This monster ain't under the bed.

You’d think that, having faced the beast four times already, I’d be totally ready to go head to head with the monster at the end of the semester. Apparently not so. Today it returned, grinning evilly, and I failed to meet it with grace and gumption.

The thing is, I’m most content when life has variety and balance. A bit of socialisation, a bit of hermiting. A bit of chaos, a bit of calm. A bit of work, a bit of play. A bit of hurry, a bit of slow. I struggle when any one thing becomes all-encompassing and the other things have to be put to the side for a while. And the problem is that the end of semester is completely all-encompassing. Every spare moment seems focussed just on seeing out a deadline, which doesn’t feel at all like what life (or learning, for that matter) should be about. Don’t get me wrong; I love the study and I love the work – I just don’t love it being the only thing that’s going on. And I struggle with guilt when I say no to things that are good things and things I want to do, or when I have to put time with others on some sort of schedule. In my perfect world of idealism, you don’t fit people into your life; you fit your life into people.

Anyway, so all that resulted in the end-of-semester monster rearing its head which really looked like me having a day of polar opposite behaviours – diligence and procrastination, laughing and crying, power-talk and whining. However, a bunch of things conspired to turn my frown upside down. One is the delicious (and half-empty, in the picture) creme brulee frappe that my sister brought to me out of the blue. Mmmm! Also, in the background, beautiful new rug on sort of loan basis from Mum and Dad. It's so cosy!

Then there's this honeycomb sundae that my Mum fed to me, post Thai dinner date. I rarely have icecream because I'm not a huge fan of it, but the upside of that is that when I do have icecream, I'm really in the mood for it.

This guy with his cool shirt and his spiky do always brightens my days.

And this is my Mum/counsellor/friend/psychiatrist who is possibly also related to Mother Theresa.

Also, a game of kid's monopoly made me laugh. Big bucks, my friends.

And these two, one of whom turns out to be an excellent, relaxed mum and the other of whom turns out to resemble a koala and alternately impersonates the pope, a drunken hobo, a lucky cat with that waving arm motion, and an angry samurai warrior, all with the most basic variation of facial expressions.

What helped you to be happy today?

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All of you -- well played, friends. Appreciation of my nieces and nephews guarantees eternal admission to the Society of People Danielle Loves.