Cotesensing

Life is precious

Just had a peaceful weekend but was wrecked by a heartbreak. A very good friend of mine was diagnosed with a 2 cysts in the cervix.  Yes, two.  We were just meeting for a quick lunch when she said it in a rather ashamed way.  Said she just went in for a checkup because she was having her period twice a month for the last 2 months.  She didn’t expected nor did we that she had cysts in her cervix.  Her gynecologist said that they are yet to see if the cysts are cancerous and if they are, she is suffering from cervical cancer.

Our world went upside down. My friend was putting on a brave face.  But I felt something just fell inside me.  I felt that we were too young to have this experience.

A beautiful love story

A friend shared this and I thought I should share this with you all:

“I was walking around in a Target store, when I saw aCashier hand this little boy some money back.

The boy couldn’t have been more than 5 or 6 years old.

The Cashier said, ‘I’m sorry, but you don’t have enough money to buy this doll.’

Then the little boy turned to the old woman next to him: ”Granny,
are you sure I don’t have enough money?”

The old lady replied: ”You know that you don’t have enough money to buy this doll, my dear.”

Then she asked him to stay there for just 5 minutes while she went to look around. She left quickly.

The little boy was still holding the doll in his hand.

Finally, I walked toward him and I asked him who he wished to give this doll to.

‘It’s the doll that my sister loved most an d wanted so much for Christmas.

She was sure that Santa Claus would bring it to her.’

I replied to him that maybe Santa Claus would bring it to her after all, and not to worry.

But he replied to me sadly. ‘No, Santa Claus can’t bring it to her where she is now. I have to give the doll to my mommy so that she can give it to my sister when she goes there.’

His eyes were so sad while saying this. ‘My Sister has gone to be with God. Daddy says that Mommy is going to see God very soon too, so I thought that she could take the doll with her to give it to my sister.”

My heart nearly stopped.

The little boy looked up at me and said: ‘I told daddy to tell mommy not to go yet. I need her to wait until I come back from the mall.’

Then he showed me a very nice photo of himself. He was laughing. He then told me ‘I want mommy to take my picture with her so she won’t forget me.’

‘I love my mommy and I wish she didn’t have to leave m e, but daddy says that she has to go to be with my little sister.’

Then he looked again at the doll with sad eyes, very quietly.

I quickly reached for my wallet and said to the boy. ‘Suppose we check again, just in case you do have enough money for the doll!”

‘OK’ he said, ‘I hope I do have enough.’ I added some of my money to his without him seeing and we started to count it. There was enough for the doll and even some spare money.

The little boy said: ‘Thank you God for giving me enough money!’

Then he looked at me and added, ‘I asked last night before I went to sleep for God to make sure I had enough money to buy this doll, so that mommy could give it to my sister. He heard me!”

‘I also wanted to have enough money to buy a white rose for my mommy, but I didn’t dare to ask God for too much. But He gave me enough to buy the doll and a white rose.”

‘My mommy loves white roses.’

A few minutes later, the old lady returned and I left with my basket.

I finished my shopping in a totally different state of mind from when I started.

I couldn’t get the little boy out of my mind.

Then I remembered a local news paper article two days ago, which mentioned a drunk man in a truck, who hit a car occupied by a young
woman and a little girl.
The little girl died right away, and the mother was left in a critical
state. The family had to decide whether to pull the plug on the
life-sustaining machine, because the young woman would not be able to recover from the coma.

Was this the family of the little boy?

Two days after this encounter with the little boy, I read in the news paper that the young woman had passed away.

I couldn’t stop myself as I bought a bunch of white roses and I went to the funeral home where the body of the young woman was for people to see and make last wishes before her burial.

She was there, in her coffin, holding a beaut iful white rose in her hand with the photo of the little boy and the doll placed over her chest.

I left the place, teary-eyed, feeling that my life had been changed for ever.. The love that the little boy had for his mother and his sister is
still, to this day, hard to imagine.

And in a fraction of a second, a drunk driver had taken all this away from him.”

