CoverLook Studios

2 months ago, I got a call.

Ms Vanessa claims that she is from Coverlook Studios.
Apparently, I had won a free makeover and a photo shoot for myself and one or two friends at their premises from some competition I entered. I vaguely remembered entering something like that through Glamour magazine but hey, a free makeup session and photo shoot?! Bring it on!


But then came the catch - I had to pay a refundable deposit of 30pounds per person to guarantee myself a spot in their appointment book. For that I get:
- a full make over by their professional make up artist
- hair styling by their professional hairdressers
- 30 frames of shooting per person
- an A4 photo of our choice to take home
- 4 VIP tickets into one of the top clubs in London

All for FREE!

WOW.

A quick phone call to Liwan settled the whole thing and I booked us in for the 27th of December 2008 at 4pm.

I know. At this point, you are probably thinking - Wah, stupid!!! Kena con!! Pay 60 bucks to unknown people!!

Which on hindsight, I have to agree that I was - VERY STUPID.

But. Anyway.




Fast forward to the 27th, Liwan and I made our way to CoverLook Studios that was situated near Oxford St in London.
To my immense relief, the place actually existed.


Upon entering, we were met with a room full of girls waiting for their turn and what was supposed to be an appointment at 4pm, turned out to be an appointment at 5pm.
We waited for one whole hour before we were called to the chair by the make up artist. My make up artist was a freelancer (professional my @$) and she did my face in 10 minutes.
10 MINUTES!


Woman, I can do better make up than whatever it is that you did.


Where is the lipliner to lock in the lip colour? In fact, WHERE is the lipstick? Lip gloss goes ON TOP of the lipstick, thank you very much.
Where is the highlighter to enhance the 3D effect of the face? Where is the contouring of the nose and the cheeks to create an illusion of a sharper nose and higher cheekbones?
Jeez, even drawing my eyebrows in was a half done job.


Now to the hairstyling. It was done by my makeup artist too(once again, professional my @$). All she did was curl my hair in a few strokes with the straightener and spray on some hairspray. Which, I can also do myself with my 30pound Babyliss hair straighteners from Boots.

Not. Impressed.

Liwan got a bit of a better make up artist than I did but her hair was also done in almost the same way.

Great.

All in all, the whole make up - hairstyling ordeal took about 15 minutes.

We then had to wait another 2 tooting hours before we were called to the studio for our photo shots to be taken.
This, I have to give credit. It was fun posing - but that is because I'm a poser-olic and can do all sorts of nonsense with a camera in front of me. They also did deliver the 30 frames as promised and the photographer was really, really nice.


After that, we were ushered back into the waiting area and waited further 30 mins until we were finally called to view our pictures.

Through this, I truly understand that nothing in this world is free.

Not only were we quoted ridiculous prices for the pictures (75 bucks for 1), our supposedly 'free' A4 photo shoot came in the form of a passport picture size photograph. We were also only allowed to choose ONE picture as opposed to two as promised over the phone. In the end, the saleslady quoted us 4 pictures in exchange for my 60 quid deposit - which I promptly turned down.
I then enquired about the VIP tickets to the atas atas London club but was told that I had to call CoverLook to let them know when I wanted to go and they will then call the club to book us in.

-_-

Which means I still have to pay for the cover charge la!
Buang masa sial.

So, in the end, what I got out of the 5 hours I spent in CoverLook Studios was, a low quality passport size photograph in a CD, make up (which I can do much better myself) and styled hair (that surprise surprise - I can also do MYSELF) with I suppose - the opportunity to feel like a model where I am allowed to pose however I want and have my photograph taken. I reckon this is as close I will come to brushing with the modelling world, and this was the saving grace of the whole CoverLook experience. You'd be happy to know that I also got my 60pounds deposit back.

