William & Kate's Royal Wedding

I've always been somewhat a fan of the royal family. Besides that, what hopeless romantic doesn't love a fairytale royal wedding? So I've been a-looking forward to today for the past two weeks, resolving to even skip school to watch it live if need be - ergo it was a relief that the ceremony was to take place at eleven a.m. British time. Due to several complications, I came home from school today with a splitting, skull-pounding headache, which is lingering until now - which meant I couldn't watch all the specials if I wanted to catch some shut eye before the ceremony. I compensated by sleeping with the TV on until 4 p.m., when I got up and was dutifully glued to the screen for the next five hours.

It was a beautiful wedding. Why? Let us enter Jacie Tan Cheng Hwee's ever-hurting, ever-tender cauliflower brain. (Pride & Prejudice & Zombies reference.)

Watching all the guests arrive in all their British splendour (and hats).

Seeing trees in Westminster Abbey.

Seeing the glorious Bentley in which the princes arrived.

All the other cars - Rolls-Royces, Bentleys, Jaguars.

Seeing Prince William in startling army red, with his special blue sash and pilot wings.

Anti-Charles&Camilla-ing.
Nearly tearing up when Kate walked the aisle.

Pippa's lovely, simple white dress with the awesome neckline!

The fact that Harry was just laughing and smirking the whole day.

HARRY AND PIPPA. THEY NEED TO GET TOGETHER. NOW. ZOMG LOOK AT THE WAY THEY WERE WALKING TOGETHER ARM IN ARM AND STANDING TOGETHER LIKE FREAKIN' BFFS

Anyway.

William having to face in the opposite direction as Kate walked down the aisle. Harry was the one who was looking at her over his shoulder, and then he gleefully whispering to his brother, (allegedly "Right, here she is now" and "Wait 'til you see her") before having to turn his back as well. To which William probably responded shut up asshole look in front they way I have to

GAHH I LOVED THIS MOMENT 

William telling Kate she looked beautiful as she joined him at the altar.

William's voice. (Bald patch or no bald patch, it doesn't matter when you're a prince and you sound like that when you read your wedding vows.)

Kate's voice.

All the seen-but-unheard conversation between William and Kate throughout the day.

The Bishop of London's address.

The ring almost getting stuck.

Today being St. Catherine's Feast Day. (I always thought Friday the 29th was a stupid date for a wedding.)

Kate's arrival at 11.01 (it was the struggle with train in the car that made her late!)

William's getting into the wrong side of the carriage.

Kate's smiles the whole day, and her energetic waves. (She obviously never watched Princess Diaries.)

Kate struggling with her train upon arrival at Buckingham Palace (where was Pippa?!)

I loved Kate's dress. I thought she looked absolutely lovely. It was all very elegant and modern and highlighted her natural beauty. The neckline was so very Kate Middleton and the lace was so pretty, it made up for her very simple dress and train. The veil was the crowning glory - it was draped beautifully and had lovely flyaway edges and was so sheer it was beautiful. Her tiara - which belonged to the Queen Mother (William's great-grandmother) was exquisite. Her earrings were a wedding gift from her parents. And I loved her bouquet. The only complaint I had about the dress was that it disabled her from walking on anyone's arm. All her father and William could do was grip her hand, and even then William was forever stepping on her dress, and, well, he didn't to get to lead his bride out on his arm!

Oooh, and the balcony part. (In case you didn't notice, Harry and Pippa were standing together.) Kate gave a spontaneous "wow" when she saw the crowd. The first kiss was so disappointingly fast. William gave an embarrassed smile and Kate bit her lip - they were so shy! But William listened to the chanting crowd (Kiss again!) and they gave a second, longer kiss. I personally think they should've gone for a hattrick and kissed thrice. Then again, they probably would've gotten into a lot of trouble seeing as you're really only supposed to kiss once.

Photos from tumblr, as usual, click for link.

From the Huffington post

Click to see this lovely tumblr picture post.

I'd go on here about the royal family, the history of it, the importance of the existence of the monarchy at this time, its future the change Diana brought about, and why she was so loved, but maybe another time. :) Lots of love, from the long-winded, detail-crazy headachy girl, me.

Broken Strings

By Jacie Tan Cheng Hwee

                Laura sipped her coffee as she watched the greyness of the rain, falling down past her window. Tucked up in her robe, she sat still as she let each thought sidle through her mind. It was a Sunday morning. Her coffee was a full-bodied roast. The rain fell down in a straight line, which meant it wasn’t being slanted by the wind.

                The kitchen door opened then, and Jack stepped him. Laura looked at him, dripping water on the tiles of the floor. He’d just come back from his morning jog. They stared at each other for a while, and it occurred to Laura that she ought to say something. But she realised this too late, and Jack was already making his way to a towel.

                He was back too soon, seated in the chair opposite her, a matching cup of coffee in his hand. Laura looked carefully at the wood grain of the table. It was hard to believe that this was the man who used to make her laugh like she’d never had before, that this was the man with which she could spend the whole day not talking and still call it one of the best days of her life.

