Puta...

Want to die after receiving the contract for the Met's internship. For a meagre salary of US$22,000 per annum, as per 50 35-hour work weeks, I receive:

- no health insurance
- no paid holidays
- no pension plan
- no housing assistance (!!!!)

Which basically makes NYC-living close to impossible, as my apartment search has revealed that I need to:

- have an annual salary 40 times my monthly rent [av. rent costs approx. $1000-$1400]
- or have a guarantor who lives in the Tri-State area who makes more than 80 times my monthly rent.

I might as well go live on the streets in a cardboard box. What oh what did I get myself into? WTF?! Even the MFA in Boston, a regional second-tier museum, offers better terms. Prestige doesn't feed empty wallets or stomachs.

Making "compact" living work for you

Another hurdle crops up after I clear my first towards ideal-living in NYC.
With a limited budget, and even more limited space, I need some serious inspiration for creating my dream pad in a shoebox. Apartment Therapy's Smallest Coolest Apartment Contest gives some great examples (and some mediocre ones too) of how real people (ie. non-interior-decorators-or-architects) make spaces work.

But before I even do any space-planning, I have to find a cheap studio / 1 BR in or around the Upper East Side / Astoria / Williamburg first. Guard your doors, landlords of rent-stabilized properties!

EMPLOYED AT LAST~~!!!!

HAVE BEEN ACCEPTED BY THE MET FOR THEIR 12 MONTH EDUCATIONAL MEDIA INTERNSHIP! Woohoo!!! *jumps around the house*

It's a huge relief to know that I am a worthy human being after all. Thank you everyone for your tremendous support over the past year. It's been very trying for my self-esteem. I've had good and bad working experiences, and I've learnt from all of them. Thank you to my mum and dad, my grandad, Uncle David, Uncle Steven, Uncle Peter, Auntie Linda, Lisa P., Fan and David for doing everything they can to help me out.

WKW Week

Been on a non-stop Wong Kar Wai binge this week, with Eros screening at Kendall and the big Retrospective at Brattle Cinema. Watched As Tears Go By 旺角卡門 on Sun, Eros 愛神 on Mon, then Fallen Angels 墮落天使 + Chungking Express 重慶森林 today.

The Hand, WKW's bit in the Eros trio of shorts was as gorgeous and lush as expected. As a spinoff of 2046, his signature 60's style and Chris Doyle's unmistakable palette is as consistent as the longer film. More physical and psychological clautrophobia, more covert desires, more unconsummated relationships. As always, the opulent cheongsams alone make paying to see the film on big screen worthwhile; on the curvaceous Gong Li those dresses can easily put many so-called couture designers to shame.

WKW's prolly going down in film history as the genius who makes even masturbation look divine. Before watching Fallen Angels and The Hand, I didn't realise how shockingly good WKW is at portraying explicit masturbation, without making it tacky. In The Hand, wanking a partner has never looked so poetically excruciating on screen: Gong Li's feathery touch sent tingles down MY spine, and Chang Chen's face looked like he was a mute being castrated. You can literally see the sweat droplets forming on his forehead - the man deserves an award just for those 30 seconds.

I wonder if WKW has worked unfulfilledness out of his system yet. Out of all his flicks, only Chungking Express and Happy Together have happy endings. Alienated urbanites deserve happiness too.

Cookie Monster to cut down on cookies?!

Man, that's just atrocious. All that low-carb nonsense has to come to a stop - what's the fun in gorging on fruits and veggies?

If it's fat kids you're trying to target, ditch MacD's, switch off the computers and TV's, kidnap them outdoors and make them throw frisbees and ball-shaped objects around. Denying any kid of their occasional cookie only creates grouchy sour pouts.

Unintentional sci-fi-comedie-noir in the kitchen:

Blue grey goo batter
Note to self: Do NOT use frozen blueberries for pancakes EVER AGAIN.
In a gleeful bout of euporia after a meeting with my freelance project bosses that went surprisingly well, I ambitiously decided to make blueberry pancakes, with a Food and Wine recipe that I had cut out at Yao's, at 6.30 pm as a late-brunch-carb reward to myself. I should have known better. Six months out of the kitchen, my hard-earned ingredient improvisation intuition and pancake-flipping skills simply vanished without a trace. Must hone my cooking fast, so that I can throw a big dinner party when I land a job and find an apartment of my own.


the benign intentions Vs. the extraterrestrial looking result
*sigh*
Actually, the results were suprisingly palatable. If you ignore their appearance.


The Attack of Intergalactic Space Turds