Kneel

Kneel

It happens in church and in church school

Children are taught that praying is cool.

God loves you, He took the cross for you

Talk to Him, He'd love a feel

Kneel in prayer and seal the deal.

 

This post is linked with ABC Wednesday.

I'll Play For You

Musical Monday: I'll Play For You by Seals and Crofts
Monday Mayhem follows

To Xmas Dolly, Lorie, Larry and Callie: thanks for putting me on the Spotlight Dance today. I have two left feet but fortunate to have no other pairs of eyes in my apartment, so dance I will!

Don't I just like freebies on Mondays! :) I get to feature old songs. They remind me of times when dinners in Asia were NOT eaten at the computer facing someone on Skype eating breakfast in Central Europe.
 

This post is linked with:

Amanda @ Bloggin with Amanda

XmasDolly of XmasDolly, Lori of Shewbridges of Central Florida, Larry of Cakeblast, and Callie of JAmerican Spice

Denise @ Run DMT hosts Music Monday Blog Hop

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Q1. Do you think Donald Trump has a chance at becoming President of the US?

He can then funnel his wealth into education / research useful to humanity. Nice thought to enjoy. 

Q2. What's the best way to pile on the calories?

Don't think. Just eat away.

Q3. What's the best way to burn those calories?

Try the stairs from the ground to say, the ninth floor for a week. No cheating. Don't pass out before you

Meet Stumpy -

Harriet hosts Monday Mayhem

Between lunch and dinner

What do you call food eaten between lunch and dinner?

Last weekend I looked for a place to read a book in peace and 9th Cafe @ Siam Paragon was a yummy find. Chocolate swirl cheese cake! I did not regret choosing this.

Sprite.  A drink I have not had in awhile.

 

And mini beef tacos. Yum and I got to do two of my fave pleasures: eat and read.

The world is all good. 
This post is linked with

Food Trip Friday

and

Friday Food Fight

Little Women

Thirteen things I remember from reading experiences as a kid:

1. A rhinoceros having his first birthday party - the main character of my first animal book. I remember my parents taking me to the city, we came back with loads of books.

2. Tell It Again Series - books that my mother read to me. I remember images of papyrus, the Nile River, an ark, a sling shot, a taskmaster beating a slave, an ark. If you haven't guessed it yet these are illustrated Bible stories.

2. Clue in the Crumbling Wall, NDM. This book ignited my love for mystery

3. High Road to China - could not finish it so my father told me the rest on the staircase of our rented Spanish house.

4. The Aeneid by Virgil. Even in English I didn't understand it. I lasted til the end of the first page which was about half A4

5. Bible. It's not an ordinary book at home. My mother made sure I understood it was a holy book and was treated with utmost respect. I read it without understanding it.

6. Violet Winspear. A Mills and Boon author

7. Irving Wallace. Author of a book a friend stole from a schoolmate's Dad, the town doctor

8. Little Women by LMA. The book that kicked off my appetite for reading the classics. Mrs Librarian was getting uncomfortable lending us the book because some of us were getting addicted to it and other classics so I made sure I got my hands on it. Anything forbidden, try me.

9. Cosmopolitan. An uncle left an issue in our living room. It was my initiation to vanity.

10. Forgotten title; of a book that made me go "is that so?" It dealt with guns and silencers

11. Uncle Tom's Cabin by HBS - didn't read it but it's what I think of every time I remember Noli Me Tangere (Touch Me Not) a novel written by Dr Jose Rizal. Rumor has it that Uncle Tom's Cabin was the inspiration behind Rizal's Touch Me Not, a book which led to his execution

12. Kitty Bishop, and there was an Adam Malone - character names I still remember

13. Pacific Aphrodite - some romance

Megan and Janet host Thursday Thirteen

Jane Austen

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single woman in possession of a Jane Austen addiction must be in want of more Jane Austen adaptations - Hazel, Delineating Des

 Jane Austen

16 December 1775 - 18 July 1817
an English novelist whose works of romantic fiction, set among the landed gentry earned her a place as one of the most widely read writers in English literature, her realism and biting social commentary cementing her historical importance among scholars and critics. - Wikipedia

Among ABC Wednesday players I doubt a Jane Austen needs much introduction. Even less known facts about her must not be much surprise to many of you. But forgive me I couldn't resist.

