Fashion trends I'll never understand

Fashion, in general, is one of those things I'll never fully wrap my mind around.

It baffles me how the fashion industry can have such an overwhelming impact on society, and how brand name products can cost thousands of dollars, even just for a tiny accessory or an unwearable outfit. Even worse, people are actually willing to pay obscene amounts for what looks to me like a normal black dress or an ordinary-looking bag.

What also blows my mind is the outfits displayed on runways - Do real people actually wear them in real life? How come I haven't seen that? Because I would love to see someone walk down the street in masks that cover their eyes, bizarre hairpieces, crazy stage makeup, and what not.

I guess fashion on runways is probably more of an art, a way for the designer to make a statement and show the world his/her creativity. Still, it makes me wonder how they come up with such stuff.


Needless to say, since fashion trends are somewhat of a mystery to me, there are several fashion fads I have and always will fail to comprehend.

Fashion trends I will never understand

1. Baggy low-rise jeans

I am ashamed to admit that I was once a follower of this misguided trend, way back when I was 13, young, and impressionable. I wore my ridiculously baggy jeans with such pride that I was blinded to its outright hideousness. Even dad tried to warn me - he commented that my jeans were so baggy, I didn't need a bag to put my stuff in; I could just slip them down the huge pockets on the side. Sadly, I was deluded enough to wear those jeans for quite some time - at least a few months. Total embarrassment, now that I look back on it.

2. High-waisted jeans

Otherwise known as 'mom jeans,' made even more infamous by poor Jessica Simpson and her awful choice of clothes on this particular day. However, moms all over the world still continue to don this tragically abominable piece of clothing. I don't know what goes through their minds when they actually put money down to purchase the jeans. No one should wear this. Well, unless they were outrageously model-skinny, then they could probably wear anything and get away with it.

3. Crocs

For the life of me, I cannot get the hype about Crocs. Okay, they're wildly comfortable and good for your feet... But so what?? I've never agreed with the statement that 'fashion is pain,' because I think you can be comfortable and still look good, but um, you don't need to go this far to achieve comfort. I don't care if they come in heels or pumps or flip flops, Crocs are appalling, plain and simple.

4. Center partings

Oh boy. I'm guilty of this too, way way WAY back in the day. Short hair parted down the middle, glasses, baggy clothes... I don't know what I was thinking. I mustn't have been thinking at all.
Center partings can look good on some people, but not all, and definitely not me.

5. Killer high heels

Just look at this pair of heels. It's ridiculous! How did the designer expect anyone to take a step in such absurdly high heels?? It's practically vertical. Even the poor female's foot looks like every single muscle is straining and crying out for release. I wince in pain just looking at it. Men are totally to blame for the increase in heel length over the years.

Even worse, this one does not have a heel in the back. Walking on tiptoes all day? So not ideal.

6. Jumpsuits/overalls

Ugly, that's all I have to say. Okay, I admit I chose these particular jumpsuits because they're more ghastly than normal plain ones, but still. It's hard to carry off the jumpsuit look. And even harder to go to the restroom when wearing one.

Overalls fall into the same category - they should be left for farmers, and farmers alone.

7. Shoulder pads

I just think they make shoulders look broad. Not so good if you've already got manly shoulders like I do (from an obsession with swimming back in the day).

Of course, they could be exaggerated to make a fashion statement like what Kim Kardashian did, but I'm still not a big fan. Shoulder pads should be left in the '80s, where they belong.

8. Headbands

They make your hair poof out on top like a muffin, and they give you headband hair when taken off. I don't really get headbands. But then again, I may or may not be a little envious that some people, like Nicole Ritchie, can carry off the look, while others, like me, cannot.

9. Sweatshirts and sweatpants

This outfit is tremendously popular among the college crowd, especially in America. Had a late night of partying or studying? Too tired or hungover to pick out a cute outfit? Too lazy to care?

Sweatshirt and sweatpants = default college outfit. 

Again, I admit I've worn sweatshirts and sweatpants to classes in the past, when I was too tired to take a shower or select a clean, decent-looking outfit. But to wear them every single day?? It's like everyone just blends into anonymity with their school logo sweatshirts and sweatpants. I don't get it; it's not that hard to dress up once in a while.

