The countdown to the New Year was spent at a hotel suite on the 29th floor of the M Hotel with eight other people. We had booked a suite complete with a jacuzzi, DVD player and wide screen plasma TV to count down to the new year together instead of squashing in the crowds with thousands of others in various countdown parties around Singapore. It’s probably a sign of age. Heh. But it was a wise choice considering the fact that it was such a rainy night.
Anyway, we watched DVDs we had brought, played the game Scene it!, drank wine (which I couldn’t ‘cos I was on medication), talked and joked.
On NYE, I also attended the wedding of a friend. It was really just a simple solemnisation ceremony with about 50 close family and friends of the couple. That was all she was going to have. Something short and sweet and very lovely.
Something funny happened there. Picture this: We girls are coerced/forced/held at gun point to go up to the front. And we have to squeeze along the aisle (which is REALLY narrow ‘cos it was a really small room) and await the bouquet to come hurtling through the air.
The first time the bride throws the bouquet, it goes right down the middle of the aisle with all the ladies lining along it backing away from it like a time bomb. The lovely bouquet made up of pale pink peonies and a greenish-white spray of orchids lands on the floor with a gentle thud.
Round 2: Bride throws bouquet again. Where is it going this time? Left/right/centre? Some gravitational force decides it should head left at a possibly 45 degree angle. The bouquet comes straight at me. Like a flying bomb. I can’t duck ‘cos if i do so, i will either knock down the flower stand or fall onto someone’s lap. Both of which aren’t options. Hmm. The bouquet hits me and for a split second i am torn between catching it and just pretending not to know it hit me and let it fall on the floor. But anyway, the brain decides to be a sport and so with deft hands, i grab hold of the bouquet!
This practice should be abolished and banned for all eternity! Girlfriends should beseech brides to not inflict such torture on them. Scenes where the ladies are clamouring and rushing for the bouquet only happen in American sitcoms. Reel life does not equate to real life! Someone said it looked hilarious from the back with all the ladies backing away from the bouquet. Now if only i were as lucky when it comes to lottery! Ha.
And on New Year’s Day, I attended another wedding dinner. This was the typical Chinese wedding dinner which I dread. Again, there was the dreaded “cold dish dance” where the lights are switched off, and some track by Bond (the sexy string quartet) is played and the cold dish is brought in by the waiters and waitresses. When the lights were off, I went “OMG. Not THAT again.”
And as usual, Singaporeans are never on time. I just don’t understand why people can’t be punctual. Food was just the usual wedding dinner fare. Unexciting.
Seriously, is there some clause which states that you’re NOT allowed to have your wedding dinner if you don’t allow this “performance”? I mean, don’t people find this tacky? Many people do find this tacky so why do so many places still have it? I don’t understand.
Anyway, I’m going to be more selective with weddings I’m invited to henceforth. Will only go to weddings of people I’m really close to. Otherwise, it’s a complete waste of time.


The lovely bouquet with the peonies and orchids and twined sequinns. It cascades down like a gentle waterfall when held. So don’t be surprised if I suddenly announce I’m married some time this year! Haha.