Read + Write + Report
Home | Start a blog | About Orble | FAQ | Sites | Writers | Advertise | My Orble | Login
I was talking to a co-worker some time ago - a 45 year old male, loves his mother, has 2 dominating sisters. I made a mistake of ruefully remarking how much weight I'd gained at 3 months pregnant. All too heartily and readily, he agreed and proceeded to stretch out his cheeks with his fingers to demonstrate just how puffy my face had become. Now, I don't find this remotely amusing from a 3-year old and to see a 45-year old doing it...well, I immediately felt that hot itch (that is now becoming so familiar to me) at the back of my head and I pounded on the desk, toppling the cup of coffee into his lap and swore my head off for about 5 minutes, before promptly bursting into tears.


Within that same week, another male co-worker - 65, with a loving wife, a daughter my age -approached me in the midst of my third snack for the morning and said with that 'Oh, you are SO going to think I'm hilarious' smirk, "You do realise you're eating for two, not for six?" My reply resulted in my boss sending out warning emails to all employees to stay away.

As I began to think that perhaps some of the men I work with are simply dicks, an old friend of mine from Uni - newly married, 31 years - said matter-of-factly that I'd be very ugly when I start ballooning from 5 months as pregnant women are wont to do. Even a male stranger who had nothing better to do but observe my eating habits at a random party came up and said, "Guess it's time to say goodybe to the waistline, huh?" to which I replied, "I'm pregnant. What's your f*ing excuse, you a*hole?"

Now all this happened within 2 weeks approaching the end of my first trimester, and I was forced to ask, in this age where men are working more alongside women on a daily basis, the plethora of chick flicks, chick shows, chick lits and I thought, a more sensitive apporach and general awareness of what women are like, why are there still dicks in the world who risk their lives by making a joke about a pregnant woman's weight? I mean, you don't joke about the weight of a non-pregnant woman, for goodness' sake!


You see, pregnant women are at the mercy of their hormones as they have at least 8 mood-altering hormones. This means that some of us are drawn to totally insane outbursts - such as when I got into my car with the intent of ramming it into the back of a male co-worker or almost buying an apparatus to accompany my now spectacular road rages.

On top of these blessed hormones, there are other worries and insecurites we go through, especially for first-time mothers such as myself : Will I be a good mother? Will I be able to provide for my child financially? Will I have my figure back? To what extent will my life change?

So, for the sake of our beauty and your health, men, please think twice before you make a joke about a pregnant woman's weight. You do not want to mess with one. Trust me.
angry pregnant woman

*image from clipart
64
Vote
   


MSN Health & Fitness has come up with a list of surprising places and people bugs cling to that will have you investing in a 1litre hand sanitizer and get some people even more paranoid than they already are.

The Bed
Made up Bed
Hubby often complains of my tendency to leave the bed unmade, scoffing at my excuse that I’ll be back there in 12 hours anyway. Now I have a valid excuse. Dust mites live in your sheets and feed on your dead skin, contributing to asthma and allergies.
What to do : Don’t make your bed. Dust mites need humidity levels above 50% to survive and a made bed traps the moisture they need. If the sight of an unmade bed gives you the creepy crawlies, mount an air attack. Bundle a humidifier with an oscillating fan for a double moisture eliminator.

The contact-lens case
Contact lens cover
A 2007 Chinese study revealed that 34% of contact lens cases tested were crawling with germs that can cause an inflammatory eye disease that can damage the cornea and lead to blindness.
What to do : Throw away your used solution and thoroughly rinse the case in hot water daily. Replace your lens case at least every 3 months. As multi-purpose solutions lose most of their germ-fighting power after a couple of months, buy a new solution bottle every other month even if you haven’t used it all.

The flight attendant
Flight attendant
The Journal of Environmental Health Research has discovered that you are 100 times more likely to catch a cold on a plane than on the ground. Flight attendants are exposed to hundreds of sniffling and coughing passengers every day and use the same bathroom you use.
What to do : Pack a green-tea pill. People who take a 450mg green tea supplement twice a day for 3 months have a third fewer days of cold symptoms.

The gym equipment
Gym Equipment
A study in the Clinical Journal of Sports Medicine found that 63% of gym equipments they tested in fitness centres have bacteria that instigates the common cold. They also discovered that weight equipments contain more bacteria than cardio equipments.
What to do : Don’t touch your face between sets and pack an alcohol-based hand sanitizer in your gym bag.

