Gucci lover

Gucci lover
Originally uploaded by Qwaizy

Need I say more? This is too freaking cute..

The Burberry madness!

December 1, 2007, 9am, my alarm goes off and Jez started dancing to the alarm music and tells me to get my lazy bum up...why are we so freaking early on a Saturday? Burberry sample sale! Jez's sister has been working at the HQ and gave us the tip that Burberry is having a private sample sale to Friends and Family for a week and asked if we wanted to go. Since I haven't bought anything in ages, I thought it would be fun. Surprisingly Jez went with me! But I guess it was long overdue.

We finally got to Haymarket at about quarter past 10, (door opens at 10) and there was a huge line! Jez gave me a "I've made a mistake" look and sighed as I ran to the end of the line to greet his sister Amanda and his brother Des. It was a breezy windy London morning and I just wanted to get inside for some warmth. Amanda informed me on the layout of the shopping area since she's already been to the sale the day before. She also told me about the Gucci and Prada sample sale...I nearly died..i didn't know they had sample sales of their own!!! So I made her promise to give me top notice when she finds out about those.

45 minutes later, we finally get in and paid our £1 entry fee and told Jez "see ya later! Keep your phone on" and ran off! First stop was upstairs, clothes, shoes, scarves, everything, just everywhere! Women were stripping right there on the spot, fighting for the one mirror on the floor. I ran through the two rail racks there and found a really nice light jacket. It was a dark military green with a tailored waist, for $40. Not so bad, it fit me perfectly so I grabbed it instantly. I looked through the shoes, all too big, moving on then.

I went downstairs and really saw just how many people and how much stuff they have! £15 for jeans, £30 for knitwear, £35 for dress, £100 for classic raincoats, £150 for trench, and so on. Amanda said we have to go see the bags which is all the way in the back of the warehouse. A girl overheard us and said "good luck, I don't think there's any left." So Amanda grabbed my hand and head for the back. This is where the madness began..I saw a bunch of women all swarmed over several crates and there were some bags but most crates were all empty. So I turned around and tried to find Amanda to tell her that I think we're too late. As I turned, a man in suit had about 7 bags in his hands and he was walking towards my direction. I didn't realize he was actually the "bag delivery man" and he was going to put the bags in the crate. The man didn't even make it that far! The women saw him coming and mobbed him! Everyone screaming, I was stuck in the middle, not knowing what's going on. He got as close to the crate as he possibly could and tried to drop the bags in the crate but the second he lets go, the women went for it! I mean it was ridiculous and vicious and every woman for themselves! I saw two men fighting over one bag screaming at each other as to who got it first, I needed to get out of there! I struggled to get out of the circle and went to the nearest corner I could find and just hid! I called Jez and asked him to come and rescue me, I couldn't believe these people were fighting for bags!!! They weren't even that cheap! I mean still around £100 to £200! Amanda wanted to see what she could find so she went back into the battleground. I decided to do some people watching. That's when I realized you have to come to these things with some kind of a strategy. The smart ones came in groups, they've got people standing in all four corners of the bags area and when they see someone delivery the bags, they inform each other and stand in position. Then they have others keep a fort somewhere else holding the goods. Amanda was caught in one of the madness moment: When a salesclerk brought out a box of bags and she didn't even bother to take it to the crates, she just threw it in the air and hands everywhere! I heard two Chinese women yelling at each other in Chinese..(figures) and the rest just screaming for more. It was like feeding time at an alligator pond! I laughed so hard just watching these women, glad that I love bags but not enough to lose an eye!

We shopped for about two hours, I came out okay. I got a classic Burberry trench in lilac, I think it was a little long for me but I couldn't resist. Got an ivory tweed coat that Amanda found for me and the little green jacket. Jez got himself a nice burgundy top and a Burberry purse that Amanda wrestled off some women and will give it to her for Christmas. Amanda bought a nice luxurious ivory coat and Des got a black jacket and some tops. At least we all came out with no cuts and scratches.

We left the sample sale and I was still in shock as to what happened in there. I know I'm studying fashion but I cannot shop this way; it was mean, vicious, full of headache, and you have to be ready to fight!

It was such a nice day, we had a great lunch in Chinatown and went for a walk in the West End. That's when we realized that today was VIP shopping day, meaning all the busy shopping streets of the West End (Oxford street, Regent street) were closed for pedestrians only! There were lots of activities, musicians, artists, and many more. We said our good byes to Amanda and Des and decided to walk some more and all in all it really was a wonderful day. I finally felt the Christmas spirit and even though jez and I do hate crowds, we were happy to be out but happier to be home!

Next up..i'm waiting on my Guccis and Pradas....I guess I better start saving up!

A hole is a hole...

Sex and the City reruns for the 20th thousand times but I still can't get enough of it. Jez came in to give his routine "hello honey, *kiss on lip*" followed by "god I hate this show, see ya". I realize that every time I watch Sex and the City I get a different feeling and I feel a little more grown up. I find myself not admiring the SATC girls as much as I used to.

22 years old - This is such an amazing show...I can relate to all of them, some days I'm a combination of all of the girls! Gosh this is the best show ever, how did they ever tap into the female psyche so accurately? I cannot miss a single episode of this!

24 years old - Still love the show, not as obsessed. Starting to experience the whole life imitate art thing.

26 years old - Wow..Carrie is so whiny...no wonder Mr. Big couldn't commit, no wonder most men couldn't commit because she is just so incredibly whiny!! Whoa, why did I use to follow this show as if this were the Holy Bible of dating?

27 years old - It's on again? Jesus Christ, can you imagine the royalties these chicks get from the reruns!

