Food, glorious food!

Was checking through my Bravenet's counter when I came across an unfamiliar link. The writer, Crystal wrote about how irritated she gets when someone comments on how fattening the food she takes is.

I couldn't help but agree with her. I like what I eat and I eat what I like, my philosophy in life is that simple.

There's absolutely nothing wrong with eating healthy, in fact I highly recommend it especially when you need to detox your body and when it starts feeling sluggish. But just as well, I love my fast food and junk foods once a while. I NEVER say no to both coffee and chocolates.

Just like everything I want my life to be, in moderation. I believe in moderation.

But there are times when people complain about how fattening the food I eat is and then complain about how skinny I am and that I should eat more. It ends up leaving me annoyed, irritated and confused.

And just to annoy them back, I would always say, " I rather die young eating everything and anything I want rather then to live till 100 years old eating nothing but leaves."
That shuts them up, muahahahha!

Can't I just eat what I want? But do keep in mind that I said it just to get them to shut up and that I'm not trying to contradict myself when I said it was good to eat healthy. I believe that we should eat everything we want in moderation and exercise and once a while, detox! Just like how our cars sometimes needs a oil change.

Anyway, I remember a time when I was 15, I discovered lumps on my chest. A LOT of it and I couldn't remove them cause I was too young and there was too many. We checked to see if the lumps were cancerous or not and I guess, my parents were worried about the results. A "friend" of theirs, people call him "Doctor", I call him a Quack ...

quack (DISHONEST PERSON)
noun [C]
1 DISAPPROVING a person who dishonestly pretends to have medical skills or knowledge

2 UK INFORMAL OFTEN DISAPPROVING a doctor:

- Cambridge Dictionary

started scaring my parents that the lumps were 100% guaranteed to be cancerous and that they should take action now! I forgotten what they had wanted me to do besides buying their book. So okay, my parents bought the book and in it was a list of things that I should NOT eat;

• Red meat
• white meat
• milk
• coffee
• salt
• sugar
• oil
• bread
• white rice
• fizzy drinks... etc. [I forgot but the list was longer than this]
  

In other words, I wasn't allowed to eat anything except unpolished brown rice, steamed tofu, and vegetables and probably steamed fish. Imagine everything tasteless. Try eating everything withOUT oil, sugar or salt for one day. Seriously! See how it feels like.

And one day, (unknown to me, my parents has decided to started me on my new diet) I came home starving only to get served...

Steamed tofu, steamed broccoli and brown unpolished rice

One look at it, one mouthful of the rice, I burst out crying and told my mom to let me die.

I would rather die than to live my entire life eating that! In the end, my mom pitied me and cooked something else, so my new diet ended in one meal. Yay!

So after that. my life is all about eating what makes me happy, in moderation of course :D


The results came out and it wasn't cancerous btw. Lets hope it stays that way.

Silkroad craze - Again?!

First off, a biggie thank you to Elyn for the lovely chat on Tuesday and a certain someone whom gave me a call today to help me out in the office :D

Unable to find good shots of me and E, so here I am, all alone in Donwhang with my squirrel between my legs, an old pic from lvl 30+

Me and E started playing SilkRoadOnline again after a long hiatus. The game brought back a lot of memories for me, both happy and sad ones. I quited SRO because I have had enough. Enough of how SRO have become a little too money faced.

Real skills wasn't all as important as how much you can spend on the game. Everything was all about money. It became a point where only the rich could be the strongest in the game. It was no longer about hard work in leveling and luck in alchemy/fusing. You pay for things that you should have gotten for free like the privilege to log in to the game easy. It usually takes us 'normal' people about an hour or so trying to log into the game. Imagine that!

As you can guess, I'm an archer

Through out my time in the game, I made as well as lost friends, I didn't mind the losing them part as I lost them due to egoism and sexism (not mine I'm happy to say) but in the end, I'm a just as well happy to lose them as I learn more and more about them.

Things like what they thought was right and wrong were a little odd to me and I didn't like the fact that I wasn't allowed to open my mouth and say something because I was female. Whispering into my boyfriend's ears and then letting him say it would of course be more appropriate. Knowing me, that's not how it works, I'm not [insert name]'s girlfriend. I am Ashley Tan. I have a name and I am me and I stand up for me. And at least I don't say one thing and does another. I don't make promises I don't intend to keep. I respect both male and female regardless of age if there is something in them for me to respect.

