Eve’s Confession

My husband is an Engineer by profession, I love him for his steady nature, and I love the warm feeling when I lean against his broad shoulders.

Three years of courtship and now, two years into marriage, I would have to admit, that I am getting tired of it. The reasons of me loving him before has now transformed into the
cause of all my restlessness. I am a sentimental woman and extremely sensitive when it comes to a relationship and my feelings, I yearn for the romantic moments, like a little girl yearning for candy. My husband, is my complete opposite, his lack of sensitivity, and the inability of bringing romantic moments into our marriage has disheartened me about love. One day, I finally decided to tell him my decision, that I wanted a divorce “Why?” he asked, shocked. “I am tired, there are no reasons for everything in the world!” I answered. He kept silent the whole night, seems to be in deep thought with a lighted cigarette at all times.

My feeling of disappointment only increased, here was a man who can’t even express his predicament, what else can I hope from him? And finally he asked me: ” What can I do to change your mind?” Somebody said it right, it’s hard to change a person’s personality, and I guess, I have started losing faith in him. Looking deep into his eyes I slowly answered : “Here is the question, if you can answer and convince my heart, I will change my mind. Let’s say, I want a flower located on the face of a mountain cliff, and we both are sure that picking the flower will cause your death, will you do it for me?” He said: “I will give you your answer tomorrow….”

My hopes just sank by listening to his response. I woke up the next morning to find him gone, and saw a piece of paper with hi s scratchy handwriting, underneath a milk glass, on the dining table near the front door, that goes….

My dear,

“I would not pick that flower for you, but please allow me to explain the reasons further..” This first line was already breaking my heart. I continued reading… “When you use the computer you always mess up the software programs and you cry in front of the screen, I have to save my fingers so that I can help restore the programs. You always leave the house keys behind, thus I have to save my legs to rush home to open the door for you. You love traveling but always lose your way in a new city, I have to save my eyes to show you the way. You always have the cramps whenever your “good friend” approaches every month, I have to save my palms so that I can calm the cramps in your tummy. You like to stay indoors, and I worry that you will be infected by infantile autism. I have to save my mouth to tell you jokes and stories to cure your boredom. You always stare at the computer, and that will do nothing good for your eyes, I have to save my eyes so that when we grow old, I can help clip your nails, and help remove those annoying white hairs. So I can also hold your hand while strolling down the beach, as you enjoy the sunshine and the beautiful sand… and tell you the colour of flowers, just like the color of the glow on your young face… Thus, my dear, unless I am sure that there is someone who loves you more than I do… I could not pick that flower yet, and die.. “

My tears fell on the letter, and blurred the ink of his handwriting… and as I continue on reading… “Now, that you have finished reading my answer, if you are satisfied, please open the front door for I am standing outside bringing your favorite bread and fresh milk… I rushed to pull open the door an d saw his anxious face, clutching tightly with his hands the milk bottle and loaf of bread…

Now I am very sure that no one will ever love me as much as he does, and I have decided to leave the flower alone… That’s life, and love. When one is surrounded by love, the feeling of excitement fades away, and one tends to ignore the true love that lies in between the peace and dullness. Love shows up in all forms, even very small and cheeky forms, it has never been a model, it could be the most dull and boring form… flowers, and romantic moments are only used and appear on the surface of the relationship. Under all this, the pillar of true love stands… and that’s our life… Love, not words win arguments…

Handling Jealousy

When it feels like the competition is closing in… it’s either you defy or get consumed by it.

For me, jealousy strikes anytime. Who says it is good to feel hanging on air for the longest time? It is not easy to ignore the problem even if you spend considerable time brooding over the matter. But still, it is one of the most difficult things to cope with. We just could not make the changes we wanted for ourselves. We could not change the person the way we want them to be. Any help? Certainly there are some ways which can greatly help.

1. Admit that you are jealous. – I think jealousy eats me, makes me unhappy, hostile and other worst adjective available. So then, tell yourself, “I am jealous and it is normal.”

2. Learn to like yourself. – Mostly, we are dissatisfied because we tend to compare ourselves to others. Love yourself. We are all unique.

3. Make a list of your assets. – Be surprised at the results and appreciate who you really are. Alongside, list your liabilities and stop being egoistic.

