When Life Gives You Lemons...

The Legend of Slek Krei & Spey Kdoup

2012-02-08T11:00:00.000-08:00

If you are a first-time artist.

But with a humble sense of humor.

You can do a comic art like this to mock your friends when you're bored.

Which is what I have done here. Well, it's just a tongue in the cheek joke, but I hope you guys enjoy it.

My bloggie girlfriends have been calling me by a veggie name "Khnei", because I did a comic story entitled, "Ginger", which is "Khnei" in Khmer. And as a person who likes to practice the law of Karma, I named them back with silly veggie names.

So my friend, Kunna, the one who started it all, is now called, "Oun Slek Khrei" (Darling Lemongrass!).

And Panharath, who is an enthusiastic follower, is now called, "Oun Spey Kdoup" (Darling Cabbage!).
Somehow, I find these veggie names suit them both perfectly!!!

Plus, they also gave me the inspiration to draw this mocking cartoon of them. In fact, it comes from our conversation regarding the dot-dot-dot subject. It's totally a Cambodian joke that you can totally get. And even if you don't, the cartoon version of them is still funny, right?

Here is how they did it:

Kunna said: "Eiii ya, talking about having babies already huh??? How about the big day? Soon, I wish!"

Panharath: "I've wanted to have babies yu hay!!! Min doch jea Neak Neang Slek Krei te!!! Ot jang upgrade tov Lok Srey te reu??"

Me: "You see? Kunna. She's more speedy than you are. You're going to lose a race to the Children Village in no time! ahahahaha...!"

Ginger, the Kindergartener

2012-01-24T08:59:00.000-08:00

I made this comic book for my extra course at the university. It's about a five-year-old girl named Ginger. This story is a mixture of my childhood memories, and present-day experiences, but some are also fictional.

Well, I am a comic nuts. When I was a kid, I saved my allowance to buy a bunch of Khmer comic stories, Tum Teav, Soprorsith, Thon Chey, etc. I guess my childhood life had always been surrounded by stories and comics. And then I got a chance to learn how to make one of my own! I also received a lot of inspirations from the western cartoonists, like Jim Davis and Spiky, the creators of "Garfield" and "Peanuts".

This one is more influenced by Peanuts. A group of children who seemed to have interesting childhood journey around their little world. And Garfield is a big fat cat, remember? He's my idol! I wish I could continue to make comics, but reality doesn't like to allow a person to do everything she wants.

Anyway, one of the episodes I dedicated to my beautiful prof. I hope you guys enjoy them. And tell me what you think. *Wink*

I Am INFJ?

2012-01-19T18:33:00.000-08:00

I did a Personality Test given by a friend Panharath. And I ended up getting an INFJ personality. It stands for Introvert, iNtuition, Feeling, and Judging.

It says something about the kind of person I am, which is really creepy, because I didn't expect that people could do such a mind-blowing test and could describe almost everything about me. I feel totally exposed and really weirded out!

Well, my type is called the Counselors.

They say these people have an exceptionally strong desire to contribute to the welfare of others, and find great personal joy interacting with people, nurturing their personal growth, guiding them to realize their human potential. Although these people are happy working at jobs such as writing [Insert my freaked-out face here] that require solitude and close attention, they do quite well with individuals or groups of people. That the personal interactions are not pretentious, and that they find some quiet, private time every now and then to recharge their batteries.

INFJ people are both kind and positive in their handling of others. They are great listeners and seem naturally interested in helping people with their personal problems. Not usually visible leaders, they prefer to work intensely with those close to them, especially on a one-to-one basis, quietly applying their influence behind the scenes.

Here another description:

People with INFJ personality are scarce, little more than three percent of the population [THREE PERCENT???], and they can be hard to get to know, since they tend not to share their innermost thoughts or their powerful emotional reactions except with their loved ones. They are highly private people, with an unusually rich, complicated inner life [This part just nails me right on the head] . Friends or colleagues who have known them for years may find their other side as a surprise. They are not flighty or scattered,but they are mysterious, complexly woven personalities that sometimes puzzle even them.

INFJ People tend to work effectively in organizations. They understand and use human systems creatively, and are good at consulting and cooperating with others, and are concerned with people's feelings.

Blessed with vivid imaginations, INFJ people are often seen as the most poetical of all the types (@_@!). In fact they use a lot of poetic imagery in their everyday language. Their great talent for language-both written and spoken-is usually directed toward communicating with people in a personalized way. They are highly intuitive and can recognize others' emotions or intentions - good or evil - even before that person is aware of them. The INFJs themselves can seldom tell how they came to read others' feelings so keenly. This extreme sensitivity to others could very well be the basis of the their remarkable ability to experience a whole array of psychic phenomena .

For occupation:

This type of person is a more private people. INFJs can be found in the field of education as a professor , teacher, counselor, or educational consultant. Sometimes they feel a strong calling toward the religious life. Social service jobs, such as social worker, social scientist, can fit their needs. Others are drawn to the arts as a novelist, designer, or artist.

INFJ people think of themselves as disadvantaged in science or mathematics, because they think they can't follow the theories or complex structures, but once they are encouraged to enter the professions, they can blossom with a surprising success. [No wonder why I can't put two and two together, but got A+ in college algebra, awwwkward!].

Well, because people with this personality are the rarest creature, there's only a few famous INFJs, most of them are dead. But it made me laugh when I found out who they were.

Here are those famous people:

- Mahatma Gandhi
- Mother Teresa
- Emily Bronte
- Martin Luther king Jr.
- Nicole Kidman

Phew! At least, one of them is still alive. I guess if you read this post, you already know me 90%. The remaining 10% must be my most wicked, most horrible part of me. And since INFJ people don't show, that part is still a mystery :D

Thank for reading guys!
Happy Chinese New Year...

Here try the Personality Test

FoR LoVely SaRa

2012-01-13T19:11:00.000-08:00

This is Sara, my visiting professor from Chicago. She came to teach us about comic arts last month. And before our comic course ended, we had ventured to the countryside together. So I got a chance to take all these pictures of her and what I had seen during the trip. And I have some snippets of my silly conversations with her as a bonus featuring, too :D

The trip was to the province about an hour from Phnom Penh. And we stopped at a friend's house. Sara and I saw the neighbor's chickens roaming around freely. Then I noticed my young prof kept staring at the chickens, as if she had never seen them before. She was like that until I actually asked her:
"You have never seen chickens before?"
Sara chuckled, "No, it's just that Cambodian chickens seem to run faster than American chickens."
I laughed.

We tried to teach her some Khmer words that mean "eat". There are about eight or so words in Khmer just for eating. And I kept laughing so much when she told me she had eaten leaf-wrapped cake, "Nom Bot" without unwrapped it first.
I asked, "How did it taste?"
"It was bitter!" She said, "But if no one had told me to stop, I would've kept eating it like that."
I was like, "Whahahaha!"

Another time, we were having lunch together. Sara, being the only American in the table, kept saying the same words, "Good! Yum!" We were a little worried for her stomach's well-being. But then Sara asked me about a can of foreign beverage (Yoe's).
She said something like this:
"What is Grass Jelly?" She eyed the tin can curiously. I told her it was a drink.
"I know," she said. "But what does Grass Jelly taste like?"
I didn't know what to tell her, coz Cambodia has no grass jelly, too. So I just said.
"It tastes like Grass Jelly."
I didn't mean to be funny or anything. I always talk like that to my Cambodian friends, but my prof actually laughed so hard about it. I guess somehow, Cambodians have a weird sense of humor.

They tried to be a barbaric sugarcane-eater!

They sketched a sleepy lady after lunch.

Btw, Sara has a cool American sense of humor of her own, too. I remember while I was snapping pictures of her sketch book, I teased her.

"You know, I could take pictures faster than you draw," I said.

Sara simply replied, "That's why people invented cameras."

And I laughed like an idiot.

During the house visit, we had a funeral (100th day) ceremony of a friend's father. (They even had music speakers (Thung Bass) for the night dance. Sometimes, I just don't get it). As they were Chinese related, they had to burn some money papers and a cute house paper. I asked if Sara wanted to see that. And she did, so we joined them outside.

It was hot. But the process took a long time, because the people kept talking about the lighter, the threat, the shoes, and whatnot.

I whispered to Sara, "They really have a lot of discussions."

And she whispered back, "Because diplomacy is very important."

I laughed.

They looked like a painting themselves

They were nerdtacular together. Lolzz!!

And then we had also visited the National Zoo. Believe it or not, it is the first time I've been to the ZOO! But I was a little disappointed about the trip, because I hadn't seen most of the animals yet.

The paradox of it all is that I felt a bit depressed while I was there. I don't know. I just didn't feel right. I'm not trying to be goody-goody. I might be wrong, coz these animals might find the zoo as good as their home forests. Anyway, I have made a comic strips about it, too. I'll show you when I have time.

They had never seen an Otto this cute :)
(I refer to myself, of course)

If only they could take those bars away :(

(She sure can't be lost in a crowd looking like that :P

They just liked the view of the place.

They are the elephant's biggest fan!

They shimmered in sunlight

I took this picture of her when we were about to get back to Phnom Penh. It was in another friend's farmhouse. And we were picking Milk fruit (Plear Dosko). When our picker prepared to get down from the tree, he handed a long wooden pole used for picking the fruit to Sara, and I said, "Be careful, you could kill somebody with that."

"You think I'm clumsy?" She asked me.

"No, but you look clumsy."

She laughed and said, "I am!"

How I miss those funny moments, and I just wish my young professor a happy artistic life back in US.

Random Life

2012-01-08T00:30:00.000-08:00

Here are some random things I've come across recently. I know my blogging has become less frequent, but I'm trying to keep up with my boring stuff. Well, not all of them are boring actually. I would like to present you some cool things I've got. First is a comic masterpiece from my professor. I love comic arts. I think I'm one of those people who refuse to grow up in all the right way.

And this is my coin collection. I know, I'm not alone in this hobby. Some people collect stamps and even stuffed animals. So why not currency of other countries around the world? I just feel bad that our country doesn't have any coins anymore. The French took all the gold and silver and now, we're left with nothing but paper money.

This is the book I've read. My friend loaned it to me. Well, I refuse to give any detail since this book is just another semi-boring, out-of-the-world-fantasy story by this Japanese writer. I've read another one called "Kafka on the Shore". I hated it, but I like his writing style though. He just knows what he's talking about, even we don't really get what he means.

And the MESS!!! This is one of the coolest books I've ever received from my friend Panharath. It's about awaking the creative genius in us. Mistakes are considered as arts! I love the concept of this book. Why do we have to make something perfect all the time? We're not perfect anyway, right? But I guess, it takes creativity to make a mess, too. Thank goodness, it's not the problem!

Btw, when I read the first chapter of Sputnik Sweetheart, this one line got my attention. And I was like, "What's Angkor Wat doing here?" So I just took a picture of it. And the rest of the pictures are just my photography exercise.

Anyway, Hpapy New Yaer EvreyOne!!!!

Portrait

2011-12-30T18:39:00.000-08:00

I have finished my comic art class at school.

I had the cutest prof who taught us how to do comics.

I loved every minute of it.

And guess what?

She drew me into her sketch book, while I was doodling away my comic story.

Wow, it felt like a thousand dollars to me.

For the first time in my 22-year-old life, I've seen my own portrait!

Preah Thong Neang Neak (Prince Thong and the Naga Princess)

2011-12-07T17:48:00.001-08:00

My friend asked me why I post too many videos of the Royal Cambodian Ballet on my facebook.
I said, " What's wrong with that? I love our dance!"
Then they said, "Oi! Don't tell anyone that you're my friend."

Well, I guess it is weird because most young people don't like this stuff. We're kind of separated by something called generation gap. Most of our kids don't even learn Khmer nursery rhymes. I wish we had the bond between the past and the present, besides the past is also the mirror to our future.

Alright, I'm not gonna go into length about it.

Here is the real deal.

This is the story of our marriage origin. The story goes like this:

Preah Thong, the Prince of Faraway Land (somewhere from India) came to a newland, Jroy Sovannapumi, (the cape of Golden Land, Kampuchea or Cambodia) which was originally called, "Norkor Kok Tlok". Norkor means kingdom, Kok means dry and Tlok is a name of a tree.

It's said that Prince Thong saw the huge tree first before he landed on the shore of the kingdom, thus gave birth to the name. But the kingdom was ruled by the Naga princess, namely Neang Neak, (in our history, the first ruler of the kingdom was a female monarch, so this story is relevant to the history).

Today, every time Cambodians get married, the groom and the bride will get to be Preah Thong and Neang Neak in their wedding. They dress like prince and princess. But the groom has to hold on to the hem of his bride's garment (because in the story, the real Prince Thong also had to do that in order to get into the Naga realm).

It's also a metaphor, because in Cambodian society, it is still more or less matriarchal. The husbands are not the man of the house, but their wives are. The wives are called, "Mé Pteas." The word Mé means both female and boss, (anything or anyone that is large and important, we all call, Mé), and Pteas means house.

Now back to the dance. Even if you don't understand Khmer, you're still able to understand the meaning of it. Because these classical dancers use a universal language to communicate, which is body language, of course. They don't talk during the performance, but they let the background singers demonstrate the story through songs, really really beautiful songs (If you don't believe it, watch the video).

Each movement of their bodies, the postures, the facial expressions, represent the feeling of the characters. The anger, hate, love, and even the seduction, all of which takes years of practice to perfect, and they have to make it as graceful as possible, because most of the performances are all about gods and kings.

These dancers have to be trained from their early age, traditionally around six years old. (Sometime they even select the children with the right bone structure, the kind who born to dance). During theAngkor era, this classical ballet was the vital entertainment for the emperors. They were first recorded almost a thousand year ago on the temple walls- as the Apsaras (goddesses of dancing). Now, they tour around the world.

The Naga Princess was having a blast in the forest.
Just in time Prince Thong happened to be there and was struck by her divine beauty.

This is the part when Preah Thong couldn't contain his heart's desire and head-over-heel-y grabbed Neang Neak from behind.

(Wow, what an enormous love he had!)

This part shows how Neang Neak is so furious with Preah Thong's daring gut, and she is scolding the young Prince from head to toes.

(Gee! Look at the body language of her anger. I think she could melt every man's heart with that!)

