Korean Houses

I love seeing old Korean houses. Take a gander on this Buddhist home. See the colorful lanterns waving in the wind? I would admit seeing the Buddhist symbol on the flag jarred me when I was new in Korea. I thought it was a Nazi symbol but was corrected that it is primarily a religious symbol.



Even old, abandoned houses have a certain charm of their own. Like abandoned shells of humanity. A haven of lost souls...

Billy's Spring Flowers

Nothing spells spring than a bunch of fresh flowers. It was fine sunny, spring day and Billy and I went walking with Buttons to the nearby park. We walked, Buttons smelled everything on the ground (and peed every now and then) and then went looking for 4-leaf clovers. When we finally headed back, Billy picked a bunch of flowers for me.




I had a new yellow vase (given to me by my friend Imelda) and was going to arrange the flowers. Billy asked if he can do it and I said "Why not?". Isn't what he made so lovely?




My budding ikebana artist. :)

Birthday Calculator

I plugged my Birthday in the Birthday Calculator site and got these interesting results.

31 July 1969

Your date of conception was on or about 7 November 1968 which was a Thursday.

You were born on a Thursday
under the astrological sign Leo.
Your Life path number is 9.

Your fortune cookie reads:
Love is the only medicine for a broken heart.

Life Path Compatibility:
You are most compatible with those with the Life Path numbers 3, 6 & 9.
You should get along well with those with the Life Path numbers 1 & 5.
You may or may not get along well with those with the Life Path numbers 2, 7 & 11.
You are least compatible with those with the Life Path numbers 4, 8 & 22.

The Julian calendar date of your birth is 2440433.5.
The golden number for 1969 is 13.
The epact number for 1969 is 11.
The year 1969 was not a leap year.

Your birthday falls into the Chinese year beginning 2/17/1969 and ending 2/5/1970.
You were born in the Chinese year of the Rooster.

Your Native American Zodiac sign is Salmon; your plant is Raspberry.

You were born in the Egyptian month of Paopy, the second month of the season of Poret (Emergence - Fertile soil).

Your date of birth on the Hebrew calendar is 16 Av 5729.
Or if you were born after sundown then the date is 17 Av 5729.

The Mayan Calendar long count date of your birthday is 12.17.15.17.9 which is
12 baktun 17 katun 15 tun 17 uinal 9 kin

The Hijra (Islamic Calendar) date of your birth is Thursday, 16 Jumadiyu'l-Avval 1389 (1389-5-16).

The date of Easter on your birth year was Sunday, 6 April 1969.
The date of Orthodox Easter on your birth year was Sunday, 13 April 1969.
The date of Ash Wednesday (the first day of Lent) on your birth year was Wednesday 19 February 1969.
The date of Whitsun (Pentecost Sunday) in the year of your birth was Sunday 25 May 1969.
The date of Whisuntide in the year of your birth was Sunday 1 June 1969.
The date of Rosh Hashanah in the year of your birth was Saturday, 13 September 1969.
The date of Passover in the year of your birth was Thursday, 3 April 1969.
The date of Mardi Gras on your birth year was Tuesday 18 February 1969.

As of 4/13/2009 5:44:27 PM EDT
You are 39 years old.
You are 477 months old.
You are 2,072 weeks old.
You are 14,501 days old.
You are 348,041 hours old.
You are 20,882,504 minutes old.
You are 1,252,950,267 seconds old.

Celebrities who share your birthday:
Eric Lively (1981) Dean Cain (1966) J.K. Rowling (1965)
Jim Corr (1964) Wesley Snipes (1962) Bill Berry (1958)
Barry Van Dyke (1951) Geraldine Chaplin (1944) Curt Gowdy (1919)
Milton Friedman (1912)

Top songs of 1969
Aquarius/Let the Sun Shine In by Fifth Dimension In the Year 2525 by Zager & Evans
Get Back by Beatles (with Billy Preston) Sugar, Sugar by Archies
Honky Tonk Women by Rolling Stones Everyday People by Sly & the Family Stone
Dizzy by Tommy Roe Wedding Bell Blues by Fifth Dimension
I Can't Get Next to You by Temptations Crimson & Clover by Tommy James & the Shondells

Your age is the equivalent of a dog that is 5.67553816046967 years old. (You're still chasing cats!)

Your lucky day is Sunday.
Your lucky number is 1 & 4.
Your ruling planet(s) is Sun.
Your lucky dates are 1st, 10th, 19th, 28th.
Your opposition sign is Aquarius.
Your opposition number(s) is 8.

Today is not one of your lucky days!

There are 109 days till your next birthday
on which your cake will have 40 candles.

Those 40 candles produce 40 BTUs,
or 10,080 calories of heat (that's only 10.0800 food Calories!) .
You can boil 4.57 US ounces of water with that many candles.


