Converse shoes have to be scruffy

I can't stand a pair of new crisp white converse which I bought in Singapore last September. I have yet to begin the arduous process of breaking in the shoes because they are so embarrassingly clean and dazzling that I need a pair of sunnies to deflect the glare. And I got self-conscious the few times I worn them. It's a vicious cycle, I know. So when it was pouring one day, I put them (the shoes, not the sunnies) out in the open just so they could drink in the elements. One of my ongoing attempts to achieve the used-rugged-look without wearing them. Let's just say I have a long way to go.

Apparently Converse has come up with a Well Worn collection, a new line of sneakers with dirty and broke-in shoes, designed especially for people like me!

Photo credit: here

 

Books Music Write

Procrastination is the thief of time.

What am I waiting for? Inpsirations? They hardly come by these days. Why can't I stop dragging my feet and get started on writing?

Don't make excuses. There is no such thing as a writer's block. I either write or I am simply lazy.

I love my sleep. A power nap gives me more energy to deal with the tasks of the day but when I oversleep, the long sleep would spin cobwebs in the head which keeps me groggy all day. As the saying goes, 'If you want your dreams to come true, don't oversleep.' Don't let the sloth monster get to me!

Read a book, for goodness sake! Not some Facebook updates or gossip news which though entertaining, aren't exactly helpful in nourishing my mind.

Stop wandering off to those online shops and please unsubscribe from their newsletters. I can only wear that many pairs of trousers and shoes. And it's not as if I have dates everyday. No, fetching the little one from the kindergarten doesn't count. For it is only 5 minutes walk which doesn't exactly call for dressing up. It's their business when the mommies like to flaunt their fashion sense. Some feel good about wearing the latest trend everyday but it is not for me. I am way past that. Comfort and minimalism work best for me these days.

Do listen to music again. New music please, since I am at it. I have literally forgotten the intense pleasure and joy good songs can bring me. Some songs are capable of stirring up such emotions in me that I have goosebumps all over and I would even cry. I don't even know most of the songs on radio these days. Okay, I am a music snob and am a hater of commercialized songs written solely for the mass appeal but that's not the point. Our brains crave music. Why and when I stopped listening to music is beyond me. I better feed my soul asap before it dries up like a well.

Off to buy some new songs! Ha Ha!

 

A Tiger in the Kitchen

I have never heard of the book, A Tiger in the Kitchen, before and when someone like the ex-editor of POSKOD recommended that I read the book, I know I just had to get it and quickly devour the pages. I have yet to devour it till the last page, I am only halfway through. Reading the book is a torture however. On my stomach, that is. The way the author, Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan, describes the dishes both her grandmothers and aunties cooked, makes my tummy rumble each time I flip the pages. I can almost smell and taste the food she writes about. A memoir of her quest on learning to cook the food she grew up with and reconnecting with her Singapore heritage, it is a story every homesick Singaporean should read. The quote in the book by Calvin Trillin on Singaporeans cannot be truer: 'Culinarily, they are among the most homesick people I have ever met.' Even Cheryl herself admits, 'When it comes to Singapore, I miss the food first, and then my family.' That just about hits the nail on the head and partly the reason why I wrote I am what I cook.

Now, some might think I got my inspiration for the article from this book. I wish I could say I did because the article would be far more polished than the current one, given that the book is written by an established writer. The accusation, if any, is not unwelcome though, flattering even. For I can see the similarities: the unwillingness to enter the kitchen at a young age, the rebellious streak, living overseas and suffering from homesickness while developing a yearning to define who we are by learning to cook our childhood food and the cuisine from the country where we are based now.

At the same time, I am thankful that I didn't know about the book earlier. Her story and her words would have impressed and influenced me far too much that I wouldn't be able to find my own voice in my own article. With the book as a source of reference, the article might eventually become an art form of plagiarism, not unlike The Assassin of the Secrets.

Shouldn't I be glad that I am not voracious reader? :)