The Tie: A necessary useless item

(these are some of my top combinations of tie-shirt this month)

Clothing. Matching colours is something you learn in Argentina when you start dressing up on your own. Your mum would display some clothes on the bed for you to choose and if they sort of match in terms of colours you would be encouraged to wear them. On the contrary, if you happen to have just chosen:
- a yellow Scooby-Doo t-shirt,
- your blue stripped pants,
- the tasteless red ADIDAS shoes granny gave you as a present for your 3rd bday (VERY hard to match for a 3-year old kid, btw),
- the green fishing hat.
… your mum would be COMPLETELY entitled to whack the crap outta you, while yelling at you What the hell are you doing? Are you colour blind or simply style-less like the butcher?.

(Random: At what age did you start choosing the clothes you were going to wear during the day?)

Anyway, that’s how you learn. OK, I admit I am exaggerating, but I tell you: the butcher was a disaster fashion-wise.

As you grow older you become more self-conscious about the matching you do and there is this one decisive moment you will have to go through: Am I going to become this easy going person willing to go with the flow and surrender to the safe colours (totally valid and hassle free indeed); or am I going to take risks and have fun a little more with fashion. I think I just took the second option.

Last Saturday I put some things in order in my closet and I saw my tie rack with all of them hanging (I will not share how many, especially after the comments people made on my posting about the socks) and I decided they deserved a special blog.

THE TIE, special thing, nonsense piece of clothing we guys wrap around our necks and carefully neat up with a ridiculous knot. Useless by nature, it hangs over our chests and in fact most of the time it gets in the way (or into the cup of coffee, Thai noodles, and God forbids you if it gets into the shredding machine: messy!)

It gets us in trouble in the morning and makes us think in a moment where all we want to do is go back to bed. These questions torment us VERY early in the morning and if you do not answer them right you will dreadfully get stuck with the wrong tie for at least 9 hours of your day!!.

1. How long should it be? Just touch the belt; longer than that and get to the upper part of the crotch; or kindergarten style and we let it hang only up to the belly bottom? And how wide should it be?
2. Plain on plad? Plad on plain? Dotted on stripes? Stripes on stripes? Thick stripes or thin stripes? Should it match the shirt or the pair of pants (or both)?
3. What knot should I wear? Ascott? Classic Windsor? Double Windsor? Prince Albert? Small Knot? Four-in-hand? AAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!! Make It stop!!

Back in time I got intrigued by the history of the tie and I found it quite interesting by the way. For those who are keen on reading-knowig more about this all-time-classic piece of male clothing please Click here and & have fun! I LOVE THIS SITE! (It even has videos on how to make the different knots)

(FYI, girls out there: there are few things that could be sexier than having your girl making your knot in the morning for you. Complete turn on and might make you be late for work, IF YOU ALL KNOW WHAT I MEAN. That is all I can say! Guys back me up in this one...)

Should it have been the wine?

There I was, reading in bed before going to sleep. I decided to re-start the Celestine Prophecy. (I think this is the 3rd time. I am sick and tired of reading the flight to Peru and all the insights. I decided I needed to go through these first pages and start the juicy part) I was in the middle of there-is-a-reason-for-everything sort of philosophy and all of a sudden I felt what I thought it was like being a bit dizzy

I confess I had a GLASS of wine while watching TV, but for those who know me, you guys know I can drink 2 bottles of good wine and NOTHIN’. Anyway, there I was trying to figure out what the hell it was going on when I just had a realization: SHIT! This is an earthquake! Jumped out of bed and for once I could not care less if my shorts matched my t-shirt (of course they matched anyway), went to Teresa’s room and there she was naively sorta questioning why the rosary she has hanging at the bed was banging against the wall. Mmmmm HELLO!!!?? I mean, it is like an earthquake!!

I FREAKED OUT! First time in my life I experience a tremor like this. It is NOT nice to feel the ground, something you assume will never move, slightly shaking and not knowing what’s next (plus the tsunami disaster got us all a little paranoid).

