Currently listening to: Yoshinori Sunahara - Love Beat

I'm in chill mode tonight, and this track is some serious kick back music...no matter which remix you download...

I've been seeing a lot of my family lately. Dinner on Sunday night for one of my aunties 61st birthdays (which are apparently VERY big in Chinese culture), and now dinner again tonight. (and if you're ever on Liverpool Street in Darlinghurst with abot 60 ducats to drop on a good meal, Restaurante Riva is recommended...). Family dinners and get-togethers are something I've always had a love-hate relationship with. On one hand, I have the barrage of questions and comments fired at me from all my aunts and uncles, for example, "so, where is your girlfriend?"..."when are you getting married?"..."you're so thin! You need to eat more!"..."What have you done with your hair? You look like a Hong Kong rock star!" You get the idea right?

But on the flipside, I still love seeing all my family. For those that don't know, my extended family is huge...at least 40 when you total up all my cousins, and it's great to see eveyone once in a while. Just to catch up, to see how everyone is doing, to see how my baby nephew and neice are getting bigger (and naughtier!). I'm fond of just sitting and listening to my family talk...especially the women.

Whether it's the defacto female family matriarch, my hot shot corporate cousin, or the only cousin younger than me, Jade, I always find something new. You can learn so much from women, and my family is no exception. All you have to do is sit and listen. Over dinner, my aunties and older cousins were breaking down the finer points of marriage, a relationship, their views on terrorism, and just how important or unimportant your in-laws family can be. It's not that nagging talk either (well, most of the time *grin*), and while it's not like my family is a super well of knowledge, sometimes it can be just a good exchange of ideas...kicking back after a nice dinner with a scotch, it was nice to hear the wisdom that these people I call my family possess...I too often forget that my family are real people too...

I had my last exam in session today, and after I finished, all I could think of was how good it felt...seriously, I couldn't stop taking in deep breaths for about half an hour afterwards...I feel as if I've finished the session! But sitting outside the BioMed building, smoking with some classmates after, I felt as if a huge weight had been lifted from my shoulders. Yes, I do smoke occasionally...Yes I know it's bad for me...Yes I'm trying to change that...

Just imagine the feeling that'll lift when I graduate.

You can't? Ha...I don't blame you...neither can I...* wry grin*