Shopping ban now ON T_T

Am now officially on a shopping ban. No more senseless buying! Bye byee nice-pair-of-Mango-wedges, and zipia~~
T_T
See, im so determined i even broadcast it on my blog, so those pple who actually read my blog and happen to shop with me....drag me away when i want to buy anything. Or maybe confiscate my cursed Nets card? TT_TT

Ever go into a shop thinking 'ok, i won't buy anything, just browse..' and end up walking out of e shop alrdy regretting your purchase? You try convincing yourself,' but it's such a good bargain/lobang...!'
Or do you go mad thinking abt a particular bag/pair of shoes/whatever all day, even days, until you just can't help running out to get it?
Ok, join the shopping ban support group! Some amazingly disciplined pple have actually survived through their bans, and it really helps to read tt they did it. If they can do it, so can I! Even if u're not on a shopping ban, some of e posts on this thread are quite entertaining to read. lol.

A week of new knowledge

Rounding up an uneventful week, i learnt 3 things.....

1) Salvation Army thrift store is a huge treasure trove.
Tis' true! Point - i bought e entire boxed set of Narnia books for $7 and 2 vintage 60s' hardcovers for $1 each. All of which deserve a bettr fate - that of sitting on my tiny bookshelf. Ahahaa~ If u're thinking, 'Jeez, only bo liao pple and bargain-hunting aunties go there', well...you're half-right...lol.
However, I saw quite a few trendy young pple during e whole time i was there. (Read: guys in skinny jeans, and arty looking girls in tights)

The book section is delightfully huge, distributed across several pokey little rooms, which remind me of my primitive primary school library. Clothes section was not as exciting, though :[ Some of e clothes ought to have been recycled into rags or sth 5 years ago.

2) Which finger u choose to wear ur ring on shows ur personality.
Something interesting learnt from a new friend. Apparently based on Greek mythology, but pls dont ask me abt e details -_-;;

Thumb - Independent
Index finger - Dominant
Middle finger - Fun-loving
2nd last (?) finger - Romantic, loyal
Last finger - Conflicted

True? I find it pretty accurate, at least in my case...

3) I look great when i have my eyes closed in pictures.
hahaha.

Balalalaa~lalaaala

Sitting here, singing this song
Do you know do you know
Where, when, how
shall we meet?
Balalala~lalaaala
Under a blazing sun
On a rainy street
We'll throw away our umbrellas and jump some puddles?
Is there what they say there will be-
a feeling of deja vu-
we knew each other before we met
of loving, not liking?
Balalala~lalaaala

Yessss. Im back. A song from Krock band Nell inspired me to write something random. Btw, you should check out their songs-they're awesome.

Amazing pple - full of life.

The internet has opened my eyes in more ways than i thought possible. There is no end to the number of wonderful, inspirational things/pple i see in cyberspace!

Yesterday, i came across e 'Granddad' of Youtube - Geriatric1927. He is 80 years old and probably the oldest active Youtuber. I just find it so cool that he manages to keep up with the times, and produces pretty decent videos. (seriously.) Topics include his experiences as an enlisted soldier during WWII and his views on pple who leave rude remarks on vids, among many. I hope i'll have the same zest and curiosity he has when i grow old.

Another amazing person i've just checked out is 22 years old Elle Muliarchyk, a model/photographer based in New York. This gutsy girl not only took pictures of herself in dressing rooms (a common act among many of us, I believe :p), and even brought along her props, such as a giant panda bear soft toy, doughnuts, and a huge, highly realistic King Kong paw. Talk abt bringing it to a different level, huh? I just wonder how she managed to haul those things past the sales staff? lol.

Here's an interview in which she explained why she did it, and the heartracing thrill of almost being discovered.
She took really beautiful, professional pics. See them here.

Walkin' in e winter wonderland~

Anybody knows how tt song 'Walking in the winter wonderland' begins? Was trying to sing it and realised i couldn't even remember the chorus. Sob T_T Another sign of aging?
(Btw, could any of you believe it when you turned 21? Frankly, im still in disbelief...no no, I refuse to believe it.)
I want to go to Korea~~ The weather forecast for Seoul a few days ago was -4 degrees Celsius...maybe there'll be snow soon? Actually i just want to roll myself a few snowballs and pelt some random pple with them, before scampering back indoors to warm myself. I suppose it's all v.fun and romantic for e 1st few hours, but i probably won't be able to stand the cold. No kidding - my teeth were alrdy chattering on top of Genting. Lol~ Anyway, a long cold, gray winter could be really depressing.
Still! I want to roll some snowballs! Sigh.
Here's my alter ego all decked out in her winter clothes. I <3 her cap.

