jhameia | Entries tagged with consumerism

Thanks to a friend I finally got out to Uniqlo to do some serious shopping. Mostly I wanted some basics like long-sleeved shirts that I can wear under button-up blouses in winter so I don't have to wear the same sweaters all the time (not that there's anything wrong with sweaters, but sometimes I have nice clothes that I don't want to hide behind sweaters!) to keep warm in winter. Uniqlo has this "Heattech" line of what could be thermal underwear, but could also pass as plain shirts, so I wanted to try them out. I also wanted to get some new shorts, trousers, blouses, and generally some new professional-looking clothes.

I really love shopping in person?! I love going into malls and trying out clothes and taking note of how the floor has been organised. And I like being able to try out clothes before I commit to them, and I take a really long time making up my mind. And going into a fitting room with an armload of clothes is a great time for me. I don't hate shopping online, but I don't do it much because I am very picky about the way clothing should fall on my body. I've gotten a couple of dresses off eShakti, but that didn't work out for me either, and I ended up not wearing the dresses more than once.

Most of the time, in the States, when I do shop, I either go to thrift stores or to Target. The problem is that I tend to splurge on show-stopper items like dresses, or really fancy blouses, because they're fantastic and I love stuff like that, but also I feel guilty spending money on basics.

And I really need basics!! I like layering, and I like a good pair of trousers over good leggings, and I can't keep wearing jeans to work (well, I CAN, but I don't want to). I'd really like to lean more into taking care of my appearance.

Uniqlo was touted to me as a great place for basics, and I did like the look of some of their stuff, but ultimately it was kind of disappointing! I tried some shorts and a really nice long skirt with pockets, but the way they hung just didn't look right to me. The blouses also looked okay but not hundred-ringgit okay. Also the colours are painfully neutral--exactly the kind of colours I avoid. It reminded me of the time I went shopping with my adviser, and our divide on our preferred colours--I prefer jewel tones, rich bright ones, and she preferred pastels, lots of beige and mauve. Everything that was close to my preferred colour saturation was all outerwear.

Still, I did find a nice gray blouse, and a pair of black trousers, as well as some shirts from the bargain bins. I also am trying some of the Heattech stuff. I'll hit up Parkson later this week to look for more blouses and slacks. The goal is a full professional wardrobe that will fill up two weeks of outfitting.

More time was spent in an accessory store where I bought some earrings. I... really did not need them (well, the unicorn ones will go over at work really well! they're rainbow, almost pride colors) but they look great and I'm sure I'll get a lot of use out of them!

Also shout-out to my brother was drove us to the mall and then back, even though I could have just walked home (and walked there, but it was mid-afternoon and 34'c and horrifically humid).

In an effort to actually use the stuff I have constantly bought over the years, I have resolved to do the following:

( all under a cut to save your f-list lol )

- I went shopping at 99 Ranch yesterday morning, followed by lunch with YL and Eric. Then I got home and passed out. Didn't get much work done, boo. I did get some stitching done though! All my patches have been sewn on successfully.

- Went to Kmart this morning. Meant to get new sheets, because mine are boring and grody, and two new pillows, and some other odds and ends. The bedsheet selection was awful, but I ended up buying... lot of clothes. Lots of tights, because I'd like to start wearing skirts more. And a lot of stuff from the Nicki Minaj line.

- Sorted out my wardrobe--gonna take a LOT of things to this year's WisCon clothing swap! I also pulled out the box of winter stuff, swapped it out for the summer stuff.

- Started a new embroidery project, a little firebird. I've got some really hard red material so it's hard to think of something that'll stand out on it. I'm not even sure I picked the right starting colour, and I'm sewing it onto the outline on paper right now, so we'll see. When it's done I can make it into a little coin purse. I wanted to do a frangipani but the fabric is so red, I wanted to do something bolder. I should think of something to write for the other side, though, but all I can think of right now is something pithy like "misandry 4 lyfe".

