Easter Holidays. What a lovely term. To me it means no endless draining lectures on Friday and Monday, a total of 4 days of freedom.

I was eagerly anticipating this weekend because I was dying to do something that I’ve always wanted to do all along. I left my house early on Friday morning with 2 books in my bag (Bleak House and Scarecrow), bought myself a cup of hot chocolate and a croissant from a cafe on Rundle Street, and made my way to the Botanical Gardens. =) < -- this is me smiling my excited smile. I selected a quite spot under the shade of some trees, not to near the pathway or the ducks and sat down on the bench to enjoy my perfect morning. The weather was just nice and the sky was clear, it was the first day of holidays. I couldn't ask for a more perfect day.

I sat for a few minutes just munching on my croissant and thinking of nothings, absently looking around me. Having not a care in the world, that was the most liberating feeling. I have been plague with the need to always plan ahead, to figure out when (and what) should I eat, when to print the notes, when to do my assignments, when to get my groceries, do the laundry, when to reply this message etc etc... Everything, I need to know them beforehand. An unannounced visit / invite would throw all my beautifully planned timetable into complete disarray and I would agonise about the lost time and immediately (subconsciously) start to reschedule everything in my head, trying to fit the blocks back together. But surely that doesn't mean I am obsessed about organisation. Because I am quite happy to let everything go, like right now, when I don't have to deal with deadlines.

Anyway, after I finished my croissant, I selected 'Bleak House' from my bag (because somehow, the setting seems quite apt for the atmosphere of the book). I was soon lost in the story and the sun and breeze alternately came to warm and cool me. I was quite contend to just sit there for the rest of the morning. I only had to meet up with some friends in the afternoon so I was free till then. I made good headway into my book. Occasionally, I would stop and watch the ducks waddle about their businesses, oblivious to the wider world outside the park. There were others like me at the other benches as well, here to spend some quite time in contemplation or reading. There was a guy walking around, small notebook and pencil in hand, ready to sketch any interesting bits of nature that caught his eye. Joggers, couples and families taking a stroll. Even a patient on a wheelchair, taking a break from the stark cold environment of the hospital, no doubt hoping this brief respite would provide some pleasant memories into which she can bring out again later at night, when she is left alone, to indulge in. It was all peaceful and quite in the park, until we were jarred out of our reverie by a loud cracking and splintering noise. I looked up only to see a whole tree come crashing down across from where I was sitting. O_O Lets just say that I was shocked. =P How often does one get to watch a tree falling down right in front of them? It was a rude awakening. My immediately question was 'why'? At the same time, I was thinking, how fortunate I did not chose to sit on that bench before. Since I arrived early at the park, I had the choice of seats and was contemplating which ones were the best. Had I sat on the other bench, I would probably... needed some quick reflexes. =P The old couple who were nearby probably got a shock of their lives as well. Some people immediately walked over to check the damage and basically start a conversation with each other. Human nature, curiosity. The park rangers soon arrived and courdoned of the area. After a while, the people grew tired and went back to their own spots, leaving the fallen tree alone. For a full 20 minutes, that tree had is moment of glory. While it stood, it was ignored by most, no one stopped to wonder at its height, at the number of its leaves or even the wonderful texture of its bark. It wasn't until it lay broken on the ground, fallen from glory, that people looked down at it and said to each other, 'what a big tree', 'so many leaves and branches', 'it must have provided some very good shade'. But nobody could remember how it looked when it was standing. Nobody remembered resting or playing under the shade that it provided when it was standing. After this, the tree would be carted away, piece by piece, and soon in its place another tree would be growing.

I seem to have rambled a fair bit about my time in the park. I never thought that it would turn out this long. =P My apologies if I put some of you to sleep. Basically, the rest of my day was spent at a friend's place where we all congregated to just hang around and do nothings. It was just a chill out time where we got to draw out our goodbyes to each other as people left to go back to their families for the holidays.

Today was spend trawling up and down Rundle street and mall. Met up with Ruxing (who had to fly back in the evening) for breakfast at ETC. Then we basically just went shopping while I tried to show her Adelaide at the same time. I found a couple of very lovely winter coats as well which I absolutely love (an amazingly nice peacoat that fitted me (wonders!!) ) but did not buy because...... I don't know. It was 119 and relatively speaking, not THAT expensive. Plus it fits nicely which is not something I can say often with coats and me but I guess I could do without one anyway so I regretfully did not buy it (look at me trying to convince myself, even now!!! -_-"). Ruxing however bought herself one with faux fur lining, super warm, and nice. =( <-- that sad face is for me, not her and technically, it's supposed to be a wistful look. Also saw an amazing array of Onitsuka Tiger shoes (they collaborated with the artist Tokidoki!!!!!) which I cannot justify buying right now. I'm so wanting a pair though, any pair of Tiger. *sigh* We walked around for some more, visited the uni and the Torrens river, had Russian Caravan tea at the Tbar and finally said goodbye to her at 2pm. There were promises for a second trip. =p And on my way back home, I stopped to sigh at my coat again. Oh dear, I am turning into a pitiful fashion victim. I need to snap out of this SOON. I blame it on my getting proper boots because now I had the shoes to match the clothes, I'm just itching to have them. Before it was just sneakers and nice coats do not go well with jeans and sneakers so there was no point of me having one then.

Great. I just spent almost an hour writing all these. It's almost 12 and I'm thinking of sneaking in a few more pages of my book before I turn in. I have vouchers for Borders and I'm so itching to get myself some new books. I like the picture they had on their catalogue, I imagine I could do that with my book collection at home. Although it does make retrieving books difficult, and one would have to worry about knocking the whole carefully constructed 'table' over. I shall keep that in mind though.

I’ve allocated the greater part of tomorrow to re-organise my whole cupboard (see, that’s me planning away again).

Happy Easter to everyone. Hope the easter bunny paid each of you a visit.