Monday

Random exchange last Friday, over a small half-hour-and-it’s-out retail event on-ground poster:
AE: “Which is your favourite line?”
Me: “The one the client approves! Yay!”

In contrast was the small but last minute announcement ad on Monday which was supposed to be simple but where we argued with a manager about the difference between chest-thumping and tongue-in-cheek, and my art director offered a fist-in-face. (She was kidding. She’s more likely to stab the manager with a pencil than risk breaking her nails.) (In the end, the manager realised he had misread the brief. Perfect.)

May the force be with them

Saturday night and it’s All Hallow’s Eve. There was a serious and terrible lightning storm happening. And I had a wedding dinner to attend. But it wasn’t a coincidence (I don’t konw about the storm, but not Halloween and my friend’s nuptials).

You see, my friend and his very understanding bride had a Star Wars wedding. Well, he did in any case. From the welcome reception to the first march in, he was all decked out in formal Jedi Knight complete with lightsaber on the leather belt.

To the anthem of The Throne Room from A New Hope (if I need to explain any of this, you should just skip to the next post, or go read some other blog) and the cheers of hundreds of friends, led by R2D2 and a battalion of stormtroopers, the happy couple marched in.

She was in her wedding dress. She did dress up a bit in the pre-wedding photos though. The shots were quirky, yet romantic. And very much “them”. If I saw the bride and groom in some faux Japanese costume (as some couples here do in their pre-wedding photos, I don’t understand why), it would be very much reason to call the authorities to alert them that the pod people may be among us. (We were a little surprised though, that he did the champagne tower thing, a wedding dinner tradition here. But that was the closest it got to “normal”.) In the second march in, when the bride had changed to her evening gown (ditto wedding dinner tradition), my friend opted for a normal suit, albeit with a fedora.

Anyway, that’s two weddings in a row where you can see the couple did the requisite traditional wedding dinner, but in a style that was very much who they were. Sincere and genuine, and most of all, joyous. It was an evening hanging out with friends that also happens to be one of the biggest evenings of their lives.

I’ve seen couples argue over what photos to select or what guests to invite or some other banal, petty thing. So much unhappiness over such tiny, no, microbic, things.

The other wedding which took place in July, was that of a colleague. Here’s a souvenir song that accompanied the from-childhood-to-school-to-when-they-met-and-their-courtship video (another wedding dinner tradition here and normally the job of the best friends).

Chairlift – Bruises

Another quirky crazy couple who enjoyed themselves as much as we did watching them on their big night. You feel happy. You’re happy for them. Because they are happy.

May the force be with them.

The Masked Writer

Between my mum and five people I work with coughing, sniffling and sneezing, it was only a matter of time before I caught the bug from someone.

Don’t worry, I know what to do. I’ve seen the informational pamphlet on the upcoming flu season and the pandemic Influenza A 2009 H1N1 Virus. In fact, I wrote it. Ironic.

News of the H1N1 vaccine is in the papers every day. But one should still remember to practise good personal hygiene and be socially responsible.

• Wash your hands with soap and water or use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer regularly to prevent the spread of germ.
• Cover your moth and nose with a tissue when you cough or sneeze.
• Stay at home if you are unwell.
• Avoid work, school, hospital visits and crowded places if you have flu-like symptoms.
• See the doctor early if you are feel you are coming down with a flu.

And, of course, wear a surgical mask to avoid spreading the disease back to the colleagues who passed it to you in the first place.

Dewashed… derinsed…

K is going diving. Jun is going to Seoul. WH is going to KL. And I am going to bed. Bah, how depressing.

Wednesday

It was a ridiculous week. Busy, most times in a good way, but just ridiculously busy. Work for the upcoming flu season is reaching fever pitch. One commercial is in post. Another was briefed in to the production house. Another campaign was launched. The Christmas retail projects are in full swing. And there are a couple of internal things I also had to work on.

On a lighter note, one of the retail shoots was doing a casting of male models. One of my art directors is on the project and mentioned it to the girls in the department, but I had totally forgot.

Until Wednesday mid-morning when I heard some commotion going on in the office, and peeped out…

Alas, I had no time for an eye candy break. I could hear the giggles all morning though, not least from my art director, who admitted she couldn’t stop giggling. This from a woman who was celebrating her seven-year-itch anniversary that very day. I think it helped whet her appetite for what she had planned that evening, because she was giggling all day too, as she ran her last minute errands in preparation for a big night.

“Wow, stomach flu diet. You’re amazing!”

Stomach flu on Tuesday. Gastric on Thursday. I think it’s gastric. It could have been an alien virus invading my intestines and wreaking havoc on my digestive system. Between hunching over and emitting strange low frequency noises, I have no idea what hit me.