But still, the show does have some fabulous quotes. "A hole is a hole", said by Samantha in the "Charlotte's anal sex horror" episode.

Nevertheless, the show still makes me laugh, it has "helped" me in many of my disastrous dating situation, answered some difficult questions such as "is he REALLY just not that into me?" and accompanied me through many crying nights with a quart of HaggenDaz after a tough date...

Jez is nothing like the men in the show, but of course, he's reality and sometime reality does bite..but I accept him as he is and no one can give me a foot massage like that man so maybe he doesn't have a swing in his room so we can have adventurous and dangerous swing sex; he doesn't drive by my window in his limo with balloons every birthday, he doesn't spontaneously take me into the alley and uh..you know, do things..he isn't 22 and a struggling actor and is willing to shave his head if I start to lose my hair but..he buys my favorite water when I'm out of them, he'd get dressed up in nice shirts about four times a year (not tucked in of course..), he willing massages my aching feet for two hours if I come limping home..but most of all, he makes me laugh and he loves me and sometime..that's enough

When the hope is dim, what do I hold on to?

The last two days felt like someone had dropped a huge rock on my head..well, more on my future. I have just found out that for the last two years, after nearly spent £40,000 being in London, my school is a sham.
Since last May, the immigration law in the UK has changed, just like the States, it's always unpredictable. The Home Office has offered a new visa scheme that allows graduate students to stay in the UK for 12 months after graduation to work full time or a full time work experience. I had my heart set on it so over the summer, I emailed my school's "information officer" regarding just that. I was given an all-okay, "we guarantee that our school is absolutely eligible for such visa". I was confident, maybe after all the shit the school has put me through, something good might come out of it. But I still decided to confirm with that particular officer. And of course, just like Marangoni style, she says "oops, no, we're not, heh, i was wrong" and left me with that. After the initial shock, I proceeded to ask her more information and of course she pushes me to someone else because "she doesn't know". The phrase "i don't know" is the universal response that Istituto Marangoni will give you to any question. So I move on to the "placement officer" and see what he has to say. Of course he verified my doubt, then to tell me they're not accredited with the DfES because that would mean that they'd have to regulated by the government, which they are not. Which also means if they wanted to let a teacher go, they can. Which sounds to me if they wanted to charge a billion pounds per student, they can, if they don't feel like helping you out, they can, if they want to hire some Dick Tom and Harry to teach us, they can. He continued with "too bad you're not in the EU" and "last year there was not a single international student that got a visa". I asked if I should speak to the director, he said that wouldn't change anything, bottom line is, "they can't help me". So let me get this straight: I go to school in London, they tell me to do internships in London, but I can't stay in London even though upon recruiting me, I was under the pretense that the school would be supportive and helpful which from the very beginning, they haven't been!

So I decided to change school, or apply to a postgraduate program at London College of Fashion. More bad news: I finally meet with someone from LCF and after explaining my situation to her, three phone calls later, she tells me that I probably can't even get accepted to the postgraduate program because my "course" has no levels, no class code, my "school" doesn't have anything substantial to say that I have achieved a certain level! I left LCF in a daze, thinking to myself what have I done, asking myself how come I didn't check on the school more, asking myself how am I going to pay off all the debts that I have accumulated to support me in school, wondering how am I going to break this news to my parents, who have been in financial turmoil since I've moved to London because they've been helping me? For the last two days I have cried nearly every night trying to make a sense of all of this. I can't even apply to the various of visa schemes because my school would have to be recognized and it's not, the most important factor in helping me obtaining a visa is worthless.

Jez has been so kind, trying to keep my spirit up but it's so hard. I want justice, I feel so cheated, I feel so mislead and I don't know what to do. I wouldn't say my life has been easy but I always somehow find the silver lining in any situation but this time, I'm out of ideas. I am broke, jobless, degree-less, and right now, no self-esteem and no future prospect. I don't think I have ever felt so hopeless..I keep hoping that some good news would come...

Jez's sister wants to help me and I am so thankful and still keeping my fingers crossed...

I don't think I've ever been so low...i've lost the desire to cook..and you know that's bad...

Too little time..

Been at my new internship for a month now, it's been going well, very busy, no time to write in here anymore..but I have been baking..anyway, yawn..off to bed..

A nice day off

Working for Liberty of London has been a bit of a haze. I know I've been busy but I'm not sure what I've been doing! Well, whatever it is, I think it's okay. So it means I haven't had time to make anything. Made some dinner here and there but that's about it. So I took today off to do some household chore, laundry, cleaning, etc. I was also going to bake some brownies and a cake but our landlord decided this week to paint the house and the painter has taken over the kitchen! So maybe cakes later...sigh...

My oreos...

Oreo Cheesecake

+ cheese + way too many eggs + tiffany failed at reading the right recipe = failed cheesecake！　　I was so excited about making a cheesecake. I had all these leftover oreo cookies from making milkshakes a couple of weeks ago, I thought I'd have my second attempt to bake. I followed everything to the tee but I decided to mix two different recipes together but at the very last step, I read the wrong recipe and added an extra ingredient that wasn't suppose to be in there..so...the batter turned all runny and not velvety..like it said in the book...anyway, I still threw it in the oven and hope for the best. It came out okay, I decorated with cookies crumbs and chocolate shavings. The crust is made from honeycomb graham crackers and that turned out great.



The first taste...tasted..like..a cake..but no cheese..not creamy, not velvety..kinda eggy...it's got a rubbery texture, kinda like a quiche. It tasted okay but..i was still disappointed. But still took some pictures...

I'll try it again some other time then..

