As good as it can get.

And you ask me what I want this year
And I try to make this kind and clear
Just a chance that maybe we'll find better days
Cuz I don't need boxes wrapped in strings
And desire and love and empty things
Just a chance that maybe we'll find better days

- Goo Goo Dolls’s "Better Days" -

Of what that has happened, and of what could have, I don’t think I would have wish for any better days.

Last weekend, my teensy cousin was engaged to her boyfriend of 8 months. Said cousin was ecstatic, resplendant in her pink outfit, looking quite calm despite the storm that was us other cousins touching up our makeup in front of her mirrors and fussing around her *masa tu jugakla her curtain decided to skydive*, and looking absolutely radiant. I looked at her, and I think, wow, she has already grown up. I think back to those years when we used to play around together, and have long chats during long walks around the kampung, and now, she’s all grown up, taking her first step towards a lifelong committment. *sigh* how they grow. And her fiancé, an actual nasyid singer who doesn’t really look so nasyid-y, seemed to have fit right in with the family, as after the engagement, he hung around, and joined the crowd of fathers who have fallen asleep on the living room floor due to exhaustion.

The weekend before that was my dentist’s daughter’s engagement pulak. Kak Moonie, of the Spanish Escapade tales back in 2004, finally got engaged to her handsome journalist boyfriend. To think that I was actually there went it all started :) I remembered it was during our short walk to the bus stop back in Clapton Pond, when she got the message that changed her life after that. She was stunned, and needless to say, our trip to Oxford St was cut short due to her ‘kegamaman’ and lack of pure concentration while supposedly shopping. cheh. But nevermindla, cuz that was the start of a relationship that’s going to *insya-Allah* end up dijinjang pelamin..yay! Unfortunately, I was such a disgraceful guest cum host at the engagement, as while everyone was fussing around with the food and decor, I fell asleep on the couch underneath the stairs. Que? Killer Jazzercise session that morning! The other guests cum hosts were kind enough not to wake me up, although God, wasn’t that rude of me???

That night, Ainurul and I went off to celebrate Ilsa Imaan bin Ilish Asmin, Safurah’s first offspring *the first of many more to come, I hope!* Comelnya baby boy Safurah, and comelnya parents dia :) Hung around with some of their friends, and had lovely, lovely nasi kerabu and barbequed lamb...and a tiny tour of Safurah’s parents lovely home, courtesy of Ainurul. And, to witness enterprising designers at work..aha! I know who to go to when it comes to designing cute wedding cards at really affordable prices...Allow me to shamelessly plug them :
http://www.pixel-latte.com Go there now!

The day before that was a momentous occasion but with minimal, almost Zen-like feel to it was the engagement of my best friend. You know, that best friend that I’ve had for almost 20 years :) Why Zen? well, prolly because it was really minima;, minimal guests, minimal hantarans, minimal celebration but everything was just nice and just right. What’s important is that they are now engaged :) She looked absolutely beautiful that afternoon and despite the Totz doodling entah apa entah yang actually ended up alright on her face, she remained serene. Even when the Totz terconteng eyeliner on her gorgeous pink kurung. Such drama, okaay, pakai makeup pun boleh ada traumatic incident. Well, traumatic for me la, cuz i’m never gonna have the Totz do my makeup. Imagine us running around with glasses of water, makeup remover and tissue to dab the stain off. And the P.Ramlee-ish comedic scene, when both of us, the Totz and I, listened behind the closed door a bit too closely, and suddenly hearing her mother going, Ok la, panggil dia ke depan, which saw us scampering off, and pretending to be doing something else. Hehehe...*sigh* that’s another one down...congratulations dear, I wish u all the strength during these supposed trying months of being engaged. Like I always said to the Totz, kita kan nak bina masjid, and setan kan tak suka, so, we have to be strong and patient to face all the dugaans...chewaah, spoken like a true veteran..ngeh ngeh ngeh...

Just when I thought I might have a nice, quiet weekend after all, I came back last Friday night to a huge bunch of UITM students shooting some movie scene at home for 2 nights. My brother has this funky friend of his who’s doing a course in Film Making or something in UITM, who likes our place enough to be included in their short movie assignment, so she requested permission from my family to shoot a few scenes in our house. My parents were okay about it, I bet they were even a little excited over it hehe. They prolly only shot like 2 scenes, but the entourage? was HUGE! They had a a huge bas ekspress that transported all this kids to our place *it was parked like a dark, giant beached whale in front of our house*, not to mention all the cars the kids came in with, the vans bringing their props, cameras, lights, picnic tables, costumes, and even that tiny track for the camera to move on and more people. These kids just set up camp right there, claimed ownership of the house for that 2 nights, which relegated us to the our tiny TV room, and did basically anything they want. Which included, setting up huge spotlights in the semak samun next door and in our backyard, taping up our lights, rearranging furnitures, cooking Mee Goreng Mamak and preparing teh tarik in the middle of the night. shushing us when we got too loud, and oh yeah, actually filmed a few scenes. Despite it all, it was very interesting, and its really heartwarming to see this kids hard at work. Plus, they didn’t mess up much of the house, although the makeup and wardrobe people had their stuff all over our dining table at one time, and they held discussions everywhere, in the kitchen, on the porch, in the living, outside the gate. My parents and I, like the jakuns we can be, actually crept downstairs *me in my Pjs, ma in her kaftan, and ayah in his kain pelikat* just to sneak a peek at a scene where this kid in baju sekolah walked up our pathway, kicking some stones, then banging close the front door. Whew, such attitude, boleh menang award ke nie? hehehe...and my mom actually grumbled at how ‘tak handsome’ the hero is...Ma, this is like for their assignment ok, what do u expect? Rosyam Noor?? Not that I think Rosyam Noor is drop dead gorgeous la that is...

So, better days? I do wish for better days, but sometimes, this is as good as it can get. Plus, I have Thursdays to look forward to nowadays :)