My housemate rented "Henry Poole is Here" and we spent Saturday evening quietly glued to the little telly in our living room, engrossed in the movie.

After the movie, I went online to read some reviews on the movie and found a great divide in the opinions - some found that it was too saccherine, too Hallmark-y, too much Biblical undertones; on the countary, others found it meaningful, well-scripted and well-acted.

I have mixed reactions to this movie. To me, it was a script that had a lot of potential, but had been taken to a bad direction by the filmmakers.



The skinny:

Henry Poole is dying. Utterly depressed, Poole abandones his previous life of luxury and materialistic pursuits and moves into his childhood neighbourhood with every intention of dying slowly, unnoticed and alone. Unfortunately, thanks to overzealous Latina neighbour Esperanza (interestingly, this name means "hope" in Spanish), Poole's dying wish is rudely disrupted when Esperanza thinks she sees an image of Christ on the Poole's stucco wall. The appearance of what looks like blood trickling from the 'eye' of the image confirms this miracle for Esperanza, who, through her extensive web of connections within the neighbourhood, turns Poole's backyard into a mini place of worship. Poole, already plagued with feelings of hopelessness and emptiness, reacts to this development with fierce objection, insisting that there is nothing 'miraculous' about this stained wall.

As the drama unfolds, various characters including Esperanza slowly gain the trust of Poole, who eventually, albeit reluctantly, agrees to put up with the fuss over his stucco wall. It is during this time when he finds companionship in the form of Dawn, a beautiful single mum with a daughter who has not spoken in a year due to trauma. Amidst all the 'miracles' that occured to people who touched his wall, things seem to look bright for Poole, until he becomes consumed once again by the stark realization that with his condition he will only bring despair to the people he had fallen in love with. Woven into this was an insight into Poole's early life, which seemed to mirror the unhappiness and lonliness he feels now that he is nearing the end of his life. Will the miracle of his stucco wall ever touch Poole?

My opinion?

Styling-wise, the movie possessed excellent cinematography and a good blend of music to accompany the beautifully-shot scenes. Unfortunately, the content was unable to do adequate justice to this.

Miracle or not, Christian or otherwise, at the end of the day I believe that what the movie should really be about is just the simple state of possessing hope. There are many miracles that exist even in the real world that we live in - religious statues that shed tears, for instance, or the existence of stigmatas, or mediums who claim to communicate with the unknown. However, more often than not, it is really your beliefs that shape the way you see reality. Poole lost all hope and had hence lost the ability to see his stucco wall as a symbol of hope like everyone did. Rather than being a moral-of-the-story kind of movie, it should one man's journey on his loss and discovery of the simple state of hopefulness.

Yet upon completing the movie, it does bag the question of just what direction the story was heading?

It is easy to see how many would view this as a movie with religious undertones. Indeed, on retrospect, the movie does seem to suggest that miracles in a Christian sense do occur. This may have been reinforced by the ending which the scriptwrite chose to take, where (highlight to reveal) Poole discovers that he did not have the terminal illness after all! Was it a delusion from the start, or did a miracle really take place? Despite my efforts in seeing this movie from a secular viewpoint, the scriptwriter's decision with the last bit seems to suggest that, yes, this is a Christian movie. To me, that last bit did not have to occur, as it took the movie into an supernatural direction which is unbefitting of such a movie. Had it stayed the way Poole had believed it to be, the simple fact of Poole accepting that miracles do exist and being at peace with himself would have been more meaningful.

Some of the messages of the story were also too blatantly delivered, as having key characters named as Esperanza (literally translates to "hope") and Patience. What parent gives their child the name Patience? Well, apparently there are - in Henry Poole's world, that is.

Nevertheless, the one thing that struck me the moment I finished the movie was this - Luke Wilson is wasted in comedies! Like what Patience said, she couldn't decide if Poole was angry or sad, or both. Indeed, Poole was neither angry or sad. Rather, from Luke Wilson's portrayal of the character, it was that of pain - deep emotional pain that lurked underneath the despair and emptiness he showed to the outside world.



In one of the best scenes, after a series of setbacks, Poole stood in front of his wall in the silence of the night, unable to bring himself to touch the wall. He finally breaks down in tears, his vulnerable state of mind clearly incapable of taking in and holding on to any form of hope or salvation. As the audience passively watch Poole as he navigates the last moments of his life, one cannot help but become deeply sympathetic to this man. In fact, perhaps being a nurturing female, I felt that urge to give Poole a tight squeeze and tell him that everything is going to be okay. That is perhaps where Dawn comes in, who accepts Poole, holding in all his sadness and helplessness unconditionally.

