X and the 6th

Some people are one or the other and in my choice of phones, I have always been the Apple other. I started with the 3Gs, then the 4s, the 5, the 6 Plus, the 7 Plus and now my 6th one, the X (ten).

I had a brief fling with Android for a bit (for research purposes only lol) but it was more for nostalgia (remember Sony-Ericsson? They had the dopest phones back in the day when the word dope meant something else) and the camera (which was 50-50 for me).

But I'm a creature of habit so I've gone back to Apple, will stay committed to it and will continue to buy every worthy new iteration that comes out because that's just the way it is. 

My thoughts on the new iPhone:

1. Just when you thought they couldn't make it any more beautiful, they do. The trade-off with its looks is that it's fragile. It has never been a phone you can use sans case without risking scratches and dents. I ordered a case and a screen-protector prior to pre-ordering and put them on the phone the moment I took it out of the box.

2. I hate dimmed devices and I sometimes become a source of distraction when riding with friends in darkened cars as I would have my phone at full brightness. But maybe its the OLED screen? Or the so-called True-Tone display? But at something like 40% brightness, text has never been truly crisper, more well-defined which makes me think, Retina display was never really what it claimed it to be; that this is the true superior display.

3. People complain about the lack of this, or what Apple has taken away and I think, they've probably haven't used Apple devices enough. I've had Apple devices for over a decade and the evolution of their ecosystem has been so consistent and controlled that changes improve your experience and use of them. Sure, there will be the odd annoying feature, but overall, the change is tremendous but never announces itself in an unnecessary aggressive fashion. Just barely half a day since I started using the iPhone x, handling my iPhone 7 Plus seems like several steps backward. The home button proved itself to be a significantly unnecessary tedious step. To be able to simply swipe away app windows within the screen area itself makes for a faster, smoother control of the phone.

4. Even before I realised it, my main phone usage is photography. I have taken to picture taking as my de facto note taking, my daily journal. I had high hopes for the camera, especially for the front-facing ones. But the promotional photos aside, photos taken from the rear of the camera are better. I have this beef with iPhone cameras, perhaps my only beef with it- I don't think I ever looked good in photos taken by them, hence the lack of selfies even if I am apparently, super vain.  But I'm not vain enough to ditch it for Android just because I'm not happy with how I look.

5. I love the animojis!

Ghost/s

When I was at the UP, I was friends with this girl who one day, stopped being friends with me for reasons she didn't really say. Just simply stopped talking to me or even acknowledging my presence even if I was literally in front of her face.

I was literally, dead to her- a ghost. I would Google her years afterward; sneered at her face (she was never the sort you would describe as pretty even if you forced yourself to be nice); judged her job, her hair and her life in general (that's why I left Facebook because I felt that all the incessant judging I was doing was internally toxic). Yup- I literally haunted her with some sort of half-expectation that the answer as to why she stopped being friends with me would reveal itself.

Having been someone who came to friendships late in life, I've developed an independence that I think, sometimes borders on the extreme-I really wouldn't give two shits if I lived alone, or died alone. I find some sort of satisfying fulfillment and peace with my routine, my self-involved interests and my lack of social obligation save for family which to me, are not obligations at all, but commitments. That's why living in New Zealand is perfect- I hardly know anyone and that suits me just fine.

But this is not to say that I've had a lack of opportunities to form strong friendships which in this day and age of numerous digital interconnections, would have been an easy thing to do. 

But not for me; I think I've grown too fond of being invisible, of being rooted to one spot, unable to leave it, to move on. 

Night Out: Hola

Where: Little Mexico Cantina & Tequila Bar

What: 3-litre jugs of Pina Colada or sugary Margaritas for $60 and cheap, unpretentious platters of the usual suspects (nachos, tortilla chips and saucers of chili paste, guacamole, pico de gallo..). 