It was also in SilkRoadOnline that I met Ian. I thought he was different and thankfully for some part, he is. But ultimately, birds of a feather flock together. Rumours has it that he went around telling people that we broke up cause we were arguing all the time. *sigh* If it were, at least the break up would have been less painful as I would have been prepared for it.

But enough sad stories, now that Elisa has taken over [TYRANT] from Ian, hopefully we'll have a revival of the guild. I mean seriously, all we have to do is post up E's pic online and I'm super sure we'll have plenty of new members. XD MUAHAHAHAHA!

[TYRANT] wasn't really ours to begin with, it was set up by the above mentioned idiots people. But after the misunderstanding, they left. We stayed on. For some strange reasons despite everything that happened, we loved the guild and the damn 'yeng' name. And since none of original 7 who started the guild stayed, E took over ownership. [TYRANT] is officially ours! Wheeee!!

"All hail Queen E, the new ruler of [TYRANT]"

Went to QueensBay Mall today with Celeste & Tats, Girly & Hockster. Damn was a double lamp post. Lamp post here, lamp post there... also. It was a pity that I wasn't at home during the earth hour, so I called Dad to remind him to switch off as many lights as possible, hope he did. I'm suprised though that some places like Nandos, Sushi King and a few other retail shops in QB lowered and dimmed the lights on that hour. I'm impressed!

Heard this song and for some reason, two people came into mind... Still water runs deep, I didn't know how deep then but I'm getting some pretty rough ideas now.

Im tired of telling the story
Tired of telling it your way
Yeh I know what I saw
I know that I found the floor

Before you take my heart, reconsider
Before you take my heart, reconsider
Ive opened the door
Ive opened the door

Here comes the summers son
He burns my skin
I ache again
Im over you

Before you take my heart, reconsider
Before you take my heart, reconsider
Ive opened the door
Ive opened the door

Here comes the winters rain
To cleanse my skin
I wake again
Im over you

-Texas, Texas Sun

MAC Hello Kitty, MJ, Etude House in Pg, Ash the Confession Idiot

If there is one thing that I do love about E, is how well she knows me. I'm not too sure if I'm actually that easily readable or she really is gifted. All I had to do was, " E, can I call you later to do a senseless rant?"

And E will do the follow up call. It's really that easy. Of course when the times does come, I'm usually too embarrassed to tell her anything. Sure we grew up together and all but my taste in guys hasn't been the best either. I'm easily attracted I admit, it's usually the little things that he does that catches my eyes or the way a guy laughs or how he smells. And it's usually E who snaps me out of the moment of fancy and back to reality. It's usually harsh for a good reason but that doesn't mean it's always easy to swallow.

E : So what was it about?
A : *pretends to derail conversation due to embarrassment*
Hey do you know that Ian refuses to answer my call or even call me back? That idiot.

A few minutes of derailment

E : What was it that you want to rant about?
A : Uhhh.. what we just said earlier?

Seconds of silence

E : is it regarding a guy?
A : ... yea. I got a crush on someone
E : Is it xxx ?
A : YEAA, how do you know?
E : I could sense it, remember what I said when you got the muffins...

And so forth, it's so odd. The other part is that I never really know how to open my usually big mouth and tell the person. I do remember that sometimes crushes remains crushes and nothing more. But still, sometimes it's still fun to have them.

Bought everything I needed the last trip to SP so...

3 days after Etude House opened in Pg, me and E went to take a look, there wasn't as many people as I would have expected but still finally EH is finally here! We saw the diary and badly wanted it and since we had to spend RM30 to be able to buy the diary for RM9.90 we walked and browse around for a good hour before deciding.

I didn't match the colours too well and the gold was a little 'too' gold

I ended up getting the Mini French nail polish in gold, 2 eye shadows as a gift for a friend, a teal green eyeliner that I saw and fell in love with. I was going mad wondering what the hell else to buy! E got a lot more and in the end, we left with 3 diaries and a free bag that generous E gave me.

