If you are an Agatha Christie fan, do you know that she actually wrote Murder on the Orient Express in Room 411 of Pera Palas Hotel in Istanbul?
Apparently Warner Brothers wanted to make a film of the missing 11 days in her life, you know it was when she disappeared but was found in a resort under her husband's lover's name. From consulting a medium, the room was searched on 7 March 1979 and a rusty key was found under the floor boards. Sad to say, the hotel President demanded an exorbitant sum and Warner Brothers refused to comply. Therefore, her diary for that period is still locked somewhere and the key to access that was in turn locked in a safe to safeguard the Hotel's interest.
I was fascinated reading this account on pages 98 and 99.
Thursday, July 25, 2013
Wednesday, July 24, 2013
(266) Possession in Death by J.D.Robb
This story reminded me of recent crimes both in Germany and USA. It is heinous to kidnap young women, detain them against their wishes to do things they would not want to. In Germany it happened in an underground dwelling. In USA it actually happened in a house with near neighbors. In this story the unbalanced perp just wanted to dance with those beautiful girls until a new one comes. Then he had to kill the old one with tears.
The twist in the story is having the deceased grandma taking possession of the detective's body to find the victim added color to the plot.
The twist in the story is having the deceased grandma taking possession of the detective's body to find the victim added color to the plot.
(265) Chaos in Death by J.D.Robb
This series is written by Nora Roberts under another pen name.
I must say that I prefer to read her in her romantic genre. In Chaos in Death, I detected a modern version of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. The writing is of course Nora Robert smooth, yet somehow it does not sound original. A commercial success, no doubt! I probably would not purchase and keep any one of the 39 books listed.
Yet to be fair, if you choose to pay 35.90 of my local currency you do get an entertaining read.
I must say that I prefer to read her in her romantic genre. In Chaos in Death, I detected a modern version of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. The writing is of course Nora Robert smooth, yet somehow it does not sound original. A commercial success, no doubt! I probably would not purchase and keep any one of the 39 books listed.
Yet to be fair, if you choose to pay 35.90 of my local currency you do get an entertaining read.
Sunday, July 21, 2013
(264) Beautiful faces
Elizabeth was looking at her friend's face book picture, and she commented that Kylie has a very distinctive face. I sneaked one glance and said she looked a little like my childhood friend Primrose. The busy body in me went on to say that Kylie would likely marry very well - in terms of her future husband's looks and financial circumstances.
However, there is usually one catch: really beautiful women may not have daughters or some of them may be infertile. Here I quoted Primrose is childless, my school friend Serene who has two boys, my cousin-in-law who has two sons and adopted a girl from Korea. There was Princess Diana. My own sister-in-law has two boys and could not have any more children...
It is almost as if nature conspired to make sure such beautiful genes are not passed on to the next generation. Well, my Thai cook friend told me that her elder sister in Southern Thailand has a very beautiful daughter. At age thirteen, suitors came. One serious proposal was rejected. Another good proposal came at age 14, this time the parents knew they could not say no as the prospective groom is a good guy and he came from a good family. They managed to delay the wedding until the girl was 15. But under the circumstances the poor beautiful girl never get to complete her education. You see, if the parents had objected again, some bad guy would kidnap and forced her to marry whom she abhor because the parents are arrogant in continuing to reject suitors.
However, there is usually one catch: really beautiful women may not have daughters or some of them may be infertile. Here I quoted Primrose is childless, my school friend Serene who has two boys, my cousin-in-law who has two sons and adopted a girl from Korea. There was Princess Diana. My own sister-in-law has two boys and could not have any more children...
It is almost as if nature conspired to make sure such beautiful genes are not passed on to the next generation. Well, my Thai cook friend told me that her elder sister in Southern Thailand has a very beautiful daughter. At age thirteen, suitors came. One serious proposal was rejected. Another good proposal came at age 14, this time the parents knew they could not say no as the prospective groom is a good guy and he came from a good family. They managed to delay the wedding until the girl was 15. But under the circumstances the poor beautiful girl never get to complete her education. You see, if the parents had objected again, some bad guy would kidnap and forced her to marry whom she abhor because the parents are arrogant in continuing to reject suitors.
Saturday, July 20, 2013
(263) Unwritten sex rules
In Bed of Roses by Nora Roberts, I read about the rule among girl friends that once a guy was "taken" sexually, the others are not supposed to "conquer" him. I suppose I must be both conservative and from the older generation that sex both outside and inside of marriage was not discussed even among bosom friends in my home country.
I remember when I just returned from college abroad, I was so lonely that I connected with a lady lawyer qualified from UK. We spent a lot of time together doing many things. I even caught quite a few theater shows with her and her different escorts. At that point she didn't drive and I didn't have a car. So naturally she requested whomever to date her to pick me up during the weekends. After the show, he would send me home and went on to the next destination with her.
She dated an accountant, a business manager, an architect, an engineer and well, another lawyer. At least I met all five briefly. It was the fellow lawyer that she pointed out to me. Apparently he was together with another lawyer for four years in UK. I have met his long term girl friend in another party. Interestingly, that girl married shortly after that, but with another chap. Sad to say, the lady involved has had quite a number of miscarriages after her marriage. Much later, we found out that the cause of those miscarriages : the petite and short lady has been taking over the counter birth control pills for more than four years and those pills were designed for white women seven inches taller whose body mass many kilograms heavier.
