New Fetish

One of the news stories tonight was about a man would pretended to be mentally challenged in order to fondle care givers. I was taken aback when I heard the news story. My conclusion--he is mentally challenged. The reporter said he would often fondle his caregivers wearing nothing but a diaper? I imagined someone who looked like the actor who portrayed Pam Dawber and Robin Williams son in Mork and Mindy. Remember him? He was an elderly actor who wore children's clothing. Anyway, what was this person thinking? My suggestion? Find that sort of kink on the internet. I mean really? Do you have to ruin other people's lives because of your fetish? What actual satisfaction could you have gotten dressed in a diaper and touching a nurse's uniform? I'm sure somewhere in cyberspace, there is site with scantily dressed nurses for your imagination to run wild. Just leave innocent people out of your fantasy.

I also watched "The Bachelorette" in which Jen Scheff (sp?) ended up rejecting both her final choices. And I was somewhat surprised. I didn't watch it from the beginning, only today since my cousin Sue cut our phone conversation short to tune into the show. So I tuned in also. I didn't see any sort of sparks between her and the person she supposedly chose. And when they first saw each other after weeks of separation, the hug was more friendly than of "absence makes the heart grow fonder" lust. She even sat a bit away from him. Body language does give those tell-tale signs. Or am I beginning to hone in on my clinical eye and see things that are there just by examining the body?

I'm still not a big fan of that reality show. I don't know how they expect true love to bloom from a room of producer choices. Love should be found based on fate meetings. What happened to boy meets girl? Not boy meets girl after a screening process (in which neither have a say in). Also what's with getting to make-out and fondle as many prospects as possible, all under the same roof?

But why am I complaining? I am one of the many that watch these shows.

Regrets

I was thinking about the things I've done in the past, which weren't very nice or very helpful to me or others. I just realized that those things are done, I can apologize and move on. It's the best thing to do--to try and erase those pasts won't help, they're done. To act like they didn't happen is just another form of repressing them, so they'll just appear all over again, during a moment of emotional weakness or sometime when my guard is down. So I've decided to just deal with what I've done, apologize to the people I've hurt and then move on. It's the only way to deal with the regrets.

I came to this conclusion while talking to a religious mentor of mine. He's helping me with some religious issues and doing a good job of it. I'm more focused on being a better Christian and acutally enjoying my walk/journey with God. On the radio show Delilah (yes I know, complete cheese--100% cheese), she quoted something that someone had either sent her or said to her--it was "You can't do anything to make God love you less and you can't do anything to make Him love you more". Such a truthful saying.

I'm now looking at my mistakes as just that, mistakes. And I'm learning from them, making myself stronger because of them. In the end I think I'll have become a better person having made and learned from them.

The News

I know that I've talked about the news and some of the ways in which it is reported several times. Tonight I'm watching "Saturday Night Live" and their parody of the evening news. What is funny, is that in their attempt to be funny, their take on reporters and news worthy reports are kinda accurate. Is that scary? It reminds of this students painting that I once saw in the Mountainlair of West Virginia University--it was a martian reading a novel called "reality". The expression of the martian's face was horror.

That's all I wanted to write tonight. That and I babysat. I got in trouble though cause I fed my two year old nephew some M&M's around 10 p.m. I know that he wasn't suppose to be up, but he was waiting for his parents to come home, didn't want to sleep in an environment that he wasn't use to. So I let him play--Game Cube. He thought he was racing the car, but I was really using the real controller. Anyway, about the M&Ms, Mom got upset cause she said that he wouldn't sleep till two a.m. I forgot. I didn't think about it. At least I didn't get in trouble for letting him eat Lay's Cheddar and Sour Cream Flavored Chips.

About the Lay's Cheddar and Sour Cream Flavor, the bag said "new flavor" which kinda scares me. I thought that they already had that flavor out. And I didn't see the "new flavor" on the bag until after I had purchased it at a "dollar store". And you know some of those dollar stores have remnants of years gone by--that's why they are only a dollar. So if memory serves me well, that flavor was new in the nineties. So this bag was only a dollar cause it was really old. We'll see, if my nephew and I have massive diarrhea.

Okay, a happy birthday to my sister-in-law Beth!!! She turns 30 this year! She celebrates tomorrow!!!

