Ninjas STILL can't catch you if you're on fire

NOTE: I had this all typed up yesterday evening, but then my net went on the fritz, so I went to bed instead and had the 5 hours of sleep that made today veeeeeeeeeeeeeeery hard to get through at times, oh boy. Here it is, posted anyways!

---------------------------JOURNEY INTO THE PAST WITH MEEEEEEE----------------------------------

SO LIKE, I should be in bed now, ahhh wake-up in 5 hours ahhh FIRST DAY OF MY INTERNSHIP TOMORROW AHHHH!! and I have this unfinished monster post about the last few days to type up, so I am only leaving you guys with the following tid-bit--

I AM NOW THE PROUD OWNER OF THIS GLORIOUS, SUPER FANTASTIC HANDBAG! It was Ma's belated 21st birthday present for me, afhkjfhfkjjs I STILL CAN'T BELIEVE IT. It is the most expensive and gorgeous thing besides my laptop that I have ever owned, and I will love it and pet it and call it Sparky and NEVER LET GO OF IT AGAIN oh my god, I will wear the fuck out of this. Lovingly and with due care to the leather, of course. I seriously keep petting it. So luscious. AND MINE ♥. We found it as we were just strolling around and looking in all of the fancy brand name stores just for shits and giggles, and while one of my (uh, more materialistic) goals in life IS to be able to afford an original Chanel bag from my own paycheck before I am thirty-- I must say that 50'000 BHT/1'466 USD for a Gucci bag that isn't even a special edition or made completely out of leather is just crazy-ass bullshit. CLOTH! Who pays that much for cloth that is just randomly stitched and doesn't even really show much worksmanship, tss!

I admit that I did feel a bit guilty about accepting the bag-- it is an amazing amount of money for what is basically a good that I normally buy at a tenth of the price, but Ma insisted** and it is also something that I can actually use for the next five or even ten years without it falling out of style, so. An investment! ALSO I LOVED IT AT FIRST SIGHT, I CANNOT DENY THIS.


**Lol, she said that in the end, it was still cheaper for her than taking me on some short trip somewhere (CHINAAAA~~), so she'd gladly cough up the cash lol okay then :))

OKAY NOW THAT I HAVE SHARED MY DISGUSTING MATERIALISTIC GLEE, off to bed! Ahhhhhh I am so pumped already and yet I will probably be so dead tomorrow ahhh tired ahhh nerves. Will try and catch up with all LJery tomorrow, too!

--------------------------------JOURNEY INTO THE PAST OVER-----------------------------------

♥ WHY ARE YOU GUYS ALL SO AWESOME, AHHH ♥. Seriously, thank you so much for all the lovely well-wishes and posts, ahhh I was basically going :D :D :D!! all day yesterday, ILU ALL SO MUCH!!

Yesterday can also be counted as one of the nicest birthdays I've had since uni started-- now this might sound cheesetastic, but it really is lovely to spend it with at least half of the parental units, too. We met for aforementioned Greek food at Orpheus at 7PM, they had spent the day in Bratislava and I was running around town on errands with Carmen. And holy crap, was Orpheus ever so delicious-- super swank and better than I'd expected, and eating out with Dad is generally great because he believes in full course meals and not giving a damn about the costs when it's a special occasion (also, Carmen got invited too woooo!). Because I love to blog about this and predictably had taken pics (that I have yet to upload, whoops some other time), my list of dishes: Scallops wrapped in speck on beds of mashed potatoes with balsamico glaze (entree), GIANT Veal chop served with sauteed green beans and artichoke (main) and a cinnamon parfait served with marinated strawberries (dessert). And to accompany that, a glass of Zweigelt and Cabernet Sauvignon red wine. IT WAS ALL SO DELISH, and I loved getting to try a bit of everyone's dishes (Sue's Baklava was the bombbb).

