In My Mind’s Blog

Obama haters should just shut it…it’s done! The majority of the population made their choice; Obama will be our 44th President effective 1/20/09. Just deal with it and give the man a chance to prove himself worthy of leading our nation. This country gave Bush a chance, so let someone intelligent run the oval office for a change. Most of the haters are McCain fans…why don’t you guys be like your presidential candidate and just graciously accept defeat? McCain even said that he’ll be supporting Obama so you should do the same thing. Don’t believe every email you get with anti-Obama messages…those were written by bitter, hateful and mostly racist individuals. Do your own research about Obama and you will find he is a highly-educated person and well qualified for the job. Believe the facts…do not speculate.

BTW, the image is by Shepard Fairey (famous for his OBEY Giant posters). I just love the artwork and images produced by this presidential election.

In yo face geezer and dingbat fanatics! In yo face. hahahahahahaha!!!!

Voting day is almost here!

If you must know, I am a registered Independent coz I need to study and weigh the issues before I vote on who gets to be El Presidente de Estados Unidos.

I have to admit I was a skeptic, but I now know I wasn’t alone on why I thought the way I did. I did my research, I listened to the debates and heard the opinions of the media and common folk.

All I know is that I have had it with the war in Iraq and Afghanistan…$10B a month to fund the 2 wars is way ridiculous!  Two wars, WTF!  Soldiers having 3 to 4 tour of duties during their military service…we need our troops back so that they could be with their families and defend the US in US soil.  Use the money to invest on our own national security, infrastructure and oil dependency.  If those countries don’t want democracy…it is time to leave them alone.  Let us not waste any more resources on a lost cause.

The US has lost credibility with most of the world and the new President should be able to redeem our country’s status and ties with other nations.  Why do you think gas prices are so high?…coz the dollar is weak!  America isolated itself for a long time and now needs to realize that it needs the support of other countries.  As the saying goes, “No man is an island.”

People who make more than $250K or more should just shut up and eat it…hello, if you rich guys pay the bulk of the taxes then the middle or lower income people would have more spending power to buy the stuff you sell - the more we buy, the more you make, duh!!!  Spread the wealth, man.

I do not believe in bailing out my neighbor’s mortgage. I work, I’m financially struggling yet I make sure my loan gets paid on time.  Why should I support these idiots who got into a situation where they ate more than they could chew.  The whole darn economy is down in the dumps and the appraised value of my home is already low, so what difference would it make if my neighbour lost their home?  Oh geez, I get better neighbours or no neighbours at all…cool!

A lot of pension plans, including my husband’s, are on freeze right now.  People are forced to invest on their own retirement plans like 401k’s that are not doing well at the moment.  I personally want to retire financially comfy, if we keep up the way we are right now, I will not be able to support myself when I get old…and I honestly do not want to work in my 70’s and be a burden to my son.

America ate too much and now we are too gassy and have to belch.  Instead of eating more of the crap, we need to go on a diet.  It will not be easy, but we all know we have to do it.  We are used to quick-remedy schemes, like that rebate check that is now all gone, but what we really need is the courage to go through a trimming phase and we all need to wake up!  We need CHANGE.

I love this country and that is why I became a citizen in the first place and damn it to hell if we go through another 4 years of this bullshit economy. If I need to sacrifice today so that my son and other children of this great nation have a brighter future, I am so willing to do it.

How does God want me to live?  In order to answer this, I have to understand my thoughts were conditioned from past experiences.  I also need to change my perception about things, see the beauty around me; look at nature to find a sense of sacredness.  Spirit is formless and being still will help me experience it. Am I still breathing?  If I am aware of my breathing, I will achieve a State of Presence - being present in the moment determines how I should live my life — I have a choice on what I need or want to do in the present moment without resistance (being at one with what happens), without judgment and without attachment.

I felt hurt about something, then I realized it was just my ego talking. I want to react but I know it would not be wise to do so. People have the right to freely express their opinions, it just sucks that most don’t take responsibility of the possible consequences…I have to live with that, but I don’t need to dwell on it.  Right now, I am trying to get over it and move on.  It shouldn’t matter what people call me, what matters most is what I answer to.

