Category Archives: Thoughts

The End of Days

Posted in Religious Musings, Thoughts by

While I believe that Harold Camping has a few screws missing in thinking that he could predict the end of the world, I will admit that I do like having a bit of fun with his prediction. End of Days party, anyone? However, when I woke up this yesterday to find a retweet in my feed, I stopped short and did a bit of thinking.

My first reaction was, “I wish people wouldn’t lump this craziness with Christians. We don’t think the world ends this Saturday!” and this is true for all the Christians that I know. However, along with this, a number of other thoughts rolled through my mind. No man knows the hour; generalization of a people group is often incorrect; I am hungry, what’s for breakfast? The last thought is irrelevant, but after that another thought tumbled by – suppose the world does end, but more specifically, suppose my life comes to an end, am I ready for that? What would I have left behind?

In the broader sense, if the world was to end and everyone dies then what? Well, we will find the answer to the much argued question – is there life after death? If there is no life after death then we are forever gone, and for me, it makes living meaningless – like running a race with no one knowing (or caring) that you’ve finished. If there is life after death, our souls will be wondering through eternity, forever trapped or freed due to our decisions on earth. Eternity is a long time. Eternity is endless and that’s awfully long to be wrong. More on this topic in another post! 😉

In the narrower sense, what if my life comes to an end? In regards to my soul, I am content in my beliefs and have the hope that my soul is accounted for eternally, so that’s not something I worry about. However, I do wonder about the people that I will be leaving behind on earth. My family, friend and my church are all an important part of my life, they are the people I spend most of my time with (outside of work).

I also wonder about my legacy. Will I be missed? How will I be remembered? Will lives be touched because of me? Will I pass from this world as a whisper or will I go out with a bang? I like to think of myself as a wallflower, but I do want to go out with a bang!

As these questions ran through my mind I took a look at my life and thought about all the projects that I’ve started this year and all the ideas that I am trying to implement. Perhaps there’s a part of me that woke up when 2011 came along and shook the cobwebs off and started moving. Perhaps that part of me can sense that an end is near. Perhaps there is a primal urge inside of me to live on in the things that I create. Perhaps I am no longer content with watching life pass me by. Whatever the case may be, if I had only a few days to live, I know that the life I am living now is the life that I want to be living and in that I am content.

End of the world? Bring it on.

The Whitney Museum and Foursquare

Posted in Cultured, Gallery, Media, My New York, Social Media, Thoughts by

The Whitney Museum of American Art partnered with Foursquare back in February. Their partnership offered a badge to users – after checking in to certain places – so that the cost of admission for anyone with the badge would be $5 (as opposed to the usual $18). I visited the museum this past weekend, using the discounted price, and took a stroll through the exhibits.

A few of the exhibitions stood out to me. The Glenn Ligon exhibit was pretty heavy. It is available until June 5th and has a number of prints, photos, drawing and even some neon lights. It’s not light hearted and whimsical, it practically reaches out and punches you in the gut. I’ve never thought about my minority status in society as much as I did while walking through this exhibit.

I’ve been lucky to be unaffected by racism or prejudice when it comes to my colour and womanhood — or, if I have been subjected to any prejudice I haven’t noticed. However, while walking through this exhibit one thing struck me, that thing is, at a young age I never knew colour. I never looked at my brown hands and thought, oh, I’m brown and that person is white or black. I just saw people. Even now all I see are faces and humans and I’m glad for that bit of colourblindness.  However, it was only when another person voiced it that I realised that we were all different. I appreciate the differences and can understand the need to cling to your own “group” so to say, but I still don’t quite grasp it as I never feel comfortable with only one race or one social class.

One of the things that stood out to me about this exhibit wasn’t just colour, but also the need to be a part of a group, or to have an identity. It’s a longing inside everyone to be a part of something greater. That’s what grasped me most of all.

One of my favourite pieces was on the fifth floor. It was the Walk, Don’t Walk sculpture by George Segal, made to represent pedestrians in New York who move along in a zombie-like state as they carry on with their day.

