Jet Lagged in SG

You know its really not impossible to be jet lagged by staying put in Singapore. How is that possible? Well, thats what i am going through now. LOL!

Its been a long time since I published an entry here. I hereby offer my heartfelt gratefulness to those who are still standing by this web address and believing that I will return to write something (crappy or not) one day. I saw many drafts sitting on my wordpress admin and sincerely hope that this entry will really get published. I think it will.

Many things went through my mind these couple of months. Life is still very normal. Everything is going by its regular routine. No surprises. Work wise, things are fine. I’ve learnt that work is really just work (as Wilfrid commented in some entries earlier. LOL!). I decided somehow that if work can’t be finished, it just won’t be finished. And if there’s some sort of urgency to be completed, I guess the person who pass the job on to me, better have some decency in planning in advance. Coz its just not worth taking time out of my “life” and putting it into my “career” (if there’s any to speak of). I kind of decided my “life” does not equate to my “work”. So, these realisation probably came 4 months late, but well, better late than never. I still am kinda late for appointments sometimes due to work, then again, thats the next thing I am gonna fix.

My sister’s given birth to a healthy baby boy. 3.345kg. A very heavy little boy indeed. I’ve got some of his pictures, but will put it up some other day. He is really tiny and its kinda scary carrying something so fragile sometimes.

I did my photoshoot yesterday. The whole affair was tiring. It was hot the whole day. But I guess hot weather is usually good news for photography. Especially when the weather has been erratic recently. Cloudy and raining on some days, bright and shiny on others. I am kinda worried I will look terrible on the photos, because the photographer seem to like taking my side profile. But I thought my side profile was not very flattering… But well, we’ll see how the photos turn out to be! *fingers crossed*

But I must say the makeup and hairdo was really “wow”! It was nothing like what I imagine myself to look like (in a good way). I felt like I was doing some photoshoot for the magazine pages. LOL! Well, briefly glancing at the mirror gave me that impression, although I am not sure if reality was at such. While at one of the locations, I became part of the tourist attraction. The japanese tourists were whipping out their point and shoot cameras taking photos of me. Muahaha! One family (not sure where they hail from really, maybe some Indian region. But i was sure they are tourist too!) was singing some cheers in their native language when I walk past them. So funny! LOL!

The aftermath of the photoshoot is that my face is now a little off-balanced. felt kinda oily with some bumps threatening to appear. My hair was terrible! My usually “lustrous and often mistaken to be rebonded” hair is now kinda dry as a result of all the hair spray. wah! Its damn depressing I tell you! But I have faith, my hair will be fine soon… its time to go shopping for that Pantene 3 minute life-saving treatment conditioner. See if it saves my life. haha!

So after a long day yesterday, I slept the entire freaking day today. The only time I woke up was for breakfast and lunch, then dinner. Now, I am too awake to sleep… Looks like I am geared up for the US clock now.

The dreadful part is tomorrow morning… Where I am really sure, I will be feeling real shitty.

Howdy Mates

Have distance made the heart grown fonder? Like i mean, have you missed me updating my crap stuff here? okok, dun answer me if your answer is No. I will just pretend no one read my blog and continue writing! LOL!

I am really just joking.

I’ve been kept on my toes with many many things. SO much I wanna update in my private space, but I realised I havent even had time to catch up on my sleep. My eyes are aging faster than they are supposed to. Not good at all

Wedding News

1) Settled my gowns! once again – they look simply lovely! not sure how i look in them, but they sure look great!

2) Bought my first branded good of my life. Quite an experience – the whole shopping experience was too quick. Ain’t got the time to feel my heart stop beating, or my wallet starts to sting from having too little cash to pad it, or my legs wobbly from extravagance – before i made my payment. But all these sensations came surely after i stepped out of the shop! haha!tell u guys more, soon!

3) Bought my wedding heels. Gonna be the tallest heels i own in my whole entire freaking life. But its pretty !

4) My mum is beginning to freak out from some sudden panic attacks that she conjured when she start to think in depth (aka think too much). but yeah, i know she meant well and I have no doubt no one wants my wedding to go more smoothly than her.