10. Popped collars

When I think 'popped collars,' I think 'poser.' It just comes across that way.


I confess that fashion fascinates me, but sometimes it doesn't make sense. That's the beauty and mystery of it, I guess.

Subiaco sunday

Today, we were late for church, as usual. Mom woke Jedi and I up at 9am, as usual, even though church starts at 9.30am, and she knows Jedi absolutely HAS to take a shower before leaving the house. She claimed she let us sleep longer out of love, but I told her it didn't really make sense, because then she would be nagging at us to hurry up and we'd be annoyed anyway.

So obviously we got there after 10am. It's kind of embarrassing walking into the auditorium late every Sunday, because we're usually at least 30 minutes late.

Speaking of church, the one we attend here in Perth is called FCC - Faith Community Church - led by Pastor Benny Ho, who's absolutely hilarious. The first time I stepped into the church auditorium, I experienced total deja vu. It was like Singapore's FCBC - Faith Community Baptist Church - in every way!
From the singers on stage to the contemporary band to the asian congregation to the style of preaching to the people waving flags along the aisles. Definitely won't be feeling homesick here.

Guest pastor Edmund Chen talked about missions and being available to God. I particularly liked what he said about claiming your faith for yourself.

"Just because you're born in a Christian home doesn't make you a Christian, similarly, just because you're born in a garage doesn't make you a car."

We went to Subiaco again, because we didn't get to explore the area the last time. But this time we only had 2 hours before we had to pick up Jere from the airport, so we didn't get to do much either. So we went to the Subiaco market, a bustling place filled with cheap groceries, quaint stores and delicious food.

(The guy on the right is probably wondering why I'm taking a photo of him. This kind of made me wonder - how many times have I unknowingly been captured in strangers' photos - a nameless face in the background?)

Now that I am surrounded by pizza 24/7, I have become somewhat of an expert at identifying stale pizza. And those slices of pizza definitely look like they have been left on the shelf for at least 3 days.
Other than that, I liked this shop's creative naming techniques - the snail-looking Escargot pastry on the right looked yummy. Although the cheese and vegemite one sounded a little suspicious.

I absolutely adore the apartments near Subiaco Square - they're gorgeous and conveniently located near everything! Wonder how much it costs to rent one (not that I'm thinking of staying here long-term).

And this is Jedi, my brother/grocery carrier. Mom calls him 'Hercules' because he carried all ten bags of groceries without a word of complain. I've decided I like having strong men around when going grocery shopping.
He's also growing out his hair because apparently he wants to cut it a certain style (I think he secretly wants to be Justin Bieber) and streak it grey or something. We try to persuade him out of it everyday, but I guess we all go through crazy hair phases.

And this is our loot from the most adorable little organic shop called 'Angry Almonds.' I loved it. There were all these huge bags filled to the brim with all kinds of wonders - chocolate nuts, gummies, nuts, sunflower seeds, cereals, beans, rice crackers... even turkish delights.

Yummy Japanese snacks. I love how the brown one on the right looks like a cracked egg. And why do the green and orange ones have a tiny rectangle of seaweed on them? Can people even taste it??

Sour cream and chives soy chips. Dee-lish.

I could really use a wish right now

I love this new song by B.o.B., in collaboration with Hayley Williams from Paramore – Airplanes. 

It’s catchy and I like part of the lyrics where it says:

Can we pretend that airplanes in the night sky are like shooting stars,
I could really use a wish right now.

It just made me think about where I’m at in life… and I could definitely use a wish right now. I would wish to be somewhere with all my close friends doing what I love (i.e. New York City). I don’t know why, but lately I’ve been missing NYC a lot, and thinking about all the fun times I had there last year. It’s probably because my life is boring right now and it’s summer, so this time last year I was having the time of my life. I know if I ever get to go back there it will be different, because I won’t have the same set of friends and do the same kind of stuff, but I just wish I were someplace, any place that is not like a second Singapore.

Because sometimes I really do feel like I’m still in Singapore, minus the excruciatingly hot weather, because everywhere I turn, there are Singaporeans here. It’s like everyone has escaped here, either to run from the difficult education system or from national service. 