For once, would like to kill someone

This doesn’t really involve me at all but a colleague of mine who doesn’t work in the same department as I am. She used to work as a singer in  jazz club before she got the job and it was in her resume so her former boss knew but her new boss, a man in his early 40’s seems to have taken this in a bad way. Ever since he learned she was a former singer in a jazz club, he had never missed a day criticizing the way she talks, walks, dresses (which was very businesslike as demonstrated in her always wearing a coat and below the knee skirts).

She was always on time for her deadlines, well she did missed two, but it was well-reasoned out as she was hospitalized for 2 days for her sugar level.  What does he have against a former jazz singer?  She swore she didn’t knew him from somewhere and he was from another state and my friend hasn’t been out of New York all her life and his work background had never placed him anywhere in the Big Apple.

My friend is thinking of quitting and is crying everyday as he is getting too much too handle.  The worst thing was, her boss hardly knows how to manage them as all he does was sit at his office and rarely gives them leadership. He was hired to train them but all he managed to do was to point out how bad she was for the job.

Ugh, it makes me sick.

A few more changes, and work will be less stressful

It has been going positive for me at work these past week.  My colleagues seem to be waking up from their work hiatus and lucky for them they were given the chances to improve their performance.  No one was absent but yet there were still occurences of half-days so it’s a baby step, I suppose.

Meanwhile, I think I am running out of muses to actually think of new initiatives.  My creative juices are running out in a slow yet frustrating way. But I think I can get them back after a good weekend that is ahead, having to attend my cousins wedding.

When to be a boss and a friend

Well, I’m not a boss..yet.  But this thought has been bugging me ever since my boss who was my former teacher suddenly decided to be do some small talk with me yesterday.  It was about a coworker who has been doing below mediocre work ever since he got divorced from his wife of 5 years.  When she relayed that to me, I realized why he was almost always absent.

My boss said that she was on the verge of firing the guy because he has frequent absences and his work was always of poor quality for the past 2 months.

5 add-ons for Monopoly to fit this generation

Our life, if you still haven’t noticed is one big game. Mixed with different kind of board games, our financial investment decisions would be like those in Rich Dad Poor Dad board game. You get to have every opportunity but sometimes, you get a bad one or you pass. In the Game Of Life, it is more focused on the job you will have and the kid you will raise. In Monopoly, it teaches you to do business by monopolizing.

There are only a few differences here. In life, you do not wait for others to roll the dice. You just roll one turn after the other and every once in a while, you roll and go to the jail, get a “Doodad” or meet a financial crisis. Also, we do not get to choose to play the best board game. We only play what life gives us whether it is orange or lemons. The game is only over when we think the game is over.

In life, you can improve and control your own life. How about in games? What if we improve them by ourselves? Here are some add-ons you would like!

New Chance Cards

Are you tired of getting the same “get out of jail free” card or getting a tax refund? Well, here are some improvements you can have now! Of course, it is retro-fitted to our generation now. Ask ladies and a majority of them knows about Melanoma. How about the man to man marriage issue?

New Community Chest Cards

In our present justice system, we depend on our lawyers AND our money. Money makes the world go around and money is a better talker than our lawyer. This is a cliché when in sales. I’ve heard several stories of them sleeping with their clients just to bag the sales. No comments about the hooker part though.

New Boxes
Also, here are some new boxes to improve the board. Who really here computes the income tax box? I for one always would rather to pay the $200 than compute my 10% worth. Of course, this is only applied in the game and not in real life!

Paris Hilton Special Edition Monopoly

This one here is a limited edition Paris Hilton Mono-opoly! Notice the star box? I do not even think she has to buy any properties because they already own a handful of them!

Monopoly Money Dress

In real life, it is easy to flaunt your wealth. Buy expensive cars, jewelries or yachts. But in Monopoly the game, you can’t but, now, you can! With this Monopoly dress, make sure that everyone playing the game knows who the riches person is! One risk here though, everyone would like to defeat you to bankruptcy!

A few years back, a professor told me a story. One student who took a test came in late but managed to finish the test on time. He thought that the two written questions on the blackboard was a bonus. He answered one but can’t answer the second. The next day, the professor told him that, because he was late, he never heard that those two are unsolvable questions. He was just like the bumble bee, scientist say that their bodies are too large for their wings to lift them. But they fly anyway.

