Went to the Red Hill Cherry Farm on Mornington Peninsula to pick cherries over the weekend. The weather was great for once with sunshine throughout. Plugged the address into the GPS and we reached there without missing a beat. My uncle thought I had been to the place before but it was my first time, heh, the wonders of technology.

The cherries were sweet by the way.

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The Winter Solstice was yesterday. Had dinner with my housemate’s relatives, and tang yuen after that. I have always known it to be a significant event, and in China, it is more important than Chinese New Year. I suppose that making it into the winter with ample amounts of stored food is reason enough to celebrate with your family. That’s the only reason I can think of for celebrating.

I wonder at times, having spent time with different people and their families. Everyone is so different. I was pretty single minded about things growing up, thinking that everyone would have the same experience. Heh, that isn’t quite true, and you do get a bit of a culture shock listening to people describe their families. I was never quite comfortable in my own skin. It’s been a while since I’ve felt being the odd one out, although I’ve absorbed enough experiences from others to feel like I fit in some how.

I wonder about steady incomes, how some of my colleagues need each pay check to get by. Expenses that I may find trivial at times, like travelling home to visit family, some would rather not spend it as it is too expensive. My argument is that I don’t see my family often enough, and even if it’s a bit pricey, I’d forgo other things to do it. Some find that it eats into their daily expenses, and would rather use it for something with a higher priority.

There is also the difference in opinion on life in Australia. To some it seems expensive here, the higher taxes, the relative price of food. Is it really that expensive if you work and spend here? I haven’t found it to be so, and there are hidden costs that people do not consider when they try to price a bowl of noodles. You’d go into the entire argument about the relative comfort of your surroundings, labour costs and equality among people. It’s not simply the dollar amount that you slap onto the item, but also the ease of mind on other things.

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Just one more day at work, and I get to take my mind off things. Feeling a little detached from everything. Want to be nice to everyone but somehow I feel I always fall short of expectations. Wishing for simpler days at times. Ideally, I’d just want to be happy.

These days there is the burden of worrying about what to do next in life. There’s so much interesting to do in life, but a jack of all trades is a master of none. I’d really like to learn everything, yet I’m also keen to improve significantly in one of the areas I’m interested in, and there’s only time to accomplish one task at a time.

I’ll just keep pondering about it.