I was talking about some insanity spurts you can do to make your life more laughable; which in the process can help you achieve a healthier disposition in life just before I logged off for the holidays.

Oh well, didn't I mention that?

Okay, now… I just did!

And last week, I by passingly mentioned Zedka in Coelho's novel, Veronika Decides to Die. In the story, Veronika of course committed suicide and was brought in an asylum at Villete because during her time, anyone who was not behaving like any other people did was considered a loony. And they consider suicide as one of the "abnormal" behaviors.

Veronika then met Zedka inside the mental hospital. They became constant speaking partners. I used the term to indicate not friendship but just two people sharing ideas and words, sometimes even nonsensical.

The first time they spoke, Zedka tried to clarify Veronika in her question:

"What does it mean to be crazy?"

Zedka said:

"Anyone who lives in her own world is crazy. Like schizophrenics, psychopaths, maniacs. I mean people who are different from others.

"On the other hand, you have Einstein, saying that there was no time or space, just a combination of the two. Or Columbus, insisting that on the other side of the world lay not an abyss but a continent. Or Edmund Hillary, convinced that a man could reach the top of the Everest. Or the Beatles, who created an entirely different sort of music and dressed like people from another time. Those people – and thousands of others – all lived in their own world."

"A powerful wizard, who wanted to destroy an entire kingdom, placed a magic potion in the well from which all the inhabitants drank. Whoever drank that water would go mad."

"The following morning, the whole population drank from the well and they all went mad, apart from the king and his family, who had a well set aside for them alone, which the magician had not managed to poison. The king was worried and tried to control the population by issuing a series of edicts governing security and public health. The policemen and the inspectors, however, had also drank the poisoned water, and they thought that the king's decisions were absurd and resolved to take no notice of them."

"When the inhabitants of the kingdom heard about these decrees, they became convinced that the king had gone mad and was now giving nonsensical orders. they marched on the castle and called for his abdication."

"In despair, the king prepared to step down from the throne, but the queen stopped him, saying: 'Let us go and drink from the communal well. Then we will be the same as them.'

"And that was what they did: The king and the queen drank the water of madness and immediately began talking nonsense. Their subjects repented at once; now that the king was displaying such wisdom, why not allow him to continue ruling the country?"

"The country continued to live in peace, although its inhabitants behaved very differently from those of its neighbors. And the king was able to govern until the end of his days."

With this story, Veronika laughed. And I bet, I laughed harder than she did.

Nuts?

Really absurd!

And then later on in the story, Zedka defined insanity as the inability to communicate one's ideas.

"It's as if you were in a foreign country, able to see and understand everything that's going on around you but incapable of explaining what you need to know or of being helped, because you don't understand the language they speak there."

We have all felt that way once or twice – to some, maybe even more than what "normal" people may perceive the usual.

And basing it from the definition shared by Zedka, one way or another, all of us are insane.

I honestly am – everytime I keep myself inside myself, shouting… screaming… when there is no voice.

I honestly am – each moment I talk to my Mom… sharing her my dreams, my achievements, my fears and my failures, when she had died more than three years ago.

I honestly am – in those times I smile to myself when my kids come across my mind.

I honestly am – in moments when I shiver in Ronald's imagined touch or with him just staring at me kilometers away from home.

I honestly am – in every strike of my fingertips when I write my blogs and my memory lags down a decade.

I honestly am – .won od I tahw ekil sdrawkcab sgniht od I nehw (when I do things backwards like what I do now.)    

It's fun you know… try it and be hilariously stupid. And have a healthy life!

Suggestions:

1.                  dress before putting on your undies (saves you from using some liners)

2.    drink a lot of water before you eat (at least you don't eat much)

3.    gurgle, chew some toothpaste then brush your teeth (cool, right?)

4.    sleep in the morning and be an owl while your family is snoring (argh!)

5.    walk to your office with your back (I did this when they told me the back of my haircut looks nice and awful in the front)

Have a hilarious day everyone!!!

