Series of Haikus

Haiku: an unrhymed verse form of Japanese origin having three lines containing usually five, seven, and five syllables respectively; also: a poem in this form usually having a seasonal reference.

My favourite poetic form.

Sets of three lines abuse poetic license. 5-7-5 syllables reveal my sentiments. Four stanzas (roughly) represent the four seasons that this poem goes through.

Two lovers entwined.
Darkness hinders their prudence--
Blinded by passion.

A search for the light
Incites their differences;
Clarity revealed.

Painful contusions
Don't cover one's exterior,
but one's very core.

Illumination--
flicker of hope ignited.
To new beginnings.

I want to start a colour revolution,

but I am without means.

I'm a writer without her quill and scroll;
a photographer without her camera;
a painter without her paintbrushes, buckets of paint, and a gesso-covered canvas;
a sculptor without earth.

I am without means to start a colour revolution,

and lost I am.

An Intern's Ship

Tomorrow I start my summer internship at an international development charity. I’ll mostly be working on developing an anti-human trafficking program for local NGOs to implement. The excitement, unfortunately, is beginning to wear off only to be replaced by a fear of becoming bored by repetitive mundane tasks and being cooped up in an office.

I am easily bored, which frightens me because that could prevent me from holding a job in the future. A job where I sit behind a desk in an office all-day long is something I want to avoid. Seriously. I want work that allows me to interact with the people my employer is intended to benefit.

However, having held the same part-time job for a year and a half is any indication of my ability to maintain long-term employment then maybe I have some hope. Although I sometimes find myself calling in sick and often have to drag myself to go (literally) I’ll probably be returning in the fall. Why? Because the money is an enticing enough reason to work!

That monetary incentive also worries me. I’m afraid that even though I may find myself suffocating inside an office I’ll endure it simply because of the pay. It’s very likely because I’ll be looking for an excellent salary to make up for working in an office environment.

Hopefully tomorrow’s session goes well. We’ll be going over in greater detail what exactly I’ll be working on for the duration of my internship so I doubt I’ll be starting work just yet. Anyway, I really must keep up a positive attitude if I want the outcome of this internship to be different from last summer’s.

Arr?

ARR!
SPOILER (and gushing) ALERT!

I finally saw Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End and I absolutely loved it even though it wasn't well-received by critics. I heard negative reviews about the movie but I didn't abandon hope like the Commodore's men abandoned ship. I really liked the first two so I was obviously to like this one.

The movie was definitely more action packed than the Dead Man's Chest, which I thought had too much action but I guess I jumped the gun, but it was worth it. All the action was intertwined with comedy and drama--I mean, a marriage proposal and then an impromtu wedding ceremony during a massive pirates showdown only to have Turner's heart stabbed and removed at the end of it?!

As action-heavy as it was it was plot-heavy as well. Moreso than the other two but that's expected because they introduce several new characters and thoroughly developed them along with the old characters while answering many questions.

This installment had great special effects but the set scenes and costumes were even more impressive. It was evident that it was a (well-spent) big budget film.

I'm a big fan of surreal films so I was pleased to see a scene that had a hint of surrealism in it. The scene I'm talking about is the one with Sparrow and the rocks that turn into crabs. It was also interesting to see so many Sparrows to represent his multi-faceted and crazy personality. Bi-polar disorder anyone?

If you haven't seen it, then I suggest you do regardless of what those silly critics say. Unless you didn't like the last two of course.

Anyway, I spent a good portion of the film drooling over...

CAPTAIN WILLIAM TURNER! Orlando Bloom is undeniably irresistable. I was just smitten, I tell you. Smitten! I was extremely jealous of Ms. Elizabeth Swann.

The nauseatingly romantic in me was really glad that the amourous relationship between Turner and Swann was developed even more. They did and didn't end up together; they knew they were in love with one another and were married by Captain Barbosa but Turner became the next Davy Jones so he only surfaces for a day every ten years.

Oh, love! Okay. I'm done with the gushing.

Fantastic movie, everyone.

