IT'S MY LIFE

By: Bon Jovi

That's it. I'm so tired of living timidly, surrounding in my own fears.

It's true, God has given me one life... and I feel sad looking back for the last 23 years and I had done nothing, seriously nothing in my life. I was carrying such sad life, and I want no more part in it.

It's now or never, I know what I should be doing now.

Angel in Me

Final exams and projects are really killing me lately. Ayda... Found a good song, but I'm more in love with Thao Trang's vocals more than anything. I remember being impressed with her voice back in the day when she was still competing in Vietnam Idol the first season. I personally think she's better than Phuong Vy, the winner of that season. Thao Trang has quite a unique look (being mixed I believe), an excellent voice, and her English is not too bad either. I'm looking forward to hearing more from her.

Angel in Me

Sung by: Thao Trang

Lunar New Year!!

Phut Giay Giao Thua

By: Dan Truong, Cam Ly, be Trieu Vy

So Vietnamese Lunar New Year is coming up, and watching this very sweet

commercial takes me back to some sweet memories of when I was still

in Vietnam. I just realized that I so very miss Vietnam, after being gone

for almost 10 years now. Ahhh... I wanna come back >w<...

You're my hiding place

You Are My Hiding Place

By: Selah

This is the song that keeps me going whenever my heart is burdened.

Walking in the winter wonderland :)

It's such a cozy day today, though not that much for driving :). We Midwesterns are experiencing quite a big snow storm since Sunday afternoon, and uni was canceled today for me, which is rare really. The funny thing is, I did not like the cancellation at all; I was actually looking forward to having my printmaking class today so that I could ask my professor for suggestions and help on my newest drawing. Unlike the last one, which I struggled all throughout, this one came to me relatively easy, and the process of drawing was really enjoyable. I'm kinda worried now because the drawing hasn't been etched or printed yet; and I had to turn in the porfolio this coming Thursday!!! The bad thing is... the snow won't stop until tomorrow, and by then, the snow would be up to around 12 inches or so (hopefully it won't be that bad), and I'm not sure how I will handle driving around in ~that~, lol.

So... I finally deactivated my Facebook account after three months of non activity. I don't think I'll be missed, lol XD, nor will I miss it. It's a nice social network site, though it's just too much stimulation for me, and I can't handle stimulation all that well. The old dear best friends I used to have I was unable to find online, and now I'd prefer to contact the few current friends I have via emails, phones or face to face :), also, I once lost quite a bit of personal information so now I'm always kinda nervous to have too much of my info online for others to see, so deactivating seemed a welcoming approach. Actually for a period of time I hated Facebook and how superficial it is to see everybody 'keeping in touch' with shallow comments, or 'collecting' friends just for the sake of it (I had seen people with over 1000 friends, what the heck!). Of course, I was like that too, friending people I know briefly for like one day, or accepting request for friends from acquaintance of my friends. It's rather pathetic... I guess it was during the time when my acceptance of myself was low, and I couldn't tolerate the fact that I had not much friends in real life therefore the race to add as much people I know to the list as possible so that I won't have to appear as 'uncool' or 'unsocial' (I got so irritated when a manager made a joke on how I only had 30 friends or so on FB, and that she wasn't good enough to be my 'friend', seriously, people like that get on my nerves!). Now that I look back, it's just so silly. It feels like high school and popularity contest all over again, and I want no part in it... there're just too much attention seekers and it gets tiresome having to see constant status updates, sometimes for things that I don't care to know about at all. Ah well... it's over now, and I have no regrets closing it out on me. Now, I don't hate it anymore, because I no longer care... I guess when you have no interest in something, you will see mostly the negative parts of it. That could have held true in my case; my life is not affected by the decision by any means because I wasn't fond of FB to begin with. I feel lucky I'm not addicted to it, as it opens door for me to connect with the few people I know on a much more personal level, and to leave time for me to study and for recreational activities and hobbies. And lately, I'm learning to give myself more time alone because it's my temperament (being an introvert) and not feeling bad about it; as well as being more open and honest to myself and to others. Now I can be silent in the company of another without feeling the guilt and urge to 'speak up', because I'm just acting myself and not trying to please everyone I come in contact with. It's exhausted to be agreeable all the time so that I would be liked. Man, I guess some people I know figured it out that it was all an act, lol? I was desperated for friendship a while back so I did all I could to be agreeable and likable, heheh... and it backfired really, because nobody likes a faked person.

