To the Grad Class of 2014,

YOU GUYS.

Grad is finally here. It's fast approaching - hell, it's three days away.

Naturally, like many other fantastic and exciting things that has come to be in my past, I always get sick. Always, without fail. So being completely healthy before grad should have made me laugh because I should have known better. I would get sick.

However, having the time at home and the time alone really gave me time to contemplate and think about where I am now, who I have become, and what I hope to achieve in the next chapter of my life.

Despite the fact that I have lost my voice (but what else is new) and my back is really sore and my head pounding and thudding like there's no tomorrow, I am truly grateful for everything that has happened. Okay, so maybe my immune system could use some work. But this year, and the past 13 years of schooling, has taught me so much.

To the graduates of 2014,

We finally made it. Here we are, at a time and place that we have probably all thought once or twice in our past that we would never make it. There were times where we thought that graduation was too far away and didn't come soon enough. There were times where we were so caught up with the fear of our future that we couldn't enjoy what it truly meant to be young. We were once so overburdened by what people thought, what people said, and what it meant to keep up with the times that we couldn't appreciate who we were and what we could do.

But right here, at this moment, we have come to the realization that we are enough and we have conquered something massive.

What once seemed far out of reach is right at our fingertips, just close enough to touch. We are at the realm of adulthood, ready to move on from the environment that we have once called our school community to various campuses all over the map, becoming one of many and making new friends. After much stress and planning, the time has finally come to celebrate the fruits of our labor. The path maybe uncertain, but put your trust in God. This is where the true adventure begins.

Ladies and gentlemen, we are among the next generation of doctors, lawyers, engineers, teachers, fashion designers, journalists, technicians, men and women of the armed forces and famous royalty. There is no limit to what we can do and what we can achieve. Remember to do what you love.

I hope to one day be able to turn on the television and see one of the many people that I have once sat in class with being interviewed. Maybe one of us will have discovered the cure to cancer, created a new and cutting edge piece of technology or become the next Prime Minister. We all have so much potential to do great things, and I hope that you all realize that at this point.

As we prepare to embark on this new chapter of our lives, take care of yourselves. Enjoy the moment - it only comes once in a lifetime.



So cheers, Grad XIV. Here's to a whole new world. Stay true, be you, and spill some more ink while you're doing so.

Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. - 1 Peter 5:7

The Most Interesting Half an Hour of My Life

To be completely honest, I never knew that half an hour could be so earth shattering, so confusing and yet so amazing in that one instance.

Half an hour was the amount of time it took to take close to 50 different shots for grad photos. Admittedly the flash got in my eyes and made them smaller than usual. I was blinded for mere seconds to return back to reality, wearing heels that gave me 4 extra inches in height and more make up than I was used to.

In half an hour, my entire life flashed before my eyes.. literally.

Okay, so maybe I'm extremely melodramatic. I wasn't in danger at any point during this shoot, but during this occasion when I slipped into the graduation gown for the first time and looked at myself in the mirror, the cinema began playing.

It is so strange to think that in 5 months time, I will be graduating. I have been waiting for this day for 13 years, and it came quicker than I anticipated it to do so. The fact that I am moving on from one stage of my life to a new one is weird to me. This life is all I have ever known, and this coming September I will be put into a new life.

I realize that I tend to over think things, and this year I've tried my best to take things as they come and go with the flow of things. What is inevitable is that whether I like it or not, I'm still graduating. I'm going to have to move on when the commencements happen in June. We all age and time continues to tick on; it waits for no one.

With each picture taken a flash would go off every 15 seconds. Every 15 seconds a part of my life would dance before my eyes. For that half an hour I relived every memorable moment in my life, and when the photographers told me that it was done, I was brought back to the person I am now. I wish I could remember what ran through my mind when I was the ages of 3 or 7 or 12 or 15. My mind only stretches so far, but yet in that half an hour everything had rushed back into my memory like flooding water.

During this time I also realized that I spend way too much time feeling unhappy about things that aren't worth my time. Admittedly I like to do that, not because I "like" to but because that's just who I am and it's what I've been doing for.. ever.

I need to make the first step to realize that I can choose to be sad, or I can choose to move on. If time flies this quickly and 18 years can go by in the blink of an eye, then there is no time to waste by being sad. Why do we let these things take over our minds and memories? It seems that all we remember are the negative things when really, we should be focusing on the positives and let these happy times burn into our memories.

Walking away from what was advertised to me as another photo shoot helped me to realize how quickly life goes by, how short it truly is and how we all deserve to be happy in this short life of ours. After all, if we are happy, then life will be more enjoyable and be a lot longer.

So live life, be happy, and spill more ink while you do so.