What are your favorite physical activities or exercises?
On the top of the world
My favorite physical exercise is hiking on the top of the hill, and I love looking at the world down under and the skies high above, to which I feel closer with a touch of my hand.
The pleasure is watching the wind from faraway seas herd a flock of clouds like a celestial shepherd. And an eagle breasting the never-ending abundance of air follows a trail of the Sun Chariot to return to the castle east of the sun, west of the moon.
The delight is listening to the sussurs of the trees. It’s the wind speaking through the leaves, carrying the messages from my guardian angel I long to hear.
Hiking is not only a physical exercise but also a mental refreshment that nourishes your holistic wellness free of charge in the luxuriant Nature’s Spa. ❤️🌸✨🧚♀️
What is something others do that sparks your admiration?
Toro the Thinker: “Your admirations are mine.” 💫
I admire people with two qualities: artistry for creative value and artfulness for social craft.
The Art of Sociability: This word is synonymous with wearing a mask in public to hide one’s true character in interacting with others. The Swiss psychologist Jung defined the concept of a mask with which you conceal your shadow to live a thriving social life. I have seen these masked people all the time at work, and they amaze me how they hoodwink their managers and colleagues into believing that they are friendly and cool to be accepted by the cliques only to sack those who have no such craft. Having an eye for looking into people’s true colors, I am mesmerized by their craftiness in social interactions. The craft protects the performers from the emotional suspense at work and indemnifies them of their mistakes and misbehaviors. 😯
The Art of Playing Musical Instruments: I consistently highly regard musicians over actors/actresses because of their creative streaks in the form of lyrics and playing musical instruments. My favorite idols have always been musicians, and I greatly respect musicians and composers, ranging from Baroque to Pop. Music moves peoples’ minds and takes us to the memory lanes with vivid images, the ambiance forever lingering in the hearts’ reservoirs. Musicians are true magicians of the art who invite our spirits to flit with gossamer wings in the garden of sensations. I especially admire those who can play guitar and sing songs simulatepously because they are singing poets/poetesses, a modern day tradabours. ⭐️
The French novelist Guy de Mapassant’s last word on earth was: “I coveted evertything, but I took plareasure in nothing.” I don’t covet those crafty people’s art of deceiving people, but I hope to learn how to protect myself from those untrue people who think they can get away with anything despite their sins. I covet those who can play musical instruments like they are breathing the air. No, I don’t want to die like Maupassant. So, I am thinking of learning myself how to play the guitar soon. I want to take pleasure in it. How about that, Monsieur Maupassant? 😉🌍🌻🧚♀️✨
Cartoons and animations are different. Cartoons are thematically episodic and satirical. Animations are a superb vehicle for realizing the ideal to the real that human actors could have awkwardly contrived. Animations effortlessly manifest feelings and emotions to the maximum effect. Hence, my favorite animations. 😃
The Adventure of Sinbad: A story of young sailor Shinbad who decides to see the world with his sidekick Sarah, a bespelled princess in a bird’s hide. The opening song is still my number-one cartoon song of all time.
Anne of Green Gables, aka the red-haired Anne: This is the most faithful adaptation of the original novel by Lucy Maud Montgomery. This is one of the first animated films by Hayao Miyazaki during his time with Nippon Animation’s World Masterpiece Theater. Hayao and other artists who created this brilliant animated version traveled to Prince Edward Island and visited the story’s original setting. So, watching this animation alone will amount to reading the novel.
Kiki’s Delivery Service: Not every witch looks the same with a sullen face and unapproachable ambiance. Kiki is an unlikely witch in training who prepares herself to enter adulthood by moving with her black cat Jiji away from her beloved family and settling in a coastal city. She gets a job as an assistant at a bakery, delivering customers’ orders on a broom with Jigi. It’s a charming and thoughtful coming-of-age animation. Moreover, Kiki and I have things in common, such as similar temperaments, looks, and, most of all, our black cats.
Howl’s Moving Castle: The original story by Diana Wynn Jones is fantastically transpired by Hayao Miyazaki and his artists in this unforgettably mesmeric animated screenplay. Love is ubiquitous and universal. Forgiveness is abundant, and Magic is real. I am sure the original novel’s author would love to see this stunning visualization of her creation of the make-believe world with a standing ovation. Lost in translation? Not an iota.😉
My Camille
In light of the above, I prefer animation translated from novels made by Japanese artists because they are skilled in detailing the characters and backgrounds of stories based upon the study of the original stories empowered by a wide arch of imaginativeness. 🤓✨🧚♀️
My present habits are less than horrible vice, but I could do less of the following sins.
I could watch less YouTube when I have free time so that I could finish the books I have borrowed from the library and bought. They have become tsundoku, piling up in my mind’s must-do list. 😅
I could do less thinking about things I can not change and trying to find the reason for the way they are. It plunges me into the pit of despondency as the one Christian found himself in the Pilgrim’s Progress. 😨
I could eat less than I eat these days because it makes my waist adipose and induces postprandial effects for prolonged lethargy, like poached potatoes. 😳
Consequently, I could do more with less of the above. Case solved. 👍
What positive events have taken place in your life over the past year?
Camille: who says I am unlucky? ⭐️
This year has been good for me because I passed my probation period at a new job with good benefits and better pay. I think my thanks go to God and my black cat Camille, whom I adopted from an animal shelter. Indeed, I love my tabby Toro, who is also from the same shelter, but since Camille has become a member of our family, my luck with finding a good job has transpired. It is said that a black cat brings luck to an unmarried single woman, so I like to think that Camille may be my Puss in Boots. 😃🍀🌻🌎⭐️
What is one thing you would change about yourself?
Beauty may be skin-deep, but it makes people know more about the person, especially a woman. I wish I could find a fairy – specifically a pixie who knows glamor spells – who can make me beautiful so people will stop ignoring and mistreating my existence. 🧚♀️
Jane Eyre knew she wanted beauty like her spiteful cousins because she learned that beauty could purchase an indemnity for a doer’s wrongdoings. Thankfully, Jane was endowed with a fortitude that would withstand any form of injustice, so a lack of external beauty would be compensated with her scintillating intelligence as a saving grace. Honestly, I believe and feel that although the degree of treatment of women according to their physical attractiveness in the eyes of the beholders has been civilly lessened with the advent of Feminism and growing political correctness, appearance does play a significant role in how others shape your personality in society. It’s called the Looking-Glassed Self, a shaping of self-image by how others see you, whether you agree or not.
The standard of beauty is all the more appreciated by the faculty of the mind affected by the works of imagination. It is universal in all humans regarding principles of judgment and sentiment common to all humankind. Beauty transcends race and class for women. Not every woman is endowed with angelical goodness, dazzling intelligence, and admiring wit. Beauty will complement it all, and I want it. ✨
Flame, Glass and Ink are Poems, essays, and reading notes by Stefania Joori Suh 
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