Btw, I'm in love with the beat of this song "Hot Girl". Actually, this song is a 'controversial song' amongst the hot girls in Vietnam right now. I don't care, just thought the beat is awesome, and the lyrics aren't that bad :).

HOT GIRL

By: Hoang Hai and Manh Quan

Anyhoo, I'll go back to study now. Ja!

music rant :)

I can't get this song out of my head ^^. Lately, I'm pretty impressed with the Vietnamese music industry. Originality it does not have much, but you can tell they're trying hard and that alone gives me such good impression :).

EM TRONG MAT TOI / YOU IN MY EYES

By: Nguyen Duc Cuong

Em đẹp không cần son phấn xinh thật xinh thật xinh... rất hiền...

Không quần jeans giầy cao gót em chọn riêng mình em áo dài duyên dáng...

Giống như hoa kia bên thềm ngát hương không khoe sắc màu ngàn đóa hoa đang rực rỡ không sánh bằng...

Nhẹ nhàng tung bay tà áo dài... Em phụ nữ Việt

Ánh lên bao rạng ngời người Phương Đông

Người đẹp dáng xinh hay vì anh đang ngập tràn hạnh phúc bên em bừng lên khúc xuân xanh ngời...

Người con gái Việt mặc chiếc áo dài

Đẹp khắp bốn phương... một nét Á Đông

Một ngày nơi xa chiều buồn lang thang tình cờ ngang qua

Một tà áo trắng một bờ vai xinh tôi không quen

Lòng chợt ấm áp gửi làn gió nói về miền yêu thương

Tôi Yêu Em Tôi Nhớ Em

just music ^^

I'm digging the band Oasis at the moment... Kinda know about them late though... I don't follow bands and listen to music all the much, lol.

L I T T L E by LITTLE

By: Oasis

Hm... life :)

It seems like everyday, I understand myself a little better. You read it right, myself and not someone else. Would it be considered cold or conceited or selfish to say that I'm constantly thinking about my own feelings? But that's just exactly how I think most of the time! I'm highly aware of my own thoughts, down to the tiniest details... But the quiz I did told me that I just happen to possess very high Intrapersonal Intelligence, and there's actually nothing wrong with that. I am just who I am. On the other hand, my Interpersonal Intelligence (people skills) is quite lacking, lol XD. It's always been the case, with me being very socially awkward. When I turned 19, it was when I started to seek an identity for myself. But the problems of low self-esteem started as early as 6th grade for me. My elementary school years were just as happy and fun as anyone could have hoped for. Until now, I long to go back to those days of pure innocence and oblivions quite frequently.

In middle school I went to a bigger school and it was when students started to form cliques. I wasn't particularly a loner, but it seems like I was always excluded somehow. Friends I had, close friends, none. Even so, I was fine with my lack of friends because at that time I was greatly concerned with my body image, lol. And so it went, until a point that I forgot how to make friends. But you see, I was fine, or thought I was.

When I turned 19, that was when things changed. And now at 22, I understand myself way clearer than I would have ever wanted. With understanding comes forgiveness and ease. I'm at ease with who I am now. The Intrapersonal thing adds to that. It explains why I suck at small talks, or why I always feel kind of bored at senseless conversations. Not that I'm arrogant, it's just that I tend to have more to say when it goes a little more philosophical or psychological I guess. It explains why I am so emotional and religious, why I am such a perfectionist, why I procrastinate, why I love to study yoga/meditation, why I frequent personal-development websites, or why I tend to withdraw into myself. The world exhausts me at times.

Being at ease really helps. So far, it makes this semester at school a lot less stressful to me. I take the same amount of classes, but instead of dropping them in fear of failure, I'm sticking to them when I realize I can never be perfect, nor do I have to be one. And I work so much harder now and just do, instead of all talks like in the past. Occasionally I fall back like always, but getting back up doesn't seem as dreadful or impossible.

I will have to work extremely extremely hard if I want to graduate this May. And then there comes the issue of finding a job. I love how my parents are being easy on me about this. Truly my family is the source of my strength, without them I am not sure if I would ever work as hard. And perhaps my family is one thing that I feel so blessed I have, and one thing that I constantly thank God everyday about. Even though I don't really express it out loud, but during the time my depression was at its peak, thoughts of how lucky I am to have parents and siblings who love me so much guided me through that awful period; I just broke down and cried for hours, feeling so sad that I actually let depression took hold of my life when I still have people who love me so, and I love them dearly.

