About time....

So I know I disappeared for fear of fame come too soon (I wish!). Honestly I can't even use the "busy" card because that has been my excuse for the last few months and frankly no one seems to be buying it. And they say honesty is the way forward (tell that to the people in my life)........on a lighter note, I haven't been ill or anything equally traumatising. I've just been forging ahead with my MBA programme and yes my dear friends told me it would be a tedious year ahead but having worked I-banking hours I thought it would be a walk in the park (sooooo not the case!). I barely have time for any extra-curricular activities apart from messing about with my wardrobe every morning, in my bid to look like your average student lol. Geekily enough (yes you probably wouldn't find geekily in the dictionary but who cares :p), I am loving every moment of it, especially my ScribbleD inspired pad complete with a spa and every facility I do NOT have the time or energy to enjoy (I'm working on this). Also helps that my sis is here so hoorah to new experiences and opportunities!

Furthermore, this city is blessed with HOT TALL MEN!!!!! Can I get an AMEN from a fellow tall sister?! Lol. Sorry but I've never felt so petite in my vertically endowed life. Best of all they are hotties and from different walks of life so I'm spoilt for choice. Sadly, two things seem to be getting in the way, for starters, I seem to have lost my appetite for men (yes ALL of you) and secondly, I think I may have to embrace my inner Cougar seeing as most of these potential hotties are undergrads (eeeeks!). On a steamier note, I have something that you might call a crush on a fellow classmate BUT I've always only ever played Away (geddit lol) so I'm not entirely sure how this is gonna pan out but for now it's somewhat exciting / distracting (in a good way). Anyhoo I felt the need to express myself especially as our Interpersonal Skills coach says better out than in :-)

Happy Sunday guys......watch this space xx

Guess who's baaaaack? :-)

Short entry as my writing is a bit rusty given my unforeseen hiatus. After much pondering and bickering (mainly with myself) lol, I decided to carry on with my random ramblings. Thanks to all those that actually sought me in my absence and the eager readers that offered blog topics for fear I'd been struck by a deadly case of boredom (partly true). Without much ado, I would like to inform everyone that ScribbleD is back and hopefully here to stay HOORAH!!!.......xoxo

Men Cry Too

As sleep decided to play an endless game of hide and seek with me tonight, I thought I had engage in a bit of work related research via http://www.bbc.co.uk/, but ended up going from reading an article about private equity firm, Lion Capital, putting up its c.70% share of Wagamama for sale at c.£250m (bought at £102m in 2005.....sweet!), to skimming through an article on twenty films that make men cry (big mistake!). In light of news that Toy Story 3 makes men cry (WHY?), male readers got in touch with their emotional side and opened up about their own private tear-jerkers. Judging by the list, it is no surprise that men and women really do not speak the same language emotionally. True to form, a lot of the movies selected had nothing to do with romance, more about friendship in testing times and triumphing (men are so simple no). Personally, The Champ did it for me! I'm still sniffing and forcing back tears from watching the final scene of this heart wrenching classic film on YouTube as shown below (Warning: You WILL cry!!!).

Top Male Tear Jerkers (selected by real men)

1. There's one scene for me, it's the Grey Havens at the end of The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. I've seen it loads of times, but even as a man in my 30s, it still manages to get me going every single time! The emotion of the characters, having gone through their personal sacrifices (particularly Frodo of course), coupled with Howard Shore's brilliantly moving score always makes me weepy with that lump in the throat feeling - I remember wailing in the cinema lol (such a girl sheesh!)

2. The Shawshank Redemption had me in fits of tears because of the joy and happiness that ensues when those two lifelong companions are reunited on that beach. The hardships they've endured and the power of their friendship stirs the longing for good friends in me. Yep, I'm a weeper and proud! - I still haven't seen this film

3. Picture this: me, my wife, her mom and dad, my mom and dad, the kids. We go to a movie all together for the first time ever. We go to Up and the only person in the group not sobbing is my father in law. Now I finally have proof that he is a robot. My dad cried for an hour. I tried to hold it back, but my throat was throbbing so hard it felt dangerous not to give in. Then I let it rip like a little girl. - OMG I saw this on the plane, was sobbing silently in my seat, how embarrassing and its a bladdy animated film!

4. One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest has a tragic ending, and makes me bleary eyed when I think too hard on it, but the tears strangely intensify upon the victorious final shot, to see something positive and good come from such bleakness and despair. - Never seen it

5. The one film that makes me cry every time I watch it is Marley and Me. When he says goodbye to the dying Marley... I'm starting to fill up just thinking about it. I don't know if it's because I have a dog and have had to go through the heartache of saying goodbye before to my previous dog when she passed away but this film makes me cry more than any other. - This was one emotionally charged movie, especially as the relationship between Marley (the dog) and Owen Wilson was so believable. I also thought about my late dog when I saw this, so sad :-(

