On the way of being wed : The Wedding Invite

The invites are out! Credit truly goes to Wilk and his wonderful design, and his friend who printed them out FOC for us as a wedding present. We had a great time setting up his camera in our studio and taking silly 'neoprint-like' pictures one saturday afternoon before taking those images to make the 'postcard'-invites for the wedding. I have to admit it is abit 'heow' but i really love the colours and cheeky shots of wilk & i on the invite. Perhaps we are really breaking with tradition here (think creamy cards with gold/silver embrossed letter) since our card doesn't even have our surnames on it. Was initially quite worried what parents would think since usually the wedding invites has both parents names and our full names on the cards in some formal sounding invitation wordings. Thankfully, both set of parents were okie with it or perhaps, since we have been doing things differently, they have just gotten used to letting us have 'our way'.

I think right from the start, it wasn't so much that we wanted to be "different" or that we snub the kind of weddings that most people have, rather we wanted to have a wedding that made sense and appeal to us. Sadly, what most people do on their wedding dont quite cut it with us though i have been to many beautiful weddings. I want to have a beautiful wedding too... but unfortunately, after talking to other brides or brides-to-be, our idea of a 'beautiful wedding' doesn't quite match up to what other people want. It is the same for the venue, the type of gown, the wedding invitation, the photoshoot, the actual program. It was a little tough initially because it meant that, for us to have the wedding WE would like to have, we really have to do everything on our own because there wasn't many people out there who has similar experience in the kind of things we wanted.

Still, no regrets because it is our party and we are entitled to doing it the way we like it right? So hopefully our guests will feel the same way too and give us their blessing.

On the way of being wed : The Gown

Well.. the gown is finished and am really pleased with it. It seems crazy to obsess about a dress but heck.. it is THE DRESS. The *hopefully* once-in-a-lifetime gown which you'll remember in years to come and probably not be able to ever fit into again. Shirley, the designer at Flamingo Bridal, was really nice to work with and the lady does everything! From designing the gown, the detailing of the gown, the hairstyle, the make-up, the flower bouquet, i doubt that there are many designers out there that is so involved in a bride's wedding process. Absolutely no regrets whatsoever, despite initial apprehension of not using more 'famous' designers. Looks like now i have gotten the cake and eaten it too, because i managed to kept the cost below budget and got a gown that i am very happy with.

Training and Holidays

First week of the hols was devoted to training of the teachers. Would have loved to be on leave then but i guess work always comes first. From the responses of the teachers from the two schools, i have to say that our teachers have a longer way to go. The good thing is, the teachers themselves seems very interested in learning and taking the training seriously, rather unlike their previous 'i don't care' attitude. In fact saw a couple of teachers back in school during the hols preparing their classrooms and had a few good prep meeting with some classes and restructuring their classroom. Hopefully the training had truly spark off some real interest and get the teachers to be more involve and committed to teaching the children.

1/2 hr before lunch

and i am free enough to do silly quizzes on the sly...

Holidays are definitely here...

The Keys to Your Heart

You are attracted to those who are unbridled, untrammeled, and free.

In love, you feel the most alive when things are straight-forward, and you're told that you're loved.

You'd like to your lover to think you are stylish and alluring.

You would be forced to break up with someone who was ruthless, cold-blooded, and sarcastic.

Your ideal relationship is open. Both of you can talk about everything... no secrets.

Your risk of cheating is zero. You care about society and morality. You would never break a commitment.

You think of marriage as something precious. You'll treasure marriage and treat it as sacred.

In this moment, you think of love as commitment. Love only works when both people are totally devoted.

What Are The Keys To Your Heart?

Your Birthdate: March 1

Your birthday suggests that are executive ability and leadership qualities in your makeup. A birthday on day 1 of any month gives a measure of will power and self-confidence, and very often a rather original approach. This 1 energy may diminish your ability and desire to handle details, preferring instead to paint with a broad brush. You may be sensitive, but your feelings stay rather repressed.

What Does Your Birth Date Mean?

Bangkok and back again

Sort of nightmarish short vacation over the long weekend in Bangkok. Was sick and felt terribly harassed right from preparing to leave (stupid agent messed up on name and had to get ticket just few hours before flight) to shopping in the markets crammed with singaporean tourists. Thank god for a supportive bf who took care of me when i am sick and a good friend who helped us to change money, and then courier the money to me at work so that i didn't have to rush.

