my cheerful flowers

The quarter is almost coming to a close, which means that finals are quickly approaching. The mood on campus is pretty tense and it can be very easy to be overwhelmed by the studying that needs to be done. And so, to keep my spirits up, I bought myself some fresh and cheerful yellow flowers at the local flower store. These flowers brighten up my work space and bring a lot of joy with their lively disposition. Thanks guys :) 

Only one week until break! And then hopefully I'll be updating more ^^

bye bye until next time ^ 

hello unseen audience

Hi guys, it's been a while, I'm sorry :<

I'm going to try and write a good number of posts right now to make it up to you! Here are some things that have happened in the past two months or so. You might notice that I have been keeping up with the things on my list ^^

- sprained my ankle (actually, twice..)
- tried Kansha Creamery (the vanilla ice cream is bomb)
- dropped a class
- woke up on an October day with 35 mosquito bites on my arms / legs
- went to Catalina Island for a weekend
- learned that Sprinkles has an ice cream side
- found out about liquid chalk markers
- visited Hammer museum
- tried out for KCN fan dance team
- visited the Getty museum

This list is kind of strange. Anyways, I'll be busy writing!

bye bye until next time ^

three new favorites

My friend Allison recently showed me these songs and although it's a pretty different style that what I normally listen to, I'm finding myself enjoying them a lot. I hope you like it! :)

bye bye until next time ^

adventure with jenny

Today I went on an adventure with Jenny! We took a bus to MUJI in Santa Monica (a Japanese minimalistic lifestyle store) and we had fun admiring a lot of wonderful and beautiful items that we could probably not afford for another five (or ten) years.

walking down to class

Occasionally, I walk down to class with my good friend Elliot. And it's awesome because the majority of our conversation is spoken in a British accent. I don't know it is about talking in this manner, but its so fun and amusing. We always end up cracking up at one point or another because of how weird we must sound. I think that one day we're going to offend someone who's from England and actually has this accent, but I think it's okay for now... I just wanted to share with you guys. see you soon!

bye bye until next time ^ 

break in the botanical gardens

I had an hour gap between classes so I decided to take a little break at the Botanical Gardens at school. I should really take more advantage of this beautiful place.. playing with one of the lenses that my brother gave to me as well and I'm finding that I really like it :) 

introduction: jenny

hello unseen audience; I'm starting a new label, in addition to blog and adventure and lists. A lot of my time is spent with people; so I would like to introduce them to you! I'm looking forward to this :3 

The first person that I would like to introduce to you is Jenny! 

I met Jenny in the end of my senior year while planning for a Christian revival event called Re-united. We also had a close mutual friend that found us two to be very similar (hi Grace). I remember having a good impression of her when we first met because she brought brownies to the meeting we were having. I found that we were similar in a lot of ways; the way we react to things, the way we think and the things that we like. So we sometimes call ourselves "twins" (haha). I think it was in this past six months that we really grew together in our faith; sharing with each other our struggles and keeping each other accountable. We have also gone on a lot of fun adventures together (Anaheim Packing District pictured above) and I look forward to the upcoming years together! hehe. 

bye bye until next time ^ hello jenny 

fifteen minutes before october

It has suddenly hit me that my second year in college is starting. Perhaps since it's been a week since classes have started or because it's almost October. I'm excited for all the things in store for me this year; I'm starting to take courses related to my major and also taking up different responsibilities in my Christian fellowship, Engineering club, and building up certain relationships.

Someone asked me in the past week of some things that I want to accomplish within this next year. I had never really thought about it and it made me excited of some things I want to re-start or try for the first time. So here's a small list of the various activities that I want to do over the course of this next school year: 

1. perform at KCN (Korean Culture Night)

I know a little bit of Buchaechum (Korean fan dance). I want to try out for the Culture Night and see if I can do it! I think it would be something fun aside from my studies and also a way to meet some of my fellow Korean students on campus! 

2. Learn how to swing dance

There's a swing club that teaches people how to swing dance. I don't know how to dance very well at all so we shall see how this goes. 