But Preah Thong is a wit-crack.

He said something like this:

"No one dares cometh near thee, except your loving pair who is me!"

Finally!

Preah Thong could win over her iron heart at last!

Neang Neak has to go back and tell her parents about their love.

(Aw, parting is such a sweet sorrow!)

Isn't this love story of Preah Thong and Neang Neak an older version of Romeo and Juliet? Well, only this due had a happy ending. (Boo! Shakespeare.)

Watch the video

I Have Met My Hero!

2011-12-02T20:43:00.000-08:00

November 28, 2011- PHNOM PENH

Have you ever experienced when the people you never thought you could meet suddenly appeared just out of thin air? When you were dying to hear their stories and admire their courage and you did? If yes, we're on the same page.

Because I have met one of the world's heroes!!!

Mrs. Marthe Hoffnung Cohn was a French Jewish in Nazi Germany during World War II.

And for Buddha's sake, she was a secret intelligent agent (aka spy) behind the enemy lines! (That's also the title of her book).

AND I'VE MET HER!!! I couldn't believe it! She came to give a speech at my university. And just like that, I found myself transported into her life once again! And she is so-oh-oh beautiful even at the age of 90. Her voice, oh my gosh, how could I describe her voice? It was like an enchanting song in the fairy tale! I loved every word she spoke. I could listen to her all day! I had to fight back tears sometimes while listening to her story.

There were about 600 people coming to the speech. And I was in a verge of exploding tantrum when some freshmen were mumbling around me. They had no idea Mrs. Cohn is a living legend! Behind those wrinkles, this woman has a nerve of steel!

But do you believe in destiny? I do!

Because after the speech ended, I thought I could never ever see her again. She was surrounded by professors, deans and the school founders. So I decided to leave, thinking it was enough for me just to see her from afar. But before I left, I went to bathroom. (I would have left immediately if it wasn't for nature call). And when I came back, I saw Mrs. Cohn again! She was waiting for her car to arrive.

I took out my phone and snapped a few pictures of her just for a memory. Then a young lady behind me said, "If you want to take her picture, get closer."

So I did. I just wanted to thank that young lady for telling me this. Without her urging me, I couldn't find my courage to get close to my hero, cos I was afraid I would tire her.

But then THE SCHOOL FOUNDER said to me, "You want to take a picture with Mrs. Cohn?"

I stammered something that sounded like a "Yes".

And he said, "Good, go up to her then." Then he motioned for his assistant to take a picture of us together!

I gingerly knelt next to Mrs. Cohn's chair. She gave me a big heart-warming smile. I remember saying something excitedly like, "Thank you for coming. I'm so happy to have you here. Merci beaucoup!" That was all I could speak. And it made her husband smiled at me too. And when we posed for the camera, Mrs. Cohn put her delicate hand around me!!! [Insert my hysterical screaming joy here!] I was so overwhelmed with delight that I cried all the way home after that.

I have been reading about the Holocaust all my life, I read and reread Anne Frank's Diary, some memoirs of the survivors in Auschwitz camp. I've watched the documentary films like Schindler's List (a 7-Oscar-winner, you should watch it), I even got an A in European History course. And now, I was sitting next to one of THE HEROES IN THE HISTORY! It was like a dream come true!

(No wonder, I cried like a little girl.)

(Do you see that? I was a bit shy, but she put her hand on me and pulled me close! PS: It's not my fault that the photo came out a bit too bright. I have adjusted the light to the medium, cos the cameraman took the picture with his flash on) Still, Mrs. Cohn looks like an angle in this picture.

Behind the Enemy Lines: The True Story of a French Jewish Spy in Nazi Germany

"Marthe Cohn was a beautiful young Jewish woman living just across the German border in France when Hitler rose to power. Her family sheltered Jews fleeing the Nazis, including Jewish children sent away by their terrified parents. But soon her homeland was also under Nazi rule. As the Nazi occupation escalated, Marthe’s sister was arrested and sent to Auschwitz Read more."

Because she had blond hair and blue eyes, the Nazi army thought she was a German nurse. They didn't know she was a spy with a pair of keen eyes. She saw everything, heard every words and just knew what to do about it. After the war, she had spent 9 months working as a nurse in Calemet hospital in Cambodia. That was during French colonial period.

Omg, she was a beautiful young woman!

I remember there was a monk who asked Mrs. Cohn something about her longevity. It was funny because his lengthy question only summed up to "How do you keep yourself healthy?" Mrs. Cohn's smart reply was, "I eat what I like." And the crowd laughed and applauded wildly.

The Glory of Rama

2011-11-20T17:07:00.001-08:00

I have finished this painting weeks ago with an acrylic paper, watercolors and crayons.

And now, I'm free to post it after finals were over. That might explain my absence in writing. I had borrowed a few books about arts and painting from the library. They have good instructions of how to draw and then I decided to put the theory into practice. My weakness is drawing people, but I'm glad that once I drew them, I made them look quite decent, or at least to me. Hopefully, my painting of Ramayana doesn't hurt your eyes.

When I showed this painting to one of my friends, she said, "I'm sure it's not your work."

I said, "What makes you think it's not mine?"

"You don't look like the type who paints," she said to me. "And if you do, it might only about crazy stuff. Not like this."

I smirked at her and said, "Thank pal, you know me."

Alright now, I just want to show you about the Khmer Classical Dance, which I'm so passionate about. If you have never seen the dance before, you should make a point to watch it once in your lifetime, whether in the theater or on YouTube. It is not just our dance alone. It's one of the world heritages, which means it's your property too. The dance dated for over a thousand years. Now, it's become the Royal Cambodian Ballet and is being taught at the Université de Beaux-arts (School of Fine Art). Even if you're not Cambodian, you can understand by the universal language of the dance, and you just know the moment it moves your heart.

A Conch on the Shore

2011-11-02T22:04:00.000-07:00

"A conch lies on the shore,
Sea breeze blows through its lips,
The spiral shell hums all the more,
Sending a song to ocean deep,"

I painted this picture last night.
And as if it wasn't enough, I also wrote a poem about it.
I just had this sudden urge to start painting again. I took out my old paintbrushes, watercolors and papers from my closet and started everything from scratch. Surprisingly, the tools still worked and so did my hand. It's been many years since I last painted anything. I've never had any art lessons before, so I don't know how to use Picasso style or whatever, but this picture is my sole attempt to make something art-like.

I felt like a Chinese character who would write poems and paint pictures! I've read one Chinese story,"A remarkable Journey of Prince Jen". There was a painter who had received a magic paintbrush. With it, he could paint beautiful landscapes and then he realized he could even step into his paintings and visit many marvelous places.

If I had this magic paintbrush, I would pain the Pisa Tower, or the Statue of Liberty , or the Pyramid, the Taj Mahal temple, and even the Hanging Garden of Babylon. I would paint all the great wonders of the world and visit them one by one. But first of all, I would paint Angkor Wat! Because if there was something wrong with my magic paintbrush, or I couldn't come out of the painting, I would only get lost in my own country! :D

So what would you paint if you had a magic paintbrush?

Me wrote Poems!?!

2011-10-27T02:53:00.000-07:00

You don't want to read this post if:

A. You're not in the mood.

B. You hate poetry.

C. You think I'm crazy about writing. Again.

Because I'm writing poems!!!
Me and poetry!!! Can you imagine that?!!
Okay, now I got over my surprise. I mean, I'd never been that into poetry since the time I knew how to read! But now as I'm attending Creative Writing in my college, my professor, who is a poet himself, always asks us to write poems non-stop! We would sit in circle and write. Then we would share our work to the class. Sometime we were forced to squeeze a poem out of our heads in five minutes flat! Well, it's kind of a torture, but at the end of the day, we've got our arts to show off :D

First off, we learned about Haiku, a form of Japanese poetry, quite famous now. There are many forms of poetry we learned like Pantoun (Malaysian), Gazel (Persian), but Haiku is short and makes no sense. You only have to write three lines. No need to be rhymed. Haiku is mostly about the nature, not people. But it's almost always a metaphor of our life.

When you first read it, it seems like what someone's talking for the sake of talking, but then the poem itself will bring us a sense of epiphany, something that makes you feel, "Ah-ha!". That's why I love Haiku so much. Here are some of my all-time favorite Japanese Haiku poems by Basho and Buson (sorry, I forgot which poem belongs to which poet, but just enjoy it anyway):

"Winter downpour-

even the monkey

needs a raincoat,"

"One fell,

Two fell,

Camellias,"

(PS: Camellia is a flower)

My Haiku

"Wait in the dark,

Cold wind blows,

Home is a dream,"

"The lantern shone,
Dying stars,
Ever changing moon,"

Then we have Modern poetry, which is what most poets write today. It's a free style form. Sometime we don't need to make it rhyme, just write what's inside your heart, but you have to write with powerful emotion or it's just plain boring.

My Moderm Poem:

The Orange

"The sun shone on my head, burning my skin

I remembered the smell of oranges in the farm

I felt the panic sweats of my comrades

who came in to steal the fruit

I saw one orange that was about to rip

but strangely it seemed to me

I was not ready to pick.

I walked and seek the others

My comrade came and took the one I left,

snapping the wire of a bomb to explode.

A life for an orange,

That's how we pay for our food."

I wrote this poem about my mom during the worst time of our history. Just like my teacher said, "Poetry is about our emotions." Sometime, we just don't know what to say, but by expressing our feeling in a poem, we might eventually find some comfort.

Sla Mlou Catch Up!

2011-10-19T22:25:00.000-07:00

So I borrow this title from Kunna. She has a creative idea about my meeting with Panharath, aka Mak Yeay, and Kelly as Mak Ming. In case you don't know, Sla Mlou is our natural chewing gum for grannies! We sort of form this Grandma Circle which Panharath, Kelly and I started giving each other old lady's titles. Panharath even thought of bringing knitting stuff along. This girl doesn't act her age, she is 20 going on 60, I guess.

Oh, and we did take plenty of photos, but most of them got deleted later, because we figured that even a top model couldn't look any good in Panharath's snapshots. I'm not much of a photographer, but I love cameras, whenever I see one, I feel like a buffalo and bananas (Well,it's a Khmer expression, you go figure) :D

Here's what we did:

-We swapped books. (I got the Lost Boy and The Man Named Dave from Kelly).

-We learned Sweet news from Panharath, and it deserves to be capitalized, indeed!

-We ate some green cake, which tasted bitter than medicine. Only freaks love it. And it happened to be Panharath's choice, by the way.

-We got stared at by the people around there, but who care? All of us were in a frenzy state taking pictures anyway.

-We said Happy Birthday to Mak Ming Kelly!

The Cutest Cake-Eater on Earth

Twenties Girls? Nope, Grandma girls!

It's Bitter Sweet! (Literally).

Banana Bread?

They tried to capture through droplets of rain

They got stuck in beautiful traffic jam

They found a Phoenix in Twilight

On the way home, Pan and I were stuck in the traffic. But while we were talking, Pan exclaimed to me, "Oh, look at the sky! You should take some pictures."

So I did.

There was a dozen of shots I had taken, but only a few survive, I meant, good-looking. I did my best to capture these views, but it wasn't easy. Maybe sometime, we can only witness this beautiful moment through our own eyes.

A Review from My First Book Fan!!!!!!

2011-10-12T22:01:00.000-07:00

Oh my goodie goodie!

I have received this amazing feedback from a friend who'd finished my whole book, 200 pages, plus stupid mistakes, typos and jammed words. I couldn't thank the reader enough,and I found her review unbelievably amazing and very encouraging. I mean, wouldn't you be happy if someone liked your writing?

I do.

A lot.

This is the joy that many people don't understand if they're not writers. By definition, if you write, you're a writer, regardless of whether your book is published or not. So, I'm lucky enough to experience this joy. Now, I have a book FAN!!! Even if there's only one fan, but it's better than none, right? Here's the original letter (I hope Kunna doesn't mind me posting it). I don't know about you, but this is the best thing that ever happened to me. Writing a book is not easy, emphasize on the word NOT! It's not like you have this idea and you go to put it down into papers...and poof! You've got a book. No.

And for me, I'm only in my twenty-something and have very little experience. All I have are just imagination and underdeveloped creativity. And, do you know how hard it is to pretend like you're a 40 year-old character, or even a thousand-year-old? Do you know how hard it is to decide whether the characters should sit on the tree or stand under the tree, or whether they should say this or that? Almost everything, every sentence, it took me a lot of brain cells to think until it sounds right together. So if you don't feel happy when a reader says she/he likes your book, then you must be a freak!

Out of Time, Out of Crime

2011-09-30T02:50:00.000-07:00

I know, I know.
I hadn't posted a word since Khmer-Halloween, I mean, Pchum Ben Day!

But in case you wonder, I'm not dead or shoved into the Yama Raja Land (a polite term for hell) yet. I did help Mom cooking her famous recipe...chicken curry! And some other dedicating foods for the pagodas. The Pchum Ben festival is a feast time for the souls of the dead ancestors, even as a Buddhist country, Pchum Ben is still a must-do in our society. I guess, we're heavily in dept to both Buddhism and Hinduism. Mmm...kinda old-aged religion we've got here.

I felt like I hadn't seen the sun for years! I was stuck in my house, locked in my dark cold room, and occasionally roaming the house like a Frankenstein, but it's not that I'm an agoraphobic person who's afraid to get out of the house. It was because of the weather. It rained for nights and days and even flooded some parts of the country. It had threatened the temples in Siem Reap, too. I couldn't help being worried, but how could you not be paranoid? The last time I had a nightmare, I dreamed about the apocalyptic dream, that the world would end in flood. I pray that our Buddhist prophecy will not come true for another two thousands years or more, so that we can live our short, nasty, karmic life longer.

And guess what I was doing the during the holiday? I did homework!

Well, it was for my Creative Writing course. I wrote a short fiction about a man who's trapped on a deserted island (kinda felt related at that time). I also finished reading Kafka on the Shore, it's a Japanese story given by Panharath. Geez, that book!
And another boring thing about me is I've been writing some cheesy drafts for my second novel. Yes, I'm so doing it and keep doing it! I have chosen the title for the second book already, and I figure that it doesn't hurt just to tell you the title now. So, my next book title will be...*Drum roll, please*...The Daughter of Indra.

