Facials

For a couple of months now, my face has been "attacked" by massive pimples on my T-zone and my U-Zone. I've never had such bad acne since I was in college so why is it all coming back again after more than 10 years?

I've tried refraining from using my BB cream, used toothpaste on budding acne, bought benzoyl peroxide but nothing seems to work.

I am now tempted to go for facials. At the same time, I am worried about going to them. Why? Because I've seen two girls who had perfectly good skin to begin with end up with really bad scars after their face was pressed for black and white heads. There was a cream someone recommended me to try with miracle results in 3 days but for something like that, it sounds rather fishy, doesn't it?

Sigh. Guess I have to go by recommendations on which facials are okay.

Baroque Music

When I was in secondary school, I attended this “Learn How to Study Smart” course and was told that studying with Baroque playing in the background would enhance my brain absorption.
So, at that time not really knowing what Baroque was, I fished out one of Ron’s CDs and started playing it while I tried to study. Unfortunately, it didn’t seem to work after a few hours. Only much later, when I told Ron about the false advice, he asked me what I was listening to.

The Planets, Holst.

Now, as I’m listening to it again, I laugh and wonder how on earth I could have tried studying with that all that drama going on in the background.

But then, I’m not the only one. I was stationed at Starhill Shopping Mall many years back, where all the high end brands are located, and they were playing really dramatic music as their “background” shopping music. I can’t remember what they played but it was something like Rossini’s William Tell. It was amusing at first but after a week, it became torturous.

Sound System

I'm rather particular about sound. I can't stand players that give weak sounds and speakers that sound hollow. KS, on the other hand, says, "As long as there's noise". So when he went out to get our first radio without bringing me around, let's just say I will be taking charge of putting together our sound room in our new house.

When I was growing up, I'd follow dad and Ron to showrooms in Penang which would play gorgeous music through expensive sets. We'd sit there and listen to the acoustics while dad and Ron would discuss the quality of it.

Then, during Chinese New Year, we'd visit my uncle who would frequently upgrade his hi-fi set. Without fail, each year he would excitedly show us his latest collection of LDs, CDs, VCDs, DVDs what have you not. Despite the crowd of chatting people in his house at that time, he would blast his latest favourite song and envelope us all with the music. He would also show us the latest technology in improving the sound, from using a green marker to mark the sides of a CD to placing a special felt on the CD. He would even compare CDs made in Malaysia and those imported from the US. And I can tell the difference.

Hence, the strive for good acoustics in my new house. However, while I know I want really good sounds, I have no idea about hi-fi, what I should be buying if I want surround sound etc.

So begins the exciting journey of discovering what this is all about. Hi-Fi for Dummies. Right after we get the house together.

Busy!

Sorry, I know I have Blogger access at work but it's just been absolutely mad at work! Haven't had the chance to breathe much. But it's good busy, you know?

Anyway, we've managed to sell our house in Klang so even more busy times ahead. As for the new house status, it's moving along smoothly and think we should be getting the keys some time before CNY. Yay!

Ron & Air Travel

I don’t think I ever blogged anything about Ron’s unfortunate air travels but now I can’t help but to compile it into one posting since it’s gotten to be quite a fair bit to tell.

Two trips back to Malaysia, Ron was going to catch the plane back to Melbourne. He read 0950 as 9:50pm so by the time he realized it was a morning flight, the plane was about to taxi off the runway. It took him a few days after to catch the next plane since it was peak season.

Then the last trip back, he happened to check with JetStar on some details about his flight back to KL which he bought months in advance, only to be told JetStar no longer flew to KL! So he had to quickly make new arrangements, luckily with the help of the airline.

He flew from Bangkok back to Melbourne for that trip. And his luggage was so overweight, the airline had to charge him for it. As he scraped his remaining Baht, Euros and Ringgits, he found he didn’t have enough to pay! Plus his charge card was maxed out after his holidays so he had to sheepishly offer his mixture of currencies and ask for a discount. The girl over the counter just gaped and in the end, accepted his offer.

After a slight flight delay and upon reaching Melbourne, his friend who had waited to pick him up had already incurred $20 for his car park ticket, no thanks to the delay. He was hoping Ron had some change on him because he was also flat broke. So, two penniless guys, wandering around the airport for hours trying to find ways of paying the car park ticket. In the end, they had to call another friend to come loan them the money.

This trip, now this trip, Ron was delayed for 5 hours sitting in the plane the whole time as the flight crew could not let them on the ground after checking them in while they fixed the plane. So, his flight time doubled. The only good thing was, AirAsia crew decided not to charge him for his meal after he argued for it.

And most recently, he was supposed to go Cambodia with a friend, who, on the day before their flight, postponed it to a further 2 days, only to scrap the whole trip in the end.

Usually, if any of these incidences happens to someone, it would be quite traumatizing. However, since Ron’s been having so many occurrences, it’s become rather funny.

He flies back to Melbourne next Monday. If anything happens, I’ll blog it again.