Back to Uni!

I'm secretly excited to go back to university and there's several reasons for it.

1. Stationery Shopping - it's like going into a candy store and not knowing what to pick out of the ridiculous range of awesomeness. 
2. It's my third and final year of my Bachelor degree. 
3. And lastly; because I've been on a four month holiday and find myself running out of things to do at home when everyone else can afford to go on expensive holidays. :(

But fret not, here's a rundown of why the first reason is so exciting to me.

New Look Heritage Rucksack Bag - ASOS, ASOS Stripe Bobble Beanie Hat with Patch, Cotton On M Beanie Hat

Typo 2014 Polka Dot Daily Diary, Kikki K Weekly Planner, Nonsense Beaded Pencilcase

Ipod Shuffle, Mechanical Pencil, Eraser Dispenser & Stapler are from Officeworks

Typo Diary & Dotted Notebook 

I love the diary's features of the perforated corners I can rip off at the end of the day to mark exactly where I am up to. I'm not a big fan of the daily diary thing since I don't write much in there but perhaps I can double up as a note-taking book to write down stuff I must write in my assignments? So it wasn't so much of a stationery haul but having new things to go back to school makes learning just that much more exciting and maybe this year I'll go to lectures. (said no one ever haha) 

Study hard!

Seamless design

I'm a sucker for design and packaging. Say hello to my newest bank account murdering device.

I've waited a long time to find one of these on the market that I would be able to afford and thankfully its previous owner had only purchased it and barely used it so it's practically in a new condition for half the price. I'm ever so happy with this and now even more thankful I do not have to spend countless hours at uni editing film that I could be doing at home with access to cuddles and food...but mainly food.

I installed all the programs I needed and found the most perfect wallpaper. I love graphic designs and this one really intrigued me, it's just the right about of minimalism for my style. I can't wait to start producing films on this magnificent machine. 

Valentine's Day is a commercial scam.

My other half and I did not celebrate our first Valentine's Day together because I simply did not want to join in the festivities of a marketing scam. I work in a jewellery store, selling diamonds and what not to bling thirsty women and their partners. When it comes to Valentine's Day, it gets a little crazy and Cupid comes out and drags people into these stores and they hand us our paycheques. (Thank you!)

But that's not the reason why I don't like Valentine's Day, the reason that I don't like it is because I don't see there being a need to have one particular day that your partner has to go out of their way to express their love. Why is that every man and woman has to rush out and purchase something for this one day? There are 365 days of the year you can come home with a gift to express love, why does it have to be the same day as everyone else? If you're so in love with someone, you should be expressing that everyday.

In my opinion, I think Valentine's Day spreads more pain than love simply because people make expectations out of the advertisements that they see on media platforms. When those expectations aren't met, they're ultimately disappointed. This is where the business always wins. Women nag and men must abide for a happy wife, girlfriend etc. In many cases, do these gifts really truly express love if society has set these expectations? Are you really getting a gift because you want to or because you have to?

I didn't want to follow these 'supposed' traditions because I felt that it was unfair on my man to feel the need to go out and buy expensive chocolates and roses just for the sake of one particular day. Maybe I'm just a low maintenance girlfriend? What's worse is now that social media is blooming, people take photos of their gifts and glamourise their day as if it it's some sort of competition to see who's more 'loved' through the value of their gifts. That was probably the only highlight of my day to see jealousy well up in people's comments. Free entertainment, why not?

Justifying for Love

I've come across a couple of individuals in my time who have made chaos just to confirm that the world loves them. It is such a shame that some are way passed high school and yet still manage to have this need to justify themselves.

Sometimes I wonder why people feel the need to pretend to be a particular way so that they fit in. I understand if they were under eighteen years of age--that's a prime time for adolescence to find themselves so they need to try on shoes to find the right fit.

There's this particular person that I know of who feels a greater need to be a part of every social outing recorded on Facebook. It ruins their day if they are not tagged in a status, a photo or what have you. Mind you, this person is in their twenties and I'm not saying that they should be mature because maturity does not come with age. Social media becomes meaningless and crying over not being included in a Facebook status is not going to make you any happier. Move on, find comfort in hobbies, stop crying and start including yourself, be the leader who makes events because they won't change for you.

