Bali

I leave for Bali tomorrow!

Some "unorthodox" things in my suitcase:

1. Angel wings - for the Halloween party we are going to.

2. A black Adidas backpack - I'm going trekking (whaaa?? K? You? Nature? Since when??). I have not carried a backpack since 10th grade. Adidas has overthrown Kate Spade in this round, and I feel stupid. Might as well make me wear dorky glasses, braid my hair and put me in lace up canvas shoes!

3. Mosquito Repellent - I know this is a norm for most people, but I usually tend to visit places with civilization. I'm not a nature girl as much...

4. Flashlight - Did I mention I'm going trekking on Mt. Batur at 3 fucking am? That's about the time I go to bed on Saturday night!

I am totally looking forward to this. Yay Bali!

The Peppered Inventor

We had to write a story about an inventor today! The opening line "He tried to make himself invisible" and the word "Unpepperator" were mandatory elements of the story. Mine was a little Roald Dahl-ish, but I'm still proud of it nonetheless!

(I wrote this in 15 minutes)

He tried to make himself invisible by inventing the invisimator. Before the device was even fully operational, he had blown half his life's savings on a patent for it. This was going to be his moment before the world.

He imagined all sorts of scenarios in his head while he worked. The invention would sell remarkably well, making him the country's richest man, the King would hear of his genius and would want to honor him of course. He would call him to a podium in front of thousands and drape a rich purple cloth, embrace him and tell him how wonderful he was.

As the King would be about to bestow the highest honor upon him, his wife who had left him because she did not share his belief in invisibility, would come running and beg for his forgiveness. He would turn his head away and scorn her.

He chuckled with delight at his childish reverie.

Two days later, the invisimator was ready. He set up a tent with some free food for his neighbors in his back garden, ready to rumble for a demonstration. Driven more by curiosity rather than admiration, they trickled in.

WHIZZ! PHISTLE! BANG! The invisimator made a series of noises. Shaped like a giant metallic squid with a body of a discarded dentist's chair, it was a fearful sight.

In a puff of smoke, he disappeared, but not completely. Just his head was gone. Everybody panicked.

"Hey! His head! It's gone!"

"Oh god, he's been beheaded!"

"No, I'm still here, " a dismembered voice shouted from the invisimator.

A brave little boy picked up the pepper shaker and emptied it over his head. It stuck to it and took its shape, giving him a rather fearsome look.

"AAAAAA! IT BURNS!"

"At least we can see you completely" someone snorted. They began throwing little pebbles at him and booing him. Soon they got tired and left. He tried to rinse off the pepper but somehow the chemicals from the invisimator had reacted with the pepper and was officially now a pepper-head.

"I need to invent an 'Unpepperator'," he sighed miserably to himself.

Haiku

I experimented with a Haiku at today's Saturday Morning Writers' for the second time in my life. In 10 minutes we had to come up with a Haiku of our choice. Essentially, free-writing Haiku, if you could call it that!

This is my finished product:

Hand on her heart now

She cries to herself slowly

It's for the better.

Broken dreams surround

Her love is for sale tonight

Child of cruel fate

It's no big mystery, the Haiku is about a sex worker. I had a really difficult time writing, especially since Haikus follow such a tight structure. Practice makes perfect I suppose!

The Wind Up Bird Chronicle

This is what I am about to start reading. I've heard good things.

The Wind Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami

Cupcake Frenzy

I have been wanting to make the perfect cupcake for a really long time. I always imagined delivering the perfect moist cupcakes with a delicious swirly creamy sugary icing topped with sprinkles.

I was at Jones the Grocer with my Book Club last night, where we discussed Jeffery Sachs' Common Wealth with great zest. It was interesting that most of our discussion circulated around sustainable development. Talking about sustainable development, be sure to check out this movie called 'The Age of Stupid'. It is an amazing depiction of what we are doing to the world, but how this is truly reversible!

Becoming relevant once again, I sank my teeth into the most sinful delight called a cupcake at Jones. But I realized that if Jones had stripped off all the cool decorative icing and the fancy green marshmallow on top, I probably would have just chewed on the almond nougat instead. (Which by the way, is AWESOME. Buy it fresh and eat it on the way home.)

