Friday, October 31, 2008 . 9:44 AM

No wonder all General Practitioners are re-inventing themselves as Aestheticians, they earn bloody much!

Aaron and I went down to Neuglow at Square 2 last evening after work to see Dr Gerard Tan for our respective problems. Just to see and to talk to him (15 mins in my case and 5 mins in Aaron's) cost $50 each. And considering how long he looked at my skin (10 seconds), I think that has got to be the single most costly expense I ever made. The remaining time, we sat through a sales pitch.

What made it worst was that, out of nowhere, an audience appeared. I was asking the good doctor some question when suddenly I heard sounds behind me and I turned around. To my shock, there was a nurse (wearing totally inappropriate dangly earrings) and another female (who Dr. Tan said was a doctor too) in the room with us, listening to our consultation. They stayed with us the entire.

That has got to be one of my stranger experiences.

Anyway, the doctor suggested some procedure called Plamas (any relation to Plasma TV) which cost $2,000 for 3 express sessions. Express means no downtime. Other than that, I can consider a combination of IPL plus a session of Plasma for a lower package fee.

I don't mind spending the money if it actually improves my skin, but a word of advice for the good doctor: I think it's best to be more professional. At least introduce the people who suddenly appear in your office to your patient so they don't feel like 'what the heck' or like an lab test subject.

And of course, there was the thing I read about non-invasive treatments: it doesn't actually make the scars shallower PERMANENTLY. In the layman's term, the treatments kind of agitate your skin so that it produces more collagen (or some thingie that makes your skin plumper) so it looks as though your scar has lighten. But if you stop the treatments, the skin will 'sink' and it'll be back to square one, ergo, thousands of dollars washed down the drain.

And when I asked Dr. Tan whether the Plasma is the best choice for me, he laughed and said that there will always be new treatments for me to try. Which kind of tells me that I'm going to be addicted to these treatments.

Do I really want to go that rabbit hole? Suckered into paying for one after another long series of treatment to meet society's standard of beauty? Heck, I've signed up for gym, I've got a (cheap) massage package and now, I'm subscribing to this too? What's next?

Sometimes, I just want to just throw my hands up and let it be whatever it is.

Tuesday, October 21, 2008 . 8:53 AM

Ok, this is getting annoying.

How long will the political unrest in Bangkok last? How many prime ministers do you want to change before you will stop with the protestings? I want to go to your freaking country and spend my hard-earned money to improve your economy. But am I allowed to?

Lest I sound like a spoiled brat (I know I do), I'll like to clarify that I have nothing against the current PM or his predecessors. Neither do I have anything against People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD). From the reports, it seems that while Thaksin was in power, he did some good, but wasn't all perfect.

But I think that people who wield power are rarely pure, kind souls. There has to be a dark part of them wanting the power, wanting the blood that comes with the power, to continue on their chosen path. If they are pure, kind souls, they probably would not be in politics. They'll be Mother Theresa. Or Ghandi. Ok, maybe not Ghandi, since he lead protests, albeit non-violence once. But at least his actions were not politically motivated?

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I need to bitch about work. Perhaps it's the end of the year or perhaps it's the unsatisfactory increment. It could even be the lack of decent lunch conversation and the torture of having to look at MM for 9 hours daily, 5 times a week, 20 times a month.

I am sick of work, the people around me and... everything. When one no longer derive pleasure from work, what is one to do? Perhaps I'm really annoyed with myself, because at 25 years old, I'm still pretty much penniless and a NON-EXEC. Yes, it grates because I didn't spend 1.5 years slogging through my part-time degree course so I can draw minimum pay and be labelled a non-exec.

I especially do not like being summarily dismissed. How can I be treated as an equal in a team when everyone else is an exec, except for me? Need to change job. NEED to change job!

Monday, October 20, 2008 . 11:35 AM

That was the movie Sharon, Aaron and I caught on Friday, after Sharon rushed back from a day trip to Malaysia with He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. Or my new nick for him is Bak Kwa Face...

Anyway, since everyone knows I'm pretty much a sucker for Wu Chun-related things, it goes without saying that Butterfly Lovers is a definite must-watch. Thank God that angmoh-pai Aaron loves pretty boys as much as I do and Sharon doesn't mind goodlooking actors who can't act. Or perhaps, they both love me too much to deny me the pleasure of watching Wu Chun's debut movie.