Well, after I finished my first novel, which is titled The Half-Blood (my forever-unpublished first book), the v-word kind of gives me a nausea. I don't know whether it's a common reaction when you've written something mediocre or melodramatic, but now, I've decided to take a break from writing about the undead-slash-the-bloodsuckers-slash-half-humans thingy and turn to write something that related to my culture. And just a sneak peek of my second project, I'm going to write a story about the devada and avatars of gods, plus a troop of monsters! Has has has... yeah, right, I'm messing with our ancient gods now.

Enough of the babbling, I hope I can get everything I've planned done before my graduation day. Now or never! Besides, there's a big scary monster, aka "Reality", out there waiting to swallow me, and it's somewhere around the corner now. Well, that's all for my report, I might not have any free time to write as often as I used to. Alright, scratch that. I don't have time to write any boring stuff of my boring life as I used to, but I'll try to keep my sh*t on track.

Peace :D

Book happens...

2011-08-24T18:22:00.000-07:00

Guess whose book is this?

Yes, that's mine. The top one.

No, I don't just own it, I wrote it!

Well, you know, to get a book like this into shape, I just went to the printing house and asked them to make a book copy for me. I did a little design on the cover, I found the image from Google which wasn't originally good-looking, but it was a free-download. And with a simple photo-retouch, you can get a real stuff. Well, the whole printing process cost me as much as an original paperback (not hardcover) that I got from oversea. (Yes, I'm self-published, too, which sounds as crazy as it feels).

But who cares? Anyway, I still have mixed emotions about it, my book, that is. I felt both guilty and pleasure, or you can say guilty pleasure. After I've babbled out about my writing in this blog for ages, I've found that I'm bit chickened out to give somebody else to read. I've only given two people to read my story, one of them didn't even like it, and the other maybe hasn't opened it yet.

But there are other blog friends who come to comment in my last post about wanting to read my book. I do appreciate their interest, but I have to say sorry from the bottom of my heart. For one thing, my story is like a junkyard stuff. For another, even if it's a junk, it's not supposed to be out in public (it's a golden rule for any wannabe writer), except for really exceptional case.

I have to say sorry again, you can hate me for that. In fact, I haven't given any of my closed friends at school to read it, too. Neilly actually came up to me and asked what she had to do in order to deserve my book? But I couldn't seem to say "Okay" yet. Really, my honest apology for this matter.

Anyway, I still have a little something from the book to share. I guess just by looking at the cover, you can judge what kind of genre I've written about. Here's how it goes:

"Vivain is about to turn seventeen, then just when she thinks her life as an ordinary genius in the Ultara Academy is normal, something happens. The presence of a beautiful, yet mysterious boy comes into her school. Then she begins to suffer from a strange evolution, something called Awakening. That is the least of her trouble, until she’s found out that she isn't exactly human and then starts to realize the whole world is not what it seems, there are other predatory creatures living among humans— and worse, they want to destroy her."

What a Ducky Day!

2011-08-20T18:04:00.000-07:00

Time: 2 o'clock, afternoon.

Place: Sentiment Café, (not Romatic café, P).

People: All bloggie friends.

That Saturday afternoon, I got picked up by a long-time-no-see friend, Panharath, and we drove to meet with our never-seen-before friend Kelly. While we were driving along the road, I gave P my very first book I had just self-published (one copy to be exact). I can't guess how much P liked the cover (she checked it out even while driving), but I can imagine how much she hates the story by now. Lol!

At the mall, we found Kelly who was lost trying to find the Romantic cafe which didn't even exist. Kelly was quite shy at first, but she became more comfortable with us after we all settled in the Sentiment café and started to talk non-stop. I noticed Kelly on the net was a little different from Kelly in real life, because on the net, she’s a real mocker, but in real life, she seemed as gentile as a princess. I love it when I said something silly, and Kelly would crack up, I'm glad I wasn't a bore for her.

Well, most of the time I enjoyed teasing P about her mental health, and I also remember a funny part from Kelly, when I told them that I might like to write a modern story based on our traditional myths, Kelly gave me an idea that I should write the part when a Devi (goddess) tries to buy an iphone. I laugh about it till now.

For hours, we were chattering endlessly, because P always had something interesting to say. I learned a lot just by listening to her. I couldn't believe we talked for four hours straight, and none of us ran out of batteries. We even talked about the end of the world, and listening to what P had told us gave me nightmare, seriously. P was so hilarious. The mischievous and fun-loving part of her are her real attractions, besides she knows a lot about real life that I suppose next time if I had a project concerning about 'Single Ladies', she would be the first I want to interview. Lol!

When we decided to go home, it was already dark, and P gave me a ride back. On the flickering street, I felt like we were on an autopilot car, I didn't know how P did it, but we both were talking and laughing all the way to my house. P might have had some sort of radar detection in her head, I guess. She also gave me some cute souvenirs, it was a couple of ceramic figures which my mom adored so much she decided to display them on the living room. Hehe...

Yep, what a DUCKY day!

Allah , the One and Only

2011-08-08T23:44:00.000-07:00

I had always wanted to go to the Mosque. What fascinates me the most is those beautiful domed roofs of the Islam buildings. I've seen some of the Mosques in Phnom Penh, but only to drive past them. Finally, I had visited two Mosques for my final project in Comparative Religions class.

My friends and I decided to choose Islam religion to be our research project, because we have studied some major religions during our course, like Judaism, Christianity, Islam and even Buddhism. But Islam got more of our interest, and we also wanted to do something different, so we conducted the interviews with Muslims around the city. It felt a little weird, since none of us had ever gone into a Mosque before.

At first we thought that we were going to have a little communication barrier, because we are all Buddhists, but the Muslims there were very friendly and helpful. And we got to interviewed them even it was the first day of their Ramadan. They were willing to explain anything about their religion. I've found a few interesting things from what we've learned:

Allah is the creator of the universe. He created the first human from mud.
In Islam religion, there is not rebirth, no circle of life and death.
The next life for Muslims will be in heaven or hell according to their sins or deeds.
Muslims pray five times a day and fast (no eating, no drinking) during the Ramadan.
Every Muslim life is like a script written by Allah. He always has plans for everyone.
The Quran is the words of Allah recorded by His prophet Muhammad.
The word Islam also means 'Peace'.

As our project was a comparative assignment, one of our Muslim interviewees also asked us, "What do Buddhists believe in?" We looked at each other, trying to think of what we believe in, but my only answer was, "Buddhists don't believe in anything. The Buddha didn't claim himself to be a god, so we're sort of atheists, but we learn from his Teachings of the Truth, or the way things are."

Even Islam is a thousand years younger than Buddhism, we've found that the more we learn about Islam, the more we grow fond of the Teachings of Allah. It is the same as Buddhism, I tried to imagine how it feels to be a Muslim, and I think it feels just like being a Buddhist or a Christian.

People need something to stand for, or they will fall for anything. By believing in religions, they have hopes, they can live a good and happy life. I believe all religions have the same goal, to teach us to do good, love and help others just like we do to ourselves.

Things to Laugh at and Stuff to Cry Over

2011-07-27T01:07:00.000-07:00

I don't have much time to write in my blog.
There are times when I get too wrapped up between school and other things, (like writing my crazy book).
After almost two years of writing, typing, editing and do it all over again, it feels weird to have completed it. I had been juggling between schoolwork and my personal life just to write my fantasy into pages. But then before I know it, I have done the most unbearable job in the world!

At least now, I have something I can laugh at.

Well, they say many people don't get pass the-reading-a-lot-of-book part, but I have finished one by myself. So maybe when I'm old, I can pick up my own book and have a good time throwing up.
Here's something I want to share about writing my first novel:

When my friends at school caught me editing my draft in class, they asked "What is it?" I would replied, "Oh, nothing, just a piece of crap." then I shoved my manuscript back into my bag. I was paranoid that they would find out I was writing a story. Still, when they caught me more than a few times, I let them know what I was doing, and they asked me the most dreadful question "Why are you writing a story?"
Well, why? I also asked myself a millionth time. In here, writers are almost unknown. No one cares about writing stories like the old day. But then I just know that, I write a story because it's fun. It's fun to shape your own Utopia, living in different characters and all.

Then there are things I feel disappointed about. When I finished my book, the only person I was hoping to impress was my best friend, but she said my story is not that interesting, or it's not her type of book. I don't know, I found it a little heavy at first, but I understand. Maybe, it's really really not good enough or worth reading. After all, I'm not a published author or anything, I'm only a girl who has this big crazy mind and loves to imagine stuff. (Stuff to cry over?)
Maybe, I can just call it quits.
Or maybe not.
Now what?

Ah-Chkair!

2011-07-07T13:31:00.000-07:00

I have never used any curse word that is as satisfying as this one. For those who understand Khmer, I hope you don't mispronounce it. Chkair literally means "Dog" and we just put an "Ah" to emphasize the cursing tone. Besides I love dogs and don't develop a good potty-mouth to curse like a sailor, so Ah-Chkair is the only word I can think of. Normally, it's what I use to call my best friend, because she always gives me some smart*ss comments. Here are some mocking stuff she said to me:

One evening, when I was at her house doing some writing and chattering, I got close to my snack time and started to feel hungry

"Do you have something salty-salty to eat?" I asked her.
"Yeah, I have a jar of salt in the kitchen," she replied.
"Ah-chkair!" I said.

One morning, we went to have breakfast together at a place near my school. After we finished our breakfast, I noticed there was only vegetable left on her plate.

"Why don't you eat some vegetable? Look, you ate only meat!" I scolded her.
"And why don't you eat some meat? Look, you ate only vegetable," she retorted, pointing at my own plate.
"I'm working on becoming a vegetarian, you know," I told her.
"I'm also working on becoming a meaterian," she said. I couldn't help not to burst out laughing at that.
"Well then, I'll just be a part-time vegetarian," I told her again.
"Okay, I'll be a full-time meaterian," she said.
"Ah-chkair!"

And another time quite long ago, when we decided to go swimming together with my beautiful friend Snow White, who also brought her beautiful teenage sister along. The four of us walked pass the swimming pool where there were guys swimming in. Snow White and her sister walked ahead of us. They both wore super-short pants that I had to nudge my best friend to notice that every guy was poking their heads over the edge of the pool just to check out Snow White and her sister.

"Look at that! All the guys are staring at our friends' white legs!" I whispered to my best friend in amusement.
"Don't worry," my best friend said. "They will turn away when they see ours."
I laughed so hard and smacked her arm, "Ah-chkair!"

Still, at the end of the day, j'aime ma meilleure amie!

Want some Achooos?

2011-06-03T18:39:00.000-07:00

Have you ever come across a cup of coffee, say, latté or cappuccino that is so tempting and so aromatic that it makes your heart ache? I have. Many times.

But there's a catch. I'm allergic to caffeine. As I have said times and times again in this blog. I know I sound like a complete outcast, because everyone loves coffee! But for me, it is one of my worst pet peeves.

I remember telling my best friend that every time I drink coffee, no matter what kind, I would sneeze my teeth out and get running nose or worse— sore throat. She said I have a weird symptom, which is more like a flower allergy or something. Don't ask me why, I don't invent that kind of allergy either.

I have a bunch of friends who are real caffeine addicts. When I told them I have some discount coupons from some coffee shops, which I use as bookmarks. They said I wasn't being smart at all. They accused me of wasting the good stuff. So after school was over, they dragged me to one of the fancy coffee shops nearby. Looking around the place, I thought to myself that I wasn't just allergic to coffee but also allergic to the luxurious café!

My friends ordered some creamy beverages like the one in the picture, but I ate muffins and drank fresh milk instead. Then they started urging me to drink something in their cups, and just for the heck of it, I did, coz it also looked really dang appetizing. I guess I would rather be like those people with reversed reactions to caffeine. They catch some Zzzz after drinking it, but after we left, all of my friends had their happy bellies whereas I caught a lot of Achoos along the way.

Note to self: Never ever drink coffee again!

Myths in My Everyday Life.

2011-05-26T18:49:00.000-07:00

One of my friends is having a heart problem with her romance department. She has a huge crush on this gorgeous guy who doesn't even know she exists. Sadly for the average-looking girls like us, a chance to have a hot guy falling in love with is unsurprisingly low.

I feel sympathetic for her and tried to convince her (without actually telling her the truth) that she deserves someone who is better and who will love her back, and she said "But I want only him!" and I said, "Gosh! You're just like Echo!" she looked at me blankly and asked, "I'm like what?" So I told her a story (Yeah, I'm old-fashion like that). It's a Greek myth about Narcissus and Echo.

If you want to know how the story ends, here's how the story goes:

"Once upon a time, there was a talkative wood nymph named Echo. She had the most enchanting voice that anyone who heard her would be captivated by her voice. But she had a bad habit of using her gift way too much. She loved to talk from morning until night. One day, Zeus, the king of gods, who lived atop Mount Olympus came down to visit some beautiful nymphs in Echo's woodland. His wife, Hera, the queen of gods, was after her husband but she met Echo and was captivated by her beautiful voice. Hera forgot herself for a moment, allowing Zeus to escape back to Olympus. Hera got angry and punished Echo.

"From now on, you will speak after someone else does and only repeat the last words," Hera cursed Echo. The poor chatter-box nymph lost her freedom of speech ever since.

The next day, there was a young man by the name Narcissus. He was so beautiful that everytime he walked into the public, every mortal woman and nymph fell madly in love with him. His presence was so dazzling that some of them even faint (Can you imagine that?). This attention made Narcissus quite vain, and he determined to keep his heart to himself until he found someone who was as attractive as he.

One day, Narcissus visited Echo's woodland and got lost. Echo found him and was so full of love, she couldn't verbalize until Narcissus spoke first. Unfortunately, her beautiful voice could only repeat the last word of Narcissus. She couldn't find a way to express her love for him, and with sadness and love, she threw herself at Narcissus. Being vain and selfish, he ordered her to go away. Echo was rejected and brokenhearted, she cried until she died of grief, her voice went into the caves and some became part of the wild. Narcissus did not escape the curse himself. Aphrodite, the goddess of love, punished him for rejecting the love of Echo.

