Cut the complications.

"aaw, look at those eyes..."

Our masterpiece. We were supposed to take turns to each add a stroke to the initially plain paper. It really shows how people with different brains don't think alike. I'm quite amazed by the odd looking end product. It actually bears a slight resemblance to the skunk above!

*

Had the chance to read the biography of a young lady who just hits 24, but has gone through some of the toughest moments in life none of us might even have to endure.

My sister got to know her and her book through the charity club she and her friends newly set up. Things seem to be going well for them, makes me miss those koku times in secondary.

It's entitled "I'm not sick, just a bit unwell", by Yvonne Foong. The chapters are short but enough to give me an insight into the kind of life she's living since the day she was diagnosed with Neurofibromatosis II.

This, being a rare form of genetically-inherited disorder which causes tumors to grow in her brain and spine, really really changed her life in many ways. As usual i failed to hold my tears. She described every encounter so explicitly that i could almost feel the pain she had to bear at that point of her life.

The scariest part of all is that she has to undergo surgeries again and again to remove those tumors, can you imagine how painful that is. Not only the pain, she's lost her ability to hear, half of her face is paralysed, poor vision and has problem keeping herself balanced. To be precise, these are not just it.

She got invited to deliver a speech in school the other day, my sister said she was carrying a whiteboard so she could communicate with them, her voice was a lil out of pitched, and she needed people to guide her when walking. Despite all the limitations, she still smiled.

In her biography too she mentioned a few of her close friends who have helped her a lot, both physically and spiritually during school times. Those are what we call true friends i guess, friends who stay with you when everyone else has left.

One of the lines i remembered, "It is strange how we have to go through difficult times in order to appreciate the simpler things in life." I can't help but to feel lucky for what i've been given, and will certainly appreciate them.