Kids who could drive you nut

Last night was very wonderful, because we all gathered at airport. While Pu Van and the whole family were busy with checking in and talking about this and that before he was off to America, Bong Thuch and I brought kmeng kmeng to eat ice-cream! They made noise and run around the whole eating place and made me run to chase them around like mad.

Both of them are the most naughty kids of my all cousins! And they always tver bab me! They never stayed in one place!

Bong Thuch said, "I was so angry whenever I came to airport and saw all my trolleys has been broken! Now, I can't say anything because... look! Our kids are playing the trolley now! See? 10 of them! Omg! Oy! Vel muk!"

Dol veak cousin jas jas m'dong! lolz

I've just realized that I have a lot of COUSINS! 1,2,3.... 20?? Gosh, all of them are just small small but always drive me crazy of chasing them around! lolzzzz I love them all, especially the two mischievous girls in pictures above!

My Fabulous Lady BD

It's the most tiring day, but yet fun!
Two cousins, Bong Thuch and Srey Neat, have the same birthday! lolz...
The only worse thing is when I had to run back and forth between home, office and eating places. Spent the whole morning at Pagoda, joined Srey Neat's BD at lunch at home, the whole afternoon at office, the evening till night for Bong Thuch's BD. Suggested her not to stay late, just eat out together at somewhere and back home early is enough. But hmmmm it's like what I have guessed... we stayed late at night again. I stayed because of her BD only. So I've broke my rule!

I love this scrap. I think I can make it nicer than before. But it burned my two fingers! lolz

Jen has already requested me for making one for her BD. Mmm let's see!

I can read the word "Worry" written on aunty and grandma's face at Pagoda!

After leaving Xiao Xiao,.... there we are... but plus Adam, Engrid and ---? Btw, they were drinking beer and wine while I'm drinking water! Lolz... it's ok for me for being left-out! Fabulous Lady, BD girl in the middle. 29 years old hay jé jé!!

I asked him: When are you giving birth bong? He said: When you get the father-in-law! Me: Hah? Mech tov jeng tov bong?

Bong Kamab Kamab!

Go! Bong Ratta, Jen and Engrid!

Sexy Back Looks! lolz

Around The World In 80 Dates

It’s hard to pin down how dumb and vague I am. I seem to lose my consciousness all the time. Look at the indistinct things I see because of how crummiest my eyes are, the dual things my ears hear and how confusing and incomplete meaning of the words I send out. I’m unable to express what I’m really thinking correctly, in this way, always end up by sending the incorrect things I want to say, unconsciously. Well, constantly, I let my subconscious play trick on me. I just can’t get it fixed easily. It cringe me to death with embarrassment and uncomfortable-ness.

All right, I should stop prattling on it and stick to what I really want to write about.

Here, I just now finished another book called, “Around The World In 80 Dates” by Jennifer Cox. Well, it much sounds like silly ladies romance stuffs. But it’s exactly not at all. It has much more to learn and it’s the thing you would eventually and inevitably run into.

At first, what I saw was, “Around The World In 80 DAYS” which sounded like a book I ever overheard long time ago, so I didn’t even bother to read the brief story at the back page. I just grabbed it and paid for it. But when I reached home to check again, it turned out to be “Around The World In 80 DATES”! Duh! How fool I was!
But it’s a nice book though.
The more pages I read, the more it had me pinned my thought that I will force my both very-busy-working ladies, Bong Thuch and Bong Ny, to read. It’s a MUST read for both of them indeed and ready to set the new resolution for themselves to find their Mr. Right. Ha-ha

I believe the ideas of this book which merge with the already-known-knowledge they have would let them know how to set it right. Good luck neak bong terng pi neak!

The Plot:

The whole story is about Jennifer Cox, a too-busy-working-to-fall-in-love-38-years-old writer, has set out her lifetime trip by her friends who became her Date Wranglers, dating her way around the world searching for her Mr. Right. She’s an on-and-off plane woman meeting 80 men in different 30 countries and four continents. But, in her Date #55, she was so attracted to Garry, who as soon as she saw him, she knew he was The One. Especially, the more she got to know him, she felt she was right by what he did like the fact that he let her see so many different parts of his life. She felt very welcome. She believed that to be truer than ever when Garry accepted her decision to leave him and continue dating, because she has to have the responsibility toward the remaining 25 Dates. But at her Date #76 in New Zealand, she decided enough was enough. She ended it and grabbed her bags to fly to Seattle to be with Garry.

---

What I got from this book is not just about her true story. There are much more than that. It’s like I read three different books, which are: the travel book, the wide variety of people personalities book and the every aspect of relationships book.

It's what I learned from this book:

1- I learned to know how opened, honest, loyalty and courageous she is. And I want to become more like this.

2- I learned the different aspects in different countries which made me wish if I can be able to travel one day. But now I’ve completely forgotten those countries’ view in this book [Ha-ha].

3- I more learned to know how formal British people are, though, I’ve already known through a book titled, "Secret Of A Proper Lady".