3. Go to the Fowler Museum

It's kind of a shame that I've never been to a museum that's on our campus, I know.. 

4. Enjoy a couple of performances on campus (talks, theatrical, musical)

There's always events going on but I never really looked into it last year. I want to take advantage of the different performances that UCLA hosts since I'm paying a lot of money to be here (tuition and dorming)

5. be in a habit of snail mail

I have around five of my friend's addresses from Philadelphia (hi michelle) to New Jersey to San Deigo. I have not written any letters but I shall do that soon! It is my goal to write to each friend at least twice a quarter!

6. Keep this blog updated 

Because I love my unseen audience <3 

I must go to sleep so good night everybody 

bye bye until next time ^ 

huntington botanical gardens

i love succulents

walking the streets of San Francisco

Most people look at me with surprise when I say that I like to travel by myself. I do enjoy the company of a friend or two and experience traveling with them. But there’s a huge sense of freedom when I am alone. I feel free to roam the streets, ride the subway, wander through stores, take pictures, and get lost in my thoughts. It is a secret dream of mine to backpack Europe by myself, but I think it might be a bit too dangerous, so I will have to do that with my [future] husband or a friend.

Anyways, I headed up to the Bay Area (a week ago) to take a small vacation from work and also meet a couple of friends. On the Saturday of that weekend, I took the Caltrains up from San Jose to San Francisco. I went to the Asian Art Museum and wandered around the streets of Mission District. It was quite lovely :>

kim comma sheena

Hello my beautiful unseen audience.

Sometimes I have sudden impulses to organize or clean. This is usually when I’m stressed out or get a sudden burst of motivation from who-knows-where. (I mentioned this before on my blog here). This is usually physical items, like organizing my closet or my books. But for some reason, I currently have a sudden impulse to organize my usernames.

I know this might sound kind of strange, but it has recently been bothering me that my usernames for different sites are not uniform and there is often room for miscommunication when I give other people my usernames, due to the variations of my name (sheeeenakim with four e’s for example). I also have way too many accounts everywhere (four instagram accounts, a couple tumblr accounts, etc.) I think I should simplify my life and have the bare minimum accounts I need.

I also have this sudden mild obsession with my last name; even introducing myself as “Kim” to several people I have met recently. Prior to now, I always tried to make a username without my last name, [so I don't have to change it if I get married (lol)], but I have been recently been embracing my last name (as common of a Korean name it is) because it is a part of my culture and identity.

For these reasons, I have decided to make my username “kimcommasheena”, which is not taken anywhere (from my experience thus far). It’s something that only has letters and is easily spelled / read. It also places my last name first, which I like. This will be my username for everything, with the exception of this blog.. because I like “storiesbysheena” :)

Thanks for listening to my random ramblings of my strange and sudden impulses.

instagram
flickr

Bye bye until next time ^ 

my commute

I have been at an internship for a couple weeks now and because traffic is unbearable in Los Angeles and parking is expensive, I take a bus up to Down Town LA. This daily commute has become my place to rest away from work, home, and the other things going on my life. On part of the trip to work, I listen to a Korean audio podcast and so I have been slowly expanding on my Korean vocabulary and grammar. The teachers are enjoyable to listen to and their conversations sometimes bring a smile to my face. But for most of the trip, I plug in my earphones and ponder about the things that I have neglected to think about in the midst of my business or I kind of daze off in the scenery of the city (or freeway) surrounding me.

bye bye until next time ^

m.i.a.

I want to apologize to whoever in the world is reading this blog because the past few months have not been very consistent. I have been writing three blog posts a month, which is pretty decent. But usually I write these blog posts a month or so after just to “fill in the space” so they are not as authentic as they could be.

The main reason why I haven’t been updating is because for this summer I’ve decided to write a journal entry every day. This has proved to be a quite difficult task, but I have been never more than a week behind, so I consider this an accomplishment!

Similar to how pictures capture a specific moment in time, I think dairies / journal also do the same thing. When I write about my day, I am forced to think back upon my day and tell the story of what I did and how I felt in a particular moment in time. I love reading back on these journals and recalling those memories that I thought at that moment were worth writing down.

