Fats, Vitamins and Minerals

Of course, the logical direction of the mood swing is towards the extreme high and manifests as vague anxiousness and panic. There are too many obstacles ahead, that is the overwhelming feeling, and thus the panic rather than finding a solution. I have experienced this before, and I remember very clearly many instances because I was teaching fulltime and at the same time was reviewing for law exams and was also working as associate editor of a travel magazine. In a single day there were three different hats to wear - either you go crazy with that, panic or chicken out.

The answer was to stay still. I did this and the world did not end when, in the midst of my attacks I thought everything would collapse. But when I stopped, the world also stopped, and I felt so in control again.

But it does help to have someone to tell all such scruples to. Or I can blog. And I can stop and sleep.

It will be dinner and karaoke over at auntie Ethel’s this New Years Eve.

A variety of sounds the past three days: firecrackers, karaoke singing, gun shots, drag racing, fire sirens, cats mating and fighting. I don’t mind all these noises, except for one which has been around for months and months already. It’s this low vibrating motor sound that becomes quite audible late at night. A bit of white noise from the fan or the computer or TV helps but the vibration cuts through white noises and creeps up on me through the windows and walls of my room. Actually, the vibration from cars and trucks passing along the road could be very very disturbing at night.

I suppose these vibrations account for my not getting real rest at night, and perhaps could be the cause a variety of other health problems. Unfortunately, our neighborhood is largely commercial and not residential anymore. It used to be really quiet here, compared to downtown Manila where I grew up. I miss the calm and freshness of the air when we first moved here way back 1981.

The sound of tricycles in Vigan, Baguio and the neighborhood where my ex-partner stays is very disturbing too. I must be getting old, getting sensitive to these sounds. However, I don’t mind sounds of singing (no matter how awful) or sounds of cats, dogs, turkeys (we used to have over a dozen turkeys which the neighbor demanded we got rid of because of the noise…). It is the sound of vibrating motors that really upset me somehow …. I don’t know why.

Just finished breakfast, and should have a bath after coffee and checking out the garden. Korakora.org is down at the moment, while Websining.net is uploading files (nearly 4 hours now). I’m quite disappointed with the software art category (only one entry was submitted although a few people said they would send), I should’ve listened to Cris (he asked if there was such a thing going on in the Philippines). I was too optimistic. Anyway, as of the moment, the only thing that’s stressing me out is the judging, the lack of response there from judges (only Eileen was responding very promptly), etc. Ah! Such unneccessary strains. At the moment, I must be too high, eating too fast, unable to breathe properly, expecting to get answers too quickly, etc.

Maybe if the sonic environment was gentler … Auntie Ethel’s neighborhood is more calm. I managed a few naps there sometime ago, and they all were considerably more energizing than long hours of sleep here at home.

Ah, Korakora is back! Korakora, karaoke? The trivial things in life could be so much nicer.

Somebody with a sense of humour has placed a large inflatable tiger in the backyard garden. That’s my mom - who earlier this evening was telling me that she couldn’t find any “Edwards” in the toy store anymore.

Anyways, 2007, according to the Chinese calendar, is a Red Fire Pig year. And I am supposedly a Red Dragon,  born in the year of Brown Chicken. (Hey, I like those small native brown chickens. ) And my lucky element is Wood, since I have less Wood in my five-element birth chart, I will need more Wood to balance and keep my Fire Elements in good shape.

When the Wood is your lucky element:

* Rabbit and Tiger are your lucky animals.
* Years of Rabbit and Tiger are your lucky years.
* Months of Rabbit and Tiger are your lucky Months.
* Spring is your lucky season.
* 3:00 - 7:00 (3 A.M. to 7 A.M.) are your lucky hours.
* Eastern direction is your lucky place.
* It will bring you luck to live a house that faces the east.
* You should choose a bedroom in the east side of the house.
* It’s good for you to keep the east side window(s) open.
* When arranging the office desk, you should sit facing the east
* A wooden bed is good for you.
* Your lucky color is green.
* Sour foods and vegetables are good for you.
* Take care of your Nervous system, Liver and Gall bladder.

2007 Red Pig contains Fire, Wood and Water so folks with lucky element Fire, Wood and Water should have better luck in 2007 than the past 3 years. For me, February 2007 is supposed to be my luckiest month of the year, particularly during the Male Water Tiger Month which is from February 4-March 5, 2007. (Male Water of this month and Female Fire of the Pig Year are said to attract each other). And because February 10 is going to be a Female Wooden Pig Day, that would be my luckiest day.

Well, as long as 2007 is going to be a better year for me then that would definitely be reassuring, since 2006 was quite a difficult year in terms of relationships and family, although quite good in terms of work, career and such things. I hope everything works out okay …

The Chinese Fortune Calendar may be accessed here.

Lance Cpl. Daniel Smith, convicted rapist, has just been transferred to US custody “in the dead of the night” despite the decision of Judge Pozon and upholding of this decision by the Court of Appeals resolution that Smith cannot be turned over to US jurisdiction. The US government, in connivance with the Philippine government and through subterfuge and all sorts of political and economic blackmail, continue to destroy my country’s legal and justice system, undermining the Philippine constitution and the sovereignty that rests upon the Filipino people. If you are American, tell your government to get out of my country and stop plundering our people.

Yesterday, since everyone was in the garden, I decided to plant more seeds and (finally) marcot the angel plant. So there are these nice things to look forward to in 2007. As of the moment, there are lots of blooms around and the oregano and other plants I’ve repotted a few months ago are growing very healthy - you could see the leaves are larger, thicker and have a more vibrant color.