- I tried doing a bit of the "Deck of Cards Challenge" tonight. (Mine's Spades for Squarts, Clubs for Push-ups, Hearts for Russian Twists, and Diamonds for Crunches.) I'm no good with it, and only got through maybe 20 cards. I also figured out how to do squats without feeling that popping in my knee (it's only the right knee; it doesn't hurt, but it does feel and sound alarming). Then I played Solitaire :D

Went to Comic Arts LA today with Rubato! On the way we chatted about dieselpunk and stuff. Attended a panel about, lol, comic panels and form and structure. Shopped a lot! Unfortunately, Sawdust Press had run out of their sea monsters punny Valentine cards, but they still had some samples of the prints, and I got "That is A MORAY" which still cracks me up everytime I read it. There're a couple of things which I got for other people (have a print of a biker chick that made me think "Wilma!" and there's a little accordion book about sheep for my brother

Also ran into another Tumblr friend (and by run into I mean, I saw her from like four feet away and was like "wait..." and it wasn't until she was much closer to me that I called her name and yay XD).

Rubato and I got some lemonade, then we went to have hot pot! And wandered in 99 Ranch for a while. She bought some joss paper... we're thinking of making a trip to a temple to burn the stuff (I would burn it in my patio but the last time I did it, I felt really guilty about the smoke). I got some jellies; the students are having an exam next week so I like to give them something to stay awake.

A good day! If expensive.

Last night I had a birthday party--more specifically, an unbirthday party for people of my dad's generation. Also my brother wanted to test out his new grill... a "practice cookout" for my actual birthday party this Friday. It was fine; an aunt came, my mother's brother and his wife, couple of dad's friends. Also, my cousins on my dad's side! Terry, especially; he's the middle one who's always been a bit of a social misfit, but he's gotten so much better as he's grown, and he's doing REALLY cool things. It seems everytime I've come home and want to hang out, he's off in the jungle somewhere researching stuff (he's not ALWAYS in the jungle, he kept insisting). Right now he's looking to get into a PhD program at Universiti Malaya to research dung beetles (his area is entomology).

My brother's lamb and chicken were awesome (we're thinking of getting some fish in for Friday) (there's no beef because my mother has suddenly decided that now that we have a Guan Yin altar we shouldn't cook beef in the house anymore).

The cake that one of my dad's friends brought in was pretty amazing. We broke out a bottle of chardonnay, which was kind of dry, and a bottle of Vidal ice wine from Grand Pre, which went down well, as ice wine always does with people who aren't fans of dry wine.

In the afternoon prior, my mother insisted I accompany her to Subang Parade, for lunch and also so she could get her eyeliner embroidered on her face. She injured her hand so she can't draw her eyeliner properly, and she seems to be under the impression that eyeliner will detract from puffy crying eyes (it doesn't). I left her to it, went shopping on my own, came back an hour later, only to be told to come back in ANOTHER hour. When I returned, having had my eyebrows threaded (for a cool TEN RINGGIT), it was to find that she'd also paid for a facial and had paid for several more facial treatments and wanted me to get my face done as well.

I rather wish I'd inquired the details because as it turns out the facial at this place involved ELECTROCUTING THE ZITS and if I had known I would have booked it out of there as soon as I understood.

Today, most of the day was spent moving crap and sweeping my mom's new premises. The renovators are going to install a new plaster ceiling so we had to cover the furniture. My mother has a condo in the same building so we had to move stuff up (she's thinking of moving in there and I can't handle how slap dash the place looks).

Then my brother and I went to a cafe nearby, to hang out and try out their stuff, but didn't realize my mother expected us home for dinner. So we got home in good time, had dinner, then my brother was fading so he went home. I dragged my mother to Parkson to shop with me. This may seem counter-intuitive, seeing as my mother cannot help but harp on the fact that I'm fat as if it's a bad thing, and she's also a bit of a social embarrassment since she no longer knows how to keep track of sales assistants unless they speak Cantonese with her. She also has a different shopping style; she can't see a piece on its own and needs to buy whole outfits. But we do tend to have tastes that align, and I figure it cannot hurt to give her a couple of hours of bossing me around on something relatively neutral. She says she doesn't like shopping because it makes her tired, which, whatever, something doesn't need to energize you to make you happy.

Also, she bought way more stuff than I would have bought for myself and I also now have long skirts WITH POCKETS, four blouses, and, uh, two jackets.

