the marriage proposal

Younger guys have expressed their, ahem, interests in, ahem, me before but not this young. He was the ringbearer at last Saturday's wedding. And I had the honour of being my friend's bridesmaid.

At first, he was like any typical pre-school boy. Standing in all sorts of poses, he was trying to imitate one of the Power Rangers. He even asked me which colour Power Ranger I was. I don't really fancy those robot-like superheroes, so frankly I wasn't too interested in playing with him. But Alex told me to warm up to the kids, so that they would listen to instructions better. Wanted them to walk together in harmony and turn when the couple turn to face the officiating pastor. So I had to entertain him, that little guy in front of me.

Then suddenly, don't-know-how don't-know-why, he turned to me and said "I love you". So the polite thing to do would be to say "Thank you", which I did. I was of course a little startled at first, but tried not to look too shocked. He did it again for a few more times, and it was quite cute at first. Even the relatives were amused. My friends were laughing, and teased me about it.

Later, he expanded his declaration of love to "I want to love you. I want to kiss you. I want to marry you". Gasp! What is this I'm hearing from a 6 year old kid?? Where does he learn these kinda stuff?

It was getting rather annoying when he continued coming up to me, even in the middle of the bridal rehearsal, and repeated those phrases. Later I asked him where he learnt them from. Found out it was from the idiot box. And that his parents let him sleep at 12 midnight! My goodness, what shows is he watching late at night? Sex and the City?? Surely it's not Kim Possible or Johnny Bravo.

I had to think of a way to "break" his heart. So I told him I already had a boyfriend. He didn't believe it, so I pointed to my guy friend who was handling the AV that time. This kid actually ran up to my friend and asked him if he was really my boyfriend. Then he came back to me and said "Don't love him.. I want to love you", looking rather frustrated and disappointed at the same time.

Then the pastor stepped in when she noticed he was not giving up. She told him she would officiate his marriage if he's willing to wait another 20 years for me! Think Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher :P

I thought it was over that day when the rehearsals ended.
But in real life, things are never what you expect them to be.

The next morning, I arrived at the hotel early, ready to be dolled up by the makeup artist. Serena and I looked really pretty in our white dresses. Naturally she looked grander since she was the bride. I was so happy for her, and couldn't wait for the moment when Alex would come and pick her up.

When Alex finally came, the bridal entourage were ready with their "torture concoctions". Typical of Chinese weddings where the bride's "sisters" would challenge the groom-to-be (and his "brothers") to certain stunts or dares before they would allow him to approach the bride. Alex and his "brother" managed to swallow slices of bitter gourd, pieces of chilli padi, and gulp down lime juice.

Then came the tea ceremony for the bride's side of the family. I was standing near them in case the bride accidently steps on her bridal train. My little admirer just had to stand next to me, even though there wasn't much space to manoeuvre around in the hotel room. And he had to proclaim his love in those famous 3 phrases, much to everyone's amusement. At this point, I just wished I had a hole to hide myself. But I maintained my composure and thanked him again.

I thought that kid would have slept over the thought that he loved me and would have forgotten all about it the next morning. But nooooo, he's still "in love" with me.

While at the church during the wedding ceremony, he kept walking over to profess his undying love. Even while the pastor was officiating the ceremony. Even while the another pastor was giving the sermon. Even after many hushes from his mother.

Later, it was time for photos at the patio. Mostly it was with the family members. This kid tried to pull me in there with the rest of his uncles and aunties and long lost relatives. Managed to run away after that. Not literally, but I had to pull myself away from him. So off I went back into the church, my CG members were there taking down the decorations. And yes, you guessed it, the kid managed to find me there amidst the laces and ribbons, and people.

Some of my CG friends had to reprimand him for being so... annoying. I think he got frightened of them and finally let go of my hand. Thank God for kind and understanding friends who are there when you need them!

As you will again guess, it did not stop there. He was also there during the dinner. I think his mother might have said something like "So you got yourself a girlfriend, you don't want me anymore". 'Cause he came up to my table, and promised that it would be the last time he said "I want to love you." (Yes, it's "I want to love you" and not "I love you")

I was pretty relieved, because that meant I was able to enjoy the rest of the evening undisturbed. Or that's what I thought. Later, his cousins teased him about it (Now that I think of it, they could've been the ones instigating this whole thing!) and that kinda inspired him to continue to "want to love" me more. He plucked a stalk of rose out of somewhere and gave it to me. One, then another. Then somemore.
Then a whole bouquet. I quickly got him to return it to the hotel.

And at the end of the evening, he even offered his hand to lead me to his car, offering to drive me back home!

When I told this to my guy friend, he said he also kalah to this kid. He was impressed by how good this kid was. I am still flabbergasted at where he learnt his tricks. The first few times is cute, but 100 times later, it's rather suffocating.