4. Don’t dwell on self. – Reach out to other people. Try not to keep your mind closed and “pea-sized.” Enjoy a wide circle of friends because people who care about others are seldom jealous.

5. Take a look at the other side. – Are you happy overvaluing the traits of the other person? Be realistic. He or she is not perfect at all. Everyone is fighting some type of uphill struggle.

6. Be objective about happiness. – You are not a failure if you are not like this or that. Put everything into perspective. If you’re not that beautiful, flaunt your bubbly personality. That way, you can be considered as equally pretty as the person you envy.

Deal with the symptoms. Deal with the problem. Take over the varying shades of green.

The Events of Holy Week

Holy Week is the last week of Lent, when we follow Jesus from Palm Sunday, the Sunday of the Passion, to his death on Good Friday in preparation for his rising from the dead on Easter Sunday.

Palm Sunday: Accompanied by his disciples, Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a colt, while crowds of people covered the streets ahead of him with their cloaks and with palm branches.

Monday: Jesus chased the money-changers out of the Temple.

Tuesday and Wednesday: Jesus preached and taught in Jerusalem.

Thursday: After washing the feet of the disciples, Jesus celebrated Passover, instituting the Sacrament of Holy Communion.

He went to Gethsemane to pray where he was arrested by the Temple guard and taken to an illegal night session of the Jewish court, the Sanhedrin.

Good Friday: Jesus was taken into Roman courts, before Pontius Pilate and Herod Antipas, who sent him back to the Jewish court. Roman soldiers took him to Golgotha, the place of the skull, where he was crucified.

Saturday: Jesus rested in the tomb while his disciples observed the Sabbath.

Easter Sunday: An angel met Mary Magdalene and “the other Mary” (perhaps Mary, the mother of James and John) at the tomb to tell them that Jesus was risen from the dead.

http://www.sundayschoollessons.com/holyweek.htm

 

Get It On Time… 3:10 To Yuma

There was a time when Westerns engaged audiences on the level of a simple morality play where audiences knew who the good and bad guys were. James Mangold’s 3:10 to Yuma is a masterful revisionist update of the classic western and I mean “revisionist” in the best sense of the word. That is to say, not only does the film unearth a seemingly forgotten genre but it also deconstructs the familiar elements to their spare parts to explore the darker weathers of human nature and the triumph of good that can arise in between. That I completely forgot there was a previous adaptation of this Elmore Leonard story is a testament to how great this film is.

The movie opens in the home of Dan Evans (Christian Bale), a man seeking to rebuild his own life after he lost a leg in the Civil War. He is tired of the looks of shame and disdain from his wife, Alice (Gretchen Mol) and kids, William (Logan Lerman) and Mark (Benjamin Petry) and he is barely trying to keep his ranch afloat in the face of overdue loans. That chance seems to arrive to him when he seizes the rare and perilous opportunity to transport a captured infamous robber and murderer, Ben Wade (Russell Crowe) to his prison train for a payment of 200 dollars that will help cover his debts.

Dan’s posse includes Doc Potter (Alan Tudyk), Byron McElroy (Peter Fonda), a bounty hunter who has a personal vested interest in bringing Wade to justice, and others who work under railroad worker, Grayson Butterfield (Dallas Roberts). Wade has his own posse now led by his right-hand man, Charlie Prince (Ben Foster), who gazes with snaky eyes at Dan’s crew and follow them to make sure they never make it to the 3:10 train to Yuma, which will transport Wade to prison where he will immediately be hanged.

The film’s focus is really on Dan and Ben, two opposed men who know they cannot trust each other but may have to anyway and even bare their own souls to fight for their lives. Ben is a scarier criminal because he can actually intellectualize about his evil deeds with erudite irony. He is smarter than anyone else can catch on and intuits his situations so quickly that it dumbfounds everyone including himself.

His philosophizing of his hedonistic behavior becomes a source of temptation for Dan, the hero who fears what hidden darker side he will unleash in his quest to redeem his status by bringing Ben to justice. That’s made more complicated when William sneakily tags along and seems eerily fascinated by Ben’s machismo posturing. Such ideas bring greater depth to the gun battles that happen in between where Ben’s violent nature can hurt but also help the livelihood of the posse against other unforeseen enemies.

