Someday Syndrome

Don't Blame the Garlic

It turns out I can't blame my politeness and the overly-garlicked food from the weekend. I have a stomach bug and therefore no interest whatsoever in posting today.

So go read my recently published website review in Vision magazine.

Someday Lessons:

• Have a backup plan for when your life is full of crap (pun intended yet again).
• Don't be too quick to judge the cause of bad things - it's highly likely you're wrong.

The Arrogance of Experts

The antacid medication hasn't kicked in yet, so I didn't go in to work. I spent the day in bed except for half-an-hour when I went to see the doctor to get a note for my boss. While there I asked the doctor a few questions about the pain and about the candida problems I have, but unfortunately she gave me the typical western medicine response of "you're just the patient – you don't know anything."

If it weren't for the language barrier I would have pushed more, but then again I think I would have just been banging my head against a wall, which might have distracted from the acid-pain but wouldn't have been good in the long run. The doctor's attitude was the same I experienced when the medical community in Toronto told me that I had fibromyalgia and couldn't do anything about it. After living in pain for nine years I changed my diet and poof! all symptoms went away (for almost five years).

In other words I'm a little short on trust right now but in Spain people are assigned their doctors and can't look around for one they trust and feel comfortable with. Maybe I'll make a long distance appointment with my former naturopath in Toronto. He always paid attention to everything I told him.

Someday Lessons:

• All too often, the more people know, the less the listen to others.
• Ultimately, you are the only true advocate for your health.

Enforced Health Diet

For years I've told myself that I should eat more fresh vegetables and fewer fatty foods like potato chips, but I love fried food and never really got into lots of veggies.

Now I have no choice. On top of having problems with Candida-inducing foods, my stomach has decided that fatty foods cause acid reflux. For the next month the doctor has prescribed me pills to calm my stomach and told me to eat more cleanly. This means that on top of not eating sugar, alcohol, yeast, wheat, mushrooms and other such yummy foods, I also have to cut out non-lean meat, fried food and other high-fat foods. Also hot foods (temperature and spice) irritate my esophagus, so I need to eat my food at room temperature or cold.

What's left you ask?

• Chicken/turkey breast
• Fresh vegetables
• Rice/corn cakes
• Yogurt
• Salads
• Rice
• Fish

I'm so going to get bored (and thin!). At least it's only for a month.

Someday Lessons:

• Don't procrastinate about your health.
• If you don't take care of yourself by choice, your body will likely force you to later.

It's Sharing Time

Since I'm already in the sharing mood (having shared with you my script writing), I thought I'd share some of my fiction writing.

My current WIP (that's Work In Progress) is a young adult novel where the main character chooses (for various reasons) to live alone on a tropical island. I've decided to actually trap him there. I used the following scene as a way to develop my descriptive skills.

Someday Lessons:

• Don't keep your creativity bottled up - share it with the world.
• When something is a work in progress, don't worry about the little mistakes. You'll have time to polish it later.

*****
By the time Mercaj got down to the beach, his little sailboat was deep in the water, tugging furiously to be free from its tether. Like all the trees on the island, the palm to which it was attached thrashed in the wind.

The winds were much stronger on the beach, however. Mercaj had more than just the deep soft sand under his feet to hinder his rescue of the boat. The wind picked up the sand and threw it at Mercaj with such force he was sure it was scrubbing off skin. Plus the wall of water the rain had turned into certainly didn't help.

As he approached the palm, he noticed that the tieline was sliding up and down the truck of the palm as the tree whipped around. Unripe coconuts littered the beach, unable to hold on under the onslaught.

Mercaj reached the rope after what felt like an eternity. He dug his heels into the sand, grasped the rope and ...

Do You Know If You're Happy?

When I was younger and more dramatic I used to wallow in unhappiness (Okay fine, sometimes I still do indulge in a good bout of self-pity, but I try to stop it as soon as I notice what I'm doing). Now when I realize that I'm starting to get unhappy I look for the cause then change things.

A lot of people, however, know they are unhappy and don't do a thing about it. It could be a case of self-worth; they don't believe they are worthy of being happy. It could be inertia; easier to stay comfortably unhappy then make an effort to change. Or it could be fear; it's less risky to stay where you are than to aim higher and maybe fall lower.

These things I understand. Insecurity, inertia and fear are active. They are the results of being aware of life, even if they are negative. What I don't get, however, is people who never look at their lives. They don't actually know if they are happy or not. They don't just live with blinders on, hiding other possibilities, they don't even have their eyes open! These people seem to be content to go through life as if they were on a really long and boring car ride. Nothing interesting is supposed to happen and they hit the major milestones in life in the same way they'd stop off at service stations along the highway.

With this type of life, all I think is: “How sad.”

Someday Lessons:

• Live positively or live negatively, but be aware of your choices.
• You have one life – what are you doing with it?

Busy Day, Boring Post

Again, I'm stuck with nothing to say on Lazy Tuesday. Perhaps the name was a bad choice.

Today is not a lazy day. The apartment is screaming for a paint-job (currently it's pink and yellow). Later, we are taking Raul's mother Xmas dinner shopping, and before the apartment can be painted, it needs to be scrubbed down.

And I've nothing more to tell you.

Someday Lessons:

• Words are magic; they shape reality. Use them carefully.
• Often, the only way to describe an action is to do it.

P.S. Pics of the apartment can be found at http://www.fotolog.com/jonszi/23947274

A Lack of Posts

Hola everyone! Yes, I am still alive. I just haven´t been posting very often.

You see, life has settled into a routine and I have nothing exciting to write about.

That is such a total excuse! I´ve just been lazy about my writing. When I was in France last year, I would pick a topic each day from a list and then write about it. I didn´t give myself a choice. I HAD to write.

Now I write when I feel inspired.

That doesn´t work.

So, here is a promise to you. Once I have an apartment and Internet access from more than an hour a day, I will increase my postings to at least once every two days. Until then, I´m going to stick with being lazy and posting when I feel like it.

It´s my blog and I can ignore it if I want to...

Someday Lessons:

• Even if you enjoy doing something it´s very easy to NOT do it.
• A routine can be interesting. It´s just a matter of consciously looking for the points of interest.

Lost Dreams

Through BlogTO, I was directed to this article on the Canoe website: Canadians' dreams fall short.

The article states that only 20% of us have followed through on childhood or teenage dreams.

My only question is why?