Category Archives: Thoughts

Did I Wake Up in Wonderland?

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Curiouser and curiouser … could this week get any stranger?

I should have known the proceeding week would bring many strange encounters when I locked myself out of my house (again) on Saturday.

I was running late for a Skype meeting to go over some travel plans with friends when I discovered that my keys were inside the house and I was outside of it and most importantly, the door was locked. I rang the house phone and that of every occupant of the house only to find that they were all away – I just missed them – and so I’d have to wait. To make things more interesting, I had to go. You know, go.

Great.

Lucky for me, I’m a gadget lover so, I hopped back into my car, logged on to Skype on my iPad and used my phone charger to charge my phone while surfing the web for travel deals. The only problem was, I still needed to, you know … go.

After my session, I decided to go to the closet Panera, missed the exit, had to drive 15 extra minutes to get back to the correct exit, finally making it to the Panera only to realize that I left my wallet at home, with my keys. Thankfully, I had some cash my bag so I didn’t feel too badly about rushing into the Panera to, you know, go. At least I could buy something to eat and wait until I could get into the house again.

Let’s talk about Sunday.

I got a new bicycle, so I’ve been trying to ride it as much as I can. On my way to the salon on Sunday, I passed by a group of teenagers. One yell out, “Hey, can I ride in your basket!?”

No … really. No.

Fast forward to Tuesday.

I promise I am not making this story up. I mean, I know I have a pretty good imagination, but, somethings can’t be imagined.

As I stood in the line to enter the train, I noticed a man standing between the cars; the problem was that he noticed me noticing him. Never a good thing.

At the next stop, said man – let’s call him Weirdo – came into my car and the following conversation occurred:

Weirdo: How much did you pay for your shoes?
Me: *startled* What!?
Weirdo: How much did you pay for your shoes?
Me: *mumble price*
Weirdo: How much? They look cheap.
Me: Oook.
Weirdo: Do you speak Spanish?
Me: No.
Weird0: What language did you learn in school?
Me: *turning body away* English and French
Weirdo:  Where are you from?
Me: South America
Weirdo: *stares* Ok. Do you have a brother?
Me: Yes.
Weird0: How old is he?
Me: 19.
Weirdo: Do you have a sister?
Me: *sigh* Yes.
Weirdo: How old is she?
Me: 17.
Weirdo: *pulling out condoms from bags* Do you want this?
Me: *appalled* No thanks.
Weirdo: Give it to your brother.
Me: My brother does not live with me.
Weirdo: Give it to your mother
Me: I live by myself.
Weirdo: *stares* *walks away*

Then, dear reader, he decided to give his condoms away to other commuters. No one accepted.

How about Thursday?

As I rode my bicycle towards the train station, a man on his lawn – with a cup in his hand – called out to me. I acknowledged him and tried to continue on my way, but he had to ask me a question. “What’s your name?” I told him. “Do you live on Carrol?” No.

I know, he was being polite, I mean, this is the second time he’s seen me ride by his home, but the thing is, I’m not a morning person; I do not like morning chitchat and I definitely don’t like talking to strangers in the morning. If I had known that riding a bike was such a social activity, I wouldn’t have purchased one!

I jest, but, at least I can’t complain that my week was a dull one.

Oh … wait. Did I mention that my arm is black and blue and I have no idea what happened? Well, that happened as well.

2012 Check-in and Adjustment

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I figured, if I want to keep up with my list of things to do in 2012, I need to check in and adjust my expectations accordingly. 

Learning another language:
+ Enough to read a French storybook
+ Enough to learn a French song

I’m not really on track here, but I picked up a “learning French” magazine (it was free!) and I was happy that I could recognize a lot of the worlds/sentences. The only issue is, I don’t really know about the pronunciation, I need something good to work on that.

Lose some weight!
+ running, or some sort of exercise (2 to 3 times a week)
+ walk more
+ drink less espresso drinks
+ eat more veggies and fruits

I’m walking more, I’m drinking less espresso drinks and eating more fruits, but I really need to get more veggies into my system. If only veggies were disguised as cakes and cupcakes!

Also, no, I am not purposefully leaving out the exercise part. Nope, not at all.

Memorize more (poems or psalm):
+ I have several poetry books that I’ve never finished, read at least one poem a week
+ learn 6 sonnets (or psalms)

Ask me to recite The Jabberwocky! I did cut this down to 6, so this is the second one. I’m not sure what the next one will be … perhaps a few stanzas of Nevermore.

Read 70 books this year:
+ read more non-fantasy fiction
+ read 6 (or 12) non-fiction theology books
+ read 6 non-fiction marketing books

I’ve definitely read more non-fantasy fiction, WinterTown was a great read, as well as Suite Scarlett. I finished Let Justice Roll Down so that’s 2/6 non-fiction theology books (yes, I know it’s not theology, but I’m putting it in that category).