Verdict?

Worth a try, especially if you like challenging yourself and engaging in debates with your buddies about what really was the movie about. Otherwise, watch it for Luke Wilson's engaging performance.

Melbourne Victoria has been shaken by yet another earthquake, measuring 4.6 on the richter. Again.

Read the story here. According to a seismologist, "it's unusual to get two earthquakes of this size within a couple of weeks of each other". The epicentre of this 2nd earthquake was very close to the one that occured on the 6th which was barely 2 weeks ago.

And according to this article, there is more to be expected.

Fortunately, I was out in the streets during the time of the 2nd earthquake and didn't feel anything. This was really a coincidence, as I had originally intended to stay at home the whole day. It was only yesterday evening when I realized that I had to travel to the city instead as my relatives happened to be visiting. If I were home, I would very likely have felt this earthquake, and would have definitely freaked out.

What a time to be living in Melbourne. How exciting.

IT'S ANOTHER FRIGGIN' EARTHQUAKE!!!

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In my one-month stay in Melbourne, I have survived....

- Scorching 'first-time-in-Melbourne-history' temperature of 48 ⁰C, with gale winds that are equally hot, as though a gigantic hairdryer is blowing right in your face.

- Erractic weather patterns that even Melbourne locals are baffled about, where it can be 32 ⁰C one moment then 13⁰C the next.

- Being near to some of the most severe bushfire in the history of Australia. One of the most badly affected areas, Whittlesea, is just an hours' drive away from Bundoora, where I currently reside.

Now, I have just survived an earthquake that registered 4.6 on the ritcher's scale, with the epicentre being very close to Melbourne. The online news reports stated that earthquakes are "extremely rare" in Australia.

Oh yeah, it was a minor earthquake with tremors that lasted a mere 10 seconds...

BUT IT WAS STILL A FRIGGIN' EARTHQUAKE!!

During that 10 seconds I watched the water in the tumbler vibrate violently as it sat on the kitchen counter with full concentration, grabbing on to the sofa I was on, wondering what the hell was going on! My housemate and I knocked on a neighbour's door asking if they had a similar experience, and the bloke gave an interesting theory of how the soil is probably moving cos of the intense rain after a long period of drought, and that "it is normal and has happened before...". Yeah, right....

Yup, the breaking news slot during the movie Old School confirmed that it was indeed an earthquake.

With all these "Melbourne's-firsts" I am experiencing, it's no wonder I had to celebrate with some Nando's chicken after I confirmed my flight back home for the June holidays.

Yup... I feel the earth move...under my feet... I feel the sky come tumbling down...tumbling down!

Started my lessons waaaay before the uni's official enrolment date so I've got one assignment due just a few days after enrolment. It's an art piece which I am getting a little jittery about cos it's been a while since I've done serious art work. Hope the art piece turns out ok *keeps fingers crossed*.

Meantime, unlike what many of my friends claim, I am not all to eager to stay in Melbourne and NOT go home. Funny, whilst everyone claims that studying overseas is the best time of their lives, me and my new friends do not feel that way at all, about a month into living here. Not to say that it is really bad, but it's also nothing to shout about too.

We'll see how it goes, I guess. Nevertheless, for now, I am just hoping to finish my course, pack my bags and head home as soon as I can.

Anyhow, since I couldn't post pictures the last time, here's a photo album of my life in Melbourne so far from Facebook, which mostly involves my mum's visit about 2 weeks ago. I've haven't had the motivation to take much pictures... :P

Click on the Kookaburra to access the album!



It's gonna continue to be hot in Melbourne! Just when will it turn autumn??

I finally got my mobile broadband!! Yay!!

In case you haven't heard of this new product based on primitive knowledge, a mobile broadband comes in the form of a thumb drive which when plugged into your laptop allows you access to the internet. It's a prepaid system so a recharge of 29AUD gives you 2GB worth of wireless access. Sounds real pathetic in Singapore terms but this is the best I can get which is not too expensive.

So anyways, here I am!

Right, what have I been up to...

