It was the last night of the Honey Bun-neeey's stay in Singapore (of his August trip) and we were being given the cold shoulder. By whom, you ask. Well, it would be no surprise if I said it was The Lady of the Manor. Any why, you ask. Well, this one's a shocker. Are you sitting down? You'll need to if you're going to read on.
As we're both sitting on the lounge, waiting for her to comment on what we found out about the Yishun Country Club that day, she sits quietly and starts to flip the 4-page brochure from front to back to front to back and all over again. This goes on for a while and the HB and I knew something was up. I decided that I was going to take myself to bed anyway because the HB and I needed to be up early the next morning for his flight out of Singapore. The HB said he's not far out of bed too but will stay up a little longer. Good luck, I thought to myself as I made my exit.
The next morning, in the taxi to the airport, the HB summarises the 3 hour conversation which he had with The Lady of the Manor after I had taken myself to bed. 3 bloody hours! By the time he had gone to bed, it was close to 3am and he only had less than 3 hours of sleep because we had to be up early for his flight out. It wasn't like the Lady of the Manor didn't know he had an early start the next day but that didn't stop her from acting like a child, did it?
So, the source of her childish tantrums turns out to be none other than the wedding dinner reception or banquet as we'd like to call it in Singapore. The past 2 weeks, the Honey Bun-neeey and I had been asking hotels to send us their packages, we'd been out and about looking at these function rooms and we'd always come home to report our findings to The Lady of the Manor. But towards the end of the HB's trip, it surfaced that
we did not want to make a speech (the HB wasn't comfortable with a 20min monologue)
we did not want a champagne fountain (tacky, tacky, tacky!)
we did not want a Yum Seng toast (we don't speak that dialect and its not our tradition)
we did not want the dry ice-effect during our march-in (tacky, tacky, tacky and haven't we moved on from that?) .
The Lady of the Manor couldn't be more displeased. She wants the 80s version of a full-blown Chinese banquet for our dinner reception - just minus the Chinese sit-down menu. But why when it's fast forward 2 decades later, and neither of us are Chinese? Her attempt at logical reasoning is - because that's the way it's done in Singapore. A whole load of crap that is! The last time she must have attended one of these wedding receptions would have been 12 years ago when my brother got married! Perhaps that's why she's still caught up with the style and practices of wedding receptions of that era! Cringe! But being The Lady of the Manor, she refuses to admit to that and instead lies that she knows what she's talking about because she's attended so many other wedding dinner receptions in recent years. She fails to notice that we both live under the same house and I usually know what her social activities are.
Anyway, in 3 hours, in between having to hear re-runs of the Lady of the Manor putting me down, accusing me of hell all and comparing me with the daughter-in-law she never liked and the son she puts on a pedastal, the HB tried to reason with her why we didn't want these practices at our reception. He even negotiated with her - we'll make a speech and a toast, albeit not a Yum Seng toast, but no to all the rest. It seemed that although she wasn't happy she wasn't getting the whole deal, she agreed nonetheless.
This all comes back to the dinner reception we don't even want. Why are we bloody having to negotiate with her on all these things when it's a bloody dinner reception we didn't even want in the first place??? It's bloody madness!!! And doesn't it embarrass her to behave like a 6 years old who throws tantrums when he doesn't get his way when the fact is, she's 61 years old and should be years wiser than that?
The Antics of His Future Mother-in-law.
Wednesday, October 11, 2006
Outdated Updates Updated - The One About Isabella Tan
The long anticipated wait for Little Miss Isabella Tan ended on 23 August 2006 when at 7.18pm, I got an sms from the mother of the little girlie, Sophia, declaring one victorious word, "Delivered!"
So the Honey Bun-neeey and I popped by the hospital to visit both mommy and girlie. Sophia was doing well and was up on her feet already. After giving us the details of her labour (must make mental note: never discuss details of labour before dinner), she introduced Isabella and like every proud mommy, she pointed out how Isabella's taken on the unflattering genes from each side. The cutie apparently has Wei Yi's eyes, Sophia's nose and is a wee bit hairy. I offered to give the little darling advice on waxing when the time was right. Sophia wasn't enthused.
Back in the hospital room, Wei Yi and The Honey Bun-neeey were exchanging views and reviews of apparently very stimulating books on history. Wei Yi majored in Political Science and The Honey Bun-neeey did History at Uni. Perfect. So while they furrowed eyebrows over this and that date in history when the Allied Forces took over XXX country, I was slowly feeling the blood drain from me. Thank God for Sophia or I'd be a bloodless Wee Yapper, because the two of us then started talking girlie stuff.
In all, it was a really lovely visit and we were glad to see that both Isabella and Sophia were healthy and doing well.
But in the meantime, The Honey Bun-neeey and I were discussing names for our kids (in future). Yes, remember, we are talking about two people who have got most of their wedding details completed and checked off the list when their wedding is in Sept 2007 (Afternote: the wedding has been brought forward to June 2007...more of that later). So it shouldn't surprise you that we're talking kids names when they are years from being in the picture.
I realised it was far easier shopping for girls names than boys names.
Me: Elizabeth? Catherine? Very regal eh?
He: Too common
What if it's a boy?
He: Leon. It's French!
