It's This Weekend!! Gasp!!

Somehow, I'm more jittery than I was last year. Eventhough I'm not acting nor singing this time. Maybe it's the lack of time we had, but I'm so proud of the team for getting as far as they are now, even with the lack of time.

I love it. Even if you do eventually watch it and think it needs more work, I will still love it, because of how we managed to not kill each other despite all the stress we are in right now.

Love it.

Poor ol' student

I received a Google Map street photo of a friend's house in Luton this morning. I took one look and immediately wished I was in back in Nottingham, where long evening walks, wide selections of things and courteousness are possible.

Of course, to explore the new Google Map feature was next. What I found made me miss Nottingham dearly.

While I was at University, I did not own a digital camera nor a blog, and looking through these street pictures was like re-living it all.

This is a picture of the back of my flat, Albion House. The street is of course, Albion Street, in Beeston.

Almost right across Albion Street, is my all favourite hang out and stress relief place, Sainsbury. You can't really see it from the picture because it's blocked by the trees. My flatmates and I used to go to Sainsbury just before it closes to get cheap deals off pastries and cakes.

To go to University everyday, I opted for a 20mins walk to the West Gate rather than to take a bus which would cost one quid. I would pass the High Road which would look like this (as I remember it, vaguely).

The West Gate, the nearest entrance from Beeston to the University. Also the nearest entrance to the Faculty of Law and Social Sciences.

The Trent Building, where most of the activities are held by the Law Society, the Malaysian society and the Christian Fellowship. Also where Solid Rock met.

On weekends and whenever I felt like it, I would go to town. Nottingham is well known for its shopping escapades and late night shopping. It's main shopping centres are Broadmarsh and Victoria Centre (Google Maps only had the street photo of Victoria Centre's parking lot). Broadmarsh is the building on the right in the first picture below, and the entrance is negligible, but once you enter, it's like a whole different world.

For less expensive shopping and to cure hunger, there's also the Beeston Market which is approximately 3 minutes walk from my flat. I remember discovering that the market sells 3 branches of garlic for 50p (and yes, that's the cheapest - believe me I've done research.)

At the end of my lease at Albion House, I stayed on in this house, 44 Beeston Road, where many, many memories are made. It's the house 2nd from the right in this picture with the blue door. I promise, I was close to tears when I found this.

I now pronounce you...

Now that the vows have been said, the decorations have been put away, the place has been made cozy, it is the natural progression of things that the stories about married life start. This is when everyone asks the golden question "So how is married life?" It's an easy question to ask, but certainly not an easy one to answer.

I'd like to say, it's really not bad. Really. To those people who say that you'll get annoyed a lot, you'll fight a lot, or you'll get irritated because he squeezes the toothpaste the wrong way or leaves the toilet seat down, shame on you. That's hardly even a quarter of what married life is about.

There are a million things to say, but today, I'd like to talk about just one.

I've been observing people to see why their marriages work wonderfully and why they are happy or why they don't seem to be happy. It's amazing observing how people treat each other, how they show love, and how they respect each other.

I observed something very obvious about the couples I'd like to emulate - the women do not dictate/nag their men in public. All you see the wife do is respect him, in what he does, what he says, whether or not he looks stupid, whether or not he's offensive. She doesn't diss him in public, nor argue with him in front of others.

So does this mean wives have to agree with whatever their husband says?

Not so (thankfully!!). I learnt from him that, a good marriage is based on having the same foundation, or the word he uses, the same platform. Our platform is simply, that we are not married to each other to condemn, but to build up. So whatever we do, however we feel, it's based on this. So I've learnt that whilst the husband may be wrong or silly or offensive, telling him off in public is not going to build him up. Not only that, telling him off in public mirrors disrespect. Its like how you won't want your best friend to tell you that you have on an ugly dress in front of the guy she likes, for example.

However, telling him in love and in private does build him up. Make sense?

It makes a world of sense to me. But now comes the hard part - doing it. It's a long and difficult learning process (how can one resist telling one's spouse that he/she is really making fool of himself, so please stop it right now?)

However, I am very fortunate because God gave me this wonderful, patient and tolerable man. He understands that it's not easy for prideful lil' me. He stands by me as I struggle to hold my tongue and focus on the platform.

He's not perfect either, but he's mine.

I Appreciate You, too!

Your lil' appreciation messages throughout the day overwhelmed me into tears. My facebook page was filled with them - unfortunately, I was not able to log on till way after midnight.

To all of you who had texted me throughout the day - thank you!! This is me being too lazy to reply to all of you, but I appreciate you, I really do!!

Thank you, people. Thank you for filling me up with all your love and thoughts. I love you too.

Self Discovery

I have learnt 2 things about myself recently:

1. I get annoyed when people speak to me as if I didn't understand it the first time. I am not a child, therefore, I am able to tell you if I don't understand.
2. I also get annoyed when I've taken pains to make things clear and people still do not get it. I get even more annoyed when I have to repeat myself after all the effort I've put in the first time.

Why am I blogging about this? So that you will forgive me should I spread some of my annoyance unto you. [This usually happens at work anyway, so if you are not my colleague or a client, it probably doesn't apply to you.]

On a separate note, the engraving on my wedding ring reads "....131220 0 8". It's spaced wrongly and the last zero is slightly lower than the rest of the numbers.

I was annoyed with that initially (I paid you for this??!!??) but now, I think it's perfect because it reflects that it is the only ring that will ever exist like that, and that I'm not perfect, but he chose me anyway, imperfections, annoyance and all.

Hee.

The (somewhat) Big One....

It has been a trying day.

I'm learning to be content, and trying to strive for excellence.

I couldn't hold back the tears - because I know God has a purpose for this and somehow, it still feels horrible.

I wanna do this...

I need to be on my knees more, seek Him more, be content and thankful with what I have, and make myself happy doing the things I love.

Now, to put all these into practise.

*pictures taken from Wedding Paper Divas.

I Am Right Brained....

I really am. Acknowledging this has made my left brain rebel against me, or at least, that's what I think it's doing. So maybe I'm not cut out to have a high flying office job (although I've done it since forever) and maybe I'd rather colour than write language which can only be understood by the legal mind. I definitely am not cut out to crunch numbers (no way, Jose - have you ever wondered who Jose is and why everyone is rejecting him?).

God inspire me to do what I'm cut out to do, and help me find joy in whatever I'm doing, although it's a daily struggle.