"It's Leap Day + Hump Day so I will celebrate by giving a 'flying f*#k'!"
“This being human is a guesthouse.
Every morning a new arrival.
A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes
as an unexpected visitor.
Welcome and attend them all
Even if they’re a crowd of sorrows
who violently sweep your house
empty of its furniture, still,
treat each guest honorably.”---Rumi
"Everything is energy and that's all there is to it. Match the frequency of the reality you want and you cannot help but get that reality. It can be no other way. This is not philosophy. This is physics."---Albert Einstein
My high school classmates' production number during the 25th year reunion, followed by the batch cheer, and just dancing after the program.
You can search throughout the entire universe for someone who is more deserving of your love and affection than you are, and that person is not to be found anywhere.
You yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection.
- "I decided long ago,never to walk with Edu Manzano."
- "Nothing's gonna change my love for you, you know naman my love how much I love you..."
- "Pity for your thoughts, a little for a kiss. DIE! If you tell me that you love me..."
- "If I fail, if I succeed, at least I live as ivy league."
- "Inday ee ay ee ay, will always love youuu!"
"Be happy that you are already happy, and it is so."---Doreen Virtue
"Sometimes we must go up, to know we belong on the ground.
Sometimes we bow, to know why we should stand.
Sometimes you have to be apart to know you belong together.
Sometimes we need to see something small, to know what is great.
Sometimes to know what is right, we need to see what is wrong.
Because sometimes, you have to see, to believe."---Andrea Balt
From Elephant Journal via Kate Bartolotta:
"Fall in love with the present moment.
Fall in love with the whole world.
Stay broken.
Die over and over every moment.
If you want to be happy, think first of others. If you want to be unhappy, think only of yourself. "
Great line from the movie Heartbreak Ridge: Improvise, adapt, overcome.
It's been 25 years since I graduated from high school. They're having a big reunion in the Philippines, so they've been collecting money for a batch donation to charity. I had used Xoom last week to remit the money. Every time I checked the transaction, it said pending, that it could take up to 4 days. After a week, my classmate emailed me and said she went to the bank in the Philippines and they hadn't received the money yet. And that I should call my bank to see what the hold up was.
I decided to log on to Xoom first, but couldn't. My account was locked for security reasons. I called customer service, and they were obviously Filipinas on the line. I was re-directed to the verification department. They asked who I was sending money to, what my relationship to her was. She asked for my name, address, last 4 digits of the bank account number, which I readily gave. She didn't say anything, just "OK ma'am." Clickety click on the computer. She said the transaction was cancelled for security reasons. (I never got notification nor did it say on the website until today that it was cancelled. All it said all week: being processed.) Then she started asking me for previous addresses. I can barely remember my last address. I told her I've moved so much that I don't remember. I had no idea what answer she was waiting for. She said even street names will do. I was getting so annoyed and asked her what this was for. She said to verify my identity. Each street name I gave, she gave me that annoying "Noooo Ma'am", in that Pinay colegiala tone. "That's not the address we're looking for."
I was beside myself at this point. Then out of the blue, she finally said, I gave them the wrong bank account number. Then why didn't she say so after I told her the numbers earlier in the conversation?! We would have avoided this whole interrogation about addresses! I could have acknowledged that I mistyped the account number, she would have unlocked the account, and I put in the right information. I was like all, "forget it! Just cancel the transaction! Because it's going to take 4 days again for the whole thing to go through." The deadline for donations is coming up. She's all "she should receive it in one business day. It took longer because you put in the wrong account number." Blah, blah, blah. She could have told me that right off the bat. It's a wonder anything gets done in the Philippines. There's so many things they could do better.
I tracked the transaction. It still hasn't gone through. The website says with some banks, they get the money in minutes. With certain banks, within hours. One business day my foot.
Before I left for work this morning, I read this on Doreen Virtue's FB page:
I left work early to go to a neurology appointment. As I sat in the waiting room, I noticed a man with his wife in a wheelchair. The wife kept fidgeting, and the husband kept yelling at her. Then she asked to go to the bathroom. He admonished her again, saying that he told her to go earlier. When a doctor came out to call another patient, she asked him if that was her doctor. He irritably told her 'no'.
There was a teenager sulking with her parents. "I just want to leave!". The mom continued reading her magazine, while the dad napped. When the doctor came out, the parents asked to speak with him privately first, which left the daughter in an even fouler mood. Finally, she couldn't take it any longer and marched herself into the office.
A home health aide held an elderly woman as she walked unsteadily. The caregiver was very patient because the woman clearly had memory issues, asking the same questions over and over again. She didn't remember that the aide was there at her home to make sure she's safe and doesn't fall down. The woman asked her son if she ruined his day by bringing her to this appointment. He said no. They were going to the opera tonight, so she wanted to know what she should wear. She suggested to her home health aide that she watch operas. Then she asked if the gifts were all set up. The son told her there's no occasion for gift-giving. She thought it was Christmas, and was told by her son that she was in the hospital for Christmas. She asked him if it was bad. He said yes. She apologized that he had to come and see her in the hospital during Christmas. I could barely keep myself from crying over this conversation. Thank goodness they finally got called in to the exam room.
Another family came. Two sisters and their mother. One of the daughters wanted to read aloud the questions in the usual paperwork, but the mom insisted on doing it by herself. She went over her mother's answers, and noticed a few things she should have answered differently. The daughter calmly told her mother to make sure the doctor knows about any medication side effects she's having.
A couple came in. They both had gait deviations, but the man was the patient. The woman had some cognitive deficits, but again, he was cheerfully explaining everything that was happening.
A staff member came to say hello to a patient and her family. The patient also had memory problems so she had to re-introduce herself to remind her that they had met before. It just made me think about healthcare personnel, doctors (especially neurologists) who have to deal with patients like these. Within an hour and a half, I got to see a spectrum of emotions, variations of love and human relationships. I really could be a little kinder, nicer, gentler.
"Most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be."---Abraham Lincoln
Happy Birthday, Mr. President!
Dear Whitney, Your songs were part of my growing-up years. What a challenge singing your songs for karaoke! May you rest in peace. Thanks for providing the soundtrack to our lives.
Who doesn't love Kristen Bell AND sloths?
And now, the autotuned version:
"Your continued existence disproves both intelligent design and natural selection."
from Hands of Serenity Healing:
" Imbolc (or Imbolg) is also named as the day the Cailleach, where the hag of Gaelic tradition gathers her firewood for the rest of the winder. Legend has it that if she intends to make the winter last a good while longer, she will make sure the weather on Imbolc is bright and sunny, so she can gather plenty of firewood. Therefore, it is seen as a good omen if Imbolc is a day of foul weather, as it means the Cailleach is asleep and winter is almost over."
Blessed Imbolg or Merry Candlemas!