An old children’s story tells of Miss Cockroach, who found a coin as she was sweeping out her house.

After a long time spent at her window, choosing the right mate to accommodate all her fears and anxieties, she ended up marrying John Shrew. And as everyone knows, John Shrew fell in the stew.

Often in our lives, we find a coin that has been given to us by fate, and we believe it to be the one treasure of our lives. We end up placing so much value on that one thing that fate - the same fate that gave us the coin - decides to take it back.

Those who are afraid of making a choice, always choose wrongly.

Oh hi everyone!

Happy New Year!!!

Was I late for the greeting?

Geeezzzz… it has been three weeks since I last posted an entry. And damn you’re right, I missed blogging. But I am in so far so good state of being me because the times I didn’t blog, I spent with my kids.

You remember I wrote about Gabrielle who was almost hospitalized because of pneumonia? Oh well, she was sick during the holidays. You can just imagine how awful she looked like when she started throwing up all her food intake on Christmas day and the following day had loose anal excretions. She was pale and lost really a lot of weight. We brought her back to her pedia and she suggested we bring her to the hospital. But we begged not to. She gave us another two days. Her vomiting stopped but her bowel is still loose. Her pedia can’t increase the dosage of her medication because she was too young and she can’t give her another prescription because of her G6PD deficiency. Medications for such are very limited because there are certain chemicals that are not recommended due to adverse reactions to her system. So she just extended her medication.

Fortunately, the drug cured her. Now, she’s back to being such an active kid. Thank God.

But I was really so worried during the holidays.

It all started with the pneumonia stuff and when I attended the Christmas Party in my Graduate School. Let me relate the spooky story that triggered the hell out of me…

Since it is a Christmas Party, I thought of dropping by the cake store to buy some goodies for my thesis adviser. While my friend and I are on my way to the venue, we met my adviser and we headed towards the graduate college building. Before reaching the entrance, Dr. Neroza stopped and seemed like looking for something/someone. Then she said, “Now where is that little girl you are with?”, looking at me questioningly.

Ate Weng and I said that we were not with a kid. It was just the two of us who approached her.

But she insisted, “No, you are with a little girl about this tall (gesturing beside my hip) and was in pink spaghetti strap blouse and was walking right beside you. I even looked at her for a moment because she was so cute and she smiled at me.”

Oh, hey… I can’t describe my feeling that time. I had goose bumps all over me and I started to melt like a candle. My knees are quivering and I can feel my body like cold ice. I was pale.

I remembered Gabrielle who is still not feeling well that day but seemed okay. Her diaper leaked when we woke up so I changed her nappies and clothes to a pink spaghetti strapped dress.

My friends prayed over me and bid me to go home. I ran through the bus like I was chased by dozens of demons. And when I reached home and saw my little angel smiling back at me, I exhaled the demons out of me.

A dear friend told me that maybe, Gaby had an astral journey. She wanted me beside her so she traveled along with me so she is with me everywhere I went. So right after school was over for the holidays, I promised myself to stop and focus all my attention to my kids.

Hey, I wasn’t a believer of such premonitions and astral journeys, but I guess the experience taught me one great lesson. And now, I am starting to enjoy reading books on the topic, too. Coincidentally, Coelho’s book which I am currently reading entitled Veronika Decides to Die, Zedka, one of the characters, experienced astral journey. Her soul leaves her body for a while and travels else where – where she wants to go. She had learned too the techniques of separating her soul from her body and have astral travel.

Oh well, I would relate the story in another entry. But for the meantime, I want to say: The Blogger is in!

1. At lunch time, sit in your parked car with sunglasses on and point a hair dryer at passing cars. See if they will slow down.

2. Page yourself over the intercom. Don't disguise your voice.

3. Every time someone asks you to do something, ask if they want fries with that.

4. Put your garbage can on your desk and label it "in".

5. Put decaf in the coffee maker for 3 weeks. Once everyone has gotten over their caffeine addiction, switch to espresso.

