One girl at TheONE.

My first petite solo adventure begins by accident, really.

My GooJeh (Dad's sister) has perhaps the most excellent taste in food of anyone in my entire family. She took me and a coworker to an upscale Japanese Teppanyaki restaurant tucked away on the higher levels of a new mall called The One . I'm typically a tad suspicious of places that look ritzy and expensive here. I feel like you gotta get down and dirty, finding the hole-in-the-wall street food places and home-cafes. Really, I learned I should always trust the tastes of this particular aunt (who in fact, knows where the best street food is too). Besides a variety of delicious Japanese appetizers and a gorgeous picture window view overlooking Tsim Sha Tsui, I was served perhaps the best steak and lamb I've ever had prepared for me in a restaurant. After lunch, my aunt had to go back to work, leaving me alone at The One.

And what's a girl to do all by herself by a row of glossy shops? :)

I've finally had some quality me-time, retail therapy.

Okay, so I couldn't afford anything at half the stores. But French Connection is having a sale! And despite the sales associate picking out about ten different things for me to try on, I only bought ONE item-- a grey sweater with silver buttons all along the seams. (That's diciprin! peopo.)

And now, I'm sitting in an Italian cafe writing this. They're playing Ella. I've finished a marocchino bicolore and the waitress just set down a latte. My GOD I wish I could transmit smell through text-- I'm in espresso heaven!

You can't see it clearly in this photobooth picture, but there's a park of sorts through the window behind me which I think I shall visit for a short while after my coffee before heading home.

-- I'm a happy girl!  :) 

Overseas Rut?

I'm itching to explore.

I just got home from sushi and window shopping in Central with Auntie Teresa, and even briefly gazed upon the famed 'LKF', which, for a lack of friends my age, I have yet to actually visit.

Before actually returning to the apartment, I decided to sneak in a few precious moments of internet (on the public comp, since I left my netbook in the apartment) to lament a little about my own laziness.

Good food, good shopping. Yellowtail sushi, softshell crab handrolls, miso soup with cubes of tofu and tiny mushrooms, soft tufts of green tea powder mixed to perfection. (Sigh! -- I love eating with people who enjoy food as much as I do and know where to get good stuff!)

It just kind of gave me a wake up call as to how MUCH there is to see and experience here. And yet, for the past few weeks, aside from the Chinese New Year crazyness, I've been sitting around like a lump of rice. Working, eating, sleeping. Seeing the same old subway stops over and over. And over. I've barely been over to HK island at all.

I can't believe I'm in a rut already -- a month into my supposed vacation?

I was very ambitious before coming. And I've got to get back on the train! Screw it if I don't have friends! Exploring is more fun by yourself anyway. You'll see, self, tomorrow I shall drag myself out of bed before 11! Just you wait...

One Week Later...

Yes, I'm alive. and loving life in the Big Lychee.

I feel a little like a girl in a music video, standing completely still as blurs of trains and people pan past me.

There are so many people to see and things to do, but there are lulls and long subway trips that leave me with my thoughts. I'm really doing a lot of thinking here.

I haven't had much internet at all, so the updates suck. But they are coming!

Time to Fly

I pretty much just finished packing and I fly in four hours. Typical me.


Jasmine goes to Hong Kong for three (or more) months. 


It's kind of surreal, and I've been so busy I haven't let it sink in much, really. 
I'm excited, I think? A little nervous if I'm honest, but I feel like once I arrive everything will kind of just flow. I'm going to try and blog everyday while I'm there so I can maintain some sort of travel journal. I miss this blog having some substance, and I'll have "new" things to write about instead of posting sporadic music videos or emo-thoughts (haha, guilty!).


It's weird. Here's my "life" over the past year: 

And here is my "life" in the suitcase I'll be living out of for the next few months! 

See you on the other side. 

Why I Should Never Do Domestic Things or Black Swan-- A Little Too Close To Home

Fig. A: Subject somehow breaks glass while washing it and cuts hand.

Case in point.


It's a little too close to certain bleedy Black Swan scenes for my comfort level though, haha. Dora, Jo, Kat, and I saw the film yesterday after stuffing our faces full of pasta. Natalie Portman's performance was exquisite and Mila Kunis was definitely Golden Globe worthy. It's one of those films that clings to you after you leave the theatre, looking over your shoulder, forgetting to breathe, analyzing what exactly 'happened'. A day later, I'm still turning it over and over in my head and drawing my own parallels.