I went downstairs immediately (CAN YOU BELIEVE with Devrim WE STUPIDLY took the ELEVATOR?!. NICE MOVE, BATMEN!) and talked to the security guard (old Chinese dude half asleep half hungry I am sure, with a terrible haircut btw – plus do not get me started on the whole slippers with socks local look) who looked at me with a funny face.

- No. It is nothin’ lah! - He said to me with his undeniable and slightly annoying Singaporean accent.

Not satisfied with the answer and still a bit puzzled I was going upstairs and he goes:

- Mr Nacho, have you been drinking?

Deep breath, I counted up to 10, looked at Devrim who was half laughing half still puzzled by the earthquake, turned to the big-haired dude and answered with disturbing calm:

- NO, I have most certainly not . I did not drink Vincent. (and there is where I remembered the pitiful ¼ glass of Australian Merlot 2002 I had 3 hours before the quake. It could not have been the wine, COME ON PEOPLE, I have been to a lot worse than that!)

Thanks Devrim for reconfirming it was not the wine (click here)

All and all, I am thankfully alive and sound; a little paranoid about earthquakes and ONE thing I re-learnt: THERE IS A REASON FOR EVERYTHING. How do I apply this learning to my life? HELL NO I will not start reading that Celestine Prophecy shit again. PERDID. I am gonna sell it in e-Bay!

Anyone interested? (in the book, not the wine!)

Who said an office is not relaxing?

We arrived to the office early in the morning and to our very surprise BOOM the receptions and the kitchens of all the floors had been transformed into a mini Bali with palm trees, hummocks, massage chairs, herbal teas, aromatherapy items (lemongrass, lavender and ylang ylang) and relaxing music with dimmed lights. We got to our desks and some gifts were displayed on top pf our keyboards and an evenloenvelope with an invitation for a 10-15 min massage session in after lunch!!!

What? What was it?. What the hell?!!!

Our company is JUST about to launch for the public a new service that will support the clients with stressing activities and logistical tasks. So that will make our clients stress-less. They decided to launch this campaign internally first by providing the staff with a stress-free environment.

I CANNOT put into words how soothing and interestingly relaxing is to have a 15 min back massage session at your very own office in the middle of the day following by a lavender and ginger tea.

You have GOT to love this!!!
(And people ask me when I am coming back to my country… lemme think about it... mmmmmmmmmmm NEVER!!!??) :)

Human Chameleon (in the name of culture appreciation)

Blonde Gitti March 2004 - Purple Gitti March 2005

What happened to our ultimate blonde Hungarian friend? She has shown up on Monday morning showing off a rather interesting purple new look in her hair.

HOLI happened to her (and I am not talking about vacations) but about an Indian festival she has become obsessed with. What is it?. How does work, how is that fun?. Read it in her own colourful way of writing (no pun intended) ;)

(It is commented that she attempted to apply a home made paprika hair dying mix on her hair but it did not turn out so good. However, we rather believe the story of the HOLI, especially after seeing Krishna’s purplish and greenish sculp! Births of a feather…)

Monument to the Anti-Glam!

There are a few things that could be more Anti-Glamorous than a cold. Really: red eyes, running nose, nasal accent, body heat, headache. GEEE! I can only count a few right now, including:
wearing sandals with socks (BIG no-no in fashion, but costume extensively used in this part of the world)
ice cubes on wine glasses (BIG no-no in world-class etiquette)
having a stain a spot of chili sauce on your shirt or tie (also VERY common after Thai Vermicelli or noodle soup)
picking your nose in public (alone at home is OK, but do not look at yourself in the mirror while doing it)
(Note: If you remember things that are anti-Glamorous, please remind me so I add them to my list)

Today: I have a cold. I did not go to my office. I stayed working at home and here are the stats:
drank EASILY 7 liters of hot water;
used 3 boxes of facial tissue to blow my nose;
went to the bathroom 26 times;
and God knows how many times I sneezed and coughed

Here’s a picture that shows the status in which you could find me at 4 PM this afternoon.



