the whisper of the stars,

If You Can't Sleep by She & Him

Something about spotting shooting stars is that they never fail to make me catch my breath and squeal with great delight.

Stargazing by the lake. What could be more perfect than this? To top that with great companies and a nice can of beer; sheer bliss, it was. The universe was playing a prank on us. "What is this like a joke or something?" The moon has gone missing for the past week and it was still on vacation that night. The stars were in weird positions; the Big Dipper was looking odd and appeared peculiarly huge as compared to normal. Nevertheless, being able to appreciate ten beautiful shooting stars slice across the dark universe was such an experience. I thought to myself: I could never have such experience back in Malaysia, where clouds are constantly shielding the universe from our eyes, warm and humid weather infested with despicable mosquitos
,

Every time I look into the sky at the dark, where it simply gazed back at me, I think of my father. My old man, he never fails to make me feel better about myself. I would always rant out my frustration at him, but he would simply make me realize how insignificant and petty my problems are compared to the limitless, infinite universe. Occasionally, we would talk about the universe and sigh at our trivial existence that we often think so almighty about
.

Bike ride was nice down to the beach. I especially loved how we would play along with my silliness and childish plays, like receiving a mission and attempting to accomplish it. I loved how we had such great chemistry and similarities that made every outing of us together so interesting and much more enjoyable. I loved how we would easily agree on little things, like climbing onto the safeguard's 'throne' after sundown. I loved how we are both photographers so it wasn't awkward to constantly want to take pictures of the gorgeous, jaw-dropping scenery. I loved how we have similar interest and share the love for adventures that brings us to lovely places and discover wonderful memories. I loved how we would lie down on the grass together on a nice casual but chilly night, warming each other while we stargaze. I loved how we would talk about the stars, about us, like nothing else matters. I loved how we would share our comfort food out of the box of magical nuggets from McDonalds. I loved how you held me in your arms and whispered candy canes to me. I loved how we spent the amazing summer together, knowing that right now I am in complete denial that it is coming to an end. I would give anything to relive all those beautiful moments over and over again, because you made me feel like a royalty on an extravagant vacation of simplicity and spontaneity.

This, that I will never forget, that I will bring with me, forever and always.
Thank you for the memories.

Yours truly,

Evelyn

Enfold.

Rule My World by Kings of Convenience

This Summer is full of spontaneous events, something that I have severely lacked in my life before him.
Just slow strolls in the night after a gorgeous fire sunset clouds. A romantic tête-à-tête that ushered in tears, that precipitated spurts of delightful aches on that fragile and vulnerable heart of ours. The fog sank down from the realm of heaven to cast a gentle veil over the vast land of tranquil.

Up above the heaven stars shone,
down below our pants soaked.
Into each others' arms, we sank,
into each others' world, we drowned;
into each others' eyes, we became mesmerised,
into each others' fingers, we entwined.

It was you and me against the world,
right at that moment,
perfect.

Life is unpredictable, isn't it?

Love,

Eve.

Summer Solstice:

My Ideal by Kenny Dorham

First day of Summer.

What this implies to me is that there are only two things: Sunny; hot, Thunderstorms; humid.

Oh wait. That sounds really familiar. That sounds exactly like Malaysia, all over again

.

Recently, I got the chance to really explore Plattsburgh in depth; something that I didn't get the chance to previously. I realized, this place that I called home for two years now, is actually a very scenic destination for a nature lover like me. I also realized that to be able to optimize your time here in Plattsburgh, to see as many interesting sights as possible, you will need to take the Road Less Travelled. Of course, there is a lot of walking and sometimes hiking, complimenting my plain curiosity and my love for adventure, getting my Converse kicks dirty and wet, all those are worthwhile. Memories will soon be embedded, along with the dust and stains picked up along the miles, in between the threads of the fabric of the shoe.
This is the life of an adventurer, An Explorer.

Stargaze. Who would have known? Who would have appreciated?

Just the little perks of life that will forever be tattooed into your heart, your mind, your soul.

One, Two, Three the count of three,

Lighted up the sky of Spring.