The challenge of translating thoughts and feelings into physical form is what drives me as a visual artist. Throughout the years, I experimented in drawing, painting, photography, crafts, bookmaking and stained glass. Incorporating learned art skills through the construction of altered art pieces, in the form of collage or mixed media work, satiates my visual appetite.

When something moves me deeply, I study it by researching everything about the issue and gather significant materials such as ephemera, photographs and diminutive found objects. The investigation and collection process sometimes takes weeks before assemblage begins. If the work needs painting, the color choices usually are dependent on the mood it must convey. With an open mind and years of practice, a leave-it-or-toss-it attitude helps when editing the overall look of the project. The work is ready when it satisfies my aesthetics, stirs curiosity, and cleverly presents the message, only decoded through careful scrutiny.

At present, I am strongly opposed to matters involving the mistreatment of children. There is a need to raise the issue about neglected and battered kids, sometimes killed by the same people who should be caring for them. Being irreverent toward another person’s existence is a disturbing matter. Through my work, I intend to comment on the atrocities of child abuse and plead for justice on their behalf.

Update:  Got an “A” today (10/21/08) Yey!

I found out something on my own today and my heart sank

Innocence lost, innocense found…no matter how you view it, a blessing it is

I have to detach myself but hope that love and prayers help the situation

May the difficult cycle find rest and contentment

I hate my Writing in Art class, especially when I have to write about stuff I really don’t care for.  It’s bad enough that I get dinged for too many passive sentences, I also need to be psychic because the teacher wants parenthetical citations.  I just found that out when she handed back to me my heavily edited paper.  I feel like a fish out of water.  Not everyone wants to be a scholarly curator…I just want my damn “C” so I can move on.   Also, I am not looking forward to 2 group projects I need to fulfill in that class.  I’ve done group work before and it sucks ass because there will always be slackers.  I know I’m a control freak and I just know I’m going to end up doing a lot of the work.  This semester is just dragging and I’m just telling myself to take it one day at a time…it’ll soon be over.  Aaaaarggghhh!

OMG, I finally saw the movie, The Color Purple, on DVD over the weekend and in my opinion, it is one of the best films ever. If you are able to spare 3 hours of your time, go watch this movie….but you need to be alone when you watch it so that no one could see you sob. The movie has a happy ending but it will still have you crying…so better have a hanky or kleenex box around. Super chick flick to the max. I want to buy myself a copy of the film when they come out with the 25th year anniversary issue….that’ll be in 2010. Dang, this film is old but sure is younger than me….double dang!

NON, JE NE REGRETTE RIEN
Paroles: Michel Vaucaire, musique: Charles Dumont, enr. 10 novembre 1960

Non, rien de rien
No, nothing at all

Non, je ne regrette rien
No, I don’t regret anything at all

Ni le bien qu’on m’a fait
Nor the good that was given me

ni le mal, Tout ça m’est bien égal
Nor the evil. They’re all the same

Non, rien de rien
No, nothing at all

Non, je ne regrette rien
I don’t regret anything at all

C’est payé, balayé, oublié
It’s all paid for, wiped out, and forgotten

Je me fous du passé
And I don’t care for what’s gone by

Avec mes souvenirs
With my memories

J’ai allumé le feu
I’ve lit a fire

Mes chagrins, mes plaisirs
My sorrows, my pleasures

Je n’ai plus besoin d’eux
I don’t need them anymore

Balayés mes amours
My romances wiped out

Avec leurs tremolos
With the tremblings they braught

Balayés pour toujours
Wiped out forever

Je repars à zéro
I set out once more from zero

Non, rien de rien
No, nothing at all

Non, je ne regrette rien
I don’t regret anything at all

Ni le bien qu’on m’a fait
Nor the good that was given me

ni le mal, Tout ça m’est bien égal
Nor the evil. They’re all the same

Non, rien de rien
No, nothing at all

Non, je ne regrette rien
I don’t regret anything at all

Car ma vie
Because my life

Car mes joies
Because my joys

Aujourd’hui
Today

Ça commence avec toi…
It all begins with you…

After reading Eckhart Tolle’s book " A New Earth", I now believe that money is not the root of all evil…instead it’s a person’s EGO.  The EGO gives society a warped sense of how the world should be.  Too many expectations that people try to meet when they don’t have to.