Miscellaneous News

1) Bad news at work. Not sure how to deal with news like that…. Hmmm.. always look at the bright side of life? not too sure bout that. i am an eternal optimist… which means i get over bad news pretty fast. but i am not sure if thats a good thing altogether. coz at times i really feel my motivation get eaten away from the increasing output of my energy and time and the decreasing monetary reward i am inputting in my back…

2) Need to manage my finances better, man! not sure how, but some how. haha!

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nights everyone. till i tap the keyboards again, make sure u drink loads of water, get enough rest, take some vitamins, and don’t panic even if H1N1 has hit the SG shores. The health ministry says its fatality rate is lower than that of common flu right? haha!

Simplicity is bliss

There comes a time when I fell in love with Cable TV all over. Although most of the dramas that they are showing are really repeated.

I was watching some cantonese drama on channel 48, then surfed over to channel 55 and then to channel 56. LOL! Also caught an episode of CSI Miami. I kind of missed House. Although I not quite sure if its still showing. haha!

So what have I been up to? I am getting started on my wedding plans. I have engaged my actual day photographer. I loved his photography and the good thing is he didn’t blow our budget. A great balance of value and quality. haha!I will write more of him next time.

Been to The Wedding Present to confirm my wedding gown. The first time I saw it was like 4 months ago. Looking at it 4 months later, I think the gowns are really breathtaking! Lets hope it makes me a pretty bride yea!

Also went to Mandarin Oriental to see the venue. We (or rather, I) fell in love with the place all over again. Simple and cozy and lovely.

Haha! I think i sounds too much in love. I shall stop. The next thing in my list is gonna be intensive shaping up for me. so gotta work something around my punishing schedule and rid the flabs.

A Class of Gold

I had a great weekend which kicked off with selecting my wedding gown. Lovely gowns I saw, saw one that I liked while Darren liked another. Took us sometime before I decide on the number I fell in love with. So our wedding costumes are done. The next time we go down to the boutique is to take measurements. From now till then, I need to work out intensively. Get rid of my permanent “float” and try to shrink my legs. -Sigh- Its time to take out my running shoes out of the closet.

***

Then on Sunday, Darren and I had our first experience in the Gold Class – it was a free ticket. It was pretty cool, but we deduce that unless you really belong to the high society or need to impress someone from the high society, its really quite silly to spend such exorbitant amount on Gold Class.

Each ticket cost $25. For this amount, you do not get any free popcorns or drinks. You get a reclining velvet arm chair and a fleece blanket. I really welcome the idea of the blanket, becuase it tend to get pretty cold after some time. While some might ask if the blanket is clean, I thought it smells ok and looks ok and, dammit, I was cold so I can’t bother more.

Errmmm.. Let me share something a little embarassing. Being the first time in the Gold Class, we bought our popcorns and cock as usual before showing our tickets and getting seated. And guess what, we were presented with two menus – one for food, the other for wine. Apparently people don’t buy coke and popcorns into Gold Class! Omg… on average titbits cost like $4, small bites at around $8 and they serve main courses too. A little pricey. And when we looked around, we see people around us drinking from glasses and cups (thats what you get when u order from the Gold Class menu!).A little embarassing, but heck la! I am not going to pay $4 for a bottle of coke and they don’t serve popcorns!!

At the end of the day, I deduce Gold Class might not necessarily be a bad thing when you are feeling rich. It attempts to give a more ‘cultured’ experience. Much like you were going to watch a play at the esplanade kind of feel. There’s a gold class lounge outside. So if I ever have a free ticket again, I will try to immerse myself in the exclusive lounge. Probably i would plan to have my dinner or lunch in the cinema too. But this is only if I am loaded and feels like splurging on – a movie.

OK.. so much for the Goldieclass experience, Red Cliff has been a great movie. Great as in the storyline, the cinematography, the script and Takeshi Kaneshiro was super drool worthy!!! I heard many who condemns the show for being an inaccurate account of history, but I see this film as a film. Adapted from history, displaying the wisdom of ZhuGe Liang and Zhou Yu. No one knows for sure what the history was like because The Romance of the Three Kingdoms was a novel and not written by some historian. I am not a good movie critic, but this movie gets a thumbs up from me!

