!it’s taking so long and I am getting very impatient!

It’s taking so long and I am getting very impatient!

 

I don’t understand why it’s taking the USCIS so long to process my request. I had mailed in my request back in August of last year, and still today end of August of 2008, nothing as of yet. Oka, so I don’t know if it was just my mailing services, but according to customer service, back in December of 2007 they had sent me an appointment for finger printing, but yet I had never received it, but just a couple weeks prior to that I received a letter stating that my application has been received and will be processed. So back in March of this year I had called to follow up on my application, which I found out that my finger printing appointment was back in December and had never showed up. Well how in the world am I supposed to know I have an appointment for finger printing if I never receive a notice? So they are supposed to reschedule me in for another appointment. I decided to call a month after that to follow up on it, and no one ever put in my request. WTF??  We’ll they said they’ll put it in which they did, so I called a month and a half later to follow up on it and according to them, it is still processing?? Each time I call I always get something new and different time frames. They always give me a time frame of when I should be contacted, and never was contacted. It’s getting me very mad and impatient! I called again today, and still nothing. It’s been a year already. All the lady said was they’ll have to do a service request for me. WTF?? How much longer must I wait? Shouldn’t I already be done with the entire process? It’s already been a year, I should be done already!

 

Just a little mad right now and I just need to let it out! GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

Calling in the Soul: gender and the cycle of life in a Hmong village

I have decided that I wanted to read “Calling in the Soul: gender and the cycle of life in a Hmong village” by Patricia V. Symonds.  I had always wanted to read this book, but never found the time to actually order the book and read it, but since I won’t start school for another month, I decided that I should really go purchase this book and start some reading before the fall semester comes around.

 

I know a lot about the traditional Hmong belief and custom but I want to know more and read more. Besides that, I think it is important to know as much as I can thus I will be knowledgeable of my own culture and religion. At the same time I am afraid that one day our beautiful rich history and belief will disappear since not a lot of people are following the tradition or beliefs anymore, I think it is important if I at least know some things. I want to be able to understand it fully and one day passes it down to my children, if I ever have any.

 

 Information below was found from highbeam.com

 

Calling in the Soul invokes the chant of the Hmong of northern Thailand to welcome the arrival of a newborn baby, appropriate to a study of birthing practices of this minority group. An ethnography based on fieldwork in northern Thailand, the book falls into the tradition of studying the life cycle–birth, marriage, death–of a subject. As this ethnography makes clear, the life cycle approach is particularly germane as the Hmong believe that after death a person’s soul is reborn in a child of the same lineage- a belief profoundly affecting Hmong perception of birth. While several researchers (eg. Jacques Lemoine) have viewed mortuary ritual as the most important and elaborate …

Gae Roy Rak…who is this guy??

HELPPPPPPPPPPPP..

I went back to rewatch the opening of “Gae Roy Rak” and I notice I have not yet seen this guy.. First I thought he was Plern, but he obviously isn’t Plern.. right?? Or is he a guest star who’ll show up at the end of the series??

Fall is already approaching, have you notice the signs?

 
picture found at Radeka photography

Picture found at Travel webshots

I love everything about autumn. I have to say, it’s my most favorite season. There is so much about the autumn season that I just adore and love.

 

I had already started seeing signs of fall already. I was driving to work this morning and notice that the lavish green trees along the side of I-85 had been turning its color from the lush green color to its light green color and its yellowish color. It is a great surprise that the leaves are already starting to turn its colors, it’s only end of August after all, the tree doesn’t start changing color until at least mid-late September, but I am surprise to see that it is already starting to change colors, not just that, but it’s also already starting to feel like autumn. I am hoping that fall is going to approach early this year.

 

The hot sun is not as hot as it normally is around this time of year. Lately the weather has been great besides the tropical rain we are receiving from hurricane Faye. I had notice that the air is much cooler now than it was about two weeks ago when the sun was unbearable.

 

I rather enjoy the wonderful smell of autumn, call me crazy, but I just adore the smell of wood burning in the cool autumn mornings. I don’t know about anywhere else, but here in the country side of Georgia, every autumn season the mornings are always filled with the smell of woods burning and it just makes the season the more enjoyable. Really I don’t live that far out from the cities but it’s far out enough to be peaceful and be away from the busy city streets. 

