The AstroBanana Chronicles

AD Photos Soon!

2009-11-05T14:51:00.001+08:00

Yay, AstroBanana will be collecting their AD photos tomorrow! Hopefully, they will turn out to be okay. If they are nice, they will be shared on this blog. Watch this space!
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A Great Wedding Speech!

2009-11-02T22:21:00.006+08:00

While AstroBanana were having dinner with DGT last Friday, Eric Banana managed to obtain a hard copy of DGT's draft speech during their wedding dinner. They felt that it was a sincere, wonderful and humourous speech and decided to share it with the readers of this blog. Although DGT said he improvised during the actual delivery, the draft captured the essence of the content. An improvised line that was not in the draft went something along these lines... "I don't know whether it is my bow-tie or my jacket but some of you mistook me for one of the hotel's staff. I would like to clarify that I am not part of the hotel's staff!" Poor DGT - it was a newly-tailored jacket too.

--------------------

What a wonderful evening! There is absolutely nowhere else in the world I'd rather be tonight than here in this moment with all of you. I have the honour - as Eric insists it is - of giving a speech tonight. I have had the privilege of spending some time with them - this speech is my report.

Let me start briefly with Eric. Eric gained notoriety in The University for: (1) his unique collection of dragon and skull rings which are always on display on him; (2) his infamy as a fearsome critic - he has an unnatural talent for poking holes in any presentation or document and driving said author to tears; and (3) his incurable sense of corniness. But whatever you say about Eric, he is a loyal and well-meaning friend. He is unstinting in his concern for his friends in need and has been a great help to me, together with Astro, when I started my own company. I have come to realise that Eric thinks in binary when it comes to friends - you are either a friend, or on what he affectionately calls his "hit list".

I remember the pre-Astro Eric as he struggled through so much personal difficulty with his family in coping with the loss of someone very dear to them. I vicariously felt his loss, frustration and uncertainty as he also struggled to find his professional direction at first. I did not sense a personal peace in Eric, not even after he was offered by The Corporation and sped through its ranks - not until he met Astro. I have never seen a more content, radiant and sure Eric than when he is with Astro.

Enough on Eric - Vincent would have spent enough time blowing Eric's horn (probably under duress). And so I will speak of Astro. I must confess that I wasn't sure what to make of Astro when I first met her because we spoke little. But I found myself liking her more and more every time I met her. My admiration for her (and my admiration for Eric, for that matter) has grown over the time that I've known her.

Astro is at once beautiful, unassuming and gentle. She is always dignified, kind, generous and thoughtful. Astro also has an amazing achievement none of us can ever put on our resumes - taming that deranged madman we call Eric. And to her credit, she has put up with Eric's strange cast of friends (self-deprecating gesture to self) with an uncommon grace. She is in every sense of the word, to me, a lady. They say that a man marries a woman for who she is and that a woman marries a man for who he can be, or rather, who she wants him to become. I'm sure Astro has some grand future value in store for Eric.

With the two of them, 1 + 1 > 2. They are beautiful as a unit. They have a quiet and subtle understanding between them. And tonight, we - we happy few - have the great privilege of starting the two of them on a special journey.

I want to close with a wish and a toast. I wish, deeply and truly, that everyone of us here tonight has found - or will find - the unity, understanding, affection and love that Eric and Astro have for each other. A toast - let us with all trueness and sincerity, toast a long and happy life to Eric and Astro. God bless you both.

The First Three "Official" Photos of AstroBanana's Wedding AD...

2009-10-29T00:15:00.000+08:00

... are not of the bride. Nor are they of the groom. Granted, it was merely a "sneak" preview from Gilbert's blog... Nevertheless, AstroBanana cannot help but be a tad disappointed. Maybe they are not good enough to be featured in his blog :| Oh well, hopefully the rest of the photos turned out okay. Featured in the following photos is Eric Banana's niece, the super-cute Yuxuan:

Considering how active Yuxuan is, and how camera shy she can get sometimes, these photos turned out to be really good, especially the last one. AstroBanana are keeping their fingers crossed for the rest :)

Operation GDL

2009-10-28T00:59:00.001+08:00

With regard to AstroBanana's 过大礼 (guo da li) process, Eric Banana will try to blog as much as he can since he doesn't know or understand all the rituals and procedures. AstroBanana's parents and relatives helped a lot in this aspect.

