Archive for the 'Q.O.T.W.' Category
July 1 2009: QOTW: Severely Not Cool Situation
Filed under Friends & Men & Q.O.T.W. with 26 Comments
Last night when at dinner with a few friends, an interesting discussion came up about problems with a particular situation that a male friend finds himself in. Imagine the below situation.
He is in a long-distance relationship with his girlfriend who lives in Hong Kong. There’s a hot female friend from Taiwan coming to Australia for a holiday – she’ll be staying at his place for a week.
He doesn’t live centrally (he pretty much lives in bushland), so it’s not as though she’s staying with him because it’s convenient to access various touristy type activities. She’ll be spending a fourth of her vacation with him specifically, in the middle of nowhere.
His girlfriend is not cool with the situation and is kicking up a fuss.
He’s convinced there was nothing wrong about the situation he’s putting himself in, and that his girlfriend was just overreacting. Asking us if we would have reacted as his girlfriend did, we replied with an adamant yes – what he’s doing is simply not cool. Now I have been labelled a controlling and possessive bitch before by someone else (I think it’s in reference to my pedantic, organisational, “have to know everything” nature), but my reaction can’t only be because of that – there’s something inherently wrong with the situation itself. Surely others feel the same way?
Question of the Week: If in his girlfriend’s place, how would you feel?
Oh, and for the record, Gibe African Restaurant is really good. When you go, opt for the main course with the description that you won’t be able to pronounce – that will give you a small sample of pretty much every other main on the menu so you can try a bit of everything. It was my first time having proper Ethiopian food, and it was absolutely delicious. I highly recommend the restaurant to all Melbournites.
June 21 2009: QOTW: The Books That Have Shaped My Life
Filed under Media & Q.O.T.W. with 17 Comments
There have been three books (or book series) I read in my childhood, that over the past decade and a half, have shaped the person I am today.
Matilda
I first read Roald Dahl’s classic when I was very very young – no more than six or seven. While at the time, a lot of the ironic British humour was lost on me, the story of the girl genius who used her natural talents and intellect to take control of her own life really resonated. Her sparkling wit, her obvious intellect, her rationality, her modesty, and above all, her ingenuity in creating “punishments” for her negligent parents, shaped her as the role model I most admired. Unlike other heroines of children’s novels, Matilda was firmly in charge of her own person and was fiercely independent. I still re-read Matilda every couple of months now, and the underlying theme of making the most of what one has and taking control of one’s own destiny still rings loud and true. It acts as a guide to remind myself what I am actually capable of doing.
The Babysitter’s Club
I was a Babysitter’s Club series fiend from age six to the age of thirteen – I owned all the books from #1 to #100, a few of the super special novels, and a few of the child series centered around the character of Karen Brewer. I would have read each book at least five times each, and my obsession was well noted amongst my peers at elementary school. The characteristics of the series that most affected me was the camaraderie and friendship between the main characters (despite any arguments they may have had along the way, they would always be there for each other through thick and thin – the mark of what I define to be a true friendship), and the entrepreneurship shown by the girls. They identified a gap in the market that could be filled (a neighborhood with lots of children and need for babysitters), they created an organisation that could fill that gap, and as a result, created a steady and reliable stream of income for themselves. I like to think that my own personal brand of “thinking outside the box” when it comes to making money through alternative means is influenced by this early example of young entrepreneurs.
Peyton Place
I read Grace Metalious’s Peyton Place when I was about ten years old. At the time, it was one of the most salacious books I’d ever read – while the sex scenes weren’t explicit by any means, the sheer passion between Constance MacKenzie and Tomas Makris in their scenes together was mind-blowing for an impressionable girl of ten. It is and has always been, I would argue, the unacknowledged benchmark of what I expect in an own ideal relationship. Their disregard for social conventions in the face of their passion for each other has influenced me in a very notable way – and regular readers of this blog who are familiar with my sexual/romantic history know full well what I’m referring to!
Question of the Week: What books have shaped you as a person?
June 15 2009: QOTW: Wedding Dresses
Filed under Fashion & Friends & Q.O.T.W. with 22 Comments
I had dinner with my friend Rebekah last night (some of you might recognise her name – she comments here occasionally), and got all gushy over wedding dresses and wedding planning. Obviously not my own, but hers – she’ll be getting married late next year, and the wannabe event organiser in me (e.g. the pedantic spreadsheeter) wants to plan and organise her wedding for her. For the meantime however, I’ll settle for going wedding dress shopping.
While I won’t be getting married any time soon, I’ve actually already planned my own wedding dress, and have known for years what I want it to be like. If I were more artistically talented, I’d draw a visual example of what it’ll look like, but you’ll have to deal with the following descriptors:
- Strapless
- Boned waist
- Long skirt – not a full skirt, but more a fishtail style with a short train
- Base fabric in cream satin – a matte rather than shiny satin
- Gold lace overlay over the entire gown
- Lining of the dress will be embroidered gold Chinese silk
And actually, after doing some quick Googling, it’ll look like a cross between these dresses – this style, with this lace overlay and this lining.
I’m prepared to make some small concessions (e.g. with my large mammaries, I may not be able to do strapless), but otherwise that’s what I want. The most important part is the amalgamation of East and West – to somehow incorporate my Chinese background into a more traditional Western wedding gown – custom-made of course.
Question of the Week: Do you know what you want your wedding outfit to be like, or alternatively, are you already married and what did you wear?