queengilda.com

photo by prfection

“hello i need some advice. i’m writing to you because you seem to have strong opinions about things and stuff. i’m having trouble because my friends always come to me when they need help. i want to help them, but sometimes i feel like they are taking advantage of me and they want me to help them with their homework, but like, i know it’s only because they want to go out with their boyfriends instead of spending time doing their own work. help!! what should i do? like, how can i remain friends with them and still tell them that i don’t want to keep doing their work for them?”

oh dear, i need to tell you something first. and it’s not what you want to hear, but you need to know, that those girls are not your friends!! they might say that they are, but if they come to you only when they want you to do something, they are not real friends. you will be so much better off staying away from them and finding friends who are worthy of you, because you are obviously a very nice girl!!

do you have a problem saying no? especially when you have to say no to some very convincing puweeety puppy dog eyes?

a lot of people, us girls especially, have problems saying no. we don’t want to let people down, we don’t want to disappoint anyone, and we don’t want anyone to hate us. so instead of saying no to unreasonable requests, we smile and give in, only to end up feeling upset, resentful, and perhaps overwhelmed.

why do we always do this to ourselves?

i’m not talking about not trying to help people. yes, you should always lend a helping hand whenever you can. but there are times when you know deep down in your heart, that someone is asking something of you that you are not comfortable with. there are times, when you know that this person is making use of you, taking you for granted, and always asking you to do something, because they know you won’t reject them!

it’s about time to stop abusing yourself. learn to stand up for yourself and say no!!! “no, i will not do your work for you! i will not sacrifice my time and energy while you sneak off to the clubs, uh-uh! no, i will not save your ass and get mine in trouble instead!”

you’re not being a bad person for saying no
some of us feel guilty whenever we want to say no. we’ve been brought up with great family values. we want to help the poor and save the world! so instead of listening to our inner voice that’s violently rejecting the request, we say, “uhm, yeah, ok, sure i could do that,” even though we know we’re only getting ourselves in trouble and burning ourselves out.

you know how 3 year old kids reject you immediately, when they don’t want to do something? they don’t feel bad about saying it. they’re just telling you exactly what they feel.

you say, “take a shower!” they say, “no!”
you say, “do your homework!” they say, “no!”
you say, “go to sleep!” they say, “no!”

take out the brattiness from the “no”, and learn from those kids.

but whatever it is, try not to do it amy winehouse style!

stop and take a time-out
when someone asks you for something, and you feel yourself starting to nod your head, stop. and take a long deep breath. tell them you need to take a moment to think about it. “let me check my schedule”, or “let me get back to you later” usually works great.

remember your goals
what are you trying to accomplish? by helping this person, would it put you in jeopardy, either mentally, emotionally, physically or even financially? by helping this person, are you really helping them because they honestly do have way too much on their hands, or are you helping to make them even more irresponsible than they already are?

listen to your inner voice
your instincts usually tell you the truth. when you first heard about this request, what did you think? was it a nice favor and did your heart beat faster because you were excited about helping out? or were you wishing you could punch this person and hope that he/she would magically disappear? do you honestly want to help this person, or do you think you should? “should” simply means that you don’t actually want to be helping out. your instincts were given to you for a reason, and listening to it would save your sanity later.

watch your body language
body language often gives a lot away. if you’re looking away, twiddling your thumbs, feeling nervous, or sweating in your pits, it screams insecurity. take another deep breath, drop your shoulders, smile and look at them straight in the eye. be firm, and polite, and don’t be defensive nor over apologetic. this tells them that you have made up your mind that you can’t help even though you are sympathetic.

keep it simple
you don’t owe anyone a long and lengthy explanation. when saying no, keep it short and simple. by offering a long explanation, you are indirectly telling the other person that you might be persuaded into change your mind. you are not obligated to state your reasons for saying no. you have your own reasons and they might not be something you want to discuss. in fact, even if you were saying no just because you wanted to go get your hair done, hey, it’s something you wanted to do for yourself! why do you have to give that up just to help someone do their homework? if you must give a reason, keep it simple and repeat that you cannot help.

don’t lie, and remain respectful
even if the other person is being plain rude, keep your dignity intact. you don’t need to stoop to their level. be pleasant, but be firm!! and also, don’t lie to get out of it. well, at least try not to.

don’t let anyone push you around
if they plead or try to pressurize you into changing your mind, repeat that their request simply does not fit into your schedule. then change the subject, or walk away.

