Amy Do Nguyet Anh

 It's been more than a year since I moved to Victoria so it's time that I post something about my apartment. Welp, since the last apartment, this one is even more minimalist! I don't even have a lot of furniture. I have a view from the 16th floor now so I made use of it by putting in a small desk aka dining table. At night sometimes I sit there by the window to read or study. And in the morning when it's not summer I sit there to work. I still have the pillow from my friend and blanket from another friend as the only decor in this living room. Oh, and plus Moomin. The kitchen is also basic and I hide most of my spices in the cupboard. This week I had a vase of flowers to lighten things up a little bit, but I only buy flowers when I spend the weekend in Victoria.  And, the living room is empty. It is my dance, yoga, music studio. So I need the floor space. Last year I got some string lights to brighten the mood a little bit during the darkest days of the year. My bedroom...

 Recently I had a chance to watch Panah Panahi's movie "Hit the Road" on the big screen. The scenes were so beautiful, and the emotions were subtle but powerful. It made me realize themes of loss, fear of uncertainty and family are so universal, regardless of country, culture, time. There is this scene in particular, which I clipped from the trailer video below, that really surprised me. What's the focus of this scene? It looks like a photo of a landscape on Instagram. Beautiful clouds, three trees that frame the scenery. The camera does not move throughout this entire scene. All we see is this landscape, the small silhouettes of the characters in the far distant. Yet, their emotions never felt so close to us. We hear the mother fussing about her son's attire and how if he's not dressed warm enough he'll get sick. We hear the son refusing all this fuss and trying to hide his stress and sadness of his departure. The father, hopping along on his foot that is...

Recently, I finished this movie, "Behind Cut", about an aspiring fashion designer and a delivery boy. Something about the movie really clicked with me, and it felt like by chance, I've been given a message to reflect on my life. The movie repeats a few times the symbol of a signal light at an intersection. Being a transportation engineer, I look at these things all the time at work. But in the context of this movie, the signal symbolizes moments in life where you can make a decision to go or stop. Yes, the light is telling you to go or not, but it's still your decision.  In one scene, the boys talk about how they're stagnant in life and they don't know what their next steps would be. The fashion designer, Ji Kin, is still uncertain about how to make a brand for his design. The delivery boy, Yeong Woo, feels like he doesn't have any opportunities do anything different.  Later in the movie, Ji Kin struggles to decide whether he should take the chance to go t...

 My symptoms are mostly gone and I'm not even coughing anymore. So I went back to Victoria and after dinner, went for a 2-hour walk along the harbour and the water, then out to the ocean. It was nice to breathe fresh air and hear the water splashing again.

 I worked my first full day and then continued watching this show about a gay student trying to deal with society's judgement of him. Went o sleep at 9 pm as "usual".

 I went back to work for a few hours! Yay! I had been dreading it, but honestly it's not too bad. Then at night I watched a bit of a summary of 2021. Wow how depressing.

 I slept more today but I was able to join online dance class. I felt stiff but I did sweat a bit. Finally feels like I earned the right to shower. Last day before going back to work online...

 I woke up pretty early but I have no idea what I did with my time. By 4 pm, I decided to read a bit more of the Romance of Three Kingdoms, but it took me a while to remember where I left off. Then I watched "Love Hard" and it was pretty good despite the cliche themes. What are rom-coms for I guess. Jimmy O. Yang and Nina Dobrev did a great job, especially with singing a less rape-y version of "Baby it's cold outside".  And then I went back to sleep at 9 pm. Feels like my nose and throat are less inflamed today.

 I practiced some more violin today and researched some schools in Germany for masters program. I found this interesting program that is offered jointly with Vietnamese German University.  Sustainable Urban Development – TU Darmstadt (tu-darmstadt.de)  Pretty cool that they have that joint program. Then I decided that I would not go to work tomorrow, and finished a Japanese movie of a man who went back home to the country side to find his life's purpose. It worked out for him in the end. 

 I managed to practice violin a bit today. I've forgotten how to be patient it seems ahhaha. My teacher texted me to see how I was and told me to stop practicing so much. Oops. Other that I blogged about my trip but not much else happened. I heard news that the ferries were cancelled. So good thing I was stuck in Vancouver anyway.  It was a lot of coughing today but less sneezing. I finished this short Korean series about two chefs who hate each other but actually like each other. At night I seemed to have lost of my sense of smell. 

 I did nothing today but finish season 1 and 2 of The Witcher. And I showered twice. 

 My fever started to subside but now comes the cough. ugh. I managed to finish "Fellow Creatures" just before 2021 ends so I could add it to my Goodreads quota. I managed to beat last year's reading record by >1,000 pages read, thanks to the long epic novels I read on my ferry rides. Anna Karenina, A Suitable Boy, Gone With The Wind ... I stayed awake longer today until after dinner, which was pho, but then fell asleep at 7 pm and couldn't wake up to do yoga or shower. So I just brushed my teeth and kept sleeping. Jan suddenly called me at 12.30 am to wish me happy new year and I thought it was an emergency call. Jeez, what a way to start 2022.