Chameleonic

It’s been a while since we last spoke! Tell us, what would you say has been your biggest achievement this year, and what are you most looking forward to in the second half of the year?
My biggest achievements these past six months would getting married, experiencing my first (and hopefully only) guo da li (Chinese betrothal ceremony), and travelling to Japan with my in-laws without us killing each other—in that order, from biggest to the not-so-big (laughs).

In the next half of the year, I’m most looking forward to my end-of-year trip to China with my wife, Kim! We’ll be there for three weeks, and I’m finally going to cross visiting Harbin for their annual ice festival off of my bucket list. That said, I absolutely cannot tahan (stand) the cold, so I guess I’ll be freezing my butt off three weeks straight (laughs).

We hear you’ve been with your wife, Kim, for 10 years now. How does it feel being married to your longtime partner? Has your relationship changed in any way?
It’s been the same lah, between us, but I think I’ve gotten closer to Kim’s parents since I’ve started staying over at her place more often.

I guess the biggest difference would be that lately, I’ve been feeling more like an adult instead of the blur kid that I’ve always been (laughs). I’ll wear my wedding band with pride and subtly show it off in the MRT like “Yes, I’m married, yo! I’m not a kid!” The other day, the two part-timers I hired for a work event was like “Bro, are you the intern here?” then I was like “No, I’m full-time” then they said “Oh, you look damn young dude” then I said “Nah man, I’m 27, and I’m married already leh” (laughs)

Tell us more about your wedding! What were some of the highlights of the evening? Would you have changed anything about it if you could?
The wedding was great! We had such a good time, and it was all a bit surreal. We had our wedding at The Bark Café, which is an alfresco joint, so wearing a suit was a bit torturous if I’m being honest—I was sweating like a dog for most of the night.

But the highlight of the evening for me was definitely heading back to the hotel after to have supper, just Kim and I—we ordered room service and sat there eating at 1AM and looking at each other like “You’re my husband!” and “You’re my wife!” It was a nice, sweet moment for the both of us. Though I wish I had more time to eat the food that was served at the wedding. Everyone really liked the food, and it looked and smelled so good, but we honestly didn’t have the time to eat properly.

When we last spoke, you mentioned that you were working as a theatre lighting designer, but also joining an events company full-time. Are you still doing that currently?
Yes, I am! So I’m working full-time in events management, while lighting design is more of a freelance gig for me, but it honestly feels as though I’m juggling two very intense full-time jobs, which has been… ahh! How can I strike a balance between the two when they both require me to work weekends and odd hours…

This is like one of those LinkedIn updates, but I believe in work-life integration. My colleagues and the people in my personal life have been so accommodating to allow me to run personal errands during work, and settle work stuff during my personal hours. It’s honestly quite sad sometimes to be working on a Sunday when everyone is resting or out having fun, but the flip side is that there have been many an extended weekday lunch break where I get to chill and go shopping at random atrium sales, or take home a whole bunch of leftover freebies from events.

With such a crazy schedule, who or what is one thing you’re missing right now?
It’s kind of strange, but I’m missing my National Service (NS) days a little bit. I had a chill time in NS, and I remember spending majority of it lying in bed playing games with my friends in our underwear. Nowadays I don’t really have the time to see my friends or play much games, because there are always things to do and tasks to clear. I guess I just miss having nothing to do, no worries, and no stress. Which is why I’m always looking forward to reservist, which is like a little breather for me from the daily grind, where I get to disconnect for a bit.

Ian was previously seen here.