No More Words (Enough Is Enough)

I think it’s probably time for us to part ways. We no longer have the same interests and haven’t been on the same page for some time now.

I’m not the type to sit back and bite my tongue every time something wrong happens. I need to voice out my dissatisfaction and unhappiness.

I’ve given way too many allowances to you and yet every time you come around and hurt me all over again.

I’ve defended you and endured crap. Teases, jeers, mockery, sarcasm. I had persevered this far but there’s got to be a final straw.

I’ve invested so much in you: time, energy, effort, passion. I’ve defended you many times and you don’t care, don’t even know it, what more appreciate it.

Not to mention all those money I spent on you. So enough is enough is enough surely.

This just can’t go on anymore. I can’t and refuse to be taken for a ride time and again.

You keep making promises, you keep saying things, but you are never good at keeping your word.

I hate you for making me care for you when you don’t even care for me. You don’t give a damn. You can’t be bothered. You don’t even try!

All the promises made, all the pledges given, all the nice words said meant to comfort, when all along you’re just playing with my feelings!

You can’t say that I haven’t been trying my best. Sometimes I feel as if my effort has all been for naught. Unappreciated, unrecognised.

You take me for granted and treat me like a fool. Anyone deserves better than this!

Stop promising things, stop pledging, stop playing with my feelings, just stop. You say all these but your actions don’t commensurate at all.

You say one thing but it’s not matched with your pitiful effort. You make me hope and it’s the hope that kills me.

Sometimes I feel like you just don’t care. You’re cruel and unfeeling. You’re indifferent to my feelings and needs. You hurt me and you make me cry.

I don’t care to be hurt again. I don’t want to hope in vain again. Because I’ll just end up disappointed and gutted at the end. Heartbroken and hurt.

You are just stringing me along. You hope I’ll turn a blind eye and ignore your shortcomings. You use me, manipulate me.

Well, I’ve had enough. Enough of your uncaring, unfeeling, indifferent ways. I keep giving you chance after chance but I needn’t have bothered.

I probably should have done this a long time ago before you hurt me as deep as you have. I should do it now before you hurt me even further.

I was blind to your faults, I kept excusing your indifference, I kept fooling myself. Well, no more!

Goodbye, Arsenal. You’ve hurt me enough.

I’m however prepared to give you another chance if you promise to turn over a new leaf for good and stick to it.

No more hurting me, no more disappointment, no more heartache, no more pain. Because I’ve had enough of those.

No more lies, no more empty promises, no more pledges. No more!

To be honest, I’m not sure if you deserve another chance from me when you’ve hurt me so bad, when you keep disappointing me, when you keep letting me down, when you keep breaking your promises.

You’ve hurt me enough, Arsenal. You should be ashamed of your sorry self.

When All Is Said And Done

I’ve bared my soul to you, I’ve been honest, I’ve told you what I’m looking for in a potential life partner, what my expectations are. I don’t think I’m unreasonable in my expectations. It’s not as if I demand a Porsche as a wedding gift (I won’t say no to a Hermès Kelly 32 though), not at all. You know all this and yet you still hurt me big time.

You lied to me, you led me to think you were still struggling financially when you’d been secretly spending your money on something else. And even when you are broke, you still spend on it at the expense of food. You broke my heart into a million pieces. I told you before that I didn’t know how or what I feel towards you but I suppose in my own twisted confused way, I must have cared for you because why then does it hurt so much and so deep? Why, what I have done to deserve this, Oh Allah? I can’t be that bad, can I, to deserve a man who can’t lead me. It’s a poor unfortunate woman who wrongly chose a life partner and I don’t want that to be me, nauzubillah. Love, affection, care are not enough for me. I don’t want to live a secular, liberal, hedonistic, debauched life. You already know all this so why do you still want to pursue me if you can’t and may not change?

I’m disappointed, I felt let down, I’m gutted, heartbroken. I couldn’t sleep after the discovery and have lost my appetite too. Imagine me, having no appetite (it’s not because I’m a foodie or love to eat, just that I have a good appetite despite what everyone else thinks).

