My 21st (Part II)

Yay!!! I'm so happy!

I just finished my last report of the semester and only 3 more exam papers to go before it is officially the end of the sem! I can't believe that I am going to be a year 3 really soon, and I bet that with a blink of an eye, I will soon be graduating!

Hmm.. Speaking of graduation, it makes me feel really vexed because I don't know what to do after I graduate. I'll leave this topic for another entry. And besides, the crux of this post is... PART II OF MY 21st BIRTHDAY!!!!

Part II will be about all the events that occurred on the 30th of December 2013!!!

Things started happening.. at 12 midnight SHARP.

Gee, I'm making myself sound like Cinderella! lol
Actually it isn't much of a biggie but it means a lot to me.

My family surprised me with a cake at 12 midnight sharp.

Super unglam photo of me because I was waiting for my hair to dry and I hadn't comb my hair, plus I was wearing my jammies! #awkward
Oh and, this is the least unglam photo of the batch #gofigure
I knew that there was a cake because greedy me went to open the fridge at about 11 plus to look for something to munch on, and then I saw the cake (Oops?)

I thought my family bought it in advance to celebrate it with me the next morning or something so I was laughing to Rod about how I've got to stop spoiling birthday surprises for me (I always somehow manage to ruin Rod's surprises unintentionally and he calls me a "surprise spoiler" haha!)

What I did not expect was this...

I started watching "Friends With Kids" on MioTV at about 11.40pm while waiting for my hair to dry so that I could go sleep. Suddenly my brother-in-law went to hit the light switches in the living room and the whole place turned dark. I turned and scowled at him.. "Hey!! What you do that for???"

And suddenly from the kitchen, I hear the voice of my sister and my mother.. and they were singing the birthday song!

I was shocked. In their hands, they carried my birthday cake (FYI it's strawberry cheesecake. I do not fancy strawberry cheesecake or any sort of cheesecake for that matter, but okay it is the thought that counts *beams with joy*)

I guess it was an instinctive reaction, I turned to look at the clock and it was 12 midnight.

It was super duper sweet of them and it was a great start to my 21st birthday. I couldn't have asked for anything better (:

Then again... if I could change one thing, I would like the cake to be the mixed fruit tart from Fruit Paradise! HEE HEE!! #forevergreedy

So anyway, after an awesome night of sleep.. it was Rod's turn to present me with his present:

A one-day trip to S.E.A Aquarium

Rod got us Express passes because the queue to enter the aquarium was just too frigging long!! (Thank goodness he did because I would have died waiting in line)
I have been wanting to go to the aquarium even before it was built. I googled and found out about it in early 2012?

I loved the idea of being surrounded in blue light due to the water in the fish tanks, and to see all the colourful fishes swimming around, to get all excited whenever I see a shark or a manta ray swim past me.. yes I'm that kiddy when it comes to aquariums and sea creatures.

Rod asked me a month before my birthday on what I wanted to do. I couldn't give him an answer until like.. 5 days before my birthday? I had a tough time deciding between visiting SEA Aquarium, having a picnic at Botanic Gardens (like the year before) or a day trip into Malaysia to just eat and shop at City Square JB.

I finally decided on SEA Aquarium due to time constraint issues. It was a very worthy trip because a lot of photos were taken (HINT!!) however there were way way way too many people!!!!

Super long queue just to get into the aquarium!!
The crowd was insane. Every step of the way, I was being hustled.

It is quite annoying because I didn't get to enjoy myself thoroughly and also because.. I had to take a quick peek at an exhibition and then quickly leave, OR ELSE I would find myself trapped in a group of visitors who suddenly decide to crowd around the exhibition and leave no room for exit. #notcoolatall

Look at the fishes.... or the crowd.
I love this blue sight. It's so pretty and calming. I can just sit there for a really long time, staring at the fishes and let my mind wander off to wherever it wants to.. *sigh*

Except that, I doubt there is a seat for me and it will probably take me a really long time to look for one. Plus there was a lack of serenity which is required for my mind to wander.