My ballerina pose

Liwan's ANTM McKey pose

Verdict:
CoverLook are not 100% scammers, just 50%.
But they did provide us a great opportunity to take pictures at their premises, so I would not bring them to court for wasting 5 hours of my precious time. Also if being a model involves waiting about for half my life - I guess I am better off as a doctor.

That is..

If I pass my finals in June.

Spreading the Tea Love

I was all wrapped up in my black trench, checkered scarf and earphones plugged in, ready to brave the bitter cold for my 10 minute traipse from the Sick Kids Hospital back to my warm, cosy flat.

As I turned the corner to the main road, I saw him up front, standing and staring into the sky.

Eyeballing him, I noted his scruffy hair, unkempt beard, raggedy clothes and dirty scarf. His woolen beanie that was once - what I suspect - white has turned into a greyish brown colour and his boots looked like it has seen more winters that any shoe I owned. He was holding a few Tesco plastic bags - probably filled with unwanted cans, dirty blankets, bits and bobs like how the others like him always had.

So I turned off the kerb to avoid him. But he looked straight at me and took a step into my pathway.

"Not another tramp to ask me for change again," I thought.

But still, being the ever polite daughter my parents brought me up to be, I halted in my tracks and removed my earphones, ready to smile and say 'sorry' in the most empathetic way possible if he ever mentioned the word 'extra change'.

"Hello, I am running a project called Spreading the Tea Love", he says in a wide toothy smile, the cracks on his lips stretching with the movement of his mandible muscles.

"Sor-." the words died on my lips.

And I observed him again, noticing that one of his Tesco bags was actually filled with food - bread, fruits, cheese.

The other was chocked full with tea boxes of various colours, brands and sizes.

He lifted the tea-boxes-Tesco-bag, opened a box of tea, contemplated for a while and handed me 3 bags of tea.

"Drink one yourself, and give the other 2 to your friends. Here is a Rooibos tea from South Africa, here is a relaxation one.... and the last I give you the teabag of Love for your boyfriend. Tell him he is very lucky. Bye bye now."

And he smiles his toothy smile to me again.

I stood for a while before managing to blurt out "Thank you", all politeness and empathy forgotten.

Upon reaching home, I looked at the tea bags, wondering if there were any poisons in it or possibly black magic.
But they were all new and unopened, and so I did what he told me to.

I spread the Tea Love.

The Rooibos went to Joanna, the Love to Kai Lin and the last, I didn't drink it myself either but gave it to Choon Seong.

I've continued his chain of tea love and I guess we are all part of his project now.

I'm just waiting on reports back from the 3 of them - whether they suffer any tummy aches or suddenly sign off their life savings to charity - or, if they just carry on with their daily life as normal - an individual in this vast universe touched with his Tea Love.

The Scottish Borders

For 3 whole weeks, I was posted at the Borders, the piece of land that is right smack bang in the middle of Scotland and England.

A really pretty place indeed, except that it is also right smack bang in the middle of nowhere.

The closest town is Melrose which is a 30 minute walk away, and there they only have ONE street.
Yes.
ONE.
The only supermarket there is Co-Op which in my opinion, is some charity rah-rah supermarket that does not have anything of everything.

The next town which is a 10 minute drive away is Galashiels. What I like about Galashiels is the multi storey Tesco they have there that is alike the Carrefour or Giant supermarkets in Malaysia. And of course, being multi level, they have EVERYTHING of anything!

Amazing!!

Gala also has ONE club, called Indigo that has 12 year old kids DJ-ing in it. It is 1 pound to enter, and 1 pound for a vodka mixer. That is DIRT. CHEAP.

While the accommodation and company in Borders was good, what made my 3 weeks of separation from civilisation worth every minute was a tour I got from a lovely NHS technician on the 2nd last day of my attachment.

The bridge leading to the residencies

Oh wait, the 45p scones and 40p coffee was also unforgettable. Makes eating breakfast at home and drinking homemade coffee almost not worth your while.

