21

I am now legal in the US.

So much has happened since the last time I blogged I have no idea where to start. I've just emerged from the Thanksgiving weekend after a killer week in school. Had an essay due on Tuesday, assignments due on Wednesday and Friday, and a midterm on Thursday. So I spent the week rushing through my work to find time to prepare for my midterm.

For all that I say about how we need to know what is important, we also have to recognise that if your priorities aren't the same as everyone else's, you have to be prepared to pay a price for that difference in opinion and perception. And if you deem that too much to pay, you then have to succumb to the system that you function in.

What really irked me about the past week was that I've been busy keeping up with my work and classes so that this would NOT happen, and yet it did, and I could do nothing about it. Having to rush through everything just so that you have enough time to get even more studying done just ain't fun. I don't like to push the fast forward button when I'm learning, and I believe that at this level, the motivation for learning should come from yourself, not the fact that you have deadlines to meet, midterms to take and grades to obtain.

The weekend brought just a little respite, as I still had to clear up more work that I put on hold because of the midterm and assignments, and I begin the week with even more deadlines to meet. It's so easy to get caught up rushing to meet 1 deadline after another, so I keep telling myself to remember why I'm here. At least I can't deny that my classes are interesting.

Some of my friends and I had a little get-together for dinner and a cake to celebrate my turning 21. It was small, simple and cozy affair, on Friday, a day after the actual date as I was in an exam hall on the evening of my birthday. It was nice though, and a word of thanks goes out to all you guys who did this little thing for me - it's greatly appreciated. Not forgetting those who got me on MSN or on my blog, or who sent me e-mails.

Anyway, so much for my week, I was just flipping through my organizer which I've had for almost 5 years now, and I came across a little something that I copied out oh-so long ago, and it was nice to read it all over again, if only because the mood was in such great contrast to the week I just had.

O, Tell Me the Truth About Love

Some say that love's a little boy,
And some say it's a bird,
Some say it makes the world go round,
And some say that's absurd,
And when I asked the man next-door,
Who looked as if he knew,
His wife got very cross indeed,
And said it wouldn't do

Does it look like a pair of pyjamas,
Or the ham in a temperance hotel?
Does it's odour remind one of llamas,
Or has it a comforting smell?
It is prickly to touch as a hedge is,
Or soft as an eiderdown fluff?
It it sharp or quite smooth at the edges?
O tell me the truth about love

Our history books refer to it
In cryptic little notes,
It's quite a common topic on
The transatlantic boats;
I've found the subject mentioned
In accounts of suicides,
And even seen it scribbled on
The backs of rail-way guides
Does it howl like a hungry Alsatian,
Or boom like a military band?
Could one give a first-rate imitation
On a saw or a Steinway Grand?
Is its singing at parties a riot?
Does it only like classical stuff?
Will it stop when one wants to be quiet?
O tell me the truth about love

I looked inside the summer-house;
It wasn't ever there:
I tried the Thames at Maidenhead,
And Brighton's bracing air
I don't know what the blackbird sang,
Or what the tulip said;
But it wasn't in the chicken-run,
Or underneath the bed
Can it pull extraordinary faces?
It is usually sick on a swing?
Does it spend all its time at the races,
Or fiddling with pieces of string?
Has it views of it's own about money?
Does it think Patriotism enough?
Are its stories vulgar but funny?
O tell me the truth about love

When it comes will it come without warning
Just as I'm picking my nose?
Will it knock on my door in the morning,
Or tread in the bus on my toes?
Will it come like a change in the weather?
Will its greeting be courteous or rough?
Will it alter my life altogether?
O tell me the truth about love

W.H Auden

What I would give to be able to see the world with child-like wonder all over again.