Happy 1 Year Work Anniversary - 09 Dec 2014

It's a year! I came into this workplace last year, lost and disoriented. Having to start from scratch (at this age) was painful; I spent 6 months floundering in work, trying at best to keep up with my learning and fit into the company's culture. Now, I still work day to night and overwork, but I identify myself with the operations team's aims and efforts to better the care in the ageing community. 

Overworked. I'm sure you know, from my reduced frequency in occupying the space here. To this day, I grapple with my weakness in prioritising work. The rate at which work is assigned to me is not exponential where it comes to a standstill at its maximum, but is still increasing. I am a procrastinator; Michael who (one of our managers) has gone through a ligament surgery before like me, empathized with me and emphasised the importance of keeping the hope for recovery alive. Yes, he saw the hope I have diminishing day after day and that soon, I will reach despair. Despite his constant nagging and even cajolement sometimes, procrastination sank in deep in following up with my physiotherapy sessions. LOL. I'm just surprised that he hasn't given up, but what do I know? Managers don't give up easily I guess.

So ya, the most likely reason I can't finish my work is that I procrastinate. Also I choose to blame it on my tuition classes and voluntary work. But of course, still, I want to say my workload is excessively high, presently 5 bosses rule my life. 1 operations manager, 1 real geriatrician boss, and 3 of your boss' geriatrician friends. On top of this, you are your Admin Assistant's IT person, your Clinical Educators' aid in giving suggestions for quality improvement, and your other colleagues' hands and legs whenever they organise events.

Well.. Manager said multi-tasking is the best method to learn more things at one go, and helping everyone especially the geriatricians will get me exposure. Future opportunities may just come knocking on their own. Okay then, there was nothing left except faith in his words, that your doctors are worth the effort, time, blood, sweat, and tears.

Haha! And the ranting begins...

You were attending an in-house training course that day, and while waiting for your colleagues at the office, you were propping yourself back on a reclining chair in the rest area, when your good doctor passed by. You said hi, and he smiled and said hi. But your good doctor took a few steps away from you (you were counting the number of steps he took), decided to turn around, and retrace his steps back to you. In your mind, you feel that work is definitely nearing you every second. He laughed (out of guilt) while assigning you something more, "Can you help me do something? I'm stuck at writing the paper for months. You remember last time I told you about this study I have been writing up...? Can you help me finish it?" At that instance, when your good doctor, also your big boss, assigned you work with such humour and humility, you can't possibly say no! I mean, which doctor is so humble to tell you that he's stuck at writing something for months? Lol.

Then you realised that you have to constantly look out for your good doctor, and scampered away at top speed the moment you spot him. 

Because your good doctor is very kind to share your help with his doctor friends, his words were, "Oh ask HJ to help you." Now you have to start escaping from his friends too, even when you can't walk down the stairs without holding on to the railing. 

Your good doctor's friend asked you to come to his office (where all doctors' desks are situated in) to prepare you for the upcoming forum, and your good doctor who saw you meeting with his friend texted you this, "Can you come to my desk, after my friend?"

And after an hour of listening to his friend's big thoughts and ideas, you sat in for your good doctor's lecture dedicated for his new doctor, because he said he's not finished and it's good for you to hear it too. Then he introduced you to his new doctor and told her to look for you if she comes up with any good ideas for a quality improvement research study.

You use Microsoft Access to create a form for him and his friends to enter their diagnosis and treatment plans whenever they tele-consult their patients, and you have to be present in their long consultations, because you have to be completely certain that they know how to use the form. In the meantime, he who loves to teach, asked for your opinions on what treatment he should give to his patient and then teach you how to identify some symptoms and ask you to memorise medical terms. 

Then after a while... You realized that...

It doesn't matter whether you are in a meeting or not, or whether or not you meet a doctor on your way to somewhere. Because you get assigned more tasks all the same.

The day you came back to work after your solemnization break, Manager came to congratulate you, but her other intent was to assign you a task. Yes, You missed a meeting that week, but during that meeting, it was decided that you will be the organiser of an event. You were recovering from shock when you had to be put to the challenge of being the overseer of an upcoming symposium that your good doctor wants to organise. I'm awfully bad at telling people to do things, and Manager really hopes that I can overcome my prolonged fear through this experience.

