Wrap Up: April 2012

April. *sigh* then *smile*. What a month it has been! As you no doubt have noticed, it's already May as I'm writing this wrap up thanks to my super busy schedule. Not to mention also that I've failed to update Project 365 Grateful as frequently as I would have liked.

It's not that I chose to be (maybe I did, but for good reason too), but things just seem to move very quickly during the sem. One thing after another, and another, and another. But I'm still glad I did what I did and didn't do what I chose not to.

Early in April, I was pleasantly surprised when I stumbled upon old blogs, some dead, some revived. I still remember how nostalgic it made me feel. Of what I could have becomed and who I am now aka The Road Not Taken.

Another eye-opening event in April happened on the 12th with my joining the TaraBuddy group to a Spastic House. All along, I have blissfully ignored/overlooked this group of people till that day. I presumed that they were unfortunate and that I sympathised with them. I just didn't know how much till today. This is what I wrote in Project 365 Grateful:

"Spastic House visit in the morning! First off, grateful that I'm actually awake! Let me detail the visit here in brief. Assembled at Lagoon View with all the Indonesian friends and off we went. We were divided into various classroom. I was in the music/morning exercise room, where we helped the parents of the spastic children exercise to nursery rhymes. This is because for some, their bones are heavier and their muscles have difficulty of some sort (I'm not really sure). But basically, most of them are angled towards one side, not by choice, and we have to exercise the other side by bending their limbs for them. And it's painful on the patient! But they're not the only one suffering. The parents actually get tired very easily because spastic children are very strong. They resist the exercise. For me, I was working with Aisyah and her Mom. She was the happiest of everyone I've seen there! She's always smiling and the moment we walked in, her mouth was already wide open with a big grin! Her condition was quite severe (can't walk, can't eat, can't speak, can't control her movements). But I went up to her anyway, cause they needed someone strong large to keep up with her. Le me got sucked in. But I'm grateful and very happy to attend to her :) We then proceeded for a break, where some of them ate, some of them played. Aisyah couldn't eat solid food, only crushed bread and milk. That also, she will regurgitate back out because she can't control her tracts. I really respect her Mom. I'm gonna repeat. I really respect her Mom and all parents with spastic children. Their love made everything possible. Just think about it. No parents go through pregnancy expecting a spastic child! Hell, no! You don't get a choice! But when you do realise that your child is spastic, it would appear that your whole world is crashing down upon you. What was supposed to be a wonderful childbirth suddenly becomes your death sentence of sorts. But these parents stuck with their child. Aisyah's Mom told me this: "We have to wake up early around 4/5am. Bathing her takes an hour. Brushing her teeth takes 10 mins. Even feeding her takes 20. Then you'll have to take her to the spastic centre. Exercise with her. Etc. etc." This already takes up half a day minimum! And we're talking about working adults here, not housewifes or anything! Can you imagine that?! I..I am really moved by their patience, dedication and love for their children. 'Nuff said. Besides the kids, I myself have learnt a lot! First, to make new friends amid the language barrier. I'm a bit sesated among the Indons, you see. Then it was dealing with the spastic kids itself. It hit me really hard as I never really paid attention to this group of people. I did a lot of soul searching and zoning out and realised that I have to be grateful for everything I take for granted. My parents, my family, my body, my friends. Thank you Tarabuddy for this meaningful trip!"

Another life changing or rather brave moment came in the form of a competition! It was held in conjunction with the My Generasi video by JinnyboyTV. I have always wanted to shoot videos, but perfectionism and procrastination were two very effective bouncers. This time, I knew what I wanted, I knew what I had to do, and I did it without a second thought. No doubt the video is not the best it can be, proven by the fact that I didn't win that darn Galaxy Note, but I'm still proud of my decision and of what I did. All the time and effort sacrificed (Edited till 5 in the morning!)were well worth it :) Watch it here.

Then came the finals of the Effective Speaking Course! Of which I did some really last minute adjustments to further dramatise my performance after watching all the awesome performances from my fellow friends. I did  emerge champion, but I had already won when I decided to give my all. Still, thank you for the recognition :)

The champion title does comes with its perks, if you would call it that. I was made emcee for 2 events. The first being Ajahn Brahm's Dhamma Talk at BGF on the 28th and the second being the Selangor State Wesak Celebration at Shah Alam on the 1st of May. It's something I enjoy doing, some times, but it does require sacrifices of time and energy.

30th April and 1st May was dedicated to Ajahn Brahm's Public Seminar(yet another delayed post!), which explains why I didn't manage to type this out earlier in the month of April.

I foresee the month of May to take a slower run in the extra-curricular side while the academic side should be full steam ahead! I do have some posts lined up stored in my phone, cameras and whatnots. Cheers!

Top 3 posts in April : Rosemary Lemon Chicken Baked with Cheese, Titanic., Draw Something
Total page views in April: 759