今年看來是結婚的好年

這個星期六就要當伴郎了，生平第一次當伴郎，已經很新鮮了，而且又是台德聯姻，感覺更新鮮！沒想到剛剛hotmail收到許久未見的研究所同學的信，她今年也要結婚了，這對則是台法聯姻，第一場婚禮會在法國古堡舉行，第二場則回台灣辦。

婚姻現在似乎已經不只是兩個家庭共同的大事了，還常牽涉到兩個不同文化的衝擊、妥協和融合，真得是很有趣！

不過，許多朋友都在今年結婚，今年該是個結婚的好年！

My first time ever to be the best man

I feel excited but nervous now because I am gonna be the best man on May 3rd, which is the first time ever in my entire life. As the best man, I guess my role is to do anything I can for the furtherance of the ceremony. More importantly, I will be able to witness a couple I've known for more than 10 years finally walking hand in hand onto the red carpet. Sooner or later, it will be my turn to get married, so I think the experience of this kind can serve as apprenticeship.

Recently, I've been thinking why we need a ceremony for marriage. For me, I'd often think it could change nothing in the newly-weds' life, not to speak of changing what they are. Here in Taiwan we've got a lot of things to do if the newlyweds prepare the ceremony all by the traditions. Even if you decide to simplify it, the preparation is still tiring (it is definitely exciting, though). I come to realize that a ceremony is not just for a couple, but also for the two families supporting the couple. The ceremony is not intended to change anything in the newlyweds' life, but to let the couple learn how to respect each other and each other's families. No matter how long a couple have been seeing each other before getting married, until the ceremony will it be publicly declared to be the start of the union of the newlyweds, for which they should take some responsibility.

For the parents in Taiwan, the ceremony sometimes means a lot more than it means for the newlyweds. It's a token for the completion of a task, which is quite different from some foreign cultures. That's why there is an old saying here--"Those who have not been married are children still."

Irresistibly Endearing ~ My Niece

In my everyday life in the office, I cannot open my Outlook without seeing "For your information," which appears over and over again. To tell the truth, I'm quie fed up with this expression. Business English makes me puke; sometimes it occurs to me that I could use "for your amusement" instead. But, I don't dare to do so. This wacky thought is therefore just a voice-over in my mind, which seems to coax me into turning the upside down as I've been taught in literary theory class. I guess, if I really do that, my boss would think I must be nuts.

I browsed my brother's blog just now and found lots of recent photos of my lovable niece. I picked up one of my favorite, in which she's kinda making faces, and this time I can say appropriately, "For your amusement."