HK Disneyland: A sculpture of Sleeping Beauty and her prince. (Taken with instagram)

Spotted in Kruger National Park, South Africa: a tall, serene giraffe grazing about freely and simply being carefree. (Taken sometime in April 2011) (Taken with instagram)

So many people live within unhappy circumstances and yet will not take the initiative to change their situation because they are conditioned to a life of security, conformity, and conservation, all of which may appear to give one peace of mind, but in reality nothing is more damaging to the adventurous spirit within a man than a secure future. The very basic core of a man’s living spirit is his passion for adventure. The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun. If you want to get more out of life, you must lose your inclination for monotonous security and adopt a helter-skelter style of life that will at first appear to you to be crazy. But once you become accustomed to such a life you will see its full meaning and its incredible beauty.

(Source: wordpainting)

I love places with castles in them. (Taken with instagram)

At Nami Island, South Korea, last December. (Taken with instagram)

Caught my mom looking quite amused by a furry squirrel at Nami Island.

We must not allow the clock and the calendar to blind us to
the fact that each moment of life is a miracle and mystery.

My family, shot candidly.

Winter in Everland. Taken a few weeks ago, in Everland, South Korea’s largest theme park, owned by Samsung. (Taken with instagram)

At the A-Fair this afternoon. I am eternally grateful to get the chance to study here in this ever-beautiful campus. Although to me, four years is enough. I am ready to tread new worlds. A few weeks left of college life, and so much left to do in between. Must stay focused, must keep doing my best in everything. Since there will be no more turning back. (Taken with instagram)

And you ask me what I want this year

And I try to make this kind and clear

Just a chance that maybe we’ll find better days

Better Days, Goo Goo Dolls (2006)

Better Days suddenly played on my iPod tonight. I’ve forgotten that this song is part of my iTunes library. How serendipitous it seems, that this song is about starting a new year with better days ahead. 

New Year’s Eve (2011) is one of the most touching Hollywood films I have seen this year, and I don’t care what all those critics say. Undoubtedly, it helps that this film is brimming with all these attractive, award-winning actors and actresses (plus Bon Jovi), and it’s difficult to choose whose New Year’s Eve story is my favorite.

The movie reveals a beautiful thing about human existence: that we are all living in this world with our own unique stories, that we are helplessly different from each other, and this could be the reason why we fight, argue, make mistakes and let others down. 

However, on certain occasions,we have the ability to come together, to forget about differences, and realize that we could be somehow sharing similar things inside. It often happens in times of calamity, in moments of celebration and cheer, in concerts, in church, in periods of crisis and chaos. 

On new year’s eve, we all are filled with essentially the same hopes for the new year: the hope that in the next year, we could change to be better persons, that we could accomplish more, that we could be happier, that we could be more successful, that we could tread this crazy life with lesser trifles, with lesser worries.

And we all get to do these in our own unique ways.

We are all essentially the same, and yet so different. I still find this inexplicably incredible.

Together, let’s make this year better than the last.