大自然的魅力

身处在仿如仙境的大自然的时候，只想以最真实的面貌留下这值得纪念的地方。

在那一刻，仿佛所有的化妆品都是多余的。除了疲于平日繁多的化妆步骤而决定素颜外，我更想 好好享受被大自然征服的感觉，踏踏实实地被它拥抱着。生长在城市，每天面对繁忙的日子，很善于忽略身边的小风景，所以更懂得珍惜大自然的美丽，看见漂亮的风景与呼吸新鲜空气的时候也不忘感谢神的恩赐和自己的福气。

原来，面对大自然的坦诚可是那么地舒适自在，无需多做修饰，只要一副风景，一份单纯，就足以丰富心灵上的视野。这，大该就是大自然的魅力。

U.S fashion post

I don’t consider myself as a super fashionable person despite my love for clothes shopping, thus the lack of fashion posts throughout my blogging life. However, I realize that there are numerous full-length body shots during my U.S trip, so I decided to make my first ever fashion post here.

Mk says: ‘Fart loud in fashion’, so I really want to fart out my confidence here by showing what I love to wear.

However, I have my own set of preferences when it comes to fashion. It doesn’t matter if people disapprove my styles, because I have my own set of preferences when it comes to fashion and believing in myself makes me proud and happy. All my friends can’t bear with my love for floral-printed and lacey clothes/short pants because half of my wardrobe is about them! The other half of my closet is filled with casual and simple clothes to blend with the floralness. My life principle has come to act on my fashion styles as well, because I am more fond of a colourful life over a dull and mysterious one, which explains well for my floral prints fever. They make me look cheerful, youthful, while bringing up the feminine side of me.

Short jumpsuits are my other love because they are really convenient and trendy. Dress up in one piece and you’re all set to go! This really matches well with my laziness. Most importantly, they have excellent concealing effect- longer legs and smaller butt, which is the perfect combo for me!!

However, my summer clothing is more vibrant than my winter clothing, simply because of the weather. Once I put the sweater on, you barely see what I wear inside, and that is VERY demotivating. On top of that, the cold weather is devastating enough to make me think less about the fashion and more about the warmth of clothes.

I believe my fashion preference also comes from my consideration about suitable fashion styles on me. I pick the styles which I think will look good on me amongst the sea of trendy clothes every year and I just work around them. I don’t like to splurge big bucks on a single look, so I spread out my budget wisely on various items that I can mix and match to come out with different styles. Wearing clothes that suit your body and image are very important, and that’s one of the critical fashion advices I adhere to.

=) Wear what you love, and enjoy what you wear.

*Thank you MK for the inspiration.*

An irreplaceable song

This is the only JB's song that I listen to, and I really can't believe that it has been 4 years already, yet I am still so drawn to it.

I find my paradise, when you look me in the eyes. =)

Done with school!!

God, how long did I not leave a footprint here again?

It has been so long that I almost forgot I had a blog. Just joking…. but it has been a while since I last blogged.

My life has been so happening in these two months, so happening that I probably would need 10 posts to properly write about these events. Nevertheless, I’m glad that most of these things are positive and have added significance to my life.

As you all know, I have graduated from university! *applause*

It’s only till graduation that I realize how much I miss school and really love UBC. Forget about the tuition fees, UBC gave me a comfortable learning environment to enjoy my university life, which was one of the main reasons I chose it initially. I love how the campus combines convenient facilities and amazing studying atmosphere in one place, so much that I always call it a ‘UBC town’ instead of ‘UBC campus’, simply because it has been expanding so immensely that supermarkets and new residential areas are blooming around the campus. It even has a farm and several museums that you can venture into, in which the farm amazes me because it gives some emphasize to students in land and food systems. Yes, I feel so pathetic about our faculty building and lab, at least the UBC farm does us justice slightly.

If you were wondering, UBC didn’t pay me for this advertisement! It all comes within a heart of an alumnus you see. Thank you UBC for the great 4 years!