Bride and Prejudice, Tents and Tentsability, Fried and Pre-juiced Dishes, the book clubs, the blogs, the societies, and many more are a testament to her popularity.

As a fan working in the Education industry and trained in research, my readings about Jane Austen, tilt towards the literary criticism side of her works.  That besides all other JA-related things, is endless fun. As this burlesque is:

No Sense, No Sensibility

 

This post is linked with ABC Wednesday.

Watch out for the urchin

Friends and I went island-hopping last year. My phone was changing indications of where we were several times. Names are difficult to read, much less remember. The main island where we hopped from is called Koh Chang or Elephant island.

We went to five islets each taking about 15 minutes to reach. In a stop one of my friends encountered a sea urchin. They say a pee would cure the sting. I don't know if it's true.

Another thing I heard about urchins is they could sense and would crawl towards human presence. Probably for more prickly attention?

Although sometimes paradise has a price, the sky was blue, the sun was shining, the weather perfect and the breeze was just what our city-dwelling lungs needed. All is well.

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My World Tuesday is brought to you by Klaus and the My World Team Sandy, Wren, Fishing Guy, Sylvia

Hard habit to break

Musical Monday: Hard habit to break
Monday Mayhem follows

All these excellent male artists in the world. It's hard to choose a fave from among them. I decided on someone I saw live not long ago. Here's Peter Cetera of Chicago. 

This post is linked with:  

Amanda @ Bloggin with Amanda

XmasDolly of XmasDolly, Lori of Shewbridges of Central Florida, Larry of Cakeblast, and Callie of JAmerican Spice

Denise @ Run DMT hosts Music Monday Blog Hop

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MONDAY MAYHEM

1. Are you concerned at all with the possibility that radiation leaks could head your way?

Better ready just in case than wake up sorry.

2. What is the one thing that you will always go cheap on?

Anything I don't want to keep

3. What would you buy that price would have no limit?

Necessities for the kiddo

4. Name a TV show that could be about the stupidest thing ever.

Haven't watched any since 2004

5. What is the strangest thing you have ever eaten?

When I got used to wasabi it wasn't strange anymore

6. If it were really hot out and you were at the beach, would you go in the water even if it was dirty or full of jellyfish? Nope

7. Can you teach old dogs new tricks or is it just not worth the effort?

Why bother

8.What makes comfort foods taste so good?

The illusion of forgetting troubles

9. How do you like your steak cooked?
Usually well-done but if it's choice beef rare is ok

10. Have you ever stepped on something and had it stuck in your foot?

A tack. The pain I could stand for few seconds, the horror was murder.

11. We're looking for viral video theme ideas. What's your best idea for a viral video day?

Something off the insane minds of Jane Austen addicts (like me, ops)

12. What is your twitter handle? Can we follow you?
Forgot it now. The only time I did twitter was when I had to familiarize myself with some FAS (Federation of American Scientists) research bits.

Harriet hosts Monday Mayhem

Weekend brunch

This is not a sudden interest in Japan. Japanese cuisine has always been my preference for weekend brunch since I acquired a weekend life. And the beef steak set at Fuji is my usual order even though they always give me rare no matter how much I emphasize that I want well-done:

 

The set includes choices for either coffee or tea, hot or iced. I always have the hot tea with milk.

The meal is concluded by a trio of papaya, pineapple and watermelon slices.

Rarely do I pick something else on the menu. This set is what I order almost every weekend. Here's hoping it's not a weekend eating abnormality. I'm going out in a few minutes to have this brunch again.

This post is linked with

Food Trip Friday 

Friday Food Fight

Hazel in poetry and prose

Hazel stars

mysteriously in Mars

Hazel dances

with the czars

Flap your wings

and fly with me

We dream, we explore

magically.

