Video Sharing.

Ahh, the wonders of the world wide web, and the ability to share and view videos at the click of a button.

These are the three standouts for me over the week thus far. It's also amusing as I've realised each of these originate from a different channel (-ie, not all from YouTube.) Totally unplanned! Really, I shall explain... ENJOY!

Monday

Nick Vujicic

Everybody has a story. This is his.

My good friend, Sabrina linked this to me. Incidentally it was the day after my last post (which is still very much unedited and unfinished, apologies!) And it really resonated with me...and helped reiterate to me that we don't know whether death is permanent, but life is. So we should go out and live it already! Wholeheartedly, with acceptance, with trust, with eagerness and without without WITHOUT ..fear. 

Pain is inevitable.  Suffering is optional
M. Kathleen Casey

PS: If you were wondering about his accent, he's an Australian who now lives in California . To find out more about Nick and what he does, click here.

Tuesday

Winglish

White Singaporean English.

Tyler Creasman, 16 years of age and trilingual at the very least. (English, Mandarin, Malay)

Very very impressive! 

Ah yes, looks can indeed be deceiving. Never judge a book by it's cover, etc.

Kiddies be warned, failed attempts at humour and Yo Mumma's jokes ensue...

SR EP7 - Singaporean White Boy from clicknetwork on Vimeo.

Thursday
Rich Kids

Meg Washington. Brisbanite. Danni and I had the pleasure of seeing her play live at the Gallery of Modern Art earlier this year. She's sure come a long long way. A fantastic storyteller and passionate musician, her music brims and bubbles over with a very loveable kooky contagiousness.

WASHINGTON |

And everything else that appealed to me visually, I promptly excitedly shared with Danni.

SERIOUSLY, what is not to love? :]

Happy Friday, Happy People!

Much love, MIRIAM :D

 

the Fear.

BTW: Just made crepe batter in preparation for  a breakfast to honour my Mother tomorrow morning!

Earlier today on a scrap piece of paper:

Allow me to transcribe and elaborate...

9.19 AM and I'm at the registers. It's a quiet morning. I-have-enough-fingers-to-count-how-many-customers-I've-served type quiet. Although mind you, we have only been open for less than twenty minutes.

So I'm pondering. Early morning contemplation on life. On death. On fear. I mean, it just occured to me how -aside from getting attacked by sharks, having a vending machine fall on you, or just the monsters under your bed, death it a pretty rational fear. Thing is though, that the one thing in life you can be sure of, is death.

Of course I'm not trying to sound morbid. In fact, it's merely a fact of life, right? In embracing the birth of every newborn, we too are embracing death. We may wish for this son/daughter/niece/nepher/brother/sister/friend's offspring to do well in school, have a successful career, earn a good income etc, but ultimately these things are never ever certain. What you can be certain of, is that it WILL happen. It's not a matter of how or why...but when.

So, if death is so imminent, why do we fear it? In all honesty, I don't think our qualms lie in a fear of dying at all, but rather fear of life and having not lived it to our satisfaction before the expiry date. I think the real question is, why do we fear living? Why do we let so many things hold us back -fear of failure...fear of rejection...fear of reputation...everything!

 "Too many people spend money they haven't earned, to buy things they don't want, to impress people they don't like." ~ Will Smith

Living. Let's face it. It's not the easiest task in the world. And at times, certainly not at all pleasant. But really, each of us have the power to shape it into how we would like it to be.

You can't control the time of your death, the career of your child, the weather tomorrow or the person who sits down beside you on the bus. But, you can control YOUR life. Why do we find it so easy to tell everyone else what to do. Everyone is so eager to give out their advice, their criticisms, their opinions, yet find it so hard to amend their own.  Like that man Jesus said, "It is easier to see the splinters in your neighbour's eye, than the plank in your own."


You only got one shot, do not miss your chance to blow
Cause opportunity comes once in a lifetime.
-Eminem


I don't know what's right or what's real anymore
I don't know how I'm meant to feel, anymore
...I'm being taken over by the fear.

“The highest reward for a person’s work is not what they get for it but what they become because of it.” ~ John Ruskin

Ultimately you navigate the wheel. A voyage is never smooth sailing. For where lies the adventure in that? The seas will get rough on occasion, but remember that drowning is optional.

oh my word, it's 3am.. IMMA EDIT THIS TOMORROW. MUCH LOVE

Mirimon <3

quitting's out of the question.

