Penang's wedding was fabulous. It was great being back in Penang after close to 2 years.... the food and all yum yums!!! Also, it was nice meeting all my cousins again for this big wedding event of the year, and all my nieces and nephews!!! And for the first time, I was part of the Sister (Ji Mui?) entourage! It was tiring but great fun! First, when the groom arrived, the relatives outside the bride's room did a 'roadblock' along the staircase. When the groom finally reached the top, he had to face two cousins carrying their children. His task was to carry the boy and girl without them crying, and they had to be happy and willing to be carried by him. When he made it through that round, he faced the locked bedroom door, with us inside yelling tasks and questions. First he had to tell us the bride's bra size; next was what he'd do for their 1st anniversary (a kiss and a baby); third was some ang pow negotiation, in which we kept demanding for more (we received 300 over RM before we got a call asking us to hurry up cos time was running out); finally, he had to guess which of the lipstick kisses on a piece of tissue paper was the bride's (he got it wrong, hence more ang pow :D:D:D).

Then it was the tea ceremony, where I had to collect three ang pows (one for me, one for bro, one for baby nephew in sg) and one more from the Heng Tai (dai? Brother lah). A quick lunch, and off we went to the hotel to help the bride check-in with all her barang barang (which occupied an entire car, except for the driver and co-driver seats). Checked in, explored bridal suite, hung up her HEAVY and beautiful gowns, then went to see her parents' exec suite (they weren't there yet). After that, bumped into the bride and groom and their peeps at the elevator, and we joined them for the tea ceremony of the groom's side. MORE ANG POWS, from the bride this time. :D:D:D. And of course, KUEH. I love Penang Kueh. Then some short blissful rest before reporting for ushering and video-recording duty.

Dinner was good, busy taking photos of people/camwhoring and videographing to really eat much. Got sabo-ed to go and dance -_-"""... with my aunt's boyfriend/my uncle. OMG how weird was that?! Haha. And I don't really know the ballroom dance they do, so just tried my best :p. But when he asked me to dip I couldn't cos... scare lah. haha. I very heavy leh.

So yeah, this wedding dinner was superb. :)

***

On the other hand, the one this weekend was downright horrid. I can't really describe how I felt at the end, and still am feeling, except I'm really upset and pissed with that family. To be fair, the brothers were nice. The groom was obviously very busy so I didn't expect much from him; his brother (and my cousin) talked to me during the dinner itself. The sister though... I expected more. Maybe I shouldn't have, but hello, we're the only two females from my mother's side. After she went on about how we haven't met for so long and how i'm going off so fast, I really set aside time to spend it with her, but she ignored me for her mum's side of the family. In fact, most of that family ignored my side of the family for her mum's side (henceforth known as HER side), which resulted in very pissed off relatives on my side. At first, I didn't really mind, but when it came time for rehearsals and stuff, she just blew me off and chased me away because HER side is more important. And they weren't even doing anything that was substantial and required rehearsals. I WAS FUCKING EDITING THE BLOODY SCRIPT LAST MINUTE FOR HER CAN. And adding in words for her and stuff.

So then I was one of the earliest to arrive at the ballroom, and I didn't know anyone there other than the male cousin who isn't getting married (K). K was busy inside the ballroom, so I didn't go to disturb him unless I was called for; outside was his gf and his cousin from Her side. I really tried to make small talk, but THEY IGNORED ME. HOW BLOODY RUDE. When the girl (C) finally came down, it was, "I need help for this this this. How to say it ar?" And after that, IGNORED. And because I had nothing to do and no one to talk to, I just sat at the reception table to which one of Her side's aunts commented I had no biz being there, but since I was there I'll be entertaining my side of the family. See the division? I hate it, I hate these freaking assholes that are so fucking cliquish and just self-absorbed with themselves. You know, during the morning tea ceremony, the mum just couldn't wait to get my side over and done with in a jiffy, just so her side can get the spotlight and take FOREVER. When we wanted to take a family photo, she said NO NEED, to which my mum retorted You not family ah. AND THE BEST PART? They forgot about the bride's family. I felt so sorry for them. In the end, my side was entertaining the bride's side. If it was me, I'd have made a scene as the family of the bride. Honestly. How could they?! Which part of common-sense, PR skills and basic RESPECT do they not understand?

