Random Musings – missruslee

Forgotten moments of 2017.

December 31, 2017January 12, 2018 missrusleeLeave a comment

I haven’t been able to write for weeks. I don’t know why but words just do not seem to flow anymore.

I’ve tried everything. I’ve blocked out time to just sit down and write. I have sat down and gone through my hard disks full of pictures over and over again to find inspiration. I have opened the Everywhereist and reread old posts more than I care to admit. But nothing seems to work. Nothing has yet spilled on this screen, no moment of sparks that made me go ‘aha’. Even if I had set myself a topic to write, I opened up my blank canvas, browsed through the pictures that I could potentially use, and did not feel inspired to write.

So the only way left now is to address the elephant in the room: the writer’s block itself. I have decided to look at the gargantuan problem straight into the eyes and say, “Hey I acknowledge your presence. Now can you please get the heck out of here?”

And I know that it’s not because of a lack of stuff to write. I have so much that I want to share with you from the countless trips that I took over the past two years. But I guess this being a travel blog, I sometimes find it inappropriate to share about my past trips when I’m technically not an active traveller anymore, at least for now.

And when I looked at old pictures from this year (yes all those travelling days felt soo long ago), I was surprised at how much I have forgotten, and there were even pictures of myself that I did not recognise. It felt much like when I was reading “The world this year” section of The Economist’s Christmas Special edition. I kept saying to myself “I can’t believe this happened earlier this year.”

So here are some of those moments, the forgotten pictures that have been part as much a part of 2017 as those that I had somehow remembered more vividly.

A picture of pure happiness of me at a Copenhagen Metro station. My happiness knew no place.

Continue reading “Forgotten moments of 2017.” →

The first (and hopefully not last) English summer.

Some change in the weather, and a little more.

August 3, 2017August 6, 2017 missrusleeLeave a comment

Summer was in its full force the past few weeks in London. The temperature went up to a whopping 31C, and the East Asian roots in me would soon take out my purple and flowery anti-UV umbrella out of fear of getting tanned (and wrinkles).

londonsummer3 — Guess whose umbrella is that.

I took advantage of the rare glorious weather to do a lot of walks all over. I explored the streets of the City of London, from St Paul’s churchyard to little alleys filled with bars and cafes often overflowing with lawyers and bankers in their work dresses and suits, beer in hand. I also ventured further into my neighbourhood, up to my favourite Primrose Hill and then went as far as the Parliament Hill at Hampstead Heath (finally).

Continue reading “The first (and hopefully not last) English summer.” →

I am and will be MIA until the 5th of May.

April 25, 2017April 25, 2017 missrusleeLeave a comment

I decided to write this post for several reasons.

One, because I’m in a real danger of breaking my track record since this blog started – I have written at least one post every month since December 2013.

Two, because I just submitted the first full 6000-word draft of my thesis to my supervisor so my brain has some capacity to churn out words. I still have another 6000 to go, but that’s besides the point.

Three, because my stress level is at an all-time high, I get irritated by little things very easily. I simply have to rant.

In particular, this recent phenomenon of people not taking my warning seriously.

Recently, I posted this on Facebook, which I’m sure many of my Facebook friends saw judging from the number of responses that I received.

And then a strange phenomenon happened. More people are starting to text me on Facebook, people that I haven’t even heard from in a while (I’m talking years).

I appreciate a lot of the well wishes that came for me in completing my thesis. And I do understand that there are some questions that you might forget if you didn’t send me right away. I sincerely apologise for not having gotten back to you. Many of you have been incredibly gracious and understanding and you don’t know how much that means to me.

Plus you are fine, you are not the ones who irritate me.

It is those who then proceeded to text me again to nudge me for not replying. If I have read your messages and not reply you during the next week or so, that’s because I simply haven’t got the time to. Which part of “I will be rubbish at replying to your text messages” do you not understand? Unless you are my parents (and possibly my flatmate) who will genuinely get worried whether I’m alive if I didn’t reply for a day, you will simply have to wait.

I know I sound really snobbish and I should not be ranting about this. I should even be grateful that I have friends who still text me. But that is precisely why I posted that picture with the caption, because I do cherish my friends and will always do my best to reply everyone promptly but I am simply going to be rubbish during this period. And I will get back to you in due course, just please don’t text me again simply to nudge me to reply.

Even chocolate baits won’t work. Maybe.

Snow, and life.

March 8, 2017March 8, 2017 missruslee1 Comment

Sometimes getting through life feels like (me) walking in the snow.

You don’t really know what you are doing, but you are just ploughing through.

Continue reading “Snow, and life.” →

Back in Copenhagen, again.

There is nothing quite like your first love (in Europe).

February 15, 2017February 15, 2017 missruslee3 Comments

Everyone remembers their first love.

It probably happened a long time ago.

1917711_126827266433_5142690_n — This was taken 8 years ago in 2009, when I was probably 8 kg lighter.

For some, it might have been just a short-lived crush. But for many, it lasted for a few years.

Because for some reason, you kept coming back for more…

And more…

Continue reading “Back in Copenhagen, again.” →

Blizzard.

November 22, 2015August 16, 2016 missrusleeLeave a comment

Just a little pause from writing on this blog for this month. In the midst of midterm hiatus and finals looming just around the corner, this blog thus has to take a backseat for now.

In the meantime, enjoy this lovely rainbow over Aarhus on one of my happiest days so far here. It is hard to imagine that this was only last week, since at the moment I am ‘trapped’ in the first snow blizzard for the year in Copenhagen.

I will come back with more updates, that’s a promise!

For the love of writing.

February 14, 2015February 28, 2015 missrusleeLeave a comment

I love writing. I really do. But for some reason, when I have to write about a topic unfamiliar to me or as part of an assignment that I will be appraised on, I get stressed about it. Perhaps because of how I have been labelled as a good writer, the expectations get a little too much at times.

I just finished writing my very first article at my new workplace. It was not even that difficult, just on an event that we have recently participated in, but for some reason I mulled over it a lot and it consumed a lot of my brain cells thinking not about the content but about how people would perceive my writing. And when I was finally done with it last night (or early this morning, rather), I felt so relieved that I had to reward myself with something: more writing.

Contrary to popular belief, I find writing difficult. It takes a lot of effort for me to come up with a piece with good content and coherent sentences. But I like it so much that I find myself keep doing it; perhaps precisely because it is difficult, I simply have to master it, and it could very well be the reason why I love it so much.

The thing about writing is that it always starts with a blank page. And blank pages can be both exciting and daunting at the same time. There is a whole story for you to create there, a word-masterpiece waiting to take shape. A blank page is going to stay that way if you don’t start writing on it, word by word, as painful and difficult as it sometimes is to do. But the magic about writing is, as you pen down your first word, the second will inevitably come, and the third, and the fourth, and the next paragraph will follow and in time you would fill up the page with your thoughts. And the blank page is gone, just like that, replaced by your very own creation.

The thing about writing is, when you have written something that is truly your own, you will want to do nothing else but create more. It is a point of no return.

So Happy Valentine’s Day everyone. I hope you get to spend time with the people you love, doing something that you love.