1) Been suffering from a flu since 3 weeks ago and am still not recovered. Now I am down with a chronic cough that has developed into bronchitis, thanks to an inapt and very uncaring doctor at La Trobe's medical center (I later found out that I was not the only one with the bad experience at La Trobe's medical centre >.<). Finally, it got so bad one night that I had to take a taxi down to a 24 hour clinic to visit a doctor due to breathlessness, costing me a total of $140 in medical bills and taxi fare!! Still not recovered, but at least the doctor upped my dose of the antibiotics, which according to him was previously too little for adults (stupid La Trobe doctor!!). Will see if it works after I have completed my dose... :(

2) Have finally made some friends, most of whom came from Singapore alone. Met them only once before leaving for Melbourne at a pre-departure talk, but it's amazing how we have gotten along so well. It amazing how easy it is to make friends when you are all alone in a foreign country. But I suppose having this group of friends has really lifted my spirits, despite the terrible cough.

3) Goodness! La Trobe's postgraduate programs are more disorganized than I expected! Especially when it comes to poor poor international students like us. I mean, their programs are good and the lecturers are excellent, but I'm afraid that the same can't be said for the administration staffs.

4) Have been trying to upload photos but it seems to take forever... Not sure if it's due to my broadband plan or Blogger's own problems. Nevertheless, will post photos as soon as I get that sorted!

The title of this post is really what supermarket staffs like to use when it comes to your turn to pay for your stuff at the cashiers in Coles in Melbourne.

Yes, I'm in Melbourne!

So, how's it goin', everyone?

Fortunately I'm well and alive :)

The first few days were a real emotional struggle. Whilst it wasn't as though I was living in a completely strange land, the mere thought of actually being away from my familiar home with familiar people daunted me. Looking back, I was a real emotional wreck, crying from Singapore all the way to Melbourne. Every little thing reminded me of home, which triggered the tears and the heartache. And the excruciatingly hot Melbourne summer didn't help things too.

However, I believe things have settled for me. In fact, being in the prerequisite workshop probably helped a lot as it took my mind off my homesickness and gave me something else to think about. I also met my future coursemates in the workshop and fortunately they are a nice bunch of people. The workshop itself was interesting too, which gave me something to look forward to each day.

I'm really tempted to post come pictures on this blog but I'm stopping myself as I'm currently on Wi-Fi, which is free in theory but becomes really costly when I stream, download or upload stuff. Will definitely get a broadband soon but will only do so when my housemate comes in. So till then, I'm afraid videos and pictures will be sorely absent from my blog :(

Oh, I miss Youtube already....

Mum's coming over to visit and help me settle down. Looking forward to that :D

So in the meantime, take care everyone!

Just a few more hours... and I'll be in the airport, saying goodbye to all that I'll be leaving behind.

It is temporary, no doubt. But how do I stop that aching feeling in my heart?

Logically speaking, I really should consider selling my handmade stuff, with all the costs incurred from the materials. And I have been tempted to. In fact, 2 of my colleagues (now ex-colleagues) asked me to customize earrings for them and offered to pay, but I declined evengtually cos seriously, I would feel very 'pai seh' (say... embarrassed?) to sell these stuff cos my workmanship is not up to standard. So, no selling for now, least people get sub-standard stuff.

So really, this accessory-making hobby is really just...a hobby. Not sure if I will have the means to continue this hobby when I am in Australia.

Meanwhile, I am still making accessories on an ad-hoc basis, probably just to take my mind off the upcoming changes which are causing me some anxiety...

Customization for Agnes



The darling who listened to all my grouses and whining and gave me loads of advice about staying in Australia. She likes dangly stuff so I thought I'd made her earrings dangly as well. Not too happy about the clay flowers though... to thick and affected the weight of the earrings which caused them to tilt when I hung the ear hooks onto the metal filigree, which would have looked more normal. So instead, I was forced to hook the ear hooks onto the flowers instead. Wonder if she will like it?

Customization for Manisha



The other darling who is always so candid and chatty. Always the life of the party, who could take a simple story and tell it in such a colourful manner. Hope she likes this one too :).

Good luck for the year to come



I liked this cat so much, I decided to take it out from the plain handphone string it came from and made it into a pendent. The heart-shaped crystal actually came from another pair of earrings which had one side missing. I looked everywhere for a replacement crystal but strangely, no one sold the same one I was looking for. So in the end, it came here.

