It's almost been a month since my hols started and being me, I can't help but think if I had achieved all my holiday objectives. Well, I haven't really accomplished much.

Quite recently, I had come to know that my grandma is lonely, in fact she is very lonely. I heard from one of the ladies from her church that when they do their regular visitation, she's always so glad. When it's time for them to leave, she would tear and tell them don't take too long to come back again. It saddens me a lot to hear it and I know its mostly because grandpa had passed on many months ago. I always wish I could take her out, have more meals with her, watch TV with her. Yet as it is, I already have no social life. I realise everyone around me meet up often, all except me. I almost don't meet up with any of my girlfriends. Somehow, people have stopped asking me out because I'm simply too occupied. As much as I can now, I am giving more time to grandma and also try to meet people up for lunch. In fact I am probably not going to attend service as often as every Sunday, so I can bring grandma for her church service.

Work had been pretty fulfilling. Maybe there's just something about working with kids that makes work altogether different. I am working in a centre called Brain Revolution. The centre provides therapy and exercises to kids who have attention deficit hyperactive disorder, motor skill problems, awareness issues, auditory processing disorders, etc. Such problems are common to kids regardless of IQ or academic inclination. Some of the kids are really fun to work with but of course there are kids who annoy and irritate, its as though they live for that purpose. Whatever it is, I'm thankful that I do enjoy my holiday work.

Last evening, I had to be in school till 8pm. After I was done, I walked to Ishi Mura and grabbed a box of sushi. Somehow ironically just as I'm complaining that I'm losing my social life, I do appreciate my 'alone' moments like this one. Just sitting in a quiet corner by the window and watching the world go by. Usually such moments are heightened with the company of food. I remember sitting alone in quiet corners facing the world with a bowl of soup and my laptop. It's one of those things in life I enjoy. Perhaps that's why I like to do ETWG this way. It's my little conducive environment to talk to God and read His Word.

No smoking!

I recall about two months ago while waiting for Veronica outside Wisma, I stumbled upon this.



This is a anti-smoking campaign, very obviously targeted at women. But I thought it's really cool and effective to make women think how much they spend when they smoke for a duration. The little booth set up had three sides, basically showcasing the things that a woman could have afforded if not for smoking. On top of that they were giving out booklets which are like little story books. It contains true stories of four women who stopped smoking before it ruined their lives.



All four women are from different backgrounds and come from different walks of life. That shows that smoking does not affect only one kind of women. Besides, every smoking lady has a reason to stop smoking and the reason is more than just money. Its about looking and feeling good too! So if you know anyone who smokes, tell them about this.

On the side note, I found this pair of shoes on display at the anti-smoking booth. It was displayed at the side under the heading "See what you missed out with 1 years' worth of smoking". Apart from this pretty pair of shoes, there are branded handbags and lingerie and gadgets being displayed. It isn't unbelievable seeing how much a person can spend on smoking alone in a year. In case you're starting to think I'm being materialistic and calculative, well, perhaps one should also think about how much good he/she can do with the money spent on smoking.

Change

Strangely, sometimes all things happen at one go and somehow it gets overwhelming.

Terence has started housemanship. It's barely a week, well almost, but I notice greatly the change in our schedules and our relationship. We've always struggled to spend alone-time, now the struggle is worse. Somehow we are living separate lives now; he busy with being a doctor while I'm busy earning money to get by and make my films. We're almost not involve in each other's lives because we simply don't even have time to rant to each other. It is a threat because we are in danger of drifting apart.

Ernest has returned and soon Daniel will return home as well. The two years they'd spent with us were pretty short. And most definitely, something will be missing when they're gone. Nevertheless,I know only school kids say this now, but Brothers and Sister forever! Haha.

The next would be the change in our bible study group. We've upgraded to an ST group which is even more challenging. And people have joined our group and Sharon left ours to join pastor's group. So the group dynamics is different now and having new members made sharing a little hard too. But I know for sure this will improve when we get used to each other.

So those are quite major changes in my life which I wish I didn't have to go through. But changes are given by God so we appreciate the present and rely on Him for the future.