The business of sucking up to..

This image has no relation to the text, but it is too colorful that it lends
light to the post.  (I never said I'm smart ha ha)

There is  a TV drama that I so enjoy, it is "Eli Stone", the lead character, Eli was just a regular - driven attorney who will stop at nothing to win his case.  Note the "regular" term used, until he was diagnosed with aneurysm, then everything changed. He would have visions of the future, which changed his outlook in life.  Made him a total suck up to Lordy, a good - guy will all intentions of helping.

Well, we had our share of being a Lordy - kiss the you know what "no disrespect intended".  We got carried away with the desire to please God that we were so intent in helping that we almost cross the line.  Sounds weird huh!. 

At what point should we help and not take over?
Does that involve giving up part of our lives too?
What is the motivation?
Does it make us compassionate or self-absorbed?

I'm telling you even in the most compassioned moment darkness can befall unto us.  This reminds me of an instance when I was disatisfied with the way things were going on at work that I hastily left, good thing it was time for mass, which gave me an opportunity for reconciliation.  I asked the priest, why despite my close relationship with Lordy, I am feeling that way.  He said in no uncertain terms that the reason is I have detached myself from God, from living like Him. He reminded me of the Franciscan teaching that the boxed images of our childhood, the expections of others, separates us from living like Him.  But that doesn't mean that we have to be a pushover, we can still stand up for our rights and what we believe in just for the right reasons. Ovcourse cryola akitch!

Then I have friends who feel that they should remunerate others for their goodness, those who may have been negatively affected because they're smart and therefore moved ahead.  Now, if I look at the premise upstairs this can be a case of sucking up too huh.. sipsip to Lordy as the Pinoys will call it.. ha ha kidding..

And Katie Couric said that, "inner peace is overrated." Hah!

The reason for that is..

That sounded so serious huh!, my previous post, I mean  No, it is nothing profound, it was because it took me forever to create something out of a recipe.  Funny.. i know, i know, but I have been reading marketman and his posts on the pinoy cuisine, he talks about food, with side comments about culture and the pinoy ways.   Then there is Cafe Fernando in Turkey and a host of others that can divert me from the task at hand.  But there was a bake sale this morning for the church choir, so I had to participate.

That didn't come without some self examination. I had to look at myself (silly noh) to discover why it is so hard for me to create anything that is baked.  Once I was able to get over that hurdle, and figure out my fears he he, I was able to make a poppy seed lemon cake and  banana cookies not sure how it fared.  The exercise liberated me and I am now raring to make a red velvet cake.  My friend made butterfinger cookies, so good, it's amazing what you can do with a stick of butter, ha ha..

When I was undergoing PT for my tennis elbow, I had it conveniently scheduled around lunchtime, so that I can stop in Chinatown for good grubs. One time I went and just got some dimsum from the cart and was so suprised at the bill of what would normally be a less than 10.00 lunch.  Well, it turned out that the roast pork was actually a suckling pig.  I was not able to savor my food, I had an an attack of conscience like why am I eating a suckling pig, when it could have grown to it's full potential and fed more people.

Anyway, my forays with cooking has led me to less wastage, I made cherry compote, kiwi salad dressing, and lemon preserves.  Oh, just because marketman of marketmanila.com had this  a series on lechon making, I made my own version using the ronco rotiserie, it was pretty good, but of course I had to eat it in small doses lest my cholesterol give in to the surge. I also made paksiw na ulo ng salmon, to the non pinoys this is salmon head cooked in kamyas a sour fruit from the tropics.

Life is good... :)

Of mice and men..

As I was getting frustrated this week, I remembered that book by Steinbeck who also wrote "The Grapes of Wrath".  He is such a good writer and from California at that! Anyway, the Scriptures teaches us humility, understanding compassion, faith, humility, being less self absorbed, etc. being a bigger person, a man. The more that we are made aware of this, the more I see people struggling to be recognized, to be better than the next person, in doing makes a disruptive existence. 

 Nope, I am not trying to be the big one here, but I am naturally shy, except for the people I am comfortable with, that it makes me cringe when the self persists. It seems that wherever people are, whatever the purpose or the objective is, a discourse arise, because of that id.  It is sad, because we are giving in to the temptation of the devil.

On another note, I was talking to a friend, was it last weekend, she expressed surprise that she was invited and even have a role in another friend's wedding. I said, but you're friends and it is therefore expected. I said, seriously, because I am so comfortable in my friendship with this couple, if they didn't invite me, I will show up, I may not show up in the reception or eat, because I am prideful (I know it is a sin) but I will be in church, I may even ask, why I was not invited and shame them no end.  ha ha..

 Somewhere in this post, there is a point! I guess the premium we put in ourselves need to be changed.  It is ridiculous, it is like using high faluting words, making a statement pointless and nonsensical to make a person sound educated. It is like an uncouth person, a pedestrian dressed in gold.  I can go on and on, but it might offend your sensitivies, so I will just be quiet about it.

Dignity, importance is not measured by what a person does but what he does with his life.

Ay naku...

A theory on pride..

There is someone at work who is staunch in her stand that no one will treat her less than she deserves. So she built this wall around her making sure that she is respected and treated with dignity.  In doing so, however, she alienates herself  from others. It is always difficult if we gauge things with our accomplishments, with our education. If that is the case, others will not matter.

Truth is, there is more depth, better things in life than all that.