practise some, then practise some more!
if you’re not confident about rejecting someone, you might wanna practise doing it first. sometimes when i get very nervous about something, i say it over in my head. this way, i can pick the right words, the right tone, and make sure that i’m bringing the message across. try it! say it over and again in your head, or better yet, say it out loud in front of the mirror. pretend you’re standing in front of the person you want to reject, and practise your little speech! you don’t have to memorise anything, but just saying it a few times prior to saying it for real, will help stop you from being tongue-tied! you will also panic less and be more confident!

what if you actually do want to help
if you actually want to help out but can’t do it at the moment, offer an alternative. you can say that you can help them when you have more time on your hands next week, or you can offer to help but lessen your responsibility by doing only a portion of the task. you can even do it for something in exchange! at least it will be on your own terms. remember, they are asking you for a favor. you don’t owe it to them. in fact, they kinda owe you!

+ “i would love to help out, but i really have my hands full now. why don’t you come back to me next week? i think i might be able to help then.”
+ “i can’t help you pack and ship all those items out, but i can definitely help you by preparing the shipping labels.”
+ “i can definitely work your shift this saturday since it’s your best friend’s birthday! but would you do the same for me next time?”

need more help in saying no? here are some examples of what you can say!
+ “i don’t want to say yes and make a promise to you, when i know i might let you down.”
+ “i’m sorry but i’m going to have to pass. i don’t have the time for that now.”
+ “i’d love to, but i simply don’t have the time.”
+ “i’ve been working very hard on my own homework and i don’t have time to help you do yours.”
+ “i’m proud of my work and i spent a lot of time on it so i hope you respect that and do yours yourself.”
+ “i wish i could help, but i really can’t.”
+ “i’m not comfortable with saying yes, so i’m sorry but i’ll have to decline.”
+ “you caught me at a bad time. i don’t want to say no but i have to.”
+ “i feel like i have helped you do your job plenty of times before. please respect that i have my own job to do too.”
+ “if i say yes, my boyfriend will be so mad that i took on another job and sacrificed the only time we have left to spend together.”
+ “i’m sorry but i can’t lend you that money. i make it a rule not to lend to friends. i don’t want money to come between us.”
+ “i can’t work in your place this weekend because i have already made plans of my own.”
+ “i’m sorry but i’ve already stayed overtime at work everyday of the last two weeks. i have enough on my hands right now.”
+ “thank you for asking me on a date but you’re really not my type.”
+ “i’m sorry but i love my personal space at home and i can’t offer you my couch to sleep on for two weeks.”

remove yourself from the situation
some people are just really good at making use of others, and getting what they want. if you feel like someone’s really being pushy with you, and you might succumb to their pushiness, make up an excuse and just get yourself outta there! say “oops, i need to run to the toilet!” or… you need to fart. whatever! just leave the scene. you do not want to be stuck doing someone else’s dirty work.

personally, i have always been pretty headstrong, even as a child. and i’ve always been pretty good at saying no. i’ve said no to friends who’ve offered me cigarettes, said no to the junkies who’ve asked if i want weed, said no to people who ask if they can copy my work… it’s different when you’re all actually great friends and copy each other’s work all the time. but when you put your heart and soul into something and someone else wants to use it, or worse, copies you without even letting you know, then you really need to put your foot down and say enough is enough. at times, you need to put yourself before others.

just remember, you deserve so much more than this!!!

what about you? have you been caught in a similar situation where someone asks you for a favor but you know they’re just taking advantage of you? how did you say no?

more for nosey parkers:
dealing with difficult people

were you alive when mc hammer’s “u can’t touch this!” song was released in 1990? i was 7, and i remember i loved the song. who didn’t? it was catchy, it was hilarious, and i wanted those pants!!

i’ve received a lot of great comments about my sarouel/hammer/harem (whatever you wanna call it) pants, and have taken orders even when walking down the street. so yesterday, i finally decided to open my first ever etsy store!!!! applause please! (press that damned fake audience applause button!!!)

in celebration, i’ve decided to hold a little contest of my own. it’s easy-peasy!

here are the details!

grand prize: two custom-made pants designed by me!! each will have the value of at least $99 dollars, and i will pay for postage even if you live on a remote island in the middle of timbaktu. you can choose to have either the sequined sarouel pants, or something in silk or cotton! discussions will be made with the winners.