Left to right: EH Teal eyeliner, MAC Hello Kitty's Big Bow

A few weeks back, as every MAC lover would remember, MAC Hello Kitty launched and sent everyone into a frenzy. I went there on the day it was launched after work and by then believe it or not, the Hello Kitty brush holder set was already SOLD OUT!

I browse around and there was so many people around that I didn't have all too much time and space in browsing. In the end I could only pick out a lipstick, Big Bow and a blusher Fun & Games. It was only after I paid that I noticed people carrying this HK polyester bag. It turned out that we needed to spend over RM300 to get one free! I wish someone told me earlier then I would have waited to see if E wanted anything and get it at one shot. Too late.

A special gift that was inside the HK bag that Elyn gave us! Awwwww, much love Elyn

We met up with Elyn a few days later as I wanted to get the Tahitian Sand beauty powder but lo and behold, everything except the palettes and nail colour was left! There goes the beauty powder! Knowing how much I wanted the polyester bag, Elyn gave us ( me, E and Kern) hers! Imagine that! My jaw dropped to the floor when she passed us the bags! Yay!

My happy stash

On friday, during lunch time, we headed over to Perangin Mall to have McD and while passing Watsons, I saw... Majolica Majora Pressed Pore Cover. It was somewhat of a special promotion at RM59.90 and I got it. I was seriously pondering if I even needed this as I already have an extra ZA powder stashed somewhere along with my endless Anna Sui loose powder and also the Face Shop face powder than E gave me some time ago.

In the end, I don't regret getting it. I really like it! The compact is a little hard to open and it only comes in one colour but other than that, it's really nice to use. It covers the pores nicely. The compact is also so pretty to look at, whee! Added bonus.

Earth Hour

I'm pretty sure most of you would have heard about Earth Hour since it's been going on the air and also on the newspaper and emails. But if you're still wondering what *toot* is Earth Hour, it's about raising awareness on global warming/climate change.

Example:
In my little naive theory, it's very simple, think of it this way. Polar ice caps in the Arctic/ Antarctica melts because it's too bloody hot, water level rise up thanks to melted ice, giving a few more years, Penang will sink. MUAHAHAHAHA!

Okay, it's actually no laughing matter but in a gist, the above theory pretty much sums up everything about what's going to happen to those living on islands. And probably Kuala Lumpur since they don't exactly have the best of drainage system.

So how is it that you can participate?
Easy Peasy, just turn off all your electrical appliances in your house for just an hour (8.30pm - 9.30pm )on the 28th March 2009 (Saturday)

I'm pretty much going to be joining this global movement but in my little own way. I doubt my mom will be all too happy if I switch off the fridge so I'll start by turning everything in my room off, then the kitchen, minus the fridge, the dining hall and as much parts of the house as I can. I really doubt that food in the fridge will spoil within an hour but the I rather be on me ma's good side.

Of course, if I actually stayed in my own place, it's much easier to just switch off the main switch and order pizza and have my own little candle lit dinner by the balcony, admiring the moon.

Talk to the family, it's also a time to catch up and just talk as well as listen to our loved ones . Ask the kids how is school, ask your girlfriend/wife about her latest purchase and talk about work, hobbies or whatever. Not only will you be participating and helping mother earth but also bonding with the family.

I believe that, everyone should participate if we can. We don't really have to switch off everything (although it would be best!) but we should at least do everything we can to participate in this in help no matter how little or small the contribution cause it counts more than you think!

Think about it, Mother Earth has provided as much as she could for us, it's just a little something we can do in return. Either than or given a few more years, you'll be sending your kids to school in a 'sampan'. If you're rich, then a motor boat then. And the climate would have gone so whacked that it'll either be raining cats and dogs or it'll be as hot as Atacama desert.

But whatever it may be, I do hope that you'll be participating in this with me.

IJM Launching + Re-Ment

A big big Happy Birthday to both Paddios and Chiat (12/3), the dinner was great, thanks! We enjoyed the food and the company.

Went to IJM on Saturday for The Summer Place launching after months and months of being M.I.A, as usual, by the time we got there at about 9 plus, there was already a looong line of people in queue to get into the IJM showroom. I forgot to bring the camera but luckily Kern did so most picture we took are with her. We weren't able to get in as we weren't the panel bankers so we queued up on behalf of Kern's friend Lawrence who wanted to buy a unit.

