Last October 2014, I was extremely looking forward to our visit in Studio Ghibli Museum in Mitaka, Japan. However, tickets were sold out. We also found out booking starts the first of every month and three months ahead. So we should have bought tickets on September 1. Due to my dismay, I prayed to God that I will either go there with my family or with my future boyfriend/husband. ((:

When I found out about the Studio Ghibli Exhibit at I'Park Mall in Seoul, South Korea, I knew then that "This is it!" There were no online bookings or reservations so we went directly to the exhibit area without even lining up. The entrance fee was 15000 KRW or approximately P614.18 for adults. This exhibit would last until March 1, 2015. Since we visited on a Thursday, there were few people. We had the chance to take our time in each display. We had a very comfortable experience.

All along, I thought the exhibit was made by people in South Korea. But during the exhibit, I asked one of the attendants and they told me that everything was made by Studio Ghibli Japan. Excellency in the work could be found everywhere. I fell in love with the designs and details of each display. The design team made it look like as if each visitor was part of the films. There were beautiful transitions from one film to the other. The exhibitions included Howl's Moving Castle, Princess Mononoke, Pom Poko, My Neighbor Totoro, Porco Rosso, and Spirited Away. The only disappointment was my most favorite films were not included: Kiki's Delivery Service and The Wind Rises. At least, the most famous ones and some of the beautiful ones were there. And I was more than happy just to see anything Ghibli! We also visited the souvenir shop and bought some goods. The prices of the products were similar to the prices of the Studio Ghibli products in Japan.

Here goes God's third letter to me:

Dearest Kaye,

I feel your joy! I brought you here because I want to see the joy of a child in you. It took a little time for I long to see your focus and dependence in me. You have remembered my promise. As your father, I have granted it and I will continue to fulfill more of my promises to you.

Calcifer

Howl <3

Daughter, I want you to enjoy and savor each moment. I will watch over you and protect you because you have a childlike faith (Psalm 116:6). Stay focus in me and depend in me. You are not self-sufficient. Without me, everything else is meaningless.

Ashitaka

San a.k.a. Princess Mononoke and the wolves

Ashitaka and the Great Forest Spirit

Great Forest Spirit

Kodama or Tree Spirits

Pom Poko

Mei and Satsuki

Totoroooooooooo <3

Dreamt of this for a looong time. (((:

Porco Rosso, a film that I haven't watched in full ((:

Spirited Away

Yubaba

No Name Face

Chihiro

Remember that I will provide for your every need always.

If you will have all the time and money in the world, what would you do? That question popped up when I attended a small group talk about a private franchising business last night. The first thing I thought about was to travel the world. Aside from that, I wanted to be a philanthropist and help out the children with special needs who are less fortunate through teaching. But I also want to get trained in this area. I also wanted to attend classes and be mentored in photography, writing, making music, art, or dance. The sad part was I never got to seriously do one of those in three years since I started working.

Don't get me wrong. I do love work. Teaching kids and seeing them learn something from me is a reward that is irreplaceable by fancy or material things. Making a small difference in their lives is a gift that I would never trade off for anything. But I also feel that work becomes tiring when you are deeply involved in it, day in and day out, and you are slowly losing parts of yourself. I do not want that to happen. In fact, I have been trying to savor myself from zoning out.

One way of savoring myself is through traveling. People say I travel a lot. I do it because it keeps me sane and sends me back to a different kind of happy state that I would never get from work. This does not mean that my work does not make me happy. It does! There is just an unexplainable difference that only those people who have a big heart for travel know and understand.

Another way to savor myself is to take photos and edit them. Even though I have not attended photography and photo-editing classes yet, I never stopped taking photos and learning based on my experiences. I still search and learn from other photographers online and in person. I also try to learn from the worldwide source of all information, the Internet. This humble hobby is related to my love for travel. Because if I plan and see the world, I need to capture it in good photos in order to easily return to the experience whenever I like. However, I admire what Sean O'Connell said in The Secret Life of Walter Mitty:

"If I like a moment, for me, personally, I don’t like to have the distraction of the camera. I just want to stay in it."

Staying in the moment is a perfect way to capture a picture. The photographer's eyes become the camera. And the moment becomes a part of the photographer's life.