Congregation was a special moment, despite of the previous experiences in high school and elementary school, this time was slightly different because it would be my last graduation ceremony in life if I didn’t pursue my master degree. Thus, it marks an end to my academic life, and at the same time, a new chapter of my life to get in touch with the working society and slave myself for a job. Most importantly, family was as anxious as me for this very moment to come. It has been 4 years, 4 years of striving and pushing hard on myself in gaining independence to reach this stage. I was not a smart and promising student, which was why I put in a lot of efforts in everything I do to compensate with my shortcomings. I never expected myself to outstand the others academically, but one thing I wanted to make sure was that, I took full responsibility for my own acts and I worked hard for the outcome. Despite of all the challenges, both ups and downs, I made it this far and it was this accomplishment that made me feel proud of myself. Apart from the book knowledge gained, I think I have also matured quite a bit, personality wise, and drew the power to withstand pressure positively. Responsibility and pursue to happiness, it is.

And now, it’s time to chase my musical dreams and gaining some hands-on experiences in the food industry! I can foresee an amazing life awaits me already =)

Looking like a doll for the first time

I was arranging my folders and accidentally bumped into these camwhore pictures I took after my sister's wedding last year.

I thought it was a total waste to not take any picture with nice make up and hairdo, since there's no way that I can look like that with my current make-up skills.I only prioritize on thick eyeliner and eye shadow because of the single eyelid I possess, eye make up becomes the key-determining step in defining my look. Yet my guy friends still encourage me to put on fake eyelashes because they are curious with my heavy make-up look.

Although I feel complimented and I'm certainly glad that people perceive it as natural looking, this is definitely not a light make up in my opinion.Seriously, are you kidding me? This is considered light make up?

2 years ago, my friend said I looked like Wondergirl's Sohee, and now, I'm looking like Kara's Goo Hara to some people.One conclusion I can draw from this observation is that:

Single-eyelid girls can rock like those who have double eyelids, so don't even bother doing plastic surgery already! Pay more attention to your make up skills and skin condition instead!

Eat green, think green, and live green!

Being a part of the earth’s citizen, I realized that I should do my part to promote some responsible actions that will sustain the Mother Nature. Seriously, I’m sick of people who will only be reminded on the significance of helping the planet occasionally and join the fever just to keep their facebook statuses updated.

‘It’s okay if you choose to ignore about the green campaign and continue to live like an idiot, but don’t attempt to pretend like you care so much about it when you don’t realize your actions in daily lives.’

I always think that the underlying meaning behind Earth day and the other green campaigns is not solely to provoke people on earth sustainability for a single day, but to encourage people to make a change in their lives in the long term because that is the most effective way to save the planet. The 1 hour of electricity saved on earth day will not help to stop the ozone layer from getting thinner, but wise usage on earth resources sounds more promising in conserving the green.

Yes, so don’t tend to think that the one piece of paper, can or plastic wrapper you recycle everyday is not important, because these are the things that exist in our daily lives and make the largest contribution to the recycle use of earth resources.

Come to think of it, I’ve made some significant changes on my lifestyle throughout the years, simple because these things are not difficult to be implemented and they make such a huge difference to the world if every person is doing his/her own part. I’ve listed some of my lifestyle and dietary changes here just to show you how easy you can contribute to the world by making little effort everyday:

1. Reduce overall meat consumption, specifically beef consumption. Beef emits high amount of methane (greenhouse gas), thus reducing beef intake is most likely to be more effective than cutting down on other meat consumption. I like to include more meat alternatives and vegetables in my meals just to cut down on meat consumption. However, notice the key word REDUCE but not complete cut down, so striking for a balance between meat and vegetables is the key to a nutritionally balanced and environmentally friendly diet.

2. Reduce take-out foods and drinks. I barely do take outs because I don’t really like the idea of using one-time chopsticks and plastic container just for a meal. It’s either I cook at home or I eat out. In fact, I even cut down my beloved bubbletea drinks to less than 8 drinks per year for health and environmental purposes.

3. Use SHOPPING BAG, use SHOPPING BAG, and use SHOPPING BAG. Enough said.

4. Turn off heater, turn off heater, and turn off heater/lights every time I go out.Be nice to your landlord’s pocket and the earth at the same time, why not?

