Me, myself, I and David Foster

Our Weekend Memoirs: David Foster & Friends
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The Hitman, David Foster and his sidekicks finally performed live in my backyard last Monday. My ineptness at the camera has been a serendipity. I came up with halloween shots as well. Meet the ghosts of concert present: don't they shape up better than Casper?

Opening score: Theme of the Calgary Olympics

Mr Foster did his homework by remarking about the flood in the northeast. And here they are doing (Michael Jackson's) the Earth Song

David Foster, Peter Cetera, Ruben Studdard, Natalie Cole, Charice, and The Canadian Tenors

I went to this concert mainly for the household names and revel in memories of familiar titles: St. Elmo's Fire, Unforgettable, and many more.

Peter Cetera can't reach his high notes anymore =)

But it's okay. He's still The Inspiration. Besides I can't complain when someone half my age mistook me for a 20-something girl in the parking lot. But even if I did look my age, I admit Charice does deliver.

'dismembered' from the Charice Fan Club

It seemed like phones were intercepted inside Impact Arena. I got to socialize with friends only after the concert -

Singles Club for The Canadian Tenors

Seventeen years ago I could have turned into a zombie if I came face to face with them. The relevance of their songs was just too striking on my god forsaken love career. I'm thankful for the passage of time.

Ebie and Arlene host Our Weekend Memoirs. Thank you, Jen for the Earth Song shot :)

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Sunday Stealing: The Meme About Me, Myself and I

Today we ripped this meme off a blogger named Lucy at the blog The Smallest Smallholding. She states that she was tagged by her friend Amy at the blog Turn to the Music. 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!

1. What inspires you to blog? Getting myself involved in things I love

2. What’s the best thing about blogging, for you? the learning, the fun

3. What is your favourite book of all time? No fave. I love every book I collect

4. It’s 9pm and for some reason you’ve been hungry all day, despite the three square meals. What do you rustle up? Whatever's available or I ring some food delivery

5. Who are three of your style icons? Me, myself and I

6. What’s your current favourite song/piece of music? No fave. I love every song I choose to listen to

7. What is the last book you read? Jane Austen Volume 2

8. What is your current favourite recipe? Fried tofu with cashew nuts, tuna and orange

9. Who or what first inspired you to set up your own blog? Myself

10. What object could you not live without? I wish you could specify some context

11. Where do you see yourself in ten years? in fairyland

12. Who or what made you into the person you are today? parents, mentors, and literature heroes

13. What have your learned from blogging? It's important to be just as nice as when you are with fellow homo sapiens offline

14. Knowing what you know now, what knowledge would you pass on to your past self? There is always more to life than rotten apples

15. Sunday roasts - lunchtime or evening meal? lunchtime

16. What has been your best blogging-related experience so far? meeting and interacting with capital fellows in cyberspace

Bud Weiser hosts Sunday Stealing

Alice Cooper's Bucket Seat

Saturday 9: Elected
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1. Many of my friends have commented they cannot discuss politics with co-workers, family, friends and others without conflict rearing its ugly head. Do you feel you can talk with your family and friends about this particularly divisive election? yes but with a unanimous attitude like 'is that so? oh... duh' the topic shifts quickly

2. Do you know who you're voting for in next week's election? How did you decide? this election's not for some of us

3. What do you think is the most important issue in next Tuesday's election? no idea

4. Can you go a day without laughing? hardly

5. Do you think that you can chose who you want to love? in my case nowadays - yes absolutely

6. Have you ever been on stage? For what? all the time. to make a fool of myself

7. Would you ever live in a different country? If yes, where? Fairyland

8. Any plans for Halloween? I'll celebrate it with Harry Potter 7

9. The last costume that you wore, what was it and why did you choose it? Thai national costume for women. It's the normal bridal wear in a Thai buddhist wedding

Crazy Sam hosts

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Weekend Funnies: Bucket Seat
Thanks to OM2.

