Archive Page 99
Had drinks with some colleagues just now and we started talking about our uni days, whether we stayed in the hostel or not, etc.
Kid’s Meal: I didn’t take part in any CCA or activities during my uni days.
Bigmac: Why not?
KM: I think it’s ‘cos the hall I was in was not the right type of people I like so I didn’t really take part in the activities. Moreover, I had a 6-day week so no time.
Bigmac: 6-day week? But u can plan your timetable what.
KM: First year cannot. Fixed timetable. But I had Wed & Fri off lah.
Bigmac: Wait, wait. If u had Wed & Fri off, how can u have a 6-day week?
KM: Ya! It was 6 days. I had lessons starting Mon till Sat.
Me: Er, that’s only a 4-day week. Not 6 days. U had 2 days break what.
KM: No. It was 6 days. ‘Cos lessons start from Mon to Sat. I consider 4-day week like if the lessons were only from Mon to Thurs. Then that’s a 4-day week.
Me: (mutters under my breath) No wonder u couldn’t fit in with the people in your hall.
My dad went to China last Thurs. The first 2 nights, I got home relatively early so I took turns locking up Coffee + Peanut and Pinky + Horlicks, so each pair had their chance to run into the other pair’s enclosure space & "stretch their legs".
But I was really busy over the weekend and got home past 11pm the past 2 nights so the bunnies had to stay in their respective enclosures. 4 days of not "stretching their legs" proved too much for Horlicks and Pinky. They have been banging on the door that separates the 2 enclosures the past few nights. Tonight, my mom said the minute she got home, Pinky heard her footsteps and started mauling the door. She said he was banging the door so hard, she thought the entire barrier would collapse!
Feeling sorry for Pinky and Horlicks and seeing that Coffee and Peanut happened to go back to their own cages, my mom locked Coffee and Peanut’s cages and opened the barrier door so Horlicks and Pinky could run freely.
Big mistake ‘cos the next thing she knew, Horlicks went and peed next to Coffee’s cage in order to mark territory. Haha. So now my mom has to hose down the yard floor. I think she regrets giving in to Horlicks and Pinky. Hehehehe. They’re such naughty bunnies. 😛
Have been busy trying to sort out the sequence of the wedding dinners, etc. What Iceman and I have agreed thus far is this –
The wedding will be in August 2009.
We will have the JB celebrations on a Saturday – the customary "picking up the bride" in the morning, followed by tea ceremony for Iceman’s relatives, and then dinner in JB.
On Sun, we’ll have the solemnisation at a hotel in Singapore, followed by tea ceremony for my relatives, then dinner.
I’m hoping to hold the celebrations over 1 & 2 Aug or 15 & 16 Aug. Really depends on the availability of banquet venues in JB & Singapore.
So far, Iceman and I have gone to see Goodwood Park Hotel and we quite like the place (thinking of having the solemnisation & tea ceremony at the pool then the wedding at the Windsor Ballroom). Goodwood’s minimum of 25 tables and max of 35 tables also suits the number of guests we’ll have nicely. Our initial count is 30 tables +/- 2 tables. What we don’t like, is the price. Haha. At $1100 per table, it’s a little above our budget of $1000 per table.
We went to see Orchard Parade Hotel too… and we didn’t mind the ballroom though it received some flak from online wedding forums. However, when we went down, the ballroom was set up for 27 tables and it looked kind of tight already. I think it’ll be too cramped if we had to squeeze 30 tables inside the ballroom. Sigh. The price was good though! About $800 per table?
Will be checking out Regent Hotel, Orchard Hotel and the Grand Hyatt this coming week. Hope we find something nice!
I’ve also signed my bridal studio package. Will be going with French Bridal ‘cos I like their white gowns. Managed to get them to agree to doing a made to measure evening gown for me but I’ll have to top up $ for a full lace or embroidery gown.
For the actual day photography (for both JB and SG), I’m likely to go with Lightbox Productions. Their service is very good. Very personable.