You’ve hurt me, you’ve lied to me, you can’t promise me you will change and repent. I deserve better, no, scratch that, I deserve the best, for all this long wait and because everyone deserves the best (people, don’t even settle for second best, ever) and if you continue on as before despite this last chance I’m giving you, then you’re simply just not good enough for me. But it’s better for me to know it all now rather than later and I thank Allah for that. I already told you at the start that it’s OK if I don’t get married. I’m already redha with it. If I were to leave this bachelorhood, it must be for someone worthy of my love, someone who can be worthy of me and someone I can be worthy of. Otherwise, it’s all for the best because Allah knows what’s best for us all. I wish you had been truthful to me from the start and not only now when I found out by snooping around. Yes, it sounds ugly and it is ugly but Allah is Most Powerful and He meant me to find out the way I did. 

Love shouldn’t be about blackmails so I’m not going to issue you with ultimatums saying this and demanding that, that if you love me like you claim you do that you must stop doing what I hate. After all, if you do love yourself and Allah, you would have done it already. Still, I’m prepared to give this last chance saloon. It doesn’t mean we’ll end up being married. It just means I’m willing to give you another chance to kick off your bad habit and to start being friends all over again. Yes, we have to start all over again because what good is a friendship if it’s based on lies? If you can’t, then we might as well stop seeing each other because I don’t want to waste any more time in a venture that will prove fruitless. I’ll be your friend, nothing more, nothing less. If something comes out of it later, then fine. If not, it means there’s no future for us. Now that’s the ultimatum in this last chance saloon. I will choose Allah over any man, and religion over worldly love. I told you I don’t care about what you did in your previous life before we met because, well, that’s all in the past. I just don’t understand why you have to hurt me when you already know what kind of man I want.

If you can’t be that man for men, if you can’t be strong enough to want to change and be strong enough to be my man, we’ll just remain as friends. I won’t abandon you but at the same time I won’t be bothered if you can’t be bothered to change. A true friend never gets in your way unless you happen to be going down and I hope that I’m at least a good true friend who will stop you if you’re going down the wrong way. I’m not special and I’m not strong enough to think I can change anyone. A person can only change if s/he wants to change her/himself. I do wish I have this ability to make a difference in someone’s life but it looks like despite all this time, I’ve not made a dent in your life.   

Ambassador

I seem to be finding inspiration from the IG of Chef Wan of late and this post is no exception. Recently, he responded to a post by Aliff Syukri (I don’t know this Aliff at all and I’m not interested in knowing him as I’m indifferent to local ‘celebrities’) who was in Switzerland with his family. The latter stated that he and his family had to eat by the roadside after being denied entry to eat home-cooked food at a restaurant. He reasoned that it was difficult to get halal food abroad and hence why they brought along home-cooked food.

My reaction was like duh, what did you expect? Even in Malaysia, restaurant owners won’t be happy if you bring outside food into their eateries. They don’t like it for a number of possible reasons: because they want to you to order their food, they don’t want to clean up your mess after you, they don’t want the risk of whatever you bring possibly causing discomfort to other customers. Maybe other customers would even prefer the look of your ‘outside food’ to the restaurant and they ask for the same from the restaurant and of course the restaurant wouldn’t be able to satisfy their request. Whatever the reasons, almost all restaurants have this policy of not allowing outside food to be brought in and regardless of whether we agree with the policy or not, we have to accept that the restaurant has the right to turn you away if you do so. So surely you shouldn’t be surprised if a restaurant abroad does the same too.

