Magic Is Real

Now some of you may be thinking I'm crazy but I'm serious - magic is real!  Now I'm not talking about any type of sorcery, I'm talking about those moments in life that are so special and precious...the things that inspire us, the things that bring joy to our hearts and souls.  These are the moments I live for.  Now sometimes these magical moments are something that we ourselves can create, and other times it's something we happen to stumble into unknowingly.  Either way they usually happen unexpectedly and that's what makes it all the more magical.  

I like that life is full of surprises, that there is mystery because if I did know how my life would turn out, well that would be very boring and I think I'd be miserable hahaha.  Now I wasn't always this way.  As a kid I worried a lot about the future and that was too much worry for one kid!  I'm glad that I have changed a great deal from the worry wart and stress case I used to be.  Now I embrace challenges, change and chocolate...sorry I like alliterations hahaha.

Ever since I discovered the magic of life and started to appreciate what life had to offer, I became less fearful.  I have a lot of people to thank for that.  And since I made that transformation in my life I hope to spread that magic onto others whether it be on a small or large scale.

This blog topic reminded me of an English 12 story essay I wrote.  I think it's kind of corny, but still a good message overall. If anything it's always fun to look back at old school work!  My English teacher liked it so much she submitted it into the school newspaper.   I hope you enjoy it as well!

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Wishes

     I wished upon a star, and then wished on another.  I wished on many birthday candles. The rule is to not state your wishes after they have been made or they do not come true.  Since I was a little girl, I believed in this rule but the more I grew, I knew, that by keeping these wishes silent, I would never be heard.

    The wisps of smoke from my birthday candles sifted through the screen door.  I believed that somewhere in the smoke nestled my wish, a smoke signal of my own.  Outside the wind blew, I stared out at the clouds hoping my wish would pass through them safely.  That night I opened my window to stare at the sky.  I counted many stars and believed that my wish had reached one of the trillion stars I saw.

    "Turn wishes into dreams; dreams to goals, and goals to realities," whispered the gentle wind to the shining stars.  The wind whistled around the whole world carrying many wishes to the silent stars.  It wailed, "Please help the world below."  One shimmering star replied, "I wish we could."

    The wind blew past my window bearing the faint scent of candle smoke.  I knew that my wish had not been granted.  I learned from the wind to keep moving, to be gentle at some times, and strong at other times.

    Carrying on like the wind, another year rolled by.  I made another wish on melting wax.  Wax trickled on the birthday cake.  I blew out the candles with one breath.  My silent song was wrapped in mists of smoke, and sailed out the screen door once again.

    The moon smiled that night, as I stared out my open window.  The wind sang a song that night.  "We can wish, we can dream.  Nothing is what it seems.  Learn to live; learn to love.  Make your wishes true.  Don't depend on the stars above."  Remember this song every time you blow a candle out.

    The wise wind answered my wish and sang my song to the world.  The wind granted my wish, and so I granted the wishes of others.  In life, my true wish is for everyone that I love to be happy and to be healthy.  I'm there for my friends when times are tough and with them when they need to laugh. I also look out for those I do not know well.  I give them advice and support when they seek it.  I help my parents around the house keeping things tidy, feeding the cat, and make sure my parents don't have dishes to do after a long day's work.

    Granting these loving wishes for others gives me the best feeling in the world.  I know I have changed and even saved lives.  Wishing is harmless, but can hurt overtime if we don't take action towards our wishes.  We have to harness this energy of our desires to make all our dreams come true, rather than dwelling on them day and night.  We need to use this energy to help others.  If we keep wishing on desires that cannot be attained, we forget who we really are.  We can't all be millionaires, beauty queens, or all-star athletes.  Humans share the same emotions; some even share the same dream.  If we share our dreams with others, if we let them hear our wishes then they may come true for all.  "Turn wishes into dreams, dreams into goals, and goals to realities."

    I see many stars around me, and there are many more to come.  They are all beautiful people and hopefully one day we'll be living in a galaxy.  Each and every one of us can become a star.

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So Long Bucket List, Hello Mission Statement

Astronaut Anna Fisher, May 1985

So this entry is inspired by a few things; my last blog post, my fast approaching 25th birthday and a year full of people asking me if I'm married and/or have kids.  There's a lot of ground to cover, but I'll just lay down the foundation and hope we're on the same page all the way through! 

