Hey, I spoilt my best friend’s wedding!
I forgot to highlight one of the most important events in 2009 – my best friend’s wedding! It happened amidst my preparation for Melbourne Experience. In fact, one of the reasons I deferred my studies was just to make sure that I would be there on his wedding day. And I did, wonderfully. Plus, I was so honoured to be appointed as his best man! Of course, I’m the best, no one else, haha. I was so overwhelmed with joy (of the upcoming blessed knot) and jealousy (of a prospect of losing a best friend) that I was almost tricked to a wicked idea of turning myself into a Julia-Roberts character in My Best Friend’s Wedding, stealing the bride (or the bridegroom) and spoiling the whole wedding ceremony! But I knew I was not as bitchy as Julia Roberts, and since I had high respect for my friend’s decision to end his bachelor years with style and dignity, I rubbed off the idea of committing the first crime of passion in my life (okay, maybe I should just steal the wedding ring, haha).
Or perhaps, I can “spoil” my best friend’s wedding through a gift that he will always remember and (password) protect. To accomplish that task, I had to come up with the “Hallmark” theme that he always appreciates, something lasting and heartwarming, not some sort of equipment he would use in his newly-furnished kitchen or newly-sexed bedroom. I would prefer something that he would keep in his heart and mind forever, something that would provide the pleasure of his philosophic world. Like the old photos he can touch (not the digital ones in my computer) or classic words that he can feel with his fingers (not the online words I hastily type on Skype) – yes, those traditional visual arts and precious words preserved on papers that have transcended beyond the barriers of space and time, like the stuff people keep remembering for hundreds of years, like the words of Shakespeare, like the words of Ibn Battuta (okay, cut the crap, Hilmi).
Alright, I knew I couldn’t be like a great philosopher, but I just wanted it to be special, something more significant than a mug (yes friend, sorry for giving you that stupid mug when the last thing you said before you unwrapped the gift box was, “I hope it’s not a mug”). So with all these floating ideas running wildly into my head, I browsed through thousands of old digital photos and selected the best 20 photos of me and him. Using a photo editing, I put a line of wise words about friendship on each picture (which sounds too cliché after reading it again now, but cliches are good, aren’t they?). After the write-up process, I sent the photos to a shop to be developed on glossy papers. At the end, I put the shiny photos nicely into an album and, by George, I think I’ve got it! I finally created one of the best visual arts in my life, so to speak.
After his first wonderful wedding night, my best friend texted me, saying, “Thanks for the wedding gift. It makes me cry.” I knew it – I had just spoilt my best friend’s wedding.
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sukanya dier…
kak lun, i just thought about all that fun after what happened 6 months ago!
it makes me cry too hu..huu.huu.I like the way you wrote.
thanks niza. I hope you didn’t spoil your best friend’s wedding