You call this a theme??? @______@

This

THIS!

To me

Is neither a THEME

nor a TOPIC

It's a TITLE

Yes a title!

A straight title like an essay we would write in school, only much more interesting XD

It actually went like this. "Of Wine, Music, and Chocolates" but I changed the order to suit my philosophy XDD

Ah Sir is starting to give us tough and challenging topics XD

Enjoy! ^O^

Of Chocolates, Wine, and Music

***

Romance, to me, can be seen in three things: chocolates, wine, and music. I've always been fascinated by how exciting romance can be. Every Valentine's Day, the boyfriend turns up on the girlfriend's doorstep, carrying in his arms a bouquet of red roses, a beautifully wrapped gift, and a box of chocolates. And then they'd head out for a candlelight dinner, complete with red wine and a pianist, tenderly playing tunes to boost the intimacy between the love birds.

In every romance story, the non-existence of chocolates, wine, and music are near impossible. The combination of these three simple things almost guarantees an exciting evening, be it at the beach, in a gourmet restaurant, or even at home.

After a lot of pondering on this subject, I have come to my own conclusion, too, that "people", can also be categorised into these three things. In the matter of romance, that is. Of course it would be lovely to have the whole package, but nobody is perfect. As they say, Beauty is seen in the eyes of the beholder. What is perfect to you, may not be perfect to others.

First up, let me talk about chocolates. Who can resist the taste of chocolates in their mouths? The bittersweet taste, whether solid or melted, will leave you craving for more. It is also proven to have soothing effects. Hence, a "chocolate" person is one that has a "sweet mouth". He is charming, sweet, and knows exactly what a woman likes to hear. His sweet-talking will leave her swooning on cloud nine, and she will most probably love to go back for a second "helping".

But then, too much chocolates is never good for anybody. His sweet-talking may be merely words strung together without meaning. The heart may not be there. Besides, how long can a woman listen to nothing but those charming words? She would be bored soon, wouldn't she? And falling all the way from cloud nine is anything but painless.

I have never had wine before but I guess I know what "wines" are like. Drinking wine is much more relaxing than eating chocolates, and much, much more exciting. It makes a person light-headed, washing away all worries. A "wine" is a person who is adventurous, fun, and exciting to be around. Whether he's a "strong wine" or a "mild wine", it is still exhilarating. Most women love to date "wines", because they claim that: "My life has changed because of him."

Then again, it can also be quite tiring. Drinking too much wine may result in a person losing control of themselves. This also applies to the subject of romance. The exhilaration experienced in such relationships seldom spell forever. Like when you're riding on a roller coaster. You can ride on it again and again, but the excitement felt can only last for as long as you are experiencing the ride. After a certain number of rounds depending on the individual's capability, the rides have to stop, and so does the excitement.

Now how about music? Music, to me, is the most romantic of the three. It is full of emotion and passion, and it makes small things around us seem big and meaningful. Therefore, to me, a "music" is a person that brings out the best in another, one that another soul needs to soothe worried thoughts and troubled memories. Be it a "classic", "rock", or "contemporary", or any other kind of "music", he is the one that makes you feel tranquility and at peace.

But music can also be boring after a while, no? Especially when it is slow. A "music" is adventure-less and very often dull. Maybe not all of them, but most. Despite feeling loved and appreciated, a woman still needs that exhilaration once in a while, doesn't she?

All that is the result of my reflection on the subject of romance. Now the interesting part.

Of Chocolates, Wine, and Music.

Which one would you pick?

Utopia

Yups~ This is the next theme we got from Ah Sir, after "Signs" ^^

I got inspiration from a close friend of mine, cuz she's been going through the same thing for quite a while now. She always seemed happy and cheerful, but she can't fool me. Nobody around her noticed a thing.

Okay maybe just one or two others besides myself X_X

Nobody knows her better than I do.

I don't know if this is befitting for the above theme, so please tolerate any "straying away" from the original topic ^^|||

What I am about to type, is what I believe goes on inside the heads of all those who went head over heels for love, including those sad cases that end up in mental hospitals.

Where is our Utopia?

***

Paradise...
Does such a place really exist...?
If it does...
Then where is it?

