Just to...

Busy would be an understatement, but I've never felt so much enthusiasm in the hustle and bustle in a long time. Life and love have been good to us; planning for the wedding party has been running rather smoothly thus far (save for the unresponsive photographer), we've finally booked the flight for our honeymoon, and I'm watching our concrete baby getting all painted up and preparing for the key collection.

Now for the final leap, baby. ;)

The dowry chapter: The love to a daughter

Julie write:

"Something new,

Something old, 

Something blue, 

Something borrowed."

Growing up in a family with 2 other sisters, my parents never gave us the impression that they had a favourite child amongst the 3 of us; we were all brought up under the same broken canes, nagging sessions and iron fists. I guess we will never, as daughters, understand our parents' expectations of us until the day we step into their parental shoes ourselves.

To be frank, it's exciting to set our parents abuzz with wedding preparations. It's hard to miss that sparkle in their eyes when they rattle on about our Cantonese wedding traditions, popping tips and pointers to me on how to keep the practices alive yet simplified.

So it was finally dowry shopping day last Sunday with Daddy, Mummy and the Husband. Traditionally, the dowry is given to the bride by the groom's parents to show the bride's parents that their daughter has married into a good family. But it's the 21st century, and you can't stop 21st-century parents from buying their daughters dowry too. :))

Contrary to belief that you can derive greater buyback value from gold pieces bought from a prestigious jeweller, you are sorely mistaken. The buyback price of gold is very much dependent on the weight and quality of the gold, while brand and handicraft is a much smaller factor. After having window shopped at mainstream retailers like SK and Poh Heng, I could see the disparity in pricing after popping by Tin Sing Goldsmiths, a quaint jewelry shop at which my extended family has purchased jewelry from since I was a kid. My traumatizing first time at ear-piercing, the gold key from my late grandma for my 21st birthday and finally my wedding dowry - they've sold me the tangible goods with intangible meanings to them. The deal breaker is definitely how down-to-earth the staff are, to the extent that they're not dying to sell you their heaviest piece of gold but instead choose to listen to your requests and make recommendations accordingly. Maybe it's because we're regular customers, because they managed to give us a discounted price which sounded really auspicious. :)

I wouldn't want to spoil the surprise, so all I'll disclose is that we chose an exquisite dragon-phoenix bangle and a simple necklace to match my kua on the actual day. "This necklace will look very generous on the bride," the staff in Tin Sing joked. We had a good laugh, but it almost felt like she was telling me this from the perspective of an experienced mother.

Reposted from http://jackjulie.blogspot.sg/

Can't Stop this magic - 2014 CNBlue 'Live' Can't Stop in Singapore

After experiencing their inaugural Blue Moon concert in Singapore last April, I've been praying hard that the boys will keep their promise to bring their music back to the SG Boice. I'm mighty glad they did.

If there's anything to learn about the boys from the band through their concerts, it'll be their personalities. Off or onstage, I don't see a distinct difference in their personas. Yonghwa is optimistic and always the crowd pleaser, Maknae Lee follows in his hyung's footsteps to provide fan service, Minhyuk always tries his best at providing fan service (although no one really blames him for giving none because he's simply too busy working the drums) and Jonghyun is, well, Jonghyun. Unwavering even when the crowd screams his name or prepares birthday banners for him (his birthday falls on April 15). *awkward silence* His voice is simply angelic and his guitar skills are top-notch, but after having observed the stark difference between Jonghyun and Yonghwa during both concerts, I think I prefer sticking closer to Yonghwa. The band leader can write a book on stage presence and fan service, simply because he dishes out all the little antics conceivable just to invoke waves of exclamation from the entire stadium. And the fans lap it all up.

The concert compacted 23 of their new and older songs neatly into a 150-minute set, barely giving themselves and the fans breathing space. They may speak just a handful of English, but their interaction with the crowd transcended the boundaries of language. The work put into crafting every CNBLUE song allowed every feeling to come through, whether you understand the lyrics or not. Delve further into the lyrics (translated, of course), and you will experience the myriad of emotions written into every track. Hearing every song getting its rework during the concert magnifies it all a thousand times over.

While we are aware of the fact that our Jonghyun is not a fan of any form of fan service, he pays his dues through his pristine voice when he sang "Love is", a beautiful number lamenting the harsh realities of love and how we all dive into love despite knowing the pain it will cause us. Cherry over the icing, I'd say.

