Seasons Greetings

I don't know what I'll get up to over the next few days (which is probably not a lot, but I do foresee consummation of an insane amount of food) so I better say a very MERRY X'MAS to everyone before I forget. To tell you the truth, I can't even remember what I did last Christmas. Really bizarre but all I can recall was my work Christmas party (hahaha any guesses as to who stayed sober that night?). Hmmm, it's highly likely that I was working all throughout that period so wasn't worth remembering.

For me, today was the official start of winter, which is another way of saying I froze my butt off when I stepped out the door (just then, I had actually typed "freezed" hahaha). The temperature was in the low single digits and I am one of the most cold-phobic people on this planet. Ok, fyi, just did a Google search and the scientific name for the fear of cold, ice and frost is cryophobia or pagophobia.

I went grocery shopping with my grandma and a family friend (who drove us) at Brixton, which is a kinda shady suburb. But stuff there is cheaper so I went to take on my usual role as the grocery-bags-holder. In no way am I intending to sound racist, but it was a very Black suburb - I just kept thinking to myself, "Don't stare at people, don't look at them in the eye, don't bump into anyone!" Ok, this might sound like an over-reaction, but I actually saw this one hobo guy squatting in a corner and rubbing something which looked like aloe vera (he was holding this huge leaf and scooping the stuff from it - don't ask!) all over his dreadlocked hair. It was soooooooo gross!!!

And another thing, I forgot how stomach-turning butcher shops can be. Now I like my meat to come all nicely cut, wrapped and stocked on shelves at supermarkets, not half plucked and hanging from meat hooks above my head. We went into one and I just stood there in the middle of the shop, too scared to move in case I bumped into something. In one corner was a pile of cow legs (still with the hooves) and in another, a pile of pig legs. Being Asian, I'm used to eating weird parts of animals (incidentally, we were in there because my grandma was buying cow tripe and by that time, I was already carrying a bag full of fish heads) but come one, hooves?!?!? wtf do you do with those?!?!?!

Anyway, I'm making myself sick, so I'll move on - a person that I have come to admire recently is actually a character from a TV show. I <3 Betty from "Ugly Betty" and I think she's such an inspiration in a world where too much importance is placed on appearance:


Betty is not movie-star pretty, but she's intelligent, capable and has a good heart. I don't think it's showing yet in Sydney but once it's on, it's a must-watch. Oh and another thing - it also shows that, with a bit of help, people like Betty can be transformed (hahaha gives me hope). Because the actress who plays Betty, America Ferrera, actually looks like this:


It's beauty that captures your attention; personality which captures your heart.
- Anon.