When some of my friends discovered I was turning 25, they made sure to tell me I have five years left before my life is over lol.  They were teasing of course, but I started to think of all the times I've heard older people who are married and/or have kids say their life was over when that happened.  There seems to be a very common theme with marriage and having a family.  Apparently it means that one has to hang up the proverbial "party hat."  I don't buy that though, I believe there's always fun to be had :).  I'm a huge optimistic including when thinking about getting older and reaching certain life milestones.  I can't say I look at being married or taking on the role of a parent to be life ending.  It's really the start of something new, and yes it will have it's own set of challenges, but that's just life!   

I'm not married and I don't have kids but it's definitely something that I want in my life eventually.  My boyfriend and I are both on the same page about marriage.  We actually feel like we're married without the rings and legal papers. 

When it comes to being asked if I'm married, there is one thing that "grinds my gears."  When people judge the strength of my relationship due to the fact that I'm not married.  How does not being married mean I'm any less committed to my boyfriend and vice versa?  Everyone decides what a relationship means to them and the meaning of marriage is different for everyone.  I have friends who are married and have kids, I have friends who are married but don't want kids, I have friends who aren't married and have kids, I have friends who are in a relationship but choose to never get married...why should we judge what works for other people?  We shouldn't act all high and mighty and let our opinions rule out they way others choose to live.  If they're happy that's all that matters!  For me, marriage won't really change a whole lot, but I feel it will be special when it happens.  It's the more fabulous version of receiving your diploma at graduation haha.  In all seriousness though I do look forward to that day and I hope that even though everyone has a different take on marriage that they will support me and my decision to get married...and as my alter ego would say, "If you don't like it then you can fuck off!"

As for children,  I freakin' love children!  I have a natural way with kids, in fact my friends daughter actually asked her if I could come over to play with her last weekend haha.  So I love kids and kids love me...why not have them right now?  As everyone should know having children is a great responsibility.  I want to ensure that if I am to have kids that I can provide the best life for them.  I really need to focus on what I'm doing now in order to do that.  I want to follow in my parents' footsteps.  I want to prepare for the future.  I intend to continue with every single ounce of opportunity they have provided me with and make the best of it!  To know where my parents come from and how they grew up really inspires me to not take life for granted.  So simply put...not right now because it's not the right time :).  And as my alter ego would say...hahaha

I was going to write up a new bucket list but then I had a bit of an epiphany.  I realized I don't need a bucket list.  Everything that I do want to accomplish is attainable and isn't outrageous (well except for that helicopter ride hahaha.)  Some of the goals on my last bucket list I had only accomplished in the last couple years.  Some of the amazing things I had accomplished over the past years weren't even on that original list.  Where I am now in my life I only see the many possibilities and ways I can meet new dreams/goals.  And if I don't do something in my life that at one point I felt I really wanted to do, it's not the end of the world either because I am ever evolving and so are my dreams and goals. 

For example, when I was a teenager I always dreamed of getting a belly button piercing or tattoo.  It was mostly influenced by my eldest sister and many of my friends since they're inked and pierced.  Although I appreciate tattoo art on other people, as I got older it wasn't important to me to get one anymore.  It's something I can happily live without.  And after learning more about belly button rings, it just seemed like a lot more work than what it was worth.  I knew too many people with belly button rings that got sick of them.  For me both of those things were a phase and I'm glad I didn't make it permanent haha.

There are a ton of things I'm proud of myself for accomplishing and there will be many more things to come.  So instead of a new bucket list I want to write a sort of personal mission statement instead...because as one genius said...it's not the things you do, it's how you do them! 

Where ever I am, whoever I'm with, whatever it'll be; I will always be me and live the life I was given, the life that I have earned and the life I will share with others.  I will lead a full and happy life no matter what challenges fall upon me.  I will expect tears, blood and sweat to be shed, but I will learn to be more resilient and I will be stronger. Even when I'm unsure of myself I will at least do myself a favor and try!  I hope to only continue to surprise myself like I have many times before.  I want to keep growing and I want to remain grounded.  I want to have a balanced life and live in harmony.  I want to share happiness, spread love and laugh everyday.  I will continue to believe in myself and stand up for myself and not tolerate mistreatment from others.