Gold Class

Eternally Grateful

I just went to my sec school friends’ wedding dinner. And as usual its always something pretty emotional for me. I am grateful for these friends that I have. I am grateful for the lovely memories during my youth. I am grateful that 10 years later today, we can all sit down together and chat with no reservation all becuase we are from the same high school – even though we have lost touch for the past 10 years or never really spoken before all our life. Just totally grateful.

Sometimes when I think about it, I have no fantastic academic report cards to be proud of. I have no culinary skills that my mum would be proud of. I have not much skills in me that I can really say to be of substantial standard. But I guess when I looked back on my youth, I felt that I was truly happy.

I had made great friends, and some enemies. I had lots of laughter and some tears. Although my school is really just a neighbourhood school, where ah bengs and ah lians are aplenty; where students were really just a little above average (I guess). But there were many people I’ve come to know who are really nice, thoughtful, sincere and are always ready for their friends till today. And they have all found successes in their own way. Such friendships are so touching, isn’t it?

I treasure them and the memories we shared. I treasure such friendship which are so rare as we grow older. Eternally grateful that I had a chance to make wonderful friends who has made my youth richer. Cheers!

Wedding Dinners

Yesterday, I went to a Malay wedding lunch of my poly classmate and a wedding dinner of my secondary school girlfriend.

I found new meanings to weddings actually.

Well, people of my age are getting married. I guess thats part of the progression in life. And its no surprise that we expect more wedding invites to come along in the coming years. While some has innocently lamented over the number of ‘red bombs’ they receive, I think these are bombs that all of us are really happy to receive. Apart from the ang paos that we gotta wrap, I am pretty sure we are all happy to participate in the celebration and be happy that our dear friends has found their partners. Who not only will walk down the aisle with them that night, but partners who will walk on the at times smooth and at times bumpy road ahead together. Its a cause for celebration really.

Yesterday has been an extraordinary oppurtunity that we met with people we lost touch with over 10 years ago. It has been quite an amazing experience catching up, knowing that they are doing well and good, knowing that they are still like what I remembered them to be. I found myself to be very comfortable in that newly found familiarity. It is a really warm and fuzzy feeling.

2 more wedding dinners to go in December. I think I am really looking forward to them.

Legally Married

There’s a distinction between being legally married and really married. I guess for the Chinese, until we go through the “fetching the bride” procedure and tea ceremony and wedding dinner, we might not truly be acknowldged as married. LOL! But yesterday night has been a really wonderful affair and Darren and I are now – married!

Venue was at British Club. It was really beautiful!! The place with all the decorations up is simply fabulous! I never really imagined myself being able to have a dinner as splendid as yesterday actually. There were some couple who came for site recce, I sure hope the whole decorated place enticed them to sign with British Club. It is a real hidden gem, I think. Hidden in the midst of lush greenery, private and serene. Its a really great venue for a small intimate affair. And it really helps when all the staff are so helpful and cheerful! *Seriously I felt that the treatment I got from day 1, was nothing less than warm.*

I hoped my guests had a good time. Though I suspect the food might have been too buttery and creamy for my predominantly chinese guests. Hmmm…. Our friends and kids had great fun taking home the stalks of roses on the decor. Which I most welcomed! In fact I was thinking, after paying for the flowers, it will be quite a waste to see it being left there when the crowd is gone. If the vases were free, i would have asked my guests to bring home the whole vase! But just too bad, vases were on rental only… ;(

The solemnization has been a very ‘blank’ affair for me. I hear the words but I suspect my head went blank. LOL! Thankfully the solemnizer – Dr Phua made it very light hearted and prompted us what to answer when he asked the questions. And a word of advise to newlyweds – dun bother memorising the vows. U wun remember anything! LOL!

Btw this was our vow:

Today I give myself to you in marriage.