To date I’ve read 29 books, (three are kiddies and two are supplementary so let’s say 25) I’m right on track, actually I’m 9 books ahead.

Blog more!
+ On my personal blog
+ On my book blog
+ On my writing blog … that is currently hidden.

Yep, haven’t done this as much as I should … I doubt I’ll do anything on my writing blog so I’m cutting that “resolution”.

Journal more
+ In cursive

Still only did this once … I’m unmotivated.

Mondays are made of this …

Posted in The Observer, Thoughts by

I was minding my own business, sipping on my very caffeinated drink, contemplating important life decisions – should I take the train that stops 8 blocks away from the office, or one? – and generally minding my own Monday Morning business when a voice calls out, “EXCUSE ME!” and a woman tries – unsuccessfully – to push me out of the way, rushing in front of me to get down the stairs.

I stopped to allow her to go, I figured someone in such a hurry must either be running away from something, or running to something. Since it didn’t look like she was running away from anything, it might just be best to let her run to whatever she was in a hurry to get to and save myself some coffee stains.

I think she realised how rude she was being so she said I should go ahead, except, she didn’t say this politely, it was more along the lines of “No, no, go, go, go, go, go!” with each go getting louder and more urgent.

Figuring she really needed to go I indicated again that she should go ahead of me.

“Just go, I’m going to be late for work!” she said.

So, I went, taking the stairs one at a time, making a point to take my time and savor each of the 12 stairs. I familiarized myself with them, possibly naming a few of them along the way, as opposed to my usual morning stair-skipping trot.

As I smiled to myself the thought came to me, this is why I don’t like interacting with people. Now, I’m a story in this woman’s life. She’s going to go into work, grumpy and complaining about the girl in the yellow skirt who took her time down the stairs. She’ll tell her friends how I refused to go, even though she told me to go ahead in front of her and they will all shake their heads at my delinquency.

Of course, this is all in my head and by the time she gets to her destination she’d have forgotten all about me. But, just in case, here’s to all the ladies-in-a-hurry. Next time you want to push someone aside, just go ahead of them, or they might write a blog post about you.

Why Give?

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There is a topic that I rarely talk about, but it’s one that I care deeply about and that is giving. It’s not that I don’t want to spread the word, or that I don’t want to make people aware, it’s just that I feel that giving – how much and to whom – should be something between myself and the person/organization I am giving to. However, there is something I feel I need to share, because it was a public endeavor, and it really brought me joy when I read the email at the beginning of the month and I hope that inspires you somehow.

In 2009, I decided to do a campaign for charity:water called Charity for Christmas, instead of presents I asked friends and family to donate to the organization to raise money to help build a well. I felt that the organization was very transparent and I always felt satisfied when I interacted with them, so, since I liked them I thought it would be a fun thing to do. 

Two years later (the campaign ended in January of 2010) I received an email that the money raised was used towards a well in Kota Village, Ethiopia. To see the picture above of people using the actual well that the money went towards building brings me great joy. I am truly thankful for all the people who were a part of this campaign with me. We might not have financed the entire thing, we might not have dug the well, but the little you did helped bring water to a community that needs it.

2012 Check-In and Adjustment

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I figured, if I want to keep up with my list of things to do in 2012, I need to check in and adjust my expectations accordingly. So, one month from my list, I’m checking in and adjusting.

Learning another language:
+ Enough to read a French storybook
+ Enough to learn a French song

I’ve bought Le Petite Prince, it’s all French and it’s a children’s book so it will hopefully have simpler grammar and words than if I bought, The Elegance of the Hedgehog for example. I also have three French songs that I love to listen to from time to time. I’ve also been using the Living Language French App, which has been super useful!

Lose some weight!
+ running, or some sort of exercise (2 to 3 times a week)
+ walk more
+ drink less espresso drinks
+ eat more veggies and fruits

Surprisingly, I’m keeping up with all of this! I definitely walk more, I have been drinking less Starbucks drinks and more teas and have been eating more fruits than I usually do. I hope this keeps up. *cross fingers*

Memorize more (poems or psalm):
+ I have several poetry books that I’ve never finished, read at least one poem a week
+ learn one sonnet a month (or a psalm)

Ok, I haven’t had time for this, so I am changing it to learning 6 poems/psalms by heart by the end of the year. It’s hard memorizing things, especially when you have a bad memory like I do!

Read 70 books this year:
+ read more non-fantasy fiction
+ read 6 (or 12) non-fiction theology books
+ read 6 non-fiction marketing books

I read Generous Justice in January, I’m reading Let Justice Roll Down right now. I think I’m going to cut my non-fiction marketing books down to 3. To date I’ve read 15 books, 3 are kiddies books, so I’ll just say I’ve read 12 books.

Blog more!
+ On my personal blog
+ On my book blog
+ On my writing blog … that is currently hidden.

I have been blogging more! I’m not blogging on my writing blog though … Need to get that done.

Journal more
+ In cursive

I did this once. Definitely need to catch up 🙂