I am also now an XL. Ten years ago I was an M. How time flies and changes a person!

On the way home, we overheard on Capital FM (a women-centric radio station) what sounded like the start of a discussion on cultural appropriation, with ALL THE FAIL that one might hear from it. Some woman was all like "I don't think it's offensive because the Native Indians are all wiped out anyway" and the DJ was like "well I like tribal designs, what do you think, listeners? SHARE YOUR OPINIONS" and I was like HELL NO and switched the channel because I cannot deal with that kind of ish when I'm tired.

I may have then ranted about it on Twitter. I also mentioned them so maybe they'll see it.

Tomorrow I head up to Penang with Ray and Roy (hahahahahaha). We've got to visit Auntie Mimi. Ray's never been to see our grandparents' ashes either. So, that will be special! It's also my first road trip with my brother without the parents, so this should be interesting. We're only going for one night, and coming back down Wednesday because Ray has to get her new (secondhand) car.

My eyes are still gummy, especially first thing in the morning (and the ointment I have to put in every night doesn't really help that problem) but it feels great to wear sunglasses while staring at the computer! I've had to adjust the brightness on this thing twice now due to the glare.

Yesterday I went to do some errands and found a cafe nearby. My brother suggested another one, even closer (they're both in my immediate housing area). So I went to Ode Cafe first, which is the closer one. It's an upstairs cafe, and you have to ring the doorbell just to get in (sigh, things I don't understand), but they have Tapping Tapir soda and a pretty decent chicken chop. I couldn't get WiFi though (my Asus seems temperamental) and had to migrate to another place in order to do my work. I did do a pretty decent editing session at Ode Cafe. It really is too bad I can't get WiFi there because it's a really nice cafe. So I went to RT cafe instead, but it doesn't have much by way of sweet drinks. They couldn't even tell me what brand of tea they use! (It's Serenity)

I am kind of sad that there are not many places as dedicated to teas and hot chocolate as there could be =(

Anyway, I did some bare minimum amount of work, and then continued to worry about my small press business. We checked the name variations last night (Sea Echo Press, Sea Echo, Echo Press) (my dad suggested The Straits Echo, which was a newspaper here in Peninsular Malaysia that his dad edited, which I considered but I wanted the name to reflect a wider range). Got my first major case of eye-strain!

But using my new laptop/tablet Asus Transformer I think will be pretty great. I still don't like touchscreens and Windows 8 is a terrible UI and Word 2013 is nothing to shout about (in fact it crowds out things there ought to be on there for quick reference). But I think it's definitely a thing I could use to read things in bed with, and annotate and edit stuff. I look forward to using it more, although now I REALLY hope it can pick up my California apartment's WiFi signal, because if it can't, I will cry.

So, my brother and I were out of the house for practically the whole day today. ( Cut for potential boringness )

Had a lovely day today. Went hiking with my dad and then we went to have breakfast.

Went to a nearby restaurant to have lunch with a Tumblr Friend, May, and my brother. Then we went to Jaya One to attend the arts fair and had a ton of fun browsing and meeting people! It was like going to a convention merch hall except it's all Malaysians. I bought a card game called Politiko, which is a satire on Malaysian politics. I also bought some really pretty art and some TAPIR-THEMED stuff!! I have a traveling tag with a tapir on it! Heehee.

May and I volunteered to read aloud some stuff for a booth on sexual harassment. I also met the director for Pusat KOMAS! They produce some really terrific films, lots of great documentaries on marginalized folks in Malaysia. And then I met a young fashion design whose final project for art school was a COOL steampunk mask/shrug laser-cut PVC piece! I stopped at his booth, asked him, "so tell me about this" and he was like "so... I like steampunk" and it was like "YES I KNOW STEAMPUNK I STUDY IT" and we were psyched about it for a few minutes and it was great.

Then we wandered looking at books for a while but nothing really grabbed us. I did stop at SIRD's table, and got a catalog! They're a book distributor, not just a publisher... I already feel great about this. I really want to go visit their bookstore, buy a ton of things. They published MULTIETHNIC MALAYSIA which I really enjoyed, and it seems they also publish a ton of other really neat things.

