when the Choc Nut and Christmas islander blogs within the breeze of the Gulf

I picked this flower from the different sets of fresh blooms displayed in the office each week. Instant flashbacks:

• My Japanese hair.
• Before attempting to count the petals, I had to refresh my memory about the parts of the flower. I was not so sure if the pretty little pieces at the middle are still petals or are the pistil’s stigma.
• On a lighter note, it reminded me of the little girls who play with each petal with “he loves me, he loves me not…”  Anyway, I haven’t tried it. Though I wish I did. Had I tried, maybe I selected a flower with the fewest petal (which one?) or the one like in the photo, depending on my appetite of prolonging the agony (read: knowing the results). We know that there’s no truth in it. But it’s funny how at some point one’s innocence is entrusted to the petals for decision making.

A few times I’ve checked e-how (How to do just everything) for different reasons. It offers a simple and handy solution to some of our questions. Since photos and books are amongst those which are normally damaged during a flood or by an untoward event, you might want to check these:

How to save flood damaged photos:

1. Set the environment for restoring the photos by lowering the humidity and temperature in the room. Limit the amount of direct sunlight. Make sure the room is as dry as possible.
2. Prioritize the photos. Fix the photos with the most damage or those without copies first. Repair color photos before black and white photos.
3. Stick the damaged photos in the freezer if you don’t have time to repair them. Put the photos into a zip bag, place the bag into a container and put them in the freezer. The cold stops the photos from deteriorating and may even suck some of the moisture out them.
4. Clean the photos in clear, cold water. Be careful not to touch the surface of the photos. Instead, swirl them around in the water to remove any mud, dirt or grime.
5. Lay the wet photos face up on blotter paper. Blotter paper is an ultra-absorbent type of paper designed to absorb moisture away from the object placed on it. You want to dry the photo as soon as possible or it may begin to mold.
6. Place small weights to the corners of the photos to limit the edges curling. Be careful not the put the weights too far onto the surface of the photo or they could damage the emulsion.
7. Hang the photos from a clothesline. If you have a number of photos to dry, carefully pin them up to a clothes line and turn oscillating fans on them. Be careful to place the fans at a safe distance so they don’t cause the photos to curl in the breeze.

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(Here’s a Philippine flag made of flowers in my virtual farm. I used forget me not for the blue portion, red poppies, white roses and yellow poppies for the others. The brown spots are newly planted orange poppies. The flag would be there until August 21.)

Once upon a time, a girl met her crush walking with his girl on the school lobby. She didn’t know she was crushing on him big time until that scenario snapped her. She ran to the other side and pretended she was minding her assigned plot/field for the gardening class. She hid there and confessed her hurt with the planted crops, unaware that she was already watering the ripening cabbage and soil with her tears.

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• Since I have no yellow piece to wear yesterday, I had yellow rice (chicken biryani) instead for lunch.  Madame Cory, rest in peace with Ninoy.
• I returned to my fave salon in Abu Dhabi after 48 years, i.e. since November last year, and had a haircut. I hardly noticed that my hair grew so long already. Few inches before waistline. I had it a little beyond shoulder length. The following day I googled about the reasons why women suddenly cut their hair. Popular reason: emotions-based. Mine? I’m on a shampoo and conditioner diet + it’s summertime here. Don’t worry, it grows fast and I’m enjoying the current ‘do’.
• In a way, I’m loving my pseudo name ‘witsandnuts’or ‘wits and nuts’. It’s a very good excuse to pig out. I ordered two yummy Lebanese sandwiches, one for wits, one for nuts. I ventured on the same excuse when I ordered laing and bicol express.
• Just when I thought I have the sole ‘right’ to my pseudo name, there’s another (Indian) blogger scribbling under the name of ‘wits n nuts’. We have different niches though and I started earlier.
• I had to stop watching Adik Sayo for a week. I hardly follow teleseryes. But I gave this a chance because it’s not a Tagalized version. Also, I was hugely entertained by the Batagueno accent. Problem came when another character was introduced and script obliges her to mimic another dialect. I easily can adopt accents, hence, I got confused with my Tagalog.  Next week, I’m watching again.
• Memories flashed back when I saw this photo of Gimik cast.
  Originally uploaded here

  They had a mini-reunion. There was a time I religiously followed the episodes. I stopped when they came up with the new season.

• I must congratulate myself for being able to resist buying stuff while I dropped by in my fave bookshop here. I was holding three books and they stuck on my palm like a magnet. Temptation, I won.
• We were inside LV’s store and I thought that would be the day I’ll have my first bag from them. Then, I got dizzy (figuratively), I thought of the hungry people and other things that I can make use of the resources that I was about to splurge. Temptation, I won (again!)
• Then good food waved, that I cannot resist.
• I’m beginning to quasi-fast. Ramadan would start soon.
• I’ve been checking Cine Star’s website. Looks like they’re not going to show Adventureland and 500 Days of Summer here. Booo. It’s your turn to make me jealous, as I did when UP was shown here months ago.

I was all eyes to CNN last night (UAE time). Unluckily I couldn’t follow the (a little more real time) coverage made by the two more known TV stations in the Philippines. Bohoo my TFC and Pinoy TV susbscriptions. Akalain mo, Wowowee at Eat Bulaga ang pinangtapat sa Michael Jackson memorial services coverage.

My spirit was willing, but my eyes were weak (or maybe because I have pre-set my mind to sleep earlier for a long battle ahead at work the next day, that’s today). So I unconsciously fell asleep after Stevie Wonder sung.

Thanks to All Bright Reference for this video wherein the memorial in its entirety was recorded.

Wow, I just noticed. This is the longest title amongst my posts in the history. I wouldn’t edit. It’s about MJ, anyway. May he rest in peace.