What’s Next?

    On the April of 11th, I’ve finished my finals and technically; it’s the last day of diploma life too. To be honest, I don’t really know about my coursemates but I feel like there’s so many more other things I wanted to do together still. But sadly, I wasn’t able to do it and literally low key wants to reverse back to the day to the very first time I talked to them; it was the fondest memory of all in my life and I’m already missing it so much.

Far from being strong...

   What is strong? Being able to lift few kilograms of weight? Or being able to control one’s emotion even though they’ve been scarred too much? I’m not sure to be honest what’s the true meaning of strong. 

    Everyone has their different perspective of strong and some might even think they are strong. Well, they are not wrong truthfully speaking; they were able to withstand the challenges and obstacles they faced and they felt they became stronger overcoming those. I would say that is strong too. But what’s my definition of strong? Here you go: 

    Strong to me is like being able to control your feelings and not being obvious of our feelings through expressions; that way we won’t get exposed so easily and people won’t play narcissism on us anymore. Being able to control one feelings is difficult because we all know that sometimes our emotions are able to takeover our mind and in the end, we act according to our uncontrollable feelings without putting ourselves in other people’s shoes and at the end of the day, we might hurt people, especially the ones we love. 

    Strong is also being able to stand up for oneself; being able to love oneself and feel confident. I think it’s important to be strong in believing in oneself that one is pretty, handsome, cute, unique and special in many different ways. We have charms we don’t realize until now and only rare ones found it sooner and became strong faster as we envy at the side while we watch them being able to be confident and assured that their charms will attract the people they want to attract. We tend to look at the negativity in us instead of the positivity and depressed ourselves with hurtful words and turned ourselves into becoming so conscious and sensitive about what other says about us. That’s why if we were able to completely love ourselves first, we wouldn’t be doing things we dislike to fit in the norm anymore or just doing something so that we can reach to our envious goals. 

    To be honest, I can really say I’m not strong at all; not even half of the percentage of being strong. I still feel insecure around people, my emotions overtakes me most of the time and I ended up hurting loved ones and preventing them from doing what they wanted at first, I don’t have any confidence with my face with those dark eye circles no matter how many times ‘pretty’ is the word some people described me during our first impression and I don’t really love myself just because I feel I haven’t achieved anything in life yet despite studying so hard to get unaccountable certificates. I was and have never been strong at all even though I smile everyday and felt like I enjoyed my day but deep down, I’m just a weakling. 

    And since I know that I am not strong at all, I’ve been trying really hard to take first steps to becoming stronger. But of course there are obstacles in life that led me to not being able to do it; that’s why progression is really slow and even though it’s slow, I don’t want to give up. I’m just months to becoming 20 and I have many things to learn still and I don’t even know where to start and how to start becoming stronger but someway or another, I’ll find my way out and be able to stand strong and overcome those insecurities and emotional controls. As long as I continue to believe in God and myself, I’m sure I’ll be able to do it successfully and I hope I’ll be able to have people that will understand me and accepts the way I am and also helps me overcome these dizzy roller coaster rides. 

Sincerely, Shannon. 

Café Hops in M’sia 1.0

    Cozy vibes, good food and a good coffee to drink away and relax; that’s what makes it a simple yet enjoyable cafe to go to and sit or just take some picture shots of the environment. Basically, the vibes that a cafe gives to a customer are somewhat mostly cozy, modern but a hint of vintage feels, the smell of coffee beans filled in the atmosphere and sometimes, the corners of what every photographer wants to get their hands dirty with their camera. I’ve been to a few decent cafes which was pretty much how I described it to be; lovely and of course I would like to share some of the vibes with y’all readers.

P.S. this is solely based on my experience and also my opinions so no harsh comments please. ;)

VCR, Jalan Galloway 

    VCR is a cafe that consists of modern and a hint of vintage vibes; from the modern glasses that was built as walls at the upstairs, the soft music filling up the wooden places and furniture and little windows that the sunlight shines through; its lovely. Its' a self ordering platform at the cashier but you get to see the baristas doing the coffee at times which is amazing! I love how they present their food; color and taste were splendid to me. The prices of the food ranges from RM19-RM23 if I'm not mistaken. But its worth it to drop in to VCR to fill up the hungry tummy and and quench up the thirst.

This is their French Toast with a little corner of raspberry compote and a top of espresso no-churn ice cream. the chocolate part is filled with cookie crumbles and sunflower seeds and a dash of mocha sauce underneath it. 

This is VCR interior at the upstairs of their cafe.

