Ramleela 2012

Its that time of year again, Ramleela ( YAY)

For those who dont know, Ramleela ( translated losely to the story of Ram) is an open air play depicting the events of the hindu scripture the Ramayana. It is held over a course of 10 days and for those that follow it, it is massively entertaining. Behind the scenes it is a lot of work, lot of work, lot of quarrel, but also a big demonstration of devotion.

I always tried to get more involved over the planning of the event but somehow that never happens. And worse yet this year, I didn't even want to go near the temple( I would cry, I swear, Heck I might cry just thinking about it). But this time in the 11th hour they caught me.

The pundit in charge of the Ramleela group is also my guru ( godfather in english terms), told me about the opening prayers, so I went. By the end of the night, I found myself offering my services to decorate both kingdom areas ( which involves me sewing nearly 100m of fabric tonight), sponsoring two tents, sponsoring fruit for the kids, decorating the Chariot and Mt. Kailash, IN ADDITION to doing makeup for the kids and adults, tying dhotis, coordinating the kids , taking pics ( in 2010 I took 5000 pics) everyday.

RAMLEELA FEVER IS ON !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Time for more stuff

Jumping off from FB again......for a longer time now, since I really have no interest in it again, except to talk to some friends... two of which follow me here ;-)
And for IMAX updates, hmmmm, go figure out something. 

So know what that means, Plenty more time to bulk up the blog. More pics, definitely some makeup looks, not much on henna since I've lost my love for it ( for the while), more weird ass posts as a result of being in a strange place in my life and the writings are gonna reflect it ( my doctors will have to confirm how strange it actually is lol).

Funny, when I was off FB, the ideas came easily, so with more free time soon, I will have to let mind wander. Kinda looking forward to it.
I'll be the mad artistic physicist who likes talking to herself, hehehe

Moon

Last Friday was full moon, while I missed the Friday rise, I was ready for the Saturday. Both cameras ready, tripod too.
Watch me so used to dusk moonrises. 6pm, 7pm, 8pm, nothing.... I really should have checked the time for  moon rise LMAO.

blurry camera phone

The canon real disappoint me ( AGAIN ) tonight yes, the only ok shot it got was of the E520 ( lol)

Alright the moon is finally up ( embarassingly I was looking a full 20 degrees in the wrong direction for it........ yeah only an ameteur astronomer go say something like that). Got some ok shots

Last night I took a couple more............... much better ( guess non shaking hands helps )

This one I did something I did before, got a pic of the moon with the reflection in my bedroom window( which was set an the angle to reflect it). Never mind the metalwork in the way, kinda cool I find)

And last, yesterday sunset was AWESOME !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Had to post this one.

New Tech

3rd term is a ridiculously slow term. I will only have one class( 3 sessions) to teach per week. So rather than spend most of it fixing/sorting/building/testing equipment&labs, I decided to get some reading done.

Rather than buy book after book ( which most times I only ever read once and put down, but then again thats the only way my dad gets NEW books to read lol), I went and got  me a Kindle Fire. So gonna have a lot of books in my hand when needed be. Of course if I end up liking a book, I will buy the actual one ( which is what I am sure I will do when I finish the Hitchiker Guide to the Galaxy series)
OF course when you buy a kindle you can't just get that, need a screen protector, a case.....Why not sell it as a bundle? Oh wait, they do, lol

So in addition to the Kindle, I got me a new mp3 player. The old Sansa I had was haunted  ( lol like its owner hehehe). The thing would scroll through the menu on its own, volume would change on its own, the power button was not always under my control..... fucking thing was haunted I tell you.
The new Sansa clip is so tiny, and in one of my fave colours purple ( that is the official colour of physics too, go figure eh) .

A little while ago my lil brother got me some good quality buds. OMG, I have to admit they were pretty awesome in sound quality. One day while coming home, it started raining and I took them off and put them into my bag. Next morning I found them CHEWED up in the yard. Apparently they fell out of my bag when I got home and these blasted dogs killed it ( i suspect the innocent looking Lily). So of course when I ordered the kindle and mp3 player, I bought the same set of buds.

The funny thing about the buds is that in the packaging it comes with a skull stencil...... the suggested applications were funny.

Random Sunset

As everyone know, we had some major solar activity recently. With a high end camera you could actually photograph the sunspot at sunset. But everytime there were clouds . One evening the set was spectacular thanks to Sahara dust cloud (which has had my asthma on a riot..... ok its not just the dust, lol)

Here are a couple of the shots I got

Earth Hour 2012

Earth hour is a global inititive to conserve power. Quite simple, for one hour you shut down the electronics in the house and enjoy the night. This is the 3rd year I observed earth hour. I barely know anyone that does it in trinidad but I make an event out of it.