deadline for submission: sunday, september 14th 2008! entries will be accepted until midnight (meaning, 12am monday morning), new york eastern standard time. not sure what your time zone is? click and compare!

what you need to do: there will be TWO different contests. you can enter both if you want, and as many entries as you like.

contest one: this is perhaps the easier one! the question is, “what would you wear if you owned a pair of sarouel pants?” you’ve seen me wear mine a ton of times on this blog. your task is to put together an outfit that suits your personality!! you can use polyvore, or photoshop. you can draw it, paint it, scan it, and upload it somewhere (preferably flickr) too! show me how you would wear it, if you owned a pair of these pants. how would you wear it, if i gave one to you? bonus points if you actually used items that you own yourself, to make up this outfit! if you are using polyvore, i’ve even uploaded a picture of my pants for you to use in your sets! clickety-click!! post the links (either to polyvore or flickr) to your wonderful creations in the comments!

a few weeks ago, i tried using polyvore for the first time to make my own outfit. this is what i wore to patricia field’s house for the july 4th barbecue party, and received tons of compliments on my sarouel pants! be as creative as you want! push yourself!

contest two: this is where it gets a little tricky! record a little video of yourself, imitating mc hammer! do your best impressions! make me hold my stomach and laugh! go a little crazy! you can just dance to the chorus, or you can dance to the whole song. bonus points if you sing and dance and dress up in crazy ’80s or ’90s fashion! may-jah attitude required please! make it as funny as you can, or blow me away with your amazing dance moves! upload your video to youtube or flickr, and again, post the link in the comments below! i think this would be super fun. i might throw in an extra present for you if you were absolutely hilarious!

contest rules: ALL your entries must have “can’t touch this! hammer pants contest” in its title! other than that, erm, i don’t know! haha! rules might be added as this contest happens and i think of it.

how will winners get chosen? this kind of depends on how many entries there actually are! (oh my god, what if there are only two, one from my cousin and one from my sister! horror.) but in the case where there are enough entries, i will pick my favorites and i will put up a poll so that everyone can vote on them! and i promise, i will show no favoritism!

so! that’s it! spread the word!! good luck and make it work!

give a shout out if you’re a boy blogger! and throw me an airkiss if you’re a tranny blogger.

agent lover, doe deere, me, star st. germain, gala darling, nubby twiglet

are you part of a secret society? are you part of a movement? do you even know if you are?

this is one of those epic “will the real slim shady please stand up? i repeat, will the real slim shady please stand up?” kind of moments.

call me ignorant, but i was just blogging! or so i thought. when i started freebird on april 19th 2007, it was my first blog in english, and my japanese blog was a couple of months old. after a while, i realised that i was a little different from the other fashion bloggers out there. by that, i mean that i have a completely different sense of style and aesthetic.

ok ok, that’s a nice way to put it. sometimes i do get stared at and i’ve received insane glares at some of my outfits before. i don’t dress like that every single day. but i usually do have something quirky on me everyday. i don’t know why i dress the way i do. maybe the fact that i don’t have a mirror in my room plays a part. but that’s how i dress, and that’s how i act. and the nice comments far outweigh the meanies.

when i write how-to articles, i never ever write something that i don’t know about. when i put up my outfit photos and talk about finding your own style, my intention is to share with my readers, that you can find your personal style that works with who you are, and still be comfortable in your own skin!!

just a few days ago, it was brought to my attention that there was a comment/question/article or whatever it’s called, on ask metafilter. personality-based design/arts/fashion blogging - new trend? is there a name for this?

i’m not sure how i should even respond to something like that. while i’m quite honored to be part of this new “movement”, i’m actually more amused than anything else. a lot of blogs i know and read regularly, that were not mentioned in that article, are full of amazing personality. personalities belonging to the fabulous people who write those blogs, whom i’ve gotten to know through my own.

i love getting to know my readers, and while they keep up with my blog, i try to keep up with theirs too. i honestly think it’s amazing how our blogs have brought us all together - people from all over the world who otherwise might not have become friends at all.

my blog is that stamp, that reflection of my everyday life. i don’t put on airs, i don’t pretend to be someone i’m not, i write happy things when i’m happy, and during the odd moments that i get upset with something, i blog that too. i’m keeping it real. i’m happy with who i am. and i’m putting it out there. maybe i should have come up with a “glamorous pen name”, like the rest of these 5 gorgeous girls, instead of just adding the word “queen” to my real name.