For the wedding cakes, Astro Girl's parents requested for traditional ones, so Eric Banana ordered them from 锦泰饼家 (Gin Thye Cake Maker), an established name in making cakes since 1964. Different dialect groups have different practices. As Astro Girl is Teochew, the wedding cakes to get were 伍色糖 (wu se tang). According to Gin Thye's website, 伍色糖 are traditional wedding gifts from a Teochew bride to her relatives. 伍色糖 consist of 豆沙饼 (dou sha bing), 明糖 (ming tang), 豆闰 (dou run), 豆槓 (dou gong) and 老妈糕 (lao ma gao). Eric Banana wonders what they are made of though. Even one box was very heavy, as if the cakes were cast from stone. It must have been, what, at least 2 kg each?

Letting the photos speak for themselves, here are what the groom's family presented:

And here are what the bride's family presented to the groom's family in return:

Operation AC

2009-10-26T22:53:00.001+08:00

AstroBanana had their 安床 (an chuang) and 过大礼 (guo da li) on 27 September 2009. According to Long Shifu, the auspicious timings for AstroBanana were 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., so Eric Banana woke up at 6 plus for the 安床 ritual. He placed the new mattress on the bedframe and covered it with a new red bedsheet. Basically, the ritual is to bless the nuptial bed and entails placing four different types of fruits (one each) on the four corners of the bed, with a pineapple, a huat kueh (read: 发糕) and an ang pow (read: red packet) containing $12, $120 or $1,200 in the centre of the bed.

Actually, there is strictly no single standard operating procedure for the 安床 ritual. If you ask 10 different people, you are likely to get 10 different answers. That is, assuming their answers are not "I don't know". In some wedding forums, the discussion gets really weird though, as Eric Banana observed. Like getting a boy to roll on the nuptial bed. One extreme version suggests getting the boy to pee on the nuptial bed *hmmm* - and the bride-to-be was exclaiming she doesn't want to sleep on an urine-stained bed. Erm, okay.. Nobody does :p Another bride-to-be related about hearing from some folks that the ritual involves putting a rooster and a hen under the nuptial bed and seeing which one comes out first - this will determine the sex of the couple's first-born child. The bewildered gal had a problem - her bed was a storage bed so the chicken ain't walking out anytime soon.

Eric Banana speculates that some skewed versions of this ritual boil down to some couples (and their parents) wanting to give birth to a boy for their first-born child. Some are a result of deeply-rooted customs and beliefs. Some are a figment of the imagination of people who have either nothing or nothing better to do.

Thankfully, Astro Girl was very clear-headed. She told Eric Banana, "You already paid good money to consult a professional. Just follow what he says and get it over and done with. Why you want to bother with what people write in the forums?" To that, Eric Banana can only meekly agree - that's why she's The Wife yah? Who in the right mind would want to go against the mistress of the Banana household??

Playing Catch-Up!

2009-10-26T22:41:00.001+08:00

In the weeks prior to AstroBanana's wedding, the couple was basically swarmed. Too many things to do, too little time. As he was also very busy at work, Eric Banana did not manage to finish blogging about certain issues / events such as the 安床 and the 过大礼. Some of these entries have already been composed but stayed in his Blackberry for the longest time. Eric Banana will try to finish blogging as much of these as possible. The honeymoon photos will have to wait though - 345 photos to go through! So if you see outdated entries, don't be too surprised - it's just catch-up time for AstroBanana :P

Will The Real Wedding Surprise Please Stand Up?