People think it's more of a restaurant than a bar which suits us just fine in all the times we tried to get into another Mexican themed restaurant/bar, only to be turned off by the crowds so we end up here, our annoyance eased by the easy smiles of their Spanish-speaking wait-staff. We promise that next time, it won't be our back-up choice.

By 10pm, the dinner crowd disappears and if you've commandeered the side-walk tables, forgiving the fact that it's on a sloped surface, you would have called it a night too even if the streets are telling you it's just starting- a pitcher of Margarita is very deceptive.

 

How do you start...

..the day when this study says skipping it could be good for you (okay, fine; Huffington Post is not exactly a credible source) and some would say that the effects are exactly what I'm looking for- lowered blood pressure and cholesterol.

Filipino breakfasts I miss

Run. For your life

I've never been fat. I've maintained my weight and my waist-line for the last 20 years. I'm fit and toned and I wouldn't be embarrassed at all if, for some weird reason, I would need to take my shirt off in public (!!!???).

But my actual fitness level is atrociously bad. My blood pressure remains quite high in spite of medication, breathing apps, goddamned pitchers of hibiscus tea and garlic tablets. Sure, I'm genetically predisposed to be hypertensive, but that's not an excuse to try and look for a solution. 

I think you have White Coat syndrome said my cover GP the other week. So I had to stay in his office for about 20 minutes, lying on my back to relax while he tried to get another reading. It did go down quite significantly, but inwardly I seethed; I always did significantly well on things that I set out to do and I was losing this badly in spite of what I thought were my best efforts.

So how often does one need to exercise in a given week? Apparently, not enough; walking to and from work from the train station/bus stop, 100 push-ups every other day, the occasional gym.

So I guess I need to step it up.

“The American College of Sports Medicine has two basic recommendations for cardio exercise. The first suggests 30 minutes of moderate cardio five times per week, and the second recommends 20 minutes of intense cardio three times per week. Each is adequate for general health and weight maintenance.”
— ACSM
I wish I lived near a better gym but lately, I've learned to stop complaining and to pay attention to the treadmill.

I wish I lived near a better gym but lately, I've learned to stop complaining and to pay attention to the treadmill.

Tools to make the run better; get an Apple Watch!

Tools to make the run better; get an Apple Watch!

Tools to motivate; get really great cushioning like Nike Zoom All Out Low

Tools to motivate; get really great cushioning like Nike Zoom All Out Low

Find the perfect ideal place to run; New Zealand as it turns out, is that place.

Find the perfect ideal place to run; New Zealand as it turns out, is that place.

A long urban weekend

I know for a fact now that given the choice between a scenic hike and three hours roaming a luxury mall, I would definitely pick the latter. I don't mind hiking, but if you get the same health benefit walking up and down the aisles, your heart-rate picking up at the price of an Armani sweater you thought looked great with your jeans, then why not.

Auckland is not by any means, a worthy competition to Melbourne, Honolulu or even Manila, but I've learned to accept what I can get. You just have to learn how to navigate the city's  nooks and crannies to look for what you want. And sometimes, you even find stuff you don't expect to find like Moscot eyewear, tucked away in a small shop inside the Queens Arcade; quirky sweatshirts by Paul Smith inside iconic Smith & Caughey's; or a thousand and one beauty products at any of those Asian shops that sprout and disappear like mushrooms all over the city.

And you don't have to buy anything- perusing and filing the knowledge of what's available, or what's possible (better skin for middle-age?), is the whole point. 

Was so upset, ended up buying shoes

I'm truly a New Zealander now, to the bone. I voted in the last elections with a passion I hadn't felt in a long time. I care about issues and my future in a country where I can definitively say would be the place I would die and be buried in. I'm also upset that today, the party I voted for didn't take their place in government as I had been hoping.

I was so upset that I ended up buying a pair of sneakers I had some doubts buying. 

Suffice it to say that I was efficiently distracted by the whole experience (a first for shoes) of being the first to get a pair with the imminent possibility that the size and colour I wanted would run out. It was like getting Adele concert tickets all over again.