Careless Negligence

I watched this movie "Open Waters" this weekend. It was a movie that I really wasn't interested in seeing, but since my cousin Bill rented it, I opted to see it. The movie, a low-budget one, was based on a story about two people who were left behind on a diving expedition.
The story is based on Tom and Eileen Lonergan--how a diving boat they were on left them behind. I can't understand how two people can accidently be left behind. There has to be better ways to check and double check. I read an article about the incident and it said that some of the defenses arguments were that it may have been a "suicide" that caused the two to have been left behind. Even if that were somehow remotely the reason, wouldn't the company still have searched for the bodies? Knowing that there were still two people out there, and then assuming that they were lost, then leaving? The argument has too many loopholes. I believe that the company should have been charged with manslaughter. After all, it was due to their negligence that the couple ultimately died.
Too many times, people have lost their lives to negligence--drunk driving, hunting accidents, train wrecks, plane wrecks etc. We have to be more careful. I think we have to be more mindful of the other people crossing out paths, or involved in our lives somehow.
And after seeing this movie, I definitely have decided that I'm not going diving--ever!
The director and actors did a good job! The movie was really good!

A tartar sauce sandwich

Hello, I just got back from my trip to Baltimore to visit my cousin's husband. On the way up, my cousins and I decided to stop at a roadside McDonald's to grab something to eat (easy enough to eat while maneuvering a car for Sue). And being good Catholic girls and boys, we opted for the fish filet combo meal. I hadn't had one in so long that I couldn't wait to bite into mine. But alas, as I bit into it and exclaiming that the filet must be really small, further examination showed that I didn't even have a filet in mine. It just had tarter sauce and cheese. I know that they are under pressure to serve it fast enough that by the time you pull up to the window your order is ready--but they had an extra four minutes or so because they asked us to pull up and they would bring the order to us as soon as it was ready. Oh well, I really didn't need the extra calories anyway. But thumbs down to the workers who didn't check to make sure that the sandwiches had everything they needed. Since we were already a few exits away by the time I realized what was going on, it really wasn't worth turning back.
I did have an excellent meal however. Irene brought us to this amazing Thai restaurant in Towson called "Thai One On". They had the most amazing Phad Thai (sp?) I've ever had. We use to get some at this place in Pittsburgh (can't remember the name), but none of us live close enough anymore. But not only was the dish excellent, but the service was great too. The waitress was extremely friendly and she had smile that lit up the room.. Thumbs up to the restaurant.
I'd like to shout out Happy Birthday to a doctor that I did a surgical rotation with--Dr. Kristia Akiatan! Happy Birthday chick!

I'm Charlie Brown

My cousin Theodore is home from serving in the army in Iraq. I'm so relieved and so happy. He's back with his family in Baltimore now and I'm going to visit him this weekend. His only complaint is that some of his friends are still there serving--that they were left behind.

I did this fun little quiz like personality assessment and according to this quiz, my personality matches that of the cartoon character Charlie Brown. My friend Saritha is also Charlie Brown--a notch down from Dexter. I love the cartoon Dexter--even bought the fun glasses that he wears (they were destroyed by my 2 year old nephew Xavier, but I had fun while they were in tact). It's funny how these personality quizzes make me laugh. I open these forwards, only to think I'm wasting time and then I have fun taking them.

This quiz is one of those things that my friend Saritha and I talk about. In fact, she called me on her way to work, to discuss it. Sometimes I wish I could record the conversation between Saritha and I. Our conversations are about everything, but nothing in particular. Really fun. We talk about being on a radio/television talkshow. We'd be great hosts! Another goal, after the USMLE to work towards.

God Bless the troops in Iraq! May He bring you all home safely. I want to say Happy Birthday to Lillian Co--my friend MULAN! She'll celebrate on the 21st. Also my friend Dr. Robert Michael Dennis Fajatin, who'll also celebrate this weekend! Happy Birthday guys!

Valentines Day

Why does a Hallmark holiday like this cause such grief?
One of my friends called earlier today and we had a normal conversation.
About two hours later my friend called again. Her opening line was "I just realized it was Valentines Day". This caused some distress in a normally sane and extremely strong person. She is a well-rounded, well-travelled intelligent physician. But somewhere between our last conversation and the newer one, she became distraught at the realization that it was Valentine's Day, a celebration for that special someone.
While I was treadmill earlier this morning, there was a flash of some people who were showing their disapproval for Valentine's Day celebration by having a card-burning. I'm not sure why they would do this--I think we have far more important things to denounce or to picket against. It's a simple celebration. It doesn't really leave anyone out. Anyone can be your Valentine, just anyone that you care about.
Anyway, I would like to say Happy Valentines Day to everyone--everyone who is in love (you certainly know that you don't need Valentines to show it), everyone who is alone (know that there is a soul out there who you will find someday), and everyone who is in between! It's just another day--tomorrow you won't even remember that you stressed over today.

Mountainous Omlet

I recently had the best omelet I've ever had in my life.

