Hello.

I once told a colleague that I am generally not a fan of local theatre because the productions are either too slapstick, too poorly produced or directed, or too pretentious. She was rather peeved by that statement, being a staunch supporter, and probably thought me traitorous for uttering such a statement since I took Theatre Studies as a subject in university.

After a year of trying to cram theories by the likes of Stanislavsky, Brecht and Grotowski into my steadfastly un-theatrical head, I dropped the subject like a hot potato, but have continued to patronise local productions from time to time, mostly because many of my former classmates have gone on to become full-time actors. I nevertheless choose the productions that I watch carefully – they have to be neither too high-brow nor too low, and they have to be reasonably priced so I don’t come away feeling like I’ve been bilked. On average, I watch two to three productions a year, and I count them successes if I leave without a migraine each time.

This year, however, hasn’t been too busy on the theatre-going front. So when K suggested that we watch Boeing Boeing, which I think caught his eye because of the marketing collaterals showing Emma Yong, Wendy Kweh and Chermaine Ang flying about in skimpy lingerie and not because of stellar reviews, I said, “why not”?

Within the first five minutes of the show, it became patently clear that I should have said the opposite instead and that I was in for two hours of torture filled with tasteless cultural jokes, cringe-inducing physical comedy, shouting, screaming and exaggerated accents. It got so bad at times that I could barely understand what was being said. As Junko the Japanese stewardess, Emma grated on my nerves the least, but then Emma is always fabulous. Siti Khalijah, who played Minah the maid, was also marginally entertaining. Adrian Pang and Daniel York? Downright awful, the pair of them.

This is the second time that Wild Rice have staged Boeing Boeing and I really have to wonder at the sophistication of local theatre audiences. And mind you, supporting local theatre isn’t cheap. K coughed up more than $100 for our circle seats, but I didn’t complain because any closer to the stage, and I might have whipped my Mulberry bag at Adrian Pang’s head to make him stop talking in that atrocious British?American?Singaporean? accent of his.

I really hope the next production we watch will redeem this painful experience. That’s two hours of my life I can never get back.

Do you ever feel like you’d rather be anybody but you, anywhere but here? If you do, then you know exactly how I’ve been feeling recently. I know a lot of people will want to respond to this post saying things like I should be thankful for what I have (and I AM) but sometimes, things just get you down, ya’know? Life is full of highs and lows, and only liars would say that they have it easy all the time.

Anyway, given my general feeling of blahness, I really needed a pick-me-up, and I got it. In the form of hair products. I’ve been experimenting with shampoos and conditioners for some time now, trying to find the right combination for my oily scalp and super-dry hair. My shampoo girl keeps telling me that I should use the professional products that the salon sells, but I’m not about to pay $40 for a conditioner, so I’ve been hunting in drugstores.

Original Source Mint and Tea Tree shower gel, shampoo and conditioner.

And I think I’ve found my Holy Grail of drugstore-price shampoo and conditioner (shower gel, too) in Original Source’s mint and tea tree series. It’s pretty reasonably priced, and the zing you get from the mint is really shiok, whether you’re washing your hair in the morning, or after a really sweaty session in the gym. Some people on the beauty forums have said that the shampoo is quite drying, but after trying Phyto’s Phytopanama shampoo for oily hair which made my hair feel like straw, I have no complaints.

I might not be willing to fork out good money for shampoos and conditioners, but I’ve decided that the money is well spent on makeup from better cosmetic brands. My skin has been really horrendous of late and I blame it on cheap drugstore makeup. I used to be a Bobbi Brown and MAC girl, until I decided to see if I could save some money by buying makeup from Guardian instead. No can do. I’m so done with zits, so I hope this solves the problem. The Maybelline Angelfit two-way cake I’ve been using has been easy on my pocket, but I think it’s killing my skin, so yesterday I popped into Tangs and renewed my loyalty to MAC. Here’s hoping for better skin.