It IS Fall

It rained. It is raining. It will rain.

Yesterday night, all of today, and some of tomorrow. Water, water, everywhere.

Fall is here.

No, these are not supposed to be lines stuck together to form some stanzas; searching for discovery with words.

It's just indicative of how my mind is working of late -- sporadic, slow, momentarily excited, observational, but a little bored.

I am due to give a speech in less than 48 hours, yet I have not written it yet. Not that I don't have an idea, but my idea is ... "too big" ... or I have no confidence in my idea. I never have confidence in structured speeches. If the world ran on impromptu speeches and gave out awards for those, perhaps I would feel more justified to push myself.

Graduate school is interesting. May I say, for once, that I am finally feeling challenged in an academic setting; that I am actually learning new things. Half of the semester has not even passed yet, so this is progress for sure.

And Fall is here. I need to wear socks again; I need to slap on lotion religiously.

But for now, I don't care about all of the above. The following things have been on my mind. I can remember the last time I've had these:

Namaste!

Pure, ergonomic, uncompromising Italian luxury. You really need to know about the luxury set's best kept handbag secret. Please seek yourself some Valextra and tell Hermes to shove it.

Anna $ui for Target

You've heard rumours about it. It's was even rumoured to only be a rumour, but the collection debuted this weekend at New York's Spring 2010 Fashion Week, and on sale today at Target. It's here and looking pretty spiffy. Can someone just explain to me why the prices are way above the Target designer series price points?

Available online and at limited Target stores, so don't wait for a sale. Yeah, tell my bleeding wallet that.

First Week of School

I cracked open my first jar of Bonne Maman peach preserves this afternoon. I wonder what took me so long to give this stuff a try. Rows and rows of these have been staring me down in the grocery aisles for decades and it's not as if American supermarkets are filled with great jams/spreads/jellies to begin with.

What makes this French jar of fruit and pectin so good? I don't know. Maybe it's because it's not too sweet (I'm talking to you, Smuckers and Welch's!), not tasteless, those little bits of actual fruit, or the fact that it does not gel up or get hard after you take it out of the fridge. It's just really good. I'm not fussy about jams; good is good. So do American jams have any hope?

Actually, yes. American jams are pretty decent. I had originally gone back to the store to re-purchase a jar of Made-in-USA "peach butter", which is formulated to perfection. Then I made a beeline for the homely-looking Bonne Maman. But do try Braswell's of Georgia. Tell them I sent you. Bonne Maman vs Braswell's? It's a tie.

The first week of graduate school just ended. It didn't really occur to me that I was a grad student until after Wednesday's class. If there was one thing that was nudging me to stop mucking around, it was definitely my classmates. They were all so ... serious ... and this is beyond the fact that they weren't very much older or younger than I am. Everyone behaved as if they had enlisted in the army. It felt like I was sitting in a room full of Type As. In fact, we had three bankers in there pitching their wares. Welcome to grad school.

Fortunately, I'm looking forward to a productive semester. My professor appears to be one with a big personality and wisdom to offer. I assume his national and European awards aren't for nothing.

Happy Labour Day

I've been labouring a lot for the weekend, spending the last 72 hours in three different types of campus orientation programs for graduate assistants, international, and graduate students. Needless to say, every time I think I might be an extrovert, my introvert really kicks in in super large (community imposed) crowds. It's time for a re-evaluation of my Myers Briggs personality type.

I deserve the day off today. I shared a lot of oxygen with a lot of people for the past few days.

Happy barbecue-ing, people. Let's hope it doesn't rain.

Gun Bag

I just received this directly from James Piatt this morning. Yes, it is a handbag. $379. Good luck at the airport.

Dino Egg

I was at the store today for grocery shopping (yes, coming back from a month-long vacation to an EMPTY FRIDGE!) and these peculiar, little things I saw on display. The bright pink sticker on each fruit says "Dinosaur Egg™ Produce of USA" and a neon green brontosaurus prances merrily on print.

I guessed these things were in the same family as plums, based on size and skin texture. Well I bought some and bit into one. Yup, it's just a plum with speckled skin. The taste is extremely mild, with a slight tart, not flavourful and vibrant like regular plums are. However, the only thing spectacular about this dinosaur egg is the awesome dual tone flesh on the inside. Check it out below.

So buy it to say you bought some Jurassic produce, but don't expect to be impressed.

Python is ... who cares ... I want it!

Yes. Yes. O be still my beating heart. Is this perfection or what?

The most surprising discovery I made today was stumbling across a fantastic and well-edited Zagliani and Pauric Sweeney python-only collection, about half a dozen bags in varying sizes and colours but mostly metallics, at a store on the luxury retail floor of my favourite mall in the city.

