Hazel Ceej

It's Friday and time for a look-back: 1. Paying attention to my nook on its wakey mode. Monday I arrived at work an hour early. Brown birds were chattering precociously on the still-empty parking lot. The gardener's dog was munching a rubber slipper behind the gate. The place smelt like it had never known pollution of any kind. I liked what I witnessed. 2. Multi-lingual multi-tasking : - ears listening to an earphone song, nakalimutan mo na bang tumawa? (have you forgotten to laugh?) - fingers composing a text message, nikaon na si CJ? (has CJ eaten yet?) - eyes scanning a PR paper, "... government to mobilize resources for defense and military establishments" - mouth clarifying instructions, mai ao tini; song akhan sippeht (I don't want it here. Send it to Bldg. 18) *Three languages, one dialect lasting less than 3 minutes. I thought it was fun. 3. Apple pie with warm custard sauce; beef cheese tacos garnished with tomatoes and cilantro eaten over good conv

Relying almost entirely on milk and unless starving, CJ doesn't eat. So when I witness moments like this, I feel relieved. His recent snack choice is kechup or soy sauce. To make him eat something healthy I try these strategies simultaneously: coax, beg, threaten, set an example by eating the food myself or bribe. "I'll let you play all you want with Winnie the Pooh, Lion King and Mickey Mouse if you eat," goes the motivating factor behind this episode. Ibbity-Bobbity Boo! a little mouth opens wide. For a picky eater, this bite looks big enough to last him til the next snack time. Snacks going on at the Mommy Journey .

Musical Monday: I hate myself for loving you Scroll down for Monday Mayhem Here's one of Joan Jett's popular recordings. Its "hard-edged, hard beat-driven rhythm" gets me moving today. Amanda at Bloggin with Amanda hosts Musical Monday; and Denise at Run DMT hosts Music Monday Blog Hop. ********************************* Monday Mayhem: The 5 on 5 Meme Scroll up for Musical Monday 1. What are 5 things that you hope to accomplish this week? - make sure e-exams are ready to go live by Monday next week - finish those evaluation sheets - read enough literature to put together a research inquiry - email Dr T - test my sanity by hanging up a poster of a shapeshifter 2. Name 5 reasons to sleep in - internet addiction - catching up on films - online chatting with acquaintances I haven't heard from in decades - pleasure reading - insomnia 3. Name 5 of the 'interesting' things you've heard lately - someone's been balmy and another one's been petulan

Our Weekend Memoirs: Marang Scroll down a bit for Sunday Stealing My former Education boss passes away. A couple of meters from the little church where her funeral was held, a wee stand of marangs beckons the wanderer in me. Only in da Pilipins . Pinoys often say or hear that phrase. I'm not sure where else does this fruit exist. The cortege inches out of the church yard. I whisper, "bye, Ma'am Arcon" and negotiate (read: haggle) the price of one of these marangs. More at Our Weekend Memoirs . ***************** Sunday Stealing: The Threesome Meme Scroll up a bit for Our Weekend Memoirs Welcome back to Sunday Stealing. Sunday Stealing originated on WTIT: The Blog authored by Bud Weiser. Here we will steal all types of memes from every corner of the blogosphere. Our promise to you is that we will work hard to find the most interesting and intelligent memes. You may have heard of the expression, “honor amongst thieves”. In that age-old tradition, we also hav

Less than 24 hours after sharing last week's highlights, my next set of faves was guaranteed. And weekend wasn't even over yet. I don't know what I did to deserve it but I'm thankful - 1. Church . I went. Really. A friend suggested it and I made a snap decision to go. Something became clear to me again: the reason I insist on having a day off work in a week is to calm down from it all. No matter how seldom, it's good to recharge spiritual batteries. 2. Hearty lunch at an elegant Thai restaurant with an international menu. We had lasagna, avocado salad with cantaloupe in oil and vinegar dressing, banoffee cheesecake, etc. The bonus? Stairs up for grabs: cost effective for calorie-burning. 3. Dasa is a second-hand book store with a coffee shop on its second floor. There were several titles I liked. It's gonna be a new haunt certainly. 4. Peterson Gallery . Priced from $2,000 to $163,000 - pianos galore! Once in awhile I wander into places like this. And I fancy a

Monday Mayhem: Mayhem Returns Please scroll down for Musical Monday 1. What have you been doing on Mondays since we've been on a break? I just left my Mondays vacant 2. What is the best way to get people to play this fun meme? keep it short and sweet 3. Tell us about the kind of weather you are having today? sunny and warm 4. What is one thing that you would like to share with the rest of us about 9/11? This world is up to something. 9/11 was just a prologue. 5. Tell us something that you are predicting will happen this week? Stock markets will rise and fall... hah... seriously, here in my nook I'll be eating Statistics for breakfast starting tomorrow :( 6. What happens to rabbits when they grow old? they retire 7. What is your opinion about latest craze of Divorce Insurance? Would you buy some? If we had that sort of stuff here, I'd read it first before anything else. Harriet hosts Monday Mayhem . ********************* Musical Monday: What's Up? Please scroll up for M

