Calmness in preparation madness

If I were to look back at this moment in time, I want to remember that despite the occasional panic attacks of not finding the right dresses, right hairstyles, planning for the seating arrangement, grumbling at yet another need for change, going "argh" over the amount of details I have to go through for the programme/montage/music, coordinating food/decor/manpower with Mr. Jang...

I am enjoying myself, and deep down I'm calm, as calm as I can be, like one year ago... as if the wedding is not like 10 days away. My operational mode has kicked in, and I'm having fun, because this is the only time I can get away with what I want to do, and any disapproval can be answered with "oh, different people have different style and mine is this."

Awww... simply awesome.

Honeymoon planning

Am planning my honeymoon itinerary for Japan and am secretly knocking myself on the head for being totally not involved in the planning of previous family trips to Japan. For instance, I know that we need to get JR passes to get around the region but how it works exactly, and where to purchase it... well, I am only starting to find out now. It's not too late, but yeah, retribution for this family lazy bum!

Anyway, everyone was raving about those private onsens which couples could use in their own rooms. Found this online (Hotel Senkei) and was really quite tempted to book it. Since Mr. Jang and I don't really eat raw stuff, I chose the plan which doesn't include Japanese breakfast and dinner. The room prices ranged from SGD 320 for a basic one, and SGD 510 for a more premium one, which seemed reasonable. But in the end, I decided to let this go since other than the private onsen, there is really not much interesting to see at Hakone. I'd rather stick to the original plan to go Osaka, Kyoto and Nara.

Am getting a tad more excited about the wedding, since I have more time to plan for it now. Went for a church friend's wedding just now and it was the grandest church wedding I've ever been to! Was a little... in awe of the decor, the food variety, and the sheer no. of people who turned up. Mine will definitely be a much more smaller and simpler ceremony. And I think I prefer it this way too. :p

My last birthday as a single

Had a fantastic birthday yesterday starting with loads of well wishes early in the morning, and then a simple lunch with colleagues at Manhattan Fish Market. Embarrassingly, Med tried to ask everyone to say what they liked about me... and I got i) clomper feet, ii) squeaky voice, iii) vampy (!) personality, iv) nice laughter, and v) even the fact that my Dad works in a luxury goods company (this one was from silly annoying Med!).

And then it was off to an evening of ALL my favourite things (drums rolling): Roses!!! Mala steamboat!!! Chocolate Cake!!! KTV!!! Beer!!! And of course, great company!!!

It was a nice celebration (thanks to Mr. Jang, Sis and Paulyn!) and a good way to end my last birthday as a single, just like how everyone has been reminding me.

Events/little moments that I like!

Haven't had such fun fun fun times in a loooooooong while.

Sat

Shopping with Sis at Orchard for Christmas presents, and having a really nice cosy hens night with the girls - the play was hilarious, loads of sinful food (char siew rice late in the evening + fries at 4am!), drinking without tripping over our own toes, singing in the cab on the way home. Check out more photos on facebook!

Sun

Selection of Sis' evening gown (while trying at the same time to recover from our really tired legs and puffy eyes)

Mon

Early birthday surprise from colleagues! You can tell from the way I smiled that I really loved the gigantic chocolate cake (though I probably can't finish it!) ^ ^

Dinner and KTV at Teo Heng with the two "little" boys I've known since Secondary School! Totally don't need to care about 仪态. And oh, Teo Heng has a touch-screen iPhone-like interface for the monitors now, so unlike the lock-kock place we always went to in Uni. Totally cool!

- . -"

I am seriously, seriously, seriously missing HK because of:

i) the weather
ii) the fact that I have to work again, and
iii) the realisation that I have LESS THAN A MONTH to go before the wedding day.

Buck up, Grace!

Have you seen my childhood...

Didn't get to do any shopping today because I promised my grandparents that I'd yum cha with them in the afternoon. Spent the day at their place, digging through old childhood photos which I can use for the wedding montage.

I hereby confirm that I'm a grouchy person since the moment I was born. Look at the way I frowned. It's professional.







And all my smiling genes must have been used up by Sis - her smile is as permanent as my frown. Oh well...





Today's weather is freezing by the way. I seriously don't remember feeling this cold in HK. Quite hazy around the city area as well. Brr......

Back in HK again!

Am in HK right now enjoying the cool weather and my new found freedom - no more exams ever again, at least in the foreseeable future!







Today's plan is simple: i) have lunch with parents, ii) shopping at Causeway Bay, iii) gown-fitting in the late afternoon, and then iv) perhaps have dinner with Gugu.

A thought just entered my mind... this is the last time I'll come back to Hong Kong as a single. Who would have thought that I'll be where I'm at now... when we packed our bags and moved to Singapore almost 20 years ago. Loads of thoughts and emotions suddenly...

Work and wedding preps

I went back to a somewhat lonely office today with only DJ, Jon and Medha around. Tried my hand at CCD collation and actually found it to be more difficult than our previous Friday reports. Guess that's because I'm so used to trade/economic-related issues already. Am also not much of an arty/techy person, so naturally the issues don't appeal to me.

Managed to book my air tic back to HK in December as well - the prices are as high as 1000 bucks for SQ, and over 800 bucks for JetStar! Had to take two more days of leave in order to fly back on a date that offers a more reasonable price. Felt quite bad as that meant I will be away from the office for more than 3 weeks. Ah, oh well...

(Met Mr Jang's parents for coffee after dinner. Quite relieved that there isn't much tension despite the ceremony issue over the past few days. Keeping my fingers crossed that it remains this way).

Oh, chick organised a good doggie day at K9 cafe yesterday. Here are the photos:

5th attempt at sharing

Missed two consecutive rounds of church service due to work earlier this month. Was a little distracted today cos' halfway through Mr. Jang called from Thailand to speak about the customary ceremony thing, and I ended up being grouchy and sulky again. It's no wonder that I found it hard to concentrate even though the sermon was really apt, esp at this point of wedding preparations.

