This past week at work was like a waking nightmare. I work in a pharmacy that started up a $4 generic program. It has simply brought in soo many new customers, making things busier than usual. I don’t mind the program, in fact, I am for it. It especially helps out the elderly because it doesn’t bill their insurance, and even if they end up in the medigap, they can still afford their maintenance medications that are on the list..well at least hopefully they can.

But that wasn’t the only thing that made my life stressful. A co-worker of mine, ..that I will refer to as M, really angered me. He doesn’t want to wait on customers at the register, he doesn’t want to re-check the prescriptions (a mandatory 24 audit, as it is called), he doesn’t want to take prescriptions at the drop off, he doesn’t want to answer the phone..etc. I think you see where I am headed with this. He only likes to count pills to put in the prescription bottles..that’s it, and doesn’t double count the controlled substances like is mandated, although he says he does.

Well, the yearly reviews came around, and he scored very poorly from what I understand. He’s such a sour person that he blamed his scores on me, telling our other co-workers than I am just evil and that karma will get me because of what I have done to him. I do what I am supposed to do at work..no complaint, just work. I really thought he was my friend, but learned otherwise this past week. Another co-worker, W, also informed me that he tried to find a copy of my review in my personnel file, and was angered when he couldn’t find it, but found everyone else’s copies of their reviews, M told other co-workers what others earned

The same co-worker, W, that told me he had searched for my file, likes to instigate problems. M actually did do an audit the way he was supposed to the other day. Usually, he’s told me in the past, he just throws it in the file drawer with his name on it, saying it’s checked off and finished. So W, made the comment that we’d misfilled something and I had typed it, and that M made a huge deal about it because he was the one who found it. I DO care when I make a mistake, although it was the right drug, wrong strength, I still am my own worst critic. I said that I was happy he actually caught it, but I was surprised he actually checked the scripts. Unbeknown to me, W, immediately texted M and said I was talking bad about him. I have no idea what all W told him, but why do people have to just start stuff? Why even tell either one of us what the other does? Why does W blame others when she was the one actually that started and KEPT talking bad about M.

I totally dislike problem instigators. I also totally dislike two-faced people. I was really hurt to know that for the second time, M, had talked and tried to spread crap about me. I try to follow the rule, “fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me.” I don’t give people 3 strikes you are out, you only get 2 shots. It makes me question all the times we hung out outside of work. Was it because no one else was available? and was I just the left-over? I don’t hear people so well upclose, I have one ruptured ear drum that will never close-up and another one with so much scar tissue, it barely vibrates..ear problems are inherited from my dad’s side of the family.. but I CAN hear things spoken far away from me in soft tones. Go figure, so it continually hurt me last week to hear M whispering bad stuff about me last week especially since he thinks I can’t hear what he’s saying. Everyone except W is ignoring it, but that still doesn’t mean it doesn’t hurt. To have your trust and friendship betrayed and drug through the mud is just not a good feeling. And finding new friends is easier said than done.

A good friend of mine, CS, told me to leave M alone and not to worry about him at all. That I don’t need people like that, but that I did need to find new friends to hang out with because this is a lonely world. That I need to find friends that have schedules closer to mine so I could actually hang out with them. After our conversation, it also made me realize that I am not sure CS has feelings other than friendship for me anymore. So, maybe he’s right, I should just let people go..

Today, I was adventurous! I went out and ate at Pho Pasteur, a Vietnamese restaurant. And I must comment, I am decidedly set on that Vietnamese eggrolls taste better than Chinese…IMO anyway. I was kind of scared, but just dove in anyway, and I am glad I did. I have to recommend the Beef Pho (pronounced kind of like fuh as I know it) with meatballs. It was VERY tasty. Adding hot, spicy chili sauce, hoisan (sp?) sauce, and soy sauce just made it even better.

In a way, it reminds me of chicken noodle soup, but with a LOT more stuff in it, and that it was beef, although it comes in chicken flavor as well. The restaurant also brought a lot of greenery, as I will call it, to flavor up the soup. One piece of greenery looked like cilantro..but I think it was parsley, but I left that one alone anyway. The other green leaves I added to the soup after watching others put them in their soup. I learned by following thexamples of others. The leaves had a vague lemon scent to them, even before adding a little lemon juice to the soup itself. I did not add the bean sprouts to the soup though, I am not wild about them. The soup uses rice noodles instead of pasta noodles, and I think they might have been better!