I really enjoy writing these blog posts and I will make an effort to continue to share my stories, thoughts, photos, and etc. with my unseen (perhaps nonexistent) audience! 

bye bye until next time (which will not be too long, I promise!) ^ 

live simply

One of the most valuable things that my mom has taught me is to live simply.

I am a person who tends to overthink every situation, especially concerning my relationships with people. I tend to be caught up with the problems that I am having and stressing out how to fix it. She would remind me that my complications really not that big of a deal when looking at the bigger picture. I think this has been so helpful in my frustrations in friendships and in dating.

My mom finds joy in having a few things and finding contentment in those things. My mom owns one set of earrings and has a few sets of outfits that she repeatedly wears. She has a small group of close friends in which she spends time with. It has challenged me to find joy in the people that are around me, the things that I own, and the situation that I’m in; rather than looking towards newer things.

Thank you mom for the things you have taught me.

bye bye until next time ^

live music

there is something magical about live music. The performer and the listener share a moment together that will never happen again. The performer is giving a beautiful gift; a gift that is vulnerable, risky, and one that took much preparation. Years and years of practice is built up for this one moment of expression of music to the listener. Maybe I’m just getting emotional, but I think it is truly a beautiful and intimate thing.

bye bye until next time ^

farmers market

My favorite thing to do on a Saturday morning is to take out my bike and head over to the local farmers market. It gives me great joy to take a leisurely stroll in the fresh of the morning while sampling some fruit, smelling the kettle corn, admiring the dahlias, and be in the presence of people. I am experimenting with an old camera lens that my friend Pawncheaux gave me and it has been so enjoyable thus far.  Enjoy!

catching up over coffee

One great thing about the summer is having the ability to meet up with old friends. It is hard to keep in touch throughout the year, so it's great to hear how my friends are doing in life.

In the beginning of summer break, I wrote down a list of names of all the people that I wanted to meet up with over the summer and started to realize what a daunting task it would be to try and meet every single person. I have to remember that there will be people close to me who naturally fade out of my life because of distance or the busy-ness of life. I have to choose who I will put the effort to maintain friendship with so I don't spread myself out thin. It makes me a little bit sad that there are people that I once talked to frequently and shared my life with, but now are people that I only see on my Facebook newsfeed here and there.

I guess a part of life is moving on and fading out.

bye bye until next time ^

san deigo adventures

Hello unseen audience,

Last week I went to San Diego to spend time with Jenny and Boi. It has been a long time since I've spent time with these two when we weren't stressing out about school and worried about time. It was such a pleasant time of enjoying each other's company.

side tangent: right as we drove into the parking area of the beach, a young couple was getting in the car about to leave. So we took their spot. *^^* It made me so happy to find parking so quickly because it is usually a nightmare finding beach parking.

anyways, here are some pictures:

the anticipation of summer

it's only been been a week since break started and the possibilities of this space of time called summer brings so much excitement. I'm starting an internship in the end of July, but other than that, I have nothing planned for about a month. So far, I have been meeting up with old friends, practicing my photography, writing in my journal, and reading.

There are so many things I want to do and I'm worried that because it seems like I have a lot of time, that I will procrastinate the things the "exciting" things that I want to do.. But I definitely would not mind simply being a hermit for the couple months, hiding from the rest of the world. haha, probably not.

1000 week celebration

Today I turned 1000 weeks old! yippee. I bought myself a peony (my favorite flower) and a piece of hazelnut cake. T'was a good day. I also wrote a song for this fun occasion :)


Lot of things in this world that bring me joy and excitement
Lot of things in this world that put a smile on my face

Today I'm turning 1000 weeks old, so I'm going to eat a cake
Today I'm turning 1000 weeks old, so I'm going to celebrate
by doing the small things that bring me joy each and every day

Today I'm going to go on a stroll with my loved one by my side
Today I'm going to go to my favorite store; smell all the flowers inside
Today I'm going to a cozy cafe; read until it's dark
See the stars that my Father made; sing a song of praise

Today I'm turning 1000 weeks old, so I'm going to eat a cake
Today I'm turning 1000 weeks old, so I'm going to celebrate
by doing the small things that bring me joy; hope you can come along!

three challenges

hello my unseen audience! Finally I have some time to sit down and write a blog post, rather than just being lazy and simply posting pictures.