Secret to Contentment

God's providence - God will provide all our needs (but not greeds!)
God's power - "I can do everything through Him who gives me strength" Phil 4:13.
God's promise - When God's work is done in God's way for God's glory, it will not lack God's supply.

I totally agree that contentment is not inborn, but a process to be learnt.

Yumz

Am having a slight sorethroat from yesterday's dinner with WK, Bert and Sis. Satay steamboat buffet at Katong's Tian Fu and ice cream at Ice Cream Chefs at Siglap. I had chocolate + hersheys + brownie. It was all worth it.

(I forgot to take pics of the satay steamboat cos was too busy eating)

Wedding blues

I was just commenting to Mr Jang yesterday that I am indeed getting a little nervous about the whole wedding thing. Now that the mega event is over, all that is left between now and the actual ceremony is my exams (which will be over soon). I am starting to feel how real this whole thing is.

Really didn't help that the first call I received from him this morning has to do with my worst fears about the ceremony and marriage in general - clashing traditions and unhappy in-laws.

I suppose I did overreact a little. To me, this has long-term implications - never mind the fact that he thought i) I'm frustrated because I don't like/can't deal with change, and ii) I'm being jumpy about things that haven't actually happened.

I must really explain that i) I can deal with change, but not change that arose from some inexplicable reasoning because I have to know if I were to expect more changes and plan within them, and ii) the mini sensing unit in me does foresee that the issue probably will not end here, just like how I've foreseen that this mini crisis will happen despite us having discussed and agreed on this before.

And my conclusion to this is that I now totally agree with the saying that marriage is not just about the two of us anymore. And perhaps, this adds on to the frustrations because I've always lived my life in a very independent way. Now, I've really got to learn to put down that self-centredness and be a good wife, daughter-in-law, and in future, a mother. No time to think if I'm ready to take on the roles. There is only one way out - just do it, and hope for the best.

Wragh.

(Special thanks to xin who answered my frantic call this morning and calmed my nerves, to Mom who assured me that she is flexible with the arrangements and she will help handle my Dad's expectations if necessary, and to Mr Jang who probably experienced the worst morning from being the messenger, and being stuck between demanding parents and a crying fiancee).

吳克群

Here's another nice one from the same singer with that impish grin:



(Shoot... I better stop surfing the net and concentrate on studying...)

My current fave song

Mr. Jang sometimes said that I treat him like Almonn. I think this is more apt, esp during the APEC period.

Hello, I'm back.

And finally the MEGA event is over and all of us are back to our normal lives. Had woken up a couple of times in the middle of the night thinking that there were still some follow-ups to do (yes, post-event trauma) but overall, am glad that the event had gone by without any major hiccups. The best part was that I really got to see world leaders, like, this close. And oh yes, including dear Mr. Obama, who looked much shorter in person than I thought. Too bad I din have the courage to take a photo of him with my handphone. I was too concerned that I might be towed away by the bodyguards.

Another "highlight" was being invited to the men's toilet by my boss' boss, standing alone with him looking at some showcase aimed at impressing our international guests, and trying not to feel awkward about the whole situation. He did seem really excited about the technology. But like, it's the men's toilet!

And now that the event is over... it's time to bury myself in books and notes and what-nots. Just finished the first paper today, and have two more to go. Am a little worried about the last paper - I didn't attend classes for that module at all the whole semester, and I heard that there is a compulsory question on SPSS. I mean, since when did a comms grad dip become a statistic one?! Wragh!

And..... then it's time to find back my long-lost friends, whom I haven't seen for ages, and whom I'm looking forward to catch up with sometime soon. I've been so out of sight/touch/sound/smell that I probably need to re-introduce myself again. I feel like I've gone overseas for a year and come back... really.

It's one of those days

It's one of those days, where you thought you have finally passed another hectic day, have given your all at work, worked overtime (again), and still got chase by some things that you simply have no time to do. And then you wonder how much longer you can hold, and that at this rate you are going, you are seriously going to get brain tumour, because you have really been working yourself so hard mentally and physically.

And then you decided that heck, you are not going to stay at home and be grouchy, that you need to take a break, and that you deserve to do something for yourself, even though it's only for half an hour.

And happiness came when you go out with your mum and your sis, after a nice home-cooked meal, to East Coast Mac to have hot fudge sundae, while grumbling to them you don't know how much longer you can last, and Mum telling you that what's the big deal, you have dealt with all these before, and you did just fine, so just go try your best and heck care the rest. And then all of a sudden, you are glad that you made that move to go out and have a sundae, and that even if you really have brain tumour and die tomorrow, you know that you have made that decision to have that hot fudge sundae with your family instead of working, and it's all worth it.

It's really one of those rare days, that you feel really proud of yourself. AND you know it has nothing to do with work. HA!

4th attempt at sharing

This week's sermon spoke about "What's on your resume?"...... just when I was nearing probably the busiest time of the entire year with the event coming in November.

I mean, first thoughts are... i) I've survived so far, ii) I'm learning every day now publicity and media management work, and iii) how to deal with unexpected twists of events. Hence, in terms of skill sets, I think I'm doing OK.

In terms of doing stuff for the church though, I think I probably scored among one of the lowest. Have been a so-called Christian my entire life and was lamenting to one of my church friends that I didn't really make any major contributions. Am a bit ashamed especially when I see people working so fervently e.g. helping and reaching out to the community, organising events etc.

But then good works are not what God is looking for. I mean, not in terms of scoring what dajie always refers to as "brownie points". Danger is also when the more you do, the more you feel more "righteous" than others. Rev Gan said that a true Christian repents both of his sins, and also of his sense of righteouness, which I quite agree.

