What Planet are You On?!

As most of you know from a few blog entries back (see the As the Wedding World Turns post), I had a huge disagreement with my original wedding MC, the ‘other diva’. He couldn’t understand that if you want your friends to do something for you, you ask nicely and hope that they will agree. He tried to TELL me what to do, which of course guaranteed that I did exactly the opposite!

He has still not apologized for crossing this very fine line of friendship, so the situation is status quo. As he is a proud person and unlikely to say he’s sorry, I foresee that the friendship is pretty much over. In the last nine years that I’ve known him, we have had periods where we didn’t speak for over a year due to some spat or other. I know that I’m also a high maintenance person and have no patience for his dramatics. Therefore, I am quite happy to join the loooooooooooong list of people he has fallen out with and doesn’t speak to anymore! There are a few others who have become friends with him again, but they either live in another country or don’t see him that often, which seems to be the key to being friends with him.

We still have mutual friends and he has been telling everyone his spin of the story, which is perfectly understandable. However, one of our friends told me the other day that because I’m such an upfront and direct person, he knows that my version is the one that happened. See, being brutally honest does have its uses sometimes ha ha!

What prompted me to write this entry was the fact that P ran into the ‘other diva’ today, who said he was offended that P hadn’t gotten in touch with him since arriving on our small island a week ago! As P came to see me and our time together is limited, why would he call an ex-friend of mine who has caused me nothing but grief? P told him as much, but more diplomatically of course. I guess it shouldn’t surprise me that the “other diva” still lives on Planet Princess! Some people, tsk!

Another Amazing Person Doing It!

Shaving their heads for charity of course! What were you guys thinking tsk tsk!

I don't know what it is with people on this small island lately, but it seems that their philanthropic spirits are popping up big time!

My colleague DC who donated to Clippers' Shear Inspiration event has himself decided to raise some money for the CCF's 'Hair for Hope' event in July this year.

Why shave? The CCF's website says that "Children with cancer going through chemotherapy lose their hair due to the side effect of the treatment. Hence, it symbolises their fight against cancer. With every head shaven, we hope to foster greater understanding and awareness, as well as to celebrate the courage of these children. At the same time, funds raised from the events are channelled to improve the quality of life our children and their families."

DC is doing this to help children who are living with cancer. They do not have a choice so if you only donate to one charity this year, please consider this worthy one. Even if you don't live on this small island, the CCF accepts online pledges.

Thanks so much!

It’s Official!

Although I’ve been wearing the bling for the last six weeks, P and I didn’t have our official engagement dinner until last Saturday. We invited Rachel and family, including my cousin and her hubby who were visiting from Sheepland. We ate at my favourite Chinese restaurant and then met some friends for drinks afterwards.

I got all dolled up with a trial wedding make up run, put my hair in a twist and wore a lovely black lace and pink dress. I was aiming for the vintage 1950’s look and P said I looked like a “Chinese Barbie”! That is a compliment…I think! He prefers me without make up but well, which woman (even if she is a natural beauty and modest too hee hee) doesn’t like to play dress up now and then?!

We ended up dancing at one of the hippest clubs on our small island and ran into soooo many people. Although we were quite drunk and tired, we were all having so much fun that everyone was reluctant to go home! Both Rachel and my HK friend looked great and were popular with the boys but that didn’t surprise me at all.

We also met a guy I used to go diving with. I always thought he was nice and in a happy marriage, but he had a bit too much to drink and forgot how to behave himself! I was gobsmacked when I found out later that he had run his drink along the top of Rachel’s tube top! She was not impressed but as usual, was too polite to tell him off. He also tried his luck with my HK friend but she wouldn’t give him the time of day. His wife was out of town, otherwise I’m sure he wouldn’t have dared behave in such an abysmal manner. I won’t tell her as we are not close, but poor woman, that is just not on. Being drunk is not a good enough excuse. Believe me when I say that there is never a dull moment in this town!

P will be here for another two weeks and we were originally going diving next weekend. However, the silly resort owner cancelled our room by mistake and so we will just chill out here now. We are going to the water park on Friday, cycling on Sunday and then have lined up a massage for next weekend. Can’t wait!

Save the Date!

Shear Inspiration – Amazing Women

Yesterday, I received an email from Clippers, an expatriate woman I know, with the subject: Shear Inspiration.

