Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Unblocking My View

I truly believe in synchronicity. Well it was close to synchronicity anyway, when I got the idea that we should reward people, especially young people, for small acts of consideration. I opened the Garden Island this morning and saw that they're now posting "ads" of congratulations that readers can send in. Not exactly what I had envisioned, but there's potential there (if you want to spend $16 anyway).

I got the idea after a small incident that occurred on Saturday night at the Kapaa Hongwanji bon dance. The incident in itself was another sort of synchronicity except more of a unsynchronicity, for lack of a real word:

When we arrived at the bon dance with our folding chairs, I suggested we set up the chairs in a row directly behind the people sitting in the church-supplied chairs. "Why so close?" my hub asked. Well you know me, always trying to outwit, I figured if we left a wider space between us and the other seated spectators, someone will inevitably stand in front of us, blocking our view. Leonard rolled his eyes, but cooperatively set up the chairs where I indicated, leaving less than 2 feet between us and the chairs in front of us.

You know what's coming, don't you?

Despite what I thought was a fail-proof plan, this wide teen-aged girl situated herself immediately to my left, standing in the narrow space in front of Jordan's empty chair (of course Jordan wasn't sitting there because she was dancing). Narrowing my view, this wide girl stood there rubbing the shoulders of her boyfriend who sat in the chair in front of her. Now in the first place, why is he sitting and making her stand? If she hadn't been wearing a t-shirt whose message I approved of --I won't go so far as to identify the t-shirt because who wants to be labeled "wide" anyway--I would've been really really annoyed, but instead I was simply annoyed. I sat there with the view that "kids nowadays have no consideration!" (If you read my earliest blog entry last July, you'd know that my biggest pet peeve is inconsiderate people.)

So ok, after an hour or so the standing girl and her ungentlemanly boyfriend left, as well as the person who sat next to him, leaving two empty seats. A few minutes later, a teen-aged boy asked Leonard, "Excuse me, is anyone sitting in those chairs?" Leonard said no. The boy then asked "Is it ok if we sit there?" Leonard said sure. My ears just about fell off when the boy said "Thanks, we didn't want to block your guys' view." Oh my god. [Unless he's a mindreader, he had no idea of what I'd been thinking, nor could he have overheard my earlier muttered complaints to Leonard.]

So you see what I mean by unsynchronicity. Only because of the wide girl's inconsideration did the boy's consideration get magnified to heroic proportions in my mind. And guess what, both he and his friend were skinny. I wish I got a look at them, but I didn't even see their faces. Thinking back on the incident later, I wish I could've somehow complimented him or acknowledged his thoughtfulness. Or taken his photo to post in the newspaper.

Small incidents like this help me enjoy life and its ironies. Now I'm wondering what message was on his t-shirt.

Saturday, July 18, 2009

Dedicated to Keeping My Three Readers Healthy!

Usually this blog may appear to be merely self-indulgent yattering, but today it will be clearly contributing to the common good of my three (or so) readers. Not that my posts have been totally self-serving, nooooo. For those who have not realized my purpose, besides enjoying writing about the mundane and occasionally not-so-mundane aspects of my life, I sincerely want to convey and share my perspective in hopes that it helps others in one way or another, whether it's helping to choose a movie, or sparking interest in music, or relieving their stress by reading middle school level writing.

Today, however, you need not read between the lines. I'm writing to extoll the virtues of naturopathy and pass on a couple of suggestions that are relatively easy to get/do. I myself love EASY, so I'm not about to ask anyone to convert to veganism or take up Qi Gong, etc. (I'd do these myself if someone cooked for me, or if I lived in Lihue, respectively, by the way).

Today's advice is to look for GFSE--Grapefruit Seed Extract (not to be confused with Grape Seed Extract). You can find it online, or at the health food stores. It's a powerful anti-microbial that comes in tablet form (great for food poisoning, killing yeast in your stomach, etc.), and liquid drops. The drops are especially versatile and I have it diluted with water in spray bottles in the kitchen and bathrooms. We use it to disinfect counters, for washing produce, as a mouth/throat rinse, etc. I recommend googling it for more information. It's a "wonder drug" IMHO. In light of the worsening Swine Flu epidemic, I think it won't hurt to have this handy germ killer as part of your arsenal.

