My Room and Watches

Not In light of recent comments about the contents of my cupboard being very vain, allow me to present a short overview of (1) its contents, and (2) how they ended up in my cupboard. You’ll see it’s quite the opposite of what initial impressions may be. This is also what I do when I don’t want to think about things.

But first, my watches and a short history from left to right:

1. Swatch dual time zone watch
   Given to my for my 18th birthday by my yearmates from Design school — they said I needed to keep my time better, so they bought me this. I never really figured out how to use the different time zones back then; four years later and I still have no idea how to use it.
2. Mercedes-Benz Design watch
   One of those free watches, great for banging around when I don’t feel like bringing out #4 but still want a leather strap. Quartz chronograph, which I never use — who actually uses their chronographs anyway? Who actually knows how to use their chronograph? I do. Probably makes me part of the 30% of chronograph owners who know how to use them.
3. Tag Heuer Professional Quartz
   My dad bought this just after I was born so that makes it about as old as I am, if not even older. Predecessor to the Aquaracer. I haven’t figured out how to wear this one yet; maybe when I’m older and start attending parties on yachts. Har har har.
4. IWC Mark XVI Automatic
   21st birthday present from my parents. It was either this or a Bell & Ross BR03-92, but I’m really happy I got this one. I intend to get the B&R when I get my first (two) paychecks.
5. Swiss Army Automatic
   I use this one to wear to shows because of the metal bracelet. Keeps time reasonably well but gains about 10 seconds more/day than the IWC… nothing too shabby, though. It’s already pretty worn so I don’t have to worry about getting more scratches on it.
6. Max Bill/Junghans Manual Wind
   21st birthday present from my brother, very elegant. The bezel isn’t sandblasted or anything so it really looks best at formal events.

Not pictured is a Casio Polygon I used when I was in the army, my only digital watch I’ve had in a really long time. It’s still going fine after two years and hasn’t needed a battery replacement yet.

Okay! Now about my cupboard. Going by shelf, from top to bottom:

The contents of the top row are entirely my brother’s. They haven’t been touched in about… what, 8 years? Except maybe the contact lens solution — that one’s a bit ambiguous.

This one’s all mine, I’ll admit. All the paints, palettes (pretty much the entire back row) was from design school. But… okay.

1. L’oreal Out of Bed wax: Really lousy for what I was looking for in a wax. I used maybe a quarter of it and it’s been sitting there ever since.
2. Gatsby black jar thing: I got this because I couldn’t find their normal wax. It’s okay — I probably use this the most out of everything in my cupboard.
3. Gatsby green Moving Rubber: This was given to me in an 6- or 8-jar sample pack. I don’t use this one much, if at all. You can see the bag they gave it to me in in behind the other Gatsby jar.
4. Simple Oil-Balancing moisturiser (it’s the tube lying down behind the Moving Rubber):  — I bring this on me when I go on holiday. The air in Australia/Europe/USA is usually a bit drier than in Singapore. It’s also anti-shine! So yes, I do use this tube.

This is the row that causes the most contention! 1/4 of it is either my brother’s or his wife’s, including the Vaseline and nail polish. Ditto the Polo Sport tube and the black jar of I-don’t-know-what. Really should throw them out. The copious amounts of orange L’oreal jars were given to me as well — trust me, I would never buy that much hair product at any one time. Ever. Other than that:

1. Gatsby orange Moving Rubber: Yes, I do use this one.
2. Calvin Klein Eternity: Ditto, but I haven’t touched it in a while. It’s sitting there because I haven’t finished it yet… which I’ll probably do some time soon.
3. Nivea deodorant: Army staple, I swear. Everybody had one of these in Thailand. Haven’t touched it since I got out of the army.
4. Biotherm Homme stuff: There’s a bottle of moisturiser somewhere behind that I was given and I did use that. I don’t know what the green tube is.
5. Pearlie White Chlor-Rinse: I had an extra bottle given to me after I extracted my second set of wisdom teeth, but I still have some of the other bottle left so I haven’t opened this yet. This should probably be in my bathroom cupboard…
6. Metal polish (next to the Chlor-Rinse): I use this when working on my bass; it gives the frets a nice shine when I do. Since I work on my bass in my room, it got dumped in the cupboard. There’s another box hiding somewhere.
7. Eversoft Facial Cleanser: It’s my usual. This should be in the bathroom, too.
8. Army officer shoulder rank: I have no idea what it’s doing here. Honest.

And finally, the bottom shelf. I don’t know what the box of coins is for; most of the other stuff is paint-related from design school. Couple of tripods in the bottom left, a wooden CD jewel case holder (I think I’ll convert this into a wall lampshade) and a cup with one of those photo prints on it I got when I was in Primary school. Going by the people I’m with in the photo I’d say it was taken when I was P4-P5.

God that was a long post. And I really should clean out my cupboard.

Also, the Whitest Boy Alive is playing at Zouk come end October. I won’t be in Singapore, but that doesn’t change anything. Erlend Øye’s side projects kick quite a bit of ass.