When You Have Nothing To Do

There are just some days when we have nothing to do. We've had days when our to-do lists were blank. Some days, our schedule changes and then we're suddenly free for the afternoon. There are also days when we just don't know what to do. It's hard thinking of what you can do so here's a list of things you can do when you have nothing to do:

1. Take a nap.
2. Read a book. My current recommendation is It's Kind of a Funny Story by Ned Vizzini!
3. Bake cookies.
4. Make yourself a cup of coffee!
5. Write about your day.
6. If you have pets, play with them!
7. Write a poem.
8. Watch Princess and the Frog! It's one of the best Disney films of all time (in my opinion).
9. Watch a cooking video!
10. Listen to Carly Rae Jepsen's E•MO•TION.
11. Trying making a cake-in-a-mug!
12. Write a letter to someone.
13. Send that letter through your post office.
14. Order a burrito from Army Navy because you should treat yourself!
15. Pray for the first person that comes to mind.
16. Work out!
17. If it's your first time working out, go ask a trainer about it first!
18. Watch Finding Nemo.
19. Listen to show tunes.
20. Make a vision board.
21. Make some pancakes!
22. If you're not a pancake person, make waffles instead!
23. Text someone you haven't spoken to in a long time.
24. Read another book! 1984 by George Orwell is a great book that you could consider!
25. Think of three things that you can be thankful for today.
26. Make an Oreo Cheesecake!
27. Take a photograph of something blue.
28. Whatever comes to mind first, write about it.
29. Start a blog!
30. Make a list of things you can do when you have nothing to do.

There's only thirty on this list but I'm definitely sure that there are more things to do out there! If I think of more, maybe I'll add onto this list or make a second part to this post. I hope you enjoyed reading this post. I have a lot of posts planned for the next few weeks but that is all for today!

Until Next Time!

~ Luis ~

Previous Post: Japan: Day 1

Japan: Day 1

Last May, my family and I flew to Japan for summer vacation. We had been thinking about going to Japan for quite some time so to finally be able to go was very exciting. We were there for a week exploring the many parts of Osaka and I absolutely fell in love.

Instead of joining a tour, we decided to be adventurous and explore Osaka by ourselves! On our first day of adventures, we went around Shinsaibashi, Osaka where we stayed for the entire week. Staying there was such a blessing because it near all the places we wanted to visit. I experienced taking the train for the first time! Thankfully, commuting in Japan was very easy and efficient. 

Here are the places we visited on our first day in Japan:

1. Dōtonbori: Only a few blocks away from the Shinsaibashi station was the first stop on our itinerary. Filled with ramen houses, conveyor belt sushi, and Takoyaki stands, Dōtonbori is, without a doubt, a must-see when visiting Japan. After eating, you might consider shopping at the three-storey Forever 21 where the options are endless! While you're there, check out the Dōtonbori Canal, the Glico Man, and the Kani Doraku Giant Crab as well!

2. Daikisuisan Revolving Sushi: Eating at a conveyor belt sushi restaurant was definitely in my top five places to go when we were planning our itinerary. While this restaurant is only one of many in Dōtonbori, Daikisuisan Revolving Sushi serves fresh and delicious sushi at affordable rates.

3. Pablo Cafe: A friend suggested that we visit this place to try out what is known as "the best cheesecake in the world" and they did not disappoint (both my friend and the cheesecakes)! Thankfully, there was one in Dōtonbori so we didn't have to go very far. Cooked just right, the golden brown crust together with the cream cheese made their Mini Cheesecakes the absolute best. While these are a bit pricey, these Pablo cheesecakes are definitely worth it!

4. Shinsaibashi-suji Shopping Center: It is no surprise why this shopping center is filled with so much people all the time. Stretching about 600 meters, Shinsaibashi-suji has everything. This shopping center is filled with clothing stores like H&M and Zara, electronic shops, bookstores, restaurants, and shops that sell knick knacks. This should be on anyone's itinerary when planning for Japan!

Those are all the places that we visited on our first day in Osaka, Japan! This trip has definitely been a blessing and I can't wait to come back to Japan. It is such a beautiful country that I have yet to fully explore. I definitely praise God for this! Definitely a highlight of my year. With four days left, I have still have much in store, but that is all for now!

