Daily Prompt: A Brand New You, Effective Now ;)

Daily prompt: Tomorrow is the first day of a brand new year. (No, its not anymore…) Tomorrow you get to become anyone in the world that you wish. Who are you? You can choose to by anyone, alive today or someone gone long ago. If you decide to stay “you” share your rationale.  Photographers, artists, poets: show us METAMORPHOSIS.

Obviously, I’m a bit late to the game.  This was a December 31st prompt but I’ve been putting something like this together for the past week. Now that my New Year personal and blogging goals are up HERE and HERE (if you missed them), I figured its time to (1) get back on the daily prompt writing world and (2) look a bit deeper inside myself.

First off, I’m choosing to stay being me, Kim : 27, *not so proud* Montrealer (because of 2013’s shenanigans),  recent Candy Crush addict, obsessive versatile blogger and well, the dreamer on Tranquil Dreams, and how can I forget, the aspiring bakery owner/home business owner 🙂

Sounds like me? But this year, A BRAND NEW ME..hmm! Honestly, its taken me a good many years but I’ve learned to really enjoy who I am.  If its anything, the quest to stay positive and enjoy life and just improve who I am rules over everything else.

1) 

For the most part, I’m a pretty simple person. I believe that happiness comes from being thankful for the little moments, being grateful for the little things.  Some days, its harder than others but you know what.  Finding that little something that makes me smile everyday is what I strive to look for and that make me focus on the positive: I’m lucky to be alive, to have a roof over my head, warm clothes and food to eat.  Forgiving is the easy part, not forgetting is also pretty much there, and then we hit the never regret, which gets hard because thats something I’m working on.

That last part actually brings me to the next little thing…

2) 

I’m the queen of giving second chances and hell, even third chances. You can probably do something that feels like you ripped my heart apart and I’d still give you a second chance.  I forgive and I believe in giving chances because I’ve gotten them from the people that love me.  But at the same time, thats one thing I need to work on.  Even if its for my boyfriend’s sake, since he’s the one that has to go putting my shattered pieces back together in the aftermath after I’ve bawled my eyes out.  Giving second chances to people in my life who deserve it and not be afraid to just let go of some others who maybe aren’t worth my time and energy anymore.  Its a hard choice but sometimes, maybe its the right thing and maybe, that quote up there makes sense. Some people just need to be left to take care and figure out their stuff before they are ready to actually be back into my life.

Before this gets all preachy and long, just one more quote…

3) 

The brand new me will love myself as a woman and not compare with physical appearances but feel confident in my own shell.  🙂 I get all judgey about who I am and how I look.  Doesn’t mean I’ll dress up in rags but just that I would appreciate my beauty for what I have.  I have to admit that the last year (and a few before that) has whipped a whole lot of self-confidence that I had built in the years before but I know that, with time, I’ll bring it back up.  I just need to dig deep and remind myself that I can appreciate my beauty but also that I’m worth more than I believe I’m worth.

Now that we’ve looked at seeing my true beauty and a few inner stuff, the new me also wants a few more extra things

4) My dreams to become a reality…I have a feeling you’ll know soon enough what tag that should be attached with.

For the longest time, that dream was my definition of success.  In the last few months, I feel a bit different about the whole concept of success, which leads to my final point for the brand new me…

5) 

This last point makes me a laugh a bit because the point of my blog was to share how I stayed positive and look forward to my tomorrows but slowly, I realized that I love making the people around me happy as well and in my mind, if you drop by Tranquil Dreams and you leave feeling a little happier, and feeling just a tad more positive than when you came especially on those bad days (because we all get them), as a lot of your blogs have done for me, I’d actually feel pretty happy with that. And thats the reason I stick in quotes all the time.

I have friends that follow their passions who make me feel that way also…described perfectly in this quote.

That fuels me: Passionate people. The brand new Kim strives to be someone who finds their passions and just goes after it.  Sure, it sound unrealistic and I have a lot of overcoming that barrier to work on but whats living life is we’re not chasing after our dreams.  I mean, you did enter into Tranquil Dreams…I’m all about dreaming 🙂 Maybe not so tranquil as imagined but still, I say its worth a shot, as crazy as that may sound.