So you think you know what a bucket seat is?

Shakira and Gattina host

Ticked off creepy

Musical Monday: It's Hard to Say Goodbye
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In 1993 Asia's songbird Regine Velasquez and Canadian singer/songwriter Paul Anka recorded what was then Laura Branigan's Foolish Lullaby. That looks like a creepy period drama going on while the song is sung. Can anyone tell me what's the title of that film? (if it's a film or what)

Amanda @ Bloggin with Amanda hosts Musical Monday

Denise @ Run DMT hosts Music Monday Blog Hop

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Monday Mayhem: Are ya ticked off?

1. What ticked you off last week while you were on your way somewhere? attractive little fashion shops; they distracted me off my main purpose to browse antiques.

2. Who in your house really ticked you off and how did they do it? a reading lamp that died on me without saying goodbye

3. What politician or political event really ticked you off last week? I stay away from politics because they tick me off all the time

4. Tell us what ticked you off on TV last week. the entire TV disappeared. thanks to the storm

5. What ticked you off online last week? not having enough time to go online

6. What celebrity ticked you off last week and how? don't care enough about any celebrity to be ticked off

7. Tell us something food related that really ticked you off. insane toaster that burned my honey oat loaf

Harriet @ Harriet and Friends hosts Monday Mayhem

Classic Rust

Our Weekend Memoirs: Mabuhay Restaurant
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A cousin and I went shopping in Pratunam this past weekend. There is a Filipino restaurant there where we had lunch.

I was thinking of fall colors. Look at that Bopis. I wonder what's that -

This one I know though: beef caldereta. At home I remember there's only one aunt who can cook caldereta well. The one who owns a carenderia, lol...

Our sinigang... Operation Tangigi. Slurp!

This buko salad is obviously imported. The ice cream taste is very pinoy.

Cousin Vi took home the rest of the sinigang and I took care of the caldereta. I still have some leftover in my fridge right now. (Along with the rest of the food I can't consume duh) I'll go heat the bahaw.

Ebie and Arlene host Our Weekend Memoirs.

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Sunday Stealing: The Presuppose You're Living in New England Meme

Today we ripped this meme of a blogger known as Wayfarer at Wayfarer's Journal. Wayfarer doesn't explain if he wrote it or stole it. But if he did, 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 all of us thieves!

1. Have you turned the heat on in your house yet this fall? I live in the tropics

2. Do you allow your pets on the furniture? I normally don't but my spoiled rotten poodle has different ideas.

3. What were your final words for September? See you next year

4. What are your first words for October? Semestral break, hurray!

5. Do you think you’ve ever seen a ghost? nope

6. What is the one color that represents this time of year? over here it's rust

7. Which of your senses do you think is most sensitive this time of year? my shopping sense

8. What is your favorite thing to do at the county fair? watch activities

9. What do you like when you have a cold? inhaling eucalyptus steam

10. Are you willing to spend over $100 for a piece of winter clothing, like boots or a coat? When I live in a cold country I'll let you know

12. What do you have too much of in your kitchen? food

13. What gripes do you have about this time of year? I've never been to a halloween party yet and I'm curious

14. Other than yourself, are you responsible for getting anyone ready in the morning? nope

15. When was the last time you cleaned your gutters? I have no gutters

16. So, it’s after Labor Day. Will you still be wearing white? dunno this q

17. What shows are you most looking forward to this Fall? Downtown Abbey if I could

18. What three things have you just not gotten around to from the summer, but probably should do before snow flies nah...read answer #1

* "presuppose" should I have answered this as if I lived in New England?... nahhh this is getting complicated

Bud Weiser hosts Sunday Stealing

Impressions

Saturday 9: I'm so proud
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1. What are you proud of? moving heavy furniture ten times my tiny size for exercise

2. What is the best thing you’ve ever won as a prize? How did you win it? a plastic ring in a pack of salted corn - it was either for jumping into a garden pit or dancing the best Ring a Ring o' Roses