Other things that were truly fantastic and happy-making on my birthday/list of schwag:
_Carmen's present: the "1000 Places To See Before You Die" book (!!), a giaaaant traveler's size mentos, color-coordinated bio chocolate and the cutesy animal stickers at Monsoon that I was always shamefully ogling
_Parental presents: Sue got me a matching set of turquoise earrings and a wristcuff, Dad is apparently giving me some mad cash in my bank account when I'm back in the summer (...seriously, he said the sum and I just about keeled over in shock :O I'M TECHNICALLY RICH, BITCH lol what) and Ma has promised that we'll go on some short trip in September (I'm pushing for somewhere in Chinaaaa)
_ALL THE MAIL I RECEIVED/WILL RECEIVE! laliandra and mcollinknight, you ladies are ON NOTICE for really making my day with your beautiful packets, chock full of style and mood-lifting post ♥ Seriously Lalex, that Onitsuka Tigers poster is all kind of swank and C, I LOVE THE SPIDER THING. Well okay I actually hate spiders with a fiery passion in RL, but I can totally appreciate the coolness of such a fake artsy one :DD
_The birthday spam on Studivz/FB, ahhh I feel loved!
_Surprise telephone calls! Wido serenaded me with his ~touching~ rendition of Happy Birthday, my austro-relatives called, Ma did and hyourinmaru CALLED FROM THE US aksjfhajfkh that was seriously such a fantastic surprise, RIN YOU ARE WONDERFUL. Clemens was on thin ice the whole day for never showing a peep, but then calling at like 9PM, yammering some excuse about how he knew it was my birthday since yesterday but (insert excuse involving beer and sunning himself here) TSSS

AND NOW I AM OFF TO SPEND SOME TIME WITH DAD, SUE AND AE (THEIR LAST DAY AWWW), will reply to everything this evening!

THE BAKK1 GRADES ARE IN.


I GOT A MOTHERFUCKING 1-ER!!!! I ACED IT!! FULL MARKS!!


OLGA, DRINKS AND WHATEVER YOU WANT ON ME!


(and haaaah Clemens got a 3-er! I beat him! Yessssssss)

I GOT THE LEO BURNETT INTERNSHIP!! OH MY GODDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD, AHHHHHH ♥. All I need to do now is send them my precise starting date the moment I get my flight back to BKK for the summer. AHH. Suddenly, the three days in a row of around 4 hours sleep a night are totally worth it. LEO MOTHERFUCKING BURNETT!!! The ladies interviewing me were extremely friendly and nice, and afterwards they gave me their name cards and it turns out they weren't from HR like I thought at first, but the Group Account Director and Regional MDO Director themselves!! I'd be working with them in mostly Below-the-Line stuff, and their main account is basically all the Proctor & Gamble products for the five Asian countries of Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam and Indonesia. AHHH I AM SO PSYCHED JUST TYPING THIS. The whole vibe of the agency looks to be fantastic too, lol they were even asking me about my hobbies and normal fashion style, and when I mentioned that my three interests of food, taking pictures of food and the internet neatly dovetail by my constant blogposting of food pics, one of the ladies was all "...well I can tell you'll fit in with the rest of the staff no problem-- one does that with her Blythe dolls and the other staff member with pictures of herself." I must also say that they had the office layout that I liked the most since yesterday too, open yet still cozy and pleasant, with lots of awesome accents like fun yet comfortable furniture and chic little touches.

I gotta mention Saatchi & Saatchi as the most dramatic yesterday though, what with their HEWN STONE RECEPTION DESK!! and GLORIOUS BI-COLOR WOOD FLOORS!! with RANDOM STRIPES OF GREENERY!! you have to step over, but that effect was always ruined by the fact that their staff that I saw whilst there at least was always schlubbing around in this super casual get-up. Saatchi & Saatchi also had the most typo-ridden and invasive of all the employee application forms I had to fill out (the same one page had questions like 'Have you ever been addicted to narcotics? Have you ever had a mental illness or a serious accident, if yes to any of these, what did you have and what was the name of the doctor who treated you?' and 'What are your favorite sports? Tell us about your hobbies' lol nice contrast). Ma tells me that this is typical Thai application procedure, I was just mainly unnerved that even when you are like in your mid-thirties and applying, you are still required to state your parent's ages and job titles. AH WELL. Young & Rubicam had the best receptionist everrrrrr, and was the only place that wanted to know my height and weight, lol whut. Finding McCann Erickson turned out to be quite the odyssey (IT IS SO FAAAAAAAAAR) and I wasn't as blown away as I expected to be. Shorthand skills were also something that was mentioned on nearly all the applications and I was a bit surprised that it is still expected? The scales of the different 'describe which languages you speak and rate your fluency' parts had very interesting jumps like poor->satisfactory->FLUENT!!1 sometimes, too.

