holiday gift guide

Isn't the concept of birthday presents strange? It's like receiving congratulations for not only existing, but existing for yet another year. If anything, parents should be the ones who are congratulated, at least until the child is old enough to be responsible for their own existence and well-being. 

Another musing on present-receiving in general: have you ever contemplated over what you've received and thought about what the assorted miscellany says about you? Or at least what it says about how others perceive you as? My portrait would be painted by dessert cookbooks, jewelry, red lipstick, sketchbooks, tea cups, ironic t-shirts, hand-made cards and IOU's. For this year at least. It makes me uneasy to see myself in this way (in a completely predictable and logical way characterised by objects). At the same time it is also nice to gloat over all the nice new things I've accumulated simply for still being alive. 

i feel old but not very wise

Today I am 19! I have had a year now to do grown up things. 

barbie

Make-up for me is like a grown up way of enjoying colouring in. Any girl who poured over colouring books as a child surely must contest that the nail polish counter is the best part of any department store (kitchen appliances comes a close second). 

 You may have also noticed that my walls are now blank. After eight years of enjoying the view of our neighbours' backyards from my bedroom window, I am finally moving. As for where I am moving to, I am not sure yet...

ah...the serenity

I am quite resolute in thinking that I am a city gal. I like the sense of purpose I get from waking up to the sound of morning traffic, and then being caught on the trains during rush hour. It cannot be denied that I am most comfortable when I am feeling "alone in a crowd'. Unusual, perhaps, since that phrase tends to give negative connotations, yet, I cannot describe my favourite setting any more aptly.

Once in a while though, granted there is good food and wine (in gratuitous amounts if you please) and a comfortable bed, I do enjoy a more remote get away, somewhere to do nothing but sit on the deck sipping tea and G&T's during the day and play cards during the evening.

movies i can't resist watching whenever they're on tv

- Titanic

- Bring it On

- About a Boy

- Harry Potter (any of them)

(Tonight I watched Titanic again on our tiny old TV while sitting on a kitchen chair because we're half way through moving. Two comments: 1) it was worth it, 2) I still think Rose was being a fat bitch for not insisting on sharing the door/raft)