life: until its not there........

I have finally realized how important my running and trips to the gym were. I have been feeling lethargic, un-energetic, un-healthy and general BLAH.

Basically due to sitting on my ass all day at work and studying after work . The way my hips crack everytime I move them is starting to scare me a little...I sit WAY to much.

so I made a pact that I would run at least half an hour every other day and then do the machines at goodlife every other day that I am not running, It lasted 3 days, but I already started feeling better.

life: Diversity

I am grateful for the diversity that surrounds me in new friends, coworkers and classmates these days. I feel that it is the most diverse network of people I have experienced since my term studying abroad in 2004. I am learning so much from them. Going to an all-girls catholic high-school and university surrounded predominantly by Chinese people have somewhat limited the exposure to other cultures during those years. But despite the seemingly downside to this, the experience gave me a great understanding of my Cantonese roots, allowed me to learn about "fobby" things and the ability to immerse myself in the culture by working in Hong Kong. So for all of that I do not regret the slightly "undiverse" experience.

Now in my master's program and on my current project at work I sometimes find myself to be the only Asian girl around, which has been extremely rare in my life up to this point. I find myself asking question after question about other's home countries, their rituals, the food they eat, the way their families live. I love learning about it, I love trying the food they bring, I love learning phrases in their mother tongue. Whereas in the past I was not always learning or maybe not appreciating my own culture as much because all the other Asian people around me had similar upbringings and cultural habits. But now, being the only Asian in the group provides me the opportunity to teach or tell others about my culture. It gives me a sense of pride and a renewed appreciation of my culture, its values and practices.

life: What are you grateful for?

I read somewhere today that you should start off your day by writing 3 things you are grateful for. It brings you peace and serenity and reminds you how lucky you are and also to appreciate what you have.

my 3 things for today:
1) my health. The ability to still run around playing floor hockey, getting slashed on the shins and hand but feeling so energized after playing.
2) my parents. Its my mom's birthday today, she is half way across the world in Malaysia, but we are closer this year than ever before.
3) being able to sleep in an extra 15 mins today!

life: More than just a melody...

I believe that stories, books and the written word change us... above all song lyrics truly change us.

Do you find inspiration in the lyrics of a song? I can find both comfort and joy in the lyrics to a song. When I hear a new song, the very first thing I listen to, are the lyrics and what the songwriter is trying to convey.
This is the best analogy I have heard about this:

A melody is like a woman in a bar that you are instantly attracted to – the part that hooks you. The lyrics are what make you fall in love with that person.

I love connecting with people ... I love learning about their experiences, their lives, their feelings and this is exactly what you are doing when you hear the lyrics of their song.

How powerful are the lyrics to Grenade by Bruno Mars:
Gave you all I had
And you tossed it in the trash
You tossed it in the trash, you did
To give me all your love is all I ever asked, Cause what you don't understand is
I’d catch a grenade for ya
Throw my hand on a blade for ya
I’d jump in front of a train for ya
You know I'd do anything for ya
I would go through all this pain, Take a bullet straight through my brain,
Yes, I would die for ya baby ; But you won't do the same....

..catching a grenade for someone or taking a bullet straight through the brain both create such strong visuals in my mind, which is more powerful and makes a bigger impact than if he just said I'd do anything for you..

friends: Emcee at a wedding

I was one of the emcee's at my friend's wedding on Friday. My goal was to be funny and entertaining yet still be efficient and ensure the reception activities were on time.

First, I wanted to introduce the parents and bridal party with music that would get the crowd super excited, I wanted it to be upbeat, fun and personal -- where stories and tidbits from the bride and groom about their bridal party members are shared. I thought this would give the audience some background...some context. When I go to weddings, I love hearing the personal stories, hearing how the bride and groom met, embarrassing stories etc..

Cara and I scoured Value Village and Wal-mart for the costumes and of course my mom, who is seamstress extraordinaire, made some of them too. The photographer loved it and here it is.

But rather than being humorous, I think I was actually a little dry and boring.. because I was very concerned about cramming everything in before 10pm. Would you rather the emcees try and make the audience laugh and crack jokes or just let you know what is going to happen next, plain and simple?

life: laugh and enjoy today

I was at a BBQ yesterday where there were 3 little girls. I was glad that there are still kids out there that can find joy in the simple things, things like blowing bubbles and chasing them around the yard for hours, in a complete absence of TV, computers or video games.

I was so happy making them laugh.

These kids reminded me to try and slow down the constant rush in my life and try to appreciate the everyday laughs and do things that bring me joy and a smile to my face. I find that sometimes I am so fixated on reaching long term goals and experiencing things far in the future, that I don’t always celebrate the small successes and appreciate the happy moments occurring today.

Life: Fear

Fear is one of the worst, and most limiting, emotions in life. Everyone experiences fear at one point or another. But I think life is a process of taking these experiences and emotions that we are scared of and working through them, conquering them, until they are no longer scary to us. We need to trust that it is beyond our human control, understand that our spirit can survive a lot more than we can imagine and just let things happen.

So from today on, I am going to try my best to stop worrying about:

1) Failure. It doesn't exist. "Failure" is just what happens when we lose perspective. Failure is an unavoidable low point, no more or less important than the successes in my life. Nobody is perfect and if you didn't fail you would never learn or grow as a person.

2) Accepting compliments. I thought acknowledging praise meant you were cocky and arrogant, but I am trying to learn that knowing your strengths enables you to make use of them to benefit others. And everyone has a strength in something.

3) Being a "bitch". If everyone likes you or what you have to say, it probably means you aren't saying much.

Man Up!