IJM The Summer Place

It was a bloody hot day and some bankers from our rivals banks was there. Damn that E*** for looking at us smugly and telling us how we weren't able to do the loans anyway. ARGH! I wasn't too sure if I wanted to strangle him or our bank for not getting the EF for the project. But in the end, I just wanted to kick myself. *sigh*

The pic is blurry cause I took it from the broucher with my camera. If anyone's interest, they can either mail me or give Jacky/ Yew San a call for the price list

I must admit that one look at the broucher and I was hooked, it was beautiful! Even I was left drooling at the pictures and thinking on taking a loan to buy it up. I didn't expect it to look that good, I must admit. The best I can do now is to work my ass off and earn enough for IJM's next project, The Autumn or Winter something in the future. Not confirmed but hey, if the first 2 projects are called, Spring and Summer, the next has to be called Autumn and Winter, right?

A big thank you to Florence, a lady I met while queing up and Su Lin for the price list.

We left about 11am plus and even then the line where we were standing weren't even close to the door yet. So Kern and I went off to Tesco to do some grocery shopping before meeting E for lunch in Midlands.

It turned out to be an expensive lunch as I spotted and bought;

Re-ment Pink (something or another) and the 50's Cafe

The Re-ment's Pink set was ordered online by Elisa for me as I was unable to get it at our usual spot. Thankie E dearie. The 50's Cafe was an impulse buy. I've always liked it but it never occured for me to buy till that day. I'm not sure if I'll live to regret it but oh well...

Ta-daaaaaaaaa

Current State of Affairs

MAC vs Smashbox vs Monistat

Sorry that I even took this long to update, I'm already on my 1 FULL week of sorethroat, along with running nose and cough. Very bad cough. But it's not only me who's getting sick, lots of people I know fell sick for over a week too so I'm guessing there's some virus flying around happily.

Moving on.

I've always liked foundations, and because I like foundations, I need something to make the foundation last all day. When I was way younger and still experimenting with make up, I've never really came across any mentions of make up primer from mom or make up artist even. So I've never thought a primer would make much difference, how wrong I was.

A face/ eye primer not only helps the foundation/powder/ eye shadow to stick, it also somewhat making the eye colour 'pop'. A primer also helps fill in those pores that seems to get bigger and bigger with age, fine lines that's on the border line of being there and not and makes our skin smooth and the perfect canvas to start painting and last all day looooong.

Thinking back, eye primers are now a super must for me especially since I put on eye shadow everyday unlike E or Kern who looks great with just eyeliner.

A few weeks back, Elyn from Makeupholics.blogspot.com, being her usual generous self, gave us Monistat Chaffing Gel and Smashbox Photo Finish Foundation Primer samples to try out.

If you're wondering what does a yeast infection gel has anything to do with a face primer, lets check out the main ingredients;

Monistat Chafing Gel

Cyclopentasiloxane, Dimethicone, Dimethicone Crosspolymer, Trisiloxane, Dimethicone/Vinyldimethicone Crosspolymer, Silica

Smashbox Photofinish Primer

Cyclomethicone, Dimethicone Crosspolymer, Isopropylparaben, Retinyl Palmitate, Tocopheryl Acetate, Ascorbic Acid, Carthamus Tinctorium (Safflower) Seed Oil, Vitis Vinifera (Grape) Seed Extract, Cola Acuminata Seed Extract, Propylene Glycol, Camellia Oleifera Leaf Extract, Isobutylparaben, Butylparaberen, Water

-Taken from The Beauty Brains

MAC Prep & Prime SPF50

Active ingredients:
Zinc Oxide 16.10%, Octinoxate 7.50%

Water, cyclopentasloxane, butylene glycol, peg-7 dimehicone, cyclohexasiloxane, dimethecone, phenyl trimethicone, vinyl dimethicone/methcone, silsequioxane crosspolymer, methyl gluceth-10, glycerin, dimethicone/ vinyl dimethicone crosspolymer, caffeine, tocepherol, sucrose, stearyl glycrrhetinate, cellulose acteate, glycyrrhetinate, cellulose acetate, methicone, PEG/PPG-19/19 Dimethicone, magnesium sulfate, silicia dimethyl silylate, silica, sorbic acid, phenoxyethanol, chlorphenesin

-Diskordia, Spektra.net

So by reading the ingredients, it's somewhat the same, all three of them items contains silica. Don't quote me n this. Silica is most commonly found in sand or quartz and has light-diffusing properties which is how it makes the skin look somewhat flawless.


