Happy New Year 2015
They say season's come and go just like our thoughts and aspirations in life. That doesn't mean we don't yearn for a certain time and place to come back to. I'm all for the future but the past has a tendency to pull us back. Like an arrow, when pulled back we will be forced to fly forward. And to where? It takes some strength of mind and precision to manage our very own life's arrows. Even then we're uncertain of where we'll land. If we'll even hit the target we were aiming for. If we can ever get near our focus point. Sometimes it may seem like we're not even in control of our own arrows. Or maybe we've just been holding onto it for too long that we've forgotten how to let go.
Begin Again
I wanted to just start off with a quote, a mildly inspirational one, but it turned into a whole paragraph...If only I were able to do that for the assignments I'm suppose to be working on right now. I have missed just trailing off into writing my thoughts down a great deal. It's been far too long. Now I don't have a valid excuse as to why I had slowly stopped blogging altogether. It's not that I haven't been doing anything eventful. I believe any day can be eventful if you choose to participate in your surroundings instead of idly standing by.
I'm only truly sorry to one person for neglecting this blog. And that's me. This blog is primarily made for me to sit back, relax, and document the adventures I may come across. So here I go summing up some of the more memorable experiences I had last year, 2014.
Cliché Reminiscing
It all happens so fast. One day you're graduating from elementary school and you're sad because you're going to be missing your friends but then when you get there you realize you'll see a majority of them anyways. Then as you grow as a person you'll find that you'll lose some friends here and there but that you'll also gain some again. Then comes high school graduation and you're really just thinking "How did I even get accepted into that college or university that I applied to?". All jokes aside I vividly remember the majority of our last year of high school being a very stressful one on my classmates and I. I can sincerely say I couldn't have made it without the support of my family, friends, and teachers.
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| Our Lady of Lourdes High School Graduation. River Run Center, downtown Guelph (6/25/14) |
"Clubbing" (11/14/14)
I've made a previous blog post (referring to "TTC Delay, Classes Canceled, Shopping") saying that I was going to a dance at a nightclub because I was invited by my friend Dyan. Looking back I found that when it happened I didn't write about my experience at all so I'm going to now. I took a Greyhound bus straight from Toronto to Waterloo that very day. But since I came just two hours before the dance started we were rushed to get ready. When we were finished getting ready we called the others, Pranav and Paulo, to meet up at Dyan's dorm. Then we all headed to a nearby Korean BBQ place for dinner. Unfortunately I lost one of my beanies at that dinner. From the Korean BBQ place we headed to the nightclub located only a 15 minute bus ride away. Let me express the fact that it was absolutely freezing cold that night. Dyan and I were freezing our legs off while walking from the bus stop to the club, which was still a bit of a walk.
Since my friends and I were only 18 years old (legal drinking age to drink is 19 years old in Ontario, Canada) we weren't able to have any alcohol beverages so we had to wear a wristband with a marker mark on our hand to guarantee that we won't get served any. We saw plenty of other club goers with the same wrist bands and marks. Before we were even able to go into the club we were required to leave our post-secondary student I.D. cards with the "bouncers" at the front for security reasons. Which we got back before we left the place.
Once we were inside of the club we noticed that there wasn't much people there at first but as time passed the dance floor started to fill up pretty quickly. Before it got too busy we took pictures at their makeshift photo booth. It was just some student photographer taking pictures of people with a professional DSLR camera in front of a decorated backdrop.
The DJ played fun, upbeat, new and old school songs. I just didn't want to get off the dance floor. The energy of the atmosphere around me was ecstatic and contagious. Whenever my friends would sit down I'd want to grab them to go back onto the dance floor because another good song was playing. I didn't want to leave but surprisingly I was actually the one to suggest we go. It was getting late plus there had been a line already forming at coat check. Waterloo city buses were no longer running by the time we got our coats back so we just called for a taxi to take us back to Dyan's dorm.
