And Then the Bride Slapped the Groom

(Note: Originally posted in my Facebook Slate)

Years ago, I was an active blogger. Truth be told, some people may think that what I blogged about was total nonsense. There were days I was incredibly cryptic that Haruki Murakami may even end up scratching his head trying to decipher between the hints, and there were those days I sounded like Bridget Jones on paper. Of course there were the days I was angst-ridden, the days I was paranoid, the days I was quoting left, right and center, and days of pure honesty. It was nonsense, but I was vulnerable, very much NOT in a victimized manner.

There were also the years that I actually made friends with those I found online, or those, say, who "friended" me. And truth be told, blogging is shrouded by myths. You get to meet fellow bloggers, you also manage to get involve in blogbantering, and yes, bloghooking-upping. In some cases, like one of my blog friends, she found love via blogging. Maybe somehow, inscribing thoughts via the virtual platform further paves the way for some cosmic matchmaking, no? People go to the movies and watch TV, and their minds are then inscribed with the love stories of Bridget Jones, Carrie and Big, and maybe, Hannah Montana. Love stories, like making a film, is so easy to make yet so hard to manifest. And there are now the different possible medium --- celluloid, digital, viral. When you really think about it, the possibilities are endless. The point is, find a partner and work on singing the same song, making the same masterpiece, writing the same message (or maybe blog entry. Hahaha.)

Let's see, shall we?

Image: FreeDigitalPhotos.net

I somehow just stopped writing. I don't know. I guess in the past months --- or say last year --- I had this need to keep to myself. Or not to be bothered too much with my online persona (though frankly, such persona can be considered pretty transparent). I probably got sick and tired of myself, blogging almost the same things, which, when you really think about it, further proves we are who we are. However, I probably stopped because I wanted to experiment with this thing I read in some guy's blog a few years ago, that when someone stops blogging, he/she found someone. Or putting it in another context, if someone starts to disappear from your life, he/she found someone else. Tee-hee. So yeah, I figured, if I stopped blogging, the someone will come.

The point is, as based on this experiment, I therefore conclude that whether you stop or continue bogging, someone will come, and someone will leave. Eventually and finally, someone will stay. The world keeps turning.

Well, in this entry I want to write about this blog buddy I met years ago via my old blog. She's older than me, but those few years ago, when we were obviously younger, we were giggling like girls, dropping comments about what she dubbed as the Vespa Seduction Plan (because she had a Vespa then and there was someone to seduce) and the creation of a Shag Map. She also checked on me when I met this ... okay, I am NOT going to mention that, haha.

Anyway, since I stopped blogging, I didn't hear any news from her for months. And since I suddenly had this impulse to visit my old blog, I suddenly wanted to know how she's been. And she's married.

Of course I am aware of their love story, which is a blogging kind too (meaning they met via blogs. Dammit, maybe I should start blogging again?). And I knew that he proposed while they were probably drunk in some pub, and they were to wed. And they did. And I just saw some of the wedding photos online in which apparently they pulled some kind of a Britney Spears/Kevin Federline drama where they initially told everyone it was an engagement party since they didn't really have one as they were living in Indonesia (she's a development/aid worker, he's a... I dunno. Researcher? Phd candidate?).

Anyway, it seemed like a lovely wedding. She was wearing this Chinese blouse (as she is) and pants, and he's just wearing this... shirt that nomadic expat guys wear when they're in hot climate (okay, so it's probably widely worn in South Asia by South Asians, haha). It took place in their home country, Australia, in some botanical garden with a lake, and there was a small band, tents, and their friends wore casual wear. One guy was wearing skinny purple pants. The cake was baked by the groom's mother, and it's brown. Some of them were barefoot. They had beer and they played cricket afterwards. It was so informal that she posted a photo where it seemed like she was about to slap her groom.

I like this kind of weddings though unfortunately, I hadn't experienced anything of this set-up. Everything here is so... grand. Even those that take place in the provinces. It's so... formal. Rehearsed. Everything needs to look perfect, as my friend pointed out, weddings only happen once.

But isn't a lifetime that people look forward to, not just that single day?

I guess it really is up to taste. Frankly, my favorite movie weddings took place in Sex and the City --- where Miranda and Steve got married in this small garden in New York which they found whilst walking, with the "reception" in this small bistro --- and Carrie and Big in City Hall, and their reception food were pancakes and bacon. Even my friend Liz would tell me that one day, she'd just surprise me and tell me she's already married. No fanfare. Well, maybe afterwards as people here would demand, "You're not even going to hold it in a church?!!!"

The funny thing is, I have this three main set of really dear friends (as probably everyone does) who fall in these stereotypes that evidently also influence my thinking: my high school friends from Catholic school, my friends from UP, and friends I met in various projects and meetings who are mostly artists, actors, filmmakers, writers, environmentalists, backpackers, semi-activists, semi-socialites, etc. Of course, the high school friends are getting married off; one of them got married last weekend, and I wore this pink floor-length gown which I was going to pair with purple heels. One of them is getting married next year, one of them is almost as good as married, oh, and yeah, two of them are already married, with one now with a kid. College friends --- we're pretty screwed up, which means we're like the Sex and the City / Bridget Jones women who constantly find ourselves in, say, dysfunctional and questionably romantic situations, and post-college friends ---- a mixture of happily married/engaged/paired off straight and gay couples (in the U.S.), single mothers, and incredible Angelina Jolies still searching for their Brad Pitts. It's a good life.

Maybe among friends getting hitched seems like a race, which I can prove many times over as between conversations and reunions, there is always that guessing game who is going to get married next (and Liz just told me during our long text conversations that I am not going to be next in our small group of friends). Not that I am complaining (though in my old blog there are those moments I'd constantly complain about it), but I think it's fun to look at such circumstances. Maybe I am in this race, but I still have questions about the prize, the prize being sharing a great life with the man who is perfect for me.

I just like to think of my friend, her new groom, and their history. There were seduction plans in this one, alright, but the point is, they both worked hard. She's found someone to create a shag map and build a vegetable patch with. Hence, there is the possibility. I also like to think that it is possible that come wedding days, they can be small and simple that when the bride slaps the groom, there is a private joke in it.