Viewing corners

I am sure that most of you have been on one, two or three trips to the beach and back already or maybe, spent many a day scrounging the malls and hunting for great bargains. That is what I love about summer but, unfortunately, that is not what I have been doing for the past few weeks. Just last week, I got sick and now, I am dumped again with more work!

You know what’s good here? Despite all of this, at the end of the day, I am learning to love my job the way a good angelic employee should be. If you are wondering where I drew my strength, here it is.

Hebrews 13:5-6 “Let your conduct be without covetousness, and be content with such things that you have, for he has said, ‘I will never leave you, nor forsake you,’ so that we may boldly say, ‘The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do to me.’”

Only became a fan of Ellen’s show a year ago. It was the time I had almost lost work. Well, to be brutally honest, I didn’t want to go to work back then. It was my breaking point. Couldn’t remember the first episode that I watched but I remember the feeling when I watched that show for the very first time. Her monologues made me laughed so hard I forgot to be depressed because of my job. My bosses back then were so unreasonable, they demanded the siliest volume of work but then didn’t want to pay overtime. I think my panic attacks begun at that moment.

But then, when I watched her show, I realized there are jobs in this seemingly unfair world that are rewarding. I mean, I feel that working in her show would definitely be a blast. Dancing would take a load off my stress level. I even resulted to undergoing stress tests and they were crazy high.

I regret I wasn’t able to watch that show for during its early years, maybe if I did, I could have had more good laughs rather than cursing moments. Watch her monologue during her 800th show.

Yes, you heard it right. After long days of working pressure, I got a fever.  I rested for the entire day but, work kept on bugging me. There was simply no way to run away from my work. Even though at times, it is I who thinks of my responsibility. Having responsibility is different from just having work. Having responsibility entails you to still have leaves and holidays but, your mind will be on it all the time, even weekends!

Are we trained not to worry? Why am I worrying too much? Hope I get well soon because I can’t afford to miss work for 2 days straight.

The movie Jumper talks about a smart kid with a tough life and discovering that he has the ability to teleport and leaves his own home to search for the man he blames for the death of his mother. It made me realize and think of this one thing. Wouldn’t it be fun to have powers?

God designed our lives to be almost flawless. Being flawless doesn’t mean that you won’t have any problems or trials. Being flawless is about enjoying our life here on this temporary world while we live. Just think, if you have superpowers, you will be bored after a while because you can already do anything you wanted to but, who said anything about day dreaming being bad? Here are some awesome powers to have.

1. Invisibility abilities - If you are a guy, you might find this power a tad bit more useful than the others. Have you watched hollow man? Those are the things you can actually do. Have you imagined how fun it would be? Board planes, cruises, go around the world. All the money you can have, Money-All-You-Can buffet!

2. Mind Powers – Have you heard people say that if you are in a hot place and you think about cold things, you won’t feel hot anymore? That is mind over matter. Telekinesis is somewhat the same. It is the power of the mind over to control the matter.

A good example of mind power is Micah Sanders from the hit TV Series, Heroes. He has a power called “Technopathy”, this is another kind of Telekinesis. “Technopathy” communicates with machines and electronics to follow your commands.

Matt Parkman, also from Heroes TV series has a different kind of mind power. He has “Telepathy”. It means that, he can sense the thoughts of other people and has the power to control the mind of another human being.

3. Time Travel – This is one sick ability to gain! Go back and forth in time. I would like to first, travel back in time. Be a child once again. You could do various dumb stuffs you did while you were young. Way back in time, my friend had a funeral for a lizard he accidentally killed. How would that sound if you did that now?

Going back to the future, you might want to stop off those “great” junior high memories you had like, the Prom night. It would be also great to go forth in the future. You can see what will happen next time, so you can change what you need to change right now. Oh, before you go back to the present, check out your wife. If she irritates the hell out of you, you know what to do now. Just make sure to check out the next one too and choose the best!

Being powerless now is different from having powers later. Of course, you will first start off with, “I will change the world and make it a better place by…” Humans are just humans. Our desires tends to be more greedy, and that will make us dangerous by having special powers. Lets say you have special powers now, can you say you will only use it for good?

Living in China for half a year, I had the liberty to taste the real deal china food. Tourist and travelers do not taste the same kind of food. A tourist is a mere visitor to a foreign country but a traveler is an adventurous type of people wherein they blend with the locals, doesn’t go around with a tour guide or tour group.

More often than not, people worry about what they will eat when they go to new places and that my friend, is what you call a tourist. To be a traveler, you need to be ready to eat all kinds of food. Some precautions won’t hurt like taking flu shots or several kinds of vaccines but, as we all know, to have a strong immune system, you need to have a few germs inside your body.

What to try in china?

Xiao Long Bao - This is a meat wrapped in a soft flour wrapper. Go to chinatown in your place and you can find these wrapped meats but, to get the real authentic feel, your Xiao Long Bao should have soup inside it. No soup = fake! It is about the size of your fist when closed. To eat it, you will be given a straw to sip the soup out and chinese spoon to eat the wrapped meat.

