Today's muse: The one-legged porcelain rabbit

Urgh. My eyes are threatening to explode. I've been preparing for next week's English lectures, Social Studies mock-up and the 'O' Level Practical. Giving the eyes a break, so I logged on.

Let us all move away from our computer screens and laugh at the sheer absurdity of this.

Done laughing? Good, good.

I looked over and realized I hadn't made a single comment about graduation back on Thursday. The Horror! What is she thinking, not writing about such a momentous event?

I didn't really feel anything. Except perhaps for itchy irritation at that Vitamin C song that will never be allowed to die as long as there are graduations. It became a little tedious, really, having people go "It's our last day!" and cameras going off everywhere and all the time, as well as having to write in autograph books. The last bit is alright, unless you're given five minutes to look like you've made a genuine effort because it has to go to another class.

It makes little sense; we're all seeing each other for all those extra lessons and the actual exams. The internet makes communication horrendously convenient - "Hey, did you reply to my message yet?"

Or, maybe, to quote Dial M for Murder:

"It's delayed reaction, darling. In a few days you're going to have the most wonderful breakdown."

For now, I'm more concerned with getting through the sodding 'O' Levels.

To my youngest of nieces:

I love you, because you are so easy to love.

But I worry; does that mean my love is worthless?

I love you for your youth and your beauty.

I loved your cousins in the same way too, for their youth and beauty, for the potential in each of them. Then they grew older, and dreams fell to waste. I still love them, your cousins, but too often that love is overshadowed with dislike. I dislike their noise, their demands, their new fears.

Perhaps it is because I too am older, and I have forgotten what it was like to be little.

When you grow older, will this dislike also fall on you?

I love you for your unflinching wonder at the world. I love you for your refusal to cry when you are afraid or when you are denied. I love the way you smoosh my lunch whilst in my lap; I don't mind you making a mess. I love how you laugh when I swing you, even though it kills my back. I love how you look at my comic shelf, and how serious you become when I read to you your choice. I love the fact that, unlike your cousins, you see no need to pull the books off the shelf.

I love how you are so frugal with hugs; making each one you do give out seem all the more precious. I love how you dance to whatever I put on, be it the Gu Zhen or the Gorillaz. I love how you come to me with CD in hand, and I have to tell you, " You can listen to that when you're old enough to swear." I love watching you watch the cat, you observing him with every fibre of your being.

I love so much about you, because you are so easy to love. And I fear the day when it no longer is so easy.

Hopefully that day will never come.

Your Auntie 'toria,
Who loves you even though you just smashed her Abe Sapien action figure
and killed her back.