My bro's wedding

Hi hi, celebrate with me! I'm back after this long long break. Erm, actually just been busy with bro's wedding late last month. Then after that, I had no Internet access for a while as my bro brought the modem along with him to his new home.

Although I subscribed to this new Singnet broadband package in early Jul, I encountered problems after problems in setting up this connection. Firstly, it was incompatibility of modem, then re-connection of phone line, re-set of password, many failed attempts at connecting the modem (realised that I need to switch on the modem before the PC, so that PC can read the hardware connection. blah blah). Each troubleshooting just zapped me of so much energy, and I get so so frustrated dealing with them day by day. Yes, me no PC-savvy at all, and I just meddled with the various connection options etc.. Oh, and I reached a point of almost throwing the PC out of my balcony! Complained to God and amazingly, things fall into place after a few more attempts!

Have actually saved the following entry some 3 weeks ago, but I have been unable to upload it till now. So, here it is.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
My bro's wedding has come and gone so quickly! It has been very busy the past weeks, especially the days leading up to the wedding, and on the wedding day itself. I have successfully got my kaypoh self involved quite a bit. Besides taking charge of the church & dinner reception/usher, I was also responsible to chauffeur friends and relatives from place to place. I helped out with the nitty gritty of the logistics and stuff, and I drove my bro's car containing the photo album, ang bao boxes, marriage cert, blah blah blah for the day.

And we had 8 M’sia relatives over to witness the wedding. And since they put up at our place, we all had lots of adjustments to make, sharing rooms and stuff. Also through the wedding, I got to meet some of my Sgp relatives whom I have not seen in ages. Overall, it was a good time of catching up and renewing ties.

The church wedding was a simple affair, but even then, the amount of preparation that went into it was tremendous. My brother chose a Mandarin song by Streams of Praise for the March-in. I thought that it was very appropriate and meaningful. I was very moved by the song during the church rehearsal. The sermon was very well-delivered, and I was very impressed that the pastor could deliver it in both English and Mandarin versions.

After the church wedding, mum and I rushed to do up our hair at the salon. The schedule was very tight and I had to be at the hotel for the dinner reception shortly. One highlight for me, I was actually lost on the road, en-route to the hotel!! I exited wrongly from CTE, and I found myself in an unfamiliar place. You could imagine how freaked out I was. Firstly, I was already late, and then, I was lost, and I was driving, and I had all the reception stuff (sitting arrangement, ang bao boxes) with me. Prayed, prayed, prayed desperately to God for help. Thank God for answering, after several wrong turns, I finally found the hotel! And I arrived safe and sound. God is in control. Amen!

I took a while to recover from the “ordeal”. The dinner went by smoothly. The couple gave a thank-you speech which touched my mom’s heart. =)

My dad and bro had agreed to end the dinner by 10.30pm as there was a World Cup match that night, and I believe many guests would like to catch it. But by the time we packed up and reached home, it was well into the second half of the game. Bro managed to catch some parts of the game as he stayed over at the hotel.

I felt that my bro's wedding had been simple, yet very meaningful. No doubt there weren’t lots of frills, but the amount of effort that the couple put in was by no means small. I really admire them for that.

On the lighter side, one good thing that came out of the involvement was that I am now more confident about parking =) It made a lot of difference k!

Ok for now. Will blog about Part 2 of the wedding (in M'sia) another time.

Preparation and Adjustments

Have been feeling unwell the past 2 weeks, and went to the docs 3 times during this 2 week period! A record for me, I must say... I was desperate to get well, to help prepare for my bro's wedding in 2 weeks' time. Instead of getting better after my 2nd visit, I developed fever and was rather sick at work. So off to the doc again yesterday and I complained to him that the earlier 2 prescriptions did not work! Must seriously look for an alternative GP when I saw that the earlier visits costed me 100+ bucks and they do not work well! As all these consultation costs are deducted from my salary (GP is my organisation's panel clinic), I never really bothered to find out the costs. Well, now must really rest and get well this weekend.

Am supposed to help my bro carry the "Guo Da Li" stuff to the bride's house this morning, but my parents kinda decided that I should not go, partly cos I am still unwell. But the main reason is that my dad is rather superstitous, and felt that my going there will liken me to be a "Mei Puo" (Matchmaker) and cause me to be left on the shelf! He felt that it's better to be safe than sorry... kekekeke. He complained that I have done so many times of "Jie Mei" and its no good for me. Oh well, I certainly hope to convince him that this is pure superstition. :] My mom had no choice but to ask my older, married female cousin to go in my stead. So here I am, typing away, while all the action's happening somewhere in Hougang.

Now that this day has come, the wedding certainly seems to be looming much nearer. Can't really imagine how it'll be on that day. Though its not my wedding, but yet, much anticipation is in the air... Am fixing up a mani/pedicure appointment together with my sis-in-law and her sister.

Renovation for my bro's new house is mostly complete now. Just a few days back, my brother revealed that the reno job had been very much delayed, and it may not be completed in time for the furniture's arrival today. Hearing this, both sets of parents were really annoyed with the contractor's lack of responsibility. And they "activated" themselves and turned up at the house the past few days, to personally "grill" the contractor real hard and make sure they deliver what was promised. Hahaha, wonders of family support! ;)

On a separate note, I finally decided to send my faulty camera to the Customer Service centre for repair. Due to some inherent fault with the LCD or whatever, the company was willing to repair it FOC and have it delivered to my place in 2 weeks. Thank God! And to think I almost wanted to buy a new camera...

Its been 1+ week since I moved to the new Division. Have not been given much work yet, as I spent lots of time reading up on the simulation stuff. Liked my new cubicle better than the previous one as there is a bit more privacy. Have allocated cupboard space for all my working files and stuff. Certainly hope to keep up with all the filing and maintain the tables free of clutter. Colleagues have been helpful and nice. Lots of familiar faces as this had been the first Division I joined. People here are younger and friendly, and tend to chit chat a lot more than those in my previous Div. Although the work here is very demanding, I see that the staff find support in each other, and are able to laugh it off at the end of the day. Good good. The comparison is endless, and I'll surely uncover these more and more.