Another day, when Narcissus walked to the river, he looked into the clear surface of the water and saw the most beautiful creature he'd ever seen. He did not know that it was his own reflection! And he fell in love with himself immediately. He moaned with lovesick and said,“Stay, I entreat you, river nymph! Let me at least gaze upon you, if I may not touch ." Narcissus waited by the river until he, too, died. Then his essence became the flowers along river banks until now." End of the story.

And guess what? After I finished telling my friend this story, I was hoping she would feel better, instead she cried, saying I shouldn't have told her this sad story, it broke her heart into pieces. I thought to myself, "Allah...She's fallen into the same curse." I think the tragedy of Narcissus and Echo is like today, we all embrace many illusions of beauty and love. The curse of unrequited love, is our own curse, too.

I'm Air?

2011-05-20T18:31:00.000-07:00

Fine, I'm Air.

According to the western civilization's Zodiac sign, my sign is Aquarius, and my element is Air!

My first impression when I realized it was, "Duh?'" I thought I was something like water or other cooler elements. But Air? What is good about Air? I had no idea until I read the description of all the signs. Some of them are kind of true, and I just have a second thought about being Air, especially since it is the most necessary element to fire, earth, water and all.

Air sign people are mysterious, they are unpredictable and eccentric. (I'm still trying to figure myself out, and the more I try, the more I think I'm a weirdo, so yeah, that's true). Air people live inside their heads. They are caught up in their thoughts which take them high to new levels where no other element can reach. Air people are said to be out of touch with reality, (This part might explain why I write a paranormal book, I guess).

They are also very advanced in thinking. They are very mental oriented people having a knack for intelligence but also lacking emotional depth. (Okay, so I got A+ in Philosophy for two courses in a row, but I still don't know how to react with a certain emotion, does that count?)

Besides Aquarius is the last and the highest air element. Aquarius is the powerful force that makes the world go around. (Really? I thought I only made people bore to death). Aquarius is the most advanced thinker of the zodiac. Aquarius is concerned with advancing civilization and the future of humankind. (Is that the reason why I always feel like a dork?) .

Okay, now it's your turn, what's your sign?

All Cambodian Hero

2011-05-01T19:06:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I have found this amazing story from this talented artist. The story is full of great Cambodian sense of humor. Not to mention the illustration and funny proses. Alight, now let's enjoy the story. I hope you love it!

Royal Wedding

2011-04-29T20:08:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, I watched the whole coverage of the Royal Wedding of Prince William and Catherine. I guess every British girl grows up wanting to marry the prince, coz it's the closest thing to the fairy-tale they've ever known. And now one of them actually did marry the prince!

My mom called the wedding carriage, the "Pumpkin carriage", based on the Cinderella story, and I laughed so hard, because the carriage didn't look anything close to a pumpkin at all. But still I called it after my mom, too.

I didn't grow up wishing to marry the prince, but I did grow up reading about the British royalty. William was a hot teenager back then, but now he's kinda bald. Harry was a skinny boy, but now he's bulky hot! Maybe every British girl still has a chance to be the next Cinderella.

Best wish from Cambodia!

To mom, the extraordinaire!

2011-04-22T19:02:00.000-07:00

I sometimes wonder where the emotional and hilarious parts of me come from, now I understand how I get these qualities. My mom is the one, there is something about her personality that I truly admire, she's empathic, intelligent and just plain funny. We have many hilarious conversations at home, usually she cracks me up, but she also has these pure emotions that I could hardly describe.

Like one time when she took my hanging stuffed animal to stick onto the fridge's door, I said, "Why did you take my little bunny to hang on the fridge? My friend gave it to me." But mom just said, "Because the bunny looks too cute." I groaned.

The next day, when I came back from school, I found out that mom had gotten another stuffed animal from my room to stick on the fridge's door again, and I wasn't too happy about it, so I said, "Not again! Why do you like to take my stuffed animals to hang on the fridge's door? This little teddy bear is also a gift from my friend." And mom said, "I took the teddy bear because I thought that the bunny would have someone to talk to."

At that point, I stopped complaining. I meant how many grown-ups who would think like my mom? I was stupidly wrong to think that mom had no imagination. That's when I realized my mom is the kind of person who also thinks that the moon is more than just a rock. I guess our moms are the people who help us to overcome all the hiccups and really mean the world to us in a lot of ways, so they are the unsung heroes of our lives.

Dog Days! All Done!

2011-04-01T00:14:00.000-07:00

I guess no one by the definition of student, is not complaining about study in this planet. Even I'm the kind of person who loves education and all, but when it comes to examinations, forget it.

I had a nightmarish final in Philosophy last morning. And don't ask me how it went. The point is how you could stand that if the questions were something like: A). What does "Fear is the mother of morality" mean? B). Prove that education is bad for children. C). How can you know that the exam paper you're holding exists?

I was like, "Are you serious?"

That morning, I was feverishly racking my brain, using everything I have learned from the semester. In math, you follow the formula and get the right answer. But in Philo, there's no right or wrong answer, only the reasonable one.

Luckily, before the big time came, we formed a study club and we had singled someone out to explain everything we had learned in class, but unfortunately that person was me (based on the reason that I understood stuff while the others didn't). Then it kinda became a popular club because many students from various classes kept showing up, about 30-40 of them in total, so we booked a bigger classroom, and I felt like I was doing a small seminar or something.

But the ridiculous part was that some of my classmates even teased me by calling me 'Professor' and that wasn't all, my friends also nicknamed me, the next Nietzsche [pronounce Nit-Chee] a German philosopher, which I found it very insulting, because if you happen to know that the real Nietzsche spent the last 9 years of his life being crazy, you would feel insulted, too. Anyway, I did appreciate that everyone put their trust on me, so I was honored to be able to help as best as I could.

Alright, been there, done that, nothing comes in a complete package, so let's just keep my finger crossed. Besides all my classes have ended, I'm going to dive right through my favorite things. Writing and reading, plus a bunch of good movies! Well, this is my sweet revenge for all the time I've lost to schoolwork. Yay!

For Japan

2011-03-22T18:16:00.000-07:00

Now, I'm dedicating this post to Japan, but I'm not the only person in the world to do that, I'm glade that my college has raised fund from students, professors, and deans, and we alone have reached 6,666.00 USD for the Tsunami victims who are still freezing cold and hungry.

There are others universities and high schools around Phnom Penh that do the same thing, not to mention the government and other private sectors. I know it's not enough, but at least we hope that someone in Japan will not go hungry for a day or two with our little aid.

To make long story short, we love Japan and wish her get well soon. She's the idol of Asia and the best role model for every country, so let us pray to our friend.

May the Buddha bless you.

Let's Step Out of the Shadow, Girls!

2011-03-06T22:45:00.000-08:00

I just found out that tomorrow is Women's Day, besides it's 100th Anniversary! Well, at first I didn't want to talk about gender conduct here, I thought it was too complicated and pointless, but then I began to realize that if every girl thinks the same way I do, needless to say, there's always gender inequality.

I remember studying about Simone De Beauvior in Philosophy class, De Beauvior's philosophy of women is like this: "One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman."

Our American professor, Mr. Robinson wanted us to explain the meaning of this phrase according to our own understanding, but to my surprise, nobody raised a hand, so I did and was permitted to say something along the line like this:

"A girl is born female, all right, but it doesn't mean that she has to be a woman. All her woman qualities like being humble, respectful and gentle are the consequences of her surroundings. In other word, women are made, not born." and just like that I earned a round of applause :D

I know that some researchers have proved boys are smarter than girls based on IQs, mathematics abilities, or brain domains, blah blah blah, but they might have neglected the fact that, for millennia girls have been raised differently! If we treat both genders without considering the gender roles, the world will be more just and enjoyable than this.

The Buddha also said that, "Except the biological differences, women and men have the same intellectual capacity." And THAT was said more than two thousand years ago!

Talking about equality, it starts within our hearts, we better stop feeling inferior, if we still think the same old way, it will become who we really are eventually. Although our society values men, we, women, are still the future, we still hold the unseenforce in our hands, and that we can change the world.

To My Lovely Pisces!

2011-02-25T20:00:00.000-08:00

HpApY BtHiRaDy PaNhaRaTh!

Dear lovely Pisces Panharath!

Your birthday is just the first day of another 365-day journey around the sun. Let's enjoy the trip!

Do you like that? No?

Oh well, so how about this: The secret of staying young is to live happily, eat slowly, and lie about your age!

Teehee, I love the spirit of thy picture so much, I decided to hunt it down for your birthday, you love it? Because I DO and happy burtday to YOU!

You Have The Write To Shine.

2011-02-17T19:54:00.000-08:00

One of my friends at school told me that she wanted to write a book of her own, and I asked her, "Have you started writing it yet?" She replied, "Not yet," and I told her, "Then cut off your tongue, you're not going to write anything if you just keep talking about how much you want to write."

Yes, you have schoolwork. Yes, you have a job, you have a family, friends and pets who demand your attention and time, but neither of these things has stopped great writers around the world. Robert Frost was a farmer, Hemingway was a journalist, and each of them had to live a double life. Besides, they said, "Talent is very common, what is rare is commitment." And by making excuse about not having enough time to write, you can as well say you hate writing.

So what makes a writer? Perhaps, talents, creativity, imagination, or simply a mere influence or incident. All of which has to happen early and shape the writer's sense of wonder and self-awareness. In my case, I am deeply influenced by the wonder of each person's life, so I set out to write something that is totally different from my own. But what makes a good writer exactly?

Be curious. People who don't develop their curiosity tend to have very limited knowledge. Although, I'm not that knowledgeable or a critic-type of person, I always like to notice things and want to know stuff all the time. So if you want to be a writer, be curious and observant as much as possible. Easy as that, simple as pie.

Be emotional. Begin with a pure emotion with everything you come across, things you have seen. Also, a writer must be aware of other people's feelings as well as one's own. If not able to read mind, at least, just to understand it. It's hard to write something you can't imagine what it feels like. It's like a robotic writer, you feel me?

Be imaginative. Daydreaming is such a waste, but imagination is everything. A good writer has to have a good mind to see things that aren't there, things that are different from his or her reality, but also able to convince the readers that those things are true or relatively true. I guess this quote says it best, "Anyone being imaginative can enjoy life at all events--all it takes is a freedom of mind."

Be courageous. Don't be afraid to write. Self-criticism is natural. Anyone who wants to write, will experience this state, including myself. Don't think about what other people think, don't listen to the voice inside your head, it might keep saying, "You're suck. You're just wasting your time, and who do you think you are, Sophia Kinsella?" Just listen to the voice inside your heart and keep writing until the negative one finally shuts up.

Be a good listener. It enables you to put yourself in different situations narrated by different people. When you write a story, you're not only writing about one character, but plenty of them. Each character must have a different personality or life. Therefore by listening to others, you learn that each individual contains a history, that everyone has a story to tell, .

Read. The more you read, the better you can write. You have to be that kind of person who lives on books (not literally!). I read everything I get my eyes on. It doesn't feel like a chore to me, but it's more like a habit. Reading is a good foundation for everything else, including story-writing. You will be amazed at how much you know something without even remember how you know it, because your brain is a library already.

Memories. Most successful people have had unhappy childhoods, especially writers. It is a great source of emotional expressions and personalities. Childhood memories are important, they reflect each person's view about life. But what can one write without having an unhappy childhood? I, for one, don't have an unhappy childhood, but I have learned a lot from life throughout my teenage years, and as Ernest Hemingway once said writers have to have had a terrible childhood, or at least pretend to be.

Don't fear of rejection. Don't be discouraged to write what you want to write. Forget the cliché about novel writing that says, "Write only about something you know." That's nonsense. One of my blog friends Miss. P asked me, "How could you write about a vegetarian if you're not a vegetarian?" I said, "Do you have to be a vampire to write about vampires?". Author Tom Clancy had never been a submarine commander before he wrote The Hunt for Red October. Richard Bach had never been a seagull before he wrote Jonathan Livingston Seagull. And I bet, J.R Rowling had never been a witch either before she wrote Harry Potter. You see, it isn't about what you know, but it's about what you enjoy to write, even if it is your wildest imagination or six impossible things before breakfast, don't hold back!

What's the purpose of writing for a writer? That's different from one writer to another. Some writers write, because they want to sell their books and get rich. Some write to express their ideas, experiences, or dreams. Some just like me, write a book because they love to write, they enjoy doing it and living it. That's no single reason why we write a book. I don't care about getting published or anything like that, but I just want to write for the joy and beauty of writing itself.

I Want to Be Your Valentine

2011-02-13T19:13:00.000-08:00

When I was on my way to school, I saw plenty of flower stands along the roads, it's a sweet reminder that today is a LOVE day, so I parked at Bonjour and bought a few Kit Kat bars for some of my friends at school, that's only to show them that I still have a heart, too. :)

I used to get flowers in high school when it was Valentine's Day, but now looking back, it's just so high school to me. The V-day is great for those who have committed boyfriends and girlfriends and those who should be committed. But chocolates and roses are still chocolates and roses, they do express the romance, but they don't equal anything in return, I hope big girls will understand.

Happy Valentine's Day, everybuggie!

What? Twenty-Two, Already?

2011-02-05T19:52:00.000-08:00

I have turned 22 last 02, Feb.

That's just all the number 2s I can get for this year, and it also reminds me that I'm still aging! I guess, that's the coolest thing about being human. Lol!

Unlike most people, I really mind about age. No, I don't mind getting old, it's inevitable and everyone knows that. But I have a strong concern about the life span itself. I was just 21, 19, 17 yesterday, but time flies like a rocket, and before I could even blink my eyes, I'm 22.

Sure, perspective and outlook on life determine what “old” actually is, and I certainly don’t expect to wake up 22 and feeling much different than the day before or even the year before. Turning 21 was a big deal for me, but turning 22 seems less exciting.

Life is short and nasty.

But it still takes up a lot of your time, all your days. You study hard, you get a job, you work, you have a family, and what do you get at the end of it all?

Death.

I know that's a scary thing to mention, but before we close the last chapter of our life story. I would like to reverse everything about our story schemes. Changing the phrase,"Life is short and nasty" as most people seem to agree and restate it with, "Life is short and full of fun".

Now, let's start writing the life of our dreams, everything we would love to be, do or have, it has always been there without our realizing it. The power to get what we want is within each of us.