I was just astounded, mainly because retailing is demand and supply and no one this side of Asia let alone wee-little-old-corner-of-the-equator here has actually heard of Dr. Zagliani and his crazy silicone injections or the youthful genius that is Pauric Sweeney. As the stereotype goes, it really is monogram lovers land here.

I asked the Sales Assistant if any of these bags had been sold and she said yes. I was floored. So there is a lone retail buyer out there who has been stocking these beautiful exotic bags to the tune of almost (after conversion) USD 3,700, which is borderline rip-off. Clearly there is a discerning woman or a very generous man in the city whom actually gets the whole idea of buying the best in the business, and not merely just buying a brand that is Vuitton, or Chanel, or Dior.

But back to the PS1 in Python: I am pleased that there are still many wonderful things (literally) to look forward to (owning) in life.

Alien Vibrating Mascaras and other stories

I'm quite a newbie to eye makeup in general, which upon reflection either shows how much I love skin preservation, or how much wasted potential I've allowed in not highlighting one of my best facial features.

To shortcut years or adolescent makeup ignorance, I have ventured into the deep waters of mascaras and have tried out most of the well-documented / oft-praised department and drugstore tubes of vaseline+talc+iron oxides. Yes, mascara is all the chemical stuff your dermatologist told you to avoid.

I give myself a pat on the back because I've made astounding progress in just a few short months. There's nothing like a recession-induced boredom to make you try out new things.

Today, I want to give praise to the industry-approved Lancôme Ôscillation. This award winning bla bla bla ....

Look, let me put it this way, I have stick straight lashes that don't really stayed curled even with a (really good) curler. And yes, I own the best curler in the market.

This vibrating mascara thing curled and coated my lashes just like that; I mean LIKE THAT. And it wasn't even waterproof! Girls with stick straight lashes get my drift about waterproof mascara and keeping a curl.

7000 oscillations per minute -- Jesus didn't give me nice lashes but science did and I am now a believer. The price tag is $34.

I'm looking forward to trying the exact drugstore knockoff, right down to the vibrating mechanism: Maybelline New York Pulse Perfection Vibrating Mascara, at $13 a pop. Could it really be the same product for a third of the price? I'll let you know when I try it.

But for now, if you ever need a gift for your mother / sister / cousin / girlfriend / wife, get her a tube of vibrating mascara. She will thank you, I promise.

Rainy Day before the Tsunami

I've been out of the posting-any-relevant-or-irrelevant-updates habit for a few weeks now, mainly due to intercontinental travel. The weather conditions today (and what looks like only today) have finally allowed me to not sweat for a continuous 12 hours, and settle down and greet all of you here from a desktop in Asia Pacific.

The Middle East can't beat me here when it comes to weather complaints. They may have it hot over there, but it is hot and extremely humid (count at least 80%) over here. Every time I use the Lord's name in vain, it is mostly because of the weather.

The big thing this week for me is hearing the good news on the accurate predictions of what will supposedly be the most massive tsunami occurrence this side of the world since the last one that hit South Asia. Yes, I said it! Call me bitter. I have been forced to forego any plans to lie out on a beach because this urban legend has perpetuated to a point of being accepted as truth. Godamnit!

If you live in a tsunami predicted region, please stop being foolish and leave immediately! And with that, do not return either. The "Pacific Fire Rim" is forever, so choose your residence wisely.

Now back to the main event, for those looking forward to the total solar eclipse scheduled to take place Wednesday; July 22, 2009 (which triggers the so called tsunami), have a happy viewing.

For now I am left with memories of ogling at "Consular Agent Joshua", whose real identity I may never discover. He looks like a gorgeous, Asian version of Channing Tatum. Feast below and thank me later.

Vuitton and eLux countdowns

Two things LVMH is (confirmed) doing this week that will piss me off:
(1) Louis Vuitton product prices are increasing on Wednesday; June 24, 2009.
(2) E-commerce at eLuxury.com will close for good on Friday; June 26, 2009.

As a consolation, those of you whom adore the Damier Azur canvas pattern like I do, have a lot to look forward to when the Cruise 2010 collection comes out circa December 2009 -- the Neverfull finally gets an Azur makeover.

Start saving now, and add at last a 15% premium on the prices you see today.

I am so hyped for lycra/spandex

I am here to confess that I am a recent convert into the female religion of leggings. Yes, leggings. Technically they are footless tights.