And then, at the end of that resume, who will be your character referee? I know that I'm not the most easy-going person on earth, but when I die, I really hope to be remembered as i) a filial daughter, ii) a supportive sister, iii) a loving wife, iv) a sincere friend, iv) a responsible colleague, and most of all v) a person who has lived a life that is worth the time that God has given her.

And at the end of the day, God will be THE character referee, just simply because He knows everyone best. ^ ^

3rd attempt at sharing

I didn't have time to write the whole week because it has got to be the most terrible week both in terms of work and school work. But I really didn't want to give up on the attempts at sharing so here goes again:

What it takes to be a good friend:
i) cultivate a genuine interest in others - work with them, hold their hands, cheer them on
ii) looking out for opportunities to strengthen and help each other
iii) encouraging a bereaved family

The third point is especially depressing this week because the son of one of our church members was killed in a arm robbery case in KL just last Friday. Quite tragic, not to mention violent and sudden.

Am again reminded that I need to put my priorities in life right.

It must be karma

I was disturbing XY and LQ online yesterday night, asking them how come they were still in the office working at this time of the day, and saying that I was all washed up and ready to go to my nice warm bed.

And then today, I was so caught up with work here and there during the day that I didn't even get to start a fraction of what I was supposed to do. And I had promised that I would send it out by tomorrow. That is, including the time taken to find info and get it approved internally and so on. Wraghhhhh!

Lesson learnt: Never laught at people cos it might just come back to you. Real soon.

我真的受傷了

This must be my all time favourite song, especially like now when I'm by myself thinking...
作词:王菀之作曲:王菀之
窗外阴天了 音乐低声了 我的心开始想你了
灯光也暗了 音乐低声了 口中的棉花糖也融化了
窗外阴天了 人是无聊了 我的心开始想你了
电话响起了 你要说话了 还以为你心里对我又想念了
怎麽你声音变得冷淡了 是你变了 是你变了
灯光熄灭了 音乐静止了 滴下的眼泪已停不住了
天下起雨了 人是不快乐
我的心真的受伤了

2nd attempt at sharing

Writing late because I just attended Jeff's wedding at Grand Hyatt, which turned out to be fabulous despite the weird service. I had a really great time with the people at my table. :)

Anyway, back to the main point. The key take away I had at this morning's sermon was that:

(from my french bible)
"Ne faites rien par esprit de rivalité ou par désir inutile de briller, mais, avec humilité, considérez les autres comme supérieur à vous mêmes. Que personne ne recherche son propre intérêts, mais que chacun de vous pense à celui des autres." - Phil 2:3-4

Which translates into:

"Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others." - Phil 2:3-4

I think the verse is quite self-explanatory. And I will try to remember that when I embark on a new week... :)

To the vet we go...

(Almonn on the way to see the vet)

Mum woke us up this morning to inform us that Almonn had pooed all over the place again, and that his stools had blood in it again. I sprang up from my bed as fast as I could because I was really starting to get worried. He could be having worms inside his intestines, possibly because we had been allowing him to roam about in the grass at the dog runs. And he hasn't been having his annual vaccination. In any case, we brought him to the vet first thing in the morning just in case.

Turned out, his bloody stools could be due to a change in diet or snacks, or "stress". I was wondering to myself what kind of "stress" a dog could have when all he ever does is run around, eat and sleep. Mum said it could be because he hardly sees us nowadays. We leave home early in the morning for work, come back late at night, and even on weekends we are hardly home. He could be lonely. Or perhaps, the typical fear of being abandoned when one grows old?

Anyway, he was to be put on 12-hr fasting period before being allowed to eat steamed rice with minced pork. During this period, he was only allowed to drink H20 to make sure that he would not dehydrate. As expected, this stupid stubborn dog refused to drink that cos I supposed it was too blend for this 少爷. -_-!!!

On a separate note, I attended MS' wedding lunch this afternoon. The best thing that happened was that I got to meet Cdr again! ^ ^ He is by far the bestest boss I've ever had, and I so missed the time working under him...

Reflections for the week

Time seemed to have zoomed past this week. because work has been so so so hectic. Here are the bits and pieces of my reflections for the week:

1. I realised how much I hate being mean even though I know sometimes I have to do that in order to get things going.

2. I hate the fact that I have to chase and chase for the things and act like a biggest pest, but heck, that thing has to be done and I WILL chase you 到天涯海角 until you give it to me.

3. I don't like receiving verbal instructions especially when it comes to things that matter in work. I like to play safe, even though it means that there might be slight delays in the progress. I like to make sure that things get done in a 无懈可击 manner as far as possible. Especially when it comes to money/procurement matters! Argh!

4. I realised on more than one occasion how much good colleagues are hard to come by, and thank God that I've found some in the current work place.

5. On my way to toilet on Wednesday, I was suddenly reminded of how fortunate I am, and that the phrase 任劳任怨 applies not only to my parents, but also to Mr. Jang, in my life. I'm so very thankful for that even though I don't say it out loud. And most of the time, I act like a jerk to them by giving them the leave-me-alone tone, especially when I'm working. Bad!

P/S: Almonn is still having diarrhoea even though there is no more blood in his poo poo. Will continue to monitor.

Another poo post

I think there might be something wrong with Almonn. Today his poo poo had a bit of blood, and it's all watery etc. Will monitor him for another day and bring him to the vet if the condition worsens.

I suppose I should be expecting this sooner or later since Almonn is already nine years old! But then again, it could be the curry that we fed him the other day. Like too strong on his stomach etc. Erm. Oops. :9

Smelly smelly smelly!

It's just like any other Monday - sleepy, groggily, lazy, boring. The only interesting thing that happened was that at the end of the day, after we got back from dinner, we discovered that Almonn had pooed all over the kitchen. The best thing was, there was poo stuck on his rubber duckie as well. Like he rolled it over in the poo or something. Totally smelly, and totally grossssssssssssssss.

Bad dog!

Goal: a smaller waistline!