So during the cocktail session, never was I more relieved when my aunts and uncles finally appeared (my other cousins weren't there yet. They only arrived in time for the dinner). But then, I had to solve a mini crisis by changing the pins for the corsage to safety pins for my grandma. No complaints there, I willingly did it despite the lack of help from the hotel staff. K was there to help me so that was good, esp since the rose head fell off and we had to somehow stick it back to its stem, then pin it on my grandma's dress. THEN, the mother came and I had to be the one righting her rose back for her. But after I did that, she didn't thank me. It was, "Aiyah not straight enough", then not a look at me and she walked off. WTF?

The dinner. They placed me away from the rest of my family, to sit with Her side of cousins, with K and his gf and of course C. C, when she remembered me, talked to me (basically whenever she was going to go on-stage); otherwise, she just talked to her other cousins. K was nice; one of their cousin's BF was also nice. He talked to me the entire dinner, so I didn't feel sian and lonely sitting there. The worse was when the aunts came around, it was Hi this, this,this, that person, then look at me (oh not family de) and ignore. Or glare. LIKE HELLO, I DIDN'T ASK TO BE THE ONLY ONE SEATED AT THIS TABLE AMONGST YOU PEOPLE OK. I'D GLADLY GO JOIN MY FAMILY EXCEPT THERE'S NO SPACE THERE. You don't want me there, I don't want to be there. It's mutual. But before you say me a stranger and an intruder, I don't see you guys doing anything for the nerves of K and C. C was a nervous wreck as the Emcee, but no one bothered to help her rehearse or look through her speech except me. All they did was ask her to drink wine and more wine, which isn't really helpful if she gets high or worse, drunk. I fed her with words, me and K had to calm her down and stuff, but of course I don't get any recognition.

And the poetry recital. OMG the poetry recital. It was effing last minute that I was informed to be the person reciting a love poem (and a stupid cheesy one at that. SAVE ME). I didn't laugh, I tried to do it in my best poem voice (which isn't very good) and I tried not to freak out cos C was already freaking out. But when I went on stage, first the hotel staff didn't dim the lights. C freaked out even further and just stood there instead of cue-ing me was to when to start saying the right lines for the right slide. So I ended up having to swivel my head back and forth between slide, my paper, mic. Didn't help that lights were not dimmed so words on slides not clear and I had to squint to make sure I was looking at the right timings. The mic was not near either, and it isn't easy to have to look back and forth while ensuring I was speaking into the mic at the same time. At one time I forgot cos I was a tad late, but otherwise it was alright. And after that, I was the one cue-ing my cousin to take over and whispering words for her to repeat to end off that segment. OMG. Good thing I'm not working as an official EMCEE or something and she isn't my official cue person, if not I'd be firing her. It's one thing to be nervous; it's another to totally leave the person you got to help out at the last minute and then forgetting you had to help her out too and thus leaving her to fight it all and salvage the situation. Sure, it might sound exaggerated, but that's what it felt like. It was supposed to be a nice surprise; I was supposed to recite the poem nicely just cos I'm a lit student but it wasn't supposed to be me along up there. I'm just glad the bride and groom liked it.

After that, more cold treatment from her, her side and the mother. The mother came to talk to everyone at the table except me, only time she did was to ask me to pour her tea without a please and a thank you ( basic courtesy FAIL LAH). And of course, they left my grandma alone at the main table so I went to entertain her between dish servings, and towards the end my side were entertaining the bride's side as well. At the end, I was SO DAMN GLAD the entire thing was over, the facade was over, I could stop smiling and pretending to be stupid and super thick-skin to not catch the intense dislike the mother and the aunts had towards me.

The bright side? When I bumped into the mother this morning, she actually remembered to give me my ang pow. Ah well. Money is good. Even if they're in RM. And much less then what the Penang side gave, but who am I to complain, right? For someone who was largely ignored except when my help was needed, I'm lucky they remembered to give me ang pow already.

I realized how this entry is so I, I, I-centric, but I'm ranting so if you don't like it too bad for you.