In 1969 there were approximately 3.7 million births in the US.
In 1969 the US population was approximately 179,323,175 people, 50.6 persons per square mile.
In 1969 in the US there were approximately 1,800,000 marriages (9.3%) and 479,000 divorces (2.5%)
In 1969 in the US there were approximately 1,712,000 deaths (9.5 per 1000)
In the US a new person is born approximately every 8 seconds.
In the US one person dies approximately every 12 seconds.

In 1969 the population of Australia was approximately 12,407,217.
In 1969 there were approximately 250,175 births in Australia.
In 1969 in Australia there were approximately 112,470 marriages and 10,930 divorces.
In 1969 in Australia there were approximately 106,496 deaths.

Your birth flower is DELPHINIUM

Your birthstone is Ruby

The Mystical properties of Ruby

Ruby is said to open one's heart to love.
Some lists consider these stones to be your birthstone. (Birthstone lists come from Jewelers, Tibet, Ayurvedic Indian medicine, and other sources)

Carnelian

Your birth tree is
Cypress, the Faithfulness
Strong, muscular, adaptable, takes what life has to give, happy,content,optimistic, needs enough money and acknowledgment, hates loneliness, passionate lover which cannot be satisfied, faithful, quick-tempered,unruly, pedantic and careless.



There are 256 days till Christmas 2009!
There are 269 days till Orthodox Christmas!

The moon's phase on the day you were born was waning gibbous.

The Newest Member of Our Family - Buttons.

Meet Buttons, she's a Yorkshire Terrier and she's the newest member of our household. Buttons was rescued 3 years ago in the dead of winter when her (insert your choice of expletive here)owner kicked her out because he couldn't potty train her. My friend, Imelda, was the one who rescued her and brought her to her animal shelter.



Buttons has already taken over our home and our hearts. She is a very gentle and loving dog who always wants to be cuddled, held, stroked and carried around. This delights Hubby since he adores dogs and always carries Buttons around. Billy loves playing fetch with her and runs all over the house with her at his feet. They sleep together on his bed and wake up together in the mornings.



Sometimes, she just lazes about and relaxes on our beds. Buttons loves burrowing under the covers, under mounds of pillows and even under mattresses. She has provided us with a gentle, loving nature that is so calming and reassuring. Spending some quality time by brushing her long silky hair everytime lowers my blood pressure and I've enjoyed every minute of it.



I still can't fathom why someone would throw away such a delightful, loving animal. All I can say is that, now Buttons has finally found a new home. Our home.

Earth Day

Last week, Billy kept reminding me that Saturday, 8:30 pm was Earth Day - an hour long observation of turning off all lights, TV, computers, etc. I told Hubby about it (on the night itself) and he wasn't too thrilled about it. There was a K1 fight going on and he wanted to see if the guy got the crap beat out of him.

But we did do the Earth Day thing and turned off all of our appliances and electronic stuff. Well, except for the fridge. To occupy the time, I took out all our leftover, extra birthday candles and decided to let Billy light them one by one. Did you know that it takes about 10 minutes for an average birthday candle to finally burn out?



The things you learn when you're in the dark. :)

My Favorite Things

...Brown paper packages tied up with string
these are a few of my favorite things...

I love getting stuff from the mail. Living in another country means that sometimes, there is just some stuff that is hard to find here. Like freshly grated coconut, exotic spices, local chocolates and snacks from Manila... sigh. Good thing that I belong to several internet communities and have exchanged care packages with friends.

So far, I have sent a Korean clay pot, Korean nutty goodies and candies, "gochujang" (red pepper paste), sparkly celphone accessories, metal chopsticks, etc. And in return, I have gotten packages of gravy mix, US chocolates and candies, "lokum" (Turkish Delight from actual Turkey - thanks Sazji!), asthma relief aids, my beloved Terry Pratchett books (his latest) and lately...

TimTam chocolate cookies and Milo bars from Australia!



Thank you so much Sephie! My friend, from the Terry Pratchett Message Board, sent me these goodies from Down-Under. We were talking about the delights of eating Milo powder (kinda like Ovaltine and Hershey cocoa powder) straight from the jar. She promised to send me Milo bars and thought of sending these 3 kinds of TimTam cookies. Sephie also instructed me to make a Timtam straw and that I would have to do before I gobble up all the cookies.

I sent Sephie my favorite chocolate covered cookie here in Korea, plus some other goodies too.

By the time my goodies from Australia arrived, another package turned up in my mailbox. It was from the US, sent by my Singaporian friend Edwin who was vacationing there. I asked a favor from him if he could send me cayenne pepper spice. A tiny bottle of cayenne pepper costs about $7 here. And Edwin was nice enough to send me two.



I can't wait to do another goodie-swap with an internet friend. Sometimes, the best things do come from the mail.