I was put on a queue and in suspense as I waited for over 15 minutes wondering if I would get it. If I were, to be honest, I didn't really care. It's just shoes I thought, or just a phone, or just Adele (no one else is like Adele really). But I guess we need these 'little wins'; that feeling that all the effort and the waiting are somehow worth it, even if all our expectations have yet to be proven.

We wouldn't know would we until we get it, until we try it out and take our first steps in it. 

It could all go terribly wrong and wait- I'm talking about the shoes I bought and not Jacinda Ardern and her Labour-New Zealand First coalition government. 

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Nike shoe of the week

I remember when I was working for the Provincial Government of Pangasinan, there were these so-called calamity loans that everyone scrambled to get because the interest was so cheap that it was almost-nearly free money. As the name suggested, it was supposed to be something that you used to fix whatever the typhoon had damaged. Well, I used it to fix my Nike craving, haha. 

I accumulated really good and rare pieces and learned the sad truth that you didn't really seriously train in Nikes; they didn't last long (the pairs I had left in the Philippines had all nearly disintegrated) and if you wanted them to last, you just have to use them as something that complemented your outfit (or showed the shoes off), or to not use them at all- I think I'll never be entrepreneurial nor rich enough to just admire them in their box. What good is beauty or perfection if you just admired it from a distance? (I think this may also mean there's something wrong with your head).

It's been a while since I experienced true-blue shoe lust and I felt it again with these Nike Air VaporMax Flyknit SEs. Apparently, an initial version of these (how did I miss it??) came out early in the year in collaboration with Japanese fashion label Comme des Garcons. While I think most collabs with high-fashion labels are more misses than hits (a lot of them are downright ugly), the VaporMax CDGs present that clean but avant garde aesthetic that Rei Kawakubo is known for. The shoes get rid of messy shoelaces (which means a tighter fit that is perfect for my narrow feet) and there's this rectangular strip that runs on both sides of the uppers for that streamlined look. 

I've obviously trolled through YouTube doing research on the shoes and it's not something that everyone will like instantly- but then that's fashun for you; it's truly not for the faint-hearted. Or the budget conscious for that matter- this one costs $320....

The future is now

I came out of a screening for Blade Runner 2049 with a profound sense of familiarity and that for me, is the weakness of a film belonging to a genre that is supposed to reposition your mindset of the future. It fails this and this is the bleakest realisation- that future is actually already here. 

1. Society is prepared for fully-conscious Artificial-intelligence because it has been treating non-conventional people as if they just only recently came to life. So if you're a replicant, a gender-fluid teen, a 65-year old transgender woman or a pugnacious Democrat, expect to be embraced, vilified, tortured, celebrated or murdered, all depending on the timing and mood.

2. Patriarchy is an old God that refuses to die. You've knocked down someone like Harvey Weinstein, but there is a long way to go (how many lifetimes will it take to get there?). It's women versus ideology, versus religion, even versus themselves.

3. Climate change is real and all you need to confirm it for some of us who have been around longer, is to believe what your gut tells you. And mine is telling me, winter is probably coming.

4. What is the opposite of dystopian? Why isn't anyone writing or making movies about that?

5. If the future is here, don't be the fool who persists in clinging to the past. Yield yes, but don't bend too much. 

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“This is the first age that’s ever paid much attention to the future, which is a little ironic since we may not have one”
— Arthur C Clarke, 1976

The future is...embrace it, use it

Question Of The Day

“Is every single day a sort of struggle or are we just imagining it? ”
— Me, today, while looking at my pile of clothes

1. There are always dishes on the sink

2. I looked bad in a photo, and it was an Android one with a 'beauty filter'

3. I can never seem to organise my clothes

4. I try to picture myself in 10 years and all I see is NOTHING

5. I actually managed to save enough in just 4 months to pay off a credit card (in the low five figures), and here I am planning to spend it again

6. I really need to have an above-average fitness regimen

7. I feel that 75% of what I do online is a complete waste of time

8. I logged back in again to my old Facebook account for a peek and realised that I made the right decision to get out of it.

