This has been a bad week, and so far it’s been a terrible day.

Things kicked off when I was working on GUGS. I went back and read some of my old blog that talked about working at camp, just to see what sort of gems I had hidden there. I unearthed something awful: entry after entry about how our marriage was deteriorating in the summer of 2002. That was a shitty, fucked up summer. TMD had always picked work before family from the start of things, and that summer was the ultimate in painful confusion. We came very close to ending things. We got through it, though, and that’s what counts.

But rereading all of that? Wow.

I remember being so angry when I was writing, my fingers pounding the keyboard. Now I don’t see anger when I read those entries, I see lots and lots of hurt. I’ve always been one to go all hard and angry when I am hurting.

So. That was just this past weekend that I read that stuff again. It was sort of shocking, particularly because we have the happiest marriage I could dream of. And things have only gotten better since the babies.

But Monday night TMD was really late home from work. I couldn’t get too upset about this because her work involves very vulnerable young people, and this was sort of an emergency situation. Then came Tuesday. She told me she had a meeting scheduled that would go half an hour later than usual. When that time plus another 25 minutes passed, I rang her just to see if she was on her way home. She said she was only just leaving work. I let loose some sort of rageful sigh and hung up.

When she was home, I escaped into the bathroom….but not before saying, ‘Do you have an excuse tonight? Well, fuck you.’ I know. Any little blogger crush you have on me is fading fast at this point.

Last night was fine, except I didn’t even want to talk to her.

All of these things are isolated incidents that happened to happen in a bad week. Why bad? Here is the meat of it, the bit you could have sliced directly to: this country does not celebrate a well known holiday. My home country does. This morning, people all over that country are waking up to a long weekend with their families.

This morning, I woke up knowing that TMD was working until 9 pm tonight, even though she knew it was this particular holiday and it was important to me. Now, working that late any night would bug me. By about 5 in the afternoon, my SPD is kicking into high gear and I’m in quite a bit of pain. And, I LOVE MY CHILDREN, but no matter how great our day has been, they are getting a bit rambunctious by about 5:30. Yesterday was an extra dollop because they wanted to eat at the same times and there was no appeasing them. So, you see, my mommy nerves are getting a bit wound up.

Plus I just miss my wife. I watch the clock in the afternoons, looking forward to the time I hear her keys in the door.

I am pissed she is working tonight. Yesterday I realised what I really want is her to not be working today or tomorrow; I want to establish traditions. We never really made a big deal of this holiday before. We are both veggies, so our traditional turkey day meal involves copious amounts of Indian food. And perhaps this potato and onion thing I excel at.

Growing up, this holiday wasn’t a big deal to my family either – but then, ‘family’ wasn’t a big deal to my family. Everyone was always screaming at each other, or ignoring each other, and having to sit around the table for dinner was usually quite a painful experience. I wanted this to be different for my kids.

TMD’s dad just called and left a message wishing me a happy day. He said he knew I was far away from my home country and my family, and he said he bet I was homesick on this days like this. He gets it, why doesn’t she?!?

I don’t know what she can do to make this better. I told her over a month ago how important this day was to me, and she still never changed her plans to work so late. I know she feels trapped into it. I know she just wants to do a good job at work. I know in another two months or so I’ll be getting no pay, and that she is the main provider for our house.

I know it, and I’m still hurt to be spending the most family of family holidays as a threesome rather than a foursome. I hate knowing that I have Crazy Woman Mind, and that every future year on this holiday I will be reminded that she fucking was absent for Coconut and Snort’s first one. (There, the crush died all the way, didn’t it.)

I am hurt, angry, hurt. Hurt.

And hurt some more.

She tries so hard to be so sweet, and I feel like it doesn’t matter because I have been sticking-power-mad all week, and there are no signs of these thunderclouds breaking any time soon. The last time I was this sort of mad was in that bad, bad summer of 2002. I generally don’t get upset about shit. We also very very very rarely fight, if ever.

This morning we were both screaming at each other. She then fed Coconut while weeping, while I sat on the edge of the bed wanting to isolate myself from her. She ripped up a letter she wrote me (which Coconut watched me tape back together with interest, as I explained to her the intricacies of letter surgery), and left a turkey day letter/pictures from the babies.