3. Tell us about something you've done that in retrospect was a waste of time. answering silly memes and shopping

4. How old were you when life changed the most for you? How did it change? 25; things purged me into becoming wicked, optimistic, 50% cynical - 50% objective

5. Tell us about a place [you that] you've been to that you considered to be very tranquil. The fells of North Yorkshire

6. Who is your favorite news anchor/reporter? Why? No one. Some CNN anchors laugh silly...

7. If you were to have the opportunity to name a new town or city, what would you call it? Why? It was the best of times, it was the worst of times... Charles Dickens City

8. What is something about which you've always wondered but have not yet found a good answer? anything forbidden

9. When you can't go to sleep, what is your personal remedy to help yourself drift into Lullabyland? I read

Crazy Sam hosts Saturday 9.

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Weekend Funnies: How to serve chicken wings to men

This is from my inbox again. Thanks OM2

Even vegetarians are now turning chicken. Hope you enjoy the dish.

Visit Shakira and Gattina for more funnies.

The Dead Sea for a backyard

October means work break for me. A plan to head down Khao Yai National Park is in conflict with a friend's timetable. I am forced to socialize elsewhere. These are what I saw and did at Camp Facebook:

1. "Expecting the world to treat you fairly because you are a good person is little like expecting the bull not to charge because you are a vegetarian." -Dennis Wholey

2. A few acquaintances want to troop down some videoke bar, but have no idea which bar. I suggested Bangkok Hilton. The staff there tolerates the indignity of my off-keyness.

3. “Cases of involuntary disappearances are usually filed under kidnapping, murder .... Our laws should recognize this distinction from other offenses,” emphasizes Miriam Santiago, a Philippine senator. She eats death threats for breakfast. I like her. Minus her breakfast.

4. It's raining men hallelujah! Seriously I hope the floods in the northeast stay there.

5. Yeah, yeah, I'm so getting it..., my reaction to "Getting your PhD? ..." from the NCA. What was flitting through Strategic Communications Laboratories last night for?

6. A cousin's daughter announced that she hates it when she wants to see someone so badly and she can't. I was her age when I was stifling my own emotions unsuccessfully. Being Facebookless 17 years ago, my pathetic blab got published instead in a national women's magazine. I now consider that piece one utter embarrassment.

7. Poor D is desperate for a nanny. I want to lend her my son's, but it will only complicate things. I was in the hospital when D was born. Time flies. Now she's a medical doctor and a mom herself.

8. A former classmate, now a mom of 3 in Texas broods over that fungus-infected tree knocked down by a storm. Part of her honeymoon was a tour of the Anne Frank house.

9. "Aweright, aweright paradise here we come!" my liveliest shout-out so far.

10. chattered I, "eyeing The Shadow of Sirius by Library of Congress Poet Laureate, W.S. Merwin. 'oracular, unpunctuated... empathic collection.' That's rather my pull."

11. Another former classmate and psychological sparring partner dropped by from Australia, "somewhere the Perseids are falling toward us already at a speed that would burn us alive if we could believe it...."

12. I thanked him for the warm-up, "research, geared up for the raw, the skeletal, the quantitative has deprived me of poetry in awhile." I need a qualitative chock.

13. Hi Heart, how's life with the Dead Sea for a backyard?

Megan and Janet host Thursday 13

Tears are a language

To me there is a difference between crying and shedding tears. Maybe I think that way because I say I never cry. But I do shed tears. This video is not what I planned to share on my first TSMSS from a hiatus. But I visited a bloggy friend today and I just went, 'Oh no!' Before I realized it my was face breaking. Tears fell. I know I will never be able to picture Anya's heartbreak . I can only choke, and having lost a loved one too, feel the pain with her.

To Anya, her daughters and Kareltje, I hope this song helps assuage your grief.