4- I learned more about the men personalities which have been told in the story. And I have to say Garry in this story has many great personalities with the quality of being a man, same as my Mr.Perfect [My Uncle]. teehee ... He has the sense that make people feel trust, warm and secure while he is protective, loving, capacity to love, full of sense of humor.... etc

5- I learned from the Love Professor, who was one of Jennifer's date man, gave her advices which are:

- “When two people meet and get involved, they each other bring their own history with them. How you bring these histories together provides the condition for the future of your relationship. A person who gives you too much of their History shows an inability to choose or prioritize their relationships”.

- “Traditionally, the most important reason for being in a relationship was to reproduce: couple married and had children. The man support the family, the woman stayed at home and looked after it. Most women these days are not looking for partners in order to have babies, or at least not right away. A change has taken place in a very short period of time; men and women have become more equal. Although we have acknowledged the change, we have yet to address how the needs and expectations of relationships have changed as a result.”

- “You should not plan too much… just let it happens. Use all your senses and take in whatever comes. You should not watch too much what kind of message you are sending. Afterward, you can analyze, but not at the time. What is attractive to the person you are dating is that you are present in all aspects: Mind, Body and Soul. That’s a very good start.”

---

However, it doesn’t really adapt to everyone’s real life. Principally, we have different situation, status, culture, religion to be considered and there are even more deal of complexities which we find it hard to be able to explain, to face and get compromise.

---

Good Night!

One Day Beautiful!

There is thing you can do with paper clips. Bend it in the middle of the pin which you will get it in heart shape, so that you can use it to note which pages of books you are up to. Is this nice?

I had to do a charity back for the giver, which is a kiss! Ha-ha. Bong Phos, aka Reachini Somros gave each girl in our office a flower and everyone must pay her back a kiss! All right, she got me 2 kisses already and I gave her a peck back!

That's so cute of Bong Mab of bringing the flowers. Thank Bro! Gave him a big hug!

There are more beautiful things down the ground wich you might not be aware of. But, what if these flowers turned to be the roses instead?

Fun Time Never End

At where we made a small event promotion for Star-Cell. We made noises, we laugh and we snapped like we own the whole place.

Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer

The most impressive, fascinating, beautiful, illuminated and even funny story about a nine-year-old boy, Oskar, who is an inventor, amateur detective, letter-writer to Stephen Hawking, whose dad died in World Trade Center by terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001 in New York City. With the mysterious key belonged to his dad which got him in very heavy boots, Oskar struggled to find the open of 162 millions lockers in New York and meet many complete strangers who have the same last name, Black. Oskar Schells was finding his died father, Thomas Schells, just like when Thomas himself used to find his long lost leaving father who has the same name, Thomas Schells too.

That's very fascinating. The way author told the story and the style of the story's writing are really brilliant and intelligent. There are many sentences I like and I have quoted and noted. I also like the way the author used 'Heavy boots', "Lighter boots' and 'One hundred dollars!' to express the character's moods.

Here are some quotes I like the most:

"What if the water that came out of the shower was treated with a chemical that responded to a combination of things, like your heart-beat, and your body temperature, and your brain waves, so that your skin changed color according to your mood? If you were extremely excited, your skin would turn green, and if you were angry, you’d turn red, obviously, and if you felt like shiitake, you’d turn brown, and if you were blue, you’d turn blue? Everyone could know what everyone else felt, and we could be more careful with each other, because you’d never want to tell a person whose skin was purple that you’re angry at her for being late, just like you would want to pat a pink person on the back and tell him, ‘Congratulations!’"

"No, that’s not it, it’s not about my joy, the relief of my burden. I like to see people reunited, maybe that’s a silly things but what can I say, I like to see people run to each other, I like the kissing and crying, I like the impatience, the stories that the mouth can’t tell fast enough, the ears that aren’t big enough, the eyes that can’t take in all the change, I like hugging, the bringing together, the end of missing someone, I sit on the side with a coffee and write in my day book, I examine the flight schedules that I’ve already memorized, I observe, I write, I try not to remember the life that I didn’t want to lose but lost and have to remember, being here fills my heart with so much joy, even if the joy isn’t mine, and the end of the day, I fill the suitcase with old news. "

"When I no longer had to be strong in front of you, I become very weak. I brought myself to the ground, which was where I belonged. I hit the floor with my fists. I wanted to break my hands, but when it hurt too much, I stopped. I was too selfish to break my hands for my only child. "

"The longer your mother and I lived together, the more we took each other’s assumptions for granted, the less was said, the more misunderstood, I’d often remember having designated a space as Nothing when she sure we had agreed that is was Something, our unspoken agreements led to disagreements, to suffering… "

"'I feel too much. That's what's going on.' 'Do you think one can feel too much? Or just feel in the wrong ways?' 'My insides don't match up with my outsides.' 'Do anyone's insides and outsides match up?' 'I don't know. I'm only me.' 'Maybe that's what a person's personality is: the difference between the inside and outside.' 'But it's worse for me.' 'I wonder if everyone thinks it's worse for him.' 'Probably. But it really is worse for me.'"

"I spent my life learning to feel less. Every day I felt less. Is that growing old? Or is it something worse? You cannot protect yourself from sadness without protecting yourself from happiness."

