I declare that I have an amazing family.

Today, surprising events occured when I went out with cousins Callistus,Aster,Lingyi and Mummy,who is always a permanent fixture in our teenage outings.As Jesus was fully man and fully God, Mummy is fully teenager and fully adult all at the same time.

Aster as usual, was sleep-deprived from organising parties. She had to do a big one at rouge tonight.We picked her up from Bras Basah, and she was looking for the weirdest things,like hospital tags. Hospital tags, I found out, referred to those wristbands they tag you with when you go to events like Sonicfest and Womad.It was 2pm and she needed those things BY 4pm. WHERE THE HELL DO YOU ACTUALLY FIND THEM?

You might not know the answer. But the forces of my family combined, ALWAYS produces an answer.Most aunties would have given the disapproving eye knowing Aster was organising night events at such a young age, but my mom was only glad to assist. In desperation, we asked the restaurant (where we were having lunch at),for the Yellow Pages Buying Guide.Yellow Pages really reminded me of the dreadful days of event organising, where we wld go down the list to find sponsors or call for price quotations.

We called several companies,mainly specialising in hospital supplies,in hope of getting 500 hospital tags in two hours. Picture scene: family crowding ard YellowPages in a corner of the restaurant, whipping out handphones, describing numerous times what “hospital tags” were to numerous clueless receptionists on the other end of of numerous lines.

These were nail-biting moments, to be rejected over and over again as time was ticking by.It was strange, how Aster’s problem turned into our problem. People always say: Don’t make your problem mine,I thank God that saying doesnt apply in my family.

So after 15 phone calls,my mother of all people, remembered she had a friend who worked in Mt E. and wallah! we finally got not one but two contacts, who sold hospital tags.At first, some Michael guy insisted that he did not do direct sale,but after a good deal of persuasion from Aster(in her sweetest voice), he relented.

I must say I have very smart cousins that can get things done when it comes to the crunch.

Aside from Michael, I contacted a certain Shirley who was supposed to stock hospital tags as well.She had to check for prices/availability and would “get back to us by five” which was simply too late.She called back only to find we took Michael’s offer instead.

” Oh.” she said, like all dismayed people would say.

Not only that, she was a “sticky sales person”. It was funny how she tried to talk to me like an old friend,splicing in questions abt “THE COMPETITOR” (Michael’s company) along the way, where did we find him etc.I regretted for a split second for being so patronising to her questions, and ended the phonecall prematurely with a very polite “Happy holidays!”.

Nonetheless,what mattered was:with my family’s combined forces, we got the tags for Aster , and delivered her from her agony. As I was talking to Aster, I realised how we were both in mass communications,but loved very different things altogether. She likes coordinating events, I cannot stand doing that at all. Events consist of running ard, doing very sai-kang things, many many small things that end up being something big altogether.Did lotsa these things last year and found it quite choreful.But she absolutely loves it though: she’s so on the ball!

After that went shopping with Callistus, and experienced my first ever time “dressing a guy”. He wanted to buy Polo Tees.So the hunt ranged from Centrepoint to Wheelock.All along the trip, I had half a mind to call Shaun and ask him where he got that fantastic blue and green polo tee from, the one he wore to Renzi’s baby shower.But just when I put my fingers to the keypad, we chanced upon all these fantastic looking polo tees at Mark and Spencer’s! Callistus was made to try seven of them, I think, before we settled on my fave: the one with green stripes and a navy blue base—$45. The first time I saw that shirt, I knew we weren’t leaving the store without it!

He offered to buy me a wallet in return. But the only one that caught my eye was one from Coach, which was $475.

After coming to terms with the fact that the wallet wasn’t meant to be, we went to dinner with mom, which was madness.”Chicken noodle soup” was available as one of the starters on the menu, and she proceeded to inquire the waiter:

” Is Chicken noodle soup like chicken soup with Maggee Mee?”

The waiter did try his very best not to laugh, though me and Callistus were far from making the effort. My mother says the funniest things.

When the steak arrived, things got even worse. She put two onion rings around a piece of steak and said:

“Look! The steak is wearing earrings!!!”

which gave me a good reason to laugh for a very,very long time.

You know the guys always talk about getting a girl “with the right amount of dumb”. I suspect my mother is an excellent example of this. She’s smart enough to make a living and do things well, but when it comes to jokes, she’s gifted in being blonde! :D

She gives me hope you know.Don’t need to be very smart to have a good life, just gotta smart enough to have “the right amount of dumb”.