typical day

Good afternoon! Woke up at around noon and was lazing about in bed (yes, that's what snowy days are about. Being lazy!) when the fire alarm rang. My second time in 2.5 months being jolted out of bed due to the fire alarm, zzzzz. The first time that happened, I was still fast asleep in bed. Talk about the best alarm to wake one up, ever. Hrmph.

Anyway, standard protocol calls for everyone in the block to evacuate our flats and assemble at a gathering point in a nearby carpark. We never bother with going all the way to the gathering point but usually stay right below/outside the block cause we're aware that there's no actual fire going on; just the fire detectors being sensitive again. Another reason for this is because the fire alarm goes off so often that we find no cause for alarm (#puny).

throwing snowballs at windows!

As you can see, we weren't totally prepared for it so there were some who are in shorts, braving the cold. Tracy's forever and always in fbts in the flat so whenever we have to evacuate the flat, she's very gamely decked in shorts. March marks the start of spring but apparently the cold decided to stay for a little longer this year. It's a rare snowy spring day so some of us decided to play in the snow by the lake! I just trudged along and watched others make snowballs cause it was coldddd. Been snowing quite heavily for the past 2 days and it still is right now. The first time I witnessed the tiny white icy flakes floating from the sky, back on my second day here, I was so happy I kinda danced about in excitement. Nowadays, snow's grown to be a rather common sight but I still enjoy it very much. It's just so so beautiful ❤

Live happy

With the whirlwind of events which happened lately, something I noticed about several of my friends here is that they tend to think. A lot. Like the kind where you spend quite an amount of time and energy delving deep into your thoughts in an attempt to find out the reason why a particular person chose to act in a certain manner. And they coincidentally happen to be of a younger age as well. This led me to think back about the days where I was younger and loved to blog a lot more. (I know you're probably going to look at my archives from 2008 to check and see if there's any evidence of such behaviour from those days! But nah, what I'm referring to dates way back before that).

When I was younger, it seemed that emotions easily overwhelmed me and my brain loved to go into overdrive doing what it does best- thinking. At times it's pretty much over-thinking. This is what one would call "emoing" which was a common term used back in secondary school. You know, those times where it seems like the entire world is against you, your friends and family don't understand you, so much inner thoughts but no one to express them to, yadda yadda yadda. But right now, it feels like my mind is so carefree and happy at times, there really aren't much unnecessary thoughts which run through it anymore. This led me to wonder if I became too detached from situations in which I couldn't care less about the world and what went on around me :/

So anyway, I asked someone about it and came to a conclusion. It's not because I've became insensitive or thoughtless about things. Nor is it because empathy has became absent in my life. The reason this has happened is because I've grown up and matured. Simple as that.

And I've found that I'm much happier and at ease with myself nowadays! It's hard to describe in words right here but I'd say that the closest thing it can be likened to is inner peace. Not the "ohmmmm and sit in a cave like master shifu in kungfu panda" kind of inner peace, mind you. More like being aware of and knowing that little things don't bother you anymore. Or looking at the big picture instead of the minute details which don't matter. When attention's directed towards the right things in life, good things will result as well :)

Reflection time

It's now March, time for a belated update! Almost two months in UK and this month has presented so much to be learnt about about life and its lessons. I can now honestly say that whatever life presents you with, be it challenges, happiness, or pain, there will always be something to take away from it. All you have to do is to embrace the lessons learnt from it all. Ultimately, one will stand to gain if you approach life with a positive and rightful attitude.

And right now, I can finally say that I'm happily at peace with myself and my surroundings. Each passing day is 24hrs closer to being back home and meeting with my loved ones again (yes nuns, this includes you all. i know you're reading this!). Plus at the same time, it's also another day's worth of memories experienced in beautiful UK! So why not make it a good one that's as enjoyable as possible? That makes two things to be happy about every day :)