Animal Testing -- STOP!!!

There's a magazine that's been subscribed at work for some of the classes to use. It's called "Present Perfect". So far, there've been two issues and I'm thoroughly enjoying the magazine cos of its lively content and intriguing information that gets me reflecting and thinking about certain issues (I hope the kids react this way too to this wonderful mag). And both the cover and the layout of the articles in the mag are well-designed and appealing because of the pictures and colours.

Anyway, one of the articles I read in the second issue, which surrounds the theme of vanity, evoked pretty strong emotions in me and prompted me to do some further research of my own. It's titled "The Evils of Make-up". I read how cosmetics manufacturers employ inhumane testing tactics on poor defenceless animals. Look at two of the pictures published in the article:

I mean, it's not like this is the first time I've heard of animal testing, but I guess I really never did think too much about it. However, this article has changed my view. Bunnies are subjected to such abhorrent living conditions and puppies are injected repeatedly with chemicals just to test for toxicity. And it's not just these two creatures that suffer at the brutal hands of humans. I read how a certain baboon was impregnated twice and, both times, her babies were infused with chemicals and literally ripped out of her stomach. Caustic substances are dripped into the eyes of conscious animals, which often scream and sometimes break their necks or back trying to escape from the searing pain and torture.

And I'll never forget the videos I saw online in the midst of my quest to find out more. I watched a video taken by this guy who went undercover and worked in an animal testing lab. The video featured a terrified monkey pinned down on a table by strong human hands which injected several substances into its body. In extreme agony, the poor creature started chewing on its own flesh as it started going insane. Just this was enough for me. I couldn't bring myself to watch the rest of the clip.

And the purpose of all these? To make us humans LOOK PRETTY?!!!!!!????

I also came across another video promoting awareness about animal abuse in everyday life. Battered dogs, limbless cats... all of these made me angry. But the one scene that disturbed me greatly was the part in which a chopper was placed against the neck of a tiny white kitten and sliced through its neck, virtually decapitating it. Usually, in movies, I can't stand watching gory scenes and would often close my eyes or turn away, and I utterly regret not doing so at the sight of the kitten. I think I didn't know what to expect at first, and by the time the horror sank in, it was too late.

Back to the make-up issue. I don't deny the fact that I use make-up too, and that's why I'm more determined to stop using my current brands of cosmetics if I find out they're into animal testing. And that doesn't just apply to make-up. Toiletries like shampoo, soap, even toothpaste... Grrrr.... You can be sure I'll be boycotting the brand if I find out they do animal testing!!! I checked out the PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) website and, according to them, the following well-known brands use animals in the development of their products:

1. P&G (includes Head & Shoulders Shampoo)

2. Johnson & Johnson (includes Clean & Clear products)

3. L'Oreal (that includes Maybelline cosmetics, which I used to buy! Argh! But I stopped a couple of years back. Thank goodness.)

4. Colgate-Palmolive

There are many other brands besides these listed on the PETA website, many of which I'm not familiar with or have not heard of, so only picked out the few major ones to list here. If anyone wants to find out more, just go to <http://www.peta.org/> and surf around. You'll find the correct link to click under 'Cruelty-free lifestyle' on this page.

I think consuming animals for food is one thing, but making use of them just to make ourselves pretty is too much. And guess what? No more leather bags for me if I can help it. I'll stick to vegan bags from now onwards. (Good! That also greatly reduces the likelihood of me splurging on a luxury brand now.)

From east to west...

East to west? Have I been travelling? Uh-uh... far from it. I'm referring to the east to west transition in terms of medication that Hubby and I have been taking (so pathetic...)...

First, it's...

...and now...

