Decor, decor on the wall

... tell me which bloom is the fairest of all.

The fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989 was a major event in modern history. This week CNN replays US President Ronald Reagan's famous challenge, "Mr Gorbachev, tear down this wall." The anniversary got me reminiscing on that field trip to Central Mindanao University museum where I saw a piece of the Berlin Wall. The piece was a bit wider in circumference of an old Philippine peso coin. It looked extremely ordinary that if not for it's historical significance, I wouldn't have stared at it longer than ten seconds.

Thousands of miles away from Germany, a wall is not torn down but decorated. It's the entrance wall of an apartment on Sukhumvit Road in the Bangkok Metropolitan area. I don't know if it's coincidence that the staff beautified it around the Berlin Wall anniversary. Below are some snapshots of the wall, and while I'm at it I think I may as well accompany them with quotes that involve walls.

“Information is the oxygen of the modern age. It seeps through the walls topped by barbed wire, it wafts across the electrified borders.”

~ Ronald Reagan

“There are no constraints on the human mind, no walls around the human spirit, no barriers to our progress except those we ourselves erect.”
~ Ronald Reagan

"All things on earth point home in old October; sailors to sea, travellers to walls and fences, hunters to field and hollow and the long voice of the hounds, the lover to the love he has forsaken” ~ Thomas Wolfe

"Home" is any four walls that enclose the right person”
~ Helen Rowland

“If one cannot state a matter clearly enough so that even an intelligent twelve-year-old can understand it, one should remain within the cloistered walls of the university and laboratory until one gets a better grasp of one's subject matter”
~ Margaret Mead

“A man can no more diminish God's glory by refusing to worship Him than a lunatic can put out the sun by scribbling the word, 'darkness' on the walls of his cell.”
~ C.S.Lewis

“In every block of marble I see a statue as plain as though it stood before me, shaped and perfect in attitude and action. I have only to hew away the rough walls that imprison the lovely apparition to reveal it to the other eyes as mine see it.”

~ Michelangelo

“This indictment of Christianity I will write on all walls, wherever there are walls - I have letters to make even the blind see” ~Friedrich Nietzsche

This one makes me feel cozy. I just have to share it:

“May you always have walls for the winds, a roof for the rain, tea beside the fire, laughter to cheer you, those you love near you and all your heart might desire.”
~ Irish Blessings

Source: Thinkexist

~brought to you by Klaus, Sandy, Ivar, Wren, Fishing Guy and Louise ~

Dances With Wolves

"Inside everyone is a frontier waiting to be discovered"

goes the tagline. Dances With Wolves is a 1990 film starring Kevin Costner. I chose it for my entry to this week's TCP theme: western, as it's the first and probably the only one of the genre I have in my collection right now. I haven't toughened up with westerns but I buy and collect one that I like for it's quality and the way it is presented. And maybe I picked right. When I checked out 'Dances' on the Internet Movie Database I found out it won 7 oscars.

source

Here's the plot summary with a link of the source, followed by the trailer:

Having been sent to a remote outpost in the wilderness of the Dakota territory during the American Civil War, Lieutenant John Dunbar encounters, and is eventually accepted into, the local Sioux tribe. He is known as "Dances with Wolves" to them and as time passes he becomes enamoured by the beautiful "Stands With a Fist". Not soon after, the frontier becomes the frontier no more, and as the army advances on the plains, John must make a decision that will not only affect him, but also the lives of the natives he now calls his people. ~ Written by Graeme Roy Source

~ Visit Kikamz @ Just About Anything for more westerns ~

I spy...

I Spy something...
delicious

I Spy something...
cute

Salapao (left) attends Mozart's first birthday party

I Spy something...

stupid

We, hundreds of us, had this long, boring meeting held in a long, rectangular meeting room. Someone fell asleep on his chair. He slept all throughout with his mouth open and someone stuck a coin in his mouth
~ thought I had better describe it. I'm feeling merciful today, lol.

I Spy something...
too much

simulated fun.

I Spy something...

I'd like to do

again.

I Spy something...
I'd like to visit

POE

I Spy something...

outrageous

a fat, gay business admin instuctor dressed in a grass skirt, with clown make-up, dancing in front of his students
~ thought I had better describe it. a photo will be too complicated

I Spy something...

