A tale of three cities- Judgement day

I was not planning to write a blog on my picture day because I was exhausted. But then I read the comments of all my friends on the April 10 blog entry. I knew I have to repay your kindness, and ahem, curiosity...

I DID IT!!!

Out of gratitude to my sister-in-law, my obedience to my parents-in-law, and my inability to seek my own redemption.

I dedicate my courageous deeds to those who sent me your comments, wisdom, strategies, laughs, well wishes, and sympathy...

I would love to amuse you all with some pictures. But no photos were allowed in the studio, and also mountain lion's real fear is the photos will fall in the hands of the villains and she will be blackmailed.

***
Sophie's choice

I HAD to choose a white wedding gown and an evening gown.

I asked the "stylist" to bring me the simplest one. She suggested, to take good picture, we need layers to add texture and depth.

So she brought me one that immediately reminded me of a multiple-layer buttercream wedding cake, with extra frosting.

I decided to choose for myself and tried another one who looked like the blinds of the window. It was not pretty but at least it reminded me of something less complicated.

Where did all the beautiful wedding gowns which I saw in magazines go ?

Finally I settled on a plain strapless one which was as good as it got, even though there was still a long "tail" and a need to wear a bulky girdle.

As for the evening gown, I found one burgundy strapless dress with only some pleats in front and a bow in the back. The gown was so tight that it was squeezing my lungs. But it was the only one I could imagine myself in.

While I was sleeping in Taipei, the gowns were quietly being altered.

Studio Picture day

There was a thing called "comfort food". I ate a big bowl of pork chop noodle soup and a big plate of samplers of appetizers for lunch. It was not going to be good for fitting in the gowns.

So I drank tons of "sour plum soup" to help diggestion...

***

When we arrived, the "makeup artist" first worked on my mother-in-law, I am the youngest of the family, hence the lowest in "rank". I knew I had to wait.

"What are you going to wear for the casual portraits?" they asked me while I was waiting for my turn.

"I thought we are going to wear the gowns" I was shocked, as usual.

"No, we are going to wear gowns AND the third one our own choices of casual clothes"

I must have missed some former conversations in Taiwanese, which I don't speak. I was in jeans and a shirt that looked somewhat like a pajama for ultimate comfort. It would not work.

"Why don't you go across the street to buy a dress?" my mother-in-law suggested.

I looked out the window. No good. Across the street was a food market.

"Well, there are some clothes stalls next to the vegetable stalls." She said matter-of-factly.

My sister-in-law escorted me.

I only had 10 minutes to choose my costume. And the choices were, believe me, really pathetic.

I scanned for black anything like a terminator. I found a black shirt. Black covers a multitude of sin. I insisted on keeping my jeans since they said casual.

Back in the studio, choosing jewelry is another big dilemma. I chose by one principle: elimination.

There I go, false eye lashes and curly hair extension like those of miss piggy...

***

Gosh, the poses were so tricky, more so than yoga. There were Godfather pose, gangster pose, princess pose, falling-in-love pose, gazing-at-moon pose......

Honestly, when it was not my turn, it was entertaining to watch other people's pictures being taken. I actually had a good time observing the photographer at work. We all had good laughs. We were in the studio for the whole afternoon, a total of 140
pictures.

The package was to choose 20 out of the pictures taken to put into a photo album with 4 to be enlarged to posters.

The method was: elimination. My brother-in-law controled the delete button on the computer.

The rule was: there were seven of us, if only one person disliked any picture, he or she could "veto" it.

When it came to my pictures,
"delete, delete, delete...." I said them like a broken record.

"But you will have no picture left!" he said.

Finally, they voted that I have no right to veto.

The verdict was: they decided to purchase 50 pictures, 30 more than intended as a file, including some featured me.

At last, I offered to donate my right of enlarging one of my photos.

"It is Ba and Ma's wedding anniversary. They had so many good pictures. They should enlarge an extra one." I played good daughter-in-law. (strategy courtesy of Ah Man).

The comfort was, my offer was accepted.

***

"I have to live for others and not for myself: that's middle-class morality."
cw quoting George Bernard Shaw.

"What then do we live for, but to make sport for our neighbors, and laugh at them in our turn. "
lamina o'oz quoting Mr. Bennett, Pride and Prejudice