On the 2nd last day of my attachment, I accompanied the consultant all the way out to Duns (again, in the middle of nowhere) for a clinic. He drove at a tearing speed of 20 miles/hour and what do students do when in a car with their consultant?
The right answer is to suck up. Praise his driving skills to the sky and comment on how effortless the glide of the screen wipers are.
But no....
Dr Consultant gave both Leanne and I a tutorial on urinary tract infections before we could even start mentioning how swanky and totally hip his new speed-o-meter is.
Imagine sitting in the car with someone hammering questions at you (which you do not know the answer too) when what you really should be doing is to talk about the weather?
Nope.
Not Good.

After Duns, we made our way to Eyemouth (yes, Bingo. In the middle of nowhere too!) where another clinic was held. 45 mins drive to Duns and another 30 mins drive to Eyemouth pretty much means we have been around the 3 corners of the Borders.

Upon arrival, the consultant insisted we go try this amazing fish and chips in a local restaurant and to walk to the harbour wall.

Wah, where got people go for clinic but get sent off to sightsee wan?

Yes, only in the UK.
So off we went to Giacopazzi and had their famous fish and chips. It WAS good.

And after that, off we went obediently to look for the harbour wall.

Nothing too exciting about the wall, but it was a lovely, cold day and we did what we had to - looked at the harbour, the water and also oohed and aahed at the seals that kept popping out of the water.

After about 1 hour of sightseeing, we decided to return to the clinic to do some proper work. However, upon arrival, the receptionist told us that we were to follow this NHS electrician back to the hospital as the consultant cannot fit us and the rest of the doctors in the car during the return trip.

So we hopped into this van:


and followed Mr NHS electrician to do his odd jobs all over the Borders.


From Eyemouth to Coldstream (apparently they get first pick of Kodak Bear skins from Canada to make the Beefeaters of London's guard hat) to Kelso, we bumped along the wintry, windswept roads touring the Scottish Borders - all courtesy of the NHS.



The tour was so good that there were actually pit stops for photo taking opportunities.


The highlight of our tour included visiting Henderson Park in Coldstream where we got a first class view of the bridge over River Tweed.


This bridge, says Mr NHS electrician-tour guide, Is the bridge where the Stone of Destiny was returned to Scotland from England, when it was removed from Scotland in 1930-something. It is also... (and proceeded to recount the entire history of conflicts between England and Scotland)

He also brought us to Floors Castle through the back way. Mr NHS tour guide then mentioned that over the summer, some royal wedding took place there and Prince William and Harry was IN that castle. Once again for me, wrong place at the wrong time. Imagine if I met both princes. I wouldn't be sitting here typing this entry anymore.

Floors Castle is there... beyond the road.. into the distance...

Our tour ended 2 hours later when we finally reached home.

I knew being a medical student had its perks.

I just didn't know that touring of Scotland was included in its package.

Liverpool & Manchester (Again)

So a friend wanted to go and play football in Liverpool. He decided that the best way to get there is by driving and the cheapest way is to find people to share the fuel cost.

Having only been to a grand total of 6 cities in the UK ever since I got here (London - which doesn't count, Edinburgh - which is worse, Manchester, Glasgow, Cambridge and Oxford) I figured that I had better go see Liverpool (voted Cultural City 2008) before I graduate and commit every single living hours I have to work.

So I agreed.

Together with him and another person (whom I managed to cajole into going to split the cost even further) we drove the whole 4 hours to Manchester.

Yes, it takes FOUR hours to get from Edinburgh TO Manchester. Travelling at 80-90 miles/hour on the highway. Unless you can go at 100miles/hour, I don't think you can get there any quicker.

Comprehende?

Once again.. NO, you can't do it under 3 hours.