It's all that sexy decoration which makes people do a beeline for those cupcakes. So my assignment for the weekend is to make the best cupcake topping I can...delicious, creamy, and swirly.

Before I sign off, happy cupcaking!

Maybe I'm being too ambitious, but I came across a site where this woman MADE this flower icing! Wouldn't hurt to try!!

Chocolate Cupcakes with Butter Cream!

Multicolored icing on the cupcake! Yummm...this would probably might be the easiest to make.

I would like this very much

Please buy me this beautiful box set of Mastering the Art of French Cooking. Sometimes just being shameless pays off.

Give me. Please. I will feed you lovely French food if you buy it for me. I promise.


Also, while you are at it, maybe you could get me the dark blue Furla bag that just hit the stores. If I find an image I'll put it up.

Happy shopping!

My New Office

I'm working hard, very hard.

P.S. Check out the brand new Kate Spade bag in the corner! It's a beauty!

Superhero Modesty!

I was waiting for the bus the other day when I saw that the Clear Channel panels containing the new Tiger Beer ad had clearly been defaced (can you spot the signs of modesty?)

I laughed so much that I took the wrong bus!

Persecution of Single Women

They should start issuing arrest warrants for being single now, especially since public heckling of the single woman has become an acceptable process. Miss Manners deemed it inappropriate to poke fun at overweight people, the mentally challenged, physically handicapped, and even smokers so everybody decided to give it a go at single women. We are, after all, easy targets - alone, susceptible to depression with the tendency to lead slightly "unorthodox" lifestyles. Who could blame us? Unburdened by the pressure of screaming children, mounting bills, irresponsible spouses and the regrettable series of "what ifs", as a bulls-eye we are rather appealing.

Burned at the stake for being single, I try to explain to friends and family alike that this is not a "lifestyle choice". "Darling, this is so unhealthy and unnecessary. Please fall in love, or let us find you somebody to spend the rest of your life with," my mother laments at the breakfast table every morning while twisting her wedding ring. My parents have been in union for twenty and six years, my mother agreeing to marry my father at the age of twenty-one.

According to them, I am reaching my expiry date. Emile Durkheim in his famous book, Social Construction of Reality, mentioned how basic reciprocal roles become habitualized and institutionalized over the period of time, which he aptly termed "social constructionism". I suppose this -ism might be able to explain how and how couples tend to view the single individual. With coupling up, a certain sense of conformity, stability and certainty settles in, and the "single" is perceived as the polar opposite, or the mysterious "other".

This leads me to the inexcusable assumption that the single woman is easily promiscuous and lacks the appropriate morals to maintain a steady relationship. A "How are you?" to an old friend who was recently engaged to be married warranted a "How is the dating going, wink wink. Tell me your sexy stories." This left me not only offended, but slightly shaken. I live by the adage, 'A person is only exceeded by their reputation', and this was definitely not good news. I informed her that my attendance at her wedding would be tentative.

More on the alleged sexed up behavior of single women, according to another source is if I were to ever to star in any movie, it would be titled, "Ketki's Sex and the City". Even better, now I feel like a real movie celebrity who is getting to star in her very own pornographic blockbuster. "Hitting Adult Film Stores near you!"

I truly am astonished with the general assumption of the single woman's promiscuity. Perhaps popular media such as Sex and the City has been a major contributing factor towards creating these negative preconceived notions, but are people seriously too daft to distinguish between television and reality? Perhaps couples in bubble-wrap might be interested to know that there are a few of us have a slightly more traditional outlook, where we equate sex with intimacy, consider self-respect a part of our lifestyle, and lead seemingly ordinary lives with regular jobs, ordinary friends and healthy hobbies. Not every woman can be the man Samantha Jones is.

If life truly were like a Sex and the City episode for the single woman, I probably would be clad in Blahnik all day, get to date ridiculously rich financiers, live in a chic Park Avenue apartment and never worry about downing high calorie martinis. And chances are, just as I am now, still be searching for my happy ending.