sorry?

redang! o.O

i'm not sure how photoshop-ed this photo is, but this place is just too pretyyyyyyyy! i need a getaway, seriously!! >.<

november 2013!

it is so scary that we are already into the second last month of the year! i'm quite sure that i've hardly ever lost track of time, but i seriously can't believe that 2013 will be ending in about 2 months! and it seems like forever has passed since i was still a student in NTU, even though that part of my life only ended 3 months ago! oh no i'm ageing so much faster than i can ever imagine! >.<

the sound of hanoi!

i often think that i am a visual person - i need to see things to understand what they are and how they work, and base my judgements on both people and things, most of the time, at first sight. however, only recently have i realised that i do listen too!

this was discovered when i couldn't sleep at night because of the noisy street just outside my house. it is truly a 'street that never sleeps', with never-ending flows of vehicles coming in and out of the main city and countless street food sellers who roam the city at night. from being extremely irritated originally, i've now gotten used to this noise and grown to like it. haha who knows if i might even miss it when i'm away in the future?

"tôi là bánh khúc đây!" (?), "ai bánh bao nóng đây!" - the sound of hanoi by night.

till the work be done.

my hands have never been so dirty and oily before.

my hands have never been so dry and rough before.

my hands have never been so full of cuts and bruises before.

these thoughts came to me when i looked at my hands while washing the dishes, and just suddenly made me so emotional and stressed. other negative thoughts started flooding my mind, like 'this is not what i wanted', 'why am i doing this?', 'i could have been lazing around somewhere', 'i wish i could just give everything up and disappear'... and i swear i just wanted to break down in tears immediately.

but hey, guess what? i'm no longer such a baby - i didn't cry and neither did i complain! over the past 2 months, i've been working almost everyday without any break at all and all my daily routines are messed up. i spend almost all my waking hours at work and hardly have any time for myself or my family or my friends. i'm always so tired and sleepy, sometimes to the extent that i could just faint. but things arent working out too well yet at the moment so i'll be strong and continue doing what i have to do and hopefully everything will be fine!

unity.

it's amazing to see how united our people are, and how powerful our people can be through what my parents call an 'once-in-a-lifetime event' which happened today - a state funeral. 

having heard my parents' stories of how the whole nation cried over Uncle Ho's death about 40 years ago, i've always wished i had been born a bit earlier or i had a time machine to travel back to the past to feel that kind of patriotism because hearing stories is simply not satisfying enough. and my wish kind of came true today because i've seen with my own eyes how millions of people from all over the country gathered from 5 am and waited for hours just to bid farewell to a man whom they might not have met before but consider their hero. i guess this kind of events don't happen often, and it just makes me so proud of our history!

i love reading about history, especially vietnamese history. and today i realised i've witnessed a very historic event which will be taught to future generations in history lessons at school. i'm thankful to be back here at the right time to be part of history! (:

1st day in the 25th year of my life!

so today i woke up with a sudden realisation that i would be living as a 25-year-old from today onwards and that thought left me speechless for a long while, simply because 25 years equate a quarter of a century! and so i had a quick reflection, the first as a 25-year-old.

for the past 24 years, life has been kind to me. in 24 years, i've both been given and earned various opportunities to experience life to the fullest, like literally. i've met a lot of people, both female and male, both vietnamese and foreign, both old and young, both rich and poor, both white collared or blue collared, etc. most of the time, i make my own decisions (even though they might be strongly influenced by others but the ultimate power to decide still lies with me) and even decisions for others sometimes.

so i dont have any regrets at all so far. i feel blessed for everything i've experienced thus far in life and will continue being thankful for the impending adventures awaiting me in the next phase! (:

www.superbean.com.vn

please drop by these pages for a while and help to like and share them, thank you everybody! (:

http://www.superbean.com.vn/

https://www.facebook.com/superbeanvietnam

please.

please let this phase be over quickly and smoothly, it's so physically and mentally draining. it's like you are excited to watch a long awaited movie but you just can't get into the cinema because of the horrible weather, the annoying crowd or the evil usher (in short, factors out of your control). can't i just fast forward to the part i wanna watch in movies or simply flip the pages to jump to the chapters i like in books? =(((((

mid-year resolutions (:

i guess it is not really a suitable time of the year for resolutions right now, but i just sense a very urgent need to change the way i've been living my life, or watching my life go by everyday routinely but uneventfully, for the past year, or years. i'm really really thankful for my stalker-self, which coincidentally brought me to the inspiring blog of a dedicated and motivated 'almost-stranger' who just reminded me so much of the person i used to be a few years back. i then closed my eyes for a short moment, reflecting back on how different life was at that time, and was determined to get back the passion that somehow got lost during the journey.

so from now till the end of 2013, and the years that follow, i will:

• express my positive emotions and appreciation towards others without feeling shy or ashamed
• show my care and concern to others' well-being, especially those who really matter
• be dedicated to and focused on my tasks
• think positively and appreciate small little blessings in life
• be happy, like genuinely happy, and smile everyday

the list could go on forever, but i dont want to go too much into details. now i've had a clear image of who i wanna be and will make sure i work hard towards that goal. life's great and i'm thankful to be alive! (:

ps. please ignore the unrelated hamster and tea pot and focus on what's important! ;)