My mother suggested eating at IHop (in SouthRidge, Charleston West Virginia) yesterday, so my sister, brother-in-law and I met her there. Mom usually doesn't suggest a restaurant unless she has tried it herself and enjoyed it. Usually when she takes us out to lunch, she asks for our suggestions. So since she spoke up and said she wanted to eat there, we met her there.

I had eaten in IHop before, but usually ate their pancakes, not really being an omlet person. However, in an effort to cut down on sweats, I opted for the Colorado omelet. It was awesome. Plus it was a meal for two--although I finished it (being the pig that I am). My sister couldn't finish her meal and neither could my nephew Xavier (he's only two and decided that he'd rather play with the mushy syrup on his plate). But it was the best breakfast meal I've had in decades and I'm being serious.

It was so good that after my prayer meeting, I suggested it to my friends Sue and Tracy. Even though it was late at night--cause we had to watch the finals of The Amazing Race! Congrats to the winning couple (we had wanted them to win)---we still headed out for IHOP. To my dismay it was closed for the evening. I thought IHOPS were 24 hours. We ended up eating at Fridays, which was open till 1 a.m.

I'm going to have to go back sometime this week since I still crave the omelet.

I want to say a belated Happy Birthday to my buddy Jason Dacua (of the Filipino band StageCrew)!!! Miss you buddy! He celebrated his birthday on Feb 7th.

Charity Starts At Home

Yesterday, one of the news "blips" at the bottom of the screen stated that The Dave Matthews Band donated their earnings from a previous concert to various children's charities in the San Francisco area. I am so proud of that, that I'm going to listen to their band more often now.

I feel that although we as a country do need to donate to causes outside the U.S., we must not forget that we also have our own hungry, our own "disasters" and our own needy. It may be hard to see behind such a prosperous backdrop. Although I grew up in the upper-class, it was in West Virginia. The poverty that some people had to endure is more apparent in the rural areas. So even with the advantage and luxury of not having to experience it, it could still be seen.

It sometimes makes me wonder, when our country donates so much money to relieve other countries. I'm not saying that we shoudn't. I agree we should share the wealth, but we must also bear in mind that we have our own to take care of as well.

Let's fix the backyard, before we climb over the fence.

I'm Cured

Okay, I'm finally over the 24 hour bug, flu, stomach virus, whatever it was that plagued me from early monday morning until about noon yesterday. It felt like a mack truck hit me, ran over me, then dragged me for a couple miles, left me in the desert, came back and fed me to the buzzards. That descriptive enough?
Anyway, before this thing hit me, I wanted to tell you about my experience with the travelling "Miss Saigon" show. Overall I liked it. The music was great, the actors were great. I actually got to meet the little boy who played Tam. But I was upset at not getting to see a real helicopter on the stage--like they use at the New York theatre. Yes, I know that it's not prudent. However, one of the reasons that I wanted to see the show, was for props like that. And since it was in my head the whole time, I couldn't get past that they didn't use a helicopter. It may have ruined my overall enjoyment of the play. Remember, I am easily distracted (the time I watched "The Phantom of the Opera" in Baltimore and could only think about where the guy sitting a few rows in front of me got his beer and Reese Cups).
I enjoyed the show enough though to buy the soundtrack. When you listen to it several times--it's nice to play in the background while you are doing something important--the story starts to make more sense. Since I don't know the words, and the tunes are catchy enough to sing, it's a filler. You see I can't have complete silence when I'm doing anything. Anyhow, back to where I was first going, all the lyrics start to unfold and the story gets told. Plus during the play, some of the characters are all singing at once, so their voices blend and you don't know who is saying what to whom? Why do they do that? Are you suppose to listen to one person or the other. It's so confusing. Makes my head spin. Nothing spun during the Miss Saigon show though, they didn't have the special props. Once again, I'm back to the helicopter.
Anyway, my favorite actors/actresses were Ashley Hunt, who played Ellen and Jennifer Paz who played Kim--in that order.
I would recommend people go and see it!

24 Hour Bug

I just recently had my bout with the 24 stomach virus. I can remember when it came on abruptly. I had gotten home from a birthday party for my aunt--I woke up about 3 a.m. with the worst chills. It felt like someone suddenly turned the heating off and I felt kinda nauseous. Tossing and turning out of sleep, I got a headache and my eyes hurt.

This lousy feeling stayed on throughout the next day. I was sweaty then cold, then sweaty again. Which I think is gross. You would know how mortified I am about the sweating and not having bathed part--especially those who know me. I also had nothing to eat but peanuts and some water. Today, I finally ate a bowl of soup. I still have no appetite.

So when I can think clearly again, I'll write about my experience watching "Miss Saigon" at the Clay Center this weekend. It was a really good play.

I'll write again soon.