Here's to simple pleasures!

There's always a day on which I wake up, and the whole day seems to loom ahead like an empty chasm. It may be full of activities, but I just feel sian. School-Sian. Projects-Sian. Shopping-Also Sian.
I feel like there's no purpose to all these, that im doing them because i don't know what else i can do. Wonder how many people feel this terrible boredom? Im guessing alot, or maybe i just happen to know alot of bored people. Lol.

That's why, it's nice to be reminded that actually the tiniest thing makes me happy, makes life worth living. Yesterday, i came across this book, 'Things that make us happy'. It contains thousands of short phrases, no more than one line-all the simple things in life that brighten up our day. Some examples made me smile: 'Lots of sleep' (YES tt's a luxury~!) , 'Ice-cream on a hot day', 'Suitcases that actually last for 10 years' (LOL.)

It's so easy to believe that buying something will bring us happiness, and to forget the simple joy eating ice-cream once brought us not too long ago. Maybe this is how we gradually lose our childhood...without even knowing it? One day we look back and lament, 'Where has my childhood happiness gone?',
'Why can't i be happy when i go out shopping w/o buying anything?',
'Why is it so difficult to feel happy?'
and don't realise we pushed it aside ourselves.

Actually, I've been quite happy these days, chiefly because i finally have time to do crap i enjoy doing. Hahahaa~
Current obsession-Pixel characters (like my cute catgirl on top) and Trippen shoes.
Here's to simple pleasures! Hey, maybe i should go start my own 'Things tt make me happy' mini-project.

Is there such a thing called 'unique'?

Thought i'ld better post sth before people think i've deserted this pitiful blog. -_-;
Im on vacation now, which means more time for doing crappy stuff! Just now, I was reading some Taiwanese blogs over at wretch.cc...and found them quite interesting, or at least highly individual.

Nowadays, you get to see young people from so many parts of the world, not only in the real world but also in cyberspace...and among them, so many are talented. There may be dancers, artists, designers..the list goes on. One may be proud to believe he posesses a 'unique' talent, but perhaps, right at the other end of the world, someone, somewhere, has the same skills,and may even be better.
So is there really anything that is truly 'unique', in this world teeming with 6+ billion homo sapiens? Can you safely say there is an absolute 0% probability there will ever be any person like you?

Maybe this is why so many people try so hard to set themselves 'apart from the crowd', through their dress style, way of speaking or whatever.

Maybe we don't need to try so hard, if we recognise that ALL people are unique in themselves, even if they only dress in T-shirts and jeans, and go shopping in slippers. Because being 'unique' goes way beyond the surface, and encompasses your lifestyle, your views on life, your beliefs. In that way, each and every one of us is already unique, without trying to.

If we all just be ourselves, and feel comfortable in our own skin, isn't that already unique?

Blog's not dead....yet.

Just to let you know, this blog's not dead...yet.
lol~

Can't believe how busy and stressed i've been for this past month. Oh same old story-projects, deadlines, work. Yeah im busy, in a v.unproductive way. Sigh.

Kei, if you're reading this, i take back everything i've said before regarding people who sing on the bus. Because of this incident which happened quite some time ago...but it's not like i have anything more interesting to blog about. T_T

It was after a particularly looong day, and i just wanted to have a nice nap during the journey home. Some joker sitting behind decided to have an impromptu karaoke session. Maybe he thought tt was 'romantic'? At first he was just humming along to e song, and i didn't mind him much. Humming soon turned to (loud) singing. Then he decided he just had to sing the chorus of e same song at least 10 times.
So there i was, willing myself to sleep while e guy was butchering the song behind me. It's not like he sang out of tune, just that his voice was so grating, whiny and plain annoying. It got so ridiculous e girl in front of me turned back to frown at him, with no (audible) effect. As for me, i didn't bother looking. But i did notice tt the seats were almost emptied when i finally escaped to e 1st level.

ARRRRRRGH~~!! Has this guy nvr heard of KBOX? If u want to sing tt loudly, might as well use a microphone! Somewhere you can save yourself from embarrassment and others from irritation.

Btw, wanna know what song he was singing? Show Luo's 'Ai Zhuan Jiao'. He made me hate e song X(

Today i travelled to.......