2009-10-25T13:11:00.001+08:00

You may have read about how Astro Girl supposedly stumbled on her wedding surprise some time ago in this blog. Well, it turned out to be a clever decoy engineered by Eric Banana. He pretended to let her find out about the canvas print so that she will let her guard down and not expect anything on the AD but the master of suspense saved the best for last. (Sounds familiar?) During his speech at the wedding dinner, he presented Astro Girl with her real wedding surprise...

... a photomosaic comprising 5,000 tiles and measuring 23" x 33.5". The original picture was taken by DGT. Eric Banana converted all the photos used in his wedding montage into black and white before using them to assemble the photomosaic with AndreaMosaic. And quite truly, he meant what he said to her - "Whenever I see you, I see not only you... I see myself, I see us."

Astro Girl's reaction? Let's just say she was really touched and surprised - Eric Banana has never seen so much tears of joy before :)

P.S. Eric Banana would like to thank DGT for helping him to print and frame the photomosaic.

AstroBanana Wedding Actual Day Photos: The DGT Series Part I

2009-10-20T00:27:00.011+08:00

The full set of official photos from AstroBanana's wedding actual day (AD) will be available sometime in the foreseeable future. In the meantime, these are some unofficial photos which DGT took on that day.

Two brothers and three sisters posing with their angpows:

Vincent the best man with his shades:

AstroBanana walking the walk and talking the talk:

AstroBanana gamely posing for the photographer in their bridal car:

AstroBanana returning to the bride's house:

The sisters posing for a photo together:

Eric Banana talking to double-agent Celine a.k.a. Trojan Sheepo:

Katherine helping with the video camera:

Some random shots of AstroBanana before, during and after the tea ceremony:

AstroBanana in a group photo with their brothers and sisters:

Thank-You Note

2009-10-11T23:28:00.001+08:00

Before AstroBanana set off to Bali for their honeymoon tomorrow, they would like to pen a quick thank-you note to the following people (in no particular order). Eric Banana was supposed to deliver the thank-you speech during the wedding dinner but he fumbled due to lack of time for preparation.

Their family members and relatives - for all their tremendous help and useful advice in the wedding preparations, especially on the traditional customs and rites.

Fanny Chang - for waking up very early on the AD to help the couple with the day programme; for helping to transport the bridesmaids by driving (She had to navigate through a very bad traffic jam along Lornie Road); and for helping out to man the reception counter during the wedding dinner.

Katherine Chong - for waking up very early on the AD to help the couple with the day programme (She put in a lot of effort for the gatecrashing materials); and for helping to man the reception counter during the wedding dinner.

Vincent Goh - for driving Eric Banana all the way to Sembawang to collect 20 heavy boxes of traditional Teochew wedding cakes (they must have weighed, what, 2 kg each?) and two traditional wedding baskets; for waking up very early on the AD to help the couple with the day programme (in his zealousness, he even got into a car accident - thankfully, he was not the party at fault *phew*); and for helping out during the wedding dinner and giving the best man's speech (Eric Banana is grateful - although he did offend Astro Girl inadvertently by saying a couple of wrong things).

Sabrina Foo - for helping to man the reception counter during the wedding dinner (she wore a yukata - a summer Japanese kimono - and got a lot of attention).

Celine Tan - for waking up very early on the AD to help the couple with the day programme (she thought of some funky ideas for the gatecrashing session - Eric Banana is still regretting his Trojan Horse, or rather Trojan Sheepo tactic); for helping to man the reception counter during the wedding dinner; and for being one of the emcees for the wedding dinner.

Joel Teng - for being one of the emcees for the wedding dinner (he did a fantastic job, although Eric Banana wonders how it will be if he was designated to address the guests in Mandarin).

Danon Gabriel The - for waking up very early on the AD to help the couple with the day programme; for helping to take photos for some segments; for helping Eric Banana with the "ultimate surprise", and helping out during the wedding dinner and giving a very nice touching speech.

Voon Ee Huei - for waking up very early on the AD to help the couple with the day programme (he helped Eric Banana a lot during the dance segment of the gatecrashing session); and helping out during the wedding dinner (he was in-charge of accompanying the wedding solemniser prior to the wedding solemnisation ceremony).