Woke up at 10am this morning but still managed to do a fair bit before I headed down to Orchard to meet my ex-colleagues from SQ for lunch. Saw this cute uncle wriggling with a hoola-loop made of big wooden beads as we crossed the road from Paragon to Takashimaya. He was all smiles when I took out my camera to snap him. I bet his waist is slimmer than most of us. And Mr. Jang just commented that my waistline is indeed getting a bit... rounder. I actually have a similiar elastic hoola loop in Hong Kong. Maybe I should dig it out and bring it back to Singapore. I still have 3.5 months to work it out before the wedding... jia you!

Zzz

Was feeling particularly happy today because I caved in to my cravings for a nasi lemak breakfast this morning before heading to work. It was a mere 10 minutes of sit-down breakfast at the Central basement. But boy, it felt good.

My email account was finally fixed today and I could, once again, access my emails and no longer feel detached from the rest of the working world. Funny how grumpy I can be for NOT being able to work. I guess that's because I know there will be 200 hundred plus emails waiting to be read eventually. Spent the entire day trying to clear some of the backlog. Argh.

Meant to sleep early today but ended up being awake still at this hour. Class ended late, and my group also stayed back for close to an hour to discuss the topic of research. Reached home after 11pm and was feeling a little hungry although I had supermarket sushi for dinner. Ended up eating two packets of cheezels and a bowl of mee sua all by myself. Not good at all, sister!!!

And now, I'm going to bed, with a stomach bloated with junk and the aftertaste of mee sua which was not really cooked.. but soaked in boiling water cos I was too lazy to switch on the stove. Yucks.

round and round they made me go...

I didn't think that I will be so free as to blog about the annoying IT system at work. But really, it's been driving me nuts for the past one week!

Firstly, the functions in the old system (which was working fine) were not ported over to the new platform yet. i.e. when I want to access old submissions etc, I have to go back to the old platform.

Secondly, my archives are only half migrated over to the new system. That means everytime I want to search for old emails etc, I have to open up my old email account (again!).

Thirdly and most annoyingly, I can't receive emails properly! Like brother, if I can't receive emails properly, that means I don't see updates/replies from people whom I'm liaising with, that means I can't work properly, that means what good that silly new system is for me???

The best thing is, throughout the entire migration, I've seen at least 10 different people doing different things on my new laptop. There is no one single point of contact, except that when I called the onsite deployment desk, they asked me to call the offsite helpdesk, which said that they will send someone onsite to attend to my problems. Again, brother, do I look like I like to play merry-go-round during office hours? It's really driving me nuts! ARGHHHHHHH.... if they don't get it fixed by tomorrow, I'm going to take my new laptop to the IT department tomorrow and do the "心口碎 laptop" act in front of them just to prove my point!

The quest to kiss 100 men in Paris

Yahoo news reported that there is a Taiwanese woman who blogged about her quest to kiss 100 men in Paris. I went to her blog out of curiosity and to kpo about things like if she is pretty, if the guys she is kissing are good looking, and why she is doing it etc (yes, frivolous things I do early in the morning!) Found out that though she wasn't particularly chio (and the men ain't that good looking either), the photos which 'documented' her kisses with strangers were nicely and artistically taken.

And it made me miss that romantic mood in Paris/France all over again....

More wedding preparation thoughts

Had a really good discussion with Jun on wedding plans this evening after the yummilicious Tom Yum steamboat dinner at Parkway. We are going to get married on the same day (yes!) and so were updating each other non-stop on the status of preparations. Showed her all the stuff that I've bought so far and the design of the gowns etc etc.

Really wanted to use the bright pink theme for the church decor but everyone's advising against it - won't look nice with the bridesmaids' dresses anyway. So was flipping through the magazine with her and found this really sweet looking hair piece which I'm thinking of using as my pew decor. It won't look as sharp as the bright pink flowers but at least it will look coordinated and blend-in. For the bridesmaids' hand bouquet/flower ball, am probably going to stick to the apple white shade like the corsages with a little bit of baby purple to match the dresses.

(I didn't think I will spend this much time pondering over the colour themes/shades! But heck, if the decor of my church wedding would look like a wild garden in the end then so be it ... no more brain cells left already... argh)

First attempt at sharing

You know, every Sunday I'll vow to write about what I've learnt at the sermon and share it with whoever reads my blog. Somehow, every Sunday after church, the issue will disappear from my mind (erm...) In any case, here's my first attempt at summarising the morning's sermon (which was easy because there were only two key messages):

Key message #1: Step out of your comfort zone in faith.
Key message #2: Be a blessing to others.

Thought that #2 is particularly relevant because a lot of us are blessed in many ways already. I especially think that I have more than what I could ever ask for. Despite the constant work frustrations, it's amazing how God's grace kept me going. And I've also come to realise that for every 2 meannies I meet, there are like 20 others who are really friendly and helpful. Hence, in the same way, I also want to be part of that group which helps people maintain the belief that yes, there are still a lot of nice people around! Like.... 人间有希望. :)

On a related note, have to learn to pray for others also, even for those people we do not like. And pray not for them to be punished, but for a change of heart. It's actually not easy at all, but I suppose once you start to put down the sense of pride and defensiveness, it could work. Have tried that before, and actually it felt.... weirdly good.

So yep, here's summarising the key messages for today + my own thoughts. Hopefully, I will keep up this habit for the Sundays to come... ^ ^

開心一下

For those who understand Chinese, this is really quite funny especially the one on Statue of Liberty!

一位在美的留學生，想要考國際駕照。
在考試時因為過於緊張，看到地上標線是向左轉。
他不放心的問道: turn left？
監考官回答：right !
於是他立刻向右轉。
很抱歉他只有下次再來。

某人刻苦學習英語，終有小成。一日上街不慎与一老外相撞，
連忙說：I am sorry.
老外應道：I am sorry too.
某人聽後又道：I am sorry three.
老外不解，問：What are you sorry for?
某人無奈，道：I am sorry five.

