Fashion Pilgrims

Went on a pilgrimage to one of the meccas for indie designers helping Ling giving out flyers and some shameless m:idea promotion on our part; sourcing out potential clients and also helping our dear marcomm team in getting ads for HYPE because Ling, Mai and I believe, as The Bowtie Tranny puts it, in "cross-fertilisation". The immature mes were stifling laughs, pinching Elise so I wouldn't burst out laughing.

Don't be deceived by the "Haji" because it's far from holy. Materialistic haven for the indie kids and mural walls by ghetto kids for the hipsters to take pretty polaroids with during the day, sleazy Middle Eastern coffeehouse and sheesha alley by night. Because there's the word "Haji" in Haji Lane hence Arabic hence sheesha and kebabs. Or maybe it's a conspiracy to tarnish the "holiness" in Haji okay whatever.

Our pilgrimage is also to satiate our lust for pretty things and appreciation for our local designers and brands you've probably never heard of. Bought more stuff from Salford Lads (again) and forgot to buy this really environmentally-friendly brooch from Soon Lee which was made from used bags. There's this one that really caught my eye because it's like a half peter pan collar pin, with a blue leather base with a tartan patch embellished on top. I was thinking of buying two and making a stylised peter pan collar or something but alas, we're rushing to get to *scape for some BA shit for npTribune. Apparently, the BA students, as part of their module, have to create board games to promote financial literacy. So, this is their first time in involving and showcasing their pride and joy of board games and the like and as Fanny puts it, "they're excited".

When we got there though, the place was as barren as Robin's vagina and we're perhaps the only non-BA students under the tent. The event is so underrated it's bordering on indie. No publicity. No awareness. Nada. I wonder how Fanny managed to eke out this event. The games? Rather lacklustre and you wouldn't want to play it with all the technical jargons and all the maths but some looks really interesting though. Most are just blueh.

Met grandpapi Ashu and Ievan for some catching up (on Ashu, that is) and have a huge debate on idolatry and blogs. Fluff Fluff Fluff and more fluff before heading to Swirl for some ice-cream! Got myself a Swirl card and Ashu bought a pratza - a fusion of the humble roti prata with the classic pizza toppings of sausages, and some really nice cream-based sauce with chives. It's really great but the size doesn't really justify the price though; $6 bucks for a coaster-sized pratza.

Speaking of pilgrimage, I've actually been to Mekkah with my grandparents because I'm a pious Muslim like that. It's a really amazing place with really amazing food and annoying locusts you'd just love to step on (I've killed gazillions of locusts in the premise of the Holy Land, where the killing of something is forbidden. But of course, I was only 10 years old so I guess God will forgive me since Allah is All-Merciful). Honestly, I went there for the tahini, air zam-zam (holy water; but it taste like Evian i.e. normal spring water), dates dipped and filled with assortments of stuff from chocolate to walnut and ice-cream made from goat's and camel's milk. But it was a really enriching experience for me, like going to Islamic historical sites and the mosques are really divine. And so does watching Digimon in Arabic when I supposed to go to Masjidil Haram for Asar.