Journey to the Past

I found an interesting tidbit on the net about the start of bridal bouquet. Apparently, the first wedding bouquets were not made with flowers, but instead were composed of herbs. It was thought that evil spirits would be repelled by their strong aroma. Dill would be included in the mix because it was thought to promote lust! Not only that, the brides will consume dill for these alleged properties. In the Tudor era, another substance thought to put brides in the mood for love was marigolds, which were gilded and dipped in rosewater. Huh! Who knew?!?

When you fill in the blank, what do you get? Try this one: I thought people are nice ______________________ advice ______________________ chicken and rice ______________________ at any price

When I was 2 or 3 years old, my big brother joined the Sunday School choir at church. He would be learning new songs and sang them proudly in front of my mom and my dad. Every Mother's Day and Father's Day, my bro would sing a song to our parents first. I looked up to my big bro and wanted to join choir. The teachers were firm when they refused to let me in. It made sense. I was too small and I couldn't read. I couldn't even pronounce the words right. I would need a private tutor to teach me a song. Luckily for me, my mom was patient enough to be my tutor. I might not be in the choir, but I sure learnt all the songs my bro was learning. I could sing (or mumble in trembling notes, anyway). Growing up, I was always in a church choir. But when I hit my teen years, I also joined a vocal group. In my church, every grade has its own vocal group. My grade had 3 good singers and additional 3 willing hearts (who were deaf-tone). I was one of the "more experienced" ones...

The more we care about something or someone, the harder it seems to let go of their betrayal. We hurt more when they do or say something careless in their moment of weaknesses. It helps if the relationship continues and then heals. In some cases, people cut ties, and all we are left with are the sense of bewilderment and lost. I knew relationships were not easy. I knew that I would part with most of my friends. But there were some that I thought would last for a long time. There were some friends who I thought would be my friends forever. But somewhere down the road, something went wrong, and no matter what I tried, I could not see or think about them without feeling hurt. My church is moving this Sunday to a new location. We used to rent from another church under the same denomination and had a very good relationship with them. But over the years, that other church was losing members and changing pastors. And now they want us to pay for their pastor's salary as well. I can't s...

I am so happy! Our wedding website is finally published earlier today. Chris and I went to Seattle in January for our photo shoot, and there were tons of good pictures that I was impatient to show the world. But since I want them to see it on our website, I dare not distribute it nor brag about it. But now I can! The above picture is one of my favorite one. But there are a lot more where it came from. Be sure to check the website on http://www.chrisolive.net/ and leave us a note! ^_^

In North America, the only type of housing where you have complete control over is single family home. SFH means that all your outside walls are not attached to other houses. If you have SFH, chances are you have a front/back yard, and there is grass surrounding your whole house. Sadly, SFH is becoming more and more unaffordable. You can probably still have one, but you will be in debt for all your life. The second best thing for a small family is townhouse, which is what I live in right now. Unlike SFH, townhouses are strata-ed. What is strata? Strata is a group of volunteer owners, selected by all owners in the complex, who deals with administration of the whole complex. It's snowing hard and we need snow plow? Strata will call them in. Somebody's guests are making lots of noises at night time? Strata will warn (and fine) them. Somebody's car knock your garage door? Strata will deal with insurance. The complex needs more visitor parking space reserved? Strata will ensure ...

When I went back home in 2002, it was time for the placement announcement for first trimester for elementary students. My little brother was in elementary school, and so I took my mom's place and went with him to take his exam result back. It was nostalgic. My teachers were still teaching (people do not switch career back home). Some of my friends took up teaching. The classroom did not change much. Children were running everywhere and playing the games I used to play. It felt like I was thrown back a decade or two. Then it was time for the general assembly. Every students and teachers were gathered in a big room for placement announcement. My school have a tradition of announcing the first, second, and third placement for each class in front of a general assembly. I can't remember what my little bro's placement were. But the thing that surprised me was during the announcement for 2nd grade placements. The third place was won by a person with the exact same first name and l...

My soon-to-be-husband Chris left Canada last night to prepare for our wedding day. I have never been involved in any wedding planning in Indonesia, and now we need to do it thousands of miles away from the ceremony location. It's not easy. The invitation, which should have been out this week, is not yet printed. The invitation company excuses itself by saying that the paper was delayed during delivery. We haven't found an MC yet. Chris still has no idea about the event order for the reception. So he will take care of all those little quirks. He will yell at people if necessary. Our engagement party will be two days before that. My family will host it. It will be a mini concert from my side of the family. My niece and nephew will sing and dance 2 songs. My cousins will perform a song with piano. My uncle, who is really good at karaoke, will sing us a happy song. My sis-in-law will duet with my little bro on violin. My family will sing a song for me and Chris. My bro and my sis a...

Last Good Friday, my church did a presentation titled "Judas Iscariot: the untold story". For the first time ever, we held a presentation in a theatre. The room acoustic was excellent. The only drawback was that the background sound pretty much drowned the actors' voices. So they all needed to use the microphone (and of course, the battery had to run out during the performance.. Murphy's Law at work here). ^_^ Ivan did a great job as Judas. Those who saw him testified that he acted so good, we didn't need any music to support him anymore. Jessica and Mega cried a lot in the play, just like they usually do. Come to think of it.. they always got the crying part. Jessica played Mary for the 4th time, and Mega played Magdalene for the 3rd time, I think. Adit played Peter again. It's weird, but Adit won't be the first person I would think of when I think of Peter. He practiced really hard, though, and the result was pretty good. Jason played the hot-headed Mark...