Me: Might work if we're in France but not in an English-speaking Australia.
The pronounciation would just be bastardised and any ounce of romanticism in that name would have been yanked out, trampled on deep into the ground. And it really doesn't go with The Honey Bun-neeey's family name.
He: Joseph?
Me: I like the sounds of it. (finally! an agreement!)
He: Yeah, it'll probably get shortened to Joe by his mates at school or work.
Me: Joe?? No. That would be way too common. Like Tom, Dick or Harry.
As you may have guessed, no conclusion has been reached. We have time. But how much time?
I've always wanted to have 5 years of marital bliss before the kids come along (and exhaust us to the point of zero couple-time and romance quotient). And this 5-year plan would be perfect given that The Honey Bun-neeey and Wee Yapper have a long distance relationship (up until the point of marriage) and would need to spend some couple time to ourselves before thinking of expanding the family.
But there's a wee little thing called Age that's working against us. When we get married next year, he will be 36 and I will be 31. If you're good at math, and if we go by the 5-year plan, we'll be 41 and 36 respectively by the time our first child comes along. Not good.
1) Given the countless studies made of women in their late thirties having children, there is an unhealthy number of them who have had difficult pregnancies or complications.
2) The child may be at a higher risk of a host of health problems.
3) As parents, The Honey Bun-neeey and the Wee Yapper will be gasping for air trying to keep up with their child as they play ball in the backyard (if we have one!) because by then, I'd be pushing forty and The Honey Bun-neeey would be looking at his retirement years!
4) The Honey Bun-neeey and the Wee Yapper will need to be wheeled to their child's graduation. From pre-school.
Erm....it does look like I'm going to have to re-think this 5-year plan because I'm not in a position to be selfish. But is it being selfish to want time to ourselves, a luxury we don't/didn't have as a couple in a long-distance relationship? Maybe a 3-year plan?
So the Honey Bun-neeey and I popped by the hospital to visit both mommy and girlie. Sophia was doing well and was up on her feet already. After giving us the details of her labour (must make mental note: never discuss details of labour before dinner), she introduced Isabella and like every proud mommy, she pointed out how Isabella's taken on the unflattering genes from each side. The cutie apparently has Wei Yi's eyes, Sophia's nose and is a wee bit hairy. I offered to give the little darling advice on waxing when the time was right. Sophia wasn't enthused.
Back in the hospital room, Wei Yi and The Honey Bun-neeey were exchanging views and reviews of apparently very stimulating books on history. Wei Yi majored in Political Science and The Honey Bun-neeey did History at Uni. Perfect. So while they furrowed eyebrows over this and that date in history when the Allied Forces took over XXX country, I was slowly feeling the blood drain from me. Thank God for Sophia or I'd be a bloodless Wee Yapper, because the two of us then started talking girlie stuff.
In all, it was a really lovely visit and we were glad to see that both Isabella and Sophia were healthy and doing well.
But in the meantime, The Honey Bun-neeey and I were discussing names for our kids (in future). Yes, remember, we are talking about two people who have got most of their wedding details completed and checked off the list when their wedding is in Sept 2007 (Afternote: the wedding has been brought forward to June 2007...more of that later). So it shouldn't surprise you that we're talking kids names when they are years from being in the picture.
I realised it was far easier shopping for girls names than boys names.
Me: Elizabeth? Catherine? Very regal eh?
He: Too common
What if it's a boy?
He: Leon. It's French!
Me: Might work if we're in France but not in an English-speaking Australia.
The pronounciation would just be bastardised and any ounce of romanticism in that name would have been yanked out, trampled on deep into the ground. And it really doesn't go with The Honey Bun-neeey's family name.
He: Joseph?
Me: I like the sounds of it. (finally! an agreement!)
He: Yeah, it'll probably get shortened to Joe by his mates at school or work.
Me: Joe?? No. That would be way too common. Like Tom, Dick or Harry.
As you may have guessed, no conclusion has been reached. We have time. But how much time?
I've always wanted to have 5 years of marital bliss before the kids come along (and exhaust us to the point of zero couple-time and romance quotient). And this 5-year plan would be perfect given that The Honey Bun-neeey and Wee Yapper have a long distance relationship (up until the point of marriage) and would need to spend some couple time to ourselves before thinking of expanding the family.
But there's a wee little thing called Age that's working against us. When we get married next year, he will be 36 and I will be 31. If you're good at math, and if we go by the 5-year plan, we'll be 41 and 36 respectively by the time our first child comes along. Not good.
1) Given the countless studies made of women in their late thirties having children, there is an unhealthy number of them who have had difficult pregnancies or complications.
2) The child may be at a higher risk of a host of health problems.
3) As parents, The Honey Bun-neeey and the Wee Yapper will be gasping for air trying to keep up with their child as they play ball in the backyard (if we have one!) because by then, I'd be pushing forty and The Honey Bun-neeey would be looking at his retirement years!
4) The Honey Bun-neeey and the Wee Yapper will need to be wheeled to their child's graduation. From pre-school.
Erm....it does look like I'm going to have to re-think this 5-year plan because I'm not in a position to be selfish. But is it being selfish to want time to ourselves, a luxury we don't/didn't have as a couple in a long-distance relationship? Maybe a 3-year plan?
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