Episode 70

I am very glad I resisted and did not spoil myself for how the story would end.

That's how I can fully absorb the impact the producers would like the audience to feel I guess.

Totally cried when the story explained how Fuheng died. Definitely didn't see that this is how his character would leave this show. So quietly. So sadly. So beautifully orchestrated. (Didn't even let him say goodbye!? His last scene was him going to war at Myanmmar...)

I think of all the romance K-dramas I've watched, this love story trumps all of them.

I especially love how the story follows history (as much as they can, where they can). Together as the story slowly unfolds, I also began reading books about Chinese's history, especially about the Qing Dynasty out of interest. I reached a chapter that was about to spoil more details about the last Empress of Qianlong. Luckily I was careful to stop myself there.

Now, I can finally continue from there and google more.
And also watch the behind the scenes (FINALLY)

Merry Christmas

2013

"Your desire to leave where you are should never be stronger than your desire to live the way you want to live wherever you're currently at. Things don't magically get better or more exciting with a change in location - it begins and ends with a change in your perspective."

29 Apr 2013 |

2014

15 July 2014 | "You get a strange feeling when you're about to leave a place. Like you'll not only miss the people you love but you'll miss the person you are now at this time and this place, because you'll never be this way ever again." - Azar Nafisi

23 Aug 2014 |

7 Dec 2014 |

22 Dec 2014 |

"And at some point, you just stop asking questions. And start listening. To the waves and the wind and the calls for love in all of the beautiful languages you will never understand. You just let it be. And keep moving."

29 Dec 2014 |

30 Dec 2014 |

2015

"You are a person who has feelings, who cared deeply, who experienced the closest thing mortals have to magic, and there is nothing more OK than acknowledging that and mourning it."

"Yes, it may be easier when you have someone in your corner, but I think it is important to go through tough things on your own when you're young to prepare you for even tougher situations later on."

2 Feb 2015 | "Whatever your past has been, you have a spotless future."

31 January 2015 |

9 June 2015 |

13 June 2015 |

"Our life is a constant journey, from birth to death. The landscape changes, the people change, our needs change, but the train keeps moving. Life is the train, not the station." - Paulo Coelho

15 June 2015 |

29 Jun 2015

30 Jul 2015 |

"To make something of yourself you've got to know what it's like to get picked on, to be penniless, under pressure or treated like dirt. The bad times in life put a hunger in you. The dreamers and doers of the world are often those who've faced the most hardship yet found a way to flourish." - Beau Taplin

"Success is liking yourself, liking what you do, and liking how you do it." - Maya Angelou

17 Aug 2015 |

29 Oct 2015 |

21 Nov 2015 |

2016

23 Jan 2016 |

24 Jan 2016 |

A few thoughts while I was away

• We live in a time when... what you set out to do, you can achieve it, more easily than ever. So why are you not stepping forward to do it? 
• It is important to slow down, write and reflect. I was naturally happier and lighter when I did that everyday during secondary school. And I intend to consciously do more of this in the new year.
• One of the best things about having a job - it enables you to start building the life that you want and to start moving a few steps closer to your ideal lifestyle
• Life isn't that difficult/scary actually. As humans, through ages of evolution, we have evolved to be equipped with the natural ability to find solutions to survive and thrive. All that I've experienced so far that caused a need for this experience, was an after-effect of being in a modern city for too long, a local work culture that can do better at valuing respectable boundaries, and a general ignorance of the society to the things that truly matter in life. The focuses and the priorities people back in my country look at are unfortunately skewed.