It is an initiative aimed at raising funds and awareness for the Children's Cancer Foundation. A group of 20 women are shaving their heads this Saturday to raise S$250,000 to fund one of the two bone marrow transplant rooms that the CCF wants to install at the women and children’s hospital here on our small island.

There are currently 18 children with a bone marrow match waiting for the rooms to become available so that they can have their transplant. When a child has a bone marrow transplant, they are confined to their sterile room for six weeks. With a total of only five sterile rooms on our whole island, combined with the time it takes for the treatment, there is a waitlist. Hence, the need for a wonderful initiative like this.

I would have loved to participate as well and had thought about doing something like this last year. I only found out about the event this week and they already have their 20 women. Plus, with the wedding coming up in November, do I really want to have matching haircuts with the groom?!!

As I am completely inspired (their objective) by what they are doing, I decided that the next best thing would be to try and raise some additional funds for Clippers. So my colleagues and favourite aunt have combined to cough up almost S$1,000 in support of her head shaving exercise this weekend. Not too bad indeed! In addition, some of the people on our bike hash (unbeknownst to me, Clipper’s husband is also a member!) will also be donating so that is wonderful news all round!

Unfortunately, I will not be able to go as P will be in town and we have a family dinner which has been planned for weeks. However, I look forward to seeing the photos and to hearing all about the event and will definitely update you guys.

For those of you who are interested in reading more about Shear Inspiration, please visit their website.

Updated on 18 May 2007: The total collected from my colleagues is S$1,242! So with my aunt's and the bike hash members' contributions, we are looking at over S$1,500! Yahooooooooooooo!

You Know You are Aging…

When you go to the doctor to get some medication for your cough, and she ends up recommending cosmetic procedures for your face!

This morning, I went to the doctor as I wasn’t feeling well. I noticed some photos on her wall of a girl who had bad acne in the ‘before’ photo and very clear skin in the ‘after’ photo. To be fair, the doctor only started pointing out all my flaws when I asked her about the other girl who had done a chemical peel.

The doctor suggested that I remove my moles by laser, which would be carried out by a plastic surgeon. She also said that I could do with eight shots of Botox on the wrinkles around each eye and a filler to give my nose a bridge. The grand total of these procedures is over US$1,300. The Botox will last for six months, while the bridge filler can either be temporary or permanent, depending on which substance she injects.

She did give me some food for thought and I am considering it because of the upcoming wedding. When I told P about what she said, he wasn’t too pleased as he thinks I’m perfect as I am. But he is completely biased and I am well aware that fine lines have developed around my eyes over the last few years. Although they don’t normally bother me, it doesn’t hurt to look one’s best.

I’ve always been pretty experimental with my body (my 12.5 inch dragon tattoo on my right hip) so what’s a little Botox? I’m just concerned that I’ll end up looking like those Hollywood actresses who overdo it or wacko Jacko!!

Anyway, I’m not going to rush into anything and will take a few months to do some research and to consider if I should proceed or not. Watch this face, I mean space!

Moving Swiftly Along or Not as the Case May Be

We have finally sent off the deposit cheque to confirm the wedding venue by the river, so there’s no turning back now! I am very relieved and look forward to spending a great evening with my family and friends. Here are a few photos of the venue in case you guys want a sneak peek:





Originally, we wanted to have a sit down dinner with only 40 guests. But we quickly realized that there are too many important people in our lives, so we are now having a more casual buffet for about 60. With the wedding only six months away, things are slowly coming together (fingers crossed!). We will be finalizing the guest list next month and sending the invites out in September.

I’ve been organizing the wedding with Rachel’s help as P has been busy interviewing. It has been a very stressful time for him, but he’s managing well in spite of the slowness of the recruitment process there. For example, he saw one recruiter four weeks ago, and it’s only today that he’s interviewing at a company through them! It is no surprise that Aussies have the reputation of being laid back and cruisy with “No worries, mate!” being their national motto.

I don't know how I would cope if I ever have to move there as I'm a very efficient person. I'm sure it will cause me a lot of frustration as I can't stand laziness and dillying and dallying around.

P will be here in two weeks and I can’t wait to see him! I’ve turned into one of those women Rachel calls “smug married” and I miss him like crazy. My friend DJ was reminding me the other day, “Remember when you told me you were so happy being single about a week before you met P?” How could I forget? I guess the universe just wanted me to eat my words…

As they say, never say never!