I can understand this piece. Sometimes I feel the same way. When I walk down the streets it’s usually to get from one place to the next. Many times I have my ipod in my ears and I hardly pay attention to the people around me. No smiles, no chatting with strangers, just pure focus on getting to my destination. It amazes me that I could stand so close to someone on the sidewalk, waiting for the light to change and not even realise that they are there. How robotic it seems. Then there are times when I make an attempt to be aware and to see what’s going on around me. During these times I get a glimpse of beauty of the city I live and work in, or snatches of conversations that reveal a lot about the people around me. For example, there was a time when a woman on her phone was arguing with her significant other. I felt sorry for her, I wanted to give her a tissue so that she could wipe the tears that she was holding back. Couldn’t the other person wait until she was home to have this conversation? I thought. I didn’t act on my impulse, because if I did I would be breaking that unspoken rule, you do not listen to other people’s conversations, even if it’s happening right next to you. You just pretend that you don’t hear and you carry on your life.

The Breaking Ground: The Whitney’s Founding Collection was perhaps my favourite exhibition. According to their website:

At the turn of the twentieth century, Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney, an heiress and sculptor born to one of America’s wealthiest families, began to assemble a rich and highly diverse collection of modern American art. This group of objects, combined with a trove of new works purchased around the time of the Whitney Museum’s opening in 1931, came together to form the founding collection.

The portrait of Mrs. Harry Payne Whitney was my favourite in this exhibit, I’m not sure why, it just caught my eye and reminded me of another time and another society. Then of course my imagination took over. What happened in that time? What happened right before, or after, or even during this painting? What was the world like?

I’m really glad that Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney decided to follow her dream as a sculptor and open a museum for American Art. I think it’s important to see our culture captured through art of all forms. The expression of an artist – what they are going through, how they view the world – is very important for others to experience. I think that once we can see the world through another’s eyes, it becomes difficult to ignore others and to stay in our little bubble. I was glad to have experienced a bit of the past, a bit of another person’s point of view and also to understand a bit more of myself through the art I saw.

The partnership and lower admission cost goes on until May 31st, I would highly recommend foursquare-ers to take advantage of it! Also, all images here were from the Whitney Museum website. I couldn’t take photos while inside, which is sad, but understandable. I’m just glad the website had the images that I wanted to keep in memory.

These are the times ….

Posted in Thoughts by

My feelings about Bin Laden … these guys said it best …

Lost of human life is never something to celebrate. When is it revenge and when is it justice? Aren’t all allowed Grace?

That being said, he did evil. I’d go as far as to say he was evil. The judging side of me says that he got what he deserved. The lives of many men, women and children – innocents – were murdered because of him and his plans. So, with all my allowance for humanity there is also relief, that after 10 years, justice is served. Otherwise, I have no personal feelings on the matter.

In other news, I am quite fascinated with the online coverage and the story of the man who tweeted the raid without even realizing it was the raid. Yes, it was Twitter that first broke it for me.

And, in other, other news …. isn’t it an interesting time to be living on the earth? In one weekend we have a royal wedding and the modernization of the royal family – a legacy that has been alive for years – as well as the capture and death of America’s most wanted – after 10 years of searching. Both of which were broadcasted, within SECONDS, online.

Stuff I’m Liking

Posted in Bookish, Fashionista, Gadgets, Plateful, Thoughts by

As Blog Every Day in April comes to an end – I can’t believe I actually did it – I wanted to wrap things up with a post about the things I’ve found myself liking during the month of April.

Stuff I’m Liking — BEDA Edition

Steampunk Jewelry. In particular, my new Golden Snitch with working clock necklace. I don’t know what it is about this sort of jewelry that appeals to me. Perhaps it’s because it looks delicate, while still being tough. Perhaps it’s that antique vibe that it gives off. I don’t know, I just like them.

I’ve also found out that one of my favourite jewelry makers has opened a new website with jewelry based on Holly Black’s Curse Breakers trilogy! I loved Vivian Hebel‘s Mortal Instruments shop, now I’m loving her Curse Breakers shop. I’m especially liking her White Cat pendant, I might be getting it in the near future. Though the Curse Breakers shop isn’t steampunk, I’m still loving her designs.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you might not know that I have a new phone and that I LOVE IT! My HTC Thunderbolt is by far my favourite gadget this month! I have been finding new ways to make it work for me, from reading books to counting calories, this phone almost does it all.

I love the camera, it takes some really great shots! I also love the different Google apps that integrate seamlessly with the phone. If you’ve been living at the top of a mountain all alone, you might not know that I do almost everything with Google, so having a phone like this is a major advantage for me. My new favourite Google app? Why, that would have to be the Google Goggles. It’s a lot of fun to play with, I can’t wait to use it some more!