Christ. I think Snort just pooped. Neither kid has pooped in days, so there is going to be some ass explosion, bouncy chair staining, poop pants today. *sigh*

I am lonely on this day when I should be all cosy and chilled. I have to try to relax so at least the babies can have a good day.

This post is probably going to be one of those guilt posts that I do every now and then. Oh, you know the guilt post. A guilt post happens when you find yourself at the intersection of boredom and free-time obligations (ex. a blog). Thus, you write a guilt post. What this means for you, Audience, is that you will be subjected to a post with no pressing issue or common theme. In fact, I’m only writing this until Stephen calls, at which point I’ll ust end abruptly. Consider this your warning.
So! Today I slept very late. Even after sleeping so late, I still had to force myself out of the bed. I am toying with a personal perpetual-sleep theory. Wanna hear it?
Theory: Given that Ellen has no more obligations or duties in her life, she could sleep forever and ever.
As amazing as that sounds, I don’t really think that I would enjoy that. No, after about 16 hours or so, I’d probably get up and do something. I’m way to high maintenance to sleep forever. Still, it’s a theory.
I’ve been wondering something recently (as in today). I’ve decided I’d share it with you.
When I’m at school, I’m the most compulsive rule-follower ever. Caution and Hesitancy are my middle names. However, at camp I am much more willing to take risk and to be impulsive. Why is this?
I love who I am at camp. I believe it’s because I am most myself there. I can laugh really loud, take a little risk, be a little grimy and it’s all good. Everyone loves everyone else for exactly who they are.
there are only a few other places where I can bear the very depths of my soul. My home, for one, is a place where I find myself really comfortable. But I feel most myself when I’m with Stephen. Even more than camp. I can be totally transparent with him, and he with me. Amazing.
My head is hurting behind my left eye in the temple region (I told you I didn’t have anything to talk about). It’s weird though- if I put pressure on my temple, it makes the headache go away temporarily. Strange!
I’m headed to bed now. Happy Thanksgiving!

So we had to leave Merritt because the guy that was generous enough to let us stay at his motel, Peter, lost his job.  I blame Brian.  It definitely wasn’t my fault ’cause I didn’t sleep in the motel that night.  I woke up in somebody’s backyard.  That’s when I lost my guitar.

The people whose yard it was were concerned for me having somewhere to sleep.  I dazily explained I was staying at the Double D Inn and made my way off their property.  I somehow found my way back to the DoubleD and slept about an hour before Peter came in and told us we had to go.  Apparently his boss was coming back into town and Brian had been knocking on peoples doors the night before.  Peter had two jobs and he lost both of them somehow, if that’s even possible.  Poor Peter.

So now I’m realizing I don’t have my guitar so we retrace our steps from the night before, if that’s even possible.  The bar we were at said I had it with me when they kicked us out.  Hopefully that’s a last call kind of kicking out but I’m afeared it wasn’t.  So now we’re looking for the house I woke up at when a van pulls up asking if I’m Trevor Porter.  I am and I’m reunited with my guitar to my extreme relief.

So today’s ride is a generalization of Merritt locals, Natives, fellow travelers and random friendlies, driving us to the fire camp and back.  But, yeah, the fires don’t need any more volunteers.  So here we are in Merritt with nowhere to stay and nowhere to go.  Both of us barely slept the night before and we’re exhausted.  We even went into the police station and asked if we could sleep in some cells.  Nope, we had to break the law.  We looked around for something illegal to do but everything was too much effort so we continued down the street out of town..

Playing in the snow

The city of Snowmass village is best known as the location of the Snowmass ski area the largest of the four nearby ski areas operated collectively as Aspen/Snowmass.  The four mountains include Snowmass, Aspen Mountain, Aspen Highlands and Buttermilk.  The mountains usually open for snow activities in late November and stay open until mid April.  On average these areas see 300 days of sunshine per year, which is only one of the reasons over 70% of it’s visitors return.  During the summer the mountains keep alive by attracting visitors for camps, fishing, hiking, concerts and recreational paintball games.  If you’re looking for somewhere you can be active during the day and cuddle up next to a warm fire at night Snowmass village is the perfect vacation spot for you.

