Archive for October, 2007

Talk of weddings

Friday, October 26th, 2007

The biggie sis is finally married off… Happily, I must add.

In fact, today’s the day she flies off for her honeymoon.

Amid all the fanfare, and all the business of blood red roses, creeping vines, gold ribbons, posies, fancy heavy gowns, song choices, matchy-matchy dresses, make up, photos, pre-prepared speeches, we managed to survive the entire weekend… No serious hiccups, nothing. Nothing to dampen the mood of the wedding.

It was a beautiful event.

I had the privilege of being the impromptu maid-of-honour @ the church. I stood next to my sis, in a matchy-matchy bridesmaid dress (all her arrangement, of cos), and I could feel her joy as she worshipped God and listened to the exaltation from her pastor. Felt like I was giving her away too!

How long she waited for this day, I wouldn’t know. She never talks about this sort of thing to me. Nevertheless, I thank God for the few extra years I spent with her (after mommie sis got married and moved out). Cos I never used to be close to my biggie sis. I mean, I loved her and all, but I was always a bit afraid of her, and I’d never tell her things the way I’d tell mommie sis.

Things change when you’re sharing the same bedroom and bathroom.

I learnt to know her a bit better, understand her a bit better, be a bit more involved in her life. And I managed to give her a meaningful gift in the chapel that afternoon. A big change from before, when I would never know what she wants.

I’ve started to miss having her around at home, and in the room. If she married before mommie sis, I wouldn’t have felt it this much, i think.

  • No more biggie sis to shout “XIN!” to wake me up in the mornings. (1 shout is all it takes.)
  • No more biggie sis to squeeze in the train with me to Raffles Place.
  • No more biggie sis to scold me for letting dad buy breakfast and carry it.
  • No more biggie sis to fine me $5 for leaving the wireless on overnight.
  • No more biggie sis to make iced orange cordial for dinner.
  • No more biggie sis to stone in front of the tv with.
  • No more biggie sis to come into the room every evening saying , “hey! there’s a stranger in my room!” (She’s a funny sister, she is.)

I’m glad she found the ww. (I don’t think it’s polite to mention his full nickname here.) Can’t imagine any other person who complements her so well. Plus, he’s really good to us. ***BONUS PTS***

Now that her wedding is over and she’s happily living in her fancy-shmancy apartment with her husband, the rest of us are recovering from the exhaustion of that weekend. Just yesterday, our laundry finally started coming back. Heh.

But the wedding thing doesn’t seem to stop there.

Everyone assumes that because my sister is married, it will be my turn soon. And this time, I don’t have the excuse of being a student… Just the very valid reason of being too poor to afford a wedding or a flat (that no one else really cares about). Oh, and the fact that I still feel very young and want to do more things with my life before I think of settling down (which also doesn’t stick in the minds of people much).

On top of that, I’m coming into that age where my friends are starting to tie the knot. Went for 2 weddings already, 2 are engaged (according to their facebook profiles), a couple of others are planning their weddings, 1 of them is planning to propose. Some are telling me to settle down. Including my boss, who is still single (which is a bit of a double standard if you ask me).

To be very frank, couples in my church do tend to marry quite young, but I’m uncomfortable with that. Marrying at 24, 25, 26? Not such a good idea. I know myself and I’d still be indecisive, immature and rash.

“Divorce, is not an option.”

That’s the church’s view. That’s my view. There’s no way I’d ever want to be divorced. It’s even more painful than a normal break up, so I’d wanna really consider if I want to get into marriage, and whether I’m even ready for it. The long term commitment thing still daunts me.

I’m sure though, that when I finally decide to get into it, it’ll be quite an experience. And I’d be really happy to do it… Spending the rest of my life with the one person I can fully trust and lean on… The thought puts a smile on my face.

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MRT Musings

Friday, October 12th, 2007

If the music I listen to, defines who I am… I’d be damn sure my earphones aren’t accidentally blasting Pussycat Dolls to the entire cabin…

Cos you really can’t take a girl seriously when the music around her goes…

“loosen up my buttons babe, uh huh!”

It’s just wrong.

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Thank God!