But, another friend puts it, if he was 20 years older, I'd be floating on Cloud Nine already!

He's got the whole world in His hands

While posting Leona's review on the Ad Deum performance, that song kept playing in my head. The way the funny guy taught us to hum, whistle, clap and stomp our feet to the tune was a rather creative way reminding us how everything else seems so small when we put them in His hands. How our problems are nothing compared to all the problems He has to shoulder for us. How minor the irritants in life actually become when there's a Big Guy up there looking over us. There's one kewl video clip which centres around this theme.

ad deum

Was mesmerised by the dancers from Ad Deum with their lithe and graceful movements. Read below for a friend's review of the show. Little did I realise that by posting up on YM offers for 2 free tickets, I'd be blessing someone, and her friend :)

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Ad Deum Dance Perfomance 2004.
A biblical worldview of the arts

Blessed and blessed indeed.

God really does bless us. But not always in the ways we want I suppose. Wanted badly to attend this dance concert that was being held in GTPJ and Lightbulb was supposed to go on Friday. But I was working morning shift and the show started at 8.30pm. Was contemplating on going on Thursday instead but couldn't think of who to ask to go with me and how I would get my transportation! So resigned to the fact that I'll just have to hear about it.

Then on Thursday afternoon I saw a friend's status that said she had two complimentary tickets for the dance that night! So I messaged her and got the tickets. Hurray! Plus my wonderful housemate agreed to come along to drive me there. Wheeeeeee... I was elated! A chance to go to the dance performance for free. And on top of that, I got to sit 3rd row from the front. *BLISS*

Finding the place was easy enough though we were 15 minutes late. The first thing that struck us was the car park. We parked on top and walked down...and were dumbfounded by the vastness of the carpark! Heh. Chun. The main sanctuary was no less mesmerizing. It could fit about 2800 people comfortably. Nice...

Missed the first half of the first piece.Out of Egypt. Or something like that. Didn't quite catch the title. This piece was about the captives in Egypt. The choreograper, Randy is the founder of the dance company and also an accomplished ballet teacher. His moves were mostly ballet moves but creatively different and more expressive with hints of acting.

The second story, Ana's hope was about a woman whose husband was caught during some war or something or other. And while other women in the village just went about their daily lives ignoring the pain and grief, Ana held on to her hope, her God. The costumes were dreamy-like and flowy. Suited the mood.

There was a short intermission before the third piece which was a comedy ballet. Is anybody out there? The songs were from Burlap to Cashmere and it was fast paced and super funny! Twas a 3-person piece. Basically potraying people finding the way to the Light in a comedic way. And the guy...he brought the house down with his amusing antics! He got the audience to sing "He's got the whole world in His hands"...whistle the tune...and hum the tune. The look on his face itself was enough to make you cry tears of laughter. This was by far my favorite!

The last dance, The Saviour was a more serious piece. The first scene was a duet that potrayed Adam and Eve. Then the "serpent" came in a form of 3 girls dressed in cat-women-like costumes with masks. Lovely! Then it went on to speak about when the kings of the earth rulled without the fear of God. How the Isarealites asked God for a saviour, when Jesus came down and His crucifixion.

So much more that can't be put into words. Simply wonderful. Inspired me more to pursue performing arts when I graduate...if I graduate...later! Thank you Sarah and Kae Ee...for making my day!

of white dresses and intimate wear

1 week left to Serena's wedding. And it slowly dawned on me that the bridesmaid has a few things to settle. And I thought only the bride has a long to-do list.

Bought a simple but sweet looking white dress more than 1 month ago. It was the only one I could find. The rest were either way off budget or too big for me. Since I was the bridesmaid, Serena said I could either rent one from the bridal studio, buy it from a boutique or tailor make one myself.

After enquiring about the prices, we realised that at the same price, it's better to buy a dress rather than rent one. So I decided to shop for a decent looking one which I could wear next time. Nothing came up after searching in various shopping malls.

Well, I saw a few which were really lovely, but they were too expensive. At that point, I did think of going to a tailor to make one. The thought of having to source for the cloth and materials myself seemed rather troublesome. So I settled for one which was reasonably priced and it had my size! I grabbed the opportunity and bought it the same week itself. I had to convince myself that there weren't many nice white dresses out there, and if I didn't get it then, I might not see it again.

Everything was going well, until I realised that it wasn't just the dress I had to get. There were also shoes, matching accessories, make up and hair to go with it, nice decent lingerie (coz the material was rather sheer :P) and also a shawl to cover the shoulders. After all, this was going to a be a church wedding. Can't stumble the brothers haha....