I am a terrible shopper and crowds, coupled with the humid weather, made me cranky and very uncomfortable. Can't say i like BKK very much, perhaps i ought to stick to just visiting 'quieter' places... like a beach resort on a weekday. Managed to lug back the wedding favours we bought from the chartuchak weekend market but little else. Sad, but true. All i got for myself is a couple of bras and underwear, only because everyone told me how cheap they are. But frankly, i didn't really care.

Came back home and still quite sick. Looking forward to the start of my holidays next week but i know there are still tons of 'personal' stuff to take care of. But at least i got those stuff planned out and shouldn't be too much of a problem.

Think the next time i go BKK i will insist on staying in a nice resort/hotel.. and do nothing except swim in the pool and go for thai massages. AND if i feel up to it, and i do mean IF, i might go to a market or two and try bargain for useless things just for the sake of bargaining.

Of lawsuits and relationships...

I didn't consider that writing blogs would ever lead to lawsuits or could potentially cause relationships to suffer. It is a pity though not necessary surprising since the web is after all, public. And when thoughts and views are put 'out there', some feathers are bound to be ruffled since no one ever shares the exact view as you do, on all subjects.

Lucky me, i just can't imagine anyone would bother to sue me for bad poetry and prose, or the fact that i thought rob & amber should have won the amazing race. A bit sad for those who had to change their blogs (or delete it) because of the effect their writings had on others. Guess sometimes, some thoughts ARE better off kept in our heads.

A month of thoughts

~~~
Before i knew it, case conferences are almost over and holidays are dawning yet again. It has been quite a hectic semester in school; one filled with stressful work, funny children, unhurried lunches and sweaty badminton sessions.

~~~
Going to BKK over the long weekend and sort of feeling quite unprepared.
a) Have not picked up our air tickets
b) Have not changed any money
c) Have no idea where to go

Still, am looking forward to be away for a bit but wilk may be quite stressed about it. After all, he is the one flying off to japan the day after we returned. As it is, we hardly have time to do much else (perhaps more on that later), what more prepare to go on a trip.

~~~
Busy. I am busy. He is busy.
It is the end of the exams and all self-respecting teachers (him, on days when he is not late for school) are busy marking papers, preparing for work trip to japan and organizing a script writing workshop for a friend.

ON TOP of that, he still managed to clean his room/walls and we fixed up and clean most of the furniture in his room (new shelves, double bed, wardrobe). Quite proud of him actually. All i contributed was to colour-coordinated his clothes and perhaps fix up parts of the shelves while trying not to muck things up. I must say, the room looked quite spiffy after a bit. If only we don't have to put back all the stuff now stuck in the study room.

~~~
FINALLY, confirmed the floral decor and colour scheme for the wedding, as well as completing the design of the invitation postcards. The menu has been finalized and we are pretty happy with the selections. Makes me hungry to think about it actually. So what else is there? Probably need to call up the wine people now and our photographer to plan for the photo shoot. The gown is almost done and i am happy with it. A little 'fiasco' with the suit but all is taken care of. So guess we should just take care of ourselves now and try not to 'outgrow' our clothes before sept.

~~~
All that hooha about The Amazing Race and i missed the last episode. Found out the results the next day and was a trifle bit disappointed that Rob and Amber didn't win. I realized i must be one of the few (very few) who actually feels this way because people are going on and on about how terrible these two are. I guess the other couple is nice and all that but I have always thought R&A had played well, in a scheming, thinking sort of way. Probably they have poor sportsmanship or even have poor moral values or whatever, but i must say they make a good team and display pretty astute gamesmanship (if there is such a word) with great teamwork/tactics and also the ability to be totally focused on the task at hand. If otherwise, they wouldn't have gotten first place for that many pit stops.

In the end, it wasn't that they played the game badly, but a stroke of luck, which decided the winning team. Some said poetic justice but well... i thought it was quite a shame.