The lemon wedge in your drink
Lemons
70% of lemon wedges floating innocently in café/restaurant glasses contain 25 different microorganisms including E. coli and other fecal bacteria.
What to do : Simple. Ask for your drink without the fruit.



The shopping trolley
Shopping Carts
Yikes! A recent study in the University of Arizona has shown that shopping trolleys contain more bacteria than an average public toilet.
What to do : Apply disinfectant to the handle of the trolley before grabbing hold. It may not be environmentally friendly but make use of those plastic bags in the fruits & vegetables section to pack any unbagged fruits & vegetables.

The restaurant menu
Menu
Cold and flu viruses survive up to 18 hours on hard surfaces. We’ve seen waiters spraying and wiping down the tables but have you ever seen them do the same with the menu?
What to do : Don’t let the menu touch your plate or cutlery and wash your hands after you order.


The Vacuum Cleaner
Vacuum cleaner
Researchers have found that vacuum brushes contain ‘fecal bacteria’, all packing with mold, transferring the germs from contaminated surfaces to uncontaminated ones when vacuuming.
What to do : Bacteria can survive up to 5 days inside a vacuum even after you take out the dirt so spray the brush with a disinfectant after each use. Also disposable bags promote bacterial growth so buy the bag-less types.










The vinyl shower curtain
Shower Curtain
The soap scum that sticks to your vinyl shower curtain not only looks ugly but breeds bacteria that causes infection.
What to do : Replace the vinyl curtain with a fabric shower curtain. It will still attract bacteria but is much easier to clean and scrub down than a vinyl curtain. All you have to do is toss it in the washing machine and use the hottest water the fabric can handle. Experts recommend washing the shower curtain once a month or, if you’re prone to allergies and infections, more frequently.

The weight-lifting gloves
Weightlifting gloves
A Japanese study has found that a certain type of bacteria sticks strongly to polyester which is used in many gloves. You inadvertently wipe the sweat from your face with your gloved hands and the bacteria are in.
What to do : Ditching the gloves not only ditch the germs but, according to Men’s Health Muscle Guy, doing the weights with your bare hands actually strengthen your grip and forearms.
111
Vote
   


The Body the new face of Revlon

March 31st 2008 01:22
Elle Macpherson has joined the ranks of Halle Berry and Jessica Alba by signing up as a global brand spokesperson for Revlon. She will feature in major print and TV advertising campaigns, but what products she’ll actually endorse are yet to be disclosed.

Elle Macpherson

Dubbed ‘The Body’, the 44-year old supermodel hopes to promote women’s counselling services and breast cancer research through her new role.

"Revlon is an iconic brand, bringing high quality products to women around the world and is complementary to my values. I am proud to join Revlon in its celebration of women and in its long-term commitment and support for education and research to advance women's health and particularly to fight women's cancers," she said.

According to Revlon’s president, David Kennedy, Macpherson was selected for her qualities as a ‘businesswoman, beautiful and talented model, actress and mother’ which represent the essence of Revlon.

Elle’s most notable acting roles include a painter’s model alongside Hugh Grant in Sirens and as Joey’s roommate in five episodes of Friends. But it’s her successful lingerie company, “Intimates” that have shown her prowess as a shrewd businesswoman with her line sold across the world and highly successful in Australia and the UK.
48
Vote
   


I recently grew attached to a lipstick. It didn't matter that it had a tacky floral print on the cover and I found it in a dilapidated cardboard box in the corner of a $2 shop. All it mattered was that it gave my lips that shimmering, plump look. The shade wasn't so dark that it looked like I had no lips at all, not too pink that I looked like I was permanently stuck in the 80s. It was just right, the texture so smooth it went over my lips like silk and most important of all, it made my lips look 'kissable'.

So obsessed was I that I would use it routinely throughout the day, directly after meals and even resorted to drinking my 8 glasses of water through a straw. Mind you, I never put my lips around the straw, just my teeth so I looked like a braying donkey with my lips pulled back everytime I drank, sorry, sipped.

Medusa
What do you mean DISCONTINUED!?!