Unitl Next Time!

~ Luis ~

Previous Post: Peaceful Yet Stormy

Peaceful Yet Stormy

A few nights ago, I was talking to a friend about how the weather was turning out to be. It rained lightly that afternoon and we were both excited for the chill, gloomy weather that meant sweater weather. Ironically, the rain that evening was pouring heavily. The heavy rainfall brought thunder and lightning that I have not experienced for quite some time.

I asked my friend it was raining at her place as well. She said that it wasn't but that she could hear the thunder. She then raised up an interesting point that really struck me. My friend wonder how could it be peaceful yet stormy at the same time? While we both knew the scientific explanation behind that question, the thought of two conflicting situations happening at the same time boggled our minds. 

I'm reminded of an English class I had in my second year of high school. For that session, we were tasked to speak in front of the class and give a speech about a certain topic. One of my classmates spoke about our attitude towards the rainy season. He spoke about how happy students would be when there would be heavy rainfall because it meant classes would be suspended. He pointed out that when we hope for enough rain for classes to be suspended, we forget to think about those who could be greatly affected by the pouring rain. We ignore the possibility that the same rain we hope and pray for could flood someone's house away or destroy the year's harvest for a family's business. 

As he continued to expound on the topic, I felt guilt in my heart. During that time, our school had several class suspensions due to the rainy season, so hearing that speech really struck a chord in me. The speech wasn't a judgement that meant to insult or hurt our feelings; it was a wake-up call. It meant to bring light to the reality that we care more about ourselves and less about others. That we have become people who compromise the safety of others for the sake of our own. People who bring others down so that they can feel good about themselves. People who steal, kill, gossip, and cheat other people for our own well-being. People who are much more willing to take than to give. To put it simply, we have become selfish people.

Society teaches us to love ourselves - and while that's a great thing, loving ourselves at the expense of other people is not love; it's selfishness. Blowing away the leaves that fall in our yard to clean the ground up isn't wrong - but to do so early in the morning while our neighbours are still asleep is. Loving others by keeping them in our thoughts or taking their well-being into consideration while we do the same for ourselves is possible.

Remembering that speech got me thinking about how we are, and how I am today. Several questions filled my head and I found myself reflecting on them. The questions were very helpful while I was reevaluating myself which is why I wanted to share these questions with you, my readers.

Questions:

1. Do I ignore or disregard the well-being of other people for the sake of my own? Do I do it intentionally or unintentionally?
2. Do I bring other people down so that I can feel comfortable (with myself, where I am, what I am doing, etc.)? Do I do it intentionally or unintentionally?
3. Do I hope for the best for myself even when I know that it will be at the cost of other people?
4. Do I act without thinking of the outcome my actions might bring? Do I decide rashly? Do I speak without filtering my words or thinking about the message I am trying to get across?
5. Do I feel at peace when I know that other people are suffering/hurting/not okay?
6. Do I only think about myself?
7. Do I act out of love?

I would like to end this post with an encouragement to all my readers: if you find yourself guilty of being selfish like I was, remember that there is always room for improvement. No one is stuck in one certain state forever, after all. Moving on from this attitude and lifestyle is possible. The only question you have to ask yourself is: am I willing to let God change me?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This post was quite long and heavy but I hope you enjoyed reading. I have been very reflective lately so expect a lot of similar posts. God impressed upon my heart to talk about this on my blog and it has been a blessing writing this. I hope you picked something up while reading this blog post and that you are encouraged more than discouraged because there is hope in God in spite of our failures.

I would also like to take this opportunity to thank my good friend, Yumi Paras, who helped me with this post. Yumi is an amazing writer who I look up to. She is a blogger so the link to her blog will be below. Without your help, advice, and friendship, I'd be a mess. I appreciate you!

This post is getting even longer so I will stop here. I will see you soon and that is all for now!

Until Next Time!
~ Luis ~

Links:
Yumi's Blog: https://therenewed52project.wordpress.com/
Yumi's Twitter: https://twitter.com/yumiisms

Previous Post: Emoji Tag - One Year Later

Emoji Tag - One Year Later

Last year, I posted one of my favourite posts that I've ever put up on this blog - the Emoji Tag. The tag began with Troye Sivan who came up with the idea. With the Emoji Tag, you pick five emojis that best describe who you are as a person and then you explain why you chose that emoji. After that, you tag three people who you want to take part in the tag.