~~~
Incidentally, i lost two kgs on this 'weird-ass' (that's what one of my friends calls it) diet which involves eating brown rice and tons of vegetables and fruits, as well as having at least 1.5 litres of water a day. It is actually pretty tasty and we (all part of the not outgrowing our gown/suit bid) have been having it for lunch and breakfast for the last week and a half or so. Dinner is as per normal but i do feel the difference already. Probably keep at it for another week (not in BKK though) and see how it goes.

Tickle Thoughts

In this half crazy world I sometimes gets a thought or two
Whizzing by me
Tantalizing tickles
It is as much as I can hold, like a goldfish.
You know what I mean?

43things.com

Thanks to gpa, now i have my own list of 43things to do...

Priority

Is definitely not blogging... for now. No doubt i missed it and i still try to read friends' blogs in between the more.. 'important' things in my life.

****
Work is shit. Was. And probably going to still be.
But it's life. And increasingly, i cannot really imagine trying to move out of it. Not that i haven't tried.

Surfed internet on work opportunities in OZ. Used to be that i would seek for something different. Like being a psych in other areas or learning to deal with clients of a different demographic. Not these recent searches. I want to contine with what i know and use it. But sadly, OZ might not offer that to me. How it will eventually be, i do not know. For now, work IS shit but damn if i am gonna let it go.

****
Hen night for a friend and we took her to a private belly dancing class all decked out in navel-exposing gear. Not an easy... sport. But fun nonetheless. After that a dinner and drinks at chijmes and we talked till 2am. I can't really remember much, on the account of the few round of drinks (including shots of tequila) we had but one topic stuck in my mind... the relationship between mother and daughter-in-laws.

I am honestly apprehensive about being a member of someone else's family. Disregarding whether one's new family is nice or otherwise, i guess there will always be some uneasiness because no two family culture is ever the same. And frankly, it will be a different sort of family that will 'adopt' me into their midst come September. Perhaps the 'assimilation' would not be that 'painful' when we don't stay together but i guess one has got to learn.

****
Right. Wedding check list.

Date - Confirmed
Venue - Confirmed, awaiting finalized contract
Dress - 2nd fitting soon
Shoes - Bought
Photographer for photoshoot - Confirmed, shoot in June
Photographer for Day - Confirmed
Videographer - Have contact, awaiting confirmation
Invitation - Half-way through design process

Now, on to florists and their quotations so head is filled with images of different blooms now.

Wedding prep feels like work.
And if you recall... work is... sigh.

Don't forget, there is still the wine, the transport and other nitty gritty things which i am sure will come up sooner or later... Still, like work, i am not about to let it go right now.


I wonder if continuing to date might perhaps be a better option.

****
Film fest with 8 movies and Pin Boy was so incredibly boring.
Either that, or i was not in the right frame of mind to decipher what the story is about.

Realization No. 61

It is always easier to make sense of unfortunate things and put them in perspective when they happen to other people.

Lobang in my elbow

After being plagued by that silly lump in my elbow for the past year, i finally decided to get it removed last week at my doctor's. The whole procedure took less that 1/2 hour and wilk got everything down on tape, from the injection of the LA to the cutting, to the pulling out of the cyst, to the stitching.

Very entertaining. Especially watching on a bigger screen than the camera's. Not quite open-heart surgery but still, with the scalpel cutting away and the blown-up shots, it was pretty gross to said the least. At the end of the procedure, there is just this diamond shaped lobang on my left elbow and now i am working around with "cookie monster blue" stitches. And the doctor was so nice as to give me a running commentary of what's happening (i couldn't see because i was lying on my stomach) and the lump at the end of it for a momento in a little bottle filled with saline. Think i will keep it to show my mom but wilk said it is starting to look really unhealthy, with yellow cheesy thing oozing out of a thin layer of fat-like sac.

Would have posted a shot of the 'lump' here but... Heh heh, maybe not.

Searching

When you know what you are looking for, does it make it easier to be found?

A cat who would be a lemur... or panda...

We have been painting a lot of cats in the studio lately. Well mainly wilk, though i tried my hand at a cat or two. Mine are usually happy, smiley, contented, chubby cats. Much like how i remember ruski to be but wilk's cats are a mysterious, menacing, crafty colour-run ones. Perhaps sort of how he feels ruski is like (esp the menacing bit). But last night, wilk painted a cat... well sort of a cat from one of ruski's photos (ruski's photos on our camera phones are a huge 'inspiration'). But it looked sort of... funny.