My schedule for the weekend was:

Friday
6pm - arrived back in Edinburgh from the Borders (yes, literally, I'm now posted at the borders between England and Scotland, hence the place called the Borders. Imaginative, yes I know.)
10.30pm - leave for Manchester
2am - arrive in Manchester

Saturday
8am - leave for Liverpool
7pm - arrive back in Manchester

Sunday
2pm -leave for Edinburgh
6pm - reach Edinburgh

Monday
7am - leave for Borders

All in all, I spent less than 24 hours in Edinburgh.

Every night I had about 4 hours of sleep, on the bed of the lovely Yi Pei whom I met for the first time ever on Friday.


The lovely Yi Pei is so so hospitable.
She is so so sweet.
She is so so loveable.
She is so so someone whom I should be.

The lovely Yi Pei also contacted an equally lovely Michelle in Liverpool whom she also met for the first time ever on Saturday, me obviously having never heard of the lovely Michelle before.

The lovely Michelle became our tour guide for the day.
She is so so cute.
She is so so soft.
She is again, so so someone I should model after.

Yes.
This weekend was spent meeting new people and spending a lot of time with them, just as soon as I met them. Through all these new friends, I have recognised my inadequacies as a host and also discovered that I am actually not a nice person at all.

Oh dear.


Malaysian Games at Liverpool - 6 pitches of boys in T-shirts and shorts kicking a ball about. It was my numero uno mission to find out if there were any good looking characters on the pitch, but after 3 solid hours of peering and scrutinizing into every face that passed us by, Yi Pei and I decided that - we're better off spending our time looking at the buildings of the city of Liverpool.

However, they had a lot of good Malaysian food. Including soya bean milk and tau foo fah!
You'd be happy to know I stuffed my face full.

We then marched full swing into the city centre. Presenting :

Liverpool City of Culture 2008.

Apparently they were given this title just so that they can get a huge chunk of money from the government to build up their city.

Build they did.

The opening of Liverpool One, a massive shopping arena has clearly stamped Liverpool as yet another better city to shop in over Edinburgh. Once again, I sigh at the poor shops that Edinburgh has compared to her sister/brother cities.


A huge multi-storey John Lewis, 2 levels of never ending shops (each larger than Edinburgh's shop lots), a top floor of swanky restaurants finished with a built in outdoor garden decorated with the upcoming Christmas fetivities is just what someone needs to have in their city.

I think Edinburgh should get City of Culture 2009. Not only is it chock FULL of culture (yes, my city is actually incredibly cultural), we also lack an Edinburgh One. We NEED an Edinburgh One. Can the Edinburgh City Council please put in a appeal to be City of Culture 2009?

I WANT THAT DAMN EDINBURGH ONE.



I use to highly recommend people to come to Edinburgh during Christmas for we have a Christmas Market that is overunned with goodies and food. Never have I failed to eat the Pork Steak Bun that costs a whooping £5 - yes it is a lot for a BUN! every year( I believe the price goes up with inflation every year though), I also never fail to shiver and shake on the Ferris Wheel that is erected in the middle of the market, just for Christmas.

However, a visit to Manchester's Christmas Market left me thinking - Now, Edinburgh can do with a Christmas Market like this too.


Why?
Because, it has got MORE food! International ones! Ate a smashing paella there which comes from the 'Spanish' part of the market and... WHERE IS THE PAELLA IN EDINBURGH!??


Thank goodness no one can beat Edinburgh's August Fringe Festival or Hogmanay ever. That is one thing I can proudly tell everyone to include in their list of Top 10 Things To Do Before You Die.


Of course, when one is in Manchester, how can you Not make a trip to the famous Old Trafford??


We discovered that the GPS Tom Tom system actually does not list this stadium down in their satelite system! Is it that sacred that its coordinate on the world map has to be removed in order to prevent it from being bombed by terrorists?

Or maybe we were too daft to find it on the extremely high tech GPS gadget.


£8 for students to go on the stadium tour.

You get a free lanyard:


You get to enter the dressing rooms where the players get naked:

They even leave their T-shirst behind

You get to walk down the archway where the players emerge to thuderous applause:


You get to sit and tramp all over the reserve players box:


And you get an interestingly 'gay' tour guide to boot.