Lifted up sorrowful worries,

Leaving behind a grin of glee.
For once, I didn't have to pretend that the Airplanes in the night sky are like Shooting Stars. For once, once again, my wishes came true. Trice consecutively, criss-crossing through the dark universe, where these beautiful deaths fell from eternity. The night was perfect. Still. Serene. Dry grass. Great companion. Nothing beats the nonchalant chattering, while our heartbeats synchronized orchestrally in this plain wide field of an Oval. Nothing beats the imaginary slow dance at the gazebo.
Night was young when it wasn't.
Frozen in time, when the world wasn't.
Just You and Me, taking a step at a time.
Breathing in the state of divine.

"Sometimes life is about the ability to believe in where you are going even when you're not sure what lies ahead."

Love, ∞

spontaneity,

Orchestra Suite No. 3 in D Major by J.S. Bach

"In the end, it's not going to matter how many breaths you took, but how many moments took your breath away." - Shing Xiong

a walk to remember

.

Friday, May 31st, 2013.

I spent this last day of the month with ample of room for spontaneity.

I woke up, feeling fresh. Went to campus, had a wonderful date with Mr. Grand. Ran some errands, met some friends, did some homework.

They all felt like routines, until this flush of mood came: I wanted to eat ice-cream!

I have no idea where this spontaneity came from, but this sudden craving for ice-cream was driving me nuts! I was rather desperate for some nice, chill ice-cream in this hot day out.

So I gathered some people and together, we headed down to this little ice-cream place.

They had many flavors of ice-cream but they all came in a cup. I needed the experience of eating ice-cream out of a cone. That was part of the plan. That was part of the craving. I just had to forgo those fancy flavors and stuck to the standard regular twist that I already adore so much :)

,

We missed the SA shuttle to Walmart. No biggie.

Teased Sanchir with my sidekick, Baek by attempting to sing 忐忑. No biggie.

Random coin-tossing, which result was ignored and forgone the shuttle ride to Walmart eventually. No biggie.

Officially met Jeshi, and a new-found friend, Vanessa. Reconnected with old friends. No biggie.

Short walk back to retrieve the poor little brown Aero messenger bag from in front of the ACC, just because the owner absent-mindedly abandoned it there with all the most important things and documents in there. No biggie.

Had an awesome dinner, which I did nothing to help out at all. Pleasurably guilty. No biggie.

Long conversation that eventually led to learning 日本語 from Iori-chan. No biggie.

Sober moments amongst 酔うてる people. No biggie.

Sanchir, smiling with his bloodshot eyes, drunk-talking, was certainly very entertaining.

We ended up playing this drawing game that he came up with.

Think outside of the box, so he said

.

The half moon was blood red. The majestic sight of it put me into an instant trance. Out we went, chasing the moon. Spontaneity.

I especially adore those long talks, cool breeze against our cheeks, gentle fluorescent street light, leaves rustling in the background. Subconsciously, the 1.3 miles trail walk turned into an adventure further down to the port. Spontaneity.

"Do you guys have a boat down there? This is a private property."

Woah, that was not friendly at all. Seemed to me like he almost wanted to kick butt or something.

Our initial plan: climb onto one of the boats and chill there. Apprehended by a guy who pulled up his car beside us. Spontaneity

.

Tranquil. The atmosphere was.

Quiet. The moon was.

Serene. The stars in the sky were.

Placid. The water was.

Composed. Our thoughts were.
Deep. Our breaths were.

The moments felt surreal. Unemcumbered by worries. Just two heartbeats, expressing profound truths about each other in simple language.

As we spoke at great length about various things, our eyes were inevitably drawn in by the picture perfect scenery.
Engulfing in all that we can, how I wish time would spare us our youth, spare us moments like this.
The moon, playing peekaboo with us by sliding in and out of the clouds occasionally.
Its moonlight, reflected upon by the calm water, leaving a faint streak of glimmering lights on the surface.
The smithereens of stars, suspending millions of light years away from us. The source of those twinkling lights that we now perceive may have been long gone, exploded. Nevertheless, they left us with such glow and hope that keeps us going.

Still remember how I was quivering whenever the cool breeze sweeps by to greet us abruptly. Cold hands, cold feet, but was fortunate enough to have another pair of hands and feet warming those up
.

An hour and 15 minutes to sunrise. We just had to keep on going since we were already half way there. Spontaneity.
3.45am. We headed back to my apartment to gather some equipments that include water, jackets and camera
,

Sunrise at Champlain Park wasn't quite complete without the actual sunrise. Thick cotton clouds were obstructing the morning rays from blessing our tender skin with Vitamin D.