Humans are creatures of habit. we repeat the same routines and so often we don’t really realize that we have so many little habits. This past week I challenged myself to let go of three things. It was at some times annoying and constraining; and other times it was liberating and eye opening. I’ll just go through them one by one: 

challenge to not spend any time on hair or make up

This challenge was inspired by 1 Peter 3:3-4 where it says that "Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as elaborate hairstyles and the wearing of gold jewelry or fine clothes. Rather, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight.”

I think this one was the easiest challenge because I didn’t wear make up for the majority of my life and I don’t have much time to style my hair. It did make me slightly self conscious when I was in close proximity with someone else just for the simple fact that I did not put any effort to present my face or hair. It was got me thinking of what beauty actually is in God’s sight and how there is such a high standard of beauty in the world. 

I looked up the Greek for “gentle” and “quiet”. I found that gentle means someone who is meek and seeks the strength of the Lord; and “quiet” means someone who is tranquil and at peace. I want to strive to be a beautiful woman of God who is at peace with every situation. 

challenge not to wear a watch 

This was slightly harder because I love having a schedule and sticking to the time I set for each activity. There were so many times I glanced at my wrist to check the time and found myself looking at my watch tan (lol).  I’ve recently been getting irritated when I’m spending time with someone or in an event and it goes longer than I predicted.. Yes we should have good time management but I have been learning that time is not my own and it is a gift that I ought to enjoy instead of trying to make every moment efficient.

challenge not to listen to my iPod while walking to class

It was really refreshing not spend five minutes looking for my earphones before leaving haha.. I usually listen to my iPod from the moment I leave my dorm to the moment I step in the classroom. But because there was no music playing my ears, I spent a lot of time in my thoughts reflecting on my day or an event that happened. It was also nice to listen to the noise around me of conversations and an occasional birds chirping in the air. 

I have to get to class, but I will write again soon 

side note: I have almost reached 2000 views on this blog.. That s not a lot and I know half of them are probably mine, but I wonder who on earth is reading this blog. 

bye bye until next time ^ 

photoshoot

sorry it's been a while my unseen audience!

When someone has a camera in their hand and calls my name, I automatically look away. I'm not sure exactly why I do this because I love taking pictures and have my picture taken. I guess its because I am self conscious of other people and I don't want to look silly.. I think this applies for a lot of things.. (something I need to work on).. But with my younger brother Christian, I am shameless and act like I would if no one was around. I guess my weirdness naturally comes out because I don't care of what he things about me; one reason I enjoy spending time with him.

So I wanted a new profile picture (and I just got my haircut), so I forced Christian to have a fifteen minute photo-shoot. So these pictures show the kid that is inside of me.

'read more' with caution… oh and sorry in advance to those on mobile devices.. it looks funny :(

a week

I am challenging myself to take a picture a day and it's a lot harder than I thought it would be to find time.. but it is definitely good practice and it forces me to take time and relax despite my busy schedule. Well, here's some of my favorites from the past week!

new hobby, new excitement.

As I have been experimenting with my brother's camera, I have been finding myself enjoying taking pictures a lot more than I anticipated. It is a struggle to get the settings of the camera just right and I sometimes give up and use auto mode. But when I capture a picture that is satisfying, it makes me happy. Also, it gets me so excited to talk about photography with several of my friends, even though I know basically nothing about photography haha.. well I have been uploading pictures on my flickr, so look at that if you're interested :)

I am also challenging myself to take one satisfying picture a day in manual mode on my point and shoot camera as practice to become more proficient at taking pictures. So, we'll see how that goes!
Here are a couple of my favorite pictures over the last month:

birthday party!

went to my friends birthday party and played around a bit with my brother's camera. I haven't been to a birthday party in a while, so it nice to be around people and festivity, although I'm not too fond of parties.

