Monday 26th May 2008
I thought living in Singapore would make things easier for me to honour invites extended to me.
I thought wrong.
With my flying roster (P-plate stewardess so must put in 100%!), Azim's class and practical schedules and our various family commitments (yes, these have significantly increased since our moving back here...it's like everyone's making up for lost time!), we've been missing almost as many invites as we've attended. Since I last counted, there's at least one in each category -friend's wedding, friend's engagement, friend's bridal shower, friend's housewarming, friend's birthday, friend's kid's birthday, friend's kid's cukur rambut, friend's farewell party, friend's potluck party...name the event and we've missed it.
And there's that thing where I cannot go anywhere without the laki, unless it's under special circumstances. Gosh, I'm such a needy bini.
I knew I wasn't cut out to be a socialite. Yessireee. I will put Jamie Cuaca and Georgia Lee to shame if I was ever in their Birkin and Moet social circles. Not like I'll ever be lah, just hypothetically speaking. First of all, I don't drink and oh yes, I'd need at least a dozen lifetimes to match their shamelessly swollen coffers. Or five million Europe/US flights. No, don't do the math.
If for any one weekend, we are invited to four events, Azim and I would make it only for two, if we're lucky. If we make it for all, we'd be horrendously late for the last one or two and oh, I've lost friends over that. Heh. And of course, with the mother's stern warning etched in the head, family events come first so there's no such thing as singgah sekejap at any one family gathering coz singgah usually equates to hours of interrogation of the makcik kind and it doesn't stop at one makcik, we move through the ranks, in numbers. Kind of like the post-mortem of a murder case, only with more questions. Unlike a murder case though, the makciks would have judged you the minute you walk through the door.
Anyway, I'm hoping things will change as everything else settles down to the way we want. Now it's not there yet and though it's almost a year since we returned, it's not as easy as one would think. It's not as simple as moving houses, changing jobs and reshuffling priorities. It's all of that..and more. And surprisingly, I'm quite surprised. I thought it would be a cinch. I thought wrong.
It was so easy for me to leave and re-live my life overseas when I left Singapore for Dubai with nothing, all those years ago -a young and single adventurer just looking for a sweet escape. I thought it'd be the same, if not easier, now that I have a bit more and I'm older, wiser and hitched. But as I've mentioned, I thought wrong.
Heck, this post is shaping out to be about things I thought wrongly about.
If I had the time, I can go on and on about so many things I thought wrongly about. I thought I could just air my grievances and commiserate, unleash what I've kept for so long. But I was wrong. I thought I won't be judged, categorized and ostracized. But I was wrong. I thought things would be different. But I was wrong. I thought they were different. But I was wrong. But then again, I've been wrong about so many people. And at the end of the day, I found out that nagging doubt in my heart was...right.
But I don't have the time and I don't like to stagnate so I shall move on to the conclusion of this post -to try not to think wrongly again, about people especially, and to make time and make it on time for all the invites for gatherings, events and small makan sessions I receive. That shall be my mid-year resolution. InsyaAllah.
And we'll start things off with an event of utmost significance and dire importance -my gurl Mardee's kahwin-kahwin this weekend!
Let's see how things work out, shall we? I think I'll be able to make it for all three events. Yes, Mardee, I want to go to the Sunday one too! This girl, together with my gaggle of Crescentian Class of '97 girls, are almost family. So they're at the top of my list.
And no, for more than a decade, I've not thought wrongly about that.
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