某男，亦初通英文，至使館，有表要填，有一欄是sex。
該男思之久已，毅然下筆：once a week。
簽證官觀后暴笑，曰：this item should be filled in with male or female.
該男頓時赧顏，思之，填下：female，

某公司經理叫秘書轉呈公文給老闆，
「報告老闆，下個月歐洲有一批訂單，我覺得公司需要帶人去和他們開會。」
老闆在公文後面短短簽下：「 Go a head! 」
經理收到之後，馬上指示下屬買機票、擬行程，自己則是整理行李。
臨出發那一刻，被秘書擋下來。
秘書：「你要幹什麼？」
經理：「去歐洲開會啊！」
秘書：「老闆同意了嗎？」
經理：「老闆不是批 go a head 嗎？」
秘書：「你來公司那麼久，難道你還不知道老闆的英文程度嗎？
老闆的意思是：去個頭！」

有位女士，個性喜愛佔便宜。
某日紐約曼哈頓名牌衣飾大減價；她去揀便宜，選來選去，終於挑到一件。但 樣式新潮，不敢確定是女裝還是男裝。
正巧一位又高又壯又黑的男服務員朝她走過來。
就用英語問他：' for Girl or Boy？'
黑人回答：'Unisex'！
她聽成'You need sex '，豈不是性騷擾？又怕自己聽錯，露出錯愕懷疑的神情；
黑服務員見狀，一個字母一個字母地解釋：
' U – N – I – SEX！'
這次她聽的很清楚' You and I Sex'，立即找黑人上司理論，
[lesson taken - learn english]

一位老兄獨自到紐約出差。工作之餘，打算看看風景名勝。
為此他查考了大量的資料，選擇去自由女神像。為了週全，甚至把負責自由女神參觀的聯繫電話都找到了...666-2613。
當天，他叫了輛計程車準備出發，下面是他和計程車司機的談話；
計程車司機問道： ' Where do you want to go, Sir?'
老兄不知道自由女神像英文稱為' Statue of Liberty' ，
他想自由應該是FREE，女神大概是WOMAN。於是回答司機' FREE WOMAN！'
司機聽成'免費的女人'，馬上道：'What？ Oh！Hey man，Here is America，nothing is　free！'
老兄：' Oh! How come! I read it from yellow page. See, here is the phone
number, ' 'sex-sex-sex-two-sex-one-free.
[lesson taken - do preparation before travel]

美麗又愚蠢
丈夫對妻子說︰"為什麼上帝把女人造得那麼美麗卻又那麼愚蠢呢？"
妻子回答道︰"上帝把我們造得美麗，你們才會愛我們，把我們造得愚蠢，我們才會愛你們。"

目標變了
夫妻二人吃飯時，妻子說︰"你現在怎麼盡挑魚背上的肉吃？記得我們談戀愛時，你最愛吃魚頭魚尾 …… "
"情況不同了嘛！" 丈夫說︰"現在我的目標是吃魚，當時我的目標是釣魚。"

饒你一次
一個男人很怕老婆。
一天，他老婆又當著客人的面和他吵了起來，並打了他一耳光。?為了面子，男子壯著膽子大吼︰ "你敢再打我一下？ "
他老婆毫不猶豫地又打了一下。男子看嚇不住老婆，只得說︰" 既然你這麼聽話，我就饒你一次吧。"

何必如此
妻子心血來潮，站在鏡子前仔細端詳，發現自己的臉竟是那樣難看，不禁放聲大哭。
坐在一旁觀察已久的丈夫說︰"你偶爾照一次鏡子就那麼傷心，那我天天看著你又該怎麼辦？ "

跟在家一樣
妻子到監獄探望丈夫時問︰ "親愛的，你在這裏過得怎麼樣？"
" 就跟在家一樣，哪兒也不讓去，伙食也糟透了…… "

得不償失
丈夫回家很不高興，妻子關心地問︰ "你遇到不順心的事了嗎？"
丈夫︰ " 今天我在公共汽車上拾到２００元錢。"
妻子︰ "那應該高興啊！"
丈夫︰" 另一個乘客也看見了，我和他平分 …… "
妻子︰ " 那你不是還有１００元嗎？"
丈夫︰ "回家前，我才發現那２００元其實是我自己丟的。"

夢話
妻子關心地對丈夫說︰"老公，你近來老是說夢話，要不我陪你去醫院檢查一下身體？"
丈夫驚慌地答道︰"不用，如果醫生給我治好了這毛病，那麼我在家裏的這一點點發言權都沒有了！"

愛妻
有一個男人跟他一天到晚只會抱怨的妻子來到耶路撒冷渡假。
在渡假當中，他的妻子突然去世了。
葬儀社的人跟他說：您可以選擇花$5,000將尊夫人的遺體運回您的國家，或者花$150把她葬在這聖地耶路撒冷。
那人想了一會兒，就跟葬儀社的人說他要把她運回家鄉。
葬儀社的人不解地問他說：為何您寧可花$5,000把尊夫人運回家鄉，而不願意將她葬在這美好之地，而且花更少錢呢？
那人回答：很久以前，有一個人在這裡死了，埋在這裡，過了三天，他又復活了。
[聖經記述 ..耶穌死後第三天復活]
他繼續說著：我就是不想冒這個險...
------ End ---------

Wedding prep updates

Haven't been updating the blog for a long time because there hasn't been anything to update, really. My life has been revolving around the same things - work, school, wedding preparations. To be exact, it's ard 7 weeks to the event, 8 weeks to exams, and 15 weeks to the wedding. Like a typical SAR-style update, the foundations have been set and preparatory work is underway.

