Monday, January 17, 2011

Sonnet

We were asked to read some poems for our coming Literature class, and one of them particularly resonated with me...

Sonnet
by Edna St Vincent Millay

Time does not bring relief; you all have lied
Who told me time would ease me of my pain!
I miss him in the weeping of the rain;
I want him at the shrinking of the tide;
The old snows melt from every mountain-side,
And last year's leaves are smoke in every lane;
But last year's bitter loving must remain
Heaped on my heart, and my old thoughts abide.
There are a hundred places where I fear
To go, - so with his memory they brim.
And entering with relief some quiet place
Where never fell his foot or shone his face
I say, "There is no memory of him here!"
And so stand stricken, so remembering him.



Saturday, January 15, 2011

Space

I have a group of friends that I usually hang out with, whether it's for going to classes together, having meals before or after class, and doing activities outside campus. Then I found myself doing something - I started avoiding the company of one or two of the people in the group. I didn't feel like talking to the person, tried getting out of situations whereby we would be caught in one place, and just outright uninvited myself when I knew the person would be there. When coincidence happens and we still ended up meeting in our "clique", I avoided conversation, eye contact and kept a distance. The fact that I was conscious of what I was doing all along made me feel like I was mean and treating my friend(s) unfairly.

I'm not sure what prompted me to act that way. And it doesn't go away after a day, or two days even. Sometimes it takes three days, or up to a week. After that, I find myself losing the sense of impatience and annoyance towards the person, turning back to the friendly and "sociable" me.

Might this be because I grew too used to being in my own company? That I can stay in my room all alone for a day without feeling lonely? I can only say, sometimes I just need my space. Some space for me to breathe, take a step back, evaluate and come back.

If any of my friends find this post, I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive, or maybe understand what was it that happened.

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On a separate note, I bought new colour pens today!! I love the colours so much, and am motivated to take down notes and write just because of that :)

Woohoo~!


Monday, January 10, 2011

Restart

I looked at the number of blog posts I wrote in 2010 - 4. Hahahahaha! I cannot believe myself.

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It's ten days into the new year now, a year which I passed peacefully in a place I'm wondrously beginning to be familiar with. My new semester has begun, with seemingly heavier workloads and stricter professors. I feel like I have not even wrapped my head around last semester's stuff yet before this new semester came, bombarding me with tons of new information.

I'm going to work at updating my blog, for the sake of my dear family and friends who are not with me, so they can know what's going on in my life. Not sure what exactly to write now, but felt I need to start posting something first. Hahaha... What shall I talk about? Shall I talk about my studies first?

The subjects I'm taking this semester are:

1. Introduction to Literary Studies I
2. English Grammar 1
3. Sociolinguistics
4. Teaching & Learning
5. Human Intimacy: Friendship, Dating & Marriage
6. Access English (*grrrr*)

I've no idea when the results for the previous semester will be released. I suppose I'll do ok, trying not to raise my hopes high because there was some work I wasn't satisfied with, but also some which I thought was ok. And resolution for this new semester, together with a couple of my classmates, is researching and starting our assignments EARLY so we don't become deadline fighters again like last semester =.=

As for the church life, I really enjoy and appreciate the Christ among the brothers and sisters here. I'm currently attending the Lord's Table on Saturday night with young working saints and campus saints in Shatin. There's also an English home meeting I attend on Wednesdays. The Lord has shown me much grace in preserving me in the Body, where there is mutual love, shepherding and encouragement as we seek to be constituted and built up together. I'm also practicing and learning to serve with the guitar. May the Lord continue to direct my paths in the coming days....