You told your good doctor that you will be more free after presenting his friend's study at the forum on Friday. And the following Monday morning, after his friend went around telling the doctors you won, you received some msgs from doctors who came forward to congratulate you omg. 
Then of course, your good doctor sent you an email with the subject title "Congrats", and his exact words were:

"Hi HJ, you must be relieved after last week. Congrats! I have ideas for 3 projects. :)" 

Argh, the hidden evilness and 3 arrows beneath that smiley face. In a flash, your intention of idling away your whole week went down the drain.

Then when you went to his desk, his 3 projects became 6, and you regretted asking him so many questions that sparked him off with more ideas. His only available slot was during lunch time, and while he was talking, you were starved, your stomach protesting. But he went on and on, filling your small brain with his big ideas and ignoring your angry stomach. When his good friends came to ask him for lunch, he told them it was your fault; you were talking non-stop and in his way to his good lunch when he was the one talking all the time. -_-"

Your good doctor's friend was very different from your good doctor. While your good doctor is funny and laid-back, his friend is more focused and industrious. He wanted so much for you to win at the forum; he prepared you to perform at your best. He painstakingly edited your deck of slides, discussed the study with you despite how busy he is, anticipating questions from the judges, and made you practiced the speech in front of him. You met him 5 times in two weeks, an hour each time, and he patiently clarified all your doubts.
He also arranged for you to come to the doctors' meeting to practise presenting in front of them, timed you, and made sure you know your stuff. 

Now speaking of the Forum...

That day at the forum, as I explicitly told Evon and all beforehand not to come and watch me embarrass myself, I didn't realise that Evon has extended the invitation to everyone in our department, and almost everyone came! I didn't know that until everyone started commenting in the group chat after my presentation. LOL. 

Right before the start of the competition, Elizabeth saw me fidgeting away in the seat nearest to the stage, and she came to reassure me! Haha! That's why I love nurses! :D

Your good doctor's friend apologised and said he might not be able to reach in time for your presentation, as he has to be one of the judges for the poster presentation just before that. However, he managed to come after all and right after your presentation, he texted, "You have made us all proud! ;)" And of course, not forgetting your whole lovely Geriatrics department who spammed the group chat with so many heartwarming msgs! The colleagues started teasing me for being so informal in answering the judges' questions; I was so nervous that I replied to a question in a way I would reply a friend, "Yea sure, we want to move forward and do an intervention study!"

First slide. :D

First experience standing in front of few hundreds, it was only natural that my mind was blank by then.

The following day was a Saturday and we had to be present for the award presentation. (Boo, I took a cab from my tuition workplace and back.) I sneaked Simba into the forum, so that he can capture some memorable moments for me. Indeed, I had a shock of my life when it was announced, "First prize goes to HJ from Geriatric Medicine". I went up on stage and flashed my usual silly, awkward smile at the CEO.

Then my colleague, Dr Gerlie won the top poster award for the category Physician, having outdone about 10 people. Simba took a photo of her, cos he remembered I mentioned Dr Gerlie in our day-to-day conversations! Good job Simba!

All the presenters for first session!

Then all the presenters :D

But look at what Simba did! Then he blamed me for standing at that position, and that I should have foreseen that where at he was seated, he won't be able to take my picture from his angle!
WHATTTT??

Haha! But what beats the professional photo, taken by the AH Forum's hired photographers.

Unable to contain his shock any longer, Simba blurted out to me right after the award ceremony, "Omg, did they announce wrongly?" What an encouraging hubby, you think???

He exclaimed that I should have told him that I'm getting the top prize so that his jaw wouldn't have reached the ground when my name was announced. I said I really didn't know!


Anyway, your good doctor's friend told everyone that it was purely your effort, and it had absolutely nothing to do with him. WHAT??? 
Then he asked you to be the PI for the study, and he would be glad to be a co-investigator. Eh, wait WHATTTT??

