Watcha Lookin' At!!‏

Pale white skin (BB creme and company), blood red lips (Dior rouge palette). Volumnous brunette (L'oreal systeme professional), sunken in cheekbones (fat loss and muscle gain thanks to gym) and thick eyebrows (Adele eye brow growth gel). All these seemed to complement my hazel eyes. That is why in my previous artikelen, I had mention my procurement of Dior rouge palette and my plans to take out my wisdom tooth this coming March in order to give me a more pronounced cheekbone. Some say I have just ripped off the image of Twilight vampires. Others say that I am simply a superficial person but I couldn't care less.

They say that when a boy finally learn to turn a blind eye to all the toys and temptations around him and focus on getting an investment haute horlogerie, he had finally become a man. The 'they' I had just referred to is actually me when I was inebriated. I have finally become a man indeed. Never have the prospect of an investment timepiece been much of an interest to me. Even though it is a very European thing to be (i.e. t-shirts, shorts and slippers but impressive wristwatch), I have never taken much notice on the history, culture and manufacture of a watch, whether it is Swiss or Japanese made. But now, I do.

I always knew that my dad had a multi-diamond Rolex that he got when he was in Geneva in the 1980s. My dad had a factory then that worked closely with manufacturers in Europe. The memory of me running around the machineries int he factories during a non-working Sunday still remains as clear and sweet as then. I have seen this watch a couple of times too when my dad decided to take it out of his safe and use it for an event. It is gold and bling. My mom had one too that is made of gold and rubies and diamonds acluster! These facts alone did not intrigue me as during that time, G-Shock and Baby-G was the epitome of wrtistwatch glam. Then, as years went on, I became more interested in other means of accessorissing oneself.

However, in the past few months, I was introduced to a world of quartz and self-winding metal pieces by my dear friend Alv. He had catalogues of Maurice Lacroix and Bvlgari in his bedroom too, for he is planning to get one this coming March. I knew at first that it is a heftly investment as these timepieces starts at $2,000. For young and hip working professionals like us, such investment seemed almost unwise. On the other hand, the more I think about it, the more feasable and necessary it is. My uncle has a gold Longines that I always thought to be very chic. There is also something very mature and sophisticated own one and wear it almost 24-7. Then, I thought that it is time for me to get an investment time piece for myself, one that hopefully I can pass on to my future son.

The search begins. After much research, I gave myself a budget of $4000. I was first met with two options, quartz battery or automatic. Automatic for me of course. I like the way they show case the skeleton of the watch in sapphire crystal casing. It looks so cool. I also like the idea that the watch DO NOT share the same organs as a Fossil or Swatch, but is meticulously made by some old Swiss watchmaker, with gears, nuts and bolts. Being not battery operated, the watch was given life by my daily movements. Lastly, it is a universal truth that automatique is a true investment time piece, on a whole new league to quartz battery one. I insist on an automatic, even though quartz battery one is alot cheaper and almost as useful/accurate as automatic watches.

Being an expensive boy with an expensive taste, I insist that I MUST have diamonds on my watch. Although my meagre $4000 will never ever fetch a Cartier, Chopard or a Philipe Patek, I am sure there are more than a dozen Swiss mades that has thrown in a couple of 0.05 carat diamonds onto a couple of models. Next question is the strap, do I want metal strap, or leather strap, or porcelain? Do I was gold tone, or silver tone, or rose gold metal? Do I want black leather, white leather or brown, or blue? What kind of leather do I want, croc skin would be ideal but i know they are costly. What colour porcelain do I want then keeping in mind not many models carry porcelain case. I have decided on either gold or silver tone metal as it is the most hardy (sweating on leather is not nice).

My favourite Gucci actually has a model with 50 diamonds for a low price of $3500 only (on sale, original price $6500)! I was so thrilled as I thought I have met 'the one'. Set on stainless steel with silver as the face and chronograph too, this 50 diamonded beauty made my mind float through clouds of images with me werking it. Massive sale price too as I made friend with the Japanese shop assistant at Duty Free. However, I was pulled back to Earth when I relaised that the watch is NOT automatique but quartz battery operated. I was shattered! I am Romeo who was so devastated that my Juliet had died! Urghh the pain...