The Insect & Reptile Exhibit (with Firefly Larvae)

I know, it's a weird title. But that is exactly what the name of the exhibit told to us by our korean guide (who thankfully spoke in English). Billy and I saw this exhibit early in the start of August. I promised him that we would return to Seoul to visit the exhibit before it ended on August 24.

We decided to go on on Friday, August 22, after I taught my classes. So we boarded a bus to Seoul and then took the subway train to Noksapyeong station (about 20 stops and 2 train transfers away). It was about $10 entrance fee per individual and I hoped it was worth it.

There were a lot of desicated insects on display outside of the exhibit. I thought it was all of that but I was wrong - there were live animals and insects inside. First up were the bugs. There were beetles, crickets, bees, katydids, stick insects, and a host of other creepy crawlies including my nemesis - the tarantula. *shudder* The gargantuan furry arachnid that they had even had orange fur on its legs. I gave it a wide berth. In a touch exhibit, Billy had fun making hercules beetles joust at each other.



Then it was off to the reptile exhibit. Billy had a chance to pet and handle several friendly snakes.





And even pose beside huge ones like these Burmese pythons (this yellow one is an albino).



This python nearly killed our guide a week before. He was cleaning its cage when it lunged at him and tried to strangle him with its coils. Good thing his fellow tour guides and animal handlers were there to help him get the snake off.



We also got to see bearded lizards, a young monitor lizard and even a local korean lizard called the line lizard (due to a single line running down its sides).

Bearded Lizard



Monitor lizard (I told the guide that I had an opportunity to eat one of these back when I was in college. Yes, it taste like chicken).



Line lizard found only in Korea.




We also got to see a monkey, guinea pigs, cute little miniature pigs from Cambodia, a ferret and some huge bunnies. We got to pet most of them like this albino skunk (the guide told us not to worry, this one's been de-skunked). It was my first time to have seen an actual skunk. Hubby said it was too bad I didn't get a chance to get a whiff of its actual odor. No, thank you very much.

There were adorable hedgehogs there too. I already saw a hedgehog about a year ago here in our local streetmarket but this was the first time that I actually got to pet one. These little guys never even woke up when we were petting them. One actually yawned and went back to sleep. How cute!


Billy also had a chance to catch and release some eels in a small pond that they set up in the middle of the exhibit. There were a bunch of kids there who were giggling and having the time of their life. The guides told them that they had to release the eels back when they were through catching them. Everyone were also told to wash their hands after that.



I let Billy roam around and explore to his hearts content. But soon, it was 4:00 pm and we still haven't eaten lunch and I was really hungry. Billy posed one last time with our tour guide (Mr. Kim) and we bade goodbye to all the animals and creepy-crawlies. It was definitely worth the fee.

LOLDogs

You heard of Lolzcats? Well I found it's canine counterpart and here are my favorites...










And I swear I actually do this...


see more puppies

My Omnivore's 100 Food

I found this meme list from ZenKimchi's blog. Interesting. Though some food items on the list are generally not food per se (road kill) or something I would want to try out and some I don't even know what the heck it is. Well, lemme see, you'll find all the stuff that I tried with *** markings on it.

The VGT Omnivore’s Hundred:

