Be nice to self.

Today I suddenly have an urge to write. I want to say that right now, when around me is in such a chaos, the smell of this Cranberry Mandarin candle really calms me down. And it has done a good job since 2009. So much that I seem to get addicted to it.

It's fine. All I want for now is something to comfort my mind.

Pneuma. 

Breath.

Everyone will be happy and no one hurts.

[Vietnam Sweetheart] The North.

All over my mind right now is a short story, if I don't count tons of homework (School's back!) But the story is still unfinished so I just go ahead and post the pictures I took from last Summer, when I was lucky enough to go back to Vietnam and travel 3 regions of my beautiful country.

The Vietnam Sweetheart will be divided into 3 posts: the North, the Middle, and the South. If I can catch your interest, there might be some more posts about the food from 3 regions.

And for now, 

Enjoy.

Hanoi 

Hanoi 

Hanoi

Hanoi

This is such a beautiful little door. I felt like a giant standing next to it ~<3

Hanoi 

Hanoi

King's transportation. 

Hoa Lu

The Old capital of Vietnam.

Trang An

One boat can take up to 5 people, includes the drivers, who are mostly women. 

 Trang An

 Trang An

 Trang An

 Trang An

 Trang An

 Hanoi

Daily activity at 5pm.

 Hanoi

Traditional art: Water Puppetry. I remember this was my favorite show when I was young. How much work they have done for the audience to enjoy 45 minutes of the show.

 Hanoi

In front of one temple. I have a secret obsession with smoke in general. Magic.

Hanoi 

 Hanoi

Hanoi 

One tree inside another.

 Hanoi

Hanoi 

President Ho Chi Minh's house on stilts.

 Hanoi

President's office.

Hanoi 

President Ho Chi Minh's tomb. I still can't forget the feeling when I got inside.

 Hanoi

 Hanoi

Hanoi

Ha Long

(Dragon comes down.)

 Ha Long

Ha Long

Ha Long

I know there is this silent taboo about the North and South of Vietnam that most of the time when American folks know I'm from Vietnam, the next question they will ask is, "Which part?" To be totally open and honest, I feel a bit of insulting. Want it or not, Vietnam is officially an united country.

Just say that may be I'm too young to talk about this, or may be I don't know about Vietnam well enough, here is the fact that I can be sure of, I have many wonderful friends from all 3 regions of Vietnam (:

I'm Vietnamese, proud and loud.

With love.

A bit of salt, a bit of butter, a bit of sugar.

First, let me tell you that I'm in my final rush right now. Starting from today, I will have 3 more weeks to go and I will be done with school!!! So I will post this really fast and back to my work *Cross fingers*

1. Salt.

Found these gorgeous floral pattern this morning.

I love to have multi-media on my work so I have a thought what if I use different cloths like these and sew/iron them on my canvas picture? It would be so nice. Uhm nom nom nom...

Her WEBSITE here if you want to take a look.

2. Butter.

Just get straight, I'm not really into Soccer, or even sport lol Or even more, I pretty hate it lol But heyy, since I'm my dad's first child and my sister was still too young to understand soccer game, I actually was the one who always watched the World Cup with him. In fact, I was the only one in the house could be able to watch till the end lol Because my dad always got tired of the different time zone, yup, he always snored before me lol

Anyway, so just by saying that, I mean when I like some soccer players, I pretty much like them just because of their personalities. Like David Beckham (Plus his fashion style and seriously, he is the only one with full tattoo on 2 arms and I still think he's gorgeous!), Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, John Terry, and some others lol 

So anyway, for today, it's David Luiz.

He's new and I just know him this evening but he's way too hilarious to not be in love with him!!!

He has to done this several times before!!! So pro! lolz

I LOL so hard at this. Evil David. And Di Maria is such a nice guy. I mean, if it was someone else, these people would be punch on the face immediately already! 

The woman: How do you go to solve my life?

Di Maria: Just go home and stay calm.

The woman: Can you see how my leg is?

Di: I'm not interested.

The woman: I cannot stand. I have to sit!

Di: Then go to your house, you said you lived near here.

LOL

Police B: He is a sporting CP fan.

Di: Huhh???

Police B: He is a sporting CP fan.

