February 29

This year, God has given us an extra day to stop and be thankful for everything we have.
No matter our troubles, our worries, or our concerns, our problems don't seem half as bad because of one little factor in our daily lives that we tend to take for granted (well, at least I do). That little factor is friendship. So here is a humble tribute to those I hold dearest.

Dear My Friends,
You know who you are. And I know what you do for me. You may never realize how much I treasure you, and I may never express my gratitude well enough. If you're reading this and wondering if I mean you, I do. Because first of all, you thought of me and took time out of your day to visit this disaster of a page and read some verbal diarrhea. So yes, my friend. I mean you.
Today, I want to let you know how much I appreciate you guys, each and every one of you - for being with me when I needed you most, for watching out for me, for giving me half your lunch when I was hungry (which is all the time), for letting me copy your homework, for encouraging me to try new things and to continue doing old things, for setting me straight with a slap upside the head when I was being stupid, for making so much time for me, for letting me call you my slave, for helping me solve my problems, and for keeping me in line when I got too roudy. But most of all, thank you for being you. Stay golden.

What am I listening to: To The Sky (Owl City)

What am I thinking of: good times :)

What I should be doing: project that's due tomorrow

What I want to do: practice the guitar - had my first lesson today!

New Obsession: Acoustic Guitar

Sungha Jung, guitar prodigy

This boy makes me feel so under-accomplished. He is only three months my senior and already has 2 albums under his name, as a professional acoustic finger-style guitarist. I discovered him yesterday by accident, through YouTube's sidebar. The first cover I heard by him was "Kiss the Rain" by Yiruma, one of my favorite soulful songs. Now Sungha has my complete respect as a guitarist.
After listening to so many of his covers and originals - which all left me speechless - I have the strong desire to learn the acoustic guitar. Not long from now, I will be out in an empty field, sitting back to back with a friend, lazily playing "Here Comes the Sun", all our worries far away, with nothing but the blue sky above and the green grass below.

What am I listening to: Irony (Sungha Jung)

What am I thinking of: whether anyone reading this will actually give him a moment of their time

What I should be doing: my homework, obviously

What I want to do: stretch, I've been sitting on the floor for hours

on the same page

I had learned one thing from Kizuki's death, and I believed that I had made it a part of myself in the form of a philosophy: "Death is not the opposite of life but an innate part of life". By living our lives, we nurture death. True as it may be, it was only one of the truths we had to learn. What I learned from Naoko's death was this: no truth can cure the sorrow we feel from losing a loved one. No truth, no sincerity, no strength, no kindness can cure that sorrow. All we can do is see it through to the end and learn something from it, but what we learn will be no help in facing the next sorrow that comes without warning.
                                                                                               
Haruki Murakami, Norwegian Wood

A Year in Quotations: 14/365

"A good rule for going through life is to keep the heart a little softer than the head."

                                                                                                                                     
Unknown

A Year in Quotations: 13/365

"We're so busy watching out for what's just ahead of us that we don't take time to enjoy where we are."

Calvin and Hobbes

A Year in Quotations: 12/365

"Nothing outside a person can defile them by going into them. Rather,

it is what comes out of a person that defiles them."

After he had left the crowd and entered the house, his

desciples asked him about this parable.

"Are you so dull?" he asked. "Don't you see that nothing that enters a

person from the outside can defile them?

For it doesn't go into their heart but into their stomach,

and then out of the body."

He went on: "What comes out of a person is what

defiles them. For it is from within, out of a person's heart, that evil

thoughts come - sexual immortality, theft,

murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander,

arrogance and folly. All these evils come from inside and defile a person."

Mark 7:15-24

lulu lala

I went on a music hunt today. This pretty much describes what I found.

Flights of Fancy

I hear a light jingle from where I am standing in the back of the small bright shop. Running my hand through my tousled brown hair, I weave around the tall stands bursting with candy of all shapes and sizes, hurrying to greet my customer. My gaze flies directly above the child’s head as I prepare to chirp out a friendly welcome to a parent - but she is alone. Dumbfounded, I stand with my mouth half open, goggling at the serene figure before me. No more than seven years old, she has round, pale blue eyes and strawberry blond hair that falls around her shoulders in tangled segments. The grubby grey coat she is wearing reaches down to her bare, scarred kneecaps and envelopes her tiny body entirely. The girl’s muddy left shoe sports a hole the size of her fist - I can see her toes peeking through it. Her slender white fingers tightly clutch a gold coin.

