Dear B,

Your perfume spending habit is getting out of control. In the last 7 days, you have bought no less than three full bottles of perfume (and that's not counting three big bottles of fragranced coconut oils you bought as well!). And you would have bought two bottles of L'artisan today if it weren't for the fact that you couldn't properly smell one of them and the other (Vanilla) smelt 'off'. The Roger & Gallet ginger cologne purchased from DJ at 50% off didn't turn out to be as big of a bargain as you hoped (damn stupid Australian retail markups!) and I know that right now, you are thinking of returning to David Jones after exams (Tuesday!) to purchase that bottle of Yardley April Violets edt (and possibly have another stab at the odd L'artisan).

So here is the damage for this week,

• YSL Paris Jardin Romantiques - unsniffed purchase! naughty naughty naughty. Sure you're one of the first and few people in Australia to own this but can you withstand that 'fresh mown grass' note?
• Roger & Gallet Ginger water cologne - you had a sample, gave it away and it has haunted you ever since
• Serge Lutens Fleurs de Orangeur - your very first serge lutens purchase! It was serendipity that you happened to search ebay today because FdO almost NEVER get listed on ebay. It's that good

It's very bad that this is sale time and you're saving up for an overseas trip. We won't delve into the cosmetics you splurged online this week. You're turning into one of those people who own hundreds of pairs of shoes or handbags. Forever seeking shallow, instant gratification. If you can't look beautiful, at least you can smell beautiful. Perfumes don't discriminate (this is debatable though!) But this is a real life case of diminishing marginal returns. Despite having draws full of perfume bottles and cosmetics, you hardly ever wear them. I think your reasons for not wearing them everyday is quite valid but I'm just pointing out that you will never finish these 100ml bottles you keep buying.

Oh, congrads on finally liking L'heur bleu. A parfum bottle of that is going onto your future purchase list. I knew that one day you would grow into it. Next thing on that vintage Guerlain list is Apres Londee. That, as we well know, is going wait until UK.

love,

your olfactorily rational self

Rock musicians just don't give interviews the way they used to.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4zQpFSYCJ0
btw, having seen Iggy live at Big Day Out a year ago, I can attest that Iggy Pop is still that maniacal on stage. He looks like a reptile with pants that look like they're about to fall off any moment.

Karl Lagerfeld presents us with more evidence that he is not entirely human: When asksed how he felt before a show: "I have no human feelings." When asked about how he keeps the weight off: "I eat next to nothing." And finally, when asked about his insatiable thirst for knowledge, he brushes it off, saying it's not for show: "I like to look very superficial."
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2007/03/19/070319fa_fact_colapinto

Manolo Blahnik will never ever make a pair of platforms. "The platform is the Frankenstein of footwear."
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/woman/story/0,,2028301,00.html

And while we're caught up in the latest spasm of Jane Austen fever, Sydney journos pounder, "was Jane Austen a 41 yr old virgin?"
http://blogs.smh.com.au/sit/archives/2007/03/reassessments_austens_abstinen.html
I personally think there's nothing wrong with being a virgin back in 18th century England. Given that sex was a taboo topic that was rarely discussed at all, the prevalence of 'spinster aunts' and lack of sexual know-how amongst the general populace (or at least amongst polite non-depraved society), not ever having experianced sexual intercourse was no big deal unlike in today's sex-consumed society.Besides, the whole notion of us cringing at the idea of a '40 yr old virgin' is that we envisage someone who's so socially retarded that they 'couldn't get laid'. I think most mature-age virgins, especially female ones, choose not to get laid. That is one very important difference and quite a sensible choice imho when I think about all the disgusting STD and viruses out there. syphilis anyone? Suddenly, abstinence seems very very appealing.

FIRST POST!

I thought I should devote my very first blogger post to discussion of the recent ITV adaptation of Northanger Abbey.

Andrew Davis, the man with the midas touch when it comes to period drama adaptations, has done it again! It was much better than the Billie Piper ITV Mansfield Park adaptation shown a week before, and thoroughly more entertaining than the last BBC adaptation of Northanger Abbey in 1990 which was just strange.

What's more, I had an epiphany similar to that my friend Dee had when she went to watch Marie Antoinette. I realised that I was Catherine Morland, or rather I could have become just like Catherine given the same circumstances. I've never identified this closely with a Jane Austen character. Throughout the film, I was gasping: "she's me!", "that's exactly what I would have done". You see, Catherine and I are both naive, eager to please characters with an overactive imagination. We've both lived a sheltered, relatively comfortable (albeit plain) life. We both like witty sarcastic men with a fine taste in muslin. Of course, the 20th/21st century has rendered me more cynical, more bohemian, more FTW than Catherine . But our spirit and soul are essentially the same.

BTW, I should mention that I've never read Northanger Abbey, only watched the BBC version to which I paid half attention and thought really unsexy. In fact, it put me off from reading the book. So that's why this revelation has come at this late stage in life.

Do you have a literary twin?