As 2006 ended and 2007 began...

A belated Happy New Year from me! I spent my New Year's Day sniffling, so 2007 has been quite blah for me.

I have just upgraded to the new Blogger - love the new Layout and Labels functions, but I just wish they had also added more interesting templates. I could find nice ones elsewhere, but few are compatible with the new Blogger features, it seems.

Speaking of blogs, it seems that many people find it difficult to keep track of new posts on their favourite blogs (I'm excepting those who read only LJs). If that's you, then you need a news aggregator. A news aggregator will work not only with blogs but any site with an RSS (or similar) feed. At a glance, you can see which blogs have been updated, and with how many new posts. You can choose to read all the new posts from all your subscriptions, from a particular group of blogs, or from an individual blog, on the same page. I use and love Bloglines because it's web-based and the interface makes it so easy to use. With the latest Firefox, it's become even easier to subscribe to sites with Bloglines, since Firefox's built-in RSS subscription function now offers Bloglines as an option. The blogroll you see on the right sidebar on this page was created from my public Bloglines subscriptions; as my list of subscriptions changes, so does the list on this page. Together with my del.icio.us roll, I never have to edit the links on my blog directly.

I guess the easiest way to talk about what I've been up to is to list my new acquisitions. I've been very good with clothes and shoes shopping recently - nothing new there.

I did buy some new makeup during the recent Isetan private sale: MAC Jadeye and Graphic Brown fluidlines, and Aire-de-blu and Pastorale pigments.

I've also got some new books: Süskind's Perfume (in anticipation of the new film), Deutscher's How to Read Derrida (finished the library's copy and found it worth buying), Mill's Michel Foucault (good reviews) and a copy of Advanced Grammar in Use for self-reference. I bought all but Perfume during Kinokuniya's 20% off sale.

Also new are a pile of CDs: Natsukawa Rimi's Selection, Eason Chan's What's Going On...?, Ivana Wong's 詩情.畫意 and Pet Shop Boys' Fundamental. I've got a few more CDs on my sights - lots of listening to catch up on. Finally, having watched The Cat Returns (猫の恩返し Neko no Ongaeshi) recently, I decided I needed more Studio Ghibli goodness and bought Kiki's Delivery Service (魔女の宅急便 Majo no Takkyūbin) on DVD.

My recent perfume haul is more substantial. I haven't commented on everything below simply because I haven't tried everything yet.

eBay decants:
Divine L'Homme Sage (my favourite Divine)
Mazzolari Patchouly (excellent amber-dominated patchouli)
Serge Lutens Encens et Lavande (best lavender scent I've tried)
Lorenzo Villoresi Alamut (very pretty, but not for me)
Profumum Santalum
Profumum Patchouly
Eau d'Italie Paestum Rose

Swap decants:
Miller et Bertaux #1
Comme des Garçons Jaisalmer (a spicy incense)
Parfums de Nicolaï Balle de Match (one of my favourite citrus scents)
Lorenzo Villoresi Teint de Neige (my 2nd decant of this sweet, powdery scent)

Samples:
Les Nez set (3 very interesting scents, though no must-haves)
Eau d'Italie set (Paestum Rose plus 3 others)
Divine L'Inspiratrice (their newest and quite pretty)
Andy Tauer Lonestar Memories and Orris (former extremely leathery, latter a limited edition which thankfully I did not fall for)

Full bottles:
Serge Lutens Tubereuse Criminelle (thanks to the very kind S, who brought it back from Palais Royale)
L'Artisan Fleur d'Oranger

Okay, the last I don't actually have yet. I found it for 20% off, local shipping waived, at Vivre.com, and realised only after it'd been shipped that vPost won't forward perfumes anymore. The only way out of the bind was to pay vPost $$ to send the package on to somebody in the US (who will then forward it to me the "usual" way, i.e. lying on the customs sticker). Panicking, I posted on the MUA fragrance board for the first time, asking for a kind-hearted soul who'd help. I did get a few offers, to my relief. Then in a strange twist of fate, it wasn't required anymore.

What happened was that I'd also ordered a wireless laser mouse from eBay, to be delivered in the same vPost shipment. As usual, vPost couldn't match invoice to package correctly, processed the FdO package as the mouse and sent it on the Singapore before I could even arrange for it to be sent to the MUAer. Once I make the vPost payment, it (and the actual mouse) should be delivered.

Despite the happy ending (I'm assuming the package will arrive at my doorstep nice and intact), I worry about how much more difficult it is becoming to order perfumes from abroad. Already, Strawberrynet has stopped selling perfumes. Some vendors are using ground shipping for their customers abroad, but that's both slow and unreliable.

Friends always want to know what I do to fill my time these days. Well...

I watch DVDs (in addition to huge amount of cable tv I already watch daily).

I scan the papers and websites for job opportunities, and send in applications.

I read and write (too occasionally) online.

I sell some things on eBay (makeup and perfumes). For some reason, swap offers have increased recently too.

I started attending yoga classes at the CC.

I cook for the family sometimes, a dish or two for dinner, or a simple lunch.

Here's something new I tried recently that my family really liked: Orange Duck Casserole. I'm cooking mostly non-Chinese dishes, but I try to keep it to stuff that isn't too "exotic" for my family.