1. Venison
2. Nettle tea
3. Huevos rancheros *** I actually made it.
4. Steak tartare *** I love this.
5. Crocodile
6. Black pudding
7. Cheese fondue ***
8. Carp *** called "besugo" in Tagalog
9. Borscht
10. Baba ghanoush
11. Calamari ***
12. Pho ***
13. PB&J sandwich ***
14. Aloo gobi
15. Hot dog from a street cart *** the best is Sabrett's
16. Epoisses
17. Black truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes *** Peach wine actually
19. Steamed pork buns *** called siopao in Tagalog or Bao in Chinese
20. Pistachio ice cream *** one of the few ice cream I actually eat
21. Heirloom tomatoes *** yep
22. Fresh wild berries *** oh yeah
23. Foie gras
24. Rice and beans ***Popeyes
25. Brawn, or head cheese
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper
27. Dulce de leche ***
28. Oysters *** pickled, raw or steamed or even wrapped in bacon
29. Baklava ***
30. Bagna cauda
31. Wasabi peas ***
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl ***
33. Salted lassi
34. Sauerkraut
35. Root beer float ***
36. Cognac with a fat cigar
37. Clotted cream tea
38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O
39. Gumbo *** I made this!
40. Oxtail *** in Kare Kare (or Filipino peanut stew) it is wonderful!
41. Curried goat ***
42. Whole insects *** crispy fried is the way to go
43. Phaal
44. Goat’s milk *** my mom made me drink this when I was little
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more
46. Fugu
47. Chicken tikka masala
48. Eel *** oh yeah
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut *** oh double yeah!
50. Sea urchin *** they're best fresh from the sea
51. Prickly pear
52. Umeboshi ***
53. Abalone ***
54. Paneer
55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal *** got food poisoned by this and nearly lost Billy in my womb
56. Spaetzle
57. Dirty gin martini
58. Beer above 8% ABV ***
59. Poutine ***
60. Carob chips
61. S’mores ***but not at a campfire
62. Sweetbreads ***
63. Kaolin (in Kaopectate)
64. Currywurst ***
65. Durian *** my favorite fruit of all
66. Frogs’ legs *** my mom wade me eat this when I was little!
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake *** oh yeah
68. Haggis
69. Fried plantain *** great with Arroz ala Cubana
70. Chitterlings, or andouillette *** yup
71. Gazpacho
72. Caviar and blini (not together)
73. Louche absinthe
74. Gjetost, or brunost
75. Roadkill
76. Baijiu
77. Hostess Fruit Pie
78. Snail *** in coconut milk, yeah baby!
79. Lapsang souchong
80. Bellini
81. Tom yum
82. Eggs Benedict
83. Pocky (same as Bbebbero in Korea and Japan) ***
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant.
85. Kobe beef
86. Hare ***
87. Goulash ***
88. Flowers ***
89. Horse
90. Criollo chocolate
91. Spam *** with a side order of garlic fried rice
92. Soft shell crab ***
93. Rose harissa
94. Catfish *** with turmeric and coconut milk
95. Mole poblano
96. Bagel and lox ***
97. Lobster Thermidor
98. Polenta ***
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Snake *** ate this in China when I was pregnant with Billy, and boy was it good!

I got 52 out of 100

I will possess your heart...

My sister turned me on to this song. It's by a strange band named "Death Cab for Cutie".



It's creepy, weird, scary, beautiful sad song about unrequited love. A perfect song for stalkers and their ilk. I like it.

Have you ever danced in the moonlight?

Want to know the name of the full moon each month? Here are the official names from the Farmer's Almanac...

January ----- Wolf Moon
February ---- Snow Moon
March ------- Worm Moon
April ------- Pink Moon
May --------- Flower Moon
June -------- Strawberry Moon
July -------- Buck Moon
August ------ Sturgeon Moon
September --- Harvest Moon
October ----- Hunter's Moon
November ---- Beaver Moon
December ---- Cold Moon


more cat pictures

Why I love Discovery Channel

I love Discovery Channel. I'm nuts about science and trivia plus the fact I met Hubby through Discovery Channel Online Mind games.

Here's a video why I really love this great channel.... It features Mike Rowe of Dirty Jobs! *swoon* And from what I can remember, featured are the following shows: Shark Week, Deadliest Catch, Dirty Jobs, Future Weapons, Storm Chasers, Man Vs. Wild, Mythbusters, and not a show but a great mind - Stephen Hawkings.



And here's live one with Mike Rowe leading some of Discovery's show stars...



Isn't Discovery great?

None of that Sissy Stuff

This was posted by a good friend of mine - Daicor. I'd love to share it all with you.


more cat pictures

Are you tired of those sissy 'friendship' poems that always sound good, but never actually come close to reality?

Well, here is a series of promises that actually speak of true friendship. You will see no cutesy little smiley faces on this message...

Just the stone cold truth of our great friendship.


1. When you are sad --I will jump on the person who made you sad like a spider monkey jacked up on Mountain Dew!!!!!!!!!!!!

2. When you are blue -- I will try to dislodge whatever is choking you.

3. When you smile -- I will know you are plotting something that I must be involved in.

4. When you're scared -- we will high tail it out of here.


more cat pictures

5. When you are worried -- I will tell you horrible stories about how much worse it could be until you quit whining, ya big baby!!!!

6. When you are confused -- I will use little words.

7. When you are sick --Stay away from me until you are well again. I don't want whatever you have.

8. When you fall -- I'll pick you up and dust you off.

9. This is my oath. I pledge it to the end. 'Why?' you may ask ...because you are my FRIEND!


more cat pictures

Friendship is like peeing your pants. Everyone can see it.....................but only you can feel the true warmth.

Breakfast in Bed

It's official, I have the flu. Readers viewing this post might want to spray their computer screens with Lysol before reading further. It sucks... the fever, the coughing, the hacking, the shivering and the oh-so-achy body parts. But what is great is that I get to spend the whole day and night in bed. And get served meals by my loving hubby.


This was my breakfast this morning when my fever broke and I finally got some of my apetite back. Green eggs and ham. Ooops sorry, wrong book. I meant eggs sunny-side up, American ham (the best!) and dry toast. All prepared with TLC by the best hubby in the world.


And here is sick 'ol me stuffing my face after a a couple of days of soup and toast.