the price you pay

Two weeks ago I was fuming when presented with news unpleasant to the ear. Once out of the orthodontist’s office I rang MBF and G to gripe about what I have no control over. The progress of my teeth.

You see, I have always wanted straight teeth. It was never somewhere at the pinnacle of my wish list, as I somehow have a fair amount of common sense to realise that straight teeth is neither going to land me Brad Pitt and metamorphose me into Angelina Jolie nor her proportions.

Neither will it grant me articulacy and automatic anti-nervousness release when being hounded and orally abused by certain someones of a certain bracket on their (and soon to be my) bad day.

Nor will it give me the ability to remember all the facts I’ve read. I only seem to be able to remember bits and pieces of interesting but relatively useless information.

Or bestow upon me superb culinary skills and the aptitude to throw dinner parties at the height of gorgeousness coupled with social competence rivaling some PR individuals.

Or give me the secrets to use more percentage of my brain à la Einstein.

You get the idea.

Moving on.

I am not too sure whether it is the Virgo element taking charge but I’ve always wanted perfect straight teeth. It wasn’t as if I had fangs sticking out capable of scaring little kids despite it not being Halloween. My teeth were, well, they were uneven.

“Get braces done” was sitting in my wish list for a long time, only to move and sit at the bottom of my to do list for an equally long time.

Finally, the self-indulgent what-do-i-bomb-my-money-on debate was to either add a delicious chocolate brown monogram-embossed full leather handbag with horsebit on its strap to my possession or succumb to the self-inflicted vanity. Despite being a bag hag, I chose the latter. (I still think about that bag sometimes..)

During my first consultation with the orthodontist, she said my jaw is too small to contain all my teeth in a perfect straight line. Though she made me feel as if I’m a deformed creature with giant teeth all the way up to my brain, she added that this is normal. The process would involve me extracting 4 teeth – 2 from upper and 2 from my lower, to make space for those straight pearly whites. The duration was quoted at 6 months more compared to “normal” scenarios, due to my ‘interest’ in such suitable, young, tender, pliable era of my life. Of course, she was prudent enough to include a disclaimer for fear of being sued by yours truly – that the length of procedure varies based on personal characteristics of each patient. And in my case, inflating the treatment time would be the more logical option.

Post-deliberations, I decided to give it a go and fixed an appointment to carry out the X-ray, mold and impression. After which came the extraction. I thought of extracting all 4 at once because, hey, kids do this. I am not in that age group, I can take it. I was strongly advised against it.

She was right.

The first 2 was manageable (pain was expected) but chewing food thereafter was not an option. Still determined to get it done fast, I came back a few days later to extract the other 2 on the left side. The molar in my lower teeth refused to budge. Despite the local anaesthetic, I felt intense pain but held on because the objective that day was to complete the needed removal of all 4 teeth. After 30 minutes which felt like a lifetime and heaps of references to my X-ray film, she decided to split the damn tooth into 2 in order to facilitate the extraction. OUCH!!! Plan B was successful after about ten minutes.. Apparently my roots were acting as an ad hoc anchor for that molar. I saw the two halves of that tooth, both its roots were curved like mini hooks. The left side of my face swelled up and immediately I had a fever. Insanely unpleasant experience that was.

At that point of time, I wanted to bail out. Only I would have to walk around with 4 gaps in my teeth for the rest of my life and be a fine example of what NOT to do.

Not an option.

So I sucked it up and waited for the wounds to properly heal. 2 days later I felt this hard thing poking where my left molar used to be. It is a blurr what bone it was but I clearly remember having to go through another painful procedure to cut and remove it. The mere thought of it still makes me cringe.

The party has just begun.

The day came for me to put my braces on. Some sort of dental cement was applied on each tooth upon which the brackets were placed. If I remember correctly UV light or some sort was used to set the cement. Then she inserted some bands and metal things between my molars and threaded the wire through each bracket, using elastics to secure the wire position to each bracket. Did it hurt? Like hell it did. I was on baby food for a whole week.

Fast forward to the present. Panjang sangat lah this posting.

It has been let’s see.. 19 months, of being metalmouth. The boss’ 14 year old daughter who started wearing it a month later than me is well on her way to remove the contraption. Next month, it seems. Lucky girl.

Me? On my last visit, the orthodontist told me we have a problem. The gaps in my lower teeth aren’t making any headway.

Her explanation didn’t make sense that Saturday but having the painful monthly tightening sessions with her only to have my teeth move slower than a paralysed snail doesn’t make sense either. Whatever she was saying, the bottom line is we cannot meet the target date and my treatment time will have to be stretched to another year.

I thought she was kidding because we always enjoy a bit of a chat and jokes when I go for my visits.

She was not.

Bugger. My stubborn lower teeth.

Despite being a grumpy whiny beyatch post-visit that Saturday (sorry MBF, G and Choonism.. hehe..), I knew there is absolutely nothing I can do to coax my teeth into moving at a faster speed. I just needed to vent.

I will have to wait for the next appointment for her to lay down what would be the most viable options for me based on their progress (or regress) the past four weeks. I just hope it does not involve surgery.

In the meantime, I’ll just pretend I’m 14 and only started wearing them 2 months ago :p

yet another quiz shit: per-purr kah-rerr

You Are Lavender

You are sweet with a very soft personality. People become easily entranced with you. They seem to glow around you. You have a quiet energy that can keep you active late into the night. Even if you aren't the life of the party, you definitely keep the party going.

