--- HELLO (:

Today is December 4th, 2011. I haven't written in my blog for over two months. I'm sorry to say that I was very very busy (lies. i forgot about my blog whoops!). Anyway, I feel very peaceful at the moment because of this song. Death Cab for Cutie- You are a Tourist (Songs with Friends cover). I just love this song. It calms my mind (:

I don't have much to say... The only thing I want to mention is how.. life feels no different than it was when I first created this blog. "My parent's anniversary" haha. Well, the hearts that I glued on the front door are still there. And I see them, and smile at them every day. Even when I'm late for school haha.

OH. I have something to share. I found a very beautiful christmas tree in my living room when I came home today. Apparently, my mom set it up when I was in Carefree Lodge. Under the tree were many dolls that celebrate Christmas with my family every year. Among all of them were three dolls that I share precious memories with. Mouse, Black Bear, and Brown Bear. They are very important to me (: I give them a clean shower once a year when I see them out of the storage room. They are drying in the washroom right now! The excitement that I feel every year when I see them under my Christmas tree, I can't replace it with anything in this world. They were part of my childhood, are part of my teenagehood and will be part of my adulthood, as well as my elderhood (yeah i made that up haha. i wonder if it's actually a word). 

Can't wait for Christmas this year. 

Merry Early Christmas!

--- If I could do one thing...

I would totally get away from my life, make up a name: Emma Bridgewater (WHY THE HELL NOT? :D), and live in Italy for a month. Learn Italian and just, ENJOY LIFE. Meet a very handsome Italian man, and make him take me to places. Of course, I am about 25 in my imagination. I wouldn't want to be called a whore or a slut or anything LOL. 25 will just do. I will buy myself a little notebook and write little notes. Little inspirational notes. With pictures taped next to them. I would totally make new Italian friends and lie that I was born in California. I would simply forget about my life and start a new one, which would last only about a month because I'll start missing my real life. Anyway, all I'm saying is that I want to get out of here! Here as in North America. I am sick of Canada and USA! Oh no, please, I love those two countries, it's just that I need a little vacation by myself, you know? Some quality time with myself- as Emma Bridgewater - and random Italian girlies and one handsome lad. Of course, in 10 years I would actually be in Italy. Just not by myself ;) But you know, I wrote this post without thinking. So... yeah. Anyway, this would be fantastic :D

--- Facebook is evil!

I don't know why, but whenever I log on to facebook, I find myself looking at other people's profiles (which I think is very normal). But it doesn't end there. Facebook makes me feel so small and unexperienced everytime I log on. Is that weird? Maybe that's why I don't go on facebook anymore... because it's pure EVIL. It's very good when I use it to socialize with my close friends (inbox, msg, events, etc) but it's very very noxious when I begin looking at seriously pretty people on facebook. They're just pictures, I know! But they still demoralize me quite a lot D: That is why I will... quit facebook. Maybe even deactivate it? You have no idea how much of an influence I get from it.. In order to get back to my happy self, I shall ... okay fine. I won't deactivate it, but I'll go on it very rarely. Alright, that is my solution. Don't hate on me, facebook-lovers.

--- Re: The Amateur Foodie!

Since stupid blogspot won't let me comment on other people's blogs, I'll do it here. I love how you ran out of vegetables, because i just ran out of them too. I was making kimchi kalgook soo, but I couldn't find anything in the fridge except for anchovi powder (flavouring the soup) and kimchi (well, it's called a kimchi kalgook soo). Anyway, the carton of egg whites is really cool. I didn't know that you can purchase it in a supermarket!  Or I knew but forgot that such thing existed.

It's like this except it's more spicy and it has kimchis in it

--- boo! and yay!

BOO!

1) I still didn't go to wonderland yet... (I have seasons pass)
2) I have an English test tomorrow
3) I was sick yesterday
4) My mom won't let me dye my hair dark brown
5) My room is messy and I'm too lazy to clean it up
6) I wish it was 7 p.m.
7) I wish I didn't have a test tomorrow
8) I want a white pomeranian puppy
9) I don't have any books to read at home
10) The 400g cream cheese tube that I bought for sale in Costco turned out to be cream cheese spread. and not a block. So I can't use it in recipes D:

YAY!

1) I'm going to wonderland this friday and next friday
2) My test will be over by tomorrow
3) I'm perfectly fine right now! My body managed to win against the cold
4) My mom's letting me straighten it
5) I'll probably feel like cleaning it tomorrow
6) An hour later I'll wish it was 10:21, so I might as well enjoy the moment
7) Again, it'll be over by tomorrow!
8) I'll buy her when I move out
9) I can borrow books tomorrow or read Sundays at Tiffany's again for the hundredth time (I still love it)
10) I can make my "10 p.m." snack whenever I want!

--- AM I HAPPY?