That's all I got so far, but I think it's pretty good.  So here I come 25!  Que Sera everyone and good night!

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Almost Quarter of a Century (Old Bucket List)

I can't believe that I'm almost turning 25 years old...makes me remember when I was a little girl and I thought 25 was old and hip.  Right now I just feel like I have an old hip haha...okay bad joke.  I do feel like an old man sometimes...which isn't all bad.  I get to tell kids to shut the hell up and get off my lawn.  

So I have something fun to share.  I found a VERY old bucket list of mine - something I wrote maybe when I was 7 or 8.  I thought it would be fun to share with all of you to see how well I did.  Now before I post, I should tell you I was quite a sheltered child.  I didn't receive the same opportunities as other kids, 'cause we were on a tight budget and my parents were more strict back in the day.  I was also afraid to try a lot of new things since I lacked a lot of confidence.  My friends fixed that for me during my teen years though and I've grown a lot since.  Looking at this list I can tell I didn't aim for the moon, but at the time these were "big" things I wanted to accomplish.  So without further ado, here is the list.  I've marked an "X" next to the items that I've completed.

1. Concert [x] - My first concert was Coldplay on their Viva La Vida tour with one of my bestest friends.  Saw them on their second night (June 21, 2009) in Vancouver at GM Place which is Rogers Arena now.  Here's the video compilation I made of that glorious day.  I was so excited my stomach started hurting before the concert, so much I thought I'd had to skip out on it lol.
2. Bumper cars [x] -The first time I went on bumper cars, I got stuck at a weird angle and everyone started bumping me lol.  It was on my boyfriends 22nd birthday.
3. Go karts [x] - My boyfriend surprised me one day by taking me out go karting 'cause he knew I always wanted to go.  It was pretty frightening since I did NOT wear the right shoes haha.  Made pedaling to the metal quite difficult when my heel kept slipping off since it wasn't a traditional shaped pedal (had a huge gap in the middle.)  That was summer of 2010 I believe.
4. Plane [x] - Went on a plane the first time in 2008 when I went on my first big trip (3 day Princess cruise from Vancouver to Los Angeles, 2 days Disneyland, short flight to Seattle, 1 day cruise back up to Vancouver.)  My ears ending up plugging really bad.  Apparently I'm quite sensitive to elevation changes and basically all the tricks to stop it from hurting don't work for me :(.
5. River [x] - My river experience was during one camping trip with one of my best friends.  We camped one summer with her mom and older sister over at Englishmen River which is on Vancouver Island.  That was one great trip :).  That was also the first time I saw a girl in a thong bikini lol.  It was also the same river I visited with my parents and one of my best friends.  I warned my dad it would be slippery when he wanted to jump onto some rocks in the middle of the water...he didn't listen and he slipped right in...we laughed.  Don't worry it was shallow enough he wouldn't get sucked away and it was deep enough so he wouldn't break his skull.
6. Motor boat [x] -  I went on my first motor boat in 2008 for an awesome crab cookout at Alouette Lake with a bunch of friends.  We boated out to a private shore, made a fire and boiled some yummy yummy crabs :)
7. Bumper boats [x] - I had an awesome time on bumper boats during my friends 15th birthday.  We went over to Parksville BC for mini-golfing and bumper boats :).
8. Helicopter [ ] - Maybe one day?  I don't really know why I put it on here 'cause there's a good chance it'll never happen but would it ever be sweet to launch from a helipad!
9. Camping [x] - I went camping for the first time when I was 14 with 2 of my best friends and their family.  It was a pretty wicked time sleeping under the stars, watching the sunrise, going on an unsupervised water rafting trip in a very shallow river with jumping fish, dive bombing birds leading out to the ocean that had waves sucking us away from shore with a leaky raft hahaha.
10. Limo [x] - For a first time in a limo it wasn't a very happy time.  It was for my aunt's funeral :(.
11. Newspaper [x] - I was in the local newspaper for the first time with my sisters when I was 8 for feeding the ducks at the marsh.  Front page baby!  It was weird being the center of attention at school that morning.
12. Thrill rides [x] - I can't remember when I went on my first thrill ride.  I'm pretty sure it was at Playland/PNE with my parents and sisters.  I do remember going on the pirate ship for the first time and screaming "get me down, get me down!"  I hated that feeling in my stomach when the boat would hang in the air for a second and swing on down.