-Hazel, Delineating Des

A note before we take off: The links are to acknowledge sources and that apart from them, the only thing that's mine in this post is the introductory babble above. Here's hoping the attempt didn't wreak too much damage on the magic below. Here we go -

 

1. An old charm for curing an adder bite requires a piece of hazelwood in the shape of a cross to be placed upon the wound, and the following lines repeated:

"Underneath this hazelin mote, There's a braggoty worm with a speckled throat,
Nine double is he, Now from eight double to seven double
And from seven double to six double and so on until:
And from one double to no double, No double hath he"

2. An essay by Megan Elizabeth Farris:

The "Ruint" Doll: Hazel's loss of innoncence in Kettle Bottom 

3. The Song of the Wandering Aengus by W.B. Yeats:

"I went out to the hazelwood, Because a fire was in my head"

4. Cad Goddeu, The Romance of Taliesen:

The hazel was arbiter at this charmed time.

5. Hazel Eyes by Gershon Hepner:

Eyes provoke a lover’s dreams whether hazel, brown or blue,
With her eyes she casts a spell–– hazel clearly suits her well.

6. Unlicensed Love by Jim Sharman:

I'll never know the how's and why's I lost my heart to Hazel Eyes
But when I got that long sought kiss I knew I'd found my Perfect Miss
My elfin girl from down the lane And I'll never let her go again

7. Hazel Green by Odo Hirsch:

"The children," said Hazel." 'Adults here don't know anything about what it's like to grow up.'

8. The Lady in the Lake by Sir Walter Scott:

"The stag at eve had drunk his fill, Where danced the moon on Monan's rill,
And deep his midnight lair had made In lone Glenartney's hazel shade...."

9. Two years three months and eternity on Hazel's Poems ©2006 Barbara Allen:

Hazel, my princess you were there... I saw you waiting for the others in a circle patiently, quietly

10. Flower Fairies of the Autumn, The Song of the Hazelnut Fairy:

Slowly, slowly while I watched them well
See, my nuts have ripened; now I've news to tell

11. The honeysuckle and the hazel tree: medieval stories of men and women:

Tristan and Iseut were together briefly thanks to Tristan's inscription of his name on a branch of a hazel tree...

12. Genesis 30:37, King James Version of the Bible:

And Jacob took him rods of green poplar, and of the hazel and chestnut tree; and pilled white streaks in them, and made the white appear which was in the rods.

13. Hazel tells Lavernne by Katharyn Machan:

Last night I was cleaning out my howard johnsons ladies room when all of a sudden up pops this frog...

This post is linked with Thursday Thirteen

Incense

I introduce incense.

I sing the sweets I know, the charms I feel, My morning incense ... The sweets of Hasty-Pudding. Come ... glide o'er my palate, and inspire my soul.

-Barlow, Joel

'The Hasty-Pudding', canto1

Like Barlow's, these are also morning incense. Or I see them burning in the morning. Never in the evening. These incense sticks in my workplace burn endlessly. I've been here awhile.  The years have accustomed me to the fragrance. Thais burn incense reverently like this one does.

This post is linked with ABC Wednesday.

Spring ahead ... Japan

A cousin and her husband and a former gradschool classmate are three people I know who are in Japan right now. It is such relief to know they are ok as I never dared turn on the news. I actually avoided footage of the destruction. But perhaps I could share Amanda's move of showing a bit of support for Japan by featuring their music today. This first one is classical which I hear all the time in Japanese restaurants. Ah well, at least I'm a fan of Japanese cuisine.

And here's wishing and hoping the Japanese people would be as happy as this again and be back to normal living soon.

This post is linked with:  

Amanda @ Bloggin with Amanda

XmasDolly of XmasDolly, Lori of Shewbridges of Central Florida, Larry of Cakeblast, and Callie of JAmerican Spice

Denise @ Run DMT hosts Music Monday Blog Hop

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Today we are playing "Spring Ahead" a tribute to moving your clock ahead an hour thanks to daylight savings time. Have fun and thanks for playing!

