Bring Me Some Diamonds

Before I go into talking about the twenty-first birthday bash, let me update on some other interesting things that happened in the month of September!

Firstly, I DID manage to get a photo with the author of Before I Go To Sleep, S.J. Watson. I remember feeling so happy and telling Fuxuan "We're actually in the presence of a New York Times Bestseller!!" Not only that, his book had been adapted into a movie. Now the ultimate wish is to meet J.K.Rowling. Let's keep our fingers crossed.

NEXT: LADY IRON CHEF

I also attended an event organised by Lady Iron Chef, a.k.a Brad Lau, where I got to taste awesome food. It was my first time trying sangria. I quite liked it :) The photo above is the main dish that we were served. I loved the fresh prawns and scallop. Went really well with the wine. The restaurant is called RessRoom and it is located at Changi City Point. So East Siders, you may want to check this out!

P.s. The title is completely unrelated to this post. I'm sorry if I disappoint xD

The fashion-intern Insider scoop

Hey people! SO I finally got the time to sit down and write this post. I've alwaysssss wanted to be involved in the magazine industry. My love of magazines started in secondary school. I would often bring the latest magazines to school and some classmates would borrow them from me. I started with Seventeen Magazine. I loved the fashion, relationship advice, etc. My love for Seventeen may also have started due to the fact that America's Next Top Model winners often graced the covers of the American version of the magazine. And I was a huge ANTM fan.

After Seventeen magazine went out of print, which I felt devastated about, I graduated to Cleo magazine. And I think I have a 3 year collection of Cleo in my storeroom. So when I saw the Instagram post asking for new fashion interns, obviously I applied immediately without thinking. Then I went for the interview, and I got in. I think as long as you have some mass comm or fashion design background, you can make it in.

The first week of my internship was okay. It involved me writing quirky captions for our Hot Looks section, finding images (both street style and runway) for the 'From Catwalk to Cleo' section, etc. Second week onward, all hell broke loose. I found out that product sourcing is the most tiring thing in the whole damn planet. (Okay I am exaggerating but you get the point)

Product sourcing basically means going out to shopping malls, mainly in the "7th Heaven of Shopping" areas such as Somerset and Orchard, and loaning accessories, clothes, shoes, etc and bringing them back to the office. We then have to take pictures of these products in the studio. Our two resident photographers are in charge of that. These high resolution pictures can then appear in our magazines and they will appear scattered all throughout the fashion pages.

The week leading up to our photoshoot was probably the most physically tiring week of my life. When we go and borrow clothes and stuff, we take one of those 30kg luggages with us, and we go from shop to shop. My day typically went like this:

Pick-Up Products:
- Taka
1. Charles and Keith
2. On Peddar
3. Love Moschino

Return-Products

- ION
1. Topshop
2. Bershka
3. Pull & Bear
4. Warehouse
5. Stradivarius
6. G2000

- SMRT
1. F21

- Wisma Atria
1. Miss Selfridge

- 313 @ Somerset
1. Levi's

I got tired just typing all that. When we borrow, we don't just borrow one thing. We borrow LOADS. So that 30kg luggage is usually FULL. And there was this one day when I was going to the Agnes B storeroom and I had to drag the full luggage up 2 flights of stairs. No escalators. No lift. Somedays you're so fed up you just want the ground to open up and swallow you.

And I actually did overtime many times. Despite the fact that I am an unpaid intern. Normally the day should end at 6pm, but the latest I left office was at 10pm I think, that was the night before the photoshoot. Guys, you need to realise that I am not complaining. I am really just giving the insider scoop. I could pretend it's all glamorous and shit, but it's NOT.

There were some perks: I got free liptstick, concert tickets, got to hang out with international models, got discount at H&M, etc. And the perks definitely helped to cheer me up when the day was just too tiring.

The Big Day of the Photoshoot

Casting for the photoshoot had been done, my fellow fashion intern and I had got in crazy hauls from all over Orchard and we had got the big boss's approval of the selected pieces.

In the picture above, this is what we prepared, with a total value of at least $10k. 3 racks of crazy expensive clothes, shoes, bags, etc. From these, we narrowed it to the selected pieces for the photoshoot. 

The models arrived at about 5pm, as well as the Makeup Artists, and together we headed to Kallang Stadium, which was the location. We all got Burger King for dinner and then started the photoshoot at about 8pm. It was a night photoshoot :)

The models were in thick fur coats, and I don't know how they managed to look so flawless and composed when there was barely any wind. It was quite hot! I saw two pairs of bare boobs. HAHA. Boys would have liked to be me. Then at 1am, I had to drop off a model, Luiza, at her apartment and then I headed home, reaching at 2am. What a tiring yet exciting night. 

And I finally ticked something off my bucket list. Be part of a photoshoot. :)

So now I'm out of there. I treasure the experience but I am glad that my stint as an intern is over because it was frucking tiring. 

New Style Inspo - Chiara Ferragni

OMG I am really excited about this woman. While looking for photos of her for the magazine, I realised that her style sense is freaking AMAZING. I'm talking about Chiara Ferragni. She's a blogger, fashion designer, and has been employed by Guess as spokesperson/model. Just look at her outfit below. Simple, yet powerfully feminine. Abstract prints and flattering shape ftw!