I really want to embark on a journey/travel to some foreign countries after my graduation. Don't we all want to do that at some point in our lives? That day of graduation will come... and I honestly don't want my dream to remain just a dream. Guess we'll see how things play out, well, because life is just so wonderful and full of unknown possibilities. If God agrees with my dream, I know I'll be somewhere when the time comes. In what way I will not know yet, but that's one thing that makes life worth living, right? In the mean time, I'll continue to pray earnestly and work in the best of my ability.

By the way, I'm really into Yiruma's music right now. It soothes my soul, and it helps me getting through my piles of homework and projects beautifully ^^.

Kiss the Rain
by: Yiruma

Goodbye...

If only I could say... goodbye.
I said goodbye to a dear friend today.
I knew within my heart that I will be about to say goodbye to something else too.
But for now, I just can't do it.
Feel like I'm running in place a lot.

I just saw Hayley's comet, she waved
Said why you always running in place?
Even the man in the moon disappeared
Somewhere in the stratosphere

Second Chance

By: Shinedown

In the midst of a whirlwind

WE BOW DOWN
By: Viola Grafstrom

The flower petals return...

I really don't keep in touch much with the teen Vietnamese music industry, but this song sure is a good one and somewhat got me curious... seems like a lot has changed, and the song is sort of stuck in my head now... The story of this song is kinda interesting also...

The legend is of Rang Su Tu (the stem) whose love is the beautiful Bo Cong Anh (the petals). When Summer came, all the yellow flowers in the field changed out of their yellow dresses and into a white cotton soft dress instead. Rang Su Tu admired Bo Cong Anh’s beauty and their love continued to grow.

One day, a strong and exciting third wheel by the name of “Wind” blew in and swept all the pretty little flowers off their feet. “Wind” was very charming and alluring so as he flew by playing his little tune on the flute, even the trees swayed for him in admiration.

Bo Cong Anh was no exception. When he passed by the field, Bo Cong Anh let herself go to the wind. She wanted the wind to cherish each fiber of her soft petals.

Rang Su Tu was heartbroken when Bo Cong Anh left with the wind. Out of wishful thinking, he threw his green arms out to keep Bo Cong Anh from leaving but it was too late; Bo Cong Anh had already clung to the Wind.

But Wind wasn’t the settling type because he was the son of “Adventure” and “Risk”. The peaceful field was not the place for him. Bo Cong Anh tried holding on to “Wind” but it was no use, for he kept blowing so coldly. Bo Cong Anh had no choice but to let go.

Since then, it has been told that as many farmers pass by these fields, they could hear Rang Su Tu’s whispers, asking the wind where he had blown Bo Cong Anh off to. “How is she doing at that place?” he would ask, but Wind would remain silent.

Because he could not take her on his journey forever, Bo cong Anh fell off during the journey and planted herself in the ground to “start over”. With this, Bo Cong Anh named all her offsprings after “Răng Sư Tử”.

“Trees/Stems will have flowers/petals, but they cannot keep them forever for these petals will always lean towards the wind/adventure. Wind on the other only loves the journey and cannot hold tight. Only when the wind stops blowing, do these petals realize that their origin is with the stem."

Taken from Vietchannel.

So here's the video:

NHUNG CANH HOA TRO VE
(RETURN OF THE FLOWER PETALS)
By: Sugar

footprints in the sand

I'd love to share with you a very lovely Christian poem that warms my heart: Footprints in the Sand, together with the song under the same name by one of my favorite artists: Leona Lewis.

FOOTPRINTS IN THE SAND
By: Margaret Fishback Powers

One night I dreamed a dream.
I was walking along the beach with my Lord. Across the dark sky flashed scenes from my life. For each scene, I noticed two sets of footprints in the sand, one belonging to me and one to my Lord.

When the last scene of my life shot before me I looked back at the footprints in the sand. There was only one set of footprints. I realized that this was at the lowest and saddest times of my life. This always bothered me and I questioned the Lord about my dilemma.

"Lord, You told me when I decided to follow You, You would walk and talk with me all the way. But I'm aware that during the most troublesome times of my life there is only one set of footprints. I just don't understand why, when I need You most, You leave me."

He whispered, "My precious child, I love you and will never leave you, never, ever, during your trials and testings. When you saw only one set of footprints, It was then that I carried you."