If you missed Tim & Sam’s Radio 1 session with Bethan Elfyn the other week, you can now listen to the tracks on Tim & Sam’s bandcamp page. Simply click the link below to listen:

Frankly I thought that Adam Lambert deserved to win American Idol but that his debut album would be a pile of suck like so many other packaged-and-pretty Idols, especially after I saw the cover art for For Your Entertainment. I mean look at it:

It’s like OD-ing on camp, glitter, and eyeliner all at once. Puke.

Then I Youtubed some of the songs. Holy glam mother of rock. This is not my preferred genre of music normally but it’s so catchy and dance-able. I can honestly say that he’s probably the first Idol (well not Idol-Idol since he came in second) to release a debut that has a true identity. Or maybe it’s just because Adam Lambert’s identity is so in your face.  The producers on the track-listing are just run-of-the-mill mainstream pop beat-makers but damn it you can tell by listening to the song who was in control during the creative process. Although judging by his AMA performance this probably isn’t surprising because he seems to really like being in control.

Snorkelling

Scholars Science Camp 2009 was organized by the Faculty of Science, Mahidol University at Sattahip, Chonburi province, Thailand between 20-22 November 2009.

Participants of the camp came from various scholarship-supported students at the Faculty of Science. It was the second Scholars Science Camp in my memory at Mahidol University. The previous one was held in 2006 at Parchaubkirikan Province.

More than hundred students were taken to the beautiful sea around Samasarn Island. We spent the morning session on the Khoa Ma Joh mountain, where we have the science rally that includes plant diversity study, pH indicator from flower extract, measuring and calculating area and slope.

The students were also asked to help solving various world crisis, such as global warming, biodiversity, food, water, energy, waste, and pollution. Their presentations were very entertaining with some good idea at the end.

This amazing site will change any blog you type in into a lovely word cloud, it’s genius! I’m completely addicted.

Woke up real late today and the mad back-aching sensation is back again. Who cares, we have healing service tomorrow! Rock audi!=D Excited about hearing Pastor Lawrence preach again=)

And I won a pair of tickets for the World Aids Day thing at SupperClub on 5 December!=D Should be asking that Pot=D Who knows that even Twitter can allow people to win things!=D When I did that I didn’t even expect to win! So imagine my surprise when I saw sgtweet having @JesusandI in their tweet to congratulate me on winning the tickets! Totally stunnedO.O Yea, like that. HAHAH!

This week is so going to be good! Tomorrow, CHOCOLATE FONDUE AND BADGE MAKING WITH POT! AND HEALING SERVICE AFTER THAT! Been going to Mid-weeks at Level 4 or Level 6, and now, it’s the holidays(HOLY-DAYS=D) so we can queue for tickets at 1700! Totally spiritually hungry us=D Thursday, EJ ITEM PREP! Totally excited! Considering that it’s my first and “last” EJ(‘Cause I intend to go back and serve! Seeing more people experiencing the love and presence of Daddy and receiving new revelations and break camp being different from how they entered camp!=D This is what only servers can see! Like how Jesus turned water to wine=D), experiencing how it is really like for me and awesome fellowshipping with Level 4s and my mini DARE roomies! Missed today’s session ’cause of the first line of this blog post=( I’m sorry, Brandon! But this session is good in the Lord’s hands!=D AMEN!=D

Super excited for all these upcoming stuff, like CHRISTMAS SHOPPING!=D Season of love and thanksgiving=D Daddy! Bless me to bless others!=D

And new phone on Thursday!=D Kind of in a delimma over what to get. 4 to choose from! Spoilt for choice. Daddy just have to pamper me like that=D

*Sony Ericsson W705

*LG GT505

*Nokia 5800

*Nokia E63

Was already kind of decided on E63 then all these popped upXD

Nokia 5800 is kind of out as it’s really thick=X Not so sure of LG ’cause had a bad experience=( Sony Ericsson, seems like a lot have that phone. Daddy! Can You make that choice for me? Like do Your stuff and make it easier for me to decide=D

Fine, I shall leave it all in Your big big hands and know it will be good!=D

xoxoxo, youareblessedtoo

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feelssogoodtobeboastinginthelord

Last Saturday we spent a couple of cold (sorry Katie!!!) hours with Katie at the State Park.  She was totally a trooper and you can barely make out the goose bumps on her!  Here are some of our favorites from the editing so far:

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I thought that all that time in shorts and bare feet might have done her in, but she kept on going!  Awesome!

