from the local press, which it summarises, often clumsily, and mixing in the regime’s political orientation. So as not to miss major news, most of the agency’s journalists spend their days glued to international TV and domestic TV of the countries to which they have been posted. Xinhua correspondents lap up the offi cial releases of countries friendly to China. The Rangoon bureau systematically takes the exultant releases put out by the military junta but never mentions the plight of Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi and the thousands of other political prisoners.

>>International Department (reports to be sent abroad)
Fewer reports are classified “internal reference” in this department. As before, the head of section will decide where to send the report or refer it up the hierarchy if there is a problem. Since 2004, it is noticeable that the international department has a tendency to publish news on the situation in China that is at the same time censored by the managers in the domestic news department. This strategy is designed to give the impression to foreign media and officials that China does not impose a blackout on major events. But in fact the Chinese themselves do not get the information. In this way, in November 2004, Xinhua’s English service put out a report of clashes between members of the Muslim minority and the Han majority in Zhongmou district in central China. But this news could not be found on the Chinese wire. The propaganda services would have decided the subject was too sensitive for the Chinese readers.

>>“The Pandas”
Known as the “pandas” by agency staff since “ they snooze throughout the day”, these agency cadres rank above the heads of section in the hierarchy. They act as editors-in-chief and are the final link in the editorial chain. It is they who check reports grammatically and ideologically and take a final decision in case of argument. There is no discussion during the meeting. The heads of section listen to their orders, heads down and taking notes. The pandas regularly order their subordinates to include attacks in their reports against foreign media, particularly the BBC World Service and CNN, accused of deliberately seeking to show China in a bad light.


How? Glory or mockery? Haha we'll see how it goes, on monday... Meanwhile, hotel and tickets to Hong Kong and Tokyo BOOKED! :)

i still wish feli, pm, you could make it earlier. pm have you had your quota of Bangalore prata?!?! hahaha.

Insomnia explains this awkward morning post. I took a morning walk around my estate to the jazz tunes of Let There Be Love, Aguas De Marco, and Beyond the Sea. Ate two sweet potatos, a bar of chocolate and hoardes of fruit for breakfast, flipped the papers, and now i'm plomped in front of my 20-inch white beauty checking out the prices of tours to Iran and the YSL Muse Bag (why must i be in love with everything so frivolous and pricey). A satisfying Iran trip will probably cost about $4k, about 30% more than the bag? Both will be a sooner or later thing, but Iran will be there and the Bag, hohoho, might be gone. Yet I understand how it's indecent and to splurge on something which does not benefit anyone, or enrich my experience. HOW. Maybe i'll start with the feasibility of an Iran trip first. Anyone interested other than jloo?

Now i'm itching to chill in cozy Holland V Starbucks sipping cappuccino, with someone eager to laugh, listen or talk about their dreams and destiny and the whole career shit thing. My - about the fyp thing is subsiding, so long as i don't see the root of all problems. Off to choose photos for developing, tata.

"Pipi, we've done SO MUCH work," says jloo, wearing a slight frown as she squints at a namecard.

Typing list of contacts... The Last Lap. FYP report's almost done.
We've come so far.
In an hour's time, we'll be off to the Printer's. I can't wait, because there's a Starbucks opposite the street and a Soup Spoon across another.

A combination of chocolate, ginseng water, and Starbucks coffee is keeping me awake but not necessarily sane.
And we've reached so high.

My one-day homestay at jloo's became three. We survived three days with only three hours of sleep in total... just random one hour naps a day.
And we've looked each DAY AND NIGHT IN THE EYE.

I'm bringing a barf bag with me out later - jloo says she might need it. HAH not me, for the first time!