My 2 cents/reviews on these products, a little note to remember, we all have different skin type, some like this, some like that, some cries while cutting onions, I don't...

MAC Prep & Prime SPF50.
If I could strangle the thing, I would have. I bought it well over a year ago and I still hate it. I hate the fact that by mid-day, I look like I fell face first into a tube of oil. You could probably fry an egg on my face and I could practically 'reflect' sunlight back to the sun with the super shine.

It cost me about RM150 for a tube and it's really just not worth the money. This has gone down as one of my 'Regretted Buys'. The MAC Prep & Prime works better than this one and it only cost RM90.

Would I buy it again?
I hope it burns in hell

Smashbox Photo Finish Foundation Primer
I heard that some people broke out after using it but I'm having no problems with it despite my super sensitive skin. So far, I'm totally loving it. It smooths out the pores but best of all, it makes my make up last all day into night long. It's non sticky and non greasy.


Monistat Chaffing Gel
Well, like everyone did mentioned, Monistat is indeed comparable to SmashBox Photo Finish. The texture is almost the same as well. Some minor differences is that it doesn't have the dewy glow that SBPF gives and also it doesn't make my make up last as long as SBPF. I don't work 9-5 job although it's stated in my contract, I work roughly 8 - 13 hours a day depending on days. Not to mention I'm sometimes under the sun and then in the extremely cold office and I'm out again and so forth so I really needed a primer that can help my make up stay put atleast till I can go home.

I'm liking SBPF much better in the end but comparing both Monistat and SBPF's price, Monistat is definitely more afforable.

Much thanks and love to Elyn for the samples!!

Edit (15/3): It might just be me but I think I broke out after using Monistat. >.>;;
After using Prep and Prime SPF50 yet again after a long hiatus, I found that it's pretty okay for my skin now. It's no longer all that oily and it does make my make up stay but it's still remains the fact that I would NOT buy it again.

Sick... Again?!?

*Gnaws on her pillows*

I'm not really someone who falls sick often but lately, it's getting more frequent. And each time I do fall sick, I'm sure to get it 'damn teruk' or really bad.

I woke up with a mild sore throat on Tuesday and thought nothing of it as I got dressed for work, by 2 plus in the afternoon, I was so sick that I went back home to rest (Yes I did!!) as I had to be back in the office by 6pm as our team was having dinner with some lawyers in QE2. By 5pm plus, I was down with sore throat, fever, headache and slight cough.

If there's one thing I really dislike about fevers is the body ache that comes along with it. I was so weak, I could hardly walk, I called the clinic and the doctor wasn't in and since I didn't wanted Wong to think that I'm making up excuses to miss the dinner and that I lack team spirit or whatever, despite the heavy downpour, I went back to the office.

I nearly died, my butt was screaming from the body ache, I was seeing stars, dehydrated and dizzy and still I sat there till dinner time.

During dinner, I was getting more and more fidgety and restless. I wanted to cry of pain of frustration of everything but I kept a goofy smile on my face while my body was screaming . Ate little and called my dad at 8pm to fetch me to the doctor's. Thank God I did.

I doubt I would have lasted the night if I went to the doctor's the next morning. The night itself was hell, I tossed and turned enough times to set a world record. I was both hot and cold, sweating madly, drifting in and out of sleep, having nightmares, dehydrated still and aching like nobody's business. My fingers felt like sausages, my body felt black and blue and as if there was clamps on my head.

I woke up about 4 times through the night mostly because I was thirsty and then needing the toilet. I kept having nightmares of having to search for something. I dreamt that I was in a room very much like being in the Dream Day. I was on a quest to find hundred of items on a list and I was going crazy.

ARGH, what a nasty dream. It kept my brains functioning through the entire night and by the first crack of dawn, I was exhausted, sticky and going nuts.

Had to answer so many phone calls today despite having no voice and the headache still lingering about like a bad hang over, I'm about to go out and kill someone.

Dream Day First Home, taken from some download website

Hope everyone else is feeling better! Take care!