ah, crazy Singaporean weather again! 
Haven't been cycling the past few days, because all the air had been let out of my dad's bike tyres by pesky kids*. So yesterday decided to just use the manual pump and get re-inflate the tyres. After that, seeing the sky still has plenty of sunshine, decided to go for a quick ride to test the bike out. I was barely 15 minutes into the ride, when it started to pour cats and dogs. Talk about an unexpected summer / autumn's shower. Thank God there weren't thunder and lightning. But I sure looked like a drenched chicken when I reached home... 
Praise be to Him that I also din come down with a chill, as I just did in my last flu bout.
Haven't been updating this blog much, because was caught up in my friend's wedding that was just over on last Sunday. Yea, another of my guy friends "bites the dust", figuratively speaking. 
that's been happening plenty the past 2 years - guess it's the milestone / phase of life that people go through at this stage of life. After your tertiary education, find a job, saved up a few years, and you pop the big question to your partner-for-life-to-be. I've helped out as "brother" and helper in so many weddings, think I've given a third of my savings away in terms of ang pow "blessings".**
I'm not begrudging the giving; in fact i support giving cash rather than gifts. All too common complaint i heard from my newly-wedded friend is "wow, this is the 6th toaster / blender/ tupperware I've received for my wedding; it's great but what do i actually DO with so many of these things?" well, my friend, I guess you just pass it along to next LUCKY gonna-get-married couple. 
Much as it irks me to say this, cash is the most convenient way of blessing the couple materially. It irks me because it makes me sound like a materialistic person - you know, along the lines of "钱不是万能地，但没钱是万万不能地“。^
But thanks be to God that the whole wedding went quite smoothly. Din had to do too many forfeits^^ while getting the bride from her home in the morning. The tea ceremony went on smoothly. The church wedding didn't have hiccups, as far as I remembered correctly from the rehearsal.*** The wedding dinner was on time^^^, and was over by 11pm. The couple was bushed by that time, so we didn't stay to "闹洞房"****。All in all, it was a good wedding. Once again, thanks and praise be to God.
Went to chill out at Jurong East Library yesterday afternoon. Been a long time since I last visited the place. Been there twice only after it was renovated about 2 years back. I still say it's the best in concept amongst the national libraries I've been to in Singapore. I just wished there were more seats in the Quiet Reading room, and that the users would be more considerate i.e. dun leave your bag to "chop" / reserve the place while you disappear for 2 hours on end. But that's like wishing for the sun to rise from the west, i guess...
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* my dad's bike is parked downstairs at the void deck, for convenience's sake. We lived at the 11th floor, so it's kind of a hassle to bring the bike up and down. My mom was totally against the idea, so she was very smug and happy when she learnt that the air has been let out. Talk about extreme "I told you so" attitude... 
** not that I give a lot away in ang pows; just that I don't have that much savings...
^ Translated as "Money is not everything, but you can't ever do without money".
^^ I wonder who came up with this custom of making the groom jump through the hoops while going to get his bride from her home. In the name of "making the event memorable" and "showing your undying love for your wife", the groom has to be subjected to physical stress (push ups, sit ups, crunches, jumping jacks), mental torture ("name her 10 favorite things/ what did she wear for your first date/ when's the first time you kissed"), torturing gouramandise ("here's the paste/ drink/ soup of wasabi in soy sauce blended with egg yolk, bitter-gourd and and cranberry + carrot; which you must down to show your undying love blah blah blah") and monetary loss ("You must pay $9999.99 to the sisters, before we will open the door, so as to show blah blah blah").
I think it's just a despicable ploy of the brides' "sisters" to soothe their injured ego that they are not getting married. I'm sure ain't going with the theory that these "rituals" allude to some past mythological ancient rites of proving the groom's manhood / virility. Hello, it's the 21st century, haven't you heard of fertility clinics, if you really wanna checked?
*** which also mean "...I'm not sure".
^^^ which meant it started an hour late from the "dinner starts at xxx o'clock" on the wedding invitation card, and ended 2 hours later. That's "on-time" for Singaporean Chinese wedding dinners. 
**** translated as "rock the nuptial room". Basically, another silly ritual of making both the groom and bride jump through hoops. Talk about ultimate loss of dignity, i've heard of some strange stories of the things the couple have to do, that borders short of the occultic practices^^^^. I just have a word of wisdom: DO UNTO OTHERS, AS YOU WOULD HAVE THEM DO UNTO YOU. Remember, the couple you "sabo" might well be the ones who are gonna organise your wedding "afterburn party" 
^^^^ involves banana, egg, rubber-band rope and toothpick. Go use your imagination.
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