I've always thought that by the time you've graduated from school within five years you would have experienced a disconnection from the way the world was build in the social kingdom of your teenage years. You lose friends, trust and confidence, it's a normal cycle.

Being an introvert, I lost the close connections I had with friends and I won't lie, it tore me. But with pain, comes life lessons. I spent the first year of university accepting that I would never have a social haven where I would 'fit' in because I was that one kid you either loved or hated for whatever reason. I am so socially awkward, I sometimes find myself slowly backing away from conversations, looking at my phone to avoid the silence, refreshing Facebook and Instagram a hundred times hoping for a way out.

What I learnt has been something I've been trying to get people to understand. You get to a stage in life where you learn who your true friends are and even though they're your friends, they're not always going to be there. Adulthood finds its way to you and people begin to find their soul mates and life long partners and you don't become their first priority anymore. Soon enough, your friends will have families and you have no choice but to do the same or find comfort elsewhere. It's inevitable and that's how life works.

Stop justifying yourself for love, accept who you are and the right people will begin to love you. Be confident and the best of you will shine through.

Love Your Enemies

I have the occasional privilege of sharing my wisdom with the youth of Australia and on one particular event the topic was 'Loving your enemies'.

I think people nowadays take these words too literally and forget the true meaning of it. I don't think Jesus literally meant hug someone who's holding a gun to your head, whether you are religious or not I think it serves us a great insight to the way we understand the world around us.

Don't get me wrong, to love your enemy is one of the most difficult things in life and like everyone else I find it almost impossible to swallow my pride and love the people I despise. This is a common issue in amongst us humans, a hatred builds inside towards those that may have harmed us in some way and causes for us to react or behave destructively. This is something that no matter what we do to them, won't make us any happier. If you were to resent and harm individual who irritates you, the hatred that is built inside only begins to increase. Will it make you happier if that anger is still welling up inside? How can you get rid of such a feeling if the cause of it doesn't go away?

It is all about being wise and open minded. It begins from within you. As a person who has an irritated issue against them, you must learn to be patient and let go of the feelings that you have when associating with that individual. Put yourself in their shoes and imagine the things that they may have gone through, the possible reasons why they are who they are. It's important to see the world from another person's perspective so that you can understand, how they're feeling and that deep down they are just flesh and blood like you.

However, seeing through their eyes is not the hardest part, it is learning and seeking to accept them for who they are. Accepting others for who they are is a part of life, you're going to go through so many years having to accept it because it won't change. An unwillingness to accept is an unwillingness to love. Forgive, let go and find something about them to love. Find a reason to love them, and reach out to them, you never know all along this certain person or people could have been your long lost friend for life.

Go out there and test yourself, be a better person.

Marriage

Yesterday my aunt decided to lecture me about dating and marriage. 

She said "Date someone who's got a medicine/science degree so that when you're older you don't have to worry about finances because they earn at least 100,000 a year." 

I told her "I'd rather be poor and in love than hating myself and rich. Money can't buy long term happiness. You're shallow." 

She says "Oh please, you're still young you don't know anything. Look at me and your uncle, we're dealing fine with our finances."

Now normally if this conversation had happened ten years ago, I would have let it go but I'm here in my early adulthood in a completely different world as to when she grew up and this frustrates me. There are so many people out there on their deathbeds regretting the fact that they didn't live their life the way they wanted to but rather the way that others had expected them to. I've already broken the social norm for an Asian by being horrifically appalling at math so why stop there?

Fair enough there are some aspects as to why money and career is important. But it seems as the older generations don't know a thing about life balance. This conversation with my aunt ended last night with me saying this to her:

"I never said I would date a low life. I'm looking for a partner who is strong minded, who's intelligent because he understands why he's made his life choices. A person who has a willingness to work hard in times of distress and who doesn't mind a challenge. I wouldn't careless if he doesn't have a degree because in this changing world, no employee is looking for a piece of paper that says you're qualified anymore, they're looking for experience and hard workers and adaptability. So excuse me if my choices offend you, or my parents but in the end I am not going to do it to make you happy, I'm doing it for myself."