Since my friends and I were only 18 years old (legal drinking age to drink is 19 years old in Ontario, Canada) we weren't able to have any alcohol beverages so we had to wear a wristband with a marker mark on our hand to guarantee that we won't get served any. We saw plenty of other club goers with the same wrist bands and marks. Before we were even able to go into the club we were required to leave our post-secondary student I.D. cards with the "bouncers" at the front for security reasons. Which we got back before we left the place.
Once we were inside of the club we noticed that there wasn't much people there at first but as time passed the dance floor started to fill up pretty quickly. Before it got too busy we took pictures at their makeshift photo booth. It was just some student photographer taking pictures of people with a professional DSLR camera in front of a decorated backdrop.
The DJ played fun, upbeat, new and old school songs. I just didn't want to get off the dance floor. The energy of the atmosphere around me was ecstatic and contagious. Whenever my friends would sit down I'd want to grab them to go back onto the dance floor because another good song was playing. I didn't want to leave but surprisingly I was actually the one to suggest we go. It was getting late plus there had been a line already forming at coat check. Waterloo city buses were no longer running by the time we got our coats back so we just called for a taxi to take us back to Dyan's dorm.
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| University of Waterloo dance. Turret Nightclub, Waterloo |
Guelph Visitors (11/29/14)
My last blog post was actually the night before my two friend's from Guelph visited me so I'm continuing on from there. We all went skating at the Mattamy Athletic Center otherwise known as the Maple Leaf Gardens because my campus (Centennial College's Story Arts Centre) was hosting a charity event over there with free skating. When we arrived we found out that they were serving free snacks and beverages as well. Henry and Chloe were the ones who visited me and it was actually thanks to my Dad who drove them over.
I invited Anthony and Nicole to join in as well. Anthony came along and Nicole couldn't because she didn't have a pair of skates at the time and you couldn't rent skates at the center we went to. That was my first skating session of the season. Since then I've gone skating two more times at Nathan Phillip's Square with Nicole and her little cousins Wesley and Mathew.
After we skated it took about 20 minutes to walk to Eaton's Centre mall. The walk was lovely because it wasn't too cold out and the city seemed to be more lively at night. We couldn't decide where to eat so we just had dinner at the food court. Then we split up to check out stores. Henry and Anthony checked out some electronic stores while Chloe and I checked out some clothing stores. It was fun showing Chloe and Henry around my area and I hope they enjoyed their visit. After their visit they headed home and according to my Dad they were both passed out from exhaustion in the car.
I invited Anthony and Nicole to join in as well. Anthony came along and Nicole couldn't because she didn't have a pair of skates at the time and you couldn't rent skates at the center we went to. That was my first skating session of the season. Since then I've gone skating two more times at Nathan Phillip's Square with Nicole and her little cousins Wesley and Mathew.
After we skated it took about 20 minutes to walk to Eaton's Centre mall. The walk was lovely because it wasn't too cold out and the city seemed to be more lively at night. We couldn't decide where to eat so we just had dinner at the food court. Then we split up to check out stores. Henry and Anthony checked out some electronic stores while Chloe and I checked out some clothing stores. It was fun showing Chloe and Henry around my area and I hope they enjoyed their visit. After their visit they headed home and according to my Dad they were both passed out from exhaustion in the car.
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| Skating at Maple Leaf Gardens, Toronto |
Late Lunch With The Guys (12/03/14)
One of our last assignments for the first semester was to sit in on a city council meeting and write and post quotes and updates about it onto our Twitter accounts while mentioning Centennial College's twitter account for it to be viewed and graded by our professors. I was all dressed up because our professor told us to wear professional wear, turns out I was one of the few to do so. We were there for almost two hours. Afterwards my journalism class grouped together outside of City Hall to decide where to head to next.
A bunch of people said they were just going to head home. Some of the guys were making plans and when they turned to ask me if I wanted to join them. I was hesitant at first since I hadn't spoken to them much. They also asked Jasmine if she wanted to go as well. She said she would if I was going and I said I would if she was going. So Jasmine and I both decided we would join in for the late lunch, which they were still determining what place we were going to eat at.