Oh Oh! Started at Liberty of London today! I was definitely busier today than any other day in Inca. Everyone is nice, well, as nice as they could be to the new girl. I'm gonna stick it out this time regardless. Running errands delivering hundreds and thousands of pounds of bags is better than delivering post-its.

Quesadilla for fringes

Chicken Quesadilla

Lisa has moved in last week and she's settling in just fine. It's kinda nice to have her around, she's a good kid and I have no doubt she's going to be amazing in the near future. She has a classmate, Hiro, who is a hair stylist in Chelsea. I really needed to trim my bangs or fringes as they call it here..fringes..weird word..anyhoo, so we made a trade off: My food for his cut. I was tired (from watching 24 of course, season 6 now!!) and I wanted to make something quick and tasty so I decided to make chicken quesadilla. It's fast and it taste amazing and only needed minimal ingredients. The key of the quesadilla was the sauce that goes on the tortilla. I'm shameful to say that I used to love Taco Bell's quesadilla. It had a soft sauce to prevent the quesadilla from being so dry. So using the wonderful tool of Google, I found some recipes. I made a mayonnaise sauce by using low fat mayonnaise, chili powder, cayenne powder, paprika, sugar, and 1/2 of lime. I was suppose to use jalapeno juice from canned jalapenos but couldn't find any..so I used lime. Mix everything together and leave it to sit for about 20 min for the flavor to sink in and that's it. After that, grill the chicken, sautee some onions, set everything aside to prepare the quesadilla. Use one tortilla, a dollop of sauce, top with onions and chicken and cheese, and grill it on low heat, flip it once and ready to serve.

My bangs look great, Hiro looks full enough and I've made my next appointment with him. Everyone's happy!

I baked an edible cake!!!

Tiffy's Tiramisu

I love Tiramisu..it's the one thing that I can't resist when I see it on the menu. It's hard to find a good Tiramisu, moist enough but not too squishy.
I've always wanted to learn how to bake and I did attemp to make chocolate chip cookies but it was a complete disaster! By forgetting putting in baking powder, my cookies came out as hard as rocks..my housemates started using them as weapons on each other..so not a good experience and since then,I have put my baking ingredients away.

Then the other day my baking bugs came back and I wanted to try again and this time, I wanted to make my own Tiramisu. I must've looked at 10 different recipes till I've settled on a couple and decided to mix them together. All of the menus said use ladyfingers and I found out ladyfingers were just sponge cake batter in finger shapes. I didn't really like the way it looks when you cut it, with all these half circle shapes in between when you cut the cake, I decided to bake my own sponge cake as well.

So the concept it great, putting it in practice was the hard bit. I've borrowed my housemate's baking tools (since she's the 'baker' of the house...blah), Jez and I got all the ingredients and printed out the recipes, I was on my way.

The sponge cake was a success! It wasn't too hard, it was perfect actually! I had a little snafoo making the zabaglione, a traditional Italian mixture of sugar, eggs, and some rum (in my case, lotsa rum!) The layering of tiramisu was really messy. I decided to cut my sponge cake into three layers. I used a thread to try to do an even cut and it turned out just okay. I brushed the kahlua coffee on each layer, then the zabaglione mixed with mascarpone cheese, then top with Green&Black cocoa powder. I completed the whole cake with shaved dark chocolate and white chocolate. You can't say I do anything half assed! I can't remember the exact measurements of everything I've used...but since I'm not trying to teach anyone to cook, this is to simply for my own viewing pleasure...don't think it's that important..



tiramisu went down a big hit! It was finished within two days. I think I'm gonna make a white chocolate cheese cake today....

Jack and Cheese..

Spicy Chicken Pasta Bake

Jez is working late so he is missing my fabulous dinner...I'm still with Jack Bauer...ahh...

Easy way to get rid of leftovers. Since I still had these chicken strips, wanted to something quick and simple so here we go.

All you need:
Leftover chicken strips
Pasta (fuscillis or penne, anything not linguini or spaghetti)
Canned creamed soup (or soup pouches)
Mozerella cheese

Optional:
veggies, peppers or corn, peas, anything you like
ham (chopped)
frankfurters

Instruction:
Boil the paste while making the soup, make sure the soup stays creamy and not too watery. Add chopped veggies or meat, I've added frankfurters cuz Jez loves them so damn much..not sure why..

Drain the pasta then pour in the cream soup and stir evenly. Pour into a baking dish, not too deep, make sure it's poured evenly. Top with chicken strips, sprinkled the cheese then into the oven till the cheese melts.

My dessert:
loving my rice krispy treats...yum yum

24 addiction...

Spicy Chicken Wrap





Rice Krispy Treats


Since my Inca internship fall out, I have done nothing but staying at home watching seasons of 24 non-stop. There's only one person I blame this to: JEZ! If you asked me a year ago, I wouldn't be caught dead watching Kiefer Sutherland in anything! You can say i'm afraid of him, the only characters I've ever seen him play are either a rapist, a racist, a killer, etc etc. I don't think I've ever seen him in a normal role. So before Jez and I started dating, he would rave about 24 and I just booed him every time he talked about it. Then after we started dating, I caved in..and sat through the first episode of season 1..and then I WAS HOOKED!!!! It was like watching a suspense movie and it's building up and you keep waiting for the final bang but it doesn't, that damn clock just comes on and then it's over!

I sat there flabbergasted with my mouth open pointing at the tv screen..then screamed for the next episode! Jez just laughed at me...I didn't care, I needed more 24!!!