Got me a bottle of wine , and some snacks. My plan, sit with the dogs outside and enjoy the night sky ( like I need a reason to actually do that, I do that quite frequently for no reason lol )

Think I went overboard this year, for snacks I had strawberries ( from Hilo, no a single one was bad and alllll were juicy ripe unlike the crap you get from PriceSmart), smoked gouda, Camembert, olive &herb crackers and roasted pepper humus. Alllllll good

 This was my setup for the night, the pool stairs was a good foot rest ( rather than the dogs hehe)

 Moi, lol

The house in darkness

Other than floating in the water and watching the stars come out, I love watching wave pattens in the water ( too much physics I tell you).... but I can spend a LOT of time just sitting with my feet in the water and watching ripples

OF course the babies kept me company. They liked nothing better lol.

Lily- Y U No pet me ( for the 100th time hehe)

It was a good night, I was chatting with a friend in Jamaica and I kept the lights of for the Jamaican earth hour too ( I was in the pool then). At the end of it all the house was in full darkness till mins to midnight...I was in the pool lol.

Next year I need company, any takers??? anyone? I think I hear Dior barking lol.

Blooms continue

Ahh been a while, but finally got to offload pics from camera and I got plenty ( serves me right for putting it off hehe)

The Dendrobium has taken over the yard. I discoved a large sprig on the grapefruit tree( did not take pics), and they are all over the mango tree, as in all over almost lol

Here a flower is peeking out from within the tree itself

The other blooms in the mango tree

Poor Mango tree, probably doesn't think its a mango tree anymore.... doh worry when it has a couple hundred julie mangoes, it will, lol

Back yard about ready to burst open

And when I say this , I mean the Dendrobiums are ready to bloom. Three of them burst open last week. I carried my brother to the back walkway ( which is about 4 m away from the flowers and told him to inhale. He could smell them strong. Cannot guess what will happen when the 40 more flowers open. Ooooooo.

In addition to the Dendrobiums, the Catteleya sent out another pair of flowers and the Palenopsis is STILL open. Wow that is one long lasting flowers. Only today I discovered the pygmy orchid is open too. Those flowers are small. How a botanist discovered that flower in a tropical rainforest is beyond me.
On to the pics :-)

The three open dendrobium and the buds that are ready to open. The ones in the second pic should be open by Tuesday. I know I would be able to smell those from my room ( which is slightly upwind and above them)

The pygmy orchid. Why I never tried to identify this orchid? I do not know, will do that jus now. The Mango leaf is merely used as a scale reference. The flowers themselves are some millimeters across.

When you call/text

You know what is not smart? Using one of your fave songs as a ringtone on your phone.

My general ringtone is Speechless by Lady gaga ( Love that song, ) but recently I changed my text tone from Waiting for the End by Linkin Park to another song of theirs, Burning in the skies. I actually listen out the entire piece before I check the text.

When I first got a phone that had MP3 ringtones I had the battle speech from ROTK ( very proud and unashamed of my nerd status hehe)  , me and my little brother would actually mouth out the words to the ringtone while it was ringing. I think sometimes I missed the frigging call. LMAO !!!!!  Oh dear I have Taking the Hobbits to Isengard for a contact ringtone for my brother and he actually accuses me of listening out the tone and not answering the phone ( not true, cause everytime he has to call me I'm in work and my phone is always on silent then and 75% of the time in my bag hehe) .

I want to change the general tone, but dont know what to get as yet.

Lady Gaga performing Speechless ( yeah she's weird, but I love most of her music..... other than being an amazing song ,it's a song for her father and I'm/used to be a real real real big daddy's girl. So I can relate)

Burning in the Skies by Linkin Park

And for the Finale- Taking the hobbits to Isengard !!!!!!!!! hehehe

Now to find some for certain contacts.... which is never easy to do ( usually it only hits when I hear the song lol)

Ever had one of those days?

Just got my email inviting me to mark CAPE exams this year. I am so glad they started doing this online, rather than through the mail. Of course I signing up, a week away from school, two weeks with friends from all over the region, but two weeks of HARD ASS WORK.

I got to log in to CXC and I cyah remember either my passwords ( as a teacher and a registered examiner) grrrrrrrrrrrrr. HAVE got to write down these things somewhere. Maybe I should write it down with the blog password. LOL I went so over board creating the name and email for this that I cyah even remember how to spell the log in name sometimes, hehehe ( serves me right for trying to make a different online persona........ Fini is laughing at me somewhere....... thats my original online self hehehehe)

Weekend folks

This hatred for the weekend has got to end. Must join the rest of humanity and enjoy the frigging thing, lol