The funniest part of the experience was when I went to check out. Let me explain something. I have a mixed heritage including Native American Indian. Well, as someone recently pointed out, they originally came from Asia to begin with. A lot of their words even sound East Asian. A Vietnamese co-worker of mine used to joke with me and others and tell people I was half-Vietnamese. He would always say, look at her beady eyes and the shape of her face. He would then joke that one of my parents was secretly Vietnamese LOL.

Well, today, at the restaurant, all of the employees were Asian, although I am not sure if they were all Vietnamese or not. And there were many different ethnicities eating in the restaurant. When I went to pay out, the lady running the register looked at me, and tried to speak to me in Vietnamese. After my confused look, she said, “OHHH” and began to giggle. She said something in Vietnamese and her coworkers proceeded to all look at me, and then giggle. She told me how much my bill was, and when I handed her my check card, after swiping it, looked at my name…handed it back to me..said something again to the other co-workers..they said “OH” and proceeded to giggle some more. It did not offend me in the least bit, but I did find it amusing. I guess they thought I was at least part Asian..and then decided I wasn’t.

The joke was on me, but proves, you can’t judge a book by its cover, because you never know what is really between the covers.

Did you hear about home remedies and old adages aka superstitions when you were growing up? I have heard so many, that it is really not funny. A lot of them were passed down from my great-grandparents to my parents…and then to me.

Some home remedies that I have heard of are:

Use of vicks vaporub on the bottom of your feet, then cover them with socks before bed, and it will reduce a cough. So far, this one works.

My mother swears by the use of Mentholatum. My grandmother’s best friend, a wise old black lady told her to use it on bunions, corns, earaches, and sore throats. Placing it behind the ear or along the lymph nodes on the neck seems to cause a soothing effect, and for some unknown reason, it has seemed to reduce my mother’s bunions and corns. Strange..but true.

Hydrogen peroxide will get rid of blood stains. — This is true, but remember, it also acts as a bleaching mechanism, so be careful what you use it on, or you’ll get a lighter spot showing up instead of blood.

Pour soda such as Coca-Cola on your battery terminals to clean off the built up corrosion. — This one also works, I’ve done it several times myself.

To clean up spilled sugar or syrup, pour Dr. Pepper on it. Wait a minute or so, then clean up the liquid mess. — This works great, and a simple mopping will clean up any sticky residue from the soda itself. No grainy or super sticky syrup should be left behind.

If you burn yourself, immediately apply a generous amount of toothpaste to the area. Also, I have been told mustard works on this as well, but I haven’t tried out the mustard myself. We’ve used the toothpaste though as long as I can remember.

To keep insects from coming inside, pouring a line of cornmeal will stop them, and a chalkline will prevent ants from going where you don’t want them.

Supposedly, to cure a headache, rubbing your forehead with a lime wedge will stop the throbbing. I haven’t tried this one out yet because I am afraid of getting it in my eyes…which would definitely discract me from the headache.

Old adages that I have heard my whole life and that may not be as common are:

If it thunders in December, it will snow within six weeks. — This might be a duh factor since it is winter though..

If the firewood crackles or the smoke blows sideways out of the chimney, it means snow is on the way. — So far as I know, this one seems to always prove true.

There is a blackberry winter before Easter. Meaning: Don’t set out your vegetables or flowers before Easter Sunday because there is usually a late freeze right before Easter. I think this one holds mostly to the South though. I am sure it would pertain to a later date up North. — So far as I know, this seems to be generally true. Usually there is not another freeze after Easter in the South.

Itching palms of the hand. Supposedly one side means giving money, and the other receiving, but I don’t remember which one it is at the moment. — Whether this is true or not remains to be seen.

Dropping eating utensils. To drop a fork, means you will have a lady visitor. To drop a knife, means you will have a gentleman visitor. To drop a spoon, means a child will stop by for a visit.

If your ears are burning, then someone is discussing you.

If the clasp on your necklace makes its way all the way around to the front, where the pendant is held, then someone is thinking about you. You’re supposed to kiss the clasp, and turn it back around for the luck.