And that brings us to now..I'm on season 5 and the opening sequence is hot! Sadly to say some of the people I felt a connection to, as pathetic as that may sound, are all dead in the first 5 min of the show...but Jack is still alive...oohh Jack Bauer, that is a man's man, a woman's man..he is just..tough, rough, rugged, emotionless, and you just wish you can be the woman that teaches him to love again..(after losing a wife, a lover, a girlfriend..can you blame him for being loveless?)

So to accompany my afternoon of 24, I've made myself some delicious treats: I used the chicken strips I've made yesterday and made a spicy chicken wrap. Follow up I decided to make some rice krispy treats. I never really thought I'd miss these little American treats till I left and yesterday while watching The Simpsons (with a 24 parody, but of course), Bart mentioned rice krispy treats so I got up this morning and ran out to get the ingredient! For those that knows me know that I don't bake..can't bake to save my life...so this is as close to baking as I can get..and I still managed to burn the chocolate in the microwave. Nevertheless, I did it and even added some oreo cookies and drizzled with milk chocolate! So..we'll wait and see how it taste.


Oreo Krispy Treats


Back to Jack...

Dinner tonight: Spicy Chicken cutlet

I felt like chicken tonight..chicken tonight..so that's what I did. Saw a recipe on spicy chicken strips so I decided to put my own spin on it. I made some bread crumbs coated chicken cutlets and served it with two side veggies: bean sprouts with soy dressing and spicy dry bean curd with pork strips. I guess I just really felt like spicy tonight...yum yum..will write ingredients and instructions later, I'm gonna eat!!

Ingredient:
Chicken breast (butterfly cut)
Bean Sprout (boiled)
Dry bean curd (julienned)
Pork tenderloin (julienned)
Spring onion (1, cut in diagonal strips)
Chili pepper (2)
Preserved mustard green (1 packet, probably can't find fresh ones unless you're in Asia)

Batter:
Flour (2 cups)
salt (1/2 tsp)
chili powder (1 table spoon)
water (1/2 cup or more if need to)

Misc:
Vegetable oil (1 bottle)
Bread crumbs (Japanese Panko is best)

Marinate: (For chicken and pork tenderloin, separate bowls)
Soy Sauce (3 table spoon)
Sake (cooking wine)
sugar (1 tsp)
salt (1 tsp)
mirin (1 table spoon) (Japanese sweet wine)

Instruction:
Marinate both the chicken and the stripped tenderloin for appx. 30 min. During this time, julienned the bean curd, the spring onion and set aside with the chili peppers.

Bean sprout:
boiled bean sprout for appx 30 seconds, then wash with cold water. Drained all the water then season with soy sauce, mirin, sugar, and white pepper then set aside.

Dry bean curd with pork and preserved mustard green:
Heat the wok first w/o oil, the 2 table spoon of olive oil or vegetable oil. Toss the pork tenderloin into the wok, stirfry for 30 seconds then set aside.
Toss in the chili peppers, the spring onions, stirfry till you can smell the peppers, then toss in the mustard green. Stirfry that till you smell the mustard green, the smell is quite distinguish so you'll know. Throw in the bean curd, toss for another 30 seconds, throw back in the pork, now 1 table spoon soy sauce, 1 table spoon sake, 1 tsp sugar then toss for 15 seconds and set aside.

Spicy chicken cutlet
Prepare the batter and heat oil on medium heat. Prepare bread crumbs on a separate plate. Dip chicken in batter, then in bread crumbs then slowly put in fryer. Fry for 1 - 2 minutes or until golden. Then drain oil and set aside.

Prepare platter
Steamed rice, a spoonful of both side dishes and cut the chicken, season the chicken with salt/pepper then serve

Hope Jez will like it..but he doesn't really complain even if it's bad...

Home Food!!

And I certainly didn't make any of these....maybe one day..too many pics, here's a sample

My little picture book...

Chinese Prawn Pancakes with Hai-San Sauce (sweet/sour sauce)



Taiwanese Sweet/Sour Spare Ribs



Monte Cristo Sandwich with Bon Maman cranberry jam



Seafood Potato Croquette



Stewed Pork Belly with Marinated Bean Curd



Steamed Rice with Eggplants (Aubergines) and minced beef



Spicy BBQ Drumsticks

Cuisine de la Tiff!

Finally I have uploaded these images from my phone! Ever since I moved to London, I have taken a great interest in cooking. Mostly because everything here is so expensive, sometimes it's just cheaper to cook at home. After a while, I realized I can recreate some of the stuff that I really love from back home just by following some really awesome receipes online. So since I've been back from Taiwan, I have had some down time so I have been cooking up a storm! Jez, as my guinea pig...has gained an astonishing 7kg from my food...I do take that as a compliment.

So I try to take pictures of the dishes I have made. I'm not really good at photography so I wish the images would turn out better but...I did my best with my little Sony Ericsson phone..

I don't really know the exact measurement to anything, only the ingredients...which is probably my downfall for not able to bake to save my life cuz you'd have to measure everything...i think most time in Asian cuisine, it's all eye-balling.

Vietnamese summer rolls



















It was a really hot day, surpringly in London, I had these Vietnamese rice wrapper lying around so I looked up for some recipes and I didn't realize it was that simple! I made two types: Summer chicken rolls and citrus shrimp rolls.

Ingredient (chicken):

Vietnamese rice wrapper x 1 pack

chicken breasts x 2
small cucumber x 1
carrot x 1
coriander
Japanese sesame dipping sauce x 2 table spoon
dash of white pepper
dash of salt

Shrimp roll:
Sainsbury's cooked shrimp x 1 box
lime x 2
coriander
carrot + cucumber (same amount as the chicken)
dash of salt
suger x tsp

Instructions (and i'll do my best..)

