Two Weeks' Notice

March 8 2008

March 8 was one of the most momentous days of my return home this time, for my friends and my nation.

Two weddings:

Wedding #1:

The Sunday School graduating batch of 1992, which I belong to, have had a secret pact where everyone would get married by 2008.

I must have been sick at home the day they made that pact.

Haha! So maybe there wasn't a pact, but a respectable amount of them have taken the plunge (why isn't there a nicer way of phrasing marriage - why make it sound like a fall to your death?) this year and last year. Come end of this year, it looks like I'll be the only one remaining from our batch to not have tied the knot (there we go again - where does the knot go? Around each other's necks?)

I was torn between two weddings, and I think I chose correctly - I attended my close friend's church wedding but went for another friend's wedding dinner.

The church wedding of my close friend was a simple and yet truly beautiful affair. The church was decorated in pink and lavender, and candles were lit along the backdrop.

The highlight of the day was when my friend surprised his bride by serenading her on the piano, and what a voice he had! You know how sometimes when a person sings, you stop all that you're doing and listen simply because you're in awe? His voice was angelic and stunned us into silence, every heartfelt note piercing the audience. There was a collective sigh when he finished, and the hall erupted in applause.

The bride had tears in her eyes and rushed up to hug him, which was a little guarded, I thought. That performance warranted a full blown kiss. (With tongue. Okay, church tongue. Haha!)

Later, at lunch, I managed to catch up with the bridesmaid, who was an old friend from my high school. It must have been ten years since we've seen each other and it was really good catching up. It is a rule that the bridesmaid is not allowed to outshine the bride, but let's just say she came pretty close.

Wedding # 2:

I attended the other friend's wedding dinner, taking the longest possible route to get there (as always!) because we thought it was in USJ. We were lost and worryingly low on petrol and finally found the place, only to be told that the person before us had taken the last parking spot!

But thankfully, although we were late, Malaysian timing dictates that the wedded couple walks in half an hour late, and so we were actually just on time!

It was a nice place for a wedding dinner, and the food was pretty good, and the company was fun as well. I was surprised to see many old friends there, so there was a lot of 'summarise the past ten years in five minutes' kind of moments.

The bride, who was my friend, was dressed in a light green haltertop evening dress (correct me if I'm wrong. I don't know a chiffon (that's a cake, right?) from a blouse from a tube top!) which we all agreed looked immaculate on her. Better than the green dress on Keira Knightley in Atonement, in my humble opinion.

There was an unfortunate distraction that night, though, and it was because it was the day that Malaysia decided.

An Election (Marilah mari, pergi mengundi...)

Our eyes were glued to some television sets in the restaurant which were showing the results of the national elections held earlier that morning.

People on my table were receiving updates by sms, and it was quite a shake up for my nation.

Five states had fallen to the opposition was the news that was going around, which was confirmed by the newspapers the next day.

Being a political neutral, I must say that this elections showed democracy in action and indicated the groundswell from a disgruntled rakyat. It was the best outcome, I felt - the coalition remained in power with enough check from a larger sized Opposition this time.

I do not know what this will augur for my tanahair, and only time will tell of the wisdom of our decisions.

May God watch over our country and give wisdom to her leaders.