9. Where is my place in this world?? I am here, but it seems that my feet are not planted firmly on anything

10. I need to re-organise. Again. And then again. I feel that if I stop, it's all over. 

11. Expression is not all about an image. I've made my camera-phone a crutch for far too long. 

Off Day

A cold starts with that tell-tale tickle in your throat and the scary thing is this- there's no warning. You were fine when you woke up. You were fine the night before. But suddenly, just before you get up from your desk for morning break, you feel the tickle. You clear your throat once, twice. You go to the bathroom to muffle the sound of more aggressive clearing and it doesn't go away. 

In the past I didn't know any better and as the day progressed, I would feel the tickle grow like a warm, tingly diaphanous web inside my body. My face would feel hot and then cold. I would feel light-headed, my eyes watering. By evening, an explosion of sneezes fills my lungs, my nose with mucus. I get to bed knowing that something out of my control has gained possession of my body.

But I learned by accident that you could arrest this- first sign of that tickle and you literally bombard it with everything and anything- anti-bacterial lozenges, a hot drink made of 650 mg of paracetamol (an analgesic), and 10 mg phenylephrine hydrochloride (a decongestant), cold and flu tablets, cough syrup, mug after mug of hot lemon juice and honey. It wouldn't hurt if for dinner you had something really spicy- all that capsaicin (and approx 239% vitamin C).

And it works- kind of. The tingle would be gone the next day, but you sort of realise, this thing doesn't give up without a fight. It's been arrested, but it's not dead. The barest of signs linger; a still throaty, stuffed sounding voice, the occasional sniffle.

But it drives home the point- you're mortal. Your efficiency as a human being depends on the state of your body. Health is not wealth, it's life itself. Nothing else matters- I did a few emails, vacuumed, washed whites- was I working or was I not? My mind, stilled probably by all the medication swirling in my body, said it didn't really care and just after noon, I turned off my email notifications and had a blessed nap. 

I turned off stuff, but I'm still here.

Had that blood test today for lipids. if medication works, do you keep on eating the way you do? 

Had that blood test today for lipids. if medication works, do you keep on eating the way you do? 

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I would make a sizeable batch of adobo- a mix of chicken breasts and thighs cooked in apple cider vinegar and Kikkoman soy-sauce and nothing else,  and would just take portions out for lunches and sometimes, for midnight snacks because why…

I would make a sizeable batch of adobo- a mix of chicken breasts and thighs cooked in apple cider vinegar and Kikkoman soy-sauce and nothing else,  and would just take portions out for lunches and sometimes, for midnight snacks because why not?

Chini Rae kept me company via her mother's phone

Chini Rae kept me company via her mother's phone

WATCHING: DR FOSTER

We've all had drama, but we never realise how harrowing emotional upheavals/betrayals are - at least that's what BBC One drama series Dr. Foster wants us to actually picture, or remember. Every drawn breath, surreptitious glance and loaded word has the heft of a metal hammer, the slice of a hidden blade or the surprise firing of a gun at close quarters. But there is barely any physical violence here, none that I've seen so far anyway through three episodes of season two. Beyond the ugly crying and the endless rationalisations, unfaithfulness is about that awful punch to the gut- and that for some of us, the only resolution is punching right back.

A year ago today according to iCloud

Honestly, if I didn't cull my photos, I would literally have a photo for every day of the year. What this means or accomplishes, I have no idea. I have given up trying to understand why I reflexively take a photo of something. Is this the diarist in me, but by photos instead? Possibly.

So a year ago today I was in Auckland city. It wasn't an all-nighter and that I had just seemingly emerged from the Forte bar at 10am- I was just passing through a deserted alley-way on a Sunday morning to get to Queen Street.

