Merdeka

Merdeka...this year national day means many things to me.

I was woken up by phone call from parents, on Merdeka day, also marked my first day of bum. I basically quit without having much clue on what I am to do in terms of making money for the next one month, and the month after...

My parents told me I don't have to call home while I'm bumming, they would call me on my mobile to save me phone bill, I was touched.

The offers are there, the job market is not short of offers. I was contemplating, for the first time in my life, that I should just try out in the clerical department. I have been dealing with businesses that have little to so with who I am.

We'll see how long I'd last the bumming.

Soul Doc's Fashion 101 Part Two

Tired of keeping clothes I didn't throw out to sell during my recent sale, these are clothes with potential when I first bought them (the NEW-item potential) and then weeks later found themselves taking a back seat in the wardrobe.

I gotta do them (or my money) justice. Out came my trusted pair of scissors.

The results:

My latest look is high neckline and low back, so I cut up my pale red soft cotton tee, from a Bossini-looking round neck short sleeve tee, to a sleeveless n low back tee...the `casual-cut' by my `free-hand' gives it the grungy look. When you can't have perfection, give it a casual edgy cut.

Next creation is my SEED 80's bat wing top. I love its soft rayon-cotton material and its darkish pink color...the thing is, the long sleeves and high neckline are all too `stuffy' for me now. I kept the neckline, slit the sleeves up for about 3 1/2 inches for that butterfly look. Not satisfied, I cut a hole from the shoulders to just above the elbow, tata, a home-made new top, a sexy boat neck blouse with 80's bat wing, sexy shoulder-arm holes and fancy sleeves.

The last creation before I hit the bed with exhaustion was this dirty-yellow low scoop neck long sleeve top with a huge sewn in corsage, Lycra n rayon I believe. Decided I would keep the sleeves, will push to elbow for a less geeky look. I cut off the waist band that was running the risk of making my less-fit tummy very visible.

Tip: covering your weakness does not always make it less visible, sometimes you expose the weak point even more if you are covering the wrong way, ie. tight Lycra over your fats.

Tip: you can easily change the entire look of a piece by simply cutting off an inch here or there, eg. hem lines, sleeves, neckline. Grown bigger in the hips? Cut off the jeans waist band to fit again.

Tip: the natural `free hand' cut with a pair of scissors will give the garment an edgy casual look, it's a fantastic way to immediately `dress down' any item that look too dressy for its own good, eg. you feel uncomfortable wearing a fully-sequined blouse to go out, try this method to make it look dress BUT chic-casual.

Tip: keep a collection of normal safety pins AND fancy ones, in various sizes to work as both decorative item and a functional safety pin, for that fancy blouse that you think it's showing too much cleavage, try pinning the sides from the inside of blouse to tighten it. I learned this one from my 20-year-old Brazilian model: tighten a tank top or a singlet's waist by using a safety pin, pin the back of the top from the inside, at waistline area. Use a fancy one you can tell people you reinvented the tank.

Tip: lost one of your favourite vintage earrings? Use the one left as a brooch, on suitable jackets, dresses, tops, mind the material of the clothes.

Now don't come and tell me you don't have anything to wear.

If you insist you have nothing good to throw on for that hot date or girls night out, give me a buzz for some ideas, or come shop at my next Jumble Sale for The Bold n Fashionable.

Jumble Sale for the Bold n Fashionable

I vacuumed my apartment three times in the period of two days. Got up early on Sunday morning and fussed over my merchandises for over an hour....by nine twenty I was whining to sweet J that my fantastic work of turning the apartment to the chic-est boutique was going to go to waste if no one turned up.

He said he would gladly buy everything off me and I can invite all the girls to come and pick their freebies.

SM and ST finally came round ten am, she picked up my fave knee-length Audrey-like little black dress I used to wear a lot, a pink top I bought for my mom in HK who complained the neckline was too low and passed it to my sister who passed it back to me, and also a leather bag I bought about 6 years ago in Amcorp Mall's glorious years of very-authentic-flea-market.

