I am a perfectionist.

I fret about details. I nitpick. I always feel that it's never good enough. I criticize this and that. I'm never fully satisfied with the end product. I want things to work out my way.

And when they do, the praises that are sung are the fruits of my labour. I think sometimes, I only work hard to be recognized, even if my work benefits others more than it does to me. I love the glorified feeling, only to sink into self-reproach later when I realized I've worked so hard only to get "face".

And lately, I've been experiencing it more than over, so much that I mash my feelings into anger, irritability and detest. Directed mostly at innocent people, but some at myself.

Desperate for this to stop, I Googled perfectionism. (Sigh what will I do without Google.)

I read many of the articles, and ohmygosh I'm a true-blue perfectionist. The articles have described ME. So uncannily it's eerie.

One of them, wrote that while perfectionism can be a positive thing by setting the bar for high standards, it described how perfectionism can also create inefficiency.

Frankly, I was appalled. Inefficiency! ME?! We absolutely do not run parallel! Then I read on, and I got more resigned.

Pecfectionism creates inefficiency:

• You spend more time than you need getting something done. (CHECK)
• You procrastinate. (CHECK CHECK)
• You try to do it all yourself. (omg CHECK CHECK CHECK!)

The article also recommended some ways to turn this obsessive behaviour into effectiveness. And the first recommendation, is to... Admit it!

So there. I've admitted it, right at the top of this post.

Round 10

Ying: Superman has lots of ...
Cheryl: Underwear!

The Actual Answer: Powers

***

Round 14

Carol: When guys wake up in the morning, they ...
Huiwen: Have an erection.

The Actual Answer: Shave

Went for my JC class gathering at Sentosa yesterday and am now sporting an extremely ugly tan line.

The organizer managed to beef up the attendance by marketing it as a "Mega Outing". As for me, I was game for anything, especially so if it involved the sun. I love the sun!

We played lots of ball. And reminisced the past by playing a kids' game. Made fun of each other. I laughed and laughed! Game time was choppy because of our laughing bouts.

We were in the sun for about 2 hours but I was already burnt to a lobster red. Thankfully the dark clouds came and forced us (or at least, ME, since everyone slapped on generous amounts of sunblock while I, suntan lotion) to stop torturing our skins.

Then we went off to get some beancurd, and I tried my hand at arty-farty photography by taking pictures against the white wall. We laughed some more at random topics. Ahhh everyone remained pretty much the same after 3 years. I love it when we get together - everything feels so familiar and comfortable like an old shirt, yet it can be so refreshing.

Pictures up if I feel like it! I don't know how bloggers can post pictures after pictures in a single blog post, because it sure takes a hell load of effort for me to take and edit satisfactory pictures. Anyway, don't expect much because if you read my blog long enough you'd realize when I say "pictures in the next post" they generally don't appear. Ha!

I wear my ugliest, most comfy clothes. I don't put on makeup. I wear my worst pair of shoes so if they wear and tear, I can just throw them away and have an excuse to buy new ones.

I pretend to be a local. I nod and smile when the locals speak to me. I catch some of their chatter and imitate their language. I say "yes" all the time when someone asks me something I do not understand.

I become philanthropic. I drop coins to beggars. I tip the bellboys. I give extra to the cab drivers. I tell the shop keepers not to bother about the change.

My relationship with my mum rises and falls like the tides. I laugh at her jokes. We argue about everything. I hate her traditional thinking. I marvel at her foresight.

On the plane at every takeoff, I wonder what it would be like if the plane explodes right then. What should I do? Should I run? Will I be brave enough to save other passengers?

Then, in the blink of an eye, I'm back in Singapore.

Everything settles. Ah, there's no place like home.

I'm leaving... on a jet plane...

It's 4.30 am now.

In two hours' time, I would be in the plane, waiting to be flown off to my holiday destination.

And let's see... so far I've

• Fallen down the stairs and bruised my back so badly I have a big red patch there
  
  
• Fallen on my right ankle when I woke up and tried to stand. Heard a crack when I fell and now my ankle is all sore and awkward
  

How am I supposed to go shopping like this!