Di: So that's why.

Bahahaha I cannot stop this!!!!

3. Sugar. 

And finally, something sweet for us ❤

I know!!! Russia all the way babe! But here for god sake, the translation!

The girl: The car is very nice!

The boy: Thank you!

The girl: It's Ferrari car, isn't it?

The boy: No, it's Bentley.

The girl: I have never heard of that name [Pause] I'm Masha.

This actually is a MV for his band, Звери, you should check other clips too if you have time. They are pretty cute but I believe this is their best.

▩▩▩▩▩▩▩▩▩▩▩▩▩▩▩▩▩

Also, my sugar day:

After my drawing class, when I was walking down the street, an old lady ran to me and gave me her flower crown. She said: It looks cute on you! I, while was still laughing so hard, could only say Thank you! Thank you so much! You make my day!

Later, my college's police stopped his car by me, pointed at my crown, and made a thumb-up, then a girl stared at me like I was a jerk and both of them made me laugh again.

When I got on my bus, I saw my friend and he was like Tina tell me, what is going on???

lol I know, these days were really hard for him cause I used to be a girl who wore black boots of Dr. Martens all the time and just all of sudden I wore scandal, bought 2 pairs of super high heels, and now, pink nail polish andddd pink flower crownnn??? LOL

Guess I can't wait to be a San Fran lady then lol

Why are all of my pictures always come to be like this at the end???

Okay, I'm off for now. HAVE TO finish my work tonight!!!!! 

Aiya aiya fighting!!!! ◟(●≻∆≺●)◞

My first art show ever.

I have to write this down since it's one of the most important day of my life, my very first day attending to an art show. I have to say though, I'm not so sure yet that my picture will get into the show or not, but this is something very exciting to remember.


I have a lovely habit that I just start to draw at 11pm on my very last day of the deadline. It's always really bad but yesterday was especially the worst lol Because I did not only draw. I used multi-media! (Sounds cool right? My instructor told me. I didn't know it before! So newbie lol) So it actually took me 5 hours to finish everything. It was exhausting!

After that I gave myself a right to skip all of the classes on the next day lol It was somewhat the reward for myself lol

I slept at 4am and woke up at 7am to take the bus to school. Since I had one 20x30 picture and one 18x24 picture so I had to ask for help from a lot of my friends! lol It was so much fun. I either grasped someone I saw on the street or my friends came and gave me a hand lol I know, my friends are really nice and I'm proud to say that :]


When I got to the gallery, I had to spray my drawing and made the wire for my artworks myself. This was the best part! lol Not only me or my friends, Kumiko, Hugo, and Lena, were procrastinated but my classmates and their classmates also in a hurry. Wiring our own pictures was unexpected. I had to run downstair and upstair, to other classes to find the wire while we had less than 1 hour to do those things.

The wire was done. Now what I had to do was drilling holes in my frames. I cried out loud: I had never ever done that before!!! My parents always told me that it was the hard part and that I didn't have strength to do it. Even my friend told it to me last year. So when I saw the hand drilling machine, I felt like I was looking at my childhood enemy.

I said, Fuck it! Let's roll!

I had to say, I was so scared and way too nervous at first. What could happen if I broke the frame??? Hugo had to calm me down. When I started to drill by making a pose, Hugo uttered, Now you scare me!


However, I did it, peeps! I did it too well that when I had only 15 mins left, Hugo came to me, looked at the frames and cried: Tina, you drilled the wrong side of the frame!!!


But finally, thank Whoever, I finished it on time. Hugo was in the second run. He stood on the line with only one photography. I asked him where the other one was, and decided to waited in the line for him. Hugo said Thanks Tina and ran as fast as he could (He was 1m83 people!)

When I went up downstair to see how my friends were doing, Kumiko ran downstair to submit her works. I hold one for her and we both ran. Then Hugo and finally Lena got in the line. When we were there, the woman started to clean her table!!!

Kumiko begged her but then she realized that she had no cash to pay the fee, so I was like almost screaming, I have 10 bucks!!! and threw my money from my pocket on the table. I had never had that much cash in my pocket before.


