My Hero!

(first post of 2010! we fail at keeping this alive)

Have you ever learned something about someone that changes the entire scope of your friendship? Thinking you've known them, but suddenly it's as if a coin has been flipped, and your world, from head to tails? This isn't one of those petty "Why didn't you tell me" or "Thanks for leaving me out of the loop" moments. It's one of those "I am truly in awe of the person that you are"moments.

It's almost as if this hurricane has been raging in your life, me right alongside it, only I didn't feel a thing. Though you probably went through winds and rain, I stood by unscathed and unbothered. It still feels as if it's something that happens in those intense books and overly dramatic soaps, and not something that happens to your best friend. That you were that one unfortunate statistic in the bunch, the one we never think about. How did you survive it all? My heart breaks for what you've had to go through alone.

Now I see that God has truly been at work in your life. Though you undoubtedly leave this scarred, all I see is purity in you, no blemishes, no damage on your soul. Like a phoenix rising from the ashes, you've come out of this a better, and more beautiful person. I always thought of you as someone who cared unconditionally for her friends, often to sacrifice paid on your part. I remember every single time I had felt the slightest bit upset or annoyed at the world, and you always made me love it again. You share my joy, and my sadness, my flaws and mistakes.... And I can never repay you for how much you've done for me.

Life will probably go on as normal, as you said it should. I'll still joke with you and laugh with you and win arguments with you (heheh). I'll still watch Friends and tacky reality TV shows with you. I'll still risk making pasta and French toast with you. But I'll always think of you as more than just a good friend (not in that way, perv). You are wonderful, and you truly give me hope.

"But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on the wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint." Isaiah 40:31

Sadness is another word for a huge waste-of-time

Somebody pretty wise told me that the other day. And it definitely is true. I've wasted so many nights of my life thinking about everything wrong that has happened to me, all the crap I've gone through, all the crap I will go through in years to come. And all that sadness, ultimately, has amounted to nothing. I've mourned over the moments dead and gone, but I was too stupid to realize that because of that, I could no longer smile for the future. So this year, things are gonna be different. Despite the stress, the difficult tests that I may or may not bomb, the assignments that I may or may not complete, the friends that I may or may not keep...In the grand scheme of things, my life is great and there's nothing to complain about.
There's always something to smile about, and even if you don't think so, you manage to make someone else smile too.
Something my friend posted a while ago that I didnt look at back then cuz my internet was down:

(btw, I love you too Hope :))
Basically, even if your life seems like it sucks, there are always people in your life who you can count on, and who count on you as well. Make your life a happy one.

Sorry this post was so lame. I was totally gonna do a more update-on-my-life type thing, but I've dragged that on a bit and there's really nothign newsworthy. Not that anyone read this anyway. *tear. Haha jk.

Stay happy,
Lisa

Listening to: "The Call" by Regina Spektor

Angel Pix

So today I went to a CTY reunion at Great Mall Milpitas. I think reunion-awkwardness is something we all have to face, and it really does kind of suck. Despite how well we got along at camp a few weeks ago, its a bit weird to meet up again under different circumstances at a different place. I definitely got a bit of that "first-week-of-camp-standing-in-a-circle-awkwardly" vibe towards the beginning. At one point some of us even stood at the fountain and threw in a coin and wished, "I wish things would get less awkward." *fail. But I still remembered why I liked all of these people, and why it was fun being around them. And eventually things got better, and we had a good time, considering we hadn't talked to each other in a while.

There wasn't much shopping going on for the first few hours. IDK, in my opinion, its just pretty dang awkward to go shopping in large groups of people. First off, there's not many stores appropriate for both boys and girls.and even so. T___T. Maybe it's just me, but I find it SUPERR AWKWARD when there are people waiting for me to finish shopping. Mostly because I take forever, rifling through the clothes racks, and I end up picking five thousand bajillion items to try on. And then it takes me a while to meticulously try each item on, sometimes in different combinations. And then I have to decide whether to swap colors/sizes, or whether it looks good, or if its worth the money. And half the time as I'm walking over to the register, I change my mind and dash back to grab some more stuff. SO BASICALLY. Shopping + Me= huge hassle, so I feel terrible forcing other people to be added to this equation. *sigh. It made it even worse that none of the guys seemed to want to head to any of their own stores and they always followed us without ever complaining. *guilt

I think those asian photobooths were pretty much the reunion's saving grace. Not only did we bond in our total azn-photobooth noobness, but it was pretty funny to try and organize each shot with each other. LOL, those super fob girls who worked there must have looked us up and down and were like "wtf?". Especially cuz we all first wandered back into a booth for about 10 minutes, before re-emerging sheepishly after realizing we had to get coins. :-/. We definitely felt a little overwhelmed walking into that little maze of booths, with J-pop playing full-blast all around us. We all laughed at the little sign written on the flap of the booth: There is a unique machine, in which dreams come true, in which friends get together, in which stickers make us happy, let's join in hime gumi.

...Nice. How could you say no to that? After finally deciding on a booth with monkey bars (disaster in the making?), we all settle and cram in. The booth seemed all futuristic with glowing white walls, and a green screen for a background. At first I laughed at the sign above the touchscreen monitor that said "Please do not bang head here". But thats pretty much what I wanted to do after the picture taking started. T__T After nervously prodding at the touch screen, not fully understanding what was going on, we try and ready ourselves for the shot.. only to get a fail-shot of us all laughing our asses off. "OKAY, you guys next one..next one we do blowfish, okay ready?" ..But of course not everyone got the memo. We all found it highly amusing that our friend's green shirt melded into the green screen background and changed per photo. :D After a few sequences of photos where nothing we planned quite worked out, we rapidly chose a few photos, and under pressure of the timer, chose the wrong one. ..Oh well.

The decorating booth was if possible, even more confusing and stressful. With countless options, all in Japanese, consisting of a series of hearts, sparkles, bubbles and text, we were all unsure of how to properly execute it.

"Um. I don't know what to do"
*nervously places sparkles in corner
"That looks bad."
*long pause
"..You guys, I really don't know what to do".
.....
"Screw it, I'm done."

We had fun putting smiley faces in place of each others' faces, placing strategically placed sparkles in everyone's teeth, and accidentally placed sparkles in *cough questionable areas, while writing out CTY-esque phrases across the bottom. After a while, I do think we sort of got the hang of it, although our decorated pictures were probably significantly tackier than all the other ones hung up. ^___^

I think all of us can safely say that our first azn-photobooth experience was a confusing, mind boggling, stressful blur of green-screens, J-pop, sparkles and screaming at the touch screen for cutting you off before you selected the right option. But I can't say we didn't have loads, and loads and LOADS OF fun. Maybe I'll post some if I get the chance. As an azn-photobooth virgin, I think we can all look back fondly on our first time. :)

And our second.
And third.

..Yes, we went three times.

Edit: Pics posted now! Only. As said before. No one is reading this :(


-L. Wu