79. A Meaningful Life

Some people go through life living according to other's wishes and some live life through their own ways. But, if you really get right down to it, or the pessimistic way of thinking, we are all living life according to another person or persons' wishes. For example, a small group of elitist who hold all the power in the world. But, I won't be going there today. Instead, I'll be concentrating on what I believe will make a meaningful life, or at least how I want to live my life.

First things first: never waste time. Although it might be intangible, it is nevertheless valuable. I am big on time. I dislike wasting my time, and I hate it even more when other people waste my time. That's right - hate. "Oh, such a strong word" is probably what you're thinking, but that is just how much I treasure my time. The life expectancy for me, according to boring statistics, averages around 81 to 83 years old. But, because of society today with its processed food and lack of time and energy to properly exercise and take a break from working continuously, that expectancy is probably a bit more optimistic. Nevertheless, if I were immortal (God forbid), I would still get pretty annoyed if my time were a-wasting.

Secondly, have a positive outlook on life in general. Don't always think about negative things or let your mind wander off to places of no return. It is not good for your health, and certainly a waste of time. A good way to achieve this would be to make a bad situation, good! This will help lower your blood level and make you a more fun person to be around. Also, since we're on the topic of being around people now - surround yourself with people you actually like. Sure, connections are important, but with Facebook these days, the most connecting you'll be doing with these people you hardly know would be to like their profile picture or share their video. So, in real life, away from the World Wide Web and those superficial online relationships, step out into the sun and find people you enjoy the company of! There's some type of saying that if you surround yourself with beautiful people, you'll become beautiful as well. I'll let you think about that.



Last, but definitely not any less important, is to always be thankful with what you have. Although this might be difficult to do at first, it is definitely feasible. I remember when I was always scrolling through my Facebook and being overly jealous at what other people have and/or doing, and I would start to get annoyed at my own life as I compare the two. It really brought me down and I wasted a lot of my energy on it. But, after thinking about all the things I already have that some people don't have, I was gradually able to step out of that never ending black hole. For those people that are having a hard time with this, here is a little trick I used that I was able to apply to get myself out of that self-loathing-ness. I simply compared what I had that most of the other people on my Facebook didn't have (in a way, sort of like bragging, but doing it internally so people won't think of you as an ass, excuse my French). It can be the smallest things, something that other people may find insignificant, but others may never have. For example, an understanding family, funny parents, your creative skills, ability to keep yourself organized, a clean room - like, all the time, or maybe how you're always on top of things and always getting stuff done before others so you have plenty of time for other things (perhaps a social life!). Anything that makes you happy is definitely something to be thankful for. But, something that annoys you aren't always what you think - that they're just out there to get you, rather they're trying to tell you something or guide you. Maybe that bus you missed was a good thing because then you could have met the love of your life on the next one, or the next bus' fare machine was broken so you didn't have to pay bus fare. The littlest things in life are the things that people should be most thankful for, because when it's not there anymore, it'll be even harder to get it back, and you'll always feel something is missing. This is similar to treasuring what you have  in a way.

These three points are the most important things that I believe in will make me live a meaningful and happy life. I hope I was able to share some useful things that you can take away and given you an inspiring moment. There is also a book, called The Secret similar to what I have shared, but elaborates much more (and more well written for sure) that really gives you an awakening experience. If you have the time, or just happen to come across it at the bookstore or a friend's place, definitely flip through it and take a look at what it says - it might just change your life. They also have a website and a section where you can read stories of people who have used The Secret (I read some of them and some sound really doubtful, but hey, who I am to judge). Another (amazing) blogger, whom I am a fan of, also goes into a lot of detail about this book and its ideas and concepts, as well as her real life experiences. Her name is Xiaxue and she is a famous blogger in Singapore (quite funny and individualistic as well). If you have time, do check out her post as it got me thinking quite a lot about how I have been going about in life and really allowed me to introspect my ways of being. Deep stuff, I know.

(P.S. This post is not sponsored by anything or anyone. Though, I do wish I was able to make money off this thing. Maybe I should try out The Secret sometime.)