This year, lets embrace a new me! 🙂 A more positive, less hard, more appreciative and in general, happier, mentally and physically healthier me.  I dig that idea!

Whats does a brand new you look like?

Daily Prompt: Fifteen Credits

Daily Prompt (August 21): Another school semester will soon begin. If you’re in school, are you looking forward to starting classes? If you’re out of school, what do you miss about it — or are you glad those days are over?  Photographers, artists, poets: show us LEARNING.

I’m definitely physically out of school.  That glorious moment happened back in 2009 and in the last year or so, I’ve actually been thinking of jumping back into that craziness.  Being in school for 20 years of my life, granted I started school in pre-school (and that still counts to me), its really crazy when I first went completely full-time and knew that it was not a summer job anymore, that it was the real deal and I was in the real world.  I was lucky enough to be in a part-time job that I could switch to permanent full-time right away.  For me, that was an amazing feeling especially since at that point in time, I was getting fed up with school.  I was definitely glad to get time for myself: watch movies, be with friends, go see the world, and do things I wanted to do.   Of course, nothing is ever perfect and with a low paying jobs, it didn’t fulfill some of the things I wanted to do so I finally changed jobs and now, I have more money but less time for myself and the people I love.

For that, I miss school a lot.  I miss the time I had with my best friend during our crazy study sessions.  There was a lot of meeting new people during new semesters and working on group projects.  There was time to physically move about with other people.  As much as it was paying (*ahem* investing) to stay up late and have a massive workload, there was a lot of great memories also.

Still, if its anything I have learned, as much as life isn’t the ideal world we all wish it was, we make the best of the situation. So like I said, PHYSICALLY I’m out of school.  I no longer have to move my physical body to an institution to learn but rather, even right now, I constantly feel I’m still learning.  My desire to improve myself never stops.  I’m still actively trying to finish studying for my piano, taking online courses to get my TESL certificate and eventually, I want to take classes to excel in Spanish, event planning.  I’m doing self-learning for baking and every single day its lessons after lesson whether at work, at home, in relationships with friends and family and along the way, I learn more about myself.

Every single one of us is in the school of life.  I’m not exactly sure we ever will leave it while we’re alive.

BUT, thats what makes life awesome, right? RIGHT!

HAPPY FRIDAY! 🙂 TGIF!

How about you? Is the school year starting for you? Do you ever wish to go back? What is it that you miss about school (if anything)?

Daily Prompt: Procrastination

Daily Prompt (August 18): What have you been putting off doing? Why?

Dear old procrastination!

Its funny, one of the reasons these daily prompts are always up later than the day of is just for that same reason and also because I procrastinate or as I call it, take a break, from reading blogs or anything in general so they pile up! Do you guys know, I read about 5 posts this weekend and I had managed on Friday to catch up with all the posts.  By Monday, I managed to have almost 500 posts in my inbox *faints*.  BUT, we are not here to talk about my reading posts slower than usual.

This morning, I sat and looked at my calender/schedule/notes whiteboard next to my bed and I wanted to make sure everything was up  to date.  Whenever I look at that board, there is one item that always gets pushed back and pushed back because it never has an end date.  You know what that is? Editing my first draft of that NaNoWriMo novel that I cranked out in something like 10 days last November.  I’ve opened up that file with the intention of editing it over and over again but somehow I can’t get much done.

In June, I managed to get a few chapters (like 5 meaning about 20%) edited but I realized why I lacked the motivation to do it.  Last November, when I thought up this story, it was all in the moment.  Now, I can’t find that feeling I had for it when I first wrote it.  I know I want to edit it.  Its not that I want to publish it but I never like starting something and not finishing it.  Plus, its my baby.  You have no idea how proud I was when I reached my goals 2 hours before the deadline after writing and writing and writing non-stop for a full solid week.  I loved that feeling and I tried so hard to get there. Now, I just need the right self pep talk and the right push to just get it done!

Let’s hope before the next NaNoWriMo comes around in November I’ll at least have this edited one time! I’m pretty sure if I feel good enough about it at the end, I’ll kick in those perfectionist values and edit it another time before I bind it as a personal reminder of my first ever unpublished novel and something to remind myself that when I put my heart into something, I can achieve anything!

