Valentine's Day Shopping

Here's a little something I noticed a couple of days ago.

I work part time in a make up store. Understandably, we don't get a lot of male customers. And the few male customers who come in regularly probably know more about make up than most women. Which brings me to the minority- Straight men.

Quite a few of them come into the store during Christmas, and of course just recently we celebrated Valentine's. So the day before and the day of Valentine's, we had a sudden influx of straight men dashing in. All looking for gifts for their wives/girlfriends etc. We have lots of things women would like. We sell make up and beauty products, nothing out of the ordinary if you think about it...

So, Why the hell do the (straight) men always have this hunted look in their eyes when they walk in?? They shuffle around, asking what's popular and what's good to buy. You point out what's hot and what's new but in the end, they just end up getting a gift card. In that case, why ask in the first place?! And why do they always have to look so uncomfortable? It's just make-up. It's not going to hurt you and we're not going to try to put it on you (unless you ask).

And of course, while the men are walking around looking dazed and confused, the rest of women in the store are smirking. By chance, I overheard a female customer smirking to her friend, "you can smell the desperation in the air."

It's true and it was amusing to watch all the men scrambling to find appropriate gifts for their better halves... even if 85% ended up with gift cards.

Time to write...

It's been quite a while since my last post. I was planning on writing a blog for Christmas but that didn't happen. So I thought I'd do one for New Year's- talk about resolutions, good intentions and all that jazz...

Obviously that didn't happen either. Christmas and New Year’s was wonderfully eventful. Yes, it’s good to escape from under my rock once in a while.

One of New Year’s resolutions was to do more writing, be more active on my blog and other social networking tools. Let’s just say I burned the slip of paper with my New Year’s Resolutions. (Oops).

But on a different note, rather than being a curmudgeon this year, I thought I would try to be more positive. I wouldn’t go as far as to say no more “Doom and Gloom,” but less of it wouldn’t be such a bad thing. There was a spectacular sunset on New Year’s Day- A promise of good things to come, maybe? I like to think so.

Men In Uniform

It's my day off today and I decided to run away from my apartment to hang put with the forest friends. I was checking out their bookshelf over at their place.... when do I not peruse the bookshelves of my mates lol.

I stumbled on some pretty damn interesting magazines and comics. Interesting in a good way lol. I spent some time flipping through the books while it was snowing outside. Perfect way to spend the evening if you ask me and here's one of the reasons why. Here are my 2 favorite picks for tonight.

*drumroll*

"Men In Uniform"
How awesome is that??!!?? The book has detailed descriptions and manga illustrations of the various uniforms worn by men in Japan. Army, navy, coast guard, postman, you name it, the book probably has it lol.



The description really had me laughing my ass off. Wouldn't you want to have a look at this book? I want it, I'm going to put it on my wishlist lol. Time to go to the Japanese bookstore.



I love the description on the front cover of the book. Number 2 is pretty awesome as well and it's a manga of... Policemen lol. Notice a theme going on here? In case you haven't noticed, I love men in uniform. (hot men, 2D or 3D, a hot man in a uniform is instant win)



I love the little tag on the front that says "catch me please" in Japanese. And for some extra laughs, here's the close up of the description.

So Much Drama

I've dropped off the radar for a couple of weeks, just got too busy with work. Not much fun writing about work, that and the fact I don't really want to think about work when I'm off.

As misleading as the title sounds, the answer is no. I have not found the best new drama since Winter Sonata- which I hated by the way. I was referring to my day today.

I live away from home and family- home being a tropical isle planted just above the equator. To be a little more precise, I live approximately 8000 miles away from home and family.

This being said, can anyone tell me HOW I was suddenly dragged into a misunderstanding (that was blown waaaay out of proportion) when I am EIGHT THOUSAND MILES AWAY.

Not 8 miles, not 80 or even 800.

8000 f**king miles away. If I was in the same room or even the same country when the unfortunate incident occurred, you might say I was an innocent bystander who got caught in the line of fire. How is it remotely possible for me to get drawn into this mess when I wasn't even in the same f**king continent, much less the same freaking time zone. There's a 16 hour difference! I was ASLEEP when the molehill exploded into a mountain. F**k, it wasn't even an explosion, entire suns and universes were created in that big bang.