Had a browse at Louis Vuitton because why not? High-end shops are the epitome of perfect customer service even if you're not buying anything. The whole point it seems of someone actually interested in explaining to you how an expensive product is ma…

Had a browse at Louis Vuitton because why not? High-end shops are the epitome of perfect customer service even if you're not buying anything. The whole point it seems of someone actually interested in explaining to you how an expensive product is made is to show you that what you're paying for is actually worth it.

And apparently I also went to Prada which was even friendlier and more accommodating than Louis Vuitton. 

And apparently I also went to Prada which was even friendlier and more accommodating than Louis Vuitton. 

And this was dinner which was fried camembert and some other stuff.

And this was dinner which was fried camembert and some other stuff.

Sunday's Ultimate Life Tips list

I don't know why the first thing I do in the morning is to reach for my phone as if Im expecting to find something life-changing in it. Like free money? Not. 

Saw this list in the NZ Herald and it made me smile.

1. Use olive oil instead of extra-virgin olive oil when cooking with heat. It has a higher smoke point and is cheaper. Use your nice oil for finishing dishes, not for preparing them.

2. When you break a glass on a hard floor, shine a flashlight parallel to the floor so you can see the shadows of tiny pieces you would otherwise miss.

3. Unless you like soggy wet toast, buy butter/margarine with the highest grams of fat per serving.

4. When ironing clothes, don't start from the front side. Leave the front side to the last to have an excellent finish.

5. When cleaning mirrors or windows and have no window cleaner in hand, use newspaper with water.

6. If you want to avoid pocket dials, move your recent calls icon into a separate folder.

7. Bees hate CO2. If one is bothering you, gently blow on it and it will fly away.

8. Tourist with a camera? Take a picture of your contact details. This would make it easier for someone to get in touch with you if you ever lose your camera.

9. If you are given a prepaid debit card as a gift, save it after you spend the money. You can use it to sign up for free trials online without worry of being scammed.

10. If your printer is out of black ink and you need urgent printout, change the color of the font to #010101, which is 99 per cent grey, it will help you quite a lot.

11. Let someone know you're picking up the tab for a meal after they've ordered. This allows a considerate friend to order what s/he wants freely and also prevents a colleague/acquaintance from taking advantage of your generosity.

12. If your other half can't make a decision about where to eat, play the 5-2-1 game. You give them five restaurants, they pick two, and you pick from those.

13. Whenever you travel abroad bring a new soundtrack for each place you visit, preferably one you have never heard before. In the future, every time you listen to each soundtrack again they will bring you vivid memories of the places you have visited.

14. If Word crashes or shuts down and your document didn't save, search ".asd" in the file Explorer under "This/My PC". It should be there.

15. When you're about to cry, think of words that rhyme or count backwards from 100 in sevens. Engaging the logic part of your brain shifts blood flow away from your emotional centres and helps you maintain your composure.

16. If you are buying headphones/speakers, test them with Bohemian Rhapsody. It has the complete set of highs and lows in instruments and vocals.

17. If you want to "vacuum seal" food, put it in a ziplock bag and submerge it in a bowl of water with the bag open above the water. The water will push the air out of the bag, and you can close it without any left inside.

18. When you sign up for anything online, put the website's name as your middle name. That way when you receive spam/advert emails, you will know who sold your information.

19. If an indoor cat gets outside and lost, put their litter box outside. They can smell it from up to a mile away and find their way home.

20. Learn to read food labels. "Made from 100 per cent ..." is not the same as "Made with 100 per cent ..."

21. If somebody comes to your door selling a home security system and asks if you have one, always say yes. You never know if you're talking to a potential burglar.

22. When walking your dogs, make them sit and wait before crossing streets. This will make them hesitate about running into roads if they ever get loose.

23. If you want to learn a new language, figure out the 100 most frequently used words and start with them. Those words make up about 50 per cent of everyday speech already and should be a very solid basis.

