Dear Columbia,
Thank you so much for the shiny new foaming soap dispenser in our suite bathroom! It’s great that you’re finally starting to spent some money on stuff like this, instead of, say, landscaping. We don’t need immaculately coiffed bushes or decorative red twigs sticking out of the flower beds at regular intervals during Christmas time. Fixing the holes in our walls so we don’t get any more mice would be a great next step. Thank you.
Love,
Wendan
1.5″ x 1.5″ various colors, pencil, ink pens, ball point pen
Your Cell Phone? Pinkberry
Your Hair? Curly
Your Mother? Neurotic
Your Father? Amusing
Your Favorite Food? Many
Your Dream Last Night? Forgotten
Your Favorite Drink? Water
Your Dream/Goal? Happy
What Room Are You In? Dorm
Your Hobby? Art
Your Fear? Bugs
Where Do You See Yourself In Six Years? Residency
Where Were You Last Night? Inside
Something That You Aren’t? Normal
Muffins? Blueberry
Wish List Item? Blythe
Where Did You Grow Up? Everywhere
Last Thing You Did? Drink
What Are You Wearing? Pink
Your TV? Laptop
Your Pets? Boyfriend
Friends? Yes
Your Life? College
Your Mood? Dull
Missing Someone? Yes
Vehicle? Subway
Something You Aren’t Wearing? Socks
Your Favorite Store? 21
Your Favorite Color? Green
When Was The Last Time You Laughed? Now
Last Time You Cried? Yesterday
Your Best Friend? Looking
One Place You Go To Over And Over Again? Class
Facebook? Addict
Favorite Place To Eat? Many
Okay, I know my obsession with Robin’s coat on How I Met Your Mother is bordering on ridiculous, as my search for something like it has already lead to 2 posts (here and here), but I think I’ve finally found the one! Where? Of all the places, eBay. Check it out below!
It comes in black and ivory:
And though you can’t really see the tiers from the front, here’s the lovely tiered back:
It’s $150 with shipping, something I can actually save up for! The only reservations I have about it is that it is on eBay, and I don’t know if the fit and quality will be perfect. What do you think? Is it worth getting?
Following up on my previous blog entry regarding a certain tiered trench coat worn by Robin on How I Met Your Mother (she wore it again last week! Did you notice?), I discovered this new option from Arden B.
Doesn’t really look like anything, right? Wait until you see the back:
Do you see the pretty tiers? And actually affordable too: $78.00 (plus, buy one get one for only $10!). I kind of wish it was a different color, but I still want to get it.
Long overdue, sorry. Will catch up soon!
1.5″ x 1.5″ yellow, blue ink pen
I love drawing trees
First day of classes of spring semester and I’m already feeling a bit overwhelmed. My sleeping patterns are still not quite adjusted, both in terms of jet lag and in that I’ve been sleeping 10 hours a day for the last 3 weeks, so I was nodding off a little during class today. It also did not help that I have a 9:10 am class this morning. The classes themselves weren’t too bad: I had Statistics, which will hopefully go okay as I’m just taking it for a requirement, Intro to Social Cognition, which is looking to be actually a quite interesting course, and Bio, which is Bio, the bane of all Columbia premeds’ existence. I mean, I did well in the course last semester, but it was in no way, shape, or form a fun experience.
Tomorrow will be Physics and CC, both of which are just continuations of last semester. I really do not want to buy the book package for CC for a whopping $170, for a bunch of obscure philosophy work that a) I will only read 1/5 of the text of each book and b) will never read a again. What to do… sigh.
And then there’s a bunch of paperwork I need to do in order to volunteer at the hospital across the street. I absolutely loath paperwork. Ugh.
Can it be Spring Break already?
What a gorgeous day to leave this place, especially after a week straight of clouds and rain. Golden sunshine all around for my departure! I always have a good feeling about my endeavors when the weather is fine. Hope this means that the security checks and customs will be ok!
I leave you with this beautiful sunset we had in Vancouver a couple of weeks ago:
New York City in 12 hours :)
I absolutely loved this week’s 100th episodes of How I Met Your Mother. Yes, we only saw the Mother’s feet and Ted didn’t even get to meet her, but you know what, sometimes life’s like that. Sometimes the perfect person is just inches away from you, and perhaps your paths have already crossed many times before. Yet you know none of it at all. To you, they are just isolated events that hold no significance. But there’s something waiting to happen, something magical. You just don’t know it yet. But when it does happen, the dots will connect, the stars will align, and you will see that everything that has happened before has happened to bring you here. There is a grander plan outside of you.
To quote the wonderful blog Have You Met Ted dedicated to all things How I Met Your Mother:
There’s something magical about just missing someone you don’t know as they pass through a doorway. They’re right there, all of them, their whole life and memories and thoughts and hopes and dreams, but you know nothing of it, you can’t read it. It’s like when you meet someone and find out they lived on your block years ago. It makes you realize there’s a whole world going on around you that you can’t see and experience. It makes you wonder what things are happening just on the other side of the door, or the street, or the city, that someday you’ll know about and realize how close it was then, or maybe you’ll never know it. How many things are a bathroom’s door and a glimpse of a foot away that you’ll never get a chance to know better?
It’s a beautiful thought, isn’t it? It reminds me of the story 向左走 向右走 (A Chance of Sunshine) by the wonderfully talented artist and writer 几米 (Jimmy Liao). It’s one of my favourite books of all time. You can read it in Chinese here. It’s also available in English, but I heard that it really doesn’t capture the charm of the original. There is also a movie made based on the book – Turn Left, Turn Right – but again, it doesn’t do the book justice.
The essence of the story is nicely encapsulated by the poem Love at First Sight by the Polish poet Wislawa Szymborska, an excerpt of which appears in the prologue of the book. The complete poem is below:
Love at First Sight
Wislawa Szymborska
They’re both convinced
that a sudden passion joined them.
Such certainty is beautiful,
but uncertainty is more beautiful still.
Since they’d never met before, they’re sure
that there’d been nothing between them.
But what’s the word from the streets, staircases, hallways -
perhaps they’ve passed by each other a million times?
I want to ask them
if they don’t remember -
a moment face to face
in some revolving door?
perhaps a “sorry” muttered in a crowd?
a curt “wrong number” caught in the receiver?
but I know the answer.
No, they don’t remember.
They’d be amazed to hear
that Chance has been toying with them
now for years.
Not quite ready yet
to become their Destiny,
it pushed them close, drove them apart,
it barred their path,
stifling a laugh,
and then leaped aside.
There were signs and signals,
even if they couldn’t read them yet.
Perhaps three years ago
or just last Tuesday
a certain leaf fluttered
from one shoulder to another?
Something was dropped and then picked up.
Who knows, maybe the ball that vanished
into childhood’s thicket?
There were doorknobs and doorbells
where one touch had covered another
beforehand.
Suitcases checked and standing side by side.
One night, perhaps, the same dream
grown hazy by morning.
Every beginning
is only a sequel, after all,
and the book of events
is always open halfway through.
How amazingly beautiful is that? It’s one of those poems that haunts you with this feeling of wonder and possibility. And how amazingly does it embody How I Met Your Mother? I can’t believe I never made the connection between one of my favourite poems and one of my favourite shows. “… the book of events/ is always open halfway through.” I just feel fortunate to be able to listen as Ted reads his book – after it’s been written, from the beginning, all the while watching him struggling to find what he believes is the beginning, but what really is halfway. And I hope that one day when I look back, I will find my book as beautifully connected.
