This weekend, I've run into a lot of old friends, made some new ones, and generally, had a really good time.

On Saturday night, I had another wedding dinner to attend - this time, it was the wedding dinner of a cousin who I hadn't seen since I was 12 or 13, partly because my father likes to isolate himself from the rest of his family, and also because my cousin is the daughter of an estranged aunt. While my mother didn't want me to attend the dinner, my grandmother prevailed upon me to go, and in this part of the world, familial pressure is a very effective, albeit very resented, tool to get anyone to do anything. So, in the end, I went, though I was determined to ensure that they didn't see the mousy old me, but the beautiful, glamourous lady that I am capable of being, so I dressed up in a really pretty, posh red gown, put on my flower-power silver hairclip, my current favourite eyeshadow (Bourjois - Suivez- Moi 08 Regard Le Trompe L'Oeil - an iridescent loose shimmer eyeshadow), put on my high heels and sashayed into the ballroom.

I was seated at the "cousins table" with my two half-British, half-Chinese cousins, who are handsome and attractive in different ways, and essentially, whenever I'm with them, I curse the fact that I'm related to them, and that despite that, I do love them (although I can't say the same thing about whether they love me!). They pointed out two other half-Caucasian, half-Chinese people seated at the table and said to me, "These are also your cousins." To which I replied, "No way! I would have heard about them by now if they were really my cousins!" When my aunt came over to clarify how they were related to me (something about them being the grandchildren of my grandmother's sister - a branch which until then, I had no knowledge of its existence), I grinned at them and said, "Sorry about that!" Heh.

Another amusing moment occurred when I found out that my cousin was going to marry a fighter pilot. I was on the verge of texting my friend, also a fighter pilot, to ask him if he knew who this guy was, when prior to the wedding couple making their entrance, the swordbearers (all pilots) came in to do the ceremonial entrance thingy that all pilots get to do at their wedding dinners. It turned out that my friend was one of the swordbearers, so I was, oh well, no need to ask anymore! I went over to say hi to him after I texted him, alerting him to my presence at the dinner as well, but hopefully, didn't make his girlfriend jealous or anything. His girlfriend's a little on the insecure, jealous side, but then some girls are like that.

In any case, throughout the rest of the night, I went around, either talking with new-found cousins, re-establishing relationships with long-unseen cousins, or introducing myself to relatively distant members of the family tree. Without my parents' presence or the sheltering presence of my brother, my relatives were quite surprised by how friendly, how smile-y I was being, and I guess I don't blame them. When members of my immediate family are around, I end up talking to them mostly, instead of mixing around. The same goes if my close friends are around as I do end up speaking to them most of the time, and not talking to other people. In fact, one of my cousins told me, "you've turned into a power socialiser!" When I protested (I hate the very thought of networking, so I didn't consider that comment a compliment), he said, "No, you've changed. It's good!" Thank you, D.

After the dinner, I brought the non-local cousins out to Zouk since it was right next to the hotel where the dinner was at. I hadn't intended to go once Danny Tenaglia's gig was cancelled, but seeing as it was nearby, we went. It was a nice night, just bonding with my relatives, although my cousin, D, once again commented how I'd changed from this shy girl into a bit of a clubber and everything. I guess it's 'cos he got me just when I'd gotten my groove back. I'm feeling happy and raring to meet people again, and I'm glad that I met up with my relatives when I didn't have my family members around to hide behind.

I'm a little confused right now though as I don't think my parents are going to approve seeing as there's some tension between my parents and the rest of the family, but the thing is, I do like my cousins and I would like to keep in touch with them, if not only for my future children's sake. I kind of rued the fact that I never had that many cousins to call upon, and yesterday night, a whole new branch of the family was revealed to me, and I'd like to explore that side more.

As for what I did today - I ran into quite a few old friends and aquaintances, one of whom turned out to be working in the Indonesian side of my company and was a member of my society back in uni. I ran into another uni friend as well as a high school friend while shopping. It was nice to just talk, even if only for two minutes or so.