and while we’re on that topic, let me clear the air. it started long ago because i’ve always loved crowns. i use to draw them everywhere. then one day a friend of mine who always called herself “princess”, called me her queen, and being the 13 year old that i was, i started writing HRH along with the crowns that i drew. and it stuck ever since.

other than that, i don’t think i’ve tried to market or brand myself in a certain way. have i? and if so, did i ever overdo it? maybe i’m blind to my own actions and i can’t see. but, i don’t think that’s a bad thing at all. as humans in the real world, i think it is important to put a stamp on yourself that says, “hey this is me!”

that metafilter thingy also questioned if we were friends. i’m thinking, yeah we are - not all of us, but many of us know and have met each other in real life. which is great! but, is that the point? i can’t put my finger on it. does it really matter whether we’re friends or not?

what i love about all these blogs is, that we’re all such different people. we’re all doing different things in life, aiming for different goals. the most important thing to me, is that we’re all comfortable with who we are, who we’ve become, and who we want to be. we’re all living our dreams, and obviously having fun doing it.

i’ve never put myself above other blogs, and i don’t pretend to be an amazing blogger. especially since i don’t devote all my time to this blog, and i do have plenty of other things going on in my life to want to do this full-time. plus, i’ve never been much of a writer anyway.

but! what i do think sets us apart from, not above of, other blogs, is the simple reason that we’re all girls with strong opinions, our own sense of style, and an evident love of life.

i need to give this topic a little more thought and will probably add to this in the comments later. but what about you? do you blog? why do you blog? do you brand yourself? do you love life? and what colour undies are you wearing right now? ;D

“ha ha! guess there’s a slim shady in all of us.
fuck it, let’s all stand up!”

more for nosey parkers:
we’ve been outed! by star
‘personality girls’: a new blogging movement? by doe deere
the secret society of lady bloggers by nubby twiglet
fight club, lady blogger style? by agent lover

those of you who stalk me on twitter (and you know i stalk you too! haha.) would know that i was recently in boston. after almost a year of living in new york, i’ve only ever been to long island, fairfield in connecticut and erm, i think that’s about it. alex, one of my best friends, live in boston. i’ve known him since i was 8, maybe 9, perhaps 10. whatever. but somehow we’ve remained friends through all these years and we know a lot of silly, embarrassing, and completely retarded things about each other.

i think it’s almost like a brother and sister thing, and we are comfortable enough with each other to be really ugly in front of each other. hahahaha. you know what i mean? we don’t have to talk if we don’t feel like talking, we’re like walking around in our pajamas, sleeping with our mouths open, snoring, etc etc. horror. hopefully we’ll stop short of farting. heh heh.

alex has been in boston for close to 5 years now. he moved away from singapore just after i did, so we’ve always been far apart - me in tokyo, him in boston. moving to new york, i thought we’d get to see each other a lot more, but it’s still a 5 hour bus ride, which equates to 5 hours of ass-aches, so it’s not that easy to meet up. he’s come to new york twice, and i had promised him that before summer was over, that i’ll go over to visit him.

it was all a little whirlwind, but i’m so glad i just packed my bag up and went. it was a good break - some time away from this busy, crazy city!! it was relaxing, quiet, and… relaxing. really what i needed!

but! a couple of days before i was supposed to go, my roommate told me about a poor 18-year old boy who got slit in his throat, then stabbed repeatedly before getting decapitated on a greyhound bus in canada. i was shocked. this world is full of sick people. i was like, “you’re kidding. that must be a story from so long ago.” then my roommate told me that it happened just last week. and he giggled and said to be careful. oh my god i was so mad. my heart goes out to that boy and his family. i wish i knew his name and it wouldn’t take a second to google and find out his name, but i can’t because i know i’ll get sick in my stomach reading about what happened. but the more disturbed i got, the more my roommate giggled. isn’t that so mean? he always researches and finds out every single detail of people dying or getting killed. and he’d see whatever photos or videos that were available too. i just don’t get it. on the 5 hour trip to boston on a stupid greyhound bus, i seriously stayed awake the whole time.

anyway. boston has so many beautiful buildings. i love them and took so many pictures. in fact, i think of all the pictures i took in boston, 90% were of the buildings. they were gorgeous. looking at them made me realise that my dream was to really own a gorgeous redbrick townhouse. i’d have my shop on the ground floor, a cafe/bar/restaurant on the second floor, my atelier on the 3rd, live on the 4th, and have the perfect roof garden on the 5th. perfect, perfect, perfect!!!