I’m going to beat you one day, Procrastination! And it’ll be soon!

What have you been procrastinating? Are you in for the next NaNoWriMo?

Daily Prompt: Back to School

Daily Prompt (July 26):  If you could take a break from your life and go back to school to master a subject, what would it be?  Photographers, artists, poets: show us MASTERY.

Believe it or not, I think about this question ALL THE TIME! Why? Well, there are times I look around me and see a good amount of people I know have found their passions, followed their dreams or is content with their careers.  Does that mean that I’m not content with my life? Thats not completely true! I’m fully grateful for everything I have but I also do believe that life is about upgrading myself.  There is never enough learning, whether its personal development, development for our minds or career development.  Life’s a whole world of things to study and learn everything.  That’s one of the reasons why I have such a versatile blog.  I try new things and then some of them become my passions and I try to learn more.

I wrote about this a while back is that I’m actually trying to figure out my  life a little and eventually be able to change my full-time job into a part-time and maybe have myself a little side business.  Enjoy the life of being self-employed and all…haha! I’ve always dreamt about having my own baked goods shop with tea and all that good stuff.  Whether it will happen depends if I figure out how to do it and save up the money.  However, a lot of other ideas have popped in my head and are all under consideration.  Its never bad to learn something new anyways, even if I don’t turn it into a career 🙂

If I were to go back to school, I’ve thought about a few things, but definitely I’ll be going back to learn something I am passionate about:

Option 1: Professional baking!

I’m sure most of you have figured out I’d say that! I’ve learned a lot on my own and doing my own research but nothing quite compares to learning it at a school and getting some tips.  Thats my personal view of course! On that note, I did just benefit from a Groupon deal and signed up for a cupcake decor course! Appearances of my desserts are always a bit funky, its something I do want to improve 😉 I hope to start that ASAP! Going back to cooking school would probably be the only thing that would mean I’d have to give up my current job!

Option 2: Spanish (or other languages)

I’ve studied Spanish to an intermediate level from high school to college to university.  I always choose it for electives.  I love the language and how expressive the tone is.  I miss learning and perfecting it a lot and its something I’ve been planning to do an online course next year provided I wrap up a few of my goals this year.

Option 3: Photography

I just bought a Canon Rebel T5i.  I’m still learning a lot about how it works.  Everything seems so complicated with all the buttons and exposures, apertures, shutter speed. My mind sometimes feel like its exploding when someone tries to explain it to me but once I do some shooting, I always feel so energized and I always pick up something new 🙂 I actually have lingered on that certificate at the university I used to attend.  One day, I will do it! That I’m absolutely sure of!

Option 4: Personal trainer certificate

This one I’ve actually been looking into.  Ever since I’ve been crazy into working out and learning more about staying fit and healthy and trying out different forms of exercises: strength, cardio, yoga, etc.  Being active has become my lifestyle.  Imagine the last 2 weeks where I’m sick and I haven’t worked out, its feeling pretty crappy.  I lost 5 lbs in a flash but thats definitely not a healthy way to do it. Personal trainer certificate would be something to do for myself and if possible, to help others.  Its something I’d really love to do one day.  I’ve looked at my options and trust me, when I feel I’m ready mentally and physically for it, I’m going to do it!

Option 5: Music-related professional studies

Music is the center of my life.  Why? Its pulled me through so many tough times in life from when I was younger till now. Singing, playing piano has always pulled me back from the dark place.  I’ve always wanted to learn lots of instruments.  I am doing it on the side alongside my piano.

These days, I’m even looking at memory training and all that! Even turning my blog into something more.  As I was researching this stuff, I actually came across a certificate in the university I went to called Certificate in WordPress and Javascript! Doesn’t that sound interesting? Maybe for the computer saavy bloggers out there this is some baby-ish thing but for me, this actually sounds like a pretty good deal to do bigger and better things with my blog.  Maybe… Although maybe I need to do a creative writing (or something along those lines) type of course instead.  Or I could just read a dictionary. Wouldn’t owning a blog as a full-time job be pretty epic? I think it would!

There is a world of opportunities out there! None of these options really require me to give up my current job.  Since I do still have to live and pay bills and I probably could never give up that realistic mindset that I have.  Plus, there are bigger goals that I’d like to accomplish in the coming year.  Of course, the topic do say “if you could take a break from life” but still, I’d take any of those options 🙂

If you could take a break, what would you want to master?