JP Phang Tai Heng - for taking precious time from his hectic schedule to officiate the wedding solemnisation ceremony for AstroBanana.

Abbie, Ling Hui, Weijie, Uncle Quek and the nice folks at My Bridal Room - for all the great help they rendered the couple over the past few months during their wedding preparations (at one point of time, AstroBanana spent so much time at MBR that it was almost like their second home).

Dily Ng - for transforming Astro Girl to a stunning beauty with her excellent make-up and hairstyling skills.

Gilbert Chua and Simon from 9frames - for all their effort in capturing AstroBanana's most important moments on the AD (hopefully, the end product will turn out to be good).

Eric Tan, Alec Tan, Wee Hao and the excellent service crew at Club Chinois - for all their advice, attentiveness, initiative and flexibility; hence making the wedding dinner a great success.

Raymond the bridal car driver - for accommodating the couple's requests and last-minute changes.

All the guests who attended AstroBanana's wedding banquet - for showing up to share AstroBanana's joy and displaying overwhelming generosity in the ang pows for the couple.

Hopefully, AstroBanana did not miss out anyone's name. If so, please do not begrudge the couple. They are really appreciative for all the assistance they received :)

The AstroBanana Bridal Photoshoot Part II: Outdoor Shots

2009-10-11T11:37:00.000+08:00

The outdoor shots were taken at Hyderabad Road and Changi Boardwalk.

The AstroBanana Bridal Photoshoot Part I: Studio Shots

2009-10-11T11:28:00.001+08:00

For those who didn't get to look at AstroBanana's wedding album on their wedding day or were unable to make it for the wedding dinner, here are the pictures. Thanks to Dily for her excellent make-up skills and Weijie for his outstanding photography. All outfits and gowns are off-the-rack from My Bridal Room.

Overcome He Must.. Overcome He Did

2009-10-09T08:22:00.001+08:00

This is Eric Banana, reporting from the front lines. He has overcome the Hot Gates and successfully fetched his bride, the lovely Astro Girl. He had to go through a quiz, where he failed to answer a few questions about Astro Girl. He still cannot believe that Astro Girl's favourite colour is blue :(

Sending Celine to the enemy lines was apparently not the best of ideas. She was the mastermind behind the dance segment - which was a big challenge for the groom and his band of brothers.

The last obstacle was to sign an agreement :) Thankfully, it's mostly do-able *phew*

Astro Girl looks absolutely stunning today. Eric Banana just looks tired. They are on the way to his house now... and they are stuck in a bad traffic jam :(

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It's Today!

2009-10-09T00:30:00.001+08:00

AstroBanana are getting married today! While Astro Girl went to dreamland a couple of hours ago, Eric Banana is still kicking his blanket on his bed. Four more hours to wakey-wakey time... the Bananaman has better get some shuteye...
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All Tied Up

2009-09-27T23:31:00.000+08:00

For his evening outfit on the actual day (AD), Eric Banana's original plan was to match it with a scrunchie cravat. Then he thought about it - and decided to buy a bow tie for good measure. A proper black silk one - none of those clip-on crap that come in funny colours offered by the bridal studio.

At first, budding fashionista DGT suggested that Eric Banana should buy his bow tie online and recommended a pretty good website - Beau Ties Ltd. The online store carries a wide selection of bow ties and Eric Banana was about to order a bow tie... when he realised that the shipping charge for international orders will amount to at least US$25. The only way to rationalise such a purchase would be to do a bulk order but Eric Banana doesn't need that many bow ties (although they do carry other stuff like neck ties and coordinates as well) and he has no time to assemble a "purchase consortium" (or what some people term as a "spree"). In the end, Eric Banana gave up the idea and bought a simple bow tie from Takashimaya S.C.

