My mom just bought VERSACE glasses.
THIS IS UNFAIR! It’s actually nice too
with small encrusted diamonds on the side.
I can’t believe it. My mom is cooler than me,
and she doesn’t even know what Versace is.

A Happy Marriage.

Even though if I’m alone right now, it’s still nice to witness a marriage ceremony from time to time. Even if I don’t have a partner to share visions of a happy future with, it’s okay — the concept of marriage will give me hope and I just know that my ”prince in shining armour” will come one day to save me.

Congratulations to Fiona and Alvin on their wedding day! It’s nice to know that after this, there will definitely be a chain reaction of people from the church fellowship that are going to get married also.

Wishing you two the best.

And he said, “This explains why a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one. Since they are no longer two but one, let no one separate them, for God has joined them together.”  – Matthew 19:5-6

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Why Hurry?

I was driving on my way to volunteer today and I probably underestimated the time I needed to drive from my place to DonMills and Steeles. I thought I could probably zip by it within 20 minutes, given that I would have my fingers crossed for all green lights and no slow driving grandpas and grandmas on the road. 

Well, luck was not on my side today. It was raining, so traffic speed decreased exponentially, and I think I saw 20 slow driving grandpas and grandmas on the road. On top of that, and I’m not even joking, but every single frikken light was red. I was going local!!!!! That’s like 12327864 lights!! So I called the supervisor at the school to inform her that I would be late (Oh! How I hate being late, it’s my pet peeve!).

As I was panicking and cursing at the radio station for not playing any good songs on a Saturday morning, I looked at the Benz Kompressor driving right in front of me, and the license plate reads: “Y Hurry”.

Obviously, I widened my eyes and cursed at the sky. “Because I’m late!!!!”, I yelled. I probably said that out loud to myself in the car for about five times, until the Benz changed to a different lane so I couldn’t see it no more. I was so indulged in my frustration, driving safely was probably 2nd on my list, under “being on time” as my first. However, I contemplated and thought, “Hey, maybe that was a sign from God. Maybe I should just relax a bit, incase that sign is telling me that something bad is going to happen if I don’t calm myself down first.” So I relaxed for the rest of my driving time, and got to the school safely.

But I wonder, how many signs does God (or for non-believers, FATE) give to us everyday, and how many times do we gloss over them with little care in thought? I honestly think that we get signs (not only literal signs, but messages through people and strangers) everyday for the decisions that we’re about to make, but we hardly ever slow down in life to think about it. Have you gotten any ingenious signs lately? In the past? that made you think “hey, if only I listened or considered the signs, then maybe life would be dramatically different”?

My Favourite Bedtime Story.

Has got to be this one: http://www.xanga.com/chrischoi/431045861/item.html

Thanks Robyn for sending me this link a long long long time ago. It is indeed sweet and it never fails to make me feel all choked up after reading it X amount of times.

If you have time, please read Chrischoi’s entry. I think it’s worth the five minutes, ultimately, I think it is worth the hope that we all want to find in us and in our future love.

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Music Jargon.

For all you guitarists out there, I’ve finally figured out how to strum for the song ”How To Save A Life” by The Fray. After watching their “stripped” version for that song, I just had to learn it, but its’ beat and timing is kind of tricky. The whole song consist of one strumming style and the reason why I said it’s tricky because unlike other 4:4 time songs, if you even miss a beat/strum, it affects the whole rhythm of the song. 

V= emphasized down strum   v= down strum   ^= upward strum

V v ^ ^ v ^

Put Capo on 3rd fret. Try it out!
http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/tabs/t/the_fray/how_to_save_a_life_crd.htm

So Sweet.

J had a really sweet idea the other day. He was telling me since Q left him the keys to her apartment while she’s in Los Angeles, he can do something really special for her when she comes back. I asked him what ideas he had in mind. He thought maybe he could decorate the whole apartment with flowers to welcome her back. Of course, being the hopeless and pitiful romantic that I am, I was supporting him with every ounce of conviction in me. I insisted that “rose petals all over her bed” would be a great idea also. I thought it was a brilliant idea. It would be just like in the movies! However if you ask me whether Q deserves this treatment or not, that would have to go into it’s own story telling. (Earlier readers, you might know what I’m talking about). Refer to: http://www.xanga.com/secret_agent_nelle/466947381/item.html

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Favours for Strangers.