For the wedding especially, am already trying to squeeze as much time as I could in between work and school to do my part as one half of a couple. Didn't want to rely on Mr. Jang all the time because it's 'our' wedding afterall. Having said, am really grateful that he is taking the lead for most of the items. We've finally booked the pre-weddding shoots and will be heading to China to do it in less than a month's time! :) Don't think my raccoon eyes will recover by then, and I just hoped that it won't get worse because we are heading closer and closer to LW. Am actually quite excited, and it's precisely because I don't really have very high expectations on how it will turn out in the first place(the package is so cheap!) So there's really no stress about it not turning out good enough.

Am in the midst of confirming the floral arrangements, searching for the right kinda music, and coming up with ideas for the programme. It's not just because it's our wedding, but it's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to make the event truly reflective of "our style", if we have one! So might take the opportunity to do stuff that we otherwise won't do. Just need time to sit down and really explore the creative "options" we have... and hopefully they will materialise.

Baby Claire

Our goddaughter Claire. Zhiming said that he 硬硬认 one. Haha!

Wedding stunt ideas

I think my bridesmaids will kill me if I make them do this:

http://sg.video.yahoo.com/watch/5612352/14729764

Luck needed

Back at work after spending the long weekend at Bintan with my little cousins. It wasn't as exhausting as I thought, perhaps because I was hiding in the shades most of the time (I couldn't swim this week), and also cos the food wasn't that fantastic. But then it felt good to have relaxed over the long weekend... especially before the final term starts this week.

Argh. Just the thought of going back to the far far away land gives me a headache - the long journey and evenings listening to profs speak with my eyes barely able to stay awake. @.@ The battle begins again. Wish me luck!

Reflections

Have been reflecting on quite a bit of things in the past few weeks: work, relationship, friendship, family, personal life etc. Realised that actually life could be very simple. You can do the things you like, you can live the way you like. Nobody can stop you from doing what you want to do. The thing is, I think people put pressure on themselves sometimes because they are scared of the consequences when they don't follow the norm. Not a lot of people will admit this but I think it's true. All of us are scared to a certain extent of being criticised/laughed at/ostracised etc etc right. So everyone tries (to a certain extent) to live the way people expect us to. And when we don't do what is expected, or don't follow the norm, the pressure to "justify" our actions comes. Either way, we ended up being super tired - doing the things that are expected of us, and then trying hard to justify it when we don't. So why not we just do the things we want? I don't laugh at you for being you, so don't laugh at me for being me. Period.

Second thing is, I really don't want my faith to be a faith of convenience. I really want to mean the things I say, and to believe what I say I believe. Not to mould certain things in a way I want it to be, just so that I can justify my actions. Yes means yes. No means no. A clear distinction between what is right and wrong. And if I had done wrong, I admit it. The lunch with F the other day, and the difference I sense in bro, touched me. Really really.

Third thing is, I don't think I am suited for the job, primarily in terms of the level of energy needed. I've been in the service for a total of 3 years now and have been falling sick continuously - I don't think this can go on. Not that I don't like the job (in fact, I do), just that between work and health, I will definitely choose the latter. So after this year's project, and possibly another one next year, I will make plans to slow down and scale down. And find time to enjoy the last couple of years of being a 20 plus.

Monday blues

Signs to show that I'm stressed: i) going to eat mala steamboat on a monday night i.e. heck it if i hv stomache tomorrow. ii) buying a hello kitty namecard holder at $15.90. i.e. heck it if ppl find me act cute or wasting money. I just like it. So what.

Arghhhh!

Grace's Series of Unfortunate Events - The (real life) Movie

1. Sick again on Monday.
2. Had tons of phone calls and follow-ups while I was trying to guest-collate wir.
3. Laptop displayed blue-screen just when I was about to send out the collated wir - and I was already rushing for time.
4. Had a headache doing the cont plan.
5. Laptop crashed just when I was about to send out the completed cont plan - and it was already past office hours. And it was Mr. Jang's birthday. And I MAKE HIM WAIT AGAIN.
6. Broke stuff at home in the morning.
7. Dropped my handphone on the stairs. It cracked.

- THE END (I hope) -

Happy 30th Birthday, Mr. Jang! :)

Mr. Jang celebrating his 30th birthday with pals and Chloe...


Mr. Jang having breakfast with me near Raffles Hotel...


"Happy 30th Birthday, Mr. Sunshine. From, Ms Grouchy..."

Church decoration ideas for wedding

While waiting for my hair to dry just now, I sketched out the rough ideas on how my church decoration would look like. I have started out with some self-made decor (which Lil said looked like bambo-sticks for hanging clothes) but have since outsource the whole plan to Mom. Nevertheless, have sent her a couple of ideas just for info. They are quite straight forward coz' there are certain restrictions (e.g. no candles / confetti) and there's limited time to do up the venue...

The celebration begins...

Mr. Jang is going to reach his 30th birthday next week and PL, our dearest friend cum insurance agent, came by to cook for him (with Sis as the assistant chef).

They bought the loveliest chocolate cake one can find. Yum yum.


Mr. Jang said we might as well practise cutting our cake... haha


PL and sis initially refused to take a photo cos their hair and faces were all oily from the cooking. But what the heck, it's not like we are going to use this photo for match making sessions.


It was a simple but cosy dinner. I especially like the 三杯鸡 but I totally forgot to take photos of it. Too hungry... :p

Pre-wedding counselling

Mr. Jang and I went to church at 9.30am this morning to start our first pre-wedding counselling class with PC. To be honest, I wasn't super enthusiastic about it cos I thought PC is more, erm, serious compared to PG who was conducting the classes for sis and OSH. I was a little worried about saying the wrong things, and having PC looked at us like we're mad.

Turns out, Mr. Jang, in his usual jovial self, did most of the talking. I glared at him a couple of times during the session to hint that "pssssssst... maybe we shouldn't tell PC about this!" but he happily went on to talk about everything under the sun. (Ok, maybe this is what the session should be like - open, honest, naked sharing - but still I was a bit more careful.)

