The "Aftermath" of inviting people to my wedding dinner

This weekend I issued some wedding invitations to my friends. From this experience, I learnt something, "everyone has different ideas so dont take their comments too hard."

Why did I say this? People start to ask you things like
1) How many tables did your "Husband to be" give to your mother?
(It is a part of the "dowry system" that Chinese implement)
2) How much did your "Husband to be" give your mother as a dowry?
3) Did you receive any jewellery?

Do they think that a marriage is a trade?!? Is my mother selling her daughter? I felt that we should follow the traditions but not treat this whole event as if I am a sucker. Well, they (those who ask that few questions above) told me that I cannot think like that. Then.. how should I think? Get as many tables from him as possible? Dig out as much $ from him as possible?

After this encounter, I now understand 2 things
1) Why many Singaporean men say that local gals are materialistic
2) How much another friend of mine, whom just married someone younger and out of her race, have to endure those countless criticism she received from her relatives', friends' and even her closest people around her; her parents'. She really chose to marry someone she loves and believes she will have a future with him. Actually, all she wanted was blessings.

Some people will say that her choice is silly or an act of foolishness... but she said something to me, "You are the main actress thus you understand the most."

Company party @ THE HOUSE

ah... initially I did not want to go to this event. why? I was too lazy to pull myself to Dempsey Hill.

Its the 1st time I attend a company party in Dempsey Hill. The location was casual.. well, very angmo. There are outdoor sittings with buffet spread. http://www.dempseyhouse.com/

I was glad to make a trip down. Altough I went home empty handed but I had a good time "rubbing shoulders" with my corporate colleagues. I missed them so much!

Our wedding

The auspicious date was selected : Feb 18 2009. Both of us wanted a small scale dinner because we did not want to invite people we hardly contact. We love to share our joy with friends and relatives.

Our bridal shop - Julia Wedding News
Our dinner venue - Hilton Singapore - Panorama
Solemnisation - Hilton Singapore - Poolside
Our wedding band - Goldheart

Now, we are down to the details. We wanted to have our own wedding cake however, due to budget constraint, this idea is being scrapped. (Not cheap le... at least $800 for a cake). We are now exploring into personalised wedding favours and cards. I wanted a cosy & intimate wedding.. how how? any ideas?

THE QUESTION

My boyfriend proposed when I arrived in Seoul on 27 Sept 2008. Well, Its not that immediately after I reach the airport.

I was very surprised because I did not expect him to pop out this question so fast. I asked him, "Are you joking?" What a terrible question to ask at that moment.. its like a taking an anti-climax pill. Well, of course I agreed :D

The proposal was very simple. No flowers and ring!!! hahaha... why no ring? Because he wanted me to chose a ring that I wanted. I did not like solitaire rings cos I find them too "popping out". I am worried that me, being a rough gal, will lose the diamond. I chose Cartier's LOVE edition's ring.

Back to Earth

Yes!!! Finally I am out of Jurong Island.

This year has been a "shifting of workplace" year for me. Although I am still working for the same company but I have shifted office 4 times!!!
1) From Somerset to Whitehouse (Not the 1 in America, its the one next to the Red Dot Musuem)
2) From Whitehouse to Jurong Island (this is the worst!)
3) From Jurong Island to Shipyard Road Road.

So far so good in the site office off Shipyard Road. Although it is a little 40ft container, the environment is quieter, less complex and of course, more cosy. The facilities arent too great but I like it just as it is.

so materialistic

The people I know are really busy chasing money. They work in an environment where they are allowed to claim overtime. They can start clocking overtime from 630am. Yes, you are right, 630 in the MORNING. One of them reached the carpark at 610 in the morning. My my… I am still at home! When they reached the office, they will be either busy chatting away during normal office time or play solitaire and yet they claim overtime at the end of the day. Don’t they feel tired? Don't they need time for themselves and family? One of them managed to purchase a $130K sports car.. Sponsored by his overtime monies! Imagine the incredible number of hours he must have accumlated. There was another lady who complained that her forehead was full of pimples. Isn’t it obvious that the pimples are the result of her own doings? She simply did not rest enough as she works 12 hours every weekday and 4 hours every sat. That works out to be 60 hours per week! They can chose to knock off early on Fridays and not even report to "work " on Saturdays but they are lured back by MONEY. They seem to be willing to be a slave to money and then splurge on spa, facial and massage. How ironic.Not all are like that though. Some do overtime when their job requires them to (I respect this kind of people), Well, that is the real purpose of the reimbursement of overtime (I suppose) and not for employees to abuse it. However, no one reports such bad behaviours.

WONDERFUL Rice Cooker!