13. Be on TV [x] - When visiting a Richmond mall one day for a day trip with my parents, a chocolate store spotted my sisters and I and asked us to be part of their commercial.  They handed me a helium balloon and got us to prance around the store working our magic.  It aired on Fairchild TV which is a Vancouver/Toronto based Chinese TV station.  I was also on the local TV station when they were airing a parade I got to participate in.  It was fun waving to crowd.
14. Piano [x] - I took piano lessons when I was 8, but I didn't like it and quit haha.  I mostly got frustrated 'cause my eldest sister teased me a lot. She is definitely a lot more musically talented but she was really hard on me when I started lessons.
15. Karate [x] - I took Karate lessons when I was 11/12.  The first couple lessons were free, but to pay for them was quite expensive so I had to quit.  It wasn't all bad 'cause my dad would teach me Kung Fu.
16. Choir [x] - I was in and out of choirs in elementary school and joined up once during highschool for a Christmas choir.  I had a blast :).
17. Ukelele [x] - I learned ukelele from my grade 4 teacher.  I can still play "Ode to Joy"...but I'm definitely no ukewonder. I used to practice so much until my fingers blistered...I really loved ukelele at the time. 
18. School play [x] - When I was super young I participated in cutesy roles for Charlottes Web and West Side Story - it was only the grade 6 and 7 kids that got to audition for speaking roles.  My elementary school only put on a larger production every 2 years.  My grade 7 year was one of those and I got to audition for the musical, Wizard of Oz.  I prepared and ended up memorizing all the lines given for the audition.  I ended up with the role of Chief Munchkin...I truly believe I got type cast because of my short height.  I really wanted to play the Good Witch of the North...oh well :P.  For a couple years I adopted the nickname Chinese Munchkin.
19. Chinese dance [x] - I learned Chinese dancing when I was younger - the fans, the long ribbon, the tea cups...I couldn't continue 'cause my mom thought I was too young to keep up with the older girls when I had joined, but I learned some moves from my sisters and just from watching them practice during class.  I did get to dress up for some of the events (parades and performances) so it wasn't all bad :).
20. Win a contest [x] - The only contest I have won, was an art contest for BC Hydro.  Every year I would make a safety poster featuring a dog mother and son teaching him what not to do around the house concerning household appliances.  Every year I entered, I won a glow in the dark Louie the light bug digital watch...holla!
21. Straight A's [x] - The first time I got straight A's was in high school.  I mostly got honor roll...getting list of distinction happened when I had all my favourite classes in the same semester.  I think it was Art, English, Information Technology and Computer Animation...go figure :P.
22. Swimming with your clothes on [x] - There had been plenty of times when my girlfriends and I would jump into a local dam with all of our clothes on.  Fun times!  Those are the summers I will never forget!

Out of that list I actually accomplished everything but riding in a helicopter.  That's pretty good - although I think I set my sights low at the time.  Although at the time those were pretty big things to me.  I think next post I'm going to make shiny new bucket list!  In the meantime hope you all are doing well.  Thanks for reading!  Much love to you all!

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Where Would I Be Without Music?

I realized I haven't blogged in 4 months and it has been around 2 or 3 months since I've made any videos.  I'm slowly falling off the face of the internet.  I cheated on Twitter with Facebook as a way to reconnect with people again after abandoning Facebook for a long time.  One friend even commented saying this was the most active they've seen me on FB haha.  Then recently a friend of mine that I met through YouTube messaged me on Twitter and it led us to reconnect on Facebook.  I guess I'm not good at keeping my social media life well balanced :P.  As I said when I first began this blog..."blogging is just so much easier", so if it is, I might as well do it!

So some of you might be wondering where I've been.  I'm kind of a weird one...I tend to disappear when something is going on in my life (either bad or good), just as a way to focus on the situation, or a way to escape, 'cause we all need to get some fresh air every once in a while.  I think I'm ready for an internet comeback though starting with this post :-).  