I think extending beyond "what happened", there are obvious strong themes within the film-- desperately seeking perfection and finding it unattainable. I know about that, I think. I used to wonder about my imperfections and found it difficult to see the perfectionist Virgo in me. I think that's almost my main problem though. For some things, mostly in scenarios where I perceive Expectation, I don't want to do them unless I know things will turn out Just So. Perfectly. I'm terrified of falling short peoples' (or society's, or my own?) expectations sometimes. Natalie Portman's character drives and drives and drives and drives herself (to insanity) to achieve this perfection, where as I'm the type who won't even try for fear of failure. In both cases, perfection is unattainable-- so why cripple yourself? But we do.

(In other cases, in situations where there is no pressure, I'm sloppy and I like it.

"Watch the way she moves. Imprecise, but... effortless. She's not faking it.")

On another note, I think the film expresses dualities (black swan, white swan) within ourselves. In order to achieve perfection, Nina's character must channel her inner darkness/imperfection. I think that's very true to life. Sometimes in order to achieve an end or to become... or realize yourself... you have to release a certain "darkness"? I'm still thinking about this one a lot, and I can't eloquently express it. But I'm drawing parallels there too-- how easy is it to balance the Black Swan and White Swan dualities in actual life? How much 'dark' can you release (and of course darkness is subjective) before you can't get the innocence/purity back? Everyone's a little of each, yes, but sometimes we must become something to achieve something else, and if you're not pretending then you're changing and it isn't always reversible. But I'm rambling.

It was an exceptional film though-- and this coming from a girl who was almost too chicken to see it to begin with.

Beginnings

Back to the real world today. Maybe it's silly, but 2011's beginning has given me a renewed sense of hope and motivation. I don't know if motivation is really the right word-- spark. Hunger. Yearning. Readiness.

I'm ready to do something.

Procrastinating on my Christmas CD

1. What time did you get up this morning? 9:30am... wait, what?! 

2. How do you like your steak?  Medium rare

3. What was the last film you saw at the cinema?     Eat, Pray, Love

4. What is your favorite TV show?  ... ever? Xena Warrior Princess (haha)

5. If you could live anywhere in the world where would it be?  NYC or Amsterdam

6. What did you have for breakfast?     Water

7. What is your favorite cuisine?     Shanghainese / Indian / Italian .... hard to choose, really. 

8. What foods do you dislike?   Celery, cooked leafy vegetables of any kind, cilantro

9. Favorite Place to Eat?     Home (I'm lucky to have amazing chefs for roommates... for two more days. :( ) 

10. Favorite dressing?      My mother makes this amazing dressing wth parm,  lemon, and olive oil

11.What kind of vehicle do you drive?  Not a driving kinda girl.. (ha)

12. What are your favorite clothes?    jeggings, loose-fitting t's, cardigans, scarves.. bright colours! :) 

13. Where would you visit if you had the chance?  Everywhere, everywhere, everywhere! 

14. Cup 1/2 empty or 1/2 full?   both (fence sitting.)

15. Where would you want to retire?  South of France 

16. Favorite time of day?   Middle of the night or afternoon

17. Where were you born?     Hong Kong

18. What is your favorite sport to watch?     I don't watch sports. 

19. Who do you think will not tag you back?     Probably everyone

20. Person you expect to tag you back first?   No clue

21. Who are you most curious about their responses to this? No one, I just felt like filling it out.

22. Bird watcher?    No

23. Are you a morning person or a night person?    Night

24. Pets?   RIP Don Chancho Ignacio Valdez. <3 

25. Any new and exciting news that you'd like to share?    My flight date for HK is Jan 26! 

26. What did you want to be when you were little?   A doctor who would use their money to buy land to build a retirement home for seniors to live in for free.... (how things have changed. haha) 

27. What is your best childhood memory?    Westvale P.S. Library  

28. Are you a cat or dog person?       Cat, mostly. 

29. Are you married?    No

30. Always wear your seat belt?      No

31. Been in a car accident?      Yes

32. Any pet peeves?   Yes (rushing/being rushed, not having anywhere to sit, when people refuse to get any food then ask for some of yours!! lol (I will buy you food! Just don't take mine!), people touching my hair without having reached a certain level of friendship!, when people make light of my cat's death, etc. )