It's best to do all the fillings first because you can refrigerate it and use it later if you like. Boil the chicken breasts then cool it down with cold water, slice it to thin strips then set it aside. Boil the shrimps if you like but it comes cooked and you only need to heat it up in hot water for about 10 - 20 seconds. Julienne the cucumber and carrot, in two different bowls, soak the cut veggies in salt water for ten minutes then wash it with tap water. This way will preserve the crunchiness of the vegetables.

Mix the chicken strips with the Japanese sesame dressing, also know as Shabu Shabu dipping sauce. I use it cuz I really like the sesame flavor and I was too lazy to make it from scratch and I just happen to have that in my cupboard. It is normally used in Shabu Shabu, a Japanese hot pot cuisine where you cook the meat in stock then dip in the sauce. Do all the seasoning then set it aside. Do the same with the shrimps but not with Shabu Shabu sauce but with the lime sauce.

Now you prepare the rice wrappers.

The rice wrappers are hard so you'd have to soften it by using warm water. It only take about 10 seconds for the wrap to be soften so don't leave it on it's own, do one wrap at a time. Once the wrapper is soft, take it out and lightly dry it with a towel or paper towel. Then the easiest part: Use whatever fillings you like, with some veggies, some coriander, then wrap it out eggroll style. Then cut it in half and voila!

Wow...my first actually food description...this is a lot of work! I'll post the rest of the pics and I'll go through them another day...hee hee

Out of the hell hole!

INCA is in the past! Before y'all getting in my case for quitting an internship early...i had my reasons but I believe better things will come. I did not sign up to be someone's bloody cleaner! I signed up to learn, to experience, to gain knowledge in an unfamiliar field, and not to clean someone's storage room or interning for the receptionist! Whew..it's been a few days since I've been in cuz I have been ill and even though it wasn't under the best of circumstances, I was glad to be out of there. I've got a Liberty of London interview coming up and I hope this is a better hit!

Alright, back to 24..just me and Jack Bauer and Jez passed out on the bed..I should record him really...

tiredness

which seems to be the word of the week..i'm too exhausted to write anything, guess I have to wait till the weekend...*yawn* but long story short: have learned not much, thinking twice about Inca, etc etc etc

Damn student life..

Seriously, what was I thinking going back to school? 27 year old student?? God I have got to be out of my mind! I have never been an intern and to be honest, it is really quite shit! I am one of the oldest, not counting the exec. producer and the directors, I know I'm definitely the oldest intern in the group. So update on my week: I was asked to do endless research for several producers on several shows. I thought I was on 2 to 3 shows but since my producers for those shows haven't really given me any task, I ended up helping out with the Armand Basi show. What is it that I do? Still looking for freaking tea cups! It's really difficult to be looking for items that I think the producer might want but I can't tell because I don't know her vision, I don't think she knows her vision. So the cups, these were the specifics I was given: tea cups, hand thrown, preferred ceramic, needs to be country looking, individual in each cup and saucer, has a little imperfections, but has to be polished so it looks sophisticated, need to be for luxurious enough for a pre-show brunch, need 300 of them, and within budgets. Excuse me??? Are you kidding me?? So I've been looking at tea cup websites for days, I finally found some, they were in the States, the shipping/handling would be too expensive. So back to the UK but I just can't find any! I think after the next 6 weeks, I'm going to be really annoyed with a lot of day-to-day products. Then I was asked for find sewing machines, overlockers, steamers, and an industrial presser. I never thought I'd say this but I actually asked the school to help. I figured we have all of those machines, might as well use them for something. After being in contact with the incredibly rude and ugly receptionist/librarian/secretary/whatever the hell else he's suppose to be, he was surprisingly helpful. I think it's because now I'm working for Inca. So I did manage to source some items for the Armand Basi show, I felt quite good about myself but about 3 minutes later I realized I was being proud of myself for finding sewing machines! That is pathetic!!

So Friday afternoon comes, I go out with Sophie, the other intern, for a drink at lunch time because believe me..we really needed it. And that's when everything got spilled! Apparently we are both annoyed by the same things! I'm glad it wasn't just me that was hating going to work the very first week. I kept asking myself if I'm dreading it this much, this may not be for me! So after an hour of bitching, (she doesn't like CG either, ha!) we go back to the office since she has a meeting to go to with her producer for the Julien Mcdonald show.

I go back to the office and things seemed a bit crazy. Apparently three days ago, Inca got the Tommy Hilfiger account. Tommy Hilfiger is opening a new denim store on Carnaby Street and they want to have a launch party in October. Since Inca have done the True Star launch with Tommy Hilfiger and Beyonce a little while back, they thought they'd work with Inca again. So most of the office were scrambling to put together a powerpoint presentation by 2pm to send over to Hilfiger for them to see. Apparently we'd still have to do a pitch for them to see the "visions" and "inspirations" for the show. So I had to search for DJs and beat box artists since I was doing the music part of the presenation. Then I had to scan these images that has colors or ideas that pose as inspirations. So I'm scanning this huge book of photographs, the book is amazing by the way, I forgot the name of the book..anyway, apparently I opened up the book a little too much, the binding made a bit of a noise and Charlotte, the company exec. producer came at me like I have just strangled her beloved pet! "That book is really expensive! Don't do it this way, it's really super expensive! I don't care if you do it this way or that way just don't ruin the book!" Jeez...for a company that handles half a million pound projects, she's sure pissy about a book that cost 150 quid. So I scanned everything, "carefully" without destroying the precious book, and reported back to Judith. After checking everything, Charlotte's going on and on about how the presentation needs to be sent . We finished at about 1:50pm and it's sent off. I did go through the presentation, it's pretty cool to see how a pitch is done but it would make more sense if someone was explaining it.