FEEKA Coffee Roasters, Bukit Bintang.

    FEEKA is a place where you can sit and relax while looking at their interiors and also have a little photo shoot or two with their lovely background wall settings. One can also sit and enjoy the taste of their food especially their pastas. I had one of their Duck-Confit Pasta and its' lovely! I never got to try their coffee but you can! ;) Their price range are affordable too so just get your car keys or call a grab to head to FEEKA cause you should enjoy and explore more!

This is their little photo shoot corner as I would call it cause Less is definitely More! :)

This is basically what me and my friends had ordered. Red Velvet cake, Mixed Fruit Juice, and two more pastas which one of it haven't came in yet.

Little People Cafe, Avantas Residence Ground Floor

    Little People Cafe has a pretty white settings and theme to it where photographers are able to take picture with natural lighting most of the time cause I did got some good lighting to take a few shots of the cafe. They serve some nice mocha and some pasta too! I love how their interiors there are so minimal yet aesthetic; Its' serenity filled the cafe and you can just order some drinks with a laptop in front of you as you sit and relax there while doing your work. Their price range of a dish are normally RM20+ or so.

Their coffee bar station as I would call it. It's lovely with the mini plants on the shelves; just look at them! 

Behind every flatlays pictures. LOL

Merchant Lane, Jalan Petaling

    Merchant Lane has by far the best food for a mix of Malaysian cultures in it based on my experiences. I've been here quite a few number of times and it never fails to satisfy my tastebuds every single time I visit there. They have the most beautiful modern vintage vibes and interiors that I love taking pictures of from their several wooden furniture, modern music filling up the cafe and their beautiful plating of their food; all are amaze-balls! You can go with your family and friends and even your partner to enjoy a decent lunch or dinner cause this cafe is lit. PS: I highly recommend their South China Sea dish cause that salmon is 'salmonlicious'!

How can you not love their interiors right? Its lit especially at the counter area.

This is some of the food we've ordered; from main dishes of Nasi Lemak 2.0 to Spaghetti Bolognese and some little snacks of Pipits Nest. Want to know what does it contains in Pipits Nest? Head on over there to try it now! ;)

    These are the four that I recently love to visit and yes; you readers out there around KL area should go try it out! I feel all of this cafe visiting with friends made my friendship became closer than ever just because delicious food are what brought us together. ;)

Sincerely, Shannon.

Winter in U.S.A

    It was in December 2017, my family and I went to one of my dream country for a vacation and of course I was thrilled to finally go to the country I wanted to go to the most and as expected; U.S.A, you did awesome and expectations was met. :)

    We went to a few states and all of them were lovely! From New Jersey, New York City that never sleeps; ever literally, Washington DC, Maryland to Pennsylvania to see the most beautiful nature I’ve ever seen in my entire life! We stayed for 3 whole weeks where we got to celebrate Christmas and New Years’ Eve in the states which is a miracle and also a first for my family and I and yes, of course it was amaze-balls for me as I felt like I got to expand my field of vision and also got to had the most amazing opportunity to see the other side of the world at an age of 19 so it was a ‘travel goals’ for me.

Behind-The-Scenes of My 'Views'

  Some of you might know I like taking pictures of anything that intrigues me and some of you might not; but one thing that questions me some of the time when I shoot is 'what are my views?' Basically; what do I see that made my hand touches the snap button of my iPhone camera or the compact camera? Well, here are my answers to my own curiosity and questionings.

  As a person who loved travelling to places I've never been to, I love taking photographs during the start of the journey every single time whenever I'm on a plane (especially the window seat). It felt like I was starting a new photo book of my new journey; just that its in my gallery of my iPhone. BUT it's still the prologue of my travels that's why I take lots of shots from the window seats most of the time and the outside view through the window seat. The numbers of shots I've taken never fail to amaze me how flying is the only way we can go to another country filled with new adventures in a much lesser time consuming way and that's one of my views towards window seats and the view out of the windows of any airplane I've sat on.

This is one of my favorite shots out of all the other window seats shots. the view through the small window had white clouds that I wished to touch it but will never happen basically to me, the wings of the airplane that I know will take us to my next destination as it acts as the most important prologue of the start of my new adventure.

  Another view that I love to take is the always mainstream one - Landscape views. LOL. But no matter how common it is to be heard as a landscape photography; it's still amazing in terms of the awesome creativity of the photographs that each photographer shoots. I always see landscape as a start of my photography journey and that's why I call it the 'The Beginning of My Photography'. Every landscape view tells a story in my point of view; from the little things that portrays in each shots to the obvious objects that portrays in it - They have their own story to be told.