Here is a link to some more superstitions. http://www.oldsuperstitions.com/general.html and http://www.csicop.org/superstition/library/common.html .

I am scared to try foods that I have never eaten before. First of all, I am afraid of wasting my hard earned money. I am on a fairly tight budget, and when I buy something that I end up NOT liking the tastes of..it infuriates me to no end. I am especially scared of trying new ethnic foods. If I am visiting a friend’s home, I really do NOT want to offend them by not liking the food they cooked. Yes, it is probably delicious to them, but sometimes, our tastebuds require us to acquire the taste.

For years, I have hated the tastes of fish. The only type I can stand is fried catfish, the rest just leaves an awful metallic taste in my mouth. I have tried to eat it soooo many times, but sometimes others just don’t understand, that forcing me to eat it just can’t make the bad taste in my mouth go away. I also really like “real” Mexican food, not simply Tex-Mex.

A friend invited a group of us friends over to eat with he, his parents, and siblings. I can honestly say, it was the best Mexican food I have ever eaten. A lot of real Mexican food doesn’t traditionally use a lot, if any cilantro, which I am highly allergic to. We ate fresh cheese enchiladas with mole sauce hot enough to make steam come from your ears. And…oh my, traditional Mexican tamales..I was in HEAVEN. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamales . It’s funny, that things I take for granted..they eat daily. And the only other place I have eaten tamales that good is this old black man in the town where my grandparents lived that has made them as long as my mom can remember. When mentioning to my Hispanic friends about making pot roast or meatloaf, they have no idea what that is..and my friends are too scared to try it. I will not force them LOL. More for greedy little me then hehe.

As to CS, I have offered NUMEROUS times to cook him food. His response is always the same, “but I don’t know if I like it and if I don’t like it, I will not want to eat it.” He is quite scared of a lot of American food, and tells me that it doesn’t mix with his digestive system because it is simply too different from what he has always eaten. That being said..we do eat a lot of pizza, Taco Bell and Sonic together LOL. We were talking about catfish one day, and he said he did not like it the one time he ate it. I told him he hasn’t tried mine…that perhaps he would..since there is no good catfish place here in this city. I told him I would save him a piece or two next time I cook it..so we’ll see if he’ll be brave. http://www.chitterlings.com/catfish.html .

That being said, I have been terrified to try Indian food. The stuff at the grocery store my pharmacy is in looks HORRIBLE. After discussing it with CS, he also mentioned not to eat that stuff. That it is not authentic, and does NOT taste right, besides looking horrible. The stuff at the real Indian food store looked wonderful, but I will have to be careful because of that cilantro aka coriander allergy that I possess. I don’t know, but I suppose I will also have to get my gumption up on this. http://www.indianfoodforever.com/ .

For any longterm relationship of ours to eventually work, this will be a compromise that we will have to make one day. But we’ll cross that bridge when we get there. And for anyone with suggestions on getting past this point, I am ALL ears ..or rather eyes..on the page that is

Did you ever wonder where we came from? Did you ever wonder just how many different civilizations have been HERE before us? I mean before the ones that we know of. I have a theory that there was a great civilization at least 10,000 years ago, and that almost nothing of it still exists today.

It could have dealt with Atlantis, or something else unknown. Do I believe that Atlantis existed? Sure I do. Why could it not be possible? The ocean levels were a lot lower 10,000 years ago than they are now. There was a small ice age fluxation/ossicillation at the time. So theoretically, some islands could have been swallowed up with rising ocean levels. I believe that in the Mediterranean was once sealed off from the Atlantic Ocean by the Straits of Gibralter. In fact, some scientists have now discovered that there are obvious statues and temples down below the water lines off of the coasts and further out. Unfortunately, most of the governments of the Mediterranean countries do not allow for exploration because they fear looting.

Their fears are not totally unfounded, look at things that happened to Egypt when the pyramids and Valley of the Kings were uncovered. But a lot of people just want to know what is really there. You just can’t have that many pyramids all over the world and they not be somehow connected. I want to know just exactly what is in that tunnel underneath the Sphynx. Why NOT let Dr. Zahi Hawass into those passages? (Here’s a link to his website http://guardians.net/hawass/ .) He has proven his worth, consideration and understanding in preserving things as he has found them in his archealogical digs in Egypt. He IS a native Egyptian, so let him do so already!

