international

While I was looking at the stats for dewdrops, I saw that I had some views from Australia, Germany, Canada, the UK, and my country (of course), USA. 
(Yes, I'm American. But sometimes, I still like using... what do you call it? British spelling? I don't know, sometimes I force myself to change.)
I practically cried. 
Although it might have been a cursory glance, I'm still just so happy that this blog and my thoughts have gone across the world without me even leaving. There are endless possibilities! Who knows where it will go?
As someone who travels, I love the fact that this blog is traveling on its own, and my thoughts are, too. Of course, I can't experience some things that I can by physically traveling, but it's possible that I experience things that I can't experience through going there.
Help me travel with my blog, and interact as much as you can! Post constructive criticism, and any other comment or question :)

It's really late here, and I should probably go sleep. Gute nacht!

:D I say that to my chicken every time I put her in her coop for the night, along with buenas noches (Spanish), bonus nocte (I take Latin), wan an (晚安)(Mandarin), buona notte (Italian), and good night ('tis English). Those are the only ones I usually remember to say... so help me and tell me all the good nights you know in the comments!

thoughts and rants #2: boredom and leisure

I feel like I'm drowning in work :)
Even though it's the middle of summer, I have essays to write, instruments to practice, Chinese to review, blah.
But... BUT... that's alright! When I'm able to take a break, I truly appreciate it. There are times when people feel bored. I'm a person, so naturally, I feel bored sometimes. No one likes being bored.

However, I think that all of us should appreciate having the time to have nothing to do. When I am bored, I complain about having nothing to do. When I have something to do, I complain about having too much work and no leisure time. It's like society today. The space of perfection between too much and too little is barely as wide as a hair. It's practically impossible to be perfect. The time in which people are bored is actually leisure time. People complain about having no break, but that's just a mindset.

Boredom is a kingdom in which you rule like the Queen of Saigon. You have no power, and you rule over nothing. Boredom is black and white. No, not even black and white. Every color has its own beauty. It's truly nothing. Boredom is a sinkhole where every emotion is smothered and swallowed up to create a mess of sludge where the bird of your soul is trapped. It's only when you change the mindset, switch to another key, can you open the vile cage of hardened filth. Think of this empty slot of time as free time, leisure time.

Leisure is when someone unwinds, reflects, and imagines each possible path thinkable that is ahead of them. Without this precious time, work can trip you up and send you falling down an endless spiral, stumbling before you see what is ahead and realise that you have repeated a mistake that has been made too many times. Maybe you don't want to think about the past or the future. Think about now, or contemplate something. Anything that goes into your mind. That's the beauty of it all. Leisure time is like a room with an infinite number of open doors. You can walk through any of them, wherever you choose to go, yet you can always find your way back to the main atrium. However, each time you return from an exploration, the atrium is filled with one more treasure gained from the journey.

So, which path will you take? You have a full set of keys, but which one will you choose to use?

diving

** after days of CLOSING THE TAB ON MYSELF and COMPUTER CRASHING and OTHER CATASTROPHES and SUMMER STUFF, this is finally up!!!

Hey peeps! As probably all of you who follow me regularly have noticed, I've been MIA these past weeks (YEARS)... I don't want to give any excuses, but I'll explain :) does that make sense? So for two weeks, I've been at this ballet camp that is pretty much the whole day and then I have piano, violin, etc. etc. afterwards. And the weekends, well... there's a reason why I created this post!

Through these past two weekends, I was completing my PADI Open Water Diver course... a fancy (fancier) name for a beginner recreational scuba diver.

On the Friday of the first weekend, we had a class. Yep, a classroom class in which we reviewed the manual that we had to read. I tell you, even though it seemed pretty short, it was torture to read through :) especially since I had to cram it all in. On Saturday, we had a morning of class and then headed to the pool for our first dive! Yeah, even though it was in a pool, it was quite enjoyable just to swim around and breathe underwater... without a limit to your depth as with a snorkel. Then on Sunday, we finished the skills in the warm, filtered water. Quite mundane, if I were just to read about it like you, but in truth, it was really quite worth the HUGE weight of the gear.