So that’s what we have so far… hope to confirm the date for the SG dinner soon so we can scout for the JB venue.
Iceman & I also roughly know what sort of wedding bands we want. Something roundish, no "tyre threads", simple.
Example of what we like.
Sample of what Iceman terms as "tyre threads". Hehe. Actually I don’t mind the tyre threads but he doesn’t like it. Haha.
No offence to anyone who has this design!!
Things are starting to look up really. There were some things that I planned for w/o any backup plans… like wedding dates, etc. Iceman always tells me that I should have alternative options but I would just go ahead with what my heart desires. Thankfully, God has been good. Things are sorting themselves out and I think I’ve pretty much managed to get what I want (despite some initial obstacles).
I know some friends may think that Iceman & I haven’t dated for very long to be planning to settle down but I was pretty sure from the start that he would be the right person for me. Long time ago, a friend of mine, YH, told me that "when you meet the right person, you’ll know it". At that time, I always questioned how was it possible. It defies logic. But very early into our relationship, I felt that Iceman would be the right one. Somehow, I just "knew". I didn’t want to post this earlier ‘cos it would sound a little silly but I suppose now that we’re settling down, I can say YH – I agree with you!
Booze Queen introduced me to this song, "Lucky" by Jason Mraz and featuring Colbie Caillat. Didn’t really grab my attention the first time I heard it. But the more I listened to it, the catchier I found it. :) I know I’m jumping the gun here but I think it might make a good song for the photo montage at the wedding dinner… haha.
Do you hear me
talking to you
Across the water
Across the deep blue ocean
Under the open sky
Oh my, baby I’m trying
Boy I hear you in my dreams
I feel your whisper across the sea
I keep you with me in my heart
You make it easier when life gets hard
Lucky I’m in love with my best friend
Lucky to have been where I have been
Lucky to be coming home again
Ohhhohhhohhhohhohhohhhohh
They don’t know how long it takes
Waiting for a love like this
Every time we say goodbye
I wish we had one more kiss
I’ll wait for you, I promise you I will
Lucky I’m in love with my best friend
Lucky to have been where I have been
Lucky to be coming home again
Lucky we’re in love in every way
Lucky to have stayed where we have stayed
Lucky to be coming home someday
And so I’m sailing through the sea
To an island where we’ll meet
You’ll hear the music fill the air
I’ll put a flower in your hair
Though the breezes through the trees
Move so pretty, you’re all I see
As the world keeps spinning round
You hold me right here right now
Lucky I’m in love with my best friend
Lucky to have been where I have been
Lucky to be coming home again
Lucky we’re in love in every way
Lucky to have stayed where we have stayed
Lucky to be coming home someday
Ohhhohhhohhhohhohhohhhohh
Ohhhohhhohhhohhohhohhhohhohhohhohh
for those who do not know, Iceman’s Malaysian so we decided that to be fair to relatives on both sides, we’re going to have 2 wedding dinners. unfortunately, things sort of hit a snag ‘cos Iceman’s dad, being a very traditional person, feels that the dinner in JB ought to be the main dinner (in terms of size), and it also needs to be held before the SG dinner. (hey, initially, his parents thought it’ll be good enough just to have a dinner in JB & ferry my relatives over but Iceman understands that it’s important to me to have something for my family & friends in SG so he insisted on 2 dinners).
to me, whichever dinner is the "main" one doesn’t really matter ‘cos i see both dinners as equal. i don’t mind having the JB dinner before the SG one though i think it would be a struggle to find enough people to fill the hall in JB given that Iceman and my friends are almost all in SG.
that said, the first snag we hit today was – how am i going to wear the white wedding gown twice? for people (i suppose especially parents) who are superstitious, it’s taboo to wear the white gown twice. but i don’t really care ‘cos i’m going to have 3 gowns for my wedding and i definitely want to wear all THREE gowns at the SG dinner ‘cos that’s where all my friends will be!