AHHHHHHHHH INTERNSHIP GET!! Now to celebrate on the internet some more before I switch to the Austrian timezone because the sign-up frenzy for our UE and BAKK2 is at (BKK time) 5PM, 5.30PM, 7PM and 1AM. The one day I would actually have gone to bed at 11PM and I am actually REQUIRED to stay up late for uni, lolllll it just figures.

Oh man, does it ever feel wonderful to come back to Bangkok. It's like this sense of rightness that settles in my bones and fills my heart once I sit in the taxi from the airport ♥ And it seems like the flights are progressively getting more bearable, I actually really liked the food we got (Beef+cream noodles, Salmon+moooar noodles) and the uh, in-flight entertainment was top notch, by which I mean I basically watched High School Musical 3 on the plane AND FUCKING ENJOYED IT. I feel vaguely unsettled about that. HMM. Zac Efron is seriously pretty though! It was also pretty funny that I was on the same flight as this Thai dude again, P' Dan, we've apparently always shared at least two flights these last few years lol if only this were a movie it would probably be the ~start of a beautiful friendship~, not the source of random awkward small talk it actually is now. AH WELL. There were also a TRUCKLOAD of loudass group tourists on the flight though, all pumped up for the entire ten fucking hours, ahhh >_>;; THEY FUCKING APPLAUDED WHEN WE LANDED, TOO. I hate Landungsklatscher! It is so lame, and so embarrassing and jhasfjkh *random heebiejeebies*

I must say that given that I landed at FIVE FUCKING AM, the morning hours did go by quickly, at the very least I wasted a good half hour on my stupid mobile phone woes. I WAS TOO DUMB TO REMEMBER MY SIM CODE and am now extra super specially locked outta my austro-phone. DERRRP. Had to beg a quick go on one of the phone booths mobile chargers because my Thai handy had no juice. Not the best starts to my morning, but ahh well. Had breakfast at Dad's hotel and got to blather at him and distract him from work for a good while before heading over to meet Ma at the Centara Grand for our 10AM check-in. We've stayed here before and it is still a pretty sweet set-up, I must say. The 39th FLOOR!! is of course a total win, but lol their super swank bathroom is really so much more of a hassle than one would first expect. ALL THESE KNOBS TO TURN IN THE SHOWER, I CAN'T SEE FOR SHIT WITHOUT MY GLASSES and I can't be expected to grok their complicated system without some fucking manual. AH WELL. We'll apparently be spending a lot of time in the room/gym/pool instead of gallivanting about the shopping centers, as Ma really isn't able to walk for extended periods of time without getting winded (and actually has to wear a face mask when she is out and about, which basically makes her look like Michael Jackson, especially when paired with her Marc Jacobs sunglasses and Louis Vuitton bag. MY MOTHER THE CRAZY SOCIALITE LOL). And I should probably get cracking with AT-HIST ARBEIT. DEADLINE FRIDAY AHHHHHHHHHHH.

LASTLY: I GOT A 2 IN BILDUNGSPSYCHOLOGIE. A TWO, A MOTHERFUCKING TWO!!!!!! I HAVE NOW FINISHED ALL MY GODDAMN WAHLFÄCHER OMG OMG OMG FUCKING FINALLY FUCK YESSSSSSSSSS

SO I THINK I AM GOING TO BE VERY STRESSED THE MOMENT I WAKE UP AGAIN(BAKK1 Zwischenbericht deadline ahhh I have nothing ahhh) AND UNTIL THURSDAY (hardcore sociology exam AHHH). EFFFFFF.
But! There is shining brilliant light in the midst of these unsavory things that I will now elaborate on in list form, because I am tired and should really try toddling off to bed :(