Rice cooker is a great kitchen helper! Ohh... i'm starting to fall in love with it. I explored the options (in the office pantry) within these few weeks. The results - Marvellous! Why am I cooking in the office? Because of my office's remoteness.....

Day 1 - Chicken Stew

1/2 whole Chicken - Marinate overnight with the following mixture

1 tablespoon of finely chaopped Garlic

2 tablespoon of Oyster Sause,

2 teaspoon of Dried Parsley

1 teaspoon of white pepper

Vegs - 3 skinned & copped potatos, 1 carrot, 2 tomatoes, 2 white onions

Mix the veg & chicken into the pot with water. Make sure that the water do not flood the mixture. Stew for 2 hours

Day 2 - Yong Tow Foo Soup (serves 4)

Soup - 1 whole chicken BONE (ribs + neck), 3 tablespoon of ikan bilis, 2 teaspoon of light soya sauce to taste, 2 thinly sliced ginger, 3 tablespoon of soybeans.

Boil in rice cooker for 1 hour. Put in the Yong Tow Foo into the soup 10mins before serving

speechless...

my colleague sat beside me this morning while we were on the way into our site office. The morning chat became an eyeopener when he happily tells me that he got a chinese 33 yrs old local galfirend. Its no big deal right, but hey, he has three grown up children (so you can imagine how "young" he is), married (with his wife working in singapore) and got a belly (he isnt a hunk, after all). He then continued that he, being a St James' member, visits the club regularly with his gal. He proudly add that even with this fling, he manage to reach home everynight "on-time"! His wife needs to work on nightshift occassionally and that's why he get such "freedom". Well, I laugh it off when i heard all his account directly from his mouth.

The next best part - his galfriend has a full-time boyfriend who is a businessman. My colleague was so shameless to admit that he is just her part-time boyfriend! He added that his galfriend's full time boyfriend got lots of mistresses in thailand. Why is it that there are so many people busy cheating on their partners? Are human really so lonely and deprived of attention? so messy.. so complicated. I really dont think we need all these.

Yokoso Japan!

Day 1 - After 6hours of flight, I got my foot down on Osaka's international airport. We took the rapid train to Kyoto @ 2000yen. We got this special rate after much help from the local train station crew. He was real helpful. He could stand there for a couple of minutes and try to understand our travelling plans so he could recommend the best "priced" tickets.



After settling down in Sunroute hotel (which is a very small room), we head to GION. Gion - a place of night entertainment especially by Geishas. We managed to catch a glimpse of 1 Geisha after we spotted a group of people waiting outside a restaurant armed with cameras. Once she walked out, all of us was busy snapping away. PAPPPARAZI @ work!



Day 2 - We woke up 7 in the morning and got ready with our "gears" and we hit the streets to walk our way to Kiyomizu-dera Temple (清水寺)! The Buddhist temple was about 30 minutes walk from our hotel. We were greeted with rows of shops selling sweet delicacies. At the end of the street, we saw the wooden temple sitting on a cliff.

Its one of the oldest temple in Kyoto. It was very crowded today, filled with many young visitors (mostly students).

After lunch (where we had our meal in a small shop. I had Tempura udon while Kwan had Don), we head to Kinkakuji Temple via bus. The single bus trip cost us 220yen per person. That works out to be about $2.30!

We paid an entrance fee of 400 yen each. It was a beautiful garden with trees, pond. The Golden Pavilion temple lives up to its name as its glided with pure gold.

Next, we took another bus to Arashiyama Area - a beautiful landscaped area located at the western outskirt of Kyoto.. its an escape + lots fresh air but expect to walk alot to explore the scenic place. The weather was good.. cooling and isnt too humid. Thus it makes the strolling very pleasant.

This is the bamboo forest within Arashimaya

Day 3 - Osaka + Nara

Again, we took the Japan's subway to Nara. We head to the Nara Central park (where wild deers room around, freely) and the Todaiji Temple (where the Japan's largest Buddha sits)

Nara Deer Park - as we strolled along the pathway, the deers were so sociable... greedy i mean. What i am holding arent biscuits, they are just tissue papers. They arent stupid, they will walk up to your hand and smell it. I managed to touch their horns and was surprised to know that their horns are rather smooth and soft.

Next we walked to Todaiji Temple (Great Eastern Temple). It is also the world's largest wooden temple. I remembered that there is a huge circular column where alot of sutdents where queuing to squeeze though the rat hole. It is believe to bring luck to the person who can manage to crawl though the hole.

Osaka - After much travelling, our hungry stomach lead us to OSAKA! its another big city in Japan. We tried lots of food over there. It started to rain once we reached the Osaka train station. Not wanting to waste time, we went into a shop to try their omelette. Its very delicious. Its generous with their sauce and cabbage!