                It was different now. The silence between them was tense, weighted. The worst part about it was that it was becoming all too familiar.

                Jack gripped his mug handle tightly, and took a swig of coffee. It was too hot and it burned his throat on its way down. But even the pain was preferable, in comparison to the nothingness.

                When Jack first saw Laura, it was like a ray of sunshine had walked into his world. Her eyes shone like stars, her fair hair shone like newly spun gold, and her smile could stop him dead in his tracks. She was wearing a red and white floral printed picnic dress, perfect for a day in the park. Jack had let her go by that first time. He ended up coming back to the same park, every day at the exact same time for a week, before he found her again. This time, he wasn’t taking any chances. He went up to her and spoke to her, and when he’d heard her voice for the first time, he was lost for good.

                Eighteen months later, and here he was, sitting in front of that same celestial Laura. She had to be the same. She was just as beautiful, and just as lovely. But although she was the same, she had changed. Either that, or the way he saw her had.

                She raised her eyes to his, and in that fleeting instant he realised that if Laura had ever seen him in a special way, then she’d lost it, too.

                That moment, that one wordless moment when their eyes had locked, Jack and Laura were more honest with one another than they had been in a very long time.

                Lightning struck and a clap of thunder ensued. Jack blinked, startled, and Laura jumped up. “You should change,” she said.

                “Yeah,” said Jack, agreeing to what she said, as he had always been doing of late.

                “I’ll get the mugs,” she said, reaching over the table to take his. Her hand touched his as she did, and from the oddness she suddenly felt, Laura realised it had been some time since they’d even touched hands. She bit her lip.

                “I love you,” she said, after some hesitation, and she wasn’t sure who she was trying to convince.

                He didn’t say anything as he got up and left the kitchen, and she didn’t even resent him for it. Leaving the water to run as she turned to stare at him leave, she realised that the words didn’t mean anything anymore.

                And they now both knew it.

I have no idea what this is. Written from 10.52p.m. - 11.20 p.m., in one go, no editing. I will regret this later. "Inspired" by James Morrison and Nelly Furtado's Broken Strings. With a little Karyn White's Superwoman. I need to go get a life. I don't write short stories.

Updating for the sake of updating.

The WWII Times Square Kiss

One of the most famous kisses of all time, photographed by both Alfred Eisenstaedt and Victor Jorgensen. It was the day the President of the United States announced that the devastation that was World War II was officially over. A sailor went wild on the streets of Time Square, grabbing every female in sight - young, old, married, he didn't care - and kissing them. Alfred Eisenstaedt captured this picture - which until this day remains indelibly stamped in popular culture. He says he only took the picture because of the sailor's black uniform and the nurse's white dress. Several people have come forward claiming to be the nurse and sailor but really, nothing can be truly confirmed.

Victor Jorgensen's shot of the scene.

It was an entirely spontaneous kiss between two complete strangers, in celebration of the ending of an inferno. Thanks to these photographs, it became an entirely spontaneous immortalised kiss.

Sigh.

Out and In

I went for ICC this year, because it was on Cha's birthday, and because the amazing Kee Joey and the amazing Nicole Low were performing.

Happy belated birthday, Chalystha Lee!

And congratulations Deviation! You guys did really well.

Letters #3, #6, and #9 done solely by yours truly.

Basically on that day what we did was zoom around the whole of KL on trains. I've not had much experience taking public trains, but the amount of train rides I took on Saturday was more than enough to make up for it. I am now a pro.

Two little first things happened on that day, as well, one good, one, er, not so good.

Firstly, as Gan and I were leaving Fahrenheit 88 mall, I saw a popcorn vendor. On a whim I went up to the popcorn dude and asked him how much was one. He told me it was free.

I know it doesn't sound like much, but I got free popcorn. :')

The second thing was that someone called me a hooker.

-___-

It isn't nice, when you're walking a KL street in broad daylight, to have one of those losers sitting on the sidewalk waiting to get hit by a car go "Amoi, berapa harga" at you.

-___-

Okay, no need to say KL la. It's about an eight minute walk to my church, five if I run (six if I'm running while choking on my toast), along a main road, and half the time I don't make it to church without being whistled, honked or leered at, and there's not a single day I can walk without having to worry about getting snatch-thefted by motorcyclists. Sometimes I wonder if the extra minutes of sleep is worth the hassle I go through walking alone to church on a bright Sunday morning.

And don't think you're safe, anywhere. School isn't as safe as you think it is, girls.

Okay, I need to go now. I have decided that if I'm going to sit for BK I'm going to do it properly, so this is what my reading list looks like right now.

The Atlas of Past Times (for BK and Sejarah)

The Old Testament of the Bible (for BK)

Hamlet (for myself)

About 8 textbooks (for my mom)

I need to be able to read this fast.

Help

Sometimes I wonder if I really do have some mild form of social disorder.

How do you find out if you do?