After they left, I ate my breakfast with sweet J who was talking me into renting a whole apartment by myself and set the place to an appointment-basis second hand clothes haven.

Sweet idea, can consider....

While I slouched and wonder when the door bell would ring again, it did. Girls!!! Two of them outside the door, I checked out their styles immediately and was quite sure they would find their treasure in my goods.

Who said they didn't? We quickly make friends and soon we were having a fashion forum in my room which was the fitting room for the day, I watched them change in and out of different styles of dresses and skirts and compared notes. They were both my age and from Taiping too!!!!!!

They took a small pile of clothes each and paid very good price for them. I tell you there's nothing sweeter than giving my customers the same satisfaction I get in buying nice clothes in very very good prices.

Empress was the next to arrive after my Taiping counterparts left. Within minutes, Y from office also arrived and things just couldn't get any better from then. Y picked up a huge pile of clothes to try on and I was the default shopping consultant, how easy.

It was a really good clothes-n-girls party.

The ever funny Z showed up with the appropriate party tools - cakes from Strudels and soft drinks. She lounged with sweet J by the couch who was possessed by his computer game Blood Rayne. Since Z wasn't shopping she became my moderator for price tagging, though I always go to her for the nod or look of approval two seconds two late -- after I tell my buyers my price -- should have logged in Z's price before I throw my quotes to buyers.

Of course then the queen of them all for the day arrived with her mom who was in the same league as the daughter in the department of dressing and shopping. Signal Master and mom got into the serious business of trying on A LOT of clothes very quickly. I was so glad that my collection of Chinese silk blouses found a fan, the mom bought one of them she fitted nicely and also this very very eccentric see-thro dress I thought I would never find the next owner, also taken by her was my funky bright orange kitten heels.

(look out for pictures from this party)

Signal Master had a small mountain of clothes in my room, while she tried on all the clothes with the door opened (so that I could give her comments on how she looked in each of them) I `entertained' the folks with my next operatic number, Barber Serville's Una Voce.

When S Master was finally done...not true, she was not really done until she walked out of the apartment. I needed one whole page of my note book to calculate her total damage. Every items were in a small army, bunches of blouses, skirts, shoes, accessories, bags, pants....reminded me of my shopping at SPCA, except this is way better quality.

Y and Empress watched S Master settled her accounts with me and left for their appointments. Empress to her day-two dance competition and Y to home...

Oh ya, I received an sms from Y at 2am this morning telling me to bring her the two shirts she contemplated buying at my place.

Z stayed back to the party of three when others left with their goods. Sweet J was getting stoned from playing with monster with huge tits on his notebook. We stopped the music and switched to Animal Planet for a change.

We moved the party of three which turned four (C happened to be around there) to The Curve's O' Brien. Sweet rewards of salads in wraps and wasabi-flavoured chips with diet Coke.

Will deal with the leftover merchandises tonight and decide on my next sale. So look out you girls who missed the party....it might be a car-boot sale on a good windy day or it could be a store in some flea markets. It will come again.

The Sky Is Crazy

Yvonne Lee - The Sky Is Crazy

At last!

It's out in the stands and MPHs, my sister's collection of funny stories from the sky is ready for grabs. The Sky Is Crazy is a first of its kind book -- first anthology of `plane crazy' stories about planes, and life as a stewardess.

If you would like to be the first to interview the author, email her for appointment.

Her first one at One Utama, Aug 14



To meet her in person, her readings would be at these sesssions:

Aug 27 (Sat) - 3pm @ Subang Parade MPH

Aug 28 (Sun) - 2-5pm @ One Utaman MPH (new wing) with other local writers

Aug 31 (Tues) - 3pm @ Mid Valley Megamall MPH (with suprise guest appearance)

My Sister The Writer

Kids these days grow up on TGVs, KFCs, computers, DVD players, roller-heel-shoes (what the hell you call those annoying shoes?), MTV, Astro....the list is long and you know it.