i had arrived in boston late on sunday, aug 10th. unfortunately, the weather was pretty crappy on monday and it rained on and off the entire day. by mid afternoon, we were feeling really cold, and by dinner, our eyes were teary and we were sneezing our heads off. it was terrible. alex and i both decided that if we were still feeling very shitty the next day that we’d spend the day in front of the tv drinking hot tea. but we decided to get out of the house and walk around. it was a bright and sunny day, but we were both still kinda sick so there wasn’t much conversation! the last day had such amazing weather, and i was a little sad to go and leave alex. it’s funny because i don’t think either of us have changed that much since we were kids.

but enough of me getting all sentimental, here are some of the pictures of my time in boston!!!

these kobe beef burgers were amazing even through we were sick!

i want their costumes!

texting away at our only cheap lunch. barbequed kalbi!

i was not in the mood to talk when my dad called. hahahahha!!

the best thing i bought in months, from…beacon street i think? comme des garcons sneakers for $115!!!

alex walked ahead in 2 of my pictures. that’s fine, but why is he touching his hair in both instances? aha!

lobster love <3

alex totally cracked me up when he put on his neighbour’s hat.

the only picture we took together. that’s me in my grandma-ish, brrr i-have-a-cold clothes.

and two of the best things that i found in boston?

it’s actually possible to find your way to wonderland.

and…

if you’re ever feeling bored, it’s really your own fault. HA!

it’s a bird!!

it’s a monkey!!

nope, it’s gilda with some psycho hair!!

alright, alright. those of you who twitter know that i’ve colored my hair again! i whined about my lack of funds last month, which was the reason behind my very lackluster hair. i’m still really broke, but after over 2 months of not cutting it, i really just couldn’t take it anymore.

i called ayumi, my stylist, up last thursday morning (on the 7th), and she told me she would cut and color my hair after she finished coloring pat’s. so i made my way down to the salon that afternoon and sat in that chair for 3 hours getting cut, bleached and colored.

i had torn out a page from a magazine of a hairstyle that i really liked. it was kind of mushroom-shaped, asymmetric, and erm, you know, pretty cool. i really liked it.

i showed the page to ayumi and we decided to bleach my roots out. however, because i had colored my hair a wine-purple color twice before this, i would probably wreck my hair trying to bleach out all that color in the attempt to get it ash-blond. so ayumi convinced me that it would be pretty cool to just bleach my roots out, blend it into my current hair color, and then to just color the roots. i had never heard of nor seen such a hair style before. roots are usually darker and the rest of the hair is usually lighter, and what she was suggesting was the opposite of that! light roots and darker hair.

but hey, i’m up for anything new. and unlike some girls who panic and go berserk when hair mishaps happen, to me, hair is hair, is hair is hair! it’ll grow back and a color job gone wrong can be corrected in two weeks. so i went for it!

i sat through a bleach job that burned a hole in my scalp, and we also added some very bold bleached streaks underneath the top layer of hair. ayumi called me a colored monkey because with the bleached hair and my reddish ends, i really looked like those monkeys from the 2nd picture.

then mid-way through my hair-bleaching process, with my roots turning orange and yellow, and major foil pieces in between, a minor problem happened with some chinese construction workers at pat’s house nearby and i was called to go over and talk to them! (they couldn’t speak a work of english and i was the only one who could communicate in mandarin.) so i walked over wearing nothing but grey polka-dot tights, a black plastic salon robe, and foil in my hair. yep, out of the patricia field shop (the salon is in the basement of the shop) and onto the streets of bowery, trying to look cool.

hahahah it was a little funny!! at least i felt quite ridiculous, but i tried to hurry over looking like i do this ever other day. hee hee hee!

ayumi cut my hair later, and she did it a little differently from the picture. which i really liked when i sat there in the salon chair, but when i went back home later that night i decided i really liked the cut in the picture more. after all, i had actually kept that torn magazine page on my inspiration wall for about a month now!

so i took my hair scissors and snipped the right side of my hair, making my fringe and right side sloped. granted, i’m no hairdresser and i was nervous about cutting off my eyeballs and earlobes, so everything was pretty evenly cut except right at those two areas! (please do not attempt this at home, kids. especially not if you’re the type who bawls with something goes wrong with your hair. and if you do attempt to cut your own hair, make sure you do not sneeze. haha!)