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We called it a day when we lost our light and we couldn’t feel our toes anymore!

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Thanks Katie!  We had a great time!

Adobe Town's maze of hoodoos remain relatively unexplored. (Photo/Morgan E. Heim)

Adobe Town wins a reprieve from natural gas leasing in its Citizen’s Proposed Wilderness. The Bureau of Land Management removed 15 parcels comprising more than 14,800 acres of Adobe Town from the December lease sale.

“It’s breath of fresh air the Bureau of Land Management has decided to draw a line in the sand and not lease away one of our most cherished places,” said Nada Culver, Senior Counsel at The Wilderness Society in a press release.  “This is proof when people from all walks of life stick up for a special spot, we can move mountains and ensure new generations Americans will always have a place to hunt, camp and hike.”

Much of the rock in Adobe Town is really just sandstone, easily eroded or crumbled away. (Photo/Morgan E. Heim)

Abobe Town’s labyrinth of hoodoos and canyons make it reminiscent of Bryce Canyon, except  in Adobe Town, there are no trails to guide your way. Wyoming declared the area “very rare or uncommon” in 2007, a designation that afforded the land some protection, but not from future oil and gas development. Adobe Town has been one of the most hotly contested regions of the Red Desert, receiving 89,000 comments mostly in favor of its protection during the revision of the Great Divide land-use plan. But leasing continued.

The removal in November of the 15 nominated parcels from the BLM lease marks parts of Adobe Town as too environmentally important to warrant leasing at this time.

Pronghorn munch on sage brush just outside Adobe Town in Wyoming's Red Desert.(Photo/Morgan E. Heim)

“This lease deferral is the first sign that the BLM has started to listen, and could mark the dawn of a new day when oil and gas development proceeds cautiously, and crown jewel landscapes like Adobe Town get the protection they deserve,” said Erik Molvar, a wildlife biologist with Biodiversity Conservation Alliance in a press release. “The BLM deserves credit for making a sound decision.”

I am back from the Carolina Crown November camp! YAYY!

It was so much fun. I can not wait to go to the December camp! Plus then I will also have Tyler, Kristin and Brad coming with us, PARTY!
But I met some great people will at the camp and learned some amazing work. I have movement to work on so if anyone knows where I can take some Saturday dance classes or anything let me know =]

But I’m going to go back to working on sponsorship stuff so I can make sure I can afford it if I make it =]

In light of recent events, our immediate future is up in the air in the most extreme sense. It seems as though we’re learning about “Africa Time”. Similar to Hawaii time, but more drawn out. As there has been no communication with the Nairobi company for quite some time now, we’re exploring other options:

1- Bunker down during the winter, and take whatever jobs we can to scrimp by.

2- Take another contract to fill the winter void, and deal with the aftermath lather.

3- Focus on taking a longer contract that is a perfect fit and go for it (those are few and far between).

4- Wait for a confirmation of a contract for Africa that may never come.

Part of us wants to stay at camp. We’ve established ourselves there. It is home- as wet and cold as it may be at the moment… We’ve managed to save a bit, and I’d love to expand our garden next spring. We’ve just planted spuds and garlic for next year, and have kale starts sprouting. There is much left to do in the forest…

BUT- the other part wants to continue on in our journey. We’ve learned A LOT since we’ve been there, and it’s time to do it for ourselves. The longer we stay at camp, the more we’ll use it as a crutch to stay longer.

Wordcamp is a two-day event taking place in Kilkenny from 6th-7th March 2009. It’ll take in an introduction to blogging, how to improve your blog and the use of WordPress, and some more advanced hacking of WordPress. Tickets are €40 for both days, available now

Wordcamp Ireland

So….3 days on since the last update.

Donna spent the weekend in London which was also her final meal for 2 weeks…..haha only kidding. Not eating will actually effect fat loss results WORSE than eating regulary.