Anyway after much internal struggle I decided I wouldn't be bringing my camera. Because I've already got one camera down, it wouldn't make much sense for me to bring my existing one overseas and risk it being lost/stolen (although the former would be more likely).

So, no pictures when I'm back!

"Doing the Karen Cheng" attracted loads of publicity, and it appeared in two publications - The New Paper and MyPaper!

Karen and I got sprinkled onto a quarter of a page in the TNP hard copy.

MyPaper: The girls in their lovely outfits


More pictures I stole from the Facebook group!


OK, who wants my autograph now? I'm famous!

On Wednesday I found out about something so cool I was giddy with excitement and went around asking people to guess what!

I must say some of you in my comments and my friends on MSN did a pretty darn good job of guessing, but you guys still got it ALL WRONG!

The "secret" is...

I met Karen Cheng in person!

(I actually typed that in Caps but it made me sound like her crazy blog fan, so I made it look normal.)

I started reading Karen's blog way back in 2004. I loved every single post of hers. It was refreshing, very honest and I always felt like I was living life next to hers, watching her kids grow and watching her do up her garden.

I never commented in her blog, nor sent her emails. I've thought about it, but I'm Chinese and I like saving face and I never found a way to make my emails not sound like I'm her crazy blog fan.

Then she announced that she would be flying to Singapore for her birthday as her husband's surprise gift, and that she'd be "Doing the Karen Cheng" to raise funds for the Red Cross. She even created a facebook event for it, and so many people gave their RSVPs that I contemplated revealing myself as her crazy blog fan, and meet her in person.

So I gave my RSVP as a "Yes".

The next day, Karen dropped me a email inviting me to be part of her "crew" when the media comes earlier to take pictures! Meaning, not only would I be seeing Karen during the event, but I would be posing in pictures next to her! I was delirious.

A few emails later, Karen invited me and a guest down for her birthday drinks the night before "Doing the Karen Cheng". It was awesome! She was so warm and friendly, yet a little shy at the same time. I heard her voice tone change gradually to a husky one and she talked to more and more people, haha.

I only sat for about an hour odd, and I met and talked to so many cool people! I forgot some others, but I met her husband Andrew, Mr. Miyagi and the girls from Fashion Nation.

The next day, I went down for the event. Because of licensing issues, it had to be marketed as a private function. Karen also requested us "crew girls" to dress up a lot, because she would be. Andrew also called in the morning and said he hoped that I'd be "daring enough" to glam up.

So I did.

I took a fast thus blurry picture before I left, because I was running late.

I curled my hair, and I wore a blue dress which I've only worn once. It was collecting dust in my wardrobe because I don't have that many glam events to go to!

Squeezed all my essentials into a little black clutch, and trotted off in my gold ballerina heels.

Ooh, and of course, my camera which I will need to "Do the Karen Cheng".

By the way, I had two cameras and I dropped my Sony in water. I was a little upset that I had to use my Nikon Coolpix which has really sucky battery life :(



When I got there, the photographers had just started shooting. I joined in the fun. We did so much smiling that my cheeks hurt. Karen told us she'd never done this before but oooh I loved the way her dimple deepened when she smiled.


Karen's husband, Andrew, was managing loads of stuff for her. He made sure everything was right, and even backed up as the reflector man for the photographer. Some of the girls were even giggling about how cute Andrew is and how nice his voice sounded over the phone.


Met a two lovely girls: Sheena, self-employed, and Fran, a teacher. I have great respect for teachers because tuition twice a week is enough to make me never consider teaching as a profession.

Guess who else was there!

Kenny, Sher, Kexin and Zach!

Even a dog showed up the do the Karen Cheng.

Guess what.

GUESS WHAT.

GUESS WHAT!!!!!!!!!

I'm so excited I can barely contain it!

Oops, I couldn't contain it so I told a few people about it.

BUT. I'm not gonna tell you! Teehee.

Clue:
- It involves blogging
- It involves looking good
- It's an event

GUESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!

For those who know don't spoil it hor. Let me have all the fun can.