Nothing like some feel-good food to cheer me up. Tiramisu for the frazzled bride-to-be!
I don’t know what John was thinking, challenging Steven to a RACE?!! There’s a reason why Steven is my ex.
I had a word with Steven and told him to leave us alone. I think he got the message.
And to make things worse, Mum was at it again yesterday. She cheerfully mentioned that “your cousin Jasmine got a promotion and she’s now a VP at her bank. Isn’t she the same age as you are?”
I really want her to be proud of me. I have to make this big fat wedding work, but now with this whole issue with the liquor… arrrgh!
I’m glad I still have my tuition kids to keep my mind off things when they get too intense.
And on a lighter note, English As It Is Broken is a good, easy to understand site that answers questions on the usage of English, with a Singaporean twist to it. It helps my students as most of them are foreigners who struggle to understand English. And just yesterday, one of them asked if he could nominate me for the Inspiring Teacher of English Award! So sweet! I had to explain that it was only open to teachers from the civil service. 
I can't believe Steven sent me this video...
I really don’t know what to think. Everything is happening so fast.
I overheard Mum saying something to Dad about stopping me from making a huge mistake.
Does she think John is a mistake? Perhaps it wasn’t my imagination after all, when I thought she was being frosty towards John at the dinner. And this was before we all started arguing about shark’s fin soup and alcohol.
This past week has been too crazy for words. First, Steven shows up unannounced, then my folks get into an argument with John’s folks at the food tasting session!
Steven explained why he’s been meddling. He thinks that John isn’t good enough for me! At first, he claimed that he felt this way because John is… well, he’s pudgy (for now). But he was only half-serious about it. He thinks I deserve better than an unemployed fiancé. He said he’s still in love with me, but I laughed at him. The truth is that he will always love his biceps more than anything else in this world. That creepy video he sent me just proves my point. I don’t know whether to laugh or be grossed out!
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I am going to strangle Steven if John doesn’t beat me to it. What was he thinking? Showing up unannounced at my door in the middle of my engagement party?! It was over between us years ago – years!! It’s a good thing Anna never lost her cool, even for a second, and dragged him away from John before they could start World War 3 in my living room.
My tuition students are driving me crazy.
I caught one of them saying ‘two waters’ during yesterday’s English lesson. I stopped him and asked him if you could count water.
To my horror, he nodded, pointed at my glass of water, and then at his, and said brightly, “Can! One water, two waters. There. Can count water what.”
I had to patiently explain countable and uncountable nouns to him all over AGAIN despite the fact that he learned about them approximately two years ago. When I tried to explain that sand was NOT a countable noun, and thus, should be used with ‘a lot of’, ‘ a little’, or ’some’, instead of with ‘many’, he objected, insisting that ’sands’ was a valid word.
“What about Costa Sands? My parents brought me there in June.”
Argh. ( And your parents didn’t ‘bring’ you there! You went there.)
Well, you can’t say I don’t work hard for my paycheck.
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What a beautiful island Tioman is, and what a great husband John will be.
He saved me from an ugly, big sea urchin that could have given me a really nasty infection.
I was swimming around, looking for my fin, which had slipped off when he yelled, ’sea urchin’! Of course, it was through a snorkel so it came out ‘Slbbbblbbb’ but I caught the general idea. 
Sigh… wish I could stay on an island like that forever, but cake orders await. Real life is what buys you paradise.
Counting down the days…
There’s a package to Tioman that looks very good right now. I know John definitely deserves a break, and it’s been a long time since either of us have had an island vacation.
I think he’ll like the laid-back feel of the island… a few days in the sun with nothing on our minds will do both of us a world of good.
Look at this adorable little fellow! How can you stay stressed when hanging out with one of these fishes among the corals?
This is the heart-shaped durian that John got for me as part of the surprise. 
Isn’t it cute?
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I can’t believe how sweet John’s surprise was! I was eating dinner when he called me on my mobile and asked me to look out of the window, and guess what I saw? A trail of rose petals leading from my staircase to the grass! That was just the beginning, though. I walked to my front gate, and there was the start of the rose petal trail – so romantic! I felt like swooning. I followed the rose petal trail, and my heart almost stopped when I came to the end of it. John was standing in the centre of a huge heart on the grass made out of tealights, and he was holding… a heart-shaped durian! I actually started to cry, because it was the sweetest thing he’s ever done to surprise me. We had an impromptu durian picnic on the grass, what an evening!
I felt so inadequate when I gave John his surprise, but I think he really liked it. I stayed up all night on ebay to outbid all the other collectors who also wanted the limited edition Millennium Falcon replica! I told him not to be too sad about having to give up his car, because one day, he’s going to have a ride just as swanky as the Millennium Falcon! I think he really liked it – I haven’t seen his face light up like that for a long time. At least now he knows how touched I am that he sold the car – that was a coming of age gift from his dad, and I know how much it meant to him.
Actually, I was so touched by his surprise that I felt inspired to write the wedding vows. Min, read it and tell me what you think, ok?
My Wedding Vow
Your love is the yeast that makes my heart rise
Your smile is like molasses
When I look at you, I see deep into your soul
Add a cup of love and trust from me
Bake it in the oven of time
And you have a beautiful cake that never gets finished
A partner, a friend, a lover, a husband
The perfect recipe to last a lifetime and beyond
I give my life, my love, and my future to you
Now and always
The day at the beach did wonders for me. It was strange. I went there seething and hurt, and I came back in utterly love with John.
I think the point when I realized that life without him just wasn’t the same was when I was enjoying the sunset.
It was beautiful, just beautiful. The thing is, I didn’t enjoy it half as much as I would have if John had been there. That got me thinking about him – about how we met in the supermarket, our dizzy first few months together, and finally, how he makes me feel.
I realized that he didn’t hide the loss of his job from me because he didn’t trust me. He just didn’t want to burden me with it. He’s got a heart of gold, and I’m lucky to have his love. It’s the small things in life that pass us by. Things like your loved one’s smile, or the sand between your days while your sweetheart basks in the sun next to you.
I’ve been overlooking the small things, and that stops now. I learnt an important lesson from this: always put yourself in the other person’s shoes before you react.