In any case, I lost almost 1.5kg in less than two days. Wow, stomach flu diet, you’re amazing!

Not a good week

Opening the newspaper this morning was unreal and I don’t have to tell you why. Filipino friends have been making appeals on Facebook, Twitter, email and SMS. Then Vietnam (including the beautiful Hoi An), Laos and Cambodia. Then Samoa. Then Sumatra. Then some news of my friend’s family. It’s been a rough week for so many people. The news is flush with stories, but here are some links anyway.

Unicef Philippines
Red Cross Australia for Philippines and Vietnam
Mercy Relief
Breast Cancer Foundation

Happy Anniversary, me

It’s been a year since I started work here. 303 working days ago, if you count the number of hours on my timesheet.

Which is actually a conservative figure, to begin with.

A shot of fresh air to the head

Took my precious out on Friday.

She’s been seriously neglected. And I’ve been getting fat and lazy. And, sitting at my desk on Friday night with my brain so dried out and so stuck I couldn’t even write a decent promotional headlines for a supermarket poster, I decided since I wasn’t going anywhere I might as well go home and take my bike out.

So, just the two of us, we went roaming along the river canal running towards West Coast and got lost in our own little world.

It’s been a rainy few days, but it didn’t rain that afternoon so the ground was dry while the air was still thick and moist with the scent of the trees and greenery around. Now and then I’d hit a wall of some fragrant trees. Or a pocket of the perfume of flowers. Even if it was just the smell of wet grass, it was nice to be breathing something other than office air. It felt good just to feel the wind in my hair.

Anyway, my precious is making me pay for ignoring her and her list of demands are long.

Her front light is not working. My youngest brother took my precious out one night and I thought perhaps he forgot to turn the light off. But when I tried to change the batteries over the weekend but it didn’t work. I guess the bulb has blown. 

Her speedometer thingie is also dead. I have to go get new batteries. I hope it’s the batteries.

And the paint on her brakes are peeling.

(Okay, that’s my fault because they’re cheap brakes — as evidenced when I brought my precious home and my younger brother saw her and said: “Why did you get cheap brakes?” It was the only way I could her afford her considering that she was already above my budget by half, that’s why. And where were you when I was bike shopping and needed bike advice anyways?)

It’s cosmetic, but getting new brakes have been on my mind a while. Maybe I’m delaying the inevitable. Maybe I’m being indulgent here. I mean, as long as the bike can stop…

Then Saturday came along. Where Friday was cool, Saturday was the extreme opposite.

The Sun was out in full force when we were out in the river, and I think I got a little burnt. This even under layers of sunblock. Bah. But it was a good session though. Coach now makes us trains with a tire. (But we made him row the whole boat solo to congratulate him for being a father for a second time. Congrats. Heehee.)

On Sunday, it rained again. The weather here is prone to mood swings, it seems.

The alarm went off on Sunday morning and I could hear rain outside hitting the window pane. Sleep in? Go for class? Sleep in? Go for class… Peel self out of bed. I went for yoga class.

I needed the workout. The more irritated I got at work or at life, the more I needed to vent. And there were a few infuriating things that happened recently. (It’s small stuff, but one kinda pushed all the wrong buttons with me. So there.)

Also a good session. Class turnout was a little smaller, probably due to the rain. So the teacher had more attention to dispense on each of us. Like when she came up and sat on me and made me bend until my forehead touched my toes and both knees touched the floor. Ow.

The rest of the weekend was pretty slow.

Dinner with my mum and grandmother. Play with my sweet babboo. Nap with my sweet babboo. Attempt to do work. Nap in front of computer. Visit the Belgian fair at the museum. Ate a Belgian waffle (thereby negating all the cycling, dragon boating and yoga-ing) (It was a damn good waffle though). Backed up my files. Sorted out my picture files. Paid some bills. Did some filing.

Too soon, Monday came looming again. And with it, promotional headlines for a supermarket poster.

A rush of blood to the head

I love how Dave sometimes greets me when I go for training. It’s been a while since I saw him. At first I was busy. And then he was travelling. It’s not just a normal hug (even though he gives great hugs). He’ll hug and spin me around, then sweep me off my feet and spin me around some more. And then he’ll dip and all the blood would rush to my head. Last time in the office, he used to pick the girls up and dangle us upside down (I wonder if he does that with his partner, heehee). I like the blood rushing to the head; it’s therapeutic sometimes just to lie upside down on the sofa or do a headstand against the wall. Anyway, he would also attempt to throw me into the water. Which would be a bad idea because I’ll drag him in with me. And really, no one wants to touch the water at the jetty if we can help it. Still, it’s like a mini roller coaster thrill ride. And I like roller coaster thrill rides. Whee.