78. Campus Walk

Since I haven't blogged for a bit nor gone on any exciting and fun outings, I decided to take my camera with me on the way to class today and snap a few pictures as I walked. The autumn weather was really nice today so I didn't do any editing to my pictures (partly because they are already so pretty looking, and partly because it would take too long... okay, mainly because it would take too long). Usually, I bike to all my classes because it's just so much more convenient and faster, and I get some exercise in my day as well. But, because the weather was just too nice to pass up the opportunity and I had lots of time to spare before my next class, I took a casual stroll to the campus. 

In this day and age of technology, you see everyone walking without direction with a phone in their hand texting, surfing the web, or playing with some phone apps. No one really stop and smell the roses along the way anymore and I feel that it is really unfortunate because there are so many little magical things to discover along the leaf-covered roads. I remember walking and biking up this one route next to a building many, many times where there was a waterway with some tall stalks of what looked like leeks built alongside the building. But, I never really paid any attention to it and just thought of it just another useless University installation and just continued my walk and minded my own business... until one day, with nothing to look at, I stared down at the waters and saw two bright orange goldfishes with long tails. I wanted to take a picture of it to show my friends, but before I could do that, they slipped underneath a drain. I guess it's little unrecoverable moments like these that are the better moments as it gets you thinking of what other little magical things you have missed because you were merely too busy staring down at a dumb device.

(This wasn't where I saw the little goldfishes, but it's similar to the long "water leeks" I was talking about)

After that encounter, I have begun to notice other magical things around the University that I have never noticed before or taken the time to, and through these pictures, I hope I'll be able to share some of these little bits of happiness or thoughts with you. Maybe they will inspire you to do the same!

What appears to be a boring, gray building has a fun side to it as well!I spy with my little eyes, something that is orange and is all the rage right now. 

This little park filled with stones that I often see young children with their parents playing at. I saw a family with two little kids playing with a telescope with their dad's help one time. It was really cute, but I wouldn't advise doing that in the daytime.

Look at these beautiful trees with the gold-coloured leaves. I wish gold apples grew on it as well!

 
These hills that I think would be pretty fun to roll down as they're not too steep. Or just run around on. That seems pretty fun too.

Then I saw these trees which didn't look like trees but just long pieces of branches stuck in one place in the ground. But, I think it'll look cool if something hanged from it, like garlands of hearts or something like that. Or maybe in the spirit of Hallowe'en, little ghosts dangling from the branches.

Then, I walked up to an on-campus college with this cool building that I always see half of when I pass by, never really going up the stairs to see the whole thing. I'm glad I did, because it is really cool. It'll be neat to sketch it as well!

Then at the same location as I turned around, I saw these cute benches with these overhanging things (not sure what they're called). I think you can hang just about anything here: ghosts, pumpkins, spiders, spiderwebs even. Or hearts. Hearts are nice. Oh, flowers would be really pretty! It could be a mini rose garden!

And then as I continued further onto Campus, I see another construction going on... as usual. But, this deserves a post entirely for itself as there is just too many things to say about the continuous construction, which I probably will not do because it's just not worth my time.

Then something reminded me of a reading I had to do in one of my classes called "The Garden of Forking Paths" as I saw that the University had many, many paths laid out on its campus, each leading to different destinations or point of destination. I thought it was pretty interesting.

And as I laid my eyes upon its golden wings, I stopped and stared as time seemed to stop for me to simply admire its grandness in all its beauty.

After admiring the grandness of nature, I took this picture of the building of where my next class was to be held, and noticed how I had never realized that despite the building looking old and dirty, the trees inside under an "open rooftop" looked really enchanting. I guess it's the gray, concrete material of the building contrasting with the sunlit nature inside its "womb".

Anyways, that was my walk. It was pretty fun, and I hope I'll be able to do it again as this isn't even a quarter of the size of the University. No wonder I bike everywhere.

77. A Legal Roommate

My roommate finally turned legal (meaning nineteen over here in Raincouver). Because her midterms are coming up (aka. tomorrow!), we didn't invite friends over. But, I tried to spice up our already cute and homey little home for this special occasion with some stringed royal purple balloons.

Because of the lighting (as you can see smacked right in the center of the picture), it looks ever so slightly better in black and white. And you can see what our Hermit Hole looks like too!