Writing reminds me of who I am. Whenever I finished a poem, an essay, a paper for school, or a simply a blog entry like this one, I get really happy. Holding a finished work of writing keeps me excited even though I know it will get criticized or it will never be read. I actually do not mind showing my true self in writing. It is actually where people will get to know the real me.

Music elavates a part of myself. Whether it is music from an mp3 player, a car radio, a live musician with a band, or simply music from nature, listening to music completes a part of who I am. Singing it like owning the lyrics, playing keys on the piano, dancing to a tune, whether beautifully or amateurishly gives a sudden burst of energy. It defines the moment. Like if a caption is to a photo, a song is to a life event. A song becomes a part of the soundtrack of my life and it helps me not to lose myself to the world.

Reading also reminds me that there is fantasy, a world apart from our own. But they can be representations of the real world where we live in such as characters in novels that we can relate to. As much as reading brings me to fantasy, it also guides me back to reality. Due to this, I become more hopeful and my dreams become bigger.

The presence of people I value and care about the most also keeps me from losing myself. They are always there to remind me who I was, who I am, and who I can be. They fill in the blanks about myself that I have forgotten or have never realized. I am very grateful for the people who are still sticking with me and have stood the test of time. I do hope each one of us always have people like them in our lives.

Once I finished my tasks this afternoon, I decided to watch the French movie Amélie. This movie was something old yet new to me. I have been dying to watch it since I was in my preteen years but I never had the chance. I completely forgot that I listed down the movie in my Tumblr Movie List a few years ago and I downloaded a torrent file a few days ago. It is such a huge relief to be able to watch it at last.


For me, Amélie was fun, artistic, witty, depressing, and authentic. The little Amélie kind of reminded me of the little Matilda. There was something magical in her. She created her own fantasy world where she leads her own adventures. For a second, I thought she has special powers and she was determined to save the world. Well, she actually did plan to spread goodness to people in a womanly Zorro kind-of-way...

I fell in love with Amélie's character right away. She reminded me of myself a lot. I was an introvert like her at 24 years old. I also wear vintage, can live with anything vintage, and I love Paris and the color red. I have a job that I enjoy though I could ask for more. I have always planned to make a difference by helping people and spreading love and kindness. I have been in a relationship with men though true love has never landed on my feet. The only thing that makes a lot of difference between Amélie and I was that she lived independently with only a cat in her apartment and I have neither lived alone nor slept next to a cat all my life. I have always lived with my parents and I preferred to live with dogs.


The movie showed the importance of family which I really liked. I could not imagine the feeling of losing a mother at a very young age though it must be not so terrible for Amélie. When she was young, she could not wait for herself to be old enough to leave her parents' home and live independently. Still, out of love, she still visited her father even though she was already living in heart of Paris. It reminded me of my family values: to love and care for the ones who took care of us.


Amélie's quest for true love in the movie turned out to be so cute. Amélie and Nino grew up five miles apart from each other. When they were young, they longed for a brother and a sister to play with. Once their paths crossed again, Amélie fell in love with Nino. At first, she could not acknowledge her own feelings though she managed to overcome her fears by the help of Mr. Colignon, the old artist living in the same apartment building as hers (really grumpy but lovable!). Slowly but surely, she directed Nino through a game for him to know who she really was.

If Amelie chooses to live in a dream and remain an introverted young woman, she has an absolute right to mess up her life! -Mr. Colignon

Honestly, I was not so fond of Nino. He, too has an adventure of his own but he did not quite notice Amélie until the end. Maybe he was so shy or he was so focused on collecting pictures of people from the photo booth. Ha-ha. But I guess I am just the kind of person who prefers the man to fall in love first and make the first move. I just did not like it when he only made a move when he was told by Amélie's co-worker that the girl was Amélie. He could have thought of a way to find out for himself. I am such a traditional Filipina! Hahaha!

Anyways, guy frustrations are starting to come out again. LOL. But like Amélie, I believe I will find my luck at the right time. Luck is truly similar to a Tour de France. Wait, and let it flash past you. And of course, you need to catch it while you can.

My most favorite part: Photo: "She's in love." Nino: "I don't even know her." Photo: "You do." Nino: "Since when?" Photo: "Since always. In your dreams."

Salut!