I don't remember exact which style maven sent this item down the runway and thus revived such a horrendous 1980s style into the 21st century. I suspect it was a last minute creation of necessity as I can imagine Marc Jacobs (I credit anything relevant today, to him) staring endlessly at his statuesque fit model, it being 2 a.m. in the moring, and he knew he had to cut something up to save his outfit from looking hoochie by way of the model's ass hanging out of his prototype tattered shirt/top. And thus Marc eyed a bunch of opaque tights, or solid pantyhose if you want to call it that way, cut off the bottom ends because he is very prone to cutting stuff, and told the model to put them on. When she was done, he knew his genius was sealed. Another runway collection saved.

I may be making the story up but I know how he works in his studio even though I have not step foot in the neighbourhood it is in. Do I want to work for Marc Jacobs? Very badly, yes.

So anyway, I've never hesitated to wear skinny jeans even with my somewhat massive thighs because, I guess, I'm just a sucker for any garment that makes my butt look good.

I always thought leggings would be my downfall because the frabrication, while more substantial than regular pantyhose, would surely not have enough "hold" to shape my butt. So that's why I've stayed away from leggings while the rest of the world has taken to it like breathmints at the annual garlic convention.

Well, I've been legging-free until, April this year. So after surviving over a quarter of a century, I caught the legging bug while shopping with a friend. Yes, it is some sort of infectious disease. See above -- this molten leather looking thing was too cool to pass. My ass actually looked decent and my thighs were fixed with a heavy dose of high heels, thank you Roger Vivier.

Fast forward about two months later now, I can't keep my eyes off leggings. Insanity. Most people wear the regular black/navy/brown/neutral coloured ones but I am so fascinated with crazy leggings, as exhibited below. Haven't bought any of them though.

I love my American Express

I received a random "Unknown" number call at close to 4am this morning. And before the afternoon came, a text message was sent to my phone, requesting me to call Amex about a fraudulent charge.

What? Me? Like everyone, I always thought credit card fraud happened to everyone else but me. Well today, the omens gathered and some fool in Oregon was attempting to charge over $500 of Lowe's (for the foreigners: a giant, national home improvement retailer) purchases to my card.

I've never even been to Oregon, and since I don't own a house, I haven't been to Lowe's in years.

Did I expect this to happen? Yes. I received a letter from one of the online retailers I purchased from, a few months ago, informing me that their servers had been compromised and credit card information was stolen, mine included.

Oh, great! Just another thing for me to worry about: the recession, unemployment, and some unauthorised use of my credit card.

Well it's a good thing I still manage to scrape up the $150 annual fee Amex demands of me every year. I could easily subscribe to any other card company for free (and their infamously bad customer service; I'm talking about you two, Citibank and Chase!), but all the best things in life are not truly free.

New credit card on the way via overnight service by UPS.

God bless my credit card, Amex.

Scenes from Holland, MI

The Swine in Michigan

Barack celebrates 100 years, I mean, err, days in office. It feels like years because he is fixing over a decade of problems. I said over a decade. Yes, I said it! People think the real estate mortgage collapse (which is the catalyst for the current recession) was a product of the Bush era but it started when Greenspan went around deregulating Wall Street in the 80s.

So yeah, leave it to Barack to clean up the dirt. For those who gave him a C or lower grade (ahem, Fox News network) for his performance so far, let's see if you can outdo this man without making all kinds of gaffes like Bush I and Bush II. Why did I not make a Bubba joke? Please, we all love Bubba. And we have to support Ms. Hillary since she did the braver thing twice -- stood by Bubba and stood by Barack.

To celebrate my extremely boring week and fear of catching The Swine, I ventured out of my apartment building today to join a friend for coffee. Along the way, we paid a visit to the Hospital because my friend is his sister's little bitch, I mean, err, his sister's valet and she had a mid-evening Frappuccino craving. Then we went around shaking hands with some of his friends in the Hospital -- nurses, food service people, etc. Yeah, I feared for my life for a good 30 minutes and I pumped the Purell hand sanitizer stuff on two separate occasions.


I suspect Purell must have a $10 million dollar contract with the University of Michigan Health System (including the Hospital) because there was a full-size Purell pump every 10 feet of a corridor and also one in every patient and examination room.

I am praying that The Swine stays at only 2 people in Michigan, though it has been spreading rapidly through the Midwest already, no thanks to the 51 kids in New York. This was supposed to be a Mexico-Texas thing, and America would have gladly allowed Texas to secede from the Union. Now it's global.

Good luck, everyone.

Bad junior fashion in Ypsilanti, MI

I attended a graduation commencement ceremony on Sunday and the weather was blazing hot, so there were a lot of unspeakable fashion mistakes going on everywhere, but I found this little boy to have committed the most grievous of all style sins: the sock-and-sandal.

Yes, that is the boy and his older brother in front of him, with the all-American footwear faux pas. Clearly his parents (especially his mother) are to blame for this display.