I'm also attaching Dr. Mercola's video on a simple breathing exercise that I'm trying. He sends out a great newsletter that I enjoy and dread reading at the same time. In fact, his is the only email newsletter that I bother reading. I don't always follow his advice, but it doesn't mean it's not valuable advice. It's just good to be AWARE, even though there are some things I'm not willing to give up...like eating fast food or staying up late at night.

If you have serious health problems, I highly recommend seeing a naturopathic doctor as a supplement to your medical doctor. Following the advice of our ND, Dr. Leia Melead (Kapaa, Kauai), has helped us tremendously and over the past years my confidence in naturopathic methods has grown. For example, when I was diagnosed with osteoporosis, my medical doctor prescribed Fosamax, but Dr. Melead advised against taking the drug, and recommended MCH calcium/magnesium and Vitamin D3. I agreed and did not get the Fosamax. Well, less than a year later, Fosamax was in the news, reportedly causing jaw bone decay. Eek! When I had my second bone scan two years later, my medical doctor told me, "Looks good, just keep doing what you've been doing!" I refrained from saying, "Meaning follow the naturopathic advice as opposed to the medical one, huh!" *wink*

I will occasionally pass on more EASY health tips in future blog posts. After all, if you're reading my blog, I want to keep you healthy because I need every one of you!


Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Eureka! Housecleaning Kauai Sis

Don't let them tell you that the $3000 vacuum cleaner will get your house cleaner. I own one of those--although I paid $1200 20+ years ago--and I just realized today that it's my $20 Eureka Boss that gets my house cleaner. No kidding!

I have to first give credit to my DustBuster that originally led me to this epiphany. I bought the rechargeable DustBuster just for traditional reason--quick clean-ups--but it came with a floor attachment and next thing I knew, I was whizzing around every other day vacuuming the floors for 10 minutes (that's how long the battery charge lasted). The battery eventually gave out and I replaced it once, but when it ran out again, I realized it was not very cost-effective to keep replacing the battery for $30, but I just loved my handy little floor buster!

While shopping at KMart I came across this Eureka corded handheld/floor vac and at first I balked at the idea of the cord hindering my "zipping around" the house. Anyone who knows me, however, would understand that the $22 price tag was the deal maker. That and a 10 foot extension cord that hubby already had. [Helpful hint: Because the filter looks very questionable, I covered it with a piece of cotton cloth fastened with a rubberband. The vac's suction is still strong enough and this way you get double filtering. Works fine! Next I'm going to try using a coffee filter.]

For a lazy housekeeper like me, a $20 vac DOES get the house cleaner than a $3000 one that just sits in the hallway closet. The key is ease of use=more frequent use=cleaner house! Just the thought of dragging out the heavy vacuum cleaner is such a turn-off, while the skinny cheerful yellow model stands almost invitingly in a corner.

If I've learned anything over the years, it's the fact that I have to constantly fool myself into doing anything I don't like to do and a vacuum cleaner that looks like a toy really helps.

Another trick is the old "I'll just clean the kitchen jalousies and that's IT." (Kitchen jalousies=one window). As I said, I hate hate hate cleaning, but something in me is perverted in that once I start cleaning something (which might be once in several months), I have a hard time stopping even though I tell myself "Ok, you did the kitchen, that's enough." Myself says, "Well look, I just washed the rag and it could still wipe a couple more jalousies..." So myself gets fooled into doing the whole house.

Lest you think I must have a clean house this way, think again. I may be fooled, but it'll take another six months or even a year to fool me again. I'm not THAT stupid. *LOL*

I try to do the same with exercising. "Okay, just move around for 5 minutes" will usually result in a 15-20 minute activity....but again, unfortunately, doesn't happen as often as recommended. We bought a Wii Fit and that lasted about a month. Now when I do get on the Wii, it says something sarcastic like "Oh! You haven't been here for 37 days!" or something to that effect.

Give me a break!! I have more important things to do, like sit at the computer all day checking my email, reading celebrity gossip, blogging, reading movie spoilers, putting my cut-out face in different hairdos, googling stuff, and oh yeh, working in between all that. Which reminds me, I have assignments due and sewing for the Koloa Plantation Days fair next week! Now how will I fool myself into getting all that done?