If there's anything to learn about being a perfect fan, I would say the SG Boice comes out tops in every aspect. The way they organised the fan support (food and other items provided to the artiste during their stay in Singapore), the fan projects and the giveaways brings shame to all other fanclubs that are waging naive internal wars among themselves. KUDOS TO THE CNBLUESGFC.

Spontaneity

Increasingly, I feel the need to take life by the reins and grind to a halt for a breather.

Call it romantic, call it rash. We booked a staycation less than 24 hours in advance to check ourselves out of this madness. Marriage has greatly reduced the need to book ourselves away just to wake up in each other's arms, since we've either sleeping over at each other's place or jetting off to another country. This year's a challenge to our overseas travel plans, with weekends burnt by work and spending power depleted by our suicidal savings plan. What more can we ask for?

Like it was just yesterday that wanderlust took us to Changi Boardwalk when we first got together some 6 years ago. I had fallen in love with the hue of the sunset, as well as with the boy who brought me to it. Years on, we've chosen it as one of our wedding photo shoot venues to lock up that moment in life. :) And to wander around Changi Village in anonymity, traipse along the beach to catch some sun and finally fall asleep snug against you... it's magical. 

A week on, the Husband upped his game. 

Like I mentioned in my instagram post, we all need a mean dose of laughter at mid-week to defibrillate our dying willpower to climb out of bed every work day. Happy Ever Laughter, another prodigious child of local theatre veteran Selena Tan, gathered 13 of Singapore's most talented comedians on one stage to bring throngs of hearty laughter in a 2-hour segment of stand-up comedy. My personal favourite was Adrian Pang, whose virgin stand-up experience was reasonably impressive. I bet you never knew Adrian Pang could swear with so much gusto and nonchalance. Needless to say, the Husband loved it.

As a wife, as a partner, as a friend

To be honest, I haven't gotten used to being a wife to someone, and I wonder if it's because I've been assuming that role ever since I met the man whom I now call my husband. Some would draw a clear demarcation for the different roles they assume when they cross those invisible boundaries - from courtship to engagement and then to marriage - but I guess I like to put a lot on my plate in our relationship.

The past year has been nothing short of being magical - our solemnization, kick starting our preps for the wedding banquet, heading to new travel spots, watching our love abode stacking up steadily... At the same time, we would always take out time to reminisce on the past experiences, laughing over the silly things we did in school, collecting common childhood moments and preserving priceless milestones.

The next 9 months will be nothing short of surprises, painful planning and decision making as we anticipate our abode and our wedding celebrations. But one thing's for sure - we'll always have each other's back.

As one, forever and always.

2013

I don't write here as often as I did during my school days - the process of growing into a working adult has consumed whatever time I have to myself to backtrack and evaluate every experience. Besides, I'm busy growing the blog www.jackjulie.blogspot.sg, which is meant to document certain aspects of our married life, such as the progress of our flat and the planning towards our wedding banquet, which is coming up early 2015.

Wanderlust

2013 marks the year I travelled out the most in a single calendar year thus far - Taipei in January and June, South Korea in March, Hong Kong in November and Indonesia in December. Displacement in the form of travelling is unsettling yet therapeutic at the same time, because there's simply too much out there in the world waiting to satiate our hunger for knowledge and new experiences. Like counting down to 2013 at Taipei 101, scaling Mt Halla on Jeju-do at subzero temperatures, thronging the Venetian in Macau and watching Mainland Chinese tourists placing exorbitant bets on the blackjack tables, cycling in the rain against traffic on Cijin Island and stalking Hong Kong Island with a Canon 1Dx and a 800mm telephoto lens. No one specially buys such experiences; in fact, most of these invaluable memories were built either by moments of rash decision-making or simply being at the right place at the right moment. 2014 may see less travelling, but each ticket out will definitely be worth more than what I paid for.

Marriage

... is a bombastic word without a definitive meaning to it. When we decided to take the leap this year and sign the papers before getting the keys to our flat and our wedding banquet, we've carved another definition of marriage. Although it can be emotionally draining at times to always think about how near yet so far the other person is, this negative emotion motivates us chugging and working towards the next date with each other. To be completely honest, I still crave me-time, and our current living arrangement allows me sufficient alone time to do my own things that the Husband may not necessarily enjoy, e.g. spending the afternoon cleaning out my wardrobe. To many (detractors, mostly), our marriage seems incomplete without going with the conventions and keeping in line with what is deemed the "normal" progression of a Chinese wedding. I've been waiting to say this for so long: If you think your definition of a marriage is the right one, SCREW YOU.

Let's just say, 2014 is going to be a fruitful year. Let's make it awesome.