I bought her a new backpack (it's Jansport's infamous "hipster" Right Pack in Viking Red) as she wished for, and made a birthday card with her two cute cat stuffed animal decoration as models.

76. I Just Got A Letter

If you read the title with the Blue's Clues tune in mind, then you are pretty awesome! I loved watching Blue's Clues when I was a kid (and still guilty now!). It was one of my favourite shows. But, I like the original Steve more than the new Steve.... Anyways, back to the main point! I received a letter today from the ever amazing Pumpkin! Thank you!! Here's some pictures to show you how amazing she is! (Unfortunately, I didn't have my digital camera on hand, so I took it with my phone camera)

She made the envelope herself and aside from the generic Canada Post stamp, she has an adorable Le Petit Prince stamp with a picture of a sheep on it! Isn't that the most adorable thing ever? And she also has cute kitten stamp on it as well, and a cute dog sticker at the back!

Aside from the envelope, she also made the letter herself. It is expandable, and it is amazing. She drew the kitten and cute heart on and it's so amazing I even thought it was a stamp at first!

She also included this cute mini envelope and post card set, which was the final arrow to the heart. There's a funny looking monkey to seal the envelope and once you get past that, there's a mini postcard of two red bike-motorcycles (bikecycles?) and a message on the back.

I just wanted to share how amazing Pumpkin's letter was and it really brightened up my day. Not only is she very crafty, she's also a great artist! You can check out her blog here and her Tumblr here! You will not be disappointed!

75. A Quick Update

Wow, I have not posted in a while now. Since school started, it's just been pretty busy everyday with endless assignments, readings, studying, club meetings, and basic household chores now that I'm living away from my parents. However, last night while skyping with Pumpkin, I discovered that my roommate has an amazing scanner that I can use to scan all my artworks. So, I've been doing that since breakfast and I am so happy because I don't have to go to the library to scan anymore when I can just scan at home! Here's some of my scans of my artwork from some time ago (the two journals). There are lots more on my Tumblr and I usually have more finished art on my Tumblr than here, where I post the artwork in-progress, and my thoughts on them.

Click on them to enlarge to see it more clearly!

74. First Week Back

Finally, the first week back at the University! It took me two days to completely move in at my new place that I'm renting together with a good friend, and we finally got Internet on the sixth day! I'm so glad I have Internet again so I can stay connected with both friends and school work!

My new place is pretty spacious and we're still decorating it. I really like my desk area because it is very me. It has (fake) flowers, polariods and photo booth pictures hanging on the string, a cute mini calendar, pictures and (empty, but to-be-filled) picture frames, and other random cute bits and pieces that really make the area invitable and welcoming, so I actually feel happy when I work (at least that's the plan).

Other than the decoration, cooking for myself proved to be a bit difficult. So far, I have either ate out, made simple Japanese styled chicken curry for some friends, or just tomatoes and egg (with mushrooms and bean sprouts) for breakfast/lunch/dinner. I have yet to use my own rice cooker, which I was actually really looking forward to. Oh well, maybe next week.

Besides living away from my parents, school is also kicking in. This whole first week I was just running around trying to get everything on my planner done. Unfortunately, not everything has gone according to plan. Fortunately, however, one thing after another has been cleared up (amidst a lot of stress and hair pulling).

I haven't taken any pictures with my camera yet, which I am regretting because the Raincouver weather is finally kicking in. I'll try to take as many pictures as I can on my Vivitar so I can get them printed out and scanned in. That also reminded me to scan in my sketchbook pages using the University's scanner, which I hope, is at least of some decent quality.

