Are we ok?
Happy birthday, Ricky! Thank you for everything.
Like fine wine, some things just get better as they age through the years. Things, such as beauty, friendship, love, and party skills.
2007
2008
2009
In no particular order, here are the ladies that inspired me, moved me, and made me smile today, and made me realize that, no matter how certain I am that I will never, in this lifetime, fall in love with any of them, the world would just be a mess without women. This is my way of honoring them.
REMS
Rems is, literally and figuratively, a hard habit to break. She is my in-transit-to-work-on-the-phone companion. We spend about half an hour chatting, to an from work. not collectively. Half an hour to, and half an hour from. She sets the tone of my day and calms me after a long day. It is difficult to break away from her. She is my mother , I am stuck with her forever. And I have no qualms being stuck with her. I am grateful, in fact. There is no other woman I'd rather love for my entire time on earth.
NURSE ANN
Nurse Ann, my Smoking Cessation Counsellor, is to me what a kindergarten teacher is to her pupils. I have always held a tremendous amount of admiration for kindergarten teachers. They are noble matriarchs of great power and authority. How often do we hear a child say he eats veggies because his teacher told him vegges are good for him? A mother can force-feed veggies on her child. But all he needs is to be told by his teacher to eat them. I know for a fact that quitting smoking is one of the most intelligent, most reasonable, most beneficial decisions I have ever, ever made in my life. But to be told by her that I am doing good and that I am on the right track just validates that ten-folds. Her weekly calls have been nothing but delight.
THE GURLS
They are the ones who come to my classes regularly. They are the ones who can--- in terms of stamina, pick-up and strength--- out-dance the other girls who only come to my classes when there are no other instructors and they have no other choice. They can out-crunch them, out-stretch them, out-pas de bouree them. Best of all, they have an understanding of their own bodies. They know what works for them, and what doesn't. They know the importance of wam-up and stretching, and they know that water breaks are not fellowship or gossip hour. They probably don't know it, but they inspire me in so many ways. Every now and then, I still ask myself whether what I am doing now is what I really wanna do. Until now, I still don't know the answer. What I do know (and I know this because of them) is that, in the meantime, I am not wasting my time and energies doing what I'm doing. They are happy, they see results, they enjoy it. And that makes me happy.
ATE CORA
Ate Cora is an empowered woman. She defeated in two hours, the grease buildup in our kitchen that was three years in the making. And she did it with tremendous aplomb and out-of-the-box witty remarks.
Did you really think the 2006 Christmas Party was the last? I beg to disagree.
Ladies and gents, here again, are the Swarovskis with a special guest.
I bumped into an old friend as I was walking the busy streets of Central. (My dear, friend, if you are reading this, know that this is not about you, ok? You were just a catalyst. It's a general observation, and you were just a catalyst. So don't feel bad.)
"Hey! I saw you last Saturday. In the afternoon. You were walking out of a clinic in Tung Chung. I was calling you, but you were walking fast to the train station," he said with much eagerness.
"Oh yeah, I had just finished my dental appointment then," I affirmed.
"I see. So what's new with you?" he asked with as much eagerness.
"Well..."
"Besides the dentist," he said, either trying to be funny, or trying to prove he was paying attention, or both.
"Well, besides the dentist, I went for a facial and a haircut on Thursday, and... Oh! And I've already stopped smoking. So... What's new with me? I have clean teeth, clear skin, freshly-groomed hair, and carbon monoxide-free lungs. That's what's new with me."
"Alright. Well, it was great seeing you. Have to go. Bye!" He said immediately, and turned away. He probably realized I am a changed person. At that very moment, he probably wondered: Where did the old Rye go?
"Alright. Bye!" I said, and, as he turned away. I realized there really wasn't anything in everything that I said that he was interested in. And at that very moment, I wondered: "What exactly do people wanna know when they ask what's new?"
The angel came down from heaven and said to me, "Haven't you been wanting this for four years now? What's stopping you? Just do it. Take it. Go!"
And so I did.
Dan, get your appetite ready. It's war-in-the-kitchen time once again!
There's a battle to be won. And as with any other battle, we do not only need the boldest and the fittest, we need power in numbers.
We need you.
We need everybody.
Because this battle does not only concern one particular nation, one particular race, or one particular class. Not just one particular ethnicity, one particular generation, one particular lifestyle.
It is a battle which knows not the principles of demographics.
This battle has already been killing millions and will continue to kill even more; and while mankind is not yet equipped to stop that from happening, we can stop the already-staggering statistic from growing even bigger.
Let's educate ourselves and others. Let's take that first step and then move on from there as a generation of bold, fit, learned human beings, large enough in numbers to defeat what promised to be a plague to wipe out mankind.
HIV/AIDS is still a force to reckon with. But it is NOT indefatigable.
Visit the AntiHIVirus site by clicking here. And join the Facebook group by clicking here. No bullshit. No gimmicks. Nothing that will ask for your credit card number or any password. All they solicit, is your commitment to learn and stay protected.
Because of a terrible migraine attack that disrupted my life this afternoon, I went for a medical check-up early tonight. Such episode paved the way for a couple of first's in my recent medical history.
First, it was the first time for me to go for a private doctor, post-Disney. Since I left Disney--- since I surrendered my AIA health card, as a matter of fact--- I worked so hard at keeping myself healthy so that I didn't have to pay $240.00 only to be told that I needed to rest and take some medication, which I could obtain OTC anyway.
Second, it was the first time for me to visit an unfamiliar doctor. Ok, so maybe Dr. L had, to a certain extent, a somewhat shady personality. But he was familiar and comfortable. He knew my medical history, and it just was oh-so-convenient to know that I didn't have to relay everything there was to know about my body everytime I went for a check-up. Unfortunately, Dr. L had moved to a different clinic already. I didn't have any choice but to succumb to the mercy of another medical practitioner.
Third, this was my first migraine attack in so long. The last time I had it, if memory serves, was in summer of 2007.
Fourth, and most importantly, this was the first time I had a very useful realization about my medical analysis. "Dr. New" said that my migraine was caused by heat, and the extreme brightness of the sun. I knew that for a fact. He said that to prevent it, I need to stay in enclosed spaces as much as I could. Knew that too. If, and only if, at any case, I need to subject myself to the scorching heat of the sun, I need to protect myself with an umbrella (for the heat) and a pair of sunnies (for the brightness). I knew those too, and I've been practicing them.
That's where it all made a difference. The question was: if I was practicing those preventive measures, why then did I not see a migraine attack coming, and how was I not able to prevent it from happening?
The answer was utterly sophomoric: Because my Burberry sunnies are dated, out-of-season, weary, have become incapable of fulfilling their duties. So... in the iterest of preserving my own health, allow me to say, "Tom Ford Andre, see you very, very soon!"