And then came out-of-the-blue questions like, "how do you define marriage?" I went "er......" again coz' seriously I haven't really thought about this and was rather caught by surprise. To me, it was more like Mr. Jang proposed and I said yes, so let's get married! But I haven't really given a good thought to how I define marriage. Maybe just simply starting a family? I don't know if it's a dumb answer (?) but I have quite a simplistic view towards this.

Thereafter came the temperament test. Apparently, Mr. Jang's perception of me is quite in line with my perception of self whereas his perception of himself is rather different from my perception of him. PC joked and said that perhaps it's time for me to "wake up" some ideas about him. Okie. Funny.

At the end of the day, Mr. Jang said that we shouldn't take the test results too seriously, cos i) he might have misunderstood the questions and ii) PC also said that we shouldn't read too much into the details cos the indicators have to be read in totality.

I am not affected. Maybe just worrying too much like I always do. Afterall, although Mr. Jang said that marriage shouldn't change anything between us, I still feel that it's a huge step into the "unknown". But I know we'll be alright cos God is with us! And as long as we keep Him as the first priority, we'll be fine!

Fantasy and reality

Fantasy: Haoxiang sent me pics of her month-old daughter today. So cute! Also saw photos of her in France where she's staying with her husband. Both of them are living a simple yet 幸福 life! Ooh! And those photos made me miss France so much! Argh. If only I'm working and staying there too! I can go to the louvre or eiffel tower everyday. Just for fun!

Reality: Mr Jang and I went to meet a photographer for our wedding. I quite like his work although the price is slightly out of our budget. We're thinking of not doing professional videography and spend the money on photography instead. The package comes with a fine arts coffee table book, which is quite different from what I see from the standard packages. Can click with the photographer and his wife too, so most probably going for this fella (he does film photography too). And well, we really hope to settle one more item cos the date is drawing nearer!

Trial make up!

I went for a trial make up for my wedding on Sunday and ta-da! Here're the results!

Think this is the most traditional looking one. Am going for this when I'm gonna wear the Chinese Kua in the morning.

Am considering if I should continue wearing this pin-up style for the church wedding as well. Perhaps with a pearl / sparking hairband or something. Tiaras are too common now I think!

This is an alternative. Think I want to try letting my hair down (depending on how long my hair will be in Jan). A more casual look! Didn't really like the curls here though. Maybe if I'm really doing a half-up, I'll do the hairband thing instead of flowers (yes, those are tissues you see in the photo). And less curls... only waves at most!

I thought the make up looked too white indoors, but the outdoor look is quite natural. I like! :)

Happy birthday Sis!

Sis gave me and Mr. Jang a treat on HER birthday! Haha.. Ok don't say that I'm stingy. Me, Adel and Chick already gave her a treat at Seafood Center on Monday, and today I bought her a small cake. Going to get her an additional present!

Mum always says that I bully Sis when I was young. Oh well, some things don't change.

P/S: I know I looked damn tired. That's the look of being stressed out by work! Ok, I shall vow not be a nerdball anymore!

The hunt for wedding bands

Mr. Jang and I went hunting for wedding bands after we sent Gugu and Uncle Mushroom off at the airport. Most of the designs we saw were quite common but there were two that caught our eyes. One was from Lee Hwa - a rather thick, unconventional, funky kind of design where both bands had three diamonds on it; the other was from Tian Po - a very traditional and classic design which looked and felt quite solid (something like this). The Lee Hwa pair would cost less than $2000, while the Tian Po pair would cost a whopping $4500!

I actually prefer the Tian Po one. It's a once-in-a-lifetime thing afterall, and we'd have to wear it for the rest of our lives. But then again, I can't imagine spending so much on a pair of wedding bands. I could use the money to go for a nice holiday. :'(

P/S: The salesman at Tian Po said that my diamond ring could easily cost more than 2 pairs of that wedding band. Suddenly I salut Mr. Jang for having the courage to purchase such an expensive thing. Now I believe him when he said that he has no more money left in his account. Haha.

While waiting under the sun...

We were all supposed to gather in front of the city hall today (early in the morning!) to take a group photo of the entire organisation. It was no joke. The sun was so scorching hot and everyone was really sweating like mad while waiting for the big bosses to come. Now I understand why Mr. Jang wants to take wedding photos in a cooler season. You really can't smile properly in this kinda weather.

Anyway, we were really bored while standing there waiting for the photoshoot to take place. Started to take photos of ourselves. Big big heads of the IPRDians!

BKK trip!

Had a fantastic time shopping, doing massages, eating tons at Bangkok over the weekend. Spent so much time at MBK but still I felt that it was not sufficient! In fact I felt that it was too short a trip and I haven't really enjoyed myself or bought enough things. Only ended up with one dress, a few tops, 3 pairs of shoes - very small case for a Bangkok trip! Was so so so sad that I had to come back to work. :( Sigh. But then again if I don't work I won't have money to buy all the shoes / dresses / clothes I want...

I think Dad and Mum really made the effort to organise this trip for the four of us. They offered to sponsor everything and Sis and I only paid for the air tickets - the rest was taken care of. I'm appreciative of the fact that they have always been very generous with us, despite the fact that we have already started working. Dad kept saying that it takes time and effort to maintain a family, and little things like going for overseas trips as a family count a lot. I think he is trying to impart all his "wisdom" to us... haha...

The highlight of the trip was the blue back on my chin - courtesy of Dad after two bottles of white wine. Sigh. I guess I was also asking for it cos Sis and I were sort of bullying him. Sometimes I feel that Dad's quite poor thing - he's gotta wait for us outside the shops when we spent hours trying shoes / buying underwears / selecting tops etc. And then he's gotta help us carry all the shopping stuff. Plus, he's the one paying for all the dinners and spas etc. Poor poor poor Dad. At times like this, I think he wished for a son. But then again, we are good daughters! Ahaha...