I promise to encourage and inspire you,
to laugh with you, and to comfort you
in times of sorrow and struggle.

I promise to love you in good times and in bad,
when life seems easy and when it seems hard,
when our love is simple, and when it is an effort.

I promise to cherish you,
and to always hold you in highest regard

These things I give to you today,
and all the days of our life.

I guess the only ‘dampener’ of the day was… it started raining when my dad was making his way up the slope towards the Club… And it drizzled through the evening. sigh.

Now I am waiting for my darling photographers to send me the photos they took! can’t wait to see them, becuase the only pix I have now is the bridal bouquet I have at home – excluding all those narcisstic shots I took while the makeup artiste was doing the make up. Haha!

Bridal Bouquet

Excitement – Feel It

Its so exciting.

My ROM is coming soon. Very soon. A few days left before I bid singlehood goodbye. Am I excited to leave singlehood or enter marriage-hood? I am not sure. Probably a little of both. LOL!

Come what may. I am excited still.

The ROM will be held in The British Club – somewhere perched on Bukit Timah Hill. Gonna be a small gathering for families and some friends. Therefore I do apologise if I couldn’t invite more people.

Its gonna be a violet, pink and cream coloured affair. Very pastel and romantic theme for dinner under the skies. Errm.. thats if the flowers turn out to be the same as I imagine them to be! LOL! Imagine, its gonna be Mid-Autumn festivals that evening! That means the moon will be gleaming at us that night! I pray hard that night will be a fair weathered one.

Some sneak peak at the British Club. This place will be pretti-fied for my solemnization!

The Dining Area

Solemnization Area

View from the Top

Haha! I am not sure if its easy for you guys to imagine how nice this place is. When Darren and I went there, we were pretty in loved with such a private sanctuary which seems so exclusive (errmm… some call it “ulu”). But stay tuned, I will post up more pictures when I get them.

***

At the same time, some small renovation works will be starting soon at my new address. Can’t wait to see the finished result too!

***

With all said and done, where’s our first “honeymoon” gonna be? Darren and I – and his dad – will be a part of history. Its the world’s first Formula One night race – Singapore Grand Prix 2008.

Tickets for 3 Days

Anyone interested in the tickets? Errmm.. I don’t want money. But I don’t mind exchanging them for a pair of A380 flight tickets to London! LOL!

Mind Over Heart

And they say “Love is Blind”.

Blind because it is irrational and beyond objective explanations. It goes with the whims and fancy of the heart and defies the logic and rationality of the mind. When you are in love with someone or something, all wrongs become right, all ugliness becomes beauty and all intelligence simply turns into mindless folly.

But is this TRUE LOVE? What happens when reality sits in and you awake from the dream realising that the wrongs cannot be accepted, the ugliness cannot be seen beyond and the folly is pure stupidity? Hmmm…

Well, luckily for me, this is not what I feel towards Darren. When I see him, it is something pretty stable and calm. No heart palpitating, sweaty palms romanticism for me. But to me, he represents rationality and reason. Someone firm and reliable. Someone I love because he is who he is, and not what I see him to be in future.

Anyway, its kind of gross seeing me write bout such stuff here right? LOL!

I was just thinking from time to time, there will be people, objects, things and many others which steals our heart secretly suddenly. Some women are weak at their knees when they see diamonds, some men are doomed when they see the latest technology. There’s just a soft spot in everyone of us!

Yesterday I almost fell madly in love with something. But behold, lots of energy were summoned to get my logical mind at work instead of my heart – and boy, was it tough!

Darren and I had been Bridal Boutique shopping over the weekends. And I saw this company which I almost instantly fell in love with! The gowns, the photos, the albums were simply wonderful! And of course, the price tag reflects how wonderful it is too… And we both know that signing up for this package will cause us to spend more money because there are many other beautiful stuff which unfortunately comes “a la carte”…

I am not sure how it is for Darren. I presume it was less tough for him, because he was more focused on the dollars and cents, than the superficial prettiness of it. For me, it was really tough ditching the emotional Suet and put in place the rational Suet.