24. Go to the zoo when it is a little cool outside. The animals will be active trying to warm up.

25. Bring a healthy snack to work. If you're looking for a snack but don't feel like eating the one you brought, you're not hungry, you're bored.

26. There is a visible difference between not working out at all and doing 15 pushups every day. Make 15 pushups your new "not working out".

27. If you can hear them but they can't hear you, you're the one with the weak signal.

28. Leave the washing machine lid open after every load of wash to allow moisture to escape and dry it out.

29. If you have a clogged drain use baking soda and vinegar to dissolve the clog and flush with boiling water to avoid buying expensive drain cleaners.

30. After you assemble furniture, use duct tape to attach things like hex keys, that came with the furniture, to the underside. You won't have to look for it when you have to disassemble the furniture.

Source: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/lifestyle/news/

What's in your fridge?

Filipinos use the word 'ref'. I still almost always say 'ref' but get to remember it in time to change it to 'fridge'. I cleaned out the fridge simply because it was too damned full. I threw out stuff like half-used jars of salsa, pesto, plastic tubs of tomato paste and soft-squeeze Japanese mayo. The weirdest thing I threw out was a five-month old box of organic dates that I meant to use for baking. After the cull, I wiped the shelves down with soapy water. The fridge has four seperate freezer compartments but I'll probably do a cull of that next time.

Funny how your fridge resembles your closet in so many ways:

1. You buy too much and never get to use them all
2. You buy one item and realise you didn't like it after all, but..
3. ..you think it might come in handy so you don't throw it out
4. You think the time will come in when you'll eventually use it and it's there
5. Needs some organising
6. Needs some planning
7. Needs a budget
8. You think it's good for you but it's not

Some more items not in photo but are on the refrigerator shelves on the door:

1. Organic eggs
2. Water
3. A bottle of Moscato
4. Heinz ketchup
5. Coke Zero

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Sneakers of the Week: Raf Simons + Adidas Stan Smith →

I have a pair of the regulation plain white Stan Smiths, but would I fork out NZD$ 460.90 for a pair of Raf Simon designed ones?

The editor's notes on Mr Porter describes it as: 

Mr Raf Simons puts his unique stamp on one of adidas' most iconic shoes: the 'Stan Smith'. This collaboration replaces the sneaker brand's signature perforated stripes with the revered Belgian designer's initial, and is made from a premium leather that's polished to a glossy lustre. The heel tabs and tongue are coloured in black, as opposed to the usual green, creating a bold contrast. 

While $NZ 400+ is not outrageous for shoes (I have custom Nikes that cost over NZD$ 380), I would tend to make sure that exclusivity aside, I'm getting something else for my money. You can cross out comfort; Stan Smiths are not the most comfortable of shoes as the leather gets painful on your feet at the end of a long day. And white sneakers are worn because they provide a clean contrast to an outfit. The whole point of them is that they make you look young and subtly casual without drawing attention to themselves. Sure, you get a small thrill when someone recognises a brand you're wearing, but Raf Simons isn't exactly in that level of label recognition even if his work is in so many ways more superior than a whole lot of these brands.

So that leaves you with having to decide what really floats your boat- a standard one, or a designer version that costs 3X as much? I admire Raf Simons (when he was at Dior and more so now that he's putting some much necessary wit to Calvin Klein), but I may have to pass on this one; unless it goes on sale for half the price lol.