Come on people, I don't care if he said or she said shit. I wasn't there and even if I was it's none of my business. You can say what you want and do as you please but FFS, Leave Me Out Of It. This is worse than a b-grade melodramatic Korean drama with all the twists and turns.

I don't need to deal with this shit in my free time and I certainly don't need to hear about it when I'm at work. I really don't appreciate the guilt trip about not taking sides. And i don't know how, but this incident turned out to be the catalyst for listing my shortcomings and flaws. It's my fault, some how, it's all my fault. Everything that went wrong.

I'm sorry, how silly of me to forget, I'm the reason for every tragedy since the beginning of time. Ice age, yeah I did that. Extinction of dinosaurs, yeap that was me. Titanic? You didn't know I put the f**king iceberg there?

I'm not going to write all the sordid details, I might just end up slitting my wrists or slamming my head against the wall in hopes of knocking myself unconscious.

I'm ranting on my blog because I have no where else to vent. I don't want to hurt any of the people involved by saying something I would regret once the anger has faded. How do you tell a loved one the truth, even if you know it will hurt them? No matter how gently or kindly you put it, you know they'll be hurt by what you have to say. That being said, how do you talk to someone who only hears what they want to hear?

... ... ...

Screw it, I'm going out for a cigarette and then I'm going to bed. I have ranted, mulled, cried and been guilt tripped. I'm done for the night, so here's my one finger salute.

Accident Prone

Ash has an oowie.

It was one of those days. Didn't sleep... it was more like couldn't sleep.
Woke up late, poked myself in the eye with the mascara wand (damn you Mascara), ran for the bus and felt the knee go "Pop." Not a good sign when you're just starting the day.

Dealt with really shitty clients who were impossible to please but hey, isn't that the way of the world. It's not my fault some people are too cheap to pay for quality. I work in a "premium" retail store (so I'm told). The word "premium" isn't associated with words like "cheap" or "discount." FFS, save that money and buy a friggin dictionary. >GRRRRR<

And to top it all off at the end of my shift- Just when I thought I'd manage to end without anything else going wrong... I had to staple myself with the wonky stapler. And bleed. The stapler drew blood. It's on now- I'm going Bon Qui Qui and declaring war on that stapler. First chance I get, I'm going to break it's springs and have it thrown out. Note to self, suggest new staplers to management. And pens. Pens always seem to disappear once your back is turned.

Of course it only started raining AFTER I got off work. It didn't rain while I was at work, it had to start after my shift, literally when I walked out of the building. Walking in the rain is not so much fun when you have a ton of make up caked on your face. Runny eyeliner soooo not attractive. Waterproof my a**. Lies, Lies, Lies!!... I feel betrayed.

Thankfully, today's mishaps ended there. With any luck, I'll be able to make it to bed without tripping over my purse... oh wait, too late, already did that too. *sigh*

It's just one of those days. Accident prone Ash cannot catch a break.

Midnight Rant

I can understand that my apartment building is a non smoking building and that smoking isn't allowed in the building.

But I have a balcony. It would make sense that I should be able to puff away on my balcony but nooooooo. Smoking on the balcony isn't allowed either.

Hence I find myself sitting on the curb outside my apartment at 12.40 am having a cigarette. All because some idiot was smoking in their apartment and someone else complained of the smell. FFS people, get a life. I don't like your squalling kids but I don't kick up a fuss when they start crying at 3am.

On a slightly more optimistic note, I have cut down smoking. Thank god for little mercies, you might think? Well, f**k that. It's dark and it's cold and I'm sitting outside.

On a completely random note, my wireless rocks. I still get a signal out here.

Looking Left, Looking Right

There was fog over the water today. I didn't get to wander down to the beach till this evening. By the time I got there most of the mist had evaporated. From the little pier, looking to left, you can see a little bit of mist covering the bridge. A subdued and subtle view.




But looking to the right, BAM! One of the
Most beautiful sunsets I've ever seen. A photograph from a mobile device doesn't do it justice. I wish I'd brought my camera with me.




Just another reason why I love where I am. Sunsets and gorgeous views always make me happy. At the same time, I feel a little wistful that I can't share these moments with the people I'm closest to.