I also tend to love the show on the history channel called “Digging for the Truth.” They explore ancient civilizations in areas around the world. Although I do disagree when they did a show trying to prove someone’s heritage based solely on mitochondrial DNA. This was erroneos on their part. You cannot link yourself with your father’s family via mitochondrial DNA. It is ONLY inherited from your mother, so they were wrong to rule out someone’s genetic link based on this. I am by no means an expert, but I do have a degree in biochemistry and know this to be a stringent fact.

Anyway, the show had discussions of Atlantis, the Egyptians, the Mayans, the Incans plus many more. I believe that if there were civilizations 10,000 years ago, that most of its things they built would have become one with the earth so to speak. Almost everything disintegrates over time..ashes to ash, dust to dust. Pay attention to how the roads wear out. They are constantly replaced because they disintegrate so rapidly. Salt water/vapor eats up metals..so I think it is safe to say, that whatever was here before us, is probably gone now..with only small remnants left behind.

I guess what I don’t understand is why so many people believe that we could only be the greatest civilization to exist. In that, I mean including Greek, Roman, Egyptian, Persian etc..anything already known. And what of the crystal skulls that exist? Supposedly no one knows how they were made. They are estimated in being anywhere from 2,000 to 36,000 years old. Why couldn’t one of the ancient civilizations tried to store info on them like we do today in nano-chips?

*Disclaimer* These are just thoughts of mine, and in no way states the opinions of an expert, so please don’t take these all as the proof positive truth of how things are or were.

Sometimes I just hate being a woman. Sometimes I think guys just have it sooo easy. They don’t have to deal with menstual cycles or anything of the such. No stress, bloating, fatigue…no moodiness, crying, tell-tell acne breakouts, etc. No having to USE feminine products, although on occassional they DO have to buy them for us though. *Sigh*

A lot of women don’t know that most antibiotics can send your hormone levels in to whacky mode. For some reason, they interact with birth control medicines, rendering them inactive for the most part…so not only do we have to deal with a bacterial infection, then a sometimes yeast infection, but we ALSO get our periods early. It just sucks!

Today, I was just a mean bitch at work. I warned them I was in a mood, but oooh no.. they didn’t listen. Note…when you are forewarned..don’t make me say I told you so later. The guys at work thought it would be real funny to keep pushing my buttons. Then one of my female co-workers..that has some issues, finally causes me to blow my gasket! I have worked 5 weekends straight not counting last weekend..my first Saturday off after those 5 weeks. She works only every other Saturday..never Sundays, not past 6pm on Wednesdays, and throws a fit if she has to work until 8pm once a week.

One of our pharmacists *also male* asked her if she was going to work with me and AH tomorrow. She said..”um no, I asked off because I have worked 2 weekends straight and needed a break.” I BLEW up..yelled from the other side of the pharmacy, “WHATEVER! I have worked every weekend, all weekend for a month straight, and you just don’t want to be here with me and AH tomorrow!” Her response, “I used to work every Saturday all the time.” My response, “I have worked EVERY SATURDAY AND SUNDAY FOR A MONTH!” She started to respond, I cut her off and yelled, “I just don’t want to HEAR it!” And that was the end.

The 2 technicians *both male* counting the prescriptions out (the 2 guys that had previously set me off to begin with) did NOT say another word. The look on their faces said it all…”OH $*!T !” Needless to say, no one else at work decided to provoke me. I did apologize to the other tech I yelled at. She just thought I was joking the whole time… *sigh* For once in my life, I blurt out how I am feeling..and she thinks it’s a joke. HELLS BELLS!

So I am seriously irritated with the whole notion of global warming. Many people are unaware that the natural order of things for the Earth is periods of warmth and periods of cold/ice. Not every single thing we do causes the Earth to warm up. If you don’t believe me, then please ask any geologists. I have a friend who works for FEMA in geo-studies. She backs up my theory on the global warming issue nearly a 100%. She ALSO agrees that this is just a natural Earth cycle, and we need not be so darned worried about it. We can’t force the Earth to do what we want..or can we?

