11 Valuable Lessons from 2011

It's that time of the year again. Instead of posting about my resolutions for the new year, I'm posting instead 11 valuable lessons that I learned this incredible year. 2011 will be, forevermore, a special year for me. Semper et in aeternum.

• Work smarter not harder.


• Kindness is not always a kindness and severity at times, is a kind of kindness.


• Assert yourself and do not let the fear of confrontation censor you. This is especially true on issues of great importance. Holding your silence when you should have spoken your mind forfeits any right to complain afterwards.


• The best defense to have against people who like to stand on other people's shoulders and take credit for other people's hard work is to know your self-worth.


• Some people love to portray themselves as the victim because it's their way of coping with realities they can't accept. Give them sympathy therefore because that is what they want to elicit but give them nothing else.


• If you don't change something about yourself, nothing around you ever will.


• All great changes are preceded by turmoil. Have the courage to embrace it however unknown. You can not grasp something better if you don't let go of what is currently in your grip.


• Everyone has their version of the truth. It is after all everyone's prerogative. Some truths however, hold more true than others.


• Do not call it YOUR dream if you are waiting for other people to realize it for you.


• Let go and believe. It. Will. Be. Alright.


• Love is love is love is love. It is not something that you should ever apologize for.

いま羽をもらうの　この窓から飛び立つわ
雲の上まで上ってまた地上に降り立つの
そして映画観に行って　洋服も買って　アイス食べながらメトロ乗るの
ピアス開けて　たまには学校も行って　夜にはあなたの腕に抱かれて
最高の眠りにつきたいの

"I'm gonna get my wings now and fly through this window
I'll fly up above the clouds and then come back down to Earth
Then I'll go to the movies and buy new clothes
And I'll eat ice cream and ride the metro
I'll get my ears pierced and go to school once in a while
And at night I want to have the best sleep ever
Held tight in your arms"

Every sunday afternoon~

A Song for Emma

I don't really know you Emma
But I might have an idea of you
You fell in love, lost it all
and since then haven't convalesced

Well don't you know Emma
that it's been years?
Don't you know that
while you've been holding on,
the world hasn't stopped
turning on its gears?

Yet I can't really blame you
if you are still paralyzed.
If a wound is all that's left,
then I'd understand why you
wouldn't want it to heal.

All I can say is Emma,
that maybe your melancholy
would be more admirable
if you but had the courage
to smile a little bit more.

All I can say Emma,
is that tug-of-war has long ceased.
I've long given you freely,
every inch you want to conquer.

Blame me, blame yourself.
Don't you realize that you
come on your own?
Every time you fall into
that same rabbit hole?

Blame me, blame yourself.
To me it's all the same.
I don't need your absolution,
I just need you to move on.

Blame me, blame yourself.
To me it's all the same.
Emma, your bitter reality
is my very same love story.