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I would wear them with:

KENT & CURWEN Checked Wooo-Flannel jacket, NZD$ 2,038

KENT & CURWEN Checked Wooo-Flannel jacket, NZD$ 2,038

SANDRO Terry appliquéd Loopback cotton-jersey sweatshirt NZD$ 297

SANDRO Terry appliquéd Loopback cotton-jersey sweatshirt NZD$ 297

ACNE STUDIOS Nalon wool sweater, NZD $471.17

ACNE STUDIOS Nalon wool sweater, NZD $471.17

JAMES PERSE Slim-fit stretch cotton poplin cargoes, NZD$ 501

JAMES PERSE Slim-fit stretch cotton poplin cargoes, NZD$ 501

Brekkie

I have about eight more days to go before my next blood-test for cholesterol and in the last couple of weeks, I had bacon only once. I also cut down on my eggs because it felt weird just having eggs without bacon. For me, this is the best breakfast combo- sure, I'll throw in a pancake or two or fresh white toast on occasion, but I'm happy with just the two.

I almost always cook the bacon in the oven without additional oil, and I never salt my eggs; it comforts me a little, these little nods to health. You only live once, so I say, do it moderately. Nothing is worse than being an extreme health nut and getting cancer or a tumour anyway, because it happens. 

So lately, I haven't been eating breakfasts at all save for my usual morning espresso and would have my first proper meal of the day at lunch, usually at 12:30. And I feel just fine. I've heard that this sort of 'fasting' may actually be beneficial. I also like the feeling of a tight, taut and empty stomach.

But I need my fibre, my complex carbs and my proteins and this morning I finally took a closer look at the cereal/breakfast aisle and saw all these...mmmmm..options

Deja vu

IOS 11 is Harry Potter magic; Live photos can be rendered into loops, bounces. Who would have thought that a moment in time could be captured so perfectly as a gif? 

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'Beauty' Sunday

I had the last of three three microdermabrasion sessions at the Avana Clinic at the Sylvia Park mall today. A different girl did my face and our conversation started with her wondering if I was wearing coloured contacts. No I'm not, I reply followed by my standard explanation that when I was younger, they were slightly bluer (a lie) and that the shade had changed to something closer to greyish blue. It was a far easier (and less dumber) explanation than, I didn't really know; that I started out with brown eyes like my siblings and that somewhere along the way, they changed.

We got to talking about ethnicities (my father's family has Spanish ancestry I tell her, and this is mostly likely true) and hers she tells me, is an interesting mix of Japanese on her mother's side while her father is Pakistani-Kazakkstani-Indian; that she is a practicing Muslim who doesn't wear the hijab. To be honest, I didn't take much notice of her as you would with some people who seem to either consciously or unconsciously try to be inconspicuous. But even then, my fleeting impression of her was that she was Korean and I tell her that.

I get that a lot she says somehow a bit dismayed, as she begins to cleanse my face. After the treatment, I make sure to get a proper look and I see a girl in her early twenties with a square-jawed Eurasian face. She could possibly be younger too which makes me re-think about trying out the laser treatments I was thinking of getting over the Christmas break.

I've never done lasers before and I feel that for such a procedure, maybe I wanted a more mature, medically authoritative person like an actual dermatologist.

She asks me at length what I did for a living but for some reason, I didn't question how she was trained for this. Was she a trainee? Was this a temp job for university students earning money on the side? In Adidas Superstar sneakers, jeans and a plain white t-shirt, she looked the part. Wielding a derma-microdermabrasion polishing wand may be easy enough but lasers?

My other alternative was About Face also at the mall. I've tried them twice and while I found their exacting professionalism very comforting, I actually hated their pushiness for their expensive products. It was like that dentist that I tried who even before he could start the procedure, was already ticking a list of stuff I needed to do with matching price-estimates. Do I need to spend $2,000 to deal with micro-cavities?

I've been 'doing my skin' for nearly half my life. I know its up and downs. I rarely ever go to sleep without washing my face and putting some product on. I have sun-screen on 365 days a year even on cloudy days. I've recently started drinking lots of water even if I hate the taste of water. I hate it when someone pushes for a recommendation based on an assumption- a cosmetic assumption for God's sakes. 

But the next step, lasers, has to be done right so I needed to weigh things carefully.

It was either the millennial crowd at Avana, or the pushy professionals at About Face.