According to its description, the blue cat with the blue crystal ball brings one independence and good luck in social situations. This is a significant thing for me at this stage of life.

My new mobile phone!

I asked around and most people who stayed in Australia all had this to say - it's more worthwhile to get a mobile phone from Singapore, then get a prepaid calling card from Australia. Since my contract had already passed the one-year mark, I decide to take this opportunity to get a new phone and renew my contract. I will be keeping thie new phone for the Australian number, and my old phone with its Singapore number will still be in use.

A little more about this phone - it's my first non-Nokia phone from as long as I can remember. Surprisingly, this LG phone turned out to be quite a bargain at less than $200. It's a touch-screen phone, which takes some time getting used to. However, the technology is actually quite good, the sensitivity of the touch-screen being just right. The functions and impressive and also extremely user-friendly. It comes with an MP3 player, radio, and a 5 Megapixels camera with image stabilizer and up to ISO 800. Nice colour too :)

So anyway, the phone came with a stylus, which was hung as a handphone accessory. But of course, being the accessory-obsessed person I am, I couldn't resist the opportunity to personalize my phone even further...





Yes, I am probably experiencing some seperation anxiety from my cat Miki, which is why I seem to be surrounding myself with images of cats...

Like I told a dear friend, I think I've finally sorted out my feelings about going to Melbourne and spending the next 2 years there...

I'm not scared... Mostly just sad.

I've had many farewell meals over the last few weeks, thanks to the kindness of many friends, both old and new, who organized these meals when they caught wind of my decision to pursue studies overseas...

Just for the sake of my own memories...

16/1 - dinner with an ex-colleague, whom I got along very well while working in the same centre
17/1 - lunch with my JC mates, who support me through pretty much everything I do
19/1 - dinner with fellow psychologists, who have taught me lots over the years
21/1 - dinner with my CLDDS, who stuck through thick and thin during those performance days
22/1 - dinner with my office colleagues, who gave me the best time of my working life
24/1 - dinner with my Spanish teacher, an extremely warm, kind-hearted but strong Latina.
28/1 - dinner with da jie and YC, who are like my own sisters for since as long as I can remember
30/1 - dinner with my Spanish cum salsa pals, just a day before I depart, who opened my mind to new experiences and new perspectives.

I have put on some weight with all these lunches, and the CNY celebrations certainly wasn't of any help. But the fact that these people all kindly took the trouble to organize these gatherings is a real heartwarming feeling. All of a sudden it makes you realize that you're not alone after all.

And leaving all these and more behind is the sad part...

I know it's a feeling that woujld probably pass once I have settled down, but it doesn't make the feeling any less intense. My only consolation is that this decision will eventually do me good in the long run.

Well, 2 more days.... And this is it.

Here's wishing one and all...

And nice song for all of you by Sam Hui. Ah, such songs never go out of fashion even more than 30 years down the road.

May the God of Fortune come knocking on your door soon! :D

I was looking forward to handover my clients to my colleagues, until I said goodbye to each one of them. I wonder if they realized the impact of what it means to 'fly to another country to study'. Will they adjust? Will they improve? Will they become better than they are?

I was looking forward to my last day of work, until the time I actually bade a sad farewell to my beloved colleagues and took my final step out of the office.

I was looking forward to my trip to Melbourne, until the thought of being there all alone overwhelmed me.

But there's no turning back now, is there?

These are certainly vintage beauties - dug out from Mum's jewellery box while she was packing. In fact, if I'm not wrong, the rose and Eiffel Tower probably date back to as early as the 70s. As she does not use these anymore, she handed them to me to see if I wanted to do something about them.

Bejewelled flight

This exquisite dragonfly piece is actually a brooch made by Attwood & Sawyer jewellery piece, probably from the late 80s. A quick check on the internet reveals that pieces made by this company are now considered vintage and even antique. Wonderful quality and beautiful design.

The pin behind had come off from since as long ago as I can remember, and Mum was never able to fix it back which explains why it was kept away for so long.

I basically attached the necklace to the dragonfly with gold plated wire. Wanted to so some more customizations but finally decided that it looks best when kept simple.






La Vie en Rose

These 2 charms came seperately. I don't think even my Mum knows where the rose came from but the Eiffel Tower came hanging from a badly-tarnished pin with the word 'Paris' engraved on it. The Eiffel Tower surprisingly survived the years of oxidization to maintain its gold shine. The charms turned out to be quite compatible, reminiscent of that French song 'La Vie en Rose". No other things added as they seem to look best when kept simple also.