LIST OF YAY:
♥ DEXTER SEASON 3 FUCKING SEASON FINALE. Moaaaaar plz! I love this series so much for being so consistently good. Definitely one that I will also be buying the orig box-sets for!
♥ The delicious and sumptuous Mövenpick CREME BRULEE ice cream that Carmen and I shared as we watched Dexter, topped with a generous helping of forest berries and richly drizzled with Mozart Chocolate Liqueur
♥ Trading early X'mas presents! Carmen really liked the shirt I got her from BKK and the papaya hand cream and mangosteen hairmask, score. And I totally adored my gorgeous cookie tin filled with chocolate and the personalized snowglobe!! she made with one side being a silly pic of us both during ice-skating, and the other being one of our swank Prague pics ! AHH :DD
♥ Following the awesome of the DVD/Present thing with Fondue at Wido and Lena's! Clemens and this friend of Lena's, Katja, was there too and it was so much fun. THE FONDUE WAS DELICIOUS, even though I was actually full from the ice cream I ended up pigging out all over again. SO WORTH IT THOUGH. EFFING HOME-MADE CHEESE FONDUE. Mhhh~ And we played UNO later and I won twice. HAH.
♥ Clemens wasn't a dick! Seriously, he was so pleasant and fun, it was almost like last year in not-a-dick levels. Absence doth make the heart grow fonder? He better come to Punschen tomorrow too though.
♥ Punschen at the Karlskirche tomorrow! I get to see Tutor Georg and Dominik again! I could take or leave Georg O. and totally pass on Lis and Harry though, man this could possibly turn out so ~awkward~ tomorrow lolol
♥ THE INTERNET. ALWAYS PUTS A SMILE ON MY FACE :D

But one thing I am not looking forward to tomorrow is having to pay fucking EIGHT EUROS in library fines. Fun story: The BWZ bib closes at 4PM. I had borrowed four books over the weekend and admittedly left the house a bit late. Got to the BWZ at ten to 4PM, but figured I would have enough time to copy my needed pages out. Our IPKW library always takes a while to close, so I thought that if I took until ten past 4PM, I could still squeeze in and return the books. So I copy and copy and am finally done, toddle over to the library and seriously, it was TEN MINUTES PAST FOUR PM and the lights were out, nobody was there and the (glass) door was locked. ERGO, due to these ten minutes I will be 8€ poorer tomorrow. I almost want to just keep the books longer now since I have to pay the fine anyways (and lol, after the first 2€ pro book fine, they just add 20 cents a day whaaat). BUT FINE BWZ BIB, BE THAT FUCKING WAY D:

EYES BURNING. But effing around youtube watching old clips of A Bit of Fry and Laurie, followed by random interview bits of whatever that feature Stephen Fry in any way talking at length about something (ALWAYS A PLEASURE), which is then followed by mainlining certain celeb guest appearances at the Jonathan Ross Show (DANIEL CRAIG! DAVID TENNANT AND CATHERINE TATE! JOHN BARROWMAN! DANIEL RADCLIFFE! The RDJ bits that I basically know by heart now! ETC ETC) and then rounded off by discovering that some wonderful, wonderful soul has posted some entire eps of Due South, the RayK era, well-- SO FUCKING AWESOME. I love the internet so much ♥. And of course, the evening started out with the latest episode of Dexter and Gossip Girl, both which are exceedingly fabulous. So looking forward to next week's alreadyyyyyyy, gnaaagh!

And I normally never embed things, but from all the gems I discovered and the ones I watch all over, this made me make keening noises like a dying albatross, possibly scaring my roomie and her friend. O DANIEL ♥. SO CUTE, SO DAMN CUTE. "...THANK YOU, DANIEL." that whole bit, kjsdfhkjafsh AHHH.