After that, we went to get some snackies, and ended up in a cafe that sold a soda called The Tapping Tapir. It was a very tapir-y day!

Then we wandered, and ended up having dinner in a little Japanese place. Wasn't the greatest, but it was nice just being able to hang out more.

Anyways, I have a ton of business cards and really regretted not having mine on me! Looking forward to emailing a bunch of people.

I started work on a pair of shorts last night, and this morning I got up early (as in, 9am) to catch a bus out to the new JoAnn store in Riverside Plaza. I've been there before, with friends, to eat at the California Pizza Kitchen, but had no idea how close it was to my bus route. Cool beans! Got myself some notions and of course new patterns (a pattern for a newsboy hat!!!!). After that I popped over to Staples to drop off a cartridge and stopped by their copy center to get some Carl Brandon fliers for SDCC. The woman at the station gave me two options, regular paper for .98 or a nicer, thicker paper for 1.18, and I was whining about how broke I was, and she said she could get me the thicker version for the same price of the regular. :D Yay!

So I got home and started to sew in earnest now that I had a zipper (7 inches was still too long) and while I was pinning the waist band I took a break to call Karen Lord, who's in Riverside on vacation. I volunteered to take her to the Eaton collection. We spoke for about an hour (she is One Of My People!).

Anyway I finished the shorts! It's made out of cotton... one of the "African fabrics" that I bought in Toronto. And I played the Saber Rider theme song copious times while making it. I am an adult, yes. Now to decide what to make next. Either a skirt or a bra. Probably a bra, I've been wearing the same two exercise bras for months now.

Also a last-minute request for a thing for THE SEA IS OURS promo at SDCC got us this beautiful picture!!!!! This isn't a final picture, just a promo. I really wanted something for SDCC but the publisher didn't have anything appropriate so I was like "hrm, a couple of artists just emailed me, I shall ping one of them" and ta-daaaa.

Academically, I started on Aijaz Ahmad's In Theory and am re-reading Memmi's The Colonizer and the Colonized (the latter I can read on the treadmill).

I went shopping with HH this afternoon (after the VERY INTENSE SLEEPY HOLLOW FINALE HOLY SHIT) because she needed a shopping buddy who actually knew how to shop, and who could help her pick out a nice new dress. I didn't need a new dress, although there were a couple of dresses I wish I tried out anyway. Suffice to say, I am a very good shopper, and if we had had more time I most definitely would have picked out a new dress. There were also these chiffon trousers (I guess one wears them over tights) that had some actual functioning pockets? Amazing. Made me wish I hadn't given away some tops I had.

As it were, all I wanted was a new gym bra because my current is something I bought when I was maybe fourteen and I am now hitting 30. There is nothing technically wrong with my gym bra; it is simply two or three cups too small and I am not getting the coverage I want. Of course, the only underwear store in that entire mall, which is the size of Subang Parade which is my childhood mall, and a very tiny mall, is Victoria's Secret. And all their sports bras are too complicated by half and it was a work out getting in and out of them. No.

So when I got home I simply decided to stop in Kmart to see what they had. I got some functioning gym bras! And I also bought two nice long-ish skirts which are quite work appropriate. I'm very pleased about this. I didn't see anything else I liked, and I do think I need to get some work-appropriate tops at some point.

This week instead of writing a short story I decided to start blogging for Silver Goggles again. I think for my 5-page thing for my ETST class I'll write on utopic ideals in steampunk and how it can fail for my final paper.

I really want to move out of Copper Canyon, as much as I really enjoy it here, since I don't think I could take another rent hike. Ideally, I'd move to University Gardens and find a roommate, but Chi, the only person I can think of who wouldn't drive me crazy in living with her (and isn't graduating this year) would rather live on campus. Which, bah. I hate playing this game. This is why I prefer to live alone. Oh well.

I made HH come shopping with me (well she was willing; we both like shopping in Rite Aid as it turns out) and I indulged... INDULGED I say...

