luffy

The view really can't compare to Exeter.

A side note, look at all those cranes! Job prospect right there, except I'm not leaning towards construction management.

lakeshore

It's slowly getting warmer.

summer '14 to do

Time to be ambitious about what I can accomplish in the summer. Separated this time by how likely I am to actually do what I say.

Definitely (aka already committed to):

• School-related:
• Research position!
• Sky Garden!! I've missed this so much.
• YNCN planning. This still requires so much brainstorming
• f!rosh 1T4 graphics. Gonna be fun! 
• WISE...? I think I'm going to stay an exec, depends on what position I get though. 
• Non-school related:
• Read read read
• Game game game
• Find a place for next year, this is going to induce so much stress

Try to do

• Visit Chicago? Hopefully
• Learn a new cuisine, let's start with Japanese
• Dabble with camera more, or at least continue my sunset photos
• Window farm!
• Explore Toronto neighbourhoods, find boutiques & migrate more away from fast fashion
• Meet up with friends regularly. Excuse to try out new restaurants
• Go to all the summer events, and most importantly taste of danforth  
• Plan out a vegetable garden for parent's new house! 
• GEB. This book, omg, I will definitely get through it one day
• APS302 lecture recordings

prized stone

E3 coincides with exam time during highschool, and even though uni exam times are two month ahead, I still manage to find out about new game releases (&manga) when I'm suppose to be studying.
Work hard, play hard?

Anyways, looking forward to the release of:

1. Citybound: for the new SimCity that I never got to play. This is one ambitious guy trying to make a city simulation game from scratch. It's wonderful that he does weekly updates.

2. Transistor is out next month!!! (though later for Mac ver). I think by now everyone knows how I much I love Bastion.

3. Dragon Fin Soup: preordered & have high hopes for this one, especially since their Kickstarter stretch goal unlocked a fluffy sheep as pet. Interesting character, setting, and game mechanics (duel wield is always good). Gameplay:

It's good when indie games have Mac versions (y)

In other news, thinking of picking up Tales of Xilia for the summer too, but unsure if I'm going to have enough time. Lots of things planned, should do a round up post about it soon. As of now, Brave Frontier's new patch just implemented a whole lot of new content. You should play :D it's a good aside game that provides the right amount of distraction.

Trina

Finally got my hands on these sandals (via The Bay), been wanting them ever since I saw it on lam.

 Colour's not actually this orange irl, adjusted in PS cause I thought it looked better, opps.

I really like the design. It's rare to find a clean looking sandal at affordable-ish prices. Bonus that it has a gold, mirrored heel (opps didn't show in photo) which adds interest. The leather straps are wide and relatively soft, which makes it very comfortable to wear. The insole is also padded, and the heel the perfect height for walking. They also run true to size.

However, I'm not impressed by the construction quality. The leather's edge is left raw and doesn't align perfectly with the stitching (see below). Though I appreciate the piece of leather behind the buckle as it prevents the buckle from digging into your skin.

Overall, I'm happy with the purchase and hope that this brings an end to my search for the perfect pair of sandals.

park avenue

Another TED talk that really speaks out to me. Now reconsidering a masters in urban planning, I guess policy is the way to go to make bigger impacts.

Generation A

aka I'd totally take a Solon right now. Or just keep reading my books.

I picked it up because the cover is pretty and there's a Vonnegut quotation on the inside cover. T'was a good and interesting read, though I expected a more dramatic ending than he was trying to eat your brains (spoiler). The whole first half was building up something epic, than it suddenly shift gears...and then that ending. To be fair it's a story about the importance of story telling, which I think the structure and plot achieves well. Also amazed at how many current cultural references are in there.

A quotation by my favourite narrator, Harj (Dianna is probably 2nd favourite):

And then what do you do - do you pray? What is prayer but a wish for the events in your life to string together to form a story -  something that makes some sense of events you know have meaning.
And so I pray.

gratitude

so everyday from now on is a bonus.