What more can you ask for with just £8?!?!?!


Interestingly, Edinburgh is seems quite famous beyond Scotland. So what if Manchester has Old Trafford?

It also has an Edinburgh Bike Shop!


Hooray for Edinburgh!
Make your mark all over England!
Take that you Englishmen!

How To Write An Email

Today, I read something interesting.

Or maybe, my life is so boring that this seemed interesting.

ANYWAY.

An email regarding Email Etiquettes to a certain government body was sent out touching on the correct way to write an email.

I was surprised.

Amazed.

And tickled funny.


Salutation – Please refer us with kinder words and not just “Hi” or Hi there”. Use prefixes such as Mr / En / Tuan / Puan / Cik / Ms / Miss / Sir or Madam. We DO NOT advocate the use of “abang” or “kakak” for its lack of official ness. If you are writing to private e-mails, then the choice is yours but XXX and XXY are official e-mail addresses. If you are unsure as to the officer-in-charge, just write “Dear Sir / Madam”. Please also refer us by our name as we normally do as Malaysians. Unless you are now a real true blue British to the tee, there is no Mr. Razak or Ms. Zatil or Ms. Aishah in this office. We don’t have the practice of surnames in our culture. Don’t be rude.

Well, I have to admit, there is a point.
'Hi' and 'Hi There' is, after all, not very polite when addressing someone official. But the next part - 'there is no Mr. Razak Ms. Zatil or Mr. Aishah in this office.' Now, this makes me laugh.

Why on dear Mother Earth's name can we NOT use Mr. Razak?? Is it Malaysian culture NOT to use surnames???? This really is a first. 19 years in Malaysia, I've never realised that addressing someone as Mr. Abdul is wrong in terms of culture.

And abang and kakak is not official? Yes, it is not. But I'd think it was polite enough. The fact that there is no Mr. Rizal still disturbs me.


Content – Please write in full and clear sentences. You can use either English or BM in your e-mail to us. What we will not tolerate is abbreviated words in e-mails, as what you’d normally use in SMSes. Examples are “r u” or “ x pe” or “b4” or “y ct n g x plaks nk cum 2 c u @ bs“ or “i 1 2 c u @ p g da”. We don’t understand these and we will not try to assume to understand it also. We will totally ignore, from now, e-mails written in such. So, please make sure you write clearly what you want us to read.

BOL.

I only got as far as b4 and did not understand anything else after that.

i fr kl but 2 bad i x tau pe yg ditulis.

Wait, is that even correct abbreviation?

And hello, SMS is an abbreviation lorh. Sorry, I do not advocate the rest of what you've written either because I do not understand what SMS is in the first place.

Signing-off – It doesn’t hurt a bit to say “Thank you” before you sign off. That’s good mannerism, which we believe you have been taught by your school / parents. Please give them some justice and honor. For those with family names, please also write your name as you normally write them in Malaysia as your records are written in the same. For example, it’s “Yap Ah Loy” not “Ah Loy, Yap”. Please also write your IC, major and university so that we do not have to cross refer your name every time we receive your e-mail. With your e-mail address with names like “angels”, “death”, “Satan”, “handsome”, “baby”, etc, we need everyone to sign-off with their recognizable name.

Tsk. Tsk.
Fancy people having to remind you about mannerisms. How many formal letters and speeches did you have to write before you sat for your SPM? And you can't even say thank you. But what makes it even funnier is that you need someone to remind you to give your parents and school.... *drumroll*.... justice and honour. BOL. Again.