Today I came across a thought. A very simple thought that caused me to contemplate about it for a very long time. Am I happy? I mean, I'm writing a freaking blog about happiness... shouldn't I be happy in order to write happy posts? But, what if I'm not? What if I'm a depressed and miserable person who doesn't know that I am depressed and miserable? What do I do then? Should I quit writing on this blog and make another one called theSadMorning? Wow..the name is quite discouraging.. I'm not particularly sad or anything, I just happened to think about the question. How do we know whether or not we are happy? What if we're just deceiving ourselves into believing that we are happy when we are not? You know, it's highly possible that all of us (humans) are living under a black, evil fog. Have you ever thought about that? It's REALLY possible... Perhaps, I'm becoming a little... crazy. I hope not. I think I ate too much snacks today. Two packages of chips are beside me. One is Corn flavored and one is Potato flavored. Which one do I like more? I don't know.. what do you think? Wait... how would YOU know? You weren't with me when I was eating those delectable chips... Oh wow..I want another package. OKAY. IT'S OKAY. It's 9:34 p.m. Oh wait... I'm not that hungry though... Maybe I'm just pretending to be crazy because this post is a little weird to begin with. What was this blog about again? Happiness. Wow... I digress a lot, don't I.. Anyway, back to the point. Am I happy?  Well, it depends on what you mean by "happy." The denotation for this word is: characterized by or indicative of pleasure, contentment, or joy.  Hmmm... well in that case, I think I'm... in the middle. I'm not happy, I'm not sad. I'm not laughing, I'm not crying. I'm not ROFL-ing, and I'm not D: -ing either. So I guess I'm in the middle. I should come up with a name for this "middle feeling." The name should be... a combination of "happy" and "sad." So, I think I'll call it... sappy. It's awesome right? I guess I got better at coming up with new words based on two different words because I played the "coming-up-with-a-new-word" game with Jen a lot of times on saturday. I think the words that we came up were; tibbit (tiger + rabit), dots (dogs + cats), and ... I don't remember all of them. But, we created many interesting names. Do you remember, Jen? Anyway, oh gosh... listen to me, I'm talking about something totally irrelevant to my topic. ANYWAY, my conclusion: I am sappy. And if you managed to focus on this post without getting distracted, you should know what that word means.

TREES :)

*Word of the day: sappy. Definition: characterized by a mixed feeling of joy and sadness.

--- Random pictures of everything

Hello, hello. Today I looked through all of my photos on my camera and because of the fact that most of them brought smiles on my face, I'm going to post about them. The first picture contains a cheesecake that I made for my mom's best friend's family that visited us from Korea, stopping by on their way to some other place. I got my recipe from this random korean video on Naver a year ago and I have been using it ever since. I simply topped it with whipping cream and strawberries.

The second picture was taken spontaneously. For no reason at all. I guess the beauty of the sunset enthralled me into taking the photo subconsciously. I took it from my balcony.



The third one is a picture that I took quickly before going to Baton Rouge. My mom's friend's family, my family and I was just below the CN Tower and the angle just seemed perfect to me at the time. So, I just had to push the shutter button.

The fourth picture was taken in Baton Rouge. We ordered a Chicken Tender Salad as an appetizer. By this time I realized the "BS" button on my digital camera and my curiosity urged me to press it. The "BS" stood for Best Shot - not the swear word - and it had many different options, such as food, buildings, self-portrait, two - people picture and etc, of taking a picture. Obviously I chose the Food option because I was going to take pictures of... food.

Here is the fifth picture. Ahhh, this is what I ate. A Deluxe Hamburger. "8 oz. of Angus Pride chuck, garnished with shredded lettuce, tomato, chopped onions,dill pickle, mayonnaise and mustard. Served on a fresh toasted bun."

My mother, craving for food that contained less fat, chose the Seafood Linguini: Sautéed jumbo Black Tiger shrimp and North Atlantic Sea scallops tossed in a classic rosé sauce. Tasted AWESOME, but perhaps too creamy for my taste.

My sixth (?) picture: a bit blurry, but whatever. This picture was taken in my balcony when I was charmed by the city-ness of the area. This is my favorite picture, I think.

THE SEVENTH PICTURE: My Potato and Leek ( I used spring onions) Soup with the magic of Philadelphia Cream Cheese. Again, it was too creamy for my taste, but my friends loved it! They ended up finishing the last drop of the soup from the pot, which of course made me happy.

Eighth Picture. I took this photo excitedly when I saw the "very" awesome, huge lemon decoration on  top of the store. The amiable workers sold me vanilla ice cream on a cone (: Did I tell you that I really like ice cream?



Anyway, that was my post "displaying" what I've been up to for the past...I don't know, three weeks? Well, from the pictures you can tell that I was busy, so dont be mad at me! Cheers!