Then it occurred to me that it's never about how "good" you are, it's all about how willing your boss is in coaching and nurturing you, giving you the neccessary support and making sure that you know you aren't on your own. You just need a good boss, and everything else will just fall in place. :D My bosses are just too awesome, I secretly like meeting them cos they are super far-sighted and give excellent insights and really being with them is the fastest paced learning ever. 

The part about overworked; good doctor is getting an intern for me, and his friend got a medical student for me, after they diagnosed me with stress. The hope of having work-life fit will come forth soon!

A group photo of presenters at the symposium 
organised by yours truly.

Here is an abrupt ending to this post with cutesy Teddy.

For this Flag Day, bringing Teddy around to ask for donations is  definitely a right choice!

A newfound purpose at work

Things definitely got much better in the year of 2014,
mainly cos I switched jobs, met some nice colleagues and bosses who are willing to spend time to know me as a person and develop me, and I am finally finding meaning in the things I do!
They say a job is not everything, so don't let it affect your life, but remember that you spend more hours at work than with your family or partner. 

I have gained some wisdom from my past workplace - Staying in the job whereby you are counting down to the end of work day after day is never healthy; it's killing you bit by bit.

People say every workplace is the same; it is infiltrated with some toxic workers, alot of politics, favoritism, and the list goes on... However, now I must say I beg to differ! Finding purpose and feeling the importance in what you are doing is the way to go... Don't give up, cos even I, a happy-go-lucky person, who had aimlessly lived out my life, has a newfound purpose at work!

I can't believe I will say this heartfelt words someday but ya, clinical and quality improvement research is one essential aspect in making healthcare progressive and forward-looking. (Thanks to the doctors who instilled this idea into me, I think I am brainwashed 360 degrees.)

1) The Masters thesis which I've been helping Sr Gillian with (the discussion & results section) got a distinction! She's so awesome!

2) Jun Wen and I won 1st prize at a wedding fair that we went to on 5th Jul - prizes include:

- One free weekend night stay at Rendevous Hotel

- $300 off BLACK accessories voucher (where I bought my crystal bouquet from)

- $388 for photobooth voucher by One Sweet Affair Production

- IMPrefection voucher (Wedding decor vendor)

- Touche voucher (Couple spa vendor)

[I gave the last 3 vouchers to Iris since I didn't use them!]


3) [Think I mentioned this before] The abstract I submitted for a forum was selected for an oral presentation. Didn't get selected for the other forum that we submitted to though, but when I told Dr Philip about this disappointing news, he emailed this, "Nvm, we got selected for oral alr, that's the best ;)"
LOL.

4) I won prize #29 out of 1,900 people at KTPH D&D. It was soooo coooool! 
Iris won prize #196 and I told her "Omg, you're so lucky to be in the top 200!" Hers was a $50 Cold Storage voucher.
And when my name was flashed on the screen, Iris shouted my name and I screamed too, exhilarated that I got into the top 30! 

My first time in D&D and I won something! It was Wan Ling's 5th but as she hasn't won anything yet, it became her intuition and motivation to glower at me when I won! LOL. 

Anyway, side track abit, I love Wan Ling! She's such a capable and humble lady full of positiveness and humour.
Told her about my knee conditions; the usuals - fall when the knees suddenly gave way and she asked, "So have you mastered the art of falling?"
"Huh?"
"Since you fell couple of times, you must have known how to react while you were falling; like maybe rolling over to prevent yourself from getting hurt." Lol.

Staying positive despite the negative circumstance. 
She's very 7 Habits - "You are a product of your choice; not a product of your circumstance."

Me with Mich. Mich - at 6 months of her pregnancy. Although Pretty Mich didn't bloat like what the other preggies may have unfortunately experienced / are experiencing, and there was seemingly not many random cravings for food and mood swings arising from her pregnancy, pain began to burden her gradually. I saw her ailing day after day - she can't walk without feeling the immense pain down her tailbone, and can't sit or stand up properly without help. However that night, relentlessly, she stood up from her seat despite her tailbone pain when the first prize was about to be announced, thinking that it will be her! LOL.
She was oddly disheartened when she missed her chance of winning the $3,000 travel voucher!
Mich! I will definitely miss the way you react to things so hilariously when you are on your 4 months' maternity leave!

