Sunscreen

There are so many names for it; sunblock, sun cream, sunscreen-- your choice. It's my must-have in summer. I just can't do without my Bioderma SPF 50.

There's also another sunscreen that I really really like. It's this:



I'm sure you know that Baz Luhrmann is the voice behind this, but do you know the pen behind it? According to Wiki, it was Mary Schmich, a columnist of The Chicago Tribune, who wrote it in her column. In 1998 she published her column as a book titled "Wear Sunscreen." A year later she gave permission to Baz Luhrmann to release this as a song in which it is read word for word.

I wish I could write like that. Dream on. :)

I like this part best:

"Don't waste your time on jealousy; sometimes you're ahead, sometimes you're behind. The race is long and in the end, it is only with yourself." Amen!

Click here for the complete lyrics. It's worth reading. Trust me on the sunscreen.



Note: Thanks to maximoox for the vid.

On spring allergies

This year I have the worst bouts of spring allergies. I can't count how many boxes of Kleenex I've consumed since April for my super runny nose and super teary eyes. I'm sure I'm single-handedly killing the forest.

My doctor prescribed Livostin nasal spray and eyedrops. No effect. My eyes were still very itchy and watery. My nose was falling apart from constant blowing. Then there was this box of tablets he prescribed that I didn't want to take at first. The box had been sitting in our cupboard for a week before I finally decided to pop one. Well, I'm simply paranoid about drugs.

It's called Aerius. Now why didn't I throw away my paranoia sooner? It's certainly helping me. I still sneeze now and then, my eyes are still sometimes itchy, I still have to blow my nose occasionally, but I do feel like a normal person again.

The baker

Time is a constant challenge for me now that the school year is about to end. There's a special party we're throwing for the graduating kids next Wednesday, there's another camp I'll be going to with the kids in the second week of July which requires me to finish my lesson plan asap, there are plans to prepare for the next school year.......All these are crammed between now and next week. These and the fact that next school year means more responsibilities for me (hint, hint. :) don't really give me time to even pluck my eyebrows.

But I make time to bake. Last night I just wanted to try my luck in baking "Medovník" or honey cake. Mamka lent me the recipe a few months ago and I've been itching to make it myself. Yes, it's borrowed so that means I can't publish it here or I might get excommunicated.

Medovnik is basically layering the dough and cream. I finished baking at almost 11pm. It took more than an hour for the cream to cool. Note to self: I'll prepare the cream first next time. I was about to call it a night when A asked me if I mixed the crumbs for the topping with cocoa. Darnit! I thought I would fall asleep with a big smile of contentment. Bummer. Still my first try was a success. The cake tastes good. I actually like it better than the commercial one. The latter is too sweet.

Life never ceases to amaze me. A year ago the mere sight of a wooden spoon still scared the living daylights out of me. Now I can finally put on my hat and proclaim myself a baker. :)

Summer scare

I say summer is absolutely, hands down, without any doubt, my favorite season. I like spring, too. After the gloom of winter, it's like a manna from heaven...but the allergies it gives me are certainly not. I love autumn, the combination of romance and melancholia it gives in the air, but I dread the coming of the winter so that spoils autumn for me. So yeah, the time of flip-flops and super light clothing is what I look forward to every year. Not to mention that summer also means a two-month paid holiday for me.

But there's one thing about summer that I so dread. It's not the burning sun, no matter how many freckles it adds on my face, SPF 100 notwithstanding. It's not the suffocating heat even if it reaches 40C. It's.... drums rolling.... the attack of smelly armpits.

Seriously, they smell. By "they" I mean those people here who have a terrible falling out with the innocent shower.

I'm not generalizing. Some do smell good no matter what time of the year it is. Thing is, a lot of the shower haters occupy those little space in the metro and trams that you'd rather share with the shower lovers. When I'm unfortunate enough to be in this situation, I often hold my breath until I'm about to pass out from the lack of oxygen.

Shower haters are one thing, Poison/ Eternity/ Boss lovers are another. Combine these two and you'll get one formidable smell that doesn't just make you sneeze but will surely give you a splitting migraine that lasts till the end of summer.

How can you possibly not love to take a shower? Or to bathe? Fine, maybe you don't have to do it everyday like I do, but seriously, what is there not to like about soap and water? They wont kill you, and the more you stay away from them, chances are, you'll soon kill the person standing next to you.

Purely random

I'm back! I'm amazed at how I survived the previous week unscathed.

Last night, I watched KC Concepcion's "Mansyon" on YouTube. It wasn't the story or the acting that made me glued on my seat for a while. It was her prettiness. She's like a breath of fresh air. Then halfway through the episode I switched to watching music videos. Tearjerkers are not my thing anymore.

Almost half an hour of watching music vids I noticed I was stuck on the 90's hits. I don't know about you but I think it was the era of great music, at least till 1997. There was Paula Cole, Shawn Colvin, and who could forget Jewel? Then came Britney.

Yeah, this entry is purely random. I guess I keep on writing, not so much from having so many things to share, but from the paranoia that I'm losing my English.

At the camp I shared this to my co-teachers and they, too, have exactly the same sentiments. The Brazilian-American, raised in America almost all her life, couldn't remember the word splinter. She also said " I don't see" and couldn't believe she just said that. Me, it took me almost five minutes to remember the word "convenient." Oh, for crying out loud!

Can someone be really fluent in several languages? I certainly start to doubt. Trying to learn Czech for me means losing my Tagalog and unfortunately, my English is declining as well. The Finnish co-teacher said she lost her Swedish and French already, and that she is starting to speak Finnish with an English accent. Talk about Jill of several languages, master of none.

Today, the nurse at my doctor's clinic was annoyed that I still don't speak Czech. "She's been here three years and she still doesn't speak Czech?" So sue me. There's a time for everything, Czech included. For now, just let me be without it.