6. Finish all your sentences with "in accordance with the prophecy".

7. Don't use any punctuation.

8. As often as possible, skip rather than walk.

9. Order a diet water whenever you go out to eat, with a serious face.

10. Specify that your drive-through order is "to go".

11. Sing along at the opera.

12. Go to a poetry recital and ask why the poems don't rhyme.

13. Put mosquito netting around your work area and play tropical sounds all day.

14. Five days in advance, tell your friends you can't attend their party because you're not in the mood.

15. Have your co-workers address you by your wrestling name, rock bottom.

16. When the money comes out the ATM, scream "I won! I won!"

17. When leaving the zoo, start running towards the parking lot, yelling "Run for your lives, they're loose!!"

18. And the final way to keep a healthy level of insanity... Send me ways you maintain your own.

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!

Hope you maintain your insanity this season so that happiness shall be untarnished with the worries of the world!

Happiness is your choice... Hope you choose the right thing!

See you next year... Gotta sign off for the Holidays.

GOD BLESS YOU ALL!!!

When he died, Juan found himself in an exquisite place surrounded by all the comfort and beauty he had always dreamed of. A amn dressed in white spoke to him:

“You can have anything you want, any food, any pleasure, any diversion,” he said.

Delighted, Juan did everything he had dreamed of doing while alive. Then after many years of pleasure, he again searched out the man in white.

“I have done everything I wanted to do. Now I need a job, so that I can feel useful,” he said.

“I’m sorry,” replied the man in white. “But that is the one thing I can’t give you. There is no work here.”

“How awful!” said Juan angrily, “That means I’ll spend eternity bored to death! I wish I was in Hell!”

The man in white came over to him and said softly: “And where exactly do you think you are, Sir?”

The Woman more often fights with those she loves than with those she does not care about.

The Woman who shields her love ones is never overthrown by the turmoil of living. Her light is strong enough to shine through thick clouds of struggles and shares that light to others.

She does, however, is often confronted with inevitable circumstances humans call trials but for her is just a variety of blessings. She tries to transfer these thoughts to her kin, that when her soul may part from her body, somebody else's light will continue to scintillate. In so doing, she inflames her family and friends into discussion. Mind versus mind. View versus view. Until her mind is no longer hers but her family's. Until her view is no longer just her own, but her friends', too.

Check out the whole verse in http://marjo-lifeinamirror.blogspot.com

Happy weekday everyone!!!

Pieces fall

blocks of varied shapes

drop

in their destined place;

Player

curses for a bad move

rejoices at times

when that piece

reaches the ground,

screwed up

or just right.

Experience Tetris

in your life.

There was once a visitor who had been to the same barrio five years back. He wanted to see for himself the progress and processes of rural development. For many years, he had donated money to his favorite village projects. It was natural he would spend a full day visiting the farmers and hearing accounts of their achievements.

At the end of the day, the visitor left even more convinced and thoroughly impressed. He especially liked the self-help dimension and the evident pride exuded by the farmers. Income had doubled over the years. The people's economic organization enabled them to manage their own credit, consumers and marketing needs.

There is only one thing the visitor found unacceptable during that visit.

It's time you find out at http://marjo-lifeinamirror.blogspot.com

Have a grand day everyone!!!

I brought Gabrielle Yumi, my one year old daughter to her pedia today. She had flu since Wednesday so I gave her Dimetapp. I thought it will work like it always did. But last Saturday, she woke me up with a cough. I gave her Loviscol. Again, I hoped it would perform the same magic as it did the previous times she had cough and flu. Last Sunday, she had fever. On and off. We gave her Tempra. It worked a little because yesterday the whole day and last night, she had no fever. She was able to eat. Played a little, too. But this morning, my husband texted me while I was on field for the school's promotion dissemination. Gaby had fever. Doesn't like to eat and drink her milk. She seemed so tired. She cried a lot. So we decided to bring her to Dr. Gwendolyn Ang.