Although Singapore is probably 1000x more happening than this place (which is probably the secret evil plan of all the parents – hide their kids away in the middle of nowhere so they have no choice but to focus on studies – great idea, if you were a parent; not so great, if you were the kid).

Anyway, speaking of B.o.B., he’s some new black singer/rapper whose single ‘Nothin’ on you’ I really adore. 

The first time I heard it, I didn’t pay much attention to the lyrics. But then one day I realized what he was actually saying:

Beautiful girls all over the world, I could be chasing but my time would be wasting. They got nothin' on you baby, nothing on you baby.
They might say hi and I might say hey, but you shouldn't worry about what they say
‘cause they got nothin' on you.

I think, in a way, it’s kind of sweet, how he’s saying that even though there are all these beautiful girls in the world, they can’t compete with his girl, and so he won’t waste his time with them. A little idealistic, especially since guys have the most fickle minds in the world, but cute idea anyway.

Also, speaking of Paramore, their song ‘The Only Exception’ is phenomenal! I absolutely love rock bands that produce acoustic songs. The fact that they can go from screaming and yelling to actually singing in a normal tone always amazes me. It’s so rare that whenever it happens, I melt in wonder, and the song becomes my obsession for a few days.

This is Hayley Williams, the lead singer. I think she's breathtakingly gorgeous - the fact that she can have bright red hair, and not look like some fire engine gone wrong, is amazing in itself. I mean, how many people can carry off this look and still look elegant and not like some crazy punk??? She's kind of young too, I think she's 16 or something, and her voice is spectacular. Jealous.

Comfort foods

Food and I share a special bond.

 The type of food I consume has a direct impact on my happiness and satisfaction in life. It's awful, how I depend so much on food to keep me fulfilled, but I can't help it. I wish food and I had a different kind of relationship, maybe one where I eat to live instead of live to eat. 

I don't know why, but when I'm happy, I celebrate with food; when I'm down and out, I gorge on food to lift my spirits; when I'm angry or frustrated, I stuff my face with food to calm myself down; when I'm bored, I shove food down my throat just so my hands have something to do.

It's a problem, but hey - one life, live it, right?

Everyone has their own comfort foods that make them feel all warm and fuzzy inside, and that's what I love about food - it has the uncanny ability to spark off wonderful emotions in me. So... since food has such tremendous significance in my life, naturally I have a list of comfort foods I love and wish to share with the world (or, more likely, with all of the 5 people who actually read my blog).

My Top 10 Favorite Comfort Foods 

1. Chocolate chip cookies

Who doesn't love a freshly baked, warm, chewy, chocolate-chip-filled cookie?? Not me! You can never go wrong with a chocolate chip cookie for a mood boost. In fact, you can never go wrong with a chocolate chip cookie for any occasion.

2. Dark chocolate 

Anything chocolate makes me happy, especially dark chocolate, and especially during a certain time of the month. Dark chocolate with macadamia nuts, dark chocolate with hazelnuts, dark chocolate with caramel filling, dark chocolate with raisins, dark chocolate with praline filling, dark chocolate covered biscuits... you get the point.

3. Brownies

I mean it when I say that chocolate = the love of my life. 
Therefore, piping hot, moist, undercooked, chocolatey brownies = pure happiness.

4. Peanut butter

Peanuts, I abhor. Peanut butter, on the other hand, I adore. There's just something about its creamy, salty taste that makes my stomach smile. And it's especially good with bananas - for a semi-healthy dessert.

5. Boston cream pie

It's not the most popular dessert in the world - in fact, I'd never heard of it before I went to the States - but it's definitely one of the best. A layer of custard sandwiched between cake and frosted with chocolate? Yum. They served this on the dessert table in the cafeteria from time to time at Taylor, and every single time I savored it was better than the last.

6. Carrot cake

This is actually pretty healthy in comparison, and yet absolutely delectable. I've loved carrot cake ever since I was young, even without the cream cheese frosting, which is, quite literally, the icing on the cake.

7. Oreo cheesecake

Any kind of cheesecake is welcome to my stomach, but oreo cheesecake is one of the top contenders. Or chocolate cheesecake, because you can never go wrong with chocolate. Actually, any kind of cheesecake from The Cheesecake Factory is the absolute best, no questions asked. They should open branches of the restaurant around the world; I tried their chocolate caramel cheesecake for the first time in Hawaii, and it was perfect, just like everyone said it was.