my hair isn’t long enough to look like the picture, but i’m still really pleased with the results. in fact, it’s really the craziest haircut and color job i’ve ever had!!! i really need to take some better photos out under the sun, so that you can see how many colors i have in my hair. it’s quite crazy. i’ve got pink at the roots, then it blends to orange before turning red from my previous dye job, and at some parts it’s purple at the tips.

when i went to work the next day and showed ayumi my self-cut hair, she laughed and said i did a pretty good job considering i didn’t know what i was doing. haha! i’ll probably get her to trim it neat once i get the chance.

black washed-silk vest by me
white shirt with scallop hem by me
studded plaid belt
gingham bow by louloulovesyou
cargo pants by rna
black tote by h&m
neon pink watch by toywatch
ballet flats
sailor’s cap

remember that sailor’s cap? it was a really cheapo $13 cap that i bought from a halloween store last month for sushi’s birthday party, that was nautical themed. i fell in love with it but it was really badly made. i mean, what can you expect for something that costs less than a meal in new york city? it even had one of those super ugly plastic things at the back, that you find at the back of caps. i don’t know what they’re called, but they’re like the cap version of velcro, meant to adjust the size of caps. it made the whole thing look so darn cheap.

so i took some milliner’s tape and covered that ugly thing up, then sewed some sequin fabric (left over from my sequined hammer pants) onto the brim of the hat, that was originally just black plastic.

in an instant, that cap just looked a ton better! magic! i love it so much i’ve been bringing the cap everywhere with me.

note to self: stop making stupid faces!

it’s not a great picture, and i wish there was more light so you can see how the sequins reflect, but it’s pretty amazing. the next time i feel a little crafty, i’ll go over the crest patch and sew black and gold beads over it.

anyway, sorry for the lack of updates. i’m actually in boston right now, visiting my darling friend alex whom i’ve known since i was like, 8 or something. actually we’re so comfortable with each other sometimes it’s like we’re just brother and sister. nah, more like some really jaded couple that’s been married for 50 years. haha! this is my last chance to really relax. once i get back to new york, it’s more work at patricia field’s, then a few days of trade shows with femme sud, then a frantic rush to finish my summer homework which i haven’t touched at all, and on september 2nd, school starts!

i can’t believe it! my whole summer, gone! over! i’m so dreading going back to the robotic life of a fashion student at parsons. i love designing and get inspired all the time, but parsons seriously sucks and i hate that the school often makes me hate fashion!!

.

.

update @ 02:58am:

AHA!! i found a picture taken earlier today (paparazzi shot by alex) that shows my hair from the top! you’ll get the idea that it’s actually pretty bright in the sunlight. i’ve gotten slightly too many stares here in boston. eeps!

more for nosey parkers:
8 good reasons to get yourself a new ‘do

photo by regin@

the summer olympics in beijing has started! how many of you are glued to your tv? the olympics is supposed to be a time for us to forget about all this political nonsense that is going on around the world. but…. can we really?

so much has happened in the recent months building up to the summer olympics that’s held in beijing. i’ve read about a lot of people who have chosen to boycott the games and not watch it on tv. personally, i did consider that move too. but i realise that i love sports too much to be able to stay away.

photo by ~~ zorro ~~

a part of me tells myself that just boycotting the television won’t do anything to stop the stupidity of the chinese government. the other part of me argues that it helps to make a point.

what is your stance?

on a lighter note, i have to give it to the chinese. the opening ceremony was really spectacular. i didn’t watch it from the start but i’ll probably be catching a repeat when it comes on. fireworks do nothing to impress me, but the amount of practise that must have gone into all those dances!! it was rather amazing. the (not-so-funny) joke was that it might have been their only way to get proper meals every day, and hopefully they did. or that if they didn’t do what was told of them, they would be executed. whichever the case, you should definitely catch a rerun of the opening ceremony if you haven’t already.

here are some tips on how you can enjoy the games, whether you like sports or not.

