Alitta

I’m quite busy on this weekend as I’ve got so many things to do but I just couldn’t help blogging! Mimi, one of my best friends in uni rang me on Friday when I was at work with her unusual voice on the line. She asked if I would be free on Saturday, she wanted to ask me to accompany her to a wedding. It’s a must go wedding but she didn’t want to go there alone. I was speechless as it was such a sudden ask and I just couldn’t get myself prepared for the wedding. I had no dress, I mean a proper one which I could wear for a formal wedding.

It took Mimi and me for quite some time till we could sort thing out. We decided to borrow one of our friends’ dress and we had to make an appointment with her to get the dress, such a mess! Mimi, herself had to buy a new dress especially for this wedding and of course she’s going to wear it without being cleaned hahaha.

I’m now at Mimi’s and I saw her new dress hung in her wardrobe. It’s such a lovely blue dress while mine is a white and really girly looking dress. Ok, gotta go get dressed. Have a lovely day

I saw this (Forty Things Surprise) in the ‘couch trip blog’ but it was written there that it has already been written in a lot of sites. I just copied it and filled the gaps!

1. My uncle once: had worked in Norway and was sent back as he was caught having no work permit lol
2. Never in my life: have I ever been out of South East Asia
3. When I was five: I hated wearing a skirt
4. High school was: full of memorable experiences
5. I will never forget: my parents’ love and warmth
6. Once I met: Andy Roddick. He was super cute!
7. There’s this girl I know: who is now a very good friend of mine
8. Once, at a bar: I ran into my ex. Luckily he didn’t see me
9. By noon, I’m usually: sleepy
10. Last night: I was online until midnight and then went to bed
11. If only I had: loads of money and time, I’d travel around the world
12. Next time I go to church: sorry, I’m a Buddhist
13. What worries me most: is when my parents will stop working
14. When I turn my head left I see: my bedroom door
15. When I turn my head right I see: a telephone, a television, a white curtain and my lovely bed
16. You know I’m lying when: I talk pretty fast and have no eye contact
17. What I miss most about the Eighties is: I wasn’t even born!
18. If I were a character in Shakespeare I’d be: Juliet probably
19. By this time next year: hopefully I will still enjoy my job
20. A better name for me would be: Alitta is not bad, is it?
21. I have a hard time understanding: people’s selfishness
22. If I ever go back to school, I’ll: do a master
23. You know I like you if: I care about you
24. If I ever won an award, the first person I would thank would be: absolutely my parents
25. Take my advice, never: take the ones you love for granted
26. My ideal breakfast is: bread, sausages, tea or coffee. What an ordinary menu! lol
27. A song I love but do not have is: Mika’s Live in Cartoon Motion album
28. If you visit my hometown, I suggest you: visit beautiful temples and try a wild nightlife after that
29. Why won’t people: think twice before committing things that later they’d regret doing
30. If you spend a night at my house: you will enjoy the silence
31. I’d stop my wedding for: I’ve never thought about getting married
32. The world could do without: exploitation
33. I’d rather lick the belly of a cockroach than: eat a disgusting worm
34. My favourite blonde(s) is/are: I can’t even think of any
35. Paper clips are more useful than: dolls
36. If I do anything well it’s: comfort people
37. And by the way: I have no idea where the rest of the three questions are!

I was a Communication Arts student in a university and although I didn’t major in Advertising but Journalism, I’ve always found advertisings really influential in media, companies and even a person.

In Thailand, all the ads seem to be widely seen everywhere and they sometimes become really annoying for no reason. I have no idea how frequently people in other countries spot the ads in the daily life and how they think about them but I can see them almost everywhere. However, the ads are quite useful sometimes - when you completely have nothing to do but watch the ads. Here are 10 places where the ads are commonly found:

1. Television - My mum always gets frustrated in every TV commercial during the break of TV shows or the soap she is watching. She even counted how many of them were displayed. There are averagely 10 of them in every single break and they are around 4-5 breaks or even more!
2. Bus stop - There’s always a large advertisement signboard at every bus stop in Bangkok.
3. On a bus itself - It’s a massive sticker sheet displaying an ad sticking around a bus and with its large size, the ad usually catches peoples’ eyes.
4. On a skytrain - Just like the ad on a bus, a skytrain has a really huge sticker sheet on it too. Also, there’re some screens displaying a number of commercial ads in every compartment. I love those ads on the screens I must add since it’s better than inevitably looking at others’ shoes when I’ve got nothing to do or don’t know where else to look at.
5. In the cinema - This is ANNOYING for real! All the commercial ads and movie previews which are played on the screen usually take over 20 minutes before the movie starts! For instance, if the ticket says the movie starts at 1:30, you won’t miss any single scene of the movie if you enter the theatre at 1:50.
6. Newspapers - Ads are quite common in a newspaper and I just skip every page containing those ads.
7. Magazines - The same thing goes to all the magazines, bloody ads are cluttered there and it’s very irritating to see those all ads page after page.
8. Websites - Every corner appears the ads!
9. Advertising billboards - Seen everywhere along the roads, it’s good for Bangkok drivers though, at least they have something to look at while being stuck in the traffic.
10. Leaflets - I receive at least one leafelet almost every morning on my way to the office!

It’s June 27^th and it’s my 23th birthday today! It’s probably I’m getting old so I didn’t look forward to my birthday to come. It was a very wonderful day though

I started my special Friday with my mum and my younger sister in the early morning. We went to make merit by giving food offerings to three monks who usually drop by around my house area for their morning routine. We Thai commonly make merit on special occasions and also on one’s birthday. One of those monks asked if it was my birthday, I said yes and he started praying. It really made my day as I gained good thing on my birthday morning.

Thank you mum for getting up since 4 am to cook and arranging everything. Thank you dad for over 3 calls today and the most wanted wish ever (he wished me to be more beautiful everyday haha). Thanks doctor - my big sister for a call from the north. Thanks my younger sis for a birthday wish via msn at midnight though she was just upstairs.

I received a number of calls and sms from my friends since midnight till the end of the day, so I needed to say sorry to my colleagues and of course my boss for the whole-day cell phone rings.

Thank you so much Chris, my teenage boss, for a very lovely PINK bouquet which made me feel really girlish and a cute birthday card with my name incorrectly spelled on it haha just teasing!

Also, thank you Chris, Jock, Tom, Benz, all my colleagues for my birthday present tucked in a pink (again) box and delicious chocolate cake (with only one candle on it) which quite surprised me hahaha. Actually it was a big surprise to receive the birthday cake as I didn’t expect those four guys to mange this kind of thing by themselves when there was no girl around. A cake deliveryman came in the office saying he came to deliver cake and at that moment he was kind of ruining my surprise as I was sitting right there hahaha. Anyway, I really really appreciated you all and thanks again for the cake with my name correctly written on it

Anyway, I heard a poem when I was a kind saying that our birthday is a so-called death’s day of mum as she risked her life with our birth and yes, that’s so true!

Happy Birthday to Me and thanks mum for giving me birth~

Education and degrees do matter for Thai students while western people don’t really care about how educated people are (this is what I’ve heard). So a graduation ceremony is what Thai university students and their parents always look forward to. Getting a degree means a success in life and as for Thai society, it’s not only a value but it’s what can obviously be seen in every day life.

There are a number of state universities and private ones in Thailand and of course students who graduate from state universities usually gain more advantage in applying for a job as they are the very first choices for several companies.

The graduation ceremony is also held at the different period of time for different universities. The person who gives the degree certificate is also the different ones. For some universities, it’s an honour to get the degree certificate from a royal family member while some university students get it from the president of their university.

It’s the proudest moment for those students and their parents as the degree commonly means their efforts capabilities and IQ.

On the ceremony, apart from attending the hall to get the certificate, when the ceremony is done, it’s time for taking photos and each the graduate will hire their private photographer, some of which are professional while some are the graduates’ friends. They also invite loads of their old friends, cousins and their juniors in the uni to join them in hundreds of photos

Thailand seems to be really open to homosexual people every day and this really mounts the number of those queers. Tonight, MIss Tiffany’s Universe Contest #11 was held in Chonburi, Pattaya, one of the most popular tourist destinations in Thailand. It’s been more than 10 years the country has held this kind of beauty contest. What on earth the point is?!?!?!

I was watching the contest as I just washed my hair so I couldn’t go to bed. Anyway, I heard the MC informing the objectives of the Miss Tiffany Contest; To promote the country’s famous spot - Pattaya to be an international attraction. To break the gap between straight and homosexual persons, or to say try to urge people to sincerely accept the way the queers are. The winner will be representing Thailand in the Miss International Queen 2008 which will also be taken place in Thailand.

I’m not against them or anything but for me, the 30 finalists still look maculine, well, not that much manly but they are obviously lads!

