My BFZ is Back!

I think it's been almost a year since I last saw her... the brilliant girl who excels in every.single.thing that she does.

No kidding.

Ok, so maybe not sports nor her sense of direction, but I think God definitely spent like forever and a day on her brains, because this girl is a super genius! Every exam she sits for, she aces it. This hot doctor's a specialist in the making. Upon completion of her housemanship, she recently went for a whole bunch of exams and interviews to try her luck in various specialty right before her visit back. And surprise surprise (not!), she was selected for all of them!

I think what might have been more shocking was that she was chosen for all but one. That would have been life's greatest mystery. Well anyway I was at her place when she got the notification SMS, and yes, I was definitely proud of my dear ole BFZ. I mean, who wouldn't? She's always been the straight A student, but never just a nerd. She parties, she flirts (yes you do my dear so admit it!), she drinks and she dresses.. what is there not to like in a friend like that? Even her Greek beau, Dimitri, was utterly impressed, and I'm not the least bit surprised.

So, after such a long long time, we did a little bit of catching up. Chatting and getting to know the man in her life, and her getting to know mine (well she already knows a lot about mine but there can never be too many "updates", can there?). I playfully teased her about not being able to attend my wedding, and could tell how bad she felt (she had to start her new attachment in a new hospital then).

Well, all that said, I hope that we'll be able to spend a lot more time together before she goes back to London.

Great friendships are hard to find. This is definitely one of them.

Our VERY MUCH younger days

As Another Friend Walks Away

I know this is gonna sound a little out of this world, but another friend of mine passed early this month. He was also just 28. Within a month, going through the loss of two friends is no funny game.

Aik Keong was a high school friend. Funny and borne to bring humour and laughter to others, he was a natural joker. We met in secondary one, when he got sent to our class from an all boys’ one. At that age, most boys were mischievous, and so the teachers intended to bring some good influence to his life by sending him to our class (not like we were much of angels).

It didn’t take long for everyone in class to bond with him. He was funny, caring, and certainly far from being a problem student that we anticipated him to be. Sure it took him a little more effort to catch up with classes, but he managed to do it in the end. He turned over a new leaf, and studied really hard. That year was one of my best years in high-school.

As I was a prefect back then, and tended to get a little naggy with the boys in class, some of them nicknamed me “Kai Ma”, meaning Godmother in Cantonese. Aik Keong was one of them. This name never left me even until we left school, and I can still remember his voice when he used to call me that.

Unfortunately, slightly past midnight of 15 January 2010, while travelling by car heading to Sunway, he got into a very bad accident and was killed on the spot. He lost control of the car but as he was all alone, till this day no one knows for certain what the cause was. Could it have been fatigue, alcohol, or loss of concentration on the road because he was messing with his phone? He was, after all, in touch with some friends via SMS right before he crashed.

Just like that, someone’s friend, son, husband and father perished. The afternoon of his passing was the same day his wife found out that she was pregnant with his second child. Really heart-wrenching L

I pray that his family will have the strength to overcome this loss, and I’m very sure that the memory of him will remain in the hearts of many. Goodbye to a dear “Kai Zhai”. May you rest in peace as you are led to greater beauty, greater glory and greater holy presence.

The Farewell

It’s been quite a long hiatus.

Since my last entry, much has happened. Closure to 2010 was certainly not how I expected it to be, but as I age, gain wisdom and experience more, the flash back for the year wasn’t just about how much was accomplished or gained in the year anymore. It was about how 2010 was lived.

2010 had been a very eventful year -- A very good friend (now family) discovered her pregnancy of “phoenix” twins; I left my job for “family pastures”; I started dabbling in online business/blogging; J and I got married; I saw Europe for the first time in my life; I moved and adapted to T-eeny town; Dad got diagnosed with some heart complications; and as bad as the year's closure can get, I lost a friend.

Who would have thought, that at the tender age of 27, one could have a heart attack. As they frequently highlight these days, it gets younger and younger. A hard worker, dedicated leader, and very giving friend, we got to know each other in our first year of college. In the same foundation class, he was quiet, but yet when he opened his “golden mouth” (we then called it), he was full of humorous sarcasm which cracked us up.