Prize #29 

- 4 weekend buffet dinner tickets at Carousel, Royal Plaze on Scotts!

Then in an instant, very superficially, everyone in the department is making conscientious efforts to cajole me into taking them to one of the nicest buffet dinners in Singapore! 

It isn't dirt on my face; it was a shuttlecock hand-drawn by Mich with Wan Ling's eyeliner.

Mich advocated wearing medals in the hope that we win the best-dressed team award (but we knew we didn't stand a chance after looking at other teams' endeavours). And yes, you are right; I wore Simba's Garfield Marathon's medal!

Our lucky table no 88, 

thanks to Linda who reserved the table early!

Link to Solemnization Video & Photos' Slideshow

The solemnization photos and video are ready! :D

Click here to follow link to the Solemnization Video!

Or copy and paste the following link:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/edgxsz0y4z641nt/JunWen%2BHuiJin_WeddingTrailer.mp4?dl=0





And also presenting to you the photos' slideshow

JunWen+HuiJin WeddingR.O.MSlideshow from Toh Hui Jin on Vimeo.

Happy Teachers' Appreciation Day

To thank the Clinical Educators, the Educational Development Department came up with a Happy Teachers' Appreciation Day!

Just some photos to show (without words) to spare you from the excruciating pain of reading my otherwise long, meaningless entries. Haha!

Human-balloon hybrid spotted in the auditorium!

Sporting nurses playing old school games in the background.

Nurses are the most spontaneous, fun bunch of people; I love them!

Live photobooth!

random photos of solemnisation, well for me it never gets old.

Hi cuteness greeting you this wonderful weekend...

Hi this is Casey.

Photo by Andrew Tan, SOSD photography volunteer

Our recent rescue, Perri, who has been waiting in the shelter for a family.

Mood photography - Portrayal of so many emotions through a single picture. Perri looks so lost and sad - both her and her reflection.

I seriously think that the SOSD photographers should join National Geographic, to venture out in the wild and do naturalistic observation, capture some good moments and be famous! :)

The fellow volunteers decided to give me a break for a month or two for me to plan my wedding, but the break is officially over after I was assigned to 3 cases at one go!

Being a volunteer (or should I say a social worker for dogs) was definitely a huge step out of my comfort zone; navigating my way to strangers' houses, talking to strangers, and using my intuition to guess if the adopter/fosterer is sincere were undoubtedly not my kind of stuff.

I met dozens of nice adopters/fosterers, some of them even became my "assistants" (in taking dogs to vets and adoption drives) and friends; but of course since God is fair, I met difficult people as well. Sometimes I literally watched a "Korean" drama unfold right before my eyes; the mum demanding that I bring back the dog while the kids cry and cry over their mum's unreasonableness. These people gave me a hard time; I could be in the middle of work caught up on something when some fosterer called and said she couldn't handle the dog, blaming all her actions on the dog's misbehaviour, and demanded that I find another fosterer within his/her given time frame. Yesh, some people are that unreasonable; it's always the dog's fault. In the short time,  frame,  I find myself helplessly being coerced into a situation whereby I have to go around begging for someone to help me with the dog and these times are definitely the times where I want to fetch the dog home, sneak into my room with it, and give my parents a heart attack the following day.

So I can truly understand why my fellow volunteer when orientating new volunteers said this, "After you start volunteering, you find that dogs are much better than humans." LOL.

But how can I complain when the dogs assigned to me eventually found such good homes?

Evie has gone to Switzerland with adopter Anna, and Anna said Switzerland is very dog-friendly; you are allowed to bring your dog everywhere, to the trains, to shopping malls etc.

Evie loves it there, so blessed - the 14 flight hours in a container in a plane must have been daunting for Evie but it was all worth it. :)

Yuko, another blessed dog with her family.

I was with Yuko this adoption drive and this family followed us wherever we go. LOL.

The dogs blessed me; they are an inspiration. They love and protect their family more than anything else in this world; their family is their whole world. 

I wanna blog with Androidsinboots' photos when they are ready, but they aren't ready yet, so I'm going to just post random photos of the solemnisation while waiting!

Will and Wilson at work. The pair of brothers had on the shoes of the same brand.