73. Rant of the Day

A new mall opened up near where I live today... or rather it was renovated. Apparently, a lot of money was invested into renovating this mall and now it's the biggest one in the area. So, a lot of the shops were doing promotions, but I only restocked on Clinque's Acne Solutions (clearing concealer) from Sephora. The price went up for it again... before it used to be $17 and today I bought it for $19 (not including tax). At least I got a free Sephora tote with it. After that, my mom and I just walked around the mall, looking for the food court because we left before eating anything. We got to the food court and because the stores were pressed for time, some of them weren't even open yet (like Fresh Slice and Qoola). However, there was KFC, except their light wasn't open yet, so I asked one of the employees for when they would open and they said around thirty minutes. After waiting for at least twenty minutes, I asked again and they said twenty to forty minutes. By now, all I ate was three pieces of cracker I brought along just in case for situations like these. So, we gave up waiting and KFC lost a lot of customers that day. A lot. Especially because it was opening day as well. Too bad for them. So, we headed off to Walmart because I remembered that usually at every Walmart there is McDonald's. And joy to the world, there was. I got in line, ordered my food (it was a pretty quick queue), and waited for it to arrive. The people that ordered after me got their food already and I was still waiting, so I asked an employee that I think my order might have been cancelled because I waited for a long time already. And this other girl overhears me talking and says that my order was on the OTHER SIDE of the cashier when usually (and for the other orders), it's placed on the side where I was waiting. Stupid customer service. I hate places with crappy customer service. It was a horrible way to end off the day. Although the mall is close by, some of the stores had really bad customer service. And you'll think they'll be at least somewhat decent considering it's now the biggest mall in the area and it was just renovated and on top of that, on opening day! But no. It's like they don't even want to keep their business open anymore.

72. Interrogation from the Police

Okay, it wasn't as dramatic as I made the title sound, but it was somewhat of an interrogation! Talking... quick chat... same thing. But, first things first, an important note to keep in mind is that both my parents are not fluent in English. My dad is alright (more like mumbles with Chinese and English mixed together) and my mom is just... barely passing. Anyways, I went to do a little back to school shopping at the Outlet in the States with my mom (my dad just drove us there and slept during the time we shopped) and on the way back, because of my dad's weak English, he couldn't say what he wanted to say properly so Customs Canada guard got suspicious and had us go inside.

Once inside, we were sat down outside with phones taken away. First, they called my dad in and asked him some questions. I could hear bits and pieces from outside and although his English was broken, they could somewhat understand him (or what I assume). Then, after around three minutes or so, they called me in.

I walk in pretty calmly because I know I have nothing to hide because I didn't do anything wrong. So, the guard lady (woman guard?) asked me to empty out my pockets and pull them out, and I followed her instructions. I asked her if I needed to show her my back pockets as well and she said no (I wanted to make sure). After that she asked for my little bag and I passed it to her to inspect. And of all things, the first things she pulls out is my little pouch where I keep my sanitary supplies. I was wide eyed and whispered "that's where I kept my pads" because right in front of us was a male guard!! Then, she said loudly "Oh, I'm not scared." Inside my head: "Obviously you wouldn't be. But, I'll be embarrassed!! Geez." Whatever. It's not like I'll be seeing them again and if I didn't, they probably wouldn't remember something like that (hopefully). But, basically, she was searching for receipts and when she asked me for the receipt for the new sunglasses I bought, I told her I threw it out. She asked me skeptically "you threw it out?" Well, obviously I would have. It's highly unlikely I'll drive this long way back just to return something that's final sale?! Of course I didn't say that so I just said "Yea". Then she confidently claimed "Well, these must have been at least $100." And I said "No, I remember they were less for that because I had gotten a 30% coupon from the store." And she retorted back saying "But you don't have the receipt to show that." Damn.

Then, she continued to ask my questions and asking me when I arrived. Well, if I wasn't sleeping, I would know. Of course, I just said "I was sleeping so I'm not sure." Then she checked my wallet and counted my money and just asked some really rhetorical questions. I don't even. Like, seriously? This is a waste of both her and my family's time. As well as the tax (which I also pay for like the rest of the hardworking Canadian citizens who expect it to be used accordingly for useful purposes) that goes into paying for the facility, the equipment, and their wage. But I didn't want to get hurt by their 150 pound bodies (no idea, just guessing) so I kept my mouth shut; I value my life and goodness knows what "right" they have that they can pull up to use against me. Anyways, the whole point of this little "interrogation" was to scare me a bit hoping I would reveal something. But alas, I was not scared. Maybe if I was in middle school or early high school and have not been exposed to the real world/working society, then this little scaring trick might have worked. Unfortunately for them, I kept my cool. I have had to break out of my shy shell many times while working, talking to strangers (mostly adults and elders) and of course I have had the chance to talk to those with authority because I have volunteered for the city I used to live in as part of the Youth Council (where we associated with the Mayor of the City, various people working for the Government, which includes the police force). So no lady, you did not scare me. She even tried the old "we can seize your vehicle at anytime, but we won't today. But just know that we can." Inside my head, I was just thinking "who would want our sad, little, old caravan??? What would be the point??? Your superior probably would have been very disappointed."

