Day One,
author: E. Lockhart
title: We Were Liars
date: 2014
publisher: first published in the united states by Delacorte Press, a Penguin Random House Company, New York.
my first written component for this assignment will be a book, this book is one which I was suggested to read by a friend. it took me probably two years before I finally finished it. it is not long I just have a bad habit where I will either finish a book in a day or a few years. it has been a while since I finished it but I have forgotten what it was about however I remember that I liked it and the way it made me feel at the end. so over the break, I started to read it again to try and remember the story and the way the end made me feel.
I think another reason why I like this book was the time in my life where I first read it. I was in high school and I can remember that it was the summertime coming to the end of the year. I can remember laying down on my bed with the sun shining in through my windows like a nice warm blanket on my skin. I also remember a rather awkward/funny moment where we had a builder over fixing something and just as I was finishing my book with tears rolling down my face as he walked in to inform me that they were finished and leaving, but then as I looked up and he saw me I can still picture the confused look on his face followed by a quick bolt out of my doorway.
bird: found on the steps of a church
bag: two bags I have hanging on my door handle
bunny: little chopstick rest I got in Singapore
Day Two,
a quote/saying which I have realised that I seem to listen to a lot is “pain is temporary / everything is temporary” I’ve realised that this is quite an odd quote that I seem to be thinking about especially since I am not in or experiencing any pain. I think that I tend to be focusing more so on the side that everything is temporary. The more I analyse it the more I am realising that it acts as a soothing and calming relaxer in my mind, it helps remind me that what I am doing right now is only happening in the present and that nothing truly lasts / matters in the end. That although I may be in or coming up to a stressful time, it will pass eventually for it is only temporary. Once I get through it and overcome that challenge it will all be in the past.
I even like to think of it on a greater scale such as my life, for instance, it can be seen as a good and a bad thing. Where I am right now in my little apartment is only temporary, after these next four years this chapter of my life will be over and that can be a good thing. For it then means that something new is awaiting and that new thing may be better. However, it can also be sad and scary since that new thing might not be good, and I may find myself wishing that everything wasn’t temporary.
blue mouse: hand made a blue mouse that was placed around Monoprix
flowers: found on social media, I enjoy the colours and what it would be like there
butter: found on bread, soft gentile movements found in daily life
Day Three,
My notes. since I have started to pay more attention to the written things, I have realised that I have a habit of making lists and lots of them. You could open any notebook, sketchbook, school book and there would be at least one page filled if not every page covered in a list. A list of things to complete, a list of rules, a list of ideas, a list of dreams, a list for a doctor, a list of things to google, artists to research, music to listen to, movies to watch, outfits to wear, they can go on forever. Not only can these lists be found in my book but also on my phone, my iPad, the corner of a new assignment sheet, the back of an old receipt.
I’m looking through some of the lists on my phone and I find it quite funny for to anyone else these would make no sense at all and but to me that all have a meaning and a purpose. With each one, I can remember where I wrote it, why I started it, what its purpose was where I can instantly picture it all in my head, and it makes me happy. One of my lists is even titled “things that make me happy” listed underneath are certain scenes from movies, feelings, emotions, smells, places, movements, milkshakes. Some more specific than others, consisting of either a sentence or two or just a single word.
I find this funny, I suppose that I write so many lists every day that it has just become a part of who I am where I didn’t realise just how heavily I rely on notes and sketching down everything.
ice: image sent from my friends of the hail storm back home
basketball: found on the internet, I liked the tracked image and chaos
mountains: located on the internet, dreamy
Day Four,
I have a pen pal, and her name is Zoe and shes from Oakland, California. Every month or so, I receive and send and send a letter to the USA. We started writing to each other almost a year ago. Its been pretty cool, and it’s nice to receive a handwritten note from someone, especially in today’s society where everything is digital, and email is everything.
I have mix emotions towards letters and how our world is changing, I think that it is, of course, exciting and great that we are adapting and evolving especially with the significant environmental movement that’s happening, so lesser usage in the paper is better. But letters are still such a lovely thing. The act of someone having to sit down think and write a letter, then post it is rather sweet. It makes them more special and personal.
