life

recently i had done something stupid which got me in trouble.  my cousin showed no mercy and made me feel horrible about what i did.  i was mad at him for a few days after that even though i didn't see him since that evening.

this evening, i stopped by my friend's facebook page.  she was my best friend all through elementary school until our path separated, crossed, and repeated a few times more until we met up again two years ago.  i am just browsing her page then i see that there were a few recent fb posts made by her other friends.  they both alluded to some sort of recent accident that involved one of my friend's sisters. both her sisters are married with children.  the first post made was on sunday of this week which looked like when the accident occurred and her friend was offering prayers for a safe recovery.  then there are two posts from monday and tuesday.  those posts were both condolences given to the family.  i can not help to think that my best friend just lost one of her sisters and her niece and nephew just lost their mother.  all of this just after the korean new year.

i don't even know what to say to my friend.

a death definitely puts things in perspective.  my problems are nothing compared to this.

in need of a challenge

lately i've been feeling a little bit disappointed with myself.  before my second trip to france, i was hoping the experience would change me, that it would challenge me.  i did learn a lot and it did change me a bit.  however, i feel like there is still a lot of growing up that needs to be done.  going to france could not have done that because it was a country that i was comfortable with and that i knew i would be safe there.  not to say i want to put myself in danger but i need to go somewhere new and a out of my comfort zone.  i think my next experience, whether its for work or not, will have to meet those requirements. 

i am not exactly sure when that time will come, how many more years but months ago i started looking into getting field experience for my future career in humanitarian aid.  i found a program that was inexpensive but now i might reconsider since it's a very sheltered program.

however, my plans have changed a lot since last summer.  we'll see where this goes.

acquaintances: old and new

it seems like every couple of years i find my way back to friends and people who i thought i had lost.  tonight was another one of those episodes.  i was revisiting an old blog i had.  looking at old comments someone had made i see that her email address is listed (!)  after the other blog server went out of business (where my other blog and her blog was), i tried to locate her.  we did not exchange contact information before that blog's demise.  all i had was a part of her name that was in her profile name.  i thought hopefully she had started another blog with that same name.  i found nothing.  imagine my surprise when i saw her email address.  i just sent her an email and now i wait.

on the other side of this token, i have just started or just signed up with a penpal website.  i finally heard back from someone.  she lives in the south of france.  just outside of aix-en-provence, to be exact.  can't wait to write to her.  she already gave me her address now i just have to find something to write about.

cyber home

i moved to blogger not long ago.  i thought it was a good place.  recently i am getting more and more bored with its templates or limited template designs.  however, when i visit tumblr, i am finding so many modern clean themes that i want to use.  being at tumblr though means having unwanted followers following you. there aren't that many but just enough to creep me out. (when you see that the perverted follower actually doesn't maintain a blog but just follows a bunch of girls on tumblr, it creeps you out).

i really like my old theme from tumblr and wish i knew how to import it to blogger.  i also wish blogger would get with the program and design some modern themes instead of making its basic members use boring templates.  the other thing i don't like about tumblr is that it's not really a blog.  once read somewhere that it's actually a social networking site trying to act like a blog.

since the london olympics is approaching...here is stephen colbert.  it was orginally aired just before the big royal wedding.

........

i came across this poster (found out its called the holstee manifesto poster).
through the past 5 years, i've learned that a lot of what is stated in this poster is true.  if not, everything.  just follow your heart.

getting older

in a few months, i will turn 31.  for some reason, that scares me a little.  i finally feel older.  or maybe just old.  last year i was preoccupied with the storm that was passing through my life right before my birthday.  i remember as a middle schooler, i would read seventeen magazine and every issue they would feature one high school.  looking at the pictures of the students, their first name and age would be noted.  being 13, 14, or 15 then, i always though those 17 and 18 year olds were so mature.  to me, i saw them as adults.  then when i got to that age myself, i didn't feel older.  this repeated when i turned 20, 24, 26, 28, etc.  i just never felt older.  i felt the older i got, the more i was lying about my age because i still looked like i could be 18 or 20.  i still do get mistaken for that age range.

but 31?  that seems old.

song for a lazy saturday

currently listening to stuck by norah jones on pandora radio.  perfect for this cold, sunny day in l.a.

memories

going through another one of those periods where i miss lyon...

kitchen views + wc (toilet room behind red door)

 these interior views are of the first place i called home in lyon.  i was only here for two weeks but i miss it more than the place i eventually moved into and called home for the 5 months i lived in lyon.  i think the warm welcome i received from the owner had a lot to do with that.

this was my bedroom.  it was small but cozy.  the ikea furniture kept me company.

happy 2012

i have already made my list of new year's resolutions (and dreams). i have been opening myself up the possibilities of what is possible.  more than positive thinking, i am believing good things will happen to me; that the universe has many things in store for me because i took the right steps and seized the right opportunities. after reading this blog post from an american in ireland, i believe even more so that things are possible. i hope that in 12 months, i can look back on it and see that i accomplished many, if not everything, on that list and that i lived 2012 to the fullest.

here's to 2012.