Work is basically done for the term/school year, form 6 syllabus done( hells yeah nirmala), form 5 nearly done, SBAs done, form 4 work on auto pilot. Gonna have PLENTY free time just now and really should do more than coming home and going straight to bed and not sleeping ( something must be up for that to be happening ). Do something other than take care of the house woman.
So what to do this weekend?
Gonna pick back up the sketch pad, got some ideas that need to be put on paper, do some writing ( lol got tons of words and images to put to paper). Got fabric to cut and sew ( yeah thats least likely to get done). Hey I could go cinema..... nah I will go weekday when the mall empty, lol. Oh heck I still got a handout to make....hmmmm it go get done. WILL definitely do some makeup looks, need to add to the makeup design file ( last time I touched that was 3 months ago and been flooded with some ideas)..... I think this is what I get from not sleeping for 3 days, brain got time to full up. Have to go to the doctor..... and waste 5 hrs..... on the other hand it would be a good time to get some reading done.

What on earth was the point of this post? Other than rambling like a mad woman? Better post up a TON of stuff yes. 

In the meantime LP continues to play the soundtrack of my life
"What was left when that fire was gone? 
 I thought it felt right but that right was wrong 
 All caught up in the eye of the storm  
And trying to figure out what it's like moving on  
And i don't even know what kind of things I've said 
My mouth kept moving and my mind went dead  
So, picking up the pieces, now where to begin?  
The hardest part of ending Is starting again!!
 All I wanna do 
 Is trade this life for something new"

6pm update
STEUPS, I finish doing house work ( the boys both went out so I was home alone with everything to do myself)
Finish work and what happens? I get a runny nose. That alone spelt the end of my day. Sigh....maybe I can makeup for it tonight, considering I am 0 for 3nights for sleeping.

Linkin Park - Iridescent

Not a single song in recent times would cheer me up as this one does ( not that I need cheering up lol). But sooooooooo gooood. People who doh like it cause it aint regular LP, hull allyuh ass, hehehehehe

New hobby

Can't really say it will be a hobby but will definitely give it a go. I have got to do something more with my camera rather than pointing it at the sky and orchids. So what is my new target? Birds. From the mango tree outside my bedroom window alone I must have seen at least 10 bird species over the year. I have the camera to do it and a tripod, so why not?

What prompted the idea? This morning while putting on makeup I heard birds making noise outside my window, as usual. I've gotten very used to them and they dont even bother me anymore. The only time they peak my interest is when I hear more of them or new sounds. That was the case this morning. I could hear the regular ones making some noise ( funny noise too, more alarm like). In between I could hear a different bird call. I could not recognize it. But birds are strange creatures, one bird alone could make a variety of sounds depending on the situation. I did not take it on, until I looked at my curtain and could the the silhoutte of bird on an outer branch of the mango tree ( thank goodness I like sheer curtains). The shape was not familiar to me, too round and fluffy to be any of the birds that usually roost there.

 So I pull back my curtain and in front of me are two owls. Two small brown and white owls ( they couldn't have been any larger than a dove). That actually startled me. I was so surprised to see owls that small. Looking it up they were most likely Ferruginous Pygmy Owls. Unfortunately they took off right after with some birds chasing after them. Highly unlikely I will ever see them again. And the bitch part was that my camera was on the floor some 3 feet away.

Well I know next time, once I hear any noises I go armed with the camera. Hoping I get some good shots. Bird photography takes tons of patience, I know I got at least that amount, so we'll see. Stay tuned for pics.

Lenny Kravitz "Are You Gonna Go My Way"

Hot hot hot. HOT DAMN !!!!!!!!!!!! Whatever happened to sexy rock?

Shoo Weekend

I wonder why I hate weekends!!!! Dont think I've had a good one for the year. This one gone I coughed so much that I lost my voice and was so exhausted that I couldn't walk up the stairs to go to bed. Been some good years( 5 I think) since it was this bad. And the shitty thing is that I got it under control in the night, so go to bed at 8 thinking I gonna take a GOOD nice long sleep. What happens?

I get up at 12:30 am all bright eyed ( and coughless). WHAT THE JAIL?!?!?! Seriously man !! See what waking up for 3 nights in a row to mark books does!? I ketch my royal tail to get back to sleep ( which was over 3 hrs later). And by then my haldi and ginger tea had worn off and I was starting to cough again. Then I am left with a quandry. Do I try to sleep with the cough since I was now getting sleepy or go downstairs for a fresh cup of tea( which would have rendered me fully awake for who knows how long)?  OF course I went for the tea. Couldn't bear to cough anymore. Brought up blood Friday in school for a bit, but thats bout it. My throat was so far gone that it hurt just to take my asthma meds.

