bethany725

Awww boo I remember the planned trips to see Raja that got botched at the last minute unexpectedly.. It is a horrible feeling! At least he will be there Wednesday.. That saves the whole situation! I hope you get to go with him for the 5 days also. So fun! What an emotional rollercoaster you're on over there!

The move was hectic but good.. and now we are all moved in, happily buying the last pieces of our furniture, and taking advantage of being in the city during the weekends. So far, so good. The job search is offically underway for me.. Please pray that someone calls me before I FREAK OUT!

Hi Paula! I'm glad to be back on the boards for a bit.. been so busy since the move!

How have you been doing? Any new updates since I've been so absent?

Excited for the weekend! Hoping to finish the final pages of my Wally Lamb read.

It IS quite the hunt.. I've never bought a handbag that I wanted to serve me years and years, so this has been interesting. I'm almost regretting my decision to forge into this search -- it's tiresome and we spend HOURS looking at handbags. What a waste.. Raja says it will all be worth it, so I'm holding out hope... but goodness gracious! I just want a bag I like!

How's your reading going? What did you move on to after the Montanari?

I love your member's thread by the way.. I'm so excited to keep up with it!

Hi Janet! Yes, isn't my profile very... pink?

I've been around more frequently the past week, but it's been in little 10 or 15 minute increments as I get a little bit of time. I come play catch up for a little bit, then rush back off.. not very conducive to conversation, but I'm doin' my best!

We are still loving Hong Kong.. We have about 2 more months here before the rotation ends.

How are you doing?

By the way, I still love your lil' Matilda avatar!

Totally American here.. Born in Alabama, and lived there until I was 25 and was married. Husband is from Alabama also.

As for HK, we LOVE it here. If this place was in the States, we'd probably settle down here for a long while. There's tons to do, it's really nice here, there are mountains and beaches, and people are nice. Plus the Asia market is hot right now in the finance sector, so business is thriving and the economy is still growing, despite the hard time globally.

If you ever get the chance to come to HK to work, do it! What kind of work do you do, by the way?

You're right -- I'm on the Faber thread. I've never read any of his works -- I'm adding the crimson petal one to my list, and when I get back tonight, I'll look up the courage one.. Thanks for the tip

What kind of work do you do with adults with LDs? My mom teaches pre-school at a classroom focusing on children with special needs - autism, W-P, that sort of thing.

Originally, my husband and I are both from Alabama.. We definitely won't be going back to Alabama when we're done rotating because there's not that many jobs there that fit what he does, but we may end up back in the States. We'll see..

Hi Sarah!

Sooo... I wanted to see if you still have any interest in starting up a US book ring? I'm back now and have quite a few books I could add in to the mix. If you're interested, I'm volunteering to help you with it and we can make a go of it together, team-style. Lemme know, chica! xoxo

How are you liking "Mercy" ?? I've been looking at that one for a little while.. Let me know how you're getting on with it, if you don't mind.

Wanted to let you know I got my hands on my first Erica Spindler book.. loved it! I read "Copycat".. the only one the Center for Fiction here had in. I will DEFINITELY read some of her others soon.. especially the one you recommended for me first! Off to tell Lexie the same thing.. she said she loved her as well and seconded your nom.

Hi Charm! Curious as to if you like Lisa Gardner.. a lot of readers that read Gerritsen seem to also enjoy Gardner? Thought I'd ask you since you intro'd me to Gerritsen.

Hi Jewell,

I thought the Coraline movie was just ok.. the 3-D part was pretty neat, and the movie was cute, but it just isn't really directly up my alley. If you like whimsical circus scenes, fantasy adventures, etc in general, you'll probably love it! I'd say definitely give it a go if that's your thing!

Written and Directed by Henry Selick.. based on the 2002 novel of the same name by Neil Gaiman.

Hi there! (Happy late birthday is in order, I see, by the way )

Just dropping in to let you know I got my hands on my first Erica Spindler book (Copycat.. the only one the Center for Fiction here had), and LOVED it. Both you and Charm had rec'd me to her, so thanks to you guys! I'll definitely be trying some of her others.. was a great read.

