it’s been a crazy week so full of sinful food, favorite people, events, deadlines, titillating conversations, shock, joy and fun. where to start?

last friday was the last day of my internship. after all of this time — two weeks in london catching up on sleep, another one month doing too much stressful writing for other people, and another two months of a stretching internship — i have exactly two more weeks back home. summer’s finally beginning for me.

this internship taught me so much, both about two different industries and about myself. i’m so much more aware of things, needs, wants, necessities, and (corporate) culture — which i wasn’t expecting to learn very much about. my crisis is still not resolved though; i still don’t know what i want to major in or practice professionally. but i’m really going to miss my colleagues, who are all such wonderful people to work with:

this is BossGoat, whom i report to, who is both a great cook and a great teacher. sometimes he ignores me but that’s okay :( cos he’s a nice boss. the first time i met him i thought he was the most serious and unsmiling person i’d ever seen, but i’ve come to learn that he’s got very contagious laughter. his shirt says: “S&M — belt in your mouth, knot in your hand!”

a really funny picture of BossRabbit, who’s Eng Han’s boss and an all-around cool guy. be careful if you get placed in an internship under him, ok? he’s going to work you till you faint and get hospitalized :P that’s how Eng Han got his new nickname Ng Peng San hahaha

and this is Eng Han doing “between slides pushups” at work -_- cannot tahan him sometimes.

this is Yu Jeen sulking after he got laughed at by all of us for asking if Melaka is cold in the morning, and BossRabbit bluntly answered, “yeah sometimes it snows”. awwwwww

receiving a prize from Y.A.B Datuk Seri BossLion at our team barbeque :D

BossGoat’s very good chimichurri that can be eaten with almost anything

and BossRabbit’s legendary mash!

i actually wrote down a couple of things i wanted to blog about in this post along with the end of my internship, but i forgot where i put that list. it doesnt matter though. i’m really happy today, because i’m back in hong kong. first meal, curbside siew mai and har gao, and a gargantuan bowl of noodles and all kinds of meaty curios in a hearty MSG-laden broth:

mmmm. it’s so good to be back. :) yesterday i went back to the ferry. and hui lau shan. and yung kee. soho, hollywood road, lan kwai fong… all the places where i left shreds of myself. they have, unfortunately, been swept away by the edges of typhoons since the last time i was here.

m2day has the scoop on the mystery letter in Teoh Beng Hock’s case. names and modus operandi are revealed, and the letter is purportedly written by MACC staff.

http://mt.m2day.org/2008/content/view/25886/84/

if the contents of this letter are true, i’m feeling proud of Malaysians today for standing up for what’s right.

now, to investigate and take action — which of course, is always the biggest obstacle when it comes to the Malaysian stance on justice.

via email with my dad:

me: pa, i want an elmo backpack… see below pic:

dad: what is it? where to buy?

me: a toy store i think. i want it to put my schoolbooks into!

dad: so big girl already still want such a thing…

me: so you’re not going to get me an elmo backpack? :(

no reply thereon.

——-

via sms with my mom:

me: ma, i want an elmo backpack…

mom: what is it? how much is it?

me: 10 dollars

mom: pls buy a gift for your father. tq.

me: bought already -_-

mom: good and filial baby.

me: so can i have an elmo backpack??

no reply thereon.

——-

via email with S, my dad’s PA:

me: dear S, do you know where i can get an elmo backpack? can i have one? can i charge it to the company?

she forwards the email to my dad!!!

——-

via email with BossGoat:

me: dear boss, attached are the slides for the deck you wanted. i did nice nice already. is it nice enough to deserve an elmo backpack? see attached pic:

it’s been two hours; still no reply. wtf. oh hark! a reply!!

BossGoat: can you please attempt more slides as stated in previous email?

me: okay. building decks are fun.

me: are you just going to ignore my request for an elmo backpack?

BossGoat: what elmo pack???

SIGH. -_-

——-

and just for fun, i sent a stiffly formal email to chen chow:

me: dear mr. yeoh chen chow, for my services during the US Apps 2009 workshop, i would like to request for remuneration in terms of an Elmo Backpack. please do let me know if you think this is an appropriate compensation; an illustration of a prototype is attached below:

also no reply :(((

does no one want to buy me an elmo backpack? why everybody also tak layan me? :(

last weekend was my all-white weekend — i wore all-white outfits for three days in a row just cos i felt like it.