8. Mint chocolate chip ice cream

I know everyone loves either chocolate or vanilla ice cream, but I love mint chocolate chip ice cream. Especially the mint chocolate chip ice cream blanketed in fudge and peanut butter and sprinkled generously with chocolate grahams from Ivanhoes in Upland, Indiana. It's one of the things I'll sure miss about that deserted place (besides my college friends).

9. Macaroni and cheese

Another food I learned to embrace during my time in the States. Granted, the school cafeteria usually served up mac 'n cheese that was a little more rubbery than it should be, but it still comforted my stomach. Nothing is better than a steaming hot plate of mac 'n cheese during a chilly winter day. Except maybe a bowl of chilli covered with sour cream and cheese. Yum.

10. Sweet potato fries

These bad boys are ridiculously amazing. Once you've tried them, you can never go back to regular fries. I love potatoes in general - mashed potatoes, baked potatoes, fries - but sweet potatoes, sliced up and fried, take the experience of eating fries to a whole new level. Top them up with some cinnamon, and you'll never look at fries the same way.

Just thinking and writing about all these finger-licking foods makes my mouth water. 

But it's almost 10pm. Resist the urge, resist!

Burn wounds

Burn wounds on my sad muffins, which are hard as rocks now. Even Jedi refuses to go near them. That says a lot, coming from the boy who once licked ice cream off the ground because he didn't want to waste one bit of it.

Burn wound on my arm - one of the various scars scattered around my hands and arms. It doesn't look like much, but it hurt like hell when my arm grazed the scorching lights glaring down on the pizzas. I had to 'ice' it for an hour with rotating cans of Solo (Australia's version of lemonade) so the numbness would overwhelm the pain.

Hopefully the scars go away, because Jedi showed me his battle wounds (they look like he just got them yesterday) and told me he got them months ago.

Stuck in a job you can't get out of

Today we worked from 10am to 9pm, and it was pretty hectic around breakfast time, lunch time, and dinner time. I liked being busy, but not so much the working-for-11-hours-straight part. That... was kind of long.

And as I looked around the food court, I realized I see the exact same faces every single day. The two asian females working at the Chinese stir fry store, the asian guy and girl manning the Japanese sushi place, the indian guys working at the Indian food store, the middle eastern-looking guy taking orders at his kebab place... Some workers are pretty young, probably around my age, give or take a few years. So I'm assuming they're working as much as they can during their school holidays to earn money to pay off school loans and stuff. That's fine, we've all done temporary jobs to get by and make ends meet for the time being.

But then I looked at the older workers, and I wondered how long they've been working there and how they got to this point in their lives. Granted, most of them are probably the store owners or something, but then there's also the cleaning ladies, who are such sweethearts, and other cashiers in huge department stores like Kmart or Woolworths. 

And so I thought, how did they end up working at this kind of dead-end job? I mean, I'm pretty sure no kid grows up thinking, hey, I want to be a cleaner one day, or maybe even a food court worker or a cashier.

I guess for most of them it's probably circumstances in their lives that led them here. Maybe they started working here right out of high school or college, and somehow never made it out to find other jobs. Maybe they settled into a pattern of familiarity and comfort after a while and just didn't feel like taking the risk to do something else. Or maybe they're here because the awful economy affected their previous company badly and they're desperate to do anything that can put food on the table for their families.

Whatever the case, I just felt rather bad for them. I'm sure they had dreams and aspirations once upon a time, and they probably held high hopes for their future... only to have it turn out like this. I wonder if they just gave up on their ambitions because it was the easy way out, or if they were pressured into it, or if they just forget about it gradually. Are they truly content with life as it is? If given the chance to turn back time and change things, I wonder if any of them would do things differently.

Life just happens, I guess. 
But it's kind of a scary thought, because no matter how much I appreciate them and respect them for finding pride and joy in their job, I really really really hope to God this doesn't happen to me. I think life is too short to settle for second best, or even fifth best.

Well, like a friend of mine once told me when I was in LA:

"Shit happens. That's the way life is. You just gotta deal with it and move on."

Movies, sequels, and... threequels?