You know, having yahoo messenger really works wonders for me. And connection with a lot of people. In a week, 4 people volunteered to lend their shawls to me. Now they are sitting in paperbags in my room. I have another one coming in this week. Some weren't very suitable for the dress, some had patterns on it, and there was one which looked like it had gone through a rough tumble in the washing machine. I hope the 5th one (which was worn by another former bridesmaid) will look just right on the dress!

And don't even mention the lingerie. I realised with normal undies, one could actually make out the VPL. So off I went shopping for a slip. But to my dismay, not many lingerie brands have simple ones. I saw lots of lacy ones though. I was advised by a friend to go for a white lacey g-string(!) She said it would look sexy and sweet at the same time. I would have agreed (coz I saw some nice ones in Dorothy Perkins) if not for the fact that it would be held in a church :P

To solve my problem, I got some nice "intimate wear", which I can't disclose here, for some guys have overactive imagination haha. But for those who've noticed my custom mesg over yahoo, they'd know wat I'm talking about :P I've tried one of it and from the shape it looks painfully uncomfortable. I guess, it just needs some getting used to. I think I shall have to practice wearing it so that I won't be seen adjusting on the big day itself!

npe woes

Traffic in Subang has reached an all-time high. Work on the 2nd phase of NPE (New Pantai Expressway) is in full swing. For some months now, they have been cutting down the nice shady trees lining the main roads. After that, it was the bunch of trees huddled together in green corners. Later, the smaller shrubs got chopped off as well.

When I first moved in to Subang, I very much liked the idea that it was a green residential area. Lots of trees along the roads, flowering plants in strategic areas and carefully manicured leafy ones all over the suburb. It actually is a nice place to stay, even if it meant being further from the office. I would look forward to the drive home, because the greens made the traffic more bearable.

Now, I see all these living things disappearing one by one. All within weeks. I didn't know they were that serious about the NPE. I mean, I see the big signboard there stating that they would extend the highway from the Sunway area to Subang, but for the first 2 years when I was there, no work was being done yet. I was quietly hoping that somehow someone would protest and it would not get the green light.

After all, there is no guarantee that this would solve the Subang traffic woes. When the first phase of NPE was completed, traffic was diverted from Federal Highway, making driving more bearable. Some people were willing to pay the double RM1.60 toll to shave off the 30 mins it takes to travel from Subang to KL. For people like me who do not get travel allowances, I can only afford to take the NPE on Fridays. Seems that people only go home on Fridays, coz on other weekdays, traffic ain't so bad!

And you know what I heard? This 2nd phase of the NPE, which is creating havoc and nightmare for Subang residents (especially those coming from USJ), will stretch on till 2006! I cannot imagine going through this everyday for another 2 years. But I can imagine a certain minister laughing his way to the bank. RM3.20 for the luxury of reaching KL in 10 minutes. Multiply that with the number of cars passing through this highway per day. I think I shall have to start finding a job which is nearer to home, or consider telecommuting :P

7 ten kiu

Thank God for happ'nin weekends
For making them something to look forward to
For exciting things at the end of the week

Thank God for the CF reunion
For friends who are still as wacky as ever
For those who have changed for the better

Thank God for ST's new baby
For the bundle of joy You have blessed them with
For the mummy and baby's good health

Thank God for arty fartyness
For creative people and their colorful world
For making the world not just black and white

Thank God for birthdays
For giving us another day to live for You
For blessing us abundantly

Thank God for farewells
For teaching us how to appreciate friends
For giving us new friends as well

Thank God for new teachers in Jr Church
For the extra help much needed
For their zeal in ministry

Thank God for Mondays
For a new week to start all over again
For the work I left on Friday only to see it again today!

3 trips

Oh dear, I have 3 invitations to go overseas :

1) Backpacking and roughing it out in Bangkok-Chiang Rai-Chiang Mai, during Deepavali-Raya break. Adventure trip includes train rides, budget airflight, various hotel stays, Chao Phraya River cruise, shopping in local markets, and perhaps the Loy Krathong Festival.

2) Missions trip with church team to the Philippines, middle of October. Plans to follow up on last year's trip, visit villages and churches in the mountain area in the island of Mindanao. Might include "Soles for Souls" project for the poor children with no shoes.

3) Reunion cum missions cum sightseeing with x-MMUCFers to Myanmar, after Christmas. Itinerary not confirmed, but most likely handling children/youth's programme. Most planning done by missions agency, original plan includes Cambodia and Vietnam as well.

My leaves are not as limited as some, but my boss has this strange (though practical) ruling that we're not supposed to take long leaves when it's not "our festival". If money wasn't an issue, I'd have enough leaves to go for all THREE trips! But I just came back from Bali not too long ago, and I can't be seen holidaying so often, you know :>