Jun Wen's dad at work in the background too, endeavouring to help retain most memories for us. Haha!

The infinity pool really made the whole backdrop stand out; there were no railings to block what's behind.

With several blocks of flats behind us.

And soon after this shoot, his dad advised Wilson not to take photos from this angle as the view behind us is not scenic enough lol. But as you know, I went ahead to engage AndroidsinBoots as they are very renowned for their vintage shots; (I mean, look at Will; he dressed like he lived in the 60s!) so I trust that the old flats will serve as a perfect vintage setting!

His tie is so cute right! It was pre-tied by the bridal studio coordinators and looks like what some prince in the fairy tales would wear.

My crystal bouquet and his brooch were in matching colours.

Trying my best to look Grecian; I chose blue as the base colour and champagne as the secondary colour, his was also blue but he wanted his secondary colour grey.

My colleague who saw the photos said, "Wah lau, can see that you make good use of your bouquet, you carry it in every photo!!!"

Hahahahaha!

Solemnisation table. Thanks Shixing/Mao for this photo! 

I love its contrast with the background of the museum.

Thanks Ling for placing my ornaments in appropriate positions, I love the way they are placed!

The frame made by JunWen, and the wedding rabbits pre-ordered by us from Nex, (Simba adamantly wanted the veil to cover the girl rabbit's eyes as he thought it was funny -_-").

The bouquet of flowers provided by the bridal studio was placed most of the time on the table and it works wonders in adorning the otherwise plain table.

The mass of fresh flowers placed right in the middle of the table that was provided by Naumi Hotel was one of the first things I awed at when I stepped into the bar-turned-solemnization presence, and I love that it doesn't clash with my personal decorations haha. 

Photo taken by Jun Jie. 

This photo is a must-show 'cause Jun Wen's mum thinks I look great with some sadness as I unintentionally brought out the emotions and highlights of the event.

"You were holding onto the crystal bouquet even after the march-in and was even crying with your hands tightly gripped onto it???"

Hahaha, sorry la - My first time getting married; I was so nervous I really didn't know I was holding onto the bouquet all the time.
The video Jun Jie recorded of us while JunWen recited his vows vividly showed me wavering in the direction of the wind.

Omg, I'm so sorry Androids; I has always been so awkward in whatever I do - but I trust that your video editing skills is top-notch! ;)

To do more justice to the crystal bouquet, here is a close-up shot of it taken by the vendor.

Crystal bouquet from BLACKaccessories.

The bow was plain blue but I added lace details onto it! Nice right!

His brooch at a closer look.

Grey and blue actually go very well together!

Found this in my camera after the solemnisation. LOL.

My bridesmaids, what were you doing?

Need some help? Dropped something in the pool?

Married.

Other than the additional weight to the finger, "married life" didn't differ much from being single! Haha! Everyone is saying it's 'cause we haven't lived together yet! 

But I start getting lavish treats from various girl friends, Mich, Evon, Iris, Celene, to be congratulated for my end of singlehood. Haha! To some, the inception of a marriage is a new phase of life; it's exciting, and something to look forward to and strive for. To others, marriage is definitely a deficit (haha), never something good; it is the start of the 3rd ring: suffering. Lol.

Evon was waiting and waiting for her boyfriend of many years to propose.. It was day after day of disappointments, even after several distinct hints. She exclaimed when I came back from leave, "Hey you married woman!" And instantly before I had time to react, she was right in front of me and stroking my ring.

"Wahhhhhh!! So nice!! Look at my finger; it's so bare! Send me a photo of your ring, I will send it to him!!!" Lol.

He asked when he received the pic, "Why she got two bands ah?" #facepalm 
(According to Mich and Lynn, the married women, I'm supposed to wear my engagement ring together with the wedding band.)

Lol! Guess when he finally proposes she will really cry out loud, both touched and relieved. Hahaha!

The Solemnization

Everyone knows that whenever you are very busy, the day passes really fast.

Yea, that's what happens with us on our solemnisation; everything went like a breeze.

