Married Be Her

Day 2 : Getting Ready

Saturday was a quiet day. Nothing much happening during the day and except for the odd msg in the mobile, I didn’t really hear from Pat. I was planning on visiting her at Hamdan’s house later at night, after I was done with WOE in Ragnarok.

The connection at Marilyn’s café was decent enough. Not really good, but good enough for surfers. For gaming, I suggest OGDC, because I was pretty happy the last time I went there for gaming.

Anyway, Shikin and I was messaging each other back and forth that day when I thought about inviting her along. She seemed like she needed a distraction. She readily agreed to come along with me at Marilyn and witnessed WOE. It was a funny experience, I can tell you that.



Later around 9.30pm, we drove over to Pat’s house to check and see how she’s doing.

She looked tired as she laid there with her hands and feet occupied with the henna. We talked and joked about the stuff that happened in Nikkah and what would happen the following Sunday. She said she was in a lot pain from her allergic reaction.

Didn’t stay long because she was tired and there were certain things that occurred which I took notice and didn’t like. I will not blog in out in public due to respect to Patricia and Hamdani. However, when I talked about it later with Shikin, turns out she didn’t like it either. Don’t worry, it had nothing to do with us, it was just how others were treated in front of us.

Anyway, Pat and Hamdani looked prepped for the next day. I was so excited to see how good they would look.

[to be continued…]

Married Be She

Today was the last day of the 3 day malay celebration of Patricia & Hamdani’s Wedding. This is the chronology of their wedding with love from Felicity.

Day 1 : The Nikkah

Both side of the family is celebrating this event. I was really nervous because I’ve never been involved with a malay wedding 110%. You can ask Shikin, I was fumbling in my purse, dropping stuff and forgetting things.

Basically, I was no help much. Pat’s mom and Pam pretty much have everything done. Thumbs up on their hard work into making Pat’s wedding special. There was around 100 people there, mostly relatives and friends of the family, including moi. I arrived there around 1 plus. Shikin had to work so she went off at 2. I had work at 5 which sucks but my staff’s son had convocation on the same nite. So there ya go.

Still, it was an exciting time. Aziz and Tini did a good job in guiding the guests. We all had some food to eat, then waited for the people from Hamdani’s side to come with the hantaran.

I didn’t count Pat’s hantaran but I know there was quiet a few. (Pat…if ur white shoes are missing, ask Tini. You know I can’t fit into your shoes. Now…if it was your bags missing…that’s a diff story.) *lol*

Hamdani’s hantaran wasn’t small stuff either. The biggest fuss everyone made had got to be the guitar. Yes, you read right, it was a real freaking good lookin one too. It was huge, we were wondering how to actually place it gracefully and prettily with the rest of the gifts.

So we all drove to Hamdani’s place where we all gathered in the living room where the ceremony was to take place. Before that, we dropped into the couple while they were getting ready.

My first glimpse of Patricia in all her make up and finery was…memorable. She was so beautiful dressed in all white. It didn’t seem like the Patricia I know. Instead there stood a composed, lovely woman, all ready to devote herself to be Hamdani’s wife for the rest of her life.

When they preformed the ceremony, thought I didn’t understand a single thing still…when Hamdani said that “Yes, I accept this woman, Izzah Batricia, as my wife.” I really felt so weepy. They shook hands, rings, signed the contracts…Tini and I were openly weeping.

Some kid handed us tissue. Glad to see that gentlemen still exists in the world.
“Eh sei…kau ni…”
“Nada lah, karang make up orang gugur?”

I had just enough time after the ceremony to congratulate Pat and family before rushing off to work. Later Tini messaged me that Pat went to the hospital. I was shocked! Why? Cuz the make up artist used a body shop lip balm on Pat and she had a allergic reaction to it. She was in major pain. So they took her to the hospital where she had two injections.

Poor Pat.

At least this much I can say, I’ve never seen her look as beautiful as she did on that day, all dressed in white and made up. She looked so HAPPY. I’m just as happy for her. Well, that’s the first girl in our gang to wed.

[To be continued...]

Lost Lemon Tree

Right on top of a long lost hill,
grew a lemon tree,
a girl rests there so still,
thoughtful repose is she,

"Loneliness feels so close to me,
A force which long lost its teeth.

It grips my heart, through which it pours,
such warm poison into my soul.

A kind of drug that comforts me,
But erase my sense of self.

I sleep like a butterfly in a cocoon,
Unmotivated to emerge out into the real world.

Dreaming of warm sun and rain drops,
Of stars in the heaven and wind in my hair.

Of a touch I'm fond of,
which was lost oh so long ago. "

Right on top of a long lost hill,
at the foot of the lemon tree,
the lovely girl rest so still,
dreaming of butterflies does she.

Mysteries of the Edible

You know there’s nothing compared to home cooking. After a hard day’s work you would like nothing more than a hot meal in one’s own cozy kitchen.

Unless of course you have parents like mine…

May I present to you, fresh from my father’s garden, the CATERPILLAR VEG (Ulat Veg)!



