Delineating Des

... time off blogging I'm afraid :( My monitor is still broken, but I hope I can have time to get a new one next week. I miss blogging and my bloggy friends. The Red Shirts, and now multi-colored shirts, they say rage on - perfect time to get out as I am headed to Hong Kong in a few hours. Then Philippines six days after. Well, see yah!

Thailand is celebrating Songkran (Thai new year) this week. Water-throwing which characterizes the occasion has been reportedly mild especially in Bangkok where protests are still going on. It's untraditionally dry where I live and in general things have been quiet. I like the week just the way it is: A place to purchase necessities in peace I usually stay indoors during Songkran because I don't like to get drenched. To do the same thing this year I hoarded food so I didn't have to go out at anytime during the entire week. I'm glad I was able to do my shopping without having to worry about stray bullets or being trampled by a mob. A friendly man in uniform After buying everything we needed, CJ and I stood waiting opposite the mall for our ride home. Vehicles on the highway were sparse. The cop directing traffic approached CJ, and playfully tugged the Ultraman doll which seems perenially attached to CJ's hand nowadays. Then he went back to his job. It all happened wi

Gradschool, Communication Theory class: we were grilled on the application of theories in everything at every turn. When trouble erupted in Thailand's Muslim south, we were required to analyze it using a communication theory. A major newspaper editor was fired and we set about combing pages for a theory that would best explain the circumstances around the sacking. Thank God Bangkok U has already released me or I will have been wondering which theory would explain the ongoing Red Shirt protests. I remember some of these theories (#3, 4, 7, 9, 11, 12), and as I'm drafting a theoretical framework this week I have to consult texts which makes it easy for me to come up with my T13 today. Which ones are relevant to your experiences? 1. Critical theories a group of theories that seek to produce change in oppressive and otherwise undesirable practices and structures in society 2. Critical race theory examines how laws and legal institutions construct race and uses race as a critical

The theme for Tuesday Couch Potatoes this week is Julia Roberts movie . I love this actress! She is one of my all-time favorite stars. But guess what -- except for Charlotte's Web in which she voice acted, I don't have any of her films in my DVD collection. My favorites are Pretty Woman , and Notting Hill . She was her feisty best in Erin Brockovich . I remember ogling at her shoes in The Mexican . I watched Dying Young when I was in college and made sure I had the piano sheet of the soundtrack. JR exercised patience of a woman in love in Stepmom . I had no idea she voice acted in The Ant Bully . I can't remember details of My Best Friend's Wedding and not sure if I have seen Sleeping with the Enemy . I had easy access to The Pelican Brief, America's Sweethearts, Ocean's Eleven, Ocean's Twelve but had never gotten the time to watch them. I'm curious about Charlie Wilson's War , and putting Conspiracy Theory , and Confessions of a Dangerous Mind i

Musical Monday: Runaway - Bon Jovi Please scroll down for Monday Mayhem My computer has gone crazy. Going out was no option because Red Shirt protests have escalated so I tried the TV. That's when I learned from CNN that as of yesterday the death toll was 19. image It's the start of Songkran (Thai new year) here but it looks like protesters are not chucking water at each other with the intensity that this event is traditionally characterized with. It's a different liquid poured on the gates of Government House but do not to go to this link if you are squeamish. I'm trying to numb some rising fear here by sticking Runaway to my head today. Diane hosts Musical Monday at Good Mourning, Glory! ************************* Monday Mayhem: Goes Stealing Please scroll up for Musical Monday Mayhem is locked up in a jail cell some place in Illinois. You might ask why? Well it went on a stealing binge this week. It passed go and didn't collect the $200.00. Rather it went right

