Oh boy. I'm so going out of my way to avoid promoters in Watsons and Guardian...I'm not too keen on hearing, "Eh girl, you want to try our slimming products?" Granted, I do weigh nearly 30kg more than your average Singaporean girl/woman...but at least spare me my last strand of dignity. I suppose they like to do it to girls who aren't actually overweight too...all to earn an extra buck. But earning money at the expense of other people's insecurities? That's what today's beauty industry is about, isn't it? Let's try this little experiment: during a commercial break, count how many ads are for slimming-related products. There'll definitely be at least 2 during a 5-10 minute commercial break. I asked my English class in Germany if there was this trend in Germany. No one's heard of stuff like stars endorsing slimming products. Sure, there're slimming products on the market, but it's definitely not as bad as in Asia. Schlankheitswahn, they call it in German. Well, I suppose I could blame only me for letting myself go to seed...but, getting fat has served one good purpose. It showed me who my real friends are. Surprise surprise..there're actually people who are only nice to you when you look good. Sure, I have far fewer friends now, but if you think about it, is it worth having "friends" who just like you for the way you look? Sure, it's nice to hear people telling you that you're pretty/handsome..but maybe there's more to life than that and I'm thankful for the people who've shown me that.