I feel like I finally have a breather or something. In a really good way. I had taken long leave (in other words, more than a few days in a row), stretching from my birthday and ending a week after the first day of raya. And with the lifting of restrictions, it's a little bit of a revenge enjoyment, I think. So it's been... quite a period of high adrenaline, and I just couldn't get into the mood to pen anything down.
I have some photos ready for a dump here. (with a clear bias for my nieces and nephew)
One of the birthday cakes I had! (and after too much of celebrations and cake, I've been told to stay off gluten for my anti-inflammatory needs. It's been a struggle, with kuih raya literally laid out in front of me on a daily basis.)
this little cutie pie is always moving too fast to be captured in a decent pose.
this is one of the best things I got on my birthday, hehe. I do love my chilli.
on raya morning, after braving the crowd at the mosque (happy crowd!), we went to get ice and there were only these two packs left. my dad almost tipped over into the box trying to extricate them from the bottom of the icebox. but we couldn't and left without ice, haha.
this photo is a bit out of chronological order -- this was from early in Ramadhan when some of us did charity house cleaning and I legit painted on walls for the first time in my life, hahah. exhausting but fun (and rewarding and eye-opening).
this was from the one and only outdoor iftar, that was initially meant to be a bookclub one, but became a one-on-one sharing. enjoyable nonetheless.
official graduation ceremony from Arabic class! my Arabic is passable; I can use it to save my life, but no, don't expect me to speak to you. When occasional middle easterners look at me and my name and ask, "Takkalam arabi?", I say, "LAA. Ingliziyy, min fadlik." ahah.
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On an entirely separate note, I'm quite ecstatic that Shaykh Hamza is currently discussing Sense and Sensibility at his book club. I suddenly find myself absolutely in adoration of Elinor Dashwood. Love love love her. I had vaguely watched the movie and read parts of the book in my much younger days, but this time round, as a full-blown mature adult, I finally do get this story, and love her so much. And when played by Emma Thompson (with her own written script!), even better.
this is one of my two favourite scenes from the movie; the depiction of Elinor as all honour and duty and goodness and rightness, and people thinking she must be without heart. Shut up all you idiots, I say.
Shaykh Hamza said that if Marianne were from our time, she would certainly have purple hair, a nose ring, and tattoos all over her body, hahaha. I've also just learnt that there is a newer 2008 movie adaptation, with Dan Stevens as Edward Ferrers (yessssss, hehe), although I absolutely love Hugh Grant's hilarious but perfect awkwardness as Edward.
