Jeremiah 29:11

"For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

So I have not touched this blog simply because I have forgotten about it. For...a year and a half maybe? How long has it been? I haven't yet gotten the chance to go through these posts and indulge in the nostalgia but I will. Right after I publish this one.

Change is in the air. How many times have I heard this, read it in a book, or been told it by a friend? In that context, is change not constant but only applicable to anticipated milestones or occurrences that make you think "this time, it will really be different?" Oftentimes, we correctly pinpoint specific experiences that really do affect great change in our lives, great enough to validate that quote for the value that it was meant to hold. More than anything though, the greatest changes come from series of small "insignificant" choices that accumulate over months or years until one day, you finally get a chance to sit down and consciously reflect and realize "so that was how I ended up here." In other words, I believe the greatest changes are realized through reflection, not anticipation.

Anyway, I'm not here to make any sort of big statement about change. Nothing I just wrote was anything you haven't heard before. I'm merely here to make a documented promise to myself that I plan on resuming real blogging, in the form of reflective written entries, in anticipation of change (ha! see what I did there?) that I can (hopefully) finally announce on Monday, on my Tumblr (where I will be actively resuming my blogging). If I could be so bold as to add, I would like to encourage my old friends to also find the time to update their own blogs more frequently, whether it's on here or on Tumblr, or anywhere else. Because apparently, the last time that someone I am following on Blogspot posted something was five months ago. I don't even know if anyone else other than me will read this but if you do, please consider rejoining me in publishing your stories. Half of my motivation to write comes from you, because your stories are inspirational to me.

Your friend, 
Cecilia

excerpt from "daffodils"

The waves beside them danced; but they
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:
A poet could not but be gay,
In such a jocund company:
I gazed--and gazed--but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:

For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils. 

- William Wordsworth (poetic genius)

excerpt from "the love song of j. alfred prufrock"

For I have known them all already, known them all;
Have known the evenings, mornings, afternoons,
I have measured out my life with coffee spoons;
I know the voices dying with a dying fall
Beneath the music from a farther room.
So how should I presume?
- T.S. Eliot

coveted

Today, I just watched the very last episode of "Wizards of Waverly Place" today (yes..I am a child). My little sister is in love with it, and in love with Selena Gomez, so when I thought of her, I was reminded of how excited she was to watch it and decided to see it for myself. It premiered last Friday.

Though the script was kind of rushed, the ending really touched me!!! The three siblings were competing to become the family wizard (there can only be one), and in a twist, two of them sacrificed themselves for each other. Because of this, it left me with such a big smile. Weirdly though, it reminded me of this song:



When I watched the music video, I found out that it was about sacrifice too, coincidentally. It makes me so happy that this is one of the few things today that remains so beautiful and coveted. :)

revolt

"(Many students have) either been told or insinuated college was unattainable because of their ethnicity or economic status. Teachers can only do so much. Change media and pop culture, to reflect education as a positive."

When I look at the state of public education today, and then I look at the way it used to be, I die a little. Changing American culture--is this the only way out? If that is the case, we can only remain pessimists. The entire world is trapped in a cycle that is heading into a pitfall of educational and societal poverty. We need a revolution.