Graduation

Several weeks ago I attended my university’s commencement exercises to see several close friends graduate and last night I was at my high school’s to see my sister graduate. Witnessing the two graduations when I’m in-between both crossroads was a remarkable experience. I saw where I was two years ago and I saw where I will be in two years time

Two years. 24 months. 730 days. 17,520 hours. 1,051,200 minutes. It all passes by so quickly and you don’t even realize it until 63,072,000 seconds later.

Graduating from high school was exciting and scary because you were closing one chapter and opening a new one in the book of your life. Although the same can be said about graduating from university I think the latter experience is more frightening because it holds more uncertainties.

Graduating from college is what you toil over for some twenty years. The first two decades of your life is planned out the moment you were born—go elementary school, then middle school, then high school, and then college. Once you graduate from college the plan for you ends and the uncertainty begins.

What do you do? Should you volunteer for the Peace Corps or Teach for America, go to graduate school, work? Where do you go? Should you stay in the city where you graduated, move states, leave the country, go back home?

For the first time you have to decide which path to walk on instead of walking on your pre-determined path.

Well, I still have some two years to figure it out. Right now I have to prepare for my other sister’s middle school graduation.

It's My Birthday (Tomorrow) and I Can Cry If I Want To

T W E N T Y

The big two-oh! It’s a number that my obsessive compulsive personality likes because it’s nice and round, it’s even, and it’s a multiple of (mostly) even numbers. It also seems much more defining than nineteen. After twenty years my OCD has only worsened. I don’t actually have OCD, well, at least I’ve never been diagnosed with it!

Rather than reflecting on the past to dwell on what I should have and could have done, I made a list of twenty things I must do during my twentieth year. They’re a mix of different tasks—doing something new, finishing something, getting over a fear, etc.

In no particular order they are:

1. Visit a new country or state.
2. Ask one person whom I have just met what his/her favourite book is and read it.
3. Dive into my closet and sort out the clothes I want to give to charity.
4. Make use of my scuba diver's license and actually go diving.
5. Finish a painting/drawing/sketch/anything artistic I start but never finish.
6. Buy things I like for my siblings and not end up keeping it for myself.
7. Go camping.
8. Get a new and completely different hairstyle.
9. Go somewhere with someone without actually knowing where I'm going.
10. Exercise regularly. Seriously.
11. Get my driver's license.
12. Go skinny dipping.
13. Spend an entire weekend volunteering.
14. Cook a friend (or a group of friends) an entire meal—appetizer, main course, and dessert.
15. Make Dean's List.
16. Sing a song at full volume in public. Ok, maybe in front of an audience of one or two people.
17. Have a decent conversation with my dad.
18. Do a new sport (skiing? bungee jumping? sky diving?)
19. Get a new piercing.
20. Sponsor a child's education for a year.

Some are rather silly like #3 and #6 but I actually need to get around to doing them. I’ve been meaning to clean out my closet for some three years now but the task just seems so intimidating (I have a lot of clothes… Most of which I never use anymore), and whenever I buy things for my siblings I always end up keeping them for myself and feeling guilty when they say, “I like that! Why didn’t you buy it for me?”

Some are exciting like #8 and #12. Whenever I go for a haircut I don’t even have to say what I want because my hair stylist knows, and I don’t think running up around a friend’s pool and jumping in to swim as a child counts as skinny dipping.

Some seem impossible like #15 and #17. Making Dean’s List means having to do so many more things (studying more productively, not procrastinating), and then there’s my dad…

I'll post updates each time I cross something off my list!

I have 365 days to complete these twenty things. Actually, I believe I have 366 days because 2008 is a leap year! Anyway, time starts now!

Thursday Threesome

Onesome: Somewhere, anywhere? Vacation season is just ahead; do you have any plans mapped out yet?
Unfortunately, I don't have anything that exciting planned. It's just a summer internship and the need to go to a beach with friends who are flying in for that.

Twosome: Beyond this week? How far ahead do you plan for your days off? Or do they just show up and you enjoy whatever happens?
I tend to just go with the flow just coming up with plans a week or two before they actually materialize. However, even in the planning stages it's always still up in the air.