Buying the bow tie was the easy part. Sometimes, Eric Banana just exhibits his classic male shopping pattern brazenly to shock the sales assistants with the speed in making his purchase decision. DGT was concerned that Eric Banana may struggle with tying the bow tie and asked him if he wanted to get the sales assistant to do a demonstration. The confident Eric Banana said that there was no need....

... and promptly regretted his stubborness once he tried to tie the bow tie around his neck back at home. Actually, tying a bow tie can be quite confusing for a first-timer. The attached instruction sheet was not very helpful. Looking at a few diagrams on the Internet didn't help much also. After a long while, he managed to tie the bow-tie but it was done wrongly. It didn't help that he has two left hands either :S It was only after watching the second online video that he finally got it right.. Phew! The end-product was not the most beautiful of bow ties but it sure beats having to put one's tail between the legs and run back to the sales assistant for help :P

To widen his styling options on the AD, Eric Banana also bought a black skinny tie. He already realised that tying bow-ties is not quite the same as tying a normal tie. Doing one after the other can add to the confusion. For skinny ties, it makes more sense to go for the four-in-hand knot. Eric Banana thought he knew how to tie a four-in-hand knot. But somehow, he has never really tied one - he usually goes for the windsor knot. Besides, he doesn't need to wear a tie at work, so it's hardly surprising that he lacks practice in this department. Oh well, this was not a problem that the Internet cannot solve. A Youtube video later, *voila* it's done :)

Okay, let's hope Eric Banana won't forget his newly-acquired skills on the AD...

2 Weeks To Go!

2009-09-25T12:32:00.002+08:00

25 September 2009.

After one whole month, the Hungry Ghost Festival finally came to an end last Friday. With that, AstroBanana were able to despatch their invitation cards once again. (Most elders think it's a bad idea to give out wedding invitation cards during the seventh lunar month.) Finalising the guest list has been one long nightmare - so much so that it will warrant a separate blog entry on its own.

Eric Banana took a quick stab at formulating the schedule for the actual day (AD). After a while, he found it hard to work with fixed timings. Somehow, his project management instincts kicked in - and he started to add duration, predecessors and successors to the equation. And suddenly, things began to make more sense...

On Sunday, AstroBanana will have to 安床 and 过大礼. By next Friday, they would have to confirm the final number of tables with Club Chinois. They are then scheduled to go for their final fitting next Saturday. Final fitting sounds very definitive - as if AstroBanana (or rather, just Eric Banana) would have to stop eating and maybe even breathing until their AD is over.

Of Organic Food & Escalating Prices

2009-09-21T23:19:00.000+08:00

While AstroBanana were at Ngee Ann City this evening, they decided to have dinner at the newly-opened Cedele by The Bakery Depot located in Basement 1, where Delifrance used to be. Interestingly, Cedele chose the entrance with less human traffic as its main entrance. Maybe there is less space constraint on this side. As AstroBanana perused the menu, they realised that there has been a change in some of the menu items. Not all changes were deemed to be good. More glaringly, the prices have also gone a bit north.

Wow. While AstroBanana think the food at Cedele is quite nice, they feel that the new prices have gone beyond the reasonable range. AstroBanana do recognise that organic food tends to be more expensive due to the ingredients used but charging higher prices just because they can is not. It's not like AstroBanana cannot afford that extra few dollars but they are not interested in helping profit-driven companies make even more money.

So, no more meals at Cedele for AstroBanana from now onwards. Okay, maybe for that occasional slice of carrot walnut cake...

3 Weeks To Go!

2009-09-18T23:55:00.000+08:00

18 September 2009.

Only three short weeks remain before AstroBanana are united in eternal bliss. Somehow, the countdown clock seems to have intensified once they started to count down in terms of weeks. Eric Banana has been so busy at work that he has not accomplished much for the wedding preparations last week. He did manage to finalise the wedding montage last weekend though. The wedding montage was created with Adobe Premiere Elements 4. After generating the AVI file (which came up to a monstrous size of 1.91 GB), he wanted to create an iPod Touch-friendly version. The usual conversion software he uses was unable to convert the file successfully. He then realised that Adobe Premiere Elements 4 was able to create a compressed version for iPods and iPhones. The compressed MP4 file was only 62.1 MB in size.