Some of the questions for them;

Q: Can homosexual people work in politics?
A: Of course as we are humans who are as valuable as others.

Q: Do you think using a gay character on TV soap opera really influence more people to become a transvestite?
A: Being a gay is not that easily passed from one person to others but it’s a subconscious in childhood. Also, please do not act like we are a fool particularly in the media.

Q: In school, if you were required to wear a boy school uniform and have your hair cut, what would you do?
A: I would absolutely abide by the school rules. Though we are gay, we are educated as well as other men.

Q: If you win the contest, who are you abruptly going to in the next morning?
A: I will go to see my parents to thank them for giving me birth and for not reprimanding me for being like this.

The photo above is the winner of Miss Tiffany’s Universe 2008…Congratulations!

During the political turmoil in Thailand, I came across a good news which was really worht spending my time on.

Today His Majesty the King Bhumibol Adulyadej delivered a valuable speech to Thailand’s Ambassador to other countries. I actually dared not translate the Royals words to English but I just wanted to share it to worldwide and let people know why he’s earned a place in everyone’s heart.

His speech was partly about a proud of being a Thai, the Thai style behaviour that make foreigners realize the Thais are unique and wise, the balance of agricultural process, creation of understanding and getting prepared for natural disasters.

Some part of the speech;

“…..We have to well behave to let people know we are Thais who are different from others….We are not weird but unique with our good thinkings……”

” You just can’t run away from any natural phenomena such as an eathquake which can happen anywhere in the world even in Thailand, you just have to get yourself prepared. I’ve been in an earthquake in Chiang Mai, I was sick at that time and had to lie down under a table which is the right way to do when an earthquake happens……Thailand is considered a lucky country as there have been not many and severe natural disasters so far…..” 

Well, for non-Thai readers - you might not find the speech really impressive (possibly because of my translation) but for the Thais - we are always well aware how priceless HM the King’s speeches are.

Long Live His Majesty The King

Finally, the Chinese rescuers have stopped their charge on rescuring Sichuan victims after the two-week mission. The last one who got rescued was a man found under a collasp building after being buried for 9 days. The death toll hits 60,000, four thousands kids lose their parents and millions Chinese become homeless.

I watched the news on TV two days ago, the rescuers discovered a man under the debris and he said he had drunk his pee and had tissue paper for 6-7 days in order to live his life. The man said he remembered reading a book which mentioned eating tissue paper and pee. Also, some other survivors ate earthworms and survived!

What kind of other dishes recommended for this kind of situtaion?

Anyway…..Rest in peace…..

Here we go again! As of May 20, 2008, Thailalnd is ranked #118 out of 140 of the least peaceful countries in the world and #9 in AEASN just ahead of Burma according to the report conducted by The Global Peace Index.

Thailand’s state of peace is rated very low thanks to the country’s severe crimes, the tendency of demonstration that might cause the violent, the respect of human rights which draw Thailand to be near bottom on Peace Index.

It’s such a paradox! The national anthem sings ‘Thais love peace’ but political contradiction and high level of crimes have been the country’s big problems for years.

Anyway, Iceland is the world’s most peaceful country, followed by the top 9 - Denmark, Norway, New Zealand, Japan, Ireland, Portugal, Finland, Luxembourg and Australia.

Happy Thai New Year people!

Songkran, one of the world’s most amazing festival, reaches for another year and loads of fun and thoroughly wet poeple.

Songkran (13-15 April) is considered as the Thai New Year but obviously recognized as a fascinating special season worldwide. People play water by splashing water to one another, some have plasitc guns containing water, some get into a pick-up, driving along the road with many water tanks.

Both local and foreign folks plan their trip for Songkran many days ahead in order to make sure they won’t miss the chance to join such a festival. Surprisingly, Bangkok, the capital city, is usually empty on Songkran. No traffic jam, air pollution from thousand of cars on the road and a massive crowd. I assume that they leave Bangkok to other provinces as Songkran lasts for 3 days, so it’s a long holiday for the Thais who nomally go back to their hometown just to visit their family. Traditionally, the young pour water on the hands of revered elders and ask for blessing - this is what Songkran is supposed to be!

I have no idea where are the famous places in other provinces on Songkran but for Bangkok, Khao San Road absolutely rules! I’ve been there twice and I kinda hated it.

I just couldn’t walk but flowed along the crowd. The place is crazy with too many WEIRD people so no fun at all!

If you are looking for fun in Thailand, no better choice than Songkran