"She said, 'Believe it or not, I used to be idealistic.' I asked her what 'idealistic' meant. 'It means you live by what you think is right.' 'You don't do that anymore?' 'There are questions I don't ask anymore.'"

"I felt suddenly shy. I was not used to shy. I was used to shame. Shyness is when you turn your head away from something you want. Shame is when you turn your head away from something you do not want."

"Isn't it so weird how the number of dead people is increasing even though the Earth stays the same size, so that one day there isn't going to be room to bury anyone anymore?"

"I'm sorry for my inability to let unimportant things go, for my inability to hold on to the important things."

"There’s nothing wrong with not understanding yourself"

"I regret that it takes a life to learn how to live."

"When you look up 'hilarious' in the dictionary, there's a picture of you."

"The end of suffering does not justify the suffering, and so there is no end to suffering."

"...Sadness of not knowing enough words to [express what you mean]..."

"The secret was a hole in the middle of me that every happy thing fell into."

"There is nothing wrong with compromising. Even if you compromise almost everything."

"I still couldn't figure out what it all meant. The more I found out, the less I understood."

"Even if I don't like what I am, I know what I am. My children like what they are, but they don't know what they are. So tell me which is worse."

---
There is the last sentence which I don’t like but I also like, which I disagree but I also agree which is: "He had a wall of mask from every country he’d been to, like Armenia and Chile and Ethiopia. ‘It’s not a horrible world,’ he told me, putting a Cambodian mask on his face, ‘but it’s filled with a lot of horrible people!’"

===

For all the collected quotes from Jonathan Safran Foer, you just can simply click here to get.

You enjoy doing something while other things is getting worse!

Here, I set the new determination that I’m not going to read those books I have piled in the last post anymore. I meant, not before I finish this new piles. So those ex-piles are going to be read later. teehee.

The two on the top, Spells Trouble by Lauren Child and Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer are very soon going to be finished. The Rice Mother by Rani Manicka and Around The World In 80 Dates by Jennifer Cox are waiting in the line and so on. But I don’t think I’m going to finish this new pile before I’m getting to start the new works very soon. My hardisk is still being checking, which make me cringe, but God is on my side! I’ve been printed out some recent data which need to be used. Thank God! At least. But still, I'm in trouble! Nothing I can do, but just sit tight to see what is going to happen.

ANYWAY

People are unreasonable, illogical and self-centered.
Love them anyway.

If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish ulterior motives.
Do good anyway.

If you are successful, you win false friends and true enemies.
Succeed anyway.

The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow.
Do good anyway.

Honesty and frankness made you vulnerable.
Be hones and frank anyway.

What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight.
Build anyway.

People really need help but may attack you if you help them.
Help people anyway.

Give the world the best you have and you will get kicked in the teeth.
Give the world the best you have got.
ANYWAY.

Public Presentation of Two Research Findings:

1) Young People Talking About Valentine's Day In Phnom Penh in 2008 (A Qualitative Study)

2) Activity, Love and Sexual Relationships and Experiences of Wealthier Young People Regarding Upcoming Valentine's Day in Phnom Penh in 2009 (A Quantitative Study)

By Tong Soprach, MPH, Independent Researcher

Free Admission! On Tuesday, February 10, 2009 At 6pm, 4th Floor of Conference Room

Cell Phone: 012 779 082
Email: soprach76@gmail.com
# 143-145, Preah Norodom Blvd, Phnom Penh, Cambodia

You can view and download the findings by clicking here, here and here.

I exceptionordinarily feel young!

Life is about to learn and learning something new which is quite quirky is exceptionordinarily cool! I just can’t put this book down, so no matter how, I'm trying to finish it. You know why? Because this book is exceptionordinarily awesome to delight my exceptionordinary day even more!

Hehehehehe...

You must be wondering now why I only use this “Exceptionordinary” words like this, right? But do you think it’s quite a funny word? It’s pretty quirky indeed.

Actually I just learned this word from Clarice Bean, the character in a children book, Spells Trouble by Lauren Child. Because of this making-up word, CB was in trouble and her teacher said, “Where would we be if we all just made up words like this?”

Do you like making up words? It is fun, nor?

All right, I was inspired to read children book by Nathary. I meant it. And I exceptionordinarily feel young again by reading it. Well, it's fabuloso!

My Super Hero!

It's so meaningful to blog about her. And I hope to blog about her again when I'm done with my duty. Here, nothing made me utterly excited about my interview with my hero, Somaly Mam around 10th. I'm impatiently waiting for the confirmation. It's my honor and of course, it is a very big gift for my birthday this month. I must admit that I've never been in any interview with any Hi-SO. But for this time, when I heard that we can contact her during meeting this morning, I was immediately telling my team work that I will be in charge of the interview script and I'm the one who interview her. And now I'm checking any website to get more specific information about her.

She is my super hero amount three, which are Somaly Mam, Soun Phimean and Theary Seng. She is the top one. I just checked her shared heartbreaking stories of her life and fight against sex slavery on the Tyra Banks Show. I could not imagine that there is someone like her who proudly stands at the forefront of fighting against the notorious industry and has made a very big difference in the lives of many Cambodian girls.

Please check her interview with Tyra Banks.