A Comparative Essay on my Life and Disney Movies... haha lame, I know.

Today, I had my best friend over, and we were watching Disney movies, eating ice cream (by the tub), eating strawberries, you know- typical girl stuff... We watched Mulan and Lion King, my two favourites.

I remember when I was young (and don't laugh), out of all the Disney princes, I had a crush on Simba. This sounds pretty funny because he isn't even a human, but I felt I could relate more to him than to any of the other snotty "royal" princes in the other stories. The other princes seem so shallow and boring, take for example Aladdin, he wants Jasmine, that's his only goal. And of course, he has to save her because Jafar also wants the kingdom. But otherwise, if he hadn't met Jasmine, he'd be chasing some other girl.

Same with all the other princes, they're only in it to get the girl.

Simba on the other hand, he has a dark past that he has to confront. He is interesting, compared to the other princes. The other princes seem boring and stuffy. I mean, come on... saving princesses? That is so overdone!

Simba though, he saves an entire kingdom, he bravely faces his past mistakes, is spunky, has cool buds (Timon and Pumba), and is fun-loving (see Hakuna Matata part of the movie).

The other princes simply cannot compare. Really, if you watch their movies, all they do is just stand there and then they fight some villian. They kind of lack depth.

I also relate well to Nala, which explains my childhood crush on Simba. Nala is a take-action type of character. When the lion family was starving, she went out on her own to hunt for food, which shows that she is pro-active, like me. I never sit back and wait for things to happen.

She also beats Simba in wrestling, which is a trait I find admirable, being able to beat the boys at things. She's independent, and not afraid to be unfemale-like at all, which is why I like her.

Movie #2: Mulan

When I was young, I also had an intense crush on Captain Li from the Mulan movie. Who wouldn't?! That guy is built! And he sings! And he is the Captain, and has a hot voice (like Simba). But if I were to pick one or the other, I'd pick Simba because Captain Li acts like a douche some of the time, he didn't listen to Mulan's warning when the huns were arriving at the end of the movie, and in the beginning, he embarassed Mulan infront of everyone.

I know someone in real life like Captain Li. He is gorgeous looking too. I wonder if being hot directly correlates to being a jerk. Actually, I'm pretty sure, there is some correlation, I'll write a blog about it sometime this summer.

Out of all the Disney princesses, Mulan is my favourite, for these reasons:

1. She takes care of her family. She went to war for her father, which is her way of protecting him.

2. She's brave. It takes guts to pretend to be a boy, and go off to war like that.

3. She's bold. She joined the army even though she wasn't supposed to.

4. She's intelligent. She thought of defeating the huns by blasting the last cannon at the mountain, which killed most of them off.

5. She's pro-active. Did any of the other princesses save other people by killing them? Nooo, they just sat back and waited to be saved.

So there you have it, my two Disney crushes, and my favourite Disney characters.

Who are your favourite princes/princesses from the Disney movies?

Housewifing

I have a whole new appreciation for my mother. Who knew ironing linen was so hard? When I was a kid, she would iron my clothes for me all the time, and she made it seem like the easiest thing.

I got burned by the iron, it looks pretty disgusting.

I guess you can't appreciate things fully until you've gone through them yourself.

Epiphany

I spent yesterday cleaning out my dorm room. Practically the whole day! Don can attest to that.

We started work at around 2pm, and finished at around 9pm. But of course, we took breaks, which probably slowed things down, it was still a whole lotta crap we had to move though!

Anyway, then today, I was doing some spring cleaning, and I went down to do the laundry this morning. Basically, it was me and a bunch of old ladies doing laundry.

And I thought: That's going to be me in a couple of decades!

Time goes by zipping fast! I can't believe I'm in summer already, it feels like last summer, still!

Therefore, as a way to save time, I'm going to get rid of alot of stuff during this spring cleaning. I figure the less stuff I have to worry about, the more time I will have doing things I want to do, instead of cleaning, and taking care of it. There was just so much stuff that we moved out of my room yesterday! If I had less stuff, we could have finished moving sooner, and could have spent that time doing something fun.