With Au Naturel makeup

She is so pretty!!!

Look at that cray necklace (insert heart-shaped eyes)

Loving the boots and dress combo!

On a more personal note, I'll be attending a "World Lit" event. S. J. Watson, the author of Before I go to Sleep is going to be at The Arts House and I managed to snag a pair of tickets. The novel was also turned into a movie, which played in cinemas just last year. I'll be going for this event with Fuxuan, since I haven't met her in too long and she was also a literature student like me. :)

I'm so excited about this!! I hope I can get his autograph on the hard-copy of the novel! I decided to wear a dress and boots combo too, like the one Chiara wore. Also, tomorrow is the last day of my internship. It's going to be bittersweet. But all in all, life is...kinda good right now. Meeting new people, doing new things. I could get used to this. Hopefully I didn't jinx myself. 

The Human Repeller

Have you guys heard of The Man Repeller? If you are into fashion you probably have. She's a really cool blogger with a really unique, kickass sense of fashion. She's like the Xiaxue of Fashion. 

"Good fashion is about pleasing women, not men, so as it happens, the trends that we love, men hate. And that is fantastic." - Leandra Medine

Leandra is the founder of the blog www.manrepeller.com and it all started when she realised that certain trends that serious fashion-lovers are into, such as acid-washed pants or enormous shoulder pads, are man-repelling - men don't like to see women dressed in such things. They generally prefer women to be dressed in more feminine pieces. And she is one of those women who doesn't care. She would rather dress for herself. 

This is her trying to NOT repel men. 

This is one of her wackier outfits that men may find weird

I personally love her style. There is a reason why she was featured in Forbes's "Top 30 Under 30" as one of the year's "most influential trendsetters in 2012. 

However I had this random thought, and thus this post, that crazy fashion is not only a man repeller in Singapore, it is a HUMAN repeller. Try wearing something that's on the runway on the streets in Singapore. Aunty, uncle, little boy, taxi driver, foreign workers...anyone and everyone will stare till their eyeballs drop out of their sockets. This is the feeling I get when I wear an all-red ensemble. But when they wear it on the runway, of course it's okay. Gahhh. 

In my humble opinion, life's too short to wear boring clothes. So go read her blog at www.manrepeller.com and wear something wacky out for tea today. 

Ciao,

Jaslin 

Echosmith Concert & Other random stuff

So I went to the Echosmith concert at Hard Rock Hotel! :) I believe it was their first time being here and I feel glad that I got to catch them. Cabbed down straight from work (I did overtime till 8pm) and was just in time. Went with one of my guy friends. I love concerts man!

 *

I think I am getting better at my job as an intern. Beginning to finally get it, and feeling more confident about myself. Funny thing is, I can't seem to bond with one of the interns. I consider myself an easy-to-get-along-with person and I usually make friends easily so I find this strange. Sometimes I think it's me not trying hard enough and sometimes I think it's her that doesn't know how to get close to me. Or it might just come down to a clash in personality. 

There was a new intern and this girl got close to her in one day. I'm like whaaaat? I've been here for 2 weeks and literally sit beside you everyday. Also it might be me. I'm too tired to try too hard in life to be anyone's anything. LOL. Friend, lover, whatever it is. 

I'm super independent these days. I can go for lunch alone and not feel lonely. I can cafe-hop alone and not feel lonely too. It's not that I don't have friends. I probably have too many. LOL. But sometimes I rather do stuff alone. Be with myself and my thoughts. I think if you don't learn to be independent at this age, you will never learn. And you will end up always depending on others for happiness. 

I can do activities alone and yet why is it that when I have no one to text every second of the day, I feel lonely? Why has texting someone the whole day become a NEED? Just because I used to have someone to text everyday? Judging myself. No relationship should begin with a need. It should begin with a want. "I'm okay alone, and yet I want you." But somehow I feel like humans suck at being alone. We all jump from one relationship to another. We crave companionship, and love. 

Ok I'm totally rambling. 

Koko and Thet Ngon came to my house just now to get the Herbalife protein! :) Yes, I'm still selling them. Koko has shaped up so much after NS!! So proud of him!

Anddd I have a job interview this coming Monday. I'm planning to work (like, a real job) after my internship ends. Wish me luck!

A Hard Look at my Media Habits

My most used social media platforms are undoubtedly Facebook and Instagram. Call me backwards or outmoded but I am not a very Twitter or Tumblr person. Ooops. Blogger would be the third most used social media, followed by YouTube. 

Facebook

Facebook is probably the oldest social media account I have that is still running. If I remember correctly, I created it back in Secondary 1 or 2. I feel like Facebook is a really good cure for boredom and somehow I end up spending way more time on it than I should. You have people sharing videos of a Japanese lady eating 3.5kg worth of Chow Mein and an extra large bowl of rice in one sitting , which leaves me amazed - and here I thought I was the one with a bottomless pit for a stomach.