What Color Purple Are You?

her royal fabulousness and her tres chic line: more info

Bitten Revealed! The details behind SJP's first-ever clothing line

Tuesday, March 13, 2007

(NEW YORK) On Monday, The Daily revealed that Sarah Jessica Parker was planning to announce plans for Bitten, a new clothing line the actress was working on. Following this morning’s preview, here are more details:

-First off, how the line was named: according to a company release, “Bitten” was driven by Parker’s reaction when she was first introduced to Steve & Barry’s. “Parker was blown away by the company’s mission and bitten by the Steve & Barry’s bug after walking into a Steve & Barry’s store for the first time.”

-The Bitten collection is Parker’s first-ever apparel line, which she teamed up with Steve & Barry’s to produce. The collection aims to offer high-quality, affordably priced sportswear for women of all ages and sizes. Steve & Barry’s were, in 2005, given the Hot Retailer of the Year award from the International Council of Shopping Centers.

-The Bitten collection will be offered in a full size range from small to XXL in tops, 2—20 in bottoms, and 6—10 in shoes.

-The pieces will be sold exclusively at all Steve & Barry’s shopping mall locations across the country beginning June 7, with every item priced at $19.98 or less. The collection will boast an assortment of over 150 styles and more than 400 apparel and accessory items and grown to nearly 500 apparel and accessories by August with the introduction of the fall line.

-Key looks from the summer and fall lines include suit separates in a wool blend with stretch; lightweight wovens; basic black cotton dresses; a denim collection; tees in cotton jersey; nightgowns; swimwear, and accessories including handbags, totes, jewelry, belts, and footwear.

-The collection will be merchandised in a store-within-a-store environment featuring specially designed fixtures, signage packages, and plasma monitors running segments of The Bitten Story, a documentary on Parker’s life and her vision for the line.

Said Parker, “Women should be able to wear great clothes and not lie in bed at night feeling guilty about how much money they’ve spent. High quality, luxurious clothes do not need to cost as much as we’ve been led to think."

source: http://www.fashionweekdaily.com/

post-script: Saw the photos of the line.. Quite casual, not quite impressed coz was expecting something more of her own SJP style :(

lunchtime doodles

I SWEAR my adversary is on a mission to make me camp out in office 24/7 AND give me a bloody heart attack before June this year..

*@)Ut^*(_Pr7_NQ!(**s.

I’m officially starvation central. I am to have lunch with my colleague HK who suddenly decided to be super-efficient despite it being lunchtime. Either that or she has decided to go on a fast despite earlier asking me to have lunch with her. Or she's annoyed with me that she found a strand of pink hair in the loo next to the sink. (But how do you know it's me?? tsk tsk..)

Since I have programmed my head to temporarily stop working during lunchtime today, I chatted with JODB, asking him about his son to whom I’m supposed to be a godmom. (Aaaw lovely I'm touched. But. Me? Err.. WHAT am I supposed to exactly do? And NOO I’m not going to give your son anything contained in a baby blue and white box tied with a white ribbon no matter how hard you try… tsk tsk tsk..) He's so adorable (the baby, NOT JODB) and sleeps with his mouth and eyes open (Weird, but SUPERCUTE since hes SUPERADORABLE unlike his dad). After a while we lost the plot. Typical.. heh.

Expectedly it led to fashion talk and he gave me the link to British Vogue. Like hallao!! I have that bookmarked baybeee.. Heh. (No, don’t bitchslap me..) Only I haven’t visited that site in yonks.

I then checked out some of Alexander McQueen S/S 2007 RTW collection. News is Sarah Jessica Parker is launching her own line.. Ooooooooh.. I can't wait. Me lovelovelove SJP. I told JODB I have a brilliant idea related to fashion but I’m not telling him as I don’t want him to curik my idea.. Hehe.. One fine day, Godwilling.

Dammit! Mana HK nii.. Me hungers.

translasi

>>hi.. whats avenue in bahasa?

>abeniu

>>crap la you !!

>BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

>>not funny :P

>Funny waaaaaaaaat.. :p wat avenue? as in address or wat? wats the sentence

>>Not address lah. Resp themselves have not exhausted every possible avenue :D

>wat have u got?

>>Resp belum menghauskan semua cara.. I dont know..

>Menghauskan?? WTF? Resp thirsty ah? tehehehheehe

>>LOL. Hurry up laa. This thing is due like soon.

>Resp sendiri masih gagal dan masih belum mengambil segala langkah-langkah yang sepatutnya dan/atau berkemungkinan dilakukan.. Ok ah wit the contents?

>>Perfect :-)

>eh u exhaust tak? BWAHAHAHHAHAAA..

social faux pas

There are a number of things that you can let hold you back, or you can persevere and move forward. It is a matter of choice; ideally made from considerations of pros and cons prior to reaching that decision. The choice is yours to make.

Having said that, in my eyes, if one focuses solely on one’s opinions and blindly practices I-know-ALL attitude, one’s purportedly ‘considered’ opinion would more often than not, be misguided. Especially when one’s opinion is coloured by one’s emotional turmoil, be it self-inflicted or otherwise.

There are some who are piously sure of one’s own righteousness and impose their own moral standards, only to baselessly claim full knowledge and proceeds to accuse another of bad intentions. Some create unpleasant situations for others, only to test the reaction it would produce. Then there are some who pass judgment and go to the extreme by labelling another, when in reality one never really bothered to know that person at all. Sometimes one ignores another’s gesture of concern; valid reason or not. Some are just too conceited to admit fault and blows everything out of proportion then conveniently adopts a comatose state.

We choose. We have to bear responsibility for our actions.

Everybody's path is their own. Each of us has our own hurdles to overcome.

I guess some people are just plain arrogant and me-me-me. As much as we want to paramount our own well-being, the blunt reality is we don’t live in solitary. It doesn’t hurt to put the effort to make it a peaceful one.