last day of semester one!

[to sum up today: a necklace from Olivia I finally wore today because it's jade (? I think) and oriental to go with my calligraphy; my really old pink 'army' cap that added to my jockey look (euurgh), boots in jeans and all; a classic I bought from BookCity because I loved the feel of the hardbound book but soft bouncy cover, and a postcard I received from Stella - funny thing is, she's not even in Singapore now!!]

I can’t believe my first semester of uni is officially over, and I also can’t believe that I didn’t hand in my Famine essay on Ethiopia’s food problem that was due today. So by Monday, I would have incurred a late penalty of 6%. HOW! But I just gave up midway (I hadn’t even started the essay at midnight today) because I GAVE UP HOPE OF FINISHING IT WELL AND WELL BEFORE SUNRISE. At least I managed to finish my two practical assignments worth 7%, by 4am.

TODAY was meant to be my liberating day with no more assignment worries in my head… but I just HAD to ruin it with my damn procrastination and severe lack of time management. Went to uni anyway, to hand in my two pracs (and no essay) and attend my Chinese calligraphy exhibition. I think there must be all these secret professional calligraphers in the subject because all their final pieces are damn PERFECT… I wouldn’t be surprised if they had ancestral links to aristocrats in the imperial period.

coffee + creativity = art

‘This conveys the energy experience once you have had a cup of coffee. Coffee provides a renewed energy.’
– Exhilaration by Angel Sarkela-Saur

For several years, Duluth based artists Andy and Angel Saur have been creating all of their works of art with coffee. Like fine watercolors, the coffee works as washes and shading and each painting is 100% coffee (with the exception of an acrylic coat to preserve the art). It started when the artists were working on a new exhibit for a coffee house. Hoping to create something unique and fun, they decided to work with coffee as a medium. To achieve the different gradients, the artists brew their own thick coffee and dilute as needed. (yumsugar)

How awesome is that! I’ve been having a slight (but that would be an understatement) coffee obssession these days almost everysingleday I’m at uni or in the city. Coffee is for grown-ups, so I’ve decided that I must be a grown-up if I’m always craving a cuppa, teehee. (no that does not make me pregnant). kerekere at Melbourne Uni is a great initiative by a social worker that started a business enterprise selling espresso syndicate (half fairtrade, half rainforest alliance certified) coffee and Abbotsford biscuitss. You can then choose where you want the profits to go to: Owner (to provide training and employment opportunities for disadvantaged youths), Charity (distributed to inner-city youth services) or Environment (to buy carbon credits). So this sates my ’social justice’ side and coffee craving/consumption… can it get better than this?

Apologize by OneRepublic

This is a really well-made video, yumyumyum. (I mean, fountain pens, and brown paper? They hit all the right spots with me). I just found OneRepublic and so far, I think their music is brills!

A Franciscan Benediction

May God bless us with discomfort at easy answers, half-truths, and superficial relationships, so that we may live deep within our hearts.

May God bless us with anger at injustice, oppression, and exploitation of people, so that we may work for justice, freedom, and peace.

May God bless us with tears to shed for those who suffer from pain, rejection, starvation and war so that we may reach out hands to comfort them and turn their pain into joy.

And may God bless us with enough foolishness to believe that we can make a difference in this world, so that we can do what others claim cannot be done.

Amen.

won’t you take me away

Being here, I wonder why my dreams sometimes disintegrate.

Being young, dreams are all we hold on to. And hope, when you don’t have grace.

We are bound by the seas and our dreams(fears), as if these limitations are holding us back.

It’s all relative.

Trying to pull my head together… I seem to be getting daily headaches lately, and it’s killing my head. I have to finish my draft piece for Chinese calligraphy by tomorrow, plus hand in a 15 character running script, but I keep making a mess out of that style.

My inner monologue has returned, slightly more eloquently. I just need to find some time and some place to vent it all. (coherently).

on the shoulders of midgets (carry me on)

i found it accidentally, and i wish it revealed more. i think it gave me a small glimpse of your mind, and i’m surprised i thought i knew you better. assumptions never get me far, especially with characters like you.

i wonder how much your philosophy in life has changed since. i wonder how far you’ve come, how short the distance was.

the rock and the hard place… my friend used that phrase the other day and it suddenly reminded me of you, because i’d never heard it before and i thought it was something you’d coined. which brings me to: you’re not an island and i wish i could ingrain that in your soul. we weren’t made to be, anyway.

isolation and disconnection seems to be my theme lately, and i’m wishing crawling out is an easy thing to do.

(and we’re screaming, this is our personal disaffection)

if only we all knew(know) real love.