Today, I’ve made several more cuttings of a plant that my mom considers lucky because of it’s round shaped leaves. I placed the cuttings between other plants in the garden so as to add some variety. Quite a sturdy plant so I guess it will survive all sorts of soil conditions. I’ve also planted the seeds that my ex-partner and I got from the Veterans Hospital coumpound - hopefully, they will all sprout by the new year.

And I did get a couple more gifts the other day - some green tea from auntie Ethel, a watch from Divine, coffee from Grace, pajama set from auntie Purit, and a photo album from my brother and his wife. The photo album was quite nice, actually, it’s pink and has this really baduy heart-shaped cut-out with dried flowers inside the heart on the cover. I thought it was nice because now I can put some of my photos there. I decided to put photos with my ex-partner, carefully choosing only the ones that remind me of the happier times we were together. Not too plenty, but it makes no sense trying to fill up the album with photos of myself after having cried my eyes out just the other day …. So it was a bit difficult too just going over the photos and being reminded of crying so much, never have cried so much in my entire life, didn’t even cry as much when my father died.

I do still tear up and have depressive moments… like now, writing this.

My friend told me about peace of mind some time ago, and to be very honest I still really don’t know if I have peace of mind especially when the past year and a half creep back on me.

Anyway, onto less serious things, I have just revamped all my other websites: Korakora, the Gallery and the Projects website - and I think they all look much better. I’ve also streamlined a number of the features on the Projects site, replaced PHP-Nuke with plain HTML and upgraded the Coppermine software for the Gallery. Well, I suppose these should be all the necessary updates to the website for the year 2007.

And - there’s finally word about Gemma from my mom’s friends (they were the one’s who recommended Gemma to us in the first place). Gemma was caught by Kuwait immigration on the way to Jordan (the place where she was supposed to work). She was caught for using somebody else’s passport and thus traveling illegally. However, a Kuwaiti man supposedly took pity on her and took her in. I can only pray that that Kuwaiti man is a good person. Knowing the plight of Filipinas in the Middle East, that man could be greater danger for Gemma and she could be trapped there especially with her illegal status.

I really wish she hadn’t insisted on doing such a crazy thing - but so many Filipinos do what she’s done just to be able to get work overseas. Those promises they’ve all been given, all lies. I really hope the situation for everyone in the country gets better, so people won’t have to risk their lives and be separated from their families just to be able to earn a living … My own father worked overseas for a while, and I think it was a bit of a tricky situation with their recruiter, and this was way back in the 70s. So I suppose we’ve been very lucky and blessed that things did not become too much of a disaster, and that we are doing reasonably well today.

Anyway, again onto less serious things - just got a scarf for Divine and a small stuffed polar bear for Grace. And everyone loved the Chinese delicacies that my ex-partner and I gave for Christmas.

The real Christmas family reunion took place yesterday, the day after Christmas. Auntie Ciony decided to move it because my cousin from Canada arrived on that day. It was so good to be able to see my cousin Divine again - and very good that she’s been coming to see us in the Philippines more often now (she was also here last year for Christmas).

It was an amazing wonderful evening with the family. Auntie Ciony’s nieces recited poems and sang religious songs, and my nephew Alwin got his cousin Paolo to do a quick practice of “boom-tarat-tarat” and showed off that they could sing and dance as well! It was so funny. Of course, the incentive for such presentation was getting Christmas money from Aunti Ciony and Auntie Purit. And when Auntie Purit gave Alwin a 500 peso bill and Paolo a 100 peso bill, Alwin returned all the bills and demanded auntie to give them both the same amount! Very good kid, except that they both got 100 pesos each and not 500!

Then we watched the reunion video from 1995 - my dad was there and my brother’s oldest kid was just 11 months old. In the video, we could see that my dad was already suffering from emphysema, his shoulders hunched slightly because of shortness of breath (he died two years later). But it was good to see him, we weren’t sad but quite happy to remember him.

And since I ran out of internet pre-paid access the other day, I was offline for a while and slept all day just hoping the new websites I’ve set up are all doing okay. Today I was finally able to go out and buy two litres of milk and two litres of tomato juice. Plus a Geo kit for Alwin. Not fantastic, but I was curious of such kits too. If I manage to go out tomorrow, I think I should get him that glow-in-the dark tooth container (he has two baby teeth fall off already ) I also got some smoked ham, but it seems that my mom prefers to give it to my brother’s family so I might get another one for the folks here at home. It’s not very expensive.

In the meantime, I finally got a photo of Edward with Maria! Unfortunately it’s not a very good photo since I just borrowed my sister’s camera. Maybe tomorrow I could get rechargeable batteries for my camera (I forgot to get them today!)

For Christmas, I got a small ceramic turtle (with movable head and legs) from my mom. It’s so beautiful, a green colored turtle with a small baby turtle on its back. My mom told me to put it on the table in my room right away because it is a very lucky turtle.

And I also got a gift from my Auntie Pin, a gift for me and my ex-partner! I haven’t opened it yet since my ex-partner’s not here yet … Quite nice of Auntie Pin.

From Alwin was special Cafe Verona Bold, a special blend known as “coffee of romance” because it goes very well with chocolate! And maybe tomorrow I’ll get my Christmas gift from Grace - which she told me is spciy (!) coffee!

It was so nice being with my mom, auntie, Alwin and his mom and dad, and Asel (our new house help, my ex-partner and I gave her some body lotion and fancy decorative bra strap for Christmas! And the rest of the family got Chinese delicacies ), just being together and having fun opening the gifts.

Dinner was very simple, some rice, smoked milk fish and bitter gourd in soup with a bit of fermented fish. I guess the real eating starts tomorrow when we visit Auntie Ethel and Auntie Ciony (who are both more extravagant with food!).

And on December 31, it’s Eid-Ul-Adha.