The final product for the wedding montage was very much in line with Eric Banana's original vision. And he did everything himself at zero cost. More importantly, it has been approved by Astro Girl! Yes! *wheeee* The only way to get a first-hand viewing of the wedding montage is to show up on time for AstroBanana's wedding banquet. Members of the working committee can get an exclusive sneak preview =)

1 Month To Go!

2009-09-09T23:51:00.001+08:00

9 September 2009.

Amazing but true... only all of ONE month is left before AstroBanana tie the knot. They recall a time - not too long ago - that they had over a year to go before their wedding date. After today, they can no longer countdown in months - they would have to countdown in weeks.

Over the past month, AstroBanana has tied up some of the loose ends. Eric Banana has gone to Astro Girl's house to 提亲. Preparations are underway for the items required for 过大礼. They have finalised the design and layout for their wedding photo album. Astro Girl has picked her tea dress for the actual day. She only went through less than ten outfits this time. The bulk of the invitation cards have gone out but some have yet to make their way to the mailbox. A lot of progress was made on Operation HI (Read: Home Improvement) but that will be saved for a separate blog entry on another day. They have come to an agreement on their honeymoon plans - these will be discussed separately too.

The 过大礼 will take place on 27 September 2009. Same for the 安床. The final fitting date has been set as 3 October 2009. There are still many things to do and AstroBanana are trying their best to do them while having lots of fun at the same time... but right now, what Eric Banana needs to do... is sleep.

A Sneak Preview of AstroBanana's Bridal Photoshoot

2009-09-08T23:08:00.001+08:00

AstroBanana went to My Bridal Room last Sunday to review the design and layout of their wedding photo album. As they went through the post-production photos, they suggested a few changes to the designer. While there were some changes which the designer did not think were feasible, he still sportingly did a mock-up of how each suggested change might look like and explained why it didn't work. For the rest of the changes, the Photoshop whiz kid basically made them on the spot with a few clicks of his mouse. This saved AstroBanana from having to make another trip to MBR on another day. AstroBanana also received a soft copy of the original photos as well as the post-production photos there and then, so yes, the photos ARE available.

Nevertheless, AstroBanana have decided to post the photos from the bridal photoshoot on this blog only after their wedding dinner, although Astro Girl did agree to let Eric Banana post ONE photo, so here goes...

For those who are interested to see how the photos turned out, you can view the wedding photo album at AstroBanana's wedding dinner :)

A Surprising Turn of Events

2009-08-30T11:02:00.000+08:00

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

2009-08-16T23:50:00.002+08:00

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

2009-08-14T21:43:00.001+08:00

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

Sent via BlackBerry from SingTel!

2 Months To Go!

2009-08-09T14:03:00.001+08:00

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!

AstroBanana Get Their IKEA Catalogue 2010! And It's HUGE!

2009-07-30T23:26:00.001+08:00

Two days ago, AstroBanana received an invitation out of the blue via a comment on this very blog itself. Apparently, it was posted by "Karen" from IKEA Singapore who invited them for the media launch of the Singapore edition of the IKEA Catalogue 2010. After verifying that it was not a hoax and that there really is a “Karen”, AstroBanana accepted the invitation happily and showed up for the media launch at the Botanic Gardens this evening.

The theme of the launch was tied to nature, which explained the venue. As AstroBanana approached the reception counter, they were asked for their namecards, probably to verify that they were really members of the press. In such a situation, Eric Banana’s first instinct was to turn around and make his escape. Fortunately, an IKEA staff member recognised them and went, “Oh I know who you are.. you are Eric Banana, and you are Astro Girl!” Then some other staff members also seemed to kinda recognise them – “No wonder you look so familiar.” Hmmm... Anyway, AstroBanana got to meet Karen , who is IKEA Singapore’s Assistant Manager for Public Relations. She was a really nice and friendly gal!

