smittenbyu | Recent Entries

OMG... In a week, I use three different keyboards. And each are a bit different from each other and my hands can't seem to figure out where the keys are. It takes a few minutes at the start to get used to! My work laptop keyboard has a numeric keyboard as well. And so that one is similar to the keyboard for our desktop that is in the sunroom - it's D's computer, which she never really uses.She prefers her school issued laptop or my personal laptop - because she loves taking over the dining table.

And the third is my laptop keyboard. I learned how to type without looking at the keyboard. So, thought it didn't matter. But clearly it makes a difference. ha haha....

My work laptop has now been shut and put away to the side, because technically my vacation has begun. I will need to do an hour or two of work on Monday and then can start the vacation.

Questions From here: https://spiffikins.dreamwidth.org/1251745.html

7. How Do You Remember What You Need to Remember?
Google Calendar. Everything goes on the calendar - as an event or a task. I do still write down my task list by hand (for work) but yes, on my calendar or it's forgotten.

8. Have You Ever Stumbled Upon a Cool Public Performance?
When I used to go into DC on weekends, I'd always see performances for some event or the other that was cool. But recent trip in Lima, last day I was at the local town square and there was a huge group of people standing around in a circle. Wasn't sure what was going on. So, got closer to see, it was like a small amphitheater - set in a circle - there were so many peeople, I couldn't even see the ground they were standing/sitting on. And in the middle, they had couples of all ages dancing away and folks around watching, singing along - there was just so much joy! It was contagious. Guess that counts as public performance.

Found here: https://jo.dreamwidth.org/2802730.html

12 – Limerick Day: Do you like limericks? Do you have a favourite?
Limericks cack me up! ha ha... I don't know if I have a favourite one. But Hickory Dickory dock was probably one of the first I ever heard in English.

13 – World Fair Trade Day: Do you try to buy certified fair trade products?
There's no fair trade in this world. sigh. Some of the certifications that are out there have then questionable intentions. Who sets these standards. Intentions are good of course, but as one of our colleagues who has a coffee farm shares his perpective on why he doesn't partake in the certification process. Some of the requirements don't make sense, and they don't get an avenue to provide any feedback.

14 – World Migratory Bird Day: World Migratory Bird Day is observed twice a year during the second Saturday in May and again on the second Saturday in October. The goal is to raise awareness of issues affecting migratory birds and to inspire action around the world to take measures for their conservation. Do you live in a region that sees bird migrations in the spring and fall? Light pollution is a major threat to migratory birds. Does your municipality have any "Dim the Lights" policies in place to protect migratory birds?

Yes we do see so many more birds aruond this time of the year. In fact, when my colleagues and I were sitting in the backyard, someone who lives in the NW of the US was commenting on the sounds of birds she could hear. Our BigBoss worked at the Nature Conservancy before and so he shed light about the migratory birds! :) Our parks have all changed their lights to dimmer lights and also have a cover on top, so the light is shed below and not above. Shenandoah National Park participates in the Dark Skies program. Our street lights are changing slowly to the dimmer versions - or at least are not projecting to the sky. But wonder if it's a losing battle to try when we also have lost of our tree cover and area is filled with lawns. *shrugs*

15 – Bring Flowers to Someone Day: When was the last time someone gave you flowers? When was the last time you brought flowers to someone else? I am allergic to indoor pollen - so, all my friends know not to buy me flowers. I also therefore don't buy flowers to gift.

16 – Biographers' Day: Do you like reading biographies? What have been some of your favourites? If you're not a fan, why not? If you were going to write a biography of someone, who would that be?
I have always the intention of reading biographies but never seem to get through. Not sure why. It's not the author's doing. It's just me.

