Coolcat's Jottings

Yesterday was a really weird day.

It started with a tyre puncture.

In the middle of it all was a car accident in which thankfully, no one got injured. And thank God that TK was there to smoothen things out.

A trip to the police station. A sumptious dinner. My two friends making sure I got home safe.

And it ended with my friends meeting my folks.

As I sat there in the living room, looking at my parents and friends yakking about the accident, I felt a sense of unrealness of it all. I mean, is it possible to have so much drama in a day?

But things do happen and our responsibility is to handle them the best way we could.

And I wouldn't have been able to sail through the worst part of the day without TK and PS.

Thanks, guys for being there.

The ultra-rich chocolate bday cake


Last Friday, we celebrated William's birthday. The thing was, he had been such a nice and benovalent cg member that we had to do something really special for him. In one word: Sabo.

Sabo (a short-form for sabotage) is a way of showing someone how much you appreciate and care for them. It comes in different flavours: mild, hot and spicy. The spicier it is, the more the effort and time taken to plan and execute the sabo. Hence, the more the sabo-er 'cares' for the sabo-ee.

For Will's birthday, it was mild. Not because we do not care for him. But because he was sitting in my car. Heh.

The Dinner

Everyone was in the know about the plans, except for the birthday boy. We pretended to be sad when no one except 5 people came for cg. Then in order to compensate for it, I said that we will treat him a birthday dinner. He was shocked and said that we can still have cg in the house with just 5 people mah. But we all insisted on going to Bukit Tinggi, Klang to celebrate his birthday properly and so into my car we went. The others (Rina's team) were already in the cafe and they quickly hid in the toilet when they saw us coming.

At the appropriate time, they sprang upon William, who was very surprised and happy to see everyone there. He generously treated us all dinner despite our protests.

The Sabo

After feeding the sacrificial lamb with a nice dinner, we brought him out to a nearby field.

He started fidgeting, "Have you seen those National Geographic series where the lions circled the prey before attacking the poor sod?" We all had a blur and innocent look on our faces. It freaked him out even more, "Aiyo, I feel exactly like that now!"

Rina said, "We want to prey pray for you mah. That's why we are standing all around you."

I volunteered to lead in prayer since I was not taking part in the sabo and hence, my hands were clean. Feel more sincere in praying blessings for this brother.

I really meant every word I prayed. But as I squinted to see the faces around me, they were already opening up their packets of creamer powder.

The minute I said 'Amen', poor William was sprinkled heavily with creamer. He accepted it with a sporting grin and started patting everyone's back.

We went home feeling satisfied, having nicely letting William know how much he means to us

The Organiser - My Partner in Crime

Rina masterminded the whole thing. Thanks, girl

"Err, have I seen you from somewhere before?"

What I used to think was a lousy (and over-used) pick-up line is now being treated as a genuine question.

Since last Christmas' production, it's quite normal to receive knowing smiles from friendly strangers in church. To me, Forgiven was quite a thing in the past, although I still get the 'Hey, I saw you in Forgiven!' or 'Hey, where's Ryan?'

There was this cute boy, Matthias (Angie's son) who beamed shyly at me today after church celebrations. According to Angie, Matthias recognises me as Claire and is very thrilled to meet me. He does look thrilled but I'm not sure about the 'very' part, heh. Still, it's just so nice to have such a young fan smiling adoringly at me.

I asked Angie if he'll be confused with when I appear on stage again in August as someone else. She assured me that he now understands that on stage, we are just acting out roles.

It seems that poor Matthias was traumatised when Angie acted in Shanghai Reborn as Lola. Lola was kept and abused by an evil man played by Sam. Matthias bawled whenever the parts where Sam shouted and hit Lola were acted out. And for months after that, he refused to talk to Sam, who is actually a decent guy in real life.

"But now, you are ok with Uncle Sam, aren't you, Matthias?" Angie asked him.

Matthias just flashed another one of his brilliant smiles at her and nodded shyly. Heh, charming kid.

My zone leader, Kelvin's son - Benjy - also kept calling me Claire for months after Forgiven was staged. He, too, was traumatised when Kelvin played the role of a businessman who was tortured by demons in some other church's play. At that point, he cried out for his father to be released. The poor thing...

I don't know, but going by those real-life examples, maybe it's not such a good idea to bring very young kids to watch plays which their parents are acting in.

Heh, that bombastic word up there simply means that I'm a typical woman.

This was proven (yet again!) last Saturday:

I was all set and ready to go for this drama class in KL. I drove confidently all the way there, caught sight of the building from a distance but ... couldn't find a way to get my car up there. The only other person who was present at the drama class did not have a handphone. And the friend who knows KL like the back of his hand did not pick up my SOS call.

After rounding the place for an hour or so, I decided to just give up and do something else instead. I went for a bout of shopping in Klang.

Here it is in a nutshell:

• I am bad in directions.
  
• When all else fails, I go for retail therapy.
  

What can I say? I enjoy being a girl

After the second audition, when Chris assured us ladies that no matter what, we two will still get a role to play, I felt relieved. Relieved that no matter what, I'll still have a chance to act.

But... what if I didn't get any of the roles?

I recalled going for the auditions for the Phantom of the Chinese Opera a few years ago. I gave my heart and soul into it. Heh, maybe a bit too much for I think I over-acted Not surprisingly, I received a nice rejection mail a few days later. I experienced mixed reactions - first of disappointment and then, acceptance. I always believe that if things are meant to be, then it will happen, without me trying to orchestrate or manipulate things to get what I want. I've given my best shot in the audition and that's what matters.

So, I soon got over it lah. Maybe God has other plans for me leh

He did.

A few days later, I received an interesting mail. They have a small female role available, would I be interested to do it? Two to three lines only and a demon role some more. Aiya, can lah - I said yes immediately. Little did I know that the role, small as it was, was not easy to do. I had to subject my hair to heavy abuse - being backcombed to look like a really frizzy ghost. It was heart-breaking to see my nice hair being beaten and frayed at every full-dress rehearsal. That was a real challenge to me, to keep still and hold my tongue while the make-up artist did her job. And to remind myself the real reason behind why I'm putting myself through this.

And oh, that thick, dark and macabre make-up. For a role that took less than 2 minutes on stage, they spent a couple of hours just on my garish make-up alone.

Like I said, it was not easy and I learned a few humbling lessons through it all. I also got to know more nice people in church through this ministry. Most importantly, I felt a sense of belonging in the church as a whole.

Small role, big lessons.

But what if I did not get those roles in the first place?

Yes, I'll be sad and disappointed, for a moment. But if it's something that God doesn't want me to be involved in, then I trust that He has better things in line for me. He is the source of all good things. I realise that the danger in enjoying all these stage popularity too much is to be dependent upon them and having my happiness hinge upon them.

And that will be a miserable state to be in.

This has worked for me thus far - to have a light touch on things and to be content with what God has given me. It's not easy to do and I have to consciously will myself to practice this many times. But with God, all things are possible.