#1 Friday – white pleated skirt worn as dress – Reiss, London faux crocskin clutch – Jaspal, Bangkok matte silver heels – Enzo Angiolini

#2 Saturday – white tank top – MNG white high waist shorts – Agnes B white shirt with ribbon collar, tucked in – Zara white bag – Michael Kors silver zip-up heels – Pedro

#3 Sunday – white cotton bubble dress – Stradivarius, Barcelona leather half-caged shoes – Pedro leather + canvas satchel – Far East Plaza, Singapore bangles – gifts from friends

hahaha i know this shot is so unglam — i was getting sien of posing for pictures — but i thought it looked quite funny, so here it is anyway :P

white’s my favorite color to dress in and play with. most days i like to wear simple white tops and jazz them up with scarves or jewelry, and each time i go shopping for bags, i always gravitate towards the white ones even though they get dirty so easily. i don’t, however, have nearly enough pairs of white shoes — but despite my severe lack of white footwear, i’ve been chosen as one of the Darlie White Bloggers.

and so this post is about the White Date Contest that Darlie is organizing. it’s a girls-only game (sorry guys! no luxury bag for you!) that simulates the steps to getting ready for a date — such as choosing a dress, getting your hair done, and putting on make-up. this game is played entirely online, either on their website or on Facebook.

there are 7 tasks to be completed over a 14-day span, and every day a new task will be opened up to you. to win the competition and the All Shiny White Girl title, all 7 tasks must be completed. points are awarded for creativity, and bonus points can be won if the Special Tasks are completed.

great prizes are up for grabs – the All Shiny White Girl herself stands to win a white luxury bag that is worth up to RM 5,000. totally my kind of prize! the bag i would pick if i won:

the white quilted Chanel classic :)

other prizes up for grabs are:

white iPhones, white Sony VAIOs and white Sony MP3 Players

so what are these tasks that have to be compeleted? the one that has to be done everyday is virtually brushing your virtual teeth!

then you choose a lovely white dress befitting of your white date, and upload the photo onto their website. i am torn between:

1. a simple white tube dress from Shoshanna, with a felt bow belt

2. a wispy Jill Stuart empire dress

3. chic and neat ruched dress – another Jill Stuart but from an older collection

4. and how could i not pick a dress from my favorite designer? this is a gorgeous toga-inspired dress by Oscar de la Renta.

once you’re chosen a lovely white dress for your date and uploaded it to the White website, you have to complete tasks such as putting on a virtual facial mask and virtually painting your nails from the array on the website. i’m not much of a nail art fan, so i’d most likely choose the nude pink design called Excuse My French.

next, you do your hair! since this is all virtual, i’m going to make-believe and pretend that i have my long hair back, and have it in loose curls!

in 2006, when i was 18 and happy :) this was at a Halloween party, and i went as an angel. all white! here’s me with Yugi, my match made in heaven:

sigh my long hair!

the next task is to pick a pair of white shoes to complement the dress! normally i don’t think the color of the shoes should be that of the dress, but i think i can make an exception for a White Date :) i’d pick this white and matte silver pair from Ferragamo – it’d go with any of the four dresses that I chose above.

almost done :) i have a couple of steps that have yet to be opened up to me, but they look like make-up steps so that shouldn’t be too difficult. in real life, if i went on a White Date, this is probably what i would wear:

#4 White Date outfit – white dress with layered ruffles – Zara silver timepiece locket – Portobello Market, London off-white hard leather bag – Furla white slingbacks – Pedder Red

this is easily one of the easiest online contests out there. if you’re anything like me and the other White Bloggers who spend a lot of time looking at fashion online, then this is a shoo-in for you. so don’t wait too long to join! the White Date Contest ends on the 14th of September 2009.

i’m due for lasik eye surgery in 2 hours. i’m sooooooooo scared, and the worst part is that i will going through it alone with nobody’s hand to clutch fearfully on to :( i wanted to bring Lenny with me, but i was rushing out of the house this morning so i left him behind. i do, however, take comfort in the fact that the clinic provides some teddy bears to hold on to during surgery. so thoughtful!

by the way, of all the things to suddenly stumble across — i found out during my pre-op yesterday that one can’t use eye make-up for a whole month after getting lasik done. i swear that made me hesitate and reconsider asking for my deposit back. someone said on plurk that going without eyeliner for a month is like going naked, and that echoes my sentiments exactly. how ah like this? and why am i so vain?