After 24 hours, I am glad I managed to do that. Or else this purchase would have had its impact on my overall budget. and today I would have regretted signing on the dotted lines and paying much more than I budgeted. (Somethings just cannot be undone, you see!)

Anyway folks, I’ve confirmed my bridal package with D’sire. The same one Selrol had for her wedding, which was simply fabulous!

Read on here: The Bridal Package.

Ladies and Gentlemen…

So the past weekend has been a very very luxurious and extravagant one for me and Darren. Leaving us now high and dry. Any donations are welcomed. Send me an email or sms and I am most willing to tell you which account number you should do an internet transfer to or address that you could snail mail the cheque over to. Lol!

I am just kidding.

Anyway, the past weekend had been such an extraordinary affair is not without reason. Here’s why.

ONE

During valentines day this year, if you guys had read the entry in my previous blog back then, Darren passed me an envelope. Where is this place? Go figure. Well, in a very ‘Lust, Caution‘ fashion, he handed me an envelope and ask me to look for this person at this place at this date.

When I reached this place, I was presented by this person 3 lovely sparklies, of which was picked by Darren himself. I tell ya, I was grinning ear to ear throughout the whole session. I finally comprehend the connection between rocks and happiness for the ladies. I was told by the sales person to pick one of the three. He made no mention of the size, grade, price, colour of the rock. He briefly shared with the the good qualities of the sparklies and let me make up my mind.

Finally I chose one of the three. I chose it, with Darren in mind. I think that was probably the one he would loved most. And the salesman told me, my choice was right! It was such irony. I told Darren once that if he were ever to propose, he should let me choose my own rock and he pay for it. Logic being if he were to buy me something expensive, I am sure he wants me to love it. But when I was making a choice, I realised it wasn’t so much about which I loved most, but which I think he would love most.

I am sure some of my friends would be cussing at me for not sharing such important news with them, but then again, I had no idea how to start telling back then anyway. So, I do apologise, my dears. For this 4mth overdue good news. Anyway, choosing the ring does not equate to him being on bended knees, right?

The Saturday morning that passed, we ventured to catch the morning sunrise in Pasir Ris. We caught the first sunrise of our lives 2.5 years ago, after a late night cycling trip during a team chalet at Pasir Ris downtown east. We chatted till dawn at the peak of the pyramid playground, then went to Fisherman’s Village to catch the sunrise. That was probably one of the last time, we spoke as normal platonic friends. Lol!

So he woke me up at 5am in the morning, picked me up at 530am. We were in time to catch the slow but sure growing brightness of the sky and rising of the sun.

We went up to one of the rocks, where one could enjoy uninterrupted view of the sea. There he went on bended knees and asked me to marry him. Well, there was a condition from him, that I take good care of his ‘小黑’, a little stuff toy made by his grandma 20 years ago which I am still trying hard to love. And with all the joy in my tiny little heart, I said “yes”.

And henceforth my dear friends, Darren is no longer my boyfriend but my fiance. I am not his girlfriend, but half of Mrs Ng. Lol! So here I am, showing off my little sparkly rock. I simply love it to bits!

TWO

After we checked out of the hotel on Saturday, we brought my family to view this flat we have been eyeing on.

Errrmm, yeah, shocker number two came very shortly after shocker number one huh!

I hope no one suffered from cardiac arrest upon reading my blog yet. Lol!

Me and Darren has been HDB shopping for the past two weekends. Finally, we found a house which we fell in love madly with. It is a pretty well renovated 5 room flat at Tampines. Situated very near the PIE and the airport.

So after my family saw the flat, and everyone seems happy with it, we decided to sign on the dotted lines. Not to get married, but for the ownership of the flat. So in a nutshell, if everything goes on smoothly, in 4 to 5 months time, I will own the very first property of my life.

How cool is that huh!

I will share more of my new nest when its finally really mine ok!

FINALLY

The past weekend has been very powerpacked. Many lovely and beautiful things were packed into a very short 3 days. Now, its time to focus on financial budgeting and savings and all sorts of other plans required. Maybe meet the parents session? *shrug!*