Poland, a Country of Romance, History, and Cruelty

I'm blaming exams for the extremely late edit of my video - originally filmed three weeks ago.

While travelling I find that I'm never able to take photos quite as pretty as the ones on post cards, and that even the scenery I see before me when I take the photo, it feels like the feeling of the time doesn't quite transfer onto the photo. I guess it's my extremely amateur photo taking self.

In these three weeks, I went to Munich and to Neuschwanstein Castle. The snow was glorious. It was damn cold too, and my camera got wet. :( I think while sightseeing it's always nice to see sights when it's sunny or snowing. Never when it's raining. If the snow wasn't so heavy seeing the castle would have been much more romantic.

My next big trip was to Poland and even to today, I remember how eerie the complete feeling of Auschwitz was. There was a man crying while walking through the camp, and just overall it was such a high tension and complex place to visit.

It's hard to imagine that only one hour away from Auschwitz, the square of Krakow was lively with people. The streets were so romantic and so characteristically European. The city really felt alive. I loved it, and would definitely want to stay a day longer.

I'm going to Italy in a bit. So look forward to videos from that! 

♚ Yushi

The City Cologne

What I realized while travelling is that nothing beats just sitting down and staring at the river - especially after a long day of walking around and sightseeing. I climbed 40 flights of stairs to see a view that was fenced in, but it was an experience! So that made it worth it. Cologne's cathedral is a sight to behold though, and I'm tiny compared to the absolute size. Apparently the three wise men's bones are buried inside the cathedral. I never like it when people tell me other people's remains are buried on the ground that I walk - makes everything seem so much more eerie.

I also had a really good beer in Cologne, which is Cologne's special brew. It's the first beer I genuinely liked. Cologne is also the originator of cologne - haha. See you soon.

♚ Yushi

Hello from the other sideeeee

The German side that is. I have safely arrived in Mannheim, Germany and have compiled a short video of my first two weeks here. First two weeks can be summed up in two words: cold and lonely. Which sounds really depressing I know, but there were bits and pieces of silver linings along the way. There will definitely be more videos and blog posts to come so stay tuned.

♚ Yushi

The Big 2.0

20 is just a number, except when you're me and 20 is no longer just a number but an abstract concept that scares me and that I don't want to approach. However there is no running away from 20, and it's right there waiting for you with open arms (that have deadly spikes on it) ready to hug you, just like how 30 is waiting and how 40 is waiting too. If I could, I would run away from 30 and 40, and run back to when naptime was allotted so that I don't have to feel so guilty that I wasted 4 hours on sleep (yes, I nap for 4 hours).

And because I'm Yushi, I like to make lists, so here is a list of things I hope my 20s will be, or not, since you know, for some reason I never am able to completely follow through on my lists (see example: my summer 2015 things to do list).

▽ freedom, lots of freedom, lots of exploring other cities, and lots of living not in one place
▽ friends, not lots of friends, but enough so that I don't feel lonely and wallow in my sadness
▽ family, to be with my brother a lot, to go on lots of family trips
▽ love, lots of love, or maybe not lots of love...
▽ lots of creativity, especially with this space right here, to do more of what I'm doing with this space right now and to explore other possible formats (look into photography!)
▽ happiness, lots of exploring of what this stupid word means, and if I'm able to fully achieve it, and if when I have achieved it, what next?

This list can basically be summed up as "lots of" everything. I have these years to just do absolutely anything, so why shouldn't I? Who can stop me? Certainly not you, or me.

We are only bound by limits that we have placed upon ourselves. When we have realized that really there is no boundaries, wouldn't that mean that we are truly limitless? That means from now on, we can only go up.

Cheers, and happy birthday to all my fellow Leos, Virgos, and August babies.

♚ Yushi

Go Shawty. It's SHERBET day.

Here's are some puns for your Friday. A good way to end the week.

"Hey man you're pretty cool."

"Can I borrow some money?"

"Dude, it's a green light!"

I hope you enjoyed those puns because I did. Puns are the BOMB DOT COM dawg diggity. 

Have a good Friday :)

♚ Cindy

We all know someone: Backseat driving

I'm starting this series called "We all know someone" which should be a self explanatory title. We all know someone who backseat drives, whether this is your parents or your friend, or a random stranger you picked up on the street, these people are extremely annoying.

And if this is you.

Don't do it.

Because in all honesty, backseat driving is distracting. I rather concentrate on the road than your shitty advice. So, thanks. But no thanks.

Cheers and have a good weekend!

♚ Yushi

Expectations vs. Reality: Turning 20

So I'm 20. I've lived 2 decades on this planet, trudging along, living a semi fulfilling life. I've also thought a lot about what being 20 would be like since everyone says that being 20 is the shit.
But after a day of being into the third decade of my life, I'm gonna have to say that my expectations are not met.

I thought that the twenties mean that I will suddenly become super duper chic like the Youtube style gurus (ie. Clothesencounters, Heyclaire, Soothingsista...), who are all coincidentally in their 20s, and for some reason, my life will be super fabulous. Maybe there will be a duckling to swan transformation in there somewhere too. Anyways, needless to say, that haven't happened yet. Instead, I studied Spanish and watched kdramas, swooning over how attractive the main leads are. Nothing has changed in the slightest. 

