And so to 123

This is meme # 4, courtesy of Prab:

1. Grab the closest book to you
2. Open to page 123, look down to the 5th sentence
3. Post the next of the 3 sentences on your blog
4. Include the title and the author's name
5. Tag 3 people

He had dived for the golden sack only because he wanted to impress her. He sometimes looked in the mirror for hours at a time, making faces, tensing muscles, winking, smiling, puckering. He had never seen another man naked, and so had no idea if his body is normal...

Weird.

The book is called Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer. I used to work for Penguin Books years ago (before I had my 2nd baby, who incidentally, had taken his first 3 steps yesterday, hooray), so I have got loads of books that remains unread, and this is one of them. So if you ask me what this book is all about, I haven't got the foggest. Might tell you one day :-)

Hmm.. I'm not sure about # 5 because this meme has been goin round for months now, so I think I'll pass on this if you don't mind. Or if you haven't done this yet, go on, go on, go on.. have a go!

This poem was e mailed to me, well, to my school group a few weeks ago. I want to share it with you laydees...

A Poem About Girlfriends

Someone will always be prettier
Some will always be smarter.
Some of their houses will be bigger.
Some will drive a better car.
Their children will do better in school.
And their husbands will fix more things around the house.

So let it go, and love you and your circumstances.
Think about it!

The prettiest woman in the world can have hell in her heart.
And the most highly favoured woman on your job may be unable to have children.
And the richest woman you know, she's got the car, the house, the clothes... might be lonely.

And the word says, "If I have not love, I am nothing."
So, again, love you.
Love who you are.
Look in the mirror in the morning and smile and say,

"I am too blessed to be stressed and too annointed to be disappointed!"
"Winners make things happen-- losers let things happen."

Be "blessed" ladies... and pass this on to encourage another woman.

"To the world you might be one person, but to the one person you just sent this to, it could mean so much."


So what do you think? Did it make you feel better about yourself?

This is just a tribute.. part I

Hello boys and girls, haven't been around for sometime because oldboy (the laptop) has decided it had enough of abuse from the members of this household. We tried to rescue it but it seemed to have given up, after 10 years. The husband is still hopeful though; he thinks there is still life left in it (yeah, knowing him)..

I can still remember that Sunday afternoon, after a slap up meal, I turned the oldboy on, nothing. Not even the popping and humming that goes on for about 7 minutes before its fully functional. At first I thought, "Ohmigod, Jade Goody's put the mockers on me." Maybe she found a way through the oldboy, you know, like that film, the ghost in the machine. Creepy.

So I called the husband, try and figure out what's happening. But still nothing. Kaput. After about an hour (more or less) of sighing and blaming (of whoever's dunnit), we decided that we give it a rest. We know anyway its bound to happen sooner rather than later.

Time to give Dell a call.

And we did, too. It only took us 2 hours on what PC to get and this time we opted to have a desktop instead. And after 4 days, here I am writing this. It's not that we got money to spare, it's just that this is our lifeline (thank goodness for the plastic!). Can't live without computers (ie internet) nowadays, as we all know.. but that's another blog story.

So long, oldboy.. Here comes.. dellboy..

tbc..

FRANKENSTEIN UNLEASHED

You might have heard of the controversy about celebrity big brother here in the UK. If you haven't, read this. I promised myself that I'm not watching Big Brother anymore, but it's too good to miss. Anyway, I've seen it all; the rows and the bitchings, especially on Jade Goodyconbully's part. Poor Little Shilpa, she didn't know what was coming when she came into the house.
As for you Jade, queen of chavs and princess of yobs, what are you gonna do now? What on earth were you thinking when you went back there? You must be kicking yourself.. Should you bury yourself alive or teleport into another galaxy, later on recycling yourself as a tissue paper for all of the Blighty?
You decide.
For more on Jade Goody, read this.
My husband thinks I'm going loopy.

Because of Blogging..

..I was able to write this :-)

And thanks to Snglguy, I got tagged again! Not that I'm complaining, mind.

Seriously . I got a lot of things to be thankful for because of blogging ; you have read these reasons before I'm sure ( I noticed I'm always "kulelat", I blame it on the time difference), but take heed.. please!

