Finally made it to the water...

Started my 1st dragonboat practice last sat. It was a whole lot of fun. Looking back 1 year ago, I could never imagine myself to be doing this. It's magical that dragonboat truly is a team thing, when all paddles hit the water at the same time, the boat just flys! It amazes me as it's so different from rowing. Last night before I went to bed, deep in my heart I felt so grateful that in the past year I have met so many great new friends and people. Everyone has been extremely nice and supportive to me. Those people probably have no idea what they have done to help this girl to find herself again. But I thank them with my greatest sincerity. I would like dragonboat to be only the 1 of many new things I will keep tackling on in 2005.

Nice quote saw it somewhere...

... only time can determine your best friends from the acquaintances and we will all come to love not by finding a perfect person, but by learning to see an imperfect person perfectly.

~ anonymous

Teddy covered by cherry blossom

Teddy covered by cherry blossom
Originally uploaded by Toad Lily.

Photo of the week. I luv him.

Back to realities...

After spending 18 days in 5 cities (Hong Kong, Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka and Shanghai), it's time for realities to kick in. Some of the pics of the tour is posted here Enjoy!

A deer was wandering in front of a food stand of a temple in Osaka.
Yep, I thought he looked silly too. Poor guy.

When insomnia kicks in ...

Can't sleep tonight, staying at my parent's house, it's 3 in the morning. Can't be more somber than ever. Not worrying, not upset by anything, I guess I blame the black tea of the Chinese restaurant.

On a saturday night, around this time, I could easily be half drunk, being hammered by post-drunk headaches and in deep dream-less sleep, with shoes still on my feet.

Or I would be tired from a week's errands, work, chores, mundane daily routines and felt into light sleep of dreaming weird things that I don't remember the next morning.

But not tonight. It's a sleepless night tonight.

I could remember on a insominiac night like this, I would be scribbling my notepad with to-dos and ideas for projects. Some of those on my list would be my own website, a painting about the scene outside my window, my headboard, my unfinished piece of jewellry... so on, so forth.

Yet tonight, with Coralie Clement's voice singing softly in the background, I am thinking... Is it a blessing to not have anyone to worry, to miss? Or is it a shame? Would I be the subject of the wandering mind of someone who's also awake in the middle of the night?

I wonder.

Without sounding like Carrie in Sex in the City pondering about relationships, it always hard for an individual to take a position in relationship. When you are single, you long for meeting someone. When you are with someone, you wonder will it last. There's always worries and concerns on the back of your mind. In the game of finding luv, I especially like one of her quotes, "some people are settling down, some people are settling, some people never settles for anything less." Is "settling down" settling in some way? With limited supply of subject of affection, is it even possible to not to settle anything for less? Is there such thing as "the one"?

I wonder.

At 3:21 am, it's starless and quiet in the sky of Markham.

A beautiful quote to share...

I read this from someone's blog here... it's so well written that I have to put it up here...

"After a while, you learn the subtle difference between holding a hand and chaining a soul, And you learn that love doesn't mean leaning and company doesn't mean security. And you begin to learn that kisses aren't contracts and presents aren't promises, And you begin to accept your defeats with your head up and your eyes open, with the grace of an adult, not the grief of a child. And you learn to build all your roads on today because tomorrow's ground is too uncertain for plans. After a while you learn that even sunshine burns if you get too much. So plan your own garden and decorate your own soul, instead of waiting for someone to bring you flowers. And you learn that you really can endure... That you really are strong. And that you really do have worth."

-Veronica A. Shoffehall

Dailysonic: A Free MP3zine

As every mundane work day would entail... what a nice surprise today I found this A Free MP3zine. Everyday, there's a new episode you can download. I never thought of magazine could be "heard" instead of "read". The articles of the magazine are clips of music, interesting stories, news or views be read out aloud for you. When you are sick of all the MP3 you download frome Limewire or Napster. Try Dailysonic.

My favourite links...

www.sweetspot.ca
Gives you daily to-do, sales...

www.martiniboys.com
Pointers to the best clubs/lounges/parties

www.clubcrawlers.com
Pointers to the best clubs

www.rottentomatoes.com
Reviews on movies and celebs

Count down to vacation...

It's only 30 more days away I will leave the cold and be surrounded by cheery blossom. What else could be better than travel 100,000 miles away, leave your rountine and discover something new and exciting. No wonder people always say vacation is the biggest motivation to live the daily rountine. I wonder how the weather in Tokyo and Osaka would be like...? It's been at least 13 years that I have visited Tokyo - it must has changed so much, I can't wait to see it again. :-D

Flick time!

Annual not-to-be-missed Toronto Film Festival is on next week! Woo-hoo... can't wait and I would like to post to share my humble 2 - cents about the movie I saw. Click here to see what's the line-up of the film fest this year.