Top 5 And A Half Things That Make Me Happy

I always get contemplative around this time of year.  2010 is almost at an end, and I'll be turning a year older this upcoming Thursday.

The Chinese weren't lying when they said the Year of the Tiger would be a challenging one.  You'd think being born a Tiger would bring some luck to this year.  So yes this year has been challenging and I face another challenge even today haha...oh what surprises life likes to throw at us.  The year's not over so anything can happen right?

Though times are tough, I've been able to remain strong by keeping positive and by enjoying all the lovely things that life has to offer me.  Today I'm inspired to write up my "Top 5 And A Half Things That Make Me Happy" list (in no particular order.)


Family & Friends:   From my intermediate family, to my boyfriends family and my closest friends which I consider like my family; all of you are beautiful, inside and out.  You have all been incredibly supportive throughout this year and so inspiring.  Together we've shared some scary, sad and life changing moments.  Although times were and still are difficult, I think the strength and love we have for one another holds us together to face any challenge that may come our way.  Like my Foosball nickname in college...I aim to be a brick wall of China for you in times of trouble and dismay.  Thank you for everything, from the bottom of my heart; love you all dearly...enough with the mushiness now :P.

My Wii family..or wee family if we're talking about height :P.

Music:  What would I do without music?  Music is therapy for me.  One day when I was sharing music with one my colleagues, they said to me "so this is why you're always so happy."  If I'm ever in a less than good mood, I can always zone out with my headphones on and enter a state of bliss.  I'm happy to share any track that I like, as you can see if you follow me on Twitter.  I do enjoy singing as well, although I'm no Christina Aguilera by any means.  It's fun to sing along to a song, even if I don't know most of the lyrics...mostly I just like making up silly, random songs, which some of you have been witness to before.  Hopefully if I can get some equipment together, I can start making some of my own music too, (although none with me singing haha) :).

Playing The Beatles: Rock Band with my dad and boyfriend :).

I still have those same headphones now.  I am 17 in this pic...the years have flown by!

Food:  So this may be a huge surprise *sarcastic*.  I've been coined as the "Food Monster" by my lovely boyfriend.  I eat...I eat a lot...I eat a lot for a person my size...feeding me is like, feeding that monster you've been hiding in your closet from your parents because they wouldn't let you have that puppy and then your parents wonder where all the meat disappeared to from the deep freeze.  I have been better with my food portions as I am more health conscious and want to maintain a healthy lifestyle.  But beyond the nutritional goodness and tastiness of these foods...I love that food brings people together.  Food = lots of good times and memories.

Not so health conscious in this photo as I devour my lobster steak dinner on my dad's b-day last year.

Nature and Wildlife:  Being close to nature and seeing animals in their natural habitat is an amazing experience to share with others.  It's breathtaking to walk along a trail and come across a doe and her young (*sings* doe a deer a female deer.)  I like to escape from the hustle and bustle of the city...and just listen to the birds chirp.  You can see my reaction to the beauty of nature in this video where I luckily caught 2 blue herons at a marsh while I walked the dogs with my dad.  It was kind of a double rainbow moment I would say :P.

Movies/Film:  Movies capture a lot of the other things I love, including some of the things I can't fit on this list.  Sometimes watching the right movie can make you feel happier than before you started watching it.  Sometimes a movie will leave in stitches from laughing so hard.  Sometimes the visuals may leave you captivated and inspired to do something creative or try something new.  Sometimes the soundtrack will lead you to discover wonderful new artists to add to your play list.  I think most people have a selection of movies that they hold dear to their heart for many different reasons.  My all time fave is Spirited Away, as I've mentioned many a time.  The animation, story and music is fascinating, uplifting, and all around amazing.  This is a movie I related to when I was making the transition to college and my life away from home.  I try to share this film with as many people as I can :P...and so I leave you with a trailer of Spirited Away! 

Aha some of you may have thought I was done writing, but if you were counting then you would know I have half of something left which makes me happy.  It's not really half a thing, it's definitely a huge part of everything that brings me joy.  Here's my secret to happiness...I ultimately love making others happy.  To share music to raise each others spirits, to be in the company of others when enjoying a meal, to experience rare moments of natural beauty with others, to connect and share feelings with others through film, and overall just spending time with the people I love.  These are just little things...not big huge fancy things...but like one person said, it's the little things that count.  This extends out to people I've never met.  If I can lend money to someone in need of a meal, or help a person cross the street, any positive difference I can make to another person is what brings me happiness.  I don't think there's a better feeling than making someones day a little bit brighter, even if it's as simple as saying "hello".  So to wrap up this blog entry, I hope this made your day a little bit brighter and you too are able to find the things that make you happy when you're having a bad day or year for that matter.  Thanks for reading! 

If you should feel so inspired, I'd like to see posts from others about the things that make you happy :)...because that would make me happy :). Also this list could have been 100x longer :P.

Read More

2010 Wish List of a Girly Gamer Geek

All in all I wouldn't consider myself as a superficial or materialist person, but as December nears closer I can't help but think of all the wonderful and sparkly things that the humble hoarder inside of me wants.  I was talking with my sister Emily recently and I had remembered that I needed her wish list for this upcoming Christmas, which then prompted her to remind me that she needed mine as well.  Since I have this lovely blog and need to share this list with more than one person and my birthday is also coming up *wink wink* might as well utilize it and display my 2010 Birthday/Christmas wish list.  Now without further ado here is my 2010 Wish List in no particular order :).