Amy Wyatt hosts Then Sings My Soul Saturday

Nine spooks and a funeral

Saturday 9: Spooky
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1. Does anything about Halloween “spook” you? nothing

2. What is the favorite costume you have ever worn for Halloween? none, never wore any

3. What is your favorite thing about Halloween? shopping

4. What one topic is (or was) the most painful to discuss with your parents? Why? it was too painful we didn't discuss it

5. What was the happiest day of your life? Do you think you'll ever top it? the day I set foot in fairyland.

6. What animal would you like to be able to communicate with? any animal that Jacob Black shifts into

7. In what way do you come nearest to perfection (as you define it)? forgiving my debtors?

8. Do you have any recurring nightmares? no

9. If you could change anything about the way you were raised, what would it be and why? nothing. There would be no thrill if my volatile relationship with my mother was altered.

Crazy Sam hosts Saturday 9.

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Weekend Funnies: Academic Humour

I wonder what chance does a dirty finger-and-thumb coordination have against a pistol. Here's hoping they conclude their discussion amicably.

Over at my workplace, students are pampered and their chances are endless you'll wonder if anyone is still normal at all. It will be fun if they try Cambridge and get immortalized in yellow stationery.

An invitation to the mock funeral of a student who failed his exam

But then my party-crazy flunkers will be delighted to be in their mourning fashion. In God's capable hands I commend their spirit.

Visit Shakira and Gattina for more funnies.

Turn to page 331

"So that's how it looks like," I thought as I stared at a blurred image on Cambridge U's 800th anniversary portrait. The page shows a document stamped S E C R E T. I leafed through and tinkered with the text mode of my camera. But the real fun was just setting eyes on things for the first time. It makes up for not having been to any museum in awhile. Besides, I'm not sure how easy or difficult some of these things are to view from anywhere other than the book. This is what I meant on my T13 last week when I said, "into my lap a treasure fell..."

1. Extract from the annotated first edition of Principia Mathematica, 1686

2. Undergraduate record card of Frank Whittle, inventor of the jet engine

3. A 3D silicon nanostructure fabricated using chemical vapour deposition

4. In the pages of the Blue Boy Magazine, err... the Varsity

5. John Milton's manuscript of Lycidas

6. Ernest Rutherford's notes on the structure of the atom

7. The Chancellor's Medal, 1813, awarded annually for the best poem in English written by a student.

8. Roger Morris's index to the Entring Book, an important record of life in the late 17th century

9. A page from the Shahnama of Firdausi, the Persian Book of Kings

10. Nobel Prize certificate awarded to Paul Dirac in 1933 for the discovery, with Erwin Schrodinger, of new productive forms of atomic theory

11. Charter of Edward I, 1291/2, confirming the privileges of the University.

12. Title page of the first book published by Cambridge University Press

13. Fragment of a Genizah manuscript

Megan and Janet host Thursday Thirteen

Spirit House

As a Buddhist country, Thailand has plenty of beliefs and practices arising from Animism or Spirit Worship. A major feature of animistic practice is the spirit house. Its purpose is to provide dwelling for spirits or celestial beings on land. Thais believe that spirits are either good or evil and most expect respect from humans, like being informed if humans would want to start a business in a certain spot. If these spirits aren't, they can cause disastrous interference to any venture. (Reference: Chiangmai and Chiangrai)

A Thai spirit house can be seen in front of homes, hospitals, company buildings, everywhere. You can see it "on a pedestal in front of every hotel. It dresses the corner garden area of a restaurant ... at outdoor food markets. They are built on the grounds of Buddhist temples, outside caves in the mountains, near fishing ponds in the valleys, and occasionally in the middle of an otherwise uninhabited forest." (Source: Uniquely Thai)

This is a spirit house in front of a university on a rainy day. Everyday employees pass by it as they scan their finger in computers beside the gate to report for work. Buddhist/Thai employees wai at it. The international staff, some after having been around for many years, tend to duck their heads as they make their way in and out the campus.

The same spirit house at night.

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