Last week, I happen to find a cellphone while I was in one of the public washrooms at York. My first thought that came to my mind was, “Ah crap. I have responsibilities now.” I contemplated for a second there and thought maybe I could just walk away, so I wouldn’t have to bother with finding who it belongs to or when I’m going to give it back. Then the notion of ‘empathy’ kicked in, and I knew I would feel extremely guilty if the next person that finds it might decide to keep the phone, then the owner would have to fish out a bill to get a new phone on top of trying to reconnect with everybody that she lost contacts of.

It would be absolutely acceptable as a “reward” if only I was acknowledged for the honest work that I’ve done with the right tone of appraisal from the owner of the cellphone. But it didn’t seem like she appreciated my work of character at all. Instead, it seems like she didn’t even care if she lost her cellphone or came detached from it for a couple of days, and which she didn’t because she set some far off date to meet up with me. (And here I am, thinking that the society is so corrupted with technology that people just cannot live without their cellphones for even a day — but no, this girl can — for serveral days). She hasn’t called back yet to meet up with me to arrange a pick up, and now I just feel completely foolish. This girl obviously do not care if she gets her cellphone back or not, and I’m wasting time to try to give it back to her.

I’m thinking, maybe she wanted to purposely ‘misplace’ her cellphone so she can get a new one from her daddy or something. And I so instinctively ruined her plan.

Have you ever done someone a favour, where the other person doesn’t even seem to be expressing an ounce of gratitude for your work? Leaving you to think, why the hell did you do it in the first place?

Manners & Etiquette.

I was thinking and observing the male species the other day, and wondering what kind of man is absolutely suitable for my taste. And I have to say, MANNERS & ETIQUETTE is one of the main key ingredient. Nothing says “I adore you” more than a man that knows how to take care of his woman, and constantly putting their woman first –because that’s just manners. One may argue that, “Hey, for some preppy guys, they actually have manners downpack and when they act on it, it’s not a conscious acknowledgement, rather, manners is just one of their habits. They’re not really putting you first in their heads.” However, I think that’s a darn good habit to have. Can you imagine, a man that doesn’t even need to work his brains to put you first, but his intuition (habits) is already set to cater you. Now how many other good things can you get out of this man? Let me just say, rudeness and lack-of-judgment is a total turn-off.

1) Eating First. (This one sort of goes for both sexes though.) Just because your entree came first, doesn’t mean your uncontrollable desire to devour that plate of food should surface at the very sight of it. It’s not like the other person isn’t hungry either. Chances are, you were both engaged in a conversation while waiting for the food to come, so now either the conversation is diminished because somebody is eating, or the other person is talking AND eating at the same time. Another scenario would be that the woman excuses herself to go to the washroom, and while she was gone, the food came and the man just starts chowing down at it. I’m sorry, but this just seems plain rude to me. It’s like, you can’t even wait 5 minutes? What are you, an animal?

2) Picking at your food. And let me emphasize on the word, “YOUR” food. Alot of the times, men just assume that women eat like little birds and just go “oh! I’m full!”, after a few nips at it. WRONG! We eat, well the healthy women EAT! And sure, sometimes we actually don’t finish the food on our plates, and that’s when we do offer it to the man to avoid wasting food. But assuming that we don’t want our food, or won’t finish it, and quickly after you (the man) finishes your plate and moves into ours (the woman) is UNBELIEVABLY RUDE. It’s not even about sharing. If you (the man) kindly askes the woman to save him a piece at the end, or if she can’t finish it to pass it to him, that would be nice. But don’t assume that I’m not hungry and then shove your fork into my spaghetti. If you want some of my food, fucking ASK!

3) Cellphone usage. (Again, this can relate to both sexes.) I probabyy don’t have to explain this one very much, but it’s rude to answer cellphones while you’re on a date, dinner, movie or anywhere else that is exclusive to two people. Reasonably, I can understand that sometimes there are important people and calls coming in (and that the world doesn’t revolve around me), and that’s okay! Just aslong you don’t spend more than 10 minutes on a phone call. If you do need more time, just slightly take the phone away from your ear and apologize and state that you need more time. I think that’s pretty understandable. But when people just go on and on as if I’m suddenly oblivious to the world, and don’t inform or apologize, what do you think I’m thinking? Yeah, you’re a total scumbag.