As for the excuse of difficulty in accessing halal food, well, I’m sorry that I don’t think it’s a valid excuse. Please don’t use religion or your observance of it as an excuse to justify your behaviour. Islam is never meant to burden its followers. There are other halal food options available (even though they don’t come with halal certification): you can opt for seafood, sandwiches with halal ingredients, salad, potatoes, sushi (depending where you are in the world but most cities offer these anyway) or even vegetarian. And Muslims are a large minority in Europe. You won’t have a problem finding Muslims in Switzerland! So don’t give that excuse of difficulty in obtaining halal food in Europe. It would be better if you told the truth that you were trying to be economical. I myself don’t stop to eat at restaurants as I’m usually too much in a hurry. I’d rather buy some buns or pizza slices and have them on the train or something. I also pack some cereal bars too as snack. Nothing wrong at all with either being economical or bringing your own food just as long as you know where and when you can eat your food. Money can buy a lot of things but not class.

And what’s with the idea of eating by the roadside and sharing it on your IG? Was that to draw sympathy or attract more followers? Or was it to get your followers to praise you for your humility or humbleness or nobility? Also, there are so many parks in Europe; all you have to do is find one and have a picnic in there.

I’m sure we’ve had our fair share of encounters with the Chinese tourists. I’m talking about those Chinese tourists who cut into queues, who go somewhere and act all kiasu and are oblivious to other visitors, who act like they’re the only ones who matter at any attractions sites, who pile up their plates at buffet tables... in short, those tourists who give Chinese tourists such a bad rep that they repel and disgust the locals and even the tour guides. Whenever I come across them, I get uncomfortable and I can’t help wondering if that is how they behave back home too. So, do we want to also give a similar bad rep to ourselves and our country by behaving in ways that may cause discomfort, disgust or disturbance among the locals? Do we want them to wonder if it’s normal for people to eat by the roadside here too? Do we want the locals to immediately dismiss us by lumping us in some category (‘oh typical Malaysians!’ ‘Asians, what do you expect?’)? I don’t think so either. Oh, I know there are people who would claim that they’re being true to themselves and they don’t care what others think of them but, please, do have some pride.

We are like ambassadors of our country when we travel abroad. As such, we should strive to maintain the good name of our country by behaving accordingly (even if the said name has been sullied by those in power who should know better, do we still make things worse with our thoughtless behaviour?). Is it so difficult to uphold the good name of the country and project a good image of oneself?

And while we’re on this topic, what is it about the Malaysian lazy attitude? I’d touched on this only last year. We’re inconsiderate and we don’t care if we sit down too long at the restaurant - never mind that we have finished eating – and obliviously deprive others from using the table. We claim to be well-travelled but we fail to observe how other societies behave, their hygienic and tidy ways, how they treat and respect everyone else, animals and the environment. We are just too self-absorbed, selfish, inconsiderate, narcissistic, arrogant, blind and uncaring. Maybe we’re not much different from most mainland Chinese tourists then. We have the money to travel to new places, to learn and observe from the locals but money can’t buy us awareness, wisdom and, as mentioned above, class.

I’ll leave you with these respective quotes by William G. Taylor and Henry Fielding: ‘Travellers are just commuters with a wider perspective’ and ‘I describe not men, but manners; not an individual, but a species.’ I’m not sure if we Malaysians can say we have a wide perspective nor can I say if we can be proud of ourselves as a species.

Earth Overshoot Day

The Earth Overshoot Day, the day when humans’ annual demand on natural resources exceeds what our planet can regenerate or reproduce in one year, fell on 2 August this year. Yes, we had managed to use a year’s worth of resources injust seven months. This means we have used and consumed more trees, fish and water than can be regenerated over the entire year and emitted more carbon than what the forests and oceans are able to absorb.

The Global Footprint Network calculates each year’s Overshoot Day and according to the calculations, we’re using the resources of 1.7 planets every year. The equation has four main factors: how much we consume; how efficiently products are made; how many of us there are; and how much nature’s ecosystem is able to produce. The Overshoot Day and how many earths we need differ among countries as the pictures below show.

