it really disturbs me how so many people i know have body image issues.

and before anyone says anything, let it be known that i am overweight. and while i am not completely happy with the way i look (no one actually is), i can say that i don’t immediately think “fat” every time i look in the mirror. but the thing that worries me is that a lot of people do. and they are skinny. and by skinny, i do mean skinny, a size 2 or at most a size 4 kind of skinny. and i just want to smack some sense into them.

which is mean, especially if they have a real eating disorder.

i had such an exhilarating day at work. i did part of an issue compilation, i sent out instructions to typesetters, i checked and made issue revises. i extended a meeting invite to a JPM in Copenhagen, so we can chat next week. i got my last journal, and organised my desk, and task list. a pretty good day at the office.

by all accounts, actually only mine, i’ve had a good weekend.

i caught up with good friends over dinner on friday night, i spent saturday at a spin class – a first for me, and drinking a boost juice and saturday night playing with tibbar and banra. this morning was spent doing yoga, and then followed by lunch and a movie with some more good friends. so it was a weekend well spent and i am happy. and there’s work tomorrow

i just wanted to say i am grateful for having the friends that i have.

i have awesome friends!

i woke up this morning, and after checking my email, and facebook, i clicked on the careers@gov mini-window on my chrome browser as i am wont to do most days. and as i was browsing the jobs that were available, i realised i didn’t have to do that, i no longer have to look at the blasted website!!!

because i have a job!!

and i’m happy about it.

 

yes, i have some transcribing work that is due tomorrow to finish, but here i am, writing in my oft-neglected blog about the inconsequential things that make up my life.

i’ve taken to watching mad men again, and i have to say that the fourth season is very, very good. there is so much subtlety in the show quite unlike what you would find, on say grey’s anatomy where EVERYTHING is spelt out for you. sometimes, i like the smack-you-in-the-face emotions in the show, but it gets tired. and don’t get me started on the musical episode. i like mad men because everything is more subtle. they don’t articulate all the thoughts they’re having. it’s an era thing, of course. and it may seem that i’m bashing grey’s a little too much here, but i’m actually a fan of the show. that’s why i still watch it after 7 seasons. the point is though mad men makes for very good television, and it is nice to watch something that is so well-made and well thought-out, and nothing is an after-thought.

if only i get paid to write about tv, and not have to transcribe videos of shouty people to feed myself and pay off my loans. yes, still jobless but mood is more hopeful.

anyway, despite the fact that i don’t have a job yet, and my money is running out, life has been quite peachy on the whole. i went to bali in february, and i went to tokyo earlier this month. that’s seriously more travel in the first half of the year than i did in say 2010. i just went to malacca, and it was my fifth time there or something. tokyo was amazing and i wish i had more money that i could have spent on the trip. next time i go, i will have a shoe and sushi budget. the sushi at tsukiji was so good! more when i finally go collect my pictures. i went old school and shot my entire trip with a pentax camera. hope my pictures turn out okay!

i’ve never been more happy for the state of singapore satire. the many many many videos, photoshopped photos, and the craze over Yam Ah Mee show that singaporeans have a unique brand of humour, and that they do enjoy political satire, or at the very least, parody.

the past two weeks or so have been exceptionally exciting, for me at least. getting to be part of the democratic process for the first time is really really cool. these elections have been pretty awesome because not only for the first time since independence, most of the seats in parliament were being contested, i also got to vote and managed to attend my first political rally. it is encouraging when you attend rallies and realise the number of singaporeans who care for the political future of this country and prove that singaporeans, given the chance, are not apathetic, or stupid, as some like to think of us. granted, there could be more maturity of thought in the opinions that are out across, but the ability to express discontent, is a start, especially for a people who most of the time, couldn’t care less. it was heartening to see the number of people who turned up in support of those proposing an alternative, especially that first night in hougang. sure some turn up just to heckle, and have a good time, but the fact that singaporeans are willing to give up creature comforts like aircon, is indicative of people who care. and people at rallies were so nice and polite. when you bumped into them, they said it was okay instead of the aunties who tsk at you at other places. and they respected your personal space.

i don’t really want to comment on the results because it’s been done to death but i think that these elections have been an eye-opener for me.

the scrubs end theme has been playing in my head all day because i watched the ep where J.D. hums it to Dr. Cox. anyway, the thing is scrubs resonates more with me than most of the other tv shows that i watch. while my sister is into and is very affected by the melodrama that is grey’s anatomy, i find more things to cry about in scrubs and scoff at the attempts made by shonda. honestly, i think i could possibly write the dialogue for grey’s. at a pivotal moment in the show, where the patient/doctor is encountering a “moment”, just make sure that you repeat lines. for emphasis. you repeat the lines for emphasis. i could cite various examples from the show, but i’m too lazy/tired to sift through the show at the moment. i think i would write an example in another post. just for funsies.

see, that’s a word i learnt from scrubs. so now in J.D.’s narrative voice, my lesson of the day:

sometimes, it’s important to remember to self-motivate, to remind yourself why you’re there in the first place. and take yourself more seriously, even just for awhile.

i am moving on with my life. i’m not going to sit around waiting for that email.

yes, i do not have to report to a physical office everyday. and yes, i can work from home. yes, i only get paid 30 days after i submit my invoice at the end of the project. yes, i have the liberty to take breaks and lunches whenever i want. but that does not discount the reality of my current employment.

why is freelancing hard?

because people don’t believe that you have actual work, especially when it’s research, and editing. you don’t have physical evidence that you have work because all your notes are on your computer, and most of the time, you’re clicking through the browse list on the nlb catalogue, or the a2o search or newspaper.sg. so it does look like you’re just surfing when you’re working.

and people don’t respect your working hours at all. sure, the work is not all saving the world, or life and death situations, but there is work. and it needs to get done.

haha, and i prove once again that i only feel i have valid thoughts when there is work to be done.