Tank Engine

Hi everyone, I am the hidden character that is the last to be revealed. My pseudonym (which is my English name) is Thomas. My classmates back when I was in school used to call me tank engine. I must admit that I randomly chose the name around 8 years old when I saw a steam engine with a smiley face printed on the cover of a rip off notebook. What can this little me do when my foreign English teacher kept telling me from time to time to get an English name? All the kids in my primary school had it and I was the odd one out. To be honest, I hardly met any person of my age that didn’t have one. Thinking back, I don’t understand why those people really stress on that. Everyday folks there (including me back then) rarely speak English anyway. Well, this is Hong Kong, a place that I grew up during my childhood years. When I came to Australia, I noticed there’s a lot of Thomas’ around, especially in rural towns. And that’s pretty much it. People no longer care whether or not I named myself after the tank engine.

I kind of feel like I am still in my first year because the university is constantly upgrading the campus. It gives a feeling that there’s always something new. I am not certain whether this is an upside or a downside, but at least I can write some new content for this blog.

A few months back on a weekday evening, I was wandering around the Parkville campus like a tourist. For all these years of studies, I still hadn’t had a chance to explore the north of Tin Alley. As I walked further north, the gothic castle went into my eyes. A thin orange glow from the evening sun smoothed out the stone fortress. The tall bark tree next to the walkway waved gracefully at me. I took a picture from my phone to capture the moment. Unfortunately, the quality was not good enough.

These small moments really give the fulfillment that sometimes cannot be sought through endless pursuits. The things that we have at the present moment can as well be satisfactory. I cannot fully describe them in words, but if you have time during this mid semester break, try it yourselves by feeling it to refresh yourselves from the stresses. Hope you all will have a great break!