Nonetheless, the scenery was magnificent.

 Ducks were paddling around in the water in pairs, waddling on the grass in pairs, while we sat there on the edge of the stone barrier, in a pair.

At the end of it, we bid goodbyes with nice long hugs
Finally, what feels like Friday, ended with a nice warm shower and snuggling in bed with my favorite childhood plushie :)

...

a tacit confession of affection, perhaps?

Love, Eve

wind;

So Close by John Mclaughlin

Only if it was Enchanted, love was

.

SOME say that water has a calming effect

At the very least, it does.

NEVER ending sounds of the rain, splattering on the roof top of our safe house

Chill breeze didn't quite matter, as

HERE, all is good. all is flowing to a gentle rhythm.

Immersing ourselves with nice, quiet conversation while our fingers entwined

Reminiscing about old good memories, all while creating new ones

,

Drenched with rain water, our feet were.

as we took Our time, strolling dowN the sidewalk under the same umbrella.

the raindrops, magically drumming against the roof Top, creating Wonderful melodies that are astoundingly delightful to our ears

 this relaxed Ambiance was absolute, filled with Nothingness, yeT rich with sentimentality.

2 hours, passed swiftly and gone with the wind. Hush, without a sound.

Under that awkward looking tree, stood the old witch from snow white. but that didn't matter.

Raging series of lightning, trailing across the sky. but that didn't matter.

deafening roars of Thunders. but that didn't matter.

all that matters was that it was Yesterday, that i have rediscovered something that i have Once lost, or repressed
,

under the same Umbrella that we left with, we walked back.
thank you for the pleasant journey.

goodnight,

my dearest

overflow;

Gravity by John Mayer

Funny how I seem to like all the songs titled "Gravity"

,

Funny how I still find all the weird pictures we took together Hilarious, just like how I would laugh so hard the first time I see them

...

Fall 2012.

Maybe it's me, but I find that we talk more often after Summer.

It has been a year...

I grew more comfortable being around her. She grew more comfortable being around me. We grew more comfortable being around each other.

I will miss the moments where we would debate who would get down from the bed to turn off the lights because the last person forgets to turn it off before getting into snuggling under covers.

I will miss the moments where we would continue our pillow talk in the dark, sharing our thoughts, experiences, childhood memories, high school middle school memories, etc. We would share a piece of our philosophy of life, sigh at unfortunate events, grateful for fortunate ones. From each other, we learnt to appreciate, love, and be thankful.

By the way, did I mention how we find solace in talking to each other, just because our outlook of life is at least, more similar to one another than to others?

We would talk, and talk, and talk, and talk, and talk... 

until silence prevails... 

until sweet dreams twinkle

.

Softly As I Leave You by Michael Buble 

She came back from China with something that made me smile, every single time I look at it. And nope, I am not exaggerating. I mean every time :)

Cute little socks. Oh... *melts*

,

September 2012. Chasing tornadoes. Continuing our love for photography, we set out with our cameras, despite the many tornado alerts and high wind speed.

,

September 2012. Sunrise date. We planned this. Yet, we went to bed late at night, praying that we can pull ourselves out of bed in a few hours time.
"Tian! Woah! Azuzu went to see the sunrise." (referring to pictures on Facebook)
"Yeah..."
{pause}
"Pei Ning..."
"Mmmm?"
"Do you want to go see the sunrise tomorrow?"
"How?"
"Go to CCC."
"You drive?"
"Yeah."
"Is it okay for you to drive when it is still dark?"
"Should be..."

We did anyway :)

Tried to take some jump shots, we were never synchronized! After more than 50 shots (nope, again, I am not exaggerating), this was I guess the best shot that we have together.
Of course, we were exhausted after. Gave up, went back.
Satisfied.
满载而归 :)

.

Someone to Watch Over Me by Ella Fitzgerald

Fall. Autumn.

Leaves were beautiful. She, as usual, captured the moments ;)

,

In our new room, 120A Adirondack Hall, we shared many crazy room moments :D

We let our dogs have conversation with each other while we have ours,

We play footsies too... only a little differently :)

Chicken from Walmart as dinner, just because we can. Indulgence, in a form it was.

.

Thinking About You by Norah Jones

We made a lot more crazy faces together this semester. Pictures that I still laugh at when I look at.

These are the ones that I'll never forget.

,

We dressed up for Presidents' Gala :)

.