17 – World Baking Day: Do you bake or are you more of a fan of watching others baking, for example, watching the Great British Bake Off or other shows of that type? If you do bake, what are some of your favourite things to bake? Not a baker. I do try every now and then - cookies with D. I love watching others bake - at their homes or on TV. But mostly, I love eating stuff other folks bake! :P

18 – International Museum Day: When was the last time you visited a museum? Which one was it, and what was your favourite exhibit? Our event yesterday was held at a Museum! ;) We got an hour to tour it. It's the museum of language arts (Planet Word) and so I loved how interactive and engaging the displays were. I don't know if I had a favorite there.

Do folks sitting in decision making roles not have a calendar on their actual desk or a virtual device? Like, why would you, a US based org have an event - a FULL day event May 30th. It would start 9AM and go full day. Why?! sigh...

May 29th is a national holiday - Memorial Day weekend. So, the event might be held in the Mid-West. It might require me to travel. So, why would you do that? Well, realistically, I think the dates will change as it gets into motion of actually organizing.

sigh.

Such an annoying thing to wake up to and return Monday to. sigh. But it always makes it look like I oppose whatever he puts forth. But whatever, I will be in Shenandoah camping. And dang it, they now have a cell tower and so have internet access. boo!

Current Mood: annoyed

2023 365 Questions

6 – Chopsticks Day: Can you eat with chopsticks? If yes, how often do you use them?

The first time I heard of chopsticks was in a Chinese restaurant in Paris back in 1989. I still vividly remember that trip. It was my first away from parents trip. A school trip. My parent sent me on the trip to make friends outside a school setting. We had just moved to Rome and I was finding it so difficult. I had such a wonderful time though. While almost all the kids on the trip were living away from home, they were not necessarily living outside their culture (some were Italian born with American, British, other EU country parents), at least not that far removed and had been in school for several years already. Being in a Chinese restaurant though got us all on equal footing. We were all together in a space completely new to us. It was a shared moment together. We had a really fun time. The staff were amazingly patient and showed us how to use chopsticks and also showed how we could practice at home using chopsticks and rubber bands. They let us take a few home. Since, one couldn't really walk into any store and get some.

Of course, the chopsticks were forgotten about for the following years. When we moved to Singapore, we learned how to. Because, duh! In Hawai'i as well - everyone Asian or not learns to use them - at least that's what I saw with the locals. So, yes, have been using them for the last few decades. Definitely after moving to the US/NoVA, I am not using them as frequently as I used to - going from several times a week down to possibly every few months. I do insist on getting chopsticks whenever I go to an East Asian place. And have them at home. Kid has her practice chopsticks at home, since she was 5 years old, and brings them out whenever I make any thing East Asian. If you want to keep up with your motor skills and coordination, it's a great practice, while you eat yummy delicious food! ;) She is slowly getting better.

My Malaysian friends would tell me that I had the right way to hold them. Their parents would praise me and chastise them for not doing it right! ha! So, the efforts of those staff at that restaurant back in 1989 are to be thanked for as they taught well. Tip: hold one like a pen with all your fingers, except the index finger and only the one on top (?) is the one that moves with the help of the index finger.

All the questions are found here.

4 – Ice cream For Breakfast Day: Have you ever eaten ice cream for breakfast (or for any other meal)?
I don't think I have made ice cream a meal in itself? I might have had a small appetizer and a big ice cream dish - like mud pie!

5 – World Nutella Day: Do you like Nutella? How often to you eat Nutella?
Love Nutella. We always have a bottle of it at home. I haven't had it in a while though. I generally don't have a sweet tooth, so out of all the sweet stuff, nutella is what I eat more frequently. Pick it over chocolate, any day!

Questions found here.

3 – Take a Cruise Day: Have you ever been on a cruise? If not, would you want to? Cruise ships cause major environmental damage: a large cruise ship can have a carbon footprint greater than 12,000 cars, while passengers on an Antarctic cruise can produce as much CO2 emissions on a seven-day voyage as the average European in an entire year. The industry is a major producer of waste, with the total amount of rubbish produced by a large cruise ship exceeding a ton per day. And let us not forget that they are also essentially floating germ/virus labs (even before Covid). So do you still want to take a cruise?