I was so busy I didn't eat the food, but the SOSD adoption drives have drilled me to cope with busyness better - I could be talking to one person when another volunteer needs my help, while the pup I was holding onto peed or got into a fight with other pups. Haha!

All in all, everything went so well due to my friends' help! 

Can't say thank you enough to them, really :).

They came early and put in meticulous effort to greatly assist us in making this event a big success!

The vendors have filled the bill too!

Naumi Hotel - best service ever! The event planners have been very thoughtful and patient with us; we went there a couple of times and despite their busyness, there was always someone (at least an assistant manager) to bring us around. 

The planners were very, very funny, approachable and brutally honest - which is the style I like! They are quite unsure of many things actually as the assistant manager, Nelson, who attended to us in February was new and has not done any solemnisation event before in this new hotel. He simply said, "Let me know your concerns and I will write them now, and get back to you." 

I asked a million questions the first few times we met, and the planners have not once shown any sort of impatience or annoyance answering me.

They looked very very blur, and in fact they were really blur - they didn't seem to understand us even after several emails. There was once I became extremely worried and told Simba that we might be in for some unpleasant surprises.

But as days go along, the planners became more experienced as weddings started to line up in March. Phew~~ As the day drew closer, their attention converged and there was undivided attention for our event. It turned out that they were quite well prepared, and got everything in the right place (Solemnisation table 3 metres away from the pool, reception table right behind the seats etc etc). The 3 managers were there throughout; they weren't as frivolous as we thought to be. I was indeed surprised but in a pleasant way.

Will post an entry to rate all my vendors for ya future reference!

We took a mini pre wedding shoot just before the start of the solemnization as requested by the photographer.

Love this pic that Ling took for us! If ever Androids wishes to film a documentary, this can be part of it to show that painstaking, backbreaking, tedious side of a photographer's job. 

Another stance of the photographer's!

Some friends commented on how muscular the photographer is and that he flexed his muscles while documenting our marriage. Lol! Guess part of his training was to carry the camera equipment and stretch as far as he can!

Looking as if we lived in the past, with the faded photograph.

My tea party dress was handpicked from the store front; it has some Victorian to it, bit vintage so it's length was longer than the other usual cocktail dresses and I like that it concealed my knees haha! Also the ballerina-like bottom and the lace that covered part of my shoulder were elegant too.

Simba felt like a star that day and he loves it as we all can see - he looked right into every camera that was directed at him!

With the bridesmaids decked in mostly primary colours. 

Taken by Junwen's dad. This angle made the groomsmen look members of some (in)famous band. Lol!

Had to bend down a little for Simba to kiss my forehead, so I'm guessing that the photographer will crop away our lower bodies haha.

When the solemnizer talked about kinship... I found myself tearing despite efforts to resist them. 

The exchange of vows..

Simba wasn't very nervous, much to my surprise! Told him beforehand to read out the vows slowly and not rush through them (as he had the tendency to rush through his past presentations in school, especially when he gets nervous.)

He did really well, his vows truly personal and go way back; we both reminisced the old times when we first got together as he spoke of them.

Side track a little - don't you think the back of my hair looks like the dinosaur's back spikes? 

Ok, not funny...

Seems like everyone loves sending me photos of my weeping face lol.

Ok, I must confess that halfway through his vows, I got extremely worried as the vows I have prepared to say to him weren't as intellectual and heartfelt as his. Lol! I made it bit hilarious on purpose.

Cake cutting! And as requested by videographer we had to feed each other as one of the effects for our video. Lol.

With all kinds of cute, colourful and cheerful infiltrating every aspect of their wedding, it was only fitting that the story began with a shot like this. 

Posted by Androids on Facebook.

Looking forward to Androids' video of us! Watch the following creation of theirs and u will understand why:
https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=787818147912147&set=vb.146264548734180&type=2&theater

Simba's vows:

"Dear Hui Jin, From this day forward, I shall take you as my lawfully wedded wife. We have come a long way ever since we first met as fellow classmates 6 years ago. 

Reminiscing the days when we first started out as a young couple, I still clearly remember promising you that I will marry you someday. I was right all along as you were always that special one who stood by me all these years, sharing all my happiness and sadness. 

