The End of One Chapter

 

Choate Graduation in 2009. 4 years ago. Time really does fly.

 In front of the place where we slaved away for many hours.

When I was 12, I told my father I wanted to be an environmental engineer and I wanted to go to Caltech. This dream spurred from one of my favorite movies at the time-- A Cinderella Story. I remember the smile my dad had at the time and i told myself I would do him proud. Since then, I did everything possible to make that happen.

This ambition of mine was really something my father and I connected with. Everything we talked about and did together had some relation to the environment and this dream of mines. We went outside to the park next door and picked leaves. I gathered them and made it into a project. We read books about the environment, trees and animals.

This path had proven to be successful as I entered high school. I took all the classes that had to do with biology and ecology. Little did I realize this dream came further and further away as I struggled through the math problems in algebra. Yet, I overlooked the hiccups and told myself to carry on because no one can tell me otherwise.

My dad always told me that I was a like a salmon that I would swim upstream against the current. So I took his words of wisdom and carried on.

You never really understand what it means to fail until you hit rock bottom. That's exactly what happened to be my sophomore year in college. I had finally come to realize that my ambitions had taken the very best of me and no matter how hard I tried, I simply made matters worse. 

I was confused and upset with myself but I no longer had a direction in my life. I was upset at myself and I argued with my dad a lot more. Being angry was a common attitude. I thought I had lost the thing we were connected by. 

Thank you Berkeley for letting me meet some of the greatest friends.

I always found the saying "when you fall, you dust yourself off and start over" pretty cliche. Until it happened to me. 

Somehow I figured out how to succeed again. Though college has been full of ups and downs for me, I wouldn't trade it for anything else. I met people who showed me what life is really like and supported me when I needed help. I learned to love to learn again. I learned that there is a greater world out there. At times, life can be rough but for the most part, good.

Though now I no longer know what I really want to do with my life anymore, I think it's ok to feel this way. I daydream about my future more often. Thinking about the future brings butterflies to my stomach at times. I feel more nervous about my life than ever before. Yet, I have come to accept that there is nothing wrong to feel this way. Sometimes, I wonder how my dad felt when I told him I threw those dreams out the door. But whatever is it I decide to do this year or the years to come, I now know that it will give a some sort of answer to the question that I once thought I knew the answer to years ago.

Thank you to my parents for their unceasing supporting and putting me through 16 years of education! It must have been hard putting up with me. My parents never went to college but they have shown me the value of education and what a successful and fruitful life really is. 

Also, thank you to my friends and family for supporting me through the hardest yet rewarding 4 years of my life!

" Lazy Sunday"

Because we had nothing better to do on a Sunday afternoon in NYC. So here it is...

Watch this if you don't know what we were trying to do..


SNL - Lazy Sunday by steveo_russianspy  

Here it goes...

Lazy Sunday, wake up in the late afternoon
call Parnell just to see how he's doing
Hello? What up Parnz! Yo Samberg, whats crackin?
You thinkin what I'm thinkin? NARNIA! ...then it's happening!

But first, my hunger pangs are sticking like duct tape

Let's hit up Magnolia and mack on some cupcakes
No doubt, that bakery's got all the bomb frosting.

I love those cupcakes like Mcadams loves Gosling.

Two, no six, no twelve! Bakers Dozen!
I told you that I'm crazy for these cupcakes, cousin!
Yo wheres the movie playing? Upper west side dude!

 
Well let's hit up Yahoo! Maps to find the dopest route.

I prefer Mapquest! That's a good one too.

Googlemaps is the best! True that! DOUBLE TRUE!

68th to Broadway step on it sucker!

What you want to do Chris? snack attack, motherfucker!

The Chronic(what?)cles of Narnia!
Yes, The Chronic(what?)cles of Narnia!
We love that Chronic(what?)cles of Narnia!
Pass that Chronic(what?)cles of Narnia!

Yo stop at the deli, the theater's overpriced!
You got that backpack? Gonna pack it up nice.

Don't want security to get suspicious!
Mr. Pibb and Red Vines equals crazy delicious.

Yo reach in my pocket, pull out some dough
girl acted like she never seen a 10 befoe!

it's all about the Hamiltons baby
throw the snacks in a bag and I'm Ghost like Swayze.

 

Roll up to the theater ticket buying what we're handling,
You can call us Aaron Burr from the way we're dropping Hamiltons
parked in our seats, movie trivia is the illest!
What Friends alum starred in films with Bruce Willis?

We answered so fast it was scary...
everyone stared in awe when we screamed, "Matthew Perry!"
Now quiet in the theater or else it's gonna get tragic

we're 'bout to get taken to a "Dream World of Magic"

...with the Chronic(what?)cles of Narnia!
Yes, The Chronic(what?)cles of Narnia!
We love that Chronic(what?)cles of Narnia!
Pass that Chronic(what?)cles of Narnia!

  Finally, it is complete. 

Goodbye, Summer.

Last weekend marked the end of summer and I guess it would be an appropriate type to update so 1. I have updated in a while and 2. it is perfect timing to starting blogging again.