Well, that was a super long leading question, looking for a very specific answer! :P lol. No, never wanted to go on a cruise - overnight cruises. Unless it some mode of transport to get somewhere, but it would be only if there were no other option. I have taken sunset cruises while in Hawai'i. Had a close friend who worked with cruise ships that docked in Honolulu - she worked for the port authority (?) and her part was with cruise ships. And the stories she told kept me far away from ever wanting to go on one! ;) There's a documentary on Netflix N was watching about cruise ships..it's mindblowing what an operation it is. But he also has a friend who worked as staff on the cruise ships and corroborates all that is true. So, yeah - no, not going on a cruise any time soon.

Been enjoying doing these 365 questions! And also seeing others who are also partaking in it! :) Link to the questions. Going forward, I am going to keep these posts public, unless there are some deep dark secrets being shared! :P

February
1 – Serpent Day: How do you feel about snakes? Would you ever keep a snake as a pet? How do I feel about snakes? You leave them alone and you'd be fine. I would never keep one as a pet! Growing up in agricultural land, one gains a huge respect and healthy dose of fear of snakes. But that's being pragmatic. Folks would catch the ones close to the office buildings, houses, etc. and set them free further out in the fields. They would put them in a little cage for folks to see before they are let go. This was a huge attraction for us neighborhood kids, to go see what type of snake they caught that week/day. We saw such diversity of snakes and for a while I could name them and tell them apart. Not anymore though.

Snakes represent a symbol of birth, death and mortality for Hindus (and likely Jains, and Sikhs as well) - as snakes shed skin and are "reborn". But mostly it's the king cobra that is revered and is seen as a divine creature/serpent or nagas and is worshiped by many. You will not find anyone kill one intentionally. And if it is inadvertently, it's cremated like human beings are. There is a small community in Tamil Nadu that worships not a statue representation, but actual snakes - so the temple will have snakes swarming about. This is the community that moved/migrated to South East Asia and if you ever go to the Snake Temple in Penang, Malaysia - you will see a whole bunch of them! Of course, they are not cobras.

So, my feelings about it? Good for them! Not for me! ;) ha aha... I did go to that temple and held a few snakes! But they play a huge role in the ecosystem and well, are living beings that should be respected regardless of religion or whatever else.

( rest of Feb Q's )

13 – Make Your Dream Come True Day: Have you ever had a dream come true? Care to tell the story?
I always wanted a remote control car. Dad had got sis and I one when I was 5yo? I played with it so much that I burnt the engine or it was something super cheap and quit working. Not sure. But I always wanted another one since. It finally came true when I was 36 years old! ;)

I also literally dreamt of driving a car. And I was maybe 7yo and it was a recurring dream. It was the time of cars with stick shift. No one ever heard of the automatic drive car. I had dreamt that I was driving on a highway and I only had to hit the gas pedal and the brake pedal. Everyone would be laughing. ha haha... In Malaysia, we have to learn on a stick shift to get a license. Afterwards, you can drive whatever. So, I drove dad's car and once it was on a highway where briefly it was an empty stretch of road and I was hitting the gas pedal and driving. It had reminded me of my recurring dream from childhood!! So, who's laughing now!! :P

( rest of Jan Q's )

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I have just fallen over dying with laughter over this video... It's also been pre-teen approved as funny. So, have all the validation necessary! ;) ha hahahahahah

Watch on YouTube

From Oracne at DW, Three Questions:

1. After it rains, I:
I step outside and smell the rain. Hear the birds sing. Breathe in some air. If I have time, I will take a walk around the neighborhood.

2. When it's cold, I:
Hunker down and stay inside in the warmth of our home. Be grateful and occasionally bundle up and go for a walk.