Is there a place on this earth we can go to...
Where no one will ever find us?
Is there anywhere at all in this universe...
That belonged solely to us?

Why is it that we are so close...
Yet so far... from each other?
Why must we hide from others...
Just so we can hold hands and kiss?

Let us go... and search for this paradise...
Let us go... and be together...
Where we are free from pressure...
And free from Them.

I cannot care less...
Even if I never see them again...
My only wish is to be with you...
Because I love you.

If you feel the same for me,
Then let us leave...
Let us leave this sad world behind us...
And search... for this utopia of ours.

Dedicated to all those who are suffering heartaches and pain because of the word "Love".

Love and Lies

Author's Note: This story is half-based on my own experience, though not entirely. I was better off compared to the main character. But yes I once felt nearly as terrible as she did.

I got this theme from a friend.

"Trust"

Welcome to my mind.

***

I remember being a very cheerful girl in primary school. Always laughing and always active. I didn't think anything was wrong until one day, when I walk into class, I saw my classmates crowd around a stamp album. I was going to join them when one of them suddenly looked up, saw me, gasped, and whispered to the others. The next thing I know, the album disappeared, and the crowd was gone.

Needless to say, I felt very disappointed with the lot of them. I was young, and I thought I was going to wallow in this situation forever. Of course, that's not the end of it all. I have to deal with other issues the moment I start secondary school. There are more friends who think they know everything and more people who trampled on others' feelings. It's sad to say this, but it was only during recent years when I learn to protect myself. To shield myself against the evils of the world, and to live life without getting stepped all over.

But there are also consequences. I taught myself. To avoid being hurt, you have to seclude yourself from the world. To me, to be hurt is to be betrayed. If you are never betrayed, you will never get hurt.

Which also came down to this.

Never trust, and you will never be betrayed.

I succeeded somewhat, if you look at it straight. I managed to avoid all hurtful situations. I can also shoot back at people who picked on me, something I could never do until a year and a half ago. Nobody dared to bully me anymore. And I was left to do my own things.

But as a result....I got really lonely.

I was cold and quiet, and I rarely paid attention to others. The people around me felt the chill near me, that's why they stay well away.

I acted as coldly as I could towards the situation. I acted as if I couldn't care less.

But deep down, my heart ached.

I was lonely. I yearned for company. I wanted attention. My heart screamed for friendship, for love, for passion. But I kept all this quiet, for fear that I would make myself laughing stock.

And then he came along.

I remembered listening to stories about him years ago, but I never really knew him. Back then, they made him sound so nerdy and geeky. Not knowing anything, I laughed along with them all.

How very wrong they were. How very wrong I was.

He was a very interesting person to talk to. The first time we had a conversation, I noticed how very easy it was to talk to him. He can talk about anything. He never scorns, and he always listens. I felt comfortable in his company.

I started looking forward to talking to him. And he would always talk to me, unlike most of the other people around me.

Just when I felt like I have a friend to turn to, the evil inside my head spoke.

Why do you believe in him? He will turn out just like everyone else. He will turn scornful one day, and you will be betrayed once again.

I was in dismay. I do not want to think that a friend that I have wanted so badly would turn away from me just like everybody else. But I was devastated just thinking about the possibilities. I had successfully brainwashed myself over the past few years. And so I decided to stay away from him before he decides to betray me.

He was just as confused as I was. He approached me in school, and I would give stupid but firm excuses to escape from him. He sent text messages after school, which I would refrain from replying. He came to my house to visit, and left when my brother lied and told him I wasn't in.

I felt like a bitch.

Our examinations were around the corner. His approaches became less for the sake of studying. I expected nothing more from him, but inside, my heart burned with agony.

A month before the exam, he came over again. I did not think much of it, since my brother knew exactly what to do, having done it for the past few weeks. I stayed in my room, staring at the blank ceiling. Moments later, my brother knocked on the door.

"Is he gone?" I asked.

The door opened. My eyes flicked towards the doorway, and I felt my heart stop.

"What do you think you are doing, shutting yourself in your room everytime I visit?" he demanded. He strode right up to my bed, towering over me. "Did you think I was foolish enough to believe a loner like you would stray out of the house every single day?"

