My wife's cousin in law jio-ed us for an evening of musical in NUS UCC( University Cultural Centre ) last Friday. I had nothing on and conveniently agreed to the invite to watch Paul the musical with my wife.
I had heard about the Parish of St Mary promoting this play during Sunday Masses but i never thought of getting the tickets back then. On my way down to UCC that evening i thought that i would get more acquainted with the biblical aspect of the play. Simple as that.
I never realized that i was about to get more than what i expected out of this musical..
While waiting for my wife's cousins to turn up with our tickets, i bumped into Nadia, a girl whom i worked with as an assistant teacher in Julia Gabriel back in 2006. Alright, the world is small; its been close to 3 years since i met anyone from JG.
Nadia: Hey PING( my nick in JG ) how come you are here?
Me: Erm... nothing to do, and since i managed to get the tickets on a subsidized rate, might as well just...
Nadia: Hey you know? Pix is acting in the musical???
Me: Huh...?
Nadia: He's playing as Paul...
That's how our short 1minute catch up went. I ended up feeling so silly and embarassed. Pix was also my fellow colleague in JG. We worked together quite closely , me as the assistant teacher mainly involved in music playing while Pix was the teacher doing most of the educating. Having partnered Pix for more than a semester in the school, i found him to be a very articulating person, with a very keen interest in drama and arts.
I quickly flipped through the programme booklet( it was on sale for 5 bucks...i didnt buy it initially; one of the Friars Fr John Wong gave his to us ) and was so surprised to see that familiar boyish image appearing as the main cast of the musical.
After the first segment of the musical, my wife and i decided to shift to a higher spot from our current position to have a better view of the stage. Towards the end of the final segment of the show, i was stunned to see my JC principal; Stunned because she actually came up to me and wore a smile, trying her best to remember my name
SML: Erm Chiam Peng is it?
Me: Siang Ping Siang Ping...Long time no see Ma'am ... i'm surprised that you could still remember me!!!!
SML: I remembered giving you a 2nd chance
She meant to say that she offered me a 2nd chance to do my A levels again back in 2000. That's like 9 years ago...
I must have been a very talk-about character back in my school back then... aiyoh =X
6/28/09
6/17/09
Asteroid-ed
I was happily cruising on CTE towards SLE ( was on lane 1 ) in my new car.
It was a very sunny afternoon. Comfortably seated in air conditioned enviroment, my sight set out to the red hyundai getz that was easily more than 6 car lengths ahead of me. I was complemented by my aunts who were making their maiden ride in my car towards my uncle's. I was probably in a 'stoning' mode, trying hard not to participate in my aunts' small talks and gossips about their work life.
All of a sudden, a pebble like objected appeared out of nowhere, dashing towards my windscreen. Before i could make out what it really was, it left my windscreen with a snapping sound.
I guessed i was really 'lucky' that noon, to earn a 2mm kiss mark on the lower portion of the windscreen of my LESS THAN A MONTH OLD CAR( and i guessed it would burn a hole in my pocket as well ).
Have to make a trip down to the service center for this. Oh well....
It was a very sunny afternoon. Comfortably seated in air conditioned enviroment, my sight set out to the red hyundai getz that was easily more than 6 car lengths ahead of me. I was complemented by my aunts who were making their maiden ride in my car towards my uncle's. I was probably in a 'stoning' mode, trying hard not to participate in my aunts' small talks and gossips about their work life.
All of a sudden, a pebble like objected appeared out of nowhere, dashing towards my windscreen. Before i could make out what it really was, it left my windscreen with a snapping sound.
I guessed i was really 'lucky' that noon, to earn a 2mm kiss mark on the lower portion of the windscreen of my LESS THAN A MONTH OLD CAR( and i guessed it would burn a hole in my pocket as well ).
Have to make a trip down to the service center for this. Oh well....
6/14/09
A long 12 day stretch after
I cant wait to share my Europe Honeymoon photos. Really.
Sometimes there are happenings in your life that you wished didnt happen. Such was the case for my wife and i. As soon as we touched down Singapore, we set a goal to vet through the photos we took from the trip and have the nicer ones developed for everyone to envy.