For the next 14 days Donna can’t eat any wheat, processed foods, sugar, or drink any alcohol or caffiene.

Today she has ate a ham salad, banana, beef mince, 2 oranges, 2 apples, and a handful of nuts. We have also done a workout-which was Donna’s 2nd one.

Her general mobility is getting better and her exercise technique has improved a touch from the 1st session. Look forward to Wednesday’s which will be a step up in intensity.

Mark

More About VT, originally uploaded by CaitlinKrisko.

Yes, the rumors are true… we will be going to Vermont for Caitlin’s birthday to start work on a new album. I just wanted to share a little bit about the special place that we will be trekking too. We will be driving to a small cow-town in the Northeast Kingdom, called Barton. This house (barely a house… camp is a better term) has been in my family for almost 20 years now, I have fond memories of this place all throughout childhood. Recently, I have been using the place as an escape from the drudgery of the city, it’s ooohhh soooo quiet, so beautiful and very inspiring. This summer, I discovered that one of the rooms has amazing acoustics for recording! I can’t think of a better place to bring The Broadcast (and Caitlin of course!) to start work on the new songs. If you’ve been following us lately, you know that we, as a band, have been writing a lot in the past month. Our sound is developing, and we are all pleased with the results! Stay tuned, we’ll have some aural treats for you in the new year.

 
From the Brighton Argus, 19 November 2009:

* Please wait PATIENTLY for the GIF images to load properly.
* And have some integrity not to steal the photos.

——-
Day 1
Airport.

Patrick has many many legs!

Fly to Langkawi!
I sat w. Patrick and Sophia.

Went to a Primary School directly for CIP after the flight.
Had lunch @ the school.
Me and Ahchua went round arranging tables and chairs.
Because our jobs were simple and easy, we finished quickly.
And I helped w/ the painting work.

Dumb la. I painted my clothes. -.-
Lalala. It was still fun. Haha.

Afterward, we went to a honeydew farm.
Tried the honeydew and (baby) tomato.
Nice nice.

Checked in Hotel.


The room damn small can!
3 people squeeze into a couple room.
Ahchua, Wendy and I share a room.

Had dinner @ Langkawi Fair.
Shopping afterward!

I bought Patrick & Spongey.
Patrick for me. Spongey for my sister.
Nice of me right?

End of Day 1.

Day 2
Rise and shine @ 7AM!
Had breakfast @ hotel coffee house.

Took ferry to a island called Pulau Payar? Idk.
Hahaha. I tried snorkeling w/ Ahchua being my partner.
Because I don’t know how to swim, she taught me and didn’t see any fish.
I kept grabbing her hand cause I’m so scared I’d fall.

Heh. Patrick and Jiayu also don’t know how swim!
(I thought I was the only one. ><)

Here’s a funny part of how Ahchua taught me:

Caroline: Swimming is like riding bicycle.
Me: I don’t know how to ride a bike! (:

Then she laugh, laugh, laugh and drank her first mouth of seawater!

The facilitator called Simon, came over and taught me too.
Somehow, I don’t know how, I have no water resistance.
I kept turning and turning. -.-

When I somehow ‘mastered’ swimming, I only saw a fish! ~~~~
Because my mask was too loose and the moment I dipped in, fresh seawater came rinsing my eyes!
I drank a lot of seawater. Effing salty.
I felt so concentrated. -.-

But it was fun la.

There’s no fresh water to bathe ourselves, but seawater.
Cause they said, the government wanted to keep the island as nature as possible. -.-

Jungle trekking afterward.
Damn lots of stairs. But the scenery above was nice.

Ferry back to Langkawi and had time to clean up in hotel.
Had dinner @ some random mall and went to see the big Eagle.

I bought a bag for Mama, a photo album for Brother and a tee for Papa.
I’m so nice.

Night was @ Conference Room for workshop.

Day 3
Laman Padi.

The uncle took us thru’ the plants at the farm.

The whole of clique of girls went down to plant padi except Patrick.
It was fun. Thou’ it was dirty and muddy.

Anyway, just FYI, if you believe that 4 clover leaf was what rare kind of plant, like in those kind of typical drama, then you’re wrong.
There was damn lots of it @ the farm and we were allowed to pick.
Pretty.