I have no regrets that I grew up with plastic dolls (no Barbie, very expensive la), a family TV where I watched most English TV shows not knowing half the dialogues, and most importantly, I grew up with lots of books, and with my siblings who love reading.

My sister borrowed books from library and from friends, my dad bought books for my brother, I survived on my twice a week trip to the school library and new books I bought with my dad's money, of course. We read at meals, in front of TV, before bed, in the bus...

That's a far cry to what my sister can afford these days. She went on from borrowed books to winning prizes for writing. Remember Dewan Siswa? In secondary school she was the only Chinese chick back then to get that second place in one writing competition.

When she was flying with the airline after her music school stint, other stewardesses would shop till they dropped while my sister ventured the foreign land snapping pictures and later on turned them into travelling stories for magazines and papers.

After the babies arrived, she juggled babysitting and writing. I remember the trips I made for her to submit her pictures at the local paper office. Many times I get calls from friends telling me, "Your sister's article out today in xxxx."

Well, after her many folders stuffed with clippings of her published work, finally, my sister has arrived at her first book. A book! The book, is for another post, The Sky Is Crazy.

Jumble Sale @ Soul Doc's

Finally, my very own jumble sale, in my flat!

I have very good reasons for organising this over-due jumble sale party:

1) My flat mates are leaving for NZ today, so I will have the space to myself for the sale

2) I need to make room for clothes in my limited wardrobe space.

3) A few bucks won't hurt -- part of my Booker-retirement-fund-raising campaign

Date: Aug 21st, 2005 (Sunday)

Time: 9am - 2pm

Location: pls call me 012 378 3730 for full address

Items on sale:

relatively new and VERY interesting wardrobe
accessories -- earrings, shades
bags
shoes
books
mags

If you think you have comparably interesting clothes or accessories for swap, bring them with you!

Bring your girlfriends!

Call 012 378 3730 or email soul.doc.lee@gmail.com for direction and details.

See you @ the sale!

Bye Bye Glitter-land

I said to myself, "Finally, my first glam freebie on the job."

I stared at the immaculately chiffon little black dress, Christian Dior, price, RM 3840...packed in the most wonderful Dior dress-protector. Knee length cocktail dress, crinkled chiffon and a satin dusky pink waist band.

Heavenly.

Of course about 5 minutes later when I woke up the dress was gone too.

Not only the dress wasn't there in my Dior-free room, the clock showed I should have gotten up about 20 minutes ago.

That dream was especially longer than usual, the funny thing was that I woke up twice in between and drifted back to it and the story continued.

Boss and I were on a out of town assignment, running a Dior show (coincidentally there are two Dior shows in Starhill this week) in a beautiful resort. We were put in a tropical style resort with lots of green and I remember the food was super and there was no haze.

Prior to the show rehearsal and meeting with my first Dior dress, we were invited to a private screening of a movie (I can't remember which) in the resort. I remember going to the toilet and later had to look for my boss in the darkened cinema.

And I remember my boss reminded me to pay attention at the backstage while cuing models to go on stage...after the movie.

Bla bla bla

I wonder how long more I will dreaming about the agency work....after I leave the agency.

This month end, no more frantic calls to models, speed sms to models....calls after 10pm, mile-long sms(es)...

Now, now, I better answer nature call before I get too late for my rehearsal...