are you planning on watching the games?
you’ll need
1. a television (preferably huge and flat-screen)
2. a great couch or armchair that you can sink into
3. tons of yummy snacks and drinks, or at least peanuts and beer
4. friends who either have a big tv, or who’ll be fun to watch with
5. a nearby sports bar that you can go to for the big games
6. internet access
7. sportsmanship and an open mind

decide on what you want to watch
i always try to catch different games that i’ve never watched before. you never know if it turns out to be really interesting! you might find a new favorite sport. however, don’t attempt to watch everything there is. you’ll start to lack sleep and eye-bags and blood-shot eyes have never been known to be pretty accessories. what are your favorite sports to watch? i really enjoy swimming, diving, synchronized swimming, anything gymnastics, field hockey, soccer, short distance track events and many more. what games are you planning to follow?

which team are you supporting?
besides picking which sports to follow, it might also be fun to pick either one, or several teams to support! i’m from singapore and erm, the olympic team is usually really… “sad” and sometimes comprise of imported athletes. so although i do support my country’s team, i am also ardently supporting japan. hey, i did live there for almost 4 years and i’ve watched enough of those guys on tv to want to support them! are you supporting your own country? or are you also secretly rooting for someone else?

make it a party!
gather a few friends to watch together. it’ll be even more fun if everyone would dress up in team colors. better yet: if you and your friends support opposing teams. cheering for different teams is fun! and then preferably you’ll be cheering for the winning team so you can do some friendly jeers and yeah-yeah-yeahs at your loser friends. heh heh. all in the name of fun of course. don’t start throwing punches.

adjust your sleeping clock
with the games being held in beijing this year, you might be in a completely different time zone. check the official beijing olympic site for schedules, and your local tv or cable website to make sure of the date and time. go to bed earlier and wake up in the middle of the night to watch must-see games! try to keep the noise levels down to avoid annoying the neighbours. and definitely try not to miss work! that would be terrible! or at least save the “i’m dying of food poisoning” excuse for the day of the finals.

locate that nearby sports bar
there’s nothing more fun than to watch the games with fellow sports fans. find a bar nearby that is equipped with great screens and surround sound system, and serve ice cold beers and snacks. it must be one with a nice friendly atmosphere too! you don’t want to be stuck in the middle of rowdy hooligans. if you have never been to a sports bar, try to at least go to one during the big games. it’s really fun, especially if you can find a group of fans who are cheering for the same team! wear your favorite team’s colors, jersey replicas if you have it, paint your face, parade with country flags, and chant songs!

learn about the olympics
take the chance to learn more about the olympics and its history. it is never too late to educate yourself. also learn more about the host country and that of your favorite team.

“but i hate sports and i hate the olympics and my boyfriend is ignoring me!”
are you one of those annoying girls? haha just kidding. but i can understand that there must be boys and girls out there who have absolute no interest in the games. although you must be annoyed with the olympics, don’t be a pest yourself and attempt to prevent your friend or significant other from watching the games. instead, be a nice and understanding friend/girlfriend/boyfriend! work out a pact with your significant other and make sure they know that you are trying to understand, but that you also want to have some quality time together. try to arrange a schedule around the games! your other half should also be understanding and agree to sacrifice some less important games to spend time with you instead.

take this opportunity to learn how to enjoy being by yourself!
a lot of people i know are scared to be alone. i can never understand that. although i love being with people and having a laugh with my friends, i also love spending time by myself. it isn’t the end of the world, and when you can learn to enjoy being by yourself, you’ll also learn to love yourself more. really!

did you know?
the olympic creed reads:

the most important thing in the olympic games is not to win but to take part, just as the most important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle. the essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well.

isn’t that beautiful? it is definitely something we can apply to anything in life. the slogan for this year’s olympics also reads “one world, one dream“. while there might be hypocrites out there in the political world, take that slogan to heart and learn to set aside all differences, whether it is with our skin color or race or religion. start by making that change within yourself, and then make that change happen with your friends, and teach that to your children and your children’s children. i’m here living in america, the “land of dreams”, it’s 2008 and i’m still facing racist stares!!

“i’m starting with the man in the mirror. i’m asking him to change his ways. and no message could have been any clearer: if you wanna make the world a better place, take a look at yourself and then make that change.”
-man in the mirror, michael jackson

more reading for nosey parkers:
fore more amazing ideas, check out oneprettything’s olympic roundup
enjoy the olympics, and hope

“headfone dreamy” by yoko furusho

on thursday, my roommate mark and i went to see my friend, yoko’s solo exhibition.

i got to know yoko perhaps a year ago, through my japanese blog. she is a friend of a friend’s, and i had clicked on her profile, after seeing her super cute, hand-drawn avatar. her work totally blows me away!! it’s so cute, so intricate and detailed, and so… japanese. i think that’s the best way to describe it!