I wanted to dedicate this post to music that I love.  It helps me get through tough times, and it makes good days even better...you can often find me in my cubicle at work or in transit bopping my head to the music or trying to sing along haha.  I love hunting for new music, and when you do find that song you thought you only heard in your dreams - it's like falling in love for the first time...at least for me :P.  I love to share music, because I hope that people feel that same magical connection with a song too and it makes them just as happy.  I used to share a lot of music on Twitter and when I was reintroducing my face on Facebook I went and decided to share music...lots of music...I had a theme everyday.  Some of my favourite themes included: Memory Lane Monday, Whistling Wednesday, and Soundtrack Saturday...I also love alliteration.  Anyways without further ado some songs that made my heart melt and were stuck on repeat.


Flight Facilities - Crave You ft. Giselle: I was actually eating a popsicle on a hot summer day coming across this track.  It's cute, fun and addicting. 


Memoryhouse - Foreground: This is actually a cover by Memoryhouse.  The original is by Grizzly Bear.  I love how hauntingly chill this sounds.  


Neon Indian - Polish Girl:  I feel like I'm on a space adventure where there are dance parties and smoke machines.  This one just brings a smile to my face.


Hammock - Tristia:  Sometimes songs are better without lyrics.  If there were words I think it would say "Things will get better.  We're in it together."  Cheesy I know...but give it a listen and see for yourself.


Goldfrapp - It's Not Over Yet:  Sad and beautiful cover by Goldfrapp.  I like all the instruments and the emotion in the vocals. 


Lana Del Rey - Video Games:  An old Hollywood star reincarnated in this 25 year old beauty by the stage name of Lana Del Rey.  Love her voice, love her songs.  How perfect this song is called video games...


 

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SeaNanners For President and My 15 Seconds of YouTube Excitement

I haven't written a post in a while, but really wanted to document my experience when my "A Blurb: SeaNanners Gets Serious" vid gained a lot of attention briefly. Also just wanted to give bit of a back story of why I was inspired to make this video. If you haven't seen it, I've posted it just below :)




I guess I'll start at the very beginning. For a little while I've been trying to teach myself After Effects in my spare time. It's been a challenge with the little free time I do have juggling work, planning birthdays, planning farewells, planning baby showers, being a bridesmaid, spending time with friends and family, necessary chores and life in general haha. I'm at "that age" where life is exploding in my face. Being a young adult is sure something, but I'm making the most of it while I can before my next phase of adulthood haha. Anyways continuing on :P...


For a long time I really wanted to make a motion typography video. Then one day I noticed a new SeaNanners video in my subscriptions box. I tuned in and listened to his thoughts and just found myself really happy with the message he was conveying about life - how each of us fit in the world. I've had similar thoughts before, but it was just nice to see some positivity and wisdom being spread out into the world. I don't think enough people on YouTube really do this, especially people who have huge fan bases that can take advantage of it and do some good with it. Unfortunately this particular video has been set to private and can no longer be viewed. This was most likely done as he is a YouTube partner and he used copy-written music in the background which conflicts with the partnership program rules.

Now some of you may not be familiar with SeaNanners. SeaNanners is Adam Montoya who started posting Call of Duty gameplay/commentary on YouTube and over a period of time he started gaining a huge audience because he's exceptionally good at the game and has a great attitude and outlook on life. I came across one of his commentaries on the "Most Viewed" section called Uno, Dos, Tres, Quatro...I think. I found it to be very enjoyable to listen to his random thoughts about women and cooking - I guess he was asking his audience what he should make a video about, if they would want more specific CoD tips and tricks or general life chats and updates. At this point I think he was starting to open up more on YouTube and started connecting with his viewers which drew me in. I'm not huge on FPS's, not that I wouldn't play if I had the opportunity but I'm not really one to sit and watch CoD tips and tricks since I don't play that particular game. My all time fav FPS though has to be GoldenEye 007 for N64...old school I know but that game has some very fond memories for me...like feeling proud after the moment where I played through the train level without any assistance from my older sisters, making up the code phrase "do you want to kill me?" to start up a multiplayer match with my sisters...oh my dad returning the game the first time claiming the game was too violent but in reality my mom wanted him to return it since it was an impulse buy, and we ended up repurchasing it at a later date :P. ANYWAYS getting caught up in memories...moving along.