The pain intensifies when I learnt that Gucci has an automatique chronograph watch BUT one without diamonds! Dayum!! If I am Frida Gianinni, I would design one that is automatique, chronograph AND diamond! There is still hope however, as I am thinking of getting the wacth only May 2010. The new collection will be out then, so hopefully they would release that. The price will hopefully not be be that causes me misery too. I am also looking out for Maurice Lacroix and Longines model that fits my criteria. Thus, the search continues and I am keeping my eyes on watch(es).

Back to Black

*Trumpets*

*Drumrolls*

*Cymbals clash*

I'm back. As I wave to the crowd with my faithful assistant Alice...

Alice, as many of you have known, is a Gynoid, model number GCX-003. As a vampire, having a mortal battle partner is not ideal as mortal bodies break down with time. A robot, on the other hand, is upgradable as time passes. A robot popses no temptation to me as well, although the more time I spend with Alice, the more I find 'her' appealing to my senses. Thanks Alice for pre-posting the 2 artikelens. I hope you enjoy them.

So... ok... granted that due to the world economic recession, everyone has been tight in their pockets. The aftermath of the recession will surely continue change everyone's perception of money and now, people are begining to save up for rainy days. I, myself, have seen a 50% drop in my business alone and now, the store has quiet days that you can hear/ hallucinate noises. That is a $400 loss for me every month at least =(!~! However, I dun understand why my ass have to suffer. Every morning, i do my, ahem, 'business' at the Emirates Building because it is close to my store and their building and toilet is so luxe and posh (thanks to the Sultan of Dubai). I refuse to use the toilets at the cafe nearer to my store or the backpackers that is like 10 steps away. This is because they are uncouth and their toilet can get dirty and the most important reason is that their toilet paper is comparable to sandpaper.

So getting back to the point, I realised with my sense of touch that the Emirates Bulding toilet changed their toilet paper as of last week!!! No longer is the soft and pillowed plush toilet roll used!! In order to cut back operating cost due to the recession, they decided to downgrade to a cheaper, not as plush toilet roll!!!!! URGHHH, me no no happy. Me ass no no happy. Well the new toilet paper is not sandpaper (fortunately), but, it is surely not the featherlite angelic quality it was in the past.

August is ordained to be a month where I cannot spend money. I am way behind my savings plan and August will be able to rectify that. I am panned out what I am going to procure after that all to the to March 2010 for my birthday. Things would have been must easier if a bag of $30,000 drop on me one day, but that will be no fun at all. Instead, hard work and its resulting rewards suits my personality more.

Classes start as of 23rd August, which is in a few weeks time and I cannot wait! I hope that I will learn much, like I did in the previous subject, as I had to fork out $320 for the class alone. I also have to pay $400 for my flights to Auckland. For September, I am deciding on either a parfum or a sunglasses from Gucci, depending on how much I have to spare. For October, I shall not do any major procurement as the New Zealand North Island trip will certainly burn a small hole in my Italian wallet. I am getting a digital cameral too, Canon IXUS100. I have not decided on the colour yet but the Black one caught my eyes.

November will be ordained to be a month where I cannot spend money too. This is because December will be a big month for me. I am going to Sydney to visit my dear friend for a couple of days. This ensures lots of shopping although my friend was graciously kind enough to accommodate me in his place. I am thinking of getting either a Gucci belt (white colour Guccissima) or a Gucci loafer in Sydney. I will be getting the SKII Facial Treatment Essence too. Although they cost more than gold in terms of per weight, I am sure it will be well worth it in terms of skinvestment. I am getting the Dior Homme balm too as my current one from is destined to run out by then. I am still contemplating in getting the Dior rouge palatte. I shall explain this the next time around.

January and February 2010 will no doubt be as eventful, if not, more than 2009. Indeed I am getting myself a Macbook for my 24th birthday!! It's time to burn my current computer which is turning 8 next year. Then the month of March 2010, I will be in Kuala Lumpur, Singapore and Jakarta! I am flying Business Class too, coutesy of Malaysian Airlines!!! Getting a tattoo in the city of KL too. I have contacted the tattoo artist from a reputable place where tourists and expats frequent! I am getting my wisdom tooth extracted too. I shall explain the critcality of this act the next time around too.

Seems like this artikelen is short and rushed. I shall make it up in details the next one.

Glad to be back... to black.

Excerpt: Elizabeth Gilbert's Eat Pray Love when she met Anne Rice

I wish Daymian would kiss me.

