My life in points #1101

1. It’s the month of Ramadan, which is good because I am desperately in need of some extra blessings!! Ramadan greetings to all!

2. I had really good filet mignon today, it was so good that I had to mention it! However, since I didn’t expect it to taste that good, I didn’t take any photos and so, sadly, I can’t share the recipe with you – next time I make it though, I will!

3. There was a wasp in my room today… oh.the.drama! After much screaming and fighting and swatting, we finally turned on the powerful vacuum and sucked it up!

4. School starts tomorrow – grade 1, ooooh! And so I thought that I would “big boy-ify” the kids bedroom.

Behold!

They are tremendously excited! Thank you IKEA! If you need a “how-to” on the kids desk, lemme know!

5. We’ve been going to the same place for breakfast for YEARS, literally. The kids, because of the pancakes with mini m&ms, and me, because they have the best Eggs Benedict! This weekend they called the kids over and presented them with these huge thingies… we named them “spotty” and “stripey”!

So, how was your weekend?

Finally de-funked, I hope!

You may or may not remember the great funk of 2008, well, I think that it’s FINALLY over! Well, at least, I desperately hope that it’s finally over! I feel better, and also less sick.

I am sure that I cannot fully explain what I’ve been through in the past few months, and even if I could, I am sure that no one could really understand how I felt. I have, however, learnt a lot from the experience; about myself, about life, and it’s one of those things that just had to happen, and I am a better person now because of it.

Almost exactly 12 years ago, actually, it was 12 years ago, yesterday, I started a new phase of my life – I left Trinidad and started my new life here in Canada, and in a strange, poetic way, yesterday I started another new phase in my life, and although I cannot share this new phase with you right now, I do feel like I am where I need to be and I am feeling more at peace than I have for a very long time.

I believe that all our life experiences, good or bad, are meant for us to gain knowledge, or benefit from them in some way; I believe if we are sincere, have good intentions, make decisions without anger and resentment, that we’ll be able to live without regret, even if things don’t work out the way that we may necessarily want.

The clean

So, yesterday was “clean up” day at work, and I must say that the amount of paper that people store in their workstations is truly fascinating to me! Since I had all of one piece of paper to “sort through”, I thought I would take the time to photograph my desk for you, because I know that you’re just sitting there wondering what it looks like!

Behold!

Everyday I try new medication – sadly, nothing has worked thus far, and on Monday when I had to leave work very early, on account of the whole wanting-to-stab-my-eye-out-pain, all I could think was that I didn’t get to have Pad Thai, because some how my stomach convinced my brain that everything would be all better if only I could have some yummy food, in the form of spicy rice noodles of course! Well, yesterday, I braved the bright sunlight, and dangerous roads, went across the street to the express Thai food place with the ridiculously long lines, and got myself some Pad Thai, and I think that my stomach was probably right, cuz I did feel better after!

I haven’t had coffee or tea since Sunday though, because I feel like it may make my mucus situation worse, and my right eye is swollen, but other than that, I feel smashing! Thanks for your kinds words and “feel-better” thoughts!

10 essential steps in finding happy

1) Wake up early and pray/meditate/contemplate before you start your day

2) Eat a banana. Seriously. Everyday. Religiously.

3) Only listen to happy music.

4) Do NOT watch the news.

5) Dance… or work-out… which ever you’re in the mood for. Everyday.

6) Smile a lot.

7) Cry, if you must, but not for too long, just until you feel better.

8) Sleep with your windows open.

9) Take longer than usual showers.

10) Make sure your offspring (niece/nephew/little people in your life) are very funny, then let them amuse you!

A funny thing happened on the way to work…

This morning I woke up to the whispering of my little ones, and as I tried to focus on the time, I realized that at that very moment I should have been at work checking my emails! “Oh Crap!” I thought and then dragged myself to my computer so I could warn my boss of my inevitable and surely stupendous tardiness.

You know how I take the train to work right? Not the subway, but an actual, real train. Anyways, when I am on said train, I like to relax by listening to my iPod, putting up my feet, leaning my head on the window, and closing my eyes – it’s literally the one place that I feel like I can let go of all my responsibilities and just be – albeit for only 45 minutes, but you know, you take what you can!

This morning, however, I had to wonder if kindness was a blessing or a curse, as an old man decided to sit next to me and then proceeded to ask me question after question for most of the train ride, until he eventually fell asleep. He had previously attempted to speak to someone else on the train and when she blatantly ignored him, I assume that he thought my friendly disposition looked inviting and moved himself to the seat next to mine. He seemed so lost though, that I felt a lot sad for him, and as he realized that I was also going to be taking the subway and getting off at the same station as him, his face literally lit up!

I looked at him and thought of my grandfather, who sadly died of cancer some years ago, and I thought of how we all so dependent on one another, and how this man, who at one time probably traveled to places completely foreign to him and did not feel intimidated, was now totally overwhelmed merely by the city’s transit system. We got off the train and headed to the subway – it was a sloooooow walk – I talked to him along the way, reassuring him that it was totally ok that we were walking about a million miles slower than everyone around us, and then I smiled at how worried he was that everyone was so fast and he was not able to keep up, and how he kept looking at me, I imagine, to make sure that I didn’t leave him.

When we finally parted ways, after I had taken more than half and hour to do something that normally takes me less than 10 minutes, he looked at me and said that he had courage knowing that I was there with him… I was glad at that moment, to have this soft heart.