Last Saturday we made a 3 and a half hour trip up to Roden to collect 2 new members of our family. Meet Jake and Bronx.

Jake

Bronx

We got them both from Dogs Trust. Their previous owners are seperated and are going to sell their house and can not afford to keep them anymore.

It is quite obvious from the photos that Jake and Bronx are not young dogs. Jake is 12 with a breathing problem and is on pills daily and Bronx is 10. They had to find a new home together as they have been friends all their life and cannot live seperately.

I know that when most people decide to adopt a dog they usually look for a little puppy but because we already have the rabbits, we need a mellow dog who wouldn't go chasing them around. J and B fits the bill perfectly and we get the bonus of giving 2 old dogs a home.

Initially I was a little worried that it might be difficult to bond with them because they had lived with someone else for so many years but we didn't have any problems at all. When we brought them home they settled down really quickly and easily. After a few hours it seemed as though they had been here from the very start.

We would both really like to thank Dogs Trust for being so helpful and professional. You really get a sense that they care very much for their dogs and I think we can now really appreciate what they have done with the financial support we have given them through our university years (we used to sponsor a dog called Monica).

If you are considering supporting Dog's Trust, please do. I will write someday in another post how they are helping Jake and us cope with the medical costs for Jake's condition so that he can find a good retirement home.

The Graduate

Amazingly after 3 long years I finally managed to complete my LLB.. thankfully without much hitch.

I've known people who take 5 - 6 years to complete the programme and some who does not get to the end at all and even though I do not graduate with first class honours I am super thankful I passed all my papers without having to do any of the dreaded and expensive resits.

The Grad with a mortarboard that wouldn't stay on her head

I am also thankful for the experience I had as student representative during my 2nd and 3rd year, getting to know the fantastic and hardworking people who run the programme and it was so meaningful that on my graduation day, 7 were there to say hello and offer congratulations.

Wayne Morrison who was the programme director was there and was delighted to see me graduate. It is very sad that he has moved on from the programme and is no longer the director. He was really dedicated I am very honoured to have known him.

Kate, Wayne and me!

Also thanks to Simon Askey and Stephanie Wilson, both who have been really nice and helpful during my term at the ELC particularly Stephanie who took the effort to sit beside me and guide me through the meetings. Stephanie was the announcer during the graduation ceremony and Simon was there as assistant programme director (I believe). Simon was at the end of the stage to greet and congratulate graduates after the all important handshake with the Vice-Chancellor (whom I have never met). It meant so much to me that they were on stage at the ceremony and that I had had to time and opportunity to know them personally.

Simon Askey. We were rather excited to see each other.
He said 'You finally made it' to which I answered 'I know!!!!!!' Lol :P

Unfortunately neither the husband nor the brother got a good picture of Stephanie.

The all important handshake with the Vice Chancellor

Of course the ceremony wouldn't be complete without the husband, mumzy and brother. The dad couldn't make it to London but the graduation was podcasted online and he was able view it from Malaysia.

The mum who 'borrowed' my scarf, leggings AND boots
(yeah she wanted to look super young and trendy in London),
the brother who has his face tilted one way when he was taking photos for some reason or other
and the handsome husband who is down from a size 44 to 38!

My 'study partner' (she studies, I try to study), Kate who graduated with 2 university prizes!
We were so lucky to be seated next to each other during the graduation
(her surname being Simpson, mine being Soon)
and I could not have asked for anything better!

Anyway the husband and I are both super glad that I'm now graduated. No more grumpy wife, no more panic stricken exam phobic woman in the house and best of all no more 8 hour long marathon weekend classes (some of which he had to attend and take notes when the subjects schedule clashed!)!!!!

All said, I have had so much fun doing my degree and it doesn't matter if at the end of the day I do not actually become a lawyer. The education and knowledge I've gained is invaluable and the people I have met and supported me through will be remembered.

Why isn't his name Chicken Pie?

Ignoring the 'eggs' around him isn't Wibble simply the cutest bunny alive?

If we had named Wibble, Chicken Pie.. he would be the most loved and famous rabbit around we think..

And poor Chicken Pie would be the black ignored, 'eh? where's the other bunny?' rabbit.

Strange how a colourful name can make people attracted to you and also how being golden brown with a white underbelly makes you so much cuter than being brindle with mostly black fur..

Either way, we love them both to bits!

A box too small for two

Quick! If we can't see her surely she can't see us too!

With every mistake, we must surely be learning

Having been encouraged by my success at learning the first part of Here Comes the Sun on the guitar (the nice and complicated hand picking one, not just the chords mind you!), the George Harrison mood extends to learning While My Guitar Gently Weeps as well although from the looks of the tabs it's definitely going to take me a lot longer than Here Comes the Sun.

We'll see. Meanwhile, here's the version on Youtube that I absolutely love. I think it is a lot better than the versions he did with the Beatles.

Here comes the sun

My grandparents and brother have become people I learn to appreciate more everyday as I grow up.

The husband is an only child and never really got to know his grandparents (either they passed away before he came around or family circumstances didn't allow him to get to know them).