FOOTPRINTS IN THE SAND the song

By: Leona Lewis

Leona Lewis - Footprints In The Sand
Uploaded by FresHipHop. - Watch more music videos, in HD!

Back from Christian camp...

GO LIGHT YOUR WORLD
by: Chris Rice



I just got back from Christian camp in Iowa around two days ago... This song really moved me when I was there. There was quite a lot of mishaps and troubles but thank God we dealt with it in the best spirit possible... Strangely, I felt that it was the quickest two-day camp ever. Hm... don't know what else to say, so I hope you like the song.

I'm just a traveler in this world...

WAYFARING STRANGER
By: Selah

Fav. songs of the moment (for a while actually xD)

The Greatest Love We'll Never Know
By: Glennis




Why oh why is it so difficult to find the song The greatest love we'll never know sung by Rene Froger? I don't think he even had it put in his albums -___-... but his is like my favorite version of this song T_T;

I came across this song by chance around 5 years ago by watching the Korean soap drama Crystal. The drama was just okay, but because of this song, I managed to finish the whole drama, lol. This song hits all the right notes for me for some odd reason, and until now I still consider it one of my very top favs. I recommend this song to several other people but it seems like I was the only one who like it that much. Strange, there's just something about it that... keeps me coming back for more, addictive like drug.


Journey
By: Angela Chang




This is like MY song, you know. The lyrics speak to my heart, and I totally relate with everything the song encompasses, and the melody is just so soothing like the waves of the ocean. Whenever I'm sad or burdened with heavy thoughts, I listen to this over and over and over again. It's not that popular a song either, haha... but I love love love it :).


Next Plane Home
By: Daniel Powter

Next plane home
Uploaded by mintiti

I like this guy, period. The beginning of this song had me dancing one early morning when I walked to class at around 6:30 am, the spring air fresh, the breeze gentle, the flowers blooming shyly, the scent of spring surrounded me completely. Ahhh, I guess the scenery helped make this one of my fav. songs at the moment *winks*.


Scooter
by: James Wendt




Okay, I'm obsessed with circles and circular motions and what not alright. And this song does just that, round and round and round, haha... Plus, it's a main song in one of my fav. animes ever: Honey and Clover. Thus, it automatically falls into my fav. songs right now too. Lame reason? I know but that's just that ;).
Btw, the video I posted with this song (kinda dumb I know) is not the original music video but I could not find any other versions so we'll just make do I guess.

What I realized...

DIEU TOI THAU HIEU - WHAT I REALIZED
Composer: Le Anh Dong
Artist: Hoang Nam

A lot of randomness :)

Let's start off with an upbeat song from Hillsong: Take It All!!!




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Warning: Images Intensive!!!



This is gonna be a very self-focused post, even more than the earlier posts, esp. with the amount of self-took images one boring day *^-^*v...

Lately, there's this layer of quietness within me. I could hardly explain it... Perhaps after all the turbulent times earlier, when I finally got control over my fears and depression, I'm very at ease with myself. It is when my focus shifted... and that's when everything seems to come together.

Alright and here comes the self-focused part I talked about earlier. One boring day I decided to stand in front of the mirror and took pictures of myself. Yes, just snapshots after snapshots of me posing... pretty weird eh, hahaha... No, I don't mean to compete with those beautiful net idols, hahah... I just wanted to see which angles I look best, and how to edit to have some natural looking photos seeing how I'm going to help a friend editting some wedding photos a couple months from now.
Here they come!!!! Beware the ugliness xD..........







And let's have a close up for today with Hillsong: At the Cross!!!



Have a good day and God bless!!!!

God will take care of me

GOD WILL TAKE CARE OF ME

Dance by: DMT

DMT-God will take care of me

We are the Reason

Last weekend was super busy for my whole family as we prepared for Easter, a celebration for our Lord's risen victory. It was a blessed weekend, even though I didn't even have time to catch my breath, I was so happy to be able to participate in this celebration of God's love and mercy. For a long time, I stayed on the sideline, satisfied to be a viewer... but as time rolled by, I knew that God is calling me. I'm not special, and don't have any special talents, but during this time, I felt such a strong urge to just be there, and to be part of this Christian family. I am happy God helped our church through every part of our service. Even our skit with less preparation went extremely well, in God's glory. Let's all remember how special each one of us is for we are the reason that He came.



WE ARE THE REASON

By: Avalon






Korean Worship Dance

Awesome God

AWESOME GOD

by: Hillsong