Ron and I haven’t liked the newspaper we subscribed to because it seems very unbalanced. If anything bad happens in the North or East in SL, this newspaper immediately blames the LTTE. So today I went to a newsstand and bought two papers that Veena reads to check them out. I liked both. I decided to look at the classified for jobs since I have started working with the group of young women just to see what kinds of jobs are advertised. You should know that in SL, they specify age and gender in their ads, like we did years ago. How many has it been? To add insult to injury I saw an ad that read “Office Peon”. Who would want to apply to such a job? Yikes! I kept turning pages until I got to the Marriage Proposals page. Yes that’s right. This is where parents are trolling for mates for their children. I want to give you a taste of this, as it is so unfamiliar to us.

Buddhist parents seek a suitable partner for their only daughter Lecturer 33 years (younger looking) 5’3” and slim, must be a teetotaler. Those who stay abroad also considered. Reply with horoscope specially with Saturn 8 horoscope.

Parent seeks partner for their 34 (yr old) daughter, legally divorced (innocent party) after a paper marriage of 2 weeks, employed in a private organization. Dowry 31/2 lahks in cash ($3,500), jewelry and other things. Reply with horoscope to suit Kuja in 1st house.

Moor brother seeks educated partner below 62 years for sister 5’2” 55 years smart looking. Reply with full details.

Well I find it fascinating. So different from what we experience with all our freedom to pick our partners. Of course, you wonder if our way to so much better with our divorce rate. I believe the divorce rate with arranged marriages is much lower.

I went up to the roof garden last night and tonight to watch the sunset. Tonight it was a big coral orange ball. Last night the sky/cloud were all lit up orange and pink. While I was there tonight I was watering plants. Three children from the house where the maids wave at me yelled to get my attention. They thought it was neat as beans to get my attention and to wave. Me too!

For the past few days I have heard someone using a sledge hammer so today I looked around and saw workmen taking down a building a couple of houses away. All of the houses here are made of concrete. They start with columns of reinforced concrete then fill in between with a low-fire brick (they disintegrate easily) and concrete. They finish the interior and exterior walls with concrete. So this poor man has been hacking away with a sledgehammer for days now. It makes my hands and back hurt just thinking about it.

Veena had mentioned she wanted to join us on our walks as she is trying to take off some weight. She joined me for the first time this morning. What a great opportunity to get to know each other better. We chatted the entire time and made some interesting discoveries about each other. She wants to go back to work and asked if I would meet with her to help her get some direction. She worked as a merchandiser for Macy’s and Liz Clairborne here for 20+ years. She wants to do something different now. So we will start meeting this week. My former boss Mary Cumpston is laughing in heaven I’m sure. She couldn’t believe it when I left career counseling in 1994 and every time she saw me after that she would ask if I missed it. Well here I am in SL with a group of young women and my landlady doing career counseling again. So there you go Mary!

That’s it for today from SL.