easing me through the new year...

the last 2 days have been tough...

imagine having a persistent head cramp...one which makes you feel as if you're skull is shrinking an inch an hour...closing into all your senses...making your head frown...your eyes buldge out from the pressure...your heart begins to race...and your breathing shortens...

i haven't felt stress like this in a while....

and it's such a challenge...even to breathe in and out slowly...pushing in as much oxygen into the chest...to force yourself not to exhale hoping that it would help you stop the frantic beating of your heart...

that all things will return to normalcy soon...

that i'll feel human again...

i've changed my skin...

to remind me that there's much more to life than this...that i should take the time to sit back and relax...to enjoy the simplicities of life...

back..barbeque..sentosa..cafe del mar...

i got back on thursday morning..landed at 7.30 am...took a quick nap and was back in the office at 2pm...ta jie was calling me...telling me that IE needed something quick..iman came by the office..and we left early for a good dinner at sakae...japanese cuisine was just what i needed after a week and a half of naan, naan, naan and more naan.

...

headed to aloha loyang for a barbeque with iman's kk boys...was a hoot...i got to hang out with the kids inside...and enjoyed jojo's strumming of mat jiwang malay love songs...was good to be back..

...

cherie and rita from bangkok were in town. so iman and i picked them up at bugis junction and headed to Fong Seng for nasi lemak...rita loves nasi lemak... and where better to bring her...we then headed to Sentosa...it was almost nine by this time...and all the attractions were closed..but they still enjoyed looking at the ugly merlion and walking around...

we then checked out Cafel del Mar...i lurve lurve lurved the place...groovy tunes...gorgeous pool...and most decadent deck chairs and day beds...drinks were on me..and we spent the evening laughing over funny stories...


next time i head there...i'm bringing my bathing suit...

My Best Friend's Wedding

Speech about my best-friend at her Wedding Reception.

When Sonia asked me to say a few words at the wedding, I was hysterically happy. Then it dawned upon me that I would be MCeeing the wedding as well. I should not also be giving the speech. I conveyed this feeling of discomfort to Sonia, and her response was, “Why can’t you do both?”

I explained that it would appear to people as if I was hogging the limelight and attention, by trying to do both. I didn’t want people to think that I “shiok sendiri”. Her answer was a straight-forward, “Yes you can do both.. It doesn’t matter what people think!”

I’ve been friends with Sonia for almost 13 years now, and that’s what I love about her. She doesn’t care what people think as long as she know’s its right. And she knows I love attention and encourages it!

Seriously. Sonia left Singapore to study in Australia at 17. Before she left for Sydney, Sonia was a, this is the truth- you know it Son so don’t hate me!, a scatter-brain. I think she spent more time day-dreaming and in fantasies rather than making sure she knows how to get to point A to point B. Sonia was a notoriously bad navigator. She’d get lost at Takashimaya without someone to guide her! I used to make endless fun of her regarding this ‘quality’ of hers! And she’d get back at me for it.

Once when we were planning a design of a cruise-liner, don’t ask me why we did that, it was one of the things we did when we made up our minds that A Math was too difficult and didn’t deserve our undivided attention, she assigned us all positions like captain, crewman. I made a strong point that there was no way she could be the navigator. Sonia laughed it off, as if it didn’t matter at all how I was being so mean to her. But quietly as she finished her plan, she drew a tiny cabin, at the lowest rungs of the ship for me, next to the waste collection, which she designed to fuel the ship- and I was assigned to shovel that biological waste to keep the ship running. That was poetic justice for her.

I’ve never told her this I think, but the thing I loved and admired most about her was her sense of imagination, the fantasies that she paints in her head and sometimes articulates on paper. If you are one of the lucky few, and I think I am- Sonia could bring you to the ends of the earth, to see a palate of colours no man could ever describe, and launch you into delirious bouts of giggles when she opens your heart to the endless happy endings that you could encounter in one life.

Now Daniel. I’ve known Daniel now for, I dunno- I can’t recall when I first met him. Most of you probably don’t know him very well. I’ve spent, well not much time, but enough. We’ve played a round of silly golf together in Sydney, we’ve spent an afternoon at an amusement park, we’ve had brunch together. You know when I guy is a great guy, when he brings you to a golf course and never makes a face when you miss golf ball five times in a row after you’ve claimed to play golf since u were seven. You also know when a guy is great, when he beats 5 other seven year old at a funfair game so that his girlfriend’s friend could bring home a gorilla you named Eshay.

Actually, I’ve always been afraid of Daniel. Look at him. He’s a tall and looks so serious. And even when he’s trying to be funny, you’re not sure if he’s joking or being sarcastic, or scolding you. Daniel also comes in a package- you don’t get just Daniel but the entire Family of Pedemonts too. Which is probably the best part of the deal!

Anyway. Returning to my story. Sonia left after we did our O levels with another good friend of ours to study in Australia. When she left, a lot of us felt the loss of a great friend. I certainly felt completely hopeless. My best friend had left.

There were many times I wished that she had never left. But today, I’m happy. If she hadn’t left for Australia, she wouldn’t have met Daniel. And what a pair they make. Daniel is serious and meticulous enough a person to make sure Sonia the scatter brain keeps her act together. I know for a fact that Daniel is a capable navigator, so Sonia won’t get lost in another shopping centre again. And Sonia’s infectious passion for life injects the little giggle that our serious Daniel needs to colour his life (urmmm I think).

To the both of you, I’m deliriously happy for you. Thank you Sonia for the priviledge of being your friend, for staying in touch all these years, for always inviting me into your home in Sydney. Thank you for US4, for Bono and U2, for Mirabella, Night Shade and god- knows-what, for Les Mis, for always being a phone call away, for understanding that my crying over a burnt pecan pie was a symptom of a broken heart and not a culinary disaster, for never judging and for being a friend!

To Daniel, thank you for sharing your family with me, and for loving my friend. For she deserves all the love in the world.

Not so New- New Year's Eve and New Year

i know...i know... it's not so new...but i've been busy..too too busy...and now that i'm in Lahore..alone on a Sunday..i've finally found some time to say some things.... about the New Year and the Old Year...

i got to see the fireworks....it was my first time celebrating the New Year with hundreds and maybe thousands of other Singaporeans at the Esplanade area...Iman and I got a nice spot with a wonderful view...

the rest of the evening was spent at zouk...it was my first time at zouk too...so this was a New Year with many firsts...

and on New Year's day...my best friend Sonia had her wedding...the Singapore leg of the wedding that is...my best friend's married and she's also going to be a mommy...2007 is going to be an amazing year... i can just feel it....

e gorgeous couple

e 3 beauties

iman, su and e pedemonts