having a third US college apps workshop this saturday. i’m very excited about it, as i always am when it comes to talking about US colleges. despite all my complaints about how jaded i’ve become after dealing with some very impossible kids even if for just two years, i feel so thrilled whenever i watch them learn and improve as i give them my comments and feedback. i love it most when after hours of thinking, i come up with an idea for a certain applicant’s ‘magic ingredient’, and i can discuss it with them and then proudly watch them create the entire product all on their own. it’s really been such a long time since i’ve found something that i love doing this much. this is what life is about, right?

but on the other hand, there are those aforementioned impossible kids. i blogged last week that i quite foolishly showed one of my essays in one of the workshops i spoke at, but what i didnt mention was that i also threw out as examples a couple of essay ideas that i both used and didnt use in my own applications. was i really surprised when we got back students’ essays for review and discovered that some of them ripped off my essay ideas? a couple of them practically took the entire template and inserted their own words in there. sadly, i was actually very taken aback. and confused. how can people be so insipid? so careless?

i had a long talk with some of my friends about such things. what can i do as a person who puts high-value information out there for practically free, and so willingly shares within minutes advice and tips that took each of us months and years to learn? am i spoiling the market? but more importantly am i also contributing to the spoiling of these kids? if i could, i wish to only speak to and teach the kids who are genuinely passionate about doing the right things — and are not just about doing the most things, or the most prestigious activities, or applying to Harvard just because it’s Harvard. but how does one filter out such people? and how does one decide who the right people are? as everyone likes to remind me — c’est la vie, and there’s nothing that i can do about it.

but ce n’est pas la vie. there’s plenty that i can do about it. :) and luckily, the US college system is very efficient at separating the wheat from the chaff, no matter how good the chaff at are bluffing.

to any of our workshop attendees who are reading this, and also read chen chow’s angry email — trust me, his email echoes a lot of the facilitators’ sentiments. and unluckily for you, we remember every single one of you who said things like, “i plan to break the scholarship bond after my studies; it’s just nice to have a scholarship award on my CV!” and “how many hours of community service do i have to do in order to get into an Ivy League school?” there was also a comment from someone about how we should get less ‘accomplished’ facilitators to run the workshop, because our achievements were making them feel threatened. but listen, nobody is ordinary. everybody spends a bulk of their time doing that one thing. it’s just that we learned over the years how to present it to our colleges as something that defines us and is potentially useful to the college and community.

i know lots of amazing writers who didnt get into the ivy league because they got so wrapped up in carving beautiful wordplay that they forgot to tell a story. i know people who filled out their CVs with a whole laundry list of competition awards, honors and achievements, but didnt make the cut because all of their activities were so self-centered. likewise, there are also people who do so much community service but didn’t get into any ivies. the point is that The Criteria that seems to be What The Schools Are Looking For is actually not as checklist-y as it seems.

so what’s the secret sauce? we dont have it. i dont claim to know it, but i think that i have a good eye for secret sauces that are customized to each person. there simply is no fixed formula, and our workshops appear to be so haphazard and contradictory (btw, big thanks to the person who misrepresented my recommendation letters to the counselor from Raffles — when supplied the context later he actually gave his approval. SO THERE.) only because all of us facilitators are so different, and we each got into our schools BECAUSE we’re so different.

i may sound like i’m really angry here — okay, i am — but i also know how elusive it is to feel like one is good enough to get into the best schools in the world. i dont think anyone ever feels like they’re good enough. i remember how each time i got harsh critique on my essays, i always felt like giving up on this whole Ivy League thing. i mean, writing the perfect essay is just -so hard-, and here are these people telling me that the best work i can come up with is shit. who needs the ivy league anyway? so i’m wincing as i look at some of the very blunt reviews that we wrote on the applicants’ essays, but i’m telling you guys: as i much as i empathize over how discouraging it is to read comments on an essay you worked so hard to pour your souls into, this critique really will do wonders for your application. trust us. we’re honest because we have to be. we dont always have the time to mince words with you, but the point is that we shouldnt have to. and you must always remember not to feel discouraged no matter how intimidating everything seems.

okay rant over, though i still want to murder the handful of people who plagiarized my essays. ya, sorry, i dont like any of you now, so dont talk to me on saturday.

sigh okay. surgery time.