• Remember, I keep reiterating that I'm thick ? Well, I still am, but because of blogging I was able to use the brain more; I read more , learned how to use the hyperlink, upload pictures, even use the you tube,etc,etc. Most importantly, it helped me organize my thoughts into words. I know I've got a long way to go but it is a learning experience, right? Even my grammar sucks most of the time , but there you go. There comes a time when playing sudoku, kakuro, crosswords, etc, is not enough to exercise the brain, especially when one is just a full time housewife and is not getting any younger...
• I was able to meet new "friends". As Verns would say, "they're blog friends, but friends nonetheless." I can magine if no one would comment on my posts; it would feel like I'm talking to myself or talking to the trees.. how sad would that be. And of course because of them, no, because of you (if you're reading this then you are my mate), I was able to broaden my horizon, ie, learn about the way of life of other expats, learn about the current situation in the Philippines through the eyes of some bloggers, share some sentiments and experiences on this and that. And then I also learned some abbreviations, BTW.
• It made me loosen up a bit.. Oh I think that goes without saying considering I am such a shy and retiring person :)
• I use to watch TV a lot, but now I only watch those programs I'm really interested in. Channel hopping? No way. Blog hopping? Yes, please!
• This is my clame to fame. At the moment anyway.

Now, now, that is what I've got to say for now. Oh, I think I made a mistake in my previous post, I didn't know I'm suppose to tag some people, too. So, I better do it this time. Who to tag? Hmm.. maybe freshies like me.. Prab and Annamanila; and Niceheart, Toe, and Nunu's mum;the pros. Please, please..pretty please :) .. Name 5 things that happened to you because of blogging.

For your consideration..

I've got nothing to say today except that maybe you might want to try out these films which I really enjoyed. Some films you know, some films you don't. I won't tell you how the story goes, because to be honest, I can't recall most of it, just the best bits. In fact I think I have to see these again. Most of these are British films, some are serious stuff and if you're squeamish, just look away now (well except for the first one)..

1. Muriel's Wedding - if you love Abba (like me), you'll love this.. I don't really watch a lot of chick flick, but this one is a hit. Bridget Jones, Aussie style.


2. The Full Monty - this film catapulted Robert Carlyle to stardom, I think. It's a story of 6 unemployed Sheffield (somewhere in the north of England, near Barnsley, where nunu's mum is) steel workers , in their quest to make ends meet, stripteased, Full Monty.. fave bit - "the hot stuff"..


3. The Adventures of Priscilla , the Queen of the desert- another Aussie film. Well, this one I've seen the other night, for the first time and I lurrvve it. See Hugo Weaving (of Matrix fame) , Guy Pearce (Memento) and Terence Stamp ( a famous British bloke) do their stuff.. Warning: some scenes may offend homophobics and Pinoys..

4. Sexy Beast - Gangster film, London style. If you saw Ben Kingsley as Gandhi, then see him in this film and tell me which you prefer..be shocked be shocked..



5. Ravenous - Now this is about cannibalism. I forgot the plot, I have to see it again, sorry.. But I assure you this is a great film, and I Have a thing for Robert Carlyle..



6. Talk to her- a Spanish film by Pedro Almodovar. If you don't mind reading subtitles or you have a grasp of the language, give this one a try. The emphasis of the film is on the 2 male characters with the 2 female leads spending most of their time in a vegetative state. This is a very thought provoking film..



7. 28 Days Later- another gory, if not the goriest, film. This is a great sci-fi horror film; think Day of the Triffids, in real time. So if you like horror films, this one is not to be missed.

8. Croupier - a film starring Clive Owen ( I think he's rather gorgeous, don't you?) and Alex Kingston in her pre ER days. In this film he plays a writer, who found inspiration to write a book about his life as a croupier . This is a no-frill British film making at its best. Jolly good!

9. Trainspotting - if you haven't seen this one, where have you been? This film may be a bit controversial because of its drug related theme, but it is worth seeing if only just to see what the fuss is all about. Not for the faint hearted though, not to mention the sometimes incomprehensible but lovely Scottish accent." Choose Ewan Macgregor in skinny jeans..."