Yes, I do believe we as humans have the responsibility to treat our homeworld better than we have been. I do NOT knock recycling and finding cleaner fuel sources. In fact, I am totaly gung-ho for it. When I bought a new care about 2 years ago, I made sure it was low on emissions and had a high gas mileage, although not totally because of environmental issues. Partly it was due to pocketbook issues. I didn’t foresee gas prices jumping this high. I feel that good ‘ole Bubba Bush is going to suck out the last little bit from all of us before he makes his grand exit. You can pick your friends…you can’t pick your relatives..and unfortunately we ARE distant kin. I kind of feel this gives me some right to criticize my VERY distant cousin

Anyway, back to global warming. Every so many thousands of years, there are cycles through a cooling period after a dramatic warm-up. What causes this you may ask if it’s not completely carbon/greenhouse emissions? Well, let me explain it in the best layman’s terms that I can. When the earth gets into a warmer phase, the world’s ocean temperatures also rise. This causes more warm water to dump into the North Atlantic Drift of the Gulf Stream. There are huge deposits of methane gas underneath the silt of the Atlantic Ocean. As it warms up, the methane gas unfreezes, releasing more gasses into the atmosphere. This in turn helps heat up the atmosphere to the point where the Earth eventually begins reflecting more sunlight than it takes in. The sunlight becomes partially blocked, plunging the Earth into ice ages, helping to slow down the Gulf Stream. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_Stream

Then the warm-up begins anew. As the Earth begins freezing up, glaciers are formed along with huge ice sheets. These ice sheets ONLY contain fresh water. Salt from the oceans is basically spit out of these sheets, sinking to the very bottom of the oceans because salt is more dense than fresh water. As the salt levels and cold levels increase, both cause the ocean water in the extreme north (and south for the other hemisphere of Earth) to become extremely dense. This creates a friction pushing the Gulf Stream/North Atlantic Current back into full force. (Think of magnets that repel, because it causes a slip-sliding motion as they repel.) As warmer, much less dense water reaches the extremely dense cold water, currents are created from the overturn, pushing the Current along. Thus the cycle begins anew. (This website explains more about whate are greenhouse gasses http://www.physorg.com/news11710.html .)

I also saw on the news how the scientists in the U.S. have suggested releasing sulfur particles into the air to help reflect back some of the sunlight to help reduce global warming. HELLO! These scientists are only making suggestions for what they were asked. They have very much voiced that they do NOT know what this will do to the environment. They especially have voiced a fear of forcing us into a dramatic ice age. Um..shouldn’t we just let mother nature handle things. She’s been doing a great job for the last million or so years, let’s not screw it up!

Plus there are already some conspiracy theories about airplane contrails. Lots of people, mostly scientists or science-type people have noticed changes in some airplane contrails produced. They think the government has been secretly dumping chemicals into the atmosphere for who knows what reason. Well, what does this have to do with global warming you ask? Simple, if they want to put those millions of sulfur particles in the air..how else do you think they are going to get them up there? The media usually only reports something AFTER the government has gone and done it..so I think it’s safe to say that they are trying this idea out anyway..regardless of the consequences. For more info about airplane contrails, here is a link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chemtrail_conspiracy_theory .

I have often wondered why people that call themselves good Christians find fault in anyone who cares to disagree with any part of their faith. I myself am a Christian, but I try not to push it onto other people. I decided to write a post on this after a discussion with 6mile and NK about religious tolerance. If I remembered exactly WHERE the conversation was on the blog..I would link it. If I find it, I will do so at a later time.

I don’t exactly fit the “ideals” most Christians believe in. First of all, I believe that there was never meant to be a physical temple/building, but a temple within ourselves, that you are supposed to be one-on-one with God. I believe in an ultimate superior being, but with 2 faces… one of man and one of woman. Why not? God said he made us in his likeness..so doesn’t it seem logical that he could actually HAVE 2 faces. I see him as our stern, but gentle father..and our loving, caring mother. I know that kind of flies in the face of Christianity, but it IS what I believe to my innermost sanctum.

I have friends of mulitple different religions. They don’t seem to ever try and push their religious ideals on me, yet I know multiple Christians who have. They push for religious understanding and tolerance, yet they severly criticize anyone who doesn’t fit their exact ideals. The Bible says, “not to judge others, lest ye be judged yeself.” For people that are so “religious,” they sure act high and mighty. These people annoy me to the utmost degree. I especially don’t like those that preach that if I do or don’t do certain things, I am going to Hell. I don’t really think they are in a position to make that decision. As far as I am concerned, only one being can decide that…and it isn’t them. This may sound cynical and judgemental on my part, but I cannot help how I feel about how I and others have been treated.