Sigh. Amazing, right... the amount of medication that's appeared on our kitchen counter top. Anyway, previously I mentioned that Hubby was seeing a Chinese sinseh for his bad cough, but yesterday, he gave up and decided to see the GP downstairs instead cos despite 2 visits to the Chinese sinseh and taking all the TCM he was given, Hubby was still getting no better. In fact, he complained of his cough worsening at times. I'm really hoping that the western medication, with antibiotics and all, would be able to help this time. The doc said it could be one of those more resistant flu bugs that's been pestering Hubby. ;(

I also stopped taking over-the-counter Chinese cough syrup etc. Left work earlier yesterday after conducting all my lessons for the day and went to the clinic near school. Got an MC for today. Wanted to sleep in some more, but couldn't cos of coughing fits that made it impossible for me to rest in bed. Didn't wanna disturb Hubby either, so just got up to scan the papers, do some email work and then blog a bit before proceeding to probably mark assignments for the rest of the day.

Sigh. I know I've been whining and whining about Hubby and me being sick the last few posts, but hey, if we have to suffer and can't do much but wait it out, the least we can do is to whine right?

Stupid, stupid flu bug... stupid, stupid flu bug... stupid, stupid flu bug...

Miserable weekend

Friday evening:

-came home from work - stoned on couch - made dinner for both Hubby and myself - found out I had fever - watched TV - turned in at 10 plus

(middle of the night: Hubby coughing, me nose blocked...)

Saturday:

-Hubby and I woke up tired - Hubby still coughing, me mucus flowing - whole day dunno do what, lazed around, took naps... I wanted to work but no mood cos body so lethargic - went downstairs with Hubby in the evening for his second visit to the Chinese sinseh - watched TV - switched off most of our lights from 8.30pm to 9.30pm to support Earth Hour - slept at 11 plus

(middle of the night: Hubby still coughing, me still nose blocked...)

Sunday:

- I woke up at 8 plus feeling tired but couldn't sleep anymore - bad sore throat - settled down to start preparing lessons for next week, in-between posting messages on my purse forum - Hubby woke up at 11 or so - we had simple breakfast - I continued working, Hubby did some chores - then lunch and a bit of TV - I continued working, with my head continuing to pound since morning - watched some silly videos online - now I'm blogging, Hubby's sitting on couch near me reading and spouting 'nonsense' from time to time - will prepare a simple meal for us again later - and so the evening will go on just like the other 2 previous evenings...

AND THEN IT'LL BE MONDAY.

*scream* I don't want...............!!!!!!!!! What kind of weekend is this????!!! I wanted to relax and go out and even wanted to delight in walking about in the darkened malls at night etc., but it didn't happen at all! Hubby's pretty miserable too... he keeps craving for cold drinks but sinseh already said he couldn't have any... Argh Argh Argh!!! Darn flu bug... this is like the worst flu period ever!

My turn... Ugh...

Now's my turn to be sick... nose blocked and uncomfortable... throat hurts when I swallow or talk... feeling lethargic all over... *groan*

Maybe it's the loss of sleep over the past few nights...maybe it's flu virus from Hubby or colleagues (so many people coughing about)...maybe it's the darn weather... sigh, or maybe it's simply time for me to be sick again. And to think this morning, I was just telling Sophia how 'amazing' it was that Hubby had been down with flu and I hadn't gotten anything yet. Me and my big mouth. *pout*

But tomorrow I can't take MC... so many lessons to cover... so much work to settle... Ugh... Ugh... Ugh... *slump*

Get well soon...

It's past midnight. I'm supposed to be up and ready for another work day in 5+ hours' time, but here I am, sitting before the TV that's showing Blade Trinity and typing on the laptop. All because I took a 2-hour nap earlier this evening and am now pretty much wide awake. Napped for so long even though I didn't intend to cos I didn't have sufficient sleep the past 2 nights. But omg...this will cause me to end up tired again tomorrow cos I won't have enough sleep TONIGHT either. Alamak.

Poor Hubby has been coughing quite a bit. He's down with flu and has been a little feverish the past 2 days or so, but has still been working hard. Bought some cough syrup for him and he just drank a whole bottle of almond drink that's supposed to be good for treating sore throat and cough too. Really hope he gets better soon. Don't like it when he's not well and in any kind of 'suffering'! :(

My first forum!