5. Accumulate your clothes to a significant amount for every laundry. I know some people love to do laundry even for a few clothes but I personally think that it’s such a waste of money, water, and detergent. If you’ve heard of the water-pouring sound coming out from the washing machine, you’d get an idea of the massive amount of water used for every round of laundry. So I like to do laundry only when necessary and I’ll hand wash few pieces of clothes that are urgent without having to throw them into washing machine.

6. Re-use bubble wraps, plastic bags and present wrappers. As a girl, I do online shopping occasionally and there are usually plastic wrappers for clothes that are bought online. I usually place them nicely in a big bag and reuse them for posting parcels or other use when appropriate.

These are just some examples that I can think of for now. In fact, I believe this is not a mandatory list for everyone as we all have different lifestyles, but we can always integrate and incorporate suitable ideas into our lives to make a change.I'm so proud that the 4 years of independent life did not turn me into a lazy bum but I've become more considerate and responsible of my social contributions.

My point is, don’t underestimate the power of individual mere efforts, because when accumulated together, the sea of individual efforts can soar into the sky. Living a comfortable life and contributing to earth sustainability can be a mutual existence, so have fun living green everyone!

A gift for BFF

I worked on a mini project for my BFF over the weekend because the threesome's birthdays fall between March and April and I realized that I haven't been doing much for them on these memorable days. This was definitely the most relaxing and enjoyable project so far, so relaxing that I could close my eyes and smile for the piece most of the time. I'm more inclined to do medleys because I always end up playing some other song in the middle of a song, in other words, I can't play a full song unless I play it with a sheet. The only reason I can explain is that I'm just too into my own world of composition, and that involves mainly imagination and innovation.

Sorry for the out-of-sync video, that has been my major problem of all times and I don't know why. My video usually gets compressed with lower quality or screwed up music when I upload it onto Youtube *sigh*.

I wish I could come up with a longer medley but time constraint is really my biggest problem now since I'm still battling with my final finals. But....but...I really hope that all of you will feel my message through the piano, my BFFs. Happy Birthday, and happy 11th frieniversary! =)

Love,

Mun and the piano

Revisiting California next month!

I'll be revisiting California next month, but it's slightly different this time since I'll be going with my family, that makes me look forward to the trip even more! I've always loved California for its blessed sunshine and diversity, causing neighboring cities to look geographically and culturally interesting. Yes, I definitely like the balance between marvelous scenery and youthful adventure in California.

I never really have a long vacation with my parents since God knows when, simply because keeping up with everyone's schedule is such a challenging task, especially with kids booming in the family.Courtesy to my graduation, my parents will come over to Vancouver and the states again, and we will be flying off to California for a 2-week vacation.

That means, I'll have a chance to take a picture with Pooh at Disneyland, re-challenge my acrophobia at Grand Canyon and eat the tortoise bun again! That sounds like a perfect vacation to me!

OBVIOUSLY I do love it! That's my major motivation to work like a cow now!

换个角度，换个心情

有时候，并不是少了一个人就一定会一直伤心下去，也可以是，正因为少了一个人而更加地努力。因为努力，所以每一天都过得很有意义。=）

也因为有这样地一首歌，打从心里地温暖了我的心，让我相信，这世界还是拥有很美丽的事情。

My endless passion

I had my last lecture of the term on Wednesday, carrying a mixed feeling to class for all the things that had happened in 4 years, as that would be my last time sitting in a lecture hall if I did not pursue Master's degree in future. I spent a month revisiting building by building and taking my leisure time in different buildings for the past month, just to get the last few moments of a student's life again. I reassured myself that university life did make me feel good after all despite the stress and heavy workload, and it was indeed a place where I learned to be a better person, both personality and academic wise, from all the opportunities I was exposed to.

I never enjoy the feeling of ending something, but I'm getting better and better at getting rid of the emotional side of me by thinking and acting positively. Positive energy is the only thing that carries me on after all. Furthermore, a good bye could also mean a new hello to my new chapter of life, right? I shouldn't be so sad over those things that have made me the person I am today, because they provided me a clearer vision on my life goals.

I just want to say, thank you UBC, for all the good old times.

So what's up after graduation?

