Amy Do Nguyet Anh

It's New Year's.. only 10 or so more days until I meet him again. I know his brilliant smile will hang across his face and we will be in shopping malls for hours, hands heavy with happiness. Ten days until we get to eat what we want and talk about what we want. Partying into the night and shopping away the days. It's almost Tet, only 3 more days until I see them again. The friends that I have known since I didn't even know myself. How are they now? After many seasons of love, life and career? I can't wait to feel like I'm 15 again, but more freedom, more hope. Nostalgia keeps me strong. It's May.. only a few more days until my last day at my job, and 5 more days until I see her again. It's been 7 years. Too long to believe, yet too short to feel. How does she look like now, away from the Singaporean sun? How does she look now, the weight of philosophy on her shoulders? Her cheeks rosy with the touch of love. We both have changed so much, but also so ...

One night years ago during final season, we waited in the rain for the 25 bus to come. It was past midnight, and the cold April rain gripped my hands and face. He patiently kept me awake with conversations that I don't even remember - video games, politics. The rain kept pouring on us, but he didn't leave my side. When it was finally obvious that the 25 was not coming anymore, and I had missed my last bus back to dorm, I pleaded with him to let me stay the night. And back we trekked through the cold and wet to his place. I had no dry clothes. He was sleepy. We got to sleep as fast as we could. I don't remember much else. But the wait, for something that eventually did not come, I still remember. I was disappointed, but I knew I had someone beside me. I knew I had somewhere to go. A direction. Here I am years later, waiting again. My life had shifted this year. Things started to become bad. Bad in a complicated way. Not in the way a 9th-grader would mean. And I'm lo...

I woke up one morning the cold besieges me I grasp for warmth and you're not there. My dreams are disconnected invaded with thoughts of you still here holding me. What does it take to knit the fabrics of time and hold on. What do I do, with reality and hope How do I reconcile, the could've and the is.

The bike laid next to a "Bike Vancouver" bike rack quietly and stubbornly. Her skeleton was black and a small pink Kryptonite held her close to the rack. She was brutally minimalistic. Without a kickstand, she's leaning against the small steel structure, resting her entire weight, light but sturdy, on the support. I took a step closer and realize she's without brakes. I frowned, and the bike simply stared back defiantly. With a skinny Brooks saddle, placed rather high up compared to the handlebars, I knew the owner was a savvy hardcore biker. In between the spokes, a picture of a woman - perhaps an actress or singer from the 70s that I couldn't recognize - was nicely placed, but precariously. What is the rider trying to say about himself? He also is riding without lights or a rack. No stickers, no colours, no visible brand name. You'd think he's a humble and low-key personality, but the small touches of customization makes me feel he's trying to say s...

This Easter weekend I cancelled most of my social plans. Vivan's birthday party, Sally's baking date, Sailbot work party... Being stuck indoors made me realize how slow the world goes when I am not moving. This term I've worked really hard, but I've barely shown up. A lot of the work, Safewalk, job-hunting, textbook reading, data crunching,... happens outside regular hours. Keeping myself together is also a part-time job! I've cut out completely window shopping and real shopping from my schedule. I am saturated with stuff and completely clean of money. That definitely helps me stay home. I've also been hit by waves of exhaustion. The kind when my body just shuts down for a day or two, and I sleep for hours without feeling enough. I try to forget that I can only do so much, and keep pushing for a little more until I can't any further. So I thought my weekend was going to be shut in anti-social loneliness, but at 9 pm on Monday, me and Zak and his friend, B...

I'm going to blogging for the next five months at this new location! http://blogs.ubc.ca/amydo/ See you back in January 2016.

Airport are for goodbyes. And hellos. But this it was for goodbye. Words cannot describe the long nights we stayed up designing a bolt hole in a steel plate, or coming up with a list of stakeholders for our construction management project. The time we stared at a spreadsheet for hours to make our EGL/HGL work for our pipe system. Boy the time I "braved" driving to pick him up in the outskirts of Seattle, 5 hours late. The late nights clubbing, dancing, eating, drinking, laughing, driving. I'm saying goodbye soon as well, only for 4 months, but it feels like I haven't been away from home in a long time. Every time I say goodbye I wish I had one more week, month, year. But hey, I'm looking forward to hello again. I'm gonna miss a bubbly, energetic and optimistic smile in my life though!