4) Spitting on the floor. I think this one has to be the worst one that I’ve observed. Thugs at my school spit on the floor all the time. And sometimes, I happen to walk behind them and I guess they don’t realized that I’m speeding up behind them and suddenly they cock their head to the side and let out some of their spit. I literally had to stop on my tippy toes and come to a complete halt, because if I didn’t, I would’ve stepped in their nasty spit and get it all over my shoes. You don’t (and I hope not) spit your gum on the ground, so why do you spit your saliva on the ground? Make use of the trash can, please.

5) Opening doors. I hate to see this happen, but I see it all the time. If a man has a total opportunity to open the door for a woman, but decides to walk in first and let the door slam behind the woman is just totally wrong. As a matter of fact, I always hold open doors whenever I can — because it’s just manners. So why is it so hard for boyfriends to do that? (But I do give credit to the boyfriends that do, how lucky of your girlfriend). As I see it, it’s not “being whipped” or “being strictly polite”, but a gesture of caring and thinking about other people. It’s like, you WANT to take care of people you know, and strangers alike. It always makes me feel good when guys I don’t know at school opens the door for me and gestures me in.

Guys, do you agree with these notions? Do you think they’re just all overrated and girls (or me) shouldn’t read into these things too much? Girls, are you the VICTIMS in these situations? Please share your stories!

 (PRODUCT)^red

(RED) was created by Bono and Bobby Shriver, Chairman of DATA to raise awareness and money for The Global Fund by teaming up with the world’s most iconic brands to produce (PRODUCT)^RED branded products. A percentage of each (PRODUCT)^RED product sold is given to The Global Fund. The money helps women and children affected by HIV/AIDS in Africa.

What’s the meaning of the parentheses or brackets? Well, we call them “the embrace.” Each company that becomes (RED) places its logo in this embrace and is then elevated to the power of red. Thus the name — (PRODUCT)^RED.

You, the consumer, can take your purchase to the power of (RED) simply by upgrading your choice. Thus the proposition: (YOU)^RED. Be embraced, take your own fine self to the power of (RED). What better way to become a good-looking samaritan?!

www.joinred.com

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Too Much School.

One may actually think that the reasons why I proclaimed that there’s “too much school” because 1) I am a slacker and I’ve fallen behind 2) I procrastinate 3) thus lead to the hatred of school, because once you fall behind, you’ll never catch up, and don’t you just hate that feeling?

Actually, it’s quite the opposite. I’ve caught up too much. I’ve read TOO MUCH. My eyes can’t squint any smaller than any asian eyes could afford before it turns into a mere line/slit. And in return, time just feels so unproductive. I’ve done so much for school, yet it feels like I’ve done nothing for myself. I’m so restless, and I want a cup of ANYTHING. Alas, it’s so damn cold outside, and Starbucks, Second Cup, even the local bar seems so far away. My brain feels like mush.

 I feel like this  So restless. Save me. Saaaaave me.
(picture provided by SuebieSnowfall)

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Give me (RED) !

Those red Gap “inspi(red)” tees are pretty much sold out everywhere in North America! They are sold out online, and they’re sold out in every gap in Toronto. I AM GOING TO BE SO JEALOUS OF ANYBODY THAT ARE SPORTING THOSE WHEN I GO TO SCHOOL TOMORROW.

The first thing that came to my (business) mind is that they would actually become a great investment. Buy a bulk, then sell them at a higher price. But that defeats the whole purpose of the (product) red philosophy, and whoever does that on Ebay, which I’m pretty sure somebody is doing that already, should be stoned to death. And whoever buys them at higher prices are obviously just buying it because it “looks” cool, and not really for the cause.

I’ll be patient, and I’ll wait till they make more. Those African women in sweatshops are probably jumping in joy, knowing that the more shirts/products that they make, the more medicine the employers will supply.

In a sense, I’m so touched that they’re sold out everywhere and that people are really reaching out. Humans are fallible and yes, the better alternative is to probably write a paycheque instead and get nothing in return. But I’ll give humans a benefit of a doubt, that if we were given a choice, a better alternative like this one, we would choose the right one.

Movie Commercials.

This has got to be my favourite favourite favourite movie commercial of all time. I know it’s a little bit sappy, a little bit too corny, and not AS touching as it could be after watching it at least ten thirty times, and friends are probably tired of hearing me freak out and squeal when the previews come on at the theatres, but maybe — just maybe one of my students would write something like this one day. 