Friday, October 5th, 2007

It’s time to give my Daddy God the due credit for what He’s done for me…

For a while now, I stopped thinking that He would answer my prayers…

I’m not talking about the big major earth shattering prayers, for the church, for the nation, or even the ones for my life direction… Those He’ll definitely answer… I mean the tiny prayers, the little ones to get a parking lot, or to get a treat from someone… Situations where God gets you out of trouble… To me, those answered prayers are little gimmicks that He does for new believers so that they know He is real…

But I’m no new believer… I’m stuck with Him for life, and we both know it… It’s all about having faith and trusting Him even when I don’t see anything happening… So I assumed I was out of the running for these random blessings…

Thank goodness, my God doesn’t think the way I do… Cos He blessed me in 3 different ways at 3 different times, in 3 days…

The First Time

The rigours of the new job demanded that I make several drastic changes to my life, in dressing, personal grooming, and being ready for any situation that crops up during my work… So I spent quite a bit of money in my first month, getting new corporate clothing, new comfy yet pretty shoes, getting specs with an accurate prescription, and even getting a hassle-free hairdo…

With all the big purchases out of the way, I was really reluctant to get the small things, like a small bottle of perfume to mask kopitiam food smells, and to always smell pleasant for afternoon assignments… I figured that for those small things, I’d wait till I recouped my losses the next month.

One afternoon at the office, one of the marketing guys came round to my desk and gave me a tiny hat box. It was a set of sample perfume from Acqua Di Parma! I couldn’t believe it! It’s a pretty little bottle and the scent is really lovely. I got exactly what I wanted without having to pay for it!

That was score 1 for the Big Guy in the Sky.

The Second Time

I was low on funds and I needed to get a cab. The nearest ATM was too far to get to and I was already running late. So I hailed a cab and asked if the guy took NETS. He said he accepts credit cards. I have a sub card from my dad so I agreed.

When I arrived at my destination, the bill was $22.30. I opened my wallet to get my credit card and I couldn’t find it! I’d left it with my sister weeks ago and never got it back from her!

I check the cash: $17 in notes. That wasn’t gonna get me anywhere. I tried to call my friends whom I was going to meet, hoping that they’d be able to bail me out. No answer. Desperate, I opened up the coin compartment to pay with whatever I had.

To my surprise, I took out coin after coin. $1 coins, $0.50 coins, $0.20 coins, $0.10 coins. It suddenly occurred to me that I might actually have the money to pay my cabbie. So I started counting: $17 in cash, 2 $1 coins, a few $0.50 coins… I got to $22.20 when the cabbie stopped me. The last 10cents he said, was fine. So I paid up and left…

In the lift, I was curious to find out how I could have had so much in coins. I peeked into my coin compartment once more. All I had left, were 2 shiny gold 5cent coins. The last 10 cents.

At that moment, I knew God provided the cab money. Like the story of the widow filling all her jars and all her neighbour’s jars with olive oil - when the last jar was filled, the olive oil stopped flowing. God knew I didn’t have my credit card (even when I thought I did) so He provided all the coins I needed to pay my cabbie, right to the last cent, and stopped.

The Third Time

The boss sent me out on a strange assignment, to shoot the skyline on one particular day. It was a rainy cold day and my boss said the clouds outside were so low that the tops of the buildings were blocked by the clouds. He wanted that picture.

So I ran out with my camera and my brolly. But it was the shift changing hour. There was no cab in sight. The cab stand was full, and there were no operators attending to me.

I kept checking the top of UOB to see if the clouds were still hovering around. When the cloud dispersed, my heart sank. At that point, I asked Him for a little help to keep the clouds there, and for a cab to come by willing to take me to the different locations.

The cab really did come by. And he brought me to my two locations. I stood there with my camera shooting. At first, there were no clouds. Then a breeze came and carried the lower clouds across the sky, covering the tops of the buildings, and then carried it away again. I got my first shots.

At the second location, the clouds were covering the tops of the buildings even more than before. I started shooting. The breeze came again, moving the clouds across the different buildings, and I shot until the sky was completely clear again.

When I left, a young man decided to get the picture I had, with his point and shoot camera. He even stood at the exact same spot I did. But I knew it wouldn’t be the same. After all, my Daddy God had put the clouds there for me and moved them away when I was done. Heh…

In the busyness of daily life and work, I sometimes forget that my God can move mountains, that’s why I’m writing this down, so that perhaps, next time, I won’t forget so often anymore…

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