 I stumbled across this song on the infamous youtube today.

The lyrics appealed to me especially. So specific, yet so applicable and relevent to anything and everything, really :). Empowering. I love the ambiguity of 'it.'

A distinct pop flavour...it's catchiness is a little bit contagious. THERE'S SOMETHING ABOUT IT I CAN'T QUITE PUT MY FINGER ON! >_< 

The artist, Cheryl Cole ain't too harsh on the eye either, though I do believe this song could and definitely should encompass more emotion.

Fight for This Love -Cheryl Cole

Too much of anything can make you sick
Even the good can be a curse

Makes it hard to know which road to go down
Knowing too much can get you hurt.

Is it better? Is it worse?
Always sitting in reverse
It's just like we're going backwards.

I know where I want this to go
We're driving fast but lets go slow
But I don't want us to crash, no.

Just know you're not in this thing alone
There's always a place in me that you can call home
Whenever you feel like we're growing apart
Let's just go back, back, back, back, back to the start.

Anything that's worth having
Is sure enough worth fighting for
Quiting's out of the question
When it gets tough, gotta fight some more.

We gotta fight, fight, fight, fight, fight for this love
We gotta fight, fight, fight, fight, fight for this love
We gotta fight, fight, fight, fight, fight for this love
If it's' worth having, it's worth fighting for

Now everyday ain't gon' be no picnic
Love aint no walk in the park
All you can do is make the best of it now
Can't be afraid of the dark.

Just know you're not in this thing alone
There's always a place in me that you can call home
Whenever you feel like we're growing apart
Let's just go back, back, back, back, back to the start.

Anything that's worth having
Is sure enough worth fighting for
Quiting's out of the question
When it gets tough, gotta fight some more.

We gotta fight, fight, fight, fight, fight for this love
We gotta fight, fight, fight, fight, fight for this love
We gotta fight, fight, fight, fight, fight for this love
If it's worth having, it's worth fighting for (Oh).

I don't know where we're heading
I'm willing and ready to go.

We've been driving so fast
We just need to slow down
And just role.

Anything that's worth having
Is sure enough worth fighting for
Quiting's out of the question
When it gets tough, gotta fight some more.

We gotta fight, fight, fight, fight, fight for this love
We gotta fight, fight, fight, fight, fight for this love
We gotta fight, fight, fight, fight, fight for this love
If it's worth having, it's worth fighting for (Oh).

We gotta fight, fight, fight, fight, fight for this love
We gotta fight, fight, fight, fight, fight for this love
We gotta fight, fight, fight, fight, fight for this love
It's worth having, it's worth fighting for (Oh...).

 [lyrics credited to lyricsbay.com] 

late night adventures with my pacer.

PS: *Click to enlarge~

 

.

spur of the moment. 

pleasantly surprised considering how long I hadn't drawn for :]... criticisms welcome :L.

<3 xxoo

mine would be:

Picture 1) Awkward positioning of legs

Picture 2) She's supposed to be wringing something in her hands. 

Actually it's that life giving thing in your chest they call a 'heart'...would like to make this more distinct...

Picture 3) More body to her rectangle-resembling tunic. Shading needed!

Picture 4) Missing right upper arm. Keheheh. Unfinished left hand. Change watch positioning.

(500) Days of

What is it that compels one being to another? A magnetic force so strong it can eventually strip one of one's armour. Something so overwhelmingly potent it causes one to want to expose our vulnerable self to another, in the hope of a mutual reciprocation. Is it the warm feeling it delivers? Feeling wanted? The ability to quench our desire to be desired? What should I know? It is but defined differently, person to person. I am merely a spectator of this thing they call 'love'.

Oh, I have been a casualty, I've encountered with this force... Dropping everything at the sound of his voice. Finding a smile creep across my face and a phantom sun, warming me when he dances across my mind. A girl already content with her life, or so she thought, seemed mistaken... as it would seem that she'd found solace, in something so simple -an embrace, fingers intertwined with his- to trigger emotions complex, meanwhile transforming the most complex of life's trials and tribulations become irrelevent, insignificant even.