Friday's Life Philosophy

Friday is never ever a depressing day...so it proves

IW: how u?
Soul Doc: ok not bad
IW: hey what do you do to keep your energy up?
Soul Doc: physical energy you mean?
IW: all kinds of energy
Soul Doc: i'm generally quite positive...recent years
Soul Doc: since with J, i dun mean to give him so much credit, but its a feeling
Soul Doc: so...
IW:awww
Soul Doc: and also...it's in my personality, am easily impressed, and easily pleased, sucker
IW: lol awww.
IW: you're notlah
Soul Doc: and i dun think about my future, not to say its a good thing but its why i dun get depressed
IW: you're too streetwise
Soul Doc: hahaha
Soul Doc: so funny
Soul Doc: if i really look at my life and what i have, maybe i will get depressed, in the security and material sense
IW: living in the present, like spiritual teachings
Soul Doc: but if i see what i really have, the non-material front, i'm damn lucky
Soul Doc: all the boho thinking keep me happy
Soul Doc: not necessarily wise but am happy for now
Soul Doc: (against what my parents advise --- work hard now and enjoy future)
Soul Doc: waaa…. i can talk so much so fast
IW: LOL
IW: well, the way I see it, you have all the ingredients for happiness
IW: v lucky
Soul Doc: well
Soul Doc: thats to you
Soul Doc: depends on how ppl measure it
Soul Doc: but i guess sometimes ppl dun see what matters...
Soul Doc: i duno
Soul Doc: i duno whether its a good thing that i dun plan for my future
Soul Doc: to survive you need money, material things
IW: well, depends
IW: of course everyone needs a certain minimum
IW: but after that a lot is extra
Soul Doc: ya…my min is getting higher!!!
IW: I guess it depends on how much a Z3 or Boxter is important to you
IW:hehe yeah I guess the bar does go up
IW: I notice this thing with cars
IW: like ppl checking out the car others drive
Soul Doc:hahaha, stupid
IW: as a measure of their current how-they-doing
Soul Doc: am sure i will die a hippy
Soul Doc: sigh
IW: LOL that's so neat
Soul Doc: i'm lazy = hippy
Soul Doc:hahahah
IW: LOL
Soul Doc: we are still young
Soul Doc: we;ll see when the hippies when grow up
IW: lol yeah I gotta keep reminding myself
Soul Doc:think i will post this in my blog
IW: the original hippies became babyboomers
IW: I think ppl think less about this, when they get busier and on the track to 'success', as in big house, car, money, name etc, 5Cs etc etc ad nauseum
IW: even though they may have thought about it a lot when they were students, then after they acquire everything, they think about it again

Die a hippy, my new motto? I do realise it's getting harder to survive in the world when everyone gets to competitive....I don't have much to my name. The only thing I have my name on it it's my battered SUNNY Boy.

Comes my favourite song...

I've got plenty of nuttin' and nuttin's is plenty for me
I got my sun, got my moon...

Singer Sings The Blues

What do you do when people in your work start stalking your sleep? They come to you every night in your dream...and you wake up feeling like you just came back from work, to get dressed and go to work, again?

At first it was just shows, I dreamed about fashion shows, backstage of a show, etc during my first two months in the agency.

Nowadays I get both my friends and my models in my dream, suppose that's an improvement, haha.

Am getting used to doing my laundry three times a month instead of weekly...good thing I have variety in my wardrobe.

Rehearsals are many now and dinners are hurried meals outside the rehearsal studios or in my car. I prefer eating in my car because it keeps my mind of the fact that my stereo is now gone...besides food tend to taste better when you are busy with steering

Oh, I have my first MP3 player, unfortunately it wouldn't charge on any PC/notebook...and I really hope to send it back to the guy (with bad breathe) who sold me (J, actually) that pricey little gadget...some time this year!

My car is due for a service in the workshop, if I missed my next free Saturday morning, I might have to take leave from work to have it serviced. I'm hoping to have that nailed this Saturday.

Other than these overdue jobs

Sort out photo, make albums, throw out unwanted photos
Sort out wardrobe space for new gowns, give clothes away
Give shoes away, am robbing my flat mates of their deserving rack space
Laundry
Clean the bathroom
Cook the vegetarian stuff mom gave me this Chinese New Year (it's frozen)
Collect my parking deposit in my old office
Collect my stuff in my old office
Dry cleaning my gowns
Filing
Change billing address of for my mobile phone bills
Send the bolero jacket in for alteration
Send my new Beatrice Looi (it's not what you think, it's a sale item) in for alteration

anyway, glad now I have a black n white list of undone-to-list...

Thank God it's Thursday already...