Rebates or Points?

Today I am thinking of buying something on rakuten singapore. Many things are currently on sale and to add to the nudge is a S$15 off a minimum purchase of $50.

After the discount, you would be paying S$35 but they will still give you points for your purchase at 1 point per dollar spent. Which means you still get 50 points for your $35 purchase! There's also free shipping now for different deals and amounts.

Now if you also use mastercard for your purchase, you will get 10 times the number of points usually given. So your $35 purchase would give you 500 points, equivalent to $5 which can be used to b a future product. Points will be credited about 7 or so days after the purchase.

But from what I read online, it seems you cannot use the points to partially pay for a single item. So if i wanted to buy a $6 item in future, I cannot use my 500 points (or $5 credit) and just pay $1 using my credit card. It has to be an item that is $5 or less. And I won't know when these promo points expire till I get them.

I also have the personal option of paying with the OCBC frank card which gives me a 6% rebate off online purchases (minimum spend of S$500 online). This works out to S$2.10 rebate for a S$35 purchase.

Which would you choose?

I would normally go for the rebate since I don't know if I will buy anything on the site again. That said, they are giving new sign ups $10 credit which you can use by entering a code (one can use one code per bill so I would recommend the cny $15 discount which expires tonight!). So I might return to get some ramen or something if they offer free (conditional) shipping again.

I also am forgetful so I might lose my credit as I did with groupon. I just discovered I lost $20 credit from refunds etc which expired in 2012. Oh well. Haha!

So, which would you choose?

Wedding: Marriage Preparation Course

We have registered ourselves in the marriage preparation course (MPC for short). The brochure stated that the course hopes to curb the rising rate of breakdowns in marriages because young couples "ride on their feelings of love, which eventually fade as problems start to emerge".

It's a 6 week course, comprising of 3 half-day Sunday sessions at a common location and 3 half-day sessions on weekends at the homes of the couples who I believe are presenting, or conducting, the course.

I wonder if the MPC is compulsory here. I wonder if lots of couples forego this if they could. I also wonder if some wished for a course like this, not knowing it exists.

As a relatively older bride (haha), I am quite certain I know what I would be like as a wife. Thankfully, my fiancé is also older (and wiser, one would hope), having experienced love, loss, fear, pain, arrogance and humility.

But how will we solve issues together? We honestly haven't had fights or major disagreements. However I'm sure there are some important topics to explore.  Something to look forward to in July. :)

Wedding: When Again?

Yet another date change.

Now its September 6th. After my fiancé's mom consulted the Chinese zodiac and calendars online, she decided that September 6th was a more auspicious date.

So now after finally getting 3 (York, Peninsula Excelsior & Riverfront) out of about 30 hotels to reply my emails and calls positively (yes, the 27 or so I contacted are booked up on October 18th), I am going to badger all of them again regarding the 6th of September.

Some are hearing from me a third time since I asked many about the 11th of October initially. I haven't even called to check with the church!

52 Saturdays in a year. How does one choose? Sigh...

Wedding: Auspicious Dates

Looks like we have to change our wedding date. Heh.

It's been fun yet stressful thinking about the wedding on October 11th 2014. We set that with the church. However, after my fiancé's mom checked with a geomancer regarding the dates in September and October, we ought to follow these auspicious dates and times, according to our birth dates and times. The photo in this post features the dates written by my fiancé's mom on the back of an old calendar page. So cute.

We aren't superstitious actually but it's fine to change our dates and we want to please our parents. They did a lot of us raising us and though my dad won't be there, I have decided to make a small little video to sort of share his legacy with our guests. Gotta be careful not to be too indulgent there. My pragmatic brothers will keep me in check.

Settling on a date was easy. The church only held weddings on Saturdays. Fiancé dear wants to have the wedding only in October. So... drumroll... it's gotta be October 18th 2014! He was also amused at the fact that our initially chosen date was only auspicious for 3 hours. :)

Now I had no idea october 18th 2014 was so popular. Every hotel and restaurant contacted has that date booked already! And I emailed and called at least 20. I wonder if we can hold a nice dinner for our guests then. Maybe we have to consider venues like the exhibition halls or restaurants in far corners of the island. Even though it's still an island, the traffic and the distances locals are accustomed to will usually present these places as "wa so far and ulu ah?"

Well, let's hope something opens up or we find a couple who needs to let go of their dinner on October 18th 2014. Fingers crossed!

Where & When?

Well, we set a date. But it's still open to discussion since my fiancé's mom has yet to see the geomancer. My mom isn't bothered with auspicious dates. My fiancé and I are happy either way. So we'll just wait for the date. No sweat.

The date, however, is a necessary piece of information to present before we can confirm our venue.

Which brings us to the question of where...

I was very keen on this beautiful ballroom. It evokes a sense of grandeur, fairytales and magic. As if anything is possible that night and everyone has been transported to a majestic palace, the sort you only read about in fantasy novels.

It isn't up my mother's alley though because she feels it's very inconvenient for most people. Sigh... here it is, my dream ballroom which will remain just that, a dream.

Photos here pulled from the Orchid country club website and some bridal forums. Won't you fall in love here as well?

A New Chapter

So a new year is here. Hello 2014.

I am planning something new this year.

I'm planning my wedding. Heh. I always was fiercely independent and stubborn, afraid to rely on anyone else. And here I am, looking at spending forever with some random soul I met.

Or is it really random? What makes true love true?

For years, I avoided the idea of marriage for many reasons. One being my fear of loss. I learnt that it is not easy for me to get over such loss from my hamster's untimely kidnapping, from missing my grandpa's departure, & barely catching my father's last moments. So creating that possibility of a husband or child dying before I do? No, thanks! I'd rather not love at all than suffer that pain of separation.

But oh well, I went ahead and fell in love. Darn it.

I'll just plan the event they call a wedding then. Not too big a deal to me since the main focus is the marriage. Updates to appear here.

Flaws

Lately, I have learnt how I am affected by moods and atmospheres on set or in a recording studio. If everything is serious, I may absorb and spew that same energy. If the mood is light, I might take that on and add to what I do.

It is great in theatre and live performances where the energy of the audience is something to play off on. Since I am aware of the desire or need to push a story or emotion forward, a negative or unreceptive audience serves as a positive challenge.

However, it might work against me in a recording studio or film set. I don't think about it but subconsciously, I suppose I react the same way. I am not as aware of needing to push the story or emotion forward so I may end up overwhelmed by my environment. I must say that to myself, this discovery is disturbing, frustrating and disappointing. I hope it isn't so to anyone else though, and that I always managed to deliver eventually and do justice to my characters.

I suppose I need to learn to encapsulate myself in a separate world more distinctly on set & in studios. I'll be more aware in future. I would like to think that I can only improve.