As I thought up all sorts of ideas for the celebration, I placed food right at the top of the list as we’re hosting a gorgeous man who lives life to the fullest, and enjoys every bite of it.

And one bite that he especially enjoys? Food, without a question of it.

I’d seen him sparkling with joy at food courts where he gets to walk from hawker stall to hawker stall to check out their delicious offerings. I’d seen how he’d order multiple delectable dishes instead of just one that fills his stomach, and I’d tasted how he’d smilingly, generously share with everyone that came to dine with him.

I’m happy that his senses are so acute that he experiences joy in simple things such as sharing good eats.

Thus, I chose a restaurant that’s reknowned for its food. Feast your eyes! :)

Palate Cleansers

Appetizers

Soups

Mains

Cake

Desserts

Teas

In hindsight, I secretly think he’d enjoyed previous celebrations more when we’d invited lots of friends and laughters in. He like being active, doing at the same time as being, by cracking tough riddles, or teasing his friends through physical games, and celebrating the victories thereafter.

This year’s was such a subdued celebration, I’d taken him aside to a place where it was just him and me. Having said that, though a party with great friends and great food (in that order) would have been the ideal party for this uniquely extraverted individual, I enjoyed the moment alone with him. :) His companionship is precious to me and I crave for deep and uninterrupted conversations with him (which is why waiters should never be annoying).

Farling, thanks for celebrating your birthday privately with me, as though it is my birthday, not yours. You’re a ray of sunshine that God had captured, momentarily, for me. In the year 2010-2011, I pray for you to catch a view of the bigger map, and beam your light to the nations in it, with me alongside, naturally :)

May you fulfill your vision and purpose for the year, that 2010-2011 will be reported as a very good year when we celebrate again next June. <3

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One day, I was about to leave the fiancé to take a 4-hour bus ride home, and I was very sad. As sad as eeyore on a dark and rainy day.

All of a sudden, the fiancé spotted a funny-looking tree. It looks like a papaya tree but it is not a papaya tree.
And its lower branches have fallen off, just like how a papaya tree’s lower branches would when it’s big.

But where the branches have fallen off, are left marks on the tree truck that look like big fat lips.
The fiancé exclaimed, that tree look like it’s been kissed.

I looked up and he’s right. The tree does look very funny.

My eyes lit up and I couldn’t help smiling. And I stepped into the bus with a silly grin on my face, as I kept thinking of the funniness of the silly smothered-in-kisses tree.

What do you think about that brings hope and joy to any day?

“Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” – Philippians 4:8

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But for some unexplainable reason, blogging haven’t come easy lately. There are so many things that I want to say and share with you.

A baby elephant being born at Taronga Zoo makes me happy.

A scrapbook of people being treasured makes me happy.

A daintily decorated room makes me happy.

A delicate flower waving in the wind makes me happy.

Taking all these in every morning at www.google.com/reader makes me brilliantly happy.

A scrumptious fiancé coming home from overseas? That makes me fly into the air happy!

Then, there are things that makes me want to crawl into bed and never see sunlight ever again.

My grandma being 89 years old makes me worried.

People not leaving #JackNeo and his family alone, irks me.

Jack’s wife. Disillusioned, hurt, misplaced, trampled.

Jack’s children, hearing it in school, watching it in the news, and reading it on the internet.

God, strengthen those who’ve been betrayed by their Daddy.

Now let me put on a red dress to wish you a Happy Lunar New Year!

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Image by Derek Purdy @ Flickr

A friend told me that the season when you are about to get married is also the season when you have the highest negotiating power with your future hubby.

Whoah, that is very interesting. I haven’t thought of that before! But come to think of it, my former colleague did draw up a list of non-negotiables before getting married, and her future hubby did agree to abide by every item on the list. After reading, he found that all the items on the list are morally legitimate to demand for, feasibly practical to live by, and even wise to ask for from a bride’s p.o.v.; aaaand that unless he agrees to them, no wedding!