I gaped as he shoved aside the many books on my chair and plonked himself right into it.

"What are you doing here?" I asked, dumbfounded.

"I came to sort things out."

We stared at each other for the longest time. Nobody said anything. My mind whirred around for something to say, but I was totally blank. He gazed at my face, steady as ever.

"Shall I start?"

I could not say anything. I watched as he reached into his pocket and fished out a piece of thick paper. My heart raced. I knew what he was going to do. He unfolded the paper, and began to read.

"You have been spanked by your teachers in primary school, fought with your classmates for over five months in form one, accused of scratching a teacher's car in form two, left by a guy three years older in form three, fooled around with a cellphone by your close friends afterwards and treated like a grocery st-"

"STOP IT!!!"

I yelled so loudly, I would not be surprised if the neighbours heard me, but I couldn't care less. He glanced over the top of the paper, and studied me, as I know he always do.

"Problems started when you were young, so I suppose it is natural that you will act this way." he said, calm and in control. He dropped the paper onto the table.

"You were bullied at a young age, unable to defend yourself, and nobody around you helped. You were all alone, struggling with your inner self, unhappy and scared. As you grew older, you began to counter all these miseries. You fought back, you stood up for your rights, and you protected yourself."

I shook as I listened. Recalling all these hateful memories was something that I wished I would never do.

"But as a result, you ended up not trusting anybody. You hated every other person besides yourself. In short, you rejected friendship, for fear that you would be betrayed."

Tears leaked out of my eyes as he got there. I could not bear to think that I had wind up lonely because of my beliefs. He tilted my chin so that he could look at me.

"When I came into your life, you found hope. Finally, a friend to love me, you thought. But because of scars from the past, you got frightened again. And to protect yourself, you shut the world out, including me, and blocked out your last ray of light. You drowned yourself in darkness again, and had I not cared to visit again today, you would continue to stay where you are, rejecting all help to stand up again."

"I will not say anything about your lack of trust in me, since experience has done more than enough damage onto you."

"My question is, why didn't you trust yourself?"

I looked at him in the eyes. His gaze was strong and steady. His expression straight and emotionless.

"What do you mean....? I always believed in myself....."

"No, you did not." he said at once. "You trusted me, you felt comfortable around me, you could talk to me without worries. But when the devil attacked, you recoiled immediately. You reconsidered your own judgements, and as a result of fear, you retreated into your own world, turning your back against your own beliefs."

I sobbed louder at this point, feeling horrible because of what he said. He put an arm around me.

"Have a little more confidence, and believe in the good. Have a little faith in me, and I shall not let you down."

He left a little while after that. I stopped crying, and sat on my bed. I was so confused, I could not think. I spotted the piece of paper he had earlier, still on my table. To give myself something to do, I picked it up, though dreading what I might find.

My eyes filled up again when I saw the contents.

There was nothing there.

Thank God for blessing me with such a good friend....

My angel in disguise...

Now, what do you guys think of when you read a single word "Signs"?
Roadsigns?
Labels?
Zodiac signs?
Birth signs?
Other signs?
I've been asking around, and most of my friends say they think of roadsigns and for the girls, "SALES" =O= oh well, girls will be girls ^^lll

When I saw this new theme Ah Sir set us, my immediate thought was heaven. Don't ask me why @_@ then from there I thought of.......

Oh well I'll just let my story do the talking ^^

***

When I first heard our mother say that she was pregnant, I laughed straight out, and my brother did the same. I was twelve, and he was eleven. We couldn't imagine then, that after we have grown so much, our mother would give birth again.

Until one day, she brought home a toy car which both of us are just too old to play with.

And how can you joke about pregnancy anyway? After three months her tummy was noticeably big, and the fact dawned on us that there would be a new baby in the family.

Our sister was born in that same year two weeks before Christmas.

I never really liked babies, to be frank. To me they are noisy, dirty, and expensive. Giving birth itself requires thousands, then there're all the diapers, food, and toys and everything.

My sister, being a normal baby herself, was no exception.

She was noisy and dirty, just like all other babies. But somehow she wasn't as expensive, because we used items that relatives and neighbours gave us, which we were grateful for.