This is my response to Daily Prompt: Back to School! Check out other subjects bloggers would like to master HERE!

Daily Prompt: The Artist’s Eye for Tim Burton!

Yesterday’s daily prompt:  Is there a painting or sculpture you’re drawn to? What does it say to you? Describe the experience. (Or, if art doesn’t speak to you, tell us why.)  Photographers, artists, poets: show us ART.

Art is quite an abstract and sujective way to express ourselves.  We will interpret what we see differently and as an artist probably is portraying something that is deep inside of them.

As much as I love Monet and Van Gogh with their landscapes and flowers, the most recent art exhibit I went to that totally blew my mind was the Tim Burton exhibit in Toronto a few years back.  It was the one time where an exhibit was able to wow me to the point where I’d go and buy the whole Art of Tim Burton book that weighed about 10 pounds or more, cost me a whole lot of money and still had to lug it around for a good part of the day.

I love Tim Burton and I’d love to eventually own all his movies and then do a crazy movie marathon of them all.  It’d be exploring something out of the world and completely weird.  For those who love Tim Burton, you already know more than I do why he’s so awesome but most people have seen his creative thoughts and dreams interpreted into movies but seeing the concept art and the drafts is a completely different thing.  Looking at the art that he makes is really an eye-opener.

Those two on the top were found on searching on the Internet where the picture I took of the art in the Tim Burton book was the concept of it.

As much I love the art up there, I found the one that really shocked and showed Tim Burton’s creativity to the maximum level of weird and crazy (if anything) is one that I don’t have a picture of but I did find this one!

Its built in the form of a little house.  Stainboy is holding some weapon and through the windows, we see the Christmas tree, a the feet of a man in one of the rooms while all the walls and floors are drenched with blood.  Crazy stuff but so amazing that this stuff goes through his mind!

The Last of its Kind!

Stepping into the world of Tim Burton and his creativity of his movie projects and his other pieces was definitely an experience that was dark and profound.  It came to wonder how a man could possibly dream up these ideas. To normal people, those would be nightmares full of monsters, weird alien-like creatures, distorted images, etc.

To think that when he first started, his drawings looked like those of Dr. Seuss! I know that this exhibit did some touring back when I saw it.  Definitely a memorable experience that drew to love Burton’s work even more! 🙂

If you’d like to see more responses to this prompt, please go HERE and check it out!

Daily Prompts: Normal/Might As Well Jump

Calm down! I’m not going to do anything stupid!

I will do a double feature for the Daily Prompts.  I need a little break from movie reviews today but it will resume tomorrow.  Its been a bit of the worrisome and stressful days for me and I’m thinking maybe (even more) writing will do me some good.

Daily Prompt (last week’s): Is being “normal” — whatever that means to you — a good thing, or a bad thing? Neither? Photographers, artists, poets: show us EVERYDAY.

For the photographers showing everyday, I did two challenges in the past year in regards to that.  One is a Weekly photo challenge for Everyday life back in September 2012 (click HERE to see it) and one is the phoneography challenge from earlier this year (HERE).  Both reflect my everyday normal life very much!

Being “normal” is a great thing most of the time but how many of us really believe that we are?  Maybe compared to others such as friends, families, acquaintances, we may not feel normal because of our differences.  Most days, especially in movie discussions, I think I’m just plain weird.  I like weird things and feel like I have a abnormal lifestyle, especially after I had my health issues. Normal to me is the way we live life, the everybodies of the society.  We are all different but our normal is our routine.  No day is exactly the same and its the little things  you see, experience and breath and live through, big or little that make each and every day worth it and appreciated.  Living in the moment or just being grateful for what we have.  We do that when we are being normal.

Normal will seem like being average.  Is that really a bad thing though? There will always be times when reality slaps us in the face with the substantial need for certain things to progress and succeed (whatever that is) linked to money but if we had everything, then where is the satisfaction of earning your first little gadget.  I remembered saving up for my Nintendo DS Lite, my first ever console that I owned.  Its falling apart now but still I don’t want to give it up till I have to.  Treasuring what we have and not thinking about all we don’t have.

