The Amazing Body

Today is my Intermittent Fasting day (more information about that in another post) and I had a huge realization how amazing the human body is.

Thinking about it, our body needs so many nutrients, calories, etc. I mean, there is an overwhelming amount of information out there on what the body needs, how much of it and how frequent. Yet, as I'm fasting, I realize that the body is also very durable.

More than half the world's population will probably never reach that state of perfection with their bodies regarding nutrition. However, we still survive. We're actually overpopulated.

And the fact that I can fast for a whole day (and others, longer!) yet still be standing on my own two feet, extremely calm in my mind (reached zen) baffles me, intrigues me, astounds me.

As an artist, I need to take extremely good care of my body because I know that once health is gone, it is impossible to retrieve it again. You can only have a part of it back, or another version. It will never be the same as it was before. As an actor, this applies tenfold, a hundredfold, a thousandfold. The body is to the actor what the brush is to the painter, the instrument to the musician.

However, most importantly, as a human being, I know that a damaged body cannot do anything. My mother always told me that it does not matter how skilled and proficient you are, if your body is sick, it cannot do anything. And as myself, not doing anything horrifies me (those of you who know me, you know what I'm talking about!). That's why I must take care of it.

Thank you life for giving us this wonderful present. I will cherish it.

...Now if only others could too.

Awe Moment of the Night

And she looked down at her hands, her palms upwards

And stared at them with the discovery

Within that moment

I couldn't continue speaking

Without looking up, she said, barely audible

"He runs in my veins" 

Awe Moment of Theatre

September 29, 2011 (9:45PM)

McClintock Building Room 111

Rehearsal for MFA Show "A Month in the Country"

Director Stephanie 

Picturesque Moments Of The Day (September 27, 2011)

University Life Explained in 1 Hand

Looks Weird But It's Not

Nom Nom Over

Credits to my friend AY for the last 2 pictures! She was playing around with my camera! She has a PEN EPL2 while I have the EP3. Alas, I still have much to learn.

Everyday Things (To Think More About)

Once upon a time in a faraway high school English class, there lived a teacher and his students. The teacher was brilliant but crazy (aren't they all?) and the students had no idea what they were in store for. In fact, their brains were blown away... repeatedly.

One story in particular stuck with one particular student:

"Everyone has an ugly painting that faraway aunt has given you. 

You are obliged to hang it out of respect because, well, it's your aunt.

It's been there ages and you hardly give a thought about it.

One day, it's gone. Suddenly, your whole world is gone."

BAM.

Okay, so to be honest it didn't go exactly like that but the meaning is the same. 

There are a million things around us and we never really stop and think about them. Here are some of mine:

The lovely alarm clock

This thing is a BEAST. The sound is a mixture of a fog horn and a shrill whistle. The Japanese know how to get people awake. I realize that we're SO dependent on time. If say, one person thought it was 8 AM while everyone else in the world thought it was 12 PM, then that one person would live a completely different life than the rest of us! And to think, someone just decided one day long ago that the mornings would be numbers 6-11:59, afternoons 12-5, evening 6-9, night 10-4 and the nameless: 4-6. THIS is the first thing I see EVERY morning. That just blows my mind too.

Chique!

Everyone has a ritual they do in the morning. For me, the second last thing in this said ritual is perfume. As Coco Chanel said, "A woman with no perfume has no future." Bien dit, mademoiselle! I feel strange not touching this magnificent bottle every morning. It just gives me a jolt to wake me up. And the smell! At first I hated it. But it grows on you. It's a little something to spice up dreary university mornings. That's what a ritual is supposed to do: ground you and spice your life up bit by bit. 

If it's this cute, it can only be Asian

As an avid tea drinker, without my trusty cup, I am lost. Funny how objects really do define us. This has nothing to do with superficiality. It also represents a special bond between my room mate and myself as I gave her the other one (it was a set). And besides, who wouldn't want to drink out of a cup that says "happy giraffe" on it? 

What are your daily objects that define you?

Becoming a Renaissance Woman

First, the classic dictionary extract:

Renaissance (Wo)Man -noun

1. A person with many talents or areas of knowledge

To be simply good is not enough. To be great at only one area is not enough either. In such a demanding world, where people are asking more from each other than ever before, becoming the renaissance (wo)man seems to be ultimate goal.

It starts by starting somewhere, anywhere! Because I am a great believer that everything is interconnected in a wonderful web of life. Just get tangled in it and get bound.

For me, the first sensation of getting caught was the theatre. Ah yes, the theatre. And now here I am, naively, with optimistic hopes still, studying theatre at one of the most expensive post-seocndary institutions in the United States. I am not crazy.

Alright, maybe I am.

But theatre (and any other subject for that matter) is interconnected to everything: sciences, arts, humanities, etc. It is our job to find them.

And that is how you become a Renaissance Wo(Man). With a brand new Olympus PEN EP3 in hand a long journey ahead to document, I give you: The PENaissance Journey.

Experiencing Dim Sum

...for the first time! Now what an experience. Good thing I was with a group of people I (sort of) trust, though you can never tell because with Chinese culture, I feel anything can be possible so whatever they tell me, I am most likely to just swallow it up and believe it.

Chicken Feet

What a vivid green...

Chinese desserts!

The little things I learned was that many people do not know how to speak both Cantonese and Mandarin. Also, chicken feet are apparently good for you... but only if you know how to eat them properly! Do not eat the bone!

And lotus leaves are not the giri equivalent of Japanese onigiri. Basically, you don't eat it. Thanks, guys!

Also, guess who got her first new pair of Feiyue's?