I once read a book where the character was a big fan of minimalism, and he only owned 75 items including toothbrush, and toothpaste, you know, the essentials. He only had 2 different outfits, and pairs like socks, or shoes, counted as one item each. Everytime, he thought about buying something new, he'd have to give away one of his 75 items.

However, clearly, since I'm a girl (need my accessories and clothes!), and a music fanatic (I buy albums), and sentamentalist (I keep concert ticket stubs and stuff), there is no way I can get down to 75 items. The only things I can do is get rid of stuff and don't make impulse purchases.

And I need to work on not being so attached to my stuff. I'm sure I could give anything away (of things I own), therefore, I'm not that attached, but I like to hold on to things because of the memories they bring back.

I have had a pretty decent life so far, and these things remind me of all the good times.

Girl Talk

After a year at different universities, my friends are all coming back, and we're hanging out, and catching up.

The other day, I was with a long time friend, and she asked, "So how are you and your boyfriend?"

I answered, "Umm... we're good."

The thing is, I don't know what stories to tell in this "girl talk", and thus, I give one-worded answers and become boring without meaning to.

I have a friend, and whenever I see her, she tells the best boy stories. Tales of her and her flings, going 180 on a motorcycle on a highway, somewhere in a foreign country (because she studies there). Compared to that story, my stories are probably ordinary. Like, the other night, he took me out, and then we walked around... and... ;)

Then again, it's not the story itself, half of it is in the way that you tell the story. I should probably work on that, I mean, I do have a mellow voice that is capable of putting children to sleep, I think I could be more intriguing.

However, if worse comes to worse and I have no stories to tell, I could always make one up!

P.S. To the boyfriend that is reading this, no you're not boring, please don't run off and cry. :P

Summer Goal

I'm going to learn how to rap this summer, homies!

I can see summer!

2 days and 1 hour until I am done my last exam!

Today, I went to see a play at an independent downtown theatre with a friend, and later we had lunch and went shopping. I even bought a pair of pants! I really should be studying, but it feels like summer already.

I can't wait until it's fully summer, no school, nothing, and I can go shopping guilt-free.

I plan to treat myself to a shopping spree and ice cream after my last exam. And I'm going to see more theatre productions... movies, go to shows, go sailing, go to work... softball, beach. Oh sweet summer!

I got excited today, seeing people walk around in tank tops and dresses. It's Booster Juice season again, sun screen weather... I've got my summer playlist ready, my lists of things to do, and my sunglasses in my hand.

P.S. I found out where all the cute guys in Toronto hang out!
...obviously so I can set up my single friends. Duh, I have a bf already!

Last Thoughts...

Tomorrow is it. The moment of truth. My two exams. My two nightmares.

The first one is in 9 hours and I can't get to sleep. Figures...

I feel like I should be studying, doing some last minute cramming, but my brain is too tired to process anything... thus, I am chatting on msn.

...and talking on the phone, and singing :) And just counting down 9 hours.

Summer has started! Except my last exam is on Monday :(

Quiz

Who is your dream guy?

Here is the analysis: Unlike most others, he walk on his own path. He's creative and willing to learn about anything. Music and movies are his favorites. He's kind to everyone. You can feel his inner beauty through his words. He's comfortable among a circle of friends. He's looking for someone to share his hobbies.

Take it here: http://www.quizbox.com/personality/test64.aspx

Damn.

Nothing is more depressing than seeing an empty inbox when you've applied to a job where interviews are supposedly next week.

Perhaps they are still reviewing resumes, or they are taking a break since its the weekend, or maybe my email got lost in the world wide web...

How sad.

Dream Big

I just applied to be The Music Director for our university's radio station, even though I haven't worked there, and have no knowledge of their policies.

I think I'm a good fit for the job though. I've been involved in music exponentially! From my summer job at the amp, to my experience working at a record company, and knowing some music people in the industry; I think I have an okay shot.

I applied last year to be a DJ, but I guess they lost my application somewhere in the mass of applications they recieved. If I get this job, I'll get paid, and I'd move in being able to order people around. Score!

My friend, A, when he was 14, he applied to work as a cashier at a Pizza Pizza shop at Wonderland. After the group interview, he was pulled aside, and they hired him as a shop manager! He was 14, and he got to tell people who were older than him what to do. He even fired a girl when she refused to listen to him just because he was younger than her.

In this business, its all about how you present yourself. That's how you score jobs. So I'm not scared about not being able to get a job in this bad recession. Because I know if Fusion won't hire me, someone else will. It's just hit and miss. If you have the right attitude, people will want to work with you and train you.

I know I sound cocky, but confidence is essential to achieving any of your goals. So go for your biggest dreams. You never know what might happen. Accept rejection, and just move on with life. And good luck in whatever you aim for!

Our Top Story Tonight!

In the midst of exam season, Don Cheng, a typical first year university student sits at his desk in his cramped dorm room trying to study.

"I don't want to do this anymore" he groans.

For millions of university students around North America, mid-April is when final examinations in their classes begin. It is also the time when many students increase their procrastination habits which can include eating, sleeping, spending time on msn, Facebook, and gaming to name a few useless activities.

"I spent an hour gaming today, and slept almost the whole day" says Don, who still has two more exams to study for, one of them taking place tomorrow.

Don has already completed three exams, and because of their back to back nature, he has barely slept a wink. His health suffers tremendously. His relationship with his girlfriend back home, Jessica Lee, also suffers in immense proportions, especially when she finds out that he spent an hour gaming instead of replying her emails.

Unfortunately, she is also a university student as well, and is stuck in the middle of examinations. She spent the day procrastinating as well, but on a lesser scale, and in a more productive way. Instead of gaming, which benefits no one in society, she uploaded photos on Facebook, where other procrastinating students can also spend their time relaxing in between exams, browsing through her albums.

Her other way of procrastinating is talking to Don on msn. Through this method, both parties are engaged in mutual procrastination, and are both happy... for the moment, but tomorrow, they will be sad again as they go back to the mundane habit of studying jejune subjects.

...until Don surprises her and says he's coming back to TORONTO! TOMORROW!

And... well... Jessica should probably stop procrastinating by writing this blog. And referring to herself in the third person. Because it's probably lame, and a violation of some Journalism law- though she didn't read anything about it in the Journalism textbook she was studying today- all she read about in her textbook was a bunch of useless crap which probably won't help her in her Journalism exam the day after tomorrow.

Speaking of which, she is going to stop writing nowwwwwwwww and go to sleep so she can get up early and start studying again tomorrow. Bye.

Too many "friends"?!

Today, while studying at my University library, I saw a girl that might have been someone I knew from two years ago. (Actually, at this point, from Facebook stalking, I know she is the girl I knew two years ago, damn.)

We met when I was in high school, we were from different schools, but we both participated in an extra curricular outside of school. I worked with her on our project (with other people) for more than half a year. We met weekly, and sometimes put in extra time and met outside of the required time because we were both keeners and wanted to do well on our project.

Well, today, I found out that she goes to the same university as me (from seeing her, and then later checking on Facebook that she does in fact go to my school). It sucks how people drift apart as people move on with their separate paths, and you may never see them again, if not for seeing them on Facebook.

Currently, I have 660 (ish) "friends". Most aren't friends, but rather people I know. However, I can confirm that I have met all 600+ people in person before adding them as a friend. There was a period in time where I accepted friend requests just because they were people from my school. It didn't matter that we never talked, I just thought "why not?" maybe they'll become famous one day and I'll have the priviliage of saying "so and so and I were Facebook 'friends'".

Friends. What does that word even mean nowadays?

What I am concerned of right now is maybe I'll run into an acquaintance on Facebook one day in real life, and I'll forget who they were.

It's actually happened before. I was on an escalator going down, and the other person was on the escalator going up. And he said my name, but I forgot who he was, I didn't even remember his face! I forced a smile at the time, but this bothered me for the whole day. I later found out who he was, and we had only met once before, which sort of gives me an excuse for not remembering who he was... I guess.

Anyway, I'm going on a "friend" delete tonight. Before, I had been an advocate of keeping as many ties as possible, because it meant having a bigger network, and that meant more opportunities if I'm looking for a job or something. But now, I'm worried about my privacy, and having too many people to keep track of. Da Vinci once said "Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication", thus I am simplifying my life with a smaller friends list on Facebook.

Home is where the heart is(n't).

I had this nightmare yesterday where I returned back to my dorm at University, and all my stuff was gone, my walls were stripped bare of my posters, and everything that I owned was nowhere to be seen.

I'm no dream interpreter, but I think I know what this means.

1. I'm not ready to move out/ I can't believe first year is over!
2. I think I've attached myself to my dorm room.

Next year, I'm not living on residence anymore, I'll be at home, which means I'll have a curfew again. It means I can't go to class, then come home and take a nap, and go to the next class. It means I can't wake up, roll out of bed, and head to class. It means I can't have late night jam sessions with friends, or harbour a certain someone in my room on weekends. I should probably say bye to msn chats until 4am as well.

Basically, living at home means a loss of independence. Boo :(

But on the brightside, I'm also getting my licence this summer, so I'll be able to go places that I've never been before because the TTC doesn't go that far. I'll still miss living by myself though.

Which is why in honour of my moving out on May 2nd, I'm going to spend the next 2 weeks at residence, abusing my last rites of passages as a freshman on campus. You better watch out, UTSC!

We do it for the scars and stories, not the fame.

I recently finished reading Malcolm Gladwell's Outliers, and in the last chapter, he writes about his family's history. It was interesting to read because he is part Jamaican, and part caucasian, and many other things. The stories of his ancestors tell so much about himself. I won't write it all here, because I think it's worth reading for yourself, the book. So go read it.

Anyway, his stories inspired me ask about my own history. I asked my mom, but she doesn't know much beyond my grandparents, so I will have to wait until the next time I see my remaining grandparent to know the full story of how I came to be.

Originally, since I'm from Chinese descent, I expected my ancestors to have been rice paddie farmers, which would have been really cool. I pictured something along the lines of the animated Disney feature Mulan.

And then I imagined that maybe I was from a long line of royalty, since I have naturally small feet, and back then, Chinese princesses and rich people used to bind their women's feet.

Those of you who have studied evolution or anthropology know that the above logic isn't true because your decisions now don't affect how your offspring will turn out, according to a number of studies by some scientists who I've forgotten the names of, even though I took the course just a few months ago. (shows how quickly information escapes my mind, yikes!)

Anyway, without further ado, I will now divulge in my family history:

On my mother's side, we're from the over-populated island known as Hong Kong. Growing up, my mother's family was poor. As a child, my mother had to work two part time jobs, go to school, and take care of her two younger brothers. She wasn't the eldest child, but she was the one with the most responsibility. However, my grandmother from this side of the family grew up with lots of servants. I'm not sure how they lost their money.

My father's side has a different story. My grandfather was a landlord in China, but then the communists came, so they had to move out of the country. They did this by pretending they were going on a vacation, but secretly they packed their bags. That was when they moved to Hong Kong. And then Hong Kong became a communist country, so then one of my aunts (the eldest one) was in an arranged marriage to my now-uncle in Canada. And thus, because of the marriage, our whole family was allowed to move to Canada.

...or something like that. I'm not sure of the details, but it seems legitimate. I'm not sure if my uncle (the one in the arranged marriage), was a descendent from one of the Canadian Pacific Railway builders. That would be seriously cool, even though it meant that his father suffered horrible conditions.

I just love having good stories to tell. I mean, I am a budding journalist afterall! My life revolves around narrative. When I am someone's grandmother, I will make sure I have lots of things to tell my grandkids. I'm going to make it a point to have an exciting life so that I can have crazy memories to recount when I'm old and greying. And thus, my legacy will continue.

Do you have any stories about your family history?

As if I'm not obvious enough about what I want... ;)

Men who can cook well really impress me.

*cough* *cough* *nudge* *poke* *wink*

I wonder if I'm the only one who thinks this way...

You know how sometimes you see couples, and they're just so perfect for each other? Like, it just makes you happy to see them together because they've been together for so long, it just makes everything seem right.

Then one day, they decide to break up, and it feels like the whole world is about to fold. Even if their relationship with each other shouldn't affect you, it somehow does.

Maybe its just me, and my lack of ability to deal with sudden, unexpected changes. It's sort of like everything in the world is changing, so you need a constant, and that couple breaking up was the last thing you expected to happen, but it still happened.

Is there anything that affects your life, even though it probably shouldn't?

Plans

This summer, I am going to lose the 7 pounds of fat I gained during my first year of dorm room living. And on top of that, I am going to gain 5 pounds of muscle.

Here is how I am going to do it:

1. I am going to go on more downtown excursions. Those of you who have been with me downtown know how physically demanding those can be. This includes more shopping trips with the bf and the bff, and any of my friends who can keep up with me. Haha, you know you love those shopping trips, tb!

2. I am doing softball this year. ...which means a lot of running around.

3. I am going to go for runs with Robert and his dog. He lives in the same building as me, so it's really convenient. I really hope I can keep up.

4. I am going to go biking downtown more often.

5. I might even go to the weight room in our condo. I hate working out though, so maybe this will happen once during summer. Weight rooms feel like hamster cages to me, which makes it not fun to get fit.

6. If I can, I'm going to play soccer, volleyball, and basketball. Depending on if I can find enough people who are interested. Most of my friends aren't the active type. From the top of my head, I can think of 4 friends who are "sort of" into keeping fit.

7. I am most-likely going sailing again this year. This means lots of heavy lifting, which builds strength.

So there you have it. My summer fitness plans. Do you have any goals you'd like to achieve this summer?

There is constantly a smell of weed in the air...

Either there is something wrong with my nose, or everyone around me is smoking pot.

Or a third but highly unlikely possibility is that I have been smoking pot in my sleep and I don't know about it yet.

I assure you though, that I know what pot smells like and I am not imagining it!

Blog #1

I don't know what's wrong with me. This is the 3rd blog I've created this year, and it's only April. In total, I have 8 blogs now. I update about 3 or 4 of them regularly. I'm probably spending my time in the wrong places.

Sometimes, I think I spend more time writing about my life than actually living it. There's something unsettling with that statement, I know. But if I don't write about my life, who will?

I feel like I have to keep track of my life in writing so that when I'm old and boring, I can look back at these blog posts, or my journal entries and be like "so that is what it was like to be 18"

Anyway, if you haven't figured out the title of my blog yet, it's supposed to be a play on the expression "what a mess", except my name is Jess, so I decided to be clever and change it around. I figure most of my life has been a mess, which is why that statement is fitting. And back in middle school, I used to have a nickname "Jess the mess", dubbed by my bestfriend at that time, who thought my locker was disorganized.

Okay, so I know that the word "mess" has negative connotations around it, but I will attempt to disprove that in the next paragraph.

In my opinion, "neat and orderly" is boring, I'd rather be a beautiful mess, and be interesting. Take for example my room. It is disorganized, but it has so much personality. It's not unhygenic or anything (I am a germ freak, by the way, I'd never let my room be gross), it is just filled with stuff that tells you volumes about the person living in it, me. And so what if stuff is everywhere?

Stop living in your squares, people!

Haha, hope I didn't scare you away.

Welcome to my blog!