Burnt

Still feeling the effects of having a visitor for over two weeks and then going on my short but glorious trip alone to Paris. Yes, alone. That's what made it so glorious. Okay, well that and the Louvre and Musee d'Orsay. I took over 700 photos. Some were just crap. But most were usable. I'm sorting through them and will start posting them soon. Today was a simply wonderful, slow and happy day. We enjoyed Sophia's company. She was in a delightful mood. We all were. It was one of those perfect days. I've been sitting at my desk, going through pics, listening to the Kill Bill soundtracks, especially Goodnight Moon and Meiko Kaji's songs. Soph has been doing karate kicks and pretending to be Wong Fei Hung. I love that kid. Soph requested Eggy People for dinner: I've seen quite a few movies in the past few weeks. When Myles visits, he generally wants to watch movies every night. I don't mind that! I'm trying to remember which ones we saw but here is a tentative list: Audition (kiri, kiri, kiri) Suicide Club/Circle Lady Vengeance Serpent and the Rainbow L'Empire des loups Battle Royale Pulse (Kairo) Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress (Xiao cai feng)

Mini buffet

I have a few tasty bits to post today, like your own mini Biscuit Buffet! Myles arrived last night. We (Ray, Hilary, Myles, Soph and myself) walked down to HOT for dinner: He brought us some items we'd ordered from Drugstore and Amazon. Another jackpot of movies! I'll list them as we watch them. Also, Sophia was happy to receive the second Romeo Crumb enstallment, along with books on Japan, Greek myths, a Japanese/English picture dictionary, and a kana workbook. For myself, I ordered The Search for Modern China. I've been wanting to "take" this course but needed this one book (I have the others) before starting. Today, after a huge lunch of steak tacos, we chilled out for a bit and then headed to the pool for some swimming. Guess who that is on Myles' shoulders?

Gravy

I just watched the trailer for The Protector (Tom yum goong), Tony Jaa's upcoming film. Whatever I say about this man is redundant. However, this article posits he's the Messiah of modern martial art cinema. I believe 'em, yo!

Ketchup 2.0

I haven't had much time lately to post here. Also, the site's been down a lot. Hmmm. We don't get much mail but when we do, it's always good. A few days ago, I received my Pu Shu disc, Life Like Summer Flowers . I love every song but one, a rap song. I don't know what the hell a rap song is doing on this album. The rest of music is moody, pop stuff. I like it, though, and I'm glad I no longer have to visit You Tube to hear his lilting voice. Package Number Two was from Yes Asia. Soph got a Hongen Baby CD in Mandarin Chinese, the first in this series. It was cheap and I thought she might get a kick out of it. It's hilarious, especially the animal sounds. We're all having fun with it. We like to talk to each other in made-up Mandarin, because we just like the way it sounds, OK? The rest of the package was a Fruit Chan jackpot. Score! Pictured above: The Longest Summer (Hui nin yin fa dak bit doh), Little Cheung (Xilu xiang), and Durian, Durian (Liulian piao piao). These three movies take place around the time Hong Kong was handed back over to China. Can't wait to watch them! Tonight, we had Sophia's first sitter, Simona, over for dinner. We haven't seen her for a really long time. I think it's been almost two years! Soph and Simona, August 2000, Krivoklat Castle: ------------------------------ Soph and Simona, this evening, our living room, Prague: (Not one of Soph's best. She didn't want to sit still for a picture and only did this because I asked her nicely. I take what I can get!) Lately, my life has been a flurry of laundry, cleaning, cooking, Japanese lessons, Chinese music, headaches and insomnia. My stepson, Myles, arrives tomorrow, which will bring a change in routine and focus. I'm looking forward to his visit. I like his company. As an added bonus, he is bringing movies and books we ordered from amazon and had sent to his place in the States. We plan to do intensive movie-watching throughout his time here! It will be an Asian Extreme filmfest!

Bits

Here's one more picture from my birthday:

Mr. Peabody, set the Wayback Machine for May of 2000: And another because she's just so adorable: Stealing Daddy's space in the family bed, April 2001: Mother's Day, Prague 2001: July 2001. She brought all this stuff to me and set up the photo herself. I have No Idea what this is about! LOL Taking in the scenery in Lisbon, June 2002: Kickin' it in Kladno with some kitties, August 2002: "It's all *you,* Dad" in August 2002: Flitting about in December 2002: From August 2003, Dublin: From April 2004, Prague: Yes, my glamour puss has a Christmas tree in her room in April. She's just that kind of a girl. From February 2005, Prague: The reason she's making that face? See below.

This little guy loved her. His favorite place to sit was on top of her head or on her neck, if her hair was down.

Watery Biscuits

Can't sleep. Hung out at a friend's place, watched In the Mood for Love, and ate Chinese food. I haven't had Chinese food in years and now I remember why. It tasted so good when I was eating it. Now I feel yucky. So I'll post some pics we took today with my new underwater camera!

She's pretending to walk on the bottom of the pool

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I know this isn't technically a "good" picture but I like it for some reason

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Ray making a funny face. The man is a clown! I love it about him.

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Soph loves the way her hair looks in this pic

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This is my favorite picture out of the set

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In utero

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A Very Biscuit Birthday

I'm sort of in a hurry so I won't go on and on about turning 36...I'll just post some pics and come back later and do comments. We had planned to go to Yami for lunch but since I was so ill the day before, we just went down the street to our old stand-by, HOT. I usually order the Tom Kha Kai soup and Yum Neu salad but I didn't want to eat spicy stuff after being sick the day before. So I ordered the chicken with beans dish you see above. And Soph? She ended up eating all the tuna sashimi on Ray's plate! That kid loves her sashimi. Our sitter said she could come over for a few hours so Ray and I went out to dinner by ourselves. We planned to go to a Lebanese restaurant but it was closed. So we went to a Greek restaurant called Delphi (no website). We ordered way too much food. I was ashamed by how much we left uneaten. And one more cuz it's just too funny...