The MORNING started off on a lovely note, as Ma and Andy overslept and we didn't have to go merit making at 5am! The bad thing is we are doing so tomorrow which means I should be long asleep now WHOOPS. Gave Ma a congratulatory hugggggg and I LOVE YOUUUU, and handed her the present --a dazzling feat of uncreativity of my part this year, woe is me who actually bought my mother a tiny stuffed cat that kind of maybe looks like AJ and a set of cat-shaped paperclips, as well as a (suprisingly cool) hedgehog-shaped paperclip magnet holder. Why? Because Ma's Thai nickname is "Meow" of course! Lol faiiiil. The original plan of a swank jewellery box went up in flames once Ma happily showed me the one she already bought for herself (oh how I mentally screamed CURSSSSSSES and yet was also happy I hadn't actually got one already yet because I was lazy).

BUT THEN I switched on the TV and was greeted by the twin news of A)finally managing to tune in to Anderson Cooper 360 on time on CNN  and B) finding out ROGER FEDERER WON THE US OPEN!!!1!!!ELEVENTY!!!!!1 Go Rog! Fuck yeah, and how he beat- no,  trounced Andy Murray! Man I hope that match comes up on rerun on True's sportschannels at some point akjhaskf. And it is intensely validating to go around and read all the news articles now on how MAAAAYBE the pundits were all a little bit too hasty in writing off Federer. Well, duh you fooools. The US Open official website has some nice articles, as well as a cool "Top 50 Expected and Unexpected Moments of the US Open 08" page, that amongst other hilarity features this on Federer: "EXPECTED: Federer glides silently about the court UNEXPECTED: Emits howls & screams in anguish in several languages" ...ahaha this still makes me giggle when I read it XDD

The AFTERNOON was spent tagging along Ma and Andy's grand shopping tour for the new house, with the looong waits being made bearable by playing copious amounts of Pokemon Trozei!, addictive little game that is, and bumming around in BigC. Made the most extraordinary find when the cheap-ass export clothes shop I checked out of boredom turned out to have American Eagle Outfitter(or however that brand is called), GAP, H&M and Old Navy tops and longsleeves... for an average price of 79-150 baht. AND THEY WERE ALL SO AWESOME. Ended up getting 5 ytops for around 550 baht, which is the average price you might pay for ONE standard local brand top here. AHH :D. The shopping experience was made all the sweeter because the going US dollar/Euro prices were also still attached, so in your face 15 Euro H&M white wool v-neck! I got you for 150 fricken baaaht! *shopping gleeee*

The EVENING was spent prepping for and then going for a delightful and utterly delicious dinner at the Mandarin Oriental Dhara Dhevi Hotel aka THE CASTLE IN THE SKYYYY. God, it is even more imposing and gorgeous at night, with scores of little candles lighting the way to the main Chedi-building-type thing and you get carted around in a chaffeured pimped-out golf cart and the staff! Oh the staff are so fantastically attentive, it actually makes you feel really bad to be served on hand and foot. I requested some mosquito spray becase we were dining outside (Mediterrean food, mhhh) and the lady just about kneeled on the floor and was ready to spray my legs for me before I could stop gaping. Akjhdskjh. The food was sheer poetry, from starting course to dessert. Had thinly sliced extra-virgin olive oil -marinated tuna with endive salad for starters, RACK OF LAAAAAAAAAMB (SO TENDER) with rosemary jus, grilled potatoes and ratatouille for main and topped that off with some warm rosemary cake and lemon sorbet (it had candied rosemary sprigs! Which were quite tasty mhhh) and a salty caramel macaroon that was chewy and delightful. Still didn't manage to finish my ONE glass of wine throughout the entire meal though, ahh a drinker I am not and apparently will never be.

ALSO one last LOLYEAH before I go pass out in bed regarding Thai politics: SAMAK BAI BAI. Lolol I love how his cooking show eventually came to kick him right back in the ass. Yessss.

Happy Thai Mother's Day!!! My Mother's Day present for Ma was a phone call yesterday telling her I got home safely after having to take the taxi home alone lol okay no, I still gotta get her something before the next time she comes back to BKK. Which is like soon. AHH.