Threesome: The Sea. Does that sound like the trip for you? Somewhere beyond the sea to an island for a week or two or twenty?
I already have a plan to go to an island (but I'm still not sure if it's actually going to happen just yet...)! I love the ocean; relaxing on the beach watching the sun rise and set, snorkeling, scuba diving. It's love.

Visualize My DNA

Read my VisualDNA™ Get your own VisualDNA™

Sums me up pretty well, don't you think?

Rollercoaster

Two long-term relationships in the span of four years teaches you that nothing should ever be taken for granted nor is anything as smooth-smailing as you want. You also learn that it's one tumultuous rollercoaster ride; it has its highs and lows, its excitement and dread, its calmness and turbulence. There are some rollercoasters that make you feel exhilirated at the end and some that are scarring. Overall, it is an enjoyable experience but it can get arduous.

I'll end my love:rollercoaster analogy here.

I am a strong believer in the innate goodness of people and in karma, so I do try to be the best person I can be because they will do the same. However, I am only human and I do occassionally trip, which is when karma comes up behind you to bite you in the ass. Karma must me like a lot because its bite has been clamped onto my ass for quite some time now with its teeth reaching the core of who I am.

Towards the end of my first (real and serious) relationship I simply gave up and became emotionally unattached. It went from an intra-city long distance relationship to a transcontinental one, and I'm someone that needs the physical intimacy of a relationship. We've always been physically separated but our forthcoming emotional separation only materialized after I lied to him to make him happy, stayed with him because that was what he wanted, and used him to help me get through the daily routines of life... I met someone who I knew could make me happy and I could love with every ounce of my being.

Now it feels like the tables have been turned; what I did to someone is being done to me. Has karma finally caught up with me? Or am I just neurotically overanalyzing every tiny detail that I like to do much too often?

...

I won't be including the rest of what I wrote because I don't want to write it off like an angry school girl furiously writing away in her diary.

I'm in love with you, and I always will be--you know that but I'll continue reminding you. I just want you to show me that you love me. Anything at all. A girl likes to reminded every once in a while.

Flight of the Conchords- Business Time

*I* know what time it is when you're just down to your socks.

Haha. This video always makes me smile.

Sexual Orientation

Klein Sexual Orientation Grid

I scored an average of 1.29

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

Heterosexual

Bisexual

Homosexual

Meaning

This result can also be related to the Kinsey Scale:

0 = exclusively heterosexual
1 = predominantly heterosexual, incidentally homosexual
2 = predominantly heterosexual, but more than incidentally homosexual
3 = equally heterosexual and homosexual
4 = predominantly homosexual, but more than incidentally heterosexual
5 = predominantly homosexual, incidentally heterosexual
6 = exclusively homosexual

Summary

The idea of this excercise is to understand exactly how dynamic a person's sexual orientation can be, as well as how fluid it can be over a person's lifespan. While a person's number of actual homo/heterosexual encounters may be easy to categorize, their actual orientation may be completely different. Simple labels like "homosexual", "heterosexual", and "bisexual" need not be the only three options available to us.

Take the quiz?

*Shrugs*

It's impossible to be completely straight.

It Takes A Nation of Millions to Hold Me Back

I enjoy travelling and I think that I am well-traveled but this map of countries I have been to makes me feel pathetic. Asia (East and South-East) and North America are the only continents I've been to--no Australia, no Europe, no Africa, no South America. However, I do take comfort in knowing that I have experienced the cultures of these countries coloured in red more than a lot of people who simply visit it for a few days or weeks for the tourist attractions.

Regardless of what people may say or how a textbook defines an attachment to a culture, I do feel connected to many of these cultures after having grown up in and around it. It's a connection that has helped define who I am today. I can't really describe it, well, I'm certain it's possible but I'm not exactly the most articulate person. Alas.

What's even sillier than the above-map? The next one.

I have another two to three years so I might as well make the most of (numbered) breaks. I'm probably going to avoid the states in between the east and west coast.

Who wants to travel the world with me?

Guilty Pleasures

I enjoy and do many things that people often find either odd or embarrassing. These "odd," "embarrassing," and simple things are my guilty pleasures. Here are 46 of them!