Then came the black day when I drove the 45 minutes to my beloved bargain shop for the 3rd time and was told the product was no longer being sold - after me scouring the back corner of the shop with mounting panic. There was the numbness, then disbelief before panic overcame again, to be replaced by a dogged resolve to go on ebay and buy directly from China, regardless of the steep delivery charges. When that search proved futile, I had to concede defeat in a manner a tantrum-chucking two-year old would have been envious of - mingled with a strong desire to headbutt myself and ask why, why didn't I buy the whole box of 10 for $20???

The fact that the product was pulled out due to 'health' reasons was of no importance. The reasonable thought of "Oh no! What effects will I have after two weeks' of continued use?" didn't occur to me (until now) as I was too preoccupied mourning the death of my once luscious, kissable lips attained for only $2.

So, have you ever been obsessed by a beauty product only to find out it's been discontinued?

92
Vote
   


After a week of face-stuffing and playing endless rounds of drinking games (with the result of trying to prove to everyone you are indeed sober by trying to rub your belly and pat your head at the same time), I noticed that people usually spend the first week of the new year hung over - with guilt. Many then resort to trying to put some semblance of control into their new year by creating New Year's resolutions. Myself included. But since my NY resolutions have been consisten in the past 5 years (winning money from lotto), I decided to create NY Beauty Resolutions instead.

Mona Lisa Painting
Possible Beauty Resolution 08 : to look more like the Mona Lisa

[ Click here to read more ]
128
Vote
   


The Thirties Panic Phenomenon

December 14th 2007 00:57
Have you ever had moments you would consider to be major turning points in your life? Graduation? Marriage? Maybe, having your first child? All of these life changes can make you stop and think, maybe even panic? All of these events, anxious it may seem are usually expected and considered normal. However, there is one particular event I was not entirely prepared for, and that was turning 3-0. I had no idea how this would affect me, consciously.

Suddenly, it was not just another birthday. To me, it was the end of youthfulness and the beginning of aging. It had occurred to me, I was now the age of my mother when I was a little girl who, back then, thought of her mum as being “old”!

[ Click here to read more ]
85
Vote
   


Paris' Beauty Secrets

December 4th 2007 02:16
Yes, as sad as it may sound, I honestly wanted to know. Not because I wanted to emulate the pinched, scrawny, Playboy Bunny-who’s downed-some-sleeping-pills-wi th-vodka look, but because I secretly wanted to see if she could come up with a tip other than : Be born ridiculously rich (as to make up for the huge lack of brain and natural talent) so you can squander your ancestors’ hard-earned money on plastic surgery and become a walking poster for FAKE (fake tan, fake eye colour, fake hair, fake smile, etc). Of course, this is all between driving down the wrong side of the road, being holed up in prison or (pretending to?) angrily swiping copies of your One Night in Paris from porn shops.

Paris Hilton
Yes, please tell us, o enlighted one, what makes you so beautiful?

[ Click here to read more ]
90
Vote
   


In the US, girls as young as 6 can waltz into a beauty salon, ask for a facial, manicure and hair extensions without the beauty therapist batting an eyelid or quickly shepherding them out of the salon to look for their parents. Because the thing is, it’s actually the mothers ushering their daughters into these pampering sessions, which some of us didn’t get until we were adults, under the guise of quality time.

Little Girls
Growing up too fast

[ Click here to read more ]
68
Vote
   


The Ugly Side of Beauty

November 15th 2007 02:06
Did you know that you are absorbing more than 200 chemical toxins into your body, even before leaving your house? The lotions, creams, sprays, the shiny glittery things – products that are designed to make us feel and look good on the outside - can potentially lead to cancer, infertility, birth defects and chronic disease?

Not Just a Pretty Face
Stacy Malkan, a self-confessed former make-up diva, is a staunch advocate of eliminating harmful chemicals from personal care and cosmetic products, launching the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics and writing Not Just a Pretty Face : The Ugly Side of the Beauty Industry. Here, she exposes how the US Food & Drug Administration seems to be protecting the $35 billion beauty industry by letting their products hit the shelves without prior approval from the FDA and why only 10 harmful products had been banned from the US shelves while the EU has banned more than 1100. Pretty worrying considering that 70% of the products available for purchase contain phthalates which are connected to infertility and birth defects and that baby soaps contain 1,4 dioxane, a cancer causing chemical. So it’s not just the beauty junkies at risk, it’s everyone who has ever picked up a personal care product – from men liberally spraying deodorant to newborn babes via breast milk laden with pollutants from mothers who have used these products.