This shot was taken in Pantai Tengorak, Langkawi. For me, the waves rushing towards me is like how the amount of challenges coming right at me, but in order to not panic; the soft sand relaxes and soothes me unconditionally especially when my feet is buried in it. And for the clouds; they made me continue to look up no matter how down I feel - That's my point of view for landscapes.

  Lastly, portraits are my favorite story tellers! It portrays every details I wish to shoot in my photographs and at the end of the day, they too became my favorite views too; both the expected and the unexpected. Everything portrait shows the details of one person or an animal from the beautiful scars to the little things that are unexpectedly cute but didn't knew you can shoot that too. This made me feel that our flaws will soon be shown to a particular someone one day; whether its your loved ones or your friends. The details shows that one has to learn how to love oneself; look at your own details before looking at others, period. And am still learning too. God made us differently and that's how we have to appreciate the details on ourselves that God has given to us. 

This is a picture of an elderly woman I shot randomly and I'm guessing she loves sunglasses as she puts on herself feeling amazing cause she loves herself more than anyone I bet as she sells fruits on a boat at a floating market in Thailand (I forgot where's the exact location but yeah). And in my point of view, she looks awesome and rugged unexpectedly. 

This is another shot I took in Thailand and I didn't know that the little pug let a little of his tongue out in a cute way and the little too big ears standing up feeling alert made me felt like this cute pug knows what I'm doing HAHAHA. The details are very hard to be seen if you see it a few seconds but you'll get to see the details more after awhile eventually like how you get to know your best friend for I don't know how many years it took you to know your best friend pet peeves and habits. 

  So that's the main 3 point of view in the 3 styles of photography I like shooting of and I hope those who love taking pictures realize why you started shooting the styles you are currently shooting now too! Everyone will have their favorite view and at the same time the Behind-The-Scenes are what made pictures a 'quality' as a wise man said this - 'Every picture is worth a thousands of words'. 

God Bless!

Sincerely, Shannon.

"Doubts"

    Have you ever experienced the feeling of doubt? where you would feel unsure whether that one particular person is genuine or just putting on a facade or maybe you'd feel uncertain whether the words of encouragement from a friend you only know a few months were sincere or not deep down in their heart; is it meaningful or not. Basically its a feeling of suspicion towards a particular someone you know.

    For me, I've been through a lot of stages for the past 18 and soon to be 19 years of my life. I doubted lots of people to be truthfully speaking from friends and peers to sometimes people that I'm close with. Well, I know it's bad and hurtful if my friends know that I doubted them in the past so I'll apologize sincerely first; I'm sorry. As a young timid kid in the past who doesn't speak up or talk much, I tend to over think 24/7 of my life about friends, my future and my life and especially doubt on my own life whether am I doing the right thing or not. But one thing from forming the feeling of doubt changed me to who I am today and that's how I slowly learn to be open minded and at least a little honest to me, myself and I. 

    Doubts are hurtful and terrible especially in worse case scenarios where you realized you have thoughts that your closest friends are cheating on you, using you or betraying you in whatever matter but instead; just to let you know, you are cheating on them too by just a single doubt you have in your mind right now. This leads to the thinning of your friendship strings  and at the end of the day of conflict rising; 'SNAP!' your friendship ends unfortunately and yeah, it's REALLY sad cause that's when you'll go through a few days being a lone ranger. 

    However, there are times doubting can be a little helpful; at least to say where we would train ourselves to be more alert of our surroundings and the alert towards the people we hang out with. We try to not trust easily at the end of the day to avoid ourselves from getting hurt and its good actually, it shows that we know how to protect ourselves in my point of view. In contrast, people will know that you are firm and strong enough to stand on your own and that you are not someone who can be used easily and get kicked easily like a ball. 

    Hence, the main point of doubting is to know when to doubt where there are moments that we should doubt before we do anything rashly and times where we should not doubt when we already know its perfect and balanced. Sometimes it's all about moderation like how one would eat moderately of their favorite junk food in order to get their summer body line they hope to have by summer; we too need to learn how to doubt moderately. Life is a roller coaster ride; 'up and down here we go' but always remember that we will definitely have a day we can live without any worries, simple yet satisfying type of happiness that we will face when all problems are solved. And most of all. do not worry 365 days as one should always trust in the Lord and believe in Him as He continues to write our exciting roller coaster journey but with a purpose in one's life. 💙

"Like how the sun shines and makes the ocean beams, let's shine even in our darkest days too."

Sincerely, Shannon.