exaggeration and tall tales galore

Saturday, August 20, 2011

Another cookie always seems like a good idea until you reach cookie number 4

Back when I was filling in application forms, I was always slightly stumped when they asked me to describe my hobbies or interests. That was the first time in a while where I really assessed what I did for leisure, and I was slightly surprised to be so self-conscious about it.

When I come across music that excites me, or read a book or the news, or follow bits and bobs on the internet, it doesn't feel like nothing. It feels substantial. But when it comes to filling a form asking about my interests, all of a sudden it seems very embarrassing to merely type in 'Reading books,listening to music, surfing the internet'. When I was in sekolah rendah it was always perfectly legit to write down 'Hobi saya adalah membaca buku cerita', why not so much now?

I'd often itch to say my interests include tennis, going on safari, photography. Collecting viking paraphernalia, scuba-diving, painting batik. Training seeing-eye dogs, learning sign language, volunteering at national parks. Fencing, origami, subtitling foreign films. Horseback-riding, rock-climbing, jamming with my Fender Stratocaster. Yoga, contemporary dance, doing triathlons.

Oh well.

***

Weather today is drop-dead gorgeous, I must say. From my room I can see nothing but blue skies, with a hint of a breeze indicated by the lightly billowing Australian flag on top of the Royal Melbourne Hospital. If I were to pick a day to feel like I could do anything, today would be it.

Yesterday was pizza day. I love how yeast makes dough grow, it's freaky, but in a good way. We went a bit crazy towards the end, scattering toppings willy-nilly, and Kelly had the insistent belief that the best thing to do would be to formulate a stuffed crust for one of the pizzas. So we did, stretching the dough over shredded mozzarella all around the edge, forming this barrier of cheese-filled bread. AND, Kelly baked her crack-cookies again.Damn, son.

It all backfired this morning though, when I had 3 leftover slices for sahur, followed by 4 cookies. Apparently even gluttony has its limits, that being the confines of my stomach. Feeling too full for too long a time had me groaning in discomfort, why, Atiqah, why? Insaf, insaf!

***

Kpop musings.

I have to admit, I'm pretty hooked on Teen Top's No More Perfume on You. It's catchy, very reminiscent of Chris Brown's Forever. Even when I learned the song was about a boy asking his older love-interest to not wear perfume lest it rubs off on him and his girlfriend smells it and catches whiff of this illicit affair, I was all the more charmed. It's amusing to see these cute hairless boys playing Casanova, and besides, what cool chick would seriously fall for a 17-year old? She was probably just having a bit of fun herself.

But as with their other material, this song has Niel, as the most dependable singer, being given the lion's share of its lines, followed by Chunji who gets the leftovers, while the rest get, well, bits and pieces of the carcass. I am always slightly annoyed when groups get promoted in this fashion, I dislike having some members merely as backdrops. Niel is, in essence, the Nicole Scherzinger of Teen Top.

2 comments:

Only Kye said...

It's interesting that your application forms (which I assume are for jobs) ask for hobbies. I remember happily filling out an 'Interests' section in my CV back when I was still unlearned, and I was so proud that the 'Interests' section had the following:

Literature:John Steinbeck, JD Salinger, Antoine De St. Exupery, George R.R Martin
Film:French, Charlie Kaufman, Christopher Nolan, Wes Anderson & Quentin Tarantino films, almost everything Bill Murray, Jim Carrey, Al Pacino, Brad Pitt, and Dustin Hoffman have acted in
Music:From The Strokes to Of Montreal to The Beatles to Russian pop
Misc:Blogging,van Gogh, baking, crossword puzzles, Tetris, Wikipedia, jungle trekking, snorkeling

Later on I was told by someone giving advice on making CVs (coincidentally using my CV as an example, unbeknownst to her)that "Really it's none of the employer's business (or interest) that you're interested in Wes Anderson movies."

Burn.

Also, I am very curious about these crack cookies. Ada recipe tak? :P Slamat berpuasa and beraya ayang!

A said...

haha, I would be so proud to have those things listed under my 'Interests' section as well! Ouch on the Wes Anderson example used by that person giving the CV advice though. Bakar!

I think on a deeper level, I realize that employers don't REALLY want or need to know about my personal interests. But for some reason, I like to imagine that they do, and that the fact that I like, say, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, or Fight Club, will impress them and make me an ideal candidate. It reminds me of High Fidelity, that part where Rob says it's about what you like, not what you ARE like :p

Crack cookies! We got the recipe from allrecipes online. In fact, I still have the link saved!
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/best-big-fat-chewy-chocolate-chip-cookie/detail.aspx

Selamat Hari Raya Kye! Hope your celebrations are meriah :D