Some movies should be left alone, because their sequels and those that follow after just do not live up to the original film's greatness. Case in point: Bring It On. The first movie was great in its time - funny, original, and interesting - but the follow-ups don't make the cut at all.

There's Bring it on - Again, Bring it on - All or nothing, Bring it on - In it to win it, Bring it on - Fight to the finish... It's like a never ending stream of mediocre wannabes, all featuring the same plot, just different actors. I'm not unashamed to admit that I own probably 3/4 of the above movies, but hey, they make pretty good background noise when working on class assignments.

I really don't know why Hayden Panettiere agreed to do the movie. Watching her dance and cheer was a bit awkward, but I guess that's why the film pretty much went straight to DVD.

There's also the Shrek movies, all four of them, which progressively get worse. I don't know why they didn't stop at magic number 3.

 

I remember being pleasantly entertained by the first one, with its unexpected hero, somewhat disappointed with the second one, with the annoying Prince Charming and the Fairy Godmother, completely umimpressed with the third one, so much so that I don't even remember what it was about... And the latest one totally lost my attention about 15 minutes into the movie.

More honorable mentions include Legally Blonde 2: Red, White, and Blonde (which just about killed the legacy of the first one). But I still love Reese Witherspoon. She's gorgeous and absolutely talented.

Despite these failures, great movie sequels do exist. Like the Toy Story trilogy, the amazing X-Men trilogy (which opened my eyes to the sensational world of X-Men comics), and Spiderman 1 & 2 (the third one is excluded because it was downright awful).

I also liked Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights, and I actually thought it was better than the first one. Maybe it was because I saw the second one first and the first one probably appealed more to the generation before me. Or maybe it was because the lead guy, Diego Luna, looks like this.

I mean, who wouldn't want to watch a movie starring him??

Anyway, all this was inspired by my viewing of Twilight: Eclipse today. I read all four Twilight books a while ago, so I didn't remember a thing about the third book, but I was super duper excited about the latest movie. It just brought back awesome memories of last year, when I saw the entire cast at the Twilight: New Moon premiere in LA. Good times.

The movie was actually pretty good. An improvement from the second one, which was an improvement from the first one. Plus I totally think Bella is stupid to go for the cold, soulless vampire when she has the hot (in every sense of the word) werewolf right in front of her. So I was glad to see Jacob finally getting some action, even though I know the ending isn't great for him.

*spoilers ahead*
The fourth book was a total disappointment, what with its weird half-vampy baby, Jacob's pedophile behavior, and the horribly anti-climactic Volturi retreat, but... I'm excited to see how this much-anticipated series will end on the big screen.

And on another movie-related note, since I have all this free time now, I recently watched:

• Hot Rod
  Another one of those idiotic comedies my brothers love. It was mildly entertaining, seeing this grown man acting like a kid, attempting all those stunts, failing miserably, and still thinking he's all that.

• When in Rome
  I thought the premise was kind of cute, but those stereotypical guys who chased after her were kind of predictable and boring. It could've been better.

• The Other Boleyn Girl
  This was, hands down, the MOST fascinating movie I've seen in a while. Sometimes I get distracted while watching a movie, and I go on facebook or chat with friends or do something on the side... But during this movie, I was completely captivated. It was just absolutely compelling. The storyline, the acting, everything was brilliant. Great story about ambition, greed, innocence, temptation... all set in ancient times. I was so caught up in the entire thing that I even googled the story after the movie ended, and I found out it was loosely based on a true story. What can I say, I'm a sucker for true stories.

• Leap Year
  Remember how I just said I usually get distracted while watching movies? Well, I was totally distracted when watching this. It wasn't very interesting at all. Very predictable and monotonous. I already forgot most of it, and I literally just watched it.

• Remember Me
  Okay, so, I'm not a huge fan of R.Pat, so I was a little reluctant to watch this. But I'd heard good things about it, so I decided to put aside my prejudice and take a chance. And although R.Pat was his usual Twilight self, all mysterious and brooding, the storyline was actually rather riveting. And the ending just blew me away. I literally had goosebumps on my skin.

• Kick Ass
  This was another one of my brother's favorite, i.e., stupid movie. Violent, horrific, and downright dumb. I don't know who produces these movies, really.