So on Friday night if you're just staying in, instead of watching Jean Claude Bloodyvandamme, you might consider watching some of these instead. Just a suggestion, just a suggestion. Or better yet, if you've seen it tell me what you think. Or better yet tell me some great films I don't know..

PS .. sorry for the "all over the place" pics.. told you I'm thick..

Can you keep a secret?

I'm quite good in keeping secrets, actually. I'm not really sure if I should tell this, but since it is Toe that asked me , I thought I'll indulge her. Remember, this is just between you and me...

1. I use to live in a sailing boat. That was almost seven years ago. When I came here to England we use to live in a flat and my husband use to pay £500 rent which is a lot of money (mind you, this is in London), so we decided, after a year we had enough, so on to his boat (which is a nicholson32 footer, he's a keen sailor); very cramped but very practical. It was fun while it lasted; we were able to travel around because we were able to save a bit of money. Of course it was fun sailing it too. Fantastic! Then I discovered after 6 months that I'm pregnant with my first child, and it's not fun to get morning sickness on the boat, so on to the land again and the rest is history. If you ask me now if I've got sea legs, the answer is no, because I still get sea sick ( I know, I'm pathetic)! Unfortunately for the boat it was sold not so long ago; fortunately for us it saved our backside, once again, for the last time (long story).
2. When I left home, I lied to my parents. I said I'll be coming back after six months... I returned after a year instead, then left after a month. Til now, I still feel guilty about it but sometimes you just have to follow your heart, and my heart said yessiree to him, and he's worth it (oops, parang commercial)!
3. I'm a hypochondriac . I think it started when I had those series of unfortunate events..When l feel something's not "quite right" with me, I would phone my GP and immediately make an appointment. I'm sure he's fed up with me now, because he only sees me for about 5 minutes max.. I guess I have to look for another GP now because the last time I saw him he's got that exasperated look like he wanted rid of me right away...
4. I'm a clean freak. Not the Monica Geller type though, well, maybe just a little bit. Well, I think it goes hand in hand with being a hypochondriac. Same story, you know clean here, scrub there; when I use a public toilet, I squat or put some loo paper on the seat..
5. I fell off a threadmill (while it was running) ... I was doing fine you know, faster and faster then, bang! I went. That was embarassing. It happened donkeys years ago, lucky there wasn't a lot of people because it's off peak time. After that , I never went near a gym again. I just do it my way.

And my darkest secret is... what's BTW? I keep seeing that word come up (esp. on snglguy's blog) but I don't know what it means ( I know, I'm a thicko)..

So Toe, did I pass the test?

I've got the blues...

Now that the Christmas season is over, can't help but feel a bit low. I blame it on the weather, not been very nice these last few weeks,and I haven't seen the sun shine for sometime. I know I keep going on and on about the weather here but who wouldn't? Honestly, it's getting worse. It didn't help when a friend from Sweden called me this morning telling me she's depressed too and suffering from ME. Incidentally, the weather in Sweden has been mild (as in above 0 degrees); here, it's about 10 degrees,which is mild for the time of the year, but drab. Very drab. I blame this weather situation on global warming.. and I blame it on georgebush.

I blame it on this woman, whateverhernameis, curses,curses. We were just having a lunch in one of these fast food chain when my 1 year old cried so loud ( as in a wailing, shouting cry). Picked him up, tried to comfort him, but he wouldn't stop. Tried to feed him, no, he's not hungry. Sometimes he cries like that when he wants to sleep, so I got up with him in the pushchair, went out and went round and round the mall until he fell asleep. When I came back, hubby said he overheard this woman at the other table sniggering us about childcare. He said, that she said, " they shouldn't have had any children. " He's only a baby, and babies cry, for crying out loud! Is it my fault that my baby cries a lot (and loud)? I was lucky with my firstborn, he is a placcid one. Anyone out there who have a cry baby like mine, please help! And as for you, whoeveryouare, how dare you criticize us? How very dare you!

I blame it on my money situation.. it's official, I'm skint!. What with the Christmas expenses and shopping, ( ahh shopping, like music to my ears) and bills and bills.. Anyway, I'm not worried about this coz I've been in the same situation many a time (as in all the time, he, he). And this is where the hubby comes in :-) ..

Sometimes I think, I've only got myself to blame... boo hooo..

...