This is the part where I sound like a stalker but this story has been shared before and I find it very inspiring so don't judge me! hahaha. Adam's whole YouTube thing was purely a hobby and still is. His original career path was more focused on being a filmmaker of sorts. He entered a lot of film competitions and I believe did a lot of freelancing. The economy started to suck big time and the recession happened which hurt a lot of people including him in finding more work. Times were tough - and times are still tough as a lot of people are still affected by it now, including myself - but enough about that! So he posted CoD commentary as a hobby and his audience grew to massive proportions and continues to grow today. I think I joined on when he was around or under 100K subscribers...and now he has well over 600K subs...just insane in the membrane right? So his videos were getting massive views and he was building a very loyal audience. The great people at Machinima.com caught notice and then proposed him a position as a Segment Producer for their Respawn channel. He's been doing very well ever since - making the big move from Washington to California and being part of an awesome team at Machinima. It's great to see good things happen to good people.


So yes I'm a "fan girl" although I really dislike that term lol. I'm not waving around a flag with a banana floating in the ocean or have a huge foam finger with SeaNanners written across of it - :P those are just a few of the images I get when I hear "fan girl/boy." So I really wanted to make something special as a tribute to these inspiring words, from an inspiring person and do it as part of a project in which I taught myself motion typography and other things that is After Effects.

This project took me a period of 2 weeks of working on and off of it, so I don't know how many man hours it took. I would come home from work and try to spend time on it, and there was a weekend in there where I got sick and couldn't work on it at all. After Effects crashed on me several times, and I even had another version I exported before I released the final version on YouTube. There was a lot of reworking and figuring out things in AE, and yelling at my dear ol' computer which needs some hardware updates.

I finally completed it, tweeted it out like any one of my other vids and then it all happened. HE saw it...I figured he gets a lot of @mentions so it would be buried deep under a bunch of tweets. He saw it and I guess he liked it 'cause he retweeted it out to his 100K Twitter followers, and "liked" it on YouTube...then a wave of SeaFanners (lol) were directed to my video and it blew up in to which I have called "My 15 seconds of YouTube excitement." My reaction was not one I was expecting...I was of course ecstatic...beyond ecstatic...my heart was on hyper drive, I couldn't think straight, was purely speechless...well when I wanted to talk it was jibberish hahaha. I think I received 20K hits on the first day and it rose gradually to almost 50K hits today. It received a bunch of video honors, which I'll list some of the more significant ones below:

First Day
#1 - Most Discussed (Today) - Film & Animation - Canada
#1 - Top Favorited (Today) - Film & Animation - Canada
#1 - Top Rated (Today) - Film & Animation - Canada
#1 - Top Rated (This Week) - Film & Animation - Canada
#2 - Top Favorited (Today) - Canada
#3 - Top Favorited (Today) - Film & Animation
#5 - Top Rated (Today) - Film & Animation

Second Day
#1 - Most Discussed (Today) - Film & Animation - Canada
#1 - Top Favorited (Today) - Canada (Landed me on the homepage)

#1 - Top Favorited (Today) - Film & Animation - Canada

#1 - Top Favorited (Today) - Film & Animation

#1 - Top Rated (Today) - Film & Animation - Canada

#1 - Top Rated (This Week) - Film & Animation - Canada


I also got #35 Most Viewed in Canada, landing me on the 2nd Most Viewed page on the 2nd day...although I only got a screenshot of when I was #40.

This was when everything was just at an all time unbelievable moment of reality and the same time YouTube emailed me about putting ad-sense on the video (which I declined).

Although a short ride of thrill and excitement, I am forever grateful and will remember this forever. The thing that made this the most enjoyable was actually making someones day a little better. I received one comment that said something along the lines of "before this I was very depressed, now I'm feeling a lot happier." That means the world to me to have affected someone that greatly to change their day for the better :). My ultimate goal is to keep improving my motion graphics, vfx, video editing and etc skills so that I can bring my imagination to life and hopefully bring happiness to others. Anyways that's pretty much the full story. Thanks for reading if you've stuck around for this long :P. Hope you're all doing well!

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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.

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