Throwback

Was messing around with some boxes and found a couple of old photographs to reminisce over.

Hahaha I think it was Huili's birthday here, no idea what my sister is doing. 

Our first Texan winter. 

Winter is still my favourite. 

Clowning around in New York.

We were pretty lucky kids methinks. 

11th - 12th July: Quiet Weekend

Update on a quiet weekend we had where we did nothing much but still had a good time hanging out :3

Happy birthday qt! hehehe it was a monster  themed party which was mega cute. 

Sunny Sunday

Rocky's awesome mushroom soup. 

What's a better way to end the weekend right?

Saying Goodbye

5 days ago, I woke up to a text message from my mum informing me of the demise of my paternal grandmother. It was a strange feeling; we had never been close to her nor most of our relatives on that side, save for my 姑姑's (father's sister) immediate family. Instead of the grief that usually follows after such an announcement, all I felt was poignantly upset for not feeling more sad.

I never knew her real name as I always called her "ah ma" (the hokkien dialect for "grandmother"). She was a shy and reserved person who often had little (if not nothing) to say. Her 5 sons very much took after her: strong, silent, aloof. Throughout my childhood, I do not have a single memory of conversation between her and myself. The only thing I knew about her was that her favourite food was crab, and even that I overheard from some adult conversation.

She had a long life I guess, though the last decade must've been a terribly long one for her. She had a stroke 11 years ago, and lost most of her speech and mobility by the 3rd or 4th year. Apart from that, her health was fine - which may have made things worse, she was confined to the bed for the last 9 years of her life. It is no surprise that following this, we had even less of an intimate relationship with her as she became mostly unresponsive towards us.

If I felt that I had a lack of empathy before, I was certainly proven wrong today. Standing amongst my cousins and uncles and aunties, most of whom I only see once a year and have little relationship with, I felt an outpouring of togetherness and support. Kinship ties us together in an inexplicable way. Though I can more or less safely say that none of us grandchildren had an intimate relationship with her; today, we all felt the weight of the loss that her demise brought to us. I'm proud of the way that we all supported each other in this difficult time, I'm glad that at the very end, there was a shared appreciation for our grandma and shared anguish about her departure. 

It feels strange to move forward sometimes when certain things are left behind. Yet today I think I'd like to remember the few precious things I know about her. She was never one to impose her beliefs or values on other people, and I'd like to believe that I'm the same way. I'd like to live as she did - to love freely and indiscriminately. 

She was a Taoist all her life. I'm no saint and I don't profess to know everything. But I do know that my God is a God of love, and He is so amazing that we in our weakness can never truly understand what He is like. I can only pray that there is a realm where our loved ones go to rest peacefully. Wherever her soul is, I hope that she is at rest. 

9th - 10th July Work Day Updates

As the title suggests, here are some updates:

Decided to try the new Bar Bar Black Sheep bar at Holland Village before class. It was mostly quiet as it was a weekday so that was nice. 

$10nett lunch deal, it was pretty good! They have 3 kitchens; Japanese, North Indian, and Western, but only the first 2 were open that day! 

Good to see him for an impromptu date :3

Had a good class with my qts. 

Hahaha I love this pic, Friday night dinner. 

Kicked off the weekend with some good ol' maccasssss.

Headed to Tim's place to see the kitties. 

Pouncing kitty. 

Last stop at Joni's place to cuddle the puppies. 

I luv you Fluffy. 

Met a cute little kitty on the way home. Joni and Timmy calls her "Fancy Feast", I thought that was cute.

8th July: Hump Day Happiness

8th July marked the first day I took on my 3 Speech & Drama classes for the first time. It was crazy and hectic to say the least but I managed to escape mostly unscathed - save for the fact that my voice was completely shattered at the end of the day lol.

Stickers to bribe them kids. 

Met these two beauties after work to hang. 

Dinner with my boy before we re-adjourned to our next location. 

Dimulah was having a 1-4-1 for ladies, it was amazing. 

I had two of that amazing looking daiquiri (I was also pressured to finish it quickly so that we could make it to our next location so... that resulted in some pink puke later in the night lolol). 

Bye-bye beautiful Chijmes! Onward to SMU, hehe. 

Toilet break. 

Their magnums, stellas and my... water :P

Twas a good night with great company :3 

5 - 7 July Update

That weekend we celebrated the retirement of our parish's head priest, Father Arro. It has served for over 60 years and is 86 years old. We're so thankful for all the time and love that he has given. 

Lunch with the family after mass. 

QT at a mall. 

Bumped into this girl! <3

Dinner at my aunt's place, she cooked up a storm. 

Some FaceTime with the granny :3 

Went to feed this little baby for the last time before his daddy came home, he was surprisingly affectionate and came to give me kitty cuddles. But he suddenly got startled by something and scratched me. 

Thanks a lot pal. 

Made the headpieces for my class's play! 

The snail's my favourite :3

Awesome reunion with exchange chums, things are moving along quickly for us but I'm so glad that we have each other.