--- Dear Jennifer

I do look like a goat when I wear shorts and black flats at the same time. So FYI I DO SOO look like a goat. Thank you. So you don't NEED to send me a picture of a goat to prove that I don't look like a goat because it's my opinion - not that I don't respect yours - and I have the right to think whatever I want. So Dear JENNIFER, whom I am on the phone with right now, I DO LOOK LIKE A GOAT.

thank you for reading, jennifer.
p.s. you just said that you cannot wait to read this...
p.p.s i basically just told you everything that I'm writing so WHY ARE YOU SO EXCITED TO READ THIS? WHEN YOU ALREADY KNOW WHAT IM WRITING.
p.p.p.s. i'm assuming that you are writing something because I can hear your breath slowing down as you try to think of a response.
p.p.p.p.s you're talking to your mom and I'm guessing that you have to go sleep soon, so I will end my SHORT SHORT SHORT but very SIGNIFICANT blog post here so that you can listen to your mommy. KAY. see you tomorrow - or "hear" you on the phone ;)

--- The Scarf

On a chilly night in December, my brother was walking home from work. As he was casually passing by a store, a burly man appeared behind him and started to follow him. Unaware of the situation, my brother kept going. However, he started to feel uneasy and hesitantly peered over his shoulder. There was a man, very conspicuous in his bright yellow coat. My brother noticed the man's dogged gait and started to sweat, uncomfortable of the strange man's appearance. Suddenly, the man called out. My brother, clearly nervous, walked towards the man, and when he stood face to face with the bulky man, the guy cheerfully said, "You dropped your scarf on the ground!"

-- My 11 minute poem with Jenneefer :)

Topic given by Jennifer: Walking through a forest in winter

Step by step, I gracefully walk forward,
white snowflakes dancing in the sky,
On I go, gradually climbing upward,
and look down to the world to say goodbye

Here I am, holding hand to hand with my lover,
snow flakes gently landing on our heart,
we kiss as our souls beautifully hover,
for this is the last time before we part

--- I have nothing to talk about

I am infront of my computer, looking absently out the window. I have nothing to talk about. I have nothing to say. I have nothing to blog about. So... why are you still reading this?

My blue bear (:

:D
be happy!

--- My 10 pm snack

So, I'm eating like a pig these days. Why? To gain weight, obviously! I have too many people grabbing my wrist and saying, "You're so skinny. You should eat more Suzy!" Older friends of mine have started to comment about my body too. I don't take these comments as insults because they are not as hurtful as "Why are you so anorexic?" I am not anorexic because I accept the fact that I am, indeed, skinny. I don't stand in front of the mirror, think that I am extremely overweight, and refuse to eat. Instead, I try to eat more and I check my weight constantly to see if I have made any improvements. So, if you know me personally, don't ask the stupid question: Why are you so anorexic?

Getting back on topic: My 10 pm snack. I looked through my baking/cooking books yesterday night to pass the time and I came across this wonderful picture of a trifle:



Immediately, I started craving for a yummy serving of trifles! However, when I checked my kitchen cabinets, I realized that I had no biscuits or whipping cream or almonds. But that didn't stop me from making my own trifle. I quickly grabbed the two end parts of bread, the 400g Original Philadelphia cream cheese that was on sale in Costco, some strawberries, blackberries and of course, a handful of "Honey Bunch of Oats." In less than one minute, I created my cream from cream cheese, mixed with sugar and vanilla extract. Next, I diced strawberries into small cubes and placed them in a small bowl along with blackberries. What was my next step? The Great Assembling. First, I cut a circle out from the bread and placed it on the bottom of a small glass bowl. Next, I spread the cream on top and sprinkled the cream with colorful berries. Then, another circularly-cut bread followed with another gentle spreading of the cream topped with berries. I then proceeded to placing the cereal and small bread cubes on top. And voila! My 10 pm trifle snack was ready! I digged in and as short as it took to make this simple snack, I devoured this goodness in less than one minute ;)

--- "SUZY! THE OVEN'S BURNING!?!"

So, I realized that I haven't blogged in a very long time. Therefore, to make up for the absence of my posts, I shall give you a very long and yummy update! Not so many days after Kyleen and I made the hot chocolate pots by Nigella Lawson, I went on to make cream puffs with chocolate sauce on top. I don't know if I should call that chocolate eclairs because I combined two different recipes for the "cream puffs with chocolate sauce on top." I used the puff pastry recipe from Keiko, and the chocolate sauce recipe from this really adorable old lady on youtube. Hey, I don't know her name okay? Anyway, the end results looked like this:

These delicious looking cream puffs hold a very special story within each of them. You see, I thought that I could place wax paper in the oven as substitution for aluminum foil. Wax paper looks so much prettier as a decoration than aluminum foil, you know? But, when my brother went inside the kitchen to cook himself some instant noodles, he yelled, "YO, SUZY! WHY IS THE OVEN BURNING?!?" He could have said, "Suzy? There is smoke coming out of the oven!" but obviously he was freaked out too and decided to exaggerate the situation so much more than it was. "Why is the oven burning?!?" That made me jump inside the kitchen to rescue my cream puffs. (I'm sorry bro (: My babies seemed more valuable than you at that moment). You are not supposed to open the oven for even a second when you are baking puff pastry. UNFORTUNATELY, I had to take them out for 10 minutes to get the smoke out of the oven. One third of my puff pastry was all wrinkly and the pastries shrunk. Rapidly. In the next fastest 10 minutes of my life, I quickly transferred the pastries from the cookie trays into another oven-safe pan. Then, I shoved them all into my mini oven and baked them for about 15 minutes. Luckily, they began to rise again (hmm... so much for the "you're basically f***ed if you open the oven when baking puff pastries!!) and when I took them out of the oven, they actually looked pretty good. However, the baked puffs did not have enough space for whipping cream inside of them, so I decided to make "cream puff sandwiches." My cream puff sandwiches basically had a puff as the bottom base, whipping cream as the middle part, another puff as the top, and finally, the chocolate drizzle to finish them up. The sandwiches tasted pretty awesome!! And I also learned a very valuable lesson from that day: Never put wax paper in the oven unless you want your brother to start screaming, "THE OVEN'S BURNING!!"

