1/3 gone

My female owner says that at almost 6 years old (5 years and 9.5 months to be exact), I should be writing about more intellectual things and stop rambling about her obsession with aikido, food, us and endless gripes with the male population (with my male owner as the lead actor).

Oh well… she’s getting all high-and-mighty, now that she’s a postgrad student maybe? I shall stick to who I am, coz that’s how everyone knows me.

Anyway, time flies and 1/3 of 2008 is over. Traditionally, my female owner would spend some time reflecting on the things she has accomplished within the first 4 months of the year. Obviously this year has been a year of great change for her - leaving her comfort zone and diving head first into a new life (major role reversal from being a carefree working adult to a hardpressed-for-resources student) and into a new culture. Suddenly, what were once her areas of strengths, fade in light of the demands of her course. At the same time, her weaknesses are amplified through her unfamiliarity with the local system. She has to learn new things and unlearn old habits.

Maybe what doesn't kill you really makes you stronger.

My female owner would always remember her junior college days as being the most stressful period of her life. She could not cope with her studies and a dysfunctional relationship (try having a breakup at the eve of your preliminary examinations and your partner aceing the exam while you did badly!). At the same time, she was leading a bible study group, which although she did not do very much, except to spend a lot of time with the young girls and pray for them, the group grew greatly in number and spiritual maturity. (This can only be attributed to God's grace).

Anyway, the various struggles she was grappling with resulted in her being enveloped with depressive thoughts for a prolonged period and she just couldn't wait for the year to be over. Having survived those terrible years, my female owner now tells herself that if she can survive junior college, she can survive ANYTHING.

Even now, she is still struggling to find that balance (or homeostasis). There are daily hassles which she needs to see to (clients to call, rooms to book, notes to update, records to keep, essays to plan and write, role-play assessments to rehearse, disorders to read about, small talks to make, accents to try to imitate, meals to prepare, cold weather to get used to even! etc etc). No matter how hard she tries to plan, many things remain beyond her control and many decisions need to be made under uncertain circumstances. Slowly but surely, she is learning to trust God in all things. He brought her to Brisbane, He would show her the reasons why.