I haven't abandoned my blog. I think I am allowed a few days away from it now and then, though.

My face is starting to look and feel old. It's probably because I don't take good care of it like I used to. I don't clean it well enough, or hydrate it well enough. And meanwhile, it is exposed to even more pollution and smog because of the recent fires. I have several zits sprouting -- I have had major battles with two of them already, and they have grown gigantic in size now, with anger mostly. It will take a few weeks before they disappear -- the scar tissue will need time to grow out. Stuff like blackheads, freckles, wrinkles are all starting to appear simultaneously. I don't know whether I should put on acne treatment, or anti-wrinkle/wrinkle-repair creams on.

Some people like freckles. I have been reading magazines, particularly women's magazines like Cosmo, Glamour, and Allure (just to name a few that I subscribe to regularly). In recent movements, it seems that more imperfection is beginning to be accepted by the media. More non-wafer models appear. The entire Ralph Lauren Polo line is comprised of freckly girls with little make up. However, I have declined to follow suit of a simple pendulum swing. It's bound to swing back to the other side.

First it was the tanning. Then tanning was declared unhealthy and a cause of pre-mature wrinkles. So tanning was banned, then pale skins moved in for a while. But that didn't last long, and au-naturel looks came in, with freckles, little make-up. Then came the ever-reigning ages of bronzing. Everyone from Anna Kournikova to Catherine Zeta-Jones were like bronze statues. The bronze age came and stayed longer than the other movements, but now it is winter, and the pendulum has begun to swing to the opposite side. Now pale (un-tanned, un-bronzed) faces with detailed make-up is in high fashion.

My point is, I am not following trends -- moc croc skins may be in now, but next month it will be deemed a "DON'T" look; Alpha-hydroxy is the new retinol, but in exactly three minutes, its fame and glory will expire.

On a personal note... I don't like to look tanned (I was always the uber-geek girl in glasses -- the healthy, outdoors next-door-girl look wasn't good on me), but sunblock irritated my skin -- rashes, blistering, dryness, itchiness, mysterious small bumps, etc.. I tried everything from Elizabeth Arden to Neutrogena, some cheap, some not, some French, some Korean -- in short, almost everything under the sun to block the sun. I finally found a sun cream that had SPF 45 and felt good on my skin. That discovery was made in October -- although October was pretty hot, I am greatly disappointed that the discovery came to me so late in the summer(fall? But October is really Summer in Socal).

If, knock on wood, this incredible sun cream which irritates not my skin, becomes another has-been, I'll just go inject myself with cancerous skin cells, because that would be the end of my protection from the sun.

My day was boring, but not without excitement. Well, it was excitement indeed, but not the positive, tingle in your ears, excitement -- it was more like the growl-y feel you get in the bottom of your tummy in the onset of the stomach flu.

I had to report to work an hour early, because a customer wanted to come in at that time. I took care of business, then quickly went out to get some coffee and breakfast (which was a "morning bbang" I guess it means morning bread) which was fantastic, and then went to Assi Market to pick up some drinks for the office. I came back, cleaned the store, and then settled into playing a few good hands of Gostop. Then we had lunch -- Shane had mint chicken and thai iced tea, and I had the spicy garlic chicken and thai iced coffee (the cinnamon from their tea was too overbearing, so I decided to go for the coffee). Well, the iced coffee had milk -- I saw the lady pour it in. It wasn't too much, less than a cup. I've drank that much milk before with side effects that I could easily handle. Probably a little bloating at the worst. Well, I was wrong.

Around 3PM, the grumbling in the stomach followed a queasy sensation. It was uncomfortable enough for me to know that I was not going to be happy. This was the worst case scenario -- I thought that in worse case, I would leave work early. But the boss, who told us he wouldn't be here, came in. Furthermore, the toilet was broken and the water took a long time to collect in the tank, and so it could not be flushed more than once every two hours or so.

The gods must have felt sorry for me, because it turned out that my boss only came in for the mail, and left in about an hour. I told Shane that I am having a lactose intolerance attack, and since he knew of the erratic behavior that occurs when I am in the presence of dairy, he agreed to let me go early, sympathetically. I left 45 minutes before 5 PM, which was when I would have left work normally. And I have been feeling quite ill for several hours.

Yes, this was a lot more information than you would have liked. But it brings me to a question that I have been wondering for a while now: how, why, and since when, did I become lactose intolerant? I used to finish jugs of milk as a child! I read on Webmd.com that in worst case, a heart attack can occur when a lactose intolerant person consumes too much milk products. Since last summer, when I had two very ugly episodes, or rather conflict with the lactose intolerance that came to me, I have become keenly aware of my condition. It seems that my ability to digest dairy gets weaker with time. Just months ago, I drank milk and felt queasy but not too ill to work -- now, I drink a gulp of milk and I have to make 2000 trips to the potty! Trust me -- the sky looked a brown-yellow.

I smacked myself in the head all the way home -- I told myself that such little amount of milk could do me no harm, even though this was after my full discovery of my lactose intolerance! Why did I do that to myself? Last month when I had a similar reaction, I vowed to stay clear of all things dairy, especially iced coffee! I guess I have to renew those vows, because they didn't do too well this time. From now on, I will stay clear of milk and her friends!!! As god as my witness, I won't drink milk again! Thank goodness I bought those calcium supplements.