Someone once told me that I am more like a Buddist/Hindu-Christian combo than anything. This was from a man of Buddist religion that is married to a Christian lady. I believe in karma. I believe that what goes around, comes around; that if you do evil, it will come back on you 3-fold. I believe in spirit guides, and totem-like animals. Mine happens to be a dove..which sometimes shows with another friend. I feel like they are there watching over me, that God sent them to do so. People don’t normally find doves wherever they go..but strangely enough, I seem to be followed by this one. I can’t help it, it’s part of who I am…

I have a strong Native American heritage. We believe most living things have a spirit..and that is how I feel. I have inherited the ability to sometimes see things before they happen..usually in my dreams. It is a gift and a curse. A gift of sight..but a lot of times with no way to fix the inevitable. That being said, I will say..nothing is set in stone. We all have a plan set up with God, but we also have multiple choices, with many different outcomes. Because of this ability, I have also been called a witch, and not in a good way. How can something that was given to you from God make you automatically anti-Christian? It can’t..it is just people pushing their views and ideas onto someone when they don’t understand what is happening. People always try to find a way to comprehend things they don’t understand..and not always in the best of ways. My great, great grandmother was a medicine woman. That didn’t mean she wasn’t a Christian though. I also see spirits, and I am okay with that. Not everyone does…and if you don’t believe in them, you won’t see them. That being said, that doesn’t mean you haven’t had some sort of supernatural experience yourself.

Another thing is, I believe that most religions are interlinked. How you may ask? How many people have actually gone and tried to understand the differences between the different religions? By no means am I an expert. Most people do not know that the Bible was in fact written by man. That it is supposed to be God’s words interpretted as the person was given it. I have no major problem with that except that man is obviously flawed and prejudiced. I believe if I remember correctly, it was the Emperor Constantine that called together a meeting and had a session to vote what books were actually to go into the official Bible as we know it today. That means MANY books were left out. Most of these had to do with how there are not supposed to be physical temples, and that women WERE created to be equals with man. At the time, that would have lessened the power of the male-dominated Christian church. They wanted people to be taught subserviance..so I feel things were changed to say what those in that session wanted..not really completely what GOD wanted said.

Also, many Pagan rituals/holidays were incorporated into the Christian faith. Such as the Holy Trinity. Pagans believed in the face of God as the Goddess as well, if I remember correctly. Also, their Holy Trinity was also known as the maiden, the mother and the crone… this was changed to the Trinity of the Father, the Mother, the Child and into today’s the Father, the Spirit and the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost is by tradition a woman, but that is not widely spread by the churches. Want more info, here’s a website about it. http://www.northernway.org/twm/mary/trinity.html . I was also recently educated that Hinduism also has a Trinity of sorts known as Lord Brahma, Lord Shiva and Lord Vishnu. Hindus also, to the best of my knowledge, believe in an ultimate superior being as well, with the 3 above as different aspects or faces of the one ultimate God. The following website explains some of the differences between Christianity and Hinduism http://www.religion-cults.com/Eastern/Hinduism/hindu4.htm .

Equinoxes and Solsticies were also celebrated by the Pagans. No one knows when Jesus was exactly born, but to try to move into a more Christian-based era…the winter solstice was moved into the holiday Christmas..the Yuletide. Yet, this is all based on ANOTHER Pagan holiday. The following website explains this in great detail…alot better job than I could ever attempt to accomplish. http://www.unhinderedliving.com/yule.html . And by the way, most traditional wedding songs are of Pagan origin. I know this because if you are Catholic, they will not allow them to be played at your wedding, as a friend of mine was recently educated about.

I didn’t say really anything about Muslims or Jews. They believe in the Bible up until the New Testament, and have their own set of beliefs, but I am still educating myself on those. But, from what I have seen, true Muslims are willing to be tolerant, it is the radical ones we always hear about. What does this mean? You shouldn’t judge others until you know the REAL person..or how about just don’t judge them at all.