It's happening-- this hopeless bag addict named yours truly has taken her bag insanity level up a notch. Yes, I'm now an official member of the above forum as of 5.32pm, 22 March 2008. Hubby's been a loyal member of his precious watch forum since August last year, but it never occurred to me till yesterday that I could also share my little passion for bags with fellow bag-lovers out there in the same way! Haha... guess this move was triggered off by the fact that I had been unable to acquire the Burberry bag which I had been checking out at various stores on Saturday-- it's simply too expensive even though I love it! I know that if I were to really buy that bag, I'd be suffering from 'heart pain' for ages (better learn from my previous Burberry bag purchase a long time ago :p).

I know I amused Hubby last night cos when I started posting stuff onto the forum, I kept checking and checking, hoping for response from others. Things kicked off slowly, so I was a little disappointed at first, but when I started seeing replies from other members of the forum, I got more thrilled and was eager to read them. Plus I couldn't stop going "heeeeheeeheee...." each time I viewed a new reply from someone. Think I must have behaved quite silly to a more 'experienced' forum-goer like Hubby. Haha!

Sun with Moon Japanese cuisine rocks!

Sigh... absolutely adore this place. It's the Sun with Moon Japanese Dining & Cafe @ Wheelock Place. Elegant decor. Cosy ambience. Spacious Layout. Gorgeous food presentation. Yummy savoury dishes. Pretty desserts. What else can one diner ask for? :P

Last Saturday, Hubby and I just popped by this place for lunch once we reached town. Basically we were in a celebratory mood, especially with regards to shopping, cos I'd just found out about my performance bonus the day before (am glad to know that I've made progress in this area, cos it reflects my work performance too). ;) Yum yum... look at what we had...

Top row (left to right): A sushi & tempura set that Hubby ordered, my Hokkaido ramen and gyoza set, and a close look at the gyozas! Gee, never imagined gyozas could look like these. :p They tasted bland on their own, but dip them in the sauce provided and oomph! Savoury treat!

Bottom row (left to right): The fat scallops and slabs of salmon that Hubby seemed to be lusting after as we sat facing it at the sushi bar counter in the restaurant, oh and the pretty chawanmushi in a mini claypot thingy that came with some thick gravy with bamboo shoot, carrot and some veggies. Pour it over the steamed egg, and you get the last pic! Fun! Hee.

We didn't order any desserts but I caught a glimpse of the slice of what looked like a blueberry cheesecake that the couple next to us had. It came on a pretty dish covered with a delicate mini bird cage of some sort! Really lovely... I adore how the food is so creatively displayed to whet our appetite even further. ;)

Well, despite us not getting much shopping done in the end -- the things we had aimed for were either too expensive (that's mine) or didn't fit the feet (that's Hubby's) -- at least we had a nice meal!

Beebee hurray!

Hehe... today Beebee came over, mainly for another cheesecake experiment (but also to raid our games cabinet and both our CD and DVD racks as usual :p). Anyway, in the early afternoon, we went over to Cold Storage at West Coast Plaza to buy the ingredients for a plain, simple cheesecake. Think our chunky Oreo cheesecake experiment the other time provided a lesson to learn from, so Beebee decided to keep things basic this time. ;P

Ta-da! Here's the cheesecake -- I tasted a bit of it after a few hours of setting it in the fridge, and it's pretty okay. It's cheesy but quite light in taste, nothing too rich, and the crust is of course perfect, since we bought the ready-made one this time...heh.

I also managed to cajole Beebee into buying "Cooking Dash" for me from Popular bookstore! It's a form of repayment for using our Norton anti-virus software on her new netbook. Heh, must train Little Sis to be financially independent mah. Like Sally Salon, this time management game is really fun to me! Hee... it's actually the first PC game I got since Hubby bought me my first DS years ago. Too bad there's no news of this game being produced for NDS, so there's no point waiting anymore. And now, the game's installed in our laptop at home so I can finally play through all the stages! Wheeee! ;D

Beebee hurray!

