Best 11 moments in 2011

Decided to let pictures do the talking this year, since this is my first baby year in photography.

Come take a look at my timeline if you guys don't mind.

11.My first Valentines pineapple tarts.

10.Farewell with my best photographer and housemate, Eugenia.

9. Had my first trip with friends in Vancouver. I think, this is something that I've to get used to in future.

8. Completed my first musical project and felt proud of the musical side of me for the first time.

7. Celebrated my 22nd birthday and received one of the most creative birthday gifts in my life.

6. Penang trip with the BFFs. Thank you for making me in believing that, forever is not just a word, it is possible and works on us.

5. Visited my best friend in New Zealand after 4 years and that was one of my most inspiring trips.

4. Photo of us with dad after years. Dad looked genuinely happy in this picture, and this has added priceless meaning to the picture.

3. Climbed up Seoul tower with BFFs in rain, which spiked up our Oppa heat.

2. Traveled to Taiwan with my family after a long long time. Family time is always precious, thus I enjoy every moment, every second of it as much as possible.

1. Witnessing my best friend on earth getting married.

2011 is definitely a year to be remembered, as everyone in it has made it a better year relatively to 2010. I don't need a better year in 2012, so long that it is as good as 2011. You will always be in my heart, and I will move on with you, 2011.

Oh good December!

December is all about finals and holidays to me. I’ve dealt with my second last term 2 weeks ago with the end of my finals, and that also marks the start of my winter break simultaneously.

This year, I decided to stay put and celebrate the festive season with my fellow Vancouver friends since I had been busy travelling during winter for the past few years. I'm happy with my choice because every little thing that we’ve done in these 2 weeks makes me feel blessed with their presence.

So… this winter break is mainly about baking and cooking to me! Did massive cooking and some simple baking with my friend for our long-awaited ski trip.

First baking session of the term! The oven in my house is not functioning unfortunately, if not I could have foreseen more baking sessions in future. We baked banana and carrot cake as well as the regular brownies, in which both recipes were new to me.

And then there was sushi session! It was my first time making so many Sushis (approximately 50) myself besides my first attempt on making Unagi nigiri. I’ve to say, motivation was really the only pillar strength that kept me going for the whole 3 hours of making sushi alone. I love preparing food for people that I love because I love seeing their blissful faces out of the homemade meal, but I guess my cooking skills are not up to that level yet to witness that blissful moment, so more time for cooking in future is necessary.

Honestly, the effort and dedication I had put in for the trip was unbelievable. It all started from grocery shopping to baking and cooking, and lastly packing up, and it took me approximately 3-4 full days to get these things done.I think the time spent in food preparation was actually longer than the actual duration of the trip, which made me feel a little exhausted during the trip.

However, the compliments I've received from BFFs make me feel encouraged, especially when I was barely a good cook 4 years ago until I can cook decent meals and soup nowadays. The journey is not easy undeniably, and I just hope that my effort will be appreciated someday =). Thank you BFFs, your encouragement is definitely the precious light out of the dark.

Third massive cooking session was done with my lovely friends. We had homemade dinner together on Christmas and it was really lovely. As much as I enjoy celebrating Christmas commercially and doing it the outgoing way, spending Christmas in someone else’s house gave me a new definition of Christmas. Christmas celebration can be simple, lovely, warm despite there’s no Christmas presents involved.

I’m just happy that I’m an easily-contented person to have found this feeling awesome.

2011 is coming to an end although I can’t believe how time has sky rocketeered throughout the year. Hmmm, time for some self-reflection and wrap ups ehh, stay tuned!

I miss Taiwan!

I went to Taiwan 4 months ago and that was my 4th/5th visit to Taiwan. Seriously, Taiwan is my second most-visited country after Canada, so it really feels like my second home in Asia. Generally, I've very good impression about Taiwan based on all the Taiwanese friends I've made across the globe as well as the hospitality I've received every single time I go to Taiwan. I've to say, they're really an awesome bunch of people!

Gah, I'm just being struck by slight dose of Taiwan sick because my friend just went back to Taiwan for vacation. I shall blog about all of my summer trips in detail to wrap up this year.

Taiwan I miss you, please wait for my next visit!

The most epic dance in my life.

As I told you guys earlier, I danced for my sister wedding entrance. Seriously, dancing was never my thing and I was so freaked out when I got the invitation from my sister. She wasn't pushy on this, but being her only younger sister, I'd love to contribute as much as possible in turning her wedding into a memorable and special one. At the same time, I was worried for my frog-like dancing skills which made me feel so interior of this whole performance. So I was really struggling before I could come out with the final decision- to go all out for my sister for once. It was a once-in-a-lifetime thingy for her, so there was no reason for me to turn it down!