yoko furusho is a recent graduate of the school of visual arts in new york. although if you ask me, she really doesn’t need much teaching because talent like that can’t be taught. you either have it or you don’t, and the girl sure has it!!

yoko recently won a competition with new york’s chopsticks magazine. this means she will be designing their cover for the next year! it’s a free magazine that i always pick up when i go to the japanese supermarkets or any japanese related store, so i’m really proud to tell everyone, “i know the girl who draws this!” heh heh.

her solo show was called exhale, and exhale we did!

i notice a lot of similar color palettes in your illustrations, that are also very detailed and textured. have you always done this?
i think that’s my palette. i’ve never tried to use that color palette, it just comes out naturally.

have you always drawn in this same style or has your style developed over time?
i try not to think about “style”. i think, it develops when it develops. so, i’m not sure about it.

what inspires you?
i think all my pieces are based on my imagination. so, fantasy books? like alice in wonderland. and photographers.

“a mad tea party”

“the queen’s croquet-ground”

do you work in a studio or do you like going out to get inspiration?
i usually don’t need to go out to get the inspiration. i work at my place, but i’m gonna share the studio with my friends soooon!

how old where you when you first started drawing, and when did you decide you wanted to do this as a career?
i liked drawing since i was a child. and at that point, i already decided to live with something related to art.

“world04″

do you ever have days when you simply cannot draw?
yes.

what can’t you draw?
a lot of things!! but after started my career as an illustrator, i’ve been trying to put some objects that i’ve never drawn before in each illustration.

“galliano’s girl”

as an artist, does the city you’re in affect your work?
yes. this city makes me feel like, i can do everything. so it makes me stay positive and feel lot of possibilities. i think that because this city is full of energy.

what are your favorite mediums?
ink and acrylic.

“world”

which is your favorite illustration?
i like my illustration that i did only for me

who are your favorite artistes or illustrators?
kiki smith, william kentridge, akio tomari and franceska woodman.

“seven deadly sins” for vain magazine

do you start off with an idea in your head, or do you just start drawing with a blank canvas and see where it goes?
both. for my personal piece, i usually start with nothing. for a job, i start with bunch of sketches.

what has been the most difficult piece that you’ve done so far?
nnn, every single time, i struggle!

what’s next for you?
i wanna try many many things! i think illustration is really usable art. like, i can print it on the fabric, can make a book, can be for magazine and so on. so i wanna try many possibilities, not only just for the magazine.

“moulin rouge”

i think she has a long and successful career ahead of her!! head on over to yokofurusho.com to see more of yoko’s amazing work. if you’re in new york and would like to see some of her work up close, go to destination new york, which is on little west 12th street in the meatpacking district. the exhibition runs till september 5th!

good luck, yoko! がんばってねぇ☆

all artwork copyright to yoko furusho

on thursday july 31st, my roommate and i went to see my friend, yoko’s solo exhibition at destination nyc, a shop in the meatpacking district. yoko is a fabulous illustrator so i was very excited to get to see her work. i’m writing a post and doing an interview with her, so more on that very soon!!

this was what i wore to the exhibition. please excuse my inexistent facial expression and erm, just overall dead looks!!! what happened was, mark, my roommate, wanted a picture of himself and he stood in the same spot while i tried to take his photo with his camera. but being the goon that i am, i couldn’t take a good shot and it was all blurry!! so we exchanged places and i stood in the same spot, while he took my place behind the camera to figure out his camera settings, before handing the camera over to me, for me to take a picture of him! haha! get it?? so i was really just standing there, not to pose. my purpose was as a camera test. hence… i had no expression on my face at all. i look dead! hahahaha.

“who killed anna wintour?” tshirt
avant garde skirt by junya watanabe for comme des garcons (who else)
tabi canvas boots by maison martin margiela
neon pink watch by toywatch

just a short post today because i’ve been busy trying to fix problems on this blog!! i just checked how this looks on internet explorer with my windows program, and it looks terrrrrrible!!!! i’m usually use firefox on my mac and so i never realised how bad it was on ie. if anything looks funny to you guys, please let me know so i can try to fix it!! thank you so much.

ps: it’s 7 am on sunday morning and i just made myself an uber-sinful thick chocolate milkshake with haagen-dazs choc choc chip ice-cream and full fresh milk from the farmers’ market. oh my god it is so good!!!