Oh, but there are so many reasons why this would be a terrible idea. To begin with, Daymian is many years younger than I am, and, like most young vampire, they are non-commitant and have weak blood. These facts alone make him an unlikely romantic partner for me, given that I am a five century old vampire, who has just come through a loss of every mortal friends and families around me and a devastating, interminable death of the love of my life (who,a vampire like myself in this case), followed immediately by a passionate love affair that ended in sickening heartbreak. This loss upon loss has left me feeling sad and brittle and about three hundred years old. Purely as a matter of principle I wouldn't inflict my sorry, busted-up old self on the lovely, unsullied Daymian. Not to mention that I have finally arrived at that age where a man starts to question whether the wisest way to get over the loss of one beautiful brown-eyed young man is indeed to promptly invite another one into his bed. This is why I have been alone for many years now. This is why, in fact, I have decided to spend this entire year in celibacy.

To which the savvy observer might inquire: 'Then why did you come?'

To which I can only reply—especially when looking across the table at handsome Daymian— 'Excellent question.'

Daymien is of my kind, and the vampiric clan is diminishing rapidly. That sounds like an innuendo, but unfortunately it's not. All it really means is that we meet a few evenings a week here to practice each other's powers and abilities. I teach him the way of our kind, in multitude of languages, and I am patient with him; then we speak in English, and learnt the ways of man. I discovered Daymian a few weeks after I'd arrived, thanks to my highetened sense of smell, across the street from that fountain with the sculpture of that sexy merman blowing into his conch shell. He (Daymian, that is—not the merman) had just fed from a drunk and was obviously not powerful enough to conceal his scent from me; for he lacks practice. Right beside his appeal was his facial features, with the same depth, word-for-word almost identical in every way, right down to the lip, to the no deceased love of my life. The only difference was the hair style.

Using my keen intuitive powers, I telepathed him, asking in inquisitively, "Are you perhaps of the Blood?"

It was Daymian who replied this very provocative message: "Even better."

Yes—much better. Tall, dark and handsome identical twenty-five-year-old young vampire, as it turned out, with those giant brown liquid-center eyes that just unstitch me. After we exchange words, I began to wonder if perhaps I should adjust my rule somewhat about remaining celibate this year. For instance, perhaps I could remain totally celibate except for keeping a handsome twenty-five-year-old as lover. Who was also slightly reminiscent of a friend of mine whom I had once love, and still do till today, but nonetheless ... I was already composing my letter to Penthouse:

In the flickering, candlelit shadows of the Roman café, it was impossible to tell whose hands were caress—

But, no.

No and no.

I chopped the fantasy off in mid-word. This was not my moment to be seeking romance and (as day follows night) to further complicate my already knotty life. This was my moment to look for the kind of healing and peace that can only come from solitude.

Notes On A Clothing Rack

Ralph Lauren once famously said 'I don't design clothes. I design dreams.'

How true.

In a cosmopolitan world that we live in, amongst the cold concrete lawns, towers of vertical glass and masses of metallic wheels, dreams can be reduced to be no more than a myth. No longer are dreams hiding in between cracks of rock formations. No longer are dreams perched upon a tall tree, where they find themselves singing with the tweetering of the birds. No longer are dreams floating naturally as the ocean breeze caress them gently. No longer can dreams be found externally.

Our only consolation comes from the inside... of our wardrobe.

My philosophy of 'Make wardrobe, not war.' stands very firmly as one of my core values in llife.
We only have two legs, why not put something that everyone loves on it?
Some people might think that I am housing a materialistic monster inside of me, but who are they to judge when the world is superficial in its make?
This philosophy comes from a good place inside me. A cumulation of personal experience and acquired taste that I am very willing to share, to make the lives of others better and this world... a better place ultimately.

The male silhouette has changed over the years. It is a natural occurrance, since the female form has changed from the curvy (i.e. Marilyn Monroe), to the waif (i.e. Twiggy), to the Amazonian (i.e. Linda, Cindy, Naomi, Claudia & Christy), to the baby doll on sticks (i.e. Gemma, Sasha, Lily & Natasha) today.

Back in the 90s, the all-American look seemed to define what a male model is with New York emerging as a major force in Fashion and Calvin Klein is call of existance for male models. Today, a slim lined male figure is the ideal. Toned and tasteful marked a maturity in Men's Fashion. It simply appeals to everyone. It is also very high fashion, androgenous, modern and sophisticated. Of a European standard, these male models can go from all-American (with oil) to couture (with make up).

How then can be encapsulate this dream??? We start small. A step at a time.