Thursday, July 5, 2012

The Brag Wives Club


To be fair to all, I shall not be mentioning the name of the company I’m about to dish on. ;) Let’s imagine we are all sitting around like one of those Alcoholic Group Session and go “Hi my name is XXX and I’m an alcoholic.”

Now I really wonder why this little gathering I went to, didn’t have a sit around session and cut to the chase “Hi my name is XXX. I’m the wife of XYZ & I’m wearing a Prada dress, Gucci handbag, Victoria secret G-string & Push up bra, Chanel cosmetic, my fake lashes extension were done in YYIO beauty centre, my hair …..” Zzzzzzzz …. Ooops, sorry… were you not done?…. I must have doze off ….

Honest to god, sometimes the term “full of themselves” is just too humbling when you really meet these people I met! Yes I am also the wife of a partner in that company. But I am more known as the “rebel” as I do not take pride in being the wife of a partner. I rather be ….  Me! ;)

For the many years that my husband works there, I’ve only been to 2 events. Surprised? Mind you, these events are usually in top notch places where they serve caviar & the best delights. Yet, I’m not a big fan of going to his company functions. Husbands tend to fall into the tendency of discussing about work. Which leaves the wives checking out each other and making sure that the others know that they are better than the rest.

It’s crazy. I am a simple person. Well, I was even known as a tomboy once upon a time but I’m a mommy now so I’ve walked through many stages of my life to tone down by a fair bit. I am also a successful career woman & a business mogul. I worked through the hours & juggling taking care of my kids all in one plate. I can’t judge for myself if I’m doing a great job but I am successful even before my husband stumbled into my life.

My bank account makes financial officers call me every week to convince me to invest in them. I am financially strong and have been independent since the day I started working. I’ve studied, worked & arrived to where I am independently & I take pride in that since there was a whole lot of hard work involved.

I am so independent that I’m always known to many as being feminist. I really think I am anyway. I insisted on paying half the wedding cost, I contribute half the household expenditure and even help my husband in some of his businesses. So I am not one who suddenly finds herself financially strong & suddenly think she is a different person.

I am not trying to be super annoying (even though I'm starting to sound like that). I'm just trying to point out that maybe...just maybe.... not EVERY partners' wives want to be the damsel in distress only to be rescued by the white & shining armour. And after being rescued, the princess thinks she has to be someone else because now she is suddenly rich!

Due to the fact that I’ve always worked hard in everything I do, juggling too many things at any given time in my life including charity work, I have never been a religious manicure, pedicure or hair salon enthusiast. Somehow a lot of people find that hard to believe. I remembered in one of those dinners I went & I could see the way these wives were checking out my nails, my toes & my hair. They were not disgusting, mind you…  they were just not coloured or polished up to their standards.

I guess I do not fall into the right mould of a perfect partner’s wife. Before I went on dishing, I am in no way attacking anyone. I’m just voicing out my upsets.

Get it – one of them leaned over , tapped my arm & said “Honey, you’ve worked way too hard I see. Maybe you should take some time off to pamper yourself. You need it.”

Ghees, thanks! At this point, I am the only one in there who hasn’t touched botox, collagen injections or resort to plastic surgery. I am also only 37. Yes, I’m not all taut but I have time before I consider these options. Or so I thought. These ladies would point out the lines on my forehead! Literally! They are so narrow minded that they think they are doing me a favour.

Most of these ladies led a fairly normal life before they met their husbands. When they got married, their lifestyles changed dramatically. It must have been too overwhelming for them. They suddenly think they needed to be someone else. I have to say that they are probably a very nice person before. But the exposure of too many good things led them to be too competitive about things which doesn’t necessarily is important to others.

They are nicknamed trophy ladies. They do not work. Neither are they housewives. They have their maids taking care of the chores at home & taking care of their kids. They spend their days in hair salons, nail studios, aesthetic clinics. And if they are not doing that, they are off from one champagne brunch to another.

Compare that to my daily routine! And they wondered why I don’t have time to run to the beauty centres? To top that off, I also do not enjoy having conversations about which hair salons or which boutique to buy their $5000 skirt. I somehow got interested to business conversations the boys were having. Yes, I’m weird.

I do know how to have fun. I dress myself in whatever that takes my fancy. I love happy bright colours. Branded clothing usually come in earth or what I termed as “sad colours” so it’s not because I’m a scrooge. I tend to dress myself in whatever attracts my eyes.

Maybe I do not need too much work done on me to look just as good. Well, I want to believe that at least! Haha.

Anyway, it's this kind of moments when the song my children were watching this morning make sense - by BIG BIRD from Sesame Street - I'm happy to be me.