A forecast

I reproduce below the contents of page 20 of my notebook, inked probably somewhere in Montenegro and which consist essentially of numbers. The contents:

If I ever get married in the traditional kind of sense, who will I have to invite to the wedding...

1. Maf Brothers and partners -> 16 at least
2. PTW and partners -> 12 at least
3. Yunners -> 15 at least
4. Lippers -> 6
5. S22 -> 15 at least
6. Council -> 10 at least (Thankfully a large part already in Maf Brothers)
7. Primary School -> 10 at least
8. Cherookees -> 5 at least
9. Mother side family -> 8+5+6+4+5+3+2=33 at least
10. Father side family -> 6+4+2+3+6+2+5=28 at least
11. Own family -> 6 at least
12. Colleagues -> As yet unknown

Total: 166 and counting
------------------------------------------------------------------

I later realised that the magic 166 do not include friends from hall and friends from the French exchange, important people that I somehow had left out when coming up with the list above. So, '166 and counting' indeed counts. The numerous 'at least' were also included to make provision for the fact that people who are currently unattached might get attached or that people who are attached might have babies by the time I tie the knot. Furthermore, I might also want to invite the families of Jiahao, Guan, Yaohui etc especially when some of their brothers continue to call me 'Shangcai kor kor' and when I had once shared a mahjong table with some of their family members.

I am not a big fan of the Chinese traditional wedding nor the trouble it implicates. Having to entertain 160 or more people on a same night knowing that most would not be entertained hardly entices me, and having to fork out about 80 dollars for each invited person without knowing if I'll even get the money back does not seem like sound investment. In the first place, I do not even know if I will ever have enough money to hold The Dinner, knowing how well(or rather, unwell) teachers are paid. Do banks provide loans for marriages?

In the challenge of having the most memorable marriage, people have taken both to the sky and to the sea to exchange vows. Maybe two have to 'say yes' on the moon to beat them all. Or has that already been done?

Traditional or unconventional, sea or moon, I believe I will end up getting married one day. And if you're reading this, then it's highly likely that you'll be invited to the wedding. A marriage is, above everything else, a celebration and for me, a celebration calls for plenty of beer, meat and laughter. If you're not bringing the beer or meat, bring with you at least the laughter.

And don't forget the all important red packet.