--- Chocolate Hot Pots with Kyleen (:

If you have already read Kyleen's blog, you should know that I am obsessed with Nigella Lawson's recipes. Kyleen mentioned that most of Nigella's food exist for the reason of "express cooking" or "fast cooking" and that Nigella's recipes are unhealthy and fattening. But, let me tell you something. They taste so good that I changed her mind by the time our chocolate hot pots came out of my mini oven. In the beginning she said that she would not eat it. Well, she did. And she said it tasted good :D

We made these yummy chocolate hot pots as our reward after three hours of torture in the library, studying for our science exam. All the hard work paid off because after Kyleen took many "professional-looking" pictures of our master "food" work and ate my chocolate hot pot, she said: "This makes me happy. Thank you" Wow, girl. When you said that I had "butterflies" in my tummy :)

If you want the recipe, go to Kyleen's blog: http://www.sixteenbeans.blogspot.com/, but meanwhile, why don't you spend a good minute drooling over these delicious pictures?

--- Last Day of School & Our Trip to Pho 88

The day has finally come. The end of our year as grade 10s. We will miss you Earl Haig, but not that much because summer awaits us! Yes, I am aware that today is not June 8th (Last day of school), but who cares! Regardless of what people say, I'm still going to post. For the entire year I have been a pretty good student. I didn't skip, I mean. Okay fine. I skipped once on Half Day, but that doesn't really count right? We only had 40 minutes of class! Besides, the first subject I had on that day was History (my worst subject). I admit that I skipped recklessly in the last week of school. I missed two science classes (one I missed because I pretended to think that it was a late start day when school started at 8:50 sharp), one computer technology class (the teacher let us out) and about six culinary arts classes (Kyleen and I had permission to "go to the library"). But everyone does that, especially on the last few days of school.

At lunch, a few of my friends and I went to eat at Pho 88. It was closed when we got there, I even tried calling the place, but obviously noone picked up. After about 20 seconds of waiting and taking pictures, we tried the Bubble Tea place. I forgot what it's called, but it sells bubble tea. Trying to ignore our hunger, we asked the employee if meals were being sold. He said no. I swear Rebekah, one of my friends, almost screamed when she heard that. She was probably the hungriest person out of all of us. Anyway, after the failure in Bubble Tea, we tried the Asian Legend. Thankfully it was open, but just as I turned to tell the others who stayed behind on the other side of the road, Pho 88 opened! And guess what, we all ran in there.



Us. I will not name us for private reasons :D



Us again. I'm not naming us!

 You can guess what happened next. We stuffed our faces in the food, well except for me because I packed my own lunch. However, the Pork Vermicelli that my friend, Justine, was eating looked so delectable that I just had to get it afterschool. It cost approximately $7.50, but it was totally worth it. It tasted AMAZING. Make sure you try it when you go to Pho 88.

--- English Exam

I have my English exam tomorrow at 9:00 a.m. WISH ME LUCKK! It's my very first exam (: After the exam, I'm going to see Tyson, a dog that I wanted to see since march break! Good luck to all of you!!

--- Looking back...

Now that there's only two days left in school before the exams, I'm suddenly feeling a little sad, but happy mostly. Today, when I was on facebook, I found myself going through my old pictures of my photo album. The pictures were taken during my life in middle school. When I saw these photos, I realized how young and innocent we looked back then. We were simply little kids who were really excited to enter the "world of high school".  Well let me just tell you, now that I'm in the life that I have always been dreaming about back in middle school, it's not that amazing as I thought it would be. Of course I made a lot of friends (who I can never replace for life) and precious memories. All I'm saying is that, compared to the ridiculous amount of fantasizing over "high school", it didn't really meet up to my expectations. Basically, life is the same as it was back in middle school. Except with more... challenging teachers, and dramas.    

Remember this, my friends? This picture was taken on the last day of school, I believe. We were all so young back then... What happend to us now? Why are most of us corrupted, what happened to our innocence?! I wish to be taken back to this day so I can tell all the students in this picture: Highschool isn't that great really. Just live everyday to your fullest!

Who am I kidding though. I'm still unable to fully believe what I just said. I guess we're all living in a circle of life. It's sad to say that not all of these people are close to me now. They've become random people in my school that I say hi to in the hallways. We were all so close in middle school. What happened to that? Why are we constantly judging, criticizing and mocking others now? I miss the closeness. I miss the time when I didn't care about what other people said about me and my friends. As long as I had fun with my buddies, I was fine! As a highschool student, I know a lot of friends who deal with issues at school. None of this occured in middle school. The worst thing me and my friends could say to each other was: Meanie.

