At the moment, it is clear what are the kind of sites that I frequent by the kind of photos I have in my collection. As much as I like travel photos and pictures of interesting locations, there are very few travel related sites which I regularly visit.

Instead, through my following a few fashion related Twitter accounts such as Fashionista and InStyle magazines, those are the photos that are have filling up my Pinterest board.

But just because I have loads of photos of this-celebrity wearing that-designer, I am as clueless as the regular person when it comes to all things fashion.

Truthfully, without clicking on the link, names like zamberlan boots sounds as much like  the latest fashion boots instead of what they actually are,  good old-fashioned hiking boots.

Going for facial, spa and the likes are a must because every women must pamper ourselves this way – and the inevitable line – because we deserve it.

Perhaps.

But pampering oneself with facials is not for everyone – not me, at least. I do not enjoy just lying down having someone pick on my face for hours. Doing hair is just as bad if you consider the time but at least, I can read and look around when I get my hair done.

So no to massage, no to facial and no to spa treatment.

I rather use that money on exclusive skin care and make-up; bobbi brown cosmetics, MAC range, SKII and others. That is the kind of pampering that I can deal with.

My interest about this part of Asia went into overdrive – much to the annoyance of my poor husband who has had to listened to names like Laos, Cambodia, Burma, Angkor Wat, Luang Prabang all this week.

As well as what he knew is coming every time I started talking about places – “LET’S MAKE A TRIP THERE!!”.

But their bloody history is always what puts a stop to any real plans, or as he simply puts it, “Why do you want to go to places which have seen so much death?”.

Laos was reportedly bombed with more explosives during the Vietnam War than Germany and the whole of occupied Europe during World War 2 – can you imagine how much devastations that caused? The generations of people still affected with deformity caused by the chemicals released during the wars and their general hardship  - how can I see them and enjoy my trip?

Maybe I can arrange an itinerary that focuses on their natural and historical sites; majestic temples, fascinating culture and tradition and scenic landscape and waterfalls – and avoid places like the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum (why anyone would want to visit this place is beyond me…)

But there is still one thing that stops me.

I would loath to be one of those tourists coming in droves, descending on heritage sites with no capacity to cope with mass visitors, photographing like there is no tomorrow, disrupting daily lives and sacred rituals of the locals, turning them into spectacles for our entertainment – effectively, taking away their charm and all their mysteries.

What a dilemma.

I dream of touching the ancient ruins and experiencing the atmosphere of lives untouched by progress.

But I will resigned myself to reading accounts of these places from visitors who have had the chances of seeing these places before they became tourist spots.

And console myself that I am doing my tiny part in preserving heritage sites like the Plain of Jars and Luang Prabang.

Although I registered (and was invited to join) quite a while back, I did not checked it out until recently.

But what a fantastic photo sharing website it is!

Just one page brings up photos of dream-worthy and hugely intriguing collections of photos, posted (or pinned) by the millions of users from all over the world. Scroll down and you’ll see amazing after amazing where-did-people-find-them photos!

My verdict for the several days that I have rather actively remember to “pin” photos that I like tells me two things :

Either I do not go online enough or I do not surf pages with photos enough because it is hard to fill up my board!

And I wonder if it is cheaper to buy upholstery fabrics online and have it made here instead of just changing my whole sofa set because it is hard to see all those photos of beautiful interior decorating photos without wanting to do something!

Anyway – so, do you Pinterest? Look me up because I am still at the stage where I am overwhelmed with the photos from the 10(?) profiles that I am following.

The oil and gas career roadshow which took place last week was something which interests me.

Having lived in the oil district of Brunei for more than 10 years, hearing and seeing what work and life is like for those in the industry, I feel a certain connection to it too.

It is best explained by my husband – it is an industry he was born to go into simply because, he grew up with it.

Born and bred in the district where everyday and everywhere are sights of oil and gas activities; towering rigs, flare stacks, helicopters flying to and fro the intriguing “offshore” and even the occasional smell of gas in the air around town – it’s hard not to be interested or at least, curious about this industry.

Herein lies the one thing that makes this career path a clear choice for some and hazy for most – and I meant students who live outside the Belait districts who have probably never seen a working nodding donkey, the universal symbol of oil production.

How can they be interested to venture into this career – especially when it most likely brings up images of oil stains, hard and heavy labour work, amongst others? But at least, this is an obstacle which cannot be tackled in a 3 days career roadshow.

What can be tackled during the roadshow was to field speakers/representatives of this industry that can relate to the majority of the audience i.e. the FEMALE STUDENTS.