When I first came, I was confused with how your surname goes to the back instead of the front. NO, my first name is NOT Kar. It is Kar Ying. Heck that is not even it. It is Rachel. But because of how it is written on my birth cert, my first name is now Kar.
And yes, I have to admit, I do not like people using their name as Hor Lick, Cheng either. I'd prefer Cheng Hor Lick.
But fancy not being able to recognise someone because of how they write their name. If I wrote Hor Lick Cheng with No comma, fair enough but if it's Hor Lick, Cheng, surely my dear, surely, you'd be able to interpret it immediately as Cheng Hor Lick, the Malaysian way? You are, after all.....





wait for it...







wait for it....







Malaysian!!!
So hard to understand meh!?

The last sentence - with names like 'angels', 'death', 'Satan' etc... is classic.

I think I will learn from now on, that there is no Ms. Hung in Malaysian culture, saying thank you is mandatory and also, Kar Ying Hung is not acceptable as I am Hung Kar Ying. My email address wintersnow@xx.com is also not representative of who I am hence please contact me only at rachelhky@xx.com, which is... Wait. Not representative of me either.


Thank you very much indeed.

PCCF Welcome Evening 2008

This happened so long ago, I've almost forgotten all the minute details.
But considering I only have space in my memory for things that are purely for entertainment purposes and nothing else, I suppose I can still search and draw out what this evening was about.

With the start of the new fiscal year, every society will have some sort of welcome thing for the new students.

Ok, for the uninformed, PCCF stands for Pollock Chinese Christian Fellowship and yes, it's a CF group.

I remember way back in 1st year when every welcome event was so unfamiliar - to the point that it scored hardly any storage points in the vast emptiness of the hard disk embedded in my skull.

Then 2nd year came, and it was much better since I got to be involved in preparing stuff for the juniors.
We did Stephen Chow's Shaolin Soccer.

Vivien dressed very convincingly as the 'Pau Cho Po' from the movie.

I was part of the Axe Gang and was supposed to go and bully the girl that Stephen Chow eventually comes and save...

Yau yeng sial

From left, Ricky as the guy who sells Stephen Chow the book of kungfu, Nellie as the girl he saves, MeiFong as Ah Jane, Karen as I cannot remember, Alvin as the noodle seller, Yu Yet as the gay tailor, WeiPing as Stephen Chow, Vivien as above, Alison, our director and the rest of the Axe Gang crew. My hair then seriously can throw into the rubbish bin.


The day ended with God's message delivered to all involved.

It was good.

It was electrifying.

It was the beginning of my career in theatre performance.





Leading into 3rd year, that is 2006, I played the starring role of the sketch. Sort of like Sharpay Evans from High School Musical. Know her?

Like So Totally.

I am THAT GOOD.




Or so I dreamed.




Sad to say, I was not involved in any way.
Hence, I am not going to blog about it, since I do not know much about it.
It was about The Pirates of the Carribean and that is as much as I know.

Fast forward to 2007 and 4th year landed me the role of director for that year's play.
Now, I really should come clean about this.
First of all, the representatives from my year at PCCF boils down to almost zero when I was in 2nd year.
Friday nights were spent having dinners, parties or in clubs. I truly repent for what I have done (not in a biblical way) and can assure everyone that I am now fully grown up and mature although you are very welcome to invite me to your dinner/party/club night if you are having one. I will dig deep into myself and bring out my then 19 year old self.
Fine. 20 year old.

When 3rd year came, something clicked and I decided that I should really frequent PCCF more. So I did but still my presence wasn't obvious enough. I blame it to the fact I didn't get to play Sharpay in the sketch.

So, as director for the PCCF Welcome Evening 2007, I enlisted the help of a million people to do my bidding and every whim.
I really am quite good in that. I also managed to rope in another friend to share the burden and so I shall not claim all the credit. I was co director.
Based on Disney's Mulan, the story revolved around Mulan substituting her dad for war (if you don't know the story, please Shoot. Your. Self. Right. Now.) and that emulates how God gave his Son to die for us.
Yes, that is how great our God is.

And this is how I forced everyone to practise and practise.