so we talked and talked about it and my bottomline was simple – either let me wear the white gown only at the SG dinner (which would mean then that we would be in a technical default for the JB dinner since that’s the "main" dinner and i won’t be wearing the white gown at the "main" dinner) or let me wear the white gown twice.
poor Iceman… he was caught between his parents & me… but he came up with a brilliant solution. he suggested that maybe we could do a lunch reception in SG, then the JB dinner on the same night… and i could then wear the white gown twice without offending any taboos!
it will be a tiring day… but hey, i’m ok with that as long as i get to wear all my gowns in front of my SG guests. but then we spoke about it some more & it occurred to me that maybe wear the white wedding gown isn’t going to be that meaningful after all. i mean, i’m not going to walk down the aisle in church… my dad’s not going to give me away at the altar… so why bother with the white wedding gown?
hence Iceman & i decided that we’re going to chuck the western tradition all together. hey, we’re Chinese & we’re proud of it! so we decided we’re going to camp it up! cheongsams, the kua, the chinese gown for guys & mandarin collar shirts are going to be the order of the day. (bridesmaids/jie meis take note ya? :P). if i have to spend an extra $500 to tailor cheongsams for my bridesmaids/jie meis, i will! with the right music, the whole event can be quite funky actually. unique, different, light-hearted & funny. i’m liking the thought of it more & more.
so the game plan now is to convince Iceman’s parents that since my side will have a wedding lunch instead of the full scale dinner, they should give in a little too & allow the bride’s side to have the tea ceremony at the lunch first. (this is definitely not in accordance to tradition). of ‘cos we’ll serve tea to Iceman’s parents & any relatives that may come to SG for the solemnisation that’ll be done before the lunch. but for the relatives that aren’t in SG… or if it’s only his parents who’re coming to SG for the solemnisation + lunch… hopefully they’ll agree to this order of things.
sigh… i mean, worst case scenario would be we’ll do a dinner on Sat in JB, then another one on Sun in SG… but both Iceman & i felt that it won’t be very fair to the jie meis & brothers ‘cos that’ll mean we’re going to have to ask them to block their entire weekend for us… and possibly take leave on Mon ‘cos it’ll be a very tiring weekend. if we can have everything on just 1 day, it’ll be loads better.
so… pray for us? i think a wedding is really really difficult to plan ‘cos we need to take care of so many people’s sensitivities. if we could plan it our way, it’ll be so easy. as it is, i’ve almost decided on my bridal package after looking at just 1 studio – French Bridal. i think the hotel shouldn’t be difficult either ‘cos both Iceman & i are very decisive people… and i think judging from our negotiation skills today, we’ll do ok negotiating terms with the bridal studio & the hotel.
now… just to cross the first hurdle… i need to pray… very… hard.
Forgot to mention that food poisoning is a fantastic way to lose weight. My weight dropped to 43.4kg at the lowest. It’s now back up to 45.4kg but my body fat % dropped to 16.5%! Gasp! Lowest it’s been in the past year man! (Usually hovers around 18-20%). Maybe it’s the diet of fish porridge / fish soup bee hoon for the past 3 days.
Guess what? The person who threw my shoes and my slippers on my bed was my dad!! He was mopping the floor ‘cos the contractors left a mess and he got fed up and threw the footwear onto my bed! Imagine! This coming from a person who insists we wash our feet once we get home to avoid getting the dust from outside into the home, and doesn’t like it if we sit on the bed with clothes that have been worn outside ‘cos of the dirt/germs!
I think it’s pent-up angst from a time when there was a maid to do all this mopping, wiping, etc…
Maybe we should get a maid.
(But my dad says he’s not aware of the broken bits of plastic on my bed).
%&$*#
This is my ring. :) I’m very pleased with it of course since it’s made to my specifications. Heh. However, I didn’t quite get to see the end design before it was made… and am now toying with the idea of whether I should change it from a 4-claw solitaire setting to a 6-claw setting so the solitaire looks more roundish instead of squarish. How how?
Hmm… *deep in thought*.