It started looking much like a bear cub with a flat head, then a lemur with big unblinking eyes and when blue outlines were added, it suddenly transformed into a panda. As odd as it sounds, the painting actually started to look more like ruski as compared to wilk's previous 'ruski-cat' paintings. Maybe it is the goofiness or the startle-wide-eyed look which was so spot on (esp when you jump into the bathroom, surprising ruski during one of his 'mid-lick' moments). But i think, it was the absense of the previous qualities in the other cats and this was just ruski as a harmless domesticated pet who is really just quite blur.

So... are you going to finally admit that you don't fear ruski as much as you think you do, dear? *grins*

Big things, little things

I wonder if anyone have the experience of being so focused on the details of a particular thing, that they fail to see the big picture. This is just a thought i have after listening to a friend who is currently doing an art project which involves him looking for a quote in the books of a particular author. Talk about looking for a needle in a haystack but such patience! Anyway, while i think i understand his rational of undergoing through such a, in my view, clinical and precise process, it is something difficult for me to envisage doing myself.

I am a 'big picture' reader and i read fast. To put it plainly, i read chunks of sentences, enough to know what they mean and move on quickly, trying to catch the rest of the fleeting images of the story as it unfolds in my head. Though occasionally, a particular good line stands out like a beacon beckoning at me, rather than the other way round. And i realized that when i focus on the individual words and slow down, i often stumble and fall into the chasm of grammer, syntax and vocabulary. Nothing much gel and at the end of the day, i often couldn't really remember what i have read.

Perhaps it is just me, having the inflexibility of the mind to both focus on the details and pull out far enough to appreciate the big picture. Perhaps, i am just too impatient to try and do that, appreciate both the language and its meaning at the same time. Maybe that's why i like to re-read my books. First round skim through the lot to 'view' the images, then a 2nd reading to pick out nuances of the langauge. Not a very effective way i guess, but i'm slow in that way...

Maybe for my next book, i should try to do both at the same time.

The Powerpuff Girls Lunch Club

Lunch time at work these days has been spent with some of the newer (under 1 year of service) young and pretty therapists in the social work department's counselling room eating lunch and chit-chatting together. It is nice, relaxing and generally cheerful. We have tons of fun and it was great not having to deal with work for a while, at least an hour a day when we can afford the time to eat a decent lunch without having a meeting schedule during lunch time.

Due to our regular 'gatherings' and friendship, the head of the social work dept has unceremoniously dubbed us as the "powerpuff girls" (in return, we call him our 'sugar daddy' for always buying us snacks and ice cream *heh heh*). And being the oldest of the lot *sigh*, i have been declared as the 'chief' of club. Other than lunch, we always have birthday gatherings, the latest being the sleepover/drinking/makan/mahjong party at my house during my birthday and long lunches during holidays. We even have a 'treasurer' who is incharge of the calculating the cost and collecting funds. Who knows, we may even get to register our little lunch club as a regular society once we have more members. :)

Still, working environment couldn't have been better. Now.. if only the work can improve...

I need a host...

for my photos so that i can link it up from my blog decently.
Yahoo photos and Sony Myimages just cant quite cut it.
The links doesn't stay where it is suppose to!
:(

Holidays are here but i am pretty stressed.
From term 2 onwards my responsibilities seems to have doubled and i am still far far behind in terms of my reports. Have a couple of sessions schedule with some teachers to prepare them for whats to come in the new term but i don't think that they are quite happy coming to school during the holidays. I don't think at this point they have any choice because we are really behind time.

Had a siblings workshop yesterday and we brought the kids to watch robots. Most kids behaved themselves and my group was pretty good. Would have enjoyed it more if the lunch was a bit more *cough* palatable (sorry angela) or if some of the kids are less spoilt. Sigh. The whole workshop could have been a little more well-planned too. Very harrowing to see people photocopying materials and changing some games details just before workshop started. Gosh, some even forgot that we will need pencils! But... i guess i am not quite anal of this sort of things. If anything, we will just wing it and see what happens.

Gazing

If I could, I would like to lie here and stare at the skies forever.