Twice. That’s the number of times I’ve been to Alice’s Tea Cup. Thrice. That’s the number of times I’ve had tea this month. Scones, tea, sandwiches and sweets. Those are a few of my favourite things all rolled up into the Tea Time Meal, how could I not like it!? I even got myself a bag of loose leaf so that I could make my own tea at home and yes, I do own one of those tea balls

Some great things happened at my book review blog this month. First I decided to do a Maureen Johnson themed week, since I follow her obsessively on twitter, and I was looking forward to the release of her Last Little Blue Envelope book. Also, she’s the creator of BEDA, so, I suppose that pretty much means that I think she’s cool.

Themed week was a great success! First, I was able to see Maureen’s craziness in person when I attended the Zombies vs. Unicorns debate and so I posted that video to the blog and Maureen retweeted it! Also, I created a map showing all the places Ginny went during 13 Little Blue Envelopes which she loved and retweeted as well. So with the help of Maureen, my little book blog had 1,035 unique visitors during that week! That might not seem like a lot to all the popular bloggers out there, but to an obscure blog that’s just a pet project for a year, it’s golden.

As a person not quite into fashion, I still found this site to be so much fun that once I stumbled on to it I signed up!

Polyvore allows you to create layouts with different fashion styles as though you were doing a magazine spreads. It’s really fun just to play around in and think of different outfits and pieces that go together. You can even try to search for things you’ve recently purchased and find accessories for them. Definitely a time waster for me, but a fun one nonetheless.

Did you watch the Royal Wedding? Were you up at 4a.m. to do so? Well, hats off to you, I preferred to sleep in a bit and look at pictures/video clips later. It was a cute wedding, but for some reason, even though it was a public affair, I didn’t feel fascinated by it. They don’t care about me, just the revenue I give to them by supporting the wedding. It wasn’t amazing in any way, just a normal ceremony and service steeped in tradition. I suppose my mind wasn’t blown by anything that went on there, and I think the biggest reason for that was that it wasn’t a wedding for someone I know and love. People get married every day, so what’s the big deal here?

There is one aspect of the Royal Wedding that I did find interesting and that was the parade of hats! I’ve always loved hats. I wish they were back in style, I’d wear them everyday! But in lieu of hats, I love the fascinator! The one pictured there is from Dillards.com. I hope this is one style that begins to trend again.

So it’s been a long month, I’ve posted a total of 38 posts, at least one post every day so I deem this a success. I have successfully completed BEDA.

There were days where I struggled to figure out what write about and would browse my RSS feed for some inspiration. There were days where I had so much that I wanted to write but not enough time to do so. I doubt I’ll be able to keep this every day momentum up. However, it’s been fun. April has been better for it. So much so that I finally got the domain shanella.com! Woot!

Fare thee well and have a lovely May.

My Suspension of Belief

Posted in Thoughts by

If you could do anything, have anything, go anywhere, what would you do?


I’d live in a cottage, perhaps near the sea, in an area that’s safe for walking but close enough to a city to experience some diversity.

I’d have a hidden library in the basement, with a secret door to enter, just like Holly Black.

The library will lead out to a secret garden, all of the greenery on the ground would be attended by fairies as they know how to tend to green things best. The best prize of the garden would be my money tree. I’d never need money because the tree would bare golden fruit.

I’d own a collection of Fluevog shoes along with a number of Radley bags, but not too many, as I don’t plan on going out often.

Once a year I’d throw a masquerade ball that will have a theme, the favourite being Alice in Wonderland. There will be music, and good food, and lots of fun and dancing. We’ll dance social dancing, like the Quadrille because dancing should not be awkward but fun.

When I have visitors, we will have tea together. We’ll have conversations on the porch or in the breakfast room. The  porch will have a swing and somewhere in the secret garden there will be a hammock or two.

I’ll have a bicycle with a wicker basket in the front, which I’ll use for shopping. If I need a car I’ll have a Ford Fiesta.

My cottage would be on a tropical island, and we wouldn’t have to worry about natural disasters because of my psychic abilities to wield the elements. I could go on and on, after all, whatever I imagine becomes possible. However, it’s time to get back to reality. At least I’ll be having tea on Saturday, and I’ll be sure to take my Radley bag.

image credits:
cottage: cottage neighborhood
library: thesteampunkhome
garden: andreastaats.com 
shoe: Fluevog
masquerade: Polyvore