A little reminder of home…

.. what makes me miss it whenever I’m away and what I love about it.

You know how journalists always talk about Singapore using the key word “melting pot of… (Race, Culture etc)” Sometimes I forget what it really means to live in one and forget what makes me appreciate it enough to stress that this is what makes us truly Singaporean.

What made me feel right at home on a Sunday morning was the sound of the beating Kompang (Malay Hand Drum) to welcome the bride & groom which woke me up. Even though I’m right on the 11th floor, it was loud and cheery filled with gusto and celebration. And no, it didn’t irritate me but I was up and started to think about the nice curries cooking below and started salivating LOL.

and then it dawned on me how much this makes me feel right at home. That an estate is never complete without this celebration every once in awhile. That we are not much different from any cosmo city until you experience this. And if someone were to ask me what’s unique about Singapore and a must see/attend, in a heartbeat I would have the perfect answer – Live in the heartland for a day and if u have a local friend, attend a traditional Malay/Indian/Chinese wedding! I’ve heard and experienced the big hearts of the Malays to welcome just about any race to their weddings so long you are a friend and here to bring good wishes, even if you dont have an invite! Thus explaining the location, casual-ness & overwhelming amount of food!

Like all wedding filled with traditions, the rituals and colours just speaks more than telling you about a culture. You’ll see the hostility on MRTs & shopping centres melt away, making way for bonds, friendship, laughter and community. I hope the new estates will still thrive with this sort of bustle and multi-cultural love for one another filled with activities & fun!

A typical Malay wedding, and yes this is at a void deck, grand huh! photo credits from Yahoo.sg

If I haven’t already told you enough, the highlight of the wedding was a malay guy singing “我问天“ in hokkien, better know as ” Wa Meng Ti” for an extremely long Taiwanese drama “爱“. When he was done, he closed it with “Terima Kasih”. Talk about being Rojak and totally multicultural/lingual.

I love being Singaporean and as rojakly Peranankan for reasons like these!

me against time…

“Everyone thinks you make mistakes when you’re young. But I don’t think we make any fewer when we’re grown up”
― Jodi Picoult

Ahh.. in less than a week’s time, I’ll be hitting the dreaded 25 (maybe I shouldn’t be so upfront about the age) and since time seems to be slightly on my side today, I started thinking about how these 25 years have just flown by so quickly. Its feels like just yesterday that I celebrated the hallmark 21 and suddenly, 4 years have gone by – its true what they say, after 21, time seriously flies.

Amidst chasing for a branded paper, establishing a foothold in society and learning how to be a grown up, I’ve had much fun and had a taste at most things bittersweet. I’ve traveled a fair bit, I’ve got a decent dollar amount in where that is safe, I’ve done what most grown ups have for a safety net in life, I would like to think I have been integrating with society quite well and there is still lots more to be looking forward to! I’m also glad I still have the same bunch of favourite people who have been with me since 13 and certainly sure another 10-20 years wouldn’t be tough.
I think the only procrastination would be my driving license and going for my confirmation but I simply no motivation for the former and it is by no means cool. Other than that, if I can recall the popular secondary school composition exercise – “Where do you see yourself in 5/10years time”.. I don’t think I am very far off but! I think I’m going to have problems when the big three-o comes!

I wish I could get more excited about celebrating this day but all I am is worried for all my tomorrows… Wishful expectations in life seem to point towards hoping everything will fall into place but Murphy’s Law of what can go wrong will go wrong definitely never fails to impress. My 23rd year seem to be the best example thus far but you never know! Somedays I still feel like I’m not prepared to handle things like how my grandparents seem to wrinkle and shrink even more each day while my mum ages slowly too. OR, like how people around me all seem to be getting hitched! (panicking as I type this out..breathe Corrin breathe!)

So for all my tomorrows, do you have handy advice for things I should try to accomplish before I hit 30?