Final act of love

Except one of these faves, all four are talents of the male species. They shine!

1. Decaffeinating
I had coffee overdose during my recent island holiday. I have to abstain from the drink to function well at work. The attempt must have been fairly successful. No more twitching eyelids.

2. Helpful guard
By the time a film I viewed was over, the mall that houses the cinema was long past its operating hours. Devoid of shoppers the building suddenly looked gigantic and eerie. Emptiness disoriented me and I could not find an open exit. Alas, the only familiar spot was the basement parking. I tarried there stubbornly deciding that I'd rather do a vigil than call the Ex for help. About a minute into feeling like an idiot, a guard appeared and in halting Thai I explained my plight to him. He radioed for a taxi and I got home safely.

3. Cheerful driver
Wednesday afternoon: "ta-ta, it looks like rain" and I was a few yards away from my apartment. I jumped on one of these mopeds plying the inner streets. As raindrops started pelting my face, the detergent-smelling driver began singing unabashedly. He's so cute I can't supress a smile as I handed him the 10-baht fare. Talk of singing in the rain and I like the song too.

4. Husband / Father's final act of love
As an experiment I watched the Manila hostage drama on CNN to see if I could stomach a tragedy made even more horrifying with every second I was reminded that it was not Hollywood but real M16s happening live. A significant part of it was a man who threw himself across his wife and 3 children when the hostage-taker began finishing them all off. My mind raced back in time. I bowed my head in renewed gratefulness for Calvary.

5. Isaac Asimov's observation
"The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new discoveries is not Eureka! but 'That's funny!'" It lightened up my research work this week.

Visit Susanne at Living to Tell the Story for more faves.

Islands in the stream

Half an hour before boarding the bus that would take me and friends to Trat, I skimmed online reviews of the resort we were to stay in and beaches on Elephant Island that we wanted to go to.

1. Yet there's still that hint of surprise at finding reality: rocks instead of black sand at least abound on Pearl Beach, and Lonely Beach is not lonely at all.

But discovering Koh Chang's hidden charm is good consolation. One of us baptized this place Hansel and Gretel's cottage.

2. I was right to have taken some work with me. Facebook-depriving elusive Wifi saved friends from being harrassed with islandish shoutouts at 20-minute intervals .

3. Work was a question to research the moment I was back to the mainland: if integrative complexity was high, would the number of assassinations go down?

4. Legs connected to the brains entertaining morbidity in the midst of holiday were clad in a long, flowery skirt. Mixing business and pleasure, for crying out loud.

5. Let's go music and movies; play fill-in-the-gaps. There's a cue reflected on the lappy screen. Christina Aguilera sings, "who is that girl I see staring straight back at me..." ________

6. Saffron on the Sea asked if they could substitute orange with lime. It was fine by me as long as they stuck to the 40% alcohol content.

"...just a hired hand, working on the dreams he planned to try..." Eagles on the background while I sipped this at sunset. _______ ________

7. Birds of Paradise. As soon as I clicked the cam I was 5-years old again playing jacks on a doting uncle's living room floor. Long before I knew Tony Bennett crooned, "for mortals who stand beside an angel like you... out of the common place into the rarest somewhere in space..." the song's been immortalized in my sometimes sentimental head: ____ _ ______.

8. We were early on Day 2 for island-hopping. The rising sun greeted us as we boarded the boat. It was setting when we came back.

Sunrise...............................

Sunset................................

"Sunrise, sunset swiftly fly the years, one season following another..." The film:_______ on the _______.

9. Out goes pre-revolutionary Russia with its matchmakers. In comes freedom to choose whoever to marry. Although this freedom resulted in divorce and we now tease each other Old Maid, there's still some freedom to make a fashion statement

and explore these rocks unchaperoned...

As if completing the similarities, this stranger washed up on shore. If he's not a violinist then he must not be unconscious...

there's no need then for brandy or to fetch Dr Mead. Two old maids were just ______ in ________.

10. Our tour guide instructed us not to get close to ___ ______ (Ewan McGregor and Scarlett Johansson).

11. Soon my co-old maid got stung by an urchin. Some clue that paradise has its price. That's the tagline by the way of Leonardo di Caprio's ____ ________

12. That and a James Bond film entitled ___ with a _______ _______ were both shot on Thailand's waters.

13. Finally our boat docked. This display in the Fisherman's Village market reminded me of Steven Spielberg's ________.

Which gaps were you able to fill in?

5. Reflection / 6. Tequila Sunrise / 7. Stranger in Paradise / 8. Fiddler on the Roof / 9. Ladies in Lavender / 10. The Island / 11. The Beach / 12. Man with a Golden Gun / 13. Jaws

Visit Megan and Janet for more T13.