YEAH. MEANIE was the worst word that we used in middle school. How about now? I could make a list so long that I would run out of space in this box for posting.

I miss these memories. I still treasure them and nothing can compare to the happiness that I feel when I look at these old pictures. And one day, I'll be showing these pictures to my child and telling her/him this: Be happy. Be yourself. And don't let anyone get you down. You are Suzy Jung's precious child (:

--- Yummy mocha cake

In order to celebrate the long weekend, my mother requested a mocha cake. I am not a huge fan of mocha cakes, but I like them. Anyway, here's a picture of my mocha cake! It's sitting in the fridge right now, tightly sealed in a big container, awaiting for my hungry family who will probably attack my cake tomorrow morning. Unfortunately, I ended up overwhipping the whipping cream frosting (like i always do) so at the last minute, I decided to put oreo cookies on the side to cover the amateur-looking frosting! And also I sprinkled some oreo crumbs on the top. The whipping cream frosting was a bit disappointing (overwhipped) but it still tasted really good. Very mocha-y (: Oh, the bread was very very very very nice and moist. I'm proud of my bread :D

I just realized that... in the picture, my mocha cake looks like a cheesecake. Oh my gosh, I want cheesecake... Anyway that's it for today! My very happy mocha cake post!

--- Longing for Spring Shopping!

I looked through my entire closet today and I am very ashamed to say that it was very messy and unorganized. Of course I refolded every single one of my shirts, jeans, cardigans, skirts and etc. As I saw all the piece of clothing that I own, I realized something very very terrible. I have WAY too many dark colored clothing. They're mostly black, gray or navi. Okay, I do have some bright colored clothing, but those ones dont fit me anymore, unfortunately. So, I have decided to do something next saturday since I have NOTHING scheduled for that date! All of my tests, quizzes, assignments are over as of tomorrow! All I have left to hand in to the teacher is my novel portfolio for my English class. And let me tell you something. I procrastinated on Friday and Saturday because my parents were seriously distracting me with the TV show about seven singers going against each other. It's a Korean show (obviously, or else they wouldn't understand) and ALL of the singers are just so talented at singing. They almost make me cry every time. The show is called "I am a Singer" in English and it's called "나는가수다" in Korean, in case you were wondering (:

As I was saying, I could not get ANYTHING done on Friday and Saturday. The main distraction was the TV show, and the second ... well, it wasn't really a distraction. It was more of a schedule planned for Saturday. I recently joined the GYL (Global Youth Leader). I actually joined because of their music ensemble, but apparently there is a once-a-month meeting which I have to attend everytime if I don't want to risk getting kicked out of the group. Anyway, there was a tree planting event that took place in Meadowvale & Zoo Rd. Basically, I had to partner up with a friend and go around the entire park to find little pots with plants in them. Then we had to dig a hole with a shovel, loosen the plant out of the pot and place the plant in the hole. Finally, we had to put all the soil that we dug out back into the hole! AND repeat about 10 times. It was actually quite fun. We planted trees for about 2 hours and after the event was over, my partner's family, my friend's family and my family all went to the big Tim Hortons to get ice cap and fruit smoothie. I was quick enough to add whipping cream on top of my ice cap (for an extra charge of 60 cents, of course. Nothing's free) and when I received mine, my partner said "Oh. You can get whipping cream?"

Yes, David. You can get whipping cream from Tim Hortons. My small ice cap with 60 cents worth of whipping cream tasted yummy!

So yeah. That's basically what happened on Saturday... and because I did not feel like doing any work when I arrived home, I left the Novel Portfolio for today. I worked since 2 pm until 8 pm. Obviously with breaks and a bit of watching "I am a Singer" with my family (: They are so good at singing, did I mention that? Wow, I am very off-topic. Hopefully, you're still reading this... because this is a bit too long. But, who cares. Anyway, back to the main topic. I am dying to go spring shopping! For some bright colored off shoulder tops with cute jean shorts (not the ones that look like panties... but not the ones that are too long either) and some skirts too. I need new skirts. The ones I have are either too long or too short. SO, there you have it. I have a desperate longing for spring shopping, so I'm probably going to go next saturday!!

--- Procrastination strikes again

I'm very sad to say that I am more distracted than ever before. The agreement thing is not really working out right now which I find incredibly pathetic. It's just SO hard to focus on the studies and do fun stuff later on you know? I do want to get better marks and all but really, YOU give it a try. It's harder than it sounds. So here it is: procrastination strikes again. I'm pushing homework and "work" stuff for later on and going on other internet distractions and etc. I really gotta stop that. I have a science test on the upcoming thursday and a history quiz (which I REALLY need to do well on - which i think is impossible) on the day after. I AM BASICALLY SCREWED. Here's a happy thought though. Maybe if I get off blogger right now and start studying then maybe I'll have a chance! Yay! Alright, I'll do that. But I'm probably going to do other stuff anyway... OHMYGODD why is my "study" life so messed up!!! I want to prove to myself, my specific friend and my parents that I CAN DO THIS THING. BUT.ITS.SO.FREAKING.DIFFICULT. Alright I'll get off so I could make this (somehow) into a happy post.
Yeah the happy theme isnt really working out unfortunately. AHHHHHHHHHHH. this is so sad D:
But, it's okay because I'm going to go and study right now!