6. When I was a tender 18-year-old in the RAF, they showed The Champ to a bunch of us raw recruits. The room filled with male bravado soon quietened down and although dark you could see sparkling eyes. Nobody dared talk for fear of showing a trembling voice. - I dare you to watch the below clip and not blink back a few tears like really, this movie made us weep as kids *sniffles*

7. I wailed out loud at the end of The Notebook which wouldn't have been so bad except I was in the middle row in a packed 747 and I don't think anyone else was watching it. Oh the shame. - Yet to see this

8. I'm a 48-year-old man, ex-rugby player and motorcycle racer and I admit that Babe did it for me. Right at the end when the farmer says "That'll do Pig", I start welling up at the thought of it. - Eeeek! Babe made me cry too, I'm not abnormal after all :-) oops I mean :-(

9. I never cried at movies until after my daughter was born. The first time was Field of Dreams. When Kevin Costner had a catch with his father, I was bawling. I purchase the film every time it comes out on a new medium (video, DVD, anniversary edition, Blu-Ray), and I still cry. In fact, I cry before that scene, in anticipation. Some day, when the holographic version is released, I will cry on James Earl Jones when he says "for it is money they have and peace they lack". - No clue
10/11. Many readers found the end of The Railway Children particularly emotional 10. I have only seen my Dad cry on two occasions, and one of them was during Chariots of Fire. The end of The Railway Children, with Jenny Agutter running down the platform crying "Daddy, my daddy" gets me every single time. I must have seen it 25-30 times over the years and on every occasion, I am a gibbering wreck.

12. The Finnish sauna documentary, Steam of Life, had a reputation for being a tear-jerker. I didn't believe it until I went to see it myself, and all the men in the cinema were in tears. Fantastic doc, by the way. - Never seen it

13. The 1941 Tom and Jerry cartoon The Night Before Christmas has a very emotional ending. Tom sees Jerry freezing in the cold bitter snow outside the house and then feels bad for Jerry. He warms him up by the fire and gives him a Candy Cane as a present and Jerry then takes a mousetrap hidden in Tom's bowl of milk and Tom and Jerry become friends. This is probably the most emotional scene in a Tom and Jerry cartoon. - Are you having a laugh? lol!

14. Man On Fire, with Denzel. A hard hearted soldier of fortune discovers the inherent goodness of human nature in a child and gives his life in exchange for hers. I can't watch it without crying. - Hmm, never seen it

15. Mary Poppins makes me well up, at the redemption of Mr. Banks. - Huh?? LOL. Actually Mary Poppins was a tad emotional but come on!

16. The only film that got me blubbing was Life is Beautiful right at the end when the little boy gets to ride on the tank after winning hide and seek and then finding his mother. What made it worse was I was in the middle of a flight to New Zealand, it was half past something in the morning, everyone else was asleep and I was crying like a three-year-old whose balloon had burst. - Never seen it

15. Bridge to Terabithia had both myself and my 12-year-old son in tears in the cinema, openly asking each other why the girl had to die. I am not worried about being teary in front of my sons; I think it's good to let them know it's OK to let your feelings show. - Never seen it

16. The Green Mile often gets men blubbing 16. I've watched The Green Mile a few times and always end up crying. I'm usually sobbing at the lines, "Please boss, don't put that thing over my face, don't put me in the dark. I'm afraid of the dark." - Don't remember much of this movie to be honest

17. The bit in The Italian Job where the Mafia smash Michael Caine's Aston Martin and the two E-Types had me crying like a baby. - LOL madness

18. Rocky winning the title and manages to say "'except for my kid being born this is the greatest day in the history of my life, I just want to say one thing, to my wife at home, Yo Adrian... I did it!" Gets me every time! - Don't think I've ever seen this

19. My Life as A Dog, a Swedish film that observes a 12-year-old boy, Ingemar, struggling with life with a terminally ill mother and an absent father as well as meeting all the normal developments that life presents us. The tear-jerker for me is how Ingemar tries to come to terms with the story of Laika (a theme that runs through the whole film), a dog sent to space with a guaranteed death sentence. Ingemar consoles himself constantly with "life could be worse" - [I'm] in tears now. - Wow never seen or heard of this film but it sounds really sad :'(

20. If I want a really good purgative cry then it has to be Truly, Madly, Deeply. That's one film I can only watch on my own. - Never seen it

Going Nude

Get your mind outta the gutter folks, I'm talking about lipgloss :-) I'm not really big on makeup, purely because I lack the patience to spend quality time fussing over each feature on my face, but my vanity means I have piles of unused or partly used glosses, lipsticks, powders, mascaras and professional makeup tool kits gathering dust on my dressing table lol. Sadly, I keep picking up whatever the must-have item is and so far this summer, nude is the way to go. Pink has had its time in the spotlight too, knocking le rouge out of the way for the bright summer season but nude is the next big thing (or so I've been told). Innocently walking through the makeup floor in Harrods, I clocked eyes with a male makeup artist at the Bobbi Brown stand (big mistake!). He had one of those pitiful faces that made you want to buy something just to make his day better (sigh). So anyhoo I strolled over and let him work his magic, seducing me into splurging on a few nude essentials, even telling me their Pot Rouge for lips and cheeks in Cabo Coral made my cheek bones pop like Beyonce's (as if!). Fortunately for him, my sister approved and so did a few passers by who actually stopped to watch the transformation process (eeeek!). Ever since that fateful day, I haven't braved the nude look but I thought I'd try it out today, wish me luck!