Lucky Mother Nature was on our side, the rain stopped once we walked out of the shop. We continue our food hunt!

Mass Celebration

Its not a mass wedding but a mass birthday celebration for the Gemini babies (Wynne, myself, Wendy & Jiahui). Oh yes, very old babies in fact as all of us are turning 29 real soon. AHHHHH \('o')/.... this is our last year celebrating our 20 something birthday.

We had a sumptous dinner @ the Rendenzous Hotel however I was down with gastric. ('~') What a terrible way to response to such a dinner. How can we forget the most important portion: Candle blowing! since its a buffet, we got a plate full of mini cakes and a candle. Each of us making a wish for ourselves :) (what's my wish??? i'm not telling.. hehehehe.)

Our Hot Date

We are getting ready for our "hot date" tonight at Demphey Hill. Our brave souls made us not reserved any seats in the restaurants as we wanted to take a look around before deciding on the place where we wanted to have our dinner.

Demphey Hill isnt as "ulu" as what we thought. It was "walkable" from the main road. We decided to settle in "Magarita". Its a local mexican restaurant.

The food was good. Both of us love the spinach rice. Its delicious but expensive ($4.00 for a small bowl). Any negative comments? Yes... If only they serve still water.

Boycott against expensive products

I read this article from TODAY WEEKEND with much amaze. I realised that we should not pay tonnes of money to support their CEO to reach the "top earners" spot. You can easily buy a practical and pretty bag with less than $60 yet these people charges thousand of dollars.

Some friends of mine who are brand conscious mentioned that its a "status" issue. What status issue is there when you need to save up on your lunch to buy such luxury! What an irony.

Welcome to Paradise

I finally set my foot in Jurong Island. I’m not too enthusiastic about working on this site due
1) the need to wake up at 5 am in the morning (yawn~~)
2) the distance

After hopping onto the company bus, we need to go thru the checkpoint. Everyone is rushing thru the “scanners” as if there are some gold bars after the exit.

Next, I reached the site. Well, not quite actually, I need to go thru another barrier to go thru. After this “clocking in”, I got myself a seat in a 23 seater bus. I was reminded by a strict looking safety officer to bucker up and off my handphone.

The bus was travelling like a snail (30km/hr) and I did not understand the logic to belt up. To me, there was a double standard as throughout the trip to Jurong East Interchange to Jurong Island, I did not belt up.

The site office was rather spacious (and open!). The pantry was clean. That’s what I like.. it comes with 2 microwaves!

The day on site is rather slow though as we were generally cropped up in the office. (will get a big tummy sooner or later). Finally, its lunch time! I got my sandwich and after the meal, I hide in the shower area and get my power nap. There is a long bench but its rather dusty. I am happy enuff to have a quiet place to rest.

I left the office today to get ready for the next day

Dash got into a fight

It was the worst walk I had ever had with Dash.

Dash always love freedom so once I reached a quiet stretch of pavement, I will unleash him (ok, I am breaking the law but you should see how Dash wag his tail when he's unleashed.)

Soon, Dash saw his fellow mate and ran towards him. The golden retriever did not like Dash, thus they end up growling loudly at each other. Before I could pull Dash away, the golden Retriever pound on Dash!

I could see his sharp teeth biting into dash's skin. As a owner, I cannot bare to see Dash being attacked by a dog which is leashed! I quickly pull out my hand and dragged Dash out of the fight. At that moment, I was so scared and worried as I could see that Dash was losing in the fight. Luckily I managed to pull them apart. The funny thing was i kept apologising to the golden retriever's owner (for it was me who invited the fight... as Dash was unleashed). another weird thing is that the owner did not tried her very best to tame her dog.

She asked if anyone was hurt. Well, my wrist was bitten by her pet. I looked at Dash briefly and saw that he was ok, I told her that everything is fine. I walked the opposite way. After a few steps, I realised that Dash was bleeding. My heart sank. I quickly made a U-turn so I could go home to nurse him. Dash, being playful, did not want to go back!

Today, he's injuried right ear is healing and my wrist, is getting better.

Lesson learnt: Leash Dash! Beware of that Golden Retriever (they can be very fierce though they have the friendly look)

Dash was bleeding

Its tje 1st time in my "nailcutting"history that I cut Dash's nail too deep till it bleed! Dash did not scream in pain though. He just look away from me.