Anyway, we were supposed to follow the Glee dance below.



After watching the video, my only O.S in heart was that: 'I'll be fine as long as I'm not the first girl' because her part seemed to be most challenging to me, with the sweet yet elegant expressions and smooth movements. I was also very worried of the moving shoulder part because I just couldn't imagine myself doing it naturally!But life has always got a way to twist around you ehh, and somehow I was put in front to pair up with the groom's brother, Dwayne.

YADAAAAA.... how am I going to pull this off? In front of 700 people? WAEEEEE......DOUSHITEEEEEE.....DIMGAI.....

Aih, but what's decided is decided, I could only work harder in overcoming my weaknesses to not embarrass myself in front of 700 people.I was so nervous to a point where I started practicing in front of the mirror before the rehearsal to catch up with Dwayne. We were so awkward on our first rehearsal since we were both too shy to dance according to the video, with the other 10 pairs of eyes looking at our dance right on the spot. I felt so pressured!!!

Fortunately, I really had a good partner to guide me and correct my movements as much as possible. Despite of the difficulty in matching up with each other's timing, so much fun were shared through sweat and good food. I enjoyed my time with everyone in the dance crew who were all the J couple's old friends. I admire the friendship bond in them because they have been knowing each other since high school and are still willing to find time to come out with special event like this despite of their busy life schedule, exclusively for their old friends. It was truly a wedding which had friends and marrying couples actively engaging with each other in every joyous way possible. They also gave me so much support and advices to help me in improving my performance, which was very much appreciated.

Despite the exhaustion, I had to say, I had one of the best times in my life doing something out of the box like this.

Despite the bad dancing, I had to say, I did my best to make every effort and blessing count.

I just want to thank everyone who made this happen wonderfully, especially my partner, Dwayne! It must have been uneasy for you to carry me for so many times just to perfect the dance.

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR MAKING IT HAPPEN! Being accomplished is truly an awesome feeling.

A beautiful mess

Through timeless words, and priceless pictures

We'll fly like birds, not of this earth

And times they turn, and hearts disfigure

But that's no concern when we're wounded together

And we tore our dresses, and stained our shirts

But it's nice today, oh the wait was so worth it.

Jason Mraz's lyrics warm my heart in the midst of continuous self-battle.=)

Good fall

Autumn has slipped away silently.

I spent the last few days of autumn by visiting a special cafe and immersing myself into the beauty of coffee art. I also had in-depth conversations with people whom I feel comfortable talking to while taking the last opportunity to capture the last few moments of falling leaves.Hmm, talk is cheap but it's very soul-calming.

I'm starting to get used to the feeling of sending something away optimistically, because every good bye also marks a new hello at the same time. It was a good fall to me, with the usual calm yet a little surprises. Therefore, I'm wishing for a good winter as well, a good December to end my epic year.

See you again next year, Mr.Autumn!

我值得真正的快乐

Wednesday was a good day, I did the one last thing for my past and that soothed my feeling a lot. I knew it was the right thing to do because that's a number that I'll no longer call to, and that's a number that will never appear on the phone screen anymore.

It has been 2 years, without me realizing how times flies with the series of ups and downs in these 2 years. Paulo's quote 'Make peace with your past so that it won't destroy your present' truly rang the bell in me and gave me the ultimate push to do what I should have done much earlier.

Thank you Paulo, thank you my friends, and a big thanks to myself for never giving up every depressing moment which makes me a grateful person in love. I'm glad that everything makes me a better person for the worthy person. I think I've found one, and the rest is all about our progression for deeper understanding. I leave the challenge to time in clearing up my doubt and proving to me that everything is worth the wait.

Confession done。我觉得我值得真正的快乐 =）

Thank God for the gift =）

Life’s good recently despite of the insane workload, I feel like good things are coming my way surprisingly. Thank God, I’m really grateful for the one opportunity that I’ve asked for. Then I start thinking about the 'just nice' theory Val told me earlier, and how it fits into my situation now. As much as everyone hopes that this time will work out for me, I shall not put in extremely high hope to avoid the possible disappointment in the end. I appreciate the good start, but at the same time, I'm doing my best to stay sincere just to bring out the true side of me.For now, I'm just glad with our progression, it's just the way I like to handle things-taking a baby step at a time.

