Session 2

TLO (the Little One)'s weekly therapy schedule for the next six months is Saturday, 2PM. I have decided to look at this episode in her life as the start of her schooling years. "We're going to school today, you will play with the kids and Teacher Mark" is just way better than "We're going to therapy today, they will try to fix your neurological responses through activities"

In the waiting area, TLO had a grand time flipping through the pages of what's available for parents to read... COSMO. Haha. Our little girl would pick up anything with colors and images.



A few minutes before 2PM, the kids at the waiting area started to get restless. They all want to go in. I totally understand why, and I would too if I were a patient... the place has so many toys, coloring books, puzzles, all the good colorful stuff. M A G I C. And the teachers look, sound, feel genuinely caring. Amidst raging kiddie hormones, Hubby and I wondered if we will still be allowed to join the session. We learned from some friends that at some point, parents are kicked out of the sessions because their presence becomes counterproductive to the objectives of the therapy.

While we knew this painful possibility, we were still shocked when Teacher Mark said that starting today, we will no longer be allowed to enter Magic Land. He fetched TLO at 2PM and the little girl initially didn't want to go with him. Teacher Mark then asked one of us to walk TLO to the door of Magic Land. Hubby nominated me.

The moment the door to Magic Land opened, TLO entered. And didn't even look back. So this is how it will be like when she first decides to live independently, or get married, or disown me for being weird. Ouch. Seriously guys, there were tears.

After the session, Teacher Mark gave us a review of what transpired during their 60-minutes of work-play.

Here are today's highlights:

• Continuation of TLO's evaluation
• Teacher Mark instructed TLO to color a triangle. TLO scribbled outside the shape. After 4-5 attempts, she followed his instruction and started to doodle inside the triangle (yey!)
• They played with rings. TLO knows how to put them in the rods but it really takes time for her to follow Teacher Mark's lead
• She showed teacher how to put a "baby" to sleep (a little Winnie the Pooh)
• Assignment for TLO: learn action songs, play with rings
• Assignment for us: 1) Answer the question: where are the rest of the rings of her toy? Hubby only found two out of five 2) Bring a notebook next time 3) teach TLO action songs (good luck with that)
  

Session 3... can't wait!

Las Vegas Overload

Since Thursday of last week, I've been teaching two four-hour sessions (per work day) about The Venetian and The Palazzo hotel-resort-casino. I'm going to do this for two more weeks.

I've been facilitating classes since 2003. Eight years and I still get anxious and excited (lucky me) when I get to teach. But of course I am still a human being and after 10 runs of the same class, the experience hounds me. I hear the audio from the AVP files while I'm taking a shower. I stare at the ceiling and I see the slides of the PowerPoint presentation I'm using. I'm having my bag checked (poked is more apt) in the building entrance and I panic - where's my roster?

I play this music video while waiting for the participants. Everybody likes it but I swear to God, on my 20th run, I may just puke. Too much Lovely Las Vegas is like one whole day of non-stop porn. [Disclaimer: I made up the analogy. I have never been in a porn marathon. If I ever were, I will never blog about it. ;-P]

Here's Matt Goss. Dashing debonair, sexy voice. I just wish he shaved that day.

YLSNE: Black Pepper's Trip From the Farm to Your Kitchen

Before anything else. I am claiming the rightful ownership of this cool acronym. The Hubby thought of this. It's ours. I don't care if some internet person discovers it and makes a brand, website, money, whatever, out of it. YLSNE. You Learng Something New Everyday.

While cooking dinner last Sunday, Hubby saw me sprinkle ground pepper in the dish. He didn't see the bottle so he got curious and asked what I just added. Pepper. Then I got curious. I asked if he's ever seen a pepper plant. I know that "munggo" (Mung Bean) comes from a pod. Our class took care of them in 5th grade gardening. But pepper plant?

We agreed that it's time to Google the origin of black pepper.

Here's the Wiki entry for Black Pepper (Piper Nigrum).

Black pepper comes from a flowering vine.


Image is from here

These are the seeds.


Image is from here

The seeds are harvested (entire stem) and are left to dry under the sun. The stems are removed after the seeds turn black.


Image is from here


Image is from here

Here's another image of the pepper drying process from Vietnam. I have no issues with feet. I just don't like it when they are involved in processing anything that will somehow find its way in my food.



May we all be blessed with black pepper, ground or otherwise, from pretty bottles. And may they bring, in their purest essence, the umph in good food. That means without the flavor of dirty feet.

Paparazzi Attempt @ Smoking (literally) Hot Chick

Forgive the politically incorrect title. And the paparazzi act too.

I was smoking yesterday when I saw this beautiful lady. I did not resist the urge to take a photo - turned out to be pointless as the camera phone was not able to capture what I saw.

Some women invite a second look. But this one, for me, is more powerful because she moved my ShutterBug.. the one that's more interested in rocks over people. And I'm also quite sure that I'm not a lesbian. So this is really something.

Dogs are employees :(

There's a lot of K-9 presence in RCBC Plaza. I understand that it's important for them dogs to be involved in keeping everyone safe but it just breaks my heart when I see them in uniform.

"DOG ON DUTY. PLEASE DO NOT PET."



I wish they lose their ability to be trained for K-9 work.



I dream of a world where crocodiles and snakes, the fugly ones, do their jobs. Or let the beasts do what they do best. Tiger, lion, fox, what else? But please stop using the dogs.


Image is from here