By now Sophie's left for the meeting, CG has left for her physiotherapy cuz you see...she was in a car crash..the story I heard about 20 times this week...so I was the only intern left in our corner of the office. I finally have a chance to really sit down and ask questions. Judith offered to go through budgets with me so she spent a good two hours explaining not just the budgets but any other questions I had and man I had a lot!

I basically had her explain the whole process, from when they receive the assignment to actually carrying out the production. It really is so much work on very small details. For the first time this week, I felt like I learned something. I got an idea of how much work and how much it cost to put on a fashion show. We used the Amanda Wakeley show as an example since that's Judith's account and she has worked with Amanda for some time. From what I know, Amanda Wakeley is fairly commercial, not really a huge thing during London Fashion Week, but apparently she still does quite well. For a show like her, if she goes in the tent, which is set up by the BFC, British Fashion Council, the cost is a tad lower because BFC sets up everything for the designers that go into the tent. That includes all the lightings, equipments set up, back stage, mirrors, chairs, etc. For a show to be shown in the tent, the average cost for AW is about 85,000 pounds! I couldn't believe it! But that's just average! If AW decides to go off tent which this year maybe in the Science Museum, the cost goes up because we would have to build everything we'd need from scratch so you are looking over 100,000 pounds for a 12-minute show! I was blown away by the amount of money being thrown around. These money are spent on lightbulbs, walls, paints, chairs, cushions, even ice! Just the most normal mediocre items, all for a freaking fashion show! So what's so fancy and glamourous about the fashion industry? Not a damn thing, at least not in my eyes!

So after speaking to Judith and Josef (who all of a sudden is very interested in teaching me..), I do feel a bit better. I was really thinking about not finishing the internship because I was starting to feel like I was interning for Katy, the receptionist. It's not like me to not finish something unless I have a very irked feeling about it..so I thought I'm gonna sleep on it a bit.

Then i came home, checked my hotmail and first email I checked was from my school's placement officer. He's asked me if I want to apply for a 2 months internship with the marketing/sales department at Liberty department store...damn a little too late...so now I don't know if I want to apply, I keep thinking I should keep my options open but this just totallly threw me for a loop! So now I don't know...if Inca was more structured, I'd probably been more inclined to stay but the honest truth is I am really disappointed by this whole Inca experience so far...

But what a girl to do...

Too tired..

My first week as a lowly intern is over..and I am exhausted. I wish I can say the reason I was tired is because I've done important things..but uh..no..ah I'm too tired to do this, tomorrow then...*yawn*

Something new at least...

Second day in INCA, well, it started out quiet slow. I didn't really have anything to look forward to, so I logged in and checked my email and see that there was just one from Imogen, one of the producers, asking for more research on tea cups. So unto the research I go, I must've looked at 20 sites on tea cups! But I need to find something that's hand made, ceramic, individual and unique, different colors, and oh yeah, within budgets! It's quite a task, believe it or not! After not much luck there, I was told that I get to go scout out a venue for the Jonathan Saunders show with Katy, the young girl who did the induction with us yesterday. She really is quite nice, very bubbly and obviously love her job. I was pretty excited about the scouting until I found out that talkative girl is coming along...that pretty much put a cloud over my joyous moment. Oh well, have to deal with it.

So we went to the House of Parliaments and I must say, my god what a building! I've lived here for two years and I can't believe I've never really visited the Big Ben and the House of Parliaments. Today was such a nice day, the sun was shining and sky was perfectly blue, the buildings were amazing. I was completely mesmerized and zoned out the voice of CG since she just can't seem to shut up..the streets were classic looking, very traditional and old fashion buildings. This is the London that we see on TV! I felt like I was in a film set, like in Universal Studio. We finally get to the location, it's a underground garage. I just cannot see a fashion show taken place here! We had a guide that showed us around and explained everything. I had a template of questions that I needed to ask when scouting out locations. Questions such as the dimensions, in house caters, fire exits, bathrooms, etc etc etc. The more I asked, the more we looked around, it started to make sense to me. So the garage entrance is when we'd unload everything, there's a empty room next to the entrance in a circular shape that would be perfect as a production office. I can almost see the catwalk and all the chairs around. It was pretty darn cool. It would've been better if I didn't have CG looking over my head asking questions as I asked questions..god she really can be annoying.

After we measured the whole area and the nice young man gave us some floor plans, we were back to the office. The whole trip took almost 3 hours so by the time we got back to the office, after lunch, it was easily mid afternoon and I only have four hours of nothing to look forward to. When I got back to the office, Judith, my Amanda Wakeley show producer, had emailed me with more information about the show. She is so great! A wonderful teacher. She CC me everytime she emails anyone regarding the show so I can understand what's going on. I had to ask her what every sentence meant because I have no idea what a "standard 3 flats catwalk" meant, trying to understand how the catwalk needed to be set up. We had a meeting today with Charlotte and she had seen AW's collection this morning. Her S/S 08 is clean, fresh, modern, and feminine. The show needs to be white, not sharp and bright white like Calvin Klein A/W 07 where the floor blended in with the backdrop, but a soft white but with a reflective effect..I think. So with that direction, I started to look for white paint. Judith instructed me to look for white paints from manufacturers, then I need to contact them and ask for swatches. Judith had to go to the Fashion Fringe meeting (she took CG with her! Yay!) so I went through Style.com and looked at past shows with a white runway just to compare. That's pretty much what I'm going to do tomorrow morning, then mid-day I need to help Katy at the storage the entire day doing hard labor..I guess that's internship for ya.

