Living in a World of Fools

Sometimes, it just takes the right lyric in the right song to make your dreary day go away.

"Cause we're living in a world of fools, breaking us down."

Yes, I just quoted The BeeGees. But somehow, they just made me feel better. They serenaded me, validating everything I've been struggling with lately and summarizing so eloquently (again, yes I just called The BeeGees eloquent) in one line all the angst I've been feeling and unable to verbalize so concisely.

I think this blog post is a testament to how tired I am right now. I need to sleep more than 5-6 hours a night so that I can find inspiration in something/someone other than The BeeGees.

Spain, Japan, the US, and Ondoy

The Philippines can just never catch a break. Typhoon Ondoy left a month's worth of rain in Manila in just 12 hours. (See video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYrSYTIT3k0&feature=related) The destruction is heartbreaking. I wonder how long it will take to bring Manila back to what it was before the typhoon. The "Paris of the East", as Manila was once known to the world before WWII, continues to sink.

Goodbye, American Thai Restaurants

No more Thai food in America for this little lady.  Since returning from Bangkok, Lawrence and I haven't had the balls/ovaries to try Thai food again in America.  We felt so spoiled by our time in culinary heaven (aka Bangkok street food vendor tables) that we figured that Thai food in the US would be a big disappointment.  

With the beginning of 2nd year for me came the free lunch talks, serving Thai food. So I ventured.  I took a scoopful of pad thai to my taste buds.  I couldn't believe how "non-Thai" the pad thai tasted to me!  I guess as expected, it was completely Americanized, i.e. bland.  

Shortly after that first taste, my ears started to itch, the first sign in my body that I'm allergic to something I'm eating.  Then my stomach started to ache.  My body was physically rejecting American Thai food.  I had to excuse myself from the talk to tend to my poor body in shock.

Looks like I'll have to return to Thailand to ever enjoy good Thai food again.  Woe is me.