The veg itself is neither big nor long. This one I judged to be roughly 4 inches long. It’s always green in colour and my parents love them. As for me, the mere sight of them gimme the creeps, much less so to actually picture chewing it in my mouth.

Mom usually just chops them up and stir fry them with garlic.


My brother seems to like eating them but that’s just my brother, he makes the weirdest and most disgusting dishes imaginable. He eats anything, as long as he’s hungry. -_-"

HE knows better than I

Woke up late today cuz I thought that it was still early. The sky was still a bit dark, no birds were singing and the bed felt oh so comfortable. When I peeked into my mobile beside the bed, 9.15!!!! Holy rain drops! I’m gonna be late. Quick shower, coffee, change and zipped out of the house.



*sigh* Why it never rains when I work afternoons or on my off days?

Well at least this is noticeably better than yesterday where it was scorching hot. It was so hot that I swear I could FEEL my dear Josephine’s (BenQ Laptop) suffering. So today I had her propped up with books. I should invent something like this for all LT users.

Lovely, sweet, refreshing rainy weather we have in Kuala Belait today. Not that big stormy monsoon like rain, but soft pitter pattering rain. Yes, I love rain. I love to listen to it, feel and smell it.

Some people say that when it rains it means God is crying. I don’t think so. I like to think (not that my thinking matters to any one) that God causes it to rain to feed and cleanse us. Kinda like laundry day, where God sees a particular part of the world is kinda dry, dusty and dirty, He sends in some rain to water and clean up then He waits for the earth to spin and dry in the sun.

Okay, if that’s the case then why there’s TOO much rain on some parts of the world causing floods or how about the typhoon Katrina situation in New Orleans?

Ok, I will not say it’s natural. I will not say Americans just so happens to be in the way of Typhoon Katrina. I will not say its God’s Will. We will never know why it happened, but I believe everything happens for a cause.

There’s a song that goes,

"I’ve seen a cloud and thought it was the sky,
I saw a bird and thought that I could follow,
but it was You who taught that bird to fly.

Cause You know better than I,
You know the way,
I’ve let go the need to know why,
for You know better than I.”

So yeah, we all need a little hope, a bit of patience and lots of faith.

Pre-marital Attack of the Butterflies

During this festive season my staff had taken a few days, 5 days to be exact, leave to fully indulge their Raya mood. Only, I wish they taken some time to bring a cake or a kuih to the shop once in a while for me. Ah, how kasian am I? *Will work for raya cakes!*

Anyway, update on the recent happenings.

Pat's wedding is coming. Who’s is Pat? Pat is actually Patricia Luin (AKA Izzah Batricia Binti Abdullah Luin) of Kuala Belait, Brunei Darussalam. Hahaha. I dedicate this entry entirely to her, basically because it’s gonna be about her marriage to the *ahem* Hamdani (AKA Mohammad Hamdani Bin Jailani.)

They've been a couple for four years now, ppl, and are getting married. Woohoo!

It’s coming closer now, the inevitable, the unavoidable and really, the undeniable fact that a close female friend is getting married soon. We’re talking about next few weeks soon, baby, yeah!

A tiny voice in my head squeaks “You know the old saying, dearie, three times a bride’s maid, never a bride.”

Well, fortunately this Pat is getting married in both Malay and Chinese style, both of which don’t require the presence of bride’s maids. Haha! I beat that old wives tale. (Why do old wives make tales anyway? Maybe they can’t have sex anymore? *ack!* Don’t be so mean! But then again…maybe it’s true?)

The other morning, I happened to watch on Oprah as to why 90% women in America have post marriage depression. Well, Oprah, that’s America, here in Brunei, an unhappy wife doesn’t have post marriage depression. They either have two things, credit cards or an affair with someone that has credit cards.

It’s sad, I know, but true. I’ve seen it happen countless of times. But seriously, though, doesn’t marriage mean anything to these people?

This however will never happen to Pat and Ham because I've never seen two love bunnies so...so in TUNE with each other. Pat talk, Ham listen. Ham cook, Pat eat. See? It's a match made in heaven.

Besides, both of them have credit cards.

But I digress. Back to Patricia’s wedding.

Wedding planning is no easy thing. People would tend to think of silk, satin, lace and veils. In reality, we’re talking about decisions, decisions and more decisions. Silver or gold? Pink or purple? Long or short? Up or down? Abalone or shark fin? Or both?

I have trouble even deciding what t shoes to wear sometimes, so I can’t imagine how it would be like to actually make final decisions on a wedding gown, a chapel and list of guests.

However, Patricia is a great girl and somehow manages to pull it off. Now she only has a few more adjustments to settle. This is how she’s like now.

Normal conversation with the bride to be:

Pat: “I’m getting married!”
Me: “Shikin, what u want to eat?"
Pat: ”In less than 3 weeks!”
Me: “I hear the butter chicken here not bad.”
Pat: “I got butterflies in my stomach...”
Me: ”Pat? What are u having?”
Pat: ”Did I book the rooms already?”
Shikin: ”Ooh, I like ur skirt, Pat.”
Pat: ”Oh no! The rooms! The rooms!”

*whips out her mini notebook to jot down wedding notes and to-dos.

Shikin & Me: *sigh*