As she grew older, so did we. We became more and more engrossed with schoolwork, friends, and social activities. She cried less, but became more talkative. To be honest, we grew impatient with her sometimes and scold her, and then we'd get scolded ourselves.

She would badger us to play with her when we are watching television, talk non-stop when we were doing homework, and sometimes, barge into the room leaving the door wide open when we were in the middle of undressing for a bath.

I got so irritated, I would yell at her to get out, and she would leave with wet eyes. Moments later, our mother would be in my room lecturing me about being unkind.

I continued to scorn her existence at times she annoyed me, until one day, I spotted an old library card with her picture on it, except that I can't remember when she sported that hairstyle.

Two hours later, she ran towards me holding that exact same picture, brandishing it in my face.

"Yes, Joey, you look nice in there." I said, without giving it a second glance.

My sister continued waving it in my face.

"Yes? What is it?"

She looked at me with those innocent eyes, and said. "It has your name on it."

I got stunned immediately.

Our face looked exactly the same.

That was when I noticed all the similarities between us.

Everytime she was lonely, she does all the wrong things to get attention, like what I did when I was younger.

Everytime she does something wrong, she tries to hide it and hopes that others will never find out, like what I did when I was younger.

Everytime she feels neglected by friends that she loved, her eyes would water, like what I did when I was younger.

Whenever she's angry, she yells at the other party, regardless of who it is (unless if it's our mother) just like me.

If she likes one particular person, she sticks to him or her, and ignores almost everybody else, just like me.

Now, she is seven. And I still see never-ending similarities between us.

But she was kind. And very gentle. She loves animals, she loves her friends, she loves her family. Even though we were unkind to her sometimes and made her cry.

Once, when I found her doodling in my notebook without my permission, I scolded her and went back to my work. Five minutes later, she handed me my notebook in a timid manner, and scurried off before I could open my mouth. I opened the page where she had drawn all her nonsense, and found, on the next page, words she had written in her very bad handwriting.

"I'm sorry, Jie Jie. I love you."

My heart shattered on the spot.

Only a child, so innocent and so pure, could put that into words without second thoughts.

I sometimes wonder, how many of these hints have God dropped for me to realise what a sad person I have been? How many of these signs have I missed? Have I missed so many that God has finally resorted to send someone to tell me? And that someone is a child who doesn't even know what important role she is playing?

Now I look at my sister, and watch her do things that I have done before. I saw signs that lectured me indirectly with every kind act she did. I look at myself as I had been twelve years ago, and slowly things dawned on me, and I realise that I have been a very narrow-minded person.

And it was a child who showed me that.

Or perhaps she wasn't a child, but an angel sent by God.

A happy angel sent to change my life forever.

Now, I finally understand, what people meant by an angel in disguise...

Because I have found mine.

Sunrise & Sunset: The Beginning and the End...

The first poem in my blog XD okay it doesn't rhyme in most places but I reckon this is pretty much better than most of my old poems. Mind you, if I write out the original version it's gonna be twice longer than my previous two stories put together =_= The second theme I got from Mr Chan "Sunrise & Sunset"

Enjoy ^o^

***

I had no idea how I got there...
The lawn was so beautiful...
So divine...
I felt like I was in Heaven.

My bloodstained dress was torn and ragged.
I left bloody footprints wherever I tread.
The sword in my chest continued dripping.
And I was aware that I was dying.

Finally, I collapsed on my back,
breaking the sword as I did,
sending a hundredth bout of pain
throughout my already drained body.

The sun was setting, casting a fiery glow to the sky.
I remembered...That fateful day ten years back.
The sky looked exactly the same...
When my "life" truly began.

How can two things so alike be so different?
I was born without a parent,
blessed with beauty, but cursed with monstrous power.
Hated beyond grief, doomed to stay forever lonely.

You brought me out of the dark forest,
nurtured me with care,
went against the objections of your people.

For the first time in my life...
I felt peace.
I experienced joy, whenever I learn something new,
sadness when you left,
and love when you were there.

Now the Snow Witch is dead.
You and your people are safe.
I leave our son in your care,
as I can no longer be there.

Ten years back, you gave me new life as the sun rose.
The same day ten years later, I shall go as the sun sets.

Thank you, My Love...
Farewell...