Today's Sunday, and I was bored. So i did a little travelling....to Iraq, England and Paris, among others.
:P
LOL!!
From e comfort of my cosy little room, via 1 of my favourite blogs: mental_floss magazine. I wish i had tried Google Earth earlier. It's fun (n also abit scary) tt u can actually zoom into any part of e world, spying on creatures of all kinds going about the business of living. Haha~
Here, look at this giant bunny i got linked to. Cracked me up xDD.


"erm, e link expired n im too lazy to upload again. Try imagining a HUGE PINK bunny stretched out on a plain. LOL."


So does e description tt PC World gave it:
This giant pink bunny (Google Earth coordinates 44.244273,7.769737) in Prata Nevoso, Italy, was built by a group of artists from Vienna, according to published accounts. It's 200 feet long and answers to the name "Hare."
Such a cute idea.
Think i'll go explore more parts of Earth now~

What e world eats....

Im not of e grouchy kind, but i do groan sometimes,'Why don't i have enough of everything?' 'Life's so s****y'
and so on.
Everybody does tt sometimes, right? Greed's a part of human nature.
Whoever said tt life's never fair definitely got it right. Or maybe different people just have different standards-what's adequate for me may not be enough for you.
Just look at what families e world over eat in one week. Some just need less than 20 dollars to live for another month, but some scream for more even with a 300+ dollars budget for the same duration. That's just food-i wonder how much people spend on electricity (if they have any, tt is.)
Check out Time's photo essay here.

Is this life?

For a long time now, I've felt tt my life is like this..

Bus stop

Lights are burning
In quiet rooms
Where lives go on
Resembling ours.

The quiet lives
That follow us-
These lives we lead
But do not own-

Stand in the rain
So quietly
When we are gone,
So quietly...

And the last bus
Comes letting dark
Umbrellas out-
Black flowers, black flowers.

And lives go on.
And lives go on
Like sudden lights
At street corners

Or like the lights
In quiet rooms
Left on for hours,
Burning, burning.

Donald Justice

.....My life is just one of many tiny flames, burning, burning....towards inevitable extinguishing in a quiet room. Everyday is like every other day. Mine is the same as hers/his/theirs. Perhaps it's not truly my life, since there's little part of me in it.
Perhaps some of us sit, in mutual loneliness, even when surrounded with friends, waiting...
waiting for something, someone to arrive. Presuming it would ever arrive. How many of us really own our lives? How many more live it out for the sake of living?

That's why:

'Ah, love, let us be true
to one another! for the world, which seems
to lie before us like a land of dreams,
So various, so beautiful, so new,
Hath really neither joy, nor love, nor light,
Nor certitude, nor peace, nor help for pain;
And we are here as on a darkling plain
Swept with confused alarms of struggle and flight,
where ignorant armies clash by night.'

-quoted from 'Dover beach' by Matthew Arnold

For all the beauty in the world is only deceptively so, and more can be 'enjoyed' for a price. How cynical, huh. lol.
Consider a world without humans/animals-beautiful as it is, what joy is there? The only real, priceless comfort we have can only be found in each other.

Look, my v.own daemon~

Got linked to e official site for this new upcoming movie based on 1 of my fav books 'The Golden Compass'. And look what i found~ my own daemon xD





Cute, just like me. Wahaha~
So what do u think? Does this best represent me?

AHhhh~Im such a techno-noob

There seems to be some problem with my recent Chinese post, so i took it down for e time being. Apparently the HTML code is visible..though i don't see anything wrong in my Firefox browser T_T
Y like tt???!
Suspect it's because i cut and paste from Word instead of inputting the entry directly in Blogger...but every time i try to do that, e characters turn out in those weird symbols, which makes it impossible for me to read what im typing. TT_TT
Just as I think im getting e hang on technology, it hits me tt i don't even know how to control the simplest settings in my own blog. Sigh. Modern city life and its many difficulties. Lol~
Shall try again ltr.