Back to Hotel for lunch and headed to the second highest peak of Langkawi — Seven Wells.

Trekking again. -.-
I was the last few and another facilitator, Joyce, waited for me.
She’s nice.

Guess what Runming is doing?
(Catching Tadpole. -.-)

And he wore the hotel slippers out! -.-

Back @ hotel and bathed.
Dinner was Thai foods.

It was so spoilt by someone, who made Patrick and I cried.
Just because of a misunderstanding.
I ate my dinner till damn buay song can.

Afterward, they had a surprise birthday celebration for Ryan.
I went off early and had an early night.

Day 4
Woke up @ 5AM.
Flight was @ 8:55AM.

The roads were so deserted and their airport is not 24/7.
When we reached the airport, it was a pitched-dark.
And we had breakfast in the dark.
Romantic right? Haha.

Reach Singapore @ 11AM and had KFC for lunch!

Home sweet home.

Credits of Padi Field photos from Tricia. (:

And I forgot to mention!
The cleaner for room service ate my tidbits!!!!! ):<

——-
I'm so drained now. @@
This took me so lot to post and my eyes are closing!

Last but not least,

I miss ♥Jongggggggggggggg a lot a lot!

Your homework this week is all about the Action Cycle. Making choices is a part of the Action Cycle. In this homework task you need to read your reflection about the Kanchanaburi Camp and you need to choose one part to focus on for the rest of the week.

Make a comment and tell us what you have chosen to focus on. Explain, in detail, why you made that choice.

Yes, the rumors are true… we will be going to Vermont for Caitlin’s birthday to start work on a new album. I just wanted to share a little bit about the special place that we will be trekking too. We will be driving to a small cow-town in the Northeast Kingdom, called Barton. This house (barely a house… camp is a better term) has been in my family for almost 20 years now, I have fond memories of this place all throughout childhood. Recently, I have been using the place as an escape from the drudgery of the city, it’s ooohhh soooo quiet, so beautiful and very inspiring. This summer, I discovered that one of the rooms has amazing acoustics for recording! I can’t think of a better place to bring The Broadcast (and Caitlin of course!) to start work on the new songs. If you’ve been following us lately, you know that we, as a band, have been writing a lot in the past month. Our sound is developing, and we are all pleased with the results! Stay tuned, we’ll have some aural treats for you in the new year.

203212     การฝึกงานสํารวจ     Survey Camp

การฝึกงานภาคสนามตามหลักสูตรวิชา 203211 ไม่ตํ่ ากว่า 170 ชั่วโมง

(Field practice for the course 203211 not less than 170 hours.)

(203212 มหาวิทยาลัยเกษตรศาสตร์)

In cateva zile am reusit sa organizam un Trash the Dress destul de reusit zic eu. Am reusit sa implicam peste 20 de persoane dintre care, 7 mirese, aproximativ 4 miri (dl Pana a avut dublu rol, a fost si mire si fotograf), 3 cameramani, 5 fotografi, 2 asistenti.. mai bine spus 2 asistente, 1 make-up artist, 1 hair-style ist .. norocul a facut ca una dintre persoanele implicate sa detina si un apartament in comuna Floresti in unul din cele 2 sau 3 blocuri existente, acolo au avut loc pregatirile pentru sedinta foto.
Am avut parte de o zi superba.. cine se astepta ca pe 21 noiembrie sa fie atat de cald.. si atat soare.. eu unul cu siguranta nu.. ma gandeam ca poate ne prinde o ninsoare.. ca ne ploua.. ca o sa inghetam.. dar nu. La ora 18, trei mirese curajoase au plonjat in apele “involburate” ale unui raulet din apropierea Micului Trianon. Imi pare rau ca afara era intuneric total, nu am putut face exact ce ne-am fi dorit, dar totusi cred ca s-a meritat. Alexandra (cizme mov cu bulinute ) a fost capul rautatilor.. ai tot respectul meu .. sper ca esti bine!
Cam atat cu povestitul, va las sa urmariti ce a iesit si astept parerile voastre..

P.s Poate facem o traditie din asta, dar trebuie neaparat sa schimbam data!