The event started with a presentation by Lars Svensson, the Country Marketing Manager for IKEA Singapore. As he talked about the upcoming catalogue, he mentioned how some Singaporeans are really excited about it… and to AstroBanana’s horror, they saw their faces on the screen - it was a screenshot of their blog. Lars was trying to illustrate that bloggers’ opinions do matter in today’s context - as it turned out, a colleague in IKEA’s headquarters in Sweden had come across AstroBanana’s entry about the upcoming IKEA catalogue and alerted the folks at IKEA Singapore, who then decided to fulfill their wishes by inviting them for the media launch. Lars also quoted an extract from Eric Banana’s blog entry (the second last paragraph).

Next, AstroBanana got to preview some of the new products in the IKEA PS collection. Each product was placed next to a tree species. During their short walk in the Botanic Gardens, they got to find out more about the tree species from Jenny Chua, a horticulturist who works in the Botanic Gardens. After Jenny’s introduction at each juncture, Lars gave a good background on the new IKEA PS products.

Of course, AstroBanana took the opportunity to take some photos with Karen and Lars:

Since every IKEA staff member they met seems to have read their blog, AstroBanana would like to thank them again for inviting to the event and making them feel at home. Congrats on a job well-done!

And yes, AstroBanana are now the proud owners of a jumbo-sized IKEA Catalogue 2010 (limited edition, with only 1,000 copies in print) and they get to read it two days before the rest of the general population.

To get a feel of how big the jumbo-size 2010 catalogue is, here's a picture comparing it to the normal-size 2009 catalogue:

In addition to the limited-edition catalogue, AstroBanana's event passes will also allow them to obtain a one-time 15% media rebate on their purchases in the month of August. Whee!

Eric Banana really did not expect IKEA to contact him. Astro Girl was really funny though - "How come you blog so much about Tiffany but they never invite you for any media launch?" Eric Banana's only response to that - "Business too big and too good liao lor."

A Sneak Preview of IKEA 2010 Catalogue

2009-07-27T00:44:00.001+08:00

Eric Banana is not a "waiter" - he hates to wait for just about anything. It goes without saying that when he found out that the IKEA 2010 catalogue will only be available on 1 August 2009, he started to get really restless. And when he gets restless, he starts to find ways to reduce that mounting internal dissonance - in this particular case, getting his hands on a copy of the darned IKEA 2010 catalogue will most certainly help...

... and help it did, even if it's the faraway U.S. edition, and a virtual copy at that. After all, it can't be all that different, can it? Hmmm...

Eric Banana has been a fan of IKEA catalogues since he was a kid. Somehow, flipping through pages of amazingly well-taken pictures of Swedish furniture is a therapeutic experience. It's something IKEA has mastered to perfection, never mind that the material and design of some of its furniture are suspect.

IKEA's online catalogue is also a joy to breeze through as it has no or minimal lag. The Straits Times Interactive should take a leaf from this technology. Reading ST Interactive via its E-Reader is a big pain in the donkey. By the time it finishes loading a page, Eric Banana could probably finish reading ten pages on the print edition.

After a quick flip of the U.S. IKEA 2010 catalogue, Eric Banana has ascertained that the IKEA furniture he is eyeing have not been discontinued. Yes, IKEA has its own way of detraining unsuspecting consumers' home furnishing plans by discontinuing certain product lines. And very often, some of the popular items will be temporarily out of stock or oversold. Interestingly, there is no way to make a reservation order for a particular piece of furniture. Business too big and too good liao ah?

On a side note, Eric Banana spotted something funny in one of the IKEA stores today... a gal was using the IKEA measuring tape to *erm* measure two of her vital statistics. Hmmm, maybe checking out the furniture wasn't really what she was there to do... She later turned to her male partner and screeched in an irritating voice, "YOU DON'T KNOW... YOU DON'T CARE!!" Well, Eric Banana doesn't know and is unlikely to care either, but he was half-tempted to make the connection between unidentified hard object and her cerebellum.