A Surprising Turn of Events

For the past few weeks, Eric Banana has been secretly working on a plan - getting a surprise wedding gift for Astro Girl. Given his penchant for luxury glitter, could it be some precious gem from Tiffany & Co? Or a branded bag from say, Hermès? Well, Eric Banana is still serving a ban imposed by Astro Girl prohibiting him from shopping at Tiffany. As for Hermès bags, Eric Banana's income has not reached astronomical heights yet. Not that Astro Girl pursues these material things in life anyway. She's Little Miss Pragmatic after all. She finds her joy in simpler things. For Eric Banana, it was a long struggle to find her something that is touching and meaningful...

Well, the fact that Eric Banana is openly blogging about it now suggests that it is no longer a secret. Yes, Astro Girl has managed to somehow ruin her own surprise. Eric Banana was planning to present the surprise wedding gift to the love of his life on their wedding day, but things don't always go according to plan...

The surprise gift is a 20" x 34.3" canvas print of an iconic photo of AstroBanana, the very same one that greets all visitors to this blog itself. This photo was taken last year by up-and-coming photographer, Kenneth Ong, who has gone on to set up his own photography outfit, twenty4frames photography. AstroBanana observed that his photography skills have been steadily improving since then. Keep up the good work, Kenneth!

The canvas print was done by Brilliant Prints, an established Australian canvas printing company that has set up operations in Singapore in recent years. Their website provides a lot of information on canvas prints and reassures potential customers with quality guarantees that provide absolute peace-of-mind. In fact, one doesn't even have to pay upfront. Eric Banana was very comfortable placing his order with Brilliant Prints and he must say that he is very pleased with the professional service and prompt turnaround time provided by Dylan Vo and his team. More importantly, the final product turned out to be a masterpiece. Given that the shot of AstroBanana was set against a black background, they were surprised that even the finest hair details were retained after it has been printed on canvas.

Hmmm, you may be thinking now that Eric Banana's wedding gift doesn't involve any work on his part - the photo was taken by Kenneth and the canvas printing was done by Brilliant Prints. Well, Eric Banana did do something although it's not immediately apparent. Kenneth and DGT were experimenting with ring-light effects when the photo was taken, so the end-product had the ring-light effect manifesting very obviously on Eric Banana's spectacles. This marred the photo to a certain extent. But Eric Banana really liked this particular photo a lot - they were both sporting very vibrant smiles and Astro Girl looked extremely cheerful. As such, he decided to work on removing the ring-light reflection on his glasses. This involved working several late-night shifts to weave some Photoshop magic. As for Astro Girl's image, let's just say she doesn't need any more editing to make her look better :P

So how did Astro Girl ruin her own surprise? Eric Banana arranged for the Brilliant Prints courier to deliver the canvas print to his house on Friday evening... when Astro Girl decided to show up at his house to help him to dismantle his single bed. Someone knocked on the door and she opened it... uh-oh, bye bye to surprise :( The original surprise, that is. The surprise took on another form because Astro Girl was absolutely surprised when she opened the door to see the courier holding a blown-up picture of Eric Banana and her. Yay!

The canvas print will be displayed in AstroBanana's private gallery a.k.a. their room :)

UNIQLOed

When UNIQLO first reached Singapore's shores in April, its outlet in Tampines 1 was swarmed by large crowds, with hordes of people actually queuing to enter the store. Wah, so popular meh? At that time, Eric Banana could not understand what the big hoo-ha was about. After all, when AstroBanana were in Hong Kong last year, they did visit a UNIQLO outlet and while he felt their apparel were reasonably nice, he wasn't like, wow, overwhelmed. Hence, AstroBanana were not struck by the UNIQLO fever.

Four long months passed before AstroBanana stepped into the UNIQLO outlet at Tampines 1 last week. It was a quick visit as it was getting late and they were worn out from shopping at IKEA Tampines so they did not buy anything. As they swung by ION Orchard this afternoon, they decided to visit the newly-opened UNIQLO outlet. Surprisingly, it was not as crowded as they thought it would be.