Not sure if you guys have sensed it already, but I've a growing passion in composing music and I wish to expand on that. One thing that makes me so proud is that I do not need a music sheet to play a song nowadays, and I can fully utilize my creativity in playing a song freely. I'm also learning on beats mixing to make my own composition more vibrant, but it's still too early to talk about that since I've not fully mastered the skills yet. That requires a lot of brainstorming and practice of course, as I'm never a spontaneous player and I really want to perfect my work as much as possible. However, reaching this stage itself is a tremendous growth to me, as I still remember how much I struggled at the beginning and could spend the whole day just to come up with a few lines. I believe that was not a stage many could persevere without enough passion to die for. Honestly, choosing a passion that you can die for is the most important thing because that makes you feel like the uttermost unique person on earth even when no one approves your work, it still comes within the voice of your heart!

Friends asked me to actually send out demo to music labels as a breakthrough in starting up my music career as a composer. Not that I don't want to, but I think there's still a huge area of improvement for me to work on before getting to that stage. I think I'm not up to the level yet, and I will definitely try when I think I'm ready.

Also, a friend has pondered a question on me for numerous times. He said: don't you feel lonely? His definition of lonely is having no one to share your happiness in life and someone to love. But that's just not how I define loneliness, to me, being lonely is not knowing what you want in life and losing the self esteem in you slowly. Loneliness only occurs when you do not love your life enough to have made it a better one by yourself and the people around you.I've so much plans in mind that I'd love to spend my whole life venturing into, so why should I feel lonely? Studies and music haven taken up most of my time, thus I really have no time remained to culture any sense of loneliness in me. To me, everyday is a day that's worth to be remembered and loved, and supportive family and friends always give me so much love and support that are beyond my needs, so much that I don't see the reason to mourn over something that I've no control in life. You guys have never stopped believing in my ability, and that really gives me endless motivation to keep trying for what I want. I genuinely feel loved everyday, isn't that the most important thing already?

Can you feel my love for you guys?

Unbaked greetea cheesecake

It was my friend's birthday 2 days ago and I had no idea on what to get him for his birthday. So I accepted his friend's idea of getting him food since I believe food satisfies guys' stomach after girlfriend .

But.. there was another problem I had to overcome with: I have no oven at home!

Ottoke Ottoke?????? Don't worry, there's always a thing called unbaked cake, which involves pure mixing and refrigerating the product. And I... went for that idea undoubtedly!

I snapped a few shots of the cake-making process this time, just to give you guys a heads up. As you can see, the process was really simple, so simple that I guess the only complicating part was to wash all the bowls and utensils =_= Seriously, I hate dish washing!

I thought the cake appearance looked decent given the preparation time I had ( only refrigerated it for 4 hours), even scooped out a tiny bit to ensure the taste was fine before packing.

When arriving at the restaurant, I handed over my cake to the staff and asked her to put it in the fridge. THAT WAS WHERE THE MISTAKE BEGAN! She asked me if I wanted to put the cake in fridge or freezer,and I silly head agreed on the fridge. I thought that wouldn't make a difference since I had refrigerated the cake for 4 hours beforehand. But noo... I was too naive to believe in that! To my shock, the cake was melted when it was served and looked nothing like the picture * MEGA UPSET* It just looked like a green-coloured yogurt T_T

That wasn't the saddest thing of all, what saddens me the most was the remark made by the waitress in the restaurant : ' Did you make the cake? I haven't seen a cake like that in the shops, it looks so 'special'. * glass shattering sound* Also, the cake looked flatter than I expected it to be, not sure what went wrong in the process but it was definitely an area of improvement.

I felt sad and embarassed and that fires up my determination to MAKE A GOOD GREENTEA CHEESECAKE NEXT TIME, IN AND OUT! I just can't stand the remorse feeling of not being able to give my best for my friend due to packed academic schedule.

Here's the recipe if you are interested to try it out! PLEASE PUT THE CAKE IN FREEZER, I REPEAT, FREEZER NOT FRIDGE.

http://foodsventures.wordpress.com/2012/03/28/green-tea-cheesecake-no-bake

My Big Bang Cover

Haven't been making video in 9 months and here it comes! I was really busy shuffling between this project and assignments recently, mainly because I wanted to take part in the big bang global contest although chances of winning are slim. Honestly, I don't expect myself to win at all, but I just want to make an effort to make things happen, I feel great when I've done something beyond my potential.Somehow contest is a good way to motivate me in perfecting my piano skills, if not I would really slack off from updating my youtube channel regularly.