The second weekend, however, was something that I could have never mentally prepared for. Sure, it may seem small compared to other activities, but I thought that it would be as easy as the previous closed water course. I had to wake up at 5 in the morning. Luckily, I didn't have to do the driving (I can't anyway :D). After eating just a hard boiled egg and drinking some milk, I prepared my gear and wriggled down to the shore, thus beginning the shore dive. There are two types of dives--boat dives and shore dives. Shore dives are harder... Instead of jumping in, one must crawl or walk painfully in until the blessed waves soften the pain of gravity :D The skills that seemed so easy in closed water were hardened by the freezing temperature and my mind seemed as if it were fogged up by the low visibility. When I ended the first dive of the day, I saw stars... kind of... The hood was choking me (a little), and I felt extremely uncomfortable in my wetsuit. Not to mention that I was also dehydrated and nauseous. By the second dive, I felt like I couldn't breathe or move. Luckily, the dive was short, as we only needed to repeat two more skills on that day. My buddy and I were called up early as a few others continued their little tour of Breakwater Pipeline, Monterey.

Sunday was much easier, with only two more skills to do. We had another little tour through the kelp, and we found little decorator crabs, sea hairs, warty sea cucumbers, and much more. After that first quick dive, we planned a dive ourselves with our buddy. We planned to go along the wall to see whatever was there. Guess what? I kinda got lost on that dive :) Anyway, I wasn't planning on seeing some of the creatures we saw down there so close to humans. We saw an ocean sunfish and a tiny octopus. We also saw sea stars (yay! they had a big die-out earlier) and nudibranchs. There was also an array of other flounders, crabs, etc. etc. At the end of the day, I was tired, but happy this time.

Try diving yourself! It's a gorgeous experience :)

chronicles of a frog's journey

the sky was beautiful.
the little wonderland was filled with little surprises.
a frog had a photoshoot.
(i was talking to it in a british accent... my neighbours probably think i'm crazy :D)
so let's all enjoy the little things.

 i found him on an aloe vera plant when i was watering plants.

he was slimy :) he jumped a lot. he could make a frog houdini

 the frogs in the creek started croaking.

so he started his journey up and over the fence, into the creek.

bon voyage!

nope. not that far off the ground yet.

 sometimes, you just need to know where to look to find the small wonders.

 hello there :)

 caught in action

he's surprisingly fast at climbing :)

taking a break

stop and look at the scenery. 

it's the process, not the destination.

not much longer...

the road may seem long, but before you know it, you're almost there...

persevere.

somebody wanted attention <3

she eats his kind, but life is life...

and life goes on...

go on a small adventure and see what it brings you!

don't overlook even the smallest, most mundane things.

sometimes that's why you aren't happy.

people say happiness is a shallow feeling.

not at all.

performance

So on Saturday I had a ballet performance.
The thrill, nervousness, and sheer anticipation buzzing around was physically palpable.
My friends and I were practically shriveled up yet at the same time exploding with excitement.
As the dance before us came to an end and the curtain came down, we were shaking and hugging as if we would fall if we let go.
The curtain lifted... Vivaldi's Summer blossomed into a vivid daydream of green, red, yellow, and orange.
Shaking with a smile permanently frozen on my face, I leaped in with my line.
Spinning, bending, kneeling, running and jumping, the performance flew by without any mistake... Until the second half.
As I came up from a kneel, I felt a sharp pain in the toe, and I realised that I was turning on tape.
The throbbing continued, and I realized that I had stubbed my toe.
Finally, it was time for my group to run off stage as three of my classmates performed their solo
 The time flew by, and I had just enough time to find out that I had a lipstick stain on my skirt... wonderful :)
As I rose into an arabesque, I realised that my foot was sickling, and I slipped off of balance.
Kneeling in a v-formation, I feel my knee grinding on the black stage, and my arms are sore from exercising too much the other day.
My cheeks are shaking from smiling too much.
Finally, the dance is over, yet despite all the small stumbles, I feel accomplished.
As the last performance of this year, the ending was bittersweet.
Walking into the lobby, I saw that not only were my parents there, but my friends were there, too.
I felt so loved :)
This let me remember to cherish every little moment in my life... because why not?