I have a date on Friday. To add a little fun to the otherwise painful first-date experience, here is the pre-date quiz for all my readers. Prizes will be awarded on Saturday to those with the closest guesses. (Note: all questions and options are based on actual dates I have been on.) Answers must be submitted before 6pm Friday.

1. On Friday, will Eliza’s date will:
A. Bring props
B. Smoke
C. Not show up
D. Be dressed like a slob
E. Be on time

2. During dinner, Eliza’s date will reveal:
A. He was expelled from more than one school
B. He is working on finishing his degree
C. he owes child support money
D. He has been divorced more than twice
E. He has private body parts pierced

3. When discussing their lives to this point, he will reveal:
A. He hasn’t spoken to his family in years
B. he has been responsible for a drinking and driving accident
C. He has been arrested for assault
D. He has served several years in the military
E. He is still teying to figure out what he wants to do with his life

4. Talking about his kids, Eliza’s date will:
A. Say he thinks smacking them around is the best way to get them in line
B. say he hasn’t seen them in quite awhile
C. Describe his parenting style as strict, cool and permissive.
D. Not have anything to say
E. Say he thinks kids are okay, but he doesn’t want any.

5. If asked about his mother, Eliza’s date will say:
A. She lives with him
B. She would say he is her favorite child
C. They aren’t speaking
D. He talks with her every day
E. he puts flowers on her stone several times a year

6. At the end of the date he will:
A. Expect to come home with Eliza
B. be shocked when Eliza turns down his offer for a second date
C. Kiss her goodnight
D. Ask Eliza to drive him home
E. Apologize for the evening

nothing interesting has happened. At least, not here at least. There
was much village-touring and grand-welcoming and
me-wishing-I-had-my-audio-recorder. Some of the singing here is the
most beautiful you’ll ever hear–I think half of it is the language
itself. It’s incredible.

We’re currently hiding out in an awesome hotel with awesome interblags
and such, so with some luck I should be able to report shtuff more
often than I have been.

I’ve got some truly awesome photos to show you when I get back. I’ll
try not to do the whole “Here’s a slideshow of every three seconds of
my vacation. Whee!”

So yeah. That’s life.

I’ll write again when stuff of interest occurs.

Flash

We’re migrating from Yangon to Taungoo today, so we get a lovely
four-hour car ride on the only highway in the country. In the rain.
Woooo. I’ll probably spend most of the time writing up some of the
article(s) I’m gonna post when I get back. (Hey, I can pretend to be
productive if I so wish.)

I’d write more, but I’m being dragged away. Something about a schedule to keep.

Flash

The heat index is 105. I am avoiding doing anything productive by browsing textsfromlastnight.com.

One I relate to all to well….

“Today I am judging the level of singleness on a scale of one to a can of frosting. It’s not looking good for me.”

Woo working internet woo.

Amazing what things you learn to appreciate.

So, stuff’s been happening. We’ve trekked through a street market,
ridden on a highway that doesn’t deserve the name, nearly rolled a van
into a rice paddy, been bitten by leeches, marveled at by villagers,
caught in a monsoon, treated to *real* Chinese food, explored scary
dark corners of the hotel, been giggled at by passerby and college
folk, had nights on the town, and’ve generally been having a good
time.

I’ll write up some nice, lengthy articles for you all to read when I
get back home. Right now, I’m gonna keep from spoiling the surprise.

As it is, I have to go back to being Head Media Correspondent and Lead
Technical Everything.

Cheers!

Flash

Twenty hours in various oversized tubes of flying toothpaste and we’re
most of the way there. In a few hours we’ll board the final flight and
make the hop to Burma.

Nothing much to talk about. International flights are both amazing and
hellish. Every airport feels American. Airline food is actually
rubber. Woo.

I’ll check in again when we make it to Burma, if wifi’s there. Again,
no promises. -Flash

Right, so, this’ll be my last message to a bunch of you while I’m
still in the States for a few weeks. I’ll be able to email from Burma,
but the ten-hour time differential will probably screw with realtime
communication. That, and I’m not even sure how much time I’ll have to
write.

Anyway. I fly out tomorrow morning at nine-fiftyish to New Jersey,
then from there we go to Hong Kong, Singapore, and then we hop to
Burma. I believe. Some twenty-six hours airborne, and two days’ worth
of traveling. (Also, I’ll be a full day ahead of you lot, so I’ll let
you know how the future looks.) Supposedly we spend a while in
Singapore, so I’ll return with a few stacks of photos of the city,
hopefully.

In Burma we’ll be doing a lot of work in the provincial areas, so I’m
told. We’ll be spending a few days out on one of the deltas, where the
build their houses up on stilts over the water. Expect a few hundred
photos of that area.

Beyond that, I have no idea what to expect. I’ll let you know what’s
happening as I can, and depending on how much time I’ll have online
I’ll try to respond to emails, though I make absolutely no promises.

Cheers!

Flash

How I can possibly watch golf on TV. Well, Graeme McDowell is a pretty delicious reason…

Flash was driving the other evening, when we saw a car ahead of us emblazoned not only with the “student driver” warnings, but also for sale signs.

“Who would want to drive around in a car that’s had a student driver at the wheel?” I asked incredulously.

Flash, politely enough, didn’t say a word, he just cleared his throat, giving my over-stressed mind a chance to realize the obvious….

“oh, right. I already drive a car that’s been driven by a student driver. DUH.” I realized.

How many days of R&R do you reckon it will take before my brain starts functioning properly again?

The north side of the house is really coming along, thanks to end of season sales last year, and little bundles of. Extra plants from friends!

The front bed really enjoys the hostas and daylillies Jules gave me a couple years ago, and this year I added many more from friends. It is so fun to watch the new plants settle in and grow!

More perennials, this time a few that I inherited when my neighbor put up a fence right through the middle of some of his plants! Lucky me!

I just so love this old bike, especially the old bottle tops still in the spokes!

But what I love most this year are all my window boxes! Thanks to Flash and Jules for giving them to me and o Bear for hanging them up! They make me smile everyday!