Either way, it was quite an experience and although more happened, it's mostly just the "nod your head and go with what they say". Oh, and my poor mother with her poor, poor English skills. I was in the room for what felt like more than five minutes (but definitely longer than both my parents because of my English skills and they could probably get more out of me than trying for two hours pulling out their hair with my parents) and my mom was in there for less than two. Truthfully, it was quite funny (my mother that is) and the experience itself is definitely rewarding and one that I'll be able to pass along to my children and their children.

I will do a haul on what I bought sometime soon!

71. Early Morning Ramblings

I couldn't sleep properly again last night... and this morning. Sometimes insomnia hits me, and although it happens more when University is in session, I experienced it today as well. I know I'm tired, as well as my body and eyes, but I just cannot sleep. So I just end up reading books and comics for the night. So last night, and early this morning (it is currently 6:15 am as I type this), I tried reading my "The Fairytales of the Brothers Grimm" and "A kiss before you go" by Danny Gregory I borrowed. It didn't really work. In fact, "A kiss before you go" got me near to tears because you can just feel his raw emotions through the handwritten art journals. Anyways, I also usually read some Garfield comics on my phone before I sleep, but it didn't work this time. So, in the end, I actually slept for about an hour and a half at the most so far today. I do have some melatonin pills that I could take, but I'll rather not because I took some menstrual crap pills earlier. I don't have enough chemistry knowledge to say for sure that mixing the two is safe so I'll rather be safe than sorry.

70. Vancouver Outing

I went out to good ol' Vancouver today, near Gastown and it seemed as if time just flew by. I went with Pumpkin and because last time we went on a Sunday, everywhere was closed. However, not today! We could finally go check out some of the really cool stores and boutiques, and although they're all so expensive, it was really cool being able to check out these places! We first went to a cafe called Lost + Found and had some quick brunch. I just ordered soup because I had some homegrown corn in the morning. I really liked the cafe because it was just a wide open space, somewhat like a studio. The decorations were really cool and here's just one little section of the cafe.

After that, we just walked around and checked out some of the boutiques. We went into one called Artemisia and it was like a mix of Forever 21 and Urban Outfitters in a Topshop setting. The clothes and home decoration pieces were beautiful and really antique-like, but alas, it was expensive (hence the Urban Outfitters and Topshop reference). Either way, it was fun walking through the store and checking the products and clothes out.

Then, we went to Opus where they sell legitimate art supplies (not like Michael's). We both bought a large roll of craft paper because it was on sale for $2.20!! I should have bought another roll. Oh well, maybe next time when I finish the roll up and they have another sale for it. There is so many things I can do with it, like make wrapping paper, or my own notebook, or cute envelopes aside from just drawing on it! I'm so excited to use it!

Our last stop of the day was to the Vancouver Public Library. I borrowed three art books. They're mostly drawings or sketches by other artists. I like flipping through the pages and looking at other people's art. It can really motivate me. I borrowed Danny Gregory's "A Kiss Before You Go", David Shrigley's "What the hell are you doing?", and "Sketchtravel", a compilation of art from various artists. So far, I finished David Shrigley's "What the hell are you doing?" and I must say, viewer discretion is definitely advised. It is not meant for weak hearts and people who can't take sarcasm well. A lot of the pages made me go "Oh what." or "Oh my goodness" and make big eyed expressions because they were really unexpected. But, some of the pages were quite interesting and made me think. But, it was still mostly pretty sad and gruesome.

Overall, I feel that I accomplished a lot today and had a lot of fun (and exercise)! Unfortunately, I took most of my pictures on my Vivitar so I can only show you pictures once I get the film processed and printed. I can't wait to see how they turned out!