Since I have got to college, summers has been part uneventful and part awesome. It was usually classes for part of it and part traveling for the other. But, this summer...things have been awesome. Though I found myself mostly in one place (well, a really awesome place), it was awesome along.

I guess pictures are worth a thousand words so I guess this is how I will choose to close out the summer.

Caught up with old friends. At South Street Seaport

High Line Park

Chillin' in NH by the lake.

 Made new friends! The booze cruise along the river at night!

 Birthday brunches!

and more sunday brunches.

At Yankees Stadium. Clearly dressed for the wrong occasion but it was awesome (besides from the pouring rain in the beginning).

Rooftop happy hours.

 Coney Island.

 

 Disneyworld for work.


Lazy Sunday post coming soon. A little more to come.

You've been good to me this summer, NYC!

Old McDonald Had a Farm...

and so we went to Kandoori Farm.


My mother decided that it would be fun to get out of the city and get some fresh air. So, we went to a conservation center and farm in the new territories of Hong Kong. I actually went to Kandoori farm before when I was in 3rd grade for a school trip but I suppose things change after so long. There was defintely a lot more trees than in the city. The orchids and the butterflies were beautiful. The owls and the flamingos were also very awesome. It was also extremely clean for a farm and conservatory. We bought some fresh farm eggs which was pretty cool (I have yet to try some). Lots of greenery and unpolluted air. Too bad we didn't get to see too many animals. I chicken coop was fended off because of bird flu concerns but I did see a gigantic pig.

I guess the most exciting part of the day was when my mother let me borrow her dslr camera. I've been waiting to hold that puppy since she got it. And, I finally convinced her to let me use it for day. It felt good. It is actually quite sad that I enjoyed playing around with the camera more than looking at the plants at stuff. Sorry powershot, I still love you though.

Had to take a picture of the wild boar. Besides from the stuffed (dead? I know there is a word for it but I forgot) mascot at the X at Choate, I never actually saw one before. It was actually quite interesting...all it did was walk back and forth in the same area.

Doesn't this big look pregnant? Contrary to popular belief, it is a he and he is not pregnant. Just huge.

More to come. I'm so excited to play around with this photos. I feel like a kid who just got a bunch of new baseball cards (shhh...I do love my topps cards).

Portraits on Easter Sunday

I suppose the title of this post is appropriate to the pictures on I'm about to post. Because a friend of mines really wanted a picture of herself at hightea because she wants to send it to her mom? I don't know...lol but whatever it is I suppose it would slightly awkward if I just posted one picture so here are a couple more.

Sorry, I just really like this picture for some reason.

More from Socal journey soon.

Toodles,

j

Tea Party on Easter Sunday

Theres no better to do on sunday than have a tea part-tay. I quite like the afternoon high teas every so often. Yes, we sipped tea. They had an usually long list of tea selections. I was extremely amused by the glitter and gold because the black tea was sparkling and it was really cool (well, at least to me).
 The peach crumpet white tea was actually quite delicious. The yelp readers recommended the strawberry fields green which was good but the peach crumpet definitely stole it.

As an enthusiast of the floral patterns, I was immediately attracted the numerous patterns. It looked like someone ripped the patterns of the Cait Kitson products and put them all around the restaurant (well not that drastic). But, yes the vivid colors, pinks (though I'm really not a huge fan of that color) and florals definitely created the atmosphere. Lets just make this clear, I don't want my future home to look like this. I just like going to places like this every so often. lol

As for the food, well lets just say it wasn't the best. It was alright.  But a girl needs her creme and jam every so often so that definitely got the kick (for a bit). Whats a high tea without crumpets, the scone and finger sandwiches? Well, they had all of it.

What a good way to spent Easter having a cup of glittery tea and scones.

Have a fabulous day,
j

Soooo Cali

 I always get the feeling that I'm always one step behind. Well...I guess I am in some ways. Who knew working with photos can be quite tedious sometimes. Anyways, here is the next part of my journey over spring break. Well, more like half of a day (looking too many pictures onto one post isn't too effective). Exploring parts of LA. It was drizzling for part of it but I guess that sun decided to come out.

Kogi: A korean-mexican food truck. It actually tasted different from what I expected it to taste but still good. I thought it would be a burrito with kimchi and barbequed meat. In reality, it actually tasted more like a mexican burrito with hints of korean flavors to it.

Next off to the Santa Monica Pier. This is the quite location that I think of when I think of LA. Only to learn later from this class that I took last semester that barely anyone lives like this down in Southern California. I always imagined this place like the piers that you see on the The O.C. and I guess that is exactly how it looked like. After going to Disneyland a day before, I didn't find it as amusing in terms of rides and games. Afterall, theme parks don't get as fun as Disneyland or six flags for the most part. We also walked around the Third Promenade. The stores were very nice and fancy. They even gave paper bags.

Kogi food truck! My friend has been telling me about this for quite some time and finally I get to try it.

After some time, I actually found this quite delicious.

More too come. Sorry, I'm doing this in parts. I have got quite a bit of photos to get through.

Toodles,
j