AstroBanana like what they saw today. Finally, a brand with a proper line of apparel to fill the fashion GAP (pun intended) in Singapore while staying reasonably priced and affordable. Astro Girl managed to get a couple of tank tops and a pair of denim shorts. Eric Banana thinks they are all nice (mainly because he helped to choose them - he loves shopping! - but of course, the politically correct answer is, "Astro Girl looks nice in everything.") As for the living symbol of consumerism himself, he picked up a classic biker jacket from UNIQLO's new Neo-Leather collection of luxury synthetic leather jackets, which is part of its Fall/Winter 2009 series and made its worldwide debut in Singapore - yup, even ahead of Japan (by about two weeks). Yay, Eric Banana finally owns a leather jacket! Okay, so it's faux/synthetic leather but it's pretty lightweight compared to a full leather jacket. It's also much more affordable. It's supposed to suit Singapore's tropical climate but actually Eric Banana seriously doubts it - jackets and Singapore are like mutually exclusive. One needs to have a severely impaired hypothalamus to wear a jacket in perpetually hot Singapore.

Now, to complete the ultimate biker look, all Eric Banana needs is a flaming skull and a chain whip...

Operation TQ

In less than a day's time, Eric Banana, accompanied by the elders in the Banana clan, will go to Astro Girl's house to propose marriage. Wait a minute, hasn't Eric Banana proposed to Astro Girl like a long time ago? Well, that was 求婚. This is 提亲. The essential difference is that 求婚 is the guy proposing to the gal and asking her to marry him while 提亲 is the guy going to the gal's house and formally asking her parents for her hand in marriage.

Actually, after Eric Banana proposed to Astro Girl last year, he did meet her parents over dinner where he was supposed to ask them for their consent to marry their daughter. Except that he did not really ask. For every yes/no question, the possibility of a "no" answer is 50 percent. "Uncle, Auntie, will you consent to our marriage?" What if the answer was a flat no? So, Eric Banana took the witty way out and informed them instead that Astro Girl and he were planning to get married in 2009. Smart right?

Hmmm, the inevitable is not called inevitable for no reason. It cannot be avoided. Eric Banana would now have to 提亲, during which Astro Girl's parents would tell his family what they want as part of the marriage. These "terms and conditions" usually follow the traditions and customs of the bride's dialect group.

The curious Eric Banana wonders if 提亲 constitutes an offer or an invitation to treat. Eric Banana could be offering to marry Astro Girl by going to her house and asking her parents for her hand in marriage. Acceptance will take place when her parents give their consent.

But it could be an invitation to treat. Astro Girl's parents make the offer when they state the "terms and conditions". The acceptance follows after Eric Banana goes to her house again, bearing gifts according to the "terms and conditions".

Okay, please wish him good luck. All he is going to bring is his cheque book :p

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2 Months To Go!

9 August 2009.

Happy birthday, Singapore! With the arrival of National Day, only two short months are left before AstroBanana's big day.

In the past weeks, AstroBanana have been intensely preparing for their wedding, especially during the weekends. They have finalised and collected their wedding invitation cards. These will go out soon. The guest list is becoming to look like a guest list. Unfortunately, some people have already indicated that they will not be available on that day.

As for their wedding album, they have completed the selection of photographs and are waiting to review the design and layout. The impatient AstroBanana managed to bring forward the review date from 5 September 2009 to 30 August 2009.

On the home improvement front, AstroBanana have bought their bedframe and mattress, which will be delivered in end-August. Eric Banana still needs to do a lot of packing but that plan will have to be aligned with the purchase of some new furniture. They intend to get three pieces of furniture from IKEA but one of them is currently not in stock :( Sianz. They are not sure whether they want to wait for all three pieces to be available - it could take a mightily long waiting time.

The 提亲 and 过大礼 dates have also been set - they fall on 15 August 2009 and 27 September 2009 respectively. AstroBanana have also gotten down to filing their Notice of Marriage with the Registry of Marriages. The e-payment portion was troublesome though.

Oh, today is also the day when Ee Huei and Ying Chien hold their customary wedding. Congratulations to the couple :)

Sent via BlackBerry from SingTel!