Ten Things I'd never do

A few days ago I was tagged by niceheart, for the first time, about this topic. Thanks niceheart, its an honor.

1. Cross the Carrick-a-rede bridge. I've been persuaded a lot of times, everytime we go to Northern Ireland in the summer. For the life of me, I can't. Too scared of heights.
2. Buy from a door to door salesman. Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me.
3. Smoke and drink too much booze. We all know its bad.. its bad.
4. Wear skimpy clothes that will outline my bits and bobs. Maybe if I have the body like Eva Longoria or Kelly Brook I would, but I do not.
5. Eat Marmite. They got an advert here that says, "you either hate it or love it", in my case I loathe it.
6. Dance in a Ballroom. I've got 2 left feet ( I can sing though).
7. Work as a traffic warden. I don't want to be hated by everyone in Britain," I don't know how they sleep at night".
8. Make a complete cock-up of myself. Like joining big brother, X-factor or other tv reality shows that will embarass my family and me, of course. That's what's great about blogging, I'm a total unknown.
9. Diet. Doesn't work for me, I love my food. I have an exercise regime though; it works.
10. Say never again. I think this is a good one, niceheart, so snap on this one :)

If I'm right, this is called a meme (two months ago, I didn't know what it meant) . Can honestly say "It's good to meme" . Anybody out there who wants to meme me, meme away :).

HELLOO..

...I'm back from the land where it rains 325 days a year ( I kid you not!). Happy new year to you all and I hope you had a fantastic Christmas. Mine was a washout, well, just a tad. Here's why:

Weather . Travelled through fog (the same fog that threw Heathrow to a stand still) for the first 2 hours, a glimmer of sunshine around Birmingham, from then on, drizzle, drizzle, drizzle. By the time we reached Cumbria, 'twas already dark. So much for the relaxing bucolic view I was expecting! The weather in Belfast was even worse. Gales, gales and more gales! I was hoping for a white Christmas; I got a wet one instead.Talk about a total washout. Unfortunately it doesn't end there. On our way back, 2 days ago, the Super Dooper Fast Ferry that we're supposed to get for crossing was cancelled because of youknowwhat. So we have to do with the slow one, only double the time and a bit, and "safer" and "more stable". Stable , myarse. I've never seen a lot of people get sick at one time (my 5 yr old included). I even thought the ferry would roll over! Nevermind. We are safe or I wouldn't be here.

These are the worst of times. We had a fine Christmas to start with; turkey with all the trimmings, blah, blah,blah; pulled Christmas crackers with the mother-in-law ( what a privilege, huh); laughed at corny jokes , open presents while being videoed and smiling but deep inside, one feels like screaming, "your present is ghastly" (why, oh why, dear husband, who gives presents from Argos catalogue?). Anyway, at least my kids got what they want ( I think) and they're happy. I have to say I'm pretty chuffed with my ones (could be better). We survived Christmas day without any arguments (hooray!). So, lovely Christmas, la, la, la.
The next day , went out with the husband, did a bit of shopping (sales are on by the 26th, mind) went back home ,then everything started going downhill from the on. He caught a tummy bug. And he wasn't the only one; in- laws had it, my eldest, too. I was lucky I didn't get it ( and the brother-in-law). Thing is we don't know where it came from ( I reckon it's the turkey). It went on and off for over a week and by the time they're all better, we were ready to go home. It's rotten that illness strucked us during this period of what is supposed to be the happiest days of the year. It's a total spoiler. One good thing about it is that instead of gaining weight , I lost a bit ( well, just 2 lbs. really), because every one's wary of eating, including me.

There was a one time ( when everyone seemed to be symptom free), when we were able to go out for a meal and have some fun; that was nice. We even have some photos, yippeee (see above) .

So, its another new year, another new years resolution ( one is to have a much better Christmas for next year). I started with this new template, it's ok, isn't it (if you don't like it, well tough!)? Tried my best to get this posted, in spite of us having guests (my brother-in-law and his doctor of a wife, so we have to scrub the house as soon as we got in from top to bottom, in and out). Sorry for the delay of this post (hi Verns, you cheeky girl!). This year, I'll try to post as much as I can, and that's a promise, eventhough I'm a busy mummy of two young boys (take that).

So 'til next post...