Thanksgiving
I turn on the tap, and water comes out. (At home, even if you pay the utilities bill, water will stop randomly. Luckily for us, we have two water tanks -- not always enough.) Furthermore, I can drink the water out of the tap. Bathing with the water doesn't give me skin infections.
I can count the number of power outages that I've had in the past four years on one hand.
I just woke up feeling too warm.
- In boarding school, there was no AC. The solution is to quickly run cold water over your hands and legs, and go back to sleep while the fan was cooling you down.
- In my previous years of living alone, I wouldn't turn on the heat beyond a bare minimum (that jumps your utilities bill from 20 to 150).
- Now? If I am cold, I fiddle with the radiator knob and it gets fixed in ten minutes. If I am warm, I quickly blast the AC in two minutes and I'm all good.
I have time to cook and bake.
I was talking to a friend and I could genuinely go on for 10+ minutes on why my advisor is awesome as a human. I'm still trying to figure out my research footing, but I think working with someone you respect and like is a good start.
And on that note, I've been catching up with more friends. Nothing transactional. Just chilling. It is underrated to have friends whom you don't need to mince words for.
When I was 13, I was told that if I survived Singapore, I would survive anywhere. America, in contrast, is written off as an easygoing place.
I think there is some truth to that statement. Singapore is a bit of a pressure cooker of an environment, implicitly if not explicitly. The narrative is always that the people are all Singapore has, so work hard. I'm not Singaporean, but it rubbed off on me.
I appreciate that most of my "grit" was developed in Singapore.
Especially when I'm angry, I can be completely self-sufficient: food? sleep? friends?
Dig deep enough inside, and I'm still hesitant to build on anything unreliable.
Something that Ms. S said stuck with me, though.
As a system: too much IQ, too little EQ.
I never quite understood back then.
But I am starting to understand more now.
A quote from a childhood favorite.
Pain from wounds can be tolerated with determination and spirit, [...] However, your era forces that pain onto the weak people who are just trying to live their lives.
Being easygoing isn't so bad.
Towards aiming for a gentler world.