To make this complex character study come to life, director James Mangold has rightly picked great actors like Christian Bale and Russell Crowe to embody them. There is good acting you recognize and greater acting you hardly notice and when Bale and Crowe exchange dialogue, we reflect on the meaning of the words instead of realizing how well they are really delivering them. Their eloquent conversations make us hardly anticipate another action scene and have us guessing who will be the last man standing.

Watching this film, the best he has ever directed, finally made me understand the common theme that runs through all of his vastly different films – people who seek balance and stability despite their dissatisfaction with their place in the world… 3:10 to Yuma does just that with great brevity. Its most insightful message is how after all the shooting and mayhem, the man who can fight with his words rather than his guns or his fists is the one who truly wins.

http://moviejohn.blogspot.com/2007/09/310-to-yuma.html

 

Why Women Cheat? Well…

 

 

In the old days, women cheating on her spouse were never heard of. There might be some cases of it but were very seldom discussed. However, in our modern and liberated times, a lot of women commit the most dreadful sin in the society (which is unfortunately unacceptable because they are W-O-M-E-N!). Do we notice any difference in men and women cheating? Men often cheat for damn physical reasons while women most often deal with unending emotional reasons. Name it: loneliness, self esteem, boredom and revenge. Fine, they are all inexcusable but they definitely exist in the fickle mind of an unfaithful woman. Guilt increases exponentially. Lust may be an addition, too.
Loneliness. Being in a current relationship doesn’t mean happiness at all times. Most often, when relationships get longer, partners get tired with each other (Fine. Not in general.) When this happens, women feel that the relationship is not anymore emotionally fulfilling. Not receiving the attention she expects to have paves way to be tempted to seek such attention elsewhere thus becoming involved in an affair.
Revenge. Hate to admit it but it has been becoming an increasing factor as to the reasons why women cheat. A modern-day woman is no longer willing to stay martyr, sit back and accept the hurtful fact that her partner may cheat or is already cheating on her. Just one confirmation or a slight suspicion can ignite the fire within. A lot of women fall on the trap of committing the crime as an act of revenge.
Boredom. Some men are boring. These men sometimes act like boys (disgusting!). Unlucky you if you got them. Some relationships are in a rut and relatively having no excitement at all. We tend to find the early stages of the relationship which a partner may fail to keep up. Having hopes of achieving excitement may be good but letting her turn to the man “along the corridor“, should be the worst. Affairs may be a temporary solution… but temporary or permanent, it still destroys.
Zero Self Esteem. A point in a relationship comes where a partner loses effort to reassure his woman making her feel insecure. Guys, haven’t you heard of “THE” fact? Hate to say this AGAIN but a lot of women want more admiration than you can ever imagine. Women want more attention wider than the universe (Okay… that’s just exaggerating!). They tend to look for someone who makes them feel attractive and extremely desirable. Then suddenly a guy next door says something good to her ear… chances are… she turns her head to him.

Some of these ideas may not be acceptable to any of beautiful Eve’s species, but we would not lose anything much if both sexes give a little thought about these things, right?

 

 

10,000 BC The Legend. The Battle. The First Hero.

Old historians always wondered how the Egyptians of the past built the pyramids. Indeed, one of the greatest mysteries of our civilization. Roland Emmerich (Director of Independence Day and The Day After Tomorrow) has solved this thing out for all of us. Funny how they needed mammoths to help them. What are these? M-a-m-m-o-t-h-s; kind of like huge, furry mules looking like elephants (whatever!).

Anyway, 10,000 BC is the epic of D’Leh (gorgeous actor, Steven Strait), a young mammoth hunter in the snowy mountains. He and his tribe are in trouble as some of their people are disappearing. He falls in love with Evolet (beautiful Camilla Belle), a uniquely blue-eyed girl his tribe adopts after her family is killed. Nobody had another eye color in the movie except her (worst blue contacts though!). Can’t they just take a naturally blue-eyed actress? When Evolet and a few others are kidnapped by a band of warlords, D’Leh, his mentor Tic Tic (Cliff Curtis)…yes, a grown man named Tic Tic, and D’Leh’s young “sidekick” Baku (Nathaneal Baring) cross the world to save them. Along the way they must fight “ugly terror birds”, saber tooth tigers, and elements of all unimaginable kinds. They are joined by other tribes who have lost people to the slave raiders, and together they march on to “Egypt” to free their people from a tyrannical god (I think he is gay!)…

Some questions I had in mind was that how this ancient man, (with his sexy dirty dread locks) can cross snowy mountains, lush grasslands, and the deserts of Egypt, with little food and water, and have a perfectly groomed goatee? Hushhh… Hushhh…

The performances were great in my opinion. With the loss of Heath Ledger, I say Steven Strait is someone to watch. Believe it. He had to lose 30 lbs of muscle for his role.