Being normal lets me enjoy my family, my loved ones, my pets, the nature every single day with a smile on my face 🙂

Whats wrong with being normal? We can still be awesome in our own way and see even more wonderful things in the process plus we get to realize how lucky we are.

Tuesday’s Daily Prompt: What’s the biggest risk you’d like to take — but haven’t been able to? What would have to happen to make you comfortable taking it? Photographers, artists, poets: show us JUMP.

Risk…

I’m not really a person to associate with risk.  Thats one of the reasons I learned early on in my university that finance wasn’t really my thing so I switched out into another field in business school.  Even now, when helping manage investments, I get worried.  I like to associate life with being safe and stable.  Its the feeling of security.  Having oodles of money never really made me feel that it was going to make me feel secure, so I guess thats not it.

I’ve been talking about starting a business eventually.  Its one of my lifelong dreams to eventually be able to do that.  To take that risk at some point in my life would mean that I would have a portion of dispensable cash that I can put in.  That would possibly be the choice of the biggest risk.  At this point, its finding the business (well, I have an idea of what I want to do) and the start-up money.  However, when I do get the opportunity, starting a business is still a huge risk.  Its putting a lot of things in life on the line.  What would have to happy to make it comfortable for me to take it would be to feel confident that I could do a good job.  I know I have perseverance and I know that I will stay motivated to succeed once I step out of my comfort zone and then readapt to a new comfort zone.  Does that even make any sense?

Thats my risk that I’ve been holding back on.

We all can dream and one day step out to try it out when the time is right.  We all make decisions and take some sizeable amount of risks in life.  We never can see whats ahead of us and just living life and making those lifelong decisions is a risk with unknown outcomes.  Sometimes, we really might as well jump…

Talking about that, life has taken me and my boyfriend into one of those paths due to our jobs.  Let’s hope this change will be for the better.  We’re sizing up the positives and managing with what we have.  Taking it day by day! One day, we will get to where we want to be in the future as long as we work together!  Just as he has chosen to make changes and take risks to get us closer to our goals, I’m hard at work both mentally and physically to get everything together in my life.

Great things are ahead! At least we can work as hard as we can to try to make it that way! 🙂

Dr. Seuss rules! Brings me confidence and encouragement and happiness! 🙂

On the side note, does being risky make me not normal anymore? I think its normal, no? Whats “normal” to you? Whats the biggest risk you haven’t taken yet?

Daily Prompt: The Zone

Daily prompt (from a few days ago):  Tell us about your favorite way to get lost in a simple activity — running, chopping vegetables, folding laundry, whatever. What’s it like when you’re in “the zone”? Photographers, artists, poets: show us LOST.

Today’s been a tough day.  TGIF never felt as crappy as ever.  I just wish I had that reset button to hit and all the bad stuff would just go away and never happen.

Looking through the past week of daily prompts, they’ve all been bookmarked because they are all great topics.  However, nothing seemed as fitting as talking about THE ZONE.  Its what gets me through these types of days, to look forward to something that I can wipe away all my worries and especially wipe the slate clean when even my salary and job stability isn’t enough to make me want to stay at my current position.  We all know thinking about the consequences of not having a job and all the problems that occur aren’t particularly a motivator either, just more stress and more pressure.

Back on track!

For me, that zone is baking.  Once I open that recipe book, my mind starts flying to my candyland, my sweet kingdom (queen-dom?).

I start looking through the ingredients and taking it out of the cupboards and shelves around the kitchen. I start preheating the oven and oiling the pans and trays needed. I reach into my little shelf under the counter where I keep my electric mixer.  Then I set out my measuring cups and pull out my spatula.  On very rare occasions, I’ll have to climb onto a chair and look on a very high shelf and get my rolling pin.

That may sound like a lot of work for others but for me, the moment that recipe appears in front of me, my stress vanishes.  I no longer have a frown, my eyebrows aren’t scrunched together making me get wrinkles and age faster, but all this is slowly replaced by a smile.  A calm and relaxed person starts alertly doing what has to be done efficiently and happily.