1) Crystal Fighters - Star of Love Album is first up on the list.  This is a group that was featured on musigh.  I fell in love with this album immediately after my first listen.  I listened to this album every day at work for the last little while as it helped me keep focus as I multi-tasked up a storm.  I really want to take this album with me wherever I go as it puts me in such a great mood whenever I listen to it.  The album only seems to be sold in the UK so it can only be acquired via iTunes (lame!) and via the interwebs off the HMV site. Shipping and handling fees are a few of my favourite things (not!)  You can stream Star of Love via Sound Cloud, which I've embedded below.  Take a listen while you peruse through the rest of this wish list.  My fave song off the album is "At Home", which is very fitting of the holiday season.

2) Fable III:  And at number 2 is Fable III.  I didn't play Fable I, I'm almost done Fable II, and I'm excited to get my hands on Fable III.  I love everything about Fable II, all but one thing; is it just me or does the menu design suck major ass?  Let's hope this is something they've improved in this third installment.  I am making it a goal to finish Fable II before November is up but my time has filled up recently with birthdays, crafting, shopping and life :P.

I'll have lots of free time around Christmas to play this as I've booked off 2 weeks vacation time.

3) Murchies Libre To Go Gift Set:  This gift set is a huge tease (teas)...get it!  Okay enough with the puns, (although I do enjoy myself a good pun.)  After having discovered an awesome American tea store called Teavana, during my business trip to Las Vegas, I wanted to discover something closer to home and found Murchies, which has been around since 1894.  This great gift set features their blueberry green tea, raspberry black tea and their afternoon blend, which is a mixture of their black teas.  It also comes with this awesome tea tumbler that is double walled to keep your tea hot for hours, includes a tea strainer to keep the loose leaves out of your tea and a tight screw top for maximum leakage protection.  My best friend Laura purchased this exact tumbler, (apart from the design) over at Whole Foods a while back and I've been wanting one ever since.  This gift set is available in store at their 6 locations and via their site.

What a lovely basket

The tumbler of tea champions

4) Learning ActionScript 3.0 - A Beginners's Guide by Rich Shupe with Zevan Rosser:  I haven't touched ActionScript since high school.  Back then there was only ActionScript 2.0.  I really want to refresh my skills and make some cool interactive Flash games.  I browsed around the interwebs and saw others recommending this book for people like me.  Time to throw the AS3 n00b status out the door yo! 

A frosty cover perfect for winter

5) A Big Box of Mandarin Oranges:  I fucking love these.  I could eat them every day.  I could and probably have at some point eaten a whole box to myself.  I am the "Food Monster" for a reason.  My mom likes to put one of these in the toe of our stockings for good luck.  Not sure what the origin of that is...maybe it's just something my mom made up?  Anyways these are delicious and I would be happy if this was the only thing I got for Christmas. 

LOOOOOOVE THESE!

6) Canon PowerShot S95:  It's been a while since I've went around and taken some photos.  A lot of this is due to past equipment that was more frustrating than fun to use.  I was reading up about digital point and shoot cameras and the Canon PowerShot S95 called my name.  It has a line-up of sexy features that meet all my camera needs including capturing HD video.  It's currently on sale at Future Shop.

Sleek and compact design...soooo sexy!

This will be my reaction if I am so lucky to receive such a lovely gift.

7) Urban Decay Naked Palette: Every now and then I throw some make-up on my face to accentuate my features.  I have brown eyes, which can be paired with most eyeshadow colours, but I like to keep everything natural on a normal day.  Urban Decay Naked Palette has been sold out every time I venture over to Sephora and is seemingly impossible to acquire.  The 12 shades look absolutely gorgeous and right up my alley.  It also comes with Urban Decay's famous Eyeshadow Primer Potion to make eye colour more brilliant and 2 convenient eyeliners.

They say the eyes are the windows to your soul...or bigger than your stomach...or bigger than your wallet...or your wallets soul

8) Brilliance Found - Feather Wrap Ring: I love my rings dearly.  When I forget to put my rings on it makes me sad.  I currently have 2 rings I wear often.  I have one which I acquired from a kiosk during the time I attended college.  It's sterling silver and features little elephants.  I love elephants which are considered lucky in India.  To me this ring symbolizes a time of independence and strength.  I bought my other ring from the cruise ship during my big trip 2 years ago.  It's also sterling silver and is a simple band which has a nice wave shape to it.  This ring for me symbolizes my "go with the flow" attitude and the milestone of going on my first big trip.  Enough about my old rings!

This feather ring would symbolize a lot of things for me.  I love nature, always grew up around it and always loved birds.  If you didn't know already, the "dee" in my username comes from chickadee, which are very cute birds I grew up around.  My favourite type of bird are crows and there's a lot more meaning behind that, which I won't go into right now.  Brilliance Found is a store posted on Etsy.  I had heard about this store from a friend (the one that bought me the OPI nail polish.)  This store has a lot of beautiful creations posted up which you should definitely check out.  The fact this jeweler is local makes me like it even more. 

I would flap my wings if I had them if I had this ring

They also have this ring created by Foxy Originals which is a Canadian company that started off with two girls that were passionate about creating their own jewelry during their teen years.  They are now supremely successful having been featured in O Magazine and their jewelry worn by some very famous celebrities.

9) Professor Layton and the Lost Future:  And now presenting the last item of the list.  I love the Professor Layton games.  The cute art, the story, the puzzles and music....everything about of them makes me happy.  I've finished playing The Curious Village and The Diabolic Box, which leads me to want to get my hands on the third game The Lost Future.  

Need it, want it, got to have it!

I hope you enjoyed seeing and reading through my wish list and even spotted something you might like for yourself, girlfriend, friend or family member. 

Read More