I would rather do than work

Head over to Monday Mayhem to play

Til I Met You

Either I'm crazy or I'm crazy. There's no explanation for my behavior today, except that this song I'm posting moves me. I mean the video you are going to see looks like the kind that young people who are in love watch. I'm supposed to be way past this stage, but who cares? Instead of focusing on a research I'm doing, I am giggling silly over this and I'm not even a shipper of any couple. The vocalist is Regine Velasquez, known as Asia's songbird. With her is Robin Padilla, her co-star in Til I Met You, a film they're promoting thru this performance. Regine loses her breath on 3.48-39. She's tired, this was not their first in consecutive nights working on getting viewers for their film. This was in 2006. But the lyrics keep up. I hope you enjoy it.

~ Visit Diane @ Good Mourning Glory for more music ~

The Strange Question Meme, Part II

Today we ripped this meme off a blogger named Leo Maccool at the blog Butch Girlcat. It's a 50 question meme, so we decided to it in two parts. Today is Part 1. She explains that she stole this the ever-fabulous GREG. But, it was probably stolen there as well. So, of course, that will be as far as we go. Tracing back our theft's thieves might take some time. Link back to us at Sunday Stealing!

CHEERS TO US ALL THIEVES!

26. What color is your watch? got several watches, the one I see in front of me is silver and black

27. What do you think of when you hear “Australia”? kangaroos down under

28. Would you strip for money? I would even if there's no money involved; but then don't go blaming me if you get irreversibly cross-eyed afterwards

29. Do you go in a fast food place or just hit the drive thru? go in is the usual practice here, although I've tried drive thru in the UK

30. What is your favorite number? 8

31. Who’s the last person you talked to on the phone? Chet

32. Any plans today? rearrange the furniture

33. In how many states have you lived? nah

34. Biggest annoyance right now? indecision

35. Last song listened to? lullaby for my kiddo

36. Can you say the alphabet backwards? only up to X unless maybe if I concentrate

37. Do you have a maid service clean your house? how about a live-in maid? Ok, I used to have that, but it's just a perk of third world countries

38. Favorite pair of shoes you wear all the time? the pair I wear to work is hardly my favorite but they help me survive my job

39. Are you jealous of anyone? I'm too busy making my life the way I want it to be to be jealous of anyone

40. Is anyone jealous of you? I don't know

41. Do you love anyone? of course

42. Do any of your friends have children? I just realized that they don't, now that you asked. Either they are good at birth control or they have fertility issues

43. What do you usually do during the day? work

44. Do you hate anyone that you know right now? I don't forgive those few hags and bastards who offended me big time, I never will by the way, but I don't hate

45. Do you use the word hello daily? only to those who stupidly offer me jobs they assume I'd jump in. Pathetic them I can't be bothered with flaunting evidence that my circumstances don't match those jobs

46. What color is your car? I don't even have a toy bike

47. What size wedding ring do you wear? the jeweler had to resize it to smallest when I was married

48. Are you thinking about someone right now? no one in particular

49. Have you ever been to Six Flags? no

50. How did you get your worst scar? by attempting an unsuccessful sui-cide whoa!.... LOL! I should have opted for laser removal of that mole on my arm. It was tiny but unwanted. Now it could match one of Mad Eye Moody's battle souvenirs. Vanity, anyone?

Culinary drama

Truth be told my five-year old is difficult to feed. While there's no problem with Mcdonald fries or KFC nuggets, he eats them like he has no schooling to do, I have to invent all sorts of drama to make him eat fruits and veggies.

So far there hasn't been any luck with these:

I present this brown beauty to him with blueberry jam and tell him this is Mr Farmer Handsome. Eat it and you'll have a pretty girlfriend. He goes as far as licking the jam

Now comes the hard part, even for me when I was his age. No luck either. Fine! But then he doesn't know how delicious are these veggies when they become pinakbet. A friend in Pinas sent me bagoong (salted fish) so I didn't mind that Cj shunned it and I had this all to myself with the precious bagoong

This is where I had luck. He was fooled by the beef on the side. He didn't even question my hardly average cooking

The fact that he ate, (well, he didn't see the apple slices I hid under the carrot-dotted mayonnaise) made our week a successful one in the dining department.

~ Visit Ebie and Arlene for more memoirs ~

Girls will be girls

Today's Small Talk Six topic is 6 reasons why you would be doomed if you were stranded on a deserted island all by yourself.

There are things that will probably help me survive like going vegetarian, and those survival tips I learned from school camping. But if being deserted is long-term, even if it's a LOST type of island, I would die from:

1. Worry. Who would take care of my boys? Look at the state of them on my sidebar.

2. Fright. They say deserted islands are usually haunted.

3. Vanity. I would miss make-up, shoes, silk blouses, the swivel chair at work, jewelry, hats, purses. Girls will be girls :)

4. Boredom. If there's no internet when I wake up, I freak out.

5. Loneliness. Privacy is a good thing. The total absence of company and worse, longing for it when you know there isn't, is another thing.