情深似海

我的第一篇中文稿耶。哈哈。

这其实是很久以前写的。。因为最近又翻来读，所以决定‘登’出来。

是电影「情深似海」的观后感。看得我边笑边哭的。。韩剧就是有这种莫名其妙的魅力！

如果有一天

我失去了记忆，

不记得家人·朋友，

甚至你。

你还会爱我吗？

如果知道自己将有这么一天，

我还会勇敢地爱着你吗？

失去了记忆，我算失去了灵魂。。。吗？

即使知道可能会很痛苦

随时粉身碎骨，

我还是想尝试

努力又勇敢地爱一次。

Dona Nobis Pacem

Oh dear, i think e pic's too small. Ah~ i tried. If u want to see what's written on it, please click on e image.
To start this off, 'Dona Nobis Pacem' is Latin for 'Grant Us Peace'. I got e main pic from this lady who started this blog movement some time ago (last yr?). Basically, her idea's to spread a powerful message on this day (6/6/07) whereby all bloggers will post e same thing/pic wishing for peace. Read Mimi's thoughtful post on how it all started...So now u see how free i am. lol~

[EDIT] Wow. It's working. I just goggled e words 'Dona Nobis Pacem' n it came up with over 2000 results for blog entries! n e blog count's probably increasing by e minute. Incredible.

Woohoo~ Cuba!

Am now in a 'Cuba' phase. Haha! Just watched 'Dirt Dancing: Havana Nights' featuring 2 awesome dancers (Diego Lunas <3~) , n some great music! Liked many of e songs, so i did a search on Imeem...and now im hooked. lol~
Also found loads of colourful pics of this sunny Mediterranean country. Gosh, e women's dresses are extradinary. Their cars are cute, too.

It's e dork's Birthday~ xD

I shall sing in a penguin outfit~
Happy birthday to u
happy birthday to u~
Happy Birthday to Micky~~
happy birthday to uuuuuuu~

It's Park Yoochun a.k.a Micky's birthday today~! Stay dorky always~ Though there's less than half an hr left..
LOL.
Hope he had a great day.

Ok, forgive my spazzing.

Create sth myself for a change?

Great. Blogger's finally back to normal. It freaked me out a few days ago when I couldn't post anything.
Phew. Was almost gg to start an account in Wordpress.

First things first. Exams are FINALLY over! HOORAY~~
Have been surfing around these days after regaining my freedom, and seen loads of inspiring stuff...They make me feel a little ashamed of myself, that i am someone who only knows how to admire/gather other people's creativity, but have created none of my own. I use blogskins/wallpapers/interfaces that others have designed. I read books written by others. I eat food prepared by others. I adopt ideas/point of views from others. What is truly my own? Is there a single thought/thing in my life that is mine? that is original?

But doesn't everybody possess creativity? Just that not everyone chooses to develop it like all these wonderful artists i've seen. Modern life, particularly city life, is crammed full of ready made products and ideas. We forget tt we can actually come up with many of those things ourselves too, and then, we gradually lose the ability to create without even realising it. In fact, why create? Waste of time isn't it? people can just get it easily from some brand/artist/shopping mall that they admire. Tragic.
So, i've decided to create something that is truly my own. Just anything to assure myself there's still this tiny spark of creativity left in me.
Ooh, some of e stuff that i've seen:

Wow, Im 'brilliant'! Yay~

Ohoho, this shall break my average record of posting only twice per month. lol~
Was blog-hopping around as usual and found this interesting 'Blogthing' on someone's blog. Im happy with e results- 'BRILLIANT' ME!! Wahaha~ Think everyone should check this out. It has a great effect on your self esteem. Hehe.

Your Birthdate: December 11

Spiritual and thoughtful, you tend to take a step back from the world. You're very sensitive to what's going on around you, yet you remain calm. Although you are brilliant, it may take you a while to find your niche. Your creativity is supreme, but it sometimes makes it hard for you to get things done. Your strength: Your inner peace Your weakness: You get stuck in the clouds Your power color: Emerald Your power symbol: Leaf Your power month: November

What Does Your Birth Date Mean?

I'ld like to say tt all those positive traits are true. Just ignore e 'get stuck in e clouds' part.. Hahaa~ Im gg to try some friends' birthdays n see what I get. And maybe erhem too. Boliao me~
But it's really weird how I seem to keep reading blogs of Phillipinas in e US these few days. Hmmm.

1st day of exam. well wth

**(MINOR) SPOILER ALERT!**

Seems like I've gotten hooked onto Youtube. There's always loads of interesting vids to check out, not forgetting my regular dose of DBSK <3 lol~
This past week was especially happening! Just look at this:






Kim Ah Joong in '200 Pounds Beauty'. Soo pretty~
Even though it's classified as a 'romantic comedy', I find some parts quite sad..and even thought-provoking! Well, I thought, life(or rather society) just isn't fair huh? Sometimes beautiful pple get their way so much easier in life. Tell me if tt ain't true. Don't believe? Check out e car accident scene in e movie.






LOL~!! Bet those guys won't be THAT nice to pre-surgery, 200 pounds her. Wanna bet??