The title quote is from a line in Shakira’s song Try Everything, which is on the soundtrack of Zootopia. This line made it into my journal because I love finding inspiration from pop songs which are usually thought of as being vapid and built on trite lyrics. I think it’s cool to find awe in little things.
It got me thinking about how we always say things and underestimate the effect it has on people. Like for example, while I was cooking lunch earlier, I found myself laughing because I suddenly remembered an old funny story told by one of my parents’ friends. Yesterday, I saw a quote in a dorm hallway that literally just said “enjoy every sunset, look forward to every sunrise” and I thought oh my god that’s beautiful because really every dark night is just an intermission between beautiful sunsets and sunrises.
I don’t think the RA who put the quote up meant for it to be so deep or to be interpreted too much, it was just a beach-themed dorm floor but he/she gave me a nice thought. I don’t think my parents’ friend (whose name I can’t even remember) thought his story would continue to occasionally make me laugh for the next 10+ years, but it really does. I don’t know what my point is here exactly… I guess, they don’t see how the little things they did would have an effect (and in this case, a good one) on someone like me, and it’s just a little reminder for me to always put good things out there in the world because you don’t know who it’ll reach and in what ways. 🙂
Anyway, moving on from my sappy life-lessony musings, today has been the first day back to classes after nine beautiful, blissful and restful days. I’ll admit my limbs felt a little heavier today getting out of bed. It didn’t help that we just started daylight savings and it was raining outside. As Professor Cole said this morning, “it’s quite a cruel combination.” Nevertheless, everything will be okay. I’ve hit the halfway mark of what seems to be a marathon of a semester, I finally secured a summer job (!!!!!) and I’m well ahead in terms of my workload.
Ahhh, but break was so good, you guys. I didn’t even leave Philadelphia for any part of it. My break was mostly spent working out daily, cleaning the apartment and doing 1.5-weeks worth of work.
Thanks to May May for lending me her home workout equipment so I could do Barre at home!
Hundddddreds of pages of readings…
But, of course, the funnest part for me was experimenting in the kitchen!!!
Ingredients for my smoothie.
This is what you get when you save pictures from Snapchat: blurry pictures.
Spicy tuna. Emphasis on spicy.
My tuna salad and raspberry/blueberry smoothie.
Cucur udang/ikan bilis 😀
Cod marinated with lime and coriander overnight.
Pan-frying them with onions and tomatoes.
It doesn’t look great but it tasted pretty good!
Buttered rice with lime and coriander.
Coriander with tomatoes and onions. (If you haven’t figured it out yet, I was trying to use up a huge bunch of coriander because I didn’t want to waste them!)
All together!
I also managed to spend time with some friends and walk into the city when I got restless 🙂
Finally made a trip to Bluestone Lane.
The interior is super homey.
Flat whites >>
Because the coffee cup fit my colour scheme.
Stumbling across a playground on the walk home from the city.
Joanna and I watched Zootopia together – it was a great movie and so much fun, go watch it!!
Found a balcony to look over the city (outside the trash room LOL).
Brunched with Claire. The fruit with honey and granola was so good.
Warmer weather necessitates popsicles, and popsicles necessitate selfies.
Okay, I think that was probably the most number of pictures I’ve included in one post so far. But yeah, I’m actually quite pleased with how I spent my break. It was productive and healthy and I had fun. It makes me feel more like I am the person I want to be. But really the reason I stayed in is my sister is visiting me next week!!! That’s mostly why I needed to get work out of the way. I’m really excited to have family around and for the trip we’re going to take 🙂 5 and a half days to go!
Until then. ❤