I enjoyed the movie despite all the reviews I have read before actually buying the 70-peso pink ticket (not to mention my cheeseburger meal!). I wouldn’t want to expect historical accuracy. I totally get that 10,000 BC isn’t when the pyramids were built. I get that it’s a appropriate number rather than use 2267 BC which may sound itchy as a movie title. I love epic stories about love and heroes. Who cares…

36 Ways to Reduce Stress

An Angel says, “Never borrow from the future. If you worry
about what may happen tomorrow and it doesn’t happen, you have
worried in vain. Even if it does happen, you have to worry
twice.”

1. Pray
2. Go to bed on time.
3. Get up on time so you can start the day unrushed.
4. Say No to projects that won’t fit into your time
schedule, or that will compromise your mental health.
5. Delegate tasks to capable others.
6. Simplify and unclutter your life.
7. Less is more. (Although one is often not enough,
two are often too many.)
8. Allow extra time to do things and to get to places.
9. Pace yourself. Spread out big changes and difficult
projects over time; don’t lump the hard things all
together.
10. Take one day at a time.
11. Separate worries from concerns. If a situation is a
concern, find out what God would have you do and let go
of the anxiety. If you can’t do anything about a
situation, forget it.
12. Live within your budget; don’t use credit cards for
ordinary purchases.
13. Have backups; an extra car key in your wallet, an
extra house key buried in the garden, extra stamps, etc.
14. K.M.S. (Keep Mouth Shut). This single piece of
advice can prevent an enormous amount of trouble.
15. Do something for the Kid in You everyday.
16. Carry a Bible with you to read while waiting in
line.
17. Get enough rest.
18. Eat right.
19. Get organized so everything has its place.
20. Listen to a tape while driving that can help improve
your quality of life.
21. Write down thoughts and inspirations.
22. Every day, find time to be alone.
23. Having problems? Talk to God on the spot. Try to
nip small problems in the bud. Don’t wait until it’s
time to go to bed to try and pray.
24. Make friends with Godly people.
25. Keep a folder of favorite scriptures on hand.
26. Remember that the shortest bridge between despair
and hope is often a good “Thank you Jesus.”
27. Laugh.
28. Laugh some more!
29. Take your work seriously, but not yourself at all.
30. Develop a forgiving attitude (most people are doing
the best they can).
31. Be kind to unkind people (they probably need it the
most.)
32. Sit on your ego.
33. Talk less; listen more.
34. Slow down..
35. Remind yourself that you are not the general manager
of the universe
36. Every night before bed, think of one thing you’re
grateful for that you’ve never been grateful for before.
GOD HAS A WAY OF TURNING THINGS AROUND FOR YOU. “If God
is for us, who can be against us?” (Romans 8:31)
My instructions were to send this to four people that I
wanted God to bless and I picked you. I decided to send
it to more than four, because I didn’t want to limit
blessings.

Game of the Bottle

If the game of the bottle is said to be dangerous, how come many people play it?

“I get lonely and I need friends.” Well, it is definitely hard to say NO if your friends are all drinking.

“Alcohol is easy to get.” Certainly. So is rat poison. Just because something is available is no reason to get involved.

“Everyone does it.” This isn’t simply true. Many people do drink – far too many abusing their bodies. Why would you do such crap then?

“I get a kick out of it.” Funny but after the kick comes the heartache.

“A drinker never hurt.” Big mistake. Huge mistake.

“It’s my life. I am only hurting myself.” Another buzz! It is damn impossible to live our lives as if we were in a vacuum. Everything we do affects many others.

“I cannot stop anytime I want to.” Stop convincing yourself this way. It sucks. Recovery rates may be too low mainly because one doesn’t admit that he even has a big problem with it.

“When I drink, I am self confident.” Maybe the exact word is cheerful or euphoric?

Above all, I love alcohol. Blame it on the rain.

References

H & H (Ellen G. White – Testimonies, The Desire of Ages, etc. )