Very very interesting. I’m getting curiouser and curiouser! Lemme ask you, if you were her, what practical items would you put on the list?

Let me think. For me, item number one would be,

NO ADULTERY!!!

Even when I’m fat and frumpy.
Even when I’m wrinkly and naggy.
Even when I’m irritating and not understanding.
Even when I’m bedridden, bedwetting and utterly disgusting!

After all, isn’t that what marriage is for? To have someone to love you and care for you, through every season (because there’ll be times when we’ll have just enough and times when we’ll have too much), even when you’re imperfect (because we all are), in spite of every challenge, until death.

And to have someone to love, care for and hold on to, even when he’s imperfect, through every season, as long as they both shall live. It’s a fair exchange.

Heaven forbid I marry someone who loves me only when I’m young, pretty and perfectly pleased with his every behavior. Life would be too stressful as such a horrid person’s wife!

Again, what about you? What would you put on the list? Tell me…

The male is a Korean, the female is an African. The male is cream-coloured, the female is dark-toned. The male has slit eyes, the female has big, beautiful eyes. The male is petite, the female is as big as a house. I have seen many multiracial couples in Malaysia and Singapore but none looked as incompatible as them.

I’m quite sure I’m not the only one who thought this way when we found out that they not only belong together, they are married, and happily so for a good number of years, and in case anyone still doubted, here’s their three playful children. Yep!

The reason I know I was not the only one who was taken aback was because the male is an invited speaker and when he was up, the emcee couldn’t help asking the most obvious question: “How did you and your wife meet?”
The audience chuckled while the man grinned and blushed. Well, the story of their courtship is a very sweet one and I would love to tell it to you in person if you ask. But what stuck in me deepest was the last sentence that came out of his mouth.

He said, “Don’t marry someone you can get along with. Marry someone you can not live without.”

His words are similar to what the fiancé said when I asked why he decided to propose, except the fiancé’s words tumbled out in long reflections that became sentences and paragraphs. It is a nice feeling to be accepted despite that he can’t stand my idiocy most times. If I were to paint a portrait to describe this feeling, it would be the portrait of a person with a knitted shawl around her shoulders, and the shawl has no holes.

I am also now an aunt and it makes me feel very ignored. I hover over the baby boy and sing at the top of my lungs to get him to open his eyes but he keeps them tightly shut as he soundly sleeps, completely ignoring the voice that proves my existence. How rude! May he change from the little silkworm encased in a cocoon of white threads as he is now and grow in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man, amen.

Oh, by the way, the baby is keeping a stash of Guinness Stout in the bathroom. Can you guess why?

Hint: It is not for drinking while bathing. Think of Cleopatra and what she does with milk. ;)

On 1st September, I would go, “Woohoo, would you just look at the calendar! The birthday month has arrived!!!” And The Boyf, he would check his fingernails for dirt.

But this year is the year that I turn the big 3-0 and needless to say, I was less enthusiastic than normal. I merely announced on Sunday, “Guess what honey, the Birthday Week is here!” And this time, The Boyf threw his head back and laughed.

That was how Birthday Week started. :)

First thing Monday morning, The Boyf, who is slightly taller than I, peered down my black mushroom of a head and said, “Look here, what have we got? A grey hair! And wait, it’s not just one strand, it’s a whole clump! Here, let me help you yank them out.”

So the morning was spent with The Boyf inspecting my head for grey hair. I joked, “Is this what growing old with you will be like?” And he smiled.

Tuesday evening, The Boyf suddenly said, “You know what? Let’s celebrate your birthday on Wednesday because I’ll be really busy the rest of the week!”

And I protested, “Huh? But… I don’t feel 30 yet!” Why would he want to hurry the day along? If I could push the big 3-0 by a whole 365 days, I would. Wouldn’t you?

He said, “I’ll book the restaurant,” and I felt slightly annoyed. He shrugged.