When I read the book, I discovered how guilty I am of a lot of egotistical things that I wasn’t even  aware of.  Also, I think back about all the confrontations I had with people and it’s usually because it was a battle of who was right or wrong.  I  still overanalyze situations and a lot of mental talk goes inside my head.  Now I tell myself that when those things happen, it’s not me talking - it’s my EGO.  When I am aware of the talk going on inside my head, I have to stop and be aware that basically it’s all in my head and I’m just personalizing it too much….more like making it seem like a personal attack on myself.  Eckhart also suggests three things….non-judgment, non-attachment and the impermanence of things (meaning  ‘this too shall pass’).  He emphasizes just being still amidst the chaos.  When you are still you become aware of what is going on and you then take on a new perspective about the situation which then helps you not to personalize things.  To practice being still, he suggests to be aware of your breathing…and boy, how that does wonders.  But in reality, it is very hard to just be still and acknowledge just BEING without reacting.

Even writing this blog might seem to be egotistical to some people but I write it anyway because maybe you might be going through the same struggles…so who knows, you might want to pick up a copy of the book and help yourself.

You know that I’m not just advertising the book but because something happened to me again that I want to share with all of you.  Yesterday, at work, there was a young woman sitting in our waiting area.  I thought she was waiting for one of the writers so I just went pass her and went to the copy machine to make some copies.  As I was going back to my office, I still saw the woman in the waiting room and I noticed that she was still sitting in one of our arm chairs but looking like she was getting comfy.  She had her slippers off her feet and just writing on her desk pad like she was in her own room.  I approached her and in a calm voice asked if she was waiting for someone in particular from our office.  She said "no".  So, I asked her if she was a student and was she studying.  She then said "yes".   I then said that I was sorry but the place where she’s studying at is our office waiting room and suggested that there are designated areas in the university where she can study, like the library.  She then asked me "Where did you guys move the furniture where students can study at?"  I told her that I wasn’t aware of such a place on the floor we were at.  So I told her again that I was sorry but our office is an administrative office and that she needs to go study at the library.  Then all of a sudden I saw the most inflated EGO go off in my face.  She tells me that she is a Master’s student and she knows for a fact where the study areas are and that I don’t have to reiterate to her where she needed to go.  She couldn’t find a peaceful area so that’s why she decided to come in to our waiting room.  Notice, I told her not to leave but giving her that option to save her face so that she can leave on her own…but no….here’s the best part…she then asked for my name…so I gave it to her and she writes it down on her pad…I even told her that I am the office manager.  She then asked who my supervisor was so that she can talk to her.  So I said I was going to get my supervisor now so she can talk to her at that moment.  I went to my supervisor’s office and quickly told her the scenario.  My supervisor came out and asked the woman what she can do for her.  Then the woman looks at me and tells me all she was asking for was my supervisor’s name…so I gave it to her and she writes it on her pad.  She then told my supervisor that she doesn’t have time to chat right now because she had a class to attend to but she will be contacting her the following day.  She then leaves the office.  My supervisor told me not to worry because she knows I did nothing wrong and if the woman contacts her that all she could say is that she is sorry that she felt that way about the situation….not admitting to wrongdoing (because it is not our problem about how she feels). 

The thing I want to impart from my experience yesterday was that amidst the chaos that went on infront of my face, I remembered to breathe and even when I was getting angry I felt my heartbeat race and I just told myself that this person was just trying to save her dignity (EGO) because she knows she was at the wrong and it was too bad I had to point it out to her.  I didn’t race my voice or anything, I just kept calm and stood my ground.  It was so hard to do but thank God He helped me keep my cool.

Update:  Bitch didn’t even call the next day.