Live. Laugh. Love.

I’ve never really taken a penchant for Valentine’s Day, maybe because it simply epitomizes an overhaul of pricing for everything - from $3-a-stalk roses to off-the-cuff dining spots that only offer Valentine’s menu which has jacked-up costs for a measly piece of breaded fish (the only consolation is how they’ve suddenly taken a French inflection in their menu, where a piece of “Dory Fillet” is now known as “Filet du Poisson de la Dory des pommes de terre”.

Okay. Maybe I’ve digressed. Valentine’s Day is incontestably a day in the whole calendar year whereby secret admirers and boyfriends/ girlfriends shower their lover with oh-so-saccharinely-sweet dosages of “I like you and now you know it” or, simply just “I love you and need you to know it”. It is a lovely spectacle to see jubilant beams on each couple’s faces promenading through Orchard Road, almost comparing in silence whose bouquet is bigger than the others’, or whose bear is furrier and cuter. But really, if love is so true, why do couples exhibit and proclaim their love for each other so openly, only on Valentine’s Day? Should it not, then, be over 364 days with 14^th Feb a day-off?

Even a small piece of chocolate should keep you happy!

Anyway, I’ve never really envied or felt desirous over girls who have got heaps of gifts while I just had to suck thumb at the corner of the merry room those days. Flowers have never been my type of thing. Roses, baby’s breath, lilies, sunflowers… well they are pretty flowers I must agree, but what do I do with them after that? Teddies dressed in elaborate tuxedos and party dresses (some dresses are tailored nicer than my girl’s dresses!) are cute, but thank God I don’t impose on my partner to get those for me. What do I do with them after that?

Buying a girl's heart always starts on Valentine's Day

Today, Facebook is practically facing an Orchard Road flood all round with Valentines greetings and proud photo posts on “Wah kaozz! 99 roses bouquet given to me by dar dar worrzz!” Some disconsolate singles tend to post “Vday Sucks!” or “See couples got dinner, roses, bear bear, but I don’t have! Who wanna be my Valentimes today??”… Poor guy doesn’t only suffer from a broken heart, but he also suffers inadvertently from broken English. Well, all lonely hearts out there, please rejoice in this day with your families instead of mulling over finding a date in a day for your date might just as well ruin this momentous day.

Orchard flood is to Facebook Vday flood

As I reclined in my swivel chair, smirking over my friend’s Vday shout-out’s and posts on Facebook, I started to wonder (4 hours ago) if it’s me being peculiar, or just me being exiled from all the sweet lil’ nothings, now that I’m married and very taken. I’ve also moonlighted this afternoon as a relationship advisory supervisor, where tons of friends threw droll questions at me as to why they didn’t get roses, bears or diamonds and all I could say to them is “What is wrong with that?” Inadvertently, they probably blocked me on MSN or deleted my SMS reply to them, thinking that I’m not supportive with their complaints.

Aww.... so sappy!

Sorry girls, I don’t feel that you should only be pampered on 14^th Feb, it should be a constant rekindling act by you or your partner!

The biggest irony precipitously became the fact that my colleague stomped towards me with a lovely fuschia pot of red roses, lilies and white roses in her hands, with a white note sticking out of the bundle. “I thought it was for me! I’m waiting for mine for so long you know!” – she exclaimed, and placed the pot at the corner of my table.

Pot of red + white roses, lilies, baby's breath and green... ferns?

I read the very sincere note from my husband and my girl, and I stared at the pot of flowers for a good 10 seconds before deciding to move it from the precarious corner of the table, to a spot right by my telephone, just so it’ll remind me to say something nice to whoever who’s going to call me at my DID.

Well, we did plan for a simple dinner after work albeit. I surprisingly found myself enthusiastically snapping shots of the flower pot, having a hard time deciding which photo shot of the pot looks the best to be uploaded on Facebook. Why, why. I guess it’s just a thing that everyone does nowadays!

Whether you’ve got a gift (yet) or not, whether you’ve got a gift which you hate, whether you’ve got a gift which brought you to tears, or if you’ve got no Valentine’s date at all, please don’t feel the way you shouldn’t be feeling!

For people who’ve been given gifts: Appreciate what you’ve been given, whether it’s a box of Ferrero Rocher chocolates or a posy of 999 roses. Some people might be dying to get what you’ve received, and yet they can’t afford to lay their hands on that item that’s sitting placidly at the corner of your desk, or maybe even behind your calendar so you wouldn’t be reminded of it – wherever you’ve decided to put it.

For people who’ve not been given gifts: Don’t feel dispirited or wretched. Valentine’s Day should be celebrated 365 days, not with tangible gifts at all. Your partner is your gift, and so are your family members. Don’t be easily satisfied with materials and the tangibles because a love that banks only on gifts is not bound to last at all.

For people without dates: Date your family! Cook a simple fare for dinner and use this time to catch up on things that you’ve missed out on with your parents or siblings. Simple pleasures will make you who you’d be thankful you’ve become in years to come.

A cause for Anorexia

(WARNING: Disturbing Images)

I’m very beholden and flattered when Dimensions Magazine approached me to helm an anti-Anorexia campaign for a cause. First off, acting for a cause has always been a tacit prerogative at the back of my mind and it’s habitually deserted when career, family and friends supersedes. That’s very wrong and reprehensible, and it really shouldn’t be my excuse anyway.

Isabelle Caro, deceased French model

During my 1 hour 15 minute radio interview with a panel and an anorexic 15 year old, I started to unravel the tainted perceptions of anorexic patients. I used to think that being anorexic was a choice, but mostly, it is a mental illness. A retrospective study into anorexia nervosa helped me better recognize the reasons why some women (on average there’s a higher percentile of women than men) fall prey to this merciless illness.

Anorexia Nervosa is a terminal eating disorder characterized by the punishing fear of gaining weight. It’s coupled with an evocative distorted self-imagery of oneself when he/she looks into the mirror. Empirically, I sometimes feel the same about myself, only that I do it to tease my own body in a lighthearted manner. Anorexics, however, would delve into a downward spiral of neurotic loss of appetite, low self-esteem and depression amongst all other petrifying attributes.

During the radio talk show, my newfound anorexic friend was shivering in pain the whole time. I assume she’s as tall as I am but she was merely even 1/3 of my weight. The most aching part of it all was when I reached out to hold her frail wrists, it felt like death. I don’t mean to lay it on thick or exaggerate, but my 1 hour 15 minutes immersion became a testimony of “mind over matter”. As I spoke to the 15 year old who was clad in a child’s dress which was still king-sized for her, she could barely concentrate. It did occur to me if my discourses were boring, but I conceded that it’s just that she didn’t have sufficient energy to keep her up half the time.

This is so not cool

This girl had smuf-blue fingernails and very swollen, protruding joints. I still can’t seem to forget how perpetually ill she had been (she was anorexic since 9 years old), and that no amount of shrink/ psychology could help cure this desolate soul. I, of course, was compelled to lend her an ear and to stand for a cause against anorexia in Asia.

I wouldn’t write too much about the causes that I stand strongly for as I’ve got an audio clip that’s in production to boot.

To hell with judgments. Celebrate women with curves.