Man, am I ever so happy for this free day off from interning-- I mean, it's still mega fun and I think I've found a good friend in Bell, but hot damn is it ever so tiring. And I am totally procrastinating on certain assignments WHOOPS. Speaking of which, after much more waffling around and the final verdict from the Art Department, my train article is fix at a page again. Warghhhh. It's a GIANT WALL OF TEXT like that, they should at least cop out to half a page more?? Ah well ;( Have two more interviews to write up (well one is v low priority) and a 800 word article on Boutique Travel to co-write with Bell. Doing the research on it really makes me want to go somewhere... Prague this fall MUST HAPPEN. The traveling itch, it burnsss~

This entire weekend was pretty damn sweet~ Spent Friday-Saturday with Ma, we went to one of Ma's old colleague's wedding (8/8/08 best date everrrr XDD) and yay Chinese roundtable dinner and meeting some people who I've not seen since a few years. They all knew me when I was a bratty brat, lol. We stayed overnight at the Sofitel Central Ladphrao, which was nice enough... albeit I think our room's carpet was a wee bit prehistoric and very much with the triggering of my allergies. ;3; Saturday was spent in prime mother-daughter bonding, with high points being street shopping in Silom and the buffet at the Dusit Thani, even if I am still feeling the digestive aftereffects of foolishly overloading on what were probably frozen oysters. OWW MEIN DARM. (maybe I'll lose weight from this?? XDD)

Sunday was  ~*LA DAY*~!! She was flying on Monday and we decided to meet up for one last hurrah... Got to see her far too little this month that she was here... blast and damn our conflicting schedules!! Chris and Migel expressed interest in joining, but thankfully flaked out like the pussies they are so I had NINE HOURS of prime grade A hang-out time with darling La ♥. We ate! We wandered the entire perimeter of Siam-Paragon-MBK and later Central World Plaza (for dinner)! We shopped (or rather I bought stuff and monologued relentlessly at La who is a totally picky shopper XDD)! We got fantastic footmassages (because I was the idiot whose only pair of shoes that weekend were heels)! WE TOOK LOTSA STICKERS (I was too lazy to take pictures OOPS)! ...basically, I had a helluva time :D

Pictures to come in another post when I've uploaded em (so lazyy)

In Chiang Mai now. Currently on Ma's couch, delving in the wonders of the internet (and cursing the slowish net and what seems to be Thailand blocking most of the Youtube vids and the entire veoh.com webpage).

Was in town yesterday, met up with Migel and Lisa(+friend of hers) and it turned out to be more awesome than I expected. But what was even more than I already expected to be mindblowingly great was .....THE DARK KNIGHT. HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIIIIIIIIIT!!!!!!!

What follows is a short and unspoilery depiction of my movie watching experience, using emoticons and exclamation marks:
:O :O :O!!!!!!!! !! O_O O_O;;!! *_*!! O__________________O!!!!!! !! ! ♥! :D :D :D!! T3T! :O :O :O!
...okay, I tire of this gimmick. But seriously, one of the best movies I've seen so far this year. It hit all the high notes of ACTION(....SO MANY SCENES OF AWE)!! PLOT (SUPER TWISTY AND COHERANT WOAH)!! CINEMATOGRAPHY (GOTHAAAAM! HONGKONG SKYLIIIINE!) and CHARACTERS!! It was such a jam-packed cast(Christian Bale! Aaron Eckhart! Gary Oldman! ETC!) and the movie succeeded into making everyone interesting and sympathetic and oh the tiny tiny details in some of the scenes that made me clutch my hands in joy and/or poke Migel and go 'DID YOU SEE THAT?! :O'.

ALSO, HEATH LEDGER. Akjfkmfh the Joker was a joy to watch on screen. So. Damn. Creepy. He seriously got the best lines. And every time I saw him on screen I'd go 'he's dead in RL! Dead! :(((' and bum myself out, but that stopped once I got really sucked in to the movie and then returned with a vengeance once we left the kinosaal. GAAAH. It would be cool if they give him the post-humous Oscar for this, because can we say Holy Hell ICONIC PERFORMANCE BATMAN??

WHO ELSE HAS WATCHED IT? I need someone to spoilery-squee with! GO WATCH IT!