art/philosophy

Rembrandt Van Rijn - Philosopher in Meditation (1632)

Located at the Musee du Louvre, dutch artist Rembrandt’s Philosopher in Meditation has always fascinated my senses. The portrait depicts the essence of light captured within the darkness of the room, with only a glint of fire to match the light of the sun. The winding staircase plays a role in capturing the balance between the dark and light sides of the portrait, evidently similar to the yin-and-yang symbol. The metaphysical question of natural power facing the phenomenon of man-made itinerary, such as creating a fire, is pondered by the philosopher.

Perhaps Rembrandt’s theme was to capture the true essence of the natural power of the sun, as the preferred personal choice for himself, while showing that the forces of man could never amount to the power of the sun-rays leaking into the dark room.
This painting is the ideal studying place I would like to have. Peaceful, dark, and inviting to the sun’s beautiful and powerful rays. Such a life that would be.

birthday weekend

I turned twenty this past week.

Spent the weekend with some friends (minus Shantel and Myra, unfortunately).

(death of Jenga tower)

Ended the day at David's Tea with Georgia, MJ, and David!

tumbl'n back

Shantel and I have Tumblr accounts now. Well, I had one two years ago and then forgot about it and made another one a few months back. Shantel, on the other hand, made hers a couple of weeks earlier, and she's already got more substantial content than I do!

Also, there's a new e-mail address where you can all direct your questions/further comments: holdhandsbreathelight@ymail.com. (Apologies to those who have e-mailed us and did not receive a response! For some reason, the old hotmail was sending them all to the Junk folder and then deleting them forever into cyber abyss.)
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Today's featured photo is of a less snowy and less hazardous Queen's Park, taken on a relatively warm day earlier this month. (It's difficult to make out, but there's a girl walking on the path a few distances away, wearing such a beautifully bright red pea coat.)

misgivings

"Hatred is like a long, dark shadow. Not even the person it falls upon knows where it comes from, in most cases. It is like a two-edged sword. When you cut the other person, you cut yourself. The more violently you hack at the other person, the more violently you hack at yourself. It can often be fatal. But it is not easy to dispose of. [..] Once it has taken root in your heart, hatred is the most difficult think in the world to shake off."
— Haruki Murakami (The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle)

Things to note as the end of January approaches:
1. Lazy mode should not begin now.
2. Catch up with sleep. It misses you dearly.
3. Go home more often.

It seems like I can't catch up with time, because I have so many goals set for this year, I don't really know how to organize them properly. Maybe I'm just too lazy to start, or too eager to multi-task. I don't think it's the later option, either.

a relay of sorts - January

from my neighbourhood walks, taken a few weeks ago

Last week was eventful  in comparison to any other school week. As I've mentioned in the previous post, Monday was stressful due to school applications for abroad. And consequently, Twitter was bombarded by obscenities fueled by frustration and despair, mainly directed to the university and its unreliable tech service. But at the end of the day, all was well after being cheered up by two of my favourite people and finally having my application go through successfully (eight hours later). Now, all I can do is wait until April! Fingers are continually crossed.

The following day was much better. I had some alone time before my 3-hr class, so I picked up my reserved copy of the latest issue of Lula (featuring Charlotte Gainsbourg on the cover). Lula always manages to put together a visual dream in material form. I feel like floating whenever I flip through the pages. (Take a peak here.)

And that night, my friend Amanda and I had an interesting time with The Vaccines. At one point, Freddie and Pete were singing "Blue Jay Way" by The Beatles to us for no given reason. They played a pretty good albeit short set at the Horseshoe. But the highlight of the night was definitely going home to a mass of tweets about "Angles" - The Strokes' fourth LP. I was restless all night and couldn't sleep. I sent so many people delirious text messages that I ended up receiving a slew of concerned responses in the morning.

Wednesday to Friday ensued with much gushing and excitement. (The Strokes have that effect on me.) Saturday came, and Shantel and co. picked me up for a joyride to the west. We had an impromptu snow adventure at High Park, where Shantel, her brother, and her roommate went tobagganning down a very steep hill that led to the lake. I opted out of the tobagganning venture, though, and was perfectly happy to assume the role of audience for the feat. It was also bitingly cold. I feel like it's been -35degrees since last week with non-stop snow since Thursday. But I've actually been enjoying bundling up and dressing warm. Layers all the way!

boxful of cheers

I was having a trying time on Monday due to school complications. And in an effort to lift my spirits, pals Melody & David met me after my last class and handed me this wonderful box of treats:

All the chocolate-types of sweets were picked by Melody, while the fizzy, weird ones were from David (of course). Said school complications have been ironed out now, though, so 2011 still hasn't disappointed. In fact, things are looking up!

consideration.

“No days, perhaps, of all our childhood are ever so fully lived are those that we had regarded as not being lived at all: days spent wholly with a favourite book.” — Marcel Proust

Currently reading: The Reveries of a Solitary Walker, Jean-Jacques Rousseau.

These days, reading at home seems to be a great past-time. The weather constantly seems to dip, and leaves me blasting on the heat.
Me + Toasty room [bed] + Coffee in favorite mug = Time well spent.