Marking another milestone, with much love and gratitude

So I've finally graduated from law school, and this marks the end of 16 years of formal education. This is going to be a long thank-you post dedicated to everyone who has helped and supported me along the way, in one form or another. 

First and foremost, the parents, without whom I'd literally be nothing. To the ones who have always been with me - thank you for your unconditional love, thank you your understanding and your encouragement, thank you for sharing my joy and my tears, and for supporting me in my choices in life. Cliche it may sound, but everything I am, I owe to you, and a million thank-yous would not be able to convey my gratitude. 

To my SN clique (sans rondie in the picture), it's been 8 years, and even though we were not always together in that time, I always feel a little better knowing that we have one another, and I hope we will always stay this way even as we move on to the next chapter in our lives. 

To my law school sisters and 红粉知己s - so much love for the both of you. Days of tedious mugging, spontaneous pigging out sessions, clubbing nights, ridiculous/inappropriate remarks and messages, plain nonsense, hthts, etc etc, the past four years would not have been the same without the two of you, and I'm so glad we went through this together. Law school may have ended, but I think we will continue the same as before, won't we?

Important people who helped / supported / dragged me through law school, whether by lending me notes and muggers, buying me candy and chocolates, treating me to food and beer and coffee, forcing me to go to school to study or listening to me whine, thank you so much, you guys brightened my university days and made the tedious days more bearable.

"People do fall in love, people do belong to each other, because that's the only chance anybody's got for real happiness." 

Thank you for all the things, big and small, that you've done, thank you for your patience and thank you for making me so happy. 

Of course, there are so many other people to thank, especially my close friends who are not pictured here, but you know who you guys are. Random outings, texts, hthts, etc, I'm grateful to have so many beacons of light shining in my life. 

It has not been an easy journey, and there are days when I was so tired I just felt like giving up, and days when I doubted all the choices I ever made and wondered what the hell I was doing. But I made it through. And so this is the end, but it is also the start of something new. To exciting times ahead!

Picnics are happy things.

Our first picnic in Europe, by the lake. This was in the Netherlands. We went out of Amsterdam to spend a few days in the countryside. The sun was setting at 10, 11 at night, so we literally sunbathed at 9 pm. Laid out the mats we bought at Marks and Spencer in London, munched on chips, berries and stroopwafels, waded around in the chilly water, watched yachts going by on the waterway...saw a few amusing kids playing around and a friendly stray cat that asked for a scratch. It was lovely.

This was our breakfast picnic in Copenhagen, in the Rosenborg palace garden. Headed to the supermarket to grab some food before walking to the garden and laying out our trusty mats out under a tree. The weather was chilly at 13 deg c and we were obviously not dressed for it, but being the mule-headed people we are, we insisted on our picnic. It was pleasant for a while, until the wind grew stronger and we couldn't take it anymore. Hurriedly packed and went on our way to explore the city.

Okay technically this wasn't a picnic 'cause we didn't bring food and mat and stuff along, but it was a kite-flying outing at a picnic spot. Happy day ❤ J bought me a big kite and we headed to the barrage where families were picnicking and fellow kite enthusiasts were flying their kites sky-high. The weather was pretty good and there was a beautiful rainbow in the sky that was the colour of my kite. A little boy was getting chased by a doggy, frantically trying to run away as fast as he could on his tiny toddler legs from the over-friendly dog, before letting out a whimper when the excited dog caught up with him. Everyone looking on was laughing. It was a happy atmosphere.

For the love of lego

Ascension

What will lift you up? Love? Faith? Success? And once you are raised up, where is it that you go?

So lego was pretty much one of the main childhood toys for me. And if anyone so much as suggests that lego is a toy for little boys my retort to him would be "I hope you step on a lego brick". Toys are gender-neutral imo. Why should our creativity be restricted just because of perceived gender norms? Bro and I shared our toys; he set up soft toy cafes and played barbie with me and I would pretend to be power rangers with him and compete at building the grander lego structure. So visiting a lego exhibition was a little nostalgic for me. Come to think of it, I should have worn the lego watch I bought in denmark to fit the theme... 

I'm still on my personal search for overall happiness.

For a while I couldn't figure out how to cast shadows, so I was standing really close to the wall and J was just taking pictures of me...but it seemed odd and after a few moments I realised I was supposed to stand further from the wall and closer to the light. Reminds me of how we used to adjust the OHP back in primary school. I guess that kinda reveals my age. I wonder if kids these days even know what an OHP is...

Me being silly

peaces; everlasting; step ladder; wall

Interactive exhibit: lego selcas!

 Coincidentally we were wearing matching red suede shoes that day.

prawn and honeydew, soon hock, salted egg yolk crab 

After the museum we headed to this zi char place at Toa Payoh that J recommended and proceeded to stuff our faces with good food. And I mean good, because we only ordered prawn and fish and crab (talk about 大鱼大肉), and because it was really yummy. But I was so stuffed after, that I think I didn't sleep till after 3am that night. First world problems.

Listen: russian red - fuerteventura (and another version) | russian red - everyday everynight

On a random note, I discovered a new indie singer and I'm in love with her sound. I shall now proceed to play them on loop until I get sick of them and never want to hear them again.