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Showing posts from July, 2010

Sunshine After the Rain

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Biding my time before surgery, I have an appointment with the surgeon himself this Monday. I’m obsessively looking up the ejection fraction percentage for a gallbladders, which should be in the range of 35-75%, and mine is 30%, so it’s not that bad. I’ve been advised to try holistic approaches before venturing off to have the doctors pry me open. I then thought about acupuncture, so I sifted around online and found a few people, some who were just straight out of college trying out a new profession, mostly anglo and eager to make a buck out of poking people with needles. I want traditional Chinese people doing this---not some waitress/student/wannabe acupuncturist. Then I found the perfect one: an old Chinese guru right down the block. She asked what’s bothering me and I told her I had stomach issues and explained my concern about how itchy the doctors wanted to open me up and suck this gallbladder right out of my bellybutton. She was thrilled to hear I opted for the alternative. She’

Lo Que No Mata Engorda

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If you’re anything like me who grew up in a household where your mom always prepared something scrumptious in quantities that were fit for an army, then you’re probably going to relate. I grew up in an Italian household where mom would be cooking meatballs, bracioles, tons of pastas, eggplant parmesan (which is deep fried eggplant along with tons of cheese), fried calamari, fried shrimp, fried chicken cutlets, fried fried fried anything, and lived to be 36 years old to still talk about it, however, with a few minor problems. God bless my parents for being in their mid-seventies, however it sure has taken a toll on my health, although I’m the only one in “control” of the fork, but how can you say no to a cute little Italian mama who is only cooking for you out of love? It’s the guilt that gets me every time, and of course, it’s fricken delicious. My wife and I cook much differently at home, mostly fish, chicken, vegetables and yes, occasionally we’ll eat red meat, but it has to be ei

Are Social Networking Sites Leaving Us Antisocial?

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With all the networking sites that are out there, many people get so caught up in it that it absolutely consumes them to know what other people are doing. This has unleashed another hidden type of personality: we’re all nosey. We all want to see photos, status messages sharing info about what people are doing or what mood they’re in, or perhaps, who they just broke up with. Some love it for the drama, most love it to keep up with family, friends and loved ones and there are a few who are on there for ulterior motives, like “stalking” an account in hopes to see that one status message: “I’m going on vacation on the 20th! I can’t wait!” The worst thing in the world is to let other people know you’re going to be leaving your home for a period of time. You can say, “Well, I only have friends on there” ---but mind you, some of these “friends” are ‘long lost friends’ who you haven’t seen in quite some time. People change. You don’t know their financial woes or what they’re going through

Liberation: Coming Out of the Closet

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Anger motivates many people to do "missions" that are supposedly inspired “by God”. They use the name of God in order to tear down or destroy anyone that may be doing something of their disinterest. Why would any religious person, regardless of their denomination, obsess and focus so much on homosexuality? I’m speaking about those who ridicule gay and lesbian lifestyles to the point of cursing them, and in some unfortunate cases, killing them. I totally believe that what we “hate” has something to do within “us”. So, when someone hates you for being gay, lesbian or transgender, maybe they’re having a sexual orientation and identity crises of their own? That fact remains, when people fear the thought of who they “may” be, is usually generated by anger and obsessiveness, in fear of discovering that they may share something in common. I distinctly remember a friend of mine who was married with kids, went to church like clockwork, who also happened to disagree with my lifestyle.

Is Homosexuality Really an Abomination to God?

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When I first started this blog, much of the content was based on my belief as a Christian that homosexuality is not a sin and the scriptures that referred to homosexuality was purely based upon promiscuity and lust, just as premarital heterosexual sex is just the same. I had debated with a few fundamentalist protesting Christians who basically told me I was going to hell and that I was mocking God by calling myself a Christian. Long story short, I was tired of defending myself, because I know in my heart that God loves me, God loves all of the LGBT people that love Him. It’s not a matter of “sin” in this case, because love is love. This morning, I went into my comment section from my last blog post and saw that someone under “anonymous”, signed “Wayne”, had written quite a lengthy blurb to tell me what “truth” really is regarding homosexuality. Here’s Wayne’s comment: "Deb: 

I read the postings between yourself and Dani concerning your homosexual lifestyle, and I wanted to shar

While Having My Late Afternoon Coffee...

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So I’m sitting in a crowded Starbucks on a late this afternoon listening to a couple of ‘seemingly’ gay men talk about “girth”. Yeah... that. I pretended I wasn’t listening and tried to continue writing. I had nothing. Not one word. I couldn’t think. Their conversation was getting more and more interesting by the minute, because for me, I have never heard two men speak so openly about sex before in a ‘feminine’ way - and what I mean by that is: sex spoken in a healthy way, not like two hillbillies chatting about poker in the rear & liquor in the front. This was something you’d get from a sex therapist - hell, even if they were a couple of gay men, they were actually helping my own sexual dilemmas out. I had to look over to see what they were wearing to make sure they were in fact, gay. 

 Gay man #1: Tight Ambercrombie & Fitch t-shirt with silver writing, with a pair of faded out jeans with stylish patches thrown on ever so randomly, along with a pair of flip flops which hap

Overworked? Underpaid?

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Have you ever felt like taking a step back from life and reevaluating who you are, what you want and what you need? For some, it’s a phase that regenerates itself after a period of time, and for others, they never have to do this for whatever reason. Whether it’s your career, love life or anything else that’s causing you grief or stress, taking a break from it proves only to be the healthiest option. I remember going through a turbulent and stressful breakup years ago, and at the same time, trying to change my career from customer service & accounting to a full time writer. It was a steep move, both in subject and pay. My anxiety levels were at its highest, straight from the commute to and from work, the rigid hours, to finding myself dealing with a broken relationship when I got back home. As soon as I came home, I opened a bottle of wine to only stress & obsess. My mind wouldn’t stop. It was like a film projector showing me clips of the worst parts of my life, over and over a