We all laughed so hard at that. Even the woman and her friend who was standing next to her. She looked at me in the eyes and said, Baby, for that, we're gonna get you through.


Hugo also gave Lena few cents to get through this stage. It was quite sweet to me though. Art students help art students. What can be better?

I still don't know if my artworks get to the gallery or not. But gee, I had so much fun I couldn't deny! I have a high hope that my next semester in San Francisco will be just like this (minus staying-up-late part) Doing fun stuffs with great friends *Fingers crossed*


So then I gave myself a good lunch, went to Barnes & Noble, and finally Starbucks with my bff. What can I ask for more?

Sweet day everybody!

I've got a wish.

Yesterday, I was in T-bar spending 3 hours to sketch and drink my favorite Strawberry Almond Frost. I love that feeling. The feeling of listening to La Roux and drawing my dream. The feeling of excitement and nervousness blending together. The feeling as art is going through my vein, as this is where I belong, as if I could marry it and forget what has happening.

"Boy, your touches leave me mystified

I wish I could believe you

Yes It's all false love and affection

You don't want me you just like the attention

I'm not your toy

This isn't another girl meets boy."

"I won't let you turn around

And tell me now, I'm much too proud

To walk away from something when it's dead."

So I thought about making a wish, as if He was here and listened to me:

In my next life, I wish to breath in a form of a jellyfish. I want to wander around in the deep blue ocean. I want to go from here to there aimlessly and flawlessly.

I want to inhale and exhale in a form of beauty.

I want to live a life with no anxiety. No thought. No desire.



And if my wish came true, that would be nice.





But for now, when I'm breathing in a human form; when there are thousands of thoughts flying in and out my brain; when my eyes see and my ears hear good, bad, and many things in between; I promise I will live fully as a human-being. It's for now.

May, please be gentle.

I'm coming home.

This is just so right.

Today, I wore a cute nice dress, got a bit make up, went to Starbucks to study, and then some art supply stores. It felt so good to be in those art stores considering what material I should buy and how my drawing should be. That was [one of] the best feelings on Earth, like art is going through your vein ❤

It made me cannot stop dreaming of being in San Francisco. It properly will be the feeling of over-excitement and over-depression at the same time lol

Anyway, it will be the story of September, for now, I should focus on enjoying my last 2 months with my dear friends ❤

Break up the boredom.

1.
Sometimes a part of my day will go like this: Something suddenly happens and I get dead bored. Yes, I'm bored, tired, and bored (once again to emphasize my boredom.) I want to leave everything here and go to San Francisco, which I will in September, but I can't wait anymore. I want to go. Now. I'm that bored. So I deactivated my Facebook, which sounds unrelated but it is in someway.

So it seems like I will spam this blog a lot in the near future, which is lovely.


Anyway, for today, I asked my instructor to go home early, took a bad sleep (I had a horrifying nightmare), got a drink and talked about life with my roomie (sounds like a joke, doesn't it?), then ate snacks, strawberry piece of cake, did half of my essay, discussed about the universe again, finished my essay, and found this funny cute little boy Trevor Michael here.


Yes, so sum up, I just want to show you these cutest video ever. He makes my day literally.

LOOK AT HIM! LOOK AT HIS STYLE! Sweetness on Earth! The glasses, the t-shirt, the random bracelets just go so well together. It makes me wonder who decided his clothes on that day.

He made Friday of Rebecca Black better than ever. I seriously has to rethink about getting the song for my iPod and what scary is I am not even kidding you!

Way too cute. His dance made me lol and I was like, Was I bored?


Anyway, you should check him out. I already subscribe him and he deserves more followers for whatever amount of followers he has.


2. 
Recently, I'm digging myself in instrument music. The lyrics/words/sayings bores the shit out of me already. Sometimes, no word gives you trust than any other word you hear.

Talking about lie, in some standard, either very high or low in percentage but still, everyone can recognize a lie, simply because everyone lies.

So don't think that I don't know you lie. I don't say it out either because I like you or I don't care.

PS: I lied in here, did you spot it?

Like me or you don't care?

Soften your souls.

4. Thursday (Cont.):

It doesn't matter how good I am. What matter is how bad she can be.

I don't mind how people think about me. But I care a lot of those whom are my friends. At once time, I needed someone I could talk to.