Yang Row - That is how you exactly say it in mandarin. “Yang” means lamb and “Row” means meat. You can find these food in street corners and is a must try with chili powder. Just writing about this makes my mouth water! This food costs around 25 US centavos. Just four sticks of that and an order of a rice would be great for a meal!

Mini Lobsters - There are some spots in Shanghai, who displays their mini lobsters outside their shop to attract customers. Yes, they are cheap. For just $8 dollars, you will have lobsters than can feed 2 to three people!

Just be warned though. Some street foods might not be clean enough for your stomach to handle. Just make sure that you check what you eat.

What not to try in China for weak stomachs but a must try for travelers!

Starfish - Seen in most shores, who would have though that this is a delicacy in China? This food is a bit crunchy, because it was fried first. Tastes salty but blends nicely with sweet fruit juices.

Snake - According to an encyclopedia, when eaten raw, snakes could be a dangerous source of parasitic infections in humans. I guess this goes with all the other food listed here. In Asia, snake blood is drank because it is believed to be an aphrodisiac. While alive, the blood is drained and usually mixed with liquor to improve the taste.

Beetles, Grasshoppers and other small creepy crawlers - Yes! As weird as it sounds, those we kill in our households, are sold there to be consumed by human beings! How does it taste like? Just crunchy, a bit salty with some weird tastes from time to time.

All these foods can be tried at an intersection in Wang Fu Jiang Road in Beijing, China. As human beings, we have the tendency to be more adventurous thus, producing travelers and not the same-old same-old tourist we see everywhere. You should try it. We only live once, you know? It is worth a try! What nasty stuffs have you eaten lately?

Don’t you want to go back to being a kid? Innocent, without pressure, never heart broken, just playing and studying and just lying around the grass in summer, joining camps with friends, easy relaxing life. Just the thought of that, makes most of us want to go back to being kids especially those who are currently feeling work pressure, love pressure and money pressures. This is also the time when you will have gazillions of elementary memories. Some are good, some are very good and yet, unfortunately, for some it will be that good. Continue reading to reminisce your grade school memories.

There are 2 kinds of kids in elementary. The one who bully others and the one who gets bullied. I’ve got to tell you this wonderful tip kids. You will need those people who you bully now. You will either get bullied next time at work because of what you did now, or they will be kind enough to help you, because they forgot that you bullied them. Just don’t remind them and keep it that way or else.. who would want to know, right? Who could forget about elementary pranks? We have to admit that we are guilty of that because, I know I am. Sticking notes at the back of your teacher with the words “Kick Me!” or worst, answers to the test! Memories…Memories…
This is also the times when being funny, actually is funny. Check out this equation made by a grade school wiz student.

Given: Study = No Fail

And: No Study = Fail

1. Study + No Study = Fail + No Fail
2. Study ( 1 + No ) = Fail ( 1 + No )
3. Study ( 1 + No ) / ( 1+ No) = Fail ( 1 + No ) / (1 + No)

Q.E.D. Study = Fail
Elementary is also the time were cheesy lines are not cheesy because some girls or guys might actually like it. Unlike with us, grown ups, sometimes, we just pretend we like those cheesy acts, but we really don’t. admit it!

Also having Lunchables for lunch would also make you look cool! I really do not understand why until now. If you were sick, your parents were the ones who actually make excuses for you! I’ve got this excuse from one of my friends’ kid. The note says, “My daughter was absent yesterday because she was tired. She spent the weekend with the Marine’s!” Whew!

That is not yet the climax of grade school life. P.E. and recess were two of the most popular subjects in school were in everybody would be actually awake! Events like Christmas parties were real fun that time! We have few expectations then so we did really enjoy it. Everybody joined games and really aimed to get the prizes. While growing up, some kids tend to act maturely, thus, developing the kill-joy syndrome.

Yup, those were the memories. It is not time to GO BACK TO WORK, get a reality check and wake up from your childhood memories. If you are still a kid right now, good for you, enjoy your life! For Parents or future parents, final word here. Be extra careful in writing your child’s excuse letter for being absent or else, it might come out something like, “Please excuse Mary from being absent yesterday. She was in bed with gramps.” So, can you say your grade school was great? Why was it great then?

Some of us pray in the morning, others at night while some, before consuming their meals. It is spiritually correct to do all of those. But, have you ever wondered and analyzed yourself, if you do that out of thankfulness for something you got, like a meal or from your heart?

Isn’t it sad that some of us, question God at times? If we ask for something and we did not get it, we complain. If something fails, we complain. All negative things, we complain while all positive, we be thankful. Isn’t that two sided?

Rather than questioning God in what ever you have in mind, you should be thankful that you can worry, because it means, you can still think. I have this classic example. Somewhere in America, This famous football team lost a championship game. It was so important to them that all team members felt down and humiliated. After entering the locker room, the coach talked to them. “You should be thankful! In china, they don’t love football. It means, 1 billion people did not see us lose!”

That is what I am talking about. Being thankful in whatever circumstances will arise. Thanks Jonathan.