Happy Mother's Day btw (:

--- Happy May!

I am very happy to say that it is finally May! I'll be turning grade 11 soon and I'll obviously look forward to the "brownie-at-the-balcony" teeny tiny event I do with a few of my friends before the starting of next year. Hopefully, this year, more of my friends come and make the event a very special moment.
Here's a little funny news: my dad got stung by a bee hiding in his slippers yesterday.

Okay, not very funny for him, but be honest. When someone tells you that a bee that was hiding in his/her slippers stung him/her, wouldn't you laugh? That's what I did... and my dad got kind of angry but only for a bit. Here is an even happier news: I am almost 95% healthy. I checked my last post, which was on April 22nd "--- When you're sick, nothing's funny..." I have been sick for a week and 2 days! (Counting today)

Anyway, today is the start of May, so go waste your energy outside! Today is kind of rainy, unfortunately, but you can still jump in puddles and mud right? PLAY LIKE PIGS! HAPPY MAY!

--- When you're sick, nothing's funny...

I disagree.. I still find your face funny HAHA.

So... I think the artist should change the "When you're sick, nothing's funny..." to "When you're sick, you lose your sense of humor..." Up until yesterday, I was screaming "OH MY GOD! IT'S LONG WEEKEND!", but if you look at me now, you'll be very very depressed. I have a HORRIBLE sore throat (fortunately my condition is good) which hurts everytime I swallow.. It's sadly funny because whenever I try to breathe in through my nose, I "snort" unintentionally. Anyway, my parents went out for their vacation to Newfound Land, they'll be back on Monday so my brother, Jay, and I have the whole condo-house to ourselves. I had many awesome plans today with my friends, but I had to cancel them because of my parents. So, while my friends go to shopping malls, watch movies, eat lunch together, go to parties, I am stuck at HOME. On a be-autiful Good Friday, I'm stuck at home! Honestly I wouldn't really mind if I had a friend with me - so I'd be less lonely - but most of my friends are busy either doing what I listed before or working on their science summatives. I can't really bake because I know that I won't be able to EAT it, I played guitar already, facebook (I kind of already lost interest in it) is no longer a hobby of mine. Hmmm how about movies? Movies are only fun when you watch them with someone or someones. So I am out of options here, but to blog and blog and blog the whole day... Maybe do my work. Yes, I will do my work but seriously? On a Good Friday I'm working? I'm meeting with my science summative partner tomorrow! And from Sunday to Monday I have to go to the boring retreat...... whatever I can't do anything... WOW, do you know what I just realized? This was supposed to be a blog about joyful and happy stuff! And I specifically said that I hate depressing blogs and yet I'm writing such a "post-that-makes-you-depressed." I'm very very sorry, this will be the only depressing post, I PROMISE!! :D

--- 5 Minute Post

So again, I'm writing a post in my 15 minute break. I'm actually quite surprised that the agreement is very productive and efficient. Anyway I really have about 5 minutes to write because I spent the other 10 looking at other blogs. SO. i have 4 minutes now (you can see why this post is called "5 Minute Post")
What made me happy today?

Well, at first I was a bit worried since my computer technology group members could not/did not help me complete our video. However, I don't really blame them because most of them were busy with something else. The video is due tomorrow and we all thought that we could work on it tomorrow in class. But, turns out we don't have the period to work on it... Starting from tomorrow, we're presenting our videos to the class. So, our video had absolutely no audio included and had only a few fading in and out effects. In another words, we were screwed. BUT! I asked my very-nice-friend, Johnnie to help me edit my video. My plan: edit for about 30 minutes and go home. We actually took whole two hours to work on the video afterschool. He had tutor, but he stayed until the last second I saved my completed video (: I don't know if you'll ever read this, but. THANK YOU JOHNNIE! I owe you a big one!

Let me just say that there are people who are actually willing to help. People who don't mind if their schedules get kind of messed up. I respect those people because they are so admirable. Admirable as in.... oh your actions could teach many people. So anyway my time is up and this is my post for today.

THANK YOU JOHNNIE. YOU MADE MY DAY :D you are my computer tech video hero!

--- Suzy + Jen Agreement

One of my besties, Jennifer (creator of Everything), and I made this... agreement yesterday in Carefree Lodge where we volunteer every monday afterschool. We promised each other that we would quit all distractions (Yes..they include Youtube, tumblr, Facebook and Blogger) until we finish our work. We even wrote out a schedule! Im not going to write out the entire thing, but let's just say that if I want to keep my promise with Jen, it's going to be a damn hard thing to keep...