Wednesday afternoon, The Boyf came to pick me up. He said, “We’ll have to pop by the Skype office for a while c’os I left my documents there earlier.

At the front of the Skype office, I said, “Don’t you want me to wait in the car while you pick up your docs?”

He looked shocked. His plan is foiled! It took a while but he came back to his senses and said, “Nah, you should come with me and meet Dan. Besides, the office is formerly the home of Tiger Balm, you’ll love it.”

And when I saw the building, I did love it. I called out to The Boyf, “Hey, help me snap some photos in front of the building!” He looked so delighted at my joy, he probably winked at the sky with the thought, “The battle is half won.”

The building is lovely, isn’t it? It is one of those rare heritage buildings, built probably 150 years ago during the height of the ancient spice trade between Singapore, India, China and Europe. Tiger Balm is a remedy that every Singaporean and Malaysian knows to help sooth aches and pains. It isn’t made of real tiger, in case you’re wondering.

At the reception, we went crazy with posing for photographs with the Skype, Ebay and Paypal logos. Then, Dan the GM arrived and offered to take us on a tour. I was thrilled but thought, “We’d better not take up too much of his time, I’m sure the man has piles of work on his desk.”

Dan took us to the rooftop where their office parties are often held and told us there is a fridge in the gazebo with lots of ice-cold drinks. I loved the rooftop and the quaint gazebo so again, I unabashedly requested for photos sessions.

Dan led us into the gazebo, seated me on the bench while Nic went ahead to forage in their fridge.

The Boyf pulled out two bottles of cold water, gave them to me, then went back to the fridge to pull out a big bouquet. I was bewildered.

What was he doing with that? He’s ruining Skype’s flowers which I’m sure they’ll need for a corporate event. He ought to put them back!

But he cradled them in his arms like he really didn’t want to put them back. I had never seen him behave like that before, being completely inappropriate with someone else’s flowers.

Little did I know, he was very nervous. He suddenly shoved the flowers into my arms.

I said, “Harr?”

You mean these are for me?

Squeal!! The Geek had hidden flowers in the rooftop of Skype! How sweet! I didn’t even expect more, I was thrilled enough as it is. Dan was quick to snap photos to capture my surprise. Notice in the photo how The Boyf had pursed his lips, his usual look when he’s nervous and thinking hard.

He began a stammer about how I’ve been his best friend, ever patient, and that there’s no other person he would like to spend the rest of his life with… and I went into a daze. I didn’t hear the rest of it, I felt so light-headed and woozy. It was unreal.

I did see how he looked at Dan helplessly, and Dan kindly nodded, so he went down on one knee while I gaped.

For long seconds.
Until, he squealed in this tiny voice, ”Aren’t you going to say YES?”

And I went, that’s right, THAT’S THE WORD to say at such times; and strangely, besides the joy, I felt the solemnness and gravity of the moment, the Let-Your-Yes-Be-A-Yes-And-No-Be-No seriousness; and I said, YES! OF COURSE YES!”

YES!

Dan popped a bottle of champagne and the rest of the Skype team wandered onto the rooftop to toast us before The Boyf whisked me off to Halia, a lovely restaurant at the Singapore Botanical Gardens.

When we started long-distance dating 5 years ago, we frequently conversed on MSN Messenger but gradually, we had moved on to using Skype as we scarcely found time for both of us to be logged into MSN Messenger at the same time. Through Skype, we can make unlimited calls to landlines and mobile lines in Singapore for just €4.54 a month (including VAT), or unlimited calls to landlines and some mobile lines of over 40 countries including Malaysia for €10.29 a month.

Getting engaged on the rooftop of Skype is a brilliant idea!

Much thanks to Dan and the Skype team for enabling this experience, and much much more thanks to God for supplying everything + love. :)

Footnote: A lot of people commented that the photos look photoshopped. The only edits I did were crop and sharpen. Perhaps I’ve sharpened too much?