Mind Speak is Moving

I apologize for the lack of activity lately on Mind Speak. It's because I'm working on something new - moving Mind Speak to a new home. I've been wanting to do this for a while now but never around to it because I couldn't decide which site to use. It was like another symptom of my indecisiveness-syndrome. There may be a reason for the difficulty of my choice though - it wasn't feasible to combine a photoblog and a writing blog together and as it turns out, the layouts/sites I was looking at also couldn't provide both functions for me at its optimal level. Hence, I have decided to move my photoblog to Wordpress and my collection of random thoughts to Tumblr. They are set up but still in beginning stages - I have a lot of photos and posts to move. I will be doing that while I'm in Quebec!

For the next 5 weeks, I'll be staying with a host family in Riviere-du-Loup taking French classes from Monday to Friday. I've been looking forward to this "explore" program since I've heard so many good things about it and it's always been a goal of mine to learn French. I have brought my DSLR and guitar with me so I'm expecting to be doing a lot of picture taking and guitar practicing.

The kind of freedom I feel right now is, to say the least, exhilarating. :)

Please remember to visit my new blogs! Links are above. For those who have followed my blog, I give you my thanks. I hope you will continue following me on my journey!

I am Lost In Translation

Bob and Charlotte having a fun night out in Tokyo, from Lost in Translation

Quotes from IMDB:

Charlotte: I just don't know what I'm supposed to be.
Bob: You'll figure that out. The more you know who you are, and what you want, the less you let things upset you.

Charlotte: I tried taking pictures, but they were so mediocre. I guess every girl goes through a photography phase. You know, horses... taking pictures of your feet.

It's another one of those nights. I feel all uneasy and stressed out and just feeling like something is not right. I know I'm probably overreacting right now, feeling lost and confused after graduation.

This whole day I have talked to so many people about the little things I'm stressing about to the bigger things that I'm worried about. I probably told the buying-sunscreen-for-25mins-story too many times today (sorry for being kinda annoying!) - but it was that incident that made me say to myself: "what the hell is wrong with me". Maybe it's the buildup of so many things I have to do and the fact that I am embarking a new chapter in my life. If any of you have seen Lost in Translation (2003) you'll know what I mean. Scarlett Johansson is kind of going through a similar phase in the movie where she doesn't know who she is or what she really wants to do. I guess I am sort of trying to figure that out too. But at this moment, after many conversations (I truly thank all of you who listened and gave me wise words!), I have concluded that what is wrong is that I just stress/worry too much. So take a step back and chill out. I know I'm not alone in feeling kinda unsure about what to do and what's to come, but I know whatever I do, it will turn out to be okay. Instead of worrying pointlessly, I should be enjoying the process instead. As corny as it sounds, but yes, que sera sera.

And that is exactly what I will do. :)

Late Learning

I think this is what every class should be like: the professor and students all actively engaged in a conversation discussing various view-points of a topic. The learning environment is so much more conductive and enjoyable. It actually makes me very excited and eager to listen and participate and learn. :) Those rusty brain cells of mine start to churn and process and absorb.

Today we discussed the importance of developing a long-term relationship between buyers and suppliers. The key component to that relationship is open communication/sharing and trust - if this sounds kind of like a relationship between two people, don't be alarmed, a business relationship or any kind of relationship is exactly that - it needs those ingredients. Everything in world is interconnected in one way or another.

Have you heard about this before? We were talking about "Game Theory" and we discussed about The Prisoner's Dilemma. What this model illustrates is how trust can determine the outcome of a situation. Consider the following situation: there are 2 prisoners (e.g. thieves who tend to trust no one) and 4 possible outcomes. If the 2 prisoners both rat each other out, they both get 5 years jail time. If only one of them rats out, then one walks free and the other gets 10 years. If, however, they both trust each other and not rat each other out, they both get only 1 year each. Evidently, this demonstrates that most benefits are reaped when there is trust. This model is related to the Nash Equilibrium, which is devised from John Nash, the mathematician in "A Beautiful Mind". This model is applicable to a lot of things - in economics, social science, politics, and many more. Interestingly, psychology contributes a lot to game theory - which again demonstrates that everything when broken down to its elements, relates back to fundamental relations between entities.

I sound like a total nerd right now. But ah, knowledge fascinates me. :)

La vie d'une étudiante: Tu me manques bientôt

Dans environ 4 semaines, je vais graduer de cette université où j'ai passé 4 années de la vie. Je me rappelle pendant mon premier année quand j'étais une étudiante inexpérimenté, beaucoup de choses étaient nouveaux. Il est difficile de croire que je serai indépendant. Pourtant, je suis enthousiaste de l'avenir. Cet été, j'irai aux nombreaux lieux dans le monde. C'est un occasion que j'ai voulu depuis longtemps.

Les jours de liberté vont me laisser bientôt. Beaucoup de gens ont me dit avant que les années d'université sont les meillures années de la vie. Mais, j'espère que les années prochaine seront mieux.

Starbucks sur la rue de Bloor

Fill me with Positivity

The start of anyone's day can be affected by so many things. It could be as simple as how rushed you are, if you eat breakfast, if catch your bus on time, the bus driver's friendly nod, and oh yes, the weather. Whenever I take the really early go bus (I go on the 6:50am bus on Wednesdays), I always catch the sunrise while I'm on the highway. The feeling of seeing the sun rising, the morning rush hour traffic representing people hustling and bustling another day, and the music I listen to is the perfect recipe for me to think about things and life. Those alone times I get on the bus are actually quite enjoyable--it's a time for me to just wind-down and have some space to myself (even though I'm surrounded by strangers). I think most of you would agree that it's really important to have this alone time to yourself. Imagine if you never had the chance to just stop and reflect - I think a lot of us would be living life quite blindly and aimlessly.

And you know what just makes my day sometimes? The waitress at Timothy's/Tuchners that just can't seem to contain her positivity and cheerfulness. She honestly could make anyone smile, even if they are having a bad day. We definitely need people like that around more! :)

Stickers on my bedroom window

This was my birthday cake - green tea mousse :)