Where are the lady engineers who would be the only ones who could answer questions such as what’s offshore life is like from women’s perspectives, what roles can women do at drilling rigs or the special challenges and difficulties faced by women in this industry that is globally dominated by men.

But oil and gas is not an industry meant only for men.

It is time we realise that to get more of our female students into this line of career and to contribute to the biggest income-earning industry in our economy, we must highlight to them their role models – the small but hopefully growing group of female oil and gas professionals.

Lady engineers of Belait, our girls are depending on you for guidance.

In the days when she was still alive and lived in a town more than 2 hours drive away, coming to visit us was a torture for her. She would be fretting over the state of her garden, “Matilah semua tu bunga-bunga tu tidak kena siram” or “Entah macam sudah tu bunga ros…” – and always ending with, “Saya mau pulang lah ni!“

Truly love-sick with her flowers!

At least, her aching heart were a little appeased with my mother’s own garden who, must be said has never lived in any house without at least 10 potted plants. In the many homes that we have had over the years, she has always had a mini nursery and that moving houses always mean one dedicated truck just to transport her plants. They are that many!

So maybe it is unusual that I do not share this interest because as much as I must have nature around me, I prefer wild flowers i.e no caring needed! And there are enough florists around town for the occasional flower indulgence. Besides, there’s always good deals on teleflora orders and all I have to do is pick up the phone!

]]> http://jewelletan.com/not-a-gardener/feed/ 0 http://jewelletan.com/not-a-gardener/ http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/jewelletan/feed/~3/99y6mjbhPLU/ http://jewelletan.com/dining-out-in-peace/#comments Sun, 29 Apr 2012 15:09:34 +0000 Jewelle Tan http://jewelletan.com/?p=1593 I have taken to carrying a bunch of pencils, pens and coloured pen plus papers in my handbag to whip out when we are eating out.

All for the kids of course.

They are useful to stop my 6-year-old from doing her interrogate-the-waitresses routine. Stop the 3-year-old from dancing all around. And so the 8-year-old will just be quiet for a while.

All so that we can dine without being notice.

This do-some-drawings trick does make them focus on their papers (and not their surroundings) most of the times except that it also comes with “Mama, look at my drawing!” or “What do you think of this fashion?” or always the loudest, “PAPA, CAN YOU DRAW ME A SPORTS CAR!!”

But how primitive we look when parents in nearby tables whip out fancy gadgets to entertain their kids. How provincial we seem when their full-of-self-control kids quietly (and smugly) swipe their fingers on their gadgets – when all we had were short wooden pencils and coloured pens with wrong caps!

I know what my kids must be thinking….

Yes, mama will bring fancier looking pencils and make sure all coloured pens have the correct caps on!

So they are used to having books around them.

In nearly every part of our unit within our family home, I kept shelves of books for them to flip through at any time.

And it makes me happy albeit a little stressful when my 8-year-old gravely informed me that she has finished reading a book I bought just a few hours earlier and asked “Could we go to the book store again?“

It makes me happy to catch my usually hurricane-in-movement-and-typhoon-in-sound of a 6-year-old sitting quietly on the couch, flipping through a huge book, declaring “I love this! There are so many stories here!“

It makes me happy when my 3-year-old told me that she was “Drawing AND reading, of course!” when asked why was she being so quiet in the living room.

Contrary to what many people think, it is not hard to make kids enjoy books. Just put books all over the house and watch them pick it up.

“Still living with his mother? How childish!“, “Not independent“, “Mummy’s boy” – and so many other judging statements that usually lean towards the negative.

Yet, this morning, when I walked past my mother in law and one of my brother in law having breakfast and chatting together, I found myself hoping to be blessed with this kind of mornings with my own children in 20 years to come.

I know both of them enjoys it, being the only time in a day for them to have a one-to-one chat, even if only for 15 mins (or less).

Living in a time where the world is smaller and people are living and working thousands of miles away from their hometown, to still have ones’ children within sight and sound most days (my mother in law has all three with her) is to me, an uncommon good luck to any mother.

She treasures her 15 mins with her youngest son and he will look back on these mornings with fond memories and know that he has played a part in making his mother’s day, just by having breakfast with her.

Which he refused to get rid off.

How much that reminds me of these two long-defunct B-52 PA Speakers (or something like these) that belongs to my husband. They have stopped working maybe 10 years ago and he refused to get rid of them too!

Never mind that they take up precious floor space in our small and already jam-packed living room.

But unlike my friend who already threaten to dump her husband’s trash if he doesn’t do anything about it, my particular trash needs one strong man to carry down just one piece (and there are two heavy pieces!) – and it is only because of that reason that they are still in the house.

Lucky for him!