Wearing Boobi Brown rich color gloss in Melon

Back in the day..

If there were ever a time to obsess about the past, I think now would be it. With shows like Mad Men receiving rave reviews (for obvious reasons! the show is AH-MAY-ZEEING!!! like OMG Don Draper!) and a lot of 80s trends making a comeback this year, I think a little walk down memory lane should be embraced. Besides history is a great reference for the future (okay I just made that up lol). Having zoomed my way through all the episodes of Mad Men thanks to http://www.tvduck.com/, I decided to go out and buy a couple of DVDs from the 80s to help pass the time. It was during my rummage in HMV that I stumbled across an 80s movie club DVD box set for Working Girls, which included five movies: Desperately Seeking Susan, Moonstruck, Romancing the Stone, Where Harry Met Sally and Working Girl (great selection no). Given my investment banking background and work withdrawal symptoms (which I felt for the first time this week), I obviously started off with Working Girl which I had never seen. I was glued to my screen from the opening song (Let the River Run), till the closing credits. Top movie without a doubt! Great wardrobe, stellar performance from Melanie Griffiths (never knew she looked / acted that good once upon a time!), intelligent script with some great lines:

Mel G - "I've got a head for business and a body for sin, is anything wrong with that?" (Fierce!!!)

Mel G - "I'm not steak, you can't just order me"

Sigourney Weaver - "Dress shabbily they notice the dress, dress impeccably they notice the woman - Coco Chanel"

Aside from Alec Baldwin, the male talent was lacking (visually). I actually found a young Harrison Ford a bit too clean cut for my liking, but he still made a fine executive, and what is it with men (Don Draper too) and extra shirts in their office drawers?? Doubt my colleagues ever had such stashes, not that I was looking. Oh and the outdated computer monitors were hilarious with the plain black screen and ghastly green text display (life with no MS Excel eeeek!). All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed this flick, think I'll be checking out Desperately Seeking Susan next :-)

London State of Mind

P.S. Excuse the not so great blackberry camera shot

What do you do when you are all blogged out? Top up your Oyster card and hop on any night bus heading West :-). Well that was exactly what my sis and I did earlier tonight and yes we got lost a few times but we found our way home (phew!). Another great thing about good ol' London, is you don't have to do much to get BUZZED on a night out. We initially planned to have drinks in any bar around Piccadilly Circus or Leicester Square, but got carried away with our people spotting and ended up strolling across the Westminster Bridge whilst trying to shake off some annoying dudes (some guys just lack tact). Anyway after pretending to speak no English, they eventually buggered off and we got down to some serious tourist acts like taking goofy pics of ourselves on our blackberries and some equally distorted pics of the London Eye (it was a great view but I will NEVER go on that Ferris wheel). Can't believe I actually considered hiring out a capsule for my 21st birthday, given my severe case of Acrophobia. Funny enough, my friends and I decided to ride The Wheel of Manchester earlier this year (BIG mistake! lol), we ended up pressing the emergency button half way through especially as one of us (*cough*), had a panic attack and threatened to pass out if the operators didn't bring us right down lol. Where was I? Oh yes, London ;-) After much roaming (Trafalgar Square, Big Ben, Parliament Square), we eventually headed home, quietly content and appreciative of this very cosmopolitan city's gems!

Facebook woes

I'm sorry but Facebook is getting on my last nerve. Like every time I sign on, there is a new random person trying to add me as a friend??? What is that about? I would NEVER even dream of adding a total stranger to my "friends list"........people forget what the term "friend" means these days! Well according to http://www.dictionary.com/, a friend is a person attached to another by feelings of affection or personal regard. HELLO! lol. Okay I do sound hysterical but seriously it is beyond infuriating, it is actually extremely rude, presumptuous and a severe disregard for privacy (still sound hysterical lol but I mean it!). These people need to stop! The excitement of seeing that red alert box over the friend icon on my facebook page has now been replaced by anxiety. I'm even getting good at ignoring it for some days before checking in, just to make sure a real friend hasn't been ignored for longer than necessary. Someone needs to sort it out. A friend suggested I change my profile pic because it could be attracting the wrong sort of attention BUT the invites are also coming from females (should I be concerned? lol). The polite thing to do is send a message first then a friend request not vice versa, but I guess that is asking for too much. The good news is I know the solution to my problem, LEAVE FACEBOOK (duh!) but the bad news is I can't go through with it, at least not yet. So till then my soon to be long lost genuine friends will need to join me in playing the waiting game, while the strangers can keep getting the ignore button :-)