The corners of my mouth jolt upward into a grin as I become aware of the stony expression on my face. Her eyes widen in surprise and, examining the black-and-white tiles of the candy shop, she shuffles over to a display of taffy. I straighten my pinstriped apron and make my way back to the counter. Leaning on the stand, I start filling in an order form, to request several boxes of Caramello chocolates and Bubble Gum Cigars for next week. The child keeps her back turned to me and fumbles with something small in her hands. She reconsiders and puts the item back on the shelf before turning around and tip-toeing shyly in my direction. I note that she never lets go of the coin in her right hand as she walks along the candy-loaded wall, grazing her left hand over the top of FlipSticks, Goo Goo Clusters, Razzles and Pez dispensers. The stand with Curly Wurlys catches her eye and she stares up at the glossy wrappers, each holding a chewy caramel drizzled over with milk chocolate. She stretches out her arm and pulls down a bar, then drifts over to the cashier register. I smile expectedly at her as she stares down at her hands, one holding the Curly Wurly and the other clutching the coin. A minute drags by before she plops them both on the stand and gapes up at me, her eyes expressionless, her scrawny fingers grasping the countertop. I punch in the price on the cash register and hand her the brightly coloured plastic bag, containing the chocolate bar and three coins like the one she gave me.

less than three

Valentine's Day is coming up! The only day of the year when roses and chocolates and teddy bears and heart-shaped pizzas are selling faster than coffee. A day for lovebirds. So over-rated, I could just cry.
The reason why there are so many breakups and tears shed on Valentine's Day is because women have ridiculously high expectations. Cut him some slack! It's hard enough to live up to our everyday expectations and now we're telling them that they have to be knights in shining armor straight out of a fairy tale. Come on, girls. It's a minefield.

I don't know about you, but I'd rather be treated with love every day instead of be taken out to dinner on February 14th simply because "it's the custom" or something shallow like that.

What am I listening to: She's So Lovely (Scouting for Girls)

What am I thinking of: seventeen.

What I should be doing: my Psychology, English and Socials homework

What I want to do: not do my Psychology, English and Socials homework

A Year in Quotations: 11/365

"One of the most beautiful qualities of true friendship is to understand and to be understood."

                                                                                                                         
Seneca

Subconscious Chaos

I have a math mid-year exam tomorrow and I'll just see how I do when I get there. I have way too much self confidence. This is not going to lead me to a good place.
When I do math homework, I write down the solution and then flip to the back of the textbook to check the answer, smiling at the page because I hope the book will have sympathy on me and tell me I got the right answer.

A Year in Quotations: 10/365

"When everything's coming your way, you're in the wrong lane."   

                                                                                                                 
Steven Wright

Subconscious Chaos

Some people write notes, others go star gazing, and many wish on birthday candles. I don't believe in any of those. Not saying that my method is any more legit than the other ones, it's just something that I think is different. That's why I'm posting about it, to disclose little quirks that make me... well, me.

I write my wishes onto small pieces of paper which I then fold into simple paper cranes. Let me just say that the wishes have a tendency to come true. I don't know why I believe in this. Maybe because of the symbolism?... The small birds carry my hopes and dreams up to the sky on their delicate paper wings. Sounds so cheesy, right? ^_^

What am I listening to: Winds (Shyma)

What am I thinking of: How much I love this song

What I should be doing: math review homework

What I want to do: smash my clock because it seems that everytime I look at it, it says 9:11.

Subconscious Chaos

Today, a good friend of mine asked me to tell her one random fact about myself. Surprizingly, nothing at all came to mind. I think I'm plenty strange, but not one single thing popped into my head as she said that. So from time to time, little truths will reveal the soul inside the body :)

Looks like today's topic is about hedgehogs. In my humble opinion, they're the only animal that looks way cuter in its real form than cartoonized or painted. I couldn't stop swooning when I came across a whole bunch of pictures on my favorite image website, weheartit.com. That little serious face is enough to make any weather-tested heart melt! Can we keep him, mom? Pleeeeaase?

What am I listening to: Heist (Over the Hedge OST - haven't heard this song since I was 9. *tears*)

What am I thinking of: Childhood movies

What I should be doing: My shitload of math homework

What I want to do: Continue dancing around the room!

Back to October

Nothing makes me feel quite at home as Earl Grey tea, the smell of chicken soup and SHINee. I haven't heard their songs in a while and now I'm sitting here with a huge smile on my face. I missed hearing Onew's honey voice, Jonghyun's sexy roars, Minho's deep tones, Taemin's soft whispers and Key's crystal-clear vocals. Damn, I've partially lost my ability to tell them apart by their voice.. I must polish off my skill again! *turns on old SHINee playlist*

Leader Onew! He looks almost identical to a friend of mine.
A fellow chicken lover with a honey-sweet voice~

Main vocalist and my bias, Jonghyun. Sometimes I wonder how
my dear tiger and Jjong manage to have such sexy facial expressions.

Athletic lead rapper Minho, with a voice so deep it sounds
like it's coming from his feet.