When will we ever wake up and acknowledge that global warming is real? When will we realise that our greed, insatiable appetite and unthinking ways are putting constraints on the environment? We are using more ecological resources than nature can possibly regenerate and this is putting the Earth on an unsustainable trajectory. We are demanding more from the Earth than it can produce. You can track what impact your own actions have on the world’s natural resources here.

  

I was at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel prayer room just last Saturday. As my usual practice, I went to the bathroom first before performing part of ablutions at the bathroom (the bathroom tap dispenses water automatically so I could control how much water I should use and not get my clothes wet as I’d be prone to do if performing ablutions at the prayer room. Of course I still had to wash my feet in the prayer room) before heading to the prayer room. There were two ladies who were there ahead of me and they took so long to perform ablutions that I had finished two sunat prayers and started on my Zuhor prayers before they were done with their ablutions. The taps were on full blast and I couldn’t help wondering at the gallons of water wasted and how they managed to keep their clothes dry. Was it necessary to waste so much water (and mind you, that was no isolated event)? In Mecca and Medinah, pilgrims are able to perform ablutions using only a small bottle of water so why do we use so much water here? Similarly, why do we use so much water to wash our cars and porch? Have we forgotten the drought days of El Niño when it got so bad that we had to live days where the tap water was switched off and only had hours to refill our containers and pails when the tap water was switched back on? It’s alarming how short our memories are!

It’s time we start changing our unsustainable ways of living. Educate our children and teach even our pets not to waste resources (I wince whenever I see video clips of cats playing with tap water). We are already living in deficit as it is. The world’s resource bank has gone into overdraft! 

Adek In Sydney 2017- Part II

Friday, 14 July 2017

We had decided to go to Parramatta today and left our room at almost 10:00. We walked up to Circular Quay (took us 45 minutes), bumping into fellow Gooners along the way. After consulting electronic board, we went to the designated wharf and waited. There was a bit of confusion as the boards first showed our ferry departing from right side and then showed it departing from the left side. We departed later than scheduled too. It took one hour and 23 minutes to reach Parramatta by ferry but at least you get to experience riding the ferry. Parramatta is the furthest stop inland that ferry can go.

At Parramatta, we waited for the Parramatta Shuttle Bus that takes you on a continuous loop around downtown. We got down near Parramatta Park and left not long after. We then took the shuttle bus on another loop before getting down near Centenary Square. To be honest, I found Parramatta a tad underwhelming. We then went to Westfield Parramatta as we wanted to find free wifi – the mall provided it, Alhamdulillah! – to check in for the flight back. We’d only arrived a couple of days earlier and would already be departing after the next couple of days. Well, I didn’t intend to stay too long in Sydney anyway. It has become more and more expensive over the years and I sadly only earn Malaysian Ringgit.

I then went to browse some stores to find some wipes that my sister asked me to and after a dozen stores and spending 10 minutes on average at the wipes aisle of those stores, I concluded that the particular brand that she wanted was no longer in production. I bought some crisps and then went to check out Target before leaving. We got the train back to Central within 3 minutes of its departure and it took only 26 minutes.

Today was my last fasting day so after prayers, we cooked dinner at the kitchen a floor up.

  

Saturday, 15 July 2017

I slept again after Suboh and got up after 08:00. We left for Paddy’s Market after breakfast but didn’t buy any souvenirs. We came back at almost noon and stayed in. I took advantage of this and made progress on my book. We left at 17:30 after having dinner and performing prayers and went to Central station. This time, there was a direct train to Olympic Park. Even better!

We headed directly for the stadium and entered (hardly any queue by the time we arrived). Our seats this time were at the fourth row from the boards that separated the pitch from the spectators. The crowds around us were more vocal too this evening and there were always a few individuals trying to get us to start chanting. So much so, one bloke in front of missed one of the goals (he was too busy looking back and rallying us). I also heard another chap a few rows behind saying that we all just wanted to watch the match.

This time, the rush back to the station wasn’t as bad as on Thursday and we managed to squeeze into the first train that arrived. There were some vocal Gooners in the carriage we entered and we all sang our way back to Central station. Now that was fun!