Blow you down show. Yes it was.
Do you have any idea how much work I put into it? And the fact that the week after the show was my Obs and Gynae exam, the most infamous exam of medical school as the amount to study is gi-normous?!
No you don't have any idea.
Not at all.
When you are up to HERE with editing and creating videos from Windows Movie Maker only to have your computer hang ever so often, when you attend all practices to make sure your actors are perfect (yes, I AM A PERFECTIONIST) and when you need to liase with everyone and send out 100 emails or so to ensure everything runs smoothly...

No you don't have any idea At All.

But God is Good and He has blessed me with a lot of things in life. Including making me enjoy doing what I do and getting through exams up until this point.

The 2 directors at the left with the Emperor and Shih Fu, his minister. My hair is better. Much, much better.

Dancing our way into 'We Are All In This Together'

Yay!

Come 5th year, my presence in PCCF was pretty much consolidated that I was the only person from my year that most frequently attended CF every Friday. And that speaks a lot. Since I am ever ready to give up the night for some party or other (of course with feeling a lot of guilt).

Once again, I took on the background role of helping the two directors plan, direct and edit videos.
Now at this juncture of my life, I really started questioning myself.
Am I Not good enough to act? To perform? To take centre stage? Why am I always the one at the background helping to make the thing work!?!?!?!
But then it struck me.
Of course. The directors get the biggest cut of the pay. The producers are the richest of them all. We are the boss.

I am destined for greater things.
Other minions, Bow to ME

So this year's theme was based on the Prodigal Son. A famous bible story, we adapted it to modern day settings (well, not me, but the directors whom if you look at it the way I put it, are my bosses) where the Char Keuy Teow seller's son wants his share of the fortune.

Thou shalt not look down on a Char Keuy Teow seller as he is very rich.

This time around, everything was based on a flashback, so one can view the whole show on YouTube.

Sam, our main actor, winner of the PCCF Oscar Awards for Best Actor.

The Opening:


I Want My Share:


SCAM Cheats Him:


Girls are Dangerous. Very Dangerous.


So is gambling:


A Hunted Man:


The Lowest Point of His Life:


The Return of The Son:


For What Was Lost is Now Found:



God's love is like any father's; he will always be ready to forgive and accept you back into his life.

"For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life" John 3:16

Short of helping out in the making of the videos and also being in the play itself on that day, I also baked.

Full fat, pure calories and sugary sweet goodness.

Life's too short not to get fully involved in things other than studies, and life is way, way, way too short not to indulge in sweet buttery fattening muffins.

I Love Michael Urie

Who is Michael Urie?
Marc St. James from the ABC drama series Ugly Betty.

Now, I'd watched quite a lot of American drama series's ... series?... seriess?... what's the plural for series? - over the past 5 years since I set foot on British soil. On top of my regular doses of TVB chinese drama, my free time here is pretty much 99.9% dependent on my laptop and internet connection for obtaining all these sacred episodes of entertainment.

However, while TVB dramas finish as soon as they start, American dramas go on forever, with new seasons starting every year.
And although admittedly I have not watched absolutely every American drama (sorry, British dramas are crap to boot), to choose the best among the ones I have seen, Ugly Betty wins - hands down.


Spin off from Columbian soap Betty La Fea (which I remember watching one solitary episode when I was in secondary school) Ugly Betty encompasses the subset of the population that I so often dream of - glitterati living in the Big Apple where high street fashion comes for free, raking in the cash by looking pretty and top to toe perfect, attending dazzling parties where they serve you champagne in crystal vials, living in unbounded luxury, moving with the pumping pace of city life and at the same time loving everything you do.

It's all about the adrenaline rush baby.
And I did mention in my past posts that I am superficial.
Accept It.

But of course, in reality, I am so much more down to earth hence I am doing medicine in the small city of Edinburgh, stuck building castles in the air with my trusty old laptop while the hairs on my arm stand as straight as they can to conserve as much heat as possible in my small 5x15 foot box room which coincidentally masquerades as my bedroom.