Lead dancer, Taemin. Why is he holding shoes? I have no idea.
All I know is that I have a pair of All Stars too~

The one who inspires me the most, Key! His tears of joy at their first
Tokyo concert moved me to tears myself. I'm so glad to see them so successful and jubilant :')

What am I listening to: Y Si Fuera Ella (Jonghyun live performance)

What am I thinking of: Jonghyun's angelic voice.

What I should be doing: A planning project. And studying for a Spanish unit test tomrrow.

What I want to do: Listen to SHINee some more!

A Year in Quotations: 9/365

"I'd rather be enlightened and upset, than remain ignorant and happy."

                                                                                                                              
Unknown

on the same page

"Does Naoko get like that often?", I asked.
"Every now and then," said Reiko, now looking at her left hand. "Every once in a while she'll get worked up and cry like that. But that's O.K. She's letting her feelings out. The scary thing is not being able ot do that. Then your feelings build up and harden and die inside. That's when you're in big trouble.

Haruki Murakami, Norgwegian Wood

Thinking Cap: OFF

As promised, here are the answers with explanations for Thursday's riddles!

Which Way?
He could ask to be taken to her town - if she was from Lieville, she would lie and take him to Trueville; if she was from Trueville, she would be truthful and take him to Trueville.

Where in the World?
Anywhere! It doesn't specify how far you move - the Earth is round, you can cross over the International Date Line and the equator any given number of times.

Family Ties
Dan is George's son - Since George doesn't have any siblings, George's father could only have one son - him. So if Dan's dad is George's dad's son, Dan's dad is George.

Whose Footprints?
Annie's - if it were Danny's or Fanny's, one of them would have to be telling the truth, as well as Annie, because she said she didn't do it.

Mystery Box
Andy is right because all the other items were repeated at least twice, resulting in more than one person being right.

Dear My Idols,
Hurry the fuck up with your comeback.
Love, me.

Thinking Cap: ON

Today I learned that I am indeed very stupid. I've never been good at riddles, so when we were given a whole bunch of them in an after-school course, only two minutes passed before I threw down my pencil and declared that I was finished with breaking my head.But it was fun and here are some that I thought were really good, try them! I'll post up the answers on Saturday.

Which Way?
Once a boy was walking down the road, and came to a place where the road divided in two, each separate road forking off in a different direction.
A girl was standing at the fork in the road. The boy knew that one road lead to Lieville, a town where everyone always lied, and the other lead to Trueville, a town where everyone always told the truth. He also knew that the girl came from one of these towns, but he didn't know which one.
What can he ask her to find the way to Trueville?

Where in the World?
Where are you situated and in what direction are you facing if the following conditions are true?
- if you move to the right, it's Saturday, July 1st.
- if you move to the left, it's Sunday, July 2nd.
- if you move forward, it's summer.
- if you move backward, it's winter.

Family Ties
At a dinner party, a man named George introduced another man, Dan, with the following rhyme:
"Brothers and sisters I have none,
But this man's father is my father's son."
How are George and Dan related?

Whose Footprints?
One of the triplets left muddy footprints all over the kitchen floor. Since all three wear the same size shoes, their mom and dad can't tell which triplet should clean up the mess. "I didn't do it", said Annie. "Danny did it", said Fanny. "Fanny is lying", said Danny. Only one of the triplets is telling the truth - the other two are lying.
Whose footprints are on the kitchen floor?

Mystery Box
Cindy, Andy and Mia were all over at Keith's house when a package was delivered. Each child guessed what was in the box, but only one of them was right.
Cindy said, "It's a laptop computer". Andy said, "I'll bet it's a pizza.". Mia said, "I think a picture or a laptop computer is in the box". "It is a picture, for sure", said Keith.
What was in the box?

Mean kitty. I want sushi too ._.

What am I listening to: I love you I love you (f(x) -such a cute song, omg)
What am I thinking of: How much I love being friends with benefits ^_^
What I should be doing: Homework?.. Did I have any?.. I can't remember.
What I want to do: Be able to speak more than "sarang hae" in Korean so I can sing along, dammit

99 Problems.

Why am I so exhausted?.. Sleep won't do because I don't feel physically tired. But I can't concentrate on any homework. Am I slipping again? Or is it simply because of the English mock exam? I hope the latter is the reason because that would be perfectly understandable and will clear up soon. If it is the former, all I really need is some inspiration. Too bad that doesn't come around very often. Or maybe it's emotional starvation.. That so sounds so cheesy, hahaha :3
Aughh, this is so frustrating!! In addition to loss of interest and motivation, I now cannot think of any songs I want to listen to. I don't even know who to blame for this. Which equals more frustration and tiredness (is that a word?). Whatever. I'm going to bed.

What am I listening to: myself humming That Girl (David Choi)
What am I thinking of: really? nothing.
What I should be doing: breezing through the pile of homework on my left
What I want to do: really? nothing.