- a waffle/sandwich/grill maker... it has interchangeable plates!
- underwear (some of mine are getting frayed)
- fancy eyeliner
- lip balm (it's been a while since I've had one of these but I really need them for the dry weather here)
- cream foundation (I've never tried this before! am hoping its lightness will mitigate the weather here)
- fuzzy socks
- notebooks (after two years I'm running out)
- chocolate (just one bag!)
- a coin-counting jar! (I'm trying to teach myself to use more cash and thus spend less... having a jar to fill I think will hopefully help XD)
- hand soap
- facial washers... one specifically for black heads
- lots of little nail stickers for HH's kid for Christmas... I don't do Christmas but it's a rare thing, and when I do do Christmas I will go whole hog (which is why I don't do Christmas much)
- some envelopes
- Cetaphil moisturizer (because it's the least oily moisturizer that I've ever used... I only ever need it for the back of my hands but the one I currently have has a really strong scent that bothers me)

What I didn't get:
- fexafenodine allergy pills... I need these specifically for dust allergies. Cetrizine is OK but it works best for skin allergy symptoms. And loratadine is of no use at all =( But fexafenodine (Allegra specifically) is SO EXPENSIVE
- more socks (they just did not appeal)
- chips (I thought about it! but I could get it from any grocery store near me so I gave it up)

And that is all I'm spending on myself that's not academically related for the rest of the year. Anybody want JoAnn online coupons?

I haven't been posting because

- BLERGH WEATHER

- BLERGH WEATHER

- I've had to go out to get some chores done, which is fine, I now have cleaners, food, bills paid, office keys, cookies

- I've also been for a swim once this week, gonna do it again tomorrow

- BLERGH WEATHER

- I had a nightmare this afternoon--first my parents and I were attending a funeral of a relative, and inexplicably in the same neighbourhood there was a Halloween party, and people mistook our funeral for a Halloween thing, to the extent where I had to yell, "WHO'S HERE FOR [relative's Chinese title}?? YOU CAN STAY. WHO'S HERE FOR A HALLOWEEN PARTY? WELL GET OUT" and then suddenly I was a panel about cultural appropriation with Nisi and a couple others but they didn't even get to take their seats because the room was so small the panel seats were so close to the audience some audience members thought it would be OK to just sit there and some dude from the back just wanted to show off his video (HE BROUGHT HIS OWN PROJECTOR) and then people just kept filing out after that it was terrible and I hated it.

- I goofed and thought WisCon38 would be the first year to have two WOC guests when in fact it was WisCon34 and I'm still rolling around in shame.

- BLERGH WEATHER.

- met one of the new grads today, a guy from Szechuan. Cool guy. I showed him around to places he didn't know about despite having wandered the campus already. There are just some places which you got to be told about.

- There is a new kitty on the block that I'm trying to get to trust. It's super skittish, but I think it's definitely owner-less and gone feral as a result, because of the way it eats the food I set out for it.

- I also saw a baby possum! OK not like a baby but like it's definitely younger, half the size of the possum I normally see.

- BLERGH. JUST BLERGH.

- I have to put up some door mesh, I know it's a bit late in the season but I like having my door open at night and all these fucking bugs keep coming in.

- Bryan Thao came over with his partner the other day, and their two dogs, just to give me some company, and they got me to Home Depot where I could get some new plants!

- Of my old plants, the Spanish lavender and squash have survived my absence. The chives are uneven; I think because one of the was more in the shade than the other, so one bunch is more lush, while the other has just one stalk left, oops. The lemongrass, I think, lives, since it doesn't come up easily, but it has fallen over so I'm not sure how well rooted it is. The basil is definitely quite dead, as is the hibiscus, which I think is caused by the squash somehow having been blown over it, blocking it from getting sunlight?

- My new plants are: 4 different types of lavender, only one of which is differentiated from the others as English lavender, but I suspect one of them as a French lavender; I also have a new parsley, a new Greek basil, lemon thyme, AND oregano! I also have an ornamental grass that I want to use to line a corner of the patio where I notice everytime I water, some soil runs off since my patio is on a higher level. I figure the ornamental grass will help hold the soil from running off too much. But that involves unpotting and THEN separating the grass bunches and I can't be arsed to do that right now. But if done right, I will have grass framing a new hibiscus plant!