Even silly things like the picture above is entertaining to me (and it actually works). My phone's name is Lei Yi. What on Earth?

And then there are funny original videos from Kelly (one of the WellnessXperts coaches). It's quite funny, please watch. It's called "Watching TV with your Mom" and very accurately portrays the awkwardness that ensues when a hot, steamy scene is on TV. 

Basically Facebook to me is for sharing mood-lifting or uplifting videos, messages and what not. And of course, to update your friends and family/acquaintances about what's going on in your life in the form of pictures or status updates.

Facebook is also a platform I may use to share posts from my new website www.themimieffect.net.

Instagram

I know some people who only follow a select few on instagram or the kind who insist on following less people than the number of followers they have. For me I follow not only my friends, but also radio stations (987FM and the likes), talent agencies, magazines (Elle) etc. I also follow celebrities or accounts dedicated to fashion so that I can get some inspiration from them. I follow people who work out so that I feel guilty after seeing their pictures and decide to work out myself.

I definitely follow more people than I have followers but I don't think that's something to be embarrassed of!

YouTube

YouTube used to be the thing during my secondary school days. Now I only use it to keep up with the latest music videos of my favourite artists, but even that I do it rarely. Just today I listened to Hilary Duff's new single "Breathe in, breathe out". It's nice! And her new album is out. SO nice to have an old favourite back in the market! Hope her album skyrockets to the top of the charts! 

Tumblr

I only scroll through Tumblr when I am feeling blue because undoubtedly there will be some post about love, loss, heartbreak, etc which I will be able to relate to. Luckily, for the past 1 month or so, there has been no instances where I had to resort to that. LOL. All's good now. 

Blogger

My blog went dead for some time but I have decided to raise it up from the dead by blogging about random stuff (such as this random post) and also, I created a new website www.themimieffect.net to blog about stuff that could give people ideas on things to eat, things to do, places to visit, clothes to wear, etc. Will be uploading a new post every Saturday! 

Already Gone

I want you to know
You couldn't have loved me better
But I want you to move on
So I'm already gone

A Community I Love

So about 2 weeks ago, a bunch of coaches and contestants gathered at 73 Circular Road for the "Got to Move" party. Basically they are moving to a better place just down the road. This place holds a very special place in my heart as this is the place where I lost 11kg and my life sort of changed. I met the most hardworking and inspirational coaches who have helped hundreds of people to lose weight/gain muscle and basically obtain the best body and health that they can. 

This is the place where I grunted and groaned with other contestants as I sweated it out, pushups, Russian Twists, you name it, we did it. The catered food (I think it was Indian) was sooooo good. And alcoholic beverages were provided too. I drank my first shot of Jagermeister. I had never heard of it before that day. I learn something new everyday. Apparently it is 35% alcohol by percentage, which is pretty high for a non-drinker like me. But I believe I took it well. 

After dinner, we had a limbo contest and the losers had to sing karaoke in front of everyone and it was pretty hilarious because some of the coaches totally didn't know the words to the lyrics. 

Overall, it was a good day. :)

Ps. I know you can't see me. But I promise you I am in the photo. HAHAHA

What Makes Me Happy

A lot of things make me happy...singing, music, dancing, watching funny shows, cuddling with my mom, visiting new places, trying new things (food, activities), even working out.

But I have realised that what truly makes me happy is making other people happy. It could be through a gift just to tell them I that I love them, or just being there when they need to rant, or saying stupid things to make them smile or cheer up.

I really need to become financially independent soon so that I can make my grandmother happy before she passes away. She has high cholesterol levels and diabetes so I worry about her lifespan. I want to bring her to Britain to see the Buckingham Palace. She has an obsession with Queen Elizabeth just because her name is also Elizabeth. HAHA.

So...Britain, I'm coming with my grandma. Soon. :)

"30 Rock" Rocks

Despite being a lover of the West and everything related to it, I don't normally watch American television shows. Their movies I love to watch, books I love to read. But I just never got around to watching shows during my teenage years. I used to love Charmed, Smallville, Summerland and the likes when I was young though.

So this year I finally felt like I must be missing out. I picked an American series randomly and immediately fell in love while falling off my chair laughing. I'm talking about 30 Rock. It's been around since 2006 but I only just completed watching Season 1. I am at a point in my life when I need things that make me happy and this show is perfect. Every episode is freaking hilarious. I love you Tina Fey!

I think another reason why I like it is because it's based in New York City, the city of my dreams (I'm visiting you one day New York). I love Alec Baldwin too (I think he is really handsome for an old man).

I did a Buzzfeed quiz called "Which 30 Rock character are you?" and I got the dumb but pretty blonde. LOL. I REFUSE, I obviously have brains. I am obviously Liz Lemon (Tina). HAHA. I think it's pretty cool to write for a television show. (potential career path maybe?)

Okay so time to start watching Season 2. 

Also, HAPPY MOTHERS DAY. My mom has made so many sacrifices for me and I love her more than I can ever put into words. I will do whatever I can to always keep that smile on her face. :') Love you mummy. 

Bittersweet torments indeed

My love story: Boy came into my life. I left boy. The end.