Sorry for my delayed response.. My husband needed the computer as I'd been on it for hours, it was only fair to hand it over eventually

I wanted to ask about your brother's fiancee though.. Are he and she of the same religious backgrounds? If not, that's what makes the wedding planning so unique.. trying to balance or incorporate so many elements from each culture & religion. We decided to do two weddings, but both scaled back a bit in the religious elements, to avoid stepping on peoples' toes. Do you know yet how your brother and his fiancee are going to do theirs?

I hope to visit somewhere in the south before we leave.. I know we HAVE to go to the north because Raja has family there that we'll go visit. He'd never lived in India, really.. his parents moved to the US when he was 11 months old, so he had quite an adjustment period also. The being able to understand and speak some Hindi has helped him and us a LOT!

Ugh.. sorry about that Thanks for the info.. I may steer clear of that one!

Oooh glad to hear that after all!! Nice! I'll check out your review.. Thanks for letting me know!

I have no idea, but I haven't tried to find out. I actually picked UP a piece of litter the other day.. It was the only piece of trash I've seen so far, and it skittered by my foot. I picked it up as I was scared that someone would see me and think I threw it down. I didn't want to be flogged.

I think the punishment is "lashes by a rattan cane," and the number of lashes is determined by the severity of the crime. If it's a big crime, it's punished by death. For example, if you're caught being drugs into Singapore, you die. Scary, or what?!

Hi Charm Sorry for the delay in response.. I was busy all weekend and not able to get to the computer much. Yes, Lisa Gardner apparently writes some things comparable to Gerritsen.. I haven't read any of hers, but I always see their books near each other in the bookstores, and on Amazon's Listmania, they're often in a lot of the same lists. No big deal.. I was just curious if you'd read any of her so I could get an opinion on if she's worth a shot.

Things are good here .. I'm really enjoying Singapore and we have a little less than two weeks until we're supposed to move to Hong Kong. So all's well right now!

Hmm.. Hunchback.. That could be interesting.. I may try to get my hands on that one too, for the classics reading circle.

Not too much, Chuck! (hah.. only SORTA rhymed. )

How are ya? Thanks for checking in on me! I've been all over the place -- I went to St. Louis, MO to pick up my kitty cat from a friend that kept him while we were overseas.. and I got the ojb I was interviewing for, and started work this past Monday! So far so good.. It's still in recruiting/staffing that I've been in for so long, so it's a good fit hopefully. All is well over here!

How are things on your side, buddy?

We did have a good time! And I was surprised at how many of Raja's family members could speak English... some of them he hadn't seen for 10 years and he said they couldn't speak a word of English then. It's so neat to see how they're growing and changing! I did take lots of pics.. I'll be putting them up on my blog soon if you want to check them out.

Got The Skin Gods this weekend, so I'll read it first, then move on to Broken Angels.. Can't wait!

Yes! Busy weekend! We are handbag and watch hunting for me.. It's a very tiring search!

Sorry I missed you.. You have to go so quickly. I should get out and about too and start doing something. I've been writing my bound-to-be not-so-popular review of TTTW instead of doing something productive on a pretty day.

The ceiling is back in order.. Although the superintendent was none too pleased with Raja's doings.

Ok, sounds good! Tell them to leave me a message on my wall or send me a PM if they're interested. Then you can join in when you have a few bucks to spare! Hope you're doing well and looking forward to spring.. almost here..!

As you can tell from my lack of activity on BCF, we did NOT end up taking it easy or relaxing at ALL! But we had a good weekend and got to hang out w/friends a lot, so no complaining from me. :x How was yours?

And guess it wasn't you that mentioned Psych Sorry about that! My husband just finished up grad school a year ago, and he loooved grad school. He said he learned so much and is able to use a lot of the skills he learned at work all the time. What kind of work will you hope to do?

I'm sure the end being so close is a bit scary, but I bet you'll be just fine! Do companies come to your school to recruit towards the end?

Oooh your daughter is in Germany! What part?! How old is she exactly? That is so exciting.. I bet she is having a great time. But I do bet you miss her madly. And soon you'll have them all to yourselves for summer.. I bet you are so looking fwd to that!

No problem about Raja's job.. He works in banking, and he's doing a rotational program that rotates him through a different aspect of the business (and location) every 6 months. This is our final rotation (Hong Kong) so the next job will be permanent. We hope to go back to the US for the permanent job, but the financial markets are rough right now, which means we can't afford to be as picky. So far he's applying to jobs in Australia and California, and hopefully more options will come along soon. We'll see what happens...