Years went by and we completed our tertiary education. Hardly hanging out anymore, we met only during the wee occasions of Chinese New Year and few little outings. Though rare and few, I appreciate the memories of how he, Gwen and I used to sit together at the dinner tables.

The day I received news of his passing was just a day after my return to KL. Call it coincidence but I’m sure God planned it in such a way that I was able to at least see my friend for the last time before he was laid down to rest.

The whole incident was an eye opener. That we should never take people around us for granted. Certainly, his passing wasn’t the first ever in my life, but it sure was one of the least expected.

Cliched as it may sound, life is short. A person may have only a month more to live, but if it was lived to the full, it was a life well lived.

I’m sure he’s well taken-cared of now. Farewell to our one and only Ching Hwee Yeung (24 February 1983 – 17 December 2010). Gwen and I are gonna miss you this CNY Dinner.

Tribute to the Childhood Best Friend

My best friend of primary/secondary school years got married over the weekend -- but I did not attend it.

Still remember the day when I met her, we were prefects together, and she was a year my junior. We took the school bus for some excursion, and she happened to sit next to me. And because this girl couldn't stop talking (interestingly that's what she makes a living out of now), we spent the whole ride sharing our then decade of life stories, despite how shy I was back then.

Years passed and our friendship blossomed. Different as we were, I simply found her amusing, funny, stylish and earnest. She was also the best daughter in the world to her mom and dad.

Call it coincidence, but we went on to the same secondary school. Again we became prefects together, and we watched over each another like sisters. There were arguments and misunderstandings in between, but thank goodness we managed to resolve it some time after.

We spent a lot of time in high school exchanging notes during classes, sleeping over at each others houses, talking boys, loving music, and vowed that we would one day be 88 in our rocking chairs and yet be best of friends.

Sadly, those days have come and gone. Our careers and statuses in society have gotten the better of us and we somehow just drifted apart. There are times when I still feel upset and hurt, that stardom eats a person whole, but thinking back, I know that I have not done my part to be supportive and worked hard enough to sustain our friendship from dwindling.

Nevertheless, there can be lots of regrets in life, but the wonderful memories will always remain. Who knows, in 60 years to come, we might still have that opportunity to sit and laugh in our rocking chairs.

Here's wishing you a happy and fulfilling marriage, my childhood best friend.

May's Hen!

My beautiful maid of honour is getting married.

So, to celebrate her anticipated union, or mourn her loss of freedom *just kidding*, a whole bunch of us girls flew down to Singapore to paint the town red, literally!

Under the superbly creative planning of Su Mei and Kelly, everything just went on great and everyone had heaps of fun. Putting up a night at Raffles Place, Robertson walk, we practically turned the place upside down. Still, I would recommend this place to anyone who's looking for convenience, class and comfort as they managed to house all 14 of us in just two units, very comfortably!

The night started off with a round of champagne, handing out of goodie bags and task assignments, not forgetting that little bit of camwhoring. The Hen, was of course given the most befitting task of selling "protection packets" to strangers that night, whereas the rest of us chicks were each assigned to sell just one and also tasks to make the night unforgettable for the beautiful bride-to-be.

The Hen

The Chicks

The Goodie Bags

The Champagne

The Goods

Hen & I

We then proceeded to dinner at OverEasy, One Fullerton. Unfortunately all of us were too hungry by then to have any photos of the great food taken. Everything was simply devoured the minute they landed on our tables. I know, I know, hen and chicks should have been more ladylike... haha.

Outside the restaurant when we were still behaving

At the dining table

With Chor Yee and Jade

This is what dinner and that little bit of drinks do to you

After dinner, what else but to continue where we left off with those drinks? That's when we headed off to Butter Factory to get the Hen a little buttered and a lot tipsied. The crowd at Butter Factory just wasn't our cuppa and "target market". They were simply too young to buy our goods! Oh well, after much hard work put in, most of us managed to clear our inventory, except for the Hen who hit only 70% sales target. Nonetheless, it was good funding to our night!

With Jade

Mine was a put on and May's was for real

Is this red or is this very red?

I don't know what we were up to but it sure was crazy!

These were the talented planners!

Thankfully the night did not end with much casualty, except for some incident with a cabbie who was freaked out by Chor Yee's butter-laced speech. All in all, it was heaps of fun and apparently round two's on the calender! :)

Time for goodbyes but not sure what happened to Hen