On Monday night I watched for the second time, (500) Days of Summer. It starts like this:

 This is a story of boy meets girl. The boy, Tom Hansen of Margate, New Jersey, grew up believing that he'd never truly be happy until the day he met 'The One'. This belief stemmed from early exposure to sad British pop music and a total mis-reading of the movie 'The Graduate'. The girl, Summer Finn of Shinnecock, Michigan, did not share this belief. Since the disintegration of her parent's marriage she'd only loved two things. The first was her long dark hair. The second was how easily she could cut it off and not feel a thing. Tom meets Summer on January 8th. He knows almost immediately she is who he has been searching for. This is a story of boy meets girl, but you should know upfront, this is not a love story.

A movie montage that flips back and forth through the offbeat relationship between Summer and Tom...

He felt a lot more toward her than she, him...and she knew it. With this knowledge, many of my friends believe it was rather unfair of her to continue in the relationship...led him on, even.

But Summer made it clear from the start, that she wasn't after a long term relationship, and that she simply liked him. She was honest...with him.

  "Summer, what are we doing? ..What are we?"

  "Oh.. I don't know. I'm happy, aren't you happy?"
  "Yeah, I'm happy."
  "Well.. good!"

Someone from work once told me, "If he likes her, and she likes him, and they enjoy each others company, they should just be together, why complicate things, you know? If it works out, it works out, if not then at least they had fun. We're still young."

Is it taken too seriously? Or do we all dream of one day finding The One?

When enquiring about her past relationships, Tom asks Summer,

"What happened? Why didn't they work out?
"What always happens...Life."

And she's right, right? There can only be so much time devoted to mourning the loss of a loved one.. of course we'll always remember them with a smile, and their memory forever linger, tucked away into the folds of our heart, whether we like it or not. Nonetheless, life continues and we must keep flowing with it. With a head down, gaze low, heart heavy...who knows what opportunities could be missed? Fate. Chance. Destiny. The Universe has something in store for each of us, if only we keep our eyes o p e n. (:

 For instance, how Summer met her husband,

"Well, you know, I guess it's 'cause I was sitting in a deli and reading Dorian Gray and a guy comes up to me and asks me about it and... now he's my husband."  
 "Yeah. And... so?"
"So, what if I'd gone to the movies? What if I had gone somewhere else for lunch? What if I'd gotten there 10 minutes later? It was - it was meant to be..."

An eternal optimist, I believe that good can be found in every 'bad' situation.

 For example in the movie, even though Summer left Tom, she helped him to realise his passion and pursue his dream to become an architect. He quits his job as a card designer and soon enough, applies at an architecture firm. Consequently this leads to his encounter with a female rival applicant for the same position.

Somewhere after an acknowlegement of each others' presence and a brief exchange of chatter, she says,

"Have I seen you before?"
 "Me? I don't think so."
"Do you ever go to Angela's Plaza?"
  "Yes... That's like my favourite spot in the city."
"Yeah, except for the parking lots."
  “Yeah, yeah I agree."
“Yeah, yeah I think I've seen you there."
 "Really?"
“Yeah..."
  "I haven't seen you?"
"You must not have been looking..."
  “...”

Her name, Autumn initially seemed cliche and corny to me. However now, in hindsight, it seems fitting, and somewhat implies that Love is seasonal, that there's a time and place for everything.
And may also have a knack of showing up when you least expect it.

 In daylights, in sunsets, in midnights, in cups of coffee, in inches, in miles, in laughter and strife, i.n 525,600 minutes, how do you measure a year in the life? How about love? 
 -Seasons of love, from Rent the Musical

Just a midnight musing...
Miriam <3

Photographic Manipulation.

So my friend, Yannick showed me this seriously cool article, featuring the works of 24 year old Swedish frelance photographer, Erik Johansson.

A quick google and I managed to find his website. Take a peek at his impressive portfolio. Cunning and creative..these images have a knack of teasing my imagination!

Here, have some:

And, if you have 5 minutes, check out the future in Adobe Photoshop ;O!!



Happy snapping, lovelies!
xx

He is Present.

Never place a period

Where God has placed a coma
.,

A bit of youtube procrastination and I stumbled across this.

God.

What does the word mean anything to you? Does He mean anything to you?