Writing Well

It's the occupation... have been doing alot of writing at work of late (since this assignment is all about helping the client document their internal controls and procedures, and highlighting the deficiencies), and as a result, for the first time since school days, I've had huge, and I mean, MAJOR, scrawls over my writing.

I've never claimed to write exceptionally well... after all, the main audience of my output has always been myself... but I never thought I wrote deplorably either... so I must admit the first few times I received my manager's review copy, my heart sank.

After a couple of months of her repeated reviews, I've stopped feeling so disheartened... but just for kicks, I decided to run the Flesh-Kincaid test on a piece of my writing, and I discovered that I did not do all that badly... Yes, I ramble a little, and I do use super duper long sentences, but at the end of the day, it does not take a PHD in English to decipher my writing.

So what constitutes writing well? In school, it used to be long essays, narrative sentences, and multi syllabic words, all presented in perfect grammatical form. And then somewhere during work days, it was all about being short and sweet, and getting your point across in the most effective way. I've decided that for me, good writing is anything that "touches"... that "connects" with the reader. Be it writing a proposal or a novel, a piece of writing has to appeal to the reader.

Which brings me to my "book of the month". I think many people should have heard of this book, "The curious incident of the dog in the night-time" by Mark Haddon... to me, it's beautifully written. It's simple yet superbly engaging. I bought the book many a year ago, but as usual, kept it in my "Library" for future reference. It's a teenage boy's attempt at solving a murder... a dog's murder... and the said boy suffers from Asperger's Syndrome. As expected, his logic is both simple and complicated at the same time, and the author just manages to bring out the boy's emotions to the T. Definitely worth a read.

The Big Promise

So it finally happened... the day where I finally committed to be always there for him as long as we both shall live... and it was sweet... really sweet.

It has been a pretty low key affair all this while... with both of us only telling the closest of friends about it. And now that it's all over and done with... I guess I've been swamped with alot of the "why so hush hush" question? Hmmm... my best answer? I guess I'm just superstitious, and did not want to jinx the event by announcing it.

I think if I ever needed to encapsulate my relationship with Jules in a simple phrase, I would call it "A learning journey together". We've seen each other through many different phases in life, and as we both experience something new, the dynamics of the relationship changed. Unlike some couples who just "knew" that they were going to be together one day, and could fit right into each other's lives from day 1, I think ours was a slow and simmering kind of relationship, with little boiling points here and there, whereby we never quite knew we were ready for each next step till we got there... and so it was with this big "M" word... there were points of touch and go, there were little tantrums... but by the time we said our "I dos", I think we both believed in it.

I still remember how it was to be young and be so upbeat over Marriage. And then in the past couple of years and all the relationships and marriages I've seen... I actually kinda lost faith in this "big promise". It seemed as though everyone around took it as an obligation, rather than a sign of love and commitment. It's not supposed to be a burden, and that's what it appears to be in most cases around me. But I still have hope... I've got a loving example at home, whereby twenty many years into their Marriage, my parents still resemble a honeymoon couple... and there's my ex colleague, whom I fondly name "uncle"... I think he and auntie really are just still so in love... but sadly, that's just the two.

Fears aside, I've still gone ahead... and I guess like most things in life that I've tried, I know I initially approached it with trepidation... but as usual, it's starting to grow on me.

Me and the gals before

Walking in just before it all starts

Family Photo

Teeny Little Kiss

The party afterwards

Break Out

Sighs... I have decided that good skin is genetically inheirited... some people are just gifted with it... like the little rabbit, my sis and Jules... these are people for whom 5 pimples constitute a major break out, even though they do next to nothing to upkeep the skin. Case in mind, my sis's cleanser has been in the toilet for close to a year at least... and it still shows no signs of finishing...

I'm no way as lucky... unfortunately... in fact, the older I grow, the worse it gets! Along with the numerous pimples, I can now add dark rings, wrinkles and what have you to the list... no matter the amount of products and facials that I religiously go for (okay, semi religiously)... so I should just give up right?