I had taken so much meds this weekend that I couldn't even hold a pen properly to make some notes for my form 6 class. Can't wait for this damn thing to go so that I can switch back to my regular meds.   Oh and I can't take the day off cause mom home and she would harass me to no end if I stay home ( she's leaving Thursday morning and already contemplating staying home that day lol)

Last weekend was sore throat and fever. I would GLADLY take that weekend over this one. Sigh!!! I must be the only crazy ass soul who looks forward to the end of the weekend ( I eh mad enough to relish the thought of a Monday though......... well not yet)

Linkin Park - Rolling In The Deep (Adele Cover - Live)

Love Adele, but Chester ROCKED this cover !!!! ( yeah YouTube getting a serious hit right now, hehe)

UP or Down

Got this today ( not saying when)
But is it a Sunrise or a Sunset??? ( and no comparing to my other pics to figure out which side it is either, hehe)
:-D

30 Dolphins stranding and incredibly saved! Extremely rare event!

my laugh for the day

Ok, so I in the lab late ( as usual) finishing up lab marking. For the stack I have in school, I only had 6 books to mark and I was taking my sweet sweet time. Too much time actually, I talked with some U6ers for a while, talked/ranted/worried with my lab tech about a problem I can see coming to smack me in the head :-(
Got a cough now, so that distracting me too...... wonder how much of my voice will be here tomorrow, lol

Anyway, I have one more lab to mark in the 6 books, a P&D too ( easiest ones to mark for me). Made tea, coffee, anything to drink to help with the throat. So around 5:30 I hear some familiar voices coming down the hall outside. Nah, them boys cyah still be in school. Then they try to open the door ( its locked and they dont like that), they bang on the door saying " Miss' in the most whiny way possible. LOL
I say I not here, laughing from the other side of the door.

They knew I would be in school. They had extra classes for Maths. Thank goodness I had started their classes early, that way we finished the syllabus ( Math and Chem have not). I smiled at that yes.

So hear these boys, Is thunder for them to come upstairs first period in the morning for class( fed up hear, where the elevator, why it so high, Ah tired) BUT it was NO problem for them to run up the stairs 5:30 in the evening to harass me. WELL YES !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! them eh easy yes.

Oh gosh I go real cry for Graduation yes, I go miss them boys real bad !!!!

No Fair

Wow this was one rough day. Wheezed hard and strong basically whole day. I took so much meds my pulse ( while sitting) was 160 and over. Felt like absolute crap ( ventolin sucks I tell you). And for some reason I had to go up and downstairs bout 6 times today. Lawdoye. Everytime I think I " ok its bad now, give it 5 more mins and I going hospital"..... it would get better. Sigh !!!

Tried marking some books ( which i did do some) but could feel that cough coming, the kind that woulda leave me on the ground. ME like that in an empty school, alone on the top floor, so not smart. So I pack up some books to take home to mark.

My plan was simple, take some cough syrup, bathe, take a good sleep and get up at 2am to mark books. I would be fresh having just had 8 hrs of sleep. Such a good plan. IT woulda work.

Only thing, I could not fall asleep. I was exhausted but could not sleep. Did not sleep well at all last night either. The cough was completely done ( GOD bless the makers of Histatussin for asthmatics, I am up now with zero tightness in my chest, not even a cough to be had and clear lungs ) . I kept tossing and turning. I all bright eyed and bushy tailed now.  WOW, me in bed and not falling asleep in 5 mins? Nah boy, this is the wrong time for insomnia.

NO FREAKING FAIR !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I need some sleep!!!
:-(

Pro shots

Why not change it up a bit. Here's a couple of my professional shots that I have taken over the years.

From my first commercial shoot

A post wedding photoshoot for a friend. Wasn't a posed shot, got it by accident but it was one of my faves for the day.

Lastly, a specially edited shot from a wedding in Tobago

Company Blog

Just created the blog for my business. For those who dont know, I do mehendi, makeup, photography and cake decor.
Here's the link.
http://sohani-m.blogspot.com/

New blooms

Technically its spring in the northern hemisphere and all our seasonal orchids are from the northern hemisphere, so they all starting to bloom.

Yesterday when I came home I saw that the Cattelya was in bloom ( how I missed the pods? Me eh know !! ) When it was only one plant in the basket the flowers would stretch 10 inches across, now they are about the size of my hands ( 7 inches or so), not bad considering last year they were 4 inches max. Will get more pics when they fully open

All the Phalenopsis are open now

This is where they are in the Mango tree ( which hosts about 6 different orchid species). Can't say that it harms the tree in any way, cause we get hundreds of mangoes from it every year.

Next to bloom is the Dendrobium Anosmum They sending out buds so the back yard going to be sweet smelling in a few weeks ( might be less) . The little protrusions are flower buds.

This is how long every stalk is under the tree. Each stalk holds 20-30 flowers and I counted 5 stalks with buds on them. Oh each stalk is bout 120-150cm long

Ways I must look like I real like flowers yes. Not really, growing orchids yes, anything else, not so much, hehehe