Why am I on blogger then? Well, we are allowed to take 10 minute breaks every now and then, so I'm writing a post right now (: However when the time is up, I have to go back to my studies and resume blogging on the next break. Well, you see I usually don't have homework - I'm sooo lucky I know - so I slack off most of the time... BUT! If I actually try my best in this Agreement then I think the outcome will be very very satisfying. I have 3 minutes left until my break ends, so I'll come back to this later. Oh what the hell, I can still write for 3 minutes! Hopefully this works because I REALLY NEED THIS. I never realized how badly I've been slacking off recently, but it's okay! because I've realized it now. It's not too late to fix my habit right? :D I'm only in grade 10 afterall.. it's not even going to be in my university application so ... it's okay. But nonetheless, it'd be amazing if I create a very effective study habit.

OH. my time's up so this is my post, my dear friends (:
Please please please dont call this a stupid agreement or say "you guys are gonna quit after a week" because this is very important to us. Hmmmm.. another way of saying this would be: we're trying our asses off here, so you don't have any fucking right to say anything. hehe. got it?

--- Sometimes everything can't be perfect

Here I am readers! Today I'm going to talk about how sometimes everything can't be perfect (the title..duh) Ever since I was young my father told me to be optimistic and happy. He would always tell me this story: an unhappy man had a water bottle with half the water left. He screamed, "Damn it! I only have half the water left!" The same amount was left for another man. He looked at his water bottle and chuckled, "Oh my! I still have half the water left! Well, good for me!" He...basically told me that everytime I complained about something in my life, so it was pretty damn annoying for a long time.
When I was preparing to go to high school, I was very excited. Like, VERY excited because I used to watch many of those korean or canadian dramas based on the stereotypes of highschools (oh come on, they're funny and addicting!) However, when I did become a grade 9, all my expectations were not met. Obviously one reason was because I compared the reality with my fantasy of a highschool, but the most important reason was my realization of the similarity between my high school and middle school. For me highschool, this is how I thought back in grade 9, was not that different as I expected. People were still judging others by their looks, still bullying students and caring about their "reputation" or "popularity."
Honestly, the word "popularity" doesn't really exist because as long as you have those wonderful people (i think you know who you are <3) around you who love you as much as you love them, none of the "image" thing matters. Nothing's more depressing than seeing your lovelies disappointed in you (and trust me, I did some reckless things, so I know the feeling).
By now, you're probably wondering, how is this ever going to relate to the title? Well, be patient, I'm getting there. A year quickly passed by and in 2011 I became a grade 10. I had some excitement in the beginning of the year, but I didn't have as much as I did back in grade 9. I guess it was because I already knew the "schedule" of the year, if you know what I mean. Nothing was going to be different, I thought. And oh shit, I should have not said that. No, things did not get better. Things got worse because I barely knew anyone in my new classes and many of my lovelies did not have the same lunch as me.
"Really... you're depressed because you don't get to eat some sandwiches with your friends?"
That's what my brother said  when I called him on the phone, complaining about my life. Oh my, that sounds quite funny. A grade 10 calling a 21 year old brother about how she's depressed because she doesn't get to eat lunch with her buddies. AWWWW. HOW SAD. WELL, BELIEVE ME, IT WAS A HORRIBLE FEELING.
Anyway, days became weeks, weeks became months and months became... more months. I started to feel sorry for myself. Sorry that I could not just get over the fact that this year was going to be worse than last year. Then I remembered the bottle story my dad told me (read above if you don't remember) "Oh crap.. I've been the pathetic, unhappy man who screamed "@#$*&^" when he still had half of the water left" is exactly what I said to myself after realizing that. It was... funny. I started laughing out loud at how miserable I've been acting when I could have just faced the fact that sometimes everything can't be perfect. That the word "perfect" can only be applied when I've made the best out of everything I have. And honestly, I did not make the best out of everything I have. I didn't even acknowledge the wonderful people who were always there for me. And obviously if I didn't care about the people, I didn't care about what I had (like...literally.. You know, as in objects and things?)
Well, now I am totally better. I feel great about myself. I don't give a shit when, sometimes, other people insult me about my "skinny" complex or other stuff because I know that I am so much better than them. Because I have the people in my life who loves me for who I am and not for how I look like. Yeah, my life isn't perfect like the ones in the movies, but really? Noone's life is exactly the same as the films we watch on TV or in movie theatres. Everyone has their complexes, their troubles and their depressions. But, what I learned is that I have to love all those things too, in order to truly love and accept myself. Because god made me this way. And I really believe that there are no "failures" in life. Those unfortunate people are not failures. They just haven't learned to respect themselves yet like how I wasn't able to until recently.
So this is it. This is how I realized that "sometimes everything can't be perfect." And if I made any errors in this post...well, too bad. My post can't be perfect, right? ;)

--- Songs that make me happy

Because I am human, I am allowed to say that today was a bit tiring. My class, along with other classes, had a science field trip to the Science Centre from 9am to 3pm. It was very fun, but, as I mentioned before, very tiring. We walked around for a good while and scared each other in the little caves and etc (I know, very very kiddish stuff, but HEY. It was fun) So, after dinner I sat down in front of my computer and decided to listen to some happy songs. And after a while I reailzed: Oh what the heck! Why not just make "A list of Happy Songs"? So here it is. My Top 5 happy songs of the day. Some of them are old, but who cares! They still brighten up my mood by the end of the day. Isn't that the whole point?