[ Click here to read more ]
71
Vote
   


A nanny once told me that one surefire way to get rid of pimples is to rinse your face with your own periods. But before you scoff at this, check out some of the more bizarre beauty treatments that have piqued people’s curiosity enough to queue up outside certain day spas :

Woman Bathing

[ Click here to read more ]
112
Vote
   


What was your worst beauty buy?

August 28th 2007 01:24
Recently my sister was conned persuaded into buying a plethora of skincare products to treat her acne-prone skin. Two weeks later, she lamented over the loss of $300 of her hard-earned money on products that had only made her skin cry out for hydration as it sprouted a multitude of big, red angry pimples. As much as I was tempted to ask her why she chose to trust a beauty therapist whose face resembled an abstract painting of oranges and blues and who looked like she wrestled with a cheap can of tan spray judging by the zigzag colours of her cleavage, sadly, it’s a tale I’ve heard (and moaned out myself) too often. In our desperate attempt to imitate the flawless, glowing faces of our favourite celebs and retain our youth, beauty products will continue to be a hit and miss and my sister was not the first – or the last – to vow revenge on these beauty companies for false advertising.

In the past several years, I’ve probably thrown out a hundred garbagefuls of useless beauty and cosmetic products. Here are only some of the products I bought in 2007 that I wish I hadn’t spent the time, money and effort on :

[ Click here to read more ]
114
Vote
   


Coping with Stress

August 14th 2007 01:05
Some say a little bit of stress in your life is good for you, it gives an otherwise ho-hum life a much needed excitement. On the other hand, everyone knows prolonged stress is extremely bad for your mental and physical health. The negative effects are endless – migraines, insomnia, heart attack, lowering of the immune system, triggering unhealthy behaviour like smoking, overeating, drug-taking and can make you appear older than you actually are.

Unfortunately, stress is all too much a part of our daily routine but some people cope with their stress better than most. I, for one, was born a stresshead - high strung, impatient people usually are. I used to stress about everything, including stupid things like running out of milk in the midst of making coffee or merging into the next lane on a freeway. I imagined myself a steam train gathering full speed – I felt the heat rising from my shoulders, spreading through the back of my neck, covering my ears with a buzzing sound and filling the rest of my head that I think my eyes are going to pop out and I have the urge to lash out physically, by either yelling out a string of expletives or slamming my fist into something, or both. And having a human-sized dummy made up of bubble wrap in your room to punch every time I was stressed only fuelled my violent tendencies.
[ Click here to read more ]
131
Vote
   


Wanted : A damn good eye cream

August 9th 2007 01:14
Being of Asian descent, I was never endowed with lids you could freely apply any shade of eyeshadow to. But with the years passing, my eyelids have been getting heavier and heavier that I feel, within the next decade, they would droop right down to my line of vision and I would have to pry them up with a peg – or get plastic surgery. Nowadays, when I stare at someone, I make the conscious effort to raise my eyebrows slightly so I don’t look like I’m growling at them.

103
Vote
   


7 Beauty Tips my Mother told me

August 6th 2007 01:12
My mother is a character. Everyone tells me so everytime I relay stories of those times she didn’t let me out of a van as the rest of the family piled into church because I was wearing a hanging shirt (you know those cropped shirts in the 80s that expose your belly when you lift up your arms over your head?) or the time she chased me around the house with an iron when she spotted a crease down the side of my dress.

In my 30 years, my mum has sprouted one old wives’ tale after another which I accepted in my later years with the rolling of the eyes and a groan. While some of her old wives’ tales turned out to be true (milk does make the bones stronger and thumb-sucking can damage your teeth to a certain extent), there have been what I think are some doozies -

[ Click here to read more ]
77
Vote
   


Aimzster's Blogs

6483 Vote(s)
416 Comment(s)
106 Post(s)
298 Vote(s)
21 Comment(s)
3 Post(s)
Moderated by Aimzster
Copyright © 2006 2007 2008 On Topic Media PTY LTD. All Rights Reserved. Design by Vimu.com.
On Topic Media ZPages: Sydney |  Melbourne |  Brisbane |  London |  Birmingham |  Leeds     [ Advertise ] [ Contact Us ] [ Privacy Policy ]