The bleeding did not stop till about 2 hours later. I was busy applying anti-septic on his nail and staying by his side to make sure that he would not lick the wound and the medicine as its posionious! (I do not want him to end up in the hospital)

To compensate him, I brought him to the Botanical Gardens for a walk

My health is sending a red signal

Recently, I am down with many problems. Its neither money problems nor "heart" problems.. its health problem. Since last quarter of 2007, I am down with Urticaria (itchy red welts assoicated with swelling). I have been avoiding alcohol, seafood and "yellow" noodles. Last week, I fell down from a step onto the carpetted floor. I got no idea what was in me on that day. I got my left knee bleeding (but not profusely). Till now, its still drooling with some yeloow clear liquid if I stand too long. Well, there was no case of "hero saving beauty". Then, this week, I am down with a swollen eye. my left eye was reddish all because of an ingrowth pimple. ARgghh...

my secret was out

who let the cat out of the bag? Its myself.. because I put some pics of "us" on my blog. Blog is broadcasting to the world what you have been doing. Nothing to hide though, just didnt want my friends to ask too much. But luckily, they didnt ask too much. Looks like its me who worry too much.

Work with passion

So, what is passion? According to Webster's Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary, passion can be defined as an object of desire or deep interest, or an intense emotion compelling action.

Lets narrow this defination to only work. Sometimes, there are some colleagues that has passion for what they are doing. They typically exhibit high energy and the ability to put 100% focus on moving something forward no matter what the obstacles are. You know who these people are. Their energy is contagious and most of us are attracted to them like moths to a spotlight because we'd like even a small part of the energy that they exude in the world.

For me, passion is about doing work that aligns with what my heart desires and

Conquering another wonder of the world

My dream came true this Chinese New Year. I made my footprint in the temples of Angkor, built by the Khmer civilization between 802 and 1220 AD. The structures that I see at Angkor today, more than 100 stone temples in all, are the surviving remains of a grand religious, social and administrative metropolis whose other buildings - palaces, public buildings, and houses - were built of wood and are long since decayed and gone.

Angkor Wat, built during the early years of the 12th century by Suryavaram II, honors the Hindu god Vishnu and is a symbolic representation of Hindu cosmology. Consisting of an enormous temple symbolizing the mythic Mt. Meru.

Astons specialities along East Coast

This place is a HANs lookalike outlet minus the desserts and chinese food. Their westen food are sold at a very affordable price. We had Grilled fish with herbs and Dinner burger (chicken). The burger did not taste that good. why?
1st problem: The cheese. They will score point if it wasnt the normal Kraft cheese plus they did not put in effort to melt it.
2nd problem: The bread. It was toasted but without any flavour. No butter or margarine.
3rd problem: The sauce on the chicken patty. It like the usual mushroom sauce. It taste like the same if you order chicken crop.
Enough of the bad critics, lets me share somethings good. The grilled fish was given in a generous portion. The fish doesnt have a frozen taste. My recommendation: if you are running low on "food" budget and do not want to hit the food centres, try ASTONS. Oh yes, be prepared to spend some time q-ing. If you come in twos, its easier to get a seat.

thought of the day: money cannot buy love

My friend, Lolly (name changed) said (with a great sense of satisfaction), " I am asking my boyfriend to buy me a S$1,970.00 LV bag."
I thought, "That's almost $2,000.00. What a luxury! That was my starting pay 6 years ago."

I did not envy her for having a rich boyfriend rather I felt... "Yes, it's nice to receive such an expensive gift from your boyfriend but is love valued like that? Would the gift be meaningless if he told that it’s a gift in exchange of the time he could not spend with you.
I may be damn stupid plus naïve woman however, I believe that love is beyond vanity.

Buying a gift off the shopping rack is so much easier than making a good communication with your partner or even have quality time with him. Put your shoe as a child, would you prefer your parents to work all day and only give you pocket $ and expensive gadgets instead of spending some weekends with you. For me, I perfer the latter, as its something money cannot buy.

The night with 学友

It was memorable filled with beautiful songs by this heavenly king. The concert included a portion of the musical; 雪狼湖 (but no duets)。His vocal was superb (almost flawless) that I was touched several times by the songs he sang (ie: 一千个伤心理由, 吻别， 祝福，爱是永恒，每天愛你多一些，想和你去吹吹風 忘記你我做不到, etc). I hum along with the other audiences.

He revealed bits about his life with humor (delicating a couple of self written songs to his wife and daugther) and also telling us how he was shot to fame (he followed by singing the song).

The performance started off with very engeratic dance moves. After two songs, I could see that he was perspiring. this 歌神 then laugh it off that this is a form of exercise for him to keep all the illness at bay.

Welcome 2008!

I wanted to spend my new yr's eve differently this year (no more fireworks (I had enuff… overdose. Singapore got a year filled with fireworks, from new yr to CNY to national day to xmas. Moreover, i get to move out from the seaty and sticky party goers.) I joined my friends for a potluck dinner. I played a part by making salad and heating up some cocktail sausages. After the dinner, we played the game "Taboo". its like "win, lose or draw" but you cant draw. You can only use the power of vocabulary to guess the words.