A lot of things can change in the span of one year which is why I thought it would be a great idea to do this tag again to see how much I've changed as a person. Here we go!

Thought Bubble Emoji

I can say that, in the past year, I've grown more reflective. Taking a step back and reevaluating the situation at hand has helped me a lot. It's allowed for me to really process the situation and react to them properly. Reflecting has been very good for me and my walk with God as well. By reflecting on the situation, seeing and understanding how God is working in my life through the situation that I am going through becomes easier. As a result, submitting and surrendering to God becomes easier for me to do.

Sprout Emoji

I can definitely say that I have grown a lot over the past year. I've been through quite a lot that has allowed for me to grow more as a person. The growth that I am talking about here is not the physical growth, but the mental and spiritual growth.

As some of you might know, I am quite an anxious person. I started experiencing panic attacks in my third of year of high school. I become anxious quite often and having frequent panic attacks didn't really help my deal with such an academically stressful year. Two years later and I still get anxious from time to time, but I've learned how to handle my anxiety much better. I think that there is growth in that sense.

As for my spiritual growth, I can definitely say that my spiritual walk with God has grown. Over the past year, my relationship with God was tested multiple times and each trial I faced would be harder than the last. My faith in God was shaken, but in spite of all the difficulties I faced, I always found myself going back to God. Because of all those tests, I learned to turn to God more and to constantly communicate with Him through prayer and my devotions. I have been trying to work on that and working on it has definitely contributed to my growth as a Christian.

Three Eighth Notes Emoji

Not much has changed with my relationship to music. I'm still into music. I listen to music everyday and I would honestly sing every single moment if it weren't so tiring and annoying to some people. I'm still into musicals and if the previous sentence didn't tell you that, then I don't know what will. I sort of know how to play the piano and the guitar, but please don't make me do it. What I am trying to say is that music takes up a lot of my life. If my life were turned into a pie chart, music would probably have one of the biggest pieces.

Cry Laughing Emoji

Since I last did this tag, I have been laughing more. I guess I've just been placed in a lot of funny situations or maybe I just like to laugh a lot more now. It is just so great to laugh and I enjoy it a lot (but who doesn't like to laugh?). I love it when people are so happy that when they laugh, they are crying already or you can't hear them laugh anymore because they are hitting those Mariah Carey whistle notes already. Also, apparently, my laugh is funny. I take pride in my laughter so here's an emoji to represent it.

Notebooks Emoji

I'm the type of person who loves to buy notebooks even if I already have five other notebooks in my drawer waiting to be used. I think it's because I love writing on notebooks, taking notes, and just writing in general. I've developed a habit of always bringing a pen and a notebook with me when I can. While at a coffee shop, I would listen to music, bring out my notebook, and write down all my ideas. I could honestly do that for hours and be completely fine with it. That could honestly be my aesthetic.

Those are the five emojis that I am going to be using to describe myself for this tag. Doing this tag again reminded me of how great of an exercise on reflection this tag is. Looking back at the past year and seeing how much has changed personally makes me happy. To see how far I have come makes me excited for the future that God has in store for me. I think it is important to note also that if you feel that you haven't changed much in a certain period of time, don't feel disappointed at yourself. You are a work-in-progress; God is still working on you and will continue to do so. Just do your part in the changing process to the best of your abilities and God will do the rest.

As I mentioned earlier, the Emoji Tag involves tagging three other people to take part in it which is why I am tagging Elisa Aquino, Cat Ao, and Bella Ante. They are all bloggers so all their links will be below! This post was quite lengthy but I hope you still enjoyed reading it. Also, I am really sorry about the drawings. I am not skilled at drawing but I just wanted to try out the new blackboard that I got for this blog! Anyway, I have loads planned for this month. I have got loads of blog posts and photos that I cannot wait to share, but that is all for now!

Until Next Time!

~ Luis ~

Links:
Elisa's blog: http://shemakeshimknown.com/
Cat's blog: http://catrionaysabela.ml/
Bella's blog: https://bellaphant123.wordpress.com/

Previous Post: April Favourites 2016
Related Post: Emoji Tag