- Something grew in my compost pile, a lychee seed! I transplanted it but I don't think it like it much. I may put it back?

- I also got a mesh laundry bag to put all the leaves in. The idea is that since it's mesh it will aerate better. Also, it's got a drawstring and I can roll it around. It needs more green material, alas, which I am bad at generating since I don't consumer vegetables much.

- I fixed my luggage bag! The side handle gave way but I screwed it back on just fine. I think I might even be able to fix the other broken things on my bag but that can wait.

- My table and floor are still a terrible mess and I need to really clear them so I can feel alive. Also my kitchen. I'm going to wrap every goddamn thing on the stove with aluminium foil! Should have done that from the start; learned it from the Chinese girls upstairs.

- BLERGH WEATHER

- I bought myself a new floppy hat! it has white, beige and black stripes and I am pleased. I have yet to wear it out though.

- I kinda want to watch Sleepy Hollow and do the thing where I enjoy a season unfolding with other people but turns out the Fox website does not like it if you don't keep the tab active and go to another tab when adverts are on. Also, I can't pause because then some weird static ad comes up and the unpause button doesn't work anymore. Maybe it's my browser but I can't stand it. It's OK though, I guess I will simply watch the pertinent GIF sets come up on Tumblr.

- Uhm. I napped for like three and a half hours today and I think that was too long because I've been groggy all evening.

- BLERGH WEATHER

- Last few days have been intense online with the campaigning to help Roshini Muniam. Despite a heart-in-mouth scare, we somehow pulled through and Roshini won this part of the contest by like 30k votes. Hopefully that's enough to push her through to space camp in Florida!

- This just happened on OKCupid and I think you will find it amusing.

Thanks to

kate_nepveu I got Half-Blood Prince and finished reading it last night. I thoroughly dislike how the canon ships are developing and I really much wish we could jump perspectives instead of sticking with Harry 98% of the time because IDK I really don't relate to Harry very much. I think my ereader is cutting things out still though; I'll have to run it through my ePUB reader on my main computer when I get back to Cali.

My brother and I went to the fabric store two nights in a row, once to check out the stock and another with a camera and he helped me hold up fabric so I could take pictures for my cousin to see. She's super excited and I'll grab my brother to go get the ones she wants tonight :D I really love the fact that someone else in the family loves fabric and sewing! I'm sure between me and dad we'll be able to fit all the fabric she wants. I really want some fabric too but I have so much still, so I can't really decide what I want to do. I also prefer linens and cotton, whereas the fabric store here is predominantly polyester and silks.

Mom is feeling better today so she's gone to the shop, and dad is gone all day, which means HOUSE TO MYSELF. But the sky is also dark out which means it's good weather to go out to the mall and shop! :D My dad gave me vouchers for Parkson, and there's some vouchers for Jusco but Jusco is further away (Parkson is in Subang Parade which is literally down a road from me). I'm going to look for more shorts to wear that have pockets, especially gym shorts. I might not get anything, since my bag's going to be full from fabric. But I do want a floppy hat! I've worn my hair in a headband today (no bobby pins tho; this might not last long) and I figured it's the perfect hairstyle to wear for floppy-hat-wearing. I can't do ponytails because then the fit is weird, but I can't do my hair down either because floppy hats are for hot weather and it's not sensical to wear my hair down when it's hot!

I'm wondering whether I should get new glasses too. I feel I should since I think my prescription's gone up a bit? But I also want to get LASIK done.... but my brother said his eyes have been really dry since his LASIK and it's SUPER-DRY in California, so it might not be a good idea to get it done while I still live in California? AAAAAAAAAA I can't decide! But if I do LASIK it really ought to be before I hit 30.

I also went to the bookstore the other day with T-Boy, and I'm considering buying some Malay novels just to see what the market is currently like. PTS seems to have fewer new fantasy/SF novels out in favour of historical fiction of famous Malay figures like Tok Janggut, but Buku Fixi and Lejen have Malay SFF books replacing them. I need to get to DBP as well to get their editions of Hikayat Hang Tuah and Hikayat Abdullah Munsyi (mostly because those are REALLY PRETTY BOOKS).

OK, time to press on with life!

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January 2025

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