Another website that helps with explaining the differences and similarities between religions is http://www.religioustolerance.org/winter_solstice.htm . Hopefully, more people will become open-minded and tolerant. That is what life is really all about.

Well, tonight, the clocks will be pushed forward an hour to account for daylight savings time. Did I mention I think this is one of the STUPIDIST customs the U.S. ever implemented?!? I understand why it was implemented to begin with, but why are we still using it today?

The U.S. began using it during World War I to try to help alleviate hardships caused by not enough daylight during the working hours. At the time, it was proposed that it would help use LESS electricity and allow for more natural daylight during the wartime shortages. However, throughout the years, it now causes more electricity to be used because people tend to get up earlier, many times BEFORE the sun has come up. Most countries repealed the use of D.S.T. (daylight savings time) after WWI was over with, as did the U.S. for a period of time.

During, WWII, D.S.T. was reinstated, but without its later repeal. Legislature changed the period of time for D.S.T last year. They added an extra month to it in hopes of reducing energy usage…but, most researchers discovered last year that it really didn’t create a reduction of energy usage at all.

Personally I think that D.S.T. just sucks. It messes with our natural biorhythms. Our bodies just were NOT made to get up before dawn. It takes me MONTHS to get my body readjusted to the time change…by that time..it’s almost time to change back. My local pharmacists recommend taking Melatonin for a short period of time to help the body get back into a natural sleep cycle. When you’re already an insomniac, D.S.T. just is NOT a good thing. Anyway, that’s my opinions on the matter. And there are a few states within the U.S. that do NOT practice D.S.T. due to the number of dairy farms. Adjusting the times the cows give milk, can cause distress, causing them to stop producing milk. You would think that if other animals have such a tough trouble adjusting that more studies would be done on humans to show the ill effects it has on us. Perhaps it’s just another governmental cover-up.

Today, I had an adventure. For the first time ever, I went into an ethnic food store. I went with my CS to Bangla-Pak, an Indian food store. We have only 2 very small Indian foodstores in my city, so we drove about 20 minutes to the other store in a nearby city. CS has been there frequently because that is where he and his Indian friends go to buy authentic Indian food. I was excited. Earlier in the day, we had had a conversation about Indian food, and what all it entails. I, myself, have never eaten it.

I was like a kid in a candy shop looking at everything and asking about everything. I think I now MUST try the lemon and lime pickles, aka in English, pickled lemons and limes. He showed me the names of spices and I told him what they were called in English. The place sells HUGE bags of rice at a lot better prices that I expected. Also, they sold fresh chicken. I was totally excited and told CS that I would definitely go back with him. They sell fresh chicken cut every which way, but at a totally cheaper rate than most of the local supermarkets. Also, I definitely now want to try chutney and curry. I saw what REAL curry actually looked like. The stuff in the supermarket that my pharmacy is located within, sells some Indian food that looks horrible. I told CS about it, and he giggled and said NOT to eat that stuff, that it was as bad as it looked. I also would LOVE to try the frozen tortillas that have the onions, potatoes, etc already made into them.

I was hoping to find fresh Lychees..but alas, I will have to make a trip to the Asian food market in another nearby city that I know that carries them. CS actually had never eaten them and didn’t know what they were, so I will definitely have to get him to try them. My grocery store just started carrying longans, and I am super excited about that.

The only strange thing about the experience was that I felt like I was being stared at. I was the only white looking person there, and the whole strip-mall complex was entirely Indian-based. I am not sure if it was a good thing or a bad. Later we went to a low cost grocery store for fresh fruit and vegetables that were better priced than the Bangla-Pak.

The only downfall is that I had to explain to CS about my food allergy to coriander aka cilantro. I am not sure he entirely understands what it does to me, that I go into anaphylactic shock. I told him it closes my throat, so he specifically did make sure I didn’t get near it when he was shopping for it. I am curious to find out that if I eat coriander seeds cooked into stuff, if I will have the same reaction I have to the leaves themselves. When I eat fresh carrots, I have an allergic reaction, but once cooked and in VERY tiny quantities, am usually okay. Even cilantro cooked causes the throat closure, so, I am just going to have to try and make it myself through the good ready made meals that CS pointed out to me. Only one way to find out..but I will be careful.