Wait, isn't this post about how much I love Michael Urie?

Oh ho, yes.

I've never heard of him up til I started on Ugly Betty and by my standards of definition, he is one of the best actors I have ever come across.

Or maybe it's just that I love that style of humour which is what Marc essentially is in the series.

Marc's Best Bits.




I've dissected and squinted at his humour sense under the microscope from all angles, stained it with all types of dyes/contrast materials and have narrowed it down to the essential facts of why I love him. I believe it is the facial expression, the voice, the up and down of his tone punctuating all the correct syllables and also his dramatic perfectly poised actions - ahem...Swishy.



Poor baby.
He tries to convince Betty to be his girlfriend to meet his mom. So they practice knowing each other's backgrounds.



"But I fell in love with you because of ... all that inner beauty crap"
Now, THAT is what I call - hitting the nail on the head.


"Marc, are you sure this is going to convince your mom that you are straight?"
Ever had gay friends?
No?
Sad.

But I like him gay. I really, really do. It adds to all that silliness and slapstick humour that is just what we all need in our mundane life.

Sorry if you don't get my drift, that is why I am me and you are you.

Now let's see, one of the best episodes of Ugly Betty is the marriage of Wilhemina (played by Vanessa Williams, and I really love her too, only a fraction less than Marc) to Bradford, and they have Posh Spice and Vera Wang on board.

They also had Lindsay Lohan in another episode, I mean, how many soaps have you come across with snippets of different celebrities all for free?? (since I download my episodes for free) None!



Obviously Vera Wang made the dresses lah. What for would they need her?

See, I should be a world famous designer too and make my debut in a series like Vera did and with my grace and captivating personality, I'll land myself in a fat juicy role and burst to stardom like America Ferrera (Ugly Betty herself) despite not being typical Hollywood stick thin nor flawless face. I can do it too!

Or, I can focus on passing my finals in June so I can submit my life to humanitarian needs, healing the sick and fighting for world peace.

Back to Ugly Betty,
due to some boo-boo (watch the episode yourself), Amanda (another person who is the reason why 16 year old girls die from aneroxia nervosa but so what, I like her acting and her body for that matter) was forced by Marc to sing during the wedding.




"Now, singgg biitch..."

OMG.

I wish I can act like that.
Classic.
Such a fresh breath of air in this world of profanities and crudeness.

*snap fingers*

Love It.

Birthday Cakes

I know.

My birthday was over 1 month ago or something. But I thought I just had to post up all the pretty pictures of the cakes that had the pleasure of occupying my fridge during the short few days of its lifespan.

Kai Lin's Tiramisu Cake
recipe from thepioneerwoman.com
Could not find ANY savioradi lady's fingers from the shop around my flat so settled with Tesco's flan cake which tasted like cardboard. But overall, not bad recipe.

Sorry it's takken with a flash.

Phey Ming's Chocolate Cake
Told myself I will make a cake for each of my flatmates this year. Managed to make one in time for Kai Lin but unfortunately, not in time for the other flatmate (as she came back one day earlier than expected from her peripheral attachment. So not my fault ok)
Therefore, this cake was bought from Tesco

We decorated it ourselves.

Phey Ming's Pandan Layer Cake
recipe from my junior Peipei at flower-monster.blogspot.com
Too much pandan essence in the jelly/kaya part. But the sponge bit was alright.

Lol. Was too excited to try the cake that I forgot to take a picture of it assembled.

All The Cakes During Our Combined Dinner Celebration

Baked by Su Ping. Absolutely decadent.

Diabetic chocolate cake from Double Dutch

Another cake - a blueberry cheesecake, also from Double Dutch

My Other Various Cakes

From Fisher's In The City

From WyKeat


Chocolate cake from Kai Lin

I think I last weighed 100 kg 2 months ago.

Checked yesterday and I've actually touched 150.

Thanks for the cakes guys. Thanks.