Coolcat's Jottings

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[i]Esther, me and Rina. Photo courtesy of Rina.[/i]



Last Sat night, I was at Jenn's sister's wedding dinner sitting with some gal pals and dressed to the nines. Of course we girls know that wedding dinners are actually fashion parades in disguise. To my horror, two of my guy friends sitting on the same table with us were wearing T-shirts and jeans! wheeze gasp

We've known everyone on the table for at least 6-7 years and seeing those guys again just brought out the 'evil teaser' in me. The part where I thought had matured over the years.

"Haiya, if you guys come to my wedding dressed like that, I will just send you on your way back home. No, on second thoughts, I'll take your angpows first and then only shoo you guys off."

Yeah, I know. I'm so evil. It's just that it's so fun to rag them like that. For old times' sake

"Hey, everyone, I know what we'll do. We'll all turn up in Pagoda T-shirts and tattered jeans for Joe's wedding. It'll be so cool!"

To which Joe replied, "Heh, don't be surprised if I turn up in jeans myself."

Oh man.

Everyone was having a merry time exchanging cheeky and gross jokes over the table when an uncle from our previous church came by to say hello. He took one look at me, gave a huge smile and asked, "How many children do you have already?"

Hah??!

I was stunned and could only raise both my hands for him to see that I was ring-less. Good thing he got the hint instead of thinking that I have 10 children!

"Aiyo, sorry ah. I thought you were Diana, Jenn's married sister," he hurriedly apologised. "Anyway, I'm proned to say the wrong things at the wrong time. Sorry ah!"

For the remainder of the night, Rina and Esther tried to console me. But no matter what they said, I know that I look nothing like Diana and I wasn't sitting at the main family's table for him to mistook me for her. I guess, I just look... married. Waaaaa!!!!

After dinner ended, we took our leave and gave our well-wishes to the family members lining up at the exit.

As I shook Mic's hand, he gave me a huge smile, "Hey, you look good tonight!"

That single compliment made my night. It sort of took away the 'sting' of that uncle's comments.

Or maybe not.

After all, Mic's Diana's hubby.

Sigh

Haven't been blogging much lately because of a host of stuff to do at work and yes, the rehearsals. Showtime is this Friday! We've been busy with the technical and full dress rehearsals and... I'm enjoying every single moment of it )

In many projects, I find myself thinking, "I can't wait for this to be over and done with so that I can take a well-deserved break!"

But it's different in this project. I have a feeling that I'll be missing it when all this is all over... It's almost like going on an awesome holiday knowing that it will end after two weeks or so. A holiday minus all the hard work and late nights put in, of course.

Ah well, at least I'm thankful to be given the opportunity to be a part of it. And I shall savor every minute of it and look back on it as one of sweetest highlights in my life.

Looking forward to tonight's full dress rehearsal despite my raccoon eyes and tired limbs

The downside of the wonderful long break I had was that I lost most of whatever bond and 'affections' I had towards my fellow cast members.

It was apparent during our first rehearsal upon coming back from the break. The chemistry and sparks that were built up during the weeks of intensive video shooting just weren't there anymore!

Thankfully, as we go through many rounds of rehearsing the same scene over and over again, some of the sparks were recaptured. But we still have quite a long way to go and D-day is coming up real soon.

Most of us, cast members don't know each other from Adam until we were recruited for this production. Thus, the long break apart from one another sort of made us almost-strangers again.

This is very much in contrast to the reunion I had with some pals from my previous church last night. Jennifer's sister Susan is getting married next week. So dear Jenn took this opportunity to meet up our old long lost pals to pass the wedding invites personally to them. I tagged along during her rounds yesterday and boy, it was such great fun seeing the faces of dear friends whom we haven't laid eyes on in years and feeling like hardly any time has passed at all since we last saw each other.

That laugh, the knowing look in the eyes, the smirk, the weird hand and neck gestures - ah, the best things in life sometimes remain unchanged.

One of us had just been through a bad breakup and got a new car in replacement of his girlfriend. We bundled into his spanking new car and he drove us around his housing estate aimlessly for many rounds as we shared our sorrows and joys till late into the night. Jenn commented that we could have jolly well gone to a nearby mamak and yak there but nah, mamaking was just too normal a thing to do when meeting crazy friends from the glorious days of old.

Next week, we will all be placed in the same table and I can just imagine the awesome time we'll have catching up on each others' lives again. Friendships like this that can survive any long breaks are a very rare thing indeed. I can't hardly wait to meet them again... hee!

One person I forgot to mention a special thanks to in the Lady Marmalade blog entry was Uncle Peter. He keeps an updated stock of medical supplies at home - ready to be dished out to anyone who's feeling a tad under the weather. Was I ever so glad that he was there - seasoned enough to discern what's wrong with my tummy and helping my body be rid of that toxic curry puff!

