Cherry Blossoms, Grassy Hills and Stairs

A lot has been going on, and things have changed, but everything is still the same: I am still behind with my uni projects and unable to work on them, and my living situation is still totally messed up. The good thing is that I did finish the big personal project as planned, thus giving myself the birthday gift I had wanted: having it done and submitted. No news from the receiving end yet, but hopefully soon. I am antsy for the second stage of the project to get moving!

Focus has been totally off for the past few weeks. It was a bit of a weird holiday at first, but now I'm simply tired of this state of things. I can't wait to get back on top of things. I hope that my new living quarters will become liveable by Friday evening, so that I can have a bit of time to unpack at least some of the boxes and make the place at least a bit cozy before I head to the airport on Saturday evening. Guess who is coming to town? ;)

I'm trying to work through some emotional issues. In my head for now, but I hope to transfer my deliberations on to paper (or blog) in the near future. I seem to have tripped on the snare known as 'bad stuff from the past.' In the meantime, here are some joys I had intended to share, but never got around to it.

~~~ CN Tower Stair Climb for WWF in late April

I braved the 1776 steps and did extremely well. Apparently the average time to climb is 30-40 minutes. I was very nervous, but dead set of not exceeding half an hour. Well, I did it in less than 20 minutes and the climb was everything but the dreadful exertion I had expected. Very happy.

~~~ Ohanami, or flower viewing, of the blossoming Japanese Cherry Trees

This is something I had only found out about last year, despite having lived here for a decade. Even though I was in Australia at the time, I was determined to make it this year. I did, and it was gorgeous. Although I have seen blooming cherry trees in the past, I had always treated the display as just one of the phases of spring. This time, I made sure to enjoy and appreciate the beauty.

~~~ Rolling down a grassy hill

A few days after my visit to the see the cherry blossoms, I returned with a friend. Alas, we were too late. The cherry trees were green, not white. We walked on through the park, slightly disappointed but still enjoying ourselves. The footpath took us to the top of a fairly steep slope and my friend remarked how the hill looked just perfect for rolling down. She had barely finished saying that when we noticed a few kids doing just that. We burst out laughing, and... followed suit. It was my first grassy hill roll in a very long time, and a great experience. I must remember to do it again in the future... once in a while, though without waiting two decades!