Sunday, 16 July 2017

I woke up early this morning after the post-Suboh kip to finish packing. We had a late breakfast and left at 09:45. We followed the same route back to the airport that we took on Wednesday in reverse and arrived at the airport almost an hour later. After dropping off our bags and getting our boarding passes, we cleared security and immigration. There’s no prayer room once you clear immigration so I performed prayers in the parents’ room before making my way to the gate.

We took off on time and landed at KLIA at 20:00. The bags came out well after we finished performing prayers and we took a Grab back to KL.

So that was my third trip to Sydney and sixth to Australia. I doubt if I’ll be back because there are many more places that I haven’t been to. Thanks anyway Sydney for all the memories.

~~~~~~~~

Just a bit on my Airbnb: from the airport, you can take a cab or Uber (AUD20-40 depending on traffic and terminal (departing from international terminal would cost more), or you can take the Airport train to Central. The Airport train costs AUD16.22 from the airport to Central with an Opal card as you have to pay the airport access fee of AUD13.80 so we chose to walk to Wolli Creek instead. The Airbnb is pretty near Central station, about 15 minutes’ walk away. You can also take a bus from Eddy Avenue Stand C, routes 338, 374, 376 and 391; get off at Flinders St near South Dowling, cross at the lights and walk three minutes downhill to the front door. We chose to walk.

We had to get the keys from a locked box at the unit next door and after opening the door, walk up the stairs to the first landing where the bathroom and TV room are. Our room is one of the two rooms just a few steps up the landing and it overlooks South Dowling St. There is another flight of stairs up to the host’s housemate’s room, a bathroom and kitchen and another room above the kitchen (accessed from the kitchen). The two other housemates couldn’t be friendlier.

My comments are that the room is slightly dusty (those with dust allergy should avoid it) and the dustbin in the kitchen just overflew, and the housemates were not diligent about keeping the kitchen counter and sink empty so a few times I washed up their glasses and crockery. I know I wasn’t paying to stay at a hotel (too dang expensive and even this Airbnb didn’t come cheap what with inflated Sydney prices) but I would have appreciated a cleaner and tidier kitchen. Not sure how frequent garbage collection is there or why no one bothered to take the trash out. Those are my main comments.

Adek In Sydney 2017- Part I

This plan was hatched on 9 December 2015 when I first heard Arsenal were planning to go to Sydney. Then seven months later, in early July 2016, I received an email from Arsenal informing of a 48-hour priority window to secure tickets for the matches against Sydney FC and Western Sydney Wanderers. So on 16 July 2016, with the help of CT, I tried and finally managed to secure tickets – and all whilst preparing drinks for guests who came to visit (it was a few days after Eid then). Having secured the tickets, I then searched for air tickets and finally purchased a return AirAsia ticket. Truth be told, I was planning to visit Sydney again having been there twice before, or any part of Australia as I’d been there 5 times before. But hey, never say never.

In mid-February 2017, I decided to search for MAS tickets instead and bought them via Expedia. I had made a booking at a hotel via booking.com before deciding to source a host via Airbnb. After having a couple of reservations declined and one cancelled, I finally managed to secure a room at a flat in Surry Hills. Phew, Alhamdulillah! Then it was just a matter of time of waiting for the tickets to arrive (electronically in my case) and applying for a visa.

Tuesday, 11 July 2017

I left office and got a ride from my dear colleague to KL Sentral. I was fasting today and broke fast at Le Meridien Hotel. After performing prayers, I had some char kuay teow (the taste left much to be desired though) before going down to take the bus. I had a sudden fear of the 21:30 bus being full so decided to take the 21:00 bus and it turned out to be quite empty. And I found out the flight was retimed to depart 20 minutes later than scheduled. Strewth.

We reached KLIA after only 50 minutes and after dropping off our bags, we went in. I had my main meal then as I was planning to fast the following day.

Wednesday, 12 July 2017