Here's some pictures, enjoy!

birthday surprise

I love birthdays. It is a day when a person is celebrated for their existence on the planet.

I never had extravagant celebrations for my birthday growing up. I had sleepovers with my closest friends, expensive dinners with my family, or scattered meals with different friends. As my birthday was approaching this year,  I did not think that I was going to celebrate my birthday with anyone, considering the fact that it was during finals week and that I was going to Cleveland for a week for spring break. Two of my friends told me that they were going to do the traditional "kidnapping" and caking, but I don't know, I honestly thought that it was too much of hassle during such a busy and stressful week. 

On March 19th, at around 9:00pm, I was in my friend's room eating dinner, taking a break from studying chemistry. I intended to leave but I was quickly stopped by being blindfolded.. I immediately realized what was going on and then I kind of just followed wherever they leaded me. They took me in circles and then at one point carried me to where I could hear whispers and hushed voices. the blindfold (or jacket I would say) was taken off and was surprised with thirty familiar faces of my friends (many of whom I met this year). They sang happy birthday and I tried to have conversation with everyone there. I was so grateful to spend time with these friends, though the time was short. I felt extremely blessed and loved, even though I ended up being caked with a red velvet cake. 

the art of the personal letter

I love letters. Especially handwritten ones. Especially handwritten snail mail.

I remember the first time I received a letter (in the mail). My friend had just graduated high school and was moving to New Jersey. In order to stay in touch, we decided to exchange addresses and write mail to each other. One day I got home from school and my dad said with a slightly confused voice; "Sheena? I think this letter is for you. From a Japanese friend?" I rushed over and saw my name and address neatly written by my friend. I was so excited that I waited until after I was done with my homework to sit down and enjoy reading the letter. We still write from time to time, even though we first started writing to each other about four years ago.

Although a letter about updates in personal life are my favorite, I do also love thank you letters, congratulatory letters, apology letters, love letters, encouragement letters, sympathy letters.. you get the idea. There's a lot of power in words - it can heal relationships, lift up spirits and warm a heart. When a person takes the time to sit down, ponder, draft, and write a letter, I think the words that he or she will write will have deep meaning and care.

I recently read a book about writing letters, and I learned that it takes a lot of time and effort to write a good letter.  I want to write more letters and try to master the art form. It may seem old fashioned or out of style, but it's something that I think can have great meaning and impact.

bye bye until next time ^

ten things that make me exctied

Recently, I had a conversation with my brother and one thing that he mentioned was that there wasn't a lot of things that excite me. I would have to disagree. And as a response, I decided to write this post.

1. Arts and Craft fair (shout out to Michelle!)
If you don't know what an arts and craft fair is, just look at my other blog posts (here, here, and here) to get a feel. I even wrote about craft fairs in my my college application essays - here's a segment of it:
"These craft shows have a way of making me feel happy inside – like a child on Christmas Eve. Every time I attend one of these craft shows, I get a “quaint” feeling inside, almost giddy with excitement.  Everything is unexpectedly charming and attractive.  I can’t help but gravitate towards the booths and stare at these incredible pieces of artwork. "

2. Ice cream and cake
In short, I have three stomachs - one for food, one for ice cream, and one for cake. (read more)

3. a familiar tune
There's something about music that moves people. When I hear a song that I know and love, it puts a smile on my face.

4. taking pictures
I only recently started getting into photography (read more), but I love it so much! I'm little slow at getting the right settings on the camera and it takes an incredible amount of patience, but it's all worthwhile when I look back and see the few pictures that turned out great. I also love using disposable cameras and Polaroids. They are generally more expensive though..

5. stuffed animals
When I see a cute stuffed animal at the store, my first instinct is to buy it and cuddle with it. Usually my rational side controls myself before I take out my wallet, but there have been times when I have made pretty irrational stuffed animal buys. haha.

excitement for the future

Hello my unseen audience!