Parents, please. Casual is fine but stupid is not okay. If you want the kids to wear socks, then wear shoes. If you want it to be breezy but covered then wear canvas shoes, or (in desperate times, try) Crocs.

Hawt Pink

It's the end of the semester and the kids in the neighbourhood have been partying endlessly, celebrating the last of their exams and the upcoming summer break. Here's a wonderful reminder of some of the craziness that enrolls into college here in Michigan:
My phone's camera is not the greatest but the car is in (in American terms) Pepto Bismol pink, which is a cotton candy pink with a tinge of violet undertones. I've never seen the owner of the car (no prizes for guessing the gender) but s/he parks in a different spot every school day on the street in front of my apartment building.

If I don't see it in Fall when the new school term starts, I will surely miss it.

eLuxury goes bye bye

eLuxury.com, LVMH's comprehensive online luxury shopping website, will be closing all commerce activities by the end of June -- a product of its own retail double-dipping. I will miss it and all the tax-free goods it offers.

A sale is going on now, and I've found below:

1. Best accessory:
Dsquared2
Wooden Necklace
$225.00 SALE PRICE: $135.00 FINAL PRICE NOW $81.00

2. Best sneaker:
Y-3
Checkered Honja High-Top
$290.00 SALE PRICE: $174.00 FINAL PRICE NOW $104.40


3. Ugliest thing you can spend your money on:
Vintage by La Rosa
'50s Corduroy Print Shirt, Red
$595.00 SALE PRICE: $357.00 FINAL PRICE NOW $214.20
Okay, okay. This is supposed to be vintage and super rare. It may be a well-made shirt, but no one should step out of the house with this shirt unless attending a festival / costume party.

Operating system takes up too much space

Happy belated Easter/Passover, everyone.

I've diappeared for a few weeks now, making absolutely no progress in looking for work or securing my scholarship. However, the major thing I've done so far is salvaging my digital data on my hardy old notebook, with many thanks to Mr. O.

The process has taken up most of the last few days (which is, genuinely, a lot of progress since I've abandoned this project for over 6 months; one must wonder how I've ever managed to live without a notebook). Battling "trojanic" malware is like going to war, a fulltime job. Many times I felt like kicking myself for behaving as if I didn't own a technie degree nor any computer usage capabilities at all.

Just a little over 36 months of doing the "lining up numbers" thing has left me incapable of speaking of partitions and installation procedures. I could feel my notebook's humiliation to be owned by me.

I have let my personal techie spirit down.

As of today I have completed my third re-installation. I am now familiar with free antivirus software (AVG) and this aggressive little treasure called Spybot Search and Destroy (it deserves a prize for its name, or at least a movie named after it). I have rediscovered the unnecessary luxury of online shpping, of staring aimessly at stuff I don't need to buy, of vowing to buy all the things I have seen online. I have gotten used to the hunched over posture of my sitting on the couch while simultaneously eyeing Anderson Cooper / Jon Stewart / Stephen Colbert on TV and reading Perez Hilton's latest post and resisting the crazy things Marc Jacobs is trying to peddle at Louis Vuitton.

It feels great to be a netizen again! I was up surfing and installing until 0700 hours, clocked in about three hours of sleep and then woke up to yell at my SA at the Vuitton store (it really does not take two weeks for something to travel from Los Angeles to Detroit, bla bla bla).

Regardless still, I had a decent day today: I indulged and stocked up on imported Asian junk food. The rain left and there was sunshine, the weather hit the high 50s. I had plenty of sushi. And then I decided to be one step ahead of keeping my system safe from the big, bad trojans out there; I attempted to download Service Pack 3 when I was brutally slapped with the fact that my 5GB partition could not house my operating system (OS) and all the updates/service packs Microsoft had created for it.

WHAT? Since when was 5GB not enough for an OS? This is bullshit. Now I have to reallocate my partitions and start over.

Yes, there will be a fourth re-installation after this post. If you don't hear from me for a few days, you will know it is because I am still wrestling around with Windows.

*sigh*

Nice shoes in Ann Arbor, MI

It was April Fool's Day yesterday and I could hardly believe my eyes when I saw these two people walking down the street. While they were not particularly spectacular, their feet gave them away and I suspect that were anything but Midwestern American.

The man on the left had on the slimmest dark wash jeans only Hedi Slimane would approve of, and a pair of deep red (almost cordovan coloured) driving loafers. Trust me, the pictures really do not show how immensely slim his jeans were –- not tight; just very, very slim; like matchsticks. The lady walking with him wore two of Spring's most important items: leggings, and the nude peep-toe platform stiletto pump.

Ah, delightful. Seeing them definitely made my day. I feel a shoe purchase coming on. Oh, no!