Nonetheless, when you are looking for someone to talk, you find yourself alone dealing with the trouble.

When that day happens, don't do such a thing, save yourself some trouble, and just take a nap.

And when you start to think that you're all alone in this world, friends jump in and make your day. My friend sent me these sweet songs:

Please go and see the MV. Like now. lol It's more beautiful and meaningful when watching the MV.


For the conclusion, my friends are sweetnesses on Earth, right? (:


2. Soften your soul.
Recently, I'm digging in instrument music. Word is not necessary sometimes.

Also, in this weekend I drew this picture as my self-portrait assignment:

while listening to this as my motivation - not my inspiration - as someone asked me about this in my class but I just said, Yes [It's my inspiration.]

Also I listen to this again this morning. It brightens up my day for sure.

That's it for now! I hope you all have a good day.
Now I'm getting back to my study.
Oh don't you know that I'm in class right now? lol

I believe in Miracle.

The beginning hasn't started, the thought of an end was already brought to mind.

This week has been rather hard on me, started from Monday. But once again, as life is beautiful and amazing as always, it brings me some miracles each day so that I can share to you now.

1. Monday: The stranger.
I went to the cafeteria after a harsh conversation and my heart felt like something has pressed it down. As soon as I sat down on the chair, I saw an old dirty big strange guy sitting in front of me. I felt a bit awkward but immediately he looked up at me and asked surprisedly about the book I was holding in my hands, What is that huge book you are holding? - I bursted a smile, It is for my English 4. Then I looked at his face, still saw the amazement in it, I smiled bigger, It is The Introduction to Literature! - It should be really difficult for an international student like you! His face still didn't change. It was, but I get used to it, I smiled.

Then he paused for a moment and then asked, So where are you from? - I smiled, expected him to be more amazed, I'm from Vietnam.

And he was. He said, for the very last, I wish you and your country to be happy. And at that time, it was my turn to be lost in amazement and amusement. Who is that guy?, I thought. I said, Thank you and have a good day! And he, while standing and about to leave, said back in turn: Thanks a lot. And you, too! I have to be honest, he said quite a lot but then I forgot. I think though, because, at that time I was lost and spent time looking at him the way he looked at me before.

Just a very short time after that, my friend came, and I still found myself amazedly looking toward where he had sat. When she touched on my back and said hi, I was like waking up from a dream and just realized he had vanished.

That stranger.


2. Tuesday: Canon in D.
I told you before, I, fortunately, have some fate with Canon in D and this is just a reminder so you can get what I mean later, whenever I get sad - very very sad - one of my friends will post Canon in D on their facebook and tag me. They don't know about my situation and what they have done are just coincidences. And so even more, it will certainly brighten up my day. It didn't happened once, it has happened quite a few times before. For example, last Tuesday:

Unless you are still amazed, let's listen to this ver. of Canon in D, and who knows if you are one of those who luckily gets a fate in Canon in D (:

Coincidence is also fate, don't you think?

3. Wednesday.
Recently, Monday and Wednesday were my hateful days since I had some struggle with my instructor. He didn't like my idea and of course, neither did I. I didn't have the joy to go to class anymore.

Not just that, the weather was so bad yesterday while I was just wearing a slight cardigan.

And I didn't get the message from my friend, which actually bothered me a lot since it was our habit already.

All these little things like these can make mood easily go down. I felt depressed and as if my decision was a stupid wrong decision. And I had too many things to write down, so obviously, every thought I had, I wrote them down while listening to this song:

My thought started as questions. Many questions. Is it right? I is what supposed to be? Is it what supposed to feel? Am I right? Am I wrong? What should I do? What should I not do?


And then when I had no question left, I wrote down what I felt, from what I hated turned to what I loved.

And finally, it was full of love.


The questions haven't get the right answers yet, but the feeling was for sure. So I decided to go what my heart says in the control of my head.


When I finished that, I decided to send a message to my friend then went to class and started talking again with my instructor. Then when I got to the bus, around 5:40pm, I got a message explaining why my friend couldn't message me and it calmed myself down.




Putting my headphones on, I walked down on the street.
The weather was very nice on that evening.