daronloo

I don't need to wander all the way to BKK for some fun fun fun.  Muak Lek has its own entertainment to offer. We don't get road rage Bangkokians are subjected to!  We get moo-moo-cows putting up a show! The black one in front totally the BULL leader. Two of them actually bumped into the car and folded-in my side mirrors.  Now, this is my own version of Engrish . For some reason they forgot to mix in the salt with whatever makes the chips sour.  Hmm.  Claypot made out of crab? This is the best!  After using this fabric softener, you will want to make love to your own clothes! I totally need this if I'm gonna party-rock-anthem Muak Lek! Blinged to the max shufflin'

So many! Going Bananas Don't worry I ain't eating them bananas on my own.  I share the smaller ones with the birds.  There's a dead smallish tree in the backyard and we decorate it like a Christmas tree--Christmas Banana Tree?  And the birds will drop by and consume this tropical delicacy. 

Fridays are bad days for my semantics students.  The reason being the amount of time spent with me--four hours! The discussion this morning and afternoon was about Felicity Conditions, in relation to our discussion on Direct Speech Acts.  In brief FC looks at conditions which must transpire for the the DSA to be appropriately executed. It is somewhat similar to Truth Conditions, but FC only looks at what conditions have Truth Values. In the middle of my lecture, I candidly mentioned, "Our parents should all attend this lecture." Why? Because some of the things they say are infelicitous. For something to have FC, e.g., the speaker must know that the hearer has already performed the action.  But this is not the case for some older parents.  They repeatedly ask for confirmation for tasks which have long been completed.  Such as, "Have you made your bed?"  "Have you (you may fill in the blanks with whatever is appropriate).  In other words, the...

I was hurrying along the winding pathway past the Thai Sala.  Fallen leaves are strewn about, and the grass has browned, except for the bougainvillea. "Pat, pat, patter patter patter." Little black discs began spinning out of the ground, accompanied by the hiss of water.  "The sprinklers are out! I'm only halfway to the parking lot." I was at a safe distance where the beads of water could not reach.  I examined the direction of each sprinkler.  There were three right at the end of the pathway, the first two sprinkling counter-clockwise while the last one clockwise.  "I can manage this," I thought.  Careful calculation brought me right behind the first sprinkler.  I obediently trailed the horizontal jet of water.  I was beaming when I maneuvered past the first two, a smile plastered on my face.  Just then, I noticed the third sprinkler's stream of water coming to me.  The pace faster than the second hand of an analog clock....

Many perceive living in a multilingual society as exotic, while some view it as a privilege or even a luxury.  An article published by the New York Times mentions how bilinguals are perhaps better at analytic tasks.  Would this imply that those who are trilingual or polyglots are smarter?   How do bilinguals/multilingual/polyglots cope?  If the notion of universal grammar were true, there would be a lot of principles and parameters to be set to accommodate the different languages spoken.  What more the ability and the spontaneity to code-switch in different linguistic domains!  Could these be the bases for the assumption that bilinguals are better at analyzing?  Like a chameleon sensitive to the color of the environment--perhaps this is what bilinguals are good at.   Setting those aside, growing up multilingual is not all happy and gay.  It is rather strenuous to be constantly conscious of how one should be, pragmatically speakin...

But I thought?!  Everything is relative, or is there such thing as universalism?  Beats me.  Also, something that you've had, and still have, bugs you to write you a post on your blog.  Something that you have been with.  Something that you have worked with, for example.  You expect to know what is expected when dealing with that something.  You know how that something reacts but still you do counter-intuitively.  Silly, but true?  It's like someone asking you in an angrily contorted face with voice close to a snake's hisses.  You respond in bewilderment and a tint of angry confusion.  Then the other person asks you why you are angry?  Do you get that?  If you do, how do you react? Bleh. 

I never had to bring one.  But I might on Thursday. We know the gym attracts different types of people.  Trust me, not all of them are there for fitness' sake.  I've been frequenting the campus gym for over a year now, and I've had my fair share of encounters with other gym enthusiasts.  Take note that I'm not referring them as "health" or "fitness" junkies.  Why do I go to the gym?  I'm scrawny and skinny, but I have managed to add some muscly padding to my rubbery dark and tanned skin.  So far, I have two categories of dudes who go to the gym. 1.  The ones who perspire after 10 minutes of intense workout, then takes off their shirt and leaves the sweat-drenched shirt hanging on one of the machines--the machine selected is normally one that is most used by everyone else.  Mind you, their upper body is not the only part that is secreting wetness, the lower half works just the same.  So if it's a press down machine they were on, y...