We will grow old together. (Everyone should go to Saturday language school.)

If only NYC and Toronto were geographically closer, though. There’d be less gchat and more lying in bed together. 

Re-united seasonally, never not in love. 

我想要去南法﹐羅馬﹐布拉格﹐不丹﹐澳洲﹐冰島! 想要和四人幫一起旅行﹐放鬆心情慶祝青春友情愛情﹐回到我們在溫哥華的自在輕鬆~ 想要用第一分大人薪水幫媽媽買個禮物﹐想要聽到爸爸的大笑﹐看到他眼睛理對我的鼓勵和畢業典禮那天他的得意表情! 

我想要完美﹐努力做個善良開朗有用的人~ 恩﹐這都是鼓勵自己再加油努力的好動力。 

轉眼之間﹐再兩個月 (八個禮拜) 就要畢業了。又興奮又緊張又不捨﹐但又開心又期待! 人生不就是這樣? 

享受當下﹐來點不一樣的~ 揪~~~~~~

I turned 24-years-old on the last eve of January. My parents messaged me on Facebook a day earlier with separate birthday greetings typed out in Chinese. I thought it was funny, and by no means upsetting, that they had forgotten exactly which day my birthday was — they are getting old, in a cute senior citizen way, after all. 

Then on the actual day, my dad called, with Mother&Co. shouting messages in the background. I was nonchalant because I’m not a big birthday person, even though my parents always celebrated for me. The conversation quickly ended — me with excuses that I was busy with school, and them wanting me to not sound as stressed. I hung up, then proceeded to cry like a baby because I am forever going to be my parent’s stubborn brat. And they will love me more than I can handle even when I’m not being nice.

Forever and ever. 

I’m starting to think home and homeland are two different things. And that I’ll never, and don’t want to, leave this transplant mecca. 

Watch the sun start to rise while going over the Williamsburg Bridge and feel like your life is becoming some kind of movie.

Eat bad pizza but trick yourself into believing it’s good because it’s made in New York. Do the same thing with bagels and sex.

Watch your life in New York go through phases. Spend a summer in Fort Greene with a lover and get to know the neighborhood and its rhythms. Once the fling ends, forget the blocks, parks and restaurants ever existed and don’t return unless you have to.

Go home for the holidays and run into old friends from high school. When you tell them that you live in New York, watch their eyes widen. They’ll say, “Oh my god, New York? That’s so crazy. I’m so jealous!” Have a blasé attitude about it but deep down inside, know they have good reason to be jealous.

When you leave the city, you probably won’t come back. Eventually your life in New York will seem so far away and sometimes you’ll even wonder if it really happened. Don’t worry. It did.

Full article, take a read: http://bit.ly/x3dsU3 

Saturdate. 

Loft dreams. 

I had dinner with Babs and friends tonight. She mentioned a blog post I wrote for her before she moved to Philly. She printed it out and stuck it on her wall as encouragement. I almost forgot that secret hideaway existed.

I told her blogging isn’t my thing and I’ve become awful at it. She reassures me it’s because I’m forced to “write” at jschool.

But then I went back. I don’t even recognize the girl that rambles there. I miss her. I also found a letter I wrote to my 25-year-old self. It’s exciting to read! Everyone should try it. I probably never thought 25 would come so soon.

Some to share:

Dec 29, 2009
I find myself always looking for guys that look like him. Something about his averageness that makes him more than average. I always glance twice at a pair of 511s passing by when they resemble what he looks like in them. 

Dec 16, 2009
She will be named Mona Lily Anna - a mixture of my parent’s names. 

Mona: a twist of Mother&Co’s name.
Anna: a mix of words from the parent’s names. AN & NA. 

I added Lily so she’d be pretty like one. You know, they say people grow into their names. 

Dec 20, 2008
A: It’s weird. Your tongue tastes different.

B: What?

A: It tastes different, your tongue.

B: That is weird.

A: It’s not bad. It’s just different.

B: Maybe it’s the tap water here. Or the pH balance…I don’t know what I’m talking about.

A: Told you New York was going to change you. 

Nov 13, 2008
So it’s this tiny coffee shop with a cozy ambiance, most of the time quiet and hidden away from the open street. To say I went there for coffee is a lie, but I said it anyway. 