At Last by Beyonce

December 2012. Finals week. Of course, it had to be the three of us, omma, her and me, spending late nights in the library. We were productive! We had to. Nevertheless, in the midst of information cramming, late night snacking, we made good use of our procrastination times by doing some stress relieving activities:

1. Taking pictures.

2. Silly faces.

3. Playing childhood games.

Fun times!

... until Fall semester ended

.

Goodbye Fall 2012.

Till then,

...

Regressing,

Spring 2012.

It came soon after I was back from Minnesota and Iowa, she, back from China.

Our adventure continues...

Dream A Little Dream of Me by Louis Armstrong

Rainy days like this makes people more sentimental.

At least for me, it has that magical effect
.

We have different humor points, but we always seem to converge on each other when it comes to interest, thoughts, or even actions :)

Like the Chinese proverbs: 心有灵犀一点通

That's what we are...

She's the Yin to my Yang :)
,

I will miss her magic hands of cleaning up the room swiftly.
From this,

To this.

Just within a matter of a few moments...
,

She makes silly faces using her phone app,

,

She comforts me when my jeans gave up on me.

,

I'll never forget our Starbucks moments :)

She treated me a nice cup of Mocha Cookie Crumble Frappuchino on this beautiful day of May.

.

Of course, time flies...

Spring semester came to an end. We took a trip down to NYC together on Amtrak, bid each other goodbyes in Penn Station for the Summer. We almost teared, like many other times saying goodbye to each other :')

Room 120D Adirondack Hall.

Goodbye. Our times together were wonderful

,

Spring 2012.

Till then, my dearest.

...

le rendezvous;

Don't Want An Ending by Sam Tsui

Life. Ironic, isn't it?

Was thinking about my beloved roommate when this came shuffled onto my playlist on Pandora

.

Fall 2011.
August 2011. I first made her acquaintance. I found out after that after going a month plus without any Chinese around her, provided with her English deficiency, she was enthusiastic to finally be able to join the Fall International Student Orientation, finally be able to meet some Chinese, only to be disappointed by my lack of Chinese conversation with her :(

The very next morning...

I was entering Adirondack Hall when I caught sight of Chihiro Kobayashi, her orientation leader, speaking to her down the hallway. I remember vividly how I hesitated, whether to walk over to strike up a conversation, or to proceed back to my room as I initially intended to. I shuffled down the hallway to my right in the end to meet them. The restlessness in both their pretty faces made me realized that I have made a pretty bad decision of joining them.

After several moments of casual conversation, they finally broke to me that she was having trouble with her roommate, Visa (签证), and was looking to switch roommates. Seeing that just the morning before I left for activities, my roommate moved in and made a pretty bad impression (waking me up with noises of her moving in, then quarreling with her parents over the phone with rude attitude), I promptly agreed to be roommate with her.

Ha! I still remember the look on her face. Wide eyes of disbelief with hints of relief.

"Really? Really?"

"Yeah! I can be your roommate."

"Really?"

"Mmhmm..."

Boy, she plunged into me like she won the powerball lottery :)

There, our journey began.

...

New York, New York by Frank Sinatra

I had help moving into our new room, 120D Adirondack Hall. I helped her after. Witnessed 签证 in action. I see why she wants to move out! 签证 had her cupboard drawer open, blocking 2/3 of the doorway entrance, didn't offer any help, expecting us to move things out of the room through that 1/3 space she left us. That's evil in action.

Next day, she moved her fridge when I was not around, hurt her feet, got stitches. It was ugly when I saw her again later in the afternoon. Funny how she put 签证 in the blame for her injury.

"签证 used black magic on me. See what became of me!"

Hahahahaha. She always makes me laugh
,

We stuck together like glue soon after we became roommates. Since her vocabulary was not strong enough, guess how we communicate? The guessing game :P
All the adorable sound effects that she would make, I'm the person who guesses. Sometimes, if she recognizes the word, she would point at me excitedly with that grin on her face. Sometimes, if she doesn't know what the word I said, I would have to explain, more explaining, then I would finally give in and say it in Chinese. If I don't know the Chinese word to it, Google comes in to save the day.
Our relationship then? People would say, amazing.
Of course, we developed our unique way of communicating with each other :)
.