Her temperature reached 38.6. She listened to her breathing. Her facial expression changed. She made a good full view of her throat. Then sighed. Gaby has an infection in her throat and her lungs seemed to be covered by phlegm. "Dangerous sign," she said. She wrote some antibiotics on a sheet of paper and recommended Advil. Then she added, "If her fever will continue until Saturday, including her constricted breathing, call me and confine her directly to the hospital. This may result to pneumonia."

I was frantic. Pneumonia. One of the causes of death among children. The more I worried when I browsed the net and here is what I have read in http://www.medicinenet.com/g6pd_deficiency/article.htm :

Infections, such as pneumonia, can also precipitate the hemolytic anemia in persons who are G6PD deficient.

Yes, Gaby was diagnosed to be G6PD deficient. Just an information taken from the same site:

What is G6PD deficiency?
Glucose 6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) deficiency is an enzyme deficiency of the red blood cells. G6PD deficiency leads to an abnormal rupture (breakage) of the red blood cells called hemolytic anemia (abnormally low red blood cell count).

Last week, I was whining about being an alien in my Graph Theory class. Last Saturday, I felt not much alienated in my Geometry class even though they were talking about coplanar and collinear stuff. Maybe because I got interested in the postulates our professor was discussing. I found them a good topic for my blog.

Ain't that nice?

Oh well, it was almost a month since I posted my blessings. Not because I can't recognize the grace of the Lord pouring down on me but because I was busy whining. That's too bad of me!

Now I realized my disgrace. I am turning my challenge into a blessing.

Like what I have said, I found Geometry a little like my Graph Theory class. The postulates were stated so inspiringly that I nearly clasp my hands and sigh, "Can't wait to blog!!!"

But what are Geometric Postulates?

Well, postulates are statements accepted as true. There is no need for us to prove. It's like a law in Science compared to that of a theory or a concept.

We have learned five postulates and here are they with my every realization attached herewith:

Postulate 1: Space contains at least four non-coplanar, non-collinear points. A plane contains at least three non-collinear points. A line contains at least two non-collinear points.

Realization: Each of us, human and animals and all of God's creation belong to a space in this universe. God has set forth a plan, a scale unique for each one of us. We may not be alike, moreso, we have great variations, but four of us gathered all together can form a space worth a majestic view of kaleidoscope. Three of us can make a plane with equal beauty. Two of us may create a point we can call friendship; which of course may be our source of happiness and contentment and peace and love and everything nice.

Postulate 2: Two points are contained in one and only one line.

Realization: You and I, as we connect belong to one and the same wavelength. This is the energy that binds our hopes and dreams. Whatever that is, I believe in the magic of the cosmos.

Postulate 3: Three non-collinear points are contained in one and only one plane.

Realization: God has a plan. It is not true that it takes two to Tango. In life, I believe that there should be the mythical three so that every dream would come true. Who are these three? It should be You, I and God. Always making the Creator the center of our lives.

Postulate 4: If two points are contained in a plane, then the lines joining these points is contained in a plane.

Realization: This is a confirmation of the previous postulates. When you and I connect and God is with us, everything shall fall into place. It cannot be that when our intentions are good, our dreams will collapse alongside a simple snap of a finger, because we are inside God's ordained plane.

Postulate 5: If two planes intersect, then their intersection is a line.

Realization: People are for people. People are for animals. People are for all of God's creation. We don't stand alone. We interact. We connect. We intersect. Thus, we all belong in one and only one line – God's line, the Cosmos.

These are the wonders I have realized in my Math class.

Now, I need not whine but thank God for the new horizon He has opened up for me.

The challenge?

To write a blog after every Saturday class.

Geeeezzzz!!! I'm just kidding.

My challenge is to accept the challenge and make every shadowy figure come in colorful hues of graphical representations for life is a compilation of mysterious but beautiful (and worth thanking) figures – literally and figuratively speaking.

Have a blessed week everyone!!!