For just one time,would like to disappear

And I though things are going to be good.  Boy, was I wrong.  My coworkers had  the consciences to go to work.  So, I thought things would be better and that I don’t have to go back to doing their tasks.  But, as I glanced me inbox,  there was NOTHING from them.  It is just so frustrating to trust and then just to be let down again.

My happy post-vacation mood is now ruined.  I went on a 3-day leave to go to the doctor and to relax a bit in a place away from the city.  And  then, this.  I am so in the edge of just going to their desks and confronting but then in the end I would be the one who’ll be put in a bad light.  Hopefully, this week will be better.

Getting a weekend gig

Money has always been so hard for me,  so I work so hard and put on extra hours almost every chance I get.  It’s hard to live by my own especially because I am not from the city originally.

My former boss wants me to work part-time as a researcher for condominiums.  I’m tempted to take the offer as it would be, first, an added skill in my resume, second, it would be a good source of additional income.

But what makes me hesitant is the additional work hours.  Yeah, I know, it is an extra job so it means added work.  I felt like I am on the verge of getting the flu if I work one more extra day this week.  I was actually planning of taking a leave this friday as to go home to my  hometown to get a well-deserved rest.  I have been working 14 days straight and the new boss which I have talked about a few times here was gracious to pay me overtime so I got a few extra money in the bank to spend this week.

What I’m trying to say is that I’m stumped.  Someone help me.

The Mayonnaise Jar and 2 Bottles of Cold Beer

Read this in the Baltimore Sun and would just like to share to everyone.

When things in your life seem almost too much to handle, when 24 hours in a day are not enough, remember the mayonnaise jar and the 2 bottles of cold beer.

A professor stood before his philosophy class and had some items in front of him. When the class began, he wordlessly picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with golf balls.

He then asked the students if the jar was full. They agreed that it was.

The professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles rolled into the open areas between the golf balls. He asked the students again if the jar was now full. They agreed it was.

The professor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up everything else.
He asked once more if the jar was full. ‘Yes’ was the reply.

The professor then produced two bottles of cold beer from under the table and poured the entire contents into the jar, effectively filling the empty space between the grains of sand. The students laughed.

‘Now,’ said the professor as the laughter subsided, ‘I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life. The golf balls are the important things: your family, your children, your health, your friends and your favorite passions. And if everything else was lost and only they remained; your life would still be full.

The pebbles are the other things that matter like your job, your house and your car. The sand is everything else - the small stuff.’

‘If you put the sand into the jar first,’ he continued, ‘there is noroom for the pebbles or the golf balls.  The same goes for life. If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff you will never haveroom for the things that are important to you.

‘Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness. Play with your children. Take time to get medical checkups. Take your spouse out to dinner. Play another 18 holes. There will always be time to clean the house and fix the shower. Take care of the golf balls first - the things that really matter. Set your priorities. The rest is just sand.’

One of the students raised her hand and inquired what the cold beer represented. The professor smiled. ‘I’m glad you asked. It just goes to show you that no matter how full your life may seem, there’s  always room for a bottle of cold beer with a friend.’

Why love maybe all about laughter

We all think that love is all about the deep things in life - and that the strong bonds of love might be about the sacrifices that people make for each other. Well, love can be a little simpler than that.

A recent research conducted with 52 couples found that laughing strenghtens the relationship. When people laugh at the same thing, they validate each other’s opinions. Private jokes and pet names, things that others just don’t get,stengthen ties betweek couples.

One of main reasons why people who laugh together find that they grow to have each other is because laughter is a pleasurable experience. The more positive memories you have, the more you love the other person.

If you have ever ate something and got sick and then decided from that time on not to eat the food again? Same thing applies to relationships that have a lot of negative images. Negative images add up to pull the relationship apart.

The second component of love is those secret little pet names and private jokes that no one else know about. These little secrets help the couples feel that they are in a tight bond. It seems that they are likely in their own little world with their own language that no one else understands.

So, may I suggest that go ahead, create endearing yet funny and unusual pet names. Even “klunkhead” may evoke such giggling-inducing and warm associations with the moniker that only the two of you will hold dear.