I know I’ve been saying how posting constant xanga entries of YouTube videos are just the lazy man’s way of “updating”, but this is my first YouTube video that I’ve put up and probably the only one that I ever will.

By the way Fiona, do you get kids like this in your class? Haha.

 Whoa Nelly.

I’ve always loved Nelly from day one, (partial because she’s Canadian, and I’m very proud of it). But also because she has this ultimate passion for music. Her music is a true artwork. I don’t know anybody that could jump from pop to folk to hip-hop with so much success and positive criticism. I think people could see that she’s maybe one of the few out there that works outside the box and is genuine in the music industry. And for a single mother? She has such an optimistic view on life, it’s like.. she just deals with it.

I think the producers are silly to take out Chris Martin’s voice out from the song “All Good Things (Come to an End)” because it was too “rockish”. Even though I don’t really like Coldplay [anymore], I think it adds a solid foundation to the sound. It sounds a bit mundane on the regular track.

Res.

Alot of people choose to go to York University because they love home, they love Toronto and wouldn’t want to have their university experience anywhere else other than in this beautiful city. This makes York one of the biggest commuter school there is. However, into the second year, commuters (including me) is starting to realize what the real deal is, and some hard feelings and possibly regret dwell over us. “It’s just not the same“, R claims. And I could’nt have agreed more.

I think res is a big part of the university experience, and I hate to admit that I’ve only begun to realized that now. It’s so hard to keep in contact and build friendships at York BECAUSE it’s a commuter school. You have people coming from Ajax, Brampton, Newmarket, Mississauga, etc and as if being working students with a jam-packed schedule is not enough to provide a big enough hindrance for a growing friendship, the proximity makes it merely impossible to even hang out outside of school days.

It’s actually quite sad, because the many friendships I’ve made last year are forgotten or have fallen into the silenced stage — where neither party wants to make the effort to see each other — because we can’t! Different interests, different schedules, different locations, ultimately different lives. And sometimes that makes me think if school would just be a little more enjoyable if I could just step out of my dorm room and be able to walk into a dozen of open arms of friends. And  maybe, bonding wouldn’t just be talking about homework and the course but about our lives, about our lives under these roofs together first as strangers, but now as friends and soon to be family. R and I wonder, what it would truly be like to finally step out and be independent for once.

Many of you are probably saying, “So why don’t you just live on res then“. I don’t really know, maybe because I don’t want to eat $1000 worth of res meals. But I’ve been definitely thinking about renting an apartment/condo with close friends for the third or fourth year of university, even if it means that I’ll spend all this money with no investment made at the end, I still think the experience and memories made will be extraordinary.

What’s your take on res? Was it a positive experience? Negative? Waste of money?

 Greed.

I was playing the slot machine and I was constantly winning. Money was pouring out like crazy!! I was ecstatic! Then I finally lifted up my head, just to lose a second of focus, only to find that I was not in a casino but in the middle of a desert. Then a powerful gust of wind came and blew the sands off the ground. It covered everything, including my money and the slot machine. I searched for the coins, but they’re no where to be found. And that’s the dream that I had a few nights ago.

I woke up that morning and tried to interpret that dream. I saw it as a sign of wealth, well the first part of it anyway, where I was winning all this money from the slot machine, and that feeling was very real in the dream, it felt good to win. I decided to test my luck, anyway, I was feeling “lucky” that morning. So as a first timer, I tried the lotto 649 and some scratch cards. And this is what happened:

I got greedy!!!! One after the other!!  Mind you, I actually didn’t even win a single penny back. By the fifth scratch card, I just wanted to win something, ANYTHING! Even to win the price of the scratch card back.

J said that maybe the dream did come true, where the second part or “twist” of the dream did reveal itself. Maybe the dream wasn’t trying to tell me that I would become rich, but the fact that “the sand blew away all my money just like that” is a metaphorical sign that I would for the next two days, blow away all my money on these silly lotto tickets.

You know, I’m not that dumb. I had that train of thought after a few minutes when I woke up from that dream. But I think I liked the “being rich” part more, so AS I was thinking of the metaphor much more deeply, I kind of erased it half-way through my head, and just presumed my daily life and hoping that I would win the lottery.

Haha, I’m so silly…. and possibly greedy.