It might sound naive, but if you don't buy it, you just don't know what you can do. Yet.

Thursday's Child

2011-01-27T19:59:00.000-08:00

Today the weather has been slightly heating up with the sun but even still I talked myself into doing my preliminary readings for one of my courses in Philosophy. I passed almost two and a half hours reading and listening to little snippets of passing conversation and the occasional onlookers.

So I read and they go about their lives. Now and then, our gazes meet and then we look away. And then I continue my reading and they continue on with their lives.

I poke myself with the question all philosophers normally ask, if I am exist what is the purpose of my life? I start to zero in on the time I was born.

Both of mom and dad couldn't even remember what day of the week I was born though, but this memory loss is highly expected, considering the twenty-two years of having nurturing me. But when I checked inside the electronic calender, going back through time but not space, I realized that I was born on Thursday.

Anyway, I have come across the English nursery rhyme for children birthday. That's how it goes:

Monday's child is fair of face.

Tuesday's child is full of grace

Wednesday's child is full of woe

Thursday's child has far to go

Friday's child is loving and giving

Saturday's child works hard for a living

Sunday's child is bonny and blithe and good and gay

Thursday's believed as the day for smart children to be born , or so Cambodians think, but my dad told me that the Khmer nursery rhyme has no account of prophecy for Thursday-born children, and when he recited it to me, I see for myself that it's true.

Why does our Khmer nursery rhyme has every single day of the week except Thursday? I don't know, maybe Thursday doesn't make a rhyme with the others, I guess, but I appreciate the English's one though.

At first, I wondered what 'Has far to go' really meant or whether it's just a rhyme, but as I grew more conscious about the purpose of my life. I knew that I'm not like anyone, and that I really have far to go. And just like everyone else, there's a different journey ahead of me. Now, I know exactly where I want to be.

So, what day of the week were you born and what does it say about you?

"Take what you need, do what you should and get what you want." ~unknown

Questions Attack!

2011-01-21T10:00:00.000-08:00

If you had to give up one favorite food, what would the most difficult?

RED MEAT

What's your favorite type of flower?

SUNFLOWERS

What's the most unselfish thing you've ever done?

Saving an almost-drowned boy out of the pool and a crying girl out of the street.

Do you have any weird mark on your body?

There's a red mark on my left wrist which temporarily appears and disappears at will.

What household chore do you hate to do the most?

Getting my dogs on the leashes.

Pancakes or French Toast?

Both, please. I'm an eater from hell.

Do you believe in God or Creator?

No.

What is your political persuasion?

Stay away from politicians.

Complete the following sentence.. "People would say that I'm.."

...too skinny.

Complete the following sentence. "I have low tolerance.."

...when it comes to snacks.

Are you a cuddler?

Try me.

Do you say mean things to people over the internet that you wouldn't say in real life, anonymously?

It's quite reversed for me, I don't say mean things online but I say mean things to people in real life. Just ask my friends.

Would you eat spoiled food from the garbage or go hungry?

I don't have a strong gut to do that yet, but let's see if I have any chance.

Who was your first crush?

Minor or major ones?

What are you wearing right now?

A black top, white hoody, skinny jeans and sandals.

Do you have any strange eating habit?

Yes, I tend to get hungry around four or five o'clock everyday. I always store something like crackers or chips to eat before dinner time.

What is your special attitude?

I recover from emotional breakdowns faster than most people I've known.

Do you see yourself as pessimistic or optimistic?

I see myself as realistic.

What makes people like you so much?

I just want to know the answer to this question, too.

Do you swear a lot?

I'm allergic to potty-mouthed people.

What is the first impression people have about your look?

I have heard people said, I look foreign, plain, different, normal, so so, nice, cute, old and young. In short, my look doesn't bother anyone much.

Are you old fashion?

Sort of.

Chilly source or Ketchup?

Ketchup.

What's your favorite word?

Any word that has double letters, like accessory, pizza, blossom etc.

If you were a tree, what tree would you be?

Palm tree.

What's the trademark of your body feature?

Dark brown skin.

What do you label yourself as?

Geek.

Bright room or dark room?

Dark room.

What are your favorite sayings you say a lot?

Forget it. Whatever. That's okay.

How big is your bed?

Big enough for two.

What was the last thing you ate?

Chinese pie.

How is the weather right now?

Cold and windy.

Is there a life after death?

Always is. If you were to believe it.

Can insanity bring on more creativity?

Not really. You can be sane and also very creative.

Do you have any animal names? How did you get them?

Yes, ducky. A friend of mine gave it to me.

Do you have curly hair or straight hair? Is it natural?

Straight hair. Born like that.

Wet the toothbrush or toothpaste?

Wet them both.

Have you thrown up in a car?

Never.

Do you believe in ghosts?

We talked about ghosts in philosophy class. I have asked my professor, if ghosts can walk through walls and glide down stairs, why don't they fall through the floor?

What is the speed of dark?

I'm not Einstein. And even Einstein could only figure out the speed of light.

Is it possible for you to do algebra without calculator?

Yes, I have done quadratic equations without it.

What is the stupidest thing you've done because someone dared you to?

Eating dog food.

What one thing would you take with you on a deserted island?

A resort.

First thing you will save from a fire?

The house.

Do you like your handwriting?

When I don't have a lazy hand.

Are you very sarcastic?

Very much, in which I cause myself a lot of injuries.

Do you think you're physically strong?

Catch cold twice a year.

Do you think you're mentally strong?

I hardly have a headache.

If you were a crayon what color would you be?

The bright one.

Do you prefer hugs or kisses?

Both.

Do you drink?

Nope, teetotaler.

What is your favorite hygiene?

Dental hygiene.

Do you do mouth wash?

Everyday.

Do you floss?

Can't floss, I still have braces. *grin*

Are you addicted to cappuccino?

Allergic with caffeine.

What turns you off?

Bad breathe.

What is your favorite curse word?

Holy cow.

What do you want to know about the future?

The Future.

Are you wearing any perfume or cologne?

Neither. I use fragrant body wash.

Do you collect anything?

Coins and books.

Are you someone's best friend?

Everybody thinks I am his/her best friend.

Wear jacket?

Yes.

Scarf?

Sometimes.

Toothpaste?

Fluoride and salt.

College?

Junior.

Grade?

Mostly A's.

Do you wear contacts or glasses?

Unaided eyes for decades.

When you were in school, did you speak up in the class?

Yes.

Do you sit in the front or the back?

Always in the second desk of the front row. No choice, my friends insist it.

How smart do you think you are?

Smart enough to make people think that I'm not stupid.

There is the Start of Something Big.

2011-01-21T01:44:00.000-08:00

Life is too short to read all great books. Now if you don't have any books to get lost in, I can recommend a few good-reads. Actually, good is an understatement, the books I'm going to share are the best, as in best-sellers, of course.

These books are from the cutest and loveliest Missy Panharath, who at one point in life managed to drop by my house and has generously leaned/given/returned these books to me. Marci beaucoup, mademoiselle!

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close: The book is about a nine year old child, Oskar Schell, who discovered a key to unlock the doors in the city and immediately encountered with the stories of the people behind those locked doors.

Shanghai Girls: This book is about two Chinese sisters, Pearl and May, whose father marries them off to pay for his gambling debts. "I thought I was modern. I thought I had choice. I thought I was nothing like my mother," she anguishes. "I'm to be sold -- traded like so many girls before me -- to help my family. I feel so trapped and helpless that I can hardly breathe."

Snow Flower and the secret Fan: even if you're not Chinese, you should read this book. It's the story about one remote county, women developed their own secret code, nu shu – "women's writing" – the only gender-based written language to have been found in the world. Two girls were paired as "old-sames or Loatong" just like best friends, only this emotional matching is stronger that it lasted throughout their lives.

Tuesdays with Morrie is one of the best books about a former student Mitch himself and his dying professor. This book teaches you all about life and how important it is to live it. On a scale of 1-10, I rate this book a 100! You never get enough life lessons, but with a professor who lived in between life and death, you might. READ IT!

For One More Day by Mitch Albom is the story of a man who wants to take his life, but instead gets the chance to spend one more day with his mother, who died 8 years earlier. Upon meeting his mother, he discovers many things about her, but it almost seems to late.

New Year, New You!

2010-12-31T17:38:00.000-08:00

Yay, Happy New Year, Happy New You!

What a cheesy saying, you might say.

But how many of you know the real meaning behind this phrase? Each and everyday, you and I are changing all the time, you are not the same person you were yesterday. Even when you're reading this post, you're different. Yes, biologically.

Do you know how many cells are in your body right now? More than 50 trillion cells!

And how many cells are in your brain? Do you ever wonder? It's 10 billions for human's sake!

Your cells are dying and replacing every single minute, and guess what? By the end of each year, your entire body is replaced with another trillions of brand new cells! So I can grantee that, tomorrow 2011, you will wake up to find another New You to live for another New Year!

Alright, enough for biology, I just want to say Happy New Year to everyone out there. For me, last year was mixed with both the best and the worst things, I have been through all. That's life.

I'm going to be 22 in just a matter of two months more. For my 21, I have gained more wisdom, think more logical, and become more open-minded, I've also discovered my passion- something I want to live for. During the year, I have started writing a book for myself, so that there's something to keep as a memory when I'm old.

I've studied hard, well not too hard, but just enough to raise my GPA until my University decided to grant me...something called scholarship, but I think it's too exaggerating, so let's just say tuition discount.

I have always been blessed with great friendships throughout my life. Everyone I know is really wonderful to me. Though love life has become an imaginary topic and seems too good to be true, I still believe in LOVE. At least now, I have a few amazing friends whom I enjoy being with and I also have the bestest best friend in the world. I'm so grateful for all these things.

Even sometimes I still feel like a loser, but I have raised myself above occasions. Now all I want to do is to finish my novel before another year end, get as many grade As as possible or try to enjoy my life along the way and most importantly I just want to be a NEW ME!

7 Fun Things I like about Writing.

2010-12-21T17:52:00.000-08:00

When you first read the word "Fun" on the title, you might say, "Yeah," but when you come to the word "Writing", you would say, "Yuck!".

Common reaction, right?

Well, because "Fun" and "Writing" are two words that most people don't use together, and you can skip this post and read something else, because now I'm going to write only about the fun of writing.

Like I said before, writing is laborious, but it's a worthwhile thing to do. Here's the SEVEN FUN THINGS I LIKE ABOUT WRITING!

The first fun thing is naming your characters. I can name my characters whatever I like. Well, I write about a bunch of no ordinary people, so all my character's names in the story are a bit of a mouthful, but I love 'em.
You can let your creative mind flow into page after page. Writing is something inside the writer's mind, it represents some parts of who we are, and let others enjoy the benefit. What a gift for both worlds!
One of the most exciting things about writing is, you have the power in your hand. You can get your protagonists do and say things you couldn't, sarcasm, sense of humor, fantasies, philosophy, whatever you can bring into life.
One of my favorite things is getting comments from my readers. I let a few people read my first draft, and I really liked the look on my best friend's face when she said, "You can get it published." or " I think you can write a romance." It means a lot to me as a beginning writer.
I've discovered my new talent in fiction after I got the first sentence on the page. Years ago, I used to cringe just to think about writing that kind of story, about super-crazyyyyness or imaginaaaryyyy stuff. But now, I think it's so much fun and even addictive.
I like the idea that being a writer, you have to pretend that you're having multi-personality disorder, because when you write a story, you have to live the lives of those characters all at the same time. That's why it's mentally tiring, and can be frustrating too, it's like trying to grind a rock into powder, but I'm not going to be crazy because of that, don't worry.
You're no longer a passive reader, when you're a writer, you've become an active reader because you can feel the author's pain. It's just too obvious how hard it is for them to breath life into a book.

Well, before I started writing, I just enjoyed reading books from other people, but I'd never thought about writing one of my own. I used to think of those writers whose books kept me up all night as freaks. But now I feel like I'm walking in their shoes.

The decision to write my own book doesn't come easily to me, it takes courage and a few urges from friends and my best friend to make me say "Yes, I do" and embrace the life of a writer. No kidding, I still think of writing a book the same way as I think of eating an elephant. And worse, I have to eat it alone.

Alright, the point is, how many times have you finished reading a book and said, "I could have written that book." You know what? You're right. Everyone, I believe, have a story to tell. From our head or our heart.

"If there's a book you really want to read but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it." ~The Nobel prize novelist Toni Morrison.

"I believe that if you can write a simple English sentence, after all that's what Ernest Hemingway wrote to earn his Nobel, are alert to the world around you, and want to write a book, really want to, not just kind of want to— then you can do it." ~John Coyne

All you need is your capacity to imagine, your sense of wonder, your self-awareness, or how much you notice about people around you. And the last ingredient is courage, which simply means taking one step more than you think you can. And if I have a courage to do such a harmless thing, then why not you?

Funny or Funny Not?

2010-12-12T22:51:00.000-08:00

First let me ask you one honest question. How do you make people laugh?

In my Advance Public Speaking class last morning, our professor made us give an impromptu speech about our good and bad habits. And I groaned, dropping my bored face on the desk.

Because I'm so sure of my future that I'm not going to be a politician or anything. Well, I can do this public speaking thingy though. I've done that a zillionth times throughout my academic years, but an introvert person is still an introvert person.

And when it was my turn to stand up in front of the crowd and speak, it went something like this:

"... One of my good habits is reading, I like to read everything in sight, from books, newspapers, to internet websites, and even toilet graffiti." At that point everyone in my class laughed.

I paused and thought to myself, "Huh? Is that funny?" but just carried on with my speech anyway.

"...And my bad habit is forgetful. I tend to forget a lot of things, I often lose track of date, unable to remember people's names or faces, and even forget my own phone number." That set a new round of laughter again.

I was like, "Eh...well...Okay, I guess that's funny enough."

I don't think that I'm a hilarious person who can make just about everyone laugh, instead I used to think that I could bore people to death with my dull-looking existence, but sometimes—alright—quite most of the time, I find myself able to crack people up easily, even with strangers and friends alike.

And just a moment ago, I also made a librarian laugh—something about my library card, the scanner couldn't read the code until she tried several times more, and she told me my card is nearly expired, I said, "Oh, that's why it gives me an omen." She asked me, "What omen?" I said, "The scanner couldn't read the card, that's count as a bad omen for a library-goer." And she laughed, you know that she never even smiles at anyone for god's sake!