I myself find it to be a really nice calming thing to do. I have a little collection of some fun stationery that I got from a Japanese shop in Singapore, and I love using them whenever I have the opportunity to write a letter or card. I have fun picking out a paper and envelop. Then responding to her letter and asking questions to get to know her is always exciting. Its been pretty cool especially since last year we were both in the same boat, that is the boat of moving from home to start university. It’s been fascinating to hear about her campus, and just how completely different her school and their system is from parsons.
lunch: truffle pizza
hot air balloon: I saw this air balloon with my friend when we were walking in the park, it instantly caught my attention for I have never seen anything like it in Paris before.
Plant: I saw this little plant in the corner or a store. I loved how it was in water both ends and how simple yet rather beautiful it is.
Day Five,
These days everything is seen in the media. Today I woke up, and as I sat up in my bed half-awake going through my notifications, I eventually went onto Instagram. First thing I see is a screenshot of an article — Kobe Bryant Dead at 41. At first, I thought it might have been a joke, but a title and name like that, that’s something people wouldn’t joke about. After that post, the rest of my feed was filled with the same report. I then did my research and realised that it was true.
That’s something which I am finding to be quite common these days, especially within the media on social media. I find it much harder to believe in something which I have just read online. So many people make articles with clickbait titles its hard to decipher what is real vs what is not. I think that in a way it’s quite sad, epically given today’s circumstances where an iconic celebrity had died, and my first instinct was, is this actually real? or is it another joke? Although I will say that I do think that fact-checking no matter what the topic is always a safe thing to do.
Kobe Bryant: His death draws curiosity to me for I find it to be such a tragic accident.
Road tar: I found some tar on the side of the road and thought it was really pretty, so I took some.
Australia Day: yesterday was Australia day and it made me think of everything that has happened back home
Day Six,
Journaling and owning a diary has been a very back and forth thing for myself. I remember that the first diary I ever did was an assignment from my kindergarten teacher. I would have been five years old then. My mum and I would always go and visit my family in Chicago, and since I would be missing out on some school, my teacher had asked my mum for me to keep a journal for every day. My cousin Rhyana was the same age as me, so my aunt made her do the same thing. I remember it was quite fun. Every day we would wake up and sit at the table with our bowls of cereal, coloured pencils and diaries. We would only write a few sentences and then a drawing to go along with it, but I think it came together quite well.
The next time that I started to keep a journal would have been when I was around 15. so ten years later. I had done other small journals for other holidays as I had for that Chicago trip for I found that it was a fun thing to do while travelling and being able to look back and remember all the things we saw and did that I would have forgotten about is great.
As of right now, I do own a journal that I like to write in now and then. And yes it is the same one I was using when I was fifteen. There are not too many pages left in it so will have to get a new one soon. But I like it. I think its a great way of note-taking and remembering. For myself, I have an awful memory, so I find it very helpful and entertaining to flick back the pages and read about what was going on in my life. I’m sure ill say the same thing in a few years, being able to reflect on my time in college.
zoomed in mess: image found online. I loved the vibrant colours
cake: a delicious layer crepe cake I ate
green: I love this nature and escapes feeling this image gives me
Day Seven,
Communication is important. Without it, we would all be lost. Thankfully we can communicate in so many ways these days. I know that communication for parsons Paris students is a huge thing, especially since the majority of us are all living away from home. Being able to have contact and stay in touch with our friends and family is significantly essential. For myself right now, communication with my mother is most important. Within a few hours of the clear sky back home, all that has gone back to grey as a new fire starts 20km away from us. Due to how fast and sudden, this fire started and took off most people in the area were unable to evacuate. Knowing what’s happening back home and the conditions it is quite scary. Last week they were hit with a massive dust storm which causes all the power to go out, making communication much harder.
I am very grateful for the technology we have today and how instant communication can be. in seconds you can text, call, facetime anyone. ( that is as long as they have wifi/ service) you can even call people in aeroplanes now! I remember I was on a flight to Dubai when we had just found out about the fire in Notre dame, and I will never forget about it for I was however many miles high in the air yet still in contact with the ground.
fire: man putting the lines down on the street
sunset: favourite image I took while in Dubai, the clouds and the sunset make me happy.
mushroom: I liked the way that they looked
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