On veils, bangles and everything gold
Golden Girl!
Arabian Gals!
It's been ages since I last blogged! Well, gone are the days when staying late in the office is just mainly for personal pursuits. And I guess, I've been learning too much too soon that I've prematurely welcomed late-night slavery in getting things done. 24 hours are never enough for work, sleep and leisure. The first thing that's sacrificed is, needless to say, leisure (blogging is categorized under here. Sad life!) and then sleep (which explains dark under eye circles that are showing some significanct presence in my face lately) and who would have thought?! Work happens to be the indispensable part of my day that I can't, ever ever, mess with. Well, lucky work, I love it.. otherwise? I'd just have to learn to love it. Hehe.
On to what I wanted this blog to be about. Last Friday, we had our first half year office party. Actually, we have 2 major parties each year: the mid year FAMILY day and the end of the year CRAZY day. Apparently, this year they decided to do away with the family day and have a "couple" day instead, minus the whiny kids. Some protested but some just went with the flow and after the party, everyone realized why this event was limited to 18 year olds and above.
The party was entitled LOWE HIGH NIGHTS, it's Arabian Nights (circa Aladdin & Princess Jasmine) inspired so we all had to come in either belly-baring slutty Arabian playthings or covered-in-black from head to toe conservative Arabian women. I came as the former, for the heat of the covered look, above all concerns. Hehe. I attached photos for you guys to see.
The party was supposed to start at 6:30 and my team were still the office at 7 (when almost everyone was off to the salon at 3.. Lowe people make a big deal out of this, blame it to their creative minds). Well, let's just say that we are rushing this pacakaging design and apparently, a shadow that's almost unseen to the naked eye is a no-no and so is a slight blur that would need you to be a spot-the-difference god to see. Ergo, we were supervising revisions while some of our officemates had their faces revised to Arabian perfection. Sigh. And what's worse? I had a pretty Arabian costume I rented (along with the other girls who came in perfectly-painted faces) the previous day. So at around 7:45, I put on my golden veil and slipped the golden bangles to my wrist.. and tried to salvage whatever I could of my pale face. A bit of blush, mascara and lip gloss were all I could put on, given my tight schedule. To fully enunciate how "tight".. I would have to go back to the office at 10 to check the color seperation, in my full Arabian girl glory.
The party was amazing. How they decorated the whole place and when each guest arrived, there was an Arabic tent with belly-baring girls and a huge Arabic guy where they have their photos taken. It's so grand! Hehe. Then when we registered our names, we got this black velvet pouch with golden chocolate coins inside. And we walked through a dark hallway lit by candles with flower petals strewn all over the pathway. We had to take off our shoes and deposit them (like bags in a supermarket) because the whole place was carpeted. Everyone had to sit on the floor with short tables and huge pillows all over. It was an amazing sight.The food was good, too. :)
Then came my worst nightmare, I got a text message from the production guy in the office: "The colsep is ready, I'm waiting for you at the office, Cerille." Bucket of cold water over my head. I had to leave, no problem. I had to leave in my costume, big problem. The office driver gave me a disturbed look while I climbed up the car and said, "Pak, ke kantor" ("Mister, to the office" in Bahasa Indonesia) and without even looking at myself, I understood why. We pulled into my office building and I stepped down and hurried to the lift. This would have been safe had my building been normal but no, ZANZIBAR (this drinking lounge) is on the 2nd floor and it happens to attract quite a number of "gimik" people, who were, needless to say, quite amazed by my presence. Well, it's just a good thing that they know LOWE is in the same building and that we are in the ADVERTISING business which means CREATIVE people which is normally equated to WEIRD folks. I gave them a smile and pretended I knew exactly why I was confident in an orange & gold, irrediscent Arabian emsemble, with matching golden veil and gazillion bangles adorning my wrists.
My face was orang-er than my skirt. Go figure.
It was a great night that ended up until morning of drinks and dancing (in jeans already, like normal people). I love my job, my colleagues, my office... and office parties, no matter bhow weird they get! :)