1. Squealing with excitement while I’m snorkeling or diving.
2. Wearing flip flops regardless of where I’m going.
3. Horribly romantic and sappy movies.
4. Going to the zoos.
5. Roaming airports during my stopovers.
6. I still listen to the Backstreet Boys.
7. Soft kisses and nibbles from my ear down to my neck...
8. Boy bands’ ballads: Backstreet Boys, Westlife, Boyz II Men (they are a boy band!), 98°, you name it!
9. Wrapping myself up in my comforter.
10. Hugging my comforter right after it comes out of the dryer… It feels so soft and warm.
11. Painting my nails.
12. Falling asleep to the starry, starry sky when camping.
13. Singing and dancing in my underwear when I’m all alone in my room.
14. Going to hotel bars at night to listen to the live music.
15. Sudoku puzzles.
16. Cuddling.
17. Laughing at inside jokes.
18. Eating ice cream right out of the tub and making sure that the layer of ice cream is all even without dents of any sort.
19. Filling up a vase with water for fresh flowers.
20. Cleaning lint from the dryer.
21. Sleeping in on cold rainy and snowy days.
22. Traveling with friends.
23. Bottomless sweet iced teas.
24. White men.
25. Going to the top floors of hotels I’m staying at to try and catch a glimpse of the city from the top.
26. Experiencing new cultures.
27. Daydreaming.
28. Eurasian men.
29. House (and trance) music.
30. Fantasizing.
31. Jazz.
32. Going to amusement parks.
33. Erotica.
34. Going to the bookstore and reading travel guides of places I want to visit.
35. Movies with singing and dancing.
36. Going to art museums.
37. Chocolate covered strawberries.
38. Listening to rain fall on corrugated roof.
39. Cocktail shots.
40. Feeling the waves crash against you while you sit on the sand.
41. Going commando.
42. Fashion magazines.
43. Eating avocadoes sprinkled (covered, rather) with powdered milk.
44. Slow dancing.
45. Listening to emo music for when I’m feeling rather emotional.
46. Sitting on grass and pulling out grass with my toes.

(I enjoy making lists almost as much as I enjoy my guilty pleasures.)

Yellow Fever

Ever wondered why you always see Asian women with white men but never white women with Asian men? Well, it's 'Yellow Fever' and this video will tell you all about it.

Summer Movies

It's finally summer!

Sipping cold (alcoholic) drinks, tanning, and shedding multiple layers of clothing--these are a few of my favourite things during the summer. Watching all the sequels, trilogies, etc. of movies is another.

Anyway, I finally saw Spiderman 3 and I was rather disappointed considering it's currently the highest grossing film of the summer. I would say that I hope I don't watch anymore disappointing movies but I can't because it simply cannot be avoided.

Here are some of the movies that I'll be watching this summer.

Fantastic Four

So I'll probably watch this not because I liked the first movie (I hated it) but because I really enjoyed the cartoons as a child. I'm also a bleeding-heart optimist; maybe this one will be a better--and the last--installment.

Pirates of the Caribbean

Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum? Who needs rum when you have Johnny Depp and Orlando Bloom?!

I loved the first two so I'll definitely be watching this one. Besides, the cliffhanger at the end of the last one really sets you up to watch this one.

Harry Potter

I still refuse to read the Harry Potter series, and I doubt I ever will. I'll admit that I did find some of the movies just a little bit amusing, but the only reason I'll be watching this is because I'm going to get forced by my family who loves Harry Potter.

Ocean's Thirteen

*Shrugs* I guess I liked Ocean's Eleven and Ocean's Twelve... So I guess I'll watch Ocean's Thirteen.

I Thought It Was Only Appropriate

"If I were a painter
I would paint my reverie
If that's the only way for you to be with me

We'd be there together
Just like we used to be
Underneath the swirling skies for all to see

And I'm dreaming of a place
Where I could see your face
And I think my brush would take me there
But only ...

If I were a painter
And could paint a memory
I'd climb inside the swirling skies to be with you
I'd climb inside the skies to be with you."
'Painter,' by Norah Jones.