living your own legend

I reckon that it takes about three minutes to read each page in this book. Well, according to statistics, in that same space of time, 300 people will die, and another 620 will be born.

I might take half an hour to write each page: I’m sitting at my computer, concentrating on what I’m doing, with books all around me, ideas in my head, cars driving past outside. Everything seems perfectly normal, and yes, during those thirty minutes, 3,000 people have died, and 6,200 have just seen the light of the world for the first time.

Where are those thousands of families who have just begun to mourn the loss of someone, or to smile at the arrival of a son, daughter, nephew, niece, brother, or sister?

I stop and reflect a little. Perhaps many of those people were reaching in the end of a long an painful illness, and some people are relieved when the Angel comes for them. Then again, hundreds of those children who have just been born will be abandoned the next moment and will go on to form part of the death statistics before I have even finished writing this page.

How strange. A simple statistic, which I happened to read, and suddenly I’m aware of all those deaths and entrances, those smiles and tears. How many of them are leaving this life while alone in their rooms, with no one relizing what’s happening? How many will be born in secret and then abandoned outside a children’s home or a convent?

I think to myself that I was once part of the birth statistics and will, one day, be included amongst the numbers of dead. It is good to be aware that I will die. Ever since I walked the road to Santiago, I have understood that, although life goes on and we are all eternal, this existence will one day end.

People do not think very much about death. They spend their lives worrying about absurdities; the put things off, and fail to notice important moments. They don’t take risks, because they think it’s dangerous. They complain a lot, but are afraid to take action. They want everything to change, but they themselves refuse to change.

If they thought a little more about death, they would never forget to make that much-postponed phone call. They would be a little crazier. They would not be afraid of this incarnation coming to an end, because you cannot fear something that is going to happen anyway.

The Indians say: “Today is as good day as any to leave this world.” And a wise man once said: “Death is always sitting by your side so that, when you need to do something important, it will give you the strenght and the courage that you need.”

I hope that you, dear reader, have got this far. It would be foolish to be frightened by death, because all of us, sooner or later, are going to die. And only those who accept this fact are prepared for life. -(Paulo Coelho)

looking at other people's gardens

"You can give a fool a thousand intellects, but the only one he will want is yours," says an Arabic proverb. When we start planting the garden of our life, we glance to one side and notice our neighbor is there, spying. He himself is incapable of growing anything, but he likes to give advice on when to sow actions, when to fertilize thoughts, and when to water achievements.

If we listen to what this neighbor is saying, we will end up working for him, and the garden of our life will be our neighbor's idea. We will end up forgetting about the earth we cultivated with so much sweat and fertilized with so many blessings. We will forget that each centimeter of earth has its mysteries that only the patient hand of the gardener can decipher. We will no longer pay attention to the sun, the rain, and the seasons; we will concentrate instead only on that head peering at us over the hedge.

The fool who loves giving advice on our garden never tends his own plants at all.

how to spot an urban myth

Got this while I was browsing the net…not that I intend to find this certain topic, just felt like posting that’s all. By the way, it was porn.

DON’T know what to believe? Urban myths spread like wildfire - at the bar, via e-mail, even in local newspapers and on TV news reports. Here are some way to spot one, according to journalist and creator of the Urban Myth board game, Scott Magnish:

- Your brother-in-law’s flatmate’s friend: myths are never first-hand and almost always many times removed.

- Semi-anonymous attribution: if the suspected myth is in the news, quotes are almost untraceable, as no proper names are given. (e.g. "police spokesperson" is quoted, not indicating who’s that "spokesperson" the news is referring to.)

- Too good to be true: "If you think about the story, you can poke a couple of holes in it yourself"-Magnish.

- The truth is on the Internet: c’mon guys, I think I made my point quite clear…everything’s on the Internet. Including porn.

to re-use or not to re-use

You might be helping the environment when you re-use water bottles, but researchers say you could also be risking your health. A study of kids’ re-used water bottles at a Canadian secondary school found the kinds and levels of bacteria that would prompt a health department warning to boil tap water. About a third of the samples were contaminated, some with feacal bacteria that probably came from the kinds’ hands and mouths as they repeatedly used the same bottles without washing them. However, study suggests the kind of washing needed to kill the bacteria might accelerate the breakdwon of plastic, potentially causing the toxic chemicals (DEHA) to migrate into the liquid.

Food safety and plastics experts contend, however, that many bottles are safe as the are made with non harmful substance (i’d rather not mention abbreviations to express the content more effeciently). Although these so called non-harmful bottles are design for single use, the can be re-used without any health risk provided that they are cleaned and handled hygienically…tadaaa.

the tao of homer

Feeling lost and adrift? Gain inner peace from reading Homer. No, not the Greek guy. Homer Simpson. Here are some Homeric jewels to live by.

- "The answers to life's problems aren't at the bottom of a bottle. They're on TV."

- "What's the point of going out? We're just going to end up back here anyway."

- "Trying is the first step towards failure."

- "You can't keep blaming yourself. Just blame yourself once and move on."

- "Doughnuts. Is there anything they can't do?"

- "The three little sentences that will get you through life. No. 1: Cover for me. No. 2: Oh, good idea boss. No. 3: It was like that when I got here." (-lifeisajoke.com)

how one thing can contain everything

A meeting in the house of Sao Paulo-born painter based in New York. We are talking about angels, and about alchemy. At one point, I try to explain to the other guests the alchemical idea that each of us contains the whole universe and that we are, therefore, responsible for its well-being. i struggle to find the right words, but cannot come up with a good image that will explain my point of view.

The painter, who has been listening in silence, asks everyone to look out of the window of his studio.

"What can you see?" he asks.

"A street in Greenwich Village," someone replies.

The painter sticks a piece of paper over the window so that the street can no longer be seen; then, with a penknife, he cuts a small square in the paper.

"And if someone were to look through there, what would he see?"

"The same street," comes the reply.

The painter cuts several squares in the paper.

"Just as each of these holes contains within it the whole view of the same street, so each of us contains in our soul the same universe," he says.

And all of us applaud the lovely image he has found.

too much D can cause you the C

The connection between sunlight, vitamin D and cancer is growing stronger. And getting the right amount of D is key: Scientists in Norway, Sweden, and Finland analysed blood samples of 622 men with prostate cancer and 1451 cancer-free men. Those with the lowest amounts of vitamin D were 50 per cent more likely to develop prostate cancer than those with an average amount. Yet men with the highest levels of D had a 70 per cent higher risk.

The body makes vitamin D when skin is exposed to sunlight. Getting enough D can be as easy as exposing your face and forearms for 10 to 20 minutes in the noonday sun, but of course this would probably not apply here in our country since noontime heat is one bad case of a sunburn, now try exposing your face with that ass wipe. You can also get D from milk and cold-water fish like salmon (maybe a much more non sweaty option). A safe target is 600-800 IUs a day. And until we know more about the relationship between too much D and cancer, you may want to avoid D supplements.

i write you just to let you know...

That I'm alright. Can't say I'm sad to see go. Cause I'm not. Well I'm not. So we'll just take it back...