And that was how we ended up sitting through 103 minutes of Jingle Ma's adaptation of the Chinese version of Romeo & Juliet (the only diff being our main characters turned into butterflies after their death, unlike R&J). They even included the pill that induced a death-like sleep, like they had in R&J! Seriously, Mr Ma, didn't they teach you about plagerism back in film school?

But it's not the first time (nor last) a HK film gets 'inspiration' from other sources, so I really should not be surprised.

So, how did the movie far?

Well... let's go from left to right, shall we?



First, we have Hu Ge as the antagonist, Ma... Something. Can't remember. He appears for less than 1/3 of the movie, so how was I to remember? So anyway, at first he was really sweet, smiling in a dorky way at our main actress, Zhu, and defending her when she got into trouble. But it all goes to hell soon when he descends into the Hell of Gross Over-Acting. It sounds like I don't like Hu Ge, but that's not true! He's a goodlooking chap and I adore goodlookers. But he really performed horrendously here with the OTT rage scene and the borderline psychotic act. Maybe he just can't do evil, cos I've seen all the period dramas he's been in and I adore him in all of them. Maybe he should just stick to doing nice guys.

Second, Charlene Choi as Zhu Yan Zhi. What can I say? Her cross-dressing is cute... but she looks totally wrong in female gear. Her chemistry with Chun is... I don't know if it's a good time if everyone laughs uncontrollably during romantic scenes between the leads. Whenever the leads exchange adoring looks, everyone just falls over in fits of laughter. What's so funny? Maybe cos the cloying sweetness is just so fake? I'm not sure, but there were lots of unintentionally funny scenes and if I were Mr Jingle Ma, I probably would want to pretend this wasn't my movie.

Last, Wu Chun as Liang Zhong Shan. What can I say? God is kinda fair, I guess. His accented Mandarin doesn't really work for a period drama. In fact, it's like a rojak of accents. Hu Ge speaks with a Mainland Chinese lilt, Charlene is dubbed in a breathy, annoying, accentless voice, Harlem Yu, one of the side characters, speaks with a Taiwanese twang. And of course, our Wu Chun butchered the language completely. I don't know, a period role is wrong on so many levels. It plays to all his flaws:
1. weak command of mandarin
2. wearing dress-like clothes when he already looks so feminine

Maybe he thinks it's manly cos it allows him to carry a sword and do elaborate fighting scenes that requires him to jump from roof to river, but the fight sequences are so dizzying... all we saw was a blur.

Anyway, I thought if I were him, I would choose playing a mute assassin. See, there would be fight scenes, he wouldn't be required to talk or have much expressions. Just look tortured, if he doesn't know how, Keanu Reeves would be a great reference. Check out The Matrix Trilogy and Constantine. Oh, most importantly, he'll get to wear black trenchcoats and ubercool shades!

And carry a gun. Or two. And be in a Chow Yun Fatt/John Woo-inspired gun sequences with lots of doves are required. Woot~

For love interest and added angst, consult K-dramas where he falls in love with his target's daughter (gasps). He kills her father and then gets injured and she, not knowing he killed her father, saves him and falls desperately in love with him. Afterwards, when the truth comes to light, the girl's brother can attempt to kill him and she dies defending him. Our hero is heartbroken, but leaves the brother unharmed because she begs him to with her dying breath. He carries her body and walks off into the setting sun...

Woah~ fantastic idea right!! Someone write a screenplay already!

Thursday, October 16, 2008 . 8:58 AM

Seems like lunch conversation nowadays revolves mainly around the credit situation triggered by the subprime. There was one colleague yesterday who asked where we keep our savings. He says he just opened a savings account with DBS, which should be safer than say, OCBC since DBS is a local bank.

Well, to this colleague, I'll like to ask him to look at the papers about the case of DBS's High Notes 5. See what came out of blind trust with the 'government's bank'? I'm not saying that DBS will go bankrupt like Lehman, I just think that when it comes to investments, buying from a government bank is no assurance.

Anyway, I truly dislike financial advisors. Correction, I should amend that it is the incompetent ones who do not know their products and do not bother explaining the risks involved in their products that ought to go drown themselves in shit. Gah, even worse are those who target blue-collar retirees who do not understand English.

I pause sometimes and wonder how different my job is from their's. While they sell direct to these people, my job is to hide the flaws of my products by highlighting its benefits. Not that my product is so beneficial since it contributes to pollution and depletes natural resources. Huh. That sounds so positive. I am so proud of myself.