So my thoughts so far? It's yet to be decided..I feel that I can learn a lot if I only know what exactly it is I'm learning. It was nice to see that a lot of the stuff I learned from Milly's class started to make sense. I'm really glad we did the the final production project for her, I wish I paid more attention though...I'm not sure if INCA is for me, the best of the best is Gainsbury & Whiting, they do some amazing shows for really high profile clients. That's what I'm aspiring to at least..

continue another day...

My simple life..as an intern

So it didn't start out that well..I had to wait in line for the shower on my first day, then when I finally got into the bathroom for the shower, the water is now cold because two people have taken a shower before me..so after an freezing albeit engergizing shower, I had about 10 minutes to dry my big poof of hair and decide what to wear, etc etc etc. Finally, out the door by 9, thank god the unpredictable London transportation was right on time for everything so I got to work with 10 minutes to spare. I met another intern in the meeting room and figured it was just us two, boy was I wrong. In the next three minutes, five more strolled in..SEVEN interns?? I was pretty surprised..and annoyed..cuz now I have to compete with 6 other people for the possibility of an employment after this. One girl wouldn't stop talking about her car crash, that was pretty much her opening line to any conversation and if it isn't, she made sure she squeezed it in. And everyone does that "awww...no way? You're amazing that you're here..wow...well, take it easy!" Figures..then we all got a brief induction about the office then got assigned to production teams for each show. I will be on a production of two people i.e. the producer..and me, on two separate shows: Amanda Wakeley and Jonathan Saunders. I thought I was rid of the Amanda Wakeley name after last semester but unfortunately not...I don't even know who Jonathan Saunders is so I had to do some research on him. Then I might be helping out with something called the Fashion Fringe which is a annual competition to scope out the up and coming designers. It suppose to be some big deal, once again, I didn't know what it was so had to look that up as well. I thought I had a lot of homework to do tonight but it turned out that I had NOTHING to do so I just spent the rest of the day looking online for information about all three shows.

Need to eat dinner..guess we'll see what happens tomorrow!

High as a kite!

as Jez called it..it's been two weeks since my fight with mom and it doesn't look like either one of us is backing down. We haven't called each other and I don't think we've ever continued a fight this long..but this time, it's serious, this time, she's wrong..I just wish she'd see that..anyway, to say the least, I needed something to distract me from my troubles, wanted to feel "cloudy" and last night, cloudy I did feel! I used to be so against it because it's wrong but it is just an herbal remedy,isn't it? Well, that's what I'm calling it. So this is what I remember: Looking over to Jez and he's smiling at me and telling me that he loves me very much, I couldn't stop giggling..then I couldn't stop caressing my own head cuz it was tingling and it just felt so good! Then I was fascinated by my toes..i never realized what cute toes I have..so that went on for a while..then I pretty much stop remembering the rest. Till this morning, Jez informed me that I was quite an entertaining bunny last night. Apparently I danced by myself on the balcony for ages and I was convinced that I wasn't being affected by the joint...he said I was just very very happy...then I woke up this morning incredibly groggy, guess that's the after effect but by God it was worth it! I didn't think about the fight at all!

Anyway, this is the last free week I have before I start busting my ass as a simple intern..i'm thinking making coffees, getting pastries, entering datas all day long for a month and a half...i figured if my expectation is low, then whatever happens is bonus.

P.S. since being back to London, I've gained back the 2kg i lost! Damn the fish and chips and baked beans on toast!

Reading someone else's life..

Upon looking for new recipes online to distract myself from this week long of boredom, I came across this person's blog who's main theme was food but she somehow connected her love for food and life philosophy so harmoniously. I couldn't stop reading it, her writings are so colorful, her pictures were salivating, I just kept reading one after another. Then I realized she's also from Taiwan and ironically also live in the UK. Each post had pictures of a particular dish she made, each other better than the other. God I'm jealous..I'd love to be able to make desserts like that. But what attracted me more about her stories wasn't her food, it was her life stories, it was her struggle to get past racism in the UK, it was how she got teary when she received her British passport, it was how she feels lost at times because home is UK now but how come she doesn't feel at home? It was like reading my own stories on my 12" computer screen...

Cont:
I had this great idea that I'm going to sit out on the balcony, under the sun, stare at this magnificent tree in the backyard and finish typing this entry..and I was going to trek over to China Town, get some supplies and come back home and make a bad ass meal..but all that didn't happen, I passed out on the couch and took a long nap instead. I couldn't possibly feel even more useless! Jez tried to cheer me up by telling me that by next week this time, I'm going to be apprenticing and really busy so I should really treasure the free time that I have but..I am so bored! And the more bored I am, I think about random things that I have no control over, then get depressed, then take it out on Jez which is not fair..okay, it's wednesday, two more full week days then the weekend then Inca, here I come!

Shared house..

I am sick and tired of living in a house of 8! It's never easy to live with people but some people seriously has no clue as to what "mutual respect" is! I understand that I don't really have much choice at this moment, being a student and all but seriously..tired of it...

想試試看寫中文...我真的快受不了家裡的一些人, 沒工作的沒工作, 想男人的想男人, 懶的懶, 髒的髒, 真的是很誇張. 我回台灣一個月回到這東西不見, 壞掉, 都沒人承認!

just one more year..one more year till i'm back to the working world, sometimes i really wonder why did I leave that part of my life behind to be a damn student again...there has got to be a better plan just waiting for me...