1) Dont worry be happy by Bobby McFerrin

2) I love you always forever by Donna Lewis

3) Count on me by Bruno Mars

4) Fall back down (cover) by Lights

6) Beautiful day by Lee DeWyze



--- Chocolate Heaven

Another thing that makes me happy is chocolate. I love it because you can do anything with it. You can make hot drinks, cupcakes, cakes, cookies... oh my god... just thinking about it makes my mouth drool. Anyway, I'm gonna be a little informative here and explain where chocolate came from.
The history of chocolate goes all the way back to 1492 when Columbus first presented the little cocoa beans to the Court of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella along with other goods he received from the people of America. However, the King and the Queen never even dreamt of how important the dark brown beans would become and so the beans ended up in the hands of Hernando Cortez, a great Spanish explorer.

During his conquest of Mexico, Cortez found the Aztec Indians using cocoa beans - grown from their trees - as the main ingredient in the royal drink of the realm. Otherwise known as "chocolatl" which meant hot drink. In 1519, Emperor Montezuma (the emperor of the Aztec people. apparently he drank like..50 cups of chocolatl a day.. crazy old man) presented the chocolatl to the Spaniard guests, but the drink was too bitter for their taste. So to solve the problem, Cortez and his countrymen thought of the idea of sweetening the drink with cane sugar.

The chocolatl was sent to Spain and it was there that spices began to be created. And ultimately, someone decided that the drink would be better served hot. For many many years, the popular drink was kept a secret from Europe, but eventually the secret was let out and the love of "hot chocolate" started to spread rapidly throughout Europe and  America. New industries began to open and well, chocolate businesses are a huge success right now! So, next time you see a bar of chocolate or a container of hot chocolate powder, don't just think: Oh! yummy! Sweet stuff! But actually think about how your all-time favourite food ended up in the shelf in the first place (:

(For great recipes, go to Sixteen Beans! A cooking/baking blog by my friend, Kyleen)

--- Happiness is...

Happiness is:

- when your friend calls you on the phone

- when someone laughs at your joke

- when you have someone that you can share stuff with

- a warm, relaxing shower in the morning

- a piece of my brownie with a cup of milk

- when your favourite song plays on the radio

- the feeling you get when your friend attacks you from the back to say hello

- a cup of hot chocolate

- when a random person smiles at you in the school hallway

- laughing so hard that your face hurts

- realizing that you have a few more hours to sleep when you accidentally wake up in the morning

- being yourself and not caring about what other people think of you

- knowing that someone is reading your blog (:

--- My parent's 25th anniversary

Yes, I know it's late... my parent's 25th anniversary was indeed yesterday. But I created this blog yesterday night so I had no time to write about it. So I have decided to blog about it right now! Yay! While my parents were out yesterday, I got my friend's mom to drive me to Cafe Maxim's Patisserie in 648 Finch Avenue East to buy a 6-inch cheesecake, topped with yummy strawberries. It tasted good!

6-inch Strawberry Cheesecake with whipped cream

Anyway, after the stop at Cafe Maxim's Patisserie, my mom's friend drove me to Centre Point Mall so that I could buy a card to write and balloons to decorate the house with. I worked extremely hard for an hour. Maybe I'm exaggerating a little bit, but I did work hard by myself since my brother was in Guelph. However, the hard work paid off when I saw my mom cry in tears of joy (: Mhmm, she cried tears of joy. That's a first. It was a good day and I hope I can decorate the house next year with my brother!

After the simple decoration (:

--- Mark of the beginning

Why did I name my very first blog "Morning Joy"?
Well, let me just tell you that I love the warmth of the sun on my face in the morning.
It's more of a relaxing way to wake up than the boisterous sound of my alarm clock.
Every morning I awake thinking: will today make me happy or sad?
Most of the time it's happy, unless I do something incredibly stupid that upsets someone or someone does something incredibly stupid to me.
My name is Suzy and I am a fifteen-year old girl living in Toronto. In case you're wondering what my blog is about, let's just say that it's about the happy things in life that makes me smile and live throughout each day. Of course not every day will be like that for me, but I will post now and then whenever something good happens. You may think that this is an odd blog, I mean why would anyone write some happy stuff that happens in their life?
Here's the thing. I hate depressing blogs and feeling sympathetic for those bloggers. Now, I don't know about you, but that's just how I feel. Anyway, I came across this thought about writing a blog that consists of joyful posts that can give the little happy tingly feeling inside other people. Isn't that a great idea! Hopefully something good happens, otherwise there will be no point in this blog (:
Well, that's my little story about why I decided to make "Morning Joy" and I can promise you that there will be more posts coming up! So wait patiently, my readers!