Rare photo of Rod in his specs! He looks so.. intellectual and nerdy. HAHA!
Some photos of the fishy:

Okay, the following photo is damn cool!!!

Sharks below your feet!
This is one of the attractions that made me the most excited! They build a fish tank beneath the pathway, had the ceiling of the fish tank to be made of some sort of really strong clear plastic and in the fish tanks.. IT WAS ALL SHARKS!!!!!!!! All kinds of sharks!

I had sharks swimming beneath my feet!!!!! *squeals with excitement*

Ok I'm being super bimbotic HAHAHA! #oops

When I saw this fish tank from afar.. I asked Rod, "What the shit is this? Some kind of seahorse??"

I took a couple of steps closer to the fish tank and then I realised...

THEY ARE ACTUALLY FISHES!!!!!! Weird fishes that swim vertically!!!!! #mindblown
I don't know why but these fishes reminds me of shishamo. Damn, wish I could have some now!

Mad pool of fishy huddled in one corner of the fish tank for a certain weird unknown reason
That group of fishes were super weird. They just kept swimming round and round that corner and up the glass at that area. You'd think that they are trying to break through the glass and escape! LOL

Spot the seahorse(s)!
Initially I thought they were some sort of seaweed and Rod wouldn't stop laughing at me after I told him -_-

Took a short break near a circular fish tank and I made Rod take #ootd shots for me. I think I almost died of exasperation from all the photo-taking and my boyfriend really needs photography classes.

Blurred but sorta nice back-view shot
I usually direct Rod on how the picture should be taken, eg. from which angle, what are the best boundaries for a decent image, how much to zoom... but then I realised, when I don't give him any instructions, I get to see the world through his eyes from the images that he takes.

So in other words, I get to see how I look like in his eyes and in his mind. The pictures below are all taken by him without any directions/instructions from me. He just took up the camera and kept snapping for fun, and in my opinion, the photos that he took for fun looks so much better than the ones he took for fun :/

I'm gonna be super shameless and say.. Based on the pictures that Rod took for fun, I can infer that he thinks I'm very beautiful because I look so pretty in all of those shots and that he loves me a lot!!!! *thumbs up* #numberoneshameless

HAHA!! Ok lah, let's look at someone else's face instead of just mine!

See! I take great shots of him too!!! LOL

Back to fishy photos:

In case you think that this is some sort of sea worm, let me make things straight by telling you that.. No, these are not sea worms. These are EELS.

They actually look rather unnerving up close.
When I first saw it, my hair stood for quite a while before I got immune to the sight of them.

Many small white cute looking fishy!

See!! So cute right? It makes you wanna just pinch those little cuties!

Me instagramming HAHA!
We were just walking then.. I suddenly decided to stop by one of the exhibits to finish choosing my filter and getting it posted online before we continued walking. I'm sorry but I can't multi-task for nuts!!

JELLYFISH!!!!!

Rod has an obsession with these coins. He has like an album full of such coins - most of them were from when he went to Tokyo Disneyland with his aunt. He always gets really excited when he sees the machine that dispenses these coins and would insist on getting them.

This time that we went to SEA Aquarium, he bought all 8 designs available (one of the machine is inside the Aquarium near the Guinness World Record fish tank, the other machine is directly outside the exit from the Aquarium). One coin is $2, so.. in total we spent $16 on these coins. :O

With the Guinness World Record fish tank (calling it that because I can't remember its proper name) as the backdrop. #cannotseebackdropbecausefishtanktoobig #sofail

Lobsters.... #thinkingabouthowtocookthem

Deep-fried and butter-marinated? #startingtosalivate #itsalwaysaboutfood #yumyum

Caption: Many colourful fishes!!! (because I can't think of a better caption LOL)
And tadah!!! End of the SEA Aquarium walk.

Once you exit SEA Aquarium, you'll be back at Maritime Experiential Museum. We went to the gifts & souvenirs store to look look see see, before we headed home.