Aging means auto maturity right? The higher your number, the more life experiences you have and thus the more wise. Turning twenty was supposed to be the moment when I discovered the answer to all of life's mysteries and perhaps even discover myself, save up money for retirement, and invest in mutual funds to ensure that I'll have enough money for my kids to go to college (university). Basically abandon all the angst that plagued my "teenage years" and embrace the responsibilities of being a "real adult". After all, adults don't angst.  Instead, I still cried as I re-watched How to Train Your Dragon for the 3rd time and pondered my future, embracing the quarter life crisis as the clock striked 12am. 

In my mind, being 20 means that I've stepped over the line that divides children and adults. When you tell someone you're 20, the reaction that people have (at least my reaction) is that you're no longer a teen and you're actually kind of a grown up. It's weird and sort of unreasonable considering a couple minutes ago, I was still a teenager. Not looking like a full fledged adult human doesn't help the mini internal identity crisis either.

The point I'm trying to get at (if I'm trying to get at any point at all) is that age doesn't really mean anything and I don't know what adulting means yet and feeling like I should is giving me anxiety and the desire to order more wine at restaurants (RIP wallet)...

So maybe when I finished my 3rd decade, I'll find out what adulting is supposed to be like. I will report back with findings. As for right now, I'm going to eat an entire tub of ice-cream while marathoning my favourite kdrama (maybe order pizza) because my metabolism can still handle it.


♚ Cindy

Why I like Cindy

In lieu of Cindy's birthday coming up on the 24th (go wish her a happy birthday please), I really wanted to talk about why we're friends, or why I like hanging out with Cindy in general.

Cindy is…

Exactly like me. Except shorter. She's also a dog person (while I like cats). A lot more chill. An emotional rock, can't even say the word "feelings". Yes…we are the same person, except I cry like ten times more than her.

It's difficult to explain when you find someone that understands you and gets you without you over explaining, and without them judging you, you feel like you're at home, there's a little crook in their heart specifically for you.

She is the opposite of a negative Nancy. She's like a positive…Polly. Or something. She always cracks funny jokes, and her snaps give me life. She has that weird funny dance or jiggle with weird circular arm movements, but I have grown to love that too.

But most of all, I think people will like Cindy because she's cool. She's very real and she is able to hold a conversation in about anything. And what I look for in a friend the most is one that keeps on open mind, that is open to new things and not thinking things are too "weird" to try or to like. (Since hey, everything is cool, as long as you're genuine, you're cool.)

I would totally go for Cindy if I was gay, alas, sadly, I am not. I will settle for being her best friend and sharing her with her stupid boyfriend.

Cindy's my partner in crime. She's the other 1/2 of this blog. I have become a lot happier since meeting her, and now I want to really live, as opposed to…not living. And really, she's my fave girly in the world.

♚ Yushi

Chronicles of Cindy the Dubu (Tofu)

Hi there, lemme introduce myself again. I'm Cindy, from Toronto Canada. This June 24th, I'm turning 20 and not excited to do so. And I'm soft as marshmallow.

I have this condition that I like to call (I made it up) Everlasting Baby Fat Syndrome-- it's very serious. The symptoms include:

• marshmallow consistency on every part of my body
• lack of/non existent muscles 
• inability to gain substantial muscle
• a little jiggle of the entire body when I walk

I repeat: it's all very serious.

I didn't notice that I had this condition until grade 6 when my friend felt my arm and suddenly, as if possessed, screamed "Eureka!" (I made this part up too) From then on, to today, my nickname became "Squishy".

Comparisons of the symptoms caused by this condition (extreme softness) have been drawn to the consistency of a boob, water, and most recently, tofu. If I shorten the comparisons then I become the sentient tofu boob made of water.

Previously, in my early days being Squishy, I denied my identity and rejected the idea of being soft. I was insecure and unsettled by the idea of being soft forever. I was afraid of being fat and unfit although I was often reassured that I'm made of water and not that other substance. However, as I grew and matured into an adult, I've realized that this squishy-ness is a blessing and not a curse.

Here are a couple reasons why: 

Most importantly however, 

I provide and endless source of entertainment for other people. As you can see, I'm very amused: 

That girl in the yellow is Yushi. 

I honestly think I'll miss the squish when I get my rock hard muscles (from Ebay) after a summer of working out :')

♚ Cindy

Frugality is our middle name

So here we are... us trying to be frugal. Frugality is our mantra and we will chant it any chance we get. AKA I just dropped way too much money on my tattoo, and I'm too poor to even buy a tshirt. So I will chant this MANTRA. 

Saving money is difficult. I finally realize this. How do all you guys do it? I actually can't stop...buying useless shit. I really do need that tshirt though. Really need it. Really.

Yeah, I should really clean up these sketches, but hey, there's beauty to raw things right?? That's a saying right?

I actually really like shopping with Cindy, we don't really browse, we just scan, and it's as if we have x-ray vision, we can finish scanning the whole store in like five minutes. We can see through all those Forever 21 mountains of clothing and we can be done with the store in five minutes. You try that. But in all seriousness, doesn't Forever 21 have way too much inventory?! I always get a headache when I'm in that store. My kind of store is those where they only have like three pieces of clothing and they come in three sizes, and that's all in their inventory. Makes shopping so much easier no? 

Have a good weekend everyone! 

♚ Yushi