 

The smell is even more enjoyable when you also wake up to see the beautiful autumn sky that you can’t see any other seasons. I have notice that only in autumn when the sun rise and or sunset the sky turn to a haze of lavender, my favorite color. The sunrise is always beautiful, but it is most beautiful in the fall when the lavender hue is in the mix of its beauty. The sunset seems to linger much longer in the fall than any other season which gives us more time to take the beautiful feel of the skies. Once again, it makes the world seems very peaceful and takes away all your worries away, at least for the time being. 

 

The night skies are also beautiful with the starts shinning bright in the autumn skies as well. It seems like the sky is always clear in the fall thus the stars are able to shine much brighter. Star gazing in the beautiful autumn night sky with the welcoming breeze makes the season very romantic also. Ha, I love anything romantic.

 

I also love the beautiful brilliant colors of autumn. The leaves turn to different shades of red, orange and yellow, so many different shades that you never knew exist. It is also most beautiful when the leaves are falling one at a time thus creates a wonderful feeling. I love the color of autumn, I love the way the colors are all so natural and breathe taking. Especially here in Georgia where there are so many green trees, it is most beautiful in the fall when the lush green trees turns to the different lavish shades of red, orange and yellow. I love to indulge in the beautiful colors and the wonderful breeze.

 

The air feels and smells especially clean in the fall, I love the breezy feel of the fresh cool air. Have you ever gone to a quiet park or open breeze area just around dusk and just let the fresh autumn breeze run through you? Oh believe me, it’s one of the best feelings ever. I love it when the weather is a little chilly, it brings the best out of the autumn air.

 

There is no season as beautiful and pleasurable as the fall. I love the peacefulness, the beauty and the wonderful feeling of the fall. I love everything about this season; I do enjoy every season since there is something unique about each season, but of all seasons, autumn is the best and my most favorite seasons. Nothing has surpassed the great feeling of autumn.

 

“Gae Roy Rak”… I am confident about who the murderer really is…

pictures credit to wishbon and Meaw noi non ning

I am confident about who the murderer is…

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! I can’t wait any longer to see what is going to happen next in “Gae Roy Rak”. I am so excited about everything. Episode 10 is so intense that it kept me glued to my seat! Too bad I wasn’t able to finish the rest of episode 10 since it has not yet been uploaded!

 

First off, I really wanted to say how much I LOVE the cute scenes between Duen and Rob! I love it! I just love how they are so sweet and gentle to each other. Their chemistry is just amazing together. I think they are my most favorite pra’nangs! Of all the pra’nang’s I’ve seen these two have the most chemistry. I LOVE LOVE LOVE them!!

 

 About time Jillie snaps out of her crazy psychotic moods! I am starting to like her now, she’s finally able to understand and not get all crazy! And their mother as well, she has finally snapped out of money crazy mode trying to get money off of her daughter. I am glad to see that she as well is trying to be a good mother. If only she had realized that a lot earlier things wouldn’t have never been this complicated, but of course that is the whole point of this lakorn. Khun Sit will never learn as we can see, he is still money crazy and everything he does is due to money. All he thinks of is his self and how he can benefit from it. What a loser.

 

I don’t understand why Sunisa is such a bitch. First off, dude, she has nothing good to offer the company, she knows she is nothing compare to Duen, but yet she tries to beat Duen at it. Oka, if she was to have something good to compete with Duen, then I can see why she want’s to win, but the only way she’s trying to win is by being using her own body and soon enough trap herself. It’s funny how Sunisa has nothing to do with the murder case, but yet she wants to blackmail them. It’s not like she is going to get anything out of it but at the end she’ll just hurt herself. Once again, that’s why this is a lakorn. I still can’t comprehend why Sunisa wants to blackmail Songton and Songrob so much. Yeah they are rich, but didn’t she want to be better than her mother, we don’t know how her mother was, but she’s putting her self lower than a piece of shit. I was very excited that Songton had finally snapped out of his Sunisa craziness mode. “You are worth less then the prostitute on the street”. BURN!!!!!