I guess when you make someone laugh, the pleasure is all yours.

Oh My Baby Niece!!!

2010-12-08T23:57:00.000-08:00

How can you not adore this little angel?

I think I'm in love with this baby girl now. Okay, I would like to introduce a newborn member. This is my niece, Maegan, born in May 2010, Washington DC, the first granddaughter of our family.

Whenever I see her ever-smiling face, I can't resist not to smile back. She's such an adorable baby girl who's just learning to walk lately. Sooner she will grow her baby teeth and start to talk, and I certainly can't wait to see her in person. *Smooch*

I'm so proud to be her aunt and I believe that our gene will always recognize each other, forever and ever.

All the best wish to my brother and his family.

Oh Happy Day!

2010-11-26T17:31:00.000-08:00

Now, let's move on.

The past is in the past.

Last night, I watched an Indian TV with mom, because she doesn't want to hear nor see any more news about the victims of 22 Nov's stampede, she said it would make her cry again.

So I switched to Indian channel, because I know mom always has a thing with Indian people. She said she likes to see the way they live and how they dress and such and such. I told her it's because we're distant relatives or short of the decedents of white Indian-Aryans. She asked me how I know about that, I said "Your daughter is a History nerd."

Anyway, the funny part is that, after five minutes of watching Indian movie, I started to laugh, and mom asked, "What's so funny?" I said, "Mom, I've just realized that they speak in English!" and dad said, "I didn't know they speak in English, in fact I didn't even know what kind of language was that at first." It made me laugh even more.

Well, no offense, but as strange as it sounds, I really like people who speak English with Indian accent, British accent or even Russian accent. They make it sound like the art of language. I got an Irish professor for my European History class last term, and I had to spend three sessions to get used to his Irish English, because instead of saying -gun- he said - guuun- instead of saying -mud- he said - muuud- but after a while I fell in love with his accent even most of us didn't fall the same way, but in my opinion he's really cute, and I walked out of his class with a A :)

After all that happened, looking for the simple things to make life happy is really worth it.

To All The Unfortunates.

2010-11-24T18:49:00.000-08:00

I did not expect the horrifying tragedy to occur in our peaceful nation. I thought the festival was just as great the celebration as we normally had. But after 30 years of stability, we, Cambodians, once again are confronted with the nationwide grief because of this unexpected fate.

When death struck lives out of the many, when hundreds of screams from the unfortunates who pleaded for help and mercy, when we saw them laying before our very eyes, fading slowly to the death's door, and no matter how hard we tried, their last breath couldn't be saved . Seeing that, hearing that, if it still doesn't bother you, you have no feeling.

"Where there is happiness, there is suffering."- Buddha.

The Water Festival

2010-11-18T19:18:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow is Bon Oum Tuk, or the Water Festival. When the moon is full in late November, Cambodians celebrate the royal ceremony in front of the palace, to offer thanks to the four great rivers in Phnom Penh. Many long wooden boats will be raced for the whole three days, the fireworks will be lit on the second night along with floating light boats.

I'll be home for the whole holiday. I have done my time at school and finished the last final yesterday, so the Water Festival is a treat. There are things to do, loose ends to tie, I'll do something worthy this time, like reading Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë (Man, literature' s been a plague for me these days!) , figuring out how to squeeze 2000 words out of my brain for my story writing, and well, just being a lazy cow at home. :)

May all the best things come to you. Happy Water Festival!

Happy Independence Day!

2010-11-07T20:19:00.001-08:00

The Independence Monument (Vimean Ekareach) was inaugurated in 1958 to celebrate Cambodia 's independence. The France had ruled Cambodia for almost a century and nearly converted the Khmer scripts into Roman letters, but fortunately our king Norodom Sihanouk, liberated us and brought freedom to our little nation. Now, he is known as the Father of Independence.

31th October was his royal birthday, but I was too busy to post anything about him, uh...his majesty. This is not a professional blog, so excuse my ordinary Khmer language, ah no...my English, I mean.

I've stolen two pictures from someone's else website. But it's because the pictures are so rare and interesting. One of them shows about the coronation of King Sihanouk at age 19. (How young and cute he was back then!). The black and white one was taken later during his reign, and he looked...well... mighty!

Tomorrow is the celebration of Independence Day, 9th November. May all the best things come to you.

Happy Independence Day!

Lourdes Loen, Look That Kills.

2010-11-01T01:50:00.000-07:00

I never posted about celebs before, well just once...or twice... whatever. And fashion sense is just in my fantasy. Anyway, to show what my fantasy is like, do you know who could make me turn green with envy? Lourdes Leon, that's who. What? You don't know the daughter of a mega-star Madonna?

She's got a bold look, not too trendy, not too hollywoody and definitely not emoist either, but everything she puts on looks just right.

I don't have a fashionista DNA like most girls, but even an ugly girl wish to have the ability to piece things up and turn into a masterpiece. Well, who wants to dress like a rag anyway?

Elixir by Hilary Duff

2010-10-28T02:21:00.000-07:00

What? You can't believe it?

Well, neither can I.

The first time I heard the news, I think I was beyond the clouds. Man, my pop princess wrote a book! I can’t believe it, I can’t believe it! But she did release her first book for young adult. Stars don't write book, do they? They're supposed to act from the scripts or some best-selling books. They don't write! Well, not Hilary Duff. And she's not the first either. Oh, I wish I could read her book, too.

Writing is the most laborious thing in the world. I have no idea why people take up this career at all. Sometimes, I wonder if there is a clog in my brain that makes me want to write a book, too. But I'm not the crazy one out there, because my best friend also writes a few stories of her own, and she's talented. And now, Hilary Duff, someone I thought would never think of something as scary as plotting a story. Omigosh!

Happy Belated Birthday!

2010-10-25T20:19:00.000-07:00

I have a snail speed memory, it took me a while to recall Kelly's birthday, and it has already past. I did remember once, but it just slipped from my head. Forgive me! I am sorry I missed your birthday, but I'm not the one to blame, you have had so many good things I lost track of. Forgive me, will you, cutie? I hope it's not too late, I wish you a happy belated birthday!

HaPpY BiRtHdAy To YoU, KeLlY!!!

So. I'm Writing. A Book.

2010-10-20T02:53:00.000-07:00

Me? Writing a book? Empossible!

You see? I'm full of flaws in writing.

Yet, I write for the heck of it.

It started when my best friend made a spark about writing a book a couple years ago. When I heard this idea, I was like, "Hey, dude! Why not? Let's give it a try."

At first, I thought that writing a book couldn't be done, and sometimes, I'm like, "Who do I think I am? Stephenie Mayer? Or J.K. Rowling? What the heck is wrong with me?" Because get real, I'm a 21-year-old junior who failed college composition classes and can't even speak the right sentence in English, but why do I take up the pen and write a book, not to mention a novel?

I don't know.

Maybe imagination, maybe courage, maybe I'm just doing what I love.

All I know is I can write.

Like this great author said: "Writing is what writers do. If you write, you're a writer. It doesn't matter if you're 12 or 20 or 92...if you put pen to paper or fingers to keys or whatever your method of choice is...you're a writer."

And once I've started writing, it's difficult for me to stop, I'd never realized how writing a book could be this fun, yet costs a lot of mental energy. Still, I'm writing a novel for myself, regardless.

Well, beside my bestie, hardly anyone know about my being a wannabe-writer, but by telling the world about it, you're making a promise to yourself that you're going to do it. That's why I post about this in my blog - hope that helps.

The Day of the Dead.

2010-10-06T02:31:00.000-07:00

Pchum Ben Day is like Halloween in the western culture. By now, all the Buddhist countries are celebrating it, we believe that the dead will rise from hell to receive dedicating foods that their decedents religiously send to them on Pchum Ben Day. I like Pchum Ben, I like the idea that it's the time when the deads and the livings walk on the same earth together.

Believe it or not, on the first day of Pchum Ben, the entire village in which I live heard dogs barking and hollering in a very strange way! We tried to think it's just a coincidence, dogs bark and holler as they please, but why this particular day, and why together at the same night? Man, who doesn't believe in "Brat" the sinful ghosts out of hell now?

Anyway, I know I don't write as often as I used to, but there's nothing memorable to write either. I have started my Summer course at school. This time I've got three classes, English Literature, Syntax, and Personal Growth. Two out of three are time well-spent classes but the other one is a combination of wake-up call and boredom, well, because sometime I feel like, "Yeah I know this stuff," but some other times, I'm like, "My god, I don't even know what kind of English I am speaking right now!"

Well, Lit class is all about watching the old version of Romeo&Juliet and memorizing the scripts in old English from Shakespearean time, I have only one word to describe this, "Torture", and that hasn't included learning about poetry yet. I've heard a zillionth time about this dead man William Shakespeare but I didn't know the most lethal thing about him is his weird way of expressing love.

Okay so, Happy Pchum Ben Day, dear folk!

Talking About Our Little Cambodia

2010-09-10T18:14:00.000-07:00

Q: Hey, are you a Cambodian? :D I'm trying to visit there but i heard rumors about like leftover bomb like that. So i'm doubting.

Yes, I'm a Cambodian. It's very nice of you to consider visiting us.

You made me laugh when you told me about leftover bombs. Well, unless you want to explore the wilderness that is banned by CMAC, an organization that deals with mine fields or just want to witness explosion there. Even I, myself, have never seen one in my 21 years of age, so it's most likely that you won't see any during your trip here.

Just in case you have a chance to visit one day, I'd better tell you where to see, first, the ancient Angkor city, second, the modern capital Phnom Penh and third, depends on your taste, whether you want to venture the jungle or visit our provinces, it's up to you. Who knows? You might want to see a leftover bomb once in a lifetime in here. If so, I'd give a two thumb-ups for your bravery!

Q: OMG! You're from Phnom Penh. I went there recently (5 months ago, i guess?) and it was super amazing! :) I still have tons of memories with Cambodia and oooh, we're coming back there at the end of the year. :)You have good English. No offense though but, most people in Cambodia can't speak English, right? Forgive me if I'm wrong but I also heard that Cambodians can really speak French well.

I'm so glad you did have a great time during your last stay. I hope you'll find quite another interesting one, probably at the end of this year, right? Oh, yeah, I'm not offended at all. It's true, you might have met the Cambodians who don't get any education in English, we're not born with English, we earn it. Well, for most high-school and college students like me, they speak English, fluent or broken English, it depends.

I just know that, now in Phnom Penh, you can talk to any taxi drivers, restaurant waiters or waitresses in English, so I'm sure you're not going to starve if you don't speak Khmer. And Siam Reap (Angkor) as well as other tourist sites, you can find some children speak English too, because it's a language for their living.

There's no surprise to find a 50 years-old who speaks fluently in French in Cambodia, because in the past we were under French colony, so Cambodians had to speak French at schools. My Dad speaks both English and French decently and so does my best friend [though she's not 50 yet]. Cambodia is also considered as a member of Francophone country, but only a few thousands of Cambodian people in Phnom Penh speak good French, the rest would be Chinese, Japanese, Korean and English due to economic growth. That's the way it is in here, I guess. :)

The Confession of a Bookacholic.

2010-08-19T00:16:00.000-07:00

Hello Every Bloggie!

I have missed out a lot of writings these days. My best friend has just gone back to her personal HELL - again- after spending a vocation in Cambodia. Time can move slowly but pass quickly, it was one of the reasons why I didn't write. Well, I'll talk about her later.

This week Lift newspaper is about "Book Issue" which I had to rob one from my friend, because I was late for school, so the newspaperman who delivers it for free, was out of sight. As one of the bookworms in the world, I do have some concerns about reading.

The paper shows interests about Cambodian people who don't read as much as they used to be in the past, and when they do, they read foreign literature like French, English and now even Korean hits the market, [I read a Korean novel in Khmer too. It's not bad I have to say.]

Khmer literature is almost out of the question today, and I, for one, hardly read any except when I was English illiterate, but I notice that Khmer literature has its own beauty. Khmer lit might not be better than others, but in term of wordiness, I just know that it's not any worse either.

Take Korean teen novels for example, they're translated into Khmer, but the way they portray their proses is just as great and sometime even greater when in our terms, which means Khmer lit could be flourished when it can stand on its own.

Now, that's another thing I want talk about. I once told my best friend, if I didn't read any book during my semester at school, I would go crazy. And now I realize that I really meant it.

Books are like my anti-depressant pills. If I don't read a few novels in a month, I'm sure that I'm going to kill myself [not literally].

That's how I become a book-hunter, and while I'm not a Khmer-novels reader, I would just stick to my Everything-English, too.

Something From Formspring.

2010-07-22T21:21:00.000-07:00

I have some interesting questions from my formspring. Some of them are very funny and also challenging, so I think I would like to share you guys, and these Qs were asked by either my friend Ana and anonymous, I guess my answers can kill you some times. There we go:

Q: Do you believe in luck?

I believe. Although I don't have any.

Q: Do you believe in angels?

I have seen angels. Except that they are mortal.

Q: Are you more of a talker or more of a listener?

I'm more of a listener. It's effortless. Speaking is harder for me, my thoughts just run wild and I never get the right thing to say. Mostly, it makes me stutter out. Any tips?

Q: If you could have a super power, what would it be?

The power to heal all living beings, both emotionally and physically. Really, I have always been thinking about it.

Q: Are you a morning or night person?

Both.

Q: Have you ever dressed up as the opposite sex?

Never.

Sometimes, I dress in tomboy style, sometime, I dress girly.

Q: Who last grabbed your ass?

A stranger grabbed my butt when I was waiting for my friends, and I was in a good mood for a big fight, but as I turned, it was a girl and she apologized quickly, she thought I was one of her friends, and I ended up saying, "That's okay." I wondered since when people started to grab each other's butt when they meet?

Q: Have you ever snuck around, almost got caught, lied, and actually got away with it?

I never got caught and never sneaked around either. I don't do risky things for excitement, so there's no reason for me to get myself in trouble. But when I lie, I make big lie.

Q: Do you believe in life after death?

Well, I could simply answer this question with the "I don't know." But as a Buddhist person, I have yet to consider this case. As a matter of fact, life after death is an unknown claim. No one knows for sure.