Today, in the presence of our family and friends, I am going to put my words into action, by holding your hand, as we both embark on a lifelong journey together.

You are my best friend, lifelong companion and irreplaceable soulmate and I promise to love you always, with my whole heart.

I promise to be forever faithful to you with my heart, body, mind and soul. 

I will always be there for you in times of joy and sorrow, health and sickness, good and bad times and of course skinny and fatty times.

I promise to listen to all your complaints and apologise to you first no matter who is in the wrong so that our relationship stays strong for the longest time ever.

I will cherish and respect the unique you and to honour and fight for you, despite having a small physique, for as long as we both shall live.

I promise to bring joy and smiles to your life and cheer you up with my not-so-funny jokes and funny facial expressions.

I will watch all animation films with you and all horror films by myself as well as refrain from nagging at you for occasionally indulging in your favourite bubble teas and cheesecakes.

And finally I present you with this ring, as a symbol of my said vows. May it encircle your finger always as a token of my everlasting pledge of love, from me to you."

My vows:

"Dear Jun Wen,

有些人说婚姻全部靠都是团结， and I’m truly grateful that you are on my team. You have been an awesome team player all this while in the relationship, and 我希望我们永远能这样的合作下去。

Thanks for always being on-call 24/7 for me. Thanks for making me smile whenever I’ve forgotten how to. Thanks for eating my leftovers, although it always looks like I have eaten yours. 谢谢你。

I promise to love you without condition, to hold you in the highest regard each and every day, to be always ready to share your hopes, your dreams and your secrets, and to support you to challenge you to be a better person. I promise to talk less and listen more, to let you speak in at least 50% of our conversations. I promise not to always laugh at your silliness, but instead I will laugh with you through good times and even bad times. Also, I promise to watch with you all your favorite horror movies someday and to ride some roller coasters with you for a limited period, of course. Lastly, I promise to expand my GK, so that you don't have to laugh at me all the while!

This is my promise of love to you. 这是我对你一辈子的诚诺， 我会一直守着它。And I look forward to spending the rest of our lives together. I love you."

It's tomorrow!

It's tomorrow! Didn't feel it when I was giving tuition from 9.30am to 7pm. Felt it the moment I saw msgs from friends wishing me well after that. Haha! 

Vows although personal and last no more than 3 minutes, is like a true blue presentation, which I'm truly so afraid of.

I'm pretty on the edge now, and you are right about it-I can't sleep! Aiya why am I still memorizing the steps that the solemnizer told us at this time??? It's 1am in the morning already! U know.. Other than lately being called short by more and more people (which is weird cause I wasn't called short until I stepped into the working world), I was told a couple of times at work that I have this obsessive-compulsive personality disorder. This behavior is so apparent to me now it scares me. Lol.

Now breathe in and tell yourself "It's okay if u didn't follow the solemnizer's instructions that well. It's okay if you stammer a few times or even throughout the vow. It's okay, it's your solemnization, your say. Have it your way." 

Anyway was on my way back from the bridal studio today when fireworks emerged in the sky somewhere of Chinatown! It was a pleasant yet unexpected surprise, as though they know it's my wedding the following day. Well.. The romance spoiler is none other than Simba. 

Let me rewind that for you...

He was rushing to Chinatown MRT for the toilet all the way from the bridal studio when the fireworks caught us by surprise! Having seen and heard the inception of the fireworks, everyone dropped what they were doing and scampered out of shops, and this stopped us right in our tracks! Just as I thought Simba could withstand the urge, I saw his face turn blue by the second; he has this "please-I-really-need-to-go" look. Lol! While each firework spark gave out a loud explosive sound, his bowels were actively responding to these sounds, the pain as if the fireworks were drumming his tummy at each blast. Eventually, with few words, he left me behind, jostling everyone to get to the toilet in the meantime... And this was how I was left stranded in Chinatown admiring the remnants of the fireworks display on our last date as boyfriend and girlfriend. Awesomeness! Lol!

Happy Lantern's Festival!!!

Fireworks at Chinatown 06/09/2014

And Happy Teachers' Day! It was as though everyone knows that it would be my wedding tomorrow; one of my students bought me face masks! Lol! Just when I need it!