Grandma-in-law( PO PO ) was diagnosed with lung cancer somewhere in mid May and her condition was rather bleak. I remembered on the day when we finally reached home and sunk into bed, she called my wife and mentioned something really out of this world. It was then i realised that she was mildy senile and wasnt the PO PO i used to know.... PO PO came into my life the moment my wife and i got together in 1999. While i am not a relative of PO PO by blood, i could easily tell that my wife shares a very unique relationship with her, one that is more than just a grandma-granddaughter bond. Every time when i send my wife( gf back then )home, PO PO would find all opportunity to ask about me, my health, my studies and how my dad is doing. Though i never knew how to speak Hakkah, it never stopped her from wanting to know more about me. This was still the case even when i finally married my wife in December 2008.
The Sunday that followed, my wife visited PO PO. I guessed my wife must be really worried and at the back of my mind, i sensed that she feared for the worst. I wasnt around because of my shift. Again, PO PO started asking things that didnt exist. That late evening when my wife finally had the chance to share encounter with me, i became petrified.
My wife made it a point to go down the following Tuesday to stay over at her Mum's( PO PO stays there too ). I dutifully had the clothings packed for my wife and i planned to fetch her there after work. I remembered it was around 535pm that i left my house, already starving since my early lunch, thinking what i wanted to eat. The moment i reached my wife's work place, i called her and ask about plans for dinner. She sounded rather jittery on the line but somehow i didnt think much.
A few minutes later, i saw my wife walking out of her office lobby, signing to me that PO PO passed on...Immediately my mind was in a blank and i only knew that we must rush home.
The next 4 days that followed was the longest in my life. We sat through Grandma's wake and bade farewell to her on the last day in Mandai Crematorium. Something i will never forget was that faithful night when my wife and i stayed up for the night to watch over the wake. The stories that my wife shared was something that made me realised how dearly she missed PO PO.
Today, we ( my wife and i, plus her parents, uncles, aunts and cousins ) said our last prayers to Grandma as her urn was carefully placed in the niche in St Francis of Assisi. I felt a sense of relief that this 4 long day of sadness and dreadfulness finally came to an end.
Rest in peace PO PO. May you be happy with all the Saints and Angels in Heaven. We love you.
Sometimes there are happenings in your life that you wished didnt happen. Such was the case for my wife and i. As soon as we touched down Singapore, we set a goal to vet through the photos we took from the trip and have the nicer ones developed for everyone to envy.
Grandma-in-law( PO PO ) was diagnosed with lung cancer somewhere in mid May and her condition was rather bleak. I remembered on the day when we finally reached home and sunk into bed, she called my wife and mentioned something really out of this world. It was then i realised that she was mildy senile and wasnt the PO PO i used to know.... PO PO came into my life the moment my wife and i got together in 1999. While i am not a relative of PO PO by blood, i could easily tell that my wife shares a very unique relationship with her, one that is more than just a grandma-granddaughter bond. Every time when i send my wife( gf back then )home, PO PO would find all opportunity to ask about me, my health, my studies and how my dad is doing. Though i never knew how to speak Hakkah, it never stopped her from wanting to know more about me. This was still the case even when i finally married my wife in December 2008.
The Sunday that followed, my wife visited PO PO. I guessed my wife must be really worried and at the back of my mind, i sensed that she feared for the worst. I wasnt around because of my shift. Again, PO PO started asking things that didnt exist. That late evening when my wife finally had the chance to share encounter with me, i became petrified.
My wife made it a point to go down the following Tuesday to stay over at her Mum's( PO PO stays there too ). I dutifully had the clothings packed for my wife and i planned to fetch her there after work. I remembered it was around 535pm that i left my house, already starving since my early lunch, thinking what i wanted to eat. The moment i reached my wife's work place, i called her and ask about plans for dinner. She sounded rather jittery on the line but somehow i didnt think much.
A few minutes later, i saw my wife walking out of her office lobby, signing to me that PO PO passed on...Immediately my mind was in a blank and i only knew that we must rush home.
The next 4 days that followed was the longest in my life. We sat through Grandma's wake and bade farewell to her on the last day in Mandai Crematorium. Something i will never forget was that faithful night when my wife and i stayed up for the night to watch over the wake. The stories that my wife shared was something that made me realised how dearly she missed PO PO.
Today, we ( my wife and i, plus her parents, uncles, aunts and cousins ) said our last prayers to Grandma as her urn was carefully placed in the niche in St Francis of Assisi. I felt a sense of relief that this 4 long day of sadness and dreadfulness finally came to an end.
Rest in peace PO PO. May you be happy with all the Saints and Angels in Heaven. We love you.
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