Narcissism at its finest

This is the man and this is his neck piece. As Trey Kerby so aptly describes it, "Forged in the fires of Mordor from 1,300 grams (or 2.9 pounds) of 14-karat gold." And yes, it is smothered in diamonds. I think the chains as dreads element is genius. Good job, Marquis Daniels.

(Second) Atlantic Snow Dump

Yes, yes. It's been a month. I'm having the busiest semester ever, which is more overwhelming than I had originally expected. I bravely signed up for that one course with that one professor whom is famous for throwing you everything and the kitchen sink. About 15% of the original enrollment has already dropped out, so I can say that I am making sure I'll pass the course. This is one of those situations where only the strong will survive.

Hence, today is the only day I got a breather because they closed the school down since it has been snowing for about 48 hours and the snow pile up is actually barely noticeable. The last time they closed this place down, we had three times more snow. I guess I can say that the current administration is just like Washington now -- a bunch of wussies -- Barack always jibes them about their inability to handle the snow. His Chicago and our Detroit did make it to the top 25 worse winter weather cities, unlike D.C.

So please enjoy the view from my balcony, while I try to be productive today. There's impending doom on the exam coming up this weekend.

Happy Valentine's Day, ya'll!

NARS Kuala Lumpur Duo Eyeshadow

I don't wear a lot of makeup but I am a huge fan of Nars. They make the best lipstick and last summer I discovered some of their amazing eyeshadows.

This lovely duo debuts January 15, 2010 for the Spring 2010 collection. I'm choosing to highlight this to pay homage to my native city. The colour combo here is excellent -- gold infused taupe rose and purple -- very suitable for golden skins and dark-eyed beauties. I can already tell I'll like this a lot more after I try it in-store.

Retails for $32 at Nars and Sephora.

Not Mean To Be

There it was. Last one on the rack. Size XS. At my local Target store. The ribcage dress. For the uninitiated: Rodarte for Target ribcage print sequined black dress.

That was probably the only good thing that has come out of years of Target's collaborations with major designers. Most of these projects I would deem major failures -- decent design, pathetic materialisation / fabrication, and inconsistent sizing. Yes, I'm talking to you Anna Sui and your dubious Gossip Girl collection. And you too, Carlos Falchi -- those bags were ugly.

But I said "was". I guess I was so caught up with keeping in my recession guidelines that I did not grab this when it came out before Christmas. When I saw it today, I knew I had to have it. It looked even better than its already spectacular self in the promotional ads that floated around in Fall 2009.

Well I could zip the dress up but it was way too snug to step out in public. Major regrets. Now I have it on my mind all the time. Original retail $49.99. It is available on eBay for an average of $79.99.

le sigh

Moral of the story: you know what is the moral of the story.

Ho ho ho !

Yes, this is a belated greeting. I've been away at Mr. O's and we didn't do much except eat, watch lots of movies, and sleep. It's always refreshing to skip checking e-mail for a few days.

Of course, Christmas was wonderful and quiet. The planet revolved around our laziness because we didn't hear about that terrorist attack until the day after, on the 26th! And then we couldn't stop talking about it, since it was pretty much in our neighbourhood. One of the things I enjoy about living here is being within 20 miles of the airport. Now I'm just a little apprehensive to get on a plane, any plane! The F***er almost blew up our airport; and it's an awesome airport, thank you very much.

No thanks to this, in the words of Brian Williams on today's Barack broadcast, "incompetent terrorist" I have to worry about a terrorist attack all the time now, including the flight to and from Schipol, which I have travelled often.
Mr. O and his cousins had particularly strong words about this incident since it so closely relates to their family and friends. It only takes one guy to screw it up for everyone else.

Moving on to better things, guess what Mr. O bought me for Christmas.

The semester is done!

I'm so pleased to announce that I have completed my first semester of the MBA programme. It has been an extremely productive and successful semester, thanks in large part to the fact that I have had two excellent professors. I am merely making the mistake of attending courses with the two best professors in the College of Business a little too early, as the road ahead is thoroughly paved with instruction by some of the type of characters we give "First Class Asshole" awards to.

That's right, I said it! Some of these PhDs have reputations that precede them, and I'm not talking about fragrant rose bushes.

In the mean time, check out that awesome, mounted certificate I received at the end of class today. I don't even have my Bachelor's degree framed; perhaps rightly so, especially since I have learned more in this one course, instructed by the wisest man of the moment, than I have in my entire undergraduate programme.

Graduate school is wonderful. Thank you.

Mac Factor Shuts Down

The rumours had swirled for almost a year now. Max Factor will no longer be sold in the U.S. after the current stock is sold out. Please consider this the worst decision Procter & Gamble Beauty Care has made in the last decade. My, and most Max Factor users', biggest gripe is the impossible replacement of the Volume Couture mascara -- pound for pound the best mascara in the commercial market today.

P&G's peace offering, if you can find them, are $2 discount coupons for Max Factor users to buy a CoverGirl "replacement" product. I've tried their much touted supposedly-Diorshow-comparable LashBlast mascara and it's absolute rubbish, not trash rubbish but rubbish nonetheless.

Hopefully P&G will come to their senses and bring Max Factor back, as L'Oreal has now (this week) brought back the once banned Ellnet hairspray. In the mean time, Max Factor users will have to scour the Internet or the European Union for any remaining stock beyond 2009. Good luck, ladies.