I will talk more about this project when I'm really free, but for now, =) I hope you guys enjoy my cover and vote, vote , vote!

Here's the link

http://www.ygfamily.com/artist/Event_Info.asp?LANGDIV=E&ATYPE=2&ARTIDX=3&SchKey=Y&Page=1&IDX=42



You can search for my video under 'instrumental play' tab, followed by 'date added' tab. My video is on the 3rd page for now, and once you've seen it, just click the 'like' beside my video =D. It would be even greater if you could help me spread the words around, it's not only about winning the contest, but it's about how I'll feel encouraged by your votes in my passion.Kamsahamnida!

So grateful for this song

Although I'm quite frustrated with the heavy workload during my spring break, something appeared and cheered me up tremendously. I'm so thankful for them!! Big bang with their latest track named 'blue'! Both of these are my favourites, seriously what more can I ask for ? Thank you February for bringing Big Bang back, and I'm now full of energy to pull through another 2 harsh months. 화이팅!!

My life recently

1. Seeing Jo Kenn’s growth periodically is really a blissful process. I love how I can gain power from my surrounding, because these trivial things do matter a lot to me. Love you, Jo Kenn BB!!

2. My life has been much more systematic and productive this term. Why? Because I spend most or all of my break time in the library due to the long break time. As a matter of fact, my life is no different than a working person because I spend around 7-9 hours of time in the university 4 days a week. I guess my hard work will be paid off as I find it easier to keep up with my studies by doing consistent work. Furthermore, there are only 2 more months left, so what is so hard to persevere for that remaining 8 weeks?

3. Job hunting has been part of my daily routine nowadays. As much as I’m excited about the freedom after graduation, I’m also worried about my future simultaneously. Life after graduation will mean complete financial independence and responsibility for my own life. Well, at least I’m doing my best to prepare ahead by forgoing some trips and reducing some luxury expenditure just to make sure that I will make it for the first few months of the jobless phase.

4. Your presence. Your presence makes my life better. I really adore how you share one of the most significant moments in my life with me through silent support, and somehow you always appear by coincidence just when I need a dose of you.

I’ve watched a short movie recently and there’s a movie quote which left such an impact in me. The girl said: “How much of a guy do I deserve? Do I need a perfect guy? Or maybe, I just don’t care about the perfection at all.”

I think I’m just like her. I don’t need a perfect guy, but a good guy whom I like will do.I just need someone who is willing to walk with me together, because together is the key. However, a higher level of confidence and sense of security are needed to re-assure my feeling this time, because I really want to avoid making the same mistake again.

I believe, patience is needed for a wise outcome, so I will stick to that.

4 years of effort to this

I can't believe that there are only 3 more months left to the exact convocation day, as I'm still working extremely hard to get to the final stage. Taking graduation pictures has definitely induced my feeling of being a fresh grad soon, which also means a step closer to the jobless phase. As much as I'm uncertain about my future, the anticipation gained from graduation still excites me a lot, and I can find no word to properly describe my 4 years of effort in reaching my ultimate goal- ending my student's life. However, with so many blessings from you guys, I know I will persevere.

Preseverence is not an option this time, it is a necessity. =)

只要两个人的心没有时差，那距离就不是问题

今天刚看完一部电视剧，男主角说‘ 只要两个人的心没有时差，那距离就不是问题’。

我觉得很对，也很适合套用在我的情侣朋友身上。因为他们的坚持，让我看见了他们的努力，甜蜜，与幸福。

而我，用了两个情人节去明白，人无时无刻，只要活得开心，就是一种幸福。那是个人选择，与别人无关，所以不一定要等到别人把幸福送到你门前才会快乐。

今年情人节，依然一个人，但却不孤单，戒了坏习惯，学会了遗忘， 也学会了体谅。那是好不容易得到的一种心情，所以我更珍惜现在所拥有的一切。

感谢大家，因为那是我的福气，我知道。