1. What time zone do you live in? ICT or Indochina Time

2. Does your time zone change the clocks? No

3. What is the worst part about pushing your clock ahead an hour? Confusion

4. What is the best part about pushing your clock ahead an hour? You are an hour early if you're not confused

5. What is the best excuse to use when you are not on time to get somewhere thanks to the time change? Clock malfunction

6. Do you think we really need to change our clocks or is this practice not a good one? I'm fine with not changing our clocks

7.Tell us a good story or memory about clocks, time change or anything else. My flight for Dubai departs at 8. At 6.30 I was still in a mall in the middle of Bangkok shopping  for - you guessed it - a watch. Of all coincidences. Like an idiot.

8. Do have any ideas about Monday Mayhem going to an all Viral Video Monday? That will be exciting

Harriet hosts Monday Mayhem

Kiwi and dragon fruit

Since I started blogging there's one thing I have been neglecting and it's one of my major pursuits - eating or dining if we are so formally inclined :D. I will start my very first food post with something healthy. You don't want to know what I explore if I go splurging on food. These slices of kiwi, dragon fruit, pineapple and capsicum were one of those weekend breakfasts when by some stroke of luck I walked into the fruit section of a supermarket.

This post is linked with Food Trip Friday

 

and Friday Food Fight

What if... I thought I fell in love

Monday Mayhem follows

Favorite female vocalists? What a riot! I wish I could have them all here. But here are three of them who sing lyrics that are quite relevant to me these days.

Gloria Estefan --- Here We Are

Dionne Warwick --- I'll Never Love This Way Again

Karen Carpenter --- You

Ahhh... gratification galore!

Amanda @ Bloggin with Amanda hosts Musical Monday

XmasDolly of XmasDolly, Lori of Shewbridges of Central Florida, Larry of Cakeblast, and Callie of JAmerican Spice host Monday's Music Moves Me

Denise @ Run DMT hosts Music Monday Blog Hop

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What if... Charlie Sheen were right about who he is, what he is saying and his "goddesses"?

Then Howard Stern's assessment would be confirmed. Charlie is special.

What if... Potato chips were declared a vegetable?

I'd use a helping beside my steak

What if...All the junk going on in parts of the world ended in peace?

Bad time for the business of war

What if...gas prices hit $5?

The Middle East crisis is dormant, latent, volatile. It goes berserk while we are dreaming of world peace over oolong tea. We shouldn't be surprised at its impact on gas prices

What if...American Idol got canceled?

I never would have known William Hung

What if...the Queen of Alaska was elected president?

A nation has succumbed to her brand of intellectual and leadership fortitude

What if...talking on a cell phone while driving became illegal?

The act of making it illegal is long overdue

What if...Bud and Kathy invited you to a party- would you go?

I would. Jill and the french twins might be around

What if...you found $1000 sitting in the road?

It will find its way to fine haunts

Harriet hosts Monday Mayhem

Way with words

These are things said to me recently. I treasure the first one, well, coming from a little son who is in therapy. I listened to the second til the tenth with a yes, yes attitude. The twelfth sounds touching and the final words catapulted me out of torpor -

1. I love you, Mommy
2. You are the best cure for when I am down
3. The BNP is a racist organization totally against immigration in the UK
4. It amazes me that when ever I walk away from reading your email I always have another thousand questions to ask
5. A myriad of emotions crows in on a man in love making a seething cocktail of fizz
6. To go tech diving is very expensive and very complicated you have to balance all kinds of gas in your tanks
7. You are right when you said most charities are bent and corrupt.
8. When you only put on a simple black top you look absolutely sensational
9. This love has turned into something which cannot easily be shifted by a few choice words or barbs.
10. You're crazy you know that?
11. I don't mind waiting as long as you are mine in the end.
12. ... to Germany then South Africa til the end of March. ...please don't move too much in front of the camera. I want to register your face in my head and take you with me
13. Marry me?

Megan and Janet host Thursday 13.

Enlightenment tree

That lady saw me tinkering with my curiosity and walked towards me. "You like it?" she asked. "It's pretty," I answered.

She then became animated in explaining that 'this is the tree where the Buddha was born under.' Wikipedia explains that under this tree the Lord Buddha achieved enlightenment or Bodhi. Also known as the Sacred Fig, it takes 100-3,000 years to fully grow.

My World Tuesday is brought to you by Klaus and the My World Team Sandy, Wren, Fishing Guy, Sylvia