He made my iced lattes in a special way ever since he offered the first time I ordered the cold beverage. Something about the drink was more than just coffee and ice. 

I spent a lot of time there, reading and watching him work. He spent a lot of time working and watching me read, neither of us paying much attention to our tasks at hand.

He had dreams and aspirations and drive. Working in a coffee shop, as quaint as it was, did not move him anywhere. He wanted change and to make it happen, but realistically “it” didn’t involve slaving in a coffee shop, smelling like roasted coffee beans all day. We discussed all kinds of nonesense and watched almost anything when it was only the two of us. He allowed me to see where he wanted to be and asked me what kind of guy I wanted to marry. A little taken back, I lied and said I had never thought about it. 

With my own dreams scribbled down in one of my many memory books, I encouraged him to go for it, all or nothing, now or never. 

I don’t regret it, but he told me “it’s going to be today” - leaving his static position and leaving behind our rendezvous with serendipity.

I never drink lattes anymore.

March 7, 2008
It’s been said that absence makes the heart grow fonder.

It’s been a long time, though.

And the only thing we share is memory, aside from the occasional book and DVD from your collection.

If only my memory weren’t so bad, I’d remember it all.

So it takes the end of a year until everyone chooses to reflect upon the year — and clearly I’m no different among the masses.

Christmas, new year’s, lunar new year celebrations and my birthday all seem to mash together into this winter festive season. I’m not a birthday person and don’t really celebrate. I’m embarrassed when people know it’s my birthday. It’s attention that’s unnecessary. 

Last year my birthday was spent dozing in and out of consciousness (aka bad naps) on the carpeted floor of the mac lab in the RCC at Ryerson rendering our group’s practicum project. My group said they were going to get a snack at 4 a.m. and came back with a card. Sweetest and most simple make me really happy. 

2011 has been one of the best and most challenging years for me. I like being 23, young and confused, but bold and semi-confident. 

I tell everyone that asks that living in New York City is like a machine. It chews you up and spits you out, but it makes you so much more independent and ready for anything that comes your way. Like any ending, graduation will be bittersweet. I still think of the RTA grad last year…and how proud I was of everyone. Weddings and graduations are my favourite because everyone is genuinely happy and relieved. 

I think in this mid-twenties time frame, when failed relationships get forgotten and new relationships cross paths, is the ultimate, the cliche “find yourself” time. I’m glad to have learned these so-called “life lessons”, from school, family, friends, relationships etc. Of course, I’m always looking to self improve. I’m going to make not a resolution list, but more of a to-do list, since I’m an absolute type A that has anxiety when the list is not crossed off. 

I’ll keep this short and to the point: Thank you 2011, be amazing 2012. 

At the end of the semester and 6 hours before a take home exam is due (Haven’t started…eek!), I’ve accepted jschool as a good idea in my life.

I can’t wait to fly home. I miss everyone and every thing, every smell and every sound. 

下了課﹐到了美國一家有名的連鎖超市採買回多倫多要送給爸爸媽媽吃的聖誕點心﹐ 糖果類﹐堅果類~ 大部份都是加拿大沒有的或是他們應該會喜歡的!

我很愛幫別人買東西﹐這個責任我喜歡﹐因為我們通常都是自私的﹐而別人開心的眼神和感謝讓我很窩心。對父母的孝順更不用說了。

快要到家的時候﹐我記得要去拿藥~
在藥妝店裡有一位老翁﹐拿著一張充滿字的紙條﹐跟很不耐煩的年輕店員說他太太生病了﹐他來幫她買紙尿布﹐可不可以麻煩店員幫他找一下。那位爺爺白髮蒼蒼﹐很高但駝背﹐穿著運動衣還有很笨拙的一雙球鞋。要走之前﹐我故意繞道爺爺跟店員那一行﹐多看了爺爺一眼﹐好想幫他但也不知道怎麼幫。

店員很不耐煩的問爺爺他到底要哪一個牌子﹐爺爺的手顫抖著握緊了老奶奶寫給他的說明。他很平心靜氣的跟店員說這是他第一次來買紙尿布﹐他沒有經驗所以需要幫忙。

我看得好難過﹐哽咽著走回家﹐淚水在眼眶裡打轉。一到了房間就莫名其妙的哭起來了.

為什麼英文字母裡面沒有敬老+孝順這個字?