The week's faves - Island Edition

August 12th, the Thai Queen's birthday is a national holiday here. That was Thursday and what luck, work bosses decided to give us Friday, the 13th free too. I and a couple of friends headed off to Thailand's second largest island, Koh Chang (Elephant Island), referred to by some as the Oriental Eden of the East. It's difficult trimming these faves to five but I'll try...

I. Nothing beats waiting for dinner chatting on hammocks! Behind us blazing rays of the setting sun blanketed the sea; the sound of waves gentle and the breeze therapeutic. Nature was addressing the ACs cooling our city offices - this is how you treat weary Bangkokians, gentlemen.

*The restaurant: Saffron on the Sea
*Main course: deep fried white snapper with mango and carrot strips, sweet basil, chinese celery, and cashew nuts
*Drinks: tequila sunrise drank at sunset and tempered by ginger and lemon grass tea

II. Okay, I took work to the island. But I calculated that in a place so beautiful inducing ideas for research would be a piece of fishcake, and it was. Toying with concept maps, I didn't regret not joining my friends at White Sand beach where they checked out a few bars and live music.


III. Exploring the rocks. Fun fun fun! And a 19-year-old memory came dancing back:

My cousins to their father: (pleading like brats) Come on, Papa. Please buy us that beach house in Aplaya...

My uncle to cousins: (looking overruled and drawing a resigned breath) You really want that property huh, kids?

Cousins in hopeful chorus: Yes!

Uncle with affectionate finality: OK. I love you so I will buy it... (and turning cheeky without warning) if you all stopped schooling first.

Its return accorded me equilibrium while I was maneuvering this boulder. The comic look on my cousins' faces when they were handed the trade had me in stiches inwardly. The wind pumped fresh oxygen into my lungs sending fondness back to my heart. I love my sometimes crazy family :)


IV. Island - hopping. I snoozed half the time on the boat like a classic old maid, (a nickname we tease each other with) and worked the camera for my friends who went snorkeling around each island we sailed to. My phone registered locations I could hardly pronounce, and the boat showed us sights to daydream on. And on. And on....

V. Bonus for a sinker. What's brilliant about this shallow part of the ocean I could shriek in delight is the presence of multi-colored fish here and there swooshing close to your body! We took hundreds of photos, and on one which was taken by our guide I discovered something - a big turtle below us was captured on the shot. What more could someone who can't swim ask for?

Head over to Susanne's Living to Tell the Story for more faves.

Wrath of grapes

This is the second half of lines to make you smile (according to the subject heading) I posted previously from my inbox. Feel free to react :)

1. The original point and click interface was a Smith & Wesson.

2. Consciousness: that annoying time between naps.

3. Ever stop to think, and forget to start again?

4. Being 'over the hill' is much better than being under it!

5. Wrinkled Was Not One of the Things I Wanted to Be When I Grew up.

6. Procrastinate Now!

7. A hangover is the wrath of grapes.

8. A journey of a thousand miles begins with a cash advance.

9. Stupidity is not a handicap. Park elsewhere!

10.They call it PMS because Mad Cow Disease was already taken.

11. He who dies with the most toys is nonetheless DEAD.

12. A picture is worth a thousand words, but it uses up three thousand times the memory..

13. I smile because I don't know what the hell is going on.

Megan and Janet host Thursday Thirteen. Click here for more lists or to join.

Camera averse

CJ's aversion to being photographed is getting worse. Now I have to master the art of stealing shots. This is a rare click that managed to capture most of his face. I'm happy I got his long hair before the lola decided this style should go.

Sometimes I think the aversion is a kind of condition but well... for this week's MM theme: lights, camera, pose...

Voila! that's his pose.

There are proper, decent poses of kids on Chris's MM participants list. Check them out at The Mommy Journey.

Right...

These lines to make you smile (according to the subject heading) arrived via email. I'm putting up half of them this week. So then I can enjoy the rest of my temporary brain death for another week. Feel free to react :)

1. My husband and I divorced over religious differences. He thought he was God and I didn't.

2. I don't suffer from insanity; I enjoy every minute of it.

3. Some people are alive only because it's illegal to kill them.

4. I used to have a handle on life, but it broke.

5. Don't take life too seriously; No one gets out alive.

6. You're just jealous because the voices only talk to me

7. Beauty is in the eye of the beer holder.

8. Earth is the insane asylum for the universe.

9. I'm not a complete idiot -- Some parts are just missing.

10. Out of my mind.. Back in five minutes.

11. Consciousness: that annoying time between naps.

12. God must love stupid people; He made so many.

13. The gene pool could use a little chlorine.

For more Thursday Thirteen or to join, visit Megan and Janet.