But in Buddhism believes that the body is like a shell to cover up the soul. Then the person is dead, the soul would leave the body, but the soul itself doesn't die. The same thing like when we change the light bulb, even the light bulb's dead, the electric current is still in active and waiting for a new light bulb to replace the last one.

Therefore, the human soul only waits for the new body to form and imprisons itself again into that shell. This called "The cyclic existence". I find this theory very dramatic anyway.

Believe it or not, it's all up to your own intelligence and reasoning.

Q: What book that makes you laugh like crazy?

Shopaholic&Baby, by Sophie Kinsella.

Q: If you could become any fictional character, who would you be?

A vampire. I know, I know, I'm too obsessive with this vampire thingy.

Q: If you could only listen to one song for the next month, which would it be?

Life Got Cold, by Girls Aloud. In fact, I had been listening to this one song for nearly a month already.

Q: What was the last book you read?

Skellig.

It's about the man who grows wings on his back.

Q: If you were given a brand new yacht, what would you name it?

I'll name her Claire De Lune.

Q: Are you an introvert or an extrovert?

I'm absolutely extra-introvert! But I can do public speaking just like any extrovert people. But when it comes to personal story, forget it!

Q: How old are you now?

I'm 21 now. Wanna say happy birthday to me?

Q: What's your real name?

Sovathary

Q: What's your favorite drink?

Non-alcohol, no-caffeine drink.

Q: Who or what sleeps with you?

Me and nobody.

Q: What's the secret to happiness?

The secret to happiness is to forget about it.

Yeah, you read it right, forget it. Don't be naive because of the fairy tale you read, that's no such thing as happy ever after.

Q: Have you ever woken up with your clothes inside out?

Oh, never.

But there were times when I stepped out of my room with my clothes inside out, yes, that I have.

Story That Left Untold.

2010-07-08T20:51:00.000-07:00

I am a big fan of the LIFT, mainly it's just because the newspaper is free of charge. I like free things, so to speak. The last issue was such a surprise to me, it was about the rise of homosexuals in Cambodia, and I have found a couple of Khmer-films that concern about this kind of stuff. So I decide to write it off for good.

There is a transformation in Cambodian concept about homosexuality. In the past, people used to believe that a gay or lesbian was just a reincarnation of a male or female in the previous life. It's because the majority of Cambodians are Buddhist who believe in life after death, but it's just one of the explanations at the time.

Who am I? is the most successful movie that ever produced. I had done a film report about it for my Gender Studies class and got a low rank of A. It is a true story of some movie stars in Cambodia, adding that the producer wrote the film to raise awareness of discrimination against lesbians. Pretty cool, huh?

I have a friend who has a homophobia, she said "I hate gay people! They create social disorder."

"Do they kill anyone or steal anything?" I asked.

"Well, whoever they are, they're just the problem that our society is facing now. If you allowed homosexuals, soon there would be abortion, divorce, transgender, our country would become chaotic, it might lead to a war, you know, just like religious war." she said. I looked at her and laughed.

I told her she was committing a slippery slope fallacy, [ Just so you know, I got an A in logic, too]. At that point, I couldn't help thinking she sounded so childish.

"Don't you think it is serious?"

"Not to me, I don't disgrace homosexuals." I simply said.

"So you're ignorant, you don't contribute a thing to stop this!" she accused me.

I rolled my eyes, "Come on, if something like that could be stopped, Jesus Christ wouldn't have to write the bible like, "A man laying on anther man shall burn in hell." and still there are gays and lesbians exist around the world until today. I think being gay is like having brown hair." I said.

"Whatever, I still believe they just want to be like that, not because they don't have a choice."

"Then I would say..." I said in a theatrical tone, " ...anything that involve with LOVE- must be a good thing!"

"Oh please, just shut up!" she snapped. I sighed and shook my head in dismay. Well, it's not like I could cure her homophobia anyway.

Uniform or Not?

2010-07-01T02:33:00.000-07:00

I have been developing a new obsession toward high school uniform recently, I was not much of a uniform fan before, and my school might be the only place that doesn't have anything against fashion sense, as long as it doesn't hurt the public eyes.

My mom used to complain about my not wearing uniform to school.

I told her, "It's because my school doesn't require it."

She asked, "What kind of school that doesn't require a uniform?"

I said, "The kind of school that your daughter goes to everyday."

But when I was surfing on Google wave one day, I found something interesting about a Celeb Selena Gomez. They said she was wearing a Cambodian school uniform while she was on charity work with the children here, and I was like "You've got to be kidding me!"

Another day with my best friend while we were shopping, we spotted a bunch of high school girls wearing uniforms that bear a similar look of the Sailor Moon comic. I felt really ancient, because even something as traditional as uniforms changes faster than I thought.

Well, if I were a headmistress of a private high school, I would require the students to wear uniforms like Selena Gomez in the picture. Don't you love it when you're asked to dress gorgeously everyday just to go to school?

Happy Royal Birthday.

2010-06-21T21:16:00.000-07:00

As long as I am one of the Cambodian worshipers of our Royalty. I have to write something about the Royal Family. Well, 18th June was the birthday of the Queen, maybe it's not too late for me to celebrate.

In here, we call our senior monarchs King Father and Queen Mother, because they also call us , their 'Children'. I have brought these pictures from Google, I have to admit, they're very great shots. Thank to whoever took them.

The arrival of the Queen is always greeted by her 'Children' and Jasmine crown. The symbolic flower of our country to honor the supreme beings, and there it went, in our majesty's hand.

The Queen Mother, originally named Paule-Monique Izzi, was born from a French, Caucasian, Italian father and a Cambodian mother. That explains her lovely, uncanny resemblance to England's Queen Elizabeth II. (Well, everyone thinks so.)

She studied at the Primary School Norodom, Sisowath High School, and the Lycée René Descartes. She was President of the Cambodian Red Cross (CRC) towards the end of the 1960s, and is currently the CRC Honorary President. All in all, we are very lucky to have her highness as the Queen of Cambodia.

Love Me For Me!

2010-06-08T07:51:00.000-07:00

When the administrative staff came to our class and announced that class was canceled, all of my classmates cheered in delight as if they all won a jackpot! Due to this unexpected free time, I was thinking about going to the library... to read magazines (not that I'm studious, of course.) but when a friend of mine asked, "Do you want to go sightseeing with me or not?" I went with her.

I didn't even know there is an island exist not far away from my school, and there were a handful of teenagers hanging out there, so I just had fun blending in and watching them carried themselves the way teens normally do.

-Well, just in case you wonder, I remember the phrase in French only-

Oh yeah, I have these ridiculous pictures to share. When I loaded the images into my comp, I was surprised at how happy I looked, even there was nothing much to be happy about, just the radiance of the sun, the freshness of the air and the view of the place.

But why not? I can be about as happy as I make up my mind to be. I might seem so happy without a cause, because it helps me to think that, of all the things I have been through... are just the things I have been through!

As the Buddha said, "Everything always changes, only changing itself still remains. Don't fear of the future. Happiness is momentary."

So why do you care about things that don't matter? Why do you have to carry your sadness around? And why of all the' whys', why do you have to cry for people who break your heart? You have someone else who needs you, someone who is you.

You have your own life to live, not for your parents, your friends or anyone else, but you have to live for yourself.

Seize the day and make your life extraordinary. *wink*

Are You an ADD Person?

2010-05-26T19:58:00.000-07:00

You're listening to "Run Devil Run" by Ka$sha. You think it's sort of touchy to have a dollar sign in your name. You pick up your guitar and play "Dangerous To Know" by Hilary Duff. You drop it off and pick a novel book to read. And then you go on to solve your economic problems on demand and supply. Afterward, you find yourself posing for a random picture.

We can get a general notion that these activities are operated at the same time by the same person and who is suspected of having ADD. In fact, A.D.D or Attention Deficit Disorder is the most unknown disorder in the history of psychology. A lot of my blog friends asked me what the term ADD is about?

Do I look like a person who has ADD?

Well, I dunnooo...

Well, it's quite hard to describe the symptom of ADD in just one post. So I'm only going through a bit of everything here. They could roughly say that having ADD is just like being nearsighted, but the problem doesn't lie in your eyes, instead it's in your mentality.

ADD symptoms cause a person to be hyperactive, impulsive, imaginative, creative, and also inattentive.

All of these prevent a person from performing a task effectively.

Just like I have mentioned, I'm suspected of having ADD myself, even I'm not hyperactive, I'm still fit into another category of this disorder. My best friend is also a target of ADD, but she insists on being normal. So let her be.

I had always wondered why some people can achieve academic greatness while the others -like myself - stuck in one status all the time, although I know I'm not any worse than them if I try harder. But I have trouble staying focus, [inattentive]. Always bouncing around in my own head [imaginative]. A chronic tendency to put things off or do things excessively [impulsive]. I usually skip letters in writing or simply write the word wrong and the same thing happens to the way I speak [too-creative!] and many other things combine together.

But having ADD doesn't ban you from becoming what you want to be. It doesn't prevent me from getting good grade anyway. ADD is commonly happened to bright people [That's what the book says, not me]. Leonardo Da Vinci and Mozart are the good example of people who have ADD.

This kind of disorder is different from any other disorders. It has advantages, like you have an undiscovered power or energy that you have to learn how to control it. You can as well be hyperfocus, imaginative and creative. In such a sense, you must know how to work around the other destructive traits, because ADD would either make us or break us -both academic and professional life.

Have Time for Everything?

2010-05-21T21:42:00.000-07:00

Don't blame me for getting all A again, okay?

Well, this is my grade report from last term. Just so you know, I got A in History, A+ in Math, A- in Logic, and another A- in Politics. What else can you say about me? Showoffish?

But I call it, "Cause and Effect".

In History class, I arranged three performances on the stage. In Math class, I got to the white board and solve problems live. In Logic, my friends said I should change my major to study logic instead. In Politics, I joined a debate team.

There are people who can make time for everything. Study, party, and all the little jazz. And I know that, it all comes down to time management. But for me, I do everything without a time management. Bouncing off the wall from things to things.

In fact, I found myself leave a notice like, "STAY FOCUS" or "FIRST THING FIRST" but never make it that way. Surprisingly, I did well in school. Maybe, I have ADD, if you know the shortcut stands for, "Attention Deficit Disorder".

I’ve been reading about it, and everything falls into place, why some people are very smart, but seem to achieve average, and why we could be good at something without effort and another things with great effort but couldn’t make it instead. The answer lies in ADD!

Family Reunion+Birthday Party.

2010-05-18T21:27:00.000-07:00

When there is a celebration, my folk always take this opportunity to get together and talk about their lives. It's not much about the party itself, but family tie is what count. It was my cousin's birthday, we live just a street away from each other and I managed to take some pictures to keep record of that event.

My boy cousin, every time we meet, we exchange conversation that goes around nowhere but Taylor Swift and David Archuleta, his favorite idols. I guess, he's kind of look like Archuleta himself.

Aren't they beautiful? They're from the same school. The day was all about my cousin, [in red dress] so it seemed like she was the most beautiful girl the spotlight.

Here is my beloved Mommy and me, she's a pretty strong and smart woman, a real economist, a great cook, a gardener, and a person who could make me really laugh. At home, My mom's the captain and we're the crews, my Dad is the navigator, he holds map and compass and set directions. I like to think of my family as a ship sailing through both calm and stormy sea. Oh, I love you, Mom.

Now, my grandma, my makyeay! She's the reason why I love old people. When I was young, she taught me how to pray, she knows all about the royal family, which I'm also fascinated about, because her husband, my grandpa was a royal officer in the Veang [palace]. Having her as a grandma is like holding a grand treasure in the family!

I have captured this moment of joy. I wish my beautiful cousin for her 23rd birthday. Happy Birthday, girl! You know, you're beautiful inside and out and only deserve the good of all thing.

A+ For All.

2010-05-05T18:56:00.000-07:00

Sometimes, when something bubbles in your mind and you couldn't keep your mouth shut, you have to tell the world about it.

Well, the first time, I checked my grade through the school website, I just want to bang my head against the wall to take it all in.

Nothing is greater than being good at something you thought you couldn't be good at. I received an A+ in math. A+ for crying out loud! [Now, you better roll your eyes for that!].

Maybe, my effort did pay off. For some of us who study in college, whether you're attending Algebra course or not, I still want to share some tips. I don't say I'm successful in math, but I hope it might help you to get some ideas of how to kick Algebra's butt!

Here are my 10 tips:

Clean your room. Trust your mom, clutter is not a sigh of intelligence.
Get a ton of papers. You will have to use them quite a lot. I used up a whole package of Double A papers during the course of Algebra. Whirlwind!
Read textbook before class. It's important to be familiar with the lesson.
Keep a perfect attendance. Tell you what, I never missed math class.
Do math problems everyday, because learning math is like building a staircase, one block after another.
Stay hydrated and energetic. When I feel burned out, I picked a bottle of drink or snack just to munch the deadlock away!
Go ahead of your teacher if possible. That way, you would never have to go after him/her.
Control your stress. I know sometimes, we lose temper doing those ugly equations and stuff all the time, but I remember once when I couldn't get a single problem right, and I started jumping on my bed as it was a trampoline. When I finished, I went back to where I left off, and it worked! [Do it your way, though. Don't break your bed!]
Be confident, say you can do it!
Go with the flow, enjoy your mathematical mind. If you couldn't make a perfect grade, that's okay, at least you get a notion of what this shit all about.

Of course, not everyone is Einstein, but everyone is genius in some way or the other. Just be proud of yourself anyway!

The Goddess of Dancing.

2010-04-29T09:09:00.000-07:00

Apsara-, a feminine consonant stem or Accharā (Pāli), is a female spirit of the clouds and waters in Hindu and Buddhist mythology. An Apsara (Sanskrit: अप्सरा: apsarāḥ, plural अप्सरस: apsarasaḥ, stem. an angel of dancing and music.

The divine power of an Apsara… Hypnotic, alluring, sophisticated and true to the human love of art performance. Frequently encountered English translation of the word “Apsara” is “nymph”. There are thousands of Apsaras curved on the temples in Cambodia.