Our 3rd Wedding Anniversary

Special number today = 3! 3 years of marriage... on 3:16... ;) 3 years might seem short to many couples who've been together for decades, but in the case of a relatively 'young' person like me (hey, at least I'm still in my 20s ok :p), 3 years of marriage does sound like quite a solid period of time, especially to my single friends. Hey, but if we count our dating years, it'd be like SEVEN years loh... haha. I'm only glad to say that although Hubby and I have had our fair share of differences these past few years (which couple doesn't, right?), we've always been able to make up or work it out with each other after that, and there were certainly many more lovely times than not-so-nice ones! :) So I'm definitely looking forward to many more times when Hubby and I can say "Happy Wedding Anniversary" to each other. ^_^

Initially, Hubby and I hadn't planned on getting any gifts for each other this year, but cos Hubby was feeling better from his recent flu over the weekend and well enough to go out to town, we ended up buying each other something that counted as our anniversary gift. The best part is, we got each other the item of our endless passion! Heehee.

Hubby got...

A Locman watch! We went to the Cortina Watch Sale at their office at Ngee Ann City and browsed about for good deals. They had watches on up to 70% discount. Actually most of the watches were those really expensive ones, costing like tens of thousands, but there were also the more affordable ones that we were looking out for. Was quite pleased when Hubby tried this one on eventually cos I really think it looks good, especially the metal chain strap. Discount we got off the normal retail price? About 66%! Not bad ya? ;D

I got...

Another Tommy Hilfiger bag! Hohoho...love the broad base and the classic shape -- it's not too big yet can accommodate what I usually have out with me -- umbrella, book, wallet, waterbottle etc. Also love the flower stitches and the checkered thick hem at the bag opening. Happened to notice also that same day that Kate Spade also has a bag of this size, shape and flower designs, but I don't think paying a few hundred bucks for it is worth it. Tommy's good! Nice and not too pricey, like I always say. Am very pleased with this buy, cos I get a new bag without breaking my "No more buying of bags" rule for myself! Haha. Thank you, Hubby! ;)

Another purchase @ Fancl

Yaaaay!!! Happy happy... March holiday's here! Finally, after ten weeks of craziness and non-stop energy-sapping work, I get a short break for a week. Though I still have to be at work for meetings and CCA etc, plus I probably have to spend many hours marking stacks and stacks of dated assignments, it's still better than not having a break from school at all. At the very least, I don't have to crawl outta bed at an inhumane hour as I do 5 times a week. ~AAArrrgH~ The thought of having to do this always makes me taste dread.

Went down to Fancl for my second eyebrow trimming session this year -- yes yes, it's been almost 2 months since I last got them trimmed and they were starting to become "mao sheng" again, as Beebee would say :p -- and guess what? I ended up with my second purchase there this year.

Hehe, Stephanie served me some pure green tea and then some green tea with brown rice brew. Really loved the latter cos it smells so fragrant and is refreshingly different from normal green tea. I usually buy green tea in tea bag form, but this one by Fancl comes in sachets of powder made by grinding the essence of green tea leaves and brown rice so it's supposedly more nutritious than if it were simply brewed from the tea leaves in the bags.

So... I bought it. Heh, didn't even hesitate. I like drinking such non-sweet tea plus this one's really special, so I knew it wouldn't go to waste since I'd enjoy drinking it. It expires in another 3 months though, so I think I'll share it with people around me. Don't mind helping Stephanie 'promote' her product since she's such a nice lady. ;)

Oh ya, while she was trimming my brows, Benedict Goh stepped into the store with Lin Meijiao and Constance Song. Hehe, Stephanie was the one who alerted me and asked me to quickly open my eyes to see them up close. Yeah, they were just a few steps away from me, looking at some Fancl products on the shelf. Found out that Constance Song is a regular user of Fancl products although it's the first time she patronised the outlet at Jurong Point. Benedict Goh looked just as he looks on TV while Lin Meijiao looked really petite to me. But maybe that's cos she was standing next to the tall Constance Song, who appeared really elegant in a silk nude blouse with frills, basic black skirt and heels. Like French lady! Heh.