One more week

So next week I start my internship and I am freaking out! It's a fashion production company that specializes in fashion shows, especially in Fashion Weeks. I have no idea what production is, I don't really know what a producer does..even though Jez is a producer and we talk about his jobs all the time, I'm still not really sure what it is all about. I'm terrified that I'm going to be awful at this..and being probably the oldest intern in the company, I'm not sure if that gives me an edge or something completely opposite.

Anyway..freaking out...

dang it's August tomorrow..

oh the head....

Had two options: Stay home and watch Sideways, a great movie filmed in Napa about wine lovers, or go out to KTown and get drunk on wine with Jez and his colleague..and of course I chose the latter. And after not touching a drop of alcohol for two months, like an amateur, I downed 3 Jack and coke without hesitation. Maybe it was due to the fight I had with my mother the day before regarding the race of my boyfriend, or to the sheer bordom I face the entire day since I am now officialy umemployeed. Eitherway, I drank and drank and didn't give a damn!

Went to Camden to the famous bar, Barfly and it was not up to its reputation. The decor was grungy and rundown, filled with kids that are clearly too young to be there but pretending to be older so they'd seem cool. No card allowed, only cash, crappy drinks, unless you're drinking beer, cost 7 quid to get in and the place reeked of urine. So that was shaping to be a promising evening...

Upstairs there was band playing. To be honest the music wasn't half bad, It was catchy, good to dance, too, the singer was a pretty girl hidden behind big fringes and grey oversized smock. All I wanted to do was to take a hair brush and brush her fringes away, maybe take off her top and have her jump around in a nice bra a la Gwen Stephani style, probably would've caught more attention than her head bobbing, staring at the ground, doing the "i don't give a fuck if no one's here to listen to me, i'm just humming into the microphone anyway.." thing..

But nevertheless it was enjoyable. Then the second band came on, I guess they were the actual show. After taking the longest time in the history of setting up a band, they finally come on and it wasn't music! It was a continous screech of nails scratching down a chalkboard and scratching up again..oh god just writing about me reminds of me and makes me cringe.

Suffice to say..we left, so did a lot of people. But went downstairs and danced a bit. By then I was so drunk, I was starting to have a little fun...till I got hit by a glass of beer on my lower back. It was actually quite painful and when I looked around, I couldn't figure out who did that but I have a feeling..but I had no proof. I turned around, saw a table of overzealous cocky young 20 year olds and a child with his shirt unbuttoned thinking he's the hottest thing since sliced bread..I had a feeling it was him but I couldn't be sure so i gave him a dirty look and he looked back with a "what the fuck"...it's got to be him..so that ruined my night. I guess I told Jez and that ruined his night...so my first night out in months and this shit happens...figures..

story of my life...right?

never finish...

story of my life...

signed up to Blogger two days ago and just now figured out how to post a picture! I never thought of myself as computer illiterate but I have been defeated by the world of blogging. I never quite understand why people blog, I mean it is like opening up your diary to the rest of the world to read and to comment on, isn't it? But sometimes when I'm bored and Googling aimlessly, I'd come across some really funny blogs wondering how come I don't have one, I have some interesting stories to share and I certainly have a lot to say, as Jez would vouch for that, so I should have a blog and by god I will and I do!

But most people have some kind of a theme and I don't really have a theme..the challenge is I actually write in this blog of mine. So we will see...

I don't know why I didn't keep track of the events of the last 3 1/2 years, it was life changing and scary and unknown and I pretty sure there's a book in there somewhere. After packing up whatever's left after I sold everything I owned in the last 12 years being in the States, I bought a one way ticket back to where I was born, Taiwan. I don't know why I went back, all I know was I needed a change, I needed to get away from California, from the bad memories collected from living in San Francisco, from all the fights, from the dramatic events surrounded my "FBI wanted" then boyfriend, from it all..so I went home, the only place I knew that will always accept me, or so I thought..

And Taiwan was nothing I expected, I wasn't going home, I was a tourist! I didn't know where I was going, had no friends, had no sense of direction, couldn't figure out left or right, couldn't even cross the street, I mean the light says "pedestrian walk", why are all these mopeds charging towards me at record speed??

I couldn't figure out...I couldn't figure out why I was two sizes bigger than everyone else when I was a healthy size 6 in America, I am now an obese size 6 in Taiwan. I wore shorts and tank tops because it's hot and I like to be tanned, but Taiwanese girls wear long sleeve shirts and pants and walk around with an umbrella so they can keep their ghastly white complexion. And I couldn't figure out why does everyone talk to each other like they're screaming at each other? And I'm fluent in Mandarin and I still feel like people are shouting!

But not all was bad, the food, the food is amazing, there's no food like Taiwanese food..


























But 8 months was all i could handle. After living away from home since i was 19, moving back home and living with parents was a new experience, and not a good one. So I looked for a way out and London was it. Out of the blue this "fashion school", Istituto Marangoni, came calling out of nowhere. The catalogue looked amazing (now I know it's all smokes and mirrors but oh well..) and I wanted to travel to Europe, London was on the top of the list but it's not a bad start, so 2005, with no place to live, no friends, no relatives, no clue how the Underground system worked, I landed at Heathrow at 4am and said to myself "what the hell are you doing"?

And that was two years ago....and this is the most important year, my last year in school, as one of the oldest student in school. This summer my internship with Inca Production has to help me figure out what it is that I want to do...if not buyer, or PR, or advertising, or designer, what the hell it is that I want to do...so third year, important year...crucial..scary..

okay, written enough, nap time...although it is sunny in London today, we don't get a lot of those here...