Make up & Jazz

My brother has recently wedded my sis in law. Having been cleaning the house till the wee hours of the morning, I woke up to find my brother's friends already in our house when my mom rushed into my room to wake me up.

From then till 1030am, it was a hectic rush as we do some last minute tidying up of the flat and getting ourselves prepared to face the hoards of relatives in the next few hours.

My mom who usually is unable to handle a crisis very well, got into a frenzy and was desperately trying to doll herself up in time. She rushed into my room and tried to quickly put on make up. I then looked at how she was not able to keep her cool while putting on her make up and immediately turned on some jazz music.

That is my favourite way to put on make up - in an unhurried way, in my air-conditioned room and with jazz music in the background.

Afterall, dolling yourself up should be done in a relaxed and almost self-indulgent way. That is the only way you will enjoy the process of making yourself look good and then look at yourself in the mirror and think: what a nice job I have done! It is almost therapeutic and the best thing is that I tend to walk out of my room feeling even better than how good I look :)

The Push and Pull factor

After abstinence from Salsa for about 3 months, I've got my salsa high again last Friday at Cuba Libre. It was so easy to get high on salsa even without alcohol, and it's absolutely true....trust me! It's like the adrenaline rush from a rollercoaster ride and I've got to attribute this great enjoyment to the chemistry when you dance with your dance partner.

It took me some time to realise that how much you enjoy a dance is very much dependent on the flow between the two dancers, and that is the "push and pull factor". That is the chemistry between the two dancers through the correct use of tension, when the lead pulls and push with the right tension and the follower takes the cue and respond with the same tension. With that you'll find that there is a smooth flow and the result is like two persons on a merry go round but neither will fall off it because the tension is just right!

And it is really rare to find chemistry between dancers, I can only name a handful of dancers with whom I have this chemistry with. Whether it is skillful dance techniques or the ability to read and respond to a fellow dancer's action and reaction I know not, afteralll, I am the follower.

This strange chemistry is also akin to the relationship between people, when you give and take in the correct amounts. When you give and take an equal amount, there is a nice equilibrium in the relationship; but when one gives or takes too much, trouble begins as the imbalance in the relationship triggers the danger button.

It is such a delicate equilibrium and one that is very much highly dependent on individuals but one may just get better at it as they adjust the balance in response to the other party, like how dancing more often with a partner may just eventually improve the chemistry between them. Hopefully if chemistry does not always come naturally, it will at least work this way.

Fairwell

I participated in my last NATAS travel fair last weekend and I had not thought much of it being my last fair I'll be attending, possibly for the rest of my life.

However, I was reminded by Shirley's sms in the morning that this is my last fair and it's a little sad. When I got the opportunity to break the news about my leaving to my colleague Mabel, she again reminded me that this will be my last NATAS fair and how sad that would be. The usually cheery mabel told me that she will miss me and said that although many people in the trade industry don't want to stay in the travel trade, the industry is really a friendly environment to be in.

I felt a little sad then and it was true that as I weave through the crowded aisle to get to the agents, it was so easy to find a famliar friendly face who would stop to chat and catch up. Friendly, yes and very much unpretentious. The best part is that most of my friends of the trade did indeed become friends rather than working partners and it was so easy to break some silly jokes and carry on some senseless blabber sometimes.

That much I will miss.

It seems that the career change will throw me into a completely different environment altogether and the magnitude of the change may tantamount to something, say, getting married!

And I realised that it was not just a farewell fair for me...incidentally it was farewell for Jill, Joe, Feiring, Kok Keong and Ruyan as well. I'll be missing the whole gang and the familiarity of the friendly environment...till then, I'm counting down to 22 Oct to a new phase of my life.