Oh well... perhaps he'd have a better trip in Perth this June, with just Mum and Sis (who'd probably spend most of the time with OSH!). :p

All that exercise

I have been swimming quite often nowadays. Ok - I won't call swimming 10 laps each time a real work out but still, I have been swimming. And I just went for an East Coast cycling trip with Chick and Sis today. We resisted the temptation to indulge in hot fudge sundaes and fries after our so-called work out. BUT by dinner time, Sis and I could not hold it any longer. We ordered the greasy chicken rice instead of the fishball noodle we were supposed to have. And erm, Mr. Jang bought 2 bags of potato chips for us after dinner. We started eating them once we got home, and tried to compensate for it by eating fruits at the same time.

Erm... I'm wondering now if all these exercises are making us fatter instead of healthier, cos we now have a justification to eat all the junk?!

Mr. Jang and I said that we would aim towards shedding 2 kg each by the end of the month. Apr 30 is fast approaching, and I'm quite sure I'm nowhere near the target. Ok - I'm definitely not gaining any weight, but am definitely no losing any either. Plus, I have no perseverance nor stamina. Mr. Jang can run a longer distance and swim more laps than me, while I will stop at the slightest sign of breathlessness.

Sigh. I better bring back that sports girl in me quickly if I really want to look fit.

Simei DBSS - done deal!

MR. JANG AND I FINALLY BOUGHT THE SIMEI DBSS FLAT (PARC LUMIERE) TODAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Gosh. It's the most expensive thing I've ever ever ever paid for in my life and to be honest, I am not sure if I understood the full impact of this.

We were quite lucky cos we were supposed to rejoin the queue at 1pm today but apparently some people did not turn up so we were called to go there and wait around 11 plus. After another four more hours of waiting, monitoring the no. of units sold (like stock market), and trying to calculate our budget etc etc, we finally decided on this 5-room flat at one of the inner blocks because all the good 4-room flats were sold out. The unit isn't located at the ideal floor but it's within our budget and we like the unit no. Plus, my current place will only be 10 minutes away by car. And Sis said that we can take TPE to her place next time.

And so, here's to ticking one more item off our to-do list!

Simei DBSS - my first attempt at queueing for a flat

I spent the entire day queuing up for the Simei DBSS. Mr. Jang and I knew that people were already queuing up since yesterday but we didn't expect the crowd to be this big. By the time we got there at around 11.30am, our queue no. was 500 plus. The procedures were really quite confusing with the staff dishing out contradicting instructions. And then it was a long, long wait. At around 7 plus, the staff just announced that we should come back tomorrow. Argh! In the meantime, the good units were all being taken up! I wonder if it's worth going back tomorrow.

Sigh. It's my first time queuing up for a flat and already I'm thinking that it's quite a hassle. But then, it's part and parcel of the Singaporean life, hein?

Exams are over!

Exams are finally over! The paper was a killer but I'm so glad that it's over because it meant that I'm done with another semester i.e. only one more semester to go!

From now till the next semester, I'm going to make it a priority to look after my health. I haven't fully recovered from the stupid flu and at the rate I'm eating chocolate (my comfort food), I'll slowly but certainly become the fattest bride next Jan.

Nice Mr. Jang

Mr. Jang in the rain flagging for a cab while I hid under the shelter. Simple things like this makes me go, "Soooo sweet". :)

:'(

I asked LL if she would cry on her wedding cos I've been hearing Slipping Through My Fingers from Mamma Mia and I suddenly feel so sad. :'(

Mr. Jang always said that just take it as my parents are gaining a son. I mean I feel happy that I'm getting married. But at the same time, for some reason, I still feel sad. Is it normal? :'(

HK Trip (3)

Since I settled most of the stuff on the first two days of the trip, the remaining two days were spent shopping, eating loads and just walking here and there idly.

Managed to go to 深水步 on Sunday to look at some decorative items for my DIY church wedding. At night we went to this really nice place at 尖沙嘴 to have Korean BBQ. Oh I just love the food in HK. That and all the stuff you can find at the 茶餐厅.

HK Trip (2)

Started Day 2 of the trip with brunch at my grandparents' place. We usually go to the dim sum restaurant within the estate. The food is cheap and yummy.

And then it was off to Mongkok with Granny who wanted to go to the jewellery shop with me to look at 龙凤镯. I liked a particular pair but it was really too expensive! So I told Granny that we should continue looking around. Next, we went to the building at 太子 where everything you need for a wedding can be found. Settled one more item there: the wedding flavours for guests.

Met Wendy for dinner, together with Gugu, uncle, dad and mum. The Vietnamese food at 九龙城 is fantastic. On the way back, we paid the deposit for the banquet venue. I'm seriously feeling a little nervous, cos it suddenly hit me that the event is really happening. Gosh.

HK trip (1)

Landed in HK late yesterday evening and went straight to Shenzhen for foot and body massage. Then we accompanied Mom to get her 30th anniversary photos - they were really quite nicely taken.

Came back to HK after lunch time and then it was hunting for the right venue for the banquet. Went to at least four restaurants and was totally drained. But at least we're quite pleased with the last one at Wanchai.

Gugu was the sweetest. Not only did she (and mum) keep us company the whole time, she also stayed up till 4am last night to do the research for us - jotting down the available dates etc. Thank God for all the help we're getting!

Cockroach! Scream!

It was one of those rare appearances by Mr. Roach. I was so engrossed with my work that I almost didn't notice him. But noticed I did, and I immediately sprang into the well practiced move of grabbing my insecticide spray and emptying more than half a can on him - I don't know for sure if the insecticide is strong enough so the next best thing is to drown him.

I don't know between the two of us, who is more unlucky.

Final creative

Right. I was expecting loads of criticism on the simplicity of the creative design. Surprisingly, most people liked it because they could apparently relate to it.

Late night studying? Hello?! Does anyone have a life??!!!