oxymoron

I suppose its time to update this Turtle Pad. I have no excuses for my long absence, except that I have been very lazy and in a hibernation mode. I guess the Aussie laid-back lifestyle has finally hit me.

As you all know, my female owner has submitted her thesis and over the past two weeks, she had indulged in several things. The big one would be that she went off for a holiday to Adelaide, Sydney and Canberra. Despite her incessant comments about her not having enough friends, she still managed to pull together this 9-day post-thesis tour. And it could have been a few days longer, had she known earlier that another pair of friends were going to be in Sydney at the same time as she was. Anyway, she also did a 3-day escapade to Coffs Harbour, which is 6hr drive from her place, and in New South Wales. In the upcoming days, she has tentative plans for Byron Bay, Whitsundays and maybe a lone road trip to Northern Queensland.

Even though she looked like she had heaps of getaways and fun with friends, my female owner actually struggled to relax initially. Sounds like an oxymoron actually. Struggling to relax? Anyway, her anxiety acted up and she felt an internal pressure to quickly get on with life, job applications, registrations and the like. Everyone around her, literally everyone she spoke to told her that it was time for her to relax coz she had worked so hard over the past few months. However, my female owner felt that she did not actually work very hard and hence, did not deserve to relax. It got to a point where Mr S remarked that there was something wrong with my female owner.

In the midst of all the conflicts within her (i.e. authentic relaxing vs finding work), my female owner actually managed to do clock a few RA hours (she still has about 120 outstanding hours to fulfil) and update her resume. My female owner is trying to apply the principles of mindfulness, where she soaks up the present, relish in the experience and not fret about the future or ruminate about the past. Getting the hang of it, she says.