marimbanlr landed this morning and we are off to Paris tomorrow evening to celebrate his birthday. Because how better to celebrate your birthday than being in Paris? Heck, I just like being in Paris. Even better is getting to be in Paris with some of your favourite people! The ever fantastic ramy_fulaz and petite_chaton will be meeting us there too, so it kind of feels like a mini ( Read more... )

The first time I went through all the pictures (706) that I took during the NYC trip, I despaired. On that first view there were maybe a handful that I thought fit for public consumption. I think I literally did cry. Fortunately, time seems to help or at least make me detached enough to do a brutal cull, and surprise surprise, I ended up with the ( Read more... )

 Thanks for all your good wishes on the law degree! I still have to pinch myself that the slog is finally over and that I pulled this LLB malarky off. I went back to read some of my earlier LJ posts from when I started and wow, that feels like a whole lifetime away. It's amazing how quickly life can change over the course of just a few years. An ( Read more... )

One of the big reasons for taking the boat in the first place was so that when we were arrived there was no leftover tension or stress from our day to day lives, because, though I love my family to bits, travelling with them can be a little frustrating. I knew it would be important to arrive in the right frame of mind, so that all the little random ( Read more... )

I was so excited the night before we got on the ship, that I literally couldn't sleep. I would wake up every couple of hours wondering if it was time yet. I'm sure I drove raayat totally nuts. Finally though, 6am rolled around, we got up, finished some chores, packed the last few bits and then the car arrived, whisking us off to the train station ( Read more... )

Last Sunday I was welcomed as a full member in the Religious Society of Friends. It wasn't a watershed moment, but more the exhalation of a long held breath. These amazing people have not only accepted me among them, but with open arms and many smiles. It really is incredible and part of me doesn't really think I've earned the label yet - but the ( Read more... )

I saw in my google reader another headline that current American civil servants had failed another civics test. And not just failed, failed spectacularly - 44%.

Wanting to prove myself better than that and to avoid the studying that waits me today, I found the test quickly enough (thank you google), and off I go. The first set of questions is ( Read more... )