33. Favorite pizza topping?   Plain cheese, or mushrooms and Italian sausage

34. Favorite Flower?  Sunflowers! :) 

35. Favorite ice cream?   Chocolate or Birthday Cake

36. Favorite fast food restaurant?   McDonalds

37. How many times did you fail your driver's test?   Never took it. 

38. From whom did you get your last email?   Pooja

39. Which store would you choose to max out your credit card?  Urban Outfitters

40. Do anything spontaneous lately?   Life is just spontaneous.

42. Broccoli? Cauliflower?   Cauliflower

43. What was your favorite vacation? DC, NYC, Boston when I was 8. 

44. Last person you went out to dinner with?    Mike and Fai 

45. What are you listening to right now?   Christmas music

46. What is your favorite color?   Neon yellow / canary yellow

47. How many tattoos do you have?   One (red fish on wrist)

48. Coffee drinker?    Yes

49. How many children do you have?     None

50. What is the last gift you received?    Stretchy grey jeans from Fai! 

Dead Ends

“There is a loneliness in this world so great that you can see it in the slow movement of
the hands of a clock.
people so tired
mutilated either by love or no love.
people just are not good to each other one on one.
the rich are not good to the rich the poor are not good to the poor.


we are afraid.


our educational system tells us that we can all be big-ass winners.
it hasn’t told us about the gutters or the suicides.
or the terror of one person aching in one place alone
untouched unspoken to
watering a plant.”

- Bukowski

A little Lisa on a lonely Tuesday

"Some of us hover when we weep for the other who was 
dying since the day they were born."
"You said that I was naive, and I thought that I was strong. And I thought hey I could leave I could leave..."

What happens on a dark-hearted Saturday

Despite having my first pumpkin spice latte of the season this morning, work still made me grumpy as hell. 

My foul mood combined with having little to no funds led to my declining an invitation of sushi and shopping with the roomies. I find window shopping excruciating. Instead, I watched How To Make a Button and subsequently fell into a thick sleep where I dreamed I was in some sort of open relationship with Miranda July. (Which was actually pretty awesome considering she is brilliant.)

My roommates came home filled with sushi and armed with colorful, lacy lingerie. I admired their loot as I consumed my sidekicks from the pot.

A forgotten segue later, P was cleaning out her room, sorting out items to donate and leafing through old clothing items. It wasn't until she asked if I had anything I wanted to get rid of that it came upon me, elbow deep in a garbage bag of clothes-- my shopping itch. 

It's just that it's fall again, and fall clothes are my favourite. Plus! I haven't been shopping in ages. I miss it. I miss the thrill of new things. I miss treasure-hunt thrifting. I miss creating new pairings. I miss not feeling anxious when I buy things. I am so sick of rotating the same tired outfits over and over and over. 

I know this is a bit superficial... and I acknowledge that it isn't an Actual Problem. (I hope I am not presenting it as such.) But yes. I miss it. Dressing myself feels like part of my art that I can't really engage in anymore. 

So instead... I torture myself by reading fashion blogs while mowing on leftover pizza. 

Check out Mademoiselle Robot. She has a green dress that is to die for and she teaches you how to make a scarf necklace!:

http://www.mademoisellerobot.com

Prod-tistic Soul

Something I love about my roommates is that they effectively counter my laziness while still being really chill people.

I think there's a certain healthy level of laziness that I regularly exceed. And while my roommates aren't the kind that regularly have the desire to "GO OUT!", they provide me with intellectual and cultural stimulation. And we often choose activities that richen my soul.

Today, Fai and I hit up the Kitchener Farmer's Market-- which I do prefer to the Waterloo/St.Jacob's one. I got some German pastries and a patty from Caribbean Kitchen. Fai got some produce. We chatted over coffee for a while outside, and then ventured back to Uptown, where an art show was winding down in the rain.

I'm feeling so inspired right now. I kind of hit kinks a lot with my art.. but I'm ready to make some stuff happen today! I met this girl selling prints and paintings who I really vibe with on an artistic level. I love her work and I got some prints. Check her out here: http://www.wix.com/sheenab/sheenab-designs

And now I'm off to sweep.