One of the great performances in Angkor. [ Here, you can spot the god-king sitting on his throne]

The Angel Face From The Glory of Rama

The ancient Khmer civilization loved and honored these beautiful young women… Ancient Greece also built statues to glorify them as Celestial goddesses or maidens. Apsaras are supernatural beings. They appear as young women of great beauty and elegance and who are proficient in the art of dancing. These Apsaras would dance in the temples of Gods or in front of God-kings.

No one knows how much I'm deeply in love with Khmer classical dance and Apsaras. My eyes always goggle out in awe whenever they perform. The way in which they present themselves, the posture, the position of the arm, and the position of the body, all reflect the meanings and to tell a story. Each movement is elegantly smooth and inhumanly sophisticated. Even you have no idea what is all about, you still can get carried way.

Le pain, anyone?

2010-04-22T01:18:00.000-07:00

I read a book called "Traveling Asia". The author wrote one section about Cambodia and he got to the point that said, "Most Asians do not eat bread but the Cambodians do."

I was like, "Man, you're right.".

From the breadman's basket To the cutting board And ready to serve!

Here, French influence is still noticeable in Cambodia in many ways. French has left behind the colonial buildings, language and yeah...even their bread, [ literally]! In fact, bread has become one of our daily food apart from rice, [ just like the Chinese having noodle as their substitute meal.]

I used to read a foreign blogger who wrote, "The bread in Cambodia is surprisingly good, it even tastes great without butter!" That's why every time I hear a breadman calls, I run out of the house to catch him!

Surely, you can eat bread with beef soup or chicken curry, or you can as well eat it with paté, or just go plain. Not only it's delicious but also inexpensive, for a whole bread costs only 20 cent or 800 Riel, plus a real Cambodian taste!

Think if you might have an urge to grab one after seeing the pictures above? Lol!

The Happy Ending!

2010-04-07T20:03:00.000-07:00

Time is scarce after my new term starts. Okay, here I have got some pictures from my friend’s wedding reception. Finally, one of my friends got married! Yay!

Before the wedding day started, we had a sleepover together, and we pretended that it was a bachelorette night for the bride!

The next morning when we prepared for the event, I kept making the bride crack up while the stylists was trying to hold her make-up, until they kicked me out of the dressing room for that! [That’s how I got a job as babysitter later.]

The next bridegroom to-be

Toast for the newly weds! Yay!

She's settled and is in peace, right?

The hardest part is to freeze and grin. We did it over and over again a lot that day. Lol

Let them have their privacy.

Well, I have lost most of the pictures by accident, so these are what I have left from my camera, too bad that all of my best shots go down the drain, otherwise, you'd enjoy seeing the proper wedding process. It never occurs to me that wedding is the happiest time, even it isn't yours.

Do You Sleep Like a Sheep?

2010-03-28T18:25:00.000-07:00

These days, I just realize more and more at how unimpressed I am with the Me-Time.

My tendency toward excitement is off. The attempts to read and write my personal matters have failed. I dangerously lose interest in listening to music or watching DVD movies for no reason.

My house has become a refuge for all this time. It shields me from the outside heat of the year, and I found myself laying in bed like a dead log every now and then. Maybe, it is a bit uncharacteristic, but sleeping is the best breakaway from everything.

Ah well! The end of another term has rolled in, and the start of the next one also draws close.

I remember the last time when I got a school break, I spent it all on reading and writing or cleaning up my room, but this time, my active self has come to a complete stop. A lot of things are just like that for me, either I do everything or I don’t do it at all.

Sometimes, I fantasize myself living for centuries like an undead vampire, and other times, I fantasize myself being asleep for two thousand years like an Egyptian pharaoh. You see, it’s either all or nothing.

That's how the middle ground comes to mind. You can't be all or nothing. Perhaps, at least I could be something.

If Look Could Kill…

2010-03-10T23:00:00.000-08:00

After hours of loaded work, I spent an idle lunch break with one of my friend at the cafeteria. Somehow, even eating lunch makes it feel like another load of work. I only kept staring at everyone who passed by and ignoring the tray of untouched food as if I was too burnout.

The atmosphere was full of college mates. It got my mind floating about the words of mouth, saying that the afternoon-students are very fashionable —true!

The school has even set up dressing codes against it, something like - No mini skirts or ragged jeans allowed and any showing-skinned clothes are banned, but that's no use for those who are too cool for rules. So there I was, doing nothing but watch, pretending like I was attending a catwalk show.

But what it boils down to this is that, there were these girls who brought my bad habit into perspective. When I was staring at them — long enough to let them feel my gaze, perhaps.

One of the girls started to pull the other one away, and she was like "Come on! Let's go, let's go!" and before they left, she gave a glance at me from the corner of her eyes.

Just like that, it hit me like a thunderbolt! I turned to my friend who was working on her laptop computer while eating.

"Can I ask you one thing?" I said lifelessly.

She looked up and said, "What?"

"Am I too ugly that when I look at people they start to run?"

She giggled at my question and said, "No, you're not ugly."

"Then what?" I asked.

"You're just intimidating," she replied, and her words struck me.

"Intimidating?" I repeated — strangely, being bad has never felt this good. "Wow, that's cool! Intimidating, I like it!" and then I started to munch my lunch happily although my friend didn't seem to get it.

Right.

That suits me perfectly, sometimes I brush my teeth twice, sometimes I stare at people in the public, and some other times I talk to myself. I guess at one point, you just come to realize yourself from a daily basic — that you are practically going psycho!

Good Samaritan

2010-03-02T23:34:00.000-08:00

A Good Samaritan is someone who gives help to those who need it. It is also an act to save someone else’s life without thinking of one’s own.

Previously, Kelly has written about her Samaritan act, and she prefers to have me shared mine too. So now, I’d like to share one of my long stories, in fact there are two but I only choose one to write about.

The accident was just happened recently, when I was asked to be a bridesmaid at my friend’s wedding. A day before the wed, my friends and I volunteered to babysit the bride’s two nephews who wanted to play at the swimming pool.

At the swimming pool, we saw many foreigners were swimming and sunbathing around, and the kids played together at the children pool that built next to the adult one. We seated far away and watched the boys having fun in the shallow water. My friends excused themselves one by one and left me to watch the kids.

Everything was okay at first, but things got ugly when one of the boys ran toward the adult pool and jumped into it, I knew what was up, because the adult pool was 2 meters deep. I started to run and only kept calling the boy’s name like crazy as if I forgot how to speak anything else.

I could have jumped into the water too if I didn’t see him resurface. Even though he was underwater, he was still within reach from me. So, I got down on my knees, but the edge was so slippery that I had to drop one leg in and dipped my both hands into the pool and pulled him out of the water.

Surprisingly, the boy didn’t even choke or cry, he just looked pale. I hugged him out of pity. A moment later, some adults and my friends came around, and I told them all about it, one of my friends touched me and exclaimed “You’re shaking!” I didn't know it until my friend told me. Well, I was frightened for what had happened. Still, the lifeguard was nowhere to be found, but that's fine, the boy was safe at last.

Joyeux Anniversaire, Panharath!!!

2010-02-25T10:07:00.000-08:00

Hoping that your day will be as special as you are.

Count your life by smiles, not age.

Count your age by friends, not years.

I'm so glad you were born, it's been two years we've known.

May the years continue to be great for you.

You're not getting older, you're just getting better,

here I give you a kiss with love and pleasure!

HaPpY BiRtHdAy To YoU!

PS: I just wrote this poem for you, hope you like it!

De Moi Et De Ma Cambodge!

2010-02-21T00:02:00.000-08:00

I got on a study tour to Lovek (Udong) our former royal capital. We also worked with the children there and then visited Phnom Preah Rajatrop (Royal Treasure mount) where they keep the Buddha's remain. Lovek is the name written in English accent, for Khmer accurate sound, it's "Longvek". It is one of the ancient capitals after the Angkor era passed. Lovek was the time when Khmer literature grew more prosperous, like the Glory of Rama as an example. Anyway, Lovek period lasted until the arrival of the French after the Spainards and Portugues departed.

Now I can say I'm really proud to show you these shots! I love photographing, it's my clicking habit that never relax. My photography is focused on the location, the mood and the meaning. So let's enjoy them.

Preparing for picnic!

Fun in the sun

People gather to pray at Budda's remain monument

The Royal Umbrella and Naga

The view from the mountaintop

Villager sells Khmer household equipment made of clay

Loving sunset! Made a stop to shot this one. Hehe

Just madness!

Piece of Information:

Should I tell you why I post the last two pictures? Yes. I purposely made these pictures look like that, because my friend is a driver from hell! She never hesitate to pass other cars in full speed! Sometimes she made U-turns and all of us were just having fun hitting our heads against the windows car and each other.

Until once when she talked on the phone I said "PJ, I know you're good at driving, but please, I just want to live longer." and that made everyone in the car laugh, I shook my head, saying "That's not funny." Don't they know that I have speedophobia? At the returning trip, I sat at the passenger seat for least anxiety, but I still buckled my seat belt on.

If you want to enjoy your next journey, please drive safely, you still have many days ahead of you.

Random Post.

2010-02-01T01:28:00.000-08:00

Seek peak into Cambodian Culture:

I went to do research about one of the most sacred places called Preah Ang Dongker. Not everyone knows about the history of Preah Ang Dongker, so I decided to write about it for my History class.

People believe it to be the place where spiritual beings stay. There is a status of Vishnu from 12th century inside the temple, I couldn’t get my way to take a shot inside, because people were flooding in and out as it was a holy day in Buddhist calendar. I'm no photograph-genius but these are my favorite snapshots to share.

Dedicating fruits and lotus.

Traditional music is being offered every holy day. The gathering place

The sacred banner of our capital

Did you know the name Dongker or Dongtong means banner? In the past, Khmer naval was excellent in battles, they always came to pray in front of the sacred banner before they set off to wars. Even the monarchs also closely associates with this higher power.

More often than not, when Cambodian people swear over something serious, they would swear by Preah Ang Dongker, the holy spirit that protect the royal palace and our city, the same way the Greeks swear by the river Styx—which is the river that surround the underworld in Greek mythology.

We might seem very religious, because we come from a long line of the people who believed in “Nak Ta.” or ancestor spirit. But we have a Khmer proverb said that “If you don’t believe, don’t disrespect.”

Seek peak into personality:

The pictures were taken at the same day, so I just post them together. That's me and my friend having bubble conversation. And the last picture is funny, it's from the interior of my friend's car.

How can you see the rearview with all these stuffed animals blocking your sight? It makes me raise an eyebrow in irony when I look at them.
But, girls are just being girls, right?

Well, this is a bit of a chab chay post. I mix a lot of stuff together today. Anyway, it's going to be Chinese New Year soon. Let have a great time everyone!

Kiss Good Bye To My Academic Life.

2010-01-22T17:41:00.000-08:00

Don't get me wrong. I don't get expel from school or anything.

That's just an expression to show that it is my last post about school, because these days are hectic, stressful and yet lifeless, I have got so many bloody-hell things to do. I RARELY make time to meet my close friend Snow white too, and she’s been complaining about my absence lately.

I always feel like a Zombie and when I drive back home or to school, it’s like I just only switch on my autopilot mode and the next thing I know, I’m at school or home. Stress-attack!!!

Btw, do you know what people fear the most?

Not death itself. Speaking in front of the public that's what is. Unless you're a pro-talker or someone who's like "Look at me, look at me!" so you don't get nervous.

But I JOINED a debate team in my Politics class without any intended purpose. And I had to speak in front of…like nearly a hundred people. Man, how nerve-racking is that! But that was okay, I could pull a competitive mask and enjoy being a total nerd for a while. Unfortunately, my team lost by three votes from the audience's judgment, that was a fierce battle as my professor put it. Whatever, I'm more relieved to get off the hook.

No more debate, but yes for a performance in Hellstory [excuse me for replacing the His-] I'm a director for three historical shows, and I do take some CRAPPY roles also. Not that I want to.

They say learning by living it, but I say learning by dying yourself. I'm complaining, okay?

Note: If any of this sounds familiar, congratulations! You have been keeping well informed on your current living. Good day, guys!

The Perfect Score

2010-01-12T23:02:00.000-08:00

Got 90 on my math test today, and for once, it makes me see the world less unbearable.

So, I just curve out this time to write, coz I've finished three linear word problems in algebra [Duh!] and a few yucky quadratic equations for homework. Man, I have done my time with math now. I NEED some refreshments.

I watched The Perfect Score yesterday, it's about a group of underachieving students who try to steal the answers for SAT [Standardize Achievement Test or Suck *ss Test, lol]. I can't believe that there's such thing as over-a-thousand score. But it's true, in America.

After seeing this movie, I find myself repeating the line, “Math doesn’t scare me. Math doesn't scare me.” and another part also stucks in my head like, "A lot of people think these craps are difficult — but not me.” and I guess, it might work psychologically somehow.

Like that's real.

However, in most schools here, the passing score is 50, but you need at least 60 in my college because my school uses American curriculum. In Japan and UK, hardly any students can get over 70, but it's because 70 is A grade already. And you know what, it's funny to hear my math professor from Japan said that if you get less than 80 in Germany — you fail.

My god, studying is dead! Well, I feel like I always talk too much about school. Alright, I wouldn't talk about school again. There are enough nerds in the world who would. So let them do the job.

Where Are You Phnom Penh?

2009-12-30T23:52:00.000-08:00

I always thought that I was living in Phnom Penh, but now I’m not sure anymore, because when Panharath called me many days ago, we ended up talking about our home, and I was surprised that we both even share the same outskirt town, only in different parts or stuff like that, and I quote out here:

Panharath said “Bong bong told me that I should move my house to live in Phnom Penh, so that I’m not too far away from them.” And my eyes glazed over, I asked her in disbelief, “Huh? So, nowadays we are not living in Phnom Penh?” Panharath let out a laugh.

But I always freak out when I hear that remark, because some of my cousins also throw words around me like, “Let’s drive up to Phnom Penh.” or "I brought this from Phnom Penh" whenever they drop by my house, and I wonder to myself, “What? Aren't we in Phnom Penh now?”

Maybe, my home isn't located in the heart of our capital city. I think Panharath might feel the same way about that. It’s kind of weird and funny, anyhow.

Well, if my house is really very remote that way, then I’m not living in Phnom Penh after all― just in her outskirt. (",)