Speaking of anti-glamorous things! TOP THIS ONE!

Similar? I THINK NOT!

Do these two numbers look similar to you people?



THANK YOU! Well for some reason, very early in the morning they looked similar to my mind!

Last night I ironed my shirt and pants with the clear and geeky objective of saving time and getting to the office earlier today.
Went to bed and did not read or listen to music, just went to sleep.
Woke up, took a shower, shaved and after my bowl of cereal and apple (which has proven to keep the doctor away so far) I went to work humming some tunes coming out of my MP3 player (Lighthouse Family is a good band for “morning music”)
Sat at the bus stop (7.45 AM and it was already 27ºC! NICE! Don’t you love tropical countries?!)
Anyway, bus came and I jumped onto it. Sat and continued singing some of the songs, staring through the window the urban and almost “blah” Singaporean landscape.
One song, three songs, five songs… and at some moment I realized I was not even near the office. Looked out of the window and to my very surprise I had no freaking clue where I was!

Looked at the number on top of the windshield and I had the moment of truth: it said ‘76’ . That was it. I had jumped onto the wrong bus! IDIOT! I could even feel how some of the people realized I had made a mistake and naughtily smiled at me as in ‘You are such a loser’, ‘You took the wrong bus’, etc.

Drunk with hope, I remained seated wishing the bus would make a turn and the building where I work would appear out of thin air. But, nope, that was not the case. Moreover, I was getting closer to Malaysia than to downtown! As if nothing had happened, I stood up and went down the bus. I had no idea where it was but ‘it is Singapore. How much could I pay for a taxi downtown anyway?’

12 dollars is the answer. 12 DOLLARS, OK! FREAKING 12 dollars, people!

GEEZ! How difficult is it to get it right?. I mean 197, Simple: 1-9-7! I am blonde (Janet: you were right! I AM blonde inside!)

For the more visual ones this is a little example of what I did!

Terrible people - Big Splash!

Sometimes I wonder what the hell some people have in their heads. Throwing water out of the window of the 15th floor is not somthing nice. Especially if you are down there writing postcards (like Devrim was this afternoon)!!!



All I have to says is: I know nothing about it. :)

Random Daily realizations

It is said that these random realizations click in our minds and relate to other pieces of information we might have acquired in time. I find this fact quite amusing and try to have these random realizations DAILY. The one for Friday was:



Size does not matter (for certain things) but does format?. Good question!

Well let me tell you that in 26 years on this Earth (ok ok) 30 years on this Earth this is the very FIRST time I realize the differences bewteen the NUMBER PADS in computers and phones.

How do I come to these conclusions? How do I notice it? I do not know, and to be honest this is not a concern at this point in time. All I know is that the numbers are placed from in-crescendo on the telephone pads but just in the opposite way in the Computer pads. WHY?.

CISCO, IBM, APPLE, GE, MOTOROLA, NOKIA, XEROX, bla bla they should all have certain common parameters don't you think!

Moreover here are more examples:

Anyway, daily randomness.

For our information I also checked my calculator, and the calculator in my PDA, the photocopy machine, the fax machine, and the MS calculator and it is all the same as the keyboard, so I must conclude that my CISCO phone is simply screwed up!

The return to innocence

Love - devotion
Feeling - emotion.

Don't be afraid to be weak
Don't be too proud to be strong
Just look into your heart my friend
That will be the return to yourself
The return to innocence.

If you want, then start to laugh
If you must, then start to cry
Be yourself don't hide
Just believe in destiny.
Don't care what people say
Just follow your own way
Don't give up and use the chance
To return to innocence.

That's not the beginning of the end
That's the return to yourself
The return to innocence