Usual Updates.

Whoa! Would you look at the last time I since blogged! It's been a while hasn't it? I've never taken such a long break/hiatus before and it's pretty scary to me. There's this inexplicable weight over my shoulder that just seems to can't go away. what with knowing the rest of the world's been updating their blogs daily while mine remains dormant without any notice. But it definitely surprised me that there were a couple of people who still visited the blog even without updates or anything and leaving little notes on the tagbox. That's nice to know. That's not all. I've been pretty much inactive at Flickr too. No pictorial updates or whatsoever and it kills me to take a few minutes of every day to browse through the amazing shots of my Flickr contacts.

Well, ever since my last post, things were pretty chaotic in my life. With the long-awaited wedding coming by just around the corner, I was really busy with the wedding mass booklet cover and arrangements. Dedicated all of my time fiddling with Photoshop and Microsoft Word - and you know how slow it gets with my computer running these two programs simultaneously! Work didn't speed up much even with Grace's laptop around as she didn't have a printer and only I had extra fonts on my computer. We were practically transferring files from my computer to hers and vice versa. I bore with it, though, having ah chiu and the parish priest himself approve of the cover I "designed". Weekends were usually reserved for the soon-to-wed couple, running them through the updates of the wedding. As the official wedding planner's son, I get to go along with them on their bridal photoshoot and stuff like that. Which could get pretty interesting, if you ask me, not to mention, sparking ideas of my own studio in the future.

Ooh, this is such a mess!

Although, credit goes to mom and Grace for the contents of the booklet, which both of them took the time to type out and arranged it for a proper printing. Mom is still busy with last minute arrangements like the church organist, florist, caterers and the wedding day agenda. Practically don't have time to go shopping to look for a decent dress for the occasion herself. Of course, that haven't included all the yells and screams of disapproval on all sorts of things from various parties that mom had to counter all by herself. In layman's terms, the feared catfights are already taking place sooner than I thought it would among her siblings already. Virtual misconceptions, misunderstandings and wrong judgements are just a few causes that can spark the well-kept fire inside of everyone. Thank God there was still a decent amount of toleration in the family. I wonder what would happen when the siblings actually meet up in person. Hair-pulling and bitch-slapping, maybe?

Anyway, this weekend, mom, Grace and apoh will be accompanying the couple down to Pahang, the hometown of the bride for wedding dowries. Yeap, it's still a well practiced tradition here, complete with traditional baskets and various types of delicacies, one of each bearing their own significance to the Chinese wedding. The couple wanted to keep the ceremony at a low-down as it was only a small occasion with no frivolous celebration with kegs of beer till the wee hours. It was basically carried out due to the importance it had in Chinese customs and as much as I've heard, the bride's family would only be holding a small buffet with close friends and families. They'll be spending a couple of nights there before embarking on a cruel 8hours journey home. Initially, I wanted to go but since I still have my exams going on, the spot goes to Grace. I'd happily skip exams but mom forbade. No surprise there. Dad, Edmund and me? What's the worst that could happen?

Speaking of which, exams were dropped on me like a bomb. It started last Thursday and you can pretty easily guess how busy I am juggling between exams and wedding works. Oh, the exams are the usual blank-paper hand-ups and head-tucked-in-folded-arms-on-the-table routine. Nothing out of the ordinary since I barely threw in any effort before the exams. I mean, this examination was kinda screwed up anyway. Just imagine, things were so messed up that the school couldn't decide on one simple timetable for the exams, thus having it changed for 5 ridiculous times, leaving students like me in a daze of when the exams were actually going to start. There were days where the timetable says the 1st paper for the day will start at 7.30am but when I get to school, I get people telling it to my face that it doesn't start till 8.10am, which really sucks.

Which is why I can't be less than bothered about this mid-term examinations. Yea, I get it, that there are going to be prizes for the highest scorer at the end of the year but that's just not me. Walking up the stage receiving prizes can be scary after all. Undoubtedly, I still do get cold feet every single day before exams start. It's inevitable. It's just practical for me to suck up as much as I could a few minutes before exams start, mindlessly flipping through the pages and scanning them through at the speed of light. Not like that's going to help in the exams but at least it calms me down a little and saves me from the ache of watching the others answer steadily while I doodle on the blank areas of the paper and the table. Pathetic ain't it? I don't think any other teenager my age goes through the same shit I do. Either way, another one of the many screwed up exams to add to my string of bad achievements. Not like the near-permanent mess in the room doesnt give me enough headache already.

So, there you have it, me explaining my absence for the past 3 weeks. Even as I'm posting this, I'm still busy meddling about the booklet's content placing and getting it ready for print. Of course, I'm using Grace's laptop side by side with my computer, multi-tasking my hands off, or God knows when I'll be able to finish! For now, I can't really say if things are going to get any better - any less chaotic, that is. There's still a lot more to be done in preparation for the wedding and I'm guessing that things will probably get more tensed as the date approaches. Grace has been back for a 2 months varsity break since 1st May and with her around, there'll be more shopping and mall-roaming, hunting down for the best bargains and possibly shopping for the big day. The woman needs her shoes, her accessories, her dresses and her bags! I don't think she'll let me off easily, considering that my mid-term holidays are just around the corner as well (oh, some good news at last!).

Still, not that I'm complaining that it's a pain in the butt to go shopping. Damn, it can be a relief, to say the least.