We took off after midnight and as usual sleep was elusive. I liked the area where I sat; the first row of economoney and there are only two rows in that space before the food preparation area. We were not business class but we were somehow isolated from the rest of the cabin class passengers. Sleep was elusive as usual and at one point, I got up and had some water as I was feeling dehydrated. I then asked one of the cabin crew, Miss Afiza, when breakfast would be served as I was planning to fast the following day. She told me it would be served 2.5 hours before arrival, i.e. about 07:30 Sydney time but 05:30 Perth time. I had checked that Suboh was at 05:50 in Perth then so technically if they served us on time, I would be able to have my breakfast as predawn meal. And what do you know, Miss Afiza came and served me ahead of everyone, including those with special dietary needs. She remembered our conversation! How thoughtful, sweet and considerate was that? I had my meal gratefully. Syukur alhamdulillah. She did tell me to hurry as Suboh was approaching. No problem, I thought.

We landed into a wet wet wet Sydney at 09:50 but our plane was made to wait on the runway (along with about 5 other planes ahead of ours). A while turned out to be 45 minutes and I was desperately holding my bladder throughout. We were finally assigned another bay as the plane occupying our designated bay was still there. I was worried that there would be a long queue at immigration but I needn’t have worried as the officers were pretty quick. We did have to queue to clear quarantine though but we cleared it without much ado.

After freshening up, we went to WH Smith to buy Opal cards. I’d done my research and AUD20 would be sufficient to load into our cards. The chap manning the counter was on the phone and looked and sounded distracted but he asked us what we needed and we told him. After asking for directions from a lady to Wolli Creek, we set off, passing by another WS Smith shop.

It was pissing rain and we walked about one km to Wolli Creek. It wasn’t far but it wasn’t much fun in the rain. At the station, we looked at the electronic displays before heading to the right platform to Central station, not realising the machine where we had to tap our Opal cards. I had to return back to the station entrance to tap and was not happy at all to find that one card had AUD40 value while the other had no value. I asked at a nearby kiosk and they couldn’t do anything either as Opal is run by a different private company. I was seething at this point and was angry that I had to part with another AUD20 to reload the empty card. Stupid WH Smith man. Damn you!!!

We reached Central station after about 12 minutes and I was not amused to find that the machine deducted AUD5.95 from my card when the fare should have been only AUD2.36. Seriously?! Barely a few hours after arriving and I was already pissed off. It was still pissing rain when we walked out of the station, crossed over to Foveaux St that climbed up until the Crown Street intersection (no wonder it’s called Surry Hills!) and continued on Fitzroy St until we reached our Airbnb room (an upgrade from this room just next door to the one we stayed at).

After freshening up and performing prayers, we left and walked out and walked up to Sydney Opera House. The weather was acting up again with brief spells of sunshine alternating with spells of drizzle. I broke my fast at Sydney Opera House and on the way back, we stopped at Gelato Messina at Gateway Plaza. We also dropped by Romeo’s and Aldi to buy food. We reached our room after 8 p.m. and rested.

Thursday, 13 July 2017

I woke up at 04:45 and had my pre-dawn meal. I had another kip after Suboh prayers and got up after 08:00. We left after 09:00 and headed out. It was a beautiful winter’s day with endless skies overhead and not a cloud in sight. What a welcome change from the day before! We stumbled upon The Salvation Army shop at Crown St and had a browse. It had a good selection of clothes, household items, toys and books and some shoes and accessories. After that, we went to check out Hermès (branded luxury goods cost more in Australia but I wanted to check out the offerings) before heading to Queen Victoria Building. Anyway, after The Salvation Army shop, I didn’t feel like browsing the departmental store or other high-street shops. We then went to Woolworths and then Coles before I detoured to Paddy’s Market. I spotted a few Gooners there in their Arsenal tops (I was wearing one too beneath the shawl and jacket). I stumbled upon the produce area (never been to that area of market before and it’s mainly run by Chinese Indonesians. I finally bought some broccoli but not before telling off the rude obnoxious seller not to be so rude. I then returned to the Airbnb. There are some road works going on in some parts of the CBD, just like around the airport on the way to Wolli Creek.