6. Maladjustment. It's not just my habitat. I could try Tom Hanks's strategy, but ... I'll start thinking about it if, knock on wood, I ever get shipwrecked.

~ Visit Karenc @ Momdot for more STS ~

Savoring newness

There were changes at work and delightful, personal bits came up. My faves this week are about them:

1. Easy adjustments. We were handed new keys. Our new office sports a mini-kitchen with automatic taps.
High back swivel chairs roll efficiently to our whim. The bathroom is supplied with extra fragrances. There's a snack table that doesn't seem to run out of food. Is this still a faculty office or what? We are so tucking in nicely. I heard the lecture and meeting rooms of Bldg. 18 are quite high tech. Maybe when things are not just positively new but also provide state of the art convenience, the situation easily becomes a fave.

2. Gallant security. The new building is patrolled by a new team of guards. Reflective of Thai politeness, these men in uniform do more. They salute faculty members on their way out at the end of the day. Fairly amusing but I got to behave accordingly. The only other time I experienced this type of safety was when I used to drive through residential security when I was married. Now single and no longer driving home to rows of large townhouses the salute is still on (lol).

3. Good scores. Life is a piece of cake during midterms, for invigilators that is. The happy part is that most university exam takers got above median scores. One student made only one mistake. If someone perfects at least one subject in the finals, I'm ready to party.

4. A pretty wall. Staff livened up the entrance of my apartment. They changed the wall tiles from urban drab to a bit of rustic hue; and hung flowers that make me feel like I'm in the country, not whirling endlessly in a busy metropolis.

5. Love notes. You've probably heard or read about Elena Desserich, a 6-year old girl with cancer who wrote love notes to her family before she died and hid the notes everywhere in their house for them to find. Cynical comments poured in. I dwell on the heart-warming quality of the story. It nudges me to be grateful for and pay attention to my healthy five-year-old's little handiwork - a sketch of my face with six fat strands of upright eyelashes and a pair of elfish ears. Under it he writes H-A-L-Z-E and proudly exclaims, "Mommy, look!"

~ Visit Susanne @ Living to Tell the Story for more faves ~

The Herder

It's Sunday evening at The Landmark, and I was working. My job? Herding 13-year olds to the ballroom so we could get on with it. Or I could get on with this end-of-term banquet. That white thing in my hand contained guide to glide thru a night of hormones, spicy food and speeches. So much for 3-inch gold shoes matching the gold lace of an evening dress.

Let's do the math: 2009 - 1997 = 12 years ago.

~ Visit Alicia of More Than Words for more flashbacks ~

Monday Madness - Hot or not?

Harriet of I am Harriet hosts a new meme called Monday Mayhem . Today's the debut. From Harriet:

Thanks for joining us for the first week of Monday Mayhem!
This is the Monday meme that will differ from week to week.
Every Monday you can expect something new and different to keep you entertained.

Today's topic is hot or not.
Simply copy and paste this post into your blog post and tell us if you think each of the items are hot or not. Be sure to come back here and post a link to your post and visit the other participants.

Hot or not?

The mom jean - not

***

Hot or not? Tara Reid - not. The flat belly is kinda attractive, below that is gross, and I don't feel like liking swelling boobs set against a skeletal chest. She may have talents that make her hot but as far as this shot goes, she's not hot.

***
Hot or not?

yep - not. Is he a relative of William Hung?

***
Hot or not?

The Hardee Thickburger - hot

***
Hot or not? This is it - hot

***

Hot or not? Napoleon Dynamite - not really. Is that his name? He looks like the book shopkeeper in Just Like Heaven

***

Hot or not? Sarah Palin's almost son-in-law going frontal on Playgirl - not. Sorry young man, I'm biased. If your almost MIL could have shown adequate know-how of foreign policy, I would have said you're hot. But whatever... not hot.

***
Hot or not? CNN's new homepage - ok hot. I wish they'd gotten over their propensity to sensationalize though

***
Hot or not?
Owning a large mylar balloon and that is your livelihood - ok not. It's very interesting, but not for me

***

Hot or not?

Are you kidding? I've become more neurotic since I began seriously thinking what would I do when I finally grow up. And here's Einstein (is that him when his hair was intact?) acting like Peeves the Poltergeist, lol... I think I'm gonna love Mondays on memesville :-)

Definitely hot!