I think I have finally found a way to make the leaf work in that pair of earrings :)

I'm actually quite proud of this lot...

1) Da Jie's customization

Da Jie had a Turkish 'evil eye' necklace which someone had given to her. She didn't like it, actually, as it was heavily (figuratively and literally) beaded with clumsy metal beads. However, she like the 'eye' and asked me to customize something out of the available materials. She had originally taken out the 'eye', which was then attached to a proceline heart, to wear simply with a thick string necklace. But the heart dropped and broke, so what's left is only the eye.

So I removed all the other beads and decided only to use the blue 'cat-eye', spherical, heart-shaped and teardrop-shaped metal beads. I also removed the string which Da Jie had been using and replaced it with a 2-strand leather-suede necklace (black and grey).

As the 'evil eye' had no hole to attach things to it, I pasted it onto a filigree backing.

This was the end-result...



Since I had 2 blue beads left, I decided to make a matching set of earrings. They were purposely mismatched, just like the ones dangling from the 'eye'.




2) Pretty in pure pink

I just thought of this while browsing for materials for Da Jie's necklace.

My first try at mismatched earrings (my collection is full of these mismatched trinklets)!

The first version was like this...





However, the piece somehow didn't look too good when I shifted them around... Especially the leaf...

So after many attempts, I finally decided to scrape the idea of the leaf... And now the end product is this...



The materials are also quite astounding for me too, considering that I have always been experimenting with cheaper materials. The roses on this one are white jade, while the pink teardrops are... not sure actually, but definitely a natural stone as well.

Confession though - the look may be there but if you look closely (especially at the back), you can still tell easily that it was made by a novice.

Nevertheless, I think it looks simple and nice. Very easy to match too.


3) El jardin de flor

Professional accessories-makers would cringe at this one. But I tried, honestly! I really tried to wire the flowers and pearls to the filigree (leftovers from making Da Jie's necklace) but failed miserably. So, after wiring the string of pearls terribly, I gave up and simply glued the rest.

I'm ashamed about that, but proud of the final product :P.



Another mismatched earrings!

Thankfully, I managed to use the last remaining clay flower, both to create a mismatched look and to spare me the agony of trying to wire a string of pearls to the other earring :P. Also managed to use up 2 more pink crystals! Yay! Just 4 more pink crystals to go!

Good materials though. Apart from the clay flower, the earrings were made up of shell roses, agate green flower and freshwater pearls.

But I won't be giving this pair away any soon. As it is mainly glued on I don't know whether it will be long-wearing enough. Doesn't look nice if after a few wears the stuff starts to come off la.

I'm rather stingy when it comes to my endeavour in accessories-making cos I'm unwilling to spend on a variety of materials. So basically what I make is using what I have...

Take for example, this necklace below.



I bought the clay flowers a while ago thinking that there were holes drilled into them so that I can make them into earrings with nice crystal drops dangling below. Little did I expect that they were completely 'flawless', so I couldn't make those earrings I wanted.

So happened that I had a piece of plastic that I shunk previously but was useless to me at the time. While packing my stuff, I also found a cute clay pendent of an elf lying in my cupboard since my Uni days. So, I took the plastic piece and glued the elf and the flowers to it to turn it into a necklace.

The pink crystals are all over cos I have so many of them that I don't know what to do with them... :P

As for the clear plastic rose dangling at the bottom? I got that from another piece of accessory which I don't use anymore.

So there you go, an accessory with mainly recycled/reused stuff. Even the chain was taken from a necklace which I don't use anymore.

This pendent below was actually not entirely made by me. It was given as a gift to me by my 'da jie' but I've not worn it as somehow I thought it didn't look complete (though I have worn the matching earrings many times!)



Anyway, what I did with this one was, again, glue a clay flower and wired a pink crystal just to add some dimension to the pendent.

And as for this last one...



I know it looks really unneccessary but just for the sake of personalization lar....

I sure need that belief if I am to survive the drastic changes I am expecting in 2009.

Anyway, on the night of 31st Dec 2008, I received a call from Mediacorp.

Yup, you heard right - the call from Mediacorp said that I had won a contest during the promo for Pushing Daisies when it was on air on Channel 5 like months ago. Is that even possible?