Sitting down to finally write in my blog, it seems like the only thing on my mind is school work. I am falling farther and farther behind, and sleeping less and less. But it's all somehow so exciting. Last week, I had phone interview for a general contracting construction company that works with structures, transportation and other civil / environmental engineering services. I don't have high hopes of getting the internship; but just the possibility is exciting. Looking into my classes for next quarter, I am planning to take a transportation engineering introduction class, which is definitely something that I'm looking forward too. I never imagined that I was going to be studying civil and environmental engineering at UCLA... And although I feel under so much stress and pressure to do well, I am excited for the future and what it holds.

I know I have been not as active on my blog as I would like to be.. I'll be trying harder next month! I promise :)

bye bye until next time ^

spontaneous

Hey my unseen audience! It has been a while. I have been having a kind of "writing block" for the last few weeks, but with blogging.. A "blogging block"? haha. well anyways, writing is not coming easily for me now but I'll just get through it.

I have never considered myself as a "go with the flow" kind of person where I figure things out as I go. I like to have a schedule and a set time for each thing that I am executing. But I have been learning to accept that things that aren't going to go as planned, no matter how strong my will to follow that plan is. And recently, I have been more willing to do last-minute/unplanned activities and I have been honestly enjoying spontaneous and often serendipitous moments.

One time I went to school a bit early to study for a midterm that I had at 2 o'clock. At around 1 o'clock, I decided to walk to my lecture hall and study in that area. While I was walking there, I ran into my friend who was taking a break from his studies. I ended up walking and talking with him for about half and an hour, which was extremely relaxing. It was pretty random because UCLA is such a big place and almost impossible to run into people you know. Not to mention neither of us was rushing to class at that time. I thoroughly enjoyed that little, unexpected rendezvous.

And yesterday, I met up with a couple of my friends (hi Grace and Michelle) and was planning to only meet up with them for two hours. And although I was a bit exhausted from the week before, because of their insistence, I decided to spend three or so hours with them just driving around and hanging out. Of course, I wanted to have a plan of what we were going to do, but this wasn't really carried out and we just kind of wandered around. We didn't really do anything "exciting", but it was fun nonetheless. I realized that sometimes, it's better not to stress out about those tiny details but simply relax and enjoy the time that you have with each other.

And here are some pictures from the night! :) I have been slowly learning how to take pictures and it is quite exciting! click "read more" to see all of them!

writer's block

Hi unseen audience! Just wanted to share lyrics to part of a song that I wrote spontaneously.. and I can't seem to make an appropriate verse or chorus so I have been stuck for a couple months now..

I must be crazy, it's only been a day, 

but I can't get you off of my mind.

every word, every smile, I just miss you so much..

and I count the days that are left before I see you again

but it's more than the fingers on my hands,

so I replay the memories that are oh so perfect

but I wish you were here instead.

summer break please come again..

bye bye until next time ^

nicknames.

I was talking to a friend (hi jenny) and she commented that my name was "fun" because of all the nicknames that could be derived from it. so I decided to make a list of nicknames / other names people call me. The brackets contain people who have called me with the name and the parenthesis contain a small background or other info, if any.

enjoy?....

bean / sheenbean [chipeco, michelle s]

cheena  [aya, nathan] (I couldn't choose a place to eat) 

fig 2 [katrina] (fig->fig newton->isaac newton->isaac->my brother) 

김은주씨 / kim eunjoo sshi [dad] 

mother/umma [kourtney, jenny, DJ, josh] (I'm motherly?)

my best friend, sheena [arizton] 

nicole [sam] (my starbucks name) 

sheeeeeeeeeena [nathan]

sheehan [grace]

sheen [michelle h]

sheena bear [minha, Ali] 

sheena-meena [allison called me this once but I like it :] 

sheenawoman [michelle h, esther, jonathan] (maplestory) 

sheenaynay [abrar, soshi] 

sheenaynay kimsy [marlene]

sheenie [grace, michelle, jenny] 

sheenie weenie who wears a beanie [michelle h] 

sheenie weenie [anne, sheryl]
sheenis [grace]

sheeniqua [soshi]

sheens [michelle h]

sheenster [theo, anne] 

she-nuh (pokemon trainer name)
sheenur [victor]

sophie [p] 

treena [jenny, grace] (I like trees) 

these are kind of embarrassing ^^;; 

bye bye until next time ^ 

pictures

I have always been interested in many different things - theater arts, drawing, playing instruments, biking, crafting... - and the list could go on. Many of these things I have tried to learn / experience, while others I have not had the time, while others I have just been honestly too timid to try. Something that I have always been interested in, but never had the courage to learn, is photography.