In the end the couple concerned decided to adopt a Korean orphan girl and they migrated to Australia. From this brief meeting, it seemed that course mates from British universities do date friends' ex-lived ins. Perhaps, one rule works in one country but not another. Well, the law circles in my home town are relatively small, one would have to deal with one's ex professionally and socially to a certain extent. It certainly would not help if one's ex work in the same firm or if one's seniors in the firm become married to one's ex. But then for those concerned, it would have to be all in a day's work!
I remember when I just returned from college abroad, I was so lonely that I connected with a lady lawyer qualified from UK. We spent a lot of time together doing many things. I even caught quite a few theater shows with her and her different escorts. At that point she didn't drive and I didn't have a car. So naturally she requested whomever to date her to pick me up during the weekends. After the show, he would send me home and went on to the next destination with her.
She dated an accountant, a business manager, an architect, an engineer and well, another lawyer. At least I met all five briefly. It was the fellow lawyer that she pointed out to me. Apparently he was together with another lawyer for four years in UK. I have met his long term girl friend in another party. Interestingly, that girl married shortly after that, but with another chap. Sad to say, the lady involved has had quite a number of miscarriages after her marriage. Much later, we found out that the cause of those miscarriages : the petite and short lady has been taking over the counter birth control pills for more than four years and those pills were designed for white women seven inches taller whose body mass many kilograms heavier.
In the end the couple concerned decided to adopt a Korean orphan girl and they migrated to Australia. From this brief meeting, it seemed that course mates from British universities do date friends' ex-lived ins. Perhaps, one rule works in one country but not another. Well, the law circles in my home town are relatively small, one would have to deal with one's ex professionally and socially to a certain extent. It certainly would not help if one's ex work in the same firm or if one's seniors in the firm become married to one's ex. But then for those concerned, it would have to be all in a day's work!
(262) Rage
This morning Elizabeth, my youngest, asked if she did something bad in her childhood and tried to cover up. ( The question is the result of some rather "nosy" bible study question her youth group subscribed to. I was lucky to have only accepted Christ at age 24, so the youth organization era was not in my past.)
Well! Elizabeth was tiny in size but rather hot tempered many years ago. Her closest friend Cassandra at age seven nursed some wounds for about a week until I heard from the mother. Apparently Cassandra knowingly goaded Elizabeth into scratching her at the wrist. The interesting part was Cassandra was at my house for three evenings a week but I failed to notice the bandage. Probably it was the left wrist and she was quite good at hiding it from me.
I dare say both girls were at fault. But Cassandra's mom was adamant that the young girl was teasing and goading to see how Elizabeth would react. The practical and sensible mother felt that it was a relief that it was my daughter who merely scratched the aggressor. Imagine if the victim swing a filled mineral water bottle at Cassandra's head! Of course I went home and gave Elizabeth the third degree for scratching a playmate. I taught her to turn around and walk off, it is far smarter to ignore such a person, even if it was her best friend.
Now! The reason I blog this is not to show my readers how bad or good my child was in the past or is at present. Usually the first sign I spot in a recovered learning disabled adult is the disproportionate reaction to being forced, coerced, victimized or being made to feel injustice. Well, the last time I gave my husband a good dressing down was when he asked me an ungrammatical question,"Water boil ah?" early one morning when I was bustling around trying to accomplish a few tasks in order to leave the house for the day. What he really meant was: "Did I turn off the fire and actually forgot about it?" I took it that he was unreasonable enough to expect me to drop everything to boil more drinking water. I collected the water bottles and could not find my jug. He was unwise enough to put real lemon to soak in a plastic jug. A volcano erupted and he was still trying to shake sleep off his head, all he wanted to know was if I had turned off the fire under a whistling kettle. My daughter said he deserved the shelling as he could have just stepped into the kitchen and touched the kettle rather than irritate me early in the morning.
Well! Elizabeth was tiny in size but rather hot tempered many years ago. Her closest friend Cassandra at age seven nursed some wounds for about a week until I heard from the mother. Apparently Cassandra knowingly goaded Elizabeth into scratching her at the wrist. The interesting part was Cassandra was at my house for three evenings a week but I failed to notice the bandage. Probably it was the left wrist and she was quite good at hiding it from me.
I dare say both girls were at fault. But Cassandra's mom was adamant that the young girl was teasing and goading to see how Elizabeth would react. The practical and sensible mother felt that it was a relief that it was my daughter who merely scratched the aggressor. Imagine if the victim swing a filled mineral water bottle at Cassandra's head! Of course I went home and gave Elizabeth the third degree for scratching a playmate. I taught her to turn around and walk off, it is far smarter to ignore such a person, even if it was her best friend.
Now! The reason I blog this is not to show my readers how bad or good my child was in the past or is at present. Usually the first sign I spot in a recovered learning disabled adult is the disproportionate reaction to being forced, coerced, victimized or being made to feel injustice. Well, the last time I gave my husband a good dressing down was when he asked me an ungrammatical question,"Water boil ah?" early one morning when I was bustling around trying to accomplish a few tasks in order to leave the house for the day. What he really meant was: "Did I turn off the fire and actually forgot about it?" I took it that he was unreasonable enough to expect me to drop everything to boil more drinking water. I collected the water bottles and could not find my jug. He was unwise enough to put real lemon to soak in a plastic jug. A volcano erupted and he was still trying to shake sleep off his head, all he wanted to know was if I had turned off the fire under a whistling kettle. My daughter said he deserved the shelling as he could have just stepped into the kitchen and touched the kettle rather than irritate me early in the morning.
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