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 


  


   

The Little Things

  Have you ever completed a puzzle before? Or maybe finished colouring a piece of printed artwork or a colouring book? I guess these little things are what made us felt satisfied with our childhood today as youths and young adults living in a techno world.

  Our 90s childhood was filled with little things that were so precious to us. They were the memories created by ourselves and we could share to our future children. They were the little things that kept our childhood special in a way that we could even differentiate the 20s kid today and the 90s kid - us. It was special. 

  I remember the days when I played Word Search on a book and I even recorded how fast I could complete them. It helped me improve my English and it helped me occupy my time when I didn't had mobile phones back then. It was a book that I cherished so much that I still kept it and flip through the pages filled with lines drawn with highlighter pens and magic pens. I also remember the time where I couldn't find a word and still tried not to look at the answers at the back of the book but in the end it failed as I went to the back and searched for answers before my patience in finding that one particular word wears off. 

  There were the days that I could draw on concrete floors with coloured chalks bought by a church friend of mine. Those coloured chalks were crafted into figures of human and I didn't want to use it because it was so pretty. But since I was child, I still use them anyway as I draw hopscotch and numbers on floors at my front house. Drawings that every kid will draw too were drawn on the cemented floors where you could see the yellow shining sun at the corner, a house with two windows and one door, bushes of flowers and a tree beside the house. It was pretty to me back then as I drew them countless time whenever it fades away. 

  These little memories were the little things that I appreciated and enjoyed doing when I was a kid. From colouring to patching the puzzle pieces to doing voice imitations while playing teddy bears and other stuffed toys were one of those little precious things where I think it's embarrassing yet funny at the same time. But in the end as I look back to those days, I do wish that I could turn back time and enjoyed it a little bit more longer than I could. They were so exciting to me when I was a kid before my fingers started touching on those screens filled with apps, cameras and messages in it. 

  The little things we went through back in the days were precious and I guess we do have to keep them in our memory and share them when we get the chance to. Appreciate the little things because they are like charms that made into who we are today - the children who knows the true definition of 'FUN'. ;) To the 90s kid, we are indeed awesome! Heh. 

The colour pencils that I used when colouring printed artworks and drawn artworks were one of the most often things I did back in the old days. 

The 'Word Search' book that I spent hours finding words I know but sometimes words I don't even know and was lazy to go and open the thick vocabulary book that people would call it 'The Dictionary'. :p 




As the melody flows...

  From classical music to R&B music genres, they are all one of a kind - They are music that our ears love listening to.

  I found out that every human, us have one thing in common that is listening to songs that we love. Like me, R&B are one of my favourite genres of music that I often listen to. From Korean to English, I listen to all R&Bs. The melody in each lyrics that they sang it at the top of their lungs were wonderfully pitched and beautifully composed. 

  Some music can be inspirational, some may be romance songs that people would play it whenever wedding bells and wedding rings appear infront of us. Inspirational songs can inspire us or people who are depressed to get back up step by step. Every music has its meaning I suppose. That's why lyrics are one of the most important part when composing a song; they give an important impression to people who wants word of advice and maybe inspiration to write a blog post. ;) 

  Lyrics can be important but the tunes are the best part of every song we listen to. Whether it's catchy or melancholy; they are all songs that can actually change our current emotions from sadness to happiness shown on our faces or maybe from broken hearts to mending hearts. The emotions in us changes fast as we put on our earphones to allow the tunes to tune our emotions to what we are supposed to have in our heart and mind. 

  Melodies we hear are what we become today too. We listen, we follow the advices, and we become the person we are today through the songs and music we listen to everyday. The peaceful melody that calms our piece of mind, the R&B soul music that gives us fun and thrilling, exciting moments to dance to and the disco music that we can party with to shake our body a little once in a while. 

  Not only songs are considered as music too actually. The nature is like music from the real nature that calms your mind. The sound of waves splashing, wind blowing, trees dancing, birds singing and even raindrops that hits on rooftops are lovely music to us. They portrayed the true beauty of nature to us humans who have only just focus on gadgets and technologies. Nature did a good thing and it's all thanks to our God who made us these natural phenomenon that helps us calms our mind and souls since we all know that we are always stuck in between these messy mess and more pile of mess that we can't clear them completely. 

  Music is what we love and music can change ones' life from a timid person to a cheerful person. Music can do a lot of things in our lives as we use them to control our heart, mind, soul and most importantly - Emotions. Listening to music is one of the best ways to calm yourself and relax if you need some alone time to lie down and just rest. 

'The wind blows and the trees just starts dancing. What a wonderful nature scream.' ;) 



My six-string instrument

  'As he/she strums and finger picks the six-string instrument, I fell in love with it and I wanted to learn them as soon as I can...' This is how I fell in love with playing the guitar.

  People may think that 'Why would a girl choose to play the guitar even though it'll harden their fingertips as they press the steel strings while playing?' and 'Why would a girl sacrifice her beauty over some simple instrument?'. But all I know is that I am one of the girls and I don't sacrifice beauty over some simple instrument. I play it with love and sincerity in my soul and mind. 

  Guitar has been a part of my life for about four and a half years now and I still love playing it no matter what. Inspired by guitarists like Sungha Jung, Taylor Swift and Trace Bundy who played it amazingly made me the person I am today who is always motivated to learn new chords and strumming styles I've never seen nor heard of before. As I run my fingers through those strings, the harmony and its serenity filled me with completion of peacefulness and I never got bored of it; even now. 

  It may harden the tip of my fingers but that is what made my confidence level to fly up higher than I was in the past. The hardened fingertips made me happy as I know that I've learned something new and I've been working hard on honing my skills the past few years now. I've never regretted playing it and I'll never regret it even in the future. 

  Girls can play the guitar all they want if they love it. It doesn't matter what instruments they want to play, from drums to harmonicas to electric guitars. They are all instruments that can be played by any gender and they can even be a professional in the future if they want to. Nobody can stop them from learning and playing an instrument that is rarely played by their own gender. In fact, they'll look even more cooler playing it; being a girl who plays the instrument that has been played majority by boys. 

  So girls and boys out there, you can play any instrument you want as long as you are dedicated and motivated and also, of course inspired to play it with love and sincerity in your heart, mind and soul. Be different as what I would say and be the one to show everybody how you can play well in that instrument through hours of practices and classes you go to! 


P.S. It's my guitar with Sungha Jung's and Agustin Amigo's signature and also a Marshall amplifier I gotten from great friends. ;) 

  In conclusion, nobody can stop me from playing the guitar - the instrument that I will love playing it forever more than any other instruments in the world!