Daniel, Kirk, Trevor, Jasmine and I headed to Daniel's car where he parked in a nearby underground parking lot. We legitimately ended up driving around in circles trying to get out of the lot. I recall making a joke along the lines of "I should blog about how we've been stuck in an underground parking lot for 10 minutes now". Daniel said I should because it was pretty ridiculous situation we were in. We were all cracking up with laughter once we finally found the exit. Richard and Angelo ended up walking and taking the TTC because there wasn't enough room in Daniel's car. We ended up going to a burger place called P&L. Afterwards most of the guys headed to a bar while Richard, Jasmine, and I headed back to our homes. I thought it was nice that Jasmine and I were included and that was actually my first time hanging with those guys and Jasmine outside of school. They were all good company to have.
A bunch of people said they were just going to head home. Some of the guys were making plans and when they turned to ask me if I wanted to join them. I was hesitant at first since I hadn't spoken to them much. They also asked Jasmine if she wanted to go as well. She said she would if I was going and I said I would if she was going. So Jasmine and I both decided we would join in for the late lunch, which they were still determining what place we were going to eat at.
Daniel, Kirk, Trevor, Jasmine and I headed to Daniel's car where he parked in a nearby underground parking lot. We legitimately ended up driving around in circles trying to get out of the lot. I recall making a joke along the lines of "I should blog about how we've been stuck in an underground parking lot for 10 minutes now". Daniel said I should because it was pretty ridiculous situation we were in. We were all cracking up with laughter once we finally found the exit. Richard and Angelo ended up walking and taking the TTC because there wasn't enough room in Daniel's car. We ended up going to a burger place called P&L. Afterwards most of the guys headed to a bar while Richard, Jasmine, and I headed back to our homes. I thought it was nice that Jasmine and I were included and that was actually my first time hanging with those guys and Jasmine outside of school. They were all good company to have.
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| Nathan Phillips Square, Toronto |
My Friend's 18th Debut (12/28/14)
My friend Stephanie's masquerade themed 18th birthday party was made into a "Debut". A Debut is a grand "Coming-Of-Age" birthday party for Filipino girls. I haven't had a Debut myself since I already had a "Sweet 16". This was also the first Debut I've attended and I was thrilled when I heard I would also have a part in it. I was the fourth person to present Steph with a candle and a wish in the "18 Candles Ceremony". I also brought my little sister Bridgette along with me because I thought she would have a fun time at the party and she did. We all ate a ton of food, took pictures at the photo booth, watched singing and dancing performances performed by Steph and her family, and danced the rest of the night away (her older brother was the DJ).
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| Having some fun at the photo booth. St Joseph's Church Hall, Guelph |
Continuing On
I haven't spoken about how my second semester has been going yet and how the rest of my holidays back home. This definitely took a lot more time and effort than I thought it would and I doubt I've covered everything up to standard but this will do for now. Just adding in a little public service announcement, today you can spread a message and tweet out #BellLetsTalk to help end the stigma regarding mental health.
New Years Resolution
I don't usually make a New Years Resolution. I've gotten multiple suggestions from my friends such as "work out", "blog regularly", and "get out more". Instead of just focusing on one resolution which I probably won't commit to, I've decided to set little goals for myself when I can. I remember my college friends and I were just relaxing at our library during our class break and I said to them "Lately I've been feeling kind of sore. Maybe I should start exercising..." I gave myself about half a second to think about it and then said "Nah.". Scout and Cameron laughed at my demise. I'm not as active of a person as I could be. Maybe when the weather gets warmer I can just walk around and maybe skip some rope.
Until then, Fatima
P.S. I'm still receiving incoming views even after being inactive for a little while. If you're someone who enjoys reading my blog posts, thanks for being patient with me. Every view to me is like a high five and you deserve all the sunshine and warmth in your life. And I hope you have a very Happy New Year 2015!
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