Everyone who knows me knows this for a fact - I never have any luck when it comes to contests.

What I did was this - Channel 5 had this Watch & Win SMS Contest in which while watching Pushing Daisies, you could send in an sms with your answer to a question when an image appears on the TV screen. I did it out of pure fun and of course love for the series cos I think the question required you to write something about why you like this series and why you should win... something like that...

Truth is, I recall what I wrote was really just about why I liked the series. However, I also recall that after sending in the sms and reading the question one more time, I realized that I had sort of written out of point. So the prize did come as a surprise.

Too few people watching hence too few entries? Or maybe I'm just lucky lar :)

Anyway, photos of my prize - a miniature wooden doll, a mug and a T-shirt which I love even though it's huge and baggy simply because of the 2 words "Pie Hole"!

It's not much, probably inexpensive stuff, but nice for a Pushing Daises sucker like me!~



The front of the T-shirt... It'd be nicer if they had the actual picture of the Pie Hole, like the one just below. But beggers can't be choosers I guess...



And the back of the T-shirt...



The mug below, which was fashioned to mimic a flowerpot. Not sure of the relation of a flowerpot to a the show apart from the title which includes "daisies". Where's the pie?? I still want the pie!

Still a good quality mug, though Mum complained that it is too big to fit into our rack. So I'm keeping it in my room now :)





Ahhhh... and lastly, the doll... I was really really hoping to get the Pie-Maker. Imagine how cute it is to see a wooden, thick-eyebrowed Pie-Maker in an apron holding a pie in his hands?

Hmmm... of course I'm not sure they'd make it that way if a Pie-Maker doll did exist. If not, then they should!

<- Would a Ned the Pie-Maker doll look like this? Anyhow, I got "The-Girl-Named-Chuck" instead, but I'm not complaining :) They got the red dress, the bruenette hair and rosy cheeks right, at least!





That's Anna Friel as Chuck on top, and her wooden doll version below.



It's weird that they printed the Pushing Daisies label on the back of the doll's pedestal and not on the front.

Here's a toast to one and all....

Here's wishing one and all...

MERRY CHRISTMAS

and a VERY VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR!



May there be peace on earth...

That heading was what I wrote in Facebook.

After all that trouble, inconvenience, hassle and that big, big emotional roller-coaster ride... It's done. And I'm still in disbelief.

Much of that disbelief has actually given way to a host of other emotions like a little bit of excitement and a lot of fear and uncertainty.

I have been accepted to study at La Trobe University in Melbourne, to do the Graduate Diploma in Art Therapy, which I hope makes me eligible to take the Masters in Art Therapy...

I know I'm the kind of person who needs an impulse to pull me away from my comfort zone and do something really different and meaningful. It works sometimes but sometimes it doesn't. I'm just afraid that this was one of those impulses which bore out of the work environment which had become appallingly bitter recently. What if I am in fact, not yet ready?

I'm excited at a moment, thinking of the new experiences awaiting at the other side, yet I can't help but think about the life I would be leaving behind. My mum told me one day that she took a nap, and then awoke and suddenly thought - Pearlyn's not at home now. She doesn't say it but she's probably heartbroken that her sheltered little lamb is going out on her own. That breaks my heart too.

And Miki, my dear dear Miki... I'm afraid she would leave this house completely once she senses that I won't be around for a long time. The least I want is for her to be exposed to danger outside, ending up with a fate like Ginger and Blackie. Yet I know she's a wild cat by heart.

Then there's the logistical nightmare - how do I settle my accomodation? My daily living? Will I make friends there? Will I be able to catch up? Will I fall into depression... again?

So many emotional attachments and concerns holding me back. Yet at the same time, I understand the need for me to do this. I could have done this in Singapore at La Salle, the only school that offers a Masters in the field but is relatively new. However, listening to stories from friends who have lived, studied and worked outside of Singapore has convinced me that if I have the means, why choose to stay and be a frog in the well who depends on the Discovery channel to know about the world beyond my home? I'm not past 30, am unattached, have the financial means, have no other commitments... This is probably the time to venture and see what the world has to offer.

It's just that, fulfiling this is no easy task - both emotionally and logistically. There are still many hurdles to clear.

It's times like this that I feel like I need a hug... Whoever it's from. Someone who can give me a big squeeze and tell me it's gonna be fine.