 

I can be impatient with anything and grumpy for anyone or anything wasting my time but I’d sit and wait happily while reading a book or watching the tv while checking the clock as these cinnamon rolls (for example) rise for 30 minutes and then willingly wait another 25 minutes for it to bake in the oven.  Go over to the oven and turn on the lights to see inside and see how its baking and then slowly my smile gets bigger as I smell the deliciousness surrounding me and joyfully anticipating how it would taste.

Thats what being in my zone is.  Baking makes me forget all my problems and stress and I just chill out and relax. 🙂

I used my last baking as an example.  If you are interested in how to make these delicious Cinnamon Rolls, click right HERE!

Even the thought of it makes me happy! Now, baking session tonight and I already have a recommendation from a fellow blogger 🙂

Click HERE to see other responses how others get lost in simple activities 🙂

Daily Prompt: Goals

I’ve been really missing just writing away on a daily prompt but its been so hard to write on so many of these topics in the past week.  I just don’t know how to approach them.  But then, we have Wednesday’s.  It feels like I’ve written on this before…well..probably, but still, it might be new.  I’ve reflected over this past few months on the blog. I’ve made some physical changes to make it more appealing and more organized.

Daily Prompt: When you started your blog, did you set any goals? Have you achieved them? Have they changed at all?

When I started this blog, it was complete spontaneity.  I had no idea what I was doing and for the longest time, it had nothing.  Well, not nothing…posts that I did but nothing fancy like menus on the top or a header photo.  Nothing on the side bars.  It was naked compared to now.  I had no goals except for one (maybe), it was to remind myself that with everything that happens, there’s always something positive.  We just need to look at the little things in life and remember to be grateful.  Its really about sharing happy things in my life.  The main objective was to write and express myself in words because I do that best and just get all the thoughts written down.  I never thought about getting followers or whatnot.

Cheers! Thank you and have an AMAZING FRIDAY! 🙂

Enough to say that looking at Tranquil Dreams now, I’m in total shock.  As of today, I have 520 followers.  That is totally CRAZY! Followers are of course not matching to the people who like or comment but still, I’m just amazed at how I even managed to get 520 bloggers to follow little me who writes, reviews, bakes, take photos, and shares everything.  It means that some point in time this little space attracted someone with one (or more) posts that made them want to follow me.  That is a WOW moment in my life.  Most of the time, I don’t feel I’m interesting at all so its definitely a confidence booster right there.

As much as I’d like to say that I’m really satisfied with everything, its because of everyone that drops by and does all the likes, comments, follows and views that keep me in the game.  I feel responsible for how this goes, what goes up and I am motivated to keep it up because some of you are regarded as friends.  Its something I appreciate very much.  The blogging world and the family thats here is just awesome! Even when we agree to disagree on certain reviews or whatnot 😉 Its the interaction that is like a drug sometimes.  The people here are just wonderful and you all deserve this huge applause and standing ovation because as much as I’ve tried to entertain you all, reading your posts are exponentially more entertaining in my book!

Okay, I’m going off track.  Whats changed here is that now I have goals.  Every year I refresh what I want to do.  Even as we speak, there isn’t a day I don’t think about how to spice things up a bit with marathons and what to bake on the weekend.  There’s how to approach my photo challenges and show you some of the travel experiences and events that I go to.  Its making time in my schedule to do this.  I’m even sharing my crazy weekly workouts.  I don’t have solid goals as to what to achieve but the one thing I’d love is to keep things happy and have you all enjoying your stop at Tranquil Dreams as much as I have with everyone else’s work.

I think I’ve ranted on enough but bottomline:

A lot of people in my actual life may not understand why I do this blogging thing, but at least I know that there’s so many more of you out there that relate to how I feel.  The magic of blogging, writing, and sharing and intereacting is just totally fantastic and most of the time its just a space to be silly and have fun with a bunch of other people from all over the world!

I just want to give a HUGE HUG TO ALL OF YOU! 🙂 In my mind, you are ALL AWESOME!

*ahem* Sorry about that! I will contain my over hyper and mushy self now 😉 You know I can’t resist the chance to thank you all over and over again!

Daily Prompt: Earworm

Yesterday’s daily prompt: What song is stuck in your head (or on permanent rotation in your CD  or MP3 player) these days? Why does it speak to you?