Looking at him sometimes, I feel a sense of pity because he is so oblivious to what he's missing. He doesn't feel it because he doesn't know what it's like to have grandparents or siblings but I feel for him.

I've always been very close to my maternal grandparents and paternal grandmother. The paternal grandfather was a little bit of an odd man. He was a good provider but never really reached out emotionally to know me or many of my cousins.

My paternal grandmother passed away when I was 7 but until today I can vaguely remember what she sounds like and when she held my hand and took me to the morning market for breakfast and some sweets. I remember the food she cooked and how her face lit up when the 4 year old me unconsciously ate almost the whole plate of onion egg meant for 7 people she cooked earlier.

Of course my mum made me feel guilty about it but I remember my grandmother smiling. And who's to blame her, today I would grin like a silly pig if L ate all the egg fried rice I made for him.

My maternal grandparents live not 5 minutes walk away from my house in Ipoh and I love them to bits! They're not terribly interesting people, no school education, no university degree not much of a view on politics and always paranoid about rapists, thieves and second hand smoke but they care in a different way.

The point is, they're always there when I need them and they love me in a different way.

My 'Ah Kong' is a quiet man who's worked hard all his life and loves going out on his old bicycle. He doesn't say much at all but he used to buy me and my two girl cousins who used to live with them interesting cheap 20cent toys whenever he could afford it.

It didn't matter that the toys were cheap, it mattered that he saw an interesting toy and spared what he could afford to see a smile on our faces.

I remember once when I was about 10 I came home and there was a river terrapin in a bucket at the porch of his house. I asked if he was going to eat it and added that I thought it cruel to eat an animal like that (it is quite hard to kill a river terrapin because of the thick shell). He smiled and said 'No, I'm not going to eat it, I bought it back from the market and I'm taking him back to the river tomorrow.'

I thought he was lying and asked how he was going to bring the terrapin to the river. He said he was going to take it on a bus ride to the Kinta River (about 30 minutes away) and release it there.

It made me very pleased to know that my Ah Kong was not cruel. I like to imagine Ah Kong on the bus with his river terrapin in a bucket going on a ride.

My 'Ah Ma' on the other hand is a very noisy old lady. She loves to talk and nag. Nag nag nag. Did you bring your ointment for mosquito bites? Did you bring the cure for wind? Are you staying in a well lit area? Is your neighbour dodgy? Why do you go to London alone without your husband?

The thing is.. London doesn't really have mozzies unlike Malaysia. It took a while and a few other people telling her the same thing before she eventually believed me and stopped supplying me with Tiger Balm every time I got on the plane.

It is strange though how I tend to miss her nagging now that she's no longer 5 minutes away from me. I call her every now and then to get a dose of it and to see how she's doing.

It is exhausting business calling my family.

The brother and father pretty much fights over the phone and who gets to talk for more minutes so by the time I end the call, 2 or sometimes 3! hours would have passed by.

The grandmother is no different. She could easily clock 2 hours on a good day.

It is very difficult to have to see the people you love growing old. My grandmother was 48 when I was born. This year she is 71. I cannot remember my grandmother when she was 48, but my mother is 47 this year and I can quite easily imagine what my grandmother was like 23 years ago.

And although I do dread calling them sometimes because once I start, the entire afternoon could have gone by by the time I do put the phone down, I feel lucky that at least I have family to call.

I feel lucky knowing that my brother will always be there to share half my burden and to disturb me on Facebook and make me stay on Skype with him because it's dark and he has to finish his homework and doesn't want to be alone.

I feel lucky knowing that I can make my grandmother happy when I find time to call her and that she's always thinking of me and wondering what I'm up to.

They really are the sunshine in my life.

It would be a real shame if my children cannot have everything that I have because of our circumstances now but at least I know my parents will be excellent grandparents one day(because they make excellent parents as long as they don't have to discipline anyone!).

Silent night

Tuesday and Thursday night are usually very quiet for me.

The husband goes straight to school after work and doesn't get back till late.

It can get quite lonely sometimes.. well, I do have the bunny boys to entertain me but it doesn't really compare to having the husband home even if we're not doing much.

Maybe that's what being in love is. You think you would get bored seeing the same person everyday, every week, every year but every morning I send him off to work hoping that he'll be back soon so that I won't have to miss him.

Strange how someone who's been married for almost 30 years once told us to think very carefully before committing to marriage because 'those who are out can't wait to get in but those who are in can't wait to get out'.

We've been together for 5 and a half years now and deep down, never once have I doubted that my decision to put some of my individuality aside and open my life to learn this other stranger's is wrong.

And I know 30 years later I still want to feel the same way and more about him. Afterall, love is supposed to grow, otherwise it defeats all purpose of sharing your life with another person.

What's perfect at this very moment is the dark sky outside, me in the quiet study with no light but the laptop's, the sound of the bunnies chewing something in the bedroom (most probably something they are not supposed to have) and knowing that any minute now, the man I love will walk in and give me the biggest kiss!