And So She Got Married...

And so Jac got married.

On a sunny Friday morning we all gathered to watch as our brightest spark, dressed in her bridal finery, prepared to bid goodbye to her final minutes of singlehood.

there was so much laughter and merriment i almost didnt feel sorry for lying to my boss about having to take urgent leave to "take care of family matters". i was happy and honoured to be present, and i havent had a day that beautiful in ages.

like i was telling some of my friends, it felt as if we were celebrating more than just her wedding. it was a festival held in jac's honour to commemorate her triumph in life and her love of living. it was also a testament of all our friendships - past, present and future. sam and ros flew back for the wedding, and i spent five excruciating months pretending that ken was flying in for the dinner just so that ros could spring a surprise on jac and still have a place to sit for the banquet. the work was well worth it...i'd never seen a bride scream so loud and for so long in my life!

somewhere between the day's festivities and the evening banquet, sam, ros and i snuck to ben and jerry's for some good ice cream and even better girl bonding. there we were, three girls in blue dresses all squeezed into a small couch and i suddenly had a revelation of sorts.

for all the bad things i think i suffer in life, i thank all my lucky stars in ten lifetimes for my friends. they truly make life worth living. that afternoon at ben and jerry's was precious to me in so many ways, and it has already become one of my most treasured memories.

tears ran freely at the wedding...when sam got onstage to sing, i burst out crying and couldnt stop because i couldnt imagine life away from singapore, far from the girls. then i got to thinking if i had been a good enough friend all these years. had i been there for the girls when they needed me? did i remember to tell my friends how much i loved them?

i rediscovered the reasons why i love the three of them so much that night. we bonded over one mad trip to japan in 2001, and we've never looked back since. ours is a friendship punctuated too much loud laughter and physical humour, and grounded in things too important to be swayed by time or distance.

at the end of the dinner, jac swept into the ballroom, took one look at all of us and declared us her "inner circle". my heart warmed at the sound of the phrase.

here are some pictures from the wedding:

Last Call

Airports. What comes to your mind when you think about them?

My brother is apparently a big fan of them because he likes to imagine that he's one in the endless throng of travellers with a suitcase, bound for a holiday in a better, far more exciting place.

I know of many others who feel the same way. But airports and airplanes are more than that. These are the places where most of life's melodramas are played out. Airplanes are at once modern-day doves and harbingers of loneliness; the smiles and laughter of reunited families play out in stark relief to the slient tears of separation between pairs of unfortunate lovers.

I happen to have a love-hate relationship with airports. My life has been punctuated with enough emotional scenes within its departure gates and arrival halls although for some reason i seem to remember the sad goodbyes more clearly than the sweet reunions.

In the past five years, i have always been flying alone. it fills me with chagrin when i realise how ironic it actually is. while i am constantly flying to meet someone or flying away from someone, it's been a long time since i've actually sat on a flight WITH someone. and it's not even because i wanted things to turn out this way.

after next april, i hope i wont have to sit beside a stranger or an empty seat the next time i board a plane. i want that someone for company, his shoulder to lean on and his hand to hold. i want his words for comfort on unending transits, his arms so i wont need to struggle with my own bags and most of all, the certainty of knowing that in future, we'll always be passing through airports together, with no need for goodbyes or unnecessary bouts of separation.

Of Books and Pimples

I was browsing at Borders last week with a 30% voucher in hand when I chanced upon an entire shelf of recommended literary classics/favourites. A quick scan of the displayed titles confirmed my long-held suspicions.
I am the least literary person alive. I'm so NOT literary that any book with an open ending drives me nuts. Movies that encourage the audience to form their own conclusions disturb me to no end because i cant walk away from the cinema hall with a clear set of resolutions about the plot and its characters. Which is why when i read my first Murakami novel i was initially repelled from reading more of his works because i felt that he wasnt making any point in his stories. (it took me a very long time to realise that maybe the lack of a point WAS the point.) for the same reason i cant enjoy french arthouse films either.

i'm ashamed to say that i have never read some of the most celebrated books ever written. i used to read voraciously, but even then my diet consisted of the literary equivalent of comfort food (read: chick lit). while i've since eschewed girly novels, there's still quite some way to go.

some books that i've singled out as must-reads:

1. To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee

2. Breakfast at Tiffany's - Truman Capote

3. On the Road - Jack Kerouac

4. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest - Ken Kesey

5. Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoevsky

6. Lord of the Flies - William Golding

in the meantime, i am nursing a pimple on my chin that's just about the size of my head. so now it actually looks as if i have a Mini Me growing from my face. bummer.