Ok lah, that's all for today. Holiday, here I come! ;D

Cupcakes!

Tada!!!...check out these cupcakes... aren't they gorgeous? ;)

Sophia surprised me with these at work today. She said she'd bought these cutie cupcakes at one of the Crystal Jade bakeries. I never knew that Crystal Jade made such pretty cupcakes! According to her, there are lots of other designs too. I'm not particularly fond of cupcakes, but I love how these two look! Haven't tasted them yet (aiyo, they're so cute that I can't bear to sink my teeth into them :p), but when I opened the pack, I could smell strawberry and white chocolate. Sweeeeeeet!!! ^_^

It's certainly amazing how something as small as this managed to brighten up what would otherwise be an almost dull workday for me, since I woke up feeling kinda under the weather this morning. Just staring at them made me feel like I was a little girl reliving my childhood fairytale fantasies again...haha. I'm definitely going to pay more attention to cupcakes when I go past Crystal Jade bakeries in future! ;D

Adidas Eau de Toilette

After a week of trial use, it's confirmed... my new fragrant pal is Fruity Rhythm by Adidas!

Heh, since I started my career, I'd been using perfumes of the more expensive range eg. Hermes, Burberry, DKNY etc. But since I wanted to reduce my expenses, I thought I'd give cheaper brands a chance. And boy, am I glad I did! Discovered this fragrance that promises a fruity scent that lingers through the day (Yep, can still catch a whiff of it at the end of a long work day ^_^). I like such scents, so this was a really wonderful find for me cos it comes with a shower gel at just slightly more than $20, about 8-9 times less than what I used to pay for branded perfumes. This series also comes in other fragrances -- think I shall go play with testers next time just to see what else smells good. Really worth buying! :D

At long last!!!

Yipppeeeee....!!! It's here, it's here... it's finally HERE!!!

I'm ecstatic cos I've been hoping and waiting to get this game since I knew it was gonna be developed for NDS last year. I first fell in love with this game when I played it online. It's a time management game, like Diner Dash, Fitness Dash, Cake Mania etc. I luuurrrrve time management games! When I played this online for free, I enjoyed it so much that I told myself that if this ever were made into a NDS game, I'd get it! And my wish came true....Hooray!

Oh but it wasn't easy to find this game. Many game stores I checked out locally did not carry this in stock, and about a month back, I finally found Funzcentre @ AMK Hub that initially carried the game, but... was outta stock... =.=!!! They even said something about this game being outta stock for a while in the States. Whoa! Didn't know it was so hot. Anyway, I left my number with the good people there and they SMSed me a few days ago saying they managed to get some sets in, so I got them to reserve one for me and went down to collect it yesterday. Cleared some levels last night and this morning too. Wah, think it's so satisfying playing this game, especially since I know how hard it is to get it. Heehee.

We also got another NDS game that's supposedly a hit in Japan, titled Tsumiki. Hubby and I both believe that whatever's hot in Japan has gotta be good! Haha... and Hubby also got Resident Evil on Xbox. So guess what we'd be doing today once we get our work or chores out of the way? Yeah...hello GAMES' DAY!!! ;D

Another addition to the watch family...

Hubby and I went to Jurong Point yesterday afternoon for some shopping, and Hubby ended up with an unexpected purchase right at his first stop, which was (what else???!!) a watch shop.

With the recession, lots of stores are now selling their items at large discounts and, even though he hadn't planned on buying any watches yesterday, Hubby was tempted into getting one watch that caught his eye -- it's what some would call the "Monster Lite" by Seiko. Actually am quite glad for him that he managed to add to his watch collection at a really good price. Should have seen the ultra-gleeful look on his face when he got the watch!

It's the second watch Hubby purchased this year... let's see how many more will come. Guess it's really true when they say that the best time to shop is during a recession! :p