IMMORTALITY SECRETS

I went to see 'New Moon' tonight (yes, guilty pleasure).

My European friends have been obsessed with my skin lately. "How come you don't have a wrinkle?" And tonight, excited by the movie, "Are you a vampire?"

Here are some secrets:

1. Retin-A. Get a prescription for 'Retisol' which is Retin-A in a moisturizing base with sunscreen. 0.025% is a good medium strength. When I was 18 I worked as a secretary for a dermatologist who pioneered anti-aging research, and this is what she told me to do. And no wrinkles (only dark circles from sleep deprivation).

2. Don't tan your face. Ever. Wear a bit of bronzer if you must, or self-tanner, but the sun will give you crow's feet. If you happen to lie out in the sun, put a higher SPF sunscreen on your face.

3. Don't do drugs. You know those haggard looking girls you see at clubs who shock you when they say, "I'm only 22 and I look older than you"? It's because they're doing cocaine in the bathroom.

4. Don't sleep around. Girls who sleep around also look haggard, because they've depleted their chi. Save it for someone who actually values you.

5. Drink clear alcoholic beverages rather than dark ones. Wine is okay...and the occasional shot of whiskey, but girls who drink a LOT of whiskey get those hard lines under their eyes.

6. Moisture: Dormer 211 is amazing. It's from Canada...so order it online.

7. Drink a lot of water. Dehydration leads to fine lines that will vanish if you hydrate.

THE SOUND OF WATER VS. THE SOUND OF JERKS

New York City is so loud on weekends that even if you try to go to bed around 2 am you have to contend with: full-blast ghetto car stereos blaring, drunk students singing off-key, and people smoking/talking right outside your building, which trickles in the window. The solution: the white noise application on the IPhone which plays the sound of ocean waves.

If you decide to listen to Jeff Buckley in the cab and start to cry, hopefully its raining so your doorman doesn't know the difference.

HOW TO WRITE...

This is how I write.

1. I book off 2 or 3 consecutive days without any appointments, so that after I finish my editing work, I can get creative.

2. I clean the apartment, and make sure I have everything in order so I won't have to leave said apartment.

3. The first few hours are spent procrastinating, answering emails, making phone calls, arranging.

4. I write something I hate.

5. I wonder where my creativity has gone, why I chose this painful path, etc (writers can be morose).

6. Finally, the breakthrough. I begin to write and I can't stop for several hours.

7. The next day, I edit what I wrote the night before. Some of it's good, and some of isn't. But it doesn't matter. My brain finally cooperates, the floodgates are open, and I am producing work.

I wish I could write every day, which is what they teach you to do in college. But I am always better on some kind of deadline.

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Art by Billy Tucci

THE STRANGE THINGS ONE OVERHEARS IN FASHION...

Part of my job as editor of the Fashion Spot is research.

What are the latest gadgets and trends?

Which designers are collaborating with which companies?

And today, I found my new favorite site at www.likecool.com. I've also developed the desire for lashes made out of feathers.

All this from trying to find out who sells Alexander McQueen...

POPPIES

Yesterday, Remembrance Day, was an important day for my grandfather, who served in WWII and had his own father die on the last day of WWI. He was a great man, and I miss him. Here's some interesting information from the Canadian perspective of honoring the dead...

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The poppy worn on Remembrance Day is the red-corn poppy, which grows abundantly in Europe, including Flanders Fields. 'In Flanders Fields' is a poem, written by Canadian physician and Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae on May 3, 1915, and was written about the small red flowers growing on the battlefields of France amongst the death and blood from the men who died fighting for their country.

This is because the corn poppy was one of the only plants that grew on the battlefield. It thrives in disturbed soil, which was abundant on the battlefield due to intensive shelling. During the few weeks the plant blossomed, the battlefield was coloured blood red, not just from the red flower that grew in great numbers but also from the actual blood of the dead soldiers that lay scattered and untended to on the otherwise barren battlegrounds.

Source: en.wikipedia.org

The poem and the poppy, have now become iconic symbols of both the World Wars, and now plastic versions are sold prior to Remembrance Day to remember those who died.

The poem:

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved, and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders Fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders Fields.

- John McCrae

TIME ZONE CHANGES

It's amazing how a mere 3-hour time zone difference can throw you off for several days.

There is always so much to do that I hit the NYC ground running.

Vancouver was great this time...stories to come...