Productive + Artistic = Win.

Inner Child Dualities

Lyrics of the week

Pack up your troubles in your old kit bag and bury them beneath the sea, 
I don't care what the people may say, what the people may say about me.
Pack up your troubles, get your old grin back, don't worry 'bout the calvalry.
I don't care what the whisperers say 'cause they whisper too loud for me.

- Eliza Doolittle, Pack Up

Heat Wave Down Memory Lane

It's sweltering here lately.

So hot my hair sweats. So hot the heart-shaped bejewel on my cellphone melted off.

Normally, I'd opt to stay inside my nicely air-conditioned house, but today I had to trek to campus to pick up a check from human resources. I'm quite prone to heat stroke, and so after I picked up my check I traveled quickly across the parking lot to the Davis Centre. (Ah, memories!)

It's been a while since I've really been in this building during the day when people are here. Unfortunately the cafeteria closes early in the summer so I was cheated out of a poutine. Instead, I purchased an iced cappuccino from Tim Hortons and ventured into the actual library itself to prolong my period in the a/c.

Being here takes me back to a time of scrambling for study spaces, hovering over computer spots (before I had a laptop!), and "studying" in the basement area. Right. Studying. Also known as facebooking, online shopping, and in my case, reaching to find my inner videographer:

Happy Canada Day!

Three things I love about my country:

1. People are nice.

2. We have good greens. :)

3. Health care.

(4. Tamia singing Oh Canada)

How old is this news? and A Midsummer Night

Any thoughts of switching permanently to Tumblr or Wordpress have been officially squashed.

Tabs! Oh, Blogger, how did you know?

And as Midsummer has been celebrated and the 'high school summer vacation' is upon us, I am (once again) recommencing my love for bloggage. But this time I'll stick to it. Because I just can't resist tabs. (Possible reason for lack of friends.)

I take small breaks from being a massive loser here and there though.
On one such occasion (yesterday), S (being quite knowledgeable about the Swedish Midsummer Festival), created for P, N, and I, a smörgåstårta-- a traditional dish served by the Swedish at Midsummer. Essentially, it's a Sandwich Cake.

It was delicious and I got a new dress. Happy Summer!

10 Signs of a Personal Recession

10. Silver circles elicit a "YES!!!" ...nickels mean something to you again.

9. Hell, pennies mean something to you. You often consider rolling them.

8. You're always sober. Even coffee is a luxury.

7. Food is a luxury.
Mixing a can of god-knows-how-old mushroom soup with boiled rice noodles you got from your parents house is considered a decent meal.

6. You spend a week eating nothing but scrambled eggs on hot dog buns your roommate stole from work.

5. Signing up for a lot of those pay-per-survey sites.

4. Deciding to have a yard sale and then looking in the Free section of Kijiji for things to sell.

3. You can't afford to 'do' anything so you ignore people's calls since they are inevitably going to ask you to 'do' something. (This has allowed me to get through the first 5 seasons of Gilmore Girls on megavideo.)

2. You find out how much a crossing guard makes. You considering applying for the position.

1. You notice there is only one roll of toilet paper left in your bathroom and are filled with an alarming panic.

Mondays

I'm feeling quite 'escapist' today. Citylove-syndrome. But alas, I am broke and... employed.
So I'm stuck in the suburbs.

I didn't sleep last night.
It was pouring rain.
It's sunny now though.

I had Swedish Fish (Swedish berries in the shape of fish) and Yorkshire tea for breakfast (thank you Gabbi).

And, through StereoMood, I have found my celebrity twin, and a great artist. Perfect morning music. GREAT shoes. Eliza Doolittle is bomb.

Lending Strength

I've been listening to a lot of Jewel lately, haha.
My favourite Jewel song is Life Uncommon, I think. Tied closely with Near You Always.

She says though "Lend your voices only to sounds of freedom. No longer lend your strength to that which you wish to be free from. Fill your lives with love and bravery and you shall leave a life uncommon."

I only really want to be "in" something for as long as it's Healthy, and Happy.
If something is going to make me miserable (even if it's self-inflicted), then why keep 'giving it my strength' so to speak?

Anyway, random Sunday thought.

Cleaning my room, finally!

It's obvious your tenderness is what I need