Sunday Stealing: Sunday Stealing Player's Meme Please scroll down for Our Weekend Memoirs Today we ripped this meme not from a blogger but from you, our players and friends. We asked for original questions last week. And did you guys deliver! We believe we’ve got everyone in the credits. If we missed you, let us know! The star players who submitted questions were: Hooting Anni, Niko, Wendy, Melanie, Ace, Bambie, Zoan, Dixie Chick, Lynette from A Blog in the Rough, The Gal, Katie, Hazel, Me, Mark from An Erie Tapestry, Mamo Ko, Cat., Noelle, Kwizgiver, Shakaku, Catch Her in the Wry, Brandt, Debster, Zh3en22, Americanising Desi and Kathy. Head over to the SS headquarters for the grand theft. Cheers to all of us thieves! 1. :::sniff, sniff::: Is the dog in the house? he got sent overseas. you're just seeing his framed photo sitting prominently on the bookshelf 2. What is the best piece of advice you've ever received? There is always room for improvement. You only stop learn

It's a week abundant with life's little pleasures, and I'm enjoying such a great Friday mood with the FFF ladies over at Susanne's Living to Tell the Story . If you are dropping by from Mommy Moments, please scroll down a bit; thank you. Now the highlights of my week -- 1. Birthday dinner at Cabbages and Condoms . A friend put up with my fondness for dining out and exploring restaurants. C & C supports social development programs of the PDA, an organization that complements the Thai government's effort to promote family planning. 2. Cafe de Tu . We took the sky train to get to a posh mall for dessert. There's a lovely ambience for a slice of chocolate banana cake and a long glass of iced lemon tea. It was sheer relaxation verbalizing ephemeral wishes. From the high ceiling pretty lamps cast off a warm, soft glow making the place conducive for twilight dreams. 3. Work over lunch at Fuji . Now comes a hard, raw bit. I had to carry work to one lunch but it he

Our Weekend Memoirs: When old maids meet Please scroll down for Sunday Stealing A friend on the other side of the world mentioned this place. I discovered it's right down my backyard when I googled it. Since a co-old maid was game for a little exploration we went there last night. The name of this restaurant is apparently its most attractive feature. We punctuated the food with conservative-wild observations of 21st century old maidenhood. Ah, there's my Screwdriver. Reliable in penetration. "Don't these things come with a man?," we teased the server who gave us condoms instead of the usual mint candies after we settled the bill. More memoirs at Ebie and Arlene's Our Weekend Memoirs . ********************************************* Sunday Stealing: The Majorly Personal Meme, Part The Last Please scroll up for Our Weekend Memoirs Today we ripped this meme off a blog that is written by a group of high school students. The blog is called

This is a 2-in-1 post today. I sort of incorporated the contents as they are related and fall into similar concepts for both memes which are equally significant to me. If you are dropping by from Mommy Moments, please scroll down. Thanks. Friday's Fave Five , hosted by Susanne at Living to Tell the Story is right next - It's probably a matter of orientation: I am used to uneventful birthdays. What I'm not used to is missing a few things. But I didn't and this week's faves are about what I'm thankful for the most: 1. Monday which was the day came and went peacefully. No issues at work, I ate what I wanted to eat, did a little shopping and I easily found the 'celebration' restaurant for tomorrow. I'm excited. 2. Greetings from good friends. I didn't expect anyone to call or email but they did and I appreciate that. 3. A promise in the sky, woot! See heaven's kiss on earth to boot. 4. Ticket to David Foster and Friends concert in October pu

Monday was not bad. Technology did 95% of my job and I was paid for warming a high-back swivel chair in a lab full of computer geeks. When I started noticing how 'alien' their language is to me, I explored their dictionary. These are 13 of what made me go like, oh, I see then is that so?... and in between, what? -- 1. glambassador a diplomat selected for his or her celebrity and appearance, not for any particular knowledge of foreign policy or international affairs. For example, "Linda Gray of TV's Dallas was just made goodwill glambassador for the U.N. Population Fund." 2. gutenburg a person who insists on printing out everything available onscreen. "Keith is such a gutenberg. He printed out a 150-page manual just to read a few sections of it." 3. leetspeak a.k.a. leet, lite, elite, eleet, 1337, 3l337, l33t, 3l33t Leetspeak, or "leet" for short, is a type of online jargon in which a computer user replaces regular letters with other keyboard

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 plyi

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 mov

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 induc