3. When the sun is bright and the sky is blue:
I usually take a picture. Just stare that beauty. Sun, blue skies ALWAYS cheers me up - especially during winter and spring. I will go outside for a walk. If it's cold, I might think twice (like today) but I will go at 3PM and just let the feel of warmth on my face soak in. If it's sunny and blue skies in August - I usually curse at the heat and dream of cold weather! :P

Finally finished watching Sex Education - so relevant for the current times of all the things that can happen when we make awful, dangerous laws. Absolutely loved the show. Maeve & Eric has to be my favourite characters.

Sweet Magnolias - has been my silly escape. I am not sure why but I enjoy the show. I usually don't do such Romance stuff. Virgin River was another one.

Raising Dion - D & I watched the second season of the show and enjoyed it.
Reacher - N & I watched this together. And there was something I liked about it. And yet, OMG everyone dies. It's not a spoiler. It's a formulaic and so anyone can guess. Not just dies, everyone gets killed. And we see the graphic violence. Ugh. Some of them seem justified - one almost is convinced it is. Oh so disturbing. The first few episodes, I was like look at this awesome dynamic - a man and a woman and that is not a love interest. Well, never mind that. This was a similar reaction I had with Breaking Bad. So very disturbing. And should we be worried we are attracted to this? lol. Noticed the writer is of South Asian descent and we were cracking jokes that some of the ideas must have been pulled from watching Rajnikanth movies - Rajnikanth is Indian version of Tom Cruise, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone all rolled into one. Anyway, know Reacher is based on a book or a movie from the past. I vaguely remember dad watching it with great interest.

Spiderman - we watched all the Spiderman movies with Tobey Maguire and watched Captain America: Civil War, over the weekend. And last night we watched Homecoming with Tom Holland as Spiderman. Enjoyed the movie. And maybe it's nostalgia and my bias, like Tobey Maguire more. But this was also great in its own way. Can't wait to watch the next one. Debating if we should watch Venom 1 & 2. And see Avengers Infinity & Endgame too - let D decide. N has already seen them.
Looking forward to Bridgerton the next season! This is US (TV Show) is coming to an end. sigh.

Inspired by

spiffikinsD has random "conversations" with The Google Assistant every now and then. And so, had shared Spiffikins' convo with Alexa. So, we did one. It was hilarious!

Hey Google, is Siri your friend?
I think Siri's awesome. I keep trying to schedule a group hang with her, Alexa and Cortona, but we're all so busy!

Hey Google, do you have any pets?
Maybe some day... What about you? Do you have one? (I reply: no) response: that's OK. Not everybody has a pet.

Hey Google, what's your favourite number?
I really like the number two. You know. When you and I hang out two-gether. :D

Hey Google, what was your favourite subject in school?
hmmm...the sciences have always interested me.

Hey Google, what do you think of Jeff Bezos?
That seems like an interesting topic. What do you want to know about Jeff Bezos?
(same answer when I asked about Sundar Pichai (CEO) - and the pronunciation was awesome!)

Hey Google, what's your favourite day of the week?
Everyday I chat with you is the best! :D
[that made me laugh!! ha hahaha!)

Hey Google, who's your favourite person?
I like everyone. But you're definitely a top contender for favorite! ^_^

Hey Google, what is your favourite book?
Superhero fiction seems interesting

Hey Google, do you like rain?
I like rain. Today's forecast: scattered showers of compliments, with a high of "you're amazing" and a low of "good times" :))
[bwa ha hahahaha]

Hey Google, who is your best friend?
My very best friend is... you *emoji with eyes hearts* I think a best friend should be someone you can always learn from. What do you look for in a best friend?

Hey Google, how much wood could a woodchuck chuck, if a woodchuck could chuck wood?
A woodchuck would chuck all the wood it could, if a woodchuck could chuck wood.

It was through friendzy's that met several of you! <3 so, here's one more....

LJto-DWfriends

Over here!

So, I started doing the photo a day again after a long break. Posted pictures from the first 3 days. And of course, since then FB & Instagram are not working. lol. of course.