Beyond The Sea by Kevin Spacey

Our first adventure together: Bubble wand :)

Yes! She was unpacking and I saw this bubble wand of hers. I wanted to play so she grabbed my camera and we went out to have a little fun. It was then, I discovered her love for photography. She's a pretty passionate photographer herself. She loves to take pictures of other people. Candid.

,

Our first pictures together... ♥

,

September 2011. I bought a huge pack of gummy bear. We camwhored with the gummy fountain :)

October 2011. Halloween. We went costume shopping, albeit not buying anything.

Halloween night. Look at all the candies we collected around the neighborhood!

November 2011. Our first outing together. We went to Burlington, following the trip organized by International Student Services (ISS). We shared bubble tea. We played with colorful shades. We had fun.

.

November 2011. It was ice-skating day with the original Mow group. She didn't join us in the rink, just sat around in the bench and took many great pictures of others having fun. I couldn't bear leaving her alone, away from everyone else, since I convinced her to join us in the Field House. I went to sit with her. We took pictures of course :)

.

I Think It Is Going To Rain Today by Norah Jones

November 2011. First Plattsburgh snowfall together. We are random. No. She is random. So it was our first time experiencing snowfall together, as roommates. The first time for me was during Thanksgiving break, when she was away.
"Pei Ning, it is snowing outside."
"Yeah I know."
{pause}
"Want to go out to take pictures?"
"Now?"
"Yeah."
"Its two something in the morning now!"
"Yeap."
"Okay..."
So we geared up and we out with her cameras. While she experimented with her new Leica toy, I fooled around with her Casio magic camera :)

,

December 2011. She and Omma gave me my first birthday party, Elmo themed. I cried. I cried so bad like a sad, sad child. Of course, it not only caught me off guard, my 'grief' caught everyone off guard as well. I was too happy. Tears of joy. I was touched.

Semester ended shortly after.
Goodbye Fall 2011

...

Shooting star.

The Red Aspens by Jennifer Thomas

Deep breaths. Steady heartbeats. Soothing melody.

All I need for this perfect night to end is just a little more surprise

,

Talk about surprise, it really takes you in a night flight across heaven's park

.

Taiko Masala, the Japanese Drum Festival. It was really out of pure reluctance, deep contemplation before I finally made the decision, which turned out to be incredible.

My first time seeing the Seaweed Suckers perform and I was blown away by their professionalism.

What do you look for in a band performance? Who do you usually pay attention to?

Many people's reply would be the vocalist, the guitarist, the bassist. However, how many actually pays attention to the drum player?

I try to be a non-conformist whenever possible. In this case, I paid most attention to the drum player, who was partially or wholly blocked by the lead singer most of the time. I have seen many drum players and some of them really did not take their role seriously, thinking that they are sitting at the back of the stage behind the scenes, not noticeable.

This guy, he was different. You could tell that he loved his role in this band. You could tell that he knew that he was the backbone of the band. You could tell that he knew what he was doing.

He was marvelous in performance, entertaining and especially cool whenever he does finger tricks with the drum sticks.

The rest of the band members were extremely professional in what they do, delivering a very strong, powerful and energetic performance. They were very interactive throughout their performance and I was really impressed.

When it comes to the main performance from Taiko Masala, I loved the power and passion in their every move. Their interaction with the audiences was remarkable. Watching their performance had driven an invisible force in me that drives my urge to pick up taiko drums as well. 

.

Was setting up the tripod and the camera while waiting for the fireworks to come on, I experienced one of the happiest moments in my life.

A pleasant surprise that was.

Unexpected, overwhelming, breathtaking, magnificent.

It was sheer magic.

Out of the blue, that comet appeared as a dazzling streak of bright light cuts through the sky and fades away at the corner of the horizon.

I was baffled, speechless and was on the verge of tearing to the sight of such a glorious moment.

People say that if you make a wish under a shooting star, your wish would come true.

The truth for me is, when I caught sight of that shooting star, that was my wish coming true. I couldn't ask for more. I am grateful. Exhilarated.

.

Shooting the fireworks this time was a completely different feeling for several reasons:

1. I have companions this time.

2. I have a tripod this time.

3. I was trying out new camera setting this time.

4. I came prepared this time.

Sure it is a whole trial and error thing, but the learning experience was awesome.

I believe have self-esteem issue with the photographs that I have taken, yet I am satisfied with the general outcome of today's photography outing.

Here's my personal favorite: Fireworks and two comets.

I love you.

LeePeiNing