Be soft.
Do not let the world make you hard.
Do not let the pain make you hate.
Do not let the bitterness steal your sweetness.
Take pride that even though the rest of the world may disagree,
you still believe it to be a beautiful place.

I loved New Direction's original songs!

So I throw up my fists,

throw a punch in the air

and accept the truth that sometimes life isn't fair.

Yeah, I'll send out a wish.

Yeah I'll send up a prayer and finally someone will see how much I care

Is your heart-garden gratitude full? :)

I went to my favorite cafe today after work to get some work done. While writing my paper, I glanced up and saw this little cute inspiration card on display

I like these words: "heart-garden, gratitude-seeds, glowing" How often do you need to be reminded to be grateful?

I snapped some photos while waiting to pay :)

They always have fresh flowers in the cafe.

I like the latte art~pretty, delicious and creamy. It got cold faster than I was able gulp it down =(

I received my Newsweek today featuring the 8.9 earthquake that hit Japan this past Friday, the 11th. The author wrote about how earthquakes tend to occur in clusters, --

• Pacific earthquake in New Zealand (Feb. 22.)
• 8.8 earthquake in Chile just a year before
• and now the one that just hit Japan

"All three phenomena involved more or less the same family of circum-Pacific fault lines and plate boundaries...Now there have been catastrophic events at three corners of the Pacific Plate-one in the northwest, on Friday;one in the southwest, last month; one in the southeast, last year. That leaves just one corner unaffected-the northeast. And the fault line in the northeast of the Pacific Plate is the San Andreas Fault, underpinning the city of San Francisco."
- Simon Winchester

Here's a visual for better understanding

So scary!

Anyhow, looking to see what I can do to help Japan with their recovery from my part of the world...
And I really admire the engineers who are working hard to cool the fuel rods at the nuclear plants. >_<

BEACH is on my mind

As of late.. I cannot stop thinking about the beach. I can't wait to go when it finally gets warm enough.

A while ago, I agreed to model for a friend's clothing website. I probably wasn't the best model for their t-shirts since I am so skinny (the nice way to put it), flat-chested (the mean, albeit honest way to put it)

Here I am

Cute plant, want one by my window sill, to pet every morning

Trash talk

Warning: This post is going to be a long one!

During dinner tonight I caught another interesting, fact full documentary on tv. This time it was about trash, ooh-la-la. I traveled along with Carl Quintanilla as he embarked on a trash-filled adventure around the world in Trash Inc. The Secret Life of Garbage.

As you may know, China's economy is growing extremely fast, about 11.9% in the first quarter from a year earlier (WHOA!). As Chinese citizens become richer, they also start to consume more, and the more they consume the more trash there will be. The landfills in Beijing can only take 70% of the garbage produced (I'm not sure if this is trash produced only in Beijing or throughout China), the rest has to go somewhere right? Anyhow with a little investigation, there were about 461 illegal dumps revealed (bet you there's more!)
And as the saying goes, "A picture is worth a thousand words" photojournalist Wang Jiuliang began documenting all the landfills he was able to find and document a whole bunch of landfills around Beijing.

Here's an image of all the sites he found surrounding the city!

Wang Jiuliang's photo journey on trash Click on this to check out some of his photos! I really admire what he is doing, documenting these landfills to enlighten people about the growing trash problem in China. So many people out there do not realize the consequences of heavy consumerism.

This is so nasty
The streams of garbage will eventually make its way to the oceans...

Click here for more pictures, there's one where this little child's hands are black from.. I am not even sure what... digging through garbage for his family for recyclables?

This documentary also featured businesses that profit from recyclables, yes the waste stream can indeed become a revenue stream. I learned that 10 plastic bottles = 1 lb. of flake = $0.50
This flake can be used to make carpets or clothing and more...

This one waste management company calculated how much their waste collected (per day) sells for === 10 billion dollars!!!

Here's a detailed journey of your plastic bottle, so cool right?
So my friend, put those recyclables in the recycling bin!!!!

This picture makes me feel happy, it's been a long winter.

It can kill you, but it can also save your life

So my mind was blown away tonight when I was watching a PBS special -- Venom: Nature's Killer. There are about 20 million toxins out there being produced by animals in nature. If they strike and their venom is injected into you, you might become paralyzed, scramble your brain signals.. aka you will be in lots of trouble. But at the same time, their venom is a great tool for scientists. The venom can be chemically engineered into drugs, in which doctors will use to treat heart attacks, cancer, diabetes and other illnesses.

Unfortunately, a lot of these animals are going extinct before scientists are able to study what's in them. One scientist said, the only way things will be preserved in nature is if they make money. That being said, these animals are worth lots of money! Though, there are other reasons why they're important/worth preserving besides being able to generate money. Now that's a whole another argument...

I wish I had learned more about this when I was an undergrad, I am so fascinated... These scientists are amazing, so brave when they are handling venomous creatures, I'm not sure if I have it in me to grab a snake like that.

From Animal Planet

CONE SNAIL: This pokey predator makes up for its lack of speed with one of the strangest hunting systems in the sea. Since it's too slow to chase down fish and other prey, the cone snail prefers to paralyze its victims with a poisonous "harpoon." The poison, or venom, is made in a long, tubular duct. The duct has a muscular bulb at one end and empties into the proboscis — a slender, tubular feeding organ. The harpoon — a hollow, spear-like tooth — is made in a cavity called the radular sac. When a tooth is ready, it is transported to the tip of the snail's proboscis and pumped full of venom. The cone snail detects prey with chemoreceptors in its siphon, or breathing organ. When a fish, worm or mollusk wanders too close, the snail extends its long proboscis and fires the venomous, harpoon-like tooth into its prey. The tooth is attached to the snail via a thread or filament, tethering the prey so that it can't swim away. The venom acts quickly, immobilizing the prey in a matter of seconds. Then the thread is retracted and the snail engulfs its meal through an opening at the tip of its proboscis