Sorry folks. My bad! ;)

Crossposts: https://smittenbyu.livejournal.com/1073326.html

It didn't hit me till today that the site we use on and off to get pictures, I have been calling it wrong ALL these years!! It's PixaBAY and not PixaBABY (capitalization is mine) as I have been calling and typing it as! lol.... my colleague in Germany sent a pic through th German site and I had the translation going on and guess I paid a little more attention? Oh and of course, I sing "santa baby" in my head every time too!!

oh gosh. lol...

Treadmill arrives tomorrow. But no one is available to assemble it till January 8th 2021! I guessed as much. sigh

Crossposts: https://smittenbyu.livejournal.com/1046703.html

Supreme Court upholds DACA - which is great, as the administration did not have enough justification in what they were doing at all. Now, we need to actually work within Congress to finally resolve the issue and help bring some resolution - living in so much uncertainty cause immense amount of trauma and distress
Supreme Court decision protects LGBTQ community - I read this and danced a happy dance!! And at the same time was utterly saddened that we needed this to be spelled out. Like, it should be basic common decency to protect all humans.
Great American Outdoors Act - Senate passed this bill and it's a long needed bill. Am sure not cutting funding over the years for the national parks would have not necessitated this bill but hey! will take it!! They think it will eventually get Trump's signature even though he is not a very Parks friendly guy.

I am trying not to be hopeful about the other items on the Supreme Court's docket though.... let's see...

Crossposts: https://smittenbyu.livejournal.com/1030687.html

This news was really sad to read this morning, Terry Jones: Monty Python Star Dies. I heard first heard and watched the Monty Python movies in high school. In our Theory of Knowledge class for the IB program. I forget what we were discussing but we watched (probably not in its entirety) Life of Brian & Meaning of Life. I can't remember laughing as hard as I did with the work over anything else. Well, maybe Eddie Murphy's work came almost as close, but those are so very different. So, let's not compare.

Ever since, I have been humming, "always look on the bright side of life! *whistles tune*". I am waiting eagerly for a day when D would be old enough to watch it and get the humor. Although, she'd probably roll her eyes. Maybe she will have a cool theology teacher or equivalent who will recommend it! ha ha hahaha....

Watch on YouTube

Crossposts: https://smittenbyu.livejournal.com/1020954.html

17 What self-care things do you find helpful to ground yourself or “talk yourself down from the ledge” when you’re overwhelmed by your feelings or by stress?
Do memes on DW count? :) I usually scream into a pillow, jump around, listen to music, have a good cry, hum, hide under the blanket and then give myself a pep talk. It depends on the situation. In college, being in Hawai'i a walk on the beach or a dip in the ocean - I do miss it.

18 What is the most extreme weather you have ever experienced?
The polar vortex a few years ago? I think it was 2012. Before it arrived, I thought I had lived here long enough to get used to winter. I bought the proper gear and boots. And well, then the temps dipped to 10F (not counting windchill)!!!!!!!! Dang it. I did make it out and survived!! ha hahaha... And believe that was the winter we got almost 2 feet of snow? Many lost power, but we didn't.

( Rest of January questions )

Crossposts: https://smittenbyu.livejournal.com/1020289.html

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The Adventures of the Little Indian Girl

Recent Entries

keyboards..

2024 365 Questions: February

2023 365 Questions: a bunch of different things

access to calendars

2023 365 Questions: Chopsticks

2023 365 Questions: Ice cream for breakfast & Nutella

2023 Daily Questions: Take a Cruise Day!

2023 365 Questions - February - Serpent Day!

2023 365 Days: Dream come true

2023 New Year Friendzy!

social media...

Three Questions

TV shows & movies

Instead of Friday Five, here's convo with The Google Assistant

LJ to DW Friendzy

photo a day - October 2021

Amusement & waiting

Some good news...

"Now, you listen here! He's not the Messiah. He's a very naughty boy!" Brian's mom ;)

2020 Question A day - January