We left at 15:15 and headed to Central station. Our match ticket included free public transportation until early the following morning so we followed instructions and crowd to the platform. We took the train to Lidcombe where we had to change trains (and platforms) to Olympic Park. We arrived early enough and after walking around the food stalls selling various snacks and the various Arsenal kiosks, we decided to head over to Pullman Hotel. I broke fast there and even performed prayers at a small corner in the hotel lobby (no prayer room in the hotel). We only made our way to the ANZ Stadium after 18:15 and the stadium was still empty. There were a couple of giant screens showing highlights of goals etc. and after a while, a few groups of school kids decked out in their various sports attire came out and walked half-way around the stadium before disappearing into the tunnel. The stadium started filling up and the Arsenal lads finally came out to warm up at 19:35.

The match kidkced off just after 20:00 and we sat back to enjoy. Well, we did get occasionally frustrated with Theo and Welbz but we finally managed a 2-0 win. We left at 22:30 after battling our way out of the stadium to the train station and to the platform. This time, the train took us directly to Central station without us having to change trains at lidcombe. Alhamdulillah. We dropped by Woolworths Central as I wanted to buy some milk (Woolworths closes at midnight). Then we walked up the hill back to the Airbnb.

To be continued

Charmed Life

I’m going to do another frivolous post today and this time I’m going to talk about charms. Specifically bag charms and includes bag accessories too. Do you do it? Do you dress and accessorise up your bags?

I read that it could be a cultural thing. For instance, in Japan, the girls there love to accessorise their bags and even have gizmos hanging from their handphones. In other countries, some women sniff their noses at this idea of accessorising one’s bags: they feel expensive bags should not be saddled with charms or accessories, nor do the bags need them in the first place. Parisian women especially don’t wear big logos and other accessories on bags. They claim they like to be mysterious and they consider too many accessories give a cheap look. They prefer to project what they claim is understated luxury or understated elegant nonchalance.

In other countries, it’s pretty much do what you love although it does look like it’s mainly Asian and American girls who like accessorising their bags, me included. I say, to each her own! I love accessories myself and hardly leave home without a fashion necklace or bracelet or rings. On some days, I may wear a couple of necklaces, a couple of bracelets and at least a couple of rings and on top of all that, I also put on a flower brooch and/or belt. If there is one accessory I don’t leave home without, it is my watch. I get upset if I somehow forget to wear my watch because I rely on it so much and my wrist just feels naked without my watch (I don’t get as upset if I leave my handphone behind so you can see which one I value more or rather which one’s absence I would feel more). So it’s a natural extension for me to also accessorise my bags with a simple bag charm or twilly (I may have even invested in some charms for shoes too but if I did, I can’t recall where they are now). I don’t go overboard (at least I don’t think so!) and I don’t accessorise all handbags that I carry, only selected ones. I don’t accessorise my Chanel bags but I do accessorise some of my Louis Vuitton and Hermès bags. Some bags are already heavy enough even without the added bag charm so I only use light charms. I also draw the line at spending on Fendi Karlito and monster bag charms: they are expensive and I don’t find them appealing.

There’s also a comment that twillies are so last decade but hey, I want to enjoy carrying my bags without having to deal with the headache and heartache of premature wear and tear on the handles. Also, twillies help absorb the oil from my hands. After all, I’ve spent a fortune on my bags so it makes sense to me to care for them in my own way.

Is bag accessorising a young thing? Well, I’m a believer of ‘you don’t stop playing because you grow old; you grow old because you stop playing’. Maybe one day I’ll grow out of it. Yeah, I can’t see a lady in her 50s still rocking bag charms but hey, fashion changes and who knows it wouldn’t look and sound so odd in the next decade or so.

What about you? Do you accessorise your bags too?