 

I found it funny that Songton thought Songrob was the murderer and vise versa. I never understood why they both decided to give a false testimony, but now I had finally understood their reason to why they did such a thing. It was just funny how they thought the other one was the killer. No wonder why they didn’t want the case to be revived. I had always wonder why they refused to let this case be solved yet decided to just leave it as that and each time the case was mentioned they all get so mad about it.

 

I also understand why Jillie didn’t want the case to be revived as well. Because of her reputation she didn’t want anyone to know that she was with Ton that night and start a scandal so she refused to let this case be revived.

 

Now we finally know where everyone was at, at the time of the murder.

 

We had always known that Rob was out driving at the time of the murder thus he cannot be the murderer and heard about Annie’s death through the radio.

 

Ton was with Jillie all night which means neither Jillie nor Ton were the murderers.

 

Jillie and Annie’s mother is not the murderer since she was at home at the time of the murder and received the phone call about her daughter’s death.

 

We found out that the security dude is not the murder since a long time ago.

 

Janitor lady is of course not the murderer since she died a few episodes back.

 

–Gay backstage dude, he has been cleared since along time ago, thus I had always believed he was not the murderer but nothing really had been confirmed about him. But I do still believe that he is clear. At the time of the murder he was not anywhere to be seen until Annie’s body was discover. So he can still be a suspect, but I do believe he is not the murderer.

 

My only suspect is Khun Sit. I’ll explain why. If you go back to the very beginning of episode 2 when Annie and Jillie’s mother received the phone call, notice the mother was home watching T.V and drinking but when she picked up the phone and received the message Khun Sit just arrived home. We assume he was at home when we first watched the episode, but if you go back and re-watch that  part it’s obvious that he has just return home from doing whatever he was doing. Notice how he stopped to listen to the phone conversation, he just stood there and not even bothers to help his wife since she is in shocked. Wouldn’t anybody rush towards their wife when their wife is in shock? Well he didn’t, he just stood there with no reaction at all.

 

I believe he had enough time to make it home. When Annie fell of the building he rushed back into his car and speed out of the area. The police was informed and then the news was spread. By the time he got home the news spread to his wife, which gave him some times to get home before it was obvious that he was the murderer. I am going to stick to this belief until further notice. I have a very strong feeling that I am right this time. There is no way on earth anyone else can be the murderer since everyone is already cleared of being the suspect, but nothing really has come of Khun Sit.

 

Until I finish episode 10 and finish the whole series, lets wait to see who the murderer really is!

Duck Larb

Thanks to Ginger from Nye Noona for the amazing recipe for the Duck Larb, I had went grocery shopping yesterday afternoon after work and decided that I wanted to try to make the Duck Larb that Ginger had posted. My Duck Larb did not turn out like how the professionals would make it, but nonetheless, I think it turned out pretty good. I followed every step except I had also added my own little twist to it. I think that’s why I cannot bake but only can cook, I always end up adding something else to it so my baking never turns out the way it should be.  But regardless, I thought my Larb turned out well, it was perfectly cooked and perfectly mixed. I thought the hardest part was skinning the duck and of course cutting the shallots. I hate cutting anything onion, but I do enjoy eating them.  

(update) The recipe asked for Padek and since it also said I can substitute fish sauce for Padek, i had decided to use fish sauce instead. Took the Duck Larb to work for lunch and my co-worker loved it!

 

 

Sorry guys, I had lent my digital camera to my little sisters and so I had to take these pictures from my phone. Sorry about the bad quality and the bad photos.

 

 

The Herbs…

The uncooked Duck

Cooking the duck skin and garlic first… I love the smell of garlic being cooked

now cooking the Duck after the skin is brown

The duck mixed and ready to serve

The duck being served with rice.. YUMMY!!!!

my parent’s garden

I had went to spend the weekend at my parents place over the weekend, and boy, I had been missing out a lot! I miss my mom and my little sister’s cooking so very much. It was so nice to finally eat both their cooking again since I am a busy person and hardly have time to cook for myself thus I’ve been eating my sister in law’s cooking, but to be honest, it is nothing like my mom and younger sister’s cooking.