Photography is so intriguing to me because it captures a specific moment in time that will never happen again. And that moment is reproduced by an image of some sort that can be viewed again to try and recreate the memories of that moment. The concept in and of itself is fascinating.

The reason that I was never able to try to start learning about photography and taking pictures was my own fear. I have no knowledge of pictures and so learning something so new intimidated me.. Also, when taking pictures, people around me are aware that I'm taking a picture and this made me feel a bit self conscious of standing out and being a bit exposed.

But, I think that is an unreasonable fear to prevent me from trying something I am genuinely interested in. So; slowly, I have been trying to learn more here and there and be more bold in taking pictures.


Over the winter break, I bought a disposable camera just to experiment with it. I had a lot of fun taking pictures throughout the break (although many of the pictures did not turn out right because of lighting..) And through those two weeks, I learned that learning that taking "good" pictures is simply through experimenting with what you have and accumulating experience (although learning it from someone is very useful). Also, taking pictures with a disposable camera caught quite a bit of attention.. Although it was a bit strange at first, I learned to be comfortable with being uncomfortable and it wasn't really as bad as I thought it would be.

Here's two of my favorites that came out! 

Although I know I have a long way to go before I will be able to take "good" pictures, I want to continue to experiment and fail and learn and continue. It's kind of exciting!

Here's a couple pictures that I am actually sort of proud of haha..

Reading it over, I think I'm thinking about this a little bit too far.. haha ^^;; 

bye bye until next time ^ go and capture the world

time well spent

A couple years ago, there were a decent amount of social media platforms I used - Tumblr, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest and others. Looking back, I have wasted quite a bit of time on these social media platforms instead of other things I value more - reading, piano, writing, crafting, spending time with friends, etc. Also, there have been times where I have felt insecure about myself by comparing myself to others on social media platforms. Although social media is a great way to connect / re-connect and share your life to loved ones, I think I need to take my time off and re consider in my life what I really want to be spending my small given amount of time per day.

So I have decided to cut down all social media (except this blog and messaging applications) for the time being. This is going to definitely going to be a challenge, but I know it will be beneficial to me. I want to look back on each day and not regret the time I wasted, but be happy with my 'time well spent'. 

bye bye until next time ^

5 simple resolutions

It is a household requirement to make a New Year's Resolutions, so I'm going to share my 5 simple resolutions that I wish to make into a habit! They are actually quite similar to last year, but nonetheless, they are the things that I want to focus on for the year.

1. Read the bible from beginning to end in the span of the year. 

Unfortunately, I did not read the bible all the way through last year... I am quite bad at keeping the habit of reading every day, but I want to discipline myself to do so. 

2. write in a journal every day (3 sentences). 

Last year I kept a small journal and wrote one sentence.. But I didn't feel like it was enough, so I'm expanding to three sentences! And I set myself a little guideline for each sentence. 

     First - something special that happened that day

     Second - something that made my smile that day 

     Third - something that I am grateful for that day

I think these are good to help me write the account of my life as well as reflect on the things that I am blessed with. 

3. Find internship/work over the summer. 

hmm I want to find an internship related to my major.. but otherwise, I want to work in a restaurant and possibly continue just helping out my friend Ali's company :) I want to do this every summer to make sure I am somewhat make use of my time. Or summer school! I honestly wouldn't mind that :] 

4. Goal GPA of 3.5 after sophomore fall quarter. 

Slightly less than my high school standards, but after all, engineering is pretty hard, I'm finding out ...  I don't want to put myself on a pressure of getting a 4.0, but I definitely want to challenge myself. 

5. Read 15 books in a year. 

I need to make time to read more.