Truly Scary Stuff

My husband wonders why I refuse to watch horror movies, yet I have no problem with shows and documentaries about doomsday, the Nazis keeping people in camps, psycho killer ex-wives, rape, etc. And I don’t have an answer for that. You won’t catch me seeing anything with monsters, possessed children, blood baths… but I can stay in front of the screen to see stuff that happens in the real world without blinking.

I was thinking of this last night when I recorded a documentary on The History Channel about Nostradamus’ prophecies and 2012 (which makes part of the Armageddon Week special). I’ve been very interested in the subject lately, and since The History Channel does such a great job with everything , I decided it was worth it. I haven’t been able to sit and watch all of it yet (mostly due to another nasty cold), but the 30 minutes I saw this morning are enough to make you think these are scary times we live in.

I remember when I was a child, I avoided any kind of conversation that had anything to do with the end of the world. I grew up in the “The Day After” era, when every day I wondered if I was going to get trapped in the mushroom cloud after WWIII started. Now I get to see the news every day about all these horrible things happening all around me, and I have to learn to digest it.

One of the things that caught my attention about the documentary is how ancient cultures like the Maya insisted so much in the human kind’s being in touch with nature and each other in order to overcome whatever came its way. So I don’t think this kind of message has to be scary, but rather a call to stop and rethink our future as a civilization and what we’re doing for and against each other.

We cannot stop disasters, we cannot change fate. What’s truly scary is how we keep on living not being aware of what’s to come and how we can help each other. Whether it’s the end or a new beginning.

To detox or not to detox. That is the Q.

Sometimes when feeling so lethargic, I figure it would be really good to go into one of those detox diets. I remember one of my ex-coworkers in Canada, that went through this craziness for 8 days, only drinking a mix of lime juice, maple syrup and cayenne pepper diluted in water. I would never be able to do such thing, and to be honest any other kind of detox diet makes me think. Why? Because I have Diabetes, I have to take medication, and I can’t afford to just tell my body “Hey, not going to eat, you’re on your own.”

I’ve looked everywhere for a detox diet suitable for diabetics and there really isn’t one that I can’t do without being under medical supervision. We have to eat, healthy I may say, we must eat to help our pancreas and cells to process whatever they need to process. There are tons of ads out there for diabetes detox diets showing little bottles with God knows what kind of liquid in them. I’m always a little wary, especially after my nutritionist insists so much about a normal diet where I make my metabolism speed up and that includes not skipping meals.

However, it is not so difficult. I found a few tips that may help me, and I’m going to put them in practice starting tomorrow and see how it goes. The idea of not eating junk food isn’t so horrible. Eat more fruits and veggies? Easy. Drink more water? I love water. Try to go to a sauna at least once a month… I guess I will have to check into that.

Wish me luck. I feel like I need to get rid of a lot of crap. Physically and mentally.

Un-effing-believable!

When John and I got tickets for Celine Dion’s concert, I didn’t get too excited. Far I was from knowing the reason of my lack of excitement, but that’s a story for another day. The show she was supposed to put on in November was canceled due to a bad throat cold. I didn’t eagerly wait for the new show, but I got excited yesterday when it finally happened. John is not really a fan, so he gave the ticket to my good friend Gi, she picked me up and we went together.

The first thing I noticed at the Sprint Center was an awesome stage right in the middle of the arena where everyone had access to a great view of her performance. And then someone named Gordie Brown opened the show doing impersonations of famous singers and actors. It was very entertaining, but it also gave me the chance to know that for the first time since I went to a concert there, the sound was just perfect. I knew it was going to be a good show.

Then Celine came on stage, and she IS a diva. She is beautiful, she has charisma, she’s got a lot of energy. She humbly apologized for canceling her November show and made sure Kansas City knew her first performance of 2009 was for us. She’s funny, cute, witty, and good God… I knew she had an amazing voice, but listening to it live is a totally different experience.

So there I was enjoying the concert, when something went wrong… my stomach went very wrong. I was feeling sickly when I got to the Sprint Center, but I thought it was something I could endure. Turns out, 1 1/2 hours after Celine started singing I had to call John to come and pick me up. I felt THAT sick. What happened next is disgusting stuff I don’t want to narrate. It was so very disappointing!

But anyway, I managed to see a good part of the show. And Celine knows how to do it!

You want to pay full price? The nerve!

I got a load of gift cards for my birthday; most of them were for bookstores, but I had one for Bath and Body Works. I love that place, and I always come out of the store smelling like every single fragrance they have on display… it makes me dizzy, hah!

I hadn’t spent the gift card I got from my friend Bethany, so today after a job interview I decided to hit the mall and get some things. I wanted hand soap, an amber body splash that I liked and some other things. And since they are having this sale, oh well!

When I approached the cash register, the girl started scanning my items, looked at one of them, and with a very condescending tone, lifting one of her eyebrows, told me “This one is not on sale. Didn’t you see the tag?” — I replied I didn’t care, I wanted it, so go ahead and tell me how much I owe you, TYVM.

I don’t mind salespeople, I know they are doing their job. But when you’re not getting something on sale, it doesn’t mean you’re stupid or you don’t know how to read. If I want to pay full price, that is my prerogative, so get off my back and leave the condescending tone at home.

2008 Annual Round Up

1. What did you do in 2008 that you’d never done before?
Work in the United States.

2. Did you keep your New Year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I didn’t make any resolutions for 2008.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
Two of my best friends.

4. Did anyone close to you die?
One of my mother’s cousins.

5. What places did you visit?
Colombia! Uepa, je! Chicago.

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