 

My parents has a farm behind their house so since Ginger from Nye Noona always post up pictures of her father’s farm, I had decided to respond back to her post and post some pictures of my parent’s farm. It was a gloomy day so the lighting wasn’t the best, but do enjoy the pictures.

Lemon Grass.. I love this stuff!!

I am not sure what these are called, but I do enjoy eating them

Once again, I have no idea what these are called, but we put these in our chicken broth.. It is a mixture of 3 or 4 different types of herbs.

Eggplants..

Eggplant at a closer view

Green Peppers. I can’t live with out these!

More peppers at a closer view..

Bitter Melon and it’s flowers. I enjoy stirfrying these with pork..

String beans…

The string bean flower.. isn’t it beautiful??

A baby asian pumpkin.. I enjoy stirfrying these

Basil.. I love these stuff

More basil.. but i think these are a different type of basils (not sure)

Red hot chillie pepper…

Not sure what these are called.

The day is not completed without the mints.

“The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down” by Anne Fadiman

“The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down” by Anne Fadiman

I think whether you are Hmong or not, everyone should give this book a try. Anne Fadiman had done her research and did a great job at writing this wonderful book. As soon as I open the first page, I was already taken by the book thus putting it down was hard for me to do. I had read this book last year out of enjoyment, and after reading this book I had a greater appreciation for my parents and all Hmong people who had struggle with life during the Vietnam War and the migrations to the United States. We as the younger generation of Hmong kids had taken life for granted and do not see all the struggles our parents had gown through just to give us the freedom we needed. Yet we do not see what they want and wish us to accomplish the “American Dream”. Many Hmong American’s children’s had started a legend; many had strayed away and become something else yet never see why we were brought to the United States and how much they had struggle to get us here.

In this book Anne did not only focus on the Lee’s but she as well focus on the rich Hmong culture and it’s differences with the American culture, their medicine, the way of life, their respect, prospective of life and not just that, but she also goes into great details about the Hmong history and migrations from China to southern Asia and then to America.

It is a must read book, and I do hope everyone gives this book a try. I believe this book will as well give you a better understanding of The Hmong people and it’s culture, it’s belief, religion and the like.

Just blabbering about my plants

Finally!! My desert rose had finally bloomed! I had gotten the plant back in April and it took the plant 4 months to bloom. Goodness, but it was well worth the wait though. So far I only got one bloom, but it seems I’ll be getting more blooms by next week. Oh, it’s going to be so beautiful once the plant is filled with beautiful pinkish red and white peddles.

My Plumeria’s won’t be blooming this season. I guess I’ll just have to let it go into dormant this coming winter and hope for some blooms next spring. I need to find a place to put the dormant plumerias once the cold seasons arrives. I was thinking about building my own little greenhouse for the Plumerias, desert rose and my orange jasmine, but it’ll take so much time and I don’t seem to have that kind of time. So maybe for this winter I’ll just have to put them in the laundry room until the winter season is over. I know I still got some times, but because it does get a little cold in the fall I’ll have to start thinking about putting my plants indoors.

I am hoping to add some more desert roses to my little collection of plants and a whole lot more of the orange jasmine and maybe some new plants as well. For the plumerias I’ll have to let it grow for next spring and maybe start a cutting from there since from all the flowers, the Plumerias are the most expensive. I want to start a whole new collection of plumerias, but it’s so hard to maintain the plumerias in the cold season. It would be a lot easier if I was to live in a tropical area.

My brother wants to start a pond in the front yard this fall so let’s hope that happens so I can do more things with my plants around the pond. Let’s see if he is able to do as he said. Knowing my brother, it is very possible that it won’t happen. My sister in law said the same thing!

2008 Beijing Olympic Theme song “Beijing welcomes you”

I know I am a little late, but I found this through my little sister’s myspace page last night and instantly feel in love with. The lyrics are so very strong and very touching. It also shows much warmth in the song as well, like I’ve said it is a very powerful song and very  welcoming.

 

“BEIJING WELCOMES YOU” sang by 100 Chinese singers, yes, including Jackie Chan. This song is the official 2008 Beijing Olympic theme song.

 

With stubtitles

Enjoy…