As of Sunday, A Dream by Common has been stuck in my head.  Why? Because I watched Freedom Writers two times.  The review will be up in a bit.  That song is really good and it reminds me of the movie a lot.  Freedom Writers is possibly one of my favorite movies that I rewatch at least once every year.

I don’t have it on my MP3 right now.  Since I’ve changed to a new one (when my old one died in November), I’m still working on getting all my music over.  Point is, this song gets stuck in my head.  I don’t rap but the beginning part is really good with a mix of Martin Luther King’s speech and integrating it with the lyrics of the song for the chorus.

Whats best is that it reflects the movie  Freedom Writers is based on a true story about a teacher that wanted to inspire change in her classroom by using non-traditional ways to allow them to see their situation in a different light.  It gave them a sense to try and integrate with each other despite different races and values and to find their own path instead of sticking to what others view of them.

I watched the special features of the thoughts of Common and Will.i.am as they made this song. They had the right values and if you read the lyrics, it not only matches the movie and the story behind it very well but because Freedom Writers is based on a true story and actual events, it also reaches out to reflect actual social issues. Actually, I never knew that Common was the singer behind this, because when I saw the special features, I knew where I saw him last, in Date Night! Back on track…

So this is stuck in my head because it has a good message behind it, reminds me of one of the most influential movies I’ve watched, and it has a good beat with catchy chorus.  Here is the song if you haven’t heard it before:

The songs in my head change all the time so when this goes up, maybe something else has already invaded it.  Who knows, right? 😉

Daily Prompt: Million-Dollar Question

Daily prompt: Why do you blog?

Blogging for me started at least 4 years ago.  It used to be  a very loose and relaxing thing.  I wanted to update my friends about my life and at the same time, exercise some writing skills.  Plus, writing always helped me express myself and look at situations more clearly.  A lot of time, it was mostly rants about life.  That was when I was young and stupid. I no longer do that because ranting is good once in a while, but to no one really wants to read every post being a rant.  Plus, life has to have something great to share.  When my blog in the previous space merged with WordPress, I decided to take all those posts down and start fresh.

Thats how I feel when I’m writing my blog 🙂

This blog, Tranquil Dreams at WordPress marked a new start.  Back then, I was already working on being positive about life.  It was about learning to see the better side of things.  Everyday reality tries to rip us apart and throw us lots of lemons.  Its our job to make the lemonade.  Its our job to turn a half empty glass and see it as half full. In essence, it was finding the little things that made you grateful for being alive.  It could be a smile from a stranger or just someone unexpected helping you out or even just a kind word, meeting a friend randomly on the street and catch up.  Anything could be a great thing that happens in life and if you can amplify that and make it into a great day, then life becomes just so much brighter. I don’t like to be preachy about this because I’m still learning and I have a long way to go.  I still have days that knock me down and I don’t know where to find the motivation to push through those thick thick rainy clouds sitting on top of my head.

What this blog does, is it helps me express myself.  When I first started, I posted and wrote responses to prompts mostly.  After the first year of keeping to myself, I got inspired to change things around and make it more to explore what I loved.  Sharing my photography, then I started getting back into baking and sharing the recipes, going into my creative side and doing crafts.  By the end of last year, I started looking into movies and this year, I’ve dedicated it to a whole versatile list of interests that I have.

What this has done is make me find time to do the things I love.  Blogging has helped me to meet great people just like YOU (YES YOU! Whoever you are reading this).  Its made me learn to find time to relax.  Its also made me express my feelings and share it with everyone.  Most of all, I blog because it reminds me of a lot of happy things and it keeps me positive and striving to make something out of the things I love. Maybe I never can make a career out of it, but at least I know that it gives me the courage  and strength to push through and try to do the things I love. So many of you are doing that and being extremely successful at it. Why can’t I do it too, right?

This has turned into a huge piece of writing.  The reason I blog is actually quite simple: HAPPINESS! All the elements of blogging make me happy..whether its reading your posts or writing mine.  The process of it is enjoyable, chatting to awesome people in the blogosphere makes me happy 🙂 Its taught me to live for myself above all and do the things I love even if others find that its meaningless. Doesn’t matter because its meaningful to me: Its MY space to be ME 🙂

Why do you blog?