3 more weeks and there comes my break. I hope everything goes well till then.

Go natural!

My friend just commented on my before-and-after make up look, saying that I look very different on both sides.

She went on saying:' I thought it was a good thing because what's the point of making up without looking different or being much more pretty after that?'

I didn't take it as a humiliation although it upset me a little, it was more of a trying-to-prove-myself moment as I started browsing through my pictures to compare them myself. I really agree with her because drawing eyeliner and wearing colour contact lens do make a significant difference on my eyes; they glow up and beautify them. However, being a typical librain, I always seek for a balance between bare and cake face as I do not really want to mask myself with a completely different look after all the beautifying effects make up tools provide. It's ok to have a difference, but I just want to make sure that people could still recognize my true self behind all the gimmicks. To make that happen, I pay a lot of attention to my diet and skincare to ensure my skin looks clean,smooth, and radiant all the time, with or without make up. After all, inner beauty is still what I'm focusing on because I believe in the saying 'inner beauty will bring out outer beauty'.

I don't really mind showing bare face in front of the public. Indeed, I usually go to school with bare face because I'm just too lazy to include make up as part of my daily routine especially when I have 8a.m class! I just want to look more pretty on certain occasions because bare face makes me feel lacking, that is when I'll go for the make up. So yeah, this post is really for those who haven't seen my bare face before, and I thought, why not?

Yeap, it's always go natural most of the time and go pretty on the right occasion for me!

最后的21岁-自我认识篇

21岁，很多人都把它当成是从少年变成大人的转捩点，但有多少人真的领悟它的真谛，慢慢从思想中找到自我，找到那份属于自己的成熟呢？

我不晓得，我只知道，年纪的确让我有了身为大人的觉悟，一年比一年看透更多事情，一年比一年更收敛，这也许就是属于我的成熟吧！成熟，对现阶段的我来说，是懂得帮助与体谅别人的心情之余，也不忽略自己；是善用自己的智慧在值得投资的事情上，不让诱惑埋没了自己的能力；是充分地了解‘小不忍则乱大某’的重要性，再加以应用在日常生活中；是当全世界都质疑你的时候，你只需用行动来证明自己，让它代替语言上的反驳。

成熟，是在考虑任何事情前都加入100分的自己，还有100分我爱的人才能达到的品行。

这一年里，我让自己尝试了很多新的事物，并从中吸取宝贵的知识与教训。我觉得世界之大，我们的知识还真的显得很微不足道，所以更要不断地从各种管道来学习。无论是小知识或大智慧，都能让我对这世界的新奇度有所惊叹。

21岁，我第一次用自己的能力去买了一些自己喜欢的东西。从mp3，手机一直到电子琴，我真的觉得自己成就感满满，因为那都是靠自己一点一滴的努力与耐心去赚取的梦想。当中以买电子琴最让我高兴，因为那是我在这4年内超想做的事情，只是一直忍耐到今时今日才说服自己去买一部属于自己的梦想，就像可欣说的：‘Yay，你终于把梦想给买回家了！’。对啊，我离兴趣又靠近了一步！用自己的能力买东西真的很有成就感，也多了一份肯定自己的自信，就像程又青的熟女条规一样：‘我要用我自己的钱，买我自己的包包，装我自己的故事’。我也要用我自己的钱，创造属于我自己的故事。

21岁的我，在个性上也出现了一些变化。去年患上厌食症让我深有感触，也因为知道是自己情绪管理不佳进而导致精神与压力不佳，所以开始觉得很多事情还不如自己的健康重要。对于大部分的事情，我都选择了以最能舒缓自己压力的方式来解决它。我也非常注意自己的情绪管理，尽可能不引起过度的悲伤或愤怒，情绪尽量不受别人操控就好。至于对在乎的人，我选择了更直接与中肯的相处方式，把自己真实的想法都传达给他们，让他们明白我对他们的用心。对不在乎的人，我也毫不犹豫地选择了删除的方式还对方自由。这也许听起来很狠，但那绝对是我最后的温柔，至少在足够理由发飙的情况下保持冷静让我觉得我很有风度。因为无奈，也不想再让自己有所伤害，所以选择了放开，希望他们能够找到更懂得与他们相处的人。强人所难本来就不是我的个性，而我也不想再亏待自己过不值得我过的生活。

开心，本来就是一种选择，是一种接受，所以我打开那扇大门，正式欢迎它进入我的生活。

21岁，我觉得我活得够精彩，够自在，也够愉快。