Small Talk Six: Exotic or Stange Foods Please scroll down for Weekend Funnies Today's Small Talk Six topic is “6 of the most exotic or the strangest things you’ve ever eaten.” Here are mine: 1. Dayok - a mixture of fermented fish intestines; eaten in tiny portions as appetizer or as dipping sauce for boiled banana 2. Bird's nest soup - expensive, I have it once in a blue moon 3. Pidan or alkalized egg - so-so. I'm not a fan 4. Shark fin soup - love it; and I vaguely remember being told that my ex-MIL had it included in my wedding reception 5. Ho Mok Gai Sai - chicken and bamboo shoot wrapped in banana leaves 6. __ ?__ - I could not for the life of me remember the name of this thing but I'll ask around as soon as I can. I took pictures so please have a look: a. some ingredients I recognize are coconut strips, peanuts, shallot, chilli, baby shrimp, ginger, and kaffir lime b. don't know what leaf is this; you shape it like a cup and mix the ingredients in. c.

Bangkok is in a state of emergency . I tried shopping yesterday but could not because protests have shut down major malls. There are no signs that anything's going to be resolved soon. As I am right where the action is I am hoping that my travel plans won't be affected. Meanwhile the rest of us are still working normally and that's a lot to be thankful for. I am also happy for other blessings: Treat from the sky Monday night it rained, saving me extra AC cost. Tuesday night a full moon was visible. Due to light pollution it's not every night that city residents get to see a sky adorned with a smiling heavenly body. Helping each other Sorting taxes is beyond me honestly, but some colleagues are good at it and willing to do it for me. In return I do something for them they'd rather not; like write the institute boss' speech around time constraints for research. Tension was high but when it was over it was hilarious how we were all in a dither while the boss just e

Do written signs have an impact on you? They must have on me as they recur from time to time. The first twelve of these signs are some I remember from MVC, a boarding college my parents sent me to. Situated on a hill and nicknamed The Hilltop, it is puritan, replete with angels and demons . I loved and hated that place. But signs, here we go: 1. Music washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life ~ in the Music department. I did an entire summer job there pounding pianos for voice students 2. There is Math in your future ~ this has proven useful to me now 3. Reading maketh a full man ~ library obviously 4. Come out of here my people ~ looks like a line from the Bible. Occupants of the room where this sign was posted were male Theology majors. Boxer shorts hung on their ceiling during Open House, a once-a-term event when ladies and gents are allowed inside each other's residence rooms 5. Don't get mad. Get even ~ etched almost inconspicously on the wall of a tiny room

Musical Monday: What a Wonderful World Please scroll down for Monday Mayhem Is it just me or do you also notice that sometimes when you are required to write something concise, you could hardly do so? All weekend this was my trouble. I drafted a research proposal overview that, if approved, would involve textual analysis of National Trust publications -actually simple to look at but taxing to put together. Louise Armstrong's What a Wonderful World would be one way to describe a part of it. Diane hosts Musical Monday @ Good Mourning, Glory! ************************** Monday Mayhem: I love this about... Please scroll up for Musical Monday What do you love about people that you spend time with outside your home (coworkers etc)? they always share their snacks, perhaps a cultural trait What do you love about people in your home? my kiddo's manifestation of caring: last night I casually showed him my bleeding ankle and he ran to my dresser, stood on his toes looking for something be

In York I was inwardly moaning that I could not join a ghost walk because I could not stand the cold. I missed viewing 13th century manuscripts because the tour ran out of time. So these 13 things I love about what I did not miss in that lovely city had better make up: 1. Guy Fawkes hotel . Although having a large portrait of England's catholic restorationist in my room was eerie, the four poster was cozy 2. Historic breakfast . It's served adjacent to the cottage where Guy Fawkes was born 3. Room with a view . The window is like a picture frame into which part of northern Europe's largest cathedral fits 4. York Minster : massive, magnificent, enough said. 5. Staring awed at the Five Sisters , reputed to be among the finest and rarest in the world. 6. Evensong . Beckoned in by the vesper chime, I quietly joined other worshippers for a bit of spiritual exercise 7. Minster choir . As voices rose to the spires, so swarmed gooseflesh from my gloved fingers to my shivering