I am generally an unobservant person. So I did not really think too much about the remarks and comments that were made throughout my stay at his family home. Comments like:

"Why don't I get Amy to join you girls in your shopping trip at Hadyai? If she can't take leave, I'll issue her an MC (Medical Chit)." (Said in jest, of course!)

and

"My doctor friends say that I'm bad for their business (sporting a mock sad look). Seems that I take most of their patients away!"

and also,

"How are my two patients doing today?" (Mei Fong took some laxatives for some constipation problem).

etc, etc... were mentioned but it was only on the last day of our stay there that he revealed that his lifelong heart's desire was to be a medical doctor. Suddenly, all the related comments made sense and I felt a twinge of sadness as I looked into his face. He wanted to live out this dream through his sons but the both of them felt the calling to do things other than medicine.

I couldn't help but reflect upon the unfairness of it all. Kids with parents who can afford to finance their studies in any chosen field but who are clueless about what they want to do in life. And then, there are kids like Uncle Peter who know where their passions lie but are helpless to do anything about it and thus, have to choose the cheapest education path available.

And still, real life stories like how Catherine Marshall's parents managed to support her in the prestigious Agnes Scott college despite their apparent lack of monetary funds never fails to remind me that our heavenly Father owns the cattle on the thousand hills and we as His children are heirs to that. Surely if He planted that passion in our hearts, He would bring it to pass.

Seeing how Uncle Peter's face light up when Mei Fong and I got well under his ministrations made me realise that maybe, just maybe, he is living out his dream after all.

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[i]Me and Lady Marmalade ~ photo courtesy of Mei Fong[/i]

I'm back!!!

Monday was a series of firsts for me. It was the first time I attended a mass in a Catholic church. [url=http://paulosfootnotes.blogspot.com]Paul's[/url] parents graciously hosted our stay in Kangar, Perlis during our trip up north. They are charismatic Catholics and we followed them to Sunday mass. I couldn't help feeling excited. I'm going to an honest-to-goodness Catholic mass! I'll be seeing a priest in action and go through an ordered liturgy. Wowie!

So with eyes agog, I soaked in the whole mass and was inspired by the sermon. Towards the middle of the mass however, I experienced a horrible pain in my stomach. In a flash, I knew that the culprit was the leftover currypuff which was left overnight that I had for breakfast.

Uncle Peter (Paul's father) had put a note on the plate of leftover local delicacies which read, "Not suitable for consumption". It had an arrow pointing towards some red pudding so I thought that the curry puffs were fine. I never could resist curry puffs and so ate it despite the warning note.

And now, I paid the price for my greed.

The pain was excruciating and Uncle Peter took me home and gave me some laxatives to rid off the toxic the right way. We were supposed to go to Gua Kelam (some famous cave in Perlis) for a picnic and he was optimistic that I would be as right as rain in no time at all.

I wasn't as optimistic as he was. The pain was consuming the center of my being! So I told him to go ahead without me.

"I will go and have breakfast with the rest and then we will come back to pick you up. Don't worry, you'll be just fine!" And off he went.

I crawled to the comfortable bed with a good book to read. After about 20 minutes, my stomach churned wildly and I rushed to the toilet. Gosh, the laxatives were that powerful!

When everyone else returned to the house after breakfast, I still felt unwell and declined to go with them. Seeing how potent the laxatives were, I was worried if I couldn't find a toilet in time if I was out there in the wilds.

But Rina just gave me a pleading puppy dog look and made me feel guilty if I forego the trip. And so, against my better judgement, I went. And Rina was appeased.

All the way there and as I walked out of the car towards the picnic spot, I still felt worried. It got worse when I saw that the main toilets were closed due to it being a public holiday. Man, oh man, what is a food-poisoned girl to do at a time like this??

Suddenly, an orange vision appeared and came by to brush her head gently on my legs. My heart lifted when I saw the orange cat whom I shall call 'Lady Marmalade' and bent down to stroke her. With every stroke, my fear melted and my worries fled with the winds.

It's not often that I encounter friendly cats like this. And when they do make an appearance, it's always a sign from my heavenly Father that things will be alright and that He loves me.

And truly, the rest of the day went on to be one of the best times of the trip. We sang worship and love songs in perfect harmony to the strumming of Paul's guitar. We even danced on top of the stools and table at the picnic grounds because we felt so good. There's just... something about that place and that cat that makes me feel that everything is alright with the world.

So, thanks Rina for giving me that guilt-inducing look and Lady Marmalade for gracing my path. And thank you, Father for yet another reminder that I'm in good hands... Your hands.