"Sweet Caroline" - Neil Diamond, 1969

I had a very strange dream last night.

I dreamed that I was watching a live performance called "Neil Diamond On Ice". And Neil was singing "Sweet Caroline" (into a headset microphone) while down on one knee, shoving a curling stone across the ice!

That's a really weird dream -- even for me! As I recall, I was laughing at the absurdity of the scene, even as I participated in the dream!

Janet

"76 Ball" - Urge Overkill, 1990

John found "Can We Have Our Balls Back, Please?" on the BBC's website today. Interesting!

Janet

"All You Have To Do Is Come Back Home" - Ray Price, 1986

And we have gotten home from Singapore! It was so nice to have John with me on a business trip, although it made me wish I'd had more free time to share with him. I'll have to see if I can talk him into releasing more of his trip photos...and if so, perhaps I can post the URL here. (Or maybe he'll post them on his own blog?)

Another highlight of the week was getting to spend time with my friend Fumi...and finally introduce her to John, and vice-versa! Thanks for sharing so much of your time with us, Fumi!

Singapore is a really interesting place. It's "Asia Lite", as one of my oil industry friends once said. That makes it any easy place for a Westerner to spend a week; but I sometimes wish it felt more authentic, if you know what I mean. It's also a little antiseptic for my taste...a bit like an Asian version of Switzerland. But I feel relatively safe there, which is always an important factor when traveling.

The food there is one of my favorite features. It's the most interesting mixture of Chinese, Malay, Indian, Japanese, and others. The seafood is wonderful. They have availability of lots of wines from all over the world. And the service is always friendly and helpful.

Singapore is also very beautiful and green, with even more exotic flowering trees and plants than Houston. However, I couldn't live with the very hot & humid weather all year around.

And we found the coolest CD shop in the entire world, as I wrote while we were there. The chain is called That CD Shop, and the one we went to is on Scotts Road. I've never seen CDs marketed in such an unusual way. (Sorry I couldn't find a website link better than the one I just used.) We found lots of Lisa Ono CDs there, and we've brought one home with us. We were introduced to the Japanese jazz singer by Fumi. If Oscar Castro-Neves works with her, that says all I need to know!

But now we're home, safe and sound. The jetlag is awful. Our bodies are exhausted from the 14 hours crammed into the plane. But at least we can now watch the rest of the Winter Olympics at times other than the middle of the night, as we were doing in Singapore.

So I'll write more later, OK? Am I excused?

Whew...thanks!

Janet

Photos from Singapore

John and I are having a great week in Singapore, and we'd like to share a couple of his photos with Lord Celery readers. The first is a view from our hotel room at the Singapore Marriott, and the second is a shot that John took down at Boat Quay during one of his day trips.

You can click on each image to see it in a larger size.

I promise I'll write more when we get back to the UK -- sorry, but we're having too much fun in the meantime! (And we've found the coolest CD shop in the entire world!)


Janet

"Leaving On A Jet Plane" - John Denver, 1974

Just wanted to let everybody know that my postings may remain a little sporadic over the next week, but it's for a really good reason. For the first time, my new hubby will accompany me on one of my teaching-trip adventures -- this one to Singapore! We leave tomorrow.

As John will have free time to "play tourist", I expect him to take lots of interesting photos -- some of which, with any luck, we'll post here to share our trip with Lord Celery readers!

And by the way, I am in slightly better spirits as the week progresses...although my desk drawer at work STILL haven't been fixed...

I'll stay in touch here as I can!

Janet

"On A Bad Day" - Kasey Chambers, 2001

ARGH...

That's the word -- maybe it's better to say that's the sound -- of the day today.

It all started this morning, when I heard on BBC Radio 5's breakfast show that the apologetic Muslim protestor probably was so very sorry for his actions (dressing like a suicide bomber -- see yesterday's Lord Celery) because he was already on parole for a drug conviction. I'm sure I'm not the only one sucked in by his seemingly-heartfelt-apology to the British people.

Then lots of other things started going wrong, too -- including complications at work (the best being that after having my desk moved while I was away teaching, the large file drawer is now jammed and won't open...) AND, best of all, realizing at 4:30 this afternoon that I'd left my house keys by the front door at home (and John was in Swindon). Neighbors came to my rescue. But that doesn't really help my bruised ego.

Maybe an early night will...

Janet

"I'm Sorry" - Brenda Lee, 1960

Sorry for being a little quiet of late. I've had an unusually long run of training, all away from home, almost immediately since we got back from our wedding trip to the States. Tomorrow will be my first day back in the Oxford office since just before Christmas! Incredible schedule...but I certainly can't ever say that I'm bored, can I?

I'm a little under-the-weather, too, but probably nothing that a little TLC can't cure.

Today's subject title comes from an apology we've just seen on TV. I've hesitated to write about the furor caused that the anti-Islamic cartoons recently run in some European newspapers. The resulting reaction from more extreme members of the worldwide Islamic community has been alarming to say the least...but then so is the current run-in between Iran and the UN, but that's for another blog entry.

One of the most upsetting things about a protest held in London recently was that one of the young male protestors was costumed like a terrorist bomber. That would have been awful enough under the best of circumstances. But given last July's suicide bombings in London, it was an incredibly insensitive and inflammatory way to have protested.

But today, the man publicly apologized for his behavior, and it has been widely covered in the press today. Good for him.

At least that's one step in the right direction.

Janet