Compulsion.

Right. Somewhere on the lefthand column of my blog under my list of things to do is a sentence that reads: "Stop shopping compulsively!"

I've just succeeded in shooting myself in the foot. And to think it all started with an innocent invitation to coffee with miao and leland.

We were seated at a table close to the window at coffee club in ngee ann city and from where i was seated, i got myself a bird's eye view of the going-ons at pedder red.

women were lining up at the cashier's, and my sale radar just perked up. idly wondering if the boutique was having a sale, my eyes zoomed in on this beautiful black carryall that was resting on a shelf closest to the shop window. for the next two hours, as i was talking to miao and leland, my eyes just couldnt tear themselves away from the gorgeous bag.

it was, in short, love at first sight. after coffee was done, i popped into the shop and tried on the bag for size.

i swear the bag was calling my name. the salesgirl said it was on 30 percent off and the one i was holding was the last piece available, and that they didnt even bring in that many in the first place. it was big, roomy, full calf leather with gold trimmings. and did i mention that i've been looking for the perfect big black bag for the longest time?

i didnt want the bag to scream designer and i wasnt looking for luxury brands either (not that i could afford one anyway). i wanted the bag to be timeless and elegant, simple without being blah.

the bag at pedder red was that and more. it was edgy and slightly masculine, the kind that would look perfect with skinny jeans and ankle boots.

it cost me a small fortune but i know it's a bag i'll continue to love for many years to come. and really, the best things do pop up when you least expect them.

Onelostsheep Gets Wired!

*SCREAM*

I do believe I am the last fossil on earth still sticking to the discman when everyone else's ears are glued to ipods, but even dinosaurs get their day out in the sun, erm, eventually.

my sweet folks just gave me an ipod nano for my birthday! *double scream* it means a huge deal to me cos my parents arent really what you'd term "techies", and after i turned 21 i somehow began to think that i was getting too old for presents from my parents anyway.

it reminded me of the time i turned 21 because my current discman had been a gift from them as well. for the next six years that discman became a huge part of my life, even when people around me were switching to mp3 players and newfangled phones with portable music functions.

i stubbornly stuck to my increasingly unfashionable discman because it was a testament of the era i grew up in. i was weaned on perfect ten 98.7, my favourite DJs were aloysius tan and bernard lim, i made mixed tapes of songs i heard from the radio, and when i converted from a cassette walkman (it was a sony no less) to the discman i swear i felt like the coolest person in town. the discman saw me through countless sleepy bus rides to NUS, my long walks to school in okinawa and then functioned as my daily source of escape and sanity every morning as i negotiated the human crush on my way to work.

six years on, the discman has given way to the ipod nano. as much as i am loving my new toy, i'm leaving my old companion with a tinge of regret.

but my discman wont ever retire...i'm planning to buy a set of cute doggie speakers so that the old boy can keep singing maybe in the kitchen or bedroom when i move to japan next year.

My Last Letter

I'll turn into a piece of ice, and

At one o'clock P.M.

Vanish in the middle of the village square

I'll hide inside that German-made alarm clock you gave me

So, climb to the top of the lighthouse

And throw it as far out to sea as you can

I wonder if

There are any cute, little fish

Way out in the middle of the Pacific

I want them to devour me, so

I'll turn into a pea and plunge in

Hey, Set-chan

Because you won't listen to me

I'm really going to do one of these three things.

Be well, Sayonara.

- Nakamura Kare

The Sheep's First Post

I've been wondering about my first ever post in my new blog. I had the full intention of making a BIG first impression by sounding intelligent and witty, but this is a humid sunday night and a week's worth of drudgery is just less than 12 hours away so I decided on some comforting self-indulgence instead.

This is me straight up and irreverent, but hey, who said we needed to play smart and sassy all the time?

I've been surfing the ryukyu shimpo site and found a link to the new watering holes and F&B establishments in Okinawa. Two places I am dying to check out:

Raffles Cafe, Naha City (Maybe the name reawakened the Singaporean in me)

Cafe M & H, Naha City

I CANNOT wait to get started. Okinawa's a small place, but the narrow streets of the city are home to some extremely cosy cafes and bars. 国際通り is always a good place to start, but the quieter residential areas play host to some really quaint places as well. Shall upload reviews of the cafes I've visited in time to come.

This a slight change of topic, but the bijins met up two weeks ago for a long-overdue session of girl bonding and catching up. Here are some pictures that XQ took: