Things that makes me happy

   From hoodies and long comfy sweaters to sneakers and sport shoes; those made me happy. But unfortunately, those are the things that made me happy for only a short while as I avert my eyes on something that's even more important; things that were meaningful in my life. :) 

    I remember the time where my family would go out on Saturdays with another family to have dinner together. In fact, it still happens now. We see each other grow taller, older and more mature and we see each other going from primary schools to Univerisities. Some may have gone to out of their comfort zone and study abroad and some may have stayed and continue their studies, but one thing that didn't change was the gathering we have between two families where we would tell stories about our weekday happenings. Even though one member in a pack is not around, remembrance is always the key in keeping us together as Saturday buddies and these every Saturday get together are what makes me happy & I love that. 

    I also remember the time where we would text each other in our group chat; 'When can we meet up', 'Where should we go?' are questions we always asked each other in Whatsapp and the times when we could find time to meet up; we were excited for it. Whether it's going to the movies or just leisurely walking around malls with no destinations in our mind, we were having fun as we share our stories from each of our univerisities and school stories. We might be on our different pathways, but our friendship was so tight that even though we told ourselves we were busy and had no time to hang out, we'd still be able to find the time to meet up and have fun. The four of us, sometimes five or six; we made a group of great friends during our high school days despite the fact that we had different characteristics, we were a group of friends that was trying to pull each other from the ground together and one thing that made me happy about it is we are still doing it till now. I thank God where I am able to meet you girls and I hope that we will be able to meet up soon! ;) 

    Time flies as God continues to write my life stories whether it's a companion or new friends to meet. They were all a great existence that came into my life. A companion that would be patient with my crazy self as he accepts me for me where we could have fun times together going through cafe websites and going to that destination we want to whether it's under hot suns or pouring rain. To top it off, friends that I could make jokes with are one of the things that makes me smile all the time. We might have some dramas between groups but we were able to pull it through somehow even though it might not be a perfect landing as we convinced each other to look on the bright side everytime we see the dark side coming on us. From doing things we love together to always thinking of where should we eat for lunch every single time after our lecture ends, these are the things I feel happy and I hope this things will last forever; at least longer than the objects that I have at the palm of my hand. 

    The moments and memories I have in my mind until now, from having my tears of joy being shed from touching moments to the sound of laughters coming from my friends where they would wear smiles on their faces without fail; these are the things that makes me happy as I continue to hope I can see those moments every single day of my life as I thank God for their existence on this earth. :)  

Just like how these tiny flowers grew beautifully, I hope the little moments and things in life will continue to increase more as we appreciate them from the bottom of our hearts like how the roots put their faith in these flowers too! 

Sincerely, Shannon. 

A New Year's Warmth

  Every start of the new year; a big round table full of our favorite home-cooked dishes, a big collection of red envelopes given by our elderly or those who are married, a big gathering of one's family and relatives together under one cozy roof and most of all, a big smile on each of everyone faces is what I see ever since the first day of New Year started - every single year, without fail.

  Before every new year, all families clean up their houses from living room to their storeroom to get a 'new year' feeling in their house. As they clean every corner of the house, the start of buying new year's cookies and snacks comes into picture too where you'll see red-cover containers filled with Chinese New Year cookies all being set up on the living room table waiting to be eaten by us sweet tooth. From the sweetest peanut cookies to the most delicious pineapple tarts you've ever tasted; they are what we call the sweetest temptations during Lunar New Year. ;)

  Every New Year, everyone including myself wants to start anew with our own lives and forget about the past. But we clearly all know that the past we have in our memories will not vanish the way we want to, it'll only remain in our memories as it can only fade year after year until we truly forgotten about it and have no remaining scenes playing in our memory lane. Fortunately, we still can start fresh like those freshmen who starts their first day of school (just a comparison). Everyone, young and old has the rights to press the restart button inside of them and live a new life full of what they hoped for; from being more faithful to God to gaining more motivation to start their studies and get good grades or even just start taking up a new hobby one have always wanted to.

  The moment when you really experience yourself the gathering of your family members and relatives from the east to the west or from the north to the south, you'll realize its one of the most lively and the warmest gatherings you'll ever attend in your life. Every year just once, you'll see yourself facing the camera lens to have your picture taken with a bunch of relatives you've known for life and maybe sometime not closed but became closer after a meal or tea and that's when you'll realize that you're blessed by God with so many awesome wonderful relatives who are always attentive to you, blessed with an awesome scrumptious meal and being able to sit in a table full of your cousins that you may share your uni life with instead of sharing it to your siblings and parents.

   I do hope that the warmth and happiness I've felt will be felt by all readers who are reading it until the end. Wherever you are, I do hope you'll feel as warm as I am during this Chinese New Year. May the Lord bless you with his wonderful praises and creations for you, your family and your friends. ;)

A reunion meal is always the best during Chinese New Year! ;)

Sincerely, Shannon.

A New Start

  It's 2017; the start of a new year where we all would wish to have a better life than the one we previously had in 2016. As we start off with the new year of 2017, we realized that we had made a promise to ourselves that we would achieve that particular goal that we came up with in the year of 2016 like, girls tend to promise themselves not to eat so much the following year whereas the boys would promise themselves not to play so much games in 2017; I guess it's what we call it - new year's resolutions. 

  As a girl myself, I always make the most common resolutions I can ever think of like dieting so that I'm able to fit in my new pair of jeans I bought a few days back. Well, there are random ones like continue not to get involve in relationships for the next I don't know how many years of life and trying to not get too much attention in university so that I can just graduate peacefully. Well, come to think of it; some were successful enough to be continued while some are not. I guess it all depends on one's mind of determination and motivation to achieve those goals. ;) 

  The most common new year's resolutions that I've heard from peers are not spending too much money, them wanting to go on a strict healthy lifestyle where exercising and healthy eating is what they only care about and even them wanting to get a boyfriend or a girlfriend. Okay, the third one; not so much. But those resolutions they have made was last year's. During the year of 2016, all I see is no changes (no offence though). Some have changed but most of them; it's a no or a little only. I guess it's hard to follow those footsteps you have made for your own to follow huh. Even I myself had troubles following them most of the time due to lack of motivation. But we all know it's our own fault that we turned out the way we didn't wanted to anyhow. 

  After all the failures and successes we have made throughout the past year, I think it's our own choice to follow what we want and feel right for now. We may face a few consequences ourselves but that's how we learn our lessons right? ;) So just be yourself and believe that you can reach any goal that you want if you put your mind to it. Happy New Year everybody!

Trying new things are one of my new year resolutions too! ;) 

Sincerely, Shannon 

Sincerely, Shannon

  As I scroll through my gallery on my iPhone; all I could tell myself was 'I've come a long way'. Every photograph that I shot, every button I tap to capture the moments I want to cherish; they were all part of my journey. :)

  I took pictures using only my iPhone and I was proud of my photos. I was kind of terrible at it from the start; but I was able to take more wonderful pictures as I practiced my photography skills step by step, be it baby steps or giant steps. Guess I have to say 'practice makes perfect' right? I remember the time I got my first phone, I was excited and all I could do was keep on taking pictures till my memory space was full. As I upgraded my phone to iPhone, I was even more enthusiastic. I took more by exploring the camera functions; from tapping multiple times to focus on different objects to controlling the exposure that I want, I was attached to camera apps that can capture pictures that I want and at the same time - edit it with filters. 

  One of the apps that I love is VSCOcam. Vsco has given the opportunity for me to capture even more beautiful pictures with filters I can use to change a little of my photographs and tools I could adjust my photographs. I guess Vsco played a very important role in my journey of photography where it gave me even more motivation that all pictures can be taken beautifully if I put my mind to it and if I practice hard. That's why I would even suggest to my friends about VSCOcam if they want to edit pictures they took. This shows how much I love this app. :) 

  With a camera app and VSCOcam on my iPhone, I took more pictures as I capture the moments that I want to remember for the rest of my life. My dad recently bought a Fujifilm X-10 as a family camera and I can't wait to use it soon too! I do hope that I am able to take even better pictures with a camera gadget and that I can achieve more goals that I hope for. 

  Vsco has given me lots of opportunities too. These are the photos I've been curated with Distinctions and Honor. I am delighted and really honoured to be able to get published by Vsco and I do hope I can continue to get those accomplishments with my future pictures and photographs that I'll be taking and posting on Vscogrid. :) 

This photo was taken in Vung Tau, Vietnam. In fact, this is the first photo that got curated by VSCO with Distinction. 

This is the second photograph that got curated by VSCO with Distinction. It's a photo of water waves in a swimming pool. 

This is one of the photo that got curated by VSCO too but with Honor. It is by far one of my biggest achievement that I've gotten since I joined Vscogrid. This photo was taken at a deserted road in Sungai Buloh (Malaysia). 

- Nothing is impossible - 

- Believe in Him and He will make your paths right. - 

Other photographs of mine can be seen on sincerelyshannon.vsco.co

Thank you ;)

Why do I write?

  "English is my favourite subject and it'll never change." This is how I'd answered to most people who asked me what was my favourite subject in the past and to let you know, it still is - in the present. From learning alphabets to grammars and new vocabularies for the past 18 years of my life from kindergarten, middle school to high school and now university; my favourite subject never failed to surprise me as my eagerness to learn and explore them starts to grow bigger and bigger in my heart, mind and soul.

  English language has been my sole of confidence every single time in class; always hoping to get the highest mark in the class while I have my ups and downs of course where I may get the second highest or even a tie with a classmate whose English was great too. I loved those silly yet fun competitions as I start to wonder what I wanted to do with the language I fell in love with since young other than just competing - Write. 

  Starting from simple sentences like "I like an apple" to writing more longer and higher standard sentences was how I came to love writing essays and stories and even blogs. Sentences surprises me in a way that it connects the next sentence that I'll write on a piece of paper with pencil leads and ink pens continuously without fail. Each sentences has a meaning and the 'meaning' behind it has a sense of satisfactory completion in each completed sentences. They are like trains that continues to move as you write them without stopping as the overflowing words slowly starts to form sentence by sentence and into an essay. Even if you only know a thousand of vocabularies and simple sentences, essays can be formed easily if you take up the effort and think properly on what you want to write. 

  Writing essays enables me to express my innermost feelings without moving that lips of mine. Essays can be hard to be written within an hour when you're starting to learn how to write an essay of 120 words in the past, but as you practise to write simple essays with the thoughts of sentences forming in that brain of yours; you'll write them automatically without even doing mind maps and points at the side, on a paper to let yourself refer to it while you write. Forming sentences is the first step as you step on the second by writing short essays. It worked for me. 

  It gave me a sense of peacefulness and happiness when I write and that little happiness in me grew even larger than I expected as I discover numerous blogging websites. Since then, I started writing without fail as I express my thoughts through words of writing. Being able to write made me really happy since I was able to express my opinions in another way instead of using sound as my source of expressing my thoughts. I was quite the quiet child in the past and maybe even now at times as I was always afraid of talking where I might hurt someone's pride or maybe even offend or insult a person just by telling funny jokes and riddles. Communication through social life feared me horribly as I continued to stay as quiet as possible so I wouldn't hurt someone and make someone dislike me just because of that one word, sentence or even opinion that I give or voice it out. But as I write, I realised talking is good too since writing may not be as 'famous' or 'well-known' than talking since voicing out opinions and doing presentations are all using sound as a source of sharing and presenting. That's why, I'm starting to learn how to give honest opinions without insulting or hurting a person's heart and pride. 

  Blogging can be said its like 'breathing' to me. Without writing, I'd probably be a person who undergoes depression right now. It helped me to express my anger, my advices and most of all, myself as I write anything that comes out of my mind with a meaning behind it of why I form that sentence and who I want to dedicate these sentences to - The readers. I want to inspire people with my inspirational writings and I do hope they get inspired. From travelling blogs to inspirational blogs, I want to share my essays to the people who would read my blog till the end even though it may be long. 

  You can type on keyboards or even write on papers since it'll still turn out to be a sentence you made and want to continue the next. Writing helped me to understand myself and yes, I am still currently to learn more about myself as I continue to write blogs that would inspire you guys through my experiences. These experiences are real as I share them with everyone who reads it and maybe get inspired by my essay blogs. Through writing, I was able to learn how to love myself and my skills in writing as I thought writing wasn't something to be brag about to other people in the past since it wasn't something 'great' or 'useful'. I might not be great at most things but I do know how to write properly to express myself with happiness through experiences that I have encountered in my past and recent life into essays filled with words that would explain my point of views clearly. 

  "I love writing and I don't and won't care about what people would say like I'm nerdy or whatnot; because this defines me and I'll live with that for the rest of my life." - Shannon 

Just like the ocean continues to roar about their beauty of nature; I continue to write about my life experiences to inspire people. 

   

Summertime in Vietnam

  Having a five day & four night in Vietnam can be enough for some people but I guess it's just me and my obsession with vacations. Heh. But I have to say, travelling with friends and family is fun where you get to share funny things and discuss about how much tips we should give to the bellboy of the hotel we stayed in and the tour guide who took us to tourist destinations listed in the itinerary. ;)

  Vietnams' scorching sun has been dawning bright and sunny for the five days we had there while night skies filled with stars has been shining down on us for the four nights we slept through as we travel around Ho Chih Minh and Vung Tau of Vietnam. I had an incredible time with my family and also Denise's family. We shared our laughter, enjoyed the food provided on tour and the conversations we talked about the entire trip. 

Buffet breakfast at Bloom Hotel where I took loads of pastry items and fruits since I have a sweet tooth. :p From pastries of buns to Chinese noodles and Vietnamese ice coffee especially, they were all delightful to have in the bright sunny morning we woke up to. 

  You can say vacations are the same as experiencing new things where you had to climb a big number of flights of 'steps' to reach to the top of Christ of Vung Tau statue just to embrace and take pictures of the magnificent view of Vung Tau which only lasted for a few minutes or even trying your best to balance the rocky boat with other more rocky boats 'jamming' up the Mekong river to reach to another location. You can say it's exhausting and stressful for that split moment and yes, I do have to agree on your statement. But in conclusion, experiencing these moments are awesome as I strike them off from my bucket list typed on my screen. 

The spiral stairs inside of Christ of Vung Tau statue where we did not expected it how narrow and slippery the steps were even after we took out our shoes and socks.

The view of Vung Tau viewed at the top of the statue of Jesus located at Christ of Vung Tau and the feeling of accomplishment we felt when we stepped on the last remaining step of the day and shifted our head and body through a small entrance to the balcony and see these amazing view of Vung Tau's city. 

The rocky boat we rode on as we balance our body the whole entire ride to another location along Mekong river and of course gripping tightly on our phones to avoid it from dropping out of the sudden loose grips and excessive rocky movements of the boat. 

  Vacations can truly be tiring at times in my opinion; but it does come with a great prize where we got to see the city lights of Ho Chih Minh and the beautiful structure inside Saigon's post office. 'Mesmerised' is the word to describe how we felt as we look straight and up ahead of us where the buildings lights amazingly colourful at night and the beautiful structure of the lines that were actually inspired by the French back in the days. Things couldn't get any better as we took shots of a beautiful cathedral we went to and the beach we walked on in Vung Tau. 

  This Vietnam trip has been an eye opener for my family and I as we enjoy ourselves with the varieties of Vietnamese food and its interesting history they had in the past. Moreover, having another family going on a trip with us made it even more lively than usual as we sat together along round tables in restaurants and being as one as we took a few group pictures at different tourist destinations we've been to. 

  I took many different shots at different places and of course sharing is caring as I share to all you readers out there! Hope you enjoy my photographs! 

My sister walking in Vung Tau beach as she enjoys the windy breeze and the sound of the waves roaring while she brush her long hair to the back from covering her sight. 

The cathedral we stopped by to experience a short while of their worship. It was new to us as we embrace their beautiful way of worship and went out to take some shots of the building where it remains as a memory in our phone's gallery. 

The beautiful inner structure of the building of Ho Chih Minh's post office with lines of yellow and dark green blending perfectly to portray an elegant feel of its structure. 

Lastly, the night view of Saigon city as the water reflects the lights of the building with serenity feels. (We went on a cruise to enjoy these beautiful city lights and I guess it was worth it, but the cruise ship went abit too slow.) 

  Once again, I do hope you enjoy these pictures that I've taken during my trip to Vietnam!

For more photographs, you can visit sincerelyshannon.vsco.co