Here I am blogging at 1 a.m. in the morning. Don't ask me why.

There are so many things that I wished to blog about. To just write my thoughts and feelings down before I forget about them. Yet, I know that in the end, it would be impossible to record all here.

I just finished reading two books by Paulo Coelho, "Eleven Minutes" and "By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept". Guess I had developed a fondness for his books after reading "The Alchemist". Basically, there's a common theme that runs through these books, which is about chasing after our dreams. In The Alchemist, the shepherd boy was searching for treasure, while in Eleven Minutes, the prostitute, Maria, was looking for love. I also started reading "Tuesdays with Morrie" again.

It is as if I had re-discovered the joy of reading once again. I remembered that during my secondary and JC days, I had loved reading. But somehow, I didn't read that much during my Uni days, except perhaps the textbooks and reading materials.

To me, one of the simple pleasures of life is to have a good book to read, and a nice glass of milk to drink (But then again, I'm lactose intolerance. Haha). Yes, I know I can be easily contented.

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In a blink of an eye, the first quarter of the year had already passed. It seemed like so many things had happened during the past three months. Yet at times, it seemed as if nothing has changed.

Three months into the new system, work has more or less settled down for most of us, except for a few problems that somehow refused to go away. But other than the occasional hiccups, things appeared to be back on track, and once again, I am able to leave the office before 7pm on most days.

At times, I feel that it is so easy to get stuck in the rut when things are going well. The temptation to stay in our comfort zones and not move. After all, what is the point of getting out into the unknown, one might ask?

Oh Lord, what do you want me to do?

I read The Alchemist last month. In short, the story is about a shepherd boy who went in search of treasure and in the process, found his purpose in life as well. Anyway, I remembered that in the book, there was this part where the shepherd boy was thinking about why he chose to be a shepherd instead of studying at seminary. And one of the reasons was that he didn't want to get too close to the people at the seminary because he had felt that people usually like to change others to be the person that they like him to be. He went on to say that people usually have a better idea of how others should live but have no idea of how they themselves should live.

At times, I feel that this is so true. We don't practice what we preached do we? Guess people will always have certain perceptions of you no matter what you do anyway. After all, we usually tend to see others based on who we are and our own perceptions and not as who they really are.

Only He sees us as who we are inside...