So what's your name again I ask her. She gives one that has Zs and lots of Ss which my hearing/brain promptly fails to process. I find the other girl who did my first two sessions at reception when Zss Sss and I walk out. Hi, I simply say to her because her name too is one of those confounding things that are obviously foreign and so exotic that it defies normal pronunciation.

So when are you booking for your laser treatments they ask me and Zss Sss opens up her appointment tablet to look for a date.

Probably before the holidays (most likely true)..will be travelling a lot overseas in the next couple of weeks up to November so not sure of my schedule (not true)...I'll give you guys a ring  to book (maybe) and hey, thanks...

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I vary the products I use depending on what I think is happening with my skin. I'm currently using drug-store stuff like Neutrogena's Retinol treatment range; a serum from New Zealand company Snowberry. I've also been doing the Korean skin-regimen o…

I vary the products I use depending on what I think is happening with my skin. I'm currently using drug-store stuff like Neutrogena's Retinol treatment range; a serum from New Zealand company Snowberry. I've also been doing the Korean skin-regimen of 'layering' various creams so after the serum, I put on a night-cream (varies depending on what's on sale) and finally a facial oil (Midnight Recovery Concentrate by Khiels).

Friday

I have this fear that there will be that one morning when I wake up, having blissfully put my phone on flight mode through the night, that goddamned North Korea has launched a nuclear/hydrogen bomb attack because of goddamned Donald Trump. 

This Friday morning the sky seemed on fire for no other reason than the fact that it was another Friday; that we get to be alive and well for one more day; that we have to persevere only because there are people we love who need our protection and care.

Food for days

I had my regular blood tests done recently and this time prior to taking it, I didn't try to 'control' the outcome which meant eating food I 'preferred' versus food I 'should be eating'. Mind you, I have a few healthy habits firmly ingrained- less or no sugar at all, low carb, low sodium- so it wasn't like I went crazy. But I did go crazy- on fats. 

I loooove fats. At parties where lechon is served, all I would have is a plateful of lechon-belly, just warm enough to feel the pork fat melt in my mouth like butter. 

My food diary for those eight weeks was filled with eggs (around half a dozen a week), bacon (every week), chicken wings and mayonnaise- mayo with chicken, mayo with eggs, mayo on white toast on days when I allowed myself to eat white bread (twice a month).

The thing with fats is that it's filling; I never feel hungry, hence, I never feel compelled to snack (to be fair, I haven't been a snacking sort of person). But obviously, having a predominance of fats in one's diet would have consequences even if you're physically active. I tried to google, 'do you burn all the fat that you eat' and it gave me a trove of conflicting answers. 

And that's the annoying thing about food and dieting- the obstacle is science itself- when it can't decide definitively if eggs are really bad for you or not. But worry less on what's on the outside and more what the state of your body is by the numbers. With an ideal (total) cholesterol level of less than 4.0 mmol/L (according to NZ health guidelines),  mine read 6.2. My current GP frowns at anything over the prescribed level as all doctors should I guess, but for me, it wasn't that bad- maybe I should've shown her my food diary. I was expecting it to be way, way higher.

So ditched the bacon for now and hoping for better numbers in the next couple of weeks when I do another blood-test.

DID YOU KNOW? 
Your liver typically produces approximately 75% of the cholesterol circulating in your blood - a diet high in saturated fat stimulates the liver to produce more cholesterol. 

The remaining 25% of your cholesterol is derived from the food you eat. This dietary cholesterol is present in animal foods – mainly in dairy products, meat, egg yolks, offal and shellfish. It is not present in plant foods. 

For these reasons, the saturated fat and cholesterol content of the food you eat are likely to have a strong influence on your blood cholesterol levels.

Other factors that may influence your blood cholesterol levels include:

  • Genetic susceptibility to high cholesterol
  • Medical conditions such as diabetes and liver or thyroid disorders
  • Being overweight
  • Physical inactivity
  • High stress levels.

(via Southern Cross NZ)