After many many years of complaining, I came home today and found out the good news. My dad finally decided to install a bigger aircon unit in my bedroom ‘cos the fan of the old unit wasn’t strong enough to move the cool air throughout my entire room. That was the good news.
The bad part about installing a new aircon midweek is that my entire room is covered with white dust and the part-time cleaner won’t be here till Sun! I used up 2 full packs of wet tissue wiping every bottle on my dressing table, my bedsheet, pillows, bolsters, bedside table, keyboard, mouse, mousepad, the list goes on… It was really annoying but to be fair, mainly unavoidable.
Now the plain farking stupid part. (This was what really pissed me off the moment I stepped into my room). The bloody contractors threw my 2 pairs of bedroom slippers and high heeled work shoes (with its porous shoe bag on) onto my bed, never mind that they were NOT any where near where the aircon was being installed! WHAT THE HECK DID THEY DO THAT FOR? I have a couch, a coffee table, ample floor space for them to move the shoes about, assuming they really were in their way. Moreover, my shoes were placed near my bedroom door, and the aircon was installed at the opposite end of the room, above the windows! WHAT THE HECK MAN!
And while removing my shoes from my bed, and using wet tissue to wipe my entire bed, I also found numerous bits of broken plastic all over my bed – inside the rolled up comforter, near my pillow, etc. What on earth did those morons treat my bed as? A trash dump? Did they not see the wastepaper basket that they threw their rootbeer in? (Which is another thing that I detest – wet food thrown in my bin – but I can’t penalise them for this since it’s a personal preference).
I am pissed. I am fuming mad. As I wiped and wiped the dust off whatever I could for the night, I could only draw 1 conclusion. This is the reason why such morons will never rise above being a contractor. He will never be a foreman or supervisor because he 1) does not have initiative (hey, I know contractors have plastic sheets ok. But obviously this particular chap did not use any protective plastic sheet) and 2) does not have any brains (shoes on bed? Hello? I can’t think of any reason except that the contractor was stupid).
Grrr… I am pissed.
Manila is one polluted place. I didn’t clean my ears the entire time I was there last week and since I was practically bed/sofa/chair-ridden over the weekend, I didn’t get down to cleaning my ears last night. It was amazing… the amount of ear wax built up in the ears!
Anyway, that reminded me of the dry vs. wet ear wax issue that Zounds told me about. (Yes, Zounds has a penchant of dwelling on strange subjects at times…)
Just did a google search and here’s a simple summary of the "dry vs. wet ear wax" story.
——————-
Is Your Earwax Wet or Dry?
By Bjorn Carey, LiveScience Staff Writer
posted: 29 January 2006 05:18 pm ET
Do you have dry, flaky earwax or the gooey, stinky type? The answer is partly in your heritage.
A new study reveals that the gene responsible for the drier type originated in an ancient northeastern Asian population.
Today, 80 to 95 percent of East Asians have dry earwax, whereas the wet variety is abundant in people of African and European ancestry (97 to 100 percent).
Populations in Southern Asia, the Pacific Islands, Central Asia, Asia Minor, and Native North Americans and Inuit of Asian ancestry, fall in the middle with dry wax frequencies ranging from 30 to 50 percent.
Researchers identified a gene that alters the shape of a channel that controls the flow of molecules that directly affect earwax type. They found that many East Asians have a mutation in this gene that prevents cerumen, the molecule that makes earwax wet, from entering the mix.
Scientists believe that the mutation reached high frequencies in Northeast Eurasia and, following a population increase, expanded over the rest of the continent. Today distribution of the gene is highest in North China and Korea.
Wet earwax is believed to have uses in insect trapping, self-cleaning, and prevention of dryness in the external auditory canal of the ear. It also produces an odor and causes sweating, which may play a role as a pheromone.
The usefulness of dry earwax, however, is not well understood. Researchers believe it may have originated to prevent less odor and sweating, a possible adaptation to the cold climate that the population is believed to have lived in.
The research is detailed in the Jan. 29 online edition of the journal Nature Genetics.
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