"Fill your life with purpose instead of mourning what's missing."

Irene & Xtine's Adventures

Schulich Formal 2010

Liberty Grand, Lakeshore Toronto.

Cheers to a wonderful night and a great 4 years with all these girls!

The Chinese-Accounting Crew.

Me & the 3 stooges. Many many memories :)

Me & two barbies.

The Courtyard.

Photos Courtesy of Justin Chung.

What a night filled with good food, good company, and dancing.. :) Also my favourite Prof won a Teachers Excellence award and we got to chat for a bit after!

hehe :)

Always a John and never a hooker.

I thought this was very out there.

Bend but don't Break

Lately I've been reading one of Charlotte Bronte's greatest novels, Jane Eyre. I bought it because I thought the cover was pretty and elegant, and naturally I thought the story would unfold likewise. But I was wrong. Bronte tells a romance without the glittery fashion, dreamy Edward eyes, or butterflies. Instead, she gives you a very sober and honest situation between two stubborn, less-than-perfect individuals (i.e. Jane isn't your typical delicate beauty and the fancy Mr. Rochester is far from a handsome young prince). Hence with unattractive characters and 600 pages, what attracts readers to liken this novel so much? For me, it's their honest feelings for each other, the feeling of fear and love stirred together. Although Mr. Rochester may be old and stern, his heart for Jane has me crushing on him.

I would like to share this one dialogue between them:

Jane: I suppose your love will effervesce in six months, or less. I have observed in books written by men, that period assigned as the farthest to which a husband's ardour extends...

Mr. Rochester: Distasteful! I think I shall like you again and yet again: and I will make you confess I do not only like, but love you-- with truth, fervour, constancy.

Jane: Yet are you not capricious, sir?

Mr. R: To women who please me only by their faces, I am the very devil when I find out they have neither souls nor hearts...but to the clear eye and eloquent tongue, to the soul made of fire, and the character that bends but does not break, I am ever tender and true.

Jane: Have you ever experience of such a character, sir? Did you ever love such an one?

Mr. R: I love it now.

4 years of this. :)

Honesty is a crinkled heart

"... it’s not about cherry-wood flooring. No, life is about love and truly experiencing the beauty we are meant to know." - K.H., Nella's story

I read this story twice in a row and a third time the next day because it was such a touching story... it wasn't so much the content or moral of her story that hit me, rather it was the author's honesty. She was completely honest with her emotions and it made me really appreciate her writing, her story.

To quickly reiterate, she told of her experience giving birth to a daughter with down syndrome- her first reaction, her train of thoughts, the emotional pain, and the hours upon hours of crying.. She wrote about how she wanted to run away with her first daughter and their perfect "cupcake" world because she didn't want to face this different life her new child would bring.

As I was reading this story, my heart crinkled.. and it wasn't so much for the story.. but, again, for the telling of the story. She was so real to herself and about what she was afraid of. Then I started to think: "Am I being honest with myself?.. maybe, maybe not.. and if not, why not?" I went through a string of why's and kept turning in circles until I decided to continue reading her story through to the end. And that's when reading the quote above stopped my circling... That I am very afraid to stray away from my cupcake world. I know life is more but am I experiencing it? Am I really being sincere about the relationships in my life? Do I understand love, know love, and have love? These questions, I hope, won't bother me for long as I try to be less naive and more aware.

Well the beautiful part about her story is that it ends with a tearful smile. In her complete honesty, she found truth.. and truth is love.